{"id":7587,"date":"2012-07-15T16:24:52","date_gmt":"2012-07-15T23:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=7587"},"modified":"2012-07-15T16:24:52","modified_gmt":"2012-07-15T23:24:52","slug":"mitt-romney-goes-back-to-the-future-retired-retroactively","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=7587","title":{"rendered":"Mitt Romney Goes Back To The Future: Retired #Retroactively"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While grasping for justifications to explain his mysterious absence from Bain Capital, Mitt Romney has proven once again that reality surpasses satire.<\/p>\n<p><center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/Pix\/Campaign2012\/romney-retired-retroactively.jpg\" alt=\"Mitt Romney - Retired Retroactively\" \/><\/center><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p>Romney spent Friday afternoon in a peculiar sort of speed-dating ritual with the media, giving five short interviews to five networks all asking the same question: Were you, or were you not, running the company that you said you were running? It apparently was insufficient to quell the controversy because today Romney sent his surrogates around to the Sunday news programs to tell the same story. And what a story it was.<\/p>\n<p>Top campaign adviser Ed Gillespie took the lead. But during his segment with David Gregory of Meet the Press, Gillespie may have helped to erase the memory of the Etch-a-Sketch debacle launched by another Romney adviser a few weeks ago:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>GREGORY:<\/strong> He was still financially linked to Bain. And of course, a lot his fortune is due to his time with Bain. Even when he was on leave, does he stand by the business decisions that were made by the firm he created?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That&#8217;s actually a good question. While much of the press has been focused on whether or not Romney maintained an active role at Bain from 1999 to 2002, the years when many controversial activities resulted in shuttered factories and jobs exported overseas, no one has yet asked whether Romney approved of the decisions that were made by the people he says he left behind to run his business. But Gillespie dodged the question and instead dropped this nugget that will very likely make him famous:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>GILLESPIE: He actually <strong>retired retroactively<\/strong> at that point. He ended up not going back to the firm after his time in Salt Lake City. So he was actually retired from Bain.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Retired retroactively? You can do that? Needless to say, that tortured phraseology quickly became a trending topic on Twitter. A couple of my own contributions:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/JohnMcCain?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#JohnMcCain<\/a> retired <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/retroactively?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#retroactively<\/a> from the 2008 campaign. Claims no responsibility for <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SarahPalin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#SarahPalin<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; News Corpse (@NewsCorpse) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NewsCorpse\/status\/224583436646612993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 15, 2012<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/retroactively?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#retroactively<\/a> married Zooey Deschanel. She doesn&#39;t know yet. She&#39;ll be surprised when I show up tonight with all my stuff.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; News Corpse (@NewsCorpse) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NewsCorpse\/status\/224588561939308544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 15, 2012<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>And lest anyone think that Gillespie misspoke, he repeated almost verbatim the same excuse when he appeared on CNN&#8217;s State of the Nation with Candy Crowley:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>GILLESPIE:<\/strong> He took a leave of absence and in fact, Candy, ended up not going back at all and <strong>retired retroactively<\/strong> to February 1999 as a result.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So there you have it. Despite all of the evidence that Romney was still in charge of Bain while he was supposedly working at the Olympics, he was actually retired. It&#8217;s just that neither he, nor anyone else, knew it at the time.<\/p>\n<p>We still haven&#8217;t got an answer as to whether he approved of the direction Bain had taken in his <em>&#8220;absence,&#8221;<\/em> but he is sure running away from it as though there were something about it for which he would be sorely ashamed. We also don&#8217;t know whether he retroactively reimbursed Bain for the hundreds of thousands of dollars he collected in salary during the time he was retroactively retired.<\/p>\n<p>I sure wish I could not show up for work for three years, collect a hefty paycheck the whole time, then tell them I decided not to come back. But I guess that&#8217;s the difference between people like Romney and the rest of us. The privileged classes get to make up their own rules, and when those don&#8217;t suffice, they just make up new ones. Sweet!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While grasping for justifications to explain his mysterious absence from Bain Capital, Mitt Romney has proven once again that reality surpasses satire. Romney spent Friday afternoon in a peculiar sort of speed-dating ritual with the media, giving five short interviews to five networks all asking the same question: Were you, or were you not, running [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[152,1],"tags":[336,260],"class_list":["post-7587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-election","category-general","tag-ed-gillespie","tag-mitt-romney"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-1Yn","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8088,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=8088","url_meta":{"origin":7587,"position":0},"title":"Fox Nation Admonishes Their Faithful: Don&#8217;t Believe The Polls","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/25\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"As Mitt Romney sinks further into an abyss of electoral sludge, his Pharisees at Fox News dispense divine guidance to their disciples. The word from on high at Fox Nation is: \"Don't Believe the Polls.\" It is true that most of the recent polls show President Obama widening his lead\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7743,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=7743","url_meta":{"origin":7587,"position":1},"title":"Are You F@&#038;king Kidding Me? Romney Wants False Ads Pulled","author":"Mark NC","date":"8\/9\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I haven't laughed this hard since the Etch-a-Sketch debacle: Mitt Romney: \"You know, in the past, when people pointed out that something was inaccurate, why, campaigns pulled the ad,\" Romney said on the Bill Bennett radio show. \"They were embarrassed. Today, they just blast ahead. You know, the various fact\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7884,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=7884","url_meta":{"origin":7587,"position":2},"title":"Romney Campaign Advisor Says That Facts Have &#8216;Jumped The Shark&#8217;","author":"Mark NC","date":"8\/28\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Anyone paying attention to this campaign already knows that Mitt Romney has little respect for facts. He has repeatedly mangled the truth in order to advance his campaign and to slander President Obama. And it isn't just a few policy disagreements that are shaded for effect. Romney is a full-blown\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7762,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=7762","url_meta":{"origin":7587,"position":3},"title":"If Mitt Romney Thought Paul Ryan Would Change The Subject From Taxes&#8230;","author":"Mark NC","date":"8\/12\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Much of the media is heralding Mitt Romney's selection of Wisconsin representative Paul Ryan to be his running mate as a significant \"reset\" of the Romney campaign. But these people might want to think again before they shake the Etch-a-Sketch. First of all. the clamor for Romney to release more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7190,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=7190","url_meta":{"origin":7587,"position":4},"title":"Mitt Romney &#8211; Mexican Anchor Baby &#8211; Releases Fake Birth Certificate","author":"Mark NC","date":"5\/30\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"For the past week Donald Trump has been bringing new verve to the birther babble as only he can. His revival of this nonsense corresponded to an upswing in his duties as a surrogate for Mitt Romney. For his part, Romney has pretended to distance himself from Trump's birtherism even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Election&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7849,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=7849","url_meta":{"origin":7587,"position":5},"title":"Pundit Ignoramus: Dick Morris Says Todd Akin Story Is A Big Plus For Romney","author":"Mark NC","date":"8\/23\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The prostitute toe-sucking Fox News contributor, Dick Morris, has once again put his idiot brethren to shame by publicly making remarks that are so over-the-top stupid that it boggles the mind. Internationally known as the \"World's Worst Pundit,\" Morris spoke yesterday with Bill O'Reilly guest host Laura Ingraham to discuss\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7587"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7591,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7587\/revisions\/7591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}