Clinton on Romney record praise: My words were twisted

[kpete]

Source: Politico

Clinton on Romney record praise: My words were twisted


By MAGGIE HABERMAN | 6/1/12 7:13 PM EDT
CBS News reports on Bill Clinton's follow-up on his comments on Bain and Mitt Romney on CNN last night:

But at a rally in Paterson to support Rep. Bill Pascrell, Clinton said his remarks got "twisted around."


"I said, you know, Governor Romney had a good career in business and he was a governor, so he crosses the qualification threshold for him being president," Clinton said. "But he shouldn't be elected, because he is wrong on the economy and all these other issues.

"So today, because I didn't attack him personally and bash him, I wake up to read all these stories taking it out of context as if I had virtually endorsed him, which means the tea party has already won their first great victory: 'We are supposed to hate each to disagree.' That is wrong."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/06/clinton-on-romney-record-praise-my-words-were-twisted-125074.html

[maxrandb]

1. Man, I love the Big Dog

He's absolutely right. The tea-baggers base their support on a candidate on whether he suficiently hates as much as they do.

Big Dog has always possessed that ability to tell someone to "go to hell" and have them smile and be on their way.

You can't "fucking" govern the way the tea-baggers want to govern, unless you have a dictatorship...bunch of un-America asshats

[Iliyah]

2. Well y'know the goppers

will use a commercials depicting him saying what he said although goppers truly hate Clinton tho, really hate him.

[RufusTFirefly]

3. Obligatory Politico caveat

Frederick J. Ryan, Jr, President and CEO of Politico.com, also serves as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation

Politico is owned by Albritton Communications. That's the same Albritton family that controlled Riggs Bank.
Try Googling "Riggs Bank" and "Pinochet", for example. Or "Riggs Bank" and "CIA."

Also, the author of the post, Maggie Haberman, came from Rupert Murdoch's New York Post before joining Politico.

Just sayin'

[Narraback]

7. Thank you!

Nt

[RufusTFirefly]

13. De nada. The folks at Politico are shameless pot-stirrers.

Their MO is nauseatingly predictable.
They typically seek to create controversy where there is none and to generate dissension and defensiveness among groups that are otherwise allies.
That's their schtick, and it appears to work quite well for them.

[crunch60]

34. It's the O' "Divide and Conquer" strategy going on everywhere.

Thanks for posting this info. regarding Politico.

[emulatorloo]

23. Thanks. Needs to be said everything time there is a Politico based thread.

Really appreciate this.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. Bzzzt. Sorry wrong answer.

Because his lackey's Booker & Rendell parroted the same sentiment. There was no "personal" attack from the Administration against Rmoney. The Administration has been attacking the object - Bain - and the culture behind such entities, and Rmoney was part of such an entity.... Yet Clinton and the DLC objected to even putting Bain on the table for criticism after Rmoney clearly used it as his justification for being able to purportedly deal with the economy..

Moonwalk it baby, moonwalk it.

[DJ13]

8. +1

"I think he had a good business career," Clinton told guest host Harvey Weinstein, a movie mogul who is one of Obama's top fundraisers. "There's no question that in terms of getting up and going to the office and, you know, basically performing the essential functions of the office, a man who has been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold."

Adding that he has "friends" in the private equity business, Clinton suggested it was dangerous for Democrats to go after Romney's record at Bain Capital—adding that in private equity, "like anything else you try, you don't always succeed" in saving companies or making them more productive.

"I don't think that we ought to get into the position where we say this is bad work," Clinton said. "This is good work."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/bill-clinton-criticizes-obama-bain-attacks-praises-romney-141022725.html

[jtuck004]

5. said Thursday that Mitt Romney had a "sterling business career" as chief executive of Bain Capital.

"I don't think that we ought to get into the position where we say 'This is bad work. This is good work,'" Clinton said of the private equity industry.


"The man who has been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold," Clinton said.

"Unlike some fellow Democrats, Clinton acknowledged Romney's time at Bain Capital formed a "good business career."

here
___________________________


Yeah, you didn't bash him alright. You didn't give it to 'im good, you didn't.

But I don't think one can twist those words into anything resembling a criticism for an industry who has hundreds of billions of dollars in debt that must be refinanced before 2014, who hold the jobs of millions of people in their hands, and who prefer profits over people.

Take a look at Moody's - there are hundreds of companies that will have to refinance their B and C-rated debt, and not enough money to do it, in a climate where credit is tighter and expenses for the Social Security people earned, the underfunded public pensions, student loan debt, and millions of underwater housing loans and foreclosures swirl around a job market where there are about 25 million people vying for about 3 1/2 million jobs.

Read The Buyout of America by Josh Kosman - THE PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS ARE JUNK BOND FIRMS THAT CHANGED THEIR NAME BECAUSE IT SOUNDS BETTER. They are not firms who provide capital for the growth of a business, they are predators and vultures who prey on opportunities to extract the wealth that people have created to put it in fewer pockets.

To say they are a "good" business is to believe that Bank of America, Lehamn, and AIG were the best thing for the housing market in a long time.

You're words weren't twisted. You were wrong to let firms hide their theft in the Financial Modernization Act, and you were wrong in Paterson.

[SHRED]

9. +10

[mazzarro]

17. Bubba is twisting his own words to try and squirm out of his own mess

His words are clear on his praise for Rmoney and he is essentially doing a Cory Booker here. Who needs and opponent when you have got people like these in the Democratic party! Most of them owe allegiance to big corporation and they try their best to straddle the fence as much as they can.

[2banon]

21. spot on... likey likey

[Ichingcarpenter]

25. +1 ... Clinton says he didn't have sex with private equity firms

and it depends on what 'is' is, mincing and triangulation is his forte. He is not fooling me but the fools who follows him and believes his shit,,

[unkachuck]

6. "...'We are supposed to hate each to disagree.' That is wrong."

....no Bill, you're wrong....do you want to play nice and lose or do you want to win?....the pukes would love us to play nice while they bash our heads in....

....we didn't define or set the political rules or climate in this country, the pukes did....we either play by those rules and get nastier than the pukes, or we'll lose....or should I say, us working people will lose....

....a very large part of their game is to demonize the other side and we must do the same....that requires a healthy dose of hate....

[Skip Intro]

14. Bill Clinton might know a thing or two about winning an election. nt

[unkachuck]

16. I'm sure he does....

....for fair-weather elections, that is....this economy ain't booming today, it won't be booming tomorrow and it'll be booming even less in November, if the republicans have their way....

....we'll have to kick the pukes in the balls, if we want to win....

[still_one]

24. and he knows how to fix it so subsequent Democrats won't win /nt

[Skip Intro]

31. Are you saying it is Clinton's fault Gore "lost?" nt

[leftstreet]

26. Yeah, you just get Ross Perot to run as an Independent n/t

[coalition_unwilling]

33. Clinton sure knows how to put to death mentally-retarded inmates to

prove how tough he is on crime:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Ray_Rector

[bluestateguy]

10. Ramney actually did a very good job at Bain doing what he was supposed to do

Destroying jobs, chopping up companies to create more wealth for people who are already rich.

That was his job at his company, and yes indeed, he did it well.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

11. this stuff is so old in politics that it makes me want to heave

Yes the RW media are looking for any little achilles heel thingy

[gateley]

12. Yes, it's wrong, but that's the reality these days. Sad, huh. nt

[elleng]

15. Great that he put it in those terms,

and he can be quoted and referred to.

USE IT!

[Kingofalldems]

18. Mole boy won't like this one

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

19. Bill Clinton is full of shit! He said what he thought and meant it! This was a deliberate snub!

[kitt6]

20. He's getting old and irrelevant

as his buddies the Bushes. So it goes.....

[upi402]

28. "and so it goes"

Reminds me of Linda Ellerbee!

ty

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

22. When he said Romney had a "sterling business career" that was twisted around?

I'm willing to be patient and wait for an explanation, but I don't see an explanation here. That still sounds that an endorsement to me. And I'm not a Clinton hater. It not only wasn't a personal attack, it was the praise of the issue on which he's running, his business track record. Please try again, Mr. Clinton.

[upi402]

27. Romney had a "sterling business career" < it follows from someone who gave us NAFTA and GATT

Romney's vulture capitalism, spun as venture capitalism, is Clinton's wet dream.
Yeah, big dog bit us in the ass for sure.

[LibDemAlways]

29. You'd be hard pressed to find an R, any R ,who would

go on tv and announce that Obama had a "sterling" anything. You'd certainly never hear it from a former Repuke potus.

Clinton's backtracking is hardly a forceful denunciation of Romney. Not an endorsement, but certainly not a criticism.

[Nikia]

30. I think that there is merit in acknowledging the other sides point of view

Before telling them why they aren't completely right and should vote for our side instead.
He was saying that he understands why they like Romney but they should not vote for him because...
This helps because many people immediately shut off or get defensive when you don't acknowledge their point of view. Bill Clinton knows this which is why he was a successful president.
The media wants everything to be a quick sound bite that fuels the political divide. It is good for ratings after all.

[and-justice-for-all]

32. Robocorp is notorius for their deliberatly misleading ads...

blatant LIES. So this is no surprise. Robomoney is a fucking liar.

[Canuckistanian]

36. So, you "cross the qualification threshold" for being president by being in business?

Geez, why do we even need a RW when a former Dem president makes all their points for them?

He even disqualified himself by that statement.

[frylock]

37. i suppose it depends on what the meaning of the word 'sterling' is..

what a jackhole.