“Michael Moore propagandists” against Romney—and guess what, they’re not Democrats

Michelle Malkin is appalled at how Romney’s opponents (with the exception of Santorum [update: and also Paul, see below]) are attacking him for his record at Bain Capital. The things Gingrich said about Romney in the debate Saturday night sounded shockingly as if they were coming from a leftist.

Malkin concludes:

Mitt Romney’s chronic flip-flopping political career is teeming with reasons to oppose his nomination—from his support for racial preferences, to government funding of abortion, liberal judges, global warming enviro-nitwittery, TARP, auto bailouts, the Obama stimulus, gun control, and of course, individual health insurance mandates that presaged Obamacare.

Instead of focusing on his long political record of expedience, incompetent non-Romneys have morphed into Michael Moore propagandists—throwing not just Bain Capital under the bus, but wealth creators of all kinds who take risks in the private marketplace.

We’re screwed.

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Alexis Zarkov writes:

Romney doesn’t seem to know how to defend himself concerning his tenure at Bain Capital. He comes off looking like he’s making lame excuses for what amounts to doing his job. A private equity firm such as Bain acquires a controlling interest in some company, and then manages it to maximize the the value of the investment. Sometimes this involves firing people, or even dismembering the company because the pieces are worth more than the original intact whole. For example, when the U.S. Supreme Court decided that Standard Oil should be broken up under the Sherman Antitrust Act, it made John D. Rockefeller even richer. Evidently Romney was a good manager. As such a labor union might have wanted to hire him to work the other side—create or save jobs at the expense of the investors.

Another example: a prosecutor who becomes a defense attorney. Would a potential client reject such a lawyer because he once worked for the other side? Of course not. Romney is running for president, not sainthood. We have no reason to think that Romney enjoyed firing people, and we should look to his behavior as governor to see if he’s somehow congenitally anti-labor. All that being said, Romney does come across as a Zelig character. He seems to have no core principle, and he will be whatever you want him to be.

By the way, the U.S. government under Obama took over General Motors, and to save the company it closed down a lot of dealerships, causing people to lose their jobs. Under the Advanced Technology Manufacturing Loan Program, the Department of Energy (DOE) likes to play venture capitalist with taxpayer money, shoveling billions into electric car companies like Tesla Motors, Nissan, Fisker, and to GM under another program. The electric car is of course doomed to fail, because (among other reasons) no battery can ever replace a tank of gasoline. We know this from basic chemical thermodynamics. I hope a president Romney would not waste our money like this, but you never know.

M. Jose writes:

You say:

“Michelle Malkin is appalled at how Romney’s opponents (with the exception of Santorum) are attacking him for his record at Bain Capital.”

In all due fairness, Paul should be listed as an exception as well. Paul not only refused to attack Romney, he defended him on this issue. Whatever his weaknesses, he deserves credit for this.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at January 10, 2012 10:40 PM | Send