Off-Topic

Servants and grounds keeping jobs at his houses, plus construction jobs for those who build them.

Comparing Mitts to people like Jobs & Gates & Ellison is a joke.

What's his position on socializing the losses of the Morgan Stanley types and the big banks who wrecked the Economy, instead of subjecting them to the discipline of the Market as was done with the S&Ls in the 1980s?

The private sector don't create jobs -- the govement do. Everybody knows that.

I agree with what you are saying and I think Paul nails Romney's biggest problem(s). I think his tax return issue is going to bite him in the ass as well and I honestly don't know what would hurt him the most...releasing them or not. He's screwed either way. If he releases them we're all going to find out that he made his millions while paying less in taxes than most americans. If he doesn't then people are going to assume that anyway. Either way it's not going to end well for him. Of course Newt also got rich lobbying for Fannie and Freddy so no one is exempt that really has a chance. Either way, Obama is going to beat them up over it...whoever is left standing.

The attacks are coming mostly from his Republican opponents, not the Obama administration. They're the ones who began this line of attack.

And

I have both worked with Bain and competed against Bain during the 80's and 90's. They may be data driven nerds, but all are very ethical. Romney is certainly a pragmatic investor and not a risk taker (he had to be dragged into some of the deals) but when he was convinced a deal made sense (of course from an investor's point of view) he bought in fully. He is a measured man, tries very hard to relate, but is definitely not a douche-bag. I do think he could manage the US better than a community organizer, but I really don't know why he wants to be in politics. Perhaps this is something he caught from his father.

That would be great. Gut punching political ads go all the way back to GW's second election campaign. The fighting was over Alexander Hamilton's economic program. The program consisted of; encouraging domestic manufacturers via bridges, roads, canals and tariffs, the Federal Government assuming state debts incurred in the Revolutionary War, and creating the First Bank of the United States to handle the debt.

Jefferson favored farmers and opposed the stretching of the Commerce Clause to create the Bank, since he feared it would lead to a Federal government dominating the states.

Sheridan or Grant ?

Not to turn the thread, but this is from the Park Service brochure:

"In August of 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant stayed with the Thomas family and used their home to hold a "council of war." During that meeting, Grant confirmed with General Phil Sheridan a plan to secure and destroy Confederate resistance in the Shenandoah; a plan that Sheridan carried out in the fall of 1864."

That was just a month after the battle that saved Washington. It's just a couple of miles from my house. It's still a great area (nothing like Antietam or Gettyburg tho), but it amazes me that I-270 literally cuts across the middle of the pivotal part of the battle where the vanguard Southern cavalry hoped to flank the outnumbered Northern defenders of the DC approach--but they encountered an experienced line of Union troops hidden behind hedges. Something like 13,000 South vs. 5,000 North with almost 2K casualties each side. South won the day, but the delay bought time to reinforce the DC forts and save the Capitol (South hoped a stealthy capture would relieve the siege of Richmond/Peterburg and hasten a negotiated settlment with the North). Farm is still a working farm today, but you can hike through the easements.

It's the one on the East side of 270 that's still a working farm. When you walk the pasture of Thomas farm in winter, there's a great view of the Worthington Farm on the West side of 270 (the red house that's actually owned by the Park Service) and you can just see Johnny Reb's dismounted cavalry coming at you.

Colbert/Cain rally is huge and about to start.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/20/stephen-colbert-herman-cain-rally-live_n_1219204.html

I can't believe Herman Cain agreed to do this.

I really have no idea who the "conservative establishment" or "republican establishment" are that guys like JoScar talk about. But if they exist, maybe they should set about changing the nomination process, or at least making sure the first caucus can pick a winner in a timely fashion, rather than kvetching about those who navigate the process they endorsed or created.