Gekko would have liked firing people. But in Romney's case, there was more to the story, namely, that he was talking about firing people who offer bad service, in particular, insurance companies. Nevertheless, the "firing" quote helped foster a narrative of Romney as a predatory capitalist. The surprise, to some, is the direction from which this attack is coming: his own party. A Newt Gingrich super PAC has taken this tack in a blunt commercial, and Rick Perry called Romney a "vulture capitalist." To pundits on the right, these criticisms have crossed a line.
Rush Limbaugh said Gingrich was parroting the New York Times and the recent protest movement. "I don't know why the Occupy Wall Street people are protesting Newt," said Limbaugh. "They're singing from the same hymnal on this."
True, a Times editorial this week said, "The problem with Mr. Romney's pitch is the kind of businessman he was: specifically, a buyer of flailing companies who squeezed out the inefficiencies (often known as employees) and then sold or merged them for a hefty profit.. . . This kind of leveraged capitalism, which first caught fire in the 1980s, is one of the reasons for the growth in the income gap, tipping the wealth in the economy toward the people at the top."
Guess who agrees with that. Rick Perry, whose "vulture capitalism" comment drew a retort from Sean Hannity. "It almost sounds like Occupy Wall Street," Hannity complained. "It doesn't sound like someone who is governing Texas as a conservative." Perry didn't back down. "There is a real difference between venture capitalism and vulture capitalism," he told Hannity, adding, "The fact of the matter is he's going to have to face up to this at some time or another."
