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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 24, 2012)
e - ) Opinion Romney Continues Campaign of Lies “Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now” B ERNIE F OSTER Founder/Publisher B OBBIE D ORE F OSTER Executive Editor T ED B ANKS Advertising Manager J ERRY F OSTER Account Executive L ISA L OVING News Editor H ELEN S ILVIS Multimedia Editor D AVID K IDD Graphic Designer M ONICA J. F OSTER Seattle Office Coordinator J ULIE K EEFE S USAN F RIED Photographers d f The Skanner Newspaper, established in October 1975, is a weekly publica- tion, published each Wednesday by IMM Publications Inc., 415 N. Killingsworth St., P.O. Box 5455, Portland, OR 97228. Telephone (503) 285-5555. E-mail: info@theskanner.com World Wide Web site: http://www.theskanner.com Fax: (503) 285-2900 The Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Associ- ation and West Coast Black Pub lishers Association. All photos submitted become the property of The Skanner. We are not re - spon sible for lost or damaged photos either solicited or unsolicited. © 2011 The Skanner. ALL RIGHTS RE SERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION PROHIBITED. To see The Skanner News on your smart phone go to theskannermobile.com or scan this QR code with your app. • • • • • • • • Local news Opinions Jobs, Bids Sports Entertainment Music reviews Bulletin board RSS feeds A s we have seen during three presidential debates and in his campaign speeches, Mitt Romney will say anything – even when he knows it is untrue – in his effort to dislodge President Obama from the White House. Romney charged in the second presidential debate that “it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror.” Obama denied it, urging Romney to “Get the transcript.” FactCheck.org observed. “The transcript does show that Obama said in a Rose Garden speech on Sept. 12: ‘No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for.’” In the same debate, Romney said a gallon of gasoline in Nassau County, N.Y. was $1.86 when Obama took office. It’s now “4 bucks a gallon.” As fact checkers for USA Today stated, “Gas prices were going through a period of exceptional volatility when Obama took office – largely because, as Obama noted, gas prices plummeted as the recession took hold and people drove less…But gas prices are still 34 cents below their all-time high during the Bush administration. In the summer of 2008, the national average hit $4.05 a gallon.” FactCheck.org noted, “Mitt Romney falsely claims in a series of TV ads that President Obama ‘will raise taxes on the middle class by $4,000.’ That’s nonsense. The ads cite a conservative group’s study, but even the group T HE C URRY R EPORT George E. Curry itself doesn’t say Obama will raise taxes on middle-income taxpayers. It says his budget could result in a ‘potentially higher tax burden’ over the next 10 years. “In fact, the group’s study con- said: “In the – in the last four years, women have lost 580,000 jobs. That’s the net of what’s hap- pened in the last four years. We’re still down 580,000 jobs.” FactCheck.org found: “Actual- ly, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the net loss of women’s jobs since January 2009, when the president took office, is 283,000. Even the 283,000 figure is an overstate- ment. The BLS also has announced that its routine annual benchmarking process will result next year in adding 386,000 total jobs – men and women – to the Medicare doesn’t have $716 billion sitting around that could be ‘raided.’ sidered two other budget scenarios – current law (allowing the Bush- era tax cuts to expire as scheduled at the end of this year) and current policy (extending current policies into 2013, including extending the Bush-era tax cuts) – and deter- mined that Obama’s budget ‘pro- vides a middle ground between these two extremes.’” Romney said during a Republi- can debate on Feb 22: “I said today that we’re going to cut taxes on everyone across the country by 20 percent, including the top 1 percent.” However, during a debate with Obama, he said, “I’m not looking to cut taxes for wealthy people.” In that same debate, Romney official historical figures. It did not say how many of those would be women’s jobs, but about 49 percent of total employment is currently accounted for by women. So about 190,000 will probably be subtracted from the 283,000 figure. That would put the current loss at 93,000, making Romney’s figure six times too high. “We assume Romney’s refer- ence to ‘four years’ was meant to cover only Obama’s term. For the record, the number of women’s jobs lost in the last four months of the Bush administration was 833,000, according to the BLS. So the total over four years would come to 1.1 million, with the large majority lost before Obama was sworn in.” Romney has repeatedly charged that Obama has “cut Medicare by $716 billion to pay for Oba- macare.” But FactCheck.org concluded: “Various incarnations of this claim have cropped up in Romney’s campaign speeches – including claims that Obama is ‘cutting’ ‘funneling’ or ‘raiding’ $716 bil- lion from Medicare to pay for the health care law. But Medicare money isn’t being taken away. The Affordable Care Act calls for a $716 billion reduction in the growth of Medicare spending over 10 years, a move that – if success- ful – would keep the hospital insurance trust fund solvent for an additional eight years… Further- more, as we explained in detail in our story ‘Medicare’s ‘Piggy Bank,’ “ Medicare doesn’t have $716 billion sitting around that could be ‘raided.’ The president can’t take money out of the trust fund – which had $244.2 billion at the end of 2011.” Even on those rare occasions when Romney is telling the truth, there is deception. For example, he claims that he will create 12 mil- lion new jobs in his first term. But as fact checkers for USA Today pointed out, “Romney’s pledge to create 12 million jobs has been hotly contested in large part because economic forecasters, including Moody’s Analytics, pre- dict roughly 12 million jobs will be created over the next four years – no matter who is elected presi- dent.” What ‘Choo Talking ‘Bout Romney? H alfway through the second presidential debate, I remembered the show where Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges played Arnold and Willis Jackson. Little Arnold was always asking, “What you talking ’bout Willis?” My question, exactly, only this time directed toward Republican nominee Willard Mitt Romney. What in the world was he talking about when he attempted to debate President Obama on Oct. 16? The Republican nominee behaved as if he were on some kind of upper. Some may have thought his delivery was firm, but when he raised his voice and asked President Obama the same ques- tions several times (Have you checked your pension? Will you answer my question? Well then how much oil production did you cut?). He came off as more obnox- ious (or chemically enhanced) than forceful. Because President Obama is a world leader, he could not give the ‘hood response which might have been “shut your mouth up” (or some such related rejoin- der). Instead, he responded with dignity and clarity. Romney is flip-flopping more frequently than a pancake on an IHOP grill. So he can’t make up his mind about his tax plan, women’s equality, coal produc- tion, or anything. He says he has a five-point plan, but really it is a one- point plan, “Trust me.” Why Page 4 The Seattle Skanner October 24, 2012 B ENNETT C OLLEGE Julianne Malveaux should anybody trust him when he can’t say whether he will cut the mortgage deduction, the charitable equality. You forgot that you stood outside a coal plant in Mas- sachusetts and talked about pollu- tion. You are not sure about the tax breaks you took at Bain when you were exporting jobs. More- over, you connect gasoline prices to President Obama’s policies, not to the greater factor of world demand. Surely, you know better than that. You are running away from your position faster than a gold medal-winning sprinter at the He came off as more obnoxious (or chemically enhanced) than forceful contributions deduction, or college credits? He says he will have to think about it. What has he been doing for the past 10 years when he was running for president? Clearly not thinking! If it takes him this long to think through his policy, maybe he could join (or with his money, even start) a think tank for the cognitively impaired! What you talking ‘bout Willard? You don’t yet know whether you can support the Lily Ledbetter Act, the first piece of legislation that President Obama signed upon taking office. You have yet to figure out women’s Olympics. Maybe Willard Mitt Romney knows no better. This may be why he substituted raw aggression for actual facts. He disrespected both moderator Candy Crowley and President Obama, but then when you wear the mantle of the entitled white male, I think you think you can disrespect and insult anyone. Some of the spinmeisters are out calling this a “draw” or saying that President Obama was “too aggres- sive.” That means that when a Black man makes a point, he is aggressive, but when a privileged and entitled White man just about beats on his chest, hollers, ignores directions, and does a spot-on imi- tation of Homie the Clown on steroids (sorry, Homie, for the insult), he is being firm. Were the spinmeisters and I watching the same debate? Or were their biases showing? In the second debate, some say the gender gap closed and as many women favored Romney over President Obama. That implied disturbing things about some women. My mamma used to ask me why good girls liked bad boys. I don’t remember my answer, but back in the day I could find a bad boy faster than a penny in my pocket. If women tipped for Rom- ney after that first debate, they were saying they liked their men loud, rude, and crude. Let’s see where the gender gap goes the aftermath of the second debate, where Obama put his foot down with dignity and class, while Rom- ney ranted as if he were out of control. What you talking ‘bout, Willard? You distorted the facts so badly about Libya that moderator Candy Crowley had to jump in and correct you. Your “I have to think about that” platform was pure comedy. Your flipping and flop- ping suggested that you will say anything to get elected, and rose questions about what you will do after you are elected. What you talking ‘bout Willard? Not much!
