President Obama is continuing the drumbeat of doubt and skepticism over Mitt Romney. A new 32 sec TV Ad released Saturday is titled "Firms" as the ad rolls, Mitt Romney is singing a painful rendition of "America the beautiful" while the ad rolls a slew of jobs Romney's firm outsourced. The ad will run in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Greg Sargant from The Plum Line sums it up like this:
Putting aside the substance of the debate over the true nature of Romney’s ties to Bain during the three years after 1999, which I talked about yesterday, it’s worth taking note of what the Obama campaign is trying to accomplish here. Obama and his advisers may well be perfectly happy for Romney to keep denying any direct managerial connection with Bain during the time period in question.
By continuing to hit Romney over offshoring during that disputed period, they hope to maneuver him into the position of continuing to deny responsibility for the activities of his firm during a time in which he was listed in documents as its CEO and chairman. That’s an argument that’s very hard for Romney to win, and dovetails with the broader case the Obama team is making about Romney’s character and unwillingness to be forthright or transparent about his finances.
That’s why the new ad ties the offshoring to the Swiss bank account and the “tax havens” in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. “Doesn’t the buck stop with you?” is a far easier argument to grasp than the corporate jargon Romney has been forced to employ in rebutting it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Watch:
The Ad is a clear slap at any notion that Mitt Romney is this wizard turnaround artist, a job creator. But i also believe the Ad calls into question Mitt Romney's patriotism or commitment to investing in America. Mitt Romney loves to say President Obama takes his cues from Western Europe. Yet the Ad is saying, If Romney loves America so much...shouldn't he trust the very same financial system that made him wealthy?
On a personal note, I have to say, I've never seen Democrats so bare-knuckle and an offense like this. Are we sure Obama is a Democrat? I love it!
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Update: The Ad is now making the rounds online and on TV. The ad was part of 'Up with Chris' opening segment on Bain Capital and the state of the 2012
election.
Update x2
Huffingtonpost headline:
Obama Unloads: Brutal New Ad
The Huffingtonpost describes the ad like this: KITCHEN SINK: Outsourcing, Tax Havens, Overseas Accounts... 'Instant Classic'
TPM's David Kurtz:
Wow. Just Wow.
Update x3:
Examiner.com:
Every modern presidential campaign produces hundreds of television and web ads, but a few go down in history for their ability to resonate with the public or effectively attack the opposing candidate. In 1984 it was Ronald Reagan’s “Its Morning in America Again” ad. In 2004 it was the Swiftboat ads attacking Senator John Kerry (D-Mass). In 2012, an Obama ad called “Firms” may define Mitt Romney before the campaign really hits high gear.
The ad, seen in the video to the below, features Romney awkwardly singing “America the Beautiful” before an audience in Florida. The ad has immediately created a tremendous among of buzz on Twitter and every major media outlet is now providing its own take. The ad is set to air in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The ad will also probably be shown on the cable news outlets as various pundits give their take, which will only increase the ad’s exposure for free.
Update x4
Increasing signs of worry from Republicans
AP quoted Alabama Gov. Robert Bently-R:
"If you have things to hide, then maybe you're doing things wrong," Bentley said. "I think you ought to be willing to release everything to the American people."
The Governor attempts to reverse himself, but then says the following:
"I didn’t call on him to do that. That’s not the question that was asked," he said. "The question that was asked was do you believe that Gov. Romney should release his tax returns. I said I believe in total transparency, I believe that everyone should release their tax returns."
Bentley continued: "I release my tax returns every year and I just think that everyone should do that. You know, I did not call on him to do that. I just said that’s what I do, and I said I just might be the only public official in Alabama that does that, but I do that every year. I just think it gets an issue behind you when you go ahead and do it. I remember when President Bush did that. I would call on the president to do that also. I just think that it’s just easier to do that and get past that."
Update x5: Tonight Politico is reporting the Boston Globe has mounting evidence about Romney's recent claims he had nothing to do with the day-to-day business of Bain Capital in 1999.
The Boston Globe is not backing down.
Following Mitt Romney's television blitz on Friday, in which he dismissed the assertion that he stayed at Bain Capital past February 1999, the Globe is out with a new report pointing to more regulatory filings, reports and quotes from the candidate that suggest he was involved with the firm past that time:
more:
Of all the new evidence that has come to light in the last 48 hours, Romney's own quotes and those from a former lawyer before the Massachusetts Ballot Law Commission may prove to be the most problematic. Via the Globe:
“When I left my employer in Massachusetts in February of 1999 to accept the Olympic assignment,” Romney testified before the state Ballot Law Commission on June 17, 2002, “I left on the basis of a leave of absence, indicating that I, by virtue of that title, would return at the end of the Olympics to my employment at Bain Capital, but subsequently decided not to do so and entered into a departure agreement with my former partners.”
Romney’s lawyer at the hearing said that Romney’s work in the private sector continued unbroken while he ran the Olympics.
“He succeeded in that three-year period in restoring confidence in the Olympic Games, closing that disastrous deficit and staging one of the most successful Olympic Games ever to occur on US soil,” said Peter L. Ebb from Ropes & Gray.
“Now while all that was going on, very much in the public eye, what happened to his private and public ties to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts? And the answer is they continued unabated just as they had.”
The Romney campaign declined to comment on the record about whether the business trips and board meetings were related to Bain Capital obligations. http://www.politico.com/...
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6/15/12
Update x6:
Ryan Grim and Jason Cherkis from the Huffingtonpost:
Mitt Romney Bain Captial Document Lists Him As 'Managing Member' in 2002
WASHINGTON -- Add another document to the pile of evidence contradicting Mitt Romney's continued insistence that he ended his active role with Bain Capital in early 1999, part of his long-running effort to avoid responsibility for the company's activity, related to outsourcing and bankruptcies, during the years that followed.
A corporate document filed with the state of Massachusetts in December 2002 -- a month after Romney was elected governor -- lists him as one of two managing members of Bain Capital Investors, LLC "authorized to execute, acknowledge, deliver and record any recordable instrument purporting to affect an interest in real property, whether to be recorded with a Registry of Deeds or with a District Office of the Land Court." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
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