ROBME's Father's story should be used against him

[Motown_Johnny]

Last edited Sun Jan 22, 2012, 09:35 PM - Edit history (2)

I think we have all seen the video of George Romney ranting about how he was poor as a child and needed the Federal government to feed and house him and his family after they returned from Mexico.

He also released 12 years of tax returns in 1967 and his effective tax rate is reported, by Katrina Vanden Heuvel, to be about 37% ( I can't confirm that right now).


These returns would span an era where we finished paying off the debt from World War 2, fought wars in Korea and Vietnam, built the interstate highway system and built the space program that just a few years later put men on the moon (among other things).

This is a classic American success story. George may have pulled himself up by his bootstraps but it was the federal government that supplied those boots. His tax rate did not prevent him from gaining wealth and was actually creating an economic environment where that type of success was possible. Also the country as a whole didn't just do well, it grew into a superpower that became the leader of the free world.

The story is already written, we just need to tell it in a way that people can understand.




P.S. Katrina sure did get cut off fast as soon as she brought up that 37% rate, and didn't get a chance to speak again for quite a while. I miss Christiane Amanpour. "This Week" was just so much better with her running it.



Edit for accuracy: I said "clothe" when the clip shows he said "housed", my bad.

&feature=related

[CanonRay]

1. Excellent post,100% right

A tip o' the hat.

[Enrique]

2. Santorum as well

Santorum has been talking about his grandfather, who worked in the coal mines, but he never talks about how both of his parents made their livings working for the Federal Government, and how the Federal Government paid for his father's entire education, through the G.I. Bill. His father called the G.I. Bill the greatest gift he ever received.

[CJCRANE]

4. So Santorum advocates for pulling up the ladder

that his family climbed up to prevent others receiving the same opportunities.

That's nice of him.

[Motown_Johnny]

9. I think he is just trying to be next in line for 2016

I'm not worried about Santorum this cycle.

[kittykitty]

3. Help me find source for first paragraph of OP re: needing gov't help

[Motown_Johnny]

8. it is right at the start of this clip from "The Last Word"

&feature=related

[Schema Thing]

5. I have not seen the video you mention.

what was the venue?

[rustydog]

6. "...George may have pulled himself up by his bootstraps

but it was the federal government that supplied those boots."

LOVE this line! GOP doesn't even realize the beauty and simplicity of a helping hand posssibly helping create a better society.

[Louisiana1976]

7. K&R!

[FinsUpTechGuy]

10. Question

I am sure this has been asked/answered many times. How did George run for President since he was born in Mexico? I guess I should ask what would have happened if he won?

Oh and amazing how much sense his republican ideas seem compared the nuts in today's GOP.

[Charlemagne]

11. Looks like

he was out before it was a big deal. Plus he was white and has an anglo sounding name.

When George Romney's Mormonism came up in the 1968 campaign, it tended to be indirectly. His liberal stance on civil rights was occasionally contrasted to his church's position at the time prohibiting African-Americans from the Mormon priesthood. And his birth in a Mormon colony in Mexico drew questions as to whether he was constitutionally eligible to run for president.

The latter was a potentially serious problem for Romney. While he was born of American parents and became an American citizen at birth, legal scholars argued back and forth throughout his presidential campaign whether that was enough to meet the constitutional requirement of being a "natural born citizen." Romney and his advisors insisted that it did, but the issue was never definitively resolved before he quit the race.

http://web.archive.org/web/20080606225654/http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/article.php?id=FRC2007092001


I guess they planned to question it. This article requires a fee. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0B14FA3458137A93C7A8178ED85F438685F9