Posted on 07/15/2012 5:04:25 AM PDT by xzins
The Mitt Romney campaign has been busy this week fending off attacks about Romney's involvement with Bain Capital after he claims to have ceased dealing with the company's day-to-day operations. Weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz speaks with James Fallows of The Atlantic about how this episode reminds him of the "Swiftboat" attacks against Democratic candidate John Kerry in 2004.
GUY RAZ, HOST:
It's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Guy Raz.
MITT ROMNEY: I had no role whatsoever in the management of Bain Capital after February of 1999.
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I think most Americans figure if you're the chairman, CEO and president of a company that you are responsible for what that company does.
ROMNEY: That's ridiculous and disturbing to come from their campaign and beneath the dignity of the president.
RAZ: That's President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in dueling interviews with ABC News and WJLA yesterday. At issue, the question of when Romney left Bain Capital and why he was still listed as CEO on federal filings after he says he left the company.
RAZ: So, Jim, Mitt Romney has all along said, you know, he left Bain in 1999. But as late as 2001, he's still - his name still appears on SEC documents as the chairman. Of course, the Obama campaign has jumped on this. They're trying to rewrite the narrative of Romney's time as a businessman, and it seems to have thrown Romney off-kilter a bit.
FALLOWS: It has. And I think it's worth focusing on why this is such a potential problem for the Romney campaign. The entire reason behind his campaign through the last year in the Republican primaries and now in the next four months in the general election is that America has business problems. He is a businessman, therefore, he's the right person for the job.
And what the Obama campaign is doing on the basis of this Bain imbroglio is something similar to what George W. Bush was doing to John Kerry back in 2004 in the episode known as swiftboating. And by that, I mean making something that a candidate has assumed to be his strength, which, in John Kerry's case was his military background, into a weakness.
RAZ: And so if the Obama campaign can make Mitt Romney's business background not the presumed basis of his campaign, but instead a source of controversy, a source of potential weakness for him, that really does make problems in the campaign for the Romney team.
So if the Obama campaign is swiftboating, as you say, Mitt Romney - I mean, one of the criticisms of John Kerry was that he didn't respond to this back in 2004, and Romney is only started to respond to it.
FALLOWS: Exactly. And I should make clear, in saying swiftboating, I'm not asserting that these are false accusations. I'm just saying they have this jujitsu effect. And it's actually surprising the Romney team is not better prepared for them than it is. Number one, because they've had the last eight years since the John Kerry episode. Number two, over the last year, this is what Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and others were using as their angle of attack on Mitt Romney's business background too.
RAZ: But some of the truth squadding on this, Jim, from factcheck.org and Fortune magazine, The Washington Post, they've essentially said this whole attack on Romney is much ado about nothing.
FALLOWS: I saw those accounts and read them a little but differently. And they're saying that even though Romney, on form - submitted in 2001 or 2002 - was listed as the CEO, the president, the - sole shareholder, et cetera of these businesses, it wasn't reasonable to infer that he had any connection with them. I think that does place the argument on the Obama team's court. And they can say to most people: Look, if you're the president, the CEO and the sole shareholder, it's reasonable to assume that you would have some responsibility for an enterprise.
RAZ: What is the big deal, though? He was ostensibly the figurehead until 2001.
FALLOWS: There is a technical argument about exactly which years the Bain company was doing most of its outsourcing. To me, that's the lesser point. I think most voters are not going to focus on that. I think the larger point is that does again strangely make the part of Mitt Romney's background that was to have been his burnished source of pride and his main job recommendation for the task of being president something he's having to defend, explain and make apologies for, which is not what he wants to be doing four months before the election.
RAZ: That's James Fallows, the national correspondent for The Atlantic. You can find his blog at jamesfallows.theatlantic.com. Jim, thanks so much.
FALLOWS: My pleasure, Guy.
My guess is that Romney believed that by the time he became a presidential candidate, the pro-life movement would have run it’s course and the stigma attached to buying or selling fetuses would be minimal.
Well, he miscalculated and now he needs to try to conceal his involvement.
Newsmax
Voter Purge Efforts Likely to Spread After Florida Victory in Database Case
Saturday, July 14, 2012 08:44 PM
By: Newsmax Wires
Florida election officials will have access to a federal database to help purge its voter rolls of non-citizens under an agreement reached between state and federal officials and welcomed on Saturday by Florida’s Republican governor.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will allow state officials to access the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database.
Florida and federal officials have been battling over access to the database for several weeks. Florida filed a lawsuit against the Homeland Security Department to gain access to the database. The state was hit by a lawsuit from the U.S. Justice Department seeking to stop the purge.
Now other states are expected to ask for access to the database so they too can check their rolls. Some state governments have sought access to the federal database for years. Federal officials told Washington state back in 2005 they saw no way to compare voters and the Homeland Security information.
Newsmax
Voter Purge Efforts Likely to Spread After Florida Victory in Database Case
Saturday, July 14, 2012 08:44 PM
By: Newsmax Wires
Florida election officials will have access to a federal database to help purge its voter rolls of non-citizens under an agreement reached between state and federal officials and welcomed on Saturday by Florida’s Republican governor.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will allow state officials to access the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database.
Florida and federal officials have been battling over access to the database for several weeks. Florida filed a lawsuit against the Homeland Security Department to gain access to the database. The state was hit by a lawsuit from the U.S. Justice Department seeking to stop the purge.
Now other states are expected to ask for access to the database so they too can check their rolls. Some state governments have sought access to the federal database for years. Federal officials told Washington state back in 2005 they saw no way to compare voters and the Homeland Security information.
I doubt that Romney "came up with" anything like that (though I, with others, devoutly hope the GOPe comes to its senses and realizes what a disaster Mitt is!). But didn't Bill O'Reilly years ago (at least 5, probably more) do a report on black market trafficking in fetal body parts? I don't remember much specific from the segment, only that I saw it . . . sorry I don't recall more.
BINGO! Ding! Ding! Ding! WE HAVE A WINNER!
These “journalists” using this term are trying to soil Romney, while throwing out the meme “Switft-boating” as if it was all about lies!
They are trying to sink Romney, cast aspersions on the “verb” Swift-boating and RAISE the Titanic (Kerry) with a single pulley lift attached to a dingy!
We might not like to admit it, but the Bain attacks have legs.
How do we know that?
Because when Gingrich/Perry used that strategy they were destroying Romney, even among otherwise conservative middle class republicans.
The only reason they stopped was because the rino-media went on a 24/7 against them. But, they did prove that such an attack works.
And Obama could care less what the rino-media says.
Romney needs to be replaced.
It also helps change the subject to something more useful, viz., that the Left lies. Reflexively, congenitally, uncontrollably, instinctually. And, it's a marker of their character.
Payback is just such a bitch, isn't it, Bishop Becoming-a-God?
Give my regards to Kolob.
Romney was not “Swiftboated”. The Swiftboat people told the truth about Kerry. Romney has been lied about by the Democrats. There is a difference.
Sudetenland, Please keep putting down everyone you want
since that is all you have,
but the truth is simple: Myth RomneyCARE is
fortunately NOT the candidate yet.
BTW, your personal hatred of conservatives and conservative
principles is getting as disgusting as Mr. RomneyCARE’s
behavior.
That's what Romney called it. He even said he could have made decisions, but he didn't.
Apparently you have no idea what an "ownership interest" means. And then you are telling us Romney is lying about his relationship with Bain.
You should leave real Conservatives alone. We told you we didn't want this guy, and that if you GOP-e trolls went ahead and nominated him he'd get no support.
Did you realize that 25% of the Republican party (according to polls of this particular issue) do not want Romney.
You can't win without 25% of the party.
It's hopeless.
Part of the deal in a coalition party is that each side gives a little. That doesn't mean only Conservatives give and Mittbots and GOP-e get what they want ~ it means if you want to win you have to provide candidates to the coalition that all of us can vote for.
So, back to the drawing board. You have a few weeks. Fix the problem. Hustle Romney out the side door or something.
I'm guessing that Obama's holding his best cards for later in the game. With all his resources... the IRS, the FBI, the CIA, etc., I'm willing to bet he has lots of material waiting for the right moment. Of course he'll do the same no matter what candidate we have, so we just need to fight back.
The fact is you RomneyBOTs live in hate, like Obama,
and bring hate and backstabbing everywhere.
Instead of releasing records for transparency,
INSTEAD OF GOING AFTER OBAMA'S POLICIES,
you backstabbing-HATERS-for-Bishop-Romney ignore the issue
which is: ROMNEY IS THE CHOSEN LOSER
and he is doing EXACTLY what the MSM and Obama want.
you backstabbing-HATERS-for-Bishop-Romney ignore the issue
LOL!!! Wow! Nice irrational, hatred-filled post. Thanks for proving my prior post.
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