Will Cain Takes On Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Didn’t Obama Lay Off People Too?

In a heated tête-à-tête CNN’s Starting Point on Friday, Will Cain tussled with Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz over her contention that presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney‘s record at Bain showed he frequently laid workers off. “It seems to me the criticism you’re offering is that Mitt Romney went into businesses and laid people off,” said Cain. “But wouldn’t the apples to apples comparison be that’s exactly what Barack Obama did when he touts the auto industry as a feather in his cap. Didn’t the federal government and Barack Obama go in and layoff thousands of autoworkers to save that industry?”

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“I’m so glad you used that example,” Wasserman Schultz hit back. “That’s another key difference between the way that Mitt Romney would run this country and the way Barack Obama has been. Mitt Romney said we should have let Detroit go bankrupt.”

Cain interrupted Wasserman

Schultz and forced her to address Obama’s record on the auto bailouts.

“You’re transitioning into — with all due respect, you transitioned into that one. Didn’t they lay off workers,” Cain pressed.

“You asked me a question. I’m going to answer the question, Wasserman Schultz responded sharply and explained that Obama helped save the auto industry. “I may not answer it the way you want me to but I’ll answer that.”

“…Did he not save that industry by laying off workers at the auto companies?” Cain interjected.

“No,” Wasserman Schultz started before Cain again interrupted her.

“And didn’t Mitt Romney produce net job growth through all of the companies that Bain owned when sometimes he had to lay off workers at some companies,” Cain continued.

Wasserman Schultz took the opportunity to draw a sharp distinction between Obama and Romney’s records:

Barack Obama was not, is not and never has been the CEO of any of those automobile companies. Mitt Romney was the CEO of Bain Capital and had direct control over decisions at those companies that Bain took over. He was directly involved in whether to invest or whether to drive those companies into bankruptcy. He controlled — he was the puppeteer and people lost their jobs because of his decisions and creditors never got paid because of his decisions and he and his

partners made hundreds of millions of dollars at the expense of those individuals and creditors. I think voters should have a right to examine that record.

Watch the tense exchange below via CNN: