DON”T SWEAT THE DETAILS – Let’s say you have an old car that hasn’t been running right. You’re planning a long trip and are worried that the old beater won’t get you there. So you stop in at the new car dealer and tell the salesman your story. “I’ve got the perfect vehicle for you” he says. And he shows you this wonderful red coup. But they guy won’t tell you the size of the engine. He won’t show you the accessories. He won’t tell you if it’s good on gas. He won’t even tell you how much it’s going to cost. “Trust me!” he says. “It’s just the thing to get you where you want to go.” Then he asks you for a blank check. “We’ll fill the amount in after you’ve taken delivery.”
Would you buy a car from this man?
That’s Romney/Ryan on overhauling the tax code. The Republican nominees say they will: “lower the tax rates broaden the base and eliminate the tax loop holes.” But when you ask them for specifics as to what loop holes they want to eliminate…they won’t say. No more deductions for mortgage interest? Not sayin’. No more charitable deductions? My lips are sealed. Ryan says he won’t reveal them: “because they have to be worked out with congress after the election.” Romney says he won’t reveal them: “because if I do I’ll just be attacked.” Really! So we are supposed to accept the Romney/Ryan tax plan without being given the specifics???
SPEAKING OF TAXES – Mitt Romney hoped that the announcement of his running mate would get the media off his back about his tax returns. Nope! In fact Anne Romney was asked about them in a recent interview. An obviously irritated Mrs. Romney stuck to the company line: “We have been transparent to what is legally required of us…there’s going to be no more tax releases given…because when we release information it only gives them (Democrats) more ammunition to attack.”
The media consensus is that whatever flack the campaign is getting for refusing to release additional years of returns is nothing compared to the damaging information those additional returns might contain. Some pundits have opined that the information might be damaging enough to kill any chance Romney might have of winning the election. The three common theories are: 1.) he paid zero income tax, 2.) he paid taxes at a rate far below that of the average American, 3.) he has avoided paying income taxes by sheltering huge sums of wealth in offshore accounts and 4.) the piece de resistance…that he committed a felony by failing to report offshore income and took advantage of the Federal Tax Amnesty Program to tell Uncle Sam about his offshore holdings without fear of jail time. Romney’s continued silence only leads to more speculation.
STOPPING VOTER FRAUD IN PENNSYLVANIA – Republican Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson ruled that he would not grant an injunction that would have halted the states’ new voter ID law. The law requires voters show a valid government issued photo ID that includes an expiration date. The law makes it difficult for the elderly, disabled, poor and young adults to vote by outlawing the forms of ID they had used in previous years; such as utility bills, tax bills, or social security cards. Many in this demographic do not have driver’s licenses…the most commonly used form of photo ID…because they use public transportation. Opponents are expected to appeal the ruling before the State Supreme Court; but not in time for the November election.
The purpose of the law was to eliminate what was originally described as “rampant voter fraud in the state.” But in a law suit to bring disposition of the law into the courts the supporters of the law agreed that there never has been any substantive instance of voter fraud nor is there any indication that there may be an increase in voter fraud in the upcoming election. In fact, during the 2008 elections there were only 4 cases over voter fraud found among over 650,000 ballots cast in the state. Clearly this is a brazen effort on the part of Republicans to make it harder to vote for the demographics that typically support Democrats. If you find that hard to believe consider the words of the state’s Republican House Majority Leader Mike Turzai who pronounced last June that the new voter ID requirement: “is going to allow Governor Romney to win the state.”
Congratulations to Judge Simpson and the Pennsylvania state legislature. You have succeeded in overturning the very cornerstone on which this country was founded…the right that EVERY American…not just the ones who are wealthy and vote Republican… has to vote.
ROMNEY LECTURES DEMOCRATS - Mitt Romney urged Democrats and specifically Barak Obama to: "take your campaign of division and hate back to Chicago." This from the guy who carpet bomded his Republican primary rivals with millions of dollars of ugly personal attack ads. We warned Romney earlier that he might get away with these negative tactics within the safe harbor of the Republican primaries; but when he got to the general election he was "gonna' need a bigger boat." His Republican challengers didn't have the fire power to fight back. Obama does; and Romney doesn't like it. Captain Romney is not used to being challenged. He gets defensive. He's a bit thin skinned. You could see the annoyance in his debate performance during the primaries and you can see it now. He doesn't handel return fire very well. Better hunker down Mitt. You thought the media scrutiny and the negative attacks were bad before... Now that you've picked Mr. Ryan its only going to get worse. Surely you know that you reap what you sew.
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