Mitt Romney the next new leader of the free world!!!

[braineclipse]

Nothing directly to do with the Presidential election, but it does involve a policy plank of Romney ...

A freedom loving Republican, Maryland state house delegate Emmett C. Burns Jr, has written to the Baltimore Ravens NFL team asking them to sanction a player for stating a political view in public and forbid him from further statements ....




A fellow footballer, Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, has spoken up for his fellow player:

Excellent. Great start on point one "As I suspect you have not read the Constitution".

I wish Clinton was still president. So what if he porked one of his employees. He has so much charisma

Christopher Hitchens wrote a book about him called "No one left to lie to".

From the ny times book review:

Hitchens supports these arguments with the usual suspects -- the welfare bill (''more hasty, callous, short-term and ill considered than anything the Republicans could have hoped to carry on their own''), the escalated war on drugs, the franchising of the Lincoln Bedroom -- and with some less accepted ones: bombing unpopular countries to divert attention from the President's love life, witness tampering and betraying homosexuals by signing the Defense of Marriage Act.

Charisma he had more than enough of, I don't care who he slept with, but how his reputation remains as high as it is puzzles me.

 

[braineclipse]

47% of Americans pay no income tax. So according to Mitt they are all rich tax dodgers? Presumably some of those 47% are under the age of employment, retired OT maybe just not earning enough to actually pay income tax?

Or am I reading that all wrong?

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/09/where-are-the-47-of-americans-who-pay-no-taxes/262499/

It's important to remember that just because people aren't paying income tax doesn't mean they're not paying taxes -- they pay federal payroll taxes and state and local sales taxes, for example. One those taxes are factored in, the tax regime is basically flat. And the reason that most income tax nonpayers don't pay is they simply don't make enough income to qualify to pay. As one might expect, the map of states with the highest poverty levels resembles this map fairly closely. Many of them are also seniors, a highly contested voting bloc. Just more than 10 percent of households pay no income tax because they're retired.

 

[jts1882]

I find it scary that a candidate for president doesn't think it would be his job "to worry about those people" just because they won't vote for him. He is effectively saying that if he is president he will only worry about those who voted for him.

And its the same man who said corporations are people. I suppose they vote with their wallets - not to the Federal coffers so much, but into campaign funds - so are worth worrying about.

On the tax numbers. I thought the statistic was that the nearly half of households don't pay Federal tax. It is worth noting that most state and city income taxes are flat (e.g. Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Minnesota .. at least when I lived in those places) or fairly flat (e.g. California). So the exemptions in the federal code compensate for the non-progressive local income taxes and regressive sales taxes. I think this is a mistake in a tax system. People need to have a stake in the system so I would prefer to see all people pay some federal tax, but starting from a nominal 1% rate. In exchange I'd shift the burden from sales tax to income taxes and make the local income taxes more progressive. Of course, if corporations* and people like Romney paid a fair share of the taxes, there could be tax cuts for the middle class, whoever they vote for.

---------------------
* In the 50s the federal take of personal and corporate income tax was about equal. Now personal income tax take is four times the corporate income tax. Even though the top personal rate had come down from around 70%, the burden on individuals (at least middle class ones) has gone up. At the same time the corporate rate in the US is unusually high. This is because big corporations avoid most of their tax, by shifting their profit offshore, and receive large federal handouts (there was that stunning list showing that the 30 biggest US corporations got more in federal handouts than they paid in taxes). In contrast smaller companies can't shift their profits and pay a disproportionate share of corporate taxes. This suppresses job creation as the tax burden falls on smaller and medium sized companies, which create nearly all the new jobs, not on the ones that shift production overseas. Which brings us back to those people and corporations that President Romney would worry about. He's not against the welfare state per se, he just prefers to give government money to the people (remember corporations are people) who back him.

 

[papaspur]

47% of Americans pay no income tax. So according to Mitt they are all rich tax dodgers? Presumably some of those 47% are under the age of employment, retired OT maybe just not earning enough to actually pay income tax?

Or am I reading that all wrong?

He's talking about the 46% of people that don't pay income tax, who in reality are too poor to afford to pay income tax. Senior citizens are also included in that figure. However, anyone that works is going to be paying taxes in some form (sales tax and payroll tax, for example).

The way Mitt is describing that 47% is in the entitlement sense, of people too lazy to find work and who are content to pick up unemployment, but that's such a small percentage that it's inconsequential. However, I'm sure there are loads of Republicans that fall into that category that Mitt risks alienating now that this video has surfaced.

edit: oops, just saw braineclipse's post that pretty much answers the question

 

[Baleforce]

not had a good day has he

his middle east rant was great too, especially when he closed it by accusing obama of being naive with foreign policy

 

[NW5pur]

it'd be funny if there wasn't a chance this doofus might become the most powerful man in the world:

http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/mittromney/a/Mitt-Romney-Quotes.htm

 

[P.D.]

Amazing how he is still in the running, smacks of a rich boy paying various people off and having a team desperately running round to cover his arse off.

Surely there is no way he can win?

 

[Holsten76]

See what Jesse The Body Ventura thinks about all this plus Piers 'insert whatever u feel appropriate to describe this ****' Morgan gets owned

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread882637/pg1

 

[papaspur]

Amazing how he is still in the running, smacks of a rich boy paying various people off and having a team desperately running round to cover his arse off.

Surely there is no way he can win?

Unless the Republicans somehow pass more voter ID laws in other states. Voting is already kind of a pain in the ass, but they want to make it completely not worth someone's while to vote.

 

[papaspur]

See what Jesse The Body Ventura thinks about all this plus Piers 'insert whatever u feel appropriate to describe this ****' Morgan gets owned

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread882637/pg1

I agree with most things Ventura says, but he can be a bit of a nutter when it comes to conspiracies. Bits and pieces are true (9/11) such as the Bush administration receiving memos, but he was suggesting that 9/11 was an inside job...

Some parts sound like GG (debating about debating 8-[)

But he of course totally loses me when talking about guns. Our gun murder rate vs. most of Europe is... well, there's no word for it. And Ventura citing the fact that Mexico has a ban on firearms is inconsequential when there really is a) no way to enforce the ban, and b) the porous US-Mexican border and lax US gun laws.
I think the second amendment is a bit obsolete now, because fudge shooting at tanks and jets with my semi-automatic rifle, I'd be more likely to kill myself from a bullet ricocheting off.

 

[Baleforce]

Amazing how he is still in the running, smacks of a rich boy paying various people off and having a team desperately running round to cover his arse off.

Surely there is no way he can win?

one would hope not, but don't forget that Dubya got voted in twice and Sarah Palin (despite being possibly the dumbest person ever born) was on the ticket as VP

remember that statistically one in two American's are Republican, anything could happen

 

[Baleforce]

Unless the Republicans somehow pass more voter ID laws in other states. Voting is already kind of a pain in the ass, but they want to make it completely not worth someone's while to vote.

the want to take the right to vote away some (many) people, funnily enough the kind of person that votes Democrat

 

[Baleforce]

he doesn't know why you can't open the windows on a plane apparently

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/40963_Romney-_I_Dont_Know_Why_Airplane_Windows_Dont_Open

 

[Leeds Spur]

In the US I would be a dyed in the wool democrat. Republicans are mental.

The irony is those in the bible belt who religiously vote for the GOP are looked at with contempt by the elite at the top of the party.

 

[Baleforce]

in the US, i'd be a militant democrat, the tea party make the BNP seem liberal

 

[Richie]

The republican party needs to find a proper candidate. People like McCain and Romney are ridiculous, they need someone like Chris Christie who could more than hold his own in a debate with any Democrat. The Republicans need to move in to the 21st century with their social policies to compete over the coming decades. In an election where the economy is the biggest issue, economically right wing candidates should be winning around the world.

 

[Leeds Spur]

I'm leaning left these days. We nee higher taxes on the wealthy. I'm not talking £100k. I'm talking £100 million. These people are making even more money now being propped up by our taxes. fudge them.

 

[Richie]

the want to take the right to vote away some (many) people, funnily enough the kind of person that votes Democrat

I personally find it ridiculous that anyone can vote without showing ID. In 2010 I walked in to a polling station here and just said my name and voted. If I had wanted, I could have voted any number of times. Couldn't believe they didn't want me to prove who I was.

Hate on the republicans all you want, but I think its farcical that you can vote without proving who you are. It's not like people don't have time to get an ID before the election

 

[Leeds Spur]

The republican party needs to find a proper candidate. People like McCain and Romney are ridiculous, they need someone like Chris Christie who could more than hold his own in a debate with any Democrat. The Republicans need to move in to the 21st century with their social policies to compete over the coming decades. In an election where the economy is the biggest issue, economically right wing candidates should be winning around the world.

That's wrong. In times of crisis people want more government. Not less. I have no issues with PROPER social security. But it needs to be paid for. America spending 700 billion dollars a year of defence. Maintaining military presence in 160 countries is complete folly. That money should be spent on universal healthcare. I propose a global windfall tax on those with more than £10 million of 100 percent. No one that rich is so due to their own talent alone. Luck and timing is everything. The idea of the American dream is flimflam. In the US if you fall in hard times you're fudged.

 

[Richie]

I'm leaning left these days. We nee higher taxes on the wealthy. I'm not talking £100k. I'm talking £100 million. These people are making even more money now being propped up by our taxes. fudge them.

But someone with 100 million can just go elsewhere. Football is a perfect example, lets see how Ligue 1 does when Hollande brings in his 70% income tax for over 1 million. My bet is nobody will want to go near them.