Thank you, Andrea Mitchell

Why was the "correct " version edited at time stamp 2:03?

Isn't that just the same thing? edited one way but for the righties just edited a different way?

I can't wait for Automated Romney Hoggie service government,

Is that any different than pressing 1 on your touch tone phone for being connected to a government department?

You'd think they would have learned something from the Wisconsin election. You
have to put reality into suspense to actually watch that clown posse.

Just whom is the federal government supposed to compete with? In what areas? How could it possibly compete if the Republicans are always crying that the federal government has an unfair advantage when it does anything that infringes on the private sector?

What a stupid Romney statement.

Actually, jman99 - there's just a bit more to the story. Prior to the shortened clip in my post showing what Romney said, Romney had described the bureaucratic nightmare that one small businessman, an optometrist, endured dealing with the federal government over a simple address change. He stressed how inefficient the federal government was. It was after talking about such that he moved on to compare what the poor optometrist had to deal with that he spoke about buying a sandwich at a store - and how efficiently it was done.

Watch the whole thing at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTrmwDmOjy4&feature=player_embedded


If that's all you can comment on jmann99, you must really be grasping at straws here. Just admit it, the folks at MSNBC were trying to make Romney appear foolish. And it backfired - big time.

jmann99: And I see you are back at the typical liberal M.O. of straying off topic. "Just whom is the federal government supposed to compete with???" Really jmann99????
Is that the best you've got?
Oh my - I just had a good laugh.
This blog is about how the liberal media attempted to distort the words of Mitt Romney to make it appear as though he was stupid and out of touch cuz he didn't know how some places make a sandwich!!! Give me a break.

No seriously, who is the federal government supposed to compete with.

Tell me.

Is this where Romney says the form was 33 pages long?

If it is he lied because the form is just 4 pages long, and only if you include the instructions.

See:
http://static01.mediaite.com/med/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/6101-Address-Change-Form.pdf

So Romney does not really know what he's talking about.

Thanks Hemmer for pointing out just what sort of an idiot liar Romey is and what sort of gullible people listen to him.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/mitt-romney-and-the-curious-case-of-the-33-page-change-of-address-form/2012/06/19/gJQAdBEKoV_blog.html

Romney the buffoon:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002827790

"As it turns out, MSNBC did him a favor by omitting his stupid comparison, but they won’t get much thanks for it. .."

"Romney’s anecdote about the optometrist and the 33-page change of address form: He only missed it by 31 pages. That’s right, the form that’s so very inferior to the sandwich computers at “Wawa’s” is two pages long, four if you include the instructions. That optometrist is either delusional, or a delusion of Romney’s. Either way, it’s inexcusable for journalists to let this go,"

Amy...this is why MSNBC is losing and losing big time to FOX News. Doesn't take one with an IQ even close to Jerthro Bodine's to realize how desperate MSNBC truly is.

jman99: Here's what the Washington Post article you cite said about the "33 page" form the optometrist in Mitt Romney's story may have had to fill out:

"Perhaps Romney was talking about another form. In some cases Medicare does reimbursement of this sort. But on first hearing, it seems unlikely that such a form exists....
But again — maybe this time Romney is getting it right."

The writer (blogger) for the Washington Post has asked the Romney campaign to get back to him with more information to substantiate Romney's claim.

Also noticed in the same article:

"The full quote from Romney does show that Romney’s “amazement” was not about the technology; he was saying that he’s amazed that the private sector has learned how to compete while government remains sclerotic and inefficient.
Whatever you think of the quality of Romney’s overall argument, the editing did distort the meaning of his remarks."

Ah yes, the MSNBC staff tried to edit Romney's speech to fit their own anti-Romney agenda. It blew up in their faces and rightly so. THAT, jman99, is what this post is about. Now go complain that the number of pages of a form Romney stated was an OUTRIGHT LIE!!!! Oh my goodness!!! It that ALL you have?

It's too bad Andrew Breitbart is gone. MSNBC could have learned a lot from him. Now there was a real slice and dice master.

jman - If Romney was off, he was only off by as many states as Obama was during his campaign: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpGH02DtIws


Depending on the type of practice the optomestric (solo or clinic) the form is either 28 pages or 49 pages:

28 pages:
http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/CMS-Forms/CMS-Forms/Downloads/cms855i.pdf

49 pages:
http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/CMS-Forms/CMS-Forms/Downloads/cms855b.pdf

Romney made a pretty solid point that obviously goes right over the heads of people that love big, wasteful government.

I'll state the question again since you choose to side step it:
"No seriously, who is the federal government supposed to compete with.

Tell me. "

jman - Why don't you get it?
hemmer - Why don't you answer,

It's obvious.

Per Romney's example- CONTRACT OUT THE SERVICE TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR. A competitive bid to manage that particular process would be a no brainer.

There are hundreds of similar examples. Try something easy first like the National Park Service. I bet you the private sector could "operate" the National Park system for less than $2.2billion per year.
http://home.nps.gov/applications/budget2/documents/NPS_10-YearBudgetHistory.pdf

jman99: The Federal government isn't designed to "compete." Hence, the inefficiencies, bloat, and mismanagement. Wasted taxpayer dollars. The point Romney was making in his speech (which MSNBC did not want it's viewers to hear) was that the private sector does work much better than the public sector. Is that a surprise to anyone?
There are over 1,000 agencies/departments in the federal government. Think any of them are run effectively? a good use of taxpayer dollars? No. Most COULD and SHOULD be eliminated. Start with the EPA. No one would miss them. Move on to the Department of Education. Let the states run their own schools. Get rid of the Department of Energy. The Department of Commerce. The Department of the Interior. The list is huge of what could go - and we as a country would be in much better shape with less government - the way our Founding Fathers had planned.
A classic example of government inefficiencies has to be the U.S. Postal system. In three months this year, the U.S. Postal service lost $3 billion dollars. In less than 3 months! While FedEx and UPS are thriving private businesses. The U.S. Postal system is under the feds thumbs for rules/regulations. The U.S. postal system is also required to pay the feds $5.5 billion dollars (yes, 5.5 BILLION) each year (even though they continue to lose money year after year after year) to fund "retirement disability accounts." (Think the feds are putting the $$$ in a lock box to save???).
Face it, jmann99 - Romney was right on. He made valid points. And you can't handle the truth.

jman, the answer to your question is that competition breeds efficiency. What the government needs to figure out is how to create efficiencies without the competition. Businesses have to compete to survive or they go out of business. The government has not figured out how to be efficient under any party & so we find our government in the financial mess it is in today. We have gutless wonders who only think about being reelected rather than being the guardian of the people. We need leaders that will look at the peoples ability to pay for the programs that are being forced upon them. Sometimes it really sucks having to be the parent that says NO! You may not agree with Governor Walker on policy but he at least has the guts to say NO & look out for the people who are paying the bills instead of only looking out for the people taking from the system.

Another good example is the IRS. We should fire the clowns that develop the tax forms each year and hire the millionaires that came up with Turbo Tax.

Also, Take the fact that 75% of these federal jobs http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-03-04-federal-pay_N.htm#chart cost taxpayers more than the private sector. Why should a nurse in the private sector have her taxes go to overpay a nurse in the VA?

Contract out the nurses, janitors, IT Managers, cooks, "recreation workers?, secretaries, surveyors and we have a couple Billion dollars in savings.

Amy's original point was spot-on accurate. Andrea Mitchel/MSNBC was 100% full of it on their editing/"reporting".

On the other hand, Mitt has to stop making (actual) ridiculous statements like http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/06/17/501021/romney-rules-out-compromise-i-wont-accept-1-in-new-taxes-for-10-in-spending-cuts/