A very good Monday to you all, here are the stories we are following in ‘The War Room’ today, Monday, April 16th, 2012:
Mitt Romney won’t tell the American people his plans, but he will tell his big-donor friends behind closed doors that he intends to drastically cut the Department of Education, wage war on teacher’s unions, and possibly eliminate the Department of Housing and Urban development. You didn’t need an education or a roof over your head, did you? It’s undecided as to which is worse; the fact that he says one thing in private and another in public, or the fact that his numbers can’t possibly add up to any sort of rational budget plan. Teacher’s middle-class salaries don’t come close to paying for trillions in tax cuts for the wealthy, so something else will have to go.
We might not have to worry about what Mitt Romney wants to do anyway; the unpopular House Republicans have informed their candidate and the world that they are the ones in charge here, and you can either do things their way, or nothing will get done at all. Could be why interest in the Tea Party is starting to wane out here in the real world.
And by the way, “They’re baa-aaack!” Congress returns from its two-week Easter break today; Senate Democrats are looking for a vote on the Buffet Rule, House Republicans are looking for ways they can make the Ryan plan work without seeming like fiscally irresponsible radicals who will destroy the federal governemnt as we know it. A good time is sure to be had by all.
Beth Myers, former Romney chief of staff and manager of his failed 2008 presidential campaign, will start vetting the wannabe VP contenders. Marco Rubio is still proclaiming, “Not me! Not me!”, which probably makes him the odds-on favorite for the nod at this point.
The New York Times takes a look at the real numbers behind the modern stay-at-home Moms of America, and finds that “stay-at-home mothers are younger, less educated and more likely to be Hispanic than they were in previous generations, and perhaps have a more traditional view of family and more limited job skills than other women these days.” 18 percent of stay-at-home mothers lack a high school degree, compared to 7 percent of women in the work force, and those households earn substanially less income. But, according to Mitt Romney back in January, any of those mothers that struggling to get by and receive any sort of assistance need to learn “the dignity of work.” Steve Benen sums up the message: If you’re wealthy and stay-at-home, it’s “work,” if you’re poor, “it’s undignified and doesn’t count as work.” (Hat tip to Chris Hayes for the find.)
The campaign manager for Republican Rep. Scott Tipton in Colorado tells the truth about how the GOP looks at the economy: “With gas prices doubled, the national debt doubled, and unemployment has barely moved, we feel good,” (Campaign manager Michael) Fortney said. All hail Greg Sargent for dragging this one into the national light. And in case you missed it over the weekend, Fareed Zakaria sat down with Gene Sperling to talk about how House Republican policy has thwarted the American recovery. Maybe there is a connection here…
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