2012 US General Election Discussions: Start to Finish

Toughy · 03-09-2012, 10:28 PM

this is such a catchy little tune

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment...on-goes-viral/

Kobi · 04-12-2012, 07:34 PM

Two of the nation's leading anti-abortion-rights groups rallied behind Mitt Romney on Thursday following the exit of Rick Santorum from the presidential race.

The Susan B. Anthony (SBA) List and the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) both endorsed Romney's candidacy, burnishing the former governor's credentials with conservatives. SBA had previously endorsed Santorum, while the NRLC had taken a wait-and-see approach out of fear of weakening the eventual nominee.

Romney supported abortion rights during his 2002 campaign for governor, but has worked to convince Republicans he had a genuine change of heart in 2004.

"Now is the time to unite behind Gov. Romney in order to defeat the most ideologically pro-abortion president in our nation's history," SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement announcing her board's unanimous decision to get behind Romney. "The SBA List is proud to endorse Gov. Romney and plans to spend $10 [million] to $12 million in Senate and presidential battleground states mobilizing pro-life voters to ensure victory."

Dannenfelser went on to cite several of Romney's pledges: to defund Planned Parenthood, restore the ban on federal funding for nonprofit groups that perform or promote abortion, support legislation to ban abortions after 20 weeks, appoint conservative judges to the federal bench and select an anti-abortion-rights vice president.

The National Right to Life Committee also endorsed Romney at a press conference Thursday morning, citing the healthcare reform law — which Romney has vowed to repeal — as opening the door to taxpayer funding for abortion and "rationing of life-saving medical care." Democrats dispute both those charges.

"On pro-life issues, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama provide a stark contrast," National Right to Life President Carol Tobias said Thursday. "As the country's most pro-abortion president, Barack Obama has pursued a radical pro-abortion agenda. It is now time for pro-life Americans to unite behind Mitt Romney. For the sake of unborn children, the disabled and the elderly, we must win."

Pro-abortion rights groups argued the endorsements would only help build support for Obama among women in battleground states.

"So much for the idea that Romney will try to move to the middle in the general election," NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan said in a statement. "If he thought he had problems with women voters before, today's news only makes it worse."

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch...omponent&page=

AtLast · 04-16-2012, 03:07 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...ys-tax-return-

Mitt Romney’s tax return problem

Posted by Chris Cillizza at 03:09 PM ET, 04/16/2012

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney announced late Friday that he had sought an extension to file his 2011 tax returns, the newest piece of evidence of the political problem those documents have and will continue to cause him in his presidential bid.

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney waves after speaking at the National Rifle Association convention in St. Louis, Friday, April 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)“Sometime in the next six months, and prior to the election, Gov. Romney will file and release the 2011 return when there is sufficient information to provide an accurate return,” said spokeswoman Andrea Saul in a statement that arrived in the Fix email inbox at 5:16 pm on Friday night. (Hello, Friday news dump!)
The truth of the matter is that Romney is in a damned if he does/damned if he doesn’t situation when it comes to his tax returns.

For their part, the Romney campaign insists that the postponement of his filing has nothing to do with political timing and everything to do with the fact that some of the companies in which he invested have yet to report their earnings — making it impossible for him to calculate his income.

Looking back at how the tax return issue played out in the Republican presidential primary, it’s clear the political danger that the tax return issue poses for Romney. Romney clearly had zero interest in releasing his tax returns during the heat of the nomination fight but after a loss in South Carolina and considerable pressure from his opponents to disclose his income, Romney bowed to the political inevitable.

While releasing the returns lanced the immediate political boil for Romney, the fact that he had made $42 million without earning any income in 2009 or 2010, had a Swiss bank account and paid a tax rate of just 13.9 percent reinforced the “Romney as other” narrative that his opponents — Republican and Democrat — were pushing.

It also marked perhaps Romney’s low ebb in the race — he righted the ship with a win in Florida on Jan. 31 — and likely reinforced to his campaign that there is no political benefit to releasing his returns any time soon.
Of course, Democrats see the Romney tax return issue as a major opportunity to cast him as insufficiently transparent, begging the question of what exactly Romney is hiding.
Seeking to ramp up the pressure, President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden both released their 2011 tax returns on Friday. New York Sen. Chuck Schumer held a conference call today pushing the idea of Romney as anti-transparency. A new ad from Priorities USA Action, the main super PAC supporting President Obama, makes mention of the fact that Romney made $21 million in 2010. And so on and so forth.

Campaign politics being what it is, Democrats will keep up that tax return drumbeat against Romney for the foreseeable future. It’s an issue that fits perfectly into the narrative that President Obama’s reelection campaign wants to tell about the former Massachusetts governor: That he is a member of the wealthiest sliver of American society, and, therefore, hopelessly out of touch with what average people need or want.

The Romney campaign is not dumb. They know that Romney will take incoming from Democrats every single day between now and when he released the returns. (They are trying to push back too — noting that Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz is refusing to release her own tax returns.)

But, they also know that the week after he became — for all intents and purposes — the Republican presidential nominee is not the time to release his tax returns and give up the momentum they are trying to build. (Perhaps an early sign of that momentum: the first Gallup general election tracking poll released today has Romney at 47 percent to Obama’s 45 percent.)
The campaign’s vagueness about when they might release the returns is intentional. It gives them considerable wiggle room to pick the right time — aka when no one is around or paying attention to politics — to put the returns out. (Early August, anyone?)

Put simply: The Romney team knows that the candidate’s tax returns are a political loser for them. The best way to deal with losing issues is minimize them to the greatest extent possible. Filing for an extension — whether that was by necessity or born of political calculation — to release his returns allows Romney to handpick that moment.

UofMfan · 04-17-2012, 07:35 AM

How Gender Identity May Determine the Right to Vote in 2012

AtLast · 04-18-2012, 09:26 PM

Mitt Romney Chats With Real Americans Who Agree That Raising Taxes May Be 'Necessary' |

ThinkProgress

http://inagist.com/all/192621102697168896/

Watch his face as these middle class Rebublicans, mainly teachers talk to him about the "fat has been cut"- listen to his "yeah."

Reader · 05-10-2012, 08:01 PM

It seems like many so-called pro-life folks really are only pro-birth. They don't really seem very pro-life after said babies are born (they often support cutting programs for kids, they're pro-death penalty, etc.)

Also, I often wonder if some of the pro-life folks are only pro-life for certain babies...meaning those babies who look like them.

AtLast · 05-14-2012, 04:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hunter Green

It seems like many so-called pro-life folks really are only pro-birth. They don't really seem very pro-life after said babies are born (they often support cutting programs for kids, they're pro-death penalty, etc.)

Also, I often wonder if some of the pro-life folks are only pro-life for certain babies...meaning those babies who look like them.

True. I get so tired of these idiots

03-09-2012, 10:28 PM	#1
Toughy Senior Member How Do You Identify?: pervert butch feminist woman Preferred Pronoun?: see above Relationship Status: independent entity Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Oakland Posts: 1,826 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 4,068 Thanked 7,653 Times in 1,522 Posts Rep Power: 21474853	this is such a catchy little tune http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment...on-goes-viral/ __________________ We are everywhere We are different I do not care if resistance is futile I will not assimilate www.butchfemmesocials.com/

04-12-2012, 07:34 PM	#2
Kobi Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: Biological female. Lesbian. Relationship Status: Happy Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Hanging out in the Atlantic. Posts: 9,234 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 9,840 Thanked 34,630 Times in 7,640 Posts Rep Power: 21474861	Anti-abortion-rights groups rally behind Romney's campaign Two of the nation's leading anti-abortion-rights groups rallied behind Mitt Romney on Thursday following the exit of Rick Santorum from the presidential race. The Susan B. Anthony (SBA) List and the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) both endorsed Romney's candidacy, burnishing the former governor's credentials with conservatives. SBA had previously endorsed Santorum, while the NRLC had taken a wait-and-see approach out of fear of weakening the eventual nominee. Romney supported abortion rights during his 2002 campaign for governor, but has worked to convince Republicans he had a genuine change of heart in 2004. "Now is the time to unite behind Gov. Romney in order to defeat the most ideologically pro-abortion president in our nation's history," SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement announcing her board's unanimous decision to get behind Romney. "The SBA List is proud to endorse Gov. Romney and plans to spend $10 [million] to $12 million in Senate and presidential battleground states mobilizing pro-life voters to ensure victory." Dannenfelser went on to cite several of Romney's pledges: to defund Planned Parenthood, restore the ban on federal funding for nonprofit groups that perform or promote abortion, support legislation to ban abortions after 20 weeks, appoint conservative judges to the federal bench and select an anti-abortion-rights vice president. The National Right to Life Committee also endorsed Romney at a press conference Thursday morning, citing the healthcare reform law — which Romney has vowed to repeal — as opening the door to taxpayer funding for abortion and "rationing of life-saving medical care." Democrats dispute both those charges. "On pro-life issues, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama provide a stark contrast," National Right to Life President Carol Tobias said Thursday. "As the country's most pro-abortion president, Barack Obama has pursued a radical pro-abortion agenda. It is now time for pro-life Americans to unite behind Mitt Romney. For the sake of unborn children, the disabled and the elderly, we must win." Pro-abortion rights groups argued the endorsements would only help build support for Obama among women in battleground states. "So much for the idea that Romney will try to move to the middle in the general election," NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan said in a statement. "If he thought he had problems with women voters before, today's news only makes it worse." http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch...omponent&page= __________________

04-16-2012, 03:07 PM	#3
AtLast Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: Woman Preferred Pronoun?: HER - SHE Relationship Status: Relating Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: CA & AZ I'm a Snowbird Posts: 5,408 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 11,826 Thanked 10,827 Times in 3,199 Posts Rep Power: 21474857	Romney files extension for 2011 taxes http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...ys-tax-return- Mitt Romney’s tax return problem Posted by Chris Cillizza at 03:09 PM ET, 04/16/2012 Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney announced late Friday that he had sought an extension to file his 2011 tax returns, the newest piece of evidence of the political problem those documents have and will continue to cause him in his presidential bid. Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney waves after speaking at the National Rifle Association convention in St. Louis, Friday, April 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)“Sometime in the next six months, and prior to the election, Gov. Romney will file and release the 2011 return when there is sufficient information to provide an accurate return,” said spokeswoman Andrea Saul in a statement that arrived in the Fix email inbox at 5:16 pm on Friday night. (Hello, Friday news dump!) The truth of the matter is that Romney is in a damned if he does/damned if he doesn’t situation when it comes to his tax returns. For their part, the Romney campaign insists that the postponement of his filing has nothing to do with political timing and everything to do with the fact that some of the companies in which he invested have yet to report their earnings — making it impossible for him to calculate his income. Looking back at how the tax return issue played out in the Republican presidential primary, it’s clear the political danger that the tax return issue poses for Romney. Romney clearly had zero interest in releasing his tax returns during the heat of the nomination fight but after a loss in South Carolina and considerable pressure from his opponents to disclose his income, Romney bowed to the political inevitable. While releasing the returns lanced the immediate political boil for Romney, the fact that he had made $42 million without earning any income in 2009 or 2010, had a Swiss bank account and paid a tax rate of just 13.9 percent reinforced the “Romney as other” narrative that his opponents — Republican and Democrat — were pushing. It also marked perhaps Romney’s low ebb in the race — he righted the ship with a win in Florida on Jan. 31 — and likely reinforced to his campaign that there is no political benefit to releasing his returns any time soon. Of course, Democrats see the Romney tax return issue as a major opportunity to cast him as insufficiently transparent, begging the question of what exactly Romney is hiding. Seeking to ramp up the pressure, President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden both released their 2011 tax returns on Friday. New York Sen. Chuck Schumer held a conference call today pushing the idea of Romney as anti-transparency. A new ad from Priorities USA Action, the main super PAC supporting President Obama, makes mention of the fact that Romney made $21 million in 2010. And so on and so forth. Campaign politics being what it is, Democrats will keep up that tax return drumbeat against Romney for the foreseeable future. It’s an issue that fits perfectly into the narrative that President Obama’s reelection campaign wants to tell about the former Massachusetts governor: That he is a member of the wealthiest sliver of American society, and, therefore, hopelessly out of touch with what average people need or want. The Romney campaign is not dumb. They know that Romney will take incoming from Democrats every single day between now and when he released the returns. (They are trying to push back too — noting that Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz is refusing to release her own tax returns.) But, they also know that the week after he became — for all intents and purposes — the Republican presidential nominee is not the time to release his tax returns and give up the momentum they are trying to build. (Perhaps an early sign of that momentum: the first Gallup general election tracking poll released today has Romney at 47 percent to Obama’s 45 percent.) The campaign’s vagueness about when they might release the returns is intentional. It gives them considerable wiggle room to pick the right time — aka when no one is around or paying attention to politics — to put the returns out. (Early August, anyone?) Put simply: The Romney team knows that the candidate’s tax returns are a political loser for them. The best way to deal with losing issues is minimize them to the greatest extent possible. Filing for an extension — whether that was by necessity or born of political calculation — to release his returns allows Romney to handpick that moment.

04-18-2012, 09:26 PM	#5
AtLast Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: Woman Preferred Pronoun?: HER - SHE Relationship Status: Relating Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: CA & AZ I'm a Snowbird Posts: 5,408 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 11,826 Thanked 10,827 Times in 3,199 Posts Rep Power: 21474857	You HAVE to view this! Mitt Romney Chats With Real Americans Who Agree That Raising Taxes May Be 'Necessary' \| ThinkProgress http://inagist.com/all/192621102697168896/ Watch his face as these middle class Rebublicans, mainly teachers talk to him about the "fat has been cut"- listen to his "yeah."

04-17-2012, 07:35 AM	#4
UofMfan Infamous Member How Do You Identify?: Butch Relationship Status: A very happy Mr. Grumpy Cat Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Neither here or there Posts: 7,987 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 27,733 Thanked 18,937 Times in 4,705 Posts Rep Power: 21474859	How Gender Identity May Determine the Right to Vote in 2012

05-10-2012, 08:01 PM	#6
Reader Timed Out How Do You Identify?: Butch, Dyke, Feminist, Contrarian Preferred Pronoun?: She, her Relationship Status: Single Join Date: May 2011 Location: New Jersey, The Garden State Posts: 732 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 1,308 Thanked 2,229 Times in 586 Posts Rep Power: 0	It seems like many so-called pro-life folks really are only pro-birth. They don't really seem very pro-life after said babies are born (they often support cutting programs for kids, they're pro-death penalty, etc.) Also, I often wonder if some of the pro-life folks are only pro-life for certain babies...meaning those babies who look like them.