Friday, October 5, 2012

Tale of two Americas, Romney style

TWO VIEWS OF AMERICA:

From the June 12, 2012 New York Times quoting Mitt Romney on his notion that we don't need more cops, firefighters or teachers:
"[The president] wants another stimulus, he wants to hire more government workers.  He says we  need more firemen,  more policemen, more teachers.   Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did. It's time for us to cut back on government and help the American people." - Mitt Romney
From  the Oct. 5 Akron Beacon Journal, reporting the fire that destroyed  the Father's House Church in Norton:
"It was a small fire that had plenty of opportunity to grow before we could get there," Chief Mike Schultz said of the blaze that started about 11 p.m. ...Our efforts were pretty much hampered because we had a longer response time and no personnel."

Failed levies have forced the station to close without on-duty personnel from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Note to Mitt:  Got any other ideas on "helping the American people?


5 comments:

JLM said...

Yes Abe, I understand that the Tea Party's pal, Don Robart, is bringing Romney to the Natatorium on tuesday, Oct. 9. Just like he did Bush in 2004. The Natatorium will be closed for the day. If you're a Democrat who wants to work out-tough luck. Also, Natatorium employees lose a day's pay. Thanks Don.

Grumpy Abe said...

Ahhh, the Romney wheels continue to spin on the old Robart-Arshinkoff axis. Will the city's 47 percenters need to show their photo IDs for admission? As for the staff losing a day's pay, shouldn't somebody remind the mayor that Natatoriums are people, too?

JLM said...

I'm hearing now that Natatorium patrons are quite peeved (as well as employees)at tuesday's all day closing. Also, the Monday before, 3/4's of the Natatorium parking lot will be cordoned off for Willard's appearance. Monday is one of the Nat's busiest days, Parking will be a nightmare. Hope there's a riot.

JLM said...

As of Sunday, Oct. 7, the Nat parking lot is cordoned off. TWO DAYS before Mitten's arrival. Don is on the job.

David Hess said...

Unsurprisingly, Mitt the Deficit Dragon-Slayer has transformed himself into Mitt the Moderate-People Lover as the polls demonstrated a decided aversion to candidates bent on dismantling government services in order to pay for more lush tax breaks for those who need them least. No wonder Barack seemed a bit bemused by Mitt's sudden persona change in the Colorado debate. The President, as many other Americans, must have been stunned by the Jekyll-and-Hyde transformation of the Republican nominee. Obama apparently came prepared to debate a candidate who casually dismissed 47 pct. of the electorate as irrelevant, derided the necessity of sufficient numbers of such public servants as teachers, police and firefighters, trumpeted the virtues of "vouchers" for Medicare coverage, and called for dumping the costs and responsibility for Medicaid onto states that already are buckling under the burden. Instead of that Mitt, we are seeing now a "kind and gentler" (akin, perhaps, to George W. Bush's self-description as a "compassionate conservative") advocate of moderation in governing. He now denies, despite the contrary computations of most independent economists, that his tax and economic policies will not drain the treasury of $5 trillion over a decade or so and thus not add to the rising national debt. He has also apologized for dissing the 47 pct. He promises to "work with Congress" to fix the economy and put the jobless back to work (which must have unsettled the GOP's anarchic, anti-tax Tea Party wing, since any deal with Congress will inevitably require more revenue if deficits are to be tamed). One should not be confused by a candidate who panders on one day to the views of arch-conservatives, then switches to a moderate message the next when the TV audience expands to millions. Mitt is not only a man who refuses to release his tax returns, who ducks every opportunity to flesh out what tax breaks he would eliminate to offset revenue losses from his proposed tax cuts, or who dismisses every inquiry seeking to discover what domestic programs (besides "Sesame Street") he intends to cut or scrap. He is also a man whose word is, to put it kindly, suspect