NeoCon Kristol Unsettled by G.O.P. Contenders

William Kristol, editor of the neoconservative organ, The Weekly Standard, recently bemoaned the performance of conservative candidates during the last Republican presidential debate. He claims to be saying out loud what he implies is a widespread but as of yet unarticulated feeling among conservatives, that the 2012 field of Republican contenders is lackluster at best and wholly unsuited to defeating Obama at the very worst. Quoting Kristol: “But no front-runner in a presidential field has ever, we imagine, had as weak a showing as Rick Perry. It was close to a disqualifying two hours for him. And Mitt Romney remains, when all is said and done, a technocratic management consultant whose one term as governor produced Romneycare. He could rise to the occasion as president. Or not…none of the candidates really seemed up to the moment, either politically or substantively. In the midst of a crisis, we’re getting politics as usual-and a somewhat subpar version of politics as usual at that.” Kristol went on to lament the fact that neither Mitch Daniels, Jeb Bush, Paul Ryan or Chris Christie would “step up” and enter the fray a development that he feels may assure the reelection of Barack Obama. Moreover Kristol said that seventy percent of the Republican activists attending the September 22nd event in Orlando cast a vote of no confidence in the two front runners.

To what extent is Kristol correct on the current state of affairs within the G.O.P. and to what extent is this merely the griping of a man so thoroughly tied to the fading neoconservative wing of the Republican Party that he can take no other position. Is Kristol’s lamentation representative of others within the conservative ranks who just can’t abide candidates that won’t advocate an aggressive American foreign policy including military intervention? As you know it was the Neoconservatives who took the reality of American exceptionalism and married it to the idea that this country should use its military might to effect regime change around the world. It was the NeoCons within the first Bush administration who prodded the president to war with Iraq, a misadventure that is now widely regarded as one of this country’s most profound foreign policy mistakes. Are William Kristol and his fellow neoconservatives simply men out step with the times or are they really onto something with regard to the quality of the Republican presidential contenders for 2012 or could they be both at the same time?

For starters, the mood in the country has emphatically moved away from military involvement abroad. Polling results show that from mid to late 2010, majorities of respondents have favored withdrawal from the conflict in Afghanistan and have said that the U.S. should no longer be involved there. Likewise polling results show similar findings regarding the War in Iraq except that the opposition to American involvement goes back over a much longer period of time. The results are somewhat different for the situation in Libya which may be affected by the fact that there are no large troop deployments presently there on the ground and thus no nightly casualty count. Beyond the sentiment of public opinion there is the plain and painful fact that military operations abroad are now constrained by fiscal problems at home. It has become increasingly hard to justify large scale military operations overseas when we are faced with crumbling infrastructure and high unemployment here in the United States. A recent conference of U.S. mayors made the case that money spent in Southwest Asia would be better spent in American cities. In his critique of the Republican field, Kristol over emphasizes foreign military factors and underplays the economic problems presently in existence on the home front. He also ignored the fact that the newly changed landscape of American political economy is simply not a favorable environment within which Neoconservative ideas can be sustained. For America in 2011 the current age of expeditionary warfare is coming to a close and the Neoconservatives like William Kristol are being left on the sidelines.

SJG
9/28/11

Sources:

Special Editorial: Yikes; http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/special-editorial-yikes_594095.html

A No Confidence Vote in Orlando; http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/no-confidence-vote-orlando_594181.html

PollingReport.com – Afghanistan; http://www.pollingreport.com/afghan.htm

PollingReport.com – Iraq; http://www.pollingreport.com/iraq.htm

PollingReport.com – Libya; http://www.pollingreport.com/libya.htm

Mitt Romney Wants Us All to be Rich!‏

In a recent campaign stop Mitt Romney addressed the subject of increasing taxes on the rich, rejecting the idea and saying “I want everyone in America to be rich.” This isn’t the first time this comment has been made by a politician running for public office and needless to say it won’t be the last. However it begs the question, is this sort of rhetoric anything other than campaign trail flourish and / or wishful thinking. Surely a guy as smart as Mitt Romney knows that everyone can’t become rich, particularly at a time when the American economy is undergoing widespread and possibly generational changes. Those changes may in the end reveal that we here in the United States are at a profound structural disadvantage vis a vis the emerging economies of East Asia and our ability to increase the wealth of our citizens will be far more challenging in the future than it was in the past when we were the undisputed and dominant world economy.

Not to put a damper on the spirit of striving and climbing one’s way to the top, but realistically wouldn’t Romney, or any other politician for that matter, be better off talking about making sure we have policies in place that will give everyone a shot at being middle class? Surely that’s a feat that would be far more realistic as opposed to creating a society where everyone is rich. As a matter of fact to my knowledge that sort of society has never existed. Even in places like Bahrain or Saudi Arabia with their generous oil income distribution policies, everyone isn’t rich so how can Romney hope to achieve that here in the United States?

SJG

9/28/11

Fox News Turns the Guns on the Far Right

Something happened on the way to the presidential forum in Orlando last week, Roger Ailes the CEO of Fox News decided to change Fox News’ ideological course and turn the guns on conservative candidates themselves. Quoting Howard Kurtz, “It was part political spectacle, part American Idol, part YouTube extravaganza, a pure Roger Ailes production—and the latest sign that the Fox News chairman is quietly repositioning America’s dominant cable-news channel…the real eye-opener was the sight of his anchors grilling the Republican contenders, which pleases the White House but cuts sharply against the network’s conservative image—and risks alienating its most rabid right-wing fans.” While this may come as a surprise to many, this “course correction” has actually been underway for some time. The first piece of baggage pitched overboard was Glenn Beck who’s yammering about Barack Obama being a racist was in Ailes words, “a bit of a branding issue for us”. In other words the loss of advertising revenue due to Glenn Beck’s ranting, raving and crying was all that Ailes needed to seal the fate of Beck on the network. Ailes went on to categorize Beck as a “performer” as opposed to a journalist which of course is spot on. Kurtz writing for the conservative leaning Newsweek said of the changes: ” Fox executives say the entire network took a hard right turn after Obama’s election, but, as the Tea Party’s popularity fades, is edging back toward the mainstream…After the Gabrielle Gifford’s shooting triggered a debate about feverish rhetoric, Ailes ordered his troops to tone things down. It was, in his view, a chance to boost profits by grabbing a more moderate audience.” Kurtz goes on to note that Ailes has grown tired of Sarah Palin and her antics as well.

In a scathing attack on Ailes and Fox’s new tack to a less strident tone, Rush Limbaugh proclaimed that “Fox wants these people to tear each other up, ’cause they want approval from the mainstream media.” Limbaugh may be miffed by being left behind as a result of this new course being set by Fox but in the final analysis Roger Ailes is a businessman who just happens to be a conservative. What he isn’t is a hard line blind faith ideologue that’s going to go down with the sinking Tea Party or to allow a crackpot like Glenn Beck to become an all encompassing “tar baby” that traps and encumbers Fox News to the point of completely destroying whatever credibility the network has left while costing the network millions in lost revenue. Ailes, a consummate businessman, played the Tea Party, Beck and the hot rhetoric of the far right like banjoes when he profited from an association with them and moved away from them as soon as their value to the network came into question. It seems to me that Roger Ailes has astutely read the declining fortunes of the Tea Party, the slump in standing of Congressional Republicans, the sinking campaigns of Perry, Bachmann and Paul as well as the stymied political future of Palin for what they are, harbingers of the end of an extremist right wing surge across the landscape of American politics.

I would bet that Ailes, being concerned about the future of the country, as so many of us are, has come to the conclusion that during desperate times like these it is reckless to engage in a campaign of blindly denigrating the incumbent administration to the point that it might hobble that administration’s ability to govern effectively. Ailes may have finally come to his political as well as business senses in seeing much of what has transpired on the far right since Obama was inaugurated for what it is, borderline sedition and that sort of thing isn’t good for business.

Steven J. Gulitti
9/27/11

Sources:

Roger’s Reality Show; http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/09/25/roger-ailes-repositions-fox-news.html

Roger Ailes: Fox News Is On A ‘Course Correction’ Away From Far Right; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/26/roger-ailes-fox-news-course-correction_n_980850.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=092611&utm_medium=email&utm_content=NewsEntry&utm_term=Daily%20Brief

Conservative Pundits Throwing Perry Under the Bus?

For the second time in the past two days a prominent conservative commentator has thrown Texas Governor Rick Perry under the bus possibly sending this latest Tea Party darling into a downward tailspin along the same trajectory as that of the faltering Michele Bachmann. This morning on Fox News Sunday veteran political analyst Brit Hume stated: “Perry is about one-half a step away from almost total collapse as a candidate…He still has some opportunity to recover his balance and put in a strong performance. What was so strikingly troubling about — from a Republican point of view — about this performance was that Perry was thought of as a really true conservative. Now it appears he has got this position on immigration which is anathema to a lot of conservatives. So this really hurts him with the base.” Just a few days ago William Kristol in an editorial analyzing the Republican debate in Orlando opined that any number of uncommitted potential candidates would be better than those who took the stage in Orlando.

I believe what we have here is a growing panic among the conservatives in this country as to their movement’s inability to produce a strong candidate that should be able to beat a very vulnerable Barack Obama. Not that I believe that the Republicans have any semblance of a strategy that could actually turn the economy around, but with the overall public dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs being what it is it should be relatively easy to unseat the incumbent. The fact that conservatives keep hoping to find someone better than Mitt Romney speaks volumes as to the consternation within their ranks as to the quality of their field of contenders. Add to that the simmering conflict between the emergent Tea Party movement and what some pundits call the “weakening G.O.P. establishment” and what you have are the ingredients for further internal conflict on the right. Whether or not this conflict burns up so much energy as to hobble their candidate during the upcoming presidential election remains to be seen. After all, any Republican candidate that’s not been vetted by the Tea Party will have to tack to the right in order to win in the Republican primaries. That may very well leave the winner with a track record of public comments that are unacceptable to the independent voters upon which the outcome of 2012 will ultimately depend. Thus the next election may be decided to a greater degree than anticipated on the internal warfare that will eventually erupt within the G.O.P.

Sources:

Hume: Perry “One Step Away from Collapse” ; http://thepage.time.com/2011/09/25/hume-perry-one-step-away-from-collapse/

Hume: ‘Perry is about one-half a step away from almost total collapse’; http://dailycaller.com/2011/09/25/hume-perry-is-about-one-half-a-step-away-from-almost-total-collapse/#ixzz1YyyiJKGN

William Kristol: Special Editorial: Yikes; http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/special-editorial-yikes_594095.html

Professor Takes PBS to Task On Inequality Analysis

PBS’ News Hour economic reporter Paul Solmon has a running commentary on the great recession called Making Sense wherein which he tries to interpret the trends and events of these trying times. Tonight, Professor Bob Lerman of American University took Solmon to task on his analysis of inequality in America. Simply put Lerman says that in any calculation of personal wealth Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare payments must be factored in. When that is done, the gap between the highest income Americans and the rest of us is much reduced.

Lerman makes a good point in his analysis but that raises a further question. The radical right in this country via the Congressional Tea Party Caucus wants to gut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid so wouldn’t that in effect work to increase the levels of inequality in America? Well based on the logic behind Lerman’s analysis it definitely would.

sjg

Bid Bachmann Goodbye‏

Ever since Rick Perry entered the 2012 race for president, Michele Bachmann’s fortunes have been heading south, not to South Carolina but into the political basement. The latest USA Today/Gallup poll shows that Bachmann is now polling in single digits compared to Rick Perry who is garnering a 31% favorability rating. That amounts to a 13% drop off for Bachmann since August. Why even her fellow traveler and unannounced potential candidate, Sarah Palin is outpolling Bachmann.

Its not just the polls and liberal media bias that are killing the Bachmann candidacy, to a large degree her problems are self inflicted. Hilary Clinton once said, after committing a gaffe on the campaign trail, that when you consider the thousands of statements that a candidate makes during a political race, a slip up here or there is to be expected. That’s certainly true, but with Michele Bachmann misstatements and mistakes are the rule rather than the exception and need no reiteration. Bachmann’s latest gaffe came as a result of her comments on the suggestion that a vaccine against a sexually transmitted disease could lead to “retardation.” To wit: “As experts quickly pointed out, there is no evidence whatsoever linking the vaccine to mental retardation — and Mrs. Bachmann ended up shifting the focus off Mr. Perry and on to her long-running penchant for exaggeration…her tendency to let her passion for an issue overwhelm a sober look at the facts, resulting in indefensible remarks that, in a presidential primary race, are raising questions about her judgment and maturity.” As it turns out Bachmann had spoke with the mother of a young lady who claimed that her daughter had become “retarded” after receiving the subject vaccine. Bachmann never took the time to look into the story instead preferring to jump to the conclusion, since proven to be incorrect, that the vaccine causes “retardation.” Bachmann’s Senior Advisor, Ed Rollins, was quick to point out the obvious, Bachmann had made a mistake. “People close to the campaign echoed Mr. Rollins. They spoke of their frustration that Mrs. Bachmann, who entered the race with a reputation for making unsupportable statements on cable television, has not found the discipline to win credibility with major Republican donors and influential referees in the conservative news media.”

But its not just in the realm of public misstatements and pratfalls that Bachmann has an Achilles heel, her political track record, or lack thereof is just as big a problem. Bachmann appeared on Meet the Press on August 14th of this year and when David Gregory pointed out that she had never chaired a Congressional committee, had little to show in the way of successful legislation introduced and that her major calling card on Capitol hill is as a hard-line conservative. Bachmann was want for an effective comeback and running true to form she used Gregory’s question as an opportunity to regurgitate her usual talking points thereby avoiding and deflecting the question. For someone who has made a habit of pointing out Barack Obama’s lack of experience her attempts to downplay her own shortcomings on the subject of experience speaks volumes. Needless to say Bachmann’s lack of experience combined with here penchant for political extremism is enough to drive independents away from her candidacy in droves.

So we’re left to wonder at what point will Bachmann finally give up the ghost on this mismanaged and mangled campaign for the White House. After all, by now, it’s a matter of when not if and Bachmann’s inability to connect with major donors will only serve to hasten her exit. On the other hand Michelle Bachmann could become another Ron Paul, perpetually propelled by a small but energetic claque of supporters who buoy her hopes beyond the pale of what can reasonably be expected only to fail repeatedly and to then again resurface in the next political season. One way or the other, Michelle Bachmann is effectively finished in the world of presidential politics. Referencing Jim Dyke, a former communications director for the Republican National Committee, Bachmann’s latest gaffe may be the final nail in the coffin of her presidential campaign.

SJG
9/21/11

Sources:

Poll: Bachmann Support Sliding; http://thepage.time.com/2011/09/19/poll-bachmann-support-sliding/

With Stakes for Bachmann Higher Now, Her Words Get in the Way; http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/us/politics/misstatements-shadow-bachmann-in-republican-presidential-race.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

The Wealthy Abandon Their Water Carriers

By now anyone who pays any attention to politics in this America is familiar with Warren Buffet’s Op-Ed, “Stop Coddling the Rich” wherein which he made the case for tax reform that allows the wealthiest Americans to pay a proportionately higher, and in his opinion, fairer tax rate. It’s also somewhat amusing to watch the water carriers on the far right now besmirch Mr. Buffet as being “out of touch”, peddling faulty “math”, ad infinitum, now that he has parted company with them and their rhetoric. Clearly when one of America’s most successful businessmen is publicly taking a stand against the long held beliefs of the far right, all it can do is hurt. Let’s be honest, watching a guy who has been one of the most successful beneficiaries of the free market of all time, and to whom so many free market advocates have worshiped for so long, come out and denounce a position held so dearly on the right can only have the effect of sowing self doubt among those who are cheering for America’s rich.

Well it seems that Mr. Buffet’s ideas have now spread across the pond as well. What follows is a sampling: “Echoing a call by Warren E. Buffett, members of the European wealthy elite are urging their governments to raise their taxes or enact special levies to help reduce growing budget deficits.” “Austerity programs, which affect mainly the poor, are ill-suited to solve the crisis,”; Tax Me More, Europe’s Wealthy Say;
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/31/business/global/as-austerity-bites-europes-rich-speak-up-to-be-taxed.html?_r=1&emc=eta1 Then there’s an article that appeared on 9 September: The Enlightened Rich Want to Be Taxed; http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/10/opinion/the-enlightened-rich-want-to-be-taxed.html?emc=eta1: “Some of the world’s wealthiest people are calling for higher taxes on the rich. They seem to recognize that the burden of the economic downturn cannot be borne entirely by the poor and middle class.”

Hey what’s happening here do we have some sort of “progressive contagion” sweeping the ranks of the worlds wealthy elite? Not really it’s just that the richest people in the world know the difference between what’s fair and what isn’t and they are increasingly coming down on the side of social fairness. Now I know there are some out there on the right who will try to say that the European rich are deathly afraid of “Marxists coming out of the woodwork” but those who make this argument are doing nothing more than putting their ignorance of European social and political action on display for all to see. What European country today has a viable “Marxist” movement that can truly pose the threat of a revolutionary overthrow of the political state? Some will try to make this same argument about the unions on both sides of the Atlantic and likewise they will embarrass themselves as well in the process. But what’s got to be even more galling to the water carriers on the far right is the fact that they’re bending over backwards trying to defend the interests of the richest among us and their efforts are all for nothing as is evident in the burgeoning realization among the rich that the tax structure has to change. Talk about being left on the platform after the train has left the station. Talk about a case of unrequited love. Talk about being out of touch with the realities of those you emulate so devoutly.

All of the aforementioned considered, what the leadership of the Republican Party should be talking about is dropping this out of touch argument that it’s been making about the rich and the taxes they pay and at the same time ask the Tea Party Caucus within the G.O.P. to find another project to work on other than the rich and their taxes. The Republican Party can do more to harm its chances in the election of 2012 by continuing to make these arguments rather than to start to expend some real effort on developing a program for the job creation that they have been asking about for the past two and a half years. The Republicans must now admit to themselves that they are out of touch with both the average American and the richest among us on this issue and abandon this position just as they have been abandoned by the very people they think they are helping. The time for obstruction is over, if you want to win the elections of 2012, that is.

SJG

Professor Takes PBS to Task On Inequality Analysis‏

PBS’ News Hour economic reporter Paul Solmon has a running commentary on the great recession called Making Sense wherein which he tries to interpret the trends and events of these trying times. Tonight, Professor Bob Lerman of American University took Solmon to task on his analysis of inequality in America. Simply put Lerman says that in any calculation of personal wealth Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare payments must be factored in. When that is done, the gap between the highest income Americans and the rest of us is much reduced.

Lerman makes a good point in his analysis but that raises a further question. The radical right in this country via the Congressional Tea Party Caucus wants to gut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid so wouldn’t that in effect work to increase the levels of inequality in America? Well based on the logic behind Lerman’s analysis it definitely would.

sjg
9/21/11

Bid Bachmann Goodbye‏

Ever since Rick Perry entered the 2012 race for president, Michele Bachmann’s fortunes have been heading south, not to South Carolina but into the political basement. The latest USA Today/Gallup poll shows that Bachmann is now polling in single digits compared to Rick Perry who is garnering a 31% favorability rating. That amounts to a 13% drop off for Bachmann since August. Why even her fellow traveler and unannounced potential candidate, Sarah Palin is outpolling Bachmann.

Its not just the polls and liberal media bias that are killing the Bachmann candidacy, to a large degree her problems are self inflicted. Hilary Clinton once said, after committing a gaffe on the campaign trail, that when you consider the thousands of statements that a candidate makes during a political race, a slip up here or there is to be expected. That’s certainly true, but with Michele Bachmann misstatements and mistakes are the rule rather than the exception and need no reiteration. Bachmann’s latest gaffe came as a result of her comments on the suggestion that a vaccine against a sexually transmitted disease could lead to “retardation.” To wit: “As experts quickly pointed out, there is no evidence whatsoever linking the vaccine to mental retardation — and Mrs. Bachmann ended up shifting the focus off Mr. Perry and on to her long-running penchant for exaggeration…her tendency to let her passion for an issue overwhelm a sober look at the facts, resulting in indefensible remarks that, in a presidential primary race, are raising questions about her judgment and maturity.” As it turns out Bachmann had spoke with the mother of a young lady who claimed that her daughter had become “retarded” after receiving the subject vaccine. Bachmann never took the time to look into the story instead preferring to jump to the conclusion, since proven to be incorrect, that the vaccine causes “retardation.” Bachmann’s Senior Advisor, Ed Rollins, was quick to point out the obvious, Bachmann had made a mistake. “People close to the campaign echoed Mr. Rollins. They spoke of their frustration that Mrs. Bachmann, who entered the race with a reputation for making unsupportable statements on cable television, has not found the discipline to win credibility with major Republican donors and influential referees in the conservative news media.”

But its not just in the realm of public misstatements and pratfalls that Bachmann has an Achilles heel, her political track record, or lack thereof is just as big a problem. Bachmann appeared on Meet the Press on August 14th of this year and when David Gregory pointed out that she had never chaired a Congressional committee, had little to show in the way of successful legislation introduced and that her major calling card on Capitol hill is as a hard-line conservative. Bachmann was want for an effective comeback and running true to form she used Gregory’s question as an opportunity to regurgitate her usual talking points thereby avoiding and deflecting the question. For someone who has made a habit of pointing out Barack Obama’s lack of experience her attempts to downplay her own shortcomings on the subject of experience speaks volumes. Needless to say Bachmann’s lack of experience combined with here penchant for political extremism is enough to drive independents away from her candidacy in droves.

So we’re left to wonder at what point will Bachmann finally give up the ghost on this mismanaged and mangled campaign for the White House. After all, by now, it’s a matter of when not if and Bachmann’s inability to connect with major donors will only serve to hasten her exit. On the other hand Michelle Bachmann could become another Ron Paul, perpetually propelled by a small but energetic claque of supporters who buoy her hopes beyond the pale of what can reasonably be expected only to fail repeatedly and to then again resurface in the next political season. One way or the other, Michelle Bachmann is effectively finished in the world of presidential politics. Referencing Jim Dyke, a former communications director for the Republican National Committee, Bachmann’s latest gaffe may be the final nail in the coffin of her presidential campaign.

SJG
9/21/11

Sources:

Poll: Bachmann Support Sliding; http://thepage.time.com/2011/09/19/poll-bachmann-support-sliding/

With Stakes for Bachmann Higher Now, Her Words Get in the Way; http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/us/politics/misstatements-shadow-bachmann-in-republican-presidential-race.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

The Wealthy Abandon Their Water Carriers

By now anyone who pays any attention to politics in this America is familiar with Warren Buffet’s Op-Ed, “Stop Coddling the Rich” wherein which he made the case for tax reform that allows the wealthiest Americans to pay a proportionately higher, and in his opinion, fairer tax rate. Its also somewhat amusing to watch the water carriers on the far right now besmirch Mr. Buffet as being “out of touch”, peddling faulty “math”, ad infinitum, now that he has parted company with them and their rhetoric. Clearly when one of America’s most successful businessmen is publicly taking a stand against the long held beliefs of the far right, all it can do is hurt. Let’s be honest, watching a guy who has been one of the most successful beneficiaries of the free market of all time, and to whom so many free market advocates have worshiped for so long, come out and denounce a position held so dearly on the right can only have the effect of sowing confusion and self doubt among those who are cheering for Mr. Buffets class while they themselves are paying proportionately more than he.

Well it seems that Mr. Buffet’s ideas have now spread across the pond as well. To wit: “Echoing a call by Warren E. Buffett, members of the European wealthy elite are urging their governments to raise their taxes or enact special levies to help reduce growing budget deficits. Maurice Lévy, chairman and chief executive of the French advertising firm Publicis, on Tuesday became the latest European business leader to ask for higher taxes on top earners, writing in The Financial Times that it was “only fair that the most privileged members of our society should take up a heavier share of this national burden.” “I am not a masochist; I do not love taxes,” wrote Mr. Lévy, who is also president of a French association of private enterprises. “But right now this is important and just.” …”The multimillionaire chairman of Ferrari, Luca di Montezemolo, backed Mr. Buffett’s idea in an interview with the Rome daily La Repubblica. “I am rich and I am ready to pay more taxes, for reasons of fairness and solidarity,” Mr. Montezemolo told the newspaper…This month, 16 of France’s wealthiest people, including the chief executive of the energy giant Total and the L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, signed a petition published in the magazine Le Nouvel Observateur urging the French government to tax them more. Other signatories were the chief executives of Société Générale, Airbus and PSA Peugeot-Citroën. A group of about 50 wealthy individuals in Germany, who have been campaigning for a higher top tax rate since 2009, said last week that it welcomed the French petition. “Austerity programs, which affect mainly the poor, are ill-suited to solve the crisis,” said the group, whose name in German means the Initiative of the Wealthy for a Wealth Tax. From: Tax Me More, Europe’s Wealthy Say; http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/31/business/global/as-austerity-bites-europes-rich-speak-up-to-be-taxed.html?_r=1&emc=eta1 See also The “Buffett Rule”; http://thepage.time.com/2011/09/18/the-buffett-rule/?artId=?contType=?chn

Then there’s this article that appeared on 9 September: The Enlightened Rich Want to Be Taxed; http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/10/opinion/the-enlightened-rich-want-to-be-taxed.html?emc=eta1. Once again, to wit: “Some of the world’s wealthiest people are calling for higher taxes on the rich. They seem to recognize that the burden of the economic downturn cannot be borne entirely by the poor and middle class. The suggestion is motivated, no doubt, by a sense of justice — that the very rich, who have survived the financial crisis very well, should contribute more to shrinking public coffers to reduce the spending cuts that would hurt the most vulnerable. But altruism does not fully explain why members of the global elite are suddenly keen to prevent the deep budget reductions that will occur if governments don’t raise more money. They are also moved by what some might call enlightened self-interest. These nations risk more than social unrest. Austerity is already undermining economic growth on both sides of the Atlantic. Slashing funds for education, infrastructure and other vital needs will undercut future competitiveness and endanger industrialized nations’ economic performance for generations. Americans have been historically less inclined than Europeans to explosions of social rage, despite suffering more poverty than most other wealthy democracies. But with unemployment above 9 percent, rising poverty rates and declining family incomes, the no-taxes, all-cuts agenda that has gripped Congressional Republicans will fray our social fabric and squander human capital here as well. Mr. Buffett lives on the other end of the income spectrum, where 1 percent of American taxpayers — about 750,000 families — pocket more than 20 percent of the nation’s income. It is not surprising that the enlightened rich would think paying higher taxes was a wise investment. The Republicans in Congress need to be persuaded of that truth.”

Hey what’s happening here do we have some sort of “progressive contagion” sweeping the ranks of the worlds wealthy elite? Not really it’s just that the richest people in the world know the difference between what’s fair and what isn’t and they are increasingly coming down on the side of social fairness. Now I know there are some out there on the right who will try to say that the European rich are deathly afraid of “Marxists coming out of the woodwork” but those who make this argument are doing nothing more than putting their ignorance of European social and political action on display for all to see. What European country today has a viable “Marxist” movement that can truly pose the threat of a revolutionary overthrow of the political state? Some will try to make this same argument about the unions on both sides of the Atlantic and likewise they will embarrass themselves as well in the process. But what’s got to be even more galling to the water carriers on the far right is the fact that they’re bending over backwards trying to defend the interests of the richest among us and their efforts are all for nothing as is evident in the burgeoning realization among the rich that the tax structure has to change. Talk about being left on the platform after the train has left the station. Talk about a case of unrequited love. Talk about being out of touch with the realities of those you emulate so devoutly.

All of the aforementioned considered, what the leadership of the Republican Party should be talking about is dropping this out of touch arguments that it has been making about the rich and the taxes they pay and at the same time ask the Tea Party Caucus within the G.O.P. to find another project to work on other than the rich and their taxes. The Republican Party can do more to harm its chances in the election of 2012 by continuing to make these arguments rather than to start to expend some real effort on developing a program for the job creation that they have been asking about for the past two and a half years. The Republicans must now admit to themselves that they are out of touch with both the average American and the richest among us on this issue and abandon this position just as they have been abandoned by the very people they think they are helping. The time for obstruction is over, if you want to win the elections of 2012, that is.