cal04
cal04's JournalObama ad rebuts Romney Medicare ad- "Facts"
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/17/obama-ad-rebuts-romney-medicare-ad/President Barack Obama on Friday released a new television advertisement on Medicare which serves as a rebuttal to a sharp ad his Republican challenger introduced on Tuesday.
The Obama campaign ad issues direct counterpoints to the two issues raised in Mitt Romney's earlier ad – first, that Obama's health care reform has cut billions from Medicare and, second, that the plans supported by the Romney ticket would "strengthen (Medicare) for the next generation."
"You paid in to Medicare for years - every paycheck. Now, when you need it, Obama has cut $716 billion dollars from Medicare," Romney's ad says.
The Obama spot rebuts: "The non-partisan AARP says Obamacare 'cracks down on Medicare fraud, waste, and abuse,' and strengthens guaranteed benefits."
"Facts" - Obama for America TV Ad
Video: Romney shows 'pension for secrecy,' Axelrod says
Obama campaign senior adviser David Axelrod said Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney "has a pension for secrecy" and is holding himself to a different standard by not releasing more years of tax returns.
Following criticism and allegations from Democrats suggesting that the presumptive GOP nominee had not been paying taxes, Romney said Thursday that he has paid no less than 13% in personal income taxes over the past ten years.
"I'll say he's setting an entirely new precedent," said Axelrod when asked by CNN's Piers Morgan if he believes Romney has paid at least a 13% tax rate.
"Governor Romney thinks he can operate under a different set of rules," said Axelrod, noting the precedent set by Romney's father who released 12 years of tax returns in his unsuccessful run for the White House in 1968. "He has a sense of entitlement that he doesn't have to operate under the same set of rules that presidential candidates have for decades."
video at link
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/16/video-romney-shows-pension-for-secrecy-axelrod-says/
President Obama steps up portrayal of Romney, Ryan as out of touch with middle America
President Obama left an unmistakable impression on his first campaign swing since the selection of Rep. Paul Ryan as Republican Mitt Romney’s running mate: His play for the middle is getting personal.
While the airwaves hum with nasty attacks from both tickets, the president is intensifying a subtle but clear attempt to portray himself as the regular guy of this campaign — and to cast Ryan (R-Wis.) and Romney as out of step with all but the most far-right and wealthiest Americans.
(snip)
“We understand what our parents and our grandparents and our great-grandparents taught us — if you work hard, this is the country to be,” Obama said in Waterloo. “You may meet some barriers some times, there may be some hurdles, but you can’t be stopped when you decide on something. And that’s what’s at stake in this election. Do we affirm those values and pass them on to our kids and our grandkids just like we got them from our parents and our grandparents?”
(snip)
“He is an articulate spokesman for Governor Romney’s vision,” Obama said of Ryan in Dubuque. “I just happen to fundamentally disagree with his vision. My opponent and his friends in Congress, they believe that if you just get rid of more regulations on big corporations and big banks, and then you give more tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans, that that will automatically lead to jobs and prosperity for ordinary families. And I’m not exaggerating here, that’s their basic economic plan.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-steps-up-portrayal-of-romney-ryan-as-out-of-touch-with-middle-america/2012/08/16/12f19aa2-e7b2-11e1-8487-64e4b2a79ba8_story.html?wprss=rss_politics
Ryan says his letters in support of stimulus 'should have been handled differently'
Vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan responded Thursday to his previous statements that he had not requested stimulus funding after reports emerged that he had sent letters to federal agencies in support of stimulus grant requests made by a Wisconsin non-profit.
Ryan, who represents Wisconsin in Congress, denied that he had requested stimulus monies in an interview this week with an Ohio television station as well as in a 2010 radio interview, statements which were contradictory to the letters he wrote as well as his opposition to the stimulus program.
In a paper statement on Thursday, Ryan said, "After having these letters called to my attention I checked into them, and they were treated as constituent service requests in the same way matters involving Social Security or Veterans Affairs are handled.
"This is why I didn't recall the letters earlier, he continued. "But they should have been handled differently, and I take responsibility for that. Regardless, it's clear that the Obama stimulus did nothing to stimulate the economy, and now the President is asking to do it all over again."
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/16/ryan-says-his-letters-in-support-of-stimulus-should-have-been-handled-differently/
Texas Lawmakers Latest To Cut Ties With ALEC
Source: Huffington Post
Thirteen Texas state legislators -- 10 Republicans and three Democrats -- became on Thursday the most recent in a stream of lawmakers to sever ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a corporate-funded organization that offers right-wing model legislation to member lawmakers across the nation.
The latest wave of departures comes in addition to the 12 other Texas legislators who left ALEC April of this year. As of Thursday, no Democratic lawmakers in the state are members of the organization, according to Progress Texas, an organization that lobbies against ALEC's influence in the state.
"These legislators have shown the courage of their convictions by standing up to a corporate bill factory and declaring their support for the people of Texas above all else," Matt Glazer, executive director of Progress Texas, said in a statement.
ALEC has come under fire for providing model bills that would, among other things, defund unions and decrease their influence, gut environmental regulations, privatize public schools and increase incarceration at the the behest of the private prison industry.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/16/thirteen-texas-legislators-cut-ties-with-alec_n_1791283.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003
Obama campaign says Ryan forced to flip flop on Medicare
The Obama campaign said that Paul Ryan “flip flopped” on the issue of Medicare now that the Romney campaign is accusing President Obama of reducing Medicare spending in the same way Ryan had proposed in his budget.
On a conference call with reporters, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Ryan’s Democratic counterpart atop the House Budget Committee, noted that the president’s health care plan cut more than $700 billion mostly out of the Medicare Advantage program, which affected insurance companies and hospitals rather than beneficiaries.
But Ryan’s budget plan also calls for the same spending reductions, even though Romney is now accusing Obama of “raiding” Medicare by instituting the cuts and has said he would restore the spending.
“It’s kind of sad to see Congressman Ryan be forced to flip flop on this issue by Gov. Romney,” Van Hollen said on the call.
http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/16/13320646-obama-campaign-says-ryan-forced-to-flip-flop-on-medicare
Obama camp posts Mitt’s Medicare whiteboard — corrected
http://www.barackobama.com/romney/medicare-white-board
https://twitter.com/evanmc_s
We Need a Bumper Sticker
Nevada Dem House Candidates Take Aim At Ryan Budget
Nevada Democrats running for House seats plan to make Paul Ryan's plan to privatize Medicare a top issue in their campaigns, they told reporters in a conference call Thursday.
"The Ryan budget is now the defining issue of this election" said state House Speaker John Oceguera, who is running against Republican Rep. Joe Heck. "My opponent voted for the Ryan budget that would give more budget busting tax cuts to millionaires, at the expense of medicare."
State Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, who is running for the state's new 4th District called Ryan's plan "dangerous."
And former Rep. Dina Titus, who is running for the open seat of Senate candidate Shelley Berkley, said Romney is now inextricably linked to the plan: "He now owns these positions, and he now owns the cuts that are in that Ryan budget. The more he attempts to explain them, the worse they sound."
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/nevada-dem-house-candidates-take-aim-at-ryan
Romney Wouldn't Have 'Moved Heaven and Earth' to Kill Bin Laden
Jon Soltz
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-soltz/-romney-wouldnt-have-move_b_1790850.html?utm_source=Alert-blogger&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Email%2BNotifications
I think back to Mitt Romney, in 2007, saying it wasn't "worth moving heaven and earth" to get Osama bin Laden, and the Iraq veteran in me thanks God he wasn't president these past few years.
For those wondering, that's not a made-up quote. Romney said it in an interview with the Associated Press. It's clear that Romney would have become just as disinterested in killing Osama bin Laden as George W. Bush had become. President Bush, of course, said, "I really don't spend that much time thinking about [bin Laden]."
I bring this up, because I think we've all heard about this new right-wing video that attacks President Obama for leading a successful operation, as Commander in Chief, that killed Osama bin Laden. It's somewhat funny, because we all know if the mission was a failure, the right wing would say the president was responsible for the whole thing. But now that the mission was a success, he doesn't deserve any credit. The right can't have it both ways. But more importantly, they can't run away from Mitt Romney.
There's little doubt. If Mitt Romney was president, Osama bin Laden may very well be alive today. And Romney wouldn't much care, because it wasn't worth moving heaven and earth to get the guy, anyway. There is another part of that quote, though, that is equally as troubling. Romney said it wasn't worth moving heaven and earth, or "spending billions of dollars."
Seven Tax Return Questions Mitt Romney Left Unanswered Today
Mitt Romney said on Thursday on the campaign trail that he never paid less than a 13 percent tax rate, adding that continued calls for him to release his tax returns are “small-minded.” “I did go back and look at my taxes, and over the past 10 years I never paid less than 13 percent,” he said. “And if you add in addition the amount that goes to charity, why the number gets well above 20 percent.”
Leaving aside that Romney expects everyone to simply take his word for it that this is true, there are still many questions that can’t be answered without seeing Romney’s tax returns. Here are seven:
1) What kind of taxes?
2) What sort of deductions did Romney employ?
3) How did Romney’s IRA grow so large
4) What sort of offshore tax strategies does Romney use?
5) Was Romney’s Swiss bank account disclosed on all tax returns for all years?
6) Did Romney participate in the IRS’s settlement initiative for undeclared offshore financial accounts (the amnesty)?
7) Why did Romney invest in Houston rental real estate that was explicitly marketed as a tax shelter?
explanations at link
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/08/16/700611/romney-seve-tax-return-questions/
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