The Atlantic Wire: ”By all accounts, the past month has been most difficult on Romney’s wife, Ann, who friends said believed up until the end that ascending to the White House was their destiny. They said she has been crying in private and trying to get back to riding her horses.”
Tag Archives: ann romney
Lord and Lady Romney’s Facebook greeting for Thanksgiving
TPM: Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney posted a photo on his Facebook page on Friday in which he and his wife Ann are seen posing in their kitchen. ”Hope everyone had a great Thanskgiving!” the accompanying caption reads. “Much to be thankful for this year.”
Holy cow — he’s still not showering, apparently. But he’s right: there is MUCH to be thankful for… especially the election results.
Looking back: Farewell, Willard and Marie Anntoinette!
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Whew! That was way too close, wasn’t it?
Update:
Rachel Maddow lists the huge implications of what an Obama win means…or more precisely, what a Romney loss means in terms of what is not going to happen. There’s some pretty big stuff here and a good reminder of the tragedy that could have been.
We are not going to have a Supreme Court that will overturn Roe vs. Wade.
There will be no more Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alioto’s added to this court.
We are not going to repeal health reform.
Nobody is going to kill Medicare.
Nobody is going to make old people in this generation fight it out in the open market for health insurance.
We are not going to give 20% tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires and expect programs like food stamps and kids health to cover the cost.
We are not going to make you clear it with your boss if you want to get birth control from your health provider.
We are not going to redefine rape.
We are not going to amend the United States Constitution amendment to stop gay people from getting married.
We are not going to double Guantanamo.
We are not eliminating the Dept of Energy, the Dept of Education, the Dept of Housing at the Federal level.
We are not going to spend 2 trillion dollars on the military that the military does not want.
We are not scaling back on student loans because the new plan is you should borrow money from your parents.
We are not vetoing the dream act.
We are not self-deporting.
We are not letting Detroit go bankrupt.
We are not starting a trade war with China on inauguration day.
We are not going to have as President, a man who once led a mob of friends to run down a scared gay kid to hold him down and forcibly cut his hair off with a pair of scissors while that kid cried and screamed for help. And there was no apology, not ever.
We are not going to have a Secretary of State John Bolton.
We are not bringing Dick Cheney back.
We are not going to have a foreign policy shop stocked with the architects of the Iraq war. We are not going to do it.
We had the choice to do that if we wanted to do that as a country, and we said no.
UAW / SEIU to file ethics complaint against Romney and the millions he made on the auto bailout
Willard “the car guy” Romney is having more problems with cars… and with hypocrisy, and full disclosure, and ethical behavior. In other words, business as usual. Apart from writing op-eds entitled “Let Detroit go bankrupt,” or lying that Jeep is shipping American jobs to China, we’ve learned that Lord and Lady Romney’s secret investments bought them a 3,000 percent return on investment — from the auto bailout. From taxpayer dollars!
However, Mitt didn’t disclose any of that. From the Huffington Post:
The United Auto Workers (UAW), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and other groups plan to file an ethics complaint against Mitt Romney for allegedly failing to disclose his profits from the auto bailout… The groups are calling for an investigation by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics to investigate Romney’s alleged violation of the Ethics in Government Act, which requires presidential candidates to disclose their personal finances. The ethics complaint comes on the heels of an Oct. 17 article in The Nation, which alleged that Romney has hidden his personal gains of at least $15.3 million from the auto bailout.
“He made his fortune off the misfortune of others,” Bob King, president of the UAW, told The Huffington Post on Wednesday. “Why should we have to find out from the media about this?” [...] Romney and his wife allegedly made millions from the auto bailout through their investments in the hedge fund Elliott Management, which held a stake in the auto bailout recipient Delphi Automotive, according to The Nation. The return on this investment amounted to more than 3,000 percent, according to The Nation.
The Toledo Blade: “It’s time for Mr. Romney to follow the law. That’s really not too much to ask for someone who would be our president,” Mr. Woodruff said. A spokesman for the Romney campaign could not be reached for comment. Mr. King said the American people have the right to know about any potential conflicts of interest that might exist in Mr. Romney’s investments. “Mitt Romney’s refusal to come clean on where he has his money invested is much more than an ethics violation… The public deserves to know where, when, and how much Mitt Romney bet against American workers with his investments.”
And you just know that Romney’s profit from the bailout is now sitting somewhere in the Caymens or Bermuda or Switzerland, collecting interest, not creating even ONE American job. The worst part of it: there are people who will vote for this guy on Tuesday.
You really must do your part: VOTE!!
Mitt Romney’s America
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http://www.economictraitor.com – After Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital announced their jobs would be outsourced, they made workers at Sensata Tech in Illinois train their Chinese replacements and take down the American flag when they arrived.
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Mitt Romney has a vision.
Wall Street… UNREGULATED
Main Street… ISOLATED
The Middle Class… DECIMATED
American jobs… RELOCATED
Supreme Court… STACKED
Social Security… PRIVATIZED
Medicare… DISMANTLED
Planned Parenthood… DEFUNDED
Global Warming… IGNORED
College Aid… SLASHED
Health Insurance Reform… REPEALED
Mitt Romney’s America is not our America.
The National Memo » Even The Mitt Bobbleheads Were Made In China—By Ann Romney’s Brother: This year, the Romney bobbleheads are marketed on the Internet, along with Barack Obama bobble-eads that are reportedly selling faster. But the original Mitt bobblehead first appeared four years ago and was produced—by Ann Romney’s brother at a factory in China—as a party favor for big donors. [...] If those dolls could talk, they might have a lot to tell about their country of origin and who made them there. Although Romney now complains frequently that China has unfairly “taken American jobs,” the Chinese bobblehead Mitts are yet another example of Romney’s propensity to invest in the People’s Republic—and to enrich family members such as Roderick Davies, his brother-in-law, who oversaw the creation of the dolls in China through a Utah company called Asian Sources, Inc.
The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.
Petition for AG Eric Holder: investigate Tagg Romney’s ownership of voting machines
Mitt Romney’s family bought themselves some voting machines for the election!
Privatizing our nation’s voting systems could ONLY turn out with this kind of a result — and naturally the wealthiest candidate to ever seek the presidency, the King of Bain, is the first Republican candidate involved.
Romney family buys voting machines through Bain Capital investment: “Tagg Romney, the son of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, has purchased electronic voting machines that will be used in the 2012 elections in Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, Washington and Colorado. ”Late last month, Gerry Bello and Bob Fitrakis at FreePress.org broke the story of the Mitt Romney / Bain Capital investment team involved in H.I.G. Capital which, in July of 2011, completed a “strategic investment” to take over a fair share of the Austin-based e-voting machine company Hart Intercivic,” according to independent journalist Brad Friedman.”
Truthout: “Through a closely held equity fund called Solamere, Mitt Romney and his wife, son and brother are major investors in an investment firm called H.I.G. Capital. H.I.G. in turn holds a majority share and three out of five board members in Hart Intercivic, a company that owns the notoriously faulty electronic voting machines that will count the ballots in swing state Ohio November 7. Hart machines will also be used elsewhere in the United States. In other words, a candidate for the presidency of the United States, and his brother, wife and son, have a straight-line financial interest in the voting machines that could decide this fall’s election. These machines cannot be monitored by the public. But they will help decide who “owns” the White House.”
The Nation: “The Medicaid reimbursements for the dental management companies offer a revealing look at the underlying business model being pursued by the Romney-supporting private equity firms: big government, when harnessed to industry-friendly regulators, can mean big profits. Many of these private equity–owned companies rely on federal and state contracts, from HIG Capital’s Hart Intercivic, a voting machine company, to EnviroFoam Technologies, a biological and chemical decontamination firm that does business with the US military and is owned by Peterson Partners, a private equity firm listed in the Solamere prospectus. It’s already clear how the Solamere nexus of influence would work to advance such companies under a Romney administration.”
Brad Friedman: “Late last month, Gerry Bello and Bob Fitrakis at FreePress.org broke the story of the Mitt Romney/Bain Capital investment team involved in H.I.G. Capital which, in July of 2011, completed a “strategic investment” to take over a fair share of the Austin-based e-voting machine company Hart Intercivic. [...] Hart’s announcement of the deal describes H.I.G.’s role as as “co-investors”, though the financial services firm which brokered the deal described it in their own announcement as a full-fledged acquisition: “Hart Intercivic was acquired by HIG Capital late last week. The deal caps off a 2+ year relationship with Hart! Congrats to both Hart and the HIG team…its going to be a great partnership!” [...] Despite the Rightwing reports, [George] Soros has no apparent control of the Scytl outfit, but it doesn’t matter. Other private corporate entities — unaccountable to the public — do. Either way, whether it’s Soros or entities tied to Mitt Romney, George W. Bush, Hugo Chavez or anybody else, the fact that we have allowed this complete corporatization of the machinery of our public elections, the very lifeblood of our democracy — the first and most important element of true self-governance — is, in and of itself, a continuing shame for what was once regarded as “the world’s greatest democracy.”"
NY Times: “Two years later, despite a challenging fund-raising climate for private equity, Solamere, named after a wealthy enclave in Utah’s Deer Valley where the Romneys have a winter home, finished raising its first fund. The firm blew past its $200 million goal, securing $244 million from 64 investors, including a critical, early $10 million from Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, and hefty commitments from wealthy supporters of the campaign.“
Crooks and Liars: “According to this form and this form filed with the SEC, Solamere Group owns a large stake in Solamere Advisors (referred to in the documents as “CAMG Solamere.”) So it is impossible to argue that Solamere Capital—the Romney family’s investment company—does not have direct financial ties with Solamere Advisors, the firm filled with executives who sold CDs as part of the Stanford fraud. The Stanford scandal is second only to the case of Bernie Madoff. The disclosures are made on part of the SEC website enhanced by the new Dodd-Frank law, the Wall Street reform Romney says he wants to repeal.”
Vote counting company Hart Intercivic, whose machines have famously failed in the past, is tied to Mitt Romney and Bain Capital — from The David Parkman Show:
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[According] to VerifiedVoting.org’s database, in all or parts of California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Washington, Hart InterCivic voting and tabulation systems are now used.
You’d think the mainstream media would be making more of this alarming news — this potential scandal, wouldn’t you? Acorn, please!
Related: Petition for AG Eric Holder: investigate Tagg Romney’s ownership of voting machines
The Mitt Romney way: how he made millions from the rescue of Detroit
Greg Palast: “Mitt Romney, through Ann Romney’s blind trust—not so blind, they could see exactly where the money was going—gave their money to Paul “The Vulture” Singer… Singer, with two of his hedge fund buddies, bought up the auto parts division of General Motors for only 67 cents a share. They were able to turn 67 cents a share into $22 a share by threatening GM and the U.S. Treasury with a complete shutdown of the auto industry. They had complete control of all the steering wheels and steering columns of every car that was being made in America. GM would have been liquidated. They literally threatened to shut down GM. And so, they—the government simply allowed GM to pay them $12 billion. About half of that was straight from the U.S. Treasury in a takeover of Delphi’s pension fund.
Once they got the money—once they got the money, they eliminated 28 of 29 auto plants in the U.S. They moved—they eliminated every single job of every UAW member; 25,200 UAW members all lost their jobs. Almost every plant was then moved by the Romney group to China. Delphi is making a fortune today. So you have 25,000 workers who lost their jobs to China. Three hedge fund managers made at least $4 billion, $4.2 billion. And the Romneys have made at least 15, but the evidence suggests that it’s more like $115 million for the Romneys, about a 4,000 percent profit.
What we can’t get from them at this moment, this may be the reason why they are not releasing their 2009 taxes, because that would give us a better hint. Unfortunately, they’ve not only moved the company operations to China, but they’ve moved their incorporation of the auto parts division of General Motors from Troy, Michigan, to the Isle of Jersey in the Mediterranean Sea, which hides their taxes and also, of course, hides their accounts.”
— “Mitt Romney’s Bailout Bonanza: How He Made Millions from the Rescue of Detroit”
It would be great if someone would ask Mitt Romney to explain: 1) this, or 2) how vulture capitalism helps America or the tax payer — or the 47 percent he was sneering at with his wealthy donors in May — or, 3) how more tax cuts for “small businesses” like Delphi would translate into “job creation.”
Related:
My pain is Mitt Romney’s gain: Sensata and American jobs lost to China
Support the Troops (and the Mormon Missionaries)
I must have missed the memo. Apparently “serving your country” now means both military service (where you risk your life) and pedaling around Paris on a bicycle, trying to sell Moroni and the planet Kolob to to unsuspecting people in Paris who answer their doors.
Raw Story reports on an exchange between Whoopi Goldberg and Lady Ann Romney when she appeared on The View yesterday. “The wife of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Thursday said that her husband and sons had not joined the U.S. military but had found “different ways of serving” by going on religious missions in France, England, Australia and Chile as part of their obligation to the Mormon church.”
Whoopie Goldberg: “When I read about your husband, what I had read — and maybe you can correct this — is that the reason he didn’t serve in Vietnam was because it was against the religion.”
Ann Romney: “That’s not correct. He was serving his mission, and my five sons have also served missions. None served in the military, but I do have one son that feels that he’s giving back to his country in a significant way where he is now a doctor and he is taking care of veterans. So, you know, we find different ways of serving. And my husband and my five boys did serve missions, did not serve in the military.”
Goldberg: “So, when you’re facing these mothers whose children have not come back, how will you explain to them that your sons haven’t gone? Will you talk about the missions they’ve gone on?”
Romney: “I would say it’s probably the hardest thing that a president and a first lady probably do is to comfort those that have lost a love one and have gone in harm’s way. It is an amazing country, we have the most extraordinary fighting men and women, and we have to be so grateful for them. Of course, it’s hard, and I don’t think that any of us can understand the sacrifice [sic] that are being made by families.”
Oh, you people and your amazing sacrifices… got that, patriots? There’s absolutely no need to volunteer for military service — especially for that new Iran war that Romney and his neocon advisers are so excited about — just to say you served your country. Just sell Kolob door to door. It’s the same thing, it’s just a different way of “serving.”
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Romney received a draft exemption – a deferment from the Vietnam draft — based upon his status as a “minister of religion” – basically, an exemption for having been a Mormon missionary. He received numerous deferments after that for educational reasons. Romney portrays his mission in Paris as a time of humbling poverty, but The Daily Telegraph has a different story…
Mitt Romney, August 8 2007 in Iowa: “The good news is that we have a volunteer Army and that’s the way we’re going to keep it. My sons are all adults and they’ve made decisions about their careers and they’ve chosen not to serve in the military and active duty and I respect their decision in that regard. One of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I’d be a great president.”
The Daily Mail: “A newly-unearthed photograph showing Mitt Romney demonstrating in favour of the Vietnam War draft might leave the presidential candidate feeling somewhat embarrassed. The veteran Republican, then 19, can be seen picketing an anti-war sit-in at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, in 1966.”
Real hope for “you people”
Appearing on ABC’s “The View” on Thursday, Ann Romney said that should he lose, this campaign would be her husband’s last. “Absolutely, he will not run again,” she told the hosts when asked whether losing to President Obama this fall would end Mitt Romney’s political career. “Nor will I.” …After his defeat in the 2008 primary, Romney did not want to run again. “We had to convince him hard to run, my mom and I,” son Tagg Romney said. “I know some people don’t believe us.”
— Ann Romney: If Mitt loses, we’re done with politics
Haha. Ann and Tagg “convinced” the lifetime, permanent, won’t-go-away Robopolitician to run yet again — the guy who talks over everyone in the room, the guy who wants to lower his taxes even more by hiring himself as CEO of U.S. tax law, the guy who feels entitled to the presidency by whatever means necessary… you’re telling us THAT guy had to be convinced, Tagg? You’re right… people won’t believe that.
YES WE CAN make this happen!
Poor Mitt: a hologram for president
“Romney is so inordinately proud of his enormous wealth, which he mentions at every opportunity, that he apparently assumed it would command unquestioned respect from the masses. He’s been actively running for president for six years, but – even to the amazement of Fox News – it never occurred to him that it might not be terribly appealing to American voters that a potential president hoards his millions in the tax shelters of Switzerland and the Cayman Islands. Or that an election year in the midst of an economic recession might not be the moment to spend $12 million renovating his beach house in California, complete with an elevator for his cars. Or that perhaps his wife should have been encouraged to take up another hobby besides $400,000 dressage horses.”
A message from your betters
“The working poor haven’t abdicated responsibility for their lives. They’re drowning in it.”
“The thing about not having much money is you have to take much more responsibility for your life. You can’t pay people to watch your kids or clean your house or fix your meals. You can’t necessarily afford a car or a washing machine or a home in a good school district. That’s what money buys you: goods and services that make your life easier. That’s what money has bought Romney, too. He’s a guy who sold his dad’s stock to pay for college, who built an elevator to ensure easier access to his multiple cars and who was able to support his wife’s decision to be a stay-at-home mom. That’s great! That’s the dream. The problem is that he doesn’t seem to realize how difficult it is to focus on college when you’re also working full time, how much planning it takes to reliably commute to work without a car, or the agonizing choices faced by families in which both parents work and a child falls ill. The working poor haven’t abdicated responsibility for their lives. They’re drowning in it.” — Ezra Klein (via azspot)
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Mitt and Ann Romney wouldn’t last two weeks living ordinary people’s lives. Not when Ann describes the toughest time they’ve had is when they had to sell some stock to allow her to be a stay-at-home mom (serving tuna!!) while Mitt attended Harvard.
What they don’t know, apparently, is that that sounds like a pretty sweet deal to most of us.
Said Mrs. Obama NEVER
image: thepoliticalfreakshow
Not even after all the coordinated birther, Muslim, racist, dog-whistling bullshit from the shock troops on the Right. Not once.
image: gop-circus
