Why Some Republicans are Supporting Obama in 2012

IMHO this article is good from the Washington Times but noted with all the links that Republicans for Obama did not have a link in the article.  Please check out this article about Obama's First Term at Republicans for Obama to learn the truth instead of the spin and lies that are coming out of Republican leadership, conservative pundits, and Fox News.

Been noticing in recent articles the reliance on national polling including tracking polling showing the election close when states vote individually for President.  Guess pollsters miss the part of Battleground States being the most important road to the Presidency.  Obama is ahead in Battleground States in all but NC.  From the way the Romney camp and RNC Chair are acting, I would bet that their internals are not very good.  In reality, how could their numbers be good after the last three weeks?  The best question is who haven't they alienated in the last few weeks?    

The day the GOP went hard right and basically told anyone who doesn't agree with them to sit down and shut up, is when a lot of longtime moderates and even conservatives started asking why we were still Republicans.  Leadership only recognized the hard right no matter what was said as they had a win at any cost mentality including lying, cheating, and stealing elections which I never thought I would see happen in the GOP.  We watched that win at any cost mentality including the smears by the Romney team play out right before our eyes in the GOP Presidential primary. Most of us figured it would be worse in the general which has happened -- there is no integrity out of Republicans this year but then you have candidates like Romney/Ryan who ignore fact check to go right on lying.  Honesty and integrity have taken a real hit in the GOP.  Must be making the architect of dirty tricks, Karl Rove, very happy to see he has a lot of help.

If I had not been supporting Obama already, that 47% comment by Romney would have done in my support for him.  Not only did Romney to make that comment, but the hard right GOP conservatives jumped in full force to support Romney on his 47% statement.  They attacked people relentlessly on the net who dared to oppose the 47% comment.  Then Romney pandered by saying he supports 100% of Americans.  His pander doesn't work as more Republicans I know are now voting for Obama or going 3rd Party.  IMHO, the opinion polls are not picking up the shift of Republicans to Obama or to 3rd Party candidates.  National polls mean little which is why today's GOP IMO is trying to suppress votes of Democrats and minorities in Battleground states.

Yet the RNC and other Republicans are still asking why some of us cannot support Romney?  Then there are the numerous requests for donations for Romney that are on my answering machine and fill up my mailbox.  Yesterday the RNC Chair said Romney had a 'good week' as detailed below this article.  Is this what we can expect out of the hard right if they were in power?  Failure to face reality of what is going on around them?

Extremists’ chase some Republicans toward Obama
By Sean Lengell-
The Washington Times Monday, September 3, 2012 

John Martin loves the GOP and wants to remain a Republican. But the party he grew up supporting has changed, he said, and Mitt Romney is doing nothing to keep his loyalty.
The Republican presidential nominee lacks the will or desire to stand up to “extremists” who have gained a sturdy foothold in the party, Mr. Martin said, and President Obama is far from the socialist demon portrayed by GOP leaders. 

For that, the politically active New Jersey resident said, he will vote for Mr. Obama.
“I’m just very unhappy with the state of today’s party,” said Mr. Martin, who heads a group and website called Republicans for Obama. “Although Gov. Romney would have been a great candidate, the Mitt Romney we see today is too beholden to the party’s [conservative] base and to the hard right.” 

Mr. Martin isn’t alone. While the vast majority of Republican voters are likely to support the former Massachusetts governor for president, some say they will back Mr. Obama because of the GOP push to the political right. 

Lowell Weicker endorsed Mr. Obama despite serving three terms in the Senate and a stint in the House as a Republican from 1969 to 1989. Now an independent, he quit the Republican Party soon after leaving Capitol Hill — not because he had changed politically or ideologically, he said, but because the party had. 

The Republican Party increasingly has turned its back on the inner cities and minorities while pandering to religious conservatives, rural communities and the middle and upper classes, he said, and he doesn’t see a swing back to the political center anytime soon. 

“The Republican Party has changed from being a party of fiscal conservatism and social moderation [to] become a ‘praise the Lord and pass the ammunition’ party,” he said from his home in Connecticut, where he served as governor from 1991 to 1995 as a member of a third party he created. 

“I see little that gives me any faith in terms of the Republican candidates for the presidency and vice presidency that would indicate a direction that I think the country ought to go in,” he said.
Yet Mr. Weicker, 81, said his support for Mr. Obama also hinges on respect for the job he has done since taking office in January 2009, when the economy was in worse shape than today. The president’s task was significantly more difficult than it should have been, he said, because of obstructionism from Republicans on Capitol Hill. 

“There’s far more common sense in President Obama in what he wants to do and what he’s done than there iscoming from the Republican Party,” the former Republican lawmaker said.
Other Republicans turned independents who have endorsed Mr. Obama’s presidency include former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and current Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee. Both have been given speaking spots at the Democratic National Convention this week in Charlotte, N.C. 

Mr. Martin agrees that Mr. Obama has governed well under “very difficult circumstances.” He said the Illinois Democrat is far less liberal than how most Republicans portray him. He pointed to tax cuts that Mr. Obama included in the 2009 economic stimulus package that made up about a third of its cost, according to many estimates. 

Mr. Martin also applauded the president’s 2010 health care reform law, which he says is strikingly similar to Republican and conservative proposals of years past, including a highly touted plan by the Heritage Foundation in the late 1980s and Mr. Romney’s health care reforms enacted while governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007. 

“A lot of Republicans at first thought Obama would come in and propose single-payer [option for health care insurance] or would propose a federal government option, but he didn’t,” Mr. Martin said. “He adopted what up to that point was a Republican plan.” 

Teresa Sayward, a Republican New York Assembly member who was first elected in 2002, said she will vote for Mr. Obama because Mr. Romney — and all of the other Republican presidential candidates this year — proposed what she considers anti-women policies. 

“It’s disheartening for me to see our party move away from what it was always about, and that is to stay out of people’s lives, let them live their lives, don’t impose their religion on anybody else, don’t impose their feelings, let them live and uphold the Constitution,” she told a New York political TV program in March. 

“I really, truly think that the candidates that are out there today for the Republican side [for president] would take women back decades.” 

In the 2008 presidential election, about 9 percent of self-identified Republicans who voted supported Mr. Obama, exit polling showed. The Republican candidate, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, received about 10 percent of Democratic voters. 

It’s unlikely that the president will duplicate his crossover rate of four years ago, polling and political analysts suggest. Gallup polling shows that about 6 percent of Republicans say they will vote for the president, and the same percentage of Democrats say they will support Mr. Romney. A Pew Research survey taken in July showed identical numbers.

Excerpt:  Read more: 'Extremists' chase some Republicans toward Obama - Washington Times

This election has been really tough on a lot of longtime Republicans going into this election.  I know because I am one of them.  First off, I still consider myself conservative especially on economic issues and national security, but as I have said for years social issues belong in my home, church, and community not at the Federal level.

Have always supported the Republican candidate for President but I told friends in 2008 if Romney received the nomination, I would not support him, but Senator McCain was nominated so even though I had a lot of doubts, I supported and worked for him to win.  I admit I swallowed the koolaid against Obama being put out by Republicans thinking Obama was this hard left person.  For the first few months I even swallowed the Glenn Beck rants until I started learning more about some of the people who were his targets but even then I pushed ahead against Obama and especially Nancy Pelosi who was far too left for me.

I started this site during the 2008 Presidential campaign, received threats, and then shut it down.  After the Democrats took over in bigger numbers in Congress in 2008 along with the White House, it was decided to relaunch.  I was a solid Republican believing what I was told except I didn't listen to Rush -- couldn't take him in the last two years of President Bush, and quit watching Fox News so maybe that was the beginning. In 2010, I was completely on the side of the Republicans honestly believing we need to take back Congress to save the Country.  Looking back, I would have done the same thing in most races as I didn't support most of the Tea Party candidates except Rubio in FL.  I would never support some of the Democrats like Alex Sink or ones running for statewide office in OK in 2010.  In my State House seat this time I am proudly voting for the Democrat.  There is a sign in my yard "Another Republican voting for Paula Roberts" which means voting for the most qualified candidate for the seat.

My first indication that something was really wrong with the GOP narrative came at the Insight Bowl at the end of Dec 2011 when we talked to a member of the Army and his wife.  He had been deployed numerous times to Iraq and Afghanistan and his wife was one of those brought to DC to testify before a Committee on what was happening to our military who were deployed so much.  She had nothing but praise for Michelle and Barack Obama and so did her husband.  From that point on, started reaching out to other military to get their opinion and heard the same thing.

About nine months ago, I started researching in earnest on what I had been told about Obama and discovered to my chagrin Republicans were being lied to about Obama by Republican members of Congress, RNC, and longtime leaders of the GOP not to mention conservative pundits and Fox News.

Research snowballed after that and began to slowly realize that what we had been told about Obama was mostly lies to fit the GOP narrative to make him a one-term President.  The obstruction in the Congress by Republicans to make Obama look bad and become that one-term President is beyond disgusting as it has hurt the American people and the economy.  That is not how America works but we have some very dishonest people who are part of that Tea Party movement owned by the Koch Brothers.  Winning is more important then standing on principle in their world as they want the power.

After all the research and my making this site Democrats 'and Republicans' For Sale, recently learned that Republicans from the House and Senate along with Gingrich and Lutz had met on the night of the inauguration to plot how to make Obama a one-term President.  When Republicans in the Senate filibustered the jobs for veterans bill they helped write, I hope they they lose the Senate and the House now.

All you have to do is look at the hard right Platform which is the dream of the extremists on the far right to know that if you are a veteran, military, woman, minority, senior citizen, teacher, fire, police, or civil service you are not wanted in today's Republican Party unless you are a big social conservative.  The lack of empathy out of today's Republican leadership leaves me cold.  I have a hard time getting over the general attitude of today's Republicans towards minorities and women.  Personally cannot support an agenda that tries to redefine rape -- not happening.  I hold the same views I have held for years on abortion but now I am not welcome in today's Republican Party but I am in good company as Reagan, Bush 41 or Bush 43 would not have won a Republican primary this year as the Party has shifted too far right.

We need a new Congress with integrity who put Country over Party once elected.  We need members who are willing to sit down and listen to the other side to work together for what is best for all Americans.  Trust me, if Senators Jim Inhofe and Barbara Boxer can work together on a bill for infrastructure, the rest of the Senate should be able to work together.  There is no love loss between those two but they put America first.    Time to remove the party labels in January and work with the President to create jobs and grow the economy.  Most Americans have had it with the partisan bickering which has affected our lives.  Republicans at all levels need to take their hate rhetoric and innuendos about who is and isn't an American permanently out of politics.

I am voting for Obama because I believe he is the best person to continue to help grow jobs and the economy as his plans make sense.  If the Republicans in the Congress will work with Obama instead of obstructing, there is no stopping what can be accomplished for the good of this Country and all Americans.

Will Romney/Ryan Turn Nasty for the Last Seven Weeks?

You can bet on that and win a lot of money of Vegas would give you odds.

Romney's "God" campaign yesterday was sickening and disgusting.  The Republican Party and Mitt Romney do NOT own "God" and to invoke the word "God" into a partisan campaign shows how desperate Romney has become to win.  To infer that Obama is anti-God and going to take God off the coins, out of the pledge, and the Government shows a very flawed man that should be no where near the Presidency.

The very nerve of Romney to use "God" in a political way goes against everything I have been taught.  When one of the Romney supporters, Gary Bauer said, "God doesn't want to be mentioned in the Democratic Party platform ," I lost it.

He’s going to campaign with at Robertson. He’s going to work “Obama-Is-Anti-God” motifs into his stump speech, as he did yesterday. He’s going to keep running with the lies about welfare. 

Does Romney want us to believe he is the only candidate who believes in "God?" I thought Romney couldn't get any more despicable then he was in the primaries, but he managed to do it yesterday.

If Tomasky is correct, which I believe he is, then Romney/Ryan are going to get worse.  We already know how low Romney can go from the primary when he went after fellow Republicans with lies and innuendos.  Already his attacks on President Obama have sunk to a new lows which seem to go lower almost on a daily basis.

The fact checkers on welfare have called Romney/Ryan ads completely false and on social security mostly false which also included some of the Obama/Biden comments as well, but the Romney/Ryan answer?  Ignore the fact checkers unless it is against their opponent and keep right on lying about welfare.  Fact Checkers have been used by both sides for years but now Republicans want to ignore them to keep spouting lies?  Is that how far the GOP has sunk today?

Now Ryan says he didn't vote for defense cuts which he did as part of the agreement that was reached to keep the Government from defaulting.  Just like Ryan criticizes Obama on not following Simpson Bowles when his vote is the one that killed it.  Guess you should figure out when a person lies about their times in a marathon, they will will lie about everything else.

Battleground States are going to see some of the nastiest ads every out of Romney and his Super PACs but I don't think they will work as we already saw what a nasty person Romney was in the primary in 2008 and worse in 2012.  IMHO Romney will say and do anything to get elected because he seems to believe the end justifies the means.  That is one reason even Republicans are pulling away from Romney and the Republican Party who have left a lot of us in the dust.

It felt good to join Republicans for Obama even though philosophically there are a lot of issues I  disagree with Democrats but frankly I agree with them more than the far right social conservatives and the neanderthal  GOP Platform.  The Democrats have taken over supporting our military, veterans, foreign policy, and many other issues that were Republican at one time like Civil Rights and One Man, One Vote.  Now Republicans want to suppress voting to elect Romney and don't mind saying that in public while tossing President GW Bush under the bus like he didn't exist. It is like there is a seismic shift going on between the parties -- don't recognize this Republican Party.

How about making Independents a political party?  At least there would be some common sense unlike what we are seeing out of the far right Republican Party that has been taken over by the Koch Brothers and Tea Party movement.

It is going to be a wild and nasty seven weeks with the Romney camp going after Obama with lies, mistruths, and innuendos to make the President look bad.  I don't think it is going to work because Romney and now his wife are not likable people as they are condescending and come across that they think they are better than everyone else.  We are supposed to trust them -- no details why -- just trust what they say to which I reply Bravo Sierra!  When your whole campaign is based on being anti against your opponent, your chance of winning is slim to none IMHO

Michael Tomasky on What Will Happen When Romney Gets Desperate

by Michael Tomasky  Sep 11, 2012 4:45 AM EDT
Sep 11, 2012 4:45 AM EDT

Obama’s lead is growing, and Romney can’t seem to catch a break. If the trend continues, get ready for things to turn very ugly very fast. 

I don’t know if team Romney should be panicking just yet. Convention bounces have been known to fade; it’s not every week that Barack Obama is going to get Bill Clinton to give a barn-burner of a speech on his behalf that outdraws the NFL game on the other channel. In my view it’s not so much that the fundamental nature of the race has shifted as that it has solidified. Obama spent months being mostly just a little ahead, and now he’s a little more ahead than that. Lots of people have been writing in the last couple days about the larger Obama lead. But no one has yet turned attention to the consequences of that change: that Romney and Paul Ryan are likely to run the dirtiest campaign we’ve seen in a long, long time.

Go back in time a few months. The Romney theory, bruited by his aides and accepted by much of the media, was that all he had to do was talk about the economy and he’d win. There was no way an incumbent president sitting on these kinds of economic figures could possibly be reelected. Unemployed, underemployed, not even looking anymore, wrong direction … no question that they are all bleak figures. All Romney had to do was keep talking about them, and as they say in the East End, Robert’s your father’s brother. 

This job was supposed to get even easier when Romney tapped Paul Ryan for veep. Ryan was the man with the plan, the Republican Brain, the guy who actually knew budgets and fiscal policy, the Republican who could slice right through all the Democratic pettifoggery and actually beat the Democrats at their own game of talking all those numbers. Ryan’s presence on the ticket made the economic choice that much more stark, the argument went, and he’d win over the serious-minded moderates.

Well. It’s exactly one month after Ryan’s selection was announced, and his reputation has gone nowhere but down. He’s a liar and his famous “numbers” actually make no sense at all because they’re intentionally misleading. So now he looks less like a serious budget person than a drunken back-bencher who has to be elbowed awake to cast a vote. 

Then there are the past few days. We got a crappy jobs report Friday morning. Romney trotted out and said the kinds of things he was supposed to say. And lo and behold—it hasn’t hurt Obama a whit. In the days since the report—days, I should note, when media coverage has made it abundantly clear that the jobless rate fell only because more people quit looking for work—Obama has gained ground. 

So two facts are now clear. One, Romney is on the ropes. The memo from his pollster makes a few plausible points about why it’s too early to head for the exits. But Romney has some serious problems in some key states, notably Ohio. If he can’t win there, he basically has to win all of the following swing states to hit 273 electoral votes: Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Colorado, Iowa, Nevada, and New Hampshire. 

And the second fact that’s clear is that the economic argument is not working. Turns out that it’s not enough just to repeat the dour news when you keep dodging questions about your own plan. And taken together, these two facts mean: Romney isn’t going to desert the economic argument, of course, but he is going to try to win this thing in other ways. 

(snip)

As I’ve said many times, the ongoing debate about whether Romney is really conservative or really moderate has wasted lots of airtime and killed many innocent trees. He’s neither. He’s nothing. He’ll say or do whatever he needs to do, whatever the Koch brothers or whoever tell him to do. He’s been dreaming of the presidency since 1968, and as he sees it slipping through his fingers, he’ll be capable of anything. It’s going to be a nasty seven weeks. 

Excerpt:  Read More at The Daily Beast

Tomasky makes some very good points in this video -- in fact he has nailed it in my book!

Michael Tomasky: 'They Can't Possibly Win an Election if They Say It'

As the scrutiny increases on the lack of specifics in the Romney-Ryan proposals, Michael Tomasky joins Tamron Hall on MSNBC's News Nation to discuss why the Republican ticket cannot get particular about which loopholes will be closed.