Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, NJ who on April 12th of this year, suffered smoke inhalation after running into a burning building and saving a woman's life ended his 'on a roll' momentum on Sunday morning. Booker went on Meet the Press, allegedly as a surrogate for the the President's re-election effort and managed to slam the guy he was standing in for.
It was an accident it seems. A better description would be a bit of a train wreck.
Mayor Booker equated the Obama campaign video, critical of Mitt Romney's, Bain Capital, a private equity firm, among other things, with the movement in some right-wing PACs to bring back as the New York Times headline read, 'Racial-Politics, 2012 Style'.
CATCHING UP
Later that day, the Mayor tried to clarify what he said on Meet the Press via youtube:
President Obama weighed in on the controversy during a press conference at the conclusion of the NATO sumitt in Chicago.
Obama also offered up a tutorial on the difference between being president and running a private-equity firm. When you’re president, he said, your job is not just to maximize profits. “
Your job is to figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot,” the president said.
“Your job is to think about those workers who get laid off, and how are we paying for their retraining. Your job is to think about how those communities can start creating new clusters so that they can attract new businesses.” Obama continued, “Your job as president is to think about, how do we set up an equitable tax system, so that everybody’s paying their fair share, that allows us to invest in science and technology and infrastructure, all of which will help us grow.”After Mayor Booker's words were used against him in an attack ad against the Obama campaign, with the tag line 'I stand with Cory.' really ticking Mayor Booker off, he agreed to an interview with Rachel Maddow which took place last evening.
Look at 10 of the things that were said about Mitt Romney and Bain by Republicans during their primary. Thank you so much, Think Progress! Here's a few to get you started:
Here's the Steel video from the Obama campaign that is critical of Bain, in case you missed it:
1) “The idea that you’ve got private equity companies that come in and take companies apart so they can make profits and have people lose their jobs, that’s not what the Republican Party’s about.” — Rick Perry [New York Times, 1/12/12]
2) “The Bain model is to go in at a very low price, borrow an immense amount of money, pay Bain an immense amount of money and leave. I’ll let you decide if that’s really good capitalism. I think that’s exploitation.” — Newt Gingrich [New York Times, 1/17/12]
3) “Instead of trying to work with them to try to find a way to keep the jobs and to get them back on their feet, it’s all about how much money can we make, how quick can we make it, and then get out of town and find the next carcass to feed upon” — Rick Perry [National Journal, 1/10/12] read more hereIf it was fair game then, it is certainly fair game now. I don't know enough about private equity firms to know if some serve a good purpose in the economic system or not, but if the point is to go in and dismantle companies that are struggling but viable and recoverable, just for the sake of extracting capital to serve as profits for shareholders with no regard for the workers and the communities, I'm not down with that.
Here's the Steel video from the Obama campaign that is critical of Bain, in case you missed it:
You and I are such similar creatures Vivian. We both screw people for money. --Edward Lewis, character from Pretty Woman (film)
