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Bain Kryptonite

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  July 14th, 2012 at 11:55 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Don’t be silly. Mitt Romney’s not a superhero (not mine, anyway).

But when it comes to the economy, the presumptive Republican nominee is the Man of Steel compared to the Democratic incumbent.  So far, the Obama Administration has been a 3-1/2 year experiment to reconfirm that Keynesian Economics is deserving of history’s dustbin.

To the weavers of a narrative, invulnerability is a real problem. Ask the creators of Superman. They needed a plot device to trump the advantage of an infinitely powerful character. The plot device need not be explained by the laws of physics or the natural world; rather it is the MacGuffin by which the reader actively suspends disbelief for the sake of the narrative.  The exchange goes something like this:

Reader: I’m willing to believe that Superman threw the moon past Pluto, dove to the center of the Sun and then flew backwards around the Earth faster than the speed of light to turn back time. How am I to believe he is captive in Lex Luthor’s laboratory?

DC Comics writer: Kryptonite!

Reader: That makes sense.

In much the same way, Obama’s storytellers, fabulists and propagandists would engage the electorate.

Undecided voter: Obama told me he could turn around the economy with massive government borrowing and spending. But a lot of the Jobs Created and Saved have already been Lost again. He’s wasted money on a cockamamie Green Jobs program, and a lot of those jobs are overseas. Unemployment is higher than the worst projections of the “do nothing” case, and they’re that low only because people are leaving the workforce in droves. He seems to have no faith in market-based solutions, and seems more focused on regulating and punishing job creators than in turning the economy loose.

While he’s busy criticizing investment bankers, half of his Administration are Goldman-Sachs alumni, and the Treasury Secretary can’t run TurboTax.

What about Mitt Romney?

Obama campaign/News media: Bain Capital!

In the interest of full disclosure, I stopped reading DC Comics when they raised the price from 12¢ to 20¢.

Cross-posted at Maley’s Energy Blog.


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COMMENTS

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  • patrickdalroy

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but weren’t public employee pension plans among Bain’s clients? You know, those teachers, police officers, and fire fighters whose virtues Obama and Biden are continually extolling? At some point, I hope that the Romney campaign will explain that many middle class folks were the beneficiaries of Bain’s successes. Why are there so few people willing to stand up and say this? Do they just hope the topic will go away? Or am I mistaken about the public employee pension aspect of it?

    • Ann_W

      They need to personalize this stuff.

    • Flagstaff

      Romney can’t control what the major news media decides to report on. He can give them opportunities, but what they say is up to them. So far, they’ve chosen to ignore what he’s said and published on the subject, except for the WaPo, which has said the recent accusations from the ObamaZone are pure baloney.

      Check this from Mitt Romney dot com:

      http://m.mittromney.com/blogs/mitts-view/2012/06/obamas-false-attacks?cct_info=1%7C25219%7C7946991837%7C140485414%7C7850873614%7C%7C24685107814%7Ctc%7C%7Cd%7Cm%7Cpolitics.foxnews.mobi%7C&cct_ver=3&cct_bk=mitt%20romney%20democrat&gclid=CMTNt7fsmbECFclgTAodCh8yfQ

      To quote:

      Obama?s False Attacks

      Team Romney | June 12, 2012

      OBAMA MYTH: Destroying companies

      REALITY: Governor Romney?s private sector record is one of success and turnaround, despite many investments in companies that were failing at the time.

      Eighty percent of the companies Bain Capital has invested in from its founding to today have grown revenues. When companies grow, they are able to hire more workers and our economy grows.

      Bain Capital pursued an investment strategy that often included targeting companies in decline and trying to turn them around. In most cases, it held the companies for many years and invested a significant amount of human and financial capital into improving operations to help revive these struggling companies.

      When President Obama attacks Governor Romney?s record in the private sector, he?s also attacking our country?s greatest engine for job creation: the free enterprise system.

      OBAMA MYTH: Rich businessmen profited most from the firm?s investments.

      REALITY: The major investment beneficiaries of Mitt Romney?s work in private equity ? and private equity in general ? are the investors in the fund.

      The investors include pension funds, charities, and universities. In fact, over half the money invested in private equity is from pension funds and charitable foundations alone. The success of private equity investments helps provide secure retirements for seniors, allows charities to serve their communities, and provides universities with the resources they need to educate our youth.

      In addition, state and local governments depend on higher returns from private equity investments to fund employee retirements without cutting into operating budgets. When investments don?t perform, state and local governments must offset gaps in investment returns by using tax dollars otherwise spent on local programs. In California, for example, one study has shown that a 0.25% decrease in investment returns could cost local municipalities and school districts $300 million per year. That?s $300 million less being spent on vital local programs.

      When private equity succeeds, it is not just companies that thrive — it is retirees, charities, local communities, and universities that benefit the most.

      That more or less says exactly what you did, only they said it a month ago. Nobody is listening.

      The phony question of “was he still in charge or wasn’t he, did he falsify documents” centers around this meme, which they also addressed then:

      OBAMA MYTH: Bankrupting a successful steel mill in Kansas City, MO.

      REALITY: The GS Technologies plant that Barack Obama has used to attack Mitt Romney was scheduled to be closed if Romney and his colleagues hadn?t bought the plant and tried to help turn it around.

      In 1993, GS Technologies, a company Bain Capital had invested in, purchased a struggling Kansas City steel plant from Armco. Prior to this investment, Armco announced plans to close the Kansas City plant if a buyer could not be found.

      This investment ? and $170 million in upgrades ? kept the Kansas City plant competitive in a tough international market and saved the steel workers? jobs for eight years.

      Two years after Mitt Romney left Bain Capital, the GS Technologies plant was closed because of foreign steel dumping into the U.S. market. Thirty-one other steel companies declared bankruptcy during the same period.

      During his three and a half years in office, President Obama has consistently failed to take the steps necessary to protect American manufacturing from unfairly-subsidized Chinese imports. On day one, President Romney will designate China a currency manipulator and take the steps necessary to make American manufacturing competitive again.

      That case was the center piece of the Obamatons’ attack against Romney, using Bain Capital. If he were still in charge in 2001, their original attack ad could be called “accurate,” instead of “four Pinocchios.” This latest attack is simply an attempt to make the original one “correct, after all.” Obama is so sensitive to being called wrong and shown to be wrong that he is willing to go to wildly excessive lengths to prove himself “right,” even when he isn’t. This is a significant character fault of BHO, and we need to exploit it. That’s happening now, but not many have figured it out yet. When the time comes, I hope the Romney team puts the two together as I just did, but better.

      • checkmate2012

        refuses to “report”. I’ve heard great Romney speeches on free-market and capitalism but it doesn’t make the news cycle.

        I guess Romney should just state out loud what you just quoted from his website and see if any MSM actually gives him airtime. When will they ever call O for his blatant lies…I know never.

        Lastly, Romney would be foolish to keep chasing all the dog tails O and team is pushing. A “there you go again” is in order. But a speech on Bain wrapped in a free market principles lesson to the masses contrasted with Soylndra’s could be timely since this is O’s entire campaign now.

        • tnfriendofcoal101368

          Is pretty much his stump speech with some emphasis moved to education vouchers (which he supports), but he always talks about Obama care and gives solid analysis as to WHY it is harmful and should be repealed; talks about free markets and why people pursuing their interest outside of government interference is the rising tide that lifts all boats. He says all of these things (Roger Simon at Politico called Romney’s speech at the NAACP pretty much his stump speech). Romney is not an empty suit with no ideas; you may disagree with his ideas but he has them, talks about them, they are on his website. The empty suit with no ideas is the President of the United States which should scare the crap out of American with a functioning brain.

        • Flagstaff

          A real good thing for the Romney camp to start working on (if they haven’t already done so) would be to figure out how to get the MSM to cover his speeches. My suggestion has always been to say at least one “outrageous but true” thing per day, just to get into the news cycle.

          I’d also be hitting one big idea in each speech, a different one every day.

  • mt2az

    Just spent all night last night running as far and as fast from his work at Bain as he possibly could on several different network interviews. That wouldn’t be happening if the attacks weren’t working, and if Romney’s campaign didn’t have polling showing that it was working.

    There were a lot of us who warned this would happen, and that it would work, and now you’re seeing it first hand. Maybe certain people shouldn’t have smashed down these attacks back in the primary, eh? Told us we were “attacking capitalism” by pointing out how badly this stuff would play in the general, especially in some of the swing states we have the best chances in. Or ~had~ our best chances in, before all this.

    • gekster

      Do you have any links to show that.

      • mt2az

        Every single network was given an interview last night, except Fox, who re-ran someone else’s interview. CBS I think. Several minutes straight of Romney saying over and over again that he left the company and had no responsibility for anything it did after 1999, which is when most of the claimed outsourcing and such happened.

        Here’s one of the transcripts: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57472298/romney-interview-with-cbs-news-full-transcript/

        • gekster

          The reporter tried to pin on him the management of Bain after he had left, going to the point of stupidity on the reporters part.
          How can Romney run away from something he didn’t have a hand in.

          You are looking for something that’s not there.

          • mt2az

            You weren’t watching the ads he’s been running. Or something.

            Romney has spent years touting his experience and accomplishments at Bain- including things that happened after1999. Just a few weeks ago he was airing campaign commercials taking credit for jobs and businesses set up after he “left”.

            Then the dems started in with the layoffs/offshoring stuff, and Romney’s response was that he left the company before all that happened, and isn’t responsible for anything that happened after that. He basically went on TV last night, on all the networks, for the first time in this election, and distanced himself from basically the primary thing he’s been running on. That’s gonna be the general public’s first real impression of him-.

            It’s crazy. The only major thing he’s really got going for him in a positive way (ie. not Obama’s failure) has been his work there, and the promise that he can translate that to the rest of the country. And now he’s been forced to basically say he left and other people were running the show.

            How is he supposed to say he’s a great businessman now, when every time it comes up he’s forced to avoid talking about that business because he’s desperate to avoid being linked to the outsourcing and layoffs?

            Again though, this was all dug up, and brought out in the primaries. And it was squashed, here and all sorts of other places, even though we knew it would be just as damaging as it’s been shown to be.

          • gekster

            I havn’t seen any ads where he’s ‘running’ away from Bain.
            Maybe you could link one up for me.

          • mt2az

            “Just a few weeks ago he was airing campaign commercials taking credit for jobs and businesses set up after he ?left?.”

            The ads I was referencing were those he’s been running touting his work at Bain. The ones that are basically worthless now, because he’s scared of being linked to everything they did that’s being portrayed negatively.

          • gekster

            I ain’t buying it.

          • mt2az

            The fact that I had to point out to you that Romney gave several major interviews for the first time last night, makes me think you probably aren’t entirely tuned into what the average person is seeing in the news. Buy what I’m saying or not, but this is still what’s happening out there and what uninformed voters are seeing of Romney for the first time. And it’s bad. Just like we said it would be.

          • gekster

            Kinda like you did.
            I think most voters are more informed than you give them credt to be.

          • la2000

            Bain is just the beginning.

            The real problem is the way Romney is handling the tax returns. The Bain story folds nicely into the tax narrative of a man so self involved, self entitled, and presumptuous that he doesn’t feel it necessary to release his tax returns and create a level of financial transparency that at least matches every other modern candidate for the Presidency. His response to calls for transparency come off like an American version of “let them eat cake.” It won’t play well with anyone looking for a more open and straightforward administration. It only raises questions.

            Even if Romney paid an effective tax rate of 15%, the bottom line figure is still apt to be staggering. Why not just release the returns and lead with the bottom line tax figure and not with the effective tax rate? It makes no sense to drag this out unless there is something seriously amiss that would end his campaign.

            It could all be innocent. But then that calls into question his judgment. Why allow the fire to spread if there is nothing to hide? Why not just diffuse the growing common knowledge assumption that he is a man with something to hide?

            I am guessing Romney may flail around for another few days, and then the money people are going to get concerned. They are going to want to see those returns and they are going to want a plan to move past this. And if that doesn’t happen, I think there will be a great deal of pressure for Romney to leave the trail and deal with “family issues” or Ann’s MS, leaving the convention wide open.

            Chaos for sure, but perhaps not the worst outcome considering how poorly the Romney people are handling this.

          • gekster

            Or you are looking for things not there.
            And Romney has released more tax returns than required by law.

            How about you start posting about Obama’s tax returns, college grades and transcripts.
            Hey, the SS# thing just came up. Post about that.
            You know, things that really matter.

          • la2000

            You are pretending it isn’t happening. Suggesting that these things “aren’t there” when they are showing up on the radar of the registered republicans that show up on a conservative blog would suggest some denial on your part. Because you can be sure that if I find them unsettling, a chunk of independents may find them unsettling as well.

            I am reminded of those first few days when Palin started to unravel, and a lot of conservative pundits couldn’t quite grasp, or at least acknowledge, the extent of the damage.

            I am afraid Romney won’t acknowledge this Bain/tax return/Swiss bank account problem until it shows up across the board in polling and has ruined his chances. And by then, he will have handed the whole thing over for another 4 years.

            Cheerleading is all fine and good. But let’s keep our feet on the ground and not let blind optimism cost us the election.

          • gekster

            It is you and that other making something out of nothing.
            That’s what the left is doing, and you’re jumping on thier bandwagon.

          • la2000

            There is a simple, painless, smart resolution: come clean. That eliminates the “bandwagon” all together.

            Release the returns and start unwinding this thing before it takes on Jeremiah Wright proportions and requires a national televised address that Romney has to knock clean out of the park just in order to get back on track.

            Those returns, assuming there is nothing to hide, will only embarrass the left for making a big, big deal out of nothing. It will undermine their credibility.

            But until that happens, Romney is going to be treated as guilty until proven innocent. The quicker he puts a stop to it the better.

          • gekster

            You do know that I stated that Romney is not running away.

          • Flagstaff

            And Romney’s tax returns would prove nothing at all about whether he was running Bain Capital in 2001 or not.

            But coming clean is a good idea. Why doesn’t President Obama publish his college transcripts and other records? Although there is much misinformation circulating about many “missing” Obama documents, it’s not disputed that his Occidental College, Columbia University, and Harvard University student records have been withheld from, or at least not released to, the public.*

            So Barack Obama, Come clean! What are you hiding? Were your grades that bad? Did you list your religion as “muslim,” or your nationality as something other than “American”? Show us just how you came to go from high school hash-head to Occidental College undergrad to Columbia University graduate, and then after a delay of about five years, what kind of grades did it take to get into Harvard Law School? Or was it more than grades?

            *(There is apparently no Columbia “senior thesis” and never was one. This information is all on Snopes, Politics, Barack Obama. Google it.)

            If Obama’s surrogates can imply or openly say that Romney may be hiding income and may have perjured himself on legal documents, with no actual evidence for those claims, I can surely ask for some proof that Obama didn’t achieve his college “progress” as a result of something other than academic hard work.

          • ceili_dancer

            I don’t spend all day TROLLing through news shows.

          • tnfriendofcoal101368

            Romney defends each Obama talking point on Bain here

            The link above refutes each Bain talking point. The title is from Romney’s CNN interview. Romney said he relinquished management control at Bain in Feb 1999 to run the Olympics which had been settled with debt and a payola scandal. This was sudden and there was no plan in place to remove Romney from Bain nor did they even know Romney was permenantly leaving Bain. Romney turned over control of Bain to a partnership because unlike Obama, Romney knew that the running of Bain is a full time job and he was taking a full time job. While running the Olympics, Romney decided he would not return to Bain and sold his ownership stake to the partners that had assumed management responsibility. This was completed in 2001. This is what Romney claims;partners at Bain claim; what documentation provided to Fortune magazine proved; and what the fact checker at Washington Post also said after reviewing the SEC documents, Bain documents and talking to WaPo finance reporters and lawyers.

            To your point about the public, Bill Burton who runs Obama’s super PAC put a poll to reassure large donors the 10 million dollar Bain buy wasn’t a waste of money. 37% said they had a more negative view of Romney because of Bain attacks which means 63% don’t give a crap. My guess is those 37% were voting for Obama anyway meaning the only people who care about Bain are liberal democrats and Bainer nuts. Most voters care about their jobs, their money and their kids and realize Obama is trying to talk about everything else.

          • la2000

            Moving 37% of voters into the negative column does not mean that 63% don’t care or that the 37% of those voters are democrats. There are usually 3 answers to this type of question: 1) makes me like the candidate less 2) does not change my opinion of the candidate 3)makes me like the candidate more. 63% account for answers 2 & 3 and answer 2 would reflect the opinion of any voter that was already “locked in” to their candidate, whether they be democrat or republican. Which means at least a chunk of answer 2 respondents are democrats as well,

            In any case, moving over 1/3 of the electorate on a single character issue should be alarming to the candidate affected adversely. That means the attack is having impact.

            Has it lost him the election? Probably not yet. But his responses thus far haven’t exactly inspired confidence or put the story to bed. And the race is already so close as it is that Romney doesn’t have to lose all that many voters to put himself out of serious contention.

            The whole point of an attack like this is to slap a ceiling on his support that keeps him under 50% permanently. The other 49% can love him all they want. He still won’t be able to win if the democrats manage to make 51% distrust him. And 37% is a big chunk of the way to 51%. If only 1 in 5 of that 63% are locked in democrats who would only vote for Obama and not even consider Romney, the election is already lost.

          • gekster

            When have they been right this far out from an election.

          • tnfriendofcoal101368

            Obama’s most radical base are going to say yes – it doesn’t matter if you asked them does Mitt Romney’s last name beginning with R make you less likely to vote for him. 63% are saying this issue doesn’t matter (and you can be sure Bill Burton ginned the poll in his favor – since he was running the Super Pac and is trying to convince donors – he knows what he is doing). 20% of the people who said – it doesn’t matter aren’t going to wake up and say it does. That 63% includes all of Romney’s base (45% of the electorate) 20% of Obama’s (about 8% of the electorate), and the 10% of those who truely haven’t made their decision yet.

            The flaw in your analysis is in saying Obama would need to pick off 1 in 5 of the rest of the 60 is when you take out Romney’s base there isn’t 20% left, when you take out Obama’s base – you are down to 10% and those will break 70-80% for Romney. Even worse news is we all know that Burton ginned the results and there is more than likely a 5% pro Bain house affect (in which case this election is actually a blowout – which is pretty consistent with recent polling showing Romney taking a large lead with independent voters).

            Bain attacks aren’t about tarring Romney – they are about avoiding the discussion voters want Obama to have. A President with a failed record either has to defend it or blame someone for it. Bain is a distraction until Obama attacks his real target: Congress critters. The only people who care about Bain Capital are liberal Democrats (who really don’t they just say they do) and Bainer nuts.

          • Flagstaff

            Only the news-talkers and Obama sycophants (but I repeat myself) care about this.

            No matter what Romney says, the same questions keep being re-asked by the ObamaSycos, so it doesn’t matter much what he has to say about it. They (the Sycos) aren’t listening.

            To the apparent point of mt’s and la’s comments, once you say the accusations are false, what else can you say? I just heard an ObamaSyco on O’Reilly say, “He signed his name three–or, he signed his (mumble) name wi fi–nine times, saying that he in fact was the sole stockowner; and it’s hard to make the argument that he had no involvement with the company when he was getting paid a six-figure salary and he was the only one that owned the company. So you can’t have it both ways.”

            This is supposed to prove that Romney either lied on the papers (making hime a “felon”) or lied when he said he left the company in 1999, before all the “horrible actions” that are alleged against Bain took place. They claim that both can’t be true. But of course they both ARE true, and everybody who has actually looked into it agree that the charges are made up out of whole cloth.

            Start with this OBozo’s statement. To begin with, he can’t even make up his mind how many times he wants to claim Romney “signed his name” on important legal documents, attesting that he was telling the truth. Let’s see…should we claim three times–no, let’s say five–hey, I know, let’s say NINE times. Which is it, Mr Clown?

            There is NO logical or physical reason why Romney couldn’t leave Bain in 1999 but remain as its owner for a few more years as the company is sold to others. As owner, even as he turned over all operations of Bain to his previous subordinates, he would likely still be considered “CEO” even though he wasn’t CEOing anything. It’s not lying, it’s terminology on technical legal documents. Because he was certainly still the owner of Bain, that’s what the documents said–they’d be wrong if they didn’t. Likewise, he’s listed as CEO becasue that was still his title, but that doesn’t mean he was running the company.

            And that is part two. As he has publicly said, he wasn’t running Bain after 1999. So he neither lied on the paperwork nor did he lie on TV in his public statements.

            Now mt and la want Romney to waste time responding to all these ridiculous accusations. If he does, Obama will next accuse him of consorting with Space Aliens and he’ll have to explain that because 20% of the public will believe it. No, that’s what surrogates are for. In fact, let Obozo continue to push this meme until the election, then refute it and show what a putz the Prez is.

            They also want him to “defend” Bain. Why? If he had nothing to do with the actions they are miffed at, it’s just a distraction. Again, surrogates. Romney concentrate on “These are bad policies and I will correct them.” Then list them, a speech about each Obozo mistake.

            Look, these stories have been debunked by impartial obawervers, or even Obama supporters, at the WaPo. If the rest of the MSM and Fox doesn’t want to listen to them, why would they listen to Romney? It’s just something for them to talk about until the next unimportant accusation surfaces.

            For Romney, the answer should be, “That’s all a bunch of hooey, its been debunked by the Washington Post, so why should I even comment on it, beyond saying it’s simply not true.”

            As for the tax returns, does anybody really think releasing them on demand will satisfy anybody on the left? I’d release them when Obama releases his college transcripts.

            And I close with, “How many of you ObamaSycos think that your Fearless Leader could have saved the Olympics like Romney did? If any of you raises your hand, please go to the next room and wait for the short bus.”

          • tnfriendofcoal101368

            Think Mitt Romney not Clark Kent is Superman’s alter ego. He could do two 80-100 hour a week jobs on two coasts and do them both spectacularly at that. ObamaSycos agree Mitt Romney is Superman…

          • renl57

            Romney is still proud of it–up until the time he relinquished control to go save the Olympics. And he’s proud of that too.

            What Romney continues to assert is that was not involved in laying off American workers in the post-1999 period.

            But this is beginning to look like a time for a “teachable moment”. It’s time that Romney explained to the country just what Bain did for a living–because most Americans still don’t know. Bain was not an employment agency.

            The Left’s attack on Romney has the implicit subtext that the purpose of a private company is to create jobs for workers–and that Romney didn’t do that.

            And to some extent, the GOP is playing into this by constantly calling capitalists “job creators.” They’re NOT necessarily “job creators”–if the job can be done by robots or computers, capitalists will do that instead because it’s cheaper. Job creation is the *effect* of having extra work to do that humans are best at and that the company can pay for. It’s not the reason the company was chartered. The company was chartered to be a *wealth creator*.

            By calling capitalists “job creators,” the GOP is implicitly conceding the liberals’ argument that a capitalist who hasn’t created or saved enough jobs is a bad capitalist. Ergo, Romney is a bad capitalist!

            And as far as that steel company that folded on Bain’s watch was concerned, Romney needs to tell this country a hard truth:

            Not every job can be saved; not every company can be saved; and even those who supported Obama’s bailout of the auto industry conceded that not every company can be bailed out either. Romney can point to dozens of success stories, for every company that failed.

            But we now know the truth about Obama: Christina Romer’s own analysis showed that the stimulus package would NOT restore the American economy to health. Geithner muzzled her and convinced Obama and Biden to go ahead with three years of happy-talk and forced optimism: “Green shoots,” “Recovery Summer,” “A step in the right direction,” etc. etc. etc.

            Romney should then say that he never substituted happy-talk for results when he was at Bain.

          • elenchus

            He will eventually have to show his tax returns and it’s pretty obvious that there’s some skeletons in that closet or he would have made them public as other presidential candidates have done. Why would he create controversy?

            And if he gets tagged as ‘outsourcer’ it’s over for him. It’s not just Bain, he also vetoed the section of the 2005 Mass. State Budget that prohibited contractors from using offshore labor for state contracts.

            And that picture of him and his wife on the jet ski…. he’s totally tone deaf or his handlers are.

            GOP should dump him and choose another while they still can.

          • commonsenseobserver

            While I do agree that he should show his tax returns, your insinuations are a clear indication that you are no believer in Republican values, or, indeed, the truth itself.

          • 6eorge Jetson

            Yes, with the country at risk, let’s talk about one jet ski image after Obama has played 100 rounds of golf.

            Troll.

          • tnfriendofcoal101368

            12% unemployment
            5.7 million Americans unemployed 6 months or longer
            Running guns for Mexican Drug Cartels
            #JustSaying

          • flahorsedentist

            BULLSEYE

    • renl57

      …was that there was no point in handing Obama some nice juicy YouTube video clips in which major *Republicans* were bashing Romney the exact same way that Ted Kennedy had (and that Stephanie Cutter is doing now).

      Anybody who watched Ted Kennedy bashing Romney in the MA Senate race in 1994, knew that the Bain issue would come up this year. We all expected that.

      What no one expected–and I stand ready to be corrected–was that a sitting President of the United States would insinuate that his opponent has committed a Federal felony.

      Gingrich didn’t go that far.
      Neither did Ted Kennedy.

    • littlehouse18

      As far as I can tell this is only the 2nd day mt2az has posted here. The other time was on April 7, when he/she wrote in to complain about the Derbyshire thing and to link him with RS.

      So … hmmm…. Derbyshire, dissing RS …..and then slamming Romney like an OFA-er …….

    • salemst

      I didn’t see anything like what you said. Romney stated his daily operations role ended 2/99. He was LOA or an absentee owner from that point on. 4 partners including Steve Pagliucca a Democrat in Obama’s 2012 campaign verified they didn’t see Mitt at all around Bain after he left for Utah.

      His name was on the documents cause it legally had to be until Bain’s ownership was transferred to the 18 partners.

      Look, you can’t expect Obama to tell the world that Romney’s a great guy and businessman, can you? You can’t expect the MSM to be fair about his record, can you?

      Romney only responded cause of the felon charge levied against him. I suggest he say there’s nothing here, pivot, and talk about what Obama doesn’t want to talk about…..economy/private sector jobs, government spending, and Obamacare.

      That’s Romney’s talking points to the White House, and he knows it.

  • izoneguy

    General Electric signs deal to invest in Burma

    General Electric is to become the first US company to restart doing business in Burma following the relaxation of Washington-imposed sanctions, it was announced on Saturday.

    American firms are wasting no time after President Barack Obama announced the issue of general licenses on Wednesday to allow investment and financial services.

    GE was the first to move, agreeing through its local dealer to provide x-ray machines for cardiology and topography to two private hospitals in Burma.

    The deal was announced on Saturday during a US business trip to Burma, where investors are hoping to tap into everything from infrastructure and financial services to information technology, oil and gas.

    Seventy people from 37 US firms were on hand to examine investment opportunities.

    I wonder how many of these 37 firms donate to Obama??

    World Report 2012: Burma

    Burma?s human rights situation remained dire in 2011 despite some significant moves by the government which formed in late March following November 2010 elections. Freedoms of expression, association, and assembly remain severely curtailed. Although some media restrictions were relaxed, including increased access to the internet and broader scope for journalists to cover formerly prohibited subjects, official censorship constrains reporting on many important national issues. In May and October the government released an estimated 316 political prisoners in amnesties, though many more remain behind bars.

    Ethnic conflict escalated in 2011 as longstanding ceasefires with ethnic armed groups broke down in northern Burma. The Burmese military continues to be responsible for abuses against civilians in conflict areas, including forced labor, extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, the use of ?human shields,? and indiscriminate attacks on civilians. Despite support from 16 countries for a proposed United Nations commission of inquiry into serious violations of international humanitarian law by all parties to Burma?s internal armed conflicts, no country took leadership at the UN to make it a reality. Foreign government officials expressed their optimism about government reforms despite abundant evidence of continuing systematic repression.

    That’s great that GE can now provide the government equipment to x-ray people’s crushed skulls and broken bones??

  • spinoneone

    how about the fact that at least 30% of Obama’s annual income since 2009 has come from foreign sources? Oh, and that he took a deduction of $87,000 from his U.S. taxes for taxes paid to foreign countries?

    http://www.volokh.com/2012/07/13/over-30-of-president-obamas-2009-2011-gross-income-came-from-foreign-sources/

    • elenchus

      Book sales?

  • spinoneone

    oh, but then I repeat myself. Look at this gem from Ben Shapiro over at Breitbart.com

    http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/07/13/Obama-took-bain-cash

    And this money came from the guys who took over the operation after Romney departed.

  • elenchus

    Everyone else does, then the whole PR problem goes away, it’s as easy as that.

    • 6eorge Jetson

      Troll

      • commonsenseobserver

        Like gay marriage.

      • Flagstaff

        but it may turn out that Romney actually knows what he’s doing. So far, his “helpful and friendly” Republican critics have dithered around, calling for him to disclose this and explain that (expecting the most improbable of results), while he just keeps rolling along. I’m starting to like him more and more.

        I seriously agree with you that we should just let them keep carping about nothing, wasting their time and their money, and then blow it out of the water on our schedule, not theirs, and at a lot less cost. Here’s what I think the Dems are copying:

        Swiftboat. They think they can make accusations against Romney and hurt his support, as the Swiftboaters did against Kerry. Only there were truth and people willing to bear witness on Bush’s side, which Obozo doesn’t have. To the contrary, the witnesses say that Romney is right.

        Rathergate. They think that a blatant lie will work if told by trusted people. Except, again, they don’t have them. Rathergate almost worked only because it was launched close to the election. Unfortunately for Kerry, not close enough. And it was a provable lie. This Bain business is so early that Romney can take his time refuting it and turn it around as proof that Obozo cares only about getting re-elected, truth be damned. And it has already been proven to be a lie.

        Watergate. This is the one that’s working best for the Dems. Basically caught red-handed, Nixon failed because he eventually turned over the evidence that would have convicted him. Obozo will not do that. Eric Holder will not reveal who was behind Fast and Furious while in office; probably not ever. The telltale papers may never come to light, even if they still exist, which is doubtful. Only because electronic records are nearly impossible to eliminate is there a slight chance they may turn up for Congress.

        If Romney had been divorced with the documents sealed, you can bet that Obozo would be trying to open up the court records as he did to get elected in Illinois.

        • 6eorge Jetson

          Beyond telling him to go pound sand with his “concern”, I really don’t hold that deep of an opinion.

          Obama’s getting nastier and nastier as he gets more and more desparate.Maybe Romney can let Barack portray himself, as so eloquently described by MSNBC analyst Mark Halperin, as a

  • kaheo

    Romney needs to release his tax returns, I doubt there’s anything incriminating in there. The only thing I can think of is that he’s paid around 15% for the last decade or so.

    On Bain, he just needs to explain why he was paid $100,000 between 2001, 2002. He can claim that this was a consulting fee for the times he went to board meetings or offered them advice.

    Not addressing these 2 issues gives Obama a chance to divert the story from a failing economy to a conversation about Romney.

  • hunter

    And their boss, Gov. Romney, either figure out how to do political judo on this Chicago street attack, or they lose the election.
    They either figure out how to turn this ugly, fact-free taunt by Obama against Obama or they will go the way of McCain 2008.
    The idea that a guy who depends explicitly on hiding himself and his administration from scrutiny is getting away with pretending Romney is secretive is entirely team Romney’s fault.
    The idea that a President who has worsened the Great Recession and has presided over the longest period of high unemployment in many decades is complaining about Romney’s job record is laughable. And if Obama gets away with it, it is entirely team Romney’s fault. We vote. We give our money. We write what we can. And volunteer as we can. But at the end of the day we are on the sidelines. Team Romney either sacks up, and gets their game on, or we get stuck for four more years with the only President who makes Carter look good.
    Romeny care: a fully explored state initiative, passed with bipartisan support. Obamacare: a hugely partisan, secretive, barely passed monstrosity that is in fact the largest tax increase in history and is already destroying the American economy.
    Yet Obama gets to pretend his failed plan is the same as Romney health reforms.
    Romney either gets his game on, or we get to have more of a President who selectively enforces the law, decides what laws to change as it suits his purpose, seeks to impose huge tax increases on top of Obamacare on those already paying the most. strengthen further Federal misregulation of nearly activities of Americans, not to mention Obama’s irresponsible foreign policy and his spendthrift fiscal policies.
    This is Romney’s election, if he will get off defense and remind people of who is running for re-election.
    By letting Obama get to him, he is allowing himself to be played for a fool.

    • commonsenseobserver

      But now he needs to appear honest and open to build the contrast. Get out there and openly defend your record, directly to the voters. Write an op-ed on those newspapers that slandered you. End by releasing tax returns etc and challenging Obama to be open as well. Then move on to talk about the serious issues and start indicating that you have a substantive, concise, clear and coherent plan which you will release at Tampa, rather than allowing Jim Talent to go out and insinuate that you don’t intend to have policies. Contrast is our most important tool. A contrast between records, a contrast between campaigns, a contrast between visions.

  • elenchus

    in those tax returns.

    Otherwise it makes no sense not to release them, something that’s normally done right from the start.

    • ww2nd95

      I’m not sure why Romney doesn’t release them, unless there is something that he’s trying to hide and/or feels would hurt him bad politically. I think by not releasing the, he’s only doing more harm then good.

      • http://impudent.edublogs.org/ kyle8

        college transcripts and when Holder releases the files on F&F.

        No voters are going to give a damn about old tax returns except the people who were not going to vote for him anyway. Everyone knows he is a wealthy man.

        • ww2nd95

          college transcripts? I’ve never understood that argument. F/F is another story. My thing with Romney is, all he has to do is release his taxes and it’s settled, Obama never cared about releasing his transcripts, because the only people who wanted to see them were people who were against him anyway and those in the middle didn’t care one way or the other. Karl Rove said he thought Obama not releasing any of that information was a campaign strategy to let the birthers continue to make us look bad.

          I don’t think this tax story will go away, the MSM won’t let it, and it won’t be tossed to the side like birthrism/people wanting O’s transcripts.. Everyone knows he’s paid 15% for the past decade, so what? Unless there’s something else to it, which I can’t imagine, he should release them. My point is, the longer this story is allowed to go on, the more people think he’s hiding something. And you’re right, none of the people who are already locked into Romney’s side are going to care, it’s the people who are on the fence that matter in this election and if a small % of them think that Romney is up to no good, they either throw their hands up and not vote or they vote for who they perceive as the lesser of two evils and vote for Obama. Either one is a negative for Romney. Just release the forms and the problem becomes less of a headache.

          • Vegas_Rick

            I have no doubt that Obama’s transcripts would show that he was not academically qualified for Harvard and Columbia, that he got in through special favors or, affirmative action. And, I’ll bet they would also show that he is not the enlightened genius the left would have us believe. It would prove we were played in 2008.

            That won’t play well with the electorate. Why else would he hide them? Hmmm?

          • ww2nd95

            but I think it’s a good campaign strategy. He’s not running on his record, so why not use the college transcript, birtherism inquiries as a distraction?

            I dislike Obama as much as anyone and he wants to take the country in a direction most people do not, but I’m not going to say the man isn’t intelligent. I think he is and I think he probably got into Harvard and Columbia on his own merits. Anyone who says he’s dumb and/or not bright, are just letting their dislike/anger with him cloud their thinking.

          • checkmate2012

            birther stuff. I care that O has no history and was seemingly a rising nobody with no record.

            For the record, O is an idiot. Have you seen him speak without his teleprompter? He can’t put two sentences together in 5 minutes. That’s what he does during a rare press conference. He turns a one minute answer into 20 minutes of nonsense so he only takes 3 questions in an hour! There is more empty time filled with silence, ums, ers and as I’ve said before, that it’s painful to watch his idiocy in action.

            My thinking is not clouded. Why would he continue to repeat he failed policies and expect a differernt rsult? It’s called insanity.

          • Flagstaff

            on the earthworm IQ scale.

            How’s the trolling?

          • ww2nd95

            .. I don’t care where Obama’s college transcripts and I’m not sure he’s the idiot everyone wants him to be? I’ve never once said I agree with anything he’s done, I’ve said the opposite in multiple threads.

            So because you disagree with what I’m saying, I’m trolling? You think awfully high of yourself Flag, if you can judge me to be trolling because you don’t agree with my premise.

          • checkmate2012

            seem to be on his side. Yes I read your comment that you don’t agree w/anything he’s done. I can’ t give you one of O’s policies that I think are smart, can you?

            He is an idiot that has gotten unwarranted praises for nothing. Akin to “everyone should get a trophy” mentality. Pat on the back for being a loser, not a winner.

          • http://www.TerriersOfTheRight.blogspot.com Flagstaff

            VERY high myself.

            OK, here is my answer:

            It isn’t that I don’t agree with your premise, it’s because your premise indicates–what?

            college transcripts? I?ve never understood that argument.

            It’s pretty simple. He was elected in part on a platform of “I’m so smart I can change the planet and MAKE us develop ‘green energy’ (not to be confused with green Kryptonite) that will enable us to power our vehicles with unicorn farts and fairy dust.” Yet he won’t release his college transcripts, which suggests he isn’t so smart at all, at least not in that way. Or that he was an “affirmative action” Law Review editor. Or that he got into Harvard School of Clowns via special favors. We don’t know because they are hidden from us, even though his is the “most transparent administration EVAH.”

            My thing with Romney is, all he has to do is release his taxes and it?s settled

            Nonsense. It wouldn’t be settled at all. Guaranteed that the Dems will find something there to carp about for weeks. They might as well carp about not seeing them. (I also guarantee they will see them when it suits Romney’s purposes. He’s already said he’ll release them when he is in fact the nominee.)

            Obama never cared about releasing his transcripts, because the only people who wanted to see them were people who were against him anyway and those in the middle didn?t care one way or the other.

            How is that any different for Romney and his tax returns? “[T]he only people who want[] to see them [are] people who [are] against him anyway and those in the middle [don?t] care one way or the other.” The fact that YOU seemed to care about them seemed to be a clue that you may be a troll. Not proof, I admit, and looking back you seem to be only making the observation that it would be better to throw them out there now. So I take it back, with an apology. I also think I was conflating your comment with that of “elenchus,” who almost surely lives beneath a bridge.

            Not to put too fine a point on it, there is no proof of any kind that there is anything wrong with Romney’s tax returns. If you* insist on seeing them, you must also agree that I can insist on seeing Obama’s college records, of which there also is no evidence of wrongdoing. There are at least two differences, however. First, Obama’s college records have conceivably more bearing on his ability to be president than do Romney’s tax returns. (And if anybody seriously thinks Romney is a tax cheat, I refer them to our Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Geithner.) Second, we will get to see Romney’s returns; he’s already said he will release them (at which time the left will call for MORE!), whereas Obama has given no indication that he’ll ever let us see his report cards full of “C’s”.

            *Metaphorical “you.”

      • Vegas_Rick

        a couple of concern trolls.

        Romney has released as much or more info about himself than his highness. Anyone worried about those tax returns isn’t voting for Romney anyway.

        • ww2nd95

          I don’t think Romney is handling this well and I don’t think he’s handling the Bain attacks well either. We have to stop pretending Romney is doing everything perfectly, because it’s not doing anyone any favors. He needs to get his head in the game. before we end up with another 4 years of the Great Recession and worse, 2-3 more SCOTUS Justices appointed by Obama, which to me is by far the biggest concern.

          • Vegas_Rick

            Romney’s campaign was waaaayy too slow hitting back on Bain. I think he should have done the Friday interviews with the lamestream media a week or two ago, not this past Friday. He should have counterpunched after the first utterance about Bain. But even here, I think most independent voters and those who have seen the destruction his highnesses policies have wrought on this country are not going to let the Bain lies sway them.

            Romney certainly has not run a stellar campaign thus far IMHO, but my sense is that the vast majority of the non-kool-aid drinking electorate wants a change.

            I know this means ABSOLUTELY nothing, but in the middle class areas of Las Vegas, I see Romney bumper stickers at about a 5 to 1 ratio to Obummer stickers and those are the 2008 faded “Hopey Changey” ones.

        • Flagstaff

          for about 20 years. The idea that the public “doesn’t know who he is” is laughable. We still don’t know who Obama is, and he’s been President for over 3 years. Now THAT is both true and sad.

          The 24-hour news cycle an cable news networks will be the death of literate political discourse.

          I think OBozo was admitted to Harvard Clown College and the paperwork got mis-typed.

          • checkmate2012

            vacation story either. He was in Hawaii until he went to Occidental and neither Mom or Dad was around. So he took family vacations on Amtrak and ate at HJ’s? Really? More lies that in this case are laughable.

            Transcripts for tax returns is a fair bargain.

          • Dave_A

            doesn’t sell ‘progressive hero’ like going on hobo-vacations & eating at HoJo’s…

            After all, if he actually told the truth about his past, he’d be just another kid from the upper-half, who managed to get himself into the political scene via college-years activism….

            To create the myth of Obama as ‘po-boy-done-good’, he had to essentially re-invent his entire pre-college life….

          • checkmate2012

            these days, even on the small stuff. Has anyone every asked if he had a job in high school or college, like a paper route or fast food or gas station? No. I don’t think there are HJ’s in Hawaii!

            Most of us here had some kind of part time job starting in high school to earn spending money (or so our parents told us but it was really to learn the school of hard knocks!) Yes his grandma was wealthy and he was priviledged….so all this nonsense of the common man is crap.

          • Flagstaff

            the original one–”I know nossing, I see nossing.”

            Is Hogan’s Heroes still on TV Land?

    • tnfriendofcoal101368

      Is 12% real unemployment
      5.7 million Americans unemployed for 6 months or longer
      There must be some really bad news in those Fast and Furious documents about Obama’s schemes to run guns for Mexican Drug Cartels for Obama to refuse to turn them over. Probably proves Obama and Holder are felons.

    • littlehouse18

      …

  • poorwilber

    He needs to put Obama on the defense with hard hitting opposition ads…..and touting his own plan and vision…..not defending Bain. The more he defends Bain, the less time he’s talking about Obama’s failed record.

    I agree with other posters…..that there should have been some debate about this Bain issue during the primary…more so to innoculate Romney (as the nominee). Unfortunately, everyone that brought it up (Gingrich) was shut-up by the establishment lest he be called an anti-capitalist. Now Romney is dealing with this issue in the general. Brilliant. Like they didn’t know it was coming…yet so ill prepared in the response.

  • http://lukos.com Ed54

    It’s not like it came as a surprise. As many above pointed out, the issue arose in the primaries, and the campaign pointed out then that it would be a primary Dem line of attack. After the astroturf OWS movement, it’s pretty transparent how Obama intended to go after Romney.

    You may not like Romney, but his primary campaign team was nothing if not competent. Keep in mind he fended off 5 separate challengers, each of whom led him in the polls at one point. Pretty deft in retrospect, so I am inclined to think they are dealing with this exactly as they want to.Now what that is, I dunno.

    Perhaps they figure that most undecided voters aren’t paying attention yet, so the strategy is to let Obama fire his ammo early, so it will be old news by the Convention. They can roll out a strong Romney bio at the Convention, when undecideds tune in to find out who he is. If Obama is unable to get the media to refocus on the Bain attacks, he will struggle to puncture Romney’s convention bounce.

  • elayman

    Is it true that if Romney had absolutely nothing to do with Bain after 1999, then virtually all of the jobs he said he ?created? by investing in Staples and Dominos he had nothing to do with also ?

  • checkmate2012

    Are you capable of doing a bit of research or is your education on issues based solely on MSNBC?

    ?Mitt didn?t just invest in Staples when it was an idea ? he hung around as a member of the board of directors for close to 15 years and I?ve been on some very good boards with some great directors. I would still rate him as the single best corporate director I?ve ever worked with,? Stemberg said on Fox News. ?He was the inspirational leader and while Staples may have existed without him, i doubt it would have been nearly as big or successful without him.?

    Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71471.html#ixzz20lFBRGPa

    • elayman

      Was what I meant (sorry to be writing in the middle of the night !). And as far as J know, not subtracting for for losses at Bain acquired firms.

      • tnfriendofcoal101368

        This is hard for you to understand. I understand both the education system and media have let you down;I’ll try to pick up the slack. Were it not for the work Mitt Romney did at Bain, Dominos, Staples, Sports Authority would not exist. Yes, those companies exist, thrive and hire today because Mitt Romney and Bain invested in them. Bain made that investment to make a profit for their stockholders and clients who include millions of middle class Americans who invested the retirement savings through pensions and 401(k) with Bain. Were there times Bain made investments in companies that couldn’t overcome market forces to make a profit? Yes, however like Dominos, Bain invested in companies teetering on the edge; Bain was trying to save those companies and thus those jobs.

        Here is the fundamental problem with your thinking, the entrpreneurship in the free market creates companies; the market determines the success of those companies. That creation and success is what generates jobs not the other way around. Jobs are the byproduct of entrepreneurs like Mitt Romney persuing profit in the market for investors and clients. The President doesn’t understand this and that is why he has fumbled around like a bumbling idiot.

        I really want you to consider the following. Why can’t Barack Obama make a case that he should be rehired by the American people that doesn’t come down to one of two arguments:

        1) Mitt Romney is a bad guy
        Larry O’Donnell said his religion was started by a guy looking for an excuse to cheat on his wife; Stephanie Cutter called him a felon; Robert Gibbs said “something strange is going on with those Cayman accounts – I guess Romney is laundering money for drug dealers; Now it is Bain – vulture capitalist

        2) Don’t blame me; blame ….
        Headwinds, Tsunamis, Congress, Deepest Depression since the history of depressions, ATM Machines (seriously ATM machines), obstructions (Bill Maher’s favorite)

        Is that really a campaign that as a liberal democrat you are proud of?

        The President spent two years more than 1/2 his Presidency with super majorities in the house and Senate. In that time, he passed Obama Care and the stimulus with not one Republican voting yeah on either. Does he tout them as sucessess on the stump? Nope, so in his shame; he tacitly admits that the Republicans were right. Notably, he did not introduce the >250,000 tax increase on the wealthy or the dream act. Did he forget? Did he run out of time? I think we both know the answer to those is no; he only uses that to gin up his base in election years.

        I am pretty sure the mods will ghost you anyway, but I thought I would try.

        • commonsenseobserver

          The Left will say Romney made outsourcing possible because he invested in the companies before he left Bain.

          Like the founders made outsourcing possible by making America an independent nation.

          • elayman

            My understanding is that he has now downgraded that number to ?thousands? after even Sarah Palin doubted its veracity. Smearing anyone that dares hold him accountable as a liberal or whatever is just totally counterproductive.

          • acat

            Do please try to keep up.

            Mew

          • commonsenseobserver

            Into saying that he should be credited with jobs after his tenure, but not outsourcing.

            We’ll have to phrase our answers rather carefully.

          • acat

            Romney created Bain and Staples .. plenty of jobs there. (not to mention that little Salt Lake Olympics thing .. I understand the ski areas are operating and employing people to this day ….)

            Mew

          • elayman

            And by all accounts, Romney was a highly successful venture capitalist but he was not the founder of Staples or Dominos. If Mitt is going to continue to make claims about job creation, of which there have been wildly varying numbers over the years, (the story has changed three times already this campaign) the campaign needs to provide a real accounting of how many jobs were gained or lost through Bain Capital investments. Just IMO.

          • tnfriendofcoal101368

            You don’t know what you’re talking about. What’s worse is your willfully ignorant. Staples, Dominos, Sports Authority, Bright Horizons all would not exist today if Mitt Romney hadn’t taken a chance on them. Barack Obama violated the public trust by giving tax money to his rich donors under the guise of “investment in Green Energy” ;Mitt Romney made money for people who trusted him at Bain. acat, I’ll think at this point it’s clear this guy is a liberal Democrat might as well go on over to the contact page and send him back to DKos.

          • acat

            elayman tries to fill the “devil’s advocate” niche…. but what elayman may forget is that, as Romney is now the nominee, there’s a lot less tolerance for bashing him until after the election.

            Mew

          • tnfriendofcoal101368

            Looked like a lot of talking points lifted from DKos. I’ll take your word – he isn’t an ObamaSyco but I do have my doubts. I put in the notification and will on your advice just ignore him in the future because in my experience there really is no use for a “devils advocate” because they really advocate nothing.

          • elayman

            Clearly Romney also feels there is something that he feels will damage his electability by refusing to be transparent with the American people by making tax and Bain documents public.

            Last I checked, this site was full of complaints on the campaign responses regarding those issues.

          • acat

            Romney’s the nominee. Either you’re on board with that, or you need to put a sock in it until November.

            Mew

          • elayman

            So he’s definitely got my vote. I don’t see how my constructive criticism was out of line but am too terrified about my own job if for no other reason to mess around this cycle. :)

          • tnfriendofcoal101368

            You have my apology.

          • acat

            something constructive.

            “If Mitt is going to continue to make claims about job creation, of which there have been wildly varying numbers over the years, (the story has changed three times already this campaign) the campaign needs to provide a real accounting of how many jobs were gained or lost through Bain Capital investments.”

            Your statement above does not meet “constructive”, it is instead demanding that the (presumptive) GOP nominee run his campaign to your specifications.

            If a candidate starts justifying his or her statements, it’s seen as weakness and all statements are challenged; soon, the campaign can’t do anything.

            “Constructive” would be, for instance, having Romney show how much money Bain put into Staples or Dominos or Sports Authority and drawing a comparison to the amount of money Obama put into Solyndra. The ROI should be obvious as the number of jobs at the latter is currently zero, so any non-zero answer is acceptable.

            Mew

          • tnfriendofcoal101368

            astronomical if you were an Obama campaign donor. Donate 100,000 get 535,000,000. oh wait, you were talking about the ROI for taxpayers – my apology.

            Nearly all the green energy stimulus money ended up in the hands of Obama campaign bundlers and financiers.

          • acat

            Bain investors donated to Romney, but the amount they raked out of Bain is chump change by comparison .. and further, their hands aren’t in *our* wallets.

            Mew

          • tnfriendofcoal101368

            where 5.7 million Americans have been out of work for 6 months or more; 12% real unemployment; 15 trillion in debt; we are still waiting on those “millions and millions” of green energy jobs to appear.

          • acat

            like an associate on a former board who once talked about the day his co-worker figured a way to make an existing product 5% more efficient…

            Not very green, you say? What if I tell you his product was a water pump that went into every V-8 Ford produced?

            That’s what a real “green job” looks like – saving energy on a large scale, not farting around with unicorn dreams.

            Mew

  • http://www.redstate.com/wp-admin/user/profile.php docfreeman

    It is like when people complain about oil companies getting subsides, which in fact are really tax deduction. Just take a good look at who owns the Oil Companies.
    43% of oil and natural gas company shares are owned by mutual funds and asset management companies that have mutual funds. Mutual funds manage accounts for 55 million U.S. households with a median income of $68,700.
    27% of shares are owned by other institutional investors like pension funds. In 2004, more than 2,600 pension funds run by federal, state and local governments held almost $64 billion in shares of U.S. oil and natural gas companies. These funds represent the major retirement security for the nation?s current and retired soldiers, teachers, and police and fire personnel at every level of government.
    14% of shares are held in IRA and other personal retirement accounts. Forty five million U.S. households have IRA and other personal retirement accounts, with an average account value of just over $22,000.
    Oil and natural gas companies represent a small proportion of total investments in retirement accounts, yet account for a larger share of the return on these investments. Raising taxes on oil and gas would reduce the return on investment, and the returns to these retirement funds. In pension funds in the State of New York, for example, oil and natural gas companies represented 3.8 percent of assets, yet were responsible for 9.3 percent of returns. The same pattern holds true in other states.

  • dennism

    The pooch story failed. Bain is all they got. They are the opposition. Their job is to oppose. Everyone knew they would attack him with Bain. And regardless of what answers he gives, Bain is going to be part of the dialog.

    Gillespie, ordinarily reliable, said over the weeked that Romney “retroactively retired.” On its face it is meaningless, but it was odd. The chatterers are going to talk “retroactive retirement” up for days.

    I watched a documentary about wolves chasing caribou. They aren’t as fast so the pack chases a caribou herd on a diagonal across a rocky shoreline and onto a frozen lake. One wolf runs parallel to the shore – it might be miles – but sooner or later a caribou will stumble and the shoreline wolf will nip it on a heel. Within a day that caribou is crippled and not long for this world.

    Such is the nature of the press. Hoping someone will stumble.

  • dennism

    The pooch story failed. Bain is all they got. They are the opposition. Their job is to oppose. Everyone knew they would attack him with Bain. And regardless of what answers he gives, Bain is going to be part of the dialog.

    Gillespie, ordinarily reliable, said over the weeked that Romney “retroactively retired.” On its face it is meaningless, but it was odd. The chatterers are going to talk “retroactive retirement” up for days.

    I watched a documentary about wolves chasing caribou. They aren’t as fast so the pack chases a caribou herd on a diagonal across a rocky shoreline and onto a frozen lake. One wolf runs parallel to the shore – it might be miles – but sooner or later a caribou will stumble and the shoreline wolf will nip it on a heel. Within a day that caribou is crippled and not long for this world.

    Such is the nature of the press. Hoping someone will stumble.

  • camurd

    Gov. Romney needs to stand tall and proud of his record and explain that those that believe in the myth of Keynesian Economics will always claim that they needed to spend more, it will never be enough. It is like trying to prove a negative. They spend $5 trillion and things don’t improve, it’s because we should have spent $10 trillion, or ??? So why doesn’t the news media ask any of them how much is enough and at what point do you admit failure? I know stupid question, the media that has zero credibility.

    I think he should release his tax records but only with a highly detailed history of his life, how he started out, what it took to start Bain, the ups and downs for the business, and last but not least prove a list of people and companies that they helped.

  • thescotman

    Let’s just hope there are still enough adult voters in the country that recognize the difference between comic book nonsense and reality. Mitt, it’s your job to make sure Obama’s failed record is made transparent, unlike his administration.

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