Have You Heard? Mittney is Rich!

The Boston Globe reports that Romney's worth up to 250 million dollars. I've seen this headline numerous times in the past day. News outlets are breathlessly reporting that Mitt is rich. As if this was some surprise to anyone. In reality, he and his wife, Ann, are worth from 190 to 250 million dollars. Of course, all the headlines trumpet the 250 million dollar upper limit. Hey, the guy could be worth as little as 190 million dollars. Not as if that's anything to sneeze at, but Romney having a ton of money is no surprise to anyone - except maybe the old media, if you judged it on their triumphant reporting.

Mitt Romney, by far the wealthiest presidential candidate, and his wife, Ann, are worth $190 million to $250 million, his advisers said yesterday after filing a personal financial disclosure statement with the Federal Election Commission.

The tone of the headlines and the articles seem to assign some kind of scandal to Romney's wealth, as if he doesn't deserve it because he earned the foundation of his wealth buying and turning around under performing companies.

I suppose it's much more righteous to accumulate your wealth by writing books about your time in the White House, being paid as much as $400,000 for a speech, or better yet, suing doctors right out of practice.

On the other hand, most articles I've read about Michael Bloomberg's potential entry into the presidential race as an independent is shored up by eager reports of how he has enough money to self-finance a billion dollar campaign if he chose. I guess that's a good thing since the driveby media think he would be a good candidate to challenge a GOP nominee.

I don't recall the old media taking such a dim view of Kerry's wealth in 2004 as he ran for president. In fact, they seemed to be upset that it wasn't all his money that he could dump into a challenge if he needed the cash. I had a problem with Kerry's wealth, since he gold-digged it by marrying the widow who inherited it from the man who accumulated the fortune - John Heinz.

The Globe thoughtfully added a graph indicating the fortunes of some of the other candidates: Rudy - 13.1 to 40 million; Clinton - 10 to 50 million; Breck Boy - 29.5 million and Obama - $400k to 1.1 million.

I don't have a problem with any of these candidates being wealthy. What I have a problem with is them being wealthy and running around the country talking about Two Americas^TM and poverty and taxing the producers in this country into being non-producers.

I say good on Mittney. I hope he and his family enjoy their fortune. If he or one of the other Republican candidates win the election, they might have a chance of keeping most of it.