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SORRY--FIRST POSTED INCOMPLETE!!

George

Although I agree with your comments, would anything reasonable actually influence anyone’s political opinion or voting decision? Our country is so polarized that each half of the electorate is continually preaching to the choir and not listening to what others have to say. I find it more than amazing how many people unquestioningly vote against their own self-interest.

After my family, my top two passions are soccer and history. There is disappointment when your team loses, but nothing in your life changes dramatically.

However, when politicians ignore history, or try to revise it, serious consequences can occur. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are two recent examples.

My wife had been the executive director of an international organization whose board included many prominent and influential figures in America. One of them had commented that if Bush the second was elected in 2000; the world of our children and grandchildren would be affected forever. I do not know what he knew, but unfortunately he was right.

I’m active in a Democratic political action organization in western MA, The Berkshires, and for the past two years we have discussed what President Obama should focus on in his reelection campaign. Some of us strongly advocated that the emphasis be on what the president had accomplished and what people would lose if the Republicans regained control and reverted back to the old policies. We also felt that President Obama should trust his instincts more and not be so poll and advisor driven.

I was undecided between Obama and Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primaries until he made his first Reverend Wright speech. I was impressed that he went with his “gut” against the recommendations of his advisors.

The recent New Yorker endorsement of President Obama focuses on the accomplishments of his presidency:

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2012/10/29/121029taco_talk_editors

The following animation clearly puts things into perspective.

http://front.moveon.org/brilliant-a-simpsons-animator-works-his-magic-on-a-rousing-obama-speech/?rc=email.10262012

Governor Romney continually refers to Massachusetts as “my state” as an example of his leadership skills. Very few state residents share his view.

Marsha Mirkin, a PhD Professor of Psychology at Lasell College in Massachusetts sent the following column to the Denver Post on (Romney in Mass) on October 15, 2012. (Colorado is a swing state and virtually tied),

“Here I am, a resident of Massachusetts listening to my former Governor speak convincingly and with seeming conviction at the Denver debate. I was startled by my Déjà vu experience and by the assumptions held by my out-of-town friends about Mr. Romney’s governorship. So, as an editor and author of articles and texts about social and political contexts, I wanted to reach out to my distant neighbors in Colorado and share my understanding of Mr. Romney’s governorship and the implications for the Presidency. Massachusetts is known as a liberal state, but we often vote for Republican governors, and the three governors who immediately preceded Mr. Romney were Republicans. Mr. Romney was a one term governor who left office with a 31% approval rating, the 3rd lowest in the entire country. What does our experience in Massachusetts say to the country?

Mr. Romney claims to have experience reaching across the aisle. Maybe he did do some reaching, but not much of it went toward the Democrats. In his first two years of office, he vetoed legislation at more than twice the rate of Republican predecessor Governor Weld. Governor
Romney had a record 800 vetoes (most of which were overturned,
sometimes unanimously). One example is when the legislature rovided
a budget amendment to stop contracting with companies that outsource state work to other countries. Governor Romney vetoed the provision. This meant that he supported outsourcing jobs at the expense of U.S. workers. He also started a huge campaign to unseat Democratic legislators, but failed and ended up with even fewer Republican seats than before he took office.

Governor Romney correctly claims that Massachusetts rose to #1 in
education—but it was based on former Governor Weld’s education reform plan. Governor Romney moved in the opposite direction--he vetoed bills that would have strengthened preschool education.

However, the issue is not so much how he voted, but that Mr. Romney
won the governorship by presenting himself in one way, as a social and
fiscal moderate (some saw him as a social progressive), and by the end of his single term, he had acted in an entirely different way. He said
during his campaign that he favored stem cell research and then vetoed
a bill to fund it. He argued for a lower minimum wage than the state
legislature ended up passing (over his veto). He vetoed a bill funding
hate crimes prevention,

George

Although I agree with your comments, would anything reasonable actually influence anyone’s political opinion or voting decision? Our country is so polarized that each half of the electorate is continually preaching to the choir and not listening to what others have to say. I find it more than amazing how many people unquestioningly vote against their own self-interest.

After my family, my top two passions are soccer and history. There is disappointment when your team loses, but nothing in your life changes dramatically.

However, when politicians ignore history, or try to revise it, serious consequences can occur. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are two recent examples.

My wife had been the executive director of an international organization whose board included many prominent and influential figures in America. One of them had commented that if Bush the second was elected in 2000; the world of our children and grandchildren would be affected forever. I do not know what he knew, but unfortunately he was right.

I’m active in a Democratic political action organization in western MA, The Berkshires, and for the past two years we have discussed what President Obama should focus on in his reelection campaign. Some of us strongly advocated that the emphasis be on what the president had accomplished and what people would lose if the Republicans regained control and reverted back to the old policies. We also felt that President Obama should trust his instincts more and not be so poll and adviser driven.

I was undecided between Obama and Clinton in the 2008 Democratic primaries until he made his first Reverend Wright speech. I was impressed that he went with his “gut” against the recommendations of his advisors.

The recent New Yorker endorsement of President Obama focuses on the accomplishments of his presidency:

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2012/10/29/121029taco_talk_editors

The following animation clearly puts things into perspective.

http://front.moveon.org/brilliant-a-simpsons-animator-works-his-magic-on-a-rousing-obama-speech/?rc=email.10262012

Governor Romney continually refers to Massachusetts as “my state” as an example of his leadership skills. Very few state residents share his view.

Marsha Mirkin, a PhD Professor of Psychology at Lasell College in Massachusetts sent the following column to the Denver Post on (Romney in Mass) on October 15, 2012. (Colorado is a swing state and virtually tied),

“Here I am, a resident of Massachusetts listening to my former Governor speak convincingly and with seeming conviction at the Denver debate. I was startled by my Déjà vu experience and by the assumptions held by my out-of-town friends about Mr. Romney’s governorship. So, as an editor and author of articles and texts about social and political contexts, I wanted to reach out to my distant neighbors in Colorado and share my understanding of Mr. Romney’s governorship and the implications for the Presidency. Massachusetts is known as a liberal state, but we often vote for Republican governors, and the three governors who immediately preceded Mr. Romney were Republicans. Mr. Romney was a one term governor who left office with a 31% approval rating, the 3rd lowest in the entire country. What does our experience in Massachusetts say to the country?

Mr. Romney claims to have experience reaching across the aisle. Maybe he did do some reaching, but not much of it went toward the Democrats. In his first two years of office, he vetoed legislation at more than twice the rate of Republican predecessor Governor Weld. Governor Romney had a record 800 vetoes (most of which were overturned, sometimes unanimously). One example is when the legislature provided a budget amendment to stop contracting with companies that outsource state work to other countries. Governor Romney vetoed the provision. This meant that he supported outsourcing jobs at the expense of U.S. workers. He also started a huge campaign to unseat Democratic legislators, but failed and ended up with even fewer Republican seats than before he took office.

Governor Romney correctly claims that Massachusetts rose to #1 in
education—but it was based on former Governor Weld’s education reform plan. Governor Romney moved in the opposite direction--he vetoed bills that would have strengthened preschool education.

However, the issue is not so much how he voted, but that Mr. Romney won the governorship by presenting himself in one way, as a social and fiscal moderate (some saw him as a social rogressive), and by the end of his single term, he had acted in an entirely different way. He said during his campaign that he favored stem cell research and then vetoed a bill to fund it. He argued for a lower minimum wage than the state legislature ended up passing (over his veto). He vetoed a bill funding hate crimes prevention, and took back money approved by a f