Bill Clinton says Romney/Bain Attack is a Mistake

[chance1]

Bill Clinton believes that the Romney/Bain attack strategy - the centerpiece really of the Obama re-election campaign - IS A LOSER

In summary he says:

- Romney's business acumen and experience are good - describing it as "sterling"
- that attacked private equity is wrong

Duval Patrick, Massachusetts governor recently said Bain was good as well

and we know about Cory Booker's Meet The Press interview and "sudden" recant

Ed Rendell

and now Bill Clinton

The Bain attack is bullshit - it's not genuine - and it's not a winner

don't ask me - ask well respected Dems


http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS...raises-romneys/story?id=16474493#.T8lNDu2rU20

 

[Stardreamer]

Bill Clinton is right.

 

[chance1]

Funny thing

Chris Matthews, when Cory Booker did his "don't attack Bain" spiel, well Chris went NUTS

Today, he was laughing about Bill Clinton's comments

funny how he flip flopped

 

[opinterph]

Chris Matthews, when Cory Booker did his "don't attack Bain" spiel, well Chris went NUTS

Depends on the meaning of "nuts." I didn't think his reaction was outside the context of rational dialog, but maybe it affected different viewers in different ways.

 

[chance1]

^ did you see it ? he called him a traitor, a saboteur - suggested that he was disloyal, etc.

where today on Clinton, he had on 2 strategists - one repub, one dem - and they were laughing about it

seemed odd

thanks for fixing the link btw

 

[chrisrobin]

Can a former president run for vice president? Visualize: The dream team - Romney-Clinton 2012 - now more than ever.

 

[Centexfarmer]

Obviously neither the Democrats nor the Republicans want to disrupt the "powers that be."



I'm just saying.

 

[opinterph]

Can a former president run for vice president?

The Vice President must be qualified to become President, so the answer in this case is no.

 

[chance1]

To Centex:

^ so do you think Bill Clinton was wrong?

do you think it's good for Pres. Obama that the most popular Democrat in the country thinks his primary re-election campaign theme is a dog with fleas

 

[chrisrobin]

View attachment 826624

Obviously neither the Democrats nor the Republicans want to disrupt the "powers that be."



I'm just saying.

I just had a Vito Corleone moment: "It's just business."

 

[swerve]

Sometimes the White House seems to drag BEHIND the times a little...

I suspect that they're hoping that the country is still in the Occupy Wall Street mode this fall...

And they are HOPING that we have FORGOTTEN their LAST bid for power...

Change you can believe in...

And...

Transparency...

NEITHER of which have come to fruition...

Having said that -- I was talking with a foreign friend today -- and he reminded me that the U.S. is a HUGE conglomeration -- kind of like a MEGA SHIP -- that takes a LOT of TIME to change course...

In my opinion -- based on Mitt Romney being the opposing candidate -- it is a NO BRAINER to vote for Obama in 2012...

REGARDLESS of how he chooses to run his campaign...

 

[Centexfarmer]

To Centex:

^ so do you think Bill Clinton was wrong?

do you think it's good for Pres. Obama that the most popular Democrat in the country thinks his primary re-election campaign theme is a dog with fleas

Honestly? (Of course you wouldn't have asked me this question if you didn't already know the answer).







I think that Bill Clinton is absolutely correct.


Obama can attempt to "make his case" against Bain Capital, but if this is the tactic that Obama and the Democrats want to use, then the Democrats DESERVE TO LOSE in November.

This goes back to a comment that I made in a previous thread; this time I'm paraphrasing:

'Democrats always bring a knife to a gun fight expecting to win.'

In my mind, politically, the Democrats have more programs, speak to a broader voting demographic, have more historical policies in place that benefit those most in need, and speak in favor of diversity, and as Bill Clinton once said "a rising tide lifts all boats," that if this is the best that Obama can come up with against Romney...well...it's clearly not a winning political strategy.

Was that the point of agreement that you were trying to find with me as a friend, or were you just trying to further your reputation of being "snarky?"

 

[chance1]

Honestly? (Of course you wouldn't have asked me this question if you didn't already know the answer).







I think that Bill Clinton is absolutely correct.


Obama can attempt to "make his case" against Bain Capital, but if this is the tactic that Obama and the Democrats want to use, then the Democrats DESERVE TO LOSE in November.

This goes back to a comment that I made in a previous thread; this time I'm paraphrasing:



In my mind, politically, the Democrats have more programs, speak to a broader voting demographic, have more historical policies in place that benefit those most in need, and speak in favor of diversity, and as Bill Clinton once said "a rising tide lifts all boats," that if this is the best that Obama can come up with against Romney...well...it's clearly not a winning political strategy.

Was that the point of agreement that you were trying to find with me as a friend, or were you just trying to further your reputation of being "snarky?"

self awareness is NOT one of my issues

 

[Centexfarmer]

I just had a Vito Corleone moment: "It's just business."

Well Chris I have some shocking news for you.

It's been decided that you personally must be destroyed.

However...

 

[Centexfarmer]

self awareness is NOT one of my issues

And YOU KNOW, that I'd never be so presumptuous as to imply otherwise.



My friends call me Richard with an S.

 

[Kulindahr]

I agree it's a foolish strategy, but mostly because not very many people would understand the tricks and dodges involved in ripping off the taxpayers. Given that, it's not worth the current to put ads on a test screen.

The only thing about Bain worth mentioning in the campaign is drawn from what Clinton said: in that business, you never know if a company is going to succeed or fail. So Romney is good at staying ahead of the odds -- but do we really want to risk making the nation fail...?

Maybe that would be a good "drop line" in a debate.

 

[kevin23]

With today's news report of shrinking jobs growth, Bain is a non-issue with voters.

It's the economy
It's the deficit
It's the banks and Wall Street
It's the jobs, stupid. Just expand on Bill Clinton's slogan.

 

[Kulindahr]

With today's news report of shrinking jobs growth, Bain is a non-issue with voters.

It's the economy
It's the deficit
It's the banks and Wall Street
It's the jobs, stupid. Just expand on Bill Clinton's slogan.

Three of those combine into the one I've been thinking on: stability. Romney's business experience shows companies improved and companies busted. His time as governor shows good and bad. In short, Romney is about ups and downs -- and we can't afford that. Under Obama we've had steady, stable, if slow recovery (and if the reactionaries in the House would become Americans, it could have been better).

The banks -- that's where he should campaign against Congress, because if it weren't for the House reactionaries, the people who screwed us (and the world) over might have been brought to account by now.

 

[chance1]

The silence is deafening

Unlike Cory Booker who can be bullied into retraction

Bill is ......... Bill

The new revisionist history will be:

We're not anti private equity or Bain
We just don't think it's good experience for becoming President

It's Orwellian

 

[LuvFindsAndyHardy]

Obama can attempt to "make his case" against Bain Capital, but if this is the tactic that Obama and the Democrats want to use, then the Democrats DESERVE TO LOSE in November.

I personally think the case should be made (as part of a broader campaign that focuses on more than just Bain) but, seeing as it is being made now (as opposed to later) I'm thinking that it is going to be a "been there, done that" case that won't have legs throughout the summer.

I love Bill Clinton (LOVE Bill Clinton) but I don't think I agree with his assessment that this was necessarily "good work."

By the way, that article in the link at the original post is ridiculously slanted and parsed. Clinton's actual words aren't much of a criticism of Obama OR much praise for Romney.

The actual interview transcript (from which the article drew its "bombshell" conclusions) is as follows:

(please note I was unable to find the phrase "dog with fleas" or the word "loser" in the actual interview)

WEINSTEIN: Now Governor Romney keeps talking about his experience at Bain Capital as a producer of jobs and that he had 25 years in the private sector. It seems to play with a certain group, but do you think that really will affect people and think that he can produce jobs that the president can't?

CLINTON: I think it will affect some people who relate well to businessmen. And I think he had a good business career. The -- there is a lot of controversy about that. But if you go in and you try to save a failing company, and you and I have friends here who invest in companies, you can invest in a company, run up the debt, loot it, sell all the assets, and force all the people to lose their retirement and fire them.

Or you can go into a company, have cutbacks, try to make it more productive with the purpose of saving it. And when you try, like anything else you try, you don't always succeed. Not every movie you made was a smash hit.

WEINSTEIN: That's for sure.

CLINTON: So I don't think that we ought to get into the position where we say this is bad work. This is good work. I think, however, the real issue ought to be, what has Governor Romney advocated in the campaign that he will do as president? What has President Obama done and what does he propose to do? How do these things stack up against each other?

That's the most relevant thing. 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, the man who has been governor and had a sterling business career crosses the qualification threshold. But they have dramatically different proposals. And it's my opinion, anyway, that the Obama proposals and the Obama record will be far better for the American economy and most Americans than those that Governor Romney has laid out. And that's what the election ought to be about.