Mitt Romney Was Right to Oppose Auto Bailouts

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I'll be honest with you: Of any potential GOP candidate to seek the Oval Office this year, Mitt is the first one since Gerald Ford whom I can honestly say that I won't lose a lot of sleep over if he is elected - certainly not as much as I lost during the years 2001-2009 when Dastardly Dubya and Sickie Dick were destroying this beautiful country. Although I could never bring myself to vote for him, Romney is really much more moderate than anything the Republicans have vomited out onto the national political stage in a generation or more. The only reason he looks so extreme these days is simply because the only way to win the nomination of that disgusting party, a candidate needs to say and do a lot of really stupid things. Fear not. I have been Mitt watching for a number of years now. He is not quite the dunce he would appear to be.
Mitt Romney's problem is that his "moderateness" is perceived by the Republican base as left wing extremism. Add this to the fact that he is a Mormon and you can come to no other conclusion than that he has four strikes against him. If the religious bigots who have hijacked "the party of Lincoln" end up giving him the nomination, it will only be out of sheer desperation; but I just can't see that happening. Casey Anthony will be named Mother of the Year before that ever happens. Don't hold your breath.
There is also the inconvenient reality of the health care plan he offered the people of Massachusetts when he was governor. It actually inspired the Big Black Bolshevik Boogieman who currently resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Tim Pawlenty is now referring to it as "Obomney Care". No, I think we can write off poor old Mitt.
http://www.tomdegan.blogspot.com
Tom Degan

Tom Degan of NY 7:04AM June 14, 2011

Lending money to get the US Auto Industry back up and running was the right hing and Romney was dead wrong.
Romney's words define his opposition to American manufacturing - kill it, ship it offshore, and reduce American wages to Chinese wage levels.
“Let America Go Bankrupt” seem to be the Romney and the GOP mantra these days. that way they can get rid of unions and get rid of any regulation that interferes with the oligarchs.
Romney is an Economic Royalist and a snake anyway you go about it.

Jack of 8:41PM June 13, 2011

Mitt Romney is burden with his MA health plan and Republican await a new candidate to step forward. Soon it is predicted Governor of Texas will fill those cowboy boots with branding iron in hand.
_____
Difference between high taxes and low taxes:
"Texas jobs creation machine vs. California"
"In 2008, 70 percent of all the jobs in the country were created in Texas. In 2009, all of America's top five job-creating cities were in Texas."
"More recently, "Texas created 129,000 new jobs in the last year -- over one-half of all the new jobs in the U.S."
"Texas is home to 64 Fortune 500 companies -- more than any other state in the union. (California has 51 and New York has 56.) For five years in a row, Texas has topped Chief Executive magazine's poll of the best state to do business."
"Meanwhile, California is ranked dead last in the Chief Executive's survey. California state treasurer Bill Lockyer even went so far as to pen a Dec. 20 op-ed in the Los Angeles Times denying "the claim that we have a hostile business climate."
"He goes on to explain the tax differential which also heavily favors low tax Texas. My regular readers are familiar with these statistics, but there is cumulative data that support to the superiority of the Texas model."
http://prairiepundit.blogspot.com/2011/02/texas-jobs-creation-machine-vs.html

Bill Hedges of MO 12:42AM June 13, 2011

Have you ever heard of a generalization? It means something that is usually true. Obviously every Mormon is different, but that does not mean that generalizations can not be made. I could say, for example, that Mormons do not smoke. That does not mean that there are no Mormons that smoke. It is still a true generalization. It is also a true generalization that Mormons are not capitalists nor are they socialists. This has been true throughout their history. Mormons are not capitalists because whether it was through Joseph Smith's united order, or Brigham Young's investment into church businesses in which he employed the poor, or the modern Deseret Industries or Church welfare system not to mention the popularity of credit unions and charter schools in Utah. These are examples of cooperatives. Utah also rejected J. Bracken Lee in the fifties and the John Birch Society in the sixties. Mormons have spoken out against Socialism, especially on a national level, but in Utah continue to have cooperative Utility systems, recreational programs ect. Mormons in Utah have also set up cooperative health exchanges. And yes I do find Mormon culture superior. Can you give me an example of a superior culture? I will listen if you have facts. My point was that people should not be surprised that Mormon politicians are sometimes neither purely left, right, authoritarian, or libertarian. Mormon history has elements of all of them. Sorry if I offended you. You are entitled to your opinion, but a few facts would help. I agree with you that there are Mormon politicians who are Democrat or Republican. There have been Nazis, Communists, and Libertarians who were Mormon. What I see is common thread in Mormonism do avoid economic extremes and work toward cooperative economics and consensus. If you do not agree that is Ok with me, but just give me some facts.

Larry of UT 9:33PM June 12, 2011

I just read the rest of your comments Larry, try to ease off the throttle a little on your religion. If that isnt fanatic please give me an example of what is fanatic.

Spencer Mac of ID 5:32PM June 12, 2011

Cooperative?.... What are you talking about Larry? Mormons believe.....___________statements need to say, Larry....__believes___... I think a 15million member church is a little too diverse to be lumping the whole lot in your ideology. Try to explain the common philosophy between Mitt Romney and Senate minority Leader Harry Reid, same church, different philosophy. There is just as many mormon democrat senators (Harry Reid NV, Tom Udall NM, Mark Udall CO) as republican senators (Mike Crapo ID, Orrin Hatch UT, Dean Heller NV). Dont pidgen hole an entire faith into some philosophy your the author of. Have a good weekend

Spencer Mac of ID 5:28PM June 12, 2011

The Mormon religion and culture from which Romney originates is not Socialist or Capitalist. It is cooperative. Basically the idea behind Mormon Economics is that it is OK to be rich, but only if you are helping others get rich and not exploiting somebody else. Mormons do not like oppressive corporations or oppressive governments. Mormons also do not believe in pure democracy nor do they believe in dicatorships. Mormons believe in consensus. In other words they believe in putting all good ideas on the table and then choosing the best from all of these good ideas. Once the decision has been made, however, Mormons sometime can be authoritarian in enforcing it. Romney, however, is not totally Mormon in his views or culture. He did not grow up in a state in which the Mormons had a lot of economic or political power. If Romney is elected his politics will be half Capitalist and half cooperative. The health care that Romney supported was cooperative because it forced people to enter into a cooperative plan not a capitalist or government plan. Mormons are not perfect. I am a fifth generation Mormon and understand the religion and culture well. Despite all the faults of Mormon Religion and Culture, I still believe it is superior to the the Religion and Culture of the Humanists, Catholics, Evangelicals, Muslims, Protestants, and any other group I can think of. Even though Mormonism is superior it needs to stop be authoritarian and stop denying the negative parts of its history. It needs to let people know that it is not perfect, but share with others if they are interested the good that it has. Romney needs to be careful not to force too much of Mormon culture on America. He can do this because he has lived most of his life in that part of the United States that is not Mormon. As President he should only strongly encourage the good that is in Mormonism and not the evil. The good points of Mormonism are as follows: People should freely be moral so the government does not need to pass oppressive laws, families and churches and charities should form cooperatives to reduce the need for government welfare, the end result of economics should be to have most people be upper middle class and not to have large number of wealthy people and large number of poor people.

Larry of UT 11:56AM June 12, 2011

i was for the gov. bailout at first because the gov. said they could "fast track it". our legal system is sooo sloooow [exxon valdez suits etc] . its the govs. carefree "we only lost 14 million on the loans" that turns me off. i fear we will be using the next money term after trillion and i dont know what its even called. wowillion ? brokzillion ? 30 odd sixillion ?

c kubisz of NJ 10:51AM June 12, 2011

Any discussion of the economic crisis which does not include Glass-Steagall is idiotic and futile.
http://larouchepac.com/node/18426

observer1290 of MA 4:49PM June 11, 2011

Despite the political and even religious diatribe, most of which is innuendo and false accusations from the undereducated against Romney…
It’s still going to be about the economy and who can get the job done!
Romney knows and understands world economics. In the private sector, for most of his life, he successfully and profitably managed large businesses, helped turn around large companies that were sinking and helped other companies get started, saving and creating thousands of jobs, Domino’s Pizza and Staples to name just a few of many.
Funny. Half of MA loves what Romney did, the other half hate him, maybe because he left after completing only one term. Maybe he is not a “career” politician, do you always need a “career” politician to get the job done?
Yes, he worked as the MA governor for his entire term for FREE!!! Who else would have done that!?
As governor, Romney reduced corporate loopholes and cut state spending in order to cut taxes and increase consumer spending. MA had a huge deficit, about 2 Billion dollars when he started, and he left MA with a 600 million surplus and balanced budget at the end of his term (yes, he raised state “fees”, but still kept them below the national average). He can't help it if the government screwed up after he left.
MA’s super majority Democrat controlled legislature wanted desperately some kind of Universal Health care program. Romney worked with them to create one that would work, similar to mandated auto insurance (most states have such mandates). It is estimated that 98% of the residents are now covered. It was within projected budget until Romney left and MA made changes to the program and now it is costing them. Romney believes that states -- not the federal government -- should be free to design their own plans for covering the uninsured if that is what they want to do.
He compromised on some political issues in order to keep the state government working together and moving forward.
He turned around a struggling 2002 Winter Olympics with millions in debt and made it into one of the most profitable Olympics in history. And only took a $1 dollar salary. Who else would have done that!?
He is against federalization and big government and believes in state’s rights to govern their own affairs.
He lives the example and believes in the importance of family.
He is for a strong military and believes the borders should be better protected.
The list of real positives is far greater than the supposed list of negatives.
And the Democrat Party is most afraid of Romney.

Dandini of NV 10:04AM June 11, 2011