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Still you list failed example? So Romney is going to lose whether Bush speaks or not?
The republicans can't distance themselves by throwing Bush under the bus. They have to own up to whatever mistakes that were made and move on. At the moment the republican party is hard pressed to find leaders with the integrity that Bush has and thats a huge asset to summarily dismiss.
No one is throwing Bush under the bus. He could come to the convention and would likely be allowed to speak if he wanted to. He doesn't want to for personal reasons. That's just fine with those who think it would be best for him to lay low this election cycle. But he hasn't been barred from attending.
To be Truly ignorant, Man requires an Education - Plato
Ok for the sake of argument that it really is that simple. A man who was once at the pinnacle of republican leadership is now so disgusted with his own party he refuses to say a few words at the party's convention. That does not inspire confidence does it?
He prefers a break, they prefer a break. I don't smell the end of the world there.
President Barack Obama's health care overhaul will shrink rather than increase the nation's huge federal deficits over the next decade, Congress' nonpartisan budget scorekeepers said Tuesday, supporting Obama's contention in a major election-year dispute with Republicans.
I'm guessing not many people here like the "Affordable health care act", but in light of this, has your opinion changed? -- Or, is this still too "socialist"? (Not that this has anything to do with the article)
I'm guessing not many people here like the "Affordable health care act", but in light of this, has your opinion changed? -- Or, is this still too "socialist"? (Not that this has anything to do with the article)
The cost aspect was never a major part of our objection to it. My objection was the unconstitutionality of it.
But as to the savings described in the NYT article you posted, a close reading reveals that the savings result from 3 million less uninsured that will be covered as a result of the Supreme Court ruling. If the ACA was meant to give everyone coverage but 3 million aren't covered, then one can hardly call the lower cost a major achievement. Furthermore actual cost of the ACA is higher than the Dems are claiming. The deception is that much of the cost will be defrayed by unappropriated monies. From the same article...
Actually, the government will spend more. It just won't go onto the national credit card because the health care law will be paid for with a combination of spending cuts and tax increases.
To be Truly ignorant, Man requires an Education - Plato
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov
Sometimes it's wise to not speak even if it is true. Mitt get's a minus point on this one. But, wow, the London media sure as hell overreacts. Even his critics over here are somewhat taken aback by the ugliness of the reaction.
To be Truly ignorant, Man requires an Education - Plato
But, wow, the London media sure as hell overreacts.
you're SURPRISED by the british tabloid reaction? :)
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov
That's okay, dalem calls McCain selection for president in 2008 'a mistake'. dalem also calls Edwards selection for vice president in 2004 'a mistake of truly Democratic proportions'.
Top Ten Most Distasteful things about Romney Trip to Israel
Posted on 07/29/2012 by Juan Cole
The trip of Republic Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney to Israel is in bad taste for lots of reasons.
1. He is holding a fundraiser at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. It is distasteful for an American political candidate to hold a high profile fundraiser abroad, implying a commitment to a foreign country as a means of reaching out to American interest groups (in Romney’s case, Christian Zionists among the evangelicals and the minority of American Jews who would be willing to vote Republican).
2. It is distasteful that Romney has broken his pledge of transparency and declared the fundraiser off limits to the US press.
3. It is distasteful that Romney won’t explain why he has abruptly gone back on his word, and closed the Jerusalem event to the press.
4. There is a convention in US politics that you don’t criticize the sitting president, even if you are an opposition politician, while on foreign soil. Romney clearly intends to slam President Obama while in Israel.
5. It is distasteful that Romney is clearly holding the event in some large part to please casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who first bankrolled Newt Gingrich and now is talking about giving $100 million to elect Romney. Adelson is a huge supporter of far rightwing Likud Party Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and published a free newspaper in Israel to support all things Bibi all the time. Adelson is under investigation for allegedly bribing Chinese officials in Macau in reference to his casino empire there. Since Adelson is potentially an agent of Chinese influence and is a partisan of one of Israel’s most rightwing parties, Romney’s indebtedness to him is disturbing.
6. It is distasteful to have Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu interfering in an American domestic election by openly favoring Romney over Obama.
7. It is distasteful that Romney is promising his donors in Jerusalem a war on Iran. When George W. Bush promised his pro-Israel supporters a war on Iraq, it cost the US at least $3 trillion, got hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed, destabilized the Gulf for some time, cost over 4,000 American soldiers’ lives, and damaged American power, credibility and the economy. As Nancy Reagan said of drugs, so US politicians must say to constant Israeli entreaties that the United States of America continually fight new wars in the Middle East on their behalf: “Just say no.” Instead, Romney is playing war enabler, and that abroad!
8. It is distasteful that Romney will not meet with Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestine Authority, who actually was elected by Palestinians, but only with an appointed and toothless ‘prime minister’ known for cooperation with Israel’s Likud.
9. It is distasteful the Romney will not commit to a two-state solution within 1967 borders or demand Israel cease illegal squatting on and unilateral annexation of Palestinian land. If he is going to this Middle East hot spot, why doesn’t he visit a Palestinian refugee camp so as to understand the nub of the dispute, instead of hobnobbing with the uber-rich in Jerusalem.
10. It is distasteful that he is holding the fundraiser in the King David Hotel, which was famously blown up by the Zionist terrorist organization Irgun in 1946, in a strike that killed 91 persons and wounded dozens, many of them innocent civilians. Irgun leader Menachem Begin (later a leader of the ruling Likud Party) hit the hotel because there were British security offices there, which were tracking violent organizations like his own, during the British Mandate period of Palestine. He maintained that he called ahead to warn of the bombing, but that is just propganda to take the edge off the deed– who in 1946 would have taken such a call seriously? When current Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and other Likud leaders attended a commemoration of the bombing, the British Foreign Office sent over a sharp note of protest. I guess Romney is not finished with insulting London.
Who is Juan Cole? It doesn't matter. He is representative of Romney's more shrill critics, although he raises a couple of points worth discussing.
To be Truly ignorant, Man requires an Education - Plato
(Reuters) - Palestinians accused U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney of racism on Monday by suggesting disparities between the Israeli and Palestinian economies had cultural roots, while ignoring Israel's occupation of the West Bank.
In a speech to fundraisers in Jerusalem, Romney, visiting Israel to boost his electoral credentials ahead of a November 6 election bid against President Barack Obama, said Israel's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was about twice that of the Palestinians.
He said Israel's GDP per capita was $21,000, while for Palestinians it was $10,000, and called it "a dramatic, stark difference in economic vitality".
The chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat told Reuters that Romney's comments amounted to "a racist statement that shows a lack of knowledge".
He added: "Everyone knows that the Palestinians cannot reach their full potential given the Israeli restrictions imposed on them."
Romney made no reference to Israel's tight control of most territory where Palestinians live, the West Bank, since capturing it in a 1967 war. Western-backed peace talks aimed at Palestinians establishing a state there collapsed in 2010.
The figures Romney gave also seemed at odds with Western estimates suggesting the GDP gap is in effect much wider, with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency estimating Israel's at $31,400 in 2011, and the Palestinians' at about $2,900 for 2008.
Romney went on to say at the event where he reportedly raised more than $1 million for his campaign, that "if you could learn anything from the economic history of the world it's this: culture makes all the difference.... I recognize the hand of providence in selecting this place".
Romney did not travel to the nearby West Bank during his two-day stay in Israel, finding time only for a brief meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. He later flew to Poland on the last leg of his international tour.
The controversy he kicked up among Palestinians followed irritation in Britain last week when he questioned London's readiness to stage the Olympic Games.
JERUSALEM DISPUTE
Palestinians also accused Romney of undermining peace prospects in a speech he made on Sunday, when he called Jerusalem "the capital of Israel", ignoring their own claims to the city and most world opinion.
"We condemn his statements. Those who speak about the two-state solution should know that there can be no Palestinian state without East Jerusalem," Erekat said.
"What this man is doing here is just promoting extremism, violence and hatred, and this is absolutely unacceptable," Erekat said. "His statements are just rewarding the occupation and aggression."
Israel seized eastern Jerusalem in 1967 and annexed it as part of its capital in a move never recognized internationally. A U.N Security Council resolution condemns a 1980 Israeli law that declared Jerusalem its "complete and undivided" capital.
Most countries, including the United States, have not recognized Israel's declaration and have kept their embassies in the coastal city of Tel Aviv.
Previous U.S. presidential candidates, including Senator Obama in June 2008, have referred to Jerusalem as Israel's capital ahead of elections, only to row back when taking power and suggest the issue should be resolved by negotiations.
A senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rdeineh, said Romney's statements were unhelpful, stood in the way of a peace settlement and "contradict the previous positions held by the American administration".
Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) secretary-general Yasser Abed Rabbo said: "American policy makers must abandon hypocrisy and stop attempting to gain votes at the expense of the Palestinian people's rights."
In an interview with CNN, Romney refused to be pinned down on whether he would recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital if he beats Obama and wins the White House.
"A nation has the capacity to choose its own capital city, and Jerusalem is Israel's capital," he said.
Pressed on whether he would make the move on becoming president, Romney said:
"I'm not going to make foreign policy for my nation, particularly while I'm on foreign soil. My understanding is the policy of our nation has been a desire to move our embassy ultimately to the capital."
Seeking American Jewish and fundamentalist Christian votes, Romney has criticized Obama on Israel, alleging last year that the president had "thrown Israel under a bus" in pushing hard for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.
The different tone of negativity between this professional news report and the blog article I posted above is that the professional journalist doesn't step in a load of crap and play the role Romney's people wanted him to play, whereas the writer of the blog article played right into Romney's hands. If anyone is stupid enough to believe that Romeny's people didn't script his Israeli visit exactly the way it turned out, they deserve their apoplectic suffering and Romney's thanks for firming up his conservative credentials stateside.
To be Truly ignorant, Man requires an Education - Plato
Romney sure has rubbed elbows with a lot of foreign dignitaries as of late. Shouldn't he win the presidency first or is this customary for those simply running for the office?
Removing a single turd from the cesspool doesn't make any difference.
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