Bob Lord

Bob has mostly wound down his 39-year career as a tax and business lawyer (with a 1-year interruption to run for Congress in 2008 (CD3), when he tried to unseat John Shadegg. Bob now serves as the senior advisor on tax policy for the Patriotic Millionaires, a group of wealthy Americans who believe the light taxation of America's rich is destabilizing our democracy, and as an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. Bob has been writing for Blog For Arizona since late 2011, concentrating mostly on federal issues, with an occasional foray into Arizona state politics.

Mitt’s Gay Problem

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Posted by Bob Lord My favorite host these days is Chris Matthews, for no reason other than his intense dislike of my buddy Mitt. He’s really incredible on this front. Every sentence he utters when talking about Mitt drips with disdain. It’s a beautiful thing to watch. Curiously, he left out an obvious point when … Read more

Mitt’s Buddy On Inequality — Flawed Logic At Its Finest

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I can't write extensively on this one, but it's an eye-opening piece, becasue it sheds light on how some of the ultra-rich see themselves. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/magazine/romneys-former-bain-partner-makes-a-case-for-inequality.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1 Enjoy.  

The Middle of the Road Where the Road is Supposed To Be

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Posted by Bob Lord

I’ve said this before — I bristle at empty platitudes. One we hear all the time is how our discourse is too polarized and how we need politicians to move to the center, with the clear implication that splitting the difference between the two “poles” is definitively the place to be. And, so, over the past three decades, as the entire spectrum on economic issues moved further and further right, with the perceived center moving right along, what used to be considered “fringe” right became center. Because center is presumptively the ideal place to be, as the spectrum moves over time, wacko becomes eminently sane.

And sane becomes wacko. Check out this link to a short piece in yesterday’s Guardian (it‘s a quick read): 

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/26/earth-population-consumption-disasters

Mitt’s Enabler, The American Voter, and the Gluttons of Ancient Rome

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Posted by Bob Lord

It’s been a brutal couple weeks work-wise, which left little time for blogging. No shortage of material, though.

But I have a little time today to talk about my buddy, Mitt Romney, his enabler, the American voter, and the gluttons of Ancient Rome.

By way of background, I tend to bristle at empty platitudes, and the one bugging me the most these days is about how American voters almost always get it right and how the American voter is “smart.” There’s a spot running on MSNBC where Andrea Mitchell rails against efforts to suppress the vote for partisan purposes. She urges us to encourage voter participation and “let the chips fall will they may” because American voters are smart and will do the right thing. I don’t think I’ve ever heard or read a political commentator question the wisdom of the American voter. And when Bill Maher does so, it’s considered edgy (it has to be so, or it wouldn’t be suitable material for a comedian).

I’m opposed to vote suppression efforts for a whole host of obvious reasons, but as for Mitchell's assertion about the American voter being smart, what a load of crap. The average American voter gets almost all his / her information from the television, and not from news coverage, but from the 30 second spots that run during prime time. The statistics on this front are truly depressing. In “The Assault on Reason” Al Gore describes how the average American routine is to come home from work, flip on the TV, watch sitcoms and reality shows for four solid hours, retire to bed, then start the whole process over the next day. On weekends, we have sporting events to satisfy our voracious intellectual appetites. But Gore’s take on the American intellect is downright cheery compared to the picture Chris Hedges paints in “Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle.” As Hedges explains, the typical American truly is illiterate, and the widespread illiteracy extends to the supposedly educated segments of society, including college graduates.

In trying to understand how Mitt’s made it this far and how the polls show a close general election race, the waning intellect of American voters as a causal factor is not lost on progressives. Progressives correctly marvel at how American voters are so easily conned into voting against their own best interests. Gun owners vote Republican on the baseless fear that Democrats will take their guns away. Bible thumpers vote Republican because they abhor abortion, even though there is virtually no correlation between abortion laws and abortion rates, or because Democrats don’t share their ignorant bigotry towards gays and lesbians.

Great Piece on Romney

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If you believe there is a shred of crediblity to my buddy Mitt's claim that his private sector experience at Bain Capital qualifies him to be President, pick up this week's Phoenix New Times and read the expose by Pete Kotz, or find it online. If you share my view of Mitt, that he's a … Read more