Romney fights back against Obama campaign's slanderous non sequitur on Bain


Mitt Romney has demanded an apology from President Obama and his campaign for suggesting that Romney could be guilty of a felony for representing himself to the Securities and Exchange Commission as chairman, CEO, and sole proprietor of Bain while on leave of absence from the firm in order to run the Salt Lake City Olympics. In going on leave, Romney said, he permanently "relinquished all management authority and role in Bain Capital," while maintaining his titles and partial ownership in the firm until 2002.

Romney called the charges "reckless and absurd," as well as "deceptive and dishonest," and said that they are "beneath the dignity of (President Obama's) office."

Obama campaign official Stephanie Cutter told reporters,
Either Mitt Romney, through his own words and his own signature was misrepresenting his position at Bain to the SEC, which is a felony, or he was misrepresenting his position at Bain to the American people to avoid responsibility for some of the consequences of his investments. If that's the case, if he was lying to the American people, then that's a real character and trust issue that the American people need to take very seriously.

Cutter's statement, of course, is a non sequitur. It hardly follows that a person who holds the titles Chairman of the Board and CEO of a corporation, but is on leave of absence, either misrepresents himself by using those titles in SEC filings, or is responsible for decisions made by others during a period when he had demonstrably relinquished his authority.

Not so either the Obama TV ads or the attempt by the president's campaign to spin the matter as proof that Romney is insensitive to unemployed Americans, or even of the ridiculous suggestion that Romney could be a felon. Cutter is correct, of course, in saying that lying to the American people reveals a serious character flaw which the voters should take seriously.

The trouble is that iit's the president's recent behavior and that of his campaign, and not Gov. Romney's, which has revealed that character flaw.

Meanwhile, a new Gallup poll shows Obama and Romney tied at 46% each. Until now, the president had head a small but statistically significant lead in polls such as Gallup's- of registered, rather than likely, voters.

Rasmussen polls, which are unique among the major polls in questioning only likely voters, have shown a similar result for months.

Comments

Jeff D said…
Was Romney the chairman, CEO, and sole proprietor of Bain from 1999–2002?

It depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is.
Jeff D said…
Cutter's statement, of course, is a non sequitur. It hardly follows that a person who holds the titles Chairman of the Board and CEO of a corporation, but is on leave of absence, either misrepresents himself by using those titles in SEC filings, or is responsible for decisions made by others during a period when he had demonstrably relinquished his authority.

What if Bain published newsletters?

GOTCHA!

Come on, Mr. Waters. I think most people would say being president, CEO, and chairman of the board makes you the responsible party, even for decisions made by others. That's pretty much what being president, CEO, and chairman of the board means, is it not?

Romney wants to be chief executive of the country. What if he takes a leave of absence to go golfing? Would he be not responsible for what went on while he was putting?
Sorry! Jeff, but you "got" yourself with your usual brand of bad logic! I was just about to point out that if your statemetns about Romney are valid, you also have to admit that Ron Paul is totally responsible for the content of those newsletters.

There are two differences, though. The first is that at no point did Ron Paul take a leave of absence from being Ron Paul, and explicitly relinquish the power- and therefore theresponsibility- of being the guy in whose name those newsletters were published. Romney did both.

The second difference is that Paul has never denied writign some of the most viruluently racist articles in his newsletter himself-and has not only refused to disassociate himself from their content, but has publicly defended it in a number of widely- available interviews.

I think most people, if they knew the facts, would be able to see a rather obvious diference between reliquishing the power and therefore the responsbility for policy involved in being chairman and CEO of Bain, on one had, and Paul's simple negligence and apparent actual complicity in the matter of the newsletter.

Oh. And chairmen and CEO's of corporations do not take leaves of absence to go golfing. I think I see the problem here, though: you simply don't understand what a leave of absence is.
To expand on that, if Barack Obama goes golfing, the powers of the presidency do not devolve upon Joe Biden (thank God!), nor does he cease to have the authority given him as president by the Constitution. A better analogy would be if he declared himself incapacitated. At that point he would cease to have the powers of the presidency, and therefore the responsiblity for the way they are used by his vice-president.

No, it's not a matter of the meaning of the word "is." The whole controversy has to do with the meaning of the words "leave of absence-" words whose meaning you clearly do not understand.
Jeff D said…
I think most people, if they knew the facts, would be able to see a rather obvious diference between reliquishing the power and therefore the responsbility for policy involved in being chairman and CEO of Bain

That's what I don't get. How does a president, CEO, and chairman of the board go about "relinquishing power and therefore responsibility" and still be president, CEO, and chairman? That doesn't even make sense. Is there some kind of record for this? Can you point to who was responsible?
Jeff D said…
It hardly follows that a person who holds the titles Chairman of the Board and CEO of a corporation, but is on leave of absence, either misrepresents himself by using those titles in SEC filings, or is responsible for decisions made by others during a period when he had demonstrably relinquished his authority.

I'm pretty sure that if Romney, as sole stockholder, CEO, President, and Chairman picked up the phone and said, "don't outsource those particular jobs" Bain would not have outsourced those particular jobs. He may not have been active in the decision making, but it doesn't appear that relinquished his authority at all. From Romney's statements, it looks like he is trying to say he just wasn't involved, not that he couldn't if he wanted.
First off- my liberal, Obama-supporting friend- your second comment is so bizarre as to make me wonder why you even made it. Romney has been very clear on the point that he relinquished all authority and power inherent in his positions with Bain when he took his leave to run the Salt Lake City Olympics, and never resumed them. That is inherent in the concept of a 'leave of absence-' which, as I have observed, you clearly do not understand.

It's a practice that has been very common in the military, educational and private sectors for so many decades that i dind it odd that you're not familar with it. But you're clearly not.

When for reasons of health or otherwise a person holding a position with a company or institution or even in the military finds himself unable to fulfil his duties for a time, but contemplates coming back, he does not resign. He goes on a 'leave of absence,' which entails his keeping his title but yielding his authority- as Romney explicitly did, and has explicity pointed out that he had done- and all the powers inherent in his office until such time as the impediment is removed. In the interim, those powers and that authority adheres in an acting CEO, or Chairman, or President, or whatever.

The 25th Amendment makes explict what has always been understood the case with regard to the presidency. When President Eisenhower suffered a disabling heart attack in his second term, Vice-President Nixon served as Acting President for several months.

Now. Let me draw you a hypothetical scenario. Suppose that Abe Lincoln had suffered a stroke in 1863, and was in a coma. He was declared incapacitated by the Cabinet. Hannibal Hamlin, the Vice-President, became acting President, and promptly concluded a peace treaty with the Confederacy granting its independence.

Who would bear the responsibility of losing the Civil War- Lincoln or Hamlin? Answer that question, and you've not only answered your question about who, if not Romney, was to blame for the Bain outsourcing decisions, but explicated why the Obama attacks are intellectually dishonest and deliberately deceptive.
Oh. And your assumption as to what might have happened had Romney picked up the phone and said, "Don't outsource those jobs" is probably correct,

The problem is that wnen you're on a leave of absence, the acting CEO doesn't call you and run all his decisions by you. If he did, there woould be no point in taking a leave of absencs.

Sorry, Jeff. The Obama ads are deceitful any way you want to spin it.
Jeff D said…
First off- my liberal, Obama-supporting friend...

If you are talking to me, I am most certainly am not liberal or support Obama.

It is all very untidy, that's all. Romney was the documented CEO, Chairman, and President at the time. You say that he took a leave of absence and that there were acting CEO, Chairman, and President making decisions. That is the first time I have heard that there were acting CEO, Chairman, and President. I'm not sure there were any such person or persons. It sounds like he just stopped making decisions and let the next people down on the organizational chart go about their jobs. I would feel much better if the acting CEO, Chairman, and President had a name or names.

Anyway, this scandal is small potatoes. I want to know why Willard Romney lied to the country about is first name in one of the debates. :)
Like Ron Paul, on many issues you are far more liberal than conservative. And you're certainly working hard to re-elect Obama in this threat by beating a horse that is not only dead, but completely decomposed.

We've established that you don't know what a leave of absence is. And now, this comment- one of the silliest I've ever received on this blog.

Of course therr were acting chairmen and CEO's. Did Bain just run itself? If you're not going to comment in good faith, Jeff, don't comment. You're only making a fool of yourself.

Nor did Willard (Mitt) Romney ever "lie" about his name. I will not speculate as to why you think this would be more significant than lying about Bain (were it he, rather than Obama, who is doing the lying about it). But where you're concerned, Jeff, no set of warped priorities or bizarre obsessions would surprise me.