Saturday, September 01, 2012

Mitt & Paul's big party.

Mr. small government Paul Ryan didn't mention the nearly 70 million dollars of tax payer money he and Mitt got to host their week-long self congratulatory party (read more). Is that what our tax dollars should pay for? That's about $140 million for both conventions, which happens to be the same amount it takes to buy 528,916 poor children in America breakfast before starting the school day. This was a week long tribute to fiscal policies, and why Obama and Co. have spent this country into near ruin. Meanwhile, Mitt and Paul held this completely unnecessary, week long advertisement. Why not lead your economic restraint message by stopping these conventions? There has not been a need for these conventions in quite sometime. One day, one of these major parties will wake up and cancel theirs. Whoever cancels first will win the gratitude of a lot of Americans, and be able to belittle their opponent for such wasteful spending. At one point these conventions were necessary to actually nominate the candidate, but those days are long gone; it's time to come back to Earth.



Well let us talk about the GOP's war plan. This year they are betting it all on the Mormon leader ( a Bishop & stake president) Mitt Romney. I have to say a Mormon for the GOP ticket seems like the best fit, not only do you have a conservative faith, you also have one of the wealthiest churches behind you. The church rakes in about $7 billion a year from their parishioners tithe. The church has been known to throw this money into a political fire in the past ( $17.67 million  to keep gays from marrying in California).  Oh, and the Mormon faith holds America as a holy place, one day Jesus Christ will return to Independence Missouri . America, Religion and Big Money, this is the holy trinity to the GOP, all wrapped up in a single candidate. It's amazing that the base of the party is so unexcited by Romney. 

The convention largely focused on the grammatical error of Obama, "You didn't build that!" Every other speaker chanted the mantra "we did build it!" I don't know if its more shameful to hold up this out of context quote as a central issue, or to accept this out context quote as the actual quote. Whatever, let them run that into the ground ad nauseum. Never mind the fact Romney's running mate Paul Ryan voted for the $700 billion bailout in 2008 (something I blogged about at the time). What was missing, and very unusually so, was foreign policy. Imagine a GOP convention with no mention of foreign policy (aside from Condoleezza Rice's speech). Seems as though the Democrats have actually out flanked the GOP on the war front. Or another way to look it, Romney and Obama are pretty identical on foreign policy, which isn't too far off George W. Bush's foreign policy.  The economy is the issue, plain and simple, all else is a side note, that's the GOP's message.

The problem with this message, is that it ignored another plank on the GOP platform, the tried and true focus on the family plank.  The right of doctors to refuse women birth control. The right of parents to force their child, against their will, to carry a child to term. The exclusion of people to tax and legal benefits based on their sexual orientation. Enhancing and expanding the "stand your ground" law of self defense. The outright and full ban on abortion, whether you've been raped by your father, or have a life threatening medical condition.  This isn't freedom, this the will of a religious people to force their morality on the non-believers. Whatever jobs Mitt & Paul are going to magically pull out of their top hats is hardly worth the sacrifice of these personal freedoms.

Mitt doesn't want to talk about the tenants of his faith. He's made that clear for a long time, questions about his faith are off limits. But we see some of his, and other religions beliefs on the GOP's platform. This is what they are running on, this platform matters. They aren't going to talk about it though because they know that every minute spent talking about these issues is a minute Obama is winning. Americans don't want a full ban on abortion, Americans want to buy birth control from their local pharmacy. America should stand up for the rights of homosexuals to enjoy the same tax and legal benefits has heterosexuals, chide any move to discriminate against gays. Mitt's faith and personal beliefs are off the table of discussion, but they are on the legislative table. Why are we allowing this? If his morality is part of the platform, his morality has every right to be discussed. A public discussion about the tenants of Mitt's faith is legitimate. If he can say that a 13 year old girl who has been molested and raped by her father as no right to abort that child, we can ask him about the Mormon church. 



Only one person spoke to us like adults: Condoleeza Rice. In case you missed it: