There is always wry truth in satire Scott, but I believe the crooks are on an inexorable march back to the White-house. They have dumped all that did upon Obama. There was no way he could fix 8 years of Bush with the three weeks they gave him at the beginning of his term. Willard will ask for - and get - way more patience AND he will reap all of the fixes that have been put in place.

I think Scot is now in full panic mode, as his oozing sarcasm is now looking like his columns during Mitt Romney's term as governor. Remember the brilliant moniker "Mighty, Mighty Mittster"? This kind of snarky rebuke to Romney is likely all we are going to see over the next 10 months (and possibly 4 years after that). Scot is better than this. NEW PARAGRAPH: It would be so much better if Scot could defend Obama, and his policies with facts and reason. For example, the charge of European style mega government is borne out of the very real consequence of Obama's first three years in office. Between Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, and the slippery expansion of EPA powers, how many new government agencies, and how many thousands of new rules have been created? This type of government on steroids activism has been the hallmark of many western European countries for decades, and for them, high unemployment and slow growth have been the norm..sound familiar? Please Scot-defend it, if you think it is better.

Oh my, you guys are up and commenting early. I appreciate the dedication. Interesting debate that's broken out in the GOP ranks over private equity. Where do you fellows stand on it?

You write like a two year old.

Scot, I will gladly answer your question. Private equity has been a very important business over the past 30 years or so. Despite the cartoonish claims that it involves corporate raiding or other nefarious actions, (going back as far as 1994), this business has saved many businesses, created many businesses, and has rightly enriched those who are successful at it. Mitt Romney is one of those people. NEW PARAGRAPH: It is my hope that Mitt can articulate a convincing and strong defense of it, as this will certainly be the only way Obama can win. If Obama can take the spotlight off his record as president, and turn it to Mitt's record at Bain, he may actually get re elected. There are many people gullible enough to believe the attacks. Romney may need a speech like the one which defended his mormonism NEW PARAGRAPH: It is sad to see fellow Republicans take this approach, as they clearly know better. But if Romney can show that his career in this business is far superior to Obama's (how many jobs has his "green energy" ventures created?), he will be fine.

Let's dismiss the Bain myth once and for all. The primary goal of Bain was not job creation, but money for the investors. No harm in looking for profit, but they cut more jobs than they created, borrowed against assets of companies they leveraged, and bankrupted many of them after selling off those assets. Romney's beginning to sound like the James Gregory character in "The Manchurian Candidate," who can't decide how many subversives there are in the government, when he claims he created 10,000 or 100,000 or 120,00 jobs while working for Bain. (They actually had a net loss). BTW - Obama was NOT in the church the day that idiot spewed out that disgusting sermon, and I've never heard Obama use "hateful and divisive rhetoric."

I'll try not to pay attention to the resident wingnuts and stay on topic. Private equity is in the business of making money, and the more they make the louder they sing the patriotic songs. It can be said there's nothing wrong with that. It must be realized however, that the pursuit of profit is primary to these people. they don't care about the community, the country, employment or anything else (unless its election time).

Skoal? Get serious, Scot. Everyone knows Red Man Chew is the pocket packet of choice in dear old Dixie!

The basic ignorance about Private Equity is on full display here. While it is true that they are not "job creators" as a goal, they typically only make money when a business succeeds. Success usually saves and creates jobs (unlike the 2009 Obama Stimulus) NEW PARAGRAPH: No doubt, there are times when jobs are lost because of a failure. But that is always the case in capitalism. Private Equity, when successful, creates jobs, value, efficiency, productivity, and wealth for the investor. Using the Godon Gekko like images to tarnish Mitt Romney is just silly. It reveals complete ignorance of the critic, and attempts to deceive the gullible voter.

Scott--im a republican and tea partier and have serious concerns about big business in general. What many big corportations practice as capitalism seems different than "joe smith" building up a hardware store empire. Those at the top reap all the gains on the backs of and at the expense of the workers in the organization. Pensions? Cant afford those---but hundreds of millions a year in bonus money paid-that is a necessity or these guys will leave---It just leaves a sick taste in my mouth seeing layoffs and outsourcing from otherwise healthy strong companies "for the good of the shareholders." Maybe if they cared about the shareholders so much they would cut bonus money to a fraction of what it currently is, keep the valued human assets in this courntry, use the extra cash to grow business overseas as well if it is so important to the shareholders?

Gingrich's Super-Pac hit piece on Bain has received 4 Pinnochios from WAPO fact checkers. The great gotcha, that Obama buffoons hoped to use in September, has turned into the big fat 'you've got nothing'. One good thing the Bain issue has created, is fast forward to the end of the Perry's and Gingrich's Presidential aspirations, leaving Romney, Santorum and Paul to become the finalists. Tempest in a teapot.

Wow...I did not know that Romney was sooo perfect and Bain is the exact model we should use to run the country? A huge part of really wishes McCain had been elected so we could see 12 years of Republican hate would look like.

Well, it's nice to see that the right wing trolls are now paying for the pleasure of posting their lies on the Boston Globe site. And what lies they are! Taxes are now at their lowest point in 61 years, thanks in part to relentless tax cutting by Obama (he would cut more taxes, but the Republicans in Congress are blocking efforts to do so, out of fear it might help the economy). When Obama took office, the deficit was already $1.2 trillion, unemployment was almost 8% and rising at almost 0.5% per month. We were losing more than 750,000 jobs a month. Obama turned that around within a few months, and we've had steady private sector job growth for two years now, more than 2 million new jobs. Corporate profits are at record levels. The stock market has almost doubled since the stimulus was signed. Inflation and interest rates are both very low. GDP growth has gone from -8% per year to +2% per year, not great but some improvement! Unemployment is now back to where it was when the stimulus went into effect. If Obama runs on his record, he will win. If the Republicans and their paid trolls are successful in getting Americans to believe their lies, he will lose. It's that simple.

This administration is the author of the worst recovery in US history. He inherited two war fronts so he adds Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, and Uganda without all that time consuming Congressional approval. Expanding the reach of the military while slashing the military for his successor(s). He has institutionalized trillion dollar annual deficits and ensured, with his loutish drunken spending, our children will be the recipients of of unimagined debt, because he could not say no to the social service industrial complex, Big Labor, Crony Capitalists and the co-dependent underclass. Quite an accomplishment taking a once great nation and bringing it to its knees in just three years. Truly amazing!