"Romney Derangement Syndrome" and the Battle of Bain Capital

[Topper]

The only way to truly know this is to elect Romney. Will you now give him your support so you can say "I told you so" if it happens?

Romney and Santorum are too pious to be elected.

Topper's favorites are Obama, Hillary and whomever the Dems otherwise select. Romneycare is acceptable but his waffling on the issue of abortion and entitlements is unsettling.

[Jacob]

Does that number include Pell grants, loan subsidies, etc.? I'd hope that is the lion's share of the money. And I would argue that the Feds do in fact educate people through those programs.

It probably does include those. But we'll disagree that loans educate people. But they do encourage too many people to go too college, incur deep debt, and leave with almost as few job prospects as they had before all the debt. Talk about inefficiencies! Federal education spending has to be at the top of the list of inefficient and wasteful government spending.

[FMCoug]

It probably does include those. But we'll disagree that loans educate people. But they do encourage too many people to go too college, incur deep debt, and leave with almost as few job prospects as they had before all the debt. Talk about inefficiencies! Federal education spending has to be at the top of the list of inefficient and wasteful government spending.

Loans and grants provide opportunity. Like everything else, it is up to the student to take advantage of that. We are splitting hairs on the definition of "educate people".

I think a long term study with empirical data on the impact of Pell Grants would be fascinating.

[Pelado]

So a corporate raider such as Romney won't set up circumstances so his Wall Street buddies can raid the nation's covers like George Bush and his cronies did?

Mitt never even worked on Wall Street. The word on the street is that Obama's gotten more campaign contributions from Wall Street than any candidate in history.

[All-American]

The only way to truly know this is to elect Romney. Will you now give him your support so you can say "I told you so" if it happens?

We have to elect him so we'll know how he governs.

Hmm.

[YOhio]

[YOUTUBE]1RXG7nSOAHg[/YOUTUBE]

[Green Monstah]

[YOUTUBE]1RXG7nSOAHg[/YOUTUBE]

Lmao. Good night Newt. Enjoy callista and the three more facelifts her skin has left.

[oxcoug]

[YOUTUBE]1RXG7nSOAHg[/YOUTUBE]

I'm to the point where Newt kind of fascinates me. I think he literally has no compass - he really doesn't think anything that isn't expedient or immediately interesting. And he has a nearly sociopathic ability to attack people for the same exact stuff he does or has been doing.

[TripletDaddy]

It has become clear to me over the last few days that Newt was a concerted last-ditch effort amongst the anti-mormon republican base. A half-serious attempt to ouster Romney with the only viable challenger remaining. The only problem is that Newt isn't really a very viable candidate, a fact which has become painfully evident this week. I think we will see a Mitt Romney love fest at the RNC as everyone embraces the inevitable: a Mo will run for the White House.

[oxcoug]

National Review editors weigh in

http://www.nationalreview.com/articl...e-past-editors

Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, and Jon Huntsman seem to be engaged in a perverse contest to be the Republican presidential candidate to say the most asinine thing about Mitt Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital

Newt Gingrich’s risible super-PAC factotum has gone to the length of producing a feverish little film about Romney’s tenure as a “corporate raider” at Bain. Governor Perry, for his part, told a Republican audience: “If you are the victim of Bain Capital’s downsizing, it is the ultimate insult for Mitt Romney to come to South Carolina and tell you he feels your pain — he caused it.” To appropriate Governor Perry’s favorite adjective, that is the ultimate in populist pandering, or something close to it.

When the restructuring is successful, reinvigorated firms expand, add locations, develop new products, and create jobs. That is the creative destruction of capitalism. Staples has 2,000 stores instead of one store because of a Bain investment. And, as Herman Cain is well-positioned to appreciate, Burger King was severely underperforming when Bain and a group of franchise owners acquired it from corporate parent Diageo in 2002. The restructured burger chain, which went public a few years back, is now valued at more than $3 billion. Household names from Dunkin’ Donuts to Guitar Center have been among Bain’s projects.

Governor Perry likes to brag about the jobs created in Texas during his tenure: Perhaps he should subtract from that admirable sum those positions at companies in which Bain invested, for the sake of his intellectual integrity.

Huntsman mocked Romney for the remark — but whoever the next president of the United States is, he should be provided with a very long list of people in the federal bureaucracies who need firing. If Huntsman does not have one, he has not thought hard enough about the issue.

[Jacob]

Loans and grants provide opportunity. Like everything else, it is up to the student to take advantage of that. We are splitting hairs on the definition of "educate people".

I think a long term study with empirical data on the impact of Pell Grants would be fascinating.

I can already fill you in on the results of said study.

Pell grants increase the number of people going to college. Increase the cost of tuition, thus offsetting any benefit of having received the grant, while increasing the average student debt load. Increase the rate of students that don't graduate. And on and on. I seriously doubt they have had a net positive effect on our nation or society.

[RobinFinderson]

I'm excited that the most anticipated movie of 2012, Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, will feature a super-villain named Bane (played by Tom Hardy!), just in time to place a Bain/Bane association in voters' minds.

[RobinFinderson]

Here is the thing about Bain Capital...

... every job comes with perceptions that are independent from the reasons a person might choose to work in a field. For example:

A stripper might love her work because it keeps her in shape and allows her to earn money from her athletic creativity. These good reasons why a person might enjoy being a stripper stand in stark contrast to the public's moral perceptions about the profession.

A dentist might love to make money by doing the same boring routine things, day after day, and hiring cute dental hygienists that flirt with him and treat him like a god. These good reasons why a person might enjoy being a dentist stand in stark contrast to the public's perception that dentists are perverted libertarians with elaborate fetish dungeons.

The GOP has got to face the fact that no matter how hard they try to spin Mitt's professional choices in a positive light, he chose the political career equivalent of daytime stripper who drills teeth at night to pay for college. Maybe he loved the intellectual challenge of the job, but as Jon Stewart says, he looks and sounds like 'everyone who ever fired your dad.'

[Portland Ute]

A dentist might love to make money by doing the same boring routine things, day after day, and hiring cute dental hygienists that flirt with him and treat him like a god. These good reasons why a person might enjoy being a dentist stand in stark contrast to the public's perception that dentists are perverted libertarians with elaborate fetish dungeons.

WTF?

:anger:

[Jacob]

Here is the thing about Bain Capital...

... every job comes with perceptions that are independent from the reasons a person might choose to work in a field. For example:

A stripper might love her work because it keeps her in shape and allows her to earn money from her athletic creativity. These good reasons why a person might enjoy being a stripper stand in stark contrast to the public's moral perceptions about the profession.

A dentist might love to make money by doing the same boring routine things, day after day, and hiring cute dental hygienists that flirt with him and treat him like a god. These good reasons why a person might enjoy being a dentist stand in stark contrast to the public's perception that dentists are perverted libertarians with elaborate fetish dungeons.

The GOP has got to face the fact that no matter how hard they try to spin Mitt's professional choices in a positive light, he chose the political career equivalent of daytime stripper who drills teeth at night to pay for college. Maybe he loved the intellectual challenge of the job, but as Jon Stewart says, he looks and sounds like 'everyone who ever fired your dad.'

You are right about perceptions. Luckily, I don't think many people will share your Romney/Stripper perception.