I liked learning about this today:
Bill Clinton predicted Thursday that President Obama will win reelection this fall “by five or six points,” but the former president’s half-full look at the general election contest was overshadowed by his somewhat unexpected praise of Mitt Romney’s “sterling business career” as chief executive of Bain Capital.
“I don’t think that we ought to get into the position where we say ‘This is bad work. This is good work,'” Clinton said of the private equity industry during an interview on CNN, later adding that Romney’s time in both the private and public sector leaves no doubt he’d be capable of performing the “essential functions of the office.”…
Good for Bill. It’s nice to see someone depart from the SOP tactic of demonizing everything about the opposition.
You don’t have to think private equity managers — or, say, community organizers — are inherently a bad thing to prefer the other candidate.
As Republicans do to the president, too many Democrats want to portray their opponent as the devil. I appreciate Bill Clinton taking the time to run against that grain.
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I don’t think Romney is at all bad. He’s definitely achieved a lot and has a lot more on the ball than W did, for sure. He’s been in a cocoon, and he seems blind to a lot of his privilege, but he’s certainly so much better than his primary opponents, save Huntsman. He won’t run the country into a ditch.
I shudder to think of whom he might appoint to the Supreme Court, but otherwise, I’m not booking my flight to Canada.
It’s nice to see someone depart from the SOP tactic of demonizing everything about the opposition.
-Brad
No, NO, NOOO a thousand time NO!!!! Seriously this is not so much a SOP tactic of demonizing everything about the opposition as it is a GOP tactic of demonizing Democrats. Go back and watch what Obama had to say about Romney’s time at Bain Capital in speeches he gave a couple of weeks back. He didn’t demonize Romney for that he simply stated that his work at Bain was not useful experience to deal with the problems of the presidency. Obama pointed out how different the two things are. And of course he’s right.
Now check out Romney’s sneaky little speech he gave in front of the abandoned Solyndra building yesterday. He stated flately that the inspector general had concluded that Obama had steered Solyndra money to family interests. That was a bald-faced lie. Add that to the palling around with Donald Trump and his birther nonsense and it’s pretty clear who the demonizers are in American politics today.
So given the track record of Democrats trying to work with Republicans on the nations important issues, Obama’s acknowledgement that Romney’s work at Bain was not a terrible thing AND President Clinton’s kind words how can any respectable journalist or blogger still, STILL claim both sides are equally culpable of being mean spirited. That contention is just plain bogus.
Maybe the ex-pres was confused. Maybe had just been watching “Mad Men,” and actually said Romney has had “a ROGER Sterling career” as a businessman…
Responses by the usual suspects and not disappointed in either. bud went on his usual rampage about anything Republican and Kathryn commented using her usual well-reasoned and thoughtful wording in her response.
One thing for sure. If you want absolute consistency in what one will say in a response to almost any topic, it exists on Bradwarthen.com.
New tagline:
“Solid. Dependable. Reliable. You get what you came for at bradwarthen.com.”
Aw, thanks, Bart!
@Kathryn – “I shudder to think of whom he might appoint to the Supreme Court”
Now you know how we feel with Obama in office. The last two appointments were apparently the best of the best from a liberal standpoint, which is truly scary.
“Now” I know how you feel? I have felt this way since at least Robert Bork, so now you all know how *I* feel.
But you probably feel better now that Obama put in Sotomayor and Kagan.
You really planning on leaving the country if things don’t go your way? I remember a bunch of Hollywood ultra-liberals who threatened to do the same, but unfortunately they never did.