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Romney Demands Obama ‘Apologize’ for Bain Attacks, but Fails to Address Key Questions
Think Progress / News Report
Published: Saturday 14 July 2012
The rare media tour comes after Security Exchange Commission (SEC) documents showed that Romney remained CEO of Bain Capital until 2002 and thus may have been at least partially responsible for the company’s activities — including major layoffs and investments in companies that shipped jobs overseas — between 1999 and 2002.
Mitt Romney granted a round of television interviews Friday evening to respond to accusations that he stayed at Bain Capital past February of 1999, just as newly-uncovered Bain company documents from July of that year reveal that the former Massachusetts governor had taken a “part-time leave of absence to head the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee for the 2002 Games,” rather than retiring entirely, as the Romney campaign has insisted. A 1999 Boston Herald article similarly reported that “Romney said he will stay on as a part-timer with Bain, providing input on investment and key personnel decisions.”
But Romney disputed these accounts. “It’s ridiculous and below the dignity of the presidency and his campaign,” he said in an interview with Fox News and suggested that the story was meant to distract voters from the economy. The president “ought to apologize for what he’s doing,” Romney told CBS. “If I were president of the United States, I would put a stop to it and apologize to my campaign for what has been done by his,” Romney said on ABC. The candidate also said he would not be releasing additional tax returns, as some have requested.
The rare media tour comes after Security Exchange Commission (SEC) documents showed that Romney remained CEO of Bain Capital until 2002 and thus may have been at least partially responsible for the company’s activities — including major layoffs and investments in companies that shipped jobs overseas — between 1999 and 2002. The Obama campaign has suggested that Romney either lied to the SEC or is now misrepresenting his role with the company to voters.
The president himself turned up the heat during an interview with a local ABC affiliate. “Now, my understanding is that Mr. Romney attested to the SEC, multiple times, that he was the chairman, CEO and president of Bain Capital and I think most Americans figure if you are the chairman, CEO and president of a company that you are responsible for what that company does,” Obama said.
In his interview with ABC, Romney also refused to weigh into the controversy surrounding the outsourcing of Olympic uniforms to China. “I’m not going to get into the uniform issue,” he said. “There are big issues associated with the Olympics: the security of the games, the readiness of our athletes and that’s what I’m going to focus on, hopefully when I get to cheer on the people who are going to be supporting and representing our country.”
29 comments on "Romney Demands Obama ‘Apologize’ for Bain Attacks, but Fails to Address Key Questions"
July 15, 2012 7:22am
What's the big deal about oplympic uniforms being outsourced to china. The majority of American flags and copies of the us Constitution are made there just like 99% of everything else.
July 14, 2012 7:22pm
The Mitt Man = The rise of The Nation of Elitism !!! Beware America !!!
July 14, 2012 4:42pm
Such a shame there are americans intending to vote to this Mitt guy!
He does not care for the american people, he just wants wealth and power!
Don't you see that?
He is false and a lier, the perfect puppet for the big corporations.
If this guy buyes the american presidency, it will be the disgrace of the country. All the hard work and effort Obama invested for all the past years trying to make things better for the USA and for the american people, will get wasted and lost.
Wake up in time, USA!
July 14, 2012 1:42pm
courts apologize to victims but not to felons.
July 14, 2012 1:38pm
bho attacks and the acceptance of those attacks show how little most people understand how companies can work mitt was ceo but was just ttular head just like myuncle and the farm corp all decisions are made by his sons and son in law it is called delegation
July 14, 2012 9:21pm
Someone with multple houses, multiple Caddys, car elevator, multiple overseas accounts doesn't understand me and the way I live. He should appologized for being a rich out-of-touch blow hard.
July 15, 2012 7:17am
The Mitt Man doesn't understand the majority of the people and none of the dogs. Why in the world Would he tie this Poor family dog to the roof of the car when his wife have a couple of Caddys ? He can afford to offer the dog his personal chauffered limousine. Ah what the hell Mitt, are you some kind of jerk or just plain cruel? Give the dog a break . This is dog abuse and poor Seamus should be Removed from this household immediately... Obama Care to the rescue. Dogs for Obama !
July 14, 2012 1:21pm
Hey Mitt--still waiting.
July 14, 2012 1:03pm
I guess Willard Mitt Romney is preaching to the choir when he waxes indignant and demands an apology from the President. Mitt has this arrogance about his manner, and the kind of smile you would expect from a man who tells you "you're fired, but don't feel bad, it's nothing personal." It's hard to believe that this privileged plutocrat may be our next president, but the Tea Party screamers and the evangelical airheads would vote for the anti-Christ if they could just get that black man out of the White House. I have no real confidence that Willard will be defeated. He and his secret supporters can spend untold millions on smear campaigns that, unfortunately, seem to work with the Fox News fans, who comprise a large voting bloc in this country. The sad thing about all of this is that if Romney is elected, the birthplace of democracy will stand exposed before the whole world as a nation that is controlled by the 1%. Perhaps he too can then ask, "why do they hate us?" We'll no longer be the nation of "the free and the brave," but "the bought and the sold," with a sales receipt held up high (in place of the torch of Liberty) by President Willard SmileyFace."
July 14, 2012 6:09pm
This Mitt Man , this 1% One Percenter Plutocrat, this Out of Touch, this Living In La La Land, You Lie Man and You Don't give a Damn Man !!!
What ??? An Aplogy from The President ??? He 's got to be joking, because he is the Joke that is no longer funny.. He is the shame of what America has become and the leader of the killing of our Democracy? Yes I agree, We'll no longer be the nation of "the Free and the Brave," but "the Bought and the Sold" A Nation that will collapse in ruins of corruption and greed !!!
July 14, 2012 1:13pm
Ron in NM I find your comment quite humorous! Especially the notion that if Mitt Romney wins "the United States will stand exposed before the whole world as a nation that is controlled by the 1%. " Do you think that's some sort of secret? Do you actually believe that Barack Obama is not participating in forwarding the globalist agenda of that same 1%? Are you really that naive? In case you hadn't noticed, President Obama sold us out with the TPP and is continuing the sellout of taxpayers to Wall Street via the Production Tax money going to fund wind energy systems. Follow the money on that boondoggle and you'll see it's not about the environment at all and most of our money with that ends up in the pockets of Wall Street bankers and foreign corporations. Open your eyes - twin sons of different mothers, two sides of the same coin.....This country is already lost.
July 14, 2012 12:40pm
If this guy buys the presidency the American middle class is DOOMED!
July 14, 2012 6:31pm
Yes !!! It is clear he doesn''t get it or he simply doesn't give a damn !!!
Yes!!! The American middle class is DOOMED with The Mitt Man ...
Yes !!! DOOMED to get sick with curable diseases and die without Obama Health Care... YES!!! Obama Cares and he is fighting for the Middle Class...
Wake Up America, before it's to Late ...
July 14, 2012 1:15pm
The middle class is already doomed. Have you not read that the trend toward global governance being pushed through (mainly by Dem's here but by repugnican's too) requires that the middle class of the US be destroyed? It's right there, in black and white in the UN Agenda 21 documents. I guess those behind the scenes leaders decided the middle class consumes too much so they need to be destroyed so the "too much" can be redistributed around the world. Read it. We will not have a President who will not forward that agenda.
July 14, 2012 12:33pm
Romney's reaction to this entire fiasco is along the lines of "how dare you?" a basic building block of any disinformation campaign. His sleight of hand is pretty obvious, and not at all compelling.
July 14, 2012 12:32pm
Apologize?
Obama has been far too easy on Mittens and the rest of the corporatist Republicans. Bain Capital and their ilk destroyed the middle class American worker. Bain Capital type outsourcing cost me my long term job.
Corporate raiders portray themselves to be Christian patriots. What a joke!
July 14, 2012 6:46pm
The Corporate Raiders are Devils in Disguise and the roots of most Evil leads to Money!!! Watch out for The Mitt Man !!!
July 15, 2012 5:37am
Obama should take off the mittens and hit Mitt below the belt and banks where it hurts and where it counts !!!
July 14, 2012 1:20pm
And Obama has been SO hard on Wall Street. (NOT!) The green energy movement funnels more money to Wall Street via LLC's they set up as shell's. Wind is nothing but a system for siphoning money. It will do nothing to positively impact global climate change concerns and it will do to us what it did to Spain - cause major job losses. One could say that corporate raiders portray themselves to be environmentalists who care about the planet. An even bigger joke because so many Americans believe the perception/deception campaign instead of looking to the science and the finances.
July 14, 2012 12:20pm
Here's how I see things. Willard Romney has a warped definition of the words "works", "employed", and "responsibilty for". I have heard the whine that Mittens is collecting residuals to deferred compensation. Well, every one I know in these situtations no longer are listed as "whatever their former title was" with Company XYZ. The only other person I have ever heard of getting such treatment is Darth Cheney and Haliburton.
Maybe I am just to dumb to understand the words sole shareholder (my world it means he is the only one), CEO (responsible for everything that the company does), chairman of the board (again this person is running the show), and president (at this point Bain appears to be a one man band with a few lackies, arsewipers, groupies to feed The Man's ego).
Mittens will get his apology when the lake in Hell, MI (you know the place where the trees are just the right height) freezes over, which will not happen until after the election. And then the apology will be the same as the one he gave to the fired workers from the companies that Bain shuttered as well as those they outsourced and laid off...'Nothing personal, it is just a smart and responsible business decision that had to be made'.
July 15, 2012 9:15am
The more I listen to Mitt Romney speaking, the more I read and learn about him... The more I see him flip-flop and the twisting of his head and body language , the twinge, the twitch robotic moves, the twirl and twiddle of this Mitt Man makes me wonder if he is hiding more than Banks accounts and taxs papers. Maybe he forgets to take his medication because he has a big problem with connecting with the People of America and abroad. He also has troubles connecting with his dog Seamus ( a man's best friend ).
The more we see and hear the less we know !!! Strange and unusual, it is weird or maybe is it just me being prejudice... I'm not sure and I'm uncomfortable with the idea of this man " dressing up as a fireman or police " with a veiw of the White House in his sight...We better beware America !!! Forward not Backward ..These are the signs of the times !!!
July 14, 2012 1:22pm
And when we wake up and realize, like Spain, that we will have lost 4 jobs for every 1 green energy job created and our economy has been damaged beyond recovery what will Obama say? What will Congress say? Sorry - we didn't know. The Emperor has no clothes and he's parading on both sides of the political aisle. We have the illusion of democracy, which is a far cry from having the real thing.
July 14, 2012 11:31am
Mittens is an American disgrace for even running for president.
This is the 4th time the republicans have nominated a dunce. Unfortunately, we elected one of them twice. (Actually, the Supreme Court appointed him once.)
July 14, 2012 7:11pm
Mitt the Dunce ...So true, so true, is that the best they " the GOP " got in their Party of no Pity !
July 14, 2012 1:17pm
Americans are an American disgrace. Did you ever wonder how it came to be that Hitler and Goebbels could convince the German people to go along with genocide of Catholics and Jews? Look around - we are being duped into global governance and citizens take potty pot shots at one party or the other, as if the candidates chosen for us will make a difference.
July 14, 2012 10:52am
Discrepancies and contradictions in Romney's accounts of his business experience, and attacks on those who point them out, are the dodges of a sociopath, whose disclosure we are witnessing with each passing day. Add to that his lack of empathy for fired workers and family pets, his abuse of the different and the disabled, and the picture becomes complete.
July 14, 2012 10:37am
I doubt Mitt Romney has had a worse week ever.
July 14, 2012 9:44am
If we have this guy as president, he would force all people to apologize for his abuse of power, like he is expecting apology from Mr. O. for Bain's abuses. What a brat and what nerves....
July 14, 2012 6:59pm
He is living in the Twitlight Zone, beyond and way above the elitist and he will build the rise of the Nation of Elitism .