Bain/Pain 2012 - Déjà vu all over again

by: virginislandsguy

Sat Aug 11, 2012 at 14:27:19 PM EDT



Just a short diary on the Ryan pick for VP.  About a month ago, Rachael Maddow said that she must be the only person in America who thought Ryan would be the VP choice. I told my sister that, no, she would be the 2nd.

greedy fuckersBecause, 14 months ago, an MM member wrote this:

Since you cannot get political news
I will bring you this from the future:

Romney/Ryan 2012

Rep. Paul Ryan would be the best fit for Romney. I wrote earlier that he would choose someone with fundie or TP cred. I will amend that to eliminate the fundie side. The last thing Romney wants is to open the religion issue in his campaign. A fundie VP pick would do just that. So TP it is and Ryan fits to a T. Romney's no spring chicken (64) and Ryan gives him some youth and sex appeal.

The weird thing is this would be similar to the Dole/Kemp ticket of '96 (although Kemp wasn't young). Get this, Ryan was a speechwriter for Kemp back in the '90s. That's spooky.

by: virginislandsguy @ Sun May 29, 2011 at 09:16:31 AM EDT

It goes without saying that this move by RMoney is a sign of desperation and weakness.

For my next trick, I'm predicting that the BLS employment numbers for August, September and October will be good to explosive on the upside. This is because the seasonal adjustments have been out of whack for the last 3 years.

Floyd Norris of the NYT analyzes this in "Another (Seasonally Adjusted) Slowdown"

The result is that the seasonal adjustments make things look better than they are in the winter, when fewer workers are being let go than the government expects, and worse in the spring and summer, when the workers who were not let go cannot be rehired. There is, of course, more than seasonal adjustment going on, but I suspect that the underlying swings are far more modest than the monthly figures seem to indicate.

...

If that analysis is correct, the job numbers are likely to seem poor for the next two months, but to pick up with the September report on Oct. 5, and then to look impressive in the October report, which will appear on Nov. 2, four days before the election.

Anecdotally, from the comments:

I know somebody who works for BLS and makes exactly the same argument . I don't know why this is not more widely communicated

If this comes true, it will destroy the sole rationale for RMoneys campaign. I stick by my prediction of Obama 53%, RMoney 43%, Johnson 2%, Goode, etc 2%.
virginislandsguy :: Bain/Pain 2012 - Déjà vu all over again
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Bain/Pain 2012 - Déjà vu all over again | 157 comments
lulz (2.00 / 8)
You nailed it.  Mitt even introduced him as 'the next President of the United States...'

Overshadowed much, Mitty Pooh?

All along, the Obama campaign has sought to make the election a clear choice between the stark Randian ethnocentric social darwinism of the fever-addled GOP and well...sanity.  They'd prefer to avoid a referendum on the President in a still sluggish economy -- I call it the Better Angels Plan. The choice of Paul Ryan gives Obama exactly what he wants: a fundamental argument about the kind of country that most Americans want, and the role of government in shaping that future.

When opposing forces have the exact same goal, one of those forces is wrong.  I know who I'm betting on, and safely.

Earth is the best vacation place for advanced clowns. --Gary Busey
 

Crony Capitalism vs Mixed Economy (2.00 / 6)
Central casting couldn't have come up with more appropriate actors. But I'm waiting for the reactions of the Fundie leadership because there is nothing for them with this ticket.

Richard Viguerie was on MSNBC last night and totally panned Ryan as VP. Where's the love for the Fundies with the Ruthless Financier Mormon Bishop and the Supply-Side True Believer? I think they vote for Virgil Goode or stay home, which kills them down ticket.

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!

[ Parent ]
By the times the nuns on the bus are done with Ryan (2.00 / 5)
he'll be wishing they'd just stick to rapping his nuckles.

"When Fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in teh stupid and waving a gun" ~ Esteev on Wonkette
[ Parent ]
Can it get any worse (2.00 / 2)
than to get thrown under the Nuns Bus?

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!
[ Parent ]
Whoa. Elliott Abrams briefs Paul Ryan (2.00 / 4)
Yep, Elliott "Death Squads" Abrams. Charles Pierce has the story:

In recent months, Ryan has been receiving briefings from Elliott Abrams
...
but let us pay particular attention to Mr. Abrams, a formerly convicted felon. Back in the cowboy days when St. Ronnie winked at the rape and murder of American churchwomen in Central America - noted funnyman Al Haig suggested the four murdered nuns ran a roadblock, and radio comedian Laura Ingraham once told a reporter from the Times magazine that she was going down to stay "at the Four Dead Nuns Inn."

I think this makes it personal for the "Nuns on the Bus".

The only Neocon not yet associated with the Romney/Ryan campaign is Doug "Dumbest fucking guy on the planet" Feith. I expect them to remedy this oversight shortly.

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!

[ Parent ]
Are they going to wear name tags so we can tell them apart? (2.00 / 7)
Good call, Virg.

What he really needs is to find a white male tea party poster boy, that way he can bring in the middle...


"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

It's easy to tell them apart (2.00 / 6)
The older guy with good hair is the R 2012 Pres nominee. The younger guy with good hair is the R 2016 Pres nominee.

The campaigns are past the "fight for the middle" stage. The pool of true persuadables is at a historical low. It's now strictly a turn-out-the-base strategy. Given the top-down nature of the RMoney campaign vs the grassroots OFA effort, I like the chances of our side.

Plus, the addition of Ryan gives us a shot at peeling off large numbers of the Greatest and Silent Generations.

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!

[ Parent ]
This seals it. A Romney landslide. Around 75-25... (2.00 / 6)
of WSJ subscribers.

The future is unwritten
Let me get this out of the way .... (2.00 / 9)
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha ... snort ... hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha ... gasp. ... ha.

The throw granny off the cliff guy?  The take-the-war-on-women-to-all-new-levels guy?  That's the guy Romney tapped?  Really?  In the dead of night on a Friday?  On the deck of a government-owned naval museum?  When the nominal head of the ticket is a draft-dodger?  On the weekend of the closing ceremony of the Olypmics?  Well before the GOP convention?  Color me incredulous and still not completely surprised.

Ryan has zero business experience, unless one counts driving the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile and/or working the grill at McDonalds.  Ryan used SSI benefits, Pell Grants and Stafford loans to get through college.  His district has benefitted greatly from funds from the federal government; pork for me but not for thee apparently.  In other words, surprise!, Ryan is a hypocrite.  And that doesn't even account for Ryan begging for support for TARP.

Saw that only 27% of those few who even know of Paul Ryan have a favorable opinion of him.  I believe it was 29% have an unfavorable view.  The guy has never campaigned outside of his district and is best known nationally as the guy who wants to end Medicare as we know it.  People of a recent focus group found it impossible to believe that a politician would propose Ryan's budget because it is so bad.

And just after introducing Ryan Romney camp backed off of supporting Ryan's budget.  So again Romney tries to have it both ways.  Methinks he'll be as bad at it as ever.

Not sure, though, what this does to the senior vote.  I've seen suggestions that Florida is lost to Romney; that AZ may be in play.  AZ was not called in 2008 until a day or two after the election and it was McCain's home state.  Does the threat to Medicare close the gap?  At least make Romney/Ryan spend money/resoures there?  I guess it depends on how successfull Dems are at articulating what Romney/Ryan would do to the safety net.  It is already unpopular but by pounding away for the next few months Romney/Ryan might just cry "uncle"  before election night.

On a slightly more shallow note I have to think the optics aren't that great, either.  They look like they could be father and son.  How does that play when last election we had an African-American and a woman (blechy though she was) on separate tickets?  That both Romney and Ryan look like entitled assholes (oh wait, they are) can't help.

Lastly, I was reminded of the incident where POTUS invited Ryan to a front-row seat to a speech he was giving on Ryan's budget and then proceeded to shread it to pieces right in front of the Munster man.  Obama/Biden have to be salivating at the opportunity to wrap Ryan's budget around Romney's neck in a metaphorical sense.

"When Fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in teh stupid and waving a gun" ~ Esteev on Wonkette

The Father - Son resemblance (2.00 / 8)
was something that struck me, too. Not sure how that plays but I don't see an upside for them.

I'm trying something out by calling them Poupon and Coupons. I'm seeing Mitt with the mustard jar in hand and Paul with RyanCare Coupons in his pockets like the famous early group Bain photo.

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!

[ Parent ]
Actually... (2.00 / 3)
They do look kinda cute together.  Gotta admit I didn't see that one coming.
[ Parent ]
I'm With You... (2.00 / 5)
To me the only rational explanation is that Romney, who in spite of all appearances probably isn't stupid, intends to pull those arch-conservative Republicans whom have arguably sabotaged his entire campaign over the cliff with him when he goes; hence the Ryan pick

Given my assumptions regarding Romney's point of view, that of a moderate "good-hair" candidate whom was forced into reactionary positions by an unreasonable cohort within his own party, I can't say I blame him.  He must be pretty pissed off now that he's in Obama's crosshairs on exactly the perception and policy which was forced on him; it would all have been easily avoidable if the rest of the nomination candidates weren't a smorgasbord of ultraconservative freaks.

[ Parent ]
On the Other Hand... (2.00 / 5)
Charles P Pierce's alternate theory that they're really all trying to kill Paul Krugman with a coronary also has merit.  
[ Parent ]
Pierce has become my new must read columnist. (2.00 / 4)
Due to time constraints, I'm dropping some of Balloon Juice but keeping SadlyNo! Charles Pierce is a gem I can't give up.

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!
[ Parent ]
Krugman... (2.00 / 5)
Let fly this column:


Like Bush in 2000, Ryan has a completely undeserved reputation in the media as a bluff, honest guy, in Ryan's case supplemented by a reputation as a serious policy wonk. None of this has any basis in reality; Ryan's much-touted plan, far from being a real solution, relies crucially on stuff that is just pulled out of thin air - huge revenue increases from closing unspecified loopholes, huge spending cuts achieved in ways not mentioned.

Paul Krugman - Romney/Ryan: The Real Target NYT 13 August 12

He goes on to challenge the punditry to admit that they are accomplices after the fact to this charade.  Hope he's taking some aspirin.

[ Parent ]
And Another Thing... (2.00 / 5)
Which emphasises the Wiley Coyote with an anvil aspect of this choice, which was my first thought after shaking off disbelief...  Congressional Republicans all voted for this "most annotated suicide note in history" twice and have been pretending they didn't back in their home districts since 2010.  Well... Not any more.  Booman does a thorough exegesis of the political ramifications in light of the Ryan elevation:


Noted liberal governors like Rick Scott of Florida and Rick Perry of Texas are fleeing from Ryan's Budget like their hair is on fire.  And it's not hard to see why.  It's appalling that, prior to Ryan's placement on the ticket, the Republicans felt confident that they could use Super PAC funding from billionaires to make a lie the equal of the truth and "to wave [the truth] off as nonsense." But they don't really think that they can pull that off anymore.  Whether or not Romney can separate himself from Ryan's Budget by proposing his own budget, it will be acknowledged that Paul Ryan created a budget (which the House Republicans supported) that made the same cuts in Medicare as Obama's Affordable Care Act. In addition, they also all voted to voucherize Medicare.  

The House Republicans have been rendered defenseless, armed with nothing but the most indefensible lies. And they know it.

Booman - Pick of Ryan Leaves House GOP Defenseless Booman Tribune 13 Aug 12

Worth reading a few of his recent posts; pretty incisive analysis of the unwelcome attention this will bring to House Republicans.  We need twenty-five seats and previously it seemed a tough hill to climb; maybe now not so much.  I can't believe the implications weren't obvious to Romney and his campaign.

[ Parent ]
Exhibit A (2.00 / 3)
Not three days after the stunning news the Politico troika wakes up in an inexplicably wet bed:


And the more pessimistic [Republican] strategists don't even feign good cheer: They think the Ryan pick is a disaster for the GOP. Many of these people don't care that much about Romney - they always felt he faced an improbable path to victory - but are worried that Ryan's vocal views about overhauling Medicare will be a millstone for other GOP candidates in critical House and Senate races.

Alexander Burns, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Martin - GOP pros fret over Paul Ryan Politico 14 Aug 12

Ya think?  Maybe the sheets are merely damp from the night sweat of fever dreams but one wonders.  Thelma and Louise were "bold and daring" too, as Michael Tomasky promptly noted, but ended up in the bottom of a canyon nonetheless.  Methinks that the giddy weekend celebration of Romney's political acumen may be notably brief.

[ Parent ]
good call on booman. (2.00 / 3)
on fire lately.

Earth is the best vacation place for advanced clowns. --Gary Busey
 
[ Parent ]
Indeed (2.00 / 4)
Booman's one of my every-single-day blogreads.  And his commenters are very good too, especially Tarheel Dem.

If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done subjunctively.
[ Parent ]
That Booman link is a good read (2.00 / 4)
He extensively quotes the Hill article "Republicans concerned Ryan could cost party House and Senate seats".  I liked this passage:

There are a lot races that are close to the line we're not going to win now because they're going to battle out who's going to kill grandma first, ObamaCare or Paul Ryan's budget," said one Republican strategist who works on congressional races. "It could put the Senate out of reach. In the House it puts a bunch of races in play that would have otherwise been safe. ... It remains to be seen how much damage this causes, but my first blush is this is not good.

I'm thinking that this weekend is the point that the media starts debating whether the House is now in play.

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!

[ Parent ]
God, I hope so. (2.00 / 3)
The House is the big problem, all around.

127 bills passed, as opposed to 900 during the Do Nothing Congress of 47-48. It is staggeringly ineffective, apart from being an extremist pit from hell.

That really is the point. It isn't about ideology - I myself could argue both sides with great vigor - these Tea Party clowns are just extremist zealots. Give me any ideology as long as it isn't suicidal.

That is the message that the Dems need to press. It works, because it is true.,

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

[ Parent ]
If I remember 2006 correctly (2.00 / 4)
media didn't accept the House was in play until election night.
[ Parent ]
Now, dammit, (2.00 / 4)
don't you go getting all optimistic on my just when I am feeling like joining a Gloom Parade!

Can't count on anybody. Kids these days!

:~)

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

[ Parent ]
Didn't say we'd win the House (2.00 / 2)
Democrats will be lucky to get 200 seats. But the media never credits Democratic victories until they're sworn into office.  
[ Parent ]
Here's what the US Council of Catholic Bishops has to say (2.00 / 8)
about the Ryan Budget: http://ncronline.org/blogs/dis...

The future is unwritten
This is good (2.00 / 6)
I don't think many people understand the Republican "plan" for America, as reflected by the Ryan budget.  It will be refreshing to have a national discussion on this nonsense.
Let the "Vetting" Begin... (2.00 / 4)
Heh:


Representative Paul Ryan was a pivotal figure in killing the 2010 Bowles-Simpson agreement, which Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney now holds out as a model for putting America's fiscal house in order.

Heidi Przybyla - Ryan Opposed Debt Reduction Plan Romney Used as a Model Bloomberg 14 Aug 12


JANESVILLE, Wis. - In 2009, as Representative Paul Ryan was railing against President Obama's $787 billion stimulus package as a "wasteful spending spree," he wrote at least four letters to Obama's secretary of energy asking that millions of dollars from the program be granted to a pair of Wisconsin conservation groups, according to documents obtained by The Globe.

Bryan Bender and Brian MacQuarrie - Ryan sought stimulus funds while decrying program Boston Globe 14 Aug 12


Any Republican vice-presidential candidate is going to be broadly anti-abortion, but Ryan goes much further. He believes ending a pregnancy should be illegal even when it results from rape or incest, or endangers a woman's health. He was a cosponsor of the Sanctity of Human Life Act, a federal bill defining fertilized eggs as human beings, which, if passed, would criminalize some forms of birth control and in vitro fertilization.

Michelle Goldberg - Paul Ryan's Extreme Abortion Views Daily Beast 11 Aug 12

Who knew?

[ Parent ]
here's another bonus about the ryan pick: (2.00 / 5)
biden won't have to soft pedal or 'go easy' in the veep debates.  that should be fun to watch.

Earth is the best vacation place for advanced clowns. --Gary Busey
 
Ezra Klein advises caution here (2.00 / 6)
While Joe will bring the gun to a knife fight, Ezra warns:

9. Joe Biden has a lot of debate prep ahead of him. I've interviewed Ryan three times. Twice on health care, and once on economics. He's very quick on his feet, and he's got a lot of experience explaining his plans to skeptical audiences. He's also a likable and, while I don't know him very well personally, decent-seeming guy. He's repeatedly won reelection in a moderate district. Democrats underestimate his political skills at their peril.

But my impression is that he uses basic debating and rhetorical tricks that an old pro like Biden can demolish.

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!

[ Parent ]
It's that time when I start to wonder about my own assurance. (2.00 / 6)
There is an abiding grumpiness about the economy in the nation. Lots of folks still hurt a lot, lots of lost dreams still sting.

The "R-Money" tag the left likes to hang on Romney could be a boomerang. Lots of people like the idea of a big money making team taking over and jamming the economy forward. As much as I like Obama and prefer two-term Presidents by default:

I find a slight sympathetic resonance.

The Dem sneer at supply-side economics is not as strongly felt beyond the firm left. As I have said numerous times here, I am one of those who believes generally in more freedom in business than is standard in Liberal circles. Ron Paul may not ring my bell, and Paul Ryan's views go further than I would likely support, but neither do I agree with the Santa Cruz County perspective in my recent past ("one more fee won't hurt, you can afford it").

The four-fee $140 Santa Cruz County, CA registration for my 12-foot homemade row/sail boat (the boat itself cost me $500) still stands as a galling example of excess. The two separate fees included for "alternate fuel levies" ("alternate"?? how about "none"???) make my head spin still just typing them out.

Be careful, Dems. Press the point that Obama will make the economy better, create more jobs, put cash in people's pockets. That is a very strong selling point in this cycle.

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

[ Parent ]
But (2.00 / 2)
Lots of people like the idea of a big money making team taking over and jamming the economy forward.

Except this has never happened.  

[ Parent ]
I'm with Klein (2.00 / 4)
I also think, in the big picture, it would be better for Biden to have a boring and quiet debate that he loses on points than a big big win that makes a lot of news and gets a lot of attention.  Ryan is more charismatic and likable than Rmoney by a long shot.  Anything that distracts from the Obama/Romney contrast is bad for us.

The future is unwritten
[ Parent ]
I dunno (2.00 / 4)
Ideologically, Ryan is as extreme as Michelle Bachman. Maybe it's the Oirish in me, but I'd enjoy seeing that ideology get the snot bubbles pounded out of it on a national stage, rhetorically. Admittedly, what I'd enjoy may not be the best strategem for the election.

Ryan is more charismatic and likable than Rmoney by a long shot.

No doubt, but as of today, half of the country is just now learning who Ryan is. Obama's campaign (and Dems generally) are already poised to define Ryan, and they've shown how well they can do that with Romney. Also, let's not forget that it was Obama himself who in large measure elevated Paul Ryan to national significance as the tea-budget/do-nothing/zombie-eyed granny killer when he gave him a front row seat to his own budget announcement. Obama proceeded to flay Ryan's 'roadmap' crap as "a vision of our future that's deeply pessimistic". Remember, conservatives were swooning over Ryan by this time. That day, with Ryan front/center Obama said,

"There's nothing serious about a plan that claims to reduce the deficit by spending a trillion dollars on tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. And I don't think there's anything courageous about asking for sacrifice from those who can least afford it and don't have any clout on Capitol Hill."

Because the GOP is what they are, it was effectively Obama that legitimized the Ryan plan within the GOP. He saddled them with it. Even then,

Charles Krauthammer doubted that Ryan's ideas could survive a Democratic onslaught in the 2012 campaign. "House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan has just released a recklessly bold, 73-page, 10-year budget plan," he wrote. "At 37 footnotes, it might be the most annotated suicide note in history."

If played right, I don't think Ryan distratcts from the Obama/Romney contrast. He's a living, breathing, manifestation of it.

http://www.newyorker.com/repor...

Earth is the best vacation place for advanced clowns. --Gary Busey
 

[ Parent ]
hehehe (2.00 / 2)
get the snot bubbles pounded out of it

God, but I love your turn of words... :~)

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

[ Parent ]
Also, lulz (2.00 / 4)
It's only a one-day poll, but Paul Ryan received the lowest reviews of any vice presidential candidate since Dan Quayle in 1988 in a new USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday.

The poll found that 39 percent of respondents think Ryan is a good or excellent choice for Romney, compared with 42 percent that think he's a "fair" or "poor" choice.

That's the worst mark since Quayle was George H.W. Bush's nomination in 1988, according to Gallup.

http://www.businessinsider.com...

Whatever his potential likability, he's going to have to earn it while fending off relentless attacks on his policy ideas from Obama and Dems.  

Earth is the best vacation place for advanced clowns. --Gary Busey
 

[ Parent ]
Remember what they called Quayle? (2.00 / 2)
"Mr. Vice President"


"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon
[ Parent ]
Remember who they called (2.00 / 3)
Quayle's bosses opponent?

Governor Dukakis aka not President Barack Obama

Apples and Durians

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!

[ Parent ]
Agreed. (2.00 / 3)
I had a fun day razzing a GOP supporter who had organized a Bush/Quayle rally at Greenville Tech during that campaign. I was landscaping at the college and stood at the back of the crowd - when the candidate had stood up the organizers and didn't show. The desperate organizer, seeing herself as next to the future VP blasking in her glory, trying to get a chant going: "I say Bush, you say Quayle! Bush! ..." ...and of course nobody shouted "Quayle!" so I shouted "Duke!".

I was a real Liberal then, and happy in my smugness. In retrospect I was being a bit of a dick and could have had more respect for the poor woman.

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

[ Parent ]
I would remind you (2.00 / 4)
that dickishness in the defense of Dukakis is no vice!

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!
[ Parent ]
Most people called him 'moron' (2.00 / 2)
...IRRC, but if your point is that the VP pick is ultimatley and largely irrelevant...well, what were we talking about again in the first place?

Come November, I think Ryan either helps Romney (a little), or helps Obama (a little to a lot). Either way, I'm betting they still lose.

Earth is the best vacation place for advanced clowns. --Gary Busey
 

[ Parent ]
I guess. (2.00 / 1)
It may just be that I am angsted at the moment, but I see vast differences as well. Quayle added nothing as far as I can recall, Ryan is the poster child for the "government fiscal restraint will boost the economy" message that Romney is riding.

My confidence in November is at a low ebb today. Obama is well liked, most voters don't pay as much attention as partisan fanboys, the economy is tepid, the international scene is fairly stable (for the moment, but that is highly questionable), California is strangling in its own fiscal entrails, Dem Rum is here again to demonstrate ex-pat euro-smug...

It's a mixed bag, and not the good kind with those awesome rye slices. Not nearly as sure about the result as I have been, hope I change my mind.

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

[ Parent ]
just vote (2.00 / 5)
the results will change your mind, more than likely. 4 out of 5 fanboys agree.

Earth is the best vacation place for advanced clowns. --Gary Busey
 
[ Parent ]
Happy to be that #4. :~) n/t (2.00 / 3)


Just because they are posting on a progressive site doesn't make them progressives. - John Allen
[ Parent ]
I'm looking forward to those debates the most <nt> (2.00 / 2)
.

I love my country, but I think we should start seeing other people.
[ Parent ]
Whoa. Your second MM diary? (2.00 / 6)
And we waited this long? A year? For shame...

Give your prescient insight, I think we might have a money making venture here.

Can you tell me who is going to win the 2014 World Cup? Or indeed, the numbers for the EuroMillions lottery tomorrow could come in handy too.

Bit distracted by Olympics to follow the downer of the Ryan choice. For some reason, I get this guy mixed up with Rand Paul. It's all that incestuous objectivist superhumanity!

I think Chris has a point of not letting the GOP frame Obama as more taxes, government stifling innovation, and unfortunately Paul is good at that libertarian streak. It resonates with a lot of Americans still, even though all the evidence is that stripping out regulation and cutting social investment has actually led to the current malaise, compared to America's heyday.

But as Blasky opines above - people moan about 140 dollars for a boat registration, without thinking that TARP was the equivalent, in real monetary terms, of the Manhattan Project, Apollo Project, Vietnam and Iraq wars, New Deal and Great Society combined. And what's happened to all that?

Romney profited from the outsourcing and asset stripping of extreme Reaganomics. Paul enshrines it as an ideological good and moral force. Scary combination. But perhaps more effective than people realise.

The real hope for the Obama campaign (which despite all the punditry's prognostications is actually pretty certain to emerge victorious) is the extra votes it gets from its organisation. The aerial campaign by Romney/Ryan will be defeated by the ground war.  

The p***artist formerly known as 'Brit'

"Moan"? (2.00 / 5)
I don't "moan" (whine, maybe...).

But there is a point inside that point. That is a common word choice from the left that grates greatly against everyone else in such situations. I think it may be exactly the word that the snide California neighbor I have referenced repeatedly used in a similar context that set my teeth on edge.

The thought pattern leads: "Well, if you can afford a boat (car/plane ticket/...) then you are well off enough that another little tax on top shouldn't bother you." In general it is true enough, in extremis it is ridiculous ('that one for me 19 for you') and in the middle it has more or less acceptable modes.

Nobody needs to or has a right to know about my family's finances, and by job title they often want to assume that we live in the Lap of Luxury and can therefore afford to pitch in more to the common pot. I get a lot of that from a lot of leftward friends and while I am not about to share great details now, either, suffice to say that we chose not to be able to use the boat in California because we could not justify the costs. Registering the same dinghy here in TN cost $27, so now my kids have something to row in the lake.

My advice to the left is to be very careful with those words and attitudes. I am voting for Obama and hope he wins, I do not cotton to Romney and think Ryan's budget is off the rails, but I find myself flinching frequently these days at the words I hear coming from my fellow Obama supporters.

If it is more than just me feeling this way then I may have to change my forecast for November officially to a loss for my side. Liberals throwing away an easy win is a bit too cliche to bear (was it FDR who said "I don't belong to an organized political party?") but at this point it might not surprise me.

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

[ Parent ]
<strike>Call</strike> Rant of the Suburbs (2.00 / 4)
Sorry if you don't live in the suburbs, but this is in service to a point I have made for years. That is, the Presidency and state-wide elections are now won and lost in the suburbs.

Your rant encapsulates the frustration/anger of the (upper)middle class in the suburbs who don't qualify for the tax dodges of the truly rich. And particularly galling are the user fees that have mushroomed during the last 30 (post-Reagan) years. I agree with your point that the Democrats ignore this issue at their peril.

However, to your comment:

If it is more than just me feeling this way then I may have to change my forecast for November officially to a loss for my side.

I would have ask you to quantify:

How many people?
Who are these people demographically?
Where are these people (for EV purposes)?

My guess is that it is not enough people, in a demographic that is wired to vote Republican anyway, and not in crucial battleground states. YMMV.

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!

[ Parent ]
Your mileage estimates are likely more informed than mine. (2.00 / 4)
This stuff takes actual research to be intelligent, and I know I'm not doing it. I got so deep into that stuff in 2008 that I now know what it looks like when you do and it and I don't.  My own perspective is a very local one.

I dunno, it's not every day that I join the DTO foghorning. If nothing else it has to be worth the Dems stepping off the brakes and onto the gas, and the gas pedal looks to me like the one labeled "jobs and money". "Save the whales" and "down with the rich" are slogans that can be pulled out some other day.

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

[ Parent ]
Opines isn't moaning, mate (2.00 / 3)
It just means you're expressing an opinion

An important and valid one at that

The p***artist formerly known as 'Brit'

[ Parent ]
You see (0.00 / 0)
If it is more than just me feeling this way then I may have to change my forecast for November officially to a loss for my side.

It isn't just you and that's why I keep saying we lose. What you describe is what a lot of people see in Obama, a man who once reelected with kowtow to Occupy Wall Street and the like. Whether it transfers into votes- I happen to think there's a chance these guys don't even show up- is yet to be seen, but I think it does.


[ Parent ]
This is exactly why I argue (2.00 / 1)
that Obama over-emphasizes a discourse of fairness and under-emphasizes function and pragmatism.  The growth in wealth disparity, which correlates to shrinking economic mobility, is reaching unsustainable levels.  Supply-siders can talk all they want, but stifling demand means more and more people are turning to speculation and lucrative havens over investment.  It's also toxic from a socio-cultural perspective as economic opportunity and engagement often correlates to engaged citizenship.  Obama need to re-calibrate so that he's talking about fairness 25% of the time and economic viability 75% of the time.  In other words, he doesn't need to persuade people that he's good, most undecideds recognize the right wing mudslinging and fear mongering for what it is.  He needs to persuade them that he's right.

The future is unwritten
[ Parent ]
Well said. (2.00 / 1)
He needs to persuade them that he's right.


"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon
[ Parent ]
But (2.00 / 1)
.  In other words, he doesn't need to persuade people that he's good, most undecideds recognize the right wing mudslinging and fear mongering for what it is.  He needs to persuade them that he's right.

How can he persuade them he's right if he can't persuade them he's good. You think people will believe what someone they don't like says?  

[ Parent ]
You misread my point here (2.00 / 2)
Obama has already persuaded far and away enough people that he's good.  The minority is loud and ugly.  But there are plenty of centrists/moderates/independents that believe he's an impressive, decent, intelligent guy.  They are just impatient with his results and antsy for a change.  He doesn't need to persuade them that he cares more about the middle class, about ordinary Americans than Romney.  He wins those polls handily.  He needs to persuade him that his policies are more advantageous and that he has strategies to push them forward despite the toxic political climate.

I also think this is an awfully tall order.  I can't imagine many or perhaps any who could do it.  But that is what is necessary and that is what my agreement with Chris was trying to convey.

The future is unwritten

[ Parent ]
Yep. (2.00 / 2)
'Zone makes quite a cogent argument far below that kind of says just that. It may be that a combination of my emergent grumpiness and Zone's persistent darkness hints at the complex truth.

I like Obama. A lot. Brilliant guy, certainly saved our collective bacon in these the Most Likely Fail Years this country has seen in my life.

But his election was very much a reaction to Bush more than a mandate for Barack. His race did play a large part in the tenor of the election, in fractal ways more nuanced than the glib for or against statements from either side. Those two combined to make the Professional Left giddier than they had any right to be, or than I for one would ever want them to be.

I have always been happy to see the color barrier broken in the White House, but as I said in 2008 it is unfortunate that Obama had to be the one to break it. I'm glad we took a change from the Bush foreign policy, but it is too bad that Obama had to throw himself on that grenade, too.

He is too good a president to be wasted on the hyperbole he has been thrown into. He never was the Progressive's Progressive that those who feel he "has not gone far enough" believed. In different circumstances fewer would have thought he was.

I hope very much that he is re-elected, if for no other reason than perhaps to let him just be the president he is and not the hood-ornament for Santa Cruz County hopes.

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

[ Parent ]
Ah (2.00 / 2)
But his election was very much a reaction to Bush more than a mandate for Barack.

Barack Obama couldn't win an election if Bush's approval rating was 45%. Hell, he probably couldn't win if McCain had picked Lieberman.

53%-46% in a heavily Democratic year with a GOP incumbent whose approval rating was 30% is not really that impressive.

[ Parent ]
I would like to disagree with that, so I will. (2.00 / 2)
But I don't know that I am right.

I think circumstances muddied the issue of his electability. Without the First Black President issue, without the Almost Great Depression, without the extreme feelings involved in the Iraq debacle, it could have been about who he is.

But we can never know that, because that isn't what happened.

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

[ Parent ]
It's also why (1.00 / 2)
I don't think this country will ever elect a black president. We didn't elect one in 2008, we elected a Democrat. The GOP attempts to attack on race (palling around with terrorist, Jeremiah Wright) fell flat because of the large economic issue, unpopularity of the GOP incumbent, Iraq war, etc. The overwhelmingly forces were in Obama's favor, and yet race still probably killed a few points off his win, and allowed McCain to overperform what a GOP candidate should have that year.

That said, this year is different. The forces are not in Obama's favor, and Romney is injecting race into the campaign (welfare ads) and by some accounts, it's working.  

[ Parent ]
Jesus (1.33 / 3)
You're a gloomy fucker.  I forget: are you the resident concern troll?

Did you spread gloom on peopleforchange too?  I seem to remember a concern troll there named ozone.

Howard Dean is my guy. (in a strictly nonsexual fashion)

[ Parent ]
You get a fierce (2.00 / 2)
for
You're a gloomy fucker
I'm a fan of plain speaking. However, I would be a bit more diplomatic about
are you the resident concern troll?
and would maybe use concern gnome instead.

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!
[ Parent ]
What do you mean? (1.00 / 1)
What is your meaning when you say "plain"?

Despite your chiding me about diplomacy, when I read your posts, my interpretation is that of pure whinging bullshit.

I know this is a kind and gentle community, but...seriously?  I can't believe your constant carping hasn't been pointed out once or twice before.

Howard Dean is my guy. (in a strictly nonsexual fashion)

[ Parent ]
Ah... (2.00 / 2)
You've swapped interlocutors.  Did you notice?
[ Parent ]
Whoops. (2.00 / 2)
Eh.

Howard Dean is my guy. (in a strictly nonsexual fashion)
[ Parent ]
Nah, we pretty well eliminated that possibility years ago. (2.00 / 4)
I think DTO is something of an honest voice of liberal cynicism. We disagree most of the time, but I don't really believe in concern trolls with that kind of staying power.

While I fundamentally disagree with the "American is racist" thread Zone sews with (and the "America is a spoiled brat"... threads), there is more than a taste of what I criticize American political discourse in what he says (on both sides, the left not least of which).

There is just enough truth in it to make it a lasting part of political rhetoric. Americans really are not as interested in the Things We Should Care About according to our Betters. Democrats Rumsfeld, who snidely posts here and at GOS about How Much Better Europe is than the US is the poster child for the left, the Tea Party morons with their exhortations that we should be more like the America That Never Was (except in their overheated imaginings) pin down the Right.

But - like, I believe, most Americans - that disdain for what others tell us we should care about is the best part of America.

America doesn't care as fervently as some would prefer about race relations, but we care less about race at all than most nations.

America doesn't care as fervently as some would prefer about preserving our heritage, but we have a lot of it woven into our weave.

No, Zone isn't a troll imho. He's just a liberal.

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

[ Parent ]
He doesn't though (2.00 / 4)
and that he has strategies to push them forward despite the toxic political climate.

Here's the problem, he doesn't, no one does. His strategy is "give me a Democratic Congress" which no one believe will happen.

I think pretty much everyone believes they're voting between someone who is powerless and someone who is dangerous. That's the issue.  

[ Parent ]
Well Said (2.00 / 4)
But sometimes a defensive move is prudent; time is on our side:


To squeak out a majority, Mitt Romney probably needs to win at least 61 percent of the white vote - a figure exceeding what George H.W. Bush commanded over Michael Dukakis in 1988. The Republican strategist told Brownstein, "This is the last time anyone will try to do this" - "this" being a near total reliance on white votes to win a presidential election.

Jonathan Chait - Team Romney White-Vote Push: 'This Is the Last Time Anyone Will Try to Do This' New York 27 Aug 12

Romney's strategy in a nutshell; give it one last shot no matter what strategic ruin it makes of the Party.  This is the short horizon of a turnaround artist at work on a national scale.

[ Parent ]
Tracking Back... (2.00 / 5)
To an earlier Chait piece from February:


If they can claw out a presidential win and hold on to Congress, they will have a glorious two-year window to restore the America they knew and loved, to lock in transformational change, or at least to wrench the status quo so far rightward that it will take Democrats a generation to wrench it back. The cost of any foregone legislative compromises on health care or the deficit would be trivial compared to the enormous gains available to a party in control of all three federal branches.

On the other hand, if they lose their bid to unseat Obama, they will have mortgaged their future for nothing at all. And over the last several months, it has appeared increasingly likely that the party's great all-or-nothing bet may land, ultimately, on nothing. In which case, the Republicans will have turned an unfavorable outlook into a truly bleak one in a fit of panic. The deepest effect of Obama's election upon the Republicans' psyche has been to make them truly fear, for the first time since before Ronald Reagan, that the future is against them.

Jonathan Chait - 2012 or Never New York 26 Feb 12

Outside of the obvious racism and entitled self-righteousness of their ageing, white middle class supporters that "true fear" is the only credible explanation of the apparently suicidal strategy of the Republican Party since Obama's nomination.  It also casts the Ryan pick as almost inevitable, as Virgin has presciently noted.  It is pretty hard to explain this whole cycle otherwise without assuming that the Republican leadership are a bunch of morons, which while tempting is difficult to defend.

[ Parent ]
Electoral College to Romney Campaign: Never Go Full Caucasian (2.00 / 6)
The way I read the "This is the last time anyone will try to do this" quote was that the result will fail so monumentally that it will be a case study of what not to do.

Your observation that:

This is the short horizon of a turnaround artist at work on a national scale.
is dead on. Their original strategy is failing and they need to expand the field into the industrial midwest. But in appealing to working class whites via stonecold racist messaging, I think they will repulse an equal or greater number of white voters.

I will disagree about their "apparently suicidal strategy". It was a high risk/high reward gambit that appears to be failing because we did not experience a double-dip economy and Pres. Obama's overall competence. I am at a loss to come up with any other viable strategy they might have had in order to gain a ruling majority.

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!

[ Parent ]
Fair Comment (2.00 / 5)
I was thinking of the Ryan budget passage in the House as a public blueprint for Norquist's "strangulation in the bath" entitlement reform policy.  It was a stunning peek behind the curtain; I realise that the average constituent doesn't believe the implications of that legislation even when it is explained to them but almost the entire Republican congressional delegation voted for it; like so many Mafioso all shooting into the same victim's corpse in distrustful solidarity.

And as Chait points out in some detail the stonewalling and brinkmanship in Congress really set the tone for the primary and enabled the aspirations of some of the candidates whom pulled Romney way to the Right before he could claim the nomination.  That wasn't accidental although I'm not sure they correctly foresaw the full range of consequences.

But I agree, high risk/high reward; just like equity deal-making.  God help us if Romney gains the presidency, unlike many others I believe he's very decisive when he finally gets his eager hands on the levers of power.  Unfortunately I also assume he thinks he can run the country with a spreadsheet and not have to bear the consequences.

I can think of a whole range of viable alternative strategies but they narrowed considerably after Fox conjured the Tea Party genie out of the bottle.  We all may come to regret that example of inspirational demagoguery; Roger Aisles' tainted gift to Republicans.

[ Parent ]
For the record (2.00 / 1)
the most liked post on my Facebook wall right now from a black Democrat friend of mine who was an Obama freak in 2008.

Blah Blah Blah... Unfortunately we're gonna hear the same political BS next week. This is why I cant do politics. Both parties need to go.

Somewhere, there are 56 people who believe that in one social circle alone. So make from that what you will.

No, he isn't voting in November, I asked him. Obama sold out to liberals and Romney is crazy.  

[ Parent ]
Your friend (1.75 / 4)
Is a moron.

Howard Dean is my guy. (in a strictly nonsexual fashion)
[ Parent ]
Yeah well, that doesn't really help (2.00 / 2)

[ Parent ]
Oh... (2.00 / 2)
My balls.  Then they have no-one to blame but themselves for the outcomes.  Honestly.  It's one thing to be jaded and frustrated but when you throw in the towel you're done.
[ Parent ]
I'm aware (2.00 / 3)
but there's nothing you can do if that's their belief. The thing is, there's an anti-political, anti-intellectual culture permeating through the country now. It's eerily like the Weimar Republic.

I've had a few conversations like this. They keep asking for compromises and whenever I try to tell them that's what we've had, they keep dismissing me as an Obamaphile or whatever. They just don't want to hear it.

[ Parent ]
Well... (2.00 / 2)
Funny you should mention the Weimar Republic; I just watched Ryan's convention oratory and for Orwellian distortions it also harkens back to that historical frame.  Maybe Republicans are on to something.  At least the trains will run on time.  And the Third Reich did wonders for full employment; worldwide.
[ Parent ]
I'm pretty sure (2.00 / 3)
America will be just fine with putting Hispanics and Muslims in containment centers so long as the NFL, Dancing With The Stars and Keeping Up With The Kardashians aren't preempted.  
[ Parent ]
Lots of Americans similar to DTO's friend. (2.00 / 5)
The information age has brought the ugliness and somwhat corrupt nature of todays politics to full view.To a lot of Americans it seems to be a fixed game,so the cling to their video games, social networking and partying. The right counts on this.
[ Parent ]
If the Obama campaign can successfully highlight Ryan's role as a leader (2.00 / 4)
Rof the GOP House, he gets out of the trap of being pegged for blaming others (even if they deserve it) and avoiding responsibility.  A poll out today reveals that 60% of people agree with the statement that this is the worst congress in history, and this includes 51% of Republicans!  

It's a choice: do you want the pres. who has been fighting for national financial stability and middle class growth against a demonstrably obstructionist GOP caucus that has consistently put party before country, or do you want the candidate who selected a leader of the congress that 60% of Americans consider the worst in history as his vp candidate and point man on budgetary issues?

The future is unwritten

The Congressional Rs bet the farm (2.00 / 5)
that they could make Obama own a flat/bad economy via their obstructionism. It appears they are losing that bet based on the poll you cite above and the state of the '12 economy.

The Commerce Dept. July retail sales came in way above estimates at 0.8%.


Retail sales in the U.S. rose more than forecast in July, reflecting broad-based gains that ease concern elevated unemployment will cause consumers to retrench.

The 0.8 percent advance, the biggest since February and first gain in four months, followed a 0.7 percent decrease in June, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. Economists projected a 0.3 percent rise, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey. Purchases climbed in all 13 categories, the first time that's happened since 2005.

This is consistent with "the economy is stronger" than the recent employment numbers I note in the diary portion.

If, as is increasingly likely, we get 2 out of 3 strong employment reports before GE day, the odds of a Dem takeover of the House increase proportionately. While this would mean failure for the Republicans post '08 strategy, I'm not sure they had any better (for them) alternatives.

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!

[ Parent ]
It may come down to who's listening and who's believing. (2.00 / 5)
Romney/Ryan consistenly say that the stimulus didn't work. They are counting on low info voters who are not aware of 22 straight months of job growth, Ryans use of stimulus funds in his district, or the over reliance on tax breaks in the bill. I think they tend to accept what ever argument takes the least amount of thought on their part. (I also think this dynamic explains why the GOP is even relevant today.)

 On a brighter note, a NYT piece today indicates that the "swing voter" is smaller in number than actually thought. Many proclaimed "independents" vote consistenly with one party, the just don't want the partisan label. I think that would give the edge to a well liked incumbent.

 On a darker note, GOP state governments have worked very hard to roll back early voting and inact voter id laws that are meant to inhibit turnout. That makes me a little apprehensive.

 The fact that one political party trys to restrict voter turnout speaks volumes about are current state of affairs.

 

Greg Sargent on independents/undecideds in CO (2.00 / 6)
Overall, most voters I spoke to, even those who lean Republican, have absorbed a long view of the Obama presidency. They think he was dealt an extraordinarily tough hand and that he's probably done the best he could under the circumstances. They reject the idea that Obama's response to those circumstances was a failure - as Romney has charged - only professing disappointment in him for falling short of their expectations, which they have since calibrated.

...

Jeff is fully aware of Romney's arguments - his pledge to get the economy going through tax cuts and deregulation - but doesn't buy them yet. "It's been tried before, and failed," he said. "There's no fresh approach from Romney that I see." It's because Jeff doesn't believe that Romney could do better on the economy that Obama's one term of experience remains a reason to vote for him again - it's "on the job training" that Romney lacks. But Jeff thinks things have stagnated and he could vote for Romney: "I can be swayed either way."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

If it comes down to who is more persuasive by comparison, it's Obama by half a football field.  

The future is unwritten

[ Parent ]
I agree with both of you. (2.00 / 4)
My default position is Democrat, you all know that.

But voting pure party line is in my view about the same as not having an opinion at all. Why even bother doing anything other than showing up on election day and checking boxes if there is no question about your vote? The vilification-of-others aspect of party membership is also repugnant in the extreme, frankly moreso when I hear it coming from folks who generally argue my own positions. Lastly, buying fully into a party drives those susceptible to extremism even further in the direction they were already heading.

My recent rants against the Left are not the opinions of opposition but the criticism of a colleague. It may be that I have mapped the disgust at the attitudes of my peers into a bit of gloom about November that is otherwise unfounded. With a little more rest and a slow lowering of dislocation-related stresses I find I can again agree with the opinions above as well as my own previous forecasts that Obama is going to win.

I will continue to suggest that those more firmly in and of the Left watch President Obama for guidance, though. It will be some time (if ever) before I climb down very far from my recent and still present active disgust at the smug self satisfaction of quite a few lefthanded individuals and groups. Despite the opinions of his more dogmatic conservative opponents, Barack Obama continues to demonstrate what to me is the ideal balance of liberal ideals and pragmatic realism.

Obama is going to win this year not because of the hysterics of True Progressives (whom I have been de-friending on Facebook, for example, as they ramp up their pre-election vitriol at All Others). He is going to win not because of the smug cynicism of so many liberal Boomers on my current shit list (my Californian ex-neighbor and the guy who donated a last name to me among them). He is going to win re-election because the ideals of liberal democracy which he exemplifies do in fact work in a real world that is not driven by sneering defeatism or pompous nihilism. He is going to win not because mankind is pathetic but because it is exceptional, not because liberalism restrains our base and selfish nature but because it enables our intrinsic nobility.

Obama is going to win not because of the "Democratic Base", but despite it.

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

[ Parent ]
Epic Onion (2.00 / 3)
Ryan Begins Attacking Romney's Record As Massachusetts Governor

here

"Mitt Romney doesn't want you to know the disturbing truth about his record as governor," Ryan said at the Iowa State Fair yesterday, immediately displaying the sort of passionate conservatism that led to his selection by the Romney campaign. "But the facts are clear. Gov. Romney embraced the legalization of same-sex marriage, he imposed anti-business carbon-emission limits, and he championed efforts to limit Second Amendment rights. This isn't the record of strong family values and small government ideals that our country needs to get back on the road to prosperity-this is a record of ruin."

hehehe

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

This may be easier than I thought. (2.00 / 3)
He has never held a job, is opposed to everything his running-mate has ever done and disagrees with his church leadership, his ideological hero and himself.

What does that leave?

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

At The "Atlas Society" February 2, 2005 (2.00 / 4)
The Atlas Society:

"I grew up on Ayn Rand, that's what I tell people. I, uh, Everyone does their soul-searching and tries to find out who they are and what they believe and learn about yourself. I grew up readfing Ayn Rand and uit taught me quite a bit about who I am and what my value systems are, what my beliefs are.

"It's inspired me so much that it is required reading in my office for all my interns and my staff. We start with Atlas Shrugged, people tell me I need to start with Fountainhead and then go to Atlas Shrugged, there's a big debate about that but we go to Fountainhead..."

um

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon

[ Parent ]
I know I've been an absent lover.... (2.00 / 6)
...but I love you guys, really I do! I've recently reconfigured my home tabs to where MM will be right in my face every time I start IE, so maybe I'll be lured in more often, like I was by virg's alt tag of "greedy fuckers." Can't get more real than that!

Cheers,

~~Cheryl

I love my country, but I think we should start seeing other people.

It's a sweet and subtle romance. :~) (2.00 / 4)
Good to see you, Lucky!

"Conway, whom experience had taught that rudeness was by no means a guarantee of good faith, was even less inclined to regard a well-turned phrase as a proof of insincerity."  James Hilton, Lost Horizon
[ Parent ]
ot (2.00 / 4)
happy b-day to joe strummer.  woulda been 60 today.

Earth is the best vacation place for advanced clowns. --Gary Busey
 
'tryna drum up business' (2.00 / 3)


Earth is the best vacation place for advanced clowns. --Gary Busey
 
[ Parent ]
oh and hey, (2.00 / 3)
how about a nice slow clap for the Rapepublican Party.

Earth is the best vacation place for advanced clowns. --Gary Busey
 
Honestly... (2.00 / 3)
I thought they wouldn't completely self destruct until after Obama was re-elected.
[ Parent ]
Looks like the complete implosion... (2.00 / 2)
may culminate with Hurricane Isaac's keynote address at the convention in Tampa. Something tells me this one won't be the result of Rifle Jesus' wrath, but Obama's secret machine that controls the weather.  #OBAMASFAULT

Earth is the best vacation place for advanced clowns. --Gary Busey
 
[ Parent ]
p.s. I'd give just about anything... (2.00 / 3)
to be at the GOP convention (assuming Isaac steers clear), pointing to the 2.5 million dollar, Frank Lloyd Wright inspired, tax-payer funded stage with a sign that reads:

YOU DIDN'T BUILD THAT.


Earth is the best vacation place for advanced clowns. --Gary Busey
 
[ Parent ]
Barbara Bush will stop by (2.00 / 3)
the RNC Convention after Hurricane Isaac makes a direct hit on Tampa. After observing the delegates holed up in the Center consuming FEMA supplied bottled water and MREs, remark to the press:

Almost everyone I've talked to says, 'We're going to move to Tampa.' What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Florida. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality.

And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were overprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them.



There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!
[ Parent ]
Virgil Goode doin' goode in Ole Virginny (2.00 / 6)
Per my diary prediction that Goode/Johnson/3rd Party will get 4% of the 2012 vote.

PPP has an 8/21/12 Virginia poll:
Barack Obama     50%
Mitt Romney      45%
Undecided         5%

But when Virgil Goode (who is close to qualifying as the Constitution Party candidate) is added to the mix:

Barack Obama     50%
Mitt Romney      42%
Virgil Goode      4%
Undecided         4%

An 8 point lead at this point looks good, but wait, there's more! Four years ago at this time, also via PPP:

8/20/08 - 8/22/08 - 1036 LV  
Barack Obama     47%  
John McCain      45%

But the 2008 result was:

Barack Obama   52.7%  
John McCain    46.4%

This would extrapolate 2012 to:

Barack Obama     55.7%
Mitt Romney      40.3%
Goode/Johnson     4.0%

As has been pointed out elsewhere, Obama gets 270 EVs with Virginia, Nevada and New Mexico of the battleground states. If Goode gets on the ballot in Virginia, I predict that the Romney campaign will "go dark" there by the 3rd week in October, a concession of defeat.

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!

...and ATM, I like VG's odds of getting on ballot. (2.00 / 5)


Earth is the best vacation place for advanced clowns. --Gary Busey
 
[ Parent ]
His stump speech in Michigan the other day - (2.00 / 4)
I feel like it could mean one of a few things - either Romney legitimately feels like he can get Obama to waste resources there, or he's getting concerned that he needs to adopt a Midwestern strategy to offset likely losses elsewhere.  Or, maybe it doesn't mean anything. I'm hoping it's the second scenario.
[ Parent ]
Your second scenario seems most likely (2.00 / 4)
AP had the following:

With a huge cash advantage, Romney is considering trying to put more states in play - and creating more state-by-state paths to reach 270.
...
Romney also is eyeing a deeper investment in Michigan, where he campaigned Friday, and Pennsylvania, where Ryan was last week. Obama carried both states in 2008, but the GOP sees promise in the economically struggling northern industrial states, especially among working-class, white voters.

This smacks of desperation. They aren't seeing enough movement in the usual suspect states, Virginia, Ohio, Florida, and are throwing a Hail Mary. Watch where the Pres and Biden spend their time in the next few weeks to see if the Obama campaign is worried about these new states.

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!

[ Parent ]
This is still really close. (2.00 / 3)
   National polls of registered voters show a dead heat. The polling on McCain/Obama proably would not of shifted so much without the finacial meltdown. The hurricane might take the wind out of the GOP convention, but it also might take the focus off the extreme edges of their platform. It also might give the Obama chance to look bad on a disaster. Might remind people of BP as much as Katrina.
    This might still go to the wire.
Nate Silver seperates the signal from the noise (2.00 / 3)
You have a whole lot of ifs in your projection. This election is likely more set in concrete (Incumbent comfortably reelected) due to the few true undecideds or persuadeables. And the Obama campaign has the decisive GOTV edge with their superior field operation.

But let's see what Nate writes as of yesterday:

The FiveThirtyEight forecast for Sunday gives Barack Obama a 69.4 percent chance of winning the Electoral College on Nov. 6. That's essentially unchanged from Saturday -
...
Mr. Romney was given a 28.0 percent chance of winning the Electoral College on Aug. 10, the day before he officially announced Mr. Ryan as his pick. The forecast then moved somewhat toward Mr. Romney after a series of improved polling in swing states for the newly minted Republican ticket, achieving a peak of 33.3 percent on Wednesday. It has since receded slightly to 30.6 percent, however, as Mr. Obama held leads in a number of swing state polls late last week.

My touchstone is that Barack Obama defeated the Clinton machine in 2008 and now is taking on a Republican second-stringer (2008 actual pledged R delegates - 10%). The post-game analysis will be that the Mittster was the weakest Republican nominee in 70 years.

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!

[ Parent ]
More Nate goodness from GOS (2.00 / 3)
I so stole this from The Electoral College Arithmetic explains the desperation:
8/27 Nate Silver chances of Obama wins in:
CO 63%
MI 90%
Nevada 76%
OH 68%
What is significant about these is that this is all Obama needs to get to 270 - i.e. win the election.

What about the other tossup states?
Florida (Obama chance of winning 49%),
Iowa (Obama chance of winning 65%),  
Missouri (Obama chance of winning 12%),
New Hampshire (Obama chance of winning 75%),
North Carolina (Obama chance of winning 30%),
Virginia (Obama chance of winning 64%),
Wisconsin (Obama chance of winning 72%).



There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!
[ Parent ]
More Nate goodness from GOS (2.00 / 1)
I so stole this from The Electoral College Arithmetic explains the desperation:
8/27 Nate Silver chances of Obama wins in:
CO 63%
MI 90%
Nevada 76%
OH 68%
What is significant about these is that this is all Obama needs to get to 270 - i.e. win the election.

What about the other tossup states?
Florida (Obama chance of winning 49%),
Iowa (Obama chance of winning 65%),  
Missouri (Obama chance of winning 12%),
New Hampshire (Obama chance of winning 75%),
North Carolina (Obama chance of winning 30%),
Virginia (Obama chance of winning 64%),
Wisconsin (Obama chance of winning 72%).



There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!
[ Parent ]
I hear you. (2.00 / 3)
  I know Silver's very good. I'm sure he's somehow factored in how less early voting will lower turnout in some urban area's. I'm really not a defeatist, but somtimes living in a country that elects Jan Brewers and Rand Pauls makes me cautious. Hell a ticket with Sarah "I can see Russia" Palin got 48%(46?) of the vote. And can you seriously picture hiring George W for any type of real job, we elected him twice. The unemployment rate is high, growth is low and a bunch of old white billionaires think they get to decide who wins.

 Like I said, Silver's a smart guy, Romney's still an ass and we elected W twice.

I'm with creamer (2.00 / 3)
I think Obama can and should win this.  But that doesn't mean that he will.  Right now, there's around a 30% chance that Romney and Boehner (and some chance that McTurtle) will be calling the shots come January, with Roberts, Scalia, Alito, Thomas, and Kennedy umpiring.  That's 30 very uncomfortable percentage points for me.

The future is unwritten
[ Parent ]
Ultimately (2.00 / 3)
I think the reason we lose is on election day, we're not going to show up.

No one wants to vote, because no one thinks it'll mean anything. By in large, I know no one excited about this year's election, just frustrated and angry. That's a stark different from 2008. That includes both sides, but you have one side, Democrats, who I'm noticing feel like "Obama's great, but what difference does it make, he won't get to do anything anyway," and Republicans "Romney sucks, but Obama needs to lose."

Who is more likely to vote in the end?

Ultimately too, I think Romney doesn't survive one term and the damage he and the GOP Congress will do to the country in 2 years (I think they lose Congress in 2014 if he wins) will be extraordinary, and a standard bearer, probably Hillary, takes the reins in 2016.

But in the end, a good man, Obama, will I believe legitimately tried and succeeded on a variety of fronts, goes down due to circumstances not entirely his own. It's tragic.

And race couldn't be overcome. If yo ask me, the country has gotten worse under Obama, but of no fault of his. You literally have a third of the country completely unhinged, willing to stab themselves in the eye.

I know Chris will say "but we elected him in 2008 even those he was black," I stand by my assertion that 2008 was an extraordinary circumstance that could not be repeated.

And I agree with this

http://www.people.fas.harvard....

A white southern governor would have cracked 55% easily in 2008.  

[ Parent ]
There were no WSG running, we're there (2.00 / 2)
The reason I ALWAYS (since DNC 2004) supported Obama for presidents I felt deeply that he would best all comers in 2008.

I was right.  I feel to this day that any other democrat who ran for the nomination would have lost to McCain.

Howard Dean is my guy. (in a strictly nonsexual fashion)

[ Parent ]
Maybe So... (2.00 / 1)
But I also feel to this day that any other Democrat who ran for the nomination would have also lost to Obama.
[ Parent ]
Also (2.00 / 3)
perhaps to Chris' sanctification, I think an Obama loss destroys the influence of the "base"

Obama was their guy. Elizabeth Warren will likely lose, they can't explain that way, even though they're trying (she's a lousy candidate)- really guys? When people told you this last year, you jumped down their throats.

They will become an non-entity in 2014 and 2016.

[ Parent ]
wow, ann romney speech. (2.00 / 4)
she's freaking me right the fuck out.  this is terrible, right?  am i crazy?

Earth is the best vacation place for advanced clowns. --Gary Busey
 
Heh... (2.00 / 3)
Live-blogging the Republican nomination are we?  It was as vacant and platitudinous a piece of public oratory as I have heard in a long time; like she was pleading with the help to not consider the master or the house a dick in spite of all appearances.  Christie up next, this oughta' be good...
[ Parent ]
Did Christie Really Say... (2.00 / 3)
"Bipartisan leadership" in his paean to his fiscal success in New Jersey?  Oh, the irony...  His audience completely missed the point.  But his whole message is a bit apocalyptic; not sure that is a winning strategy.  Fear is a strong motivator but a lousy inspirational message.  We'll see...

Cue pundits applauding his unique statesmanship in one... two... three...  

[ Parent ]
wow (2.00 / 3)
i've had my eye on coverage since i got home from the office.  i watched ann straight through to the end of christie.  i felt like i was mega-stoned and watching a diaphoretic opera based on yo gabba gabba.  

was i?

christie, was just this:

these people are cartoons.

Earth is the best vacation place for advanced clowns. --Gary Busey
 

[ Parent ]
Word (2.00 / 3)
Chuck nails it:


But the Republican Party did something remarkable at its convention on Tuesday. It set out on an experiment to see exactly how much unmitigated hogwash the American political system can contain on a single evening. The Republican Party has set out at its 2012 convention in search of the Event Horizon of utter bullshit. It has sought to see precisely how many lies, evasions, elisions, and undigestible chunks of utter gobbledegook the political media can swallow before it finally gags twice and falls over dead, leaving the rest of America suckers all the same.

Charles P Pierce - On RNC Opening Night, Republicans Dare to Build a Lie Esquire 28 Aug 12

Sigh.

[ Parent ]
LOL (2.00 / 4)
Charles Pierce makes a depressing two hours suddenly worthwhile:


Did Ted Cruz really quote Martin King in this hall? Did Artur Davis, the newly minted Republican turncoat from Alabama, just cite Jack Kennedy, Bill Clinton, and Lyndon Fking Johnson as examples of "leaders" who "reached across the aisle"? Lyndon reached across the aisle? Yeah, he did, and he grabbed their peckers and put them in his pocket, and he didn't give them back until the skinflint bastards coughed up Medicare. Jesus, this was pathetic.

Charles P Pierce - On RNC Opening Night, Republicans Dare to Build a Lie Esquire 28 Aug 12

I laughed at that until I cried real tears.

[ Parent ]
'What Pierce said' has replaced 'What Digby said' (2.00 / 3)
Thank FSM

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!
[ Parent ]
I missed her speech (2.00 / 4)
I was watching the Mariners game (yay!) and Yo Gabba Gabba (yay Muno!) with the 2 year old. What was it about her speech that freaked you out? Charles Pierce writes that she was a liability in RMoneys Senate run against Teddy. I'm not seeing that she has improved since.

(Quick anecdote: Ted and his wife spent Xmas '03 at a rental house 2 lots from us in the Virgin Islands. Very low key, no big parties. My son-in-law almost ran him over whilst Teddy was walking the dog.)

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!

[ Parent ]
OK, I read a transcript of her speech (2.00 / 4)
What stood out was that she said mom/mother/grandmother 8 times and Mormon only once. Over at GOS, many people are pissed that she dissed women who have chosen/cannot have children. Big demographic. It's like they can't help themselves that they offend more people than they pander to every time they open their mouths.

This not not an exception. They will pile gaffe on top of slander for the next 2 months.

Obama 347 EV, RMoney 191.
And that may be pessimistic. I think Arizona, Montana and S. Dakota could be in play if the RMoney campaign collapses, which I give a 40% chance at this time.

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!

[ Parent ]
347 works for me. (2.00 / 2)
fwiw, tonight was the first time my wife has ever heard more than a sound byte from ann romney, and she found her completely repellent.  'phony'.  'plastic'. like a bad real estate agent liar.  i think ann romney ultimately reduced her own standing, and did nothing to make mitt seem more human, more relatable.

Earth is the best vacation place for advanced clowns. --Gary Busey
 
[ Parent ]
Bad real estate agent liar (2.00 / 4)
is an image that will resonate with Florida, Nevada and Arizona voters in particular. Thanks for the anecdotal data.

I relate her as a corporate wife/executive edition in contrast to a politicians SO. My late wife was a corporate wife in her previous marriage and told me many tales of international politicians and generals. But the difference was that she came from the slums of Glasgow Scotland and had more character and empathy in her small finger than Mitt and Ann have combined.

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!

[ Parent ]
oh man (2.00 / 4)
you gotta see it delivered.  it's very strange.  giggling at weird moments, awkward transitions and all theses goofy talking points shoe-horned in.

i gotta say, i thought santorum's speech was the best of the night, and he sounded like he was trying to start a palm-olive cult.  

this isn't a national party anymore.

Earth is the best vacation place for advanced clowns. --Gary Busey
 

[ Parent ]
OK, I'll catch the video tomorrow (2.00 / 4)
I'll watch it in full first and then view it with the sound muted. I'm deaf in my right ear and am a student of body language. And I gotta tell you that Mitts body language is one of the worst I have seen in a politician evah!

But what's weird is that her speech was written, rehearsed, and vetted by professionals, and yet still sucked! These guys around RMoney are only in it solely for the money. Their hearts and, for lack of a better term, souls are not in it.

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!

[ Parent ]
bingo (2.00 / 1)
...student of body language. And I gotta tell you that Mitts body language is one of the worst I have seen in a politician

mos def. he's very off-putting, but i'm not sure how to describe it. if mitt romney were my middle-class neighbor, and a democrat, i still feel like i'd have an aversion to him.

so maybe you can help me with the body language. what's with that head-tilt he does, you know which I mean? the one with the odd half-smile.  is that smugness? patronizing?

man, his facial expressions and body language during el nino's speech were priceless. he was pained, brooding, bitter looking.  so strange.  even when he came out to greet ann after her speech, it looked fake, forced, badly choreographed.

Earth is the best vacation place for advanced clowns. --Gary Busey
 

[ Parent ]
I'm not watching any of this circus (2.00 / 4)
Maybe some of Romney's speech, but life's stressful enough, I don't need to yell at the TV after coming home.  I salute the brave souls who can stand it.
[ Parent ]
Heh (2.00 / 5)
It ain't all that bad; my summary?  They look way dispirited.  Watching Willard scowl his way through Christie's dyspeptic self-promotion was worth the price of admission alone.  I watch to take the bastards' pulse and it seems faint and erratic.

The only people showing any enthusiasm were the Paul supporters unceremoniously ejected earlier in the day.  The Red State folks are fulminating darkly about that in MyDD style.

[ Parent ]
Huh? (2.00 / 3)
Planted amidst the twisted logic necessitated by avoiding naming Romney's faith in public Huckabee just noted, "...of all the four candidates running for presidential office only one of them is a self-described Evangelical,  Barack Obama."

One wonders throughout these lacklustre oratorical efforts to burnish Romney's candidacy whether there is a subconscious will to sabotage his chances.  Just sayin'.

So... (2.00 / 2)
Condaleeza Rice is an abolitionist?  Fair enough but she's in the wrong party.
[ Parent ]
OK (2.00 / 3)
That loathsome, little brown-noser from Wisconsin is now officially the most blatant and shameless public liar I have ever had the misfortune to listen to in politics.  I must admit I am slack-jawed in amazement at the clangers he has piled high; he's actually blaming Obama for the credit downgrade, implied that "Obama's" TARP was wasted on cronyist payoffs and referred to the hospital and provider approved Medicare reductions as a "raid" on senior citizens "assets."  In fact, not a few of the things he lays at Obama's feet he not only voted for but worked assiduously to fabricate out of thin air.  He has reversed roles on who is "protecting" and who is "destroying"  Medicare.  My God, Orwell was right.  

Ryan is a completely cynical manipulator, a truly evil little wretch.  If Americans buy this they have invited only endless mendacity and persiflage while they're fleeced into borderline poverty.  Wake up folks.

[ Parent ]
"Our Rights..." (2.00 / 3)
"Come from nature and God and not from government."

Crikey, these people want to remake the country into a white supremacist, fascist theocracy.

[ Parent ]
As Molly Ivins... (2.00 / 3)
Once said Ryan's speech "probably sounded better in the original German."
[ Parent ]
Given Ryans preferred economic school (2.00 / 2)
I think the German had an Austrian accent.

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!
[ Parent ]
Hmmm... (2.00 / 2)
Not going there.  We wasn't that good.  I was thinking of the club-footed little Catholic with a PhD in philosophy.
[ Parent ]
I wasn't going Godwin (2.00 / 2)
I was referring to the Austrian School (eg Hayek). My bad.

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!
[ Parent ]
I Know (2.00 / 2)
I was.
[ Parent ]
LOL! (2.00 / 3)
But good point none the less. The Prime Question of this campaign is whether the press is going to passively accommodate this whole new level of blatant lying or call them on crossing the line. I am seeing signs that the Romney campaign will not get a free pass. Just now on MSNBC, David Gregory, yes Dancin' Dave!, cited the hypocrisy of Ryans rhetoric and his votes during the Bush Administration.

Small steps, small steps.  

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!

[ Parent ]
Ah... (2.00 / 2)
Whereas Wolf Blitzer, well...

Blitzer: So there he is, the Republican vice presidential nominee and his beautiful family there. His mom is up there. This is exactly what this crowd of republicans here certainly republicans all across the country were hoping for. He delivered a powerful speech. Erin, a powerful speech. Although I marked at least seven or eight points I'm sure the fact checkers will have some opportunities to dispute if they want to go forward, I'm sure they will. As far as Mitt Romney's campaign is concerned, Paul Ryan on this night delivered.

Josh Marshall - Great Moments in CNN Euphemisms TPM 29 Aug 12

Yes, but what did he deliver?  A new low in American political oratory it seems to me.  Wolf would report the end of the world with a brief, uplifting biographical note on the cutest person in the story.  

[ Parent ]
Well, yeah ... (2.00 / 2)
Wolf, right? Say no more.

Another 2013 prediction. "Due to chronic plummeting ratings, CNN reassigns Wolf Blitzer to the Amazing Animal Stories beat. No replacement was named, nor is one expected."

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!

[ Parent ]
Yeah... (2.00 / 3)
We'll see.  Frankly, even though I am on the other side of the world, I wonder.  I think we have descended into the "bread and circuses" stage of our imperial history if CNN's commentary is any indication:


Paul Ryan gave a feisty anti-Obama speech that will have fact-checkers working for days. His most brazen lie accused President Obama of "raiding" Medicare by taking the exact same $716 billion that Ryan and the House GOP notoriously voted to slash. It was stunning.

Joan Walsh - Paul Ryan's brazen lies Salon 29 Aug 12

Yes it was but I truly wonder if the average American is willing to give any of this more than fleeting attention.  Let's hope they aren't as gullible as Republicans think they are.    

[ Parent ]
"Subconcious sabotage?" Ya think? (2.00 / 3)
Spot the difference:
Huckabee '16
Christie '16
Jeb!     '16
Loser Ryan '16

vs
Huckabee '20
Christie '20
Jeb!     '20
VP Ryan  '20

Hidden agendas? I report, you decide.

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!

[ Parent ]
Exactly (2.00 / 3)
Though I must admit I'm still recovering from Ryan's speech; it made my skin crawl.
[ Parent ]
Heh (2.00 / 3)
On Ryan's speech:


Well, the fact-checkers all hung themselves about ten minutes ago, so I hope he doesn't go on much longer. - @HunterDK via TweetDeck


[ Parent ]
As Flakey Foont was wont to ask: (2.00 / 3)
"What's it all mean, Mr. Natural?"

The Cosmic Joke is this (from GOS):

One last thing: I'm in Columbus, Ohio. None of the local news stations are leading with the GOP convention. On the CBS affiliate, it wasn't even the second story.

Additionally, it's a theatrical truism that the opening act does not upstage the main act. (See Hendrix, Jimi vs The Monkees) Mitts acceptance speech will be compared very unfavorably to Ryans. And it will be noted that RMoneys crowds (post convention) are significantly smaller and less enthusiastic than Little Ayn's.

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!

[ Parent ]
Ha! (2.00 / 3)
Shades of Palin/McCain!

If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done subjunctively.
[ Parent ]
Yup! (2.00 / 3)
Remember when a speechwriter got big time credit for an RMoney speech and they fired his ass for showing up the Mittster? I think we have Palin/McCain redux and this is not going to end well (for them, not us).

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!
[ Parent ]
OMG! Chatsworth Osborne Jr. has passed! (2.00 / 3)
From the NYT:
Steve Franken, a character actor specializing in comedy who appeared in films with Peter Sellers, Jerry Lewis and others, but was best known for playing the wealthy and snobbish Chatsworth Osborne Jr. on the hit sitcom "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis," died on Friday in Los Angeles. He was 80.

Maynard G. Krebs (aka Bob Denver) as a beatnik was my gateway drug to hippiedom. I learned beatnik slang and wore sleeveless cutoff sweatshirts because of Maynard. Or as Wikipedia states:

The Krebs character, portrayed by actor Bob Denver, begins as a stereotypical beatnik, with a goatee, "hip" (slang) language, and a generally unkempt, bohemian appearance.
...
Maynard may be described as the prototype of the late-1960s hippie.

I also read somewhere that the first natural foods outlet in America was in Santa Monica and was frequented by the cast of Gilligans Island. Coincidence, I think not! Bob Denver is the new Kevin Bacon.

There was only one joker in L.A. sensitive enough to wear that scent...and I had to find out who he was!

[ Parent ]
Lindsey Graham...FTW!!! (2.00 / 5)
"We're not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...



The future is unwritten
zomg (2.00 / 6)
...anyone paying the slightest bit of attention to facts, Ryan's speech was an apparent attempt to set the world record for the greatest number of blatant lies and misrepresentations slipped into a single political speech. On this measure, while it was Romney who ran the Olympics, Ryan earned the gold.

The good news is that the Romney-Ryan campaign has likely created dozens of new jobs among the legions of additional fact checkers that media outlets are rushing to hire to sift through the mountain of cow dung that flowed from Ryan's mouth. Said fact checkers have already condemned certain arguments that Ryan still irresponsibly repeated.

{SNIP: list of most blatant examples}

Elections should be about competing based on your record in the past and your vision for the future, not competing to see who can get away with the most lies and distortions without voters noticing or bother to care. Both parties should hold themselves to that standard. Republicans should be ashamed that there was even one misrepresentation in Ryan's speech but sadly, there were many.

This from...FOX NEWS...

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion...

Earth is the best vacation place for advanced clowns. --Gary Busey
 

Shucks (2.00 / 3)
Wasn't watching the clock and flipped on CNN after Mitt's big moment; did I miss anything?
omg, eastwood. (2.00 / 4)
no words.

Earth is the best vacation place for advanced clowns. --Gary Busey
 
[ Parent ]
He was the butt of some very funny jokes though (2.00 / 5)
Not Dirty Harry - but like some old drunk Uncle Harry. The perfect image of the GOP base - an old white guy berating some imaginary Obama

Once I'm back on my computer I'll find the tweet back from the Obama campaign and the picture accompanying the text:

'Thiis seat is taken'

The p***artist formerly known as 'Brit'

[ Parent ]
Not to Mention... (2.00 / 5)
Invisible Obama:


I'm behind Mitt! No seriously. I'm right behind him. @invisibleobama

20k plus followers in like two hours.  Sheesh.

[ Parent ]
The question is... (2.00 / 4)
which was less compelling, the empty chair or the empty suit?

Don't know about the election, but in the battle of convention performances alone, if Obama succeeds in using complete sentences and avoids drooling I think he's in pretty good shape.

I almost feel sorry for Krauthammer, Podhoretz, et al.  Jennifer Rubin didn't leave her law practice to spin guano like that.

The future is unwritten

[ Parent ]
To Paraphrase... (2.00 / 5)
Some commenter it was an act of recklessness for Republicans to showcase a cranky, old, white guy having an incoherent argument with an imaginary Obama.
[ Parent ]
Heh (2.00 / 5)

And believe me. Mitt Romney knows a thing or two about firing. At least he's transparent about it. Then again, so am I.  @invisibleobama


[ Parent ]
Good stuff tonight (2.00 / 3)
I'm looking forward to days 2 and 3!
Bain/Pain 2012 - Déjà vu all over again | 157 comments
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