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Showing posts with label RickPerry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RickPerry. Show all posts

Some Republicans jumping the shark on class warfare?


I don't see what Romney did with Bain as being remotely similar to what Obama did with GM. Still, I am very disappointed with Newt's and Perry's statements on this, but Romney is an idiot. This makes it look like what Obama did was alright.



Here is a Ted Kennedy ad about Romney and Bain capital. This is clearly a preview of Obama's campaign in the fall.

Here is Rush Limbaugh's comments on Romney comparing his experience with Bain to Obama's experience with GM.

A transcript is available here.
Are you sitting down? If you're driving, you might want to pull off to the side of the road here. "[S]peaking Wednesday on CBS, Romney said that what he did [with Bain Capital] was no different..." Are you sitting down? Are you paying very close attention? Look at me. Do I have you here? According to TheHill.com and Jonathan Easley. Today on CBS, "Romney said that what he did [with Bain Capital] was no different..." Dadelut dadelut dadelut! from what Barack Obama did bailing out the auto industry. Thud! Kerplunk! You've got to be kidding me. The next paragraph is a quote from Romney. Are you still sitting down?

"In the general election I'll be pointing out that the president took the reins at General Motors and Chrysler -- closed factories, closed dealerships, laid off thousands and thousands of workers -- he did it to try to save the business." So TheHill.com is reporting that Romney on CBS today said that what he did with Bain Capital is no different than what Obama did in taking over the auto companies. Obama had to lay people off; Obama had to streamline the place to make them profitable. So he's accepting the premise that Newt and Perry have put out there, apparently, that he has gone into these companies with a chainsaw -- and now he is using Obama and what he did at General Motors and Chrysler as: Hey, the president did it! Now, General Motors and Chrysler are not profitable, and... (sigh)

You just don't, if you are the leader in the race for the Republican nomination, come out and give tacit approval to the government takeover of General Motors and Chrysler and then compound that by saying: Hey, what I did is no different. I was trying to save the businesses. (interruption) I did leave the possibility that this is not accurate. Yes. It's in TheHill.com. I've not seen it anywhere else. So, yes, I've held out the possibility that this is inaccurate. For example, there was a story all day yesterday on Drudge that Newt is gonna go into South Carolina and meet with the former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucasians (Clyburn, James Clyburn, whose daughter is named Mignon Clyburn) and gonna have a joint press conference, appearance about the housing industry, that Newt is gonna meet with a Democrat -- a ranking Democrat -- member of the Congressional Black Caucasians. So I fired that off to some people I know who are dyed-in-the-wool, Newt-can't-do-anything-wrong supporters, and I said, "Can you explain this to me?" and a few hours later I had a reply. "Newt says this isn't true. He thinks Romney people are spreading this rumor. He's not got a meeting with Clyburn," but it's in The State newspaper in South Carolina. So I share with you this Hill.com story with the proviso that it might not be true, but there it is. Okay. . . .




Fact checking some of the attacks on Bain. The video focuses on four Bain-financed companies:

•The film talks about layoffs at DDi Corp. and discusses questionable manipulation of stock prices after the circuit board company went public. But Romney had left Bain Capital a year before any layoffs and a public stock offering that ultimately netted Bain and Romney a big payday. The company's subsequent bankruptcy filing came two years after Bain had largely divested from the company, and was the result of the dot-com bust. Moreover, the company emerged from bankruptcy, and its current CEO credits those early Bain investments for setting the foundation for the company's current success.
•The film claims Romney was involved in the acquisition, management and demise of the now-defunct KB Toys. He wasn't. Bain bought the toy company nearly two years after Romney left Bain.
•Likewise, the closing of UniMac's plant in Marianna, Fla., occurred seven years after Romney left Bain and nearly two years after Bain sold UniMac's parent company to another private equity house. . . .
the video presents a myopic view of Bain Capital, cherry-picking some of the worst Bain outcomes to portray Bain in the worst possible light. Romney's record at Bain Capital also includes some success stories . . . .
"Their overall performance was terrific," concurred Steven Neil Kaplan, a professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. "He's got lots of deals that worked." . . .
Hugh Hewitt Corrects the Record on the Washington Post Sliming Rick Perry on Race

Hugh Hewitt Corrects the Record on the Washington Post Sliming Rick Perry on Race

Hugh Hewitt's piece is available here.

There is no hint of prejudice or race-baiting in Rick Perry's long career in the public eye. But the Washington Post puts the story of a fallen rock with a deeply offensive name at an obscure hunting camp on its front page in a stunning attempt to injure Perry by association with a name no one is quoted saying he ever used or did anything other than cause to have painted over.

The Post article has to be read in its entirety to grasp just how thin is the connection between Perry and the rock with the offensive place name, but here is the key line in the article: "Of those interviewed, the seven who said they saw the rock said the block-lettered name was clearly visible at different points in the 1980s and 1990s. One, a former worker on the ranch, believes he saw it as recently as 2008."

Many, many people were interviewed for the story. Only seven recall seeing the rock, and not one of them connect Rick Perry to it, nor do any of the people --either from among these seven or who knows how many more were contacted for the piece-- tie Rick Perry to offensive comments, language or actions. Though a lot of space is devoted to this story, no detailed reporting on what the seven saw and when they saw it is included, which allows for incredible supposition about the ambiguity to take root. Thus a story that could have major implications for the presidential campaign in 2012 is built on anonymous sources whose stories aren't even detailed. . . .
Romney makes up claims about Texas in debate with Perry

Romney makes up claims about Texas in debate with Perry

Romney is simply wrong when he makes this claim about Perry and Bush.

ROMNEY: Look, the reality is, there are differences. There are differences between states.

I came into a state that was in real trouble -- a huge budget gap, losing jobs every month. We turned it around. Three out of four years, we had unemployment rate below the national average, we ended up with 4.7 percent unemployment rate. I'm proud of what we were able to do in a tough situation.

WILLIAMS: Time.

Governor Perry?

PERRY: I know back and forth -- Michael Dukakis created jobs three times faster than you did, Mitt.

ROMNEY: Well, as a matter of fact, George Bush and his predecessor created jobs at a faster rate than you did, Governor.

(LAUGHTER)

PERRY: That's not correct.

ROMNEY: Yes, that is correct.


During Bush's administration, Texas employment grew by 963,243. That is less than during Perry's tenure when it grew by 1,774,799. But Perry was governor for 10.58 years and Bush for only 6 years. At an annual rate, it grew by 160,541 under Bush and 167,748 under Perry.

Ron Paul runs a pretty dishonest campaign ad against Rick Perry


This ad uses some subterfuge that is disheartening. First, on the theatrics, note that a young Ron Paul is shown with Reagan, but when Perry is linked with Al Gore, current pictures of Rick Perry are used. The obvious implication is that Rick Perry recently endorsed Al Gore for president, not long ago as it actually occurred in 1988, 23 years ago. The other thing that was left out was that when Gore ran for the presidency in 1988, he was considered the conservative Democrat in the race. Al Gore's views on gun control, abortion, and spending were much more conservative than they were later. It was basically after that run that Gore realized that the had to move well to the left if he was going to have a place in the national Democratic party, and it was before Gore went nutty on the environment. Rick Perry was still a Democrat at that time in 1988 and it was just before he switched parties to run as a Republican.
Kinky Friedman, a self-describe Democrat, endorses Rick Perry

Kinky Friedman, a self-describe Democrat, endorses Rick Perry

As always, Kinky is fun to read:



simply put, Rick Perry and I are incapable of resisting each other’s charm. He is not only a good sport, he is a good, kindhearted man, and he once sat in on drums with ZZ Top. A guy like that can’t be all bad. When I ran for governor of Texas as an independent in 2006, the Crips and the Bloods ganged up on me. When I lost, I drove off in a 1937 Snit, refusing to concede to Perry. Three days later Rick called to give me a gracious little pep talk, effectively talking me down from jumping off the bridge of my nose. Very few others were calling at that time, by the way. Such is the nature of winning and losing and politicians and life. You might call what Rick did an act of random kindness. Yet in my mind it made him more than a politician, more than a musician; it made him a mensch.



These days, of course, I would support Charlie Sheen over Obama. Obama has done for the economy what pantyhose did for foreplay. Obama has been perpetually behind the curve. . . .

Newest Fox News piece: Liberals and the Texas Unemployment Miracle

If this is the best that the Democrats can do to attack Rick Perry's Texas, the election might already be over. Democrats feel that they have to attack Texas because they don't have any way to defend Obama's policies. This is how my newest Fox News piece starts:



With Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry officially entering the presidential race last week, liberals have started attacking Texas' economic record.

Paul Krugman in the New York Times went first last Sunday. "So what you need to know is that the Texas miracle is a myth, and more broadly that Texan experience offers no useful lessons on how to restore national full employment," Krugman claimed.

With the latest Gallup poll showing that just 26 percent of Americans approve of President Obama's performance on the economy, liberals have little choice but to try to distort what is happening in Texas.

"In June 2011, the Texas unemployment rate was 8.2 percent. That was less than unemployment in collapsed-bubble states like California and Florida, but it was slightly higher than the unemployment rate in New York, and significantly higher than the rate in Massachusetts. . . ."


The Texas unemployment rate is about one percentage point lower than the national average, and it is true that other states such as New York and Massachusetts also have very similar rates (see the diagram here). . . . .




Please leave comments and link to this piece. Thank you.



A closely related piece at National Review Online has gotten a lot of attention.





See also this discussion here at the Political Math Blog.
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