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July 13th, 2012
09:44 PM ET
Experts: Swift boat similarities in '12
Some say Obama's accusations against Romney for his record at Bain are reminiscent of Bush's attacks on Kerry in 2004.
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Filed under: 2012 Election • Bain Capital • Mitt Romney • President Barack Obama |
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Swift Boat veterans were telling the truth about the very very rich liberal John Kerry. David Axlerod is lying through his teeth.
What was Romney being paid over $100,000 a year to do between 1999 and 2002? Nothing? C'mon!
Oh, sorry, six figures (or is it actually seven?) a year is just chump change for this man. He just lent his name to the company for that amount.
They are not similar to the Swift Boat nonsense. President is president. Romney was president and CEO and sole stockholder of Bain from 1999 to 2002. If he turned the company operations over to someone else, he was still responsible for what happened.
John King at CNN did a whitewash last year of this controversy. Is CNN trying to get another interview with Romney?
A couple of minor omissions.
=> No mention of the SEC statements was made; as this is the basis of the Dems attacks, this is a major omission.
=> All Romney has to do to stop this is release the board minutes proving he wasn't active in Bain after 1999, but he refuses to do so.
=> Or release his tax records for the same period, showing he wasn't being paid by Bain, but he refuses to do so.
=> And the GOP considered the Swift Boating of Kerry to be fair game at the time, so who is saying it is unfair now?
Romney and his outsourcing of jobs and hiding the profits in offshore bank accounts to avoid US taxes is not like the swift boat attacks on Kerry. It is more like the birth certificate attacks that the some republicans have put forth on Obama for years. A person running for President of the United States should have all their tax records as open records for the American people to judge. If you have nothing to hide, why so secretive? Where there is smoke, their must be fire. If Romney is proud of his record of outsourcing jobs to foreign countries for profit and what he did with the proceeds, including paying or not paying US income tax, then show us the returns.
SEC filings uncovered discrepencies between Romney's statements and the information submitted.. This is the reason why Romney is against government regulations. Without the required filings he would get away with his misinformation.
Let's be clear here. The claims made about John Kerry were false. They were out and out lies about his service in Vietnam put forward by a group of unprincipled veteran ideologues. Nothing that has been said by Obama's camp about Romney is untrue. Romney cannot have it both ways. On paper with the SEC he was sole owner and CEO of Bain until 2002, even drawing a paycheck, but insists he had no involvement. Simultaneously, he insisted to the state of Massachusetts while establishing residency for his run for governor that he continued to participate in business in the state. Even as governor he outsourced state jobs, so this claim by Obama is absolutely true. Romney's put his money in accounts in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands and has a corp in Bermuda. What's not true about that? He won't release his tax returns to refute the truth of any of these things. Did anyone really expect a man as smart as Barack Obama to just lie down and be rolled over by swiftboating Republicans who have unlimited Citizens United money for negative advertising? Get over it Republicans. You have a lousy candidate that all the money in the world can't salvage.
Anderson, we are counting on you not be like the other shows that don't exert some thought and insight.
What experts?! Experts on Swift Boating? The fact is that Romney held the titles CEO and President because he was not sure what he wanted to do. When he decided to run for Gov. he ended his tenure at Bain. Sure he was not playing the critical role he had, but enough to feel comfortable signing off on tax returns. The deals in question were ones he had initiated and managed. He is responsible for the trajectory he had started. Is he saying he would have made different decisions.
Lastly in the televised debate where he says he attended Bain functions and Board meetings indicates he was fully aware of what was happening. His attempts and plausible deniability is lame.
Romney held the position and took the pay. It does not matter whether he was there managing the day-to-day business of the company. If you're the boss and you get the pay, you have the responsibility. You don't get say I'll take the money and the title but don't hold me responsible for anything. If Romney thinks that's acceptable, his gargantuan sense of entitlement makes him unsuitable for president.