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You are here: Home / Mitt Romney Lied About Bain Capital: A Primer

Mitt Romney Lied About Bain Capital: A Primer

by Imani Gandy (ABL)|  July 12, 20125:16 pm| 141 Comments

This post is in: Romney of the Uncanny Valley, Schadenfreude

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I’m piling on to the multiple posts about the Romney/Bain shenanigans with a link to my own. Schadenfreude like this should be savored for as long as possible.

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Previous Post: « The Rot Ran Deep
Next Post: What We Are Up Against With Our Failed Media Experiment »

Reader Interactions

141Comments

  1. 1.

    Todd

    July 12, 2012 at 5:24 pm

    He is a serious sounding white man in a nice suit, and is thus incapable of lying.

  2. 2.

    Legalize

    July 12, 2012 at 5:27 pm

    The big point here, as ABL points out, is that Willard ain’t ready for what Team O is going to do to him. He’s been running for president since 2007 for fuck’s sake. And he’s not ready. And this is the guy the Teabillies nominated to take on the black fella.

    They will turn on him before the convention. I’m on record. :)

  3. 3.

    cmorenc

    July 12, 2012 at 5:29 pm

    This Bain thing is going to be a slow, caustic drip against Romney’s candidacy all the way to November. For now, it’s certainly knocking the Romney campaign off-message and on the defensive, and threatens to repeatedly keep doing so as further details come dripping out.

  4. 4.

    Jon O.

    July 12, 2012 at 5:30 pm

    but this one links to your vanity site! Thanks for adding a HuffPost-esque level of value to this important news story. See, they’ve got SEO, and you’ve got best-in-the-business caps lock overusage.

  5. 5.

    Strandedvandal

    July 12, 2012 at 5:32 pm

    Oh do piss off Jon O. No, really.

  6. 6.

    ploeg

    July 12, 2012 at 5:39 pm

    I learned back in 1998 that perjury is a very serious crime.

  7. 7.

    J.D. Rhoades

    July 12, 2012 at 5:40 pm

    And how is the mainstream media treating this story? “Obama Camp continues to attack Romney over Bain.”

    FFS. HE FUCKING LIED.

  8. 8.

    Culture of Truth

    July 12, 2012 at 5:40 pm

    Saying ‘I wasn’t in charge during the outsourcing’ is such a clown move, anyway. It immediately cedes the entire arugment to Obama that outsourcing is indefensible (which is hardly beyond debate) and further cedes away Romney’s business experience, which is the foundation of his campaign. Clown, move, bro.

  9. 9.

    Jon O.

    July 12, 2012 at 5:41 pm

    @Strandedvandal: I get you, you’re right. For the most part I just know to skim over ABL’s posts since they’re just going to direct us over to her site for the rest of the story, but I baited myself into wading into the comments and getting shitty about it. My bad, do carry on.

  10. 10.

    cmorenc

    July 12, 2012 at 5:41 pm

    @Legalize:

    They will turn on him before the convention. I’m on record. :)

    This will only happen to the extent the Teabillies become convinced that Romney’s a likely loser in November because of the Bain thing; at that point their distrust of him on other matters will also reignite. Their anger and fear that the O-clang will likely win won’t prevent most of them from voting for Romney in November, but it will be with the resigned anger of supporting what they see as a needlessly lost cause, an election that in their view, the GOP should have been strongly favored to win.

    The GOP establishment will fight like mad dogs against any possibility they may have to dump Rommey, whether from internal forces within the party or external forces outside of it, because they know their only other available alternatives at this point (Santorum, Gingrich, Paul) are all such potential landslide losers that they would take any possibility of gaining a Senate majority or retaining a House majority down the drain with them. That would also mark the final turning point where they lost all remaining control of the party to the Teahadists.

  11. 11.

    Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God

    July 12, 2012 at 5:42 pm

    Next excuse: Mitt Romney declares that he remained CEO on Paper from 1999-2002 so he could keep his health insurance.

  12. 12.

    AnonPhenom

    July 12, 2012 at 5:43 pm

    Perjury!
    What will we tell the children?
    Impeach!

  13. 13.

    Catsy

    July 12, 2012 at 5:44 pm

    Shorter ABL: I know the other FPers have already exhaustively covered this subject, but I can’t pass up an opportunity to divert traffic to my own blog while adding nothing new to this one.

  14. 14.

    J.D. Rhoades

    July 12, 2012 at 5:45 pm

    Clearly, we need hours of Congressional hearings on this.

  15. 15.

    J.D. Rhoades

    July 12, 2012 at 5:45 pm

    Clearly, we need hours of Congressional hearings on this.

  16. 16.

    Mike G

    July 12, 2012 at 5:47 pm

    RMoney: Believe in America
    RMoney: Invest in Bermuda
    RMoney: Deposit in Geneva
    RMoney: Layoffs in Indiana
    RMoney: Move Jobs to Calcutta

  17. 17.

    Kilkee

    July 12, 2012 at 5:48 pm

    Romney’s gonna have to take the approach that “Well, sure, I was TECHNICALLY the CEO, but I really wasn’t managing anything.” It may sound crazy, and invite lawsuits, but it’s the only way he stays alive until November.

  18. 18.

    Kilkee

    July 12, 2012 at 5:48 pm

    Romney’s gonna have to take the approach that “Well, sure, I was TECHNICALLY the CEO, but I really wasn’t managing anything.” It may sound crazy, and invite lawsuits, but it’s the only way he stays alive until November.

  19. 19.

    Kilkee

    July 12, 2012 at 5:48 pm

    Romney’s gonna have to take the approach that “Well, sure, I was TECHNICALLY the CEO, but I really wasn’t managing anything.” It may sound crazy, and invite lawsuits, but it’s the only way he stays alive until November.

  20. 20.

    Valdivia

    July 12, 2012 at 5:49 pm

    @Mike G:

    Awesome.

  21. 21.

    the Conster

    July 12, 2012 at 5:49 pm

    @Mike G:

    RMoney: Profit from aborted fetuses.

    That’s what this Bain FAIL is all about.

  22. 22.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    July 12, 2012 at 5:50 pm

    Boston Globe will NOT issue a correction to its story

    http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/07/boston-globe-will-not-issue-correction-128799.html

    But we knew that already, so it was stupid of the campaign to ask.

  23. 23.

    the Conster

    July 12, 2012 at 5:50 pm

    @Kilkee:

    So, the only thing he can run on is being a no-show at his job? Awesome.

  24. 24.

    Southern Beale

    July 12, 2012 at 5:50 pm

    Via Oliver Willis who got it from CNN, here is a 2001 document which shows Mitt Romney listed as the CEO of Bain Capital.

    Liar.

  25. 25.

    quannlace

    July 12, 2012 at 5:51 pm

    You’d think that any serious candidate for President, in order to set the record straight, would call a press conference and explain it all to the american people. And answer any reporters questions about……. Oh, wait. What am I thinking?
    *******************
    For Romneyland, it’s all ‘Na-na-na, can’t hear you!’ and ‘I’m rubber, your’e glue….’ and ‘You’re a big fat liar and are just being mean to me..’

  26. 26.

    PeakVT

    July 12, 2012 at 5:51 pm

    Hoo-doggie. Here’s your new word for today, folks: Stericycle.

    ETA: I take it that this has been posted in a previous thread. Carry on.

  27. 27.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    July 12, 2012 at 5:53 pm

    @the Conster:

    This, and when you think about it, no matter how they spin it, Romney was still making $100K a year from Bain and Bain was making money from aborted fetuses, whether he had anything to do with it or not, Romney was profiting off aborted fetuses.
    We have GOT to hang that round his neck.

  28. 28.

    the Conster

    July 12, 2012 at 5:53 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    Shorter Globe: w3 R in Ur base klln UR d00dZ

  29. 29.

    Tonal Crow

    July 12, 2012 at 5:55 pm

    @Catsy:

    Shorter ABL: I know the other FPers have already exhaustively covered this subject, but I can’t pass up an opportunity to divert traffic to my own blog while adding nothing new to this one.

    I completely agree, but in this case, the more the better. We need to light up the intertubes with this story, and never let it go.

    Tagline: Romney lied about Bain.

  30. 30.

    Jay in Oregon

    July 12, 2012 at 5:56 pm

    @Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God:
    /spittake

    I think we’re done here, folks. I dunno what can top this.

  31. 31.

    Calouste

    July 12, 2012 at 5:57 pm

    @Kilkee:

    The Romney campaign could also directly forward the line “Well, sure, TECHNICALLY I am going to be President, but I really am not going to be managing anything.” to Jay Leno’s writers to save them the, oh, thirty seconds it would take them to come up with it themselves.

  32. 32.

    BGinCHI

    July 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm

    This story has me seriously worried.

    What in the fuck are we going to do if they get someone competent to run in his place?

    I can hear the Paulistas cheering from here.

  33. 33.

    beltane

    July 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: I love how The Globe mentioned that their story was based on documents Bain itself filed with the government.

    Romney is a bully, not a fighter, and he’s so accustomed to getting his way by threatening people with sternly worded letters that he doesn’t know the least thing about real damage control.

  34. 34.

    maven

    July 12, 2012 at 6:00 pm

    Just listened to Randi Rhodes…….she has just had a vision of how corrupt everything is. Wow. Was she on vacation somewhere?

    Never heard her like this before.

  35. 35.

    Ash Can

    July 12, 2012 at 6:02 pm

    Oh, and the Romney campaign has cancelled its fundraising dinner in Israel that had been scheduled to take place on a day of fasting. The perfectly brilliant people running Romney’s campaign say they knew about the day of fast, but didn’t think anyone would make such a big deal about it.

    Yes. Really.

  36. 36.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    July 12, 2012 at 6:03 pm

    @Catsy: John allows this with all of his FPers, not just ABL.

  37. 37.

    beltane

    July 12, 2012 at 6:03 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Wouldn’t it be great if some 3rd party group ran ads in the Bible belt detailing the activities of Mitt’s baby fetus incinerator? It wouldn’t shift a single vote to Obama but it could do a lot to depress turnout among voters who are already wary of the patrician Mormon from Massachusetts.

  38. 38.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 12, 2012 at 6:03 pm

    @ploeg:

    Only if it’s about blow jobs.

    If it’s about money, or instigating a war, or exposing a CIA operative, it’s trivial.

  39. 39.

    PeakVT

    July 12, 2012 at 6:05 pm

    @BGinCHI: But who is better than Romney? JEB!? Paul? Ayatollah Santorum? No, no, and definitely no. The sad fact is that he’s the best they have.

    Obama is going to win. The question is whether he’ll be able to govern. And right now, since the Repukes are likely to hold the House, the answer is no. That’s what we should be worrying about.

  40. 40.

    dmsilev

    July 12, 2012 at 6:06 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Hah.

    The Globe has spent the last decade or so taking potshots at Romney; what on Earth made his campaign think that they would just meekly back down from a story like this?

  41. 41.

    Violet

    July 12, 2012 at 6:06 pm

    @BGinCHI: Who competent could step in the fix this mess? Romney’s the one who won the delegates. And…ooops…people voted for a fraud. Scramble, scramble, now we support…Santorum! No, wait, Ron Paul! No, wait, let’s go with another boring white guy governor, how about Pawlenty! No, wait, Gingrich won a state!

    That’s what’ll happen if Romney steps down. I know he won’t step down unless someone is lined up to take his place, but all that will leak out before he steps down and chaos will ensue as his advisers flee the sinking ship. The media will be all over it because it’s a great scandal. There just no way they can get to the convention in a united manner. They may try, but the damage will be done.

  42. 42.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 12, 2012 at 6:06 pm

    @Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God:

    Win!

  43. 43.

    dmsilev

    July 12, 2012 at 6:07 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    What in the fuck are we going to do if they get someone competent to run in his place?

    Sarah Palin is rested and ready…

  44. 44.

    beltane

    July 12, 2012 at 6:08 pm

    Pete Sessions (R-TX) says it’s fair game to go after Mitt’s finances: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/07/12/house-gop-campaign-chief-says-romneys-personal-finances-fair-game/

    What on earth is going on here?

  45. 45.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    July 12, 2012 at 6:10 pm

    Oooooh someone (don’t know the guys name) just said on The Rev Al’s show that when he was running for gov in 2002 there was a question as to whether or not he could run cause he had been in Utah for two years, his argument was that he had just taken “a leave of absence” from Bain and his intention was always to return, he didn’t of course, but he said in order to run for Gov “that his intention was always to return to Bain”.

  46. 46.

    Elisabeth

    July 12, 2012 at 6:10 pm

    @Southern Beale:
    I don’t generally deal with these kinds of forms but that seems mighty sloppy to me.

  47. 47.

    Catsy

    July 12, 2012 at 6:10 pm

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent): Yes, and that’s their prerogative–but only ABL is this blatant and shameless about it. She doesn’t even bother adding content to these posts anymore; the substance of her posts here amount to nothing more than “hey, come visit my blog”.

    It may well be within her rights and whatever “rules” John has for this place, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t disrespectful or tacky, nor is it beyond criticism.

    And I say this as someone who used to defend her. I can’t and won’t defend this.

  48. 48.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 12, 2012 at 6:10 pm

    @beltane:

    I do believe it’s the first sign of a teatard revolt to remove the Marquis from the ticket.

  49. 49.

    dmsilev

    July 12, 2012 at 6:10 pm

    @Violet:

    That’s what’ll happen if Romney steps down. I know he won’t step down unless someone is lined up to take his place, but all that will leak out before he steps down and chaos will ensue as his advisers flee the sinking ship. The media will be all over it because it’s a great scandal. There just no way they can get to the convention in a united manner. They may try, but the damage will be done.

    Romney stepping down would basically be the GOP saying “we concede this election”. Aside from the utter and complete clusterfuck that would ensue for picking a replacement, that lucky soul would have all of two months to go from standing still to Presidential Election. As Rick Perry proved so well, that’s not much time even during the long, drawn out, primary season.

    Not going to happen, short of the apocryphal live boy/dead girl level scandal.

  50. 50.

    Sophist(from droid)

    July 12, 2012 at 6:13 pm

    Isn’t Romney’s chief argument that his business experience makes him a good candidate? Now he either has to admit that he has been lying his ass off, or argue that his business experience largely consists of doing nothing while other people make his money for him.

    Excuse me while I snicker uncontrollably.

  51. 51.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    July 12, 2012 at 6:15 pm

    @dmsilev: And, I hate to say, is not the nail in his coffin. It won’t bring him down, but it’ll probably shave another point off of his election chances.

  52. 52.

    BGinCHI

    July 12, 2012 at 6:16 pm

    @PeakVT: Don’t throw us in that briar patch!

  53. 53.

    BGinCHI

    July 12, 2012 at 6:17 pm

    @dmsilev: I can hear her treadmill from my house.

  54. 54.

    Calouste

    July 12, 2012 at 6:18 pm

    @beltane:

    Down ticket candidates want this shit out of the way ASAP, they are not willing to sacrifice their seat for Romney’s vanity run. If it is going to come out in october, MS Mittanic is going to drag the whole ticket down. If it comes out now, captain Romney will go down with the ship, but the reps and senators can scramble for the lifeboats.

  55. 55.

    the Conster

    July 12, 2012 at 6:19 pm

    @Elisabeth:

    I prepare and file these forms frequently and have for many years – it was dashed off, but completely filled in and signed. All it is, is an annual report required to be filed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for every domestic and foreign corporation doing business in the state, which maintains the corporation’s “good standing”. It’s minimal disclosure, but it’s signed under penalty of perjury and the right officers and directors have to be listed.

  56. 56.

    RinaX

    July 12, 2012 at 6:19 pm

    @cmorenc:

    Yes. I remember when the Obama campaign first started going after Romney on Bain, and how the media was insisting that it was a waste of time and that nobody cared. Thank goodness the Obama campaign ignored them and the so-called Democratic surrogates who wanted them to give up on this. Bain is now poisonous to Romney’s campaign.

    It really doesn’t matter if the media still insists it’s not important. Romney did not want to run on his record as governor, and all of his “business experience” is being systematically shat on by the Obama campaign.

  57. 57.

    Elisabeth

    July 12, 2012 at 6:21 pm

    @the Conster:

    Thanks. Just seems like maybe someone could have typed it or something. Not that that’s important ~ just struck me as odd.

  58. 58.

    Amir Khalid

    July 12, 2012 at 6:22 pm

    What I find most shocking about Mitt is that for someone who’s had so much practice at lying, he is still so bad at it.

    @quannlace:
    Mitt screwed the pooch with the media when he demanded that the Washington Post retract a story that was perfectly true. A politician can buy the media off if he has the scratch (or hosts a good barbecue). But for God’s sake he must never make baseless accusations against their professionalism, because these people are perfectly placed to make his life a misery. Yet Mitt has so not learned his lesson that he just did it again with the Boston Globe.

    If Mitt were to call a clear-the-air press conference, who among the assembled media would now report his words uncritically? His dick move with the WaPo and Boston Globe just bought him a lot of grief from one profession he mustn’t piss off.

  59. 59.

    J. Michael Neal

    July 12, 2012 at 6:23 pm

    @Southern Beale: That isn’t an SEC document. It was filed with the state (excuse me, commonwealth) of Massachusetts. So Willis has it mislabeled.

  60. 60.

    Tonal Crow

    July 12, 2012 at 6:24 pm

    The Guardian’s on the story. They say

    Both Bain and Romney’s campaign have dismissed the discrepancy as a technicality – a mere matter of bookkeeping and that Romney had no executive management role at Bain whatsoever after 1999. And yet he didn’t sign a resignation deal with Bain until 2002 – although the deal was backdated to 1999.

    Oh-oh!

  61. 61.

    the Conster

    July 12, 2012 at 6:25 pm

    @Elisabeth:

    Well, if they only knew how odd it would look 12 years later, they may have taken a little bit more time with it.

  62. 62.

    marv

    July 12, 2012 at 6:25 pm

    The Stericycle thing won’t hurt him with the base. All he has to do is remind them he was prochoice back…never mind.

  63. 63.

    BGinCHI

    July 12, 2012 at 6:25 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Amir, you realize that if Cole ever runs for President you’ll be evidence that he offshored his comments, right?

    I’m guessing someone here can get you some false papers.

  64. 64.

    Mike Furlan

    July 12, 2012 at 6:25 pm

    BTW

    If unemployment is 10%, or maybe even 9%, none of this will matter. Romney will win.

    We’ll see what the economy looks like in November.

  65. 65.

    Violet

    July 12, 2012 at 6:26 pm

    @Calouste: I agree. Downticket candidates don’t want Captain Romney hanging around their neck if he turns out to be nothing but a dead weight. They want this stuff out now so they can distance themselves if they have to.

  66. 66.

    Tonal Crow

    July 12, 2012 at 6:26 pm

    @RinaX:

    Yes. I remember when the Obama campaign first started going after Romney on Bain, and how the media was insisting that it was a waste of time and that nobody cared. Thank goodness the Obama campaign ignored them and the so-called Democratic surrogates who wanted them to give up on this. Bain is now poisonous to Romney’s campaign.

    Those “so-called Democratic surrogates” nauseate me.

  67. 67.

    Rex Everything

    July 12, 2012 at 6:26 pm

    @Jon O.: THANK YOU.

  68. 68.

    RinaX

    July 12, 2012 at 6:26 pm

    Also, too, the Obama campaign tells Mittens to fuck off with his demands for an apology. Ok, not like that, but still no apology. I will, however, offer an apology for linking to Politico.

    http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/07/obama-wont-apologize-for-staff-on-bain-128788.html

    “No,” Obama press secretary Ben LaBolt said in response to a question from POLITICO about whether the president would apologize.

  69. 69.

    KG

    July 12, 2012 at 6:27 pm

    I remember a few years back, talking to my dad about some strange political event happening, I forget what it was now, but it was one of those things that “you couldn’t possibly imagining happening” and he said, “nope, won’t happen.” And I said, “in 1992, if I told you that we’d see a sitting president impeached, a president win the electoral college while losing the popular vote, and a black man elected president all within 15 years, you’d be shocked by one of those things.” We’ve seen enough crazy ass shit since I graduated high school in the mid-90s that I put nothing out of the realm of possible. So, Mitt stepping aside before the convention for “health reasons” wouldn’t surprise me at all. And it might be the only way I would tune in for more than one or two speeches.

  70. 70.

    Rex Everything

    July 12, 2012 at 6:30 pm

    @Catsy: THIS. Needed to be said.

  71. 71.

    burnspbesq

    July 12, 2012 at 6:31 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    Gotta love FOIA and state public records laws. :-)

  72. 72.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    July 12, 2012 at 6:31 pm

    @KG: I wouldn’t be surprised if he stepped down not for his health reasons but because of Anne’s he has a perfect out there and people would sympathize with him for it.

  73. 73.

    J.D. Rhoades

    July 12, 2012 at 6:32 pm

    @Kilkee:

    Romney’s gonna have to take the approach that “Well, sure, I was TECHNICALLY the CEO, but I really wasn’t managing anything.” It may sound crazy, and invite lawsuits, but it’s the only way he stays alive until November.

    Will this be the Romney equivalent of “I didn’t inhale?”

  74. 74.

    Amir Khalid

    July 12, 2012 at 6:32 pm

    @BGinCHI:
    If I took away any well-paid American jobs commenting at Balloon Juice, too bad. I gotta eat too, and I work for less than you.

  75. 75.

    ABL

    July 12, 2012 at 6:32 pm

    @Catsy: Take it up with Cole. It was his idea.

  76. 76.

    John O

    July 12, 2012 at 6:33 pm

    I don’t think the rank and file voter cares much about Bain. Everyone knows outsourcing is basically a bipartisan, “capitalist” reality.

    I’d back up the bus on this one, expand the picture, and focus more on the fact that with Romney and a GOP Senate/House, there will be tent cities on the DC Mall by the end of Romney’s first term.

  77. 77.

    Elisabeth

    July 12, 2012 at 6:34 pm

    @the Conster:
    A lesson to us all. :)

  78. 78.

    General Stuck

    July 12, 2012 at 6:35 pm

    @beltane:

    Nobody believes me, or almost nobody, but the long knives are coming out for Mitt in a party now run wholly by southern wingnuts. And those knives were already sitting on the counter. They only went along with Romney as the nominee cause all the other candidates were worse. The only people in the GOP that will stand for Mitt, are the bigger money people, and that may be enough to save him. But the rank and file are up to here with him, and there are a lot more of them than the country club goopers. And now that his incessant lying has run up against corporate legalities versus potential political suicide, those southern wingnuts are not going to bat for him. And why I say he is toast as the GOP candidate. Now that may not happen until later on, at the convention — but he has to put a stop to this story now, and the only way to do that is tell the world he was legally responsible for what Bain did during the time that the main charges of outsourcing were happening there. If he does that, he might survive as their candidate, though deeply wounded politically, but who believes this guy is even capable of telling the truth. His campaign is out of control, and reduced to screaming at newsies like the Globe to retract these stories, as well as the original WAPO expo, until Kessler showed up to bat for Mitt. There is a paper trail to this shit, and if people can read, they can see the moral turpitude for themselves. That can’t be spun away very easily, or at all.

    And if he sticks to his story, there is reason for the feds to look into the matter. These SEC papers are only the tip of a huge Wall Street ethos iceberg, that is not going away. Unless someone believes that Mitt was the only only one in that snakepit that has been acting ethically the past decade.

  79. 79.

    Tonal Crow

    July 12, 2012 at 6:36 pm

    Romney Superposition Paradox (n): A strange state in which a conscious being simultaneously claims to be President, CEO, Chairman of the Board, and sole shareholder of a company — and to have nothing whatsoever to do with its management.

  80. 80.

    Amir Khalid

    July 12, 2012 at 6:39 pm

    @J.D. Rhoades:
    But Mitt did inhale. He inhaled three hundred large in “salary” over those three years for doing jack shit.

  81. 81.

    General Stuck

    July 12, 2012 at 6:41 pm

    @Jon O.:

    What the fuck is wrong with you morons. I thought we finally put this bash ABL garbage to rest. It is not your blog, and the owner has made his self known to have signed off on the posting style ABL uses.

  82. 82.

    Tonal Crow

    July 12, 2012 at 6:42 pm

    @RinaX:

    Also, too, the Obama campaign tells Mittens to fuck off with his demands for an apology. Ok, not like that, but still no apology. I will, however, offer an apology for linking to Politico.

    By the FSM’s intimate noodle-like appendages, Obama suddenly seems to have grown a pair!

  83. 83.

    Valdivia

    July 12, 2012 at 6:44 pm

    And I see that the Romney team is now screaming and yelling about one bit of an interview Obama gave to Charlie Rose to distract from this. Ha ha. Good luck with that.

  84. 84.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    July 12, 2012 at 6:44 pm

    @General Stuck:

    Oh let them stamp their little feet and hold their breath until they turn blue. The grown ups will just ignore them as usual.

  85. 85.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    July 12, 2012 at 6:45 pm

    @Valdivia:

    Yeah, to say that is weak sauce is an understatement.

  86. 86.

    scav

    July 12, 2012 at 6:46 pm

    @Tonal Crow: Or he just has a different sense of when to keep his pants on and when to deploy. Sometimes it’s the seven veils that make the dance work.

  87. 87.

    Turgidson

    July 12, 2012 at 6:46 pm

    @RinaX:

    Haha. I was hoping for another pithy but devastating comment like the campaign’s statement re Hugo Chavez. But a flat “no” is pretty good too.

    I don’t think the electorate looks too fondly on a bunch of thin-skinned crybabies. So keep crying, Team Mittens.

  88. 88.

    patrick II

    July 12, 2012 at 6:46 pm

    ABL:

    In other words, he can either admit that he’s been lying for 10 years about how long he had an active role in Bain Capital, and therefore take responsibility for all of the outsourcing of jobs and layoffs and bankruptcies, or he can keep lying like the dirty liar he is and wait for the lawsuits against him to stack up.

    What lawsuits? Do you mean prosecutions for perjury? Which isn’t going to happen. Or is there civil liability? Lying to voters isn’t a crime that I know of.

  89. 89.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    July 12, 2012 at 6:46 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Not only that he inhaled 300 large in salary made on profits from aborted fetuses. Got to keep that out there.

  90. 90.

    General Stuck

    July 12, 2012 at 6:47 pm

    @Tonal Crow:

    You have not been paying attention. Obama has always had a pair. It just wasn’t done by pounding the lecturn, but with a different style. The wingnuts have got zero from him the past four years. It is why they have gone completely insane.

  91. 91.

    KG

    July 12, 2012 at 6:47 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: That would definitely be more plausible, and no one (reasonable) could fault him for that. I just used the quotation marks because that would be the most logical answer for why he didn’t run after running for six years straight

  92. 92.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    July 12, 2012 at 6:48 pm

    @patrick II:

    If people invested in Bain believing that Mittens was in charge then they have a viable claim of fraud against him, or that is my understanding of the situation.

  93. 93.

    Turgidson

    July 12, 2012 at 6:49 pm

    @John O:

    I’d back up the bus on this one, expand the picture, and focus more on the fact that with Romney and a GOP Senate/House, there will be tent cities on the DC Mall by the end of Romney’s first term year month.

    Fixt 4 U.

  94. 94.

    Valdivia

    July 12, 2012 at 6:49 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    I do think that a lot of DC people have totally underestimated just how much of a glass jaw Mitt had. And now, bit by bit they are seeing his aura of Galtian Overlord punctured and can’t stand it. It is pretty toxic stuff for the regular folks and no matter how much they yell and scream this one will leave a mark.

  95. 95.

    Walker

    July 12, 2012 at 6:50 pm

    @John O:

    I don’t think the rank and file voter cares much about Bain. Everyone knows outsourcing is basically a bipartisan, “capitalist” reality.

    Except that the Bain ads are proven effective (by polls) in Swing states. In this day and age, data wins over some person’s unsubstantiated feelings.

  96. 96.

    gwangung

    July 12, 2012 at 6:50 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Eh. Not likely, though. Most investors at that level would be acquaintances of Romney or other 1% ers who wouldnt mind his absence.

    Though I;m not sure how the SEC would look upon that…

  97. 97.

    Valdivia

    July 12, 2012 at 6:51 pm

    @patrick II:

    lying to stockholders I assume. Because SEC filing tell those who invest in the Company who is in charge and they were lied to, if he wasn’t but his name was still attached.

  98. 98.

    chopper

    July 12, 2012 at 6:52 pm

    jesus, mittens could fuck up a bread sandwich, couldn’t he?

  99. 99.

    David Koch

    July 12, 2012 at 6:52 pm

    Ooooof!

    Can he survive another six weeks of pounding?

    General Axelrod is disseminating him. Just tearing him to shreds.

    Even the liburel POLITICO is saying it’s an open question whether Mitty committed federal crimes.

    Can he survive six more weeks of Shock and Awe?

    By the time the Tampa convention arrives in late August, he may be forced from the ticket by Rupert and the Coke brothers.

  100. 100.

    Rex Everything

    July 12, 2012 at 6:53 pm

    @General Stuck:

    the owner has made his self known to have signed off on the posting style ABL uses.

    That doesn’t make it any less of a tacky & pathetic embarrassment.

  101. 101.

    scav

    July 12, 2012 at 6:54 pm

    @chopper: You mean those things made with $1000 bills?

  102. 102.

    General Stuck

    July 12, 2012 at 6:54 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    If people invested in Bain believing that Mittens was in charge then they have a viable claim of fraud against him, or that is my understanding of the situation.

    And I’ve been reading item after item from the right and others that this is no big deal because there is a difference between being legally in charge of something, and actually running that something day to day. The SEC takes this shit seriously, for the reason you cite for the huge amounts of monies at stake for investors to invest in companies.

  103. 103.

    Thoughtcrime

    July 12, 2012 at 6:54 pm

    Bush: “You have to keep repeating things to catapult the propaganda”.

    Romney: “I need a bigger catapult”.

  104. 104.

    John O

    July 12, 2012 at 6:54 pm

    @Turgidson:

    Nah, it takes at least a year or two for economic policies to translate into real-life problems.

    A big part of my fantasy-politics self hopes that Romeny wins, gets the House and Senate, and the Dems make a big public display of rolling over and giving them everything they want. “Give the People What They Want.”

    Only then will we restore sanity.

    I tend to take the long view.

  105. 105.

    freelancer

    July 12, 2012 at 6:56 pm

    @PeakVT:

    To Paraphrase TBogg, If you want a $600,000 boathouse and a dancing horse, you gotta get up pretty early to start throwing fetuses in the woodchipper.

  106. 106.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    July 12, 2012 at 6:56 pm

    @David Koch:

    Like Weigel said in a tweet earlier “seems like the organization who got a black guy with the middle name “Hussein” elected really know what they are doing”

  107. 107.

    General Stuck

    July 12, 2012 at 6:57 pm

    @Rex Everything:

    That doesn’t make it any less of a tacky & pathetic embarrassment.

    Sure it does on a private blog. But you can voice your prissy opinion, and blow it out yer ass.

  108. 108.

    Ruckus

    July 12, 2012 at 7:01 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt:
    I just wish they’d turn blue faster.
    To help them along, a little lesson. (Which they won’t understand)
    1. It ain’t your blog.
    2. Grow the fuck up.
    3. That about covers it.

  109. 109.

    David Koch

    July 12, 2012 at 7:02 pm

    I haven’t seen such carpet bombing since LBJ unleashed the air force during Tet

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRwMuFTWcMk&feature=player_detailpage#t=98s

  110. 110.

    SRW1

    July 12, 2012 at 7:04 pm

    @Ash Can:

    Damn it. They so could have saved on the catering expenses.

  111. 111.

    pseudonymous in nc

    July 12, 2012 at 7:10 pm

    The omnishambles of the Rmoney campaign should, perhaps, make us think about the inherent capabilities of the venture capitalists, management consultants and associated professions that proclaim themselves masters of the universe.

    As I said here a while back, I know what management consultants do at work, and I really wouldn’t want them running a lemonade stand.

  112. 112.

    Rex Everything

    July 12, 2012 at 7:10 pm

    @General Stuck:

    Sure it does on a private blog

    No. It really doesn’t.

    blow it out yer ass.

    Aw, and soil your mother’s dentures? Well … OK …

  113. 113.

    mclaren

    July 12, 2012 at 7:10 pm

    Finally! Bravo! ABL hammers on the Repubs for a change!

    Not just a lie, but a possible felony. Romney may have committed a felony when he lied about being in charge of Bain. Wouldn’t it be awesome if Romney were indicted on a felony charge just as he became the Republican nominee…?

  114. 114.

    Catsy

    July 12, 2012 at 7:15 pm

    @ABL: Don’t deflect this onto Cole. He isn’t the one posting these substance-free spam posts–you are. Nobody’s forcing you to do it; you’re choosing to.

    And it’s a shitty, disrespectful practice. Do you really think you’re adding anything of value here with these posts? You used to. You used to post actual content, and whether one agreed with it or not it added something of value to the site. Now what you’re doing is no better and adds nothing more than the people who wade in to post a one-liner for no reason other than to pimp their own blog.

    Like I said: it’s your right and John’s. But that doesn’t make it right, or beyond criticism. And you don’t get to dodge responsibility for your own choices by telling us to take it up with the management.

  115. 115.

    General Stuck

    July 12, 2012 at 7:15 pm

    @Rex Everything:

    Aw, and soil your mother’s dentures? Well … OK …

    Thanks, tells me all I need to know about your stupid ass.

    You wanna lecture us some more on ‘tacky and pathetic embarrassment’?

  116. 116.

    Rex Everything

    July 12, 2012 at 7:20 pm

    @General Stuck:

    Nah, I’ll just sit here turning blue while all you grown ups ignore me.

  117. 117.

    Catsy

    July 12, 2012 at 7:20 pm

    @General Stuck: Oh, stick a fucking cork in it, Stuck. You are not the arbiter of what is and isn’t a legitimate criticism or topic for discussion here. John has the right to let his FPers do whatever they want, we have the right to express our opinions of their actions, and you have the right to not like our opinions. If your train of thought breaks down on any of those three points, you’re in the wrong place.

  118. 118.

    AxelFoley

    July 12, 2012 at 7:23 pm

    @Mike Furlan:

    BTW
    If unemployment is 10%, or maybe even 9%, none of this will matter. Romney will win.
    We’ll see what the economy looks like in November.

    Well, that ain’t gonna happen, so we’ll just be enjoying President Obama’s second inauguration in January.

  119. 119.

    General Stuck

    July 12, 2012 at 7:30 pm

    @Catsy:

    and you have the right to not like our opinions. If your train of thought breaks down on any of those three points, you’re in the wrong place.

    My train of thought is that you are a worthless piece of prissy shit, as I related last time we tangled. You have gone way past simply expressing your opinion, to continue attacking ABL, and her style of front paging that has the blessing of the blog owner. Like I said, start your own blog, if you can’t control yourself on this one. That is my opinion.

  120. 120.

    Catsy

    July 12, 2012 at 7:43 pm

    @General Stuck: Good grief, if your fee-fees are wounded by the relatively mild and non-ad-hominem criticism I offered of her posting style, you’re even more fragile than your usual attitude problems would suggest.

    Like I said: you are not the arbiter of what is and isn’t a legitimate topic for discussion on this blog, no matter how much you want to try and act like it. You are as much of a little turd in a big bowl as anyone else here, and it’s not your place to moderate these threads. If you don’t like my opinions of ABL’s linkspam posts, you have as much opportunity to refute them as any other poster. But so far all you’ve done is bleat out nonsense that boils down to “WAAH LEAVE ABL ALONE!”

    She’s a big girl, Sparky. She can defend herself, and has. Now run along. Adults talking.

  121. 121.

    General Stuck

    July 12, 2012 at 7:53 pm

    @Catsy:

    I think it precious that you are bloviating on how I don’t dictate what or how people talk here, at the same time you keep on with attacking ABL’s STYLE, sparky. And attacks like that have a long nasty history on this blog, and some of us had thought the matter settled that that style was stamped for approval by the blog owner. But dipshits like you and the other morons on this thread keep beating that dead horse. Try commenting on the substance of what ABL puts forth, not whinging about her STYLE. And you are right, both of us are peons here with opinions. And I just gave you mine. I have no fee fees where you are concerned, and the bullshit you type. Only contempt and dismissal for sick attacks on ABL’s style. It’s funny you got a different perception of that. You must be something special in your own mind.

  122. 122.

    Rex Everything

    July 12, 2012 at 7:57 pm

    @General Stuck: You forgot “prissy.”

    For, like, the first time.

    Like, EVER.

  123. 123.

    General Stuck

    July 12, 2012 at 8:00 pm

    @Rex Everything:

    Don’t want to use up a good insult in one thread. The night is young.

  124. 124.

    Rex Everything

    July 12, 2012 at 8:09 pm

    Cheers. Which reminds me, I’ve got some drinking to do…

  125. 125.

    xian

    July 12, 2012 at 8:18 pm

    @dmsilev: time to rouse out Alan Keyes?

    much as I’d love this scenario (Obama would take 42+ states), I don’t see it happening.

  126. 126.

    Patricia Kayden

    July 12, 2012 at 8:24 pm

    I absolutely love this. His lies have finally got up and bit him in his flat behind.

    Not looking good for Romneybot 2.0. Poor thing. Perhaps he should have charted out all the lies he has to tell during the election campaign so that he wouldn’t get trapped. AT LEAST UNTIL AFTER HE’S ELECTED.

  127. 127.

    Uncle Ebeneezer

    July 12, 2012 at 8:48 pm

    Oh come on ABL, you’re ignoring the most obvious explanation. The same phantom underling that wrote the Ron Paul newsletter’s juiciest bits without Ron ever knowing about it, is undoubtedly the culprit. He signed Mitt’s name on the SEC filings and then disappeared into thin air. It was the Republican Keiser Soze, if you will.

    Now let’s move past this instance of a millionaire receiving $100K for allegedly doing nothing, and get back to focussing on his plan for how to deal with all these bloody unemployment freeloaders who want something for nothing.

  128. 128.

    Uncle Ebeneezer

    July 12, 2012 at 9:06 pm

    @Catsy: For no real reason other than luck of which site I discovered first, ABL’s homepage is not on my daily radar, however BJ is. So I’m glad that ABL drops by to remind those of us here who want to read her thoughts on a topic that is getting alot of ink (pixels) over here. So while I can understand your criticism, to me, one extra click is really not that big of a deal given the way the internet generally works (plus I kinda consider ABL’s site like another branch of BJ.)

    I offer this only as an alternate perspective that might explain the policy. In this case, one reader (me) finds the aggregating function to be a positive thing that adds value to BJ and keeps me coming back.

    PS great catch on the Cutter SEC tweets. Great stuff.

  129. 129.

    Patricia Kayden

    July 12, 2012 at 9:47 pm

    Why are people responding to Catsy, et al? Not understanding why ABL felt the need to respond to him/her either.

    Stick to the topic — Romneybot 2.0 is a liar liar liar! Dying to see how this plays out and loving this death of the Bot by 1000 cuts.

    When Talibanian Santorum said that Romneybot was the absolute worst candidate to run against the President, he was prophetic.

    LOVING IT!

  130. 130.

    Concerned Citizen

    July 12, 2012 at 9:49 pm

    @Catsy: Isn’t Cole sacrificing content for links? Seems like a tradeoff that both sides are happy with.

    Personally I like the Cesca / Daily Banter trade off better, but to each his or her own.

    If two consenting adults are happy, who am I to argue?

    Edit: ABL’s site has the header that people at work give the hairy eyeball over. Rather be here. At home, no issue.

  131. 131.

    hitchhiker

    July 12, 2012 at 10:20 pm

    @Catsy:

    Fer fks sake . . . what are YOU adding that’s substantive? Obviously more than a hundred posts later, the folk at BJ appreciate the chance to keep talking about this.

    Thx, ABL.

  132. 132.

    rikyrah

    July 12, 2012 at 10:24 pm

    I learned something new today on the Willard story watching Lawrence O’Donnell’s show tonight.

    We need to stop saying that Willard earned $100,000 in those years after he supposedly left. That is not the case. He got AT LEAST $100,000. The actual amount is ….you guessed it….IN THE TAX RETURNS.

    PS- LOVE YOU, ABL!!

  133. 133.

    Rex Everything

    July 12, 2012 at 10:41 pm

    @hitchhiker: Snort! Yeah … Catsy has done nothing substantive at Balloon Juice today. Really? Do you read this blog, dude?

  134. 134.

    sneezy

    July 12, 2012 at 11:43 pm

    @ABL:

    Take it up with Cole. It was his idea.

    That’s spineless. What you do is on you.

  135. 135.

    hitchhiker

    July 12, 2012 at 11:49 pm

    @Rex Everything:

    In this thread, show me the deep, on topic substance that added to everybody’s store of knowledge.

    I have all night.

  136. 136.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    July 13, 2012 at 12:18 am

    @Amir Khalid: Perfect! You win the thread. And can I just say that I really enjoy all your comments. The best combination of civility and shiv.

  137. 137.

    Ruckus

    July 13, 2012 at 1:20 am

    I’m just wondering if there might be an underlying motive going on with all the ABL bashing. I read the blog a lot and I don’t recognize most of the people making all the fuss. It’s like a blog drive by. Maybe it’s something having to do with, oh I don’t know, what the B in ABL stands for. Just a guess, probably wrong, I’m sure everyone involved has friends that B would be descriptive of.

  138. 138.

    Cassidy

    July 13, 2012 at 8:41 am

    Oh for fuck’s sake, are people still whining about ABL. When she did fuller post it was “you’re formatting is wrong” and “your font color messes with me” and “I’m a fucking whiner, placate me”. Now that her posts are cleaner and less intrusive (basically, you odn’t have to scroll past them, you click to go to them) it’s all whining all the time. Sometimes you people can’t be pleased.

  139. 139.

    JR in WV

    July 13, 2012 at 2:41 pm

    Anyway Rmoney twists it, he comes out a lying PoS.

    Either he lied on the SEC forms, in the speeches, and/or the FEC forms. Also, too, some state forms, also. As well.

    So fine. It may not win the election by itself. If he gets indicted, the 27% will scream about a politically inspired prosecution. If the SEC finds him guilty of securities fraud for false filing, the same all over – politically inspired persecution again, also too.

    But if he’s caught on paper lying his ass off, they should fly the flag high until November comes and he loses big. Willard is obviously not capable of running anything as complicated as a pre-school day camp. I sure hope he doesn’t become fearless leader, I might have to go back to work after enjoying retirement, if the economy shits the bed.

  140. 140.

    JakeZ

    July 13, 2012 at 6:20 pm

    @Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God:

    I think you nailed it. The same way that Tony Soprano was an employee of the waste management company so he could keep getting his W-2 and insurance.

  141. 141.

    Ajay Jain

    July 14, 2012 at 2:04 pm

    Mitt Romney is clearly feeling the heat on BAIN his sole criteria for running for the American Presidency!
    When SEC documents show Mitt Romney as CEO, President and Managing director of Bain Capital in 2001 and 2002 then LEGALLY speaking Romney is responsible to all that goes on under the banner of Bain Capital. Mitt Romney can not just share the good like job creation and leave the ugly like Bankruptcies and layoffs behind as if he had nothing to do about them. If he really resigned and sold his shares in Bain Capital in February 1999 then it would have been a different matter but to share in the glory of Bain’s job creation but to refuse to take the responsibility of Bankruptcies and layoffs on his WATCH is trying to have it both ways and playing politics having been caught with his hand in the proverbial Cookie Jar that my friend is the very essence of an ACTIVE LEGAL ROLE in Bain till 2002!! Mitt Romney will have to face the consequences of this Swift Boating by the Obama forces.

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