Mitt Romney: It's called buying votes

Mitt Romney is going to give students kickbacks for money they raise for his campaign.

Students for Mitt will give students 10 percent of any money they raise for his campaign after the first $1,000 they get donors to contribute. Any way you cut it, that's a kickback, something that is viewed as unethical in the biz world, the world the Mitt-man claims to know so much about. Maybe he knows more than he's letting on.

A spokesperson for his campaign said it's a great way to get students to have a direct impact on a presidential campaign. No arguments there. Yeah, they'll have an impact all right. No different than any other money changer that influences the system, starting way back with the money changers Christ threw out of the temple.

And what a way to put a "positive" spin on a sneaky way to do business.

Mitt Romney not for president redux

I massaged the post from a few days ago hopefully making it make more sense:

So, it’s official. Mitt Romney is running for president. Or rather, it was announced that he would announce next week that he’s running for the office. This is like some corporate dweeb who insists on having a meeting about having a meeting. Is this really what we want in the White House? Someone who complicates the simple process of telling us something we already know? Haven’t we had enough of political double-speak and public relations shenanigans?

Anyway, it doesn’t matter because the Mitt-man will never even come close to making it to Pennsylvania Avenue for four very interesting reasons.

First, American voters will never again elect into the White house someone from Massachusetts. Middle America thinks Massachusetts is the hot bed for the “L” word which stands for liberal. It also stands for loony as in loony bin which is how the rest of America sees Massachusetts. Romney, whether he likes it or not, whether it’s true or not, will be associated with the likes of Ted Kennedy (who, by the way, makes a terrific senator and should never have even considered being a candidate for the Peter Principle), John Kerry, and Mike Dukakis.

Second, Massachusetts is the state that gave the country gay marriages, and no matter that Romney opposed gay marriage the way the rest of us oppose the 10 Plagues of Egypt, he’s going to be associated with that, too. The big question he’ll be asked is, if he was so against it, why didn’t he stop it? There are some tough old eggs out in the center of the country who will ask him point blank how and why he let a bunch of liberals push him around like that, and if he couldn’t push back on them, how the heck his he going to push back on Korea?

Third, he is going to get ripped over the Big Dig, from its enormous cost overrides to shoddy workmanship to people dying from pieces of concrete the size of a tennis court falling on them. Never mind that he inherited the project. If elected, he’d inherit Iraq, too, and if he couldn’t manage a public works project, how is he going to manage that mess?

Finally, he’s too squeaky clean. Americans like their politicians a bit tarnished, then redeemed. George Jr. had his partying at Yale then found Christ. Clinton didn’t inhale, among other things, but kept apologizing like mad. Reagan was divorced, but then married Nancy. Romney is too far up on his moral high horse.

It’s clear he’s just going to be a footnote in the 2008 election. But with luck maybe in true Massachusetts’ tradition he’ll even be the source of some humorous diversions. Remember Dukakis riding around in that tank with the goofy-looking helmet?

Mitt Romney, not for president

So, it’s official. Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, is running for president. Or rather, it was announced that he would announce next week. Reminds me of times in the corporate world when we’d have meetings about meetings. Is this really what we want in the White House?

Anyway, I’ll bet he never makes it. Not even close. American voters will never again elect someone from Massachusetts into the White House. That’s because Middle America thinks Massachusetts is the loony bin of the country. Mass has gay marriages. Mass has all of these liberals running around. Romney is just one more to add to the list made up of Ted Kennedy (who, by the way, makes a terrific senator and should never have even considered being a candidate for the Peter Principle), John Kerry, and Mike Dukakis wearing that goofy helmet in the tank.

Romney is going to get ripped over the Big Dig, from its enormous cost overrides to shoddy workmanship. Never mind that he inherited the project. All the screw ups came on his watch, and if he can’t manage a road project, how’s he going to run a country? And while he is so against gay marriages, again, they came on his watch. Those tough farmers out in the heartland are gonna ask him how’d he let a bunch of gay liberals push him around like that.

And is it me, or does the man look like an undertaker?

John Prine take me home

I can feel the craziness already. I can feel it in my bones.

The 2008 Democratic presidential candidates are all setting up in the gates, and for all intents and purposes the bell has sounded and the most ludicrous joke of a horse race in our country has commenced. And they’re off.

And in my case, music most definitely soothes the savage beast. In this case, I reached for John Prine and his namesake album, CD, whatever from 1971. Prine is a poet and a troubadour who writes songs so simple they’re complex, then sings them in a twang that’s reminiscent of my homeland. He sings about the people that all of these politicians are going to woo, but I’ll guarantee don’t know the first thing about. He sings about the kind of people I grew up with, in a voice that sounds like home to me, and that’s why I know these politicians don’t understand the heartland because when I listen to them they sound insulting and a little stupid, to tell the truth.

Last time I checked my bankroll, it was getting thin//Sometimes it seems like the bottom/Is the only place I been. That’s taken from Illegal Smile, Prine’s tribute to the lower classes who need to escape from time to time.

And what man can’t identify with: Well I sat there at that table/And I acted real naïve/For I knew that topless lady/Had something up her sleeve. The singer eventually blows up his TV and moves to the country with his exotic girlfriend.

In Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore Prine sings: And Jesus don’t like killing no matter what the reason for. That’s perty plain, now ain’t it?

Prine’s beautiful, haunting Angel From Montgomery, could have been my house and my father when he sings: How the hell can a person/Go to work in the morning/And come home in the evening/With nothing to say?

When things start to get crazy the best thing to do is go back to your roots.