While Obama borrowed a few times from his stump speech, lobbed a few oblique attacks Romney’s way and complained about Republicans in Congress, he focused more on his work on veterans programs.
Romney did not take a similar tack.
Romney turned really nasty really fast. And in case that wasn't enough, he's turned even worse when Romney landed in Britain.
Vice President Joe Biden chastised Mitt Romney Wednesday over comments published in a British newspaper and attributed to an anonymous Romney foreign policy adviser — comments the Romney campaign has rejected as “not true.”
“The comments reported this morning are a disturbing start to a trip designed to demonstrate Governor Romney’s readiness to represent the United States on the world’s stage,” Biden said in a statement. “Not surprisingly, this is just another feeble attempt by the Romney campaign to score political points at the expense of this critical partnership. This assertion is beneath a presidential campaign.”
The Obama campaign confirmed to TPM that Biden was referring to a story published in the Daily Telegraph Tuesday night. The story quoted an anonymous member of the Romney “foreign policy team” promising Romney would return the bust of Winston Churchill to the Oval Office and restore what the source called a more traditional status to the relationship between Britain and the United States.
“We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special,” the unnamed adviser told the paper. “The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have.”
The Telegraph claimed the comments could “prompt accusations of racial insensitivity” on the part of Team Romney. ThinkProgress and other outlets took up that charge.
Yikes. Mitt Romney has already been "going there" for some time. But my goodness, he's really taking the shady "identity politics" to a whole new level!
I guess Mittens feels he has to stoop this level. The new NBC/WSJ poll doesn't look good for him. He's now so desperate that he's resorting to this kind of mud. I guess he doesn't realize how it can backfire on him.
Here are the top 10 comments about Bain from Romney’s Republican rivals:
ReplyDelete1. “The idea that you’ve got private equity companies that come in and take companies apart so they can make profits and have people lose their jobs, that’s not what the Republican Party’s about.” — Rick Perry [New York Times, 1/12/12]
2. “The Bain model is to go in at a very low price, borrow an immense amount of money, pay Bain an immense amount of money and leave. I’ll let you decide if that’s really good capitalism. I think that’s exploitation.” — Newt Gingrich [New York Times, 1/17/12]
3. “Instead of trying to work with them to try to find a way to keep the jobs and to get them back on their feet, it’s all about how much money can we make, how quick can we make it, and then get out of town and find the next carcass to feed upon” — Rick Perry [National Journal, 1/10/12]
4. “We find it pretty hard to justify rich people figuring out clever legal ways to loot a company, leaving behind 1,700 families without a job.” — Newt Gingrich [Globe and Mail, 1/9/12]
5. “Now, I have no doubt Mitt Romney was worried about pink slips — whether he was going to have enough of them to hand out because his company, Bain Capital, of all the jobs that they killed” — Rick Perry [New York Times, 1/9/12]
6) “He claims he created 100,000 jobs. The Washington Post, two days ago, reported in their fact check column that he gets three Pinocchios. Now, a Pinocchio is what you get from The Post if you’re not telling the truth.” — Newt Gingrich [1/13/12, NBC News]
7. “There is something inherently wrong when getting rich off failure and sticking it to someone else is how you do your business, and I happen to think that’s indefensible” — Rick Perry [National Journal, 1/10/12]
8. “If Governor Romney would like to give back all the money he’s earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years, then I would be glad to then listen to him” — Newt Gingrich [Mediaite, 12/14/11]
9. “If you’re a victim of Bain Capital’s downsizing, it’s the ultimate insult for Mitt Romney to come to South Carolina and tell you he feels your pain, because he caused it.” — Rick Perry [New York Times, 1/8/12]
10. “They’re vultures that 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” — Rick Perry [National Journal, 1/10/12]
Just last night, Newt Gingrich defended his attacks, saying “I think there are things you can legitimately look at in Bain Capital. I think there are things you can legitimately look at in anybody’s record, including Mitt Romney’s record.”
"Given the precedent set by past seven Presidents and Presidential candidates of releasing multi-year tax returns why is Romney making an exception?" Because he has a lot to hide, apparently.
ReplyDeleteHe's the only one that knows what's in there, and apparently he's made the judgement that he's better off having us suspect the worst, rather than us knowing whats in there, which apparently in his mind is worse than anything we're likely to imagine.
Possibilities include:
(1) He ended up with 120 million in his 401K by the trick of agreeing with Bain to grossly undervalue the market value of his stock, then a few years later have the stock get unvalued to the stratosphere.
(2) He participated in the tax avoidance amnesty program of a few years back, avoiding major tax penalties or prosecution.
(3) Any one or more of the other borderline legal but very bad smelling tax dodges-- "in-kind" trades, "no-risk" trades, no-risk write-offs, the list is almost endless.
And BTW he HASNT even released all of his 2010 return, he very conveniently left off the foreign investments and deposits form. Very convenient.
And his argument that it would be "bothersome" to collect the tax data is a crock too-- he supposedly collected 23 years of the stuff to show to McCain in 2008.
Ajay Jain===================================================================================
Republicans betrayed their own conscience when they went against established Republican principles like the MANDATE over healthcare which was a Heritage foundation issue popularized by Gingrich.
Obama did more than his share to UNITE but the Republicans were out to oppose for opposing sake and not following any policy or principles. In the famous words of Minority Senate Leader Mitch McConnell the Republicans were out to defeat the Obama agenda even if it went against established Republican policies set by past precedent.
Mitch McConnell was out to make sure that President Obama remains a one term President and see where it has brought the Congress and its public esteem.
Gingrich out of his own admission was out to defeat Obama from the day he was sworn in as President.
You can not justify the Republicans as the "loyal" opposition as is the case in most mature democracies. They have been out to get President Obama by hook or by crook. A leader can meet the opposition half way but can not fold completely to their whims and fantasies like that of the current Tea Party affiliates.
Republicans will loose in 2012 just like they did in 2008 but with a smaller margin because of the dark money of Billionaires due to Citizens United verdict of the right wing Supreme Court.
" ... Mitt Romney senior adviser Ed Gillespie said Sunday on CNN’s "State of the Union" the GOP candidate “retroactively” retired from Bain Capital after the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics began. ... "
ReplyDeleteNo body who has been drawing at LEAST $100,000.00 per year from 1999 to 2002 from Bain Capital “retroactively” retires from Bain Capital AFTER the 2002!!! Then why draw the salary of at LEAST $100,000.00 per year from 1999 to 2002 from Bain Capital if Romney retired from Bain “retroactively” !!!
" ... Gillespie continued, "He took a leave of absence and, in fact, Candy, he ended up not going back at all and retired retroactively to February of 1999 as a result." ... "
However SEC documents show Mitt Romney as sole owner of all shares of Bain Capital. Romney is also shown as CEO, President and Chairman of Board of Bain Capital in 2001 and 2002 then LEGALLY speaking Mitt Romney has been responsible to all that goes on under the banner of Bain Capital. Then to run for Governor of MA Romney sought residency of MA by lieu of his Bain positions. Now either Romney was at the Olympics OR he was at BAIN.
Only one can be true not BOTH at the same time simultaneously!!! Will the true Willard Mitt Romney stand up and accept ONE thing? Does Romney want to accept untrue SEC filings and be called a Felon or agree that he represented Bain from 1999 to 2002?
On Friday the 13th (7/13/2012) the very illusive Mitt Romney gave very defensive interviews to all FIVE networks on a single day at once!! Just a few days ago Mitt Romney said to FOX News that explaining means that you are WEAK. So his five interviews "explaining" his time at Bain were signs of his weakness!!
ReplyDeletePresidential Candidate Mr. Mitt Romney maybe feeling the heat on his role in BAIN Capital, his business experience which was supposed to be his sole criteria for creating jobs and his greatest qualification for running for the American Presidency in the current economy in 2012!
However SEC documents show Mitt Romney as sole owner of all shares of Bain Capital. Romney is shown as CEO, President and Chairman of Board of Bain Capital in 2001 and 2002 then LEGALLY speaking Mitt Romney has been responsible to all that goes on under the banner of Bain Capital.
Mitt Romney can not just share the good like job creation from 1999 to 2002 and leave the ugly like Bankruptcies and layoffs behind as if he had nothing to do about them from 1999 to 2002.
If he really wanted to disassociate himself from Bain Capital he could have resigned and sold all his shares in Bain Capital in February 1999 then it would have been a different matter but to share in the glory of Bain's job creation accept a salary of $100,000 or MORE (where are the Tax Returns?) for three years and only to refuse to take the responsibility of Bankruptcies and layoffs on his WATCH (1999-2002) is trying to have it both ways and then complaining of playing politics having been caught with his hand in the proverbial Cookie Jar that is the very essence of an ACTIVE LEGAL ROLE in Bain Capital till 2002!! Was Romney getting $100,000.00 or more to do NOTHING for BAIN Capital???
Mitt Romney will have to face the consequences of this leaving Bain "lie" that Mitt Romney has brought on upon himself. If we keep reminding the Romney campaign of the Bain exit lie and Romney's ill effects on workers robbing them of their hard earned salaries and life long benefits all the way to November then 7/13/2012 (FRIDAY the 13th) will go down as the turning point of the 2012 Presidential election!
===========================================================================================
Two-Faced Willard
ReplyDelete"I was not responsible for what happened at Bain Capital" - Mitt Romney
"I was the Sole shareholder, Sole director, Chief executive officer and President of Bain" - Mitt Romney
"The Arizona immigration policy is a good model" – Mitt Romney
"I didn't really support the Arizona immigration policy" – Mitt Romney
“The Massachusetts healthcare plan should be a model for the nation” – Mitt Romney
“Healthcare reform should be left to the states” – Mitt Romney
"Let Detroit go bankrupt" -Mitt Romney
"I'll take a lot of credit for saving the auto industry" -Mitt Romney
“I believe Roe v Wade has gone too far.” – Mitt Romney
“Roe v Wade has been the law for 20 years we should sustain and support it.” – Mitt Romney
“I respect and will protect a woman’s right to choose.” – Mitt Romney
“I never really called myself pro-choice.” – Mitt Romney
“It was not my desire to go off and serve in Vietnam.” – Mitt Romney
“I longed in many respects to actually be in Vietnam and represent our country there.” – Mitt Romney
“I’m not trying to return to Reagan-Bush.” – Mitt Romney
“Ronald Reagan is… my hero.” – Mitt Romney
“I think the minimum wage ought to keep pace with inflation.” – Mitt Romney
"There’s no question raising the minimum wage excessively causes a loss of jobs.” – Mitt Romney
“I saw my father march with Martin Luther King.” – Mitt Romney
“I did not see it with my own eyes.” – Mitt Romney
“I would like to have campaign spending limits.” – Mitt Romney
“The American people should be free to advocate for their candidates without burdensome limitations.” – Mitt Romney
“I supported the assault weapon ban.” – Mitt Romney
"I don’t support any gun control legislation.” – Mitt Romney
At stake is Romney's chief contention that as a former businessman, he has the experience to create jobs and spur a struggling economy. The Obama campaign has countered that Romney ran a firm that pioneered the practice of sending American jobs out of the country and that his background is one of an investor.
ReplyDeleteRomney insists that he stepped down from his private equity firm years earlier than federal records indicate
The new Obama ad was set to run in closely fought Colorado, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
In a round of interviews broadcast Friday evening, the Republican candidate said he wouldn't release more tax returns beyond the 2010 and 2011 returns.
"You can never satisfy the opposition research team of the Obama organization," Romney told CBS on Friday.
And he demanded an apology from Obama for the attacks. "This is simply beneath the dignity of the presidency of the United States," Romney told ABC.
Backhanding the request, the Obama campaign responded with a Web video that shows Romney criticizing Obama in speeches and interviews. Romney is seen accusing the president of not understanding freedom and following an appeasement strategy in foreign affairs, and saying he intends to "stuff it down his throat and point out that it is capitalism and freedom that makes this country strong."
On the flight from Washington to Richmond, Obama campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said that Romney "spends a lot of time asking for apologies, but he spends a lot of time attacking."
It wasn't just Obama, though, pressuring Romney.
"There is no whining in politics," chided John Weaver, a veteran Republican strategist. "Stop demanding an apology, release your tax returns."
Obama said the questions raised in numerous media reports and highlighted by his own campaign aides were a legitimate part of the race for the White House.
"Ultimately, I think, Mr. Romney is going to have to answer those questions because if he aspires to being president, one of the things you learn is you're ultimately responsible for the conduct of your operations," Obama said in an interview with the District of Columbia's WJLA-TV.
Romney called that "Chicago-style politics at its worst" and accused the president, who's from Chicago, and his campaign of trying to shift attention from the economy and unemployment situation.
In trying to put the matter behind him and return the campaign to his economic arguments, Romney declared he had "no role whatsoever in the management" of the company after he left to take over the Salt Lake City Olympic Games in early 1999.
Romney acknowledged that he would have benefited financially from Bain's operations even after he left management of the firm to others. That could open him up to criticism that he gained from investment in companies that sent jobs overseas.
"All of the investors participate in the success or failure of various investments, just like you do as a shareholder of an enterprise," Romney told CBS.
Bain Capital said in a statement that Romney "remained the sole stockholder for a time while formal ownership was being documented and transferred to the group of partners who took over management of the firm in 1999."
___
Associated Press writers Philip Elliott in Wolfeboro, N.H., and Josh Lederman in Williamsburg contributed to this report.
___
Follow Jim Kuhnhenn on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jkuhnhenn
Follow Philip Elliott on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Philip_Elliott
CLIFTON, Va. (AP) — An unrelenting President Barack Obama jabbed at Mitt Romney's record with a private equity firm in an ad Saturday that aimed to keep his rival on the defensive just as the Republican challenger's campaign hoped to take advantage of poor economic data to gain an edge on the incumbent.
ReplyDeleteObama met Romney's plea for an apology for the attacks with a mocking ad that charged that the firm shipped American jobs to China and Mexico, that Romney has personal wealth in investments in Switzerland, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, and that as Massachusetts governor, he sent state jobs to India.
"Mitt Romney's not the solution. He's the problem," the ads says as Romney is heard singing "America the Beautiful."
Pressure was building on Romney from within his own party to be more forthcoming with his finances, a day after he declared he would not release past income tax returns beyond his 2010 tax records and, before the November election, his 2011 taxes
On the sidelines of the National Governors Association meeting in Williamsburg, Alabama's Republican governor, Robert Bentley, called on Romney to release all the documents requested of him.
ReplyDelete"If you have things to hide, then maybe you're doing things wrong," Bentley said. "I think you ought to be willing to release everything to the American people."
After Democrats seized on his words, Bentley later said he still believes Romney's taxes should be released and he believes in transparency, but he's wasn't implying that Romney has anything to hide.
A soaked Obama, campaigning in a downpour in closely contested Virginia, hewed to his middle class-centered pitch in remarks in Glen Allen, which lies in the district represented by one of his top Republican nemeses, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. He attacked Romney and his Republican allies for pursuing what the president branded as outdated and discredited economic policies.
Obama didn't dwell on Romney's business record, leaving the sharpest attacks to his campaign and the new television commercial. Still he played up the charge that Romney and the private equity firm he founded in 1984, Bain Capital, sent jobs overseas.
"He invested in companies that have been called pioneers of outsourcing," the president said, his shirt drenched and water streaming down his face. "I don't want pioneers in outsourcing, I want some insourcing. I want to bring companies back."
Obama spoke to about 900 people in Glen Allen, arriving in a downpour. He eschewed a rain jacket or umbrella and apologized to the women for their ruined hairdos.
"We're gonna have to treat everybody to a salon visit after this" he quipped.
Later, as the rain continued without letup, he appealed for time to make one more point.
"Everybody's wet anyway" he said. "So it doesn't matter. It's too late. Those hairdos are all gone. "
Later Saturday, in Clifton, Va., Obama again tried to tie Romney to the loss of American jobs, contrasting himself with his rival.
"I want to stop giving tax breaks to companies that are shipping jobs overseas," Obama told the audience of 2,100 at Centreville High School. "Let's give those tax breaks that are investing right here in Virginia, right here in the United States of America, hiring American workers to make American products to sell around the world."
Romney's spokeswoman, Andrea Saul, fired back Saturday, accusing the president of being less than truthful about Romney's record.
"The American people deserve the truth and they certainly deserve better from their president," Saul said, from Boston.
While Obama hammered Romney for a second consecutive day in Virginia, Romney spent time with his family in New Hampshire. The candidate, taking a weekend off from public events, spent the morning at his lake house, working on his iPad on the lawn while his grandchildren played nearby. His last public event was Wednesday and he didn't plan other public campaign appearances until Tuesday.
Romney aides began the week drumming Obama on stubbornly high unemployment but watched their upper hand fade. Romney's advisers said Saturday they would keep their plan and not be distracted by Obama's criticism. Romney aides declined to weigh in on Obama's latest criticism and pointed to Romney's television interviews on Friday.
The intensifying attacks and the calls for greater openness came amid stepped up attention to discrepancies between Securities and Exchange Commission filings and Romney's recollection of his role at Boston-based Bain Capital.
PLEASE FORWARD...
ReplyDeleteROMNEY ON TRACK TO LOSE ELECTION
Romney’s financial manipulations have, in the last 48 hours, exploded from mysterious shouldering embers into a political bonfire that could consume his entire campaign.
Romney is calling President Obama a liar and Obama is continuing his call for Romney to release full information about his financial manipulations and more than one year of tax returns.
Articles in the Washington Post and Boston Globe have probed and continue to probe into Romney’s convoluted finances and his years as CEO and owner of Bain Capital. Romney has called for retraction of these widely quoted articles without success.
For a Rachel Maddow interview with the Boston Globe writer who probed Romney’s SEC reports click here: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-rachel-maddow-... .
For a broader discussion of Romney’s financial manipulations on Morning Joe click here: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/morning-joe/481735... .
Either Mitt Romney was "sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president" of Bain Capital from 1999-2002, when all sorts of ugly outsourcing and vulture fund activities were taking place, or he was just listed as "sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president" on the company's documents, which means he was simply a figurehead collecting cash generated by said ugly outsourcing and vulture fund activities.
There appears to be more than ample multiple evidence that Romney is not telling the truth about completely leaving Bain after 1999. If you want to read all the details:
1. Click here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/12/mitt... ;
2. Click here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/12/us-... ;
3.Click here: http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/07/romne... ;
4. Click here: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/b... .
And these articles on Romney/Bain only scratch the surface. After the Boston Globe article on Thursday the Internet lit up like a Christmas tree as everyone with access seemed to have something to report.
More MoJo coverage of Mitt Romney (http://www.motherjones.com/category/tags/romn... ):
►The Mystery of Romney's Exit From Bain:http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/m... ;
►Romney Invested in Medical-Waste Firm That Disposed of Aborted Fetuses, Government Documents Show: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/r... ;
►Romney Tax Tips: 10 Ways to Stiff the IRS:http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/04/t... ;
►Mitt Romney's Long History of Misremembering His Past:http://www.motherjones.co m/politics/2012/06/mitt-romney -history-problem;
►Get-Rich-Quick Profiteers Love Mitt Romney, and He Loves Them Back:http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/04/m... ;
►How Romney Fibs—and Gets Away With It:http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/04/r... .
Of course the Obama campaign wasted no time getting out TV ads on the subject. One of the most recent has Romney singing “God Bless America” while the graphics pound him for his financial manipulations. Click here:http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/14... . Voters in the swing states are getting their first glimpse behind the mask of Romney’s polished campaign performance.
This all brings back Richard Nixon’s famous statement,“I am not a crook.”
The problem for Romney is that it is impossible for him to win an election campaign based on whether or not he is a potential criminal who has lied on legally required reports. Every day the media probes deeper into the Romney financial paper trail and reveals more and more conflicts between Romney’s personally signed reports and his recorded campaign statements is a day closer to his political defeat. If the present political bonfire doesn’t die down soon the GOP may decide at its late August convention to throw Romney under the bus.
Ed Schlick
AP News
ReplyDeletePLEASE FORWARD...
ROMNEY ON TRACK TO LOSE ELECTION
Romney’s financial manipulations have, in the last 48 hours, exploded from mysterious shouldering embers into a political bonfire that could consume his entire campaign.
Romney is calling President Obama a liar and Obama is continuing his call for Romney to release full information about his financial manipulations and more than one year of tax returns.
Articles in the Washington Post and Boston Globe have probed and continue to probe into Romney’s convoluted finances and his years as CEO and owner of Bain Capital. Romney has called for retraction of these widely quoted articles without success.
For a Rachel Maddow interview with the Boston Globe writer who probed Romney’s SEC reports click here: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/the-rachel-maddow-... .
For a broader discussion of Romney’s financial manipulations on Morning Joe click here: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/morning-joe/481735... .
Either Mitt Romney was "sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president" of Bain Capital from 1999-2002, when all sorts of ugly outsourcing and vulture fund activities were taking place, or he was just listed as "sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president" on the company's documents, which means he was simply a figurehead collecting cash generated by said ugly outsourcing and vulture fund activities.
There appears to be more than ample multiple evidence that Romney is not telling the truth about completely leaving Bain after 1999. If you want to read all the details:
1. Click here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/12/mitt... ;
2. Click here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/12/us-... ;
3.Click here: http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/07/romne... ;
4. Click here: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/b... .
And these articles on Romney/Bain only scratch the surface. After the Boston Globe article on Thursday the Internet lit up like a Christmas tree as everyone with access seemed to have something to report.
ReplyDeleteMore MoJo coverage of Mitt Romney (http://www.motherjones.com/category/tags/romn... ):
►The Mystery of Romney's Exit From Bain:http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/m... ;
►Romney Invested in Medical-Waste Firm That Disposed of Aborted Fetuses, Government Documents Show: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/r... ;
►Romney Tax Tips: 10 Ways to Stiff the IRS:http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/04/t... ;
►Mitt Romney's Long History of Misremembering His Past:http://www.motherjones.co m/politics/2012/06/mitt-romney -history-problem;
►Get-Rich-Quick Profiteers Love Mitt Romney, and He Loves Them Back:http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/04/m... ;
►How Romney Fibs—and Gets Away With It:http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/04/r... .
Of course the Obama campaign wasted no time getting out TV ads on the subject. One of the most recent has Romney singing “God Bless America” while the graphics pound him for his financial manipulations. Click here:http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/14... . Voters in the swing states are getting their first glimpse behind the mask of Romney’s polished campaign performance.
CLIFTON, Va. (AP) — An unrelenting President Barack Obama jabbed at Mitt Romney's record with a private equity firm in an ad Saturday that aimed to keep his rival on the defensive just as the Republican challenger's campaign hoped to take advantage of poor economic data to gain an edge on the incumbent.
ReplyDeleteObama met Romney's plea for an apology for the attacks with a mocking ad that charged that the firm shipped American jobs to China and Mexico, that Romney has personal wealth in investments in Switzerland, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, and that as Massachusetts governor, he sent state jobs to India.
"Mitt Romney's not the solution. He's the problem," the ads says as Romney is heard singing "America the Beautiful."
Pressure was building on Romney from within his own party to be more forthcoming with his finances, a day after he declared he would not release past income tax returns beyond his 2010 tax records and, before the November election, his 2011 taxes
On the sidelines of the National Governors Association meeting in Williamsburg, Alabama's Republican governor, Robert Bentley, called on Romney to release all the documents requested of him.
"If you have things to hide, then maybe you're doing things wrong," Bentley said. "I think you ought to be willing to release everything to the American people."
After Democrats seized on his words, Bentley later said he still believes Romney's taxes should be released and he believes in transparency, but he's wasn't implying that Romney has anything to hide.
A soaked Obama, campaigning in a downpour in closely contested Virginia, hewed to his middle class-centered pitch in remarks in Glen Allen, which lies in the district represented by one of his top Republican nemeses, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. He attacked Romney and his Republican allies for pursuing what the president branded as outdated and discredited economic policies.
Obama didn't dwell on Romney's business record, leaving the sharpest attacks to his campaign and the new television commercial. Still he played up the charge that Romney and the private equity firm he founded in 1984, Bain Capital, sent jobs overseas.
"He invested in companies that have been called pioneers of outsourcing," the president said, his shirt drenched and water streaming down his face. "I don't want pioneers in outsourcing, I want some insourcing. I want to bring companies back."
ReplyDeleteObama spoke to about 900 people in Glen Allen, arriving in a downpour. He eschewed a rain jacket or umbrella and apologized to the women for their ruined hairdos.
"We're gonna have to treat everybody to a salon visit after this" he quipped.
Later, as the rain continued without letup, he appealed for time to make one more point.
"Everybody's wet anyway" he said. "So it doesn't matter. It's too late. Those hairdos are all gone. "
Later Saturday, in Clifton, Va., Obama again tried to tie Romney to the loss of American jobs, contrasting himself with his rival.
"I want to stop giving tax breaks to companies that are shipping jobs overseas," Obama told the audience of 2,100 at Centreville High School. "Let's give those tax breaks that are investing right here in Virginia, right here in the United States of America, hiring American workers to make American products to sell around the world."
Romney's spokeswoman, Andrea Saul, fired back Saturday, accusing the president of being less than truthful about Romney's record.
"The American people deserve the truth and they certainly deserve better from their president," Saul said, from Boston.
While Obama hammered Romney for a second consecutive day in Virginia, Romney spent time with his family in New Hampshire. The candidate, taking a weekend off from public events, spent the morning at his lake house, working on his iPad on the lawn while his grandchildren played nearby. His last public event was Wednesday and he didn't plan other public campaign appearances until Tuesday.
Romney aides began the week drumming Obama on stubbornly high unemployment but watched their upper hand fade. Romney's advisers said Saturday they would keep their plan and not be distracted by Obama's criticism. Romney aides declined to weigh in on Obama's latest criticism and pointed to Romney's television interviews on Friday.
The intensifying attacks and the calls for greater openness came amid stepped up attention to discrepancies between Securities and Exchange Commission filings and Romney's recollection of his role at Boston-based Bain Capital.
At stake is Romney's chief contention that as a former businessman, he has the experience to create jobs and spur a struggling economy. The Obama campaign has countered that Romney ran a firm that pioneered the practice of sending American jobs out of the country and that his background is one of an investor.
ReplyDeleteRomney insists that he stepped down from his private equity firm years earlier than federal records indicate
The new Obama ad was set to run in closely fought Colorado, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
In a round of interviews broadcast Friday evening, the Republican candidate said he wouldn't release more tax returns beyond the 2010 and 2011 returns.
"You can never satisfy the opposition research team of the Obama organization," Romney told CBS on Friday.
And he demanded an apology from Obama for the attacks. "This is simply beneath the dignity of the presidency of the United States," Romney told ABC.
Backhanding the request, the Obama campaign responded with a Web video that shows Romney criticizing Obama in speeches and interviews. Romney is seen accusing the president of not understanding freedom and following an appeasement strategy in foreign affairs, and saying he intends to "stuff it down his throat and point out that it is capitalism and freedom that makes this country strong."
On the flight from Washington to Richmond, Obama campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said that Romney "spends a lot of time asking for apologies, but he spends a lot of time attacking."
It wasn't just Obama, though, pressuring Romney.
"There is no whining in politics," chided John Weaver, a veteran Republican strategist. "Stop demanding an apology, release your tax returns."
Obama said the questions raised in numerous media reports and highlighted by his own campaign aides were a legitimate part of the race for the White House.
"Ultimately, I think, Mr. Romney is going to have to answer those questions because if he aspires to being president, one of the things you learn is you're ultimately responsible for the conduct of your operations," Obama said in an interview with the District of Columbia's WJLA-TV.
Romney called that "Chicago-style politics at its worst" and accused the president, who's from Chicago, and his campaign of trying to shift attention from the economy and unemployment situation.
In trying to put the matter behind him and return the campaign to his economic arguments, Romney declared he had "no role whatsoever in the management" of the company after he left to take over the Salt Lake City Olympic Games in early 1999.
Romney acknowledged that he would have benefited financially from Bain's operations even after he left management of the firm to others. That could open him up to criticism that he gained from investment in companies that sent jobs overseas.
"All of the investors participate in the success or failure of various investments, just like you do as a shareholder of an enterprise," Romney told CBS.
Bain Capital said in a statement that Romney "remained the sole stockholder for a time while formal ownership was being documented and transferred to the group of partners who took over management of the firm in 1999."
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Associated Press writers Philip Elliott in Wolfeboro, N.H., and Josh Lederman in Williamsburg contributed to this report.
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