Mitt Romney - The Wimp Factor

The latest Newsweek issue is not helping Mitt Romney's image, especially after his overseas blunder where he essentially blew into England to showoff his statesmanship skills and told them they were doing the Olympics wrong. What is it about Mr Romney that makes him appear as weak and inept?

Well, according Newsweek’s Michael Tomasky:

 “He’s kind of lame, and he’s really ... annoying. He keeps saying these ... things, these incredibly off-key things. Then he apologizes immediately—with all the sincerity of a hostage. Or maybe he doesn’t: sometimes he whines about the subsequent attacks on him. But the one thing he never does? Man up, double down, take his lumps.”

Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but not too far off the mark either. Mitt Romney's inability to come up with anything that truly differentiates himself from Barack Obama makes him a tough sell to independents.

Mr Tomasky has a valid point, as long as Mr Romney chooses to change positions based on the ebb and flow or the political tide, he will not get any respect for standing on principle and will continue to be viewed as a panderer.

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The Palins Supporting Chick-fil-A

Sarah and Todd stopped into a Chick-fil-A to throw their support behind the fast food chains message against gay marriage. Joining Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Rev. Billy Graham, The Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America in solidarity, as well as a host of other extremist right wing organizations.

“Stopped by Chick-fil-A in The Woodlands to support a great business,” the former Alaska governor tweeted on Friday night and posted a picture of her and husband Todd giving a thumbs up to the restaurant.

Coming off the heels of Bristol's child calling his aunt a "faggot" it's no surprise that the Palin's support any sort of anti-gay agenda. This is just how they were raised, rural Americans with a complete sense of entitlement and total disdain for those who different in any way.

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Recovering From England Gaffe, Romney Boasts War With Iran

Moving on to a more hospitable environment, Mitt Romney has found his stride as he takes a militant stance with Israel against Iran. After all, what God fearing Republican doesn't want to bomb another third world Middle Eastern country? Look at how close they put their country to our 45 American military bases.

Some of the first words out of Romney's mouth were that military strikes would be "on the table" if he were president.

"Make no mistake: The ayatollahs in Tehran are testing our moral defenses. They want to know who will object, and who will look the other way," Romney says in a foreign policy speech set for Sunday afternoon. "My message to the people of Israel and the leaders of Iran is one and the same: I will not look away; and neither will my country." The Huffington Post 7/29/12

This stance isn't that different from President Obama, whose administration continues to push for sanctions as opposed to military action, but maintains the option is not off the table. Not breaking from tradition, Romney is not directly criticizing the president while on his overseas trip, however implications are peppered throughout.

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Chick-fil-A Grand Opening Busted By Pro-Gay Marriage Protesters

As a crowd camped out overnight in anticipation of Chick-fil-A's grand opening in southern California, they were forced to disperse when they learned a protest was imminent. The restaurant was offering free meals for a year to the first 100 people at a new location according to KNBC-TV

During that time, the Orange County Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center made signs calling for a boycott and prepared to march outside the grand opening and Thursday morning, employees told the camped-out crowd that they had to leave.

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The White House Doesn't Fully Appreciate Anglo-Saxon History

Mitt Romney is starting off his overseas trip to bolster his foreign policy credentials with a bang. At the top of his list is speaking about how Obama's White house is out of touch with the special relationship, apparently only appreciated, by white people.

“We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special,” the adviser said of Mr Romney, adding: “The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have” The Telegraph

Mr Romney went on to say that Obama, whose father is not native to either country, didn't understand the complexities of the relationship between England and America.

This isn't the first time Romney has tried to paint Obama as a foreigner, on several occasions he's called Obama's ideas "foreign", inciting questions about his upbringing. A strategy that works well with red state Republican voters.

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Banning Costumes - The Real Issue

While it may be too soon to discuss banning assault weapons, it's not soon enough to ban costumes in theaters. In LA they've banned all costumes in AMC theaters.

AMC Theatres banned some costumes at all its theaters Friday as a security measure after a gunman fired on a Aurora, Colo., audience, killing at least 12 during a midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises."

Alleged gunman James Holmes was wearing a gas mask and riot garb that some have compared to the costume of the Batman movie's villain, Bane. New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly told the Associated Press that the shooter dyed his hair to look like the Joker, another Batman villain, although Aurora police have not confirmed this. Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/07/dark-knight-shooting-amc-theaters-costumes-banned.html

The NRA won't comment until all the facts are known, all we really know is that there are 12 dead and 58 injured from the business end of an AR-15, but let's not jump to conclusions. We look forward to a full investigation, including a visit from a prominent member during a funeral to speak about your 2nd amendment rights.

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Rational Gun Control

Gun control isn't an attack on the second amendment, it's just common sense. When the constitution was written there weren't handguns or assault rifles and the Tea Party and NRA weren't considered a well regulated militia. At the very least, this discussion needs to be had rationally by those with an objective voice on both sides of the aisle. I'll let you finish your laugh before reading on.

Should anyone be able to buy multiple weapons and unlimited ammunition within a short period of time without raising flags? Sure, a person can just as easily kill with a car but they at least have to train to drive, get a license and register the car. There's no DMV Association scaring the shit out of car owners, saying the Government will pry a car from their cold dead hands.

What constitutes an assault weapon? This is a fair question that needs clarification, until this is resolved the debate continues to be muddy. However, I think we can all agree that any weapon with large magazines that can fire as fast as your finger can pull the trigger poses an imminent threat regardless.

When the unfounded hyperbolic nature of over-regulation is taken out of the conversation, we can start to have an objective discussion. We shouldn't be waiting for the next massacre, calmer heads need to prevail, we need to take a look at how easily these weapons are obtained with no oversight and make common sense changes.

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