"i like being able to fire people" wasn't out of context. it was a change of context.

[unblock]

an OUT OF context quote is when you say something that was MEANT to be in one context, then supply a completely different context in which the quote has a very different meaning.

for instance, "i'm gonna kill you" is an idle boast in the context of playing a video game, and it would be very silly to take it as a an actual, criminal assault because it doesn't make sense to supply a very different context outside a video game and claim the quote has any meaning there.


but what romney did was very different. HE supplied the different context. he was using the different context to make a point.

he was trying to explain about the consumer's power to choose insurance providers. evidently finding that context too limiting, confusing, uncomfortable, or unsatisfying, he looked for a different context -- the context of a powerful boss in a position to fire other people. THAT context was the one he found to be more useful for his purposes -- to explain to an ordinary person what the power of consumer choice is.

"hey, are you baffled by the idea of consumer choice? it's just like the power of employer choice, where you get to fire people at will!" so that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you get to fire some actual person with complete disregard for the impact on human life, that's the giddy feeling you should be getting when you switch insurance providers.

that's what he was saying.

it's NOT taking a quote out of context. it's HIS context. he supplied it. in fact, he went out of his way to bring it to a different context.



and THAT's why everyone's out in force saying how "out of context" it was. i've NEVER before seen an actual "out of context quote" scandal so quickly and thoroughly met with media story after media story labelling it as "out of context".

because the effort to label it as "out of context" was the media campaign to spin it that way before people could sit down and think about it.

just because they SAY it's "out of context" doesn't mean it is.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

1. Well said.

Note, you can rec your own post.

[unblock]

2. thanks. hmm, seems immodest to rec one's own post but maybe it's obligatory...

[hayrow1]

3. If the Obama campaign does not make this quote

the association everyone has when they think of Romney, there is something wrong with the Democrats.

Just remember the big lie the MSM repeated constantly about an Al Gore statement that he never made.

[unblock]

6. we'll see what they can do with it. it helps to own the microphone, of course.

this is why the m$m is everywhere reinforcing the "out of context" meme. to neturalize this damning quote.

[sarcasmo]

4. Get me my filet mignon.

[barbtries]

5. well put.

i agree. why that particular analogy.

[Quantess]

7. Oh, crikey, they're trying to say it was out of context?

Who will you believe, them or your lying ears?
I've missed the spin because I don't watch any American news, but I have seen the video clip.

[unblock]

9. Yeah, as if he meant that other context, where people don't lose a job when you say that

Or now he's trying to say it's when a corporation loses a job, not a person.

But wait! This is the same guy who said corporations are people!

[Thaddeus Kosciuszko]

8. "I like to fire people" and Bain Capital have quickly risen to the top of the charts.

I have been rather busy the past couple of days and haven't had time to catch up with the buzz, and I must say, getting to the truth regarding Romney's tenure at Bain Capital, is going to take some serious digging. I have rarely seen such a wide range of subterfuge--he is either the savoir that God has given us, or the most clever looter in the history of the world.

Now, I am not a Romney defender or supporter, but the "I like to fire people," anecdote is an easy pin.

"I want individuals to have their own insurance. That means the insurance company will have an incentive to keep you healthy. It also means if you don’t like what they do, you can fire them. I like being able to fire people who provide services to me. You know, if someone doesn’t give me a good service that I need, I want to say I’m going to go get someone else to provide that service to me."

The Truth-O-Meter rated Jon Huntsman's statement:

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/jan/11/jon-huntsman/jon-huntsman-accuses-mitt-romney-enjoying-firing-p/

[unblock]

11. Note that this IS the context in which rmoney fires people!

What he did at Bain was to find a company and get fire the service providers that weren't doing what he wanted.

That meant that tons of actual people lost their jobs, but for r-money, it was just him making a cold consumer choice as a businessman.

The entire episode shows he never considers the human side of the equation, he doesn't care about the people he fires.
They don't enter into the equation.

[phleshdef]

10. The point being missed in all this is Romney was outright lying about the HCR bill at the time.

I've yet to see any talking heads bring this up, but its an important point. Theres nothing in the HCR bill that keeps you from changing health insurance companies whenever the hell you feel like it.

[anAustralianobserver]

12. Good points!

Another way of putting the subtext - "Most of you will never get to fire a shit employee like people of my class get to. But it's a bit like cancelling a crap insurance policy. Obama wants to take away even that little fantasy from you, and you know, death panels and stuff like that."

[provis99]

13. no, it was indeed taken out of context.

in the entire quotation, he was obviously talking about the ability to switch insurance companies when you are unsatisfied with their products or performance.

There's plenty of real stuff to criticize Romney on; doing this context-splitting shit like the Republicans do it beneath us.