UPDATE WITH VIDEO
Mitt Romney’s speech to the NAACP won’t be able to hide that he’s consistently opposed policies that helped African American communities, including the Recovery Act, auto rescue, and expanded access to quality, affordable health care. Now, Romney would slash investments in the programs that benefit these communities—education, clean energy, and infrastructure— and raise taxes on working families even as he gives $5 trillion in tax cuts weighted toward millionaires and billionaires. Here’s the truth about why Mitt Romney’s the wrong choice for African American communities.
MITT ROMNEY: THE WRONG CHOICE FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES AND HERE’S WHY
This election offers African American voters two fundamentally different visions of how to grow the economy, create middle-class jobs, and pay down the debt. President Obama believes that we need to grow the economy from the middle out by investing in education, clean energy, infrastructure and energy. Mitt Romney and his allies in Congress believe that if you let Wall Street write its own rules again, take away rules that protect consumers and workers, and cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans, the market will somehow grow from the top down.
For African American communities, this choice has significant consequences. Romney opposed the Recovery Act, which lifted 1.3 million African Americans out of poverty, and the auto rescue, which preserved an industry that has been called the engine of the black middle class. Now Romney would:
- Return us to the same failed policies that got us into this mess with plans that independent experts say would slow the economy and fail to create jobs now. He opposes the President’s plan to create jobs now and accelerate the recovery by keeping teachers in classrooms, putting construction workers back on the job, and helping low-income youth and adults find work.
- Raise taxes on at least 2.2 million African American families, including half of all African American children, by rolling back expansions of the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit, while giving millionaires like himself a 25 percent tax cut.
- Slash investments in education, which could raise college costs for millions of African American students – nearly half of whom get Pell Grant scholarships – and leave our public school students stranded without a plan to improve their schools.
- Repeal Obamacare, which stops insurance companies from taking advantage of consumers and will make sure 7 million more African Americans have health insurance.
Mitt Romney Opposes Efforts to Create Jobs for African Americans
Romney Has Consistently Opposed Efforts That Have Helped Create Jobs for African Americans: The recession took an especially difficult toll on African American families, who face unemployment and foreclosure rates that are disproportionately higher than the national average. President Obama took immediate action to put Americans back to work after taking office while we were losing 750,000 jobs a month. But Romney has consistently opposed efforts that help African Americans looking for jobs get back to work.
- The Recovery Act: Romney opposed the Recovery Act, which helped stop the free-fall and create jobs for African Americans. Itcut taxes for working families and small businesses, kept teachers on the job and invested in infrastructure. Independent estimates by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities say that the President’s plan – along with extensions and expansions – kept 1.3 million African Americans above the poverty line in 2010.
- The Auto Rescue: In many communities across the country, the auto sector has been a major engine of the black middle class. Romney said we should “let Detroit go bankrupt,” but President Obama refused to let that happen – he rescued the auto industry and saved more than 1 million jobs up and down the supply chain. Experts said that had the industry been allowed to collapse, the consequences would have been “nothing less than catastrophic for African Americans.”
- Addressing the Uneven Recovery:Mitt Romney opposed the President’s Recovery Act and American Jobs Act – jobs plans designed to help all communities participate in the recovery by supporting transition jobs, helping revitalize neighborhoods hit by foreclosure, and increasing lending to small businesses in underserved communities.
- Independent Economists Say Romney’s Plans Would Slow the Economy and Fail to Create Jobs Now: Independent economists say Romney’s plans would not only fail to create jobs now, but could actually slow the economy. According to an analyst at Moody’s Analytics: “On net, all of these policies would do more harm in the short term. If we implemented all of his policies, it would push us deeper into recession and make the recovery slower.” And because the deep cuts Romney supports would disproportionately affect communities of color, they could worsen disparities in equality of opportunity.
- President Obama Has a Plan That Could Create Up to a Million Jobs Now:President Obama has sent Congress a jobs plan that could put Americans back to work now. It would keep teachers and first responders on the job, put construction workers back to work, give small businesses tax incentives to hire and invest, and make it easier for families to refinance their mortgages. Based on independent estimates, measures that Congress left on the table from the President’s American Jobs Act – which Romney opposed – would create about 1 million more jobs.
Mitt Romney Would Cut Taxes for the Wealthiest While Raising Taxes on Working Families
- Romney Opposes the President’s Plan to Extend Middle-Class Tax Cuts and Ask the Wealthiest to Pay Their Fair Share: Romney made clear that he opposes the President’s plan to extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for the 98 percent of families who make less than $250,000 a year. He wants to hold those tax cuts hostage to protect tax breaks for the top 2% of wealthiest Americans. The President believes the Bush tax cuts for wealthiest Americans should expire, so that we can responsibly reduce the deficit by ensuring everyone pays their fair share. If we don’t extend those tax cuts for the middle class, more than 100 million families would see their taxes go up on January 1, costing the typical family of four earning $50,000 a year $2,200.
- Romney Would Raise Taxes on At Least 18 Million Hardworking Families, Disproportionately Hitting the African American Community: Romney would raise taxes on 18 million families by rolling back President Obama’s tax cuts for hardworking families –including expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit, and the American Opportunity Tax Credit for up to $10,000 in college tuition over four years. Rolling back the expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit, for example, would increase taxes for some families by as much as $640. These tax increases would disproportionately hit the African American community, as the expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit have lowered taxes for 2.2 million African American families that include half of all African American children.
- Romney’s Plan Includes $5 Trillion in Tax Cuts Weighted toward the Wealthiest – Which Would Either Raise the Deficit or Require Larger Middle-Class Tax Increases:Mitt Romney’s tax plan would make the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest permanent on top of adding $5 trillion in new tax cuts weighted to the wealthiest, which would either increase deficits or force a tax hike on middle-class families.
President Obama Will Continue Cutting Tax Cuts for Working Families:
- President Obama has Cut Taxes For Every Working Family: Through President Obama’s two primary middle-class tax cuts – the Making Work Pay credit and the payroll tax cut – the typical family earning $50,000 a year has gotten $3,600 in tax cuts over the course of President Obama’s first term. More than 18 million African Americans got a payroll tax cut.
- President Obama Would Continue Cutting Taxes for the Middle Class and Ask the Wealthiest to Pay Their Fair Share: President Obama has made clear that Congress should immediately extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for every American earning less than $250,000 a year. The President has also called for making permanent the expansions of the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit he signed into law, along with the American Opportunity Tax Credit he created and extended. At the same time, President Obama is asking the wealthy to pay their fair share, part of a balanced plan that reduces the deficit by more than $4 trillion while investing in middle-class security and without slashing the safety net for seniors, children and the most vulnerable.
Mitt Romney Would Slash Investments in Education and Weaken Middle-Class Security
- Romney Would Roll Back Student Loan Reform, Putting Banks Ahead of Students:Romney would repeal the president’s student loan reforms and go back to giving banks more than $60 billion in taxpayer dollars. He would make student loans less affordable and cut college scholarships and investments in community colleges. He also supports Republican budget plans to cut Pell Grant scholarships by $1,000 per student, slashing support that helps almost half of African American undergraduates.
- Romney Would Cut Public School Funding and Leave Our Children Stranded Without A Plan:Romney opposes efforts to protect teachers from layoffs, saying that class sizes are not relevant to student achievement. He supports budget plans that could cut funding for public schools that will always serve most of our children and 200,000 children a year from Head Start – 30 percent of whose participants are African American. He would also expand funding for private-school vouchers that have failed to boost achievement and still wouldn’t be enough to cover private-school tuition. Romney would even eliminate requirements that states and school districts turn around failing schools, instead creating a redundant school report card that duplicates a requirement that already exists.
- Romney Supports Deep Cuts In Investments in the Middle-Class that Would Threaten Our Economy and the Most Vulnerable: While Romney hasn’t revealed many details of his budget plans, he does support the deep spending cuts in the House Republican budget that would slash the critical investments in education, innovation, infrastructure and clean energy that grow our economy and the middle class. The budget plan Romney supports would deeply cut support for low-income families. If applied across the board, these cuts would prevent 1.8 million women, infants and children from receiving nutritional assistance through the WIC program, and cut housing vouchers for 400,000 low-income families a year.
President Obama’s Plan Would Invest in the Future:President Obama’s plan would cut more than $4 trillion from the deficit while making sure we keep investing in the future. He has a plan to improve teacher quality, turn around the worst-performing schools, and help the United States once again lead the world in college graduates. He would also invest in scientific research and innovation; clean, affordable and secure sources of energy; and the infrastructure American businesses need to make products here and sell them around the world.
Mitt Romney Would Make It Harder for African Americans to Get Affordable Health Care
For too long, too many African American families have gone without the security that health insurance provides, and those who had insurance often found that their insurance company had the power to arbitrarily cap and cancel their coverage. Obamacare is finally ending the worst insurance company abuses, but Mitt Romney promises to repeal it, turn Medicare into a voucher program and eliminate Medicaid coverage for tens of millions of Americans.
- Romney Would Repeal Obamacare – Which Is Helping Millions of African Americans Across The Country Save Money and Live Healthier Lives:Obamacare is already helping millions of African American families across the county, and will help millions more in the years to come. Romney has pledged to repeal all these benefits starting on “day one,” which means more African American families without coverage and more power for insurance companies. Under Obamacare:
- Lifetime Caps Are Gone:Before Obamacare, many people had a lifetime cap on their insurance coverage, which meant that they could run out of insurance just when they needed it most. Obamacare banned these lifetime caps for good, and 10 million African Americans saw their cap lifted as a result.
- Preventive Care Is Free: Insurance companies now have to cover lifesaving preventive care like mammograms and immunizations with no co-pay or deductible. Five million African Americans have already seen their coverage expand so they can stay healthier. By the time Obamacare is fully implemented, it will help millions of African Americans live healthier lives, by preventing and treating diseases and conditions that affect the community at a higher rate, including heart disease, stroke, cancer, asthma and diabetes.
- Uninsured Americans Will Be Able to Afford Coverage:Starting in 2014, everyone will have access to affordable health insurance, and 7 million African Americans who are currently uninsured will gain coverage when Obamacare is fully implemented.
- Mitt Romney Would Threaten Medicare and Medicaid:In addition to repealing Obamacare, Romney would weaken or eliminate coverage for the millions of African American families on Medicare and Medicaid.
- Romney has proposed a plan to turn Medicare into a voucher program – giving seniors nothing but a voucher that they can use to try and buy health insurance, with no guarantee that it will keep up with costs. Independent experts estimated that a similar plan would increase seniors’ costs by more than $6,000. The 4 million African Americans with Medicare can’t afford Romney’s plans.
- Romney’s budget would also force deep cuts in Medicaid, which provides coverage to 10 million African Americans, including 6 million African American children. Cuts like the ones Romney proposes would force states to eliminate coverage for at least 40 percent of people with Medicaid.
Pray tell, WTF does this man have to offer Black Americans or anyone else who doesn’t look like him and his family?
http://twitter.com/AlisaJass/status/223245987030896640/photo/1
Romney Receives Standing Ovations from National Association of Rich White People
Candidate Wows NARWP Annual Meeting
GRAND CAYMAN (The Borowitz Report) – What a difference a day makes.
One day after being booed at the NAACP annual meeting in Houston, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney received multiple standing ovations at the meeting of the National Association of Rich White People.
It was tough sledding for Mr. Romney the day before, when he struck the wrong chord by telling the NAACP members: “I love Black people. I’m good friends with the bankers who foreclosed on your homes.”
But the former Massachusetts governor seemed to regain his footing in front of the NARWP, who held their annual meeting on the island of Grand Cayman, home to much of Mr. Romney’s money.
“People who say the top 1% run America are dead wrong. It’s the top .0001%,” Mr. Romney said, bringing the NARWP members to their feet.
The Republican’s speech, which was interrupted by twenty-seven standing ovations, featured proposals that were hugely popular with the NARWP faithful, as Mr. Romney favored legalizing marriage between a man and a corporation, as well as an extension of white truffle season.
“Mitt Romney is worth his weight in gold,” said billionaire David Koch, who attended the meeting, “and that’s exactly what I paid for him.”
In other news, tensions between North Korea and the Walt Disney Company continued to mount, causing some to worry that the confrontation could soon become nuclear.
One day after Disney accused North Korea of using many of the company’s characters without licensing agreements, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un claimed that some of the most famous Disney characters were actually stolen from North Korea.
“The character of the dwarf Grumpy was clearly based on my dad,” Mr. Kim said. Get a free subscription to the Borowitz Report here:
http://borowitzreport.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=49de3335c30245ecd0fa291aa&id=743947b930
Posted at 02:47 PM ET, 07/11/2012
Why (most) African Americans are a lost cause for the GOP
By Jamelle Bouie
Mitt Romney’s speech this morning to the NAACP was indicative of the extremely shaky relationship Republicans currently have with the black community. The pitch for deregulation and small government was met with silence, while a promise to repeal Obamacare was received with sustained and repeated boos.
Of course, it’s been more than half-a-century since the black vote was contested between the two parties. However, in his two terms, George Bush made a sustained effort to reach out to African Americans, tapping two for high profile positions in his administration, and reaching out to black groups during the 2004 campaign. This wasn’t enough to change the dynamics of black voting — the vast majority of African Americans supported John Kerry — but it earned Bush a larger share of the black vote than he won in 2000.
What’s more, the Bush outreach looked like the beginning of greater GOP engagement with the black community. In 2005 former RNC head Ken Mehlman apologized to the NAACP for playing racial politics.
But all of this collapsed in 2008, when Democrats chose an African American senator from Illinois as their nominee for president. The combination of the 2008 campaign’s harsh partisanship and racial pride led to huge black turnout and significant Democratic gains — Obama won 95 percent of the black vote, a historically high percentage.
In the years since the 2008 election, many Republicans have adopted racially charged narratives on everything from the financial collapse — minorities and the Community Reinvestment Act are to blame — to a program meant to compensate African American farmers for racial discrimination (it’s actually “reparations”). What’s more, in its attacks on Obama, a large portion of the Republican base has adopted an explicitly racial frame. The attacks aren’t motivated by race — the apocalyptic tenor should be familiar to anyone who remembers Bill Clinton’s presidency — but race acts as a filter for their appearance. Birthers — including prominent members of the GOP — demand evidence of Obama’s citizenship, local Republicans depict Obama’s parents as chimpanzees, and online conservatives portray Obama as an African witch doctor.
Absent a serious shift on voter identification laws — which many see as attempt to suppress African American voting — or a Sister Souljah moment with “birthers” and other right-wing demogogues, there is no way that Romney will make headway with black voters. At best, Romney can expect to repeat John McCain’s dismal performance with African American voters. At worst, he’ll receive fewer black votes than any Republican presidential nominee in history. Indeed, together with his poor performance among Latinos and other nonwhites, it’s fair to say that — win or lose — Romney will have the whitest electoral coalition in recent memory. And in light of rapidly shifting demographics, this doesn’t bode well for the future of the Republican Party.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/why-most-african-americans-are-a-lost-cause-for-the-gop/2012/07/11/gJQATgaSdW_blog.html
Romney Falls Flat in NAACP Appearance
—By Adam Serwer
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Mitt Romney’s speech to the NAACP Wednesday didn’t go spectacularly well. Although he received a largely cordial reception, he was booed when he promised to repeal Barack Obama’s signature domestic accomplishment, the Affordable Care Act.
Some analysts have suggested the boos may help Romney by making him look magnanimous and showing that he’s willing to appear before an unfriendly audience to make his pitch. It’s doubtful, given Romney’s reaction and the campaign’s decision to send out a version of the video with the boos edited out, that getting booed was part of Romney’s plan. Nevertheless, the Romney campaign is likely to use the boos to its advantage going forward. Conservative pundits, already wary of at the NAACP for previous slights, will foment outrage on his behalf. Politically, it’s hard to see how the appearance hurt Romney, or how it could have—so it’s overstated as an example of political valor.
There are substantive reasons why Romney’s pitch fell flat. Romney told the NAACP that “I believe that if you understood who I truly am in my heart, and if it were possible to fully communicate what I believe is in the real, enduring best interest of African American families, you would vote for me for president.” This is a spectacularly bad pitch for any politician, because it happens to matter very little what candidates feel in their heart. What matters is the party they represent, and the policies they’ve committed to pursuing.
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The unpleasant reception to Romney’s reiteration of his promise to repeal the federal health care legislation modeled on his own reforms in Massachusetts likely goes beyond a dispute about policy. Romney said prior to the Supreme Court ruling upholding most of the Affordable Care Act that if the high court overturned the law Obama’s first and possibly only term would have been “wasted.” By promising to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Romney was reminding the NAACP that he is running on a promise to erase the term of the first black president as though it never happened.
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/07/romney-falls-flat-during-naacp-appearance
Lawrence O has Toure, Goldie Taylor, and I can’t remember the other man’s name. They are breaking it down about Mitt Romney’s sideshow for white folks at black folk’s convention.
Posting the video when I find it.
look at these pics and LYAO:
The Faces (and Reactions) in the Audience as Mitt Romney Delivered NAACP Speech
http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/07/the_faces_and_reactions_in_the_audience_as_mitt_romney_delivered_naacp_speech.html
BWA HA HA HA HA Lawdy! If looks could; they would….
BWA HA AHA HA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AND DICK SAYS IT ALL!
Dick Cheney opens Wyoming home for major Mitt Romney fundraiser
By Philip Rucker, Wednesday, July 11, 11:13 AM
When Mitt Romney arrives Thursday at the gates of Teton Pines, a majestic Wyoming country club where captains of industry flock each summer to golf on an Arnold Palmer-designed course, his purpose will be greater than spending another evening separating rich people from their money.
Romney will be taking a big step toward becoming the official head of the Republican Party, as the presumptive presidential nominee is feted at a $30,000-a-couple dinner at the home of Dick Cheney, the living thread connecting the past five Republican presidencies.
By hosting a fundraiser for Romney, the former vice president — who in his retirement remains a powerful leader of foreign-policy neoconservatives yet a deeply polarizing figure outside of the Republican base — will make his grandest gesture so far to pass a torch to Romney.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/dick-cheney-opens-wyoming-home-for-major-mitt-romney-fundraiser/2012/07/11/gJQAYREDdW_story.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics
They told Romney to go tell them NEGROES exactly what you stand for to their faces, and he did.
Got that NAACP NEGROES?
While maybe the NAACP shouldn’t have invited Willard, but to think the audience could stay quiet while he told them that he would work against giving 7 million Black folks healthcare, while every Black person you know knows someone with a pre-existing condition; knows someone who will be helped with the expansion of localized medical clinics, and knows someone without insurance…umm, no.
The speech was never for Black folk in the first place, and we all know that.
TELL.IT.
Leave it to the one sista who broke it down.
NEWS FLASH; NEGROES!
MITT ROMNEY DOES NOT LIKE BLAH PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
REPOST
Romney’s unpleasant visit with the NAACP
By Steve Benen – Wed Jul 11, 2012 12:33 PM EDT
.It’s a mistake to assume that every prominent Republican who speaks at the NAACP’s national convention will receive a cool reception. It’s simply not the case — then-RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman’s speech in 2004 was very well received, for example.
So, when Mitt Romney agreed to speak this morning, it was hardly a foregone conclusion that his remarks would go over poorly. Sure, he antagonized the NAACP in Massachusetts during his one term as governor. And sure, Romney’s right-wing policy agenda would disproportionately hurt African Americans. And sure, Romney’s party is engaged in a systematic effort to prevent African-American voters from participating in the 2012 elections.
But Romney nevertheless could have stressed areas of agreement and made his case for why his far-right proposals would help the African-American community. Instead, the Republican chose a different path.
I’ve been following NAACP conventions for quite a while now, and I can’t recall ever hearing such a lengthy, sustained booing. (The rest of the speech received polite applause, but the booing was obviously the most notable development of the morning.)
The wonk in me feels compelled to mention that Romney’s argument wasn’t even coherent on its face — he said he wants to kill the Affordable Care Act to reduce the deficit, which is absurd since killing the Affordable Care Act would increase the deficit.
But I think it’s probably safe to say that’s not why Romney was booed. In fact, this was entirely predictable — the far-right Republican presidential candidate spoke to the NAACP and effectively proclaimed, “Vote for me and I’ll make sure 7 million African Americans lose their health insurance.”
What kind of campaign pitch is that? For crying out loud, of course Romney got booed. At the risk of being overly cynical, I can’t help but wonder if Romney did this on purpose precisely so he would be booed.
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In the larger context, Jamil Smith argued there Romney really didn’t have anything to lose by giving this speech, and I wholeheartedly agree. If it went well, Romney gets a boost thanks to a warm reception from a Democratic constituency. If it went poorly, Romney gets credit for the outreach, and his base gets further motivated.
Indeed, if I had to guess, I’d say Romney will now position himself as something of a victim — he appeared in good faith, the argument goes, but that mean ol’ NAACP audience booed him for standing by his beliefs.
It’ll be nonsense, but it’s likely to become the Republican talking point.
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/11/12683715-romneys-unpleasant-visit-with-the-naacp?lite
Fuck Romney and the NAACP too, for letting this pasty-assed liar address them, knowing FULL WELL this MOFO’s agenda was not to woe them, but to prove that he ain’t never scurred of dem darkies!
And I could care less what the MSM does with the booing. He deserved every inch of it. THE.END.
Romney’s an ASSHOLE Contradicting himself here on marriage.
THIS MOFO, RIGHT HERE… Had the nerve to roll up on BLACK FOLKS and tell’em he’s getting rid of “OBAMA CARE.” If ROMNEY CARE is good enough for citizens in Massachusetts, it’s good enough for All Americans who need and can benefit from healthcare.
And while Mitt Romney and nem love to call it ObamaCare, it is the AFFORDABLE CARE ACT-ACA, meaning it is for ALL AMERICANS.
Black folks got your number Mitt Romney, trying to equate OBAMA CARE WITH BLACK FOLKS.
There’s my “neighbor” I’ve come to love! I need to visit more often. Now…the Rev. at 5
Howdy, neighbor! Good to see you. Do drop in whenever you are so inclined. We need and treasure male voices here. Thanks for stopping by, Tyren. :-)