I think it is safe to say that CNN’s John King can now be considered the maker of Kings.  All it took was one question and an outstanding response by Newt to coronate Newt as the new leader in the Republican Presidential nomination field.

So now Newt will unleash hordes of accusations labeling President Obama, Democrats and all that oppose him as radicals.  Everything that is not believed by Newt has been lumped into this one size fits all moniker of radicalism.

Radicalism is defined as the holding and the following of radical or extreme principles.  Radical is described as representing a philosophy that calls for an extreme change from accepted traditional forms.

So it is Gingrich calling Obama a radical…are you kidding me?

Let’s see; calling for judicial judges to be brought before Congress to explain rulings that Congress doesn’t like is not a radical concept?  Ignoring the basic principle of separation of powers is not a radical concept?

Calling for janitors to be fired because they make too much money and their jobs should be disbursed among the poor because the poor need to learn how to earn money is not a radical approach to solving inner city economic problems?  For one, show me a historian who makes $1.5m for giving a history lesson and two, you think poor children need to be taught how to work?  Income equality will only come from opportunity equality and the only way we achieve the latter is to understand how to better educate our children.

Gingrich believes that the Supreme Court has become a constitutional convention and that they should leave the Constitution alone. Judges must understand our rights come from God, not the government.  Okay, this thought that the only rights we have come from God is not radical?  Does that mean God gives me a right not to believe in him yet I must acknowledge that all my rights come from him?

Gingrich believes in a one-year tax moratorium, coupled with the elimination of capital gains tax and bringing down the corporate tax rate to 12.5%.  Boy that will go far in eliminating the national debt.  One year of no tax?  What does that add to the debt…a few trillion dollars?  That’s no radical.

Newt also wants to limit unemployment benefits to a maximum of four weeks.  If that is not an out of touch with reality position than what is?

Darth Vader has arisen from the dead and with him comes his death star.  Decency and truth seek refuge in the minds of those that still believe in American democracy.

…the Bleacherman has left the stadium…

I have spent most of the day pondering my takeaways from last night’s Republican’s Presidential debate.  There were many but the most dominate was how well Newt Gingrich rang up the sale that might fund his way all the way to the Republican nomination.

At times I wonder whether he and John King conspired to open up the debate with good theater.  I mean, what else can you call Newt’s wonderful, powerful and well-rehearsed response.  Not just good theater, but great theater; theater worthy of an Academy award.

Newt denied the allegation of wanting an open marriage.  That little refutation got lost in his demonizing the liberal main street press.  How wonderful, first Newt blames his patriotism for his infidelities and then blames the press for making an issue of the fact that while he was prosecuting the President of the United States for his infidelity, Newt, behind the screen of secrecy, he and God-fearing Calista were doing the exact same thing.

So tell me then:  why isn’t character an issue? Isn’t the presidency about character?

Newt said he made a mistake and has asked for and received forgiveness.  Okay, I not so enthusiastically and with a great deal of reservation and equivocation will accept that somewhere out there in the vast world there is a God that when it serves him well can be compassionate.  But it seems his compassion is limited to only Republicans and only to Republicans who commit adultery.  It seems that adultery has been reduced, by necessity, to a misdemeanor of sins.

If God, as Newt claims, provides on-going revolving door forgiveness for his indiscretions then why doesn’t Newt and his God have compassion for the ‘criminal’ who committed a non-violent crime and even after serving his or her time, completing parole or probation, is still denied the basic fundamental right of being able to vote.  Why does Newt soak up all compassion for his transgressions and leave none for those also worthy of such absolution?

But Newt made his sale.  The audience bought it hook, line and sinker and the former Speaker’s poll numbers are, according to the experts, exploding.  It now looks like Newt has won South Carolina and America, real middle class America who cannot make $1.6m in giving history lessons to Fannie Mae, has lost.

Great sales job Newt, great sales job.

…the Bleacherman has left the stadium…

Quick question for you, Mr. Gingrich.  In the last debate you indicated that NY School Janitors seem to be overpaid for being just janitors.  You of course blamed the union for such over inflated compensation…at least in your eyes.

So who is to blame for your billing $1.6m dollars for history lessons to Fannie Mae?

Value, of course, is in the eyes of the poor man working hard to put food on the table and provide housing for his and her family.  Not all of us can give a lecture and charge millions.

So why are you worth more than a janitor?

The biggest problem in this country is not income inequality….it is OPPORTUNITY inequality.

…the Bleacherman has left the stadium and is waiting for Newt’s response.

Quick question for Mr. Romney.  You have indicated that you support tax cuts for the rich because it is the rich that create jobs for us common folk.  Given that you have paid a minimal tax rate, probably have parked money offshore and have not worked for ten years – just how many jobs have you created?  Your tax plan gives folks such as yourself an even bigger tax break.  So tell me, Mr. Romney, with a further decrease in your tax liability, how many more jobs will you then create?

Thank you.

…the Bleacherman has left the stadium waiting anxiously for your response…

…I watched the bull fight disguised as a political debate last night and was not shocked but was very uncomfortable to watch the crowd cheer for the death -the slow and painful death- of the bull.  In this case, the bull is the principles, moralities and very integrity of our Country.

…Over and over again, the crowd cheered as one candidate after another opined positions that would lead us to war, economic ruin and to a culture to where the misfortunate were seen as outcasts.  The only thing that was missing in the dialogue was overt support for establishing leper colonies where the poor can be isolated, force feed and punished for not being rich.

…How dare Newt Gingrich complain about the salaries received by New York school system janitors.  Don’t they have a right to make a decent living?  Or should they, because of the position that they hold, be kept poor and economically punished for not being able to become a history professor who goes out and charges $1.5million dollars for giving a history lesson.  How dare him?  And what did the crowd do?  They cheered.  They cheered the death of the bull.  They cheered the thought of keeping black, poor children at the bottom leg of the economic ladder.  How disgusting.

…Most of the candidates called for more and intense confrontation with Iran; none of them offering any substance to offset the possibility of a long, protracted, costly and deadly war.  Question:  if we have to fight another war shouldn’t we have a tax to pay for it?  Shouldn’t we initiate a draft so all our children, the rich and the poor, serve their country as well?

…So tell me, if a non-violent criminal offender serves his or her time, fulfills all obligations of probation and parole, then why shouldn’t they have their right to vote reinstated?  Doesn’t Rick Santorum’s God teach us all about forgiveness?  Hasn’t Newt asked God to forgive him for his marital transgressions?  So are we or are we not a Christian Nation or does the call for such restoration of God come with a whole bunch of asterisks, disclaimers and very, very fine print?

…I also question Romney’s claim to be a fiscal conservative.  If he is against debt then why did he use debt – leveraged buy outs – to make millions?  Isn’t this a contradiction of sorts?  If private equity firms can use debt then why can’t the United States Government use debt to leverage its role in stimulating the economy?

…If Newt is so concerned about Obama being the food stamp President, what alternative could he offer?  The missing fact in Newt’s logic is that when the President took office the country was in the midst of a Republican created recession and millions of Americans were out of work.  As a consequence, Americans of all colors, creeds and religions now rely on food stamps.  So what would Newt have done if he were President?  Let people starve?  Let white people starve?

…Does Rick Perry have Turkey and Iran confused?  I’m not quite sure what the Texas Governor was getting at and what he was talking about but – please – this primary has to be his last hurrah.

…And one further thought:  Calls for super pacs disappearance is pure bullshit…see if this outrage continues in September and October…

…the Bleacherman has left the stadium…

As I sit here and watch the nonsense of the attack on Romney and his tenure with Bain Capital bounce across my television screen, I wonder just how much it all really matters.  Other than the news media on the left, far left, center, right and far right, and anywhere and everywhere in between, does anyone out there in voting America really care what Bain Capital did or didn’t do?  Does anyone really care that Romney is super rich?  Does anyone really want to examine the dirty laundry of capitalism at its worse?

While the media runs to commend or condemn venture capital and corporate raiding, no one is really asking the relevant questions.  It really is simple. What Bain Capital did is not the issue.  What is the issue is whether or not Romney, because of his experience with Bain, has skills that can be transferred and translated into successfully running the American economy as President of the United States.  THAT is an issue.

Let’s face it; there is a fundamental and significant difference between a CEO of a company and the President of the United States.  The former just has to snap his or her fingers and people go running.  Policy is easy to implement and grand plans easy to execute.  For the latter, the implantation of policy is much more difficult.  Even if the President has a Congress that somewhat agrees with the chief executive’s economic ideology; translating policy into effective and efficient legislation is a completely different ballgame than that which is faced by a CEO.  So what does Bain Capital have in common with the US economy?  What real qualifications does Romney have because of his Bain Capital experience?  Again, THAT is an issue.

We really should be examining Romney’s tenure as Governor of Massachusetts.  How did his economic policies translate into job growth?  What did he do or didn’t do that added to the state’s job growth?  What capital investments, loans or tax breaks did he offer corporate America to come to the state and create jobs?

So Romney’s history with Bain Capital is irrelevant. Totally.  Everyone knows that the Republican’s other candidates cannot beat Obama in a general election.  That is a fact.  Karl Rove knows this.  Most Republicans know this.  And there is no choice but for them to nominate Romney.  Whether he is a true certifiable conservative is also irrelevant.

Doesn’t anyone really want to know more about Romney’s stance on Iran?  Or does most America not care since their children would never volunteer to join the Army.  Does anyone really care that Romney’s tax plan raises taxes for many Americans.  Does anyone care that Romney will work very hard to insure that government will dictate a standard moral conduct for individuals to abide by even in the privacy of their own house

With the advent of the Super PACs this is only getting worse.  Needed questions will go unasked and truth becomes the victim.   America has been reduced to being nothing more than collateral damage.

…the Bleacherman has left the stadium…confused…sad…

Although I believe that Rick Santorum is (thankfully) a non-entity in the GOP Presidential Candidate race, I just thought that I would take a quick look at his tax plan just so I can get a feel for what he represents. 

Like his Republican brethren, Mr. Santorum believes that the American economy spins on the axis of corporate taxes.   It does not.  Lowering corporate taxes – or even eliminating them – will NOT! directly translate into the daily grind of day to day business.  Such reduction will not create jobs. As the Bleacherman has long argued, taxes reflect a distribution of operational profits.  They do not create in and off themselves more revenue or profit for a corporation.

Someday, someone will have the courage to go out and tell the American political constituency the truth.  Gee, what a novel idea.  Politicians telling the truth.

Mr. Santorum wants to tax products made overseas and sold here in the United States.  Did you hear that Wal Mart?  Can Mr. Santorum spell inflation?  Can he envision a trade war?  How naïve.  His policy is so much an understatement of a very complex issue and shows that he was more interested in offering up vote-for-me buzz words and red-meat talking points then in addressing the real issue. 

But isn’t this the nature of politics today?

Mr. Santorum wants to repeal business regulations put into place by President Obama.  Great.  Let’s go backwards and allow companies to credit-default-swap themselves into bankruptcy.  Let’s let companies lie on their financial statements, hide liabilities on some off-balanced sheet gimmick and let’s have Wall Street sell products to their customers that they are clandestinely shorting on financial markets.  Such hands-off policy will surely stimulate the economy.  Maybe for Bain Capital but not for the rest of us.

And just how is this exactly going to get corporations to go out and hire people?

It is all insane.  The key to our recovery rests in two economic factors.  One: the number of people who have discretionary income; two: the amount of money that they will choose to spend in the economy.  And we need to once and for all understand that in today’s economic environment, free market capitalism in and of itself cannot or will not create the job growth that is necessary to stabilize and expand our economy.  We need to put a lot of people back to work at a wage level that will give them money to spend in the market place.  Period.  We need to build things.  Infrastructure, schools, bridges…and we need to employ people to rebuild our country.

In a nut shell, Santorum’s tax plan and overall economic policy is nothing more than GOP boiler plate red-meat rhetoric whose substance and effectiveness is akin to a hologram.  Nothing of what he says can be translated into a policy that can be put into action that will result in sustaining the American economy.

Mr. Santorum should stay inconsequential and irrelevant. 

…the Bleacherman has left the stadium trying not to laugh…and cry…

Early on in the GOP Presidential Candidate campaign the question for the GOP was this:  is Romney conservative enough to be the GOP standard bearer?

At one time Ann Coulter, the queen of the GOP conservatives, proclaimed that if Romney was the GOP nominee, President Obama was sure to be re-elected.  Several months later she changed her mind and became a Romney supporter.  Why, did Romney convert to conservatism?  Nah, she got a call from her God…Karl Rove.  Her mind was changed.

There is no question that Romney fits the conservative definition of being a free market capitalist and I don’t find any problem with Romney’s Bain Capital history.  He was a venture capitalist, a corporate raider and he did what his job was designed to do.  He created wealth for his investors.  And there is nothing wrong with that.  We all need to grow up and accept what he did was a fundamental part of a capitalist society.  It stinks but necessary.  Focus should be on his tax returns.  My guess is that he pays a very low rate (lower than his administrative assistant) and has hidden millions off shore.  But that’s just my guess. PURE GUESS..NO ACCUSATION.

My concern over Romney is whether or not his much touted business experience truly transfers and translates into the role of being President.  Funding a new business or even raiding an existing business is far different that building up the American economy.  I have never believed that cutting corporate taxes is going to create jobs.  I don’t think his plan reflects the paradigm change that has shifted the fundamentals of our economy.  Trickle down, supply side ecomonics is a concept that has had its day and now should be enshrined in textbooks.  From a business perspective, I think Romney is dangerous.

But something else hit me the other day.  I have realized that over the past few weeks it seems that the Tea Party has been played like a violin by the GOP establishment.  I believe that one day not long ago the good old boys of the Karl Rove Klan all sat down in their symbolic smoke filled room, took a look at the candidates running for the GOP nomination and realized that Romney was the only candidate that could compete in a national election with President Obama.  They realized they he could not only compete but potentially win.  That could not be said for any…any… of the other candidates.  Not Trump. Not Cain.  Not Gingrich. Not Santorum.  Not Perry.  Not Bachman.  Not Paul.  Not anyone.  And these GOP tribal leaders decided to manipulate the playing field to make sure that Romney, the least conservative of all the candidates, would be the name on the conservative’s party ticket.  Who cared if he was a true conservative?  Winning is not about ideology.  It’s about winning.  I know, this rings like a TV movie script but I believe that this is what has happened.  Nothing else makes sense.

The tool of this manipulation is Ron Paul.

Please, sit down, take a deep breath and follow my somewhat warped, somewhat conspiracy filled theory.  Having been burned with Tea Party enthusiasm in the past – Sharon Engles and Christine O’Donnell – the GOP elite decided that it was necessary to divide into inconsequence the anti-Romney, the anti-moderate vote.  Hence, it was in the best interests of the party, in Karl Rove’s brilliant mind,  for the plethora of candidates to run around and steal votes from each other since no one conservative candidate would have the standing to challenge Romney.  Rove also recognize that he had to throw some digestible meat and the party’s libertarians so he gave running room for the Ron Paul campaign to run around and gain support.  Rove of course new that Paul could never take it all the way to Tampa and have any real effect on the convention.

I mean isn’t it odd that Romney’s carpet bombing radar has gone out of its way to avoid attacking Paul. In return, the Paul campaign has often and passionately defended the Massachusetts moderate.  Does that make sense?  Romney, at least ideologically, is almost the opposite of Paul. So why no real hard core attack?  Ah, the plot thickens.

So in my warped mind, I came to the conclusion that Rove and GOP elites decided that Newt and Rick and even Perry would stay in the race so no one could unite the evangelical right.  You know, that divide and conquer shit.  Ron Paul would be given an unobstructed road to pull his libertarians away from everyone else – the Gingrich, Santorum, Perry, Cain and Bachman cabal – which in fact insures that no one candidate is strong enough to beat Romney.  Romney then goes out and makes history and wins Iowa and New Hampshire and will then, according to the grand plan, goes on to win South Carolina and Florida and before Spring Break, Romney is the proclaimed winner of the Party’s nomination.  Carl Rove and the GOP High Priests have a viable and electable candidate to throw against President Obama. Everyone wins…let’s party.

Now Howard Fineman, the MSNBC and Hugging Post guru – who knows all – thinks that Paul is going to take his ball and go run on a third party ticket.  Nah…Karl Rove won’t let that happen.  That would hurt Romney and re-elect Obama.

So it is Romney vs Obama…money vs money…boy is this going to better then watching wrestling.  Let the blood begin to flow…where is my popcorn and Diet Pepsi?

…the Bleacherman has left the stadium…

Like some political junkie I spent last night and very early this morning watching the two Republican Presidential debates and my first take away is that there was nothing Presidential about the debates.  It was, at best, intelligent men regressing back to a sandbox mentality where name calling and lying was standard operating procedure.

I’m not sure who to blame more; the candidates or the moderators although I did find the Meet The Press version much more professional and more focused on issues than the ABC version.  Maybe that is just the liberal nature of my being.  Although the truth is that I have never been one who has put much value in the way these political debates are structured.  They really are a platform for much rehearsed, much thought out talking points.  There is no real back and forth; there really is no back on forth on the specifics of the issues.  Lies and distortions go unchallenged.

My take on the candidates…

Santorum…seems to be enslaved to an absolutely ridiculous notion that by having a family solves all ills.  Santorum believes that if everyone just gets married (a man and a woman type), have a child or two or three or four, have a dog and build a white (a very white) picket fence around your home all will be well in America unless of course the company that someone works for downsizes and forces a worker into an unemployment system that punishes the worker for non being a CEO.

Paul…knows only of the Gospel of Liberty and has no idea that there is a difference between liberty and freedom and when there is a conflict freedom must always prevail.  An individual has the right not to be trampled over by the exercise of another individual’s liberty.  The rest of his political montage is so over the top that it does not merit comment…especially from a Zionist like myself.

Romney…should not be embarrassed about his affiliation with Bain Capital.  The question that needs to be asked:  how does his knowledge of Venture Capital translate into managing the fiscal machinations of this country?  There is no direct connection between venture capital and corporate raiding and building and controlling an economy…  Cutting corporate taxes does not create jobs…as I have ranted over and over again taxes are only a distribution of profit, they are not a creator of either revenue, operational profit and jobs.  Period.  Will someone tell the truth?

Gingrich…a bright, witty, smart man who is just out of touch with reality.  This man would best serve this country by putting him a room with a microphone and let him spend all day long dictating anything that comes into his mind.  Somewhere in that spewed intellectual vomit is a thought that can be used as the genesis of something good for America.

Huntsman…the ONLY! real American running for the GOP nomination.  He is too good to be a Republican.  He is too honest to be a Republican.  I am not a Republican (yeah..you’re shocked I’m sure) but if I was he would have my vote.

Perry…needs to go back to Texas and stay there.

Super Pacs…a reflection of the Supreme Court being an activist court and yielding to the power of money…not the power and rights of the people…but wait, six months from now all those Republicans crying over the Super Pacs will be defending them as they attack Obama.

…the Bleacherman has left the stadium wondering if democracy can survive Citizens United ruling…

I have been trying to work my way through the Rick Santorum Tax Plan.  I applaud it for cutting tax liabilities but much of it, in a big picture way, does not make sense.  Help me understand how this plan will create jobs and hence stimulate the economy.

Santorum wants to reduce the tax brackets to just two; one at 28% and the other at 10%.  Wow.  So the middle class will enjoy significant tax relief and our rich millionaires will also get about a 30% decrease in their tax liability.  Okay, with the ingestion of antacids I can live with that.

Santorum would also end the Alternate Minimum Tax which many middle income taxpayers would enjoy as much as those super rich who now use loopholes and tax shelters to pay absolutely no tax.  Yeah for Santorum.

Capital gains would also decrease from 15% to 12%.  Great, just think of the benefit to all of us who make millions in stock market trading.

He also wants companies that manufacture goods to pay no tax…do you hear that Boing, GE and friends.  No tax.  Yes.  No tax.  Now you don’t have to pay your accountants millions of dollars to find ways not to pay taxes.  Rick Santorum will do it for you.

And for those of you who like to procreate just think about a much larger tax deduction for each child you have.  I mean, you will have no option but to have children since Rick will take away your right to utilize birth control contraceptives to control the size of your family.  Government demands large families and will pay you for any inconvenience that a larger family may cause.

So, how does this pro-family, pro-corporation tax plan create jobs?  And don’t give me that lower corporate taxes creates jobs bullshit.  It doesn’t.  Lower taxes does not increase revenue; it only affect the distribution of profit.  That is a fact.  And it is a FACT that it is revenue that is a key driver in determining the size of a company’s payroll.  If revenue is flat – or decreasing – the amount of tax cut does not provide corporations an incentive to increase payroll.  THAT IS THE TRUTH.

Economic recovery will only come when we increase the number of Americans who have discretionary money to spend and we increase the amount of discretionary money that can be spent.  That is the key to recovery.

I am not financial whiz kid.  I cannot score the net effects of the Santorum tax plan but I think it is safe to assume that these tax deductions would equate to a significant reduction of revenue that the Federal Government can depend upon.

Which of course fits Rick Santorum’s vision of a much, much smaller government.  Santorum believes in a balanced budget amendment therefore if revenue is significantly reduced then government spending has to be reduced proportionately.  Which means less government workers and less government benefits and programs.  Which means less money circulating in the economy which means businesses will see less revenue which will translate into more unemployment, less tax revenue and more misery.

Thank you Rick Santorum.

When will we address economic issues truthfully?

…the Bleacherman has left the stadium…