Obama SuperPAC: Mitt Romney Pretty Much Killed This Man's Wife

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• Guy Benson 
  Political Editor, Townhall.com

Democrats keep crowing about Barack Obama's "commanding" electoral college lead (it's a less than a mile wide and an inch deep), but for all their apparent cockiness, they strangely continue to go thermonuclear on Mitt Romney.  This ad from Obama's SuperPAC doesn't seem desperate at all:
 

 

When Mitt Romney and Bain closed the plant, I lost my healthcare, and my family lost their healthcare.  And a short time after that my wife became ill ... And she passed away in 22 days. I do not think Mitt Romney realizes what he’s done to anyone, and furthermore I do not think Mitt Romney is concerned.

Recapping: Mitt Romney fired this poor guy, he lost his healthcare, then his wife died of cancer -- oh, and Romney couldn't care less.  As distasteful as it feels to debunk a political ad that exploits a woman's tragic death, Obama's close allies are ultimately responsible for the content they produce for public consumption.  Aside from its jaw-droppingly vicious implications, there are numerous substantive problems with this spot:

 

(1) GST -- the company for which this gentleman once worked -- shuttered the factory in question back in 2001, two years after Mitt Romney left Bain Capital. Romney did not "close the plant;" he was offsaving the Olympics.

 

(2) The Wall Street Journal's Kimberly Strassel examined GST's history in a May column (Obama and his backers have been using this particular company to pummel Romney for months).  She explained that Bain's investment gave GST an eight-year "lease on life," even though the factory -- along with the broader industry -- eventually faltered, thanks in part to organized labor's stubbornness:
 

GST is a tragic tale, though in a different way. The real story of GST is that of a private-equity firm trying to spark some life into a uncompetitive, over-unionized industry. Bain's crime here—if that's what you call it—was giving a dying steel plant an unexpected eight-year lease on life. When Bain bought the Kansas City mill in 1993, steel was a scene of carnage. Global players were pouring out cheap products, and America's high-cost steel plants couldn't compete. The industry had lost 200,000 jobs in preceding years. In 1992 alone, the six largest U.S. steel mills had lost a combined $3 billion. Armco, the company Bain would buy the plant from, would lose $641 million in 1993. The Kansas City plant was itself dying. At its 1970 height it employed 4,500; by the late 1980s it was down to 1,000.

The late 1990s saw a new outpouring of cheap steel from elsewhere around the globe. The Asian financial crisis walloped the mining industry, cutting demand for GST products. The price of GST's electricity and natural gas skyrocketed. The union dug in, refusing to make concessions. By April 1997, it was on strike, shooting bottle rockets at guards. Labor costs spiked, and by 1999 GSI was reporting $53 million in net losses. In 2001 it would become one of 31 steel companies that went bankrupt from 1993 to 2003.

In other words, Mr. Soptic would likely have found himself unemployed eight years earlier if it  hadn't been for Bain's 1993 investment.

(3) I've saved the most egregious element for last.  Mr. Soptic's wife died in 2006, seven years after Romney left Bain and five years after the plant went under:
 

In the case of this particularly jarring super PAC ad, it may also be relevant that Soptic’s wife died in 2006, years after the GST factory closed down. A 2006 story in the Kansas City Star reported the death of Ranae Soptic, a former champion roller skater: “Soptic went to the hospital for pneumonia, but doctors found signs of very advanced cancer, and she died two weeks later on June 22.”

It is downright vulgar to blame Mitt Romney for a cancer-stricken woman's death in a political advertisement, period.  It is beyond repugnant to do so using incomplete, misleading and inaccurate information.  In case you were curious, Obama's SuperPAC (run by one of Obama's former deputy press secretaries) fully stands by the spot.  The White House isn't commenting on the controversy, though Obama's defenders will note that the Obama campaign cannot be held responsible for its SuperPAC's decisions because the two entities are legally prohibited from coordinating.  By the way, have you heard about Obama's new "Romney-hood" attack line?  You know where he got that line?  From his SuperPAC -- with whom he's not at all coordinating, mind you. 

Two final points: First, this ad unwittingly makes the conservative case for healthcare plan portability, a policy goal supported in Republican  reforms.  Individuals and families would own their plan, so it couldn't be ripped away due to job loss.  It would also go a long way toward eliminating the pre-existing conditions problem.  Second, it's still summertime, yet the Obama campaign itself, one of its top Congressional surrogates and its SuperPAC have already baselessly accused Romney of being a felon, a tax cheat (for which Reid has now been awarded "Four Pinocchios" and "pants on fire" ratings) and a heartless giver of cancer.  What will the attack ads look like in October, especially if Romney has opened a lead in the polls?

UPDATE - An excellent tweet from Bretibart's John Sexton, illustrating the dark absurdity of this commercial:
 

If you worked at a GM dealership shuttered in 2009 and your spouse dies of cancer before 2015:#ThatsonObama

Quite a standard, isn't it?

UPDATE II - Enjoy:  #OctoberObamaAds

OBAMA’S COLLEGE CLASSMATE: ‘THE OBAMA SCANDAL IS AT COLUMBIA’

From The Blaze

Wayne Allyn Root is a former Libertarian vice presidential nominee. He now serves as Chairman of the Libertarian National Campaign Committee. He is the  […]

wayne@rootforamerica.com

Author's Website

I am President Obama’s classmate at Columbia University, Class of ’83. I am also one of the most accurate Las Vegas oddsmakers and prognosticators. Accurate enough that I was awarded my own star on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars. And I smell something rotten in Denmark. Obama has a big skeleton in his closet. It’s his college records. Call it “gut instinct” but my gut is almost always right. Obama has a secret hidden at Columbia- and it’s a bad one that threatens to bring down his presidency. Gut instinct is how I’ve made my living for 29 years since graduating Columbia.

Obama and his infamous strategist David Axelrod understand how to play political hardball, the best it’s ever been played. Team Obama has decided to distract America’s voters by condemning Mitt Romney for not releasing enough years of his tax returns. It’s the perfect cover. Obama knows the best defense is a bold offense. Just keep attacking Mitt and blaming him for secrecy and evasion, while accusing him of having a scandal that doesn’t exist. Then ask followers like Senator Harry Reid to chase the lead. The U.S. Senate Majority Leader appears to now be making up stories out of thin air, about tax returns he knows nothing about. It’s a cynical, brilliant, and vicious strategy. Make Romney defend, so he can’t attack the real Obama scandal.

This is classic Axelrod. Obama has won several elections in his career by slandering his opponents and leaking sealed documents. Not only do these insinuations and leaks ruin the credibility and reputation of Obama’s opponents, they keep them on the defensive and off Obama’s trail of sealed documents.

By attacking Romney’s tax records, Obama’s socialist cabal creates a problem that doesn’t exist. Is the U.S. Senate Majority Leader making up stories out of thin air? You decide. But the reason for this baseless attack is clear- make Romney defend, so not only is he “off message” but it helps the media ignore the real Obama scandal.

My answer for Romney? Call Obama’s bluff.

Romney should call a press conference and issue a challenge in front of the nation. He should agree to release more of his tax returns, only if Obama unseals his college records. Simple and straight-forward. Mitt should ask “What could possibly be so embarrassing in your college records from 29 years ago that you are afraid to let America’s voters see? If it’s THAT bad, maybe it’s something the voters ought to see.” Suddenly the tables are turned. Now Obama is on the defensive.

My bet is that Obama will never unseal his records because they contain information that could destroy his chances for re-election. Once this challenge is made public, my prediction is you’ll never hear about Mitt’s tax returns ever again.

Why are the college records, of a 51-year-old President of the United States, so important to keep secret? I think I know the answer.

If anyone should have questions about Obama’s record at Columbia University, it’s me. We both graduated (according to Obama) Columbia University, Class of ’83. We were both (according to Obama) Pre-Law and Political Science majors. And I thought I knew most everyone at Columbia. I certainly thought I’d heard of all of my fellow Political Science majors. But not Obama (or as he was known then- Barry Soetoro). I never met him. Never saw him. Never even heard of him. And none of the classmates that I knew at Columbia have ever met him, saw him, or heard of him.

But don’t take my word for it. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2008 that Fox News randomly called 400 of our Columbia classmates and never found one who had ever met Obama.

Now all of this mystery could be easily and instantly dismissed if Obama released his Columbia transcripts to the media. But even after serving as President for 3 1/2 years he refuses to unseal his college records. Shouldn’t the media be as relentless in pursuit of Obama’s records as Romney’s? Shouldn’t they be digging into Obama’s past–beyond what he has written about himself–with the same boundless enthusiasm as Mitt’s?

The first question I’d ask is, if you had great grades, why would you seal your records? So let’s assume Obama got poor grades. Why not release the records? He’s president of the free world, for gosh sakes. He’s commander-in-chief of the U.S. military. Who’d care about some poor grades from three decades ago, right? So then what’s the problem? Doesn’t that make the media suspicious? Something doesn’t add up.

Secondly, if he had poor grades at Occidental, how did he get admitted to an Ivy League university in the first place? And if his grades at Columbia were awful, how’d he ever get into Harvard Law School? So again those grades must have been great, right? So why spend millions to keep them sealed?

Third, how did Obama pay for all these fancy schools without coming from a wealthy background? If he had student loans or scholarships, would he not have to maintain good grades?

I can only think of one answer that would explain this mystery.

Here’s my gut belief: Obama got a leg up by being admitted to both Occidental and Columbia as a foreign exchange student. He was raised as a young boy in Indonesia. But did his mother ever change him back to a U.S. citizen? When he returned to live with his grandparents in Hawaii or as he neared college-age preparing to apply to schools, did he ever change his citizenship back? I’m betting not.

If you could unseal Obama’s Columbia University records I believe you’d find that:

A)   He rarely ever attended class.

B)   His grades were not those typical of what we understand it takes to get into Harvard Law School.

C)   He attended Columbia as a foreign exchange student.

D)   He paid little for either undergraduate college or Harvard Law School because of foreign aid and scholarships given to a poor foreign students like this kid Barry Soetoro from Indonesia.

If you think I’m “fishing” then prove me wrong. Open up your records Mr. President. What are you afraid of?

If it’s okay for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to go on a fishing expedition about Romney’s taxes (even though he knows absolutely nothing about them nor will release his own), then I think I can do the same thing. But as Obama’s Columbia Class of ’83 classmate, at least I have more standing to make educated guesses.

It’s time for Mitt to go on the attack and call Obama’s bluff.

 Wayne Allyn Root is a former Libertarian vice presidential nominee and the author of “The Conscience of a Libertarian.” Read more at his website: www.ROOTforAmerica.com 

THIS IS WHAT CHICK-FIL-A APPRECIATION DAY LOOKED LIKE (WITH YOUR PICTURES, STORIES, AND VIDEO)

From The Blaze

Scroll down for an update to this story.

Hungry diners from all across the country crowded their local Chick-fil-A’s to show their appreciation for the chicken chain’s Southern fried goodness. You knew this day was coming and you knew it was going to be busy.

How crowded did some stores get? Well, based on photo submissions and anecdotes from Blaze readers and editors, let’s just say “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day” sounds like it was a major success:

“My daughters and I went to Chick fil a in Wake Forest, NC around 1:45 today in hopes of avoiding the rush. At that time, the line was still backed up a half of a mile out of the restaurant parking lot!” Erin G. in North Carolina wrote TheBlaze in an email.

[Related: ‘Choke to Death on That LGBT Hating Chicken’: See How the Left is Reacting to ‘Support Chick-fil-A’ Day]

“Due to Chick fil a’s impeccable customer service it only took 30 minutes to get through that drive thru line!! What other fast food chain is able to boast of that?! (My husband visited a different Chick fil a in Raleigh and had a similar experience.) We will go back this evening for dinner,” she adds.

Ryan S. in Arizona writes:

We live in Phoenix, Az and it is very hot here, but that didn’t stop people from coming to Chick-Fil-A and standing in line out there door for a 45 min wait. My wife went through the drive through and was impressed so many came out to show their support. Willing to endure the heat to show their support. My wife was so impressed she felt she needed to do more than just buy lunch to show her support. She wanted to do something for the people standing in line.

So when she got to the drive through window she bought 10, $10 gift certificates and then had our two children pass them out to random people in line to pay for their lunches. Some people were moved to tears by the expression. Honestly I was moved to tears just hearing my wife tell me the story. I am so inspired by the good people showing up all across the country to show their support for traditional family values. I hope these random acts of kindness catch on.

The line at a Chick-fil-A in Irving, TX [via TheBlaze's Jon Seidl!]:

“We went yesterday, the day before appreciation day! It was packed, the line reached outside, and the energy was great,” Cameron Jacobs of Roseville, CA, told TheBlaze in an email.

“People knew exactly what they were standing for when they ordered yesterday (and today) I think positive support has trumped the negative aggressive dishonest tactics of those who would so hypocritically oppress this great eating establishment,” the email adds.

Josh G. from Lubbock, TX, writes: “People were extra talkative and friendly to fellow patrons today because we were all there for the same reason. Felt more like a family reunion than a lunch break.”

Jim Cahill of Arizona writes:

We arrived at 11:30 to a line of approximately 40 cars in the drive-thru. We parked and waited in line to eat in instead. Took about an hour. I counter about 90 people out the door – all enduring 105 degree heat. The line stretched even longer by the time we received our food.

See the KHOU-TV update from Houston, TX:

Video | News | Weather | Sports

Wed Aug 01 05:16:10 PDT 2012

BIG CROWDS GATHER AT LOCAL RESTAURANTS FOR ‘CHICK-FIL-A APPRECIATION DAY’

People around the country flocked Wednesday to Chick-fil-A restaurants as part of an "appreciation day" in the midst of a national controversy. view full article

“It’s around 100 degrees here today and there was a 45-minute wait to get inside.  I overheard a young girl (10 or so years old) behind me say to her mom, ‘it’s hot’ — to to which I felt compelled to kid her a bit by saying, ‘Hey, liberty is not air-conditioned,” Gerry from St. Louis writes.

“Several people overheard me say that, and joined in the conversation with some nice positive commentary regarding the show of support for Chick-Fil-A founder Truett Cathy’s right to free speech,” the email adds.

Meliss O. from Tallahasse, FL, told TheBlaze the following:

Our Oral Surgery practice spent $700.00 at Chick-fil-A today.  We chose today to support “Chick-Fil-A Day” and purchased lots of trays of salads and nuggets for our referring offices.  We were sure to tell each office that they should be sure to show their support today.  Felt great to drive into the parking lot on Capital Circle in Tallahassee at 10:30 (between breakfast and lunch) and the parking lot be PACKED.

Chick-fil-A, as most Blaze readers know, has been dealing with heavy fallout from comments made by CEO Dan Cathy about his support for traditional marriage. Cathy responded that his company was “guilty as charged” when it comes to its support of the traditional family unit.

“We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that,” Cathy told The Baptist Press.

“We operate as a family business … our restaurants are typically led by families; some are single. We want to do anything we possibly can to strengthen families. We are very much committed to that,” he added.

Pro-gay rights groups immediately responded to Cathy’s remarks by calling for nationwide boycotts and some left-leaning politicians even vowed to block the company from opening eateries in their cities.

In response to the outrageous outrage over Cathy’s interview, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee called for a national “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.” We feel pretty confident when we say we think it was a financial success. In fact, we are getting so many submissions from readers telling us about their “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day” experiences that we can’t possibly include all of them in this article. This, of course, implies that when the company tallies up end of day sales, it’ll probably come out alright.

Oh, yeah, let’s not forget: Gay rights activists have planned their own response to Huckabee’s day with “National Same Sex Kiss Day,” which involves same sex couples making out in Chick-fil-A’s, because, as we noted earlier on TheBlaze, that’ll show ‘em.

UPDATE: Has Chick-fil-A set world record for sales?

You can look at more pictures of the lines via photos from the Associated Press:

AP Photos of the Lines at Chick-fil-A

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  KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty ImagesPatrons at a Chick-fil-A restaurant August 1, 2012 on Chick-fil-A Day of Appreciation. The ongoing controversy over an interview with Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy has grown during the past two weeks and now involves an Appreciation Day, to be followed by a counter-Appreciation Day and a 'Kiss-in.'' Comments by Cathy over same-sex marriage went viral, and several entertainers, musicians and politicians condemned Cathy for being 'hateful and bigoted.'
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  Stan Carroll/APChick-fil-A team member Kameron Leavy directs drive-thru traffic as customers crowd into the restaurant in Southaven, Miss. Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012. Patrons patiently waited up to an hour to receive their order in a display of support for the company's stance on marriage and family values.
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  Michael Prengler/APAugust 1, 2012 - Chick-fil-A patrons wait in line for the drive-through to show their support of Mike Huckabee's Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day in Allen, Texas.
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  Michael Prengler/APAugust 1, 2012 - Chick-fil-A patrons wait in line for the drive-through to show their support of Mike Huckabee's Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day in Allen, Texas.
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  Mike Haskey/APCustomers stand in a long line at the Chick-fil-A in Columbus, Ga., Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012. Chick-fil-A supporters are eating at restaurants in the chicken chain as the company continues to be criticized for an executive's comments about marriage and family.
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  Travis Heying/APDon and Brenda Nichols shield themselves from 100 degree temperatures as they stand in line for a Chick-fil-a meal at the chain's restaurant in Wichita, Kan., on Wednesday. Aug. 1, 2012. Over 200 people waited in line to buy a meal to show their support for the company that's currently embroiled in a controversy over same-sex marriage. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, declared Wednesday national "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day." Opponents of the company's stance are planning "Kiss Mor Chiks" for Friday, when they are encouraging people of the same sex to show up at Chick-fil-A restaurants around the country and kiss each other.
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  Travis Heying/APCustomers stand in line for a Chick-fil-a meal at the chain's restaurant in Wichita, Kan., on Wednesday. Aug. 1, 2012. The crowd was buying meals to show their support for the company that's currently embroiled in a controversy over same-sex marriage. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, declared Wednesday national "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day." Opponents of the company's stance are planning "Kiss Mor Chiks" for Friday, when they are encouraging people of the same sex to show up at Chick-fil-A restaurants around the country and kiss each other.
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  Charles Slate/APCustomers wait on line at a packed Chick-fil-A in Myrtle Beach, S.C. during lunch, Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012. Supporters of Chick-fil-A are planning to eat at restaurants in the chicken chain as the company continues to be criticized for an executive's comments about gay marriage. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, declared Wednesday national "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day." Opponents of the company's stance are planning "Kiss Mor Chiks" for Friday, when they are encouraging people of the same sex to show up at Chick-fil-A restaurants around the country and kiss each other.
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  Glenn Baeske/APCars wrap around the Whitesburg Dr. Chick-fil-A in a double line at lunch time for Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day in Huntsville, Ala., Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012. Chick-fil-A supporters are eating at the chicken chain's restaurants as the company continues to be criticized for an executive taking a public position against same-sex marriage. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, declared Wednesday "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day."
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  Glenn Baeske/APThe walk-in customer line went outside the front doors at the Whitesburg Drive, Chick-fil-A during Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day in Huntsville, Ala., Wednesday Aug. 1, 2012. Chick-fil-A supporters are eating at the chicken chain's restaurants as the company continues to be criticized for an executive taking a public position against same-sex marriage. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, declared Wednesday "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day."
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  Ben Earp/APMolora Kellstrom, Sophia Kellstrom, 12, and Emma Kansas, 11, stand in line at the Chick-Fil-A on Wednesday, Aug. 1. 2012 in Shelby, N.C. Supporters of Chick-fil-A are planning to eat at restaurants in the chicken chain as the company continues to be criticized for an executive's comments about gay marriage. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, declared Wednesday national "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day." Opponents of the company's stance are planning "Kiss Mor Chiks" for Friday, when they are encouraging people of the same sex to show up at Chick-fil-A restaurants around the country and kiss each other.
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  Ben Earp/APCustomers wait on line outside the door of the Chick-fil-A on Wednesday, Aug. 1. 2012 in Shelby, N.C. Supporters of Chick-fil-A are planning to eat at restaurants in the chicken chain as the company continues to be criticized for an executive's comments about gay marriage. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, declared Wednesday national "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day." Opponents of the company's stance are planning "Kiss Mor Chiks" for Friday, when they are encouraging people of the same sex to show up at Chick-fil-A restaurants around the country and kiss each other.
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  Charles Slate/APBrenda Howard, left, joined with her friends, Cecelia Pegram and Hines Pegram, at the Chick-fil-A in Myrtle Beach during lunch, Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012. Chick-fil-A supporters are eating at restaurants in the chicken chain as the company continues to be criticized for an executive's comments about marriage and family.
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  Zach Frailey/APTraffic clogs the parking lot at Chick-fil-A in Kinston, N.C., on Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012. Chick-fil-A supporters are eating at the chicken chain's restaurants as the company continues to be criticized for an executive taking a public position against same-sex marriage. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, declared Wednesday "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day."
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  Ben Earp/APCustomers stand on a lone line for Chick-fil-A in the Cleveland County Mall on Wednesday, Aug. 1. 2012 in Shelby, N.C. Supporters of Chick-fil-A are planning to eat at restaurants in the chicken chain as the company continues to be criticized for an executive's comments about gay marriage. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, declared Wednesday national "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day." Opponents of the company's stance are planning "Kiss Mor Chiks" for Friday, when they are encouraging people of the same sex to show up at Chick-fil-A restaurants around the country and kiss each other.
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  Ben Earp/APCustomers stand in line at the Chick-Fil-A location in the Cleveland County Mall on Wednesday, Aug. 1. 2012 in Shelby, N.C. Supporters of Chick-fil-A are planning to eat at restaurants in the chicken chain as the company continues to be criticized for an executive's comments about gay marriage. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, declared Wednesday national "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day." Opponents of the company's stance are planning "Kiss Mor Chiks" for Friday, when they are encouraging people of the same sex to show up at Chick-fil-A restaurants around the country and kiss each other.
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  Chuck Beckley/APCustomers line up outside the Chick-fil-A Restaurant at New Bern Mall on Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012 in New Bern, N.C. Supporters of Chick-fil-A are planning to eat at restaurants in the chicken chain as the company continues to be criticized for an executive's comments about gay marriage. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, declared Wednesday national "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day." Opponents of the company's stance are planning "Kiss Mor Chiks" for Friday, when they are encouraging people of the same sex to show up at Chick-fil-A restaurants around the country and kiss each other.
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  KEVIN GREEN/APCustomers wait in a line as the drive-thru is backed up outside of the Chick-fil-A location, Wednesday, Aug.1, 2012, in Longview, Texas. Chick-fil-A supporters are eating at the chicken chain's restaurants as the company continues to be criticized for an executive taking a public position against same-sex marriage.
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  Kevin Green/APCustomers wait in a line outside of the Chick-fil-la location on Loop 281 and Fourth Street Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012, in Longview, Texas. Chick-fil-A supporters are eating at the chicken chain's restaurants as the company continues to be criticized for an executive taking a public position against same-sex marriage. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister, declared Wednesday "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day."
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  Billy Hefton/APChick-fil-A customers flood the location at Oakwood Mall Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2012, in Enid, Okla., to show support for the Christian-run company who supports traditional values and has voiced an open opposition to gay marriage. Chick-fil-A supporters are planning to eat at restaurants in the chicken chain as the company continues to be criticized for an executive's comments about marriage and family.

TheBlaze’s Meredith Jessup contributed to this report. Front page photo source: News-Sentinel. This story has been updated.

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And You Thought the Housing Crisis Was Over!

From The American Spectator

By WILLIAM TUCKER on 7.27.12 @ 6:09AM

The Community Reinvestment Act is back, as if 2008 never happened.

Do you remember that thing about how the banks wouldn't lend to blacks and Hispanics because they were racists? And do you remember how they passed the Community Reinvestment Act so that banks were forced to reduce down payments practically to zero and lend to a lot of people they knew were bad credit risks? And do you remember how Wall Street bundled all these risky subprime mortgages and sold them to investors around the world so that when it became clear that those people weren't going to be able to pay their mortgages banks everywhere were left holding the bag and all five of the Wall Street investment houses either went under or had to be bailed out by the federal government?

And do you remember how, when it was all over, liberals said it was actually the banks' fault for "deceiving" all those people into thinking they could afford to buy homes and that the banks should be punished for it and some of those people be allowed to keep their homes anyway? And do you remember how all this cost the government close to a trillion dollars and put the whole economy in a hole that we really haven't begun to dig ourselves out of yet?

Well, get ready because the whole thing is about to happen again.

Yes, believe it or not, the federal government is now startinganother initiative to force banks to lend to low-credit-rated blacks and Hispanics -- not just anybody but specifically blacks and Hispanics -- and is threatening -- and already imposing -- huge punitive fines if they don't. Moreover, this time they're going even further. They're going to take over the credit rating agenciesand force them to change their standards to accommodate blacks and Hispanics so that nobody will have any idea who is a bad credit risk and who is not. In so many words, the government is about impose its will on the whole home-lending market and force another round of bad loans so that the banks are going to be looted once again so that even the federal government may not be able to bail them out this time.

The principle instrument this time is not the Justice Department, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as it was last time, but the brand-new Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, designed by good old Elizabeth "Nobody-Ever-Made-It-On-Their-Own" Warren, which should really be called the Bureau for Bringing Down the Entire Economy. As reported in last Sunday's New York Post by Hoover Institution Media Fellow Paul Sperry, the CFPB has just announced that it is adopting a 20-page "Policy Statement on Discrimination in Lending" issues by the Interagency Task force on Fair Lending in 1994 that kicked off Attorney General Janet Reno's draconic enforcement of the Community Renewal Act. Part of the policy statement reads, "Applying different lending standards or offering different levels of assistance to applicants who are members of a protected [i.e., minority] class is permissible in some circumstances. Providing different treatment to applicants to address past discrimination would be permissible if done in response to a court order." There are already plenty of court orders sitting around.

Just two weeks ago Wells Fargo caved to a Justice Department offensive and paid $175 million for alleged past discriminating against minority borrowers. All this occurred even though the bank received an "outstanding" grade in its most recent Community Reinvestment Act exam. The government did not even bother to prove discrimination in a single instance but relied instead on statistics showing lower rates of homeownership in minority neighborhoods. Thomas Perez, the Justice Department honcho who is spearheading this campaign, says banks discriminate "with a smile" and "fine print" and are "every bit as destructive as the cross burned in a neighborhood." Nice objective evaluation there.

As in most such cases, Wells Fargo chickened out about going to court and refused to admit any wrongdoing but agreed to all kinds of diversity training and sensitivity counseling. The bank will have to "prominently display" a notice informing minority customers that they cannot be turned down for loans just because they are receiving public assistance such as unemployment benefits, welfare payments or food stamps. (Maybe they can even use food stamps for the down payment.) Wells Fargo must provide minority customers $50 million for down-payment and closing-cost assistance, including "Borrower Assistance Grants" of up to $15,000 per individual. It was also ordered to pay $125 million to as yet unnamed victims of previous discrimination. But get this! If those past victims don't show up, the money must be handed over to community organizing groups. President Obama, you have a job waiting for you if you lose office this fall.

Almost a dozen banks are under similar investigation and will be soon falling like dominoes unless one of them musters the courage to stand up to the Justice Department in court.

But the real destruction is going to be wrought by CFPB, created by Dodd-Frank and just getting started. Last week Richard Cordray, who is serving as a disputed recess appointee without the consent of the Senate, announced that not only will CFPB be going after banks but will also target the credit rating agencies that evaluate people's creditworthiness based on past performance in paying debts. They too will be vetted for racial discrimination. In May 2011, the non-partisan Policy and Economic Research Council completed what it described as the first evaluation of Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, the three credit rating agencies. The report concluded that in less than 1 percent of cases was a score changed by more than 25 points after a dispute process and that "consequential inaccuracies are rare." Moreover, "95 percent of disputing participants were satisfied with the outcomes of their disputes, suggesting widespread satisfaction" with the process. In other words, credit ratings are pretty accurate. Banks rely heavily on them and say that, if anything, the agencies tends to underestimate the rate at which minority buyers will default on mortgages.

So guess what happens next? Under the pretext of "regulating" the agencies, CFPB will hammer away, forcing them to upgrade the scores of blacks and Hispanics. Standards will be diluted or abandoned entirely and within a few years the banks will be flying blind with no reliable information on who is a good credit risk and who isn't. Does that sound like the formula for another mortgage meltdown? It sure does to me.

At this point in my story, it is customary for the journalist to proclaim that he isn't trying to protect the lenders but is really concerned with those unfortunate minority individuals who will end up with bad loans. Sperry follows this pattern by declaring, "In the end, it will be the minorities Obama and [Eric] Holder are trying to help who will be hurt most."

I think I'm going to have to depart from the tradition. I think what we are witnessing is the looting of America on behalf of minorities in a way that better end soon or we are going to bring the whole system down upon our heads.

With the current administration in power, the perception is growing among minorities that everything in the economy can be had for free and that President Obama and his administration are going to provide it for them. For instance, there is a scam going on around the country right now where con artists call up homeowners and tell them that President Obama has a new program where he is going to pay their electrical bills. All the homeowner has to do is provide his Social Security number and other personal information. The con game started in Michigan among minority populations in depressed cities such as Flint and Grand Rapids. It has now spread as far as far as Florida and Mississippi. More than 2,300 people in Michigan were bilked out of $1 million, another 10,000 have been swindled in New Jersey.

What is amazing is that all these people actually believe that President Obama is ready to pay their electrical bills. It is symptomatic of a rising tide of dependency and the growing sense that nobody has to be responsible for anything anymore and we can all live off "the rich." If we don't get these people out of office soon, there isn't going to be much left to pick over in the American economy.