Romney says he likes 'being able to fire people'

[onehandle]

Mitt Romney is giving his GOP presidential rivals plenty of campaign fodder, declaring today that he likes "being able to fire people." The former Massachusetts governor, who is comfortably leading in New Hampshire polls ahead of Tuesday's primary, is already under attack by Newt Gingrich and his allies for his work as a venture capitalist.

But this latest comment, made during an event in Nashua, N.H., is getting pounced on by rival Jon Huntsman and the Democratic National Committee. GOP rival Rick Perry, campaigning in South Carolina, also hit Romney today for saying over the weekend that he once feared getting a pink slip.

"It's become abundantly clear over the last couple days what differentiates Gov. Romney and me," Huntsman told a Concord, N.H., audience. "I will always put my country first. It seems Gov. Romney believes in putting politics first. Gov. Romney enjoys firing people, I enjoy creating jobs."

Romney was talking about allowing people to buy their own health insurance at a Chamber of Commerce event in Nashua, when he began to explain that insurance companies would have an incentive to making sure people are healthy and happy with their service. "It also means that if you don't like what they do, you can fire them," Romney said. "I like being able to fire people who provide services to me. If someone doesn't give me the good service ... I'm going to go get someone else to provide that service to me."

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2012/01/mitt-romney-fire-people-jon-huntsman-rick-perry-/1?csp=34news

[RKP5637]

1. Romney has absolutely no idea how many people live their lives in the US and

how many struggle just to get by day-by-day. We used to call him the hatchet man, cutting jobs here and there all over the place. He didn't give a F.

[pkdu]

2. That tag-line and this pic will sink this campaign 1 month after he is nominated..

[paulkienitz]

3. to be fair, it's taken out of context...

but who wants to be fair? Certainly not the other Republicans.

[yellowcanine]

7. Every quote is out of context as people generally don't go around just speaking in quotes.....

Just sayin......

Something is not truly "out of context" unless the original meaning is misconstrued, imo. For example, if it were a quote of a quote with a rebuttal than it would have been out of context. For example, if Mitt had actually said "some people will say, 'I like being able to fire people', but I think that is exactly the wrong attitude......" Then quoting Mitt as saying "I like being able to fire people" would be quoting out of context.

Interestingly I believe Mitt actually did something like this with an Obama quote but can't remember the details.

[harun]

10. Yes it was but that doesn't stop Republican's from using it.

[WingDinger]

4. So do those you intend to disenfranchise, YOU PIECE OF SHIT.

You are allowed to prefer good service, unless you are an american citizen. Then, you are to vote for who promises coal in your stocking, or you are a communist.

[Fearless]

5. Massachusetts was equally happy to be able to fire him.

[yellowcanine]

6. So does Michelle Rhee......

“I’m going to fire somebody in a little while,” the young school superintendent declared. “Do you want to see that?”

In the world of film documentary, the word ‘see’ means ‘video tape,’ and Washington DC Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee was actually inviting us to run our cameras as she fired one of her employees.

http://takingnote.learningmatters.tv/?p=4003

Come to think of it, Michelle Rhee could be someone Mitt would hire to run the Education Dept.

The more Mittens burnishes his "tough guy" image, the more he comes across as a lightweight.

"You can polish a turd as much as you want. At best all you will have is a shiny turd."

[onehandle]

8. I've fired people.

No joy, no bragging, kept behind closed doors.

Rhee sounds like a psycho, whereas Mittens sounds like a dick.

[hedgehog]

9. What makes it odd is what he didn't say;

he didn't say " I like to be able to take my business elsewhere", he said "I like to fire people".

[progree]

11. I'm furious that the media doesn't mention that Romney's "choice" remark is very misleading

Last edited Tue Jan 10, 2012, 12:19 AM - Edit history (1)

I listened to MPR, I listened to PBS Newshour, I even listened to Ed Schultz -- they all mentioned Romney's remark that he would implement a healthcare system that gave people a choice of insurance companies, and then went on to the firestorm about the "likes to fire" comment.

NOBODY pointed out that the ACA (Obamacare) gives people the choice of insurance companies. Romney's choice of health insurers remark and the media letting that part of it slides fits right into the right-wing propaganda that Obamacare is government socialized medicine that gives you one choice - the government program or else.

(Of course its just the opposite, as anyone who favors Single Payer or, 2nd best, the Public Option knows -- we are stuck with a choice between private insurance companies now and under Obamacare).

What's worse, later on, Romney explained what he meant:

“I don’t want to live in a world where we have Obamacare telling us which insurance we have to have, which doctor we can have, which hospital we go to,” Romney said Monday at his news conference, according to The New York Times.

“I believe in the setting as I described this morning where people are able to choose their own doctor, choose their own insurance company. If they don’t like their insurance company or their provider, they can get rid of it,” Romney said.

Unless we scream at the media, they will keep passing on these assertions as truth. I just wrote to NPR, the PBS Newshour, and the Ed Schultz show.

[Islandlife]

13. It seems the media chose the more easily divisive route to create

Controversy instead of the less sensational truth.

[PavePusher]

12. There's plenty to castigate people over without having to resort to fiction developed from...

out-of-context sound bites.

Shame on all those who swallowed this story hook line and sinker, and fuck all the media who deliberetly promoted a lie.

Fuck Romney too, but certainly not for that single sound bite.