GOP candidate proud to be part of idle rich

If there's one thing the Republicans took away from the 1994 "elections", it's that this taught them that it pays to appeal to the very rich. And I don't mean the few self-made millionaires out there. I mean those who were rich from birth and didn't have to work for their money.

John Raese is the Republicans' longshot candidate for Senate in West Virginia (in a special election caused by Robert Byrd's death). Yesterday, Raese was given free airtime by some right-wing radio talk show. During this appearance, Raese said, "I made my money the old-fashioned way: I inherited it. I think that's a great thing to do."

He went on to say we should abolish the estate tax. But nobody who inherits less than $3,500,000 (i.e., 99.75% of the public) even has to pay this tax. In other words, Raese wants to abolish a tax that only the extremely wealthy have to pay.

John Raese isn't very people-faced, is he? There's so many hungry Americans out there, yet he's worried about billionaires having to pay an estate tax? How do the Tea Partiers call themselves a "populist" movement after supporting this guy?

It turns out Raese doesn't even live in West Virginia, even though he's running for Senate there. He spends almost all his time (except campaign appearances) at his mansion in Florida. He owned 15 cars the same time, and he paved his driveway with marble. He even campaigns using his own private jet.

Why would anybody vote for Marble Man unless they're living high on the hog too? Hopefully, Raese and other Republicans will learn in November that catering to the rich is a losing proposition.

(Source: http://thinkprogress.org/2010/09/24/raese-money-inheritanc;
http://www.politico.com/blogs/maggiehaberman/0910/Raeses_riches_in_West_Virginia_Florida_.html)