Friday, August 31, 2012

Republican 2012 Convention Highlights

 Republican 2012 Convention

Christie mentions Romney only six times in his 2600 word Keynote address.

Phil Archuletta, New Mexico businessman, Blasts Government For Not Giving Him More Money

Two RNC Attendees Call Black Camerawoman 'Animal,' Throw Nuts At Her

Clint Eastwood ... "drifted wildly off-script, addressed an empty chair, put words in the mouth of an invisible “president” rambled for 11 minutes, drove event organizers to drink and in the process totally, irrevocably heisted the entire week."

 Old Man Yells at Chair

Important Things Romney didn't mention: Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Financial Reform, Climate Change, Romneycare, Immigration, Social Security, Veterans


GOP Fiction vs The Facts
Romney pollster Neil Newhouse

Republican Liars

GOP Fiction: President Obama believes business owners owe their success to government -- saying “if you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that.” -- Repeated endlessly by Fox News, Crossroads GPS, and most of the speakers at the convention, including; Party Chairman Reince Priebus, Keynote Speaker Chris Christie, and Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan.

The Facts:  Obama's words were taken completely out of context. His complete statement: "Look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something—there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business—you didn’t build that." -- President Obama

GOP Fiction: "The centerpiece of the President's entire re-election campaign is attacking success." -- Mitt Romney

The Facts:  This is based on another variation of the "you didn't build that" creative editing of Obama's remarks.

GOP Fiction: "Unlike President Obama, I will not raise taxes on the middle class." -- Mitt Romney

The Facts: Obama has not raised taxes on the middle class. The president has actually signed into law several tax cuts, including the payroll tax cut and the Making Work Pay tax credit. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, Romney's tax plan would increase the tax burden on middle- and low-income Americans if it is to be revenue neutral, as Romney promises.

GOP Fiction: "His trillion-dollar cuts to our military will eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs, and also put our security at greater risk." -- Mitt Romney

The Facts: Those are not Obama's cuts. They were agreed to by both Democrats and Republicans. The cuts are set to go into effect in January, unless lawmakers can agree on an alternate way to cut spending. As for cuts putting "our security at greater risk" the US is spending more on its military than the next 19 biggest spending nations combined but Republicans still make this claim whenever any cuts are proposed.

GOP Fiction: "I will begin my presidency with a jobs tour. President Obama began with an apology tour." -- Mitt Romney

The Facts: Fact checkers have "tracked down every statement Obama uttered that partisans claim was an apology, and concluded that each one had been misquoted or taken out of context." Despite earning Four Pinocchios for months, Romney keeps saying this.

GOP Fiction: "This summer (Obama) showed us once again he believes in government handouts and dependency by waiving the work requirement for welfare." -- Rick Santorum

The Facts: The administration did not waive the work requirement. Both Republican and Democrat governors asked for some flexibility in reporting. To be eligible for a waiver, governors must commit that their plans will move at least 20 percent more people from welfare to work.

GOP Fiction: "It Began With A Perfect Triple-A Credit Rating For The United States; It Ends With A Downgraded America." -- Paul Ryan

The Facts: It was the possibility that America would default on its debts that led to the downgrade. Republicans refused to raise the debt ceiling, playing chicken not just with the nations’ credit rating but the whole economy.

GOP Fiction:  "And the biggest, coldest power play of all in Obamacare came at the expense of the elderly. ... So they just took it all away from Medicare. Seven hundred and sixteen billion dollars, funneled out of Medicare by President Obama." -- Paul Ryan

The Facts: Ryan's own plan called for taking the same amount of money from Medicare, as well as reducing the program's spending even more by shifting future retirees into a voucher system with diminishing payments.

GOP Fiction: "The stimulus was a case of political patronage, corporate welfare and cronyism at their worst. You, the working men and women of this country, were cut out of the deal." -- Paul Ryan

The Facts: 1/4 of the stimulus funds went to pay for tax cuts. Ryan himself asked for stimulus funds shortly after Congress approved the $800 billion plan.

GOP Fiction: "A lot of guys I went to high school with worked at that GM plant. Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said: 'I believe that if our government is there to support you ... this plant will be here for another hundred years.' That's what he said in 2008. Well, as it turned out, that plant didn't last another year." -- Paul Ryan

The Facts: This plant is in Ryan's own district, he did nothing to try and keep it open, and he falsely blames Obama for the plant closing. The plant halted production in December 2008, weeks before Obama took office.

GOP Fiction: Obama "created a bipartisan debt commission. They came back with an urgent report. He thanked them, sent them on their way and then did exactly nothing." -- Paul Ryan

The Facts: An August 14 Bloomberg article noted that Ryan "was a pivotal figure in killing the 2010 Bowles-Simpson agreement," pointing out that "Ryan led a bloc of three House Republicans who denied the additional votes needed" to send the plan to Congress for a vote.

GOP Fiction: "Mitt Romney will tell us the hard truths we need to hear to end the torrent of debt that is compromising our future and burying our economy" -- Chris Christie

The Facts: So far, Romney has done nothing but make vague promises of future cuts. His campaign manifesto is almost completely devoid of the "hard truths" Christie promises.

GOP Fiction: "China manipulates its currency, giving it an unfair trade advantage. So why doesn't the president do something about it?" -- Rob Portman

The Facts: Under Portman's watch, the U.S. trade deficit with China soared by 25 percent in 2005, and the next year it climbed more than 15 percent. In contrast, the trade deficit rose 10 percent over the first three years of Obama's presidency.