"It was Romney’s Star Trek moment. They were always talking about entities on Star Trek, and entities were very seldom good news."

Bizarre paragraph in a NYT op-ed column by Gail Collins. Why did she write that? It follows this:

Romney gave five network television interviews... on Friday. While it was true that a bunch of Securities and Exchange Commission filings submitted into the new millennium described Romney as Bain Capital’s boss, that was a technicality, he told CNN.

Well, actually, he said, “I was the owner of an entity that is filing that information.” Also that there’s a difference between an owner and “a person who’s running an entity.”

So... he used the word "entity," and I guess if you don't have much familiarity with the world of business or law but you have watched television, "entity" sounds like something from outer space to you.

Bain Capital is a Limited Liability Company, which is "a flexible form of enterprise that blends elements of partnership and corporate structures." Romney said "entity" for simplicity and accuracy. He was speaking like a normal, knowledgeable person.

But law and business are just too hard. Why not act childish? Entity?! That's silly. Collins continues in this style:

While he was in Utah getting the luge runs in shape, Romney was also still getting a six-figure salary for being a Bain “executive.” Perhaps for Mitt, that was just the going-away equivalent of a monogrammed briefcase. Although it does sort of take the steam out of his principled refusal to accept any money from the Olympics until his turnaround was successfully completed....

If we ever manage to really get our heads around Higgs boson, perhaps we will also be able to understand the Mitt Romney Olympics period.

We can't possibly understand a business arrangement. It's really hard. Like all that science stuff we don't want to understand.

Are Democrats abandoning the idea that they are the smart party?

Speaking of Olympics:



ADDED: Let's pay attention. I think what is going on right now is an effort to create a mindset, and emotional orientation toward Romney. Business is an alien entity. It's scary and mystifying, and Romney is part of that. You can't understand it, so don't even try. Collins is planting the seed of fear. You laugh now. You won't even feel it. But it will grow. Be afraid. Be very afraid.