I see that Democratic Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Cory Booker has further clarified remarks he made Sunday morning on “Meet The Press” about how “nauseating” he finds negative political campaigning and backed away from comments he made on the show that the Obama campaign should not use Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney‘s record at Bain Capital against him, effectively saying the Obama campaign should “lay off” of private equity firms like Bain Capital.
By the way, I consciously used the term “lay off” to refer to a private equity firm because that’s a crucial part of what they do — to employees. And Mitt Romney was very good at that.
Cory Booker put out a follow-up video on YouTube Sunday night (which is included below), backing away from his statement that the Obama campaign shouldn’t hit at Romney’s record at Bain Capital, even though that’s a large part of what Romney’s running on. Seeing that Booker is clarifying his remark is a good thing. It’s sad that he put himself in a position to have to do that in the first place, but … in his desire to do good, in the political climate that he rightfully despises, he went a touch too far in trying to do good in the eyes of everyone.
I totally agree with Mayor Booker that negative campaigning is “nauseating.” It’s sickening no matter what side of the political aisle it comes from. What’s even sadder is that the lines between negative campaigning and factual campaigning seem so blurred, even in the mind of someone who’s very smart like Mayor Booker.
If the Obama campaign were to say that Romney is a socialist, Marxist Nazi, that’s negative campaigning and I would call it as such because there are NO FACTS WHATSOEVER to back it up — just as those facts don’t exist when conservatives throw them at Obama.
The facts when it comes to private equity firms are that they largely end up costing people their jobs, and for a while that was how Mitt Romney made his millions … and he’s probably still getting a nice chunk of change from his role at Bain.
Click here for an example of how a company like Bain Capital costs employees their jobs
These are facts. This is real life. If Mitt Romney wants to use his experience in starting Bain Capital as part of his qualifications for leading this nation, he needs to be called out on it, especially if he claims that he helped to create hundreds of thousands of jobs while he was there. He needs to answer to those jobs that his firm cut, especially at a time when this country’s future depends on middle class job creation and better income equality.
But the lines between campaigning with facts vs. campaigning with negative, non-factual crap are sadly blurred. Why is that? Voters themselves need to take a look in the mirror for the answer to that question. How much research do voters put in themselves when a candidate claims that their opponent wasn’t even born in the United States (one thing that turned me off to Hillary Clinton in a big way when she ran for President herself, starting the whole “birther” garbage)? Or do they just take those claims and run with them?
How much stock do voters put in bogus claims about socialism and Marxism and Nazism that they see or hear on Fox News or Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh or some lame web site, and how much do they seek out any truth to back up the claims that they see and hear?
In too many cases, the voters get what they earn when it comes to garbage campaigning. Too many voters are too willing to swallow whatever crap is fed to them. And that’s why we end up with a smart man like Mayor Booker having to make a clarification like this …
We get what we earn.
Copyright 2012, Daddysangbassdude Media
Related articles
- Cory Booker Walks Back Criticism of Obama Campaign Bain Attacks (abcnews.go.com)
- Cory Booker Walks Back Comment That Obama Campaign Attacks On Bain Are ‘Nauseating’ (mediaite.com)
- Morning Joe Takes Aim At Cory Booker’s ‘Hostage Video’ (mediaite.com)
- Cory Booker walks back Obama criticism – USA TODAY (content.usatoday.com)
- Cory Booker Clarifies Criticism Of Obama (huffingtonpost.com)
A View From The Middle (Class) 
Great blog today John… As a Canadian I watch very closely the US political scene. What happens in your great country effects us all. I sure hope your fellow Americans get it right next November. In Canada our Republicans are the Conservatives and our Democrats are a combination of the Liberal Party or New Democratic Party – the latter being more socially oriented. We are stuck with probably the biggest right wing, anti worker federal government in our history right now in Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party. It’s a disaster and they are ripping our social programs apart and of course attacking the elderly and most vulnerable. I personally like Obama and although I think he could do better (stuck with his beliefs), he has certainly been up against it clearly inheriting the consequences of the previous 8 years. That can’t be repaired over night. The Republican alternative is to take everyone right back to the policies that almost ‘crashed’ the world. My fingers will be crossed for Obama.
Thanks for the compliment, and for the input. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for us here, and for the Canadian people as well. Time for everyone to pay attention.
We are definitely a “sound bite” culture, paying attention to the outrageous or the extreme even when we would be better off ignoring it, and being reactive rather than proactive in the way we absorb news. If we don’t bother to seek out information beyond those sound bites, we pay the price.
Exactly! Right on, Chris!