A DUer's Guide: How The Olympics Hurts Romney

[RedStateLiberal]

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games offers plenty of potential attacks on Mitt Romney.

1) Romney has a horse named Rafalca competing in the Olympics in the 'sport' of dressage..
http://www.democraticunderground.com/125155179

- He's out of touch and can't relate to the average American.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/25/us-oly-usa-politics-romney-idUSBRE86O1KZ20120725

- He tried to get a huge tax write-off ($77,000) for the horse. (Brings the narrative back to tax havens and releasing tax returns.)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/06/18/1100947/-Romney-Took-77-000-Tax-Deduction-For-His-Dancing-Horse

- Dressage is cruel to horses.  I don't think there's any direct evidence the Romneys were involved in animal abuse (other than the dog of the roof of the car) but it is questionable how horses are trained for this 'sport'.
http://horsemanpro.com/articles2/dressage_abuse.htm

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2) Romney's 2002 Olympics outsourced USA uniforms to Burma 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/16/mitt-romney-olympics-outsourced-uniforms-burma_n_1677791.html

- He has a long history of outsourcing jobs overseas. (Brings the narrative back to Bain.)
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mitt-romney-bain-outsourcing-flextronics-jabil-circuit

- Burma's human rights issues.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/14/1110009/-Romney-got-12-500-Uniforms-from-Myanmar

- Romney wouldn't comment on the 2012 controversy over outsourced USA Olympic uniforms that are made in China.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57472307-503544/romney-on-olympics-uniforms-made-in-china-no-comment/

- Romney commissioned official Olympic pin in his likeness that was made in Bangladesh and/or China.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021024580

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3) Romney's 2002 Olympics took in much more federal money ($1.3 billion) than any previous time it was in the US. 
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021002939

- Counters the out-of-context "You didn't build that" lie.
http://www.salon.com/2012/07/22/mitt_romney_lazy_liar/

- He touted this as a good thing and bragged about it when running for governor but now opposes federal stimulus. (Hypocrite)
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/03/exclusive-in-02-romney-touted-d-c-connections-federal-funds/

- Counters the claim that he was responsible for "saving" the Olympics. (He didn't do it alone - we all did with our tax dollars)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002990413

- Romney's Olympics were not profitable.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/125156375

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4) Romney told Olympic athletes that they didn't get there alone.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101743655

- Counters the out-of-context "You didn't build that" lie.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/07/18/_you_didn_t_build_that_.html

- Shows Romney is a hypocrite.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021005584

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5) Most of the records from Romney's 2002 Olympics are either unavailable or destroyed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/romneys-olympic-records-to-be-released-before-election/2012/07/23/gJQA2Bmj4W_blog.html

- He is secretive. (Brings the narrative back to releasing tax returns, when he really ran Bain, and offshore tax havens.)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021005259

- He promised “complete transparency” when he took charge of the scandal-plagued Salt Lake City Olympics. (Where are his tax returns?)
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2012/07/24/after_romney_pledged_transparent_olympics_key_documents_were_destroyed/

- He also hid records from his time as governor by buying hard drives.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/06/us-usa-campaign-romney-computers-idUSTRE7B500X20111206

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6) In advance of Romney's trip to London for the games, a campaign adviser made racist comments when comparing Mitt's ethnic heritage to Obama's to a newspaper reporter.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/mitt-romney/9424524/Mitt-Romney-would-restore-Anglo-Saxon-relations-between-Britain-and-America.html

- Speaks for itself. The dog whistle is now a bullhorn.

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7) Romney's advisers are criticizing President Obama on foreign soil.
http://www.politicususa.com/romney-camp-criticize-potus-foreign-soil-anglo-saxon.html

- Shows his complete lack of respect for the POTUS and that Romney is a hypocrite.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/romney-often-knocked-politicians-who-criticized-pr

- This has long been a conservative complaint whenever any Democrat criticizes the president while in a foreign country - especially when we are at war.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/june_2012/37_say_it_s_bad_for_u_s_when_candidates_criticize_president_s_foreign_policies

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8) Romney is traveling abroad so don't forget about his offshore money and tax havens. (tax returns, tax returns, tax returns)
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/08/investigating-mitt-romney-offshore-accounts

- He is raising campaign money on his overseas trip. (This has also been used as an attack on Obama for doing the same.)
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-07-19/to-raise-cash-romney-heads-overseas

- Reminder that he outsourced jobs, was an outsourcing pioneer, tax havens, etc.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/zekejmiller/obama-super-pac-runs-anti-obama-olympics-ad

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9) Romney’s shady connections from Salt Lake Olympics are still paying off.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002957507

- Questionable business associates. (Bain)
http://www.blogforarizona.com/blog/2012/07/the-romney-campaigns-death-by-a-thousand-cuts.html

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10) Romney claims he left Bain to run the Olympics in 1999 but it has been proven that is not true. He signed documents showing he was CEO, president, chairman of the board, and sole stockholder until 2002.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002934720
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002941458
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014164721
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002938319
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014166331
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021018184
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002949899
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002947037

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11) The British press doesn't like Romney and his remarks about the London Olympics.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014177108
http://www.democraticunderground.com/125160156

- How will he be on foreign policy if he can't even get through a trip to the Olympics without controversy?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021024778
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021024616

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I'm sure much more will come out in the days ahead while Romney is on his Olympic trip. Please feel free to reply and add your own ideas and links.

-RSL

[gopiscrap]

1. This is great and needs to be sent to as many MSM outlets as possible!

[RedStateLiberal]

3. Thanks, I put quite a lot of time into this

and would appreciate any help getting the word out about this list here on DU and elsewhere.

[gopiscrap]

4. thanks for doing this

I would send it to Huffpo, Daily Kos, 538.com ABC, NBC< CBS, also Washington Post, NYT, Boston Blobe and any alternative papers you can find.

[RedStateLiberal]

7. Good suggestion

I'm on it.

[gopiscrap]

10. Good deal and BTW: welcome to DU!!!

[Lucy Goosey]

2. Thanks for compiling this!

Bookmarked, kicked and recommended

[Scuba]

5. Great compilation, thanks, and welcome to DU!!!!

[Fresh_Start]

6. How completely disgusting that he had an olympic pin made with an image of him on it

so much for the spirit of the olympics

[freshwest]

8. Great guide there. Bookmarked and K & R! Thanks for taking the time to create it.

[RedStateLiberal]

9. 300 views and Skinner Rec'd this

so I must be doing something right.

Romney's trip is backfiring on him badly due to his advisers and his personal gaffes, but the narrative could easily be brought back to the issues of tax returns and Bain which the MSM has left behind for now. Maybe when the Olympics are over we'll get them back on track.

BTW: What does it take to get more Recs on DU? I don't want them for vanity, I just want this resource to get out to as many eyes as possible. It seems more support funny anecdotes and cartoons than OPs like this. Oh well, I'm doing what I can.

To all those who have Recd, Tweeted, Liked, and Replied - Thank you for your support!