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!

AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL

Since Chief Justice made the momentous ruling on the Affordable Health Care Act, journalist from all facets of the political spectrum have written their interpretation of what it means for future social legislation. Some consider that the C.J. Roberts has given a warning to President Obama’s Administration that even though this ruling was favorable, that the ruling did not concern the merits of the act but whether the act itself was constitutional. The Chief Justice in his statement said, that it was not the Supreme Court’s job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices, in essence saying that he was not in favor of the law itself, but as far as its legality it was constitutional.

Some political pundits have ascribed a Machiavellian motive to the Chief Justice’s action, arguing that if he had voted with Kennedy and the arch conservatives, Scalia, Alito and Thomas in holding the entire act unconstitutional, this would have galvanized President Obama’s base into uniting to reelecting him to a second term. However by reaching out and finding that the individual mandate was a tax, and joining with the four other justices in upholding the act and mandate constitutional, he has given the far right the issue of the President passing a tax upon the middle class, while at the same time weakening the Commerce Clause which as a result of the finding, has lost some value for future legislation.

There were many headlines declaring this a victory for President Obama, but as Paul Krugman stated in an Op-Ed in the New York Times on Friday June 28, 2012, the real winners are ordinary Americans, people like you. Every American who would have found health insurance unaffordable but will now receive financial help and every American with a preexisting condition who would have been flatly denied coverage in many states now has insurance coverage. The winners from the Supreme Court decision are your friend s, your relatives, the people you work with, and very likely you. For almost all of us stand to benefit from making America a kinder and more decent society.

The campaign against health care reform is now in full swing with millions of dollars being set aside for ad campaigns denouncing the value of the health care bill with mispresentations and outright lies. Who can forget the rumors that the act had death panels?  The cost of the legislation will be exaggerated and while Republican Congressmen would not hesitate to increase defense spending by 50% and add a standing military of 100,000 as Mitt said he wanted to do, at an estimated cost of two trillion dollars over the next ten years, they question the cost of keeping American healthy.

Within hours of the Supreme Court’s upholding the constitutionality of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, a bill that historians will compare to FDR’s Social Security and LBJ’s Medicare, Mitt Romney and Congressional  Republicans pledged to intensify their efforts to repeal it. While members of congress rushed to portray it as a tax upon the middle class, Mitt Romney was unable to make this argument because as governor of Massachusetts he signed a similar health bill with an identical individual mandate which he labeled a penalty and not a tax.

As of July 11, 2012, the House Republicans have tried for the 32nd time to repeal the affordable Health Care act, which they know is a futile act since even if they were successful in the house which they weren’t, they would not be able to get it passed in the senate. Instead of wasting taxpayer money and time on frivolous actions, house Republicans should start working on the Jobs Bill that was sent to them last September. This Jobs Bill can immediately put state and local government workers back to work, along with construction workers who can start working on building and repairing public infrastructure. Are the Republican House members intentionally withholding support for the jobs bill during this election year in order to keep the economy weak and fragile? No they wouldn’t do that, would they?

FIST BUMP TIME

DAS MITT!

 According to the February 2012 Vanity Fair article, for Mitt being a Mormon is a duty where he accepts a code of conduct that places extreme value on families, heterosexual families, where men and women have their own defined roles.  He is comfortable around family and close Mormon friends, he is much less so among non Mormons especially those he does not know well, in a strict social order, and it’s us and them. That puts even those he has worked with for years, including co workers,   political aides, outside the bubble.  He therefore has many admirers but few close friends. For those outside his inner circle Mitt comes across as all business, colleagues at work are there to do the work not bond.

He has little patience for idle chatter, or small talk, he does not crave social interaction, often displaying little interest in knowing who people are or what makes them tick. He is not interested in people’s personal details or their kids or spouses said a former aide.
He was considered the Imperial Governor of Massachusetts with ropes that curtailed access to Romney’s office, the elevator settings also restricted access to his office. The tape on the floor told people   exactly where to stand during events. This was the controlled environment that he personally created. It was said that among legislators, he had no idea what their names were, because he was so far removed from the day to day operations of state government.    

In a front page story in The New York Times on May 20, 2012, Writer Jodi  Kantor writes, When Romney embarked in his first political campaign race in 1994, ( Romney continues to maintain that he is not a politician) he also slipped into  a humble new role in the Mormon congregation he once led. On Sunday mornings he stood in the sunlit chapel here teaching Bible classes for adults. Leading students through stories about Jesus and the Nephite and Lamanite tribes.  (Not familiar with the Nephite and Lamanite tribes?  I’m not surprised). The Book of Mormon as translated by Joseph Smith from the golden plates, narrates the history of an ancient Hebrew tribe, headed by a prophet named Lehi, who was an Israelite of the tribe of Manasseh who led his family out of Jerusalem, six hundred years before the birth of Christ. They journeyed to North America by boat that they were instructed to build by God. That during the voyage Lehi dictated revelations which were written onto metal plates which were later buried in the new world. The party of men, women, and children along with their animals settled down in their new community and lived peacefully until they  began quarreling when Lehi  chose his younger  son, Nephi  to lead the tribe, which caused friction with his older brother, Laman,  resulting in the tribe splitting into two rival groups, the Nephites and the Lamanites.

The  Nephites are described as fair skinned and upstanding , while their  bitter rivals, the Lamanites are described as a lazy people, full of  bitterness, whose behavior was so  adverse to  God’s will  that he cursed the whole  lot of them with dark skin to punish them .    

According to the Book of Mormon, shortly after the resurrection of Christ, Jesus visited North America to share his new gospel with both tribes persuading them to stop being antagonistic towards one another.  The tribes lived peacefully for several hundred years then the Lamanites, reverted to their prior deviant heathen behavior. The  Tension  between the two  tribes , escalated  into war around 400 A.D. which ended with  the  Lamanites  slaughtering  all 230,000 Nephites , (without leaving a trace of their ever having existed).  The Lamanites became the Native American but their past as a Hebrew Tribe was purged from their memory.
The Nehite/Lamanite history is accepted as truth by Mormons, although secular archeologists and historians have found no external evidence to corroborate the account given of Nephite history as given in the book of Mormon.   In 1996 The Smithsonian Institute issued a statement addressing claims made in the Book of Mormon , stating the text is primarily a religious text  and that archeologists affiliated with the institution found  “no direct connection between the archeology of the new world and the subject matter of the book.”

All religions require a leap of faith but do not require a person to be so gullible as to accept a fact that can be disproved or is unreliable or based on a disreputable source. To accept such facts and give them credence is to bring one’s own reasoning into question.

 Here’s a con man with a great pick up line, (God has chose you as my next plural wife and if you refuse or object you will be dammed forever). What 16 year old in their right mind could resist such a smooth line? This is the same individual who after being convicted of defrauding an individual by pretending to look at a stone and  finding  buried treasure, reports that an angel, informed him that he had been chosen to reveal a new and  the  only true and religious church,  because all the  other religions had gotten it wrong . He said that while in the woods an angel told him about buried gold plates, which contained   what he termed reformed Egyptian writing. Conveniently he was able to translate the plates by looking at a stone inside of a hat which was the same method that he had previously used to defraud people.

He spins a tale of the two Hebrew tribes sailing to North America from Jerusalem in a homemade boat.   That God appeared in the new world and requested the factions to live together peacefully  but in spite of God’s request war broke out among them, which resulted in one tribe completely slaughtering the other, 230,000 individuals without leaving a trace that they ever existed.

 Compound this with the fact that this individual from the inception of his new religion announcement has a revelation from a deity that plural wives or polygamy is one of the commandments that he is to follow.  That this individual keeps this to himself and practices the doctrine of plural marriage in secret before revealing it to an inner circle, which also practice it in secretly for years before finally  announcing it  to the remainder of the members.

 Add to this the Mormon Beliefs that that eternal life means becoming a God through exaltation and living in the celestial Kingdom with God, which only perfect sinless married Mormons can do.  Marriages must take place in the Mormon temple to gain the Celestial   Kingdom, but only selected church members may be allowed entrance to the temple. A local church grants admission to the temple (A “temple recommend”) to only those members who are tithing 10% of their income, and who agree that the President of the church is Prophet, Seer, and Revelator among other requirements. It is estimated that only 10 to 30 % of members have a temple recommend.

Finally add  the requirement that Mormons are required to wear at all times under their clothing   except while bathing sacred under garments , usually a two piece tight fitting undergarment  with symbols over both breasts, the navel and right knee which is supposed to bring protection to the wearer. 

 Top all this by the fact that although the church requires it’s members to be totally honest in their dealings with others, the church leaders disingenuously deny that Joseph Smith was ever convicted of fraud or disorderly conduct and that he and Brigham Young ever practice polygamy and to this day have not admitted their participation in the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

This is the Mormon Church. It is what it is, but for an individual who is running for the presidency of the United States and potential leader of the free world, to accept and practice this doctrine without question may explain why he is unable to relate to the common everyday man and why he has no qualms about earning money at the expense of others or excluding others who are considered unworthy of participation.  If you contributed 10% of your income to your church, which they used to build a temple, would you allow yourself to be excluded while the elite are permitted entrance?  Does this sound like the George Orwell, Animal House slogan “All animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others?”

As the Vanity Fair article pointed out, he follows the code it is us versus them.   Mormons do not have paid full time clergy. Members in good standing take turns serving in leadership positions. Those called to serve as stake Presidents, bishops (all men) or leaders of local wards,  are fully empowered as agents of the church, and carry great authority. Romney’s first major role in the church was as a counselor to the president of the Boston stake.

 His responsibilities grew and he became a bishop and finally stake president of Boston, where he was forced to deal with resentment among progressive Mormon women in regards to their subservient status within the church.  Mormonism is male-dominated, women only serve in certain leadership roles and never as bishops or stake presidents.  A women’s group called Exponents ll, was formed to deal with the challenges of being a women in the male-led faith. Mitt demonstrated his rigidity and strict adherence to Mormonism in his role as a church leader.

 Romney as stake president was asked to call a meeting where issues could be discussed.  Romney was forced to strike a balance between those local expectations and the dictates out of Salt Lake City. Some believe he artfully reconciled the two, praising him as an innovative and generous leader who was willing to make accommodations, while others considered him a product of a hidebound, patriarchal Mormon culture, inflexible and insensitive in delicate situations and dismissive of those who didn’t share his perspective.   His leadership was not so rosy for everyone, clashing with women he felt strayed too far from the church beliefs and practice.  To them he lacked the empathy and courage that they had known in other church leaders.

 One of them was, Peggie  Hayes, who was raised in Boston with her mother and siblings and  had baby sat for Mitt and Ann’s children before her mother moved to Salt Lake City.  At age 18 she left Salt Lake to move to Los Angeles where She was married, had a child, and thereafter divorced, and relocated back to Boston, with her three year old. She worked as a nurse’s aide to support herself and child before again becoming pregnant.  She worked for Mitt who at that time had become bishop, earning some money while she organized their basement, as well as doing odd jobs for some other church members.  One Day, Mitt called to say he wanted to come over and talk. When he came over there was small conversation before Romney said something about the church’s adoption agency. At first, Hayes believed there was a misunderstanding but then Romney’s intention became clear, he wanted her to put the child she was expecting up for adoption. When she said that she had no intention of doing this he said “well that is what the church wants you to do, and if you don’t, then you could be excommunicated for failing to follow the leadership of the church.

The 23 year old felt threatened because this was saying that she would not be saved or ever see the face of God.  Romney would later deny that  he had threatened the young lady with excommunication but she felt that his message was clear.  After the child was born he required serious surgery at nine months. The bones in his head were fused together restricting the growth of his brain.   Scared and needing emotional and spiritual support Hayes, looking past their prior uncomfortable conversation called Romney and asked him to come to the hospital to confer a blessing on her child. Hayes was expecting Romney but instead he sent two other people who she did not know.  She was crushed because she needed him. It was very significant that he did not go.  Hayes decided that she was finished with the Mormon Church.

In the fall of 1990, the women’s group Exponent ll published an unsigned essay by a woman who had five children and some years earlier found herself facing an unplanned sixth pregnancy She could not bear the thought of another child, but the Mormon Church makes few exception for abortions such as when the health of the mother is seriously threatened, or when the fetus will not survive beyond birth. But even under those e circumstances the church does not automatically justify an abortion.  Then the woman was informed by her doctor that it was discovered that she had a serious blood clot in her pelvis, but with some risk to her life, she might be able to deliver a full term child whose chance for survival they put at 50 percent. One day she was visited in the hospital by her bishop later identified as Romney, though she did not name him in her essay. As your bishop he told her my concern is with the child. She felt that as an active dedicated worker and member of the church who was hurt and helpless with fear, trying to maintain her psychological equilibrium that his concern should have been with her. The women told Romney that her stake president had told her that of course you should have this abortion and then recover from the blood clot and take care of the healthy children you already have. She said that Romney told her “I don’t believe you. He wouldn’t say that, I’m going to call him”, and left. The women wrote that what she felt bad about was at a time when she was in need of nurturing and support from spiturial leaders, she got judgment, criticism, prejudicial advice and rejection.

The final anti women incident reported in Vanity Fair is an incident by a member of  Exponent ll , who had not been able to visit a temple because prior Mormon  regulation forbid entrance to anyone who had married a non Mormon . When the rule was changed she wanted to visit a temple outside of Washington to take out endowments, a sacred rite that commits Mormons to a lifetime of faithfulness to the church. She had never entered a temple before and was thrilled at the chance to affirm her dedication to a faith she had grown up with and grown to love.  She was eager to go but first she needed permission from her bishop and stake president.  After what she described as a lovely interview with her bishop and meeting with Romney’s counselors, she went to see Mitt. Despite Romney’s unwillingness to allow some changes when they met in 1993 and the clashes they had had over the church’s treatment of women, she believed she was in god standing with him. He said  I suspect that if you’ve gotten through both of the interviews there is nothing I can do to keep you from going to the temple. She responded, well why would you want to keep me from going to the temple? Mitt answered; well I don’t understand why you stay in the church. She asked him whether he wanted her to answer the question and he said, no, actually, I don’t understand it, but I also don’t care. I don’t care what you do. But I can tell you one thing; you’re not my kind of Mormon. With that he dismissively signed her recommendation for the visit and let her go.  She was deeply hurt. Although she and Mitt had their differences, he was still her spiritual leader and she hoped he would be excited over her yearning to visit the temple. She said she felt kicked in the stomach.  

Romney follows the strict Mormon code of conduct in which men and women have strict defined traditional roles. Women’s role is in the home, working outside the home is frowned upon.  In trying to sound like he valued a women’s opinion, Mitt said that he asked his wife, Ann for information on Women’s issues. When a democratic spokes woman said that Mrs. Romney had not worked a day in her life, the Republicans quickly struck back, saying that as a mother with five children Ann Romney had a full time job.  What the spokes woman meant to say of course, was that Ann Romney had never had an outside 9 to 5 job where she had to account to someone else and be responsible for earning a paycheck. This is not something that Mitt would ever allow her to do, even if she wanted to do so.

Mitt as indicated above has very rigid feeling about a woman’s place.  When he was asked about the Lilly Ledbetter fair pay act, the first law that President Obama signed after his inauguration (allows equal pay for equal work, between men and women), Mitt said “I wouldn’t repeal it.”   Well that was nice of him. 

Romney’s  exclusive association with  members of his church  has  to some extent deprived him of common sense and not prepared him to deal  with  everyday  contacts with non Mormons  as has been shown by his remarks and behavior.   
From time to time he tries to act like a regular guy although he has no idea of how to do it.  In New Hampshire during the primaries, during a photo op with some waitresses at a café, with waitress on both sides of him he suddenly  laughed and lunged forward as if one of the waitress  had goosed him, and the waitress self consciously chuckled  and then repeated  this charade several times as if this was cute, or the thing to do.  When giving a speech in Detroit, wanting to avoid the auto bailout issue he was making off the cuff remarks and said, “I love the Lakes not just the great lakes but the small ones and I love the trees, they are all the same size.” He wants to portray himself more patriotic then the common man and has ended some speeches by reciting the words to the song “America. “  When he was asked what was his favorite vacation spot, he mentioned Paris, not saying that he had been there for 2 years doing missionary work but instead while on vacation.

There is no shortage of Romneyisms which demonstrate how out of touch he is in being unable to communicate unscripted.   He is clumsy and awkward in statements that draw attention to his wealth.  Who can forget his offer to bet $10,000 with Rick Perry, during a debate?

Who can ignore, Ann Romney wearing a $2000 tee shirt or Mitt having a home built in La Jolla California with an elevator for his cars. There is also Ann's dressage hobby where her horses costs $100,000 each. Mitt has claimed $77,000 on his income taxes for costs of transporting these horses.

Mitt wanted to show support the U.S. Auto industry and said “I drive a Mustang and a Chevy Pickup and my wife drives two Cadillac’s”.

 While at a NASCAR event he was asked if he was a fan and said, “I’m not as knowledgeable as some of the fans, but I know some NASCAR owners,”

 He said that he was not concerned about the poor because they have a safety net.  He tries to demonstrate a folksy persona, saying a man shouldn’t run for office if he needed to win to pay the mortgage

 In Mississippi he announced to a crowd, I’m learning to say y’all and I like grits. He added, “Strange things are happening to me

Laughingly he said that he could not understand how college age voters could supports democrats. He repeated this saying how can college kids vote for democrats? He never had to worry about student loans so he really doesn’t understand.  His college education at Stanford and Harvard were paid by his father. The reduced interest rates on student loans are due to expire in July and if they are not extended and allowed to expire, the interest rate will double.  His solution is to tell the college students during his speeches to be sure to shop around for their student loans. The Republican members in congress have said that will not extend the reduced interest rates and Mitt has not made any comments on the issue.

Recently when J.P. Morgan Chase reported a loss of two billion dollars in dealings that mirrored the same shady lending procedures that led to the 2008 Wall Street crash, Mitt said it was ok since it was private sector money, not federal money. The losses have now grown to 7 billion but Mitt has not made further comments.  He did not take into consideration how this affects the stock market and it’s investors as a whole, especially now with Europe as well as the U.S. struggling to regain an economic footing.

Who can forget Mitt speaking to teachers and saying the size of class rooms doesn’t matter. Maybe he was confused and was arguing the age old conundrum, size doesn’t matter. The teachers were too polite to challenge him, but common sense should tell you that a teacher has more control of a class room when they are teaching 26 instead of 40, but if you don’t have common sense  or just don’t plain care, it might not strike you as being relevant.  I’m sure that in his private school in Michigan did not have huge class sizes.

Romney’s former foreign policy advisor, Richard Grenell, who is openly gay, was forced to resign after pressure was put on Romney by a conservative radio talk show host, Bryan Fischer who claimed credit for the resignation. However Fischer then mocked Romney for succumbing to the pressure, saying how is Romney going to stand up to the Chinese or to Putin if he can allow himself to be pushed around and intimidated. The complaint about Grenell was that a gay marriage proponent in the Romney foreign policy shop was untenable. The Romney plan was evidently to muzzle him until he resigned was the worse possible way that this issue could have been handled. It guarantees that the issue will not go away, especially now that President Obama has personally endorsed same sex marriage. 

Romney cold rigid thinking is best illustrated by the story all of you have heard of occurred in 1983 when Mitt and the family were on a 12 hour trip in the family station wagon stuffed with suit cases, and his five sons. The family dog however, an Irish setter was inside of a dog carrier strapped to the roof, (Mitt had created some kind of a wind shield to make the ride more comfortable for the dog. Good old Mitt he thinks about everything. The only thing that caused the party to pull over was that the dog had relieved himself, with a brown liquid streaming down the rear window.  Good old Mitt pulled into a gas station, hosed down the vehicle, the dog and the carrier, strapped them back onto the roof and they continued on the remainder of the 12 hour drive. Common sense is what’s missing here. Why not put the luggage on the roof in one of those special carrier instead of subjecting the dog to ongoing torture from the howling wind that could be expected from such a ride.  Maybe it didn’t occur to Mitt,   after all it was just a dumb animal and it would take common sense.

A tenet of the Mormon faith is that its members have to be totally honest in their dealings with others and in touting his record as governor of Massachusetts, Mitt has misrepresented his successes by omitting key factors.  A January 9, article in the Los Angeles Times, by Michael Finnegan  states that by  Romney’s  account , his record as governor  shows how cutting  taxes and cutting spending spurs economic growth and takes credit for vetoing more than 800 spending items passed by the Legislature, wiping out unneeded programs, cutting taxes 19 times ,and building a $2 billion rainy day fund, while balancing the budget. He conveniently omitted the fact, that  the legislature overrode most of Romney’s spending cuts , State Spending rose by 22%  on his watch which , nearly doubling the rate of inflation. He increased corporate taxes and state fees by $750 million a year, outstripping the tax cuts.  

A major  focus of  Romney’s presidential campaign is that he is from the private sector and knows how to cut costs  and balance the budget and  has used his  term as governor as proof. The truth of the matter however is that Romney in his rigid, unwavering manner vetoed allocations for state police and local sheriff’s department.  He deleted spending on suicide prevention, emergency food aid job training, higher education, treatment for gambling addiction, and services for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence on his simple rationale that the state couldn’t afford it.  His rigid thinking could not compartmentalize that the state could not afford to let these vital functions go unfunded without injuring society as a whole. He was reluctant to engage with the Legislature in reaching compromises, making lesser efforts than his Republican predecessors to work with the opposition.

 During his initial 18 months as  Governor of Massachusetts,  Mitt  spent considerable time hammering out a  sweeping climate change plan to reduce the state’s green  house gas emissions, according to a Los Angeles Times article of June 13,2012, written by Neela  Banerjee and a New York Times edtorial of June 17th, 2012. However it appears that he did not completely understand the possibility of the climate change impact. He would make statements like “Climate change is occurring, and while the United States has the resources to handle it, but low- lying poor countries like Bangladesh would suffer greatly.” His cabinet members would look at him, like “what?” Romney pushed to close old coal fired plants, and encouraged the development of  renewable energy  and contain sprawl, steps similar to some President Obama has taken. But as he prepared for his run at the presidency he made an about face,  and now expresses doubt about climate science like the majority of his party. His official web site has no mention of environmental policy, except for reining in the Clean Air Act and the EPA.  It was almost as if a switch was flipped, a  true Etch A Sketch moment.

If elected, would you like to bet 10 thousand dollars over which position Mitt would take on climate change, especially since his top energy donors such as the Koch brothers are from the fossil fuel, coal and natural gas industries which are pouring hundreds of million dollars into Mitt's campaign to defeat President Obama.

In an article in the Los Angeles Times on June 24, 2012, written by Doyle McManus it states that Mitt wants to reduce the deficit and his formula for doing so is to decrease federal spending overall including medicare,while also lowering taxes, however he has said that at the same time he will increase defense spending massively by more than 50 % over current levels, which could mean almost two trillion in additional military spending over the next ten years,while at the same time balancing the budget. Even Houdini would have difficulity accomplishing this, it's just not realistic, but the Mittster thinks he can pull the wool over the voters eyes and promise whatever, to get elected. When questioned about his numbers his spokes person said that Mitt is serious about this goal but hasn't specified a date for reaching it. Good talking point, please give us a call when you come up with some specific details. That's Mitt for you, always kidding around, except this is serious business for you and me. 

On Thursday, June 28, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court issued it's long awaited decision in Human Health Services vs, National Federation of Independent Businesses (affordable health care) and in what will known as a momentous day in the history of our country, Chief Justice John Roberts stepped away from Justice Kennedy and the three stooges, Scalia, Alito and Thomas and joined with the more enlightened members of the court to uphold the individual mandate of President Obama's signature piece of legislation. The present supreme court has one of the lowest approval ratings (25%) with the American People who have seen their rulings to be politically motivated and not based on objective legal analysis and Chief Justice Roberts position is a step in the right direction in reversing this perception. The ruling is a victory for the white house but more important a victory for the American People, especially the 33 million people not previously covered by health insurance.

The Republican Party who did not vote or ever support health care reform has been quick to condemm the decision and vow to reapeal or replace the law citing the expected costs and questioning, how health care would be paid for. That's an easy answer, as stated above the Mittster has stated that he plans to increase military spending  by 2 trillion dollars over the next ten years. Why has no one questioned that? If we have 2 trillion to spend on defense, we can certainly afford to pay for the health and welfare of our citizens.

On the issue of immigration, during the Republican primaries, Mitt said he favored"self deportation" for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants who live and work in this country.  After President Obama  made the announcement on June 15, 2012 that he was halting deportation for some illegal immigrants. Specifically those who were brought here as children before the age of 16, had lived here for 5 years, were currently in high school, had a high school diploma or GED or in college or served in the military, did not have a criminal record and were under the age of 30, giving them an opportunity to apply for deferred action on deportation and for work permits which would be valid for two years and renewable. When Mitt was questioned about this he said he would support legislation that would allow some of those immigrants to stay, but refused to say whether if elected, he would countermand this executive order.

In a speech on June 21, 2012 to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, (NALEO) Mitt said that he would put in place his own long term solution that would replace and supersede the president's temporary measure. Again he was vague on the specifics except to say his his immigration plan would include a high tech fence and would not include a path to citizenship except for military service. This is the same Mitt who opposed the Dream Act and said that as president he would repeal it.
That's Mitt for you. This is the best he could come up with, 6 days after the president announced his plan on June 15, 2012.  All you can say about Mitt is that he is not too swift in time or rhetoric.  

It's seems like Mitt can't even rely on his own party for support. On June 14, the RNCLatino .com site posted a stock photo of what they thought were Latino children only to have it later pointed out to them that the children were Asian. The stock photo from Shutterstock tags the photo with keywords like, "Asia," "Asian", "Japanese" and "Thailand." You can be sure that the RNC is committed to presenting this site to Latino voters, as soon as they find out what they look like.

This is the true Willard Mitt Romney, a disingenuous, flip flopping vanilla, mom wearing  jeans individual, who at one time was proud to be pro choice because that was the platform his mother ran on in her bid for the U.S. Senate. He has once again demonstrated his  convoluted thinking process which prevents him from discerning and making decisive thoroughly conceived decisions and instead panders to any and all of his supporters, especially the higest bidders.

His latest flip floppin Etch A Sketch moment is the switch of now calling the individual mandate of the Affordable HealthCare Act a tax, whereas he previously called it a penalty. The Republican base however quickly siezed on the issue that  the individual mandate was a tax on the middle class. Five days after the ruling Mitt has finally joined his base and now calls the mandate a tax. However he insists that his mandate in his Rommneycare bill in Masschusetts is a penalty because he argues that states can legislate a penalty even if the federal government is unable to do so. The Mittster must have been absent when they discussed this in his con law class at Harvard.  Stae and Federal legislation are both subject to challenges of constitutionality, so if the federal mandate is a tax then the Masschusetts mandate is also a tax.

In a July 5, 2012 interview with Jan Crawford of CBS, Ann Romney who had accompanied the Mittster, indicated that a female candidate might be selected for his running mate as Vice President. Mitt agreed and said this was being considered. Mormonism, is a male dominated organization and women are never given leadership positions, so it appears that the Mittster is once again pandering to get the female vote. This will come to haunt him, when he fails to select a female candidate.

Are you ready to put him in charge of our country?

FIST BUMP TIME!