Oh for God's sake, it isn't a swiftboating.

[ProSense]

Oh for God's sake, it isn't a swiftboating.

by Sarge in Seattle

Romney got caught telling a lie. Period. That isn't a swiftboat job, as CNN is implying. Romney was legally and factually sole owner, President, and CEO of Bain Capital between 1999 and 2002, and was paid a salary of at least six digits (maybe more, we don't know) as compensation for his services as president and CEO. These are FACTS.

Romney's position that he had no "responsibility" for the operations of Bain while he was sole owner, president, CEO, and being paid a big salary for performing the job of president and CEO is a lie. By definition, the salaried president, CEO, and sole owner of a company is responsible for the management of that company. Whether or not we can prove he actually did anything to earn his salary is irrelevant. He owned the company and was its top executive. This isn't a "quirk" of law or a technicality. He, and he alone was entirely responsible for the management decisions made while he was owner and self appointed head of the company. There isn't any wiggle room here. None!

Keep in mind that as sole owner, Mitt Romney, and only Mitt Romney had the authority to appoint a president and CEO of the company, and set the salary. Mitt Romney picked Mitt Romney to be president and CEO, and decided that he, Mitt Romney, as president and CEO, should be paid a salary north of $100,000 per year (we don't know how far north, it could have been $20 million).

Seriously, can this be any more black and white? Mitt Romney was sole owner of Bain, selected himself as president and CEO, paid himself at least a $100,000 salary, and claims absolutely no responsibility whatsoever for what took place while he was the sole owner and salaried top executive.

And CNN paints him as a victim of "swiftboating"? Give me a break!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/13/1109788/-Oh-for-God-s-sake-it-isn-t-a-swiftboating

It's fascinating that CNN is shilling for Romney by claiming this is "swiftboating." Let's remember back to 2004 when there was real swiftboating. What did CNN do? The MSM, including CNN, became shills for the Swift Liars.

By the time the Swift Boat story had played out, CNN, chasing after ratings leader Fox News, found time to mention the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth–hereafter, Swifties–in nearly 300 separate news segments, while more than one hundred New York Times articles and columns made mention of the Swifties. And during one overheated 12-day span in late August, the Washington Post mentioned the Swifties in page-one stories on Aug. 19, 20, 21 (two separate articles), 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31. It was a media monsoon that washed away Kerry’s momentum coming out of the Democratic convention.

http://tinyurl.com/7vmyxfl (Google Books, page 177)

Nearly eight years later, CNN wants to admit that swiftboating is nasty, deceptive and destructive personal attacks by falsely equating factual reports about Romney and Bain to the despicable practice it previously perpetuated. They're chosing to defend Romney against the facts when they sided with the liars against Kerry.

Is This the Silliest Thing Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post Has Ever Written?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002942909

[ananda]

1. Absolutely not Swiftboating.

Romney is the liar.

In Swiftboating you make a lie on your part look like a truth.

[DCBob]

2. When the Rethugs did it to Kerry it was tough politics..

now when the tables are turned, its nasty, deceptive and destructive. Sickening.

[uponit7771]

3. WOW!! The CNN and NYT numbers on swift boat stories is stunning!! More proof the M$M works for GOP

[Arkansas Granny]

6. That really puts it in your face.

[Honeycombe8]

20. Yeah. Wow. That really brings it home. nt

[n2doc]

4. As Krugman says, it is all about setting the narrative

...So running on the real policy issues by itself isn’t going to work. By all means, run on the real issues — but do so by creating a narrative, a pattern that registers with the public.

And Romney’s biography offers a golden opportunity to do just that. His policy proposals amount to a radical redistribution of income away from the middle class to the very rich; he’s also being highly dishonest about budgets and just about everything else. How to make those true facts credible? By associating them with his business career, which involved a lot of profiting by laying off workers and/or taking away their benefits; his personal finances, which involved so much tax avoidance that he’s afraid to let us see his returns before 2010; his shiftiness over when exactly he left Bain.

You could criticize the biographical focus if it were being used to convey a false impression of where Romney stands, but that’s not what’s going on here; instead, it’s being used to get the truth about the candidate past the noise and the media barrier. The truth is that the Obama campaign would be doing the American people a disservice if it didn’t make the most of Bain.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/14/no-bain-no-gain/

[nenagh]

5. Swiftboating...

Is surely badge of honor for Republicans... Shows you're tough..

[BeyondGeography]

7. The good news is the MSM is having a conversation with itself about this

Do you think voters are say, hey, these are the same swifboat-style tactics that were used onKerry?

Plus, did the Democratic Party raise any questions about Kerry's war record during the 2004 primaries the way that Gingrich and Perry went after Bain? Did the DNC say the Swifboat "questions" were fair game as Sessions, Steele and Barbour just did with Romney's tax returns?

So many reasons why this is a false equivalency. We need some surrogate coordination to point out why.

[bluerum]

8. Hmmm. It is happening. The conserobot apologists are starting to

come out of their dark dank hiding places. They will twist and contort into impossible positions trying to protect the romney liar.

It will be a good show. Please tune in.

[Baitball Blogger]

9. So the "left" uses Swiftboating as a negative mudslinging term,

But Fox news defends it as an honorable outing?

Swiftboating may be the first word in the English language that is overtly defined differently between the right and the left.

[treestar]

10. The Republicans don't get to complain about that in any event

They invented it.

[tanyev]

29. And defended it.

[KurtNYC]

11. CNN was the biggest stage for the Swift Boaters so when they say "Swiftboating"

are they including themselves as they should?

Swiftboating (verb) origin: America, 2004. 1. An untrue character assassination conducted by PAC supported mouthpieces who use scripted word parsing to create a false impression which is widely publicized by cable news before being totally discredited.

[Fumesucker]

12. So what if it is or was swiftboating?

I don't see the problem, the Republicans gloated over doing it to Kerry.

Is this yet another in an infinite series of IOKIYAR?

Sauce for the goose and all that..

[liberal N proud]

13. Exactly

[randome]

14. Right on!

[lunatica]

15. Funny how swiftboating used to be perfectly legitimate but now it isn't

When the MSM spoke of it before they claimed and inferred that it was based on facts. So now they're claiming it wasn't? Wait! What? Oh WTF!

They're just like Romney when he said, "I don't remember ever cutting the student's hair, but I didn't do it because I thought he was gay!"

It defies reason.

[TNLib]

16. It's not even close to swift boating. That being said, what a bunch of bed wetters!

nt

[edhopper]

17. And when it was actually happening to Kerry

the MSM would not call it what it was.
Now they are using that to lie about Romney.

[Coyotl]

18. When you run your own flag ship into an iceberg, it is called a Titanic disaster, not swiftboating

And rearranging the deck chairs while the M$M band plays on does not deter the inevitable

[Sedona]

21. DUZY NOMINATION!

[ProSense]

22. Brilliant!

[hifiguy]

24. BA-ZING!!! NT

[sulphurdunn]

19. CNN is a shill

for corporate interests, and Mitt is the corporate man this time around. I think most of us have trouble consciously accepting the fact that corporate media is a perception management (propaganda) tool of those interests because we want to believe in an independent press.

[RedStateLiberal]

39. So true! Plus they need this to be a close race for ratings. (nt)

[INdemo]

23. CNN ran free ads constantly about the"swiftboat" lies about John Kerry and now they disapporve of

the Obama campaign of telling the truth..Give me a break Blitzer you right wing hack

[fob]

25. More like being WaterBained, keep pouring the truth

over his face Dems. Remember it's not "torture" it's just "harsh interrogation"! And it's only 'harsh' because the truth hurts.

[Bluerthanblue]

26. since when does being wounded in service to your country

equal making as much money for yourself as humanly possible?

There is no comparison. They don't give purple hearts for CEO's- get over yourself Mitt.

[april]

27. It is called " Watch how Mitt lies "

[progressivebydesign]

28. It ain't swifboating if it's true. We can't expect "journalists" who make millions, to be decent.

they have a vested interest, because they're not different than the people that go to Romney's pary in the Hamptons.

The "journalists" on TV now are no more principaled or important than the cast of the new Dallas. They are entertainers trying to sell ads. They are the people Romney represents.. do we really expect CNN to be a real news source anymore after they specifically asked how they could be more like Fox "news" and be the #1 source for right wing misinformation.

And NYT??? God.. I remember when I actually RESPECTED them!

It's not a fucking swiftboat... HE LIED.. it's right there. He either lied in his campaign, or he lied on the SEC forms. They can decide.

But attacking John Kerry and belittling his Purple Heart based on rumors.. is.

[heaven05]

33. nyt

I gave up on nyt when their editorial decision was to approve GWB and Cheney's rush to war. NPR also. I agree with every thread on here especially about denigrating a persons military service,especially service that puts him or her in harms way. romoney is a dangerous liar.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

30. Prosecute him. Prosecute him now! He broke the law and prosecution will end the Swift-boat nonsense.

[gtar100]

31. You summed it up perfectly. And have exposed CNN clearly as a republican tool.

It's not swiftboating because swiftboating is smearing someone with lies to discredit their reputation. Obama is telling the truth about Rmoney.

[spanone]

32. no, criminal allegations are not swiftboating.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

34. CNN never recognized the real swiftboating as swiftboating

when a decorated war hero was being gang raped by a bunch of lying POSs. They're clowns.

[Vattel]

35. I agrre in part and disagree in part.

I don't think the mere titles of CEO, etc., imply any active involvement in the management of the company. Whther they imply some sort of responsibility is difficult to make out. However, Romney himself said that he went to board meetings and that he was very involved in business in Massachusetts after 1999. So he is caught in lies.

[ProSense]

36. What about

"I don't think the mere titles of CEO, etc., imply any active involvement in the management of the company. Whther they imply some sort of responsibility is difficult to make out. However, Romney himself said that he went to board meetings and that he was very involved in business in Massachusetts after 1999. So he is caught in lies."

..."sole owner, President, and CEO"? I mean, he's either an incompetent fool or a liar (on that we agree).

[rufus dog]

38. Look at what he specifically signed

CEO, President and MANAGING DIRECTOR

He might have a lame argument if he claimed only CEO and President, but he also claimed Managing Director.

It goes to his core, he can't use Bain to claim active residence in MA for his Governor run, then turn around and disavow it for things that happened at Bain after 1999. The title of Managing Director makes him exactly that.



[link:|

[edhopper]

37. Absolutely right

and using terms like Swiftyatching or Swissboating will only make the attacks seem illegitimate.

[D23MIURG23]

40. Its similar on a tactical level, without the blatant dishonesty and dishonor to a

decorated veteran who risked his life and was injured multiple times.

Its also worth pointing out that by making this comparison CNN is comparing Rmoney's Bain tenure to Kerry's bullet dodging in the Mekong. If anyone knows how to get a hold of them, it might be good to set them straight:

- Kerry went overseas in uniform and risked his life serving his country.

-Rmoney sent job overseas and enhanced his standard of living at the expense of his country's economic interests.


Also Rmoney was a draft dodger.