Political Ruminations

Morning Quote: Mitt Romney

Failed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on a call with his donors, via ABC’s The Note:

“We had 20 Republican debates, that was absolutely nuts, it opened us up to gaffes and to material that could be used against us in the general, and we were fighting these debates for a year, and the incumbent president just sat back and laughed.”

 

Mitt Romney is a Liar - Jeep is Not Moving Production Overseas

Recently in Ohio, Mitt Romney began claiming that "Jeep is planning to move all of its production overseas.". Sunday, on ‘Meet the Press’, Rachel Maddow rebutted Romney’s latest Big Lie:

“It's ok for a candidate to make a flub, but to not correct it, to not say ' I was wrong about that….' The campaign was asked, 'Are you sure [Romney] actually meant that? Because that doesn't seem to be true.' No response clearing that up from the [Romney] campaign.

There's been a truthfulness problem with the Romney campaign that connects even to the very basic issues like the economy in the states where it most matters.”

Chrysler debunks the Romney lie on Jeep’s so-called move to China:

“Despite clear and accurate reporting, the take has given birth to a number of stories making readers believe that Chrysler plans to shift all Jeep production to China from North America, and therefore idle assembly lines and U.S. workforce. It is a leap that would be difficult even for professional circus acrobats.

Let’s set the record straight: Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China. It’s simply reviewing the opportunities to return Jeep output to China for the world’s largest auto market. U.S. Jeep assembly lines will continue to stay in operation. A careful and unbiased reading of the Bloomberg take would have saved unnecessary fantasies and extravagant comments.”

UPDATE-October 31:

From Think Progress ‘Progress Report’ (email newsletter):

Last week, Mitt Romney made now infamous comments in Defiance, Ohio claiming that Jeep was going to “move all production” to China. The comments were immediately exposed as completely false. This, however, did not stop the Romney campaign from doubling down on the comments and making several other misleading claims in a TV spot. And when that ad came in for heavy criticism, they again doubled down by putting out an even more egregiously misleading radio ad about the auto bailout.

Well, the reviews of Romney’s desperate Ohio Hail Mary are in — and they’re not pretty.

Fact Checkers: “Pants on Fire,” “4 Pinocchios”

Romney Wants to Privatize FEMA

During the GOP primaries, when Romney was asked about disaster relief for recent tornado and flood victims, Mitt Romney said he’d like to see disaster relief privatized, and called such relief “immoral”. Watch:

Well, that’s pretty clear. Mr. Romney would like to see those of us who are not in the 1%, fend for ourselves. Disasters included.

Flashback Quote of the Day

In his book, "No Apology" (page 264) published in 2010, Mitt Romney calls American culture “superior”, and multiculturalism a “fraud”:

“The multiculturalism movement must be unmasked for the fraud it is. There are superior cultures, and ours is one of them.”

Via Chez Pazienza

Morning Quote: Mitt Romney on the Use of Drones

During the third presidential debate, Mitt Romney indicated that he would support the use of drones in a Romney administration:

“I believe we should use any and all means necessary to take out people who pose a threat to us and our friends around the world. And it’s widely reported that drones are being used in drone strikes, and I support that and entirely, and feel the president was right to up the usage of that technology, and believe that we should continue to use it, to continue to go after the people that represent a threat to this nation and to our friends.”

Mitt Romney Pledge to Score Political Points off an American Foreign Policy Tragedy

Remember the secret video………the 47 percent video? In that same video, or the full length version of it, Mitt Romney had an exchange with an audience member in which Romney said he would “work to find a way to take advantage of the opportunity”. The “opportunity” Romney referred to was a foreign policy crisis.

In the first section of the quoted conversation between Mitt Romney and one of his fellow plutocrats (an audience member), the audience member suggests that Romney “sort of duplicate” the scenario which got Ronald Reagan elected, emphasis mine:

Audience member: If you get the call as president, and you had hostages…Ronald Reagan was able to make a statement, even before he became, was actually sworn in—

Romney: Yeah—

Audience member: the hostages were released—

Romney: on the day of his inauguration, yeah.

Audience member: So my question is, really, how can you sort of duplicate that scenario?

Romney: Ohhhh [A few chuckles in audience.] I'm gonna ask you, how do I duplicate that scenario.

Audience member: I think that had to do with the fact that the Iranians perceived Reagan would do something to really get them out. In other words [unintelligible]…and that's why I'm suggesting that something that you say over the next few months gets the Iranians to understand that their pursuit of the bomb is something that you would predict and I think that's something that could possibly resonate very well with American Republican voters.

Of course, we now know exactly how Reagan achieved the release of the hostages and won the presidency.

In 1980, when Carter was on the verge of achieving the release of the hostages, Ronald Reagan’s people told the Iranians that if they would wait  to release the hostages until right after the election, Reagan would give them a sweet arms deal. This eventually resulted in the Iran Contra scandal, and Jimmy Carter lost re-election because Republicans will do anything to win.

Back to 2012 when Mitt Romney’s response to his fellow plutocrat in the audience of the Boca Raton fundraiser was not to strongly dismiss the notion of using Americans at risk of harm to win a political advantage. No, Mitt Romney’s cold, calculated response was to tell the plutocrat that Romney would find a way to take advantage of a foreign policy crisis to score political points, emphasis mine:

Romney: I appreciate the idea. I can't—one of the other things that's frustrating to me is that at a typical day like this, when I do three or four events like this, the number of foreign policy questions that I get are between zero and one. And the American people are not concentrated at all on China, on Russia, Iran, Iraq. This president's failure to put in place a status forces agreement allowing 10-20,000 troops to stay in Iraq? Unthinkable! And yet, in that election, in the Jimmy Carter election, the fact that we have hostages in Iran, I mean, that was all we talked about. And we had the two helicopters crash in the desert, I mean that's—that was—that was the focus, and so him solving that made all the difference in the world. I'm afraid today if you said, "We got Iran to agree to stand down a nuclear weapon," they'd go hold on. It's really a, but…by the way, if something of that nature presents itself, I will work to find a way to take advantage of the opportunity.

Romney found his “opportunity” in the Benghazi attack which killed four Americans, and as he told his fellow plutocrat he would do, Romney moved to score political points by blaming President Obama and his administration for the attack, claiming that it was a result of “perceived weakness”:

“We have seen a foreign policy of weakness and decline in American influence and respect. Yesterday, we saw the consequences of this perceived weakness.”

Mitt Romney cares only about achieving the power of the American presidency. He cares little for the well being of his American countrymen. Remember this as you watch the foreign policy debate tonight, and vote accordingly.

Hey Girl, Mitt Romney is a Real Extremist When it Comes to Women

Mr. Romney has a new ad out, an ad that attempts to hide his extremist positions.

It features a woman who clearly lies about Romney’s positions, and then claims that she voted for Obama in 2008. The problem is well, that while you can find sites which back her up, they do so either in error or in order to deceive. The truth is in what Mr. Romney himself has recently said.

On the issue of contraception, we can look to the Blunt Amendment to determine whether or not Mr. Romney supports the use of contraceptives.

The Blunt Amendment allows your boss to decide for you whether or not you will get access to contraceptives through your health insurance. That’s right. And Mitt Romney said himself that he supports the Blunt amendment (@14:46 on the Maddow video).

“Of course I support the Blunt Amendment.”

On the issue of a woman’s right to choose, abortion, Mitt Romney has said very recently (September 2012) that he would appoint Supreme Court justices who would strike down Roe v. Wade:

“But I am pro-life and will intend, if I’m president of the United States, to encourage pro-life policies. [...] And I hope to appoint justices to the Supreme Court that will follow the law and the constitution. And it would be my preference that they reverse Roe v. Wade and therefore they return to the people and their elected representatives the decisions with regards to this important issue.”

Romney also said that he would sign a bill which banned all abortions (@11:33 on the video):

“I’d be delighted to sign that bill.”

“Delighted.” Rachel Maddow on Romney’s severely conservative positions(the segment on these issues starts at approximately 09:04):

A Romney administration would end abortion, would take away our right to choose what we do with our own bodies.

No exceptions for anything. Not rape. Not incest. Not the life of the mother.

Factor this in with Romney's stance on the Blunt Amendment -- which would make it more difficult for you to obtain contraceptives since he will allow your boss to decide whether or not you could obtain contraceptives through your health insurance.

This is what Mitt Romney really supports. This is what the Republican War On Women is about. This is what it will mean to women if Mitt Romney is elected.

If you’re undecided at this point, you need to think hard about your options, and then go to the polls and vote for Barack Obama. Not to do so will affect you, your children, and your grandchildren in ways you can’t even begin to count.

Mitt Romney Tells Businesses to Tell Their Employees How to Vote and Other Acts of Republicans Attempting to Influence the Vote

The National Federation of Independent Businesses is the same group (the plaintiff in the lawsuit heard by SCOTUS) that took their campaign to strike down Obamacare to the Supreme Court. As Ashby noted, “it’s highly unlikely Romney was speaking to anyone who agrees with President Obama [in this group]”.

During a conference call with the NFIB, Mitt Romney suggested to these employers that they should tell their employees how to vote:

“I hope you make it very clear to your employees what you believe is in the best interest of your enterprise and therefore their job and their future in the upcoming elections. And whether you agree with me or you agree with President Obama, or whatever your political view, I hope you pass those along to your employees. Nothing illegal about you talking to your employees about what you believe is best for the business. Because I think that will figure in to their election decision. Their voting decision. ”

Huffington Post notes that the NFIB employers will not be the only businesses “encouraging” their employees to vote Republican:

Westgate Resorts CEO David Siegel gained national attention when he emailed his employees to argue that Obama's policies would "threaten" their jobs.

"If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, as our current President plans, I will have no choice but to reduce the size of this company," Siegel wrote, urging his workers to instead vote for Romney.

Arthur Allen, CEO of ASG Software Solutions, made a similar plea in a pro-Romney email leaked last week.

"If we fail as a nation to make the right choice on November 6th, and we lose our independence as a company, I don’t want to hear any complaints regarding the fallout that will most likely come." Allen wrote.

And Think Progress has a report on the Koch brothers attempt to influence the vote in this election cycle by sending a letter to 45,000 employees,  warning them of “consequences” for the workers if Romney loses:

The Koch brothers’ $60 million pledge to defeat President Obama — along with their political network’s $400 million spending — make them two of the most influential conservatives this election.

Not content with their unprecedented influence in politics, the Kochs have also taken to influencing the votes of their employees. According to In These Times, Koch Industries sent 45,000 mailers to employees at Koch subsidiary Georgia Pacific, urging votes for Romney and other conservative candidates. The letter warns ominously of “consequences” for the workers if Republicans lose.

The Koch mailer is one of several recent examples of executives warning that employees may lose their jobs if Republicans do not win in November.

Yes, sadly, this is legal. The only thing we can do is vote these thugs down, and let people know just what they’re doing in order to win elections.

Morning Quote: President Barack Obama

During a stellar debate performance last night, President Obama hit Mitt Romney with Romney’s remarks on the 47% of Americans who don’t make enough money to pay income taxes (but do pay payroll taxes, sales taxes, etc..This group includes the groups mentioned by President Obama, such as military personnel, retirees on social security, students, et al.), emphasis mine:

“I believe Governor Romney is a good man. Loves his family, cares about his faith. But I also believe that when he said behind closed doors that 47 percent of the country considered themselves victims who refuse personal responsibility, think about who he was talking about. Folks on Social Security who’ve worked all their lives. Veterans who’ve sacrificed for this country. Students who are out there trying to hopefully advance their own dreams, but also this country’s dreams. Soldiers who are overseas fighting for us right now. People who are working hard every day, paying payroll tax, gas taxes, but don’t make enough income. And I want to fight for them. That’s what I’ve been doing for the last four years. Because if they succeed, I believe the country succeeds. When my grandfather fought in World War II and he came back and he got a G.I. Bill and that allowed him to go to college, that wasn’t a handout. That was something that advanced the entire country. And I want to make sure that the next generation has those same opportunities. That’s why I’m asking for your vote and that’s why I’m asking for another four years.”

I’ll have the debate video and the transcript up shortly, so check back if you’re interested.

Image credit: Saul Loeb (AFP/Getty Images)

Morning Quote: Mitt Romney on Abortion Rights

Mitt Romney on abortion rights as quoted by the Des Moines Register:

“There’s no legislation with regards to abortion that I’m familiar with that would become part of my agenda.”

Reactions to Romney’s latest flip-flop are varied, but the most telling of the reactions was that of Romney surrogate, Andrea Saul:

“Mitt Romney is proudly pro-life, and he will be a pro-life president.”

ABC News, emphasis mine:

During the GOP primary earlier this year, Romney said repeatedly that Roe vs. Wade should be overturned and that all funding for Planned Parenthood should be cut. He has also said he would prefer to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe vs. Wade.

[….] Romney could [will]  likely still support anti-abortion rights legislation.

The Obama Campaign:

It’s troubling that Mitt Romney is so willing to play politics with such important issues. Women simply can’t trust him.

My take. Mitt Romney will, as we already know, say and do anything in order to get elected. Anything. And, if we didn’t already know that, we sure should have figured it out when he chose his running mate. Paul Ryan is rabidly anti-women.

UPDATE: Last month, Romney was so against abortion rights, he said he would appoint Supreme Court justices who would reverse Roe v. Wade:

“But I am pro-life and will intend, if I’m president of the United States, to encourage pro-life policies. [...] And I hope to appoint justices to the Supreme Court that will follow the law and the constitution. And it would be my preference that they reverse Roe v. Wade and therefore they return to the people and their elected representatives the decisions with regards to this important issue.”

Fact Check: President Obama Increased Federal Spending at Historic Rate

The claim: Romney said it during the debate, and his campaign website loudly proclaims the whopper of a lie depicting President Obama as a Big Government Spender:

“Since President Obama assumed office three years ago, federal spending has accelerated at a pace without precedent in recent history.”

The facts: President Obama has achieved the lowest growth in federal spending in sixty years.

Bob Cesca on the facts:

With the end of fiscal year 2012, the Congressional Budget Office announced the 2012 federal budget deficit: $1.1 trillion. Taken purely at face value, this number is enormous. Yet every Democrat, and especially the Obama campaign, ought to be telling anyone who will listen: Not only has the president cut the deficit by $312 billion during his first term (so far), but he’s cut the deficit by $200 billion in the past year alone. And the CBO projected that the 2013 Obama budget, if enacted as is, would shrink the deficit to $977 billion — a four year total of nearly $500 billion in deficit reduction.

Cesca goes on to discuss the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act enacted by President Obama and a Democratic Congress in February 2010:

As I’ve documented before, the CBO reported in January, 2009 that the federal budget deficit for that fiscal year, which began on October 1, 2008, was already $1.2 trillion. President Obama’s additional ’09 spending added another $200 billion to the deficit, bringing the total to $1.412 trillion. Unprecedented and huge, but given the enormity of the financial crisis and the depth of the recession, there weren’t many other options on the table. Add two wars into the mix and there you go.

But nearly every bill signed by the president has included offsets to make the spending deficit neutral. Why? Because it’s been the law of the land ever since President Obama signed the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act in February, 2010, which mandates that new spending be offset with spending cuts or new revenue. Yes, a Democratic president and a Democratic Congress passed this legislation. Guess how many congressional Republicans voted for the law. Zero. Not one. Perhaps during this week’s debate, Vice President Biden could ask Rep. Paul Ryan who voted against the bill. Mitt Romney should also be asked about it.

Rating of claim? I agree with Cesca……”pants on fire times a thousand” , the president’s record is the actual opposite of Mitt Romney’s claim.

Mitt Romney Stands for Nothing

Watch Mitt Romney do the flip-flop……over and over again:

Transcript (Romney quotes in video):

Mitt Romney, 10/3/12: I will not reduce the taxes paid by high income Americans.

Mitt Romney, 2/22/12: There were so many misrepresentations in there it's going to take me a little while. Number one, I said today that we're going to cut taxes on everyone across the country by twenty percent—including the top one percent.

Mitt Romney, 10/3/12: The key to great schools? Great teachers. So I reject the idea that I don't believe in great teachers or more teachers.

Mitt Romney, 6/8/12: He says we need more firemen, more policemen, more teachers. Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did. It's time for us to cut back on government.

Mitt Romney, 10/3/12: Actually, it's a lengthy description, but number one, pre-existing conditions are covered under my plan.

Mitt Romney, 3/27/12: If they're 45 years old and they show up and they say I want insurance because I've got heart disease, it's like: "Hey guys, we can't play the game like that." You've got to get insurance when you're well, and then if you get ill, then you're going to be covered.

Sheesh…..it’s certainly become very clear that Mitt Romney is not to be trusted at all.

Via Bob Cesca

Full Video and Text Transcript: First Presidential Debate October 3, 2012 Denver, Colorado

Watch the video:

Full Text Transcript of the First Presidential Debate October 3, 2012:

JIM LEHRER: Good evening from the Magness Arena at the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado. I’m Jim Lehrer of the PBS NewsHour, and I welcome you to the first of the 2012 presidential debates between President Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee.

This debate and the next three -- two presidential, one vice- presidential -- are sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates.

Tonight’s 90 minutes will be about domestic issues, and will follow a format designed by the commission. There will be six roughly 15-minute segments, with two-minute answers for the first question, then open discussion for the remainder of each segment.

Morning Quote: Mitt Romney Hates Teachers Unions

In an interview with NBC’s Brian Williams on Tuesday, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told Williams that he doesn’t like the idea of money from the teachers' unions going to political campaigns, emphasis mine:

“I think it's a mistake. I think we have to get the money out of the teachers' unions going into campaigns. It's the wrong way for us to go. We've got to separate that.”

Romney doesn’t like it because teachers' unions support Democrats. Period. Steve Benen, emphasis mine:

I realize Romney's developed an allergy to pre-election details, but it'd be great if he could flesh this out a little. It seems that Romney -- who's expressed support for unlimited contributions -- is fully comfortable with lobbyists, corporations (which are people, my friend), and hedge fund managers donating to their hearts' content, no matter what their dealings with government might be.

But school teachers? For Romney, their involvement in elections must be curtailed.

Just how stupid does Mr. Romney think we are?

Mitt Romney’s Dismal Record on Public Education as the Governor of Massachusetts

In 2002 during his campaign for Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney told the people of that great state that he wouldn’t make cuts to public education:

“The services delivered to our children in schools….we’re not gonna cut that.”

In his very first budget after being elected, Gov. Romney cut $248.7 million from K-12 education.

Watch:

As you heard, in 2011 Romney had this to say about class size:

“All the talk about ‘we need smaller classroom size’…….look, that’s promoted by the teachers unions to hire more teachers.”

And in 2012, Romney said that in Massachusetts, they found that there’s no relationship between class size and how kids perform. A pumpkin head could tear that one apart.

So then, do you trust him with your precious kids? I wouldn’t.

Mitt Romney on Tax Fairness

Included in this latest ad from Obama-Biden, is a small portion of Mitt Romney’s interview with 60 Minutes’ Scott Pelley, focused on Romney’s idea of tax fairness (broadcast on Sunday, September 23, 2012). Watch:

Morning Quote: Mitt Romney

During another $50,000 a plate fundraiser (not private, thus no incriminating revelations…..sadly), this time in Beverly Hills, Mitt Romney talked about an incident involving Ann Romney whose airplane made an emergency landing on Friday due to an electrical malfunction, emphasis mine:

“I appreciate the fact that she is on the ground, safe and sound. And I don’t think she knows just how worried some of us were. When you have a fire in an aircraft, there’s no place to go, exactly, there’s no — and you can’t find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft, because the windows don’t open. I don’t know why they don’t do that. It’s a real problem. So it’s very dangerous. And she was choking and rubbing her eyes. Fortunately, there was enough oxygen for the pilot and copilot to make a safe landing in Denver. But she’s safe and sound.”

So, um, Romney doesn’t understand why aircraft windows don’t open… Smart.

H/T Bob Cesca

UPDATE: The Sorry Conclusion to Mitt Romney’s Plane-Windows-Gate

Morning Quote: Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney defends the competence of his presidential campaign during an interview on 60 Minutes last night:

“Well, it doesn't need a turnaround. I've got a very effective campaign. It's doing a very good job.”

Flashback Quote of the Day: Mitt Romney

I missed posting this quote the first time around (January 2012), and felt it was even more relevant now since Mitt Romney has become the GOP’s presidential candidate and has even nominated another plutocrat to govern with him. Enjoy.

Asked for his opinion on the growing concern of Americans re income inequality, Mitt Romney says it’s all about envy:

“You know, I think it's about envy. I think it's about class warfare.”

Oh, there is certainly a class war going on, but it’s being waged by the 1% against the poor and the middle class. But I digress.

When Romney was asked if it’s ever okay to have a discussion about wealth inequality, Romney said it was fine to do so in “quiet rooms”:

“It's fine to talk about those things in quiet rooms and discussions about tax policy and the like.”

In other words, keep such matters from gaining wide attention or as Mitt might privately say, “We certainly don’t want the servant class to learn that they’re terribly taken advantage of in order to benefit us (the 1%), so STFU!”.

Source

Morning Quote: Mitt Romney Hates the Unions

In yet another controversial quote from the secretly taped video (filmed at the Plutocrat fundraiser) that keeps on giving, Plutocrat in Chief Mitt Romney talked about how he’d like to fire masses of federal workers, and his anti-union sentiments:

“I wish we weren’t unionized so we could go a lot deeper than you’re actually allowed to go.”

I have a high degree of doubt that union contracts would stop him.

The AFL-CIO Blog chimed in, emphasis mine :

Romney teases his high-value, campaign cash-cow audience with this: “But we can find a way.” Maybe he would dust off his old Bain Capital playbook.

Here’s a question for Romney. If it weren’t for those darned union contracts, how many job safety or food inspectors, border patrol agents, air traffic controllers, Veterans Affairs doctors and nurses and other hardworking federal employees would you fire?

Mitt Romney Loves Him Some Outsourcing

Mitt Romney brags to his fellow plutocrats about outsourcing his campaign at the now infamous private fundraiser last May:

“I have a very good team of extraordinarily experienced, highly successful consultants, a couple of people in particular who have done races around the world. I didn't realize it. These guys in the US—the Karl Rove equivalents—they do races all over the world: in Armenia, in Africa, in Israel. I mean, they work for Bibi Netanyahu in his race. So they do these races and they see which ads work, and which processes work best, and we have ideas about what we do over the course of the campaign. I'd tell them to you, but I'd have to shoot you.”

Morning Quote: Mitt Romney Hates on Half of America

In a secretly taped video, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney calls half of America parasitic freeloaders during a private fundraiser last May, emphasis mine:

“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent 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.”

Watch:

A majority of that 47 percent Romney is hating on, lives in red states, and, that number is not really even half the story.

Full series of video clips from the May fundraiser.

Karl Rove's New Anti-Obama Ad Rendered Toothless

Karl Rove’s new ad is a mish-mash of boldfaced, audacious lies and pandering to racism  utilized by Republicans in their out-of-touch effort to paint the president as a “lazy, shiftless black man” in service to the GOP’s famous ‘Southern Strategy’.

Elsewhere, Bob Cesca awesomely debunks the ad, leading up to it with a discussion of the Romney Campaign’s use of the Southern Strategy since April 2012:

In conjunction with the April roll-out of the campaign’s first major foray into the Southern Strategy, Romney said, “I must say I scratch my head at the capacity of the president to take four hours off on such a regular basis to go golfing. I would think you could kind of suck it up for four years, particularly when the American people are out of work.” He continued, “I know prior Presidents have gone to Camp David and have been able to get a little rest and get away from the demands of Washington, bring some of their key advisers there and focus on solving tough issues. I would not be jetting around the world and using four years in office to see the world, but instead I would consider the four to eight years in office as a time to get America back on track.”

Romney, who famously capped off his dismal nominating convention by cruising around on his yacht for a long weekend, spoke those words on the Bill Cunningham radio show. You might recall Cunningham from 2008 when he spoke at a McCain event and repeatedly emphasized the president’s middle name — another shameless use of Southern Strategy politics. To his credit, McCain repudiated Cunningham and never invited him back.

Elsewhere, conservatives have taken to calling the president a “vacationer-in-chief.” Even golf enthusiast John Boehner once said, “This is the biggest job in the world and I’ve never seen a president make it smaller.”

Cesca then goes on to slay the specifics of Rove’s (American Crossroads) new ad with a discussion of presidential vacations:

act: during his first 31 months in office, Rove’s former boss spent 180 days on vacation. President Obama, on the other hand, only spent 61 days on vacation in his first 31 months. By the way, it’s important to note what was happening during Bush’s first 31 months: two wars of his own choosing, a catastrophic terrorist attack, corporate scandals and a recession. Yet Bush enjoyed three times as many vacation days as the current president. According to his presidential library, Bush took a total of 1,021 days off during his eight years as president. That’s nearly as many days as JFK’s entire presidency, which lasted 1,036 days. FDR took 958 days off, but he was president for 12 years. In 2005, with three more years left in his presidency, Bush surpassed Reagan for total vacation days. Stacked end-to-end that’s nearly three years out of eight for Bush 43. Of the last seven presidents, Obama, Clinton and Carter spent the fewest days on vacation, with Clinton winning the workaholic competition.

On the intelligence briefings issue:

Now, what about this intelligence briefing issue that Rove brought up in the Crossroads commercial (also noted recently by Breitbart.com and Marc Thiessen)? Specifically, the ad repeats the notion that the president deliberately “skipped” nearly half of all the Presidential Daily Briefs (PDB). You know, because he’s so lazy and irresponsible.

Dana Milbank via Steve Benen debunked that one, “In reality, Obama didn’t ‘attend’ these meetings, because there were no meetings to attend: The oral briefings had been mostly replaced by daily exchanges in which Obama reads the materials and poses written questions and comments to intelligence officials. This is how it was done in the Clinton administration, before Bush decided he would prefer to read less. Bush’s results — Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, and the failure to find Osama bin Laden — suggest this was not an obvious improvement.”

So it came down to Bush being too lazy to read stuff. Instead, Bush asked his intelligence people to read the PDBs to him. It’s frankly shocking that Rove would continue to open this can of worms knowing the ineptitude and incompetency of his former boss.

Read the full article.

Flashback Quote: Mitt Romney

In an op-ed published by the National Review on April 21, 2011, Mitt Romney criticized President Obama for his action in Libya, quoting neocon right wing reactionary (and former UN ambassador), John Bolton, who predicted the failure of the mission to remove Qaddafi from power even as the president had restricted the use of military force to “the limited objective of protecting civilians”:

“It is apparent that our military is engaged in much more than enforcing a no-fly zone. What we are watching in real time is another example of mission creep and mission muddle. In an op-ed in today’s Boston Herald, former U.N. ambassador John Bolton rightly notes that Obama has set himself up for “massive strategic failure” by demanding Qaddafi’s ouster “while restricting military force to the limited objective of protecting civilians.” Military action cannot be under-deliberated and ad hoc. The president owes it to the American people and Congress to immediately explain his new Libya mission and its strategic rationale.”

The neocons weren't upset about an action which could have cost American lives. No. They were upset because President Obama sought to prevent a genocide even as he restricted military action to defending civilians. Obama's refusal to jump into Libya and just take over by force was derided by every neocon in the warmongering Republican Party. Happily, Pres. Obama remained firm, and the Libyan action was a rousing success.

Romney Inserts Scary Foot in Foreign Policy

Yesterday, 4 Americans were killed in the attack on the American embassy in Libya. The GOP’s presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, released a statement in which he implied that the president is a terrorist sympathizer:

“ I'm outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi. It's disgraceful that the Obama Administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks. ”

Of course, it isn’t true and Mitt Romney, the Lying Liar, should never have said such a thing, emphasis mine:

The assertion that the administration sympathized with attackers was derived from a statement by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo — before the compound was breached — criticizing an anti-Muslim film that "hurt the religious feelings" of others. Even after coming under attack, the Embassy spent much of the day defending and reasserting the statement on Twitter.

Bob Cesca on the event and the  aftermath:

Romney, in his haste, attacked the president and a U.S. Embassy in Cairo statement about a crappy anti-Islamic movie released in the United States. Romney said the embassy statement apologized for America and implied that it was issued following the deadly attack and killing of four U.S. diplomats in Libya, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. In fact, the statement was released before the killings and the statement didn’t apologize for America or American values and, instead, literally defended American values.

Worse, Romney rushed to score political points on the attack before having all of the facts.

Romney said, “The embassy in Cairo put out a statement after their grounds had been breached, protesters were inside the grounds. They reiterated that statement after the breach. I think it’s a — a terrible course for America to stand in apology for our values.” [….]

That’s simply not the case. And this kind of response it utterly baffling, especially given the lack of information regarding why the Libya attack occurred. Officials believe the Libya attack, unlike the movie-related attacks in Cairo, were motivated by revenge for the killing of a member of al-Qaeda.

“It’s bad,” said a former aide to Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. “Just on a factual level that the statement was not a response but preceding, or one could make the case precipitating. And just calling it a ‘disgrace’ doesn’t really cut it. Not ready for prime time.”

A third Republican, a former Bush State Department official, told BuzzFeed, “It wasn’t presidential of Romney to go political immediately — a tragedy of this magnitude should be something the nation collectively grieves before politics enters the conversation.”

Continue reading Cesca’s post….

UPDATE: 

A Timeline Of The Attacks In Libya And Egypt — And The Responses

Obama and Romney Quotes About Torture

Simply put, Barack Obama is against the use of torture and has specifically banned it in his administration, while Romney is for the use of "enhanced interrogation" techniques, or what most of us see as torture (waterboarding is a good example).

Barack Obama Quotes on the Use of Torture

In 2007, then Sen. Barack Obama (after his run for the presidency had been announced) issued a press release titled ”Torture and Secrecy Betray Core American Values”:

“The secret authorization of brutal interrogations is an outrageous betrayal of our core values, and a grave danger to our security. We must do whatever it takes to track down and capture or kill terrorists, but torture is not a part of the answer - it is a fundamental part of the problem with this administration's [George W. Bush] approach. Torture is how you create enemies, not how you defeat them. Torture is how you get bad information, not good intelligence. Torture is how you set back America's standing in the world, not how you strengthen it. It's time to tell the world that America rejects torture without exception or equivocation. It's time to stop telling the American people one thing in public while doing something else in the shadows. No more secret authorization of methods like simulated drowning. When I am president America will once again be the country that stands up to these deplorable tactics. When I am president we won't work in secret to avoid honoring our laws and Constitution, we will be straight with the American people and true to our values.”

Morning Quote: Mitt Romney

Asked by Fox News if he regretted not mentioning the troops in his acceptance speech, GOP presidential candidate and potential Commander-in-Chief Mitt Romney said they weren’t important enough:

“When you give a speech you don't go through a laundry list, you talk about the things you think are important.”

Watch:

Sen. John Kerry, himself a war hero, addressed Romney’s failure to mention the troops during his speech at the Democratic National Convention, emphasis mine:

So here's the choice in 2012. Mitt Romney: out of touch at home, out of his depth abroad and out of the mainstream. Or Barack Obama: a president who is giving new life and truth to America's indispensable role in the world; a commander - in - chief who gives our troops the tools and training they need in war, the honor and help they've earned when they come home; a man who will never ask other men and women to fight a war without a plan to win the peace.

And let me say something else. No nominee for president should ever fail in the midst of a war to pay tribute to our troops overseas in his acceptance speech. Mitt Romney was talking about America. They are on the front lines every day defending America, and they deserve our thanks.

Some of us from a prior war remember coming home was not always easy. President Obama has made it his mission that we welcome our troops home with care, and concern, and the respect they deserve. That is how an exceptional nation says ''thank you'' to its most exceptional men and women. Mitt Romney says he ''believes in America'' and he'll restore ''American exceptionalism.'' I have news for him: We already have an exceptional American as president - and we believe in Barack Obama!

Does this country really want a president who doesn’t care about so many groups of people such as gays, women, soldiers and sailors, and immigrants? I have to believe that the answer is a resounding “NO.”.

Mitt Romney Enthusiastically Endorsed Batsh-t Crazy Rep. Steve King

At a rally in Iowa today, GOP presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, endorsed crazy wingnut Rep. Steve King (R-Ia):

“ I’m looking here at Steve King. He needs to be your Congressman again. I want him as my partner in Washington! ”

I can think of no reason why a sane human being, much less a president, would want Steve King to be a lawmaker in Washington. King is anti-gay, anti-choice, anti-immigrants, and extremely volatile/crazy.

Idiot Quote of the Day: Mitt Romney Panders to Racist Birthers

At a campaign rally in Commerce, Michigan, Mitt Romney aligned himself with the racist, delusional birthers (along with his bud, Donald Trump) with this comment:

“ I love being home in this place where Ann and I were raised, where both of us were born. Ann was born in Henry Ford Hospital, I was born in Harper Hospital. No one has ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised. ”

I liked Tommy Christopher’s response:

At a campaign event in Commerce, Michigan, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made a naked appeal to racist birthers, telling the crowd “No one has ever asked to see my birth certificate.”

Days after MSNBC’s Touré pointedly refused to include Romney in his apology for using the n-word to describe the campaign’s tactics, it appears the commentator’s critics owe him an apology.

The Obama Campaign's response via Ben LaBolt, Obama’s National Press Secretary:

“Throughout this campaign, Governor Romney has embraced the most strident voices in his party instead of standing up to them. It’s one thing to give the stage in Tampa to Donald Trump, Sheriff Arpaio, and Kris Kobach. But Governor Romney’s decision to directly enlist himself in the birther movement should give pause to any rational voter across America.”

The Obama Campaign is also responding on Twitter.

UPDATE: The timing of this makes me think it may be to distract attention from this: Inside Mitt Romney's Tax-Dodging Cayman Schemes
(document dump at Gawker--Romney-Bain financial docs)

Mitt Romney Embraces Paul Ryan's Radical Plan to Voucherize Medicare

Watch:

So, you heard Mitt Romney say: “for people 55 years of age and older, there’s no change.” You won’t like the translation.

Under the Romney-Ryan plan for Medicare, if you are younger than age 55, let’s say 54, and Romney-Ryan are elected to office, you will see a Medicare that is completely different from the one that your parents and grandparents enjoyed. It will be a voucherized plan, entailing fewer benefits and much higher costs to the beneficiaries.

Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman on Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan, emphasis mine:

In the first decade, the big things are (i) conversion of Medicaid into a block grant program, with much lower funding than projected under current law and (ii) sharp cuts in top tax rates and corporate taxes.

Is this a deficit-reduction program? Not on the face of it: it’s basically a tradeoff of reduced aid to the poor for reduced taxes on the rich, with the net effect of the specific proposals being to increase, not reduce, the deficit.

About Mitt Romney's Ongoing Refusal to Release His Tax Returns

During an interview with Bloomberg- Businessweek published today, Mitt Romney said “I’m not a business.” to excuse his refusal to release his tax returns:

“I’m not a business. We have a process in this country, which was established by law, which provides for the transparency, which candidates are required to meet. I have met with that requirement with full financial disclosure of all my investments, but in addition have provided and will provide a full two years of tax returns.”

“I’m not a business”? Huh?

First of all, and please correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Mr. Romney making a HUGE BIG FRICKIN’ DEAL out of his ‘business acumen’?  Seriously. So let’s see your damn financials, Mr. Romney!

Second, Romney has thus far only released ONE tax return, that of 2010; evidently he needs more time to prettify his 2011 return.

Third, Romney’s Dad, and every presidential candidate since then, has released TWELVE frickin’ years of tax returns! Why should Romney be any different, why should he be excused from revealing what the taxpayer has a right to know?

Fourth, if he really paid zero in income taxes for ten years (and that’s way more possible than you think),  he should not even have considered running for the presidency. I mean, where is his sense of fairness and patriotism if he can’t even grudgingly pay a very small percentage of his huge income in taxes? It’s un-American!

Fifth, I hope the IRS is paying attention here.

Sixth, the man is a walking contradiction, with huge flashing signs declaring his lack of  financial ETHICS in so many areas, including offshore accounts, an IRA that evidently is way too large to conform to U.S. law, massive overseas investments, lying about his tax returns when he ran for governor of Massachusetts, and his refusal to release more than two years of amended tax returns while running for the presidency. 

So, maybe Harry Reid is just calling Romney’s bluff with nothing to back him up.

But I very much doubt it. And who knows, Deep Bain, whoever they might be, may yet out him/herself.

In any case, I think it’ll all wash out by the time of the Democratic convention, where, oh by the way, The Huntsman’s daughter, Abby, may be partying with Democrats. 

Flashback Morning Quote: Mitt Romney 2004

During the 2004 election, Mitt Romney made excuses for the jobs slowdown that occurred under George W. Bush during his first term:

“The people of America recognize that the slowdown in jobs that occurred during the early years of the Bush administration were the result of a perfect storm. And an effort by one candidate to somehow say "Oh, this recession and the slowdown in jobs was the result of somehow this president magically being elected..." people in America just dismiss that as being poppycock. And they recognize it as that.”

Morning Quote: Mitt Romney

Slick Willard explains why he won’t release his tax returns:

“ In the political environment that exists today, the opposition research of the Obama campaign is looking for anything they can use to distract from the failure of the president to reignite our economy. And I'm simply not enthusiastic about giving them hundreds or thousands of more pages to pick through, distort, and lie about. ”

Yeah, Gov. Romney is unwilling to release his tax returns prior to 2010 because, you know, his rival’s campaign will lie about it. Not that there’s anything there to cause anyone any concern, of course.

I’m just wondering how many years it was that Mitt Romney paid zero in taxes.

Idiot Morning Quote: Mitt Romney

On Wednesday, Mitt Romney was booed when he told the NAACP that he would repeal “Obamacare”. During a Wednesday night fundraiser, he bragged to the crowd about the boos he received from the NAACP, and then invoked an image of welfare queens like the ordinary bully he is:

“ If they want more stuff from the government, tell them to go vote for the other guy — more free stuff. But don’t forget nothing is really free. ”

As if the members of the NAACP who support the Obamacare expect to receive free health care.

On the other hand, isn’t it a form of welfare when Mitt Romney stashes his money in offshore accounts in order to avoid paying taxes on it? I think it is, and he surely does it for that reason, admitted or not.

Morning Quote: Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney on President Obama’s call for aid to the states, in the interest of preventing layoffs to essential personnel such as police and firefighters (and to avoid, in the process, creating more unemployed people):

“ He wants another stimulus, he wants to hire more government workers. He says we need more firemen, more policemen, more teachers. Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did. It’s time for us to cut back on government and help the American people. ”

There was really only one message from the Wisconsin recall election, and that was that it’s all about the money.

Morning Quote: Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney on his Reverend Wright attacks:

“ I’m actually gonna — I’m not familiar precisely with exactly what I said, but I stand by what I said, whatever it was. I’ll go back and take a look at what was said there. ”

Background via Think Progress:

Mitt Romney’s campaign is apparently worried about being associated with a Republican proposal, first reported by the New York Times today, to run $10 million worth of racially-tinged ads attacking President Obama for his connection to Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Depsite criticizing Obama for “listening to reverend Wright” in an interview on Sean Hannity’s radio show in February, the presumed GOP nominee twice slammed the proposal today, after his campaign manager did the same earlier.

At a press conference in Florida today, Romney repeated that he “repudiated” the Wright attack. But when asked about his comments on Hannity’s show, Romney said he stood by them, even though he said he couldn’t remember them.

Quote of the Day: Barack Obama on Corporations

President Obama in Ohio today, at his first official campaign rally:

“ Corporations aren't people. People are people.”

You probably remember when Mitt Romney famously said “Corporations are people, my friend.”

And, when Romney followed that up with “Everything corporations earn, ultimately goes to the people.”.

But of course, Mitt Romney, Man Shill for the 1 percent, stands for corporations, not people.

Morning Quote: Mitt Romney Lie No. 8,004

Yet another Romney lie about President Obama.

In Virginia yesterday, Mitt Romney answered a question as to what he would do [about the economy] with his usual response, i.e., implying or stating something that is a lie:

“ What I would do? People ask me, ‘What would you [sic] to get the economy going?’ and I say, ‘Well look at what the president's done and do the opposite.’”

Just one problem. President Obama’s economic policies worked, so if Mitt is going to “do the opposite”, he must be planning yet another Republican orchestrated financial crisis.

Also, just in case you’re wondering, yes, Mitt Romney is well aware that Obama’s economic policies worked. All he has to do is look at his [investment] earnings reports.

Morning Quote: President Obama and Mitt Romney on Paying for a College Education

Mitt Romney tells young people to borrow money from their parents to get a college education or start a business, because, you know, only those who have parents with the means deserve to get a hand up:

“ This kind of divisiveness, this attack of success, is very different than what we’ve seen in our country’s history. We’ve always encouraged young people: Take a shot, go for it, take a risk, get the education, borrow money if you have to from your parents, start a business.”

Mr. Silver Spoon Romney doesn’t seem to understand that in these days of raging income inequality, most parents don’t have the money to provide a college education for their kids. And, most parents can’t afford to loan their kids money to start a business. They spend most of it simply surviving.

But, Mr. Romney doesn’t get those simple basic facts because Mitt Romney has never had to struggle financially for a single day in his entire life.

President Obama gets it. He and First Lady Michelle Obama did not grow up with the proverbial silver spoon, and had to see to their own educations by taking advantage of student loans and scholarships:

“ I'm only here today, and Michelle is only where she is today, because scholarships and student loans gave us a shot at a great education. That’s how we succeeded.”

“[.....]We’ve got to make college more affordable for more young people. We can’t put the middle class at a disadvantage. We can’t price out folks who are trying to make sure that they not only succeed for themselves but help the country succeed. We can’t price the middle class out of a college education.We can’t do it -- especially when most new jobs in America will require more than a high school diploma. Higher education whether it’s at a four-year institution or a two-year program at a community college -- it can’t be a luxury. It’s an economic imperative every family in America should be able to afford. ”

UPDATE: A new program instituted under President Obama is a huge, huge, huge boon to people who use student loans to get through college. You can check it out here.

Morning Quote: President Obama and Mitt Romney Views on Climate Change

President Obama talks climate change in his recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine:

“ I suspect that over the next six months, this is going to be a debate that will become part of the campaign, and I will be very clear in voicing my belief that we’re going to have to take further steps to deal with climate change in a serious way. ”

Mitt Romney on climate change in October 2011:

“ My view is that we don’t know what’s causing climate change on this planet. And the idea of spending trillions and trillions of dollars to try to reduce CO2 emissions is not the right course for us.”