The Romney Apprentice: “I Like Being Able to Fire People Who Provide Services to Me”

Mitt Romney escaped Saturday night’s New Hampshire debate largely unscathed.

Despite the growing clamor that the former Bain Capital head is nothing more than a Gordon Gekko-style corporate raider who cares more about profits than workers, nobody seemed to land a significant blow on the candidate who’s poised to score a huge victory in Tuesday’s primary.

Romney on Monday seemed to step in it, though, when he tried to make a point about health insurance while running as far away from Massachusetts’ “Romneycare” as possible. He tried to explain how great it is to dump health insurance companies that provide poor services, but instead it came out this way: “I like being able to fire people who provide services to me.” Here’s the full quote:

It’s not the worst point in the world, and in some ways the pull-quote is taken largely out of context, but you can’t say “I like being able to fire people” on the campaign trail the day before a primary when there are several stories and videos circulating about how you’re a corporate raider.

What are Romney’s opponents doing with this? Gov. Rick Perry, in a bid to stay relevant at all costs, put out a ringtone featuring Romney’s statement on Monday. Wicked. Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman made his retort simple and easy: “Governor Romney enjoys firing people; I enjoy creating jobs.”

Romney spent much of Monday trying to clarify his remark and blame everyone else for taking it out of context. “I understand that in politics people are going to try and grasp at anything, take it out of context and make it something it’s not, and by the way that’s the nature of the process,” he said. “I’ve got to be an adult about it and recognize it goes with the territory.”

He later added, “I believe in the setting as I described this morning where people are able to choose their own doctor, choose their own insurance company. If they don’t like their insurance company or their provider, they can get rid of it. That’s the way America works.”

In the meantime, here are the most serious charges against Romney, starting with the Newt Gingrich-backed SuperPAC Winning Our Future’s mini-documentary trailer:

And here’s a new MoveOn.org ad featuring a conservative who got laid off from GS Technologies, a steel mill in Kansas City that was acquired by Bain Capital. That not only led to the layoffs of about 750 workers, but as Reuters reported, “Workers were denied the severance pay and health insurance they’d been promised, and their pension benefits were cut by as much as $400 a month. What’s more, a federal government insurance agency had to pony up $44 million to bail out the company’s underfunded pension plan. Nevertheless, Bain profited on the deal, receiving $12 million on its $8 million initial investment and at least $4.5 million in consulting fees.” This one really stings:

What do you think about Mitt’s comment in New Hampshire? Weigh in below…