This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan

  • Romney: GOP and White House wrong on sequestration

    The Washington Times reports that Mitt Romney said yesterday that he believes that Obama was wrong to propose sequestration on defense cuts, but the Republican leaders were just as wrong to accept the White House proposal;

    The automatic spending cuts take effect on Jan. 2 and are the result of last year’s debt deal, which laid out major broad cuts split between both defense and domestic spending, known as sequesters, unless the deficit super committee had been able to come up with a replacement agreement. That committee failed.

    I agree completely. It was the cowards’ way out of the budget problem in an election year. But then so was depending on a “super committee” to tag budget items to cut.

    For his part, Mr. Romney has said he opposed both the sequesters and Mr. Obama’s cuts.

    “I want to maintain defense spending at the current level of the GDP. I don’t want to keep bringing it down as the president’s doing,” he said.

    That’s why this administration needs to be stopped now before we’re saddled with defense spending increases in the future to make up for what this administration plans to cut.

    Yes, everyone knows where the Defense Department can cut waste, but you can bet that is not what is going to be cut.

  • Trace Adkins’ “Tough People Do” to become GOP anthem

    Trace Adkins’ latest song “Tough People Do” (as in “Tough times don’t last, tough people do”) which he performed at the GOP convention last week is headed to become the anthem for the GOP this election season. Here’s a video of his first performance of the song;

    From USAToday;

    The song’s three verses look at economic difficulties from historical, national and personal perspectives. In the song’s first verse, a woman raises four kids through the Great Depression, then outlasts that era by 60 years. The depiction reminded Adkins of his grandmother, who died at age 92.

    “My grandma was the toughest old woman that I ever saw in my life,” he says. “She’d still work in the garden with an old push-plow until she was in her late 70s. Just the toughest old woman that I ever knew and, at the same time, the godliest creature that I ever knew.

    “That’s the point of this song. That’s what we have in our DNA. That’s what we come from. That’s who we are. That’s what this country needs to be reminded of. We still have the wherewithal, still have the muscle to straighten out this incredibly twisted frame that we’re driving on.”

    His press agent tells us that the song will be available soon on iTunes (whatever that is). Luckily they sent me an MP3 so I’m already rockin’ to it.

  • Romney promises to not hike Tricare fees

    Hondo sent a link to the Army Times article by some guy named Rick Maze who works for the cowardly, backstabbing senior editor, Tobias Naegale, in which they report that when Mitt Romney spoke to the American Legion last week, he promised that, if he’s elected president, he won’t hike Tricare fees for military retirees like the current administration plans;

    The quest to raise beneficiary fees is a longtime Pentagon initiative that has spanned several administrations, but Romney said he won’t ask service members and retirees “to pay more for their health care to pay for Obamacare.”

    There is no direct link between the Tricare fee increases sought by the Defense Department — and mostly rejected by Congress — and funding for the Affordable Care Act that is commonly called Obamacare, but the promise still drew loud cheers from the American Legion crowd.

    Yeah, nice save for the Obama Administration, Rick, except that the guy, David Chu, who wanted to hike personnel fees and lower benefits in the Bush Administration was never as successful as the clowns in this administration. And the Clinton Administration was successful in kicking military retirees over 65 years of age out of Tricare and into Medicare.

    And of course this 500% hike in Tricare fees isn’t part of the Obamacare health bill. This administration promised us that healthcare was going to be cheaper for regular citizens while raising costs for veterans, you know, because veterans haven’t done enough for this country already.

    I probably don’t need to tell this crowd that last year,the president told the American Legion Convention that he wasn’t going to balance the budget on the backs of veterans, but we’re the only ones paying more for the services we earned, then any of the services the government offers to people who haven’t worked a day in their lives.

    Romney also promised to get all veterans who qualified for the Post 9-11 Education Bill in-state tuition rates regardless of their qualification and it should be that way. Veterans served the whole nation, not just their home states. And if illegal aliens qualify for in-state tuition, why shouldn’t veterans?

  • Eastwood speech

    Like I said last night, I can’t watch speeches anymore, but Clint Eastwood got so many bad reviews in the “unbiased” media, I had to watch it this morning. While I’ll admit that it was a little odd that he was talking to an empty chair (which was supposed to represent the President with whom he was supposedly conversing), I didn’t think he did a bad job at all. He hit on all of my complaints about this administration. Well, if you didn’t watch it, here’s the 11 minute video;

    He didn’t give me many reasons to vote for Romney, but he gave me a lot of reasons to vote against Obama, and I guess that’s the whole point this year. The speech would have better if he had channeled Gunny Highway, though.

  • Romney’s speech tonight

    Mitt Romney’s crew sent us advance excerpts of the speech tonight if you can’t watch it. Obama has made me tired of speeches by anyone so, I really appreciate the campaign sending these out;

    Four years ago, I know that many Americans felt a fresh excitement about the possibilities of a new president. That president was not the choice of our party but Americans always come together after elections. We are a good and generous people who are united by so much more than divides us.

    When that hard fought election was over, when the yard signs came down and the television commercials finally came off the air, Americans were eager to go back to work, to live our lives the way Americans always have – optimistic and positive and confident in the future.

    That very optimism is uniquely American.

    It is what brought us to America. We are a nation of immigrants. We are the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the ones who wanted a better life, the driven ones, the ones who woke up at night hearing that voice telling them that life in that place called America could be better.

    They came not just in pursuit of the riches of this world but for the richness of this life.

    Every family in America wanted this to be a time when they could get ahead a little more, put aside a little more for college, do more for their elderly mom who’s living alone now or give a little more to their church or charity.

    Every small business wanted these to be their best years ever, when they could hire more, do more for those who had stuck with them through the hard times, open a new store or sponsor that Little League team.

    Every new college graduate thought they’d have a good job by now, a place of their own, and that they could start paying back some of their loans and build for the future.

    This is when our nation was supposed to start paying down the national debt and rolling back those massive deficits.

    This was the hope and change America voted for.

    I wish President Obama had succeeded because I want America to succeed. But his promises gave way to disappointment and division. This isn’t something we have to accept. Now is the moment when we CAN do something. With your help we will do something.

    Now is the moment when we can stand up and say, “I’m an American. I make my destiny. And we deserve better! My children deserve better! My family deserves better. My country deserves better!”

    So here we stand. Americans have a choice. A decision.

    To make that choice, you need to know more about me and about where I will lead our country.

    My mom and dad gave their kids the greatest gift of all – the gift of unconditional love. They cared deeply about who we would BE, and much less about what we would DO.

    Unconditional love is a gift that Ann and I have tried to pass on to our sons and now to our grandchildren. All the laws and legislation in the world will never heal this world like the loving hearts and arms of mothers and fathers. If every child could drift to sleep feeling wrapped in the love of their family – and God’s love– this world would be a far more gentle and better place.

    My mom and dad were true partners, a life lesson that shaped me by everyday example. When my mom ran for the Senate, my dad was there for her every step of the way. I can still hear her saying in her beautiful voice, “Why should women have any less say than men, about the great decisions facing our nation?”

    I wish she could have been here at the convention and heard leaders like Governor Mary Fallin, Governor Nikki Haley, Governor Susana Martinez, Senator Kelly Ayotte and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

    As Governor of Massachusetts, I chose a woman Lt. Governor, a woman chief of staff, half of my cabinet and senior officials were women, and in business, I mentored and supported great women leaders who went on to run great companies.

    Like a lot of families in a new place with no family, we found kinship with a wide circle of friends through our church. When we were new to the community it was welcoming and as the years went by, it was a joy to help others who had just moved to town or just joined our church. We had remarkably vibrant and diverse congregations of all walks of life and many who were new to America. We prayed together, our kids played together and we always stood ready to help each other out in different ways.

    And that’s how it is in America. We look to our communities, our faiths, our families for our joy, our support, in good times and bad. It is both how we live our lives and why we live our lives. The strength and power and goodness of America has always been based on the strength and power and goodness of our communities, our families, our faiths.

    When I was 37, I helped start a small company. My partners and I had been working for a company that was in the business of helping other businesses.

    So some of us had this idea that if we really believed our advice was helping companies, we should invest in companies. We should bet on ourselves and on our advice.

    That business we started with 10 people has now grown into a great American success story. Some of the companies we helped start are names you know. An office supply company called Staples – where I’m pleased to see the Obama campaign has been shopping; The Sports Authority, which became a favorite of my sons. We started an early childhood learning center called Bright Horizons that First Lady Michelle Obama rightly praised. At a time when nobody thought we’d ever see a new steel mill built in America, we took a chance and built one in a corn field in Indiana. Today Steel Dynamics is one of the largest steel producers in the United States.

    But for too many Americans, these good days are harder to come by. How many days have you woken up feeling that something really special was happening in America?

    Many of you felt that way on Election Day four years ago. Hope and Change had a powerful appeal. But tonight I’d ask a simple question: If you felt that excitement when you voted for Barack Obama, shouldn’t you feel that way now that he’s President Obama? You know there’s something wrong with the kind of job he’s done as president when the best feeling you had, was the day you voted for him.

    Today the time has come for us to put the disappointments of the last four years behind us.

    To put aside the divisiveness and the recriminations.

    To forget about what might have been and to look ahead to what can be.

    Now is the time to restore the Promise of America. Many Americans have given up on this president but they haven’t ever thought about giving up. Not on themselves. Not on each other. And not on America.

    What is needed in our country today is not complicated or profound. It doesn’t take a special government commission to tell us what America needs.

    What America needs is jobs.

    Lots of jobs.

    To the majority of Americans who now believe that the future will not be better than the past, I can guarantee you this: if Barack Obama is re-elected, you will be right.

    I am running for president to help create a better future. A future where everyone who wants a job can find one. Where no senior fears for the security of their retirement. An America where every parent knows that their child will get an education that leads them to a good job and a bright horizon.

    And unlike the president, I have a plan to create 12 million new jobs. It has 5 steps.

    First, by 2020, North America will be energy independent by taking full advantage of our oil and coal and gas and nuclear and renewables.

    Second, we will give our fellow citizens the skills they need for the jobs of today and the careers of tomorrow. When it comes to the school your child will attend, every parent should have a choice, and every child should have a chance.

    Third, we will make trade work for America by forging new trade agreements. And when nations cheat in trade, there will be unmistakable consequences.

    Fourth, to assure every entrepreneur and every job creator that their investments in America will not vanish as have those in Greece, we will cut the deficit and put America on track to a balanced budget.

    And fifth, we will champion SMALL businesses, America’s engine of job growth. That means reducing taxes on business, not raising them. It means simplifying and modernizing the regulations that hurt small business the most. And it means that we must rein in the skyrocketing cost of healthcare by repealing and replacing Obamacare.

    President Obama promised to slow the rise of the oceans and to heal the planet. MY promise…is to help you and your family.

    We will honor America’s democratic ideals because a free world is a more peaceful world. This is the bipartisan foreign policy legacy of Truman, and Reagan. And under my presidency we will return to it once again.

    The America we all know has been a story of the many becoming one, uniting to preserve liberty, uniting to build the greatest economy in the world, uniting to save the world from unspeakable darkness.

    Everywhere I go in America, there are monuments that list those who have given their lives for America. There is no mention of their race, their party affiliation, or what they did for a living. They lived and died under a single flag, fighting for a single purpose. They pledged allegiance to the UNITED States of America.

    That America, that united America, can unleash an economy that will put Americans back to work, that will once again lead the world with innovation and productivity, and that will restore every father and mother’s confidence that their children’s future is brighter even than the past.

    That America, that united America, will preserve a military that is so strong, no nation would ever dare to test it.

    That America, that united America, will uphold the constellation of rights that were endowed by our Creator, and codified in our constitution.

    That united America will care for the poor and the sick, will honor and respect the elderly, and will give a helping hand to those in need.

    That America is the best within each of us. That America we want for our children.

    If I am elected President of these United States, I will work with all my energy and soul to restore that America, to lift our eyes to a better future. That future is our destiny. That future is out there. It is waiting for us. Our children deserve it, our nation depends upon it, the peace and freedom of the world require it. And with your help we will deliver it. Let us begin that future together tonight.

    OK, energy independence is good, but I’ve heard it before. I even heard it from Jimmy Carter. Romney will need 60 Senators for that one.

    The strong military thing is kind of nebulous. And I don’t see anything about veterans or the current wars, for that matter. There’s nothing about that new gun rights plank in the GOP’s platform.

  • Panetta notices that “there is a war going on”

    Apparently, the guy in charge of slashing defense spending and leading the withdrawal from Afghanistan is upset that neither Romney nor Ryan mentioned the war in Afghanistan when they rolled out their partnership this weekend according to Politico;

    Neither Mitt Romney nor Paul Ryan mentioned the war in Afghanistan during their big running mate roll-out in Virginia Saturday. Barack Obama gives it only a brief mention in his own stump speeches.

    Leon Panetta seems to have had enough.

    “I realize that there are a lot of other things going on around this country that can draw our attention, from the Olympics, to political campaigns to droughts, to some of the tragedies we’ve seen in communities around the country,” the defense secretary said at Tuesday’s Pentagon press briefing. “I thought it was important to remind the American people that there is a war going on.”

    From the guy who spends $33,000 every weekend to be with his family while all of the deployed soldiers in his charge don’t get the same privilege. Speaking of pretentious idiots;

    “From watching the campaign debate so far, it’s hard to tell America is still a country at war,” said Paul Rieckhoff, executive directotr [sic] of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “Neither candidate nor party has focused enough on Afghanistan, or on the issues facing our troops, veterans and their families at home. Our men and women are fighting and dying overseas for our country and both candidates have a responsibility to drive the national dialogue about issues of war and defense.”

    Says the guy whose main focus over the last few months has been to urge NYC’s mayor Bloomberg to throw Rieckhoff a welcome home parade. I say throw Rieckhoff a parade because it seems that he’s the only one who wants one.

    I don’t know why the American public would be disengaged for the war issue. Well, except that the Obama Administration has been ranting and raving about how the war is over because he got bin Laden and focusing on the fact that the troops are coming home.

    While I agree that both parties need to talk more about the war, their plans and about veterans, what does panetta really expect? He’s slashing defense spending, eroding veterans’ benefits and yet he expects us to believe that he thinks there’s a war going on?

  • VoteVets piles on Ryan

    This is the lead article at the VoteVets Facebook page;

    I read through all of those comments and not one of them mentioned that the Obama Administration does mention veterans in their budget proposal and it mentions them as a means to balance the budget by hiking our health care out-of-pocket costs. So, I’m not sure that Ryan not mentioning veterans in his budget proposal is a bad thing.

    It seems to me that a non-partisan political group could mention the downside of supporting a president who has already proved that they’ll screw veterans at every opportunity. Be it suggesting that we buy health insurance to cover our service-connected injuries, warning local police that we’re a terrorist threat, or just generally screwing with our retirement plans.

    Like I’ve said, I’m pretty sure that the only reason Romney hasn’t screwed veterans is because he hasn’t had an opportunity yet, but at this juncture, I’m going to have to withhold any support of the known quantity and just hope for the best.

    ADDED: So you can shake your head a little longer, this is the next article down;

    I think it’s a little disingenuous to set up the discussion up like that when we’ve had countless examples of the President campaigning with actual troops sitting behind him. Not to mention, hiding behind the SEALs’ as cover for his failing policy in Afghanistan, while his administration calls the shooting at Fort Hood “workplace violence” and ignoring his generals’ plea for more troops and support. And then they stand-by while SFC Taylor faced charges of murder.

  • Romney chooses Ryan

    Fox News is reporting this morning that they’re 2 hours ahead of the announcement from the Romney campaign that they’ll name Paul Ryan the VP candidate on that ticket for the Fall elections;

    Romney will make the selection official during a campaign stop Saturday morning in Norfolk, Va., before launching his “The Romney Plan For A Stronger Middle Class” bus tour. Romney is expected to speak at 8:45 a.m. ET.

    The selection comes roughly two weeks before the start of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, and gives Romney plenty of space to rally the party behind his pick before the official nomination.

    There were some better choices, but I look forward to seeing the debate between Biden and and Ryan in the next few months.