Chad’s Morning Brief: Majority of Americans Think the Government Does too Much, Mitt Romney Gets Caught Telling the Truth, & More

Here is your Morning Brief for the morning of September 18, 2012. Give us your feedback below and tune in to Lubbock’s First News with Chad Hasty for these and many more topics from 6-9 am.

1. Romney Speaks the Truth (link)

Mitt Romney was taped talking about Democrats and Obama supporters at fundraiser. What did Romney say about Obama supporters? He said the truth. That many if not all want the government to give them stuff.

A video that has surfaced online shows Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney speaking candidly about the election and saying President Obama’s most diehard supporters are “dependent on government” and think they are “entitled to health care, to food, to housing.”

The candidate made the comments about Obama’s supporters while speaking at a closed-door fundraiser this year, according to two liberal news outlets who were leaked the video.

“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what,” Romney says in the undated video.

“All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent on government, who believe that, that they are victims, who believe that government has the responsibility to care for them,” Romney said. “Who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing.”

Added Romney: “I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

What did Romney say that wasn't true?

2. Interesting Gallup Poll (link)

Good news! 54% of Americans believe that the government is trying to do too much and should instead leave it to private individuals and businesses. The bad news? That number is in decline and fewer people believe that the government has too much power. According to Gallup:

A majority of Americans (54%) continue to believe the government is trying to do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses, although that is down from the record high of 61% earlier this summer. About four in 10 Americans (39%) say the government should do more to solve the nation's problems.

A separate question in the Sept. 6-9 poll asked Americans to characterize the scope of government power. Americans are now basically split between those who say the federal government has too much power and those who say it has either the right amount of or too little power. This marks a change from the last two years; 57% last year and 59% in 2010 said the government has too much power.

Not great for the Republicans here. It shows that too many people are starting to rely on government and want government to fix the problems.

3. No Protest? (link)

Someone is lying. According to FOX News, a source on the ground in Libya now says that there was no demonstration prior to last week's attack. That claim stands in contradiction to the U.S. governments claim.

An intelligence source on the ground in Libya told Fox News that there was no demonstration outside the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi prior to last week's attack -- challenging the Obama administration's claims that the assault grew out of a "spontaneous" protest against an anti-Islam film.

"There was no protest and the attacks were not spontaneous," the source said, adding the attack "was planned and had nothing to do with the movie."

The source said the assault came with no warning at about 9:35 p.m. local time, and included fire from more than two locations. The assault included RPG's and mortar fire, the source said, and consisted of two waves.

The account that the attack started suddenly backs up claims by a purported Libyan security guard who told McClatchy Newspapers late last week that the area was quiet before the attack.

"There wasn't a single ant outside," the unnamed guard, who was being treated in a hospital, said in the interview.

These details appear to conflict with accounts from the Obama administration that the attack spawned from an out-of-control protest. The Libyan president also said Sunday that the strike was planned in advance.

U.S. officials, in response to the claim that there was no demonstration at the time of the attack, told Fox News there was a small protest earlier in the day -- but they did not dispute that there was no significant or sizeable demonstration at the time.

But a senior Obama administration official told Fox News on Monday morning that the Libyan president's comments are not consistent with "the consensus view of the U.S. intelligence community," which has been investigating the incident, and are accordingly not credible.

"He doesn't have the information we have," the U.S. official said of Libyan President Mohammed el-Megarif.  ""He doesn't have the (data) collection potential that we have."

Who is telling the truth? What did the administration know before the attack? Why isn't the public outraged about this? If George W. Bush were in office the media would be going nuts.

4. GM Wants the U.S. Out (link)

General Motors wants the U.S. out of it's business, but the Obama Administration is staying in. According to The Wall Street Journal:

The Treasury Department is resisting General Motors' push for the government to sell off its stake in the automobile maker, The Wall Street Journal reports. Following a $50 billion bailout in 2009, the U.S. taxpayers now own almost 27% of the company. But the newspaper said GM executives are now chafing at that, saying it hurts the company's reputation and its ability to attract top talent due to pay restrictions. Earlier this year, GM  presented a plan to repurchase 200 million of the 500 million shares the U.S. holds with the balance being sold via a public offering. But officials at the Treasury Department were not interested, as selling now would lead to a multibillion-dollar loss for the government, the newspaper noted.

Thoughts?

Other Top Stories:

Wellness Programs Getting a Boost

Some Candidates Want a Strong Challenger

Younger Americans Ditching Cars?

These and many more topics coming up on today’s edition of Lubbock’s First News with Chad Hasty. Tune in mornings 6-9am on News/Talk 790 KFYO, streaming online at kfyo.com, and now on your iPhone and Android device with the radioPup App. All guest interviews can be heard online in our podcast section after the show at kfyo.com.