Political Ruminations

New Obama Campaign Ad: Made in America

Watch:

Bring it on, Mr. Romney.

Via Ashby

Romney Attacks Obama on Contraception Issue–But Romneycare Included Similar Coverage of Contraception

Continuing the contraception brouhaha at the Mesa debate last night, Mitt Romney, attacked President Obama on that issue:

“I don't think we've seen in the history of this country the kind of attack on religious conscience, religious freedom, religious tolerance that we've seen under Barack Obama.”

Steve Benen responded this morning:

Think about that one for a moment. The Obama administration is including contraception coverage as part of preventive health care for Americans -- a decision a clear majority of the country heartily supports. The administration is exempting churches and other houses of worship, and has crafted a compromise so that religiously-affiliated employers will not have to pay for contraception coverage directly.

This is the biggest "attack" on religious freedom in the history of the United States? How is it, exactly, that a sane person could believe this?

Or more to the point, how is it that a Mormon, whose church faced actual attacks and discrimination, could see contraception access as a more serious assault on "religious tolerance"?

Of note, RomneyCare in Massachusetts vastly expanded contraception access, a fact which Romney defended last night. His characterization of the RomneyCare contraception coverage could apply just as easily to that provided by the Affordable Care Act which he had the gall to attack. Think Progress:

Under Romneycare, the state’s Commonwealth Care — which offers subsidized, low or no-cost insurance program for low-income residents without access to employer-sponsored health insurance — provides primary and preventive care that includes “family planning services” and prescription contraceptives. Massachusetts employers that are not “a church or qualified church-controlled organization” must also cover hormone replacement therapy and all FDA-approved contraceptive methods.

In 2005, Romney also “signed a bill that could expand the number of people who get family-planning services, including the morning-after pill.” Romney even pressured the state Department of Health and Human Services to issue regulations that required Catholic hospitals to issue the morning after pill to rape victims, despite initially vetoing the bill and claiming that the pill constituted an “abortifacient.” “My personal view in my heart of hearts is that people who are subject to rape should have the option of having emergency contraceptives or emergency contraceptive information,” he told the Boston Herald at the time.

Of one thing I have no doubt whatsoever. Mr. Romney is a most egregious liar.

Morning Quote: Mitt Romney

“While I was fighting to save the Olympics, you were fighting to save the ‘Bridge to Nowhere.”

- Mitt Romney attacks the record of Rick Santorum during the Mesa, Arizona debate last night.

The Most Charitable Candidate is........

President Obama, and First Lady Michelle Obama.

The Washington Post:

The wealthiest couple, Mitt Romney and wife Ann, finished slightly ahead, giving 13.8 percent to charity — most of it to the Mormon church. Of course, Romney also made far more than anyone else in 2010, at more than $21 million.

But when you calculate charitable giving based on adjustable gross income, Obama actually takes a lead. He and Michelle gave 14.2 percent of their AGI, while the Romneys gave 13.8 percent.

Santorum and Newt Gingrich, by comparison, gave very little of their income to charity.

Gingrich and his wife, Callista, gave 2.6 percent of their $3.2 million income in 2010.

By the way, most of Romney’s charitable funds went to the Mormon Church.

Quote of the Day

Mitt Romney thinks it’s a good idea to mandate drug testing for welfare/aide recipients:

“Well my own view is, it’s a great idea. People who are nreceiving welfare benefits, government benefits, we should make sure they’re not using those benefits to pay for drugs. I think it’s an excellent idea.”

We should start with drug testing the CEOs and other executives of companies who receive federal subsidies.

And then maybe move on to drug testig employees in our public schools, including colleges, since you know, our education system benefits from federal funding.

At this point, anyone who thinks that Republicans care about any other people except the wealthiest among us, is begging to be placed in a mental institution.

Via Bob Cesca

Morning Quote: Mitt Romney on Social Security & Medicare

Repeating much of what he told a Koch Brothers audience in November, Mitt Romney told Conservatives at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that he would cut Social Security and Medicare:

“We're going to have to recognize that Social Security and Medicare are unsustainable, not for the current group of retirees, but for coming generations. And we can't afford to avoid these entitlement challenges any longer.

We are going to slowly and gradually raise the retirement age for Social Security from the current 66 for full benefits. And we'll slow the growth rate in benefits for higher-income retirees.

Tomorrow's seniors should have the freedom to choose between Medicare and a range of private plans [think the Ryan Plan]. And if these future seniors want a more expensive plan, then they will have to pay the additional cost.”

Romney Wins CPAC Straw Poll

By a narrow margin, GOP frontrunner, Mitt Romney, won the straw poll at the Conservatives Political Action Conference, with Rick Santorum placing second, and Gingrich and Paul coming in third and fourth, respectively.

The Washington Times/CPAC straw poll results of 3,408 conservative activists showed Romney with the support of 38 percent of respondents. Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum was in second place at 31 percent.

When the results were announced, a packed ballroom erupted in both cheers and jeers as supporters of all four candidates sat in the room.

Does this mean anything? Probably not. Santorum currently enjoys a 15-point lead on Romney overall, according to Public Policy Polling.  Mostly this just demonstrates something we already knew --- that Conservative voters are not all that happy with Romney. This doesn’t mean that he will not win the nomination, and  I still believe that in spite of any and all setbacks, he will be the eventual GOP nominee.

Morning Quote: Mitt Romney in 2008

“If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and frankly I’d be making it easier for Senator Clinton or Obama to win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.”

- Mitt Romney at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2008, as he discontinued his presidential campaign, and suggested that a vote for a Democrat is a “surrender to terror”.

Via Bob Cesca

Morning Quote: Mitt Romney

“When Republicans act like Democrats, they lose. And in Newt Gingrich's case he had to resign. In Rick Santorum's case, he lost by the biggest margin of any Senate incumbent since 1980.”

- Mitt Romney joins Santorum and Gingrich together as Washington insiders in an interview with NBC News yesterday.

Morning Quote: Mitt Romney

“This decision does not end this fight, and I expect it to go to the Supreme Court. That prospect underscores the vital importance of this election and the movement to preserve our values. I believe marriage is between a man and a woman and, as president, I will protect traditional marriage and appoint judges who interpret the Constitution as it is written and not according to their own politics and prejudices.”

- The GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, speaks out against same-sex marriage after the Ninth Circuit Appeals Court declared California’s Proposition 8 unconstitutional.

Morning Quote: David Axelrod

“I know he walked away with the hard drives in Massachusetts. But the video from the primary campaign is going to be hard to erase.”

- David Axelrod, with an astute observation that it will be difficult for Mitt Romney to move toward the center for the general election.

Hell, Romney’s gone so far right, that he will find it difficult to tack to the center in time for the 2016 general election.

Political Cartoons of the Week

Cartoonist, Dave Granlund.

Cartoonist, R.J. Matson.

Cartoonist, Joel Pett, as seen in the Lexington Herald-Leader (February 2, 2012).

Cartoonist, Jim Morin, as seen in the Miami Herald (February 1, 2012).

Cartoonist, Lee Judge, as seen in the / The Kansas City Star (January 30, 2012).

Morning Quote: Shep Smith

“I've just gotten word that in the next hour, Shakira and Big Bird will also be issuing endorsements, and we'll be having live, Team Fox coverage of that! Shakira, Big Bird and Donald Trump.”

- Fox News host, Shep Smith, as he  unrelentingly mocked Donald Trump, and Trump’s endorsement of Mitt Romney, on air yesterday.

Morning Quote: Alan Grayson

“Mitt Romney has been exposed, like a character out of Orphan Annie, Daddy Warbucks, as an enormously wealthy person out of touch with ordinary Americans who simply wants to be president, as far as we can tell, because he wants to be President.”

- Former congressman, Alan Grayson (D-FL), to Talking Points Memo on Mitt Romney’s negatives.

Adding.......the character of “Daddy Warbucks” is a perfect characterization of the out of touch elitist, Mitt Romney.

DNC Ad Targets Romney’s Lack of Concern About the Poor

Surely by now you’ve heard about GOP presidential hopeful Romney caught on camera  insisting that he isn’t “concerned about the very poor”.

The DNC came out with a little vid to enlighten you if you weren’t already aware and appalled, and as the video points out, Romney is really only for one group of people. And you know which one that is.

Watch:

Really, Mitt?

Adding.........did you know that according to Ezra Klein, via Bob Cesca, Romney is a real winner in the presidential wealth sweepstakes:

Add up the wealth of the last eight presidents, from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama. Then double that number. Now you’re in Romney territory.

Two Bushes are in there, too, and they’re loaded.