stuck in the mittle

Bill Clinton Does Not Think Mitt Romney Should Be President

Photo: SAUL LOEB/2011 AFP

Bill Clinton does not think that Mitt Romney is the best guy to run the country, despite his “sterling” record at Bain Capital. This seems obvious, but it was a point the former president was forced to make as a result of his failure to sufficiently criticize the Republican candidate’s career as a corporate raider during a Thursday interview. Last night, at a rally for New Jersey Representative Bill Pascrell, Clinton explained that his words had been “twisted around.”

I said, you know, Governor Romney had a good career in business and he was a governor, so he crosses the qualification threshold for him being president,” Clinton said. “But he shouldn’t be elected, because he is wrong on the economy and all these other issues.

“So today, because I didn’t attack him personally and bash him, I wake up to read all these stories taking it out of context as if I had virtually endorsed him, which means the tea party has already won their first great victory: ‘We are supposed to hate each to disagree.’ That is wrong.”

The White House did its best to dismiss the episode, with spokesman John Earnest telling reporters, “It’s not apparent to me that President Clinton made news in this interview.” Maybe so, but he certainly did make a lot of Republican attack ad fodder.

Clinton Does Not Think Romney Should Be Elected