The unspoken subtext of Gingrich and Perry’s attacks on Romney: THEY KNOW Cannibalistic Capitalism is Wrong.

They KNOW. And it’s clear now that they’ve always known but didn’t care. In an all-out effort to stop Mitt Romney from locking up the GOP nomination almost before the race has even started, fleeting former favorites Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry have taken to criticizing just how Romney made his fortune: as a Corporate Raider that bought out successful profitable businesses, raided their pension funds, dismantled the company, and sold off its assets for a huge profit while laying off thousands of workers. Perry labeled this method of doing business: “Vulture capitalism”. And on Sunday’s “Meet the Press”, Gingrich… Newt Gingrich… said it was “fair to question the values, character & behavior” of someone that destroyed lives for personal gain. Having your “values, character & behavior” questioned by Newt Gingrich is like having your eating habits questioned by Chris Christie.

But the subtext of what’s going on here that no one seems to be talking about is the fact that Perry and Gingrich are acknowledging what Democrats have been saying for decades: that Conservative economics are antithetical to creating jobs and improving the lives of the Poor & Middle-Class. AND they KNOW it! They’ve always known it. This wasn’t some sudden epiphany they had the night after the New Hampshire primary. They’re acknowledging that… despite what the fictional Gordon Gekko told us and they’ve long defended… Greed is NOT good. That there’s value in altruism, and that destroying the lives of others for personal gain… in Newt’s own words… brings your “values, character & behavior” into question. My question then is… how come no one else has pointed this out?

Okay then, I will. It wasn’t the objective of “Bain Capital”… the firm Romney co-founded… to “create jobs” or run successful corporations. They did whatever was necessary to boost the value of a company as quickly as possible for the least investment as possible so they could then extract as much wealth out of it as possible before shedding themselves of the liability. Rarely did that entail making a financially unhealthy company financially sound again. So, after draining the company for all its worth, “Bain Capital” closed factories and sold off their assets for a profit. And in at least one case (“Steel Dynamics”), that entailed the state and local government investing millions of tax dollars to increase the value of the company, at which point Romney’s firm sold it for a handsome profit.

Another curious fact is that Newt & Rick’s critics quickly compared their attacks on Bain to “the 99% movement”, NOT “the Tea Party”. The GOP establishment is furious with Gingrich and Perry over their criticism of how Romney made his fortune, saying they “sound more like the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ crowd than Conservatives (SEE 99%’ers? You may think your movement is “non-partisan”, but the GOP has clearly deemed you “anti-Conservative”, and that “concentrated wealth” is a Republican value.) Republicans LOVE to conflate #OWS with the “Tea Party” to suggest that ALL protesters are protesting “President Obama’s policies”. Yet, once again, it is clear that they KNOW the difference between the two movements and that #OWS does NOT support the policies that made Mitt Romney rich. There IS a difference, and there’s no more denying that they don’t know that there’s a difference. They know cannibalistic capitalism is wrong too and that we WANT companies doing business in a moral & ethical manner. They KNOW!

Yet no one else seems to have noticed.

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