SHOCKED! I tell you!
Posted on 04/23/2012 5:19:14 PM PDT by Para-Ord.45
Remember that NYT piece last week wondering about friction between Romney and the House GOP as as he tacks towards the center for the general election while they try to hold the line on the right?
Here’s the first wisp of smoke.
“ "I fully support the effort to extend the low interest rate on student loans,” Romney said at a joint news conference with Florida Senator Marco Rubio. “There was some concern that that would expire halfway through the year, and I support extending the temporary relief on interest rates for students as a result of student loans, obviously, in part because of the extraordinarily poor conditions in the job market.”
In publicly breaking with his own party, Romney is taking away a potential wedge issue for President Obama’s campaign — and giving hope to Democrats that they may find new momentum for the legislation [to extend the rates]. The deadline for the current, low interest rates to expire is July 1…
Republicans oppose the bill in part on the grounds that it isn’t paid for…
Asked whether House Republican leadership would get behind Courtney’s bill, given Romney’s comments, a spokesman for Speaker John Boehner was non-committal."
GOP Rep. Jeff Landry told the Times last week vis-a-vis Romney, “We’re not a cheerleading squad. We’re the conductor. We’re supposed to drive the train.” We’ll find out soon how true that is, but in the meantime read this Daily Caller piece from Friday explaining succinctly what a clever trap this was for Democrats to set. It’s not just that the extension isn’t paid for that bothers Republicans, it’s that lower rates keep the higher-education bubble inflated and keep the Democrats’ pals in academia flush with cash. But with the lower rates set to expire automatically in July, Romney was in a bind. If he sided with Obama, there’d be instant agita within the GOP that our “Massachusetts moderate” nominee is already going wobbly on spending. If he sided with House Republicans, Obama would spend the next week bashing him for hating kids and education and the middle class and all things good and true. In fact, The One actually organized a multistate trip and an appearance on Jimmy Fallon’s show expressly for that purpose.
Romney chose door number one because he thinks he has a shot at winning young voters, or at least at enough young voters to make Obama’s lift that much heavier in November. One out of every two new college grads is unemployed or underemployed; among 18-to-24 year olds, fewer than 50 percent say they’d like to see a second term for O. Romney’s not going to hand Obama an excuse to get an otherwise ambivalent core constituency excited, especially when the cost of extending the lower rate is “only” $5.6 billion this year. He can agree with him on this and then bash him on bigger spending items (I think/hope).
Besides, Romney’s probably looking for a high-profile issue on which to distinguish himself from House Republicans. He’s already praised Ryan’s budget so he’s checked the “fiscal conservative” box; now he’s going to do something for centrists and independents by daring Boehner to undercut him. He likely figures that, with the primary set to unofficially end tomorrow night in Pennsylvania and the general election to start in earnest, the House GOP will be reluctant to kneecap him on a relatively small-ticket item. And if they do, that’s fine: Centrists will feel reassured that he won’t necessarily be led by the right and conservatives will turn out to vote for him against O in November anyway.
Go RINO go !
Arizona now a toss-up State !?
“Arizona: Romney 42, Obama 40?”
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/04/23/arizona-romney-42-obama-40/
Here we go Romney is “Obama Lite!”
Romney, a living, breathing RINO disaster.
Vote for the most conservative House and Senate candidate. Either way we’ll get Obama or Obama-white...er lite.
The student loan deal is another liberal funding program.
Students borrow huge sums at subsidized rates, pay big $$ to colleges for overpriced education.
Schools pay big $$ to liberal profs and administrators.
Profs and admins contribute $$ to liberals.
And repeat.....
i’m not a romney fan at all but the guy is right on this one...why should student loan rates double when interest rates in the economy are fractional???
this was a trap set up by the rats- the GOP better be careful and not step into it...
51% of the last graduating class can’t find jobs or are underemployed. They owe billions in student loans that they can’t pay back. It’s no different than all the mortgages that will never be repaid, it will all combine to trash the economy even more.
Myth Romney would be remembered as a true American patriot if he were to drop out of the political race for the presidency.
1. No one forced anyone to go to a University and take on debt
2. Not one line exists written in the Constitution that allows the Federal Govt. to be in the business of student loans.
He’s just getting started. Remember McCain rushing back to DC to vote for TARP? Romney will fold like a tarp.
Better to grant a lower interest rate and get loans repaid then to default and never get them paid. Or, as has been proposed, to forgive all student loans.
Low? My son’s student loan payment interest rate is 8%. He took it out three years ago.
We paid most of his costs, this is an 11k responsibility loan.
Man are we ever scr*wed.
SHOCKED! I tell you!
This is why the republicans have rightfully earned the historic honorific as "The Stupid Party." For the sake of vindictively smacking around a few academics, who already have their money salted way in rich pensions anyway, they are willing to alienate a huge proportion of the voting population: ie, all those who have onerous student loans, sometimes their spouses, and usually their cosigning parents.
Brilliant, GOP, f*ing brilliant.
Rewarding bad behavior is the major problem of student aid, as it is with other parts of our economy. The student who gets a job and works hard to help put his way through college is penalized. The student who goes on spring break all year and then says he has no money is rewarded.
The real problem is not the amount of money; it is that the wrong behavior is rewarded. Student aid teaches a lesson that is well learned and follows them into the real world. They thinnk the way to get ahead is to get a “position” but not actually do any work. Then play the victim card and expect to get rewarded. For those already in a position, its working. For others, they are counted as “unemployed” which just means they get a valued victim card to play.
If you paid most of his costs, why did he take out 11K loans at 8%?
Not pretending that I care, I really don’t.
What I do care about is why you think I, as a mere taxpayer, should pay for any of your family’s bad financial “investments”?
Seriously, your private “investment” debt it not my problem, anymore than your personal investment returns are my gains.
LLS
LLS
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