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Today's Poll!Obama says no apology to Romney over Bain attacks
President Barack Obama speaks during a grassroots campaign event at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Photo by The Associated Press.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
WOLFEBORO, N.H. (AP) — Mitt Romney’s campaign said Sunday that President Barack Obama is willing to say anything to win a second term and should say he’s sorry for attacks on the Republican’s successful career at a private equity firm. “No, we will not apologize,” the president responded, adding if Romney wants credit for his business leadership, he also needs to take responsibility.
Questions about Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital and the fortune he earned there have dogged the former Massachusetts governor as Obama and his allies have said the Boston-based firm shipped jobs overseas. Romney insists he left the company in February 1999 to take over the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, but documents suggest he was still in charge as late as 2001.
Romney’s advisers, trying to explain the discrepancies between Romney’s account and federal documents, offered fresh explanations to shift the campaign back to more comfortable ground.
“He actually retired retroactively at that point,” Romney adviser Ed Gillespie said. “He ended up not going back to the firm after his time in Salt Lake City. So he was actually retired from Bain.”
A second adviser, Kevin Madden, said Romney had no choice but to have his name listed on Security and Exchange Commission documents as he sought to transfer the company’s leadership to partners.
“The reason that there is a document that had ... his signature is because, during that transition from 1999 to 2002 ... there was a duty to sign those documents,” Madden said.
The exact role Romney played at the firm between 1999 and 2001 is important not only because critics have raised questions about his truthfulness, but also because Bain was sending jobs overseas during that period.
The president said Romney must square his explanation.
“Mr. Romney claims he’s Mr. Fix-It for the economy because of his business experience, so I think voters entirely legitimately want to know what is exactly his business experience,” Obama told WAVY-TV in Portsmouth, Va., in an interview taped Saturday and posted on the station’s website Sunday
“Mr. Romney is now claiming he wasn’t there at the time except his filings with the SEC listing says he was the CEO, chairman and president of the company.”
Obama’s advisers said that story won’t sell voters.
“Either you’re the CEO, president, chairman of the board of Bain Capital as you attest to the SEC or he’s telling the American people he bears no responsibility for that,” deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter said. “Both those things can’t be true. Either you’re in charge or you’re not.”
Romney has insisted he was not involved with Bain during the time it sent jobs overseas and had no day-to-day responsibility for the company. He said he wanted an apology from the president for implying otherwise.
“No, we will not apologize,” Obama told the TV station.
Cutter said Romney should take the advice — stop whining — that he gave his opponents during the Republican primary.
“Instead of whining about what the Obama campaign is saying, why don’t you just put the facts out there and let people decide instead of trying to hide them?” Cutter said.
Documents place Romney in charge of Bain from 1999 to 2001, a period in which the company outsourced jobs and ran companies that fell into bankruptcy. Romney has tried to distance himself from this period in Bain’s history, saying on financial disclosure forms he had no active role in Bain as of February 1999.
But at least three times since then, Bain listed Romney as the company’s “controlling person,” as well as its “sole shareholder, sole director, chief executive officer and president.” One of those documents — as late as February 2001 — lists Romney’s “principal occupation” as Bain’s managing director.
“He’s very willing to take credit for everything good that he thinks happened after that point that Bain Capital was involved in, but he’s not willing to take responsibility for this,” Obama strategist David Axelrod said, echoing comments Obama and his allies leveled in a weeklong blitz about Bain.
Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., said Obama’s attacks cheapen the presidency and are an attempt to distract voters from Obama’s record in office.
“With these attacks, it shows that he’s just a small politician and running on small-ball politics at a time when our country is facing grave, grave challenges,” Ayotte said.
Added Gillespie: “We now know this president will say or do anything to keep the highest office in the land — even if it means demeaning the highest office in the land.”
Romney’s campaign released a television ad Sunday asking why the president had stopped talking about hope and change, his signature message during the 2008 campaign, and criticizing him for a barrage of negative ads against Romney.
Obama’s allies also pushed Romney to release more than the one year of tax returns he has shared. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s former top White House aide, noted Romney released 23 years of taxes to 2008 GOP nominee John McCain so he could be considered as a vice presidential nominee.
“John McCain’s people looked at it and went with Sarah Palin” as the No. 2 on the ticket that year. “Whatever is in there is far worse than the first year,” Emanuel said. “The Romney campaign isn’t stupid. They have decided that it’s better to get attacked on a lack of transparency, lack of accountability to the American people, versus telling you what’s in those taxes.”
Romney has refused and says that no amount of disclosure would satisfy his critics.
But some in his party said the debate over Romney’s wealth is distracting from the campaign.
“He should release the tax returns tomorrow. It’s crazy. You’ve got to release six, eight, 10 years of back tax returns,” said conservative Bill Kristol, joining the Republicans who want to turn the page on stories about Romney’s vast personal wealth. “Take the hit for a day or two.”
Unless, as Obama’s team hints, the returns prove disqualifying.
“The costs of not releasing the returns are clear,” conservative columnist George Will said. “Therefore, he must have calculated there are higher costs to releasing them.”
Gillespie appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and CNN’s “State of the Union. Cutter and Madden were on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Axelrod spoke to CNN. Kristol was interviewed on “Fox News Sunday.” Emanuel, Ayotte and Will appeared on ABC’s “This Week.”
Marry Me
Comments
newone 10 months, 1 week ago
A Politian that lies? NO WAY!! Romney is a liar and now he is back peddling to get himself out of a lie!! Documents that he signed saying that he was in charge but now he is saying he wasn't??? Such BS! Can't wait to hear the excuses on this one.
asb 10 months, 1 week ago
Yes Romoney DID lie, either to the SEC or to us all. I think most people would expect the sole owner, CEO and president of a corporation might possibly have something to do with running it, at least $100,000 a year's worth. Either he was all these things as filed for years with the SEC, or he mis-filed with the SEC Since lying isn't always a felony, he should plead the fib. I might not prosecute him for these little technicalities, but I think this is the kind of thing the Clintons were skewered for, and worse. Romoney is the bag man for the oligarchy that is buying America.
Onomatopoetix 10 months, 1 week ago
<p>FactCheck.org backs Romney's claim that he was CEO in name only, so Obama needs to back off this accusation. However, Romney should pipe down on his boast that he created 10000 jobs while at Bain, since that happened long after Romney left. If you're going to claim no blame during this time frame, you need to stick to the argument. Not Romney's strong point.newone 10 months, 1 week ago
lol....let me guess it's Obama's fault that Romney lied!! Now I have heard it all. He signed documents saying he was in charge!! Hello!
newone 10 months, 1 week ago
So i guess the documents that Romney signed were forged by who? Obama I guess? And they are desperate? Republicans have been trying for 4 years to prove Obama is not an American citizen and still have not been able to yet they keep trying how desperate is that? I knew you would have a doozy of an excuse but this was better than I thought it would be, thank you. lol
spelchek 10 months, 1 week ago
Do not be distracted and stick with today's facts. Obama promised to:
All of these Romney attacks are appealing to ID10TS. Sensible people will not ignore the wake of failure the last three years Mr. Obama has left behind him.
newone 10 months, 1 week ago
Never said Obama has done great things, he has lied just as much as the others, but I find it funny that when Obama lies and doesn't do what he said he would then he is the worst president this country has ever had but Romney who isn't even a president gets caught in a HUGE lie where they have documents to back up the fact that he lied then that is just Obama being desperate.
You want to talk about lies look at the last president we had and how many lies came out of his mouth, Bush took us into a war that was supposedly started because they had evidence that they had weapons of mass destruction which we all know now was a huge lie. Bush inherited a 4% unemployment rate when he came into office when he left it was 8.1%, the national debt when Bush took office was 5,807,463,412,200.06 when he left it was around 10,024,724,896,912.49, almost double, so your wonder Republican's are not any better so please stop acting like the Democrats are the bad guys because it looks to me like they are all bad.
JCLifer 10 months, 1 week ago
Nice:
This country is hosed. Why anyone would vote to continue the status quo is beyond me. How about a vote to dismantle the federal government and start over. Divide the country into 4 or 5 little countries where similar-thinking people can live together in harmony. The USA is done. Why continue the suffering and agony and dispair?
Politicians who lie on both sides.
asb 10 months, 1 week ago
■Politicians who lie on both sides - Suprise
■Congress cannot even pass a budge for the current fiscal year - Not with Norquist and the Teaparty in charge
■The Supreme Court makes more laws than Congress - not even remotely true
■The economy continues to flop - As long as we keep fighting wars on a peacetime budget, and the Teaparty refuses to pay for them, that's what you're going to get
■Illegal invaders are walking right in through the borders - They're being recruited and hired by corporations trying to dodge labor standards. Would you mind so much if they were Canadian?
■Kids are graduating from high school and cannot read, write, or do simple math, and have no ethics or personal skills. - I lament the state of our schools, dumbed down by religious and corporate agendas, but you exaggerate extremely. Most HS graduate are reasonably well educated, and your moral and ethical issues apply more to the privately educated than the publicly.
■Prisons are overflowing but crime is still common - Overflowing with drug dealers, while AB/In-bev are community icons. Crimes against American financial interests are unprosecuted and unpunished when found out, with enough rare exceptions to make it a clear rule.
Sequoia 10 months, 1 week ago
All of you folks who thought perjury justified impeaching Clinton will now, I'm sure, disavow Romney, because he clearly perjured himself regarding his relationship with Bain Capital.
Perjury is bad, mkay?
andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/07/yes-romney-perjured-himself.html?tw_p=twt
The point that both the Tea Party and OWS have made is that our political system is too open to the influence of people with huge amounts of money to re-write the rules in their favor. Romney is exactly the sort of person both sides have been complaining about for years. Watching the Tea Party twist itself in knots trying to support this vacuous plutocrat is just another reminder of how the Tea Party was never about principle or ideas... it was about being against "that Obama."
How anyone could have lived through the past several years, and still vote for Romney, is completely beyond me. Unless, of course, you define yourself by solely by your opposition to Obama.
A true conservative may not like everything about what Obama has done, but he's about a million and one times better than Romney. That much is plain.
asb 10 months, 1 week ago
Then he WAS the heart of Bain, and he's wrong, if not lying, when he says he had nothing to do with Bain after Feb 1999. Well, thank goodness he didn't purjesr hisself! He's just a liar.
dokeus6 10 months, 1 week ago
Grace, didn't you note recently that the washington post is not a reliable source? Flip Flop Flip Flop typical Conservative Chicken little syndrome again.
JCLifer 10 months, 1 week ago
Gawd I wish Hermann Cain or Ron Paul would come back into the race.
Onomatopoetix 10 months, 1 week ago
Ron Paul, you mean the guy who is against social security but still cashes his checks? Is he a hypocrite or has he mistaken them for another tax break?
RobHunterJohnson 10 months, 1 week ago
THANK YOU GRACE! Now may we make them fix these programs? Rob
asb 10 months, 1 week ago
NEWS FLASH "State Financial Agency Clears Former Gov!" Duh! It's either a technical lie (the felony) or an ethical lie (the omission).. And let me peek through another fence here . . . so what if somehow he managed to go from top dog to invisible pup, to nothing while hanging out in Salt Lake City while Bain still raked in cash, it's still his doghouse! Mittens IS Bain, period. He built it, taught it, and got it! Get it? It isn't the American dream, it's the American scheme, devoid of any soul or purpose beyond biblical greed. This is why we have regulations (when we have them), to keep people guilty of nothing worse than greed from eating their grandchildren. And the captcha for this post has "socialism" in it, oh my!
rollnthndr 10 months, 1 week ago
You obviously did not start those businesses. It is not uncommon for a business owner to continue receiving a salary for little or no work. I've been in accounting and finance for years and have had clients who owned/started the business continue to get paid after leaving the company. I'm amazed at how people are bashing companies like Bain, a private equity firm, and if you look at some of the state pension plans they are investing money with similar companies. We can not continue the assault on the private sector. No private sector jobs, there will be no public sector jobs either. This economic malaze started 20 years ago when we embarked on loose monetary policy and continued deficit spending on the fiscal side of the ledger. Unfortunately there is not a politician in the country willing to tackle the tough issues.
asb 10 months, 1 week ago
Corporations are not evil. Capitalism is not evil, and gambling with money is not evil. It is when poorly regulated gambling with peoples' money by corporations not obliged to follow due dilagence fail, die, lose everything, etc. and nobody knows it's happening or can do anything about it that evil become an operative idea. There's nothing wrong with Bain not covered by biblical and other ethical controls, but they're not there. Greed and the purchase of the oversight process by the foxes will ALWAYS result in the literal disappearance of large fractions of a peoples' wealth. Mittens represents this drive to remove ethics and control from finances, and is not suited to carry the bag for the American people. Separate banking from poker, clarify the process and shoot (figuratively of course) the offenders rather than lionizing them. Then American business can again be a model for the world instead of a model for rape and theft. Unregulated greed has stripped every one of of us of much of our worth, yet YOU WILL STILL VOTE FOR THE MEN MOST GUILTY OF THE STEALING! Just because a black man sits in the white house and has reasonably managed one of our greates recessions and finally established at least third world healthcare for the last nation to have it. Shoot yourselves in the foot, vote for Romoney.
Paroquet 10 months, 1 week ago
Yo, Graceful?
I'm a free thinker. I make my own breakfast. You really seem to be someone who is spoon-fed.
Tell us about the successes and aspirations of those you idolize. Keep it clear, concise, and dispassionate. Maybe, just maybe, those of us with brains unchained might give a hooey.
Right now, you sound like a redshirt. And I don't mean the sacrificial ensign from Star Trek.
Sequoia 10 months, 1 week ago
To me the big problems are:
Companies that are "too big to fail." Some companies know that if they go down, they'll take so many innocent workers with them and create so much instability that no government with any sense of the public interest will let it happen. So they have no incentive not to fail.
Individual CEOs and Boards of Directors have golden parachute salary plans, so they can run a company into the ground and walk away with millions. It is very, very hard to hold individual decision makers liable for mismanaging a company. Again, no incentive not to fail.
Adulation of the rich. Some people think that just because a person is rich, they are therefore not an incompetent fool. Experience strongly suggests otherwise.
All this has resulted in a perverse form of capitalism where the gains are private and the losses are social. When a company rakes it in, everyone tries to pose like they "earned" it, and thus a normal tax rate is a form of confiscatory socialism. This is baloney, because whenever a big company fails, suddenly it becomes everyone else's problem. Corporate welfare, handouts, bailouts, workers lose their jobs, retirees lose their pensions, and the CEO who messed it all up walks away with a multi-million dollar severance.
I'm not sure there is anything that any one politican can do about this. It requires people to wake up. But, if I had to chose, I sure as heck wouldn't choose Romney. Are you serious?
In the earlier part of this century, good Christian people used to be skeptical of Wall Street, because how they made money was too much like gambling (even worse, with other people's money). Decades of propaganda (assisted in no large part by hippies who went too far 40 years ago) have changed that view. Today, I would suggest that the biggest moral problem in our country is not hippies, but items 1-4 above.
It is time to wake up, and take our country back from the Romneys of the world.
asb 10 months, 1 week ago
4 is particularly to-the-point big red tree.
Littleinvestor 10 months, 1 week ago
Thunder, you are the only one on this thread who gets it. But, even after he left Bain Mr. Romney was apparently the sole owner for about two years. He had to know what was happening in those two years because he is smart enough to watch such a huge investment. We're along way from knowing who knew what and when and what they were doing when. I suspect the press/media is no where near knowing what really happened and all of the reporting is pretty sloppy/misinformed. And all politicians spin the truth and lie. All of them.
Sequoia 10 months, 1 week ago
For most people in this country, $100,000 is a lot of money, and you don't get it for doing nothing.
Also, for most people in this country, if your name is on something, you're responsible for it.
If I give someone my credit card, and they run up a bill, who do you think is responsible for that bill? Me.
That's how things work in the real world. That's the rules we all live by. They ought to apply to Romney, too.
It goes back to my point No. 4 above. People like Romney want to take all the credit for the good things, then blame subordinates for the bad things.
For now, we're stuck with those people as our bosses.
But we don't have to vote for them to be president.
Sequoia 10 months, 1 week ago
Grace, that would be the experience we're living in now, where people like Romney took risks with other people's money, and crashed our economy. Romney was living by "rules" that were rigged to allow people like him to do what they did... use people's hard-earned savings as monopoly money.
These attacks are driven by the actual reality we're living in right now.
And please, grow up. Obama is a "who." Not a "what."
When you can't even address the man as a person, I know where you're coming from. I'm not interested in meeting you halfway there.
As for OBL, Obama didn't have to make the call he did. He had a lot of faith in the SEALs, he pulled the trigger and they performed like champs. Don't underestimate how risky it was for Obama to make the call. If it had gone wrong, it would have been devastating on a number of levels.
As the Commander in Chief who gave the order, Obama does deserve a lot of credit for the fact that OBL is dead. You present yourself as a military man, John, so you know it is true. Your party loyalty is the only thing preventing you from admitting that very plain, obvious fact.
Dan 10 months, 1 week ago
So when Romney bought failing companies he did it with "other people's money?". I believe he was using his company's money; putting it at risk as it were. His company obviously impacted people's lives, but most of those companies were apparently at risk already. So I would suggest that the Solyndra-type investments made by BHO is playing with other people's money more than Romney's actions. BTW,nice job getting OBL, the country needed to feel like we could achieve a goal, even if it was a short-lived feeling.
John 10 months, 1 week ago
"It goes back to my point No. 4 above. People like Romney want to take all the credit for the good things, then blame subordinates for the bad things."
You mean like Odumba taking credit for popping OSB? And blaming Bush for things that happen 2 years AFTER his term ended?
newone 10 months, 1 week ago
Please show me a quote where Obama took credit for getting OSB. I watched his speech that night and acutally gave some credit to Bush and the rest to the service men and women who took him down. You talk about Obama making up lies but you lie when you say Obama took credit for OSB which he did not do. This is just another example of the hate towards Obama where you make up things just to make him look bad. Kind of sad actually! Try sticking to facts, people would respect your opinion a little more if you did.
John 10 months, 1 week ago
Then you did not pay attention to his speeches. He clearly said "I got Bin Laden" in several of his campaign speeches.
TickledPink 10 months, 1 week ago
The only pronoun I've heard him use in regard to OBL is "we". No, I've not listened to every speech so please feel free to post a link to a youtube clip where he says "I".
newone 10 months, 1 week ago
Oh I paid attention, Please listen to the speech again and the only time he used "I" was when he was talking about the orders he gave to take action. It will not let me put the first part of the web address so please add it when you decide to watch and see what he really said.
youtube.com/watch?v=3V0ISgosTlQ
Sequoia 10 months, 1 week ago
I like how the conservative movement likes to say that the boom years during the Clinton presidency were the result of things that Reagan did, but that the failures of Bush didn't carry over into the Obama administration.
It should be easy for everyone to see how full of holes these weak arguments are. You don't think people can see through this?
The economic crash was like a natural disaster. Hurricane Katrinia didn't stop causing damage the exact second the rain stopped. It took a long time to clean up the mess. I think that's an apt analogy for the disaster Obama has had to manage.
I think he's done a great job with the political environment we're in. The alternative would have been a McCain/Palin presidency, during which the conservative movement would have let major institutions crash and instituted severe "austerity" (the domestic spending and tax cuts that folks like Romney have ALWAYS wanted), which would have resulted in much higher unemployement and a much worse economy. Romney and his business partners would have been better off than ever. The rest of us would be suffering. Do you really have any doubt about this?
A McCain/Palin presidency would have had us looking like Greece. That's where Romney wants to take us. Families and other American institutions will crumble, the rich will get far richer, and all we'll have to show for it are promises to wait for the "trickle down." They want to play you for suckers, where they take the money now and you get the promise for money later. Don't be a sucker. Stand up for your own economic interest.
To put a new twist on the old Doors' anthem, they've got the PACs, but we've got the numbers.
Don't be suckered by all this nonesense about "liberals." Its a clever distraction. A vote for Obama is a vote for your own economic interest.
Call me what you want. When the dust settles and the dollars are counted, I'd rather be called a liberal who fights for what's mine, instead of a sucker who gives it away for a cowboy image and promise.
RobHunterJohnson 10 months, 1 week ago
John, That was something that Bush 2 could not get done, but Bush 2 did put up a banner that proclaimed MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! Rob
JCLifer 10 months, 1 week ago
Poor Barrack Hussein. If he gets re-elected, he is going to inherit one hell of a mess from his own administration.
asb 10 months, 1 week ago
You sure do like that Hussein bit eh Lifer. Obama was given that name, and has no shame of it, but to you it's a sign of his anti-Americanism, his anti-Christian secret faith. You love to imply that Obama isn't actually an American and is working for a foriegn agenda, whether by virtue of his not being Chrisitan or his exposure to Islamic culture. Actually you just like to troll, but it looks bad either way.
Paroquet 10 months, 1 week ago
Pfft. Our President already inherited one hell of a mess from the previous administration. Or can't you do simple arithmetic? If you bother to look, the view will provide a clue; our current CiC is busy trying to unphuq all the things what were sodomized during the previous administration.
It's a royal beotach of a problem inheriting a ship that was scuttled.
spelchek 10 months, 1 week ago
I know, this concept blows the progressive mind.
Sequoia 10 months, 1 week ago
Here's a perfect example of how the conservative "movement" is playing people for suckers.
Here's the news: The average Canadian household is richer than the average American household.
theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/07/the-triumph-of-canadian-socialism/259924/
Canada has liberals and conservatives, but it has no conservative "movement" that tries to use words like "liberal" to sucker people into voting against their own economic interest.
As a result, the success and wealth of Canadian families stands as a stark rebuttal to the lies of the conservative movement about "liberals" or "socialism."
Don't get suckered by scary words. Just look at the facts of what is actually happening.
Don't be fooled.
John 10 months, 1 week ago
They're (the Canadians) are healthier too. That is why so many of them come to the U.S. for healthcare.
JCLifer 10 months, 1 week ago
The poor folks leave Canada and come across the border where we give them free housing, food, college degrees, etc.
I would not be proud that Canada has richer households than us.
We get their riff-raff and rejects.
asb 10 months, 1 week ago
We've gotten everyone's riff-rafff and rejects since the mayflower, which is what has made us great . . .
newone 10 months, 1 week ago
If, and that is a big IF Mit is not guilty of lying and has nothing to hide then why is it that he is only willing to provide the last two years in tax returns when they people have asked to see at least the last 12 years worth? Why doesn't he want anyone else to see his previous years tax returns, you think he has something to hide, I think so!! If he is willing to show the last two years then why not the last 12 if he has nothing to hide, he isn't even the president yet and he is already lying and trying to hide things, Obama is not the best president ever I will hole heartly admit that but Romeny is nothing but a lier and a cheat and anyone who supports that and says it is ok then they are just as bad as he is.
Littleinvestor 10 months, 1 week ago
John, you know who pays when Canadians come across the border for health care? For citizens of Alberta anyway, where my cousins farm, their health care plan pays. It is cheaper for the plan to fly them to the states for an expensive test or imaging than it is to maintain rarely used equipment in Canada. Detroit hospitals have lots of Canadian patients but the various province health care plans pay the bills for MRIs, some operations and the like. There really is no Canadian health care system. The mandate is that each province has a plan. Apparently Alberta's is well liked but I talked to someone from another province about a month ago and they had a real horror story. But the root of the problem seemed to be their primary physician was a lousy dianostician. They finally just paid to go to another doctor and got taken care of.
RobHunterJohnson 10 months, 1 week ago
Thanks Grace, A Promise is a Promise? Now can we fix these programs. Rob
wcywing 10 months, 1 week ago
hmm...Obama or Romney...i choose none of the above. both are failures and not much difference.
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