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Romney, advisers regroup after bumpy trip abroad

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Romney repeatedly engaged in diplomatic stumbles during his journey to Britain, Israel and Poland.

Huh? What stumbles are the media talking about? Everything Romney said was true and plain spoken.

Oh - just found out that Kristi Yamaguchi supports Romney. That pretty much settles it. The job destroyer-in-chief is out in November. At this point, one would have to be delusional to vote for Obama. No one can stand four more years of this misery.

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

Everything Romney said was true and plain spoken.

Trolling are we? Off the top of my head he criticized London's security on the Olympics and was wearing a skull-cap in Israel, as well as aggravating palestinians by suggesting Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

The guy's a moron... i mean a mormon, no wonder Bushevites sure love him.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

But, but Mitt's not done!

There are 196 countries in the world for the GOP to alienate.....4 down, 192 to go......this shouldn't take long.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

What will be remembered from this trip: Mitt the Twit.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Present posters with the facts and they do a Debbie Wasserman on you -- ignore what you said. At least Romney did something before running for President -- was Obama a Govenor, run a successful business or run a successful Olympics? Let's here all Obama's achievements before being President. I can hear the crickets now...

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Off the top of my head he criticized London's security on the Olympics

So was the British Press also doing at time, they had to call in the British army to fill in the gaps it was so bad.

and was wearing a skull-cap in Israel,

When in Rome it expected to do what the Romans do as the old saying goes.

as well as aggravating palestinians by suggesting Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

So did candidate Obama in 2008, also according to the coverage back then the Media noted that HAMAS wasn't "happy" with Obama's position. Romney just "enrages" them and engulfs the region with exactly the same statement..

WASHINGTON — In a speech that drew standing ovations at the annual policy conference of the largest pro-Israel lobby in America, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president says he supports Jerusalem as Israel's undivided capital.

Not all observers yesterday were happy with Mr. Obama's speech. A spokesman for Hamas condemned it. "We consider the statements of Obama to be further evidence of the hostility of the American administration to Arabs and Muslims," said the Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhr, according to wire services.

http://www.nysun.com/national/obama-promises-undivided-jerusalem-as-israeli/79363/

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

I wonder whether the rumor is true: that Romney paid no taxes for ten years.

Perhaps we will never know.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

"Romney has proposed cutting taxes for everyone"

"Obama: "He's asking you to pay more so that people like him can get a tax cut"

What part of cutting taxes for everyone doesn't Obama understand?

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

What part of cutting taxes for everyone doesn't Obama understand?

The part where government services for working Americans are eviscerated and the middle class find they now have to pay out of pocket for things that once were covered by their tax dollars.

GOP policies would leave the middle class where they are in terms of taxes but much, much more poorly off overall. So, yes, that is asking the middle class to pay more so that people like him can get a tax cut. Or would you like to cut defense?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I wonder whether the rumor is true: that Romney paid no taxes for ten years.

It's a good rumor, if you can actually bring yourself to believe that Romney who’s been running for political office for over 20 years now, decided he’d gamble year after year avioding the tax man and risk time in a federal pen for tax evasion in order to save a few million dollars that he doesn’t need.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

" if you can actually bring yourself to believe that Romney who’s been running for political office for over 20 years now"

A different era brings different mud to sling. America has never been so skint, this is the first time wealth has made a candidate squirm so.

He could just release the tax returns of course, but we all know he can't because he is hiding something from the American people.

Good luck with this issue ye partisan blow-hards, now amount of whinging at the media will stop the tax-return gangrene from spreading.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

He could just release the tax returns of course, but we all know he can't because he is hiding something from the American people.

Good luck with this issue ye partisan blow-hards, now amount of whinging at the media will stop the tax-return gangrene from spreading.

According to Nancy Pelosi and those in public servants in Congress she's totally all on-board with that tax-return gangrene not spreading in any way shape or form, she gets real testy about it. After all when she was majority leader she was THIRD in line to be President of the United States.

Recent article:

Congressional leaders were defiant Thursday that Capitol Hill lawmakers should not release their tax returns - even as Democrats kept demanding Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney release his.

"When I run for president of the United States, you can hold me to that standard," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California, who refuses to disclose her returns, told reporters during a tense news conference.

"If you release them you tell a story," she said. "If you don't release them you leave it up to the imagination of anybody who wants to talk about it to talk about it."

But she reacted testily when asked whether she and members of Congress should abide by such rules.

"There are no rules. There are no rules. There's no rule about releasing his tax return, so what rules are you referring to?" she asked, growing clearly frustrated. Asked about the standard she had cited for a presidential candidate, Pelosi said: "It's up to the American people. The American people are the judges of that."

After being questioned about why her demand for more transparency from Romney shouldn't apply to Congress as well, she briefly changed course and said the issue of tax returns was not important.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/19/2903453/pelosi-dismisses-idea-of-congress.html

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Pelosi isn't running for president Sail, you've crashed and burned that one already.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

At this point, one would have to be delusional to vote for Obama.

Wolfpack -- then count me proudly among the "delusional". Rather be that than simply voting for a silver-spooned, empty suit who just repeats the mantra of the far right and has renounced everything he once stood for -- like universal health care -- just to pander to them.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

It's a good rumor, if you can actually bring yourself to believe that Romney who’s been running for political office for over 20 years now, decided he’d gamble year after year avioding the tax man and risk time in a federal pen for tax evasion in order to save a few million dollars that he doesn’t need.

No doubt he adhered scrupulously to the law, Sail, paying not a penny more or less than required. No one is accusing him of tax evasion. Still, adhering to the law does not preclude achieving a zero-percent tax rate - exotic methods of gaining money often offer exotic methods for claiming it. He claims not to remember if he'd ever paid a lower rate than the one year of returns he's released (13.9%), which for a numismaticsphile is highly dubious.

Remember, he also set up numerous shell companies in the Caribbean and possessed multiple foreign bank accounts; for a man running for political office for over 20 years now, actions like these either demand transparency or the acceptance of a raised middle finger. Romney has offered only the latter so far; we'll see if he has the guts to accede to the former once the damage his obstinacy is causing his campaign becomes clear. He is, after all, still yet the PRESUMPTIVE nominee.)

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Remember, he also set up numerous shell companies in the Caribbean and possessed multiple foreign bank accounts; for a man running for political office for over 20 years now, actions like these either demand transparency or the acceptance of a raised middle finger.

His middle finger? I know this may not have occurred to you but Bain Capital is an investment firm in competition with other investment firms to attract investors. The bloated mess that is the U.S tax code has caused investment firms to set up operations in the Cayman islands and Bermuda so that they can attract investors from outside the U.S and even non-profits organizations inside the U.S such as large charitable foundations from being nailed by the 35 percent corporate U.S tax.

From the L.A times on Romney's offshore accounts:

While in private business, Mitt Romney utilized shell companies in two offshore tax havens to help eligible investors avoid paying U.S. taxes, federal and state records show.

Romney gained no personal tax benefit from the legal operations in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. But aides to the Republican presidential hopeful and former colleagues acknowledged that the tax-friendly jurisdictions helped attract billions of additional investment dollars to Romney's former company, Bain Capital, and thus boosted profits for Romney and his partners.

And Laguna from the same article which puts this in total perspective without the spin.

Janne Gallagher, vice president and general counsel of the Council on Foundations, a nonprofit membership group of 2,100 charities and grant-making foundations, said the practice was "pretty prevalent" in her field as portfolio managers sought to spread risk through hedge funds.

"It's a substantial tax, and that's what generally has led people to invest in these offshore blockers," she said. "I think everyone would prefer not to if they could avoid the consequence."

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-na-mittoffshore17dec17,0,3457481.story?page=2

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Great, so what's Romney hiding Sailwind?

Even if the worst his tax returns show are severe embarrassment, it's clear to everyone he is willingly hiding things from the American people.

When Romney was considered for the VP spot in 2008 he voluntarily submitted 23 years of tax returns during the Republican vetting process.

Why are they privy and not the electorate?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The bloated mess that is the U.S tax code has caused investment firms to set up operations in the Cayman islands and Bermuda...

That is certainly true for those who put money before country. You might remember that the election elects a president, not an investment adviser.

Romney gained no personal tax benefit from the legal operations in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.

Seeing as the only information regarding Romney's tax payments shows him paying 13.9%, one would wonder what further tax benefits he would need - or could get. Yes, one might wonder. 0%? It is a possibility.

But in Romney's world, Romney is free to expound on the personal and cultural superiority that allowed him to accumulate such wealth while brushing off those who have the temerity to ask for some basic details. Such details are not inconsequential but are not for your eyes. Suck it up. Yeah, he's tossing you the bird, Sail.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Laguna: "What part of cutting taxes for everyone doesn't Obama understand?

The part where government services for working Americans are eviscerated and the middle class find they now have to pay out of pocket for things that once were covered by their tax dollars."

Poor attempt at answering the question. Try again.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

One sentence in the article sums up nicely President Obama's complete ignorance in matters of the economy;

"Obama argues the one-year tax extension would provide relief for families and certainty for businesses wary of hiring workers"

A "one year tax extension" would provide the complete OPPOSITE of certainty for businesses. All these band-aid measures are precisely what is causing businesses to stay on the sidelines and avoid making any major decisions. Certainty for businesses would be a 5 or 10 year plan, not a year.

It just shows what happens when you elect a president who hasn't so much as run a lemonade stand in his entire life, never mind had to make payroll.

On the matter of tax returns, I'd tell Romney to release his returns the same time that the President releases his college transcripts and information about who paid for his rather expensive education.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

He’s asking you to pay more so that people like him can get a tax cut.

That is what Obama said. The GOP refuses to restore taxes to Clinton-era levels and is reneging at the mandatory cuts to defense that they had agreed to under the "sequester" compromise last autumn. They also demand that the budget be balanced. Serrano, one does not require a Romney-like phalanx of tax accountants to see where the money for the GOP juggernaut will come from: 45-student classrooms, infrastructure abandonment, evisceration of environmental and worker protection. Those who "pay" for this are those middle-class workers who rely on this social infrastructure; take it away to continue Bush's tax cuts for the rich, and, yes, Romney is asking the middle class to pay for these tax cuts.

Please try to justify this.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Serrano, what part of "voodoo economics" don't you understand?

I remember yourself (you were, heh, quite a bit younger) and Americanwoman (remember her?) preaching about trickle-down back in the heady Bush years as the economy steamed full-ahead towards the rocks....

A whole lot of Americans need to wake up to the last thirty odd years of living beyond your means that shared no party affiliation, other than equal amounts of debt denial.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Madverts,

Do you honestly think if Romney released his past tax returns and if they showed that he paid hardly any taxes in 2008 due to the financial melt-down that hit all investors, myself included (lost 40 percent of my portfolio value) that the Media would even give him anything close to a fair shake?

Oh please, they can't even be bothered to ask the question as to why he had set up off-shore blocker companies in the first place and are still harping on his Cayman Island and Bermuda Corporations that Bain set up as some sort of nefarious evil plot, instead of how any investment firm in the U.S has to do business if they want to survive and actually attract investors to their firms in the first place due to the U.S tax code.

He has nothing to gain in this toxic media political environment that he has to face everyday due to that R by his name with releasing anything more than he has. He released his 2010 return and all he got was from the Left and those that want nothing more than to keep the crass class warfare shtick in full flowering froth with "more, more, more" . You don't hand the Obama and his gatekeeper Media more of the same club to beat you with.

He's learned that lesson the first time after he released the first return.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I want to know what part of cutting taxes for everyone Obama doesn't understand.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Maybe Madverts can tell us what part of cutting taxes for everyone Obama doesn't understand.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"Do you honestly think if Romney released his past tax returns and if they showed that he paid hardly any taxes in 2008 due to the financial melt-down that hit all investors, myself included (lost 40 percent of my portfolio value) that the Media would even give him anything close to a fair shake?"

Haha, that's the funniest thing you've posted in a while, seriously. If that was the case there would be nothing to hide, it would be explainable.

But you're on the right track, I'm willing to bet they show in part that he reamed the financial melt-down contrary to us little 'uns. The well advised uber-rich always prosper in a recession.

Your claims of a "toxic media political environment" would be laughable if it were Romney not creating the environment on his own by shielding his dealings contrary to every other candidate since the trend set by his own father.

Really, your constant berating of the media for not reporting what you want to hear are getting to Comical Ali levels too.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Amazing how my friends and relatives in the U.S., who are all solidly middle class, got a tax cut under the Bush tax cuts.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

You might remember that the election elects a president, not an investment adviser.

That does explain why the U.S credit rating was downgraded for the first time in history on Obama's watch.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"Maybe Madverts can tell us what part of cutting taxes for everyone Obama doesn't understand"

I'm sorry to let you in on this, But O doesn't BBM me yet to ask my advice, but the BlackBerry is on standby just in case.

What part of Voodoo Economics doesn't Serrano understand? After cheering Bush on for 8 years, I'd have though something might have sunk in ;)

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"That does explain why the U.S credit rating was downgraded for the first time in history on Obama's watch."

And here we go again. Did I mention Obama ate dog as a child?

Perhaps this is a good time to bring up a certain electric car, heh.....

0 ( +0 / -0 )

And here we go again. Did I mention Obama ate dog as a child?

No need to since we are talking about how Obama's handled the public's purse on his watch.

But you're on the right track, I'm willing to bet they show in part that he reamed the financial melt-down contrary to us little 'uns. The well advised uber-rich always prosper in a recession.

And if that was actually the case I'm sure the Media would be glad to hammer that point home also in a ....err cough... the most positive way also if he released his past returns.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

That does explain why the U.S credit rating was downgraded for the first time in history on Obama's watch.

Revenue, Sailwind. The balance sheet works two ways. The Dems put on the table substantial budget cuts only to be met by complete stonewalling on the revenue side. Seriously: Do you think the budget can be balanced by cuts alone, without touching defense? If so, could you please explain how, and what the ramifications would be?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

"Polls show Romney with a sizable advantage over Obama as the best candidate to revive the wobbly economy"

How can this be?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The Dems put on the table substantial budget cuts.

Name them an not fictional outliers in some far off fiscal year down the road. Name one substantial budget cut offered by the Dems that if enacted would take place immediately if passed today.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Romney picked up Lech Walesa's endorsement this week. Obama was recently endorsed by Hugo Chavez and by Iran's Mahmoud Ahmanjidehad. Just who needs to regroup?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

"Romney picked up Lech Walesa's endorsement this week."

Yeah, as Poles chanted "Obama" outside....

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

"And if that was actually the case I'm sure the Media would be glad to hammer that point home also in a ....err cough... the most positive way also if he released his past returns."

Do you expect to be taken seriously? The media might be mean to him? Republican leaders are allowed to know but not the American people?

Well, that might rub for radicals, but everyone else will read he's hiding something politically damaging in the tax-returns. Not good practice in an election cycle.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I still want to know why the polls show Romney with a sizable advantage over Obama as the best candidate to revive the wobbly economy. Isn't Romney's party the party that caused the current wobbly economy?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I remember yourself (Serrano) (you were, heh, quite a bit younger) and Americanwoman (remember her?) preaching about trickle-down back in the heady Bush years as the economy steamed full-ahead towards the rocks....

I remember that too...Lol!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@Laguna

Do you think the budget can be balanced by cuts alone, without touching defense? If so, could you please explain how, and what the ramifications would be?

Well said.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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