Mitt Romney’s Not the Only Rich Bastard Who Wants to Be President

It is comical to watch Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum go after Mitt Romney for being a fabulously wealthy businessman. Talk about two big phonies. Gingrich and Santorum have both become millionaires because of their years as government hacks. So basically we have two rich, white guys beating up on a really rich, white guy.

This is not an endorsement for Romney, but at least he made his money as a capitalist, not as an opportunist. Granted, all Mitt did was invest in struggling companies and flip the firms at a tidy profit after many employees were laid off. Most of the companies didn’t even do that well after Romney’s private equity firm, Bain Capital, applied its management expertise. But at least Romney took the financial risk and was rewarded.

Gingrich and Santorum, on the other hand, only got rich because of the time they spent on the government payroll. Neither of these pompous blowhards knows squat about running a business or creating jobs.

Then again Gingrich and Santorum have never had a problem carrying on like hypocrites. Gingrich is on wife number three and carried on an affair while persecuting Bill Clinton for having sex with an intern. Not to mention, Gingrich dumped his first wife while she was recovering from cancer surgery.

Bonnie Goldstein’s recent sendup in the Washington Post of Newt and his three wives says a lot about his lack of character. In short, Newt is a dirtbag.

More troubling, Newt parlayed his time in Washington to enrich himself. He has made millions of dollars working as a “consultant” to companies. Five months after resigning from Congress, Gingrich began working as a consultant to Freddie Mac, the troubled government-backed mortgage giant. He made between $1.6 million and $1.8 million over several years working for Freddie Mac, Bloomberg News reported.

Some say Gingrich was essentially a paid lobbyist, a charge he denies. Gingrich said he offered “strategic advice.” At the very least, he got rich helping companies navigate the halls of Congress.

Now Gingrich appears to be paying himself on the campaign trail. The government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington recently filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission accusing Gingrich of illegally using campaign funds for his personal use. The suit is based on a Washington Post story that said Gingrich charged his campaign $42,000 for the use of his personal mailing list. What a chiseler.

Likewise, Santorum used his time in Washington to make friends and influence policy. It was time well spent. After losing his Pennsylvania Senate seat, Santorum quickly cashed in.

As a senator, Santorum sponsored at least two bills and “worked hard to win hundreds of millions of dollars in additional Medicare money for hospitals in Puerto Rico,” the New York Times recently reported. It just so happens Universal Health Services, a for-profit hospital chain based in King of Prussia, owned hospitals in Puerto Rico.

Here I thought Rick wanted to help elderly Puerto Rican patients.

Just months after leaving the Senate, Santorum joined the board of Universal Health Services, where he made $395,000 in director’s fees and stock options before resigning last year, according to the Times. What a coincidence.

After advocating for drilling and extraction policies that benefited Consol Energy, a Pennsylvania gas and coal producer, Santorum went to work for the company as a “consultant.” He also “consulted” for the American Continental Group, a lobbying firm whose clients received earmarks that Santorum sponsored, the Times reported.

Yes dear taxpayer, Rick and Newt are working hard for you.

Here’s the best part. Guess who Gingrich recently turned to for help attacking Romney for becoming a multimillionaire? A billionaire.

Even better. Newt’s sugar daddy made most of his money running casinos that fleece gamblers. That’s right. Sheldon Adelson, the owner of Las Vegas Sands, donated $5 million to a PAC that is tied to Gingrich. The PAC is using most of the money to buy ads attacking Romney for his time at Bain. It would be interesting to see which firm destroyed more lives: Bain or Adelson’s casinos.

This much is certain: Gingrich and Santorum both managed to deal themselves an inside straight.