Different Day, Same Shit.

"If you look at the totality of Bain Capital's record, they've done a lot to support businesses, to grow businesses," he added. "And this, to me, I'm very uncomfortable."

"This kind of stuff is nauseating to me on both sides," Booker said. "It's nauseating to the American public. Enough is enough. Stop attacking private equity. Stop attacking Jeremiah Wright. This stuff has got to stop, because what it does is it undermines, to me, what this country should be focused on. It's a distraction from the real issues."

The above quoted came courtesy of Cory Booker. Although he still lends support to President Obama's re-election campaign, he doesn't like how his campaign pushed around poor Bain Capital. In fact, he equates such attacks on the private equity firm with those from the GOP on Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Don't ask. Perhaps it has something to do with Booker looking towards the future and how he will have to utilize his connections with financial big hitters for his future political aspirations. In that case, it was smart of him to springboard himself a considerable distance away from President Obama, in the event the president ends up tarred and feathered for being "anti-business."

The focus of Booker's (and many other's) discontent is a video focusing on Bain's acquisition of GST Steel in 1993 and the company's subsequent bankruptcy years later:


Not said in the current consternation swirling around the news outlets and Twitter is how Bain Capital managed a $40 million takeaway before directing the scraps to the garbage can. At the cost of thousands of jobs, of course. Even the authenticity of that "100,000 jobs" claim is suspect:

The claim that Romney helped create more than 100,000 jobs is difficult to prove. The campaign has said the figure comes from current statistics on three companies that Romney helped start or expand -- Staples (89,000 jobs), Sports Authority (15,000 jobs) and Domino's (7,900 jobs). However, the companies themselves, as opposed to Romney and Bain, may be responsible for the actual job creation since Bain's initial investment. The figure also does not include companies -- like GST Steel, which the Obama campaign and super PAC are highlighting -- where jobs were lost.

For some odd reason, private equity is sacrosanct, along with the rest of corporate America and the "job creators." At least that's the message I get from Booker and many others, including former auto czar Steve Rattner:

I think the ad is unfair. Look, Mitt Romney made a mistake ever talking about the fact that he created 100,000 jobs. Bain Capital’s responsibility was not to create 100,000 jobs or some other number. It was to make profits for his investors, most of whom were pension funds, endowments, and foundations. and it did it superbly, acting within the rules and very responsibly and was a leading firm. So, yeah, I do think to pick out an example of somebody who lost their job unfortunately, this is part of capitalism. This is part of life. And I don’t think there’s anything Bain Capital did that they need to be embarrassed about.

Mitt Romney shouldn't be "embarrassed" about partaking in vulture capitalism, an exclusive pastime that's becoming as American as baseball and apple pie.

Could this all be a rather subtle way of telling Obama he should lay off the "job creators," lest he find his re-election chances that much dicier come November? Considering how the Citizens United case opened the floodgates for corporate participation in elections, it's easy to see his supporters on Wall Street get a bit uncomfortable if he starts attacking them just a wee bit too much. And it's also easy to see said supporters send a subtle signal for him to knock it off before they drown Mitt Romney in millions of campaign funds in retaliation.

And with those attacks off the table, it's assumed that the Obama campaign will scramble to whup on some other aspect of Mitt Romney, preferably one that not only doesn't matter in the realm of electoral chances, but could also result in fierce backlash for Obama and Democrats. Religion? Nah, they made it clear they wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole:

Mr. Axelrod also said that the Obama campaign had no intention of focusing on Mr. Romney’s religion.

“We’ve said that’s not fair game,’’ Mr. Axelrod said, when asked if he believes Mr. Romney’s Mormonism is an issue in the campaign.

Neutering the Obama campaign while pushing for certain types of Democrats to provide cover by denouncing strong criticism of certain issues surrounding Mitt Romney's campaign is something the GOP wouldn't mind happening. From the talk on Twitter, there are more people attempting to defend Booker's rationale for his statements than those who want to put the focus back where it belongs: on Bain Capital and its practices. It's a far-gone conclusion that the GOP will point to people in Obama's own party urging him to lay off Bain, Romney and the "job creators" when his campaign attempts to focus on this and other economic issues.

The man has plenty of cool points, but not nearly enough to cash in for throwing the GOP a nice, juicy bone.

- Rick Santorum finally realizes he will be forever second-best in the eyes of delegates, campaign contributors and the media. This leaves Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich as the remaining candidates against pre-ordained nominee Mitt Romney in the GOP presidential nomination race.

- Cory Booker officially earns the title of "Best Mayor Ever." Meanwhile, an alien life form (R-FL) vetoes a bill that would have sent non-violent drug offenders to rehab after serving half their sentences. Said alien life form recently passed a bill that would allow the creation of "technicolor" animals, presumably for the alien life form's consumption.


- Congressman Allen West does his best impression of Joe McCarthy and fails. Sorry, Al, you can't just go and tag your fellow Dems as "communists" without looking ridiculous, no matter how many times your conservative colleagues call the president a "socialist Marxist Kenyan." As a bonus, the Communist Party USA gave their own response to West's antics.

West should be more worried about those Nazis attempting to infiltrate the sanctity of the American political arena. Chances are he's okay with that, though.

- Kimball Clark made himself a poster boy for the War on Welfare Fraud™ when he attempted to pull bail money from his EBT card:

Kimball Clark, 45, was locked up Friday on drug-dealing charges — again — when he was overheard using his one phone call to ask the person on the other end of the line to “get my EBT card and go to the ATM and get the money to bail me out, get me outa here tonight,” according to a Boston police report.

Mass. House Speaker Robert DeLeo wants to crack down on EBT abuse by further restricting card use:

Deleo’s proposal does not limit or eliminate cash access, but he said he’s open to considering that in the future.

- Ann Romney was able to choose to be a stay-at-home mom. Unfortunately, others throughout the U.S. aren't able to make that choice. That was Hilary Rosen's point, before conservatives blew a gasket over the issue. Even the great mamma grizzly herself tried to hitch a ride on the ensuing media gravy train.

Raising kids is a struggle in of itself, as Romney rightfully noted. But it's even more of a struggle to raise kids while working for tips or a bare minimum $7.25/hr on 12-hour shifts. Millions of Americans do just that, day in and day out.

- As yet another indicator of how bankruptcy woes have hurt Jefferson County, AL, Bank of America reduced the county's line of credit from $100,000 to $30,000 after it missed a $15 million debt payment. Fortunately, a local credit union has stepped in to help the county out with its financial issues.