_Mitt Romney is cut from the same cloth
as Bush and Obama. Notice where Obama & Romney fall on "The Political Compass" ("You" on the chart is me, not you :). If Romney were to be elected president, he
would undoubtedly maintain the destructive status quo and add to it in his own "special" way. Their records prove Romney and Obama cannot be trusted.
This video compares, side-by-side, the words and political stances of Romney and Obama. Includes topics like universal health care; gun rights; energy; NDAA; the Patriot Act; Iran; sanctions; economic stimulus; bank and auto bailouts; civil rights; TARP; the Federal Reserve; Ben Bernanke; campaign donations; and, more. The results are clear: Just as Obama and Bush are two sides of the same coin, so is Obama and Romney. In fact, the two-party system is a joke. There is but one big-government dragon with two heads biting at each other over relatively superficial policy differences.
*Update* - 05.02.12
Many believe the Santorum and Gingrich candidacies were a sham - merely part of a larger GOP strategy to siphon votes from Ron Paul thereby increasing the likelihood that Romney will be the GOP nominee. Their premature departure from contention (particularly Santorum) lend credibility to that theory. A brokered convention would likely have happened if the Santorum and Gingrich campaigns had not ended, and the GOP would do just about anything to avoid that. So, like the good little puppets they are, Santorum and Gingrich fell in line. Due to the extraordinary successes of the Paul campaign's delegate strategy, Tampa may still be an open convention with Dr. Paul's name in nomination. A lot can happen between now and Tampa; it isn't done yet.
I have left the information on Santorum and Gingrich for posterity; also, because a lot of work went into it.
Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney is a "politician" in the worst sense of the word. As his past has demonstrated, he will do and say just about anything in order to get elected. The positions he has taken during this campaign season have been carefully calculated to help him win both the Republican nomination and the general election.
That is why so many call Mitt Romney a "flip-flopper." Romney will take just about any political position if he thinks that it will help him. Mitt Romney's wife, Ann Romney, once made the following statement about her husband: “He can argue any side of a question. And sometimes you think he’s really believing his argument, but he’s not."
Here's a recently unearthed video, from Romney's 2002 campaign for Governor of Massachusetts, exposing more of Mitt's patented flip-floppery. 2012 Presidential candidate Romney has attacked his Republican opponents for trying to get federal money for pet projects, yet this is precisely what Romney has done. In the video, Mitt boasts of getting over 10 million dollars from the federal government for the Salt Lake City Olympic games. Romney goes on to say that he wants to bring that kind of "creativity" to everything he will do as Governor. Remember, the issue is not about a Governor trying to get money from the federal government for his state; it's about Romney's flip-flopping hypocrisy.
Bottom line: Romney cannot be trusted, and that alone should be enough to dismiss his candidacy. Even his own GOP party doesn't want him; their support is tepid at best.
Mitt Romney is trying to claim that he is looking out for the American people, but those claims are simply not true. Here are some reasons why:
- Romney is being investigated for two felonies:
Felony # 1 - Romney Under Investigation for a Felony, Could Disqualify Presidential Hopeful
Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel opened an investigation into the “Subs-for-Votes” scandal. While wrapping up his Wisconsin tour the Romney Campaign bought $500 worth of Cousin’s subs to encourage the crowd to hit the polls and vote for Romney. Unfortunately for Romney, there are a few things that you can’t do on election day in Wisconsin, and Rep. Paul Ryan who was arm-in-arm with with Romney throughout the ordeal neglected to tell the presidential candidate that the distribution of goods on election day is illegal.
Felony # 2 - GOP Threw 2012 Election to Obama in 2009, Multi-billion dollar ponzi scheme involving Romney and Son
So to review, we have Mitt Romney coughing up $10 million to help start a firm that hired three brokers who sold bogus CDs for Stanford Financial and made some decent money on the deal, too. Not only that, but Spencer Zwick the lead fundraiser for Romney’s campaign is a principal in the Solamere Capital firm along with these Stanford brokers. Spencer Zwick does business as SJZ, LLC, and has been paid over $2 million in fees by the Romney campaign.
The criminal fraud not only of Madoff and Stanford, but of the major banks and Wall Street firms has so overwhelmed the economy of this country that voters will be hard pressed to give the office to one so deeply connected to these evils.
- Mitt Romney’s proposed military spending plan calls for $2.1 trillion. Romney’s military budget alone dwarfs ObamaCare. Romney’s willingness to dramatically increase military spending will be far more than $2.1 trillion. Reports CNN: Mitt Romney is campaigning on a platform that emphasizes less spending, smaller deficits and renewed fiscal responsibility.
But in one budget area, Romney is running the opposite direction. The former Massachusetts governor wants to increase defense spending by leaps and bounds. By one estimate, additional spending would exceed $2 trillion over the next decade…
Romney’s plan calls for linking the Pentagon’s base budget to Gross Domestic Product…
With the Pentagon’s base budget — which does not include war costs… The additional spending really piles up in future years.
Romney’s willingness to spend far more than our national deficit on just military alone does not bode well for anyone wanting to save this country from imminent bankruptcy.
Americans who now reject Obama also do not want to return to George W. Bush. Romney’s military budget alone spends more than Obama or Bush.
- In a recent republican debate, Romney said he would have signed the unconstitutional NDAA. Romney's record shows he does NOT have, as he puts it, "sufficient character to not abuse the power of the presidency." Besides, anyone signing or claiming they'd sign such legislation is not fit to be President of the United States.
- Romney has stated that "the Patriot Act is a useful tool." Romney also supports "enhanced interrogation techniques." So, basically Romney is saying that in the interest of keeping you alive, the government can take away most, if not all, of your rights, freedoms, and liberties. Sounds a lot like prison to me.
- 06/05/12 - Romney pushed for individual mandate in Massachusetts health care law, emails show. Mitt Romney has distanced himself from the health care reform bill he signed as governor of Massachusetts amid criticism that the law bears more than a passing resemblance to Obamacare, which he's repeatedly pledged to repeal if elected in November. But a series of emails obtained by the Wall Street Journal reveals Romney was actively engaged in negotiating the specifics of the 2006 Massachusetts bill, and that he and his top aides championed a provision identical to one in President Barack Obama's law requiring individuals to have or buy health insurance.
Obamacare was one of the worst pieces of legislation ever passed by the U.S. Congress. Romneycare was what Obamacare was based on. In fact, a recent MSNBC article brought to light some new information about the relationship between Romneycare and Obamacare.
Newly obtained White House records provide fresh details on how senior Obama administration officials used Mitt Romney’s landmark health-care law in Massachusetts as a model for the new federal law, including recruiting some of Romney’s own health care advisers and experts to help craft Obamacare.
Mitt Romney continues to defend Romneycare, but the reality is that it really is a total nightmare for Massachusetts:
• Everyone must buy health insurance or face tax penalties equal to 50% of cost of standard policy.
• Since the bill became law, the state’s total direct health-care spending has increased by a remarkable 52 percent.
• Medicaid spending has gone from less than $6 billion per year to more the $9 billion.
• Many consumers have seen double-digit percentage increases in their premiums.
• Businesses with 11 or more workers that do not offer insurance must pay a fee of $295 per employee.
All of that certainly sounds a whole lot like Obamacare. A debate between Romney and Obama over mandated healthcare would be a very short and funny joke.
- Mitt Romney’s economic plan as president:
Adds $250 billion to the national debt over the next decade, increasing debt to GDP to 86%.
- Republicans are pounding Barack Obama on the Solyndra fiasco, but while Mitt Romney was governor, Massachusetts also picked some winners and losers with energy subsidies. And, like Obama, some of the companies Romney's State invested in came out on the losing end. If the federal government shouldn't be betting on one company rather than the other, then neither should the state of Massachusetts. Where do the similarities between Obama and Romney end??
- Mitt Romney's record shows he is NOT a defender of the 2nd Amendment. As usual, he has flip-flopped on this issue. As Governor of Mass., he had a solid record of pursuing gun control measures. He stated that his views did not line up with the NRA. When he was running for governor in Massachusetts, he made the following statement:
"We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts - I support them...I believe they help protect us and provide for our safety."
However, after initiating his Presidential campaign in 2007, Governor Romney joined the NRA with a lifetime membership. He asserted in a taped speech that he supported 2nd Amendment rights for all legal purposes, including the common defense. Romney will say anything to get elected. He cannot be trusted.
- Romney is very hawkish on foreign policy. More accurately: he's a "chickenhawk" who avoided the draft through "deferments" during the Vietnam War - happy to send you and your children to die in unjustifiable wars designed to make the rich even richer, but he made sure he never went and would never send his children to go. Aside from the moral implications of his behavior, we cannot afford endless wars, and Romney will surely continue the same Bush/Obama destructive foreign policy.
- During his time as governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney significantly raised taxes. According to a CBS News article, Romney's efforts raised the tax bill on businesses by $300 million. The same article also notes that Romney substantially jacked up "fees and fines" on Massachusetts taxpayers to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. Peter Nicholas, the chairman of Boston Science Corporation, says that "tax rates on many corporations almost doubled because of legislation supported by Romney."
- Government spending in Massachusetts increased significantly under Mitt Romney. An advocate of smaller government he most definitely is not.
- Mitt Romney had a horrible record of creating jobs while governor of Massachusetts. Boston Herald business reporter Bret Arends writes, "according to the U.S. Labor Department, the state ranked 47th in the entire country in jobs growth. Fourth from last. The only ones that did worse? Ohio, Michigan and Louisiana. In other words, two rustbelt states and another that lost its biggest city to a hurricane. "
- Mitt Romney was a very enthusiastic supporter of the Wall Street bailouts. When the time comes for more Wall Street bailouts it seems almost certain that Romney will bail them out again.
- According to the Huffington Post, Mitt Romney has raised more money from lobbyists than all of the other Republican candidates combined.
- Mitt Romney’s administration destroyed emails, purchased hard drives, and otherwise obliterated all digital records of his time as governor of Massachusetts. This happened as Romney was leaving the state to campaign for president (the first time), and observers immediately speculated that the systematic destruction was politically motivated to hide embarrassing data. What the hell was this guy trying to hide??
- Mitt Romney is a big time Wall Street insider. It is estimated that Romney has a personal fortune of approximately a quarter of a billion dollars, and Wall Street money is being absolutely showered on his campaign. Mitt Romney is getting far more money from the "too big to fail" Wall Street banks (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup) than all of the other Republican candidates combined. It is quite obvious that the "establishment" is in love with Mitt Romney.
- During his time at Bain Capital, Romney made millions upon millions of dollars practicing what many consider to be "vulture capitalism" - buying up companies and tearing them down for profit, putting a lot of people out of work and destroying a lot of lives. This controversial documentary claims to accurately chronicle some of those pursuits. It's said that vulture capitalism is a necessary part of business, because it "cleanses" the system. That may be true, but one must wonder what type of person it takes to do that job. Is a person capable of that kind of emotional detachment and cold disregard for the American worker what we want in a President?
- In a recent CNN interview, Romney said, "I'm not concerned with the very poor." He went on to say there is a safety net in place for them, and if there are holes that need repairing, he'll take care of it. He said his primary concern is with the middle class. It's nice that Mitt wants to help the middle class, but why does he make a distinction? If he wants to create an environment conducive to job creation, doesn't he think everyone could and should benefit? His comments insinuate that either the very poor are content to stay at the bottom of the safety net, or they are doomed to remain there regardless. Doesn't he understand that there are many hard-working Americans who are a paycheck or two away from being very poor? Doesn't he realize that there are many very poor people who would love nothing more than to work their way out of their circumstances if given the chance? His comments remind me of the $10,000 bet he tried to make with Rick Perry during one of the Republican debates. Romney is clearly out-of-touch with the average American. His rhetoric is ignorant at best and quite insensitive at worst. He just doesn't get it.
For more in-depth information about Mitt Romney, visit The Mitt Romney Report. It covers Romney's record on a range of issues over the years as a Presidential candidate (2007-present), Governor of Massachusetts (Jan. 2003 - Jan. 2007), candidate for U.S. Senate (1994), and businessman.
To enjoy more of Mitt's pristine character, please visit Romney's Skeleton Closet.
Who is Mitt Romney?? Where does he truly stand on the issues? No one really knows, because he flip-flops so often. What we do know is if the American people elect Mitt Romney, they will get someone:
Rick Santorum
Rick Santorum seems to ooze an eagerness to use the power of the State to force his religious values and sense of morality on the rest of us. He has said he doesn't believe in the separation of church and state. There is no doubt that in Santorum's ideal world the U.S. would be a Theocracy based on his religion. In 2008, Santorum gave a speech at Ave Maria University in which he said, "Satan has his sights on the United States of America." He added, "Satan is...using those great vices of pride, vanity and sensuality as the root to attack all of the strong plants that has so deeply rooted in the American tradition." OK, Santorum's religiosity is not the problem. He can believe and say whatever he pleases. The problem is Santorum seems incapable of separating his religious dogma from his politics. He should be a preacher, not a politician. The President must preside over people of all faiths and walks of life; he cannot be selective in that regard, nor can he "save" the rest of us through coercion. Santorum fervently warns of Islamic jihadists, yet he is a Christian Right Wing zealot obsessed with violating our personal lives and privacy. Do you see the hypocrisy in that?
I don't believe I have ever witnessed a candidate who is so against the U.S. Constitution and the freedoms it was drafted to protect. He scoffs at personal liberty and limited government. He says the "pursuit of happiness" is harming America. He does not believe "people should be empowered to do what pleases them the most." He has said the State has the right to "limit individuals' wants and passions." He's against gay rights. He's against women's rights in the following ways: no exceptions for abortion including rape & incest or life of the mother. He wants to dictate to unmarried couples regarding what they can and cannot do in the bedroom. He's against contraception. He would make adultery illegal if he could. He wants to ban pornography and, if elected, promises to “vigorously” enforce laws that “prohibit distribution of hardcore pornography on the Internet, on cable/satellite TV, on hotel/motel TV, in retail shops and through the mail or by common carrier.”
Santorum is a holier-than-thou, judgmental buffoon who has no grasp of American history and believes the Bush policies are worth continuing. To top it all off, he was voted among the most corrupt politicians in 2005 & 2006, and while Senator from Pennsylvania, he demonstrated a penchant for big government hypocrisy which is why he lost re-election. Pennsylvanians were unequivocal in their rejection of Santorum. He lost by 18 points, the biggest loss for a sitting U.S. Senator since 1980.
Santorum presents himself as a good Christian, yet seems perfectly willing to break the 6th commandment, "Thou shalt not kill" by wanting to aggressively pursue a worldwide war on Islam. Santorum was a vocal cheerleader for war against Iraq and voted for the authorization to use force, which left the final decision of whether or not to go to war in the hands of the president. Now, he has Iran in his cross hairs. That's right, like Romney, Santorum is a just another chickenhawk. Attacking Iran without just cause or provocation could lead to retaliation from countries like Russia and China, but what does he care? He won't be fighting.
Obviously Santorum isn't against guns. I mean, how could we wage war on Iran without guns? Oh yeah, he's pro-gun as long as law-abiding American citizens have difficulty acquiring them. Much of Senator Santorum's record shows support for gun control. He stood with senators like Barbara Boxer and Frank Lautenberg to pass massive new federal gun control schemes and regulations. For example, Santorum voted with Barbara Boxer on S Amdt 3230 – the Gun Lock Requirement Amendment. In 1997, he voted for an Omnibus spending bill that included the Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban.
Santorum voted for Patriot Act Re-authorization which extended the authority of the FBI to conduct "roving wiretaps" and access certain business records, and made the remaining 14 provisions of the Patriot Act permanent. He also does not believe it violates privacy rights under the 4th Amendment.
In January 2011, Santorum was asked if he would have signed the 2012 NDAA if he were President. Acknowledging that the legislation granted the President the right to arrest and detain US citizens, Santorum then stated that indeed would have signed the legislation.
Santorum voted to allow states to impose health care mandates that are stricter than proposed new Federal mandates, but not weaker.
Santorum is a big government, "Show-me-the-money" LOBBYIST. Technically, like his pal Gingrich, Santorum did not register as a lobbyist, but he aided corporate and other interests as a consultant. Santorum was rated #1 in Lobbyist Cash for 2006.
Santorum engineered a controversial land deal that robbed the military's top veterans' home of tens of millions of dollars and worsened the deteriorating conditions at the facility. Read more about "How Rick Santorum Ripped Off American Veterans."
Santorum fancies himself the conservative alternative to Romney or whomever for that matter. Not so fast Rick:
- Santorum voted to give millions of taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood. Santorum on Fox News:
"I mean, the bottom line is my position is very clear. I've had a -- a consistent record on this of supporting women's right to have contraception. I've supported funding for it."
So, Santorum is "outraged" when the Government forces Catholics to pay for contraception via the Obamacare mandate, yet he supports the Government forcing Catholics to pay for contraception via their tax dollars. Giving Planned Parenthood funds for the purpose of contraception indirectly funds abortion, because the funds are fungible - money for other purposes (like contraception) simply frees Planned Parenthood's other funds to be used for abortions. This is true for all federal funding in all areas of Government.
Santorum has also:
For all of his boastful rhetoric about consistency on moral values, Santorum will compromise on values he claims to hold so dear. So much for Santorum being the champion of Social Conservatism. As for Fiscal Conservatism, one can only laugh...
- Santorum voted to raise the debt ceiling 5 times! For example, Santorum voted for H J Res 47 – the Debt Limit Increase Resolution – Key Vote.
- Rick Santorum’s economic plan as president:
Adds $4.5 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, increasing debt to GDP to 104%.
- Santorum voted and strongly supported legislation that doubled the size of the Department Of Education, including the introduction of Ted Kennedy’s infamous “No Child Left Behind." Said Rick Santorum at the Arizona GOP debate about his vote for No Child Left Behind:
“It was against the principles I believed in, but, you know, when you’re part of the team, sometimes you take one for the team, for the leader…”
The crowd then began to boo Santorum. He responded:
“You know, politics is a team sport, folks… and sometimes you’ve got to rally together and do something.”
Santorum's "politics is a team sport" mentality is why we have Big Government! This idea that the “team” or party is more important than conservative principles is exactly why the supposedly limited government Republican Party has been just as complicit in the growth of government as the Democrats.
- Santorum supported the largest expansion of the welfare state since the 1960s, the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, which added a $16 TRILLION UNFUNDED LIABILITY to the national debt.
- Santorum largely supports foreign aid, the process by which the U.S. government borrows money from countries like China and uses it to bribe and prop up foreign governments (including China’s), while taxing Americans to pay interest on the loans. For example, Santorum voted to give $25 million in foreign aid to North Korea.
- Santorum voted to pass Sarbanes-Oxley, which imposed dramatic new job-killing accounting regulations on businesses.
- Santorum supported the “Bridge to Nowhere” – twice. Santorum “voted for the 2005 highway bill that included thousands of wasteful earmarks, including the Bridge to Nowhere. In fact, in a separate vote, Santorum had the audacity to vote to continue funding the Bridge to Nowhere rather than send the money to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.” (Club for Growth, 2012 Presidential White Paper #4, Rick Santorum)
- "In the 2003-2004 session of Congress, Santorum sponsored or cosponsored 51 bills to increase spending, and failed to sponsor or co-sponsor even one spending cut proposal.” (Club for Growth, 2012 Presidential White Paper #4, Former Senator Rick Santorum)
- Santorum voted to make Medicare part B premium subsidies a new entitlement.
- Santorum voted against paying off the debt ($5.6 trillion at the time) within 30 years.
- Santorum voted to give $18 billion to the IMF.
- Santorum voted to raid Social Security instead of using surpluses to pay down the debt.
- Santorum sided with big labor unions in opposing a national right-to-work law that would have protected workers from being forced to pay union dues.
- Santorum supported Government-sponsored enterprises like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which inflated the housing bubble.
- Santorum supported the "something-for-nothing" policy most responsible for the housing bubble - the Nehemiah Project.
- Santorum actively supported the junk lending that put minority families underwater and the subsequent bailouts that shielded unscrupulous non- and for-profit lenders, while leaving middle class minorities and the nation’s entire middle class holding the bag. It remains to be seen whether the nation will have Santorum to thank for the coming inflation tax that erodes purchasing power for low- and fixed-income Americans, since taxpayers have yet to see the full bill for these bailouts.
- Santorum voted to confirm President Clinton’s nomination of Alan Greenspan to be Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for a fourth four-year term.
- Santorum voted for taxes in the Internet Access Tax Bill.
- Santorum voted for HR 3448 – Minimum Wage Increase bill which allows punitive damages for injury or illness to be taxed:
This list just scratches the surface of Santorum's career-long "liberal voting record." Voters want REAL change. They want REAL fiscal conservatism. Not Rick Santorum's budget-busting statism. Voters want spending CUT - not INCREASED and shifted to different federal departments based on which party is in power. As Senator Rand Paul said of Santorum to CNN:
“He voted to double the size of the Department of Education… He voted to expand Medicare...He has voted for foreign aid. Those are not conservative principles. Seventy-seven percent of the American people are opposed to foreign aid and Rick Santorum has voted for it every time it’s come down.”
Courtesy of santorumexposed.com, here is an assortment of reasons Pennsylvanians consider Santorum "the biggest loser," and why American voters should not make him the Republican nominee or POTUS (perish the thought!):
- Santorum was improperly spending tax dollars on HIS family. He took $100,000 from a struggling PA public school district to pay for his children’s “cyber” education program. Unfortunately, Rick and his family were living in suburban Virginia then, so they were not entitled to those funds. And, when exposed in the press, Rick wouldn’t pay back the money, so the school district had to go to court to get it back — which cost even MORE money. Pretty hypocritical, since Rick won his first congressional race by attacking the incumbent for living in VA instead of PA.
- Santorum voted against raising the minimum wage 8 times, but he did vote to allow his own pay to be raised by $8000. When he did propose a small minimum wage increase, he excluded 10 million workers who live on tips, and even tried to end overtime pay beyond the 40-hour work week. And, who would have benefitted from that? The owners of big chain restaurants like Outback Steakhouse and big hourly employers like Wal-Mart. No wonder Rick took the Wal-Mart corporate jet to Florida for his fancy political fundraiser with Outback Steakhouse executives. (And oh, by the way, that was the same trip as Rick’s infamous visit to Terry Schiavo’s hospice when other events had been canceled out of “respect” for the Schiavo family).
- Santorum said not only would he raise the retirement age to “at least” 70 — he “would go even farther” if he could. (How about 90, Rick?) Then, he flip-flopped on Social Security and said, "I don't believe we should raise the retirement age..."
- Santorum voted with big Pharma and against seniors getting lower cost prescription drugs. He sided with the big drug companies by voting to increase their profits and keep seniors from buying low-cost prescription drugs from Canada. No wonder the drug lobby gave Santorum committees a half-million dollars.
- Santorum isn't interested in protecting other people's rights to compensation if they are victims of medical malpractice, but that position didn't keep his wife from suing a Virginia chiropractor for a half-million dollars in "pain and suffering." Instead, Rick voted to prevent Americans from getting just compensation for their pain and suffering caused by medical malpractice. And, his wife suing a chiropractor for $500,000 is even more hypocritical since his own legislation capped such damages at half that amount.
Rick calls their own lawsuit a “private family matter,” but doesn’t seem to think everyone else’s family deserves the same rights and respect. In fact, Rick has said that Griswold vs. Connecticut was wrongly decided, that there is no right to privacy and, therefore, the state has the right to regulate even the use of birth control by married couples.
- Santorum thinks that public schools should teach the beliefs he holds. He wants public schools to teach the faith-based “intelligent design” theory as an equal alternative to Darwin’s scientific theory of evolution.
- Santorum voted to cut billions in loans that help middle class students afford college, but he voted to give oil companies an additional $2 billion in new tax breaks.
- Santorum made some convoluted and disturbing comments about homosexuality, incest, bigamy, adultery and man-on-dog sex to the Associated Press during an interview (Even the AP interviewer was stunned). Of course, the preservation of inequality and the restriction of Constitutional freedoms are the through-line of everything this man espouses. I really think he needs to free himself from this psychological cage, not only for his own sake, but for the sake of his future constituents (should he have any). Unedited excerpts of the taped interview were released by the Associated Press, and they are still available online.
And, it goes on and on with Rick Santorum. Please explore the santorumexposed.com site for many more reasons why Santorum should be laughed out of politics altogether.
Here's yet another source for more in-depth information about Santorum's special brand of corrupt, big government hypocrisy.
Santorum's recent surge in the polls:
Various pundits are attributing Rick Santorum's recent surge to the Obama administration's "attack on the Catholic church," because of Obamacare's mandate on contraception (not to mention the GOP's intense desire to prop up the next anti-Romney candidate). Unfortunately, far too many religious people view Santorum as their Knight in shining armor. They fall for his schtick. Santorum uses religion to further his political campaign. I'm not suggesting he's not a "true believer." I have no idea about that. I'm saying he reminds me of a televangelist who preaches the word of God and gets very rich doing it. Also, he's the kind of person who would fight for his religious freedom, but not so much for yours. He's selfish and intolerant. That's his M.O. - if it's his, or for him, then anything goes. If it's for you (and happens to go against his values or beliefs), then forget about it.
I believe the most spiritual candidate is the one who doesn't talk about it so much. Talk is cheap. How do you live your life? What actions do you take? How do you treat others? In my opinion, Dr. Paul has it all over Santorum (and the rest of the candidates) in that department, where it really matters. He has spent the better part of his life helping those in need. Do you remember when Dr. Paul was booed, at the SC Republican debate, for advocating we follow the "Golden Rule" with respect to our foreign policy? Boggles the mind... Here is an interesting video from Tom Woods entitled, "Ron Paul or Rick Santorum: Whom Should Catholics Choose?" Definitely worth a look.
Ron Paul is a devout man. It runs deep, it's precious to him, so he doesn't feel the need to broadcast it every second. He doesn't use his faith to "get ahead." Speaking of that, I'm always tickled when Obama switches to his preacher voice whenever he's talking to a religious African American audience, but I digress. There is no question that Dr. Paul respects the 1st Amendment right of all Americans to worship as they see fit, and he'll defend that right with everything he has. Obama? Santorum? Perhaps not so much.
To sum it up, Rick Santorum is a mixture of corruption, bigotry, arrogance, hypocrisy, fear, paranoia and danger that America doesn’t ever need. He is, of course, entitled to his beliefs, religious or otherwise. That's not the issue. The issue is Santorum wants to use the power of government to force his beliefs on us and control our behavior. A totalitarian like Rick Santorum shouldn't even be allowed to enter the White House as a guest.
**********Rick Santorum has suspended his campaign**********
A Former Santorum Supporter Explains His Switch to Paul
Adrian Murray of Fort Worth Texas, a former Rick Santorum supporter, shares his conversion to Ron Paul. This blog post has gone viral and for good reason–Mr. Murray’s sober insight should be read by anyone concerned about protecting liberty and saving this country. Thanks you Mr. Murray for your intelligent observations and everyone, please share.
Having lost my preferred choice for a presidential candidate on Tuesday, I determined that after a suitable period of mourning and reflection the only viable option was to shake it off and begin the search anew, the presumptive, media-anointed frontrunner not being desirable or acceptable.
Last night, as part of this Quixote-like quest, I ventured into the heretofore unexplored dimension of a Ron Paul rally and was witness to something that can only be described as all parts exhilarating, befuddling, encouraging, depressing, moving, maddening and, ultimately, inspiring. More on all that later.
Over the years I have been to more political rallies, events, forums, roundtables, discussion groups, debates and whatever than I care to remember… Attending a Ron Paul campaign rally is a singularly unique experience. I have never seen anything like it before. Perhaps phenomenal is the word that comes closest in accuracy, not in the ordinary “awesome” sense, but in the other-worldly, spatiotemporal sense…
The purpose of this piece is not to analyze Mr. Paul’s specific policies, although my worldview does not coalesce with his on many fronts…
I have spoken before a lot of groups in the last several years as we have all grappled with the seeming dissolution of our country… My point has been that the greatest issue facing the conservative cause is a demographical one, a lack of diversity that will shortly render the conservative message irrelevant. Where are the youth? I and others have asked. Where are the people of color? Why doesn’t the conservative message resonate?
The answer to where they are could be found last night at the Will Rogers Auditorium. Often at political events there is a sense of excitement, anticipation, a certain buzz in the audience while waiting for the main event. Excitement, anticipation and buzz are weak and inadequate words to describe the pre-rally crowd last night. Energy is even inadequate. What undulated through the thousands who thronged outside before the doors opened last night was a kinetic power, the power of hope, the power of liberation, the power of anger at a system turned upside down, the power of liberation and, yes, the ultimate and emancipating power of freedom. You had to be there to understand it.
Once inside, for the only time in my politically active life, I was transported to a world I had not seen before. There was enough energy in that room to power a skyscraper. Teenagers, college students, whites, Hispanics, African Americans, Asians, middle-aged, elderly, every racial, ethnic, socio-economic, cross cultural ingredient of the American melting pot was there. The auditorium was a cauldron of American citizens who understand and have grasped the true nature of the tyranny which has befallen this nation, a conflagration, if you will, of passion and anger and joy and determination. This is where the fire starts this time. The eruption when Mr. Paul took the stage was deafening…
Foreign policy, while a crucial element of any president’s agenda, has slowly shifted from my center of attention to domestic policy, I having long come to the conclusion that the greatest threat to American freedom comes not from foreign governments, but from our own. Sadly, America has become one of the least free nations on earth. Increasingly, everything in our lives is being regulated by a faceless bureaucracy, to a degree that neither Orwell nor Huxley could have imagined…
What exactly is our national security securing? Certainly not our liberty. We have been sacrificing ever larger chucks of our liberty to the gods of security for decades now and in the interests of securing our liberty have given it all away. Go to an airport if you want to witness the loss of liberty in all its glorious humiliation…
This part of Mr. Paul’s message, if I have interpreted it correctly, is what resonates with me. All the other things pale in contrast to our becoming a nation of slaves.
So what did I come away with last night? It can be captured in one picture. Before Mr. Paul was introduced, part of his family took the stage: his wife, one of his sons, a smattering of cousins, nieces and nephews. That picture tells us all we need to know. They are us. They weren’t pulled from central casting, exquisitely coifed and finely tailored, prepped and ready for the cameras. No. They are a family. They are us.
Where personally do I go now? As I said, I have more internal debates than an outwardly sane person should admit. For over three years now I have been looking for an army – an army to take on the anti-Americans, the Communists, the statists, the outright criminals running our government. An army of citizens fiercely devoted to liberty and the founding principles of America…
The flame of liberty’s torch is no longer just slowly being extinguished. Each day brings new Executive Orders, new laws, new regulations, each more ominous than the last. Corruption in our government and our financial markets is rampant. The disease of dependency is infecting every layer of society. America is dying. We need an army of citizens, motivated and committed, to restore liberty in America, to breathe new life, new vibrancy into a nation on life support…
Which logically only leads to one question:
Is there a doctor in the house?
Which logically only leads to one answer:
Ron Paul 2012
Read Adrian Murray’s entire blog post unedited
Newt Gingrich
Where to begin with this "serial hyprocrite"...
With more than three decades as a public figure, Newt Gingrich is the quintessential political chameleon, shifting his views to reflect whatever is popular with the Washington, D.C. chattering class. Make no mistake, while Newt may talk a solid conservative game, his record is that of a typical Inside-the-Beltway politician who will cut ANY compromise or make ANY deal with anyone for his own political or personal gain. Gingrich is a big time Washington insider who believes in individual health care mandates, who supported the bailouts, who was instrumental in cramming NAFTA down the throats of the American people and who is either soft or wrong on just about every single issue that conservatives care about.
His personal life has a history of being a mess, his finances have a history of being a mess and his campaign was such a mess a few months ago that most observers considered his candidacy to be completely dead. He has a reputation for erratic, inconsistent and unpredictable behavior.
Newt the "historian" wows them on the debate stage at times. He loves riling up the crowd by pseudo-intellectually deflecting, distracting or avoiding giving direct answers and presenting himself as a poor widdle media victim. The man is a disingenuous, pompous, slippery, hypocritical, dangerous megalomaniac. It really boggles the mind that anyone would fall for his act and truly consider voting for someone with such a nightmarish track record.
Some facts about Newt you may have forgotten
Highlights:
- In college, Gingrich began admiring the works of Alvin Toffler, a futurist who believes the American Constitution is outdated. Gingrich has continued to admire and promote Alvin Toffler throughout his career, even putting Toffler's book, The Third Wave, on a book list he recommended for members of the House when he became Speaker.
- Gingrich was Southern Regional Director of the Nelson Rockefeller Presidential campaign in 1968. Rockefeller supported big-government, socialist programs.
- Gingrich avoided the draft during the Vietnam war and was later accused of draft-dodging, which he denies. Fact is, along with Romney and Santorum, Gingrich completes the chickenhawk trifecta. They're all eager to send others off to die in unjustifiable wars, but they would not go themselves. This exchange between Gingrich and Ron Paul at one of the Republican debates says it all.
- In the 1980's Gingrich voted, numerous times, to raise the debt ceiling. Gingrich loves to engage in anti-bureaucrat, anti-tax, conservative rhetoric, but his words never match his record.
- Newt Gingrich’s economic plan as president:
Adds $7 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, increasing debt to GDP to 114%.
- In 1987, Gingrich co-sponsors H.R. 1934, to implement the infamous & unconstitutional "Fairness Doctrine". Gingrich now claims he only wanted the Fairness Doctrine to hinder left-wing networks. Ronald Reagan ultimately vetoed the legislation.
- In 1988, Gingrich wanted Republicans to move away from Reaganism. Gingrich now repeatedly mentions Ronald Reagan positively, to improve his standing among conservatives. Um...yeah, to get the nomination! Here's what Gingrich really thinks of Reagan.
- In 1993, Gingrich preached NAFTA and whipped Republicans into supporting it. Gingrich later said NAFTA was good because it created jobs in Mexico, not the U.S.
- In 1994, Gingrich supported the GATT Treaty, surrendering sovereignty to the U.N.
- Newly sworn in Speaker Gingrich speaks positively of FDR and his socialist New Deal. Gingrich has repeatedly called FDR the greatest President of the 20th century.
- Never a champion of the 2nd Amendment, Gingrich earned a "D" rating from the Gun Owners of America in 1996 for his support of the Lautenberg Gun Ban among other such legislation to curtail 2nd Amendment rights.
- In 1997, a Republican congress fined Gingrich a record $300,000 for ethics violations. Gingrich eventually left the Speakership "under a cloud."
- In 2005, Gingrich calls for the DNA testing of all US citizens.
- In 2008, Gingrich says if he were in office, he would have reluctantly voted for the $700B TARP bailout.
- Not only has Gingrich been a long-standing proponent of a federal health insurance mandate, he clearly and unequivocally called for it as part of the White House health reform initiative in May 2009.
- Gingrich has been married three times. He allegedly committed repeated adultery with younger women during his first two marriages. He allegedly divorced his first wife while she had cancer. Source He allegedly divorced his second wife while she had multiple sclerosis. Source
- After leaving his first wife, Gingrich has been accused of refusing to pay alimony and child support to speed up the divorce process. His wife had to take Newt to court to get money out of him, and her Baptist church needed to take up a collection to get his kids food and prevent the utilities from being cut off. Source I am unaware of Gingrich ever having issued an apology for this behavior.
- Newt, when asked how he could be unfaithful and give a speech on family values: "It doesn't matter what I do," he answered. "People need to hear what I have to say. There's no one else who can say what I can say. It doesn't matter what I live."
Source: John H. Richardson. "Newt Gingrich: The Indispensable Republican." Esquire.com. 8/10/2010.
Newt the "Lying Corporate Lobbyist"
There are few things any current candidate has done more hypocritical than Newt's corporate lobbying work for the mortgage giant Freddie Mac. You see, Newt has publicly attacked Freddie Mac for years, blaming it for the 2008 housing crash. Then we found out that they paid him $1.6 million, as he went around and tried to convince Republicans to vote for Freddie Mac's favorite bills (and against regulations on them). Newt denies he was lobbying -- because his work didn't meet some technical definitions of lobbying -- and claimed, ridiculously, that they paid him to be an "historian." No historian in history has earned $1.6 million.
Newt didn't report to Freddie Mac's director of history (Spoiler alert; no company has one). He reported to Craig Thomas, who was in charge of lobbying for them (and a registered lobbyist himself) and paid Newt $25,000 per month. On January 24, 2012, Newt finally released his contract. Guess what is not described in his services? History. In fact, Newt admits that he only talked to Freddie Mac staff for about one hour per month. At $25,000/ hour, that's a lot of history for a mortgage lender.
And, Freddie Mac is not the only company Newt lobbied for. He had dozens of corporate clients who paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for his "services." He promoted his health care clients to legislators in Georgia or Florida who were considering changes in health care laws. He talked up projects that his clients IBM and HealthTrio were working on, to federal officials. He pushed for changes to Medicare that would enrich other clients of his. And, one client, drug maker Novo Nordisk, described Newt's work this way in their annual report: "Such activities are often referred to as lobbying.”
A handy, dandy timeline:
04/02/1987 - He cosponsored the 1987 Fairness Doctrine
10/22/1991 - He voted for an amendment that would create a National Police Corps.
03/—/1993 - He voted for sending $1.6 Billion in foreign aid to Russia.
11/19/1993 - He voted for the NAFTA Implementation Act.
11/27/1994 - He supported the GATT Treaty giving sovereignty to the U.N.
08/27/1995 - He suggests that drug smuggling should carry a death sentence.
04/25/1996 - He voted for the single largest increase in Federal education spending ($3.5 Billion)
04/10/1995 - He supported Federal tax dollars being spent on abortions.
06/01/1996 - He helped a Democrat switch parties in an attempt to defeat Constitutionalist Ron Paul in the 1996 election.
09/25/1996 - Introduced H.R. 4170, demanding a life-sentence or execution for someone bringing 2 ounces of marijuana across the border.
01/22/1997 - Congress gave him a record-setting $300,000 fine for ethical wrongdoing.
11/29/2006 - He said that free speech should be curtailed in order to fight terrorism. Wants to stop terrorists from using the internet. Called for a "serious debate about the 1st Amendment."
...but wait, there's more!
11/29/2006 - He called for a "Geneva Convention for terrorists" so it would be clear who the Constitution need not apply to.
02/15/2007 - He supported Bush's proposal for mandatory carbon caps.
09/28/2008 - Says if he were in office, he would have reluctantly voted for the $700B TARP bailout.
10/01/2008 - Says in an article that TARP was a "workout, not a bailout."
12/08/2008 - He was paid $300,000 by Freddie Mac to halt Congress from bringing necessary reform.
03/31/2009 - Says we should have Singapore-style drug tests for Americans.
07/30/2010 - Says that Iraq was just step one in defeating the "Axis of Evil."
08/03/2010 - Advocates attacks on Iran & North Korea.
08/16/2010 - Opposes property rights of the mosque owner in NYC.
11/15/2010 - He defended Romney-care
12/05/2010 - He said that a website owner should be considered an enemy combatant, hunted down and executed, for publishing leaked government memos.
01/30/2011 - He lobbied for ethanol subsidies.
01/30/2011 - He suggested that flex-fuel vehicles be mandated for Americans.
02/13/2011 - He criticized Obama for sending less U.S. tax dollars to Egypt.
03/09/2011 - He blames his infidelity to multiple wives on his passion for the country.
03/15/2011 - Says that NAFTA worked because it created jobs in Mexico.
03/19/2011 - He has no regrets about supporting Medicare drug coverage. (Now $7.2T unfunded liability)
03/23/2011 - He completely flip-flopped on Libyan intervention in 16 days.
03/25/2011 - He plans to sign as many as 200 executive orders on his first day as president.
04/25/2011 - He's a paid lobbyist for Federal ethanol subsidies.
05/12/2011 - He was more supportive of individual health-care mandates than Mitt Romney.
06/09/2011 - His own campaign staff resigned en masse.
07/15/2011 - His poorly managed campaign is over $1 Million in debt.
08/01/2011 - He hired a company to create fake Twitter accounts to appear as if he had a following.
10/07/2011 - He said he'd ignore the Supreme Court if need be.
01/---/2012 - He said he'd spend billions of dollars to build a lunar colony, which could eventually become the 51st State, when that money could be used to help people suffering here on earth. Some considered it merely a political ploy to appeal to Florida voters, but either way he brings new meaning to the word luna-tic.
05/02/2012 - Newt Gingrich $4 Million in Debt; Staffers and Creditors Fume
Newt Gingrich doesn't just have skeletons in his closet - he has a whole graveyard. Many of his ideas are scattered and off-the-charts wacky. He has a volatile, unstable, megalomaniacal personality, and his personal and professional choices reveal serious ethical weaknesses. He would be annihilated in the general election. Hopefully, the American people will realize that Newt Gingrich would be an absolute disaster as president.
**********Newt Gingrich has suspended his campaign**********
___________________________________________________________________________________________
This video compares, side-by-side, the words and political stances of Romney and Obama. Includes topics like universal health care; gun rights; energy; NDAA; the Patriot Act; Iran; sanctions; economic stimulus; bank and auto bailouts; civil rights; TARP; the Federal Reserve; Ben Bernanke; campaign donations; and, more. The results are clear: Just as Obama and Bush are two sides of the same coin, so is Obama and Romney. In fact, the two-party system is a joke. There is but one big-government dragon with two heads biting at each other over relatively superficial policy differences.
*Update* - 05.02.12
Many believe the Santorum and Gingrich candidacies were a sham - merely part of a larger GOP strategy to siphon votes from Ron Paul thereby increasing the likelihood that Romney will be the GOP nominee. Their premature departure from contention (particularly Santorum) lend credibility to that theory. A brokered convention would likely have happened if the Santorum and Gingrich campaigns had not ended, and the GOP would do just about anything to avoid that. So, like the good little puppets they are, Santorum and Gingrich fell in line. Due to the extraordinary successes of the Paul campaign's delegate strategy, Tampa may still be an open convention with Dr. Paul's name in nomination. A lot can happen between now and Tampa; it isn't done yet.
I have left the information on Santorum and Gingrich for posterity; also, because a lot of work went into it.
Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney is a "politician" in the worst sense of the word. As his past has demonstrated, he will do and say just about anything in order to get elected. The positions he has taken during this campaign season have been carefully calculated to help him win both the Republican nomination and the general election.
That is why so many call Mitt Romney a "flip-flopper." Romney will take just about any political position if he thinks that it will help him. Mitt Romney's wife, Ann Romney, once made the following statement about her husband: “He can argue any side of a question. And sometimes you think he’s really believing his argument, but he’s not."
Here's a recently unearthed video, from Romney's 2002 campaign for Governor of Massachusetts, exposing more of Mitt's patented flip-floppery. 2012 Presidential candidate Romney has attacked his Republican opponents for trying to get federal money for pet projects, yet this is precisely what Romney has done. In the video, Mitt boasts of getting over 10 million dollars from the federal government for the Salt Lake City Olympic games. Romney goes on to say that he wants to bring that kind of "creativity" to everything he will do as Governor. Remember, the issue is not about a Governor trying to get money from the federal government for his state; it's about Romney's flip-flopping hypocrisy.
Bottom line: Romney cannot be trusted, and that alone should be enough to dismiss his candidacy. Even his own GOP party doesn't want him; their support is tepid at best.
Mitt Romney is trying to claim that he is looking out for the American people, but those claims are simply not true. Here are some reasons why:
- Romney is being investigated for two felonies:
Felony # 1 - Romney Under Investigation for a Felony, Could Disqualify Presidential Hopeful
Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel opened an investigation into the “Subs-for-Votes” scandal. While wrapping up his Wisconsin tour the Romney Campaign bought $500 worth of Cousin’s subs to encourage the crowd to hit the polls and vote for Romney. Unfortunately for Romney, there are a few things that you can’t do on election day in Wisconsin, and Rep. Paul Ryan who was arm-in-arm with with Romney throughout the ordeal neglected to tell the presidential candidate that the distribution of goods on election day is illegal.
Felony # 2 - GOP Threw 2012 Election to Obama in 2009, Multi-billion dollar ponzi scheme involving Romney and Son
So to review, we have Mitt Romney coughing up $10 million to help start a firm that hired three brokers who sold bogus CDs for Stanford Financial and made some decent money on the deal, too. Not only that, but Spencer Zwick the lead fundraiser for Romney’s campaign is a principal in the Solamere Capital firm along with these Stanford brokers. Spencer Zwick does business as SJZ, LLC, and has been paid over $2 million in fees by the Romney campaign.
The criminal fraud not only of Madoff and Stanford, but of the major banks and Wall Street firms has so overwhelmed the economy of this country that voters will be hard pressed to give the office to one so deeply connected to these evils.
- Mitt Romney’s proposed military spending plan calls for $2.1 trillion. Romney’s military budget alone dwarfs ObamaCare. Romney’s willingness to dramatically increase military spending will be far more than $2.1 trillion. Reports CNN: Mitt Romney is campaigning on a platform that emphasizes less spending, smaller deficits and renewed fiscal responsibility.
But in one budget area, Romney is running the opposite direction. The former Massachusetts governor wants to increase defense spending by leaps and bounds. By one estimate, additional spending would exceed $2 trillion over the next decade…
Romney’s plan calls for linking the Pentagon’s base budget to Gross Domestic Product…
With the Pentagon’s base budget — which does not include war costs… The additional spending really piles up in future years.
Romney’s willingness to spend far more than our national deficit on just military alone does not bode well for anyone wanting to save this country from imminent bankruptcy.
Americans who now reject Obama also do not want to return to George W. Bush. Romney’s military budget alone spends more than Obama or Bush.
- In a recent republican debate, Romney said he would have signed the unconstitutional NDAA. Romney's record shows he does NOT have, as he puts it, "sufficient character to not abuse the power of the presidency." Besides, anyone signing or claiming they'd sign such legislation is not fit to be President of the United States.
- Romney has stated that "the Patriot Act is a useful tool." Romney also supports "enhanced interrogation techniques." So, basically Romney is saying that in the interest of keeping you alive, the government can take away most, if not all, of your rights, freedoms, and liberties. Sounds a lot like prison to me.
- 06/05/12 - Romney pushed for individual mandate in Massachusetts health care law, emails show. Mitt Romney has distanced himself from the health care reform bill he signed as governor of Massachusetts amid criticism that the law bears more than a passing resemblance to Obamacare, which he's repeatedly pledged to repeal if elected in November. But a series of emails obtained by the Wall Street Journal reveals Romney was actively engaged in negotiating the specifics of the 2006 Massachusetts bill, and that he and his top aides championed a provision identical to one in President Barack Obama's law requiring individuals to have or buy health insurance.
Obamacare was one of the worst pieces of legislation ever passed by the U.S. Congress. Romneycare was what Obamacare was based on. In fact, a recent MSNBC article brought to light some new information about the relationship between Romneycare and Obamacare.
Newly obtained White House records provide fresh details on how senior Obama administration officials used Mitt Romney’s landmark health-care law in Massachusetts as a model for the new federal law, including recruiting some of Romney’s own health care advisers and experts to help craft Obamacare.
Mitt Romney continues to defend Romneycare, but the reality is that it really is a total nightmare for Massachusetts:
• Everyone must buy health insurance or face tax penalties equal to 50% of cost of standard policy.
• Since the bill became law, the state’s total direct health-care spending has increased by a remarkable 52 percent.
• Medicaid spending has gone from less than $6 billion per year to more the $9 billion.
• Many consumers have seen double-digit percentage increases in their premiums.
• Businesses with 11 or more workers that do not offer insurance must pay a fee of $295 per employee.
All of that certainly sounds a whole lot like Obamacare. A debate between Romney and Obama over mandated healthcare would be a very short and funny joke.
- Mitt Romney’s economic plan as president:
Adds $250 billion to the national debt over the next decade, increasing debt to GDP to 86%.
- Republicans are pounding Barack Obama on the Solyndra fiasco, but while Mitt Romney was governor, Massachusetts also picked some winners and losers with energy subsidies. And, like Obama, some of the companies Romney's State invested in came out on the losing end. If the federal government shouldn't be betting on one company rather than the other, then neither should the state of Massachusetts. Where do the similarities between Obama and Romney end??
- Mitt Romney's record shows he is NOT a defender of the 2nd Amendment. As usual, he has flip-flopped on this issue. As Governor of Mass., he had a solid record of pursuing gun control measures. He stated that his views did not line up with the NRA. When he was running for governor in Massachusetts, he made the following statement:
"We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts - I support them...I believe they help protect us and provide for our safety."
However, after initiating his Presidential campaign in 2007, Governor Romney joined the NRA with a lifetime membership. He asserted in a taped speech that he supported 2nd Amendment rights for all legal purposes, including the common defense. Romney will say anything to get elected. He cannot be trusted.
- Romney is very hawkish on foreign policy. More accurately: he's a "chickenhawk" who avoided the draft through "deferments" during the Vietnam War - happy to send you and your children to die in unjustifiable wars designed to make the rich even richer, but he made sure he never went and would never send his children to go. Aside from the moral implications of his behavior, we cannot afford endless wars, and Romney will surely continue the same Bush/Obama destructive foreign policy.
- During his time as governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney significantly raised taxes. According to a CBS News article, Romney's efforts raised the tax bill on businesses by $300 million. The same article also notes that Romney substantially jacked up "fees and fines" on Massachusetts taxpayers to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. Peter Nicholas, the chairman of Boston Science Corporation, says that "tax rates on many corporations almost doubled because of legislation supported by Romney."
- Government spending in Massachusetts increased significantly under Mitt Romney. An advocate of smaller government he most definitely is not.
- Mitt Romney had a horrible record of creating jobs while governor of Massachusetts. Boston Herald business reporter Bret Arends writes, "according to the U.S. Labor Department, the state ranked 47th in the entire country in jobs growth. Fourth from last. The only ones that did worse? Ohio, Michigan and Louisiana. In other words, two rustbelt states and another that lost its biggest city to a hurricane. "
- Mitt Romney was a very enthusiastic supporter of the Wall Street bailouts. When the time comes for more Wall Street bailouts it seems almost certain that Romney will bail them out again.
- According to the Huffington Post, Mitt Romney has raised more money from lobbyists than all of the other Republican candidates combined.
- Mitt Romney’s administration destroyed emails, purchased hard drives, and otherwise obliterated all digital records of his time as governor of Massachusetts. This happened as Romney was leaving the state to campaign for president (the first time), and observers immediately speculated that the systematic destruction was politically motivated to hide embarrassing data. What the hell was this guy trying to hide??
- Mitt Romney is a big time Wall Street insider. It is estimated that Romney has a personal fortune of approximately a quarter of a billion dollars, and Wall Street money is being absolutely showered on his campaign. Mitt Romney is getting far more money from the "too big to fail" Wall Street banks (Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup) than all of the other Republican candidates combined. It is quite obvious that the "establishment" is in love with Mitt Romney.
- During his time at Bain Capital, Romney made millions upon millions of dollars practicing what many consider to be "vulture capitalism" - buying up companies and tearing them down for profit, putting a lot of people out of work and destroying a lot of lives. This controversial documentary claims to accurately chronicle some of those pursuits. It's said that vulture capitalism is a necessary part of business, because it "cleanses" the system. That may be true, but one must wonder what type of person it takes to do that job. Is a person capable of that kind of emotional detachment and cold disregard for the American worker what we want in a President?
- In a recent CNN interview, Romney said, "I'm not concerned with the very poor." He went on to say there is a safety net in place for them, and if there are holes that need repairing, he'll take care of it. He said his primary concern is with the middle class. It's nice that Mitt wants to help the middle class, but why does he make a distinction? If he wants to create an environment conducive to job creation, doesn't he think everyone could and should benefit? His comments insinuate that either the very poor are content to stay at the bottom of the safety net, or they are doomed to remain there regardless. Doesn't he understand that there are many hard-working Americans who are a paycheck or two away from being very poor? Doesn't he realize that there are many very poor people who would love nothing more than to work their way out of their circumstances if given the chance? His comments remind me of the $10,000 bet he tried to make with Rick Perry during one of the Republican debates. Romney is clearly out-of-touch with the average American. His rhetoric is ignorant at best and quite insensitive at worst. He just doesn't get it.
For more in-depth information about Mitt Romney, visit The Mitt Romney Report. It covers Romney's record on a range of issues over the years as a Presidential candidate (2007-present), Governor of Massachusetts (Jan. 2003 - Jan. 2007), candidate for U.S. Senate (1994), and businessman.
To enjoy more of Mitt's pristine character, please visit Romney's Skeleton Closet.
Who is Mitt Romney?? Where does he truly stand on the issues? No one really knows, because he flip-flops so often. What we do know is if the American people elect Mitt Romney, they will get someone:
- who is a potential felon,
- who is willing to sign NDAA into law,
- who supports the Patriot Act and "enhanced interrogation techniques,"
- who has no backbone,
- who will say anything to get elected,
- who is manufactured to maintain the rotten status quo - just another fake polished phony. Point of fact: this video shows how, in the face of low crowd turn outs, the Romney campaign has resorted to passing out fake "grassroots" signs at his rallies to people seated in front of press cameras to make it appear as if he has real support. Incredulous laughter filled my room until it was consumed by sadness at how people can participate in something so disingenuous. Perfectly scripted signs, same colors, same font style, devoid of passion or soul, created and distributed as if on an assembly line. How appropriate for this puppet candidate. Mitt Romney = Manufactured Robot.
- who lacks integrity, principle and consistency,
- who blows with the political winds like a weather vane,
- who will keep us perpetually at war,
- who believes in big spending, big government, bank bailouts, health care mandates, gun control laws, burying the truth and making things as comfortable as possible for the fat-cats on Wall Street.
Rick Santorum
Rick Santorum seems to ooze an eagerness to use the power of the State to force his religious values and sense of morality on the rest of us. He has said he doesn't believe in the separation of church and state. There is no doubt that in Santorum's ideal world the U.S. would be a Theocracy based on his religion. In 2008, Santorum gave a speech at Ave Maria University in which he said, "Satan has his sights on the United States of America." He added, "Satan is...using those great vices of pride, vanity and sensuality as the root to attack all of the strong plants that has so deeply rooted in the American tradition." OK, Santorum's religiosity is not the problem. He can believe and say whatever he pleases. The problem is Santorum seems incapable of separating his religious dogma from his politics. He should be a preacher, not a politician. The President must preside over people of all faiths and walks of life; he cannot be selective in that regard, nor can he "save" the rest of us through coercion. Santorum fervently warns of Islamic jihadists, yet he is a Christian Right Wing zealot obsessed with violating our personal lives and privacy. Do you see the hypocrisy in that?
I don't believe I have ever witnessed a candidate who is so against the U.S. Constitution and the freedoms it was drafted to protect. He scoffs at personal liberty and limited government. He says the "pursuit of happiness" is harming America. He does not believe "people should be empowered to do what pleases them the most." He has said the State has the right to "limit individuals' wants and passions." He's against gay rights. He's against women's rights in the following ways: no exceptions for abortion including rape & incest or life of the mother. He wants to dictate to unmarried couples regarding what they can and cannot do in the bedroom. He's against contraception. He would make adultery illegal if he could. He wants to ban pornography and, if elected, promises to “vigorously” enforce laws that “prohibit distribution of hardcore pornography on the Internet, on cable/satellite TV, on hotel/motel TV, in retail shops and through the mail or by common carrier.”
Santorum is a holier-than-thou, judgmental buffoon who has no grasp of American history and believes the Bush policies are worth continuing. To top it all off, he was voted among the most corrupt politicians in 2005 & 2006, and while Senator from Pennsylvania, he demonstrated a penchant for big government hypocrisy which is why he lost re-election. Pennsylvanians were unequivocal in their rejection of Santorum. He lost by 18 points, the biggest loss for a sitting U.S. Senator since 1980.
Santorum presents himself as a good Christian, yet seems perfectly willing to break the 6th commandment, "Thou shalt not kill" by wanting to aggressively pursue a worldwide war on Islam. Santorum was a vocal cheerleader for war against Iraq and voted for the authorization to use force, which left the final decision of whether or not to go to war in the hands of the president. Now, he has Iran in his cross hairs. That's right, like Romney, Santorum is a just another chickenhawk. Attacking Iran without just cause or provocation could lead to retaliation from countries like Russia and China, but what does he care? He won't be fighting.
Obviously Santorum isn't against guns. I mean, how could we wage war on Iran without guns? Oh yeah, he's pro-gun as long as law-abiding American citizens have difficulty acquiring them. Much of Senator Santorum's record shows support for gun control. He stood with senators like Barbara Boxer and Frank Lautenberg to pass massive new federal gun control schemes and regulations. For example, Santorum voted with Barbara Boxer on S Amdt 3230 – the Gun Lock Requirement Amendment. In 1997, he voted for an Omnibus spending bill that included the Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban.
Santorum voted for Patriot Act Re-authorization which extended the authority of the FBI to conduct "roving wiretaps" and access certain business records, and made the remaining 14 provisions of the Patriot Act permanent. He also does not believe it violates privacy rights under the 4th Amendment.
In January 2011, Santorum was asked if he would have signed the 2012 NDAA if he were President. Acknowledging that the legislation granted the President the right to arrest and detain US citizens, Santorum then stated that indeed would have signed the legislation.
Santorum voted to allow states to impose health care mandates that are stricter than proposed new Federal mandates, but not weaker.
Santorum is a big government, "Show-me-the-money" LOBBYIST. Technically, like his pal Gingrich, Santorum did not register as a lobbyist, but he aided corporate and other interests as a consultant. Santorum was rated #1 in Lobbyist Cash for 2006.
Santorum engineered a controversial land deal that robbed the military's top veterans' home of tens of millions of dollars and worsened the deteriorating conditions at the facility. Read more about "How Rick Santorum Ripped Off American Veterans."
Santorum fancies himself the conservative alternative to Romney or whomever for that matter. Not so fast Rick:
- Santorum voted to give millions of taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood. Santorum on Fox News:
"I mean, the bottom line is my position is very clear. I've had a -- a consistent record on this of supporting women's right to have contraception. I've supported funding for it."
So, Santorum is "outraged" when the Government forces Catholics to pay for contraception via the Obamacare mandate, yet he supports the Government forcing Catholics to pay for contraception via their tax dollars. Giving Planned Parenthood funds for the purpose of contraception indirectly funds abortion, because the funds are fungible - money for other purposes (like contraception) simply frees Planned Parenthood's other funds to be used for abortions. This is true for all federal funding in all areas of Government.
Santorum has also:
- enthusiastically campaigned for pro-abortion Arlen Specter against the more conservative Pat Toomey. At Senator Arlen Specter’s official presidential campaign announcement in March 1996, then-Senator Rick Santorum showed his public support and encouragement of Specter by sitting directly next to him as Specter denounced the GOP’s war on abortion. It was at this event that Specter proclaimed his total opposition to social conservatism and declared he is in fact running to make the GOP pro-choice.
- voted for the protection of Abortion Clinics.
- chosen the life of his wife Karen over the life of his unborn child. Karen was going to die if her pregnancy was not ended, if the fetus was not removed from her body. So, at 20 weeks, one month before what doctors consider ‘viability’, labor began as a result of the antibiotics and the infected fetus was delivered. Tragically, it died shortly thereafter. The Santorums had agreed to the use of antibiotics which they knew would induce labor. They also knew the baby would not survive outside the womb. The procedure, whereby labor is induced to remove the fetus before it has any chance of surviving on its own, is considered by Santorum to be a ‘partial-birth abortion’, and he is correct. Santorum vehemently opposes abortion for any reason, including to save the life of the mother, yet he personally authorized one to save his wife, whom he loves. Others can't have an abortion, but his family is different. It is this kind of hypocrisy that makes Santorum so unpalatable. Read the full story here.
For all of his boastful rhetoric about consistency on moral values, Santorum will compromise on values he claims to hold so dear. So much for Santorum being the champion of Social Conservatism. As for Fiscal Conservatism, one can only laugh...
- Santorum voted to raise the debt ceiling 5 times! For example, Santorum voted for H J Res 47 – the Debt Limit Increase Resolution – Key Vote.
- Rick Santorum’s economic plan as president:
Adds $4.5 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, increasing debt to GDP to 104%.
- Santorum voted and strongly supported legislation that doubled the size of the Department Of Education, including the introduction of Ted Kennedy’s infamous “No Child Left Behind." Said Rick Santorum at the Arizona GOP debate about his vote for No Child Left Behind:
“It was against the principles I believed in, but, you know, when you’re part of the team, sometimes you take one for the team, for the leader…”
The crowd then began to boo Santorum. He responded:
“You know, politics is a team sport, folks… and sometimes you’ve got to rally together and do something.”
Santorum's "politics is a team sport" mentality is why we have Big Government! This idea that the “team” or party is more important than conservative principles is exactly why the supposedly limited government Republican Party has been just as complicit in the growth of government as the Democrats.
- Santorum supported the largest expansion of the welfare state since the 1960s, the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit, which added a $16 TRILLION UNFUNDED LIABILITY to the national debt.
- Santorum largely supports foreign aid, the process by which the U.S. government borrows money from countries like China and uses it to bribe and prop up foreign governments (including China’s), while taxing Americans to pay interest on the loans. For example, Santorum voted to give $25 million in foreign aid to North Korea.
- Santorum voted to pass Sarbanes-Oxley, which imposed dramatic new job-killing accounting regulations on businesses.
- Santorum supported the “Bridge to Nowhere” – twice. Santorum “voted for the 2005 highway bill that included thousands of wasteful earmarks, including the Bridge to Nowhere. In fact, in a separate vote, Santorum had the audacity to vote to continue funding the Bridge to Nowhere rather than send the money to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.” (Club for Growth, 2012 Presidential White Paper #4, Rick Santorum)
- "In the 2003-2004 session of Congress, Santorum sponsored or cosponsored 51 bills to increase spending, and failed to sponsor or co-sponsor even one spending cut proposal.” (Club for Growth, 2012 Presidential White Paper #4, Former Senator Rick Santorum)
- Santorum voted to make Medicare part B premium subsidies a new entitlement.
- Santorum voted against paying off the debt ($5.6 trillion at the time) within 30 years.
- Santorum voted to give $18 billion to the IMF.
- Santorum voted to raid Social Security instead of using surpluses to pay down the debt.
- Santorum sided with big labor unions in opposing a national right-to-work law that would have protected workers from being forced to pay union dues.
- Santorum supported Government-sponsored enterprises like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which inflated the housing bubble.
- Santorum supported the "something-for-nothing" policy most responsible for the housing bubble - the Nehemiah Project.
- Santorum actively supported the junk lending that put minority families underwater and the subsequent bailouts that shielded unscrupulous non- and for-profit lenders, while leaving middle class minorities and the nation’s entire middle class holding the bag. It remains to be seen whether the nation will have Santorum to thank for the coming inflation tax that erodes purchasing power for low- and fixed-income Americans, since taxpayers have yet to see the full bill for these bailouts.
- Santorum voted to confirm President Clinton’s nomination of Alan Greenspan to be Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for a fourth four-year term.
- Santorum voted for taxes in the Internet Access Tax Bill.
- Santorum voted for HR 3448 – Minimum Wage Increase bill which allows punitive damages for injury or illness to be taxed:
- Allows damages for emotional distress to be taxed.
- Repeals the diesel fuel tax rebate to purchasers of diesel-powered automobiles and light trucks.
This list just scratches the surface of Santorum's career-long "liberal voting record." Voters want REAL change. They want REAL fiscal conservatism. Not Rick Santorum's budget-busting statism. Voters want spending CUT - not INCREASED and shifted to different federal departments based on which party is in power. As Senator Rand Paul said of Santorum to CNN:
“He voted to double the size of the Department of Education… He voted to expand Medicare...He has voted for foreign aid. Those are not conservative principles. Seventy-seven percent of the American people are opposed to foreign aid and Rick Santorum has voted for it every time it’s come down.”
Courtesy of santorumexposed.com, here is an assortment of reasons Pennsylvanians consider Santorum "the biggest loser," and why American voters should not make him the Republican nominee or POTUS (perish the thought!):
- Santorum was improperly spending tax dollars on HIS family. He took $100,000 from a struggling PA public school district to pay for his children’s “cyber” education program. Unfortunately, Rick and his family were living in suburban Virginia then, so they were not entitled to those funds. And, when exposed in the press, Rick wouldn’t pay back the money, so the school district had to go to court to get it back — which cost even MORE money. Pretty hypocritical, since Rick won his first congressional race by attacking the incumbent for living in VA instead of PA.
- Santorum voted against raising the minimum wage 8 times, but he did vote to allow his own pay to be raised by $8000. When he did propose a small minimum wage increase, he excluded 10 million workers who live on tips, and even tried to end overtime pay beyond the 40-hour work week. And, who would have benefitted from that? The owners of big chain restaurants like Outback Steakhouse and big hourly employers like Wal-Mart. No wonder Rick took the Wal-Mart corporate jet to Florida for his fancy political fundraiser with Outback Steakhouse executives. (And oh, by the way, that was the same trip as Rick’s infamous visit to Terry Schiavo’s hospice when other events had been canceled out of “respect” for the Schiavo family).
- Santorum said not only would he raise the retirement age to “at least” 70 — he “would go even farther” if he could. (How about 90, Rick?) Then, he flip-flopped on Social Security and said, "I don't believe we should raise the retirement age..."
- Santorum voted with big Pharma and against seniors getting lower cost prescription drugs. He sided with the big drug companies by voting to increase their profits and keep seniors from buying low-cost prescription drugs from Canada. No wonder the drug lobby gave Santorum committees a half-million dollars.
- Santorum isn't interested in protecting other people's rights to compensation if they are victims of medical malpractice, but that position didn't keep his wife from suing a Virginia chiropractor for a half-million dollars in "pain and suffering." Instead, Rick voted to prevent Americans from getting just compensation for their pain and suffering caused by medical malpractice. And, his wife suing a chiropractor for $500,000 is even more hypocritical since his own legislation capped such damages at half that amount.
Rick calls their own lawsuit a “private family matter,” but doesn’t seem to think everyone else’s family deserves the same rights and respect. In fact, Rick has said that Griswold vs. Connecticut was wrongly decided, that there is no right to privacy and, therefore, the state has the right to regulate even the use of birth control by married couples.
- Santorum thinks that public schools should teach the beliefs he holds. He wants public schools to teach the faith-based “intelligent design” theory as an equal alternative to Darwin’s scientific theory of evolution.
- Santorum voted to cut billions in loans that help middle class students afford college, but he voted to give oil companies an additional $2 billion in new tax breaks.
- Santorum made some convoluted and disturbing comments about homosexuality, incest, bigamy, adultery and man-on-dog sex to the Associated Press during an interview (Even the AP interviewer was stunned). Of course, the preservation of inequality and the restriction of Constitutional freedoms are the through-line of everything this man espouses. I really think he needs to free himself from this psychological cage, not only for his own sake, but for the sake of his future constituents (should he have any). Unedited excerpts of the taped interview were released by the Associated Press, and they are still available online.
And, it goes on and on with Rick Santorum. Please explore the santorumexposed.com site for many more reasons why Santorum should be laughed out of politics altogether.
Here's yet another source for more in-depth information about Santorum's special brand of corrupt, big government hypocrisy.
Santorum's recent surge in the polls:
Various pundits are attributing Rick Santorum's recent surge to the Obama administration's "attack on the Catholic church," because of Obamacare's mandate on contraception (not to mention the GOP's intense desire to prop up the next anti-Romney candidate). Unfortunately, far too many religious people view Santorum as their Knight in shining armor. They fall for his schtick. Santorum uses religion to further his political campaign. I'm not suggesting he's not a "true believer." I have no idea about that. I'm saying he reminds me of a televangelist who preaches the word of God and gets very rich doing it. Also, he's the kind of person who would fight for his religious freedom, but not so much for yours. He's selfish and intolerant. That's his M.O. - if it's his, or for him, then anything goes. If it's for you (and happens to go against his values or beliefs), then forget about it.
I believe the most spiritual candidate is the one who doesn't talk about it so much. Talk is cheap. How do you live your life? What actions do you take? How do you treat others? In my opinion, Dr. Paul has it all over Santorum (and the rest of the candidates) in that department, where it really matters. He has spent the better part of his life helping those in need. Do you remember when Dr. Paul was booed, at the SC Republican debate, for advocating we follow the "Golden Rule" with respect to our foreign policy? Boggles the mind... Here is an interesting video from Tom Woods entitled, "Ron Paul or Rick Santorum: Whom Should Catholics Choose?" Definitely worth a look.
Ron Paul is a devout man. It runs deep, it's precious to him, so he doesn't feel the need to broadcast it every second. He doesn't use his faith to "get ahead." Speaking of that, I'm always tickled when Obama switches to his preacher voice whenever he's talking to a religious African American audience, but I digress. There is no question that Dr. Paul respects the 1st Amendment right of all Americans to worship as they see fit, and he'll defend that right with everything he has. Obama? Santorum? Perhaps not so much.
To sum it up, Rick Santorum is a mixture of corruption, bigotry, arrogance, hypocrisy, fear, paranoia and danger that America doesn’t ever need. He is, of course, entitled to his beliefs, religious or otherwise. That's not the issue. The issue is Santorum wants to use the power of government to force his beliefs on us and control our behavior. A totalitarian like Rick Santorum shouldn't even be allowed to enter the White House as a guest.
**********Rick Santorum has suspended his campaign**********
A Former Santorum Supporter Explains His Switch to Paul
Adrian Murray of Fort Worth Texas, a former Rick Santorum supporter, shares his conversion to Ron Paul. This blog post has gone viral and for good reason–Mr. Murray’s sober insight should be read by anyone concerned about protecting liberty and saving this country. Thanks you Mr. Murray for your intelligent observations and everyone, please share.
Having lost my preferred choice for a presidential candidate on Tuesday, I determined that after a suitable period of mourning and reflection the only viable option was to shake it off and begin the search anew, the presumptive, media-anointed frontrunner not being desirable or acceptable.
Last night, as part of this Quixote-like quest, I ventured into the heretofore unexplored dimension of a Ron Paul rally and was witness to something that can only be described as all parts exhilarating, befuddling, encouraging, depressing, moving, maddening and, ultimately, inspiring. More on all that later.
Over the years I have been to more political rallies, events, forums, roundtables, discussion groups, debates and whatever than I care to remember… Attending a Ron Paul campaign rally is a singularly unique experience. I have never seen anything like it before. Perhaps phenomenal is the word that comes closest in accuracy, not in the ordinary “awesome” sense, but in the other-worldly, spatiotemporal sense…
The purpose of this piece is not to analyze Mr. Paul’s specific policies, although my worldview does not coalesce with his on many fronts…
I have spoken before a lot of groups in the last several years as we have all grappled with the seeming dissolution of our country… My point has been that the greatest issue facing the conservative cause is a demographical one, a lack of diversity that will shortly render the conservative message irrelevant. Where are the youth? I and others have asked. Where are the people of color? Why doesn’t the conservative message resonate?
The answer to where they are could be found last night at the Will Rogers Auditorium. Often at political events there is a sense of excitement, anticipation, a certain buzz in the audience while waiting for the main event. Excitement, anticipation and buzz are weak and inadequate words to describe the pre-rally crowd last night. Energy is even inadequate. What undulated through the thousands who thronged outside before the doors opened last night was a kinetic power, the power of hope, the power of liberation, the power of anger at a system turned upside down, the power of liberation and, yes, the ultimate and emancipating power of freedom. You had to be there to understand it.
Once inside, for the only time in my politically active life, I was transported to a world I had not seen before. There was enough energy in that room to power a skyscraper. Teenagers, college students, whites, Hispanics, African Americans, Asians, middle-aged, elderly, every racial, ethnic, socio-economic, cross cultural ingredient of the American melting pot was there. The auditorium was a cauldron of American citizens who understand and have grasped the true nature of the tyranny which has befallen this nation, a conflagration, if you will, of passion and anger and joy and determination. This is where the fire starts this time. The eruption when Mr. Paul took the stage was deafening…
Foreign policy, while a crucial element of any president’s agenda, has slowly shifted from my center of attention to domestic policy, I having long come to the conclusion that the greatest threat to American freedom comes not from foreign governments, but from our own. Sadly, America has become one of the least free nations on earth. Increasingly, everything in our lives is being regulated by a faceless bureaucracy, to a degree that neither Orwell nor Huxley could have imagined…
What exactly is our national security securing? Certainly not our liberty. We have been sacrificing ever larger chucks of our liberty to the gods of security for decades now and in the interests of securing our liberty have given it all away. Go to an airport if you want to witness the loss of liberty in all its glorious humiliation…
This part of Mr. Paul’s message, if I have interpreted it correctly, is what resonates with me. All the other things pale in contrast to our becoming a nation of slaves.
So what did I come away with last night? It can be captured in one picture. Before Mr. Paul was introduced, part of his family took the stage: his wife, one of his sons, a smattering of cousins, nieces and nephews. That picture tells us all we need to know. They are us. They weren’t pulled from central casting, exquisitely coifed and finely tailored, prepped and ready for the cameras. No. They are a family. They are us.
Where personally do I go now? As I said, I have more internal debates than an outwardly sane person should admit. For over three years now I have been looking for an army – an army to take on the anti-Americans, the Communists, the statists, the outright criminals running our government. An army of citizens fiercely devoted to liberty and the founding principles of America…
The flame of liberty’s torch is no longer just slowly being extinguished. Each day brings new Executive Orders, new laws, new regulations, each more ominous than the last. Corruption in our government and our financial markets is rampant. The disease of dependency is infecting every layer of society. America is dying. We need an army of citizens, motivated and committed, to restore liberty in America, to breathe new life, new vibrancy into a nation on life support…
Which logically only leads to one question:
Is there a doctor in the house?
Which logically only leads to one answer:
Ron Paul 2012
Read Adrian Murray’s entire blog post unedited
Newt Gingrich
Where to begin with this "serial hyprocrite"...
With more than three decades as a public figure, Newt Gingrich is the quintessential political chameleon, shifting his views to reflect whatever is popular with the Washington, D.C. chattering class. Make no mistake, while Newt may talk a solid conservative game, his record is that of a typical Inside-the-Beltway politician who will cut ANY compromise or make ANY deal with anyone for his own political or personal gain. Gingrich is a big time Washington insider who believes in individual health care mandates, who supported the bailouts, who was instrumental in cramming NAFTA down the throats of the American people and who is either soft or wrong on just about every single issue that conservatives care about.
His personal life has a history of being a mess, his finances have a history of being a mess and his campaign was such a mess a few months ago that most observers considered his candidacy to be completely dead. He has a reputation for erratic, inconsistent and unpredictable behavior.
Newt the "historian" wows them on the debate stage at times. He loves riling up the crowd by pseudo-intellectually deflecting, distracting or avoiding giving direct answers and presenting himself as a poor widdle media victim. The man is a disingenuous, pompous, slippery, hypocritical, dangerous megalomaniac. It really boggles the mind that anyone would fall for his act and truly consider voting for someone with such a nightmarish track record.
Some facts about Newt you may have forgotten
Highlights:
- In college, Gingrich began admiring the works of Alvin Toffler, a futurist who believes the American Constitution is outdated. Gingrich has continued to admire and promote Alvin Toffler throughout his career, even putting Toffler's book, The Third Wave, on a book list he recommended for members of the House when he became Speaker.
- Gingrich was Southern Regional Director of the Nelson Rockefeller Presidential campaign in 1968. Rockefeller supported big-government, socialist programs.
- Gingrich avoided the draft during the Vietnam war and was later accused of draft-dodging, which he denies. Fact is, along with Romney and Santorum, Gingrich completes the chickenhawk trifecta. They're all eager to send others off to die in unjustifiable wars, but they would not go themselves. This exchange between Gingrich and Ron Paul at one of the Republican debates says it all.
- In the 1980's Gingrich voted, numerous times, to raise the debt ceiling. Gingrich loves to engage in anti-bureaucrat, anti-tax, conservative rhetoric, but his words never match his record.
- Newt Gingrich’s economic plan as president:
Adds $7 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, increasing debt to GDP to 114%.
- In 1987, Gingrich co-sponsors H.R. 1934, to implement the infamous & unconstitutional "Fairness Doctrine". Gingrich now claims he only wanted the Fairness Doctrine to hinder left-wing networks. Ronald Reagan ultimately vetoed the legislation.
- In 1988, Gingrich wanted Republicans to move away from Reaganism. Gingrich now repeatedly mentions Ronald Reagan positively, to improve his standing among conservatives. Um...yeah, to get the nomination! Here's what Gingrich really thinks of Reagan.
- In 1993, Gingrich preached NAFTA and whipped Republicans into supporting it. Gingrich later said NAFTA was good because it created jobs in Mexico, not the U.S.
- In 1994, Gingrich supported the GATT Treaty, surrendering sovereignty to the U.N.
- Newly sworn in Speaker Gingrich speaks positively of FDR and his socialist New Deal. Gingrich has repeatedly called FDR the greatest President of the 20th century.
- Never a champion of the 2nd Amendment, Gingrich earned a "D" rating from the Gun Owners of America in 1996 for his support of the Lautenberg Gun Ban among other such legislation to curtail 2nd Amendment rights.
- In 1997, a Republican congress fined Gingrich a record $300,000 for ethics violations. Gingrich eventually left the Speakership "under a cloud."
- In 2005, Gingrich calls for the DNA testing of all US citizens.
- In 2008, Gingrich says if he were in office, he would have reluctantly voted for the $700B TARP bailout.
- Not only has Gingrich been a long-standing proponent of a federal health insurance mandate, he clearly and unequivocally called for it as part of the White House health reform initiative in May 2009.
- Gingrich has been married three times. He allegedly committed repeated adultery with younger women during his first two marriages. He allegedly divorced his first wife while she had cancer. Source He allegedly divorced his second wife while she had multiple sclerosis. Source
- After leaving his first wife, Gingrich has been accused of refusing to pay alimony and child support to speed up the divorce process. His wife had to take Newt to court to get money out of him, and her Baptist church needed to take up a collection to get his kids food and prevent the utilities from being cut off. Source I am unaware of Gingrich ever having issued an apology for this behavior.
- Newt, when asked how he could be unfaithful and give a speech on family values: "It doesn't matter what I do," he answered. "People need to hear what I have to say. There's no one else who can say what I can say. It doesn't matter what I live."
Source: John H. Richardson. "Newt Gingrich: The Indispensable Republican." Esquire.com. 8/10/2010.
Newt the "Lying Corporate Lobbyist"
There are few things any current candidate has done more hypocritical than Newt's corporate lobbying work for the mortgage giant Freddie Mac. You see, Newt has publicly attacked Freddie Mac for years, blaming it for the 2008 housing crash. Then we found out that they paid him $1.6 million, as he went around and tried to convince Republicans to vote for Freddie Mac's favorite bills (and against regulations on them). Newt denies he was lobbying -- because his work didn't meet some technical definitions of lobbying -- and claimed, ridiculously, that they paid him to be an "historian." No historian in history has earned $1.6 million.
Newt didn't report to Freddie Mac's director of history (Spoiler alert; no company has one). He reported to Craig Thomas, who was in charge of lobbying for them (and a registered lobbyist himself) and paid Newt $25,000 per month. On January 24, 2012, Newt finally released his contract. Guess what is not described in his services? History. In fact, Newt admits that he only talked to Freddie Mac staff for about one hour per month. At $25,000/ hour, that's a lot of history for a mortgage lender.
And, Freddie Mac is not the only company Newt lobbied for. He had dozens of corporate clients who paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for his "services." He promoted his health care clients to legislators in Georgia or Florida who were considering changes in health care laws. He talked up projects that his clients IBM and HealthTrio were working on, to federal officials. He pushed for changes to Medicare that would enrich other clients of his. And, one client, drug maker Novo Nordisk, described Newt's work this way in their annual report: "Such activities are often referred to as lobbying.”
A handy, dandy timeline:
04/02/1987 - He cosponsored the 1987 Fairness Doctrine
10/22/1991 - He voted for an amendment that would create a National Police Corps.
03/—/1993 - He voted for sending $1.6 Billion in foreign aid to Russia.
11/19/1993 - He voted for the NAFTA Implementation Act.
11/27/1994 - He supported the GATT Treaty giving sovereignty to the U.N.
08/27/1995 - He suggests that drug smuggling should carry a death sentence.
04/25/1996 - He voted for the single largest increase in Federal education spending ($3.5 Billion)
04/10/1995 - He supported Federal tax dollars being spent on abortions.
06/01/1996 - He helped a Democrat switch parties in an attempt to defeat Constitutionalist Ron Paul in the 1996 election.
09/25/1996 - Introduced H.R. 4170, demanding a life-sentence or execution for someone bringing 2 ounces of marijuana across the border.
01/22/1997 - Congress gave him a record-setting $300,000 fine for ethical wrongdoing.
11/29/2006 - He said that free speech should be curtailed in order to fight terrorism. Wants to stop terrorists from using the internet. Called for a "serious debate about the 1st Amendment."
...but wait, there's more!
11/29/2006 - He called for a "Geneva Convention for terrorists" so it would be clear who the Constitution need not apply to.
02/15/2007 - He supported Bush's proposal for mandatory carbon caps.
09/28/2008 - Says if he were in office, he would have reluctantly voted for the $700B TARP bailout.
10/01/2008 - Says in an article that TARP was a "workout, not a bailout."
12/08/2008 - He was paid $300,000 by Freddie Mac to halt Congress from bringing necessary reform.
03/31/2009 - Says we should have Singapore-style drug tests for Americans.
07/30/2010 - Says that Iraq was just step one in defeating the "Axis of Evil."
08/03/2010 - Advocates attacks on Iran & North Korea.
08/16/2010 - Opposes property rights of the mosque owner in NYC.
11/15/2010 - He defended Romney-care
12/05/2010 - He said that a website owner should be considered an enemy combatant, hunted down and executed, for publishing leaked government memos.
01/30/2011 - He lobbied for ethanol subsidies.
01/30/2011 - He suggested that flex-fuel vehicles be mandated for Americans.
02/13/2011 - He criticized Obama for sending less U.S. tax dollars to Egypt.
03/09/2011 - He blames his infidelity to multiple wives on his passion for the country.
03/15/2011 - Says that NAFTA worked because it created jobs in Mexico.
03/19/2011 - He has no regrets about supporting Medicare drug coverage. (Now $7.2T unfunded liability)
03/23/2011 - He completely flip-flopped on Libyan intervention in 16 days.
03/25/2011 - He plans to sign as many as 200 executive orders on his first day as president.
04/25/2011 - He's a paid lobbyist for Federal ethanol subsidies.
05/12/2011 - He was more supportive of individual health-care mandates than Mitt Romney.
06/09/2011 - His own campaign staff resigned en masse.
07/15/2011 - His poorly managed campaign is over $1 Million in debt.
08/01/2011 - He hired a company to create fake Twitter accounts to appear as if he had a following.
10/07/2011 - He said he'd ignore the Supreme Court if need be.
01/---/2012 - He said he'd spend billions of dollars to build a lunar colony, which could eventually become the 51st State, when that money could be used to help people suffering here on earth. Some considered it merely a political ploy to appeal to Florida voters, but either way he brings new meaning to the word luna-tic.
05/02/2012 - Newt Gingrich $4 Million in Debt; Staffers and Creditors Fume
Newt Gingrich doesn't just have skeletons in his closet - he has a whole graveyard. Many of his ideas are scattered and off-the-charts wacky. He has a volatile, unstable, megalomaniacal personality, and his personal and professional choices reveal serious ethical weaknesses. He would be annihilated in the general election. Hopefully, the American people will realize that Newt Gingrich would be an absolute disaster as president.
**********Newt Gingrich has suspended his campaign**********
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