Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said Wednesday that Mitt Romney would not be a good president because he wasn't very good at being Massachusetts governor.
"Think of me as a reference check," he said. "In Massachusetts, Mitt Romney had the one job in his life that's closest to being president, and he wasn't all that good at it."
Menino said that when Romney was governor, Massachusetts was nearly last in job creation, and added that Romney raised taxes that were disguised as fees, and increased the state debt.
"Mitt Romney is a decent guy," he said. "As the mayor of Boston, I worked with him when he was governor. Much of the time, we worked together pretty well. But he made a lot of decisions that were bad for our state — and now he wants to carry those wrong-headed policies to the rest of our country?"
"Mitt Romney may come from Boston, but his campaign's values aren't Boston values," he added. "Because in Boston, we know this country didn't become great by excluding folks and leaving each other on their own.
"In Boston, you know what we call immigrants? Mom and Dad," he said to cheers. "You know what we call same-sex couples? Our friends. Our brothers and sisters. And in Boston, we know government isn't the answer or the enemy. It's a partner."
