Is It Fair To Criticize Romney For the Economic Crimes Of Bain Capital ?

Willard Mitt Romney (aka Wall Street Willie) has been stung recently by all the revelations of the policies of Bain Capital (sending American jobs to other countries, putting companies out of business after sucking them dry of money, laying off thousands of workers, etc.). He first tried to say those things happened after he left Bain Capital, but recent revelations showed he had stayed in charge of the company for three years after he had claimed to have left -- making him responsible for all of the economic crimes committed by that company. Now he wants an apology from the president for pointing out the truth about Bain Capital and Romney.

That apology is not going to happen. And it's because it was the Romney campaign itself that chose to run on his record at Bain Capital. They had a choice -- run on his record as Massachusetts governor, or run on his record as the head of Bain Capital. They didn't want to run on his gubernatorial record, because the only accomplishment he had was instituting health care reform in that state (Romneycare) -- and his right-wing base is still angry about that. So they decided to run on his acumen as a businessman.

That was fine with the Republican establishment. They have long said the best training for a president was a successful business career. It's just a myth, of course. Running a corporation is nothing like running a government (and Romney's failure as governor should have illustrated that to anyone paying attention). Another example would be Herbert Hoover -- who was a very successful businessman and a terrible president.

Is it fair to criticize Romney for the economic crimes of Bain Capital? Absolutely. He chose to run on his business record. Now it's fair for anyone to point out just how bad that record has been for his fellow Americans.