Mitt Romney’s son rallies supporters in Roanoke County
Craig Romney speaks to supporters at the GOP Victory office on Ogden Road
Mitt Romney’s youngest son Craig stopped by the Republican’s Roanoke Victory Office this afternoon as part of a three-stop swing across Virginia.
“This campaign is a family affair,” said Craig Romney during a speech to nearly 75 supporters.
Romney noted he’d passed by a Staples office supply store and said his father had moved boxes back when he first started with the chain. That kind of experience starting up a business, he said, distinguished his father from his opponent, President Barack Obama.
“You look at the contrast between someone like my dad, who knows what it takes to start a business, who knows the sacrifice that’s involved, and our current president, who says, ‘If you have a business, you didn’t build that,’” Romney said. “My dad understands that small businesses drive our economy.”
Romney said that he’s touring largely to help put a personal face on his father.
“Up to this point, in large part, he’s been defined by the opposition,” he said.
He told one story in which he and some friends draped a neighbor’s house in toilet paper. The next morning he walked out to see the previous night’s handiwork and was shocked to see the house was clean before noticing the toilet paper piled in a trash can at his own house. He realized that Mitt Romney had cleaned up the mess. Craig Romney said the story served as a powerful lesson for him — but the implication was clearly that his father can clean up messes of an economic nature, as well.
After the speech, I asked Romney about his speech in Spanish at the Republican National Convention and noted that Roanoke’s population growth over the last decade has been fueled by its Hispanic residents. What does Mitt Romney have to do to win those voters?
“I’ve had the privilege of traveling all around the country reaching out to Hispanic voters in Nevada, Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, here in Virginia, and it’s been a great experience for me,” Craig Romney said. “I hear their concerns, what they’re dealing with. And it’s interesting: The issues that are most important to the Hispanic community are the same that are most important to the rest of the country, and that’s getting the economy back on track.”
Another reporter asked about Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” video and Obama’s “redistribution” video from months and years ago. How relevant is that old footage to today’s race?
Craig Romney responded, “I think everything’s on the table in presidential politics. It’s part of the game. One of the hardest parts for me is hearing people criticize my dad, knowing what type of character he has, but it’s part of the process.”
A last note on the event, which indicates that Mitt or even Craig Romney may not be the last member of that family you’ll be hearing about. Craig Romney said his young son has been fascinated by politics. He and his wife took him on the trail during the 2008 race and judged that by age two he’d already visited 35 states. They said that one night they heard some noises from his room and looked in:
“We peek in the door,” Romney said. “We see he has all of his stuffed animals on the floor, lined up, and he’s standing on top of the bed giving a stump speech.”
– Mason Adams
September 20, 2012 - 4:21 PM
Just before he goes on to parrot the right wing meme based on a gaffe (IOW a fib!), he says “You look at the contrast between someone like my dad, who knows what it takes to start a business, who knows the sacrifice that’s involved“…well, no not exactly son, he in fact doesn’t.
“Romney “explained to Bain that he didn’t want to risk his position, earnings and reputation on an experiment. He found the offer appealing but didn’t want to make the decision in a ‘light or flippant manner.’ So Bain sweetened the pot. He guaranteed that if the experiment failed Romney would get his old job and salary back, plus any raises he would have earned during his absence. Still, Romney worried about the impact on his reputation if he proved unable to do the job. Again the pot was sweetened. Bain promised that, if necessary, he would craft a cover story saying that Romney’s return to Bain & Co. was needed because of his value as a consultant. ‘So,’ Bain explained, ‘there was no professional or financial risk.’ This time Romney said yes.”
Romney managed, in other words, that most unusual of career transitions: a move entirely without risk. And, as he tells it, he did the same thing when he left Bain Capital.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/07/17/romneys-risk-free-deal-with-bain/
Look for Craig as Bristol Palin’s partner on “Dancing With the Stars” oh, say about December.
Sandi,
You know everything you read is not true. The Washington Post is one of the most Liberal biased Newspapers in the US and the person who wrote this little blog Ezra Klein is considered the #1 most liberal biased media person in the country. All I did was goggle most liberal and conservative News media in the country and the first thing I clicked on was businessinsider.com and this below is what came up. He also works for Newsweek and the joke of a Liberal TV Network “MSNBC”. Please don’t spread your smart-A Liberal Crap around here and your insulting comments about Romney. Your the reason this country is in such poor shape because of your vote for the sad excuse of a President “Barack Hussein Obama” and his extreme socialist views.
#1 Most Liberal – ezraklein
Blogger for the Washington Post, columnist for Newsweek, and contributor to MSNBC, Ezra Klein tweeted on March 22, “Urban Institute doesn’t buy GOP claims that health-care reform is a job-killer nor Dem claims that it’s a job creator:
http://www.businessinsider.com
Wow Sandi, almost like you were there at Bain Capital when the “pot was sweetened”! Was that your idea? LOL!
Kid needs to comb his hair and put on a tie.
#3 Brian, instead of telling us how liberal the guy who wrote ths is and whining about Sandi, why don’t you lay out how he was wrong or was lying?
That’s what I thought.
And everyone believes Michelle Obama’s lies that Barry Soetoro grew up without material means when in fact he grew up in a very much middle to upper class status in both Indonesia (adopted son of an OIL MAN – holy crap) and in Hawaii (grandson of a BANKING VP – hates both now).
The lies continue about him helping the poor too. He helped slum lords in Chicago get out of huge fines for having hundreds of POOR people go without heat during the winter (Lawyer Obama got him off with a $50 fine). I feel so sorry for you koolaid drinkers – You can’t handle the truth.
You can, however, argue whether Mitt stocked shelves or not but we KNOW that he can create jobs and turn our economy back around without redistributing wealth, which by the way, if we took 100% of the 1% we wouldn’t put a dent in the $16T debt.
Never let little things like facts cloud your judgement Brian and Common $sen$e. If you had read the link, you would have seen he was quoting from the book “The Real Romney” written by Michael Kranish and Scott Helman. Ezra may work for the NYT but he is a very credible and capable journalist.
If it is not true, refute it instead of trying to insult and “kill the messenger”.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Real-Romney-Michael-Kranish/dp/0062123270
“The writers have thoroughly trawled through the would-be-president’s history. The book charts the various stages of Romney’s polymorphic life in impressive detail. . . . All this is well done. The analysis of Romney’s time at Bain is balanced and fair.” (The Economist )
“A fascinating story [that] sheds new light on an elusive subject. . . . It illustrates well how in his private life and in business, he has relied on a tight, protective circle all his life.” (The Financial Times )
“Who is the real Mitt Romney? This well-researched biography by two Boston Globe reporters offers useful clues.” (Katha Pollitt, The Guardian )
@Sandi – who ‘trawled’ through Barry Soetoro a.k.a. Barrack Hussein Obama’s history?
As if a right winger who sources the Washington Times does not know the answer to that question! LOL, good one!
Well, let’s see what happened when Obama took risks (with the taxpayers money) His first attempt half-a-billion dollars and what did the taxpayer get for this big investment (with other people’s money)? Not a thing. But someone is getting fat off of it though:
Losses at solar power equipment maker Solyndra LLC racked up during its brief existence could translate into more than $300 million of tax breaks for private equity backers in the future, new court papers say.
One of Solyndra’s backers is a fund connected to George Kaiser, who raised money for President Barack Obama’s campaign. The connection turned Solyndra’s collapse, one of many failures that swept through the young solar power industry in recent years…
The White House has said there is no evidence the loan decision was politically motivated.
Revelations about the possible future tax breaks for Solyndra’s private equity owners came in response to demands from the U.S. Department of Energy, which is owed $528 million, for more information about Solyndra’s Chapter 11 exit plan.
We can’t afford four more years of this ineptness.
Shouldn’t that have some attribution attached Kathie? I think they call it plagiarism when you don’t.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443847404577631951045929764.html
It seems other chief executives have some experince with risky investments of tax payer money too:
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/technology/general/view/20220602mitts_big_green_flop_lowell_solar_panel_co_he_backed_goes_under/srvc=home&position=2
“A Bay State solar panel developer that landed a state loan from Mitt Romney when he was Massachusetts governor has gone belly up — a day after the GOP presidential hopeful ripped President Obama’s green-energy investments.”
Do you imagine Bush or Reagan made no “bad bets” with taxpayer money? Or does it only matter when it is a Dem? Let me guess.
Where are ya Sandi and gdad? Private equity firms are getting their money back on the Solyndra (corporate welfare) Obama flop, how is that different than the ventures at Bain (except they didn’t use taxpayer’s money)?
When you find enough to equal this, Sandi, let us all know – please!
Solar Trust of America: FAIL! – Filed Bankruptcy in Oakland, CA, April 3, 2012 – On April 2, 2012
Bright Source: FAIL! – Bright Source warned Obama’s Energy Department officials in March 2011 that delays in approving a $1.6 billion U.S. loan guarantee would embarrass the White House and force the solar-energy company to close. Lost Billions of dollars but Getting More Money To Keep Trying. Can you say, “This isnt working?”
Solyndra: FAIL! – Obama gave Solyndra $500,000,000 in taxpayer money and Solyndra shut its doors and laid off 1100 workers in August 2011 After Billions in Losses due to failure to make a solar product that works!
LSP Energy: FAIL! – LSPEnergy LP filed bankruptcy protection and a sale of its assets in Feb 2012
Energy Conversion Devices: FAIL! – On February 14, 2012 Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. and its subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy
Abound Solar: FAIL! – Abound Solar received a $400 million loan guarantee from Barack Obama announced in June, 2012 that it would file for bankruptcy
SunPower: FAIL! – SunPower stopped producing solar cells last year at near bankruptcy restructured only with help of, get this, oil giant TOTAL who owns 60% stake. Irony! Still struggling…
Beacon Power: FAIL! – Beacon Power Corp filed for bankruptcy Oct 2011 just a year after Obama approved $43 million loan Government loan guarantee
Ecotality: FAIL! – ECOtality, a San Francisco green-tech company that never earned any money on the verge of bankruptcy after receiving roughly $115 million in two loan guarantees from Obama
A123 Solar: FAIL! -A123 received $279 million from taxpayers thanks to President Obama’sDepartment of Energy loan guarantees and after Solyndra bankruptcy is getting another $500M from Obama and it has lost $400M
UniSolar: FAIL! – Uni-Solar filed for Ch 11 bankruptcy in June 20 this year laid off hundreds got more Obama money still failing but still in business
Azure Dynamics: FAIL! – Azure Dynamics files for bankruptcy in June wasting millions in Obama “Stimulus” and tax credits. Azure Dynamics LLC filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada and the US. Azure laid off 120 of its 160 employees in Oak Park; Boston; Vancouver, British Columbia; and the UK.
Evergreen Solar: FAIL! – Evergreen Solar received $527 Million in Taxpayer money from Obama filed bankruptcy
Ener1: FAIL! received more than $100 million in government funding from the Obama administration filed for bankruptcy January 2012
BTW, Romney gave Lowell Solar $1.5M – his son said he was frugal. Contrast that to Obama’s ROI on the above green risks.
Again with the plagiarism? Wow. That is pretty low. If all you can do is parrot the right wing media, you do not warrant any reply.
When an entire business has been built on fighting your lies, it might mean it is time to put down the megaphone and pay attention.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/05/25/marc-thiessen-distorts-success-rate-of-clean-en/186692
“In fact, the failure rate for federal green energy investments is far lower than that of private venture capital investments in clean energy, and the majority of the loan guarantees are low-risk.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/72733.html
“Risk from DOE guarantees less than expected”
http://about.bgov.com/2011/12/01/bgov-study-solyndra-failure-obscures-low-risk-energy-guarantees/
“BGOV Study: Solyndra Failure Obscures Low-Risk Energy Guarantees ”
Notice those links and quotation marks That is called “attribution”. It is common courtesy and expected when you cut and paste from any source.
“1 a: the act of attributing; especially : the ascribing of a work (as of literature or art) to a particular author or artist”
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/attribution
@Sandi – MediaMatters? Well, oh well… Now you are ready to delve into the George Soros level of this debate? Bring it on, girlfriend. Would be happy to go there.
Parrot the Right Wing! Parrot the Right Wing! Parrot the Wing! Plagiarism! Plagiarism! Plagiarism!
Sandi why don’t you and G-dad go back to playing cards and keep watching MSNBC or is it just about nap-time for G-dad! Hey do you hear that it’s our Country going down the drain because of this Socialist President. Kathie took you to the Shed and all you can do is recite the LIBERAL Handbook and chant “Parrot the Right Wing” and “Plagiarism” please! You have way, way ,way to much time on your hands. Read a book or take G-dad to see a movie…… All the Best! B
#19 Nice Brian, I see that you still can’t answer my question about where the lies are. Instead, you fire back some lame insults about people needing a nap or going to a movie.
It was a really simple and reasonable challenge, Brian, instead of declaring the guy liberal and Sandi lame, please explain where he lied in his comments. But I see that’s beyond your abilities.
Cue more lame insults but no answers from Brian.
Fine, let’s do that Kathie. You name me ONE benefit, ONE piece of legislation, ONE enrichment George Soros has EVER gotten from the Dems or the Progressive organizations he funds? He and other Progressive donors, literally donate against their own self-interest and financial gain.
Unlike the Coors family, the Koch brothers, Daniel S. Loeb, Steve Schwarzman, Peter G. “Pete” Peterson, Bob Diamond, John Paulson, and John Devanay, who are all not only Romney’s friends and donors, they are the same people who benefit wildly from their donations helping to win the pols and legislation from which they gain more wealth and protect their skewed tax structure. They’re also the SAME PEOPLE who helped wreck our economy and helped to create the people they and Romney disdain, as Romney did in that video: “I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives”.
So yes, you bring it on and tell me all about what Soros gives and what Soros gets for his money from those pols. You do that!
Brian, your short sighted ignorance of the facts is astounding and no doubt accounts for your “low effort” position. Kathie cannot take anyone, anywhere without the help of her right wing media liars and distortion of the facts and neither can you.
We learned in high school that plagiarism matters. It used to matter at Roanoke.com too. It shows a lazy effort and total lack of thought and ability in a blogger.
If you two want to go back to the playground and bully people, at least have the common decency to do your own work, cite your sources and make your point instead of just lobbing insults and parroting the right wing media. We could all watch FOX and read the Washington Times if we were that desperate for lies and distorted ‘facts”. It does not play here!
Sandi,
G-Dad needs some more juice and you need to get a life! You’re one person who will vote for Obama or any person the Liberals will put out there. I think Hillary Clinton would have been a much better President then Hussein. At least she has integrity and a love for this country. You and G-dad have fallen right into my trap as any brainwashed liberal would. That means go by the playbook that is right beside g-dad’s recliner next to the RC Cola and moon-pie! I just laugh hysterically when I check all these blogs and I see your sad entries. What you’re not educated enough to understand is that you can’t change my mind who I’m voting for and I won’t change your mind so go watch your reruns of Golden Girls and be happy. Any one who reads this Blue Ridge Caucus Blog has already made up their mind! Nothing I write or say will change their mind. All I know is this ,you will never get the turnout to vote for OBAMA as you did in ’08. The liberals did rise up to put the first Black/White President in office because they thought OBAMA would give them all kinds of free stuff! Fool them once shame on them, and they won’t be fooled again except you and G-dad! Sorry to burst your liberal bubble!!! Please come back in Nov. after the Election and we can talk and bring G-dad along! Holla at Yah!
Brian, I assure you I am “educated enough” to have your sad, pitiful number. What a spectacle you make. I am not trying to change your closed mind on anything, nor am I concerned about Kathie and what she thinks. I am here to refute the lies, distortions and right wing parrot talking points you try to put out. That is all. And your anger proves, I do it well.
Your hatred of Obama will just have to fester four more years.
#23 More confirmation from Brian that he can’t answer the question. All he has is insults. And now it sounds like he needs to flee. Nice.
@gdad – There were some huge lies in Michelle Obama’s speach at the DNC that Barry grew up without material means. What say you?
@Sandi – George Soros – this says it all
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYtdxpLr9Rw
Soros believes in :
Financial world order
A new world order
An orderly decline of the dollar is desirable
Need a new currency system
Money could be used to provide GLOBAL public goods
Not in US interest to have US$ as world currency
This is a healthy and painful adjustment that we need to go through
George Soros: The ‘God’ Who Carries Around Some Dangerous Demons
October 04, 2004 | Rachel Ehrenfeld and Shawn Macomber | Rachel Ehrenfeld is the author of “Funding Evil” (Bonus Books, 2003). Shawn Macomber is a staff writer at the American Spectator.
“Frankly, I don’t think I’ll need to do a lot more,” Democratic philanthropist George Soros bragged to USA Today just a few months ago. “I now take the defeat of Bush more or less for granted.”
Unfortunately for him, that defeat no longer seems so certain, so the billionaire, who had spent more than $15 million in an attempt to get John F. Kerry elected, is now trying to protect his earlier investments by throwing in an additional $3 million.
“America, under Bush, is a danger to the world,” says Soros. To save the world and prevent the reelection of George W. Bush, Soros has dedicated extraordinary amounts of time and money because defeating Bush, he says, is his “central focus.” His motto, “If I spend enough, I will make it right,” is the essence of his articulated ideas about changing society.
It seems that Soros believes he was anointed by God. “I fancied myself as some kind of god …” he once wrote. “If truth be known, I carried some rather potent messianic fantasies with me from childhood, which I felt I had to control, otherwise they might get me in trouble.”
When asked by Britain’s Independent newspaper to elaborate on that passage, Soros said, “It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out.”
Since I began to live it out. Those unfamiliar with Soros would probably dismiss the statement out of hand. But for those who have followed his career and sociopolitical endeavors, it cannot be taken quite so lightly.
Soros has proved that with the vast resources of money at his command he has the ability to make the once unthinkable acceptable. His work as a self-professed “amoral” financial speculator has left millions in poverty when their national currencies were devaluated, and he pumped so much cash into shaping former Soviet republics to his liking that he has bragged that the former Soviet empire is now the “Soros Empire.”
Now he’s turned his eye on the internal affairs of the United States. Today’s U.S., he writes in his latest book, “The Bubble of American Supremacy,” is a “threat to the world,” run by a Republican Party that is the devil child of an unholy alliance between “market fundamentalists” and “religious fundamentalists.” We have become a “supremacist” nation.
“America, under Bush, is a danger to the world,” says Soros. To save the world and prevent the reelection of George W. Bush, Soros has dedicated extraordinary amounts of time and money because defeating Bush, he says, is his “central focus.” His motto, “If I spend enough, I will make it right,” is the essence of his articulated ideas about changing society.
It seems that Soros believes he was anointed by God. “I fancied myself as some kind of god …” he once wrote. “If truth be known, I carried some rather potent messianic fantasies with me from childhood, which I felt I had to control, otherwise they might get me in trouble.”
When asked by Britain’s Independent newspaper to elaborate on that passage, Soros said, “It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out.”
Since I began to live it out. Those unfamiliar with Soros would probably dismiss the statement out of hand. But for those who have followed his career and sociopolitical endeavors, it cannot be taken quite so lightly.
Soros has proved that with the vast resources of money at his command he has the ability to make the once unthinkable acceptable. His work as a self-professed “amoral” financial speculator has left millions in poverty when their national currencies were devaluated, and he pumped so much cash into shaping former Soviet republics to his liking that he has bragged that the former Soviet empire is now the “Soros Empire.”
Now he’s turned his eye on the internal affairs of the United States. Today’s U.S., he writes in his latest book, “The Bubble of American Supremacy,” is a “threat to the world,” run by a Republican Party that is the devil child of an unholy alliance between “market fundamentalists” and “religious fundamentalists.” We have become a “supremacist” nation.
Despite his reputation as an international philanthropist, Soros remains candid about his true charitable tendencies. “I am sort of a deus ex machina,” Soros told the New York Times in 1994. “I am something unnatural. I’m very comfortable with my public persona because it is one I have created for myself. It represents what I like to be as distinct from what I really am. You know, in my personal capacity I’m not actually a selfless philanthropic person. I’ve very much self-centered.”
Soros was more succinct when he explained his life philosophy to biographer Michael Kaufman. “I am kind of a nut who wants to have an impact,” he said.
But the speculator’s visions don’t end there.
“Next to my fantasies about being God, I also have very strong fantasies of being mad,” Soros once confided on British television. “In fact, my grandfather was actually paranoid. I have a lot of madness in my family. So far I have escaped it.”
In his book, “Soros on Soros,” he says: “I do not accept the rules imposed by others…. And in periods of regime change, the normal rules don’t apply.” Clearly, Soros considers himself to be someone who is able to determine when the “normal rules” should and shouldn’t apply
For those whining about the election being bought – Soros admits Obama sold himself.
#26 Examples, please.
I don’t watch or read about conventions, which are pretty much just huge informercials. I was aware of the multiple lies in Ryan’s speech, but only because it was talked about on the roanoke.com blogs.
Oh seriously with this crap again? Nothing you copied and pasted from your link:
http://gulagbound.com/6356/on-being-god-from-the-mouth-of-george-soros/#.UGB5E42Gq2A answers my question. Soros gains nothing from helping to elect Dems. You cannot say the same for the people I named who are supporting Romney.
Neither your copied position on Soros, nor the Glen Beck version of what Soros is and believes belies the truth that he “gets” nothing from electing Obama.
Seriously, if cut and paste is all you are bringing to the table, I am not interested in pretending you are a credible debater.
@Sandi – Yes, please just ignore my posts – they’re not for you anyway, they’re for people who care enough to be informed before they reelect this person.
Oh yes, it is very obvious that it is the “informed” people you are aiming at. Thanks for the laugh!
So Kathie…you have a game plan other than spamming the blog with cut and paste?
Using other people’s words and research material is not a bad thing. I have seen a lot of links shared on this blog, which the poster intends as a support of their argument.
Of course some people still have dial up and it takes quite a long time to download the link and if their ISP times out they never get to read it, so why not just save them the trouble share what you are ‘linking’ and make it easier on everyone?