"The Presidential race now seems to be turning on whether or not Mitt Romney lied about his . . . .

[Stinky The Clown]

. . . . tenure at Bain Capital."

That was the headline on our local teevenooz this morning. That change in focus and implication from "The two campaigns traded jabs." may be subtle, but to my ear was significant. To be, it seems to mean the whole Bain thing has real traction as its own story.

And that puts Mitt on defense, defense, defense.

[geckosfeet]

1. Interesting. Next to nothing on local npr stations.

If it was a dem who lied on SEC filings every other story would it be about it.

It only has traction if the media cover it. And since the media are owned by RW conservobots, I suspect that they will force this to slowly lose steam.

[Spike89]

20. That's true with whisper campaigns, but not direct attacks

The media can ignore independent "sources" but they can't ignore Obama and his campaign when they make Bain and taxes a big part of their message. It is a huge advantage when you have the truth on your side--you don't need the media to make it a story, you can do it yourself.

[Deep13]

2. Take the fight to the enemy.

Good going, O. campaign.

[Quantess]

3. Well yeah. It's obvious he lied!

The question is, which part was a lie? All of it, or just part of it?

[lindysalsagal]

4. It's obvious he's a whore.

Nothing against real whores: They need to eat. Romney doesn't need the political posts he gets by flip flopping all over the place.

[Stinky The Clown]

14. We agree on that. My point in making this post is that the media is asking the same questions.

They're not framing in some kind of equivalency. They're asking only one thing: Did Mittens lie?

That's a good thing.

[Quantess]

19. Oh, I know what you meant.

But sooner or later, supporters and detractors alike are going to reach the same conclusion, whether they want to admit it or not. He's an obvious fucking liar pants on fire.

[sofa king]

5. I think this is a big, big problem for Romney.

Just keep reminding yourselves that this massive reverse could have been easily avoided at any point in time after Romney decided to run for President... in 2007.

Instead, he's voluntarily taking the hit, in the middle of a Presidential campaign. In even more brusque terms, but less accurate, Romney is willing to lose this election rather than face the consequences of full disclosure.

You know what I think is about the only thing more valuable to Mitt Romney than being President? The virginity of his tailpipe. I think there are criminal charges lurking in the details Romney doesn't want us to see, something big.

If the cover-up threatens to lose an election, think of how big the crime must have been.

[HereSince1628]

6. Surviving the first week-end is a key feature of a story that won't go away.

I saw a Yahoo Newz headline this morning about Romney having the summer he didn't want. I didn't read the story, just assumed it was about Romney having a bainful headache.

[cleduc]

7. The Secret Behind Romney’s Magical IRA

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-15/the-secret-behind-romney-s-magical-ira.html

The most mysterious of the unexplained mysteries about Mitt Romney’s considerable wealth is how he was able to amass between $21 million and $102 million in his individual retirement account during the 15 years he was at Bain Capital LLC.

How did he do it, given the relatively small amounts that the law permits to be contributed to such a plan on an annual basis? Romney has not explained this conundrum, and seeing as he wants to become president, he would be wise to start talking -- if for no other reason than there might be many Americans who would like to emulate what he did

There's much more in the article. This probably belongs in Breaking News but I'm too new here to start a thread.

This is a good story as well by Bloomberg

Romney’s Bain Yielded Private Gains, Socialized Losses
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-15/romney-s-bain-yielded-private-gains-socialized-losses.html

[barbtries]

9. welcome to du

[Swede Atlanta]

8. I don't necessarily agree with the headlines.....

The very hard right will support RMoney even if it was proven beyond a reasonable doubt he sold his mother into slavery to the Grand PooBa in Iran. They luv them sum guns, Jeebus and hate them gay folks and anyone who ain't white. They give RMoney a pass on whether he really believes in Jeebus or not.

Progressives and liberals were not likely to support Mittens to begin with. So no real impact there other than this might energize that base even more.

It will be the Independents that will decide. I think if Obama can hit hard on the full spectrum of differences between the candidates, talk about the opportunity gap, and undermine RMoney's "business experience" claim by raising the issue of truth in his public statements and SEC filings and against that how Bain off shored jobs rather than creating them, this will be compelling to them.

[Spazito]

17. Independents are definitely the 'target' group...

for both campaigns, imo.. It is interesting, though, the Romney campaign seems to feel they also need to 'shore up' their base --- racist, religious extremists, etc. so they are having to split their focus more than the Obama campaign leaving the Obama campaign much freer to concentrate on defining Romney through Bain, offshore accounts, shipping jobs to India and China, etc.

[groundloop]

10. HOWEVER, most people need to be told why this is important - JOB OUTSOURCING

All the talk the past few days has been about whether or not Rmoney lied about when he ran Bain. I think it's great that the media is focusing on Rmoney's lies, truth stretching, flip flopping, or whatever else you want to call it. HOWEVER, the real story here that most media is forgetting to tell is that from 1999 to 2002 (the period of time that Rmoney is trying to claim he had nothing to do with them) HIS company became a leader in outsourcing and exported a significant number of jobs overseas. Since he chose to focus his campaign not on his experience as Governor of Massachusetts, but rather on his business experience and the jobs he supposedly "created", it's extremely significant that HIS company was a leader in killing American jobs and shipping them overseas. And of course let us not forget the companies that Bain forced into bankruptcy solely to create wealth for Rmoney and his partners.

[Stinky The Clown]

15. That was the subheadline

The story was the same - outsourcing.

[Javaman]

11. lost mitten's is effectively done.

we will now be treated to a long slow spiral to earth.

We are only experiencing the opening rounds. There is so much more stupidity to come.

[WinstonSmith4740]

12. There's an old legal adage...

If the law is on your side, argue the law.
If the facts are on your side, argue the facts.
If neither is on your side, pound the table.
Romney's doing LOTS of table pounding right now, and I don't see it changing anytime soon.

[reformist2]

13. It was the lead story on the Today Show...

[Stinky The Clown]

16. That's a good thing, too.

That sets the agenda for the local nooz.

[BumRushDaShow]

18. Remember when the lame stream media got worked up over "Weinergate"?

Seems Baingate should be a bit more important, with bigger stakes... but they are struggling mightily with it all of a sudden.