Operation “Piss Off Mitt” Seems to be Working

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McKay Coppins:

“[Romney] has said Obama’s a nice fellow, he’s just in over his head,” the adviser said. “But I think the governor himself believes this latest round of attacks that have impugned his integrity and accused him of being a felon go so far beyond that pale that he’s really disappointed. He believes it’s time to vet the president. He really hasn’t been vetted; McCain didn’t do it.”

Indeed, facing what the candidate and his aides believe to be a series of surprisingly ruthless, unfounded, and unfair attacks from the Obama campaign on Romney’s finances and business record, the Republican’s campaign is now prepared to go eye for an eye in an intense, no-holds-barred act of political reprisal, said two Romney advisers who spoke on condition of anonymity. In the next chapter of Boston’s pushback — which began last week when they began labeling Obama a “liar” — very little will be off-limits, from the president’s youthful drug habit, to his ties to disgraced Chicago politicians.

We can probably dispense with the notion that Obama has never been “vetted.” It’s been a favorite among the conspiracy-minded right ever since 2008, but it mostly just consists of fantasies about Jeremiah Wright, missing college transcripts, anti-colonialism, secret socialist ties, etc. etc. Romney’s team knows perfectly well that it’s largely the province of nutcases.

Still, the “vetting” pretense gives them cover to say lots of nasty things about Obama in hopes that eventually some of it will stick. I sort of doubt that it will, since Obama’s been in office for four years and most people outside of the hardcore right already have a pretty settled view of him as a cautious, sober-minded, mainstream Democrat. But I guess you never know.

It’s dangerous, though. If Coppins is right, Romney is under the peculiar impression that Obama’s attacks on his business background are wildly ruthless and out of bounds. This is odd since Romney has been attacked for his business background repeatedly in the past. If it seems more intense this time, it’s only because this kind of thing is always more intense in a presidential race.

Obama is unquestionably running a tough campaign, but if Romney is losing his cool over questions about his taxes and his stewardship of Bain Capital, he’s just showing he’s not ready for the big leagues. Wild countercharges about Obama’s teenage drug use will only confirm that. It’s obvious that Obama is hoping to get under Romney’s skin and provoke him into doing something stupid, and right now it looks like Romney may be about to take the bait.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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