"A wise and frugal government which shall restrain men
from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government."
(Thomas Jefferson)


Friday, August 10, 2012

Mitt embraces the shameful 'war on religion' line of attack putting Pope John Paul II in his ad

A political ad by pseudo Republican Romney using Pope John Paul II to attack Obama on the Affordable HealthCare Act (AHA) about contraceptives is so far over the top that I believe it will upset a lot of people.  To use a deceased Pope in a blatantly partisan attack ad on the President paid for and approved by Mitt Romney leads me to question if Romney has one ounce of integrity left.  He even lies about how the AHA works as it does grant exemptions on birth control to religious institutions who don't want to use their money to pay for birth control they oppose.

This new ad with the Pope which is disgusting, deplorable, and leaves one speechless is just the latest in the Romney attack ads that are outright lies.

Romney wants Obama to pull all 'inaccurate' ads  especially the one about the steelworker whose wife died.  You know the one paid for by a Super PAC that by the rules Obama cannot coordinate with?  How dumb does Romney think the Obama camp and its seasoned campaign staff are to even listen to Mitt's attacks on Obama for an ad they had no part in putting on the air.

What Romney should be doing if he is so concerned about 'inaccurate' ads is pulling his own own welfare ad against Obama that was paid for by the Romney campaign and approved by Mitt Romney:
The Romney campaign on Tuesday released a TV ad claiming President Barack Obama "gutted" the 1996 welfare reform law, which changed welfare from a federal entitlement to a program run by states within federal rules.

"Under Obama’s plan, you wouldn’t have to work and wouldn’t have to train for a job," the ad said. "They just send you your welfare check." 
In July, the administration announced states could seek waivers from certain welfare rules if they had ideas for projects that would do a better job of increasing employment among welfare recipients. But states have to apply for the waivers first, and the administration has stressed it would not drop requirements for states that don't promise better work outcomes.
That is so blatantly false it leaves you speechless.  To state outright that Obama has gutted the Welfare Law because of the waivers that some Republican Governors also want is not an inference, it is an outright, bold-faced lie. Obama is trying to put people back to work and let them make a better life for themselves just like President Bush and President Clinton who supported this part of the welfare reform to have people get an education in order to get job or help them find work .  Romney even used Bill Clinton in his attacks on Obama on welfare which was dumb:
“Gov. Romney released an ad today alleging that the Obama administration had weakened the work requirements of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. That is not true,” Clinton said in a statement from his office at the Clinton Foundation released late Tuesday night.
Cannot wait for the Clinton speech at the Democrat Convention -- look for it to be extremely interesting as he does payback to Republicans who impeached him for lying under oath when we have a candidate who is the biggest liar to run for President in my lifetime. The dishonestly of this ad left me speechless until the new one also paid for by the Romney campaign came out last night.

Along comes Newt Gingrich who all day Wednesday gave a strong defense of the the Romney attack ad on welfare against Obama, but then last night had to admit the ad on welfare was false.  Newt didn't stop at admitting the ad was false as he had this to say:
"We have no proof today, but I would say to you under Obama’s ideology it is absolutely true that he would be comfortable sending a lot of people checks for doing nothing," Gingrich told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "I believe that totally."
So now Newt Gingrich can read Obama's mind.  BTW, that admission of Newt only came after the vast majority of the media and even some Republicans who still have common sense declared the welfare ad as false, pants on fire, and the max Pinocchio's.  Newt made sure even though he admitted he was wrong to get in a dig at Obama.  Totally classless.

Thought it couldn't get worse until I received a text last night that I needed to look at the new ad out by the Romney campaign that Romney approved with the note in the text "you are not going to believe" -- they were right as this totally left me speechless along with a very good friend when I told her last night.  She was so speechless that she couldn't believe it was true until she found the ad on Huffington Post.  This morning as I was looking for more information I found this article from the New York Daily News:
Romney (and the Pope?) vs. Obama's contraception mandate
Mitt embraces the shameful 'war on religion' line of attack 
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Thursday, August 9, 2012, 9:52 AM 
I guess it paid to go to Poland. This is a new Romney ad, aimed transparently at Catholics, that fully embraces the shameful line that the Obama administration "declared war on religion" by daring to require large religious employers (not churches, which were always exempt, but hospitals and the like) to provide women birth control under Obamacare. 
Back when this fight was raging, the President altered an original rule to preserve religious institutions' right to refuse to provide the coverage directly, while also protecting the ability of women to get it as part of their health insurance. Under the compromise, health plans will have to provide the benefit as part of the standard suite of preventive services they will be required to offer; the large religious employers themselves won't pay. 
The underlying issue is a legitimate policy dispute, though I side with Obama. The language in the ad is so sickeningly wrong, it's hard to believe Romney believes it. But there he is, approving the message at the end. And there he is exploiting, er, using images of a beloved former Pope to make a most manipulative appeal to Catholic voters. 
Reminder: When, as governor of Massachusetts, Romney was confronted with a similar law -- which had been signed by his predecessor -- he "didn't raise objections on religious or moral grounds, say people who worked in his administration or in health care interest groups there. Rather, he viewed the contraception requirement more in economic terms." (That's according to the Wall Street Journal.) 
Why didn't he focus on religious freedom then? Because this is an overheated charge. But never mind that and convince yourself that our President is at war with Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Mormonism, etc., because he wants employees to get full health benefits. It's a vile and absurd charge. (If health plans offered by the Christian Science Monitor said no blood transfusions, and government said they had to offer them to employees as part of a package of care, would that be an assault on religion? I sure don't think so.) 
This is the game Romney will keep playing: make unsupportable and hypocritical claims, claims even he does not seem to believe, through his perfect teeth. And hope just enough people buy them.

Read more: New York Daily News
There is more about Romney as Governor of Massachusetts which shows he lied during the debates about Romneycare including contraceptives and the morning after pill.  Imagine that Romney lied, but then he never takes responsibility for anything as it is always someone else's fault as he seems to consider himself 'perfect.'  Here are the facts on Romneycare as it pertains to contraceptives and the morning after pill:
Tidbit on Romneycare:
As governor, Romney greatly expanded access publicly-financed contraception through his 2006 health care reform law. The state’s Commonwealth Care, established under Romneycare, offers subsidized, low or no-cost insurance to low-income residents and provides primary and preventive care that includes “family planning services” and prescription contraceptives. In 2005, Romney also “signed a bill that could expand the number of people who get family-planning services, including the morning-after pill” and asked the Department of Health and Human Services to require Catholic hospitals to issue the morning after pill to rape victims. 
In fact, the Obamacare rule Romney is now characterizing as an affront to religious liberties is very similar to a 2002 state law he tacitly supported. Like more than two dozen states across the country, Massachusetts required insurers that provide outpatient benefits to cover hormone replacement therapy and all FDA-approved contraceptive methods — well before Obamacare became law. The Massachusetts rule exempts “an employer that is a church or qualified church-controlled organization” from the mandate, but prohibits institutions such as hospitals, universities, and nursing homes from denying their employees birth control coverage.
The bold in this article is mine to highlight some of the article which shows the hypocrisy of Romney as he panders to the religious right saying what they want to hear when he has no core values except to win this election and become President,  Even when it means he has to lie, cheat, and steal (think Ohio and what they are doing to Democrat counties or other states with voter suppression for Romney) he does it with a chuckle.

I haven't come down off the ceiling about this latest ad that includes Romney lies and uses the Pope.  Is Romney too stupid to understand that Pope John Paul II wanted universal healthcare for the world.  Romney probably thinks it is a good idea since he thought universal healthcare in England, Israel, and Poland was so wonderful with all their mandates which seems to be what he wants as his press spokesman Andrea Saul let the cat out of the bag this week which set off a firestorm in the conservative community.

What do Republican Conservatives who have been pushing Romney for President while turning into pretzels have to say today about this flawed candidate who cannot tell the truth?  How can Republicans continue to have this man as the candidate for President?  Are they that hard up for money?

If you want to vote for a Republican then vote for Gary Johnson who is now the Libertarian Candidate after the way he was treated by the RNC being pushed out of debates and left off the polling.  After all, the RNC couldn't have him, Perry, and Huntsman all on the stage who understand immigration to take away from Mr. Perfect Romney. Former Governor Johnson actually did something about runaway spending by the State Government and put New Mexico on a better path of economic solvency.  Would be the RNC wouldn't want that pointed out either.  Was it because the RNC was so broke, they needed Romney and his pal's money to run this election and have a Convention?  This inquiring mind wants to know if Romney was shoved at us with different rules for different states all for money because the RNC Chair spent so much money in Recall elections in WI and special elections elsewhere?

If you are a Common Sense Republican and can get passed all the garbage we have been fed about Obama being evil that is turning out not to be true including his returning the Churchill bust to England, then go all the way and vote for Obama for re-election.

Voting for either Johnson or Obama will show the RNC and other Republican leaders including leaders in the House and Senate that their lies about Obama and their obstructionist tactics in the House to make sure the economy didn't recover this summer didn't work along with their voter suppression in States Obama won last time that are toss-up states.  It will send a clear message that rank and file Republicans have had it and are tired of the lies and bigotry we are seeing out of the far right and their candidate Romney.  The far right hates Obama so much they swallowed the Romney koolaid filled with lies.  Shame on them for putting their hatred of Obama and minorities ahead of the Country by supporting the Mormon Romney who comes from a church who baptized holocaust victims and Anne Frank eight times.  Makes no sense to me and probably never will.

Absolutely disgusting what is happening in this election and it gets worse by the day.  Time for some grown-ups in the Republican Party, if there are any left with a spine, to tell Romney and his lies to take a hike as he is an embarrassment to the old Republican Party.

This post was brought to you by the First Amendment and my right to free speech!



1 comment:

SJ Reidhead said...

The main thing is that we don't criticize Romney for HIS religion. He can misrepresent and insult everyone else all he wants, but no one can mention his failings, and the problems inside his church. Then again, as an evil Episcopalian, maybe I'm just hyper sensitive. Then again, that could be because we evil Episcopalians are basically the bastard step-children of the Catholic Church. We're not really wanted or included, so we pretend to be more Catholic than Catholics. Ergo - JPII is a "homeboy" for us. Don't insult him!

SJR
The Pink Flamingo