Windsock Mitt: What Choice? Multiple Choice?

Multiple Choice Mitt is back today, with a position on abortion which lasted all of about an hour. The following is a collection of quotations from various sources going back to 1994 on Governor Romney’s many versions of his story:

“I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country; I have since the time that my mom took that position when she ran in 1970 as a U.S. Senate candidate.” His comments, made during a candidate debate, are unequivocal: “I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years, that we should sustain and support it.”  1994

“I will preserve and protect a woman’s right to choose, and am devoted and dedicated to honoring my word in that regard.” He assured voters, “I will not change any provisions of Massachusetts’ pro-choice laws.” 2002

“And every action I’ve taken as governor of Massachusetts has been pro-life. This is a very difficult decision. We’re involved in the lives of two people: a mom and an unborn child. And yet I’ve come down on the side of saying I’m in favor of life.”  2007

“”My position has been clear throughout this campaign,” Romney said. “I’m in favor of abortion being legal in the case of rape and incest, and the health and life of the mother.” August 27, 2012

Those things I think are consistent with my pro-life position. And I hope to appoint justices for the Supreme Court that will follow the law and the constitution. And it would be my preference that they reverse Roe V. Wade and therefore they return to the people and their elected representatives the decisions with regards to this important issue. September 9, 2012

“Mitt Romney today said no abortion legislation is part of his agenda, but he would prohibit federally-funded international nonprofits from providing abortions in other countries. “There’s no legislation with regards to abortion that I’m familiar with that would become part of my agenda,” the GOP presidential candidate told The Des Moines Register’s editorial board during a meeting today before his campaign rally at a Van Meter farm.” Oct.9 2012

Anrea Saul, spokesperson on Romney’s abortion comment to DMR: Rom “wld of course support legislation aimed at providing greater protections for life.” Oct. 9, 2012

For a timeline of Governor Romney’s various positions click here. (with video)

Windsock Mitt

Vanishing Points

Time was when the phrase The Great Skedaddle referred to the July 21, 1861 disorganized Union Army retreat after the first Battle of Bull Run.  However, it might be plausibly updated to include the rapid distancing of down ticket candidates like Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) from the comments by Presidential candidate  Mitt Romney:   “Keep in mind, I have five brothers and sisters. My father was an auto mechanic. My mother was a school cook. I have a very different view of the world,” Heller said. “And as United States Senator, I think I represent everyone, and every vote’s important. Every vote’s important in this race. I don’t write off anybody.” [HuffPo]

And then there are those “vanished” tax returns — former Governor Romney has released part of one year, promises some of another, and is generally behaving as though the entire matter will vanish from human consciousness.  Not if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has a breath left:

“For all we know, Mitt Romney could be one of those who have paid no federal income taxes. Thousands of families making more than $1 million pay nothing in federal income taxes each year. Is Mitt Romney among them?

We’ll never know, since he refuses to release tax returns from the years before he was running for president. But from the one return we have seen, we know Mitt Romney pays a lower tax rate than middle class families thanks to Swiss bank accounts and Cayman Island tax shelters.

And we can only imagine what new secrets would be revealed if he showed the American people a dozen years of tax returns, like his father did.”

(Senator Reid’s comments available in full at Real Clear Politics.)

Former Governor Romney has a track record of making things vanish, like the records from his tenure as Governor of Massachusetts:

“When Romney left the governorship of Massachusetts, 11 of his aides bought the hard drives of their state-issued computers to keep for themselves. Also before he left office, the governor’s staff had emails and other electronic communications by Romney’s administration wiped from state servers, state officials say.

Those actions erased much of the internal documentation of Romney’s four-year tenure as governor, which ended in January 2007. Precisely what information was erased is unclear.

Republican and Democratic opponents of Romney say the scrubbing of emails – and a claim by Romney that paper records of his governorship are not subject to public disclosure – hinder efforts to assess his performance as a politician and elected official.”  [Reuters] (Dec. 2011)

There was nothing strictly illegal about scrubbing all the e-mail and items from the hard drives and servers, precisely as there is nothing illegal about stashing income in the Cayman Islands, or as there is nothing illegal about paying only those taxes required by law — and availing oneself of every loophole and “blocker” scheme conceivable by man.

Governor Romney is proud of his accomplishments in regard to the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics — just not so proud as to allow the release of the ALL the records of it.

“More than a decade has passed since Mitt Romney presided over the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, but the archival records from those games that were donated to the University of Utah to provide an unprecedented level of transparency about the historic event, remain off limits to the public. And some of the documents that may have shed the most light on Romney’s stewardship of the Games were likely destroyed by Salt Lake Olympic officials, ABC News has learned.

The archivists involved in preparing the documents for public review told ABC News that financial documents, contracts, appointment calendars, emails and correspondence are likely not included in the 1,100 boxes of Olympic records, and will not be part of the collection that will ultimately be made public.”  [ABC]

The Romney campaign assures us that they have no problem with the archival material being released — a cynic might say “Of Course Not” it’s already sanitized, as the Massachusetts records were tidied up immediately after the Governor.

What appears to be vanishing at this point is any enthusiasm for the Romney/Ryan Campaign?

Suppressed Information: Muddling Medicare Part 2

Analyzing what the Romney-Ryan ticket would actually DO to the Medicare system as we know it is difficult because there’s a big difference between speechifying and informing.  The Republican proposals are a fact-checker’s nightmare because the GOP campaign refuses to be nailed down to many specifics.

The Romney Plan is just like the Ryan Plan — almost, nearly identical. No, completely different! [Salon] The Romney/Ryan plan would ultimately cost seniors some $60,000? [TP] No, maybe not, because the public is looking at the numbers from the “old” plan.  Well, what numbers should we be looking at?

Perhaps we’re supposed to look at the White Board?

“The whiteboard had four quadrants, with a column for his plan and another for Obama’s plan, and a row for how the two plans would affect “seniors” and the “next gen.” Under Obama’s plan, Romney wrote “$716 billion cut” next to current seniors and “bankruptcy” next to next generation. For his plan, he wrote “no change” for current seniors and “solvent” for future generations.”  [Salon]

First, we know the charge that the Obama Administration cut $716 from Medicare is bogus.  We also know that under at least one of the incarnations of the Ryan Budget almost the same savings were found in the current Medicare program.  We know that under the Administration’s plan the savings are returned to the Medicare program, part of them fill in the infamous Do-Nut hole in prescription drug coverage.  We’re left guessing if the Romney “plan” — whatever it might turn out to be — would keep the savings for the benefits side of Medicare program or follow the Ryan Plan and have the savings revert to the Treasury to pay down the federal deficit.

I’m not the only one who finds the various expressions of Governor Romney’s position confusing.

“First, there is the issue of the $716 billion the president’s health care law will take from Medicare to cover costs across the board. Ryan’s budget cuts the same amount from Medicare, but rather than re-investing the money, it is used – or not used – to ease the deficit.” [Salon]

Romney is less clear about where the cuts would go, or if there would be cuts at all.

“Governor Romney believes Obamacare was a terrible mistake and has repeatedly made clear he believes it must be repealed in its entirety. This includes,” a campaign official said, “repeal of President Obama’s $716 billion in cuts that slash provider payments and Medicare Advantage and threaten seniors’ access to care.”  [ABC]

The last line approaches word salad but contain a kernel of truth.  The Obama Administration does cut payments to providers — NOT beneficiaries, and cuts the subsidies to insurance corporations for Medicare Advantage policies.  Whether this “threatens seniors’ access to care” is highly debatable.

David Horsey of the Los Angeles Times opens his article on the contortions of the Romney campaign with regard to the Ryan plan with a cartoon showing Romney in “Olympic Flip Flop Mode.”   Horsey may have also found the core of the problem:

“Not that he would stick with it if it brings him political heat. Almost daily, Mitt Romney reinforces the perception of himself as a man with no deep political convictions. There seems to be no position he will not give up if it has become a political liability. Much has been said about his switcheroos on healthcare, immigration, gay rights and Planned Parenthood since he was governor of Massachusetts. Anyone who thinks he really knows what Romney would do as president regarding Medicare or any number of other major issues, must be using a top-notch crystal ball.” [LAT]

Why be so coy about the specific proposals to change the Medicare program, why hide the details?   Perhaps we are in Romney Land now in which details and specifics are to be kept hidden lest they be criticized?  As in what happened when Romney was about to discuss his energy proposals?

“I know that we have members of the media here right now, so I’m not going to go through that in great detail,” Romney said, according to a pool report from the event.”  [HuffPo]

OK, we could think former Governor Romney didn’t want reporters letting his cat out of the bag before the big roll out.  However, when the big roll out day came — poof!  The Secret Energy Plan was little more than an extension of Drill Baby Drill [WaPo] as if the reporters in the room couldn’t have figured that out for themselves.

There’s a pattern developing with the Romney Campaign which a convention isn’t going to ameliorate.   The Romney Campaign is going for style points over substance, with a serious case of obfuscation in the process.

No, “you people” don’t need to see my tax returns because you’ll just pick over them and find things with which to attack me.”

No, “you people” don’t need to hear the specifics of my Medicare proposals, which are almost identical, very close to, and completely different from the Ryan Plan because you’ll just pick them apart and use the specifics to attack me.

No, “you people” don’t need to hear more about what tax loopholes I would close to make up for the revenue lost by maintaining tax breaks for the top 2%, “I’ll get there when the time comes.”

No, “you people” don’t need to know about which cabinet departments I would eliminate because if that information is released to the public then there will be serious issues raised, and I’ll be attacked.

No, “you people” don’t need to know the specifics of my budgeting plans to reduce the deficit, because they “can’t be scored.”

No, “you people” don’t need to know the specifics of my immigration policy, my education policy, my trade policy, my fill in the blank policy… because what you don’t know won’t come back to bite me. And, “I Will Not Be Bitten.”

There’s something ironic about the  Etch-A-Sketch candidate using a White Board to “explain” his Medicare policy — both can be erased.  What’s a fact checker to do when the “facts” about policy proposals can be altered, changed, hidden, and erased whenever it is politically expedient to do so?

What are voters supposed to do?  There’s a patronizing tone to all this, “Now, children, you sit quietly and don’t whine. Daddy will always do what’s best for you.   … Trust him.”

Reagan was right on one point: Trust but Verify.

Catching Up: A Roundup of Good Reading

** Click on “expand” to see the Worker’s Voice advertisement which reminds Nevadans that Senator By Appointment Only™ Dean Heller (R-NV) voted not once, but twice, to end Medicare as we know it and to replace it with a coupon (voucher) plan primarily benefiting health insurance corporations.   Representative Shelley Berkley (D-NV1), Heller’s opponent in the 2012 Senate race has a cogent op-ed concerning what Heller’s position would cost senior citizens in Nevada.

** About that GOP claim that President Obama “cut” some $716 Billion from Medicare — BOGUS — what the Affordable Care Act really did was save $716 Billion by reducing taxpayer subsidies to health care corporations for profitable Medicare Advantage plans, and cut waste, fraud, and abuse from the system.  NOTHING IN THE ACA CUTS MEDICARE PROGRAMS FOR THE ELDERLY.  By the way, the Ryan Budget plan cuts about the same amount from Medicare, but uses the money to protect tax cuts for the top 1%.

**  Oops?  David Stockman, former Reagan budget guru has a few words for the Romney/Ryan Budget, compliments of Charlie Pierce at Esquire Magazine:

“The Ryan Plan boils down to a fetish for cutting the top marginal income-tax rate for “job creators” — i.e. the superwealthy — to 25 percent and paying for it with an as-yet-undisclosed plan to broaden the tax base. Of the $1 trillion in so-called tax expenditures that the plan would attack, the vast majority would come from slashing popular tax breaks for employer-provided health insurance, mortgage interest, 401(k) accounts, state and local taxes, charitable giving and the like, not to mention low rates on capital gains and dividends. The crony capitalists of K Street already own more than enough Republican votes to stop that train before it leaves the station.” [NYT]

But wait, Mr. Stockman hasn’t gotten to his closing:

“In short, Mr. Ryan’s plan is devoid of credible math or hard policy choices. And it couldn’t pass even if Republicans were to take the presidency and both houses of Congress. Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan have no plan to take on Wall Street, the Fed, the military-industrial complex, social insurance or the nation’s fiscal calamity and no plan to revive capitalist prosperity — just empty sermons.”  [NYT]

Many of Mr. Stockman’s proposals will be unpalatable to Democrats, however he’s right on target about the credibility void and “empty sermons” in what is supposed to pass for “big ideas” in the Romney/Ryan fiscal policy.

Rep. Ryan, staunch defender of the Mega-Mogul, and lieutenant of the Blazing Pants Brigade, will be in Las Vegas to meet with our resident Republican Money Pot, Sheldon Adelson, and to hold a “rally” of the all-white faithful chorus of The Church of the Empty Sermon.  More at The Examiner.

** Not convinced that the GOP’s offering for the 2012 election is all about protecting the Merger & Acquisition Kings of Wall Street?  Then read the Atlantic’s analysis which posits that under Ryan’s plan Mitt Romney would pay 0.82% in federal taxes.

**  Flashback to March 2012:  “A budget plan introduced by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) would add more to the deficit over 10 years than if Congress kept the status quo, undermining claims of its fiscal impact.  Ryan’s blueprint, “The Path to Prosperity,” would add $3.127 trillion to the deficit during the decade spanning 2013 to 2022, according to a table on page 88 of the plan.”  [The Hill]

There’s more from TDB:

“Everyone knows by now that Ryan’s budget would replace Medicare with a voucher whose value declines over time. His cuts to Medicare and other health care programs would total $2.4 trillion over the next ten years. But despite that, and despite all the domestic spending cuts in his plan, Ryan still doesn’t get anywhere close to balancing his own budget. That is because even by his own estimate, he reduces revenue by $2 trillion over the same period. His budget relies on optimistic economic assumptions about the stimulative effects of tax cuts, and many of his rate reductions are similarly supposedly offset by unspecified loophole closings, so the real revenue loss would be much greater.”  (emphasis added)

**  MUST READ: “Frank Luntz Messaging Ordered By NRCC” in Crooks & Liars.   A Taste: “Do not say: ‘entitlement reform,’ ‘privatization,’ ‘every option is on the table,’” the National Republican Congressional Committee said in an email memo. “Do say: ‘strengthen,’ ‘secure,’ ‘save,’ ‘preserve, ‘protect.’”   This makes it very clear, because if the GOP says “don’t say” we can reasonably assume that they mean “privatization.”

There’s more over at the Booman Tribune worth reading as well.   Perrspectives sums it up, “Now, Mitt Romney and his Republican allies are counting on Americans having short memories and bad math skills. For today’s Party of Lincoln, the message for 2012 is clear: You can fool some of the people all of the time, and that’s our target market.”

More Fun on the Back Page

Try this handy calculator to find out how much Willard Mitt Romney earned while you were busy doing “We The People” household chores and other daily things.   I’ll put this on the Back Page so we can play with it for the next 110 days.

Romney, Adelson, and the Mega-Money Mindset

Dirty money will buy you dirty politics.   Princely benefactor of ultra-right wing causes, Nevada’s own Sheldon Adelson, is the subject of a probe into whether he violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. [LVSun/ProPublica] Some of Mr. Adelson’s donations should raise eyebrows as well.

The Newt Gingrich PAC, “Winning our Future,” received two major contributions; one of $5 million, and another for $2.5 million in the first quarter of 2012. [FundRace]  The Sands CEO’s willingness to pour millions, once reported at $21.5 million, [HuffPo] down the pipe into Newt Gingrich’s book promotion tour and sometime presidential campaign should make it clear to all but the most ethically challenged that he meant it when he said his pockets were bottomless when it comes to supporting the Romney Campaign.   So, whatever is raked in from the Golden Bamboozle in Macau could easily fill the coffers of the First Financialist in Chief.

Evidently, all Mr. Romney had to do was promise to make the pilgrimage to Israel, be as hawkish about Iran as the Bush era Neo-Cons, and make statements saying President Obama has thrown Israel under the bus. [NYT] Oh, and a hug for right wing Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu gets bonus points.

However, failure to grant Mr. Adelson his million$ of wi$he$ reveals a less lamb-like corporate executive; an explanation from a Sands executive is illustrative: “Weidner recalled struggling to explain Adelson’s style to the Chinese, once comparing his boss to a famous emperor who became angry with China’s scholars and buried them alive with their books. “I would tell them: ‘He is brilliant. Sometimes, like the emperor, he is brutal.’”  [LVSun]

Governor Romney, apparently unwilling to be buried alive with his tax returns, has bent his knee to our Megalomaniacal Mogul.  It’s also nice to know that Mr. Adelson could be willing to spend as much as $100 million to have a Financialist occupying the White House. [HuffPo]

Governor Romney is not the only recipient of Mr. Adelson’s recent largess.  Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA7) sponsored the Young Guns PAC which limped into the campaign season with $55,ooo in the first quarter.  Getting a $5 million boost from the Adelson’s was a lifeline for Cantor’s campaign chest, from which future and current adherents to Cantor’s brand of obstructionist politics will receive donations.

The Adelson’s have also funneled $5 million into the Boehner/Cantor Congressional Leadership Fund. [LVSun]  The Adelson money now mingles with donations from AFLAC PAC, AT&T, the Koch Brothers, Home Depot, Valero, and the Nuclear Energy Institute in the CLF. [OS]

The Mega-Money Mindset

There’s a legalistic mindset at play in the political money games.  Only the ultra-rich have the resources to work at the edges of the legal system.  Consider for a moment Governor Romney’s carefully phrased comments about his income taxes:  “I pay all the taxes that are legally required and not a dollar more. I don’t think you want someone as the candidate for president who pays more taxes than he owes.” [WaPo]

Governor Romney paid “all the taxes that are legally required and not a dollar more.”  This is more easily accomplished with a battalion of accountants and tax law professionals generally unavailable to members of the American middle class.   Most people fill in the blanks on the EZ form, put a stamp on it, and mail it in, with a “what the heck, it’s as close as I can get” mentality.   A mind-set unfamiliar to the top 1% of the top 1%.

Compare this philosophical bent to Mr. Adelson’s comments on campaign finance:  “I’m against very wealthy people attempting to or influencing elections,” he said. “But as long as it’s doable, I’m going to do it.” [Forbes]

Governor Romney is going to take every deduction, every dodge, and every tax haven possible because he will do only what is legally required of him. Mr. Adelson will attempt to influence elections because it is legally “do-able.”   There is no internal moral compass directing their actions; only external restraints.

In one case there is no perception that parking money in off-shore accounts in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, or in Swiss banks, isn’t “right” or might be held ethically questionable for someone who is running for the presidency of the United States.

In the other case there is a man worth approximately $25 billion, who in the absence of any external legal restraints on his donations will seek to buy an election — or multiple elections — if it’s black letter legal.  Mr. Adelson has admitted it’s the wrong thing to do, but if it advances his personal interests and it’s isn’t strictly illegal, then there is no internal restraint on his actions.

Morality Matters

Morality “refers to a code of conduct that applies to all who can understand it and can govern their behavior by it. In the normative sense, morality should never be overridden, that is, no one should ever violate a moral prohibition or requirement for non-moral considerations.” [Plato/Stanford]

The very definition of morality requires internal controls, or the application of moral principles by self-governing individuals who are capable of understanding the accepted code of conduct.  In the realm of campaign and personal finance, it seems neither Governor Romney, nor Mr. Adelson, wishes to apply generally accepted codes of conduct as part of their own self-governance.  Governor Romney will seek every edge he can pertaining to his taxes, while Mr. Adelson will do anything not explicitly forbidden — even though their actions give every appearance of dodgy behavior from a public morality perspective.

Small wonder neither man is fond of any restraints on their financial empires.  For such men “freedom” equates to a lack of legal restrictions on their actions.  They are not “free” as long as the rest of society restricts their behavior.  Thus, Mr. Romney calls for the repeal of the Dodd Frank Act regulating the financial sector.  It impinges on his “freedom.”  Mr. Adelson would rather the Justice Department not look too closely at his operations in Macau. That would impinge on his “freedom.”

Therefore, former Governor Romney may, indeed, not understand the commotion about his opportunistic flipping and flopping on issues like women’s rights, or abortion, or global climate change, or support for the policies of the Reagan Administration, [Politifact] and leave the electorate holding the view that he is a hollow man without fundamental political principles.  If all one’s principles are a function of external control, then it’s no wonder the former Massachusetts Governor is a “well lubricated weather vane” revolving as the wind direction changes.

Perhaps neither would understand:

“Then, when the clouds are off the soul, When thou dost bask in Nature’s eye, Ask, how she view’d thy self-control, Thy struggling, task’d morality — Nature, whose free, light, cheerful air, Oft made thee, in thy gloom, despair.”  — Matthew Arnold.

——-

For an insightful piece on the issue, from a different perspective, read “Pay no attention to the billionaire behind the curtain”  Las Vegas City Life, July 6, 2012.

Romney’s Job Creation Response: Yawn

The Romney campaign responded to reports that during Governor Romney’s tenure as the chief executive of Massachusetts he wasn’t particularly successful at creating jobs because the unemployment rate in the Bay State was 4.5% at the end of his term.   YAWN.   There are some reasons to indulge in a simultaneous inhalation of air and stretching of the ear drums followed by an immediate exhalation of breath.

#1.   2007 was also the year that Nevada had a 4.7% unemployment rate, California had a 5.7% unemployment rate, Arizona had a 3.7% rate, while Florida had a 4.0% rate — can we say “Housing Bubble?” [BLS] The national average that year was 4.6%, and that doesn’t make the 4.5% look all that impressive.

#2.  Massachusetts’ unemployment rate in 2003 was 5.8%, compared to a national unemployment average of 6.0%.  [BLS] It doesn’t look as though Mr. Romney can argue he was “starting out in a hole.”

#3.  As of 2004, the national unemployment rate was 5.5%, while the Massachusetts rate was 5.2%.  [BLS] In 2005 the national rate was 5.1% and the MA rate was 4.8%. [BLS] The national rate of unemployment in 2006 was 4.6%, while the Massachusetts rate was 4.8%. [BLS] It may not do to get too excited about the reduction of unemployment levels in a state when the outcome amounts to a +0.2% overall gain in four years.

#4. The job creation Romney promised in Massachusetts never really materialized.  “By the time Romney left the State House, Massachusetts had generated 24,400 net new jobs, according to an analysis by Moody’s Economy.com, an independent research group. The state had only an 0.8 percent increase in employment, giving it the fourth-weakest rate of job growth among all states over that time.”  [Boston Globe]