WaPo Fact Checker Destroys Obama’s Latest Claim It’s A “Fact” Romney Pays Less Taxes Than Middle-Class Families… Obama’s misleading tweet on Romney’s taxes — WaPo Fact Checker “FACT: In 2010 and 2011, Romney paid less than 15% in taxes on $42.5 million in income—much less than what many middle-class families pay.” — Tweet by @BarackObama, July 3, 2012 We are avid readers of tweets by @BarackObama, though of course it is not the president himself but his campaign team that posts them. We are also very curious when politicians claim they have uttered “a fact.” So, is it really true that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, who is very wealthy, pays a tax rate “much less” than “many” middle-class families. Romney released his 2010 tax return and an estimate of his 2011 return earlier this year. He earned a little more than $20 million each year, a good chunk of it in capital gains and dividends, which are taxed at a preferential rate as low as 15 percent. But that’s not the only reason why Romney’s tax rate is at that level. He also donates about 14 percent of his income to charity, which gives him a pretty big tax deduction. (As we have noted, President Obama in 2010 also gave about 14 percent of his income to charity.) Indeed, Romney gives about as much to charity — $3 million — as he pays in taxes. Those itemized deductions are counted against income that would ordinarily be taxed at a 35-percent rate. We figure that without those donations to charity, his effective tax rate would be at least 19 percent. [...]
FRAUD: CNN AIRS FALSE ACCUSATION THAT ROMNEY BROKE TAX LAWS Home - by Cardigan - July 9, 2012 - 22:30 America/New_York - 1 Comment Big Journalism CNN went into full anti-Romney attack mode this morning, with a false report about an anti-Koch brothers protest at a fundraiser for Mitt Romney and endless discussion of Romney’s personal finances, in keeping with the Obama campaign’s current message. The worst moment came when CNN aired a charge by Nicholas Shaxson, the pro-Occupy, “offshore” British writer for Vanity Fair, that Romney had possibly broken tax laws. Shaxson’s article was the basis for a coordinated Obama campaign-mainstream media hit on Romney last week that CNN continues to pursue, long after theVanity Fair article has become old news–and timed, no doubt, to coincide with President Barack Obama’s press conference on taxing “the rich.” Perhaps CNN is worried that Obama’s negative campaign is failing. Regardless, after inviting Shaxson to trash Romney’s finances with a slew of innuendo, CNN host Carol Costello offered this mild question to her guest: Costello: As far as we know, though, Mitt Romney has done nothing wrong? He’s done absolutely nothing wrong. So why should voters care about these things? Shaxson: Well, this has been the mantra of the campaign: we have followed every law scrupulously. My article decided to explore, is this actually true that he has broken no laws, paid all the taxes he owes and no more? In fact, the answer to that question is not completely straightforward. In tax law and in other laws there is generally a gray area between the legal and the illegal, tax avoidance and tax evasion, and there’s quite a big gray area and financial players such as Mitt Romney have routinely strolled into this gray area. And Romney has shown on a number of occasions that he’s content to stroll confidently into this gray area where you are not sure until there’s been a resolution by the iIRS or someone else that this is strictly legal or not. There is a question mark. It is the mantra that it is completely legal and there’s nothing wrong with it. That statement needs questioning further. Note that Shaxson fails to cite a simple example of wrongdoing by Romney; that he fails to cite a single inquiry by the IRS; and that he claims that since other “financial players” may have acted wrongly, Romney can be presumed guilty. Note, too, that Costello does not question Shaxson on any of these points–and that she does not appear to have invited anyone from the Romney campaign to rebut Shaxson’s wild accusations.
Yesterday: Obama Guts Welfare Reform. Today: Obama Says “Americans Can’t Be Looking For Handouts”… Consistency is not his strong point. Via DC Examiner: President Obama, one day after reversing the Bill Clinton-era welfare reform by severing the connection between work and welfare assistance, warned a Virginia crowd that “Americans can’t be looking for handouts.” “Americans can’t be looking for handouts,” Obama said during a campaign stop in Virginia. “There are some folks you can’t help if they’re not willing to help themselves.” Moments later, he invoked former President Clinton as a model for economic leadership: “Bill Clinton did it, and we ended up having 23 million new jobs,” Obama added. But he was referring to Clinton’s tax policy, not the welfare reform bill undermined by his Department of Health and Human Services yesterday
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Obama Campaign Took Cash From Bain Outsourcing Execs… Gotta love the hypocrisy. Via Breitbart: Barack Obama’s campaign has been quick to rip Mitt Romney for his association with Bain Capital, which outsourced certain jobs during restructuring of companies. There’s only one problem: many of the very executives who were running Bain Capital during the 1999–2002 period now under media scrutiny donated to Obama’s presidential campaign. And Obama was more than happy to cash the checks. The same SEC form from February 2001 that lists Mitt Romney as “sole shareholder, sole director, Chief Executive Officer and President of Bain Capital . . . the controlling person of Bain Capital” also lists over a dozen other managing directors of Bain Capital, Inc. — all of whom were undoubtedly more active than Romney was during this period. And President Obama took money from many of them.
Star of Pro-Obama Super PAC Ad Unleashed: “Obama Is a Jerk, a Pantywaist, a Lightweight, a Blowhard. Hasn’t Done a Goddamn Thing”… <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Fg0FW8N_8_Y?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0"></iframe> Via Weekly Standard: The star of a pro-Obama super PAC ad is speaking out against … President Barack Obama. “I could really care less about Obama,” Donnie Box says of President Obama, according to In These Times. “I think Obama is a jerk, a pantywaist, a lightweight, a blowhard. He hasn’t done a goddamn thing that he said he would do. When he had a Democratic Senate and Democratic Congress, he didn’t do a damn thing. He doesn’t have the guts to say what’s on his mind.” Box, In These Times reports, won’t be voting for Obama.
Obama: Under Me “The World Has A New Attitude Toward America – We See It Everywhere We Go”… And that “new attitude” is one of glee at seeing the once mighty United States being reduced to a laughingstock. Via RCP: “Because we’re leading around the world, people have a new attitude toward America. There’s more confidence in our leadership. We see it everywhere we go,” President Obama said at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Reno. “Four years ago, I stood before you at a time of great challenge for our nation. We were engaged in two wars. Al Qaeda was entrenched in their safe havens in Pakistan. Many of our alliances were frayed. Our standing in the world had suffered. We were in the worst recession of our lifetimes. Around the world, some questioned whether the United States still had the capacity to lead,” Obama said earlier in his speech. “So, four years ago, I made you a promise. I pledged to take the fight to our enemies, and renew our leadership in the world. As President, that’s what I’ve done. And as you reflect on recent years, as we look ahead to the challenges we face as a nation and the leadership that’s required, you don’t just have my words, you have my deeds. You have my track record. You have the promises I’ve made and the promises that I’ve kept,” he said.