There’s been a lot of chatter over the last few days about whether super-wealthy candidates get a hard rap in US politics or whether Mitt Romney is being held to a higher or harder standard. Romney is probably the wealthiest man ever to run for President, even in inflation adjusted dollars. (There are some claims that Washington was wealthier but it’s based on a total misreading of the value of land during the period.) But certainly there have been many extremely wealthy men who’ve run for President and won — Roosevelts, one Kennedy, a couple Bushes, etc.
But all of this talk ignores a fact so salient and obvious that it’s hard to fathom how some are nevertheless oblivious to it. Having vast wealth and aggressively working the law and tax code to avoid taxes is a very different thing if your policy agenda is geared almost entirely to benefit the super wealthy. If you’re a gazillionaire and your main pitch is to cut taxes on gazillionaires that’s just gonna put a bit more emphasis on your wealth. This logic should not be difficult to grasp. Read More
I’m a few days late to this JPL video showing how the Curiosity rover currently en route to Mars will make its landing next month, but it’s too cool not to share: Read More
This week’s prize goes to the Breitbart crew, who posit that the Olympics will be a two-week long infomercial for erstwhile Olympics savior Mitt Romney. Seemingly they’ve forgotten that nobody will care about that, whereas a great deal of attention will fall on the Romneys’ exotically named dressage horse Rafalca (pronounced RrrrrrraFALllllca).
House Dems feeling pretty good about the longevity of Obamacare, and I think they’re right on the historical parallels.
After Michael Steele slagged the RNC’s “outreach” to African Americans as nothing more than a website “with some black faces on it,” I wanted to see what that website looked like. But we couldn’t find it on the RNC’s site. Turns out there isn’t one yet, even though CNN ran a story on the imminent launch, complete with a mockup, back in April. As Steele would say, God bless them.
Romney campaign hires “Snob Productions” to run Colorado event, asks employees not to wear the company-issue shirts.
Black leaders at NAACP privately confide to Romney about disappointment in Obama, refusal to vote for Obama.
According to Romney.
Most Congressional maneuvering for the right to control political messaging is pretty tedious stuff. But tonight’s example’s at least somewhat significant.
Harry Reid signaled that his caucus is lined up to support President Obama’s plan to extend the Bush tax cuts for everyone’s first $250,000 in income.
So what was once “Even Senate Democrats don’t support Obama’s plan!” is now “Senate Republicans are blocking middle income tax cuts unless top earners get theirs too.”
Just who are the five Democrats who broke ranks yesterday to join Republicans in their (33rd) symbolic vote to repeal ‘Obamacare?’ Sahil Kapur explains.