Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has more in common with the average voter than it may seem, or so he said during a campaign stop in Tampa, Florida Thursday.
After listening to a group of unemployed Floridians discuss the challenges they face in the job market, the presidential hopeful -and multi-millionaire– cheekily divulged, “I am also unemployed.”Romney’s remarks were greeted with laughter from the crowd, and prompted one man to ask the former governor and businessman if he is on the online networking site ‘LinkedIn.’
“Yes actually and I’m networking,” Romney answered. “I have my sights on a particular job that I’m working for.”But not everyone appreciated Romney’s humor.
Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz called the remarks “inappropriate and insensitive to the millions of Americans looking for work,” in a statement.
New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley also issued a statement calling Romney’s comments “completely unacceptable.”
“I am not sure that I can think of anything more out of touch with Granite Staters than ‘chuckling’ at unemployment as Mitt Romney did today in Florida,” Buckley said.
Looks like most of the voters (60% or more) aren’t following GOP candidates on Twitter.
And Newt’s…that is very embarrasing!
Newt Gingrich - how many of his Twitter Followers real people?
The GOP candidate has a staggering 1,326,264 followers, only 8% of whom NewYork company PeekYou say are verifiably human.
What do you think? did he buy his followers?
Mitt Romney Blames Obama For S&P Downgrade, Fails To Blame Republican Prezs Who Got Us There!!
This morning, 2012 GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney expressed his disgust with President Obama.
This time, it was over the downgrade in the United States’ credit rating, from AAA to AA+.
Here’s what Romney said:
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney blamed President Barack Obama Monday morning for Standard & Poor’s decision to downgrade U.S. debt, saying the nation risks losing its sovereignty if it does not take “corrective action.”
“The failure of the president to reignite this economy and get people back to work is one of the reasons we’re seeing such high levels of deficit and why the debt continues to grow at such an alarming rate,” Romney said.
“We need to put more Americans back to work and I’m afraid the president is just out of his depth when it comes to understanding how the private economy works.”
S&P’s decision Friday night to downgrade U.S. debt from AAA to AA+ was, according to Romney, due largely to promises the federal government has made to entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
“A nation just can’t pay this much back,” Romney said.
The former Massachusetts governor took the unusual step of addressing reporters before the first of three campaign events in the Granite State, injecting his voice into the news cycle on the first morning of trading after the downgrade.
Talking a few minutes later with local business and civic leaders, Romney grew animated when arguing that Obama’s policies have “so frightened the private sector” that employers are avoiding the risk of expansion.
“Sorry to get upset like that,” Romney said, but his voice continued to rise. “Only if America’s economy continues to lead the world can we be sure of our freedom long term.”
“There are bad people in the world that would like to subject other people to their control. We have to have a strong and capable economy to protect ourselves,” he said. “We’ve got to get serious about this and take corrective action.”
Here’s the most interesting part: REPUBLICANS INCURRED MOST OF THE DEBT!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_by_U.S._presidential_terms
Take a look at the link above, and then try to tell me that Obama is responsible.
If he is at all, he is LEAST responsible.
Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, and Jon Huntsman completely miss the mark on who S&P blamed for the credit rating downgrade: REPUBLICANS!!!
Guess who they blamed, as the GOP usually does: PRESIDENT OBAMA
MICHELE BACHMANN: “We were warned by all of the credit agencies that a failure to deal with our debt would lead to a downgrade in our credit rating, but instead he submitted a budget that had a $1.5 trillion deficit and then requested a $2.4 trillion blank check. President Obama is destroying the foundations of the U.S. economy one beam at a time. I call on the President to seek the immediate resignation of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and to submit a plan with a list of cuts to balance the budget this year, turn our economy around and put Americans back to work.”
MITT ROMNEY: “Standard & Poor’s rating downgrade is a deeply troubling indicator of our country’s decline under President Obama. His failed policies have led to high unemployment, skyrocketing deficits, and now, the unprecedented loss of our nation’s prized AAA credit rating.”
JON HUNTSMAN: “Out-of-control spending and a lack of leadership in Washington have resulted in President Obama presiding over the first downgrade of the United States credit rating in our history. For far too long we have let reckless government spending go unchecked and the cancerous debt afflicting our nation has spread.”
This even with the written evidence that S&P blamed Republicans, by political party name!!
[…]The political brinksmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America’s governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable than what we previously believed. The statutory debt ceiling and the threat of default have become political bargaining chips in the debate over fiscal policy.
[…]It appears that for now, new revenues have dropped down on the menu of policy options.
[…]The act contains no measures to raise taxes or otherwise enhance revenues, though the committee could recommend them.
[…]Compared with previous projections, our revised base case scenario now assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place. We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act.
I plainly see now that Republicans are completely oblivious to the facts of the downgrade, that they are SOLELY to blame for the downgrade.
The irony astounds me!!

GOP Presidential front runner Mitt Romney gets heckled at the Iowa State Fair earlier today.
“I didn’t come here to listen to the American people, I came here to speak!”
And with three minutes of Romney ignoring each and every question, and not answering them, HE HAS LOST MY VOTE, FOREVER!!!
Fact-Checking Tonight’s GOP Debate in Iowa
ThinkProgress has one of the best coverages of the debate, fact-checking while the debate is going on.
Here’s what they wrote:
10:56: In closing, Herman Cain cites a “poet’s” lyrics that “Life can be a challenge / life can seem impossible.” The poet? Apparently, it was disco singer Donna Summer’s song “The Power of One,” featured in Pokemon: The Movie 2000.
Meanwhile, Tim Pawlenty riffs on Spider-Man, saying “With great blessing comes great responsibility.”
10:55: Huntsman and Cain both would not reinstate President Bush’s No Child Left Behind law.
10:46: Newt Gingrich calls for “going back as Reagan did, to sound money.” As we’ve tried to tell Gingrich before, in fact inflation was considerably higher during the Reagan era than it is today.
10:45: Herman Cain on the charge that companies will not use the money from a tax break he favors for creating jobs: “So what?” In the next sentence, he says, “that’s what I’m about, jobs.”
10:42: Huntsman attacks the “EPA regulatory reign of terror.” In 2010, the Environmental Protection Agency saved the lives of over 160,000 Americans.
10:42: Bachmann says that raising the debt ceiling was a “blank check” for Obama. Politifact rightly rated this claim “false.”
10:39: Romney calls for less spending on anti-poverty programs and unemployment programs. He said that he would not extend unemployment benefits for those currently out of work. 44 percent of the unemployed have been out of work for six months or more.
10:36: Santorum says allowing a raped woman to receive an abortion would “put her through another trauma,” so we should force her to carry her rapist’s child for nine months instead.
10:34: Rep. Paul seems unaware that the 13th Amendment to the Constitution bans slavery.
10:33: “I support civil unions,” Huntsman said. “I believe our nation can do better a job with equality.” Huntsman has one of the most liberal positions when it comes to LGBT equality: he would allow states to legalize marriage, came out in favor of civil unions in 2006, and favors reciprocal beneficiary rights for same-sex couples. His campaign has even reached out to LGBT groups in Utah.
10:31: Romney: Marriage should be decided at the federal level. So much for that 10th amendment. He has the exact opposite argument when it comes to health care reform.
10:29: Crowd booing Byron York for asking Bachmann if she would be submissive to her husband as president. Bachmann says that she interprets “submissive” to mean respect. That’s not what that word means to anyone else in the world.
10:26: Gingrich on loyalty tests for American Muslims, advocates “not just for Muslims, but for everybody!” Says “there is nothing illegitimate about making sure Americans remain loyal to the U.S.”
10:21: Santorum now says Iran is under a “mullahcracy.” Finally stands up for the gays, criticizing Muslim countries that “trample the rights of gays.”
10:15: Santorum defends his foreign policy chops: “Iran is not Iceland!” Bizarrely claims Iran has killed more Americans in Afghanistan than the “Afghanistanis” have.
10:15: Paul calls for ending embargo on Cuba.
10:12: Paul says CIA tells him there’s no evidence Iran is developing a nuclear weapon.
10:10: Huntsman says he “absolutely” consider cyber hacking from China an act of war. Says hacking of private individuals is “beyond the pale.” Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch disagrees.
10:07: Newt continues his war on former Fox News colleagues, is now taking moderator Bret Baier to task for a “gotcha question” about his views on Libya and where he stands now.
10:06: Mitt Romney has given Afghanistan two years to take over security for its country.
10:07: Fox News chyron flashes — 85 percent of Fox poll respondents say we should withdraw from Afghanistan.
10:04: Pawlenty hits Barack Obama for supporting an Afghanistan withdrawal timetable faster than that recommended by either “General Petraeus” or “General Mullen.” He may have been thinking of Admiral Mike Mullen of the US Navy, Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff. Admittedly Minnesota is landlocked.
10:01: Debate comes back from commercial. No one knows where Bachmann is.
Whew, she’s back.
9:59: What this debate really needs is some Thaddeus McCotter! Don’t want to miss his debate with himself tonight.
9:59: Santorum has one of the worst records on LGBT issues — he opposes civil unions, marriage equality, or any other kind of legal recognition of same-sex couples. He would also reinstate Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
9:57 Santorum scores with first gay-bashing of the night, taking a hit at Bachmann for saying that marriage should be left to the states. He generally attacks federalist themes from his fellow candidates “there are things the states can’t do,” cites Lincoln as an authority and appears to compare state-initiated marriage equality and Mitt Romney’s universal health care plan to slavery. “Does that mean that the state has the right to impose polygamy? To pass sterilization? No! We are a country based on morals.”
9:56: Romney likes to say that his health reform law was tailored for Massachusetts. But soon after he signed it into law, Romney was arguing that it should serve as a model for the nation.
9:55: “I will not rest until we have a filibuster-proof Senate,” Bachmann said, demonstrating that her focus is directed at politics, not policy.
9:53: Romney said he would issue a waiver invalidating ObamaCare on his first day in office. A president doesn’t have that authority.
9:52: Pawlenty is right. Obama did pattern parts of his health care law after the reform Romney enacted in 2006. Here is a table of the similarities.
9:51: Chris Wallace gives Pawlenty another chance to attack Romney after he passed up the opportunity in the first debate to hammer on “Obamneycare“. Pawlenty: “How could I give up this opportunity?”
9:49: All candidates just raised their hands to say they would walk away from a deal that was 10 to 1 cuts to revenue increases.
9:47: Santorum says his opposition to new revenue is due to “the facts.” The fact is that revenue is at a 60 year low.
9:45: Looks like Pawlenty learned his mistake from the last debate when he failed to defend ‘ObamneyCare.’ He is really going hard after Bachmann tonight.
9:45: Santorum raises his hand to complain that he “hasn’t had a chance to say a whole lot.” Finally gets to answer a question.
9:40: Pawlenty says his tax on cigarettes, or “health impact fee,” to balance his budget does not mean you have to raise taxes to balance a budget. He says he regrets his cigarette fee.
9:40: “I don’t believe in raising taxes,” Romney said. Yet in a 2004 presentation to Standard & Poor’s, his administration touted tax hikes as a reason that Massachusetts should get its credit rating raised to AA.
9:39: None of the Republican candidates, or any of the questioners, seems interested in the fact that the quantity of unauthorized border crossing has plummeted over the past several years.
9:36: Romney claims to exalt physics PhDs…but doesn’t believe the American Physical Society‘s dire warning on global warming.
9:35: Herman Cain says that a combination of “high fences and wide open doors” is the principle the country was founded on. In fact, immigration into the United States was completely unlimited until the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. Immigration from Latin America was unrestricted until the second half of the 20th century.
9:35: Asked about whether he is serious about building a moat, filling it with alligators, and surrounding it with an electric fence as a means of securing the border, Herman Cain says “America’s got to learn how to take a joke.”
9:33: Chris Wallace wonders if Jon Huntsman Jr. is “running for president in the wrong party” because he supported a cap and trade system in Utah. In that case, Romney, Pawlenty, and Gingrich are also running in the wrong party.
9:33: Teaser: Cain knows what the three problems in Afghanistan are, and he will tell you what they are. Maybe later.
9:33: Cain chides Wallace, tells him he never said that Americans have the right to ban mosques in their community. Except he did — to Wallace.
9:32: Wallace responds, if you think questions about your record are “Mickey Mouse,” I’m sorry. Gingrich replies, “there’s too much attention paid by the press corps to campaign minutia.”
9:31: Former Fox contributor Newt Gingrich goes to war against former Fox colleague Chris Wallace: “I took seriously Brett’s injunction to put away the talking points. So I wish you would put away the gotcha questions.”
9:30: Memo to Pawlenty: Here’s Obama’s plan on Medicare and Medicaid reform. You can deliver that dinner to our offices at the Center for American Progress.
9:20 Bachmann says she “fought cap and trade” by introducing legislation to reverse lightbulb efficiency laws, which has nothing to do with a cap-and-trade system, other than both originally being Republican ideas.
9:19: Watch Pawlenty and Bachmann spar on health care.
9:18: Pawlenty fires back — notes that Bachmann has a record of false statements (see ie, pants on fire awards). Pawlenty on Bachmann: “She says she has a titanium spine; it’s not her spine that we’re worried about but her record.”
9:18: Bachmann responds to Pawlenty: You supported Cap & Trade and the individual mandate. “You sound a lot like Barack Obama.”
9:17: Pawlenty wants people to look at his record in Minnesota. Like one-third of his budget relying on the 2009 Recovery Act?
9:16: Santorum says that the U.S. economy has grown at faster than five percent a year for ten years. It hasn’t.
9:15: VOTER PANDER ALERT — Pawlenty says he’ll offer a prize to anyone who can find President Obama’s plan on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid reform. If they find his plan, “I’ll come to your house and cook you dinner.” Or mow your lawn. He told Romney that he would be limited to one acre of lawn mowing. Romney’s response? “That’s just fine.”
9:14 Tim Pawlenty completely dodges the point that five percent annual growth for a decade has never happened before, not even close, not even during the era of the great Ronald Reagan.
9:13: Huntsman told us to look at his record as governor to see how he would act as president. But during his tenure, the state’s uninsured rate remained steady at 11 percent, even though he had promised to halve that number in half.
9:12 Newt Gingrich rings in with first mention of Ronald Reagan at debate. Says Reagan’s 1981 tax cut led to seven years of growth. Unsurprisingly, he failed to mention Reagan’s 1982 tax increase.
9:10: In case you were wondering, CNN’s Piers Morgan is countering Fox’s debate programming with an exclusive hour-long interview with actor Jeff Bridges.
9:09: Ron Paul: “If we have to cut, we can’t be so determined that we can’t cut one nickel out of the militarism around the world.”
9:08: Ron Paul getting fired up about not dumping debt on the people and explaining his plan to fix the U.S. economy. Baier asks if he can get his plan through a divided Congress. Paul says yes because he’d have to since we’re likely to still have a divided Congress.
9:07: Romney says he wouldn’t raise the debt ceiling without first rewriting the Constitution to make it impossible to fund Social Security, Medicare and the military at the same time.
9:07: Just a casual observation: Bachmann is wearing her grey announcement outfit.
9:06: Romney says “capitalism is about people, not just capital” a funny observation for someone who earlier today said that corporations are people.
9:05: Baier already asking Romney about the “Mittness” protection program to question his leadership and why he was not vocal on the debt ceiling debate. Romney responds: “I’m not going to eat Barack Obama’s dog food.”
9:04: Romney, contra Bachmann, declines to say how long it will take him to turn the economy around.
9:02: Admonition from host Bret Baier: “Put aside the talking points. … Level with the American people, speak from the heart.” Bachmann, the first responder, opens with a talking point: “Barack Obama, you will be a one-term president!”
9:01: Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) appeared to receive the loudest applause from the audience during the introductions.
Source: thinkprogress.org
Here's What The GOP Candidates Should Have Been Asked
As they campaign around Iowa ahead of the Ames Straw Poll on Saturday, GOP presidential candidates are revealing who they are fighting for. And it’s not most Americans.
At the Iowa State Fair today, angry Iowans confronted Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor responded by arguing, “Corporations are people, my friend.” And he also said the U.S. should consider a higher retirement age for Medicare and Social Security, a proposal that would have a regressive impact on lower-income Americans.
After a busy summer of backyard speeches and bus tours, the thing that is most clear about the Republican Party and today’s GOP field is that they are beholden to an increasingly small and extreme Tea Party fringe – a fringe that would rather end Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security than make the wealthy, Big Oil, and hedge fund billionaires pay their fair share.
Tonight, eight Republican candidates will meet in Iowa for the second presidential debate. After they have campaigned on business-friendly policies that would protect the rich and further damage our economy, here are questions about the economy we think each candidate should have to address at tonight’s Iowa Republican presidential debate:
Mitt Romney
As governor, you touted the new revenues from fees you increased and the tax loopholes you closed in Massachusetts as a reason Standard & Poor’s should increase the state’s credit rating. Now, after the U.S.’s credit rating has been lowered by S&P, the rating agency has cited Republican intransigence on raising new revenues as a reason. Would you consider any new net revenues as part of a deficit reduction bill in order to increase the nation’s credit rating?
Michele Bachmann
Previously, you have suggested that the U.S. should raise taxes on the poor, but the IRS reported last week that in 2009, nearly 1,500 millionaires paid no income taxes at all. Given our nation’s serious debt and deficit problems, is it fair for millionaires to not pay any taxes while the middle class is forced to bear more of the burden?
Ron Paul
Unlike most of your rivals, you have called for cuts to defense spending. The first round of the debt deal passed last week calls for $350 billion in cuts to defense spending. Do you think additional savings are required from the Pentagon?
Tim Pawlenty
You opposed the debt deal congressional Republicans negotiated with President Obama, noting you supported the Cut, Cap, and Balance plan. That plan would’ve required that Balanced Budget Amendment pass both the House and the Senate before the debt ceiling could be raised — a position that Senator John McCain called “not fair to the American people.” So would you have chosen a default on our obligations short of achieving the demands outlined in the Cut, Cap, and Balance plan?
Rick Santorum
In your plan to boost the economy, you call for increasing domestic energy production, and have previously called for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (although it would do little for the economy). Yet investing $150 billion in clean energy would create 1.7 million jobs and do more to improve domestic energy production. Why are you not promoting clean energy to improve the U.S. economy?
Jon Huntsman
You said it is “criminal” for corporations to use loopholes in order to avoid paying their tax burden, including GE not paying a dime on $5.1 billion in profits last year. And while you support loopholes, you say you would oppose tax reform that increased the tax burden. But as corporations make record profits, does the government have a role in reining in corporate power? If so, how?
Newt Gingrich
You have adamantly insisted that tax increases should not be a part of any debt ceiling deal, but Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), who is a member of the super committee that will make recommendations for the debt ceiling deal, has indicated that he would not be opposed to tax reform to generate revenue in the deal. Do you agree with Portman’s opinion?
Herman Cain
In the plan you’ve laid out for improving the economy if you were president, the first step is to lower the corporate tax rate. But corporations, unlike most Americans, are making more than ever and paying less by taking advantage of tax loopholes. Despite record profits that grew 81 percent in 2010 at the largest 500 corporations, the share of profits those corporations actually paid in taxes are near all-time historic lows because of credits, write-offs and other special loopholes. Instead of simply lowering the corporate tax rate, should these tax breaks be eliminated, saving America $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years?
“With Romney’s historic statement of ‘Corporate Personhood’, he has become this generation’s Civil Rights Champion - A Dr. Martin Luther, Inc. if you will.”
~ Stephen Colbert
*Shudder*
Source: leftish
Mitt Romney is delusional.
Full GOP Debate In Ames, Iowa - August 11th 2001
EVEN IF YOU’RE NOT INTO POLITICS YOU SHOULD HEAR WHAT OUR POLITICIANS ARE TALKING ABOUT ON BOTH SIDES. I THINK OUR TWO PARTY SYSTEM LEAVES A LOT TO BE DESIRED BUT IT’S ALL WE HAVE RIGHT NOW.
Politifact has determined that Mitt Romney lied during the debate and capitalism in America is not doomed.
Everyone with a brain responds with, “No shit, Sherlock.”
(via randomactsofchaos)
Source: caraobrien
Politifact's Ratings on Candidates Telling The Truth In Last Night's GOP Debate
PolitFact staffers are watching the Republican debate from Iowa. We’ll be updating this story throughout the night. When the candidates say something we’ve checked before, we’ll post links to the previous Truth-O-Meter items. Mitt Romney complained about the growth of government. “Back in the days of John F. Kennedy, the federal government took up, along with the state and local governments, 27 percent of the economy. Today, government consumes 37 percent of the economy. We’re inches away from no longer having a free economy,” he said. He made the same “inches away” claim in his announcement speech. We rated that Pants on Fire. Tim Pawlenty attacked Rep. Michele Bachmann’s record of accomplishments in Congress. “Look, she has done wonderful things in her life, absolutely wonderful things, but it is an undisputable fact that in congress her record of accomplishment and results is nonexistent,” he said. We fact-checked a very similar claim when Pawlenty said her record was “offering failed amendments.” We rated that Mostly True. Bachmann replied by saying that Pawlenty had supported cap and trade when he was Minnesota governor. Indeed, we found that was true when we put his cap and trade position to the Flip-O-Meter. She also accused him of saying that “the era of small government is over.” We rated that Mostly True. Newt Gingrich likened his campaign’s problems to Ronald Reagan’s. PolitiFact Georgia checked that a few weeks ago and rated it Mostly False. Pawlenty attacked Romney saying that “ObamaCare” was patterned after “RomneyCare.” We rated that Mostly Truewhen it was said by Howard Dean and wepublished a quiz to see if you can tell the difference. Gingrich was asked about his position on military action against Libya. He claimed that was a “gotcha” question. We explored whether he flip-flopped and rated it Full Flop. Bachmann said raising the debt ceiling gave Obama a “blank check.” PolitiFact Virginia checked that when Eric Cantor said it about a debt ceiling plan from Harry Reid and found itFalse. You can follow us on Twitter at @politifact. While you’re at it, “like” us at our Facebook page and visit our home page, PolitiFact.com.
Truth meters on the 2012 GOP Presidential candidates.
This goes to show that ALL POLITICIANS LIE!!!
Source: politifact.com
Witty caption here.
Michele Bachmann: Mitt, dear, I see our presidency hopes floating away.
Mitt Romney: (thinking silently) No, dear, that’s your brains. And, mine went with it!
Source: MSN






