Dana Blankenhorn

Why Mitt the Dick is the Best They Had

Think of this as Volume 16, Number 40 of A-Clue.com, the online newsletter I've written since 1997. Enjoy.

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Sure, Mitt Romney is a dick.

He's stiff, he's blind to the real world he never lived in, he has very little empathy for anyone outside his Mormon social circle. He spouts a Randian social gospel that's not from the Gilded Age, but from the Middle Ages.

But he's still the best candidate the Republicans had this year, and that's a more important point.

Let's look at who ran. A perennial candidate and radio talk show host whose only real experience lay in running a pizza chain that made bad pizza. A social neanderthal who lost his last statewide race by 20 points to a Democrat with all the charisma of wallboard. A pompous ass, and Newt Gingrich. A governor from a very big state who actually has no power and has shit for brains. Did I miss anyone? (No, I already mentioned Bachmann.)

Do you think any of those estimables could have run a better race than Willard the Rat? I don't. And if you think about it you won't either.

If A Story Isn't Linked To Does It Make a Sound?

Think of this as Volume 16, Number 39 of A-Clue.com, the online newsletter I've written since 1997. Enjoy.

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Since joining TheStreet.com earlier this year, I have been struck by their 1990s' attitude toward links. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

The idea is that, when you link to something, you tell people in the text who you're linking to. Sounds fair, doesn't it?

But what if the story you found on Google News originated with, say, The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times? Further, what if you found the story somewhere else, when it was republished by an affiliate?

Who do you link to?

Why Romney Lost

Think of this as Volume 16, Number 38 of A-Clue.com, the online newsletter I've written since 1997. Enjoy.

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The election after a crisis is a key tipping point for every generation.

A new set of assumptions, a political Thesis with a Myth and Values seeking Power, is uniquely vulnerable at this time. Because it's seeking validation for the very first time.

In 1972 Richard Nixon knew this, and he gamed the Democratic Party's nomination process to get the opponent he wanted. He let his paranoia rule him, he was destroyed by that paranoia, but the more important point is that the new assumptions held.

Not just in 1972, but throughout the period of Republican Party ascendency that followed.

What is Money?

Think of this as Volume 16, Number 37 of A-Clue.com, the online newsletter I've written since 1997. Enjoy.

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On my new beat, at Seeking Alpha and TheStreet.Com, people talk about money all the time.

Money is, in fact, the great mystery of my working life. What is it?

Is gold money? Is a dollar money? What makes them money?

What makes them money is that they're a store of value people understand and accept. There's an assumption that if the world comes crashing down tomorrow people with gold will have money but people with paper won't.

I no longer think that's right, because the only value gold can store is excess value, and if there's no excess value to store it's not money.