Mitt, Like A Boss

Mitt's latest gaffe from the past is from June, from a conference call with members of the National Federation of Independent Business, where Mr. Romney apparently suggested that America's bosses should make it clear that they would have to fire employees if President Obama was re-elected:

I hope you make it very clear to your employees what you believe is in the best interest of your enterprise and therefore their job and their future in the upcoming elections. And whether you agree with me or you agree with President Obama, or whatever your political view, I hope, I hope you pass those along to your employees. 

Considering the number of awful bosses who are doing just that, Mitt suddenly has himself a big, big problem.

The call raises the question of whether the Romney campaign is complicit in the corporate attempts to influence employees' votes that have been recently making headlines. On Sunday, In These Times broke the news that Koch Industries mailed at least 45,000 employees a voter information packet that included a flyer endorsing Romney and a letter warning, “Many of our more than 50,000 U.S. employees and contractors may suffer the consequences [of a bad election result], including higher gasoline prices, runaway inflation, and other ills.” Last week, Gawker obtained an email in which the CEO of Westgate Resorts, Florida billionaire David Siegel, informed his 7,000 employees that an Obama victory would likely lead to layoffs at his company. This week, MSNBC’s Up with Chris Hayes unveiled an email by ASG Software Solutions CEO Arthur Allen in which he, too, warned employees that an Obama second term would spell layoffs.

And now to hear that Romney is not only in support of these efforts, but actively telling business owners to do this, makes it pretty clear which candidate is on the side of the middle-class American worker.

It sure as hell isn't Mitt.  Spread the word.