In 1980 Ronald Reagan won the Republican nomination. He beat a future president, George H.W. Bush; two future Senate majority leaders, Howard Baker and Bob Dole; and two lesser-known congressmen. This year Mitt Romney won the GOP nomination. He beat a radio host, a disgraced former House speaker, a defeated Senate candidate, a former appointee of the Obama administration, a tongue-tied Texas governor, a prevaricating religious zealot who happens to serve in the House of Representatives and a cranky libertarian doctor. Where did all the talent go?

Until the Republican Party can answer this question, it makes no sense to continue to carp about Mitt Romney and the startlingly incompetent presidential campaign he’s running. His faults as a politician are manifest. He is robotic, unknowable (his own wife asserted at the national convention that “he made me laugh” and then failed to cite a single humorous moment), ideologically incoherent and severely out of touch with the average American. 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/richard-cohen-the-republican-brain-drain/2012/09/24/28c11b6e-066b-11e2-afff-d6c7f20a83bf_print.html

The Romneys reported $3.5 million in foreign income out of $13.7 million in 2011 adjusted gross income, the benchmark figure used to figure out taxes owed.

That compares with $1.5 million in foreign income on 2010 adjusted gross income exceeding $21.6 million, according to the Romneys' tax returns for 2010 and 2011.

That means the Romneys last year derived just over a quarter of their income from non-US investments, such as funds and entities in Bermuda, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Ireland, and the Cayman and British Virgin Islands, the returns showed.

In 2010, the Romneys' foreign income was just 7 per cent of their adjusted gross income, which was much higher that year.

While the Romneys' tax strategies are legal, their large share of foreign-sourced income highlights the difference between their tax returns and those of average Americans.

Asked why the Romneys' foreign income had grown, a spokeswoman for the Republican candidate declined to comment.

Brad Malt, the partner at law firm Ropes & Gray who oversees the Romney's financial affairs, was travelling and could not immediately be reached for comment.

Their foreign income comes from dividends, interest, asset sales and carried interest - a special form of income received by partners in private equity funds and some hedge funds.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-09-26/romney-tax-return-shows-sharp-gain-in-foreign-income/4280910

Ah.... The pleaure of investing in holidays rather than toiling in a factory...