Gingrich pulls a Fedele on Romney, says Foley

 January 11, 2012

The political attacks on Mitt Romney about his days as chief executive of Bain Capital, an equity investment, venture capital, and leveraged buyout firm that Romney led in the 1990s, certainly sound familiar to fellow Republican Tom Foley, who lost a razor-thin election in November 2010 to now Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

Like Romney, Foley was caught a bit off guard when the attacks initially came from a fellow Republican — Lt. Gov. Michael Fedele — during the Republican gubernatorial primary. In Foley’s case the attack ad commercials centered on the 1998 closing of The Bibb Co., a Georgia textile mill that the venture capitalist failed to turn around, eventually losing executive control in 1996 during a bankruptcy. Foley called the attacks unfair because subsequent ownership closed the plant and because textile plants were failing across the South because of foreign competition.

In Romney’s case the attacks have also come from fellow Republican competitors, with Texas Gov. Rick Perry saying Romney was not a venture capitalist, but a “vulture capitalist.” Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich argues there is a distinction between growing a business and doing what Romney often did: “Looting a company, leaving behind broken families and broken neighborhoods, and leaving behind a factory that should be there.”

“It’s a little déjà vu,” Foley told the Hartford Courants’ Christopher Keating.

But unlike Foley, who tried to address the issue with complex explanations, Romney has developed a simple retort, though he did not expect to need it until the general election contest began with President Obama.

“President Obama wants to put free enterprise on trial. In the last few days, we have seen some desperate Republicans join forces with him. This is such a mistake for our party and for our nation. This country already has a leader who divides us with the bitter politics of envy. We must offer an alternative vision. I stand ready to lead us down a different path, where we are lifted up by our desire to succeed, not dragged down by a resentment of success,” said Romney in his New Hampshire victory speech.

So there you have it. According to Romney, any criticism of his running of Bain Capital is an attack on “free enterprise,” an exercise in the “bitter politics of envy” over his success as a businessman, the act of a “leader who divides us.”

“So are you for free enterprise or against it?” That’s how Romney wants to frame the debate. Foley might be Connecticut governor if he could have made that simple case; and Romney could well be the next president if he can. Stay tuned.

Recent Posts

'Where every day is a campaign'

 December 30, 2011

I was sorting through the daily deluge of emails recently when I came across yet another holiday greeting, this one from something called electionmall.com. What caught my eye was the company's...

Congress: Home of the rich and infamous?

 December 27, 2011

A Washington Post/Bloomberg News investigation, documenting how the wealth accumulated by members of Congress has grown dramatically over the last quarter-century, is attracting a lot of attention.

Cut your losses, Speaker Boehner

 December 22, 2011

UPDATE: Speaker Boehner and House Republicans caved Thursday evening. They will do what they should have done days ago -- adopt the temporary extension.

Going easy, with a purpose

 December 5, 2011

I recently interviewed New London's new mayor, Daryl Justin Finizio, for a news feature, excerpts from which appeared in Sunday's Perspective section. There is also a video of the full interview on theday.com. You can check them out

What Mayor-elect Finizio meant to say ...

 November 18, 2011

The new mayor-elect of New London got a lesson this week in the need to choose words carefully when you're a public figure.

Daryl Justin Finizio, in announcing that Thomas J. Londregan will not be returning as law director in...

Hail to the Riverside victors

 November 17, 2011

Now that all the craziness surrounding the vote and recount of the proposed Riverside Park sale is over (I hope), let me take the opportunity to say the grassroots effort by those opposed to selling off half the 18-acre park to the...

Connecticut Republicans control the hinterlands

 November 10, 2011

Republicans have it tough in Connecticut. Democrats dominate its major cities. After this week's election the Working Families Party took control of the three minority party seats on the nine-member Hartford City Council. Democrats...

Mikutel’s newsletter — fortuitous or well timed?

 November 1, 2011

Did state Rep. Steven Mikutel, Democrat of Griswold, go astray of a state election’s law when his "Capitol Report 2011" newsletter arrived in...

Courtney insults Republicans and Albert Haynesworth

 October 28, 2011

I’m not sure who should be more insulted, Albert Haynesworth or Republican congressmen. In criticizing what he considers to be do-nothing Republicans in Congress and their plans for a light schedule in 2012, Connecticut 2nd...

Opponents aim fire at Finizio

 October 25, 2011

Democratic nominee Daryl Justin Finizio was given front-runner treatment at Monday's New London mayoral debate as other candidates in the six-person race directed their fire at him, a classic political move to take a perceived campaign...

Buscetto battle cry? 'Remember Jarjura!'

 October 10, 2011

In my Sunday column I wrote about the long odds that City Councilor Michael Buscetto III faces in trying to win a write-in campaign to become mayor of New London. After...

Pero and Finizio trade charges as NL mayoral race heats up

 October 7, 2011

With a month to go before the election, the New London mayoral race just heated up with the two major party candidates firing salvos at one another over tax policy.

The exchange began Wednesday when the Republican nominee,...

Was NL primary turnout better than advertised?

 September 22, 2011

Are New London’s Democratic registration figures bloated? Anecdotal evidence from both camps in the recent Democratic mayoral primary suggests as much.

There is no NL machine

 September 14, 2011

Can we finally put to rest the myth of the New London Democratic political machine? When the party turns out only 744 voters for its endorsed mayoral candidate among more than 6,000 registered city Democrats, a tricycle, not a machine,...

Political signs -- Pollution or democracy?

 August 15, 2011

New London City Councilor Mike Buscetto, the endorsed candidate in the race for the Democratic nomination for mayor, today asked the man challenging him in the Sept. 13 primary, Daryl Justin Finizio, to take a no-campaign-signs...

Nope and Change

 August 10, 2011

Politico reports that in his re-election bid President Barack Obama will switch from hope to nope, as in "Nope, Mitt Romney's not the guy you want as president."

According to the

WSJ and NY Times agree? Yes and no

 July 21, 2011

This doesn't happen very often. In their lead editorials today, both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times agreed on a fiscal policy proposal, sort of. Both newspapers gave their tentative approval to the so-called "Gang of Six"...

More on Mikutel, Malloy, voting and leadership

 June 20, 2011

      I wanted to make a couple of brief follow-up points concerning my Sunday column about the voting record of Rep. Steve Mikutel,...

Malloy, sick leave and a political trifecta

 June 16, 2011

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s low approval ratings in a couple of recent polls should be of no surprise. When a governor leads the charge for substantial increases in sales and income taxes as a way of balancing a budget he knows his...

When a Fountain was a toilet, or was it?

 June 10, 2011

As a week of controversy draws to a close about the Whale tail sculpture fountain in New London -- contoversy that began with a man inappropriately using the fountain to clean himself, but which was really about how the incident was...

Editorial page editor Paul Choiniere blogs on current events.

DAY BLOGROLL

News

Town Blogs | Notes from our town reporters

Day Photo Staff | On Assignment

David Collins | Today, in The Day

Karen Florin | On The Docket

Rufus Giuseppe | The Dog Dishes

Opinion

Paul Choiniere | Ruminations

Arts & Entertainment

Day staff | Taste Buds (Dining)

Kristina Dorsey | Reel Life

Michelle Gallerani | Motherhood

Julianne Hanckel | Glitterati

Rick Koster | Aging Rock Dude

Jennifer McDermott | The Sipping Room

Marisa Nadolny | Fear No Recipe

Sports

Steve Fagin | The Great Outdoors

Vickie Fulkerson | High School Sports

Nick Giuliano | Fenway Frankly

Gavin Keefe | UConn Men's Hoops

Jim O'Neill | Golf

Grace

Faye Trafford | In Other Words