Sunday, September 30, 2012

Ladies and Gentlemen

We have met the new John McCain 

We have met the new John McCains...

Lifted straight outta Eschaton:



 This Week has an EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS CHRISTIE MUST CREDIT THIS WEEK, Plouffe, Barbour, and Dean.

Meet The Press has an EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS CHRISTIE MUST CREDIT MEET THE PRESS, Ed Rendell.

Face the Nation has an EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH CHRIS CHRISTIE MUST CREDIT FACE THE NATION, Disgraced Former Speaker Newt Gingrich, and Marcia Blackburn.

Once again

The vast majority of vote fraud occurs with Republicans.

Naturally, the only cure is to restrict the voting rights of groups that tend to vote for Democrats.


It's not so much an ideology as a cult

I, for one, am shocked...SHOCKED...that the same people who don't believe in evolution or human influenced global climate change have decided they do not believe in bad polls. The only thing keeping these jackasses from finding a "comet-spaceship" and putting on workout suits before they eat their laced pudding cups is the fact that they can make money feeding off the gullibility of others and that if you are right-wing enough there will ALWAYS be a market to sell your bullshit.

Oh good plan

I love those:
Mr. Romney’s team has concluded that debates are about creating moments and has equipped him with a series of zingers that he has memorized and has been practicing on aides since August. His strategy includes luring the president into appearing smug or evasive about his responsibility for the economy.
i.e. "look at that black man appearing smarter than me"

Saturday, September 29, 2012

But not for murdering journalism?

Because that too.
Shep Smith Apologizes For Fox’s Live Broadcast Of Post-Car Chase Suicide

Well, obviously the family has a history of being brain-washed

Oh, I feel kind of back for picking on Mitt's dad with that crack -- because Mitt's dad George seems like he'd be a pretty decent modern Democrat -- but what is politics and certainly blogging if not a chance to notice statements like this?
Ann Romney's biggest concern if her husband becomes president would be his ability to maintain his "mental well-being," she said in an interview Thursday with KTVN in Reno, Nev.
Not as much as I'd be worried about mine.

Friday, September 28, 2012

Hey look, it's the part of the hard-core base that can spell

Salt-of-the-earth people:


pic from here.

Apparently the "missing" base of Romney

Is self-loathers.

Dallas Morning News: "For all the talk about whether Mitt Romney should distance himself from George W. Bush -- and the policies of the last GOP White House -- a new survey shows that the former president actually has better favorability ratings than the Republican nominee."

The most recent Bloomberg poll shows Bush with a 46% to 49% favorable rating as compared to Romney's 43% to 50%.
Bush's "favorability" rating undoubtedly went higher the moment he was no longer "the decider".

Another conservative bromide down the shitter

How about that?

The arms race in CEO pay doesn’t help performance or retention, according to a new study.

Outsized CEO pay has been a bone of contention for shareholders and a flashpoint for public discontent, but was always justified with the conventional wisdom that if a company doesn’t pay its top brass top dollar, they’ll go somewhere where they can earn more.

Charles Elson and Craig Ferrere, director and fellow, respectively, at the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, took aim at this long-held theory in a new paper, as reported by the New York Times last weekend.
This is like 90 percent of CNBC programming so....

Disturbing...kind of

I'm not one who usually remembers my dreams, but perhaps because my back has been bothering me (ow, my thoracics!!!) I did not sleep as soundly as normal.  So...how to put this.

I had a dream involving Mitt Romney.

No, not one of those -- it was not sexual (you think I'd blog about that even if I had) or violent, or crazy.

No, for some reason I was with the Romney family and a crowd watching a parade in England (or something).

IT.  WAS.  BORING.

That is all that happened.

The bottom line -- other than worrying about what trivial shit I dream about (and of course, ow, my back!) is that Romney is dull -- even imaginary Romney is dull.

Truly the archetypical journalism story of our times

Michele Bachmann is hardly the only politician who stretches the truth, or even outright lies, but even among them she is among the most voluminous liars in recent history.  An author of bullshit in Asimovian proportions.

Let this sum it up for you:
Jim Drinkard, an Associated Press (AP) editor who oversees the wire service’s fact-checking work, said, “We had to have a self-imposed Michele Bachmann quota in some of those debates.”

After the session, Drinkard said that there wasn’t an actual numerical quota on Bachmann at the AP. It’s just that if the AP had gone back and vetted all her claims that looked dicey, the result would “overload” the debate story.
Truly a great achievement in both politics and journalism.

Hard to believe the Party that has perfected denying evolution, global warming, and scientific polling has taken fabrication to a delusional level.

Bachmann, by the way, is actually in an actual of battle for her seat this year against Democrat Jim Graves who to my knowledge lies no more than an average politician, perhaps even slightly less, feel free to donate in the name of far less crazy and a normal level of fabrication.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Ah at last the equation MITT ROMNEY'S CIRCLE OF LIFE!




Corporations = Harvested by Bain


Corporations = People


People = Soylent Green BLATHER, RINSE, REPEAT!

Points for Honesty I guess

From a guy who has been accused of criminal dishonesty...
The top reason Adelson gave for backing Romney and opposing President Barack Obama is "self defense," as Allen put it, referencing the probe into Las Vegas Sands Corp.

"Adelson said a second Obama term would bring government 'vilification of people that were against him.' He thinks he would be at the top of that list and contends that he already has been targeted for his political activity," Allen wrote.

Adelson's casino empire, the bulk of which is based in Asia, is being investigated for bribery and money laundering. He told Allen that Justice Department officials have been disparaging him in the press. "When I see what's happening to me and this company, about accusations that are unfounded -- that kind of behavior ... has to stop," he told Allen.
So he's buying Mitt and expects him to stay bought.

Well, that makes you feel great about democracy, eh?  Good job Supremes.

See if Mitt Romney's conscience is there too

As good a place as any:
Police will be taking soil core samples at a home in Roseville [Michigan] on Friday in search of the remains of missing Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa, whose 1975 disappearance sparked one of the 20th century’s biggest mysteries. “We received information from an individual who saw something,” Roseville Police Chief James Berlin told the Free Press. “The information seemed credible, so we decided to follow up on it.”

Obviously this calls for the only real solution

To restrict more voting rights for the poor and any minority that may vote Democratic.
One of the four former staffers charged in a petition fraud scandal that ended U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter's congressional career pleaded no contest Tuesday in court. Lorianne O'Brady, 52, of Livonia pleaded in 16th District Court to five misdemeanor counts of falsely signing a McCotter nomination petition as a circulator. She's to be sentenced Oct. 25 before Judge Kathleen J. McCann. Each count is punishable by up to 93 days in jail... Candidates must collect at least 1,000 valid voter signatures; McCotter's staffers claimed to have turned in 2,000, but just 244 were deemed valid due to forgery that was later found in previous election petitions as well.
Three other former McCotter staffers face felony charges for similar behavior and one of them is in court today. So far this kind of voter fraud seems to be the only type that occurs, yet also the only one that doesn't exist in the mind of Republicans. It's enough to make you angry. So here's something to take your mind off of the subject. Mitt Romney talking about the sex-life of teenage boys. You're welcome. [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Nice try

I'm not Catholic, but one thing I know from knowing some Catholics is that if there's one thing that will cause them to support something its their loudest and most bullying clergy taking a position -- followed by them taking the opposite because who wants to listen to those assholes?

So, good job Catholic Bishops:

President Obama’s support among Catholic voters has surged since June, according to a new poll, despite a summer that included the Catholic bishops’ religious freedom campaign and the naming of Rep. Paul Ryan, a Catholic, as the GOP’s vice-presidential candidate.

On June 17, Obama held a slight edge over Mitt Romney among Catholics (49-47 percent), according to the Pew Research Center. Since then, Obama has surged ahead, and now leads 54-39 percent, according to a Pew poll conducted on Sept. 16.

Among all registered voters, Obama leads Romney 51-42 percent, according to Pew.
Obama and Romney are essentially tied among white Catholics, which some pollsters call the ultimate swing group.

Could.You.Be.Any.More.of.a.Stereotypical.Dullard?

I know a little golf history, and there's a pretty solid argument that Jack Nicklaus is the best golfer of all time (but a good counter argument it's Bobby Jones, Walter Hagan, Harry Vardin, Sam Snead, or Ben Hogan...oh yes, that Tiger Woods fella too).

But that's not enough for "sports historian and ultimate white guy" Mitt Romney, who really needs that "Rich White Guy at the Country Club Demographic":




Not...
* Jim Thorpe
* Jim Brown
* Jesse Owens
* Babe Zaharias
* Mohammad Ali
* Sugar Ray Robinson

* Michael Phelps
Mark Spitz * Michael Jordan
* Jerry Rice
* Babe Ruth
* Willie Mays
* Hank Aaron
* Wayne Gretzky
* Carl Lewis
* Rafer Johnson
* Bob Mathias
* Jackie-Joyner Kersey

And with one exception those are JUST Americans (one Canadian) and I'm missing some obvious ones, besides every other nation in the world.

If you had to sit down and pick the person the most out of touch old fatcat plebian in the world would pick it would probably be "I bet Mitt Romney is so out of touch he thinks Jack Nicklaus is the greatest athlete ever".

And...voila!

Fini, part deux

Bad ideas, bad messenger -- we know which one the GOP will blame by the Wednesday after the election, if not (cough STENCH cough) before:

Public criticism of Mitt Romney’s race for the White House has risen sharply, with six in 10 Americans expressing a negative opinion of how he’s handling his campaign and a majority responding unfavorably to his comments on people who don’t pay income taxes.

Sixty-one percent in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll hold an unfavorable view of how Romney’s handling his presidential campaign, up by 12 percentage points since mid-July. Far fewer, 35 percent, rate Romney’s performance positively, essentially unchanged.

Barack Obama’s ratings for handling his campaign are substantially better, 54-43 percent, favorable-unfavorable. And while ratings of Romney’s campaign have grown more negative, favorable ratings of Obama’s campaign efforts have gained 8 points since July.
He's pretty much terminal, the "stench" is his putrification.  Mitt Romney has been successfully (in large part by his own personality and actions) as being un-caffeinated Donald Trump, just as crazy, disconnected, and assholish.  Romney fell right into the trap the Obama campaign set for him, scratch that, thanks to the tea-baggers he jumped into it feet first.

You do not come back from that -- now he is literally praying that events he has no control over will save him (and I don't mean poor job numbers like +75k, but numbers like minus 100k or more, or a massive Obama mistake, not just some edit the GOP tries to make one, those by now just fit into the Romney is a lying sack of shit narrative).  It isn't going to come from the debates.

People DO NOT LIKE MITT ROMNEY, in fact most hold him in contempt, that is going to be people's perception going into the debates -- unless he completely abandons his base (thereby pissing them off royally) and comes into the debate as a completely new AND authentic person (impossible) he will lose all three of them ... and badly.

Fini

Well that should about do it then. The statement of the old Iowa pol about what Ryan will have to do in 2016 has been taken to heart...in 2012.
Though Ryan had already decided to distance himself from the floundering Romney campaign, he now feels totally uninhibited. Reportedly, he has been marching around his campaign bus, saying things like, “If Stench calls, take a message” and “Tell Stench I’m having finger sandwiches with Peggy Noonan and will text him later.”
Update:

Or perhaps this was all poorly denoted satire.

Mitt-ward

What a totally charismatic guy.

Good job Williard

Time for yet another reset.

Paul Ryan stood by helplessly, and in apparent pain, as Mitt Romney strayed from campaign talking points on President Obama’s tax record during a joint “reset” rally today in Ohio.

In the midst of remarks ridiculing the president’s handling of the economy, Romney said: “I admit this, he has one thing he did not do in his first four years — he’s said he’s going to do in the next four years, which is to raise taxes.”

During the primaries, Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul offered a very different view of the presidents record, when she told the L.A. Times: “President Obama has raised taxes 19 times.”

So outrageous you cannot criticise him for it

As a resident of Iowa I've posted on here a few times about "Iowa's Shame" Steve King. King, who has represented the extremely conservative northwest corner of Iowa for years has seen himself in a reconfigured district for 2012. As a result more voters close to metropolitan and far more progressive Omaha/Council Bluffs and Des Moines mean he has a real Democratic challenger, Christie Vilsack.

King has made innumerable racists, sexist, bigoted, homophobic and simply stupid statements in his career -- sadly some of these statements have political support from his conservative base.

But there is generally one area that even the far-right and far-left agree -- naturally it isn't about human beings, it is about dogs. Steve King is so dumb and thuggish he defends dog fighting. Even in the most conservative household that would be unpopular.

It is also hard to get that story out.
Four Iowa television stations are refusing to air a TV ad from an animal welfare political group that criticizes U.S. Rep. Steve King for opposing federal legislation that would ban people from taking children to animal fights. Officials with KCCI-TV and WHO-TV in Des Moines, WOI-TV in West Des Moines and KCAU-TV in Sioux City today confirmed they have rejected the ad from the Humane Society Legislative Fund, based in Washington, D.C. The fund said today it is launching a TV ad campaign opposing King’s reelection to Congress on TV stations in the Sioux City, Des Moines and Mason City television markets. King is a Republican from Kiron in northwest Iowa.
The reason is that the commercial shows the by-product of animal cruelty, the cruelty Steve King supports -- meaning they may allow the ad to run, as long as it is cleaned up...maybe with a Sarah McLachlan song?

 Goodness forbid the ad be accurate.

 [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

You stay KKKlassy GOP part infinity

Scott Brown's folks -- including three high-ranking staffers -- decide the "substantial" and open-minded thing to do to Elizabeth Warren is do "War Whoops" and Tomahawk-Chops.


Sort of folks that would show up at a Deval Patrick rally with watermelon and fried chicken.

Science!!!!

It may never be as bad as "why don't jets have windows you can open?" but this is pretty damn close.

Mitt Romney: 

I do believe in basic science. I believe in participating in space. I believe in analysis of new sources of energy. I believe in laboratories, looking at ways to conduct electricity with -- with cold fusion, if we can come up with it. It was the University of Utah that solved that. We somehow can’t figure out how to duplicate it.

Of course, that reported "success" at the University of Utah was debunked nearly a quarter-of-a-century ago.

It was...in all the papers, it was a big big big cause celebre.  It was also probably the biggest story of the year in Utah (maybe it wasn't, I didn't live there, but I bet it was top-3).

Those anti-gay marriage ads won't pay for themselves

Of course he did...
Is anyone really surprised that Mitt Romney’s latest federal tax return shows most of his charitable giving has gone to the Mormon church and related organizations? These includes Mormon organizations that in recent years cannot charitably be described as anything but homophobic—whether funneling big bucks into state ballot measures to oppose gay marriage or into ‘ re-education’ to turn gays into straights. These stances are not very different from the Catholic Church, which, like Mormons, also opposed the Equal Right Amendment for women.
Naturally, nobody but us "weird" liberals thinks this raises a question of how Romney would actually govern.

What TBogg says

This sums it up brilliantly (and by the way, Goodell makes $20 million a year):
After Monday night’s game debacle , it safe to say that we haven’t seen the head of an organization damage their brand this badly since Nancy Brinker let Karen Handel herd the Komen cash cow onto the killing floor. That turned out real well now, didn’t it?

Hey, that's donut and calzone money

The image of Chris Christie sitting on anything makes me think this only involves a lot of paper getting all wet and crinkled.
New Jersey currently suffers the second-highest foreclosure rate in the nation, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. However, WABC-TV's Jim Hoffer reports that more than a year after the Homekeeper Program was launched, the state has doled out only $4 million, of $300 million available, to 498 families -- while nearly 2,000 applicants have been denied.

Good job Goodell

I'm a lifelong-Viking fan and even I think the Packers got screwed.

I would guess Romney's anti-union message isn't going to play well in Wisconsin right now.

Thanks all five of you -- non-politicians

It's nice to have lifetime appointments, lack experience in politics and decide that money equals speech, and with Citizen's United decision in 2010 that is jut what the Supreme Court's conservative block did -- shake your head more Alito. Behold, the value of money over discourse.
Kathy Kiely, managing editor of the Sunlight Foundation...said around 78% of outside spending in 2012 – $365m of the total $465m – could be attributed to the "Citizens United effect"... Of $465m of outside money spent so far in 2012 $460.8m comes from Super Pacs, corporations and other groups which do not have to register as political groups. An additional $4.1m comes from "electioneering communications": advertisements or political activities that focus on issues and policies – the oil industry, for example – and encourage voters to support a candidate without mentioning any politicians by name.
And what value it has produced, a series of slanders and cribbed edits that truly give us want any free society could want, more money allowing more screaming in defense of those with money. [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Monday, September 24, 2012

Romney is fucking doomed

I would have guessed Romney is up with Muslim-Americans before I thought Obama was up with this group (no matter how defective the methodology):

Polling amongst NASCAR fans isn't looking good for Mitt Romney, who is behind Barack Obama by seven percentage points — 41% to 48%. 

The poll, conducted by polling pollsters Zogby, showed that NASCAR's loyal fan base are actually in Barack Obama's corner, so to speak. The crosstabs show a small sampling, but those who identify as NASCAR fans prefer the president.

If Obama is leading among PGA-Tour pros then I'll really know we're headed for a landslide.

Mr. Science

Oh conservatives and their knowledge of S-C-I-E-N-C-E!

Mitt Romney's idea for how to limit potential safety hazards on airplanes:

“I appreciate the fact that she is on the ground, safe and sound. And I don’t think she knows just how worried some of us were,” Romney said. “When you have a fire in an aircraft, there’s no place to go, exactly, there’s no — and you can’t find any oxygen from outside the aircraft to get in the aircraft, because the windows don’t open. I don’t know why they don’t do that. It’s a real problem. So it’s very dangerous. And she was choking and rubbing her eyes. Fortunately, there was enough oxygen for the pilot and copilot to make a safe landing in Denver. But she’s safe and sound.”

Mitt, you don't know why they don't let the windows open in pressurized jets flying at 30,000 plus feet?

This guy is starting to make Palin look smarter.

Post-Mortems before the patient is even in Intensive Care

I know -- and hope -- it is unlikely to happen, but considering Mitt is still within single-digits and could conceivably win under unlikely but still possible scenarios it is amazing the amount of dirt being shoveled upon his not yet corpse:

If the Republican ticket loses in November, the rush by Mr. Ryan and other 2016 hopefuls to position themselves for the Iowa caucuses “is going to look like Best Buy the night after Thanksgiving,” said Craig Robinson, a former political director of the Republican Party of Iowa. “I hate to say this, but if Ryan wants to run for national office again, he’ll probably have to wash the stench of Romney off of him.”
THAT. IS. BRUTAL.

Oh, that part about Iowa in 2016...it is going to be wide-open and for an Iowan almost unbearable on both sides.  Starting about September 2015 we'll have about 30 minutes of political commercials a night and we'll have to unplug, or turn off, the phones at night.

Too related to fail

I do so look forward to the next affirmative action diatribe on FoxNews or the New York Post.

James Murdoch will be given more responsibility over News Corp's U.S. television operations more than a year after he became a central figure in the company's telephone hacking scandal in the UK, two sources familiar with the matter said.
via AmericaBlog

Cats and Dogs living together

Bill Kristol said this?

Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol said Sunday that Mitt Romney's longstanding strategy of making this election a referendum on President Obama's first term will fail.

"They need to focus on the next four years," he said. "If this election is just about the last four years, that's a muddy verdict. Bush was president during the financial meltdown. The Obama team has turned that around pretty well. The Clinton speech at the convention was very important in that way -- how horrible was it four years ago."
I'm going to avoid anything from Dick Morris because if he's changed his usual reign of error I will start to get overly worried.

Going down crazy

I don't know by now how many factors of doubling down the Romney Campaign has gone, but most of his spinners and subordinates think the whole 47% moochers lines is "totally" the way to go. For example, Bay Buchanan, the might-as-well be twin of brother Pat showed up on Meet the Press and spoke thusly:
Mitt Romney adviser Bay Buchanan reiterated the Republican campaign’s belief that half of Americans are dependent upon government, during an appearance on Meet Thee Press on Sunday. “We are in perilous times in this country. We are looking at financial ruin. We are looking at dependency. We’re a nation of people dependent on their government, and that is what Barack Obama gives us,”
This matches the language of bi-partisan booze peddler Mary Matalin a few days later than called everybody that isn't paying "income tax" a "parasite" which makes Romney and Ryan exterminators. Good thing Ryan is talking about "death panels" again.

As pleasant as they are patriotic aren't they?

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Ground game

Behold why the GOP is operating in the ground-game stone age and why their efforts to restrict voting rights BACK to the stone age is so apparent.


Optics

I suppose someone might want to tell Mitt Romney that saying he'll find a "permanent solution" to the immigration problem, after the way he spoke of it in the primaries, sounds really, really creepy.

Speaking of things

You will not see or hear about on FoxNews because it conflicts with their narrative:
As fires blazed and protesters danced in the ruined compound of a vanquished jihadist militia, I watched as the citizens of the Libyan city of Benghazi staged a dramatic display of raw people power.Numbed by the murder of an American ambassador in their city, furious with jihadist militias lording it over them and frustrated by a government too chaotic and intimidated to react, ordinary Benghazians took matters into their own hands.

Elsewhere in the world jihadists staged fiery attacks on foreign targets. In Libya they were sent running by people power. A rally called to Rescue Benghazi on Friday night became the launch pad for a spontaneous retaking of the streets, and more – a retaking of the soul that saw this city become the cradle of last year's Arab spring revolution.

Ansar al-Sharia militia, blamed by many for the killing of ambassador Chris Stevens and three of his diplomats had last week deployed anti-aircraft guns around their Benghazi compound, fearing attack from drones and US warships. But the attack, when it came, was from a very different direction. Civilian. Unarmed. And with nothing more than the desperation of a population staring anarchy in the face.
Good for them, ordinary people and Muslims.

This will not be spoken of in American media again.

If this were Obama, it would lead on Fox & Friends for

The next decade and give World Nut Daily another round of...well, okay it would make no difference for World Nut Daily.

When the former Massachusetts governor released his official 2011 tax return Friday, he (or whoever actually filled out the form) appeared to have mistakenly referred to the United States as a foreign country.

"If you have a foreign address," the tax return instruction reads, "also complete spaces below." In the space below, under "foreign country name," Romney's form reads "USA."

Several tax preparers confirmed to Whispers that "USA" should not have been written in that line—assuming the Republican presidential nominee is actually a citizen of the United States.

No word from Donald Trump yet if he wants to see the original long form version of the tax return.
To be fair, Romney thought his tax returns were really just about where his money is.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Expose it for what it is

Hey Reporters, why don't you asks Mitt Romney if he'll pledge not to go back and redo his 2011 taxes to get back those deductions he hasn't yet taken?

...or just confirm the IRS will just give him back that money?

I bet he won't answer.

Go on...

I'm sure this is a true statement from Orange Glow (the original and still the orange-ist) but considering the popularity of taxing the rich more it sure makes great optics for Democrats hoping for power in the House.

John Boehner: GOP Won't Agree To Raise Taxes On Wealthy, Even If Obama Wins Reelection

So he releases "some" returns now

And only makes it all more dubious.

Once again, Mitt Romney displays a rare talent at taking a bad situation and making even worse.

Surely, those are the kind of political skills you want in a President.

Hey, some "Not good News" for Republicans

Despite the GOP's widespread efforts, early voting is kicking off now in about half the country. Given the last couple weeks the GOP has had, I cannot imagine they are terribly excited by the prospect...well, even less.

Friday, September 21, 2012

The Public has Spoken

The most watched speaker in all of politics is...

Joe Biden?


Nielsen estimates that there are roughly 289.7 million TV viewers in the United States. Of those viewers, 14.7 percent watched Biden’s speech on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. 

President Obama came in second with 13.7 percent. Mitt Romney ranked third with 12.5 percent. And former President Bill Clinton came in fourth with 10.9 percent.

Here are the final tallys:

Good luck there fella'

Paul Ryan is addressing the AARP today...just as this is being re-reported:
"Social Security right now is a collectivist system, it's a welfare transfer system."

-- Rep. Paul Ryan in a 2005 audio recording talking about privatizing the "socialist-based system" of social security -- or as he jokingly said he preferred, "personalizing" it.

And yet it's FoxNews viewers who wear diapers

Ugh.
Geraldo Rivera: Muslims Are ‘Almost Childlike’

Default Setting

Hard to believe the guy who said things were awesome in Baghdad for years would have the same response in any setting.
Time for his wife, Campbell Brown, to write a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed where she talks about how much Mitt Romney actually loves all you fucking moochers and deadbeats.

Hey, that's how a corporate raider does it

But, of course, such performance goals met:
Mitt Romney’s campaign handed out $112,500 in bonuses to four of its top staffers, according to new disclosure records filed Thursday. Richard Beeson, Romney’s national political director, received a $37,500 payment on Aug. 31, in addition to his monthly salary of $13,750, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission. In addition, campaign manager Matt Rhoades, policy advisor Lanhee Chen and communications director Gail Gitcho each received $25,000 payments on the same date, filings show. The trio are also paid at the same rate as Beeson, which works out to an annual equivalent of $165,000.
Meanwhile, this businessman who thinks he is superqualified because of his business background suddenly has a lot less money to spend then he thought for the rest of the campaign.

"Forget cake, you people are not even worth gruel!"

The "secret weapon" did a solo in Iowa City (not governed by Mayor McCheese) and she charmed the crowd in her usual inimitable manner:
“Stop it. This is hard. You want to try it? Get in the ring,” she said. “This is hard and, you know, it’s an important thing that we’re doing right now and it’s an important election and it is time for all Americans to realize how significant this election is and how lucky we are to have someone with Mitt’s qualifications and experience and know-how to be able to have the opportunity to run this country.”
Forget Rafalca, when this election's over, Ann Romney is going to require a 'therapy gimp'.

Outstanding

The Obama team demonstrates how Romney relies on heavily edited, out-of-context quotes as their only campaign lifeline...and then proceeds to club them to death with it.

Wait a minute

You mean there was a moment yesterday where AN OLD MAN DID YELL AT A CLOUD?

Get ready for your 2016 wankathon

It is still possible, though unlikely that Mitt Romney will be elected President. Some people, and this includes President Obama, seem to think that a Romney loss will cause a diminished far-right. To which I respond, yeah...that'll happen. Because 2016 is gonna see the re-launch of this guy:
In a conference call with fellow evangelicals earlier this week, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) shared his thoughts on the origins of the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state. Rather than tracing the idea to the nation’s founders, Perry warned of a more nefarious source: Satan... “Somehow or another there’s this, ya know, steel wall, this iron curtain or whatever you want to call it between the church and people of faith and this separation of church and state is just false on its face”
Well, I've seen a lot of erroneous and flatulent interpretations of the "Founders" from the Right (see Barton, David) but they always come in the shape of putting folks like Madison and Jefferson way up high on the "pedestal of freedom" they built -- high enough to see all the slaves they owned. So I guess it is refreshing to hear of Madison being called an agent of Satan. That certainly is a new one. Rick Perry 2016. [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Thursday, September 20, 2012

"I really am the Juan Percent"

Mitt really went out of his way to get his "Latino" on, what was his conversation with the makeup person like?



"Lacquer the bronzer on with a trowel you filthy moocher" 


Look at the face...then look at the hands.  Oh, if only John Boehner were there for a comparison.


When does he speak to the Urban League or NAACP again?  Does he go as "Ted Danson at Whoopi's Birthday Party"?

 This will require some bad artwork, so excuse me for a bit....



There we go:

The Obama Campaign

Should just buy this segment, have Obama say "I approve this message" and let it play.

Way to "really" want it

One does see what a naturally hard worker Mitt Romney is:

Mitt Romney has had a light campaign schedule lately. He held his first rally in five days on Wednesday night.
Obama maintains a more vigorous campaign schedule AND is also President.

The rest of the cited article states that Romney has managed to create a bottleneck on his spending which coupled with his not working too hard -- all while starting to crater as a candidate -- that shows that he'd be a terrible President for even more reasons -- he kind of does not care much.

This sort of sucks for a few other reasons -- now when they lose, and it certainly seems likely now -- the GOP will not deal with its real problem (way too far right) but blame the candidate again.  That was probably going to be the case anyway, but now they'll just blame the messenger...again.

Hey something decent was written in Politico

Naturally by Roger Simon:
The Romney campaign is skidding along on its axles and scraping its muffler. Soon it will be down to the dog on the roof.... But as I have been saying for a while now, Mitt Romney is a deeply flawed candidate who got the Republican nomination by beating a ludicrously weak field. Don’t believe me? You know who came in second? Rick Santorum. Newt Gingrich was third, and Ron Paul was fourth. That’s not a field; that’s a therapy group.
Zing! But the best part is this part and I agree with it.
And there is another thing that troubles me even though some dismiss it as trivial. I am still bothered by Romney attacking that gay kid and cutting off his hair with a pair of scissors when they were in prep school. A ghetto kid does that and he gets booked for assault with a deadly weapon. But what does the son of a governor get? A law degree from Harvard. Republicans accuse Obama of wanting to wage class warfare, but who is more class conscious than Romney? I can summarize what Romney said to a bunch of wealthy donors at a May fundraiser: America is divided between the deserving rich and bums who want a handout. Vote for me, and I’ll keep you rich. Thank you very much. Enjoy the chicken.

Y'know at the end of the day

Don't you figure that Romney will end up with about 47% of the vote?

I think we should all point and laugh when that happens.

Idiot

Shorter Romney on Univision last night.
"Why yes, the health insurance reform that Obama launched was inspired by my plan in Massachusetts and it has worked really really well, it's a great program and it was all my idea. But we cannot have nice things like that in the nation as a whole and it's called Obamacare, so I planned on fucking the country over about it the FIRST CHANCE I GET. FUCK IT, AND FUCK YOU AMERICA -- oh and vote for me!"

What a surprise, aspiring arsonist plays with fire

David Gregory's self-described "Leader of the Jewish People" (news to a lot of people, especially the Jewish ones) Bibi Netanyahu, has decided the smartest thing the Prime Minister of a State quite reliant on bi-partisan American largesse could do is openly side with one of them to get the bombing started.
A spot featuring only the Israeli prime minister talking about Iran is set to hit the airwaves in select Florida markets tomorrow, a media tracking source confirms. The spot is the work of a c4 called Secure America Now - which, thanks to its tax status, doesn't have to disclose its donors. A Republican involved with the project said its airing in Miami, West Palm Beach and Ft. Myers. The flight is ultimately going to be $1 million, the official said - a media-tracking source said about $400,000 has been placed so far.
How especially wise it truly is for a foreign leader, be it an ally or not, to advertise in the U.S. so as to have us get another war on. But I guess with Romney as the nominee Republicans are for outsourcing even American xenophobia. [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

"Mitt took himself out of context"

Well, I guess that's all you've got.



"It's unfortunate when something gets misinterpreted like this or it gets taken out of context because if you really do listen to everything he does say, he's talking about what we're facing in America today," Romney said in the interview. According to Buzzfeed, the Romney campaign uploaded video of the interview to YouTube with the title "Ann Romney to FOX31: Mitt Doesn't Disdain the Poor" before quickly removing it.
They quickly took it down huh?
"We use Ann sparingly right now so people don't get tired of her" - Mitt Romney
YAWN!

That's rich...

Marc Leder the mega-millionaire who hosted the party that is the equivalent of a Mitt Romney sex tape has been defended by members of his class from charges of having sex parties...in a way that confirms, he's been having sex parties:

They suggest   that the reports of debauchery were exaggerated. They admit that there were barely clad pretty women dancing at the party. But they don't understand the blow-back to Marc over the activities of his guests, who are consenting adults. 

As one friend noted, "Marc was not in the pool."


Another friend sympathized with his plight. He said, "His wife cheats on him with the 23 year old tennis pro, so he lets off a little steam. Yet, he is the one that is vilified."

"Letting off steam" didn't work as an excuse for Abu Ghraib, afraid it doesn't really work in this instance either.


How many factorials of doubling down are they up to now?

There's nothing so refreshing as hearing a right-wing operative pull out the kind of terminology you'd expect from some 1930s German-technocrat defending the T-4 program:
Conservative commentator Mary Matalin hailed Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” line on CNN as good news for Republicans.

“There are makers and takers, there are producers and there are parasites,” she said. “Americans can distinguish between those who have produced and paid in through no fault of their own and because of Obama’s horrible policies who cannot get a job or are underemployed. That’s what the campaign is about.”
"Parasites"?

That will really turn this around for Mittens -- are you or are you not a PARASITE?!

Awesome.

So Mitt is really desperate for us

To harp on a 1998 videotape of Barack Obama singing the praises of progressive taxation?

So earlier videos are important, Mitt?

Time for that video of you supporting reproductive rights then.


It's a syndicate in the other sense of the word

Rupert Murdoch's newspaper ordered break-ins.

So, let's see, there's secret recordings, a cover up, AND a break in.

When does Rupert start talking about his father's lemon ranch?

If you close your eyes

You can almost here people in the audience fapping.

SO-DO-NOT-CLOSE-YOUR-EYES!

But see how exited Mitt is to be describing the working conditions they almost wish an American government could impose:

When I was back in my private equity days, we went to China to buy a factory there. It employed about 20,000 people. And they were almost all young women between the ages of about 18 and 22 or 23. They were saving for potentially becoming married. 

And they work in these huge factories, they made various uh, small appliances. And uh, as we were walking through this facility, seeing them work, the number of hours they worked per day, the pittance they earned, living in dormitories with uh, with little bathrooms at the end of maybe 10, 10 room, rooms. And the rooms they have 12 girls per room.

Three bunk beds on top of each other. You've seen, you've seen them? (Oh...yeah, yeah!) And, and, and around this factory was a fence, a huge fence with barbed wire and guard towers. And, and, we said gosh! I can't believe that you, you know, keep these girls in! They said, no, no, no. This is to keep other people from coming in.

Magic Mitt

As you might expect one of the awesome things about the Mitt Romney non-sex Tape is its incredible logical inconsistency. My favorite contradictions:
The president's foreign policy, in my opinion, is formed in part by a perception he has that his magnetism, and his charm, and his persuasiveness is so compelling that he can sit down with people like Putin and Chavez and Ahmadinejad and that they'll find that we're such wonderful people that they'll go on with us, and they'll stop doing bad things. And it's an extraordinarily naive perception.
Yes, it is naive of Obama to think he has a "magical" effect on foreign leaders -- it's like he can shoot fiery death from the sky without any moral compunction. How unrealistic. Romney doesn't believe in that magic transforming bullshit.
"My own view is that if we win on November 6th, there will be a great deal of optimism about the future of this country. We'll see capital come back and we'll see — without actually doing anything — we'll actually get a boost in the economy."
See, completely rational.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

America, 2012

Look at the trending topics...during a Presidential Election and a campaign going through scandal...nonetheless at 3:30 p.m. Central time:


Man do Americans clearly dislike Soccer.

Call EMERGENCY 9*1*1!

No, not the Giuliani Signal, the "I'm a Republican who just screwed the goddamned roof-travelin' pooch and I need somebody to softball me back to safety!" signal.

Help me Cavuto-Wan you're my only hope!

Mitt Romney will respond to the leaked video of comments he made at a fundraiser on Neil Cavuto's Fox News show at 4 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Fox News announced.
Ah yes, FoxNews where Republicans under stress go to get hand-relief with a happy-ending.

Well shit

Not in the context in which I expected to use it, but...

HERE COMES HONEY BOBO...

“Romney’s comment is a country-club fantasy. It’s what self-satisfied millionaires say to each other. It reinforces every negative view people have about Romney.”

Later Brooks does go on to whine about how Romney's awful qualities take away from his awesome ideas, so there is still the trademark asshole Boboesque prose within.

I'm sorry who is the Arrogant one?

Even more embarrassment from Mitt Romney -- WHO HAS FINALLY GIVEN US THE WHITEY TAPE WE'VE BEEN WAITING SO LONG FOR --
"My own view is that if we win on November 6th, there will be a great deal of optimism about the future of this country. We'll see capital come back and we'll see — without actually doing anything — we'll actually get a boost in the economy."
Republicans believe in magic. Good job Christine O'Donnell.

Forty-Seven Percent of this Blog

Don't care, don't give a shit. Let's tell a story 'bout Mitt & the Moochers...

Monday, September 17, 2012

It gets even worse

Too bad the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce he spoke to today didn't get wind of these statements made privately to supporters before Romney spoke to them today.
At the dinner, Romney often stuck to familiar talking points. But there were moments when he went beyond the familiar campaign lines. Describing his family background, he quipped about his father, "Had he been born of Mexican parents, I'd have a better shot of winning this."
Other than the technical response..."HE WAS!" I imagine this statement would have gone over REALLY well if he'd said it today before them, really well indeed.

The secret weapon

It's one thing for me to be disdainful of her and her expensive horse, but her own husband? Man, what an ass.

Yeah,

I'm afraid I'm going to have to contest Mitt Romney's assertion that I'm a lazy asshole who collects a government welfare check in return for my vote -- a grifter* -- as he calls all who will vote Obama over him.

Well, at least the latter half of that statement.

On the other hand, Romney is always willing to be what he is, a shallow full-on asshole.

But hey, at least he's giving specifics now.

*of course if this were true, one would think Sarah Palin as the nation's most prominent grifter would be more popular -- maybe we're just made at her for bogarting all that free money?

Tina Brown goes Henry Ford

Behold the modern "Protocols of the Elders of Zion":


The Fixation continues

The irony is ALMOST as overwhelming as the inappropriateness...well maybe not "almost":

Rep. Todd Akin’s wife, Lulli Akin, says the Republican Party’s attempts to push her husband out of the Missouri Senate race — over his false assertion that women who are raped rarely get pregnant — are like rape itself.

John Bull calls Bullshit!

Apparently when your only foreign policy credits consists of misnaming countries, being condescending, offending the locals and finally saying "Yes, Bibi, I agree completely" it will cause you some difficulties.
[Harvey] Weinstein (the movie mogul) told the BBC: “I witnessed Prime Minister saying to a group of people, myself included, that Mitt Romney had that unique distinction of uniting all of England against him with his various remarks. On behalf of my love of England, I have to support the President [Barack Obama] who is anything but making faux-pas.”
Romney promised to bring back the relationship the U.S. and U.K. used to have, apparently he was thinking of the one that existed in the 80s, the 1780s.

Mitt totally should have hired

Herman Cain's chain-smoking guy.  That would have totally turned things around.


Atlas Thug

I know we're all surprised to find out that Pamela Geller helped raise money for that horrible anti-Islam film.

Shocking I know.

Always a good sign

When you are still more than six weeks from election day and you are already talking about why are are going to lose and looking for who to blame.

It's all the campaign manager's fault.

But, and this is rich, Mitt won't let him go because Mitt is such a mensch:

 A Romney official explained: "Mitt is a sticker - he stays with you. He had a reputation at Bain for sticking with people. They made a bad investment, he hung with them. … None of this is going to be fixed. This is the organization, and this is who Mitt is betting on to win. There aren't going to be further changes."
Yeah, the man is world-reknown for not firing the people who fucking FIRE MASSIVE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE.

What a guy!

Brave, brave people.

"Unleash the Hound" (from the car roof)

Having observed that the balance of American voters have agreed that "eh, it could be worse" when they look at the Presidential race, the Romney Campaign apparently spent the weekend deciding to change strategy. Losing can do that. But having decided the economy will not be enough to give them victory, like a campaign full of Baldrick's they have a cunning plan:
Ryan was chaffing at Boston constraining him from talking about and defending his policy ideas from Democratic attacks. Ryan wanted to be "unleashed," the Republican said. And Ryan’s latest campaign swing offers the clearest indication that he’s gotten his wish.

On Friday at the Values Voters Summit in Washington, D.C., Ryan offered a new gambit on offense, attacking Obama on social issues and income inequality in one fell swoop.“’We’re all in this together’ – it has a nice ring,” Ryan said, quoting a frequent Obama line. “For everyone who loves this country, it is not only true but obvious,” he said. “Yet how hollow it sounds coming from a politician who has never once lifted a hand to defend the most helpless and innocent of all human beings, the child waiting to be born.”
When all else fails -- at least pull out the "abortion card" -- yeah, that'll convince that handful of wavering independents. One gets the feeling this plan was come up by the same adviser who blames Obama for abandoning Czechoslovakia. 


  [cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Sunday, September 16, 2012

See what you're missing "Smart People"

In not joining the GOP?


Re: Netanyahu

Apparently to the surprise of no one -- and undoubtedly unbothered by anything that could be interpreted as a follow up from David Gregory -- Netanyahu goes out and waves the sabre demanding WAR against the "fanatics" of Iran.

He is, of course, by default a "serious" person in the way the even more deluded (but significantly less influential in his own country) Ahmadinejad can never be. 

But I'm pretty confident no matter how many times folks like Mitt Romney, Bill Kristol and others blow Bibi, others are not at all comfortable at this point in getting involved in yet another war with a foe that can really fuck shit up if we kick that hornet's nest...never mind the ten-dollar a gallon gas, the widespread death is a real turnoff unless you are a fucking sociopath.

But it gets even more repulsive when a leader of another country, even one which is an ally, comes here, sticks their nose in OUR domestic politics and demands the WE go to war against another country.  There's ample reason why more than two-thirds of America's Jewish voters favor Obama -- but the fact he will not go for Netanyahu and the Neo-Cons war fantasies is among them.

You can do poll after poll after poll and while people may be concerned about Iran having a nuclear weapon, they do not want a war -- and that is the special gift that Netanyahu is demanding.  And the fact that he comes into our country and waves the sabre, while getting what will undoubtedly be a knob-job from Gregory makes it even worse.

Thank goodness

Rick Santorum is out of office and able to devote all of his "considerable" energies to being a professional talking head:

Former presidential candidate Rick Santorum attacked the media and "smart people" for not being on the side of conservatives in a speech to the Values Voter Summit on Saturday. 

"We will never have the media on our side, ever, in this country," Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, told the audience at the Omni Shoreham hotel. "We will never have the elite, smart people on our side."
Yes, hard to believe the "smart" people oppose a party that has a membership of Rick Santorums in it.

Another breath, another lie

At the annual "All Mighty Cavalcade of Assholes for (using) Jesus" Paul Ryan continued to violate his least favorite Commandment (btw he loves coveting):

Yes, and before that he was a Congressional Staffer, so his whole career...in government.

So I guess it was just another day.

Funny

How all these right-wing operatives and assholes who've been making cracks about Obama and teleprompters seem to want to push the theme of how awesome a debater the same guy is so as to lower expectations for Romney.

But somehow this seems par for the course.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Boy, this whole Bibi thing is really hurting Obama

It's a disaster!

President Barack Obama is closing extending his lead with Jewish voters, leading among registered voters 70-25 percent according to unreleased Gallup daily tracking poll data .

The data, obtained through a Democratic source, shows Obama up from leading 64-29 in polling this spring — and on par with his 2008 performance at this point when he led 69-25 over John McCain in Gallup polling. The data is drawn from tracking polls taken between July 1 and September 10th.
Polling more accurate than the way the above was written.

Presidential Material

Glad to find out Mitt Romney doesn't know the capital of Libya, nor take the time to figure out how "time" works, but can follow the adventures of Snooki.

And "Gene Hackman" should play me in the movie?

How old do you think you are?   He's the same age as Clint Eastwood.

Not to mention, he's the most human of actors -- and you are, uh, not.

That whole "ally" thing

Naturally, people have missed the point of Obama's rather ambivalent treatment of the Egyptian government by saying they were neither an ally nor enemy -- contrasted to how he treated the government of Libya.

Well, the fact of the matter is the Libyan government immediately condemned and took action to arrest people (granted it may have "round up the usual suspects" aspect).  Egypt's government on the other hand did neither.

Until Obama spoke to the Egyptian President when the latter got wind of the interview.

Friday, September 14, 2012

The Least Interesting Man in the World

The People demand to know

When is David Brooks gonna write his next paean to what poor white people he's never met REALLY think.

Today's piece is, as usual, a tired peace of re-hashed excrement that others have already turned out in equally stupid portions -- but it will not cut it.

I've been waiting to write ... HERE COMES HONEY BOBO for weeks!!!!

Ah now I know

What really pissed off the right-wing assholes about this whole deal.
Eighteen months into the office he reupholstered the two chairs in his sitting area. (“The chairs were kind of greasy. I was starting to think, Folks are going to start talking about us.”) Then he swapped out the antique coffee table for a contemporary one, and the bust of Winston Churchill lent to Bush by Tony Blair...
Wait for it, the righties conveniently never mention this part
...for one of Martin Luther King Jr.

Quadrupling down


Apparently the Romney Campaign just lives in a different reality than even they have lived in.
Advisers to Mitt Romney on Thursday defended his sharp criticism of President Obama and said that the deadly protests sweeping the Middle East would not have happened if the Republican nominee were president.

There’s a pretty compelling story that if you had a President Romney, you’d be in a different situation,” Richard Williamson, a top Romney foreign policy adviser, said in an interview. “For the first time since Jimmy Carter, we’ve had an American ambassador assassinated.”
So says a man who served in an Administration which saw Pentagon itself attacked -- or perhaps he has ignored all bumper-stickers and forgotten?

Oh this will end well

A man whose eloquence will clearly inspire

Oh boy, who wouldn't look forward to four years of this?

"What a tragedy, to lose such a wonderful, wonderful, uh...wonderful people that have been so wonderful."

"The Ship will float more evenly with bigger holes"

Well thank goodness "austerity" continues to work it's magic.
Unemployment in Greece is going from bad to worse, as official figures released by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) on Thursday showed a 44 percent increase in the number of jobless in this year’s second quarter compared to the same period in 2011.
Naturally, this requires more "austerity"!
The crisis engulfing Greece has deepened after two of the governing coalition parties resisted demands from Brussels for 50,000 public sector job cuts, and unions called a general strike for later this month.
Surely we need that same "budget-cutting" magic on these shores.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Thursday, September 13, 2012

This is a ridiculous question

But from Charles Pierce we get the scientific poll that answers the real important question of the day:


In case you were wondering who would REALLY end up apologizing to whom.

No shit

Like many of you, I suppose, I got an email this morning from "Beyonce Knowles" entitled "I Don't Usually Email You".

Um, no crap there Beyonce.   You may keep emailing me if you'd like, of course, and if you happen to run into Scarlet Johanssen, Halle Berry, Natalie Portman, or Eva Longoria they are free to email me as well. 

But really shouldn't we keep this just to Chatroulette.com as we have all these months?


It's hard to believe one can be too egotistical and craven to be President

After all, just running for it takes one hell of a lot of self-belief and arrogance (but only the black guy gets called out for it, amazingly).   But even amongst the rich history of narcissism and opportunism of presidential candidates and Presidents (LBJ, Nixon, Polk, etc.) Romney may take the cake:

One Republican official advising Romney's campaign on foreign policy and national security issues painted a picture of a Romney campaign more focused on ensuring Romney's evening statement made it into morning news stories than on waiting for details about what had happened.

This official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid angering Romney's campaign, said that as word of violence spread, campaign aides late Tuesday watched tweets coming out of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo that were criticizing the filmmaker rather than condemning the attackers, and saw an opportunity to criticize Obama
.
Romney, like most projectionists, is at his most hypocritical when repeating his mantra -- "America's the greatest, I'll never apologize for America" etc. Here he is ACTIVELY hoping for disaster so as to score political points for himself.

That's sort of like Thomas Dewey, FDR's opponent in the 1944 election rooting for D-Day to end badly, which criticizing the Omaha beach landings while they were occurring and encountering difficulty...which Thomas Dewey most certainly did not do.

It's plain that the No. 1 epidemic of "Concern Troll"

In the punditry isn't wars, or taxes, or social issues.

It's unions exercising their right to strike.  And it is ALWAYS against labor...absolutely every...fucking...time.

It's like every pundit turns into Richard Cohen.

Dream Scenario

For any candidate really, is to see headlines like this:

How badly did Romney botch response to Libya attack?

Holographic Reagan would have been classy

Or something.

In April 1980, President Carter ordered a raid to attempt to free the American hostages in Tehran...it failed spectacularly and tragically.

How'd Reagan react?

Reagan told a Los Angeles press conference, "This is a difficult day for all of us Americans. . . . It is time for us . . . to stand united. It is a day for quiet reflection . . . when words should be few and confined essentially to our prayers."
I am obviously not a Reagan fan, but that is how a competent politician does it.

That's about right

 (Pat Oliphant via GoComics.com)

Swallow that foot.
...earlier this evening the Times ran a story entitled “Behind Romney’s Decision to Attack Obama on Libya.” The byline was David Sanger and Ashley Parker. The big news out of the story was that Romney himself had been the driver of last night’s decision making.

I'm used to self-immolations during primary season, but now for two straight elections a major candidate has destroyed themselves through their own stupidity and delusion. Fortunately it has been the Republicans.

Well whaddya know

There is a national candidate who wants to get the welfare-to-work program.

...Of course, it is not Obama or Biden...

It is Paul Ryan and it's on the record.

Morons gonna "Moronate"

The tragi-comedy of Romney trying to gnaw the foot he stuck knee-deep in his mouth has been discussed around the internet in great depth.

But the the absurdity beneath the tragedy of the protesting and deaths is broader than just Willard.

Let us start with the film (and I'm stretching the definition) "The Innocence of Muslims", it appears that not only can we not figure out who was behind this project -- better named "The Protocols of the Elders of the Birth of a Nation" -- but it appears it was a fraud in every sense of the word.

A statement released on the behalf of the 80 cast and crew members ... indicates that they are not happy with the film and were misled by the producer.

"The entire cast and crew are extremely upset and feel taken advantage of by the producer. We are 100% not behind this film and were grossly misled about its intent and purpose," the statement says. "We are shocked by the drastic re-writes of the script and lies that were told to all involved. We are deeply saddened by the tragedies that have occurred."
And then there is Senator Jon Kyle of Arizona, who demonstrated there is no subject that Republicans cannot bring back to their other favorite topic...rape.

I know mockery of #MoneyBooBoo and the rest of his compatriots eases some of the anger, but they still might win.  Which will be the greatest tragi-comedy of them all.

[cross-posted at Firedoglake]

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Yes indeedy

Assholes gonna Asshole

After his disgusting doubling-down on committing political malpractice and flat-out lying in the wake of a tragedy look at the self-satisfied smirk on the Williard-visage...
If you wonder why he commits such errors, don't look at his handlers, look at him.

That is BUSH-LEVEL douchebaggery.

Update: here's another "smirk" while at the rostrum.

Stopped clocks and all

I don't know what is more distasteful, Romney's ham-handed effort to exploit tragedy or his commission of political malpractice that is galling. Okay, since they both hurt him politically. Maybe it's that I am in agreement with Mark Halperin.
I'm going to need Dick Morris' proclamation of Romney's performance being a masterstroke that will settle things back to some semblance of normality.

That about sums it up

From Jeffrey Goldberg's article condemning Romney's reckless statements about Egypt and Libya comes this comment which sums it up best.