If you haven’t read the Wall Street Journal’s article, it is worth your time.

I’ve gone through the numbers. Although there are other methods such as off shore shelters, the only way an “ordinary” person could do this would be through a 401k rollover. If he contributed $30,000 per year to a 401k for his 15 years at Bain (84-99) before converting it to an IRA, he would have earned an average yearly rate of return between 30%-45%.

It may be possible.

The Lions could win the Superbowl.

15 years in a row???

I thought his taxes were a nothingburger until I read this.

Although his actions may have been “legal”, I think the country would reject him in a general election. I hope the country does not associate Mitt with conservatism. I don’t see how this ends well if Mitt is the nominee …

In a prior diary entry I restrained my critique of Romney. I said that he “has less spine than a jellyfish. He has no core beliefs and it shows.” Even though I thought he would be a terrible candidate and do a great disservice to conservatism in America, I tempered my comments – Reagan’s 11th commandment.

No. More.

The Romney campaign is using 2008 audio from Rick Santorum’s endorsment of Romney on the Laura Ingraham talk show.

2008!!

Here’s the call:

Drumroll

Robocall announcer “This is an urgent message from the Romney campaign. In 2008, Rick Santorum made the following announcement on Laura Ingraham’s radio program.”

Laura Ingraham “Joining us now with an important announcement, you’re not gonna wanna miss this, former Senator from the, uh, great state of Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum.”

Rick Santorum “If you’re a conservative, there really is only one place to go right now. I would even argue farther than that. If you’re a Republican, if your Republican in, in, in, in the broadest sense, there is only one place to go right now, and that’s Mitt Romney.”

Laura Ingraham “Senator Rick Santorum endorsing Mitt Romney unequivocally, without hesitation, that should mean something to all of you. Senator Santorum, thank you so much.”

Robocall announcer “This call was paid for by Romney For President, Inc.”

Laura was quite upset. She reproduces the call above at 6:03 & repeats it at 10:06 into this clip on YouTube. As Ingraham says “This seems to be, actually, a call that presupposes that the individuals hearing the call are so dumb, so moronic, troglodytes, who would believe that Santorum is not running for president and is just campaigning for Mitt Romney. Right? It’s just weird.”

I am not a Santorum fan. At best, he is a weak Big Government Republican. However, this is beyond the pale.

Romney is despicable!

Update: Romney supporters, before you vote, read the 200 page Romney Opposition Research dump from the 2008 campaign. Obama is sure to hit him with every bit of it.

200 pages!

Positives (from strong to weak):

Perry
He is the most consistent conservative. His economic plan is strong. If he fleshed it out with some more detail, it would definitely be the strongest of the candidates. Although he has baggage, all the other candidates have much more. I cannot imagine any other candidate reducing the federal government more than him. His recent debate performances make a good argument that the early problems were caused by back surgery complications.

Bottom line – Perry would be the most reliable conservative Republican candidate.

Newt
Newt’s brilliance is easy to see. He thinks well on his feet. he also has the deepest reservoir of national, local, & political knowledge. Despite Perry’s radical improvement in the debates, Newt is much better. Newt may be as good a debater as Ronald Reagan was. Unfortunately, he has baggage. Lots of baggage. I don’t want to go into the details as they are pretty well known. We also know that he views government as a way to solve problems. As president, Newt would have the most spectacular successes and some significant failures. When things go well and he starts relaxing, he loses discipline and drifts toward “Bad Newt”.

Bottom line – Newt is a great candidate, but he would require conservatives to invest in nitroglycerin pills and defibrillator paddles (for the next 9 years).

Huntsman
How can I get excited about the candidate that started his campaign by giving conservatives the middle finger? I look at his record as the governor of Utah. For all his moderate/liberal rhetoric, he has a very financially conservative background.

Bottom line – Huntsman would be a solid candidate. No nose plugs required in the voting booth.

Negatives (from weak to disaster):

Santorum
The best I can say is that he has been reliably socially conservative and would provide a solid foreign policy. Unfortunately, his “comprehensive” economic plan is missing in action. Although there are 31 bullet points on his website, he only communicates one of them to the public (reduce manufacturing income tax to zero). He seems to view government as an instrument of conservative social policy. Even worse, he champions earmarks and big government.

Bottom line – Santorum is Compassionate Conservatism 2.0™

Romney
It is difficult to criticize Romney’s faults because it is a target rich environment. I will only highlight the worst, his legendary flip flops. The DNC put out a great preview of just one of their lines of attack with the campaign ad below. The pro Romney Washington Post fact checkers gave it one Pinocchio, because it was mostly true. If Romney is our nominee, we will see a lot more ads like this.

Bottom line – Romney has less spine than a jellyfish. He has no core beliefs and it shows.

Paul
Although Paul has some great ideas, only one of the 620 bills he has sponsored has passed. Worse yet, he is a totally unsuitable candidate due to his foreign policy lunacy. I cannot understand how any conservative voter could support someone who would not object to Iran getting nukes. I am sure that every RedStater knows that Iran is an Islamic theocracy that wants to wipe Israel off the map. Are there Republicans that do not know this?

Paul’s support of conspiracy theories are almost as bad as his foreign policy. He is perfectly happy listening to 9/11 truthers. He is a mainstay of Prison Planet and Alex Jones. The crazy theories in his old newsletters show he has thought this way for decades.

Bottom line – if Paul were to become president, the disasters would show up on day one, but success would never come.

If you are masochistic enough are willing to invest the time to watch.

Update:

I stand corrected. This was one of the best debates and the first one to really examine Romney’s record.

NBC has finally posted the entire debate: HERE. You can also watch in the embedded video below.

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