Mitt Romney Lied About His Father Marching With Martin Luther King

6:33 am EST December 23rd, 2007 | News | Comments Off

That’s a fact. The fact that Mitt Romney lied about this isn’t what disqualifies him from being president, but it’s part of a pattern of behavior that is disingenuous at its core. I don’t understand the almost reflexive need for some liberals to absolve this sort of thing when Democrats are drawn and quartered for things they never said, but that isn’t going to happen here.

Then-governor George Romney did indeed march in Grosse Pointe, on Saturday, June 29, 1963, but Martin Luther King Jr. was not there; he was in New Brunswick, New Jersey, addressing the closing session of the annual New Jersey AFL-CIO labor institute at Rutgers University.

Those facts are indisputable, and quite frankly, the campaign must have known the women’s story would eventually be debunked — few people’s every daily movement has been as closely tracked and documented as King’s. As I write this, I am looking at an article from page E8 of the June 30, 1963 Chicago Tribune, which discusses both events (among other civil-rights actions of the previous day), clearly placing the two men hundreds of miles apart. I also have here the June 30, 1963 San Antonio News, which carries a photo and article about Romney at the Grosse Pointe march; and an AP story about King’s speech in New Jersey.

A King researcher editing his letters from that time has stated definitively that the two men never marched together; Michigan and Grosse Pointe historians have stated definitively that King was not at the 1963 Grosse Pointe march; Michigan civil-rights participants of the time have concurred; so have those who worked for George Romney at the time.

All of this evidence is important to present to the general public, but it is unnecessary for the Romney campaign — it has been clear for some time that they know perfectly well that the two men never marched together.

Bear in mind that the Romney team has a substantial research team (and vast resources for outsourcing more). Bear in mind that the campaign has compiled vast documentation about the candidate’s father, particularly his civil-rights activities, long before the Phoenix posed the question earlier this week. Bear in mind that the campaign has direct access to George Romney’s materials and documents, his family members, his friends, his former staff, etc.

Believe me, they know the two men never marched together. This is an attempt to rewrite history. And even if it is a small rewriting, it is offensive.

Topic: 2008 Election

Clinton And Obama Off The Cliff

6:05 am EST December 23rd, 2007 | News | 4 Comments

I swear, it’s like the Clinton and Obama campaigns slept through 2003 and 2004. The two campaigns are locked in to sniping at each other over idiotic petty things like how many ex-Clintonistas are attached to which campaign. Does nobody on either team remember the flame war between Dick Gephardt and Howard Dean? I’m not wild about the process and how it gives so much control to a state like Iowa, but that’s no excuse for ignoring precedent. The voters there don’t like this kind of stuff (I’d go so far as to say it shows immaturity compared to the rest of the electorate, but that’s moot) and reward the candidate they see as “the good guy”. In 2004 it was Kerry, and right now it’s probably Edwards. I’m skeptical of how Edwards can parlay an Iowa win into anything beyond the immediate roadblock of New Hampshire where an Iowa bump can’t help. But that’s no reason for Clinton and Obama to hand him a win.

Topic: 2008 Election

Who Will Stand Up Against Cigna And Say No More To The Killing Of Americans For Profit?

2:24 am EST December 22nd, 2007 | News | 7 Comments

I’m hearing something from John Edwards.

John Edwards tonight cited the case of a 17-year-old California girl who died after her insurance company refused coverage on a liver transplant to save her life as a call to action to change the current system of healthcare in America.

Nataline Sarkysian died last night at UCLA Medical Center after complications arose from a bone marrow transplant to treat her leukemia. Her insurance provider, CIGNA Healthcare, first denied the potentially lifesaving transplant, but relented after a loud public protest and outrage. By that time, though, Sarkysian passed away before the procedure could be performed.

“Are you telling me that we’re gonna sit at a table and negotiate with those people?” asked a visibly angered Edwards, challenging the health care companies. “We’re gonna take their power away and we’re not gonna have this kind of problem again.”

Not that I’m anybody but I’ve asked the Clinton, Obama, and Dodd campaigns if they have any comment on this or plan to make public statements on this issue. I’d like to note that Sen. Dodd has received $5,300 from Cigna (including money from the CEO H. Edward Hanway – Cigna is headquartered in Dodd’s state of Connecticut) and $2,500 has gone to Sen. Obama.

Topic: 2008 Election

Universal Healthcare [Nataline Sarkisyan Was Killed By CIGNA]

12:54 pm EST December 21st, 2007 | News | 38 Comments

UPDATE: Join “Cigna Is Sicko” on Facebook

Why would we possibly want that? It’s SOCIALISM!!!!

Nataline Sarkisyan, a 17-year-old from Glendale, Calif., died Thursday just a few hours after her insurer, Cigna Health Care, approved a procedure it had previously described as “too experimental” and that dozens of Sarkisyan’s supporters protested at the Cigna’s headquarters.

“Protestors are here, the war is here,” Hilda Sarkisyan, the teen’s mother, told the group hours before her daughter’s death. “We have a war here.”

The Sarkisyan family claims that Cigna first agreed to the liver transplant surgery and had secured a match weeks ago. After the teen, who was battling leukemia, received a bone marrow transplant from her brother, however, she suffered a lung infection, and the insurer backed away from what it felt had become too risky a procedure.

“They’re the ones who caused this. They’re the one that told us to go there, and they would pay for the transplant,” Hilda Sarkisyan said.

Topic: Health Care

links for 2007-12-21

7:22 am EST December 21st, 2007 | News | 1 Comment

Seriously Sad NASA Story

8:15 pm EST December 20th, 2007 | News | 1 Comment

Heartbreaking.

Daniel M. Tani’s 90-year-old mother died in an auto accident this week, but he has no way of getting home until late January. He must grieve from more than 200 miles away — in orbit, aboard the international space station.

It’s a heartbreaking situation no other American astronaut has experienced. And it’s made all the more tragic by Tani’s devotion to his mother, Rose, who raised him and his siblings alone in suburban Chicago after their father died when he was 4.

I Saw Doug Williams Throw Four Touchdowns In One Quarter In The Superbowl

7:04 pm EST December 20th, 2007 | News | 7 Comments

Using the Mitt Romney standard for being "there", my watching the Superbowl on TV from my apartment in Silver Spring, MD in 1988 is the same as me being right next to Redskins QB Doug Williams in San Diego, CA at Jack Murphy Stadium.

“If you look at the literature, if you look at the dictionary, the term ‘saw’ includes being aware of in the sense I’ve described,” he said. “It’s a figure of speech and very familiar and it’s very common and I saw my dad march with Martin Luther King. I did not see it with my own eyes but I saw him in the sense of being aware of his participation in that great effort.”

Topic: 2008 Election

Tancredomentum

3:37 pm EST December 20th, 2007 | News | 17 Comments

The virulently anti-immigrant Tom Tancredo has dropped out. Anyone notice that the Republicans have had three dropouts (Tancredo, Gillmore and Tommy Thompson) and no Democrats have left?

Topic: 2008 Election

Another Mitt Romney Whopper

10:21 am EST December 20th, 2007 | News | Comments Off

Mitt Romney claimed “I saw my father march with Martin Luther King”. Except it isn’t true. It never happened. George Romney never marched with Martin Luther King Jr. Mitt Romney, like with almost everything else in his campaign, apparently made it up.

Romney’s campaign cited various historical articles, as well as a 1967 book written by Stephen Hess and Washington Post political columnist David Broder, as confirmation that George Romney marched with King in Grosse Pointe in 1963.

“He has marched with Martin Luther King through the exclusive Grosse Pointe suburb,” Hess and Broder wrote in “The Republican Establishment: The Present and Future of the GOP.”

Free Press archives, however, showed no record of King marching in Grosse Pointe in 1963 or of then-Gov. Romney taking part in King’s historic march down Woodward Avenue in June of that year.

George Romney told the Free Press at the time that he didn’t take part because it was on a Sunday and he avoided public appearances on the Sabbath because of his religion.

Romney did participate in a civil rights march protesting housing bias in Grosse Pointe just six days after the King march. According to the Free Press account, however, King was not there.

Broder could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.

The Boston Phoenix reported Wednesday it could find no evidence that Romney and King ever marched together.

No wonder Romney is embracing President Bush’s legacy so wholeheartedly. They’ve got the same less than casual relationship with the truth.

Topic: 2008 Election

Ron Paul: Is The Money Real?

9:30 pm EST December 19th, 2007 | News | Comments Off

I remember when Howard Dean began pulling in big bucks from the web, there was a ripple effect that pushed him to the top or near top of the polls. Ron Paul has had a modest bounce in a few polls, but when you consider the publicity he’s gotten according to this alleged fundraising, where’s the beef? I’ll be looking for those FEC findings to prove this isn’t a big snow job by some 9/11 conspiracy theorists.

Topic: 2008 Election