Romney to visit storm-damaged Louisiana By KASIE HUNT and STEVE PEOPLES Associated Press LAKELAND, Fla. (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney ordered a detour to hurricane-damaged Louisiana on Friday as he campaigned his way out of the Republican National Convention on the final leg of his quest for the White House. Aides said the former Massachusetts governor would travel to an emergency command center in Lafitte, La., where emergency crews were assisting victims of Hurricane Isaac, which brought flooding to the area earlier in the week before it was downgraded to a tropical storm. President Barack Obama has not yet announced plans to travel to the region. Romney's trip to Louisiana was sandwiched between previously announced campaign stops in Lakeland, Fla., and Cincinnati. Aides announced the trip less than 12 hours after Romney accepted the GOP presidential nomination in a national convention finale. He used the biggest moment of his political career to talk about his background and family as he appealed to the feelings of anxiety rippling through the electorate as the nation faces stubbornly high unemployment and fears about its future place in the world. Romney reinforced that message Friday morning at a rally with more than 2,000 supporters in Lakeland, Fla., before the trip to Louisiana. He urged the crowd to work to find Obama voters who might vote for him. He made no mention of what awaited him in Louisiana. "I know they're here," Romney said standing alongside running mate Paul Ryan. "They're not as visible as they used to be. You can find some of the glue . where the bumper sticker used to be." The night before, he seized on voter disappointment with Obama. "Hope and change had a powerful appeal. But tonight I'd ask a simple question: If you felt that excitement when you voted for Barack Obama, shouldn't you feel that way now that he's President Obama?" Romney said as he formally accepted the Republican presidential nomination Thursday night. "You know there's something wrong with the kind of job he's done as president when the best feeling you had was the day you voted for him." In a deeply personal speech that had him visibly emotional at times, Romney sought to forge the kind of personal connection that has in some ways eluded him. While Americans trust him to handle the economy, polls show he's still not as well liked as Obama, and the speech represented an effort to broaden his appeal and connect with women and with middle-of-the road voters who will ultimately decide his fate. "Four years from the excitement of the last election, for the first time, the majority of Americans now doubt that our children will have a better future," Romney said. "It is not what we were promised." Obama, he said, made huge, sweeping pledges - instead of focusing on issues closer to home. "President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet," said Romney. "My promise is to help you and your family." In his quest to connect, he talked about his time as a young husband and father, with five rambunctious sons. "Those weren't the easiest of days - too many long hours and weekends working, five young sons who seemed to have this need to re-enact a different world war every night," he said, his eyes visibly teary in a rare display of emotion. "If you ask Ann and I what we'd give, to break up just one more fight between the boys, or wake up in the morning and discover a pile of kids asleep in our room. Well, every mom and dad knows the answer to that." Romney's voice cracked as he talked about his mother, Lenore, who ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in Michigan, and his father George, who served as governor of Michigan and ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968. "My mom and dad were true partners, a life lesson that shaped me by everyday example," Romney said. "When my mom ran for the Senate, my dad was there for her every step of the way." Romney also made rare direct references to his faith. "We were Mormons and growing up in Michigan. That might have seemed unusual or out of place but I really don't remember it that way," he said. "My friends cared more about what sports teams we followed than what church we went to." As the speech ended and balloons fell from the ceiling, Romney was joined onstage by running mate Paul Ryan - he said, "good job, good job," in Romney's ear - and then by his wife, children and grandchildren. The grandkids chased balloons and caught confetti, with one grandson popping a balloon underneath his foot. The whole night was orchestrated to help Romney tell his story. Speakers and videos introduced Romney as a businessman, Olympic savior and deeply religious family man. And the testimonials were intensely personal. One couple, Ted and Pat Oparowsky, told the crowd about their 14-year-old son David, dying of cancer, who Romney would visit in the hospital. He bought the boy fireworks, helped him write a will, and, at David's request, delivered the eulogy at his funeral. Another woman, Pam Finlayson, talked about her daughter, born three months premature - and Romney, her church pastor at the time, would come to the hospital and pray for the little girl. "Like a lot of families in a new place with no family, we found kinship with a wide circle of friends through our church," said Romney. "We prayed together, our kids played together and we always stood ready to help each other out in different ways." Before Romney spoke, a parade of speakers from his past took the podium to walk through different phases of his life: his time running the private equity firm Bain Capital, his years running the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and his experiences as governor of Massachusetts. Referred to inside the campaign as "character witnesses," the speeches were designed to showcase the man who friends say inspires fierce loyalty. Much of the list was drawn up by Romney's son Tagg. Addressing the crowd were Bob White, a longtime friend and colleague from Bain Capital, and Tom Stemberg, the founder of Staples, the office supply store; Olympic speed skater Derek Parra and hockey player Mike Eruzione; and former Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, who is still a closer adviser. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/08/romney-to-visit-areas-damaged-by-hurricane-isaac/ I don't understand why the left isn't furious at Obama for not caring about the people of Louisiana? I mean during the time the hurricane made landfall in NO he was on-line answering questions about his favorite food, and his favortie basketball players....there has been no announcements, no press conferences....nothing from Obama. Today instead he will go campaigning at a military base no doubt talking about how he got OBL. Think about 7yrs ago the fact that the left was screaming "Bush hates black people" during Katrina....and now, silence.
So Romney is going to have a photo op in Louisiana while not having the power to actually do anything about it, while Obama is busy organizing the resources and agencies to be ready to deal with any emergency and threats to loss of life. You know, like Bush didn't do for Katrina. President Obama has already declared the coasts a disaster area, 24 hours BEFORE it hit, unlike Bush. I'm sorry that its bad that the guy is prepared and orginised. And Obama has been answering questions on this all the time. Sorry that you haven't seen them Oh yeah, and Obama's visiting loisiana on monday Wow your timing sucks.
You know....before last night there is a chance I would have agreed with you....but, after seeing the character of this man Romney? No way. It is evident that he cares for all Americans. This..... LOLOLOLOLOLOL! Ohhhhh is that what he's doing? Give it a rest, quite defending this idiot. "you just have to let him go"....Clint Eastwood. Here's an example of what your hero has been doing since the hurricane... WHAT QUESTIONS DID OBAMA ANSWER DURING A WEBSITE Q&A YESTERDAY? The ever hip on technology president, Barack Obama, took to the social news forum reddit yesterday to answer users questions. Suffice to say, the site crashed at one point and broke its record for number of users at one time. Before getting into some of the questions that were asked and how the president answered, it might be worth noting the manner in which he got the word out to the redditors, as theyve been called. He reached out to them in the way he knew he could contact them the best: Twitter. Barack Obama ✔ @BarackObama Hey, everyone: I'll be taking your questions online today. Ask yours here: OFA.BO/gBof44 -bo 29 Aug 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite Proof that it was him? This verification picture of himself at his MacBook posted on Imgur. Unsure what reddit is? It is one of the most popular sites for viral stories, where content is submitted by regular users. But its not all roses and puppy dogs. Last year TheBlaze reported that there was a seedier side to reddit that included pornography and blatantly racist discussions. TheBlaze noted Alexa, a web information company, finding that 9 percent of traffic driven to reddit was from porn-related inquiries. Google Trends also indicated an uptick in traffic driven to the site for pornography as well. In February 2012, the site instituted an official ban on child pornography or suggestive images of minors. More recently, TheBlaze blog pointed to a trending discussion in the politics section of the website regarding why Republicans are crazy. The topic: Why is it that I constantly hear about crazy s**t Republicans are doing but I never hear about Democrats doing anything at all? The 30-minute chat with Obama began at 4:30 p.m. EST and as of Thursday morning, the main thread titled I am Barack Obama, President of the United States AMA had more than 22,000 comments. The Los Angeles Times reports the conversation allowed the site to break its record for most users at one time. Here are some of the questions that were asked and how the president answered: What was the most difficult decision that you had to make during this term? Whos your favourite Basketball player? Whats the recipe for the White Houses beer? We know how Republicans feel about protecting Internet Freedom. Is Internet Freedom an issue youd push to add to the Democratic Partys 2012 platform? During the chat, Obama also said the nation should consider mobilizing behind a constitutional amendment process to overturn the Supreme Court ruling that loosened restrictions on money in politics. The 2010 Citizens United ruling paved the way for a flood of campaign cash from corporations, unions and wealthy interests. The president says that even if the amendment process fell short, it can shine a spotlight on super PACs and, in his words, help apply pressure for change. Obama says that in the meantime theres a need for more disclosure of the large campaign contributions flowing into super PACs and that such contributions, quote, fundamentally threaten to overwhelm the political process. The president ended his reddit conversation telling users he had to get going to make dinner in D.C. and reminding redditors to register to vote and make it to the polls in November. By the way, if you want to know what I think about this whole reddit experience NOT BAD! he concluded.
There is nothing for Obama to gain politically. Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama aren't voting for him, so why waste time on them? These progressive scumbags will tell you how much they care about people. As long as the people they supposedly care about might actually vote for them. If not they will do everything in their power to isolate you, attack you and forget you.
Yeah, GREAT idea. Have the President fly into disaster air space disrupting efforts immediately after tragedy strikes. I'd rather he waited a few days and let everything settle down first.
Romney is already rolling up his sleeves and helping the people. He has a history of doing it. Barack Obama is busy raising campaign money anywhere he can.... in this case Texas. Even though Texas will not vote for the failure, there are some people with big $$$ there who will try an help him. So he is out there with the plate out to get their monies.
I hope Mr. Romney, who cares about people will reconsider his words from just two months ago, when he mocked President Obama for seeking more funding for first responders like fireman and policemen. I'm sure he will be reminding the firemen and policemen that he will be shaking hands with for the cameras today how much he cares about them and wants to fire them all. Oh yeah, FEMA and the red cross were evacuating people for three days before the storm hit. But hey like Obama was like doing nothing at all for the states what weren't voting for him. I bet you are (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)ing that no fellow American Lives have been lost in the storm that you can blame on Obama, unlike the 1100 that were lost under katrina. But hey Obama did nothing for red states.
I believe Obama is also visit Louisiana to get his meaningless photo op in. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/31/storm-isaac-obama-idUSL2E8JV96P20120831 Obama to visit storm-hit Louisiana on Monday-White House President Barack Obama will visit Louisiana on Monday to meet officials in the state dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Isaac, White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Friday. Obama intends to visit first responders and survey the damage from Hurricane Isaac, and is "making sure that unmet needs are being met," Carney said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has led the storm recovery efforts. The president has steered clear of the U.S. Gulf Coast region as emergency responders dealt with the damage. Obama held campaign events in Colorado, Iowa, and Virginia this week that coincided with the Republican national convention in Tampa, Florida. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is making a trip to Louisiana on Friday. Romney, fresh from accepting the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday, is scheduled to join Louisiana's Republican governor, Bobby Jindal. The memory of Hurricane Katrina that battered the Gulf in 2005 and led to heavy criticism of Obama's Republican predecessor in the White House, George W. Bush, has prompted the administration to go to great lengths to show it is on top of the response to Isaac. Carney said the president has not gone to visit the region because of to logistical challenges. "It was the assessment of the president's team working with all the people involved in operations, as well as people on the ground, that Monday was a good day for the president to visit," Carney said. Obama made several references to Isaac in his campaign remarks this week and said he had personally been in contact with various federal agencies. Isaac, the first hurricane to hit the United States this year, is now a tropical depression.
And since you wanted to laugh about his reddit Q&A WHICH LASTED A WHOLE 30 MINUTES, Lets have a look at the questions and his answers, which you CONVIENIENTLY edited out http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_...uestions-on-reddit-ama-read-his-full-answers/
Whats so important about Romeny or Obama going down there? Romney doesn't have the power to help them in any way...and FEMA has the situation well in hand. ?????
I wonder if he's going to roll up his sleeves, slap on his pair of denim jeans and deliver the bad news about what his Administration wants to do concerning the "immoral" federal disaster relief that Piyush is screaming for... [video=youtube;OhXyJeKaj8E]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhXyJeKaj8E[/video]
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA Did you just start working for the Romney campaign? Romney doesnt even mention disaster relief, that CNN talking head does.
Obama doesn't care about the gulf states except for Florida. He knows he isn't going to win AL or LA. If the storm hit florida, Obama would be all over the state, crying and calling for better federal response. Since its in red states, not so much.
LOL! Now Obama has changed his mind and will follow Romney down to NO. Obama bounced into announcing visit to storm-ravaged Louisiana after Romney shows him up with surprise visit Politics can be hilarious at time.
Please you drank the koolaide weeks ago, once you saw mittens was the chosen one for the GOP you fell in line like the well trained robot you are. Now all you've got is this crap to whine about. How sad for you.
yes, after Romney announced he's going to Louisiana. You can't make up this stuff, LoL. What a (*)(*)(*)(*)ing leader the Chosen One is...
So it is a race as to who can make ti to the stupid (*)(*)(*)(*)ing photo op first? My god there is some deep criticism going around here.
Romney is already being president before the election. He's doing the job of the guy who actually gets the paycheck.
Obama had no intentions of going to Louisiana, not before he learned Romney goes there. some of his lackeys probably told him it would not look good if he did not go.
Probably. So now that he is going, for the same reason Mitt is going, is all kosher? Or is there some other complaint?
