Mitt Romney gives cash to financially struggling woman at South Carolina rally

Washington Post ^ | January 14, 2012 | Philip Rucker

[Cincinatus' Wife]

SUMTER, S.C. – Presidential candidates hear tales of woe all the time on the campaign trail. But rarely does one respond by pulling cash out of his back pocket to help a struggling voter pay her bills.

Mitt Romney did just that here Saturday night, according to ABC News. When a 55-year-old woman, Ruth Williams, who said she lost her job last October, approached the Republican presidential front-runner on the rope line following a campaign rally in Sumter, he gave her what an aide later said was about $50 or $60.

It did not appear that the exchange was caught on camera, but ABC’s off-air reporter, Emily Friedman, witnessed it and interviewed Williams afterward. Williams told Friedman that she has been volunteering at Romney’s Columbia, S.C., campaign offices and has been following his campaign since first spotting his campaign bus on Wednesday.

“I was on the highway praying and said, ‘God, tell me how to get [my] lights on,’” Williams, apparently referring to her electricity bill, told Friedman. “I pulled up to a stop sign and his bus was there. And then God said, ‘Follow the bus,’ and I followed the bus.”

[Cincinatus' Wife]

It had to be done in public?

It couldn't have been done privately?

Give me a break.

Now we have Mitt's stash?

Did it come from Mitt's TARP income?

Richard A. Viguerie: Romney’s Real Bain Capital Problem is His Hypocrisy ".....And the major reason TARP failed to protect jobs was that instead of being a program to keep credit available by moving illiquid mortgage-backed securities off the books of banks, TARP quickly became a no-strings-attached cash infusion to favored insider financial institutions and corporations, whose highly compensated employees are now supporting Mitt Romney.

Among the insiders who received the no-strings-attached cash were Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Deutsche Bank AG, Merrill Lynch, Societe Generale, Calyon, Barclays Plc, Rabobank, Danske, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Banco Santander, Morgan Stanley, Wachovia, Bank of America, and Lloyds Banking Group.

Federal Election Commission campaign finance reports shows Romney banked over $798,000 from employees of TARP recipients...."

PDF: Romney's disclosure form

[Lancey Howard]

Did it come from Mitt's TARP income?

Very likely.. Indirectly, of course, through one of the companies "Chainsaw Mitt" looted.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Check out his TARP proceeds that’s the scandal.

[freekitty]

The new “Oprah”....

Buy your audience or friends off when the true you has been outed.

[Salamander]

Still wouldn’t give a crap if he’d raised her from the dead.

FUMR.

[Praxeologue]

Gov. Romney did this publicly, in my view, to make the case that he cares about the little people. It demonstrates how sensitive he is to the recent Bain criticism.

Of course everyone and their brother is now going to be asking him for cash. He must turn them down, which will defeat his objective of appearing big-hearted. I presume that he didn't think this through.

[TwoSwords]

Hell, I could give 50=60 bucks. What’s the point?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Gov. Romney did this publicly, in my view, to make the case that he cares about the little people. It demonstrates how sensitive he is to the recent Bain criticism.

It shows how ham-handed he is then.

Just like the $10,000 BET and the embarrassing debate admission:

That's -- I'm running for office, for Pete's sake, I can't have illegals. [video clip]

...and how naive he was for posing for a photo like this:

[Tennessee Nana]

What is that photo ???

Where and when and why etc ???

[C210N]

This is the equivalent of a good photoshop - ie, it was probably staged.

[Gaffer]

I guess the point is that he will continue that fine Democrat tradition of providing spending cash for its constituents. $50-60 one time ain’t crap. $50-60 a day to millions is big moolah which you and I will pay

[af_vet_rr]

“I was on the highway praying and said, ‘God, tell me how to get [my] lights on,’” Williams, apparently referring to her electricity bill, told Friedman. “I pulled up to a stop sign and his bus was there. And then God said, ‘Follow the bus,’ and I followed the bus.”

So she doesn't have the money to pay her electric bill, but she has the money to pay for gas to go driving around....

[Cincinatus' Wife]

What is that photo ??? Where and when and why etc ???

Romney hands Obama a photo opportunity "This photo taken during Romney’s early Bain days summarizes the Obama argument: Mitt Romney is Gordon Gecko. The two, Obama will argue, have the same motto: Greed is good.".........................

[untenured]

A lord of the permanent ruling class handing out trifles to one of his servants. What an appropriate symbol of 2012 America.

[palmer]

what an aide later said was about $50 or $60

Shoulda gave her the 10k he won in that bet.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Romney didn’t win and Perry didn’t embarrass Mitt by taking it (Mitt was doing such a good job embarrassing himself, again, getting rattled by Perry).

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Wow, I’m not a big fan of Romney, but does everything he does have to be spun negatively? He did a good deed and he’s still slammed for it.

[Diogenesis]

Romney takes money from the 911 Mosque and BAIN and BUYS VOTES.

How Romney is THAT?

"(The GroundZero Mosque) cleared its final hurdle ….
developers plan to build the $100 million center which will include a mosque.
Since its incipient stages in July 2009, when a Muslim-run real-estate development
company purchased the damaged, vacant building and land where the new center
will be built, the project has sparked controversy and debate.
.... the tattered building that was bought by the Muslim real estate company had
been owned by a subsidiary of Bain Capital, a company Romney founded in 1984.
So it’s OK if his company can profit off the sale of the land ."

---

“Bain Capital, has cut checks totaling $90,000 to Romney’s operation. “

[Utmost Certainty]

A good deed? He was pulling a tacky public spectacle.

If he had any class, he’d have done this in private.

[palmer]

I knew that, but the average joe might not. All they hear on TV is that he had “10 thousand dollars” to throw away and now he hands out fifty bucks.