http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57476783-503544/do-romneys-crony-capitalism-claims-hold-up/?tag=cbsnewsMainColumnArea
Are Mitt Romney's charges that President Obama engaged in "crony capitalism" fair?
Romney - who has been fighting off attacks on his tenure at Bain Capital and refusal to release more of his tax returns - went on the offensive this week against what he cast as the president's practice of using taxpayer dollars to pay off his donors.
"I am ashamed to say that we're seeing our president hand out money to the businesses of campaign contributors, when he gave money, $500 million in loans to a company called Fisker that makes high end electric cars, and they make the cars now in Finland," he said in Pennsylvania Tuesday." That is wrong and it's got to stop. That kind of crony capitalism does not create jobs and it does not create jobs here."
Without some sort of smoking gun, however, it's impossible to draw definitive connections between donations and government action. Politicians can always say that they and their donors share a common philosophy. In this case, the Obama administration can say that the loans were approved properly - not because the companies involved were tied to Obama donors. Whether you believe that is likely tied to how you already feel about the administration.
Romney was asked by CBS affiliate KDKA this week if he had given any tax breaks to donors while governor. He responded that there was "one circumstance where one individual was looking for help from my administration and he had been a contributor to my campaign and we set up a very elaborate process to make sure neither I nor members of my staff were involved in the decision making."
The Romney campaign did not respond to two emails asking what Romney was specifically referring to. Scott Helman, the Boston Globe reporter who co-authored the book "The Real Romney," told CBS News that Romney's record is generally better than most politicians; he said in an email that the former governor "took admirable steps to sidestep the traditional practice of patronage and hackery."
Where does that leave us? With lots of unanswered questions. But we can say this: Without more evidence, it's unlikely that Romney's charges that Mr. Obama has engaged in cronyism that goes beyond business of usual are unlikely to stick.
has Romney pulled the trigger before loading the gun? just like all the rest of the desperate rhetoric, it got out the base seized it and ran like a dog with the Thanksgiving turkey in mouth across the street. with no proof he can run this alleging till Nov.
if Romney is as respectible and great as his wife is expected to say so she can entertain from the Big House, why does he continue to ignore his Mormon tenet against lying, could it be he need to loosen the binds to gain favor with the right wing evangelicals, or is he just a "MINO"?…
