Willard's wild 'Welfare on Wheels' joyride

 Who in the hell is Willard Romney trying to fool taking the high ground on welfare reform after he was such a train wreck on the subject in Massachusetts?

Aside from his request for the very exemption about which he lyingly bashes President Obama, he went all in on a program he created to give welfare recipients free cars, which included AAA membership and state-funded insurance. His Democratic successor Deval Patrick shut it down due to the budget crisis he inherited.

 Under Romney’s Car Ownership Program, the state paid out one year’s insurance, inspection, excise tax, title, registration, repairs and a AAA membership for cars that were donated to welfare recipients. Under the plan, those who lost their jobs and ended up back on welfare were allowed to keep their free wheels. ...

The Patrick administration, mired in a fiscal crisis, hit the brakes on the program that year after a Herald front-page story sparked public outrage.

#Romneywheels

Romney takes campaign etch-a-sketch way downmarket

AP/Romney scrawls his meandering lie on a whiteboard in SC

"Name calling to me and somehow by you repeating a number of $716 billion, that you can make that stick when [you say] that figure is being 'stolen' from Medicare, that's not true. You can't just repeat it and make it true, sir."

- Soledad O'Brien, CNN

Willard must tell this lie and it is vital to his divine candidacy that you believe it: President Obama's prescription for Medicaid surgically removes $716 billion from the program in the form of reductions in benefits to seniors.

He is compelled to repeat this lie until hopefully it sinks into the American electorate's consciousness by some sort of osmosis.

Romney falling star made Atlas weep

I just have to ask: What the hell is the deal with Republicans and their 15-minute Hall of Famers who embody the opposite of the snake oil they're trying to sell?
 
Last election cycle, the GOP candidates spammed us with Joe "Not a Licensed Plumber and Whose Name Isn't Even Joe" Wurzelbacher and anticipated that rational Americans would buy his schtick. He was crafted into a Conservative icon based on the fact that he was able to wake up one morning, walk his neighborhood and form a cogent (if fact-free) question.

Ghost of Visit Past haunts Team Willard in Jerusalem

Man in London points, laughs at Romney. Photo: Stephen Crowley/NYT

After receiving a public drubbing at the hands of the British press and public officials then earning his own humiliating hashtag (#Romneyshambles) on Twitter, Romney hastily retreated from London headed for Israel. There, he was immediately met with reminders of his very big, very bad couple of days developing a "special relationship" that was nothing short of an American embarrassment.

Then, as though cultivating a hostile press had inexplicably replaced the campaign's previous goal of cultivating good will among allies, the Mitt wits broke agreement with its traveling corps and barred them from covering a $50,000-a-plate fundraiser.

Romney dicks up first diplomatic encounter

Candidate Romney is quite comfortable lying about his opponent's words and getting a pass from a complacent U.S. press corps. Apparently, the Australians didn't look as kindly on his putting false words in the mouths of their diplomats.

Following a recent meeting in a San Francisco hotel with Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr, a gleeful Romney departed the encounter, stepped up to the microphones and lied.

At a fundraiser later that evening, Willard bore false witness saying that Carr told him in their private meeting that America was “in decline,” but that the situation could be turned around if an appropriate budget deal is reached.

Just as quickly, Carr called out the Republican Fabricator-in-Chief, saying his exact comment to Mr Romney was: "America is just one budget deal away from ending all talk of America being in decline."

Fact is, such a budget deal was proposed during a Fox Entertainment GOP debate in August: Mitt, a sheep among a Tea Party herd, bowed to peer pressure and rejected a 10:1 ratio of spending cuts to tax increases.

America can't afford to hire Mittens to travel the world representing this great country.

Romnocchio

Mitt's severely troubling tax dodge

Severely Conservative Gov. Willard Romney had no problem releasing his state and local tax documents when his residency was challenged. Yet when asked for federal returns -- or documents that pointed to the inner working of his investment practices -- the bobbing and weaving began.

As far back as 2002, in what was called his "first serious crisis" in his bid for governor of Massachusetts, he dodged federally-linked tax questions. One might think that in sworn testimony before the State Ballot Law Commission he would be forthright, considering his ambition of the time. Perusing the list of requested documents, however, tells a chillingly different story.

Willard's filthy mitts

As Slick Mitt slithers his way down the presidential path, one constant marks his trail of lies and deceit -- his abject refusal to release his tax returns.

Turns out, the candidate himself calls such obfuscation a dirty proposition.

In 2002, the would-be Bay State governor sicced his attack dogs on opponent Shannon O'Brien, screeching, "Her hands aren't clean!" because she disclosed her personal tax returns but not those of her husband. The stunning sanctimony of the proclamation was reported at the time, as it came one day after Romney refused to release his own taxes.

His 2002 campaign manager Eric "Etch-a-sketch" Fehrnstrom whined, "Her hands aren't clean. She can't claim to be disclosing anything until she discloses the returns of her husband, the Enron lobbyist. Under Shannon O'Brien, the state Pension Board lost millions by buying Enron stock when it was collapsing -- what is she hiding?"

Great question, considering this nugget from the same campaign:

Romney, who has pumped nearly $ 5 million of his own money into the campaign, has refused repeated requests by O’Brien’s campaign to follow her lead and make his income tax returns public. [Salt Lake Tribune, 11/4/02]

So we fast-forward a decade and where do we find ourselves?

Ron Paul camp properly savages Willard

Who better to deliver a healthy dose of truthiness about a candidate than his primary challenger who openly developed a full-on bromance with the rich kid? Take it away Paul campaign:



Ouch. Ron better have sent Willard a shitload of roses after that one.

Why Romney lies about Obamacare

So, why would a politician who crafted an identical healthcare law for his state lie about one modeled after the one crafted by The Heritage Foundation as the Conservative response to Universal Health Care?

 Here's what Wiley Willard doesn't want you to know about Obamacare and why he's desperately lying to hide the facts lest they tank his personal presidential ambitions:

• Obamacare protects you from being denied insurance due to a pre-existing condition.
• Obamacare protects you when your insurance company tries to deny you coverage.
• Obamacare protects you from lifetime caps on your benefits.
• Obamacare protects you from being dropped by your insurance carrier when you or your family gets sick.
• Obamacare protects you from losing your health care should you lose your job
• .Obamacare makes sure you'll never go bankrupt and lose your home because of medical bills

It doesn't get any more patient-centered than that! And this is what Romney and his Ship of Fools want to take away from you.

BONUS BENEFIT: Obamacare Is About To Put $1.3 BILLION Back In Consumers' Pocket

(h/t Jill W Klausen)

From One to 4,000 Days in 5 short weeks

Flippity, floppity, flip.

From flip-floppin' to full gainer

Willard has missed his Olympic calling. Rather than passively participating in horse prancing from the spectator stand, he needs to consider getting on the US Gymnastics team. This mashup of Mittens' slippery slide down Healthcare Hill proves his prowess in tumbling.

As David Axelrod notes of a Mitt presidency, "If he were in WH, parsley would be official veg: Twister, national pasttime."

When a lying liar keeps lying

Snagged from the Vanity Fair sizzler cited in an earlier post:

For nearly 15 years, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s financial portfolio has included an offshore company that remained invisible to voters as his political star rose.

Based in Bermuda, Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors Ltd. was not listed on any of Romney’s state or federal financial reports. The company is among several Romney holdings that have not been fully disclosed, including one that recently posted a $1.9 million earning — suggesting he could be wealthier than the nearly $250 million estimated by his campaign.

The omissions were permitted by state and federal authorities overseeing Romney’s ethics filings, and he has never been cited for failing to disclose information about his money. But Romney’s limited disclosures deprive the public of ... a clear understanding of how his assets are handled and taxed, according to experts in private equity, tax and campaign finance law.

Oh, that Mormon honesty.

Romney's bets AGAINST America

It's little surprise that a guy whose campaign can't get the country's name right would be in the business of betting against it. Yup, that guy, Romney, in addition to shipping jobs overseas managed to do the same with his millions.

The unpatriotic sycophant stashed money in foreign accounts rather than being that "job creator" of whom he speaks so fawningly. A biting Vanity Fair expose blows the lid off the Romney campaign's lies about his ability to create jobs.

As the Obama campaign noted after the scandal unfolded:

"Today's Vanity Fair article confirms what the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reported but the Romney campaign falsely denied.  Unlike the vast majority of Americans who pay their fair share of taxes, Mitt Romney is avoiding taxes by stashing millions of dollars in the Cayman Islands.  This matters in the presidential campaign because it is just these types of loopholes for the wealthy that Romney would protect, forcing more of the tax burden onto the middle class."