Not sure why, but I’ve been very pessimistic the last few days about the November election. Every time I read the news, I just read such blatant bullshit that I simply don’t know how the Obama team can pull it out again. The nonsense just never stops. The latest for me is hearings over 1 million spent by some jackass in the GSA on a convention.
The American military spends a million bucks in Afghanistan every time a soldier farts. Yet we’re going to spend months hearing about this GSA idiot. He’s been fired, and if there are charges to be brought, bring them. That should be the end of it. But nooooo. We’ll have Issa and the other idiots grandstanding on this issue for months because they are “fiscal conservatives,” and we’ll just ignore the 5 trillion Romney plans to shower on Richie Rich and his friends.
BethanyAnne
I like Obama’s answer. However unlikely his re-election chances, the chances of him getting there in the first place were significantly smaller.
satanicpanic
Chill out, he’s got this
Tim C.
I used to think that as dumb and as self-centered as the villagers are, they wouldn’t enable an outright moron to take the white house without a fight….
Oh….
2000…. and 2004.
Baud
I understand how you feel. The “news” over the last couple of weeks has been depressing. We’ll have a lot more ups and downs before November, so now is not a good time to stop sniffing glue.
dmsilev
Don’t worry. Every time Mitt opens his mouth, he repels more and more people. For instance, this:
As I pointed out in the previous thread, a normal human would have said “it probably wasn’t a good idea” or something like that. Mitt is all “I wish I hadn’t given my opponents some ammunition”. Read the whole transcript and you can’t help but loathe the guy.
Spaghetti Lee
Republicans have been throwing shit at him for 5 straight years, and he’s still pretty popular. If anything changes that, it won’t be this.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I think it’s waaaaay too early to be optimistic or pessimism. Assuming no big dramatic events, this is what won’t change, IMHO:
1) Romney’s assets: Money, sluggish economy, blind hatred of Obama, dumbass political media
2) Obama’s assets: Sumbitch is good; organization; people who don’t hate him like him better than Romney; economy getting less sluggish; Romney will put that silver foot in his mouth again. Often.
jl
Maybe Cole would consider volunteering for a little GOTV work this fall. Then he would not sit around getting the vapors and galloping fantods over his sense of doom. Cole would be energized by the coming climactic battle.
I am not exactly recommending that course of action. Would Cole on board be a net plus or minus?
I am moody and grouchy, like Blog Leader Cole, whom I strive to emulate in all things.
But on other hand it never occurred to me to say to a prospective voter ‘Jaybus, you are so effing stupid, I wanna punch you in the neck’.
But, maybe a kinder gentler more politic Cole would emerge.
Dee Loralei
John, go to BarackObama.com sign an I’m In card. And your local OFA will call you. I’ve been working with my local group since last August and it’s lots of fun meeting like minded locals, but it’s also empowering making calls, registering voters etc. We’ve spent the last 3 Tuesday evenings calling NC independents, and many of them are pro Obama.
We need your help, and you need it as well. It’ll keep your spirits up.
The Dangerman
My sense of doom comes from reading Redstate and their trumpeting of polls (Fox and Rasmussen) that show Romney kicking Obama’s ass. After Obama wins, there’s going to be shit ton of low information voters that will be shocked and awed over how they were lied to over and over again….
Baud
When all is said and done, we’ll spend over a million investigating the $1 million abuse of power.
MikeJ
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Funny you should mention that. New favourability poll out showing a record shortfall for Mitt. And that’s to start. The more people hear him, the more they hate him.
SixStringSlingr
Don’t watch the news shows; nobody else is. There, problem solved.
quannlace
I take it GSA doesn’t stand for Girl Scouts of America.
dp
I’ve had an overwhelming sense of doom ever since the health care arguments at the Supreme Court. The virtual certainty of these evil fuckers getting their way creeps me out.
Baud
@MikeJ:
LOL
sydney
It wasn’t a “He”.
Bruce S
While I don’t think “He’s got this!” is a useful frame of mind, I DO think “WE’VE got this!” if we want it as bad as the GOPers want him out. Also “WE’VE got this!” doesn’t preclude some coherent, issue-oriented criticism of the administration when it’s warranted and in context of an activist strategy as opposed to carping on blogs. (If I wanted to join some democratic centralist group of the brain-dead worshiping one or another Fearless Leader or party agenda as the embodiment of all of my hopes and dreams, I could easily find one on the extreme Left.)
The Moar You Know
I don’t know what will happen with the Senate and House – I’m hoping we can keep the Senate, as the only prize in this election is the Supreme Court – but I’m not losing any sleep over Obama’s chances. Romney cannot and will not win this election for one simple reason; people utterly despise him.
I can’t believe the things I’m hearing Republicans say about the poor fucker. Republicans! They fucking hate this man. Absolutely loathe him and everything he touches. He could send dump trucks full of cash and hookers to every home in America and it would not make a single bit of difference. He’d still lose.
I see one and only one path to a Romney victory in 2012, and I’m not kidding about this – Obama would have to decline to stand for reelection, and Romney would have to switch parties.
clayton
Most people aren’t paying attention yet. Hell, I’m a political junkie and life gets in the way of that.
I’m not worried, except that Hopey keeps asking me for money through the mail when I’m already on board with a monthly gift.
Sal
@satanicpanic:
right… That is what they said about Carter.
Just make sure you vote.
Litlebritdifrnt
I feel for you John, I felt that way today when I saw the Gallup polls. But then I went to thinking, as one does, about how unlikely the whole election of 2008 was. Who could have thunk it, that with chants of “yes we can” that we ended up with “yes we did”. I remember early in the election cycle and we were in a conference with our local Senior Judge and a bunch of DAs and our local AA female DA said to me “who is going to win the election” and I said “Obama” she looked at me as if I was from Mars, “really?” she said “you think that is possible?” I responded “bet on it”.
I am not over confident but I have a quiet sense of what is right. I believe that there are voters out there who know that our President is a good and decent man who has their best interests at heart, and who know that Romney couldn’t give a damn about the average Joe. The polls that came out revealed that. The majority of the people like the President. The majority of the people really dislike Romney. I can take comfort in that.
Yes we can. Again.
Ben Franklin
All the hyperventilating by Republicans over victory hopes is just ‘whistling through the graveyard’.
It’s as though they finally took that class on positive thinking, and their existentialist delusion gives them some ruby slippers.
“There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home……”
SiubhanDuinne
@dmsilev:
There, fixt. Truly, I think Mittens’ one and only mantra for whatever comes along is “I’m running for president, for Pete’s sake!”
jl
Less doomy: Romney and GOP have hogged headlines, and promoted with corporate media soft soap for months, and has, so far, never lead for long in polls, trends say Obama lead. Obama has only made initial campaign moves so far.
More doomy: Weak economic recovery continues weak.
Less doomy: Mitt reminds me more and more of Meg Whitman, who temporarily snuffed out the human mind and spirit in California by endlessly carpet bombing the state with ads backed by a bottomless bucket of cash. Had no effect because she was an unlikeable hypocritical unconvincing third rate huckster.
eemom
Who’s this “we,” kimosabe?
You’re making the mistake — again — of assuming that the general electorate, clueless sheep that they are, pays a gazillionth of the amount of obsessive attention to every passing emmessemm meme that folks around here do.
Witness the CNN poll out today after 5 days of 24/7 bullshit annromneyneverworkedadayinherlife-gate, and cheer up.
burnspbesq
What convention? This convention?
That would be perfect: Republicans bitching about spending $1 million on training that will prevent billions in procurement fraud.
Fuck them, the horse they rode in on, that horse’s ancestors, and everyone who grew the oats and hay the horse eats.
Damn.
Bruce S
Funny that “Sense of Doom” currently resides on my browser page under the empirically optimistic message “We survived the Brietbartpocalypse!”
And most of you fuckers don’t believe in a Higher Power? C’mon!
Jibeaux
I’m going O/T b/c I didn’t get to post this when JC had the post up about the cost of cedar for raised beds. Currently on sale at Ace hardware for $25, also available at Home Depot for a little more, are no-frills cedar bed kits that will make a 4 x 4 bed. Stackable & expandable. I got one, it does the trick, can’t beat the price. Plant a little hope in that garden & fertilize w/ unicorn poop.
eemom
@jl:
I like this. Can we get a colored Doomy Alert going? kthxbai.
Bruce S
“I can’t believe the things I’m hearing Republicans say about the
poorfilthy rich fucker.”Fixt!
rikyrah
Cole,
pep it up!!!
I don’t have the gloom you do.
John Cole
See, this is the kind of comment that pisses me off. I spent two months walking neighborhoods in 2008 for the primary, and then another two months canvassing for the general election. This website raised 50k for Obama in 2008. And I intend to do it all again this year.
The notion that I am just sitting around getting the vapors pisses me off royally. At least know what the fuck you are talking about when you make comments like this.
Svlad Jelly
This is from my RSS feed and I thought it might cheer you up:
http://awesomescreenshot.com/09e3n0h1c
4tehlulz
STFU Barney:
Barney Frank: Dems Should Have Backed Off On Health Care Reform
Asshole. Hope he enjoys Scott Brown’s re-election party.
jl
Less dommy: On second thought, my comparison of Romney to Whitman is very unfair and insulting to Whitman. I apologize.
But, Brown still beat Whitman despite her huge carpet bombing ad and money campaign.
And even less doomy: I think Obama will do much better in debates than Mitt. There is chance it will be such a Mittsaster that Romney will think about trying to duck the last one. And the chances that Obama can win the debates but get Gored likeability wise is small.
lamh35
@dmsilev:
Ann and Mitt proving class has nothing to do with how much money you have.
If this interview was supposed to “soften” Romney it sure as hell didn’t. I really disliked McCain and Palin, but I didn’t “hate” them. But ugh, I really dislike Mitt and Ann Romney more than I disliked Palin or McCain.
Romney To Obama: ‘Start Packing’
Can anyone imagine if in ’08 how wingnut head would have exploded if candidate Obama had said this when asked what he had to say to GWB? ugh, these people have no class.
SiubhanDuinne
@MikeJ:
Did you SEEthat one statistic?
This number has gone beyond weird, beyond funny, and beyond stupid.
Spaghetti Lee
@eemom:
This. The idea of Joe Six-Pack going up to Johnny Lunchpail and saying “You know, ever since David Brooks explained the Democrats’ hypocrisy about Ann Romney, the Secret Service sex scandal, and the GSA spending scandal, I’ve decided to vote for Romney in 2012” is something that only happens in our fevered nightmares. Remember, this is a country where only 50% of people vote for anyone for president. Of course, the electorate’s mind can be swayed by very stupid stuff, but I think this is the wrong kind of stupid. How many people in a poll do you think would know what the GSA even is? Downwards of 5%, maybe?
Baud
@4tehlulz: Seconded. What a disappointment.
Omnes Omnibus
Could people possibly calm down, stop freaking out, and just do some volunteering? It is fucking April, for fucks sake. People can’t stand Romney – even the people who support him dislike him. Romney has been campaigning since 2006, and he still can’t do it right.
Obama has barely begun to campaign. He is sitting on a shitload of cash and Romney has been feeding him ad video and audio since 2006.
I am not even gong to address the people doing gloom pr0n on the Supreme Court and the ACA.
The German planes haven’t even taken off for Pearl Harbor and you people are giving up. Jesus wept.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@John Cole: Strangely, John, when I read that, I didn’t see the “Get off your ass, since you didn’t do anything last time.” It was more of a “Go volunteer and be around people who are energized about him getting reelected.” But that’s just me.
The Moar You Know
This and pay attention to every word of it. I’m lifelong Californian. What happened to Whitman is a cautionary tale for anyone who thinks a bucket of cash and infinite TV can buy an election. She locked up every TV station in this state for months. Jerry Brown just wandered around the state, speaking every now and then. Never saw him on TV even once.
The result was not even close. And the utter rejection of Whitman ended up having some serious downticket consequences for the GOP as well. They’re now one seat away from being irrelevant in this state forever.
jl
@John Cole:
Thank you for informing me, then, Cole. Glad you do volunteer.
When I plan on doing GOTV, it banishes doomy thoughts from my mind.
ericblair
@jl:
Bingo. I know it’s thoughtcrime for goopers to consider it, but UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH has its, er, limits. Great. He’s going to put ads on six times every commercial break instead of three: this is going to help how? Besides the little fact that the more people see and hear Rmoney the more they just hate his guts. Of course, all the media wants are their ad buys, so they’re down with that, but saturation bombing of the airwaves kind of, you know, saturates them.
Obama’s going to beat Romney like a rented mule. With our help. We’re just figuring out how long his coattails will be.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@4tehlulz: Barney Frank: Democrats should have backed off the Civil Rights Act.
JWL
After America’s Vietnam War, I genuinely, sincerely believed that never again could a generation of congress be themselves stampeded into unleashing unholy war. But happen it did, and everything changed for me.
The Moar You Know
Obama’s packing all right. He’s packing a OFA-branded twelve gauge shotgun that he’s going to unload on Mitt’s sorry-assed excuse for a campaign.
Keith G
Cole, it’s good, if not down right important, to be on edge about this. It ain’t over, it ain’t won, and there will be some truly intense times ahead. We Dems need to get our game face on. We need to be optimistic, but realistic about the fight ahead. On balance, conservatives have an easier task.
If they can successfully sell the same time-honored lies that so many lap up like mother’s milk, they can make this a close election. Our side has to explain complexity and sell inclusiveness. These are not in the cognitive wheelhouse of most Americans.
I do believe if we get unified, lose some of the stupid cockiness, and shelve the internecine BS, we can make this happen.
Spaghetti Lee
@4tehlulz:
Barney’s said a lot of good things in his career so I’m tempted to give him a mulligan, but, man, this is some epic stupid. Even if he really thinks so, for whatever reason, he should know better than to say it out loud. You’ve been doing this politics thing long enough to know better, Barney.
trollhattan
In ’08 I was chewing my nails until about three weeks out, then came to the (fortunately accurate) realization that the Obama phenomenon was real and the shouty man and moose lady were genuinely frightening to plain folks. I announced this to the fam and slept well from then to the election.
Unpossible, but I’d prefer to check out until September. IMHO national and world events will have a much greater impact on how the campaigns go than what the candidates and parties do. They’ll matter, some, the last six weeks or so. Really, the only interesting thing will be who Willard picks to manage the Holodeck. The wingnuts will REALLY push for a “True Konservative(tm)” and if that comes to pass, game ovah–match goes to Obama.
PoliticalHack
Somebody mentioned that they did not watch the news shows, and that nobody does, so the subject of Cole’s rant is not an issue.
However, many millions of morons watch Faux News, and of those millions of morons who have the ability to communicate without guttural grunts will tell fools who may well believe the outright lies Faux spews.
Being afraid of morons is not unreasonable. (cue tapes to results of 2000 and 2004 elections)
Linnaeus
I suspect your gloom may be about something deeper than the upcoming election. I’m with the folks here saying that you need to do what you can to get this president reelected and it’s still early yet. But I also know that’s a small step towards solving a much, much larger problem. This country is ailing, badly. The institutions of our society are profoundly dysfunctional and it’s not clear that this will be addressed in any meaningful way anytime soon. Too many powerful people have too much invested in the current course of things.
AxelFoley
Same shit happened in ’08, Cole. Look how that turned out.
trollhattan
@The Moar You Know:
Yup, hard to conceive of if you didn’t live through it. Just sign this stack of checks, Megs, and we’ll take it from here.
Zombie Pete Wilson’s fingerprints all over the whole affair. In the meantime, Jerry’s walking the dog and wondering whether it’s appropriate to advertise at all. I think he spent about seven bucks on the campaign.
General Stuck
I love it when democrats ramble on about not being in the tank for Obama or any politician, you know, that independent clear thinking libtard protestor thing. Then turn around a few minutes later and opine things will turn out okay, if we all unite and rally around whatever. Some of you fuckers would screw up a wet dream, or a winning lotto ticket. The republicans are evil, but are smart enough to know that individually, they are powerless in democratic country.
danimal
@The Moar You Know: Yep. There’s a difference between having a shit-ton of money and knowing how to spend it wisely. R-Money has EVERY indication of running an expensive, top-down campaign with a number of unruly surrogates stepping all over each other.
Maybe Whitman is the perfect Veep after all! (Though my money is still on that dreamy guy from Wisconsin with the zombie eyes and granny’s grocery money.)
clayton
@lamh35: It wouldn’t have happened because W was on the way out already.
Don’t get worked up about this, it is all of a piece with the republican idea that Obama is an interloper. Trust me, they have issues with interlopers, especially down here in the South.
Now if Kerry had said that . . . I would have hooted and hollered.
Triassic Sands
Fortunately, the media never overreact to any of the bullshit stories. Never. Ever.
jl
@General Stuck: Huh? What did you say? I can’t figure it out.
You saying I was stupid and it was pointless for me to go door knocking do GOTV for McNerney when he beat Pombo, because it was impossible?
AxelFoley
@John Cole:
Tell ’em why you mad, son!
clayton
@Keith G: It would probably help if you weren’t such a racist asshole on ABL threads.
Your comment is just so much fluff — with malice — as always.
Bruce S
“libtard protestor”
Somebody’s been listening to too much FOX News! Yeah, what’s wrong with this country – and why the Dem side is so fucking weak – is the “libtard protestors.” Nothing to learn from the Tea Party setting a totally fucked up agenda while idiot Dems sat back and told themselves what a great job they’d just done electing Obama because, uh, you know…”He’s Got This!”
Total fucking moron…
gnomedad
Among other things, I think Mittens is getting a bounce from the end of the debate and primary freak show, which makes him look relatively, and hopefully temporarily, sane.
ericblair
@danimal:
The GOP is so overrun with grifters, and Mr Moneybags is such an obvious well-heeled griftee, that this is going to be a sight to behold. I suppose it’s fitting that the goopers are so obsessed with accumulating money, since they’re so bad at spending it wisely they tend to need several times what a normal thinking person would to do the same job in a reasonable way.
The Republican Party is your basic banana republic. Any money that comes in gets stolen and mismanaged and squirreled away by cheats and hacks until there’s zip left to do anything useful.
AxelFoley
@Omnes Omnibus:
Your internets–where may we send them?
MikeJ
@danimal: Just last week our resident UNLIMITED CASH! troll was bragging about how the Romney campaign was going to have pop up ads on every web site and junk mail in every mail box. Two things that voters love.
Keith
The part that really gets me on this is that a) the Bush Administration did similar trips, and b) much like Fast/Furious, Issa says prior to hearings that “yes, we will look at all past abuses” and then once hearings start, he will focus solely on the Obama version.
General Stuck
@Bruce S:
See, i think you are the total fucking moron. Talking like a schizoid fool, now about sticking together, when you’ve been one of the biggest fucking firebaggers on this blog. You are motherfucking worthless piece of shit and add zero to this blog short of jacking your own dick
edit – that goes for the rest of the independent dipshits that have been firebagging here for years. Go, TO, Hell. You are not needed now.
Heliopause
You’d better buck up because they haven’t remotely brought out the heavy artillery yet. Remember 2008? Black guy named Hussein who simultaneously is a radical Muslim and a member of a Kill Whitey church? Hates working class whites because he grew up in several foreign countries, including Hawaii? Michelle’s Kill Whitey graduate thesis? The Manchurian candidate of the cheese-eating surrender monkeys in Europe? Black guy named Hussein? He’s African and American (except he’s not American), not African-American? Lapel pin, Pledge of Allegiance, Goddamn America, inadequate black man named Hussein…
This has been a stroll through the park so far. Have another drink and watch some more of those HBO shows you love so much. On second thought, watch a few hours of late-night Cinemax.
AxelFoley
@General Stuck:
Tell ’em why you mad, son!, Part II: Electric Boogaloo
General Stuck
@jl:
Dude, I was not talking to you
jl
@MikeJ: Will there be a pool for the first reader who spots a Romney ad on Balloon Juice? I’ll chip in.
Mickey
Dear Cole.
Fuck you! Seriously, fuck you. You weren’t supportive of Obama when the going got tough. You fell right in line with the firebaggers when they got to have their voices heard during the healthcare debate. You piss and moan about Obama every time a fucking missle is fired. You pissed and moaned endlessly about Libya…remember Libya? The think you were so fucking WRONG about it’s not even funny.
To top it off you were a George Dubya Bush fan up until a couple years ago as far as I can tell.
Your support of Obama and Democrats in general is like a feather balancing precariously on the top of a twig. So much as a duck farts from 20 feet away and you fly away like the spineless non-supporter you are.
So fuck you you fucking fucker.
Mickey
Imagine serving in Iraq with this fucker Cole. The first shot fired in anger within earshot and he would be running for cover behind the nearest group of women and children.
If I was hanging over a cliff, the last person in the world I would want holding on to the other end would be Cole. He is obviously not the sort of person one can count on to support anything or be there when needed…and even when not needed.
Keith G
@clayton: Sorry you see it that way, but that simply is not the case. I would like to think that one can vigorously disagree with what is said by others (and how it is said) without such claims being charged.
burnspbesq
@Mickey:
As it turns out, Cole may have been right to piss and moan about Libya. There are some fairly interesting unanswered questions about what our role actually was. If Jack Goldsmith says shit doesn’t add up, I’m inclined to take that somewhat seriously.
http://www.lawfareblog.com/2012/04/natos-role-in-libya-was-a-joke/
P.S. Calm the fuck down, emoboy. Alienating your friends is not a winning strategy.
4tehlulz
@Mickey: You’re trying too hard.
LongHairedWeirdo
One of the troubles might be the glee with which Republicans, and some members of the media, repeat the lies Republicans come up with. It’s easy to think “too many people will buy that.”
But right now, the stuff they think is going to save them is pretty weak. “HAH! Hillary Rosen said Ann Romney hasn’t faced the challenges working – ooops, said that Ann Romney DIDN’T WORK!”
Yeah, they’re gleeful. Yeah, they’ve got lapdogs who feel they have to yip appropriately. But I think we really are approaching peak wingnut – and if so, we might see really good results come November.
(But yeah – I’m scared too. They can now proudly support refusing family planning assistance and breast cancer screenings, because OMG ABORTIONS!)
General Stuck
@burnspbesq:
The point of whether or not NATO was competent or not, was not as I remember part of Cole’s and other naysayers protestation about our involvement in Libya. It was more fears that there would be mission creep of us and the west and we would slippery slope on into Libya with ground troops. The article you cite, may or may not be accurate, as to how much or little NATO called the shots, but really is not the main point of dissent, as I remember it..
But Cole is Cole, and the fact he maintains a popular blog for us to spout off on, goes a long way with me, and thusly he is entitled to some hand wringing and occasional Greenwald posts, if he wants.
Splitting Image
Romney is a rich man’s Michael Dukakis.
I have yet to see him with the sort of 17-point lead that Dukakis had before losing, which means he is actually doing less well than Dukakis did.
I put even odds on Mittens having his picture taken in a tank before this is over.
MikeJ
@Splitting Image: Without the accomplishments or general decency.
burnspbesq
@General Stuck:
Somebody dropped a whole shitload of US-manufactured precision bombs in Libya. If those precision bombs were incompatible with the other NATO air forces’ delivery systems, then it would seem to follow that we flew more missions, and different missions, than was represented to the American people at the time. That may not be precisely what Cole was bitching about at the time, but it is a big fuckin’ deal if it’s true.
samara morgan
coming soon to a theater of war near near you– the Fall of Kabul.
Lex
Issa is welcome to investigate this right after he finishes bringing us the heads of the people who blew up the economy.
Platter, stick, I don’t care what he carries them on. Just bring ’em.
General Stuck
@burnspbesq:
Not to me. I don’t know where you would draw the line on how many is too many American bombs and planes involved. I knew from the beginning a lot of the heavy lifting would be done by us and our pilots. And there were other countries involved with the air mission that had nothing to do with NATO. It does beg the question though, if true, what was alleged in that piece, why would we even have a NATO if it couldn’t carry out missions like this, but everyone has known that the US is the big dawd in that org, as we provide the commanding general for it. The mission parameters were basically what was advertised, and not beyond that, being my own main concern.
The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik
@LongHairedWeirdo:
This is my concern. Honestly, while I’m starting to get that painful feeling in my gut that Obama isn’t a sure thing, my concern has gone more to the idea that even if Obama wins, it might not be enough to stave off the avalanche the GOP keeps on triggering. Even as they sink PR-wise, they keep winning tangible victory after tangible fucking victory. Planned Parenthood defunding nationwide, radical anti-abortion and anti-woman laws being codified in ways that will sure to remain on the books for at least a decade or more, and the narrative keeps fucking shifting their way time and time a-fucking-gain because they keep winning the language wars on us.
I keep getting the feeling that even if Obama wins, we’re fucked, because 2010 let the GOP run fuck-all over all of us in ways that will be felt for decades.
burnspbesq
OT: The Braves are going to retire John Smoltz’ number. That seems appropriate: can’t think of any other pitcher who had 200 wins and 150 saves.
samara morgan
@burnspbesq: meh.
Cole had a sad because handing the country over to the “islamists” wasn’t in “American interests.”
burnspbesq
@The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik:
Substantially all of which are state laws that are either pre-empted or unconstitutional. That’s theater. It still sucks, but not in the same way that it would suck if it were going to have immediate and concrete effects on actual peoples’ lives.
The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik
@burnspbesq:
The faith you have in the courts is admirable but long since squeezed out of me.
barath
Seems to me if there’s a state that can put Romney over, it’s Pennsylvania. It’s unlikely, but as a Northeastern state, one with a lot of old people, and one that never liked Obama as much as Clinton, it’s going to be closer than last time.
So folks in WV probably will get the most bang for the buck by focusing GOTV, voter reg, etc. in PA.
Gex
@ericblair: I know Mitt really wants to get the title and the power, nothing would make his black little heart shrink a little more than that, but he’s perfectly happy alarming the rubes and taking in the money only to come in second place.
So yeah, what you said.
Suffern ACE
@burnspbesq: Well, it was my complaint at the time. It seemed to me that Sarkozy and Cameron couldn’t deliver what their rhetoric was stirring up. Big surprise. I hope we’ve earned some goodwill from some corner of the world.
Gex
@Splitting Image: He’s going to have to do something macho, and we know wind surfing won’t be good enough. Perhaps a yacht race would be up his alley.
@The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik: I will be very curious to see how the marriage amendment in MN goes. Are they going to continue batting 1000 on these?
Another Halocene Human
John,
I’m telling you this as a friend:
When this story broke on Gawker, a site that trends “liberal” but not particularly partisan–full of the sort of low information non-voter that campaigns claim to fecklessly chase–this story was mocked mercilessly and universally. Even the resident RW trolls were quiet. (Racist trolls were crawling all over the Trayvon threads, by comparison, and fat-bashing, lookism, misogyny, and other forms of bullying are a daily feature. Gawker != TPM or Wonkette)
Apparently even those who care more about entertainment than politics, who ascribe to cynicism over civic engagement, who are proud of being liberal arts majors who flunked math class, can correctly deduce that a million dollars is less than a billion dollars (or $800 billion+), and judge their relative importance accordingly.
And Issa is a car thief. So there’s that.
This is not an issue that sticks to Obama. It’s not sexy enough for RWNJs (they prefer stupidity like the Colombia 11, plenty of elements to weave into any conspiracy theory) and it pleases the vicious instincts of the average American dumbass, by appearing to be sticking it to fat goobermint employees-for-life.
JoyfulA
@danimal: Whitman as Veep? Two Bains on the ticket?
Mike in NC
Echoes of 2008. Stop crying in your beer.
mainmati
I think we have to assume the following:
FL will be in play but doable (for Obama; depends upon outright voter suppression)
NC will go to Obama (barely)
PA will go to Obama (barely)
CO will go to Obama
NV will go to Obama
OH may not go to Obama (hard to say)
IN goes to Romney
NM goes to Obama
MO stays with Romney
WI goes for Obama
All the rest return to their usual patterns. I don’t see AZ in play at all.
John Cole
@samara morgan: You’re just making shit up, as always. I simply did not want any more American involvement in any more wars. Period.
It’s like there is a cottage industry in the comments to just make shit up about what I say, despite their being archives to demonstrate otherwise.
Don’t I say enough stupid shit that you don’t need to make things up? Fuck.
lacp
You’ve been very pessimistic the last few days about the November election. I would suggest either taking up a hobby or getting a prescription for some good anti-depressants. Spending time in the middle of April worrying about a national election in the fall – unless you’re getting paid the big bucks to worry about it – seems pretty fucking unhealthy.
Bruce S
@General Stuck:
You prove once again that you’re a mindless little dipshit. Shove your “firebag” up your flaming little ass. As far as my “going to hell” per your puerile instructions, I’ll take a pass as I don’t want to waste my time in your presence.
You’re the kind of “Democrat” jackoff who was telling John Lewis to STFU so he wouldn’t embarrass JFK at the March on Washington in ’63. I was there, fucktard. Also helped organize the first March on Washington against the Vietnam War. Yeah – a “libtard protestor.” Fuck you, you worthless weasel. Go have a drink with Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, who share your obsessions. I’d snark back about you “jacking your own dick” if I didn’t doubt that you had one.
General Stuck
@Bruce S:
Pfft, your a clown, dude. Nothing more, and certainly not some superior democrat, or whatever you think you are. Dime a dozen wanker who is famous for sticking its nose in the air and declaring the people on this blog are beneath you, over and over again, then returning to do it all over again.
And now wants to lecture us on the correct way to support a candidate. Do Obama and dems a favor, and just keep on telling yourself how special you are, and stay the fuck out of the way. Fair weather piece of shit.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@The Dangerman: My take is there will be a metric shit-ton of low info voters who will understand that Obama winning means the Democrats stole the election. Because, really, who would vote for a ni-CLANG?
Another Halocene Human
@The Dangerman:
More fodder for the conspiracy theories. No way majority white country voted for the near sheriff–must be some other explanation. Cue New Black Panthers, voting fraud, and various and sundry bogus explanations.
However, this is all a repeat of last time, and hence boring. Expect many mainstream (ha, who’s left?) Republicans to hand-wring either over the unlikeability of their candidate (moar faux populism nxt tiem–which is fair, I mean, it worked for W) and for the Religious Reich to blame the establishment for foisting a RINO on them.
mclaren
@dp:
There. Fixed that for you.
General Stuck
@Bruce S:
A shrink could have a field day with this disassociative clap trap. It just needs some clown shoes to make sense.
Bruce S
@General Stuck:
You’ve got nothing, you little punk. When ranting about “Libtard Protestors” becomes your best shot, you truly have sold your soul to the FOXoids. Since you claim to be a devout Democrat, at best you’re working the same turf as Lanny Davis and Mark Penn. If you ever make it to “clown” it will be an increase in your pay grade. You never, ever add anything based on serious argument, only emo invective. And you reap what you sow. I have zero tolerance for your hysterics. You seem incapable of anything other than yelling “Firebagger” in some form or another. Your worst feature is that you’re fucking boring. Have been since your first crackpot responses to comments of mine which were NOT couched in insult. But you’re very small, constricted and reactive. Pretty pathetic, but a typical hysterical, foul little denizen of the impotent blog comments world. Now shoot back with some more of your usual…to my deaf ears as far as your foul drivel is concerned. Yes, you get the last word…because you really, really need it!
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@John Cole:
__
__
Yes. Yes, you do. And in a quite entertaining way that keeps me hitting this site several times a day.
eemom
@John Cole:
This may come as a shock to you, Uncle Cole, but making shit up about what others say is kind of like, rampant on this blog, and hardly limited to you.
General Stuck
@Bruce S:
LOL, no one projects like you do, cupcake. That is some Major Winchester grade pomposity. But can you juggle, walk on stilts, and do other firebagger clown stuff?
Kane
When in doubt about President Obama’s chances in November, roll out your electoral map and start counting. It should be remembered that Obama/Biden defeated McCain/Palin by an electoral vote count of 365 to 173. And team Obama won roughly 10 million more votes than team McCain. Also, Obama won this landslide victory with only 43 percent of the white vote. With an increasing minority population along with the GOP’s failure to reach out to minority voters, team Obama may not even need 43 percent of the white vote in 2012.
Remember also that Romney is currently further behind in the polls with every demographic than McCain was. Also, with all of McCain’s faults, he was a far better candidate in 2008 than Romney is in 2012. Romney does not have McCain’s compelling biography and public respect, nor does he have McCain’s long-established media relationships.
And if that isn’t enough, remember that 2012 will be a populist election. That doesn’t bode well for Mr One Percent.
Bruce S
@General Stuck:
Since I missed your prior genius comment at 107, I’m going to allow myself one more. Go take your “shrink” rap to Van Jones. Since, you know, we’re just “libtard protestors.” Unfortunately my “discourse” has been defined by the Genius of General Stuck – i.e. invective addressed to a dimwit. But anyone who actually pretends to being a serious person might check out Jones’ book and get back to General Stuck about the “dissociative clap trap” of an “inside-outside” strategy and perhaps having higher sights as “libtard protestors” than just “STFU & vote for the Democrat” if we are to actually do what Obama himself asked of us as a candiate – i.e. build social movements to pressure Congress and the White House. Stuck is the embodiment of political impotence.
And that said, I can guarantee I did more to get Obama elected, in terms of material $$ aid and grunt work, than Stuck did. Guaran-fucking-tee it. I know his type. A “dime a dozen” would be inflating their value.
General Stuck
@Bruce S:
Why yer simply a legend in your own mind. That’s our Bruce S. Superdem. Oh, and “libtard” is a term I often use to mock myself, as well as others who start taking themselves too seriously. It was meant to git under the skin, and with you, it seems like it did. You could be wrapped a little too tight for this blogging thing, grasshopper.
burnspbesq
@General Stuck: @Bruce S:
You two deserve each other. Get a room.
General Stuck
@burnspbesq:
I bet Bruce snores like a fucking rhinoceros. But it’s nice to be scolded by the blog scold. Never a dull moment around here, nor a sane one.
Joel
Just unclick the Rasmussen box on the Pollster tracker and you’ll feel better already.
Spoiler: It’s roughly a 3-point swing. It’s a heavily “house affected” poll and they conduct an awful lot of them to swing the averages.
mclaren
@General Stuck:
Says the guy with the bright red hair and the giant ball on his nose.
General Stuck
@mclaren:
Nite mclaren, you big hunk of mad genious. Nite Bruce, Nite Mary Ellen, John Boy.
Another Halocene Human
@Spaghetti Lee:
That’s what scares me. What’s the summer surprise? Israel bombs Iran?
Another Halocene Human
@Splitting Image:
Dukakis is not remotely as unlikeable as Mitt Romney. Had the pleasure of meeting Dukakis in person about a decade ago. He’s actually quite likeable for a politician, even if he is… a politician.
Romney just exudes… eeueeuuuughghgh.
GHWB slammed Dukakis on his record in Mass and his “elitist” education (Bush, of course, went to Yale), while feigning folksiness by eating pork rinds and wearing a cowboy hat. But apparently the rubes liked the phoney act better than the short (gasp!) furriner who came off in the end as twerpy. I mean, he never seemed that way in Mass but that’s how he played at the end of the national campaign. Combine that with the collapse of the “Massachusetts Miracle” and he got slapped with that loser tag more surely than Santorum.
And then there was Willy Horton.
Who was blackity-black black.
And coming for your white wimmens.
Joseph Nobles
Mitt and Ann Romney: “The dog loved it!”
The dog defecated all over the car, forcing Mitt to stop and hose the diarrhea off the car and the dog. And then they continued their trip, dog still on top of the car, evidently all shat out.
Fuck these people.
Quiddity
Obama should talk up the free trade agreement with Columbia that he signed (after it passed with more Republican than Democratic votes in Congress). It’s good for workers, especially since only two dozen labor leaders were killed in Columbia last year.
bob h
Note, however, Obama up by 9 in new CNN.
What makes me a little pessimistic is the realization that Romney’s SuperPacs can fill the airwaves with a miasma of bullshit and lies to the point where people give up even trying to discern the truth.
Kay
I think all the bullshit is a little overwhelming.
But, they really are working hard locally and at the state level, and I would assume that national polls at some point reflect local gains or “holds”, if that indeed is what is happening.
You’re not going to see organizers who are in their twenties on CNN, but they’re out there. It’s really a big operation already in Ohio.
I vacillate between wanting outside groups to come in and do voter registration, and then remembering the huge clusterfuck that was competing outside groups screwing up voter registration in the 2004 election, and going back to wanting them to stay out and just let OFA do it.
There is a (newer) union effort to register voters/make sure voters have ID, but I haven’t been able to find out much about them yet.
Cromagnon
@burnspbesq:
So what? Vote for Willard then. I’m sure he won’t launch any wars you won’t like
samara morgan
@John Cole: wallah, a challenge.
Do i EVAH make shit up about what you say?
let us revisit the Libya List.
i remember that because i was slap horrified that you said that.
The Other Bob
@4tehlulz:
Eff that. In 2009-2010, Dems should have doubled down on health care and explained all the great things it is doing for people, so all the dumbasses in the country would actually know what the hell the bill actually is doing.
The problem wasn’t the bill, it was the communications.
The Raven
Well, I think Romney will keep alienating women, and so lose the election. But pay attention to the SuperPAC ad buys. The SuperPACs have veto power over nearly any candidate, perhaps even Obama.
samara morgan
@The Other Bob: no, that would not have worked.
because of the Republican Brain.
samara morgan
@The Raven: No. Romney cannot get 65% of the white vote.
these conservative dinosaurs are dead already but the hip brains haven’t gotten the message yet.
THE
@samara morgan:
Are you still watching the Libyan situation or have you lost interest in it?
The Raven
@samara morgan: Romney is part of the 0.001%, too–made his money in some very dirty ways. If the Obama campaign, especially its “unrelated” allies running negative ads, keeps the focus on that, I can’t imagine how Romney can win.
Haydnseek
@General Stuck: “They are powerless in a democratic society.” Really? They weren’t so fucking powerless in 2000 when they clearly stole the election. I’m pessimistic too, but probably for different reasons than Mr. Cole. It doesn’t matter how inept, hated, etc. Rmoney is. The poll numbers don’t matter. The will of the people won’t mean shit, because they will steal this election. The voter suppression laws on the books in 30 or so states will be well established by November. Votes in Democratic leaning precincts wil mysteriously vanish. Voting machine “irregularities” will be ignored, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Who gives a shit how much the Rethugs hate Rmoney? They hate the Kommunist Kenyan a billion times more, and that is ALL THAT MATTERS. They will do ANYTHING to fuck Obama. All else is commentary.
Zach
If you see anyone complain about this, yell “I’ll refund your share of it!” and throw a nickel at them.
samara morgan
@Haydnseek: true in 2000 but not in 2012.
like Nate Silver says, demographics is destiny.
soon there won’t be enough whites to float the GOP boat anymore.
Haydnseek
@samara morgan: Silver is right, of course, but I would submit to you that this supports my contention. The Rethugs know this. In their hardened, dark heart of hearts they know this is their last chance, so they will pull out all the stops to steal the election. Nevertheless, your point is well taken, i.e. the supreme court wouldn’t dare step in again as they did in 2000. True, the GOP aircraft carrier is sinking. All the more reason for their one-term Kamikaze Kongressme to don their teabag headbands and redouble their attacks….
fuckwit
“The American military spends a million bucks in Afghanistan every time a soldier farts. ”
Quote of the day, thank you very much.