Mitt Romney's campaign unveiled this morning its first television ad of the general election, a generally positive spot describing what the Republican would do on "day one" if elected.
There's nothing wrong with getting voters thinking about what these candidates would do in office in 2013, and given the general vagueness of Romney's policy agenda, it's worthwhile that his campaign start focusing on his top priorities.
But his "day one" agenda isn't exactly compelling. Romney wants an environmentally-risky oil pipeline that won't lower gas prices and will create far fewer jobs than Republicans believe. He wants tax cuts for "job creators" -- i.e., Romney's very wealthy friends -- that won't help the economy and would make the deficit much worse.
And Romney intends to kill the Affordable Care Act on his first day, taking health care away from millions of Americans, raising prescription drug prices for seniors, and even raising taxes on small businesses that are currently taking advantage of Obamacare's tax breaks.
Romney wants to replace the law with "common sense" reforms, but he refuses to say what those reforms might look like. Presumably, they wouldn't resemble his own state-based reform law -- Obamacare mirrors Romneycare.
If this ad is supposed to be persuasive, Romney appears to have left out the compelling parts.
The spot is part of a $1.2 million ad buy, and will air in Ohio, North Carolina, Iowa, and Virginia.
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The POTUS is the most powerful man in the world.
We live in a democracy, and it is astonishing the number of things he CAN'T do. (Romney will never find this out, but being President of the United States is far, far different from being CEO of a corporation.)
A good poınt and one that has some hıstorıcal roots.
Before Dwıght Eısehower was ınaugurated ın 1953, Harry Truman told frıends, "You know, I feel sorry for Ike. He's been a general ın the Army and ıs used to people doıng what he tells them. It ısn't lıke that ın polıtıcs and he wıll be very surprısed when he tells the State Dept. or Agrıculture to do somethıng and some GS7 (a mıd-level bureaucrat) doesn't pay any attentıon to what Ike saıd."
It took a Pres. Eısenhower years to fıgure thıs out.
If Willard steals this election, are Americans going to continue living in a democracy ?
If Willard steals this election, think that Americans going to continue living in a democracy for much longer ?
In other words, "Day 1" for Mıtt Romney wıll ınvolve damagıng the envıronment, damagıng the natıon's health and fınıshıng the job of destroyıng the mıddle class that Ronald Reagan started and George W. Bush dıd he best to throw over the clıff.
For good measure, he saıd yesterday that ıt ıs no bıg deal that JPMorganChase lost more than two bıllıon dollars speculatıng wıth other people's money - even though the government guarantees the deposıts of people who have theır money at the bank. I guess ıt was no bıg deal, eıther, when the government had to baıl out the entıre bankıng sector because ıt had gambled away our country's future economıc stabılıty. I suppose thıs means that on Day 1 Romney would also do away wıth what few controls there are on bad Wall St. behavıor.
That Morgan Chase comment has really been rankling me. No big deal he says 1) because 'that's how business works' and SOMEONE made that $2 billion. 2) Implicit, the government guarantees the deposits so the taxpayers will provide the money they lost.
If there is anything that shows that BUSINESS is NOT GOVERNMENT this remark is it.
Oh, a hurricane killed thousands of people? Not to worry... someone will make a lot of money from the disaster when the government pays to rebuild the place. Who cares that people died--that's just business.
Exactly, it was no big deal for him or the likes of him and his school chums. He has left us with so many unanswered questions. He is setting himself up for the fall. I wonder what courses he took at Harvard because they obviously have helped shape this monster. Some good questions would be from Historians asking him things about our History. I hear Sarah Palin is still up for the job of VP. They can each share their limited knowledge with everyone about History. I would be interested in their views about the 1960's. He probably is trying to brush up on his memory. We remember alot especially The Bush years.
Obama's not denying the expansion of the Keystone Pipeline at all. He's not signing off on it until they come up with ways to build it that won't destroy the freakin' environment - y'know, like not running it through one of the largest freshwater aquifers in the northern United States.
Sorry that doesn't wash. Keystone has been under review for years, that Solyndra got through in under a day. The amazing part is that Benen thinks we're so well off we don't need any extra jobs.
Yeah shooter it will create jobs.Clean up jobs when oil gushes out and fills the aquifer with the gooey black stuff.Hope you like black corn.If the oil is for the US why do they need to run the pipeline down to the gulf coast.Why not build a refinery in N.Dakota?Could it be that most of the oil will be shipped oversea's? Nah!
I love the fact that he is going to start it further South he should go even further into the depths of hell there the GOP can have the Pipeline. You got to get up pretty early in the morning to outsmart the Wolf. I'll take that back you can't outsmart a Wolf.
December 2006 to January 2009? That's a hell of a day! Maybe Solyndra was really building time machines. LOL.
If this ad does not convince you to vote for Mitt Romney. I don't know what is. Beautifully done.
Oddly enough, it didn't. I don't know what is, either.
Here's a headline for you Cindy:Romney Admits He Has No Common Sense! Mitt Romney say's he will repeal "Obamacare "and replace it with one using common sense. Is'nt "Obamacare'a mirror image of his Mass.plan?So he admit's he has NO common sense!
What ad ? Is it more lies and smear tactics from the the far-right propaganda machine ?
I hope President Obama's camp will offer a commercial in response asking the Romney camp to explain how many jobs will Keystone Xl will bring in reality (and what kind of jobs and for how long) and how it will specifically bring gas prices down in this country to the consumer, and asking Mr. Romney to explain what kind of health care reform he will implement. The details are conveniently left out in probably all his ads and speeches to avoid attack and make it all sound good.
I would guess that voters that are considering a vote for Romney will be less swayed by environmental damage discussion and more by the specifics of job creation, so it has to be stated how few quality jobs would be created and how the proportion would fall into the temporary and low-wage category. They might also be swayed by understanding 'who' makes the most out of this project and the voter is not one of the likely beneficiaries of this pipeline construction....
Yesirree Bob. We don't need any extra jobs.
Eileen - how many jobs did Obama "save" from his policies?
I believe he saved jobs in the Domestic auto industry for car makers both foreign and American operating here in the US. Small auto parts makers also saved jobs by the survival of GM and Chrysler....they may have otherwise went out of business without an adequate customer (car maker) base. These are jobs in union and non-union right to work states.
Could Hank or Shooter provide some examples of jobs that would be created by Keystone and predict how long they may exist once the pipeline is built? I believe that auto parts and car manufacturing positions would be permanent as opposed to those suggested through the pipeline plan. I may be wrong, but I would appreciate if you could inform my how I am wrong in my position.
Not those kind of jobs, shooter, not those kind of jobs. If you want to be a pimp or a prostitute you go right ahead.
Jeebus, this is like asking how many ongoing jobs building a house brings. The answer is zero. It's the building that requires jobs.
Shooter - yes, you are correct about that....but a home builder builds more than one home in a lifetime, and so has a long term ongoing job.
I urge you to read Bllomberg's assessment of ongoing jobs on the pipeline :
http://bloomberg.com/2012-02-13/keystone-s-thousands-of-jobs-fall-to-20-when-pipeline-opens-1-.html
Stating that the pipeline doesn't create as many jobs as Republicans think it does is a bad line and to this extent eap is correct for pointing it out. It's a red herring. If it creates jobs and the goal is to create jobs it doesn't matter if 1 is created: there is proof of concept w/in that one job.
The better counter argument is in the quality of jobs created, the permanency of those jobs, and the risk being undertaken by the American public. Will Keystone create jobs? Yes. Is it a good investment for America? No, absolutely not. Is it a huge risk that will, in the end, cost the American tax payer more than if we had went a different route? Yes. Will these jobs be permanent? Most of them will not be, but some of them will be. This is, effectively, a form of government stimulus. So herein is an example of Republican hypocrisy. Republicans hate the stimulus because it was government funds used to create jobs, yet now they have (yet again) flip-flopped and are begging the government to create jobs for the public. The temporary jobs created would help boost economic revenues, but these jobs could equally be created on infrastructure projects that would be less costly, less dangerous to the public health, and that would cost less in the long term. The jobs that would be created permanently, however, would be above median paying jobs w/ good benefits. So Republicans at the very least have that to argue in their favor.
@Hank-
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/68965.html
http://cbo.gov/publication/41147
Jobs that last a few months vs environmental damage that lasts for hundreds of years or more. So called conservatives want short term profits for only the rich ?
I am ever hopeful that this time, at long last, the public will see the Romney Bull @!$%# Blizzard for what it is.
Ain't it funny how Mitt talks about self-deportation but "Mallard Filmore" and other comic republicans yap about illegals leaving because they can't find work? Their spin of course is the economy is bad not that E-Verify works.
Gotta love those nut cases.
And the Useful Idiots will eat it up because the know:
- the ACA is bad
- we need to drill our way out of ..., well everything
- job creators need more tax cuts to ..., well, put to use in their bank accounts or make speculative bets with
What Romney and his puppeteers actually want is money and power. Everything else is just the necessary window dressing required to achieve that end.
Sounds like The Third Term of George W. Bush.
So, on his first day he would continue what his friends started. He will again begin the task of raping the Earth destroying it so our water supply is undrinkable. Ah, Texas tea, the first thing you know old Jeds' a billionaire the kinfolk said Jed move away from there. They said Switzerland is the place you oughta be so they loaded up the truck and they moved poor Beverly. Let them dig the hell out of Texas and Oklahoma that's about as far as they'll get, when people start to notice in these states that their drinking water is catching fire they will stop this nonsense. Water is much more valuable than oil and they don't mix. Along with probing themselves they should also frack themselves. We need to occupy the land in which the Pipeline is to be, we just don't dig it.
Given Mitt's Etch-a-Sketchism, and his mendacity, how does anyone know he'll do on Day 1 what he's claiming he'll do on Day 1? Also, his deer-in-the-headlights response to the Rickett's revelation doesn't inspire confidence that Romney will even remember what he claimed he would do on Day 1: "I'm not familiar with precisely what I said, but I stand by what I said, whatever it was" -- Romney then went on to "repudiate" the "whatever it was" before the sun set the same day.
Romney said he was a dishonest man who lies at the drop of a hat. Romney said he would destroy the Earth. Romney said he would demote women to 3rd maybe 4th class citizens. Romney said he will let people without insurance die. Romney said he would deport all immigrants. Romney said that he wants everyone to carry guns. Romney said he would cause us to lose our jobs. Romney said he engages in character assassinations. Romney says a lot that we'll remember on November 12th. Let's keep refreshing his memory. Romney also said he would help Wall street get richer along with the Banks. Romney says whatever the 1% want to hear. He picked the wrong toy to buy this time. The U.S. is not his playground.
The oil company has not yet cleaned up the tar-sand spill in Michigan after about 2 and a half years because that crap sinks. The tar-sand pipelines in Canada are corroding out about 10 times as fast because of the chemicals that are necessary to make that glop into a liquid. Tell America all of the chemicals that will leach out when not if the pipeline leaks.
This ad need details it leave sensible people with a lot of questions..
1) If you deregulate wall St., and JP Morgan lost $2 Bil. (and still counting) who would be on the hook of paying the bill?
2) If you let the housing hit bottom and over Mils. of people are left on the street, who help them?
3) When you give Americans tax dollars to the rich and subsidies to corps., a) where the revenue to replace giveaway? 2) These tax cuts and sudsidies been in place for over 8 yrs., why haven't the American people benefitting from this?
4) You want to get rid of ACA, what are you going to do about rising healthcare cost, uninsure, the discrimination in premiun, rising deductable cost, deny treatment and medicine?
5) He want to build the keystone pipeline, exactly how many jobs create, why the Canadian people are against it?
It baffles me that large numbers of people still think "take away health care and give more money to the rich" is a good idea. I suppose that's a testament to the power of propaganda if nothing else. Like people's belief that tax cuts somehow fix the economy when even a basic understanding of mathematics would tell you that makes no sense at all.
Like they said on the show yesterday: Clinton raised taxes, ended up with a surplus. Bush massively cut taxes, and the economy went to pot. But those are facts, and on one side of the American political spectrum facts are purely optional.
I love how the ad refers to him as President Romney and our current president as "Obama". The level of disrespect is not suprising, but disgusting.
Ponies, he didn't say a dang word about giving everyone their own pony. And ice cream, he didn't mention ice cream either...I want a pony with my empty campaign promises!
sigh...
About the pipeline: Boehner first claimed it created 120,000 jobs. However, this number included the job of driving the beef to the McDonalds that sold a hamburger to a journalist covering the story. The reality is that 5,000 temporary jobs will be created, a third of which will be in Canada. Only 200-300 permanent jobs will be created. Put that on the scale of the hundred of thousands of jobs that the Republicans have turned down by rejecting jobs bills that would raise taxed on people like the Koch brothers. You know them, they are the ones funding the Tea Party. They are also the ones that will build this pipeline. This is not about jobs...its about doing what the Koch brothers want.
With regards to giving tax breaks to job creators...I recommend you watch this extremely compelling video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBx2Y5HhplI&feature=player_embedded
With regards to Health Care Reform, Paul Ryan was asked about the Republican's alternative plan. He said they would have to get to work on it.
These ads are merely skirmishes before the elections get underway. After the conventions, these ambiguous promises by politicians are going to be questioned by their opponents and the media. The debates will force politicians who make promises to get specific. Maybe by that time Romney will know what he stands for, but I doubt it.