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America's election is a war of words. The campaigns of Obama and Romney centre around undermining each other. Expensive Ads and more are all aimed at belittling the opponent. Little real political debate is evident. That may come at the end as Americans prepare to go to the polls but for now words matter.

Mitt Romney has put his foot in his mouth on more than one occasion already. His latest gaffe could ensure that floating voters finally decide to opt for President Obama. Those who are merely heartless and selfish will no doubt stick with Romney.

Romney's foolish words have been widely reported. Shown on youtube as Part One of a Mother Jones video there presumably is more to come. Expect a follow up to be equally damning.

Romney has now attempted to clarify his words. It is true that words taken out of context can be twisted any which way a manipulator wants. Romney knows this all too well having used such tactics. There is however no way of softening his words to make them acceptable.

He damned 47% of Americans as people who pay no tax, choose entitlements over working and have no intention to ever improve their lot.

His words show a careless disregard for the struggles many people face in this world. They showed a generalisation which has no place in government. If elected he will be employed to represent the people. That is all the people. This does not mean 53%.

If his words have been misconstrued then that leaves some worries. Is Romney not capable of expressing himself clearly? What did he actually mean to say? Is he going to represent a small section of America and not the country and its people as a whole?

Romney when he offered appeasement following the first video release did not instill confidence. He seemed unable to know exactly what he was talking about when his words were taped. No doubt the fundraiser which was held behind closed doors was taped in full and carefully edited afterward. Why is he holding fundraisers behind closed doors though? What promises are made at such events? Maybe all politicians raise money at times this way. If they do, you would think that security would be tight. Too tight to allow snooping by the opposition.

It will soon be up to the American people to decide who they have faith in running their country during such troubling times. This latest Romney fiasco will not improve his electability, surely.

In the last few hours more damning videos from the same event have been put up on youtube.

 
 
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Yesterday the big news was that GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney had raised yet even more money in June 2012. In fact his campaign had raised a staggering $100m in June alone. Back in May Romney's camp raised $76m.  If big bucks will win the 2012 US election then Mitt must be home and dry. His supporters may say yippee to that statement but do the American people really want the White House to go to the highest bidder?

In effect that is what seems to be happening. In recent weeks President Obama's campaign managers have been concerned about Romney's "out spending potential"  The GOP faithful always react in tit for tat mode especially if money is brought into the debate. They claim that Hollywood is funding Obama with huge sums of money. The fact is though that such is the US election campaign, period, that money is an essential ingredient of success.

At TEK we have written on this matter in the past. Our American blogger Julia wrote that in the US there is a movement that would support taking the money out of presidential elections. Julia believes that it is time for a Constitutional Amendment to achieve this.

The UK has similar problems and it always leads to a government which is not truly independent. Instead there will so often be a government with allegiances to Trade Unions or Big Business. Both will have their own agenda and so their own reasons for supporting election campaigns.

In the current economic climate spending such huge sums of money on elections is obscene. When the elected government then instigates austerity measures,which cut people's incomes, it is a disgrace.

President Obama's top campaign advisor, David Axelrod, commented on the June fund raising figures for Romney not long after they were announced. He said that the Obama campaign already realised they would be out spent by Romney's team. With Romney's personal wealth and the type of backer he attracts that is not rocket science. Axelrod tried to appear nonchalant ultimately dismissing Romney's funds as no big deal.

The Obama campaign though to date has stressed to supporters that it needs money to win the campaign. Central has been the assertion that they must outspend Romney if they are to win. 

Romney supporters will dismiss this as damage limitations in case President Obama loses. The problem for President Obama is that of many such leaders who are liberal minded. So often the people who they fight hard to help do not have money. They are not the fat cats of society. The fat cats after all are putting their money were their best opportunity will be. In the Us that is supporting Mitt Romney.

In the end though it will be the ballot box that decides. If people choose to ignore the political propaganda manipulation and vote with their heart the money will mean nothing. it is up to the people to refuse to play the campaign game.

Tags: Mitt Romney wealth, GOP, US 2012 election, US campaign fund raising, Romney's massive funds

 
 
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President Obama's 2012 election campaign team continue to maintain that Mitt Romney's financial support has greatly outstripped that for the Democrats. Big Business is throwing big money behind Mitt Romney.

This of course means that should he be elected Mr Romney will owe favours to the elusive 1%, He will owe nothing to the poor and middle class in real terms.

The latest communication from Mr Obama's campaign aims at getting its message out online:

"We've been talking to you about President Obama's plan to cut through the red tape keeping millions of responsible homeowners from refinancing their mortgages, but we want to make sure your friends get the message, too.

We've put together a graphic that boils the President's proposal down to the five things that everyone should know, and the information is all right here -- you don't even need to visit Whitehouse.gov.

Will you share it online or forward this email to your friends?"

Job Done,


 
 
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In order to stand for public office in the US you need wealth or at least the backing of people with money. Launching and maintaining a Presidential campaign does not come cheap. For that matter neither does attempting to be a potential Republican representative in an election. As the field narrows in the race for the GOP nomination, opponents of front runner Mitt Romney look set to attack his wealth. These are not opponents from the Democratic Party but rather his GOP running mates.

Romney was born Willard Mitt Romney in 1947. Romney has political roots, as his father was the former Governor of Michigan. For a time Romney was, that most hared doorstep visitor, a Mormon Missionary. He had a meteoric rise in the business world becoming the CEO of Bain and company.

In 2002 Romney was elected as Governor of Massachusetts. He spearheaded spending cuts which cut a predicted budget deficit. During this time he also signed into law health care for all in Massachusetts. Since then though he has moved more toward established American Conservatism..

Romney's involvement with the Bain company could come back to haunt his presidential campaign. There were accusations of fraud against the company although it was never even insinuated that Mitt was involved in any way. At times Bain's business dealings led to lay-offs and unemployment for workers.

Now it seems that other GOP hopefuls, notably Newt Gingrich, are going to use Romney's wealth as a weapon. Newt looks set to launch an ad campaign aimed at damaging Romney's reputation and political standing. With so many voters still undecided such ad campaigns could seriously change the front runners. 

To date Gingrich  had decried the attack ads by republicans against republicans. As he has said such actions only help the democrats. Now it seems he is about to join in. The adage if you can't beat 'em join, springs to mind.