Tag: Campaign 2012

Wrong As Usual, Mitt – Federal Spending Growth Is Radically Slower under Obama Than under Reagan, the Bushes or Clinton

Jon Ponder

chart-obama-radically-less-spending

Last week in Iowa, Mitt Romney criticized Pres. Obama for his purported runaway spending. “A prairie fire of debt is sweeping across Iowa and our nation,” Romney said, “and every day we fail to act we feed that fire with our own lack of resolve. This is not a Democratic or Republican problem. That fire could care less if you have a donkey or an elephant in your front lawn, it’s still coming for your house.”

But Romney’s basic assertion — that Obama administration economic policies have caused spending to grow faster than the policies of the last few presidents — is patently false:

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Obama is the First Billion-Dollar Politician

Buck Banks

$1 billion+

Amount President Obama has received in donations during his political career to become the first political $1 billion man, according to The Daily Caller. “His total take reached $1,017,892,305 in April, some nine years after he began his 2004 race for the Senate. Obama is widely expected to raise at least $300 million more before November.”

Mick Jagger Warns That Romney Isn’t So Nice After All

Trish

Among the many highlights of Mick Jagger’s recent performance on Saturday Night Live was this song, “Tea Party,” written by Jagger and accompanied by Jeff Beck. Our favorite part: “You know Mr. Romney, he’s a mensch,* he plays it straight and fair. Yeah, Mr. Romney, he’s a hard-working man…But don’t ever let him cut your hair.”

* “Mensch” is a Yiddish word that has come to mean a good person, a nice guy, or someone of reliable honor and character.

A War of Words

Trish

70%

Proportion of political ads produced in 2012 that have been negative, according to a study by Wesleyan University cited by the Los Angeles Times. At this point in 2008, 9% of ads were classified as negative. Most of the increase is attributed to super PACs and the Supreme Court’s decision to allow anonymous corporate money in races in the Citizens United ruling.

Fox News ‘Breitbarts’ President’s Purported ‘Enemies List’ – Falsely Asserts ‘Smear’ of Romney Finance Co-Chair

Jon Ponder

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Andrew Breitbart may be dead but his practice of creating fake political scandals lives on at Fox News. The latest case involves Frank Vandersloot, the Romney campaign’s co-chair, who is apparently no relation to Joran Van Der Sloot, the accused murderer in the Natalie Holloway case. Rachel Maddow reported the facts beneath the fakery in the latest case last night. Here’s Media Matters’ take:

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GOP Bullying Flashback: In 1967, George W. Bush’s Fraternity Admitted to Using Red-Hot Clothes Hangers to Brand Its Pledges

Jon Ponder

Republicans have reacted to the Washington Post’s story last week that revealed that when Mitt Romney was a senior in prep school he bullied boys he perceived to be gay by claiming that the incident was just a youthful indiscretion and, besides, stories of physical abuse by boys do not always predict the character of the men they will grow up to be.

On the other hand, sometimes the stories are determinative. Take for example, this scandal from 1967 — two years after the Romney bullying episode took place — that arose after students at Yale complained that a fraternity was torturing its pledges. The frat’s president was George W. Bush, who, 40 years later, single-handedly turned the United States into a torture state:

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Mitt Romney Woos Evangelicals As Mormons Baptize Deceased Evangelicals

Helen Radkey

Liberty University founder Jerry Falwell
Liberty University founder Jerry Falwell
Last Saturday, Mitt Romney wooed evangelical Christians at Liberty University, founded by the late evangelical leader, Jerry Falwell. Romney was invited to deliver the commencement address at the Christian university—where it is routinely taught that Mormonism is a cult — by Jerry Falwell, Jr., chancellor of Liberty, and the son of its late founder. During his speech, Romney made the case that he is theologically and politically bound to the same belief and value system as Christian conservatives.

Jerry Falwell, Jr. explained his reason for extending an invitation to Romney this year was because of Romney’s success in his business career. Ignoring theological differences with Mitt Romney’s Mormonism, Falwell said his father often preached that “Christians should vote for the candidate whose positions on the political issues are most closely aligned with their own…”

Apparently, Jerry Falwell, Jr. does not fully understand the full-fledged doctrinal hostility the Mormon religion has toward all biblically based Christian faiths. With the uttermost secrecy behind the walls of Mormon temples—and without the permission of the closest living next of kin — Mormons are baptizing deceased evangelicals and their deceased family members by proxy.

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What Is With Romney’s Habit of Giggling When He Apologizes for Abusive Behavior?

Jon Ponder

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Watching Mitt Romney giggle as he “apologized” on Fox News for an episode in prep school in which he and a gang of boys chased down a kid who had bleached his hair and cut off his bangs, Rachel Maddow noticed that Romney has a habit of reacting with mirth to stories like this. He also giggled when he was confronted about forcing the family dog to ride in a kennel strapped to the car roof on a 12-hour vacation many years ago.

And here’s a link to the Washington Post front page story about Romney’s bullying episode, in case you missed it.