Newt Gingrich was campaigning in Iowa last week. The Drill here, drill now, fiscal conservative was touting ethanol. Ethanol in Iowa of all places. Why would the “would be” darling of the tea party tout ethanol? Because, Newt, if he could get votes, would tout crime in prisons. This is a man without character, without principle, and willing to say or do anything to make money or get votes.
He wants more ethanol in Iowa, 85% in vehicles. He denies any correlation between the 40% of corn now used for ethanol and corn prices. That’s in Iowa of course. He sets up a geographic war saying why should farmers in Iowa be denied ethanol because people in New York don’t like it?
The Tea Party needs to hammer Newt and hammer him hard for this.There is no logical justification for supporting ethanol. It’s another example of how the government tries to allocate money to create false demand for a bad idea. Cash for clunkers? Green energy programs? Infrastructure programs?
When the government sets up a plan to use scare resources, people and money, to use on a bad idea, it usually fails. If the private sector were in the ethanol business without that support, ethanol would have died a long time ago. Only by pouring billions of our tax dollars into the bad idea has it grown and flourished. Almost all government sponsored energy ideas over the past 30 years fit this construct. Bad ideas supported by tax dollars to prop up an economic failure.
Why skewer Newt for this? It’s sorting time. We need to establish what the Republican candidates for president stand for and whether we can support their platforms. Now you know what Newt stands for. Nothing. Why be surprised that a man who would leave two wives while they battled cancer would have no moral compass? Can you say John Edwards? Put Newt and Edwards in a bucket and stir and you would not be able to tell any difference.
That’s one of your great candidates for the Republican Party for 2012. Scratch him if you choose or send him money. He’s been collecting millions from his web site and his book. Wonder where he’s spending all that?
