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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Tattooed love boys

Tattooed love boys

by DougJ|  December 12, 20111:29 pm| 46 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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Steve M. thinks that, for all Roger Ailes’ supposed wisdom, Fox can’t settle down with Romney because they love the bad boys too much:

Fox and the party don’t want to cosset Romney because they still romanticize Republicans who are mad, bad, and dangerous to know. They claim they didn’t want this outcome, but as it was unfolding, it was too exciting to resist. It was too in tune with their deepest desires.

Republicans have a remarkable power to rationalize: a new Rasmussen poll shows that 49% of Republicans think that Gingrich would be the strongest general election nominee, while only 24% think Romney would be be the strongest. To put this in MoDo terms, Republicans haven’t just fallen for the tattooed motorcycle-driving smooth criminal, they’ve convinced themselves that he’ll be a better provider than that stable, mild-mannered accountant.

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Reader Interactions

46Comments

  1. 1.

    bin Lurkin'

    December 12, 2011 at 1:34 pm

    Man is not a rational animal, man is an animal that rationalizes.

  2. 2.

    Veritas

    December 12, 2011 at 1:36 pm

    Romney has staying power and a first-class organization that can withstand the latest bubble candidate.

    Let’s say Romney wins only one of the early states–Newt sweeps Iowa, South Carolina, and Florida. Well guess what? There’s a LONG wait inbetween the early states and Super Tuesday–made for a well-organized, well-financed, stable national campaign that’s in it for the delegate long-haul. Newt can’t keep this up. He’s too high-pressure–sooner or later he’ll explode.

    Slow and Steady will win the nomination.

    RealityCheck

  3. 3.

    walt

    December 12, 2011 at 1:38 pm

    Gingrich is not so much a “bad boy” as a smart-alecky priss pretending to be a bad boy. The key to understanding voters is that we need to feel ourselves validated by the candidate. Obama certainly validated liberals and George W Bush, a more authentic bad boy, validated conservatives. Gingrich does, however, stroke the Republican id much, much better than Romney, whose white-bread appeal is obvious but not quite nourishing. Gingrich virtually advertises a shit sandwich for every liberal. That’s what the right wants more than some photogenic nominee promising competence.

  4. 4.

    Ann B. Nonymous

    December 12, 2011 at 1:38 pm

    @Veritas:

    DougJ, you’re getting too obvious with this puppet. Go back to the frothing mad persona of the guy who masturbates to dead Scandinavian liberals.

  5. 5.

    lamh35

    December 12, 2011 at 1:39 pm

    I hate Newton Leroy as much as any Dem, but damn he’s delivering gut-busters at Mittens like this and even I wince for Mittens


    Gingrich Calls For Romney To Return All The Money He Made ‘Bankrupting Companies And Laying Off Employees’

    “2012 GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich has been taking a lot of heat for receiving $1.6 million from Freddie Mac, the government backed mortgage giant, and Mitt Romney has now piled on, calling on Gingrich to return the money. “He was on a debate saying that politicians who took money from Freddie and Fannie should go to jail,” Romney said.

    Gingrich was asked about the remark today during an appearance in New Hampshire. He replied, “if Governor Romney would like to give back all the money he’s earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years at Bain, then I would be glad to listen to him…”

  6. 6.

    amk

    December 12, 2011 at 1:39 pm

    awww, verity aka realitycheck aka the clueless troll must be pissed off. Even pox news doesn’t love you willard.

  7. 7.

    sukabi

    December 12, 2011 at 1:39 pm

    Republicans haven’t just fallen for the crazed sociopathic serial killer / rapist, they’ve convinced themselves that he’ll be a better provider than that stable, mild-mannered accountant.

    fixed it to better represent what’s really going on.

  8. 8.

    geg6

    December 12, 2011 at 1:41 pm

    These people are even more delusional than I could have ever imagined.

    Newt? Most electable? In what universe?

    Obama will wipe the floor with him. The only reason Newt looks so good right now is that he’s been debating with the psych ward and a mannequin. Pretty easy to look smart in that crowd, even if you weren’t really serious about contending and were really just there to sell some books. Now that he’s the frontrunner and has convinced himself that he can actually get elected, he’ll have to go up against that uppity near guy with the amazing mind and quick tongue. I just don’t see a pretty ending for the salamander dude there. Jeebus.

  9. 9.

    chopper

    December 12, 2011 at 1:42 pm

    “but i can change him!”

  10. 10.

    sukabi

    December 12, 2011 at 1:42 pm

    @lamh35: wonder when Gingrich is going to give back all the money he’s grifted selling ‘awards’….

  11. 11.

    MattF

    December 12, 2011 at 1:46 pm

    All this played out fairly recently with Glenn Beck, who was tolerated by FOX despite crossing a large number of don’t-go-there lines. Beck was regularly mocked by the winger ‘establishment’ but they didn’t get rid of him until they really had no choice.

  12. 12.

    gbear

    December 12, 2011 at 1:47 pm

    @lamh35: More republican campaigning like this, please.

  13. 13.

    different-church-lady

    December 12, 2011 at 1:49 pm

    Republicans haven’t just fallen for the tattooed motorcycle-driving smooth criminal

    Completely wrong analogy: think more charming sociopath. Clark Rockefeller. Or Ted Bundy.

  14. 14.

    p.a.

    December 12, 2011 at 1:49 pm

    This nomination process will be ‘the big tell’ as far as who owns the future of the Republican party . Will the Big Money Boyz (h/t Digby) manage to get the bit back in the mouth of the yahoos and ride Romney to the nomination? And if so, how? I imagine a series of Rovish sotto voce smears against whoever else polls ahead a la those used against McCain in South Carolina in 2000.

    But if this doesn’t work, and the inmates really do run the asylum? Uh-oh.

  15. 15.

    geg6

    December 12, 2011 at 1:50 pm

    @chopper:

    Heh.

    Exactly.

  16. 16.

    James Hulsey

    December 12, 2011 at 1:50 pm

    Just so all you youngsters understand the headline reference:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF_kUB_mdmA

  17. 17.

    gaz

    December 12, 2011 at 1:52 pm

    Rasmussen is not a credible source of polling information.

    That’s all you had to say John.

  18. 18.

    Ben Cisco

    December 12, 2011 at 1:52 pm

    Please tell me someone on the Dem side is compiling this stuff. It’s GOLD!

  19. 19.

    stannate

    December 12, 2011 at 1:53 pm

    According to Steve M., the Republicans like to be spun ’round (like a record) by their latest brand-new lover.

  20. 20.

    gaz

    December 12, 2011 at 1:54 pm

    I meant DougJ, not John. oops – got my bylines tangled.

  21. 21.

    artem1s

    December 12, 2011 at 1:56 pm

    plz, the cowboy meme again? the reality is that Fox can’t resist an insecure whinging bully. they are still trying to suck up to the guy who used to pants them and steal their lunch money in grade school. that’s why it was so hard for them to break up with shrub but didn’t have any problem throwing over poppy after one term. he just wasn’t sadistic enough for them. they will luv them some newton just as long as he looks tough; which isn’t that hard to do against Mitt and Perry.

  22. 22.

    Ken

    December 12, 2011 at 1:57 pm

    @Ben Cisco: What is copyright law on political ads? I wouldn’t think the Dems could just re-run Gingrich’s ad (or Romney’s as the case may be), but could they include a clip of it in a new ad?

  23. 23.

    Frankensteinbeck

    December 12, 2011 at 1:59 pm

    @p.a.:
    Hmmm. I think p.a. is right. This is a weird situation, and right now we’re guessing. Of course, we know we’re guessing, but once the primaries officially start the guts of the GOP will be laid out for everyone to see how things work now.

  24. 24.

    cckids

    December 12, 2011 at 2:02 pm

    @lamh35: This is the kind of thing that makes Newton a bit more dangerous than Romney in a general election. The comments that don’t do anything but hurt him with the frothing R base–but look suspiciously like common sense to the low-info undecideds. See also, his quasi-amnesty proposal from one of the earlier debates. Sad, but true–the clown car has gone so far off the rails that even the tiniest sense that one of them is less than guano loco is like manna from heaven.

  25. 25.

    kay

    December 12, 2011 at 2:03 pm

    @Veritas:

    Romney has staying power and a first-class organization that can withstand the latest bubble candidate.

    I could NOT be more disappointed in Mitt Romney, veritas. He’s just not any good at this. All that money, all that careful planning, all that hard work, and he’s horrible. Have you watched the interviews? He’s fine until he opens his mouth, and starts, I don’t know, MOVING. Even his body language is odd and stilted and unnatural. Who told him to throw his head back when he fake-laughs? Good Lord. I just cringed.

    He’s the opposite of Hillary Clinton. A terrible candidate with a very good campaign.

  26. 26.

    somethingblue

    December 12, 2011 at 2:03 pm

    Republicans haven’t just fallen for the tattooed motorcycle-driving smooth criminal, they’ve convinced themselves that he’ll be a better provider than that stable, mild-mannered accountant.

    More than that, they’ve actually managed to convince themselves that he’d be a better accountant.

  27. 27.

    cckids

    December 12, 2011 at 2:05 pm

    @MattF:

    Beck was regularly mocked by the winger ‘establishment’ but they didn’t get rid of him until they really had no choice.

    . . . until he started bleeding sponsors, thus costing them money.” Nothing he said was too crass, insane or bigoted. But losing ad revenue? Yer outta here!

  28. 28.

    cckids

    December 12, 2011 at 2:07 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    hink more charming sociopath. Clark Rockefeller. Or Ted Bundy.

    Still not quite right. Evangelical huckster. Jerry Falwell? Jim Baker?

  29. 29.

    trollhattan

    December 12, 2011 at 2:07 pm

    Perhaps, but what’s more dangerous than a bad dude who will bet you ten large he can guess the color of your underwear at a moment’s notice. To the party that believes worth equates value, that’s some powerful Bad Boy stuff, right there.

  30. 30.

    different-church-lady

    December 12, 2011 at 2:10 pm

    @cckids: Yeah, you’re closer to it than I was.

  31. 31.

    Mike in NC

    December 12, 2011 at 2:13 pm

    Republicans haven’t just fallen for the tattooed motorcycle-driving smooth criminal, they’ve convinced themselves that he’ll be a better provider than that stable, mild-mannered accountant.

    Having seen a few episodes of “Sons of Anarchy”, those biker gang guys seem to do pretty well for themselves selling all those guns and drugs.

  32. 32.

    BrklynLibrul

    December 12, 2011 at 2:13 pm

    The base doesn’t want Romney because he’s a Mormon. It’s not any more complicated than that, all this talk about bad boys and mild-mannered accountants aside.

  33. 33.

    Paul in KY

    December 12, 2011 at 2:14 pm

    @different-church-lady: or Ted Bundy.

    Edit: Sorry DCL, some ads were blocking the ‘Ted Bundy’ part of your post. Great minds, etc. etc.

  34. 34.

    Brachiator

    December 12, 2011 at 2:18 pm

    @Veritas:

    Romney has staying power and a first-class organization that can withstand the latest bubble candidate.

    Right. This is why Romney did so well in 2008.

    All the polling so far is little more than a beauty contest. How the candidates respond to actual primaries will really be the tale of the tape.

    Republicans have a remarkable power to rationalize: a new Rasmussen poll shows that 49% of Republicans think that Gingrich would be the strongest general election nominee, while only 24% think Romney would be be the strongest.

    Republican Voter sentiment has been remarkably fickle. The only constant is that the GOP has clearly and decisively purged its moderate wing.

  35. 35.

    ChrisNYC

    December 12, 2011 at 2:23 pm

    Romney isn’t winning voters because he’s a bad politician. He clearly hates the process. And I think he’s not so wild about the populace either — he’s pretty much running against GOP voters at this point. He has to beat them to win. So doomed.

  36. 36.

    S. cerevisiae

    December 12, 2011 at 2:28 pm

    @James Hulsey: That first Pretenders album kicks all kinds of ass.

  37. 37.

    ellennelle

    December 12, 2011 at 2:28 pm

    seems to me frum nailed this distinction vis a vis fox in this interview; fox is not at all about the party or the voters or even the country (we of course knew all that): they’re about the demographic.

    and the more polarized and outsider (read anti-elitist elitist) that demographic, the better to keep them coming as customers, because fox understands their pain and serves them up the (altered) “truth” they crave.

    see? the crazy is built in to the business model.

  38. 38.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 12, 2011 at 3:02 pm

    @geg6:

    Newt? Most electable? In what universe?

    The one where white people only voted for Obama because of “racial guilt”, and he’s so dumb he couldn’t order dinner without a teleprompter. A tough guy like Newt (Chris Christie, Tim Pawlenty read this right even if he played the part like Tony Curtis saying “Yonduh lies da cassel of my faddah”) will reduce our affirmative action president to quivering jelly!

  39. 39.

    handy

    December 12, 2011 at 3:37 pm

    @S. cerevisiae:

    I actually like their first three LP’s. The first is the standout but the next two are solid efforts in their own right.

  40. 40.

    Samara Morgan

    December 12, 2011 at 3:38 pm

    @BrklynLibrul:

    The base doesn’t want Romney because he’s a Mormon.

    BAM!

    but that is their SECRUT reason.
    like wanting to see O’s birth certificate was just stealth racism.

    watch out! suzanne and maftoon khalid are gunna get all twitchy because you said the M word.
    ;)

  41. 41.

    dogwood

    December 12, 2011 at 4:03 pm

    @Veritas:

    made for a well-organized, well-financed, stable national campaign that’s in it for the delegate long-haul.

    Sounds like Barack Obama circa Dec. 2007. That Mitt Romney is a real original.

  42. 42.

    bcinaz

    December 12, 2011 at 5:45 pm

    That Rasmussen poll just cracked me up. And 24% – the same 24% – that has been hanging on with Mittens for 5 years just knows he’s the most electable.

    I tell you, Republicans scare the living daylights out of me, yet at the same time, they are fun to watch.

  43. 43.

    AA+ Bonds

    December 12, 2011 at 5:51 pm

    Romney is boring; Romney reduces pageviews on their site and ratings on their shows. Been saying this for a while. This isn’t some nebulous business, this is about money.

    This is one point where Fox’s interests depart from the party: an absolutely blazing, maddening, resentment-stirring Republican failure does the same business for them as a victory, maybe more.

  44. 44.

    AA+ Bonds

    December 12, 2011 at 5:57 pm

    @ellennelle:

    It is really fuckin sad when the only person out there pushing my line is Frum.

    Well, him and Media Matters, I admit that those people are wonderful and never sleep and sit there and write out play by play on Rush Limbaugh’s show, break to break, they are saints

  45. 45.

    HyperIon

    December 12, 2011 at 6:36 pm

    @chopper wrote:

    “but i can change him!”

    No, the Repub’s base is even stupider than your average bad-boy marrying woman: they think he’s fine the way he is.

    Now the Repub’s serious folks…their hair is on fire.

  46. 46.

    Hugely

    December 13, 2011 at 12:26 am

    how about a tag “what would modo say” or “how would modo say it”. I dont think I have read any of her vapid commentary since 2008 but seeing it spoofed here is kewl

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