Former President Bill Clinton stumped deep in the heart of Republican territory in Wisconsin Thursday to talk dollars, cents, and arithmetic before a crowd of roughly 600 people in Waukesha.
Clinton — dubbed the "Secretary of Explaining Things" minutes before by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett — praised President Barack Obama’s plan to rebuild the economy, saying that it was based upon arithmetic.
He couldn’t say the same for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s plan to restore the nation’s economy, which Clinton said would undermine the identity of the country. Clinton said there’s a reason Romney has been mum on explaining how his tax cuts add up.
“There is no possible way to do this without cutting education, without cutting investment in infrastructure, without cutting investment in our economic future, without doing terrible damage to Medicaid, without undermining who we are, and doing something that is dumb economically," Clinton said.
On the other hand, Clinton praised Obama’s plan to tackle the debt and sagging economy. Clinton said Obama’s plan invests in renewable energy, the country's technological infrastructure, education, and healthcare.
“His plan educates and empowers the American people, and he has a plan to tackle the debt,” Clinton said.
Close contest in Wisconsin
Clinton was rallying Democrat support on Republican turf Thursday because it appears the race in Wisconsin could be down to a dead heat. Though staunchly Republican, Waukesha County turns out the third highest total of Democratic voters in the state, according to JSOnline’s Don Walker.
And although Wednesday's Marquette University Poll shows Obama with an 8-point edge in Wisconsin, the lineup of campaign stops in Wisconsin would suggest both candidates see a much tighter race in the state.
In the final days before the election, Obama, Clinton, Romney, and GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan will all have spent precious time remaining on the campaign trail in the Badger State. Romney will be in West Allis on Friday, and Obama will make a stop in Milwaukee Saturday and Madison on Monday.
Clinton assured those in attendance Thursday that Obama has taken the country on the right path. He said even Romney conceded that Obama inherited a dire situation, but Obama has done his best to lead the nation toward recovery.
“We remember what it was like in November 2008. This country was losing 750,000 jobs a month. Our auto industry was on the brink of disappearing. The housing market was falling apart,” Clinton said. “We are selling American cars again. The housing industry is no longer in the free fall it was. It’s because President Obama had the courage to do the right thing.”
He said Romney would only take the country backward to the same place it was when the economy was in a downward spiral. Clinton said no economists would say that a complete recovery could be accomplished in four years, and that the country needs to stay on the path Obama has taken.
“I’m more excited about Obama than I was in 2008,” Clinton said. “I’m sure it’s just a coincidence. A business forecasting group, Moody’s Analytics, says that the American economy in the next four years will produce 12 million jobs if we don’t mess up what president Obama is already done.”
Supporters like what they hear
Lew Arnold, of Waukesha, was at the rally supporting the president. The last-minute rally may just help “garner the votes” for Obama, he said.
“Every vote counts, and that is what we are doing today,” Arnold said. “I have no doubt in my mind that Republicans are going to carry this county, but every vote counts.”
Waukesha County has a predominately Republican voter base, but because of the county’s large population, it still has a strong Democratic draw.
Nancy Balzer, of the Town of Waukesha, thought Clinton’s speech will help push the Democratic vote in Waukesha County because “he is such a clear explainer,” Balzer said.
“He came out and said, ‘I am going to explain it all.’ He really did,” Balzer said. “He highlighted the difference between President Obama’s plans and Governor Romney’s. In particular, Governor Romney has not been very forthcoming with his actual plans, laying out what he is going to do.
“Instead, he is making generalizations, whereas President Obama has specific plans that are out there. We can see how far we have come in the four years that he has been president.”
Milwaukee residents Josh Pieper and Rachel Peeters made the trip to see Clinton. Pieper felt the most important coming out of Clinton’s speech was “the way he breaks down the numbers, financially.”
Peeters was impressed by information about students and the importance of scholarships and grants. Clinton’s speech could help strengthen the Democratic vote in Waukesha County, she said.
“I think it will definitely get the voters out with his presence here,” Peeters said.
Under a Willard/Lyin' Ryan administration there would be no consensual sex... only rape and "Forced Births." With more than 7 Billion humans currently inhabiting the planet – 40% who live in poverty and more who cannot obtain clean water – let us just push the earth’s population to a guaranteed extinction point for all of us. That really sounds like a viable economic/social policy. I wonder who gets to pay for all that "Smaller Government."
You forgot to mention that each attendee pays $4,000 per seat and the entire conference is secret and blacked out from any press coverage... Actually, I suspect that GWB is there to invest more of Willard's money, and keep an eye on his current investments; Willard will need those after the election...
“Pollster Nate Silver has done an excellent job of assembling all of the known political data on where the presidential race stood as of Wednesday. His analysis leads him to project that Obama will beat Romney 51.2 percent to 47.6 percent in the popular vote, and 311 to 227 in the Electoral College where only 270 votes are needed to win. Overall, Silver gives Obama a 76 percent chance of winning the election. Those who do not follow the data intensively can be forgiven for not knowing what good shape Obama is in, because it is rarely reported in the mainstream media. There is a simple reason for this: it has a huge vested interest in maintaining the idea that the election is so close it cannot be called and will come down to the last vote cast on Election Day.” Wisconsin will not be RED, like China...
Mitt Romney must rue that line in his Republican National Convention speech, days after Hurricane Isaac narrowly missed hitting Tampa, Fla., and the convention, when he quipped: “President Obama promised to slow the rise of the oceans and to heal the planet. My promise is to help you and your family.” Romney drew a big laugh from those gathered to nominate him. No one is laughing now. Sandy’s U.S. death toll has reached 50, with 8 million without power. Initial estimates put the cost of the damage at tens of billions of dollars. Romney’s latest position on climate change is no surprise, since it conforms with his consistent pivot to the right, away from his previously held views. We also should not let President Barack Obama off the hook. Recall the presidential debates, where he continually boasted of his fossil-fuel credentials. “Oil production is up, natural gas production is up,” he said at Hofstra, during the second debate. “I’m all for pipelines. I’m all for oil production.” In none of the three presidential debates was climate change mentioned, even once, not by the major-party presidential candidates and not by the moderators. Amy Goodman: We are not powerless to confront climate change http://dlvr.it/2QSCNl...
If people were better off today compared to four years ago I would vote for Obama, even if he was purple. He is not a failure because of the color of his skin, he is a failure because he is not capable of the job. Seriously AWD, if you found out you inherited a fortune from a black distant relative...would you turn the $ down? This election isn't about race, shouldn't be about race, and race should not be part of the debate. Please do not denegrade my race, or anyone's race. I am fairly certain there are people of other races who are brilliant compared to you and me. The President's record and lack of ability however; are free game.
You are a weak, limp wrist self hating liberal. You hate white people, admit it wuss boy.
And libtards like Lyle keep their mouths shut, because they secretly agree.
OCR: I am not a Libby, I am more conservative than our GOP candidate for the highest office in the US. I try to see the good in people regardless of our differences. In AWD's case, I see much of what he says IS relevant. I think the race issue is AWD's way to get people's goat. If he kept race out of the equasion, he may find out people from all races agree with him politically.
"As successful as Silver has been in both sports and politics, his greatest achievement so far might be attracting this particular flavor of criticism. As Wang said, his methodology is up for debate, but his goals of accuracy and precision, and the general science of forecasting, aren’t. The hardest thing Silver works at is eliminating bias, so when baseball fans accuse him of being biased against their team or political lackeys accuse him of being biased against their candidate, it’s the accusers themselves who are revealing their own insurmountable bias. In their attempt to put Silver on trial, they only convict themselves." http://updates.deadspin.com/post/34780905169/nate-silvers-braying-idiot-detractors-show-that-being
"You people chide AWD for bring race into it, yet at plenty of Obama rallys, it is ALL about race and hating whitey." Actually, proper English for such an educated person would be "...for [bringing] race into it..." Please tell me where are these rallys, where it's ALL about race and hating whitey? Do you have pictures? Do you have videos? Can you cite internet references? Where is your proof? Oh, that's right, you do not have any...
OMG i forgot to add the ING as I don't have hours to spend writing on blogs here. Unlike you, I work for a living. Most people pretty much have discounted your tactic of spellchecking someone elses writing, it really makes you look desperate to appear smart. And to add to that: Wright was and still is a pretty much a hate-whitey preacher, so much so that Obongo stopped his relationship with him. Too late though, we all know how Obama is using racial hatred towards white to gather the black vote. Plenty of other examples if you take the time to look for yourself.
Found this in about 5 seconds: http://www.13wmaz.com/news/topstories/article/202445/175/Rev-Lowery-White-People-Going-to-Hell-Remark-Was-Joke- So, how does it feel to be so easily refuted and made the fool? What a complete and total moron you are, that you need to be force fed evidence of what most everyone else already knows. I am so glad I am not a dimwitted sheep like you... now back to work, I need to work to support your lazy ignorant arse.
"You people chide AWD for bring race into it, yet at plenty of Obama rallys, it is ALL about race and hating whitey." Where are the "yet at PLENTY of Obama rallys" are the PLENTY? Your link shows a religious person, a Reverend, clearly making a JOKE in church, not a rally! He even prefaced his comment with the remark that it was a joke. And, Obama was NOT there! Furthermore, this incident, from last week, was NOT hateful nor race-baiting… so, that’s your PLENTY? "I said it was a joke we used to tell," Lowery told 11Alive's Jeff Hullinger. "Clearly it was a joke, and I said it to the reporter it was a joke. I don't know why he would give any credibility to that it was clearly a joke." "Rev Lowery: Don't think white people are going to heaven." This, from a Pastor in Georgia from last week Wednesday is your PLENTY? Yes, you have proved something… you don’t know what you are talking about!
I chuckled to myself when I imagined you finding out you have 12.5% African blood in you. I am certain it would not change you political views as many un-white Americans are GOP. But, I think it may assist you to stay on point when debating Political topics.
When you say "do unto others" it sounds like leftism dressed up in Jesus rhetoric but you now advocate a theocracy based on leftist/Christian (presumably pro-life) moral values. If neglecting the needy is morally wrong for everybody is abortion also an unconditional evil? Would you use the popular vote to force others to practice this religion and if not, why are you so willing to do this when it comes to your economic beliefs? Where is the evidence of a moral compass with the current administration? Not in their vastly expanded drone strikes that vaporize suspected terrorists and their families without the benefit of trial by jury and certainly not with their cowardly actions in Benghazi deliberately leaving four Americans to die rather than spoil their re-election shtick about Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. If competence and morality are the standard for voters on Tuesday you can say hello to President Romney right now.
http://www.policymic.com/articles/14285/obama-lies-obama-auto-bailout-did-not-rescue-detroit http://www.factcheck.org/2012/06/obamas-outsourcer-overreach/ http://twitchy.com/2012/10/23/obama-lies-about-romneys-position-on-auto-bailouts-conservatives-hit-back/ http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jack-coleman/2012/10/26/letterman-slams-obama-auto-bailout-lie-followed-maddow-parroting-same- Romney/Ryan 2012
Lets not forget those four who were left to be slaughtered in Benghazi... Do not reward Obama for this epic failure… Copy these links and share!! http://spectator.org/archives/2012/11/01/benghazi-obamas-core-deceit/ http://www.gazette.com/opinion/romney-146793-obama-benghazi.html http://frontpagemag.com/2012/dgreenfield/benghazigate-obamas-many-lies-about-libya/ http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/50657 http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2012/10/25/CBS-Busts-Obama--and-Itself-Hidden-60-Minutes-Clip-Proves-White-House-Lied-About-Benghazi Romney/Ryan 2012
First, the unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9% and the year-to-date monthly average of 157,000 payroll jobs is barely enough to keep up with population growth -- much less make up for the 8 million jobs lost during the Great Recession. Second, the so-called real unemployment rate (U6) remains elevated at 14.6%, albeit down from 14.7% the prior month. Similarly, the labor participation rate is at 63.8%, up from its multi-decade low but still incredibly weak. Third, average hourly earnings fell a penny in October and average hours worked fell to 34.4 from 34.5 in September. Stagnant wages means "we're not generating income," Reinhart says. "That's a problem in terms of the durability of an economic expansion, which is usually fueled by consumption. To get consumption you've got to generate income." Also, just look at your checkbook. We are paying a lot more for everything now than we did in 2008. The price of gas has doubled. At the same time, wages have gone down, and that's if you're lucky to have a job. In 2008, 25 banks went out of business. In 2012, 48 banks have gone out of business. Almost double the amount. Does that sound like recovery to you? Don't believe the Obama lies!! Romney/Ryan 2012
The problems you are talking about are from: 1) Corporations sitting on cash rather than in investing in company growth. 2) Republican obstructionism. The jobs bill would have created a million jobs. 3) Cutting government jobs in an Irish style austerity. If it wasn't for layoffs of government employees, unemployment would be in the neighborhood of 6%. The study by the Congressional Research Service and an army of economists agree that cutting taxes on the wealthy diddly squat. Just a bogus justification for the rich to hoard more. As for the numbers formulas for the unemployment numbers, the same one that has been used by presidents probably going back to FDR. By the way. Gas has not doubled since Obama became President. One of the thousands of lies that have come out of the GOP like an insane tennis ball machine.
This will go no where like the Fast and Furious brouhaha run by the crook Darryl Issa, because there is no where to go. Give it a rest will ya.