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Justin Sullivan / Getty Images file
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney talks with senior adviser Beth Myers aboard his campaign plane before taking off Aug. 2 in Centennial, Colo.
WASHINGTON & JANESVILLE, Wisc. -- Mitt Romney's months-long vice presidential selection process came to a close one week ago in a dining room in suburban Massachusetts, where Wisconsin U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, dressed casually to avoid detection during commercial flights, told Romney he would accept the GOP candidate's offer to join the ticket.
For the Romney campaign, Ryan's meeting with Romney, in the dining room of chief vetter Beth Myers last Sunday, was the result of a process that began in April, and wound through several secrecy-cloaked months without major leaks before culminating in Saturday's rollout in Virginia.
Even the rollout was an example of both a flawlessly executed bit of secrecy and stagecraft and improvisation when events did not go as the campaign planned. Myers told reporters the Romney campaign originally planned to announce the pick Friday in New Hampshire, but with Ryan attending a memorial service for the victims of a shooting at a Sikh temple in his district, the plans were changed to Saturday.
All of this information was a closely guarded secret until Saturday night, when Myers, in charge of VP vetting, offered reporters a glimpse inside the process.
The Romney campaign kept its running mate a secret until Saturday morning, a strategy that yielded big fundraising dollars. NBC's Pete Alexander reports.
The vet
“I had one directive: The candidates must be qualified to take office on day one,” Myers said of her appointment to head the VP search on April 16. “Around May 1 we created a short list.”
Throughout the process, Myers said, one thing was clear: "This was Mitt’s decision.”
Myers chose not to disclose a full list of who was considered for the No. 2 spot, but many of the names have leaked out: former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio were vetted, as were Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell. Portman and McDonnell received calls Friday night to inform them they were not the pick.
Myers told reporters she established a system, approved by Romney, to quietly vet candidates after asking if they were interested in the job. A team of lawyers worked with Myers in a secure room of the campaign's Boston headquarters. No copies were made of any documents, and everything was locked in a safe when the team left at night. No documents were allowed out of the room.
Romney tries to define Ryan before Democrats do
Included in the data collected by Myers and her team: congressional voting records, an exhaustive questionnaire and "several years" of tax returns -- she did not say how many. Romney has come under fire from Democrats and many in the media for his refusal to release more than two years of returns, despite reports he released several times that amount when he himself was vetted as a possible ticket-mate for John McCain in 2008.
Throughout May and June, Myers and her team pored over data, presenting information to Romney, who discussed his thinking with a small group of advisers, including the campaign manager, senior strategists and close aides. When the Romney campaign convened a retreat for top donors with major GOP figures in Utah in mid-June, Myers met with several contenders to clear up lingering issues and ask follow-up questions.
“He [Romney] talked with a lot of people,” Myers said, adding that she felt it was important to keep her own opinion to herself. “I did not share my thoughts on who I thought it should be”
The vetting of Ryan – or at least when he began to know about it -- lasted nearly six weeks. Just days before the June 5 gubernatorial recall election in the Badger State, the congressman’s staff started compiling hundreds of pages of documents to submit to the Romney campaign, such as public statements and op-ed pieces.
Ryan never let on publicly whether he was being vetted or not throughout the summer months. He always dismissed questions surrounding his VP possibilities. That, sources say, played into Ryan’s strategy: keep expectations of VP possibilities incredibly low and just be a team player.
On July 2, the day she was famously photographed in Wolfeboro, N.H., meeting with Romney on his back porch, Myers presented her boss with completed dossiers on the final candidates for him to absorb.
On Aug. 1, when Romney returned from his week-long foreign trip, he was ready to make a decision. He met with Myers in her office in Boston and placed a call to Ryan. Could they meet in person for a discussion?
The offer
By August, reporters had begun to whittle down the short list of possible candidates and to keep a close eye on the top contenders. Despite this, on Aug. 5, Ryan quietly slipped out of his home and, dressed casually and wearing a hat and sunglasses to obscure his appearance, drove to Chicago, where he boarded a flight to Hartford, Conn.
There, an unlikely emissary was waiting for him in a rented car: Myers’ 19-year-old son, Curt, who picked Ryan up and drove him from Hartford to Brookline, Mass., and his mother’s dining room, where Romney was waiting, having been driven down from Wolfeboro that morning by Secret Service agents.
Obama gets his target with pick of Ryan
Romney described the meeting to reporters traveling aboard his plane Saturday night.
"We talked about the campaign and how it would be run and talked about how we’d work together if we get the White House," Romney said. "What the relationship would be, how we’d interact and be involved in important decisions. But we talked about our families, what this meant for them, what kind of challenge it meant -- those are the topics we discussed.”
Ryan also met with a handful of top Romney staffers, and when Romney officially extended the offer to join the ticket, the seven-term congressman was thrilled, if not surprised.
"By the time we met in person I kind of knew it was going to happen, and I was very humbled," Ryan told reporters Saturday. "It was the biggest honor I’ve ever been given in my life.... I Love this country dearly, and I feel we have an opportunity to fix things once and for all."
When the shooting happened Sunday at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisc., Ryan handled the fallout from Massachusetts, never telling his staff exactly where he was. If it wasn’t for the unforeseen tragedy that took place in Wisconsin’s 1st District that day, Ryan’s staff likely never would have known their boss was out of state at all. He flew back that night, undetected.
The House Budget Committee chairman kept his schedule intact for the entire week leading up to the announcement including spending three days filming commercials for his congressional re-election campaign. Ryan never let out his secret to his campaign staffers, who were working 12-hour days with him on the ads. They will begin airing next month in his district – in Wisconsin, you can appear on the ballot as both a vice presidential candidate and running for a congressional seat.
Ryan spent the middle of the week traveling in northwest Wisconsin stumping for local candidates – all along knowing his life was about to change. But these long car rides gave him plenty of private time to speak with his longtime friend and chief of staff about his new role.
Escape from Wisconsin
Keeping the Romney/Ryan pairing a secret for the next week proved to be an Olympian challenge. A boomlet of support for the Ryan candidacy drew increased scrutiny, and reporters such as NBC's Alex Moe were staking out Ryan's home, chatting with the candidate and his family and keeping tabs on their movement, lest they slip away again undetected.
Myers said she thought Moe might be close to solving the mystery.
“She did a great job,” Myers said of Moe, whom Ryan likened to a family member in a recent interview. “We knew we had to be very diligent in throwing her off the scent.”
And diligent they were, moving Ryan's family undetected while he was attending the Friday memorial service. Ryan told reporters earlier in the week his family was planning a trip to Colorado, departing on Saturday, so packing seemed unremarkable.
Early Friday morning, the congressman’s trusted chief of staff, Andy Speth, arrived in his red pickup to take Ryan to the memorial service, with reporters in tow.
Ryan returned home in the early afternoon and went inside through the back as he was locked out of his side door, telling reporters who stood watching on the sidewalk he must have forgotten his keys. That would be the last time anyone saw the congressman in Janesville, because sometime after 3 p.m., he exited his home into the back yard (where reporters couldn’t see) and went into the woods.
"I grew up in those woods. The house I grew up in backs up to the house I live in, so I know those woods like the back of my hand. So it wasn’t too hard to walk through them. So I just went out my back door, went through the gully in the woods I grew up playing in. I walked past the tree that has my own tree fort I built back there," Ryan said.
Escaping via the woods isn’t something new for Ryan, either. It is a tactic the congressman has been forced to use before due to protesters in front of his house. Ryan is used to cutting through the bushes.
Waiting a couple of hundred yards on the other side: Speth, who took Ryan and his family to an airport in neighboring Illinois, where a private plane would whisk them to Virginia.
Back at the house, Ryan's sister-in-law, intentionally left behind, turned out the lights just as news was beginning to leak that Romney would announce his pick Saturday, turning the eyes of the world on the town of Janesville.
When Moe knocked on the congressman's door that night, after NBC News confirmed he would be the vice presidential nominee, no one answered. Ryan was already hundreds of miles away.
The rollout
While Ryan was on his way to meet once again with the man at the top of the ticket, Romney was busy on the phones, informing other candidates from the short list that they had not been chosen. Portman and McDonnell received calls that night and may not have been the only ones. Romney had already called Pawlenty, a tireless advocate for the nominee and a staff favorite, on Monday.
When the Ryans landed in Elizabeth City, N.C., an hour south of Norfolk, they were whisked away to a Fairfield Inn hotel -- again, by Myers' son Curt -- and met by a handful of top Romney aides. The family ate takeout from Applebee’s with Myers, and worked on speech prep. Then, Myers said, as the campaign sent out an advisory telling the world that Romney would announce his choice the next morning, Myers turned off her phone.
Ryan placed a phone call to his mother around midnight to let her know he was in fact being tapped as Romney’s right-hand man. He called his siblings the next morning just hours before he gave the biggest speech of his life.
Ryan and his family loaded into two cars for Norfolk first thing Saturday and were driven to the USS Wisconsin, the site of the announcement. The rest is history.
Leave a Comment:
Never was a secret. The Koch Brothers own Romney. Who else would the Koch Brothers want beside Paul Ryan, the tea party dude. Now we got two puppets with the Koch Brothers playing with the strings.
President Obama-2012
Deb, we all know that the Koch Brothers are supporters of Conservative causes and the Republican Party. We also know that George Soros is a supporter of liberal causes and the Democrat Party.
According to Forbes Magazine, the Koch Brothers combined wealth makes them 2nd richest in the world. George Soros is a close third, which means that he is richer than either Koch Brother individually. If you hate the influence of rich people, you should have serious problems with both sides.
What do these people do? George Soros' business is international finance. He operates hedge funds. In 1992, he made a $1 Billion profit on the collapse of the British Pound, which was devistating to the people of Britain. He makes money by betting on a situation and using his financial strength to make his bet work.
The Koch Brothers run Koch Industries. This is a conglomerate that runs pipelines, raises beef cattle, and makes napkins and paper towels. Their operations are predominantly in the United States. They make money when people in the United States can afford to use energy, eat beef, and buy paper products.
Google Koch Industries and George Soros to confirm what I have said.
Which one of these do you think needs the US to be successful to profit? Do you think it is the one who needs you to be able to buy their products or the Hedge Fund guy who can profit from a financial collapse? Think about it.
That's what is wrong with Romney, he's all about secrecy, on his taxes, Bain, VP pick, and the list goes on. Romney and Ryan see nothing more than dollar signs for them and the 1 %.
Secrecy like pass the bill and then you can read it?
Secrecy like having a plan on paper and propsed to the House and passed to the senate where Reid under the direction of Obama NEVER brought it to the floor to be voted on...or...a plan that has NEVER materialized from thin air.
If Beth Myers only had one directive, that the candidate be capable to serve as President on Day One, then Rom;ney should fire her because she missed her only directive. Let's see: the only foreign policy experience this little rascal has is that he was a boy scout and he can see Canada from his home state.The main reason it was kept secret so long is that Rom;ney, like McCain, hastliy picked this chump at the last second. He decided on Ry;an on August 1! So they vetted him for all of 3 days. Just like Palin a flop waiting o flip out.
If that was Beth Myers' only directive, that the candidate should be capable of serving as President on Day One, she should have recommended Hillary Clinton instead of Theodore Cleaver.
"Ward, there's something wrong with the Beaver!"
Sarah Palin didnt reject the job until August 1, Willard was waiting for her response.
other Bob, I guess in 2008, Obama was lucky that Jeremiah Wright turned him down right away.
And Obama's past foreign policy experience was???
He did self teach himself to bow to the head of other nations and go on world wide tours to apologize for the successes of Americans. How is that change working for America?
So republicans hound Obama for four years to release more copies of his birth certificate even after the REPUBLICAN governor of Hawaii Linda Lingle (the same Linda Lingle that introduced Sarah Palin at the repub convention) personally verifies that Obama's long birth certificate is perfectly in order.
Ok Republicans you got the birth certificate you so desperately wanted to see. Now step up to the plate and have your boy mittens release his tax records and lets see if he indeed paid NO TAXES while he whines about poor people who pay NO TAXES.
I for one would like to know if a man who wants to be President of the USA really paid NO INCOME TAXES? If true one really has to question exactly what kind of man would spend millions on tax accountants and loopholes rather than just PAY THE TAXES. Is this really the type of man that America would elect President?
Release the returns and if there is nothing to hide then you can DEMAND apologies from the media and the democrats and even turn it against the democrats. I highly doubt that republicans would miss such a golden opportunity to call out the dems UNLESS little mittsy has some serious skeletons in his tax return closet.
Be a man mittsy. Show us those returns that prove what a fine upstanding businessman and partriot that you claim to be. Just think of all the fun you can have saying " i told you so"......or not.
Joe- Repeating Harry Reid's silly little lie has nothing at all to do with this article. You should have posted on the "Meaningless Drivel" thread instead.
Thank you Joe ..... my sentiments exactly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So yur sayin' the IRS has looked at the returns and pronounced them to be lacking in truth and accuracy. Youse guys is getting nervous and scared.
Kannin
Joe- Repeating Harry Reid's silly little lie has nothing at all to do with this article. You should have posted on the "Meaningless Drivel" thread instead.
--------------------------------------
There's nothing meaningless about the question Kannin. What's the problem with Mittens not releasing atleast as many returns as his father did and who also said a presidential candidate should do? Those on the Right really don't know what to say when Mittens tax returns are brought up. Are you afraid he will doom himself if he shows them? It's obvious. And as for Wally, come on dude..that's pretty weak sauce. You've got to do better than that.
BLUB, BLub, blub
Ahhhhh..the libs and the fibs....worry, worry, time for Obozo to scurry. back to wherever the hell he slithered out of. Buh, Buh, Buh BYE Bozo. Don't forget your prayer rug!!!
Moderate .... It is President Obama to you! And I thank God he will be the President again for four more years. Don't bother a reply ... I am tired of the disrepect namecalling and the Fox generated speak / talk / twisting BS and lies!
Yes, we can ! Yes, we MUST! OBAMA 2012!!!!!!
I really don't give a tinker's damn how the repugs 'kept it a secret!' romney is still keeping his taxes and Bain history a secret, even after they veted ryan with "several years" of tax returns!
I want to see your tax returns romney! You want my vote? Be honest with me and show me your taxes! Proove those of us who know the truth are wrong! I dare you!
When you want to be President, the PEOPLE tell YOU what they want FROM you. You don't dictate what you will & will not let them know!
'Government of the People, by the People, for the People, shall not perish from the Earth?' (Abraham Lincoln)
Joe Biden said, "This Election, in my view, is a Fight For The Heart And Soul Of America." I say, Yes, we can ! Yes, we MUST! OBAMA 2012!!!!!!
gopers = Despicable, self serving hypocrites!
Oh, you wouldn't vote for him anyway James, and you well no there is nothing in those tax returns that get Mitt in trouble.
Wally-1853299
Oh, you wouldn't vote for him anyway James, and you well no there is nothing in those tax returns that get Mitt in trouble.
------------------------
Well if that's true Wally, WHY WON'T HE COUGH THEM UP LIKE HIS FATHER DID? Give me a truthful answer if you can and not a Fox Noise talking point that deflects and obfuscates. If he has nothing to hide, just SHOW THEM. He knows that he's hidden plenty from the IRS by using offshore tax havens and shelters that the IRS can't get at and you should know this as well. Stop lying to yourself about him to make yourself feel better about voting for him.
I think that romney is going to show his returns just before the election and make the Dems look as incompetent and sill as they are. Read the comments here today. There is very little substance from the lefts and just repeating what NBC tells them. Get to the issues...jobs!
Are you better off than you were 4 years ago? Has the value of your house increased and the taxes gone down? Do you have a better/more lucrative job? Has your grocery and gas prices decreased? Has your health insurance premiums gone down and also the co-pay? Do you no longer worry about losing your job? Are your kids fully employed after college?
What a large number of boring bloggers! Looks like you have formed an old boy's club to repeat the same silly analysis! Sorry I wasted my time reading it.
Myers said this was Mitt's decision? Then you can believe the opposite.
Problem Solvers vs Vaudeville Act
Rubio has a great future and would have delivered Florida. Ryan is the smartest guy in the room. He has more gravitas than Rubio. Romney is a serious problem solver as is Ryan. I believe his choice elevates the discussion and makes the choice between Romney and Obama more vivid. Do you believe the Country should have a Budget or live on continuing resolution? Romney and Ryan are the grown men in the room and they make Obama and Biden appear like a vaudeville act.
Mitt takes a stand on both sides of every issue...examples:
"The Arizona immigration policy is a good model" – Mitt Romney.
"I didn't really support the Arizona immigration policy" – Mitt Romney.
“The Massachusetts healthcare plan should be a model for the nation” – Mitt Romney.
“Healthcare reform should be left to the states” – Mitt Romney.
"Let Detroit go bankrupt" -Mitt Romney.
"I'll take a lot of credit for saving the auto industry" -Mitt Romney.
“I believe Roe v Wade has gone too far.” – Mitt Romney.
“Roe v Wade has been the law for 20 years we should sustain and support it.”– Mitt Romney.
“I respect and will protect a woman’s right to choose.” – Mitt Romney.
“I never really called myself pro-choice.” – Mitt Romney.
“It was not my desire to go off and serve in Vietnam.” – Mitt Romney.
“I longed in many respects to actually be in Vietnam and represent our country there.” – Mitt Romney.
“I’m not trying to return to Reagan-Bush.” – Mitt Romney.
“Ronald Reagan is… my hero.” – Mitt Romney.
“I think the minimum wage ought to keep pace with inflation.” – Mitt Romney.
"There’s no question raising the minimum wage excessively causes a loss of jobs.”– Mitt Romney.
“I saw my father march with Martin Luther King.” – Mitt Romney.
“I did not see it with my own eyes.” – Mitt Romney.
“I would like to have campaign spending limits.” – Mitt Romney.
“The American people should be free to advocate for their candidates without burdensome limitations.” – Mitt Romney.
“I supported the assault weapon ban.” – Mitt Romney
"I don’t support any gun control legislation.” – Mitt Romney.
“The stimulus that was passed in early 2009 will accelerate the recovery…” –Mitt Romney.
“The stimulus passed in early 2009 has been a failure.” – Mitt Romney.
@Hot Daddy; Convince yourself. Atta boy! Just cause you say it doesn't make it so unfortunately for you.
I have tried ... but I see now that most of you LIBS/ commie wana bes ARE STUCK on the dumb ass donkey .. no elephat ride to the big tent 4 U
Good for you Mitt, now strap the that little guy to the roof and get the show on the road!
never, ever count your chickens before they hatch. if you talk that victory is secured many dems will stay at home and many more pubs will vote.
this will be a very tight race until the end and obama and dems need everyone to get out the vote.
remember, who ever controls entrance to the voting booth controls the outcome!
There was an article in Business Week in July that seemed to have a good idea of why Mitt won't release his returns: like most investors, he took massive losses in 2008 and 2009, so much so that he legitimately owed no tax in 2008 and had a large carry-over to 2009. So, although he did nothing wrong, releasing a return that showed zero tax paid on $20 million income would be terminally embarrassing to him. Better to take the hit for not releasing the returns at all than showing a zero tax year.
Pure speculation Okie Joe...but keep up the diversion because the debt is climbing and the economy sucks. We understand your difficult position.
Feel free to post your comment over and over if it makes you feel like you are at least doing something.
That's exactly the way I see it okei joe -- Romney likely followed the tax laws. But the problem IS the tax laws that allows the rich or even the better off to pay a much smaller percentage of their income in taxes than Joe 6-pack pays. Romney doesn't want to be a poster child for the unfairness of our tax system.
I'll give you an example. My lady friend's income is from working -- she has a job. I'm retired and all my income comes from interest, dividends and capital gains. I made $47,000 more than she did last year. I paid less than $6000 in federal taxes, she paid over $10,000. That's the system we have and I'll use it. But it's fundamentally WRONG.
All Mitts income is from capital gains. It has a top rate right now of 15%.
Romney's choice of VP fired up the conservative base. Ryan has a plan..democrats don't. Ryan's comment yesterday "we promise equal opportunity NOT equal outcome" sums up the difference between the canidiates perfectly. Democrats love entitlements because it is their voting base. (they claim it is because of the compassion..lol). What part of this Country is going down the toilet don't you liberals understand?
R&R 2012
What part you ask? The Republican part! The whole repuke base has gone down the toilet! The lying on their part, has become atrocious!
HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! The whole part? Non-answer. Democrats don't lie? Clinton under oath? Wow, hypocrisy at it's finest...
I agree watt Recycle and Restart.
Democrats love entitlements
Not the same Charlie and you know it. I paid into those programs by working my butt off. Our Government missmanaged the programs for political gain.
Charlie - Why do democrats look at things as all or nothing? Sanity is somewhere in the middle, and that's where the Republicans tend to be. It only looks extreme when your perspective is at the extreme left.
You know that our system creates a ceiling on advancement of the poor. They cannot move just above poverty without losing benefits. The rational person would not attempt to, because it would take time to earn enough money to compensate for the benefits lost. They only have two options to improve their short term economic status: 1.) Destroy their family. Single parents get more benefits, so if the father leaves, or the woman has illegimate children, their benefits (income) increases. 2.) To make money "outside the system". This creates competition for the money that can be made from illegal activities, which leads to violence.
Neither of those is good for the receipient or society as a whole. Something needs to change.
Charlie - Why do democrats look at things as all or nothing? Sanity is somewhere in the middle, and that's where the Republicans tend to be.
Rummey picking Retard was no secret! As soon as Mitt the Nitwit accepted his budget, it was a sure bet! Therefore, it was never kept secret. Dumbass Repukes would like to think they are secretive. It was as plain as the Pinoccio nose on Rummey the Two-Faced Puppet Dummy!
Anyone who votes for these two idjits, are a billion bricks short of a load of a billion bricks!
Where is Obama's budget?
Wherever it is, its a thousand times better than Retards!
Dfromspencer...no specific arguments just talking points fed to you by your party. Clue...Obama doesn't have a budget. Can you make a effort to post a arguments with some facts and without name calling?
That's all he knows watt75, all libtards have no clue, not a smart one among 'em.
It is unfortunate that one side needs to stir up hate and outrage to the point where people do not take the time to look at the truth about an issue. We all know from experience that unchecked emotion can lead to bad decisions.
Watts75,
Where is Obama's budget?
==============
It's right here if you took the time to do a little research, and it's easy to find too!
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Overview
Your turn, where's Mitt Romney's budget and NO, you cannot use Paul Ryan's farce of a budget. Let's see MITT'S budget.
So Romney reviewed Ryan's tax returns, but America cannot review Romney's? Hmmm.
No matter. They will not win. America is a progressive nation, always progressing forward. We are not a conservative nation, stuck in the failed policies of yesteryear, doomed to repeat past mistakes. Right?
We can only hope! We must hope and pray that the Repukes lose their collective asses come Nov. If not, we are doomed to more failed Repuke policies!
Nope, the nation is not progressive. It is center right, and most knowledgeable voters will throw your fraud of president out on his very prominent ear come November. Enough of the failed lefty experiment, let's put some adults in charge.
If Obama is re-elected who will he blame for inheriting his own mess?
Thank you! ......thank you mate!.... again, we say......thank you! "Team Romney"!!!.....................................
For raising the " Republican White Flag".... and sealed our Victory! Victory! Victory!...............
On behalf of THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY and ALL SANE AMERICANS we offer ...."OUR HUMBLY THANKS"
VOTE..........OBAMA/BIDEN.............OBAMA/BIDEN..................OBAMA/BIDEN 2012...
not real bright telling in detail your exit strategy. now the woods will be full of reporters.
Interesting
fabricationstory. Romney is becoming well known for his "secrecy." Well, the secret is out now and the selection may not be the great blessing Republicans think it to be. Romney could have done better, but for that matter, so could have Republicans with respect to Romney.Ryan is an outstanding choice and demonstrates that the Republicans are serious about dealing with the economy, jobs and deficit. Ryan is a serious advocate about fiscal reform as opposed to the two vilage idiots we currently have as president and veep.
They should have kept it a secret until the day after election day.
...... two snakes if i have ever seen one.
Honestly, can you tell me what Obama has actually done for our country? He certainly isn't telling us how, if re-elected, he is going to put this country back on track.
Hope and Change..Yes we can..hmmmmm
There is so much vitriol from the Far Left on this board that it actually can be felt that the Left is really afraid of Ryan. Please say it ain't so!!
They're scared to death that they are going to lose...lashing out like angry teenagers. Bunch of haters they are.