Republican Primary Process puts its campaign bus in the gutter

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.  The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters. - Dwight D. Eisenhower

Well, after last night, I guess we know where the Republican bus is sitting.

Bain Capital and Mitt Romney: It was never about jobs

Mitt Romney certainly knows something about business. He knows how to play the investment game and can do it pretty well. To some degree, he saved the Salt Lake City Olympics from disaster, so I hear. He  has been said to have a strong work ethic and is frugal with his own life. But all this talk about being a job creator? Huh?
I went over to Bain Capital's web page and checked their "about us" page. Boldface added by me.  Nothin' about jobs here:

About Us

Established in 1984, Bain Capital is one of the world's leading private investment firms managing approximately $66 billion in assets under management. Our affiliated advisors make private equity, public equity, leveraged debt asset, venture capital, and absolute return investments across multiple sectors, industries, and asset classes. Since our inception, our competitive advantage has been grounded in a people-intensive, value-added investment approach that has enabled the firm to deliver industry-leading returns for our investors.

Bain's, and therefore Mitt's job was to make money for investors using the usual tricks of the investment trade. Jobs and workers are a means towards that end. If you don't need a tool, you don't buy it--its a senseless expense. Likewise with employees. Plus, if you can get a cheaper tool Made in China, you don't necessarily buy one made in U.S.A., i.e., that tool named you or me. 


From National Public Radio:
"What Bain Capital was in the business of doing was increasing the wealth of their investors," (Anderson) says. "In some cases, it meant expanding companies and growing. In some cases, they may have eliminated jobs. Job growth was never the goal. Job growth was the byproduct." --Howard Anderson, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has followed Bain's business for years.

I'm not so sure we need or want a Wall Street type Vulture Capitalist leading this nation, even if he is damn good at what he did at Bain. If, on the other hand, Mitt considers his new job to be the welfare of Joe Sixpack as well as Mr. Main Street Republican, maybe he can bring that immense energy and keen mind of his to everyone's benefit. In this essay he wrote for the NY Times, that seems quite possible. But this guy just seems as far removed from Joe Sixpack as the Earth is from Pluto.  Consider that if you are in the 99%. I don't know.

On the Republican side, I'm still rooting for Jon Huntsman. In a different time, I would be a GOP member of the likes of Jake Javits, Jack Kemp, and other main street East Coast Republicans. That party seems to have died.  I want to see both parties move off of the shoulders of the road. That's all I'll say for now.

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.  The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters. - Dwight D. Eisenhower

Panel Fails to Reach Deal on Plan for Deficit Reduction

The New York Times covers this dryly, but I think we have seen it all before.

3rd District Race heats up...sort of...

Undoubtedly watching FAUX News

A Taos businessman, Rick Newton, has entered the race for the 3rd district House of Representatives as a Republican candidate.  According to the New Mexican, however, he first has to move there from 1st District Albuquerque.   According to the Los Alamos Monitor,  as well as the New Mexican, Mr. Rick Newton promises to, among other things, eliminate the IRS and replace the current tax code with a flat tax. If that was all, we could have a rational discussion.

He's coming back to get us

However, and again according to the two newspapers, he also wishes to amend the U.S. Constitution to protect our democracy from the perils of Sharia Law and amend the wording of the 14th Amendment to protect us from immigrant babies. Ok, there is room for debate on the intent vs. present use of the 14th Amendment, too.

But  amend the Constitution to proscribe Sharia Law? Sigh.... is it too much to ask the Republican Party to keep to real issues rather than having its candidates barrage us with nonsense that used to be in the exclusive domain of the lunatic fringe?  If there is a credible concern about religious fanatics endangering the Constitution, it comes from much more traditional sources than Islamic fundamentalists. Try the Moral Majority's descendants, for starters. Let's check our tinfoil hats in before the primaries, OK?

First New Mexico,
then the world

This morning we hear an NPR story about political groups in Mississippi wanting to define a human being as existing from the act of fertilization.  Hmm...how does one know whether an egg has been fertilized? Will every fertile woman in Mississippi  have to be constantly monitored for the presence of a fertilized egg so it can be registered with the government and given a "creation certificate"? Would Mom be monitored by Family Protective Services so once she has conceived, the fetus would be protected by Big Government? "I'm sorry, my dear, but you had two beers last night. We are taking your fetus into protective custody...."  Of course if little one-celled Johnny or Janie doesn't implant, how do we know? If we did know, would we have a postmortem and death certificate?

Reality in the 3rd District:  
Dar al Islam. 
Are you scared yet?

Small wonder comedians are having trouble getting jobs. Reality trumps comedy. Earth to GOP: if you want a viable two party election in the 3rd District, please come up with some candidates with credible platforms.