Bad Deeds for 11-30-2011

 

Mitt Romney Puts “Political Implications” Ahead of the Lives of 11 Million People – At a debate last week Mitt Romney placed himself further to the right on immigration than any presidential candidate in recent history.

He said he would deport all undocumented immigrants — including grandparents and families who have been in the United States for over 25 years, belong to local churches, pay their taxes, and in some cases have even defended our country in the military.

The thing that makes Mitt’s statement even more troubling is that a mere five years ago — when the politics of immigration among GOP voters were quite different from today — he was singing a different tune, saying that the nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants in our country “are not going to be rounded up and box-carred out.”

In an interview yesterday he was reminded of his old talking points, but rather than attempting to moderate his stance, he actually doubled down on his current position.

So why the change of heart? It’s simple, according to Mitt’s 2008 Iowa State Director, Doug Gross. Gross said that while campaigning in Iowa before the caucuses, Mitt began to realize the so-called “political implications” of his stance and switched his position as a result.

“Political implications” shouldn’t be the determining factor in the lives of 11 million people.

Stand up for Hispanic families in this election and fight for sensible immigration reform.

Five Mitt Bits:

1. As head of the investment company Bain Capital, Mitt Romney laid off thousands of workers.
[CBS News, 01/28/2008]

2. Mitt Romney’s advice on the foreclosure crisis: “Don’t try and stop the foreclosure process.”
[Mother Jones, 10/18/2011]

3. The former Bain Capital managing director said of Mitt Romney’s tenure: “We had a scheme where the rich got richer.”
[Los Angeles Times, 12/16/2007]

4. Mitt Romney set up shell companies in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda to avoid U.S. taxes.
[Los Angeles Times, 12/19/2007]

5. Mitt Romney’s first budget as governor included $240 million in fee increases. [Meet the Press, 12/16/2007]

 

The Republican Consensus on the Economy is Wrong, Wrong, Wrong – Former economic speechwriter for President George W. Bush, David Frum, lists 13 ways in which the new radical Republican consensus on the economy is wrong, wrong, wrong:

• It is wrong in its call for monetary tightening.
• It is wrong to demand immediate debt reduction rather than wait until after the economy recovers.
• It is wrong to deny that “we have a revenue problem.”
• It is wrong in worrying too much about (non-existent) inflation and disregarding the (very real) threat of a second slump into recession and deflation.
• It is wrong to blame government regulation and (as yet unimposed) tax increases for the severity of the recession.
• It is wrong to oppose job-creating infrastructure programs.
• It is wrong to hesitate to provide unemployment insurance, food stamps, and other forms of income maintenance to the unemployed.
• It is wrong to fetishize the exchange value of the dollar against other currencies.
• It is wrong to believe that cuts in marginal tax rates will suffice to generate job growth in today’s circumstance.
• It is wrong to blame minor and marginal government policies like the Community Reinvestment Act for the financial crisis while ignoring the much more important role of government inaction to police overall levels of leverage within the financial system.
• It is wrong to dismiss the Euro crisis as something remote from American concerns.
• It is wrong to resist US cooperation with European authorities in organizing a work-out of the debt problems of the Eurozone countries.
• It is wrong above all in its dangerous combination of apocalyptic pessimism about the long-term future of the country with aloof indifference to unemployment.

Regards,

Jim

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.