Just one more reason not to want him to be president.
"George W. Bush barely mentioned in GOP campaign" January 03, 2012|Beth Fouhy, Associated Press
A funny thing happened recently in the presidential campaign in Iowa: The last Republican president’s name actually surfaced.
“We’ve had, in the past, a couple of presidents from Texas that said they weren’t interested in wars … like George W. Bush,’’ a voter said to Ron Paul, the Texas congressman who has been sharply critical of U.S. military entanglements overseas. “My question is: How can we trust another Texan?’’
Up here in Massachusetts we were always told you can't.
It was an odd, almost discordant moment in a GOP contest where Bush, a two-term president who left office just three years ago has gone all but unmentioned. None has been eager to embrace the Bush legacy of gaping budget deficits, two wars and record low approval ratings — or blame him for the country’s troubles either.
“Republicans talk a lot about losing their way during the last decade, and when they do they’re talking about the Bush years,’’ said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont-McKenna College. “For Republicans, the Bush administration has become the `yadda yadda yadda’ period of American history.’’
The eight-year Bush presidency has merited no more than a fleeting reference in televised debates and interviews. When it does surface it’s often a point of criticism....
The former president himself has been all but invisible since leaving office in 2009 with a Gallup approval rating of just 34 percent....
Just like all that Haitian aid dough he and Clinton were in charge of.
Taking office in 2001 with a balanced federal budget and a surplus, Bush quickly pushed through sweeping tax cuts that were not offset by spending cuts. The tax cuts have cost about $1.8 trillion, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
And remember, Democrats not only didn't rescind them when they had a supermajority, they extended them. And now your social services -- which you have already paid for all these years -- needs to be slashed to the bone.
The Bush tax cuts were set to expire after 10 years, but Obama allowed them to remain in place temporarily in exchange for an extension of unemployment benefits and a payroll tax cut.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks never were budgeted and have cost taxpayers about $1.4 trillion so far....
That's going to be one long-ass shadow on whoever is the next president.
Bush signed legislation in 2003 enacting a prescription drug benefit as part of Medicare, the government health care plan for seniors — a huge entitlement program projected to cost as much as $1.2 trillion over 10 years.
Guaranteeing big pharma big profits.
The Troubled Asset Relief Program, the bank bailout program widely loathed by many conservatives, was another Bush-era program. Congress authorized nearly $700 billion for the program at the recommendation of Bush’s treasury secretary, former Goldman Sachs executive Henry Paulson, in response to the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the subsequent financial crisis in the fall of 2008....
Others have also tried to distance themselves from Washington and, by implication, the Bush years. Mitt Romney stresses his experience as a businessman and as Massachusetts governor....
Related: Nominating Romney Means Return of Bush
Yeah, all his future advisers are the same PNAC crowd of W's.
And the old man is behind him, too:
"Former president George H.W. Bush announced yesterday he will back Mitt Romney in his presidential bid"
Slick Mitt.
Bush still has loyal supporters who believe his legacy will be vindicated by history.
We've already condemned it.
But even they say the GOP field won’t be embracing him anytime soon....
Because it was a traumatic and failed presidency for the people of the United States.
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Time to do some shopping:
"Romney takes time out for Christmas shopping
LANCASTER, N.H. - Mitt Romney yesterday sprinted through five towns in 10 hours but still managed to squeeze in a little Christmas shopping.
“This is the Dukakis rack here,’’ Romney said, pointing to a group of furry hats with long ear flaps while browsing in Simon the Tanner in Lancaster with his wife, Ann, and son Tagg. “Put on one of those, and your career is over.’’
Asked what the best and worst Christmas gifts her husband has given her, Ann Romney said the best was easy: “A horse.’’
The worst came more slowly, and her husband stepped in.
“The first, I don’t know, 10 years of our marriage, I would buy her clothing of various kinds,’’ he said. “And she would say, ‘Ohhhh. This is so nice.’ And then it was gone a week later. I’ve tried to wise up a little bit.’’
On this trip, she picked out her own gift, settling on red boots and a white North Face jacket.
Romney began to pay, and Tagg thrust forward a pair of socks for his daughter. “Notice,’’ Romney said, “how my son puts an item on my card.’’
He later smiled. “Christmas accomplished,’’ he said.
Later, he sprinted down a street in Berlin after a woman told him he had not come to her door. She drove back home, and he ran.
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How did he pay for those gifts?
"Romney will not reveal tax data, at least for now; Also refuses to say if he gains from loopholes" December 23, 2011|By Matt Viser and Beth Healy, Globe Staff
LANCASTER, N.H. - Mitt Romney said yesterday he has no current plans to release his tax returns, and suggested that he would not shrink from using a controversial provision of the tax code that allows him to pay at just a 15 percent rate on income he continues to receive from Bain Capital.
“We don’t have any current plans to release tax returns, but never say never,’’ he said yesterday after greeting voters at an Agway farm and hardware store here. “We’ll see what the future holds. We’ve released, of course, all of the information required by law, which is a pretty extensive release. But down the road we’ll see what happens if I’m the nominee.’’
Romney also indicated that he would not shy away from a legal tax break that shelters partners at private equity firms, like Bain Capital, from high tax rates on the largest part of their take-home profits.
“I can tell you we follow the tax laws, and if there’s an opportunity to save taxes, we like anybody else in this country will follow that opportunity,’’ he said.
Partners at firms such as Bain, which buy companies, as well as at hedge funds, qualify for a 15 percent tax rate on “carried interest,’’ or the profits they make on investment deals. This type of pay - which often adds up to millions of dollars annually for these executives - is taxed like capital gains, rather than as regular income, which is subject to a 35 percent tax for the wealthiest taxpayers.
The Obama administration has proposed closing the carried-interest loophole, while the industry has argued that the move would hurt the economy - that investment executives need these incentives to put their own capital at risk. In the case of Romney, his retirement agreement with Bain had him receiving payouts for at least a decade after he left the firm in 1999. A spokesman for Bain Capital declined to comment.
Advocates of using the tax code to reduce income inequality are especially critical of the “carried interest’’ tax break. “It’s probably the biggest loophole in the tax code for super-rich people,’’ said Jacob S. Hacker, a professor of political science at Yale University and co-author of “Winner-Take-All Politics.’’
“The idea that private equity managers and hedge fund managers should pay 15 percent, when in fact they’re just getting a cut from the pool of capital under management - it’s completely egregious,’’ Hacker said.
“There’s very little risk that’s being borne by these people,’’ Hacker said. “It’s a big subsidy for a certain kind of financial management.’’
Among the Republican presidential candidates, only Texas Governor Rick Perry has released his tax returns, reporting nearly $217,500 in adjusted gross income in 2010. In October, Perry urged Romney, the richest candidate in the race, to do the same.
Spokesmen for Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman noted that their candidates follow federal financial disclosure laws but gave no indication as to whether they would voluntarily release their tax returns. A spokesman for Newt Gingrich said the former House speaker would release his tax returns but only if he wins the nomination.
Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann did not respond to requests for comment....
Ron Paul doesn't make enough to even bother.
Romney has never released his tax returns - when running for US Senate in 1994, for governor of Massachusetts in 2002, or during his last presidential bid in 2008. During his 1994 race against Senator Edward M. Kennedy, he called on him to release his state and federal taxes to prove he had “nothing to hide.’’
“It’s time the biggest-taxing senator in Washington shows the people of Massachusetts how much he pays in taxes,’’ Romney said at the time. He said he would disclose his on the same day as Kennedy, but Kennedy never did.
The Democratic National Committee yesterday criticized Romney for not releasing his tax returns, calling him “a corporate buyout specialist’’ who has “made millions of dollars in income from investments, which are taxed at a far lower rate than the wages of regular Americans.’’ The DNC also set up a website, whatmittpays.com, that has a tool to find out how much more in taxes taxpayers pay on their current income, compared with what they would pay if they were paying 15 percent.
Just wondering why you didn't close the damn thing when you had the super-majority.
Related: Banks Bought Off Both Parties
Oh, right.
Democrats have also criticized Romney for a decision his staff made at the end of his term as governor. The Globe reported last month that 11 of his aides purchased 17 hard drives, a practice that was legal but unprecedented, according to state officials.
Related: Romney Erased Mass. Records
A sign of things to come at the federal level?
The day after the Globe report, Romney’s campaign issued a memo to reporters. The title was “Obsessed with Secrecy,’’ and accused the Obama administration of having “turned its back on his campaign promises of openness and transparency.’’
Yeah, Obama has done that; however, we are talking about you right now.
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"Romney is asked again to release his tax returns" January 01, 2012
HAMPTON, N.H. - For the second time in as many days, Mitt Romney was confronted yesterday with a question about his tax returns.
As he left the Old Salt Restaurant yesterday morning, the Republican candidate for president encountered a protester who shouted loudly: “Why are you hiding your tax forms?’’
Romney, a former venture capitalist, could not be heard answering as he ducked into a black SUV and headed to the airport for a trip back to Iowa, where he will campaign until the caucuses Tuesday.
Friday night in Merrimack, N.H., Romney faced a similar question and offered no answer.
Romney’s campaign has said he has no present plans to release the returns but would reconsider if he becomes the GOP nominee.
The event here was packed, with hundreds crammed into every nook of the restaurant. An hour after Romney’s brief speech, throngs awaited him, holding out baseballs for signatures and standing with him for photographs.
Romney was introduced by former New Hampshire governor John H. Sununu and former US senator Judd Gregg.
During his stump speech, Romney said he did not blame President Obama for the recession. “But I blame him for keeping it going,’’ he said.
Later, he referred to the downturn as “Obama’s recession.’’ The recession, which began at the end of the George W. Bush administration, ended in 2009, but elements of the economy - and areas of the country - remain distressed.
It only ended for the top. Mitt putting more distance between him and Bush. Then why is he bringing back all his economic advisers?
At the end, Romney poked fun at his adopted state’s reputation for voter fraud....
That's how you won the governorship, Mitt, and I find nothing funny about vote fraud.
In a measure of his supporters’ confidence, chatter in the crowd migrated to whom Romney should choose as his running mate. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, one supporter offered. That way Romney would take the key state. Another agreed, adding that a danger for Romney would be Obama’s choosing a new running mate - namely Hillary Rodham Clinton. Together they could be a powerful duo, the supporter said.
She's not going to be veep (unless she knows Obama is going to be gone).
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"Rivals race to block Romney sweep; Ex-governor expected focus in pair of debates as Santorum draws crowds in 1st post-Iowa events" January 07, 2012|By Matt Viser and Bobby Caina Calvan, Globe Staff
TILTON, N.H. - Mitt Romney served up plates of steaming spaghetti to voters last night as his campaign basked in new polls showing him sustaining his dominant position in the Granite State and jumping to a surprisingly large lead in South Carolina, where the second GOP primary will be held in two weeks.
Translation: The polls are all fixed, and the Republican pooh-bahs are trying to get Romney the nomination as fast as they can so Ron Paul (they pray) will go away.
But as Romney’s rivals prepared to focus their fire on him in critical back-to-back debates - the first of them tonight - the political phenomenon of the day was former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, who stunned the field by running almost even with Romney in last week’s Iowa caucus and drew such large crowds at a series of events yesterday that fire marshals had to intervene several times.
In Manchester, marshals forced the candidate and his supporters to move a meeting from an overcrowded restaurant to its parking lot.
For Santorum, Jon Huntsman, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul, their best opportunity to take Romney down a notch - or position themselves as the alternative to him - could come in what are shaping up to be the most important debates so far in a campaign season chock full of them.
Romney will undoubtedly be in the crosshairs, said Andrew Smith, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire.
“Everybody’s going to have to beat up on Romney a little bit,’’ Smith said.
The candidates’ potential angles of attack have been surfacing over the past few days.
Romney, who made millions of dollars as a venture capitalist, has said he means by the comment that defending the interests of corporations means defending the well-being of those who work for them and own stock in them.
Yet Romney’s rivals could pay a price if they go too negative on the front-runner, Smith said. They could give Romney the chance to look good by staying above the fray.
“Romney can be the statesman in the group, who doesn’t have to go negative,’’ he said....
The two-hour debate tonight, sponsored by ABC News, Yahoo! News, and WMUR-TV, starts at 9. The debate tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. is hosted by NBC’s “Meet the Press.’’
I didn't watch either one.
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Romney spent the morning in South Carolina, a state where social conservatives, evangelical Christians, and military families have posed difficulties for the former Massachusetts governor in the past.
But all of a sudden he is way out in front down there.
Tea Party activists and social conservatives are also girding for a major battle in South Carolina, potentially making the state a last stand against Romney if he is able to pull off the historic feat of winning competitive races in both Iowa and New Hampshire.
“He’s going to win in New Hampshire,’’ Senator John McCain told several hundred voters at a rally with Romney and Governor Nikki Haley in Myrtle Beach. “It’s going to come down, my friends, as it always does, to South Carolina… . If Mitt Romney wins here, he will be the next president of the United States. South Carolina, it’s up to you.’’
Related: South Carolina's Saving Grace
Not anymore.
A CNN/Time/ORC poll released yesterday showed Romney with 37 percent of the vote, followed by Santorum with 19 percent, Gingrich with 18 percent, Paul with 12 percent, Perry with 5 percent, and Huntsman with 1 percent.
You are telling me he is going to finish fourth down there?
Both Romney and Santorum showed huge jumps from the previous CNN poll, conducted in early December, when Romney was at 20 percent and Santorum at just 4 percent. Their rise came at the expense of Gingrich, whose support dropped from 43 percent.
Oh, STINKOLA!!
I keep telling you, readers, but I believe they are LITERALLY MAKING THE POLL NUMBERS UP and SEEING WHAT WILL FLY and STICK to the WALL!!
The poll found that 44 percent of voters had definitely made up their minds, while 49 percent said they could still change their decision. The poll of 485 likely Republican primary voters was conducted by ORC International on Jan. 4-5 and has a margin of error of 4.5 percent.
Yeah, whatever. That's another one I'm not buying. People have mostly made up their minds by now.
Romney was also ahead in the latest Suffolk University poll in New Hampshire, taking 40 percent of the expected voters, with Paul at 17 percent and Santorum at 11 percent.
Okay, so Ron Paul finishes second in New Hampshire and is the alternative to Mitt.
At his lone event in New Hampshire, Romney cautioned his supporters not to become overconfident.
“Those polls,’’ he said, “they can just disappear overnight.’’
Because they are literally made up numbers.
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New poll numbers:
"Romney's poll numbers in recent days show him winning the support of about 40 percent of New Hampshire GOP primary voters surveyed. Paul has been in second place with 20 percent, and Huntsman, Santorum, and Gingrich are locked in a tight race for third place. All of the candidates say they intend to compete in the Jan. 21 South Carolina primary no matter what the outcome tomorrow in New Hampshire....
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Back at campaign headquarters:
"Candidates’ foot soldiers vow to march all the way to finish" by Bobby Caina Calvan | Globe Staff, January 09, 2012
CONCORD, N.H. - Up the street, the pizza ovens at Theo’s, have burned hot throughout the campaign. Romney volunteers went through more than 75 pies yesterday.
The headquarters of the Romney campaign, a well-oiled machine that counts more than 3,000 volunteers throughout New Hampshire, is far more spacious than those of its rivals....
The Romney campaign is not about to get complacent despite a lead in polls, said spokesman Ryan Williams. Volunteers were expected to place 150,000 phone calls in the campaign’s final days.
Volunteer John McMahon, a political science graduate of Boston College, said he has made nearly 4,000 phone calls since he started with the Romney campaign just before Christmas.
“I usually stick with the script,’’ he said.
McMahon has gotten used to being hung up on or being cursed at - rare exceptions, he said, considering Romney has strong support in New Hampshire.
If he is used to them they can't be that rare.
He has served as a gofer, fetching food and supplies. He has wiped down tables, and has offered to sweep and vacuum, a job usually performed by interns.
“When you’re here for 12 hours a day,’’ he said, “you do whatever you can.’’
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Also see: Sunday Globe Special: War Criminal in Waiting
Romney vows to boost Israel support
