Ya right. I don’t know about you but this guy reminds me of a shyster.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on Wednesday defended his five sons’ decision not to enlist in the military, saying they’re showing their support for the country by “helping me get elected.”

Romney, who did not serve in Vietnam due to his Mormon missionary work and a high draft lottery number, was asked the question by an anti-war activist after a speech in which he called for “a surge of support” for U.S. forces in Iraq.

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, also saluted a uniformed soldier in the crowd and called for donations to military support organizations. Last week, he donated $25,000 to seven such organizations.

“The good news is that we have a volunteer Army and that’s the way we’re going to keep it,” Romney told some 200 people gathered in an abbey near the Mississippi River that had been converted into a hotel. “My sons are all adults and they’ve made decisions about their careers and they’ve chosen not to serve in the military and active duty and I respect their decision in that regard.”

He added: “One of the ways my sons are showing support for our nation is helping me get elected because they think I’d be a great president.”

Romney’s five sons range in age from 37 to 26 and have worked as real estate developers, sports marketers and advertising executives. They are now actively campaigning for their father and have a “Five Brothers” blog on Romney’s campaign Web site.

Romney noted that his middle son, 36-year-old Josh, was completing a recreational vehicle tour of all 99 Iowa counties on Wednesday and said, “I respect that and respect all those and the way they serve this great country.”

The woman who asked the question, Rachel Griffiths, 41, of Milan, Ill., identified herself as a member of Quad City Progressive Action for the Common Good, as well as the sister of an Army major who had served in Iraq.

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I knew this guy couldn’t tell the truth from the minute I heard him speak.

Romney has been rewriting the past. He has repeatedly given a bogus description of recent history by accusing former President Clinton of initiating a decline in military spending.

Romney: After President George H.W. Bush left office, in 1993, the Clinton administration began to dismantle the military, taking advantage of what has been called a “peace dividend” from the end of the Cold War (July/August issue of Foreign Affairs).

Romney: Following the end of the Cold War, President Clinton began to dismantle our military. He reduced our forces by 500,000. He retired almost 80 ships. Our spending on national defense dropped from over 6 percent of GDP to 3.8 percent today. He called it a “peace dividend” (Frontiers of Freedom, April 18, 2007).

This is untrue. The peak in defense spending that Romney speaks of was in the Reagan administration. It is not correct to say that the Clinton administration began to cut U.S. military forces. No matter how you measure defense spending, President George H.W. Bush had significantly trimmed it by the time Clinton was sworn in. And it was Bush’s administration, not Clinton’s, that first boasted of a “peace dividend.”

Measured in what economists call “constant dollars,” adjusted for inflation, defense spending declined by nearly 15 percent between Reagan’s last budget (for fiscal year 1989) and the elder Bush’s last budget four years later. The decline was just under 13 percent between Bush’s last budget and Clinton’s final fiscal year (2001). In other words, the buying power of the dollars spent for defense declined more during Bush’s four years than during Clinton’s eight.

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South Carolina must see something that Iowa doesn’t.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney holds a clear lead over his GOP rivals in Iowa and New Hampshire. But for some reason, Romney hasn’t been able to connect with S.C. voters — a key primary state in Romney’s bid to gain his party’s nomination.

Romney should be more competitive in the Palmetto State. He has spent more than $1 million for television ads, staff and organization, and get-out-the-vote efforts.

But he has little to show for it.

“I don’t think people are comfortable with him yet,” said former U.S. Rep. Tommy Hartnett of Charleston, a Romney supporter.

Romney remains stuck in fourth or fifth position in statewide polls.

A new survey released this week showed S.C. support for Romney dropped to 7 percent in July from 8 percent in June.

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I guess Romney is going to need more than just, I hate Hillary to get some conservative votes.
Go to the link below and watch the video. It’s very interesting.

Mitt Romney engaged in a heated discussion about his Mormon faith with a prominent Des Moines talk show host off the air on Thursday morning. The contentious back-and-forth between Romney and WHO’s Jan Mickelson began on the air (video link courtesy Breitbart.tv) when the former governor appeared on the popular program that has become a regular stop for GOP presidential hopefuls. But the conversation spilled over to a commercial break and went on after the program ended, where a visibly annoyed Romney spoke in much greater detail about his church’s doctrines than he is comfortable doing so in public.

The footage was captured by the station’s in-studio camera and posted on its website. But Romney, who is careful to portray a sunny and upbeat public image, clearly did not know he was being recorded. The candidate reveals a private side that is at turns cutting, combative and sarcastic, but most of all agitated at being forced to defend what he and his church stand for.

Perhaps knowing that the video was bound to get out, Romney’s campaign sought to frame the story by posting it on its YouTube site and sending it to a friendly blogger, Dean Barnett of TownHall. Under the header “Mitt takes the gloves off,” Barnett posted it last night, describing his preferred candidate as “firm, decisive, authoritative.” Asked why they would highlight the testy exchange in which the candidate touches on his church’s official stance on abortion, extramarital sex, alcohol consumption and even where the second coming of Christ will take place, Romney spokesman Matt Rhoades said they did so “because it was posted and we reviewed and thought the governor handled the situation very well.”

During the show, Mickelson, a staunch conservative, pressed Romney on his abortion views and then pointed out that LDS doctrine discourages the practice. Romney, as he always does, was quick to steer the conversation away from what his church stands for. But Mickelson kept at it when the program went to break.

“I think you’re making a big mistake when you distance yourself from your faith,” Mickelson observed. “I’m not distancing myself from my faith,” Romney forcefully responded. “I’m proud of my faith. There’s nothing I distance myself from.”

Video

Former Massachusetts governor and current presidential candidate Mitt Romney was in a diner in New Hampshire when the question of health care came up.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Michele Griffin didn’t want to hear Mitt Romney talk about how to fight the spread of AIDS around the world.

“What about our nation? How ’bout the USA? C’mon!” yelled Griffin, who has worked for more than 12 years behind the counter of the Red Arrow Diner, a popular stop for presidential candidates.

For the next 10 minutes Romney tried to respond, describing his approach to health care when he was the Republican governor of Massachusetts, while Griffin kept interrupting him with comments such as “After we pay our huge deductibles for our insurance and our cost for our prescriptions, there’s nothing left.”

Eventually, Romney’s message — criticizing European-style “socialized medicine,” attacking Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s health-care efforts in the 1990s and praising the virtues of private insurance — got through.

It was a relatively brief exchange but an emotional one, and a snapshot of an issue that could play an important role in the presidential primaries in both parties.

Rising costs, the growing number of people without insurance and general frustration with the system are all reasons that health care keeps surfacing at candidate forums and campaign appearances. Large businesses such as Safeway and Wal-Mart, once wary of government intervention in health care, are pushing for universal coverage, as are many Republican officials, particularly California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“Health care is going to be a top domestic issue, if not the top domestic issue,” in the general election, said Dean Rosen, a health-care policy expert who was a top adviser to former Senate majority leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).

The article goes on to say surveys show Democratic voters rank health care third, behind the economy and Iraq war as a hot button issue for them.

Conservatives don’t want socialized medicine and yet we know there are people in our country who need some kind of assistance with their medical bills.

I don’t have the answer for affordable health care for all. Please go to the article and watch the video provided by the Washington Post of Romney describing what his ideas are on health care.