EDUCATING ROMNEY

ACTUALLY...... Mitt Romney is talking tough again.  This time it's about China.  I'm sure he's been advised by many analysts that anything he does with China could be more than disastrous and possibly start a trade war that would hurt both American consumers and workers. Romney contends that he would take a much braver approach to what he calls 'abusive' Chinese trade practices, than President Obama.  He has repeatedly said "one of his first acts as President would be to formally label China a currency manipulator and slap punitive tariffs on Chinese exports to the U.S."  He said: "I want to make sure that if a nation cheats like China has cheated, we call them on the carpet and don't let it continue".

Romney's threat could damage the American economy.  I hope he's smart enough (?) to realize that China could retaliate by cutting purchases of U.S. debt and drive up our interest rates.  New tariffs on Chinese exports could increase prices for U.S. consumers.  His proposed actions would seriously damage our relations with the Chinese.  Daniel H, Rosen, an expert on Chinese economy said: "If a Romney presidency starts with aggressive new unilateral tariffs for China, then American firms from General Motors, to General Electric and Microsoft should all plan ahead for retaliatory treatment".

China's official Xinhau news agency said in a strongly worded English-language commentary  that "Romney's anti-China rhetoric, if converted into policy upon him assuming office, would trigger a catastrophic trade war and damage the already weak global economic recovery".

"It's rather ironic that a considerable portion of this China-battering politicians wealth was actually obtained by doing business with Chinese companies before he entered politics," Xinhua wrote.  "Such blaming-China-on-everything remarks are as false as they are foolish, for it has never been a myth that pushing up the value of China's currency would be of  litttle use to boost the chronically slack job market of the world's sole superpower, not to mention to magically turn the poor U.S. economic performance around."

Romney has repeatedly pledged, if elected, to get tougher with China on it's trade and currency practices, including to quickly declare China a currency manipulator.

DOESN'T HE KNOW THAT CHINA WON'T TAKE ANY CRAP FROM HIM ??

THIS.... IS PAUL RYAN

ACTUALLY..... In Paul Ryan's acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, he said:  "you are entitled to the clearest possible choice because the time for choosing is drawing near".  He followed this with "Here is our pledge:  We will not duck the tough issues -  we will lead". If Mr. Ryan and Mitt Romney truly want the voters to make an undisputed choice, then they have to be more positive in exactly what their unequivocal choice is.  They need to decisively tell the American people what they would do and HOW they would accomplish it.

Their choice was not on Mr. Ryan's agenda. Instead he talked about his personal life growing up in a small town, gave a little testimonial to his running mate, and then went on to a misleading indictment of President Obama as being a threat to American freedom.  He claimed the presidents vision is "a government-planned life, where everything is free but us".  That little statement did nothing but insult voters who know better.  Here's a list of 5 lies that Ryan told that night.

1. Lie:  President Obama is the "greatest threat" to Medicare.
Obama didn't make any cuts to Medicare benefits, he made cuts to provider reimbursements, to improve cost efficiency and extend the fiscal security of Medicare by 8 years.  Truth:  Ryan actually does want to cut benefits.  He proposed dismantling Medicare and replacing it with a voucher system, leaving millions of seniors to come up with more money to pay for care out of pocket.
2.  Lie:  President Obama didn't save a General Motors plant in Wisconsin.  Truth:  Obama wasn't even in office when the GM plant closed. 
3.  Lie:  President Obama ignored recommendations of a bipartisan debt commission.  Truth:  Ryan sat on that commission, and he led Republicans in voting down the commission's own recommendation.  The commission never gave a report to Obama, because Ryan himself voted to kill the report before it could reach the president.
4.  Lie:  President Obama is responsible for the downgrading of the U.S. Credit Rating.  Truth:  Ryan and the House Republicans held the full faith and credit of the U.S. hostage to try to ransom it for trillions of dollars in cuts to social programs without increasing taxes on the wealthy.  Standard & Poors said specifically, "We have changed our assumption on revenue because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues".  That's why our nations credit was downgraded.
5.  Lie:  Ryan wants to protect the "weak".  Truth:  Ryan's biggest feat in his political career was proposing a budget with dramatic cuts to programs benefiting the poor.  He'd cut Medicaid by one third, take away health care insurance from 30 million Americans, and cut Pell Grants for 1 million students.  All so he could give more tax breaks to the rich.

Ryan is determined to dismantle Social Security (which he wants to privatize) and Medicare (which he wants to replace with a voucher system, meaning, you get to fend for yourself against private insurance companies that will charge you a few thousand dollars a month for really bad insurance).

What's interesting, is that Social Security helped Paul Ryan go to college and make him the man he is today (which in my opinion is not good). Paul Ryan benefited from the largesse of big liberal government. Government that he now wants to take away from the rest of us.

From the age of 16, when his 55-year-old father died of a heart attack, until he was 18, Ryan received Social Security payments, which, he put away for college. The eventual budget czar attended Miami University in Ohio to earn a B.A. in economics and political science, and landed a congressional internship as a junior.  He didn't finish college but still accepted the payments.

Ryan, the powerful chairman of the House Budget Committee, is still not discussing his plan on the campaign trail.  "At it's core, it provides another round of tax cuts for people like Romney and companies like Bain Capital at the expense of everybody in America.  At the expense of seniors on Medicare, at the expense of middle-class taxpayers, at the expense of investments and education and infrastructure and things necessary to help power our economy.  Romney and Ryan are hiding the consequences of their plan from he American people".

"THE  SILENCE  IS  DEAFENING"

"THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF LIES - LIES, DAMN LIES AND STATISTICS"

ACTUALLY......We have a man who is vying for President of the United States, that has flip-flopped and lied on so many things it's hard to keep count. Recently he "switched" from government spending creates jobs, to government spending destroys jobs - that was in once sentence.  His campaign asked the Governor of Florida to tone down the states improvement in economy because they clashed with Romney's message that the nation is suffering under President Obama.

 His record as Governor of Massachusetts is less than sterling.  Mitt Romney left behind a legacy of rising debt, higher taxes and one of the worst economic records in the Country.  When he left office the state was 47th among 50 states in job creation, taxes and fees increased by $750 million, long term debt increased more than $2.6 billion.

Then he was called to work his magic and "save" the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. Utah state records show that Romney wasn't just the head of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, Romney was also a registered lobbyist for the organization.  As lobbyist and president of the SLOC, he brought in a record $1.3 billion in federal dollars for the games and more from Utah. Romney last worked as a lobbyist on Dec. 31, 2000, according to a spokesman for the state lieutenant governor, who oversees the registry.  His stewardship of the 2002 SLOC was not without controversy.

This brings us to Bain Capital.  That subject has been discussed by every columnist for several months now.  He has bought and broken companies, left employees out of work,  lied about his involvements and his time spent there, and made millions of dollars through dishonest dealings.  He claims that he left Bain in 1999 in order to fend off attacks that he is responsible for Bain layoffs or outsourcing.However, according to the Huffington Post, Romney noted that he regularly traveled back to Massachusetts. "There were a number of social trips and business trips that brought me back to Massachusetts, board meetings, Thanksgiving and so forth." The Boston Globe reports that "the SEC documents show that Romney stayed as Bains Chairman and President, owning 100 percent of Bain as late as 2002."   Oh yes! While I'm at it, Mitt hides his money in offshore accounts, some of which do not require him to pay taxes. He plays by his own rules because that's the way he was raised.  He's wealthy, you know!

Remember when Mitt Romney said "Let Detroit go bankrupt"?  Everybody knew GM and Chrysler needed to go through a managed bankruptcy. The question was whether the companies would go through that process with or without the backing of the federal government.  Romney wanted to let the companies go through bankruptcy on their own, however if that happened the entire industry would have been devastated.  President Obama made a tough call—and took a huge political risk—when he put the weight of the U.S. government behind the auto industry. Mitt Romney would have done the exact opposite, and the results would have been disastrous. Romney claimed that if the U.S. took the path followed by President Obama, "you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye."  Well, look where they are now - no thanks to Mitt Romney.

Romney finds it very hard to be honest.  He admitted as much when he pledged to a group in Ohio "If I'm President of the United States, with your help, I will tell the truth".
  

 WHAT KIND OF A MAN NEEDS HELP TO TELL THE TRUTH??

RYAN'S PEP RALLY

ACTUALLY....Republican vice president candidate Paul Ryan began his pep rally Wednesday night with this wife and three children on stage.  That was an admirable beginning to a speech full of  lies, dishonesty and anger.  He was there, of course, to accept the GOP's nomination for vice president or, in his own words, he "accepted the calling of my generation to help lead the county in tough times" and told the audience that Mitt Romney and he will make the difficult decisions needed to repair the nations economy. "We will not duck the tough issues, we will lead." Neither of the men has said how they would do that. WOW, why doesn't that give me a warm fuzzy feeling?
 
The National Catholic Reporter seems to think that Ryan's budget, fully endorsed by Mitt Romney, is taking out it's fiscal anger on the middle-class and poor, and asks where their deep seated anger comes from.  We all recognize that the federal deficit needs to be overhauled and that Medicare and Social Security could certainly stand improvement.  But the Ryan budget which the U.S. Bishops have called a "moral failure", is not the way to go.

Ryan hammered President Obama on a number of things.   His first hit was on, you guessed it, Medicare.  In a major section of his speech he tried to deflect Democratic criticism that he would slash Medicare benefits as part of his broad budget cutting plan.  Here is were he made one of his huge mistakes.  He said that President Obama made devastating cuts to the health care program for the elderly. Ryan said that the "president robbed Medicare of $716 billion".   What he didn't say that was Obama's Medicare cuts were to be over the next 10 years and in reimbursements to insurers and hospitals, not in payments to beneficiaries.  
Ryan ignored the fact that he incorporated the same cuts into budgets through the House in the past two years, using the money for deficit reduction.

Not everyone was pleased.  There was a woman who wanted to hear Republican leaders address foreign policy.  That was not included in Ryan's speech and she said obviously "this party isn't ready to talk about foreign policy".  (Perhaps it's because they don't know anything about foreign policy.)  Others noted that Ryan didn't say much about how he would cut spending and entitlement programs while preserving Medicare. There again, he probably doesn't have a clue.

He talked about the stimulus legislation that Congress passed at Obama's request in 2009 to help stabilize the economy.  What he didn't elaborate on was that he asked for some of that funding, which eventually went to two energy conservation companies in his home state.

Mr. Ryan spoke of other issues, many of which were based on deception and lies.  That topic is for another day.  As an unidentified woman said at the end of the evening:

"THE CONGRESSMAN'S SPEECH SKIPPED LIGHTLY OVER INCONVENIENT FACTS"

MITT'S PROPOSED ENERGY PLAN

ACTUALLY..... Governor Romney has unveiled his latest Energy Plan.  He got really wordy with this, so I will summarize the high points, as I see them.    I must give credit to the Washington Post for most of this information, but I believe it's worthy of sharing.  First of all Romney wants North America to have energy independence by 2020.  He says "North America is the fastest growing oil and gas producing region in the world".  There are some issues here that need to be accomplished before proceeding.

First: the United States will need to open up more federal lands and waters to oil and gas drilling.
Second: The federal government will have to give states more power to approve permits to speed up the rate of drilling.  Romney is promising "North American energy independence", not U.S. energy independence.There are many different views regarding oil and energy in his plan, therefore, I am giving you the five big points:

1.  The United States is already shrinking it imports on oil and gas.  It's unclear how much of Romney's plan would accelerate the process.  (In other's words, he has no idea and he's not saying)
2.  Energy independence will require more than just drilling - it will also depend on fuel economy - standards that Romney has opposed.
3.  Energy independence can't protect the U.S. from high oil prices
4.  More drilling could create jobs, however Romney's claims are probably false in that area.
5.  Romney's plan give no thoughts to other concerns, particularly global warming.  (That's interesting because he has said he doesn't believe in global warming).

The regulation question is certainly relevant when it comes to natural-gas fracking..  Public concern over fracking could prove a problem to gas development unless careful regulations are put in place. (How's he going to do that?) Romney's plan has a line about how he would "strengthen environmental protection" and not destroy jobs, paralyze industry or block the use of resources like coal. 

Main details are not yet announced, however, President Obama is criticizing Romney's energy plan.  The President is claiming that Romney is defending billions in oil subsidies instead of using oil more effeciently or developing other alternatives.  According to ABC News, President Obama feels that we will never reach energy independence by turning our backs on homegrown renewal energy and better auto mileage. "Under the Obama administration, America has produced the most natural gas ever, the most oil in 14 years and is on track to double the electricity production by renewable sources like wind and sun."

Perhaps you should go back to the drawing board Mitt.  Looks like this energy thing in covered. 

"SOMETHING DRAMATIC"

ACTUALLY......Mitt Romney is doing it again.  He's making statements regarding what he would do to ignite the economy if he is elected President, but not telling anyone how he plans to do so.  In an interview with CNN he said: "I can absolutely make the case that now is the time for something dramatic and it is not the time to grow government. It’s the time to create the incentives and the opportunities for entrepreneurs and businesses big and small to hire more people and that’s going to happen.’’ Problem here, as usual, Governor Romney is skating around the issue and is not releasing specifics for his economic plans.  Could it be that he has no plan??

Romney continues to downplay President Obama's tax plan that would preserve tax cuts for all
Americans except those who earn more that $250,000.  Romney wants to preserve tax cuts for everyone - one small thing though, he hasn't said how he would pay for this. Romney says ‘‘The great majority of small businesses pay taxes at the individual rate so as Obama raises these taxes ‘‘on the wealthy’’ he is raising taxes on small business.’’  Are there many small business that make more than $250,000??

Romney criticizes Obama for not visiting Israel since 2008, during his last campaign.  At that time Obama received a warm reception from the Israeli president who said his fondest wish was for a “great president of the United States.”

When Romney was in Israel recently he caused accusations of racism from the Palestinians when he said "that cultural differences help explain the economic disparity between Israelis and Palestinians".

Was that "dramatic" enough for you Mitt?




 


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TELL IT LIKE IT IS

ACTUALLY......A former Navy SEAL with Tea Party ties has launched an attack on President Obama accusing him of taking too much credit for the killing of Osama bin Laden.  This group says it is non-profit and non-partisan, however a number of its members have close ties to the Republican party.   This group shares a office with two Republican political firms.  The firms spokesman worked for the Bush administration as a spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence.  One of these SEALS was seeking the Republican nomination for a congressional seat in Virginia - he was unsuccessful.

Like it or not, it was the President who was at the helm of the bin Laden mission.  He promised he would go after bin Laden and he did!  Obama's strong suit is national security.  There's always the risk of the opposition trying to undermine the presidents credibility.  I have the greatest respect for the military and the Navy SEALS, but guy's there was no leak in security.  The Vice-President was speaking to a crowd and was mentioning a list of the administrations accomplishments.  A man in the crowd pointed out that 'we also got bin Laden'.  The Vice-President quickly said "Let me correct that.  The President of the United States and the special forces got bin Laden".  President Clinton praised Obama for ordering the secret raid.There is a short film being released today criticizing Obama for taking credit of the mission that killed bin Laden.  FactCheck.org said it had no problem with most of the video but noted that other parts of it skew the facts, "particularity when splicing together pieces of the president's discussing his role in the operation".

The Obama campaign called the video "reckless rhetoric" and noted that one of the SEALS in question worked for Republican Political causes.  The Republicans are resorting to everything they can to discredit President Obama when it comes to foreign policy and national security.  Mitt Romney made his two foreign policy speeches without ever mentioning Al Qaeda, nor has he outlined a plan for America's relations with a single region of the world.  The White House has denied leaking secret information regarding clandestine operations and 2 federal investigators have been assigned to investigate them.

The raid itself was conducted as a covert operation under the overall direction of then CIA Director Leon Panetta. Yes!  President Barack Obama gave the green-light signal to begin the raid on Abbottabad and issued the order to kill Osama bin Laden.  The head of special operations, Admiral Bill McRaven, a former SEAL himself, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that credit was due to the President.  The Admiral said "at the end of the day, make no mistake about it:  it was the president of the United States that shouldered the burden for this operation, that made the hard decisions".  Our President made this brave determination because he is commander-in-chief, and it was on his watch.

Governor Romney, COULD YOU HAVE MADE THAT BOLD AND RISKY DECISION?

WELFARE-TO-WORK LAW

ACTUALLY......Mitt Romney keeps jumping on things that he's out of touch on.  He has a new attack on President Obama for waiving parts of the welfare-to-work law.  Why can't Mitt remember that he backed a similar move as governor of Massachusetts.  (maybe it's the same reason he keeps forgetting to release his tax information).  President Obama's campaign circulated a letter, dated in 2005, that Romney signed together with 28 other Republican governors in support of Senate legislation that would have permitted increased waiver authority.

Romney's new ad claims Obama's solution to many of America's problems is to rely on government.  He said "We will end a culture of dependency and restore a culture of good, hard work".  The White House press secretary called Romney's charges categorically false and "blatantly dishonest".  This administration's policy will strengthen the program by giving states the opportunity to employ more effective ways to help people get off welfare and into a job".  Health and Human Services Department allows states to ask for a waiver from the work requirement of the welfare law in order to find different ways that would help needy families find jobs.  The purpose is to give states some flexibility in how they carry out the welfare law.  As many as 76 Republicans opposed the health department's decision and complained to the Health Secretary.  She assured them that the states will have to move at lease 20% more people from welfare to work.

 Romney's attack ad says "Obama guts welfare reform," while a voice says "Under Obama's plan, you wouldn't have to work and wouldn't have to train for a job. They just send you your welfare check."
 

Obama campaign spokeswoman say's "The truth is that the President is giving states additional flexibility only if they move more people from welfare to work - not fewer."

Mitt will do anything he can to change the subject from what are you hiding in those tax returns you won't release...........

HERE WE GO AGAIN WITH TAX CUTS

ACTUALLY.......Senator Jon Kyl from Arizona has said "that the president’s usage of the phrase “middle class” is “misguided and wrong and even dangerous.”  He called for an end to what he referred to as rhetoric about "classes".  Furthermore he had the audacity to bombard President Obama about “incessantly” talking about class, “particularly the middle-class”.  The Arizona sun has really gotten to that man.

President Obama is trying to protect the middle-class, which by the way is more than just an income bracket.  He is, of course, comparing the American people who are financially not as well off as the wealthy executive's of large corporations or (pardon the expression) private equity owners.  Senator Kyl goes on to say that America doesn’t have “a true class-based society,” since we don’t have an “ingrained class system” or “noble bloodlines.” I think that's a bunch of crap! And, how does he know that someone in the middle-class doesn't have "noble bloodlines"?

What the President wants for our 'middle-class' is a secure job, a safe and stable home, access to affordable health care, retirement security, time off for vacation.  He also wants to have opportunities for families to save for the future and the ability to provide a good education, including a college education, for the children. How else are we to build a strong nation that our children and grand children can be proud of?

President Obama has said repeatedly that his greatest goal is to build our economy from the bottom up, giving the opportunity for less fortunate people that struggle from day to day, to enter the middle-class and enjoy a better standard of living.  We have become a nation so polarized that there is the very wealthy ....... and then everyone else.  Does that sound fair and reasonable?  President Obama has recently called on Congress to extend tax cuts for families earning less than $250,000 a year while allowing taxes to raise for households making more.

Romney's plan will  raise taxes on the bottom 95% of the people.  The average middle-class family with children will see a tax increase of more than $2,000.00.  For everyone making less than $200,000, the tax increase averages more than $500.00 per person.  His plan includes a large tax cut for only the wealthiest 5% of Americans.  He's proposing a new $247,000 tax cut for the wealthiest 0.1% - on top of the Bush tax cuts, and another $87,000 tax cut for every millionaire - on top of the Bush tax cuts.  I don't know about you, but this just boggles my mind.  It's hard to understand and even harder to live with.

Oh! And by the way, what the hell is an "ingrained class system".  For crying out loud Senator, GET REAL!!  What planet are you from anyway?

JUST CREATE YOUR OWN FACTS

ACTUALLY.....Mitt Romney just can't stand to have someone get the best of him.  Therefore, he now has this cockamamie idea that President OBama's administration is compared to those in foreign lands where the government gives handouts to the rich and makes the middle class suffer.  I think his 'Bainpain' has really got him reaching, big time.  He says that Obama is handing out money to the businesses of his campaign supporters. Romney said "I believe in free markets and free people" and is accusing President Obama of crony capitalism. 

Of course, we all know that Romney is still trying to run from the "tax return police".  He still hasn't explained why his name appears on government filings as leading Bain Capital years after he claims he left it.  Instead of telling the American People the truth he would rather criticize our President for a "political philosophy that he says attacks success and wants Americans to be ashamed of their achievements".  President Obama said "if you've got a business - you didn't build that.  Somebody else made that happen."  Once again Romney took a statement entirely out of context and wants the American people to believe only what he want's them to believe. What Obama actually said is that he praised individual achievement.  The "handouts" Romney mentioned was actually referring to contributions from school teachers or road builders.  The President believes in helping the middle class and thinks that somewhere there was a great teacher in your life that taught you to survive and be a creative person - build roads and bridges.

Romney said that Americans value their school teachers, firefighters and road builders, but they are funded.   Yes, you moron, they have to be funded.  The Gennie doesn't just jump out of the bottle and twitch his nose to make these things happen.

Mitt, get your head out of the sand and act like a grown up. Oh, and Gov. Romney, you want to know where the stimulus money went during the Presidents first term....................stay tuned - next post



  U3U8UNWM5DYT

DO-NOTHING-CONGRESS

ACTUALLY.....Has President Obama failed to remind the GOP, as well as the American People, that this great country of ours was in an economic disaster when he signed the oath of the Presidency?  He has been conscious and courageous in digging America out of a tremendous hole.  Sure, he made promises that he hasn't been able to keep, but most of those failed promises were not his fault. In answer to questions about what he wanted to do and still will try to do in his second term, read on: 

Several months ago President Obama challenged Congress with a "to-do" list.  The list he wanted was not new for the administration.  They were laid out in the American Jobs Act and in his State of the Union Address.  The list included passing legislation to give companies a 20% tax credit to move their overseas operations back to America and legislation to give small businesses that hire new workers or increase wages a 10% income tax credit.  It included legislation on 2 energy tax credits and to create the Veterans Job Corps, which would help post 9/11 veterans get jobs as firefighters and police oficers, as well as other jobs that would serve their communities.

The jobs bill he sent Congress included these policies, and more, that he knew could grow the economy and put Americans back to work.  Every time he put these policies up for a vote, the Republicans in Congress said "no".  The Presidents press secretary is quoted as saying "I don't think congress will act because the President says they must act".  It's like running into a brick wall.

Most Republican lawmakers should explain to their constituents what they did while they were in Washington.  Can they  explain that they put forward every effort to help the economy grow and create jobs?  Certainly not!  Can they say that they have earned their salaries and other numerous perks?  Certainly not!!  Can they say all they really want to do is get President Obama out of office?  YES, that they can certainly say!!

Do we have a "do-nothing" Congress?  Absolutely!! 

ROMNEY PULLED A REAL WHOPPER

ACTUALLY.....It's been a few days now since Mitt Romney addressed the NAACP.  He did the right thing (gosh I hate to admit that) by at least showing up.  However, I'm still trying to figure out why Romney thought he could stand at that podium, with all his arrogance hanging out, and insist that he could do more for the black community as President of the U.S. than President Obama.  Romney accused our President of not doing enough to help African-American families on everything from family policy to education to health care.
Romney went on to say that he was going to eliminate every non-essential, expensive program that he could find, which included Obamacare........what an ENORMOUS mistake that was.  A NAACP board chairman, a health care expert, took issue with that remark.  She said "it's not Obamacare.  It's the law of the land.  The Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act, and we want it to go forward".  It seems impossible to me that he could stand there and attack the very program that most of his audience depended on. Obviously the crowd wasn't pleased with that remark!   The boos erupted again when he said he would make a better President for the African-American community than President Obama.

He kept on about how he believed that his leadership would help families of color, more than anything Obama had done or will do.  He accused Obama of failing to spark a more robust economic recovery.  "I know the President said he will do those things.  But he has not.  He cannot.  He will not."  At that point the crowd's murmurs turned to groans.  He vowed to put African-Americans back to work - but, he didn't say how. 

Since that speech, Mitt Romney has had the audacity to call those who booed  his remarks as "freeloaders".  He has boasted about the boos saying "if they want more free stuff from the government, tell them to vote for the other guy".  Incidentally, he supports voter ID laws that could disenfranchise 25% of African-Americans, as well as other less fortunate young people and seniors.

Does this man really qualify for the Presidency?  Does he know that the office of the President of the United States of America includes all Americans regardless of race, creed or religion?  I wonder?

ROMNEY'S FALSE FACTS ABOUT OBAMACARE

ACTUALLY.....It's not surprising that Mitt Romney is gambling not only his reputation, but his campaign on the economy.  He persistently argues that President Obama has has failed miserably at improving our economy.  A Romney strategist says that they view this as a very simple election.  Should we all just go sit on a beach somewhere until November?  I think not!!  Again, Romney is proving that he really doesn't "get it".  The Supreme Courts ruling on Healthcare is merely a test of his campaigns strategy.  Have they even thought of what the Supreme Courts decision to pass this law will mean to the voters in November?  He better get ready for the political fight of his lifetime if he intends to beat President Obama. 

Romney claims that Obamacare "put's the Federal Government between you an your doctor".  Not true!  The law will set minimum benefits, but medical services will not be Government run.  Romney is still calling Obamacare a "job killer".  This is truly overblown and has been a standard attack line for the Republicans. The facts have not stopped Republicans from making the "job-killing" claim a major part of their campaign 2012 ads:

1.  Five ads by the U.S.Chamber of Commerce attack Democrats by repeating the "Obamacare will kill jobs" statement.
2.  Seven other Chamber spots praise Republicans, using the same theme.
3.  An ad from the group Freedom Path says the law is "devastating to small business".
4.  Repulican Joe Bonner features a large stack of papers that he claims are "job-killing regulations and taxes" in one of his spots.

This is all a bunch of  (fact checked) baloney.  The GOP ads combine their "job-killing" claims with their often stated slogan calling the law a "government takeover of health care", which is false.  Remember, Mitt Romney is a rich over-reacting puppet, trying to buy his presidency. Remember that 'silver spoon' theory - he's trying it out again.

Get off your high-horse Gov Romney - you look really ridiculous. You  might want to loose those jeans!

ROMNEY, THE CHARLATAN

ACTUALLY......did you know that Mitt Romney spent 25 years in the real world economy?  That's why he understands why jobs come and go.  He invested in a lot of companies that specialized in sending jobs done by American workers to low-wage countries like China, India and Mexico.  (That's the 'go' part.)  He doesn't talk much about the jobs he's created here in America.  Romney's outsourcing didn't just happen in the private sector.   When he was Governor of Massachusetts, he actually outsourced state jobs to a call center in India.  In the 15 years that he was running Bain, a private equity firm, they owned companies that shipped work from the U.S. to overseas call centers and factories making computer components according to the filings with the SEC.  The question has come up is this Outsourcing or Offshoring?  Not much difference, huh?

This my friends, is part of his economic philosophy.   He has also recently said that if he were President he would stand up to China and demand a level playing field for our workers.  He said he would direct the Department of Treasury to list China as a currency manipulator, and sanction China for unfair trade practices.  Think so, can't wait to see that - well he has made friends there.

There is no doubt that Mitt Romney is hoping for a worse case scenario in the U.S. economy.  The Congressional leadership is on Romney's same page.  I believe it's not about Mitt Romney - it's about the fact that things will get bad enough that they can throw President Obama under the bus and get rid of him. 

As if you didn't know - the GOP want's to get Obama out!  They couldn't care less how, or who beats him.  Mitt Romney is an etch-a-sketch man, a puppet for his campaign, has a very hard time telling the truth and is doing all he can to buy his way into the White House.  He will do or say anything to become President of the U.S.  What a sad day that would be.  Who in the world convinced him he was presidential material???

I'll always be an American, say the pledge of allegiance and wave "old glory", but I have to find someplace to hide if Romney is elected.  HELP!!  Maybe he'll deport me back to Ireland.

ROMNEY'S EVASIVENESS

ACTUALLY...... Romney has refused to answer questions regarding his views on important issues so voters have to guess at where he stands on them.  You see if he doesn't tell what he's thinking, he can call himself the "generic Republican" choice to President Obama. Romney has stated that there were so many things he would do as President, on the first day in office that I really have lost count.  Here are 6 more issues that he simply evades and won't talk about.

1.  Gov. Romney will not say whether he would revoke the President's decision to end deportation of eligible immigrants.  He has had numerous opportunities in the last few day to say how he feels about that issue but only says "we'll look at that....we'll look at that setting as we.....as we reach that".   Wow! That's really a great statement coming from a man to hopes to be President.

2.  Romney won't say if he supports the Paycheck Fairness Act.  This is a bill to crack down on wage discrimination between men and women.  The Washington Times has asked him 5 times about his thoughts on the bill.  I'm seriously thinking that he's waiting for the puppet master,Geppetto,to pull the right string.

3.  Romney refuses to say which federal agencies that he'd eliminate.  He said he would eliminate or combine "a lot of departments in Washington", but that he was "probably not going to lay out just exactly which ones are going to go".  Why?  It could hurt his political chances - it did in his 1994 Senate race.

4.  Romney won't say specifically which tax loopholes he'd close.  When asked, he answered "we'll go through that process with Congress".  It was a don't bother me with that now answer.

5.  He won't say if he'd support the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act.  He said that he "hopes (the bill) can be re-authorized without turning it into a political football".  Would that be considered a fumble in NFL talk?

6.  You're going to like this one  -  He won't say whether he'd eliminate the "carried interest" tax break for private equity partners.  His campaign won't say anything about it and when asked directly he said we should probably "take a close look at that to see if we're treating capital gains as capital gains or are we treating, in some cases, carried interest as capital gains when it's more like ordinary income".  That could possibly be a direct answer, but.....

Oh well, if he doesn't know how he feels about these important issues, I'm quite sure someone will tell him.

WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE GOOSE......

ACTUALLY.... .going back a few months when Romney was questioned about illegal immigration, his immediate solution was "self-deportation" - let the 11 million immigrants just turn around and go back to where they came from. Well, now we read that at the Texas state GOP convention last week the Republicans blamed the "decades-long failure of the federal government to secure our borders and address the immigration issue".  Now, the  GOP proposes a "national temporary worker program", that's the good news -  but only for periods where no U.S. workers are available. That's the bad news.  The program would be self-funded through fees and fines, require a criminal background check and show proficiency in English.  O.K. How many illegal immigrants are there that would be proficient in English?  This program would fine those applicants with prior immigration violations, not really stating what those violations would be.  In my humble opinion those fines would probably be more than the poor immigrant could afford.  Guess what would happen then?  You got it - adios amigo. 

President Obama has been trying to get the Senate to pass a program designed to provide a fair path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.  The "Dream Act" would grant permanent legal status only to undocumented immigrants brought here before the age of 16 - and even then only to those who spent 2 years in college or in the military.  Don't you think that innocent children would make support of "The Dream Act" an easy call.  Well, think again!  The Republican's find fault and criticize every legislative effort to help these immigrants. In the 2010 Senate session, "The Dream Act" failed. 

In his third State of the Union speech The President said he wants comprehensive federal immigration reform.  But if that's not possible, he at the very least wants to give citizenship to children of illegal immigrants that qualify per his "Dream Act".  In his words:  "If election-year politics keeps Congress from acting on a comprehensive plan, let’s at least agree to stop expelling responsible young people who want to staff our labs, start new businesses, and defend this country. Send me a law that gives them the chance to earn their citizenship. I will sign it right away".

Why doesn't the Mexico born Romney just self-deport back to Mexico?  Then he would know the importance of leaving.

PANTS ON FIRE......

ACTUALLY....Gov Mitt Romney has laid claims to many things.  "He is a man that his admirers would not call a gifted politician".  In my opinion, he is just a puppet waiting for the GOP to pull the strings.   With all his wealth and professed severe conservatism,  he has trouble telling the truth.

A few examples.....
Romney:  "President Obama 's failed economics have led to more regulations":  Fact:  He has approved fewer regulations through his first 3 years and signed an executive order requiring agencies to find ways to eliminate ineffective regulations - also rolled back more than 500 regulatory reforms from 26 agencies.

Romney:  "President Obama said that the $787 billion borrowed would let him hold unemployment below 8%"  Fact:  False!!  Obama never said he would hold unemployment below 8%.  The information to dispute this claim exists on the Romney campaign website.

Romney:   "President Obama has not created more jobs for the American people".  Fact:  For the last 26 months, the economy has added more than 4 million private sector jobs.

Romney:  "Under Obama's term the number of new business started per year is down 100,000".  Fact :  The rate of business starts was 5% higher in 2011. than before the recession.

Romney:  "93% of the jobs lost during Obama's years were lost by women".  Fact:  Economic experts have said this charge was "skewed" and "mostly false".

In a recent White House news conference, Gov. Romney took President Obama's economic policy completely out of context, because that was another thing that he could twist and turn.  If Romney had listened instead of making knee-jerk comments, he would have heard our President say that while there is still room for improvement the job picture in the private sector is doing better than in the public sector. In case the Republicans don't remember, the United States has gone through a deep recession.  There have been over 3 million private jobs added in the private sector.

Mitt, I would suggest that you get your brain in gear before you open your mouth!   Do you ever check your facts??  It's really not that hard. Even I can do it.

OBAMA'S DRONE POLICY

ACTUALLY.....what would most Americans really want, a major military operation, costing millions, putting American men and women in harms way, while also killing and maiming numerous innocent people with the possibility of not getting the al-Qaida operative leader that would terrorize the United States - or a cleaner drone strike that would accomplish the removal of a dangerous enemy?  The names of potential targets are discussed with other departments and agencies. The significant targets are brought to the President only in special cases.  There are no "Terror Tuesday" meetings.  Instead the President discusses broad parameters and offers strategic guidance for counter terrorism policy and, no, he doesn't make the call on every action.  He's not doing this to be portrayed as a "tough guy playing judge and jury" as some would like you to believe.   Using Drones to get the bad guys is less costly than exposing our troops to risk.

People, we're fighting a different war than ever before, and it has to be fought in a different way.  In addition to Drones, we now have cyberwar threatening our nation.  President Obama is well aware of these situations at all times and will face them boldly as they arise.

I can't help wondering what Gov. Mitt Romney thinks about Americas approach to Drone warfare. He wants to make the conventional U.S. Military the strongest in the world when our major threats are non-conventional. 

Now, I've got it - he's just going to "fire" al-Qaida.  He likes to do that, you know.

A FEW OF OBAMA'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS-PART 1

ACTUALLY....A columnist from the New York Times has given me this idea.  He said "President Obama should run his campaign for re-election on things he has already accomplished".  I started thinking about that and by golly he's right.  Our President has done some wonderful things that a great deal of the American people don't even remember because they're so wrapped up in silly politics.

2 years after the Presidents health care bill became law and is fully implemented, no American with a per-existing condition will ever be denied coverage. The Republican Party says that Obama's plan is socialized medicine.  People without insurance can go to an emergency clinic or plead with some doctor to take their case and then, guess what?   That care is shared by all of us who have insurance because the rates go up.  That is socialized medicine.  Our President is letting himself be considered a health care socialist, which he is not!

Obama saved the auto industry from bankruptcy, and 2 years later he got all the automakers to agree to increase mileage to their vehicles to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, from the 27.5 miles per gallon average today.  Progress, don't you think?

Then there was the Bush tax cuts versus the Obama bailout.  It should have been the Bush deficit explosion and the Obama rescue.  What some of you may be thinking is that the deficit has increased under Obama.  Yes, mainly due to saving the country from going into a depression after the Bush-era 2 wars and, a 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill that nobody could afford.

Boy, I could go on ranting forever on this subject, however, I'll just bring this to an end and let you consider these few accomplishments.  President Obama has made some great strides in just a few years and still has a lot to finish.  And, you know what - he knows what to do and how to do it!!

Stay tuned.  I'll get back to you on Part 2 a little later.

A FEW OF OBAMA'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS-PART 2

ACTUALLY.....  President Obama has tried working with the House speaker, John Boehner, on a variety of projects that would have helped spur economic growth, but that was like talking to a wall.  He has a plan that would create millions of jobs and at the same time benefit the stock market and, yet again, the Republicans are blocking it.

So, the President has had to go it mostly alone.  He has cut taxes for all working Americans and put $1,000 back in the pocket of the typical working families.  He has passed 18 small business tax cuts that encourage hiring and job creating investments in machinery and equipment.

In March, 2009 the President said "We cannot, and must not, and we will not let our auto industry simply vanish.  This industry is like no other, it's an emblem of the American Spirit, a once future symbol of America's success".  Now, do you remember who said "let Detroit go bankrupt", you're exactly right it was Gov. Mitt Romney.    What a horrific mess that would have been. The emergency loans to save the auto industry saved more than 1.4 million middle class jobs, not only at GM and Chrysler, but also at parts and equipment plants across the country.  GM and Chrysler have begun hiring thousands of workers and are building fuel-efficient  models.  The big 3 auto companies (Chrysler, GM and Ford) are profitable for the first time in ten years.

President Obama passed a Wall Street reform that put an end to taxpayer-funded bailouts, and holds Wall Street accountable.  It ensures that if a financial company fails, it will be Wall Street that pays the price - not the American people.  It allows the government to shut down failing companies that threaten our economy.

The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will work to ensure that consumers are protected from unfair  and financial practices, including hidden credit card interest rate hikes and mortgage payment costs and increases. 

These are certainly only a few of President Obama's accomplishments. What we need now is to be sure that he gets re-elected, to finish what he's started.  He has a plan and he knows how to do it.

Are you registered to vote?  Get out there in November and make your choice known. OBAMA-2012!!!