Its tax time again, for everyone it seems, except Mitt Romney.
Tag: 2012
The Hill is reporting that Rick Santorum will drop out of the presidential race Tuesday afternoon, according to a campaign consultant, essentially guaranteeing Mitt Romney the GOP nomination.
Santorum will make the announcement at an event in his home state of Pennsylvania — his first public appearance following the release of his daughter from the hospital and after he took a break from the campaign trail for a long Easter weekend.
His decision comes after a slew of primary losses made it harder for him to catch Romney in the delegate count and it follows a meeting the former Pennsylvania senator had with conservative leaders last week to discuss his path forward.
It will now be up to Romney and Gingrich to provide all the GOP craziness.
Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren (D) has posted another mammoth fundraising quarter, raising $6.9 million in the first three months of the year, more than double the $3.4 million haul of Republican Sen. Scott Brown.
Warren raised $5.7 million in the fourth quarter on 2011, teeing up sky-high expectations for the first three months of 2012. But once, again, she’s set a new precedent for fundraising prowess.
Warren campaign manager Mindy Myers said that 83 percent of Warren’s donations since Jan. 1 have been $50 or less.
Source: Hotline On Call
Now that the President is officially in campaign mode with Mitt Romney being the obvious choice for the Republican nomination, the Obama presidential campaign put out this simple ad focusing on some of the things Romney have said during the campaign, and then showing where Romney is blatantly lying to the American people.
Like taking candy from a kid… not that we take candy from kids… well, your kids shouldn’t be dining on candies anyway… unless they’re Sarah Palin’s…
Back to the video below.
Mitt Romney managed to duck and hide from the media until Friday, when he was put in a position where he had no choice but to answer reporter’s questions about the Rush Limbaugh controversy (the latest one that is…)
Asked what he thought of Limbaugh taking on a private citizen, calling her a “slut” and a “prostitute” because she testified in Washington on the need for contraception to help with women’s health, Romney finally said this;
“I’ll just say this which is it’s not the language I would have used. I’m focusing on the issues I think are significant in the country today and that’s why I’m here talking about jobs and Ohio.”
So to be clear, Romney would have used different words to convey the same message Rush was trying to convey. A couple of responses from Twitter puts it this way;
And
So what should we expect if Mitt Romney becomes the 45th President of the United States? Well here’s a preview – Romney’s campaign just announced that Harold Hamm, a billionaire who made his money from the oil industry, will be the campaign’s “Energy Advisor.”
Mitt Romney, the front-runner for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, appointed Oklahoma oil billionaire Harold Hamm as energy adviser to his campaign.
Hamm, the 66-year-old founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Continental Resources Inc. (CLR), will be chairman of Romney’s Energy Policy Advisory Group, the candidate’s campaign office said in a statement today.
Hamm ranked 36th on Forbes magazine’s list last year of the 400 wealthiest Americans. His 68 percent stake in Enid, Oklahoma-based Continental, the largest leaseholder in the Bakken oil formation, had a value of $11.2 billion as of yesterday’s close.
And then there’s this from The Huffington Post: “The Romney campaign received $554,044 from 325 lobbyists and the political action committees of 38 lobbying firms that collectively represent more than 1,400 clients, according to The Huffington Post’s analysis of contribution disclosure forms filed with the Secretary of the Senate. These contributions may undermine part of Romney’s message that he is, in his own words, “from outside Washington, outside K Street.”
Conclusion: Major industries and Corporations pay millions to get their lobbyists to whisper in the ears of Congressional politicians. What we’re seeing with Romney’s appointment of an oil billionaire in charge of Energy is, in fact, paving the way for the lobbyist to have a direct link to a Romney presidency.
Call it, Romney’s intentional way of cutting out the middle man.
Mitt May Win Right To Lose Michigan in the Fall!
Democrats, Pro-Vomit Vote Not Enough For Santorum!
Arizona Goes Romney! Border Remains Calm!
Mitt Romney did almost enough to dispel any lingering doubts that he will be the Republican Party’s nominee for president by defeating Rick Santorum in the all-important Michigan primary yesterday. Romney crossed the 40% threshold but failed to defeat his chief rival by more than 10%, which would have ended any debate about Romney’s being the GOP standard-bearer. Still, a win is a win, and now the field moves on to Super Tuesday where there is now even a doubt that Newt can win his home state of Georgia.
How did I do with my predictions? Let’s check.
For Arizona:
Prediction Actual
Romney 43% 47.3%
Santorum 30% 26.6%
Gingrich 18% 16.2%
Paul 8% 8.4%
For Michigan:
Romney 39% 41.1%
Santorum 37% 37.9%
Paul 12% 11.6%
Gingrich 10% 6.5%
All told, not too bad.
So now it’s on to Tuesday Grande, where the big prize will be Ohio and the attack ads will come fast and furious. It’s difficult to fathom what else Mitt and Rick could say that could be any more outrageous than their embarrassing forays into trees, bodily functions, automobile choices, anti-intellectual diatribes and invocations of Satan/Obama (really, have you ever seen them in the same room together?) Interesting.
For more, please visit www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives and Twitter @rigrundfest
This week’s report begins with a question:
What would you call a candidate who LOST the following primaries: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Texas, New York, Massachusetts, California, Florida and Michigan?
How about, Mr. President.
That’s right. Candidate Barack Obama lost every one of those primaries, and more, in 2008 yet won the nomination. That’s why I’m not getting agitated over the latest results of the Republican race. As I’ve said over and over and over and over, Mitt Romney will be the GOP’s nominee in 2012 even if he loses some big states. Granted, Michigan is different for Mitt; he’s claiming pseudo-residency in the state and has set it up as a make-or-break contest. Obama at least won his home state, Illinois, so the comparison isn’t perfect. But still, the national media’s focus on whether Rick Santorum can win the nomination is a moot point. He can’t, and he won’t. To further muddy the picture, though, I will say that if he does manage to win it, the GOP will have committed hari-kiri.
The past three weeks have seen some extraordinary developments in the Republican Presidential Primaries. Rick Santorum caught fire (and brimstone) as the new, and probably final, conservative darling in the race. Romney made a few gaffes that have certainly hurt him, playing to a near-empty Ford’s Field and citing his wife’s two Cadillacs to name the main ones. What does it all add up to? A contested race that will probably drag on into the spring and even give Newt a chance to win his home state of Georgia.
On to the predictions.
First, in Arizona, the latest polls show that Mitt will win rather handily mainly because Santorum and Gingrich have pretty much conceded him the state. Arizona has a large Mormon population that will easily beat back the large Tea Party contingent at the polls (assuming that the Partiers can rush back from guarding the Mexican border in time to cast votes). Still, I think that Romney will need to win over 40% of the vote to make it convincing. Thusly:
Romney 43%
Santorum 30%
Gingrich 18%
Paul 8%
In Michigan, things get complicated. In my view, Romney will need to win over 40% of the vote AND win by 10+ points to make a convincing statement. The polls aren’t showing that, but if enough voters decide at the last-minute that Santorum would be a sure loser in November, it could happen. I don’t see it.
What is more likely to happen is that Mitt wins, but by 3 points or fewer and gets below 40%. In that case, Santorum can claim a win-by-losing argument because Romney keeps saying that this is one of his home states (even though most voters don’t see the connection). The conservatives will have made their point and Santorum can then move on to Ohio and perhaps win that primary. He can also assume he’ll win Pennsylvania, which would greatly complicate Mitt’s message about electability.
Prediction:
Romney 39%
Santorum 37%
Paul 12%
Gingrich 10%
The race moves on to Super Tuesday. The national press will continue to talk about a brokered convention, which will not happen. Romney will eventually be the nominee. Or have I said that already.
For more, please visit www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives and Twitter @rigrundfest
Buzzfeed Reports: TROY, Michigan — Apparently, Ann Romney is tired of sitting in the audience at the Republican debates — she’s ready to get in on the action.
While introducing Mitt Romney at an event sponsored by Americans For Prosperity, the candidate’s wife sang his praises, and then joked that she should just take his spot at the podium.
“I also decided no more debates,” she said, as her husband stood next to her. “If we’re going to do another debate, he’s going to just sit in the audience and watch me.”
CNN canceled a debate that had been scheduled for March 1, after Romney pulled out, citing scheduling difficulties.
Republicans must be ecstatic to have this guy represent them in the 2012 Presidential elections. In an interview with The Boston Globe, Mitt Romney actually said this;
“This week, President Obama will release a budget that won’t take any meaningful steps toward solving our entitlement crisis. The president has failed to offer a single serious idea to save Social Security and is the only president in modern history to cut Medicare benefits for seniors.”
In that one statement, Mitt Romney accused President Obama of not doing anything to solve the entitlement crisis, then proclaims that Mr. Obama is the only president in modern history to cut Medicare benefits.
Wow. So the president is not doing anything about the entitlement crisis, but he’s the only president to cut Medicare?
Could it be that Mitt Romney — a member of the top richest 1% who only pays around 14% in taxes and already said he’s not concerned about the very poor — has no idea that Medicare benefits is considered an “entitlement program?”
Now Romney has said a lot of dumb things in the past – from his “corporations are people to my friends,” his “I like firing prople,” his “I’ll tell you what, ten-thousand bucks? $10,000 bet?” to Rick Perry at a time when the economy is in a recession, his “I should tell my story. I’m also unemployed” statement to unemployed Americans when he’s worth a quarter of a billion dollars – but this one has to be one of the dumbest thus far.
Lets see what tomorrow brings…
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.
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!