Mitt Romney is Silent on Climate Change a Heckler at West Virginia Interrupts a Rally

A heckler interrupted Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney during a rally Thursday in Virginia Beach, Va., shouting "climate change caused Sandy" before he was booed at and escorted away from the event.
The man was standing near the front of the crowd and waited until a few minutes into Romney's speech to interrupt, just after the candidate urged his supporters to donate to victims of superstorm Sandy. The man held up a sign that read "End Climate Silence." The crowd shouted "U-S-A" and one man pulled away the sign. The heckler was then removed from the room.
Romney's policies on climate change -- or lack thereof -- are under renewed scrutiny in light of superstorm Sandy, which hit the east coast this week and caused major damage. Romney canceled campaign rallies after the storm hit and instead gathered supporters to a campaign-lite event gathering donations to send to those impacted by the storm.

Mitt Romney was interrupted at a rally Thursday in Virginia Beach, Va. A rowdy audience member took advantage of a pause during the Republican presidential nominee's speech and shouted "climate change caused Sandy!" He then flashed a sign that read "End Climate Silence." While Romney seemed to take the heckler in his stride, the crowd (and security) reacted much more strongly.

The man was booed and his sign was pulled away from him. As the heckler was led out of the event, the booing was layered with chants of "U-S-A!"

http://www.inquisitr.com/385318/romney-heckler-interrupts-virginia-rally-video/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/01/mitt-romney-heckled-climate-silence_n_2059174.html

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/heckler-interrupts-romney-rally-020501770--election.html
 

Mitt Romney the 47% who BUG him and not pay federaal income taxes

 Just which 47 percent of Americans was Mitt Romney talking about? It's hard to say. He lumped together three different ways of sorting people in what he's called less-than-elegant remarks.

Each of those three groups — likely Obama voters, people who get federal benefits and people who don't pay federal income taxes — contains just under half of all Americans, in the neighborhood of 47 percent at a given moment. There's some overlap, but the groups are quite distinct.

Confusingly, Romney spoke as if they're made up of the same batch of Americans.

A look at the three groups:

___
OBAMA VOTERS
What Romney said: "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what."
He's right on the nose, according to the latest Associated Press-GfK poll: Forty-seven percent of likely voters say they support Obama. And 46 percent say they support Romney, essentially a tie. This number fluctuates from poll to poll and week to week and could shift substantially before Election Day.
Who they are:
—Most are employed: Sixty-two percent of the Obama voters work, including the 10 percent working only part time. A fourth are retired. Five percent say they're temporarily unemployed.
—Most earn higher-than-average wages. Fifty-six percent have household incomes above the U.S. median of $50,000. Just 16 percent have incomes below $30,000, and about the same share (20 percent) have incomes of $100,000 or more.
—They're all ages but skew younger than Romney's voters: Twenty percent are senior citizens and 12 percent are under age 30.
—They're more educated than the overall population: Forty-three percent boast four-year college degrees or above; 21 percent topped out with a high school diploma.
___
PEOPLE WHO GET FEDERAL BENEFITS
What Romney said: "There are 47 percent ... who are dependent on government ... who believe they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it."
Whether they are dependent and believe they are entitled to anything is arguable, but Romney's statistic is about right — 49 percent of the U.S. population receive some kind of federal benefit, including Social Security and Medicare, according to the most recent Census Bureau data. Looking only at people who receive benefits that are based on financial need, such as food stamps, the portion is smaller — just over a third of the population. Many people get more than one type of benefit.
The biggest programs and their percentage of the U.S. population:
—Medicaid: 26 percent
—Social Security: 16 percent
—Food stamps: 16 percent
—Medicare: 15 percent
—Women, Infants and Children food program: 8 percent
___
THOSE WHO PAY NO FEDERAL INCOME TAX

What Romney said: "Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax."

Romney's about on target — 46 percent of U.S. households paid no federal income tax last year, according to a study by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. Most do pay other federal taxes, including Medicare and Social Security withholding. And they're not all poor. Some middle-income and wealthy families escape income tax because of deductions, credits and investment tax preferences.

Why they don't pay:

—About half don't earn enough money for a household of their size to owe income tax. For example, a family of four earning less than $26,400 would owe no taxes using the standard exemptions and deductions.

—About 22 percent get tax breaks for senior citizens that offset their income.

—About 15 percent get tax breaks for the working poor or low-income parents.

—Almost 3 percent get tax breaks for college tuition or other education expenses.

Who they are:

—The vast majority have below-average earnings: Among all who don't owe, 9 out of 10 make $50,000 or less.

—But some of the wealthy escape taxes, including about 4,000 households earning more than $1 million a year.

___

 

http://news.yahoo.com/mitt-romneys-47-percent-breakdown-070451942--election.html
 

Mitt Romney Macaca TRAP September 20-2012

It’s 864 miles from Boston, Mass., to Breaks, Va., but by one measurement—mine—a six-year old incident in that small town had a huge impact on the presidential prospects of the Massachusetts governor that still resonates today—to Mitt Romney’s distinct disadvantage.

As the 2006 midterm campaign began, Virginia Republican Senator George Allen seemed well on his way to a big re-election victory—the prelude to his all-but-certain campaign for president in 2008. Allen’s strong appeal to the Religious Right promised to provide him a huge advantage in Iowa, where more than half the Republican electorate is self-identified evangelicals.

Then, on Aug. 11, while campaigning in Breaks, Allen spied S.R. Sidarth, who was video recording Allen on behalf of his Democratic opponent, Jim Webb. Turning to Sidarth, Allen said:
“This fellow here over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca, or whatever his name is. He's with my opponent. Let's give a welcome to Macaca, here. Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia.”

While Allen later said he had simply made it up, “macaca” is a racially insulting term used by colonial whites in Northern Africa. (“Monkey” is the translation from the Portuguese.) The fact that Allen’s mother is of French Tunisian descent made it implausible that he had, by some incredible coincidence, made up the term.

The existence of YouTube meant that the video recorded by Sidarth became a permanent feature of the campaign coverage. That November, Allen lost his seat by less than one half of one percentage point—and with that loss, his presidential campaign disappeared.

For then-Governor Mitt Romney, who was preparing his own presidential campaign, Allen’s absence from the field seemed to open up a whole new opportunity. None of the other GOP prospects—New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Senator John McCain, former Senator Fred Thompson—had any special appeal to evangelicals, and Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee was virtually unknown, with no financial resources to speak of. With Romney’s enormous financial advantage, the thinking went, Romney could win in Iowa, capture his neighboring state of New Hampshire a week later, and effectively cinch the nomination in its opening weeks.

To do that, however, Romney would have to accelerate his efforts to move to the political Right. His essentially centrist moderate tenure as governor—pro-choice, pro-gay rights, pro-gun control, pro-environmentalism—was always going to be a problem with the increasingly conservative base of the Republican Party. Had Senator Allen won his race and entered the presidential race, Romney might well have chosen the path that McCain took: skip Iowa and concentrate his efforts in New Hampshire, where evangelicals represents a far smaller element of the GOP. But with Iowa now a target of opportunity for Romney, his move Rightward became more like a lunge.

That has haunted him for six years.

It’s not just that the tactic failed as Huckabee leveraged his strong support among evangelicals to win the Iowa caucuses, and McCain reminded New Hampshire folks why they’d fallen in love with him in 2000.

It’s that Romney had to so completely redefine himself that it stamped him as a candidate who cannot tell us who he is and what he stands for. Despairing conservative pundits keep urging him to “tell America who you really are,” and it brings to mind Robert Kennedy in 1965 entreating New York mayoral candidate Abe Beam to “tell the voters why you want to be mayor!”—to which Beame replied: “Great—what do I say then?”

For me, Romney always seems in perpetual fear of saying the wrong thing, finding himself trapped between the governor he was, and the candidate he has been and still is. If my memory is correct, there has never been a moment when Romney has said to his party’s base, “I have a different view than you do about’’ about, well, anything, as Bill Clinton did on welfare and free trade, as George W. Bush did on the federal government’s role in education.

It may well be true that Romney running on his record in Massachusetts could not have won the Republican nomination in 2008, nor in 2012. But had Allen not uttered that infamous “macaca” phrase, Romney might well have had no choice. And it would, I believe, have made him a far more formidable candidate.

http://news.yahoo.com/mitt-romney-and-the-%E2%80%9Cmacaca%E2%80%9D-trap.html


 http://www.themudflats.net/?paged=4

Mitt Romney had Problem Stating his Opinion about the Poor Elegantly

Romney stands by comments in video but says they were ‘not elegantly stated’
COSTA MESA, Calif. — Mitt Romney held a hastily arranged press conference here to engage in damage control hours after a video surfaced that showed him at a private May fundraiser describing 47 percent of the country as “dependent upon the government.”
The GOP nominee for president defended his remarks — first printed in the liberal magazine Mother Jones — while conceding they were not “elegantly stated.”

I am sure I can state it more clearly and effectively than I did in a setting like that,” he told reporters assembled quickly at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts before attending a fundraiser.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81312.html#ixzz26tTr01Ob

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81312.html#ixzz26tTfgz3r

Mitt Romney total Contempt for the Poor Video Leak September 2012

video

 

Phoney Smile

Romney adviser Bay Buchanan on Tuesday declared that the release of leaked campaign videos showing the Republican presidential nominee writing off 47 percent of the country as "dependant" and "entitled" was just a "bump in the road."

In an edited video published by Mother Jones on Monday, Mitt Romney had told wealthy donors that almost half of the country "pay no income tax" and were going to vote for President Barack Obama.

"My job is is not to worry about those people," Romney asserted. "I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

On Tuesday, Buchanan had the unenviable task of trying to do damage control while being grilled by CNN host Soledad O'Brien.

"As a candidate, he can't worry about those he can't get," Buchanan explained, adding that the media should be focusing on "one out of every six Americans are in poverty today and that 47 million are taking food stamps in order to take care of themselves and their families."

"Listen, I fully understand the strategy is to turn to the 'real problem' and talk about something else, but I'm going to keep you on this," O'Brien said. "He says 47 percent of Americans pay no tax. That's not correct. ... Forty-seven percent of those people who pay no income tax -- look at that chart there -- 61 percent of those folks, they're paying payroll tax, and money is coming out of their paycheck. It's being described as the myth of sort of the deadbeat nation."

Mitt Romney NEW Leaked Video: Barack Obama Voters LAZY & POOR Freeloaders # 47%



1. "Corporations are people, my friend… of course they are. Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to the people. Where do you think it goes? Whose pockets? Whose pockets? People's pockets. Human beings, my friend." —Mitt Romney to a heckler at the Iowa State Fair who suggested that taxes should be raised on corporations as part of balancing the budget (August 2011)

2. "I like being able to fire people who provide services to me." –Mitt Romney, using an unfortunate choice of words while advocating for consumer choice in health insurance plans (January 2012)

3. "I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there." —Mitt Romney (January 2012)

4. "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. ... My job is is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives." -Mitt Romney, in leaked comments from a fundraiser in May 2012

5. "It's hard to know just how well [the 2012 London Olympics] will turn out. There are a few things that were disconcerting. The stories about the private security firm not having enough people, the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials, that obviously is not something which is encouraging." –Mitt Romney, insulting Britain on the eve of the Olympics by suggesting the country is not ready, NBC News interview, July 25, 2012

6. "He [Obama] says we need more firemen, more policemen, more teachers. Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did. It's time for us to cut back on government and help the American people." —Mitt Romney at a campaign event in Council Bluffs, Iowa, June 8, 2012

7. "I'll take a lot of credit for the fact that this industry's come back." –Mitt Romney, –Mitt Romney, on the American auto industry, despite having written a New York Times op-ed in 2008 titled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt," in which he said if GM, Ford and Chrysler got a government bailout "you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye"

8. "No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised." —Mitt Romney, speaking about his Michigan roots during a rally in Commerce, Michigan, Aug. 24, 2012

9. "I should tell my story. I'm also unemployed." —Mitt Romney, speaking in 2011 to unemployed people in Florida. Romney's net worth is over $200 million.

10. "I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America that's the America millions of Americans believe in. That's the America I love." –Mitt Romney (January 2012)

Bonus Quotes:

"My dad, as you probably know, was the governor of Michigan and was the head of a car company. But he was born in Mexico... and had he been born of, uh, Mexican parents, I'd have a better shot at winning this. But he was unfortunately born to Americans living in Mexico. He lived there for a number of years. I mean, I say that jokingly, but it would be helpful to be Latino." -Mitt Romney, in leaked comments from a fundraiser in May 2012

"The embassy in Cairo put out a statement after their grounds had been breached. ... An apology for America’s values is never the right course. ... The statement that came from the administration was — was a statement which is akin to apology and I think was a — a severe miscalculation." –Mitt Romney, attempting to politicize the killings of American diplomats in Libya by falsely accusing President Obama of apologizing for America and getting the facts of the situation backwards (Sept. 12, 2012)

"Is $100,000 middle income?" -George Stephanopoulos
"No, middle income is $200,000 to $250,000 and less." -Mitt Romney, ABC's "Good Morning America," Sept. 14, 2012

"When you give a speech you don't go through a laundry list, you talk about the things that you think are important." –Mitt Romney, when asked about failing to mention the troops in his nomination speech at the Republican National Convention, Fox News interview (Sept. 7, 2012)
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/

http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/mittromney/a/Mitt-Romney-Quotes.htm



 

Mitt Romney and Obamacare Afordable National Health Plan

-- A Romney aide told the National Review that he does not support the Affordable Care Act's ban on discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions, despite suggesting on "Meet the Press" that he supported that part of the law.
Instead, the aide added, there has been no change in the Republican nominee's position. "[I]n a competitive environment, the marketplace will make available plans that include coverage for what there is demand for," the aide said. "He was not proposing a federal mandate to require insurance plans to offer those particular features."
Original Story Below:
WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney said on Sunday that if he were elected president he would keep portions of President Barack Obama's signature health care law, a seemingly abrupt turn on an early campaign promise.
"Well, I'm not getting rid of all of health care reform," the former Massachusetts governor said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press." "Of course there are a number of things that I like in health care reform that I'm going to put in place. One is to make sure that those with pre-existing conditions can get coverage. Two is to assure that the marketplace allows for individuals to have policies that cover their family up to whatever age they might like. I also want individuals to be able to buy insurance, health insurance, on their own as opposed to only being able to get it on a tax advantage basis through their company."
The comments mark the latest chapter in Romney's tortured history with respect to federal health care reform. The Republican presidential nominee once envisioned the health care plan he passed in Massachusetts as a model for the nation. As a candidate for president in 2012, however, he has pledged to repeal the entirety of Obama's Affordable Care Act, a law very much based on Romney's Mass-Care model.
In his "Meet the Press" interview, Romney again pledged repeal of the law. But the suggestion that he would pass some of its individual provisions later in his term complicates that pledge.
"I say we're going to replace Obamacare," Romney said. "And I'm replacing it with my own plan. And even in Massachusetts when I was governor, our plan there deals with pre-existing conditions and with young people."
While that may be true, the Romney campaign has said in the past his federal plan wouldn't include such a provision.
Earlier this election, his campaign laid out a policy that ensures that a person who is covered by an employer and switches jobs could not be discriminated against because of a pre-existing condition during that job switch. The Obama campaign argued that that's already law. But the bigger question left unanswered was: what happens to those people just entering the labor market with a pre-existing condition? Would Romney pass laws prohibiting discrimination by insurance companies against them?
In a statement to The Huffington Post in June, Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul confirmed that -- contra what Romney said Sunday -- he would not pass such a law, but rather push reforms to help alleviate the problem at the state level:

Fixing our health care system means making sure that every American, regardless of their health care needs, can find quality, affordable coverage. That is why Governor Romney supports reforms to protect those with pre-existing conditions from being denied access to a health plan while they have continuous coverage. And for those purchasing insurance for the first time, he supports reforms that empower states to make high risk pools more accessible by using cost reducing methods like risk adjustment and reinsurance. Beginning on his first day in office, Governor Romney is committed to working with Congress to enact polices like these that protect Americans’ access to the care they need.

Mitt Romney Republican Candidate Do Not Cry Baby

Do not cry baby You Do not have to vote for me.