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MANSFIELD, OH -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney delivered a scattershot attack on President Barack Obama on Monday, emphasizing a series of issues other than the economy.
Romney veered from his laserlike focus on the economy as several polls released in the aftermath of party conventions suggested that the incumbent president emerged with the advantage. But in looking to get his campaign back on track, the GOP nominee decided to discuss military issues and his commitment to keeping God in the public square, making his focus on the economy (an issue on which he enjoys an advantage over Obama) secondary.
Charles Dharapak / AP
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney stands on a table as he addresses an overflow crowd as he campaigns at PR Machine Works in Mansfield, Ohio, Monday, Sept. 10, 2012.
"I will be a president, if elected, that honors that pledge and all the pledges that I make," Romney said at the top of his remarks before a crowd of about 1,200 in swing state Ohio. "That pledge says that we are a nation under God, and if I am president of the United States -- when and if I become president of the United States -- I will not take God out of my heart, I will not take God out of the public square and I will not take it out of the platform of my party."
Romney also served up fresh lines attacking Obama for his handling of last summer's bipartisan deal to raise the debt limit, a deal reached with the approval of both the Republican-controlled house and the president. That deal called for automatic defense cuts to take place in January 2013 if lawmakers couldn't reach some other sort of deal to address the nation's mounting debt. Lawmakers failed to reach a consensus, and the defense cuts loom on the horizon.
In anticipation of the politically difficult defense cuts, Congress earlier this summer passed a law requiring the Obama administration to detail where cuts would fall if they were to reach fruition. But the Obama administration missed the deadline to report back to Congress, giving political fodder to Romney and other Republicans.
TODAY's Savannah Guthrie discusses the presidential election race with NBC's David Gregory, including the crucial battles in swing states. Gregory also talks about his "Meet the Press" interview with Mitt Romney.
"He won't describe all the jobs that are going to be lost -- no, not probably until after the election," Romney said. "It seems we found one secret relating to national security that he's willing to keep."
Here in Ohio, where the unemployment rate is 7.2 percent, nearly a full point better than the national average, a senior Romney campaign adviser insisted voters were still primarily dialed in to economic issues, including debt and the deficit, and that Romney's economic focus could persuade voters who had not made up their minds.
"The number one issue in Ohio is the same as, I think, the number one issue across the country, which is the economy," Romney senior adviser Kevin Madden told reporters after the event here.
To be sure, Romney, as per usual, laid out his five-point plan for the middle class during today's stop, and hit the president for what he claimed was the administration's lack of a job creation plan. But other economic-based elements of the Romney stump speech were absent, including any mention of welfare reform, and the once ubiquitous "You didn't build that" attack.
While campaign advisers downplayed the significance of Romney's time spent on non-economic issues today, at least one supporter told NBC news that kind of talk was exactly what Romney needed to win over undecided voters in the Buckeye State.
The Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd takes a look at the recent poll numbers and campaign stumps made by both candidates.
John Goodwin, a retired firefighter who shares a mutual Mormon faith with Romney, said before the event that Romney needed to communicate his personal values better to wavering voters who don't yet feel they know and trust the man personally.
"If he can take those values and turn them into the presidency, our country will come back," Goodwin said.
In turn, the Obama campaign accused Romney of the very same secrecy for which he attacked Obama.
“What we saw today from Mitt Romney is more of the same evasiveness that has defined his campaign. He said he would repeal Obamacare, but didn’t offer a solution for the 89 million Americans who could be denied coverage if they have a pre-existing condition. He said he would cut taxes, but didn’t say how he’d pay for $5 trillion in tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires without raising taxes on the middle class. And he said he would put students first, but left out how his deep cuts to education would hurt schools. Mitt Romney knows it’s political suicide to level with the American people about his ‘secret’ agenda, so he’s evading the truth at every turn," said Lis Smith, a spokeswoman for the president's re-election campaign.
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so we can't trust the man run bain to run USA because he doesn't has experiment how to do good for most americans! we can't trust Mit on taxreturn how can we trust him when he became more powerful as president of USA??
"It's the economy, stupid!"
You're behind in the polls.
"It's abortion, stupid!"
You're still behind in the polls.
"It's Medicare, Stupid!"
Still behind.
"MALE FLORISTS ARE BURNING AMERICAN FLAGS!!"
If you belong to a weird religion, you might not want to emphasize that too much.
Mitt, can you explain how Jesus got to Utah to turn the ancient Israelites into Native Americans?
Are you wearing magic underwear, Mitt?
Most "missions" are to poor, third world countries that need help. Why did you choose "France", Mitt?
How many people did you convert to your weird religion in France, Mitt? What were they before you saved them, Mitt? Godless Catholics? Do they now believe that a polygamist found golden tablets from God in a cave in Utah, Mitt?
Sam, why do you care? What weird religion do you belong to? Secularism? Devil worship? Poke-yer-pal-in-the-bum worship?
The first sentence of this article says it all: Mittens has no message he's throwing out anything to see if it wll stick to the wall, last week it was repeal the whole Affordable Care Act, now it's keep the good parts, last week it was he didn't support the military in its difficult work around the world, now its support the military, last week it was the Democrats didn't have the word "god" in the platform, now its he'll keep "In God we Trust" on coinage (wierd). Mittens has a serious, serious mental condition for which there's no cure--he has no brains.
Neastsider, that is really funny. I mean, exactly what is the DEMOCRAT message? All I hear is how bad the conservatives are. Nothing about actually DOING anything, but then why would they try to make any claims? They've had four years to totally screw the pooch, and they want four more to add the cat to the list. If it were Charlie Manson running against Odumbass, I'd vote for him. ANYBODY BUT OBAMA!
A good book to read to get an idea of what how the Religious Right thinks and how they manipulate the system to try to ensure that America tows the line (religious, of course) that they enact into law: Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party By: Max Blumenthal
Reps. West, Walsh: Cut Off Aid to Egypt
Congressmen Allen West and Joe Walsh are calling on the Obama administration to cut off all American aid to Egypt following the election of Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi as the nation’s president.
Walsh, an Illinois Republican, noted that the Muslim Brotherhood has said it would reassess Egypt’s Camp David peace treaty with Israel, and that Morsi plans to restore long-severed ties with Iran.
Walsh said in a statement: “The sole purpose for providing Egypt with over $2 billion a year in U.S. taxpayer dollars was to maintain the peace treaty with Israel and promote stability in the region.
“With the Muslim brotherhood now calling on closer ties to Iran and a redo of the peace treaty with Israel, I see no reason to send one more dollar of U.S aid to Egypt. Every dollar wasted propping up this new government is a dollar wasted that should be going to paying down our debt or providing tax relief to struggling American families.”
West, a Florida Republican, said in a statement on his Facebook page: “A year ago there were those of us who warned the Obama Administration of a Muslim Brotherhood takeover in Egypt. We were castigated as alarmists and loose cannons.
“Today our predictions have come to reality and the ominous specter reminding us of the Iranian revolution is evident. The Muslim Brotherhood claimed they would not run a presidential candidate. Clearly the Arab Spring is nothing more than a radical Islamic nightmare.”
President Obama congratulated Morsi after his election victory, and White House press secretary Jay Carney called the win a milestone in Egypt's transition to democracy.
West stated: “What an incredible foreign policy faux pas by the second coming of President Jimmy Carter, the Obama Administration. I call upon President Barack Obama to cut off American foreign aid to Egypt, denounce the results of this election, repudiate the Muslim Brotherhood, and all radical Islamist political entities.”
This the guy occupying the White House.....America a leaderless country in a sea of s.it!
Romney should lose all of the predominantly Christian states, because no Christian should vote for him. As a Mormon, Romney worships the pagan god mammon. He doesn't care about anything else. Nor does he flinch at lying to us Gentiles any more than Yasser Arafat flinched at lying to us Infidels. To gain an existential understanding of the cult that produced Mitt "Cyborg" Romney, and to get your socks scared off, read The Assassination of Spiro Agnew, available in paperback and ebook at:
Its unwilling, part Mexican, Mormon Assassin dramatizes the Mormon superiority complex manifesting it as racism, sexism, jingoism and an anti-federal government temperament. His research in the new library reveals ominous similarities between Islam and Mormonism. The spiritual power behind the cult, which is not the Holy Ghost, acts out.
“With a clarity of language and vision unsurpassed in contemporary American prose, Steven Janiszewski's Assassination of Spiro Agnew takes us into a U.S. mazed with madness and Mormonism and all things Utah, a U.S. that was then and still is. Do we need a novel, even as brilliant as this one, about a young man on a divine mission to assassinate the Vice President because he is too liberal? Yes, now more than ever. Readers, welcome to a masterpiece.”
Tom Whalen
www.tomwhalen.com
Read The Assassination of Spiro Agnew.
Word has it that David Axelrod enjoyed its post-modern style as much as he relished being abhorred by the Mormon experience.