Romney Campaign Event at Miami Restaurant Leaves Bad Taste (Convicted Drug Dealer's Restaurant)

[Hissyspit]

Source: Reuters

Romney campaign event at Miami restaurant leaves bad taste

By Tom Brown
MIAMI | Mon Aug 13, 2012 9:09pm EDT
(Reuters) - A campaign stop by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in Miami on Monday was held at a restaurant owned by a convicted drug trafficker.

Romney, hoping to get support from the Cuban-American community in Miami, held an event at El Palacio de los Jugos, famed for its tropical juices, fruits and Cuban-style snack food.

Court documents show restaurant owner Reinaldo Bermudez pleaded guilty in 1997 to one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. The case in federal court in Miami led to a three-year prison sentence for Bermudez.

His plea was part of a drug conspiracy case that involved 11 other suspects with aliases including "Fat Boy," "Ali Baba," "Skeletor," "Mogley" and "Buckwheat."

Bermudez's criminal past was first reported on the website of the Miami New Times newspaper. It said the charge stemmed from a conspiracy involving more than one ton of cocaine imported from Trinidad to ports in south Florida.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/14/us-usa-campaign-romney-convict-idUSBRE87D01220120814

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GD Thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021126681

[niyad]

1. you have just made my evening

[MgtPA]

2. Oh, mine too!

[cheriemedium59]

15. Me too!

Obama was in my town today so this just added it to be a very fine day indeed!

[bluestateguy]

3. I'm glad this will throw Ramney off message

but I actually think it should be legal for an adult to sell cocaine to another willing adult buyer.

[exboyfil]

51. Agree about legalization but this guy participated in

a very violent dirty business when it was illegal.

Actually I view drug pushers - even legal drug pushers - as individuals engaged in a dirty activity. I cannot see how the recreational use of cocaine can be viewed in anything but a negative light (like tobacco which I also consider a dirty business). This does not mean I want to shut them down, but I would expect full information and disclosure and no impact on other individuals (such as impaired driving).

[Stonepounder]

4. Most. Incompetent. Campaign. Ever! n/t

[wordpix]

5. "conspiracy involving more than one ton of cocaine" - OMG, this guy was no small fry

he was a big fish

[PatrynXX]

10. can't go after obama's minor use either

when Mittens is hold one with an actual distributor lol do'h..

Just waiting for him to hold a stop at a gay bar. (nothing wrong with a gay bar but the puns of Mitt showing up at one are too many to count.. especially considering Paul Ryan is pro gay.

[Athena66]

12. And he only got three years

We have others in this country serving much more time for "distributing" a hugely lesser amount of marijuana, for example.

[wordpix]

18. I noticed that. Must be a major R contributor to get off that easy

for a TON of coke????

[snooper2]

37. a ton of coke isn't that much..

you've never done a ton of coke

Back in my more wild days, we used to do a ton of coke in the bathroom at the pool hall

[tblue37]

50. As always--IOKIYAR. nt

[russspeakeasy]

6. HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

[grasswire]

7. the question: did this drug dealer donate to Romney campaign?

Has this question been asked?

[Strega Ribiera]

13. I certainly hope he did.

That would be too funny!

[myrna minx]

8. "Drug boats are people, my friends!"

[flamingdem]

43. LOL n/t

[riderinthestorm]

9. This is his base. Rmoney started Bain Capital with drug money from Central American backers

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014187901

Rmoney's completely comfortable dealing with known criminals in order to achieve his objectives, scruples be damned.


Mitt Romney Started Bain Capital With Money From Families Tied To Death Squads
Source: Huffington Post


In 1983, Bill Bain asked Mitt Romney to launch Bain Capital, a private equity offshoot of the successful consulting firm Bain & Company. After some initial reluctance, Romney agreed. The new job came with a stipulation: Romney couldn't raise money from any current clients, Bain said, because if the private equity venture failed, he didn't want it taking the consulting firm down with it.

When Romney struggled to raise funds from other traditional sources, he and his partners started thinking outside the box. Bain executive Harry Strachan suggested that Romney meet with a group of Central American oligarchs who were looking for new investment vehicles as turmoil engulfed their region.

Romney was worried that the oligarchs might be tied to "illegal drug money, right-wing death squads, or left-wing terrorism," Strachan later told a Boston Globe reporter, as quoted in the 2012 book "The Real Romney." But, pressed for capital, Romney pushed his concerns aside and flew to Miami in mid-1984 to meet with the Salvadorans at a local bank.

It was a lucrative trip. The Central Americans provided roughly $9 million -- 40 percent -- of Bain Capital's initial outside funding, the Los Angeles Times reported recently. And they became valued clients.


Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/mitt-romney-death-squads-bain_n_1710133.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

[rocktivity]

17. Well, NOW the picture makes sense...what's Spanish for

[center][/center]


rocktivity

[riderinthestorm]

19. Forget "suckers", I much prefer pendejos.... nt

[wordpix]

20. Rider, you are connecting the dots real well there. On to the FBI with you!

[flamingdem]

44. Is there a drug connection here as well?

Not that I doubt it but don't remember hearing that on the Democracy Now show

[KG]

11. situational ethics are conservative specailty

[LaydeeBug]

22. God, ain't that the truth. nt

[Justice wanted]

14. You sure this isn't the Onion...

First insults a Baker

http://www.threadneedler.com/2012/04/let-him-eat-cake-romney-insults-pittsburgh-bakery/

Then turns a Republican resteraunt owner against him

Now this...

Hey Romney maybe your campaign should stay away from food places the rest of the election.

[Wilms]

16. I think you've made a good point.

[dsteve01]

24. As if

Romney is ever there to clean up after his messes.

Morman Jesus save us from Romney's transgressions.

[Norbert]

29. Next stop Chik-Fil-A

Now that would be funny.

[kestrel91316]

21. Isn't this like the 43rd installment of Rmoney's Gaffe of the Day??

[Pharlo]

40. I think that should be "Rmoney's Gaffe du jour"

To remind everyone of his pleasant memories of his time spent in France. Slumming as only a member of the 1% can.

[agent46]

23. With all that PAC money

Do you people realize how small-time Romney's campaign is? He's running it like a gangsta video game or a YouTube video.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

25. I've seen campaigns for mayor run better.

To top it off Romney is skimming from the till and doing things on the cheap.

[Wednesdays]

48. Mayor?

I've seen a better campaign conducted by a girl I once knew who ran for junior high student council!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

49. I bet she didn't run off of a fake battleship.

[silvershadow]

26. If it's not the most incompetent campaign ever, as has been rightly mentioned, then

maybe they just don't give a damn what anyone thinks (as in the way mafia bosses would think). Hmmm, don't get me thinking that way. I'd better go with, he feels most comfortable with his base?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

52. "maybe they just don't give a damn what anyone thinks"

Oh,...they do care all right....

ALL of the photo-ops are for their target audience. FOX "News" viewers. On there, Romney is a heroic figure come to save America from the current regime that stole the last election with an army of New Black Panthers and voter fraud and has almost bankrupted America with payoffs to his base.

They're using the the same enemies the NSDAP used.

Romney has surrounded himself with true believers. They believe a majority of America supports them because FOX "News" ratings are about double MSNBC's. They will continue to try to appeal to ALL of their base right up until the Convention and others in his campaign assume they will take over from there and go all "etch-a-sketch" in the last two weeks as if nobody is watching now.

I half expect them to send Ryan to pose for a picture with the head of the Klan agreeing to accept Catholics and have it be presented as a "Camp David moment" with accompanying picture of their handshake.

[KaryninMiami]

27. Delicious. Demonstrating once again, that he and his staff are complete schumcks.

Hysterical- thanks for the laugh!

[Botany]

28. Say hello to my little friend

********

Romney will go down in flames but would it be OK if i went and did some advance
work for him now?

[HooptieWagon]

30. I have never seen such an inept campaign! What's next?

Bernie Madoff as the RNC keynote speaker?

[Historic NY]

31. Wait a convicted felon....he can't vote...

[darkangel218]

32. This thread goes well with a beer!

Too bad I'm at work and can't have any. Have one for me! Cheers!

[mia]

33. Obama look-alike and the PALACIO DE LOS JUGOS

&feature=relmfu

[MADem]

34. "Fat Boy," "Ali Baba," "Skeletor," "Mogley" and "Buckwheat."

Gee, did they sign the donation checks that way?

[JEB]

35. A ton of cocaine

is small change compared to the crimes of Bain. Both have enormous potential for destroying lives.

[Johnyawl]

36. I had to laugh at this from the article...

...The New Times report quoted Bermudez as saying the Secret Service vetted everything about him when the campaign asked to use his restaurant, one of several he owns throughout Miami-Dade County.

"They absolutely knew about my record," Bermudez told the New Times. "The Secret Service checked everything. was not a problem."


So who picked romney's SS detachment? Joe Biden? lmao

[kxm40]

38. Don't be so hard on him

Drug cartels are people too my friend

[Kablooie]

39. I like his handlers. They seem to be clueless about managing a campaign.

I'll bet there are a lot of vacuum brained tea people running things.

[davidpdx]

41. I'm using this to play word association on Facebook

We'll see if it gets any hits.

[malthaussen]

42. Why don't these people do their research?

I am aghast that a national campaign could make so many stupid mistakes. And -- check me on this -- aren't the GOP the ones who are supposed to favor "meritocracy?"

-- Mal

[qwlauren35]

45. I Have a Completely Different Take on This

And Romney could have played to it. FORMER criminals are people, too. They have the right to move on with their lives after they have done their time. People have been known to turn their lives around, given the chance. MAYBE this man has done that.

Romney could have capitalized on this. He could have showcased someone who turned his life around, and decided to make an honest living.

He missed an opportunity. Instead, it's a "leak" that everyone can laugh about. It should have been a triumph.

The number of men (especially black men) in America who have been convicted of a crime is VERY, VERY high.

Y'all need to consider this from another angle.

[Rain Mcloud]

46. You all forget......

the Iran-Contra gang was pardoned.
Dollars to Doughnuts,Fish here,somehow forgot to make a payment to those fellows in the black limousine and had to do a little time to refresh his memory. Now that is over,he couldn't be arrested in Florida.
Remember that line of coke you do at lunch,helps fights terrorism somewhere under the RADAR.
It's your patriotic Tooty.

[Dustlawyer]

47. He is a 1%er, laws do not apply if you have money to give! This is America for Pete's sake!