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As the expression goes: Readership capture.
(Via Paul Constant, who adds: “I’m pretty sure the crowd applauded more tax breaks for billionaires by accident.”)
Also entertaining, Mr. Pierce channeling Willard Romney:
… God, you people are saps. You didn’t see this coming? I pandered and I pandered, and then, every night, I went back to my hotel room, stuck my fingers down my throat, and then had a good laugh. You think that whole “Etch-a-Sketch” thing was a staff blunder? Honkies, please. Could I have signaled more clearly that your audience with me was over? Smedley? Show these lovely people waving their Bibles and their rubber fetuses the door, will you? Lovely to have met you. Really. We must do this again some time. Say, if we’re all really lucky, and I’ve always been luckier than you poor deluded hayshakers, maybe the summer of 2015? It’s a date. We have a lovely parting gift for you.
Me.
Not entertaining, unless you are Madame DeFarge: Sean Hannity.
So… what’s on the agenda for another Hump Day?
JGabriel
To be fair, we did.
Though I admit, even I’m surprised by the rapidity and blatantness of Mitty’s pivots. You’d think he’d make at least some effort to ensure the GOP base will still come out to vote for him in November. I don’t think the Republican extremists will show up to the polls if they begin to see Romney as being just as bad as Obama from their skewed, alternate-reality, point of view.
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JGabriel
Anyway, if I were the Obama campaign, I’d seriously consider letting Mitt get away with his flip-flops for a couple months.
Spend the time just collecting video of Mitt taking positions that flatly contradict the positions he took when the primary was still contested. The edit them into a series of ads comparing first quarter Romney to second quarter Romney, ads that can begin running, oh, I don’t know, say a week or two before the Republican National Convention?
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Schlemizel
@JGabriel:
It might be nice to have a superpac run ads with just the first quarter quotes DURING the convention. They could pretend to be on Willards behalf. Then people could see the convention Rmoney gainsay everything they just heard him say during the break. That would be fun
Raven
Pierce calling Mitt “animatronic”. at the Trannyshack!
JGabriel
@Schlemizel:
That would be entertaining but … is there a history of the GOP stomping us with attack ads during our convention?
If not, I wouldn’t want us to start a trend.
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Keith
Hannity probably just assumes that’s what Geraldo eats.
geg6
The Prez is awesome, as always. And on the issue of college financial aid especially. Can someone please tell me why student loan interest rates should double, going from 3.4% to 6.8%? Why should student loan interest be so much higher than mortgage interest rates? Or car loan interest rates? Do the Republicans want to lose the few young voters they have?
Schlemizel
@JGabriel:
Really? You think that the Dems not doing some ratfucking would keep the GOP from doing it? If only that were true. Besides, these ads would be run by some pac that is on Willards side – so much so they are running ads with his own words as a true patriot (TM)
Really though the ratfuckpac is the next step. If dumping millions into getting Rmoney elected does not work (heck even if it does) the next step in how to use cash to manipulate voters is to get some blew dog type with an ego problem (and lard knows there are plenty of those) to be the face of some pac that would run ads ostensibly FOR Dems but they would be in favor of issues designed to piss of voters in the area the ad is seen or worded in ways to irritate potential Dem voters.
This is on its way even if the Dems don’t do it.
JGabriel
@geg6:
Republican extremists (they’re all extremists) want to discourage young voters from voting at all.
18-29 year olds voted for Obama 66% to 31% for McCain in 2008. The GOP knows they’re not voting for Romney in 2012 — or Republican Senators & Representatives.
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WereBear
The Republican plan is to render us down for any net worth, much like pigs in a slaughterhouse are rendered down for lard.
After plunging us deeply into debt, how ever much money can be sucked out of us as we struggle is directly predicated on how long we can struggle, based on the impossible dream of actually getting out of debt one day.
Once we give up and die in the gutter, we are now useless to The Machine, and they write off that debt… for more money!
Thing of evil beauty, it is. And there are some lefties who bleat that if Obama doesn’t get right on their pet issue; they will withold their vote! The only power they have, and they are ready to throw it away.
Occupy is right. THAT is the struggle; it should be all our concentration.
We poke fun at Republicans for their single-minded concentration on single issues. But that is how the Galts of the world sharpen their pikes, don’t you see? Because focus is everything.
JGabriel
@Schlemizel:
No, but I think there’s a tradition of the parties not taking out ads during each other’s convention. I don’t know that for sure, though, which is why I asked.
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JGabriel
@WereBear:
They want to turn us into pink slime.
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JGabriel
@WereBear:
Galts have pikes? I though they just corral their enemies into trains, then blow them up.
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Xenos
On the subject of Defarge, I just read that book for the first time as an adult. I hated it as a kid, but Defarge is great and makes all the simpering about the blond chick and Carton worth putting up with.
El Cid
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No, I think the crowd was applauding Obama calling out Republicans for their hypocrisy on “deficit cutting” as long as you avoid cutting tax breaks for billionaires.
MattF
I think I’m gonna call Mitt ‘The Bishop’ from now on. Yeah, he doesn’t wear a beanie, but he has that familiar and circumstantial attitude toward ‘true’ and ‘false’. We believes what we need to.
Valdivia
that was teh cool.
thanks for frontpaging it.
Linda Featheringill
Speaking of Mitt, dkos has a short article about VP picks and a poll of readers.
dailykos.com/story/2012/04/24/1086124/-Open-thread-for-night-owls-Pondering-a-running-mate
So far this morning, Portman, Rubio, and none-of-the-above are winning. Not enough love for my picks, Ryan and Rand. [sniff]
Cris (without an H)
@Linda Featheringill: I still think Gov. Martinez would be a good pick, but she’s pretty categorically ruled herself out.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
The Obama link was awesome.
I want to take issue with one thing though. There is absolutely no way that Hannity has poor friends.
Steve M.
Charlie Pierce is brilliant, but he’s bought the notion that Romney really would govern as a right-centrist. That’s a dangerous misconception.
El Cid
@Steve M.: I don’t think it says something clear about a left-center-right placement, but I do think Romney would — when such interests are very clear and particularly when backed by organization — prefer the needs of Big Money to Big Social Righties. Maybe we’re lunatic enough now to consider that to be “centrist”. This doesn’t imply, however, that there wouldn’t be a shitload of backing of the Social Rightie agenda, because, hey, there are Republicans in Congress, and that’s what they do.
Cris (without an H)
Funny moment from the Fallon interview:
Tony J
@Linda Featheringill:
Can’t link to it (because I’m at work and stuck behind a filter) but those interested in R-Money’s choice to be the new Dick ‘dick’ Cheney should head on over to mightygodking.com and check out his VP prognostication rundown.
Don’t know about you, but if I could vote in these Colonial elections I would be sorely tempted to pull the lever for the cool looking guy with the goatee and the eyes of a killer.
geg6
@Cris (without an H):
And that’s why I love the guy, despite disagreeing with some of the things he’s done. So cool with the putdown.
In excellent news, my congresscritter and Blue Dog supreme, Jason Altmire, was toppled in the primary yesterday. I hate that smug bastard and I protested at his local office numerous times over the ACA with the union guys and gals, who won this thing for Critz. Not that Critz is any flaming progessive, mind you. He’s a horror show on women’s reproductive issues, for instance (as was his predecessor and mentor, Jack Murtha). But he’s a more loyal Dem and is on the right side of all the economic issues. Around here, that is about as good as it gets for a Dem in in southwestern PA. Jason can go back to being a lobbyist for health insurance companies and his price has gone up since the last time he was a lobbyist. Win/win.
debbie
Hopefully this news gets up to Kay’s neck of woods:
dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/04/25/idiot-officer-investigates-kasichs-fender-bender.html
Talk about a literal illustration of the #1 law of the Universe, You get back what you put out: Kasich’s SUV is rear-ended by a bus (“Get on the bus or get out of the way.”), and the cop who comes to investigate the accident is the one Kasich called an “idiot.”
Like they say, the comedy writes itself.
danielx
@Steve M.:
True, but compared to what? By comparison with, say, Rick Santorum, Mittens does look like a right centrist candidate to a lot of people. That’s a long way from saying he’s a centrist by my viewpoint or yours, probably.
Actually it’s sort of hard for the average person to say exactly what the Marquis’ viewpoint is on any given topic, since he appears to have no principles he can’t change to attract votes. His only constants are that he’s a Wall Street asshole and a devout Mormon. If you bear those constants in mind, you can get a pretty good indication as to what his position will be on any given topic.
FlipYrWhig
@geg6: No, you forget, you’re supposed to fulminate with anger over how you’re forced to choose the lesser of two evils, which is still evil, and What We Need is more Democrats who believe all the right things about every issue and also win handily by connecting to the people and also disregard their constituents if their constituents are reactionary chumps. That’s just blogosphere politics 101!
AxelFoley
@JGabriel:
You know who else corraled people on trains?
geg6
@FlipYrWhig:
True. I’m sure all my progressive betters are ashamed of me.
Fuck it, man. I’ve been through this shit for too many (35, to be exact, since I turned 18) years to believe in purity ponies.
Drive-by Nomad
Mitt Romney: Was I lying then or am I lying now?
Basilisc
Hey John, who is this man, and why does he think we should let him anywhere near the US Senate?
cosima
Since this is an open thread — been trying to get to Washington Monthly’s Political Animal blog yesterday & today with no luck. Anyone else having problems with it or know what’s going on?
Elizabelle
@cosima:
WaMo is loading properly for me. Didn’t try to comment.
Hope you’re able to get in, too.
cosima
Thanks Elizabelle. Still not loading on this computer, though it’s a site I’ve visited daily for years… I’ll try it on our other computer and cross my fingers. Since it’s a non-profit, I had concerns.
Beauzeaux
@Cris (without an H): No wimmin!
There’s no chance for a woman or an “ethnic” — Martinez is both. Rubio seems to think he’s on the short list.
Considering Mitten’s record(s) I’m confident he will go for more white-on-white action.
cmorenc
@Steve M.:
That’s not quite true, because Romney has no “center”. What Romney will do is to govern as a Bain Capitial Chamber of (Financial) Commerce President at a flight level far above small business, and a considerable portion of the MSM will take this as a governing from right-center approach. Romney doesn’t really give a shit about the social conservative/tea party factions of the GOP except as he has to periodically throw them some meat to pander to them, and so the fact that he’ll be disappointingly (to them) less consistently supportive of their agenda, with less of his focus and energy applied to it, will also be taken as “right-center”, when actually it will reflect that Willard has no center except serving big-time capitalist millionaires and billionaires.
karen marie
@JGabriel: I don’t remember where it was (was it here?) I was reading that the Obama campaign was going to ignore the flip-flops and instead tie Rmoney to the extreme (meaning, for them, mainstream) GOP positions adopted by Rmoney, stopping him from attempting to pivot. I thought that a great plan.
@Xenos: I listened to Recorded Books “A Tale of Two Cities.” It is read brilliantly by Frank Muller. Even if you don’t go much for 19th Century English literature, you’ll be captivated by the story.
@Steve M.: I don’t think he has at all.
JGabriel
karen marie:
It was an article in the NY Times.
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