Slogans for Romney - Part 2.

[JoeB131]

Well, since the GOP establishment is happy to pick a candidate based on three states with low turnout... we might as well just start coming up with slogans for this disaster. The buttons will be collectors items in 30 years.

"Romney 2012 - It was the best we had, really!"

"Romney 2012 - I can't have illegals, I'm running for office, for Pete's Sake."

"Romney 2012 - I like to be able to fire people."

"Romney 2012 - You Peasents aren't working hard enough to make me rich"

 

[California Girl]

Pull your pants up, your bitterness is showing.

 

[waltky]

Romney slogan - 'Elect Romney an' dey won't have to hire a gardener for the White House'...

Romney Says Little About Family In Mexico
Fri Jan 6, 2012 - Mitt Romney's family in Mexico reveals candidate's heritage south of border

Heading into the New Hampshire primary, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has a strong lead in the polls as he continues his effort to become the Republican nominee challenging President Obama in the fall. That would mean, of course, that the 64-year-old Romney would be closer to The White House than any Mormon ever has been. If Romney secures the nomination, he would also be the first presidential nominee whose father was born in Mexico.

It's a little-known fact that there's a whole branch of Mitt Romney’s family living south of the border, including his second cousin Leighton Romney, and about 40 other relatives descended from religious pioneers who first traveled to Mexico 125 years ago. These days, the Romneys of Mexico enjoy pleasant and productive lives in two remaining settlements: Colonia Juarez and Colonia Dublan, just 175 miles south of the border. “He's got a great pioneer heritage starting with people that crossed the plains going from Illinois to Utah, and then on from Utah down to Mexico," Leighton Romney told NBC’s Mike Taibbi in an interview to air Monday night on 'Rock Center with Brian Williams.' “So there's a great heritage there of people that had to fight for what they believed in and for people that had to travel to different places and learn different things. I think there's a vast amount of experience that he could draw from there.”

In his public life Mitt Romney has said and written little about his ancestors' history in Mexico. In one oft-repeated quote he said his family left the U.S. for Mexico to escape persecution for their religious beliefs. In fact, Romney's great grandfather, Miles Park Romney, led that first expedition to escape not persecution but prosecution for polygamy, or what Mormons called ‘plural marriage.’ After polygamy ended, the family remained in Mexico. Mitt Romney's father, George, was born in Colonia Dublan, one of the colonies in northern Mexico that the Romneys settled in after their arrival. His mother, Lenore LaFount Romney, was born in Utah.

When Romney’s father was five years old, the Mexican Revolution broke out and his parents moved back to the United States to avoid the violence. Mitt Romney was eventually born in Michigan. But the other branch of the family – leading down to Romney's cousins Leighton, Mike and Meredith – stayed behind in Mexico, their numbers growing. The Romneys chose to remain in Mexico because they established good lives for themselves and their families there. Most of them are now dual-citizens. “We certainly have a love for both countries,” adds Leighton. “I can sing both national anthems and tear up at both of them. I think that having two countries that you love and two countries that you can serve or be a beneficiary of their service is a great thing.”

The Romneys living in Mexico are well aware of their wealthy and famous relative’s popularity in the Republican primary race. They support their cousin's candidacy and they hope that Mitt will be more open about the issue of his religion and Mexican heritage during the campaign. It’s a family history they’re proud of, despite the fact that Mitt Romney has never come to visit. If Romney does get the Republican nod, and the media spotlight of a presidential campaign points south toward Mexico, it will probably land on many of these unknown Romney family nuggets, and on Mormonism itself, the religion shared by Mitt Romney and the cousins he doesn't know. That part is okay with Romney's cousins. “We're Christians, complete in every sense of the word. I don't think that any candidate for any office would shy away from their religion. I think it's something to stand up and be proud of,” Leighton said.

Source

 

[waltky]

Run fer Prez'dent - get a tax break...

Romney confirms he gets a big tax break
17 Jan.`12 – Amid demands for fuller disclosure of his finances, Mitt Romney for the first time confirmed Tuesday that most of his income comes from investments and is taxed at "closer to the 15% rate" — far below the 35% rate on wages for taxpayers in the top tax bracket.

The acknowledgment from the multimillionaire businessman and GOP presidential front-runner came after rival Rick Perry used a South Carolina campaign debate to demand that Romney disclose his tax returns so voters can decide whether "we've got a flawed candidate or not." Romney, fending off the latest campaign criticism of his involvement with Bain Capital, the private-equity firm he helped launch, suggested during the debate he would delay such a disclosure until April, and then might release just one year's tax return. He has not released his tax returns during previous election races, even though he called for opponents to disclose theirs. "I know that if I'm the nominee, people will want to see the most recent year," he added Tuesday after appearing at a town hall meeting here.

Making educated guesses

It's impossible to pin down specifics about his finances without the tax returns, because the amount Romney deducted from his taxes, the length of time he held investments and other variables are unknown. However, tax law experts who examined Romney's most recent federal financial disclosure report for USA TODAY estimated he earned between $9.8 million and $38.8 million in 2010, with roughly half of the money taxed at a rate lower than that paid by many Americans. "It's dividends, capital gains and maybe a little tax sheltering" that enabled Romney to get the lower rate as a wealthy investor, estimated Martin Press, a tax expert at the Gunster law firm in Florida who was among those who reviewed Romney's disclosure for USA TODAY.

Average taxpayers, and even high-income earners such as doctors and lawyers, don't qualify for such money-saving breaks on their wages and other non-investment income, added Press, saying, "This is the way our tax system is set up." Romney's financial disclosure report, a required filing for presidential contenders, lists income trusts, dividends, interest and capital gains in broad dollar ranges, rather than exact amounts. It does not include the deeper level of financial detail found in tax returns.

Thomas Riley, a tax partner at accounting firm Testone Marshall & Discenza in Syracuse, N.Y., said it would be almost impossible to draw meaningful conclusions from the financial disclosure report because a number of the investments listed by Romney range from $100,001 to $1 million and are not publicly traded. "It does give you a pretty good flavor that he's not a pauper, though," said Riley, a past president of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants.

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[eots]

hey... two words...magic underwear

 

[Sallow]

Romney - "Because being Greedy never means having to say your sorry".

Romney - "It's not just that corporations are people too, my friend, it's also that they are bigger and more entitled people."

Romney - "It may be your work, my friend, but it's my money."

 

[waltky]

Run fer Prez'dent - but put yer money inna cayman Islands...

Romney Parks Millions In Cayman Islands
Jan. 18, 2012 - Although it is not apparent on his financial disclosure form, Mitt Romney has millions of dollars of his personal wealth in investment funds set up in the Cayman Islands, a notorious Caribbean tax haven.

A spokesperson for the Romney campaign says Romney follows all tax laws and he would pay the same in taxes regardless of where the funds are based. As the race for the Republican nomination heats up, Mitt Romney is finding it increasingly difficult to maintain a shroud of secrecy around the details about his vast personal wealth, including, as ABC News has discovered, his investment in funds located offshore and his ability to pay a lower tax rate. "His personal finances are a poster child of what's wrong with the American tax system," said Jack Blum, a Washington lawyer who is an authority on tax enforcement and offshore banking.

On Tuesday, Romney disclosed that he has been paying a far lower percentage in taxes than most Americans, around 15 percent of his annual earnings. It has been Romney's Republican rivals who have driven the tax issue onto center stage. For weeks, Romney has cited a desire for privacy as his reason for not sharing his tax returns -- a gesture of transparency that is now expected from presidential contenders. "I can tell you we follow the tax laws," he said recently while on the campaign trail in New Hampshire. "And if there's an opportunity to save taxes, we like anybody else in this country will follow that opportunity."

But tax experts tell ABC News there are other reasons Romney may not want the public viewing his returns. As one of the wealthiest candidates to run for president in recent times, Romney has used a variety of techniques to help minimize the taxes on his estimated $250 million fortune. In addition to paying the lower tax rate on his investment income, Romney has as much as $8 million invested in at least 12 funds listed on a Cayman Islands registry. Another investment, which Romney reports as being worth between $5 million and $25 million, shows up on securities records as having been domiciled in the Caymans.

Official documents reviewed by ABC News show that Bain Capital, the private equity partnership Romney once ran, has set up some 138 secretive offshore funds in the Caymans. Romney campaign officials and those at Bain Capital tell ABC News that the purpose of setting up those accounts in the Cayman Islands is to help attract money from foreign investors, and that the accounts provide no tax advantage to American investors like Romney. Romney, the campaign said, has paid all U.S. taxes on income derived from those investments.

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