Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney And “Day One” Promises: A Total Sham!

Ronald Leave a comment

Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney is the phoniest major party candidate in modern American history, constantly changing his viewpoints and ideas, and expecting us to accept it as part of the nature of “politics”.

But any person who has any common sense or brains knows that Mitt Romney cannot be trusted, or that he believes in ANYTHING, and is not one percent genuine, his biggest problem that will prevent him from being elected President in November.

It is infuriating that he constantly uses the term “Day One” as he pledges action and change from the policies of the Barack Obama Administration!

It seems like every day he is pledging what he will do on “Day One”!

The problem is that he is totally disingenuous, as NOTHING can be done automatically on “Day One”, as it takes legislative action, and bureaucratic movement to change ANY policy, domestic or foreign!

Our government is complex enough that it will take a long time to change policies or programs, as we are NOT a dictatorship where a “President” Romney can issue orders as if he is a tyrant, and even dictators have to deal with bureaucracy and human foibles, and NOTHING gets done instantly, overnight!

It is annoying to hear Romney say that, and it is time that he stop the bull, and admit that policy changes will require much effort by many people over a long period of time, lasting at least a year.

The way Romney speaks, one thinks we should call his program “The First Day”, which according to his propaganda would surpass the “First Hundred Days” of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 at the height of the Great Depression.

It is a totally asinine and loony concept, and it is time to drop it and talk reality, but is Mitt Romney capable of that? One wonders!

Mitt Romney As Compared to Barry Goldwater And George McGovern And Walter Mondale

Ronald Leave a comment

Mitt Romney is infamous for constant change in his positions on every issue imaginable, making people unable to trust him.

In the past half century, we have had three losing Presidential candidates, all of whom lost by landslides, but even so, kept their dignity as men of principle, who did not change their views to fit the changing mood of the country, and therefore, even in losing badly, can been seen as men who truly believed what they advocated.

These are Republican Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, who lost to President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964; Democratic Senator George McGovern of South Dakota, who lost to President Richard Nixon in 1972; and Senator and former Vice President Walter Mondale of Minnesota, who lost to President Ronald Reagan in 1984.

All three men are regarded more highly because they stuck to their principle, but when Mitt Romney loses to President Barack Obama in 2012, he will NOT be regarded highly as a man of principle, as he has NO PRINCIPLES, except his own advancement!

The Coming “Time Bomb” For Mitt Romney

Ronald Leave a comment

Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney has avoided explaining his time in office as Governor of Massachusetts, and the poor economic record of that term from 2003-2007.

Mitt Romney has avoided explaining his record of “outsourcing” and “offshoring” during his 25 years at Bain Capital.

But now two more “bombshells” are about to hit him squarely in the eyes, and one wonders if he can avoid commenting on them, as he has on other sensitive matters.

One is his offshore accounts, his investments in the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas, and Switzerland, therefore avoiding income taxes in America.

The other is the fact that he delayed his income tax returns for six months, but will have to file by October, and it is certain that again he will demonstrate a very low level of taxes, and a high level of income from his investments.

His refusal to comment on these various matters will harm him greatly, but then IF he tries to explain, he will probably contradict himself and hurt himself more as a “Flip Flopper” and a “Lie Master”!

149th Anniversary Of Battle Of Gettysburg: States Rights Battle Won Then Being Revisited Again!

Ronald Leave a comment

On this day in 1863, the Union army defeated the Confederate army at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and prevented any further Confederate advancement into the Northern states of America, the decisive battle of the Civil War.

It was the turning point of the Civil War, and having visited the battle site, and heard stories of ghosts that still linger today, and recognizing the tremendous losses of both sides in the three day battle that was topsy turvey until the third day of the battle, one is humbled by the fact that it decided the issue of states rights, even though the war went on for nearly two more years.

It is ironic that the Republican Party under Abraham Lincoln fought against states rights, but now the Republican Party is more Southern than anything else, and has revived the issue of states rights in fury over the Affordable Care Act being declared constitutional by the Supreme Court last week.

So Southern governors, including Rick Scott, Bobby Jindal, Rick Perry, and Bob McDonnell, and joined by northern Republican governors, including Scott Walker, Rick Snyder, Paul LePage and others, are declaring “war” on setting up programs to deal with the oncoming “ObamaCare” in 2014, and in Congress, Republican leaders are making their campaign on repeal of “ObamaCare”, even though the chances of that are nearly zero.

So the GOP is fighting the Civil War all over again on another battlefield, against their own history, and they are doomed to lose yet once again!

And get this, Mitt Romney, the Republican Presidential nominee, is trying to veer away from “ObamaCare” as the major issue, causing a split within a party that has no love lost for him!

Good luck, Republicans, but you will face an historic defeat in November, while Abraham Lincoln weeps in heaven at what you have done to the party that fought states rights!

Despite Health Care Ruling, Supreme Court Is Still Out Of Control, And Presidential Election Will Decide If It Regains Confidence Of The American People!

Ronald Leave a comment

The Supreme Court came through by the barest of margins on the issue of “ObamaCare” last week, but when one looks at the Court’s radical swing to the right in so many other ways, it is clear that the future reputation of the Court and the long term future of the nation requires the victory of Barack Obama for a second term as President.

By confirming their Citizens United decision again in a case involving Montana state law, and by actions against labor unions and their rights in another case, and in the solidity most of the time of the Republican appointees in rejecting past precedent and tradition, the Court has gained an image of being extremist and confrontational, and lost American public opinion and respect, which is dangerous for our democracy.

Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush effectively moved the Court away from the political center to the extreme right, and we are suffering the effects of this extremist rightward tilt.

We cannot afford to base the future on Anthony Kennedy SOMETIMES going with the liberal side of the Court, or Chief Justice John Roberts seemingly being concerned about the reputation of the Court. Neither is reliable to keep the Court in the political center, and protect the rights of the powerless.

The only answer is to insure that when the older members of the Supreme Court retire or die while in service on the Court, that we replace them with Justices who have a vision of the country more in line with the reality of the 21st century than the 19th century Gilded Age!

With Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Antonin Scalia, and Anthony Kennedy to be over 80 before the next Presidential term ends, the likelihood is that whoever is President in the next four years will have a transformative effect on the Supreme Court and constitutional law.

The thought of Mitt Romney making those choices is truly terrifying, and will make the Court a right wing extremist influence into the 2040s, totally unacceptable!

Barack Obama will be able to make the Court shift more into the mainstream, preserving the brilliant times of the Warren Court in the 1950s and 1960s, when America advanced constitutionally in so many ways!

A Century Of Struggle For Health Care: Theodore Roosevelt 1912 to Barack Obama 2012!

Ronald Leave a comment

Republican President Theodore Roosevelt, out of office and running on the third party movement, the Progressive Party, in 1912, first proposed some form of national health exactly a century ago as part of his New Nationalism platform!

His distant cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, considered it as part of his New Deal in the 1930s, but it was controversial enough to promote Social Security, which was called “Socialism”, and bitterly opposed by most Republicans, and used as a campaign issue by Republican Governor Alf Landon in the 1936 Presidential campaign.

Harry Truman actually was the first to promote a program as part of his Fair Deal programs in the 1940s, but the Southern Democrats and the American Medical Association bitterly opposed it as “Socialism”, and it died in committees in the US House of Representatives and US Senate.

John F. Kennedy proposed what became Medicare for the elderly as part of his New Frontier, but it was blocked again by the AMA and the Southern Democrats who headed Congressional committees in both houses of Congress in the early 1960s.

Lyndon B. Johnson overcame the AMA and Southern Democrats, and accomplished Medicare in 1965, and the Republicans campaigned against it, but failed to gain enough support to repeal it

Richard Nixon had devised plans for more health care legislation, but Watergate killed any movement in that direction in the 1970s.

Jimmy Carter also had developed a plan for expansion, but faced too much conservative opposition and other issues and crises, which drew attention away from the idea.

Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton proposed a major government program, but it went down to defeat in 1994, with Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and the conservative Heritage Foundation proposing a “mandate” instead, which would allow private health insurance companies to profit from health care reform, but nothing was done.

And Senator Ted Kennedy fought the good fight for decades, and was at least able to see progress before his death in 2009.

And when Hillary Clinton, and then Barack Obama, adopted the Heritage Foundation plan in 2008, far less than the original Clinton plan of the 1990s, suddenly the Republican Party and conservative ideologists bitterly opposed it, as they still do, and their hope is to repeal the program declared constitutional by the Supreme Court this past Thursday.

So it has taken a century, and we are the ONLY major nation in the world which allows millions of people to be uncovered for health care, and we have the opposition bitterly trying to destroy it, including Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who actually promoted the SAME idea successfully in Massachusetts in 2006, but now is out to destroy “ObamaCare”!

What a history, and hard to believe that it would take a century, and still be a controversy in 2012!.

Disgraceful GOP Governors Will Fight Expansion Of Medicaid!

Ronald Leave a comment

The Supreme Court decision backing “ObamaCare”, sadly allowed the states an “out” on expanding Medicaid coverage to the sick and needy who do not have health insurance coverage. In so doing, it allows Republican Governors to continue to resist giving any health care services to the poor, and will likely require federal intervention once the election is over, and hopefully, the chance to repeal “ObamaCare” is over, with Democratic gains and the victory of Barack Obama over Mitt Romney in the Presidential Election.

The despicable Governors include the usual ones–Southern governors, including Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Rick Perry of Texas, Rick Scott of Florida, Bob McDonnell of Virginia, Nikki Haley of South Carolina among others; and other Republican Governors elsewhere, including Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Paul LePage of Maine, Rick Snyder of Michigan, and Sam Brownback of Kansas, among others.

These Governors have no conscience, and do not give a damn about protecting the health of their own less fortunate citizens. And yet, they are all concerned with preserving “life” when it refers to fetuses, but no concern once the fetuses are born!

What a disgrace beyond belief!

The Irony Of George W. Bush Appointee To Chief Justice Upholding Barack Obama’s Signature Accomplishment!

Ronald Leave a comment

Who would ever have thought that President George W. Bush would appoint a Chief Justice, John Roberts, who would uphold the signature accomplishment of Barack Obama’s first term in office, the Affordable Care Act?

This fact will actually make Bush look a little better in the long run of history, and the 43rd President can certainly use any help he can get historically to overcome his overall abysmal record as Chief Executive!

One could say that Roberts in this case proved to be a “compassionate conservative”, the term utilized by Bush when he ran for the Presidency!

And considering the nastiness and venom of the reaction to this decision by most Republicans, it actually makes Bush look better, that he was the last time period when the term “compassionate” was thought to be something that was good and decent by the Republican leadership!

Certainly, Mitt Romney’s campaign for President has exhibited NONE of this compassion, as he makes it clear that his goal in running for office is to repeal ObamaCare, a negative campaign which will fail miserably, as Alf Landon, running against the New Deal and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936, was smashed and the Republican Party was weakened to its weakest membership in American history in the Congress!

The GOP better be careful, or they may face the repudiation of the voters in historic terms similar to 1936! Being negative and speaking for the plutocracy is NOT the way to gain and keep power!

Salute To Ted Kennedy: There Must Be Celebration In Heaven Right Now!

Ronald 1 Comment

At this moment of great excitement and pride at what President Barack Obama and the Democrats have accomplished, it is appropriate to stop and pay tribute to the late Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, who fought the good fight for health care for decades, and lived long enough to see progress being made on the road to the present legislation.

While Ted Kennedy would have wished for better legislation, the Affordable Health Care Act is still a great triumph, with the possibility of improvements over time.

But there are so many aspects of this legislation that will benefit millions of Americans, and finally have America catch up with the rest of the “civilized world”, in promoting decent, available health care for all Americans over time!

The battle to keep what has been accomplished cannot be complete until the right wing Tea Party Movement and fellow Republicans who are nasty, mean spirited, and heartless beyond belief, are removed from the ability to promote chaos and anarchy, as the Republican House has been doing now for 18 months, making them the worst Congress in American history!

Some might point out that rich people have no concern about those not wealthy. That is certainly true of some, but Ted Kennedy was rich, and he CARED about those less fortunate.

Ted Kennedy and Mitt Romney both came from Massachusetts, but they are polar opposites on caring about average Americans, while both being rich!

One wonders why Mitt Romney has so little concern about average Americans, while Ted Kennedy really cared!

Could it be their political philosophy separates them, the vast difference between the “WE” attitude of Democrats and the “ME” attitude of Republicans?

In any case, there must be a celebration in heaven going on right now, with Ted Kennedy having a great time, proud of his nation, his political party, his President, and even Chief Justice John Roberts and the four Democratic appointments to the Supreme Court!

First Hints That Citizens United Case May Not Help GOP Gain Victories! Ohio As A Test Case!

Ronald Leave a comment

The first hints that the Supreme Court decision, Citizens United, which allows corporations to spend freely on political campaigns, and billionaires to spend tens of millions of dollars to help their own private interests, is not working, comes with the Quinnipiac polls today, and particularly in Ohio.

The Buckeye state has been essential for every Republican President to win, but Mitt Romney trails Barack Obama in Ohio by 48-39, outside the margin of error!

And Sherrod Brown, the liberal Democratic Senator, is 16 points ahead of Republican Josh Mandel, 50-34!

In both cases, the Republicans have outspent the Democrats, but it is not having an effect!

This is wonderful news, and shows that promoting what is best for the American people can win out over what is good for the elite and the wealthy!

Hopefully, the trend will continue, and lead to a massive victory for Barack Obama in November, and an ability for courageous Democrats, such as Sherrod Brown, to keep their seats in Congress!