Mitt Romney, who'll likely receive the GOP presidential nomination three months from now in Tampa, spoke to supporters in St. Petersburg today and took several shots at President Obama. (Photo BayNews9)
Posted on 05/16/2012 9:25:03 AM PDT by kristinn
ST. PETERSBURG, FL -- Mitt Romney continued to drive a debt-oriented message here on Wednesday morning, extending his "prairie fire" of debt metaphor with the assistance of a prop.
In a nod to the independent voters who pushed the Sunshine State into the Democratic column in 2008, Romney noted that both parties were responsible for pushing the debt to the "incomprehensible" levels – which were represented on a giant prop debt clock behind him.
"There was another area during [President Obama's] campaign, he said he would focus on. You see, he was very critical of his predecessor for the debts his predecessor put in place. And sure it's true you can't blame one party or the other for all the debts this country has, because both parties in my opinion have spent too much and borrowed too much when they were in power," Romney said in this key swing state.
(Interestingly, Romney danced around the actual name of that predecessor, George W. Bush, who on Tuesday endorsed the former Massachusetts Governor when asked a question by an ABC News reporter.)
"[President Obama] was very critical of his predecessor because the predecessor put together $4 trillion of debt over eight years," Romney continued. "This president however - oh by the way, he said that doing that was unpatriotic, irresponsible and unpatriotic. And he said he would cut the debt in half if he became president. Instead he doubled it, alright, he doubled it."
(Excerpt) Read more at firstread.msnbc.msn.com ...
It’s about time. This clock should be at every speaking opportunity for Romney. I would go so far as to say I would not debate Obama unless this clock is behind them both. The truth hurts doesn’t it!!
“...Whether Romney is sincere is another matter... “
He isn’t.
He doesn’t know the meaning of sincere.
The only diff between RINOmney and the Obamaloon is that RINOmney at least has a measurable IQ.
Very effective. Romney appears to be a much better candidate than McCain - at least so far. Without Palin on the ticket, McCain probably wouldn’t even have been competitive at all.
Will Willard play as dirty with The Won as he’s done with his Republican primary rivals. This will be interesting to watch.
For all Romney's flaws on some issues, I do believe him on the debt. Governors all have to contend with balancing budgets.
I know this is complete heresy, but I would be willing to let at least part of the Bush tax cuts expire IF it was tied to major entitlement reform. We're not going to have 60 conservative votes in the Senate for major entitletment reform standing alone, and so will need to peel away some Dems. To do that, we're going to have to give up something, and I'd give up a bit on tax rates if we got major entitlement reform locked down. Cuts in domestic discretionary spending won't do it because they'll never happen.
Actually, I'd prefer to see comprehensive tax reform including a flat rate, single large deduction, etc., but that's probably expecting too much right now.
He was very smart to use a digital clock.
Our public schools quit teaching how to tell time in the early 1980’s.
Still not scarry enough. Need to show voters the worst case scnerio if we don’t solve this problem right now.
It won’t happen though...entitlement reform will be done for 10 years out so the next politician will just reverse course. And that’s the problem. We need to starve them from money. The debt ceiling is a great way to stop this crap. Just force their hand. Rip the Band-Aid off and fix it. Yes it will hurt but it’s better to hurt now and get it over with vs. a slow painful death.
What scares me about Romney is that I see him as a “competent” Obama.
Anyone know if we will hit the new debt ceiling BEFORE or AFTER election day? Have we seen any refined predictions..
I’m on a liberal site right now arguing what I expect this go round. I make it clear that I will not vote for Romney nor obama, but Romney is a pit bull that will not give Obama a free pass as McCain did.
I mentioned that Romney has been pretty well vetted in the primary process, and that Obama’s vetting by an opponent is just beginning, and he may want to review what happened to Cain to get a glimpse of the future.
With a strong no-nonsense, no-waivering Congress he will be forced politically to keep those promises...and I believe he will. He knows that if he can work with them to engineer a turn around, he will be a shoe-in for four more years as president.
He was certainly not my idea of a GOP candidate this cycle...I was for Palin, Cain, Santorum and then Newt. But he is going to win and is what we have to do battle against the Kenyan Marxist, Obama who is purposefully destroyoing the nation.
For these reasons, I have indicated, that once he actually wins the GOP nomination, here's why I will support Romney to defeat Obama.
The Bush Tax Rate Cuts expanded Economic Activity and resulted in a 35% Increase in Overall Federal Tax Revenues.
(Approximately $1.75 Trillion in 2003 to $2.5 Trillion in 2007)
The Left has succeeded in making a negative out of a positive and most people buy the premise that Tax (Rate) Cuts mean less Tax Revenue.
Another result of the Bush Tax (Rate) Cuts is that the Evil Rich paid a larger percentage of the overall Federal Tax Burden than before. If you listened to the Media and the Democrats, you would think the opposite was true.
Romney is fighting the Obama destruction of our Nation, and I am grateful for that.
McCain NEVER fought Obama on ANYTHING, to include Obama's obvious and true hatred for this Nation.
Using the worst case scenario to scare off people is the easiest way to be rebutted. The MSM can easily find the 'evidence' that such scenario is less likely to happen, and right away it will undermine the credibility of the argument. Using the 'medium' scenario is scary enough, and might not be easy to argue against.
Romney brings a debt clock to every event, while Obama brings his teleprompter. I like it......
I agree with pretty much all you said except without a truly enforceable pay go system going forward as well as a requirement for a balanced budget like most states have, the Dems will spend every bit of a tax increase as well as any savings from a reduction in entitlement programs. Any benefits of hard decisions made by Republicans in power will eventually be squandered by the evil Democrat children in Congress the next cycle they are in power unless they are handcuffed with enforceable balanced budget legislation
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