Thursday, June 14, 2012 2:58:04 AM
The Root of Mitt Romney’s Comfort With Lying
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney gestures during a campaign stop at Con-Air Industries on Tuesday, June 12, 2012, in Orlando, Fla.
Evan Vucci / AP
The presidential candidate is used to faith-based certainty that translates as truth even in the face of evidence to the contrary
By Justin Frank, M.D. | @JustinFrankMD | June 13, 2012
A few months ago, when confronted about running an ad that depicted Obama discussing the economy when the president was actually quoting John McCain, Mitt Romney said [ http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/23/romney-on-ad-sauce-for-the-goose-now-sauce-for-the-gander/ ], “What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.” I have previously suggested that the ability to disconnect words from authorship made changing positions even easier for Romney.
But this pattern of lying and not acknowledging it even when confronted directly has persisted and has led me to look for other sources of Romney’s behavior, and of his clear comfort with continuing it. I think much of this comfort stems from his Mormon faith.
First, let’s look at a recent example. Last month, Romney held up a book called The Escape Artists [ http://www.amazon.com/The-Escape-Artists-Fumbled-Recovery/dp/1439172404 ] written by Noam Scheiber of The New Republic. He said [ http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/romney-obama-slowed-recovery-push-obamacare/584061 ] that the book showed that the Obama administration knew that Obamacare would slow down economic recovery and didn’t particularly care.
Scheiber wrote [ http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-stump/103522/how-i-got-in-mitt-romneys-book-club ] on May 21, 2012, that Romney had the wrong “take-away” from the book. He quoted Romney as having said, “In this book they point out that they said the American people will forget how long this recovery took. So that means that when they went into this knowing that when they passed Obamacare, it was going to make life harder for the American people.”
This is not at all what Scheiber wrote, though he did write that the Obama administration could have done more to help create jobs by pushing for a bigger stimulus package. He never said that Obama knew that he was sacrificing the economy to pursue his pet project.
What is not dramatic is that Romney never recanted his position after Scheiber detailed what the book actually said three days later. But what is dramatic is what happened two weeks later, on June 6, when Romney said the same thing again — albeit it with slight differences. Romney said [ http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/103931/mitt-romney-jon-chait-and-i-reunited ] that the Obama administration “knowingly slowed down our recovery in order to put in place Obamacare, which they wanted and they considered historic but the American people did not want or consider historic.”
So on June 7, Mr. Scheiber again [ http://leanforward.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/07/12112429-noam-scheiber-no-evidence-for-romney-claim-that-cites-my-book ] had to repeat the actual words from his book. Rachel Maddow, on her MSNBC program, asked aloud why Romney continues to lie in the face of evidence to the contrary. She said that in the case of Solyndra, when Romney lied explicitly about where the money went, he was “nailed for telling that lie” about Solyndra steering money to the Obama administration’s friends and family. The Chicago Tribune had [ http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2012/06/romney-hits-the-sauce-again.html ] the headline “Romney Hits the Sauce Again” — implying that you can be a teetotaler and still behave with the certainty of a drunk.
I found myself discussing this situation with several colleagues and we agreed that Romney doesn’t lie. Let me repeat: Mitt Romney doesn’t lie. He is telling the truth as he sees it — and truth it is, facts notwithstanding. This is not simply a case of Hamlet arguing about point of view, saying, “for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” This is about a conflict between evidence and faith. There is a long tradition in the Mormon belief system where evidence takes second place to faith. Examples abound, as when two Mormon Elders who were questioned about the inconsistency in passages from the Book of Mormon said “We know the Book of Mormon is true and that it contains the Word of God even in the face of evidence that appears contradictory,” according to The Mormon Missionaries [ http://www.amazon.com/The-Mormon-Missionaries-message-methods/dp/0615613063 ] by former Mormon Janice Hutchison. Thus there are no lies, only faith-based certainty that translates as truth for which no apology is needed, since what was said was not a lie.
Children learn to lie at different times in their development, but almost always by the age of 10. Their lies help establish them as separate from their parents, especially if the parents believe them. And one doesn’t have to be a Mormon to lie — just look at John Edwards or former Nevada Senator John Ensign. But in the Mormon Church, there was a decision to accept authority as true — whether or not evidence supported it. Hence Joseph Smith, the founder of the faith in 1820, claimed he was illiterate and received the “Book” directly from God. But he could read, and read very well.
This unwavering faith is central to Romney’s comfort deflecting any examples that the press might bring up of his lying. Further it allows him to repeat lies again and again — both personally and in political advertising — because to him they are not lies at all. I’m reminded of that old epigram from the 1960s that said “My mind is made up; don’t confuse me with the facts.” That may be all good and well in many offices, but it’s not so good in the Oval Office.
Justin Frank, M.D., is a psychoanalyst and clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the George Washington University Medical Center. The views expressed are solely his own. Frank's latest book, Obama on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President [ http://www.amazon.com/Obama-Couch-Inside-Mind-President/dp/1451620632 ], is now out in paperback. His previous book was Bush on the Couch [ http://www.amazon.com/Bush-Couch-Inside-Mind-President/dp/0060736704 ].
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Related stories:
Times Have Changed, It's OK to Lie Mother Jones
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/06/times-have-changed-its-ok-lie
When It's OK to Lie The New Republic
http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/104018/romney-rules-lying-dishonesty-mainstream-media-msnbc-fox
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© 2012 Time Inc.
http://ideas.time.com/2012/06/13/the-root-of-mitt-romneys-comfort-with-lying/ [with comments]
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Romney Rules
Posted at 9:00 AM Thursday, June 07, 2012
Weekly, Steve Benen tallies up the latest instances of Mitt's Mendacity [ http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/01/12010806-chronicling-mitts-mendacity-vol-xx (Vol. XXI at, and earlier linked at, 5th item, http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=76510653 )]. At longer intervals, the Dish flags Romneys Big Lies [ http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/06/the-big-lies-of-mitt-romney-iii-obama-has-no-jobs-plan.html ], the core myths of his case against an imaginary Obama. I find the laser focus on lying a little narrow: the modes of Mitt's deception are manifold. As a private equity chief, Romney was a master of playing a rigged game, or of himself rigging games in his firm's favor; he has carried that skill to the political arena. He would have the election played by Romney Rules, compiled below.
1. Context doesn't matter. Anything you say I may use against you [ http://xpostfactoid.blogspot.com/2012/01/by-romney-rules-romney-likes-to-fire.html ], e.g., by making it sound like you said the opposite.
2. My record shall be judged by different standards [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/romney-unmasked-top-adviser-undercuts-his-whole-argument/2012/06/06/gJQAws5lIV_blog.html ] from that of my opponent. For example, job losses in my first year in office don't count; in his, they shall define his entire record.
3. What I said 18 [ http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/09/us/politics/09romney.html ], 10 [ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/nov/02/jon-huntsman/Says-Mitt-Romney-flip-flopped-on-abortion/ ], 4 [ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/opinion/19romney.html ], or 3 [ http://xpostfactoid.blogspot.com/2012/03/romney-mapped-out-final-form-of-aca-in.html ] years ago doesn't matter. Erase it from your mind. I've been as consistent as human beings (all three of me [ http://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/MjAxMi0wMDI4ZDkyNWQzMTE0ODhi ]) can be.
4. When confronted directly with past positions that seem to contradict current ones, I may so thoroughly bend the positions back against each other that none shall be able to penetrate my paradoxes [ http://xpostfactoid.blogspot.com/2012/02/romneys-lullaby-cant-soothe-detroit.html ].
5. I may erase the memory of my record of past moderation by attacking my opponents for their imagined moderation [ http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/02/27/romney-and-opportunism/ ].
6. It's not my responsibility to counter the lies [ http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/47602981 ], smears [ http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/03/romney-on-rush-not-the-language-id-have-used-116273.html ], paranoid delusions [ http://www.mediaite.com/online/mitt-romney-stands-mute-as-supporter-says-obama-should-be-tried-for-treason/ ] or bloodthirstiness [ http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/17/ted-nugents-remarks-reverberate-against-romney/ ] of my supporters.
7. I may myself endlessly repeat wild accusations about my opponent that have no basis in fact [ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/23/opinion/krugman-the-post-truth-campaign.html ]. Relatedly, I may draw an endless series of false contrasts (on healthcare [ http://xpostfactoid.blogspot.com/2012/02/in-mesa-santorum-completes-his.html ], Detroit rescue [ http://xpostfactoid.blogspot.com/2012/02/romneys-lullaby-cant-soothe-detroit.html ], stimulus [ http://xpostfactoid.blogspot.com/2011/07/he-made-it-worsecompared-to-what.html ]) between my policies and his.
8. I may refrain from taking a stand [ http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002768119 ] on pending legislation that, if passed, will have a profound impact on Americans' lives.
9. I may promise enormous new tax cuts and call them "revenue neutral" without spelling out the correspondingly enormous tax loophole closures [ http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3658 ] needed to offset those cuts -- or the enormous spending cuts that even a "revenue neutral" deficit reduction plan would require.
10. I may lie with impunity [ http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/01/12010806-chronicling-mitts-mendacity-vol-xx ] to the American people for months and years -- and be rewarded with the presidency.
Update, 6/11: today emergeth Romney Rule #11: I may simultaneously level mutually exclusive charges [ http://xpostfactoid.blogspot.com/2012/06/romney-rules-cont-blame-obama-for.html ] against my opponent.
Update, 6/12: Romney Rule #12 (appropriated from Newt Gingrich) I may deny that I said what I said yesterday and refuse to talk about it [ https://twitter.com/JoshDorner/status/212560845140533248 ].
Copyright 2012 xpostfactoid
http://xpostfactoid.blogspot.com/2012/06/romney-rules.html [with comments]
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Romney keeps secrets _ unless law says he can't
In this June 8, 2012 file photo, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney talks with his staff while riding on his bus after a campaign stop in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Keeping his secrets, Romney tends to lift the veil on his finances and campaign only if the law says he must. The Republican presidential candidate refuses to identify his biggest donors who "bundle" money for his campaign. He often declines to say who meets with him. He puts limits on media access to his fundraisers. And he resists releasing all of his tax returns, making just a single year public after facing pressure to do so. He says he gives out all the information that's required by law.
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
By KASIE HUNT | Associated Press – Mon, Jun 11, 2012
BOSTON (AP) — Keeping his secrets, Mitt Romney tends to lift the veil on his finances and campaign only if the law says he must.
The Republican presidential candidate refuses to identify his biggest donors who "bundle" money for his campaign. He often declines to say who's meeting with him or what he's doing for hours at a time. He puts limits on media access to his fundraisers. And he resists releasing all of his tax returns, making just a single year public after facing pressure to do so.
"We've released all the information required by law and then some," Romney said last month about his tax returns.
He's indicated that part of the reason for his secrecy is to avoid political problems in his race against President Barack Obama.
He has said of his election foe: "He's going to try and make this campaign about the fact that I've been successful, that I've made a lot of money. So he wants to be able to get all the details on each year and how much money I made this year and that year. I'm not going to get into that."
Not that Obama has been totally open, either.
For example, the Democrat also limits media access to some parts of his fundraisers, though he allows cameras into larger events and will bring a small contingent of reporters into private residences. Reporters are promptly ushered out ahead of question-and-answer sessions with donors. Some fundraisers are closed entirely because the campaign says Obama is not making any formal remarks.
But Romney, whose views have been shaped both by his years in politics and his nearly three decades in private business, has made a keep-it-under-wraps approach a hallmark of his campaign. He's often broken precedent set by presidential candidates of both parties.
"He is reluctant to disclose information that is standard for disclosure and has become the norm," said Angela Canterbury, policy director for the Project on Government Oversight. And she and others say there's no reason to think that style would change if Romney becomes president.
There's a short-term political benefit, to be sure, in keeping a lid on everything from campaign appearances to the names of big donors. It means Romney can more easily control his campaign message, rather than getting knocked off course by Democratic hecklers at events or by unflattering media stories. And it can prevent providing fodder for political rivals to use against him.
But there also are risks, not the least of which is that Romney could appear to be hiding something, further irking voters already suspicious of politicians.
Romney has had the Republican nomination locked up for months, but he has yet to start traveling daily with the journalists who are assigned to cover him. He hasn't agreed to what's called a "protective pool" of reporters, who go wherever a candidate goes. Romney aides fear the arrangement would push the candidate off the message of the day, so they are loath to agree to it until they absolutely must.
Obama's traveling press corps was with him virtually at all times starting in June 2008, just three weeks after he triumphed over Hillary Rodham Clinton to become the presumptive Democratic nominee. Republican nominee John McCain didn't officially have a "protective pool" until August but he had a familiar relationship with his traveling press corps, and journalists almost always traveled on his campaign plane in the months after he clinched the nomination in March 2008. News organizations pay the cost of reporters who travel with presidential campaigns.
On the campaign trail this year, Romney's aides have at times tried to limit reporters from approaching him when he shakes hands with voters at events. And his aides often don't allow a camera and microphone on stage to record those interactions — though that's been customary in past campaigns.
Also, Romney's schedule is closely held — and his campaign typically won't say what he's doing when he's not at one of the few public events he holds each week. Even public appearances often are announced less than a day in advance — or not at all. Recently he rode to the site of the failed energy company Solyndra on the unmarked press bus, leaving the logo-plastered Romney for President bus behind at his hotel. Aides said the campaign was concerned the Obama administration would work with local officials to prevent Romney from holding an event there.
Romney's campaign also usually won't disclose with whom the candidate meets — regardless of whether they are high-ranking officials or simply voters. He kept reporters away from a private meeting with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell last month, and says he regularly holds "off the record" meetings with middle class families, though he won't say who they are.
Obama's public schedule tends to list more Oval Office meetings than President George W. Bush did, but many of his sessions are not divulged. The White House does release Obama's visitor logs, and they are open on the White House website.
On his possible policies as president, Romney has been more upfront with audiences behind closed doors than he has been when the media are present.
At fundraising events not witnessed by reporters, donors are sometimes given access to policy roundtables with top staff, and Romney himself gave donors in West Palm Beach, Fla., a more detailed outline of which federal departments he plans to cut than is part of his normal campaign speech. That address was overheard by reporters who stood outside on a sidewalk.
Romney has suggested he's purposefully vague when he talks to the media — and, therefore, the general public — about his policy plans. Asked recently why he hasn't released more specifics, he compared his approach to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
"The media kept saying to Chris, 'Come on, give us the details, give us the details,'" Romney said. "'We want to hang you with them.'"
In the aftermath of the Florida event, Romney agreed to allow a handful of reporters to attend just a few of the many finance events he holds each week. Still, his campaign refuses to say how much money each event raises, and doesn't regularly release a full schedule of the events from which reporters are barred. Romney's campaign expanded the number of people allowed into the fundraisers beginning this week, allowing three news service reporters instead of one and also allowing a TV network representative in, though without a camera. Reporters are still barred from covering fundraisers at private homes.
Romney's secrecy goes beyond the details of his campaign schedule or his policy proposals.
He has been selective at best in providing public records from his 2003-2007 term as Massachusetts governor.
Late last year, he acknowledged that just before he left office he authorized a sweeping purge of electronic data from his executive office, allowing top aides to purchase and remove their computer hard drives. He also benefited from a law that widely exempted the governor's office from state public records disclosure requirements. His campaign aides point to more than 600 boxes of materials that were sent from his office to the Massachusetts archives, but a week-long examination of the Romney records now in those archives by The Associated Press did not turn up a single email or internal document either authored by or sent to Romney. Some such emails have since surfaced in connection with public records requests.
Obama, Romney's rival, entered office pledging to create the most transparent administration in American history. But while some open- government groups give him credit for trying, aspects of his administration remain closed or inaccessible to the public eye. A review this year by the AP found that federal agencies had improved their response to requests under the Freedom of Information Act but still had had sizable backlogs.
In his campaign, Romney has limited the release of documents and information that in the past often have become part of the public record.
He is the first winning candidate of either party in more than a decade to refuse to give the public a list of the people who tap their business and social networks to raise tens of thousands of dollars for him. In 2008, Obama and McCain both released lists of bundlers. Bush released his in 2000 and 2004.
The names Romney has released so far are those required by law. Campaigns have to disclose anyone who bundles money if they have also registered as a federal lobbyist.
Federal laws also require Romney to release a broad portrait of his personal finances — disclosures that showed he was worth up to $250 million in 2011.
Candidates aren't required by law to release their personal tax returns, despite longstanding precedent for doing so — set by Romney's father, George Romney, who ran for the Republican nomination in 1968. In 2008, Obama released seven years' worth of returns. McCain released two years' worth.
In January, Romney released his 2010 return under pressure from Republicans. That forced him to amend the personal financial disclosures he had filed earlier in the year because those documents didn't mention a Swiss bank account or a series of funds that were set up in foreign countries. Romney has yet to release his 2011 tax returns; he filed for an extension. His advisers say he'll release them before the Nov. 6 election.
Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn and Stephen Braun in Washington contributed to this report.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press
http://news.yahoo.com/romney-keeps-secrets-unless-law-says-cant-172112562.html [with comments] [also, for now, at http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iropmmIHp_3MixnrvMG74cEjv-Tw?docId=9e5381f7d81f4c79986cbc7369e6d13e (have found the Google AP postings the only reliable reference for getting the complete AP stories)]
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Sheldon Adelson Rumored To Give $10 Million To Romney: Expect More Cash To Come
Sheldon Adelson
(Jared McMillen for Forbes)
Steven Bertoni, Forbes Staff
6/13/2012 @ 12:09PM
Sheldon Adelson has reportedly given $10 million to Republican Mitt Romney’s Super PAC. This should come as no surprise and expect the $10 million to be just be the beginning of a total gift that Adelson, the billionaire owner of the Las Vegas Sands casino empire, will likely rain on the Romney campaign.
The Wall Street Journal–citing unnamed sources–reported that Adelson gave $10 million to the pro-Romney Super PAC Restore Our Future. Neither Adelson or Restore Our Future commented for the story.
But Adelson had plenty to say about the Presidential elections when I interviewed him in Las Vegas this February for my FORBES cover story [ http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2012/02/22/comeback-billionaire-how-sheldon-adelson-dominates-chinese-gambling-and-u-s-politics/ ] on the casino maven. Even while backing Newt Gingrich with $21 million in donations, Adelson said he’d help the final Republican nominee (with the exception of Ron Paul) defeat Barack Obama. “The likelihood is that I’m going to be supportive of whoever the candidate is. I just haven’t decided that yet and will wait to see what happens,” Adelson told me. Now that Romney is all but guaranteed to be the the Republican nominee, Adelson will likely place a tall stack of chips behind the former Massachusetts Governor (Adelson himself is a Boston native).
Just how much cash will he give? That depends on Romney’s stance. Adelson is a conservative, self-made billionaire and a hawkish supporter of Israel. His two main interests are defending Israel’s sovereignty and reversing what he sees as socialist policies enacted by the Obama administration
As he told me this winter:
“What scares me is the continuation of the socialist-style economy we’ve been experiencing for almost four years. That scares me because the redistribution of wealth is the path to more socialism, and to more of the government controlling people’s lives. What scares me is the lack of accountability that people would prefer to experience, just let the government take care of everything and I’ll go fish or I won’t work, etc. U.S. domestic politics is very important to me because I see that the things that made this country great are now being relegated into duplicating that which is making other countries less great. … I’m afraid of the trend where more and more people have the tendency to want to be given instead of wanting to give. People are less willing to share. There are fewer philanthropists being grown and there are greater expectations of the government. I believe that people will come to their senses and not extend the current Administration’s quest to socialize this country. It won’t be a socialist democracy because it won’t be a democracy.”
Romney could hit the fundraising jackpot if he continues to campaign for a small government and free markets and starts talking tough about supporting Israel. Adelson–who is currently worth [ http://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/ ] $19.8 billion–has money to spend. This winter he told me: “I might give $10 million or $100 million to Gingrich.” Today the stakes are even higher for Adelson–the world economy on shaky ground and the conflict in Syria is escalating each day. If things get worse, the $100 million Adelson said he might have given to Gingrich could end up just being just an appetizer for Romney before this election is through.
Copyright 2012 Forbes.com LLC™
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2012/06/13/sheldon-adelson-rumored-to-give-10-million-to-romeny-expect-more-cash-to-come/ [with comments]
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Sheldon Adelson Tops Romney Donor List That Now Includes 32 Billionaires
Sheldon Adelson, billionaire #32 to give to Romney-backing super PAC.
AFP/Aaron Tam/Getty Images
Clare O'Connor, Forbes Staff
6/13/2012 @ 1:59PM
Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson has reportedly donated $10 million [ http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2012/06/13/sheldon-adelson-rumored-to-give-10-million-to-romeny-expect-more-cash-to-come/ (just above)] to a super PAC supporting Mitt Romney, as he hinted he would after a recent Las Vegas meeting [ http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2012/05/29/jackpot-romney-woos-vegas-tycoon-adelson-as-trump-causes-trouble/ ] with the GOP candidate.
Adelson’s $10 million check is by far the biggest gift to date to Restore Our Future, a group that’s attracted five new billionaire donors in as many weeks [ http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2012/05/21/count-em-30-billionaires-now-backing-romneys-super-pac/ ].
As my colleague Steve Bertoni pointed out, having spoken at length to Adelson for a Forbes cover story, $10 million may just be the start of the Las Vegas Sands chief’s generosity. He may well give $100 million [ http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2012/06/13/sheldon-adelson-rumored-to-give-10-million-to-romeny-expect-more-cash-to-come/ (again, just above)], as he’d planned to donate to Newt Gingrich’s now-defunct campaign.
Adelson is just the latest billionaire to jump on the Mitt Romney bandwagon. With his gift, the tally of America’s richest people donating to Mitt Romney-backing super PAC Restore Our Future is 32 — or, 8% of the Forbes 400.
Look for that number to swell in the coming months as wealthy donors who’d been firmly on Team Newt Gingrich or Rick Perry, for instance, concede and write checks to Romney versus the alternative — a second Obama term.
Here are the 31 billionaires who’ve joined Sheldon Adelson in backing Restore Our Future:
- Vulture investor Wilbur Ross, who donated $100,000 in May.
- Oil and gas pioneer Harold Hamm, who added $985,000 to the pro-Romney PAC’s cash pile.
- Retail king Leslie Wexner of The Limited clothing chain, who wrote a check for $250,000.
- Gristedes supermarkets head John Catsimatidis, who gave $50,000 via his United Refining oil company.
- Hedge fund king Louis Bacon, who’s handed over $500,000 so far.
- Jim Davis, who made his fortune with New Balance sneakers and has donated $1 million.
- Citadel hedge fund chief Ken Griffin has handed over $2.85 million since December.
- Greenwich-based hedge funder Paul Tudor-Jones II kicked in $200,000.
- New York investor Thomas Kaplan wrote a check for $100,000.
- While neither Charles nor David Koch has given publicly to a Romney-backing super PAC this cycle, David’s twin brother Bill, “the other Koch”, has given $2 million total, both personally and via his Oxbow Carbon company.
- New York hedge funder Bruce Kovner opened his wallet to the tune of $500,000.
- Leveraged buyout pioneer Henry Kravis followed suit with a $100,000 gift.
- Hotel heirs Bill and Richard Marriott have given $1 million each to the cause.
- Hedge fund titan John Paulson spent a tiny fraction of the $12.5 billion fortune he made shorting subprime securities, donating $1 million.
- Little-known TV tycoon Jerrold Perenchio handed over $500,000.
- Legendary Tiger Management hedge fund founder Julian Robertson has given $1.25 million so far.
- Founder of insurance giant Aon, Patrick Ryan donated $25,000 in January via his Ryan Enterprises Group.
- The two titans of New York real estate, Stephen Ross and Steven Roth, have written checks for $100,0oo apiece.
- Low-profile co-founder of buyout shop Apollo Global Management Marc Rowan has handed over $115,000.
- Robert Rowling, a perennial but little-known conservative donor, has donated $100,000.
- New Forbes World’s Billionaires list member Paul Singer, founder of Elliott Management and long-time equal rights advocate, has given $1 million to date.
- Hedge funder David Tepper has thrown his hat in the ring with a $375,000 gift.
- Heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune Jim Walton and sister Alice Walton have pitched in $200,000 each.
- One-time California gubernatorial candidate and eBay billionaire Meg Whitman handed over $100,000, as did her neurosurgeon husband Griff Harsh.
- Chicago property baron Sam Zell has shelled out $100,000.
- Joseph Craft of the billionaire coal family has donated $500,000.
- Founder of eponymous brokerage firm Charles Schwab, who — together with wife Helen — has given $250,000.
- Last but not least, Texan super-donor Harold Simmons has handed over $800,000 to Restore Our Future — a tiny fraction of the millions he’s donated to right-leaning groups this cycle, with the lion’s share going to Karl Rove’s American Crossroads super PAC [ http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2012/04/27/how-karl-roves-billionaire-backed-super-pac-will-be-election-game-changer/ ]. He’s pledged to give $36 million of his $9 billion fortune [ http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2012/03/22/40-behind-the-scenes-billionaires-funding-the-2012-election/ ] to unseating Obama this election.
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Related
What Mitt Romney Is Really Worth: An Exclusive Analysis Of His Latest Finances
http://www.forbes.com/sites/edwindurgy/2012/05/16/what-mitt-romney-is-really-worth/
Gov. Scott Walker's Big Money Backers Include 13 Out-Of-State Billionaires
http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2012/06/05/gov-scott-walkers-big-money-backers-include-13-out-of-state-billionaires/
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Copyright 2012 Forbes.com LLC™
http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2012/06/13/sheldon-adelson-tops-romney-donor-list-that-now-includes-32-billionaires/ [with comments]
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Romney says Obama’s policies are most ‘anti-business’ in modern history
By Philip Rucker, Wednesday, June 13, 1:13 PM
Mitt Romney on Wednesday castigated President Obama, telling the chief executives of 100 of the nation’s biggest corporations that the president has ushered in “the most anti-investment, anti-business, anti-jobs series of policies in modern American history.”
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee ticked through a series of proposals that he said would foster a friendlier business climate — repealing Obama’s health-care law, authorizing more oil and natural gas drilling, halting all Obama-era regulations and lowering corporate and individual tax rates.
But Romney employed particularly stinging rhetoric in a sort of campaign “prebuttal,” a day before the president is expected to deliver a major campaign speech in Ohio in which he tries to reframe the economic debate.
Seizing again on Obama’s comment last week that “the private sector is doing fine [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-congress-has-no-excuse-not-to-pass-jobs-agenda/2012/06/08/gJQAuwfpNV_story.html ],” Romney said, “the incredulity that came screaming back from the American people, I think, has caused him to rethink that.”
“I think you’re going to see him change course when he speaks tomorrow, where he will acknowledge that it isn’t going so well, and he’ll be asking for four more years,” Romney continued. “My own view is that he will speak eloquently but that words are cheap, and that the record of an individual is the basis upon which you determine whether they should continue to hold onto their job.”
That there are 23 million Americans out of work or underemployed, Romney said, “is a compelling and a sad statistic. These are real people.”
Romney painted a dire portrait of the U.S. economy under a second Obama term. He warned that Obama would “stifle” energy resources in coal, oil and natural gas, as well as raise the cost of health care through the implementation of “Obamacare,” increase the regulatory burden on businesses and raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
“I think this election is a watershed reelection, which will determine the relationship between citizen and enterprise and government,” Romney said.
Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith responded that Romney was “dishonest” in his attacks on the president’s record, saying Obama helped the country create 4.3 million private sector jobs over the last 27 months.
“In another in a long line of ‘major’ economic speeches, Mitt Romney made dishonest after dishonest claim about the president’s record and failed to offer any new ideas of his own on how to improve the economy and strengthen the middle class,” Smith said in a statement.
Romney, himself a former CEO, seemed at ease addressing the members of the Business Roundtable, a lobby organization made up of chief executives [ http://businessroundtable.org/ ]. He waved hello to a former consulting colleague from Bain and sprinkled through his speech references to some business titans he had met with recently, including August Busch, the former CEO of Anheuser-Busch.
“Government has to be the partner, the friend, the ally, the supporter of enterprise, not the enemy,” Romney said. “Too often you find yourself facing a government that looks at you like you’re the bad guys, and if you’re hiring people and employing people and paying taxes, you’re the good guys. I want you to do well.”
At times, Romney veered into complexities on policy matters. Discussing the repatriation tax, he said he would like to enable Americans making money in foreign countries to bring their money to the United States without it being taxed.
“If you want to bring your money home, ple-e-e-ease bring it home,” he said, drawing laughter from the crowd. “And I know some people say, yeah, but companies might put it out as dividends. Well, that’s okay, too. I’d rather have you invest it. But give it out to people; give it out to retirees. I mean, what’s happened to the interest rate on their CDs? Get money out there. Let them use that money to buy things.”
Romney even seemed to apologize to the business chiefs over some of the hot rhetoric he has used on the campaign trail to assail the Obama administration’s federal investments in Solyndra [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/romney-visits-solyndra-to-highlight-attack-on-obama-public-equity-policies/2012/05/31/gJQAJBFn4U_blog.html ] and other green energy companies.
“And then finally, something I call crony capitalism — I know that not everyone is happy with my discourse on this, but I don’t think the government should be investing in individual companies to try and promote individual companies,” Romney said.
Romney said he would “halt” all Obama-era regulations — including the Dodd-Frank financial regulation overhaul, which he pledged to repeal in part or in full — as well as balance the federal budget in eight to 10 years and lower corporate and personal-income tax rates.
“I don’t want to raise the individual marginal tax rate from 35 to 40 percent,” Romney said. “I know there are some who think that that’s a great way to go after rich people, and uh, first of all, shame on anybody who thinks we’re going to divide the country based on success.”
That reference drew some CEOs in the audience to nod their heads, but they refrained from any applause until the end of Romney’s 26-minute speech. Then, he took questions from the business leaders — but only after reporters were removed from the banquet room on the top floor of the Newseum.
A Romney campaign spokesman said it was the Business Roundtable, not the campaign, that ordered the question-and-answer session to be closed to the news media.
© 2012 The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/romney-says-obamas-policies-are-most-anti-business-in-modern-history/2012/06/13/gJQA89dIaV_story.html [with embedded video, and comments]
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Romney previews Obama economic speech: 'Words are cheap'
Romney: Govt. not business friendly enough
By Paul West
June 13, 2012, 10:30 a.m.
WASHINGTON — Blaming President Obama’s policies for the “tepid recovery,” Republican candidate Mitt Romney promised a group of top corporate executives that he’d make America “the most attractive place in the world” for entrepreneurs, investors and job creators.
One day before the president is expected to deliver a major economic speech, Romney predicted that Obama “will speak eloquently.”
“But,” he added, “words are cheap.”
Romney said that Obama’s record did not justify his re-election. Under Obama, he said, increased government regulation, the new healthcare law and pro-union administration actions had discouraged private businesses from hiring and, as a result, slowed the recovery.
“I happen to think the American people are tired of politicians who make excuses instead of taking responsibility,” he said. Romney said the Democratic administration was responsible for the “most anti-investment, anti-business, anti-jobs series of policies in modern American history. The reason it has taken so long for this recovery to gain traction and put people back to work is in large measure because of [Obama’s] policy choices.”
The former Massachusetts governor outlined his own economic agenda for about 100 members of the Business Roundtable, made up of the chief executives of many of the nation’s largest corporations, during a luncheon speech at the Newseum in Washington. He broke no new ground in calling for lower taxes, fewer regulations, more exploitation of domestic coal resources and repeal of the Dodd-Frank and Affordable Health Care laws.
He also said he would approve completion of the Keystone oil pipeline and put in place policies that would reduce federal spending and balance the budget within eight to 10 years.
Romney promised to make the government a friend to private business. “Too often, you find yourself facing a government that looks at you as the bad guy,” he told the business audience, which continued to check their smartphones and eat their Wolfgang Puck pan-seared Pacific salmon salad while he spoke.
As with a similar meeting earlier in the year with Obama, the Business Roundtable members did not interrupt with applause. But a chuckle swept the room when Romney, whose business background has made him a favorite of many corporate chiefs, repeated his opposition to government programs that assist specific businesses.
“I don’t believe in the government picking winners, or in the case of our government, picking losers,” he said, an apparent reference to one of his favorite targets: Solyndra, the California solar company that went bankrupt after receiving hundreds of millions in taxpayer assistance from the Obama administration.
After Romney’s 30-minute speech, reporters were escorted from the room prior to a private question and answer sessions with the chief executives.
That was also the case when Obama addressed the CEOs in March. In his 13-minute speech to the corporate officials,
“The economy is getting stronger, and the recovery is speeding up,” Obama said that evening. “The question now is, how do we make sure that it keeps going?”
Since then, the recovery has faltered, with job growth slowing and unemployment ticking up.
On energy, Obama had said that, despite increased domestic oil production, an “all-of-the-above strategy” was needed.
“Yes, we’ve got to produce more oil and more natural gas, and we are game for that. It also means, though, we’ve got to invest in the energy sources of the future,” the president said, adding that there was a need to invest in clean energy, greater energy efficiency and advanced batteries for electric cars.
One of the most prominent CEOs at the Obama session was missing from the Romney luncheon. James Dimon, the JP Morgan Chase chairman, was several blocks away, getting grilled by the Senate Banking Committee about his firm’s $2 billion trading loss.
Paul.west@latimes.com
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Also
Obama claims Romney campaign message can fit 'on a tweet'
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-obama-claims-romney-campaign-message-can-fit-on-a-tweet-20120612,0,1139526.story
*
Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-romney-previews-obama-economic-speech-words-are-cheap-20120613,0,7540348.story [with comments]
===
GOP talking points ignore facts of Obama pro-business record
The Rachel Maddow Show
June 12, 2012
Ezra Klein explains why President Barack Obama is not only not anti-business, he's remarkably pro-business, with a long list of pro-business accomplishments - accomplishments ignored by Governor Bobby Jindal, who should know better, and knee-jerk Republicans reciting election year talking points.
© 2012 msnbc.com
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/47790690#47790690
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Disastrous 'Boehner economy' avoidable with new public sector jobs
June 11, 2012
Chris Hayes, host of MSNBC's "Up with Chris Hayes," talks with Ezra Klein about why 2012 Republicans are attacking public workers and rejecting the economic answer (public sector jobs) to recession that past Republican presidents and even Mitt Romney believe in.
© 2012 msnbc.com
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/47774722#47774722 [the above YouTube of the segment at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2vGmLX0yls , also at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckGUHUPfGtk ]
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Inequality of wealth means inequality of opportunity
June 12, 2012
Ylan Mui, financial reporter for The Washington Post, talks with Ezra Klein about the new report that Americans lost 40% of their wealth from 2007 to 2010 and what it means to average Americans and the American dream.
© 2012 msnbc.com
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/47790778#47790778 [the above YouTube of the segment at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGkDPrjfrso ]
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Mitt Romney Can't Imagine Tall Guy Doesn't Play Basketball
--Romney tells a bizarre story about how surprised he was that a 7-foot tall man wasn't "in sport."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6b1m1qwOY4
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Romney Struggles To Identify A Chocolate Doughnut
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRZjOMwTWic
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Hitler Needs a Krispy Kreme Doughnut
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wLeV5AnLZ0
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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney gestures during a campaign stop at Con-Air Industries on Tuesday, June 12, 2012, in Orlando, Fla.
Evan Vucci / AP
The presidential candidate is used to faith-based certainty that translates as truth even in the face of evidence to the contrary
By Justin Frank, M.D. | @JustinFrankMD | June 13, 2012
A few months ago, when confronted about running an ad that depicted Obama discussing the economy when the president was actually quoting John McCain, Mitt Romney said [ http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/23/romney-on-ad-sauce-for-the-goose-now-sauce-for-the-gander/ ], “What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.” I have previously suggested that the ability to disconnect words from authorship made changing positions even easier for Romney.
But this pattern of lying and not acknowledging it even when confronted directly has persisted and has led me to look for other sources of Romney’s behavior, and of his clear comfort with continuing it. I think much of this comfort stems from his Mormon faith.
First, let’s look at a recent example. Last month, Romney held up a book called The Escape Artists [ http://www.amazon.com/The-Escape-Artists-Fumbled-Recovery/dp/1439172404 ] written by Noam Scheiber of The New Republic. He said [ http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/romney-obama-slowed-recovery-push-obamacare/584061 ] that the book showed that the Obama administration knew that Obamacare would slow down economic recovery and didn’t particularly care.
Scheiber wrote [ http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-stump/103522/how-i-got-in-mitt-romneys-book-club ] on May 21, 2012, that Romney had the wrong “take-away” from the book. He quoted Romney as having said, “In this book they point out that they said the American people will forget how long this recovery took. So that means that when they went into this knowing that when they passed Obamacare, it was going to make life harder for the American people.”
This is not at all what Scheiber wrote, though he did write that the Obama administration could have done more to help create jobs by pushing for a bigger stimulus package. He never said that Obama knew that he was sacrificing the economy to pursue his pet project.
What is not dramatic is that Romney never recanted his position after Scheiber detailed what the book actually said three days later. But what is dramatic is what happened two weeks later, on June 6, when Romney said the same thing again — albeit it with slight differences. Romney said [ http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/103931/mitt-romney-jon-chait-and-i-reunited ] that the Obama administration “knowingly slowed down our recovery in order to put in place Obamacare, which they wanted and they considered historic but the American people did not want or consider historic.”
So on June 7, Mr. Scheiber again [ http://leanforward.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/07/12112429-noam-scheiber-no-evidence-for-romney-claim-that-cites-my-book ] had to repeat the actual words from his book. Rachel Maddow, on her MSNBC program, asked aloud why Romney continues to lie in the face of evidence to the contrary. She said that in the case of Solyndra, when Romney lied explicitly about where the money went, he was “nailed for telling that lie” about Solyndra steering money to the Obama administration’s friends and family. The Chicago Tribune had [ http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2012/06/romney-hits-the-sauce-again.html ] the headline “Romney Hits the Sauce Again” — implying that you can be a teetotaler and still behave with the certainty of a drunk.
I found myself discussing this situation with several colleagues and we agreed that Romney doesn’t lie. Let me repeat: Mitt Romney doesn’t lie. He is telling the truth as he sees it — and truth it is, facts notwithstanding. This is not simply a case of Hamlet arguing about point of view, saying, “for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” This is about a conflict between evidence and faith. There is a long tradition in the Mormon belief system where evidence takes second place to faith. Examples abound, as when two Mormon Elders who were questioned about the inconsistency in passages from the Book of Mormon said “We know the Book of Mormon is true and that it contains the Word of God even in the face of evidence that appears contradictory,” according to The Mormon Missionaries [ http://www.amazon.com/The-Mormon-Missionaries-message-methods/dp/0615613063 ] by former Mormon Janice Hutchison. Thus there are no lies, only faith-based certainty that translates as truth for which no apology is needed, since what was said was not a lie.
Children learn to lie at different times in their development, but almost always by the age of 10. Their lies help establish them as separate from their parents, especially if the parents believe them. And one doesn’t have to be a Mormon to lie — just look at John Edwards or former Nevada Senator John Ensign. But in the Mormon Church, there was a decision to accept authority as true — whether or not evidence supported it. Hence Joseph Smith, the founder of the faith in 1820, claimed he was illiterate and received the “Book” directly from God. But he could read, and read very well.
This unwavering faith is central to Romney’s comfort deflecting any examples that the press might bring up of his lying. Further it allows him to repeat lies again and again — both personally and in political advertising — because to him they are not lies at all. I’m reminded of that old epigram from the 1960s that said “My mind is made up; don’t confuse me with the facts.” That may be all good and well in many offices, but it’s not so good in the Oval Office.
Justin Frank, M.D., is a psychoanalyst and clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the George Washington University Medical Center. The views expressed are solely his own. Frank's latest book, Obama on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President [ http://www.amazon.com/Obama-Couch-Inside-Mind-President/dp/1451620632 ], is now out in paperback. His previous book was Bush on the Couch [ http://www.amazon.com/Bush-Couch-Inside-Mind-President/dp/0060736704 ].
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Related stories:
Times Have Changed, It's OK to Lie Mother Jones
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/06/times-have-changed-its-ok-lie
When It's OK to Lie The New Republic
http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/104018/romney-rules-lying-dishonesty-mainstream-media-msnbc-fox
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© 2012 Time Inc.
http://ideas.time.com/2012/06/13/the-root-of-mitt-romneys-comfort-with-lying/ [with comments]
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Romney Rules
Posted at 9:00 AM Thursday, June 07, 2012
Weekly, Steve Benen tallies up the latest instances of Mitt's Mendacity [ http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/01/12010806-chronicling-mitts-mendacity-vol-xx (Vol. XXI at, and earlier linked at, 5th item, http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=76510653 )]. At longer intervals, the Dish flags Romneys Big Lies [ http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/06/the-big-lies-of-mitt-romney-iii-obama-has-no-jobs-plan.html ], the core myths of his case against an imaginary Obama. I find the laser focus on lying a little narrow: the modes of Mitt's deception are manifold. As a private equity chief, Romney was a master of playing a rigged game, or of himself rigging games in his firm's favor; he has carried that skill to the political arena. He would have the election played by Romney Rules, compiled below.
1. Context doesn't matter. Anything you say I may use against you [ http://xpostfactoid.blogspot.com/2012/01/by-romney-rules-romney-likes-to-fire.html ], e.g., by making it sound like you said the opposite.
2. My record shall be judged by different standards [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/romney-unmasked-top-adviser-undercuts-his-whole-argument/2012/06/06/gJQAws5lIV_blog.html ] from that of my opponent. For example, job losses in my first year in office don't count; in his, they shall define his entire record.
3. What I said 18 [ http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/09/us/politics/09romney.html ], 10 [ http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/nov/02/jon-huntsman/Says-Mitt-Romney-flip-flopped-on-abortion/ ], 4 [ http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/opinion/19romney.html ], or 3 [ http://xpostfactoid.blogspot.com/2012/03/romney-mapped-out-final-form-of-aca-in.html ] years ago doesn't matter. Erase it from your mind. I've been as consistent as human beings (all three of me [ http://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/MjAxMi0wMDI4ZDkyNWQzMTE0ODhi ]) can be.
4. When confronted directly with past positions that seem to contradict current ones, I may so thoroughly bend the positions back against each other that none shall be able to penetrate my paradoxes [ http://xpostfactoid.blogspot.com/2012/02/romneys-lullaby-cant-soothe-detroit.html ].
5. I may erase the memory of my record of past moderation by attacking my opponents for their imagined moderation [ http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/02/27/romney-and-opportunism/ ].
6. It's not my responsibility to counter the lies [ http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/47602981 ], smears [ http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/03/romney-on-rush-not-the-language-id-have-used-116273.html ], paranoid delusions [ http://www.mediaite.com/online/mitt-romney-stands-mute-as-supporter-says-obama-should-be-tried-for-treason/ ] or bloodthirstiness [ http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/17/ted-nugents-remarks-reverberate-against-romney/ ] of my supporters.
7. I may myself endlessly repeat wild accusations about my opponent that have no basis in fact [ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/23/opinion/krugman-the-post-truth-campaign.html ]. Relatedly, I may draw an endless series of false contrasts (on healthcare [ http://xpostfactoid.blogspot.com/2012/02/in-mesa-santorum-completes-his.html ], Detroit rescue [ http://xpostfactoid.blogspot.com/2012/02/romneys-lullaby-cant-soothe-detroit.html ], stimulus [ http://xpostfactoid.blogspot.com/2011/07/he-made-it-worsecompared-to-what.html ]) between my policies and his.
8. I may refrain from taking a stand [ http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002768119 ] on pending legislation that, if passed, will have a profound impact on Americans' lives.
9. I may promise enormous new tax cuts and call them "revenue neutral" without spelling out the correspondingly enormous tax loophole closures [ http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3658 ] needed to offset those cuts -- or the enormous spending cuts that even a "revenue neutral" deficit reduction plan would require.
10. I may lie with impunity [ http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/01/12010806-chronicling-mitts-mendacity-vol-xx ] to the American people for months and years -- and be rewarded with the presidency.
Update, 6/11: today emergeth Romney Rule #11: I may simultaneously level mutually exclusive charges [ http://xpostfactoid.blogspot.com/2012/06/romney-rules-cont-blame-obama-for.html ] against my opponent.
Update, 6/12: Romney Rule #12 (appropriated from Newt Gingrich) I may deny that I said what I said yesterday and refuse to talk about it [ https://twitter.com/JoshDorner/status/212560845140533248 ].
Copyright 2012 xpostfactoid
http://xpostfactoid.blogspot.com/2012/06/romney-rules.html [with comments]
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Romney keeps secrets _ unless law says he can't
In this June 8, 2012 file photo, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney talks with his staff while riding on his bus after a campaign stop in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Keeping his secrets, Romney tends to lift the veil on his finances and campaign only if the law says he must. The Republican presidential candidate refuses to identify his biggest donors who "bundle" money for his campaign. He often declines to say who meets with him. He puts limits on media access to his fundraisers. And he resists releasing all of his tax returns, making just a single year public after facing pressure to do so. He says he gives out all the information that's required by law.
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
By KASIE HUNT | Associated Press – Mon, Jun 11, 2012
BOSTON (AP) — Keeping his secrets, Mitt Romney tends to lift the veil on his finances and campaign only if the law says he must.
The Republican presidential candidate refuses to identify his biggest donors who "bundle" money for his campaign. He often declines to say who's meeting with him or what he's doing for hours at a time. He puts limits on media access to his fundraisers. And he resists releasing all of his tax returns, making just a single year public after facing pressure to do so.
"We've released all the information required by law and then some," Romney said last month about his tax returns.
He's indicated that part of the reason for his secrecy is to avoid political problems in his race against President Barack Obama.
He has said of his election foe: "He's going to try and make this campaign about the fact that I've been successful, that I've made a lot of money. So he wants to be able to get all the details on each year and how much money I made this year and that year. I'm not going to get into that."
Not that Obama has been totally open, either.
For example, the Democrat also limits media access to some parts of his fundraisers, though he allows cameras into larger events and will bring a small contingent of reporters into private residences. Reporters are promptly ushered out ahead of question-and-answer sessions with donors. Some fundraisers are closed entirely because the campaign says Obama is not making any formal remarks.
But Romney, whose views have been shaped both by his years in politics and his nearly three decades in private business, has made a keep-it-under-wraps approach a hallmark of his campaign. He's often broken precedent set by presidential candidates of both parties.
"He is reluctant to disclose information that is standard for disclosure and has become the norm," said Angela Canterbury, policy director for the Project on Government Oversight. And she and others say there's no reason to think that style would change if Romney becomes president.
There's a short-term political benefit, to be sure, in keeping a lid on everything from campaign appearances to the names of big donors. It means Romney can more easily control his campaign message, rather than getting knocked off course by Democratic hecklers at events or by unflattering media stories. And it can prevent providing fodder for political rivals to use against him.
But there also are risks, not the least of which is that Romney could appear to be hiding something, further irking voters already suspicious of politicians.
Romney has had the Republican nomination locked up for months, but he has yet to start traveling daily with the journalists who are assigned to cover him. He hasn't agreed to what's called a "protective pool" of reporters, who go wherever a candidate goes. Romney aides fear the arrangement would push the candidate off the message of the day, so they are loath to agree to it until they absolutely must.
Obama's traveling press corps was with him virtually at all times starting in June 2008, just three weeks after he triumphed over Hillary Rodham Clinton to become the presumptive Democratic nominee. Republican nominee John McCain didn't officially have a "protective pool" until August but he had a familiar relationship with his traveling press corps, and journalists almost always traveled on his campaign plane in the months after he clinched the nomination in March 2008. News organizations pay the cost of reporters who travel with presidential campaigns.
On the campaign trail this year, Romney's aides have at times tried to limit reporters from approaching him when he shakes hands with voters at events. And his aides often don't allow a camera and microphone on stage to record those interactions — though that's been customary in past campaigns.
Also, Romney's schedule is closely held — and his campaign typically won't say what he's doing when he's not at one of the few public events he holds each week. Even public appearances often are announced less than a day in advance — or not at all. Recently he rode to the site of the failed energy company Solyndra on the unmarked press bus, leaving the logo-plastered Romney for President bus behind at his hotel. Aides said the campaign was concerned the Obama administration would work with local officials to prevent Romney from holding an event there.
Romney's campaign also usually won't disclose with whom the candidate meets — regardless of whether they are high-ranking officials or simply voters. He kept reporters away from a private meeting with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell last month, and says he regularly holds "off the record" meetings with middle class families, though he won't say who they are.
Obama's public schedule tends to list more Oval Office meetings than President George W. Bush did, but many of his sessions are not divulged. The White House does release Obama's visitor logs, and they are open on the White House website.
On his possible policies as president, Romney has been more upfront with audiences behind closed doors than he has been when the media are present.
At fundraising events not witnessed by reporters, donors are sometimes given access to policy roundtables with top staff, and Romney himself gave donors in West Palm Beach, Fla., a more detailed outline of which federal departments he plans to cut than is part of his normal campaign speech. That address was overheard by reporters who stood outside on a sidewalk.
Romney has suggested he's purposefully vague when he talks to the media — and, therefore, the general public — about his policy plans. Asked recently why he hasn't released more specifics, he compared his approach to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
"The media kept saying to Chris, 'Come on, give us the details, give us the details,'" Romney said. "'We want to hang you with them.'"
In the aftermath of the Florida event, Romney agreed to allow a handful of reporters to attend just a few of the many finance events he holds each week. Still, his campaign refuses to say how much money each event raises, and doesn't regularly release a full schedule of the events from which reporters are barred. Romney's campaign expanded the number of people allowed into the fundraisers beginning this week, allowing three news service reporters instead of one and also allowing a TV network representative in, though without a camera. Reporters are still barred from covering fundraisers at private homes.
Romney's secrecy goes beyond the details of his campaign schedule or his policy proposals.
He has been selective at best in providing public records from his 2003-2007 term as Massachusetts governor.
Late last year, he acknowledged that just before he left office he authorized a sweeping purge of electronic data from his executive office, allowing top aides to purchase and remove their computer hard drives. He also benefited from a law that widely exempted the governor's office from state public records disclosure requirements. His campaign aides point to more than 600 boxes of materials that were sent from his office to the Massachusetts archives, but a week-long examination of the Romney records now in those archives by The Associated Press did not turn up a single email or internal document either authored by or sent to Romney. Some such emails have since surfaced in connection with public records requests.
Obama, Romney's rival, entered office pledging to create the most transparent administration in American history. But while some open- government groups give him credit for trying, aspects of his administration remain closed or inaccessible to the public eye. A review this year by the AP found that federal agencies had improved their response to requests under the Freedom of Information Act but still had had sizable backlogs.
In his campaign, Romney has limited the release of documents and information that in the past often have become part of the public record.
He is the first winning candidate of either party in more than a decade to refuse to give the public a list of the people who tap their business and social networks to raise tens of thousands of dollars for him. In 2008, Obama and McCain both released lists of bundlers. Bush released his in 2000 and 2004.
The names Romney has released so far are those required by law. Campaigns have to disclose anyone who bundles money if they have also registered as a federal lobbyist.
Federal laws also require Romney to release a broad portrait of his personal finances — disclosures that showed he was worth up to $250 million in 2011.
Candidates aren't required by law to release their personal tax returns, despite longstanding precedent for doing so — set by Romney's father, George Romney, who ran for the Republican nomination in 1968. In 2008, Obama released seven years' worth of returns. McCain released two years' worth.
In January, Romney released his 2010 return under pressure from Republicans. That forced him to amend the personal financial disclosures he had filed earlier in the year because those documents didn't mention a Swiss bank account or a series of funds that were set up in foreign countries. Romney has yet to release his 2011 tax returns; he filed for an extension. His advisers say he'll release them before the Nov. 6 election.
Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn and Stephen Braun in Washington contributed to this report.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press
http://news.yahoo.com/romney-keeps-secrets-unless-law-says-cant-172112562.html [with comments] [also, for now, at http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iropmmIHp_3MixnrvMG74cEjv-Tw?docId=9e5381f7d81f4c79986cbc7369e6d13e (have found the Google AP postings the only reliable reference for getting the complete AP stories)]
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Sheldon Adelson Rumored To Give $10 Million To Romney: Expect More Cash To Come
Sheldon Adelson
(Jared McMillen for Forbes)
Steven Bertoni, Forbes Staff
6/13/2012 @ 12:09PM
Sheldon Adelson has reportedly given $10 million to Republican Mitt Romney’s Super PAC. This should come as no surprise and expect the $10 million to be just be the beginning of a total gift that Adelson, the billionaire owner of the Las Vegas Sands casino empire, will likely rain on the Romney campaign.
The Wall Street Journal–citing unnamed sources–reported that Adelson gave $10 million to the pro-Romney Super PAC Restore Our Future. Neither Adelson or Restore Our Future commented for the story.
But Adelson had plenty to say about the Presidential elections when I interviewed him in Las Vegas this February for my FORBES cover story [ http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2012/02/22/comeback-billionaire-how-sheldon-adelson-dominates-chinese-gambling-and-u-s-politics/ ] on the casino maven. Even while backing Newt Gingrich with $21 million in donations, Adelson said he’d help the final Republican nominee (with the exception of Ron Paul) defeat Barack Obama. “The likelihood is that I’m going to be supportive of whoever the candidate is. I just haven’t decided that yet and will wait to see what happens,” Adelson told me. Now that Romney is all but guaranteed to be the the Republican nominee, Adelson will likely place a tall stack of chips behind the former Massachusetts Governor (Adelson himself is a Boston native).
Just how much cash will he give? That depends on Romney’s stance. Adelson is a conservative, self-made billionaire and a hawkish supporter of Israel. His two main interests are defending Israel’s sovereignty and reversing what he sees as socialist policies enacted by the Obama administration
As he told me this winter:
“What scares me is the continuation of the socialist-style economy we’ve been experiencing for almost four years. That scares me because the redistribution of wealth is the path to more socialism, and to more of the government controlling people’s lives. What scares me is the lack of accountability that people would prefer to experience, just let the government take care of everything and I’ll go fish or I won’t work, etc. U.S. domestic politics is very important to me because I see that the things that made this country great are now being relegated into duplicating that which is making other countries less great. … I’m afraid of the trend where more and more people have the tendency to want to be given instead of wanting to give. People are less willing to share. There are fewer philanthropists being grown and there are greater expectations of the government. I believe that people will come to their senses and not extend the current Administration’s quest to socialize this country. It won’t be a socialist democracy because it won’t be a democracy.”
Romney could hit the fundraising jackpot if he continues to campaign for a small government and free markets and starts talking tough about supporting Israel. Adelson–who is currently worth [ http://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/ ] $19.8 billion–has money to spend. This winter he told me: “I might give $10 million or $100 million to Gingrich.” Today the stakes are even higher for Adelson–the world economy on shaky ground and the conflict in Syria is escalating each day. If things get worse, the $100 million Adelson said he might have given to Gingrich could end up just being just an appetizer for Romney before this election is through.
Copyright 2012 Forbes.com LLC™
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2012/06/13/sheldon-adelson-rumored-to-give-10-million-to-romeny-expect-more-cash-to-come/ [with comments]
===
Sheldon Adelson Tops Romney Donor List That Now Includes 32 Billionaires
Sheldon Adelson, billionaire #32 to give to Romney-backing super PAC.
AFP/Aaron Tam/Getty Images
Clare O'Connor, Forbes Staff
6/13/2012 @ 1:59PM
Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson has reportedly donated $10 million [ http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2012/06/13/sheldon-adelson-rumored-to-give-10-million-to-romeny-expect-more-cash-to-come/ (just above)] to a super PAC supporting Mitt Romney, as he hinted he would after a recent Las Vegas meeting [ http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2012/05/29/jackpot-romney-woos-vegas-tycoon-adelson-as-trump-causes-trouble/ ] with the GOP candidate.
Adelson’s $10 million check is by far the biggest gift to date to Restore Our Future, a group that’s attracted five new billionaire donors in as many weeks [ http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2012/05/21/count-em-30-billionaires-now-backing-romneys-super-pac/ ].
As my colleague Steve Bertoni pointed out, having spoken at length to Adelson for a Forbes cover story, $10 million may just be the start of the Las Vegas Sands chief’s generosity. He may well give $100 million [ http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenbertoni/2012/06/13/sheldon-adelson-rumored-to-give-10-million-to-romeny-expect-more-cash-to-come/ (again, just above)], as he’d planned to donate to Newt Gingrich’s now-defunct campaign.
Adelson is just the latest billionaire to jump on the Mitt Romney bandwagon. With his gift, the tally of America’s richest people donating to Mitt Romney-backing super PAC Restore Our Future is 32 — or, 8% of the Forbes 400.
Look for that number to swell in the coming months as wealthy donors who’d been firmly on Team Newt Gingrich or Rick Perry, for instance, concede and write checks to Romney versus the alternative — a second Obama term.
Here are the 31 billionaires who’ve joined Sheldon Adelson in backing Restore Our Future:
- Vulture investor Wilbur Ross, who donated $100,000 in May.
- Oil and gas pioneer Harold Hamm, who added $985,000 to the pro-Romney PAC’s cash pile.
- Retail king Leslie Wexner of The Limited clothing chain, who wrote a check for $250,000.
- Gristedes supermarkets head John Catsimatidis, who gave $50,000 via his United Refining oil company.
- Hedge fund king Louis Bacon, who’s handed over $500,000 so far.
- Jim Davis, who made his fortune with New Balance sneakers and has donated $1 million.
- Citadel hedge fund chief Ken Griffin has handed over $2.85 million since December.
- Greenwich-based hedge funder Paul Tudor-Jones II kicked in $200,000.
- New York investor Thomas Kaplan wrote a check for $100,000.
- While neither Charles nor David Koch has given publicly to a Romney-backing super PAC this cycle, David’s twin brother Bill, “the other Koch”, has given $2 million total, both personally and via his Oxbow Carbon company.
- New York hedge funder Bruce Kovner opened his wallet to the tune of $500,000.
- Leveraged buyout pioneer Henry Kravis followed suit with a $100,000 gift.
- Hotel heirs Bill and Richard Marriott have given $1 million each to the cause.
- Hedge fund titan John Paulson spent a tiny fraction of the $12.5 billion fortune he made shorting subprime securities, donating $1 million.
- Little-known TV tycoon Jerrold Perenchio handed over $500,000.
- Legendary Tiger Management hedge fund founder Julian Robertson has given $1.25 million so far.
- Founder of insurance giant Aon, Patrick Ryan donated $25,000 in January via his Ryan Enterprises Group.
- The two titans of New York real estate, Stephen Ross and Steven Roth, have written checks for $100,0oo apiece.
- Low-profile co-founder of buyout shop Apollo Global Management Marc Rowan has handed over $115,000.
- Robert Rowling, a perennial but little-known conservative donor, has donated $100,000.
- New Forbes World’s Billionaires list member Paul Singer, founder of Elliott Management and long-time equal rights advocate, has given $1 million to date.
- Hedge funder David Tepper has thrown his hat in the ring with a $375,000 gift.
- Heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune Jim Walton and sister Alice Walton have pitched in $200,000 each.
- One-time California gubernatorial candidate and eBay billionaire Meg Whitman handed over $100,000, as did her neurosurgeon husband Griff Harsh.
- Chicago property baron Sam Zell has shelled out $100,000.
- Joseph Craft of the billionaire coal family has donated $500,000.
- Founder of eponymous brokerage firm Charles Schwab, who — together with wife Helen — has given $250,000.
- Last but not least, Texan super-donor Harold Simmons has handed over $800,000 to Restore Our Future — a tiny fraction of the millions he’s donated to right-leaning groups this cycle, with the lion’s share going to Karl Rove’s American Crossroads super PAC [ http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2012/04/27/how-karl-roves-billionaire-backed-super-pac-will-be-election-game-changer/ ]. He’s pledged to give $36 million of his $9 billion fortune [ http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2012/03/22/40-behind-the-scenes-billionaires-funding-the-2012-election/ ] to unseating Obama this election.
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Related
What Mitt Romney Is Really Worth: An Exclusive Analysis Of His Latest Finances
http://www.forbes.com/sites/edwindurgy/2012/05/16/what-mitt-romney-is-really-worth/
Gov. Scott Walker's Big Money Backers Include 13 Out-Of-State Billionaires
http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2012/06/05/gov-scott-walkers-big-money-backers-include-13-out-of-state-billionaires/
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Copyright 2012 Forbes.com LLC™
http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2012/06/13/sheldon-adelson-tops-romney-donor-list-that-now-includes-32-billionaires/ [with comments]
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Romney says Obama’s policies are most ‘anti-business’ in modern history
By Philip Rucker, Wednesday, June 13, 1:13 PM
Mitt Romney on Wednesday castigated President Obama, telling the chief executives of 100 of the nation’s biggest corporations that the president has ushered in “the most anti-investment, anti-business, anti-jobs series of policies in modern American history.”
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee ticked through a series of proposals that he said would foster a friendlier business climate — repealing Obama’s health-care law, authorizing more oil and natural gas drilling, halting all Obama-era regulations and lowering corporate and individual tax rates.
But Romney employed particularly stinging rhetoric in a sort of campaign “prebuttal,” a day before the president is expected to deliver a major campaign speech in Ohio in which he tries to reframe the economic debate.
Seizing again on Obama’s comment last week that “the private sector is doing fine [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-congress-has-no-excuse-not-to-pass-jobs-agenda/2012/06/08/gJQAuwfpNV_story.html ],” Romney said, “the incredulity that came screaming back from the American people, I think, has caused him to rethink that.”
“I think you’re going to see him change course when he speaks tomorrow, where he will acknowledge that it isn’t going so well, and he’ll be asking for four more years,” Romney continued. “My own view is that he will speak eloquently but that words are cheap, and that the record of an individual is the basis upon which you determine whether they should continue to hold onto their job.”
That there are 23 million Americans out of work or underemployed, Romney said, “is a compelling and a sad statistic. These are real people.”
Romney painted a dire portrait of the U.S. economy under a second Obama term. He warned that Obama would “stifle” energy resources in coal, oil and natural gas, as well as raise the cost of health care through the implementation of “Obamacare,” increase the regulatory burden on businesses and raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans.
“I think this election is a watershed reelection, which will determine the relationship between citizen and enterprise and government,” Romney said.
Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith responded that Romney was “dishonest” in his attacks on the president’s record, saying Obama helped the country create 4.3 million private sector jobs over the last 27 months.
“In another in a long line of ‘major’ economic speeches, Mitt Romney made dishonest after dishonest claim about the president’s record and failed to offer any new ideas of his own on how to improve the economy and strengthen the middle class,” Smith said in a statement.
Romney, himself a former CEO, seemed at ease addressing the members of the Business Roundtable, a lobby organization made up of chief executives [ http://businessroundtable.org/ ]. He waved hello to a former consulting colleague from Bain and sprinkled through his speech references to some business titans he had met with recently, including August Busch, the former CEO of Anheuser-Busch.
“Government has to be the partner, the friend, the ally, the supporter of enterprise, not the enemy,” Romney said. “Too often you find yourself facing a government that looks at you like you’re the bad guys, and if you’re hiring people and employing people and paying taxes, you’re the good guys. I want you to do well.”
At times, Romney veered into complexities on policy matters. Discussing the repatriation tax, he said he would like to enable Americans making money in foreign countries to bring their money to the United States without it being taxed.
“If you want to bring your money home, ple-e-e-ease bring it home,” he said, drawing laughter from the crowd. “And I know some people say, yeah, but companies might put it out as dividends. Well, that’s okay, too. I’d rather have you invest it. But give it out to people; give it out to retirees. I mean, what’s happened to the interest rate on their CDs? Get money out there. Let them use that money to buy things.”
Romney even seemed to apologize to the business chiefs over some of the hot rhetoric he has used on the campaign trail to assail the Obama administration’s federal investments in Solyndra [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/romney-visits-solyndra-to-highlight-attack-on-obama-public-equity-policies/2012/05/31/gJQAJBFn4U_blog.html ] and other green energy companies.
“And then finally, something I call crony capitalism — I know that not everyone is happy with my discourse on this, but I don’t think the government should be investing in individual companies to try and promote individual companies,” Romney said.
Romney said he would “halt” all Obama-era regulations — including the Dodd-Frank financial regulation overhaul, which he pledged to repeal in part or in full — as well as balance the federal budget in eight to 10 years and lower corporate and personal-income tax rates.
“I don’t want to raise the individual marginal tax rate from 35 to 40 percent,” Romney said. “I know there are some who think that that’s a great way to go after rich people, and uh, first of all, shame on anybody who thinks we’re going to divide the country based on success.”
That reference drew some CEOs in the audience to nod their heads, but they refrained from any applause until the end of Romney’s 26-minute speech. Then, he took questions from the business leaders — but only after reporters were removed from the banquet room on the top floor of the Newseum.
A Romney campaign spokesman said it was the Business Roundtable, not the campaign, that ordered the question-and-answer session to be closed to the news media.
© 2012 The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/romney-says-obamas-policies-are-most-anti-business-in-modern-history/2012/06/13/gJQA89dIaV_story.html [with embedded video, and comments]
===
Romney previews Obama economic speech: 'Words are cheap'
Romney: Govt. not business friendly enough
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUya0uLut1w [embedded]
By Paul West
June 13, 2012, 10:30 a.m.
WASHINGTON — Blaming President Obama’s policies for the “tepid recovery,” Republican candidate Mitt Romney promised a group of top corporate executives that he’d make America “the most attractive place in the world” for entrepreneurs, investors and job creators.
One day before the president is expected to deliver a major economic speech, Romney predicted that Obama “will speak eloquently.”
“But,” he added, “words are cheap.”
Romney said that Obama’s record did not justify his re-election. Under Obama, he said, increased government regulation, the new healthcare law and pro-union administration actions had discouraged private businesses from hiring and, as a result, slowed the recovery.
“I happen to think the American people are tired of politicians who make excuses instead of taking responsibility,” he said. Romney said the Democratic administration was responsible for the “most anti-investment, anti-business, anti-jobs series of policies in modern American history. The reason it has taken so long for this recovery to gain traction and put people back to work is in large measure because of [Obama’s] policy choices.”
The former Massachusetts governor outlined his own economic agenda for about 100 members of the Business Roundtable, made up of the chief executives of many of the nation’s largest corporations, during a luncheon speech at the Newseum in Washington. He broke no new ground in calling for lower taxes, fewer regulations, more exploitation of domestic coal resources and repeal of the Dodd-Frank and Affordable Health Care laws.
He also said he would approve completion of the Keystone oil pipeline and put in place policies that would reduce federal spending and balance the budget within eight to 10 years.
Romney promised to make the government a friend to private business. “Too often, you find yourself facing a government that looks at you as the bad guy,” he told the business audience, which continued to check their smartphones and eat their Wolfgang Puck pan-seared Pacific salmon salad while he spoke.
As with a similar meeting earlier in the year with Obama, the Business Roundtable members did not interrupt with applause. But a chuckle swept the room when Romney, whose business background has made him a favorite of many corporate chiefs, repeated his opposition to government programs that assist specific businesses.
“I don’t believe in the government picking winners, or in the case of our government, picking losers,” he said, an apparent reference to one of his favorite targets: Solyndra, the California solar company that went bankrupt after receiving hundreds of millions in taxpayer assistance from the Obama administration.
After Romney’s 30-minute speech, reporters were escorted from the room prior to a private question and answer sessions with the chief executives.
That was also the case when Obama addressed the CEOs in March. In his 13-minute speech to the corporate officials,
[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5mLfqI6SAc ] the president highlighted the growth in private sector employment, particularly in manufacturing, and emphasized the need to open more markets to U.S. goods and increase spending on infrastructure and make additional investments in American energy.
“The economy is getting stronger, and the recovery is speeding up,” Obama said that evening. “The question now is, how do we make sure that it keeps going?”
Since then, the recovery has faltered, with job growth slowing and unemployment ticking up.
On energy, Obama had said that, despite increased domestic oil production, an “all-of-the-above strategy” was needed.
“Yes, we’ve got to produce more oil and more natural gas, and we are game for that. It also means, though, we’ve got to invest in the energy sources of the future,” the president said, adding that there was a need to invest in clean energy, greater energy efficiency and advanced batteries for electric cars.
One of the most prominent CEOs at the Obama session was missing from the Romney luncheon. James Dimon, the JP Morgan Chase chairman, was several blocks away, getting grilled by the Senate Banking Committee about his firm’s $2 billion trading loss.
Paul.west@latimes.com
*
Also
Obama claims Romney campaign message can fit 'on a tweet'
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-obama-claims-romney-campaign-message-can-fit-on-a-tweet-20120612,0,1139526.story
*
Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-romney-previews-obama-economic-speech-words-are-cheap-20120613,0,7540348.story [with comments]
===
GOP talking points ignore facts of Obama pro-business record
The Rachel Maddow Show
June 12, 2012
Ezra Klein explains why President Barack Obama is not only not anti-business, he's remarkably pro-business, with a long list of pro-business accomplishments - accomplishments ignored by Governor Bobby Jindal, who should know better, and knee-jerk Republicans reciting election year talking points.
© 2012 msnbc.com
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/47790690#47790690
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Disastrous 'Boehner economy' avoidable with new public sector jobs
The Rachel Maddow Show
June 11, 2012
Chris Hayes, host of MSNBC's "Up with Chris Hayes," talks with Ezra Klein about why 2012 Republicans are attacking public workers and rejecting the economic answer (public sector jobs) to recession that past Republican presidents and even Mitt Romney believe in.
© 2012 msnbc.com
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/47774722#47774722 [the above YouTube of the segment at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2vGmLX0yls , also at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckGUHUPfGtk ]
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Inequality of wealth means inequality of opportunity
The Rachel Maddow Show
June 12, 2012
Ylan Mui, financial reporter for The Washington Post, talks with Ezra Klein about the new report that Americans lost 40% of their wealth from 2007 to 2010 and what it means to average Americans and the American dream.
© 2012 msnbc.com
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/47790778#47790778 [the above YouTube of the segment at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGkDPrjfrso ]
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Mitt Romney Can't Imagine Tall Guy Doesn't Play Basketball
Published on Jun 12, 2012 by MidweekPolitics
--Romney tells a bizarre story about how surprised he was that a 7-foot tall man wasn't "in sport."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6b1m1qwOY4
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Romney Struggles To Identify A Chocolate Doughnut
Published on Jun 8, 2012 by Buzzy Feedly
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRZjOMwTWic
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Hitler Needs a Krispy Kreme Doughnut
Uploaded by CrazyVideoMonkey on Sep 19, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wLeV5AnLZ0
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