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Romney thinks we need more foreclosures??
Wow. If this doesn't paint a picture of how out of touch Romney is with people who are losing their homes, I'm not sure what does. I guess he wants to make it very clear as he enters Las Vegas (the forecosure capital of the country) for the debate that he has much more interest in helping banks than in helping middle class Americans.
In an interview with the Las Vegas Review Journal, Mitt Romney spoke out against stopping the large number of home foreclosures.
“As to what to do for the housing industry specifically — and are there things that you can do to encourage housing? One is, don’t try and stop the foreclosure process,” said Romney. “Let it run its course, and hit the bottom, allow investors to buy up homes, put renters in them, fix the homes up, and let it turn around and come back up.
“The Obama administration has slow-walked the foreclosure process that long existed, and as a result we still have a foreclosure overhang.”
He also added: “I think the idea of helping people refinance homes to stay in them is one that’s worth further consideration. But I’m not signing on until I find out who’s gonna pay, and who’s gonna get bailed out. And that’s not something that we know all the answers to yet.”
Democrats already pouncing.
From TPM:
Democrats see an opening in Mitt Romney’s comments that the government needs to let the foreclosure crisis hit “the bottom” rather than intervening. In a call with reporters, DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse slammed Romney’s remarks and used them to highlight Romney’s vast personal wealth.
“Talking yesterday in an editorial board meeting in the state with the nation’s highest foreclosure rate [Nevada], Romney said we should just let the foreclosure crisis that has devastated so many families run its course,” Woodhouse said. “It is irresponsible, but not surprising…coming from someone who made a fortune firing workers and sending their jobs overseas. What else can we expect from someone who thinks corporations are people?”
Woodhouse also noted Romney’s personal real estate holdings: most notably a $12 million house in California that the former Massachusetts governor is tearing down to build a new complex several times its size.
Democrats have been more aggressive in bringing up Romney’s personal finances lately, a preview of a general election that looks like it will feature President Obama at his most populist. But Romney is really making it easy for them lately: an attack ad juxtaposing his foreclosure comments with his multiple houses almost writes itself.
I am glad to see Democrats taking early advantage of these incredible remarks by Romney. I gotta wonder, does Romney actually believe foreclosures will disappear if we let the problem just bleed itself off? Or is he really so far out of touch that even he doesn't know what he stands for? And about the multiple houses that Romney owns, I am flashing back to John McCain in the previous election and the many houses he owned.