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Subscribe to RSSMANCHESTER NH-- In what appears to be an attempt to solidify his support among Tea Party voters, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will deliver a "major spending policy speech" on Friday evening at the Americans for Prosperity's Defending the American Dream Summit in Washington, according to his campaign. On Thursday, Romney will preview his spending policy in Exeter, NH, the campaign confirms.
Americans for Prosperity is a conservative organization originally funded by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, and it has helped organize numerous Tea Party events.
Romney, who will serve as the keynote speaker at the summit's Tribute to Ronald Reagan dinner, will be greeted by approximately 3,000 voters on Friday evening, according to Americans for Prosperity's New Hampshire state director Corey Lewandowski. Past keynote speakers have included Senator Jim DeMint and George Will.
"This is an opportunity for Gov. Romney and others, if they chose to come, to meet people from all 50 states. These are the types that want smaller government and economic prosperity. It's a really good opportunity to talk to an audience that they wouldn't have an opportunity to speak to. We're happy to have Gov. Romney," Lewandowski told NBC News.
This is Romney's latest move to win over Tea Party voters, a group in which his support remains isn't as strong as others. A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that he slightly underperformed among Tea Party voters, while Herman Cain overperformed.
Fellow GOP front-runner Herman Cain is slated to speak on Saturday morning at the same conference. Americans for Prosperity's national headquarters told NBC News that a small number of presidential candidates were invited ,and they have not yet finalized who is able to attend. Other confirmed speakers include Rudy Giuliani and Carly Fiorina.
While Romney is speaking in Washington on Friday night, his rival Rick Perry will deliver remarks across the country at an Iowa state GOP fundraising banquet -- along with Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul.
"This will be a contrast, where Gov. Romney will be speaking to what I would believe much larger and much diverse audience than Gov. Perry will be speaking to in Iowa," Lewandowski said.
The general fee to attend the summit and Reagan tribute dinner is $169, according to the Americans for Prosperity website.
NBC's Garrett Haake contributed reporting to this story.
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Don't bother..... no one believes a word you say now !
A major speech funded by the Koch Brothers! Give me a break, folks if you don't see anything wrong with this picture, I can't help you. It's them against the 99% don't kid yourselves. They don't give a damn about the middle or lower classes of this country. Besides, he'll change it next week based on the polling it receives, what a joke...
Bruce Bartlett, Ex-Reagan Economist: Idea That Deregulation Leads To Jobs 'Just Made Up'
"Republicans favor tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, but these had no stimulative effect during the George W. Bush administration, and there is no reason to believe that more of them will have any today," writes Bruce Bartlett. He's an economist who worked for Republican congressmen and in the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
As for the idea that cutting regulations will lead to significant job growth, Bartlett said in an interview, "It's just nonsense. It's just made up."
Government and industry studies support his view.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks companies' reasons for large layoffs, found that 1,119 layoffs were attributed to government regulations in the first half of this year, while 144,746 were attributed to poor "business demand."
Bartlett, whose books on tax policy include "The Benefit and the Burden," recently wrote in the New York Times: "People are increasingly concerned about unemployment, but Republicans have nothing to offer them."
By CHARLES BABINGTON 10/30/11 01:07 PM ET
The evil, dastardly, death defying Koch Bros. You liberals are so silly. You keep on tossing the rich vs poor mantra out there like it actually means something. Truth be told, democrats are richer than republicans hands down. Look towards your own party of greed and lust for the things you blame republicans for. It's nothing but words anyway.
I find your talking points to be the only thing you can grasp onto. Grasp as you must, because they are all false accusations anyway. The democrats are the real party of greed... stealing from the taxpayers to give to good for nothing, do nothing citizens that depend on the government for handouts generated by whom? The democrats... the party of class warfare... handing out money, quarters, telephones and cable to millions of people that refuse to work and live generation to generation on public money, all courtesy of the democrats.
What's Slick Willard the political weather vane talking about this time? Oh, right, fiscal discipline to the Tea Partiers. Never could have seen that coming.
"Republicans favor tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, but these had no stimulative effect during the George W. Bush administration, and there is no reason to believe that more of them will have any today,"
Isn't it interesting how liberals are trying to re-write history. During the Bush administration we had the largest growth period in the history of our economy, but liberals seem to think they can say something and - there you have it, it's true. I'm calling BS on this one.
On Saturday he will present his rebuttal to his Friday speech.
Forrest,
Republicans love your kind. They hate smart, intelligence, gracious, kind, good people like Mitt Romney. They'll even support a murderer and a pervert over him.
Mitt I want to hear you forget the idiots who read all the crap online and beleive it!
Monday there will be a retraction of Friday and Saturday's speeches, because the main stream media misconstrued what was said.
And by Tuesday I will need motion sickness medicine due my head spinning from the retraction of the retraction of they retraction........ I am already nauseous
Should be interesting to see what variation of himself he will pander to the Tea Party. He has to go right, far right or go home as that crew will accept nothing less. We'll all be waiting with bated breath.
The Koch brothers orgainizations...
...and Mitt is kowtowing to them?
PLEASE STOP THE INSANITY!!!!!!!!!!!
Does this mean the Koch Brothers are having second thoughts on their bought candidate Cain and maybe looking at Romney?
Yeah, they pprobably floated the sex scandal to get rid of Herman. The black man getting too close to the nomination is something they can't stomach, so I guess we'll go with the Mormon, because our poster boy Rick Perry is an idiot and couldn't get the job done after we basically handed him (paid for) the nomination.
You liberals really make me laugh, you are so afraid of the Koch Brothers and will do anything to demonize them, but say nothing about the millions that George Soros spends on the left wing nuts like moveon.org, Huffington post and a dozen more left wing organizations and outlets.
But they make it so obvious, anyone would be fearful. Those two silver spoons scare me. Truly.
It is likely some of the posters on here are paid with Soros money, have no doubt.
The libs meet online and are given the lame daily talking points they can spew out to the blogosphere..
It doesn't matter what day it is, the chameleon will make his speech match the group he is speaking to. You know what would be fun? Watching him speak to two totally different groups and try to get approval of both at the same time.
Mitt Romney is such a hapless and pathetic figure that he can almost defeat himself. His political history is filled with nothing but flip-flops, massive shifts in policy and principles on nearly every major issue that cut to the core of his character and his competency. Romney is a corporate politician, a man that represents the privileged one percent that Americans are literally taking to the streets against. And that he has to give a speech to beg support from the Tea Party crowd is a testament to his weakness among the far-right GOP base. http://www.sunstateactivist.org
Romney:
"I'm giving up and I'm going home."
"Goodnight, and thanks for all the money"
Question . . . which Mitt is speaking? He must be relieved after this weekend with Cain's sexual harassment and campaign finance catastrophies and Perry's drug induced episode in New Hampshire.
AnaBanana, I'll bet a ham sandwich Pery smoked something before that speech, that was unnaturally goofy even for Perry, complete with amazement at his own hands.
Agree Forrest, Rachel had a piece on it tonight that included video of a good portion of the speech. I was definately left with the impression he was looped, on what, I'm not sure. Dollars to donuts, that'll show up in some campaign ad.
He can acquire a medical marijuana card here in California but I don't know about using it in New Hampshire. It seemed more like laughing gas. Whatever he was on. I'm game!
Mister Romney, a word of advice. Not that I personally want to see you succeed, but if that is your goal, then don't speak this Friday. Don't say anything for the rest of the campaign. Just let your opponents continue to self-destruct. Just smile and pick up the support they are doing their best to shed. If you open your mouth, you're just going to contradict something you've said before, reminding voters why they don't like you and encouraging them to find some other candidate to pretend to tolerate.
"Nathan" I only wish he'd listen to you, but hey, let him keep talking and sticking his foot in his mouth. As you stated, the more he opens it, the less voters like him.
Most candidates get a close up shot from the camera when they are speaking, Mitt is the only candidate that needs a split screen even when he is the only one talking.
Mitt's speech will most likely consists of "flops" to counter the "flips" he's already flopped on.
On ANY topic.
All of you that label Mitt a flip flopper are non-thinking drones influenced by the Obama and Perry campaigns and their minions in the press. The man thinks deeper about issues than any other candidate and so his views are nuanced and can be construed as flipping.
His view on abortion was of a libertarian bent in 94 and 02 in that he would respect the role of the states to decide on these sorts of issues. When it came time to make a decision on abortion he sided on life. He was a Mormon bishop for years and he counseled many to not get abortions.
On climate change, he's been clear that there is uncertainty as to what is causing the warming. He kept Mass. out of a consortium of states that advocated cap and trade. The only governor to do so in the Northeast.
On taxes, he came out against Forbes' version of a flat tax in the 90's but has always said that a simpler tax code is a good thing. He closed hundreds of millions of dollars in loopholes for corporations. He did not raise taxes in Mass. HE balanced the budget. He left a 2 billion in a rainy day fund. He did, however, raise fees, but only on those items that hadn't been raised in decades and were subject to inflation.
On immigration, as governor he enabled the police force to enforce immigration laws.
On health care, he has been very clear since day one that what htey did in Mass was for Mass. The people wanted it. They like it. End of story.
Anything else? Bring it. I dare you. I'm tired of all this petty name calling. We need Romney as our President. He's a good man, with a good family, that has enjoyed success because he has worked harder and smarter than the majority of us. Get over your prejudices and your veiled bigotry for his religion and support the man. Let's get behind him and get the current disastrous administration out.
ABAR - 2012
Anybody But A Republican
Don't elect this outsourcer while we still have two people working in America.
Ci2eye...
I'd suggest that you climb down from your Romney Trojan rocking horse and do some research on the man. It's well documented that Mitt often changes his positional points depending on the crowd he's in front of at any given moment.
He's flipped on climate change, birth control, health care and most everything else he's taken a stand on since his first run if it runs sideways with the current in vogue Republican thinking. With the one exception I can think of...his take on letting Detroit fail...he hasn't flipped on that, to my knowledge. But that isn't going to play well in MI come nomination time...and from a guy who lived in the governor's house in that state. It's all out there, on video, in his own words. Do some research about it, if you can take your blinders off for a bit.
The "prejudices and veiled bigotry for his religion" you speak of isn't coming from the left...try looking closer at the evangelical Christian component of the Republican party...that's where the distrust of his Mormonism truly comes from. The hard, far right is also the group leading the ABR (Anyone But Romney) movement. Ever heard Limbaughs' take on your boy? Doubtful those two will ever sit down and share a cold one. They don't feel they can trust him from his past gaffes and it's easily understood as to why people of that orientation would think that way...they never know from issue to issue exactly WHAT his stand on it will be.
Personally, I don't mind a candidate who has the courage to change his point of view in the face of evidence to the contrary of what they'd supported. But I have to wonder about somebody who does a 180 when criticized by those in his own party for a previous stand on an issue or position that runs counter to their political dogma. His pandering to factions, i.e. the Tea Party and the NRA, has been notable.
Frankly, he isn't worth my vote in either the primary or the general elections...and he never has been. And Perry? You seriously think he's of any influence? I don't think Obama has had to spend any measurable amount of time considering what he'll do if Mitt wins the GOP race. Ever stop to think he could just be letting Mitt measure out his own length of rope? We'll know soon enough.
Consider it "brought"...
Okay...it's been brought :)
Let's take each of those items you brought up:
Climate Change: How exactly has he flipped positions? He has recently said that we don't know what causes climate change and the media has construed this as a flip. However, his choice of words is consistent with his book:
“I am uncertain how much of the warming, however, is attributable to man and how much is attributable to factors out of our control. I do not support radical feel-good policies like a unilateral U.S. cap-and-trade mandate. Such policies would have little effect on climate but could cripple economic growth with devastating results for people across the planet.” -- Mitt Romney No Apology, p. 227
“Scientists are nearly unanimous in laying the blame for rising temperatures on greenhouse gas emissions. Of course there are also reasons for skepticism. The earth may be getting warmer, but there have been numerous times in the earth’s history when temperatures have been warmer than they are now. Climate cycles with great variations in temperature predate the greenhouse gas emissions of the past three centuries, and they even predate the rise of human populations. In fact, climate change has been going on from the beginning of the world; it is certainly not a new phenomenon. Even the apparent unity among scientists is not a sure indicator of scientific fact.” -- No Apology, p. 227
He backed this up as Governor when he was asked to join a group of states to cap emissions. He felt this was bad for business and so he refused it - the only governor in the region to do so.
Further reading:
Abortion and Birth Control: You said "Personally, I don't mind a candidate who has the courage to change his point of view in the face of evidence to the contrary of what they'd supported."
He explains his change very clearly here:
Q: In a 1994 debate with Senator Kennedy, you said "I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. I have since the time that my Mom took that position when she ran in 1970 as a U.S. Senate candidate. I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years we should sustain and support it." Further confusing matters, the Boston Globe reported in 1994 that "as a Mormon lay leader [you] counseled Mormon women not to have abortions except in cases of rape, incest, or where the mother’s life was at risk." Governor: What is your position on abortion today? On Roe? How do you account for what is obviously a change - certainly publicly - on the issue? Romney: My position has changed and I have acknowledged that. How that came about is that several years ago, in the course of the stem-cell-research debate I met with a pair of experts from Harvard. At one point the experts pointed out that embryonic-stem-cell research should not be a moral issue because the embryos were destroyed at 14 days. After the meeting I looked over at Beth Myers, my chief of staff, and we both had exactly the same reaction - it just hit us hard just how much the sanctity of life had been cheapened by virtue of the Roe v. Wade mentality. And from that point forward, I said to the people of Massachusetts, "I will continue to honor what I pledged to you, but I prefer to call myself pro-life." The state of Massachusetts is a pro-choice state and when I campaigned for governor I said that I would not change the law on abortion. But I do believe that the one-size-fits-all, abortion-on-demand-for-all-nine-months decision in Roe v. Wade does not serve the country well and is another example of judges making the law instead of interpreting the Constitution. What I would like to see is the Court return the issue to the people to decide. The Republican party is and should remain the pro-life party and work to change hearts and minds and create a culture of life where every child is welcomed and protected by law and the weakest among us are protected. I understand there are people of good faith on both sides of the issue. They should be able to make and advance their case in democratic forums with civility, mutual respect, and confidence that our democratic process is the best place to handle these issues.
Further Reading:
Health Care: How exactly has he flipped on this. He's been very very clear that he doesn't think that what was done in Mass should be done in other states. The people of Mass like what was done and they have to live with it. The individual mandate, which is at the heart of the matter, was endorsed by the Heritage foundation and was very much a conservative idea and principle until very recently.
Letting Detroit Fail: Read the op-ed yourself: He never wanted Detroit to fail. He wanted to see a managed bankruptcy which would allow the auto companies to emerge stronger and more competitive. He was against the bail out and the billions of taxpayer dollars that was poured into the companies. The Obama administration eventually did exactly what Mitt laid out in this op-ed.
What else?
In 2008, Rush called Mitt a conservative. Granted he pointed out the the field was what the field was at the time. Romney was it because McCain certainly wasn’t. But he said he “embodied the 3 legs of the conservative stool”. Rush is flat-out contradicting himself by what he has recently said, “Romney is NOT a conservative”.
The first mistake is believing anything Rush says, he is the mouthpiece of the GOP.
Allright, Ci2eye...open the links below and view his flips for yourself.
Abortion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFMdK0TWtks
http://news.yahoo.com/mitt-romney-flip-flops-gay-marriage-abortion-stances-191700876.html
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/12/mitt_romneys_flip_flop_flip.html
Climate Change:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/mitt-romney-flip-flops-on-climate-change-20111028
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/239752/20111028/mitt-romney-climate-change-flip-flop.htm
http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=9324
Health Care:
http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/3293-mitt-romneys-magic-act-creating-the-illusion-romneycare-is-different-from-obamacare
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/10/mitt-romney-health-care-illegal-immigrants-/1
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/health-care/9383-investigation-confirms-romneycare-was-the-blueprint-for-obamacare
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/mitt-romney-defends-massachusetts-health-care-criticizes-obamacare/story?id=13590602
Detroit:
If you'll remember, that's one thing I said he hasn't flipped on. But why don't we just wait and see how MI votes for him in the primary? That will be the best indicator of all as none of the other candidates have any MI heritage.
An, of course, there's many more links you can find with a minimum of research.
You can sugar coat him all you want, but he's his own worst enemy, not counting his somewhat absent staff who should be guiding him. So if Rush is "contradicting" himself about Romney, it appears that they are in unison in that respect.
His wishy-washy demeanor may be all you're looking for in a candidate, but he leaves a tremendous amount to be desired.
But that seems to be symptomatic of all the Republican candidates this time around. Personally, I think Huntsman is more of a straight shooter than the rest of them combined, but he won't get the nod. His religion will be an obstacle from within his own party, as it will for Mitt, and the fact that he was once Obama's ambassador to China won't play well with the far right.
Perhaps ol' Rushbo is playing the "change" card, just like the candidates are prone to do. I could put the meaningful value of anything Rush says into a thimble and still find room to put the moon in it too. But he seems to have the ear of a lot of Republicans, and Mitt will have to find a way to deal with that negativity if he's to be the nod.
And if he can't, then so be it...
A Washington Post blogger has a good piece on Romney and climate change. He points out, correctly, that Romney's position isn't so much a flip-flop as it is just wishy-washy fence sitting. He says he "believes" the Earth is warming but that he doesn't know, or that he doesn't know how much humans are contributing. This lets him tailor his message to his audience, thus dodging accusations of being an anti-science denier, while also not committing himself to ever doing anything about the problem. It's an artfully political position, and one that demonstates an even greater weaseliness than an outright reversal.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/is-flip-flopping-really-the-problem-with-romney-not-on-climate-change/2011/11/01/gIQAQDO6cM_blog.html
I beleive someone is okay for changing their mind when the times and situations change but changing it to pander to different political blocs for votes is unacceptable.............But that is what being a polotician is.........Nobody would ever get elected to national office if they didn't do it.....The fact is when they do it, it is called lying and they all do.Americans except lying and expect it....People really do not like him in the republican party because he is too close to the center....The GOP is a far right organization anymore...Mitt should switch to the democratic party now and they should split in two...They already are really they are one party in name only...You have your right and left dems but only far right republicans....And they are in full obstructionist mode because of this and are destorying our country...It is a shame that as a true third party they have so many votes going their way...When that stops we will finally have progress in this America I love again.I cannot wait....Hopefully the canidates in this primary will wake people up and bring some people closer to the center where they belong but unfortunately racism plays apart in that and those that would be closer to the center are accepting some of these far right ideas just so they don't have to vote for a man of color............WHAT A SHAME
Far right = Far out. The GOP is so out of touch with the country it's comical and sad. The choices are clear in 2012, the middle class can vote against their own self interests and join the oligarchy or have some semblance of a democracy left by choosing president Obama and voting out the tea-party. Yes, both parties have issues, but at least the democrats actually think government can play a roll in shaping the country and safety nets for those less fortunate. Republicans believe you can run the government like a business and profit from it at the same time. Government is not a business, it can be run efficiently, but it's about people not profit. Ayn Rand and Reagan were wrong, government isn't bad - its the people running it that corrupt democracy. Our Supreme Court has played a role well beyond their scope and opened the flood gates to corporate corruption and manipulation of the government. It's their job is to protect the Constitution - they failed. This is the activist court the republicans claim they didn't want, unless it acted in their favor...
The Koch's started the Tea-Party, giving money to organizations is one thing, funding their creation is another.
So how many different copies of this "major" speech do you suppose he has -- one for the tetards, another for the few sane people left in the republican party, one for Ohio, one for Virginia, one for Michigan, one for men, one for women -- my guess --- about 25 different speeches showing he is for and against everything all at the same time in different places.
How can the koch brothers lose. They own everyone who is running in the republican/tea bagger party. At least we know the unseen leaders of the afore mentioned political party. OL King Grover & his two jesters the koch brothers. Makes me wonder why they just don't run themselves.
I would like to see a transcript of the proceeding(s) in which Mr. Cain's alleged sexual misconduct were addressed. I daresay every single one of us in one way or another has said something to someone that could be interpreted as inappropriate, sexually or otherwise. The fact that Mr. Cain adamantly denied any involvement to begin with, then said maybe, then went on to describe an incident, did not help himself.
If America doesn’t wise up about Romney, we are lost as a nation. This is our last chance to avoid total destruction. Everyone needs to read this book to see just what kind of further MESS we will be under a Romney Presidency. All you need to know about Mitt Romney, his real political record and the Mormon Church and how his presidency could affect America is in this book:
CAN MITT ROMNEY SERVE TWO MASTERS? The Mormon Church Versus the Office Of The Presidency of the United States of America.
Please spread this book far and wide in order to stir the American people to the truth on Romney.
I'm not the least bit surprised that Mitt supports Americans for Plutocracy...
Maybe the people who have taken over the TP movement don't care who they buy the presidency for as long as their puppet does what he's paid for.... Perry isn't up to the job of convincing enough of us to vote for him & his clod-kicking Texas style, Cain is starting to believe his own hype & can't beat President Obama anyway, & most of the rest of the occupants of the clown car aren't credible either. Huntsman won't play with them , won't sign their stupid pledges or sell his soul so he's out too. Wiser Republicans have decided that this is the year it is wiser NOT to play. ( In some games, the only way to win is NOT to play) There is always 2016. Romney is all that is left, Romney is their only choice & he would do anything, say anything to be president, even sell his soul to the devil. If it doesn't play well, he'll just recant in a few days anyway.
"Romulian Romney" will be flying in on his Bird Of Prey paid for by the Koch Brothers. He will make a big speech that will be full of political flip-flps, economic greed, and more sociallly sadistic policies. Now who will love this big speech by "Romulian Romney?" Who will be at the "Romulian's" big speech under the GOP/RNC Circus Big Top?? The Wall Street Bankers will be there, and so will his old friends from Wall Streets. Big oil CEO's will be there with their circus balloons in hand. The CEO's of the large Insurance Companies will be attending dressed in their clown outfits. The Koch Brothers will be there to keep the lights on. Not mentally though! Will "Nutty Newt" be there? Unless he can escape. Again! From his hospital room?? He may not be able to attend. Now America. The Middle Class, the Working Poor, the disabled, and the elderly will not be able to attend. Every Circus Ticket to his GOP/RNC "Speech Of Spewing" will cost $5,000 or more. Will "Crazy Cain" attend? No America. He will be out sexually harrassing others in or around the GOP Circus Grounds. Even the GOP/RNC Elephants are very nervous about old "Crazy Cain." WOW! What a joke America!
He should just go out and say, " I was wrong to say that I am more gay friendly than Ted Kennedy. I really hate gays. I really, really do." That might wrap up the nomination for him, given the current state of the Republican Party. He could also add, "Because I am running for President, for Pete's sake, I have decided that abortion doctors should be executed." He's already moved a long way towards these positions. If you are going to have position transplants, might as well go all the way. Because " when you hate somebody, it's no good unless you hate them - ALL THE WAY."
xx