Clipping blog

Posted: 27 Jan 2012 05:47 PM PST

There is an old saying that goes “A man is known by the company he keeps”. It’s so old that Aesop wrote a fable that illustrated the aphorism, called “The Ass and its Purchaser”.

A man who wanted to buy an Ass went to market, and, coming across a likely-looking beast, arranged with the owner that he should be allowed to take him home on trial to see what he was like. When he reached home, he put him into his stable along with the other asses. The newcomer took a look round, and immediately went and chose a place next to the laziest and greediest beast in the stable. When the master saw this he put a halter on him at once, and led him off and handedhim over to his owner again. The latter was a good deal surprised to seem him back so soon, and said, “Why, do you mean to say you have tested him already?” “I don’t want to put him through any more tests,” replied the other. “I could see what sort of beast he is from the companion he chose for himself.”

I’ve been reminded of this saying quite a lot lately as a number of Mitt Romney’s campaign surrogates have gone after Newt Gingrich. In the past few weeks, such veteran Republicans as John Sununu, Susan Molinari, Jim Talent, Elliot Abrams, John McCain, and Bob Dole have taken their turn stabbing Gingrich in various vital organs on Mitt Romney’s behalf. Dole was especially vicious, saying that he had to “take a stand before it was too late” again Gingrich who he believed single-handedly cost him his bid for the Presidency against an immensely popular Bill Clinton in 1996.

Yes, well. I’m sure we could blame a lot of people for Dole’s somnolent campaign in 1996 but when I think of who I’d tag with Dole’s nearly 10-point loss, Newt Gingrich does not come to mind. As for the others, I’m fairly sure if you built a Hall of Heroes of Smaller Government, none of the names in the last paragraph would have their own statue, not even a tiny one nestled off in the Corner of People Who Occasionally Helped. They have been nearly invisible for the past few years while our government has grown exponentially larger and more out of control and our debt rocketed toward levels that would make the Founders choke with rage. None of them took to the streets with the Tea Parties to protest the corrupt Stimulus Bill. None lent their years of experience to those who fought against the debt ceiling increase. They stayed completely out of the Obamacare debate.

And speaking of Obamacare, let me give you this little tidbit from one of Romney’s most insider of insiders, former Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman (via Doug Ross, who has a few rods of inspiration).

Mitt Romney adviser Norm Coleman, a former senator from Minnesota, predicted the GOP won’t repeal the Democrats’ healthcare reform law even if a Republican candidate defeats President Obama this November.

“You will not repeal the act in its entirety, but you will see major changes, particularly if there is a Republican president,” Coleman told BioCentury This Week television in an interview that aired on Sunday. “You can’t whole-cloth throw it out. But you can substantially change what’s been done.”

Now, the Romney campaign sent its spokeswoman out to chide Coleman, who we last saw losing a desperate re-election bid to a failed talk radio host and second-rate comedian, but the candidate has yet to knock Coleman’s statement down directly. His campaign maintains that Romney is dedicated to the repeal of Obamacare and that he will make it a priority after he is elected, but will he? Remember Aesop’s fable. Mitt Romney says a lot of things about who he is and what he’ll do if we elect him as President, but what of the people with whom he surrounds himself? What do they — lovers of big government, tenders of the status quo, losers of big elections, the go-along to get-along crowd — say about Mitt Romney?

Now is it true that back in the 90s, a bunch of Republicans in the House of Representatives got together and bounced Newt Gingrich from his position as Speaker of the House. They kept on pushing and pushing until he was well outside what most normal people would consider the Washington political “establishment”, the folks who make their living (and who have done so for many yeas) from being powerful Republicans. It is a bad thing, says the Romney camp that the likes of Susan Molinari, John Sununu, and Bob Dole do not want Gingrich in their Republican clubhouse. Well, maybe it is, or maybe it’s an illustration of President Grover Cleveland’s version of the Aesop fable.

“A man is known by the company he keeps, and also by the company from which he is kept out.”

If we can judge Mitt Romney by the gang of Republicans who couldn’t be bothered to lift a finger over the past three years to so much as slow down Barack Obama’s progressive rampage but suddenly find themselves possessed with boundless energy to cast Newt Gingrich as the Greatest Villain of Our Time, then we can surely judge Gingrich by them as well. Clearly, Newt is not suitable company for those Republicans who never met a compromise with the left they couldn’t claim as a victory. Clearly, he doesn’t belong with the Republicans who quietly made post-Congressional fortunes with lobbying firms like the Washington Group (Moinari), Akin Gump (Sununu), Arent Fox (Talent), and Alston & Bird (Dole). He’s not fit to be among them though he led a resurgence of public opinion in Congress for the years he led the House. It is certainly their prerogative to cast him out of their ranks, but it is also our prerogative to judge the candidates from the company they keep and the company that won’t keep them.

The Delivery Presents – The Big Health Care Number and What is Cool.

Posted: 27 Jan 2012 01:58 PM PST

For Episode 131, I turned to one of the smartest and coolest people I know — Ben Domenech of the Coffee and Markets podcast, among other places — to join me for the entire show.

I won’t even begin to describe everything you’ll get in the whole hour, but I’ll give you two little tidbits. First, the number of working Americans who will get their health care wholly or in some significant part from the government — that is, from other working Americans — by the year 2020 is truly mind-boggling. One of the big problems conservatives have when we talk about entitlements is that the average American doesn’t believe it affects them directly. It’s not easy to draw a straight line from Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security to the average working American’s paycheck in a way that shows them just how big the problem is. I’m pretty sure Ben and I dropped a few numbers that can do that, if we spread them around a bit.

We pivoted from health care to cool, and what that actually means in a day where grown men live in their parents’ basement well into their 30s without any apparent sense of shame. I admit, I’m no examplar of what the great Frank Sinatra called “ringa-ding-ding”, but I know cool when I see it and Ben has it. I think you’ll like our musings on success, friendship, and what it means to be comfortable with both success and cool; and you can bet your bottom dollar that I’ll have Ben back on the show again soon.

The Delivery - Episode 131