Rogue II - The Stench

On Sunday Richard Oppel had a New York Times piece that explored what it must be like for VP candidate Paul Ryan as the Romney campaign continues to implode. The article ended with:

Craig Robinson, a former political director of the Republican Party of Iowa: “I hate to say this, but if Ryan wants to run for national office again, he’ll probably have to wash the stench of Romney off of him.”

This led to a hilarious Roger Simon Politico satire suggesting that VP Candidate Paul Ryan develop his own version of "going rogue."

In Simon's vision, Ryan could feature non-campaign approved Powerpoint presentations as well as contemptuous references to his wannabee boss Mitt Romney, "If Stench calls, take a message."

"Let Ryan be Ryan and let the Stench be the Stench."

"Tell Stench I'm having finger sandwiches with Peggy Noonan and will text him later."

Peggy Noonan of course is the conservative WSJ columnist who first raised the red flag that the Romney campaign had in fact become a "rolling calamity" much to the chagrin of Stench wife Ann, who whined, "This is hard!"

Ohio has just shifted to "leans Obama" at RCP.  If conditions continue to deteriorate for the Romney campaign, we may indeed witness a Ryan effort to minimize the damage to his future prospects.

School Teachers

Mitt Romney has asserted that the contributions from certain organized groups to politicians should be limited since they can produce conflicts of interest.

Which groups?  Big Oil?  Big Pharma?  Big Bank?  Koch Brothers, Inc.?

No.

School Teachers

So that's it. Our problems are caused by the undue influence of school teacher contributions to our politicians.

While I guess it's not alcohol, he must be drinking something.

Tax Folly

Folks do realize Romney gamed his 2011 tax return so it would climb over 14%.  He did this by leaving some deductions unclaimed.

Everyone also knows that after the election, win or lose, he'll simply file an amendment and grab back every thin red cent.

City Funding of TREO Eliminated

At long last the City of Tucson will stop funding the grotesque waste of resources known as Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities (TREO), an agency that is supposed to be enhancing the attraction and retention of high wage paying companies in the local community.

What led to this development is the increasing insistence (and the fact that these demands would only grow louder until satisfied) on the part of city officials that TREO demonstrate in clear, factual terms the tangible results of its efforts in terms of jobs created, wealth produced, and dollars generated.  Real data - that means names and dates and numbers.

Well, TREO just doesn't do that.  Never has, never will.  Instead, since its inception it has relied upon invented estimates, sheer fabrication (i.e. Cloth), and good old fashioned taking credit for events that would have occurred anyway, results produced by others (those who produce).

So, rather than continue to face the badgering for specific, measurable outcomes that can be verified by someone other than a suit in the overpaid goon squad, TREO CEO Snell decided to fold the city cards.

The move makes a lot of sense.  Now the likes of Raytheon, Honeywell, Wells Fargo, TEP, and the rest can pay TREO the sums of their choice for the organization to do what it actually does - cheer leading.

There's nothing wrong with cheerleaders on the sidelines.  They look good and jump around in cute costumes, cheering for the folks on the field.  At salaries well over a hundred grand, it's not a bad gig.

Now that their role is honestly distinguished, the guys in the skirts can stop trying to convince everyone they scored all the touchdowns.