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!