Romney Gymnastics

Flip flopin' like crazy...


So I was aware of Romney's confusing health care flip flop and the abortion and gun control etch-a-sketch, but apparently there are more...


John McCain's research from the 2008 election cites 14


Politifact's take


A Romney vs McCain flip flop test by The Washinton Post


And Rolling Stone's top flip flops


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The Comedy Central video narrated by Leonard Nimoy highlights some as well :)

RNC Convention fun and facts and fun with facts

Several superstar Romney fans have made news... what to say, what to say...

Enjoy!


Chuck Norris's Romney endorsement video
1000 years of darkness if Obama is elected? Wow! :)

Hank Williams Jr is now. insisting Obama's a Muslim who hates farming, military, and the US. Last year he apparently compared him to Hitler. Nice.

Clint Eastwood talked to an empty chair at the RNC convention.


The whole RNC Convention in Tampa, or maybe it was just the first night?, was based on a misinterpreted antecedent. What's that about? President Obama said "you didn't build that," referring to roads and bridges, the original American system of government- we came together to build it, but Republicans took the opportunity to drop the context and say that Obama's saying you didn't build your business, he did.

A great Comedy Central sketch narrated by Leonard Nimoy that highlights how silly the out of context remark is and how ridiculous the "I built that" thing is when taken to extremes:
Mitt Romney: A Human Being Who Built That

The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.  --President Obama

The cropping context out of the picture strategy is kind of a theme...


Ryan and his Janesville plant-  just wrong in the assumptions prior to the convention. He ended up getting Obama's quote right for the convention, but misled by leaving out some context.

Ryan said Obama did nothing with the Simpson- Bowles commission on deficit reduction- forgot to mention he voted against it himself. I don't know if Romney has made the accusation against Obama, but he claims his plan is similar to the commission's.

Ryan essentially said S & P downgrade is Obama's fault- left out that a reason for the downgrade was the Congress impasse (Ryan led the charge to politicize) and the threat that Republicans wouldn't raise taxes.

Ryan, Romney, their ads, and various others accused Obama of funneling money from Medicare ($716 million or some such), but forgot to mention his Ryan plan does the same.


Both sides do it, but there are some glaring instances in the Republican convention where when the context is revealed, you feel a little embarrassed for them.


Ryan said don't forget speech is about big ideas when confronted with various misstatements. :)

Ryan, however, appears to have made the calculation that the misleading won't hurt him with voters. He might be right. CNN's David Gergen, while acknowledging some "misstatements" in Ryan's address, suggested that pundits focus elsewhere. "But let's not forget that this was a speech about big ideas," he told his audience.  --http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/30/paul-ryan-address_n_1841819.html

Romney said he wasn't going to let fact checkers run the campaign. That's the understatement of the year!

Big on "ideas" sparse on details- also a theme- that with the shifting position one and some say these things weren't resolved on the last night of the convention, his opportunity to shine.

Here's the Guardian live blogging the Republican convention like a woman scorned ;) Funny stuff.

Romney said Americans come together after elections, but 8 days after Obama was elected, he was on a talk show saying his policies failed- or that he wanted them to?!  And, Republicans (more than a few fringe people) made it known they would oppose everything Obama tried to do. That seems unprecedented to me. I thought Americans tended to come together after elections as well.

Romney for his part, has a few misstatements as well. Even after the European gaffe tour and the apology/diplomacy tour gaffe...

He's going to create 12 million jobs, which would be created no matter who is president...

Washington Post fact check
Politifact Mitt Romney file
Fact Check .org

And more stuff to look for:
*He says he/Bain was responsible for the IN mill, Steel Dynamics
*$716 Medicare thing again
*Accuses of and criticizes military cuts
*Claimed Obama would raise taxes on middle class via Obamacare (implied)- fact check sided with Romney when Obama accused Romney of raising taxes on the middle class because Romney said he wouldn't do it and there aren't any details in his plan to prove.
* He claims incomes are down, gas prices double and that it's Obama's fault.


After the Republican convention, it seems the message is still fuzzy, They use things like lead, reapply, we'll get it done, in contrast to Bill Clinton's numerous numbers and specifics. Not to snub Obama, but Clinton's was a whopping 50 minutes. Wow. :)

The etch-a-sketch man calling out Obama??

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/us/politics/romney-says-obama-is-hiding-his-true-policy-aims.html

Romney says Obama hides his agenda. 

Hmm. Two things come to mind, the first being Obama foreign policy successes and contrast with the dismal republican foreign policy we recently experienced.

He's going to question (I don't have a problem with questioning, but rather going on and on when you don't really have a firm basis in fact...) Obama on his foreign policy? Really? After he's done quite a bit to restore our image abroad after Bush dragged us through the mud?

These two pieces on Obama I quite enjoyed:
http://www.fareedzakaria.com/home/Articles/Entries/2012/1/19_The_Strategist.html

http://swampland.time.com/2012/01/19/inside-obamas-world-the-president-talks-to-time-about-the-changing-nature-of-american-power/


The second issue I have with Romney's calling out of Obama is-- isn't this a prime example of the pot calling the kettle black? 

Romney or his aide or whomever said:

"You hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It's almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again."


 And Romney's positions on guns, abortion, taxes, gay rights and healthcare have undergone quite the 180 over the years.

So...who's hiding what? Well, I guess we know Romney's going to erase everything and start over, but who knows what his positions will be. That's comforting...to both sides!  ??

And this is equally entertaining, but not new, from John McCain (on Romney)...

He says the etch-a-sketch comment was blown out of proportion, much like his "the fundamentals of the economy are strong" during the campaign in which the bottom dropped out.

That might be a point to argue, except he's ready to jump on Obama for something that's well known in politics- you can't take risks, even to achieve something positive, right before the election. (Obama was "caught" on mic saying his position would be more flexible toward Russia after the election. Never mind that he was referring to having talks ahead of both leaders' campaigns- if one started now, and either leader loses, you'll have to start over. So why start now?) It isn't done. I wish it was done- both sides are to blame. A republican wouldn't do it. And, more troubling, I guess we know the republican position toward "those foreigners"- they have to do what we want or we'll invade or freeze them out- bellicose threats, 48 hour ultimatums, diplomacy's for sissies, bring 'em on. 

I'll take Obama's statement of the obvious over that any day, please!