Riley Stumps for Obama Opposite GOP Town Hall
Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. held a press conference to praise Pres. Barack Obama's leadership and criticize GOP frontrunner Gov. Mitt Romney
While undecided Republican voters lined up at the Sottile Theater, a block away Charleston Mayor Joesph P. Riley, Jr. called a press conference with College Democrats to talk up President Barack Obama's record in the White House and take shots at his GOP challengers.
Asked why he chose Saturday to speak, Riley said that while all the Republican candidates, with the exception of Ron Paul, are in town he wanted to make sure they were aware that in both the City of Charleston and Charleston County as a whole, a majority of voters chose Obama in 2008.
Riley used the press conference to highlight the Obama Administration's record on job creation, noting that when he took office in January 2009 the U.S. was loosing approximately 770,000 jobs per month, and that the private sector has added jobs every month for the past 22 months.
He said it took political courage to push emergency loans for Chrysler and General Motors through Congress and the result is a resurgent American auto industry.
"Next month GM is poised to once again become the largest automobile manufacturer in the world," Riley said.
He said the auto industry bailout saved more than 1.4 million jobs and prevented the shuttering of car dealerships in every community in the country.
"I believe that when all the electioneering is over, that the citizens of our country will decide that the leader that America needs is the leader that we have now," Riley said.
But he didn't just talk up Obama's record, Riley also used the press conference to take shots at the GOP frontrunner former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney by highlighting two Palmetto state companies that were hurt by corporate takeovers engineered by Romney's private equity firm, Bain Capital.
"Romney's entire career was about profits, not jobs," Riley said. "Up in Gaffney, Romney's firm invested in Holson Burnes factory, where hard-working South Carolinians made photo albums and picture frames. What did Mitt Romney's group do? They did fine for themselves, they doubled their return on the investment on the backs of South Carolinians, they fired 150 workers in Gaffney, left our fellow citizens jobless and then shipped some of the operations overseas."
Riley also took a shot at Romney's Bain record noting that the company also bought the parent company of Georgetown Steel and subsequently cut more than 1,500 jobs across the company, shut down a production line that had been operating for more than 100 years and the company eventually went bankrupt while Bain recouped more than double its initial investment in the company.
President of the College Democrats at the College of Charleston, James Smith, who introduced Riley at the press conference, said he thought it was a good thing that the presidential candidates come to places like the College of Charleston where students and professors can scrutinize the claims they make.
Cornell Davis
9:54 pm on Saturday, January 14, 2012
Great job Mayor Riley. A lot of people need to read this article. Mitt Romney is a con-man trying to lie his way into the White House. "There is an old saying, that if people talk about you, you must be doing something right", and President Obama is getting the job done, instead of these "devil's" trying to block his every move. If the republicans had worked with the president, things could be a whole lot better. The unemployment rate could have been a little lower, but there main goal is to get rid of President Obama, not jobs. There are complaining about the president, but there not working with him is the reason why things are moving at a slower pace, not the president policies, which the republicans keep harping on. People need to start reading, instead of listening too some of these "lower information voters".
Cold War Vet
11:08 am on Sunday, January 15, 2012
I read and am not a "lower information voter". Joe's only agenda is making history by being Charleston's longest serving mayor. Americans should and do fear the reelection of Obama more than you can imagine. He's damaged our economy, our wealth, our national security, the cost and quality of our healthcare, our lives, liberty and pursuit of happiness. I can't imagine being subjected to the ridicule and destruction that he has planned for us. Much like Joe, Obama is a master of speaking out of both sides of his mouth. Obama's scrapping of America’s two-war policy demonstrates he's the most anti-military commander in chief our country has ever had or and his plan to destroy the US. Obama's National Defense Authorization Act allows the military to indefinitely detain terror suspects, including American citizens arrested in the US, without charge. The act is tyranny and means due process is a thing of the past. Americans don't want ObamaCare and its death panels making health care decisions for them and their loved ones. ObamaCare is pushing up the cost of health care and health insurance and at the same time decreasing the quality and availability of health care. Obama can’t speak without a teleprompter. He’s the first US President to bow to foreign kings, emperors, dictators. He's the first world leader to have a Twitter page, but needs a professional editor to proofread it. Obama must be defeated. If not by the GOP, then vote for Gary Johnson.
Cornell Davis
12:23 am on Monday, January 16, 2012
You sound like a "low information voters", because I am trying to figure out how President Obama ruin the economy, healthcare, wealth, national security, lives and liberty and pursuit of happiness. I don't know if you know, but George Bush ruined the economy, not President Obama and if a republican is elected president, he is going to finish the job. The republican main goal is to lie, cheat and steal the upcoming election. The voter id card law is just the being. There are trying to take away the right for people too vote, These states that are requiring a photo id in order, is a bunch of crap. There has been 0.5% of incidents of voter fraud out of about 700,000,000 votes casted. That law is going to effect minorities, the handicap and the elderly, among others. As far as the wars, Bush lied about the Iraq war by using unreliable intelligentence. The other war was the right one to fight. Now that we have gotten the mastermind behind 9/11, it is time for those troops to come home. Enough people have died and alot of families have been ruined. These two wars have cost ed us a lot of money, money that could have been used to rebuild america, and create jobs. The president is not trying to destroy this country, he is trying to make things better. The healthcare plan is working. A lot of life's have been saved because of it. By the way you are a "low information voter", because none of what you said is true.
Cold War Vet
7:51 am on Monday, January 16, 2012
Look up the REAL ID Act and read it for yourself. the Repubs and SC are not trying to disenfranchise anyone from voting. SC is trying to comply with federal law, The REAL ID Act of 2005, Pub.L. 109-13, 119 Stat. 302, enacted May 11, 2005. SC is one of the few states that requires authority from the DOJ to change its voting laws, and the DOJ is preventing SC from complying with federal law. Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REAL_ID_Act.
stanley seigler
2:22 pm on Monday, January 16, 2012
@cwv: "Look up the REAL ID Act and read it for yourself. the Repubs and SC are not trying to disenfranchise anyone from voting. SC is trying to comply with federal law, The REAL ID Act"
wanta buy a bridge...
thanks for the ref...
[CLIPs]
"Real ID is opposed by such groups as Gun Owners of America,"
"Some critics claim that the Real ID Act violates the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution..."
"On January 25, 2007, a Resolution passed overwhelmingly in the Maine Legislature that refuses implementation of the Real ID Act in that state, and calls on Congress to repeal the law."
'On February 16, 2007, Utah unanimously passed a resolution that opposes the REAL ID Act. The resolution states that REAL ID is "in opposition to the Jeffersonian principles of individual liberty, free markets, and limited government.."'
BTW a quick read did not find a statement that required ID to vote...which is the issue.
stanley seigler
3:04 pm on Monday, January 16, 2012
PS
what am i missing...SC opposed to real ID...but for voter ID at the ballot box...which is probably the only place where individuals have NOT attempted to commit fraud...
are people sure the voter ID law is not a grand plan of the kocks (ALEX) to reduce BO voter turnout.
SC is against laws that might help to protect us from terrorists...and for laws that disenfranchise po folks, minorities and the disabled...
glad SC is a "christian" state...gawd knows what it would be like if they werent.
re: SC is trying to comply with federal law, The REAL ID Act"
[CLIPs]
Real ID is opposed by such groups as Gun Owners of America,
Four states (Maine, Montana, New Hampshire and South Carolina) have expressly rejected the system and none asked for an extension.
http://epic.org/privacy/id_cards/
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that it is the policy of the State of South Carolina to decline to implement the REAL ID ACT
http://nvcca.net/docs/misc/NVCCA_Real_ID_Book_V-3.pdf
stanley seigler
2:29 pm on Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Any explanation why SC is big time PRO voter ID and adamently OPPOSE a REAL ID
[CLIPs]
much of the opposition to the Real ID Act is coming from professed believers, and therefore it is meet that those in the American body politic be aware of both the rational principles held by these believers, and the level of passion they will encounter surrounding this subject.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that it is the policy of the State of South Carolina to decline to implement the REAL ID ACT http://nvcca.net/docs/misc/NVCCA_Real_ID_Book_V-3.pdf
People born on or after December 1, 1964, will have to obtain a REAL ID by December 1, 2014. Those born before December 1, 1964, will have until December 1, 2017 to obtain their REAL ID
Real ID is opposed by such groups as Gun Owners of America http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REAL_ID_Act
[END CLIPs]
if SC had obeyed the 2005 law all would have, or soon would have, REAL IDs.
why did voter ID become so important after BO was elected...could it be the SC legislators are sucking up to kochs (ALEX) in hope of campaign contributions...
BO voter supression hi, if not tops, on koch bros list.
surely not..."for they are honorable men, so are they all honorable men"