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Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
President Barack Obama wipes perspiration from his face as he speaks Saturday in a sweltering gym during a campaign stop at Windham High School in Windham, N.H.
WINDHAM, N.H. – Speaking in a hot, crowded gymnasium here, President Barack Obama kicked off a day of campaigning in this key battleground state where he is running neck-and-neck with his challenger, Mitt Romney.
“They’re coming here on Monday,” Obama said as he wiped his brow to deal with the low air conditioning, as the 2,300 in the packed gym booed at the mention of Romney and Ryan.
“Ask them how they’re going to strengthen the middle class,” he said after accusing Romney of wanting to “wants to give another tax cut to folks like him,” i.e., wealthy Americans.
He also accused Romney's running mate Paul Ryan of putting forward "a plan that would let Governor Romney pay less than 1 percent in taxes each year. And here's the kicker - he expects you to pick up the tab."
Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams pushed back on that claim, saying in a statement that "it's not surprising the president is launching yet another false attack. The fact is President Obama wants to raise taxes on private investment and job creators, which will lead to higher unemployment and fewer jobs."
While Obama won New Hampshire in 2008, polls here reveal a contentious race between Romney and him, with an August University of New Hampshire/WMUR poll showing 49 percent of likely voters would pick Obama while 46 percent would go for Romney.
One of the reasons Romney is playing to win in New Hampshire is because so many people were familiar with his term as Massachusetts governor; Boston is only 45 minutes away from the southeastern town of Windham.
That familiarity with Romney was evident Saturday morning at the Chatterbox Café, around the corner from where the president spoke, where late-morning brunchers shared a variety of views on the 2012 race.
Robert Scaccia, 41, who owns a physical therapy business with branches in Windham and Boston, said he’s supported Romney since he ran against Ted Kennedy for Senate in 1994.
Unlike many conservative voters elsewhere in the country, Scaccia said he favored the idea of Mass-Care, the statewide healthcare mandate Romney instituted as governor.
Noting that he treats Boston patients who are on Mass-Care, Scaccia said Romney should treat his healthcare plan as “a crowning achievement,” not only for getting so many people on health care but also as an example of bipartisanship.
“He did it with a Democratic [legislature] in a fully Democratic state; they worked together to get it done. So I think he should be championing that,” Scaccia said.
Ray Ennis, a Romney supporter who recently retired from the printing business, shared that view. While he said he was voting for Romney because “the economy’s the most important thing in the country,” he added that the former governor’s healthcare plan had some positive features.
“I think Romneycare, he’s got some great ideas,” Ennis said. “I think he learned a lot from what he didn’t like in Massachusetts. I think he tweaked it.”
But demonstrating the diversity of views in this town, whose county, Rockingham, handed Obama a slim 1,571-vote victory, Saccia’s, wife Stacey, a homemaker and former teacher, said she would vote for Obama as she did in 2008.
But, she said she had hoped Obama would focus more on some of the issues she said are most important to her.
“He did promise a lot for education and for ending the war and for environmentally friendly practices. And you don’t hear any of that once [politicians are] in office. They’re moving on to bigger and better things,” she said.
Later Saturday, Obama moved on to Rochester, N.H., where he was slated to make remarks outside at the Rochester Commons.
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Does anyone really believe these lies. Too bad he cannot speak of anything he did worth a crap for the Nation as a whole. Basically he just buys votes by offering free stuff to: farmers, students, immigrants, seniors, youngsters, women,unemployed, middle class, poor people etc etc. yet he meets daily with multimillionaires behind closed doors. What a joke.
Why don't we pull up our big boy pants and put the blame where it's it due and hold the State Governors responsible- Oh because blaming the POTUS is too easy and this is too hard to understand. Do you see a pattern here? Republicans, who are supposed to be known for being job creators, are rolling over on their responsibilities- and YOU are letting them.
FLORIDA
10.6% July 2011
8.8% July 2012
-1.8 Chg.
REPUBLICAN GOV. RICK SCOTT
MISSISSIPPI
10.9% July 2011
9.1% July 2012
- 1.8 Chg.
REPUBLICAN GOV. HALEY BARBOUR
NEVADA
13.8% July 2011
12.0% July 2012
-1.8 Chg.
REPUBLICAN GOV.BRIAN SANDOVAL
OHIO
8.9% July 2011
7.2% July 2012
-1.7 Chg.
REPUBLICAN GOV.JOHN KASICH
MICHIGAN
10.6% July 2011
9.0% July 2012
-1.6 Chg.
REPUBLICAN GOV. RICK SNYDER
IDAHO
8.9% July 2011
7.5% July 2012
-1.4 Chg.
REPUBLICAN GOV. BUTCH OTTER
KENTUCKY
9.7% July 2011
8.3% July 2012
-1.4 Chg.
DEMOCRATIC GOV. STEVE BESHEAR
MISSOURI
8.6% July 2011
7.2% July 2012
-1.4Chg.
DEMOCRATIC GOV. JAY NIXON
ARIZONA
9.6% July 2011
8.3% July 2012
-1.3 Chg.
REPUBLICAN GOV. JAN BREWER
MASS.
7.4% July 2011
6.1% July 2012
-1.3 Chg.
DEMOCRATIC GOV.DEVAL PATRICK
OKLAHOMA
6.2% July 2011
4.9% July 2012
-1.3 Chg.
REPUBLICAN GOV. MARY FALLIN
hey hollydaydevil...
You must not have been listening to this @$$wipe clown of a President...obozo....For 4 years, he's been blaming Bush for EVERYTHING and hasn't taken responsibility for one f'n thing...like his *00BILLION stimulus FAILURE; his $5TRILLION in new debt; 14-15% TRUE UNEMPLOYMENT; more blacks and hispanics w/out jobs; 500,000 net job LOSS.
But in the libtard world where you live, you gutless obomots are now trying to blame the governors. Why, the Bush blame game not working anymore? LMAO. Pull your head out of the obozo methane. The clown is going down in Nov.
"more blacks and hispanics w/out jobs" Wait, you care about this? And you want to vote in Romney? -.-
You must have missed the lesson on how our government really runs. Otherwise, this comment of your would show you were asleep during classes. Congress passes bills, president inforces it. President ask congress for bills to help this country. Republican congress have been fillerbusting all the bills he has requested. Moral of this story. The repo's have blocked hie effort to do what is good for this country, becauce, he whipped a white apponent, the last time around. So my sugestion to you" Learn, read, go back to school, find out where YOU went wrong. and get off of this racest remarks. It will make you feel better!
4 years ago the Republicans said if Obama was elected the world was going to end and that did not happen.
One thing that did happen is the Top dog of the Republican party said his number one job was for the next Four years was to make sure Obama would not get reelected. They have done a wonderful job of voting down any bill that would help the economy move forward just so they can control the sand box. Seven year old kids have a better sense that a lot of those fat idiots on the hill. I think ever one in Washington should have to get a job like on that show dirty jobs and have to work it for the week just so at least one time in their life have to get those hands dirty.
And America is not buying the argument that lowering taxes creates jobs. We have given that a try and all that is happened is a whole lot of money idling on the sidelines. It created more wealth for a few and created absolutely zero in jobs.
Yes. The romney personality is not the best. Anybody who puts a dog in a cage on the roof of his car and drives thousands of miles has no practical brain. What kind of person is he. I cannot think of anybody else who has done such a thing.
I helped a widow move on friday. We packed my large suv. And i thought about the things we could put on the roof tied down to the roof rack. It would be something that might fall off the roof, something that could take a lot of wind, something that would not fit inside the large suv. But hey, a dog, no way.
Romney views the family pet in that way, just an easily replaced possession. Poor dog. Is he still alive, does anyone know?
But i used to ride a motorcyle for many, many years. I used to see dogs that have been hit by cars closeup. Their bodies look like a bomb blew them apart.
I've owned dogs all of my life. When we went on trips, thay all were in the car with us. Romney on the other hand, treat his family pet, like its not part of the family. As gomer pile would say "shame,shame, shame" If he can treat his family pet like this, he can treat the rest of us, worst.
Obama's empty promises and lofty speeches have not changed the fact that as a president he has been a complete failure.
Remember when he said he was going to close Gitmo? How he was going to keep unemployment under 8%? How he was going to have all our troops home for Christmas in 2011? How he was going to cut the defecit in half by the end of his first term? He has not done any of the things he promised. None. Nada. Zilch.
Drudge: Troops home before Christmas....combat troops left Iraq Dec. 2011...., draw down happening in Afghanistan, last troops leaving in 2014. Not every promise has been kept, agreed, but realistically, can you name any politician that has kept all of his promises....just one will do.
I would call them goals, not promises, and I think you will find that what Romney/Ryan ticket promises this election cycle, if elected, won't keep theirs either. It's also called having to work with Congress to actually get your goals/promises enacted, that's pretty hard nowadays.
LEST WE FORGET . . .
In addition to Representative Paul Ryan on the domestic front, who will no doubt be advising Mister Romney on the issues such as the Medicare voucher proposal (which will dramatically reduce benefits to seniors while dramatically increasing their healthcare costs, handing over Social Security dollars to Wall Street (with fewer regulations to protect your retirement dollars), immigration (no path to citizenship for millions of kids, many of whom have never known any other country and call America home), and contraception (which an overwhelming majority of women in his church use) we also have the following men advising him on foreign Affairs:
John Bolton — Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security and Ambassador to the United Nations under George W. Bush. Bolton cherry-picked intelligence reports in the rush to war in Iraq.
Elliot Cohen — Defense Policy Advisory Board and Counselor of the Department of State during the Bush administration. Cohen pushed false claims that there was a connection between Saddam Hussein and 9/11.
Robert Joseph — Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security under George W. Bush. Insisted on including the false claim that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger in Bush’s 2003 State of the Union Address.
Dov Zakheim — Comptroller for the Secretary of Defense under George W. Bush. He predicted that Iraq War spending would be billions less than it was.
Cofer Black — Department of State Coordinator for Counter Terrorism under George W. Bush. Black played a key roll in the CIA’s use of “enhanced interrogation techniques.”
Dan Senor — Senior Advisor and Chief Spokesman for the Coalition Provision Authority in Iraq under George W. Bush. The New York Times wrote that, ” As Iraq was entering its bloodiest days, Mr. Senor was a prophet and cheerleader for the Bush administration.”
All of these people were on the Bush foreign policy team. Now they are all on the Romney foreign policy team. In fact, Dan Senor, who was one of the most ardent apologists for the disastrous War in Iraq, has emerged as Romney’s chief foreign policy spokesman.
In light of these comments I'd suggest a campaign theme song; let’s imagine Mary Hopkins singing: Those Were the Days My Friend . . . can’t you just see George W. smiling in nostalgic remembrance.
Comments from Bolton to Senor excerpted from: HuffingtonPost.com
This is getting interesting. It was becoming very clear to almost everybody that the Romney platform was, "I'm not Obama." It had gotten to the point where people were starting to demand that he actually take a stand on something...anything. So, what does Mitt do? He goes out and buys himself a VP wannabe. Now the message Mitt now has isn't very palatable to very many but the Ryan message is all he's got.
Now we all get treated to the spectacle of watching Romney speak and gasp in amazement when Ryan's lips don't even move. They will notice however that Ryan's arm and hand are always behind Mitt's back when he speaks. Plus, Mitt pulls it off without actually sitting on Ryan's lap.
You jokers who think Obama is for the middles class are hallucinating. His only interest in the middle class is to flood it with welfare and entitlement programs paid for by increased taxes on the wealthy thereby eliminating any class distinction and making a majority of the population wholly dependent on an expanded federal government for all their needs. And you fools are playing right into the con man's hands. The Smoke and Mirrors Show rolls on duping the ignorant and politically naive.
attention-attention-bstnh1, a wealthy, is trying to make a point! If he wears a hat he will beable to hide it! Intitlements is not free, we the working class worked our whole lives paying our taxes for these, and now the repo's are trying to take it from us. I guess, bstnh1, don't mind buying something, and later, some else who never paid taxes, take it away from him. It' nice to be soooooo rich!
I won't even consider voting for Romney unless he releases at least 6 years of his tax returns. I want to know if he values greed over Country. If so I don't want him touching the Presidency.
I'm with you, Willie. Everyone knew long before he was a flipper-boy. And then during the primaries and the general...he lacks direction or basic plan (outside of his typical blame-game). But now he refuses to even the most basic tests, that Presidential candidates normally do.
I know it's a non-issue or very small issue to republicans, but Romney is scary. The longer this goes on...the less we seem to know about him. And he (and his wife) seem to revel in that secrecy. He makes me nervous!
As he refuses this call (from both Dems and Repubs...including Faux Snooze conservatives)....will he also ignore what the people want, if elected?
You do realize, or maybe you don't, that the Romneys are NOT keeping their tax returns hidden away from the Liberals, or we non-partisans who support Obama.
They know that whether they release their tax returns or not, it is NOT going to change our opinion or vote. We will still support Obama regardless of what the Romney tax returns reveal.
The Romneys knows that if YOU see what they've been doing with their taxes for the last ten or twenty years YOU might just change your mind about voting for Mitt, and he might lose YOUR vote and support.
I don't care what Romney tax returns say. I'll never vote for him anyway.
But, YOU should probably care what their taxes reveal. After all, Mitt Romney thinks he owns YOU and YOUR vote already, and he also thinks YOU don't deserve an explanation from him and Ann.
And Ann Romney said, during an ABC News interview that "we've given all you people need to know" about the Romney family finances," So there!
the type of person romney is to put his dog on the roof, and drive , many hrs, shows, that he should have stopped the get off of his a@#, to allow blood to go to his brain. Then maybe he would see his dog in need to also get up, and do the dog do's. But with driving so long, his brain cells went to sleep, and has never awaken since!
Bstnh1:
How are those jobs doing that came from all the tax cuts??? Welfare and entitlement would go down if the middle class was elevated. Still waiting for the republican job bills.....I'm hearing a lot of what Obama hasn't done, but nothing about what the republicans/Romney/Ryan plans and policies are and how they are going to improve things. When are they going to talk about their plans and policies? When are we going to hear about Romney/Ryan's ways to help the middle class and improve the job market, lower unemployment, reduce the deficit????? Great on piling on Obama, but, fail at actually talking about what they will do to improve things. Come on republicans, lets hear some positives regarding your team.
@Jackie
Mitt is still waiting for Ryan and Norquist to tell him what his policies will be. He is the perfect droid for Norquist who has publicly that all he needs is for the President to just sign what he and his people put in front of him.
Mitt will be a very good lap dog and do what he's told. It's not that hard when you are devoid of convictions.
BTW: As long as we're talking about Grover Norquist, I have always wanted to know: How can so many Republicans blindly follow a man named after a Muppet?
30 shootings in Chicago this weekend!! This is Obama's city, i.e., the top politician from Chicago is Obama. His ex-adviser, Emanuel, is the mayor. Look what happens under Democrat tyranny. Chicago has tough gun laws that the courts shut down only to see some Democrat create another one. 30 shootings and Obama HAS NEVER lifted a finger to help. Neither has Jesse Jackson. Heck, if the cops take out a drug gang member Jesse Jackson will hang the cop in the media! The drug gangs support the Dems. They get to do what they want. Do you want the US to turn into the violence stage of Chicago?
I thought you were joking so I looked it up. Unbelievable! Some of the strictest gun laws in the Country and shootings are out of sight. I guess Obama leaves a mess everywhere he goes. Is Chicago predominantly black? What is going on there?
You do realize that it's up to the city and state government to deal with these things right? The President can do precious little to help without the Governor requesting Federal help. Of course, you wouldn't know that would you jamie. You need to read a civics book every once in awhile. You might actually learn something. Stop listening to faux and depending on it to educate you. That's not what they do.
Why do you keep insisting on posting this crap? It's not what this vine is about. Find an appropriate forum, maybe on the Aryan Nations boards.
Odumbo was heard after his useless speech say, "now that we have almost half of these people hooked on food stamps, and welfare programs., we got to get busy on the half that are not brainwashed yet! This worthless hunk of crap , and all of his useless appointees need to get booted out. And Biden,who doesn't even know where he is at most of the time, is only a heartbeat away from being president? Boy, we all should really sleep good tonight!
dandtdon1 d-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a. you must have had a wet dream when you heard this.
dandy
You really need to lay off of those bath salts. It's twisting you take on reality. Just because you wish it in your drug induced haze doesn't make it so.
It seems Ryan's Mom has no problems lying to support and promote her son's Medicare lies as well. "Win at any cost" must run in the family. Sad that his Mother has no class or self-respect either.
The fruit falls from the tree, and does not roll away! Like mother like son. Wander if his dad, was the same way. The ryon family when cornered, will lie their way out. Lying is their way of life. SO, did you really expect anythig different. Wounder if thay changed their name, from RATS, to ryon, to hide their guilt?
Mrelvin p - "SO, did you really expect anythig different"
No..not at all. Desperate times calls for using desperate means. But, as she is willing to take the heat to lie for her son and support his lies, I can't feel sorry for her.
Don't know about the name change before, but, they may opt to change it after the election if they lose.
These mega billionares, have spent a lot of money trying to get flipper romney elected. On would think, it would be cheaper to just pay their fareshare of taxes. But since thay have soooooooooo much money, thay will use loop-holes in the tax laws where thay'll get it all back. What do you think?
Willard show us those tax returns.
Backstabbing Tea Party
has the most complete and concise summation of the Republican party's actions I have seen yet. I am passing them on. I would like to see his comments posted on every new article. Spread the word.
NH voters may know Romney well, but voters across America all know Obama more than well and at least half of us are sick to death and nauseus of him. The other half are those who pay no income taxes whatsoever or else they are on the government dole. What other reasons, beside ignorance and self-deceit, could there ever be for supporting this failed, incompetent, and unqualifed poor excuse for our president?
You do realize that his approval rating is over 50%? All though, not by much. Which makes your statement false on face value.
You may hate him, but please don't presume that you speak for everyone else.
Depending on several recent polls, Obama has fallen behind Romney by a small amount, with both receiving less than 50% of the total vote. Also, depending on which poll you use, Obama's approval rating is less than 50%, with some polls showing his approval at slightly below 40%. I contend that, like most Obama supporters, you do not know your ass from first base, you only listen to and use the polls that favor your opinion best, and you in general don't have a clue about what is actually happening to our country. Now, tell me, do you pay any income taxes whatsoever or are you totally on the government dole? These two categories comprise most of Obama's supporters, with the rest being totally devoid of any analytical or technical skills whatsoever.
Still pushing that the wealthy are job creators mentality I see. I'm sorry, but as long as their is demand there will always be someone there to make a buck on it. The only true job creators are the consumers.
This is the problem with the Romney campaign. They don't get it. They are completely out of touch with reality. They think that if we just keep giving money to the wealthy they will eventually create jobs. I'm sorry, we've been trying that for how many years now? All that we've gotten for it from the wealthy is comments that now is not the time to invest. The demand isn't there. Of course it isn't there. No one has money to spend, except for the wealthy and they are sitting on it waiting for the rest of us to start spending more.
I keep hearing Democrats saying Mitt Romney flip flops. Of course he does. As does Obama. The only difference is that Obama plays word games with his flip flops. He calls them "evolving opinions". A dishonest approach to a flip flop. Both would be better suited to ignore these accusations, as these flip flops are most likely motivated by campaign donations and the perception that they may or may not be on the wrong side of the issues come November. Time will tell.
Mitt Romney is Uncle Sam's right flip flop and Barack Obama is the left flip flop.
And every American is the sand that gets stepped upon.
Vote Libertarian come November as it really will not matter who wins between Obama and Romney.
The difference between Romney and Obama.
Obama wants to put you in the chains of government.
Romney wants to put you in the chains of private industry.
What if I don't want to be in any chains? Vote Libertarian. They believe in the individuals right to succeed and fail based on their merits.
Its not about government taking from one to give to another. And its not about the private sector getting bailouts with tax payer money (including banks and the auto industry), business should rise and fall based on its merits. Nothing is to big to fail. Failure is a party of capitalism and leads to innovative ways to start over and succeed in the future.
Obama in NH? talk about a turd in the punch bowl
He is still running his 3-ring circus...might as well be called oBozo.
WOW A monkey could beat Obama this year. Geithner, Summers , Axlerod threw O under the bus. They thought like every other brain dead liberal that the economy would fix it self. Here's a News Bulletin for you Idiots, IT WONT You cant fix the housing mess till you fix the bad mortgages and you sure as heck cant fix the unemployment till you bring jobs home or get rid of the Illegals from all of the housing mess. Plain and simple these are very easy things to do. Don't worry though because the Tea Party is on the way. Come November their will be three partys in the Legislator and finally the Dumb and Dumber will have no choice but to deal. Power to the Independents and Libertarians
That's quite a fantasy world you're living in, Jr. Is it air conditioned?
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/2012_elections_electoral_college_map.html