Rush Limbaugh dings Newt Gingrich, Day Two

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[Sub-Driver]

Rush Limbaugh dings Newt Gingrich, Day Two

Comments (5)

By MAGGIE HABERMAN | 1/11/12 5:12 PM EST

Rush Limbaugh spent a second day lacing into Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry over their hits on Mitt Romney about Bain Capital, providing extremely useful cover for the front-runner — a candidate whose praises he has not often sung during the primary:

This is not conservatism. It's the polar opposite of conservatism. It's the language used to take away economic freedom. Vulture capitalism, bleeding companies dry? This is not what happens. Don't mistake me. I'm all for going after Romney or any other candidate and candidates going after each other. I understand that there is (although I don't feel all that confident about it, but there is) something to be said here for this providing an opportunity for Romney to learn how to defend himself against these kind of charges when they come from Obama, because they will. You try to find the rainbow at the end of every pot. It's their duty to go after each other — candidates, I mean.

I'm all for vetting candidates — I'm all for finding out just exactly who they are and I'm all for finding out if they can defend themselves — but I don't think you tear down the engine of freedom or any other conservative principle in the process of doing all this. And that, I fear, is what's happening here. Capitalism already under enough of an assault. It already has too few defenders.

[katiedidit1]

YOU are right. Newt was smashed to hell and back in Iowa by Mitt. Gingrich was a private citizen running a consulting firm and took the heat from the msm, fox news and Romney smear bots. On the other hand...Mitt stated he created 100,000 jobs with Bain and HE made it a campaign issue...so, naturally when it was looked into and found to have had some on the record shady dealings...the establishment went beserk. OH ..Mitt..if you cant take the heat get out of the kitchen.

[Patton@Bastogne]

Capitalism has too few defenders ...


Fact : The Wall Street Journal reported (as a fact) that Mitt Romney - Bain Capital often took businesses ...

.. and then (literally) financially raped-and-pillaged them ... broke them up for re-sale ... and then FIRED hundreds of employees ...

INSTEAD of trying to help get them profitable and healthy again ...

while Mitt Romney and his E-RINO buddies added to their $ 190 million dollar personal fortunes ...

Don't take my word for it ... read about it in The Wall Street Journal ...




Do you know the difference between Bill Gates and Mitt Romney ?

Bill Gates "developed" Microsoft Software products (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) that GENUINELY helped mankind ...

Yeah ... Bill Gates wasn't a "Mother Thersea Businessman" ... and the software often had problems ...

but ... it is UNDENIABLE that Bill Gates "made a POSITIVE difference" ... as he agressively pursued his CAPITALIST dreams ...

"Good For Him" ...



Mitt Romney ... A (general) political failure ... more devious than Bill Clinton ... was afraid to run for a second term as Mass Gov.

Mitt Romney ... the businessman ... unlike Bill Gates ... never really did anything POSITIVE ...

Instead Mitt and his E-RINO legal-eagles MANIPULATED their way into struggling businesses ... and after they had bought them ... promptly took EVERY NICKLE they could get ... most of the time ...

And the few times they tried to rescue the stuggling companies ... Mitt and his buddies SCREWED it up themselves ...

With a $ 190 million dollar fortune at his finger-tips, you'd figure that PIOUS Mitt Romney would have an IMPRESSIVE list of charitable donations ...

echoing the charity of Bill Gates ...

especially with the "Mr. Mormon Kinda-Christian" gig that PIOUS Mitt Romney desperately clings to ...

Sadly ... Mitt's favorite hobby is keeping his EGO inflated as he spends tens-of-millions running for President ...



.

[NYRepublican72]

Do you really think reading up on “government retirement insurance” matters to Joe Six-pack?

You and I BOTH know that there’s a huge difference between perception and reality.

Insured or not, the US Government aka the taxpayer has to pay out $44 million it otherwise MAY not have had to pay because of how Mitt Romney’s Bain capital ran that KC steel mill even further into the ground.

Bottom line is that if folks like you make RINO Romney the nominee, he will get absolutely skewered by the leftist media and their “99%” savior President Zero.

DNC playbook talking points will hit RINO Romney hard, early and often and will make that “Winning Our Future” video look like a mere coming attraction.

It’s idiotic that in this political climate, the Republican party could conceivably be running RINO Romney as the nominee.

“That guy” that can be attacked (fairly or unfairly) for being “that 1% Wall Street rich dude” at a time when about the only folks who are held in more disdain than Congressmen are Wall Street bankers.

We are indeed the “Stupid Party” if RINO Romney isn’t bagged before getting the nomination.

[magritte]

Rush is correct. OWS Conservatives are a blight.

[magritte]

US Government aka the taxpayer has to pay out $44 million

---

False. PBGC has NO taxpayer funds. Zero. Zip. Nada.

Facts are pesky.

[newnhdad]

there are waaaayyy to many people on this and other websites using “wall street”, “venture capitalist” and “profit” as pejoratives.. This place is starting to sound like a OWS twitter feed and DU..
So, “those evil capitalist from wall street made a profit when Mitt was CEO..” is the line of attack because a big government republican that called Paul Ryan’s budget “right wing social engineering” and supported “cap and trade” is not winning the primaries. Newt was killed on this board for saying this stuff a year ago now he’s the only hope.

Welcome to crazyland.

[LibsRJerks]

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/gingrich-romney-set-himself-up-for-dems-to-exploit-him/6qimd14

Newt’s own explanation is enough for me. How is what Romney did any different from Solyndra??

It’s picking winners and losers. It’s reaping profits from losers and scavenging the winnings. It’s wrong. It costs the taxpayers, who is already under enough assault.

KUDOS to Newt for providing this distinction — and for doing the job that the GOP freaking doesn’t want to do — and that is to VET their “preferred” candidate!

GO NEWT!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bobalu]

Romney deserves these attacks, he got them the old fashioned way, he earned them! To paraphrase an old advertizing quip....When Romney talks, people wince.

I like Santorum but he simply doesn’t have Newt’s ability to destroy the MSM and take it to the corrupt democratic machine.

The only possible path to victory is with Newt, warts and all.

If Newt is not the nominee then someday soon all of us will be watching the first presidential debate and saying to ourselves “If only Newt was up there instead of this turkey”

This is the time to push forward a man who can fight and win.... it simply does not matter that he is flawed. At this critical moment it only matters that he can defeat the enemy.

Make no mistake, Newt is the one they live in fear of. He cannot be controlled, he cannot be restrained, he will say the things they dread to hear and at the worst possible moments.

When Newt exercised power what did he do? what were the results of what he did? Were you pleased? These are the true measure of the man.

[NYRepublican72]

Wrong. It’s country club Republican RINOs like Romney that are the true blight on the Republican party.

Willard is a terrible candidate in this election cycle. The oppo research on Bain will sink him. One can only hope the “OWS Conservatives” get to him first.

If you think the “OWS Conservatives” that are mere pesky thorns in the side of the stop the RINO express right now are a problem, just wait until the actual real “OWS” liberals begin smacking old Willard around.

For more years of President Zero? No thanks. I’ll pass.

[CynicalBear]

>> As for me, I decided that in 2008 when Rush ignored Obama’s eligibility and treated Article 2, Section 1, of the Constitution like a wadded up snotty piece of Kleenex.<<

Same here. That was a turning point for me on many of the “leaders” of the conservative cause. I knew at that point there was something so sinister underlying that whole issue that this country was in terminal trouble. Rush “sold out” on the eligibility issue and I haven’t listened to him since. Beck, Hannity and others did the same thing.

[org.whodat]

Look willard stinks to high heaven, he is a moderate just like george bush. But to lie about how retirement funds are handled is wrong, member company's pay into the fund, it is self funding, all retirement with holding and contributions are an arms length transaction,. People buying and selling a stock corporation have no access to prior payments. If you want to bitch about a company that screwed their employees with retirement fraud, the would be Ken Lay of Enron.

[NYRepublican72]

Right or not, I can already see the commercial: Start telling story about the padlocked factory. Point out Romney (really his company) made MILLIONS. His poor employees, got pink slips, the factory closed and the GOVERNMENT paid out $44 million. It doesn't matter one iota to Joe Independent Voter (aka Reagan Republican) if it's insured money or where it came from. Romney comes off looking like a fat cat Wall Street scumbag while Average Joes are out of work and the Government is footing the bill. It matters zero where the money came from. The government paid it out. Perception is reality in politics and the truth is always bent. Bottom line is that if the Republican party is stupid enough to make Romney it's nominee, it will get its butt handed to it come November. He needs to be stopped.

[CainConservative]

“Insured or not, the US Government aka the taxpayer has to pay out $44 million it otherwise MAY not have had to pay because of how Mitt Romney’s Bain capital ran that KC steel mill even further into the ground.”

Bingo! And Willard the Vulure walked away with $12,000,000 in his pocket on that ONE deal leaving the taxpayers holding the bag for $44,000,000!

[patriot preacher]

Unreal. I don’t care about Republicans. I’m a Constitutional Conservative. The reality is establishment Republicans are idiots — but Conservatives of all sorts are making it easy for them. And consequently, they are making it easier for Obama to win in November.

And he will.

So while you and your candidates rip each other to shreds, congratulate yourselves. I’m gonna go buy another box of ammo.

[Texas4ever]

I would also know more about Newts lobbying job. There is something not right about Newt. Dont trust the guy at all.

[Texas4ever]

JOHN BOLTON endorses Mitt Romney for President!

[Utmost Certainty]

Newt retracted his statement today and said he went over the line. In addition, I supported Newt before and after his Bain attacks. That said...

No he didn't—that was a Politico misconstrual.

What would you call it?

Calling it corporatism is a fine moniker to me, for distinguishing it from capitalism proper (or my preferred choice word, entrepreneurialism—which I think is a far better term for encompassing free-market activity).

I might be sounding terribly philosophical here, but I don't think you should decontextualize an activity from the legal conditions under which it occurs. That is to say, just because what Bain Capital was doing was ostensibly legal doesn't mean everything Bain Capital was doing is something we should look to as a sound business practice, nor necessarily something that's an economically rational expression of capitalism (see moral hazard).

What would you do otherwise? Perhaps some wise government bureaucrat could decide what ailing companies should succeed and which should fail.

Of course not—scrutinizing a business model doesn't imply that one endorses government intervention. For the record, I'm very much a fan of Austrian Economics, so government intervention is not something I at all advocate.

Let me make this clear, even if Bain was straight up selfish and squeezed every last drop of life out of dying companies, it was part of the capitalist system.

The problem with your stance here, is that if you're going to make this kind of concerted defense of 'capitalism', it's important to acknowledge that the government is already implicitly involved in the process we're talking about—via how bankruptcy and corporate laws are structured and what not—which indirectly has major consequences on how winners and losers get decided. Which makes it vital to question how these laws are written, insofar as how they influence the rational behavior of agents in an ostensibly capitalist, free-market society. And ask yourself whether the laws provide the right kinds of accountability, etc. to encourage rational economic decision-making with optimal time-preference valuation, etc.

An absence of vultures does not resurrect road kill.

I don't think anybody is making such claims. At least, I haven't seen them.

This whole leftist populist socialist attack to Romney's left is disgusting.

And I think you're misinterpreting the nature of the arguments being made against Bain Capital.

[Southbound]

>>Willard is a terrible candidate in this election cycle. The oppo research on Bain will sink him.<<
On Bain? Hell, the political record alone ought to sink him: Romneycare, gay marriage, illegal aliens, gun-grabbing, appointing liberal activist judges, etc. RINO is too mild a term for that phony used-car salesman.

[Finny]

The problem with your stance here, is that if you're going to make this kind of concerted defense of 'capitalism', it's important to acknowledge that the government is already implicitly involved in the process we're talking about—via how bankruptcy and corporate laws are structured and what not—which indirectly has major consequences on how winners and losers get decided.

Thank you for making that valuable point.

I'll bet most of the people here knee-jerking in agreement with Rush haven't looked into Gingrich's explanation, nor read and pondered many of the insights from what sound like pretty well-informed FR posters on the subject of exactly why Gingrich was criticizing Romney's "work" at Bain.

Romney needs to be taken out, and I say "Godspeed" to Newt in helping make that happen.

[Christie at the beach]

I say, he is running for the Presidency of the United States. Why should he have a pass? Just for a win with the R by his name (don’t think so) He needs to have his business record and governing policies examined. The very thing Palin was saying tonight. It was not about them being against free market while making a profit. It was how it appears he and his investors knew when to pick up companies, inflate the stocks, then dump them and walk away with millions as they crushed jobs/by closing good companies. Looks fishy. Why didn’t Rush see that. 2 days going on with this before S.C.’s vote. This was brought up in the past by McCain and others.