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Severely conservative

Here’s the thing: Rick Santorum defends the earmark process, so while you can attack him for taking earmarks, you’re attacking something he defends as part of doing business in DC. And as I’ve pointed out before, there are strong conservative arguments for earmarks, particularly in the absence of line-item vetoes.

What you shouldn’t do, however, is attack people for taking government funds, then get caught on tape bragging about just how clever you were for wringing the last bit of taxpayer money out of the federal government for your own projects. Especially after going on national TV and denying you did so.

— Unless maybe that’s what we’ve all come to expect (and secretly want) from our politicians, this ability to lie and steal effortlessly — and so is part of Mitt Romney’s “electability.”

(h/t JHo)

48 Replies to “Severely conservative”

  1. Ernst Schreiber says:

    That’s just the kind of thing a severe conservative has to do in order to win on the liberal east coast in order to work hand in hand with Democrats in order to prove he has bi-partisan appeal so that he can transcend the divisiveness of partisan politics and win a mandate for the highest office in the land.

    Boy, are those Democrats scewed.

    Right, Ann?

  2. bh says:

    This is a brutal video for Romney. Just brutal.

  3. bh says:

    He kinda presents himself as something of a slut.

    What?

  4. BT says:

    In fairness to Mitt, in 2002 he wasn’t concerned as much about the federal deficit as he was about bringing as many goodies as possible to the State of Massachusetts. That is what the people would elect (elected) him to do.

  5. WT says:

    I’m just absolutely shocked that Mr. Electibility would have taken such a position. If I didn’t know better I’d think he was just another shameless whore willing to do or say anything to get elected.

  6. newrouter says:

    Mitt Romney is vociferously attacking a provision in Obamacare requiring religious employers to cover birth control in employee health plans — but the healthcare bill he enacted as governor of Massachusetts also contained that requirement.

    C.J. Doyle, executive director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, told the Boston Globe that Romney’s criticism of President Obama is hypocritical because as governor he did not lift the state-level requirement of contraception coverage.

    “The initial injury to Catholic religious freedom came not from the Obama administration, but from the Romney administration,” Doyle said.

    “President Obama’s plan certainly constitutes an assault on the constitutional rights of Catholics, but I’m not sure Gov. Romney is in a position to assert that, given his own very mixed record on this.”

    link

  7. bh says:

    This is sorta off topic but I’d say that Inhofe presents the defense of earmarks that people don’t have much of a problem with. I doubt we’ll ever see a defense of the sort of earmarks that people do have a problem with.

    Earmarks that are simple pork? Indefensible. Earmarks that are basically bribes to accept shitty omnibus bills? Indefensible.

    Inhofe says there were no earmarks in the stimulus. True enough. But, as we’re learning, there were little tidbits in there to bribe all the right people. Each of those green energy atrocities were put in there for specific people. They just used a different process to achieve that goal.

    What people don’t like is how these little deals (little carve outs or hometown pork bribes) allow the larger monstrosities to pass. Congress controlling spending? Different thing entirely.

  8. LBascom says:

    Oooo…mushroom bruise.

  9. Jeff G. says:

    Except he’s talking about the Olympics, not the state of MA.

  10. Ernst Schreiber says:

    In fairness to Mitt, in 2002 he wasn’t concerned as much about the federal deficit as he was about bringing as many goodies as possible to the State of Massachusetts. That is what the people would elect (elected) him to do.

    The other big goverment Republican spenders, Santorum and Gingrich, can say as much.

    Good thing SuperPacs are shameless. Because Romney’s would have to hang itself in the closet.

  11. sdferr says:

    I was gonna write “more than anything we need fairness to Mitt”, but then I thought better of it. But then I thought better of that, so here we are: more than anything, we need fairness to Mitt, since Mitt begins at such a disadvantage. I mean, he’s a grasping self-anointed political moron. Surely that counts as a disadvantage, doesn’t it?

  12. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Interesting that the Democrats sat on that video this long.

  13. LBascom says:

    “In fairness to Mitt, in 2002 he wasn’t concerned as much about the federal deficit as he was about bringing as many goodies as possible to the State of Massachusetts”

    I get that, and 10 years ago I wouldn’t really have expected anything else. 10 years ago I probably would have shrugged my shoulders and hoped my governor was getting our share.

    To me, what makes Romney a wienie is, instead of getting ahead of the issue with a mea culpa and an acknowledgement that the federal government is subsidizing too much of state responsibilities and that needs to be changed load of political horseshit, the slimebag has to go off on Santorum and Gingrich for doing the same thing.

    Romney is small, and he will never inspire a wide coalition of supporters to get behind him.

  14. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Not when he’s busy beating the conservative base into acquiescence and apathy he won’t.

  15. newrouter says:

    But in a July 2009 op-ed in USA Today Romney thought the President could learn a thing or two from the plan he signed into law in Massachusetts, including using the individual mandate as an incentive for people to buy insurance.

    The op-ed no longer appears on the USA Today website but is archived on the Mitt Romney fan site “Mitt Romney Central” and is accessible on the former Governor’s old website via the web archive.

    Health care cannot be handled the same way as the stimulus and cap-and-trade bills. With those, the president stuck to the old style of lawmaking: He threw in every special favor imaginable, ground it up and crammed it through a partisan Democratic Congress. Health care is simply too important to the economy, to employment and to America’s families to be larded up and rushed through on an artificial deadline. There’s a better way. And the lessons we learned in Massachusetts could help Washington find it.

    Romney continues further down in the op-ed bringing up the individual mandate dreaded by conservatives.

    Our experience also demonstrates that getting every citizen insured doesn’t have to break the bank. First, we established incentives for those who were uninsured to buy insurance. Using tax penalties, as we did, or tax credits, as others have proposed, encourages “free riders” to take responsibility for themselves rather than pass their medical costs on to others. This doesn’t cost the government a single dollar. Second, we helped pay for our new program by ending an old one — something government should do more often. The federal government sends an estimated $42 billion to hospitals that care for the poor: Use those funds instead to help the poor buy private insurance, as we did.

    link

  16. George Orwell says:

    So, tell me again how Willard Romney will be the greenest of eyeshaded heroes once in office. The man soaked the taxpayer for Olympics cash, he soaked them again to fund Romneycare.

    But, severely conservative.

    His haircut, at least.

  17. George Orwell says:

    Mitt begins at such a disadvantage. I mean, he’s a grasping self-anointed political moron. Surely that counts as a disadvantage, doesn’t it?

    Surely Title IX dictates that Romney is owed the election on the basis of his political disabilities.

  18. George Orwell says:

    He kinda presents himself as something of a slut.

    I don’t care if it lands me in jail, my tax money is not going to pay for Romney’s condoms.

  19. bh says:

    You’re a heartless monster, Mr. Orwell. Romney spends over $3 million a year in birth control and he does so on the salary of a struggling presidential candidate.

  20. sdferr says:

    Surely Title IX dictates that Romney is owed the election on the basis of his political disabilities.

    Or, like the heavier jockey in a horse race, his opponents assigned dead weight to even up the poundage.

    But, I suppose, in the proper analogy, and in a reversal of the weight relation as intelligence in Romney’s case, or Obama’s for that matter, they would play the role of the light-weight jockey, while the news media can play the part of the dead-lead — and does, laying it’s hand on the scale at weigh-in, to relieve them of carrying an actual handicap in the race.

  21. bergerbilder says:

    I was listening to Levin the other night and he dedicated an hour of the show to calls from Romney supporters to explain why they liked him. The only requirement was that they could not use the names of any of the other candidates. It was hilarious. Try as they might, they just couldn’t do it.

  22. Pablo says:

    OT, but, you know. It has to go somewhere: Volt production halted; 1,300 workers out of work

  23. George Orwell says:

    OT, but, you know. It has to go somewhere: Volt production halted; 1,300 workers out of work

    Perhaps they can be hired as union firemen. Those exploding Volts won’t douse themselves.

  24. George Orwell says:

    I was listening to Levin the other night and he dedicated an hour of the show to calls from Romney supporters to explain why they liked him.

    Do you remember the date? That might be worth a download and a listen. Over a gallon of scotch.

  25. Ernst Schreiber says:

    I hope Obama got his order in.

  26. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Mitt Romney Urged Obama to Embrace the Individual Mandate

    Imagine if that had broke in September.

  27. sdferr says:

    Feb 28, George about 30+ mins in and runnning.

  28. George Orwell says:

    You know what makes Romney severely conservative? Calling the “individual mandate” a “tax incentive.” Barack Obama himself cannot do any better. He’s pulling the same trick in front of the Supreme Court defending Obamacare. Back when I was alive, I wrote a bit about how those who control language, control thought.

  29. bergerbilder says:

    George, it was either 28 or 29. Sorry I can’t remember exactly.

  30. George Orwell says:

    thank you, sdferr

  31. bergerbilder says:

    What class of fire extinguisher would you need for a Volt? Chemical, electrical, liquid?

  32. bergerbilder says:

    Okay, George, it was 28 (Tues).

  33. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Back when I was alive, I wrote a bit about how those who control language, control thought.

    Oh great. Another fundamentally unserious has-been.

    Perhaps your life would have been better spent writing a fairy-tale, Mr. Orwell

    if that’s your real name.

  34. BT says:

    “Except he’s talking about the Olympics, not the state of MA.”

    Well yeah, that was his only track record in the acquisition of federal largesse. But he was detailing that record in his quest for the governors office.

  35. George Orwell says:

    thanks bergerbilder

    Ernst, have you never heard of Eric Arthur Blair?

    Me neither.

  36. Dave J says:

    It seems as the actual vetting of candidates from either side of the aisle is a long lost art. We are freakin doomed.

  37. Ernst Schreiber says:

    That all depends on what you expect out of a vetting process —vetted by whom? for what?. A lot of folks on our side opted out. That tells us something. A number of would be vetters told us something about themselves, too.

  38. sdferr says:

    I still think — I don’t know why — that the vetting aim and form can be derived from the primary principles of the nation. But, we’ve seen how that goes before, so no use repeating it.

  39. SDN says:

    bilderberger, it definitely wouldn’t be liquid; electrical would be best. Chemical would depend on how it would react with the other chemicals in the battery.

  40. McGehee says:

    If I didn’t know better I’d think he was just another shameless whore willing to do or say anything to get elected.

    I think you’ve just defined “electable.”

    And we’re supposed to see that as a positive thing… why?

  41. palaeomerus says:

    ” George Orwell says March 2, 2012 at 7:15 pm
    thanks bergerbilder
    Ernst, have you never heard of Eric Arthur Blair?
    Me neither. ”

    I was sad when snowball got driven out. Then I realized he was Trotsky so I hated him. Good times.

  42. Swen says:

    bh says March 2, 2012 at 6:32 pm
    You’re a heartless monster, Mr. Orwell. Romney spends over $3 million a year in birth control and he does so on the salary of a struggling presidential candidate.

    Wouldn’t it take more than $3 million in birth control to fuck the entire Republican Party?

  43. palaeomerus says:

    You just need to mind fuck about 40% and then they bully the remaining confused 11 % into place. Then if they end up losing the general they’ll blame the other 49% that didn’t go in, and the 11% who joined them for the loss. Because they weren’t loyal enough.

  44. rnabs says:

    If you bitch about earmarks, you better not count your mortgage as tax deductable. It’s money that’s spent already and it makes up very little of the total expenditures.

  45. JD says:

    Unassailable illogic

  46. SDN says:

    rnabs, I take every deduction I can, because stealing it back before the thieves get their hands on it is an act of grace on its’ own.

  47. McGehee says:

    stealing it back before the thieves get their hands on it is an act of grace on its’ own.

    Hear, hear.

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