Romney Donors & Lies

On August 31, 2012 after the Republican and before the Democratic conference ABC reported: As allowed under current law, Romney won’t release the names of his big donors but it was discovered that his campaign hosted a secret week-long series of lavish parties and special events for big donors and used a 150’ yacht registered in the Grand Cayman Islands to host the ‘Victory Council’ who have each promised to raise $1 million or more; the donors refused to talk to ABC. The Center for Responsible Politics said the Romney campaign is the first in many years not to release the names of their bundlers and the American people have a right to know who’s paying for the convention and campaign; the Victory Council wouldn’t give ABC their names or say how much they promised but ABC estimated that the Council is expected to raise more than $800 million. The founder of the Center for Public Integrity said – here we have billionaires giving unprecedented sums and we have levels of secrecy never seen in the contemporary historic era.

On September 1 ABC said – unlike the 2008 campaign the Democrats are treating their big money donors like royalty, they had a document outlining the perks like a John Legend concert but this year just like the Republicans, the Democrats are keeping the names of their top fundraisers a secret. Romney’s actions are not bringing out the best in Americans, not in their actions or in the running of campaigns. AlterNet on July 31, 2012 had a post that summed up the Republicans: they’re afraid of losing power and influence in American politics and culture; today’s Republicans cannot compete fairly and win. When it comes to political tactics, there are 3 things today’s GOP fear more than almost anything: Fear #1 -Majority rule in the Senate, Fear #2 - Open elections and Fear #3 - Standing by their words in public. The Maddowblog.MSNBC.com/_news/2012/08/17/13338337-chronicling-Mitts-mendacity-vol-xxx has tracked 533 lies by Mitt Romney in 30 weeks (probably why on September 13 he openly starts calling Obama a liar).  

Romney's Convention Lie

In Romney’s August 30, 2012 speech he said: “I wish President Obama had succeeded because I want America to succeed. But his promises gave way to disappointment and division… How many days have you woken up feeling that something really special was happening in America, many of you felt that way on election day 4 years ago, hope and change had a powerful appeal…If you felt that excitement when you voted for Barack Obama, shouldn’t you feel that way now that he’s President Obama…You know there’s something wrong when the kind of job he’s done as President when the best feeling you had is the day you voted for him… and the centerpiece of the President’s entire reelection campaign is attacking success, is it any wonder that someone who is attacking success has led the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression. In America we celebrate success, we don’t apologize for success…That’s why every president since the Great Depression who came before the American people asking for a second term could look back at the last 4 years and say with satisfaction that you’re better off than you were 4 years ago, except Jimmy Carter and except this president. This president can ask us to be patient, this president can tell us it was someone else’s fault…We’re no better off today than when he took office, America has been patient, Americans have supported this President in good faith, but today the time has come to turn the page, today the time has come to for us to put the disappointments of the last 4 years behind us, to put aside the divisiveness and the recriminations, to forget about what might have been and to look ahead at what can be, now is the time to restore the promise of America.” The Huffington Post on September 1 reported that in a 2009 Larry King interview Romney said he wanted liberal policies to fail and Obama to fail on many other issues. This is just another lie by Romney.

Romney was right in saying “Now is the moment we can do something…Now is the moment when we can stand up and say I am an American, I make my destiny; we deserve better…my country deserves better.” The Great Depression and our biggest recession began with Republicans. Democrats have been trying to clean up Republican messes for decades – today is no different. If you care about America, not just you, cast your vote to stop the Republicans from getting us into a bigger jam. 

Romney Truths

On August 28, 2012 New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said “We have a nominee who will tell us the truth, who will lead with conviction and now he has a running mate who will do the same…”

On August 29 Paul Ryan said he and Romney “will not duck the tough issues”. When Diane Sawyer talked to Ryan on August 30 she brought up the newly released September 3, 2012 Times article in which Mitt didn’t give any specific big cuts but said instead: “I know our Democrat friends would like to have me specify 1 or 2 so they could amass the special interest to fight that effort”. Ryan responded with “Mitt has said there would be a 5% cut in discretionary (government agency) spending”. When Diane asked specifically what there would be beyond government cuts, Ryan responded with “Mitt Romney has been more specific on what it’s going to take to prevent a debt crisis on solutions to get people back to work than anybody else running for president including the President himself”. Asked twice and not answered. I guess not answering is not ducking the issue or the same as not telling the truth. The first time we hear anything somewhat specific is the September 23 Romney interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes. 

Just 2 days after Christie’s speech Romney lied in his; I’ll give you that later. However, on April 2 and August 3 Romney said the President had raised taxes on the middle class - he did get around to telling a truth on September 26 when he said - the President “He’s got one new idea, I admit this, he has one thing he didn’t do in his first 4 years which he says he going to do in the next 4 years, which is to raise taxes.” Obama does want to raise taxes but only on those making $250,000 a year or more which is on only 2% of Americans. 

Romney's Care vs. ObamaCare

In Romney’s CBS 60 Minutes interview that aired September 23, 2012, Pelley said “You talk about balancing the budget without raising taxes. But to do that, you would have to have trillions of dollars in budget cuts. So let's be specific in this interview: what would you cut?” Romney: “The first big one is I'm not going to go forward with Obamacare. I will repeal Obamacare. It costs about $100 billion a year. Second big area is taking major government programs at the federal level, turning them back to the states, where they'll grow at the rate of inflation, not at a multiple of that rate. And that saves about $100 billion a year. And finally, I'll cut back on the size of government itself, as well as go after the fraud and abuse and inefficiency that's always part of a large institution like our government.”

Pelley “Does the government have a responsibility to provide health care to the 50 million Americans who don't have it today?” Romney “Well, we do provide care for people who don't have insurance, people-- we-- if someone has a heart attack, they don't sit in their apartment and die. We pick them up in an ambulance, and take them to the hospital, and give them care. And different states have different ways of providing for that care.” Pelley “That's the most expensive way to do it…In an emergency room.” Romney “Different, again, different states have different ways of doing that. Some provide that care through clinics. Some provide the care through emergency rooms. In my state, we found a solution that worked for my state. But I wouldn't take what we did in Massachusetts and say to Texas - You've got to take the Massachusetts model." Now let’s go back to September 7 when report found in one year $750 billion was lost in our health care system because of fraud and waste; ObamaCare is closing the holes in the system. Additionally back in February information by the Public Religion Research Institute showed 84% of Americans supported the use of birth control and insurance companies said it’s cheaper to pay for birth control than it is to pay for births. Also, to be considered is the elimination of 62% of the bankruptcies due to medical bills and the decrease in medical costs for preventive care versus emergency care. All of this debunks Romney’s claim that ObamaCare will cost taxpayers more. Because Romney's plan is to put the responsibility on the states some people may get nothing as the states are already in a financial bind.  

Romney Helping the Middle Class with Less Tax

On September 4, 2012 when ABC said the Democrats are saying their budget plan will crush the middle class, Ryan said it’s not true, what we are proposing is to reduce people’s tax rate by 20% and we’ll do it by closing loopholes. Come on, reducing tax reduces revenue so to balance the budget they’d have to shut down public schools, eliminate entitlements and more. Also closing loopholes of the average American will increase not lower their tax which is what experts have said could be an additional $2,000. Romney/Ryan to get votes continually confuse people with their double talk. 

In Romney’s CBS 60 Minutes interview, September 23, for the first time we hear something almost specific about his plan for reducing taxes. Scott Pelley said “What would the individual federal income tax rates be?” Romney responded “Well, they would be the current rates less 20 percent. So the top rate, for instance, would go from 35 to 28. Middle rates would come down by 20 percent as well. All the rates come down. But unless people think there's going to be a huge reduction in the taxes they owe, that's really not the case. Because we're also going to limit deductions and exemptions, particularly for people at the high end. Because I want to keep the current progressivity in the code. There should be no tax reduction for high income people. What I would like to do is to get a tax reduction for middle income families by eliminating the tax for middle income families on interest, dividends, and capital gains”. Pelley, “The tax rate for everyone in your plan would go down.” Romney, “That's right. Middle income people will probably see a little break, because there'll be no tax on their savings”. This is ridiculous to me. First the top rate going from 35% to 28% is 7% - not 20%. Second, he gave no specific value for the average American except to say they’d not pay taxes on their savings while investors get to keep a low rate on their dividends and capital gains. Middle and lower income people are scrapping to get by so I don’t think many have savings accounts and if they do I bet the value is not equal to the amounts in dividend and capital gain accounts. 

Romney Admits Mistakes & Taxes Are Fair

In Romney’s CBS 60 Minutes interview that aired September 23, 2012 host Scott Pelley said “Now, you made on your investments, personally, about $20 million last year. And you paid 14% in federal taxes. That's the capital gains rate. Is that fair to the guy who makes $50,000 and paid a higher rate than you did?” Romney said “It is a low rate. And one of the reasons why the capital gains tax rate is lower is because capital has already been taxed once at the corporate level, as high as 35%.” Pelley “So you think it is fair?” Romney replied “Yeah, I think it’s — it’s the right way to encourage economic growth, to get people to invest, to start businesses, to put people to work.” My mind starts twirling – jobs are created by the company making a profit – the profit comes from people buying the product – both of us should be taxed at a higher rate than the guy who does nothing but gives the company a loan and makes a profit off the loan.    

Pelley said: People wonder, "Does Romney believe the things that he says?" Romney replied: “The principles I have are the principles I've had from the beginning of my political life. But have I learned? Have I found that some things I thought would be effective turned out not to be effective? Absolutely. If you don't learn from experience, you don't learn from your mistakes. Why, you know, you ought to be fired.” This issue has me somewhat at odds. Romney has admitted that he’s made mistakes and fortunately he’s been given an opportunity to change. Obama has made mistakes but Romney doesn’t think he should be given an opportunity to make things right. Romney flips-flops constantly; on September 5 a clip of Romney’s and Ted Kennedy’s debate on October 25, 1994 was shown Romney said “I believe abortion should be safe and legal in this country” and Ted said: “I have supported the Roe v. Wade, I am pro choice, my opponent is multiple choice”. I believe you have to have a stand before you can learn from your mistakes. This is only one example. Romney has no experience in foreign policy, considering the current world turmoil and his one week trip overseas (made friends with one country while ticking off 4 or 5), in my mind, I’d rather give opportunity to the guy who can fix his mistakes rather than to one who will make more. 

Romney's Middle East View

September 12, 2012 to boost Romney’s position on Israel false statements surfaced saying the President did not meet with Israel’s Prime Minister and a rift was created between countries. On September 23 because the Obamas were going to be on the View, Fox News said – So he has time for Whoopi Goldberg but he doesn’t have time for world leaders? Obama’s Campaign Adviser responded with – The President is going to be actively involved at the UN General Assembly which is where he was the very next day (September 24).

In an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes the President when asked about supporting the Arab Spring said he doesn’t regret supporting it and “I was pretty certain and continue to be pretty certain there are gonna be bumps in the road”. Romney responded with “Look at the entire context, the assassination, 20,000 people killed in Syria, Iran coming close to being a nuclear nation. These are far from being bumps in the road”. The President when talking about Syria and Iran said “If Governor Romney is suggesting that we should start another war then he should say so”.

First, the Ambassador died of smoke inhalation caused by an uprising over a movie on YouTube. Second, the UN was negotiating with Syria’s regime, after several attempts he quit out of frustration on August 2; on this same date Obama signed an order authorizing non military support for the Syrian rebels; this is within our UN commitment. Third, the President has maintained that Iran should not have a nuclear weapon-this is not the same as them having nuclear power; again we’ve complied with the UN and on August 2 Congress approved additional sanctions on Iran. Romney doesn’t have his facts straight when it comes to the Arab Spring (in 2008 a mining area in Tunisia, a North African country, began protesting for civil rights and democracy; their successful rebellion spread to other countries including Syria; the rebellions officially became the Arab Spring on December 18, 2010). When Romney was overseas in July 2012 in an interview with the Israeli daily newspaper Israel Hayom he said the Arab Spring might never have happened had Bush's ‘freedom agenda’ not been prematurely halted by President Obama. Yet, when the Arab Spring began many Bush foreign policy advocates made an argument different to that of Romney-they asserted that it was Bush's agenda that served as the main impetus for the revolutions. On September 24 Romney said-Obama said the developments in the Middle East are bumps in the road…We had an Ambassador assassinated…and Iran is closer to having a nuclear weapon. The White House Press Secretary said “There is a certain, rather desperate, attempt to grasp at words and phrases here to, ah, find political advantage and in this case that’s profoundly offensive.” (You be the judge.)