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Redstate...
In defense
of capitalism
Posted by
Erick Erickson
Thursday,
January 12th
Sweet Lord
in Heaven, every time I try to tune these clowns out they hack me off
and drag
me back in.
There are
legitimate criticisms to be made of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital.
Anyone who
says otherwise needs to be prepared to defend Bain Capital more than
once
relying on the government to cover their butts on deals and even being
bailed
out by the government under Mitt Romney’s watch — not exactly free
market.
There are
legitimate criticisms.
But as Rush
Limbaugh said, as always correctly, the criticisms of Romney should
come from
the right, not the left. Attacking him for profiting in the free market
has
gotten out of hand on the right. I appreciate that the Democrats will
raise the
attacks and I appreciate that Romney is going to need to defend
himself. Better
now than in the general.
I am a bit
appalled by the sudden decision that it is verboten to level any attack
at
Romney because of Bain. Just as we can go after people in politics,
corporations should not be immune from criticism. Mitt Romney tells us
they are
people too. It’s just that we should attack Bain for relying on the
government
as we attack Solyndra and GE for doing the same.
I would,
however, note that a great many of the people (but not all) screaming
at Perry
and Gingrich for attacking Romney “from the left” on Bain were
staggeringly
silent when Romney was attacking them from the left on entitlements.
Then there
is Mitt Romney. The best defense he has so far offered about his time
at Bain
is that he did what the President did with General Motors. Except few
on the
right agree with what the President did and think the free market
should have
done it. In fact, that’s probably the best criticism of Romney — he
seems to
see no difference in the private sector and the public sector and has
been all
too willing to commingle money and responsibility between the two.
This isn’t
Mitt Romney’s first time headed down this road. Back in 2003, he
attacked the
very position he’s now wrapping himself up with to defend himself. At
the time,
he said
“There are
some, if you will, classical Republicans, and I don’t want to be
political
here. The classical Republican approach is to say you know what makes
America
so great is our great corporations. And if we just clear the decks so
that
corporations can be more successful and give them more money, and make
it
easier for them to succeed. Well, then we will do even better on the
world
stage. I don’t happen to subscribe to that traditional Republican
caricature.”
So all you
people defending Mitt Romney’s corporate activity as unassailable
because by
God the business of America is business and what not, remember he once
made
clear he didn’t much care for you guys.
The GOP has
gone off the reservation. Capitalism should be defended. That does not
mean
everything Romney did at Bain Capital must be defended. And it sure as
heck
does not mean we should suddenly be okay with the President’s handling
of
General Motors.
Meanwhile,
Sarah Palin wants Romney to release his tax records and provide proof
of his
job creation numbers. God bless her. Just when this was starting to
look like a
coronation with 2.01% of delegates selected . . .
Read this
and other columns at Redstate
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