Mitt Romney's fake food drive and Paul Ryan's fake help at soup kitchen.

Debbie, why not ask Carrel Hilton Sheldon about what kind of caring person Mitt is: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-dunn/mitt-romney-mormon-women_b_1956568.html Annie

Yeah, cause if a left wing blog says Romney doesn't care about people it must be true. Nice to see you still have such a high standard for sources Annie.

See post above. And then explain how you met Romney, and how you KNOW whether or not he cares.

With all due respect, Rollo, you've apparently totally missed the point. IF Willard had said UP FRONT the he'd donated the first $5000 worth of goods himself there wouldn't be any problem IF he'd held a legitimate "relief rally". As it was supporters were told they couldn't enter empty-handed and then were directed to the goods purchased by the Romney CAMPAIGN, which were then handed to the Mittster who pretended they'd been legitimately donated. It was nothing but a ruse and a sham. As for the Red Cross preferring to be given blood and money, doesn't it make more sense for money to be donated by people who aren't right there at the disaster sites? That way those who are there and know exactly what the greatest needs are can go and purchase the food, diapers or whatever else they may be. "Sick and twisted"? REALLY??? Annie

I give up...if you really want to believe that Romney was in the least bit interested in trying to provide relief who am I to try to change your mind. Come on, we're REALLY not that stupid! We'll have to agree to disagree on the wisdom of immediately going back to doing what caused the worst environmental disaster in history because I think a moratorium was definitely in order following the BP spill. I don't disagree about the LDS church being generous with their aid in disasters but I don't think the Mittster is the typical Mormon. Of course now "he's running for office, for Pete's sake"...lol! Annie

Annie, the guy gives 30% of his income to charity each year. That's a lot more than the 5% Obama averages, or the PATHETIC 0.01% Biden throws at charity. Pretending that he doesn't care about donating to people is just ridiculous. "what caused the worst environmental disaster in history" I think you need to study your history better. That may have been pretty bad for the US, but it's nothing even remotely close to what's happened in other countries. Disasters like that are pretty common in Nigeria where we get about 9% of our oil from. It just doesn't get media attention, nor was their much media attention when oil rigs were getting attacked by locals who also took hostages because they couldn't stand all the oil spills and what it was doing to them.

Ladybugmagic, thank you so much for this very interesting information. I think we all knew, even those who refuse to admit it, there had to be some reason for Mitt to refuse to do as all Presidential candidates have done since his own father set the precedent and release multiple years of tax returns, and that doesn't mean TWO. Annie

"I always thought you lived in Florida for some reason." That's because I lived there up till December of 2009. Since then I've lived in New Jersey. In a few weeks, I'll be moving back to Florida and escaping the highest taxed state in the country thanks to the excellent job I just got in Florida. "The Romney campaign could have publicly stated they were donating $5,000 worth of canned items, but instead staged a food drive which was a disguised campaign rally." It's not like he was keeping it a secret. So he didn't make a huge public statement, who cares? Why is it a bad thing that he's doing this? It's HELPING PEOPLE no matter how you dress it up. "I would be mad too if Obama did this. He and his family actually do go to soup kitchens. Not just for 15 minutes for a photo, but actually spend the whole day there." That's because the Obama's FORCED soup kitchens to allow them to work their for the entire day. In Paul Ryan's case, they asked permission and the person in charge said that the presence of a VP candidate, secret service, media, and film crews would interfere with their ability to operate and feed people so they would prefer he come just to help wash dishes after people left and that's what he did. Afterwards, the owner of the soup kitchen said that the person in charge shouldn't even have approved that because the owner doesn't want his soup kitchen to appear partisan. The policy of avoiding such partisanship is common in soup kitchens and I've worked in ones that wouldn't allow even local politicians to come if film crews would be present. When it's the president though, saying no isn't an option.

Soup kitchens welcome any and all genuine help, especially that from the President. At no time has Obama forced anyone. That is a desperate assertion on your part. The Obama campaign does prepare in advance, as is customary, because of the secret service, film crew, etc. In Paul Ryan's case, he stormed the soup kitchen with a film crew and asked someone there if it would be okay. She probably said yes thinking he would work for the public that day, and not just 15 minutes. She later got in trouble, and the soup kitchen lost funding because of this political game. Ryan did dishes for 15 minutes, got the photo he wanted, and left. There is no defending that. Romney did not hold a canned food drive. He bought cans of food for people on the East and distributed them to his audience members to then hand back to him to imply he held a storm relief canned food drive. There is no defending that.

I always thought you lived in Florida for some reason. My family is on the east coast. I was born and raised in Princeton before moving to Cali. I am not being dismissive in the least about what the people in Jersey or NY need. The Romney campaign could have publicly stated they were donating $5,000 worth of canned items, but instead staged a food drive which was a disguised campaign rally. They handed people who attended the canned items and then they handed those to Mitt on camera. It's like going trick or treating, and the person at the door reaches into your bag and hands you a piece of candy back. It was tacky and pretty shameful considering people really are in need right now and they put up a pretense of helping. So, because I point that out, you have decided to group me in with the Occupy imposters that were sent to discredit the movement, and I am lazy for not hopping on what would be a cancelled flight to NJ to deliver my own canned item? What you are doing is projecting the anger you have for Romney and Ryan on to me. I would be mad too if Obama did this. He and his family actually do go to soup kitchens. Not just for 15 minutes for a photo, but actually spend the whole day there.

And the President showing up in NJ was all genuine concern and not just a photo op of being presidential. Pulling police and firemen off of rescue and recovery duty to provide protection for the President was fine. Appearing with a Republican Gov was real concern and not just a photo op. How much food, blankets and relief supplies did he bring on Air Force 1? President Bush was critized for not visiting New Orleans after Katrina, but he did not want to interfere with the rescue and relief effort. Politician all do things for photo ops, that is the nature of the business. Why did the President fly to Florida the night before Sandy hit only to fly back in the morning to make it look like he was rushing back to take charge. The forecasters had predicted with in minutes when Sandy would make land fall and they knew that it would have a major impact on the NJ and NY coast.

Maters, you're not getting it; if Romney would have been honest I'd have sincerely given him credit for it. I mean, I don't like him or Ryan and I disagree with both of them on just about everything, but I'd still be willing to admit it if they showed one iota of genuine concern for the disaster victims. They did NOT. Mitt's rally was a political rally, nothing more, nothing less, and he tried to disguise it as a food drive because he knew how cold he'd seem if he openly campaigned given what the people of New Jersey and New York wee going through. Even so, IF he'd announced at or before the rally that he and/or his campaign were donating $5000 worth of goods and asked for supporters to follow suit and give a little something that would have been fine. Ryan's photo-op of him and his kids washing clean pots and pans wasn't intended to help anyone but the campaign and I think everyone should be offended that he apparently thinks we the voters are that gullible. Like the Op-Ed in the Washington Post stated, the Romney campaign holds the electorate in contempt and seriously thinks we're stupid and are all suffering from Romnesia. Annie

No. I get it just fine, thank you. It's not like I'm new here.

It matters to those in need because this was not intended as genuine help. Those who need help need earnest help. Not this manipulated fake help. This should be an indication as to how he would run the country if elected.

Taskr, I realize there are some birth control pills that cost around $9 but they're not suitable for every woman and some pills cost well over 10 times that. Even that may only be "a few bucks" for you and certainly only pennies for the Mitts of the world but for many working class women it's the difference between eating or going without or having gas to go to work or not. Annie

Ladybug, when someone's starving, living in a tent, have been wearing the same clothes for a week, and someone gives them canned goods and clothing, they don't care about the person's motives or politics, they're just thrilled to have food and clothing. Look at it this way. People like you are just crying because you want free birth control. Obama told you it's your RIGHT to force people to buy you birth control. You know he did it to score cheap political points with ignorant young female voters who don't want to spend $9/month on pills, but you don't care because you're getting free birth control. See, it's the same thing only what Romney is doing actually HELPS PEOPLE.