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Scott Olson / Getty Images
DETROIT, MI - FEBRUARY 24: Members of the Detroit Economic club gather to hear a speech by Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
DETROIT -- Days after debuting a souped-up economic plan calling for across-the-board tax cuts, Mitt Romney expanded on his vision here today in a speech at a largely empty football stadium.
Before some 1,200 members and guests of the Detroit Economic Club seated between the end zone and 30-yard line at Detroit's Ford Field, Romney described plans to eliminate subsidies to Amtrak and Planned Parenthood, as well as send programs like Medicaid, food stamps, and housing subsidies back to the states.
Romney also said his plans for reforming Medicare -- including offering supports for private options instead of the traditional single-payer system -- would begin in 2022, and that eligibility requirements would rise one month each year, and be indexed to longevity.
Romney's speech -- a mix of a few new details on the plan he rolled out Wednesday, stump speech staples, and anecdotes reflecting his love of his home state -- was originally intended to be given in a hotel ballroom. But when tickets sold out in less than an hour, a larger venue was needed.
The cavernous, 65,000 seat Ford Field was selected by the Economic Club, but couldn't possibly be filled. The result: tens of thousands of empty seats and a space so large it swallowed applause altogether.
The candidate joked about the venue at the beginning of his remarks.
"I guess we had a hard time finding a large enough place to meet and this ... certainly is," he said.
Romney also undercut his economic message by fumbling an attempt to appeal to Michiganders with a bit of personal detail about his love of cars. He revealed that his wife owns a "couple" of pricey Cadillacs SRX's -- a comment that could give his rivals and Democrats ammunition to portray the multi-millionaire Romney as being out of touch.
"It just feels good, being back in Michigan. You know the trees are the right height, the streets are just right. I like the fact that most of the cars I see are Detroit made automobiles. I drive a Mustang and a Chevy pickup truck. Ann drives a couple of Cadillacs, actually. And I used to have a Dodge truck, so I used to have all three covered," he said.
*** UPDATE *** Regarding the optics of Romney giving a speech to a largely empty stadium, a Romney official gave this response to NBC's Peter Alexander:
"Beth Chappell -CEO of Detroit Economic Club just now spoke with ABC and told them that the campaign had nothing to do with venue choice...they typically use the atrium at Ford Field as a venue for their events, but due to the size of the crowd there were security concerns with the atrium so they moved it to the field. Once they moved the campaign worked on logistics but the campaign had nothing to do with this."
The president of the Detroit Economic Club also responded:
"I just heard that there is some confusion in the media regarding the selection of today's venue. That is very disappointing after such a terrific meeting. As I said in my remarks today, we sold out the previous venue in 90 minutes and were delighted that Ford Field was available and could accommodate the DEC. Further, we thought it a wonderful Detroit landmark to host this nationally broadcast meeting."
"The original plan was to host the Romney meeting in the atrium, which is where we host DEC meetings when at Ford Field. During our walk through with the security team there were further issues raised due to the size of the crowd so we moved the event to the field. Had we followed our normal plan in the atrium, the football field would not have been visible - and the room would have been packed."
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So, the states will have to raise residents' taxes instead. That's a plan? Secondly, when I was in debt I always rushed to my employer and asked to have my salary cut so I could pay my mortgage - NOT! Romney is great at bankrupting companies. Now he wants to take his business experience to Washington. Whose government does he expect to bail out the United States? Especially after he reorganizes our debt and leaves the investors with the losses. Perhaps we could merge with China and get into the collectivism business. $1.00 an hour is good enough for American workers, I suppose.
Affinity - Guess you haven't noticed that Obama and his liberal dem buddies have raised our debt over a trillion dollars a year every year he's been in office. Guess what else? you're the investor! I don't think China is interested in "merging" but maybe they'll give you a job doing their laundry to pay back your debt!
I have to say that it makes me wonder if all this economic disaster isn't in part some way to force the american workers to accept less pay ... even though the minimum wage is raised the cost of living has exceeded that and more ... really 4 dollars a gallon for milk? and the price of gas seems to have no hope of lowering anytime soon. I don't believe Romney knows what the poor or middle class, if any of them exist, need from the government ... I don't really know which one of them do.. I agree though they want us to work for the equivalent of china even if it means raising prices to accomplish it. Just would be nice to have a few that can sit and do some budgeting for us min. wage folk and see how far our paycheck goes. I don't think now is the time to do any kind of cuts to welfare or social security because so many more are depending on it ... when the jobs are back and we are on our feet economically then yes .. make provisions to welfare to discourage abuse of the system ... when they give us our factories back and employ more people so no one is overworked the only thing that can happen is more than just the super rich will prosper .. I don't care for romney and am hoping the "nearly empty" field is a sign of his losing ground .. and no I am not an obama fan.. he has not made any real good changes for any of us. It looks to me like he is making a few last minute attempts to look good but hasn't a clue about what needs done
BK, you talk as if you want to stay on minimum wage. It should be of no surprise to anyone that if the cost of making bread goes up than so does the cost of bread. Romney is not going to make you or anyone else any richer with his policies; however his policies will give you the opportunity and to make yourself richer. The government only gets in the way of success they can not give you success.
Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Mitt's idea of controlling a budget, an entire stadium for an event that could have been handled at a church parking lot, a small church
I went to a Doctor Who convention that had more than 2000 people in one ballroom. Romneys people should have had sense and put the meeting in a place that would make it look like more. Obama can fill a stadium a lot better.
Mitt just doesn't get it. A large portion of the country wants to broaden the single payer system, not do away with it. Nothing like being held hostage to the whim of private industry during your fixed income years. The man is clueless.
...um, a large portion of the country wants Government OUT OF OUR LIVES...
Romney 2012
Unless your a woman who wants contraception, an legal abortion, gay marriage, poor people getting help with food and housing or help with stimulating the economy. Romney and his ilk, only want government to get out of big business when they rip us off.
Now that I think of it, the large tobacco liability settlements of the late 90's for the most part went into the states' general funds to balance budgets. The stated intent of using the money for smoking cessation quickly fell by the wayside. Sounds to me like the standard political trick of getting rid of something by referring it to committee.
Ooops, this post should be under Billie's 29
"send programs like Medicaid, food stamps, and housing subsidies back to the states." Now he plans to collapse the states.
As for sending "Social Safety Net" programs back to the States, didn't I just read that one Governor is taking the negotiated mortgage scandal settlement money from the banks and putting it into the general fund rather than use it for its stated purpose which was assisting abused homeowners?
Mitter stated he would fix any holes in the "safety nets for the poor" (who he doesn't care about). So if he turns these programs over the the states, how in the hell is he going to fix any holes? Or is it just a cop-out to enable him to say "I got no jurisdiction"?
Wrong! Mitt plans to reduce the size of federal government. MOST Americans (other than those receiving endless entitlements) would agree with that.
Jensen: Well the red states are going to be pretty angry when Mitt takes away all their endless entitlements.
More red states on government assistance then blue states.
Hopefully people are seeing Romney for what he is... a big joke. Long ago he ably turned his campaign into a self-defeating competition between his continual missteps, an ostentatious ego, and unending flip flops. His bid has devolved into desperate mentality of saying 'n doing anything in hopes of getting the nomination.
Blowing smoke up voters butts isn't the path victory, yet that has become his preferred approach. In doing so, he's become a big clowny ass. In the least, if he's going to act the part then he needs to dress accordingly. He'd have more success selling his bs to voters with a painted face.
The best part is where Romney closed his speech by saying Detroit should be "the motor city of the world. I drive a Mustang and a Chevy pick-up truck. He then said his wife Ann drives a couple of Cadillacs. Then he ended by saying, “I used to have a Dodge truck so I used to have all three covered.”
Please consider seeing a therapist for some anger management.
Romney is a proven winner and has shown a Midas Touch in almost every endeavor he has managed- which most democrats despise. Democrats want only loosers they can help with endless entitlements.
If you really want to see a 'big joke' you need to look no further than the White House.
Jensen: The "big joke" left the White House in Jan 2009...The repubs are going to be more embarrassed as time goes on...and they think this was embarrassing...just wait...
Oh Lord won't you buy me, a couple of Mercedes; my friends all have Caddies; I must make amends.
An empty stadium? What better place to espouse empty ideas?
I agree! I am sick of him trying to pader to us Michiganders by pretending to be "one of us." Michigan does not need a gizillionaire to tell us that he feels our pain.
The best old and proven economy pattern is 4/4 economy which means that average paycheck allow to be divided into four parts so;
1/4 goes for rent or housing payment
1/4 goes for food
1/4 goes for clothing
1/4 goes for saving or anything you like (education,entertaining, touring, etc.)
What we got now is 3/4 for rent or housing payment and1/4 for anything else. It will not work for long time.
....then you must just LOVE paying one of the highest tax rates in the free world...
Only an idiot or a democratic hack would dismiss the ideas of a man that has been wildly successful in private industry- and embrace the failed policies of our current President that seeks to socialize our economy and ruin our future with TRILLIONS in debt.
We are paying the lowest taxes of the modern era. Many other countries pay much higher taxes and they get a lot more money for their buck. Try going to Norway and then complain about high taxes. Of course as you get health care, child care and a $24 a hour minimum wage, plus one of the highest standards of living in the world, I don't think you will.
I explain what I understood Romney wanted to tell us: He drove a mustang and a truck, his wife drove a couple of cadillacs, it might have been in different years but he just wanted to be proud they were driving american cars. I have driven 3 Toyotas, one when I was in College, 4 years later the second one, and 7 years later the third toyota. I'm not rich but I have 2 cars a Honda and a Toyota and right now I don't have job, only my husband is working. I think Governor Romney and his wife can have as many cars as they want as soon as it's not lobbyist money, that's being successful . How many cars Obama and his wife have in their garage ? Santorum has a Audy made in Germany it showed in his tax returns and he pretends he 's driving a friend's truck. I don't think talking non stop about Mitt Romney 's cars is a breaking news as the media intended it to be. We need $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ jobs and Romney can restored the failed economy to a prosperous succesful $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ for our country.
I thought it was so good of Romney to let Michiganders know that his wife owns 2 pricey Cadillac's. Don't we all? What an out of touch person.
Does wealth automatically make a man 'out of touch?'
Would you rather have a man lead you that is a proven leader- a man who has made millions through his business acumen, or a socialist career polititian who touches every taxpayer he sees with higher taxes and unsustainable debt?
Look where class envy got Communist Russia and China! That's where it will get you.
Wow... Willard couldn't get enough supporters to show up to even look like people are interested in what he has to say, and he thinks people will show up at the polls in November and vote for him?
He wants to kill Amtrak? Make us a third-world country? Heck, even India has a national train system.
I saw something really good the other day. A new product being hawked on a late-night infomercial:
Newt-Mitts. Protects the hands from greased-palm burns when handling half-baked ideas.
As far as I know, Romney is LEADING in the primaries. The original venue WAS SOLD OUT IN AN HOUR!!!
Please get someone who is literate to re-read you the story and help you understand that liberal lies and distortions can only get you so far.
Jensen:
SOLD OUT IN A HOUR doesn't mean go to a damm stadium (he's not that great)... wouldn't it have looked better being sold out at a smaller venue. And you want this jerk for President...go ahead and waste your vote on Mitt.
Sorry for your embarrassment.
TO: Bman-2313296 who wrote:
You need to take a look at your Republican friends who scam the system and cheat us real Working American Taxpayers out of millions of dollars with all their "waste, fraud and abuse", and while you're at it you might recall "What the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away."
You are the one that should be thankful, IF you actually have anything.
Personally I don't believe that people who are actually wealthy would waste their time trolling the Internet, rather than take a nice Hawaiian vacation, or go for a cruise on their yachts.
Obama / Biden 2012
He wanted a place that he could park all his cars
I love the trees here, they are just the right height. I love the crowds here, they are so small. I love my new economic plan, its so lame.
...you paraphrased Obamas energy speech beautifully.
Thank you Jim.
I'll have to find out what the right height for a tree is...maybe I have some of those around me. I mean ....Is this guy truly serious? Is it his attempt at humor? The other day he said a real momentous thing in one of his Michigan speeches. Brace yourselves, I quote..."I like cars".....Yes folks...that was it. He likes cars.
So what if his wife owns a couple of Cadillacs. At least they spend their own money and they don't waste that money at taxpayer expense like Obama does.
Except of course for all the lobbyist acquired earmarks he got for "his" olympic effort..
Steve:
Waste taxpayers dollars, are you referring to Solyndra? This is the exact type of business Romney and Bain capital would have loved to take over...why didn't they step in and save it...oh yeh, he's running for president now.
Obama again in 2012...
Mitt was not as good as his father was who I grew up with in the hey-days of unions, especially in Michigan. How could Mitt even think he could draw a much larger crowd in the Mother Nest of the American Auto Industry? They liked his father, but not him. Mitt is making an ass out of himself, He & all the other GOP wanna-bees haven't a chance winning. The person who should be running for President is missing against Obama. BushWhacker Jr screwed the Republican Party & they all know it from McCain on down the line. What the Dems lost in 2010 mid elections will be regained in 2012 thanks to Bush Jr. None of them represent main street America & are nothing but telling lies to their small throngs of supporters. Even Fox Prime Time Propaganda, O'Rilley, Hannity, Palin, etc have lost what credibility they once had from the believers of what you read, view or hear must be the truth if the lie is told enough over & over again. I spoke of the next 10years how bad America's economy would be 3 years ago on record no matter who was president because of just how bad it got & how many Presidents it took to get it there. There was so many political blunders made especially by one of the most infamous & worst President Bush Jr. One of the worst & richest Congress in our history ruled over this country since the 2000 mark. Some one up above had said we need a 3rd party & I say we need a new system of government. Being Partisan is not governing this country or there wouldn't be such a class division we have never seen so split apart it is shameful on Washington DC & their new Employers Wall Street. For God's sake, even the Supreme Court voted for & made Campaign Funding to play more of a part of a corrupted government. What were they thinking, they had no idea what running a campaigne was all about. People had found this out about their lack of knowledge about it. Was it a duty to country to settle an issue they knew nothing about, the ins & outs of a one of our most important parts of our constitution running for office. Wall Street knew better then the Supreme Court. Money wins you & I lose our vote. This ruling will be reversed as time goes on & more scandalsbecome known about funding & where it came from of which we all know some of them, but not most or how much. Maybe instead of worrying about the jobless rate, home ownership, bank dealings we should be first worry about getting rid of the system that brought us down Where money doesn't buy freedom of the guilty or who you voted for, the lesser of two evils & term limits. Nobody wants an endorsement from Bush, what a shame a 2 term President can't go out & openly show his support for anyone. Enough said so my opinion doesn't offend anyone & it wasn't supposed to. I served my country in time of war, voted all my life & know a lot more then my age of 61 years. I have seen a trend coming before it showed up for I worked in & with the economy of this country & globally. When we turned our backs on manufacturing goods in this country in an unfair Global Market with rules attached by certain Presidential policy, I foreseen the writing on the wall turning to a service industry & relying on it we were doomed for the hardest of times in my lifetime & yours. I sincerely feel compassionate for all that lost good jobs they will never see again,the Health Service being so unfair, the disabled, old & retired I give my heart out for you to make a change in this system. I love this country and feel lucky I was born here instead of other countries so unsanitary & have broken every labor law you can think of including forced labor upon children made to live at their place of work without going to school. This is happening now,& our government can't handle to look into what all the reasons were for our big fall down which has made millions of Americans not able to get up & better your selves & way of living. You deserve every benefitthat our lawmakers have & if they can have insider trading then we should all know as well. I grew up schooled in the 1950's when GREED was not a matter but sharing was. The times were great to see Doctors & Lawyers living among the neighborhoods of the low income & middle-class. The American Dream was alive & all you had to do was go to work! I pray for the poor,sick, disabled & this country to lessen the suffering of this country as we arebogged down throughout the rest of the world's woes trying to save face & get out & get this country on top. Don't let the greedy nor the terrorist keep us down
Empty Stadium-Empty Vision-Empty Suit!
...empty post...Romney's glass is half full....your's is half empty...
Romney 2012
Couldn't have been more appropriate given the speaker... nice house, nobody home.
...you were of course referring to Obamas 'energy speech' assertion that we can rest assured that we will have all the gas we need by converting algae.
... among many other non-fossil solutions that will eliminate our oil dependency, create jobs, and drive growth (for the mass market, not just the controlling petroleum lords and their Congressional hacks). But, that will never fit with the Republican agenda.
ROTFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You woulda thought they could have paid some teabaggers to go sit in!
They tried, but the bus driver is a real veteran and a Union member --- He wouldn't let them on the bus
Poor Mittens, he's probably holding a whole bottle of aspirins between his ears after that bad deal
The empty stadium is a good analogy of the Republican Party. An empty shell of a party that once had a purpose and ideas. Thirty years of republican radio/faux news has reduced them to a clueless gaggle of deluded white men still believing they are representative of America.
...when we all know the socialist Democrats are the true representatives of America: Tomorrow, I'm looking forward to Obama making gas out of the algae in my yard. I was thinking about going to church, but my minister is now a government agent sent by Obama to tell us what we have to believe. I am reticent to tell my children and grandchildren they will grow to be slaves to massive debt created by endless socialist programs.
I would rather have this nation led by a 'clueless gaggle of white men' than have it RUN INTO THE GROUND by socialist leftists.
jensen- whatever
I've tried to read your comments to see if they made sense but can no longer. You are now on my Ignored list
I would have gotten more people if he gave a speech on something he understands.
JimS, you go earn a few hundred million through your business acumen, competently govern a state, and save the Olympics and I'll tell you you're stupid.
Romney 2012
Jensen = Another wasted vote in November.
Out of touch? Blundering boob? Vicious businessman? Tax cheat? Member of a strange religion? Guy who can't get his facts straight? Insensitive nincompoop? Nuts?
...I think they also said the same things about Abraham Lincoln...
You know it is really sad when President Obama is the more fiscally conservative than any of the main Republican candidates.
if 'Fiscally Conservative' means adding TRILLIONS to the national debt- more than ANY president in history, than yes, Obama is fiscally conservative. If 'Fiscally Conservative' means adding more welfare recipients than ANY presidents in US history, than Obam is fiscally conservative. If 'Fiscally Conservative' means forcing trillions in Federally mandated healthcare upon Americans who don't want it, Obama is fiscally conservative.
ANY of the Republican contenders -including Ron Paul- would be a HUGE upgrade to Obama.
Lets face it Romney and Santorum are not fiscally conservative. Morning Joe did a report 2-24-2012 on what Romney's and Santorum's tax plan combined with their proposed cuts would do to the budget between 2012-2022. They compared it with Obama's plan. Guess what Obama's actually reduced the budget deficit. Romney and Santorum increased the budget deficit. Romney was better than Santorum, but they both have no clue. The budget deficit is how much we overspend each year. None of them balanced a budget. You can not cut taxes unless you decrease spending by enough to match. It is MATH. It is time the republicans put on their accounting hats.