Mitt Romney's 'charity'

[LewisLegion]

So I saw this being passed around Facebook and I just have to facepalm.



The idea of course is that all these things explain how much he's given to his church and his country and what a philanthropist and patriot he is. Can I just point out that the LDS church doesn't pay ANY of its workers? The meme almost gives the impression that these were normally paid positions, and he 'declined' being paid for them because he is just such a magnificent human being.

No. Pretty much every active member of the church is expected to hold a calling and a position in the church...UNPAID. Doesn't matter if you make a million a year or 30k.

He volunteered to help his Dad for a year...decent familial thing to do but hardly a great act of philanthropy.

Interned for a year...from what I understand, interns aren't paid either, and its kind of necessary to be one if you're pursuing any kind of political career.

Being an active member of your church, helping out family, and following the normal expected path for your career does NOT make you qualified to be president.

What about his proposed medicare cuts? What about his tax breaks for the rich that would burden the middle class? What about his standing behind the unconstitutional travesty that is DOMA? What about his wanting to put women's healthcare and rights right back to the 1950's?

I'm more interested in talking about those, not about dredging up his old church service history. Newsflash...I've held church positions before too, without getting paid for them...and I gave 10% of my income in the expected tithe to the church too, when I was an active member. Am I qualified now to be president?

I guess I should be reassured that his supporters have to drag together a list like this and cast it in a false light in order to make him look good, but I'm not. I'm terrified he's going to win this election and tear apart everything, including my rights as a citizen of this country.

If he gets elected, my move to Aussie can't come soon enough...

[HYHYBT]

Governors normally are paid, though I can believe someone with that much money already might either decline or donate his salary. I'm most curious about the first claim, though. "Gave his ENTIRE INHERITANCE to charity" is one I haven't heard before.

Still, though, as you say this isn't what matters.

[Andara Bledin]

PolitiFact has as much of the matter of his "inheritance" as is possible to know, really.

His family set him up with a lot of advantages before he ever needed to join the "real world" - he didn't pay for his own schooling, got a car for a wedding present, and his family helped his purchase of a house... plus, he had enough holdings in stocks while in school that neither he nor his young wife ever needed to work to keep themselves fed and sheltered.

By the time his father died in 1995, he was probably far wealthier than dear old dad was, having been at Bain Capital (which he was tapped to launch) since 1984, and so he took that money and gave it to BYU, which was already building a school in his father's honor (which likely means that dad gave a lot of money to them, already).

It's worth noting that Romney is really good at business. He worked hard to get where he was, but he likely would never have even had those opportunities had he not come from a wealthy family.

^-.-^

[wolfie]

What about his wanting to put women's healthcare and rights right back to the 19501750's?

Newsflash...I've held church positions before too, without getting paid for them...and I gave 10% of my income in the expected tithe to the church too, when I was an active member. Am I qualified now to be president?

Fixed your mistake on what he wants to do to women's rights.

As to whether you're qualified to be president, I'm not sure. After all, you haven't shown proof that you're at least 35 years old and born in the U.S.

[LewisLegion]

ROFL!

But I **can** prove that...so when I do, am I qualified then?? Granted, I've never been governor...but I can be quite bossy sometimes. That's the same thing, right?

[mikoyan29]

Our current Governor is being paid $1 a year because he's already pretty rich. So I think Governor's not getting paid is not entirely uncommon. But Romney is another person who started on third base and thought he got a home run.

The more interesting case is Ryan who has been living off or near the Government tit his whole adult life.

[Jester]

Okay, so ole Mitt did a few things without pay. That is hardly charity work. Where, precisely, does it say that he did anything EVER to help the poor, the disadvantaged, the sick, the infirm, the elderly, the disabled, or the disadvantaged? Right: nowhere. He was able to take several of those positions without pay and make it look like a philantropic act because he didn't NEED that money.

Now, by comparison, I worked at the college radio station for several years, without pay for all but one of them, and that one was a pittance (paid for 10 hours a week, actually worked closer to 30-40).
I have given much of my time and money to benefits for people who are dying, hurt, or injured, including the recent fundraiser for two locally popular bouncers who got jumped and put in the hospital. One of them won't be able to work for six months, the attackers did so much damage. This town, this lovely little island I live and work on, got together and raised over $65,000 for these two guys, and that was all in ONE DAY, at ONE BENEFIT, and doesn't count all the smaller benefits several bars and bartenders have been holding including many "all our tips go to Wookie and the Dude" shifts.

And while there ARE people who live in Key West who can easily afford such charity and more, most of the people I saw at the benefits were working stiffs like myself and like the victims, people who are actually making a sacrifice to help these guys out.

THAT is charity. What Mitt did? Isn't.

[lordlundar]

THAT is charity. What Mitt did? Isn't.

Correct. Helping out people using means and methods you have available is charity. Doing work on a no pay basis is being an intern.

[Tanasi]

I find it interesting that some of you question Romney's method of giving to charities. If he and his wife gave at the same levels, rates and methods as say the Obamas or Bidens would you still be complaining??? I say yes, the same people would still be complaining but making different complaints. The same people have no intentions of voting for Romney and never did. It seems to me some are trying to justify another reason to vote for Obama and if this is the reason then it seems to be very petty.
Perhaps Romney gives money because he sees that as doing more good for more folks, maybe he has more money to give than time, does anyone here know for sure he hasn't given of his time for charitable purposes??? Why not just be thankful he's giving???
As far as Ryan suckling on the public teat, well does that really need to be brought up especially when Obama and Biden are just as guilty or more so.

[Duelist925]

I find it interesting that some of you question Romney's method of giving to charities. If he and his wife gave at the same levels, rates and methods as say the Obamas or Bidens would you still be complaining??? I say yes, the same people would still be complaining but making different complaints. The same people have no intentions of voting for Romney and never did. It seems to me some are trying to justify another reason to vote for Obama and if this is the reason then it seems to be very petty.
Perhaps Romney gives money because he sees that as doing more good for more folks, maybe he has more money to give than time, does anyone here know for sure he hasn't given of his time for charitable purposes??? Why not just be thankful he's giving???
As far as Ryan suckling on the public teat, well does that really need to be brought up especially when Obama and Biden are just as guilty or more so.

There have been multiple posts pointing out how what Romney did wasn't charity. Nice, sure, but it was not charity.

Please educate me as to what charity Romney has donated/done. Please tell me how it stacks up to Obama's.

Please. What are your argument for Obama and Biden sucking on the public teat? Please, inform me. I've yet to run across anything like this, and I'd like to know, to better judge who I should vote for.


Please.

[HYHYBT]

As far as Ryan suckling on the public teat, well does that really need to be brought up especially when Obama and Biden are just as guilty or more so.

That's irrelevant. The significance is in Ryan's having benefited when his party likes to claim that anyone can do well for themselves without such help, likes to generalize that people who use assistance are lazy, and wants to dismantle those very programs as wasteful.

[Hyena Dandy]

I don't CARE what Mitt Romney's done. If his money isn't working against me, he can use it to buy gold-plated dildos for all I care.

I care what he'll do if he's president, with the public power that that creates. Not what he does with his own money.

[mikoyan29]

As far as Ryan suckling on the public teat, well does that really need to be brought up especially when Obama and Biden are just as guilty or more so.

Let's see, Ryan gets his college paid for through his father's survivor benefits from Social Security. After college, he gets a job as a Congressman's assistant. When that Congressman is voted out of office, Ryan gets a job lobbying and then he's a Congressman. Yet somehow he has the gall to propose radically altering Social Security to do stuff that he was able to take advantage of. He seems like an extreme case of the, "I got mine" assholes that we call CEOs. So here we have a person who rails against the evil Government when his entire adult life has been either directly or indirectly supported by that Government.

[HYHYBT]

I don't CARE what Mitt Romney's done. If his money isn't working against me, he can use it to buy gold-plated dildos for all I care.

Now THAT would be a fun thing to see make the news.

[LewisLegion]

I find it interesting that some of you question Romney's method of giving to charities. If he and his wife gave at the same levels, rates and methods as say the Obamas or Bidens would you still be complaining??? I say yes, the same people would still be complaining but making different complaints. The same people have no intentions of voting for Romney and never did. It seems to me some are trying to justify another reason to vote for Obama and if this is the reason then it seems to be very petty.
Perhaps Romney gives money because he sees that as doing more good for more folks, maybe he has more money to give than time, does anyone here know for sure he hasn't given of his time for charitable purposes??? Why not just be thankful he's giving???
As far as Ryan suckling on the public teat, well does that really need to be brought up especially when Obama and Biden are just as guilty or more so.

Yes, I would still be complaining, if Obama or Biden were claiming things as charity that aren't actually charity. Being an intern is not charity. If Obama had a poster going around talking about how much he gave to a charity because he served time there as an unpaid intern to further his career, I'd be saying the exact same thing.

I honestly don't know how much Romney gives to actual charities...that's not the point. What was outlined in this meme as an example of his great philanthropic nature is incorrect and inflated to make him seem better than he actually is. Why feel the need to inflate or to pad his claims if they need no padding? Why make it seem like his taking no pay for a position that is unpaid to begin with is some huge charitable gesture, if he's already off making legitimate huge charitable gestures?

No, I'm not voting for Romney, but it has nothing to do with this. It has everything to do with his stupid voucher program, for his tax-breaks for the rich and his increasing taxes on the middle-class....oh yeah, and the fact that he wants to prevent or take away the civil rights of me and a whole slew of this nation's population!

He wants to nationally ban gay marriage, including revoking it from states that already have accepted it into law.

He wants to ban abortion and take women's rights...health and otherwise...back to the Stone Age.

THAT is why I will not vote for Romney. I don't need excuses...I have REASONS.