Month: February 2012

Categories
Mitt Romney Politics

Mitt Romney Again Said Detroit Should Have Gone Bankrupt

America prides itself in the quality of automobiles it produces and Detroit – known as the motor city – is where that pride originates. But under the strain of the present recession, Detroit and America saw the automobile industry crumble, laying off thousands of people to stay in business and creating inferior products in the process.

The choice was simple – let Detroit go bankrupt, thus eliminating millions of jobs throughout the industry and watching other countries continue to pass us by in the quality and quantity of cars they produce, which by the way, was what Mitt Romney said should have happened when he wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times; or do whatever was reasonably necessary to save millions of jobs and save the industry, and bringing that pride back to America as first in the world for quality car production.

President Obama chose the second option and Detroit, the auto industry and America are seeing the rewards of his action. America once again produces the best automobiles in the world.

Everyone shares in this pride, except Republicans… and Mitt Romney. Today, Romney wrote another piece, reiterating his feeling that Detroit should have went bankrupt.

My view at the time — and I set it out plainly in an op-ed in the New York Times — was that “the American auto industry is vital to our national interest as an employer and as a hub for manufacturing.” Instead of a bailout, I favored “managed bankruptcy” as the way forward.

Managed bankruptcy may sound like a death knell. But in fact, it is a way for a troubled company to restructure itself rapidly, entering and leaving the courtroom sometimes in weeks or months instead of years, and then returning to profitable operation.

In the case of Chrysler and GM, that was precisely what the companies needed.

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Healthcare Mitt Romney ObamaCare

Mitt Romney Compares RomneyCare to ObamaCare — ” Well, There Are Similarities”

If you listen to Mitt Romney today, you will think that President Obama is breaking all kinds of laws with his Health Care Reform law, also referred to as ObamaCare. Romney would like you to believe that President Obama health care law is so wrong, so intrusive, that saving America depends on the immediate repeal of ObamaCare.

But what did Romney think of ObamaCare just as recently as two years ago?

Buzzfeed dug up this interview.

Smith: Earlier today, President Obama remarked to NBC on the degree of similarity between his health-care reform policies and those that you passed in Massachusetts under your term as governor. How is the health-care reform legislation signed by Obama last week significantly different from the policies that you passed in Massachusetts?

Romney: Well, there are similarities. And some of the best features of his health-care plan are like ours — such as, we do not allow insurance companies to drop people who develop illnesses, our insurance is entirely portable, virtually all of our citizens are insured and there is an individual responsibility for getting insurance.

The big differences are that he raised taxes; we did not. He cut Medicare; we did not. He put in place price controls; we did not. And his is a federal program — a one-size-fits-all solution — and in our view — in my view, the best approach is a state-by-state creation of programs designed to fit the needs of citizens of each state.

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ann coulter Featured

Ann Coulter Compares President Obama to Flava Flave

Ann Coulter is one of the so-called influential elites in todays Republican party. And this just shows how far this once respected party has gone off the edge.

In lastweek’s CPAC gathering, Coulter addressed the crowed to discuss important issues concerning the American people and how to get things back on track. This apparently, was the best solution to the issues she came up with.

Categories
Christian Politics right winged

The Conservative Wave Is Cresting: Next Comes the Crash

If you listen carefully, you can hear it gathering momentum, foam, vitriol, recrimination and self-serving hypocrisy. It’s the conservative wave roaring towards the beach, cresting and ready to crash. The 2012 election will be the beginning of the end for the far-right conservatives and, like the liberals who didn’t see their wave tumble in 1984, will likely lead to an even uglier aftermath. Republicans are angry now: Imagine what will happen if they lose another presidential election this year (and they will), especially if they’re able to hold on to the House and take back the Senate. So close, yet so far.

The conservative Republican era that began in 1980 and tilted the country to the right had a good run if you supported the cause, but it was never able to achieve its stated goals of severely scaling back government, ending the New Deal and Great Society programs, overturning Roe v. Wade, and ending the progressive tax structure (though they’ve come pretty close with this one). They built up the military and got a Democratic president to end welfare, passed a too-expensive Medicare prescription plan and raised taxes enough to begin to pay off the deficit, though that cost George H. W. Bush his reelection.

The era lasted because Ronald Reagan and both Bushes were able to tame the party’s conflicting passions. Reagan galvanized the economic old guard GOP while paying lip service to the religious conservatives led by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. Reagan was never a religious person but he talked the talk well enough to keep the support of Christian conservatives, and really, where else were they going to go? That he was able to raise taxes, reform Social Security and work with liberal Democrats speaks to his political skills. The Bushes had a mixed record with the party’s disparate groups. George H.W. inherited Reagan’s mantle, but he was considered suspect on abortion. W. was more conservative, but still did not fight all that hard for the religious agenda.

Of course, the damage that all three presidents did with their hostility to government, marginalization of gays and women, and their Supreme Court choices will endure for many years.

The more recent history of the movement shows most conclusively that it is indeed on its wheezing last breath. The public still sees the Republican Party as the architect of the economic disaster of 2008, and as the economy improves President Obama will get the lion’s share of the rewards. More people support marriage equality than oppose it and the recent flap over contraception shows that the GOP is out of touch with the way most Americans, especially women, view both the birth control and religious issues.

That brings us to why this is the beginning of the end.

The far right wing of the Republican Party is driving the party’s agenda and there’s not one candidate who’s shown they can corral the competing factions. Conservative reaction to Mitt Romney ranges from suspect to hostile and none of the other candidates can claim the right’s support. Yet. That might change as Rick Santorum showed in winning three non-binding primaries last week.

If anything, the nomination battle has proven that the movement has splintered along economic, social and religious lines. Many of the proposals we’ve heard are meant to appeal to the far fringe Tea Party wing of the party (Ron Paul) or to the religious conservatives (Santorum and Gingrich). Romney’s attempts to appeal to the center while throwing the right some scraps on abortion and taxes have so far fallen short of gaining wide acceptance.

None of the candidates would take the deal that offered $10 in budget cuts for $1 in tax increases. Some in the party still question President Obama’s citizenship and religion, and the candidates accuse him of the most outlandish things: anti-religion, creating a communist state, forsaking Israel, and wanting Iran to get a nuclear weapon.

It’s an extreme agenda to say the least, and it will lead to the GOP’s crash. History shows that when you lose the middle of your constituency, you lose your mandate to govern. The Republican Party is on that path.

My sense is that this will all be exposed during the general election campaign and, combined with an improving economy, will result in Obama’s reelection. The 2010 Congressional elections resulted in redistricting that solidified the Republican’s majorities in the House, though Tea Party seats are certainly up for grabs in many districts, and the Democrats have to defend too many Senate seats to count on continued control of that chamber. Conservatives will still hold sway on many issues, but the wave is over. The United States won’t become more liberal, but it will become less conservative and less extreme. Most Republicans probably don’t see this trend coming, and it’s already too late to stop it.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives and Twitter @rigrundfest

Categories
Mitt Romney Politics

Romney’s “Severely Conservative” Statement Causing Conservatives Severe Pain

Mitt Romney‘s statement at CPAC that he is “severely conservative” is causing some other conservative leaders to scratch their heads. Richard A. Viguerie, the Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, had this to say after hearing Romney’s proclamation.

“In my 50 years in conservative politics at the national level, I have never heard anyone other than Governor Romney describe himself as ‘severely’ conservative.

“Romney has shown, once again, that he can mouth the words conservatives use, but he has no gut-level emotional connection with the conservative movement and its ideas and policies.

“To paraphrase a story about Mark Twain, one day his wife decided to repeat some of his more colorful four-letter words to embarrass him into cleaning up his language. After absorbing the barrage, the author thought for a moment and said, ‘Honey, you’ve got the words right, but you just don’t have the tune.’

“After 50 years in the conservative movement, I can say with some authority: Mitt, you may have the words of conservatism right, but you just don’t have the tune.”

“I wasn’t quite sure what the word ‘severely’ meant,” Sarah Palin told CNN, and Rush Limbaugh found it odd that Romney felt the need to express just how conservative he was. “I have never heard anybody say, ‘I’m severely conservative,” Limbaugh said, “no, I’ve never heard anybody SAY it.”

I don’t agree with Rush Limbaugh on anything, but on this issue I see his point. If you have to go this far and use these type of words to describe your ideology, then something’s really wrong. Like the old saying goes, “action speaks louder than words.” So because of Mitt’s lack of Conservative actions as governor of Massachusetts, he’s now trying to fool some by using his words.

Sad part is, Conservatives are so easily fooled.

Categories
Politics republican candidates

Thomas Friedman – Republicans Should Just “Sit This Election Out”

Thomas Friedman of the New York Times writes:

WATCHING the Republican Party struggling to agree on a presidential candidate, one wonders whether the G.O.P. shouldn’t just sit this election out — just give 2012 a pass.

You know how in Scrabble sometimes you look at your seven letters and you’ve got only vowels that spell nothing? What do you do? You go back to the pile. You throw your letters back and hope to pick up better ones to work with. That’s what Republican primary voters seem to be doing. They just keep going back to the pile but still coming up with only vowels that spell nothing.

There’s a reason for that: Their pile is out of date. The party has let itself become the captive of conflicting ideological bases: anti-abortion advocates, anti-immigration activists, social conservatives worried about the sanctity of marriage, libertarians who want to shrink government, and anti-tax advocates who want to drown government in a bathtub.

Great analogy. Republican presidential candidates for 2012 amounts to… nothing!

Categories
Politics weekly address

President Obama Reminds Us – No Action In Congress Could Raise Your Taxes This Month

President Obama used his weekly Presidential address to call on Congress to “do the right thing” on the expiring Payroll Tax issue. The tax extension recently agreed to is set to expire at the end of February.

… at the end of the month, taxes are set to go up on 160 million working Americans. If you’re one of them, then you know better than anyone that the last thing you need right now is a tax hike.  But if Congress refuses to act, middle class taxes will go up.  It’s that simple.

Echoing recent appeals to the public, the President called on Americans to pick up the phone and call their congressperson and demand that they extend the Payroll Tax Cuts.

 I hope you’ll pick up the phone, send a tweet, write an email, and tell your representative that they should get this done before it gets too late.  Tell them not to play politics again by linking this debate to unrelated issues. Tell them not to manufacture another needless standoff or crisis.  Tell them not to stand in the way of the recovery.  Tell them to just do their job.  That’s what our middle class needs.  That’s what our country needs.

Categories
Mitt Romney Politics Rick Santorum

Once An Independent And Moderate, Mitt Romney Now Calls Himself A Conservative

Mitt Romney‘s back is up against the wall. His agility to win is being questioned by some of his most ardent supporters and conservatives are still looking for another candidate to carry their banner into the 2012 Presidential election.

They believed Donald Trump was going to be their poster-boy when he toyed with their emotions about running, but soon realized that Trump was just trying to boost viewership of his Apprentice television show. And they hauled their hopes and prayers on the back of Michelle Bachmann, but soon realized that she was too much of a right winged nut-job for their nut-job liking.

Rick Perry was their god and their savior, until he opened his mouth and tried to talk. He was packed up and shipped back to Texas just as fast as he was welcomed and urged into the nomination process. And then there was Herman Cain, who actually managed to carry the conservative mantle for about a month, but after everyone and their mother began accusing him of sexual misconduct, Cain too was shipped back to the pizza joint he crawled out of.

Newt Gingrich will be Newt Gingrich. Conservatives gave him a win in South Carolina then watched as Gingrich self-destruct. Unable to contain the euphoria of his win, Newt crowned himself the man, tooting his own horn, then losing miserably in Florida.

Throughout all this Mitt Romney fumbled, flipped and flopped his way through the debates. He even agreed in one debate that Newt Gingrich was more of a conservative than he was.

Then there was this little nugget when Romney admitted to being an independent.

I was an Independent through Reagan/Bush. I’m not trying to return to Reagan/Bush.

Throughout the years, Mitt Romney’s been an Independent, accused of being a moderate, he’s been “a businessman and not a politician,” and he’s even been accused of being a liberal because of his views of many social issues. But at no time in his business or political life has anyone ever accused Mr Romney of being a Conservative… until now. With the last three caucus and primary wins by the self-proclaimed Conservative Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney is now, suddenly, “severely conservative.”

“I fought against long odds in a deep blue state, but I was a severely conservative Republican governor,” Romney said, trying to convince the group at this week’s CPAC meeting.

“I did things conservatism is designed for – I started new businesses and turned around broken ones. And I am not ashamed to say that I was very successful at it. I know conservatism because I have lived conservatism.”

This guy really wants to be president, but pandering to a particular group telling them what you think they want to hear is not the pathway to the White House. Mitt Romney is still living in the old days where candidates spoke to certain groups without fear of their words going viral. He must somehow learn to pattern a message for the country, instead of the group he is talking to at that moment.

But sticking to one message that would appeal to the nation would require some level of honesty, and honesty is something flip floppers lack.

Categories
Christianity Politics Rick Santorum

Santorum Use Christianity To Foster Fear In His Followers

How low do you have to go to call yourself a Christian, then use Christianity and its teachings as a fear mechanism for keeping your faithful followers in check by lying to them and invoking their deepest fears – that their faith is being challenged by the all powerful, all mighty president, Mr. Obama?!

Well, if you’re Rick Santorum, you can go pretty low. In the video below, Santorum does just that as he used God and Christianity to tell the audience that President Obama has taken us 1down a road of “overt hostility to faith in America.”

Categories
Politics

Mitt Romney’s Supporters Concerned – Maybe He Can’t Win After-all

Supporters of  Mitt Willard Romney are beginning to ask questions. They are taking a second – and in some cases, a third look – at their candidate, and they are wondering if he really has what it takes to beat President Obama in the fall election.

With his unlimited cash flow and his support from big Wall Street brokers and hedge fund managers, many thought the Republican nomination would have already been paid for by the Romney campaign, but Rick Santorum’s recent trifecta wins in Colorado, Missouri and Minnesota solidified what many already knew – that they were supporting a weak candidate who has no appeal no platform and no message on how he will help America if elected.

Even before Rick Santorum’s surprising sweep of three contests on Tuesday, the Romney campaign was receiving a steady stream of advice — and warnings — from Republicans who are increasingly anxious about Romney’s performance, which has not improved over nearly six weeks since the state caucuses and primaries began.

One prominent adviser told the candidate to sharpen his use of conservative code words and create “small pictures” — vivid imagery, in other words — to connect with voters. Another flew to Boston to say that Romney’s message is too businesslike and broad to capture the passion of angry Republican voters. Still others have gone on television and written opinion columns to hammer home what is becoming a common theme this year: that Romney has not been able to ignite a cause when the GOP is primed to become part of one.

After Romney’s three wins, five losses and his solid lead in delegates, most Republicans said they still think he will win the nomination.

But they see a candidate who lacks broad support among conservatives, and whose recent defeats reveal that his organization is not quite as unstoppable as many supporters had thought.

Categories
Politics Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum Says Hiring Women Catholic Priests is a “Hostile” Act

Apparently, according to the Catholic Church, president Obama is waging a war on their religion. The war the Catholics claim, is the requirement approved by the president’s administration that calls on employers to provide an option for contraception in their employees health care policies.

Of course, no one is explaining that this law has been in effect for the last 10 years through the EEOC — Equal Employment Opportunity Commission , or the fact that the Catholic University in Washington DC is already providing this option to their employees. And everyone seems to forget the waiver included in the law for Churches.

But manufactured crisis is what gets the spotlight, and even Congressional Republicans like John Boehner has joined the war, choosing his obvious position and firing on the president.

“In imposing this requirement, the federal government is violating a First Amendment right that has stood for more than two centuries, and it is doing so in a manner that affects millions of Americans and harms some of our nation’s most vital institutions,” Boehner, R-Ohio, said. “If the president does not reverse the Department’s attack on religious freedom, then the Congress, acting on behalf of the American people and the Constitution we are sworn to uphold and defend, must.”

That is expected. Congressional Republicans have been looking for any reason they could find to oppose this president. But it was something said by Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, that caught my attention.

Mr. Santorum, the present leader in the Republican presidential field actually suggested that women priests create a hostile environment.

What they’ve done here is a direct assault on the First Amendment, not only a direct assault on the freedom of religion, by forcing people specifically to do things that are against their religious teachings. . . . This is a president who, just recently, in this Hosanna-Tabor case was basically making the argument that Catholics had to, you know, maybe even had to go so far as to hire women priests to comply with employment discrimination issues. This is a very hostile president to people of faith. He’s a hostile president, not just to people of faith, but to all freedoms.

We had already awarded the say anything to get elected trophy to Mitt Romney, but now here comes Santorum. We just placed the order for a second trophy.

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CNN superbowl Tid Bits tweets

CNN Suspends Roland Martin Indefinitely

During the Superbowl on Sunday, Roland Martin, a regular political commentator on CNN, tweeted this:

The tweet caused an uproar in the gay and lesbian community, causing CNN to indefinitely suspend Mr. Roland. From CNN’s statement;

“Roland Martin’s tweets were regrettable and offensive. Language that demeans is inconsistent with the values and culture of our organization, and is not tolerated. We have been giving careful consideration to this matter, and Roland will not be appearing on our air for the time being.”

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