WASHINGTON, May 25, 2012 — Just how low will GOP nominee Mitt Romney go to get more big bucks? The question was just answered today as the Romney’s campaign announced that reality TV host Donald Trump will host a mega-fundraiser for him at his International Hotel in Las Vegas on June 28. Romney is hoping that it will out-Clooney George Clooney’s $40,000 a head extravaganza for President Obama.
Nothing wrong with that. Candidates go where the money flows. And Trump and his wife Melania hosted a successful Romney fundraiser to the tune of $600,000 at their apartment with Ann Romney as their guest of honor. So why not a spectacle in Las Vegas to make Clooney’s fundraiser look like a kiddie’s pool party?
What complicates matters is that The Donald couldn’t just throw a fundraiser, he had to open his big mouth. And out popped more Birther nonsense.
Really no surprise, since he has described himself as a true believer in Birtherism, even telling The Daily Beast after gushing about the wonders of the Romney candidacy, that he knows for sure that President Obama was not born in the U.S. He cited a brochure from 1991 that Obama’s literary agency had listed Obama as having been born in Kenya.
Donald Trump poster for Romney fundraiser
“Look, it’s very simple,” Trump explained. “A book publisher came out three days ago and said that in his written synopsis of his book, he said he was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia. His mother never spent a day in the hospital.
“He didn’t know he was running for president, so he told the truth. Now they’re saying it was a mistake. Just like his Kenyan grandmother said he was born in Kenya, and she pointed down the road to the hospital, and after people started screaming at her she said, ‘Oh, I mean Hawaii.’ Give me a break.”
However, the literary agent, Miriam Goderich, who edited the biographical sketch, says she is the one who put in the wrong information. (She is now a partner at the Dystel & Goderich Agency.)
“This was nothing more than a fact checking error by me, an agency assistant at the time. There was never any information given to us by Obama in any of his correspondence or other communications suggesting in any way that he was born in Kenya and not Hawaii.”
The Donald just scoffs. He knows better. He has all along. Remember when he was briefly a candidate for president, he made Obama’s birth place a prominent piece of his campaign and in the 13 months since, he still challenges Obama’s Constitutional right to be in the White House. The release of the long form by President Obama has never settled the question for Trump.
But he has been quiet on the subject for a while, sparing us his Birther drum beat while he concentrated on bigger things, like getting great ratings for “Celebrity Apprentice” and barking out, “You’re fired.”
Mitt Romney: character counts AP
But the big question has now become: Where does Mitt Romney stand on the Birther silliness? As he told Larry Kudlow on CNBC a year ago: “I believe the president was born in the United States. The man needs to be taken out of office, but his citizenship isn’t the reason why.”
Yet Romney now has nothing to say about using Donald Trump as his surrogate out on the stump for him, spouting more venom. In fact, the campaign has not responded to repeated requests whether to have such a man representing Mitt Romney is appropriate, much less to have asked him to host a massive fundraiser.
What does this tell us about Romney? Plenty. Plainly in Romney World, only money talks. Nothing else. Certainly not integrity as a candidate. And, Mr. Romney, character does count.
If we elect Mitt Romney, remember this day when we knew for sure he would sell his soul to the highest bidder, no matter what that person stood for. Now imagine a Romney White House.
To contact Catherine Poe, see above. Her work appears in Ad Lib at the Communities @ WashingtonTimes.com. She can also be heard on Democrats for America’s Future. She is also a contributor to broadcast, print and online media.
This article is the copyrighted property of the writer and Communities @ WashingtonTimes.com. Written permission must be obtained before reprint in online or print media. REPRINTING TWTC CONTENT WITHOUT PERMISSION AND/OR PAYMENT IS THEFT AND PUNISHABLE BY LAW.
