Does anyone else find it ironic that Republicans are bashing Romney for talking about firing bad insurance companies?

No, not ironic so much as disheartening. Not really doing anybody any favors with the mud-slinging.

That said, Romney should know better than to leave any word or phrase to chance. Statesmanship is about understanding the impact of words on listeners and I think he’s not too bright for leaving that to chance.

His “I like firing people” comes on the heels of reports that his Bain Capital’s investing in a lot of companies involved a lot of layoffs. In other words, he profited from destroying jobs. He was not a job creator.

The Republicans know that the truth of their killing millions of jobs in 2007and 2008 will be a major negative in the fall campaign, and it doesn’t help when an unemployed voter hears “I like to fire people.” It’s damage control time.

I am a moderate, and I understand his stance here. I sure like being able to change car insurers when they don’t treat me right.
I also don’t have a lot of patience for people who are bad at their jobs.
I am pretty sure this quote will be taken out of context regularly.

It’s something about what you said, “it doesn’t play well.” Yes, it makes for an unflattering sound bite if taken out of context… I think politicians and the media are often guilty of translating this to “well, you blew it. You may as well take your toys and go home.”

I also think voters are smart enough to tell the difference.

Just a poor choice of words since he has already been accused of outsourcing jobs. If he would have said, “I like having choice, and when one COMPANY doesn’t provide the service I expect, I want to be able to fire them and hire someone else,” he probably wouldn’t get so much flack. He said“I like firing people.”. That’s an oops.

The Republicans are just acting like the politicians they are. I have no respect for any of them. They take each others words and ideas and twist the meaning to a negative, thinking that somehow that will make them seem more genuine than the guy they just spit on. Nasty people.

I would if not for the fact that I wholeheartedly believe that the current crop of Conservatives/Republicans is split between hypocrites and the blind sheep that follow hypocrites because doing otherwise would require thought and vision.

He’s the frontrunner and apparently that’s the best they can come up with.
And yes I find it very ironic.

Forget the opportunity of snatching a good sound bite to use against him, and think about what he’s advocating:

That people have the right to choose their own insurance company. So far, so good. But then what about their choices?

If an insurance company can rescind policies and refuse policies, in order to get a large pool of healthy customers, the insurance can be affordable and the company can make large profits. But what about the customers who are sick, and need insurance the most? They are forced into policies that cost an arm and a leg, and sometimes, literally, a life. So we have to regulate the industry to cover those people, too.

Now that the industry cannot discriminate against the sick…what is to stop everyone from waiting and buying insurance only once they need it? Once again all the healthy people opt out…and we’re left with a system that is being bled dry and huge premiums, hence the need for a mandate.

So, he’s right that we should ALL have the ability to choose a health insurance policy (not just if we wish though). And with government regulation, this is being made possible. Sensible Republicans once knew this, and advocated for this. Romney was one of them. How sad that he’s being made to walk back his single most important legislative act. Small wonder he comes across as insincere…

@GoldieAV16 Was he saying the insurers should be able to drop people from the plan? My ideal is completely socialized medicine, but since we will never get it here, I go out to the opposite extreme of wanting more competition among insurers. I have my insurance because that is the policy my husbands company decided on. Fuck that. I hate insurance attached to a job, and I hate this whole idea of group vs. Individual.

What I really want someone to say from the government is we are going to look at pricing, and the ridiculousness and thievery in the health system, both private and public.

Howard Dean, at the conclusion of a speech to his political base, pumped his fist into the air and screamed “Yeah!” The media jumped on him like he had devoured live kittens. They sincerely questioned his sanity. They said that a man who did something so “stupid” was not fit to lead the nation. An impassioned, supportive cry to rally his base, which was met with thunderous applause, ended his presidential run.

Today, roughly 14,000,000 Americans are looking for work, and Romney, a multimillionaire-son of a multimillionaire who has never had to work a day in his life, says “I like firing people”. There is no way the media is ignoring that… well, except for Fox News.

@GladysMensch Fox new latched on also. Romney worked throughout his life. Maybe he did not have to, but he did. And, he quotes his father as telling Mitt to make his money first and then go into politics, if he desires to, when it is not to pay the bills. So, it seems to me Mitt Romney was raised to have to make his own way to some extent. I agree the media and everyone who wants to brng Mitt down is going to jump on his poorly worded, bad timing, statement. If Bush can be seen as a country, good ol’ boy, who underatands the plight of the little people, and Kerry can be converted into an antiAmerican antimilitary, draft dodger, then people will believe Romney has no clue about hard work and that he actually enjoys firing people.

I saw Governor Huckabee on TV, and he said if he were Romney he would say, yes, I eliminated jobs amd streamlined business in the private sector, and that is what I will do in government, eliminate the waste and balance the budget, reduce taxes. Something like that, I am paraphrasing.

@JLeslie Yes, he is saying that we should repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would return us to a system that allows insurance companies to pick and choose customers. 900,000 people became insured in 2011 because of the ACA – and they would likely be dropped by their carriers if the law is repealed.

“What is the difference between an insurance company CEO and a wolverine? A wolverine only kills what it needs to eat.” I think Charles Pierce said that, not sure.

@GoldieAV16 Thanks for the info. Like I said, ideally I want socialized medicine, so of course I am appalled people can be dropped by an insurer.

@JLeslie Yeah, Fox News is really hitting him hard. Their lead story on the Politics page:
In New Hampshire, Question is Not Whether Romney Wins But By How Much

@GladysMensch Hahahaha. I only meant they did report it, and reported the other candidates commenting on it from what I understand. I have not seen it myself actually. It looked like on Fox online they did, but I had trouble loading the page yesterday, I wanted to send it to a friend.

I just saw Newt in an interview saying there is a difference between Capitalism and, crap I wish I could remember the word he used, and unfair business practices. What he meant was Romney leading a company and not giving a shit about the little people, just focusing on profit. LMFAO!!! Too bad most Republicans will never see that is exactly what most Democrats have been saying for years. He said this, and then in the next sentence says he gree with the Tea Party that we should not have government in there overcontrolling business. Hello?? Who is going to control these businessmen? How many times have liberals complained about the discrepancy in pay within companies? And, Republicans don’t give a shit, and now all of a sudden Reoublicans are working class guys? Well, it’s about time they realized they are. The whole party is not wealthy, but the poor and middle class in the party had seemed to have forgotten what class they are themselves.

Disclaimer: I’m generalizing of course, not all Republicans, but this has been the gist of things for a while now, especially where I live.

@JLeslie The GOP turned against “fair markets” and “capitalism” when they realized that Romney’s big bucks were going to buy him the nomination. Suddenly they are for level playing fields and the working class. They are the 99% of the 1%, tee hee hee.

Gotta love it.