With GOP Help, Obama Confident of Reelection

I'm not talking about the the president's STFU speech that kicked off his reelection campaign last night. Someone pulling a Joe Wilson by shouting "You Lie!" would have been gratuitously stating the obvious.

Yeah, he got off some good one-liners, like how he wants to create jobs, and his deadpanned "everyone plays by the same set of rules" jape had 'em rolling in the aisles.  Believe it or not, there still are some boobs on the left who actually believe that crap...

But critics believe he was serious when he rolled out his proposal to squeeze the nation's wealthy non-liberals in giant California wine presses until every last drop of filthy lucre is drained from their lifeless husks.

So far the GOP is on track to reelect Obama...

Newt’s now like one of those nuked Japanese film creatures that not only was not destroyed but is back, bigger, badder and more cheesed off than ever.

Gingrich alone finally figured out that if it’s red meat that’s wanted, you might as well rip chunks of it from the flesh of the unctuous moderators and throw it right at the ravenous studio audience. (Michael Walsh)

Many of my conservative friends are dying to see Newt take apart Obama face-to-face in a presidential debate but it aint.  gonna.  happen.

If Newt wins, which is what the press wants, and if Obama decides to debate him (No rule says he has to, and it's easy to invent a few crises as a dodge. Hell, Obama's entire administration has been one long crisis)... 

 OK, to start again, if there is a debate, the rules will be so gentlemen's kabuki, no looking at one another or addressing one another, it will be a big flop, a Newtus Interruptus that leaves rightwingers deflated, Newt looking his old churlish self, and Obama emerging more presidential than ever.

Newt is a volatile admixture of kooky ideas, phony conservative populism and outsize self-regard. He is a rambling, voluble mountain of operatic bloviating rhetoric, with hot steam and progressive demiurges straining just below the surface, building up pressure at the certainty of an eventual explosive escape.

Newt is an over-inflated hot air balloon, and the fire is raging.  Team Obama is just waiting for the opportune moment to needle him and enjoy the spectacular explosion.

Romney is a board-stiff middle manager full of platitudinous twaddle and Ron Paul's coalition of neo-nazis, dope smokers, AOW rabble and the curiously confused will never hold together. Oh, yeah, and then there's that Santorum guy, what's his name...?

But still...

We may end up saddled with a half-assed presidential candidate, but the dems’ problems are legion.  First and foremost, they are stuck with the worst president in the history of the United States. Having Gaffmaster Joe on his crew doesn’t help matters. Everybody hates Obamacare, and finally people are waking up to his using the constitution as toilet paper. Even legal scholars in his fan club think his recess appointments could be overturned by a judge.

So, we're facing a craptacular election year, and we'll all be sick of politics and we'll all hate each other by the time it's all over.  That's what politics does, and state-sponsored progressivism that confiscates it all, throws it in a public pot and encourages us to fight over it just makes the rancor extra spicy.

The Pain of Bain Falls Mainly on the Insane

Romney's time at Bain is the best, most defensible part of his record

Newt Gingrich, fresh off of making tens of millions as a DC insider access provider to the rich and famous, has a lot of chutzpah criticizing Romney, and by implication, capitalism. Operatic bloviator Gingrich sternly intones how Romney has some explaining to do, while laughably characterizing his gold-plated lobbying as "history consulting."  Sure, DC is constantly clamoring for the services of historians.

Romney made billions and saved companies while Newt danced and sang on the Good Ship Freddie Mac, and we are still paying for the malfeasance that went on there while The Great Historian was collecting his government-funded fees.  And only raw politics unencumbered by principle can explain why the inarticulate governor of America's free enterprise job engine would would join in on the gang attack.

Private equity is a route firms in trouble often take.  Usually, the only alternative left is going out of business, resulting in everyone losing their job.

First, a brief explanation of private equity from economy reporter Robert Samuelson. I recommend the entire article. It is a dispassionate, fact-based examination with blessedly lucid explanations:

Private equity refers to groups of investors buying the stock of an existing company, thereby “taking it private.” Because most purchases use borrowed money (“leverage”), these transactions are known as “leveraged buyouts.” Once the investor group has control, it tries to improve profitability by lowering costs and increasing sales. The hope is to resell the business at a huge gain; this usually takes three to 10 years. In 2010, private-equity firms invested $148 billion in 1,234 U.S. companies, says the Private Equity Growth Capital Council. (WaPo - Samuelson)

For those leftists of all parties still bawling about Bain, investment banker and Obama man Steve Rattner comes to Romney's defense.

Bain Capital is not now, nor has it ever been, some kind of Gordon Gekko-like, fire-breathing corporate raider that slashed and burned companies, immolating jobs wherever they appear in its path.

Wall Street has its share of the “vulture capitalists” that Texas Gov. Rick Perry enjoyed mocking in South Carolina earlier this week. But Romney was almost the furthest thing from Larry the Liquidator. (Rattner - Politico)

Don't Blame Bain -- Blame Government Tax Policy

First, it’s fair game to question the amounts of debt that are sometimes used in leveraged buyouts. While higher debt usually means higher returns — because debt is cheaper than equity, thanks in part to its tax deductibility — it also means higher risk of bankruptcy.

Bain had less than its share of bankruptcies, but it had a few — it appears four — that are particularly troubling. In all those cases, when the portfolio companies initially showed signs of promise, Bain took advantage of their progress to borrow more money, which it took out as a dividend. Later, the fortunes of each company turned down, ultimately into insolvency.

When Bain “releveraged” those companies and took the cash out, the investment managers of course had no idea that the companies would later falter. But with the benefit of hindsight, taking a more conservative approach and refraining from squeezing these dividends out of the companies would certainly have been more prudent. (Rattner - Politico)

The liberal Rattner concludes...

It’s certainly fair game for any candidate’s opponents to dig into his record. But in Romney’s case, focusing on questions about his principles — and his current, staunchly conservative ones — could be more productive than trying to rewrite the firm’s history.    (Rattner - Politico)

Indeed.  Go after Romney on his liberal record and statist reflexes, but his Bain actions appear to be on the up and up.  Upon comparison, Obama is clearly the superior job-destroyer and money waster.

Which is worse?  Greedy Wall Street bankers making money by saving (or sometimes dismantling) sinking companies, or rapacious federal flying monkeys snatching tens and hundreds of billions from innocent citizens and blowing it on green energy  failures and government-funded car fires?

Finance is only one part of capitalism.  To put all of this in a larger context, I recommend Adam Davidson's excellent article in Atlantic, Making it in America, where he gives us insight into manufacturing in America.

Further Reading:

The Great Bain Diversion
The Truth about Bain and Jobs
The Battle of Bain Capital
Romney Doesn't Need to Apologize
Does Romney have the Right Kind of Business Background?

Gingrich: That Pig Won’t Fly

While GOP voters are in the irrational grips of Newt-mania (he's the least conservative candidate in the race), good columnists are reminding us about Newt Gingrich. You read them and go, “oh, yeah… I forgot all that…”

On Paul Ryan’s budget plans, Rich Lowry explains that many on the right had questions, but Gingrich had to bombastically dismiss the plan as “rightwing social engineering.”  It took a vigorous scolding from conservative elder statesman Bill Bennett to force a Newt climbdown.

Only Gingrich, though, felt compelled to take a rhetorical flamethrower to the document endorsed by almost every House Republican.

He can’t help himself. Gingrich prefers extravagant lambasting when a mere distancing would do, and the over-arching theoretical construct to a mundane pander. He is drawn irresistibly to operatic overstatement — sometimes brilliant, always interesting, and occasionally downright absurd. (Rich Lowry – Newt the Unreliable)

And there’s also the little matter of Gingrich having a long history of his own social engineering experimentation, from Fannie and Freddie to global warming and health care...

Mr. Gingrich’s ability to reach leaders like Mrs. Clinton was a selling point for the Center. A PowerPoint presentation for prospective members advertised its “contacts at the highest levels” of federal and state government. Paying $200,000 a year for the top-tier membership, it said, “increases your channels of input to decision makers” and grants “access to top transformational leadership across industry and government.” (Commentary - Gingrich was an Influence Peddler)

Gingrich needs to come out singing “I Saw the Light” if he wants to remain credible in the face of his substantially statist record. As a warm up, he also needs to face up to his DC power player past and stop the ridiculous “outsider” pose. His Center for Health Transformation, while perfectly legal, was a classic milk-the-taxpayer beltway bonanza.

I understand that people can change, and politicians more than most, since they compete for power under constantly shifting ground. Maybe Newt’s changed, who knows? How would we know? His promiscuous mind has produced flamboyant government plans by the wagonload. Grandiose agendas and melodic musings are his imperial domain. Is there anything he hasn’t thought of?

A Lust for Ideas

My problem with him is that he is an egghead, more enamored of shiny new ideas than with governing from a core set of well thought out principles. We don’t need an intellectual thrill seeker in the White House, and Newt has shown himself to be an edge junky looking for the next cerebral high.

He belongs in the lofty forums of Davos and Aspen, not in the White House, where he would morph into an intellectually aroused Anthony Wiener, taking pictures of his tumescent ideas and flashing them, unwanted, into the homes of unsuspecting citizens. We don’t need that.

We don’t need theoretical experimentation and thought titillation from a president; we need principled conservative leadership, and Gingrich has no track record of that.

Further Reading:
George Will - GOP's Front Runners
Ramesh Ponnuru makes a convincing case for why Mitt’s the One.
Charles Krauthammer sizes it up: Krauthammer – Newt vs Mitt
Bill Bennett Schools Newt Gingrich

So Much We Know That Just Ain't So

Loose Links

I don't know how you guys roll, but I generally bookmark things I find interesting and potentially blog-worthy.  I always end up with more links than posts, and I figure it's a shame to just throw them away.  Here are four quick bites for your Sunday..

Christopher Hitchens slams Noam Chomsky

Some of you may be only vaguely familiar with Noam Chomsky, that lecturing hero of the America-hating international left.  Shunned here at home, he travels the globe with the grateful earnestness of one who has finally found credulous fools willing to listen to his 9/11 troofer nonsense.  Euro-lefties and third-worlders eat up his contradictory message that "America deserved it" and "Osama didn't do it, maybe it was a neo-con Jewish conspiracy."

Hitchens focuses like a laser beam on the Chomskyite "cognitive dissonance" as he describes traveling in the Middle East and ...

"...meeting the hoarse and aggressive person who first denies that Osama Bin Laden was responsible for the destruction of the World Trade Center and then proceeds to describe the attack as a justified vengeance for decades of American imperialism." (Slate)

He proceeds to dismantle such America haters in a crisp, acerbic fashion.  This is a good one to save for the 10th Anniversary of 9/11.

T Boone Pickpockets is at it Again

His Quixotic windmill plan flopped a few years back when we learned the windmills would be powered not by wind, but by billions in taxpayer funds whooshing into Pickens' pockets.  Now he's back, this time with a different angle involving gas and hot air.

We should challenge all grand progressive projects with one question.  Is it economically viable?  If yes, then the private sector will jump at investing in it.  End of story--No taxpayer money needed. 

"Fair Trade" is a Crock

Dalibor Rohac provides a public service by exposing "Fair Trade" for the guilty liberal feel good scam that it is.  Only a naive liberal could believe such fairy tales.  If they think America's rich and powerful are rapacious, they should travel to the third world. 

And the main benefit flows to fair-trade cooperatives -- groups of landowners, not laborers. The certification includes no incentives for the owners to pay higher wages to farmworkers, who tend to be poorer and more vulnerable. (NY Post - Dalibor Rohac)

Newt's Operatic Flameout

And finally, Rich Lowry at National Review has the best take on Newt's latest flameout involving his characterizing the Ryan plan as "Rightwing social engineering."  I love Lowry's vivid use of the language.  I wish I could write like that...

Gingrich’s hesitation about the Ryan plan is understandable and shared by other potential GOP candidates. Only Gingrich, though, felt compelled to take a rhetorical flamethrower to the document endorsed by almost every House Republican.

He can’t help himself. Gingrich prefers extravagant lambasting when a mere distancing would do, and the over-arching theoretical construct to a mundane pander. He is drawn irresistibly to operatic overstatement — sometimes brilliant, always interesting, and occasionally downright absurd.(NRO - Rich Lowry)

Have a happy Sunday!

Bill Bennett Schools Newt Gingrich over Paul Ryan Comments

Bill Bennett is a model of staunch but polite conservatism

Bill Bennett is a national treasure. He provides children and parents a world of humanities and history education with “The Book of Virtues” and the “America, The Last Best Hope,” definitive volumes of classical literature and American History.

In addition to being the rare beacon of conservatism and common sense on CNN, he is also the professor of morning talk radio. No bombast, no liberal bashing, just crystal clear logic and an honest, educational examination of the issues.  And he makes it fun.

I listen to him on the way to work in the morning, and it is refreshing to hear him address the issues of the day in a thoughtful, philosophical manner (he has a PhD in Philosophy as well as a law degree.) His application of logic is astringent and unbiased and he does it all with “Intelligence, Candor and Goodwill,” the watchwords of his show.

Newtered Gingrich

Dr. Bennett had Newt Gingrich on Tuesday morning, and he completely dismantled poor Newt over his stupid comments about Ryan’s budget plan. Please go listen to this segment to see how it’s done. No personal attacks, no shouting, just a merciless examination of what newt said.

You could hear Newt squirming, fumbling and backpedaling in the face of Bennett’s powerful onslaught. I have no sympathy for Newt, but it was still painful to listen to.

Newt starts out with the audacious claim that the Washington establishment is afraid of his candidacy, which is laughable since he is a member of said establishment.

The fun starts at the 3:40 point. Bennett confronts Newt with his exact language, asking why he attacked Ryan. Newt responds with a cloud of plaintive bluster, and Bennett becomes impatient and intones in his deep rumble, “Let’s play the tape.” Bennett focuses in on his phrase “Right-Wing Social Engineering,” and it’s all over for the blabbering egotistical blunderbuss; Newt’s a dead man walking at this point, and he doesn’t even know it.

"A False Equivalency"

He charges Gingrich with equating Ryan’s plan with Obamaism and asks why Newt is “shooting at him from the rear.”  Going on to point out that unlike Obama, Ryan has opened a dialog on his plan,  Bennett reduces Newt to a whiny, sputtering third grader caught by the principle shooting spitwads at the teacher

Bennett throws him a bone and appeals to his sense of ego, “You’re a brilliant man, an intellectual,” displaying a fatherly magnanimity while still not conceding one iota of his argument.

The fireworks are over at 8:15 with Newt reduced to bleating out some weak excuses, and effusive praise for Paul Ryan. Bennett let him up because there is no use in completely pulverizing your opponent. The facts stood for all to see, it was obvious. Bennett won in a knockout. He didn’t need to gloat.

After the break, Bill generously offers Newt advice on how to extricate himself, talking it through as a battered Newt smartly seizes the opportunity to perform a rhetorical climbdown. Bennett allows Newt to reclaim some dignity after the dressing down, switching to a matter-of-fact discussion of Newt's pre-canned talking points. Bennett then concludes by reinforcing his central point, that there is no equivalency between Ryan and Obama and that Newt need to explicitly make that clear. Newt is “yup, yupping” in the background as the segment closes, .

This is how an intelligent gentleman argues his case.  Bennett's  intellectual stare was withering and unblinking, but he remained polite and focused on the facts. Thank you Dr. Bennett for another stellar lesson in debate and argumentation.

Newt apologized to Ryan on Tuesday, but I still think he's toast.  Not just toast, but yesterday's toast.

http://youtu.be/uuo3dBP431k
http://www.billbennett.com/