CNN's Soledad O'Brien spun Mitt Romney's words into a
dodging-the-question moment for the candidate on the matter of Bain
Capital, on Thursday's Starting Point. O'Brien was emphasizing Romney's
"reluctance" to mention his days at Bain, which had been the focus of
attack ads from the Obama campaign that O'Brien herself justified the
other day.
Specifically, she took Romney's interview [1]
with Time magazine where he was asked if he welcomed attention about
Bain. Romney had answered "of course" and then explained why the
American people were more interested in President Obama's record. CNN,
however, left out that explanation.
Romney
did also reference Bain Capital in the interview, but O'Brien didn't
report that. When pressed by Time's Mark Halperin to give his
presidential qualifications earned from his time at Bain, Romney touched
upon his experience in the energy sector.
"I understand that in some industries, the input cost of energy is a
major factor in whether an industry is going to locate in the United
States or go elsewhere. So, when, at Bain Capital, we started a new
steel company called Steel Dynamics in Indiana, the cost of energy was a
very important factor to the success of that enterprise," Romney told
Halperin.
O'Brien has noted before that Romney's Bain record could be a "big problem [2]"
for him, and emphasized on Thursday that he is side-stepping the story.
[H]e doesn't really answer the question, and many of his surrogates
don't either," she insisted.
When asked by Halperin whether he welcomed questions on Bain Capital,
Romney responded "Well, of course. I’d like to also focus on his
[Obama's] record. What is it that he’s done as the President of the
United States over the last four years?"
What he said next, CNN left out of the video clip, instead playing his
remarks before and after. "And the American people are interested in,
not so much in the history of where I was at Bain Capital, or that I
have understanding of the private sector, but instead, has the President
made things better for the American people?"
A transcript of the segment, which aired on Starting Point on May 24 at 8:03 a.m. EDT, is as follows:
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: So why so much reluctance to talk about Bain? I wonder
if you saw Mark Halperin's interview with Governor Romney, and I'm
talking about obviously Bain and his experience with a private equity
company. So this is the question that Mark Halperin asked the governor,
very straight forward.
(Video Clip)
MARK HALPERIN: So when the President says he wants to focus a lot of
the election debate on your career at Bain Capital, do you welcome that?
(End Video Clip)
O'BRIEN: And this is what Governor Romney said.
(Video Clip)
MITT ROMNEY, Republican presidential candidate: Well, of course. I'd
like to also focus on his record. What is it that he's done as the
President of the United States over the last four years?
Has he established the revitalization he promised he would bring to us?
Did he hold unemployment below eight percent? It's been, what, 39
months now. That hasn't happened.
(End Video Clip)
O'BRIEN: So he answers kind of a yes-no question with five other
questions to Mark Halperin. So Mark Halperin goes back and he says very
clearly is this issue relevant? And here's how the question went.
(Video Clip)
HALPERIN: – welcome scrutiny of your business record, is that right?
(End Video Clip)
O'BRIEN: And Governor Romney says this.
(Video Clip)
ROMNEY: Mark, what I can tell you is this. The fact is that I spent 25
years in the private sector. And that obviously teaches you something
that you don't learn if you haven't spent any time in the private
sector.
(End Video Clip)
O'BRIEN: So Senator Lee, here's my question for you. Because all of
this is a very straight forward yes-or-no question. Do you think Bain
should be on the table? Do you think the governor's record at Bain
should be something that he's willing to go through and parse through,
because he doesn't really answer the question, and many of his
surrogates don't either.