Massachusetts

Obama Performance Disappointing, But One Debate Does Not Make For Election Of Mitt Romney!

Ronald 7 Comments

First impressions of tonight’s debate:

Mitt Romney was aggressive, dominant over moderator Jim Lehrer, showed his tendency to monopolize for his own benefit, showed his ability to lie and deceive, acted as if he was back to being a moderate Republican Governor of Massachusetts.

Barack Obama was too gentlemanly, too passive, too laid back, failed to take advantage of opportunities, and needs to do better.

But one good debate by Romney, and one disappointing debate by Obama does not determine the election by any means.

More commentary will come tomorrow, when the author has had time to sort through and analyze the debate in more detail!

Scott Brown Vs. Elizabeth Warren: The Key Senate Race Above All Others!

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Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown is engaged in the most combative Senate race of all against Harvard Law Professor Elizabeth Warren for the Senate seat held for nearly 47 years by Ted Kennedy.

Brown won a surprising victory in the special election in 2010 to succeed Kennedy for the rest of his term, and is the only Republican to represent the state of Massachusetts, which has an all Democratic House delegation, a Democratic Governor, and a dominant Democratic majority in the state legislature.

Brown has had a difficult course to follow, and has tried to come across as moderate, like Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, but he has voted over 90 percent of the time with his party, and has refused to back President Obama on almost anything he asked for, including jobs legislation, and is now acting very aggressively against his opponent, who worked with Obama, and helped to start the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, although GOP Senate opposition prevented her from running this new agency, so she decided to run for the Senate. Brown has come across as in bed with Wall Street, gaining a lot of financial support from top banking and corporate interests.

Elizabeth Warren is an inspiring candidate, who clearly is for the middle class and the poor, and comes across as a hero of progressives, who supports the DREAM Act, which Brown is against, and is clearly a strong Obama supporter who would fight for progressive causes in the manner that Ted Kennedy did for so long!

Their second debate last night in Massachusetts demonstrated that Brown is ready to use rhetoric in a way that is divisive, including his derision of Warren as being a professor who may control her students but not him; saying she is not native American because of her appearance despite her assertions that she is; allowing his staff to make fun of native Americans publicly; and making clear that he considers her a left wing extremist not in the mainstream, as he claims he is. When he said that Antonin Scalia was his favorite Supreme Court Justice, then swung to Anthony Kennedy, John Roberts, and finally Sonia Sotomayor, the audience seemed to turn against him.

The debate brought up the issue that if Brown is reelected, he could decide a Republican majority in the Senate, and would have a dramatic effect on Supreme Court appointments of the next President, and would certainly NOT, based on his record and his rhetoric, be following in the tradition of Ted Kennedy!

This race is crucial to the future of the Obama Presidency in so many ways, and with Obama certain to win the state of Massachusetts, the hope is that he will have adequate coat tails to carry Warren into the Senate as his champion, and have Warren join Bernie Sanders and others in promoting the progressive agenda over the next four years!

John Kerry Preparing Barack Obama For Debate As Mitt Romney “Stand In”: Dress Rehearsal For Becoming Secretary Of State!

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Massachusetts Senator John Kerry is acting as a “stand in” for Mitt Romney in the Barack Obama preparations for the Presidential debates, beginning on Wednesday of this week.

Kerry knows Romney very well, as Romney served as Governor of Massachusetts, and Kerry has come to understand him very well as a result, including all of his shortcomings, so is a perfect “stand in” to prepare Obama for what Romney might do and say in the upcoming Presidential debates.

It is extremely ironic that Kerry was often accused of being a “flip flopper” during his own Presidential run in 2004, and was also described as being stiff, awkward, and aloof, just as Romney is perceived, except to a far greater extent in the case of Romney!

Kerry helping Obama can be seen as a dress rehearsal for his becoming Secretary of State in a second Obama Administration, once Hillary Clinton retires early next year. With his exceptional leadership of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his 28 years service in the Senate, Kerry is an outstanding front runner for leadership in the State Department for the future!

Romney And Ryan On Way To Losing Every State Connected To Them, Except Utah!

Ronald 2 Comments

It seems clear that Wisconsin Republican Congressman Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney’s Vice Presidential running mate, will not be able to help win Wisconsin in the Presidential election, as one polls shows a 14 point lead now for Barack Obama.

But Mitt Romney, who has connections to five states in his life, also seems likely to lose all but Utah, the center of the Mormon Church/\.

Romney will not win Massachusetts, where he governed; Michigan, where he grew up; New Hampshire, where he has a home, but is running behind Obama; and California, where he has the infamous home which is having a car elevator installed!

What a pitiful record when neither running mate on the GOP line can claim a home state in their favor, and only the Mormon dominated Utah can be seen as supporting Mitt Romney!

50 Days To The Election: Conservatives And Republicans In Panic!

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Mitt Romney has exactly 50 days to change the trend of the upcoming Presidential election, and the ship is rapidly sinking, with near abandonment by conservative talk show hosts, Fox News Channel, and other conservative forces, as well as the evidence in public opinion polls.

What many do not realize is that IF Romney were to turn the tide and win, it would not be a relaxing and satisfying time, as it is precisely these right wing forces that have been dogging him all along; have forced him to give up his true identity as a moderate; and made the whole point of a Presidency lose its purpose, which is to BE YOURSELF!

Ultimately, that fact, that Romney has NOT been himself, and would be trapped under control of the far Right, would make his Presidency a living hell—one in which he would be under constant attack by his own side, become captive to Paul Ryan and Eric Cantor and other right wing ideologists, and would have a very unpleasant, difficult term in office, where he would discover that he wished he was back as Massachusetts Governor, having to work with Democrats, who while fighting him, would be more willing to negotiate and talk with him than his own side, which would just keep on making demands and threats, as he would be seen by them as someone not to respect, but to order around as if he was their servant!

The American Presidency would be harmed by Mitt Romney in the Oval Office, because ideology would win out over moderation and reason and sanity!

There He Goes Again: Mitt Romney Now Says He Would Keep Portions Of “ObamaCare”!

Ronald 1 Comment

Republican Presidential nominee was on Meet The Press this morning with David Gregory, and he ‘flip flopped” again for the umpteenth time!

A massive liar and deceiver, Romney spent the last year saying he would repeal “ObamaCare”, even though he had pushed through a plan strikingly similar in Massachusetts when he was Governor in 2006–what is known as “RomneyCare”! With that stand, he gained support of skeptical conservatives on his way to the Republican Presidential nomination.

But now he sees that millions of Americans actually like “ObamaCare”, particularly the coverage of young people on their parents’ plans until age 26; and the coverage of preexisting conditions for children and adults; and the closing of the “donut hole” for millions of senior citizens.

So suddenly, he says with a straight face that he would wish to keep those portions of the plan, but fails to acknowledge that if the plan is not kept in its entirety, then these provisions cannot be sustained financially for the long term.

He is, of course, probably going to alienate his conservative base by “flip flopping”, and it still is the case that how can anyone trust anything Romney says? Even Senator John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic Presidential nominee, accused of “flip flopping”, which doomed his candidacy, joked about Romney being on all sides of every question, in his speech at the Democratic National Convention last week!

At the same time, Paul Ryan, the Vice Presidential nominee, seemd uncomfortable and stuttered a lot on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, as he was challenged on his voting record and his own “flop flopping”. Ryan is competing with Romney for how much he can lie and deceive, and refuse to accept when he is called out for inaccuracies, insisting he is correct when he is not!

Romney and Ryan are competing with Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew for the most dishonest, deceptive Presidential-Vice Presidential team in modern American history!

Women Democratic Senate Nominees Could Boost Female Senate Total In 2013

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Five Democratic women are running for US Senate seats in 2012, and if they can win, it would boost the number of Democratic women in the Senate dramatically!

These candidates include:

Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts, against Senator Scott Brown.

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin, against former Governor Tommy Thompson.

Congresswoman Shelley Berkley in Nevada, against Senator Dean Heller.

Congesswoman Mazie Hirono in Hawaii, against former Governor Linda Lingle.

Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota, against Congressman Rick Berg.

All five would add to the progressive bloc in the Senate, and would be strong supporters of women’s rights, labor rights, consumer rights, civil rights, and gay rights.

And Warren and Berkley victories would add two seats to the Democratic side, at a time when the Senate only has a six seat edge, 53-47, and is losing seven incumbent Democrats who are retiring, and facing five competitive races in which Democrats are in danger of losing their seats.

Conservative Outrage Against Mitt Romney Over Reaction To Barack Obama Campaign Ad On Health Care An Indication Of The Nightmare Facing Romney If He, Somehow, Wins The Presidency!

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A campaign ad by a group loyal to Barack Obama, describing the death of a woman who lost her health care under Bain Capital’s takeover and closing of a company her husband had worked for, is causing a literal nightmare for Mitt Romney.

An aide to Romney made the statement today that IF that woman had been in Massachusetts, she might not have died, because she would have had health care!

It is not clear if the aide flubbed in making that statement, or was authorized to do so by Mitt Romney, but it has caused a firestorm of conservative protest today!

Romney has been trying to deny that what was good for Massachusetts is good for the nation on health care, and has campaigned on getting rid of ObamaCare. Now this comment by his aide seems to suggest otherwise!

Rush Limbaugh sputtered when he heard of the comment by the Romney aide. Sean Hannity was angry, and Ann Coulter, a guest on his show was livid, and said why should conservatives campaign for Romney anymore, since he is as unreliable as John McCain was in 2008. Erick Erickson, a leading conservative blogger, also displayed anger and exasperation.

The reaction of these ideologues, in just a few hours after the statement by the Romney aide, is clearly a demonstration of what will happen regularly if Mitt Romney, somehow, wins the Presidency!

Romney will NOT have a day of rest or peace as President from his own party, much of it way to the far right of him!

Were Romney to win, he would be better off with a Democratic Congress, who he could use as a whipping boy when he runs for a second term, but at the same time, he could actually get something done, as he did with an 85 percent Democratic state legislature when he was Massachusetts Governor.

Mitt Romney is probably, secretly, hoping the Tea Party Movement and the far right evangelical Christian influence would just go away, but it will not, and that means a nightmare of massive proportions awaits him if he is elected President on November 6!

Mitt Romney And The Three Words Beginning With “M”: Off Limits!

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Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the Republican Presidential nominee, has problems with three words beginning with the letter M!

He does not wish to talk about his years as Massachusetts Governor, when he was a moderate Republican.

He does not like to talk at all about his Mormon faith, and is just as secretive about it as the Mormon Church is toward investigation and analysis of itself.

And he certainly has no desire to talk about his money, being far less transparent than his own dad was in 1968, when he was running for the GOP Presidential nomination.

This is not the kind of person we want governing us, when he refuses to be accountable about his past in any form!

Is Mitt Romney A Pathological Liar?

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Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the Republican Presidential nominee, is looking worse every day he is on the campaign trail.

Romney is demonstrating to millions of Americans that he has, sadly, what seems like a pathological liar syndrome!

He has “flip flopped” on every issue he has ever taken a stand on, since he first ran for public office in 1994 against Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts, when he said he would be to the left of Kennedy on abortion and gay rights!

He told us “RomneyCare” was good for Massachusetts, but now wishes to obliterate “ObamaCare”, despite the fact that the Supreme Court has upheld it, and it has brought great benefits to millions of Americans, who would now lose those benefits!

Romney has refused to release any tax returns except for 2010, and has delayed submitting his 2011 taxes, even though his father, George Romney, had released 12 years of tax returns back in the 1960s, and EVERY other candidate for the Presidency, including recent GOP nominees John McCain and George W. Bush did so, and even potential running mate Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota Governor, did a complete vetting when considered for Vice President with John McCain in 2008!

Romney has sent a large portion of his massive fortune to accounts in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda (rather than the mistake of the author, who had previously said the Bahamas), and Switzerland, and refuses to release any information about those accounts

Romney refuses also to give more details about his years at Bain Capital, about his governorship in Massachusetts, and even denies remembering the bullying of a schoolmate in high school that others remember vividly! And he also thinks that putting a dog on the roof of an automobile for many hours while on a vacation trip is something that a dog, or any pet, would automatically love!

Romney’s body language reveals so much about him, and his failure to look people or the camera directly in the eye, also reveals that he is constantly lying!

Now there are reports, not yet proven, that he and his son Tagg MIGHT have been involved in a Ponzi scheme, which, even if not proved true, cannot surprise anyone who has watched him dart back and forth when answering questions, or making daily changes in his stand on issues!

One has to say: Is this what the Republican Party, the party of Lincoln, TR, and Ike wants as the inheritor of their traditions and beliefs, which made the party a great institution historically?

Is this what the American people deserve–a conniving, open faced liar, who seems not even to know he is lying and covering up, since it seems pathological in nature?

One would have to worry about high level corruption under a Romney Presidency, since the top one percent would have a “field day”, with secretiveness, paranoia, and personal insecurity returning to the White House!

If this sounds like Richard Nixon returning, in many ways it would be, EXCEPT that Nixon, believe it or not, also had real PRINCIPLES mixed in with his faults and shortcomings,while Romney is just a very wealthy guy who wants power for power’s sake and to enrich his friends and his own pockets!

Now some might say, come on, ALL politicians are crooks, are self servers, are liars!

To which the answer is YES, MANY are, although not all! But there are levels of lying, and being self serving, and Mitt Romney is the true champion on the top of the heap in that regard!

America deserves better and can do better than Mitt Romney!