FIRED UP! READY TO GO!

The chant “Fired up, Ready to go!” comes from a campaign trip President Obama made in his 2008 campaign to Greenwood, North Carolina a small town in the middle of nowhere. After an hour and a half drive over country roads the president arrived at the town community center. It was raining, his umbrella quickly collapsed and he was wet and cold as he walked into the building and found twenty people waiting for him. Twenty people after an hour and a half trip. He was disappointed, they seemed disappointed and soon thereafter a lone voice started the chant, Fired up. Ready to go, and kept repeating it. The crowd (twenty people) quickly joined in.  President Obama also joined in while thinking they stole my thunder. This has been his chant and credo since then.

What more can get you fired up, ready to go than an attack on “Big Bird?” Even with the president being extremely low key during his first debate, the Mittster could not resist stepping in it once again. He said that he would reduce the deficit by cancelling public television, including “Big Bird.”  That alone should once again, be an indication of how out of touch Mitt Romney is. The mittster if he had any sense  should have known that to announce that he planned to get rid of Big Bird would not go over well and could not stop himself from saying so.

The budget for PBS is 450 Million dollars a year, which amounts to about 6 hours of defense spending. The Mittster is a big thinker.

This plus his outright lies. In the past I had referred to his lies as misrepresentations but after repeated “misrepresentations” they should now be labeled what they are, outright, unmitigated lies. You can’t even use an “Etch a Sketch”, moment anymore; in fact the term Romney may soon take the place of the adjective, Etch a Sketch Moment, so that it will just be labeled as a Romney.

The Mittmeister has had so many do over’s, or never minds that it is hard to keep track of them and most of his followers believe they are hearing what he is saying for the first time

At one time he said he was for Planned Parenthood and suggested that he would support Row v. Wade since it was the law of the land. But some months later he said that if elected he would appoint conservative Supreme Court justices he hoped would overthrow Roe v Wade.  This past week on October 9^th, he said that he would not pursue any abortion-related legislation if elected president, “there’s no legislation with regards to abortion that I am familiar with that would become part of my agenda.”  Does this sound like a credible statement, especially with his running mate, Paul Ryan who has sponsored 38 Anti- Abortion bills. Several hours later the Mittster’s support staff put out a press release saying Governor Romney is proudly pro life and would be a pro life President.

In that infamous Boca Raton video he said that he would not work towards an Israeli-Palestinian agreement because Palestine was not interested in peace and he would only deal with the issue if it came up. In his foreign policy speech this week he said he would be working towards a settlement between Israel and Palestine. It’s as if you can never count on any of his statements being the final word on the subject.  You can usually expect a correction to be forthcoming from his support staff.

In that same infamous speech in Boca Raton he said 47% of the population pay no federal income tax, believe they are victims entitled to government aid, so it’s not his job to care about them.  They will vote for President Obama and there is nothing he can do about it and will not worry about them because they are not responsible for their own well being.   When the video was revealed by Mother Jones Magazine on September 17, 2012, Romney’s first statement was that he stood by his comments but that they were inelegantly stated.  He told Hannity on October 4, 2012, “well clearly in a campaign with hundreds if not thousands of speeches and questions and answers, now and then you’re going to say something that doesn’t come out right. “In this case I said something that was just completely wrong.”

Just completely wrong is stating it mildly and it was not just a slip of the tongue, as the campaign now seeks to portray it. The Mittster stepped in it, with both feet, giving a complete explanation of what he thought about those less fortunate than him.  He is now back tracking and saying that he is concerned with 100% of the population, because he has been told that some of the 47%’s who are relying on social security to support themselves, are Republican seniors who were his supporters.

The Mittster touts his ability to be bipartisan and argues that his role as governor of Massachusetts, a blue state is proof of his ability to work with both parties. Once again Mitt exaggerates his one term as governor. He has been described as believing himself to be imperious such as when he called legislative leaders into discuss the budget crisis his sense was “I have been elected governor, I am the CEO here, and you are guys are the board of directors and you monitor the implementation of what I say.” To say he had bipartisan support while governor is a far stretch from the truth. The Mittster vetoed 800 pieces of legislation most of which, the Democratic legislature overrode.

The New York Times reported on October 14, 2012, that during his one four year term in office as governor of Massachusetts, the Mittster cumulatively spent part or all of 417 days out of the state. More than 70 % of this time was spent according to a review of his schedule on personal or political trips unrelated to his job.  The citizens of Massachusetts now view Mitt as a phony who sought the governorship only as a stepping stone in his pursuit of the presidency. That maybe a reason why he is more than 20% behind in the polls and is not contesting the state.

The Mittster makes outlandish statements not realizing or caring that fact checkers are out there attempting to verify his every utterance and he has kept them extremely busy. He takes credit for Massachusetts having the best schools in the nation while governor. Massachusetts had had excellent schools for a decade before the Mittster became governor and have continued to have excellent schools since he left the governorship. The school system receives state aid under a law called Chapter 70. Romney budgeted more chapter 70 money then the legislature agreed on.  Mitt’s plan would have robbed Peter to pay Paul, cutting other state aid to municipalities to fund his largess to education.

This is what he plans with Obamacare. He would repeal it and use the funds to pay down the deficit caused by his 20% overall tax cuts for the wealthy. The repeal of Obamacare would add add 109 billion to the deficit.

When the Miitster reverses his position he doesn’t explain his earlier statements and makes it appear that this is the first statement on the issue and is able to do this with a straight face without any apologies. It’s as if he believes his audience was not aware of his prior statements or positions.  His stone cold ability to do this without guilt or conscious borders on a socio-pathic personality.  Amazingly enough, his supporters accept whatever he says without questioning him.  They support him in lock step, not necessarily because they endorse his philosophy but because of their dislike for the president. If the mittster was to suddenly sprout horns and a tail, his supporters would not bat an eye and say, we can always cut them off later.

The Mittster is in charge of his own campaign and the campaign reveals only what he intends to do in order to win, not what he will do once he’s won.  In the midst of the world’s economic and foreign affairs crisis, can we afford to entrust the office of the presidency to an imperious candidate who can’t be trusted to keep his word?

 

FIST BUMP!

 

 

DEBATE JUNCTION, ROUND ONE

Governor Romney’s animation and aggressiveness may have won him the first debate but it may have also lost him the battle.  He jettisoned his right wing conservative alliance by steering towards the center on President Obama’s health care plan and moderate regulation of the financial industry. He questioned Dodds-Franks and said he would repeal portions of it, but which portions he had not as yet decided.

Those viewing the debate may not have been closely following the campaign and may have been hearing about the complexities of the issues for the first time and therefore confused style over substance and credited Governor with the win.  The Governor was at his best Etch a Sketch moment however when he denied that he planned to reduce taxes for the wealthy or reduce benefits for present day Obamacare recipients when he has repeatedly promised that he would repeal Obamacare on day one of his administration. Romney has proposed cutting all marginal personal income tax rates  by one fifth, with the top rate coming down to 28% from 35 % and making up the huge revenue loss by  eliminating loopholes and tax breaks, but of course he has not said which tax loophole and tax breaks he would eliminate. He has said that the taxes for the wealthy would not be diminished and at the same time the taxes for the middle income would also not rise.  For some reason the Mittster used the words middle income instead of the word middle class.  In the October 4th article in the Los Angeles Times article by Michael Hiltzik, the simple math of this program does not add up according to the Tax Policy Center operated by the Brookings Institute and the Urban Institute

 The Mittster reverted to his campaign speeches by attacking the President, changing the topics to the topic he wanted to discuss, and the moderator, Jim Leher was much too polite and allowed the mittster to run rough shod over him.  Mitt knowing his information was a total fabrication attacked the President on cutting $716 billion dollars from Medicare to bolster Obamacare when he knows that his running mate’s budget also calls for the same cuts, $ 716 billion but that this money will instead not be used to bolster Obamacare but to reduce the deficit caused by the tax cuts for the rich.

President Obama mainted a presidential demeanor throughout the campaign, using some sarcasm from time to time but it was so subtle that it might not have been noticed by the general public.

CNN immediately put out the results of a poll that found that 67% of registered voters found that the Mittster had won, vs. 25% for the president. Information from CNN revealed that the voters polled numbered more republicans than democrats. History of presidential debates has shown that many incumbent presidents have lost the first debate. John Kerry handily won the first debate and in fact may have won all three debates against George W and still lost the election.

The issues of the 47% video, Women’s Rights,  abortion, legitimate rape, contraception, the auto industry, Bain Capital, Romney ‘s taxes , and his Swiss  and Cayman Island bank accounts  as well as foreign policy ,have yet to be discussed.  The continued   repetition of his stump speeches will be of little value in the subsequent debates.

FIST BUMP

MITT HITS THE FAN !

The Democratic National Convention closely followed on the heels of the RNC and everyone, even right wingers noticed the difference between the two conventions, noting that the democratic delegates seemed to be more animated and excited by the speeches that were taking place. The obvious factor was the diversity of the participants, with the DNC having multiple racial and ethnic participation of all ages which the RNC was primarily older white voters and a sprinkling of younger white female voters.

There definitely was a marked difference in the actual speakers and subject matter with the RNC focusing on making President Obama a one term president but neglecting to say what the Mittster would do differently.  Anger and resentment was the common theme by one politician after another, capped off by Paul Ryan who continued to lie about President Obama’s Affordable Health Care Reform and how he and the Mittster planned to save Medicare.  Clint muddied the waters with an off color soliloquy and finally Mitt himself was on deck. He gave a speech which was a version of his everyday stump speeches, failing to mention Afghanistan or the military and ending by saying that Russia was our number one enemy, not North Korea, not Al Qaeda, not Iran, but Russia.

The speakers for the DNC included a young couple with a young daughter who was born with a congenital heart defect that would require ongoing surgeries and previously had an insurance cap. With the affordable health care act they no longer have a cap and their daughter can continue to have the health care that she requires.

Speaker  Tammy Duckworth, who lost both her legs and partial use of an arm, in 2004 when her Back Hawk helicopter  was shot down in Iraq, drew standing ovations describing her work with disable war veterans.

 Sister Simone Campbell a Catholic nun and one of the “Nuns on the Bus” who toured the country protesting the Paul Ryan budget, assuring voters that the Republican fiscal proposals violate Catholic teachings as well as “our nations values”, using Matthew 25.40 (verily I say unto you, in as much as you did it for the least of my brethren, you did it for me), demonstrated that this election is about two different visions. 

Keynote speaker Julian Castro, Mayor of San Antonio and his identical twin brother were outstanding. Jon Stewart could not contain himself, saying the Republicans had Marco Rubio, Senator from Florida as their token Latino and the Democrats, they have so many Latinos, and that they doubled down with Julian Castro and his identical twin. Julian spoke of the realistic American dream, not a business you can start by borrowing from your parents, not inheriting one million from your father.

Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown Law School student who was slandered by El Rushbo was there to speak about affordable health care.  One after another the DNC speakers were everyday Americans with a story to tell and not bloated politicians filled with Anger, resentment and hate.

Vice president Joe Biden spoke about his closeness to the president and how he has seen his courage and determination first hand.

And then there was Bill Clinton who spoke for 48 minutes, scripted and ad libbing, repeatedly responding to standing ovations as he knocked down the Mittster’s and Mini Mitt’s lies.

Mitt Romney dared to ask the question, “are you better off now then you were 4 years ago?” and does not like the response given by Bill Clinton that of course we are!

Four years ago, Wall Street and banks were teetering on collapse, the U.S. auto industry, Chrysler and General Motors were in danger of bankruptcy, the nation was hemorrhaging 575 thousand jobs a month, 32 million citizens were without health care coverage, and two wars were raging, all as a result of 8 years of the Bush Administration which left the country in shambles with a 1.4 trillion dollar deficit and a severe downturn in the economy only surpassed by the great depression.

 Since then unemployment has been reduced, and unemployment benefits were extended, Wall Street reform was passed, the auto industry bailout that Romney was against, has revitalized the auto industry, the war in Iraq has ended and the affordable Health Care act was passed; Equal pay for women was protected by the  Lily Ledbetter Act,  fuel efficiency standards are doubling, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was eliminated and Osama Bin Laden is dead, to name just a few of the Obama Administration accomplishments which answers,  why we are better off now than four years ago,

President Clinton’s clearly defined  Romney’s argument, as  boiling  down  to  “we left  him a total mess, he hasn’t cleaned  it up fast enough, so fire him and  put us back in, is on point and definitely not the solution .  Clinton paraphrased another president saying “There they go again”, to emphasize the foolishness of their argument.

Bill Clinton also took on Paul Ryan and the Republican ad campaign that President Obama had taken 716 billion from Medicare to promote Obama Care, saying it takes some brass (he did say brass) to criticize someone for doing the same thing you’re doing.

President Obama received a 5 point bounce immediately after the DNC, but this bounce would only be a temporary setback for the Mittster unless he did something terribly stupid which is not hard for him to do. The Mittster in fact did not fail us and in fact once again provided the electorate with evidence that he is not fit to become the leader of the free world.

Sunday September 9, 2012, was the start of the week in which the Mittster lost the election.

 In response to a question by Meet the Press Moderator, David Gregory regarding his plans to repeal Obamacare, the Mittster flipped right before our eyes. For months in numerous stump speeches he had said, over and over again, that he would repeal and replace Obamacare on day one of his administration, however in his response he answered that he was not planning to repeal or replace all of Obamacare and would keep the pre-existing conditions portions and would allow children to be covered on their parents policies no matter what age for an indefinite period of time.  This was a new position by the Mittster, given voluntarily without any prompting and yet it was short lived. Several hours later his campaign announced that the Mittster had not changed his position.

World events changed quickly and by Tuesday evening,(9/11/12), news was breaking out that protests were taking place in the Middle East as a result of an anti Muslim film posted on YouTube.  Protesters in Egypt were gathering outside the American Embassy. A statement was issued by the embassy, saying the embassy opposed “continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims- as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions.”

The Mittster saw this as an opportunity to demonstrate his foreign policy skills injecting himself in a fast moving scenario in Egypt, while the President was discussing the issues with Israel. The Mittster criticized President Obama for issuing an apology for American values. In a brief news conference in Jacksonville, Florida, Romney said that it was “a terrible course to – for America to stand in apology for our values.” When our grounds are being attacked and being breached, that the first response of the United States must be outrage at the breach of sovereignty of our nation. And apology for American’s values is never the right course.” Nice speech under the right conditions but reporters noted that the Mittster issued the statements before protesters had climbed the embassy walls in Cairo. and before the Ambassdor was killed in Libya.  In his defense the Mittster said, “It’s never too early for the United States Government to condemn attacks on Americans and to defend our values.”

Several hours later in Libya, protesters attacked the American Consulate in Benghazi, killing Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three employees.  Romney even after additional facts became known to him, continued with his criticism.  Romney’s speed in using the protests for his own political purposes was soundly criticized by everyone including some fellow Republicans.  It was considered a violation of a tradition of having at least momentary unity in the face of a foreign threat.  Other Republicans said that Romney had hurt himself by failing to appear steady and presidential.

President Obama Rebuked Romney, stating, “I think most Americans, Democrats and Republicans, understand that that there are times when we set politics aside and one of those is when we’ve got a direct threat to American personnel who are overseas,”

As if all of this was not enough to be considered Mitts Armageddon. The Mittster outdid himself by making statements which were videotaped and released by the Magazine, Mother Jones.  In a fund raiser to major donors, $50,000 a person, in Boca Raton, Florida on May 17, 2012, Mitt joked about being Latino. He said that his father was born in Mexico to American parents, but if they were Latino, he would have been Latino and would have had a better shot at securing the Latino vote.  The Mittster does not understand that he cannot obtain the Latino vote, not because he is not Latino but because he stands for everything that Latinos are against. The Mittster did not volunteer that his father was born in Mexico where his parents fled in order to avoid prosecution for practicing polygamy.

Further damage control was needed for the Mittster’s additional statements that showed him describing nearly half the country’s population as “dependent on government and unwilling to take responsibility for their lives.”  Romney did not dispute the comments in which he told supporters that he didn’t need to worry about Obama’s supporters because they relied on government services and paid no income tax.

“There are 47% of the people who will vote for the president no matter what.” All right, there are 47% who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it.” “That –that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. These are people who pay no income tax.”

Romney said he would focus on nonaligned voters and not on Obama supporters. “My job is not to worry about those people; I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

When it was learned that the speech had been taped and released he quickly called a press conference in which he said that he stood by his statements but admitted that he could have made the statements more elegantly but it was off the cuff in response to a question.

This was not the first time that the Mittster was caught saying that he wasn't worried about poor people. He later corrected this by saying that he wasn't worried about poor people because they had safty nets. Now he is attacking the safty nets!

The media was again called it a gaffe however  It's time for the media to stop labeling Romney's missteps as Gaffes, because they are not gaffes but a true revelation of Romney's ingrained personality. He has previously made off the cuff statements to donors and thereafter tries to spin away his statements. On April 15, 2012, he was overheard by reporters from the Wall Street Journal and NBC News during a fund raiser telling donors that he planned to eliminate tax deductions and cabinet departments such as HUD and Education.  Once again when he learned that his statements had been overheard, he quickly retracted his statements just as he is trying to do now. He has been making speeches saying that he is interested in 100% of the people and wants to help them become less dependent on government. This would be a decent spin but for the fact that his speech was recorded where he said he has no use for those people who show no responsibility for their actions!

Romney is arrogant and truly believes that he is better than the 47%’s. That he is the only one with all the answers and if you don’t agree with him, your opinion is worthless and he has no use for you because you are a worthless moocher and leach who is dependent on government entitlements, do not pay taxes and are unwilling to take responsibility for your lives. He doesn't understand the middle and lower class people, obviously he's never had to be there. He's led a pretty guilded life and as a result he is completly out of touch with the common man, as evident by advice he gave to college students. "If you wnat to start a business, borrow from your parents", and in regards to student loans which he's never had, he said to the students,"shop around."

He has demonstrated myopic tunnel vision and is quick to criticize the poor and under privileged and has turned a blind eye to the fact that subsidies and entitlements are also provided to major corporation and industries such as farming and oil and that some major corporations like General Electric, also pay no taxes, but somehow he has not noticed that Michele Bachmann and her husband as well as Rick Santorum have also accepted subsidies and government aid or Paul Ryan who took 20 million from the stimulus bill for his district in Wisconsin.

The taped speech also contained Mitt’s idea of a  foreign policy in dealing with the Israeli/Palestinian issue. The Mittster said if elected he would not work toward a two-state solution. This two state solution has been the policy of the last three presidents and a policy that the Mittster

has publicly endorsed, but he said that he believes that the Palestinians do not want peace anyway and for political purposes are committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel. “ And so what do you do is you say, you move things along the best way you can , you hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize that this is going to remain an unsolved problem."

This is the Mittster, the same Mittster who insulted our ally Great Britain when he questioned their readiness for the Olympics.  In private conversations with an “in group” he feels that he is able to reveal his inner most thoughts, but what he has revealed is that he has no inner most thoughts. He doesn’t have to have any solutions. He is the man who has been chosen to save the free world. Chosen by who? By himself of course, after all he is the Mittster.

This time however some of his supporters, Republicans who had endorsed him were taken back by his; there is no other way of saying it, “stupidity.”

  Peggy Noonan writer for the Wall Street Journal said it was time for an intervention Romney’s theory of the case is all wrong. His understanding of the political topography is wrong. It’s time to admit the Romney campaign is an incompetent one. Romney always seems alone out there, a guy with a mike pacing an empty stage. All by himself, removed from the other humans. Its sad looking. It’s not working. After saying all this Peggy believes there is still time to right the ship.

The Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson,the Las Vegas Casino billionaire, having already spent hundreds of millions dollars to defeat President Obama are spending even more to buy ads that they will be running in the battleground states of Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Colorado and Nevada. The Republican Party in these as well as in the states of Pennsylvania and Ohio have enacted legislation to prevent voter fraud which has been proven to be nonexistent in order to bar President Obama’s supporters from voting. This is the only way the right wing is trying to right the ship.

You can lend your support for the Democratic Party and President Obama by contributing to the campaign at https://my.barackobama.com. Tell them blu-dog sent you!

Other Republicans are taking a harder stance, if a harder stance can be taken. Laura Ingram said “if you can’t defeat a president with this economic record, you should shut down the party! Shut down the party and start again with new people. As if that would help. The Republicans in congress no longer represent their electorate and instead have pledged their allegiance to Grover Norquist and his silent partners.

Republican Senatorial candidate from Connecticut,Linda McMan said she disagreed with Romney’s insinuations.

 Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, who is trailing Elizabeth Warren in his bid for reelection said about Romney’s statements, “That’s not the way I view the world.”  Romney former governor of Massachusetts trails President Obama by 28 points in Massachusetts.

Virgina Republican Senatorial Candidate George Allen said “Romney and Paul are wrong about Medicare.”

Former Minnesota Governor, Tim Pawlenty, who had been considered as Romney’s running mate, resigned his position as national co chair of the Romney campaign, ostensibly to become a the head of a leading bank lobbying group. The media is not portraying this as a desertion of a sinking ship, but purely a business decision.  What do you think?

Fist Bump.

THE RNC, RESENTMENT, ANGER, LIES AND CLINT

With a tight script and good planning, the RNC was a good opportunity for Mitt Romney to humanize his robotic persona to make himself likeable, but what took place may be a harbinger of things to come

The RNC started with an attack on Ron Paul’s Maine delegates .Ron Paul the sole GOP primary candidate not to bow out of the race, endorse Romney or release his delegates sought to have his name thrown into the ring for the nomination even though he did not have anywhere the number of delegates to be successful.  Paul did not win a single state during the primary; however his ardent supporters worked arcane local and state party rules to take over several state delegations, including 20 of Maine’s 24 delegates. The RNC‘s delegate seating committee blocked his supporters from putting Paul’s name in for the nomination. They replaced 10 of Paul’s Maine delegates, preventing the state from submitting Paul’s name for the nomination. The Governor of Maine a Romney supporter decided to boycott the convention.  Paul’s supporters angrily walked out of the convention hall to the jeers of the Romney supporters.  During the roll call of the states, several states listed votes for both Romney and Paul, but when the count was repeated back, officials at the podium cited only the Romney votes.

 A Nevada Paul supporter stated “this is just the same as Hitler; there is nothing American about what just happened. This is the death of the Republican Party.”  

 The theme for the first day of the convention, “We Built It”, was based on an intentionally wrong interpretation of a speech by President Obama in which he essentially said that businesses were not built solely by an individual, that it also required the help of infrastructure like roads and bridges. Even Mitt Romney should realize that the success of the 2002 Winter Olympics required the contribution of $1.5 million dollars of American Tax payer money, and that he did not do it, all by himself.

The second day’s theme, “We Can Change It”, was just as innocuous. Paul Ryan gave his same old stump speech misrepresenting the facts regarding the Obama administration’s $ 716 billion transfer of funds  which was used to extend the Affordable care Act to 2024. He failed to reveal that his own budget called for a transfer of these same funds but the purpose is to reduce the deficit caused by his extension of the tax cuts for the rich.

Ryan also raised a fictitious issue by saying that President Obama was somehow responsible for the closure of the GM parts plant in Janesville Wisconsin, knowing full well that the closure took place under President Bush’s watch in December 2008.

 Ryan also critized the Stimulus, saying it raised the deficit, was not helpful and a waste of tax payer money, neglecting to say that he asked for and received 20 million of the stimulus money for his own district.

Ryan’s statement,”the truest measure of any society is how it treats those who cannot defend or care for themselves” is hypocritical in that he has received criticism in a letter from the United States Conference of Bishops and from the faculty and administrators of Georgetown University   Georgetown University, for writing a budget “which disproportionately cut programs that "serve poor and vulnerable people." His budget was criticized for dismantling government programs and abandon the poor to their own devices." The letter goes on to say that Catholic teaching “demands that higher levels of government provide help---"subsidium"--when communities and local governments face problems beyond their means to address, such as economic crisis, high unemployment, endemic poverty and hunger." The letter criticizes Ryan for his attempts at "gutting government programs” and states that “Ryan is profoundly misreading church teachings." A statement issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops criticized the Ryan budget in similar terms. Knowing that he has received this criticism, Ryan evidently did not hesitate to make this statement about the true measure of a society, believing that no would notice his inconsistency and hypocrisy.

 Ryan seems to believe people will accept what he says just because he says it. Ryan has been described as a lace Curtin middle class individual who took a job as a Washington intern at the request of his mother who was afraid that he was going to become a ski bum. Except for a short period of employment in his family’s construction company, he has no experience in the private sector and all his work experience has been in Washington. He has distanced himself from the Ayn Rand philosophy of Objectivity but has not erased its teaching from his mind. He is out of touch with the working man and thus a perfect Mini Mitt.

 To further demonstrate his lack of credibility, it was also recently revealed that Ryan lied about his time in a marathon. He boasted about running a sub 3 hour marathon,which is the holy grail time for marathoners, and Runner’s World Magazine reported that his time was 4 hours, 1 minute.  Mini Mitt has to realize that with fact checkers, he can get caught every time he lies, which appears to be often

Whose strategy was it to have Ann Romney speak in Romney’s behalf?  If a man was applying to become the CEO of a Fortune 500 Corporation would he send his wife to intercede in his behalf? If this ploy was successful, would we expect that the wife would later be used to negotiate policy with Russia, China or Iran? 

Who scheduled Chris Christie, Governor of New Jersey to speak after Ann Romney? She left the room, warm and content with her heart rendering stories about Mitt the saint and Christie displaced it with his anger and resentment, speaking primarily about himself, and New Jersey, neglecting to mention the Mittster.  Evidently he is planning to run in 2016.

The third day’s theme, “We Believe in America”, is an insult to all Americans.  Who doesn’t believe in America?

 Romney’s criticism of President Obama’s statement that he would slow the rise of the ocean waters and heal the planet, and that he instead, would help the American Family, was again taken out of context 

 On June 3, after obtaining the necessary delegates to garner the Democratic nomination President Obama made a speech in which he concluded saying,” America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past.  Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love. The Journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I can also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it , and fight for it, and  believe in it , then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back  and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care  for the sick, and good jobs for the jobless;  this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; This was the moment  when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored  our image as the last best hope on earth. This was our moment-this was the time –when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves and our highest ideals.”

The Mittster’s response to this, the “he would help the American Family” demonstrates  his lack of understanding of poetic license in that President Obama was saying he would help the American family and this great country in every way possible.

Mitt’s failure to recognize this maybe the result of his rigidity, his tunnel like vision where he believes that only he has the answers.  The nuance of the concept. “this is the moment” went over his head. I wouldn’t doubt it if he flunked English Lit 101, he clearly failed to understand   what President Obama was saying.

Clint Eastwood’s performance needs no review, he hammered President Obama, for the war in Afghanistan, saying oh you didn’t bother to call and ask the Russians about their 10 year war in Afghanistan?

 Clint it was George W. Bush and Dick Chaney who started the war in Afghanistan. Clint questioned why is necessary to be a lawyer to be president, forgetting that the Mittster was also a law school grad.

What does need to be reviewed about Clint is who arrange for Clint to be there in the first place and allowed him to perform an unscripted standup open mike routine without vetting his material. You’re good at firing people, Mitt. Do your duty.

The remainder of Mitt speech was a takeoff on a Jeff Foxworthy routine, “You know you’re a rich redneck when you have two broken washing machines on your porch and three wrecked cars in your front yard, but not as good as this joke.

 Mitt almost shed crocodile tears when he said “I wished the president had succeeded because I want America to succeed. Grover Norquist, Mitch McConnell both said that their priority was to make President Obama a one term president. A 100 days into his term, Hannity was playing the music for the Omen as he reviewed the inauguration.

On March 2, 2009 Bill O’Reilly said “Obama’s vision has not worked at all, of course it has only been 6 weeks, 42 days to fix the broken economy.

El Rushbo took some heat when he said on January 28, 2009, that he did not want the president to succeed. Romney was asked for his opinion and he said, “Rush Limbaugh is partially right, we don’t want failed policies to succeed.”  El Rushbo and the Mittster wanted President Obama to reverse 8 years of Bush’s disastrous administration in 8 days.

 So hypocrisy is rampant on this Romney/ Mini Mitt  team.

Mitt dared to ask the question, “are you better off now then you were 4 years ago?” and the answer is damm right,  of course we are!

 Four years ago, Wall Street and banks were teetering on collapse, the U.S. auto industry, Chrysler and General Motors were in danger of bankruptcy, the nation was hemorrhaging 575 thousand jobs a month and 32 million citizens were without health care coverage. Two wars were raging.

 Since then unemployment has been reduced, and unemployment benefits were extended, Wall Street reform was passed, the auto industry bailout that Romney was against, has revitalized the auto industry, the war in Iraq has ended and the affordable Health Care act was passed; Equal pay for women was protected by the  Lily Ledbetter Act, stem cell research was funded, fuel efficiency standards are doubling, the first Latina Supreme Court Justice was appointed, Libya was liberated, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was eliminated and Osama Bin Laden is dead, to name just a few of the many accomplishments by the Obama Administrations is why we are better off now than four years ago, when 8 years of  the Bush Republican Administration left the country in shambles with a 1.4 trillion dollar deficit and a the most severe downturn in the economy since the great depression.

Mitt once again failed to mention any specifics as how he would do better, he said that he would create 15 million jobs but he did not say how he would create them. He failed to mention the ongoing war in Afghanistan or the military but to his way of thinking, those are just minor issues and blanks can be filled in later. In trying to explain why he failed to mention Afghanistan in his RNC speech he said that he had spoken about Afghanistan and his policy the day before in a speech to the American Legion. A review of that speech has the Mittster saying, We are still in a war in Afghanistan. Our men and women in uniform remain in defense of our country. It was just one simple sentence, with no mention of any policy.  Mitt has to be aware that every word he says is captured on tape and he can not extricate himself from a lie by telling another lie. In his speech at the RNC he managed to say that his dad was born in Mexico and that his dad's family had to flee Mexico during the Mexican revolution. He thought that this was something he needed to say but somehow did not think to mention Afghanistan? 
 Mitt has not yet released his income tax return for 2011 and is afraid to reveal taxes for any other years. He thought that he was helping his cause by saying that he has consistently paid at least 13.5 per cent in taxes for the previous five years.  If he admits to this, it's easy to understand why he may be afraid  to release his taxes. If he can’t trust the American Public, why should the American public trust him?

FIST BUMP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE UNRAVELING OF THE MITTSTER

The week prior to the start of the Republican Convention served to outline Romney’s true character or lack thereof.  Missouri Congressman Todd Akin, a candidate for the U.S. Senate in an interview with a St.Louis News station made a statement which at first appeared to be isolated incident limited to his own campaign.  On Sunday August 19, 2012, Todd Akin, in response to questions on exceptions to bans on abortion such as rape or incest, the congressman said, “It seems to me, first of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. If it is a legitimate rape, the female body has a way to shut the whole thing down.” 

The statement is an abomination which can only stem from unmitigated total stupidity, in that it sought to define rape as being legitimate only if it was a “forcible rape”, and because of the utterly ridiculous comment regarding a woman being able to shut down a pregnancy due to a rape.

The Mittster and Mini Me Ryan quickly sought   to distance themselves from Akin,   but the reasons for their alarm were not immediately evident.

Last year, Paul Ryan, co-sponsored a bill in Congress, HR3, with Todd Akin, that would have narrowed the exceptions that allows Medicaid funds to pay for abortions for women who are raped. The purpose of the measure would have permitted the use of funds only to end a pregnancy resulting from “legitimate rape”.

The statutory rape of a child by an adult would not fit the definition the house tried to impose, nor would the rape of an unconscious women or a woman of limited mental capacity. Paul Ryan’s philosophy is that all abortions should be banned with no exceptions except the health of the woman.

Paul Ryan served for more than a decade with Todd Akin and had hailed him as a “great Asset” on Ryan’s budget committee, and an example of “exactly the kind of leadership America Needs.”

However Ryan did not want to dwell on this and may have wanted to keep the lid on their prior relationship, and personally called on Todd Akin to drop out of his race against Democratic Senator Clair McCaskill.  In fact, Romney, Republican Party Officials and El Rushbo himself have all called on Todd Akins to drop out of the race. Why all the fuss?  He is only one candidate among the many, right? Wrong the longer Todd Akin remains in the race, the longer the spot light remains on the Republican Party’s and Mitt’s position on abortion.

Ryan has been questioned on his position of “forcible rape” and has flipped once again and now just answers that “rape is rape, and let’s not split hairs, rape is rape”, repeating this over and over again.

End of story, not quite, Todd Akin was asked the name of any doctors who had advised him that a woman had the ability to shut down a pregnancy in the event of a rape and he came up with the name of Dr. John Willke, past president of the Right to Life Committee.   Lo and behold Dr. John Willke is tied directly to the Mittster.

The London Daily Telegraph reported on August 22, 2012 that Dr. Willke met with Mitt Romney in October 2011, endorsing his run for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. Romney had informed him that when elected he would enact anti abortion legislation.  The mittster released a statement in 2008, praising Dr. John Willkie.

As you may recall, one of the Mittster’s  prior flips was that he was pro choice and had supported Roe v Wade, before he ran for the presidency and then flipped to the right to increase his votes with the ultra conservative anti abortionists. His present position is that abortion should be banned for all pregnancies except in case of rape or incest, which differs from Ryan’s position. This in itself shows that the Mittster does not have the courage of his convictions and in fact has no definite convictions and will switch his conviction depending on which group he is addressing.

Romney had an opportunity to demonstrate his leadership by imposing his thoughts on abortion, However the Mittster  allowed the Republican Party to insert a plank into their platform banning abortion in all instances, including rape and incest.  This plank has become known as the Akins Amendment.

So the reason why the Mittster wanted to shut down Todd Akin was the fact that Ryan is closely associated with Akin. Mitt is associated with the doctor who provided the information to Akin about the supposed ability of a woman to shut down and avoid a pregnancy in the event of a legitimate rate. So the Mittster, Mini Mitt, Todd Akin and Dr. John Willke are all birds of a feather.

There’s one thing women’s bodies can shut down, and it’s called the Republican Party. Vote this November as if your life and rights depended on it because they do.

The Mittster on the Friday before the start of the convention revealed his true personality and inability to maintain his campaign above the mudslinging level. While in the past he has stated that there is no doubt that President Obama was born in the United States, he stated in a well rehearsed  speech in Detroit that his wife was born in one hospital there and he was born in another hospital there and that no one has ever asked to see his birth certificate. The crowd cheered, immediately grasping his meaning, and when questioned by the press he acted innocently, stating that it was just a joke.

You would have thought that the Mittster would have avoided this subject, since it might raise questions about the foreign birth of his own father, who was born in Mexico where his parent fled in order to avoid prosecution for polygamy. Romney still has relatives living in Mexico and there is still some question as to whether they still engage in the practice of polygamy.

Lets us hope that before the campaign is over that the true Mittster will be unraveled and that its sooner then later for the sake of the country.

Fist Bump

MITT THE TWIT

With the passage of time Mitt Romney has slowly revealed his common sense and ethics or lack thereof. On the first day, within hours of arriving on his European trip to develop some foreign policy skills he insulted his hosts, Great Britain and the City of London, by questioning whether they were prepared and ready for the Olympics. Basically he wanted an opportunity to tout his success in the Salt Lake City Winter Olympic that was marred by the corruption and bribes that had taken place in the first place for Salt Lake to get the winter games, but in doing so he needed to question whether they were ready and did this on the day before the games opened. Needless to say the mayor of London, Boris Johnson was agitated as he asked 60 thousand fans, “a guy by the name of Mitt Romney questions whether we are ready for the Olympics” “Are we ready and a huge roar of approval was heard.  It is interesting to note that the Mayor of London, later received kudos for running a  seamless, mostly problem free Olympics.

The Prime Minister of England, David Cameron stated “We are holding the Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active cities anywhere in the world; of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Game in the middle of nowhere.” Nice going Mitt, do you think they will remember you if you ever make a return trip.

This was not the only foot in mouth moment for The Mittster, he also managed to surprise his hosts by revealing that he had been granted a rare meeting with the head of MI6, Britain’s Foreign Intelligence Agency.  Mitt was like a preconscious child, just blurting out whatever came into his head. He also made the statement that looking out the backside of Number 10 Downing Street, he was able to see that London was prepared. In Britain the word backside is used to mean ass, so Mitt was saying he looked out the ass of 10 Downing Street.

The London Tabloids had a field day. The Daily Mall asked in headlines, “Who Invited Him?” Another tabloid carried the headline, “MITT THE TWIT”.  That is an appropriate title for this post, since it is so descriptive.

Not wanting further bad publicity, he told an interviewer that he did not know when his wife’s horse Rafalca, would participate in the dressage and would not be present, trying to avoid any questions about the $77, 000 expense to ship the horse to London.  Romney always tries to avoid any discussion about his wealth. The Los Angeles Times reported on August 6 in an article by Robin Abcarian that Romney purchased a home in La Jolla, California for 12 million, cash in 2008, and in 2009 he sought an exemption for his property taxes stating that the evaluation  be reduced to 6.8 million. It was eventually evaluated at 11.4 million, but. Nice try Mitt.  Romney in his daily stump speeches never fails to profess his love for this country, at times even singing a poor rendition of America the Beautiful, yet he does not hesitate to use every loop hole possible to avoid or lower his taxes. He knows that taxes are used to provide for the health and welfare of its citizens but does not consider it his responsibility. The Times actually gave an address for the La Jolla property, with its 61 feet of ocean front, 311 Dunemere, La Jolla, Ca. 92037. Feel free to review the property through Google.

The remainder of his International trip to enhance his foreign policy skills was just as disastrous. In Israel he praised the economy and the drive of the country, contrasting it with Palestine, saying Israel’s success was cultural, thus insulting Palestine. If a peace is ever achieved in the Middle East it will have to be as a result of negotiations and compromises and the insulting of one side will insure that peace will never be reached.

In Poland, reporters were trying to ask Mitt questions and as usual he was trying to duck the press and his press aide became exasperated and blurted out “”Shove it”, Kiss My Ass” “This is a Holy Polish site!” He later apologized, but nothing was heard from the Mittster about the incident.

Back in the US, he needed to change the subject and decided that selecting his running mate would do the ticket. He arranged for a clandestine meeting with Paul Ryan, the Congressman from Wisconsin in the home of staff member Bess Meyers.  Ryan was informed of his selection and an announcement would have been made sooner, but for the shooting that occurred in a Sikh Temple. Finally Mitt made his announcement on a Saturday Morning of all days; all the commentators are still wondering why he released the info on a dead weekend. Again it may have been that the Mittster wanted to change the topic again. On Friday morning, August 10^th, during an interview with Chuck Todd, NBC Political Analyst Mitt said that he would like to reach an agreement with the Obama Campaign that certain topics be off the table, such as family, business, and taxes, all of the subjects he has been avoiding and the flash back from such a statement would really give a clear picture of what the Mittster is all about. He just wants to talk about things that make him look good, like maybe his haircut, other than that, what else is there.

He is upset over the statement from Harry Reid, Senator from Nevada that Mitt didn’t pay taxes for 10 years, but he still refuses to release his tax returns. He still hasn’t released his return for 2011 and won’t release them until shortly before the election when he can argue that any criticism is just last minute lies.  His supporters were quick to label Reid as a “Dirty Liar” Again Mitt didn’t comment on Reid.

On August 16, 2012, in order to prove that he had paid taxes every year, he stated that he reviewed his taxes and had never paid less than 13% in taxes over the past ten years. If you are paying taxes on capital gains then 13 to 15% is appropriate, however if you are paying taxes on wages  then the rate would be 29%.  The past ten years takes us to 2002, the last year in which the Mittster filed with the SEC, indicating that he was the president, CEO and sole shareholder of Bain Capital. If he released his tax returns for those years, it would be possible to ascertain whether the money he received from Bain for 2002 could be classified as wages or capital gains.  It is not illegal to avoid taxes; it is illegal to evade taxes!

The question commentators are also asking is why Paul Ryan?   Because in selecting Ryan, Mitt has also endorsed Ryan’s Budget. Certainly Portman and Pawlenty would have been safer choices although slogans had already been picked out if he had, such as “The bland leading the bland.”

It is clear that the Mittster did not thoroughly analyze his decision because within 48 hours he was quickly distancing himself from the Ryan Budget, saying he has his own plan and that they would be running on his plan. The day after that he said he and Ryan’s plan differed.  Finally he flipped again and said that both plans are very similar in certain parts but that he had not compared them side by side. It is very clear that both plans will gut the Medicaid health program and turn Medicare into a voucher program.

Mitt quickly decided that it might not be prudent to take Ryan to Florida with him because of the large population of senior citizen voters who depend on Medicare and instead sent Ryan into Iowa, where he met hecklers at the Iowa State Fair, who were asking him about his plan to cut Medicare.

One has to question the Mittster’s common sense in his choice of Ryan, because along with the Ryan budget, Ryan also carries excess luggage that he has to sidestep.

Paul Ryan has had an attachment to Ayn Rand and her philosophy for a number of years and has made public statements about his admiration for her. At an Atlas Society meeting celebrating Ayn Rand’s life in 2005, Ryan said that, “the reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand, and I grew up reading Ayn Rand and it taught me quite a bit about who I am and what my value systems are, and what my beliefs are. It’s inspired me so much that it is required reading in my office for all my interns and staff.”In response to criticism from Catholic leaders, in 2012 Ryan distanced himself from Rand’s Objectivist Philosophy, telling the National Review, I reject her philosophy. It’s an atheist philosophy. It reduces human interaction down to mere contacts and it is antithetical to my world view”, and noting that his views were more aligned with those of Roman Catholic philosophy and saint, Thomas Aquinas than Ayn Rand.

When you mention Ryan's Catholicism and his 2012 Budget plan you have to note that he received criticism from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and from faculty and administrators of Georgetown University. In a letter to Rep Ryan, the Georgetown group criticized the Ryan budget as trying to “dismantle government programs and abandon the poor to their own devices,” going on to say that Catholic teaching “demands that higher levels of governments provide help---"subsidium"—when communities and local governments face problems beyond their means to address such as economic crisis, high unemployment, endemic poverty and hunger." The letter also criticizes Ryan for his attempts at "gutting government programs "and states that Ryan is profoundly misreading church teaching."

A statement issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops criticized the Ryan budget in similar terms. Ryan rejected the bishops’ criticism that his budget plans disproportionately cut programs that "serve poor and vulnerable people."

 The Jesuits were even stronger in their condemnation, saying that  " his budget  appears to reflect the values of your favorite philosopher, Ayn Rand, rather then the gospel of Jesus Christ".
In the week since he was announced as Mitt’s running mate, Paul Ryan has been subjected to scrutiny by the media. Previously representing a rural congressional district in Wisconsin he was able to make some statements in Washington D.C. and an opposite statement on the same subject in his home district.  However being in the spotlight has exposed his flip flopping.


He has been questioned on why he opposes cuts to Medicare he once proposed. He was asked, “you’re criticizing President Obama, right now for taking money from Medicare to pay for Obamacare, when your plan calls for the same thing”.  He answered by saying he has voted to repeal Obamacare, so by making the cuts, he is in effect, repealing Obamacare. The $716 Million dollars that are proposed to be cut by the Romney/Ryan Budget will reduce the amount received by the health care recipients, because it will be used to offset revenues losses from the tax cuts for the wealthy.

 As for Medicare, they plan to destroy it via a voucher program, where a set amount of money will be given to each recipient to shop for insurance. If they buy a cheaper plan they get to keep the diffreence. If they chose a more expensive plan or the costs increase, the recipient pays for the increase out of their own pocket. Medicade will be completely gutted. Has the smell gotten to you yet? 
The Obama health care cuts, in reality are not cuts in benefits but rather the savings in costs that the  Congressional Budget Office projects over the next decade from reasonable provisions in the reform law. They do not reduce the amount of anyone’s health care coverage. The bulk of the $716 million dollars in reductions come from reducing government reimbursement rates for hospitals, nursing homes, and other care providers. The resulting savings were used by the Obama Administration to extend Obamacare to 2024.

Romney/Ryan are well aware of the disengenuineness of their ad aginst President Obama, "the alleged raid against Medicare" which is a polite way of saying they know that the ad is an outright lie and they have no qualms about continuing to run the ad, which says a great deal about their moral character. Both men insist that they would save Mediare by pumping a huge amount of money into the program but the idea is ludicris given their prior pledgr to repeal Medicare. The only thing known about the Romney/Ryan Budget plan is that they want to spend very large sums on the military and on tax cuts for wealthy Americans but this is not what they want to bring to the attention of the voting public.

He was asked why if he opposed President Obama’s Stimulus Bill, arguing that it would not work, would not create jobs and would add to the deficit, he had asked for money for his district?

He denied requesting money for his district and had previously denied doing so when he was interviewed on a radio talk show in Massachusetts.  According to a Los Angeles Times article of August 17, 2012, written by Alana Semuels, Ryan previously told Cincinnati’s WCPO-TV, that  he had never asked for stimulus money. “I don’t recall and I haven’t seen this report so I really can’t comment on it. I opposed the stimulus because it doesn’t work-it didn’t work, it brought us deeper into debt.
 It has been reported that Ryan requested and received 20 million dollars of the stimulus money for his district. It would be interesting to know what if anything the money did to stimulate the economy in  his district or help those  who received it, or did the cash just go to the owners?

 Ryan has to realize that he is no longer a small time pol who can deceive the public by making statements to pander to his audience. If Paul Ryan can not recall requesting and receiving $20 million dollars for his district then he should not be in charge of any budget!

So the Mittster has actually picked the right running mate for himself, a “MINI MITT”, who can
 flip flop and pander just like he does.


Fist Bump Time!

SOME CHEESE WITH YOUR WHINE MITT?

During his primary battles with Santorum, Ginggrich, and  Paul,  Mitt had no problem destroying them with millions of dollars in negative ads, giving no quarter and taking no prisoners . Now that he faces legitimate criticism over his financial dealings with and without Bain, he cries foul and demands an apology.  The Mittster can’t have it both ways,  either he created thousands of jobs with Bain or was not involved with Bain after 1999. However he continued to file documents with the SEC, through 2002 declaring that he was the CEO, President and sole shareholder and continued to receive compensation, although he says that he had no part in the management which outsourced jobs overseas. When the facts are as clear as this, he can’t claim that it is all a falsehood, the facts speak for themselves.

Within a week of complaining about what he considered negative ads, Mitt embarked on negative ads of his own. President Obama had given a speech in which he indicated in essensence that no man is an island and therefore success in business is not accomplished singlehandedly, that it takes a village which includes roads, electrical power, telephones and the internet as well as banks for an individual to start a business. President Obama even emphasized his meaning by summarizing and repeating his statement.

Mitt and his camp followers turned the meaning of the speech around to say that President Obama was against small business and of course his Fox lackies, followed in lock step, repeating that President Obama was anti small business. So Mitt is agitated when ads which he considers negative are lodged against him even when the ads have merit but does not hesitate to fabricate negative ads of his own. He can dish it out but can’t  take  it.

FIST BUMP!