Republican establishment voices are expression faux-outrage
over Newt Gingrich's
attack on Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital.
Yesterday, Newt Gingrich rejected Mitt Romney's demand that he return the $1.6 million he "earned" as Freddie Mac's top "housing historian" by challenging Romney to return all the money he made at Bain Capital "bankrupting companies and laying employees off."
The reaction from establishment pundits was predictable: The Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin defended Romney by saying Gingrich's comments sounded like something an Occupy Wall Street protester would say and revealed his "anti-free market self." The Weekly Standard's Fred Barnes said Newt Gingrich was attacking Romney "from the left." And on Fox, Charles Krauthammer said Gingrich's slam was "what you would expect from a socialist."
First of all, if these guys want to the Republican Party to be the champion of a business model built around accelerating the decline of troubled businesses and profiting on the spread, they can be my guest.
Second, if they really think that Newt Gingrich is actually campaigning against Mitt Romney from the left, they need to get their heads examined. Case in point: Newt Gingrich's tax plan. Under his plan, millionaires would pay a lower federal rate than people earning $50,000.
By eliminating capital gains taxes completely, Gingrich is proposing a massive transfer of wealth from middle class to the wealthy. That's not socialism ... it's socialism in reverse!
And among Republican 2012ers, do you know who the chief critic of Gingrich's plan is? That's right, it's Mitt Romney, who criticized it during Saturday's debate:
His plan in capital gains, to remove capital gains for people-- at the very highest level of income is different than mine. I'd-- I'd-- eliminate capital gains, interest, and dividends for people in middle income. So-- we have differences of viewpoint on-- on some issues
One day earlier, Romney explained his opposition to Gingrich's plan:
My own calculation is that if that were the case, for anybody—no taxes on interest, dividends, and capital gains—I would have paid no taxes over the last ten years, because all my income is from interest, dividends, and capital gains, and neither would Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and so forth.
I agree with Romney. Gingrich's plan is a huge giveaway to people who don't need it. And not only is his criticism correct, it's coming from Gingrich's left.