…because there is no way I want to miss the Balloon Juice snarkasaurus masticating this:
<div align=”center”><table style=’font:11px arial; color:#333; background-color:#f5f5f5′ cellpadding=’0′ cellspacing=’0′ width=’512′ height=’340′><tbody><tr style=’background-color:#e5e5e5′ valign=’middle’><td style=’padding:2px 1px 0px 5px;’><a target=’_blank’ style=’color:#333; text-decoration:none; font-weight:bold;’ href=’http://www.colbertnation.com’>The Colbert Report</a></td><td style=’padding:2px 5px 0px 5px; text-align:right; font-weight:bold;’>Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c</td></tr><tr style=’height:14px;’ valign=’middle’><td style=’padding:2px 1px 0px 5px;’ colspan=’2′><a target=’_blank’ style=’color:#333; text-decoration:none; font-weight:bold;’ href=’http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/405930/january-15-2012/colbert-super-pac-ad—attack-in-b-minor-for-strings’>Colbert Super PAC Ad – Attack In B Minor For Strings</a></td></tr><tr style=’height:14px; background-color:#353535′ valign=’middle’><td colspan=’2′ style=’padding:2px 5px 0px 5px; width:512px; overflow:hidden; text-align:right’><a target=’_blank’ style=’color:#96deff; text-decoration:none; font-weight:bold;’ href=’http://www.colbertnation.com/’>www.colbertnation.com</a></td></tr><tr valign=’middle’><td style=’padding:0px;’ colspan=’2′><embed style=’display:block’ src=’http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:405930′ width=’512′ height=’288′ type=’application/x-shockwave-flash’ wmode=’window’ allowFullscreen=’true’ flashvars=’autoPlay=false’ allowscriptaccess=’always’ allownetworking=’all’ bgcolor=’#000000′></embed></td></tr><tr style=’height:18px;’ valign=’middle’><td style=’padding:0px;’ colspan=’2′><table style=’margin:0px; text-align:center’ cellpadding=’0′ cellspacing=’0′ width=’100%’ height=’100%’><tr valign=’middle’><td style=’padding:3px; width:33%;’><a target=’_blank’ style=’font:10px arial; color:#333; text-decoration:none;’ href=’http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/’>Colbert Report Full Episodes</a></td><td style=’padding:3px; width:33%;’><a target=’_blank’ style=’font:10px arial; color:#333; text-decoration:none;’ href=’http://www.indecisionforever.com/’>Political Humor & Satire Blog</a></td><td style=’padding:3px; width:33%;’><a target=’_blank’ style=’font:10px arial; color:#333; text-decoration:none;’ href=’http://www.colbertnation.com/video’>Video Archive</a></td></tr></table></td></tr></tbody></table></div>
Have at it folks — and don’t worry, there’s plenty for everyone.
sb
John Lithgow never, ever fails.
BarbCat
My dog approves of this message.
eric
@sb: he can only be failed
Spiffy McBang
I was trying to find this, figures I wouldn’t be smart enough to look for it on Colbert’s site. Thanks for posting.
FridayNext
@sb:
Clearly you have never seen Cliffhanger
Corner Stone
@FridayNext: Lithgow was clearly failed in Cliffhanger.
Comrade Mary
YouTube version for Canucks and other deprived people.
RossInDetroit
bOINGbOING had this earlier. Romney needs a nickname that will stick. Mitt the Ripper might just work.
Corner Stone
Jamie Dimon’s Plan to Fix the Housing Market
““I would convene all the people involved in the business, I would close the door, I’d stay there until we resolved a bunch of these issues so we could have a more healthy mortgage market,” the 55-year-old chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co. said today. ”
From Atrios.
Kinda reminiscent of McCain and his “Stop all the bullshit” remarks of yesteryear.
dmsilev
So, has Mitt Romney denied being a serial killer? The question is out there, and it would be irresponsible not to speculate.
The Dangerman
That’s a fact, Jack (Ripper).
/army training, sir
Speaking of big corporations, really nice to see Gas is going to skyrocket just as the economy starts to pick up steam; some are projecting $5 a gallon just prior to the election. What lovely timing (I hope Obama has a tough Antitrust outfit).
Villago Delenda Est
The baby Jeebus would never have ridden around on a snarkosaurus.
Just sayin’.
Raven
@The Dangerman: Yea and I just spent 900 bucks rebuilding the rear end on my hot rod pcikup truck!
Villago Delenda Est
@The Dangerman:
Dick Cheney’s buddies need the cash for their SuperPAC operations.
MattF
On the topic of Romney and Bain:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/when-romney-ran-bain-capital-his-word-was-not-his-bond/2012/01/12/gIQACvQxwP_story.html?sub=AR
We discover that Romney’s dishonesty is not a recent development. Surprise!
Villago Delenda Est
@dmsilev:
“Governor Romney, have you stopped putting the family dog on top of the station wagon while on vacation?”
dmsilev
@Villago Delenda Est: Of course he has.
When do you think the last time was that he traveled by such a plebeian mode of transport as a station wagon? These days, the dog gets strapped to the wing of the Gulfstream.
Villago Delenda Est
@Corner Stone:
Sort of like telling Bonnie & Clyde and John Dillinger to “stop robbing my banks, please.”
RossInDetroit
@The Dangerman:
While that couldn’t be good for BHO’s re-election, I can’t see it as being favorable for Mitt. He doesn’t have a strong domestic energy policy of ‘drill here’ that he can hammer if gas stays high.
But it is good news for John McCain.
Hill Dweller
It’s not just the ad itself that’s great. Giving Stewart ‘control’ of the SuperPac last Thursday in order to form an exploratory committee; running the ad, but denying any involvement; ordering his ‘former’ SuperPac to pull the ad this morning.
In four days he has smacked down the ridiculous Republicans and the Citizens United decision using humor.
I’ve long said Colbert is more talented than Stewart, and consistently puts out a better show. But, for whatever reason, Stewart gets the bulk of the attention and awards.
Raven
@Hill Dweller: What’s the diff, who cares? They are both good.
c u n d gulag
At home, Judge Alito is shaking his head, going, “No, this is not what we meant!”
I love how it takes a faux comedy news show host to rub the SCOTUS’s nose in their shitty decision.
Colbert is OPENLY MOCKING THEM! LOL!
FSM forbid, the NY Times, or any of the other papers and TV networks explain as simply as he’s doing, just how idiotic and harmful CU would be when it was passed, and is today.
GO COLBERT!
reflectionephemeral
Just posted this myself. I would love to see how, if at all, this affects Romney’s numbers in SC.
You know, lurking in the background here are some really important questions about changes in our economy in the last 30 years. Michael E. Lewitt addressed that in a book described here, which includes a bit on private equity.
Martin
So, who’s going to ask the NYTimes ombudsman why they haven’t reported on Romney being a serial killer? Facts have been presented, isn’t it their job to report?
JordanRules
@Hill Dweller: The folks with the media lights to shine and shiny awards to distribute usually have stock in the false equivalency BS and Jon does better far too often unfortunately.
ETA: White House correspondents dinner, also too
MoeLarryAndJesus
Also, Craig James killed five hookers while he was at SMU.
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&site=&q=craig+james+killed&btnK=Google+Search&oq=&aq=&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=&gs_upl=
Hill Dweller
@c u n d gulag: I read/heard somewhere the Justices who voted for it thought legislation would pass forcing donors to divulge their identity. Obviously, the wingers in the Senate prevented that from happening.
Mino
It was a Supreme court decision made vulture capitalism much more attractive when the bastards could add penisions to the cash reserves they raided.
Question here. What legal excuse is Michigan using to appoint emergency managers? I couldn’t credit it when I heard what they were doing.
Mino
Wonder what word sent me to the corner?
Yutsano
@The Dangerman:
What? You think threatening war with Iran and cutting off the big juice supply isn’t going to have effects on their bottom lines? War is good business you know.
burnspbesq
Unpleasant, but a must read.
An Oral History of Guantanamo
Schlemizel
I LOVE this ad, but what scares me is how the average voter will incorporate its message into their thinking. If they think “Mitt the Ripper” its a net plus but they could also take away the idea that attacks on Willard are all over the top & discount the actual evidence of his looting.
Nellcote
I hope they invite Colbert to CPAC this year.
gaz
@Nellcote: Sadly, I think a liberal or two may have let them in on the joke, finally. They still don’t quite get how it’s funny though.
JPL
Although Yates is doing better than Tebow…it’s not enough.
jeffreyw
Some things must be posted…
Martin
@Yutsano:
Actually, Obama has proposed a very clever solution to this. Rather than forbid the sale of oil, which would take supply off the market and drive up prices, Iran can keep selling it, but at a discount. That keeps supply flowing, and denies money to Iran. It’ll be interesting to see if it works.
scav
‘Sides, if things get too grumpy, I’m sure the voiceover just really said “blaCEREAL-killer!” and can Mitt really deny that?
JPL
@jeffreyw: whoops..no link
gaz
@JPL: Shit, I read that as Yeats at first, and got a chuckle out of it.
gaz
@jeffreyw: yes.
http:
is a very relevant site. Thanks for the link ;)
Rhoda
@Schlemizel: No, you can’t discount actual people discussing how their lives were impacted by Bain. That’s what killed Romney in ’94 and the effects will be similar now. What this ad does is simply put this vulture capitalist stuff in the blood stream; like Multiple Mitt charges did in ’94 and ’08.
The flip-flop stuff would be old news; but reinforced with this vulture capitalist charge and the fact his plans are warmed over Bush economic policies and you can see the weakness in his candidacy.
c u n d gulag
@Hill Dweller:
That may be true, but it’s pretty weak tea.
What voter would, or could, either spend, or have, the time to check out all of the individuals and corporations that paid for an ad?
Transparency is fine when there’s a reasonable expectation that people will know who or what contributed to political ads.
The solution is to take the money out of politics. Not to expect a complicit and compliant, lobbied-up and paid-off, Congress to attempt to make sure that there’s some element of transparency.
There’s a list of shitty and dangerous ingredients on most of the shitty and dangerous food we buy.
How many people pay any attention to that?
Yutsano
@Martin: I’m curious as to how Obama has that much control over the price of oil unless he’s suggesting manipulating the market. And even Iran selling at a discount will ruin the budgets of the other oil supplying nations. I was honestly trying to come up with a workable how here.
Schlemizel
@Rhoda:
From your lips to His noodley appendages!
Hill Dweller
@The Dangerman:
Why else do you think Republicans added legislation going after Iran’s central bank to the defense appropriations bill(against Obama’s wishes)? Of course, the cowardly Dems in the House went right along with them.
Republicans have been ratcheting up the rhetoric in the debates, with the media following suit. The administration has been doing a lot with sanctions, but even they’ve started sabre-rattling for political cover.
All this is, in part, meant to increase tensions in the region, and goad Iran to do some crazy shit. A subsequent rise in oil prices is icing on the cake for the nihilists in the Republican party.
SiubhanDuinne
@jeffreyw: Bad link, nothing follows the http://
FridayNext
@Corner Stone:
Reminds me of that old student double standard “I earned an A. The teacher gave me a C.”
The Dangerman
@Yutsano:
True, but the folks involved in evaluating risk have to know that war with Iran isn’t going to happen (unless the Israeli’s do something stupid, but I don’t think they are stupid); I don’t think Iran is driving the price up…
…but I can see Big Oil trying to make sure BHO doesn’t get reelected. If gas is well north of $4 per gallon, get ready for President Romney. Again, if collusion can be proved, I hope the Antitrust folks go after the guilty (ya gotta love treble damages) or, better yet, just fucking nationalize the oil industry (yeah, not gonna happen, but Big Oil pisses me off).
4jkb4ia
Well done. Anyone who has seen the Winning the Future ad will burst out laughing and realize how absurd both sides are.
“Got rid of what he couldn’t use” + image–genius.
But KB Toys was the only company in that movie that really went bankrupt and that was post-Mitt–that’s taking it too seriously. That is a different ad–“Are corporations really people or wild beasts”, or something.
Hill Dweller
@c u n d gulag: It is weak tea. I was just pointing out their naivete/ignorance/stupidity.
4jkb4ia
If gas is north of $4 a gallon there will be no recovery in the economy left because consumer confidence will be shot and yes, then you will have President Romney. But Obama has tried to get the Saudis to produce more so there will be no crisis in the price of oil for a few months.
jeffreyw
@SiubhanDuinne: Oops!
Yutsano
@jeffreyw: ZOMG!! That little guy is gonna go fast!
Linda Featheringill
@The Dangerman: #11
Peak oil. Just saying.
PurpleGirl
@jeffreyw: Awwwww. What a cute puppeh, and with his fuzzy toy.
EconWatcher
@MattF:
You know, I will probably regret saying this, but to give credit where credit is due, the reviled Ross Douthat seems to have a pretty reasonable take on Romney and Bain:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/opinion/sunday/douthat-the-benefits-of-bain-capitalism.html?_r=2&ref=opinion
By “reasonable” I mean, of course, that his opinions are pretty close to mine: (1) Romney deserves whatever he gets, because he tried to spin his work at Bain as “job creation,” and that wasn’t what he was really up to; (2) The work of private equity types isn’t always bad, but sometimes it is, and a politician who wants to stake a campaign on that kind of work is in for a rough ride; (3) the 1950s world that conservatives nostalgically recall was also in many ways a far more liberal world than anything even proposed now on the political scene; and (4) contra both liberals and conservatives, there was no way to preserve the 1950s economic model in changing times.
I even like Douthat’s conclusion: Candidates, including Romney, better address how we’re going to get widespread prosperity for Americans in a globalized economy, or they deserve what they get.
PurpleGirl
If gasoline does go north $4.00 there will be louder calls for that pipeline from Canada to the Gulf. Even though it is more likely that any gas refined will be sold to foreign customers, there will be increased pressure to build the pipeline.
c u n d gulag
@Hill Dweller:
Thanks.
I hope I didn’t come across as an asshole – that wasn’t my intent at all. :-)
MikeJ
@EconWatcher:
Bringing in investors to retool and staff up to produce more is good. Looking at the pension fund as wasted money that could go to investors instead, busting out the company and getting a government bailout to pay the debts they ran up is not good.
JPL
As we know oil companies get large subsidies and then because of free enterprise are allowed to refine and ship millions of barrels overseas. What would the price of gasoline be if there were restrictions to this? just sayin…
also,too..nice pass
harlana
i particularly like the feet of the dead body being dragged across the floor =D
harlana
@jeffreyw: well, i can’t be grumpy anymore after seeing that!
dogwood
This Bain stuff is great, because for once it puts the Republicans in the position of having to explain something rather complicated to voters, a position Democrats know all too well Try to explain how a complicated piece of legislation will increase access to healthcare and reduce costs, and Republicans yell “DEATH PANELS” “SOSHULISM”. Well, now the booger’s on their finger, and I look forward to watching them get a taste of their own medicine.
Jerzy Russian
I bet the Reaganosaurus can beat the snarkosaurus in a one-on-one fight.
MattF
@EconWatcher: Well, the column I linked to was by a financier who worked with buyout companies in the ’70’s– his claim was that Bain was known at that time in the financial community for being untrustworthy and not playing by the rules.
So, e.g., if Romney had been a used-car dealer one could acknowledge that the used-car market improves our economic efficiency but would still want Romney to have been an honest used-car dealer. It seems that he was not.
Brachiator
@c u n d gulag:
Never gonna happen. As an old California politician noted, money is the mother’s milk of politics.
There are always people who want favors, and politicians have the power to deliver, for a price.
It’s not any particular system that’s corrupt. It’s that people are corruptible.
Hill Dweller
@c u n d gulag: Not at all.
Hewer of Wood, Drawer of Water
@Comrade Mary: Thanks – the Comedy Network’s website is a pain to find things on
Chris T.
@The Dangerman: I plan to have my Electric Vehicle by then…
Martin
@Yutsano: Yeah, the key is how sanctions work. Basically, the only way the US can impose sanctions like this is to block nation’s money from entering the US. That works well for oil because pretty much all oil is bought in US dollars, and because it’s hard to do much of anything without funneling dollars through the US in one way or another. So sanctions are enforced not on the seller, but on the buyer. We don’t punish Iran so much as we punish India or France, and they in turn punish Iran.
So, with that mechanism, presumably the US can work it as more than just an on/off switch. We can allow money to keep flowing through the US provided that the oil purchased cost less than x% of the fair market price. That sounds too organized and subtle for the US govt to pull off reliably, but presumably they have the means to know the buyers of the oil now so perhaps it’s not. So in that way, we create an artificial market for Iranian oil but only below a certain price. Above that price, we force the costs to skyrocket because the sanctions then kick in.
The problem with the plan is that it creates a very desirable market below that price, so if Iran is willing to pump at that price, they’re set and demand will shift out of higher priced markets. That’s good for consumers because it discounts the price of oil everywhere, at least a little bit. Iran’s problem is that they’re in a race. Their whole economy is oil, and its a fixed resource and its running out. Their best option is to build a new power infrastructure using that money, and their best option there is nuclear. Nobody denies that dynamic. They can’t get there without the oil sales. Less money per barrel makes the race even harder because they risk running out before they finish. And that’s the dynamic that the marketplace needs to force.
Now, what’d make this even better, is if we could leverage this arbitrage disequilibrium for some other gain. So, if we force the price of Iranian oil down to 75% of the market price, we allow buyers to buy that oil with no sanctions, but they need to then contribute 10% of the market price to the UN who oversees this whole mess. There’s still a big discount, the UN gains (pretty much straight out of Iran’s pockets), there’s no price shock, and the whole system still works to deter Iran.
Marc
@Hill Dweller:
This. Colbert has a consistent and brilliantly delivered point of view; Stewart has false equivalency and mugging for the studio audience and lots of Paul-curious fluffing.
Stewart is odd, he’s a pretty good critic of the media but a much worse critic of politics and political institutions. He doesn’t take the time to understand them (like calling the NDAA an “executive power grab” when it was pushed by fucking Congress) and he reaches for the easiest media narratives, which usually involve some variation on “both sides do it.”
cbear
@burnspbesq:
Thanks for the link, Burns. To read that article is to cry—for the pure decency and honor of so many as contrasted with the sociopathy of George W. Bush et al.
dogwood
@Marc:
This. Ultimately, Colbert seems less cynical to me. Maybe it’s just his nature, or maybe the fact that he is deeply religious has something to do with it, but he just seems like he actually cares more about issues in terms of how they effect real people.
smintheus
If Romney believes corporations are people, then he’s been a slave owner.
elftx
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/14/opinion/obeidallah-colbert-danger/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
Hysterical !!!
elftx
Hysterical !!!
Lyrebird
@Marc: Um, would Colbert even have a show w/o his start with Stewart?
I think Colbert has changed significantly, with the Press Club Dinner a watershed moment… he didn’t do anything like the (highly educational) SuperPAC trick or lobbying Congress on behalf of migrant workers earlier on.
Stewart’s job is to act like a doofus, and he does that in a totally awesome way!
I’m thrilled they’re both there doing what they do.
policomic
@Marc: I will third that emotion. Stewart is in danger of becoming the Thinking Man’s Leno, insofar as he still adheres to that “equal opportunity offender” paradigm, which is the comedic version of the view from nowhere. Part of that’s because, unlike Colbert, he is “himself” on camera, and has to seem like a neutral referee to maintain (the perception of) “fairness.” But part of it is Stewart’s own attraction to BS “post-partisan,” fantasy-league politics. You can see it in his affection for “mavericks” like pre-2008 McCain and Ron Paul. You could see it in his eagerness to embrace James O’Keefe’s anti-ACORN crusade (because it was a chance to show “balance”). You could hear it in his “Rally for Sanity” plea for civility, which was framed in classic “both sides are to blame” fashion. It’s the one thing he shares with the MSM hive mind he otherwise rejects–but it’s a pretty big blind spot for a satirist, or for any supposedly politically-engaged person.
gaz
If I had fuck-you money I’d start an Occupy SuperPAC.
for teh lulz.
Davis X. Machina
@policomic: Fourthing that. Irony can kill a republic as dead as tyrrany. Colbert at least cares.
Karen
@Hill Dweller:
You know that Jon Stewart does some of the writing for Stephen Colbert’s show right?
Karen
I don’t think Stewart does false equivalency. You can’t compare him to Stephen Colbert because they have two different types of shows. Also I don’t see anything wrong with liking part of what a candidate does but shooting down the parts he doesn’t like. Hate him. Love him. But don’t make false accusations. And don’t do false comparisons.
Davis X. Machina
@Karen: I’ll leave the false comparisons to Stewart, who’s good at them — from years of practice.
dww44
@Hill Dweller: Not only is Colbert more talented than Stewart, he’s a genuine liberal. Digby posted about that a couple of months back. Stewart also does a lot of “suck-up” interviews in my opinion. Colbert is just so effective at pointing out the ridiculously obvious and turning things into teachable moments. My mostly apolitical husband thinks Colbert’s doing a great service with his Super-Pac and Citizens United send ups. Also, too, everytime he trots out Mr. Trevor Potter, the latter genuinely cannot contain his mirth. I’ve been wondering if Potter himself, in his role as the former McCain campaign attorney, didn’t see the danger of the 2010 Supreme Court decision and offer up his services to Colbert. I’d love to know which one went looking for the other.
handsmile
@Davis X. Machina:
And I’ll take the fifth. (I realize this thread is done and dusted, but I’m just returning home and catching up here.)
Stephen Colbert is a contemporary Jonathan Swift, who recognizes where the infections lie in the body politic and lances the boil.
For comparison with Jon Stewart, consider what Colbert did at the 2006 Washington Correspondents Dinner. Try to imagine the courage that it took to deliver those lines before that audience, both the one on the dais and the one on the ballroom floor. It was the single boldest act of political commentary in my adult lifetime. Colbert was pilloried by the corporate media in the days following that address, but I am certain that it will come to enjoy both study and admiration long into the future.
In his concluding remarks at the October 2010 “Rally for Sanity” in Washington, Stewart delivered a lengthy metaphor on automobile traffic behavior to implore a more civil national discourse on politics, accusing both sides of “cutting off the other guy just to get a little ahead.” Days before the national mid-term elections that is how Jon Stewart interpreted Democratic and Republican political behavior.
But to me this was Stewart’s most damning failure that day: he chose not to exhort the hundreds of thousands on the Mall (such as me) or the millions listening to him on television and online simply to do every citizens’ most basic civic duty, to vote. That was an act of indifference at best, cowardice at worst.
Jon Stewart is a marvelous entertainer, whom I often enjoy. Stephen Colbert is a satirical genius, whom I am grateful to be alive to witness in his prime.
Willard
@RossInDetroit: Just call him Willard (the same name as the rat).
BruinKid
@Hill Dweller: You know that Jon Stewart is the executive producer of Stephen’s show, right?