Donald Trump on "Meet the Press" with Chuck Todd: The world is so unfair to Americans, but now comes the Donald to fix everything, and he will bully the world into submission

By Patrick

OK, I just listened to the extensive new interview with Donald Trump on "Meet the Press", where Trump talks to Chuck Todd, and the interview is truly revealing. However, it is not really worth to get into too much detail, because the pattern is always the same: It's Donald Trump and the USA against the rest of the world. Also, he is still a Obama-birther, can you believe it.

Chuck Todd was doing a pretty good job during this interview in my opinion, but he avoided to talk about a few "hot issues" in detail, for example about the Fox News controversy and the "Mexico sends us their rapists" controversy.

Basically, if you want to turn the USA into a fascist nation, then Donald Trump has to be your first choice. He wants to take on everybody, friends and foes alike: Iran, Asia in general, China, ISIS, Europe (Germany in particular), Russia, Saudi Arabia, Mexico - and these are only the countries he actually names in the interview!

There seems to be no country in the world that the Donald does actually like. Also, according to Trump, the world should reimburse the USA, for all the great things the country is doing all over the world.

This interview is truly shocking. It does not bother Trump at all that his explanations are full of contradictions, and devoid of any knowledge about world affairs. The only thing that the Donald knows is that virtually all other countries in the world are out to get the USA and want to do harm to the USA, for selfish reasons, of course. According to him, lots of other countries steal jobs from Americans, and of course he will take the jobs back to the USA (how he will do this, remains his secret).

Trump also wants to invade Iraq again in order to fight ISIS, and of course it would totally pay for itself, because the USA will pay this new war with the oil they will...well, loot, after the invasion. Trump is not bothered by the fact that this concept already failed once before.

Also, what will the people of Iraq will think about the fact that the USA wants to claim their oil? Trump does not care, as he does not care about anyone else, apart from Donald Trump. The world of Donald Trump is a very simple world.

So, if you want a big American bully for President, then Donald Trump is your first choice.

He also blatantly lied about Ronald Reagan in this interview, in order to paint himself as a great Republican, saying the he liked Ronald Reagan, and Ronald Reagan liked him.

I really wished that a journalist would confront Donald Trump one day with this excerpt from his 1989 book "The Art of the Deal", in which Trump compared Ronald Reagan to a con man and ridiculed him, stating that seven years after Reagan's election "people are beginning to question whether there's anything beneath that smile."

On abortion, women won't have much too smile about under a Trump administration, as their right to choose would virtually vanish, but do not despair, because at least Trump knows "the importance of women." In Trumps world, they surely are incredibly important, because from time to time every man needs to stick in his dick into something, and women come in handy in this respect, especially since they also look very nice and can be shown around (I hope I do not need a SNARK sign here...).

What else was there? Yes, Donald Trump doesn't like NATO either, and these lazy Germans are not leading regarding the Russia/Ukraine conflict, according to Trump. Apparently, he does either not know or not care about the fact that the Germans and other European nations were in fact leading in brokering a peace deal in February 2015, in order to avoid an European war, but I guess that in Donald Trump's world, peace is simply a very boring thing. We want the fireworks, and the total submission of the enemy! USA, USA, TRUMP, TRUMP!

Watch the interview:



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BONUS:

NBC also has a "bonus-clip" with Chuck Todd on Donald Trump's place, in which Trump explains his insane "immigration plan."

In case you didn't know yet, "Mexico should pay for the wall."

Also, all the illegal immigrants "have to go."

So, apart from taking on virtually the whole world, Donald Trump will also deport 13 million people from the USA.

Sounds like a winning concept, for sure.

Watch the clip:



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UPDATE:

Just a few days ago, the BBC conducted an excellent interview with famous British TV-presenter Selina Scott, and her shocking experiences with Donald Trump. This clip is an absolute must-see, and unfortunately only received little attention so far.

Watch the clip:

More background:

A scary misogynist who sees nothing wrong in stalking somebody/anybody with his ridiculous opinions of himself. As Scott says in today's Sunday Times, Megyn Kelly got off lightly compared to her - she says he has an ego "the size of the Empire State" and "is as ridiculous as his thatch of hair". BBC TV presenter Selina Scott has had problems with Donald Trump for a long time - since 1995.

It all began when Ms Scott broadcast what she calls a "realistic" profile of the business tycoon, who is now running for US president. (This DVD was sent anonymously to councillors in Aberdeenshire to warn them what they were getting into if Trump were to purchase land for a golf course - which they ignored). He then started sending her letters rubbishing her looks and questioning her morality, and still brought it up years later, she told the BBC's Newsnight.

In a new interview, Sarah Palin declares that she will run for President...or maybe not, who knows? Todd, do you know? Todd, I am talking to you??? UPDATE: Cassandra Wain divorced Dakota Meyer because he displayed troubling signs of PTSD

By Patrick

We have had so much entertainment during the last few weeks, so let's get some more where this came from, shall we.

Sarah Palin has turned the "act of teasing to run for President" into an art form, and now we are being offered another version of "I might just run! Maybe, well, you don't know!", because it's apparently such a hit show!

Last Saturday website "Extra TV" conducted an interview with Sarah Palin on the historic battleship USS Iowa, which is anchored in Los Angeles. On Monday, the website published the part of the interview which dealt with the cancelled marriage between Bristol Palin and Dakota Meyer.

Today, Extra TV published another part of the interview, in which they ask Sarah what she thinks about the Republican presidential candidates so far, and whether she will run for President herself.

Well, her answer developed into one of her very famous word salads, and it is almost admirable how she at first made it seem that she REALLY MAYBE will run for President. However, after being put on the spot by the reporter, she then immediately took it all back again, leaving everybody confused, although some of her fans will be overjoyed, without any doubt. Doesn't it sound like she will run? Doesn't it???

Sarah's main "job" these days is trying to attract donors to SarahPAC, and she really tries to go all the way. Yes, MAYBE she will run, and like she says, "NOW IS THE TIME" to make "SACRIFICES", to "PUT YOURSELF FORWARD"....if, well if it wasn't such a "huge commitment", and if there weren't all these things in the way, like "family", "time" and "resources", as Sarah helpfully explains.

Also, Todd, standing next to her, is of no help at all.

Go to the page of Extra TV to watch the clip, as it is not possible to embed it.

Typically Sarah truly is a "hot mess", as our readers like to call her.
Her word-salad sing-sang voice is truly unique, we give her that. She truly is the Sarah Palin of all the Sarah Palin's in the world.

The Palin-fans, they need to be kept happy, and they desperately need to open their wallets.

Yes, "commensense conservatives", give your money to Sarah, she really, really needs it!!!

OK, what is missing here? Oh yes, a screenshot from the interview! And what a screenshot that is! Please make good use of it, folks!

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We are having way too much fun again:

UPDATE:

The Daily Mail  today revealed that a close friend of Dakota Meyer's ex Cassandra Wain divorced him because he was displaying signs of PTSD. 

This information will come as no surprise to those of us who are aware that after his return from his first tour of duty in Iraq Dakota was already drinking so heavily that he was told to "knock it off" by his Platoon Sargeant. (Into The Fire, Meyer and West, pgs 41, 42)

Ms Wain is said to have been upset by Meyer's display of troubling PTSD symptoms and that she was "lonely" and felt "stuck" on Hawaii when Meyer was deployed back to Iraq almost "immediately after the marriage".

You can read the rest of the details here.

Infamous quitter Sarah Palin gives interview to infamous disgraced "Christian" activist and former Abramoff associate Ralph E. Reed and provides one of the most hilarious quotes of the year, while promoting her new book about Christmas!

By Patrick

The proof: Sarah Palin can see Santa Claus from her house! (picture from 2008)

What can you say! What a big surprise on a Saturday night! From time to time, I like to search youtube for the latest clips of ex-Governor "Granny Grifter" Sarah Palin - well, "just because", you never know! One might find a clip which has been overlooked so far, ideally containing ridiculous quotes in a situation riddled with hypocrisy - and today, I found exactly what I was looking for! It feels like I have received an early Christmas present!

As we have already pretty much forgotten, Sarah Palin made a screech in June at an event of the "Faith and Freedom Coalition." The dubious background of these self-appointed super-Christians got barely noticed back then. However, this is going to change right now! 

These "Christians" were so incredibly proud of Sarah Palin being at their event that they posted a short interview with her on youtube a few days ago. Sarah is being interviewed by none other  than Ralph E. Reed, the founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition. One of the original moral majority. And he and Sarah have a lot in common as he himself is in the same top-ranking grifter category as the Quitter from Alaska, as we can see below!

This interview is noteworthy for another "epic" quote by Sarah Palin. As expected she delivers and her jumbled thoughts go astray yet again. This time in a weird, disjointed and disastrous botched attempt to appear humorous (that is at least what I think, and which really is the best one can say in her favor in this case).

Watch the interview:

Where to start?

The hair!!! OMG...no more needs to be said.

Anyway - here is the quote, starting from 1:05, when Palin discusses her new book about Christmas::

Quote:

"Oh it's gonna be a great Christmas book, lots of nice festive joyful things within the book, like recipes and traditions of our family that are probably pretty unique, because we are from Alaska, and live near the North Pole, so we have access to Santa Claus and all the good things that come with Christmas."

I mean, come on! You couldn't make up such a Palin-quote! It's a gift! Sarah Palin invokes close proximity to Santa in her bid to prove that Christ is the center of Christmas. Much in the same way as proximity to Russia makes her a defense expert, Sarah seems to imply that proximity to Santa means that she is an expert on the traditions of Christmas. Or something!

However, this interview also provides us with an excellent opportunity to take a closer look at one of  Sarah Palin's new "associations" - namely Ralph E. Reed, who founded the Faith and Freedom Coalition in 2009 and asks the questions in the interview.

Well, let's start with another quote by Sarah Palin, in an interview with Bill O'Reilly from 2010:

In the interview, Palin said, after being asked about "Obama's Pastor" Reverend Wright:

"Well, I believe that it is not negative campaigning or off-based to call someone out on their associations."

So let's take a quick look at Sarah Palin's new friend, Ralph E. Reed!

Wikipedia reveals a lot of very, very interesting information regarding Ralph E. Reed. He was, for example, in the past a close business associate of infamous lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and supported  some of Jack Abramoff's shady deals, for which Abramoff and several others were then later sent to prison.

From Wikipedia:

Reed was named in the scandal arising from lobbying work performed by Jack Abramoff on behalf of Indian gambling tribes. E-mails released by federal investigators in June 2005 revealed that Reed secretly accepted payments from Abramoff to lobby against Indian casino gambling and oppose an Alabama education lottery. Additional e-mails released in November 2005 show that Reed also worked for another Abramoff client seeking to block a congressional ban on Internet gambling. These cases are being investigated by multiple federal and state grand juries and by the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. Abramoff pleaded guilty to three felony counts in federal court, raising the prospects of Abramoff testifying against others.

Those e-mails and other evidence revealed the participation of the Christian Coalition in the alleged fraud, particularly the Alabama chapter of the Christian Coalition, which received large amounts of donations from the casino money. It is alleged that Abramoff engaged Reed to set up an anti-gambling campaign to include the U.S. Family Network, the Christian Coalition, and Focus on the Family in order to frighten the tribes into spending as much as $82 million for Abramoff to lobby on their behalf. To represent him in connection with the scandal, Reed retained defense attorney W. Neil Eggleston of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP. Eggleston served as White House associate counsel during the administration of President Bill Clinton.

In December 2005, three Texas public interest groups filed a complaint with Travis County Attorney David Escamilla on December 1, 2005, alleging that Reed failed to register as a lobbyist in 2001 or 2002 when he was working for Abramoff. Escamilla said on March 27, 2006 "his office had concluded its investigation -- but that a two-year statute of limitations on misdemeanors from 2001 and 2002 had expired."

On June 22, 2006 the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs released its final report on the scandal.

The report states that under the guidance of the Mississippi Choctaw tribe's planner, Nell Rogers, the tribe agreed to launder money because "Ralph Reed did not want to be paid directly by a tribe with gaming interests." It also states that Reed used non-profits, like Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform, as pass-throughs to disguise the origin of the funds, and that "the structure was recommended by Jack Abramoff to accommodate Mr. Reed’s political concerns."

The "Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal", one of the main reasons why Jack Abramoff was ultimately convicted and sent to prison for six years, has its own, very detailed page at Wikipedia. The introduction reads like this:

The Jack Abramoff Native American lobbying scandal is a United States political scandal relating to the work performed by political lobbyists Jack Abramoff, Ralph E. Reed, Jr., Grover Norquist and Michael Scanlon on Native American casino gambling interests for an estimated $85 million in fees. Abramoff and Scanlon grossly overbilled their clients, secretly splitting the multimillion-dollar profits. In one case, they were secretly orchestrating lobbying against their own clients in order to force them to pay for lobbying services.

More from the excellent Wikipedia page about the scandal:

Abramoff and his partner Scanlon are alleged to have engaged in a series of corrupt practices in connection to their lobbying work for various Indian gaming tribes. The fees paid to Abramoff and Scanlon for this work are believed to exceed $85 million.

In particular, Abramoff and Scanlon were alleged to have conspired with Washington power broker Grover Norquist and Christian activist Ralph Reed to coordinate lobbying against his own clients and prospective clients with the objective of forcing them to engage Abramoff and Scanlon to lobby against their own covert operations. Reed was paid to campaign against gambling interests that competed with Abramoff clients. Norquist served as a go-between by funneling money to Reed.

Allegation of double dealing

On June 22, 2000, Susan Ralston e-mailed Abramoff, "I have 3 checks from elot: (1) 2 checks for $80K payable to ATR and (2) 1 check to TVC for $25K," [...] "Let me know exactly what to do next. Send to Grover? Send to Rev. Lou?"

Thus eLottery money went through Norquist's foundation, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), the Faith and Family Alliance, and Reed's company, Century Strategies, while the last check was sent to Sheldon's Traditional Values Coalition (TVC).

In 2000, Abramoff forced the Choctaws to give the Alabama Christian Coalition of America $1.15 million in installments. Norquist agreed to pass the money on to the Coalition and another Alabama antigambling group, both of which Reed was mobilizing for the fight against a proposed Alabama state lottery.

In 2002, after Abramoff worked with Reed to close the casino of the Tigua tribe, he persuaded the tribe to hire him to lobby Congress to reopen the casino.

Of the $7.7 million Abramoff and Scanlon charged the Choctaw for projects in 2001, they spent $1.2 million on their behalf and split the rest in a scheme they called "gimme five."

The 2006 report by the U.S. Senate Committee about this scandal reveals more - and Ralph E. Reed is given a very prominent role in the report.

The "contents" of the 2006 report explain some of the main facts and make it abundantly clear that Ralph E. Reed played a very prominent role in the "Abramoff-scandals":

Excerpt from the report:

Substantial Fees and Conduits – Setting the Stage for Scanlon

As the Tribe’s trust and confidence in Abramoff grew, Rogers would often discuss with Abramoff issues affecting the Tribe, both at a local and national level. In 1999, Rogers and Abramoff discussed various legislative proposals in Mississippi and elsewhere that threatened the market share of the Choctaw’s casino operations, and which the Tribe wanted to somehow counter. It just so happened that a few months earlier, Ralph Reed, the former executive director of the Christian Coalition and one of Abramoff’s long-time friends, had reached out to Abramoff: “Hey, now that I’m done with electoral politics, I need to start humping in corporate accounts! I’m counting on you to help me with some contacts.” Abramoff saw an opportunity: he suggested a grassroots effort and recommended the Choctaw hire Reed to orchestrate an anti- gaming effort.

The Tribe agreed to hire Reed to mobilize grassroots opposition to various legislative proposals throughout the Gulf Coast that would have increased gaming, thereby diminishing the Choctaw casino’s market share. No one from the Choctaw had any direct contact with Reed; rather, Abramoff served as the liaison with Reed and his firm, which eventually became a subcontractor to Preston Gates.

In March 1999, Abramoff and his associate, Shawn Vasell, spoke with Reed about the Choctaw’s grassroots needs. According to a draft engagement letter from Reed to Abramoff, Reed was hired to defeat a bill that had passed the Alabama House of Representatives “authorizing dog tracks in the state to install video poker and other casino-style games on their sites.” Reed promised to “build a strong grassroots network across the state against the extension of video poker and [REDACTION].” He claimed that no firm had better relationships than his with the grassroots conservatives in Alabama, including the Alabama Christian Coalition, the Alabama Family Alliance, the Alabama Eagle Forum, the Christian Family Association, and “leading evangelical pastors such as Frank Barker of Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham.” Reed boasted that “Century Strategies has on file over 3,000 pastors and 90,000 religious conservative households in Alabama that can be accessed in this effort.”

So Ralph E. Reed was selling his "believers" as his own private "Christian" PR-army to Jack Abramoff in order to support his criminal dealings.

He did not do this for free, of course, but received a handsome fee. Ralph E. Reed is obviously a very talented grifter, just like Queen Sarah from Alaska. It should come as no surprise that they both like each other!

More from the 2006 report:

On April 6, 1999, Abramoff informed Reed that he “spoke with our managing partner [at Preston Gates] and he has approved the subcontractor arrangement” and instructed Reed to “get me invoices as soon as possible so I can get Choctaw to get us checks asap.” When Abramoff believed he could not get money quickly enough to Reed, Abramoff suggested that the Choctaw pay Reed directly: “Ralph, I am not sure that I can get this wire moving fast enough today. Give me your wire info and I’ll do what I can.” Abramoff then asked, “Any chance that a wire from Choctaw directly would be OK?” Reed’s response is unknown; however, the Committee has seen no evidence that the Choctaw paid Reed or his firms.

By mid-April, things were moving. In an e-mail entitled “Disbursement on behalf of Choctaw Indians,” Abramoff assured Reed that the money was on its way. Using the Choctaw’s money, Reed paid for grassroots activities including, telemarketing (patch-through, tape-recorded messages and call-to-action phone calls), targeted mail, legislative counsel and local management, rallies, petitions, “voter contact, television and radio production, the remainder of phones, the statewide fly-around, the pastor’s and activist rally, the church bulletin inserts, and other items.”

Reed also claimed that he was leveraging his contacts within the Christian community for the Choctaw’s benefit. Reed reported to Abramoff that there would be “a saturation statewide radio buy with a new ad by Jim Dobson that he will record tomorrow.” Reed assured Abramoff, “We are opening the bomb bay doors and holding nothing back. If victory is possible, we will achieve it,” and, one day later, again promised, “All systems are go on our end and nothing is being held back.”

By May 10, 1999, the Choctaw had paid Reed $1,300,000 through Preston Gates, with another $50,000 outstanding. For reasons unclear to the Committee, in late 1999 the Tribe discontinued paying Reed through Preston Gates. Rogers recalled that there came a time when either Reed or Preston Gates (or both) became uneasy about money being passed through Preston Gates to Reed. Abramoff thus searched for another conduit.

In the exhibits to the report, extensive email-correspondence between Abramoff and Reed can be found - examples (click to enlarge):

In 2010, a feature film starring Kevin Spacey as Jack Abramoff was released. The movie is based on the real events and has the title "Casino Jack." 

Also in 2010, a documentary film about the Abramoff scandals was released. It is called "Casino Jack and the United States of Money" and is available in full on youtube - where it only got little attention so far. 

Here it is - this is a brilliant, devastating documentary, an absolute must-see - and it not only prominently features Ralph E. Reed, but also for example the corrupt scumbag Grover Norquist, who is still around:

So this is the caliber of Sarah Palin's latest "association!" Just wonderful, isn't it?

Still, we can be comforted in the knowledge that at the very least Sarah Palin will ensure that Santa Claus and Christ won't be taken out of Christmas! That surely is a real relief, and a great service for humanity. Please give Governor PayMe a medal or something, and let her give another speech, for her $ 90,000 standard fee, pretty please! She has a lot of Christmas presents to buy (and names lists from Mr Reed  do not come cheap) so she needs the money, the poor woman!

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UPDATE:

Our reader "Got a life" was inspired and created this wonderful photo montage, which is just perfect for the content of our post:

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UPDATE 2:

Bill Moyers summarized the disgraceful "Mariana Islands episode" in an article at Huffington Post from 2012. This Mariana Islands PR-scandal is also explained in great detail in the excellent documentary film I posted above.

Excerpt from Bill Moyer's article:

As head of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, Reed boasts he's building a political dynamo of five million members with a massive database, an annual budget of $100 million and full-time lobbyists in all fifty state capitals, a colossal effort aimed at putting in place a right-wing social agenda and identifying and establishing contact with what it estimates as 27 million conservative voters in America. As you can imagine, with clout like that, Reed and his coalition were in high cotton at the Tampa convention.

Which brings us to that curious Mariana Islands minimum wage plank in the Republican platform. Some years ago, our government made an effort to clean up sweatshops on the islands -- including Saipan -- that have been under the control of the United States since the end of World War II.

Chinese women were brought over to the islands to work under awful conditions -- subject to forced abortions and prostitution and paid pennies for producing garments labeled "Made in the USA."

Corrupt local officials hired the firm of infamous lobbyist Jack Abramoff -- for more than four million dollars -- to try to stop the reforms proposed back in Washington. Abramoff, in turn, hired Ralph Reed and his political direct mail company, Millennium Marketing, to conduct a phony grass roots campaign urging Alabama Christians to write their local congressman to oppose the reforms.

Of course, Reed didn't tell those Christians he was being paid to help keep running sweatshops that exploited women. Instead, he told them the reforms were a trick orchestrated by the left and organized labor. Limits on Chinese workers would keep them from being "exposed to the teachings of Jesus Christ." His company explained it was just trying to encourage "grass roots citizens to promote the propagation of the Gospel" and that many of the workers were "converted to the Christian faith and return to China with Bibles in hand."

What is Important to Mitt Romney, and What is Not (Subtitle: Brass)

by Blueberry T

Quite a few fact checkers have written about the many dubious claims in Mitt Romney’s RNC speech.   Suffice it to say that there were a fair number of whoppers, and even more misleading statements that misrepresent his own role and position, and that of the GOP, in creating the economic crisis in America and toward women, workers and immigrants.  Here are some of the fact-checks from the MSM: Washington Post,  ABC News, MSNBC; then there was Bill Clinton's virtuoso performance at the DNC, debunking the GOP mythology, point by point.  

h/t to NJfan 

What I want to focus on is Mitt Romney’s remarkable statement, in an interview with Fox News, that he didn’t mention or thank the troops in his acceptance speech because the speech was not “a laundry list” and he only mentioned what is “important.”  Well, that statement speaks for itself; it is always good to know what a candidate for President thinks is really important, and Romney is rarely so forthcoming about what he really thinks.  Given Romney’s own personal history of supporting the draft during Vietnam,  but then serving his church in France rather than serving his country, I think it is fair to look at what Romney considers more important than thanking U.S. troops who are in harms way as they try to finish two wars that George W. Bush (and the neo-cons that are now Romney’s advisors) started.  After all, he is running for Commander-in-Chief, for Pete’s sake!

What I want to look at is what he considered important enough to include in the speech, so much so that he could not fit in a mention of the troops serving in harm’s way.  (I assume it’s obvious that he could have made the speech a few seconds longer to add a small personal tribute, if he had actually considered this “important.”  His excuse doesn’t pass the straight face test, except on Fox News.) 

I went through Romney’s speech to see what he did take the time to mention.  Here are some of the things that Mitt Romney considered more important, by including them in his speech, than acknowledging U.S. troops and their families and thanking them for their service:

• Romney likes the way Paul Ryan “lights up around his kids. And how he's not embarrassed to show the world how much he loves his mom.”
• Romney: “I still like the playlist on my iPod better than yours” (meaning Ryan’s). 
• He said: “My dad had been born in Mexico [but omits reason why].  And his family had to leave during the Mexican revolution.  I grew up with stories of his family being fed by the U.S. government as war refugees.”  Okay, he is giving his bio, which is fair enough; but why is this not anathema to the Republican anti-government, “we made it on our own” message?  He also mentions that his dad never finished college and apprenticed as a carpenter.  What he omits about his father is the fact that George Romney ran for President despite being born outside the U.S. but Romney recently went “birther”; his dad also released 12 years of tax returns because one might be “a fluke, perhaps done for show” and was a moderate, proponent of civil rights and a man of considerably more integrity than Mitt could ever hope to have. 
• “My friends cared more about what sports teams we followed that what church went to.”
• “All the laws and legislation is in the world will never heal the world like the loving hearts and arms of loving mothers and fathers.”
• “…every day, dad gave mom a Rose, which he put on the bedside table.”  
• “I grew up in Detroit, in love with cars.”  
• “Those weren't the easiest of days.  Many long hours, and weekends working.  Five young sons who seemed to have a need to reenact a different world war every night ... these were tough days on Ann, particularly.  She was heroic through it all…  I knew that her job as a mom was harder than mine.  I knew without question that her job as a mom was a lot more
  important than mine.”  [Note he has now made this same point at least 3 times; obviously he feels that Ann’s “heroism” is far more important than that of the troops.]

• “We had remarkably vibrant endeavors congregations from all walks of life, and many who were new to America.  We prayed together, our kids played together, and we always stood ready to
  help each other out in different ways.”  
• “When our son or daughter calls from college to talk about which job offer they should take, and you try not to choke up when you hear that the one they like best is not too far from home.” [Note to Mitt: many college graduates would be thrilled to have job offers anywhere…]
• “It's that good feeling when you have more time to volunteer to coach for you kids soccer team or help out on school trips.”
• “When I was 37, I helped to start a small company.  My partners and I had been working for a company that was in the business of helping other businesses.  So some of us have the
  idea that, if we really believe our advice was helping companies, we should invest in companies.  We should bet on ourselves and our advice.  So we started a new business called Bain Capital.” 
• “By the way, I thought about asking my church's pension fund to invest, but I didn't. I figured it was bad enough that I might lose my investors' money, but I did not want to go to hell, too.”
• Romney mentioned Staples, the Sports Authority, Bright Horizons and Steel Dynamics; these were apparently “important.”  However, he did not mention Ampad, KB Toys, GS Industries, Dade International or others, nor the fact that Bain got bailouts from the FDIC; these were apparently “unimportant.”   Matt Taibbi has written brilliantly about Bain’s load-up-the-debt-and-suck-out-the-cash business model and the NYTimes wrote about how Bain profited even when the companies it took over did not.  Apparently these parts of the story would have tarnished the "turnaround specialist" image that Romney was trying to project.  
• And, as a laugh line:  “President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans.  And to heal the planet.”  That is really funny, in a Mitt-Romney’s-sick-humor kind of way, especially when delivered on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, while New Orleans and the Gulf Coast were getting hit again by a hurricane. 

***

I also want to highlight a few of the points he included to intentionally mislead and deceive the audience on issues that are certainly “important” by any reasonable measure. 

• Immigrants (he suggests they, along with the rest of the country, were duped by believing in Obama’s message of hope and change):  “… none doubted that here in America they could build a better life.  That in America, their children would be blessed more than they.”  I will simply note how deceptive and hypocritical this is, in light of the GOP’s and Romney’s own opposition to the DREAM Act and because the GOP is not at all welcoming to immigrants.  I wonder if Sherriff Arpaio, who was invited to speak at the RNC, was paying attention. 
• He implies empathy for workers who “lost that job that paid $22.50 an hour, benefits, you took two jobs at $9 an hour.”  Picking up Bill Clinton’s vernacular, I gotta say it takes brass for Romney to say this, after he made his fortune putting thousands of people out of good paying jobs and forcing some of them to re-apply for the same job at lower wages with no benefits.  Real brass. 
• And while I’m on n the subject of real brass, here is a paragraph where Romney pretends to care about American workers, while the truth is that he was an outsourcing pioneer and a willing destroyer of these very same American jobs:  “You did it because your family depended on you.  And you did it because you are an American, and you don't quit.  You did it because that was because it was because you had to do...In those moments, you knew that this just was not right.  But what could you do except work harder, do with less, try to stay optimistic, hug your kids a little longer, maybe spend more time praying tomorrow would be a better day.”  Fake sympathy. Real brass.  
• He says that “…this president cannot tell us that you're better off today than when he took office.”  Wow, that’s a pretty broad “you” there in that sentence.  Certainly many people are not doing better, most especially the long-term unemployed and those who lost their homes, due largely to the GOP-driven deregulation of the financial sector and malfeasance by lenders and investment businesses.  But as a whole, it is undeniable except to the certifiably insane that the country is doing much better, economically and in many other ways.  Here were the headlines of four years ago.  As just one set of indicators, here’s the stock market change since President Obama took office: 

	Value at Close on:		Difference	% change
Index	1/20/2009	9/7/2012
DJIA	7949.09	13306.64	5357.55	67%
Nasdaq	1441.86	3136.42	1694.56	118%
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The very poor (about whom Romney is not concerned anyway) and many in the middle class are still struggling, largely because of the GOP’s obstruction of the President’s job-creation proposals.  Even so, and despite the GOP’s treasonous attempts to sabotage President Obama’s efforts,  jobs are rebounding after huge losses in the latter part of the Bush presidency, carrying over into the early part of Obama’s before his efforts could take effect. 

• His claim is all the more disingenuous, in light of this interview.  
• Romney pledges to create 12 million jobs, which not coincidentally is exactly what Moody Analytics projects under current policies.  
• And what about himself and Ann – are they doing better than four years ago?  Given that their income is primarily from investments, and that he carried over capital losses from 2009 (and very likely 2008), it is highly likely that he is doing WAY better than he was four years ago.  If he would #releasethereturns, we could say for sure – which is probably one of the reasons he hasn’t done so.
• Romney claimed that President Obama “…took office without the basic qualification that most Americans have, and one that was essential to the task at hand.  He had almost no experience working in a business.  Jobs to him are about government.”  Leaving aside for the moment the fact that this is a lie in the first place, the record of several presidents who were businessmen is not all too impressive; see, Hoover, Herbert C. and Bush, George W., for example. 
• “And yet the centerpiece of the president's entire reelection campaign is attacking success.  Is it any wonder that someone who attacks success has led the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression?”  I have to just simply state what utter BS this is, and leave it at that, before my blood pressure gets out of control.  
• “That's why every president since the Great Depression who came before the American people asking for a second term could look back at the last four years and say with satisfaction, ‘You're better off than you were four years ago.  Except Jimmy Carter.  And except this president.’”  Oops, it seems he forgot George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, aside from lying about “this President.”
• “I will begin my presidency with the jobs tour.  President Obama began his with an apology tour.”  This lie has been debunked repeatedly, but Romney doesn’t let that get in the way of an inflammatory claim, because otherwise the title of his book might seem like a cheap shot, right?  

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Those are the things (some real and some fictional) that Mitt Romney considers important.  The people who served and still serve our country in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, and their families, did not make the cut.