Aggression Does Not Equal Win

by muon

After the presidential debate last night, all the pundits jumped on the bandwagon and said Mitt Romney was more aggressive, therefore he won.

Aggressive, mind you. Not assertive. Not confident. Not presidential. Aggressive.

And I agree. Romney was aggressive.

Bullies are aggressive. Road ragers are aggressive. Domestic abusers are aggressive.  We try to teach our kids not to go down that road, to have the self-confidence and self-esteem not to feel so threatened that attack is the only option. Since Columbine, we have organized programs against bullying. We counsel people who use aggression to get their own way in our society. Often, they get jail time.

So how can Romney's aggression be a good thing?  Do we want our president to be aggressive? Do we want someone so combative that he'll say or do anything to, in his mind, win (including telling 5 very big lies during the debate)?  Do we want someone who always has to have the last word, and an angry one at that? Would you send someone like that to enter into delicate negotiations with foreign countries?

Do we want someone that aggressive with the authority to start World War 3?

A president who won't admit he's wrong, who always needs the last word, who never apologizes for his lies and offensiveness? Who honestly doesn't seem to care for anything but how powerful his bullying makes him feel? Would that really be good for America?

Getting to Know Him

by Ruth A. Sheets

Well, the Republican National Convention has arrived. We keep hearing from pundits and commentators that this is Mitt Romney’s chance to let America know who he is.  Interesting!  Mitt Romney has been running for president for nearly five years.  Is it possible that there is something about him we can learn this week that we didn’t know?

I suspect that part of the problem we have in getting to know Romney is that he constantly changes himself to fit whatever situation he is in.  When running for office in Massachusetts, he chose to be moderate, support human rights, believe in universal health care, and respect a woman’s right to choose.  The people of Massachusetts wouldn’t elect anyone with less.

When running for president in 2008, he moved somewhat to the right.  This was a realistic position for him  because the Republican Party had not yet chosen its new compass which only points Right.  He seemed to move away from health care a bit and dropped his stance on women’s right to choose, as well as his open, accepting stance on rights for gay Americans. .

For the 2012 presidential election, he has made the full Right turn along with the party.  Now, he can’t even defend the health care program he helped get through in Mass. because it looks too much like the plan the Democrats passed in 2010.  Not only is he against women’s right to choose, he is decreasing the types of exceptions he would allow for abortions, and stands against most types of contraception, perhaps all (one can’t really tell since his mind changes so often).

Romney is a wealthy, white, conservative, Mormon, former businessman who owned and operated a company that specialized in buying out other companies.  He is not a good speaker.  He can’t tell a joke (as evidenced by his comments about his birth certificate). 

He has had no military service, but is a  war hawk and wants to continue to bloat the defense budget.  He also wants to cut many programs that support disadvantaged citizens as he “attempts” to cut the deficit.

 

Mitt Romney claims to be a family man, having a wife, Anne, and five sons.  He does not do his own shopping (the answers given when asked what he was buying at a store: hardware stuff, groceries).

From his comments to audiences and ads, it is clear that he tells the truth only when he feels he will gain politically from the effort.  (According to some fact checking sites, he avoids the truth  about 10% of the time, something like a tithe).  The web can supply numerous examples of Mr. Romney’s untruths.

When asked to comply with demands for documentation, the same demands he has made of opposing candidates in the past, he refuses.  (He has released only 1 year of tax returns and one estimate of the current year, when he has asked for more from others.)

So, what do we think we will learn from Romney’s Convention persona?  How are they going to make him appear more human?  Come to think of it, he is such a skilled cameleon thus far, I guess they can make him whatever they want him to be and he will be it. 

The sad part for me is that a whole lot of Americans will believe whatever nonsense they are fed about this man and his worthiness to be president.  Even if Romney and his team can’t be honest, moderates and liberals will need to try to keep the truth in front of voters.  Good luck with that.

You Think You Know A Person

by muon

This morning when I signed into Facebook, I noticed that one of my friends had "Liked" Mitt Romney.

This friend isn't a bosom buddy, so it wasn't like I'd found out my best friend was a serial killer or anything, but I couldn't help but wonder why this person would support Romney.

I've met her face-to-face, so I know she's female. She has a job in a profession not often pursued by women. Does she honestly think she ought to be paid less than the men who do the same work? She's been married for a couple decades and has 2 kids. Only 2. That kind of seems to indicate use of contraceptives. So...she's okay with other women being denied contraceptives and with women being forced to submit to state-mandated ultrasounds? She's okay with her own daughter having to be forced to have an ultrasound?

She and her husband aren't millionaires, or even likely half millionaires. Beyond that, I don't know her financial status, though she's definitely not in the 1%. Possibly she has enough bucks that she can't fathom how much more of her income will be funneled to the .01% under a Romney presidency. Here's how that works: government projects that benefit you are cut, making you spend more money on either private or local government substitutes, while the very rich get more tax breaks. You lose money, they gain.

Maybe she's pro-life. Of course, you'd think anyone calling themselves pro-life would object to the dismantling of programs that keep starving children alive and warm and healthy. You'd think they'd balk at the war on contraceptives, the very things that prevent the unwanted pregnancies that lead to abortions (because, seriously, what woman would intentionally get pregnant just for the chance to have an abortion?).

Maybe she's okay with being forced to drive gasoline powered cars and to heat her home with fossil fuels, at increasingly higher fuel costs, more carbon emissions, a dirtier environment, and more severe climate events each year, simply because the GOP refuses to lose their ties with the oil, gas and coal industries. Maybe she doesn't care about leaving her grandkids the legacy of having to fix the environment before her great-grandkids suffer the toxic effects?

Maybe she's just not too bright...that she lacks the reasoning power to know that a vote for Romney is a vote completely against her own interests and that of her family and her descendents? Of course, she's got a college degree in a scientific field. You'd think she'd have the smarts necessary to achieve that.

So, I don't get it. What makes an intelligent woman and mother "like" Mitt Romney? You tell me.

GOOD BUSINESSMAN?

by Ruth A. Sheets

Mr. Potter was a "good businessman" in A Wonderful Life

Lately, it seems that we are bombarded with the idea that Mitt Romney is such a great businessman that, of course, we need him as president.  I can’t help but wonder what his definition of a “Good Businessman” is.

If one examines the kinds of POLICIES Romney and his supporters are in favor of, it MIGHT NOT seem anything like good business practice. 

Is it good business to. . .  

- give the banking industry self-regulation even though they have proven unable to effectively regulate themselves, nearly bringing down the world economy?

- cut your workforce, then blame the lack of high profits on a tax rate that is too high, not on the fact that people don’t have enough money to pay for your product or service.

- use the “drill baby drill” mantra before the real safety hazards are understood.

- use up natural resources with no solid plans for what will happen when the resource runs out – have they forgotten what is happening to the fishing industry?

- destroy whole sections of THE ENVIRONMENT so that no one else can use or enjoy it in order to acquire coal, timber, and minerals as cheaply as possible. 

   

- outsource jobs and continue to be subsidized by taxpayers for the cost of moving abroad, or moving to other states where they don’t have to deal with unions or environmentalists.

- pay their CEO’s, CFO’s and other high-level folks huge salaries while they lay off thousands of workers, trained people, potential customers?

Mitt Romney and his supporters see no problem with companies like the investment firm where he worked making huge profits from the misfortune of other companies.  Romney claims it is deserved because they take such high risks.  The reality is that there is almost no risk, just a loan shark way of doing business that brings high profits to investment firms.

This model seems amoral.  If these are good business practices, we are in trouble.  State and local governments all over the country are in the process of privatizing many jobs that have been public and have been working well for a long time.  The worst part is that the business practices described above, the lack of morals, and the role of greed do not bode well for anyone.  Officials will exchange good living wage jobs for a quick buck. 

So, when Mitt cries that he is a “good businessman” that may not be a compliment.  He is telling us that he and his supporters plan to dig us in deeper than we already find ourselves.  But, he and his will come out just fine. 

We, the 99% need to be vigilant, although I am not sure that will make much difference these days.  The money these “good businessmen” can spend can buy us and shape our reality and we won’t know it until it is too late.