Another Romney layoff victim, this one a conservative, speaks out

Washington Post ^ | 1/6/2012 | Greg Sargent

[Qbert]

Reuters published a blockbuster story today on GS Technologies, a steel mill in Kansas City that was acquired by Bain Capital, leading to the layoffs of some 750 workers. In this case, the workers lost promised severance pay and health insurance; their pension benefits were slashed. and a federal government insurance agency had to bail out the company’s pension plan — even as Bain raked in millions and millions of dollars in profits.

Now a man who says he worked at the plant for 34 years — a self-described conservative — is speaking out about Romney.

Glen Patrick Wells, who lives in Peculiar, Missouri, agreed to appear in a new MoveOn.org video in order to speak out about what the layoffs did to the surrounding community.

[Snip]

“I spent 34 years in this steel mill,” Wells says in the video. “They walked out of here with millions. They left us with nothing.”

I reached Wells today, and unlike Box, he tells me he’s a conservative, who has switched back and forth from Republican to independent, and says he voted for George W. Bush for president in 2000 and 2004 and John McCain in 2008. (He has also supported Claire McCaskill for Senate.) Yet despite his leanings, he was willing to conspire with MoveOn to produce this video, which is a pretty good preview of the sort of thing you’ll be seeing in ads in struggling Rust Belt communities against Romney, should he become the GOP nominee.

[Snip]

“Right now, if Romney gets in, I am so disgusted that I will probably vote for Obama and I detest him,” Wells says. “Anyone who is willing to put a predatory capitalist in office deserves to get Obama.”

[EternalVigilance]

This is a two-fer for the socialist establishment. They get folks riled up against Romney and get conservatives defending Romney.

Win-win, for them.

[Qbert]

"The astonishing thing to me is that the Republican establishment does little to nothing to fight MSM bias."

That's because at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter whether we win, or not, to them. Karl Rove will still make big bucks being a pundit- no matter how wrong he turned out being; George Will will still have his, (resting on his laurels), McCain will still be blaming Conservatives for all of Obama's failures. What matters in the end is their jobs.

And the Establishment Republicans will just churn out another self-funding, hapless candidate (Fiorina, Meg Whitman, Romney, etc.) the next time around that nobody really wants.

[tcrlaf]

Also, the article also doesn’t mention that this mill had a RADICAL UNION, that went on strike, rather than accept paycuts and technology upgrades that meant fewer jobs, at an already nearly bankrupt company that S&P was already downgrading the credit of, in 1997.

I’ve seen this same story, repeated over, and over, and over, over the years.

[Fu-fu2]

“The economic misery inflicted by O’s failed policies is wide and deep. But the MSM won’t report heart-tugging stories of people suffering under O’s policies.”

I was just talking about this with a friend. If a Republican was president, there would have been non-stop stories in the MSM about the “Hoovervilles” as a result of their policies.

BTW, the floodgates have opened. Jimmy Kimmel did a set in his monologue last night about Romney’s Mormon roots, including his grandpa practicing polygamy.

[Lancey Howard]

Too bad Romney, who I would still vote for over Obama BTW, doesn't have the spine to call Obama a Socialist.

And "socialist" is merely the polite word for "communist".
No, don't look for anything ballsy from Mittens.

[Qbert]

"Another hit-job slam article VERY SHORT ON FACTS... GS was an AGING, money-losing Steel Mill facing imminent closure because they couldn’t pay for the upgrades required under the Clean Air Act. And they were just like dozens of other small steel mills in America..."

He's going to have to communicate all of that the public in a convincing way if he's the nominee, because nobody in the MSM will. The last thing we want is another Fiorina, completely speechless whenever the MSM and Dems bashed her for "cutting thousands of jobs at HP and sending them overseas".

[marty60]

My question is why NO ONE has asked Romnuts about BAIN Capitals donation to the Foundation Cordray ran and donated ONLY to DEMOCRATS?

But hey it was only $5000.

[tcrlaf]

Also, it should be noted that Bain paid $75Mil for the company, invested something like $20 Mil in new equipment, and only made $4 mil selling it.

Not including expenses.

As I said, this is a MEDIA HIT JOB.

[tallyhoe]

Well i expect the left to do this! This is class warfare which I don’t buy into!

[SatinDoll]

“You won’t see any ads showing Obama and Jon Corzine who made millions on the backs of the investors he screwed while walking away with $100 Million.”

At this point, you probably will not see it, either. Any person or group who does put out such information may very well find themselves rotting in a prison cell somewhere, labeled an enemy of the state.

[SatinDoll]

The pundits are not allowed to talk negatively about Obama. So, they leap on the Republicans.

This is why we need a Republican candidate who can hit back just as well as the MSM dishes it out. I want a pit bull nominee, not a dish rag!

[Recovering_Democrat]

My opinion: the layoffs from Romney are NOTHING compared to the lost jobs under Hussein.

Romney isn’t the most popular guy here on FR, and he isn’t the embraced by our household...but he sure as HELL isn’t the same as Hussein.

Hussein is worse than Romney by quantum leaps. Right now I am concentrated on firing Hussein in November, and I don’t care which of our Republican candidates takes the office.

I know that isn’t a popular position here; but it is my honest opinion.

I think four more years of Hussein—who has already shown he will defy federal courts and Congress—will be worse for this nation than four years of PAUL/HUNTSMAN/NEWT/PERRY/SANTORUM/ROMNEY.

My theory, which I feel obliged to repeat again, is that Hussein HATES America. He wants to bring the nation DOWN. But NONE of the Republicans hate America—even if they are wrong about certain issues, they at least care about the well being of this country. That fact alone makes it important that they defeat Hussein in November.

[Paladin2]

"At its peak in 1970, the Kansas City plant, then owned by Armco Steel Corp, employed 4,500 people. Poor market conditions forced a wave of layoffs in the early 1980s and led the company to prune its product line. By the early 1990s, the plant focused on two items: wire for products such as mattress springs and tires; and high-carbon balls and rods used by the mining industry to pulverize rocks."

ARMCO's fault.

[Spok]

Everybody likes money. Some make it, some take it-that’s the difference.

[truthkeeper]

Well, I’m in that foxhole with you, FRiend.

[wardaddy]

i don’t like Mitt

but this sorta stuff reeks of populist resentment

you own or manage business

folks get laid off or fired when you need to

or you go broke

[Herodes]

How many Americans has Obama laid off? I don’t think Bambi wants to have this discussion in an open debate.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

How many GM and Chrysler dealerships were shut down by Obama, and how many private sector jobs were lost? How many jobs are being blocked by his refusal to allow the oil pipeline from Canada? Drilling in the gulf?

Romney is a piker compared to the Kenyan on killing jobs.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Thanks, truthkeeper. The die may be cast for this primary fight, and I’m willing to work to defeat Hussein. The stakes are too high.

[leapfrog0202]