Consultant In Chief

Posted by Euro Hedgie, Nov 12, 2007 9:53AM

Having someone in the white house who can actually add up beyond the fingers on his/her hand would be a novelty. (The use of toes doesn't count.)

I pity the Americans, the choice of future President is remarkably limited, but then again, after "Gee Dubya" it will no doubt feel like a breath of fresh air.

Thank God the Chairmen of major Banks aren't like this....OMG they are!

Posted by , Nov 12, 2007 9:55AM

It makes me less likely to vote for him. If he is like MOST consultanting partners, this will be his m.o.:
- He is going to charge us up to wazoo (Huge deficit).
- Fly in 1 day a week to 'oversee' the project (8 months out of the year at the ranch).
- Have some evil senior manager run the show (Cheney).
- Hire a bunch of Senior Consultants and Analysts (e.g.: Michael Browne at FEMA, Bernard Kerik in Baghdag) that only get on the project because they kiss up to him, who have no expertise whatsoever, and
- Every 4 weeks try to pitch us on follow on work (re-election).

What a minute.....Was Bush a partner at a consulting firm too?

P.S.: Betcha $5 bucks someone brings up 9/11 as an excuse for the deficit AND the credit crunch.

Posted by John Carney, Nov 12, 2007 9:59AM

I am related to the guy who wrote the article. He's my brother.

Posted by , Nov 12, 2007 10:02AM

RON PAUL FOR PRESIDENT IN 2008

Posted by EE, Nov 12, 2007 10:14AM

Ron Paul 2008 — Hope for America

Posted by , Nov 12, 2007 10:15AM

@ 10:02AM

Here here, we've never needed someone with knowledge of Austrian economics more than we do today.

I guess Paul is up to 7% from 2% in Rasmussen surveys --- once he hits double-digits he's really going to take off and get exposure.

Posted by Anal_yst, Nov 12, 2007 10:16AM

Even if theres the slightest bit of truth in Romney's rhetoric, it'd make him vastly superior than the other candidates. Imagine that, a president who was actually interested in the facts and not some zealous idealogy, crazy!

Posted by gal, Nov 12, 2007 10:16AM

I personally can't get over some of the tenets of Mormonism and their views on what women should be doing etc.

That's a huge jump for me - since it rules this man's thinking. . .I won't vote for someone who is very religious as a rule.

Posted by Yo! MG, Nov 12, 2007 10:20AM

Read the WSJ on the weekend?! That's crazy talk!

Posted by Ken Land, Nov 12, 2007 10:25AM

I wonder which data was he looking at when he decided that:

God is the "almighty ruler of the Universe" and is perfect, having all power and all knowledge.

Posted by anon anon anon, Nov 12, 2007 10:32AM

Mitt who?

Posted by , Nov 12, 2007 10:34AM

Mitt's a zenophobic monkey calling muslims nasty stuff while ignoring his own whacko relgious beliefs (Aliens are gods)

Posted by Ramblin' Wreck, Nov 12, 2007 10:38AM

Be honest with yourselves...no one could ever become president, at least for the forseeable future, without professing a large degree of faith (even if it is Mormonism). That's just the nature of this country.

Gal, what makes you say Romney's religion "rules his thinking"? Did he govern Massachusetts like he was Joseph Smith or something? We may be surprised, as Kennedy being Catholic was a problem with the largely Protestant population before he was elected President. Maybe people will get over/not care about him being Mormon.

Posted by Ramblin' Wreck, Nov 12, 2007 10:45AM

10:34,
1) Xenophobe
2) I believe you have confused Scientology and Mormonism. Scientology is the one with aliens.

"The most valuable commodity I know of is information." Maybe you should take a note from GG and get your facts straight. (Not that I'm mormon, but if you are going to talk shit, at least have the correct info.)

Posted by anonymous, Nov 12, 2007 10:46AM

@Anonymous 10:34- Way to confuse scientology with mormonism. Come again, who's the one calling people nasty stuff without knowing what the hell he's talking about?

Posted by , Nov 12, 2007 10:46AM

mormons are faggots

Posted by Dean of the Festivus Congregational Convention, Nov 12, 2007 10:47AM

This country needs a candidate who celebrates "Festivus" !!

Posted by not Ron Paul, Nov 12, 2007 10:48AM

Ron Paul '08

Posted by , Nov 12, 2007 10:49AM

Carney, how many brothers do you have man?

Posted by , Nov 12, 2007 10:51AM

10:45--

I'm not sure if 10:34 intended that mistake, but the post is informative regardless: is there really a difference between the two religions? As soon as a group of people decide to divorce themselves from reality, do we really care if they put their faith in less popular otherwordly beings (aliens) or more commonplace ones (jesus)?

Posted by , Nov 12, 2007 10:52AM

According to Oliver B. Huntington, Joseph Smith instructed, "The inhabitants of the moon are more of a uniform size than the inhabitants of the earth, being about six feet in height. They dress very much like the Quaker style and are quite general in style or the one fashion of dress. They live to be very old; coming generally, near a thousand years" (History of the Life of Oliver B. Huntington, pg. 10, typed copy, University of Utah). Huntington also records: "In my patriarchal blessing, given by the father of Joseph the Prophet, in Kirtland, 1837, I was told that I should preach the gospel before I was 21 years of age; that I should preach the gospel to the inhabitants upon the islands of the sea, and -- to the inhabitants of the moon, even the planet you can now see with your eyes" (The Young Women's Journal 3:264, 1892).

Huntington's comment seems pale in comparison to those made by Brigham Young. Not only did Young acknowledge that the moon was inhabited, but he also insisted that the sun was inhabited as well! In a sermon given

Posted by , Nov 12, 2007 10:52AM

Kennedy may have been a catholic but at least that is a recognized world religion even if they do pledge allegiance to el Papa, but a lot of the protestant america still considers mormonism a dangerous cult that is not even connected to christianity

Ron Paul may be hope for america, but there is no hope for ron paul

Posted by , Nov 12, 2007 10:56AM

CLS beliefs are in many cases as far-fetched as COS.

Personally, I am holding out for a Raelian candidate.

Posted by , Nov 12, 2007 10:58AM

10:51,
I agree that all religion is pretty much a bunch of fairy tales conceived in a time when the government and church were essentially one entity in order to easily control the population...nevertheless, Mormonism undoubtedly deserves more recoginition as a "real" religion than Scientology. Because, at the end of the day, Scientology really does worship aliens. And there's that whole connection to Battlefield Earth, which would cause any religion to instantly lose legitimacy.

Posted by Bugs Meany, Nov 12, 2007 11:19AM

Socialist translation services:

"Xenophobic" = convenient term to discredit anyone opposed to open borders and free benefits for all comers.
"Calling Muslims nasty stuff" = attack anyone who implies that all these terrorists might just have something in common, religion-wise.

Posted by girl, Nov 12, 2007 11:19AM

This is not a debate on which religious beliefs are more batty, but on the idea of electing someone whose religous convictions will guide their social policy in the white house. If we really plan to fight religous fanaticism the world over we'd do well to start the battle on our own soil. The fact that our leader uses his christianity (claiming that jesus spoke to him) to justify launching the iraq war is deplorable and utterly unacceptable. Furthermore, we need to cease making abortion/sex education programs/etc religious issues and encourage people to think rationally and logically without all this nonsense.

While I applaud Romney's numbers based logic I am reluctant to believe that he won't resort to the "god" argument. We need a leader who has enough faith in our intelligence to justify his actions with a lucidity that all can identify with.

Posted by Anonymous, Nov 12, 2007 11:28AM

Romney is an ambitious prick and consumate flip-flopper. Even Giuliani learns from him. Good riddance to both!

Posted by chris, Nov 12, 2007 11:39AM

I read Battlefield Earth about twenty years ago. Mildly entertaining is you switch your brain off. We could make it the New Testament and Dianetics the Old Testament. I'd rather hear a sermon about people from Colorado fighting aliens than about a guy with two servants any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Posted by , Nov 12, 2007 11:55AM

abortion IS a religious issue isnt it? otherwise nobody would care.

Posted by chris, Nov 12, 2007 11:57AM

To some abortion is a religious issue to others it is a moral/ethical issue, which isn't necessarily the same thing, unless religion is the sole source of your morals and ethics.

Posted by girl, Nov 12, 2007 11:59AM

@ 11:55

On a personal level, absolutely. On a societal level, no.

When creating public law, one must account for the diversity of belief in this country and not deny any citizen his or her rights based on personal beliefs. Not protecting the legalization of abortion has numerous repurcussions- the upswing of illegal (and shadily performed) abortions, the inevitable increase in teenage pregnancy, and therefore the bloating of welfare recipients.

In order to create policy that is beneficial for this country as a whole we must elect a leader who can conisder issues like this on a broader spectrum.

Posted by really?, Nov 12, 2007 12:51PM

In order to create policy that is beneficial for this country as a whole we must elect a leader who is pro-abortion?

How has legalizing abortion lowered France's welfare rolls in the past 20 years? The way to reduce welfare is by cutting welfare benefits, not by encouraging irresponsible behavior by trying to negate the consequences.

Great, they have lower teen pregnancy and all it will cost me is a top marginal income tax rate of 48%

Posted by Anal_yst, Nov 12, 2007 12:53PM

@ chris -

Or, its a pragmatic, rational issue. Has no one here read Rousseau? The greatest good? No?

Unfortunately, I realize that logic and reason won't get anyone elected in this country, sigh...

@ girl - touche, I agree.

Posted by N. Sarkozy, Nov 12, 2007 1:19PM

French people are lazy.

Posted by chris, Nov 12, 2007 2:12PM

Ah, the pragmatic, rational, greatest good slant. To heck with ethics and morals, time to start euthanizing the old, the retarded and the infirm.

Posted by , Nov 12, 2007 3:50PM

The last thing we need is someone "running government like a business." The goal of most businesses is to grow. We've had enough government growth, thank you very much. Do you really want someone strategizing on how to "maximize revenue" i.e. taxes?

Posted by , Nov 12, 2007 4:12PM

I'm a Republican but if Giuliani were to somehow win, I'd be more likely to move to Canada than if Hillary were to take the prize.

Posted by Frederick, Nov 12, 2007 6:07PM

Hey Anonymous,

Even Ron Paul's Campaign Manager is a Mormon. Oh no, there everywhere... By the way, Brigham Young's speech about men on the sun was a speech on extremism. And that men on the sun thing is completely taken out of context. He did not believe there were men on the sun, he was using that comment as well as others to point to the dangers of extremism. You should do a little of your own independent research, instead of using your pocket anti Mormon talking points.

Posted by John Carney, Nov 12, 2007 9:31PM

Can I be John Carney?