Steve Helber/AP Photo
Retiring Sen. Jim Webb speaking at an Obama rally Thursday in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
We've heard from his own mouth that Mitt Romney thinks of "47 percent" of Americans as takers dependent on government.
Before introducing President Obama at a campaign rally in Virginia on Thursday, Virginia Senator Jim Webb, a former Marine who served in Vietnam, called out the Republican presidential candidate over those harsh comments and reminded him of what the so-called "47 percent" has done for the country, which includes members of the military:
"Those young Marines that I led so many years ago have grown older now. They've lived lives of courage, both in combat and after their return, where many of them were derided by their own peers for having served. That was a long time ago. They are not bitter. They know what they did. But in receiving veterans' benefits, they are not takers. They are givers, in the ultimate sense of that word. There is a saying among war veterans: 'All gave some, some gave all.' That's not a culture of dependency. It's a part of a long tradition that gave this country its freedom and independence. They paid, some with their lives, some through wounds and disabilities, some through their emotional scars, some through lost opportunities and delayed entry into civilian careers which had already begun for many of their peers who did not serve. And not only did they pay. They will not say this, I will say it for them. They are owed. They are owed. If nothing else, at least a mention, some word of thanks and respect, when a presidential candidate who is their generational peer makes a speech accepting his party's nomination to be commander in chief. And they are owed much more than that — a guarantee that we will never betray the commitment that we made to them and to their loved ones."
In a secretly recorded video of Romney speaking at a private fundraiser, the Republican candidate claimed "47 percent" of American voters are "dependent upon government" and his "job is not to worry about those people."
The latest poll numbers out this week confirmed this incident has significantly dragged Romney's candidacy down.
Leave a Comment:
"If nothing else, at least a mention, some word of thanks and respect, when a presidential candidate who is their generational peer (who supported the Vietnam war but did not serve in it) makes a speech accepting his party's nomination to be commander in chief." Thank you, Senator Jim Webb. Great job, Lawrence!
Encourage you to have the Green Party's superb Doctor Jill Stein, Green New Deal advocate, and Green Party Presidential candidate on your show.
Doctor Stein was called "the only adult in the room" by the Boston Globe during the TV debate in 2002 when she ran for Governor. And you know who was also in that race.
Doctor Jill Stein, a great guest for your show.
To claim that Romney said that all of the 47% of earned or unearned income recipients that do not pay taxes were dependant on the government is a stretch, of course. Just because the he had the statement that 47% do not pay any taxes juxtaposed with another statement of the growing dependency on big government entitlement and give a way programs as all being individuals that will not appreciate his campaign message of tax reform that cuts tax rates while it broadens the tax base by doing away of reducing the many layers of special interest tax credits and tax deductions (just this week advocated by Obama's former economic adviser and former Clinton US Secretary of Treasury Larry Summers on CNBC as a desirable program of reform that would lead to economic expansion) does not mean that Romney was saying all of those who dio not get taxed presently for their income are taking from the government, instead of giving to the government.
There are a lot of myths perpetuated by the media, and this is one. Another recently was the often repeated and broadcast totally missing the truth statement that an individual with an earned income of $50,000 annually was paying more taxes than was multi millionaire Mitt Romney with unearned income on $13 million from investments in a Blind Trust receiving capital gains and dividends and interest which after deductions was taxed at a reate of 14.1%. The individual with the $50,000 annual earned income would have been taxed at a rate of only 6.8%, after standard deductions, so Romney was actually paying approx over 7% higher tax rate.
Let's at least try to be honest with the sophomore sophistries in your lamebrain parade of anti-Romney arguments, NBC-MSNBC!
"The individual with the $50,000 annual earned income would have been taxed at a rate of only 6.8%, after standard deductions."
This writer had better get good malpractice insurance if he ever plans on being a tax preparer. Go ahead, Keith, tell them everything you know.
And also you are off-topic of this post.
That is straight up out of CNBC tax analysis experts, my friend! If you differently, than state your case, fool!
Here is something of an omen for you, with the better part of the 2nd half left to go, (as in the campaign), BYU (Romney's alma mater) is trouncing Hawaii (place of Obama's birth..allegedly, and misspent youth in his swilling beer, smoking mary jane, doing coke, and skipping school days by his own accounts); 27-0. Ominous!
There was no juxtaposition. It's all a part of one statement out of the mouth of Mitt Romney. When you look at his website, you can assess what matters most to him and it's not the middle or lower economic sector.
Please list the "Standard Deductions" that you so flippantly site, I am interested in knowing how someone that has to pay 7.25% just for Social Security Taxes, which Mitt does not have to pay because Mitt does NOT pay Income tax, but capital gains tax, can pay a rate of 6.8%? and then there are State income taxes, that Mitt also doesn't have to pay because he again has no "earned income"?
I like you Republicans... You just think you can throw lies out there a la FOX Noise and everyone will believe them... That is why Romney and the Republican Party are being smashed. The Democratic Party is about to become the most powerful political party in the history of the world, and the party of angry old white men, will fade away into oblivion. Good Riddance. Oh and by the way... We are not only going to hold the Senate, but take back the House.. Then the Senate will use reconciliation to pass all the new tax laws on the wealthy and corporations. Oh NO Mitt!! you might just have to get by on a measely little ONE MILLION DOLLARS A MONTH!!! Instead of 1.15 Million a month, how will you ever get by?! I know $33,000.00 A DAY, 365 DAYS A YEAR, isn't very much to live on, so I will be praying for you and your family during these bad economic times.
Well, the usual deductions and credits refer to home mortgage interest, the usual state and local income taxes and property taxes, and if married with dependants (avg. of 2) deductions there also. If one has a small IRA plan, one has credit against the income there for contributions to it, and if one has educational or job training improvement expenses credits taken there also are available. Usually folks in the income range walk into a Public tax preparers office, and gets the royal treatment as they go though all possible deductions, as these are their bread and butter tax filer customers, and the goal is to get them the most return of their withheld taxes.
Social Security payroll taxes paid to a maximum of $106,700 of annual income are not income taxes, and they are assessed on earned income, not unearned income. Same thing for Medicare taxes. But the discussion of the 47% referred to those not paying any taxes at all on earned income. If one does not have earned income, or unearned income, or tax exempt income (social security recipients to some levels, and disability income recipients are in the later group of having tax exempt income) one is not required to file a tax return, so therefore you are not in the 47% of federal INCOME TAX (not payroll tax) that do not pay taxes, or the 53% that do pay taxes. It may be possible that Romney did have some small amount of earned income in 2010 and 2011 from his work as an active member of Boards of Directors for a few corporations, and therefore been subject to payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare but by far the greatest source of his income was unearned, capital gains, dividends, and interest.
It must be pointed out that contemporaneously to the making of his duel statement on to who Romney was targeting his campaign of promised tax reform that cut marginal income tax rates for every tax payer, and especially corporations and small businesses to help spur economic growth, made to a group of potential campaign contributors, he also had stated in a widely broadcast interview that he was not concerned with those who were the poorest amongst us as they had a safety net, and the if the safety net needed mending, he would tend to that, but his primary concern was the Middle Class, and how to get them relief from this high employment stagnant economy they have been saddled with in the past four years.
Thank you for your invitation to expand on these subjects, Romney Care. BTW, I am a registered Independent, not a registered Republican, although I do note that in several recent polls including the just released Quinnipiac/CBS/NY Times poll, Romney is leading Obama with registered Independent voters. Also, while I dip into Fox News from time to time, mostly for their 6:00PM News hour, and Greta at 10:00PM, I have a wide sampling of news and political commentary sources, from CNN, MSNBC, occasionally the broadcast networks, especially on their Sunday Morning news shows, and PBS, and readings in the Wall Street Journal and Barons, and Time, Newsweek, and US News Report, The Economist, and lastly, my own local Hartford Courant, the nations longest continuously published daily newpaper in the nation.
Yoy miss the very obvious point. This was not an answer to a question of what are my principles, or what do I stand for, or how will I serve as President, it was an answer of what will be your strategy to win the election. And Romney was honestly pointing out he won't be tailoring a campaign meant to promise more handouts, more giveaways, more new entititlement social spending for the 47% that don't pay taxes, or those that consider themselve victims of the society and our free market capitalist economy, for they are going to be suporting the Democrat candidate who will be making those kinds of promises. What Romney was saying was he isn't concerned with trying to persuade them that his tax reform and attendtion to fiscal responsibility to spur economic growth won't play to their immediate interests, and that he will direct that message to the 53% that do pay taxes and are activly attenpting to succeed in the economy we have.
Keith, although technically he was speaking about strategy to win the election, it was all too clear on that embarrassing tape that Romney was revealing his candid and abysmally stupid prejudices about millions of other people, sounding very different from what should be expected from a former Mormon bishop no less, and certainly unpresidential.
That Faux News foaming blather doesn't sell well on this blog.
As Romney, during the Vietnam war I received a 4D draft classification, first as a ministerial student and later as a pastor. As a student, I opposed the Vietnam war and demonstrated against it.
A few of my high school friends were Mormon. I learned from them every male Mormon was expected to serve a stint doing mission work. As Mitt Romney, they received 4D exemptions from the draft during the years they were fulfilling this requirement. Many returned from services as Mormon missionaries to go to college. Again, as Mitt Romney, they received exemptions from the draft as students.
I am a life-long liberal Democrat, a supporter of Barack Obama and have strong ethical and religious objections to the election of Mitt Romney as POTUS. Still, I find criticisms of Mitt Romney for supporting the Vietnam war while receiving ministerial and student exemptions from the draft shallow and unfair. I expect his motivation for serving as a missionary was not to avoid military service, but to fulfill his obligation to his church. I expect his demonstrations in support of the Vietnam war were motivated by heart-felt support of the war and required courage, given the opposition to the war by most students, myself included.
There are other substantial issues to be raised regarding the ease with which Mitt Romney exploits his religion for personal and political game. Let me suggest two which I find especially offensive. First is his willingness to hide behind his giving to his church when discussing his preposterously low effective tax rate. Jesus ridiculed rich who drew attention to their big gifts and bid his followers to give their alms in humble secrecy. Romney sounds the trumpets over his tithing and keeps his tax records a secret.
Second, there is Romney's tolerance of assertions by his supporters that President Obama is not a Christian, but is Muslim. The Obama campaign certainly could have played the religion card on Romney. Conservative Christians are not alone is viewing Mormonism as a non-Christian sect. There are clear theological statements regarding the difference between Mormonism and Christianity in the official statements of Episcopal, Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist and other mainline Christian denominations. The irony is that Romney, a non-Christian, is as silent about the Christian faith of our president as Romney is silent about his taxes.
We rightly have a secular approach to public office. There is and should be no religious test for the POTUS or any other elected official. Still, Romney has benefited from the tolerance of the American people in matters of religion. He should at least stand up and be counted when Obama's religious faith is made an issue.
well, you started off well enough on solid ground, but got a little shakey with that line about "preposterous" tax rate...it is was the tax law says it is; Romney paid both taxes on his by far mostly capital gains and dividend income that are taxed at 15%, and also paid taxes the were due under the Alternative Minimum Tax that somehow or for some reason critics are not mentioning, and did not take the full deduction for his charitable deductions. He also paid very substantial State and Local Income, Sales, and Property taxes, and the State Income and Property taxes lowered his overall federal income tax on unearned income, Pastor Evans.
And other than making a funny a few weeks back about no one in Michigan ever asking to see his birth certificate, Romney has always answered every question put directly to him that he believes Obama was born in Hawaii, and was a Christian as he professed.
Although, for the latter, I'm beginning to wonder as now we have the Egyptian immigrant Coptic Chrisitan maker/producer of the infamous anti MNohammed blasphemous film (that still no one has seen) arrested and held without bail while the Islamic terrorist murderers of our Ambassador and his three colleagues on the 11th Anniversary of 9/11 are very much free and at large.
In point of fact, what was revealed was that Bain "converted" income into capital gains via some accounting legerdemain.
Republicans kept silent on how Bin Laden was at large for nearly ten years, and now the the Talking Oinkers® are squealing that the Libyan attackers haven't been captured in what, two weeks?
And Vice President Cheney claimed Iraq was involved in the 9-11 attacks for how long after the facts were established?
The mind reels at such psychotic contortions... Of course Fuzzy would take it as a compliment when I compare him to President Cheney...
Ah, I see 'Keys2Laundry' is attempting once again to defend Mittens on releasing a whole two years of amended tax returns while every other candidate has met the traditional 8-12 years of documents set by George Romney, Mitts own father, to prove to the American people that you are a trustworthy and viable candidate. It stretches the imagination that Mitt wouldn't live up to the standards previous candidates have met and his own father set. It's exactly like his philosophical view that he is simply above 47% of the nation and that he simply doesn't have to "play" by the same rules as everyone else - even his own father does.
The claim that Mitt has never claimed he didn't believe Obama wasn't born in Hawaii is yet another hypocritical and pessimistic view as Mitt has had no problem paling around with known birthers and bringing up the birther issue (later claiming it was a joke) etc. Pathetic.
Finally, the complaint that we haven't captured the terrorists that just attacked our embassy is rich coming from the guys who simply didn't care that Bush gave upon getting Bin Laden almost as quickly as he started, and now go to every effort to forget and even try to claim this President should get zero credit for actually doing so. The hypocrisy of this Republican party is truly incredible!
Sed, I see you alot all over the MSNBC Blogs. Do you have a real job. From what I'm Observing, you must be getting Government handouts. I understand why you push for Obama so Diligently!!!!!!!!
Well, Cab Driver, may I remind you that Cheney isn't running for President, Romney is? And whatever RUMORS you listren to about Bain Capital, Romney left Bain in 1999, and his taxes for the past 12 years have been paid mostly on investments made by trustees who are well known accounting firm tax lawyers and financial advisors that are in control of his and his wifes Blind Trust.
SedWHINER: No one as set a "magic" number of of the number of years of tax returns that are advisable to be realased. if one believes that a candiate has actually been forming committees and raising money for a campaign for the Presidency of the US as much as 2 years before, then 2 years of tax returns prior to the election should be sufficient to judge whether there are conflicts of interest in how a candidate makes his income, and if those conflicts would interfere with their ability to be a President of all the people and all the States. There is no other legitimate reason to know the the tax returns other than that of how they made their income in that period they are planning and running for President, and how they have made their income during that planning and fund raising and campaigning period will affect how they serve in the Presidency.
If you want to compare the history of who these two candidate "pal" around with, I'll let you look into that. Just be sure to recoginize the terrorists and terrorists sympathizers, and socialist and even avowed communists, and the shady characters out of the Chicago political boss machine political system and their financiers, and, of course, good old pastor Jerimiah ("God Damn America") Wright in your comparison as Obama's historic pals, SEDWHINER.
And I didn't "complain" that the perpetrators (apparently 100 strong) that are Islamic fundamentalist jihadist terrorists that assassinated our Ambassador and his colleagues on the evening of the 11th anniversary of 9/11 haven't yet been captured, I just stated that it is indeed IRONIC that the Presidend who got up before the press in the Rose Garden (before running off to attend a campaign stop and fund raising event in Las Vegas) in the immediate aftermath of those slaying when the rest of the Muslim world were setting their hair on fire and endangering our embassies and their staff and American corporate property abroad, announced that these perpetrators would be pursued, and brought to justice for their murders. And while Obama stood before the UN council of world leaders and made that same promise, and added two weeks too late his statement that in the US we value the freedom of expression and the freedom of all religions, and do not take legal action to stop even disruptive speech that is protected by our constitution, even if it is blasphemous and hurtful and deplorable, and yet the arrest and holding in jail did not occur with a single murderer of fundamentalist Islamic jihadist faith, but a immigrant from Egypt that is a Coptic Christian and who had produced the freedom of expression blasphemous and deplorable film we brag that our values do protect.
But, apparently some people are simply too intellectually concrete to appreciate Irony?
That's funny "Sir Keith of the Laundry," that you believe two years of amended tax returns is fine to show that Romney shows his fair share of taxes and that there is no "funny business" there etc. But most people don't feel that way.
That's how Republicans are. You guys spent a year badgering Clinton for not having an "exit plan" for example but when it came to Bush/Cheney not having exit plans for Iraq and Afganistan just a couple years later all of sudden it didn't matter at all.
When Reagan and Bush had a dozen or more Embassies bombed with hundreds killed we all stuck together as country, but one embassy comes under attack under Obama and you guys go ape @!$%#. The Dixie Chicks, Dan Rather and dozens more fired or black balled for simply criticizing or questioning Bush because when your party is in power it is not acceptable to "disrespect" the President but Clinton and Obama, OMG you guys have cottage industries that do nothing but hurl false accusations and lies around...look you're part of it.
Sure I know Sir Keith of Laundry the rules don't apply to Republicans. You guys are better than 47% of us. Ha Ha Ha!
Keith Longey... Failed human being...
He'll believe any thing his Koch head masters tell him to... No global warming... The polls all say the race is close, and Obama isn't leading in nine battleground states... Unarmed Trayvon Martin posed a threat to gun-toting George Zimmerman... President Obama and Eric Holder knew about and approved Fast 'n Furious... George Bush's putting two wars on the country's credit card didn't create the huge financial problems we have... Saving General Motors wasn't a good thing... Sandra Fluke is a horribly immoral sort because she has a boyfriend and uses birth control (never mind that he's posted about his escapades here; sorry about the visual folks).
'I know what I'm talking about because I'm an educated sort even though really all i did was spend my life as a cog in the various VA bureaucracies where I could look good around genuine war veterans suffering from PTSD."
The truth is not in you, Grandpa. And if you believe Romney left Bain management in 1999, I've still got that beach front property along the Great Salt Lake... Right next to a hunting club, even...
Magic,
I'm a retired Naval/Maritime Officer and Corporate Exec.
How about you? I noticed you are all over MSNBC blogs making confusing comments that I assume are for Mittens. Do you have a real job (I don't consider right wing troll a real job)? Ha Ha Ha!
Keith, Romney was still listed as Bain Capitol's CEO until 2002.
Romney was in other pursuits (like saving the Olympics, and drawing $100,000 a year pro forma salary only from Bain Capital from, Feb., 1999 thru 2002 whicle negotiations were underway for the succession from his previous ownership/CEO active management, and his payment of franchise value he had built into the firm, upon his retirement, which occured after 2002 retroactive to Feb., 1999, John.
SedWHINER and the alcohlic drop out from real life Cab Driver are liberal trolls who spend their time foolisly staking my comments on this blog with nothing more than insults (sometimes very jealous ones due to my success in life), and believe that serves to refute my arguments. They are to be pitied for their ignorant foolishness!
Sed
No you're not, I read between the fine
lines. Your defiantly not Corporate Material. Your style of verbiage lacks the
skill. Now wether you served with the military or not, I won't challenge that. Yes I was Military.
Keith doesn't understand that Sed and I would be trolls if we were over on a right wing site raising hell... We're not. Okay, Cabdriver Confession: I was banned at the Mormon Church-owned Deseret News site after only two days. I was just trying to give some basic history and science lessons and on my best behavior. Honest, I"m smooth enough I once got a five dollar tip from an LDS General Authority.
The only other time I trolled was on a "Birther" site, right after the President released his "long form" birth certificate (a couple days before Navy Seals served up Osama Bin fish food). A "digital forensic analysis expert" questioned the authenticity of the document (suprise, surprise), and then made the statement "George W. Bush volunteered for Vietnam."
Man, that question mark of mine must've really been profane, because the site owner took me to task for not "speaking to the question." My third post never made it past the censors...
BTW, Grandpa stuck a birther innuendo in a few days ago... I'm supposed to be jealous of somebody who thinks the way he does?
And mudgic, you don't have the perceptual skills to recognize "corporate material."
Majic4u: I must come to SedWHINERs defense here....he most definitely has the intelligence as shown by his commens here to have been the top ranking Maritime/Naval officer...rowing a one man craft on the smaller of the Great Lakes, "trolling" for his suppers.
Whoops. What did I say earlier Keys2thelaundry? It's back on!
Romney makes a BIG DEAL about the 1992 Olympics, which he supposedly "SAVED!!".
How much $$ did he get from the US GOVT. to do that?
Any idea KEITH?
What a Summers Eve!!
I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Keith owns an entire first edition collection of Mitt Romney '02 Olympic commemorative pins that he prostrates himself in front of multiple times every day in his basement, chanting "I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy!". Hmmm...I wonder how much federal money was used to produce those pins?
But I'd have absolutely no problem agreeing with his chant.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Romney+2002+olympic+Pins&go=&qs=n&form=QBIR&pq=romney+2002+olympic+pins&sc=0-13&sp=-1&sk=
Fantasy 101 again...one of Keith's best classes - he repeated it 5 times thinking it would boost his GPA. Liberal trolls aren't needed here to counter your myopic opinions...elementary fundamental education is more than enough. Simple basic spelling and grammar skills don't seem to be even an elective requirement for your side, as amply evidenced by you and magic4u.
Like the "successes" you had with the VA while working for them? How about your spelling and grammatical skill "successes"? Those would be pretty weird definitions of the word "success", even for you, soprano-boy.
Yes. I'm sure Keith has already dyed his side burns in advance of Halloween and is prancing around the house as we speak in his Mittens costume. Ha Ha Ha. I'd love to see his cat "Lion Ryan." Ha Ha Ha
I would say that Romney supporters have taken his disregard for the "lazy 47%" and ran with it. Here's an article that discusses how one Romney supporter (at a Romney campaign headquarters) suggests poor people should be "executed." I think this needs to go viral, so people see there are very real consequences for the callous remarks made by a presidential candidate:
Well, so you turned up one fool and tried to make a pimple out of him to blemish the candidate of the Republican Party, when the incumbent President who is running (and from his record and the truths, he is running) blemishes himself and this nation with his referral to the assassination of our AMBASSADOR and three other American Candidates and the rash of killings of American and NATO troops in Afghanistan by radical Islamic fundamentalists that have infiltrated the Afghan Army and Police as we rush to get recruits in and trained to meet an unwise politically set withdrawal date of 2014, with his cold and callous statement that there always will be "BUMPS IN THE ROAD"!!! How dare he, Cathy!
Cathy, people generally tend to see in others their own traits which they do not want to acknowledge , thus, the reply you got of the writer seeing in President Obama that which actually exists in his heroes, Mr. Cold Love-to-Fire-Workers-Soul and Mr. Ayn Rand Romance-of-Self-Absorption-Soul. Don't you believe a word of it.
Ha Ha Ha! Keys2theLaundry like all Republicans do not know history and would rather see us fighting and losing men in Afganistan for what decades?
Gee when Patton defeated Rommel in Africa did we stay there to fight the Africans?
We went into Afganistan foolishly to get Bin Laden because he was hiding and training in that country. Because of Bush's foolish mistake we created a terrorist Taliban force there. It is time to get out.
Thank god Obama can create exit strategies. Remember those? The R's criticized Clinton for not having one for what over a year? Yet when it came to Iraq and Afganistan they didn't even consider them. Pure unadulterated hypocrisy!
Mitt Romney is DANGEROUS to our Country!
Exactly, Francine.
test
Exactly, Butch!
God Bless Jim Webb for his comments and our Brave Troops and the 47% of which I am one and proud of it. What really gets me Mitt, is when you appear on FOX with all those tough guys like BILL O, HANNITY, and the jelly donut KARL ROVE. You all want to go to war with other peoples children. Did any of those guys serve their country??? MAybe they served with CHENEY, NEWT, or SANTORIUM. Here's some advice MITT, the next time you think about going to war, send your 5 sons instead of other people's children. Did any Romneys ever serve our country in peace or in battle? Helping you run for president doesn't qualify!! Do you even know anyone who served our Country? Do you know anyone who lost a limb or their eyesight or came home disabled? I'll bet you don't! WHAT A SHAME
Uh...we have had an all volunteer military since 1976 in this nation, and the Military likes it that way. They are looking for recruits that will give them sufficient, even career length service, that justifies the high cost of training that goes into the modern fighting man in all our service branches, and those who serve them in technical and supportive roles.
You should have stuck with "test" as above, Butch, before beginning your inane and juvenile argument.
Keith, we would explain Butch's correct argument to you, but there are no crayons available at the moment.
Why don't you romney supporters explain how your Christain right can vote for romney, when HIS company, STERICYCLE, Made millions by disposing of ABORTED FETUSES? I want these Christains explain how they can ignore this?
I'm a Christian man, but when I see an article that says that IV illegal drug use is reported to be on the rise, I think that is terrible...and then I start asking I wonder what company makes the needles, and what is their stock selling at right now! LOL!
Keith, for once there is a grain of truth in your ramblings. But tell me, as a "Christian" man, have you ever sat down and reviewed the words of Jesus Christ given in the Sermon on the Mount for the purpose of comparing some of what comes out of your keyboard with that very clear blueprint?
In 1968 our platoon's prime target radioman was a Mormon from Utah, and we all soon learned he did not have to be there with us in the deadly A Shau Valley. When asked why he was there with us when he didn't have to be, he quietly said he was there because of the draft, and....."Because my life is no more important than anyone else's." Even 19 and 21 year olds knew this was honorable beyond words. John "Doc" Rafter, 82nd A.B. - 1968, Draftee and Combat Medic.
That is an example of living one's beliefs.
Hey Keith wake up and smell the coffee,Keith just by your comment I would say you never served your country either.You might have the same problem as all those tough guys I mentioned before.Y ou and them have a favorite color,if you would like me to tell the rest of the country what it is keep up with the wise comments, I like that
Obama’s answer to the Susan Rice question and Libya: I don’t wake up every day thinking about who said what on the Sunday morning shows and what intelligence did they have at the time. I wake up thinking about how to capture or kill the perpetrators, bringing them to justice.
My opponent said he would use any national tragedy for political gain on the “47%” tape. Having heard the tape, it appeared to me that was gleeful, eager, even excited about the prospects of doing so. That should surprise no one. He is the kind of guy who would advocated for the Vietnam war and the draft of young Americans while spending his eligible years in France on a draft deferment.
He is the kind of guy that has shown over the past three months that he is not ready-for-prime-time when it comes to being Commander in Chief and President of the United States. Trust me America, we are at war, and within the next four years some misguided terrorist somewhere in the world will take the life of an American --- regardless who is the President. Because we are at war, and there will be casualties. But you can be sure that I will make every effort to prevent them, and, on those rare occasions that an attack isn’t foiled and we have loss of life, I will make every effort to track them down and capture or kill them.
I wake each day with a mission to bring to bear the greatest military on earth to capture or kill those who would take innocent lives. What I won’t do is eagerly spin American tragedies for political gain as if this is some kind of game we are playing. A Candidate for President selfish enough to impose his posturing on the American people before a fallen hero’s body is even cold, in my opinion, isn’t fit to be President 47%, the 53% or 1% of Americans.