RELEASE: American Bridge Releases “Mitt’s Flips” Video Highlighting Romney’s Hypocrisy on Fannie & Freddie
Washington, DC – In advance of tonight’s Republican presidential debate, American Bridge 21st Century today released a video highlighting Mitt Romney’s bad habit of switching positions nearly every time he walks into a room. As the Boston Globe reported, despite his campaign rhetoric lambasting the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for causing the housing crisis, Romney has up to half a million dollars in a mutual fund that is heavily invested in debt notes of the two entities. The video plays off of a comment Romney made in a Florida town hall just yesterday: “I think the American people recognize that we’re in a point of crisis and they want to hear the truth. And they can tell when people are being phony, and are pandering to an audience. And you’ll see that in politics, you’re not gonna see it in my campaign.”
MSNBC's PoliticsNation On Mitt Romney's Hypocritical Investments In Fannie & Freddie
On September 20, 2011, MSNBC's PoliticsNation covered Mitt Romney's investment in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who he blamed for "inducing the home-mortgage crisis and saying they have become too unwieldy." Take a look:
Plain Dealer: Josh Mandel's family ties make for fascinating politics
Steve Koff and the Plain Dealer delves into Josh Mandel's family's political ties:
The good news for Josh Mandel's candidacy for U.S. Senate is that his relatives by marriage include wealthy and generous political donors. The bad news: Some of them are Democrats supporting Sherrod Brown, the incumbent U.S. senator whom Mandel, a Republican, hopes to beat in 2012. One relative, Ronald Ratner, even held a fundraiser at his Shaker Heights home Tuesday for the Democratic National Committee.
The Hill: Hoekstra predicts half million dollars for quarter
The Hill reports on Pete Hoekstra's fundraising problems:
Hoekstra has been known as a weak fundraiser in the past, and a half million dollar haul would help change that image. But it will be hard for him to catch up to Stabenow, who has $4 million in the bank for her reelection.
Mother Jones: Romney and Fannie and Freddie: Oh My!
"Republican presidential contender Mitt Romneylikes to slam Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-run housing giants that he claims triggered the recent housing meltdown. (They didn't.) But what Romney isn't letting on, the Boston Globe reports, is that at the same time he's ripped Fannie and Freddie, he has also raked in cash from personal investments in the two companies, which the federal government took over in September 2008. [...] A spokesman for American Bridge, the liberal opposition research group that pulled together Romney's financial records, said the candidate's Fannie and Freddie investments show that Romney's "hypocrisy knows no limits.""
Boston Globe: Romney Pummels, Profits From Fannie, Freddie
From the Boston Globe:
Read more from the Boston Globe after the jumpRomney has profited from investments that were made in both government entities, according to his personal finance disclosure forms and documents compiled by American Bridge, one of several Democratic groups in Washington formed to back the election campaigns of Obama and other Democrats.
The issue illustrates the potential perils for a candidate with vast financial holdings whose rhetoric does not necessarily match his investment interests.
“Once again, Mitt Romney has proven his hypocrisy knows no limits,” said Ty Matsdorf, spokesman for American Bridge, which was formed earlier this year and has been going through the records of President Obama’s potential opponents. “To continually attack the housing crisis, yet invest up to a half a million dollars in the major players is absolutely mind boggling. I didn’t know a person could flip flop on themselves, but Romney has proven that wrong.”
Akron Beacon Journal editorial: Mandel of mystery
The Akron Beacon Journal editorialized on Ohio Senate candidate Josh Mandel's campaign tactics:
What Democrats have been reminding Mandel is that his establishing a campaign committee in early April set the clock ticking. He had 30 days to file a personal financial disclosure report with the Federal Election Commission. Four months later, he still hasn’t complied with the requirement. What amounted to the usual short-sheeting and towel-snapping by partisan adversaries cannot be dismissed so easily as the days and weeks mount. What is Mandel thinking?
Lincoln Journal-Star: Eyes and ears tracking the candidates
They forget. No longer can a politician or officeholder say or do anything in a setting, public or private, formal or informal, large or small, without considering that he or she may be speaking to the world. Video cameras, camcorders, audio recorders, iPhones and other smartphone technology may be -- and probably will be -- there. And soon they are on YouTube or splashed across Page 1 or on the 10 o'clock news.
TPM: ‘Ponzi’ Is Back! Perry Doubles Down On Social Security Attacks In Iowa (VIDEO)
Earlier this week, it seemed Rick Perry was going to put the Ponzi scheme away forever. But have no fear, America: it’s back in Perry’s repertoire. [...] Polls show the Ponzi stuff could be hurting Perry’s perceived electability among Republicans and it seems to turn-off independents. So it might make sense if he left the rhetoric on the cutting room floor. Not happening. Here’s Perry in Iowa on Friday, both using “Ponzi Scheme” again and claiming his plan for Social Security is just part of the same discussion of entitlements started by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and his Medicare-eliminating (in favor of a vouchers) Republican budget plan. [...] Watch the video, clipped by American Bridge, the Democratic-leaning tracking outfit:
POLITICO: Romney changes tune on 'socialism'
"Mitt Romney told CNN yesterday that unlike Rick Perry, he doesn't think it's wise to decribe Barack Obama as a socialist. [...] Said Romney: "I don't use the word socialist or I haven't so far, but I do agree that the president's approach is government heavy, government intensive, and it's not working." [...] But the Democratic research and tracking group American Bridge points out that Romney's comments are not entirely consistent with his past descriptions of President Obama: In his 2010 book, "No Apology," Romney warned that Obama was moving America in the direction of European-style socialism. "It is an often-remarked-upon irony that at a time when Europe is moving away from socialism and its many failures, President Obama is moving us toward that direction," Romney wrote. Saying that Obama is a "socialist" is not exactly the same thing as saying the president is "moving us toward" socialism. But there's not a huge meaningful distinction."