Sabotage!

It's no secret that the day Obama was elected, the Republicans went to work jamming his agenda, to make their number 1 priority, as Senator Mitch McConnell said, unseating him in 2012.

Not jobs.
Not the war.
Not the economy.
Not children.
Not puppies.

Nope. Job #1: Undermining the president and making him a one-termer.

Let's just call it what it is: sabotage.
__

• Biden: McConnell decided to withhold all cooperation even before we took office - The Plum Line - The Washington Post -(8/10/2012) http://wapo.st/OQxZ6E
• "page 207:Biden says that during the transition, he was warned not to expect any cooperation on many votes. “I spoke to seven different Republican Senators, who said, `Joe, I’m not going to be able to help you on anything,’ he recalls. His informants said McConnell had demanded unified resistance. “The way it was characterized to me was: `For the next two years, we can’t let you succeed in anything. That’s our ticket to coming back,’” Biden says."
• (confirmed by Bob Bennett and Arlen Specter)
• "The Republicans' 2012 election strategy is perversely brilliant: Sabotage President Barack Obama's job-creation efforts, then blame him for the wreckage. This strategy was in action the other day, when Mitt Romney assailed Mr. Obama on the stump. Mr. Romney said that "with America in crisis, with 23 million people out of work or stopped looking for work, he hasn't put forth a plan to get us working again. // Mr. Romney conveniently omitted the fact that Mr. Obama put forth such a jobs plan last autumn. The American Jobs Act would have put as many as 2 million construction workers, cops, teachers and firefighters back to work -- so said economic forecasters -- if only congressional Republicans hadn't dynamited it. // Yes, sabotage was required. Republicans knew their prospects for beating Mr. Obama would be damaged if they signed on to a plan that got more Americans working again. They're far too invested in economic misery to let that happen. As Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell candidly remarked in 2010, "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."" (Sabotage Obama: The GOP's Job-Killing Political Strategy is Working Just Fine, July 2012)
• The Guardian: Did Republicans deliberately crash the US economy? Be it ideology or stratagem, the GOP has blocked pro-growth policy and backed job-killing austerity – all while blaming Obama (June 2012)
• 87/2012 @thinkprogress: Herman Cain is hoping for much higher gas prices to improve Romney's chances http://thkpr.gs/RmevK7
• Ryan shunned debt-ceiling standoff "Grand Bargain" bc feared a boost for Obama : Family, Faith and Politics Describe Life of Paul Ryan - NYTimes.com - http://nyti.ms/Nl6hDa
  • Ryan’s enormous influence was apparent last summer when Representative Eric Cantor, the second most powerful House Republican, told Mr. Obama during negotiations over an attempted bipartisan “grand bargain” that Mr. Ryan disliked its policy and was concerned that a deal would pave the way for Mr. Obama’s easy re-election, according to a Democrat and a Republican who were briefed on the conversation.
  • (more on debt deal: Matt Bai - Obama vs. Boehner - Who Killed the Debt Deal? - NYTimes.com (3/28/2012) http://nyti.ms/GTj3Bj )

$R-Money

All of Mitt's flips and flops in one video, so, all your candidate research, in a nutshell.

Pathetic: Mitt Romney Asks Pres. Obama to Stop Talking About His Taxes, Business Record - (Aug 2012) http://bit.ly/PL8mCQ

On 2008: "Why pick Palin, not Romney, as a running mate? “Oh come on, because we thought Sarah Palin was the better candidate,” John McCain told reporters Tuesday. “Why did we not take Pawlenty, why did we not take any of the other 10 other people. Why didn’t I? Because we had a better candidate, the same way with all the others.” (Sarah Palin was the better choice, says McCain - ComPost - The Washington Post - (7/17/12) http://goo.gl/41zYO )

Colbert takes down Mitt Romney and Bain... brilliantly as always: "

Mitt Romney knows how to treat America's sick economy with his business experience.

("The Business End", June 9, 2011)

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HIS PLANS/POLICIES

• He's full of lies and vagueness: 
• Romney himself said in March, his budget plan “can’t be scored” and is missing key details about which deductions it would eliminate. Romney’s running mate Paul Ryan failed to answer the same question a day earlier, telling Fox News’ Brit Hume, “I don’t know exactly what the balance is. I don’t want to get wonky on you, but we haven’t run the numbers on that specific plan.” In sum, Romney’s plan is “mathematically impossible.”
• The Romney budget requires even harsher cuts in entitlement programs than Ryan’s radical House-endorsed plan. Ten-year cuts in spending would range from one-third deeper than those in the Ryan budget to almost twice as deep as the Ryan cuts, with potentially disastrous consequences for low-income and middle class Americans — including taking food stamps away from as many as 13 million people.
• (from ThinkProgress 8/15/2012: Romney Adviser 'Embarrassed' He Doesn't Know When Romney Would Balance Budget, But Shouldn't Be | ThinkProgress - http://bit.ly/RXaz4o )
• Analysis: Romney tax plan strongly favors the rich - Political Hotsheet - CBS News (3/12/2012)- http://goo.gl/bWkgd
• Greg Sargent, Washington Post: "Yup: Mitt Romney's own plan would cut billions from cops, firefighters & teachers, a new analysis finds" ( 6/13/2012) http://wapo.st/LTUSV2
• What’s getting lost in the back and forth here is that Romney’s actual economic plan would, in fact, cut billions of dollars in federal money that goes to cops, firefighters, and teachers — perhaps more than $10 billion a year, in fact.

MITT'S "JOBS"/ECONOMY RECORD

• Biz whiz? Small government? Romney took a record level of taxpayer money to run the 2002 Winter Olympic Games — Keeping GOP Honest (2/2012)
• Mitt Romney - Op-Ed Contributor - Let Detroit Go Bankrupt - NYTimes.com (2008)
• Romney’s Firm Instructs American Airlines to Sack 13,000Workers | Addicting Info (2/5/2012) 
• On Wednesday, February 1st, American Airlines announced that it will take the advice of Mitt Romney’s firm, Bain Capital, and lay off 13,000 workers -15 percent of its workforce- replacing their pension plans with 401(k) plans and ending company-paid retiree healthcare.
• Think Progress, MA Economy Was ‘Below Avg, Often Near Bottom’ During Romney’s Time As Gov. (2/2012)

• As Massachusetts governor, Romney’s record on jobs was unremarkable (2/2012) The Washington Post 
• Political Animal - Romney: U.S. economy ‘getting better’ under Obama (1/23/2012) --good read, short
• Romney Dissed Neighborhood Where He Is Now Highlighting Business Record - BuzzFeed (7/19/2012) http://goo.gl/Lge4K

 {More on Mitt, after the flip!}

It's the Economy, Stupid

from: Doing the math on Obama’s deficits - Washington Post (2/1/2012) 

Obama’s and Bush’s effects on the deficit in one graph