Romney tries to break up Obama-Clinton ties

Trust me when I tell you, BIll and Hilary Clinton ARE NOT fans of Obama, let's get that out of the way first and foremost. They tolerate each other, but the relationship is at best lukewarm, semi-fridged. Romney doesn't need to do much to put a wedge between him and Obama.

Mitt's just reinforcing his callous rich guy stereotype. Where are his condemnations of big banks and Wall Street? No, his target is poor people on welfare in which the underlying suggestion is lazy people gaming the system. So that's what's ruining the country!

The ad features a former employee at GST Steel who lost his job and health insurance when Bain closed the steel plant in 2001.

Another Bain myth. GST Steel was a failing branch of Armco that was going to be closed in 1993 when Bain bought it. They put roughly 170 million dollars into the mill and kept it running for 8 years until the losses became untenable and the plant closed in 2001. That same year roughly 1/3 of all steel companies in the US went under because of a massive dump of foreign steel hit the market and crashed the entire domestic industry.

Just to inject a little bit of cold hard reality into this heartstring tugging story.

No, his target is poor people on welfare in which the underlying suggestion is lazy people gaming the system.

I believe he was targeting the program that required that anybody collecting welfare take reasonable steps to get a job or get training for a job. Between the waiver program and the other requirements US welfare really is a convoluted and ridiculous system that rewards the lazy.

Since 2010 anti-poverty and welfare spending has increased by 41% with no effect on poverty rates.

This from cncnews

Federal welfare spending in fiscal year 2011 totaled $668 billion, spread out over 126 programs, while the poverty rate that remains high at 15.1 percent, roughly where it was in 1965, when President Johnson declared a federal War on Poverty.

Welfare and anti-poverty as we know it has been a miserable failure. I generally get behind any effort to reform or reduce it.

Oh yeah, and why is Romney STILL hiding his past tax returns from the American people?

The childlike stupidity behind this continued stonewalling is getting worse by the day.

Romney must be pretty stupid if he didn't see this coming and have a plan for it.

Well, he has a plan - it's called stonewalling.

Conservatives would be shrieking if a Democrat candidate did what their candidate is doing now.

Romney's digging his own grave.......

It probably couldn't happen to a nicer person. 

SushiSake3: Oh yeah, and why is Romney STILL hiding his past tax returns from the American people?

Why isn't Obama releasing his school record? Why did Obama seal his school record? Obama promised transparency during his 2008 campaign election, but people like you and Obama would keep harping about Romney tax returns (which Romney did meet the requirement) but not applied the same principle to Obama himself.

SushiSake3: Yes, she was beaten by candidate Obama, but look at her now - her prestige and reputation are sky high because president Obama picked her (let's face it - that took guts) for a top job in his administration.She's set the bar for women worldwide because of Obama's decision to pick her for his inner circle.

It goes to show that Obama picked Clinton to get her supporters through her. It's not about guts it's about politics.

Skipbeat - "Why isn't Obama releasing his school record."

Lol! Nice to see someone has a sense of humor.

Keep it up. :-)

I know - why didn't Obama release his piano lesson records?

No! They'd doom his presidency. Comic reading records.....?

How's about soccer scoring records!? :-)

Skipbeat, I'm going to pretend you were serious just for argument's sake, even though I know you were joking when you brought up school records (funny, though. :-)

Not paying taxes is am offence.

When is the GOP going to put up their real candidate for president?

Mitt, like McCain and Palin, is a laughing stock.

Some people never learn. :-)

Republican challenger Mitt Romney tried Tuesday to drive a wedge between President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton, who has taken an increasingly prominent role in Obama’s re-election effort with three months left until the election.

The Associated Press is showing their biased here. Romney isn't driving a wedge between Obama and Clinton. Romney stated the facts which Clinton signed welfare reform which Obama is doing away with it on a federal level which the article says, "Obama's The White House said Obama’s decision last month to change welfare requirements gives states the flexibility they have been asking for to make the program more efficient."

The Associated Press and all media press with the exception of FN and conservative media will go to bat for Obama. The people on JT who supports Obama will go to bat for him even if the facts says otherwise.

Obama doesn't want to create jobs and provide welfare on a federal level instead Obama is passing the responsbility to the states.

Obama campaign spokesman Lis Smith said Romney was “not telling the truth” in his attacks.

What about Obama's afforable care act which Obama is “not telling the truth” when he is saying it is not a tax.

SushiSake3: Skipbeat, I'm going to pretend you were serious just for argument's sake, even though I know you were joking when you brought up school records (funny, though. :-)

Since you think it is a joke then it shouldn't be so hard for Obama to release his school record. School record is all about grades and courses he took in college. College courses is to make a person more rounded about life. For example, taking an art class when the person have no skills in drawing or painted is suppose to make the person more rounded when it comes to art. For whatever reasons Obama is refusing to release it.

Not paying taxes is am offence.

Indeed it is. But considering that Romney is not currently being audited by the IRS I believe thats a fair assumption that he hasn't done anything illegal or having the appearance of being illegal on his tax returns.

I also agree with the Romney campaign's stance that releasing the tax returns would only serve to muddy the issue further. Your average person isn't trained to understand how high level finance works and releasing that much raw information into the media would be an endless source for misinformation.

Mitt, like McCain and Palin, is a laughing stock.

You forgot to add Obama and Biden to the list. They're all hacks as far as I'm concerned. I honestly hope that Obama and Romney are both single term presidents and that it will lead to a couple strong independant candidates for the next election cycle.

Skipbeat, you might find this quote by Mark Twain interesting -

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”

An interesting scenario would be for H.Clinton to replace Biden on the Dem ticket. Romney's support is lukewarm, except for LSD members, it seems. Then, some falseflag event might happen resulting in a Johnsonesque moment resulting in the Clintons returning to the Big House. Just what Hillary wanted. And the sheep would be none the wiser, just more sheepish.

And the sheep would be none the wiser, just more sheepish.

Better a sheep than a Republican.

I think Jon Huntsman has a better chance of ensuring a GOP victory this November. 

Perhaps Mitt should step aside for the good of the party?

Conservatives as a whole don't like him.

He doesn't really like them either - shown by his past voting record which has been all over the map.

Maybe bring back Sarah Palin? She'd fire up the base.

The base sure needs firing up to 'LIKE' Mitt.

In fact, the way most conservatives 'like' Mitt is the same as Facebook users 'like' people they've never met.

Oh yeah, and why is Romney STILL hiding his past tax returns from the American people?

The childlike stupidity behind this continued stonewalling is getting worse by the day.

Romney must be pretty stupid if he didn't see this coming and have a plan for it.

Well, he has a plan - it's called stonewalling.

Conservatives would be shrieking if a Democrat candidate did what their candidate is doing now.

Romney's digging his own grave.......

It probably couldn't happen to a nicer person.

@Sushi

Why on Earth would Romney show more than 2 years of taxes?? You know full well, if he did, Dems would want to then ask for 10 years, 20 years and on and on, NO WAY, I wouldn't do it either. It's a trap and the Dems would run with it. Like bigmouth Reid who accused Romney for holding out on paying his taxes. How the hell would he know that, huh? How? Reid is NOT that dumb, well, yeah he is...but he just doesn't care! Reid is no stranger for not paying any taxes and he needs to either shut up or show proof. So, good on Romney, stall if you have to, I would do the same, anyone with a brain knows giving what the Dems want, plays into their hands. Obama didn't show his birth certificate and rightly so, I am NOT a fan of Obama, but the birthers that constantly called for his BC, I thought he was idiotic and a waste of time and no doubt a witch hunt! I never doubted Obama wasn't an American, but I always knew he was a socialist to the core. Having said that, I feel the same about Romney, don't give these crazy Dems what they want.

Bass, "Why on Earth would Romney show more than 2 years of taxes??"

So you openly encourage stonewalling and lack of transparency? See why  people have trouble trusting Romney??

Bass "Obama didn't show his birth certificate and rightly so."

He did. You very likely saw it. 

Are you purposely trying to deceive Japan Today readers?

Bass "Obama didn't show his birth certificate and rightly so."

The only reason I can think of as to why a conservative like yourself would say this is you watch Fox News

So you openly encourage stonewalling and lack of transparency? See why people have trouble trusting Romney??

Obama was stonwalling to show his birth certificate, when the birthers were asking for it and why not, the state of Hawaii confirmed that he was born there and that it has the state seal, so that's proof enough for me, for many it's not. The same applies to Romney. He showed two years and that should suffice. Why? How is it going to impact your life in ANY way knowing what and how much money Romney has. I'm assuming it won't, so I think you should get over it.

Bass "Obama didn't show his birth certificate and rightly so."

Yes, and Romny showed two years, it's enough.

He did. You very likely saw it.

I'm a realist, I always believed he was a citizen, unlike Liberals that just can't stand to see any conservative fair in any aspects of life or wanting them to have any money, if they have billions, then it must have been gained through illegal ways.

Are you purposely trying to deceive Japan Today readers?

No, but it seems like you want to deceive JT readers into thinking that Romney is THE worst criminal in the world and that the current US President is the holiest person to have ever walked the Earth, let alone the WH.

@Sushi

The only reason I can think of as to why a conservative like yourself would say this is you watch Fox News

I was using that as an example to show comparisons how both sides can be nutty at times, usually the liberal side more so, but when it came to the birther vs Showing more than 2 years of tax records there is a slight correlation here. Besides this is politics, why should Romney hold back and pull punches, he is trying to defeat Obama, the same way Obama wants to keep his job. You expect politics to be civil and kind, having a Kumbaya powwow??? Like my father said, "if you want to be an honest hard working person, never get into politics!" Just ask Rob Blagojevich....by the way, he's a Democrat too.

But the new Romney ad criticizes Obama for removing work requirements from federal welfare regulations, a key element of Clinton’s 1996 welfare reforms.

Apparently President Obama has once again been doing some evolving on an issue:

During the 2008 presidential campaign, pastor Rick Warren asked Senator Barack Obama if he had changed his mind on any substantive issue in the past decade. Obama’s answer: welfare reform. Obama said he initially thought President Clinton’s 1996 welfare-reform bill would have disastrous results. By 2008, he was “absolutely convinced” that the work-centered approach in Clinton’s law must be “the centerpiece of any social policy.”

http://swampland.time.com/2012/07/31/new-welfare-reform-directive-creates-unlikely-political-issue-for-obama/

Bass - "Obama was stonwalling to show his birth certificate,"

Stonewalling? How many other U.S. presidents have been asked to produce their birth certidicates?

That was a ridiculous, demeaning charade.

Bass - "The same applies to Romney. He showed two years and that should suffice. Why? How is it going to impact your life in ANY way knowing what and how much money Romney has."

You're going way off track here.

Two years? Why should Romney show more than two years worth of tax records? His own father set the precedent of doing so in 1968. I think every presidential candidate since has followed suit.

Then comes Romney - who clams up and tells "the people" they can't see them.

If he's got something to hide, he's making it pretty damn obvious.

It's not how much money Romney has that's the issue - it's whether he paid taxes on all of it.

I think you're smart enough to know this is the issue.

@Sushi

Stonewalling? How many other U.S. presidents have been asked to produce their birth certidicates?

None. And as I said, I never bought into the whole birther thing for a minute, unlike most liberals, could see what was going on and although I think Obama is an Snake oil salesman, I believed he was an American. I thought the whole was a waste of time as I do now with Mitt and his taxes.

That was a ridiculous, demeaning charade.

Right back at you, buddy.

You're going way off track here

Just like Obama and Reid are going off track, slide stepping the issue, because they cannot run on the economy! 8.3% unemployment and that's acceptable? The country is ready to implode, but what you're telling me, you need to know what Mitt paid on his taxes, that's more important than the economy?? Waaaaay off track!

Two years? Why should Romney show more than two years worth of tax records? His own father set the precedent of doing so in 1968. I think every presidential candidate since has followed suit.

That was his father! That's not Romney and shouldnt have to. Reid making the outlandish claim that Mitt didn't pay any taxes is so over the top, when called on it. Reid wouldn't or couldn't provide any proof whatsoever to back that claim.

Then comes Romney - who clams up and tells "the people" they can't see them.

Not people, Dems the media and liberals want to see them for obvious reasons.

If he's got something to hide, he's making it pretty damn obvious.

You don't know that, I don't know that, you are just speculating, if you have no proof based on hardcore facts, then you should refrain from saying something outrageous like that. I mean, does Obama and Eric Holder have something to hide?

It's not how much money Romney has that's the issue - it's whether he paid taxes on all of it.

He said, he did and I'm taking his word for it.

I think you're smart enough to know this is the issue.

Oh, you got that right!

Are you sure this guys real name is Mitt and not TWIT?

@Export

Are you sure this guys real name is Mitt and not TWIT?

Yep, as I am sure that NBC stands for: National Barack Channel

SushiSake3: Then comes Romney - who clams up and tells "the people" they can't see them. If he's got something to hide, he's making it pretty damn obvious.

Obama haven't release his school record. He sealed it. Obama have used executive privilege on Fast and Furious.

In keeping with the loony fake issue republican response to mitt not paying taxes for over a decade I demand that Obama open up his album record collection I suspect he has an ABBA LP in there Of all the misfits in the republican primary Mitt McBain is turning out to be the worst pick. It is hard to believe it but he is more of a screw up than bush. No easy task.

"Obama haven't release his school record. He sealed it. Obama have used executive privilege on Fast and Furious."

Romney also refuses to release the same, along with his tax returns, which can at this stage only be considered as damaging.

Did you have a point?

Zurc,

"It is hard to believe it but he is more of a screw up than bush. No easy task."

He'd have to be elected to screw that up. Employment imploded in the US around the year 2000 but the repubs are shrieking at Obama....

Go figure.

zurcronium: In keeping with the loony fake issue republican response ...

How can it be a "loony fake issue republican respons" when he have not release his school record. The left gripped about Bush's school record. Bush did released his school record. Obama have sealed his school record.

It is not a "loony fake issue republican respons." when Obama sealed information on Fast and Furious?

Call it whatever you like, the facts speaks for itself.

Madverts:Romney also refuses to release the same, along with his tax returns, which can at this stage only be considered as damaging. Did you have a point?

The point is what is good for Obama is good for Romney. Why are you playing favoritism?

Anyone thinking Obama faked his school records needs their heads examining, just like the Birther cranks.

All that American bravado about patriotism, yet Mr Romney refuses to be transparent about his tax returns other than the past two years wgen he knew he was running for president?

It has lead to recent allegations that Romney might not have paid any tax at all.....

Yes, the school records are a fake issue made up by rove and fox to try to create a offsetting issue to mitt not paying taxes for over a decade.

The republicans spent four years saying Obama was born in Kenya, totally fake issue, but because most republicans are unable to discern the truth from fiction the issue went on and on. School records are more of the same. Obama has released all of his taxes, no question, Mitts Dad released all of his taxes when he ran for President, no question. Mitt, he didn't pay taxes for a decade using shady off shore accounts to dodge his payments to his country. That is the truth.

bass4funkAug. 09, 2012 - 12:32AM JST

@Export

Are you sure this guys real name is Mitt and not TWIT?

Yep, as I am sure that NBC stands for: National Barack Channel

Then you just eliminating yourself from all other US channels and only watch Fox (propaganda station) then. The problem of Romney campaign is that he has no packages for change, and he runs the same old message over and over like a broken record. That's not what Americans want to hear.

All media TV stations including NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN are following Obama as he has something to say while Romney does not have any policy packages.. We will not going backward, rather we want to move forward. It is nothing to do with media. Romney has to come up with solid packages, so media can follow him and we can follow him. Hs message is getting old.

Why isn't Obama releasing his school record? Why did Obama seal his school record?

Bhahaha, it will backfire Romney. He was not a scholor.

MadvertsAug. 09, 2012 - 12:06PM JST :Anyone thinking Obama faked his school records needs their heads examining, All that American bravado about patriotism, yet Mr Romney refuses to be transparent about his tax returns other than the past two years wgen he knew he was running for president? It has lead to recent allegations that Romney might not have paid any tax at all.....

Nobody is saying "Obama faked his school records" here per se you saying that. Transparencey should be applied to both Obama and Romney. You can not pick and choose who should be transparent. According to you it is okay for Obama not to, but Romney must when he had already met the requirement.

Your last comment lacks proof.