Mitt and the Flying Nuns

Nuns Want Romney on the Bus

via Newsvine – Steve Benen – Articles by Steve Benen on 8/8/12

First, the Nuns on the Bus launched an extraordinary tour, lambasting the House Republican Budget plan crafted by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) for the way in which it mistreats the poor.

Now the Nuns on the Bus have a few thoughts for the Republicans’ presidential hopeful.

NETWORK, a National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, is inviting Governor Mitt Romney to spend a day with Catholic Sisters who work every day to meet the needs of struggling families in their communities. Sister Simone Campbell, NETWORK’s Executive Director and leader of the “Nuns on the Bus” tour, said that she especially encourages Mr. Romney to work alongside the Sisters as they serve the people. These are the people who will be further harmed by his proposed budget cuts and by the terribly divisive and demeaning political advertisements about welfare.

The Sisters’ invitation comes after recent false attacks from Mr. Romney that demonstrate his lack of understanding of the struggles families and children face as they work to get out of poverty.

In a statement, Sister Simone Campbell said, “Recent advertisements and statements from the campaign of Governor Romney demonize families in poverty and reflect woeful ignorance about the challenges faced by tens of millions of American families in these tough economic times. We are all God’s children and equal in God’s eyes. Efforts to divide us by class or score political points at the expense of the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters reveal the worst side of our country’s politics.”

I rather doubt Romney will accept the invitation, but I’m reminded of something Rachel said on the air in June: “I have one thing to say here personally, not as a TV show host here but just as a person who happens to be related to some nuns: don’t mess with nuns. It’s not a warning. It’s not advice. It’s not a threat. It’s fact that I have learned from personal experience. Ask anybody in my family, if you mess with nuns, you will lose every time. You will always regret messing with nuns.”

Mario Piperni on Disliking Mitt

Latest Poll Numbers: They Still Don’t Like Romney

August 8, 2012 By mario piperni

The numbers keep pointing to one unavoidable truth: Mitt Romney’s primary obstacle in beating out Barack Obama this November is no one other than himself. Whether people plan on voting for Romney or not, they just don’t like him much.

From a new Washington Post/ABC News poll:

Among Republicans, only 41 percent hold a “strongly favorable” view of Romney. This compares to Obama’s 61 percent “favorable view” among Democrats. What all this means is that Romney’s only hope of winning hinges on a campaign strategy that calls for using every dirty trick, smear, innuendo, spin and blatant lie they can pull out of their ass to help paint a picture of Barack Obama as an incompetent, know-nothing, tyrant out to destroy America. It’s all about ensuring that the electorate hates Barack Obama more than they dislike Mitt Romney.

As for this illustration, it’s truer now than ever. I’m predicting it’ll end in a knockout. What do you think?

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(The Romney source photograph is a Creative Commons licensed image from photographer Gage Skidmore.)

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Mario Piperni on the Lies

The Romney Campaign of Lies and Deception

August 7, 2012 By mario piperni

Steve Benen has a must-read piece highlighting Romney’s latest attack ad and the degree to which it’s a scandalous lie.

Background story:

Some Republican governors this year asked the Obama administration for some new flexibility on welfare standards — the governors had some ideas about moving folks from welfare to work and needed the White House to sign off. Obama agreed — existing work requirements would stay in place, but states, if they want to, can take advantage of new flexibility when it comes to experimenting with existing law.

The Romney attack ad:

The truth:

Romney’s lying. He’s not spinning the truth to his advantage; he’s not hiding in a gray area between fact and fiction; he’s just lying. The law hasn’t been “gutted”; the work requirement hasn’t been “dropped.” Stations that air this ad are disseminating an obvious, demonstrable lie.

All Obama did is agree to Republican governors’ request for flexibility. That’s it. Indeed, perhaps the most jaw-dropping aspect of this is that Romney himself, during his one gubernatorial term, asked for the same kind of flexibility on welfare law that Obama agreed to last month. Romney, in other words, is attacking the president for doing what Romney asked the executive branch to do in 2005.

The entire line of attack is simply insane.

The question:

How are we to respond to a campaign that deliberately deceives the public without shame? This lie about welfare policy comes on the heels of Romney’s lie about voting rights in Ohio, which came on the heels of Romney’s lies about the economy; which came on the heels of Romney’s lies about health care; which came on the heels of Romney’s lies about taxes.

The Republican nominee for president is working under the assumption that he can make transparently false claims, in writing and in campaign advertising, with impunity. Romney is convinced that there are no consequences for breathtaking dishonesty.

I fear that Romney might be right about there being no (or few) consequences for his crimes of dishonesty and deception. The people who believe Romney’s lies are not the type of individuals who read The Maddow Blog, ThinkProgress or the New York Times. They’re people who tune in to Fox News and faithfully listen to Limbaugh and Levin. They’re people who have been conditioned to disregard anything which comes from non-conservative media. Few of them will read or hear anything which counters the conservative message and for the few who do, they’re programmed to instantly label it as lies and liberal propaganda.

Romney’s entire presidential run has been built on the premise that he cannot defeat the real Obama in a general election. Therefore, it was necessary for Republicans to create a fictional Obama to run against – an Obama who raises their taxes, despises small business, hates the rich, wants their guns, apologizes for America, panders to Islam, kills jobs, promotes illegal immigration, and of course, an Obama who hates America.

This Obama they have a chance of beating. The real one – not a chance in hell and they know it.

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The American Prospect on Romneycare

The Impolite Truth about Romney and Health Care

Jamelle Bouie

Losing insurance coverage is a big—and sometimes deadly—deal.

The latest ad from Democratic Super PAC Priorities USA Action features a former worker at GST Steel—one of the companies acquired by Bain Capital—who was then laid off in the Bain-led “restructuring.” As a result, he and his family lost their health care, and soon after, his wife developed cancer.

Put another way, this ad all but accuses Mitt Romney of giving someone cancer:

It’s a harsh message, but it does illustrate an important fact about this election. If Mitt Romney is elected, he will attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and if he succeeds, millions of people will lose health insurance. Indeed, if the Affordable Care Act were around when GST Steel was in business, it would have kept the narrator from losing his health insurance, and his wife could have had check-ups that caught her cancer before it spread.

As a result of Romney’s promised return to the pre-ACA status quo, some people—who would have otherwise had access to health care—will develop ailments that could have been prevented with regular doctor visits. Some of them will die.

Given the conventions of modern campaigns—which tend to keep things vague— it’s impolite to say this. But that doesn’t make it less true.