Shaken by Attacks on Romney’s Past Work, Campaign Tries to Douse Flames

[highplainsdem]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/11/us/politics/11romney.html

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Campaign advisers to former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, stung by unexpectedly fierce attacks from Republican rivals on his career as a corporate buyout specialist, are scrambling to avoid a prolonged and nasty battle over his business record before it leaves lasting damage to the front-runner.

-snip-

The attacks on Mr. Romney are especially unsettling to his campaign manager, Matt Rhoades, who worries that a narrative depicting Romney as a heartless corporate raider will drag down his favorability rating and be sustained by the Obama campaign, said two people told of the internal discussions. (Eric Fehrnstrom, a senior strategist for Mr. Romney, played down such concerns. “I wouldn’t read too much into the rumors,” he said.)

While his campaign advisers generally agree that Mr. Romney must explain his work at Bain, they are wary of engaging in an exhaustive public examination of the nearly 100 deals he was involved in, anxious that it could bog him down in the inevitably messy details of fixing troubled companies, whether they are job cuts or big financial payouts.

His rivals, however, are eager to delve deeply into the particulars of what they view as Mr. Romney’s biggest political vulnerability.

-snip-

[roguevalley]

1. may I say ... BWAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!

[SaintPete]

13. yes, please say it! /nt

[GodlessBiker]

35. I second that Bwahahahahaahahaha!

[annabanana]

2. Just a keep it comin' fellas...

Sweet sweet mess.

[Lifelong Protester]

3. He IS a heartless corporate raider

and a robotic bastard to boot.

Sorry, was that too strong?

[Skittles]

8. worst thing is, he BRAGS about it

didn't have enough fucking sense to understand people might not care for that kind of shit

[oldhippydude]

14. one would think

that after OWS .. they might have a clue...and count on the occupiers being back next year Willard..

[Skittles]

19. they are insulated from the real people

they don't work for WE THE PEOPLE so what we think and feel simply never registers with them

[nxylas]

24. He's spent his entire life being shielded from all that

He was born into privilege, and has probably been surrounded by armies of bodyguards since early childhood, to keep him away from anyone who looked too poor or "ethnic".

[xtraxritical]

28. Mitty's the "Stepford" repubLIECON. eom

[bucolic_frolic]

32. Chainsaw Mitt

Corporate Raider of the Lost Ark

[MADem]

4. I think if he makes it to the general, Democrats across the country need to strap stuffed dogs to

the roofs of their cars--like this guy, only skip the car carrier, for extra effect! Maybe some clever person could make and market stuffed Irish Setters with terrified expressions on their faces with "Dogs Against RMoney" inscribed on either side of them, with clips on the paws so they can be attached securely to any vehicle roof!

[riverwalker]

5. Matt Rhoades

the guy behind portraying Kerry as a "flip-flopping Francophile". Pals with Drudge.

[Canuckistanian]

6. Win.

[hatrack]

7. They didn't know marketing a hard-charging, employee-firing, factory-shuttering CEO was a bad idea?

Seriously, as a presidential candidate? In 2012?

Fuck, they're dumber than I thought.

[oldhippydude]

15. actually the Republican party pretty much lets them take turns.. it was simply willards year

i hope he keeps up the stupid.. even the tea party people are starting to smarten up

[Bozita]

9. Gordon Gecko's "Greed is good!" line should play well with the American public

I'm gonna love the upcoming SC primary.

[tabatha]

10. A taste of their own medicine at last.

[DirkGently]

11. Yes, making your living by screwing people out of theirs is so hard to put a shine on. Tsk.

[starroute]

12. 'You can't spell Romney without M-O-N-E-Y"

I just love that slogan.

[oldhippydude]

16. thanks

i will remeber that!!

[JoePhilly]

30. "What does Mitt Romney want? .... Rmoney"

[Grassy Knoll]

17. Obama Expresses Concern of Romney Victory......

[Brigid]

29. Youv owe me a new BlackBerry!

I don't know what Obama is really laughing at in that pic, but it is a great one!

[gateley]

18. "...narrative depicting Romney as a heartless corporate raider..."

If the shoe fits,

[McCamy Taylor]

20. In 2008, Rove and Co. tried to recycle dirty tricks from CREEP to turn the Dems into a

circular firing squad. How amusing that their own Citizens United unlimited Super Pac spending is doing the same thing to them. And I don't expect any of the losers to be as conciliatory about it as Hillary was.

[Botany]

21. Keep talking Rick Perry

“They’re just vultures,” Mr. Perry said. “They’re vultures that are sitting out there on the tree limb waiting for the company to get sick, and then they swoop in, they eat the carcass, they leave with that and they leave the skeleton.”

[sendero]

22. I love it..

... I'd have preferred that this story came out a few weeks later, but believe me, the campaign's "explaining" of what Private Equity firms do is not going to be of much help unless it is complete lies. The numbers are what they are and trying to spin it like they are performing some vital services is not going to wash.

They are sociopathic raiders, nothing more and nothing less.

[Botany]

27. No way to undo history

<Bain managers said their mission was clear. "I never thought of what I do for a living as
job creation," said Marc B. Walpow, a former managing partner at Bain who worked closely
with Romney for nine years before forming his own firm. "The primary goal of private
equity is to create wealth for your investors."

snip

Four of the 10 companies Bain acquired declared bankruptcy within a few years, shedding
thousands of jobs. The prospectus shows that Bain investors profited in eight of the 10 deals,
including three of the four that ended in bankruptcy.>

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-romney-bain-20111204,0,343872.story

[90-percent]

23. In a nutshell

Romney is a

JOB CREMATOR

Make it stick, fellow DU'ers!

-90% jimmy

[Auntie Bush]

36. I like that!

Romney the Corporate Raider and Job Cremator. Sounds good...rolls off my tongue.

[90-percent]

39. Job Cremator

I think Debbie Wasserman Schultz thought that one up. Neat, huh?

-90% jimmy

[nxylas]

25. Surely no-one could have predicted, blah blah blah

With apologies to Tom Tomorrow for stealing one of his catchphrases.

[ejbr]

26. What I find unfortunate

is that people will still vote for him because they were not his stepping stone. If he didn't get rich off their suffering, then who cares?

[marias23]

31. It's the Corporations Stupid

Interesting how corporations - whether it is "Romney the Raider" or 'corporations as people" are developing as main issues in this campaign. This may have real beneficial results as people learn about the dirty underside of capitalism. It's time for these legal fictions (which are very beneficial) to be reined in. Unions must be protected too. Please don't tell me it will cost jobs. This is not the way we need to create jobs or wealth - we need a compassionate capitalism.

[Iliyah]

33. Mit doesn't know how to relate

to the commoners here in the US, therefore, they have scripted and trained him, but that won't work. Foot in mouth syndrome will prevail.

"I like being able to fire people"

[Bruce Wayne]

34. To be fair, Mitt really is a job creator.

Think about the people who print up the pink slips, not to mention all the accountants needed to shut down and liquidate those factories Bain bought, disassembled and dumped the workers out of.

[Auntie Bush]

37. And don't forget all the lawyers he must have hired. nt

[mikekohr]

38. Romney is a Vulture Capiltalist

[jmowreader]

40. How many of the companies Romney was involved with actually WERE "troubled companies"?

LBO specialists go after firms they think they can make money on.

If you haven't read "Barbarians at the Gate," you should. It explains all of this. Romney et al would be more likely to go after a company with strong fundamentals but a low share price, such as RJR Nabisco, than they would a company that was on the skids.

Read Barbarians and you will learn that Ross Johnson put the company in play largely because of a thing called the Industry Multiple. Multiply earnings per share by the industry multiple and you get what the stock SHOULD be trading at if the company is working right. Most of RJR Nabisco's business was coming from their food lines, so Ross Johnson, the CEO who fucked the company, felt the stock should trade at the 22 or 23 food industry multiple rather than the 7 tobacco industry multiple.

Romney's largest problem is, the Religious Right doesn't want him to be president so they're working overtime to talk about things like his corporate raiding. This is an especially huge problem because if, by some miracle, Romney makes it to the general election campaign Obama won't even have to pay money to opposition researchers--all he need do is transcribe the attacks the other Republicans have made on Romney and play them back. (BTW, wasn't Saint Ronnie's 11th Commandment "don't speak ill of other Republicans"?)

[JCMach1]

41. That train has done left the station...