Over the long and varied course of my professional life, I have at various times been a legislative aide to a U. S. Senator (liberal D); a lobbyist for the National League of Cities, AFSCME, and the National Coal Association. Eventually, I became a lawyer. I lived in Washington, DC, for over twenty years. I have lived in California for almost a quarter century (I call myself a "native" now). During that time, I met and interacted with many corporate executives and even a few CEOs and most of my clients now are corporations or investment groups. So I know and understand the breed.
I have never in my life read a more accurate portrayal of the corporate executive's mentality as applied to the rest of us, as exemplified most recently in Mitt Romney, than this, from David Brooks in today's Times: "as a description of America today, Romney’s comment is a country-club fantasy. It’s what self-satisfied millionaires say to each other."
And that, folks, is pure, undiluted Mitt Romney and it is a perfect example of why he is unfit to hold national office of any kind. He REALLY believes the crap he was spouting on that video he didn't know was being filmed.
I am a self-employed, solo practitioner. I have built my practice myself, but I went through college and the first year of graduate school on my late Father's GI insurance. I went through law school on student loans and wil some help from my family (I also worked fulltime and graduated in 3 years by taking summer classes). I prepared myself for the California Bar seventeen years after graduating from law school and I worked during all but two weeks of the preparation time (which I had to take off without pay). I am now enjoying Medicare and Social Security, which I PAID FOR, dammit, and only a crass, materialistic, unfeeling, creep who inherited his nest egg and built his fortune by ruining the lives of thousands could conceivably accuse me of being a "moocher". Only a crass, materialistic, unfeeling creep who inherited his nest egg, etc. and a bunch of corporate executives who sit around the country club congratulating each other on their accomplishments. Luck had nothing to do with any of those accomplishments, of course.
This is the problem with Mitty and his party. They're just a bunch of old, white guys, sitting around in the bar at the country club, congratulating each other on how successful they've made themselves.
Mitt Romney, like Cong. Akin, is "guilty" principally of saying out loud what his party has always believed in private, when they didn't think the mikes and cameras were running.
PS. David Brooks' column is brilliant and exemplifies all that is good about conservatism. I am not a conservative, but perhaps I wouldn't dislike them all as much as I do if they were all like David Brooks.