‘Bailout Bandits’ are Romney’s top three donors as he fires on Newt for consult work

In Florida, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has fired on former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, repeatedly emphasizing the speaker’s private sector work for the government sponsored enterprise Freddie Mac. Romney seems concerned about that, but the governor overlooks a major factor about the people backing him for president.

One preposterous suggestion Romney makes is the Gingrich’s consult work had something to do with the home mortgage meltdown. If Romney is the financial whiz he’s supposed to be, he knows better than that.

It’s really amazing that Romney would fire on Gingrich for anything related to mortgage lending.

Among Romney’s top campaign cash contributors are employees and others associated with a number of companies—Money Morning calls them ‘Bailout Bandits.’ As a matter of fact, his top three contributors are on the list. Others are too.

Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley are Romney’s top contributors. The companies of course didn’t directly contribute. As Open Secrets pointed out, “money came from the organizations' PACs, their individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families.”

As homeowners saw their own net worth tumble, Money Morning said:

“Because these ‘emergency’ Fed loans gave banks access to ultra-low (well-below-market) interest rates between August 2007 and April 2010, banks worldwide were able to earn an estimated $13 billion.”

If Romney hadn’t run an attack campaign from day one, I wouldn’t make much of this. But Monday morning on ‘Fox and Friends,’ Romney brought up Gingrich’s consult work.

No one on the couch asked Romney about the ‘bailout bandits.’

Just as bad was Romney’s talking about Gingrich’s reprimand as Speaker.

No one on the couch pointed out Gingrich was cleared.

Democrats already know all this, by the way.

(Commentary by Kay B. Day/Jan. 30, 2012)