Randi Rhodes: Unless You're Poor

It seems Mitt Romney makes a distinction about working moms of different income levels. Just this January, Mitt said that moms on public assistance should be forced to work. He said “even if you have a child 2 years of age, you need to go to work.” But not if you also have a portfolio valued at a quarter billion dollars.

Classic—Mitt says “I want the individuals to have the dignity of work.” This is a guy who gets a special low tax rate because he gets his money from investments! Mitt evidently doesn’t care about “the dignity of work” for himself. That’s because Mitt knows that actual work comes with more than just dignity—it comes with a tax rate higher than the one he pays on his unearned money. “Yeah, dignity is great, but I’ll take the 15 percent tax rate, thank you very much!”

Secret Service agents are being investigated for cavorting with prostitutes on President Obama’s trip to Columbia. If the Secret Service is fooling around with prostitutes, do they use protection? They’re supposed to BE protection. These agents were actually doing advance work in preparation for the President’s trip. Guys, you’re just supposed to lay the groundwork—nothing else! The President said that we must “conduct ourselves with the utmost dignity and probity.” He’s handling it very well... but I would have avoided the word “probity.” None of the agents involved were directly assigned to protect President Obama, and I doubt that they will be in the future. Maybe they can be assigned to David Vitter.

It turns out that this whole thing may have come to light because a Secret Service agent had a disagreement with a prostitute over $47 he owed her. Great—now Americans look sleazy AND cheap. I haven’t done a lot of comparison shopping, but $47 for an overnight prostitute seems like a pretty good deal. He should have jumped on it. And then paid her. It turns out that the agent gave it to the prostitute in the end. I mean, at the end of everything he gave her the money. If he had given it to her in the end, it would have cost more than $47. The lesson here is never fight with a prostitute... unless that’s specifically what you paid for. And then you need to have a safe word.

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Flashback 1994: 'It's not the sixties anymore' - if you're not rich, Mitt expects you and your spouse to be working a total of three jobs...

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