Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Everybody saw this coming.

This blog will pay for itself.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Radicalized white males who support Trump are pitching a tent in the abyss.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

So many bastards, so little time.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Too little, too late, ftfnyt. fuck all the way off.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / My Tardis Has Given Me A Back-to-the-Future Glimpse of the GOP Presidential Primary Debates

My Tardis Has Given Me A Back-to-the-Future Glimpse of the GOP Presidential Primary Debates

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Derived from an odd chain of web meanderings originating  from within DougJs Stevie Wonder homage below, this seems to me to be a pretty fair anticipation of what Rick Perry will do to Mitt Romney in the debates:

<div align=”center”><iframe width=”420″ height=”345″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/ErefIfZTlQ0″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

You may consider this yet more open thread.

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59Comments

  2. 2.

    Southern Beale

    I’m sure this will shock no one …

    Forget Anonymous: Evidence Suggests GOP Hacked, Stole 2004 Election
    __
    […]
    __
    “A new filing in the King Lincoln Bronzeville v. Blackwell case includes a copy of the Ohio Secretary of State election production system configuration that was in use in Ohio’s 2004 presidential election when there was a sudden and unexpected shift in votes for George W. Bush,” according to Bob Fitrakis, columnist at http://www.freepress.org and co-counsel in the litigation and investigation.
    __
    If you recall, Ohio was the battleground state that provided George Bush with the electoral votes needed to win re-election. Had Senator John Kerry won Ohio’s electoral votes, he would have been elected instead.
    __
    Evidence from the filing suggests that Republican operatives — including the private computer firms hired to manage the electronic voting data — were compromised.

  4. 4.

    Sam Houston

    @Southern Beale: Yeah I’ve been on top of this via Black Box Voting.

    I recall 2 of the 3 “private computer firms” hired to manage the electronic voting data were run by repthug associates of Ken Blackwell.

  9. 9.

    sfinny

    Yay! I have electricity! Oh TV, internet, phone, I love you. And yes it has only been two days.

    And yes, the info on the BradBlog about Ohio is truly disturbing.

  10. 10.

    Jenny

    There are “liburl” bloggers who are saying Obama’s choice for Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers is irrelevant because according to them, the post has no power, yet these very same people where decrying Austin Goolsbee’s selection only a year ago.

    Translation: minimize anything good, amplify anything bad (even when it contradicts prior positions).

  13. 13.

    Samara Morgan

    @Ron: or cote de rhone and absinthe.
    c’mon Dr. Levenson….time travel to the past is impossible.
    acuz of closed form timecurves.
    ;;hic;;

  14. 14.

    sfinny

    @Linda Featheringill: Thanks. Glad that I don’t have to spend another night sitting on my living room rug with my flashlight and book for entertainment.

    Originally we were told that we wouldn’t have power until Thursday. I actually realized that it was back on when I heard cheers from my neighbors. Having turned everything off or unplugged, my apartment was still dark. :-)

  15. 15.

    CaseyL

    @waratah: Good lord, I hope so. I hope they all do. I look forward to Bachmann, Perry, and Romney playing Can You Top This, presenting escalating visions of ignorance, stupidity, and bloody-minded insanity.

    That’s entertainment we can believe in.

  17. 17.

    jaywillie

    Read today that Mittens plans to attack Perry on Social Security and Medicare, so,yeah, the GOP primary looks like its going to become more entertaining.

    Interesting conundrum for Romney because he’d be attacking Perry from the left, which might feed into any Perry attacks on Plastic Man’s bona fides as a dyed-in-the-wool, tea sippin’, Galtian worthy of polishing Ronaldus Magnus’ rotting gonads. But he has no choice–attack or perish. And he can’t count on New Hampshire (remember–in the ’96 GOP primary, they went with Pat Buchanan, so it’s perfectly reasonable that Perry could win it, especially with today’s GOP voters).

    Of course, being the icon-of-the-moment for the Teabaggers isn’t exactly the political standard one wants to carry in a national election, especially if Pews’ numbers on the negative view of the “movement” (ie, bowel, because they’ve got shit for brains and run at the mouth) are accurate. And I don’t see how a Perry candidacy could tack to the center from “Social Security is unconstitutional” in a general.

    Right now its obviously Romney vs. Perry. And in that contest, I’d take Perry, who has the gifts of a tent revival charlatan, over Romney, who looks like he isn’t quite comfortable being human. One is much better suited to lead the cult of Randian loonies–that’s your GOP nominee.

  19. 19.

    jwb

    @Southern Beale: Whatever might have happened in 2004, the real question now is what’s being done to make sure that vote stealing can’t happen in the future. I’ve heard nothing on that front.

  21. 21.

    jwb

    @waratah: IIRC, he did debate in the Republican primary for governor. It’s Texas, so he knew there no need to debate in the general election.

  22. 22.

    sfinny

    @jwb: For my part I am going to stop procrastinating and volunteer as an election worker. One of the reasons that I switched from independent to democrat was that in NY you must be registered with a party to work as an election volunteer. We just changed machines from the old mechanical ones where you flipped levers, to optical scanners. And in NY it may not be as critical, but getting involved in the system at least gives us the ability to see the process up close.

  23. 23.

    Mornington Crescent

    The stretched twig of peace is at melting point. People here are literally bursting with war. This is very much a country that’s going to blow up in its face.

  24. 24.

    MikeBoyScout

    @21 jwb:

    the real question now is what’s being done to make sure that vote stealing can’t happen in the future.

    Sorry, there is nothing that can be done. If you want to win as badly as they do, you’ll steal more & better than they do. It ain’t bean bag and they are never going to play by Queensberry Rules.

  25. 25.

    The Dangerman

    Even if it was proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that 2004 was stolen, the Right (and Media; duh) would just say both sides do it (see 1960, Kennedy).

  26. 26.

    Violet

    @waratah:
    Perry is participating in the next debate according to this.

    The next debate is being moderated by Brian Williams of NBC. For moderates and independents, he’s pretty much the Nation’s News Anchor. CBS and ABC keep musical-chairing their news anchors and the cable networks can’t decide who’s in charge when a story breaks. NBC rules in that department. Which means that any debate Brian Williams moderates is inherently going to be seen as more reasonable because, for better or worse, he’s the dependable, most trustworthy news hair model going.

  27. 27.

    Jenny

    And the longer he holds out, the more of “why not, Governor” questions will be raised, by his opponents and therefore eventually into the MSM.

    Actually, holding out works to his benefit, because it lowers expectations. Then all Parry has to do is not trip on stage to be declared the winner.

  28. 28.

    Jenny

    The early debates are over rated.

    When you have 8 participates and only 90 minutes, each individual only gets 7 to 9 minutes of face time.

  29. 29.

    CaseyL

    @Jenny:

    Then all Parry has to do is not trip on stage to be declared the winner.

    I think there would be absolutely nothing better in the entire universe than Perry tripping out on national TV.

  30. 30.

    JGabriel

    @Jenny:

    When you have 8 participates and only 90 minutes, each individual only gets 7 to 9 minutes of face time.

    Which means they have to be extra concentrated wingnutty to command attention. Should be comedy one-upmanship at it’s finest.

    .

  31. 31.

    JGabriel

    @CaseyL:

    I think there would be absolutely nothing better in the entire universe than Perry tripping out on national TV.

    How would you tell the difference?

    Edited to Add: I mean, seriously, is there anything Perry on acid could say that would top threatening the Fed Chairman?

    .

  32. 32.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @JGabriel:

    I mean, seriously, is there anything Perry on acid could say that would top threatening the Fed Chairman?

    There is.

    He could do what Rush Limbaugh longs to do.

    Call the President of the United States the N word.

  34. 34.

    JGabriel

    @The Dangerman:

    (see 1960, Kennedy)

    God, how many times does that myth need to be debunked?

    Here’s the 1960 election. Kennedy won 303 electoral votes, out of 537.

    269 votes were needed to win. Illinois represented 27 votes.

    303 – 27 = 276.

    So even if Kennedy LOST Illinois, he still would have won the election.

    There was no nobility in Nixon’s decision not to contest Illinois, it was simple math. Even with Illinois, Nixon still would have lost.

    .

  37. 37.

    Incoherent Dennis SGMM

    It doesn’t seem to me that Republican voters determine the winners or losers in a debate the same way that we would. We judge debates as, well, debates; factual discussions of the question being debated with carefully constructed rebuttals. Republicans view them more like Monty Python’s “Argument” sketch.

  40. 40.

    Bill Murray

    @jwb: have you looked? there are whole countries that have figured this out. First, you don’t let private companies collect the votes with trade secret software. Second, you need to store and, if necessary, count the verified by the voter ballot — not just re-add up electrically stored votes. Third, you could make the precincts small enough that votes can be on paper and counted in an open and public manner. None of these will ever happen because the republicans count on fraud to win

  42. 42.

    jwb

    @Bill Murray: Well, of course, but that’s not the sort of country we live in, now, is it? My question is more mundane: what’s the status of the voting machines these days? How many of the machines remain fundamentally unauditable? Does the code remain proprietary? Have the dems done anything to improve the systematic reliability of the machines or are we just relying on the kindness of strangers?

  43. 43.

    Steve Crickmore

    @JGabriel:

    It wasn´t only Illinois, though that was the most pivotal example,”In Texas,(Landslide Lyndon’s state) where Kennedy won the 24 electoral votes by a margin of 46,000 ballots, the GOP took to the courts. But its suits were thrown out by a federal judge who claimed he had no jurisdiction.”

    Also, Kennedy won New Jersey, 16 electoral votes by just over 22,000 ballots and New Mexico, 4 electoral votes by
    just over two thousand ballots. Nixon won some close state contests, such as California 32 electoral votes, margin just under 36,000 votes as well.

  45. 45.

    Lysana

    OK, I guess I have to be the Doctor Who pedant who points out that the word is spelled TARDIS because it’s an acronym. Time And Relative Dimensions In Space.

  46. 46.

    KG

    @JGabriel: From what I’ve read, there were also irregularities in Texas and Florida as well as Illinois in 1960. And, as I recall there was also an issue with Hawaii possibly sending two sets of certified electoral votes to Washington. But it’s been a very long time since I’ve read up on it

  48. 48.

    Triassic Sands

    Sorry, but everyone in that video is much too intelligent and articulate to pass as a stand-in for either Rick “Evolution is Out There” Perry or Mitt “Who the Hell Am I Really?” Romney.

  51. 51.

    opie_jeanne

    @Amir Khalid: How nice for you (not sure how to congratulate you for completion of the fasting for Ramadan? It always strikes me as a mark of character and determination to fast during the day for that long).

    I didn’t realize that’s where you were; we ate lunch with a Malaysian friend today.

  55. 55.

    anitamurie

    @Southern Beale: I will never forget reading a comment from the guy who provides those machines. He was a huge George W. Bush supporter from Texas. He flat out stated Bush “would not lose”. I wish I remembered more but that particular statement has haunted me ever since the 2000 election scamdebacle.

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