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!