Tag: Elections

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Republicans Accept $18 Million Government Bailout for Convention Expenses

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GOPconventionYou know how Republicans are always telling the rest of us that we need to get by without federal assistance, to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, to pay our own way, and to just generally be self-sufficient? Well when it comes to throwing parties, forget all that!

Republicans are helping themselves to $18 million of the public dole for party planning for their 2012 national convention in Tampa. Let the good times roll!

Let me beat FOX News to the false equivalence punch by acknowledging that Democrats will likely accept funding for their convention in Charlotte. But there’s a difference.

Organizers of the 2012 Republican National Convention have received a $18 million grant from the Federal Elections Commission for planning and preparation…

The money, which comes from the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, had been anticipated and is intended for payroll for staff members, travel, office supplies and other convention-related expenses.

While charges of hypocrisy might apply to the GOP for accepting the grant, that case certainly can’t be made concerning Republican deficit handling. The first use of quite a few of those many, many benjamins is paying off debt racked up in the past few years, when fundraising didn’t keep pace with spending.

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Some of Romney’s Best Friends are Corporations

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Corporations are people, my friend.

Mitt Romeny, pretty boy rich guy Mormon Republican presidential candidate, explaining to an Iowa State Fair goer why corporate profits shouldn’t be taxed to help pay for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Romney was the recent recipient of $1 million from a donor who incorporated in order to avoid being personally identified, made the gift, then unincorporated. Such moves are legal under the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.

Rick Scott in Perpetual Election Mode

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Are there things we don’t want you to know? Yes. There are things we don’t want to broadcast to our opponents.

— Brian J. Burgess, Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s communications director, commenting for a newspaper profile. Burgess did not identify which of the governor’s constituents they consider “opponents,” and does not seem to realize the election is over. Scott, a newcomer to Florida, is widely rumored to be planning a national run.

Romney on Rick Scott’s Endorsement: ‘I’ll Keep in Touch’

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Anybody running for president would like every endorsement that they can get. We have spoken from time to time, I’ll continue to keep in touch, and I have no idea what his plans are in that regard.

— Mitt Romney, Republican candidate for president, commenting in Florida on Gov. Rick Scott’s endorsement. Scott, who squeaked to a slim victory with tea party support, has approval ratings in the 20s and Romney’s answer was taken within Florida to mean he’s not seeking Scott’s help.

Just Like Us

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$190 – $250 million

Mitt and Ann Romney’s assets, according to the Washington Post. A mere $5 million is kept in their Bank of America checking account (probably just to avoid the $6 monthly fee), while much of the rest was in blind trusts. Separate trusts for their children total an additional $100 million. Romney, who announced his candidacy on June 2, has spent $9 million of his own money so far on his second run for president.

Rick Scott is Least Popular Governor in America

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56 – 37

Sink and Scott, respectively. Results if the Florida election pitting Tea Partier Rick Scott against Democrat Alex Sink for governor were held today. When it counted in November, 48.9% of Floridians voted for Scott, 47.7% for Sink, setting a record for close elections. But like the Tea Party as a whole, Scott’s popularity might have peaked in the fall of 2010. Only 32% approve of his job performance, the same percentage of Americans who continue to approve of the Tea Party.