The 47% quote from Mitt Romney

Sep. 17, 2012: A surreptitiously recorded video
of Romney – from a fundraiser in May –
shows Romney telling wealthy donors
that “47%” of the country that doesn’t pay
income taxes, that is dependent on
government and that believes “they are
victims” will vote for Obama no matter
what.” He adds in the video, "My job is not
to worry about those people. I'll never
convince them they should take personal
responsibility and care for their lives.”
Romney later holds a press conference,
where he said his comments were “not
elegantly stated” but also stood behind
his remarks. He later calls his remarks
“completely wrong

The Constitution begins with WE not ME

I am an independent voter in Virginia, where, besides Ohio, the candidates seem to think that the Old Dominion is the place where this election may be decided.  It went for Obama 4 years ago and right now is leaning a bit Romney.  I'd like to give you the perspective of an independent voter in Virginia.

The first thing to tell you is that I am voting for Obama.  But, I can't tell anyone here.  I am 49 years old, living in a rural western county that will likely go about 70% Romney.   The people here are simply not reasonable when it comes to Obama.  Most people here ...VOCAL people ...HATE the president so much that if Obama said he's for puppies, kittens, cute babies, and S'Mores, those things would quickly ...at least until November 6th, fall out of favor here.  I mean the hate for him is deep and strong and is devoid of any fact other than ...well...he's OBAMA (said with a  thick and gruff country accent) 

I understand that Northern Virginia and Hurricane Superstorm Sandy devastated Eastern Virginia are big for Obama.  He'll need it.  In my opinion, the future of our country needs it.

And Obama and his policies need my vote as well.  Florida between Gore and Bush came down to 500 somewhat disputed votes.  If Virginia comes down to one, here is why Obama gets mine.

Those die hard I hate Obama worse than anything ever and the country will be ruined if he gets four more years Republicans ignore simple fact.   He inherited an economy in ruins.  He turned around the shrinking GDP which was spiraling at the rate of  nearly 9% .  Unemployment continues to fall steadily and 4.5 million jobs have been created,  as the often used in Obama advertising bar graphs clearly show.  Bush economics and big bank greed crashed the stock market ..it hit bottom and has since recovered and even doubled thanks to Obama.  The housing market has stablized, and as Time magazine said,
 "Mitt Romney can promise 12 million more jobs in the coming four years because Obama’s policies have already put us on track to produce them, courtesy of a revival of manufacturing, a rise in exports and a new wave of research and innovation"

The audacity of Romney campaigning sometimes standing in front of the economic successes of the Obama administration while blasting the stimulus plan that we all should hope any president, regardless of party,  would have followed through with. (It's roots were in the end of the Bush years) And lets not ignore the unmitigated gall of Paul Ryan and his criticism of the stimulus while seeking funds from it for his own district.

So, a little momentum from the first debate charisma of the "salesman" Romney has blinded many from looking at the facts.  The facts, if they were being considered by reasonable human beings, would point to the re-election of the man who stands a great chance of the hope and promise fulfilled.

The only reasonable arguments against him would be
1-"I'm in the one percent and I too don't care about 47% of the population because all I care about is ME and MY MONEY and I GET A TAX DEDUCTION FROM MY MILLIONS (plus some great tips on how to harbor your haul in the Caymans from the would be President himself),"
 or, what I fear is most common in rural Virginia which is going to go HUGE for Romney on Tuesday,
2-"I just hate Obama."

Trust me ...on election night ..after all the GOOD he has done, and  considering the conservatives all out opposition to his every breath in the past 4 years, and especially considering the absolute tool the Republican party nominated (not even the GOP wanted him and tried numerous alternative before settling for Romney), Barack Hussein Obama, if he loses, must look in the mirror and say "Golly...they really hated me."   

Because those are the only explanations in the face of fact.

Said Time : "The new right has broken with conservatism’s past—and our country’s most constructive traditions—by adopting a new and radical individualism that largely ignores our country’s gift for community.

Gone in a Romney administration would be the push for women's equality, gay equality, and simple respect for the middle class of our country being treated as constitutional equals to the rich who get richer in every Republican administration and will do so doubly under Romney.

While those things will be gone, one thing will become restored.  The right of the insurance companies in all their greed to deny those with pre-existing conditions the insurance they need to avoid catastrophic financial ruin because of being denied coverage.  Romney will champion those insurance companies inhumane greed.   On "day 1"  he has vowed.

I should tell you at this point that 100% of my family have pre-existing conditions.  And if there is anyone who themselves or who have a family member surviving breast cancer or a heart condition or injuries from an automobile accident as in my family, or perhaps suffer from diabetes, depression, or a chronic pain problem....if you even KNOW anyone with any of these pre-existing conditions, you are blatantly slapping yourself that afflicted person in the face with total disrespect if you vote for Romney, because you are voting for the man who vows to give insurance companies the right to disallow basic insurance to those individuals on his  first day in office. 

Slapping them in the face !

Slapping ME and my family in our faces !

Damn right this is a big choice.

As Time stated: "Obama is battling to defend the long consensus that has guided American government successfully since the Progressive Era. It is based on the view that ours is a country whose Constitution begins with the word we, not me, and that the private success we honor depends on a government that serves a common good and remembers the most vulnerable among us. The task of our moment is to revive that long consensus and renew it. Of the two major candidates, only Barack Obama accepts this mission as his own."

And so, while disgusted with the lack of progress in election reform and the pure nastiness of this election on both sides, this independent voter can only see one clear path for our next 4 years to set the table for generations to come.  It's a single vote in the critical swing state of Virginia ...for four more years of Hope for President Obama.

Seriously Mitt?

You are just dead wrong.

There are independents out there who could easily be persuaded to vote Republican instead of Democrat where most of them landed as Obama voters 4 years ago. There was a chance.

But 47% aren't in your wheelhouse.   You hate welfare so much ..and forget to tell your living room coffee club that you are caught by IPhone soliciting from ...forgot to tell them that  2/3 of those people gladly pay Soc Security and Medicare Tax.  And of those who are left, we have people making 20K or less a year, the military, and the elderly.  But you snub them ? Are you THAT out of touch with your half truth informed hatred of entitlements ?  Did you forget that your DAD took welfare ?

I said this once about the Dems ...that they could have beaten Bush but they ran a tool in John Kerry, and lost the chance.  The Republicans would have much to stand on ...Obama, the argument could be made, did not really earn a 2nd term, but Romney is a tool ..plain and simple.  Out of touch, out of synch, under pressure from the far right.   Romney is a unbelievable gaff machine and a study of irony.  Criticizing the 16 trillion US debt and attributing it all to Obama while ignoring the fact that Republican Presidents have run up half of that debt.  Pledging that the solution to that big ol hairy debt is to ADD to it at first ....with trillions going mostly so we can trickle it down from the rich,

Seriously Romney ?  Seriously ?

Paul Ryan Satanic Music Playlist

Paul Ryan at the Republican convention saying his playlist "starts at AC DC and ends in Led Zepplin."   Those are the two most satanic rock groups I can think of ...Zep dedicating Stairway to heaven to "sweet satan," and ACDC who love to get the "back street rhythm," "shoot to thrill," or sing the praises of "Hells Bells."

Something does not add up.

Obama Did NOT say "You didn't build that"

Sick of the distortions and pants on fire half truths ? Obama just did NOT say what the republicans in Tampa are saying he said.

Here is the full context, from Obama's speech in Roanoke, Va.:

"There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me -- because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t -- look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.

"If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

"The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.

"So we say to ourselves, ever since the founding of this country, you know what, there are some things we do better together. That’s how we funded the G.I. Bill. That’s how we created the middle class. That’s how we built the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam. That’s how we invented the Internet. That’s how we sent a man to the moon. We rise or fall together as one nation and as one people, and that’s the reason I’m running for President -- because I still believe in that idea. You’re not on your own, we’re in this together.

FACTCHECK.COM SAYS ROMNEY CANNOT DO IT

The non partisan site Factcheck says today that the tax objectives that SOUND wonderful if they were only possible ..in fact are not.
Said the website:
Tax experts — including one who supports Romney’s plan — say the Republican presidential candidate’s promise to cut individual income tax rates without either favoring the wealthy or losing revenue isn’t mathematically possible.
That’s the conclusion of the Tax Policy Center in a report the Romney campaign attacked as “biased” (although the campaign previously praised the TPC as “objective,” when it issued a report critical of a rival’s tax plan).
And it’s also the conclusion of an expert from the pro-business Tax Foundation, who states that the Tax Policy Center analysis “correctly identified the Romney plan as a tax cut, at least in static terms, that accrues mainly to high-income earners.”

Don't believe everything you hear folks...unless it comes from factcheck.com 

TOP TEN MITT ROMNEY AND PAUL RYAN MOVIES

Honey I Shrunk the Middle Class

Million Dollar Cry Baby

To Kill A Mockingbird With An Assault Weapon Protected by the Second Amendment

Citizen Bain

Despicable Mitt

The Horseshit Whisperer

 I Know What You Hid Last Summer

The Lyin King

The Sound of Money

Dumb and Dumber

Paul Ryan calls Obama a Divider not a Uniter

Wasn't that left over from the Bush administration ?   Having said that, Ryan and his fellow republicans on the hill got together in a room 3 1/2 years ago and decided they would support NOTHING Obama was for.  If Obama was for the word Monday to start with the letter M they would still oppose it, no matter what. That was the blood pact.  Then, can you imagine them saying "just wait til we tell everyone that it's all HIS fault the country is divided."

While on the subject of Ryan, the Daily Show pointed out that while Ryan is known for being the one who hates the deficit more than anyone, it is worth mentioning that things like Bush Tax cuts, other tax cuts, two wars, TARP, and other things that ran up the debt were ALL THINGS PAUL RYAN VOTED FOR !!!!

HYPOCRITE

Is an entitlement always socialism

The most conservative of Americans talk about government handouts, entitlements, if you will, and call these things "socialism," yet few conservatives ever lump in things like the "untouchable" subsidies to big business. Subsidies that supposedly aren't "socialism" yet are government handouts.

10 Political & Economic Imponderables

What a friend of mine on the far right (and truly, NOT a common sense guy) posted on his facebook.   He hates Obama.  Some points are valid ...perhaps number 2 is a tad bit racist ...but even though I think there are arguments to be made against each of these statements, I will give him his due on them on face value.  This blog is, after all, about common sense. 

 

10 Political and Economic Imponderables that should Drive Every American Crazy

1. Only in America could politicians talk about the greed of the rich, at a $40,000-a-plate campaign fund raising event.



2. Only in America could people claim that the government still discriminates against black Americans when we have a black President, a black Attorney General and a federal workforce that is roughly 18% black when entire the black population is only 12%.



3. Only in America could we have had the two people most responsible for our tax code — Timothy Geithner, the head of the Treasury Department and Charles Rangel who once ran the Ways and Means Committee — turn out to be tax cheats who are in favor of higher taxes.



4. Only in America can we have terrorists kill people in the name of Allah and have the media primarily react by fretting that Muslims might be upset by the backlash.



5. Only in America would we make people who, want to legally become American citizens, wait for years in their home countries and pay tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege, while we discuss letting anyone who sneaks into the country illegally just become American citizens.



6. Only in America could the people who believe in balancing the budget and sticking by the country’s Constitution be thought of as “extremists.”



7. Only in America could you need to present a driver’s license to cash a check or buy alcohol, but not to vote.



8. Only in America could people demand the government investigate whether oil companies are gouging the public - because the price of gas went up - when the return on equity invested in a major U.S. oil company (Marathon Oil) is less than half of what a company that manufactures sports shoes and apparel overseas (Nike) makes.



9. Only in America could the government collect more tax dollars from the people than any nation in recorded history, still spend a trillion dollars more than it has per year for total spending ($7 million PER MINUTE), and complain that it doesn’t have nearly enough money.



10. Only in America could the rich people - who pay 86% of all income taxes - be accused of not paying their “fair share” by people who don’t pay any income taxes at all.

With fond ...or not so fond memories of Aqua's hit Barbie Girl , her comes Swiss Miss to perform Romney Girl, which details his swiss bank accounts and when he wins "he is rich, you are poor."


"I'm a Romney girl, i na Romney world"

Gotye Parody Obama I Used To Know

Whatever side of the aisle you are on, OBAMA that I USED TO KNOW is one of the best done and most creative youtube vids I have ever seen.   Stay with it to the end for the real message.




"You can get addicted to a certain kind of message -- like this is change we can believe in, yes we can. "But college ended had to pay my rent. At least you're the first gay president. But the change I got is that I moved in with my mother." And the chorus: "Because you won and then you cut me off. Now your speeches never soar as high as unemployment. You took ObamaCare so far, but you left me like a dog strapped on Romney's car."

Obama Should be lauded as a Conservative Legend ..but there is just NO common sense in politics.

IMAGINE if a Republican President

• pulled us out of the worst recession since the great depression, and possibly saved us from a modern depression.
• Produced 2 straight years of private sector growth
• created over 4 million jobs
• saved the American auto industry
• killed Osama Bin Laden
• aided in killing Ghadafi without an American Casualty
• Finally ended the War In Iraq (Mission Accomplished ?)
• Championed the lowest taxes in decades

He'd be considered a conservative legend but instead, he is called a socialist, anti American foreign born  Muslim who hates capitalism and small business (even made a speech in Roanoke about how MUCH he hates and disprespects small business by having the audacity to claim the tax payer road built the business owner drove to work on might just possibly have had a hand in his success)

These politics of misinformation and half truths must stop.  The Common Sense Party !

2012 Election is Gilligans Island

The Professor or Thurston Howell ?

Trailer Trash Red State Moment

Hot girls from a distance ?   Giving trailer Trash a new meaning ...just wondering how many teeth between the two of them ?  A dozen maybe ?

Now in case you didn't realize it ...these girls ..and the creator of the sign they stand in front of ...VOTE. Shouldn't you ?

Political Cartoon of the Day - whose entitlements ?

Here we have the duhhhhh Redneck Tea Party believer in all he believes having a little truth with his morning cup of coffee. When lower my taxes and cut entitlements becomes ...oh no not those entitlements.

Would He Support Obama Care ?

Two Lies of Culture

"Our culture has accepted two huge lies: The first is that if you disagree with someone's lifestyle, you must fear them or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don't have to compromise convictions to be compassionate." - Rick Warren

Republican Conservatives Not What It Used To Be

On NPR Weekend Edition Sunday we heard from a man who was a lifelong conservative, who is disgusted with the way the ideals of Reagan are being put forth.  He says his party and beliefs have become very different than before.  Not FOR anything but only against things.  Too much hate. The base of his GOP in Kansas is simply exiling moderates.  "I think the lines have been drawn in the sand. Bridges have been burned. Everybody is all-in this election," says Jim Denning, one of the conservative candidates for the state's senate.  Tim Owens is Dennings political opponent and has been fending off Koch Brothers funded attacks saying he stands with Obama. 
"The conservative element today is a far cry from what the conservative was when I was growing up," he says. "It's angry. It's hateful.""Being a conservative Republican, I'm not crazy, I'm not vicious," he says. "I'm a very reasonable human being."

This culture of hatred has got to stop.

Monologue from The Newsroom on HBO

The character of Will McAvoy is played by Jeff Daniels ...who plays a SUPER smart and devoted to justice news anchor on cable. Think a better Keith Olberman.  (Is he KO?)  I knew that Aaron Sorkin is a genuis from The West Wing and The American President.  This is still the amazing writing of Sorkin but with good acting and drama around it.   A great cast including Olivia Munn. Here is the monologue that sold me and should sell everyone who votes on any awards show.    In the opening scene of the entire series, McAvoy is in a roundtable and is WHY is America The greatest country in the world...and he replies ....

Will McAvoy:
 It's not the greatest country in the world, professor, that's my answer.
Moderator: You're saying...
Will McAvoy: Yes.
Moderator: Let's talk about...
Will McAvoy: Fine. Sharon, the NEA is a loser. Yeah, it accounts for a penny out of our paychecks, but he gets to hit you with it anytime he wants. It doesn't cost money, it costs votes. It costs airtime and column inches. You know why people don't like liberals? Because they lose. If liberals are so fuckin' smart, how come they lose so GODDAM ALWAYS! And with a straight face, you're going to tell students that America's so starspangled awesome that we're the only ones in the world who have freedom? Canada has freedom, Japan has freedom, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Australia, Belgium has freedom. Two hundred seven sovereign states in the world, like 180 of them have freedom. And you... sorority girl. Yeah, just in case you accidentally wander into a voting booth one day, there are some things you should know, and one of them is that there is absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we're the greatest country in the world. We're seventh in literacy, twenty-seventh in math, twenty-second in science, forty-ninth in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, third in median household income, number four in labor force, and number four in exports. We lead the world in only three categories: number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and defense spending, where we spend more than the next twenty-six countries combined, twenty-five of whom are allies. None of this is the fault of a 20-year-old college student, but you, nonetheless, are without a doubt, a member of the WORST-period-GENERATION-period-EVER-period, so when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about? Yosemite? We sure used to be. We stood up for what was right! We fought for moral reasons, we passed and struck down laws for moral reasons. We waged wars on poverty, not poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were, and we never beat our chest. We built great big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and cultivated the world's greatest artists and the world's greatest economy. We reached for the stars, and we acted like men. We aspired to intelligence; we didn't belittle it; it didn't make us feel inferior. We didn't identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election, and we didn't scare so easy. And we were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed. By great men, men who were revered. The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one-America is not the greatest country in the world anymore.
[to moderator]
Will McAvoy: Enough?