Replies to post #179856 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[StephanieVanbryce]

Why Romney Is and Was the Real Crony

By Charles P. Pierce
at 4:19PM



The message of the day from the Romney campaign is that the president is a practitioner of "cronyism," so, therefore, Willard's still entitled to keep his tax returns secret, and he's still entitled to fib about how and when he left his job at Bain and so forth and so on.

Oh, Willard, how soon you forget those of us over whom you governed.

Again.

At the end of 2006 up here in the Commonwealth (God save it!), just as you were preparing to leave the job you had actually stopped doing two years earlier, and just as you were preparing your extended stumble across the national stage, you got caught larding various local government boards with 200 friends of his from the local Republican party. One of these people was my old Wingo Square running buddy Eric Fehrnstrom, the man who personally revived sales of the Etch-A-Sketch, who found himself with a nifty gig on the Brookline Housing Authority until the Boston Globe went and harshed everyone's mellow by pointing out that this put Fehrnstrom in line for a nice little pension package,

And then there's the Salt Lake Olympics, which forced Willard into his retroactive retirement from Bain Capital, so he could finish the job of converting an international bribery scandal into a festival of old-fashioned American taxpayer-supported crony capitalism. In 2002, investigative reporters Donald Barlett and James Steele published a piece [ http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1024516/index.htm ] in Sports Illustrated exposing in damning detail how, in "saving" the Olympics, Romney and his pet organizing committee kept their friends fat and happy....

Is this a great country or what? A millionaire developer wants a road built, the federal government supplies the cash to construct it. A billionaire ski-resort owner covets a choice piece of public land. No problem. The federal government arranges for him to have it. Some millionaire businessmen stand to profit nicely if the local highway network is vastly improved. Of course. The federal government provides the money. How can you get yours, you ask? Easy. Just help your hometown land the Olympics. Then, when no one's looking, persuade the federal government to pay for a good chunk of the Games, including virtually any project to which the magic word Olympics can be attached. For the past few years, while attention was focused on the Great Olympic Bribery Scandal-in which Salt Lake City boosters dispensed as much as $7 million in gifts, travel, scholarships, medical care, jobs and other goodies to IOC members (and their relatives and companions) to ensure that Utah's capital city would be chosen to host the 2002 Winter Games-private and public interests have siphoned an estimated $1.5 billion out of the U.S. Treasury, all in the name of those same Olympics.

Not that he wasn't grateful.

This is not to say that the recipients are unappreciative. Mitt Romney, SLOC's president, has acknowledged the U.S. government's contribution by saying, "We couldn't have done it without them. These are America's Games."

You're welcome. Don't mention it.

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/mitt-romney-crony-10723178

That Sports Illustrated piece [ SNOW JOB ] is an eye opener IF I ever saw one .. it took me two days to get through it .. and to assimilate it all ... . I even think I might have read it a long long time ago .. it was written December 10th 2001 ..AND it's 10 PAGES long.. . but I'll tell you.. .if anyone reads that and comes away with any illusions about "Romney" being anything but a HUSTLER! .. .hustling for money for FREE! everywhere he can get it INCLUDING and MOST ESPECIALLY our Government ... they're a darn Genius! .. .. I don't see that he has done anything innovative except GET STUFF for FREE ! ........If I were him AND we had a decent press corps I wouldn't even open up my MOUTH about the Olympics ! .. For SHAME! just another rich guy who wants everything for FREE for HIM while taking it all away from the little guys everywhere in our country ... I SPIT on him !

[F6]

George W. Bush to Romney staffers: ‘Seize the moment’



Former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura Bush, stopped by Romney headquarters in Boston Tuesday.

Megan Tate | Tuesday, July 24, 2012

George W. Bush and his wife made an unexpected visit to Mitt Romney’s campaign headquarters today, ABC News reports [ http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/george-bush-drops-romney-hq/story?id=16844426 ].

The couple were in Boston visiting a charter school and stopped by the presumptive Republican nominee’s headquarters to give a pep talk to campaign staffers. Mr. Romney is giving a speech in Reno later today and was not present, but his wife introduced the Bushes, who were greeted with a big round of applause from everyone present.

Mr. Bush offered praise and encouragement to Romney staffers and told them “to seize the moment.” The Romney campaign confirmed the visit.

The former president has made himself scarce from the political landscape since he left office. He is still a divisive figure in the public’s eye despite a rise in approval ratings in recent years. Mr. Bush has not been a part of Mr. Romney’s campaign and only endorsed him when an ABC News reporter asked who he would be supporting.

“I’m for Mitt Romney,” the former president said as the doors of an elevator closed on him. He was in Washington at the time to give a speech promoting the George W. Bush Presidential Center’s campaign for human rights activists.

Mr. Bush continued his avoidance of the political spotlight when he turned down an invitation to attend the Republican National Convention in Tampa next month.

“President Bush was grateful for the invitation to the Republican National Convention,” said Bush spokesman Freddy Ford in an email to the media. “He supports Governor Romney and wants him to succeed. President Bush is confident that Mitt Romney will be a great President. But in keeping with his desire to stay off the political stage at this point in the post-presidency, he respectfully declined the invitation to go to Tampa.”

The 43rd president missed the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul in 2008 as well. While John McCain was clinching the GOP nomination, Mr. Bush was traveling to Texas to meet with emergency workers dealing with damage from Hurricane Gustav. However, he appeared at the 2008 convention by a remote video feed.

After handing the keys to the White House over to President Barack Obama in 2009, Mr. Bush has said repeatedly that while he enjoyed his time in Washington, he has no desire to return to politics any time soon.

“I have no desire for fame and power anymore … I crawled out of the swamp and I’m not crawling back in,” he told Peter Robinson of the Hoover Institute.

Copyright 2012 The Capitol Column

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