McConnell Compares Obama to Carter, Suggests ‘Attack’ on Success
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Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call(WASHINGTON) — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., criticized President Obama for using Gov. Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital, the private equity firm Romney headed, as a tool to “divert” attention away from his own economic record.
“I think the view of this administration is that if you’re making a profit you must be up to no good, you must be either mistreating your employees or cheating your customers or both,” McConnell said Tuesday after a weekly strategy meeting with other Republicans.
“This is certainly the most anti-business administration since the Carter years; at least you can say this for President Carter, he was largely incompetent. This administration has actually done a lot of damage for the country.”
McConnell said more broadly beyond the attacks focusing on Bain against the presumptive Republican nominee that the whole notion of earned success and capitalism “seems to be under attack by this administration,” across the board.
“They seem to have forgotten what made this country great and what has lifted literally million Americans out of poverty,” he said.
President Obama has defended his campaign’s attacks on Romney’s tenure at Bain as important, as they shaped his views on the economy and is an important factor for voters to consider.
“I think it’s important to recognize that this issue is not a quote distraction,” the president said Monday at the close of the NATO Summit in Chicago. “This is part of the debate that we’re going to be having in this election campaign about how do we create an economy where everybody, from top to bottom, folks on Wall Street and folks on Main Street, have a shot at success. And if they’re working hard and they’re acting responsibly that they’re able to live out the American dream.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV., defended the Obama campaign as well Tuesday, saying that he has “no problem” with the discussion over Gov. Romney’s time at Bain. “I believe that Governor Romney, who holds himself out to be this great business man, should have to, should have his record looked at,” Reid said.
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