Tag Archives: Romney

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Bullies, Bashing and the GOP

Let’s get this straight right up front: What someone does as a teen is not necessarily a reflection of how they are 50-60 years later. there may be clues, but to flat out extrapolate from one to the other is just plain silly. That’s what folks are trying to do with this latest Mitt Romney flap. As written in a Washington Post article, Romney was apparently part of a bullying incident during high school where he and others pinned down another student and cut his hair, ostensibly because they believed he was effeminate and didn’t fit in. They were going to teach him a lesson.

This behavior is, without a doubt, reprehensible. But making the case that since he did it then, he’d do the same now – or even have similar tendencies – is simply ridiculous. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Romney fan. But fair is fair.

If you want to see how the man’s character has developed, you need to look at more than just his high school years. He protested in favor of the Vietnam War, then got himself moved to France to avoid the draft. His time at Bain Capital, where he made his money buying, then dismantling businesses, pocketing the profits while moving jobs offshore and putting Americans out of work. Or his battle with and elimination of a Massachusetts state-sponsored group that worked to educate against gay bullying. You can look at his current focus at cutting the taxes on the wealthy, while increasing them on the poor. There are plenty of things you can point to that show where his thinking has “evolved”. You don’t need to extrapolate it from his behavior as a teen.

But there is a pattern here. And in that sense, there is some value to knowing about this incident. Romney has always been couched in privilege. And from that privilege comes arrogance and a sense of entitlement. It comes with the perception that those who are different must be made to toe the line. And that getting ahead, getting your own way, takes precedence over the welfare of others. In other words, he acts like a bully.

Today, that bullying is in the form of money. He will spend as much as it takes to get himself the nomination, and if he can, the Presidency. It doesn’t matter how awful things in his past might be, nor what the consequence to the average person is. This isn’t about class warfare, because Romney doesn’t recognize a different class. You can tell by his speeches, his statements – he truly believes that he is average, that everyone has the same opportunities he did. So he believes he is doing the best. And anyone who doesn’t have what he has is just lazy, doesn’t need help. Remember his statement about not being worried about the very poor? He thinks they’re ok. He thinks the fact that they have fallen into a safety net shows that the system works. Never mind the fact that they need a safety net is a prime example that the system isn’t working, and that he is supportive of removing that safety net and letting them fall. Same attitude as “Let Detroit Fail”. If it doesn’t affect him or his cronies directly, he really doesn’t care. But take away a penny of their income in taxes, and they scream of lost freedoms and war on the rich.

It’s the entitlement of bullies. They’ll bash everything around them if they are allowed. It gives them a sense of power, a sense of control. It’s the GOP brand. Case in point – today’s vote in the House on a Republican measure to restore military funding that they gave up in the debt ceiling deal. You’ll remember that in the deal, Republicans agreed that if a debt reduction deal was not passed by November of last year, there would be automatic cuts to the military. They agreed to that because Democrats agreed to cuts on the programs they favor as well.

Now, however, Republicans want to renege. They want to turn back the clock and not cut a penny out of the military. Instead, they want to make further cuts to social programs, like school lunches, health care subsidies, child tax credits and food stamps, on top of the cuts already agreed to. Typical bully behavior. Make the deal, then try to bash your way out of it when it starts going south.

Of course, this deal has no chance in the Senate, and even if it did, it would not get past the President. They made a deal, and they’re going to have to stick to it. But the reality is, they don’t care. How could they? Politically, in an election year, do you really want to pit the poor, children and the elderly against military spending? Do you want to remind folks that you made a deal, in an effort to reduce spending, and that you don’t want to keep your word?

Bullies don’t care.

Again, this isn’t about class warfare. This is about entitlement. They have the money, they want to keep it, and they don’t intend to give any of it away. So they’ll beat up whoever they have to toward that end.

So, no, Romney’s high school activities aren’t indicative of what he would do today. But they are a piece of a puzzle that shows that his sense of entitlement, his willingness to bully those he doesn’t agree with, has a clear progression from then until now.

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From Desperate To Ridiculous

The past week has been particularly tough for Mitt Romney. It seems every step of the way, he has found another pothole to trip over. His statements about bin Laden, his faux pizza delivery, caving to the hard right and firing his gay spokesperson – none of these paints the picture of a guy who can win the Presidency.

And Republicans see this. It’s why they’ve never liked Romney to begin with. But, they’re stuck with him, so now they’re getting desperate, looking for something, anything they can use to try to put a negative spin on the President.

The latest act of desperation? Trying to connect the Obama campaign’s use of the word “Forward” to Marxists and Nazis. Really.

That’s how ridiculous this whole thing has gotten. We can’t use common every day words, because they might have some sinister, nefarious meaning. Never mind that the Wisconsin state motto is “Forward” – the state must have been founded by those evil Marxists, right? And that bastion of Marxism, George W. Bush when he proposed “the way forward” in Iraq in 2006.

This is how ridiculous the conversation is getting. Anything is a “dog whistle” or has some dark, evil purpose. But I think there’s a very valid reason why the Republicans and the right think that way – it’s how they operate. It’s part of their make-up. While the average American thinks of words like “forward” as simply statements of direction of movement, the folks on the right have to find another meaning. It’s because when they use words like “Patriot”, they don’t mean someone who loves their country and fights for it. They mean someone who thinks just like them. When they say “food stamp President”, what they mean is “lazy, dark-skinned thief stealing my money”. Of late, they’ve been even less transparent, calling the President a “tar baby” and “boy”. There’s no shortage of phrases and messages that the right uses to get their base fired up. They are always looking for that “secret” meaning because they’re always including a secret meaning.

And because of that, they will always look for messages that don’t exist. Messages that no ordinary American will ever see. And of course, when we point that out, the argument is that we “just don’t understand”, or we’re blind, or don’t love our country.

You want to raise the level of discourse in this country? Try saying what you mean, and not looking for or using those “dog whistles”. Chances of that happening? Next to zero. And as we get closer to the election, and as Romney continues to bury himself in his own inanity, watch for the desperate to become even more ridiculous.

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GOP Worried About Negative Tone – Seriously?

Image Copyright 2012 Leo Soderman - Creative Commons Non-Commercial

They're worried about being too negative. Unless it's about the President - Image © 2012 Leo Soderman - Creative Commons Non-Commercial

It seems the GOP establishment has started worrying that the race has gotten a bit too nasty. They’re worried they’re hurting their brand.

via 2012 election: GOP frets over nasty tenor of presidential race – POLITICO.com.

Whether or not the 2012 primaries are literally the most negative in memory, there’s no question that the race is taking a uniquely painful toll on the Republican field.
While the 2008 primaries were certainly divisive for a time, none of the candidates received the severe, lasting damage that surveys show for the 2012 field. The POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Poll published Monday placed three Republican candidates — Romney, Gingrich and Ron Paul — in horrendously negative territory among voters, with Santorum well on his way in the same direction.

Republican pollsters Ed Goeas and Brian Nienaber, who conducted the poll with the Democratic firm Lake Research, wrote in an analysis that their party’s candidates were essentially eating themselves alive.

Of course, that’s just within themselves. Questioning the President’s faith, insinuating that if he gets a second term we will see a nuclear detonation in the US, calling him the food stamp president, allowing birthers to continue their relentless pursuit of the futile, denigrating the poor – none of that is negative in their books. As long as they play nice with each other, they really don’t mind.

Hypocrites.

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GOP Worried Santorum Will Sink Them

Image Copyright 2012 Leo Soderman Creative Commons Non-Commercial

Is Santorum Sinking the GOP? - Image Copyright 2012 Leo Soderman - Creative Commons Non-Commercial

Watching the GOP start to tremble about a possible Santorum nomination is entertaining…

via The GOP’s Panic Over Rick Santorum – The Daily Beast.

For more than six months, worried conservative chieftains talked up the need to unite behind a single rightist candidate in order to block the potential victory of the “mushy moderate” from Massachusetts, Mitt Romney. Now, on the eve of crucial primaries in Michigan and Arizona, and with Super Tuesday looming just one week later, some of those same leaders speak privately of the need to unite behind that same, once-dreaded Romney in order to avert an even more dire disaster: the nomination of Rick Santorum.

For decades, the GOP has tried to nudge the country to the right. With the advent of the Tea Party, that nudge became a shove. But like the supertankers they dream of filling with Canadian tar sands oil, once that kind of movement is rolling, it’s really hard to slow it down, much less stop it. Enter Rick Santorum.

If they were really honest about it (I know, a stretch), they would admit that Santorum is simply saying out loud what they all think. But the problem is, what they think and what has a chance of winning an election are two totally different things. And what Santorum has been spewing for the last 6 weeks has been increasingly further from the mainstream. Make no mistake – Republicans want want Santorum says they want. But the more seasoned, savvy pols know that to get it, they have to win elections. And Santorum’s heavy-handed shift to the right – practically dragging the rest of the GOP with them – will alienate moderate, independent voters.

So now, as vehemently as the GOP establishment was against Romney, they are now starting to worry that Santorum will sink them. Of course, they can change tactics right up until the actual nomination. None of the delegates assigned during the primaries are binding – they can change their vote right before the convention vote.  But of course, Santorum would raise a stink that would fracture the Republican Party. But so will a Santorum win, as they see their chances of taking the White House go up in a puff of neo-papal smoke.

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Another Town Mitt Won’t Be Popular In

He’s gonna have a hard time selling this one. When a wide swath of the center of the country has been revived due to the auto industry bailouts, trying to justify that they should have been allowed to go under is a tough sell. Just ask the folks in Kokomo, IN.

via Town says it owes its life to the auto bailout – Business – Autos – msnbc.com.

Flash forward. The U.S. auto industry has staged an amazing comeback, and the town’s largest employer, Chrysler, has pledged to invest nearly $1.3 billion into its plants here, added about 1,000 workers and helped boost Kokomo’s fortunes — it was honored in 2011 by the state chamber of commerce as Community of the Year.

But the resurrection of U.S. automakers has done little to resolve a deep political divide over the bailout. Democrats, led by President Barack Obama, call it an undeniable success. The Republican presidential candidates, most notably Mitt Romney, condemn it as government meddling, both unfair and unnecessary, and even some Indiana politicians agree.

To many folks in Kokomo, though, the political debate seems disconnected from this reality: Kokomo survives.

When the President took office in January of 2009, Republicans set in their minds that the number one goal was to oust him. They stood in his way at every opportunity. What they were counting on was him failing. And when 2010 rolled around, it looked like they had achieved their goal.

But then a funny thing happened. Things started looking better. To be honest, they started turning around six months after the President took office. But it was damned deep hole to dig out of. Now, unemployment continues to drop, the markets are higher than before he took office (nearly double), consumer confidence is back, and the auto industry is booming.

All of this in direct contrast to the bleak predictions of the right when he was elected. None of their fears have come true. So, they’ve got to ratchet it up a bit more, raise the fear level.  But with what? Now it’s religion and birth control. And education. All their regular complaints are gone. They can’t even use terrorism, as this President has seem more disruption of terrorist networks than his predecessor who preached about. Think Osama Bin Laden.

It’s gonna be tougher and tougher for Republicans to make a sensible case for their views. If current trends hold up (and there is every indication they will), by November, there will be less people unemployed than there were before the President was elected.

And the people of Kokomo like that just fine.

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Mitt Inserts Foot In Mouth – Again

Over the weekend, Romney had a remarkable weekend of opening his mouth and letting stupid stuff come out. Not that this is any surprise. But at this point, he might be giving Joe Biden a run for his money…

On Friday, Romney talked, in Michigan, where he was willing to let the auto industry go belly up, about the fact that he likes cars. Has two of them. And then, he volunteered that his wife owns two Cadillacs. Apparently, it never dawned on the guy that the people he wants voting for him can’t afford one Cadillac.

So, on Sunday, he headed over to a NASCAR event – should be simple, right? Shake a few hands, smile a bunch, get out of town. Except, we’re talking about Romney.

No, when he was asked about NASCAR, he said he didn’t follow it as much as avid fans, but “I have some great friends that are NASCAR team owners”. Don’t we all?

He topped off the gaffe-fest when he walked by a bunch of NASCAR fans wearing plastic ponchos to ward off the rain. Via The Maddow Blog:

In case it seemed as if Romney’s NASCAR visit wasn’t awkward enough, this was pretty remarkable, too: ”The crowd initially booed Mr. Romney, who occasionally struck a discordant note, as when he approached a group of fans wearing plastic ponchos. ‘I like those fancy raincoats you bought,’ he said. ‘Really sprung for the big bucks.’”

Yup. He taunted NASCAR fans because they were wearing inexpensive ponchos. I guess they didn’t have enough corporate sponsorship for him.

You’d have thunk that by now, he would have clued into the whole idea that he’s sounding less like the average guy and more like the rich, self-entitled corporate raider he has always been. Not a very voter friendly persona. But what lies at the heart is simple.

He doesn’t see a difference.

To Romney, everyone is rich. Everyone has four cars. Everyone has investment income. It’s why he says things like “I’m not concerned about the very poor”. He thinks they have a safety net. He doesn’t realize the whole problem is that they’re in the safety net. If you need that safety net, something has already gone wrong.

He thinks corporations are people because he thinks like a corporation. Plain and simple. It’s why he can’t connect with people – he just doesn’t see the difference.

We’ll see more of these gaffes in the upcoming weeks. But if he keeps this up, he may give Santorum a real opening.

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A Real Danger From Citizens United

via ‘Super PAC’ Filings Show Power and Secrecy – NYTimes.com.

Newly disclosed details of the millions of dollars flowing into political groups are highlighting not just the scale of donations from corporation and unions but also the secrecy surrounding “super PACs” seeking to influence the presidential race.

The secrecy part is what should scare the Dickens out of us. It has already been uncovered that a big “bundler” for Romney is also a registered agent for foreign countries. A bundler is someone who collects checks from campaign donations for a campaign. In this case, the bundler is also a lobbyist for the United Arab Emirates and a former president of the Dominican Republic, and he also lobbies for Starwood Hotels and Diageo (they make Guiness and Jose Cuervo).

But this is the part we can find out about. The simple fact is that Citizens United put up a wall that keeps us from finding out about who donors are to these SuperPACs. The money can come from anywhere. Oh, sure, it’s illegal to receive funds from foreign entities. And yet, the US Chamber of Commerce does so by taking membership fees in a foreign country, but throws that money in with all the money they use  for lobbying and campaign contributions.

The issue has even become a point of contention between the very candidates that have been the beneficiaries of the huge sums of cash being poured into their campaigns. As we have pointed out here previously, there has been a 1600% rise in campaign ad spending since the 2008 election season, and yet, the candidates have spent only 40% of what they spent then. Why? The SuperPACs are spending it for them. Meanwhile, corporations can spend whatever they want, without any fear that their customers will know.

So, ask yourself this: If a corporation is spending money on a candidate you don’t like or disagree with, shouldn’t you have the right to know so you can judge whether you want to continue giving that company your business? And should a corporation, or worse, a foreign entity like the UAE, have more say in how the country is run than you?

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We’re Not Talking Dead Voters

An in depth article over at MoneyTrendsResearch.com takes a good look at voter fraud charges being leveled at the Gingrich campaign, as well as peotential voter fraud by Romney himself: Virginia Officials Confirm Criminal Election Fraud Investigation Of Gingrich Campaign | MTR.

The gist of it is that despite all the Republicans bluster about voter fraud, it’s the top 2 GOP candidates that are presenting the biggest potential fraud cases. To date, none of the Republicans claims of voter fraud have ever been borne out. In the case filed in South Carolina where it was alleged that there were 953 “dead” voters, people who had lined up at the polls but who were actually dead, the allegations turned out to be completely bogus. In fact, there were only 10 that were questionable. Of those, 9 were clerical errors by poll workers, and one was someone who was registered, cast an absentee ballot, but died before the election.

The continued push for “Voter ID” is a ruse. They are acting like there is a problem that just doesn’t exist. And these laws will do nothing to deter the fraud present in absentee voting, where no IDs are checked.

But in the Gingrich case, there appears to be genuine fraud attempted. 1,500 bogus signatures were submitted, and according to the Gingrich campaign and the candidate himself, they know it was “one guy”. They won’t reveal who this “one guy” is, but it implies they know who it was that committed the fraud. So why was this guy hired? Why were the signatures to get Gingrich on the ballot not checked before submission?

In Romney’s case, it may be that he himself has committed voter fraud, perhaps using a false address to vote in Massachusetts when he was not an actual resident. Again, we have a hard time identifying it, as the address for the date in question was redacted from his income tax filing. Why would that be? Unless, perhaps, it reveals he voted when he was not an actual resident of the state.

All of this is, of course, conjecture. We can’t see the redacted address, and we haven’t heard who the “one guy” is. But these hidden bits of information are par for the course for the Republican frontrunners. Romney didn’t want to release his tax returns, then reluctantly did so. Which is when we found out about how little he has paid in taxes, and that he keep his money offshore. Gingrich has tried everything possible to downplay his multiple failed marriages (due to his adultery) and his role as an “adviser” (read lobbyist) for Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac. Some bastion of family values, eh?

To these candidates, the issue of honesty is moot. They wish to win, they wish to maintain the status quo. They will take as much money as can be funneled to them, either directly or indirectly through SuperPACs. They have no desire to represent the American people. They only wish to ensure that they continue to make money, that their benefactors continue to make money, and that the average American does not get any piece of that pie. They are not interested in the least in what the vast majority want or need.

If you are thinking of voting for either of these individuals, ask yourself a simple question: Can either of these individuals, who can’t tell the truth about their finances or their allegiances to big business, can they be trusted with your future?

If you cannot trust them, then why on Earth would you vote for them?

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Romney, The Ethical Dichotomy

Mitt Romney is the front-runner for the GOP nomination; there’s not much debate there. He’s also the likely nominee for the GOP. Interesting thing is, the GOP establishment doesn’t want him, but they can’t get enough support around the other possible nominee, Gingrich.

Maybe part of the reason they can’t get behind Romney is that they don’t trust him. It’s possible. But that’s the GOP’s problem. But if you’re an average American you can’t trust him either. Let’s look at a prime example.

Over the last week to ten days, much has been made about Romney’s tax returns. Initially, he refused to release them. When pressed in the SC debate, he said he would probably release them, maybe, in April or May (with the assumption he will still be in the race). But he couched his words carefully to give himself wiggle room – and he didn’t say he would release all of them.

Turns out, part of the reason is what those returns will show. Like millions of dollars moved to investments in offshore accounts, like funds in the Cayman  Islands. Romney himself admitted just this week that he probably pays closer to 15% tax on his income, about half of what the average American pays.

The response from the Romney camp was that these funds were not designed to hide money, but to take advantage of foreign investments. And that he has paid what is legally required.

Quick recap:

  • Romney invests offshore in known tax havens.
  • The investments are in foreign assets.
  • He pays half the tax that you and I do.
  • It’s legal.

So, the investments aren’t creating American jobs, the money isn’t held in the US, and he isn’t paying the same amount of taxes Americans do. But it’s legal.

This is the argument you find all the time. I pay less because it’s what I’m legally required to do. That’s because the GOP keep making laws that say they CAN pay less. In fact, the proposed tax plan that Romney has presented would actually cut his taxes further. Bottom income would pay more, of course.

But here is where the argument really falls apart. Ask Romney about whether abortions should occur. He doesn’t believe in them, thinks they are wrong and would overturn Roe V. Wade if given the chance. But the sticking point is: They are legal. So, Romney says he doesn’t believe abortions should occur for ethical and moral reasons, but they are legal.

Why doesn’t this apply to his offshore accounts and the taxes he pays? Isn’t it morally and ethically reasonable to expect that he would keep his money in the US, and pay the taxes we all pay? Or is it because when it comes to money, ethics and morals get thrown out?

It’s pretty typical pol-speak. It’s ok to do as long as it’s legal, unless I don’t like you doing it. Then it’ s wrong no matter how many Supreme Court justices say it’s legal.

There are plenty of reasons not to trust Romney. And we’ll see plenty more in the upcoming months.

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Romney – Yup, He’s Just Who We Thought He Was

Mitt Romney has dodged the question about his taxes do often that it actually became an issue in the SC Republican Debate Monday night. At that time, he indicated he might release his tax returns in April. There has been plenty of speculation as to why he would wait, starting with the fact that much of his money is offshore, and that he likely doesn’t pay the same tax rate you and I do.

Greg Sargent over at Plum Line takes a look at this morning’s statement from Romney:

At a press availability this morning, Mitt Romney confirmed what we’ve all suspected for some time: Because he gets much of his income from investments, he pays a lower tax rate than many middle class taxpayers.

“It’s probably closer to the 15 percent rate than anything,” Romney said, adding: “My income comes overwhelmingly from some investments made in the past, rather than ordinary income or earned annual income.”

As Greg points out, there are a whole host of problems with this for Romney, should become the Republican nominee.

Romney has stumbled repeatedly when it comes to connecting with the average American. He thinks corporations are “people”. He wants to be able to “fire” services, he thinks he is in the middle class… the list goes on and on. And yet, he thinks he can make the connection. Now, he admits, in public, that he pays about half the tax rate that most Americans do.

Of course, he defends this by saying he pays what he is “legally required” to do. Makes it sound ok, right? Except that what he is paying is “legally required” because Republicans and their big business benefactors make sure they pay less and less every year, while the rest of us foot the bill for necessary services. They pay less, we pay more. Then you add the fact that Romney wants to lower taxes even further for the higher income levels. That’s right, he wants to pay even less, while raising the taxes on lower income folks.

Romney is exactly who we thought he was – a member of the financial elite who have no problem making fortunes on the backs of the middle class and who will work tirelessly to make sure it stays that way.