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Romney rates the presidential hopefuls and leaves door open for himself
Crain's Chicago Business' Greg Hinz on Politics Blog ^ | November 25, 2014 | Greg Hinz

Posted on 11/25/2014 10:25:00 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

Past and perhaps future presidential hopeful Mitt Romney came to Chicago last night and, in blunt and sometimes surprisingly candid comments, acted like someone who probably won't run again but is leaving the door open in the apparent hope that his party might call.

In a speech and question-and-answer session with the Chicago/Midwest chapter of the Turnaround Management Association, the man who lost to Chicago's Barack Obama in 2012 says he's "not planning" to seek the 2016 nomination—language that politicians frequently use to suggest they haven't decided but are keeping their options open.

The former Massachusetts governor declined to elaborate, under questioning by Crain's Publisher David Snyder, who moderated the event. But he did have some sharp thoughts about other potential contenders.

For example: 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. "She's not running," Romney said with a poker face, drawing a big laugh.

Or Democrat Hillary Clinton, former secretary of state. She's the "prohibitive favorite" for the Democratic nomination and will be in position to hoard her cash for the general election, Mr. Romney said. But she'll also have to accept some responsibility for Obama's foreign policy failures.

Romney was neutral to flattering on former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan and Govs. Scot Walker of Wisconsin and John Kasich of Ohio.

OBAMA'S IMMIGRATION ORDER

But Romney took a shot at conservative Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, describing him as a tea party favorite who "made a mistake" in pushing for the 2013 shutdown of the federal government amid a budget standoff. Romney went out of his way to praise New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whom Romney aides blasted during the 2012 election after he made nice with Obama after Hurricane Sandy. Romney described Christie as a "strong, forceful, get-the-job-done" type who might run a successful presidency much like Democrat Lyndon Baines Johnson did in the 1960s.

Overall, perhaps because he was speaking to an audience of attorneys and other professionals who work with troubled corporations, Romney was quite negative about America's current standing. He said "almost no progress" has been made in recent decades on big issues like rising debt, global warming, cutting the poverty rate and challenges from countries such as China.

But he raised eyebrows when he said that, while immigration reform should be handled by Congress rather than through an executive order, Obama's recent move to suspend the deportation of five million undocumented immigrants "may well work out for him" politically. Romney, of course, got whacked during the 2012 campaign when he suggested 11 million immigrants here illegally would "self-deport" if the country ignored their plight.

I thought Romney's best moment of the event came after the founder of Bain Capital explained some of the virtues of the private-equity business. He would have done himself some good to have done just that two years ago. It would have been good for Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner, too, whose record as an investor came under intense attack without much defense from him about what his life's work was about.


TOPICS: Campaign News; Issues; Parties
KEYWORDS: amnesty; bush; chrischristie; hillary; immigration; palin; romney; tedcruz
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To: Darksheare

It’s all right there in the SEC docs.

The Left dug up the truth about it, obviously for their own political self-aggrandizement.

And the so-called “Right” covered it up, with the exact same motivation.

But the truth is the truth.


81 posted on 11/26/2014 9:36:45 AM PST by EternalVigilance
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To: EternalVigilance
I have a friend who is a billionaire hedge fund manager and another friend who is the COO of a very large private equity firm. They know EVERYTHING there is to know about a company before they invest, their livelihood depends on it. Due diligence exists for a reason.

Men like Romney are also looking at companies with the possible goal of breaking them up and selling different divisions off. To do this they must know if there is anything objectionable or problematic.

This is no different than what happened with Apartheid back in the 80s. Just about every major corporation had to go through every aspect of their business and divest themselves of anything related to South Africa. And they weren't doing this because they had to, they were doing this because the public and their shareholders demanded it.

82 posted on 11/26/2014 10:01:12 AM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: wagglebee

Absolutely.

Romney knew full well exactly what he was profiting from. The chances that he didn’t are ZERO.


83 posted on 11/26/2014 10:16:39 AM PST by EternalVigilance
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To: EternalVigilance
I also find it amusing that some people will equate owning stock through a mutual fund or 401K plan or even a few hundred shares of stock with owning complete or controlling interest in a company.

Very few Americans own a million dollars worth of stock in a single publicly-traded company and even they don't have the say that a fund manager or venture capitalist investor does. The person who finds a chicken head in their child's chicken nuggets will have a better chance of talking to the CEO of a fast food chain then the shareholder with a million dollars worth of stock.

Romney knew full well exactly what he was profiting from. The chances that he didn’t are ZERO.

There are exactly two possibilities:

1. He knew that Stericycle disposed of aborted babies and it didn't bother him at all.
or
2. He didn't know, which makes him incompetent and negates any claim he can make about understanding business.

People need to realize that when Bain Capital bought Artisan Entertainment Romney refused to play any personal role in the deal and refused to take any money from it and this was because Artisan made R-rated movies. Romney made no similar protest to Stericycle. Now, "National Lampoon's Van Wilder" was a crude movie and offensive to a lot of people, but it wasn't helping to facilitate the murder of babies. (It is interesting that Romney has been a board member of Marriott on and off for decades and never objected to them offering X-rated movies on pay-per-view in their hotel rooms.)

I have wondered some how good of a businessman Romney really is. Romney's net worth is estimated to be in the $250 million range and he might have spent another $100 million or so on political campaigns; however, most of the of the people who held similar positions at other firms during the period Romney was active are worth well over $1 billion. If Romney is as good as he claims, and isn't hiding the majority of his wealth, he should be a lot richer than he is.

84 posted on 11/26/2014 10:57:55 AM PST by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: EternalVigilance

This is from lifenews.com in 2012:

“Bain explained further. Mitt Romney retired from Bain Capital in February 1999. He had no involvement in the management or investment activities of Bain Capital, or any of its portfolio companies since that time.”

“Assuming Romney was involved with Bain through the end of 1999 and involved in the deal obviously doesn’t make him responsible for Stericycle’s business collected aborted babies from abortion clinics. Bain itself-—after Romney left the company-—divested from Stericycle well before before it began its abortion-connected operations.”

You simply repeated a canard put forward by left-wing blog Mother Jones.


85 posted on 11/26/2014 11:11:02 AM PST by Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

STFU Romney.


86 posted on 11/26/2014 11:17:19 AM PST by Dagnabitt (Amnesty is Treason. Its agents and supporters are Traitors.)
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To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines

The individual who runs LifeNews is a shameless flack for the Republican “pro-life” leadership which showed it had absolutely no qualms about lying for Romney.

I’ve already posted materials on this thread which explicitly refute that lying piece of propaganda.


87 posted on 11/26/2014 11:44:51 AM PST by EternalVigilance
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To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
You simply repeated a canard put forward by left-wing blog Mother Jones.

In this case, no matter their political motives, "Mother Jones" showed far more journalistic integrity than LifeNews or the Romney Campaign.

88 posted on 11/26/2014 11:46:46 AM PST by EternalVigilance
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To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines

More honesty and integrity than you, too, I might add.


89 posted on 11/26/2014 11:47:28 AM PST by EternalVigilance
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To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines

The dates on the SEC filings are quite clear. Romney still owned the controlling shares of Stericycle when he said he didn’t.

The whole episode was the most vivid example of Romney lying sophistry ever.


90 posted on 11/26/2014 11:50:27 AM PST by EternalVigilance
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To: EternalVigilance

OK, so you don’t like Life News.

Here are quotes from townhall.com 07/23/2012:

“Bain negotiated the Stericycle investment deal in November 1999, nine months after Romney said he left. Bain’s investors pour money into numbered investment pools. Several sources that Fund VII was the main investment vehicle at that time. You don’t see his name anywhere—in the meetings list, the investor documents, the manager paperwork-—it would have to be there if he was involved in any way. one current Bain officer said of Romney and Fund VII. He was long gone then.”

in addition

“By the time Bain Capital had made the investments in Stericycle, he had left the firm to run the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. He maintained ownership in Bain and kept holdings in its private equity funds, which included Stericycle stock, but had no say in the managerial or strategic decisions at the firm...”

So there you have it. Romney was a passive investor who owned the stock indirectly through his holdings at Bain. And that Bain decided to invest in Stericycle after MR left.

Funny though, you have no trouble in believing crap put out by radical left blog sheets such as Mother Jones, but won’t trust conservative sources such as Townhall. I guess it’s OK when it doesn’t fit your narrative.


91 posted on 11/26/2014 12:17:30 PM PST by Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
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To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines

Funny, you can’t even bother to read the actual SEC documents that absolutely prove you’re dead wrong.


92 posted on 11/26/2014 12:21:38 PM PST by EternalVigilance
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To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines

Why you want to join in this Big Lie I’m not sure.


93 posted on 11/26/2014 12:22:35 PM PST by EternalVigilance
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To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
But, since you can't bother to do that, I'll post the graphic that shows it AGAIN.

"The sole stockholder." The "sole director." The "Chief Executive Officer." The "Managing Director and President of BCI VI Inc."

Get that?

94 posted on 11/26/2014 12:26:57 PM PST by EternalVigilance
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To: EternalVigilance

You’re the one putting out the whoppers.

How many Pinnochios do you want?

The $75 million that you refer to is not how much money MR made as a result of Bain’s investment in Stericycle. It is the amount that Bain invested.

I don’t deny that MR wasn’t a shareholder in Stericycle. According to what I’ve read so far the decision by Bain to invest in the company came after MR’s departure.

You can’t handle the truth!


95 posted on 11/26/2014 12:28:22 PM PST by Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
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To: EternalVigilance

What is the date of that document?


96 posted on 11/26/2014 12:29:35 PM PST by Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
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To: EternalVigilance

The answer to three basic and simple questions I think would go along way to resolving this matter:

1) When did Bain invest in Stericycle?

2) When did MR depart Bain?

3) When did Stericycle begin operations in disposing aborted human fetuses and was MR involved in that decision or operation?


97 posted on 11/26/2014 12:34:37 PM PST by Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
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To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines

It’s in the time frame that LifeNews, and Townhall, and the Romney campaign, lied about and said he had absolutely no involvement.

November 22, 1999.

Contained in the articles I gave you way back up the thread is a link to another similar filing on November 30.

They lied to protect Romney. It’s as clear as can be.


98 posted on 11/26/2014 12:38:25 PM PST by EternalVigilance
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To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines

The answers to all those questions were posted by me way back at the beginning of this conversation.

Obviously, you didn’t read them and simply kept repeating the Romney campaign’s lying talking points.

You’re not dealing with this honestly for some reason.


99 posted on 11/26/2014 12:40:06 PM PST by EternalVigilance
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To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines

bound4life
http://bound4life.com/blog/2012/07/06/federal-documents-show-romney-tied-to-company-that-disposes-of-aborted-fetuses/

Federal documents show Romney tied to company that disposes of aborted babies

http://bound4life.com/blog/2012/07/06/federal-documents-show-romney-tied-to-company-that-disposes-of-aborted-fetuses/

Originally reported by the Huffington Post in January, Romney’s camp managed to avoid it as a campaign issue by insisting, as the news outlet reports:

“By the time Bain Capital [Romney’s investment firm] had made the investment in Stericycle, he had left the firm to run the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. He maintained ownership in Bain and kept holdings in its private equity funds, which included Stericycle stock, but he had no say in the managerial or strategic decisions at the firm, according to Bain officials.”

However, recent documents from the Securities and Exchange (SEC) Commission filed by Romney’s firm show that the timing wasn’t quite how Romney portrayed it. The document from November 22, 1999, reports, “W. Mitt Romney (“Mr. Romney”) is the sole stockholder, sole director, Chief Executive Officer, Managing Director and President of BCI VI Inc,” (SEC FORM SC 13D - https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/392937/stericycle-13d-1999.pdf) in the Stericycle investment.

That means Romney was an active member of the firm when the $75 million investment was made in Stericycle. Stericylce isn’t just a medical waste business that is above board. As recently as last year, Stericycle was cited for improper disposal of fetuses in Texas. For a quick rundown of some news articles about Stericycle’s seedy history, click here ( http://www.stopstericycle.com/in-the-news/ ). You will find a list of fines, truck leasing companies breaking contracts with them because of their fetus disposal business, and other serious controversies that the pro-life candidate must distance himself from by addressing these issues and either showing us proof there was no abortion activity back then or publicly addressing the wrongdoing and breaking his tie with them in keeping with his pro-life conversion, rather than simply misleading the American people about the dates he was there.

It’s a concern if Romney actually was the “sole shareholder” as the SEC documents say, unquestionably say he was. You can read the filings from the SEC documents here ( https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/392937/stericycle-13d-1999.pdf )and here ( https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/392936/stericycle-s4-1999.pdf ). (Simply do a search within them for the name “Romney” and it will show you the relevant shareholder information.)


100 posted on 11/26/2014 12:42:12 PM PST by EternalVigilance
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