Category ►►► Money Makes the World Go Round

August 4, 2012

Big Money

Money Makes the World Go Round
Hatched by Korso

So... Mitt and Ann Romney are rich. The way that the mainstream media and leftie opinion outlets are trumpeting the fact, you'd think it was some huge secret -- or worse yet, a source of shame. What I'm wondering is, where were all these people when John Kerry was running for president back in 2004?

Just for the record, when Kerry "reported for duty" to receive the nomination at the Democrat National Convention, he was worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $240 million. Granted, this puts him just a teensy bit behind the Romneys at $250 million -- but then again, Mitt did make most of his own fortune with a combination of hard work and business sense, while Kerry married his. Still, though, I don't recall a big deal being made of Kerry's wealth at the time.

Dafydd adds: It's even worse than Korso notes. True, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA, 85%) gained his fortune the "old-fashioned way," by marrying it -- twice, as a matter of fact; he dumped Heiress Number One, Julia Thorne, to marry the much richer Heiress Number Two, Teresa.

But even Teresa Heinz Kerry, who brought Kerry that $200 million fortune, got it in the first place by marrying money... Republican money from former Sen. John Heinz (R-PA), who died in a 1991 plane crash. And Heinz himself got that fortune the other old-fashioned way: He inherited it from the Heinz Ketchup empire. (Nota bene: Romney inherited a huge fortune, but he gave away every dollar of it to charity. The money he has he earned himself in private enterprise.)

Doesn't anybody other than Mitt Romney earn his own pile anymore? That is, by means other than political corruption and "crony capitalism," the method of financial acquisition preferred by so many congressmen, senators, and even presidents.

Then there's the Clintons. Bubba and Hillary have done pretty well for themselves (an estimated $80 million and counting). What about Al Gore? The Green Racket has been pretty kind to his interests, to the tune of around $100 million -- although that probably took a hit when he and Tipper split. And let's not forget the Kennedys, those patron saints of the Democrat Party. Nobody really knows how much the whole family is worth, though estimates put the figure north of a half billion bucks. Next to them, Mitt Romney looks like a charity case.

So is there a double standard at work here? Or have financial mores just become that modest since so many have gone broke in the Age of Obama?

I know, I know. Complaining that the media treat Republicans and Democrats differently is like complaining that a dead fish smells: It's just the way things are, and pointing it out won't change anything. What concerns me more is this notion that success can be used as a weapon against the successful, at least in politics. There was a time when people in this country aspired to wealth, and looked up to those who achieved it. Sadly, these days, it seems there are far too many who see themselves as victims of other people's success -- and it's that kind of resentment that Barack Obama is hoping to ride to re-election.

What's laughable about all this is how Obama is trying to pass himself off as a regular guy. Put aside that the president is worth somewhere around $11 million himself, there's also the inconvenient truth (if you'll pardon the expression) that he's never held what you would call a regular job for any length of time. Neither did his wife Michelle, whose last paid position was a patronage gig at the Univeristy of Chicago Hospital that got her a tidy $300K salary before she left to become First Lady. I'm sure they'll understand if we don't believe that they can relate to middle-class concerns in a way that the Romneys can't.

Hatched by Korso on this day, August 4, 2012, at the time of 9:05 PM | Comments (0)

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