I’m tired of the neutrality of the media and the lazy, uninformed masses that feed off of it. They actually believe that it’s always a fair case on each side of any argument, because that’s how the media always portrays it. God forbid they actually do research and find out if one side is being truthful or not. On one side, 80% of the American people, on the other, a couple of insanely rich guys. On one side, every scientist in the world, on the other, Mr. Potato head. Both sides may have conflicting points, but they’re equally valid sides of the argument!
Bullshit. The only valid side of any argument is one that can be measured up against the facts and still hold up. The media won’t do it for us any more for fear of losing access or appearing bias. This leaves it up to the average lazy American who just doesn’t care, either because they see all politicians as equally corrupt and immoral or because they’re on team Republican or team Democrat, and both sides are equally valid, right?
If you’ve been reading my site for a while you know I haven’t gone a week for a while without covering some asinine new story about Romney’s horrible campaign. Frankly, I’ve had about as much as I can take, and so I was inspired to make this graphic comparing the most prevalent and frequent criticisms of Romney and Obama from progressives and conservatives respectively.
Click for full resolution, and see below for a text version with fuller explanations and sources.
Progressives’ most prevalent criticisms of Mitt Romney:
Was President, CEO, Chairman of the Board, and sole owner of Bain Capital when the company profited from cutting and outsourcing thousands of American jobs and profited from abortion, which Romney then tried to cover up by lying about the time frame in which he managed the company
Highly hypocritical, inconsistent, and contradictory policy positions (i.e. horrible flip-flopper). There are just too many stories to cite you about this one including, but not limited to, abortion, gay marriage, the health care mandate, illegal immigration, and many more issues, so I’d encourage everyone just read some of my previous articles about him to get the general idea (The Multi-Million Dollar Penny Drops, Romney’s Bainful Campaign, and Brace Yourself).
Insults and offends many foreign nations and cultures, both rival and allies alike.
Believes corporations are people with the same unalienable rights as American citizens
Openly supports further legalization and protections for political bribery
Bullied fellow LGBT (looking) students in his youth, shows no signs of remorse or acknowledgement of what he did was wrong in his adult life, and even took actions to stop anti-bullying legislation specifically for LGBT youth from being passed when Governor.
Committed animal abuse. I know, I know, some of you are probably crying foul, but there have been multiple stories where people have been stopped by police for doing the same thing and judges have indicated that Romney’s treatment of his family dog probably could have constituted animal abuse charges.
Impersonated a police officer (state trooper, to be exact) while in college on multiple occasions to pull people over on the highway just for fun, which constitutes a felony.
Possibly lied to the Securities and Exchange Commission about when he managed Bain Capital, which is a felony.
If he didn’t lie to the SEC, then he’s lying to the American people and possibly on official Presidential forms, which is also a felony
Possibly committed voter fraud by being registered to vote in multiple states simultaneously without holding residence in them, another felony
Possibly committed massive tax evasion, which could involve more felonies
Refuses to release tax returns even after massive pressure to do so. Romney’s tax returns are the only way of clearing his name of most of the above crimes. His refusal to do so indicates he has something to hide.
Total legitimate criminal accusations – five, at least; Lying to the SEC, lying on Presidential forms, voter fraud, animal abuse, and various forms of illegal tax evasion
Conservatives’ most prevalent criticisms of Barack Obama
After three and a half years of being President he still hasn’t cleaned up the economic catastrophe created by eight years of Republican policies and officials. Seriously, think about it; even Republicans acknowledge that Obama didn’t start this economic mess. It hasn’t gotten better yet, but it certainly hasn’t gotten dramatically worse, especially when you consider how much of the damage to our economy has been “bleeding” since before Obama took office, and he simply hasn’t repaired it yet due to both Republican opposition and his disturbingly high levels of trust in the establishment and many of those responsible for creating it. I dedicated an entire article to specific numbers and data on this in the past, and am very proud of it, so I would encourage everyone to check it out for more information (Barack Obama Myth Busting).
He’s too hostile towards big business and Wall Street. This one is asinine. Wall Street is still taking all the crazy risks they want, are making record profits, and are sitting on trillions of dollars in cash that they aren’t using to create jobs at all. Virtually all of the major attack ads against Obama trying to show him as hostile towards business are extremely edited to the point of it being just insulting for any half-way decent journalist to cover as legitimate. To put the shoe on the other foot, if we consider the videos of Obama being supposedly anti-business (at least all the ones I’ve seen) as legitimate, we would also have to consider this video valid:
Or, to put it more simply:
He wasn’t born in America (birtherism, which has already been defeated by at least one judge and many, primarily Hawaiian, legal officials)
Total legitimate criminal accusations – one: counterfeiting a birth certificate to file for the presidency, which a judge and many legal experts have already agreed is a completely baseless accusation.
Just like I wrote in the picture, given this, you tell me; whose concerns seem more valid? Which voter base seems more contained and logical, and which one seems to act more on visceral emotion? Just think about it for a little while, and share this picture!
As a side note, this will be my only post this week. Like I mentioned in my last piece, I’m somewhat on vacation this week on and off (still working two and a half days right in the middle of the week) and plan to spend what little free time I do have relaxing. Still, thanks for reading!
Ever hear the phrase “penny in the air?” and “the penny drops?” Well, thanks to Doctor Who, I have. From phrases.org.uk, it’s used to indicate a belated realization. For example, “I sat and thought for a moment and then the penny dropped.” Well, after all this time, it looks like the penny is finally dropping for Republicans about the fact that they’ve nominated Mitt Romney, Mr. Wall Street and the poster child for corrupt, sellout politicians, as their candidate for president during the most anti-Wall Street, anti-sellout environment this nation has seen in generations. I’ve been warning Republicans about this from as far back as a year ago, but also as recently as last week. Thanks largely to a new angle of attack, and one particularly powerful attack ad, from the Obama campaign, the message is finally getting through to the Republican Party; you done fucked up son.
Here’s the ad, and Cenk explaining why it’s a homerun:
At first, this may not seem like a big deal. I mean, I hadn’t seen this ad until Cenk’s coverage of it, and there weren’t as many people talking about it as he reported when the story first broke. Cenk goes on to explain, however, just how and why this ad and angle of attack is working. Obama’s campaign has been pushing this attack about Romney’s tax returns, tenure at Bain Capital, and the absurdity of his wealth for a long time now, and it’s finally getting through. How can you tell? The response from Republicans. Veteran Republican strategist John Weaver says Romney is “whining” about Obama being too hard on him, and that he just needs to go ahead and release his damn tax returns. Governor Robert Bentley of Alabama echoed this sentiment, straight up said that Romney is hiding something, and even implied he employs unethical tactics to prevent him, a man worth approximately $250 million, from paying taxes, while us in the middle class pay for a vast majority of both federal and state budgets.
The movement has even spread to the extremely establishment-friendly media, with conservative commentators like Erin Burnett of CNN, one of the biggest defenders of Wall Street on TV, strongly encouraging Romney to just release his tax returns already. Even Bill Kristol, a FOX “News” contributor, said that Romney should just suck it up and release them as fast and painlessly as he can, even though at this point it will be neither he’s delayed so long. If all of them weren’t enough George Will, one of the longest serving conservative political commentator and journalists in America, said the same thing about Romney releasing his tax returns, and worse yet, slammed him for not cleaning up these skeletons in his closet (or in this case, ledger) years ago given how long Romney has been planning this run for President.
That’s only the beginning too. Check out this list of major Republican players all saying Romney needs to release his tax returns.
George Will almost seems of the attitude that whatever political damage befalls Romney from releasing his tax returns at this point is his own damn fault for not taking care of it. I would honestly agree, and add to it a question; with as much power as Romney has, and as educated as he is, how could he have not cleaned up his record before running for President? Surely there was something he could do; money buys you anything in this country!
Which is exactly my second point. In my previous piece, Romney’s Bainful Campaign, I wrote briefly about how recently surfaced documents drew into question when exactly Romney was in charge at Bain Capital. At the time, I, nor did most people, truly understand the depth and significance of this discovery. Romney was still officially listed as CEO, President, Chairman of the Board, and sole owner of Bain Capital long past 1999, when he says he retired, has been telling the American people he retired, and as he has been filling out in various Presidential forms. Obviously, it’s bad enough that he’s been lying about this in interviews and the media, but at least Obama busted him on that with the attack ad I linked above. What’s more important than that though is that lying on federal documents, be they the ones filed under the SEC that state Romney was in charge of Bain beyond 1999 or his various Presidential documentation he has or will fill out stating the opposite, is a felony punishable with jail time. Romney’s tax returns, assuming he was being honest on the SEC documentation that states he was still in control of Bain past 1999, would reveal the truth and be damning evidence against him for committing an actual crime. For him, keeping them secret has gone far beyond mere political damage control.
Then there’s the fact that everything Romney’s critics have been accusing him of all turn out to be true now. Things like the massive loss of jobs, outsourcing, and profiting from abortion all happened while Romney was in charge of the company. Before now, he has dismissed such attacks by simply telling the American people he had resigned as CEO of Bain in early 1999. This turned out to be one huge lie on which he has been stone-cold busted. Like every other commentator in America is now saying, from mega liberals to conservative nut jobs, I have to chime in and agree; just release your damn tax returns Mitt. If you don’t, people will know you’re hiding something and lying to us without an inkling of regret or second thought. Even your friends at FOX and the extremely establishment friendly mainstream media are criticizing you for not doing so now; it’ll just get worse from them if you don’t! If you’re worried about going to jail for lying on federal documents, you don’t have to! Since when do we arrest the rich in this country?
Here’s Jon Stewart’s breakdown of just what this retirement nonsense means:
It makes you think; just how devastating are those tax returns? I can’t take credit for this, as it’s been going around the web for a while (and I admit, is an exaggeration), but consider this; Romney was a possible choice for McCain’s Vice President in 2008. Romney gave McCain 23 years worth of tax returns in hopes of winning that Vice Presidential slot. After seeing those returns, McCain picked Sarah Palin.
Jesus f^%$ing Christ what’s in those tax returns?
But I’m still not to the most devastating point yet made from this latest controversy. The conversation is starting on whether Romney will still actually be the Republican candidate for President. Now I know, some of you may be thinking “what?” but just keep reading. While I was unfortunately not able to catch The Young Turks on Current TV tonight, they had a panel discussion where they asked if the Republican Party would pull Romney as their official candidate, despite him inarguably winning the primary, in light of these recent developments. It isn’t until the Republican National Convention, which isn’t until August 27th, that the party officially declares their candidate. In modern times, these events are entirely ceremonial and extravagant given that candidates are now chosen through primary elections instead of the political party as an organization, but they weren’t always that way. Officially speaking, parties still have the power to not give a candidate their nomination even if he or she wins the primary, even though that power is a derelict from an ancient, severely out-dated political system. Nonetheless, it is still there, and within the power of the Republican Party to nominate someone completely different from the primary if they really wanted to.
Honestly, I kind of want to see that happen just for the historical value of it. I don’t think Obama could have a better opponent to beat in 2012 than Romney, so saying I want a different candidate could be politically risky, but I’m putting politics aside here. I mean, how would they pick the candidate? Who would pick the candidate? Perhaps most importantly, who the hell would it be? Would they pick the guy that came in second in the primary, like some sort of beauty pageant? I can hear it now; “should Mitt Romney be unable to fulfill his duties as nominee the second runner up will take his place.” But who, really, is the second runner up? Santorum is the most likely candidate, but I promise you if the party establishment is going to shatter precedent so badly as to completely nullify the results of the primary, they won’t be going with someone… well, someone who…
They won’t be going with someone who’s as big of a loser as Santorum. There, that’s what I wanted to say in a nutshell.
There is one guy though; one man who got shockingly close to reach official “candidate” status, which was the guy I’ve been somewhat rooting for all along; Ron Paul. I shared a story on my facebook account last week about how Ron Paul was making a last-ditch effort in Nebraska. See, even though Paul lost in most states at the initial ballot casting, his supporters stayed behind in many states to try and win over the delegates after the votes were cast to convince them to change their votes, which is very much legal. Amazingly, he succeeded in Iowa, Minnesota, Louisiana, and Maine, ultimately winning pluralities in each of those states (i.e. Paul won the primaries of all of those states in the end of the day… but did you hear that on the news?). Had he done the same in Nebraska he would have won a speech at the convention and official “candidate” status, for what little good it is in today’s political world. Despite not winning this official rank, honestly, if anyone can manage to claw and fight and scrap their way back into the candidacy after so long through honest blood, sweat, and tears (as opposed to campaign funds), it’s Ron Paul. If there’s any guy to have a last minute miracle or find some odd semi-legal loophole through which he can still play some sort of roll in the nomination process, it’s Ron Paul.
None of this really matters though. You know as well as I do that it is very unlikely that the Republican Party would do something so unprecedented. They all know the politics of doing so would be horrible, not to mention piss off their base by basically telling them the entire primary was a sham and their votes and opinions don’t count worth dick. Even if Romney is a train wreck, one susceptible to federal investigation or jail time due to fraud, and guilty of possibly some of the worst tax evasion practices ever seen in America, I firmly believe it would be less damaging politically to stick with him than to switch candidates at this late juncture. I mean, it’s not like the Republican Party hasn’t supported absolute shams in the past; just look at James Lankford, or consider my paper bag analogy from my last article. In their little worlds, they believe money can still win out under any circumstances. I honestly did too, until I heard the news of just how devastating this tax return and Bain Capital business is for Romney. I can’t even really call him a paper bag filled with money any more; he’s more like a flaming bag of dog shit that the Republican Party and the ultra wealthy are trying de-odorize and stamp out with massive piles of cash.
No matter how much money you throw into a fire though, it won’t go out. More than likely it will only feed the fire. With Romney’s record as the classic corrupt, tax-evading, sellout, Wall Street, sleaze ball that he is, he may have actually reached a point where getting even more money could do just the same for his political career and only fan the flames of his blatant sellout nature.
Plus, after all, this is the exact same party that just filibustered the DISCLOSE Act, which simply made it law that corporations couldn’t financially support candidates anonymously. It would have required politicians to have an open and honest record about who is donating to them, increasing campaign and government transparency as much as possible in the face of Citizens United. Naturally then, the Republicans had to stop it despite massive public support. Who’s to say they’re not too trapped in their bubble of reality to actually believe Mitt Romney is the best man for the job?
I know what you’re probably thinking though; just a few articles ago I was “bracing myself” for a Romney victory. That was entirely because of his incomprehensibly huge supply of campaign donations he’d be getting, though. He won’t get a chance to tap into that supply if he doesn’t make it as the official candidate, or goes to jail before the election. Of course, both of those are highly unlikely, the latter mind-bogglingly so. Nonetheless, this new line of attack from Obama has me feeling significantly more optimistic about his chances. At the risk of sounding like a Cenk Uygur parrot, I must bring up one final point he mentioned about what we can take away from Obama’s newfound cojones in the political arena. The reason we were all so worried about him losing is because the past three and a half years have been nothing but Obama pussy-futting around the policy and negotiations. He surrendered so easily on issues like budget negotiations, the Bush Tax cuts, civil liberties, and many others, assuming he put up a fight at all. If we’ve learned anything in the past week or two it’s that Obama is more than capable of kicking ass when he really wants to, which came as a massive shock to everyone. This would seem to indicate one thing though; if he can kick such ass so well in the political arena, but only does so when he really wants to, that would imply that all the horrible negotiations in which he overwhelmingly favored Republicans (in some cases giving them 98% of what they want while the Democrats get the crumbs of 2% of what they want) he wanted that outcome. If Obama can be so tough on Republicans, why hasn’t he in the past few years? Does he actually want their proposals, instead of those of his own party base? Obama only just now conveniently finding his will to fight (which is now for the purposes of self-preservation as President, I’m sure) seems to indicate as much.
I’m not here to talk about Obama today though. Romney is quickly on his way down; down so hard and so fast I’ve just had my first “threshold” moment where things change dramatically for me. I saw a picture posted by Dogs Against Romney online today. My initial reaction was entirely instinctual and emotion-driven, as for all means and purposes this quote CANNOT BE CONFIRMED AS AN ACTUAL MITT ROMNEY QUOTE!!! Dogs against Romney simply made it in response to the story about Stericycle, a company purchased by Bain that did do animal testing. But even if they hadn’t used quotation marks, I’m fully aware logically that someone has to do animal testing, and therefore, being humans, we’ll find a way to profit from it and I’m fine with that. So upon more than a single second of thought, to any reasonable person the truth behind this picture isn’t as big of a deal as it makes it sound. Nonetheless, upon seeing this picture, I was pushed through a mental threshold about the 2012 election in my first moment of thinking…
“That’s it. This election is over. I’d like to congratulate Obama on winning a second term.”
Here’s the picture (with the quotation marks removed for clarity. Again, this is not an actual quote from Romney as far as I can tell).
Progressives’ most prevalent criticisms of Mitt Romney:
