[UPDATED] Which Is It, Mitt? Romney Website Promotes Two Contradictory Tax Policies.
We all expected Mitt Romney would flip-flop on many issues during the course of a long campaign in which he's desperate to appease the GOP base. We just thought he'd be better at covering his tracks. On one page of his website, Mitt Romney promotes an economic plan that stresses how important it is to maintain marginal tax rates at the current level. [Screenshot available here.] Yet just a few clicks away, the website promote a different tax plan that seeks to reduce marginal tax rates across the board. [Screenshot available here.] Which is it, Mitt? We knew that Mitt Romney doesn't agree with the Mitt Romney of 10 years ago, but apparently he can't even agree with the Mitt Romney of today.
Romney Boldly Abandons His Own Economic Plan
Mitt Romney released a new economic plan a mere five months after he rolled out his 59-point, 87-page (available in e-book!) "Believe In America" economic plan. Why the policy reboot? Just another desperate attempt to win over the conservative base of the Republican Party. Point 1 of 59 in Romney's last plan was to maintain current tax rates on personal income. This proposal was heavily criticized by conservatives. As the Wall Street Journal editorial board noted, “But on other taxes, Mr. Romney shrinks from a fight. He says he favors tax reform with lower individual tax rates but only 'in the long run.'" So what does Romney do? What he has done for 17 years: he shifts positions to try and win over voters. The conservative base wanted bold? He went bold, proclaiming that his plan was “a bold, pro-growth proposal to cut taxes." But will this be enough to convince the base that Romney is authentically conservative? Doubtful. Will it show primary voters, and voters across the country, that Romney will say anything to get elected? Absolutely.
Miami Herald: Connie Mack Preaches Penny-Pinching, But Has A Court-Record Past Of Debt And Liens (And Fights)
On February 17, the Miami Herald reported:
Congressman Connie Mack has made penny-pinching debt-reduction central to his U.S. Senate campaign, but privately he has struggled at times with borrowing and paying his own obligations, court records show. Mack sometimes appeared to spend more than he earned, had property liens filed against him, overdrew his bank account and didn’t have enough money to pay his federal income taxes after his 2004 congressional election, according to court records from Fort Myers to Jacksonville to Fort Lauderdale. His finances aside, the records also show that Mack in his youth got into four confrontations — from an arrest at a nightclub to a bar brawl with a pro baseball player. Later, while in Congress, his estranged wife accused him of not living in his Fort Myers district and of using his influence to strong-arm her during their divorce.
NY Times: Members Of The House Face Uphill Battles For Senate
On February 15, 2012, the New York Times reported:
Republicans, who need a net gain of only four seats to guarantee control of the Senate, have long been optimistic that they could capture the majority because they are defending just 10 of the 33 seats up for grabs. But their task is complicated by the fact that many of their candidates are sitting or recent members of the House, which polls show to be deeply unpopular.
Huffington Post: Mitt Romney, 'Son Of Detroit,' Tools Around Michigan In Car Manufactured In Canada
On February 15, the Huffington Post reported:
Having seen Mitt Romney tool around the Greater Detroit area in two campaign ads in which he nostalgically recalls his childhood and his love of cars, you might be wondering, "What sort of car is he driving?" As it turns out, he's behind the wheel of a cherry Chrysler 300, the pride of Detroit. Oh, wait! Did I say "Detroit?" Sorry, ha ha, I meant "Canada." Yes, as the sleuths at Blue Mass Group report, Romney's whip is a foreign-born Chrysler, manufactured in Brampton, Ontario and imported to Detroit so that it can be imported "from" Detroit.
POLITICO: Romney As Cartoon Millionaire
On February 8, 2012, POLITICO reported:
Meet Mitt Romney, the parody. He’s really rich, worth between $150 million and “$200-odd million,” as he memorably put it. He thinks “corporations are people,” but doesn’t much worry about real people if they’re “very poor.” Homes? Three. Tax returns? None of your business. He invests in the same exotic places a James Bond villain might, the Cayman Islands and a Swiss bank account.
Bloomberg: Private-Equity Lobbying Helped Protect Romney’s Tax Benefits
On February 7, 2012, Bloomberg reported:
The largest U.S. private-equity funds and venture capital firms have relied on a five-year, multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign to protect the carried interest tax break that helped drive presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s 2010 effective tax rate below 14 percent.
NY Times: Romney’s Returns Revive Scrutiny Of Lawful Offshore Tax Shelters
On February 7, 2012, the New York Times reported:
Mitt Romney’s tax returns have drawn political scrutiny on multiple fronts, like his relatively low tax rates and the money parked in a Swiss bank account. But on Capitol Hill, his returns have caught the eyes of members of both parties for what appears to be his use of a type of complex shelter that has been debated for years in battles over evasion and fairness in the tax code.
TPM: GOP Senate Candidate’s Solar Company Took Stimulus Cash
On February 6, 2012, Talking Points Memo reported:
Former Rep. Mark Neumann (R-WI), who is running in a three-way primary for the state’s open Senate seat on a platform of cutting government, has in fact taken government spending from a particular Obama administration initiative: stimulus grants. What’s more, the money was for his solar energy company.
Huffington Post: Denny Rehberg, GOP Congressman And Senate Hopeful, Blasts Child Labor Regulations
On February 2, 2012, the Huffington Post reported:
In a speech expounding on the rift between rural America and Washington D.C., Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) vowed Thursday to use his funding powers to stop the Obama administration from implementing new child-labor rules pertaining to agricultural work, accusing the "urban" Labor Department of meddling in a "rural" industry it doesn't understand.