The Democratic National Committee is airing an ad against GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney here in Arizona. The New York Times reports:
The Democratic National Committee will on Tuesday begin its biggest sustained advertising campaign against a Republican presidential candidate so far this year, with a spot attacking Mitt Romney in the state of Arizona, traditionally Republican territory that President Obama’s advisers hope to bring into their victory column next year.
Running for six days on local stations and cable news, the commercial seizeson comments made by Mr. Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, last week to the editorial board of the Las Vegas Review-Journal about the rash of foreclosures that have been particularly acute in the West: “Don’t try to stop the foreclosure process, let it run its course and hit the bottom,” he said.
NYT’s The Caucus also notes:
The video does not include Mr. Romney’s full commentary on foreclosures. Speaking to the newspaper’s editorial board last Monday, he had gone on to say that after allowing the process to “hit bottom’’ the government should “allow investors to buy up homes, put renters in them, fix the homes up, and let it turn around and come back up.”
DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse comments via email:
Mitt Romney has callously taken the position that homeowners who have been cheated, scammed or simply lost value in their homes as a result of Wall Street’s risky bets should be allowed to “hit rock bottom.” Romney’s position is appalling, but not unexpected from a former financial executive who wants to let Wall Street—the same guys whose recklessness crashed the housing market and our economy —write its own rules, even if it means hanging the middle-class out to dry. It is irresponsible, but not surprising coming from someone who made a fortune firing workers and sending their jobs overseas. And what else can we expect from someone who said that “corporations are people” or called tax relief of $1,500 for a typical middle class family “little Band Aids.”
While President Obama is fighting to create jobs and adopt policies that give underwater homeowners a chance to refinance and stay in their homes, Mitt Romney believes families who work hard and play by the rules should be kicked out of their homes so bankers can get rich. Mitt Romney’s vision of the American Dream would be a nightmare for America’s homeowners and it would have a devastating impact for the Arizona economy and families in a state which ranks third in the country in the rate of foreclosures.
The ad does double-duty of undermining Romney in the Arizona primary and softening him up for the general, should the GOP eventually settle on him. That said, it’s hard to see how Arizona ends up in play in 2012.
This article appears in Oct 20-26, 2011.
It is so obvious that the dem’s strategy is pander, slur, tell the Big lie (they’re for the little people) and whistle in the grave yard. All the while counting on their waterboy, the main stream media to blare out their message…..democrats good, republicans bad. yawn. The difference between the two is this…Democrats…let us help we know the best thing for you….Republicans….this is a free country, leave me alone.
first of all, I’m not a Mitt fan, but he is right. The real estate market does need to hit rock bottom, artificially proping up a slumping market will on prolong the slump. Besides, the last time i checked, mortgage brokers were not pointing guns at these home owners forcing them into houses they couldn’t afford in the first place. At some point, people need to be responsible for their bad decisions. Why this country has a fascination with bailing out bad decisions made by the individual or the corporation, i’ll never know. let the banks fail, let the homes foreclose, its the only way forward. if you can’t understand that, don’t be mad at me, be mad at the whatever school you went for failing you so badly.