Let’s see. You’ve got an enterprise underwater led by someone who lurches from one desperate failed ploy to another, and anxious investors beginning to realize they’re about to lose a fortune for nothing.

What would Bain Capital do? Fire everybody, including the boss, declare bankruptcy and cut the losses. But unfortunately for Republicans they’re stuck with Mitt Romney and his clueless campaign team until the bitter end. Managed bankruptcy just isn’t an option.

The odds for a Romney victory are now about as good as winning the lottery without a ticket. Why? My guess: For the same reason that most Republican primary voters didn’t want him in the first place. He is a really lousy candidate few Americans ever liked or understood – and now, after watching him bumble through a summer of mishaps, even fewer care to try.

Money got Romney this far, nothing else — because in this campaign cycle, more than ever, money ruled. Until now. Even Bain knows, in the end if the product isn’t selling, the company can’t be saved, no matter how much cash you pump down the rat hole.

 

112 Responses to No Bain Way for Romney Corp

  1. jace says:

    A week night woo hoo. Well I never! Wink

  2. jace says:

    I’ll always remember that McCain was dead in the water, and Romney still couldn’t find a way to win.

    The bane of his existence is to be naturally unlikable,
    and un-trustworthy on some visceral level that many people are at a loss to explain, but are absolutely certain that they can feel and recognize.

  3. xrepublican says:

    What kills rmoney’s campaign is that we all feel he doesn’t like us. That’s his actual likability problem. He radiates his dislike for people, Americans, us.

  4. bethyboo says:

    Oh, I don’t believe that for a minute, Jace.

    I keep hearing people say mitty is a smart guy, why wasn’t he prepared for—-. He had to know foreign policy would come up and he hasn’t done a thing to be ready for it —-.

    I agree and that’s why I have come to the conclusion that he is not a smart guy. He knows how to do one thing right, and that is to make money. He knows how to move money around to his own advantage.
    He obviously thinks that it all really is about him; his point of view is painfully paroachial. He is alone in greatness and is confused why others can’t see it. He reminds me of the Rain Man, except I mean no insult to the rain man. Mitty does only one thing well, and he does nothing else at all, literally, except talk and show his disability. He is uneducable as he has proven. He can not learn because he is plain flat really stupid. Talk about Being There!

  5. bethyboo says:

    Blonde Wino, I was just thinking today that the first protests I remember were at Nixon in South American with the people yelling
    Yanqui, Go home. I wonder if that idea hit us both at the same time.

  6. xrepublican says:

    Pat,

    Goddard may see a way, I don’t. $he ha$ rai$ed Z!LL!ON$.

    bachmann’$ district is loaded with dingbat MULT!-M!LL!ONA!RE$ and dingbat MULT!-M!LL!ONA!RE wannabee$.

  7. xrepublican says:

    bachmann i$ a fund-rai$ing Indu$try all by her$elf.

  8. xrepublican says:

    bethyboo,

    Yup. nixon in Caracas !

    ‘Students’ : it was an omen !

    The other Latin American news was all about Eva Peron.

  9. xrepublican says:

    G’night.

  10. jace says:

    Bethyboo,

    Mitt is smart in a cold and calculating way, absent any empathy for or curiosity about the average person, especially the average have nots in this country.

    Presidents need the capacity to grow while in office, it is Mitt’s absence of curiosity that will make that growth virtually impossible.

    We suffered through eight years of a president who had no capacity for growth or maturity. George W. Bush was as clueless going out as he was coming in.

    Mitt is asking us to go through four or perhaps even eight years of the same mental and political stagnation.

    My answer is , not today, not tomorrow, not ever, the price is simply too high.

  11. Jace, Xrepub, Bethy — All insightful points you make. My take is he simply lacks imagination, the mind’s eye.

    Mark Twain: “You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”

  12. harborwoman says:

    I still say there’s a good chance he has Asperger’s to some degree…lack of social understanding of others. That said, I can really, really relate to Jace’s comment…he is untrustworthy, and I feel it in my bones. I also agree with Bethy that he isn’t nearly as smart as advertised. I think he made his bazillions because it was made easy for him. Didn’t he have a virtual guarantee that he COULD NOT fail if he tried his little Bain adventure? And he was the privileged son of a former governor, presidential candidate and auto executive….

    I’ll be so glad when this election is over, Obama has won, and I KNOW the thugs didn’t manage to steal it. Their willingness to do anything to win scares the crap out of me.

  13. sturgeone says:

    Romney has so much money he’s bought 45 minutes of fame.

  14. bethyboo says:

    Jace, That’s what I mean about doing one thing very well. He sees all other people as either competitors he can work deals with, rivals he can best, or his own employees whom he can order around,and that’s all the rest of us, the plebes. He thinks he can run the country better than anyone else because he doesn’t really see the world -- his one vision is of himself beating everyone else. I agree with Harborwoman in that he might have a touch of asperger’s because he is so one-sighted, his attention is always focused on how to beat O and show he can do it better.

    (Btw, Jace, my comment re not believing something for a minute was in reference to your statement that you never. I didn’t see foresee two other posts coming between yours and mine.)

  15. BobHiggins says:

    While I agree that Romney is an unlikeable, supercilious gasbag there is a grave danger in complacency. He remains the candidate of a nefarious and incredibly well financed criminal organization and should be taken as seriously as cyanide.

  16. Nash 2.5 says:

    The link below is to the best analysis I’ve seen on the anti-U.S. riots occuring in the Mideast.

    The author is wrong about who produced the anti-Muslim film that everyone is talking about; the flim was apparently produced by a Coptic Christian living in the USA.

    But the author’s point, that these riots are primarily political, not religious, is insightful.

    http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/inquirer/20120914_Mideast_riots_less_religious_than_political.html

  17. Blonde Wino says:

    How can we elect a President who seems more un-American than even Obama? Born on another planet. Hiding his money overseas so he doesn’t have to pay as much in taxes. And we never get to see him worship inside of his church. A very suspicious guy. By this time in the last election cycle, we had seen Reverend Wright and his ranting sermons.

    As suspected all along, is Romney really a human? They told us so in Tampa, but it didn’t stick.

    PS…great column, Craig.

  18. Nash 2.5 says:

    re: is Romney smart?

    After he graduated Harvard Business School, Romney went to work for the Boston Consulting Group. They only hire from the top 5% of HBS graduates. So yes, Romney is very smart, when it comes to finance.

    About everything else he is totally clueless. He’s ruthless, ambitious and very, very greedy. People like that are usually very narrow; they are not truly “well-educated.” If something doesn’t lead to a way to make money, they have zero interest in it. This would include international relations and foreign policy. (And art, history, philosophy, economics, sociology, literature, music, etc.)

  19. Bill Woerlee says:

    If a society lionizes those who ruin the lives of others for their own personal gain, then Romney is the clearest articulation of that social sentiment. But his inability to make any headway highlights the banality of this admiration. A person who eats too much is demonised and considered to be sick, so too a person who steals in an uncontrolled manner as is someone who makes inappropriate comments in public. These people are all recommended to have psychological counseling but no one says the same about a person who is not satisfied about sufficient wealth to live a decent lifestyle. The acquisition of wealth for the sake of acquiring it is a sickness no less in psychology as the morbidly obese over eater, or the kleptomaniac or the person who suffers from touretes. In other words, psychologically, Romney is no more than a nut case, a sociopath whose kleptomania is sanctioned by law (one law for the rich and another for the poor) while his outbursts are fawned upon by the flunkies in the GOP while he stuffs his face upon the misery of those who he bankrupted, fired or sued through Bain Capital. It might play well with other members of this small group of nutters, it doesn’t go over so well with the other 99%. Rich people only know how to make money, not to do anything else. Indeed they are psychologically incapable of doing anything else. I have seen this happen so often -- wealthy people trying to be politicians -- and falling flat on their faces followed by massive amounts of ridicule and scorn. In Australia we are blessed with a similar number of idiot billionaires who fancy that their avarice makes them the ideal spokespeople for the nation. Gina Rhinehart, inheritor of billions, believe that poor people only drink, smoke and gamble and so only deserve to earn $2 a day like they do in Africa. She cannot understand why no one takes her seriously. Or Clive Palmer, a mining billionaire, thinks he is a major political force -- well he owns the Queensland Liberal National Party -- and now that he has his puppets in power, he is showing what a real ass he is. Incidentally, the political lead that came his way is now almost dead and gone while strikes and other unrest is flowing in record numbers -- the worst industrial strife in the last 30 years -- all in the space of half a year. No different to Mitt in your wonderful land.

  20. Blonde Wino says:

    Bobhiggins…I agree and like the use of well financed criminal organization. I may borrow that!

  21. Blonde Wino says:

    Romney is a hoarder, Bill. A very hard disorder to treat.

  22. Blonde Wino says:

    Bill, where do you live in Australia?

  23. Nash 2.5 says:

    All the polls now have Romney losing, but I don’t think those polls were designed to account for the GOP’s aggressive voter suppression efforts.

    If you only polled those people who have the “proper I.D.” that will allow them to vote, I’ll bet that you’d find that Romney is actually winning in the critical swing states where voter suppression is going on.

    Romney also has a ton of money to unleash negative ads in the last few weeks of the campaign. That’s how he won all the primaries.

  24. patd says:

    there is a grave danger in complacency

    bobhiggins, well said and welcome to the trail. it doesn’t take a bain wave to know that being the underdog can motivate otherwise reluctant voters.

    eat shit mitt

    cbob, love it. best bumper sticker of the year. however, as posited above to our other bob, not a good idea to be seen as over confident. we lazy voters won’t go to all the trouble of turning out if we think we have it in the bag.

  25. Blonde Wino says:

    patd…I also like xrep’s dyslexic, Rmoney.

  26. blueINdallas says:

    Cash + Voter Supression = GOoPers in 2012 — That may be why Mitt seems to not care about what words he spews. To paraphrase Lily Tomlin’s character Earnestine: He’s Mitt Romney, he doesn’t have to care. (He thinks he is too big to fail.)

    BobHiggins is correct -- “serious as cyanide” Not a time for Team Obama to get cocky. Hold off on the endzone dance until Nov 7th, please.

    c’bob -- There’s a money-making slogan if I ever heard one!

  27. blueINdallas says:

    Hillary Clinton’s remarks on the ME have been phenominal. Missed Huntsman on MoJo today. Calmer heads, people, calmer heads.

  28. Blonde Wino says:

    we still have the debates to watch in October. I am hoping they walk on stage. We will see if that corncob has been re-inserted.

    http://http://www.2012presidentialelectionnews.com/2012-debate-schedule/2012-presidential-debate-schedule/

  29. Blonde Wino says:

    blue…I am so digging Hillary during the past few months…her new look, her hair. Really making a statement. Looking so Presidential…2016.

  30. jace says:

    As Craig so aptly pointed out some time ago, Mitt’s operation is much less a campaign, and much more a hostile takeover bid.
    He has plenty of money from the likes of the Kochs,and the Roves, and any number of willing accomplices in legislatures across the country.
    The money men will buy the airways, the legislators will suppress the vote, and if they can just manage to get a polling firm or two in their pocket and make the race look close they can probably complete the takeover.
    Besides, it really doesn’t matter who votes, what matters is who counts the votes.

  31. pogo says:

    Romney’s one of those smart guys in a book larnin’ sense. And his walkin’ around smarts are pretty good too -- but only so long as he is working with a problem with a solution that is an endpoint with endpoint moves between the first and last steps of the problem. Put people as a factor into the problem and his solutions are just so much crap.

    Presidential campaigns have all these mushy real world problems that affect and are driven by people and that are without true solutions. (Hell, look at yesterday’s thread here with respect to the powers of the pres and congress to conduct war -- and that should be a relatively easy problem to get an answer to with two or three controlling clauses in the Constitution and two acts of Congress on the subject. But 70 years later we’re still talking about it.) Social security -- easy to fix the problem until you consider all those old people (read voters here) whose lives a “simple ” solution frucks up. Foreign policy in the Middle East -- now that’s REALLY messy -- no endgame as long as Muslims are dominant socially, religiously and politically. Iran -- no endgame short of concerted international consensus or just frucking war -- against a Muslim dominated country (what ramifications could THAT have?) Problem is even with the simplest problems that the government has to address -- if you put people in the mix, there ain’t no endgame.

  32. pogo says:

    “Hillary Clinton’s remarks on the ME have been phenominal. Missed Huntsman on MoJo today. Calmer heads, people, calmer heads.”

    blue, right you are. We call those people adults. And you have to include Obama in that group -- at least compared to Rmoney. (I love this transposition of his name -- it oughta be on an O campaign bumper sticker)

  33. jace says:

    “supercilious gasbag” LOL

    Rats, Why can’t I think of things like that?

  34. nemo says:

    Faire says:

    “My whole adulthood, it feels like, the ME has been a pressure cooker. And then I think--it’s ALWAYS been that way--a crossroads for violence, military adventuring, and the worst and best of religious impulses--fanaticism rampant--”

  35. Jamie says:

    Lots of great, incisive commentary this morning. Can’t top the folks on the trail for clarity.

    BW, In case Bill doesn’t get back for a bit, he is in Canberra.

  36. Ping Pong says:

    Let’s see Craig. You’ve got an enterprise underwater (Our beloved Country) led by someone who lurches from one desperate failed ploy to another(Barack Obama), and anxious investors beginning to realize they’re about to lose a fortune for nothing (The Citizens of the USA).

    What would the American people do? Fire everybody, including the boss Barack Obama, declare bankruptcy (oppps we are already there) and cut the losses. But fortunately for Republicans

    Managed bankruptcy just isn’t an option.

    Oh and why does Barack keep claiming it was his efforts? What has really passed under his administration? Not the recovery!!! They only mis managed it to run up more debt and through us towards the cliff !

    They only thing Barack has done was pass one of the largest TAX increases to impact the middle class. Known as Obama Care…

    Good to see desperate posts showing a real concern for Mitt

  37. Billy Bova says:

    Fabulous insight from Craig with this post. Team Romney has proven that you can play the game with every variable favoring you, but without the sheer raw talent and ability that is necessary to be victorious, you still lose. I don’t think that I have ever seen a Republican campaign team at this level, or candidate, put-up a worst performance. From “wanna bet 10k”, to “etch-a-sketch”, to high school appearing press conferences mumbling about foreign policy, what a complete bunch of smucks they are, clueless smucks…

  38. jace says:

    Ping,
    Even if all you say is true, Mitt’s only solution to date is to further reduce revenues to the Government, in the form of tax cuts.

    So I guess you are implying that the best way to save a sinking ship is to drill bigger holes. Correct? Wink

  39. patd says:

    “I failed, as my daughter tells me time and time again, so I’m not in a position to offer any kind of advice,” Huntsman said, later adding: “I thought this was a perfect opportunity for the Romney campaign to step up, and begin, not through immediate criticism, but begin to articulate their vision for the Middle East, in terms of how we begin putting some of these pieces back together again. That’s what the American people want to hear. I think they’ve heard enough of the finger-pointing, the criticisms, the anger.”

    http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81210.html?hp=l7

    our next sos maybe? anyway, we need kerry to stay in the senate.

  40. patd says:

    “This was an opportunity to instruct, to elucidate, to educate, to talk about how you put the pieces back together again in North Africa and the Middle East,” he said. “Not to condemn, not to criticize, not to turn it into a political event, but to explain to the American people what we’re going to do during a time of need, during a time of crisis, during a time of uncertainty.”

    In a time where relations between the U.S. and the Arab world is strained, and questions surrounding the broader implications of the Arab Springs are prevalent, Huntsman said Romney should have explained his position on the democratic uprisings of late.

    “I don’t know what Gov. Romney is proposing at this point,” Huntsman said.

    http://nationaljournal.com/2012-presidential-campaign/huntsman-romney-s-reaction-to-arab-protests-a-problem--20120914

  41. patd says:

    Where has Romney gone for foreign policy advice? To those with whom he is most “comfortable,” New York magazine’s John Heilemann and Time magazine’s Mark Halperin were telling Scarborough — which sounded to the show’s co-host a lot like his own criticism for President Barack Obama, who came to Washington surrounded by a lot of comfortable friends who didn’t understand the ways of the capital.

    ”If you want to be comfortable, go back to Boston,” Scarborough said aloud to the non-present Romney. “That is sad, that is dangerous, that is pathetic.”

    http://go.bloomberg.com/political-capital/2012-09-14/scarborough-to-romney-comfort-go-back-to-boston/

  42. RebelliousRenee says:

    Lots of great, incisive commentary this morning. Can’t top the folks on the trail for clarity.

    Jamie… let me second that….
    and BTW… love the fact that you’ve gone back to the cow that CBob created for you.

    pogo… I particularly loved your 8:22. Ain’t it the truth that so much about our Constitution still isn’t settled law. It’s a testament to the wisdom of those that wrote it…. they obviously intended it to be a living document. And like any living thing… it and circumstances change.

  43. Katherine Graham Cracker says:

    Ping you are a victim of GOOPER propaganda and it has warped your ability to think for yourself

    You shouldn’t talk about things when you have so little understanding of the facts

  44. purple-in-tampa says:

    Within what is remaining of the Republican Party hate reigns supreme.

    What is it with the “4% of “very liberal” Ohioans?” Are they just hard core racist?

    Poll: Almost 1 in 7 Conservative Ohio Republicans Credit Romney With Killing Bin Laden
    By Jonathan Turley, September 11, 2012

    A newly released poll by Public Policy Polling (PPP) of Ohio Republican voters contains a rather surprising statistic: roughly one in seven Republicans in the state believe that Romney was responsible for killing Osama Bin Laden. It is not clear how the businessman accomplished this act (I was hoping for an article that Bain Capital simply transferred his job outside the country and downsized him out of existence). While I have been critical of the degree to which President Obama has virtually worn the corpse around his shoulders like a campaign shawl (and Biden’s equally ridiculous claims), the poll is the final showing that the EEG is flat on any brain activity in this election.

    The results of the poll probably says more about the blind rage of some voters (who are unwilling to acknowledge a single positive thing about Obama) than it does a lack of actual knowledge. However, the credit given to Romney adds a truly otherworldly aspect to the mentality of these voters.

    Here are the numbers: Of the “very” conservative voters polled, 15% credited Romney with the kill. (By the way, 4% of “very liberal” Ohioans also gave Romney the credit).

  45. pogo says:

    For the sake of argument, let’s give Ping the benefit of the doubt re: his analysis of the parallel between Craig’s view of the Rmoney campaign and his own on the state of the country. So Ping, your answer is to replace the management of the larger, infinitely more complex failed enterprise (although admittedly not all failures were its doing) with the management of the smaller, simpler one, whose management can point only to itself for its failures? Seems to me that would be like putting the captain of the Titanic over the shipping operations of Exxon. If that’s a prudent solution to the problem in your view, as I see it the rubber match happened this week, and Rmoney lost decisively.

  46. purple-in-tampa says:

    If Wall Street is against Elizabeth Warren then I am for her. I am a big fan of hers.


    Scott Brown, Wall Street’s Hope to Stop Elizabeth Warren

    By Sheelah Kolhatkar, September 13, 2012

    Scott Brown’s race against Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren to hold on to his Senate seat—formerly occupied by Ted Kennedy and narrowly won in a 2010 special election—has become one of the most closely watched congressional elections in the country, as well as the most expensive, with more than $53 million raised so far, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Much of Wall Street, in particular, is determined to see Brown reelected.

    At stake is the vote that could alter the balance of power between Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, as well as a position of symbolic importance. The race is about two very different views of America’s economic future. For the Wall Street bankers, hedge fund managers, and private equity executives from New York, Connecticut, and elsewhere who are pouring money into Brown’s campaign, it’s also about something much closer to their hearts: stopping Elizabeth Warren. The Harvard Law professor, former head of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and driving force behind the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Washington, has become the populist champion of government restraint of Wall Street. When asked why he thought Wall Street had become so active on behalf of Brown, Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank says: “Two words: Elizabeth Warren.”

    “She makes everybody feel good about financial reform because of her résumé—Harvard, former bankruptcy attorney. You think she gets Wall Street. But she’s never taken risk,” says Lawrence McDonald, a former Lehman trader and co-author of A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers, who recently hosted a Brown fundraiser on Cape Cod. “In every financial crisis, you have a pendulum that swings, and she literally is that pendulum.”

  47. Katherine Graham Cracker says:

    Pogo
    No way Ping repeats the republican lies — it is impossible to have a reasonable conversation about choices when one of the parties is just making shit up

    Cbob got it right “eat shit Mitt”

  48. Jamie says:

    RR

    Love my little Coo. Unfortunately on this site, he doesn’t wag his tail or let the fur blow in the breeze. CBob did a wonderful job with that icon.

  49. Jamie says:

    Just to have something not to serious, today is the anniversary of the death of Grace Kelly so I dedicated Five on Friday to her. Cole Porter music and you get to see the cow wag its tail.

  50. Jamie says:

    congressman Adam Smith just made the statement on Current that his shared appellation Adam Smith of Wealth of Nations would have been a progressive Democrat. Nice to know he actually read the book.

  51. Katherine Graham Cracker says:

    Senator (sic) Tooooomeeeee of Pa just went on television and lied lied lied about how ez it is to get a photo id for voting

    I hope the pa state supreme court does its job….

  52. Pink, let’s stipulate your arguments are true. If so, why is Romney losing? I think a better candidate could be winning. My post is only about what a lousy candidate and campaign the GOP is running. There are plenty of Romney voters who would agree with you, Ping, but I am seeing a pattern: they only want to talk about Obama, not their own candidate anymore. Bad sign. Winning only Obama haters, and only winning them be default, is no path to victory.

  53. Jamie says:

    Craig,

    The Romney citing of middle class income is another example of his seeming lack of curiosity about actual facts. Everything about the campaign is buzzwords and knee jerk talking points. It is possible to have an economic Conservative position, but you have to at least be aware of real numbers.

  54. mqw says:

    Who the heck is pink

  55. blueINdallas says:

    patd -- Thx for posting the Huntsman statement. Does Mitt even know what Mitt’s foreign policy is, or more likely, what it is at any given moment?

    Mitt has been rudderless during this campaign, like a cork out bobbing in the ocean, endlessly changing direction.

    His assessment of what constitutes middle-income is shockingly clueless. Another problem with his “arithmetic.”

    Oh, goody. Now Africa is in the mix. I’m sure Indonesia will not be far behind. It seems Hillary’s statement about the “great religions” of the world and tolerance have fallen on deaf ears.

    Yank our people, yank foreign aid, and increase green tech ASAP, so we can take oil out of the picture. That’s why the GOoPers love this; they wanna drill for oil here.

  56. mqw says:

    Oh ok ping ,never mind
    We are about to get a lesson about blowback in Yemen , like we needed another one ,
    this is what you get when you bomb and terrorize a population with drone attacks for years without justifying your actions

    U.S. Marines are on the ground in Yemen to deal with the aftermath of an attack on the U.S. Embassy in the capital city of Sanaa, as the Obama administration warns of sustained protests outside diplomatic posts across the Middle East and North Africa. 
    Pentagon spokesman George Little told Fox News the team is in Yemen as a “precautionary

  57. purple-in-tampa says:

    Just another example of Obama’s Administration and Holder’s selective law enforcement.

    Automatic Weapons for Fun and Profit
    By Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism, September 14, 2012 1:18 AM

    Yves here. This may seem like a “now for something completely different” post, but this story about Blackwater and a much smaller miscreant is yet another window into our American two tier justice system. Plus you will learn something about gun laws.

    By Timothy Y. Fong, an attorney in the San Francisco Bay Area who practices in the field of foreclosure defense litigation.

    One of the clearest signs that the United States has become irredeemably corrupt is the way that elite-favored entities receive light prosecution when they violate laws that would result in severe penalties for ordinary members of society. A good example of this is the treatment of a famous private military contracting firm that admitted to serious weapons violations. In comparison, a run of the mill firearms maker/dealer that committed much less serious crimes was put out of the firearms business by the government.

    On 7 August 2012, the company formerly known as Blackwater entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the US Government. Criminal prosecutors had charged Blackwater, now known as Academi, with the illegal purchase and possession of dozens of fully automatic weapons. Academi bought the weapons via subverting a local law enforcement agency. The US government is prosecuting the individual managers who conspired to obtain the weapons, but the corporate entity of Academi escaped multiple felony convictions. It did this via the deferred prosecution agreement. The deferred prosecution agreement means that Acaemi paid a fine of 7.5 million dollars and will be monitored for 36 months. However, the corporate entity of Academi also has a firearms dealer license allowing it to possess, import and manufacture fully automatic weapons as of June of 2012. I suspect that it would not have been able to keep the license if it were convicted of a felony. In contrast, Cavalary Arms, a rifle parts manufacturer, lost its corporate firearms dealer license for a much less serious crime.

  58. Jamie says:

    PIT

    You do remember Blackwater / XE is a Cheney boondoggle? The leftovers from that criminality while not being excusable are at least understandable when you consider that cleaning up the garbage is often more difficult than creating it in the first place.

    Having said that, I am not a Holder fan of any kind.

  59. patd says:

    If Wall Street is against Elizabeth Warren then I am for her. I am a big fan of hers

    .

    purple, me too. i highly recommend new yorker article

    The Professor
    Elizabeth Warren’s long journey into politics.

    by Jeffrey Toobin September 17, 2012

  60. Katherine Graham Cracker says:

    I think honest reporting would begin every story on the presidential campaigns by saying if the election were held oday —insert name of winner.

  61. Ping Pong says:

    Ah my friends it warms my heart that change is on the way with the limited arguments focused at Mitt and speaking nothing of Obama and his record of the biggest tax increase and limiting growth.

    Again what has he passed? Not the recovery -- he just messed it up. even with full control the first two years they have driven our country into bankruptcy, how fitting to have Mitt !

    The current Obama Nation is not sustainable. Not sure of his drivers but they are contra to a healthy economy. Without a vibrant economy we cannot pay the bills that the Obama Nation thrives and in time we all collapse.

    Velocity… Fundamentals of our economy are sound and must be restored! (rewind the last election -- and the proof is in with the results of the last failed administration)

    Better to have more payers (paying a little less) then fewer payers paying more. The math adds up unlike our current trends.

    So go to your economics one O one and check out Velocity impacts.
    A vote for Mitt is a vote for a job!

  62. Katherine Graham Cracker says:

    Better to have more payers (paying a little less) then fewer payers paying more. The math adds up unlike our current trends.

    How Koch Bros of you…..

  63. Katherine Graham Cracker says:

    I worry about you Ping. There is something wrong with your memory. You are supporting the same policies that got us into to this mess

    As your economic policies slunk out of office we were losing 800k job per month….and now we are adding jobs

    I guess you must be a product of a Bill Bennett-Michael Milken Charter school

  64. Oregon Democrat says:

    30 months of private sector job growth…
    Enormous stock market recovery…
    Strengthened retirement improvement…401 K, etc.
    Millions more already covered by health insurance…
    Dramatic decrease in insurance premium increases…
    Saved us from full-fledged Depression…

    These are just a few of the reasons we should re-elect President Obama!

  65. patd says:

    Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va.
    , announced on Friday that, after next week, the House won’t be returning to session until after the Nov. 6 elections.

    A planned one-week session in Washington at the start of October has been scrapped. That means when the House adjourns next Friday, the chamber will not be scheduled to cast any votes again until Nov. 13.

    http://nationaljournal.com/congress-legacy/after-next-week-house-stopping-work-until-election-20120914

    is there anyway to stop their paychecks during that time?

  66. patd says:

    more from above link

    “I want you to know the Democrats stand ready to be here for as long as it takes to pass a jobs bill, to come to agreement on a budget bill, to avoid the sequester…” — the scheduled cuts to defense and domestic spending set for Jan. 2.

    “Unfortunately, the Do Nothing Congress wants to go home,” Pelosi said.

    “Instead of leaving town for seven weeks after being gone for four or five weeks [this summer], let’s work across the aisle to restore fiscal responsibility, put people to work, and strengthen the middle class. We absolutely have to do that for the American people,” she said.

  67. Jamie says:

    the new Gallup on Congressional approval the lowest ever recorded for an election period.

  68. xrepublican says:

    I notice that ping has nothing positive to say, let alone about his feckless candidate.

  69. mqw says:

    Nancy pelosi ‘fiscal responsibility ‘
    Oh that’s a good one lol

  70. patd says:

    they just need 218 critters to make a quorum. surely, they can find that many willing to work for their pay and perks.

  71. xrepublican says:

    ping is extremely self-contradictory. First he claims that we are in bankruptcy, and then he claims the fundmentals are dandy.

    He’s just got to be Mr. Chance: “As long as the roots are sound….”

  72. mqw says:

    So the problem with Iran is there’s just too many darn Muslims there ?
    That’s another good one
    What is this a comedy show today

  73. Jamie says:

    Would someone please direct me to a conservative website where the people who comment aren’t out of their frickin’ minds? There has to be some sane conversation of principles going on somewhere above the level of “ef Obama”.

  74. mqw says:

    The fed announced QE3 yesterday which should have been a red flag , a warning that things are much worse than they appear but everyone on wall street is celebrating
    Uncle Ben to the rescue again

    Well we will see after the partying is over and the hangover sets in

  75. xrepublican says:

    “Uncle Ben to the rescue again ”

    They’re throwing rice ? A wedding on Wall Street ?

  76. xrepublican says:

    Jamie,

    Good luck finding one. On your voyage of discovery, take a bottled water, and plenty of sandwiches cuz there’s no clean water or free lunch where you are heading.

  77. mqw says:

    A little skit about QE ,
    It’s fairly accurate , only when they say printing money it’s really just entries on computers ,not physical money , the video is two years old , made during QE 1 and two , that didn’t work either

  78. xrepublican says:

    I got an email from a republican yesterday, complaining about the high interest rates under Obama.

    “All this borrowing has driven the interest rates way up….”

  79. xrepublican says:

    republicans, who can explain their many and irrational fears ?

  80. Oregon Democrat says:

    Jamie…I would be surprised if their were such a website…

  81. Jamie says:

    XR

    That is my major problem with the comments. I just want to knock heads together and ask if any of them have read a book in the last decade.

  82. xrepublican says:

    Jamie,

    I’m serious, the guy was incensed by the high interest rates that Obama inflicted on us. 3%.

    I replied with, “How did you survive reagan’s 9.5% interest?”

  83. mqw says:

    Obama doesn’t control interest rates
    The fed artificially manipulates the interest rates by expanding or contracting the money supply ,
    It sets the rates that banks charge each other

  84. Come on now, lets not pick on Ping. After all he is right.

    A vote for Mitt is a vote for a job———--In CHINA.

    Have a great day.

  85. mqw says:

    Flatus
    You have a degree in economics
    You could maybe explain this stuff in laymens terms

  86. Jamie says:

    One of my favorite sites Cracked Dot Com has some wonderful astronomy shots today.

  87. pogo says:

    so now the repugns resort to cartoons to try and describe complex monetary policy -- now is that for the benefit of their congressmen or the blockheads who think Hannity and Faux give them the news?

    The fundamentals of the economy are sound -- hmmm, where have I heard THAT before? Oh, wait, I know this -- from the past president (W) and from the last repugn candidate for president (Johnny Mc) -- just after Bear Stearns failed and just before Lehman Brothers failed and the world stood on the brink of an economic collapse. A little remedial reading might help.

  88. Jamie says:

    XR I Believe you. I’ve actually come to believe that the majority of the tea party types have a lot in common with the Middle East street people … Believe any rumor and throw rocks. Both groups are insanely dangerous and failure of the responsible conservatives to not reject our home grown version is destructive both to the Republican Party and the United States.

  89. mqw says:

    Pogo
    What was inaccurate about the cartoon skit ?
    Most politicians and 90 percent of the American public are completely clueless when it comes to monetary policy

  90. xrepublican says:

    I once knew a bargeman from Greenville. Boats are very capital intensive. This guy was always looking for capital.

    So, if the Fed doesn’t expand credit in a recessionary period, how does a bargeman get what he needs from Electric Boat ? How does a grain company pay for shipping St. Paul to New Orleans ? How does the Electric Boat get the widgets it needs to build a Pushboat ? Iow, if the Fed doesn’t expand the money supply what will MQW do to make ends meet?

  91. jaxtrader says:

    Xrep,

    Don’t know what your looking at but there is an absolute glut of credit available for anyone with even a rudimentary balance sheet.

    I’m absolutely inundated with calls for more credit. The banks and finanical companies are practically begging for anyone to take something…..anything

    This supposed expansion of credit is like pouring more water into an already overflowing pool. The fact is that people like me that could take on more debt and expand simply will not take the risk while this administration is still in Washington. It just simply isn’t worth the risk….not even at .1%….it just isn’t

    Before you get all bowed up just understand…i don’t know if Romneys administration would be any better….but I do know for sure that the one we have now is an absolute train-wreck

  92. Katherine Graham Cracker says:

    The wine industry in California is booming thanks to a change in trade laws with China

  93. xrepublican says:

    Jax,

    Thanks for the info.

    I think the train wreck occurred when the lights and gates were removed from grade crossings. I’d call it an engineered train wreck.

  94. Nash 2.5 says:

    There are two way to increase the rate of economic growth: increase government spending or decrease interest rates. Increasing govt spending is the best way, as it almost always works.

    The Fed is just trying to increase the economic growth rate. But for the Fed’s action to work, businesses have to take advantage of the low interest rates, to borrow and invest in new capital: factories, machinery, retail stores, etc. But they aren’t doing this, so the Fed’s actions aren’t working very well.

    The basic problem with our economy right now is that the GOP members in Congress are blocking any attempt to increase govt spending (stimulus). They don’t want the economy to grow and have Obama get the credit. So they are keeping the economic recovery very weak and the unemployment rate high, to score political points.

    The GOP strategy is essentially “economic treason.”

  95. mqw says:

    A trillion dollar failed stimulus Plan
    three straight years of trillion plus deficits
    16trillion in debt

    Oh if we just borrow and spend another couple trillion we don’t have
    Well it’ll work next time I’m sure

  96. xrepublican says:

    A train wreck, yes, but engineered. It’s just too bad that the engineers weren’t all strapped to the cowcatchers when the wreck occurred.

    If I were a US Rep, I’d toss a Bill of Impeachment against holder into the legislative hopper.

  97. Nash 2.5 says:

    Has anyone noticed that Chris Matthews is FED UP with the GOP these days; he hates all this extreme right-wing crap.

    To paraphrase what Victor Laszlo said to Rick, at the end of “Casablanca”…

    “Welcome back into the fight, Chris.”

  98. xrepublican says:

    MaQstreW,

    A TR!LL!ON here, a TR!LL!ON there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.

  99. mqw says:

    If someone can tell how to borrow and spend my way to prosperity I would appreciate it,
    Cause I would like to borrow and spend my way to a nice little island in the Caribbean and retire living the good life .

    Prosperity comes from saving and investment

  100. xrepublican says:

    I saw tweety chirping about rmoney’s embassy rampage the day before yesterday.

    I was shocked, shocked I tell you !

  101. xrepublican says:

    I won’t welcome tweety back to the fight. He’s been consorting with the neocons since nude grinch’s counter-revolution.

  102. xrepublican says:

    MQW,

    If I were you, I’d consult with willard about Caribbean islands. I think he and his pals own one or two that they just use for offshore deposits. He may be looking for someone to guard his mail drop.

  103. xrepublican says:

    Latest lost tax forms theory: slick willie declared 17 dependent children that Ann has never heard about.

  104. Jamie says:

    Very nice moment today as Hillary Clinton took Barack Obama’s hand following his statement about returning deceased embassy workers. It was a very definite “The adults will handle this” expression of support and strength.

  105. mqw says:

    Xrep
    I wish , lol
    Oh and if you think that I ever vote for Romney
    I guess you missed all those derogatory remarks I made about him during the primaries

  106. xrepublican says:

    MQW,

    Nossir! I understand that you are not a fan of willie’s.

    I am also less than enthusiastic about Obama.

  107. jaxtrader says:

    Nash,
    The borrow your way out of a crisis days are gone. Even convoluted govt accounting cannot hide the fact that we are almost irrevocably bankrupt. Even more seriously we are actually in a serious cash flow situation. This quantitative easing will have no impact other than to print new bills to cover cash flow deficit.

    There will be no new jobs….

    I understand that your belief system won’t allow you to see this situation for what it is. A complete govt failure to do anything substantive to correct an economic collapse. I know your fond of blaming the previous admin but this admin was hired to fix it. By any measure they have failed….

    I cannot understand the mindless, lemming like march to follow this administration over the cliff.

  108. patd says:

    mitch mc hinted as much:

    They don’t want the economy to grow and have Obama get the credit. So they are keeping the economic recovery very weak and the unemployment rate high, to score political points.

    The GOP strategy is essentially “economic treason.”

    nash, you must be channeling the minority leader.

  109. patd says:

    MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge on Friday struck down nearly all of the state law championed by Gov. Scott Walker that effectively ended collective bargaining rights for most public workers.

    http://www.windstream.net/news/read.php?rip_id=%3CDA19QDGG0%40news.ap.org%3E&ps=1018

  110. Oregon Democrat says:

    President Obama and Secretary Clinton represented America today with much dignity!