September 26, 2012

Mitt Romney Calls NYC Parent a Liar

"I don't believe that for a second.." In other words, you're not telling the truth, as Mitt looked at the parent of a NYC student with that disdainful, arrogant smirk. Just heard this on the Ed Show and watched the video. Could. Not. Believe. It.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/mitt-romney-i-know-something-about-polls-and-you-can-ask-questions-to-get-any-answer-you-want/

During the NBC Education Nation summit's question and answer session, today, a New York City parent and school board member cited a poll which he claimed showed that the teachers union in New York City enjoyed support from parents "three to one" (video below), reports Mediaite.com.

However, Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney completely disagreed: “I don’t believe it for a second. I know something about polls and I know you can ask questions to get any answer you want.”

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/romney-shuts-down-questioner-who-claimed-teachers-unions-are-popular-i-don%E2%80%99t-believe-it-for-a-second/

The poll was a Quinnipiac Poll and has been quoted widely in the media, especially in NYC. The Ed Show called to ask what the "manipulative question" was and it was "Who do you trust more with your students, the teacher's union or the Mayor?" Once again, Romney steps in it, big time.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-02-08/news/31039493_1_teachers-union-voters-job-approval-rating


What an absolute ass.

September 24, 2012

Mr. Romney - On Behalf of ER Doctors and Nurses Everywhere...

I'd just like to tell you, stop now. Enough is enough. Of all the asinine, morally objectionable, ethically wrong-headed and just downright IGNORANT statements you have made (just in the past week!), this one takes the cake.

The ER is not designed for Universal Care. It is designed for life-threatening emergencies. And yes, I know you were speaking of a "heart attack", but good God man, don't you realize people already use the ER for primary care? Don't you realize that's why people die in ERs, why people die every day, why the doctors and nurses are so overworked they can barely take care of the hordes of UNINSURED sick people streaming through the door as it is?

Do you think ER care is free? Have you ever seen an ER bill? Do you know how many people have filed bankruptcy over an ER bill and/or uninsured hospital stay? How out-of-touch with reality are you, really?

Now you tell us, "this is how we take care of our uninsured"? Even when you were Governor, you realized what a burden this put on the health care system. How much it raised costs on EVERYBODY, on the state, on the facilities. In the name of all that is right and good, is there nothing you won't say to get elected? Is there no end to your utter stupidity?

If I sound angry, I am. Because I *am* an ER nurse. I know how wrong you are...and so do you.

Videos At Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/09/24/romney-calls-emergency-room-a-health-care-option-for-uninsured/

Romney Now: In his interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday night, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney pointed to emergency rooms as a form of health care for people without insurance.

“Well, we do provide care for people who don’t have insurance,” Romney told interviewer Scott Pelley. “If someone has a heart attack, they don’t sit in their apartment and — and die. We pick them up in an ambulance, and take them to the hospital, and give them care. And different states have different ways of providing for that care.”

Romney Then: But Romney’s position is a shift from 2010, when he told MSNBC that part of the impetus for the Massachusetts health-care law was to keep people out of the ER.

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense for us to have millions and millions of people who have no health insurance and yet who can go to the emergency room and get entirely free care for which they have no responsibility,” he said.

September 22, 2012

Here's Obama's Ground Game - Here's Your Jurassic Park

This post has been sparked by an act of vandalism that taught two young girls to fear our political process..to fear the "other side". It was something I’d thought of writing for awhile, but outrage over a senseless act has fueled our community, and so here I am to tell you about a small fraction of Obama’s Ground Game in 2012, and why we will win this election.

Around September 4th of this year, Jim Messina was quoted in Huffington Post as stating, “The Democratic ground game will make 2008 look like Jurassic Park.” Referencing the technological innovations that the campaign could bring to voter turnout efforts, Messina added: "This is light-years ahead of where we were in 2008.”*

I smiled to myself at the time, knowing what I know has been going on just in my small neighborhood, in my small southern town, in this solidly red state, since May of 2012.

Knoxville, Tennessee has been divided into quadrants, and those quadrants into neighborhoods. We have houses at which volunteers gather daily to make phone calls. On any given Saturday, one can walk into their local Panera Bread and find tables full of volunteers with laptops and fully-charged cell phones, calling into North Carolina. Last week, in West Knoxville alone, there were over ten phone banks.

In North Knoxville, the mailing list is hundreds strong, with new people volunteering daily. And believe me, this part of the south is Bible belt conservative. We may not have hope – this year – of turning Tennessee blue; but we can and will turn North Carolina blue and deliver that state to President Obama.

Every weekend, cars full of volunteers drive over the beautiful Smoky Mountains of Tennessee into our neighboring state. Last weekend, over 70 went. Obama supporters in North Carolina gladly open their hearts and their homes. The volunteers start walking, door-to-door, talking to people about our President – gathering more volunteers, registering people to vote. The net widens exponentially every single day. And remember, this has been going on, quietly, since last summer.

You think the North Carolina numbers are just because of the opposition’s “rolling calamity”? I would beg to differ. Slowly, but surely, the troops on the ground are going door-to-door. We are standing by our North Carolina neighbors and saying, “We can do this. You have our support. We are here for you, we support you and we love you. We will help you. VOTE!” Every single person in North Carolina who expresses an interest in the campaign gets a personal phone call and an email and is welcomed into the effort.

"According to Messina, the campaign will knock on 150 percent more doors than it did in 2008, in addition to registering roughly that many more voters than four years ago. They are also planning a multiplatform digital operation to engage voters during the convention, as well as a "dashboard" that would allow people to organize unregistered voters or those not yet supporting a candidate by using the campaign's own voter lists.”
In North Carolina, he added, the campaign had 50 field offices, while the Romney campaign has yet to open its 20th. They are doing more than the McCain campaign, so I want to give them credit for that. But they are nowhere near where we are on the ground," he said. "We are going to be the only campaign that can both persuade voters and turn out our voters because of what we are building on the ground. They just don't have what we have."

But we are not forgetting local candidates. Down-ballot candidates are invited and often show up at our phone banks to talk about their own campaign and distribute literature. One of the most infamous Republicans we hope to defeat in the near future is Stacey Campfield – he of the famous “Don’t Say Gay” law in TN, who garnered international attention when he was turned away from the local Bistro restaurant.

Spearheading this massive grassroots effort here is a tireless ball of energy named June Jones. A Community Organizer for Obama for America, in charge of nine counties, one can drive by her house at any given time and see rows of cars in the yard and driveway, colorful signs dotting the landscape. My grandson and I remarked just yesterday what a remarkable location, on a heavily-trafficked street, she had for her enormous Obama yard sign.



Today, I received an email from June with this picture below:



And this message:

“If they think I am going to back down, baby it's on!! They might have cut up and destroyed my property but they only strengthened my fight!! Bring it on!!! If you have not been in this movement with Obama for America, this should awaken you to what we are facing. We need you! It’s time to be in it to win it. “

So on behalf of June and all of the Obama for America volunteers in Knoxville, TN., I say this: “If this is the best you can do, you’re in trouble. If you think taking a pair of scissors to a sign is going to destroy this ground game, think again. You have just mobilized and energized us even more than before. Our houses will be overflowing, the phone lines will be busy and the cars will be heading across the mountain in numbers that YOU cannot even begin to fathom. Because we are Democrats. Because we love our country. Because we will not resort to violence and destruction to make our case. Because we will spend every waking moment Moving Forward for a better tomorrow. And because we work for Barack Obama, and he IS the President of the United States.

Please post below if you have “ground game” in your neighborhood or town, and if you refuse to be intimidated by bullies on the other side.

And please, K&R for June and her girls.

(June invites everyone to go to www.barackobama.com and sign up to volunteer and, in the Knoxville area, contact her at JuneheathJones@gmail.com )

Crossposted at DailyKos

*all Jim Messina quotes from Huffington Post*
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/04/jim-messina-democratic-convention_n_1854481.html

September 3, 2012

Obama Tosses Football Back to Romney: "That's a Losing Season."

Before heading to Louisiana tonight, President Obama stopped in Toledo, Ohio and gave his own response to Romney's sport's analogy of 'needing another coach'.

“I’ve got one piece of advice for you about the Romney-Ryan game plan: Punt it away. It won’t work. It won’t win the game,” Obama said in Toledo. “You don’t need that coach. That’s a losing season.”

Turning to Romney’s weekend football metaphor, Obama offered a lengthy sports-infused rebuttal, telling the union workers that on first down, Romney would hike taxes by nearly $2,000 on an average family with children. “Sounds like unnecessary roughness to me,” Obama said.

On second down, Obama said Romney “calls an audible” and gets rid of regulations. “And then on third down, he calls for a ‘Hail Mary,’” Obama said, by proposing turning Medicare into a voucher-like system for future retirees. “But there’s a flag on the play: Loss of up to an additional $6,400 a year for the same benefits you get now.”

“That’s their playbook. That’s their economic plan,” Obama said.

http://www.freep.com/article/20120903/NEWS15/120903016/On-Labor-Day-jobs-debate-a-DNC-warm-up?odyssey=nav%7Chead

Get ready to see all the enthusiasm you've been told Obama had lost in 3...2...1.... cue up DNC Convention!