McCain Camp Introduces "Bob The Boat Builder" -- CEO Of $67 Million Firm

Boston Globe:

Ever since John McCain discovered "Joe the Plumber," he has exalted "small business" owners -- inviting them to announce their professions on signs at rallies -- as the country's only virtuous economic movers.

But now McCain has begun to define the term upward, leaving no mogul or tycoon behind.

Read the whole story: Boston Globe

Comments

[Okieborn]

I will be so very very glad when this Presidential election is over and maybe just maybe I will never ever have to look at John Mccain or Sarah Palin !!!!!!

[Whinger]

And next week he'll introduce Manny The Mortgage lender and Hank The Ex Homeowner!

[SimonNZ]

And people say he's out touch.....­..........­..........

[thecanadian]

Obama - You first!
Your very Own Interactive Tax calculator.
Use it yourself and pass the link on to your friends, post on to every blog, make it your signature.
Put it on your own site.

Obama Tax Calculator. http://www.taxcutfacts.org

[proveit2me]

Country Club First

[MIVOTE]

Why does McCain call him 'Bob the Boat Builder' when the man makes fiberglass? Hummm? And, his company is no longer a small business but may have been 15 years ago.? WTF is he talking about.? Same as Joe the Plumber! Not really a plumber. This man will say or do anything.

[zippywpinhead]

what's next, his wife Cindy the bartender?

[CologneCitizen]

If a plumber can easily make 250K a year, the USA would not be in the mess they are in at the moment. There would be no housing crisis, nothing. The average íncome is probably more between 40.000 and 80,000 a year which is almost the same in Europe for average people. McCain is playing tricks with people who still think the Amerian dream is a choice they can make for themselves. That is why a huge number of the Republican voters always vote against their very own interests. Sad but true.

[SemiRock]

I love how Joe the Plumber is in line to make 250K but he can't pay his $1200 in outstanding taxes.

[brabra]

McCain camp hits back at 'diva' Palin
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/

[Chapmanp2]

Congratulations "Bob the boat builder" you're the new contestant on McCain is wrong...

[dem2mysoul]

Just plain folks! Does McCain know there are people out here who only make $30,40 or 50 K per year? And less than that? People working for paychecks and nor running businesses?
People who can't afford even one house?

I cannot believe that is economic message resonates with anyone but the very unenlightened and the very well-off.

[noamjunior]

McCain really should quit trying to make everyone's middle name "the"
http://www.celebitchy.com/17975/dont_trust_anyone_whose_middle_name_is_the/

[DinkSinger]

I'm an Obama supporter, but it is time to stop playing "gotca" especially when we don't have the facts.

If you read the linked "whole story" you will discover that "On Thursday in Sarasota, Governor Charlie Crist introduced J. Robert Long, the CEO of Marine Concepts as a "small businessma­n." The man McCain dubbed "Bob the Boat Builder" spent, as Crist noted, most of his career at Wellcraft Marine, which reported revenues of $67 million last year, according to Yahoo! Finance." It is true that Bob used to work for Wellcraft Marine, in fact his current company says he held "the top position for over 18 years" but he bought his current company, Marine Concepts, in 1993. Wellcraft is not a small business today but it may well have been 15 years ago.

All evidence I can find indicates that Marine Concepts is indeed a small business. It does not build boats. Instead it is a "fiberglass tooling company". It appears that most of its sales are to boat builders. In the company's latest newsletter Bob states "The design and tooling team consists of 130 employees". This number does not include sales and administrative staff. I found what appears to be a picture of the entire staff on their website at http://www.marineconcepts.com/our_team.php. Sure seems like a small business to me.

Hensley & Co. is certainly not a small business.

[LiarLiarIraqsOnFire]

A Small Business would be more like the restaurant my sister owns & runs(less than 25 employees), or the small livestock farm my parents own(2 employees), or the beauty shop my aunt owns (4 employees) or the tool & die shop her husband owns (4 employees) or the hardware store his parents owned until Mall-Wart (NOT a small business) forced them to close up shop & retire early.

$67Mil in annual revenue disqualifies a business from being 'SMALL'.

[DinkSinger]

The company that had $67 million is revenue is Wellcraft which Bob the boat builder left over 15 years ago, not his present company, Marine Concepts. The SBA standard for restaurants, beauty shops, and hardware stores is $7 million in annual revenue. For livestock farms, the standard is only $750,000. The standard for tool and die makers is 500 employees.

[rachelwebster]

a small business does not have 130 employees.­...thats a reatlively medium or maybe even large business

[DinkSinger]

The Small Business Administration has established standards which define small businesses in various categories. They can be found in Title 13, Section 121.201 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Some of the standards are based on number of employees, others on receipts. I'm not sure what category covers "Fiberglass Tooling" , but for example a boat builder is small if it has 500 or fewer employees. For beer and ale merchant wholesalers, like Cindy McCain, the standard is 100 employees.

[Onepebbleinthelandslide]

When I worked for Wellcraft in the late 70’s through the mid 80’s, during the early years of the Bob Long era, there were roughly 2000 employees. Wellcraft is owned by a parent corporation, Gen Mar, who also owns Larson, Lund, Four Winns, Hatteras and several other boat manufactures. I seriously doubt Wellcraft, on its own, ever grossed 67 million in it’s best years but I’ve no doubt Gen Mar has been turning such profits for decades.

What Marine Concepts does is make masters and molds of new models on a subcontract basis for boat companies. Engineering, prototyping and new model development is one of the biggest expenses a manufacture takes on. Fortunately much of that cost qualifies large companies for tax breaks and believe me, Bob Long is well aware of this and sets his fee’s accordingly. His services for all the tooling for a new product cost anywhere from a hundred K to hundreds of thousands of dollars per boat.

[Onepebbleinthelandslide]

Now, Bob is a smart fellow and I’m not about to begrudge him his successes. He used his years in the local industry wisely, making connections and figuring out an angle for his new company, Marine Concepts. He invested in large five axis routers that carve the rough tools out of high density foam, which is becoming the industry norm for those who can afford the technology. These routers can carve in a couple of days what used to take a group of highly skilled workers several weeks to produce by traditional methods.

The problem, as I see it, is that he helped usher in the elimination of hundreds of well paying, skilled positions at dozens of boat companies in Florida and other states, replacing them with a few minimum wage jobs that anyone with basic body shop skills can fill.

Over the years I watched the advent of the computer, and the opportunism of CEO’s such as Mr. Long, who tout themselves as modern day Henry Fords, as they “streamlined” operational costs, cut out all but a very few skilled positions, while patting themselves on the back with bonuses that enable people to afford nifty little shops like the one Bob the boat builder owns.

Meanwhile, old Bob gets paraded around on stage with Governor Charlie as a pillar of the community for all of his fine work, heh! So yeah, a good little republican he definitely is and yet another fine example of McCain’s hypocrisy.

[Onepebbleinthelandslide]

contd.

Now, Bob is a smart fellow and I’m not about to begrudge him his successes. He used his years in the local industry wisely, making connections and figuring out an angle for his new company, Marine Concepts. He invested in large five axis routers that carve the rough tools out of high density foam, which is becoming the industry norm for those who can afford the technology. These routers can carve in a couple of days what used to take a group of highly skilled workers several weeks to produce by traditional methods.

The problem, as I see it, is that he helped usher in the elimination of hundreds of well paying, skilled positions at dozens of boat companies in Florida and other states, replacing them with a few minimum wage jobs that anyone with basic body shop skills can fill.

Over the years I watched the advent of the computer, and the opportunism of CEO’s such as Mr. Long, who tout themselves as modern day Henry Fords, as they “streamlined” operational costs, cut out all but a very few skilled positions, while patting themselves on the back with bonuses that enable people to afford nifty little tax shelters like the one Bob the boat builder built.

Meanwhile, old Bob gets paraded around on stage with Governor Charlie as a pillar of the community for all of his fine work, heh! So yeah, a good little republican he definitely is and yet another fine example of McCain’s hypocrisy.

[gd h]

McC has always dragged out "small business" in every campaign. And never dragged them out for any reason in between campaigns. And a small business, to him, is as defined by the feds (small business administration) as any business with fewer than 500 employees. I can't immediately find out how many much smaller businesses there are, in comparison, but from years of experience with small business counseling, I can tell you that a huge proportion are way under 500 employees, more on the order of 10 to 50, and 50 is huge. And a company of 50 may, not likely but may, net $250,000 a year. This "small business" argument is so, so cynical--and yet, most of these "really small" business owners watch a steady diet of the faux channel and eat it up. Talk about the "low information voter". It is really sad, because they really are voting, again and again, against their best interests, and then to rationalize their foolish and ill-informed vote, they get into the culture war thing. Tragic. And McCain, despite his bad intent and denial about that, knows full well what's going on. A man of honor, indeed.

[DMcD]

I have a small business and have noted that at no time, in no way, have the Republicans "ever" helped make 'anything' concerning my small business, the slightest bit better. Big promises, no results.

[MsYellowDog]

This entire campaign has been so cynical as to be utterly gut-wrench­ing.Someti­mes I literally get out of breath with disgust and anger when I see the depths of pandering McThug will do,thinking he is improving his chances of being elected.I certainly hope enough of the rest of the American people have seen through his abysmal ploys and machinations!

[Whinger]

What about GI Joe The Homeless Veteran sleeping rough on the streets, avoided like the plague!

[DMcD]

Exactly ! ..... and for that matter, the increasing numbers of "Joe the Homeless and family" living on the streets.

[2008FedUP]

Oh, so very true. The sad part is most of them cannot vote.