Mitt Romney has penned the following editorial on how he will control the spending of the Federal Government when elected President (emphasis not in the original.):
Here is How I Will Control Federal Spending
Since President Obama assumed office two and a half years ago, federal spending has accelerated at a pace without precedent in recent history, taking us from an already staggering $3.5 trillion in federal spending in 2010 to a projected $5.6 trillion within the next decade.
This is the financial equivalent of speeding against traffic on a superhighway. It’s dangerous. It has to stop.
A household cannot become prosperous by spending all its money and running up a credit card bill.
Neither can a government or a country. Instead of putting the United States on a path toward economic recovery, the Obama administration’s spending binge threatens to turn us into another Greece, a chronic debtor state teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.
The indicators are all equally alarming. Since the 1950s, federal spending as a percentage of GDP has hovered around 20 percent.
When President Obama took office, it shot up to 25 percent, a level not seen since World War II. Before the recession, the federal government spent $25,000 per household. That number has now soared past $30,000 and is on track to hit $35,000 within the next decade.
All this money has to come from somewhere. If President Obama stays in the White House for another four years, some of it will come from the higher taxes the administration is seeking to impose. The rest of it will have to be borrowed. Before Obama assumed office, our country’s indebtedness was 40.3 percent of GDP. Current projections have it hitting 69 percent this year.
If anyone wonders why unemployment is stuck above 9 percent, and why some 25 million Americans are unemployed, underemployed, or are no longer looking for work, we should pause on that 69 percent figure. Every dollar that the government borrows for its operations is a dollar that cannot be invested in productive privatesector activity. Runaway federal spending crowds out private investment. At a moment when the public sector is flourishing as never before, it is unsurprising that the private sector has withered.
I have spent most of my life in the private sector, starting companies and turning around failing ones. What the federal government is doing today is a classic formula for ruin. I know how to set priorities and rein in costs.
In 2003, I became governor of a state hobbled by a deficit and shedding jobs as it came out of a recession. Working with a legislature under solid (85 percent!) Democratic control, I cut taxes 19 times, reformed and reorganized state government, and balanced the budget four years in a row. By the time I left office, Massachusetts employers were once again hiring, and the state had a rainy-day surplus of $2 billion.
The steps we must take to undo the damage inflicted by Barack Obama are as obvious as they are politically difficult. We must cut government spending, cap that spending at a sustainable level — 20 percent of GDP is the target I would shoot for — and pass a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution. Cut, cap and balance are three words that are spoken far too rarely in Washington. But they embody my approach.
I will press for full repeal of Obamacare, which will save hundreds of billions of dollars. I will reduce the size of the federal workforce and align the wages and benefits of federal workers with the private sector. And I will set about the hard work of fundamentally restructuring the federal government.
Taxpayer money is today being used to underwrite a maze of rules, regulations and overlapping government agencies whose complexity defies the understanding even of those who inhabit the system. A first step in reform is acknowledging that the federal government cannot be everything to everyone.
There are many functions that the private sector can perform better than the public sector. Amtrak is a classic example. We can also use block grants to enable states to draw on federal resources while tailoring programs to their specific local needs.
That’s how Medicaid should be handled. It is also precisely what I have proposed in a plan under which the federal government will spend $4 trillion less than what the Obama administration — as detailed in its own mid-year budget projections — plans to spend over the next decade. And $4 trillion is just a down payment on future savings to come.
Getting the federal debt under control in the wake of Obama’s spending spree promises to be an arduous task. The good news is that Americans have awoken to the problem. The even better news is that the American people have always known what Washington can’t seem to learn: we cannot spend our way to wealth.
-Mitt Romney
I really like Mitt’s can-do attitude and his forward-looking thinking. “Here is the problem”, he says, “and here’s how we are going to solve it.” The man will hit the ground running on January 20, 2013. He won’t stop until January 20, 2017 at the earliest. It’s in his very nature. It has been his whole life.
September 29th, 2011 at 6:37 pm
And I bet he won’t be golfing once a week either.
September 29th, 2011 at 6:49 pm
I love how clear, concise, and coherent he communicates his solutions. No other candidate out there can compete with the smarts of Mitt Romney. He is the only one who is smart enough to even put his solutions in writing. Where is Perry’s 1.9 GPA job plan?
Romney is ready to rock and roll against the current administration. Every time I read one of his columns, or see him in a debate I become more convinced that he is more than capable. These are conservative solutions and they work. I think its time to get on board people.
September 29th, 2011 at 6:51 pm
“By the time I left office, Massachusetts employers were once again hiring” – Willard Romney
What, Mitt? You were 47th in job growth!!! And if Katrina doesn’t hit the gulf regiod, you’d be about dead last i the nation.
On the other hand….Perry was number one and well on the way to creating an environment for more jobs in Texas than the other 49 states combined.
America needs jobs, not Romney rhetoric.
September 29th, 2011 at 6:58 pm
Let’s get the record straight on job growth:
1. Mitt’s MA 47th in job growth while Romney was gov
2. TX +11.3% job growth under GovernorPerry …
Job growth while Romney was MA gov: MA+1.4% TX+8.9% US+5.3%
3. TX outpaced US in job growth under Perry (+12%) by 2x as much as under Bush (+6%)
4. TX natl leader in job creation under Rick Perry added 1M jobs/rest of US lost nearly 2.5M http://bit.ly/rk39TZ
September 29th, 2011 at 7:01 pm
Let’s get this straight, when Mitt took over Massachusetts, it was 21st in unemployment. He left it at 11th.
When Perry took over Texas, it was 4th in unemployment, now it is 27th.
The real health of a state economy is the percentage of the workforce that has jobs, and Perry has failed in Texas.
September 29th, 2011 at 7:02 pm
40% of the jobs created in Texas since 2007 have gone to illegal immigrants, to repeat a fact that we know all too well now.
September 29th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
Some attempt to diminish Mitt Romney by saying “he’s been running for President for five years” or, wrongly, “he’ll say anything to get eleceted”. They attempt to negatively portray what is clearly a very strong desire on his part to be President. I would argue that we should seek those who really, really want the office because it’s a very tough job and not for the faint of heart. A stong desire to be President, like Reagan exhibited by running three times, is an attribute not a detraction.
More importantly we should seek out the guy who wants the job for the RIGHT reasons and I think Romney does. He sees a nation in peril and he believes he knows how to, and can, fix it. For him it is very frustrating to have to watch our hapless current President totally lost and inept and see a nation adrift as a result.
Obama wanted to be President because of the trappings of the office, the prestige, and the historical nature of it but I see no burnig desire on his part to work like crazy to save America. Romney apperently is attracted to the position for precisley the opposite reasons. I agree with Mark that he’d hit the ground running and not let up until America has regained her footing.
September 29th, 2011 at 7:03 pm
#3. You have to look at total population growth over the same period, the unemployment rate before and after they took office. By reporting that he was 47th in the the total number of jobs created is misleading. Also don’t forget to mention that both his predecessor and successor both lost jobs. Perry can create jobs much faster because he has millions of illegals on “Perry’s Path to Citizenship” aka The Texas Dream Act. Its no wonder he doesn’t his border closed.
September 29th, 2011 at 7:04 pm
Texas was on auto-pilot and would have had the same results with no governor whatsoever. That left Perry plenty of time to build up his pay-to-play and real estate schemes.
September 29th, 2011 at 7:05 pm
Ooooo good stats #5!
Rick Perry’s claims to success in Texas are so bogus!
The more they get examined the stupider it is to call it success at all.
Without Obama Cash, Perry’s got nothin!
Can you imagine in a debate if Perry tries to criticize the Stimulus and Obama comes back with statistics on how much Perry took, and how he used it to make himself a Presidential candidate based on success Obama provided to him?
Perry would need to bow down and thank Obama for the stimulus dollars!
September 29th, 2011 at 7:11 pm
7. Great points. I would add that Romney’s been preparing during this time for the job given its importance and complexity, while Perry apparently has not, hence the excuse that he didn’t do well in the debate because he only got in 5 weeks ago, whereas Romney has been campaigning for 5 years. Well, Perry, then go spend the years needed to prepare yourself and stop wasting our time.
September 29th, 2011 at 7:11 pm
Smart, poignant words from marK. God bless Mitt Romney.
September 29th, 2011 at 7:11 pm
3.
Perry’s Texas jobs record derives from two sources: oil and immigration, neither of which he can export to the rest of America.
Texas oil can only be found in Texas and nobody wants Texas’s immigration problem. Sucking up federal and state tax dollars to educate and provide public services to thousands of illegal immigrants is not a formula for success.
It’s a no-brainer why Perry won’t talk about his jobs plan – what “worked” in Texas won’t work in America. And he has nothing else to offer.
September 29th, 2011 at 7:14 pm
#3 RP/JB,
Re-read what Romney says. He states:
“In 2003, I became governor of a state hobbled by a deficit and shedding jobs as it came out of a recession. Working with a legislature under solid (85 percent!) Democratic control, I cut taxes 19 times, reformed and reorganized state government, and balanced the budget four years in a row. By the time I left office, Massachusetts employers were once again hiring, and the state had a rainy-day surplus of $2 billion.”
If one looks at job growth in Massachusetts during his tenure, it was on the decline. As his policies are enacted, it levels off then begins to grow again. Taken together (loses plus gains), it may rank as 47th in the nation but that doesn’t tell the whole story. One has to look at the trajectory of job growth in the state to see that he took a bad situation and turned it around. Had he started off with positive job growth and then accelerated it, the number likely would’ve been much higher.
What America needs is someone who can take a losing situation and turn it around not someone who can take solid job growth and maintain it because it is the former situation that we find ourselves in today.
September 29th, 2011 at 7:14 pm
4. “Let’s get the record straight on job growth: … TX +11.3% job growth under GovernorPerry”
Yea, let’s straighten that record. Under Perry TX went from 4th in unemployment to 27th in ten years. The one spot where Perry looked strong was job growth since 2007. Unfortunately, new studies demonstrate that 81% of jobs created since 2007 in Texas have gone to Mexicans and not Americans.
http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/study-most-new-texas-jobs-went-immigrants
September 29th, 2011 at 7:16 pm
Why do over 1000 folks move into the state of Texas every single day (besides to flee from Romney’s 47th in jobs Massachussets)???
Three reasons: JOB! JOBS! JOBS!
And here’s objective, authoritative comparisons among states to show more reasons why they ALL move into Perry’s number one job growth state:
Texas is ranked third among “Best States to make a living.” The ranking is based on an Adjusted Average Income value which considers taxes, housing, and cost of living. Texas’ average is $41,427. Compared to Massachusetts: $38,665, Minnesota: $37,721, and California: $29,772 just to compare a few.
-This from CBS MoneyWatch, April, 2011.
And here is another interesting tidbit, Texas places two metro areas, Houston ($60,634) and Dallas ($59,217) among the top ten metro areas in the nation with the highest real income. Real income is the median household income adjusted by the COL. Compare those figures with a couple of other large metro areas from the bottom ten: New York ($35,370) and Los Angeles ($41,331).
-The figures are from a June, 2011 analysis by the U.S. News using latest available (2009) data.
And what about wages? Texas has seen wages climb faster than the country overall. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average wage for employees in Texas rose 7.4% between May 2008 and May 2010 (the latest data available). For the nation as a whole, average wages climbed only 5%.
-This from Investors.com.
September 29th, 2011 at 7:18 pm
Perry inherited the corral with the cattle already stampeding in–he just had to hold the gate open.
September 29th, 2011 at 7:19 pm
Because Perry invites them to cross the border.
September 29th, 2011 at 7:20 pm
13.
Totally false but nice try.
Go to #4′s link which links to a dozen more sources with proof.
September 29th, 2011 at 7:21 pm
16. “Why do over 1000 folks move into the state of Texas every single day”
Because Perry has created massive magnets to pull illegals in from Mexico? Why else?
Although 69% of the new workforce are native Texans, they have to fight for 19% of the jobs. 81% have been taken by Mexican citizens living in Texas. Naturally the state will be filling up with our Mexican friends since Perry’s giving them welfare, in-state tuition and all of the jobs.
http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/study-most-new-texas-jobs-went-immigrants
September 29th, 2011 at 7:22 pm
16.
No, it’s the illegals moving there that then necessitate the jobs, not the other way around. And the good jobs are because of oil, something Perry has nothing to do with and something he can’t export to the rest of America.
His Texas “plan” won’t work elsewhere, end of story.
Where’s his jobs plan for America!
September 29th, 2011 at 7:22 pm
Uh-oh. Another RomneyScare!
Citing Lord Keynes? While defending flip-flopping?! Oh, the ignominy!
Maybe Mitt should be more slavishly devoted to the words his overpaid consultants splash across a teleprompter.
September 29th, 2011 at 7:23 pm
Mitt should add a little more detail to the second point….how you trim the fat in DC…
1)Immediate hiring freeze…a real freeze. Not the usual Government “wer’e gonna not hire people for awhile” (wink wink) freeze”.
2)Abolish the Dept of Education immediately and pass half the savings directly to states and half back to General Fund deficit pay down.
3)Freeze budgets of all other departments, and tell Secretaries/Dept heads that he wants to see a spending reduction plan in 10 days, to reduce costs by 8% per year for the next three years(I have done this in my local $33M county budget in CA, and so I know personally it can be done without that much pain)
4)Advise federal unions that “you can be part of the solution, or you can get run over!” Put the federal unioin bosses on notice that the Romney Train is leaving the station and they can get on, by agreeing to accept a larger share of healthcare costs, and wage freezes/pension freezes) or they risk swift and sure battles…the likes of which they’ve not dreamed of. To bolster this action, you bring in Scott Walker’s Team from Wisconsin as your Labor/Negotation folks…this will make them quake in the bedroom slippers
5)Advise every other Dept Head(other than Homeland Sec and Military) that you expect them to have a shared recommendation on your desk by February 15th, outlining how to reduce the number of depts by 25%, and the total number of fed employees by 8% per year. (Mitt already knows what this plan should look like, but having them do it themselves will result in far greater buy in and less infighting…although if I know Mitt, he won’t tolerate much real bickering…no time for that.
The block grant idea is huge. Give state their dough, cut the federal rules that we have to jump through, and turn us lose to create and foster entrepenurial solutions to Child Welfare, healthcare and a host of other issues. Some state fear block grants, cause it caps their spending. Get over it. The rest of the world has to live on a budget, so should welfare and other depts around the country.
Within 4 months, the deficit clock will begin to turn backwards! Can you imagine that…have not seen that since year 1 of Bush II. Once that happens, private sector will have immeidate trust that Mitt’s team i dead SERIOUS, and jobs and investments will boom!
Bring it on Mitt!
September 29th, 2011 at 7:24 pm
Perry thinks he can just show up unprepared and be handed the nomination. People like Craig facilitate this mentality.
September 29th, 2011 at 7:24 pm
Can you expound on the environment that perry was creating? Were there specific bills he passed that changed what previous texas governors did that helped spur the economy? Did he undo any regulation that previous governors established that spurred the economy and created jobs.
We know the end results, but I would like to specifically know what perry did? And could he do the same thing in Washington.
September 29th, 2011 at 7:25 pm
21.
See 19, too.
September 29th, 2011 at 7:31 pm
25.
Whatever was required to create over one million jobs at the same time the nation was losing almost three million in all the other states.
Here’s three big ones that the architects of big government ObamaCare/RomneyCare will NEVER ever understand….
1. Tort Reform
2. Low taxes and fees
3. Getting government regulations and rules out of
entrepreneur’s and employer’s way!!!
September 29th, 2011 at 7:32 pm
True. Nice essay, BTW. Wonder which staffer ghosted it?
September 29th, 2011 at 7:38 pm
28.
Ghosted? Wrong candidate. That’d be one of the ones you support.
September 29th, 2011 at 7:38 pm
27
Rick Perry RAISED fees and taxes. You didn’t know that?
Texas is a place with a booming population, but ABYSMAL employment numbers. 8.5% unemployment!
As a contrast, MA has 7.6% unemployment AND the best schools and hospitals in the nation!
September 29th, 2011 at 7:46 pm
We all know these things work, however I was asking what specifically did he do?
1. What was perry’s tort reform?
2. What were the taxes and fees that perry lowered?
3. What regulations did he change or remove?
Texas was pretty good about these things already. I believe, I might be wrong, that texas already had no state tax. Is that true?
September 29th, 2011 at 7:46 pm
Craig,
Floridians are no longer buying what you and Perry are selling. Other states will be coming to the same conclusion.
September 29th, 2011 at 7:48 pm
It drives the Massachusett’s loving liberals and moderates absolutely crazy that the 10 1/2 year uber-successfull Governor Perry helped create over a MILLION jobs for our largest conservative state in America.
AND if Texas were a country, its GNP would be the 12th largest of any country in the world. It’s also thanks to Perry, the nation’s largest exporter for eight straight years!
Look, as “America’s jobs governor,” Perry is a one-man antidote to Obama’s venomous policies, which have held unemployment above 9 percent for 25 of the last 27 months.
Across all 50 states, between June 2009 and June 2011, the Dallas Federal Reserve calculates that 49.9 percent of America’s net new jobs arose in Texas.
July was its eleventh straight month of payroll expansion, with 29,300 Texans finding work.
Nearly eleven years into Perry’s governorship, Texas inarguably is No. 1 in job growth.
Bottom line: With a horrible Obama national economy and above average population growth, Texas has managed to get their unemployment to 8.4%.
Contrast that with California where our unemployment rate has gone to 12.1% and we are losing population.
September 29th, 2011 at 7:49 pm
31.
Google is your friend.
September 29th, 2011 at 7:54 pm
33.
A few weeks ago you were telling us Texas would be the 6th or 7th largest economy in the world. Now they’re down to 12th already! This guy must be stopped!
September 29th, 2011 at 8:00 pm
Nice essay.
I wonder, however, if Mitt is really prepared to slash government salaries and bennies to be in line with the private sector. If he really cuts pay 20% or more (I think) the army of bureaucrats will burn down Washington. Has Mitt shown this sort of courage and determination in the face of opposition in the past?
Secondly, what he is saying about Medicare is true- we basically have to put a hard cap on spending and turn it into more of a defined contribution plan. But conservatives need to start educating the masses what that is going to mean, both good and bad. It is an unavoidable truth that health care will be rationed more than it is today. All finite goods- by definition- are rationed. The question is to what extent the private sector will ration (as it does BMWs), or to what extent the government will ration.
September 29th, 2011 at 8:02 pm
I wasn’t counting Europe but now I am
September 29th, 2011 at 8:02 pm
Shouldn’t this post be titled, “How Romney SAYS he will control federal spending?”
September 29th, 2011 at 8:06 pm
Ci2eye,
#7. I think there is a lot of truth to that. But nobody does something as life altering as run for President without multiple and mixed motives. I suspect part of Mitt’s motivation has to do with a sense of family honor. I’ve got no problem with that. In fact, I sympathize with it, and think it can be a positive motive. But I’m also guessing- Mitt being a fallen creature like the rest of us- that there are a few baser motives mixed in, which a man of his business and political skill is very good at hiding.
September 29th, 2011 at 8:06 pm
As to the nuts and bolts of the essay, the content is entirely respectable within the limited confines of the Beltway moderate-conservative wonk establishment. Yes, the federal workforce and bureaucracy need consolidated and streamlined. Capping spending at 20 percent of GDP appears technocratically achievable. The 400 bil/year less in spending looks really bold when stated as 4 tril over the decade.
The problem with it all is that there is no broader vision. It lacks a challenge to the underlying weak premises by which the nation has been governed since the New Deal and Great Society.
What areas of the federal bureaucracy are most superfluous by Mitt’s reckoning? What executive departments and agencies does he think are necessary?
While the 20 percent GDP cap is close to the historical average of the most federal revenue collected, 18 percent is slightly lower than that average, and presumably less impeding to economic growth. In any event, what is there to ensure that lawmakers won’t simply rewrite the rules for how the feds count GDP so as to make gaming this abstract number easier? They’ve certainly watered down the official definitions of inflation and unemployment to lower hurdles for policy-makers.
Finally, giving the nearly meaningless ten-year timeframe for budget cuts follows the current practice in congressional budgeting, but it is almost always abysmally deceptive. What consistently happens is that today’s lawmakers budget for cuts that will occur mostly in five-to-nine years, with little cutting done right now. That results in no practical cuts, since future congresses will not be bound by current budget proscriptions.
Mitt’s essay correctly diagnoses several problems, but then he proposes to attack the aggressively with a giant cotton-padded Q-tip.
September 29th, 2011 at 8:07 pm
SoJo,
#38 LOL!
That reminded me…… “Don’t write ‘King of the Jews. Write ‘He CLAIMED to be the King of the Jews.’”
September 29th, 2011 at 8:10 pm
18.
False. You’re thinking of Reagan who gave 3,000,000 illegal immigrants amnesty.
But nice try.
No one has stepped up to controlling the border like Perry has by spending $400 million since ’05 AND also stationing the National Guard there. But it’s the federal government’s job who only do the very bare minimum.
President Perry WILL secure the border starting day one in the White House. Period.
September 29th, 2011 at 8:11 pm
September 29th, 2011 at 8:39 pm
Not to mention all the Texas Rangers that Perry has patrolling the border — because the Feds won’t release the NEEDED resources and never have.
September 29th, 2011 at 8:43 pm
Rick Perry: “No immigration reform until border secured!” http://bit.ly/pwfPPv
September 29th, 2011 at 8:45 pm
42. “No one has stepped up to controlling the border like Perry has…”
LOL. The guy creates insane magnets (welfare + in-state tuition + jobs) to pull illegals in, refuses to build a fence, wouldn’t back AZ in it’s fight against illegal immigration when it mattered & created an environment where 81% of Texas jobs since 2007 went to Mexicans (not Americans).
http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/study-most-new-texas-jobs-went-immigrants
What a border hound…
September 29th, 2011 at 8:48 pm
Courtesy of Race42012′s best commenter, Casuist:
The Willard’s spending record:
From $8487 per capita in 2002
To $9009 per capita in 2006
Ending with $9293 per capita in 2007
The Rickster’s spending record:
From $6967 per cap in 2002
To $6981 per cap in 2008 — last year of actual figures
To (est.) $6961 per cap in 2009
To (guesstimated) $6721 per cap in 2011
(All figures in constant 2005 dollars via usgovernmentspending.com.)
In sum, if you want growth in government spending, the Romster’s your go-to guy!
This is fascinating, and it confirms Willard RomneyCare’s own rhetoric on the issues.
September 29th, 2011 at 8:52 pm
Rombots,
You can’t build a fence along the Texas/Mexico border because….THERE’S A RIVER ON THE BORDER. What are you going to do? Build a fence in the middle of the river? Or cede to Mexico our portion of the border.
Why is this so difficult for Rombots to understand?
September 29th, 2011 at 9:10 pm
48.
OK, let’s forget about the fence & how bout you explain the rest rather than endlessly re-post spam and avoid it?
Why have 81% of TX jobs since 2007 gone to Mexicans rather than Americans?
Why is TX infiltrated more than any other state by Mexican workers (legal and illegal)?
Do you think the easy welfare access and in-state tuition are part of the problem?
September 29th, 2011 at 9:12 pm
Freakin’ genius this Romney. The beauty of it is he really can do what he thinks he can do. Guys like Perry and Gingrich and Paul, it’s just wishful thinking. Let’s give Romney a job so we can all get some employment. Obama needs a good impeaching real soon. That Fast & Furious is just a bloody situation there. Solyndra is less serious but only slightly less gut-wrenching.
September 29th, 2011 at 9:13 pm
Rick Perry signed law to prevent DLs for illegals … fought against sanctuary cities (which Romney did not)
Bottom Line: TX border security efforts produced results http://bit.ly/pwfPPv
September 29th, 2011 at 9:17 pm
49.
California has the exact same migrant situation but NO jobs.
Nearly eleven years into Perry’s governorship, Texas inarguably is No. 1 in job growth.
Bottom line: With a horrible Obama national economy and above average population growth, Texas has managed to get their unemployment to 8.4%.
Contrast that with California where our unemployment rate has gone to 12.1% and we are losing population.
September 29th, 2011 at 9:18 pm
47. “To (guesstimated) $6721 per cap in 2011″
Yea, with your history I probably won’t buy your guestimate…
And regarding the increased spending per capita:
That is the ONLY stat that makes Perry seem somewhat fiscally conservative, but it’s smoke & mirrors.
Spending in TX has actually gone up far more as a % of GDP under Perry than MA did under Mitt. You hide behind your per capita stat because of TX high growth (much caused by illegal infiltration), while MA (and all Eastern states) is barely gaining any additional population. It’s not that Perry kept a tighter check book–it’s that the “capita” grew in a big way. The reality is that Mitt balanced the MA budget in year one and created a surplus each year thereafter. Perry, on the other hand, increased TX debt from $13.4B to $37.8B. The only time Perry ever balanced his budget he did so over $3B of stimulus cash + deceptive accounting that will cost the state in the long run.
September 29th, 2011 at 9:20 pm
52.
Nice duck and cover. I don’t know why I even suggested you answer my pointed questions–you’re not an issues guy. You’re a spam and bs guy, using the typical liberal model of deflect + change subject approach to all hard questions.
September 29th, 2011 at 9:20 pm
Hey, why does ulta-conservative Utah allow illegals to obtain drivers licenses to freely roam the entire state?!?!?! w
While..
Rick Perry signed law to prevent DLs for illegals http://bit.ly/pwfPPv
September 29th, 2011 at 9:24 pm
55.
Again, deflecting and changing the subject…
As for DLs in Utah… yea, it was a mistake that someone made a long time ago–not sure which Gov. Huntsman caused the DLs to have a huge red stamp on them saying “Not Valid Identification,” which prevents them from opening bank accounts, etc. But he could have eliminated them altogether and chose not to.
As for Perry doing the no DLs for illegals–he only did it when it was clear he was running for PotUS and would never need the Hispanic vote again. It was a sharp contrast to his long record of pandering to illegals, but it was the right choice. Mitt vetoed DLs for illegals in MA as well, but, unlike Perry, that was in line w/his previous actions involving illegal immigration.
September 29th, 2011 at 9:28 pm
#41….LOL
Sojo….the Pharisee
I believe we have a new pet name for Sojo
September 29th, 2011 at 9:30 pm
I see Baghdad Craig is back at it today.
He must have loaded himself up on pain relievers…
September 29th, 2011 at 9:32 pm
From the National Journal report on Jeb Bush’s email this week to fellow Republican:
September 29th, 2011 at 9:35 pm
57 – Well some of us here do tend to think of opposition to Mitt in biblical terms
September 29th, 2011 at 9:36 pm
I am speaking of course, of some of the Rombots…
September 29th, 2011 at 9:39 pm
#59…Baghdad/Shaughnessy Craig
Your double standard is only surpassed by your ability to jinx candidates…
Despite your efforts as the head of the Propaganda Ministry, Perry is one step away from falling into the teens on Intrade.
PEOPLE.ARE.NOT.BUYING.IT!!
You should have learned your lesson from Shaughnessy and not savaged your credibility.
But at least now TEX has company and won’t feel so lonely…
September 29th, 2011 at 9:41 pm
#60..Your not implying that some Rombots are zealots are you?
September 29th, 2011 at 9:43 pm
Nice… but it did not address the biggest “eyesore” of them all – the debts. What is Mitt going to do to bring them down (other than to let economy grow over long term)?
September 29th, 2011 at 9:44 pm
Sometimes when playing with the Rombot ‘children of the cult’ here at Race, it’s nice to bring Reagan (who understandably, Romney 1.0 and 2.0 couldn’t even stand and was constantly running AWAY from in liberal Massachusett’s) into the discussion to mix it up a bit..
In a debate at the Women’s Voter Forum in 1980, Ronald Reagan responded to a question about whether the U.S. should allow the children of undocumented immigrants to be in public schools by noting that immigration has to be dealt with in a comprehensive and humane way.
Reagan reminded debate viewers that immigrants who are working here are going to be paying taxes here too and dismissed the idea of a border fence.
REAGAN then said, “Rather than talking about putting up a fence, why don’t we work out some recognition of our mutual problems? Make it possible for them to come here legally with a work permit. And then, while they’re working and earning here they can pay taxes here. And then when they want to go back, they can go back. Open the borders both ways.”
Perry is the only candidate even close to Reagan on immigration.
He is closest to Reagan’s views on most issues.
Independent Romney and fake conservative Romney in ’07/’08, ummm…not so much
September 29th, 2011 at 9:45 pm
“Build a fence in the middle of the river? Or cede to Mexico our portion of the border.”
Perry would rather cede them 81 percent of new jobs.
September 29th, 2011 at 10:03 pm
“Perry is the only candidate even close to Reagan on immigration.”
Didn’t Reagan list his amnesty law as his 2nd biggest regret as Prez (just after the debt increase)?
Perry is not at all in line w/what the experienced Reagan valued. There is so much corruption surrounding Perry that it seems insulting to ever compare him Reagan. Plus, with the power to change things Perry increased the debt from about $13B to almost $40B. Reagan’s debt went up, but that was due to Congress & compromise–Perry was working w/an 85% conservative legislature.
Perry is a corrupt disaster–and he’s dumb as hell. He shouldn’t ever be compared to the great communicator.
September 29th, 2011 at 10:25 pm
Y’all still down here on this thread confirming Romney’s big spending habits and liberal tendencies? Not that there’s anything wrong with that truth.
But…
New Post Up Top by Kavon..
“Gov. Christie … now leaning towards a presidential run.”
Whoo-hoo!
September 29th, 2011 at 11:39 pm
#59. “Bush, whose wife was born and raised in Mexico and who speaks fluent Spanish, also championed the legislation.”
Craig, Jeb most likely can’t be trusted on this issue as he obviously has bias relations. Question Craig: Do you think it is right, even moral, to put illegals before our our citizens? Subsedizing tuition breaks for illegals, while not doing so for our own, is unethical, plain and simple.
September 29th, 2011 at 11:50 pm
Once again, Romney has come up with a succinct, easy to understand plan, while Perry has never come up with anything. Perry was expecting a coronation, and now that he sees he will not get one, he is desperately attacking Romney and blatantly lying in the process.
The Romney and Perry campaign managers were on Hannity tonight, and Perry’s campaign manager kept interrupting Romney’s campaign manager.
September 30th, 2011 at 12:36 am
69.
For the fifth time today, I’m on Perry, Rubio, Jeb & his Hispanic wife, and Reagan’s side on immigration.
Secure the border first (which President Perry will do unlike any before him), then we’ll have an immediate discussion on immigration reform. But not one minute before. Meanwhile, we will treat each state’s children the same. Period. End of story.
70.
The Romney dude kept stuttering out falsehoods — he had to be interrupted.
September 30th, 2011 at 1:01 am
I liked the interview with Morning Joe when the girl said she could tell he had the same intensity in his eyes that he had back in 2007…romney is the guy! If the republican party pulls another “john mccain” and nominates someone they themselves can’t even get excited about I’m joining the democrats.
Ok maybe not but I will be very mad!
September 30th, 2011 at 1:30 am
I have heard Perry supporters say with utter contempt that they will work to defeat Romney in the general election if he is nominated. These are clearly Obama supporters working to get Perry nominated because they know Obama can defeat Perry.
September 30th, 2011 at 7:48 am
First 4 search results: Could have been more convincing
PolitiFact | Debunking Rick Perry’s claim about tort reform
PoltiFact: Perry’s tort reform claims are ‘false’ – The Hill’s Healthwatch
Trial lawyers prep for war on Rick Perry | Texans for Lawsuit Reform
Perry’s ‘loser pays’ is an economic winner | Texans for Lawsuit Reform
September 30th, 2011 at 8:12 am
71
How is Rick Perry going to secure the border better than Mitt when PERRY OPPOSES A FENCE?
September 30th, 2011 at 8:14 am
AttackWatch, where are you now?
Looks like Mittens is aiming to punch down and not up, violating the iron-clad principles of Matt C and decorum.
Maybe he should just go and hire Tom Tancredo to emphasize his nut-cracking attitude toward hispanics.
September 30th, 2011 at 9:15 am
Perrywinckle (Craig)
You are so idiotic you almost make Perry look smart in comparison. Your comments only go to show that the old saying is correct “you can’t fix stupid”
September 30th, 2011 at 11:02 am
$4T over 10 years equates to $400B a year. Our current deficit is $1.4T a year. So Romney is planning to reduce the deficit by only 28%?! Why not eliminate the deficit entirely and balance the budget, like he claims we need to do?
Also, could someone please post a link where I can find specifics and details about how Romney will get to his $4T? Thanks.