 (David Becker/Getty Images) While he is still taking flak for a secret video that got released last week (see below), there were many other notable quotes and deeds from Mitt Romney in that same period that shouldn’t be overlooked. And that “ 47 percent” line wasn’t the worst of them, either. Romney appeared on Univision, a Hispanic U.S. television network, but only after his campaign team was allowed to fill the empty seats of the studio with Romney supporters. And his faux pas (or “paso en falso”) wasn’t the tanned, Spanish skin tone that some media thought to be his cosmetic attempt to look Latino. Romney reportedly refused to enter the stage when called by the hosts (“ threw a tantrum,” according to one witness) because he didn’t like this traditional intro of the network. He forced the crew to start shooting all over again with his own favored introduction of last-minute planning. Speaking about his goal to repeal the Affordable Care Act on Sunday’s 60 Minutes, Romney suggested that folks without insurance could simply go to a hospital emergency room when they needed medical care. Not only is this practice partly responsible for the very high cost of medical care in the U.S., and even for the high cost of medical insurance for others, but it’s also the exact opposite of what Romney told voters in his last presidential campaign. In a 2008 debate of Republican candidates, Romney said “they shouldn’t be allowed to just show up at the hospital and say, somebody else should pay for me.” After long wait and uncountable requests, on Sept. 21 Romney finally released his most recent tax return. He could have taken an additional $1.75 million in deductions for charitable donations, too, he points out, but chose not to, thus increasing his tax burden. But just weeks ago in July, Romney said he would never, ever pass up on a possible tax deduction; in fact, to do so would mean he shouldn’t get elected, he said. “(F)rankly if I had paid more than are legally due, I don’t think I’d be qualified to become president.” This release of his last tax return didn’t answer many questions, either, and instead just created new ones. Lastly, Romney thinks the aircraft industry has long overlooked one needed improvement – retractable windows! Explaining how an onboard electrical mishap delayed his wife’s flight last Friday, Romney said “you can’t find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft, because the windows don’t open. I don’t know why they don’t do that. It’s a real problem.” Of course, airplane windows don’t open for three main reasons: 1) there is a depreciation of oxygen at flight altitudes, meaning passengers would pass out and quickly die, 2) the temperature is far below zero at such elevations, and 3) passengers would be sucked out of their pressurized cabins. (Add in all the litter from folks tossing out their empty peanut packs, and it’s even clearer.) And this, folks, is just a one-week recap of the man who wants to be your president.
 Munoz was also credited with earning Santorum the endorsement of South Carolina’s former U.S. Congressman Gresham Barrett. Romney’s campaign acknowledges that he “did a few ad hoc projects for us on a per diem basis,” but told Buzzfeed that Munoz was “never an employee of the campaign.” Santorum’s campaign staff declined comment.
 (Click on image to read entire article on The Daily Beast) The first complainant alleges that incidents occurred in early 2010, when the then-cadet Munoz made multiple attempts to touch him in the groin. According to the report obtained by local CBS affiliate WCSC, Munoz told the complainant “it was more okay for guys to be with guys sexually before marriage than to be with girls and that God would be less angry at the two guys messing around than a guy and a girl.” The second complaint describes three incidents over four consecutive days in February 2011 while attending the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington DC. The intensity of the assaults progressively increased, the complainant says, with the last one resulting with Munoz being thrown to the floor after physically approaching the complaint while he slept. The Citadel provided statements to students and to faculty and staff on Friday, reminding all of its compliance with relevant laws, as well as recommended methods that students can use to protect themselves from such circumstances.
At the recent Republican National Convention, congresswoman (and former presidential candidate) Michele Bachmann defended her former opponent against claims he was out-of-touch with the average American.
A USA Today reporter asked her, "(T)here are those who say, 'How can someone with that kind of vast wealth really connect with the American public, really understand what the plight of the American public is?'"
Bachmann's response? "Well, President Obama is extremely wealthy. He and his wife have been wealthy for a number of years, and so I think that's really the issue."
Go on - see it for yourself in the video below: So, Bachmann says, Mitt Romney is the preferred candidate because Obama has too much money?
Of course, we could just compare their tax returns side-by-side, now couldn't we? (You can use the "view in full screen" options, located in the bottom-right corner of each of the Scribd columns below.) | ROMNEY'S 2011 TAX FILING | OBAMA'S 2011 TAX FILING | This just in for Michele Bachmann: $20,808,805 is greater than $844,585. TWENTY FIVE TIMES greater, in fact. And it's FOUR HUNDRED AND NINETY NINE times more than the average American income of $41,673.83, too. Now, call me strange, but I can't help but notice that Romney got none of the $20.8 million from actual work. That's right - his multi-millions didn't come from any job. They came from interest on his other money. From stock dividends. And from rental properties, too. So who is it exactly, Bachmann, that's out of touch with the average American household? Mitt Romney, that's who. As for Bachmann herself? She's out of touch with reality.
 Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Mitt Romney flip-flops so much that an opponent once referred to him not as pro-choice, but multiple choice. He owns a gun/he doesn't own a gun. He's always been Republican/he used to be independent. He was disappointed in Reagan/he wants to be like Reagan. And he's flipped on stem cell research almost as frequently as he's gone from "don't ask" to "do tell." In short, Romney can't seem to make up his mind on any important issue. He's catching a lot of flak for that, too, as the campaign season picks up pace. But perhaps the most telling of his flip-floppiness is a report that his primary opponent had compiled against him back in the 2008 race. John McCain's campaign team compiled a very detailed account on Romney, covering his personal history. One full section of the report detailed the many turnarounds Romney made during his political career - abortion, immigration, taxes, the Second Amendment, and more. Read the entire 200-page document here on Robservations. If he changes his mind so often, then how can we count on him to be president?
Further demonstrating the idiocy in their (fraudulent) "small government" claims, last night's debate made it clear the Republican Party candidates are making it all up as they go along.
Take Rick Perry's spiel, for example. Included in his platform, he said, are goals to eliminate three federal agencies. But in his attempt to expound that premise, he could only name two.
And when media conducting the event asked him for details, he flat out admitted that he couldn't remember the third agency.
Here - watch it yourself:
So what does this example indicate? That the GOP candidates are trying to reel in a very big fish from very shallow waters, and without using any bait, either. (Hell, Perry didn't even bring a fishing pole....) Their platforms are unprepared. They're unprepared for debates. They don't know the topics that are important to American voters. And not one of them has any chance of winning the 2012 election, either. See more Rick Perry funanigans!Confederates for Perry upstage campaign announcementPerry 'an idiot,' says GOP insiderRick Perry: read his lips!
Speaking to the Family Research Council this morning, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann gave her take on how to address the high rate of unemployment in the country.
“(I)f anyone will not work, neither should he eat,” Bachmann said.
(posted on youtube by ivolsky)What this Republican presidential candidate is apparently overlooking, however, is that the number of job openings in the country is far, far less than the number of unemployed. According to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 3.1 million job openings in the country. The number of unemployed, though, is 13.9 million, says BLS. That’s more than four times greater than the number of jobs available. Add in the fact that a majority of those 13.9 million Americans (52 percent) are not receiving any unemployment benefits whatsoever, and it stands apparent that Bachmann’s goal is already underway: they have no money to buy food to begin with. So instead of addressing this malady affecting so many in the country, Rep. Bachmann, we should make it worse and toss in other obstacles, too? Eliminate their eligibility for food stamps, perhaps? That seems to be a typical Republican response. Cure the unemployment problem by starving the unemployed.
Throughout his campaign, Mitt Romney’s left voters with a lot to fear, making him an appropriate topic for reflection this Halloween. But that fear doesn’t stem from scary costumes or campaign horror.
Just like the script of classic horror movies, it’s the mysterious unknown, tension of indecision, and building of suspense that’s making everyone crazy. Romney can’t make up his mind, and is brewing fear in voters as a result.
Like parents trapped in anxiety as their hyperactive children scream in indecision over which costume they’ll wear for tonight’s Halloween, voters are left waiting in anticipation to see which Mitt Romney the GOP presidential candidate will be today.
Will he claim to be a middle class American? Will he tell us that corporations are people, too? Will pro-choice Mitt ring your doorbell this evening, or will he don his anti-choice costume? Will it be healthcare Romney or insurance company Romney?
South Carolina’s Democratic Party has the same questions and a whole lot more, as you can see in this video it released on this All Hallow’s Eve.
“Mitt Romney looks in the mirror every morning and sees a stranger,” says SCDP Chair Dick Harpootlian. “Universal Healthcare Mitt would run from Anti-Healthcare Mitt like Jamie Lee Curtis did from the Halloween slasher” Harpootlian says, comparing Romney’s campaign plot to the classic Halloween gore flick. Romney had slight lead in a recent poll of Republican voters in the state, taking 25 percent and leading Herman Cain by two. Six other candidates were on the slate. A majority of respondents (56 percent) said they might change their minds before the primary election. The state’s GOP presidential primary is set for Jan. 21.
Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican presidential candidate whose popularity took a recent plunge in the polls, is spending today in South Carolina in hopes of rebuilding support. And for everyone who can't fit the Texas governor in their schedule, the South Carolina Democratic Party offers this video which tells you, more or less, not to bother. "Governor Perry's visit to South Carolina showcases the latest in the parade of Republican losers to visit our state. While his positions have been more consistent than Mitt the Flip, he has been consistently wrong," says Dick Harpootlian, SCDP chair. "While President Obama has been focused on bringing our troops home from Iraq and making the country safe from terrorism by eliminating Osama bin Laden and Moammar Gaddafi, Rick Perry has been trotting out all the worn out and discredited economic policies of George W. Bush and wandering around the stage of the GOP debates like a punch drunk fighter. South Carolina needs a visit from Rick Perry like it needs another term of Mark Sanford or Nikki Haley. We have had enough." And just about everyone else in the state has had enough of Perry, too. In a recent poll of Republican voters in the state, he came in a distant third with only 15 percent. He took only two percent in an Oct. 15th Tea Party straw poll, conducted in Columbia.
The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center recently released report on the effects of Herman Cain's proposed "9-9-9" tax policy. In a nutshell, it would increase federal income taxes on 84 percent of all American households. Of course, and as you can expect from a Republican candidate, the 16 percent who wouldn't be affected, and who would actually get extreme tax breaks, are those who make the most money. Households earning less than $30,000 a year would lose 16 to 20 percent of their net income, according to the Tax Policy Center's research. Those making over $200,000, however, would get to keep from five to 20 percent more. To explain it easier, we made this nifty little chart detailing the projected changes in taxes owed by each income quintile group under Cain's "9-9-9" plan, and included the top one percent and top one-tenth of one percent in income, too. Changes in Tax Burdens of Herman Cain's 9-9-9 Tax Proposals, by Income Quintiles
A recent editorial sums up both the GOP candidates and their followers pretty well: “Judging by the response of recent audiences,” reads a Sept. 25 editorial in the Concord Monitor, “the next Republican presidential primary debate should be held in a reproduction Roman coliseum, the proper venue to cheer the execution of one's fellow human beings.” The editorial concludes, “The most disturbing aspect of the WrestleMania behavior at the debates is not that some audience members booed a soldier and many cheered death. It's that not one Republican candidate, and there were nine on the stage on Thursday, spoke up to admonish the crowd and call for civility. Not one candidate, in situations that cried out for it, exhibited leadership.” That summary inspired this “Not One Candidate” video, distributed by the DNC. (posted on youtube by DemRapidResponse)
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