Um, Mitt, About those leaves of absence from Bain?

by Mary

Mitt Romney has been touting his business acumen as the reason Americans should vote for him in November. And he and his Republican cohorts expect people to take responsibility for their own lives and to stop blaming others for their bad decisions and misfortunes. But when it comes to the consequences of his own actions, he's always got an excuse. When the company he founded does something that call into question the way the company makes money, Mitt simply says but he wasn't in charge. It was the other guys because he'd stepped out before that particular decision came down.

He's doing it today when he claims he wasn't in charge at Bain Capital from 1999-2002.

And he did it in 1994 when he decided to run for Senator of Massachusetts.

One such deal carried a hidden cost, however. In 1994, Romney took a leave of absence to seek the U.S. Senate seat from Massachusetts held by Edward M. Kennedy, the longtime Democratic incumbent.

Making his first bid for elected office, Romney boasted that he had helped create more than 10,000 jobs at companies he had retooled. But Kennedy painted him as someone "who puts profits over people," and an ugly labor dispute soon helped sink Romney's campaign.

Bain Capital had bought a controlling interest in a paper products company called Ampad for $5 million in 1992. Two years later, after Ampad bought a factory in Marion, Ind., the new management team dismissed about 200 workers, slashed salaries and benefits, and hired strikebreakers after the union called a walkout.

...At first, Romney tried to justify the Indiana layoffs as necessary in "the real world." He then sought to distance himself, arguing that he took a leave of absence from Bain Capital before Ampad bought the factory. The dispute proved potent, however, and Kennedy trounced him in the election.

Funny how it's always the other guys who are responsible for the bad decisions of the organizations Mitt heads. Makes one wonder what he'd do as President when things got tough.

(h/t to DKos's War on Error)