On Tuesday night, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) delivered the Republican National Committee's keynote address, and assured the audience, "Mitt Romney will tell us the hard truths we need to hear" -- a phrase Christie used three times. A day later, Paul Ryan vowed, "We will not duck the tough issues."
By last night, those promises seemed more like wishful thinking than campaign promises. Mitt Romney had a unique opportunity to step up, "tell us the hard truths," and take on "the tough issues," but in his formal introduction to the nation as his party's presidential nominee, Romney preferred to play it safe, delivering a generic, vague, and unambitious speech.
Going into last night, the former governor had a fairly straightforward task. In effect, his goal was to tell voters, "I'm Mitt Romney, and if you elect me, here's what I'll do."
The first part was easy. Romney talked about himself, and adequately demonstrated that he is not, in fact, an animatronic figure from Disney World. But the second part required effort and a little courage, and by the time the balloons were popped in Tampa, no one had any better idea what Romney would do in office than they did 24 hours ago.
Obviously, in a convention speech, I don't expect a candidate to bring out charts and start quoting GAO reports, but those who expect to be president in five months have a responsibility to present some ideas about what they intend to do with this enormous power.
And last night, I kept waiting for something, anything, that resembled substance, but it never came. About the closest thing Romney came to a meaningful policy idea was his stated goal of using public funds to subsidize private school tuition. That's a horrible idea, but I'll concede it at least counts as an idea.
But when it came to public policy, that was about it. Once again, the Romney campaign message boiled down to: President Obama hasn't done enough; I'll do more; just trust me.
Romney intends to cut taxes, and we're supposed to trust him that he'll figure out how to pay for it. Romney intends to destroy the newly-improved health care system, and we're supposed to trust him that he'll figure out what to replace it with. Romney intends to create millions of jobs, and we're supposed to trust him that he'll figure out a plan to make that happen.
He could tell us more, but he doesn't want to, and this isn't supposed to be alarming.
Watching the speech, I got the sense that Romney had made a careful calculation: if he attacks President Obama enough, and sticks to generic Republican platitudes, it might be just enough to eke out a narrow victory. If he asks voters to just trust him, without a coherent rationale or any kind of substance, maybe a narrow majority will simply go along.
But therein lies the rub: Romney hasn't given Americans any reason to trust him. The problem isn't just the frequent falsehoods -- and I'll review last night's whoppers in more detail a little later today -- but also the fact that the Republican is asking the country to take a leap of faith based on nothing. He won't give us details, he won't give us policies, he won't give us specifics, but he'll go back to Bush-era policies and voters should simply assume they'll work this time.
The point of an "I accept your nomination" convention speech is to tell the nation what kind of president you'll be. Romney failed last night because he lost sight of this simple goal.
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Mitt continues to base his entire candidacy around his supposed genius at Bain, but then refuses to disclose any details of what he did there or how long he stayed. This is "election fraud" in its most pure form. It's not very becoming of candidates seeking the American people to install them in the White House to deliberately hide huge chunks of their personal finances and repeatedly lie about their business record. There is no longer any doubt about it. Mitt Romney is hiding something at Bain and in his tax returns. He doesn't want the American people to se it because if they do, his campaign is over. This should automatically disqualify Mr. Romney from being considered for the job of commander in chief. No one that fights so hard to keep secrets about the experience he champions as the sole reason he should be president can ever be trusted. - principled progressive
Sofferclese
LOVE IT! And voter ID cards are ineffective against this too. But what color is a chameleon? Why do we have so many volumes of "Mitt's Mendacity" by August? He has no real policies, and he stands for nothing but his egomaniacal need to be president.
The problem is, most of his supporters don't care. They hate Obama for being a non-sectarian, non-austeritarian, non-white President. Of greater concern is that the lame-stream media let MittRyan get away with mendacity as a campaign strategy.
Once again, one very large difference between Democrats and Republicans is that Republicans don't have a plan for you. It's called freedom.
@Shooter Re: #1.2
If you can copy and post a comment, I can copy and past my reply:
This country faces some huge challenges that can only be solved it we work together to solve them.
We need a leader who has a plan - another word would be vision.
President Obama has a vision.
And as you have pointed out, the Republicans don't have a plan.
Individual Liberty and Community. We need both in the right balance.
What I've seen of the few specific plans they have laid out (without supporting details) looks like curtailment of freedom to me.
There seems to be a plan for every woman who wants or needs reproductive health care, a plan for everyone who will now receive health care under ACA, hell there's even a plan for every pregnant rape victim. Is it because you are a male, fortunately enough to have health insurance, that you don't think the republicans have a plan for you?
J, if your idea of freedom is Daddy taking care of you forever, I'm sure that real freedom is terrifying.
For those on the right, "freedom" clearly means "I am entitled to do whatever I want, especially to people I don't like!!!" "Individual liberties", doncha know. (rollsl eyes)
Ya gotta love the idiot libertarians and their dumba$$ childish absolutist ideas of freedom. Too bad those ideas expose them as people who didn't leave their early teens intellectually. And too bad for them those ideas are rejected en masse because people who did leave their early teens intellectually understand libertarian ideas of freedom simply results in wealth overrunning the freedom of those who aren't endowed with wealth. And, of course, it would result in a destroyed planet.
Aaah Shooter, you are so eloquent. We Americans surely love freedom.
Like the freedom to die in the street because you have no money for a doctor. The freedom to get shot in the head at a theatre by a maniac with 1000 rounds. The freedom to lose our house to the bankers because they crashed the economy playing mortgage roulette.
And soon, if the Repubs win we'll even get more freedom to have our homes destroyed by fracking, our schools shut down so they can give us vouchers to learn creative design instead of science, and last, but not least, freedom to have a bunch of old white man tell women what they can do with their bodies. Yay for FREEEEEEDOM!
Shooter's shooting blanks again.
Disgusted...,
It is becoming increasingly obvious that there are many people who consciously want "wealth overrunning the freedom of those who aren't endowed with wealth."
Yes, Entropy, it's true. And they're relying on the Fox-educated ignoramuses with no wealth and no brains to help them trash their own opportunities, little-remaining wealth, and freedom. Never thought I'd see this day come when the pre-teen adolescent intellectuals hadn't been shouted down to the point of embarrassment but here we are with one of them as candidate for VP and his running partner ready to sign whatever the pre-teen adolescent intellectuals put in front of him.
Exceptionalism in America at work. No matter how stupid you are, your ideas can be accepted by roughly half the population unless, of course, if they require hard thinking.
"...one very large difference between Democrats and Republicans is that Republicans don't have a plan for you. It's called freedom."
Hey blankman are you kidding me? WTF does that sentence even mean? When there are 23 million people out of work - are they free, to do what? WE have tent cities popping up all around America - and you're espousing some obviously delusional nana about "freedom", really? Dude, you really need to stop drinking that kool-aid!
You people wrap yourselves in words "liberty, freedom and the flag" - but do you have any clue as to what you're blathering about? E pluribus unum - out of many, we are ONE nation - which means that we come together around "the commons" that we all share, clean air, clean water, parks, infrastructure (roads, bridges, etc.), food that doesn't kill US, medicine that doesn't kill US, equal pay for equal work - what you said makes NO SENSE. I used to think that you were just trolling around here trying to tick us off, I used to believe that at some point dialoging with you would at least open your perspective - I don't think that anymore, I think that you're a sad, fear-filled, empty, bigoted, autocratic, bullying, hate-filled coward whose closed mind and unwillingness to change and accept change has made you small of spirit & character.
The only thing constant in life is CHANGE....It's too bad you refuse to accept it.
Zora...,\
Those on the right operate on the Humpty Dumpty "principle" of what words mean:
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."
maphi, I had an epiphany about the disconnect around the economy. The left wants to do this and that to stimulate the economy, while carrying an anti-business attitude and disdain for the idea of profit.
The problem there is that the economy is business. Profit is what fuels the economy and Govt. In short, damaging business is damaging the economy.
Your thoughts?
Need, Intelligence without experience, isn't wisdom.
Zora, rough translation of that comment: Gimmee!
Ahhh, the old, failed, dilapidated, broken soldier cries out for a diaper change.
I imagine everybody's still trying to wrap their mind around Mr. Mitty having an epiphany and wondering what it looks like when a poor mind succumbs to or "realizes" a non-reality is a reality.
Blanks, once again your interpretation is willfully wrong. Gimmee - that's what the OIL/GAS/COAL/PHARMA/Agriculture say as they pick up their welfare (subsidies) that the right refuse to do away with. Gimmee - it's what WalMart says to their employees when they refuse to have affordable insurance. It's what Scott Walker told the Unions - even as he's on the Koch brothers payroll in destroying protections and concerns regarding public employee unions! Gimmee - it's what Mittens thought should have happened with that auto bailout that saved thousands of jobs! Gimmee - it's what Mittens did every time he loaded up a business with debt until it went into bankruptcy and pocketed the money as the people were thrown out of work!
I'm not against business, I consciously support small and local businesses and farmers - I'm against BIG BOX McCHAIN stores that put those "small" Mom & Pop stores out of business and squelch and stifle the little guys as they suck on taxpayer welfare to "build" their own empire further! That's what those on the right don't seem to get!
Zora, expensing depreciation is not a subsidy. Meanwhile I believe Walmart is the nation's largest employer, would you rather Walmart go out of business and put all those people out in the street? I doubt it.
I understand you have a fantasy world of "how things should be" but that isn't helpful.
Depreciation - really I can't say that I support that, it's the cost of doing business. I mean, I can't take depreciation for my car. As for WalMart being the largest employer paying the lowest possible wages - that's not really helpful - just ask those working poor. I'm saying a living wage.
I understand your fantasy of how the Oligarchy should rule and democracy is only for the few, but that's not exactly how the Constitution was written. You know, the Constitution that many on the right claim they want to follow but probably haven't read it, kind of like that bible the right thumps up and down on!
(sarcasm alert!) The constitution be damned...The Blank wants it all...now!
"...but he'll go back to Bush-era policies ...". Half of the American voters obviously have the attention span of a gnat.
Bartender2, this is a whole new ballgame, a fresh start and a clean slate. Romney is no Bush just as Obama is no Clinton. Romney will SHOW US THE MONEY, bring us back to prosperity. Yes, American voters have an attention span of a gnat and they'll only remember one thing; Under Barack Obama's watch, 8.3% unemployment, $4.00 gas, $6T in added debt with absolutely no solutions in sight.
Cindy... that little wooden man has you fooled. Don't you realize that he has speech writers??? LOL. The words he speaks are not his own... its to feed the nut jobs that want to get Obama out of office. Obama has made strides and helped this country, and would have been more done if the nuts like Ryan and Romney's kind weren't playing their games of obstruction. The banks would have collapsed, the auto industry would be gone along with the textile factories that make the rugs and materials for the cars, car parts industry, glass industry, rubber industry... didn't think about that, did ya? Millions more out of work. Romney said he will create 12 million jobs! Please give me a break.... he will outsource before he creates and you can bet on that!
Woody sounds like just what he is... an empty suit reading the speech that somebody else put together. He doesn't even read it with feeling... he sounds as dead as an old fish. Please rethink what you think you see in this liar! If not, when you have no where to live, no medical care or insurance, no medicare when you get older, no social security if you get ill and can't work anymore, you will have no one to blame but yourself and the nut jobs who eat up his garbage talk.
As a little footnote.... Why doesn't Romney really say how he saved the Olympics???? He did with million of GOVERNMENT dollars that's why. What a liar and deceiver.
Loren, if Mitt Romney is not elected this November we're DOOMED. We're gonna be worst than Cuba and Venezuela.
Ok Cindy.... I hope you open your eyes sooner than later!
@Cindy Re: #2.1
There is no such thing as "a whole new ballgame, a fresh start and a clean slate".
Unless you start over on a new planet, maybe.
Romney is not Bush, Obama is not Clinton - correct.
But what are the similarities in policy and priorities?
Romney is similar to Bush - tax cuts for the Job Creators (= wealthy people) and deregulation. We can add barging into war with no plan - or real reason.
Obama is similar to Clinton - tax reform and budget cuts. Clinton did not have do deal with a recession as did G W Bush and Obama.
We need to remember that G W Bush was able to implement stimulus efforts (with bi-partisan support and by Paul Ryan - see youtube). Except for the ARRA, the same stimulus efforts were not available to Obama - blocked by the "loyal" opposition (including Paul Ryan).
Really, a whole new ballgame with all the same players standing in the wings, waiting to be Mitt's cabinet, Mitt's advisors, Mitt's agency heads, maybe even Mitt's appointed SC judges?
Mitt will be The Pen, Ryan is The Visionary, someone will have to be The Brains of this outfit. Karl Rove...again? He's worked awfully hard for this campaign.
Romoney has surrounded himself with many of Bush's policy advisers. His foreign policy ideas come straight from Bush (or really Darth Cheney). How quickly will Romoney get us into a war - maybe in Syria, then with Iran?
At the Republican Convention of Deceivers and Liars, don’t you remember this is Romney being a management expert, how do you like it? This is Romney’s decision strategy in this Campaign. This is how Romney leads. This is Romney showing what he will do for America. This is Romney showing how only if you have money than you count. This is Romney showing who he really is. This is Romney fumbling and bumbling as he leads. This is Romney taking command of the situation, which would be our government. Just as it has always been for Romney, he is not a true leader, except how he can screw and manipulate people for his own self-interests. This is no time to be patronizing people that really lack the ability to lead, when we need someone to lead a Nation, as it should be lead.
Hey steve, how long after the Romney win do you think you & madow will still have a job?
What do you bet, that most of the nightly shows on MSLSD will be canceled?
The Obummer hopium has worn off already.
Time to get back to work.
trolololol
yer a funny one.
:P
The GOP's capacity to get people to cheer for their own destruction never ceases to amaze me.
Not very long..Maddow is soooo NEGATIVE. For crying out loud, Al Sharpton is the leading contributor on that show and the most entertaining!!
On the other hand the Democrat's capacity for infantilising their constituents never ceases to amaze me.
Republicans 'we can't tell them any of our policies, that would be suicide.'
Feeling infantalised much?
Oh, I am just fed up with it all. I feel I need to take a break. The rhetoric around USA politics is astonishing.
In the UK we manage to have a discuss of right v left wing with out one side calling the other communists, without predicting the 'Handmaid's Tale' will come true in 5 years and with out predicting we will become a third world country within a year of the 'wrong' election result.
These last 2 cycles seem to have been particularly bad, the level of racist undertones, the attacks on womens rights, the obstructionism. The lying and misleading.
I just don't understand why it all has to be fueled by hysteria.
Part of me wonders whether it is to do with the age of a country. The younger, the more idealistic and enfranchised in the 'dream' the country will be. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing but it sure has some ugly undertones.
I think it's fair to say that folks growing up in a society with a history of central authority may not be the best commentators on American culture.
No, Blank, it's an asinine thing to say (and I'm being charitable here).
Who is "them, Shooter? You?
Are you any more enlightened then "them", aka, all of us?
Or do you just trust Mitt because he spews his mendacity under a GOP banner?
I honestly feel bad for you, Shooter, because it's you loyal types who'll be the first ones royally screwed over by this bunch. You'll pay just like the rest of us, but you, you'll still genuflect and say, "thank you, Mitt, may I have some more" because you'll never admit the GOP elite doesn't give a rat's ass about any of us 99%'rs, you included.
Sorry, but i'm not sure who the "them" is.
I'm not more enlightened, more experienced. I've actually had a business and understand how an economy works.
I'm willing to give Romney the benefit of the doubt. I already know what Obama can do.
The problem with that statement, is that people like me don't rely on Govt, we guard against it.
That's your "them" I was referencing.
Maybe you wouldn't have to "guard" against our government if individuals like you put just a bit more effort into "guarding" against voting lying cheating individuals into it?
Obama has never treated the American people with the disrespect and tacit insult as Mitt Romney. Yet you, as an American citizen, are willing to overlook it to vote Republican. Why?
ho-lee-cow......thanks for coming out from behind the curtain (re: #4)
"Hey steve, how long after the Romney win do you think you & madow will still have a job?"
Roughly translated: If you don't agree with "US" (Republicans), no more freedom of the press for you.
Need, Obama has respect for the American people? You mean those bitter clingers, or the people referenced in this article?
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=663F50A4-3C5E-497B-ABD3-D2EDEBC48F94
The latest disrespect is sending form letters signed by electric pen to Fallen Seals while saving personal notes for people like Heavy D. No, Obama doesn't respect the American people, he thinks they need to re-educated, like the Soviets.
blanks,
you are a moron, and now add bigot to the list of what you are.
I think it's fair to say that folks growing up in a society with a history of central authority may not be the best commentators on American culture.
Pooper242 has a point! This means that nobody who grew up in the Baptist, Catholic, or Mormon churches should be allowed to comment on ameriKan kulture!
The Blank actually has no use for American culture. He lives in his own Randian wetdream.
(oops, my mistake)
As the Republican Convention of Deceivers and Liars orchestrated their theater to pull the wool over people’s eyes, they really showed their ugly and bleak future. This is not a future where people are forced to $9 an hour in wages with our government, which is “We the People”, and the extreme wealthy having it all. This is misery, despair, and death that have no room for life in it. It was shocking watching Romney speak as you could see between the lines of his deceptions and lies. It just shows that Romney who worked in business liked to have power and control over people with greed, but if really pressured about the right thing crumbles from his deceptions and lies. Why do you think Romney has put his money overseas, because he refuses to share his wealth with anyone? Why is Romney afraid that he would go to hell if he did not make money? Romney spoke about God and Money that is not worshiping God, but is very much worshiping money at the cost of others. Romney with his attitude may be fine in business, but in a government role where you have to be concerned about all people, especially the ones in plight it is wrong. Romney fumbles and mumbles with what to say that is not a leader for a Nation except some extreme greedy person looking how to screw and deceive people again to gain more wealth. Romney and Ryan said between the lines what they would do keep craving power, corruption, greed, arrogance, hypocrisy, and deceiving. And destroy America so they can just still have it all as everybody else is placed in misery, despair, and death and under their thumbs. What did they do go to Clint Eastwood to try to put up some false illusions with music to fool people like in a movie with no truth in it?
You're right Deb. The funny thing about it is, all Romney had to do was read/present the speech that was on the teleprompter. He read it and it sounded empty and not at all believable.... but the crazies at the convention lapped it up because they hate Obama, not because they love Romney. We all know he can't speak on his own. Everytime he does, he puts his foot in his mouth!
And RawMoney's true believers on this site rush to sing hosanas to him.
And they hate Obama because the conservative propaganda machine tells them it's okay to hate the black man, because he's taking food from your children's mouths, medication from your parents, and keeping you enslaved to the welfare recipients.
When the truth is, liberal policies impact corporate bottom lines with tougher governmental regulations, and Obama is clear about the rich paying their fair share in taxes, which scares these upper-income people, they are utterly terrified that one day they might become one of You People.
That's what all the lies and mud and anger is about, saving the wealthy. Mitt is one of them, he simply wants to be part of the GOP self-serving financial control mechanism. Mitt's lack of ideas or concrete policies on how to "save" this nation shouldn't surprise anyone, that isn't where his interest lies. I bet he is very well-versed with what governmental policies impact his own fortunes, though, just like that last Republican administration and it's insistence on saving the free market, aka Wallstreet.
NeedMoreCoffee .... Thanks for saying what so many of us would like to say, but don't because we get the "race card" crap comments when we do! It's sooooo True!!!!
Romney's speech was nothing but a bunch of one liner's to simply draw applause.He looked and spoke just like what he's called, a robot.No passion,no substance,just elect me and you will live in Shangri-la.He said a little bit about everything but not much about "nothin".It's a wonder he did'nt blame the drought and rising food price's on the Pres.,then tell us he can make it rain.My "former" favorite actor Clint Eastwood was horrible but still did a better job than Romney.One other thing.If Romney is elected,mother's and father's prepare to lose your son's and daughter's in his new war's.
Was anyone besides Romney's true believers in any way inspired by his mealy-mouthed litany of lies delivered with that deer-in-the-headlights look? It's just ridiculous to pretend Romneyshambles is anything but that.
June .... Can't wait for the debates when he's not reading from a speech and has to do some actual thinking. Romney is the reason why the Repubnuts are trying to win the vote with voter supression. He doesn't have a chance of winning without cheating. We have to make sure we vote, help others to obtain the ID these cheaters want them to have in order to vote, talk to people in your communities, grocery stores, gyms, trains... anywhere and everywhere! Stop this travesty of Romney/Ryan!
I didn't watch last night- didn't need to; I've seen enough over the past EIGHT YEARS to know that the entire Romney family is a shrink wrapped Mattel toy for children and other simple folk.
Yes, he's a swell fella, with a warm heart and a helping hand for any unfortunate individual he might come across in his daily routine.
That qualifies him to watch my kids, or host a barbeque fundraiser for the Little League. The job of POTUS requires a wee bit more.
The Eastwood bit was just the most obvious moment in the year long performance art performance by the GOP. And much less entertaining than the Vagina Monologues!
Dude- you voted in a community organizer with almost no experience but yet your still willing to vote for him. Amazing!!!…. But very sad!
@Facts Re: #9.1
Let's review what a community organizer does:
from wikipedia:
Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. A core goal of community organizing is to generate durable power for an organization representing the community, allowing it to influence key decision-makers on a range of issues over time. In the ideal, for example, this can get community organizing groups a place at the table before important decisions are made.[1] Community organizers work with and develop new local leaders, facilitating coalitions and assisting in the development of campaigns.
That sounds like good experience to me!!!
So naturally the next step is President! What were we all thinking!!!
Thoe on the right love to pretend that their malicious propaganda somehow constitutes "facts". They clearly have little or no use for objective reality.
Looks to me like community organizer has shown to be a pretty good indicator of a good President. It would have been nice if the opposition party would have not obstructed the country from doing what should have been done in a severe economic crisis created by conservative ideas working over the last 30+ years.
And history shows that business man, CEO, MBA degree pedigree hasn't been such a great indicator of becoming a good President.
I guess you just have to conclude that if you want to base your decision on work history, you're gonna have to go with the guy who spent time as a community organizer.
How convenient, (no)Factspeople2016.
Doesn't seem very hard for you to ignore the fact that Obama's experience includes serving in the Illinois state house (where he was re-elected several times) and his experience as a United States Senator, while making your feable community organizer arguement.
Mitt was a state governor, which is good experience too, if he ever chose to discuss it, which he doesn't, except in abstract.
Objective reality...Go ahead and ignore the facts while watching reality TV…..Vote him in again and watch as things get worse as they have the last 4 years. Look people, he had a chance and he wasn’t successful. It was a tough road for someone not experienced in these matters. Why is that so hard to comprehend? Stop looking at color and look at ability and merit because color does not matter at all!
What has he done to earn your vote? This is what he’s done to force me to vote for the other guy.
Oh, Facts still hasn't done his homework. OK, guess we have to do this again:
Boehner's GOTea obstruction => Boehner's GOTea economy and unemployment of 2012.
WHAT HAPPENED:
The economy was on the upswing after the first two years of the Obama Presidency with the rescue of the auto industry, the stimulus package, etc. Then hate, Boehner, and the GOTea happened and there was to be no more consideration of ideas to solve problems because that was considered by the GOTea handing political victories of a political opponent.
GOTea OBSTRUCTION:
What we have is the Boehner/GOTea economy of 2012 which is a scandal and is what the country gets with a GOTea House obstructing every attempt to solve the problems 30+ years of failed conservative ideas and policies have caused. Just like Boehner and McConnell wanted it.
GOTea PUBLIC SECTOR OBSTRUCTION:
Republican obstruction at funding the public sector is costing 0.9 to 1.3 percentage points in employment. This is the opposite of what happened in other recessions in 1981, 1990, and 2000 when the federal government helped local and state government but Republicans in the House obstruct against.
GOTea JOB OBSTRUCTION:
Republican obstruction on President Obama's American Jobs Act (AJA) is a scandal that costs another 1 to 1.3 percentage points.
This whole Republican scandal is too huge to fathom in terms of human misery, but Republicans believe it can fool an irresponsibly inattentive and ignorant public.
GOPers continue sabotaging the economy! - and blaming Obama for unemployment...
GOP House votes to repeal Obamacare - 37
GOP House votes to name Post Offices - 60
GOP House votes for American Jobs Act - 0
Boehner's GOTea obstruction => Boehner's GOTea economy and unemployment of 2012.
YOU WANT LINKS? I GOT YOUR LINKS?
Boehner's GOTea obstruction => Boehner's GOTea economy and unemployment of 2012.
Public sector austerity and obstruction by Boehner's GOTea House and McConnell's filibusters:
- http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/31/the-secret-of-our-un-success
- http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/07/31/government-cutbacks-separate-this-expansion-from-others/?mod=WSJBlog
- http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/opinion/krugman-states-of-depression.html?_r=4&hp
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/public-sector-austerity-in-one-graph/2012/06/11/gJQAv89NVV_blog.html
- http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/25/american-austerity/
American Jobs Act (AJA) austerity by Boehner's GOTea House and McConnell's filibusters:
- http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/09/american_jobs_act.html
One other important thing to remember - President Obama's "experience" now includes nearly four years of being President of the United States (during some of the most trying times our nation has faced in quite a while, to boot) - something no other candidate in this race can claim. Indeed, as Steve Benen has pointed out on this blog a number of times, Willard has less experience in public service than any major-party presidential nominee in 72 years.
Vulture/Voucher 2012
Proving Two Rights DO Make a Wrong!
;-)
It sounds like the only justification for electing Mitt Romney is that President Obama, having to fight the saboteurs in the Republican congress, isn’t cleaning up the Republican made mess quickly enough. What’s with Romney criticizing President Obama for no business experience and then picking a guy for Vice President who has no business experience – a guy that supported all of the irresponsible economics of the Bush era and now claims to be a budget expert? Didn’t inspire me to change my vote.
I did like Romney's idea to trade your $22 per hour job for two $9 per hour jobs. History says that under Republican leadership wages go down.
After the Staples segment where they commented on Romney's "penny pinching," when Romney talked about the women he hired I kept wondering if it was because he could hire them at 67 cents on the dollar? Remember the Republican support for the Ledbetter equal pay bill?
Mittens will tell us the 'hard truths' after he is elected. Naturally, his getting elected is a 'mandate' to implement what is needed to resolve the 'hard truths'.
Mittens understands that the real problems with our economy are:
- the wealthy do not have enough wealth
- we have too large and an unsustainable middle class
- the poor do not pay enough taxes
After Mitt's mandate at the polls, he will implement the solutions to the 'hard truths' and fix our economy!
I saw a cartoon a few weeks ago. It had Mittens taking the wallet of a person labeled 'middle class' and giving it to a person labeled 'wealthy'. The 'middle class' character said "Aren't you just supposed to be taking from the poor and not the middle class?" The response was "Be patient!".
Let me guess, Teh Hard Truths will be that the American People will have to suffer some more for some Absolutely Valid reason, while behind the curtain, corporate profit margins continue to rise exponentially and there is much rejoicing by the rich as enviornmental, banking/financial, and international trade regulations are gutted.
I wonder if the 12 million jobs they plan to find immediately would be a direct result from deporting illegals?
Those 12 million jobs will be created if we do nothing. Not only that, 12 million is not even close to enough.
If Mitt is elected, corporate doors will suddently fly open, and lo' there will be jobs all of a sudden.
And that $2 trillion they"ve socked away overseas will magically start to return.
The 12 million jobs they are going to create are going to come from the likes of Haliburton and their subsidiaries, again, when they start the two new wars with Syria and Iran. I just wonder if Willard will run and hide in France again.
"But therein lies the rub: Romney hasn't given Americans any reason to trust him. The problem isn't just the frequent falsehoods -- and I'll detail last night's whoppers in more detail a little later today -- but also the fact that the Republican is asking the country to take a leap of faith based on nothing. He won't give us details, he won't give us policies, he won't give us specifics, but he'll go back to Bush-era policies and voters should simply assume they'll work this time."
Romney isn't asking the country to take a leap of faith based on nothing. He's asking the country to go back to the failed 30+ years of economic ideas and policies that caused all the problems in the first place. How'd those unfettered market and deregulation and let-the-market-work ideas work out in the mortgage and financial sectors, huh? Bubbles and busting bubbles is all we've had. How'd those supply-side ideas work out, huh? Deficits and debt. How those supply-side union-busting, strong dollar, patent protection ideas work out? Greatest inequality since the Great Depression and lower income class mobility ever.
Yep, we've got plenty to base our decisions on. Mitt Romney just doesn't want you to realize what a disaster conservative ideas and polices have been.
The only thing I remember from Romney's utterly boring and rambling speech....
.... Romney said: "Are you better off today than you were 4 years ago".
And then he lied "No" so emphatically.
4 years ago was exactly September 2008. Anyone here remember 4 years ago? The Stock Market was in complete freefall - 1,000 point swings, assets disappeared, markets disappeared, the banks were in trillion dollar holes, 800,000 job losses per month, the entire world economy was falling off a cliff.
Compared to that legacy of the Bush administration, yeah, we're far better off today than we are much better off than we were 4 years ago.
I do hope that people have not so quickly and easily forgotten that utter mess.
And what the heck has happened to some honesty in politics?
PS: If Rachel or her staff is reading this, perhaps they can provide some free advice to the Obama campaign to "out" Romneys utter dishonesty in the President's speech at the DNC Convention next week.
Here ya go! So much for Romney's truths!... Taken from his RNC speech and fact checked by analysts......
'And unlike the president, I have a plan to create 12 million new jobs.'
If Mitt Romney were elected president in November, he is likely to oversee an economy that gains 12 million new jobs in the next four years. But, as Mark Hopkins, a senior analyst at Moody's told the Washington Post, "the baseline forecast is for payroll employment to increase by 12 million jobs from the start of 2013 to the end of 2016."
Of the Republican's plan, he says, "Romney is essentially promising no more jobs than we currently expect to gain under proposals similar to those advanced by the Obama administration."
[President Obama's] policies have not helped create jobs, they have depressed them.'
The effect of the president's economic policies on the jobs market is open to interpretation -- perhaps they've helped, perhaps they've hurt -- but the fact is that the private sector has been adding jobs, an estimated 4.5 million, for the past 29 consecutive months.
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST.. HIS COMMENT ABOUT HOW BAIN BUILT A STEEL MILL .....
'At a time when nobody thought we'd ever see a new steel mill built in America, we took a chance and built one in a corn field in Indiana. Today, Steel Dynamics is one of the largest steel producers in the United States.'
The Fort Wayne, Ind.-based steel company now employs about 6,000 employees. But it was not built by Bain Capital alone. Romney's private equity firm invested $18.2 million in the project, just as plans for the mill were being finalized in June 1994. That figure was more than doubled by state and county subsidies, adding up to more than $37 million. Bain was the U.S.-based company with the greatest stake in Steel Dynamics Inc., but it was bolstered by a friendly local government that, according to the Los Angeles Times, "also levied a new income tax to finance infrastructure improvements to benefit the steel mill over the heated objections of some county residents."
OK... THERE YA HAVE ROMNEY'S TRUTHS!
OBAMA/BIDEN 2012!!!