Posts Tagged Mitt Romney

Karl Rove Totally Delusional On George W. Bush’s Greatness!

Posted by Ronald in News and Politics on April 26, 2013

Former George W. Bush “brain” Karl Rove is totally delusional, as yesterday, he declared on Fox News Channel that George W. Bush belonged with the “greats” among the Presidency, including George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan!

This is the same man who failed to elect most of the Republicans that he supported through his campaign organization, wasting hundreds of millions of dollars from wealthy patrons who believed he knew who to back and could win seats in Congress.

This is the same man who said on Election night that Mitt Romney was going to win, and denied the obvious Barack Obama victory when it was already happening!

Bush will make the list of Presidents as one of the FAILURES of the Presidency, in the company of James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Warren G. Harding, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin Pierce.

Rove has conveniently forgotten Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Thomas Jefferson, Lyndon B. Johnson, Woodrow Wilson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy, all of whom rank better than Ronald Reagan, who might be number 11, but not in the top ten of all Presidents!

And Bill Clinton may eventually rank above Reagan as well, and Barack Obama might also make the top ten to twelve list, when he has left the Presidency, and passions have cooled down!

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Politics Is An Art: Running A Government Is Meant For Those Who Have Been In Government!

Posted by Ronald in News and Politics on April 5, 2013

In recent years, the idea has developed that anyone can be a politician, even if no experience in government.

Therefore, we have had a businessman, Herman Cain, who operated a pizza corporation, and ran as a candidate for President in 2012.

We have been told that government should be run as if is a corporation, but government is NOT the same as business.

Now we have a brilliant neurosurgeon, Dr. Benjamin Carson, who is renowned for saving many children’s l lives, who is considering running for President in 2016, just as Herman Cain did in 2012.

Both, and others like them, are to be commended for their successes in their chosen fields, but neither, and often others, such as Donald Trump, who has flirted many times with running for President, are unwilling to work their way up through the state legislatures, state executive branch, the House of Represenatatives, or the US Senate, or working in a Presidential cabinet or major role in the military before running for President..

No matter how competent they are in their fields of business, medicine, or any other occupation, that does not mean that they should be seen as ready to jump into the fray, and believe, without ANY political and governmental experience, that they are qualified, or have any clue as to what runnning a government is all about.

It trivializes politics and government, as it would be if someone knowing nothing about history or math or science or whatever, goes in and teaches a class to college students, or someone who has never studied and practiced law or medicine or accounting or whatever, suddenly claims they are qualified to be engage in those professions!

This has nothing to do with whether it is Republicans or Democrats, or men or women, or people of different ethniciities or racial backgrounds!

The point is that many critics of Barack Obama claim he had too little experience in government, when he actually had TWELVE years in public office.

Many other Presidents have had less experience than Obama, including Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George W. Bush. But all of them had some government experience. And Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ullyses S. Grant had years of military experience, which also qualifies as knowledge to operate a government. And even Mitt Romney ran the state government of Massachusetts before running for President!

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The Conservative Political Action Conference: A Bunch Of Retreads And Future Losers!

Posted by Ronald in News and Politics on March 16, 2013

Conservatives are in the third of four days of their annual Conservative Political Action Conference, and it is quite an event, a circus of retreads and future losers, who fail to see that the nation has rejected their ideology when it is presented to them in Senate races, and only holding on to power in the House of Representatives because of gerrymandered districts created by the Tea Party uprising of 2010, which led to a large number of Republican governors and state legislatures at the precisely correct time to affect the shaping of House districts for the ten year cycle following the census figures.

The Tea Party movement has had its heyday, and there are already signs of its future demise, although they will persist in some rural districts in the House, and have their Senators, including Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Rand Paul, all ambitious to be President of the United States, but none of them should be delusional that they will actually be the next President, while they are all fighting to outdo each other three years ahead of 2016!

Attention at this conference is given to such retreads as Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Donald Trump, Paul Ryan, and Newt Gingrich.

Also, such losers as Wayne La Pierre, Grover Norquist and the usual right wing talk show hosts, including Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, are part of the “distinguished” speakers spewing forth their divisiveness.

And the conservatives are making clear that they will not budge in any form on the issue of gay rights, immigration reform,their “traditional” view of women being submissive to men, and refusal to separate science from the influence of religion!

There are differences on foreign policy between the libertarians and the neoconservatives, however, and any suggestion of moderation on ANY issue has led to Chris Christie and Bob McDonnell being denied an invitation to speak.

The ultimate reality is that it does not matter what happens at the CPAC, as it is like Don Quixote battling the windmill! The American people are NOT going to elect any of these “clowns”, even those who seem more “moderate”, such as Christie, to the White House in 2016. The Republicans are fighting a civil war, primarily over who shall represent them in 2016, but it is all for naught!

The next President will, assuredly, be a Democrat—whether Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Martin O’Malley, Andrew Cuomo, Elizabeth Warren, Mark Warner, Amy Klobuchar or someone else not yet known!

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High Voting Percentage States: All Democratic In Presidential Election Of 2012!

Posted by Ronald in News and Politics on March 12, 2013

New statistics demonstrate the success of the Democratic Party as the top five high voting percentage states are all Democratic:

Minnesota
Wisconsin
Colorado
New Hampshire
Iowa

These five states had a voter turnout of 76 down to 70 percent.

It turns out that 17 of the top 20 states in voter turnout voted Democratic, with only North Carolina, Montana and Missouri voting Republican.

If a state had “swing state” status or allowed same day registration on Election Day, voter participation was higher.

Only in four states (Utah,Colorado, Wisconsin, Massachusetts) and the District of Columbia was voter turnout higher than in 2008, an unusual event. Interestingly, Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney seem to have brought out more votes in their home states of Wisconsin and Massachusetts, but both lost their home states, Romney by a landslide, and Ryan losing not only his state, but his Congressional district and home city of Janesville, as well.

Also, California, Texas, and New York, the three largest states but never in play in a Presidential election, had low voter turnout for lack of interest and excitement about the election results.

With most attention being paid to about ten “swing states” where the Presidential elections are decided these days, it may indicate a trend of lower voter turnout, percentage wise, in the future, not a good development for American democracy.

Still, 27 states and the District of Columbia had voter participation rate of 60 percent or more, and only three (Oklahoma, West Virginia, Hawaii) under 50 percent.

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Rand Paul Becomes A Potential Presidential Candidate, And That Is Good For Democrats!

Posted by Ronald in News and Politics on March 8, 2013

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky has become a celebrity, due to his 13 hour filibuster, postponing consideration of John Brennan, a twenty five year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency, to become its head, The purpose of the filibuster was to gain a guarantee from the Obama Administration that drones would not be used on American soil against American non combatant citizens.

It has caused the American Civil Liberties Union to back Rand Paul, and some Democrats as well, including Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, as well as several progressive journals and web sites.

But the biggest manifestation has been the split developing in the Republican Party between the Tea Party Movement supporters (such as Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio) and the neocons (John McCain and Lindsey Graham, particularly), and this is great news for the Democratic Party!

Rand Paul is now being talked about more seriously as a potential Republican nominee for President, a thought that makes 2012 candidates for the nomination look as the beginning of a trend of continued disaster that will only become worse in 2016.

Bring on Rand Paul, and watch the GOP split asunder, and watch Rand Paul make Mitt Romney, John McCain, and Bob Dole, past GOP Presidential losers, appear brilliant by comparison! RIck Perry, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, Herman Cain were all embarrassing and disastrous, but Rand Paul would be the most disastrous nominee in history!

If Rand Paul is nominated, and even if he divides the Republican Party while losing the nomination, he will only insure a massive popular vote victory by any Democratic nominee for President, particularly Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, but including others, such as Martin O’Malley, Andrew Cuomo, Elizabeth Warren, or Mark Warner!

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Jeb Bush’s Changed Immigration Plans: Undermining Potential Presidential Candidacy In 2016!

Posted by Ronald in News and Politics on March 5, 2013

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, thought to be a likely Presidential contender for 2016, just published a book in which he declared his opposition to promotion of a pathway to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants, the vast majority being Mexican, as his wife is.

But now, 24 hours later, on MSNBC’s MORNING JOE, he backed off on this, taking a stand similar to Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Senator John McCain of Arizona, and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. In do doing, he has totally confused people, flip flopping more often than even Mitt Romney!

It comes down to this—the vast majority of undocumented immigrants are Mexican heritage, as are the numbers of legal Mexican Americans in the nation. Nothing that Bush, Rubio, McCain or Graham say or do is going to convince the legal citizens to vote Republican in 2016. With 71 percent support among all Hispanics and Latinos, as well as 73 percent support among Asian Americans, the Democratic Party is insured of defeating any Republican nominee for President in 2016, even if Bush or Rubio is the nominee.

And if the GOP continues to follow the Tea Party and oppose any reform on immigration, the defeat for any candidate will be a landslide of majestic proportions!

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As Rosa Parks Statue Is Unveiled In The US Capitol, Voting Rights Act Comes Under Review By Supreme Court!

Posted by Ronald in News and Politics on February 27, 2013

This morning, a 9 foot statue of Rosa Parks, the “Mother” of the Civil Rights Movement, for her heroism in allowing herself to become the center of the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955-1956, was unveiled in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol Building.

This is a wonderful event to commemorate the greatest human rights movement in American history, and the excitement over how far we have come, with President Barack Obama leading in commemorating the event, and the feeling of satisfaction that we have gone far enough in the half century since 1955, that we have an African American President in his second term in office!

But at the same time, ironically, a challenge by the state of Alabama, which arrested Rosa Parks for refusing to change her seat on a bus in Montgomery, is arguing a case before the Supreme Court today, which if successful, will negate Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which requires nine Southern states and portions of seven other states, which have been shown to be discriminatory in voting regulations in their past, to have to submit any voting law changes to the Justice Department before they can be put into effect.

The argument is that the law is outmoded and no longer necessary, but that is not the case, as last year, there were attempts in many states to make it more difficult for African Americans, Hispanics and Latinos, young people, the elderly, and the poor to be able to register and or vote, plus restrictive days and hours of voting, designed to help Republicans and Mitt Romney gain an unfair advantage in the elections.

Just because Alabama claims the law is no longer needed is belied by history and recent events, and the Congress has renewed the Voting Rights Act multiple times, and it should not be the right of the Supreme Court to repeal a law in effect for nearly a half century!

But this conservative Court just might do that, which would be a miscarriage of justice, and another example of how the Court has started to get out of control of promotion of true justice! Their decision on this case, along with the move to make Citizens United just the beginning of special interest investments to fix elections, and the gay marriage case, will make the Court’s decisions in the next few months extremely significant, and worrisome for those who believe the John Roberts Court is reckless and dangerous, with its conservative majority put on it by Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush!

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The Republican “Youth Brigade”: Unqualified For The Presidency!

Posted by Ronald in News and Politics on February 7, 2013

The Republican Party, which has usually gone to its “veterans” to find its Presidential nominee (George H. W. Bush, Bob Dole, John McCain, Mitt Romney)—the only recent exception being George W. Bush (a clear cut mistake)— is now putting forward its “youth brigade” of four political leaders born in the early 1970s, meaning they would all be between 45 and 47 when running for President in 2016.

This “youth brigade” may be appealing in appearance, and in the ability to speak well, but none of them have the vision nor the understanding of where America is moving in the second decade of the 21st century!

The four in order of birth are:

Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida
Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana

Ryan had his exposure as the Vice Presidential running mate of Mitt Romney, and came up wanting in many respects, plus his destructive plan to destroy Medicare and Medicaid.

Ted Cruz has only been in the Senate for little more than a month, and already, heads are shaking and eyes rolling at his total inability to impress anyone that he has any understanding of what is happening in America.

Marco Rubio, himself the grandson of an “undocumented” immigrant, who was allowed to stay because he was Cuban, the only Hispanic group given special treatment by the US government in the 1960s and beyond, has shown that he is not aware of science, has a closed mind on many social matters involving women, is unwilling to challenge the far right of his party in any serious way, and is gaining a growing ego about his abilities, based on the attention he is receiving, including Time Magazine having a cover this week, calling him the savior of the GOP, this right before he gives the response to the State of the Union Address of Barack Obama next Tuesday evening. The burden on him to be impressive next week is now extremely heavy.

And Bobby Jindal had the chance to prove his ability, when he responded to the Obama State of the Union Address four years ago, and came across as a total failure and embarrassment.. And his lack of compassion about the poor, the sick, and the disadvantaged in his state, one of the most backward of all of the 50 states, does him no favor. Additionally, he has said the Republican Party has to stop being the “stupid” party, and then goes ahead and does “stupid ” things in his state, that make him look less than intelligent and able to handle the Presidency, and understand the life of real people, other than the wealthy!

Three of these four members of the “Youth Brigade” are “minorities”—Cruz and Rubio, both Cuban Americans, and Jindal being the son of parents from India. But to say that their ethnicity “qualifies” them to be President is preposterous—as Cuban Americans represent about THREE percent of Hispanics and Latinos, and Cubans have a heritage of totally different views and voting patterns than others who are from Latin America; and even Asian Americans, whether from India or other parts of South Asia, or those from East Asia and the Far East, also voted an even higher percentage for the Democrats than Hispanics and Latinos—73 percent, compared to 71 percent!

If the “Youth Brigade” is thought to be the hope of the GOP to turn things around for the party, the leadership will learn over the next four years that they are sadly, and tragically, misguided!

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Age Vs Youth: Will The Republicans And Democrats Be Switching On Their Presidential Nominees In 2016?

Posted by Ronald in News and Politics on January 29, 2013

When one analyzes the two major political parties in the past forty years, it has been a general reality that the Republican Party has run Presidential candidates who tend to be much older than the Democratic Party nominees for President.

Witness Richard Nixon, nine years older than George McGovern in 1972; Gerald Ford eleven years older than Jimmy Carter in 1976; Ronald Reagan thirteen years older than Jimmy Carter in 1980; Reagan seventeen years older than Walter Mondale in 1984; George H. W. Bush eight years older than Michael Dukakis in 1988; Bush twenty two years older than Bill Clinton in 1992; Bob Dole twenty three years older than Clinton in 1996; John McCain twenty five years older than Barack Obama in 2008; and Mitt Romney fourteen years older than Obama in 2012. Only in 2000 and 2004 did we see George W. Bush older than Al Gore by only two years and in 2004 actually younger than John Kerry by three years.

This phenomenon is maybe just a coincidence, but it has often been said that the Democrats go for youth and the Republicans for experience in their Presidential nominees.

Well, if that is the case, it is about to be switched dramatically in 2016 if one assumes that either Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden are the likely front runners for the Democratic Presidential nomination, as Hillary will be 69 in 2016, and Joe will be 74 in 2016. Clinton would be the second oldest first time nominee, behind Ronald Reagan, and Biden would be the oldest first time nominee.

The Republicans are certain to nominate a candidate decades younger, such as Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Nikki Haley, Bobby Jindal, or Ted Cruz, all born in the early 1970s, being therefore mid 40s in 2016. If you consider Chris Christie, Scott Walker, or John Thune, they were born in the 1960s, so would be in the mid 50s. Jeb Bush, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann all were born in the 1950s, so would be in their late 50s or in the 60s. There is no candidate born in the 1940s seriously mentioned, unless one expects Newt Gingrich to try again for the Presidency, being just a year younger than Joe Biden and four years older than Hillary Clinton.

The Democrats have alternative possible candidates in Martin O’Malley and Amy Klobuchar born in the early 1960s, so either would be mid 50s in 2016, but Andrew Cuomo and Mark Warner, born in the mid 1950s would be nearing or at the age of 60 when running in 2016, and Elizabeth Warren, born in 1949, would be 67 in 2016, only about two years younger than Hillary Clinton.

So we are seeing a likely switch from an older to younger Republican nominee, and a younger to an older Democratic nominee, and the difference in years could be massive, as it was in the past forty years in most Presidential elections.

A final thought: In the nine elections between 1972 and 2012 when the GOP nominee was always older than the Democratic nominee, the Republicans won the election four times, and the Democrats five times, so basically, trying to determine whether age or youth are an advantage is clearly a pure guessing game!

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Republican Persecution Complex: A Serious Disease!

Posted by Ronald in News and Politics on January 28, 2013

The Republican Party has caused its own downfall with its mean spirited, nasty campaigns, and its unwillingness to separate themselves from the power and influence of Fox News Channel, the right wing talk show hosts, and the rhetoric of their own reckless candidates and office holders, and powerful lobbying groups.

Portraying their party as victims, Speaker of the House John Boehner says Barack Obama wants to “annihilate” the Republican Party, and Paul Ryan, the House Budget Chairman and 2012 GOP Vice Presidential running mate of Mitt Romney, said on Sunday that Obama wants to “conquer” the opposition party, rather than compromise.

Somehow, they forget that George W. Bush was out to promote his own program after reelection in 2004, not in the mood for compromise.

The Republicans have not been willing to compromise for four years, and now they are using the psychological term called “projection”, accusing the President of what they have been doing, out to defeat the President and compromise on nothing. It is a despicable trick which no sane person will agree with, as they have shown total intransigence, and threatened anyone who diverts from orthodoxy that they will have the opposition of powerful interest groups, and Tea Party opposition for renomination.

The only way the Republican Party has a future is to modify their ideas, come back to the moderate center, become the party of the 1960s and 1970s, before Ronald Reagan and conservatives “hijacked” the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Eisenhower!

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