WHIPLASH...

I've gotten whiplash over the last two days or so…since the President exchanged five GITMO prisoners for one American soldier. The same soldier that the Right begged, tweeted, blogged, and hammered the White House to bring home, as he was the last POW in Afghanistan. The one they now denounce as a traitor who should have been left to die, or be shot NOW. And they don't stop with just the soldier….let's lambast his parents, too, while we're at it. And threaten the town that was planning to celebrate his coming home to them….

There is a reason for this, of course:

"According to White House sources, Marc Grossman, who replaced Richard Holbrooke as special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, was given a direct warning by the president's opponents in Congress about trading Bowe for five Taliban prisoners during an election year. "They keep telling me it's going to be Obama's Willie Horton moment," Grossman warned the White House. The threat was as ugly as it was clear: The president's political enemies were prepared to use the release of violent prisoners to paint Obama as a Dukakis-¬like appeaser, just as Republicans did to the former Massachusetts governor during the 1988 campaign."

http://tinyurl.com/lz847ox

The question of whether Bergdahl walked away, deserted, worked with the Taliban (doubtful) or was just pissed off should be and WILL be sorted out by the military. President Obama, contrary to talk on the Right, never said he was a hero. But I am sure the Right does NOT want everyone to be aware of this:

"Sgt Bergdahl had taken seriously the counter-insurgency strategy supposedly aimed at winning the “hearts and minds” of Afghans. Instead, he found that US soldiers regarded Afghans with aggressive contempt: “I am sorry for everything here. These people need help, yet what they get is the most conceited country in the world telling them that they are nothing and that they are stupid, that they have no idea how to live.”

http://linkis.com/independent.co.uk/y92l6

But as usual, the Repubs have their mechanization of outrage at full speed ahead. (Former Bush and Romney spokesman, as well as frequent FOX contributor Richard Grenell's public relations team helped connect the media and soldiers who served with Bergdahl.) Color me surprised.

Shoot first….and ask questions later…………and keep the FOX watchers stirred up.

Bankruptcy: Make More Money without those pesky employees......

Is it just me or is anyone else sensing a trend here? Seems like more companies, conglomerates, private equities..or just plain vulture capitalists... have discovered it was more profitable to ruin a company than to run it and have to deal with decent wages and benefits, things that honest employees expect in exchange for productive activity.

"Those workers had their pay reduced 3 times while the CEO took a 300% raise for himself but conservatives who love to tell us how wonderful corporations are and how badly we need to take care of them, still blame the workers who took all they could take before they had to do something about it. Walmart made profits of 15 billion last year while American taxpayers subsidized their employees who made so little they had to get food stamps and medicare. We are heading to becoming a plutocracy unless those of us who outnumber them start putting our foot down and saying, enough is enough!"   (HuffPo commentor earlier today)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/30/corporate-profits_n_2217414.html

Hostess Brands is just the latest in a long line of companies here in the United States over the years, to have a revolving door of CEOS who have "tried to make the company profitable"...only to reward mostly themselves.

As was stated in one of the company's earlier attempts at restructuring:

"Creditors of Hostess Brands Inc. said in court papers the company may have “manipulated” its executives’ salaries higher in the months leading up to its Chapter 11 filing, in what the creditors called a possible effort by Hostess to “sidestep” Bankruptcy Code compensation provisions."

http://underthemountainbunker.com/2012/11/16/in-other-words-the-ceos-of-hostess-gave-themselves-too-many-bonuses/

Or in the words of Warren Buffet:

"Getting fired can produce a particularly bountiful payday for a CEO, Indeed, he can ‘earn’ more in that single day, while cleaning out his desk, than an American worker earns in a lifetime of cleaning toilets. Forget the old maxim about nothing succeeding like success: Today, in the executive suite, the all-too-prevalent rule is that nothing succeeds like failure.”  

Firms like Kodak, Lear Corporation, Enron, Visteon Corporation, Circuit City, Pilgrim Pride, Armco, Damon Corporation, Countrywide, just to name a few have been very profitable for their "disgraced" CEOs. And of course, I'm sure you have not forgotten Bain Capital of late-Romney fame...

http://smokinghotpolitics.com/?p=849 

But the folks on FOX News keep pounding away on the meme that those old unions, unskilled (?), lazy, nonwhite, not pulling-themselves-up-fast-enough boot- strappers, unappreciative females, and pot smoking liberal college students are to blame for all of this: if they'd only be as grateful as those folks in China and Bengladesh....

WAHHHH...hhh....hhhh

After a couple days and nights of introspection, and probably a few imported beers, the Republicans and their buddies on FOX have finally come to grips with "their" loss. As the Fair and Balanced Party they have become, here is the result:

The media selectively reported Romney's gaffes.

Fact-checkers were biased.

Hurricane Isaac hit the Tampa convention.

Romney was too nice.

Hurricane Sandy and Chris Christie get the blame.

Obama won by “suppressing the vote.”Romney wasn’t conservative enough.

Americans are basically ignorant.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/09/conservatives-mitt-romney-presidential-election_n_2099504.html

Then there is GOP Wonder Karl Rove:
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/11/karl-rove-offers-long-list-of-excuses-after-300-million-debacle.php?ref=fpa

Notice there is not ONE WORD about the fact their Billionaire Buddies wasted a boatload of money on a phony, out-of-touch, Right Wing pawn who has not one compassionate bone in his body, but who thought that gutting other peoples' livelihoods so that he could invest his gains in foreign countries to accumulate interest and avoid taxes, so that his wife Anne could buy designer-made drapes for the White House, which they were entitled to win.

Well, What Do You Know

Seems like there was some extensive economic research done earlier this year, and the findings were not exactly to the GOP's liking....so they had it suppressed. It's about time for those nasty old Bush tax cuts (Yes, I know: Obama extended them in a gesture of compromise to the Republicans. Wasted effort......) to come to an end. The GOP is having a tizzy, wanting to keep their gravy train in motion, and pushing their "austerity measures" on everyone else. And just like their presidential candidate Romney, if the facts don't fit your meme...change them...or at least try to keep them out of the limelight.

"The results of the analysis suggest that changes over the past 65 years in the top marginal tax rate and the top capital gains tax rate do not appear correlated with economic growth. The reduction in the top tax rates appears to be uncorrelated with saving, investment, and productivity growth. The top tax rates appear to have little or no relation to the size of the economic pie.

However, the top tax rate reductions appear to be associated with the increasing concentration of income at the top of the income distribution. As measured by IRS data, the share of income accruing to the top 0.1% of U.S. families increased from 4.2% in 1945 to 12.3% by 2007 before falling to 9.2% due to the 2007-2009 recession. At the same time, the average tax rate paid by the top 0.1% fell from over 50% in 1945 to about 25% in 2009. Tax policy could have a relation to how the economic pie is sliced—lower top tax rates may be associated with greater income 

disparities."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/01/congressional-research-service_n_2059156.html

It was also brought out that: "The richest Americans are the least likely to spend extra money they get as a result of a tax cut, and are more likely to save it or invest it offshore."

So much for the "tax cuts will help the wealthy business owners (who are under SO MUCH pressure and regulation right now) expand, invest, and create more jobs." We knew it was BS anyway.

Well, Isn't That special?

Remember the man who gave the keynote speech at the Republican Convention, the one who officially spoke for Mitt Romney? That man was Chris Christie, pugnacious governor of New jersey.

"The speech was as much about Christie and what he has done in New Jersey as it was about Romney, his record and his vision. It was also a story many other Republican governors tell, through their own experiences, as they provide a model of the kind of conservative governance — cutting spending and taxes, challenging public employee unions and shrinking government — Christie said Romney would bring to Washington. …"

/http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/08/29/political-wisdom-reactions-to-chris-christies-speech/

This very same governor who at the moment has hands full dealing with hurricane Sandy and it's aftermath,was interviewed yesterday:

"One of Mitt Romney’s biggest supporters, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, had nothing but praise for President Barack Obama today, as his state prepares to rebuild from the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy.

“I have to say, the administration, the president,  himself and FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate have been outstanding with us so far,” Christie said on Good Morning America. “We have a great partnership with them.”

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/10/christie-praises-obama-for-sandy-response/

He also turned down a request from the Romney campaign for them to tour the storm devastation with the governor...photo op, in other words. Christie said basically, I am swamped with this, and I do not want to make political hay out of the situation.

Well, Team Romney just can't give up. Today in Kettering, Ohio (my old stomping ground) they are having a "Storm Event Rally" which just changed yesterday from a Victory rally. (Wishful thinking....)

7:43 AM PT: Another sign at the rally:

Sign at the Romney storm relief event in Kettering Ohio this AM. http://t.co/...
— @mikiebarb via Camera on iOS

It says: "THE TRENT ARENA TRACK WILL BE CLOSED ALL DAY TUESDAY OCTOBER 30, 2012 FOR THE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN RALLY."  From HuffPost article today.

                                               http://tinyurl.com/8owthfg

The guy just can't help himself and tries to be relevant: collecting canned goods and such, to be delivered on his campaign bus, even when the American Red Cross cannot deliver them. They have their own suppliers and better logistics than piecemeal efforts all over the country. Send money, though.

But, The Constitution Says.. The Republican Party just LOVES to spout the beliefs of our Founding Fathers when it's convenient for their cause. But it gets a little pesky for them sometimes when these same Founding Fathers put into place ideas that run contrary to Right Wing ideology. For example: The U.S. Constitution stated in Amendment XIX, which was ratified by the states in 1920: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

http://felonvoting.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000649

What they REALLY want is this:

The Republican candidate for the presidency, Mitt Romney, also a former governor though not a popular one, has even himself suggested (almost commanded) that heads of companies "suggest" that their employees vote in a certain manner, maybe with a threat implied: 

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/10/romney-bosses-should-tell-employees-how-to-vote.html

Other heads of companies have followed suit: Wynn Resorts, the third-largest casino operator in the U.S., recently mailed a "2012 General Election Voter Guide" to its 12,000 employees in Nevada.  ...This pressure is compounded by the behavior of company CEO Steve Wynn, who has used corporate time and media to attack President Barack Obama's policies.

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/10/25/14698221-pro-romney-employer-warns-workers-of-personal-consequences?lite

A CEO of a Florida resort company threatened to fire his employees if Obama won. The CEO of a timeshare company did the same. And the famous right-wing Koch brothers warned of “consequences” of not voting for Romney.

Arthur Allen, CEO of ASG Software Solutions, was previously exposed by Hayes as having urged his employees to vote for Mitt Romney for president. A new email from Allen shows he encouraged employees to donate to Romney to "help ASG and yourself."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/20/arthur-allen_n_1992370.html

And there have been a slew of other such ...voter intimidation shall, we say.

Employees of Koch Industries received a voter information packet this month. Included was a letter from the company's President David Robertson, warning that if there's a second Obama term, "many of our more than 50,000 U.S. employees and contractors may suffer the consequences ..

The CEO of Westgate Resorts, David Siegel, putting it bluntly: "If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, as our current president plans, I will have no choice but to reduce the size of this company."

The head of the Murray Energy Corporation blamed the Obama Administration for recent layoffs at his company.

http://www.ksdk.com/rss/article/343594/28/Some-companies-telling-employees-how-to-vote

"Mike White, the chairman and owner of Rite-Hite, a major Milwaukee manufacturer of industrial equipment, wanted to be sure his employees understood what he feels is at stake in the presidential election.

In an email sent this week to employees, White said his workers "should understand the personal consequences to them of having our tax rates increase dramatically if President Obama is re-elected, forcing taxpayers to fund President Obama's future deficits and social programs (including Obamacare), which require bigger government."

I have NEVER seen such blatant, in-your-face political scheming in my life...and I've been around a little while. The racism, hatred, bigotry, and plain old propaganda (fear tactics really) are being played out by the GOP...and they DARE you to do anything about it! As a matter of fact......they accuse the Left of doing it. And the media plays out this false narrative of "equivalency" which is totally wrong. But that's what money and Citizens' United will get you in today's political world.

AND THEN ONCE YOU GET THERE
you can brag about this:

I do not own this video. Here is the original ABC News article. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/03/exclusive-in-02-romney-touted-d-c-connections-fe... (from TWITTER)

Pushing Their Lies...or Just Pushing Their Luck ?

A dear friend of mine has a saying that pretty much describes the Team Romney style of campaigning for the highest office in this country: "Dazzle 'em with your bullshit." Of course, I don't think it's just political ploy for these people.....I'm beginning to think it's a way of LIFE.

We don't need no sticking FACTS.

"During a discussion this morning with Laura Ingraham on the subject of Romney’s truthfulness, or lack thereof, they played a clip of Democrats and other liberals accusing Romney of having lied during the debate. Afterward, Steve Doocey sneered, “That’s all they got?”

http://www.newshounds.us/who_cares_if_romney_lied_during_the_debate_he_looked_good_10092012

Who cares if his rapid-fire speech, and oh-so-caring demeanor were nothing but a last ditch effort to appeal human-like for the "undecided" voters....the ones that wait till the last minute to even get interested at all. In the words of Don Henley it goes something like this:

Well, I coulda been an actor, but I wound up here 

I just have to look good, I don't have to be clear.... 

We can do "The Innuendo" 

We can dance and sing 

When it's said and done we haven't told you a thing 

We all know that Crap is King.....

An article in Rasmussen Reports (horrors!) summed the impression I got as I forced myself to watch this performance the other night:

"True, President Obama looked tired, while Romney was brimming with old ideas. But Romney's master-of-the-universe act was not universally admired. It will be turned on him...

Team Romney was understandably bucked up by Obama's failure to punch back. But Obama and his people eventually will. When they do, the master-of-the-universe bit will get taken apart -- and in a masterful way."

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_froma_harrop/mitt_s_master_act_not_beloved_by_all

I certainly hope so!

Post-Post-Post Debate Analysis, Sort of

Ok, the Right is having a field day with the fact that "Romney won the debate." Which he did fairly and squarely...if going for the most phrases spewed in a specific time which had absolutely no basis in fact is a qualified win. Apparently, it is. The technique is known as the Gish Gallop, named for the famed (?) evolution-basher Dr. Duane Gish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12nYRa8PTzo
&
http://www.omg-facts.com/Other/The-Gish-Gallop-is-the-debating-techniqu/53793

Having to deal with sort of nonsense can make you want to tear your hair out. The President comes in, ready to defend his stances and debate his ursurper-to-be and is bombarded with stuff pulled out of thin air, apparently. To do anything but stare down, and try not to throw something at this fool must have been torture. The Angry Black Man was probably the effect the Repubs were hoping to achieve....at least that's my take.

We know that Mr. Obama is a better person than that...but have we on the Left become as blood-thirsty as those on the Right? There are two more debates and two more chances, now that we've seen which road Romney and Ryan are going to take.
And the past is usually a good indicator of the future: 
http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2012/10/06/so-much-for-romneys-bipartisanship-claims/

This comment stolen from a discussion today on just this topic, to me, says it all:

"You know what? If the worse you can say about the president is that he decided not to kick ass when we all know he could and that he looked down alot to hide his disgust with wasting his anniversary arguing with a beach sandal, I mean think about it. We knew and he knew he had Bain in his boot, 47% in his belt, non-existent specifics under his jacket and Mitt's tax returns in his breast pocket. You KNOW he was strapped. Come on now, son. If Mitt is busy shooting himself in the foot why would the President bother wasting ammunition? Or worse, pulling a weapon and risk having it used against him by someone insane enough to try to take it from him. You stand back and look at crazy, you don't try to reason with it"  Tomiko Nichols · Executive Director at Drama Kids

To quote Mark Twain:

"Never argue with a fool, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience." 

Even the 47% Are Hard To Convince

It would seem that with Mitt Romney and the GOP falling all over themselves mocking and denigrating every demographic except white, blue-eyed blonde haired two-year olds, he would not be doing THIS well:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/157508/romney-support-among-lowest-income-voters.aspx

Just think, the people that will benefit the LEAST from the Romney/Ryan administration (and I use that term loosely) are the very ones that seem to support them. Well, and the VERY rich of course...

Then there is just one other thing that the Right can play off of, that seems to work very well...with the help of such entities as FOX News:

".... or the feeling of belonging to the dominant, superior race, is simply greater than the need to vote for one's own interest. These hillbillies (sic) sleep better at night....knowing that as long as they're white, they are not inferior, no matter how poor. You could try to appeal to them with facts, except their feelings of intellectual inferiority causes incredible resentment toward anyone showing any intelligence at all.... If you think for a second that they're now not going to vote for Romney because of this brouhaha, you are sadly deluded. These people believe in an implicit wink and nod agreement from conservative elites that they'll still continue to get whatever assistance they may be getting, and that the cuts to these programs will fall almost solely on blacks and Hispanics. They are white. They vote for the white party. They vote for the party that isn't beholden to high falutin' facts that make them feel stupid..."  (comment from)

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/gallup-one-third-of-lowest-income-voters-support

Most of the 47% do not realize this either:
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/09/20/881151/study-wealthy-americans-receive-far-more-tax-breaks-than-the-poorest/ 

I'm not even sure that the Republicans death to the veterans job bill will make a large dent, but it should. A large percent of returning veterans, along with seniors on Social Security, are part of Romney's 47%.

"However, Veterans Jobs Corps bill co-sponsor Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) said on the Senate floor today that “this bill is fully paid for and does not violate pay-go rules.” Murray even tried to include most of the provisions of a competing Republican bill but Democrats still ran into opposition. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said he would block the measure until the Pakistani doctor that aided the CIA in looking for Osama bin Laden was freed, while Coburn claimed the bill would have no chance of passing the House so it wasn’t worth the effort."http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/09/19/875351/republicans-kill-vets-job-bill/

I guess someone....more eloquent and smarter than I am....was right:

“Socialism (or progressivism in our case) never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” ― John Steinbeck

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

........sometimes

We've heard that MANY times. But when you are speaking the words while engaging in the actions the result can often be disastrous. Take what happened to Mitt Romney as he jumped the gun on unrest in Libya yesterday:

"That the left heaped scorn on Romney’s gambit came as no surprise. But the right reacted almost as harshly—with former aides to John McCain, George W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan creating an on-the-record chorus of disapproval, while countless other Republican officials and operatives chimed in anonymously. “This is worse than a Lehman moment,” says a senior GOP operative. “­McCain made mistakes of impulsiveness, but this was a deliberate and premeditated move, and it totally revealed Romney’s character; it revealed him as completely craven and his candidacy as serving no higher purpose than his ambition."

http://nymag.com/news/politics/powergrid/mitt-romney-middle-east-unrest-2012-9/

Compare this to Michelle Obama's nomination speech for the president, her husband, as the Democratic National Convention:

"Well, today, after so many struggles and triumphs and moments that have tested my husband in ways I never could have imagined, I have seen firsthand that being president doesn’t change who you are – it reveals who you are."

And she went on to say:

"And he believes that when you’ve worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity…you do not slam it shut behind you…you reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/09/04/dnc-2012-michelle-obamas-speech-at-the-democratic-national-convention-full-text/

The take-away is Romney is losing, he is aware of it really, and panic is setting in. But is THIS what we can expect from this Romney-Ryan team upon the world stage?

Maybe WE should begin to panic, too, if by some sort strain of horrible luck these two ever get to the White House......

Laughable....but Telling

The last couple of days have been quite a circus for the Romney-Ryan campaign, and a horror show of pain and disbelief for the rest of the world. Whether instigated by an Islamophobic filmmaker on YouTube or an Al-Queda cell's hatred, the result was the same: loss of life for America and Libyan people.

All the media here in the US had something to say, especially about Mitt Romney's right-out-of-the-box blast against the president...and it wasn't good.

Everybody except FOX, that is. Today you will not see ONE word of the Republican candidate's accusations. Yesterday there was this piece:

"It’s fine to criticize Romney’s views; that’s how a debate of substance takes place. It’s also fine to question the timing of his statement (though that’s a question of strategy and tactics, not substance).

This was something different. This was an effort — not entirely conscious — to make it illegitimate for Romney to criticize the president’s foreign policy at a moment when foreign policy has suddenly taken center stage.

But that’s exactly when such a debate should take place — because it’s when the public will actually pay attention.

That is not what The Most High want — a debate. What they want is for Obama to be re-elected. And they’ll use the tools at their disposal to achieve their aim.

Apparently the horror of Romney’s evil words was lost on Obama. In a CBS interview yesterday, he converted the business into a one-liner: “Gov. Romney seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later.”

How solemn. How grave.

So it appears one politician can say what he likes and the other can’t. Because, you know, there’s an election to win, and the self-appointed referees are also the fans."

 http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/09/13/liberal-media-lash-out-at-romney-for-daring-to-criticize-obama/#ixzz26MqAWR38

I know I'm preaching to the choir here. But HOW ON EARTH can millions of people live in this country, not making the first effort to get all the facts on anything, believing any and everything that is told to them on one outlet. How can EVERY news outlet, newspaper, website, author, political figure be WRONG...except theirs?

I guess maybe Andy Borowitz said it right:

"An official statement from the Romney campaign did not refer to his latest comments, but indicated that between now and the election Mr. Romney’s schedule would deëmphasize events where he might be called upon to open his mouth."

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2012/09/attacked-on-foreign-policy-romney-cites-his-moneys-experience-abroad.html#ixzz26MmTcFw2

Creating A More Congenial Reality

.....or at least one that fits your politics

Rush Limbaugh, the Oracle of the Right, came out today with the most convoluted tirade he's done in a while: Obama and his team are using FACTS to suppress the voters in the upcoming election.

"So now it’s not a referendum on Obama. It’s a choice between two guys, which means, of course, whatever Romney says matters. I’m here to tell you, folks, you have got to stay bucked up. The effort to depress you and keep you home, I’ve never seen it like this before in my life."
http://www.politicususa.com/rush-limbaugh-claims-obama-facts-polls-suppress-republican-vote.html

That would seem to fit in with the Romney team which announced last week that they were NOT going to let their campaign be "dictated by fact checkers." Yes..they only put a damper on things....

I read an interesting article that seems to put in perspective this alternative reality seemingly accepted without question on the Right. Republicans would not be Republicans today without it.

"My old Republican worldview was flawed because it was based upon a small and particularly rosy sliver of reality.  To preserve that worldview, I had to believe that people had morally earned their “just” desserts, and I had to ignore those whining liberals who tried to point out that the world didn’t actually work that way.  I think this shows why Republicans put so much effort into “ creat[ing] our own reality ,” into fostering distrust of liberals, experts, scientists, and academics, and why they won’t let a campaign “ be dictated by fact-checkers ” (as a Romney pollster put it).  It explains why study after study shows -- examples here, here, and here -- that avid consumers of Republican-oriented media are more poorly informed than people who use other news sources or don’t bother to follow the news at all."

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/political-awakening-republican-i-had-viewed-whole-swaths-country-and-world-second?page=0%2C0

Aside from all the headaches this creates for the voters in this election, it also creates a more dire problem in the long run: too many people rely on the media to give them background on which they will base their decisions. OR they just sit there, soak in all the mistruths, and perpetuate the falsehoods.

"Whether all this helps the Republican Party in 2012 is of less consequence than the larger danger it poses to America. Democracy cannot thrive when truth becomes irrelevant. To the contrary, history teaches that this is how demagogues take root."

http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/reich/article/How-Republicans-reinforce-campaign-of-lies-3850026.php

Ah, The "Europeanization" Of America..

Wow, things got a little heated over at Morning Joe this morning. I'm sure you've seen the discussion. But one point I want to bring up is this:

The MSNBC host Chris Matthews criticized Mitt Romney’s birther joke, his consistant claims that Obama imported his domestic policies, and argued that the campaign has sought to foreignize the president. Priebus defended the party by claiming that Obama’s health and economic policies are European, but Matthews quickly dismissed the claim.
(jump)

PRIEBUS: But I think Obama’s policies have created a sense that for whatever reason, he’s looking to guidance [from Europe] as far as health care is concerned, as far as our spending is concerned 

PRIEBUS: You don’t think the take-over of our health care system called Obamacare is a problem for most Americans?

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/08/27/747131/chris-matthews-confronts-rnc-chairman-obama-being-a-foreigner-is-the-thing-your-party-has-been-pushing/

Well, to me that seems a bit disingenuous, seeing as how both Romney's plan and the President's are the same. Even people on the Right say so: 

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/greghengler/2012/03/27/advisor_for_romneycare_and_obamacare_theyre_the_same 

The Obama administration may have relied much more heavily on Romney’s Massachusetts healthcare legislation as a blueprint for Obamacare than was previously believed.

http://michellemalkin.com/2012/01/26/confirmed-romneycare-obamacare/

Maybe Mr. Romney picked up some pointers when he was spending those three years in France, on a missionary trip of course, NOT being drafted into the American military.

http://2012.republican-candidates.org/Romney/Military.php

 Chris Matthews was also right on the whole theme of Romney team pushing the "otherness/class/racist" theme against Obama:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/27/mitt-romney-welfare-waivers_n_1832871.html

UPDATE:
I guess I was wrong about Mitt having a"gay" old time over there in France. CNN just set this straight:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/page/283670_-CNN_Airs_The_Most_Ridiculous_