King of Bain: Over the Top But Possibly Lethal
King of Bain: Over the Top But Possibly Lethal
By Jackie Koszczuk
January 12, 2012 | 7:55 PM | 7 Comments
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But the most important point about Gingrich's movie is that it works. And if it is unleashed full force on South Carolina voters as promised, it has the potential to do serious damage to Romney's lead in the state's Jan. 21 primary. That's how powerful it is.
Regardless of whether the film distorts Romney's record as the chief of Bain Capital in the 1980s and 1990s, its underlying premise hits home: that a frenzy of Gordon Gekko-style corporate mergers and acquisitions at the time fueled huge profits and wealth for a relatively small number of managers and stockholders while hundreds of manufacturing jobs were wiped out. The most effective thing the King of Bain does is put a face on the victims of that sad chapter of the U.S. economy.
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Meanwhile, we see Romney getting in and out of luxury cars and airplanes, and there are multiple shots of his two multi-million-dollar summer homes. In one bit, a middle-aged Indiana woman describes losing her house after losing her job. The next image is of Romney's house on the California coast, as the woman says, "That hurt so bad, to have to leave my home because of one man who has 15 homes."
Romney as chief of Bain is described as "a privileged son of a wealthy businessman and politician. ... He had a Harvard pedigree and he was on a tear, making spectacular returns, stripping American businesses of assets, selling everything to the highest bidder and often killing jobs for big financial rewards."
Pretty harsh, too, is the film's use of some of Romney's more infamous moments on the campaign trail, interspersed with all of the sad sack stories. In one scene, we see Romney defending corporations as earning money that "ultimately goes to the people" -- as people in the crowd jeer with disbelief.
more...
http://decoded.nationaljournal.com/2012/01/the-king-of-bain-over-the-top.php