Jan 13 2012
Romney Is Not The One
I am a small business owner and fiscal conservative. I am pro-business and bullish on America’s economic engine: small business. I am all for smaller government (actually, the smallest possible government). I support the Tea Party and Libertarian goals. I would take the free market over central government controls any day of the week.
And I cannot support the kind of person portrayed in this 28 minute documentary about Romney and how he made his millions. It may be one sided, but I doubt he and his fellow vultures created enough good to offset a fraction of the pain and suffering they put people through. This is not the free market of small businesses, this is bullying and pillaging.
In 2008 the Democrats elected an image and never once looked behind the spin to see who Barack Obama really was. Now the GOP is promoting an image, and we cannot afford to make the same mistake again.
Aj, you know I have always liked you, but with this video you have been suckered big time.
This video is a fraud, and you’ve been had. Since when did you start buying into *anyone’s* claims about anything without doing any independent research into them on your own?
“Romney may have opened the door to this kind of attack with his suspect job-creation claims, but that is no excuse for this highly misleading portrayal of Romney’s years at Bain Capital. Only one of the four case studies directly involves Romney and his decision-making, while at least two are completely off point. The manipulative way the interviews appeared to have been gathered for the UniMac segment alone discredits the entire film.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/four-pinocchios-for-king-of-bain/2012/01/12/gIQADX8WuP_blog.html
“As we will demonstrate, at least some of the interviews of ordinary citizens appear to have been conducted under misleading pretenses and have been selectively edited to leave a false impression.”
and as Hot Air has noted: “Only one of the cases presented in the film actually involved Romney at all, the decline (not failure, as the film states) of Ampad. The company exists as a subsidiary to Esselte, as Kessler notes, but did close its Marion, Indiana facility, which left a lot of bad feelings among the former workers there. But why did Ampad decline? Its core business — business supplies — got undermined by cheaper retail competitors, like Staples — a company that grew because of the investment of Bain Capital and Mitt Romney.”
and now even Gingrich, who paid for this film, is calling on the producers to either cut out the “inaccuracies” (ie, bald faced lies) or pull the entire film. Since cutting out the “inaccuracies” would only leave about 90 seconds out of the original 28 minutes, probably better to pull the whole thing.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/nation/2012/01/gingrich-criticizes-outside-group-supporting-him/2093626
Still can’t believe you fell for this one.
Regardless of all that most have missed a RNC ruling of how delegates get awarded this year and why it makes the five states and I win game bogus to the max
http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P12/R-Alloc.phtml
Proportional Allocation to Presidential Contenders
Prior to 1 April 2012, any presidential primary, caucus, convention, or other meeting to select National Convention delegates shall allocate delegates on a proportional basis. [Rule 15(b)(2)
Something is wrong when the number of voters in the first two states are less than half of the number of repub primary voters in multiple cities here in my state.
They get 38 to 70 visits and have way too much power beyond their populations.
Yet I get to only hear a formula stump speech with 10000 of my closest friends.
RNC announced today that not only are they cutting our delegate count in half because of moving our primary (along with a few other states) but they have consigned us to second rate hotel rooms even though the convention is being held in our state.
Go figure.
AJ, your choice is Romney or Obama. Pick one. Seriously. Not only is that video false but also the word out yesterday that Bain Capital had a hand in closing dealerships after the Obama takeover of GM and Chrysler was also false and was corrected today by CNBC.
There is a lot of false information flying around out there.
The GOP is proving, over and over again, that not only it deserves the adjective “stupid” but also the “suicidal” one.
I don’t know how to best put it, but it’s way past time for a conservative, patriotic third party.
Let’s start after the elections, such that we do not hand the 2nd term to Zero.
My posting could be interpreted as coming from the left, but who cares…
I think that the way the leveraged buyout companies are making money is immoral.
Yes, I said it.
It may be legal, but it is wrong.
One of the reasons our jobs are hemorrhaging, the middle class is shrinking and the left has so much success, is that the vultures, like Bain, have been equated with capitalism.
The same can be said about the exotic financial instruments, like derivatives, who are very much related to the deep crisis we are in right now.
Look at the German model. They are much more successful in keeping and modernizing their companies.
They may not create companies at the same rate like our economy, but the labour-management/owners relationship is much better than here.
At the same time, their exports are growing through the roof, they are Europe’s China.
That’s why Romney will be viciously attacked by the demsheviks.
That’s why, Obama, as unpopular as he may be, may be re-elected.
Instead of having a candidate to unify all the American constituencies, including the white working stiffs, who Obama purposefully is not campaigning for, the GOP is about to force down our collective throats, the perfect target for the demsheviks’ attacks, the guy the OccuPee or OccuPoo movement was created for.
NUTS…..
Read “The Missing ‘Humanity Clause’ at Bain
A Commentary by Froma Harrop”
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_froma_harrop/the_missing_humanity_clause_at_bain
The same happened to KB Toys, who was loaded with debt by Bain, went kaput and, yet, Bain made a boatload of profit on this transaction.
Do we want to emphasize this type of capitalism?
And, should I remind all of you of the GOP and illegal immigration?
What is the real difference between the demsheviks, who look at illegals as undocumented voters, and the GOP who looks at them as “cheap labour”, usually paid under the minimum legal wage?
When did you hear the last time a repubic taking a stand against illegal immigration on the grounds that this is the current equivalent of slave labour of hundreds of years ago?
Even if the illegals have it much better here, being underpaid, compared to the hell holes, they came from, this argument still doesn’t meet the moral test
I have to agree with WWS regarding his comments on that film. Every single candidate has their flaws. However, painting Romney with such dark colors is going to accomplish little in getting the current resident out of the WH. Like another poster astutely said, it’s going to be between Obama and Romney. Which would you rather see in 2013?
Just another thought on this campaign film…those who haven’t liked Romney will find this film having fodder to support their dislike. It’s always that way. People actively look for tidbits and items to back up their POV. And, the opposite is true of those who think that he is the best of the field. They will see the film as being somewhat slanted, but continue to look at Romney’s other attributes to hold up as reasons to continue supporting him.
CP:
“There is a lot of false information flying around out there.”
yep and you’re doing part of it. “AJ, your choice is Romney or Obama.”
for example has no basis in fact, it’s only misleading info from you. Romney is not gonna be the nominee. He has only been supported by libs and Dims in the open primaries, wait’ll that’s over and he’ll be at the bottom of the slope. Look at the numbers a full week ahead of SC, Newt has almost passed him already, and Newts voters are indy’s and Repubs, not Dims.
I personally couldn’t care less about all this hullabaloo about Bain. If a company is in business and is either gonna fold or be bought out and reduce employees, I’ll say the best bet is to be bought out and save some jobs. Don’t like that, shut them down and move the jobs to China. It’s a false issue that will be exploited against Repubs by the MSM and Dims, even tho they are also supporters. Running a business while it’s losing money can’t be much fun and certainly in limited in how long it will survive.
To be fair to the story, I viewed the entire video and one thing I noticed is that all this was happening under the Dimocratic Administration of the 90s. Most of it was bellyaching about losing insurance or getting a 2 dollar cut in wages.
In almost every case I saw, the company bought them, the value went way up, the stock holders that was foresightful sold and made huge profits. The value of the companies went way up, Bain sold out then someone else ended up owning them and shut them down. I can’t see how Bain could get the value up so much and then someone else lost so much so soon they had to shut down. for example Bain didn’t shut down that plant in Florida, they sold it to a company in Canada that shut it down.
Nope, capitalism is not the problem. It’s government rules and regulations that let all these companies make a profit by moving out of the country. Huge tax breaks to shut a plant down, huge tax credits for building new plants in a foreign country. Why not. give them that same break for shutting down one in Mexico and building a new one in the US. but get the damn government out of business and let them make a profit. then people will have jobs.
Economic Freedom, people! You’re either for it or you’re not. It’s just that simple. It’s a major pillar of America’s story. And it means freedom to FAIL as well as succeed. Low risk, low reward. High risk, high reward.
When did we become a country that begrudges people’s successes? Do I like Goldman Sachs? Hell no. But guess what AJ-8 Goldman people were in the OBAMA administration in the past 3 years. EIGHT!
Romney is not ashamed of his business and I’m glad he’s not. I am sick of the hypocrisy of the democrats and especially obama bashing banks and wall street when it is HIS PARTY that trashed out country starting with jimmy carter then on to clinton and barney frank/chris dodd. Government intrusion into capitalism run amok. And we ALL know it.
Nobody is attacking capitalism. I am attacking the gop establishment for pushing a very weak guy at an absolut critical moment for our country. They still behave like it’s politics as usual.
Romney will not only beat Obama, but will go down as the best president since Ronald Reagan. You heard it here first.
If I were Bain Capital, I would buy Romney because he is WAY undervalued
I can’t wait to see Romney streamline and downsize the federal government like a Bain acquisition. No one has ever done that before, and it will be glorious.
AJ,
Yes, I am still around !!
Day one fan, daily “check-a-inner” but rare commenter unless deeply moved to express my views.
Just know, I am patient and can wait till you come around to Romney !! If that route is via Cain now Newt, so be it, I know in the end, you will figure it out !!
We need you on board before the VA primary !!
We need your passion to defeat Obama and the sooner you get on board …the better for the Nation !!
With respect and appreciation for your Great Blog for many many years ….
True-Blue WGIRL !!
The best candidates did not run.
Capitalism is hard, there are winners and losers, but it is the best and most creative system we as people have been able to devise. When governments try to control businesses we get GM and a bunch of other failures that use our money. Romney had a 77% success rate, he lost some and saved many more…..come on people, life is hard, it is never going to be on an up projection for ever. The Democrats are trying to tell people they can save the world from pain and disappointment, REALLY……do you think Greece has been saved?
This is the guy GOP chose to shove down our throats:
Mitt Romney company profited as steel mill it owned closed, government bailed out pension plan
Reuters Jan 6, 2012 – 10:17 AM ET |
By Andy Sullivan and Greg Roumeliotis
in Kansas City, Missouri
It was funny at first.
The young men in business suits, gingerly picking their way among the millwrights, machinists and pipefitters at Kansas City’s Worldwide Grinding Systems steel mill. Gaping up at the cranes that swung 10-foot cast iron buckets through the air. Jumping at the thunder from the melt shop’s electric-arc furnace as it turned scrap metal into lava.
“They looked like a bunch of high school kids to me. A bunch of Wall Street preppies,” says Jim Linson, an electronics repairman who worked at the plant for 40 years. “They came in, they were in awe.”
Apparently they liked what they saw. Soon after, in October 1993, Bain Capital, co-founded by Mitt Romney, became majority shareholder in a steel mill that had been operating since 1888.
It was a gamble. The old mill, renamed GS Technologies, needed expensive updating, and demand for its products was susceptible to cycles in the mining industry and commodities markets.
Less than a decade later, the mill was padlocked and some 750 people lost their jobs. Workers were denied the severance pay and health insurance they’d been promised, and their pension benefits were cut by as much as US$400 a month.
What’s more, a federal government insurance agency had to pony up $44-million to bail out the company’s underfunded pension plan. Nevertheless, Bain profited on the deal, receiving $12-million on its $8-million initial investment and at least $4.5-million in consulting fees.
Read the rest at:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/01/06/romney-company-profited-as-steel-mill-it-owned-closed-government-bailed-out-pension-plan/