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.

RNC Chair Priebus Not Facing Reality on Romney Week

If you haven't had your laugh for the day, this one will not only make you chuckle but go WHAT?  It is one thing to support your candidate but to declare it was 'A Good Week' makes Priebus look stupid.  You could say that the last week wasn't what you wanted but now your message was going to be clear to everyone but NO, he wants everyone to think Romney had 'A Good Week.'  The whole group of Republicans including Romney himself is not ready for prime time.  To not have a response ready that doesn't make the viewer chuckle or go WHAT? is incompetent IMHO.  At least I got my laugh for the day!

Priebus: Last Week ‘A Good Week’

Credit where credit is due: Reince Priebus is trying so hard to believe in Mitt Romney that he told George Stephanopoulos on This Week that “we [the GOP campaign] had a good week last week.” What? As in the week where secret video revealed Romney had called nearly half of the electorate “victims”? The week where Romney was accused of dyeing his face brown for a Univision interview? The week where Paul Ryan was booed at the AARP? Priebus said “we were able to frame up the debate last week in the sense of what future do we want,” but if that was a good week, what does a bad week look like?

Mr. Fake Tan Throws Temper Tantrum at Univision - Stacks the Audience

Mr. Fake Tan threw a temper tantrum backstage because he didn't like the introduction so they had to reshoot the opening.  Hard to imagine a candidate for President throwing a temper tantrum because he was not getting his way.  I still haven't recovered from the obvious fake orange tinged tan  that Romney was wearing to speak to Hispanics on Univision -- you could see it was a fake tan when he moved his head as you could see the tan line.  Sorry excuse from the Romney people was a sun burn -- same sun burn that left his hands and ears were white.  Anyone who has seen a fake tan spotted this one in a nano second.  Did he think Hispanics would like him better with a fake tan?  What it did was give people a laugh that he would go to these lengths to pander.  Reading some of the comments about the tan have been hilarious.

Romney stacks the auditorium with supporters who were told not to applaud, boo, etc., but like their candidate, rules don't apply to Romney people.  It started when Romney's people couldn't find enough students who would support a hard right candidate, so he bused in supporters from around South Florida who were obnoxious while President Obama's followed the rules -- no class versus class.

This paragraph from Politicusa shows the spin that Romney will do to try to deflect from what he says:

Mitt has been telling reporters that he is not his campaign and therefor his comments about the 47 percent of Americans can’t be held against him. Meanwhile, his wife Ann (his “secret weapon”) canceled her interviews with reporters after her “stop it” debacle. If Mitt is out of his campaign as a person and Ann is being hidden in a time out until she can stop ordering Republicans around, you have to wonder just who will carry the mantle for the tax the poor ruse. 

This is reminiscent of when he was head of the Olympics and then also became a lobbyist for the Olympics, as you are not to hold him responsible for taking all the federal dollars which is what Mitt the Lobbyist did as he was only responsible for what Mitt the head of the Olympics accomplished.  Now we have Mitt the fundraiser is not responsible for what he says because Mitt the candidate is separate from Mitt the fundraiser.  Is he the two headed monster who wants us to believe the left head and the right head are two separate people.  Beam me Up!  Is this man mentally competent to be President with some of his statements as he doesn't seem to live in the real world?

The arrogance of Romney knows no end and his wife is not much better lecturing Republicans on what they should be doing to support Romney like we are supposed to follow what she says.  Her 'you people' quote left me cold sometime back along with a lot of others.  The duo cannot seem to grasp that people who live in regular neighborhoods without mansions and elevators for cars don't appreciate the busing in of supporters who don't follow the rules trying to make it look like all these Hispanics support him.  This whole elitist campaign has bombed with common sense Republicans who can see right through the elitist.

Romney Threatened To Cancel Univision Forum If Organizers Didn’t Allow Him To Bus In SupportersBy Igor Volsky posted from ThinkProgress Election on Sep 22, 2012 at 2:45 pm

Romney also refused to come out on stage after the hosts introduced him by noting that he “had agreed to give the network 35 minutes, and that Obama had agreed to a full hour the next night.” Univision re-taped the introduction after Romney allegedly “threw a tantrum.”

During the event, Romney dodged four questions about whether he would maintain President Obama’s directive allowing young undocumented immigrants to stay in the United States on a temporary basis and said that he is happy to be known as “the grandfather of Obamacare.” 

Romney has a history of padding the audience. During a speech before National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) in June, the GOP presidential candidate also brought in his supporters to the address. 

Mitt Romney packed the audience for a Univision forum earlier this week, BuzzFeed’s McKay Coppins reports, busing in local supporters “after exhausting the few conservative groups on campus.” The campaign threatened to “reschedule” the event if organizers did not allow the “rowdy activists from around southern Florida in order to fill the extra seats at their town hall.”

And then there is this:

Things are unraveling at the Romney campaign. 

Univision says that during his townhall with them, not only did the Romney campaign pack the hall with non-students because they couldn’t find enough supporters on campus, but when the anchor gave an introduction to Mitt that he didn’t like, he refused to go on until they re-taped it. A Republican present called it a “temper tantrum”.

Buzzfeed reports:

That wouldn’t be the last demand from the campaign: Romney himself almost pulled the plug on the whole thing minutes before the broadcast, Salinas said. 

While introducing Romney at the top of the broadcast, Salinas’s co-anchor, Jorge Ramos, noted that the Republican candidate had agreed to give the network 35 minutes, and that Obama had agreed to a full hour the next night. Ramos then invited the audience to welcome Romney to the stage — but the candidate didn’t materialize. 

“It was a very awkward moment, believe me,” Salinas said.
Apparently, Romney took issue with the anchors beginning the broadcast that way, said Salinas, and he refused to go on stage until they re-taped the introduction. (One Republican present at the taping said Romney “threw a tantrum.”)

Making last minute “demands” that would ensure his success, indeed threatening to “reschedule” if he wasn’t allowed an exemption to the student only rule and then packing the forum with rowdy, bused-in supporters who ignored the rules not to applaud, the Romney campaign later gloated that the Hispanic forum was more “excited” for Mitt than for Obama, whose also partisan crowd did not ignore the rules. 

The image of “excitement” was apparently nothing but a carefully constructed mirage, propped up backstage manipulations and string pulling. The Univision host seemed put out by the disrespect shown by the bused-in Romney crowd, who booed questions while cheering the candidate as if the forum were a rally. All the worlds a stage.  

This behavior is reminiscent of Mitt Romney’s temper tantrum as Governor after his party lost the midterms. He reportedly was hardly ever seen after that, spending 212 days out of the state campaigning for the presidency in his last year on office. In 2006, “his disapproval ratings hit a new low with 65 percent of residents disapproving of his job performance, as residents grumbled that he was never around.” 

Mitt Romney’s Republican opponents during the primaries also observed this sort of behavior, saying he was cold and aloof, and came after them with unnecessarily negative ads. 

Read More at Politicusa

When Romney was Governor of MA, he shut down a public elevator for use only by him and his staff so they didn't have to interact with the 'common' people.  The elevator was reopened to the public when he left the Governor's office.  Romney also the Governor's office area roped off so members of the legislature couldn't just stop by as they had done for years.  He became an elitist Governor leaving with a low approval rating.

Someday after November 6th, 2012, there are going to be Republicans asking themselves how they ever supported such a flawed candidate.  Maybe they will realize the GOP leadership in Congress along with RNC Chair Priebus, conservative pundits, Rove, Ailes, Luntz, Drudge, Koch Brothers through their various organizations, etc. are responsible for the hate against Obama much of it based on fiction and outright lies.  They set up a narrative of what they wanted to demonize the first black President and stuck to it even when it hurt the American people and the Country with their obstructionist agenda.  The very idea they set up a plan to obstruct the President instead of working with him for the good of the Country goes against principles of the Founding Fathers when they set up the branches of Government.

The Republicans who refuse to vote for Romney may or may not come back after November depending on which direction the GOP decides to go.  First one kicked out of office should be the RNC Chair who engineered the primaries for Romney and the Koch Brothers.  Second should be a bi-partisan bill to get all the millionaire donor money out of shady organizations who are trying to buy an election.  It started with Soros in 2006 and 2008 but the GOP led by Rove has taken it to a new low level for 2012 following the Citizens United ruling.  This is no way to run a fair election.

Add in the fact that Republicans in various states are trying voter suppression to depress minority voting should bring new rules nationwide on voting as states cannot handle it by what we are seeing.  Thought the days of targeting minorities to hold down the voting were over but many of us were wrong.  We grew up with the Voting Rights Act and never expected Republicans would be the ones to turn their back on fairness in voting.  Today's Republican Party has no sense of integrity, fairness, and truth preferring the win at any cost mentality which goes against what a lot of us Republicans believe.  We have the archaic notion that you win with your ideas not cheating and lying,.

Paul Ryan Booed Throughout AARP Speech; Obama Received Friendlier Reception

Have to give credit to former Senator Santorum who thinks that if you are smart, you won't be a conservative.  After Ryan's speech at the AARP and Romney 47% comments for starters, I have to agree with that statement.  Also, how many common sense people get a fake spray tan like Romney to speak to Univision?  Heard of pandering but that was so far over the top, it was laughable.  Every time he turned his head you can see where the spray tan only went so far.

Waited to post this until the Obama speech was up on You Tube where he took questions and laid out how Romney/Ryan were lying about Obama taking money from Medicare when he was getting savings due to more efficient system and catching the Medicare fraud.  Right now there is a partial video.

Cannot believe what Ryan had to say at the AARP that drew the boos.  Did he do it on purpose like Romney did at the VFW so he could shore up the base who opposes AARP?  Most divisive duo ever to run for President/Vice President IMHO!  Their lack of caring about ordinary Americans has been duly noted by the American Middle Class.

TPM2012 

Paul Ryan Booed Throughout AARP Speech (VIDEO) 

Paul Ryan’s speech to AARP’s national conference in New Orleans did not go over too well with the audience. 

The Republican vice presidential nominee, who has led his party in proposing a privatization plan for Medicare, drew repeated jeers and catcalls as he made the case for Mitt Romney’s platform on entitlements. 

Easily the worst moments came as Ryan discussed repealing the Affordable Care Act, which increased prescription drug and preventive service benefits for seniors. 

“The first step to a stronger Medicare is to repeal ‘Obamacare,’” Ryan said, prompting a chorus of boos. After the outcry, he said: “I had a feeling there would be mixed reaction, so let me get into it.” 

He drew a second wave of disapproval for saying the president’s law “turned Medicare into a piggy bank for ‘Obamacare.’” Ryan was referring to $716 billion in Medicare savings enacted by the ACA — savings he himself has included in two budgets — that largely came out of payments to insurance providers. 

Another tough response from the crowd came as Ryan attacked Obama as a cynical failure for not negotiating changes to Social Security cuts with Republicans. 

“Time and again the president has ducked the tough issues,” Ryan said. “He put his own job security over your retirement security. Of course he said he would be willing to work with Republicans, but he has not moved an inch closer to common ground. When it comes to bipartisanship, it’s easy to talk the talk but there is only one man running for president this year who has actually walked the walk: that man is Mitt Romney.” 

This is the partial video/audio from You Tube of President Obama's speech this morning. Full speech will be updated when available:


Additional Comments from TPM article:

President Obama drew a friendlier audience earlier in the day when he spoke to the group via satellite. Appearing to reference Romney’s “47 percent” video, in which the Republican condemned Americans as “victims” who were “dependent” on government health care, food and housing, Obama defended entitlements for seniors. 

“Given the conversations that have been out there in the political arena lately, I want to emphasize: Medicare and Social Security are not handouts,” Obama said. “You’ve paid into these programs your whole lives. You’ve earned them.” 

While Ryan’s reception was overwhelmingly negative, he had a few bright spots that earned applause, for example when he discussed how his Medicare plan would provide more generous subsidies for lower-income seniors to buy private insurance plans. He also got some cheers — after attacking Obama for most of his speech — for pledging bipartisan compromise if he and Romney are elected. 

“Our plan is to win this election, be magnanimous and work with those Democrats who want to work with us to save this critical program,” he said, adding that Republicans should not “demagogue” the other side. 

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Think Progress: RNC Anti-Obama Video Offers Master Class in Out-of-Contest Editing

Over the years there have been some really inept RNC Chairs but the current one Priebus takes the cake for abject stupidity and lack of honesty.  In 2000 a friend and I decided that the RNC Chair needed to go because he was so partisan for McCain so we sent out emails to the National Committee asking that they remove him -- our former National Committeeman still laughs about it when I see him.  It was surprising the ones who wrote back who agreed with the email.  It was disgusting when then President GW Bush gave him an ambassadorship to the Vatican but when he made him Secretary the Veterans Administration he used the same echniques to oversee the VA that he did the RNC and it soon turned into a disaster at the VA.  Jim Nicholson was the wrong person to head the VA just like he was the wrong person to head the RNC, but he looks good compared to the RNC Liar in Chief Preibus who will do and say anything to support Mitt Romney IMHO!

First it was the lie about Welfare they kept touting when a Republican Governor actually asked for some leeway on the jobs requirement which Priebus and Romney turned into Obama wanted to do away with the work requirement of the Welfare Bill.  Both men are dishonest to the core even when confronted with Fact Check.

As Republicans during the primary, we knew that Priebus would do anything to get Romney the nomination against the wishes of 66% of Republicans as we didn't matter as only the wealthy Romney mattered in the primaries.  Romney and Priebus if they took their blinders off, would discover that a lot of Republicans after the Convention with the new rules, refusing to seat duly elected delegates and then sitting some delegations in the nosebleed section while seating delegations who cannot vote for President near the stage is going to backfire.  Those delegations had Paul supporters along with other conservatives who are going to vote for Third Party candidates after the way they were treated by Romney/Priebus/State Chairs and their people.  They are joining a lot of the rest of us who never supported Romney and said we would never vote for him.  Last night on Lawrence O'Donnell, even former Bush advisor Mark McKinnon said he was looking to Johnson the Libertarian after he could no longer defend Romney after the 47%.

My bet is if the pollsters would including the Libertarian Party Gary Johnson and Constiutional Party Virgil Goode who are candidates for President from the Third Parties, Romney's numbers would go down.  Johnson the former popular Republican Governor of New Mexico and Goode the former Republican Representative from VA are both conservatives and would appeal to those Republicans who cannot vote for Obama after all the lies told by the leaders of the Republican Party.

Now today, after the true Romney came out with his 47%, we find out once again how dishonest the RNC has become in taking Obama's words out of context for a campaign ad from earlier distortions of what Obama said and added a clip from 1998 when Obama was a State Senator speaking at Loyola University in Chicago.  The video of Romney was at a fundraising in May of 2012.  Do you see a huge difference?  Republicans have little so they go back to 1998 and were the same ones yelling when they showed the debate of Ted Kennedy and Mitt Romney for the MA Senate in 1994 only four years before the new Obama video.  Dishonest to the core at the RNC because the Kennedy/Romney video of the debate was not heavily edited like they have done to Obama.

RNC used to have some of the best and brightest for their research team but those people don't exist as today's RNC doesn't care about facts or truth -- only want to do what it takes to win as they have proven they will lie (over and over), cheat (in the primaries and debates by changing rules), and steal (missing ballot boxes, voter suppression, and dead people voting in the primaries).  RNC fully supports the states who are today doing voter suppression like PA, OH, FL, and now TX for starters.

In PA, the Supreme Court has ordered the state has to show what is the hurry and if the new law was going to disenfranchise any voter.  Ohio Secretary of State wanted one set of rules for GOP Counties on voting hours and another for Dem counties which he pulled back when he had to go see a judge after a lawsuit was filed. TX wants voter rolls purged of dead voters less than two months before the election and already have purged a several live people.  Now the court has stepped in to stop the TX Purge.  Then there is Florida, where the FL Governor Scott ordered the purge in violation of federal law and a group of county election boards who refused to purge.  The old political saying about accusing your opponent of what you are doing fits today's Presidential nominee Romney and his sidekick Ryan along with the RNC Chair Priebus.

Voter suppression is just one more example of the dishonesty emanating from the RNC.  Guess the RNC is not concerned about absentee ballots where the real voter fraud can occur after that happened in the GOP primary in FL.  NY voters once again believe they can vote absentee in two states but since they were supporting Romney in the primary, it was okay.  Now the RNC is doing what they have accused Obama of doing when he had zero to do with 47% video by taking his words out of context -- the RNC has become experts at that:

RNC Anti-Obama Video Offers Master Class dditIn Out-Of-Context Editing
Benjy Sarlin & Evan McMorris-Santoro 

September 20, 2012, 10:30 

Amid complaints on the right about missing context in the leaked video of a Mitt Romney fundraiser, the RNC released a new video containing three deceptively edited clips of President Obama. 

The new video, “Redistribution II,” focuses on the party’s recent message that the president believes “redistributing wealth creates prosperity.” 

Obama’s first appearance in the video is an egregiously chopped-up portion of the president’s weekly address from March 31, 2012. 

“Anyone who does well for themselves, should do their fair share in return,” Obama says in the RNC version of the sentence. “Now some people call this class warfare.” 

Obama was referring to the so-called Buffet Rule, an Obama proposal that would change the tax code so the super rich don’t pay a lower tax rate than the middle class, but the RNC video removes that context. Polling from around the time showed the public overwhelmingly supported the idea. 

Here’s the section from Obama’s March address, with the RNC edits highlighted: 

Now, some people call this class warfare. But I think asking a billionaire to pay at least the same tax rate as his secretary is just common sense. We don’t envy success in this country. We aspire to it. But we also believe that anyone who does well for themselves should do their fair share in return, so that more people have the opportunity to get ahead — not just a few. 

The video ends the quote at “some people call this class warfare” — but Obama expressly denounces that label in the very next sentence.

The next quote, now familiar from dozens of similar ads and videos, is Obama saying, “If you got a business, you didn’t build that” during a Virginia speech. While the clip is an improvement on previous Republican ads that deliberately spliced together multiple lines from Obama’s remarks to radically distort his meaning, it still leaves out key context. Mainly, the sentence before and afterward — missing from the RNC video — show Obama wasn’t talking about building a business, he was talking about infrastructure like roads, bridges and the Internet that help businesses flourish. 

Finally, the RNC uses a 1998 clip of Obama at a Loyola University conference discussing his belief in “redistribution” via government programs. “I think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution because I actually believe in redistribution,” the clip says.  

While this is already a fairly unremarkable point (Obama’s entire campaign is premised on asking the rich to pay more to invest in the middle class), it cuts off key parts of Obama’s actual remarks. NBC unearthed a fuller video of the event on Wednesday in which Obama details on how “redistribution” worked in the context of expanding opportunity within the free market.  

The video was released amid the Romney campaign’s protestations that a portion of a leaked Romney fundraiser tape was deceptively edited. In the passage angering Republicans, Romney sounded a pessimistic note on a two-state solution initially left out a later passage in which he expressed at least mild hopes that it might one day by achieved. Conservative commentators also have complained about a one- to two-minute gap in the middle of the 48-minute video of the entire fundraiser, which is divided into two parts. Mother Jones, which published the video, says that the person who filmed it had to restart the camera at one point and that nothing was left out due to editing. 

(snip) 

Excerpt:  Read More at Talking Points Memo

Note:  Those are my bold and red highlights in the article from TPM

Right-Wing Media Becomes Romney Campaign Consultants Crafting Romney's Attack On The 47 Percent

One of the most interesting parts of this article from Media Matters comes Rush Limbaugh which shows how much Romney listens to Rush to run his campaign.  Is Rush where the Romney people got their welfare lies against Obama?  Isn't this great that the Republican Party candidate now gets his marching orders from this highly partisan, bloviating talk show hose who a lot of us turned off a long time ago. Bloviating which means to speak or write verbosely and windily fits Limbaugh because of his arrogant, know it all attitude which he is now taken to become the pseudo Romney Campaign Manager.  Looks like Rush was touting this 47% last November and now with  Romney running behind in almost all polls,it seems he is following the Rush lead:

Limbaugh: "47 Percent Of The Population Is Content To Be Slovenly, Lazy Takers." During the November 22, 2011 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show, host Rush Limbaugh attacked those who do not pay income tax, claiming they are "content to be slovenly, lazy takers." [Premiere Radio Network, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 11/22/11] 

Fast forward to this week and you have:

Romney: The 47 Percent "Will Vote For The President No Matter What"

Limbaugh: It's "Obvious" That Obama's Campaign Is "Aimed At The Welfare State." On his radio show, Rush Limbaugh said: "It is obvious that this Obama campaign is aimed at the welfare state and what we are affectionately calling the stupid -- maybe ignorant is better." [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 4/4/12] 

The only people I see stupid and ignorant in all of this is first Limbaugh, second Fox Romney News, and then Romney and his consultants  for swallowing the Rush koolaid.   When you are this late into the general election campaign and still trying to shore up your base, you are in real trouble.  That describes Romney who is still in the process of  shoring up his base since the disaster of the GOP Convention.  What are people talking about from that Convention?  Clint Eastwood talking to the empty chair!  You cannot make things up like that -- it was reality.

Media Matters has turned into being a website that you can go to get facts while the conservative Media Research Center has thrown in with the Fox Romney crowd.  It is no longer a news channel because it is a defense of Romney almost 24/7.  In fact they (Fox) ignored the tapes from Mother Jones but covered the press availability with Romney where he left the stage and refused to answer a question.  Fox News wanted the details out on Romnhey and the fundraiser only as Fox could spin them.  Fox has hired a group of consultants who also work for Romney.  Fair and balanced?  Not even close.  

How The Right Wing Media Built Mitt Romney's 47 Percent Line
Research September 18, 2012 11:53 AM EDT ››› ZACHARY PLEAT & REMINGTON SHEPARD 

The right-wing media's assault on struggling Americans found its way in to GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's recently revealed remarks disparaging 47 percent of Americans "who pay no income tax" to a group of wealthy donors, once again demonstrating the conservative media's central role in the GOP. 

 (snip)

Mother Jones Reports On May 17 Recording At Romney Donor Dinner. In a September 17 post, Mother Jones reported that Romney disparaged those who don't pay income taxes and receive govenment benefits in front of an audience of wealthy donors. Mother Jones quoted Romney as saying: 

ROMNEY: There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what...These are people who pay no income tax.

[...] 

[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. [Mother Jones, 9/17/12]

Right-Wing Media Crafted Romney's Attack On The 47 Percent 

Romney: "These Are People Who Pay No Income Tax"

Fox's Doocy: Should The "47 Percent Of Americans Not Paying Taxes ... Be Allowed To Vote?" During the July 28, 2010 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, co-host Steve Doocy teased a segment by asking if those 47 percent of Americans who don't pay taxes should be allowed to vote. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 7/28/10] 

Fox's Carlson: Hyped Blog For "The 53 Percent That Are Paying The Taxes" Versus "The 47 Percent Who Don't Pay Federal Income Taxes." During the October 11, 2011, edition of Fox & Friends, co-host Gretchen Carlson detailed an effort by a right-wing blog to counter the Occupy Wall Street protests. Carlson highlighted this blog's claim that it represented the 53 percent of Americans who pay federal income tax as compared to the Occupy Wall Street protesters who are part of the 47 percent of Americans who do not pay taxes. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 10/11/11] 

Fox's Hannity: "50 Percent Of American households No Longer Pay Taxes." During the April 9, 2012 edition of Fox News' Hannity, host Sean Hannity claimed that 50 percent of American households don't pay taxes and then asked "What does that mean for America if you have a voting electorate that's not paying any taxes?" [Media Matters, 4/9/10]
Romney: The 47 Percent "Are Dependent Upon Government" And Are Unlikely To "Take Personal Responsibility" 

(snip)

Limbaugh: Do Low-Income People "Even Want To Work?" During the April 21, 2011 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show, Rush Limbaugh claimed that low-income people "don't know anything" before asking if low-income people "even want to work?" [Premiere Radio Network, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 4/21/11] 

Romney: The 47 Percent "Believe That They Are Entitled" To Government Aid

O'Reilly Railed Against "Prospering" "Entitlement Mindset" In America. On his Fox News show, Bill O'Reilly demanded to know "why this mindset" of acceptance of government aid "has taken root." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 3/20/12] 

Fox's Charles Payne Expressed Regret That People Feel They Earned Government Assistance. On the Fox Business show Varney & Co., Fox Business' Charles Payne said that while anti-poverty programs "are good programs," people should feel shame for using them and expressed disappointment that Americans feel they are entitled to these programs:
I think the real narrative here, though, is that people aren't embarrassed by it. People aren't ashamed by it. In other words, there was a time when people were embarrassed to be on food stamps. There was a time when people were embarrassed to be on unemployment for six months, let alone demanding to be on it for more than two years. 

 I think that's what Stu is trying to say, is that when the president says Wall Street is at fault, so, you are entitled to get anything that you want from the government, because it's not really your fault, no longer is the man being told to look in the mirror and cast down a judgment on himself. It's someone else's fault. So food stamps, unemployment, all of this stuff, is something that they probably earned in some indirect way. [Media Matters, 5/19/11]

Romney: The 47 Percent "Will Vote For The President No Matter What" 

Limbaugh: It's "Obvious" That Obama's Campaign Is "Aimed At The Welfare State." On his radio show, Rush Limbaugh said: "It is obvious that this Obama campaign is aimed at the welfare state and what we are affectionately calling the stupid -- maybe ignorant is better." [Premiere Radio Networks, The Rush Limbaugh Show, 4/4/12]

Read More on this story at Media Matters 

The fact that conservatives and their pundits are defending Romney on this is all you need to know about how the Republican Party in 2012 (also 2010) have left the common sense Republicans who believe that everyone has something to give back to to the people of America.

We see it right here where I live in Norman with students from the University of Oklahoma including not only academic students but the athletes who volunteer countless hours to help in the community.  We have a bright future ahead with these leaders of tomorrow who make community service a part of their lives.

I have seen it over the years with parents who had a hard time making ends meet but wanted to help out at their children's school parties.  As a Room Mother for years, I really appreciated those who agreed to help.  It was easy to find people to donate but not to do hands on help.  Watching a little boy's face light up as his Mom came to his school for the first time was worth it all.  Or as a reading tutor watching a little first grader who came from a horrible family background who couldn't tell her letters at the beginning of the year read a short book by the end of the year.  She is now a first grade teacher.  The success stories of those students born to parents of poverty is why so many mentors volunteer in the schools.  The feeling you have helping some else succeed is a great feeling to know you made a difference.

Today's Romney Republican Party and those on the far right instincts are to criticize those who were not born with a silver spoon in their mouth as not being as worthy as they are to be in office.  Some of the comments I have seen on websites from the Romney supporters and their friends on the far right make me shudder and ask how I could possibly be a member of the same party.  Then I realize I have a lot company who feel exactly the same way I do.

President Bush was made fun of because of his compassionate conservatism but it makes sense today as he was trying to get Republicans to be kinder and gentler to those less fortunate.  Romney and his supporters have taken that and tossed it under the bus.  There are lot of words that come to mind to describe the hostile takeover the the Republican Party by Romney and far right but most I wouldn't write on a website so please use your imagination.

Tomasky: Mitt Tells Voters in Video to Drop Dead

I had the same reaction as Tomasky when I read what Romney had to say about Obama voters from 2008 and I voted for Senator McCain.  Cannot imagine how I would have reacted if I had voted for Obama.  As far as I am concerned Mitt Romney like other Republicans threw almost half the Country under the bus accusing them of being on the take.  Romney is so out of touch with most Americans that he believes the Middle Class starts at $200,000.  Time to stand up and say "NO!" to Mitt Romney and Republicans who have been obstructing bills that would help America in order to support this out of touch candidate.

What I cannot get over are the conservatives not only defending Romney on this but agreeing with him.  Guess I really do not recognize this Republican Party even a little.  Comparing this to Obama's comments about clinging to guns and religion are not even close to being in the same category.  Obama was right about a lot of far right voters -- probably should not have said it but it is nothing to accusing 47% of the people who voted for Obama in 2008 as being lazy, bums.

Michael Tomasky: Mitt Tells Voters in Video to Drop Dead
by Michael Tomasky Sep 18, 2012 4:45 AM EDT 

Sure it was a dumb move for Romney to denounce half of America. But he was just channeling today’s GOP. Plus, find out who the 47 percent are, and Robert Shrum on the coming GOP civil war.   

(snip)

For the record, just so you have it handy, here is the key passage, recorded as Romney spoke to well-heeled supporters earlier this year, after he’d secured the nomination: “There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what ... These are people who pay no income tax.” 

I was surprised at my own reaction as I first read those words. I found myself taking personal offense. This is something I’ve never done as a political journalist. I just removed that instinct from my system years ago. I have two jobs, to give opinions and hopefully more-or-less accurate analysis. You think about things personally, you can’t do either one, especially the second. But as I read this, I thought: “You ignorant, pathetic man. I am none of those things.” And if I thought it—I who have trained myself never to have those thoughts—I can imagine what millions of others thought. 

Can he really believe this? It’s incomprehensible. And yet it’s not. This is the story conservatives have been telling themselves over and over in the Tea Party age. All Democrats are moochers, and all moochers are Democrats. It has become an absolute article of faith among the kind of middle- and upper-middle-class people you see at Tea Party gatherings. More shockingly, conservative intellectuals spout this gibberish as well—for example, Arthur Brooks of the American Enterprise Institute.  Excerpt:  Read More at The Daily Beast

Bob Shrum: GOP Civil War Is Coming as Mitt Romney Campaign Flails in Video’s Wake

I agree there is a civil war coming between the common sense of Jeb Bush and the far right who want to go farther right. The far right has been allowed to take over the Republican Party and the Presidential election even supporting Romney because he had money?  Whatever the reason the powers at be made sure that Romney got the nomination by changing rules, lost ballot boxes, and keeping people from voting in caucus states.  Then there was the Convention where they basically told the Ron Paul people to take a hike.  Romney thought he could win this by sitting back with all his money running negative ads against the President like he was going to fight back.  Stupid strategy for a stupid campaign filled with white guys who seem to be angry all the time.  Bob Shrum is correct about the GOP of today.

In an America where the party of angry white men increasingly speaks for and to a permanent minority, it could take another defeat and maybe another before the GOP comes to its senses. 

Moreover, you can’t run on the economy if you don’t have specific economic proposals—or won’t answer basic questions about a 59-point plan that, in critical areas, offers zero details. In the latest New York Times/CBS numbers, the president now leads where Romney had for months: which candidate would “do a better job handling the economy and unemployment?” If Romney doesn’t have the economy, what can he run on? Banning contraception? Or bankrupting the auto industry?

Many of us with common sense told the RNC we would NEVER support Romney and in my case I was going to support the Libertarian Johnson until I saw he followed Ayn Rand -- did it for me as I finally decided to go all in and support President Obama.  They didn't believe many of us as they had convinced themselves in the end that Bush/McCain people would hate Obama so much that we would vote for Romney.  I would have voted for Jimmy Carter over Romney which speaks volumes.  I cannot think of many I wouldn't support over Romney except people from the far right who with Romney drove me to support Obama who is not fighting a war against women, military, veterans, minorities, teachers, police, fire, and federal civil service.

After I decided to support Obama, began to pay attention to facts and learn how many lies Republicans had been telling about the President and the obstructionist tactics they had used that hurt the American people in order to keep Obama to one term.  Now I understand how those same members of Congress could support a Mitt Romney and his win at any cost mentality as they have that same mentality putting Party over Country.

Since this family gets a retirement from Air Force Civil Service and now supporting Obama looks like I am now joining the 47%.  This is a game changer and I do not believe the polls as I think Obama is winning in bigger numbers because pollsters are not factoring in the Republicans who will never vote for Romney.  Our numbers are growing daily.  Today Senator Scott Brown tossed Romney under the bus along with CT Senate candidate McMahon.  How many more Republican candidates are going to throw Romney under the bus or face defeat.  

John Heilemann, who knows a game change when he sees it, rendered a damning verdict in New York: “Romney … badly missed the mark.” Heilemann cited the array of GOP leaders, strategists, and commentators who declined to offer even faint support or instead outright rebuked their own candidate, on and off the record. He pointed to the broader narrative emerging in the media across the ideological spectrum: Romney is losing, knows he is losing, and is starting to panic. 

What is going to happen to the Republican Party after November 6th?  Throw a dart because most of us have no clue and frankly right now unless Jeb Bush takes the Party back more to the center, I have no intention of supporting Republicans as long as Cantor/Ryan/Santorum faction run the party -- they are way too far right for me.    The big question is whether Jeb will even stay in the Republican Party if it goes more to the right.  My money is on him and Jon Huntsman thinking 3rd party because neither are going to be at home in an anti-immigration, anti-woman, anti-everything religious right party where party is put over Country and if you don't do as they say they want you out.

GOP Civil War Is Coming as Mitt Romney Campaign Flails in Video’s Wake
by Robert Shrum Sep 18, 2012 7:32 AM EDT 

The video carping about government moochers may well have sealed it. Mitt Romney is going down, and the fight already is on for the future of the Republican Party. The battle will be bitter—and prolonged, says Robert Shrum. 

There is a civil war gathering in the Republican Party. It looks more and more like a dispirited and disappointed collection of factions, preparing to lay blame for a lost presidential election and to do battle to shape a new direction for the Grand Old Party. 

Last week the view hardened that the Republican nominee was in close to terminal trouble. Having lost the summer as he let the Obama campaign define him, having lost the conventions when he let Clint Eastwood step all over his acceptance speech, Mitt Romney spectacularly lost his head on Sept. 11 during the mob attack on U.S. diplomats in Egypt and Libya. He came across as a low-life opportunist rushing to exploit a national tragedy in order to score political points and then doubling down on this venal dumbness with a smirking and contentious press conference. This week he may well have finished the job, with a video leaking of him referring to 47 percent of the electorate as government moochers. 

Romney’s advisers have taken to bashing the press for covering the bad news, a near-certain sign of a losing campaign, as is the simultaneous effort to quarrel with the methodology of polls showing him trailing in the battleground states with almost no way of reaching 270 electoral votes. The surveys were largely in the field before Romney’s graceless and craven charge that the Obama administration sympathized with those who murdered the nation’s ambassador to Libya and three other Americans. More polls are on the way, and for Mitt the Knife, with his self-inflicted wounds, most of the numbers won’t be pretty. 

(snip)

There are the ritual caveats. The Republican standard-bearer could transform the race during the debates. Despite the Obama enterprise’s predictable and tactically savvy efforts to pump up the deflated expectations for his performance, Romney seems unlikely to morph into a latter day John F. Kennedy. It’s far more likely that he will be on the defensive about his false claims and his Medicare-shredding, Social Security–threatening, education-slashing, middle-class tax-raising policies, all designed to shower more money on those who already have the most.

(snip) 

Or maybe exogenous events will ride to the rescue. But one of them, last week’s Federal Reserve decision to launch an open-ended third round of “quantitative easing,” helps the stock market and Obama in the short run and the unemployed over a longer term. The decision strengthens perceptions that the nation is on the right track, a sentiment already on the rise in the wake of Bill Clinton’s and President Obama’s convention speeches. Chasing another news cycle and the tale of his own flagging campaign, Romney promptly and predictably condemned the Fed for doing its statutory job, which is not only to control inflation but also to promote job creation and full employment. It was a transparent tic from a candidate who’s been rooting for a slowdown all along. 

What else is left, another foreign crisis? First, that’s when Americans tend to rally around a president, especially one who’s demonstrated coolness, judgment, and a sure sense of command, which is exactly what Obama has done. He’s in an extraordinary position for a Democrat of holding a decided advantage on foreign policy, national security, and fighting terrorism. In contrast, Romney instinctively says the wrong thing, which frequently makes him look not only out of touch but out of his depth, unready for a job that demands the capacity to cope with unanticipated and potentially mortal dangers. 

And Romney won’t make up lost ground by pursuing a makeover on daytime TV. Last week he told Kelly Ripa that he’s a “fan” of Snooki from Jersey Shore and likes to sleep wearing “as little as possible.” The latter elicits an image we didn’t need. The show was taped as the Middle East upheaval escalated. It wasn’t humanizing, but cringe-inducing. “Jersey Shore canceled—and Romney soon will be,” was the reaction of one Republican pro. 

After the first debate, see if the doubts become a rout. One measure will be the conduct of the Republican super PACs. The corpulent moneybags of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson probably will continue to flow into the presidential ad wars; after all, Adelson stuck with Newt Gingrich as Gingrich struck out in the Republican primaries. But hardheaded operatives like Karl Rove could shift their resources to Senate and House contests. They’ll deny it even if they do it. And it wouldn’t be good news for Democrats; the possibility—or probability—is already worrying party officials. 

Such a scenario also would set the stage for the GOP’s post-Romney civil war. The Tea Party Republicans who detest, or more accurately hate, this president will be maddened by his reelection. They will rage against it as illegitimate, stolen, un-American. You name it, they’ll say it. And they will tear at the GOP’s 2012 nominee as insufficiently conservative and insist that Republicans in the Senate and House block a second-term Obama at every turn. 

A prudent party might venture at least a measure of cooperation and compromise, to prevent the standing of Republicans from collapsing as the economy moves back to prosperity. This is what smart GOP strategists will recommend. And it’s precisely what John Boehner will fear to do lest he lose his House speakership—or with hope, his minority leadership—to the lean and hungry Eric Cantor. 

So with Romney consigned in 2013 to his four-car elevator mansion in La Jolla, Calif., the president may face daunting challenges to governing even as he once again reaches across the aisle. His mandate could prove momentary, which is what happened to Harry Truman, who achieved almost nothing domestically in the four years after his upset win in 1948. At least this time, the Supreme Court will be saved from a right-wing coup and health-care reform won’t be dispatched to extremist defenestration. And Democrats could hold the high ground for elections to come.  

This outcome—in an Obama second term, in 2016, and campaigns beyond—will be magnified or modulated by the course of the irrepressible conflict between the Jeb Bush Republicans and the Paul Ryan Republicans. The two men represent very different paths. Bush stands for a tempered conservatism; he understands the impending demographic doom of a reactionary, anti-Hispanic Republican Party. He’s writing a book on immigration; as he said this summer: 

“Don’t just ... say immediately we must have controlled borders. Change the tone ... think we need a broader approach.” Ryan, on the other hand, champions a hardline approach on immigration, along with virtual repeal of the New Deal and the social progress of the 1960s.Bush’s attitude—I’ll borrow from his father and call it “a kinder, gentler” conservatism—could be broadly acceptable in the country, even if his brother George was all but anathema at the 2012 Republican convention.

Ryan is out of step with the majority of Americans not only on immigration but on his budget plans and across a wide range of domestic policy. If Romney goes down, then Bush, the practical choice, and Ryan, likely to be lionized on the right, will be the 2016 front-runners for each faction of the GOP. Meanwhile, Republicans on Capitol Hill will have to determine whether to be modestly practical—or relentlessly ideological.

Which way will this civil war go? 

Undoubtedly it will be bitter. The true believers will fulminate that they were tricked by the establishment into accepting Romney, John McCain, and free-spending, big-government fellow traveler George W. Bush. The Tea Partiers are a minority in America but almost certainly a majority in what could become a smaller and smaller Republican Party. And the GOP’s experience in California suggests that one beating, or even several, may not yield a GOP self-correction but a dug-in revanchism. The state party’s response has been to lurch rightward. The result, as McCain’s chief 2008 strategist Steve Schmidt predicts, is that Republicans could soon become “the third party” in the nation’s largest state—behind Democrats and independents. 

In an America where the party of angry white men increasingly speaks for and to a permanent minority, it could take another defeat and maybe another before the GOP comes to its senses. Surely Romney himself would have been better off in the general election if he had defended his Massachusetts health-care reform and sounded occasional notes of pragmatism and compassion. But then, of course, he never would have been the nominee. He could even have let us assume he wore pajamas to bed. Now hovering over his apparently desperate march toward a concession speech is the specter of Republicans fighting their protracted civil war. 

Someday, somehow, someone will do for the conservative side of our politics what Bill Clinton did as the progressive who brought Democrats back to the mainstream. But post-2012, maybe even Ryan won’t be pure enough; it could be full-Santorum ahead. 

Excerpt:  Read More at The Daily Beast

House Republicans Going on Two-Month Vacation (Hypocrites)

Republicans in the House can now be called 'hypocrites' with the last session of Congress almost in the books.  They will go down in history as being obstructionists for two years whose primary purpose was to make the President look bad so he would be a one-term President.  All we heard out of Republicans in 2010 was elect us -- we will work for the people unlike the Democrats led by Nancy Pelosi which we now know was a very large pile of Bravo Sierra.

Four years ago, Republicans objected when then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) adjourned Congress for a five-week August recess without bringing up their energy legislation. Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) shouted “Madame Speaker, where art thou? Where oh where has Congress gone?” Now, they plan a two month vacation, even if it means allowing vital programs to expire and working families to suffer.

These group of House Republicans just came back from their 5-week vacation and now are set to take the next two months off leaving a lot of bills on the table as they go back to their districts to try and save their seats.  They would have a better chance of saving their seats if they actually stayed in DC to get their work done.  For their vacation in August they never officially adjourned because they couldn't get the votes but left anyway.

Republicans promised if we elected them in the Majority in the House in 2010 they would run things the right way with transparency, inclusiveness, and plenty of notice about bills that were going to be brought to the floor.  That didn't last long as they became as bad as the previous two years of Democrat rule and in some cases worse.  With voting 33 times to repeal ObamaCare, the House cost the taxpayers almost $50M and yet they want us to re-elect them?

There are a lot members of the House who refuse to work with any Democrats on bills which means they never learned that once elected they represent all people in their district just not Republicans.  I still have not gotten over the 3rd bill of this new House led by Republicans (HR3 -No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act) co-sponsored by 227 Republicans which tried to define rape and to have no exceptions for abortion:

Paul Ryan And Todd Akin Co-Sponsored And Voted For The “No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act,” Which Redefined “Rape” As “Forcible Rape” In Order To Limit Federal Funding Of Abortion Procedures.  In 2011, Ryan and Akin co-sponsored the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortions Act. According to the Washing Post, “[a] Republican bill seeking to permanently cut off federal funding for abortions has angered women's groups that say it alters the definition of rape, permitting coverage for the procedure only in cases in which the rape is considered ‘forcible.’

Social issues along with making Obama a one-term President became the most important thing to this group of Republican House members, not the Country.

Nancy Pelosi was reminiscing about working with President Bush and how they didn't agree on a lot of things but did work together for two years unlike today's Republican obstructionists.  The Reagan/Tip O'Neill disagreements are legendary but they did find common ground on what was best for the Country.  Until this group of Republicans took control in the House in January 2011, the opposition party  in the House was able to find some type of common  ground with the President over the years not only on large issues but on smaller issues.

Not this group of Republicans whose sole intent was to oppose the President at all costs to the American people including not wanting to pass bills that would help the economy grow along with jobs.  These Republicans sacrificed what was good for all Americans by putting Party over Country. They don't deserve to be in leadership after what we have been witnessing for the last two years.

This two-month vacation is just another slap in the face to the American people when you look at the bills they are leaving on the table.  If the House Republican Conference had worked with this President like Speaker Boehner was trying, we wouldn't be worrying about a Sequester bill outcome.  Every time Boehner thought he had an agreement, the far right House members would undermine the agreement he had made with the President.  Cantor's sole purpose seemed to be to get the Tea Party Republicans in the House to line up against any agreement with Obama.  Now this group of Republicans is going on a two-month vacation to try and convince voters they should remain in charge while leaving key bills awaiting action: 

House Republicans Plan Two Month Vacation, Leaving Key Bills Awaiting Action  

By Josh Israel on Sep 14, 2012 at 6:34 pm 

House Republican Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) announced Friday that after next week, the House will stand in recess until November 13. His plan for a nearly two month vacation will undoubtedly allow more time for campaigning, but will leave several vital bills awaiting action.\ 

Among the important legislation the House will likely not address before the November elections: 

• 1. Violence Against Women Act re-authorization. Though a bipartisan Senate majority passed the a strong re-authorization bill in April, the Republican House leadership refused to allow a vote on the Senate version of the bill. The House passed a watered down version on a mostly-party lines vote, leaving victims to wait for House action. 

• 2. The American Jobs Act. Republicans have been blocking President Obama’s jobs legislation for more than a year. Though House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) promised in 2010 that a GOP Congress would focus on job creation, he has blocked this bill’s immediate infrastructure investments, tax credits for working Americans and employers, and aid to state and local governments to prevent further layoffs of teachers, firefighters, police officers, and other public safety officials. 

• 3. Tax cuts for working families. In July, the Senate passed a bill extending tax-cuts for the first $250,000 in annual income. The Republican House leadership has refused to consider the bill, holding it hostage to their demands for a full extension of Bush-era tax cuts for millionaires. 

• 4. Veterans Job Corps Act. The Senate is currently considering bipartisan legislation to help America’s veterans find jobs. The Air Force Times reports that the Republican House has “shown no interest” in the legislation to support those who served the country. 

• 5. Sequestration. A spokesman for Boehner said earlier this week that stopping budget cuts he voted for last August “topped our July agenda and remains atop our agenda for September.” While House Republicans have complained about the imminent spending reductions and passed a bill that would require President Obama to find offsets for spending cuts they don’t like, Republican Leader Canter could not name a single compromise he was willing to make to get a deal. 

• 6. Farm Bill. Despite strong support for a 5-year farm bill from even conservative groups like the Farm Bureau Association — the House leadership has not scheduled a vote on the bill. The current law expires September 30. Without passage, 90 percent of the work of the Department of Agriculture could be defunded. 

• 7. Wind tax credit. The Senate may act next week to renew an expiring wind energy tax credit. Despite bipartisan support — including from original author Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the Examiner notes that the House is unlikely to pass the renewal. Despite GOP calls for energy independence, the expiration has threatened the wind energy industry and already led to job cuts. 

These, in addition to drought assistance, postal service reform, addressing the Estate Tax, cybersecurity legislation, fixes for Medicare reimbursement rates and the Alternative Minimum Tax, and all 12 of the FY 2013 Appropriations Bills remain unaddressed. 

Read More at Think Progress

Some of you might ask why a Republican would use Think Progress for a source but frankly most conservative sites are unwilling to state the truth because it shows Conservatives and Republicans do not have the best interest of the Country in mind.  They prefer to be cheerleaders like Fox News, Rush, Hannity, and others for Republicans no matter the cost to the Country and the American people.  All you have to do is take this one bill that is being obstructed by Republicans in the House that could lead to defunding 90% of the Department of Agriculture to know all they care about is the Party and electing Romney/Ryan.  They do not seem to care about the people of America who would be affected by their obstructionists tactics:

GOP Farm Bill Obstruction Could Defund 90 Percent Of Department Of AgricultureBy Zack Beauchamp posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Sep 15, 2012 at 10:42 am 

The 2012 Farm Bill is still languishing in the House, with GOP leadership in the chamber intentionally preventing action on the legislation for political reasons. According to the New York Times, “House leaders declined to take up either [the Senate or the House] version of the legislation. They are not eager to force their members to take a vote that would be difficult for some of them, nor would they wish to pass a measure largely with Democrats’ votes right before an election.” 

But without a new five-year Farm Bill or at least a temporary extension of current legislation, the Department of Agriculture may be forced to shutter almost all of its operations. 

The Farm Bill serves as a mass funding mechanism for the USDA — it provides funding for roughly 90 percent of the Department’s operations, meaning those operations may have to shut down if the Farm Bill isn’t renewed. According to the National Sustainable Agriculture Commission, the effect of even a temporary shutdown could be long-lasting:

USDA would be forced to occupy a multiple-month holding pattern, temporarily stopping many services and programs. Program administration involves a certain amount of planning and preparation, stakeholder input, rulemaking, and outreach. Even if program opportunities aren’t announced until later in the year, the preparation work that leads up to announcements takes time and certainty. Programs can’t simply be “turned off” and then “turned on” again with the expectation that program delivery and administration will not suffer.

The programs that the NSAC believe would be affected include “all the major programs for beginning and minority farmers, farmers markets, organic agriculture, renewable energy, and rural economic development” and new enrollment in the “the Wetland Reserve, Grassland Reserve, and Conservation Reserve Programs.” USDA programs funded by the Farm Bill are critical to addressing the crippling drought that has spread over four-fifths of the United States. The USDA also takes a lead role in shutting down brutal factory farms and administers the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), a cost-effective food assistance program for needy families. 

This isn’t to say that the House bill is necessarily worth passing in its current form — the House version contains, among other things, deep cuts to critical food stamp programs. But failure to pass at least a stopgap necessary to keep USDA could have dangerous consequences.   

Read More at Think Progress

In some ways this is sad to me as I have been a lifelong Republican going back to knocking doors for Republican candidates as a charter member of the Ohio Teenage Republican Club.  For years I have worked campaigns and defended Republican candidates including in 2010, but this Congress and the nomination of Romney/Ryan has taken off my blinders on the Republican Party.  This is not the party of my parents or myself as I do not condone the actions of the House, the Senate with all their filibusters to keep bills from passing that would help the American people and economy, the RNC who made sure Romney was the candidate, and Romney/Ryan who have a problem with the truth preferring to lie and spin in most cases.

Then you have the so-called Republican/conservative pundits defending Romney/Ryan and Congressional Republicans like Fox News, Rove, Rush, Hannity, Beck, Medved, and others who will spin and lie to get Romney elected along with Republicans in Congress.  Rush has made some of the nastiest remarks against a sitting President I have ever heard.   His comments and those of others are pure trash and show a group of people who hate has become their most important weapon.

We will start to cover Congressional races leading up to Nov 6th in the days ahead.  We need new Congressional leadership in both parties IMHO no matter who takes control.  Tired of the far right and the far left in Congress trying to dictate their views which are outside the mainstream to the rest of us who believe in common sense and what is good for all Americans just not a few.