Mitt Romney Lies #10 – Mitt Romney “longed in many respects to actually be in Vietnam.”

And the media?

Almost completely silent.

SAN DIEGO (AP) -‘ On a stage crowded with war heroes, Mitt Romney recently praised the sacrifice “of the great men and women of every generation who serve in our armed services.”

‘He said in 2007 – his first White House bid under way – that he had “longed in many respects to actually be in Vietnam.”
From : http://www.wjla.com/articles/2012/06/romney-s-non-military-record-changing-stories-face-new-scrutiny–76757.html

‘But the frustration he recalled in 2007 does not match a sentiment he shared as a Massachusetts Senate candidate in 1994, when he told The Boston Herald, “I was not planning on signing up for the military.”
“It was not my desire to go off and serve in Vietnam, but nor did I take any actions to remove myself from the pool of young men who were eligible for the draft,” Romney told the newspaper’.
From : http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2012/06/05/romneys_non_military_record_faces_new_scrutiny/?page=full

‘Romney received his first deferment for “activity in study” in October 1965 while at Stanford’.
‘After his first year at Stanford, Romney qualified for 4-D deferment status as “a minister of religion or divinity student.” It was a status he would hold from July 1966 until February 1969’.
‘But as fighting in Vietnam raged, Romney spent two and a half years trying to win Mormon converts in France’.
‘His 31-month religious deferment expired in early 1969. And Romney received an academic studies deferment for much of the next two years’.
From : http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2012/06/05/us/politics/ap-us-romney-vietnam.html?_r=4&ref=news&pagewanted=all

 

‘GOP Budget Doesn’t Even Say the Word “Veteran”
But, without saying the word “veteran,” the budget tells us a lot about what they think about veterans. The budget calls for across the board spending freezes and cuts. If enacted, the Ryan GOP budget would cut $11 billion from veterans spending, or 13 percent from what President Obama proposes in his own plan’.
From : http://www.vetvoice.com/diary/4934/gop-budget-doesnt-even-say-the-word-veteran

 

‘Veterans Give Romney Big Lead Over Obama’

From : http://www.gallup.com/poll/154904/veterans-give-romney-big-lead-obama.aspx

Conflict of interest – ‘Mitt Romney’s Ethics Problem: Marriott Edition’

Taken by itself, not a real big deal. But little bit by little bit by little bit…………………………

And when you keep adding on one item after another, it builds and reveals a pattern of behavior.

Corrupt behavior.

‘Romney’s campaign has spent more than $475,000 in travel expenses at Marriott-owned hotels during the 2012 campaign — more than three-and-a-half times what he’s spent at second-place Hilton Hotels and 39 percent of the campaign’s total lodging expenditures, according to Center for Responsive Politics research’.

‘It goes a little bit farther even than that. Romney’s blind trust that really isn’t a blind trust holds between $100,000-250,000 of JW Marriott Co common stock (see page 7). So here’s a perfect example of a conflict. Donors give to Romney’s campaign, including J.W. Marriott, Jr. A big chunk of that money is spent at Marriott hotels. Romney also owns Marriott stock. There is a conflict of interest there’.

‘You’ll hear about how it’s not really a big deal for Mittens to have an investment in Marriott stock, or use campaign money to stay at Marriott hotels, because after all, the campaign has to stay somewhere at night, right? Wrong, because it’s not just the campaign. It’s organizations like CPAC, whose 2012 conference was held at a Marriott hotel, and even Bilderberg 2012. It’s hard to imagine that if Mitt were President, he wouldn’t confer preference on a chain like Marriott from the standpoint of personal ties as well as financial benefit’.
From : http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/mitt-romneys-ethics-problem-marriott-editio

‘Romney Rules’

I found this at XPOSTFACTOID blog : http://xpostfactoid.blogspot.com/2012/06/romney-rules.html

AND there are links for each ‘rule’.

The most telling line?

‘As a private equity chief, Romney was a master of playing a rigged game, or of himself rigging games in his firm’s favor; he has carried that skill to the political arena’.
‘Weekly, Steve Benen tallies up the latest instances of Mitt’s Mendacity. At longer intervals, the Dish flags Romneys Big Lies, the core myths of his case against an imaginary Obama. I find the laser focus on lying a little narrow: the modes of Mitt’s deception are manifold. As a private equity chief, Romney was a master of playing a rigged game, or of himself rigging games in his firm’s favor; he has carried that skill to the political arena. He would have the election played by Romney Rules, compiled below’.

1.’Context doesn’t matter. Anything you say I may use against you, e.g., by making it sound like you said the opposite’.

2.’ My record shall be judged by different standards from that of my opponent. For example, job losses in my first year in office don’t count; in his, they shall define his entire record’.

3. ‘What I said 18, 10, 4, or 3 years ago doesn’t matter. Erase it from your mind. I’ve been as consistent as human beings (all three of me) can be’.

4. ‘When confronted directly with past positions that seem to contradict current ones, I may so thoroughly bend the positions back against each other that none shall be able to penetrate my paradoxes’.

5. ‘I may erase the memory of my record of past moderation by attacking my opponents for their imagined moderation’.

6. ‘It’s not my responsibility to counter the lies, smears, paranoid delusions or bloodthirstiness of my supporters’.

7. ‘I may myself endlessly repeat wild accusations about my opponent that have no basis in fact. Relatedly, I may draw an endless series of false contrasts (on healthcare, Detroit rescue, stimulus) between my policies and his’.

8. ‘I may refrain from taking a stand on pending legislation that, if passed, will have a profound impact on Americans’ lives’.

9. ‘I may promise enormous new tax cuts and call them “revenue neutral” without spelling out the correspondingly enormous tax loophole closures needed to offset those cuts — or the enormous spending cuts that even a “revenue neutral” deficit reduction plan would require’.

10. ‘I may lie with impunity to the American people for months and years — and be rewarded with the presidency’.

A ‘Conservative’ vision for America – ‘Romney Quietly Hires Consulting Firm With Sordid History Of Destroying Democratic Voter Registration Forms’

Little bit by little bit by little bit.

‘Professional hacks can also disrupt democracy by interfering with the voting process itself’.

‘Late last year, Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign began paying Nathan Sproul, a political consultant with a long history of destroying Democratic voter registration forms and manipulating ballot initiatives’. Sproul has received over $70,000 from Romney’s campaign. Much of the campaign coverage has focused on the rhetoric of surrogates and the role of high-priced television advertisements’.

‘But if Sproul continues to play a role in the campaign, and if his previous work is any guide, his firm may have an impact on key swing states’.

‘ThinkProgress covered Sproul and his work for the coal industry. The post, which partially reprinted below, goes through his greatest hits, including evidence that his firm systematically suppressed Democratic overs on behalf of the Bush-Cheney 2004 presidential team and deceiving voters during registration drives in 2006’:

-‘In Oregon and Nevada, Lincoln Strategies — then known as Sproul and Associates — was investigated for destroying Democratic voter registration forms. The Bush-Cheney 2004 presidential campaign paid Sproul $7.4 million for campaign work’. [CNN, 10/14/04; KGW News, 10/13/04; East Valley Tribune, 09/07/06]

– ‘In Nevada, people who registered as Democrats with Lincoln Strategies — then known as Sproul and Associates — found their names absent from the voter registration rolls’. [Reno Gazette-Journal, 10/29/04]

– ‘During the 2006 midterm elections, Wal-Mart banned Lincoln Strategies for partisan voter registration efforts in Tennessee. The Republican National Committee had hired the firm’. [Associated Press, 08/24/06]

– ‘In Arizona, Lincoln Strategies employed a variety of deceptive tactics — including systematically lying about the bill — to push a ballot initiative to eviscerate the state’s clean elections law’. [Salon, 10/21/04]

– ‘Lincoln Strategies, then employed by the Republican Party, was behind efforts to place Ralph Nader on the ballot in states such as Arizona’. [American Prospect, 06/25/04]
From : http://www.republicreport.org/2012/romney-nathan-sproul/