DescentBB

Top Gun wrote:..........And I'm not sure what sort of crowd that Reason author hangs out with, but I've come across plenty of people (some on this very board) who buy into the outmoded truism that just some hard work can magically turn anyone into a millionaire. To use a fairly prominent example, it's not exactly a secret that both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs "borrowed" heavily from the work of researchers at Xerox in their original concepts for the personal computer...if the Xerox higher-ups had realized the potential gold mine they were sitting on, both Gates and Jobs would most likely have been out of luck.

And Romney's never gotten his little hands soiled or callused by doing any hard work. He's a trust fund baby. He was born into his wealth, he didn't work for it, it worked for him. Most people will never see the type of wealth he has, let alone dream of attaining it. When someone gets as rich as Romney, they lose all sense of perspective on what it's like to actually work for your money. Upward mobility is a myth. If you're born into a particular class, you're more likely to stay in that particular class for the rest of your life, no matter how hard you work.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/s ... 56118756/1

The fact he's hiding a decade's worth of his tax returns tells us volumes too. Even Harry Reid has grown a pair and asserted that Romney didn't pay any taxes for a decade. OK Mr. Romney, put up or shut up. The statement "You're going to have to take my word on it" isn't going to float. You gave a decade of tax records to McCain during the VP vetting process, so why so secretive now? Of course, McCain knows, but he isn't talking.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79365.html

Top Gun wrote:Yes, dissent, I fully assert that those two speeches are conveying pretty much the exact same message, as much as Romney seems to have deluded himself into thinking they're not. And I'm not sure what sort of crowd that Reason author hangs out with, but I've come across plenty of people (some on this very board) who buy into the outmoded truism that just some hard work can magically turn anyone into a millionaire.

Terrific, Gunny. Keep tilting away at your pet strawmill if it makes you feel better. Obviously plenty of others see things differently.

dissent wrote:

Top Gun wrote:Yes, dissent, I fully assert that those two speeches are conveying pretty much the exact same message, as much as Romney seems to have deluded himself into thinking they're not. And I'm not sure what sort of crowd that Reason author hangs out with, but I've come across plenty of people (some on this very board) who buy into the outmoded truism that just some hard work can magically turn anyone into a millionaire.

Terrific, Gunny. Keep tilting away at your pet strawmill if it makes you feel better. Obviously plenty of others see things differently.

Tilting? Dude...the only way you can read anything else into those two paragraphs by both candidates is if you're willfully trying to distort them. Apparently, that's exactly what Romney and his campaign are willing to do. I don't care how many people say otherwise: they're flat-out wrong. This is basic English comprehension here.

Top Gun wrote:Tilting? Dude...the only way you can read anything else into those two paragraphs by both candidates is if you're willfully trying to distort them. Apparently, that's exactly what Romney and his campaign are willing to do. I don't care how many people say otherwise: they're flat-out wrong. This is basic English comprehension here.

Fine. You want to ignore Obama's hectoring, demogoguic delivery. Your choice. You want to knock down a strawman about how the Reason writer (and others) believed they were saying that success was "just about some hard work". As you said, it's a reading comprehension exercise. Again, your choice.

Whatever man. I don't need to waste time on the delusional.

This is braindead1 to braindead2, are you there braindead? Just don't end up like this guy:\

When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of God!"

EDIT: Ferno does it too

Keep it on-topic, boys.