I’ll start with what the Obama campaign looks like on the ground in Ohio today, on Bain:
President Obama’s re-election campaign pressed its attack on Mitt Romney as a cold-hearted capitalist Tuesday by saying that he helped drive into bankruptcy a chain of department stores that used to be located in 26 Ohio cities, including Bowling Green.State Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern and national Obama campaign co-chair Ted Strickland said that Bain Capital in the 1980s bought up small clothing stores and organized them into Stage Stores, expanded the company, borrowed heavily against it with junk bonds, and sold its remaining shares at a profit in 1997, three years before the company went bankrupt in 2000.More than 5,000 workers lost jobs.
“Mitt Romney’s business record isn’t one of growing companies and creating jobs. It’s one of broken promises and shattered dreams for thousands of hardworking Americans,” Mr. Strickland said in a telephone conference call with Mr. Redfern.
I assume the plan is to get specific like this in state after state and city after city, because Mitt Romney claims he created 100,000 jobs while at Bain, so the Obama surrogates are talking about (surprise!) jobs.
Here are the attacks on the Obama strategy, and some both sides do it analysis, from this week:
On “Morning Joe” today, former Obama “car czar” Steve Rattner denounced a new campaign ad that attacks Mitt Romney for business decisions he made during his tenure at Bain Capital.
Specifically, the ad targets Romney and Bain Capital for the private equity firm’s decision to acquire GST Steel and the jobs that were lost under their control.
Rattner called the ad “unfair” and defended Romney’s decision at Bain Capital. Rattner says Romney’s job was to make profits for the firm’s investors, not save jobs.
“I think the ad is unfair. Mitt Romney made a mistake ever talking about the fact that he created 100,000 jobs. Bain Capital’s responsibility was not to create 100,000 jobs or some other number. It was to create profits for his investors, most of whom were pension funds, endowments and foundations.
Really? Romney made a “mistake” claiming Bain was about job creation? That’s a big mistake for the person who was running the joint to make. Mitt Romney doesn’t know what they do at Bain? And, it’s Obama’s job to correct the record and explain what Bain does? Why? Why isn’t that Mitt Romney’s job?
Financial analysts might have been perplexed as to why Romney made that assertion. Private-equity firms aren’t intended to create jobs; their goal is to make money for investors. And Romney’s claim itself was dubious — the companies he pointed to that added thousands of jobs did so after he left the firm. His campaign today stands by taking credit for those jobs, even as it says Romney isn’t responsible for jobs that were lost after 1999, like those at the shuttered steel plant in Missouri that’s the focus of Obama’s new ad.
“During Mitt Romney’s time at Bain Capital, the firm invested in or helped start up over 100 companies,” Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in an email. “If you look at just four of the startups alone, they add up to more than 120,000 jobs – Bain’s help under Gov. Romney led to the existence of those companies and, thus, the jobs.”
Why wasn’t Romney called on the original lie? We all know why Mitt Romney didn’t explain private equity. Because it was better for Mitt Romney to breeze by the facts and claim he “created 100,000 jobs”. The Obama campaign are simply attacking on the grounds of the original Romney claim, which was jobs. Romney had months to tell the truth. He didn’t.
And look what’s happened! Romney is no longer claiming he created 100,000 jobs, and has seemingly dropped jobs and moved on to debt. Debt is something he might actually understand, due to his experience loading up companies with debt while at Bain.
In its effort to sell Mitt Romney as someone who understands the economy and knows how to create jobs, one of his campaign’s early talking points was that he helped create 100,000 jobs during his tenure at Bain Capital.
Romney eventually stopped repeating the talking point, which advisers had difficulty defending under pressure, and now it seems Boston has completely Etch A Sketched the number and severely lowered the number of jobs Romney is supposed to have created at Bain.
BuzzFeed’s Zeke Miller reports that, in the wake of the Obama campaign’s new ad attacking Romney’s record at Bain, the “new Romney jobs math” is significantly more modest than the old. This time, the campaign is asserting that Romney created a meager and vague “thousands of jobs” at Bain and “tens of thousands” of jobs as governor of Massachusetts.
This is nothing less than an admission from the Romney campaign that their 100,000 jobs claim was entirely bogus, and acceptance that Romney created vastly fewer jobs than he claimed he had just a few months ago.
Raven
I’m not sure Ratner’s comment was really an “attack”.
Nutella
Apparently Rattner’s point is that Romney is an efficient employee. When his job was to destroy jobs and drive companies into bankruptcy, he did it very, very well. Just following orders, of course. And that’s exactly the kind of efficiency we need in a president!
Or something.
Kay
@Raven:
I was really disappointed. Calling Romney’s original lie a “mistake” and then calling the rebuttal “unfair”? You know what’s unfair? Letting Mitt Romney lie for six months. That’s unfair.
I have no earthly idea why it is the job of the Obama campaign to present a nuanced picture of Mitt Romney’s career. None.
rlrr
@Nutella:
You know who else was good at following orders…
Cato
Yet another waste of taxpayer dollars in the “stimulus”. It turns out $1.5 million stolen out of the taxpayer’s pocketbook was used to study erections in fat, middle aged men.
Just imagine all the other wasteful programs in the $1 billion “stimulus”.
Patricia Kayden
Unfortunately, I think the Bot will get away with lying. This is not the first time he has lied. Remember the first ad he unveiled against President Obama where he took President Obama’s words out of context? While not technically lying it shows that the Bot is loose with the truth.
flukebucket
@Cato: TURTLE TUNNELS!!
jacypods
As part of my day job I’ve been editing transcripts done of interviews with tons of people who worked for various companies stripped by Bain when Romney was there. (Can’t reveal more than that). The individual stories are awful. People who killed themselves when they lost their pensions. Spouses who died of preventable disease when health insurance was dropped. senior citizens let go with a few years left to retirement who lost their homes. It goes on and on and on. Once these nice, sad, every-man and every-women Americans start showing up in ads wall-to-wall, no feeling person is going to even be able to look at Romney without feeling a burning rage.
As I’ve seen mentioned elsewhere on the interwebz, this is just the beginning — when the campaigns really get going later on, Romney is going to be shown as the soulless sociopath he is. Of course for hard core right-wingers, soulless sociopathy is a major selling point, and that’s the truly frightening thing.
MikeJ
In four years as governor “tens of thousands” was the best he could do? He’s no Mike Dukakis.
Kay
Obama should give a speech where he explains private equity, on behalf of Mitt Romney. That would be “fair”.
The Dangerman
@Cato:
As a fat, middle aged man, I’m outraged they only spent 1.5M (basically, rounding error) on the research.
Kay
@Patricia Kayden:
It’s probably fairly effective to use specific names in specific places. We had a Stage store here. Everyone will know that name.
different-church-lady
@Cato: $1.5 million? You mean, like, a third of a typical Wall Street bonus?
Dude, you gotta up your game if you want to play in our league.
slag
Soft bigotry of low expectations?
ellie
Hey Kay! What was the name of the clothing store in Bowling Green? Does it say in the article? I went to school there and remember one but I can’t recall the name of it.
Kay
@slag:
Maybe Rattner and Romney can work up a speech together, and then Obama can deliver it.
Ludicrous.
Legalize
The fact that the media is squealing so loudly about this indicates to me that Team Obama needs to turn it up to 11. Bain is the surest tool Obama has to end the horse race the media so desperately craves in order to justify its pathetic existence as programming on my teevee.
catclub
Send Bain to Spain is easier to explain.
gogol's wife
Great post. I love your outrage. I share it. I hate these concern trolls. It’s pretty much the entire New York Times. Did you see Brooks yesterday? Feigning bewilderment that Obama is even competitive with Romney.
Stuck in the Funhouse
I honestly don’t think that even a concerted effort by msm Romney fluffers will be able to distract from the voters, what this guy is about, and has been about all his life.
There is just too much evidence out there in the form of video, writings, and photos, where Mitt has flaunted his wealth and predatory capitalist tendencies.
And Obama may have been playing a bunch of rope a dope before the election campaign started, but is now jabbing for effect, with an occasional haymaker to the rich guys glass jaw.
jacypods
Hey, somebody fish me out moderation — can’t figure out what I did, unless it was something in a fugue state that I don’t remember. I didn’t mention games of chance, s0-c-al-ism, footwear, or boner pills.
Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937
Lying is hard work and it definitely helps to have tools.
feebog
Yes Mr. Ratner, I think we know what Bain’s responsibility was; buy up and then loot companies, walk away and let them go bankrupt, and then let the taxpayers make up for the losses in pensions. Nice plan if you are the looters, not so nice for the lootees.
I just don’t see how this is unfair. The Rombot 2.0 has been touting his CEO experience at Bain since the getgo. It’s why he “understands” business. Any thing he did at Bain is fair game, and I hope Team Obama keeps slaming him right up to election day.
Villago Delenda Est
Oh, dear. It’s “unfair” to parasite shitstain W. Mitt Rmoney.
Too fucking bad. Of course, consider the source…a show hosted by a guy who left congress after a dead intern was found in his office.
Violet
I really hope so. This is an excellent idea. People may not understand “Bain Capital” very well, but they understand “Stage stores being shut down and people losing jobs and those jobs never came back” or the equivalent in their area. Romney’s going to be chasing around trying to put out these fires all over the place.
@Legalize:
Absolutely. The media is like a sensor for whether or not you’ve hit a wingnut weak spot. Otherwise known as telling the truth.
...now I try to be amused
Maybe by the time the Obama campaign is done, Romney will dial the lie back to claiming that his work at Bain didn’t cause a net loss of jobs. Or, he didn’t destroy any more jobs than were absolutely necessary!
Keep digging, I say.
slag
@Kay: Good idea. But then Rmoney would be left with nothing to talk about. How many places could there possibly be with trees that are just the right height?
BGinCHI
Rattner’s comments sound like ratfucking to me.
He points out how “unfair” it is to Romney by telling the truth about the vulture capitalism (h/t, Rick Perry) that Bain trades in.
It forces some nice cognitive dissonance on those who think Romney is a job creating super-capitalist. If there are those who actually think, that is.
...now I try to be amused
@catclub:
The Bain in Spain is painful to explain?
cat48
Hi Kay, great post. MSM has been screaming about this attack so it must be good. Gov Strickland has really helped Obama & I loved the speech he gave at the rally. Good stuff! Worked in Swiss Bank accts. several times & Cayman Islands, etc. Really tore Mitt apart. Really great stuff!
He’s a really great surrogate.
Kay
@gogol’s wife:
I didn’t read it but the point was that Obama has no substantive accomplishments but “connects” with people, for some made-up David Brooks reason that mentions one or another commercial brand?
I don’t have to tell you that this is coming from the same people who claimed for years that Obama was cold and professorial and no one liked him. Now he’s well-liked but incompetent? Figures.
Waynski
Good point, Kay, and I hope this is the next line of attack. Every time he tries to pivot, beat him over the head with his own record.
Mnemosyne
@Cato:
So is Rush going to devote all two hours of his show to complaining about the government spending money on fat, middle-aged men, or do you think he’ll only spend 30 minutes or so complaining about the government spending money on fat, middle-aged men?
The Dangerman
@…now I try to be amused:
The Bain in Spain is mainly good news for McCain?
NancyDarling
This is anecdotal, but I can think of three small stationery stores that went out of business in the South Bay of Los Angeles when Staples arrived on the scene. You need to subtract their employees plus their up(down?)stream American supplier employees from the jobs created at Staples. I bet it’s a wash.
Also,certain items were not available at Staples (fine writing paper for instance) that could be found at the mom and pop stores.
Kay
@BGinCHI:
I think he was being honest. I just think it’s crazy to say Obama has to define Romney’s career. Romney has to define Romney’s career. He did that. He lied. Back to Obama. This is how it works.
Waynski
@gogol’s wife:
And Joe Scarborough was feigning bewilderment this morning that Obama isn’t way ahead ’cause Newt and Rick(s) were mean to Romney, or something. Trolls on parade.
...now I try to be amused
I miss independent retailers, particularly bookstores. I’ll bet a lot of other people (who are old enough to have shopped with them) do too.
gogol's wife
@NancyDarling:
I am still steaming at the loss of our local stationery store, which had more of WHAT I WANTED in its small space than all of Staples’s barn.
BGinCHI
@Kay: Oh, I agree Kay. I meant that the effect was to ratfuck Romney, whether Rattner intended to or not.
The problem for Romney is that the reality-based reality that almost everyone (73%) lives in will eventually catch up with liars if they lie enough publicly (see Edwards, John Motherfucker).
In other words: more talk on this subject is bad for Mitt.
gaz
The teetotalers drinking game: Every time Cato mentions Romney, drink!
Don’t worry AA’ers you can play too. You won’t lose your clean date.
ETA: VICTORY!
elmo
I’m still sitting here in slack-jawed bewilderment that “But he wasn’t even trying to create jobs!” is supposed to be a defense of RMoney.
BGinCHI
@elmo: The bar isn’t low for the GOP, it’s laying on the ground.
Waynski
@BGinCHI: Rattner’s also a Private Equity guy, so his fee, fees were hurt. He also had to pay millions in fines for a pay-to-play scandal involving NY State employee pension funds. I love what he did with the auto bailout, but he’s one of the “Serious People” Krugman warns us about.
gaz
@BGinCHI:
And yet they still manage to slither under it. Quite a feat.
Violet
@BGinCHI:
I love this so much. May I borrow it from time to time?
The Bearded Blogger
@MikeJ: That’s actually brilliant… a comparison between Dukakis and Mitt would show Mitt up as a mediocre governor. Maybe an ad in New Hampshire?
sherparick
@Cato: Dear Troll: This is about what disappears every 15 minutes in Afghanistan or on the F-35 contract.
Also, looking around this great country of ours, I happen to see a lot of fat, middle age men. And from the ads I see on Sportcenter, apparently there is a lot interest in “erectile dysfunction” drugs and therapies. You might think the public interest might be served by a study on their efficacy (or not). And since the country was promised on the “pursuit of happiness,” a study that improves the sex lives of our fellow citizens might be considered money well spent. But I guess you have a problem with sex, eh Cato.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Kay:
So now Obama is the Black G W Bush according to the Right? ROFL
The Bearded Blogger
@elmo: In general, talking heads defending Romney seem really meek these days, and their arguments seem contrived… don’t know how it looks to non-liberals, but there’s a lot of it in stuff like body language and splitting hairs “pair se” language…
The Bearded Blogger
@elmo: In general, talking heads defending Romney seem really meek these days, and their arguments seem contrived… don’t know how it looks to non-liberals, but there’s a lot of it in stuff like body language and splitting hairs “pair se” language…
BGinCHI
@Violet: You can buy me a Cadillac some day.
BGinCHI
@Waynski: Yeah, I get it, but again, I don’t give two shits what Rattner meant to do (or about his feelings). I was talking about the effect of trying to defend the indefensible.
The more they dig into Mitt, the more shitt they’ll find, whether they like it or not.
Barry
I agree on the unfairness here. It’s quite mean of Obama to take the single biggest talking point of a Harvard MBA/JD/businessman/governor/politicians, and actually point out that it’s a lie.
sherparick
While Morning Joe and all the other very serious people thinking how unfair Obama is to bring up Romney’s record a a capitalist, this article, and all of it ramifications of privelege and crony capitalism did not get much play our concern (because even MSNBC is really not particularly interested in challenging the plutocracy). http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/us/politics/ties-to-romney-08-helped-fuel-equity-firm.html?_r=4&hp
Trigg Romney and his fund raising friends from Romney Bot 1.0 (2008 edition) used those contacts to create their own hedge fund, starting with $10 million dollar investment from Dad and Mom. But Trigg deserves his $16 million dollar a year income because he (fill in blank). And all those investors and donors, what do they expect to get back? Well, for a start even more cuts in their taxes.
Violet
@BGinCHI:
You got it.
Raven
@Kay: Fair enough.
Raven
@Cato: What’s up virus? Grade all your papers today?
rlrr
@Shit for Brains:
$1.5 million – that’s less than 1% of the cost overrun on a typical unneeded weapons system.
Ash Can
And in other not-entirely-unrelated news, George W. Bush plans to publish a book this summer on how to create economic growth. No, really.
(I need to stop reading ThinkProgress before lunch. It’s too goddamned early in the day to start drinking.)
rlrr
@Ash Can:
I wonder who had the job of converting his crayon scribbles into typed copy…
gaz
@rlrr: no shit right? These days that’s not even “walkin’ around money”
I’m reminded of Dr. Evil’s ransom from that Austin Powers movie (no, I do not know which one, as the only reason I’ve seen it at all is because of children)
rlrr
@Ash Can:
Maybe Bush should write a book on preventing terrorist attacks and waging war while he’s at it…
Rick Massimo
@Kay: Because in the Village, it’s unseemly for the Democratic politician who is running in an election to say things that might cause people to vote for him.
rlrr
@Rick Massimo:
And Republicans pretty much have carte blanche to say wahtever they want.
Ash Can
@rlrr: I mean, I just, I can’t even. I can easily imagine Obama making a few choice remarks about the book when it comes out, e.g. during a debate with Romney, asking him to critique it and whether he’d do anything different. Whether he manages to keep a straight face while doing it is a real question.
shortstop
@Kay: To me it just screams “insular member of the corporate plutocracy” who just doesn’t get how the rest of America sees the situation. I’m sure this idjit does think Obama’s attack is unfair and ignores the reality of private equity. That’s just the kind of thing a person who’s spent a lot of time in private equity, and none in political messaging (not to mention struggling to pay the mortgage), would say.
ETA: We spend a lot of time commenting on how these people are evil, and not enough noting that they’re fucking stupid and tone-deaf, too.
ppcli
If you spend a year with every one of your people insisting on calling capitalists “job creators”, and if your candidate goes on and on about how capitalists are “job creators”, and how unfair and unwise it is to tax “job creators” and blah blah blah “job creators”, then, yes, it is absolutely on point to display the simple fact that Bain Capital were, in fact, job destroyers. End of story, quit your whining and reap what you sowed.
Citizen_X
@sherparick: “Just ask your parents to loan you ten million dollars to start a business!”
jacypods
Test to see if every comment I make is in moderation.
jacypods
Firefox glitch test
Kay
@ppcli:
Yelling about 100,000 jobs for six months, and now this:
Jeff Spender
Yes, because if there is anything that the American people should desire in their leaders, it’s the ability to whine the loudest.
rikyrah
I really appreciate this kay. You are indeed correct about how come folks didn’t push back on the original lie. I will contend because the GOP Clown Car was full of nothing but grifters and amateurs.
I also want to point out what someone else said on another blog: this story has a national and LOCAL focus…and it’s the LOCAL focus that gets to the heart of the matter, cutting through all the Willard lies.
BGinCHI
@Kay: If they think this is how you win national elections, I have news for them.
Romney is a smarter Palin. This is not a compliment.
mouse tolliver
@Cato:
How about the $10 billion that got lost in Iraq when Bush was president that nobody gives a shit about?
Jay in Oregon
@sherparick:
He has a fantastic and fulfilling sex life, I’m sure.
All he’s missing is a partner.
Forum Transmitted Disease
@Cato: The important question, RealityTard….did they fix your problem? From your whiny tone, I assume they couldn’t help you.
Might want to lose a few more pounds. That penis has got to be in those folds somewhere.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Ash Can:
__
Step 1: Get George W Bush out of the White House
Step 2: Reverse all of the GOP policies put into effect while W was in the WH
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Economic Growth!
__
[note: the only ??? in step 3 is how long it takes to get step 2 done]
patrick II
Bain must have caused a lot of damage and screwed a lot of people if Obama can change his pitch in each locality to point at specific damage in state after state and city after city.
handsmile
@BGinCHI: (#71)
OT:
Daglish just got sacked. Hope you’re okay with that. He issued an extraordinarily graceful and dignified statement on his departure. Wish my club would take a similar step with a manager who can no longer win a single trophy.
rikyrah
@…now I try to be amused:
me
me me
I miss walking around in a bookstore. I used to just go and spend time in it.
patrick II
@Ash Can:
During his second administration Bush actually said that war was good for the economy. I don’t think that is going to be in his book — but I do think it is something he believes. It is the apparantly logical conclusion many not very bright republicans have come to after being told that WW II is what really caused the end of the depression. And, while the increased spending of war did just that, we really don’t have to use the money to kill people for it to have benefit.
Calouste
Yesterday Ezra Klein said: “By November, every voter in Ohio is going to know the name of every factory Mitt Romney and Bain ever closed.”
That’s almost to the point, but not completely there. What Obama is going to achieve is that by November, everyone in Ohio knows someone who lost their job because of Romney.
We’re talking about 5,000 job losses in this case. How many people do these people that lost their job know on average? 60? 100? That’s 300,000 to 500,000 people who know someone who lost their job due to Romney. 11.5 million people in Ohio, one ad by Obama per week until the election and you’re there.
Lurking Canadian
This is the chance for somebody to point out that no for-profit corporation anywhere on the planet is “intended to create jobs”. They are ALL in business to make money for investors.
Sometimes, that involves hiring people, but it is always a side-effect of the main goal. Which is why this “job creator” bullshit should never have been allowed into the public discourse in the first place.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Cato: Wasn’t it an $800Billion stimulus? Let’s assume, though, for a moment that it was $10B. If I received $1000, this would amount to a lost of 15 cents.
I also like yur slippery slope argument: Look, this sentence is missing an “o”, think if all of the other misspellings that could be occurring.
Bobby Thomson
I don’t see how anyone could have read that and not concluded that Rattner has switched sides and is playing for the other team.
The “fact” that. Meaning that Rattner is saying Romney was telling the truth but that it wasn’t a truth he should have told.
It clearly wasn’t the truth, and Rattner clearly isn’t telling the truth, either.
Nellcote
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
And a lot of it was tax cuts rather than investments in research/construction/etc.
trollhattan
@different-church-lady:
Heh, yep. Big ol windeup then the pitch dribbles to a stop at the base of the mound. Reminded me of Dr Evil, unaware of inflation, “I demand a million dollars!”
Failbot fail.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Nellcote: Or erection enhancement.
Amir Khalid
@handsmile:
Can’t speak for BGinChi, of course, or for any other Liverpool fan here. But given the difference between results and expectations — and 8th is a worse league finish than in any season under Gillette and Hicks — it’s very hard to say that Dalglish’s firing isn’t justified. The current Liverpool can beat anybody. But the Liverpool that can beat anybody just doesn’t show up to the match often enough. Where was the team that beat Chelsea 4-1 in the league a few days before, when Liverpool needed to win the FA Cup? As much as they need to put the right names on the first team sheet, Liverpool also need to build the mental toughness and consistency that wins a top-flight league, And Kenny hasn’t done that this time around.
gene108
@BGinCHI:
I don’t think it’s ratfucking.
Ratner is just stating criticizing Romney’s performance as head of Bain Capital on job creation is not correct. That is not how Romney’s job performance should be evaluated. The metrics for his job performance is how much of a return did Romney provide for investors.
There are large segments of the modern economy, whose primary goal is to provide returns to investors and any positive benefit for anyone else is just dumb luck for the other guys.
trollhattan
@gaz:
Geez Louise, you want me dead how soon? My liver canna take it.
gaz
@trollhattan: you miss the mark. Cato refuses to mention Romney anymore. Haven’t you noticed? (although he may when called out on it).
A few months ago it was Romney this!, Romney that!
Now it’s Romney? who’s that? Look, over there! a democrat! $1.5 million dollars! arglebarglefart!
chopper
@rlrr:
that’s about a half a cent out of the pockets of every american! that kind of money could buy 6 ml of gasoline!
gene108
@Lurking Canadian:
I don’t think anyone thinks realistically that they can do everything themselves, when they start a business and only grudgingly hire people.
At some level of production a business will need to add jobs. Until we create machines that can do everything a business plan will include, when hiring needs to be done and how much needs to be done to meet its goals.
The investors will keep the profits for themselves, but they also eat the losses, so there is a risk/reward trade-off there.
Culture of Truth
Then it’s fair.
I’ve said it here before. This is how Romney gets taken down. Because it’s his only reason for running.
Turgidson
OT: Here’s the monthly “is our Sully learning” quote:
He’ll undoubtedly say something considerably more idiotic than this is sensible soon enough. Or fall in love with Paul Ryan again, or the next GOP media crush. And it’s important to note that elsewhere in this post, he called supply-side economics (and the congruent “taxes go down, revenues go up! Ponies for everyone!” idea) an interesting theory in 1981. No it fucking wasn’t, dipshit. It was a fucking transparent con that your innumerate ass fell for and stayed in the tank for until sometime last week.
But anyway. He said something kinda not-stupid. I don’t know why I thought to spend the time to mention it anymore, but I’m posting it anyway.
RalfW
This makes me happy:
This needs to be pushed. Verbing it to Etch A Sketched is brilliant. Hang this around Romney’s neck. Flog it. Make him own his (very poorly executed) bogus attempt to move to the center.
bemused
Steve Benen and Jonathan Chait shred Mitt’s budget speech from yesterday to bits.
Chait calls Mitt’s Budget Fairy Tale “an amalgamation of free-floating conservative rage and anxiety, completely untethered to any facts….”.
Benen was struck by Mitt’s immaturity, his arguments were silly, his speech seemed like it was “written by a high-school student who’s preoccupied with Rush Limbaugh’s radio show and assorted right-wing Twitter feeds”.
Both pieces were great and Benen is definitely right on saying “Romney is operating from the assumption that (Republican) voters are stupid”.
trollhattan
@gaz:
Confess I hadn’t noticed, but my lack of attention to the content of its mewlings I’ll claim as a feature, rather than bug.
Always surprised to see it crawling back after the latest banhammer, like a basement spider that just won’t die. Even BOB is less persistent.
Turgidson
@RalfW:
Agreed. The Obama campaign and everyone on the left with any sort of visibility should throw out the Etch-a-Sketch comment every time a reference is made to Mitt’s…uh, malleability…or perhaps more importantly, tries to change the facts on the fly, as in this case.
It’d be great if presidential campaigns were more dignified than this, but it is what it is. And the Etch-a-Sketch thing is just so fucking perfect for RMoney that it has to be exploited.
Kay
@gene108:
I would have been fine with Mitt Romney making a principled, passionate case for what he actually did. Mitt Romney chose not to do that. Obama said he was a community organizer, and he took tons of shit for that from every conservative.
I’m for accountability and personal responsibility :)
gaz
@trollhattan:
Fair enough. I’ll confess that I appreciate Taco, as he saves me the hassle of wading the fever swamp of Jim Hoft’s alter to idiocy – The Gateway Pundit, while still allowing me to keep a jaundiced eye on the current state of the wingnut hive-mind.
I take no small joy in the fact that Cato’s former mancrush now embarrasses him to the point where he just sort of hopes that everyone will forget the month after month of fellatio he was giving the RomneyBot during the primaries.
stratplayer
I’m completely baffled by the critique here. On what planet is it “unfair” for a politician to make his opponent pay for a “mistake” by pointing out the facts? This ranks among the very stupidest things I have ever heard.
Turgidson
@stratplayer:
On this planet. The one where it is just so rude for Democrats to actively campaign for office.
Accusing Democrats of treason is fine, though.
Kay
@stratplayer:
I don’t think it matters.
Apparently Mitt Romney is in Florida, it’s wall to wall Bain horror stories, and he’s not taking questions on Bain :)
He could have centered his campaign around the fact that he was a governor, I mean, he could have if he wasn’t running as a Republican.
BGinCHI
@handsmile: I didn’t know. Jesus. That’s a bummer, as I don’t think he’s the reason for the season.
handsmile
@Amir Khalid: (#86)
All fair points, and ones I would agree with. As I exchanged with you several days ago, I had pegged Liverpool to finish 3rd or 4th in this season’s EPL table. Nevertheless, still rather surprised that the newish American owners acted so swiftly against this icon. Failure to win the FA Cup was probably the coffin nail.
Quality of players would not seem to be the (primary) issue: four Liverpool teammates (Carroll,Downing,Gerrard,Johnson) have been selected today for England’s 23-man Euro2012 squad.
Now one question is whether John Henry et al will choose from among the available managerial elite (e.g., Ranieri, Rijkaard) or poach a rising EPL star (Martinez, Rodgers). Should be a busy summer along Merseyside.
(Oh for a BJ football thread, so I wouldn’t feel so uncomfortable butting in off-topic.)
gaz
@Kay: Rmoney out-flanked and out-maneuvered himself.
He picked a message that is easily countered, and makes people angry in this political climate
He picked handlers that stroke his ego, rather than keep him on point.
He lies every time he opens his mouth. Clearly, and indisputably.
He has simultaneously embarrassed the GOP establishment, AND his wingnut base.
To say the man is tone-deaf is like saying hitler had mild distaste for jews.
Romney seems bound and determined to break the rule that presidential elections turn on the economy.
RalfW
@stratplayer:
The GOP is all about whiny butthurt these days. It’s like a schoolyard full of 7-year-olds out there. I ran across this gem when searching the twit-box for Ornstein tweets yesterday.
Phil Jennerjahn is running for Congress out of Calif. He thinks it’s “unfair” that Democrats assembled a voting majority. In that world, a world the GOP occupies all too firmly, anything the public does that doesn’t directly benefit Repubs and/or overlords is by definition unfair.
I suppose I’m being unkind to 7-year-olds to make the comparison. Kids actually have a much more nuanced grasp of fairness than the, ahem, adult GOP politicians.
Amir Khalid
@Kay:
Brave Mitt Romney ran away
Bravely ran away, away
When a troubling question raised its head
He bravely turned away and fled
Brave, brave, brave, brave Mitt Romney!
Mnemosyne
@RalfW:
Not a single Democrat voted for Paul Ryan’s budget in the House, so clearly that budget is unfair and needs to be revised to gain Democratic votes, right?
I just love how Republicans demand that Democrats live by rules that they immediately violate themselves.
Amir Khalid
@handsmile:
Who knows, he might offer the job to Rafa Benitez. Rafa was making good progress until Gillette and Hicks (ptui!) showed up and started fucking Liverpool over.
Frankensteinbeck
I knew this was coming, but it gives me joy to see it. The bad economy was the best weapon the GOP had. Not an insurmountable weapon, but it’s a sensitive subject easily flogged with lies to make it seem like Obama’s fault.
Then the GOP nominated a vulture capitalist. The exact kind of man that the phrase ‘vulture capitalist’ was coined to describe. Obama is going to make sure that everyone sees Romney as the face of job destruction in America, and run on a platform of saving the economy from people like that. Mitt’s way too clumsy to stop him, so all he’ll have left are culture war issues, which means owning every GOP overreach for the last four years.
To quote a personal hero: ‘My god, it will be beautiful.’
handsmile
@Amir Khalid:
You might be interested to know then that SkySports is listing betting odds of Benitez being re-appointed at 6-1. (He’s second to Roberto Martinez at 5-2.) I had always thought that Rafa was loathed by Liverpool fans at the end of his tenure there.
Besides, this would work against my interests. In my football dreams, Benitez would replace Professor Wenger as Arsenal’s manager.
rikyrah
reading the recap over at the Maddow Blog about Willard being a WATB in Miami puts a smile on my face.
Calouste
@bemused:
Is there any evidence to the contrary? Romney sure as hell doesn’t write those speeches himself.
Hewer of Wood, Drawer of Water
@Turgidson: This should be Mittsy’s theme song
http://www.televisiontunes.com/Etch-a-Sketch_Commercial.html
gene108
@Kay:
That’s why I feel a smidgen of sympathy for him and other Republican politicians.
You figure, when he was working on Romney-care, Bush & Co. were implementing their “compassionate” conservative agenda and expanding Medicare and the Department of Education and the right-wingers in the South and West weren’t rebelling; they were in fact calling Bush, Jr. “the greatest President ever” during the 2004 election.
Romney may have misinterpreted the support Bush, Jr. got for blowing up Iraqis with approval of his domestic agenda, but the domestic agenda wasn’t a turn off.
In a less crazy-ass-wing-nut era, Romney would’ve been well positioned to run based on his record as governor. He crafted a “free market” solution to universal health care, controlled health care costs and with a strong business background, he’d be very popular in the general.
Unfortunately, Bush, Jr.’s popularity finally started catching up to his competence in 2005 and the crazy-ass-wing-nut reason for Bush, Jr.’s unpopularity were pegged on the passage of Medicare Part D and NCLB.
I don’t think its good in the long term to have one Party refuse to allow politicians to run for President based on their actual accomplishments in office, therefore I have a bit of sympathy for the conundrum modern Republicans – of a certain age* – find themselves in right now.
*The younger folks have short enough political careers that they can make sure they have always adhered to crazy-ass-wing-nut expectations.
Jay C
After reading these pieces. I had the usual reaction I get when I see some talking-head grousing about how “unfair” a political attack is: it’s usually a sign that the ad is 100% accurate: with little or no defense…. Right again!
Also: WTF is Steve Rattner’s aim here? If it’s a attempt to defend or boost Romney and his campaign’s claims, coming out and flatly stating “profits over people ” is their main philosophy seems a strange way to go about it. And/or tone-deaf.
rea
I think the ad is unfair. Mitt Romney made a mistake ever talking about the fact that he created 100,000 jobs
A return to the great theme of the Romney Campaign–“Vote for me, because I’m a liar!”
Soonergrunt
It appears so. I don’t know why.
Kay
@gene108:
Maybe this makes me shallow and self-centered, but if I were a religious minority like Romney is, I wouldn’t be a Republican. It’s really that simple. I don’t understand running around begging Republicans for acceptance. I don’t care if his father was a Republican, whatever.
There is no imaginable set of circumstances where I beg people like Rick Santorum for anything.
mclaren
Conservatives never lie: they make mistakes and tell jokes, but never ever lie.
When Rush Limbaugh calls a college coed a “slut” for using birth control, he isn’t lying…he’s making a joke.
When the drunk-driving C student claimed Saddam had WMDs, he wasn’t lying…he was mistaken.
When Jeffrey Dahmer denied that he had tortured and murdered and cannibalized young men for the sheer fun of it, he wasn’t lying..he was just joking.
Turgidson
@Kay:
Romney’s a Republican because his dad was, and more importantly, because an even higher power to him than his Mormon faith is the altar of unfettered capitalism. Those types usually end up as Republicans, no matter how bad a fit the party is for them in every other possible way.
AA+ Bonds
Time to follow either the money or the slime trail from Rattner to wherever it leads; it will be the same place either way
B/c someone just bought himself an Obama czar
This is hardcore contemporary Rovian strat right here, “it was a mistake to claim X, which by the way, hardcore fact right there, no one disputes the claim”
AA+ Bonds
@Jay C:
See above – I agree the deflect was absolutely tone deaf but the point of what he did was to go on TV and parrot a ludicrous claim and say “well the real issue is blah blah blah since obviously the claim itself is true, I mean, we all agree on that”
Who knows, they may feel that it can’t get any worse for them re: Romney being an out of touch asshole so they have decided to double down on “Wall Street knows best”
Or in particular “Don’t you wish you knew the awesome secrets of this wealthy white dude” which plays VERY well with even (especially?) the Republicans who won’t accept “Wall Street knows best” without qualifiers, and also right-leaning independents
dlnelson
I live in Sacramento county, and there is a large mormon population, they are isolationists. The children do not mingle with the others, church meetings or functions on a daily basis. Everyone is the same. There seems to be a real disconnect with the general population. Romney’s stiffness is probably attributed to this. General society at large is something he is not accustomed to. Life is very structured for him and his followers in the church.
shortstop
@dlnelson: The world of venture capital is not a haven for Mormons. Nor is the governor’s mansion in Massachusetts. Romney is stiff and uncomfortable around average people for reasons that have nothing to do with his religion.
jefft452
“…responsibility was not to create 100,000 jobs or some other number. It was to create profits…”
More of this “step on your message” from these clowns, please
For 30 years we have been hearing that the 1% are job creators, who grow the pie higher by creating wealth out of thin air, and the rising tide will lift all boats. After all, you never got a job from a poor person
Glad that they are finally admitting that they are nothing but rent seekers. Like a leech, simply taking a cut while producing nothing, leaving less tor those who did the work
Phoenician in a time of Romans
Oh, the Obama camp can make sure RMoney doesn’t walk away from it, just by prefacing the ads with:
“Mitt Romney claimed to create a hundred thousand jobs while running Bain Capital…” and then go on to show him as a job destroyer.