Not bad

[[AK]Clay]

While everyone is talking about the other speech, here's another speech that I thought was pretty good.

I've been tepid on Romney, and basically resigned myself to the wooden candidate vs the hope that never came candidate. Then I saw this, and you know, I liked it. No religious driven hokum, no telling people what they can/can't do to their own bodies, but good answers to some pretty aggressive college student questions - who weren't pulling any punches on him.

Note the lack of teleprompter.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3Cx3tSkOqg

[[AK]Palooka]

Thanks for posting that. Good straight talk from Romney. We need more of this.

[[AK]Hylander]

Definitely one of his better appearances.

[[AK]Nuts]

Cutting NPR, PBS, NEA, and Amtrak is retard talk. They make up a miniscule amount of the budget but gather an excessive amount of GOP angst.

-NEA: 0.0045% of national budget
-PBS & NPR: 0.012% of national budget
-Amtrak: ~1.0%

Cutting funding to Planned Parenthood is also stupid. Cutting off the nose to spite the face. If you don't like abortions, fine... but removing a legitimate, low cost health care solution for millions of women is retarded... another GOP hot button issue that really won't impact the economy.

-Abortions at PP make up only 3% of their services.
-PP gets a whopping .008 of the national budget.


"The best thing I can do for student debt is get you a good job when you get out"

Actually the best thing is to stop increasing the amount the government will co-sign on a student loan. As long as the government is backing student loans at a higher and higher rate, universities will continue to increase tuition rates.

[[AK]Clay]

Cutting NPR, PBS, NEA, and Amtrak is retard talk. They make up a miniscule amount of the budget but gather an excessive amount of GOP angst.

-NEA: 0.0045% of national budget
-PBS & NPR: 0.012% of national budget
-Amtrak: ~1.0%

Cutting funding to Planned Parenthood is also stupid. Cutting off the nose to spite the face. If you don't like abortions, fine... but removing a legitimate, low cost health care solution for millions of women is retarded... another GOP hot button issue that really won't impact the economy.

-Abortions at PP make up only 3% of their services.
-PP gets a whopping .008 of the national budget.


"The best thing I can do for student debt is get you a good job when you get out"

Actually the best thing is to stop increasing the amount the government will co-sign on a student loan. As long as the government is backing student loans at a higher and higher rate, universities will continue to increase tuition rates.

Much truth. But I liked the philosophy - I'm not the free stuff president. Does he have balls to go after military and SS/Medicare? Doubt it, but more than Obama won't take much. NEA always makes me smile. It's such a minor item for show, that I chuckle when it becomes a big deal.

[[AK]Nuts]

It's stupid that everyone thinks that there is any difference between either political party. It's all talk.... once they get into office they're all the same.

[[AK]Choozoo]

It's stupid that everyone thinks that there is any difference between either political party. It's all talk.... once they get into office they're all the same.

That's the truth right there. Now, what's the solution to that?

[[AK]Hylander]

Have to disagree, the policies are most definitely NOT the same.

I am FAR from a Romney fan, but I hate just about everything the Obama administration stands for.

[[AK]Palooka]

I agree with Hylander. Admittedly, there are weasels on both sides of the aisle, but to say that the Republicans are no different from the Democrats is a cynical cop-out. If you really believe that, then vote for Obama. You won't because you know that he's a Marxist who will, in a second term, do everything in his power to fundamentally transform America into something unrecognizable from the great nation you grew up in. Obama's worldview is profoundly different from that of a majority of Americans, and his vision for America bears little, if any, resemblance to that of the Founding Fathers. Would that he and his comrades on the Left possessed superior wisdom to that of Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, et al. They do not, but they cling to their failed ideology. Obama's leftist ideals didn't make America the greatest country the world has ever known, but they can and will render America tragically unremarkable if given the chance.

As for Planned Unparenthood, that criminal organization has proven time and again that it will cover for statutory rape, child rape, incest, sex trafficking, and other evils. This is not surprising; why would an organization that has performed nearly six million abortions bother having a conscience? If you think PP puts the health and well-being of girls and women first, you're sadly mistaken. As someone who believes that abortion is the ultimate human rights abuse—the mass murder of the most vulnerable human beings—I am disgusted by the fact that some percentage of my tax dollars, however infinitesimal it might be, goes to PP. Defunding PP isn't the same as "removing" it, by the way, although I would love to see it shut down forever. Also, your numbers are misleading. PP reports that abortions only account for 3% of its services, but that's because every client who comes in for an abortion receives other services, each of which is counted separately. The percentage of clients who go to PP for an abortion is closer to ten. I am familiar with the chart you probably got that number from. This chart is more telling. Abortion services account for half or more of PP's annual clinic revenue. No wonder they cover for abuse; more abuse means more abortions, and more abortions means more money. Who would have thought that a bunch of leftists would be such good capitalists?

As a lover of the arts, I agree with you regarding the GOP crusade to defund PBS, NPR, and the NEA. No good can come of this. Without government funding, the performing arts in this country would largely disappear. Also, while NPR and PBS are regrettably tasked with government propaganda dissemination, they do a lot of good, too. It would be a shame to see them go.

[[AK]Choozoo]

I don't think the policies are exactly the same, but the end results seem to be. They follow a path of chaos and upheaval, and at least to me, in a non-articulate way, it all looks like a divide and conquer approach. In response to Palooka & Hy , I don't want Obama, but I don't want Romney either. Their major donors are virtually identical, they agree on a lot too (e.g. NDAA, TARP, CISPA and the Patriot Act). I think as a nation, we can do better.

Back on the budget topic
We could cut Welfare and Defense. Trust me, the military spends a lot of money, and it's not all that efficient. One day of KP duty will teach you that. The DoD is on a "use it or lose it" mentality, not a live within your means. And not all of that is direct to troops to fight and survive monies, there is a lot of bloat in the DoD civilian infrastructure. I always said, even the soda machines on base work slower. Welfare, 'nuff said. Too many people are comfortable on it. I hate taxes, but I'd rather write a check to the government than sign the back of a check that they sent me.

[Slaughter]

As Franklin once said:

"I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer."

The problem with both parties are the Progressive elements. Democrats are riddled with them, the Republicans have them too. We made good strides in 2010, and I'm full of faith that we'll continue to turn the country around in November.

[[AK]Bribo]

It's pretty sad that most Republicans outside of the state of Utah will be holding their noses and voting for Romney not because they are passionate about what he represents but because they simply hate Obama.

The Republicans could and should have done better.