The Obama campaign has released an ad attacking Romney as a job killer during his time at the private equity firm Bain Capital. The pro-Obama team at the BBC Washington bureau has already produced two online pieces promoting the ad, which it describe as follows:
The video features former workers of a steel plant that was bought and later shut down by Bain Capital, the private equity firm co-founded by Mr Romney.
Not mentioned by the BBC is the fact that Romney left Bain in 1999. GST, the steel company featured in the ad, did not close until 2001. Also not mentioned by the BBC – the current Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer at Bain, who has been at the company since 1993, is a major bundler for the Obama campaign (Breitbart has the details). The ad has even been attacked as unfair by Obama’s former car czar – again not mentioned by the BBC.
If you want to see uncritical reproduction of Obama campaign material, the BBC is the place for you. If you want to find out what’s really going on in the 2012 election look elsewhere.
As ever remarkable deceit – how can the producer/editor keep their job if the timing of Romney’s time at Bain is accurate. Have the BBC reported Tom Winsor’s potential conflict of interest re Police job outsourcing with White and Case???
Thought not..
‘Have the BBC reported Tom Winsor’s potential conflict of interest’
One is sure that if, and when they do, if narratively-inconvenient, it will be too late and tucked away.
And this whole ‘conflict of interest’ thing is interesting.
I have been following the ASA/Cranmer dust-up, and it appears the head of the ASA, Lord Smith, is not what you might say a disinterested overseer of what already seems a rather selective establishment attack.
http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.co.uk/
‘Anoneumouse said…
You do realise that the Chairman of the ASA, is Lord Smith of Finsbury. He is also the vice-president of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality.
14 May 2012 12:13
bBC’s US reporting once again the laughing stock of informed opinion. Wake up fatty Patten, on your watch. Or do you think the Chairman’s main task of each day is to eat lunch, Mr Creosote? Scant evidence of your existence otherwise. Obama’s smear-merchants, cut and paste White House press releases instead of reporting, this is a disgrace.
Good piece. It’s quite surprising how little an effort one requires to unearth the blatant bias that resides in every facet of the BBC behemoth.
Off Topic: Breaking News – Muslim from Cumbria found guilty of running brothel where underaged girls were abused. BUT WHY ISN’T THIS HEADLINE NEWS??????
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-18056504
Merlin, my dear.
Thanks ever much for your stated concern.
And yet-far be it for us here at the BBC to deny, obfuscate, lie, use smoke and mirrors or generally weasel out of any “inconvenient truths” ,unless sanctioned by Al Gore-there are material discrepancies that rightly (in our view) mean we must not conflate this case with the recent sad one in Rochdale.
1. That one was last week, and so we have drawn a line under it and moved on….it`s FOSTER CARE this week, and not our “care” homes.
2. This modest restauranteur is Bangladeshi you see… very different from Pakistani as I just KNOW you`ll agree-`t would be “racist” to say otherwise.
Piggott and Stourts have as yet found no possible connection between these two sovereign nations, and didn`t manage to hear Harrisons Concert in 71 either. So we have no possible links between these troubled young and confused entrepreneurs of colour up north.
3. And finally-his “crime” if we must call it so- was not done with fellow pilgrims in any systematic way…his restaurant was not a kebab shop, had no taxi links and his clumsy attempts at speed dating to be seen as the sad actions of a victim in need of counselling…he was a lone and isolated case.
In fact, he acted exactly white sex offenders do, so I understand from Yasmin and Polly …and therefore had fully integrated himself with the white trash community of Carlisle…as seen from here in London.
We therefore have “got it just about right.”..that white racists like those who complain at us are as unhappy with us as Choudhury and Qatada shows that this is the case.
Do call again.
Ms Beeboid.
“Not mentioned by the BBC is the fact that Romney left Bain in 1999.”
There’s “left Bain” and there’s “left Bain”, of course…
“Though Mr. Romney left Bain in early 1999, he received a share of the corporate buyout and investment profits enjoyed by partners from all Bain deals through February 2009: four global buyout funds and 18 other funds, more than twice as many over all as Mr. Romney had a share of the year he left. He was also given the right to invest his own money alongside his former partners. Because some of the funds and deals covered by Mr. Romney’s agreement will not fully wind down for several years, Mr. Romney is still entitled to a share of some of Bain’s profits.” (source)
From that same NYT article: “…my guess is, given the actual economic value of Bain Capital at the time, Mitt walked away with less than he could have…”
By giving Mr. Romney a stake in funds after his departure, Bain’s partners effectively compensated him for his founding interest in the firm without having to write him a large check or taking Bain public, which would have allowed Mr. Romney to continue holding equity in the firm or cash out by selling his shares on the public market.
Meanwhile, Bain’s current Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer is an Obama bundler.
Scott shows total financial ignorance. Pare for the course, I suppose.
There is a world of difference between Romney retaining a financial interest in a firm he largely created – and an executive decision to close the steel firm 2 years after Romney had ceased being part of the executive management.
Oh – and didn’t Obama’s “saving” of the auto industry at taxpayers’ expense involve very heavy redundancies ?
Why do you lot continue to reply to this impish, illiterate and innumerate nincompoop? As someone who works in the financial and investment sector I wouldn’t even break wind in Scott’s (aka Jim Dandy) general direction.
Why don’t you say to him “I fart in your general direction, your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries”.
Scott, can you really not see the difference between being directly involved with/responsible for something and indirectly earning money because one still hold investments in a firm which has done something that has nothing to do with one’s own actions?
If you want to condemn Romney for earning money indirectly, fine. I might even agree on some level, with qualifications, etc. But you know perfectly well (I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt) that’s not at all what the President’s ad is saying, and what the BBC is dutifully parroting.
Sounds like a canny investment if you ask me…but what you cannot deny is that Romney did not work for Bain when this steel mill was closed.
Mailman
So despite having no executive control over decisions involving his portfolio investments (post-1999) he shares responsibility for any investment/divestment the firm makes – really? Then I reckon you would agree that members of any BBC pension (for example) should be equally responsible (and personally accountable) for all investment decisions made by funds in which they are invested … yes?
Scott:
1. Scott, the New York Times is not what I would regard as a “source”. It has gone from “”All the news that’s fit to print” to “All the news that fits – they print”.
2. Merlin, the word is “fart:”. Let’s all glory in that perfect sound of rejection. And, you are right, neither would I. But it’s good to have him around. Helps us focus.
3. John, you’re right. “O” has wasted trillions and no-one can fire him…oh wait – November beckons.
Thank you
Nice one, DB. I knew the BBC would slavishly promote the latest White House talking point. Your license fee hard at work, publishing White House campaign propaganda. I eagerly await equal time for the Romney campaign ads……
The best defenders of the indefensible can do is grasp at straws they don’t understand.
Obama got credit for saving GM and Chrysler while closing over 3000 dealerships and several manufacturing plants. Not saying it wasn’t necessary but you could probably find some ex salesman who aren’t happy.
Never mind the shareholders He shafted in order to hand it over to the Unions.
Hey, Will, your opening sentence should read “while closing over 3000 dealerships RUN BY REPUBLICANS.” People have forgotten how the administration handpicked which dealerships were to be shut down. Democrat dealership were left untouched. The decision was made Chicago-style.
The Daily Caller’s Matt Lewis points out that this year The Washington Post has already twice debunked similar attempts by the Obama campaign to blame Romney for decisions taken at Bain after he left.
And Hot Air notes the hypocrisy of the Obama campaign attacking Romney over Bain when the Obama family trust invests in Northern Trust, a firm involved in similar venture capital activities.
Looks like the Romney campaign was waiting for this line of attack – it had this ad ready to go:
What are the chances of the BBC giving prime space to the promotion of that one?
Is the line now that no inefficient industry can be closed but must be subsidised for an infinite number of years to ensure no jobs are lost?
My experience in (too large to fail) industries is that the best staff leave while those who can’t find other jobs stay. The inefficient company becomes even more inefficient.
A further point – the US steel industry was going through a very hard time 2000/1 – slow demand and cheap foreign imports caused dozens of steel companies to go under during this period (The Corner has a partial list). So not only was Romney uninvolved in decisions relating to the closure of GST, the entire industry was laying off thousands of jobs anyway. If anything, this makes the success story in the above Romney ad all the more impressive. Of course the BBC won’t draw attention to any of this – Team Obama Drive-By at the Washington bureau has already moved on.
Obviously Romney is vulnerable to attacks from the Community Organiser on his business record. A man who cruised through life on every affirmative action programme going is clearly the right man to give business advice. Just look at his investment in Solyndra if you don’t believe me. Romney may have built up and run a successful business, but how many communities has he ever organised?
The BBC has now updated its main article to include a reference to Romney’s response ad (there’s a link to it on YouTube, whereas Obama’s ad can be viewed at the top of the BBC article). There’s still no mention of the fact that Romney left Bain in 1999, or to any of the other many criticisms levelled at the Obama ad.
It must be rough being a News Online Beeboid working the US beat. Always having to do corrections and updates when the story “develops” away from the White House press release or what you just read in Politico or saw retweeted by a JournoLista must be very annoying. Hardly worth that nice salary, I’d imagine.
Will PAXMAN, who fawned over CHOMSKY, report this?:-
‘The Blaze’:-
” Noam Chomsky: Sarah Palin Was Right About Obama”
(inc video clip).
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/noam-chomsky-sarah-palin-was-right-about-obama/