Miners Had To Give Up Pay To Attend 'Mandatory' Romney Rally
Harry Bradford
The Huffington Post
28th August 2012
Earlier this month, Mitt Romney was welcomed for a campaign event at the Century Mine in Beallsville, Ohio, by hundreds of coal workers and their families. Now many of the mine's workers are saying they were forced to give up a day-worth of pay to attend the event, and they feared they might be fired if they didn’t, according to local news radio WWVA.
The claims have been mostly denied by Rob Moore, Chief Financial Officer of Murray Energy Company, which owns the mine. He acknowledges that workers weren’t paid that day but says no one was made to attend the event. Well, kind of. "Our managers communicated to our workforce that the attendance at the Romney event was mandatory, but no one was forced to attend," he told local news radio WWVA, which has received several emails from workers claiming that the company records names of workers that don't attend those types of events.
The company's interest in having its employees show support for Romney may be a result of its CEO's close ties with the presumptive Republican nominee. In May, Romney teamed up with Murray's CEO Bob Murray for a fundraising event in West Virginia. And Murray's made no secret of his support for the Republican party, previously backing Rick Perry. In addition, his company has donated more than $900,000 to Republican candidates in the last two years, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Murray, who is also a climate-change denier, has been an outspoken critic of President Obama’s stance on coal. That view may be why Moore told WWVA that having employees attend the Romney event “was in the best interest of anyone that's related to the coal industry in this area or the entire country."
This isn’t the first time workers have been frustrated by a Mitt Romney campaign event either. Employees of Sensata Technologies, a company owned by Romney’s previous employer Bain Capital, protested a campaign event earlier this month in Bettendorf, Iowa. In that case, Romney didn't respond to questions about what he would do to prevent their jobs being outsourced, The Rock River Times reports.
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"attendance at the Romney event was mandatory, but no one was forced to attend" - corporate speak in action. They go unchallenged so much (through fear) that they seem to start believing that they can say what they want without anyone challenging them.
This is a genuinely shocking example of bias by the chairman. He refused to accept it was a 50/50 and then decided it was passed? Fuck that. I'd have walked out at that minute, and never looked back.
seems mad to me that in this day and age they'd even think of determining the outcome of a vote by which side can shout loudest! can't they have some little button thing to vote on, or text your vote in or something?! if xfactor and them sort of shows can do it, surely the democratic party can manage it!
One year he's posing for a pic with the corpse of the dictator he supported the killing of, the next he's being killed in the same manner. I've posted this here because I'm sure it will become (if it hasn't already) very much a part of the election campaign.
How to win while loathing half the voters Is Romney even that enthusiastic about becoming president? Or maybe he just doesn't realise you need over 50 per cent to win.
Mark Steel
18th September 2012
independent.co.uk
Phew...The US election is exactly the same as a night I had watching Crystal Palace play football. Palace were dreadful, but the opposition were even worse, a goal slid slowly between their goalkeeper’s legs into the net, and the man sitting behind me said to his mate, “This is marvellous. I’ve always said football’s much more entertaining when BOTH teams are shite.”
Obama has blown most of the enthusiasm that won him the Presidency, but Mitt Romney is a genius at finding new ways of being shite, declaring that 47 per cent of voters will always back Obama, because they “think they’re entitled to healthcare, food, housing, you name it”. Surely these sponging pigs can’t want ALL of those things? Even well-off people have to choose between them, maybe opting for food and housing, but dealing with gallstones by cutting them out with scissors without an anaesthetic, as we can’t have everything.
And he has to be admired for adding “you name it”, as if once someone on welfare applies for food or healthcare, you can be certain they’ll also demand anything else you can name. “Now you’ve given me some soup,” they say, “I also want a powerboat with a live orchestra on the back seat, and a go on a rocket and a panda.”
It suggests Romney isn’t that optimistic about winning, as Obama only needs one-seventeenth of the remaining voters who aren’t fiddling, “you-name-it” types, and he’ll have over half the votes. To be fair, it’s possible Romney doesn’t realise this, and next week he’ll say, “Hang on, is it over 50 per cent you need to win? Bloody hell, they told me nine – I’d never have bothered if I’d known.”
His problem may be that, since the Iraq War, mainstream ideas in America have shuffled away from the old conservative values. The Republican tactic of yelling about gays and promising wars is less popular than it was 10 years ago, but the Tea Party types who demand that outlook are the most organised section of his party. Romney has to appeal to them in private, then try and be less mental in public, and gets caught saying something to one audience that he doesn’t want heard by the other.
The Tea Party types are the most organised section of his party. Romney has to appeal to them in private, then try and be less mental in public.
Republicans can’t work out what they’re supposed to say, all they know is they’re supposed to cheer at rallies. So they cheered Clint Eastwood mumbling to an empty chair, and cheered when he said the war in Afghanistan should end immediately, which is the opposite of their policy, and they’d have cheered if he muttered, “I tell you who would be a good president – Trotsky. Is he still around?”
Or maybe Romney’s just magnificently useless, and this will carry on. Next week, he'll announce a plan to squash all kittens, then he’ll run over Sidney Poitier, then declare he’d like to punch Jesus in the head for making the lame walk, feeding the thousands and praising a Samaritan, or promising healthcare, food, housing, you name it. And Obama will just scrape in.
Man At Romney Rally In Ohio Wears Shirt Saying “Put The White Back In The White House”
The Getty Images photo was taken at a Romney/Ryan campaign event in Lancaster, Ohio on Friday. A Romney spokesperson commented that the shirt was “reprehensible and has no place in this election.”
I can honestly say that I believe not only the Romney campaign but most republicans do not agree with the sentiments of this shirt. This man is obviously a racist douche bag and I do not see this being a race based on race at all.
I'm sure you're right, but it's one of the most interesting things that's happened on the campaign so far. I'm pretty sure there are a fair few Tea Party types who do agree with it though
I think outwardly they are saying reprehensible, but I think that behind doors, they are giggling like 12 year old girls at the fact that someone has said what they are thinking.
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