“It was my early birthday present for someone to be critical of me as a mother, and that was really a defining moment, and I loved it.” – Ann Romney
Today is Ann Romney’s birthday and she’s been celebrating since the mama gaffe heard ’round the world.
The quote above came at Mitt Romney’s closed-door fundraiser, which offered an opportunity to tease what his plans are if he can beat Obama in November.
Romney also went into greater detail than he has on the campaign trail in describing how he would maintain the progressive structure in the tax code after implementing his 20 percent across-the-board tax cut.
Democrats have argued that Romney’s tax proposals would disproportionately help the wealthy, but on Sunday, Romney identified specific loopholes and deductions for the wealthy that he would eliminate in order to both finance his tax cut, and ensure that the nation’s top earners face the same tax burden they do today.
“I’m going to probably eliminate for high income people the second home mortgage deduction,” Romney said, adding that he would also likely eliminate deductions for state income and property taxes as well.
“By virtue of doing that, we’ll get the same tax revenue, but we’ll have lower rates,” Romney explained. …
Democrats are complaining specifics were in short supply. It’s silly, because as people found out with Barack Obama, what people say in the campaign season often recedes when the politician is faced with real job realities.
Romney has managed to get his campaign down to two priorities, “jobs and kids.”
“I’m asked — how do you boil it down, how do you encapsulate this into a campaign message: Two things, jobs and kids,” Romney said, explaining that restarting job growth and preserving a better future for the next generation were the campaign’s guiding principles.
Can Pres. Obama boil his campaign down to two specifics?
Romney also praised Fox News Channel, calling them the network of “true believers,” while anchors in the wider TV universe “tend to be liberal.” But the campaign clearly understands that online he has an even playing field: “Where we are ahead or even is on twitter and on the Internet.”
The big news, as I read what occurred, came on immigration. Considering Romney’s primary message, his statements offer his first stab at rebranding on a critical issue for Republicans.
Romney said the GOP must offer its own policies to woo Hispanics, including a “Republican DREAM Act,” referring to the legislative proposal favored by Democrats that would offer illegal immigrants a limited path to citizenship, to give Hispanic voters a real choice between parties.
Etch a Sketch moment or not, it’s a pivot Republicans have to make, so it’s no surprise. It’s not like conservatives are going to vote for Barack Obama, but the fever swamp base of the GOP won’t like it.
But right now, both campaigns are very busy in the battle of the broads, each side making his case who is better for women. On civil liberties issues, Democrats win easily, but that’s not Romney specific. Republicans simply don’t respect women’s individual freedoms, though as we saw with Michele Bachmann they have no problem pandering on them. Romney’s campaign said he wouldn’t touch the Ledbetter Act, but would he have signed it if he was president? We’ll never know. Democrats want to paint Mitt Romney as anti-women on economics, but they’ll need some actual evidence before anyone will believe that one.
Chris Hayes tried to begin that work, finding a comment from Romney about welfare and working.
“I wanted to increase the work requirement,” Romney said. “I said, for instance, that even if you have a child two years of age, you need to go to work. And people said, ‘Well that’s heartless,’ and I said ‘No, no, I’m willing to spend more giving daycare to allow those parents to go back to work. It’ll cost the state more providing that daycare, but I want the individuals to have the dignity of work.’”
Bill Clinton can feel candidate Romney’s pain.
http://wwaspdiaries.com/2012/04/14/mitt-romney-a-voice-of-freedom-and-hope-not-for-americas-so-called-troubled-youth/
I will not vote for Mitt Romney. Ann Romney says she wants to work with “troubled teens”. THe above link shows exactly what the Romney’s and their team have done so far. -
“Mitt Romney is linked to the troubled teen industry in more ways than perhaps any other candidate running for office. Outside of directly owning some of the most notoriously abusive programs he has also employed a litany of financiers who have made their living off of what can only be described as the antithesis of Mitt’s political slogan; enslavement, restriction, and hopelessness.”
“Bain Capital spent an additional $290 million in 2006 to acquire Aspen Education Group, a network of private, for-profit adolescent treatment facilities. [3] Aspen Education Group is largely considered one of the top players in the adolescent behavioral health field. Their network of programs include behavior modification facilities, residential treatment centers, wilderness therapy programs, therapeutic boarding schools, and long-term residential weight loss centers for children and young adults. Their target clients are middle to upper class American families who are looking for substantial changes from their children and are willing to spend anywhere from a few thousand to tens of thousands monthly to achieve the desired results.”
and there is much much more!
Mr. and Mrs. Romney stay the F(*&^% away from my children!!!
The worst thing that could have happened for Obama was to have Santorum quit so early. If the economy falters it gives Romney seven long months to pound away at his record. Romney’s already begun moving away from the extreme right. Inattentive American voters could just give it to him, for better or worse.
“Romney’s already begun moving away from the extreme right. ”
Only if the Obama campaign let’s him.
I think Ann Romney might start to lose her charm the more she gloats. The message I am getting is that she really cares about struggling upper middle class folks. Gosh they may have to give up the tax credits they get for their second homes.
Her husband aprroves of the Ryan budget! Surely the Dems can tease out all the ways it hurts women, youth and the elderly and jobs.
I think Mitt is starting to look a little strange around his eyes, they seem to be receding in his head and his smile seems more and more strained. It might be exhaustion or it might be that even he is losing track of who he is.
I think Obama has the ability to glide while disembling more more easily than Mitt. He is more of a natural shapeshifter.
There are many Democrats who agree with Romney here regarding welfare recipients being required to go to work.
Progressive Democrats certainly don’t agree with this idea. However, progressives are only a part, and certainly not the majority, of the Democratic party.
Good for Ann Romney! Some idiot Democrats picked a stupid fight with her, and she stepped-up and kicked their collective asses.
She deserves a victory lap for a job well-done. Happy birthday, girl!
Obama is extremely likely to lose. The odds that the economic house of cards will hold together through the fall seem awfully thin to me, and as long as Dems keep apologizing for the truth, who will notice that much difference between the two?
Based on what, other than voter prejudice? These days, I don’t see any difference worth mentioning on this issue. Obama has continued and expanded the abuses of the Bush years, and Congress hasn’t done a thing about them. It hasn’t even had the decency to wring its hands and pretend to be concerned.
If there’s one single issue that makes it impossible for me to support Democrats generally, and Obama in particular, it’s this one: There is no difference here. Both parties support policies that are completely undemocratic.
I believe there is one major difference between the two parties:
The Democratic Party believes that people fuel the economy. How else can it work?
The Republican Party believes that the economy fuels people. Putting the cart before the horse.
IMO, unchecked Capitalism, and a monetary system that is fueled by exponential debt and gambling should be a core concern if there is any real hope at evolving (mentally or otherwise). This economic vortex has no political affiliation…it has no vision.