Tag Archive for: 2012 Presidential Campaign

Stunning Video on Sensata, Company Currently Suffering the Bain Treatment

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I’ve been hearing about Sensata, one of the many manufacturing companies that Bain has wrecked, and that they’re closing their Freeport, Illinois plant and moving the jobs China. This video, made by the union of the United Steel Workers, tells the whole story from the workers’ POV in about six minutes. For a briefing on Sensata, here’s coverage from editorial writer Chuck Sweeny in the Rockford Register Star (IL). Unlike many of the wreckages created by Bain that have been covered during the presidential campaign, Sensata is unique in that the workers there have not all lost their jobs yet. Unbelievably, they have found themselves training some of their Chinese replacements. The end is supposed to come later this year, not until after the election. Watch the video, and bring a tissue.

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Demolition Derby on Debate Day/Part II

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Afternoon update to my morning post on the latest fact-check from Glenn Kessler at The Washington Post debunking Romney’s unsupported and dishonest claim that he’d create 12 million jobs in four years. Kessler gave Mitt’s claim the dreaded “Four Pinocchios” after which the Obama for America campaign released the following statement by National Press Secretary Ben LaBolt:

“In yet another instance of Mitt Romney’s campaign not telling the truth, it turns out that the numbers behind his ‘jobs plan’ just don’t add up. For months, Romney has pledged to create 12 million jobs over his first term—a number economists project will be created under current policy—but the numbers he’s cited for his claims aren’t based on evaluations of his plan and are ‘squishy’ at best. Mitt Romney thinks he can run out the clock by not coming clean about policy details, but the American people deserve the truth about his plans. And the truth is that economists have concluded that the severe cuts he would make like education, research and development, manufacturing and infrastructure could eliminate 1 million jobs and shrink economic growth by 1 percent.”

The supporting sources for his tax ‘plan’ have never squared with his rhetoric and claims. Turns out the same is true of his jobs ‘plan.’ This pretty much tells the full tale of the Romney campaign–claims not supported by evidence or the truth. Just 3 hours till debate time, it’s so clear that President Obama must indict Romney for his athletic and ambidextrous falsehoods and deceptions. Do it tonight, please!

 

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Demolition Derby on Debate Day

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If President Obama does as well in demolishing Mitt Romney in tonight’s debate as the material I’ve found online so far today does it could be a very good night for DEMs and the president.

In the Plum Line this morning Greg Sargent points to an analysis by his Washington Post colleague Glenn Kessler debunking the notion that Mitt Romney’s jobs plan would create 12M jobs over the next four years, documenting in fact that it’s all built on a bogus foundation. It’s amazing that the Romney campaign would point reporters to material that doesn’t actually support their case. What did they imagine–that no one would be reviewing the sources?

In addition, the Obama campaign offers this incisive video of President Clinton demolishing Mitt Romney’s tax cut fictions.

I will be away from my desk a large part of the day, but will add to this post or do additional ones before the debate tonight as I find more material in the above vein.

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Shades of George W. Bush

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The NY Times reports that while MA Governor from 2003-07, Mitt Romney spent 25% of his time in office away from the state. Danny Hakim writes,

When the ceiling collapsed in [Boston’s] . . . Big Dig tunnel . . . Gov. Mitt Romney was at his vacation home in New Hampshire. When the Bush administration warned that the nation was at high risk of a terror attack in December 2003, he was at his Utah retreat. And for much of the time the legislature was negotiating changes to his landmark health care bill, he was on the road. During Mr. Romney’s four-year term as governor of Massachusetts, he cumulatively spent more than a year—part or all of 417 days—out of the state, according to a review of his schedule and other records. More than 70 percent of that time was spent on personal or political trips unrelated to his job, a New York Times analysis found. Mr. Romney, now the Republican presidential nominee, took lengthy vacations and weekend getaways. But much of his travel was to lay the groundwork for the presidential ambitions he would pursue in the 2008 election, two years after leaving office.

It’s amazing the Times was even able to piece this together, considering the well-known fact that Romney’s gubernatorial staff, encouraged by the outgoing Governor himself, bizarrely were able to buy the hard drives to all their office computers, and then disposed of them. Like so much in Mitt’s life, a fog surrounds the secrets.

The story ends on a ruefully humorous note, with this coda:

Mr. Romney’s visits to New Hampshire became so frequent that The Manchester Union Leader, the state’s largest paper, wrote an editorial complaining about attempts by his security detail to cordon off a section of the lake around his home. “The Massachusetts State Police have no jurisdiction over Lake Winnipesaukee,” it said, adding that troopers from a neighboring state should not be allowed “to harass and intimidate people who are out to enjoy that section of the lake.”

Well, after all, it is his lake…
 

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President Obama to Floridians at 3:35 PM: From “Severely Conservative” to “Severely Kidding”

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Just got this fresh videotape from the Obama campaign of the president mocking Mitt’s sudden and false concern for the middle class, Medicare, teachers, and his disavowal of the $5B tax break for the wealthy that’s still on his website. It’s as if PBO says Mitt’s trying to induce amnesia throughout America, about what he campaigned on for the past 18 months, and about what the previous Repub admin did to the country (leading us into an unnecessary war; neglecting an American jewel city, New Orleans; and the worst financial disaster in 70 years).

Videotape and transcript below.

 

“Now, what does he have to say this new version of Mitt Romney about all the things he’s actually promised to do as president? Tax breaks for outsourcers? Never heard such a thing. Saying we should cut back on teachers? Doesn’t ring a bell. Don’t boo. Vote. Kicking 200,000 young Floridians off their insurance plans. Who me? And when he’s asked about the cost of his tax plan, he just pretends it doesn’t exist. What $5 trillion tax cut? I don’t know anything about a $5 trillion tax cut. Pay no attention to the $5 trillion tax cut on my website. Look, Governor Romney thinks we have not been paying attention for the last year and a half. He is going to say whatever it takes to try to close the deal and he’s counting on the fact that you don’t remember that what he’s selling is exactly what got us into this mess in the first place. So Florida, you got to let him know we remember. We know full well that if he gets a chance, Governor Romney will rubber stamp the top down agenda of this Republican Congress the second he takes office and we cannot afford that future.”

 

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Romney-Ryan Ticket Spends the Day** Before the VP Debate Discussing their Abortion Stance

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From the Obama Campaign comes a round-up of all the unflattering coverage of Mitt’s jitterbug over abortion policy, first raised in a conversation yesterday with the editorial board of the Des Moines Register (covered earlier by me in Mitt’s Serial Dishonesty, this Time on Abortion & Women’s Health). While the Repub campaign spent the day assuring religious conservatives that he remains firmly anti-choice, DEMs pointed out for the benefit of all voters just how destructive a Romney presidency would be for women’s health and women’s freedom. I bet this is going to come up in the Biden-Ryan debate tomorrow night, because of the really extreme legislation that Paul Ryan has co-sponsored in the House, including bills with the odious Todd Akin, Mr. “Legitimate Rape,” who made himself notorious by expressing his belief that women supposedly lie about being raped, to give them access to abortion. Here’s that extensive round-up from the Obama team, with many examples of Mitt being called out for his false moderation, with links and headlines.


The Reviews Are In: Mitt Romney’s Abortion Dishonesty Gambit Backfired

 Just four weeks before the election, Mitt Romney thought he could pull the wool over women’s eyes by not telling the truth about his extreme anti-choice agenda. But his gambit backfired and, in the process, Romney reminded women across America about his extreme positions:

 Associated Press: “A day after Mitt Romney downplayed his plans to fight abortion, social conservatives on Wednesday offered the Republican presidential nominee a not-so-subtle reminder of his pledge to do ‘everything in my power to cultivate, promote, and support a culture of life in America.’”

 New York Times: “Perhaps Mr. Romney just meant he did not know of any specific bills that would restrict abortion. But he might want to check in with his running mate, Paul Ryan, who co-sponsored the ‘No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,’ and helped introduced the term ‘forcible rape’ into the national conversation.”

 Politico: “For the third time in a week, Mitt Romney has taken a prominent U-turn on something that’s supposed to be a matter of fundamental principles.”

 Talking Points Memo: “Perkins said the Romney campaign called him soon after Romney’s remarks were published by the Des Moines Register and assured him it didn’t represent a shift by Romney from his support for pro-life issues.”

Huffington Post: “‘I have looked him in the eye and talked about this issue, [and] I absolutely believe in my heart and know that he is personally committed to a pro-life agenda as president,’ [Governor Chris] Christie said. ‘If you trust me on this issue … I know what his agenda is. I know what he believes. I know that he stands for a strong pro-life agenda.’”

The Fix ‏@TheFix  So Romney and Ryan have spent the entire day before the VP debate talking about the ticket’s abortion position? http://ow.ly/enzfc **

 Robin Abcarian ‏@robinabcarian At stop in FLA, Ryan says no daylight between his position on abortion and Mitt Romney’s. Ryan supports personhood and rape redefinition.

Josh Marshall ‏@joshtpm  Just last year Mitt pledged to ‘advocate & support’ law banning many abortions. http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/269984/my-pro-life-pledge-mitt-romney …

Joy Reid ‏@TheReidReport Unreal. Un… Real …. Romney Reiterates: ‘I’m A Pro-Life Candidate’ http://huff.to/T65wuv  via @HuffPostPol

Click through to see more of today’s headlines on this latest example of Mitt Romney’s false moderation.

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