Who do you really relate to, Mr. Romney?

Ok, Governor, I give you credit you can relate - In your own words (or your associates):

1. To Blacks, "I understand how difficult it can be for an African-American in today’s society. In fact, I can relate to black people very well indeed. My ancestors once owned slaves, and it is in my lineage to work closely with the black community. However, just because they were freed over a century ago doesn’t mean they can now be freeloaders. They need to be told to work hard, and the incentives just aren’t there for them anymore. When I’m president I plan to work closely with the black community to bring a sense of pride and work ethic back into view for them." (Prattville, Alabama, March 2012)

2. To Asians, "And they work in these huge factories, they made various uh, small appliances. And uh, as we were walking through this facility, seeing them work, the number of hours they worked per day, the pitance they earned, living in dormitories with uh, with little bathrooms at the end of maybe 10, 10 room, rooms. And the rooms they have 12 girls per room.

"Three bunk beds on top of each other. You’ve seen, you’ve seen them? (Oh…yeah, yeah!) And, and, and around this factory was a fence, a huge fence with barbed wire and guard towers. And, and, we said gosh! I can’t believe that you, you know, keep these girls in! They said, no, no, no. This is to keep other people from coming in." (Bain using Chinese slave labor, anyone?)

3. "Let's not kid ourselves about just how cheap offshore labor really is. We not only pay substantially less per hour, we also avoid the costs we would incur if these workers immigrated here. We don't pay for their medical expenses when they show up in the emergency room without insurance. We don't pay for their pension costs if they don't save for retirement. We don't pay for their children's public education. Nor do we pay for their out-of-wedlock children, their unemployment benefits and workers' compensation, their slip and fall torts, their wear and tear on our public infrastructure, and the cost of their drunk driving, drug use and other crimes. We outsource pollution, its adverse effects on our health, and its clean-up costs. Neither the employees nor their employers are here to vote and seek political handouts." (Your Bain partner, Ed Conard, in his book, writing about how you used out-sourcing )

4. To Latinos, "For those that come here illegally the idea of giving them in state tuition credits or other special benefits I find to be the contrary to the idea of the nation of law," (Sioux City, Iowa, December 2011)

"The way that we have in this society is to say, look, people who have come here legally would, under my plan, be given a transition period and the opportunity during that transition period to work here, but when that transition period was over, they would no longer have the documentation to allow them to work in this country. At that point, they can decide whether to remain or whether to return home and to apply for legal residency in the United States, get in line with everybody else. And I know people think but that's not fair to those that have come here illegally." (CBS interview, January 2012)

5. To the Gay and Lesbian community: "I would, unlike this president, defend the Defense of Marriage Act. I would also propose and promote once again an amendment to the Constitution to define marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman." (January 2012)

6. To women: "I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. I have since the time that my mom took that position when she ran in 1970 as a US Senate candidate. I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years, that we should sustain and support it, and I sustain and support that law, and the right of a woman to make that choice. And my personal beliefs, like the personal beliefs of other people, should not be brought into a political campaign. Too much has been written about religion in this race. I’m proud of my religious heritage. I’m proud of the values it has taught me, but if you want to know my position on issues, ask me, and I’ll tell you. I think the low point of this race was when my opponent and their family decided to make religion an issue in this campaign– brought it out, attacked me for it. I think that’s a mistake, I think the time has passed for that. John Kennedy was the one who fought that battle, but that battle lives for all of us of all faiths." (Massachusetts 1994)

"But while the nation remains so divided over abortion, I believe that the states, through the democratic process, should determine their own abortion laws and not have them dictated by judicial mandate." (Massachusetts 2005)

"Probably from a political standpoint and a personal standpoint, the greatest mistake was when I first ran for office, being deeply opposed to abortion but saying, "I support the current law," which was pro-choice and effectively a pro-choice position. That was just wrong. And when I became a governor and faced a life-and-death decision as a governor, I came down on the side of life. That was a mistake before that." (August 2007)

"People have had a chance to look at my record and look what I've said. I believe people understand that I'm firmly pro-life. I will support justices who believe in following the Constitution and not legislating from the bench. And I believe in the sanctity of life from the very beginning until the very end." (June 2011)

"I was always personally opposed to abortion, as I think almost everyone in this nation is. And the question for me was, what is the role of government? And it was quite theoretical and philosophical to consider what the role of government should be in this regard, and I felt that the Supreme Court had spoken and that government shouldn’t be involved and let people make their own decision. That all made a lot of sense to me. Then I became governor and the theoretical became reality. A bill came to my desk which related to the preservation of life. I recognized that I simply could not be part of an effort that would cause the destruction of human lift. And I didn’t hide from that change of heart. I recognize it’s a change. Every piece of legislation which came to my desk in the coming years as the governor, I came down on the side of preserving the sanctity of life." (December 2011)

"Planned Parenthood, we're gonna get rid of that. The subsidy for Amtrak, I would eliminate that. The National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, both excellent programs, but we can't afford to borrow money to pay for these things." (CNN interview, March 2012)

"As Governor of Massachusetts, I chose a woman Lt. Governor, a woman chief of staff, half of my cabinet and senior officials were women, and in business, I mentored and supported great women leaders who went on to run great companies." (RNC, August 2012)

7. To working class Americans: "What is needed in our country today is not complicated or profound. It doesn't take a special government commission to tell us what America needs. What America needs is jobs. Lots of jobs…You know there's something wrong with the kind of job he's done as president when the best feeling you had, was the day you voted for him…" (RNC, August 2012)

8. On "you didn’t build that": "You Olympians, however, know you didn't get here solely on your own power...For most of you, loving parents, sisters or brothers, encouraged your hopes, coaches guided, communities built venues in order to organize competitions. All Olympians stand on the shoulders of those who lifted them. We’ve already cheered the Olympians; let’s also cheer the parents, coaches, and communities. All right!" (Winter Olympic opening ceremonies, 2012)

Relating the old "it takes a village" argument to business President Obama’s said "If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen…The point is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together."

You have said this "Well, just read the whole speech. I found the speech even more disconcerting than just that particular line. The context is worse than the quote. The context, he says, you know, you think you’ve been successful because you’re smart, but he says a lot of people are smart. You think you’ve been successful because you work hard, a lot of people work hard. This is an ideology which says hey, we’re all the same here, we ought to take from all and give to one another and that achievement, individual initiative and risk-taking and success are not to be rewarded as they have in the past. It’s a very strange and in some respects foreign to the American experience type of philosophy. We have always been a nation that has celebrated success of various kinds. The kid that gets the honor roll, the individual worker that gets a promotion, the person that gets a better job. And in fact, the person that builds a business. And by the way, if you have a business and you started it, you did build it. And you deserve credit for that. It was not built for you by government. And by the way, we pay for government. Government doesn’t come free. The people who begin enterprises, the people who work in enterprises, they’re the ones paying for government. So his whole philosophy is an upside-down philosophy that does not comport with the American experience. And if we want to get people working again–and that’s my priority–if we want to get people working again, we have to celebrate success and achievement and not demonize it and denigrate the people who have worked hard, who are smart, who have made the kinds of investments to build a brighter future." (July 2012)

9. On the economy: "I wish President Obama had succeeded, because I want America to succeed…"The time has come for us to put the disappointments of the last four years behind us." (RNC, August 2012)

10. On balancing the budget: "The right way to balance a budget really has two prongs...One is to do those things that encourage the growth of the economy. So, you do things to get small businesses growing and adding-adding jobs. But you also go through and say which of those things that you should take out of the budget that are no longer essential. The easiest for me to knock out is Obamacare. It's about $100 billion a year. We simply can't afford it. But there are other subsidies that I think you're going to find that we take out." (August 201)

11. On Obama: "He calls his accomplishment "historic" — in this he is correct, although not for the reason he intends. Rather, it is an historic usurpation of the legislative process — he unleashed the nuclear option, enlisted not a single Republican vote in either chamber, bribed reluctant members of his own party, paid-off his union backers, scapegoated insurers, and justified his act with patently fraudulent accounting. What Barack Obama has ushered into the American political landscape is not good for our country; in the words of an ancient maxim, ‘what starts twisted, ends twisted. His health-care bill is unhealthy for America. It raises taxes, slashes the more private side of Medicare, installs price controls, and puts a new federal bureaucracy in charge of health care. It will create a new entitlement even as the ones we already have are bankrupt. For these reasons and more, the act should be repealed. That campaign begins today." (National Review, March 2011)

"His $716 billion cut to Medicare to finance Obamacare will both hurt today's seniors, and depress innovation - and jobs - in medicine." (August 2012)

12. On welfare reform: "President Obama now wants to strip the established work requirements from welfare…The success of bipartisan welfare reform, passed under President Clinton, has rested on the obligation of work. The president’s action is completely misdirected. Work is a dignified endeavor, and the linkage of work and welfare is essential to prevent welfare from becoming a way of life." (Houston, Texas, July 2012)

"I hope you understand President Obama in just the last few days has tried to reverse that accomplishment by taking the work requirement out of welfare. That is wrong. If I’m president, I’ll put work back in welfare…We will end the culture of dependency and restore a culture of good hard work." (Chicago, Illinois, August 2012)

You made the above statements when addressing a group of your supporters throughout the history of your attempts to seek election to public office – some of which you have had success attaining (governorship), and at various other times in life. So I say to this:

It has been said that the first (government-recognized) slave owner in America was a Black man. True or false I can’t say because I am not a great historian. History has shown that there were black people enslaved in Africa by other Blacks. But think of this, African-Americans were stolen from their native lands and brought to what is now America and force to provide free labor to help your family become the "entitled" American that you feel you are now. Your presidential running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan, supports a plan to have people who receive unemployment work for free while they receive that unemployment. When you think of the fact that unemployment benefits are meager compared to the salary the person were be receiving before being fired or laid off, could this be a form of slavery? (By the way, can you spell O U T S O U R C I N G?) After such a program as this would provide cost-free labor to the one employing them.

Your views seem to change as it becomes politically convenient, wouldn’t you say? Your comments to the Olympians sounds almost like "You didn't build that," don't you think? Seems to me that your business was built on someone's shoulder. And the tax shelters that you took advantage of, were they something that you came up with? Oh no, that is the workings of "GOVERNMENT," I think. But it could be because of the subsidies you were able to take advantage of. And, oh yes, you have no problem with women in the work force but the "federal government" should make her decisions for her when it comes to her body. Do you NOT UNDERSTAND that in getting rid of Planned Parenthood means getting rid of the preventive health care more than three million people rely on for cancer screenings every year, birth control, and other preventive care for medical conditions that are specific to women? The man you have chosen to be your vice president, Paul Ryan, well, he staunchly believes that a woman should ‘absolutely’ have no say in what happens to her body in the case of rape or incest. We know where he stands on the issue. He put it in writing when he collaborated with congressman Todd Akin. Yet you both had no problem throwing Mr. Akin under the bus when he expressed his honest, and true, views on the issue of abortion. Hypocrisy? I definitely think so.

You may have started your company but you had some help doing so. Someone was your secretary or assistant. Certainly the"10 people" you started with were not all owners. As you yourself have put it young Chinese women worked for Bain for pittance wages so your company could make money in America. Your partner writes in his book how your company outsourced work and paid cheap wages. So, putting facts together – YOU DIDN’T BUILD THAT, SIR. IT TOOK MANY PEOPLE TO "BUILD THAT." And, to begin it all your family used slaves which cost them some corn meal and a wooden shack but cost the slaves many aches and pains, much humiliation and indignation so your family could survive. So don’t try to tell me that you BUILT THAT WITH YOUR OWN HANDS. You, sir, did not build that. Did you take the president’s comments out of context? Ask your conscious, and take a look in the mirror, sir. The answer is there but will you recognize it? I admit that there have been those who have promoted advertisements on the president’s behalf that are misleading but straight out lying? Well – let your conscious be your guide. Think about this while you are looking in that mirror. Outsourcing has a huge negative effect on the American economy. Unemployment is increased by outsourcing and that causes people to have to resort to such programs as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) also known as food stamps; increased crisis, energy, heating, and cooling assistance; Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF); general relief assistance; Medical Assistance (Medicaid/FAMIS/SLH), etc.

Congressman Paul Ryan (after being selected as the vice presidential candidate): "Mitt Romney doesn’t want you to know the disturbing truth about his record as governor…But the facts are clear. Gov. Romney embraced the legalization of same-sex marriage, he imposed anti-business carbon-emission limits, and he championed efforts to limit Second Amendment rights. This isn’t the record of strong family values and small government ideals that our country needs to get back on the road to prosperity—this is a record of ruin." (Iowa State Fair, August 2012) Now, why would you select someone who is so critical of your record as your running mate?

When you ran for governor of Massachusetts you promised more jobs, less debt, and smaller government. The people in the State of Massachusetts got the following. They were the 47th of the 50 states in job creations; taxes and fees were increased over $75 million, annually; long-term debt was increased to over $2.6 billion; manufacturing jobs decline at twice the rate of the nation's; as wages were going up throughout the country they were falling in Massachusetts; and, you left the state with both a debt and a deficit when you left office. Why should we believe that the Romney economic forecast (which we have yet to hear a plan) would work any better for the country when you couldn’t make it work at the state level? You are quick to point out that the president had no experience in running a business and that is the reason he has failed at the economic affairs of the country. Well, Mr. Romney, you had experience running a business but had a very poor outcome as governor of the State of Massachusetts. And, oh yes, you say the reason for the disappointing outcome of your governorship was because you inherited a bad situation. Well, sir, the president inherited a disastrous situation when he took office in January 2009. You say "let’s hold politicians accountable." Shouldn’t you be held accountable for misleading statements and outright lies? And, oh my, how ironic it is that on the night President Barack Obama was inaugurated your running mate met with a few other members of the Republican Party and vowed not to allow him to succeed in any kind of way. (He has not broken that vow,) Yet, you both now criticize what he has not done for the economy. Sure there may be a few areas that he could have been more forceful but when your party resisted every overture, don’t you think that you are a bit hypocritical?

Now, let’s talk about Obamacare and wanting the president to succeed. You said "I want liberal policies to fail. I want him to fail in trying to put in place a health care plan that takes away the private sector from health care." Why would you want to put this burden on the poor and working class Americans? I am a poor, retired on-disability, senior, why should I pay a company that has a main goal of making a fat profit to pay my medical bills which would allow them to garner a maximum profit for top executives, etc.? This will allow me to receive the absolute best medical care, how? Pray tell me how does Obamacare differ from Romneycare? Fact is Medicare is strengthened by the Affordable Care Act and that $716 billion cuts waste and fraud not the care that I receive. The plan that you and your running mate want to put in place turns Medicare into a voucher program and will cost me more. And, it has the same $716 billion cut. Time for some truths, don’t you think?

May I remind you that in 2005 you asked the federal government for a waiver which would allow people to remain on welfare for an indefinite period of time. What the president has put into play does not in any way end the work requirements of welfare. Rather, it gives states the authority to seek the waiver that you asked for but does not unilaterally stop the welfare work requirement. The state requesting such a waiver must present a plan that provides for a ‘more efficient or effective means to promote employment and submit a plan that evaluates performance measures.’

Please tell me why do we want to start another war? Because it surely sounded like you wanted to go to war with Iran and Russia in your acceptance speech. If you are elected president will we end up in another war in the middle east or with China or Russia. Your bending and dishonest bending of the facts does nothing to encourage me to cast a vote for you if I was of a mind not to vote for the president. Instead it leads me to think that you neither have the core strength nor the necessary principals we need to lead this country.

No sir, I don’t think anyone has ever asked to see your birth certificate. Why? Because you are one of the "REAL Americans," right? And I am sure you have never been stopped by a policeman for 'driving while black.' You have never been required to present papers to prove that you belonged anywhere either. Slaves had to present papers and most recently Latinos have had to present papers to prove that they were legal or risk being deported. You probably were never stopped and asked to prove that you were a citizen while you were standing in your own front yard, either. Well, Mr. Romney, African-Americans, Asians, and Latinos have had to suffer these humiliations at one time or another. And, by the way, you have not been assumed to be a terrorist have you? I guess not because you don’t appear to be of Arab descent. I could ask a few more questions on proving you ‘belong’ here in America but I will stop here because I know you feel no prejudicial injustices exist in America. So when you say that no one asked to see your birth certificate you are saying that you are one of the "true Americans." I have no doubts that everyone who matters to you has heard everything that have had to say on immigration, "self-deportation," welfare, entitlements for seniors and the poor, who makes the decision what I am allowed to do with something so personal as my body, and who "belongs" in the White House.

Did I by some mere chance misquote or distort any of the words that came directly from your mouth? I THINK NOT.

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