Willard Romney & Sons, GOP multi-taskers! Jason Horowitz, in the Washington Post:
PARK CITY, Utah — John Schoenfeld came to an exclusive resort here to do business with Mitt Romney. But he stayed for the politics.
Schoenfeld spent most of Wednesday in a downstairs conference room of the Stein Eriksen Lodge assessing the investments of Solamere Capital, the firm co-founded by Romney’s son Tagg and increasingly managed by Romney himself. Then he learned that several potential GOP presidential candidates would be attending a separate Romney conference at the same exclusive lodge.
“I’m going to stretch my clothes another day,” the Chicago-based lawyer said after moving upstairs to join hundreds of Romney’s top donors to kick off the former Republican presidential nominee’s Experts and Enthusiasts 2013 conference. Schoenfeld said he became enthusiastic about the prospect of spending Friday morning driving golf balls with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), breaking bread with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie or shooting skeet with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), Romney’s running mate in 2012. “That looked like fun.”…
The former Romney campaign aides who haunted the old alpine hotel played down the overlap between the two conferences, arguing that they had planned the ideas conference for the following weekend but moved it up for logistical reasons.
Romney himself made no mention of Solamere as he spoke onstage about “great challenges for America.” Former adviser Ron Kaufman shrugged about Solamere’s sponsorship of the event: “Someone has to pay for it.”
Instead they characterized the three-day event as Romney’s own Aspen Ideas Festival, a significant step in his return to public relevance and proof of his political clout. But the retreat also highlights the enduring flaws that helped sink Romney’s candidacy.
His ideas conference, much like his campaign, had no specific agenda and would define itself over time, aides said. The off-the-record sessions, the cigar rooms and the vanilla homogeneity of the exclusive event evoked the elitism of his disastrous speech to donors about the “47 percent.”…
The Experts and Enthusiasts (E2) event featured serious policy chats about education, the economy, disease and foreign policy. It also included a horseback riding session with Romney and a hike early Thursday morning with Hewlett Packard CEO, failed gubernatorial candidate and Solamere investor Meg Whitman. (“I got a tear in my muscle but I still hiked the mountain,” Ann Romney announced as she limped down some stairs.)
In addition to panel discussions Friday with the Republican hopefuls for 2016, there were other featured speakers, including former Clinton administration insider Erskine Bowles, longtime Obama adviser David Axelrod and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Organizers said they had also reached out to potential Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Andrew Cuomo, though spokesmen for both said they had no knowledge of an invitation.
On Wednesday afternoon, fleets of black Mercedes sedans and luxury SUVs dropped off men in suits in front of the lodge’s facsimile of the Olympic flame. Blond ushers directed them to either turn left at the stone fireplace for the “Solamere Capital Founders Fund Update,” or to hang a right and register for the “E2 summit.” The blue canvas E2 swag bags came with Solamere-branded jackets, shirts and hats.
Attendees mingled on a veranda overlooking ski slopes spotted with patches of snow, and said things to each other like, “Why are you protecting your downside? This is a billion-dollar opportunity.”…
rk
I hope they fall off their horses and break their necks.
Poopyman
Glad to see Ann had the opportunity to play the martyr yet again. Keeps her in top form, ya know.
pokeyblow
Mountain climbing with Meg Whitman: surely an item on Hell’s bucket list.
BGinCHI
All that’s missing is a picture of the Romneys with Sir Laurence Olivier from his role in Marathon Man.
The Dangerman
@rk:
Have you NO consideration for the horses?
Poopyman
Is there a musical accompaniment to this thread?
“They’re creepy and they’re kooky
Mysterious and spooky
They’re altogether ooky …”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Where does Wonder Willard find the time, what with all that charity and public service he was gonna devote his life too?
I also wanna know who this is: (from TPM)
Felonius Monk
Too bad that when you have a multitude of turds like these floating in the cesspool that someone can’t just pull the handle and flush them down the sewer where they belong.
NickT
@Poopyman:
I prefer:
The Rains of Solamere.
scav
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Ha! someone was playing with his little mind! or he was deep in conference with one of the well-known Fuax News leaders — originally a typo but, how could I fix it?
Baud
E2 stands for Elites and Egomaniacs, right?
Amir Khalid
Schmoozing a.k.a. “networking” is often a big part of what these rich businesspeople do. Maybe it’s just an excuse to live the high life on the company’s dime and call it work. Maybe they really are making contacts and touching base and sniffing out new opportunities and all that. But anything that keeps Meg Whitman away from the office, and thus slightly less able to run Hewlett-Packard into the ground, has got to be good for HP.
BGinCHI
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Harold Ford?
Amir Khalid
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
It sounds like someone who’s winding Mitt Romney up.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Barack Obama
lamh35
I’m just LMAO about Romney’s interview on FoxNews.
Dude, you want to be the POTUS and u take some “leading Dems” word that you were gonna win as something other than brown-nosing and speculation.
And if nothing else, the interview proves what we already knew ’bout Romney, it’s surprsing that the man can even talk with his foot constantly in his mouth. It just always says something that shows how completely clue-less he is.
Hurricane Sandy allowed Obama to appear “presidential”…bish, Obama was (and still is…na na boo boo) President didn’t have to “appear” anything.
Jeez, this guy is a pill
Hal
Can’t Greenwald just release all this info at once instead of this day by day trickling of information?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@BGinCHI: Heh, I was just thinking you could break it down in to those who were just schmoozing, really thought so, or wished he had. Harold Ford would’ve been the perfect bipartisan Cabinet pick for President Willard.
Sad_Dem
Asteroids–never around when you need them.
JGabriel
The New York Senate has passed a bill that makes it a felony to annoy a police officer.
Next up: a bill to apply the death penalty to anyone who annoys a New York State Senator.
NickT
@Hal:
The Guardian might not want to turn over an entire issue to Glenn Greenwald’s multi-page opus with 300 footnotes and 15 pages of updates.
PsiFighter37
I work in finance, and I know exactly these type of people. A good number of them come off as folks I would voluntarily choose not to spend my time around. That’s from personal, up-close experience.
Ruckus
@The Dangerman:
I don’t think many horses mind if the rider gets off their back. And I doubt they care how hard they fall either. And some horses seem to enjoy throwing the rider off. And of course there is always a contest with conservatives and horses, deciding if the horses ass is bigger or if the rider is a bigger horses ass.
Trollhattan
@pokeyblow:
With her record of shoving I’d make damn sure to always be uphill from Megs.
NickT
Mitt Romney and Sons – the Kardashians of vulture capitalism.
Hal
@NickT:
I forgot about that. I always wonder if his fanbase (which is just as worshipful as he claims all the Obots are) really reads through his posts or just skims the parts they like the most.
eemom
fer fuxsake, why doesn’t Romtron just do the Sunday morning thing like a normal loser?
Trollhattan
@lamh35:
“Pill” is so drolly schoolmarmish.
“Mister Romney, you hand over those scissors and stop acting like a pill RIGHT NOW, young man.”
With a passel of li’l Mittens far larger than the passel of Bushes, it’s going to be a long haul for the nation. These folks will be as persistent as the teenagers in white shirts and ties stalking our neighborhoods on bikes.
scav
But then again, what kind of insulated, dim, insider-trading suit assumes the higher ups of the other team are telling him the truth over a two diet pepsi and caviar brunch on the eve of a big deal?
And I’ve probably answered my own question, I just don’t know which side of it is less despicable.
WereBear
I don’t think that’s the smartest thing for an MS sufferer to do.
But hey, what do I know? I live in abject poverty compared to a Mormon Prince of Thieves!
lamh35
Since we’re talking about civil liberties and privacy, sure would love to get some national attention about this:
Mississippi aims to curb teen pregnancy with umbilical blood law
Anoniminous
Jealous I’m busy and can’t make the scene.
Who wouldn’t want to spend a weekend with a bunch of nincompoops and sociopaths ?
lamh35
@Trollhattan: I know, but doesn’t it really describe Romney to a tee…lol. Plus ya know young mittens probably called people “pills” back in da day…lol
Chris
@eemom:
Not good enough for him. Don’t you know who he is? He’s Mitt Romney, for pete’s sake. He deserves better.
(“Do you have a VIP entrance? We’re VIPs!” OK, technically that wasn’t Romney, but damn if it doesn’t capture the mindset…)
Baud
@lamh35:
Kind of creepy, but I’m not sure whose privacy that violates, if they’re not violating the mother’s body to get the blood.
daverave
All these people DO is protect their downside, 24/7/365. Or is that backside?
GxB
Speaking of the current clowncar, the current standings for the fail parade are:
Among Republican respondents: Among Conservative respondents:
Paul Ryan: 62% (13%) Paul Ryan: 58% (11%)
Rand Paul: 53% (6%) Rand Paul: 47% (5%)
Marco Rubio: 49% (6%) Marco Rubio: 45% (6%)
Jeb Bush: 48% (7%) Jeb Bush: 44% (7%)
Chris Christie: 40% (16%) Chris Christie: 33% (15%)
Scott Walker: 21% (5%) Ted Cruz: 21% (6%)
Ted Cruz: 21% (6%) Scott Walker 19% (5%)
Favorable % response with unfavorable in parenthesis.
All polling done recently except Ryan which was in Dec of 12.
And if Cleek’s Law holds, Christie is boned – he actually polls higher with liberals at 44% (14%), looking at his drop from “Republican” to “Conservative” responders offers some pretty strong evidence in support.
(Shamelessly ripped from MSNBC – would have blockquoted but formatting and FYWP issues lead me to clean it up a bit.)
ETA: Oh FYWP! Well format is all dicked anyway, I guess you can figure it out.
MattF
And, in CEO-land, that all counts as actually accomplishing something. Now they can all go forth, refreshed and strengthened, to despoil some virgin forests, starve a few widows and orphans, kill a brigade of camel jockeys.
Tokyokie
@Ruckus: They all should follow the lead of Malcolm Baldridge.
Boots Day
Hey, I think it’s very impressive the way Tagg built a successful financial firm all by himself, without any government handout. You won’t see any of those lazy 47 percenters doing that!
Anoniminous
@Trollhattan:
FIFY
patrick II
@scav:
I have read elsewhere that it was Bill Clinton who told Romney that Clinton thought Romney had it won until one week out and that only “Sandy” turned it around for Obama.
Bill the flatterer can be annoying at times.
lamh35
@Baud: cord blood is the mother’s blood and the baby’s blood. Essentially, they will have the person DNA and blood on file for perpetuity.
NickT
@patrick II:
He’d be my guess too – remember his praise for Romney’s “sterling business career”? Although he might have meant “stealing business career”.
Baud
@lamh35:
Hmmm. Thanks for the explanation. I guess the saving grace is that it’s Mississippi, so they will eventually get the DNA anyway when the person is arrested.
MattF
@patrick II: ‘It was the hurricane that elected Obama’ is about the weakest excuse imaginable. I suppose ‘Romney lost because a majority of voters were against him’ doesn’t fit the narrative.
scav
@patrick II: @NickT: laughing hard, which I didn’t think I could manage today. Bill Clinton, galaxy-wide recognized sayer of hard truths to audiences that don’t want to hear that? !
patrick II
@MattF:
The thing is Romney actually believes that. He will never be convinced otherwise. He was entitled to that presidency, and in the only true test of reality all the important people said he was going to be president, so it only could have been bad luck that kept him out of the white house.
Villago Delenda Est
The wishful thinking, it is strong with this Feregni asswipe.
pokeyblow
I really savor the image of Ann Romney crying sweet tears of rejection after the November vote.
Poor Ann.
Poor, poor Ann.
? Martin
@eemom:
Nobody wants him.
lamh35
We Are Shocked, Shocked…
NickT
@? Martin:
Plus, the most dangerous place to be in America is between John McCain and the talk show cameras.
lamh35
Fuckin’ Buzzfeed bottom-feeders. Internet version of Politico.
Buzzfeed: “Obama Loses Cool, Snaps at Staffers” (Not)
WTF?
Charles Johnson
Narcissus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Obviously Dick Morris
jeffreyw
Open thread needs moar puppeh.
indycat32
@patrick II: Romney may have thought he was entitled to the presidency, but obviously god disagreed – hence the hurricane.
jeffreyw
Your puppeh wants steak.
Villago Delenda Est
@lamh35:
The guy is an angry black man. Even when he smiles and speaks in a normal tone, he’s actually Samuel L. going medieval on someone’s ass.
Redshirt
Well, if Hurricane Sandy got Obama re-elected, then as we’ve been told repeatedly that it’s God that sends hurricanes and earthquakes, etc, I guess God wanted Barack Hussein Obama as President of these here United States.
MattF
@indycat32: God not on the side of Willard Romney? IM-POSSIBLE.
NickT
@Villago Delenda Est:
Indeed. When Obama smiles and says good morning, the prudent exponent of Burkean modesty packs his suitcase for a trip to the death camp.
Baud
@lamh35:
Man, I thought Obama was going to cut some one…
Seriously, what a lame story.
Jewish Steel
I’ve got two big words for you to think about. Rafalca. TEDx.
Let’s make this happen.
patrick II
@scav:
Bill would tell the devil how nice his tail looks if he thought it might get a contribution to his charity.
Baud
I wish Kay could have attended.
daverave
@patrick II:
wow, there’s a whole buncha FTFY’s you could assemble out of that statement; e.g., starting by substituting Monica for devil…
JPL
@jeffreyw: omg… How sweet.
muddy
@patrick II: Probably Clinton only said it to be mean. :)
NickT
File under GOP outreach, I guess:
http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_23406235/new-state-weld-county-floats-secession-plan-northeastern
Chris
@NickT:
Didn’t the Aryan Nations try the same thing a couple states north of there back in the eighties?
NickT
@Chris:
It wouldn’t surprise me at all. I am guessing that this is basically the GOP admitting that Colorado’s getting bluer every day and trying a desperation play to salvage anything they can.
PsiFighter37
I don’t care, I love it
PF37 +2 on Friday
Also, there is a BBQ block party a couple blocks from where I live in Manhattan this weekend. AWESOME. Going to eat myself to fucking death on pulled pork, brisket, and ribs.
Redshift
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
ruemara
Why can’t these people go away?
Shortstop
Even liberal Democrats Dick Morris, Joe Lieberman and Artur Davis thought Romney would win.
the Conster
Does everyone now understand why he was so unpopular in Massachusetts? To know him is to loathe him.
MomSense
@lamh35:
This is the new dictator meme. He spies on all Americans, sends his IRS goons after his political opponents and probably tortures his assistants who screw up in a secret bunker below the Oval Office.
TenguPhule
A Distinct Lack of Suicide Bombers there to improve the atmosphere, I see.
Trollhattan
@Baud:
Or a honey badger. Or thirty honey badgers.
Ash Can
I’d sure as hell rather have these horse’s asses all glad-handing each other and flattering themselves in some snooty resort out west instead of in the White House.
NickT
@Trollhattan:
Tyrann – y!
Baud
@Ash Can:
Amen.
NickT
Also, joyous news:
Starbucks is officially of the Devil:
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/barton-you-cant-drink-starbucks-and-be-biblically-right
PsiFighter37
@Shortstop: I think you can’t count Artur Davis, since he officially changed his registration.
But goddamn, what a fucking asshole he is. So pissed off that Ron Sparks beat his sorry ass in the 2010 AL-Gov Democratic primary that he beats it for Virginia and switches teams. In it for #1…didn’t give a shit about the real issues.
Also, too, he was deluded if he ever thought he had a shot of winning that race, had he made it to the general election.
Trollhattan
Speaking of stuffed Republican talking corpses, WSJ bike-hater lady is doubling-down. She’s accomplished something unpossible–giving Willard a personality by contrast. STFU NYT lady.
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/06/bike-hater-dorothy-rabinowitz-wont-be-silenced.html
SiubhanDuinne
@jeffreyw: That is one seriously cute puppeh. KEE-YOOT!!
FlipYrWhig
@MomSense: Yup. And you can put it all together in a neat paranoid package: “Obama SHOULD be watching The Terrorists, but instead he’s watching YOU!” It explains Benghazi, the IRS, and this whole to-do.
quannlace
“His ideas conference, much like his campaign, had no specific agenda and would define itself over time, aides said. ”
****************
How old is Mitt now? He might want to finally start nailing down a few details of…you know, what he believes and stuff.
For the life of me, I can’t remember what his prez campaign stood for; beyond more tax cuts and de-regulation. And repealing everything Obama’d enacted. Still can’t believe he said he’d reinstate ‘Dont Ask, Don’t Tell’
SiubhanDuinne
@jeffreyw: Those are the best-looking brussels sprouts I’ve ever seen.
SiubhanDuinne
@patrick II:
Hahahahahahaha. Also too, LOL.
pokeyblow
Mitt Romney, on his nausea-inducing wife:
“We … we, uh, use Ann sparingly right now so that people don’t get tired of her.”
Nowhere near sparingly enough, in the event.
Emma
@NickT: yeah!
Mnemosyne
@NickT:
Some idjits in the high desert of California were talking about trying to do the same thing. The movement kinda died off after people pointed out to them that they have no visible means of support since there’s pretty much zero economic activity out there.
Mnemosyne
@Trollhattan:
I think we’ve all observed before that people like that are convinced that their free speech right is actually, “Everyone has to STFU and listen to me without a chance to respond.”
PsiFighter37
@quannlace: It stood for $$$$. Pure and simple.
Aside from that, there was absolutely zero justification why Willard Mittens Romney was running for president.
ETA: When he saw how Steve Schwarzman and Henry Kravitz got multiples times more wealthier than he did because he got out of the PE game early, I think it also became about measuring how big his dick was against his former peers.
jeffreyw
@SiubhanDuinne: He is!
The prophet Nostradumbass
@NickT: yeah, that guy’s a real prize. He’s also one of those “separation of church and state is a myth” types. A Texas Republican. In other words, a moron.
Jebediah
Shooting incident today near/at Santa Monica college. News is saying six victims, one shooter dead.
jeffreyw
@SiubhanDuinne: Damn phone browser. Ahem… He is!
Jebediah
@jeffreyw:
Not much better than an affectionate puppeh!
Beauzeaux
As the old saying goes — there are far more horses’ asses in the world than there are horses.
Remember when Ann was touted as Mitt’s “secret weapon”? I never understood where that could be coming from. Didn’t anyone actually look at her? Hear her speak? She has all the charisma of day-old pasta. A fact that became rapidly apparent in the campaign.
dr. luba
@lamh35: No, cord blood is the baby’s blood. The two never mix. Nutrients and oxygen are exchanged in the placenta across a very thin barrier.
And a good thing, too–if they did mix, mom’s blood could destroy the baby’s if they were incompatible.
JustRuss
Does the fact that I’m highly amused by the idea of Queen Anne hobbling her way through a hotel full well-heeled grifters make me a bad person?
Sad_Dem
@Beauzeaux: “She has all the charisma of day-old pasta.” Day-old pasta isn’t smarmy and condescending, and it’s good for something.
gvg
re #31: Mississippi actually has a good idea. It only sounds odd because you have heard so many bad ideas lately and you don’t know the background.
Cord blood is a new variation. the traditional requirement is blood typing and it’s been done for decades by about a third of all LARGE percent of all under 15 pregnancies come from incest. I don’t recall the exact amount but it was something like 30% by blood test which means blood relative incest I think probably not including stepfathers? I was really shocked when I was told a couple of years ago. When people think children are getting more sexual earlier…..they need to think again. It’s not choice in many cases. I was told this turned out to be the case across very different states north south liberal rural city leading religion etc.
This is the reason I ended up supporting minors access to the morning after pill. I’d like them to get counseling but am afraid it will just prevent them from asking. I’m not perfectly satisfied but won’t let the perfect be the enemy of good.
I’ll be surprised if Miss does this because I would expect them to be in denial about this but consider it a good thing overall.
mai naem
All these comments and nobody mentions whether they did a secret service type search of all resort employees so that Mittman won’t be caught making another 47 percent type comment?
Also too, the last piece about the billion dollar deal and downside? Any guess as to whether its about privatizing the post office, Amtrak or public education?
Omnes Omnibus
Jesus, I went to college with Schoenfeld; that’s fucking embarrassing.
Suffern ACE
@JGabriel: the police can suck it it up. The senators are fucking worried that they don’t get respect? Suck my balls…
fuckwit
Keep fucking that chicken.
lojasmo
Looking at buying a first generation Miata while on vacation in Portland, Or next week, and driving it home.
Looking forward to Cornerstone claiming that I have announced that I am gay, or that I am the person upon which barbie was modeled.
debbie
@Redshirt: @lamh35:
47% of hurricanes will always have it in for Mitt.