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The Myth of Mitt: Romney was never a real businessman!

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October 5, 1988 was the date of the famous vice presidential debate between Sen. Lloyd Bentsen for the Democrats and Senator Dan Quayle for the Republicans.  Quayle, who had been chosen by George H.W. Bush, was fond of comparing himself to John Fitzgerald Kennedy as to youth and experience.  When he tried to introduce JFK during that debate, Bentsen responded: "Senator,  I served with Jack Kennedy.  I knew Jack Kennedy.  Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine.  Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy!"  The Bush-Quayle team proved the truth of Bentsen's remarks, even though they won that election; Dan Quayle, who famously could not spell potato , did nothing useful for the next four years and has since disappeared from public life and leadership.

In the spirit of Lloyd Bentsen's remarks, I must say to the 2012 Republican Presidential candidate: "Mitt, as someone who has run several small businesses, who consulted for some of America's leading firms, and who worked in the private sector for decades, I can state unequivocally that you were never a real businessman -- and that your pretense to having real business experience is just one more of your seemingly-endless distortions and fabrications. "

The reality is that you inherited a large fortune from your father, who indeed was a real businessman, serving as the president of American Motors, then-home of the Jeep and several other auto divisions.  Operating on inherited money, you went through a series of undistinguished positions before ending up at Bain Capital, which might be re-named The Bane of Existence to the many firms which it absorbed, downsized, chopped up into pieces, while proudly eliminating thousands of jobs.

Yes, you were what is now called a venture capitalist, but that gives you little bond with real business firms.  Real business firms produce and sell a product or service at a fair price, making a fair and well-earned profit.  Venture capitalists like you re-structure those real business firms into less-functional units, or else destroy them entirely to skim off the cream.
They are part of the reason for the decline of the American business sector from world leader in business to third-rate status.

Let's face the truth, Mitt: a business career was never your real goal, and mostly occurred when you could not find a niche in the public sector, such as when you lost the Senate race in Massachusetts to Teddy Kennedy.  While you boast about "saving" the Salt Lake City Olympic Games many years ago, you vastly exaggerate your own role -- but then, you seem to exaggerate your role in such a host of activities that you appear to have no real conception of your shortcomings.

Fast forwarding to the present, you managed to throw out two years of your own positions on a host of vital issues in less than two hours of the first Presidential Debate.  It is truly said that, while figures don't lie, liars can figure.  But then, it seems you have not even been truthful about when you left Bain Capital, or about why you will not release full past tax returns, or about the real tax rate you pay on your income (you purposely overpaid last year to make your taxes look higher than they normally are.)  You know, Mitt, you are certainly nothing like Jack Kennedy -- you're not even Dan Quayle!
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Author's Biography Eugene Elander has been a progressive social and political activist for decades. As an author, he won the Young Poets Award at 16 from the Dayton Poets Guild for his poem, The Vision. He was chosen Poet Laureate of (more...)
 

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