Good.

Some of these are encouraging, some are rather ridicuous (it will take a lot more than eliminating second mortgage deductions to fund all these tax cuts- so what else?).

But- if this is his platform, shouldn't he be talking about it in public, so the public has an idea what they are getting?

Ironhold

I thought the most hillarious response to Hilary Rosen's piece was the hip-hip-hurray of the Romeny's. Good press assuredly, but Mrs. Romney didn't raise those five boys without extraordinary help, unavailable to most stay-at-home moms. One does doubt she did the laundry, cooked most meals, yada, yada. Surely she didn't clean.

I've been a stay-at-home mom and a working mom who enjoyed what she did in both realms.

Anne Romney is a bit of a joke. Few are buying what she thinks she won.

Apr 16, 2012 -- 11:29AM, Ironhold wrote:

link



**Related to the above, Romney is looking to increase aid to welfare mothers so that they can afford daycare for their children, thereby allowing them the opportunity to find a job so that they can get back on their feet if they so desire.


*The GOP needs to assemble its own version of the DREAM Act

*Certain tax loopholes will be closed, such as the one that allows deductions for a person's second home. This will help finance a proposed across-the-board tax cut.

More welfare?  Immigration reform?  Closing tax loopholes?  So that's the sound a giant etch-a-sketch makes when it is shaken!

Apr 16, 2012 -- 11:29AM, Ironhold wrote:

*Hilary Rosen's comments about stay-at-home moms not being working women was a Godsend to the GOP, as the DNC has effectively alienated a large portion of America.

And yet her comments were no worse than those of certain Republican mothpieces.

**Related to the above, Romney is looking to increase aid to welfare mothers so that they can afford daycare for their children, thereby allowing them the opportunity to find a job so that they can get back on their feet if they so desire.

That one's actually a decent idea but I predict that any help will be A) woefully inadequete and B) the mothers will be forced out to work regardless of their wishes.

*HUD is going down, and the Department of Education will be severely curtailed, perhaps even folded into another department.

And here come the bad ideas. I know the Republicans tend to be anti-thought these days but getting rid of education entirely is breathtakingly short-sighted even for them.

*The GOP needs to assemble its own version of the DREAM Act

That might be good or bad, depending on the details.

*Certain tax loopholes will be closed, such as the one that allows deductions for a person's second home. This will help finance a proposed across-the-board tax cut.

Since the Congressional GOP are now just the political arm of the aristocracy, I doubt that will pass. And the USA doesn't need yet another tax cut, it needs tax raises on the rich.

Say what you will, but at least we now have a platform to analyze, unlike Obama who is just promising more of the same.

So far. We're still a good six months out (and incidently, it boggles my mind how long your campaigns are. Campaigns here last four-to-six weeks) and Obama, as the incumbent, also has a record to run on.

Apr 17, 2012 -- 7:58PM, Ironhold wrote:

Actually, the bulk of the primary education effort falls to the states; the DoE is an oversight board / ATM machine.

I keep forgetting that you're not a "normal" country.

Thing is, the DoE - like a number of state and local education boards - has drawn a lot of fire over the past few years due to allegations that it's rotten through with incompetence, inefficiency, and cronyism. Thus, a number of conservatives would prefer hitting the "reset" button and starting over from scratch with a new organization and a new set of rules in place.

But conservatives make those same allegations about virtually everything government does regardless of the actual evidence. The modern mainstream of conservatism is just anti-government on such a knee-jerk level that you could have the department led by Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Barnado and Jesus and you'd still get the exact same allegations.