What’s the major difference between Democrats and Republicans? No, it’s not that Republicans think the solution to our economic woes is giving more money to very rich people while Democrats think the rich aren’t paying their fair share. And no, it’s not that Democrats appear to represent the needs of the middle class people while Republicans definitely go to bat for Corporations. The major difference between the two is one group will go to the grave defending their beliefs, no matter how wrong those beliefs are, while the other group have proven time and time again that they have no backbone.
The unfortunate and early passing of Andrew Breitbart is a perfect example of how Republicans are. Andrew was a hero among his fellow conservatives especially when he was wrong. We all remember how the conservative bloggers, news agencies like Fox News and even some Republican politicians jumped to Breitbart’s defense when it was proven that he falsified a video of Shirley Sherrod, wrongly claiming that she was racially biased against a white farmer. And although the facts later showed that Breitbart was wrong, he refused to apologize. On March 1st. 2012, Andrew Breitbart died and while many expressed happiness in his passing, I was only able to issue the following tweet:
But on the Democratic side, things are totally different. Democrats it seems are on a mission to throw each other under the bus especially when they are on the right side of an issue, and this week, we’ve seen multiple examples of this.
It started with Cory Booker on Meet The Press. Although Mr. Booker is considered a surrogate of the Obama administration, Booker went against the administration and sided with Mitt Romney on an issue Democrats should easily be winning. The issue that caused Booker to abandon the Democratic ship has to do with Mitt Romney’s claims of being a better “Jobs Creator” than President Obama. Romney cites his “business experiences” as his primary qualifier for being president and regularly tells his audience how beneficial this experience would be in “fixing the economy.”
As it turns out, Romney’s business experience has nothing to do with “creating jobs.” Over the course of his work at Bain Capital, Mitt Romney’s primary objective was making a profit for himself and his partners by any means necessary. Often times, thousands of hardworking middle class Americans lost their jobs, pensions and health care so that Mitt Romney could achieve his primary objective. The profit-making goal of what Romney did at Bain was often called “Destructive Capitalism,” and that description came from Mitt Romney himself.
So it would seem that an examination of Romney’s record at Bain is not only warranted, but necessary. And the Obama re-election team are putting out web ads almost daily, detailing how Romney was more of a job destroyer than a job creator. Seems like the right thing to do, right? Not if you’re Cory Booker. Sunday on Meet The Press, Booker – the Obama surrogate – said this;
I have to say from a very personal level, I’m not about to sit here and indict private equity. It’s to me, we’re getting to a ridiculous point in America. Especially that I know I live in a state where pension funds, unions and other people are investing in companies like Bain Capital. If you look at the totality of Bain Capital’s record, they have done a lot to support businesses to grow businesses and this to me, I’m very comfortable.
The last point I’ll make is, this kind of stuff is nauseating to me on both sides. It’s nauseating to the American public. Enough is enough, stop attacking private equity, stop attacking Jeremiah Wright. This stuff has got to stop.
Realizing the huge political mistake he made, Booker later explained that he is for Obama and would do all he can to help the President win re-election. But the damage was already done as the Romney campaign took Booker’s words and made their own ad in support of Romney’s Bain activities.
Cory Booker however, was not the only Democrat to throw the President under the bus on this issue. Ed Randell, a former Governor of Pennsylvania told Buzzfeed that he too was “very disappointed” in the Obama ads questioning Romney’s business accolades.
“I think they’re very disappointing,” Rendell said of the ads attacking Bain. “I think Bain is fair game, because Romney has made it fair game. But I think how you examine it, the tone, what you say, is important as well.”
As for Booker, “I admire him,” Rendell said. “People in politics should tell the truth. He could have qualified it better, he could have framed it better, but if you’re in this business, none of us like negative ads.
The Hill is reporting at least a half-dozen high profile Democrats joining the chorus against the President including “Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a widely respected member of Congress, who stopped short of criticizing the president, but made it clear that the campaign should pivot.
“It’s done,” she said. “Go on to other things now.”
Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) told The Hill, “I think the average American … hopes that this campaign will focus on competing visions for how to strengthen our economy, help create jobs and move the country forward.”
It is still young in the 2012 Presidential campaign season. With the huge donations flowing to Congress from Wall Street and private equity firms like Bain Capital, expect more Democrats to agree with Romney and come out against the President. We all know that Republicans cater to the rich and their big donors, and now we can safely say that Democrats do the same thing too.
And that’s one thing the two parties have in common – kissing the ring of the rich for more donations.
