In an effort to reach out to conservative media, presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney and wife Ann met for two hours Wednesday with several dozen conservative bloggers, reporters and columnists in an off-the-record gathering at a private Washington, D.C., club, according to attendees.
Romney, who struggled with some members of the conservative media during the Republican primary, is banking on their support in his campaign against President Barack Obama, regardless of whether they were previously in his corner or not.
The attendees came from numerous conservative sites and right-of-center publications, including National Review, Daily Caller, American Spectator, Washington Examiner, Right Wing News, Powerline, Townhall, Ace of Spades, RiehlWorldView, White House Dossier, and PJ Media. RNC chairman Reince Preibus also attended.
How dysfunctional is the Republican party that their nominee needs to get the approval of a guy who thinks vaginas remind him of play-doh and a guy who is afraid of imaginary black people.
Ladies and gentlemen, the GOP Base.
NobodySpecial
Mitt being Mitt, I expect a statement denouncing Play-Doh and invisible blacks in three…two…one…
Mike Goetz
Anyone who subjects themselves to getting called on the carpet before Dan Riehl will never be President.
No huevos whatsoever.
chopper
ho boy, is obama in trouble.
LittlePig
Looks like Bob Owens didn’t make the cut. Hurricane musta tumped over his gri-ul again.
Sheesh, like any of these losers are going to change any minds not already up in arms over a blah man in the White House.
chopper
@NobodySpecial:
mitt will start going on about how he owns a villa in the french riviera next door to the CEO of hasbro.
Mike Goetz
Remember when Boehner was banging on about Obama doing things “beneath the dignity of the office”?
This is it.
Surreal American
Great. Now the incurable psychotics are lording it over the treatable inmates at the asylum.
beltane
Aside from all the fail involved, I love how the meeting was held at a private club. It seems Mitt Romney’s problem is that he’s lived his whole life from within the confines of a private club.
danimal
Team Red is ready to roll. Flying monkeys–attack formation.
Smells like….VICTORY!
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
You gotta check out the new GOP bumper sticker (link to GOS). 1) It needs to be explained, and 2) you pretty much have to be right up at it to figure out it’s not supporting Obama.
beltane
@Surreal American: When the 3:00 am phone call comes, Mitt Romney will need to consult Clownhall before answering.
kindness
It’s been apparent for some time now that the powers that be in the GOP are fine with the mouthbreathers running the energy of their show. Yea I guess. They have the adrenaline and all (or is it just too much Mt. Dew/Redbull) but as Sully has recently discovered (recently! that’s a no shit sherlock moment right there) these folk may not be the best ones suited to present your credentials and fitness to serve the rest of America.
Just sayin’. The funny part….Rove et al thought they could ride that tiger. Now some are shocked the tiger is hungry and guess who’s closest to dinnertime?
@beltane: That 3 AM phone call? Naaa, Mittens knows the answer. It’s always ‘Bombs Away!’ no matter what the question is.
Mike in NC
It’s a good thing that Willard has 5 or 6 positions on every issue to placate wingnut media.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Surreal American:
__
I like cross-genre movies as much as the next guy, but the person who thought it was a good idea to make a mashup of The King of Hearts with Office Space really should be taken out back and shot.
__
What, this isn’t fiction you say! This is really happening? Oh shit…
sharl
@LittlePig:
+1 for a reference to one of the S,N! classics (& follow-up).
beltane
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): That really looks like Democratic party bumper sticker mocking Romney for being a whine ass. Even worse is the Romney campaign’s “We’re not stupid” bumper sticker. It may be the case that Mitt Romney has unlimited funds but it seems like every dollar of it is being squandered by putting highly-paid trolls on the payroll.
Dave S.
@kindness: Agreed. This isn’t so much a symptom of dysfunction as a demonstration of “functioning as intended.”
Brian R.
I’m confused.
All this time I thought it was Muslims who were supposed to be rewarded for their struggle against the infidels by being ushered into a room of 72 virgins who were just waiting to fellate them.
You’re telling me it’s the Mormons now? Huh.
Rick Massimo
Remember, it’s only a media conspiracy to go into the tank for a candidate when the candidate’s a black Democrat.
Rick Massimo
@Brian R.: You win the Internet for at least today and quite possibly more.
Argive
If the Romney campaign is taking Right Wing News seriously, we ain’t got shit to worry about. I’ve been reading that blog for years, often against my better judgment. Remember when Mark Sanford said he was hiking the Appalachian trail and pretty much everyone called bullshit on the story from the start? Well, John Hawkins believed him. And boy is it ever hilarious when Hawkins tries to condemn birtherism and his loony commenters all start yelling about how there’s a KENYAN IN TEH WHITE HOUSE!
Zifnab
What I find most amusing is the idea that were this eight years ago, you could easily have found your name on the guest list.
flukebucket
Romney groveled at the feet of Ted Nugent. At that point he hit bottom and started digging. My God what a dolt. How people like him and people who give money to people like him have hundreds of millions of dollars will be forever a mystery to me.
xian
We’re not stupid? Really? I am not a crook! He’s not out of touch! Message: I care.
SatanicPanic
@Brian R.: Brilliant!
DFH no.6
I don’t think “dysfunctional” is the right description, though in a sane world it would be.
A Party – a political movement – that is full of racist, homophobic (including the numerous self-loathing closet cases), misogynistic assholes whose ridiculously simplistic and narrow-minded worldview is not just dopey and wrongheaded, but incredibly dangerous in practice? Yes.
But dysfunctional? Not hardly. Not if that means “not able to implement their agenda”.
They’re not only running “their show”, they’re mostly running our collective show.
And come November, they have every chance of not only taking the Senate (they’ll keep the House) but the presidential election will likely be absurdly close.
The floor will be at least 55 million voting for Romney.
Not dysfunctional. Highly-goddamn-functional, in fact, for their purposes, because our politics is pretty much fucking reality TV, and stupid and evil rulz.
dmsilev
So, what happens when Mitt tries to tack towards the center and the Council of Dunderheads screams bloody murder? Does anyone really think that Mitt will stand up against his base, of whom these twits represent?
Hoodie
I am beginning to think that Mitt Romney is singularly the least qualified person to ever be a major party candidate for president, because he is both absolutely clueless and a complete pussy. Who the hell panders to that freak show? Dan Riehl? Assrocket? Ace of Fucking Spades? Compare and contrast to Obama’s dig at Huffpo for getting a Pulitzer for “linking to some of the best journalism” out there? I think that pissed Arianna off — I noticed she gave the resignation of that neocon dipshit Grenell (which no one really cares about other than as just another example of Romney’s craven pandering to religious whackjobs)top billing over Obama’s trip to Afghanistan. Not that it matters, I imagine most of the page hits for Huffpo are for pictures of celebs wearing clothes that inadvertently expose their tits.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@dmsilev:
__
Personally I prefer to call them The INjustice League but that’s a matter of taste.
Mickey
So BuzzFeed never made the list even after they have been spewing ultra right wing garbage for the past couple weeks in order to suck up to Rmoney.
Brian R.
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
The Legion of Dumb?
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@DFH no.6: I was worried, as a Texan, back when Perry showed up. Now, having seen what’s left and how they are working (see my bumper sticker comment above), and how quickly Obama attacks, I am less worried and more enthusiastic about getting Obama reelected.
MattF
@dmsilev: Mitt still has to get through the convention and come out of it looking like he’s in charge of the party. Not gonna be easy and may well not happen.
Basically, Mitt has to pass the zero-level leadership test– could he get a class of second-graders across the street? It’s still only ‘maybe’, and the winger press could change that into a ‘no’.
Steve
On the “both sides do it” beat, I know the White House has had occasional conference calls with liberal bloggers and maybe even a gathering or two. I’m wondering which are the “fringiest” blogs from the left side that get an invite to something like that. Republicans are a lot more open to breaking bread with extremists than Democrats are.
quannlace
God, another one? First there was the OIW (Obama Isn’t Working) Then I saw a ‘Hype and Blame’ sticker. A take on the 2008 ‘Hope and Change’ one. Get it?
Now this one that you need a magnifying glass to read.
Richard
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
The League of Extraordinary Idiots
Jennifer
The Breitbrats didn’t get invited to the party?
Maybe Rmoney is the one who had Breitbart assassinated.
Also, too: where’s the Ol’ Perfesser? Where’s Jim Hoft? Where’s Don Surber? You can’t have a truly representative slice of online wingerdom without including the lowest lights.
The Dangerman
@Brian R.:
The League Of Extraordinary Assholes?
Jennifer
@Brian R.: Almost.
It’s “Legion of DUH.”
beltane
@Jennifer: And what about The Blaze, or does Romney already have fellow Mormon Glenn Beck in his pocket?
pete
@Jennifer: Indeed, there is a very long-standing tradition of ensuring that the admittedly mediocre (and that’s being nice) are properly represented.
Hill Dweller
@Steve: The liberal bloggers are generally advocating good policy. They don’t seem to hold much sway over the Obama admin, but it would likely be for the better if they did.
Conversely, the wing nut sites, who do influence Republican politics/policy, are f’n crazy people advocating a return to the Gilded Age.
Brian R.
@Jennifer:
I’ll take that edit. Nice work.
Scott S.
“Mr. Romney, do you agree with the following statements made by Dan Riehl, Tucker Carlson, and quote-unquote ‘Ace of Spades’? Please speak into the microphone, sir.”
Mnemosyne
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
Are we sure that’s a GOP bumpersticker? That tagline seems more appropriate to the Romney campaign than to Obama’s.
Argive
@beltane:
Aide: Mr. President, satellite imagery indicates that the Iranians may have just conducted a successful nuclear test.
Pres. Romney: Shit. Um . . . short their bonds!
DFH no.6
@flukebucket:
Not really that much of a mystery when you consider that mastery of one (or more) skillsets does not impute mastery of other, non-related, skillsets.
It’s no surprise that being very good at, say, making piles of money in business means fuck-all for competence, even, in governing, or having the first clue what good governance would even be.
In fact, you can be a clueless dolt about just about everything else in life (not just good governance), but still be skilled and accomplished in acquiring wealth (I’d even say this is pretty common).
Very different things, making money as a good little capitalist and governing for the collective good. Quite opposite, in many cases.
There’s also luck. Often (I’d even say mostly) very important to having riches.
Like being born on third base with a silver spoon, such as, for instance, W and Willard.
Ash Can
It was off the record because the Romneys didn’t want anyone else to see them cry.
Culture of Truth
“Obama needs to take personal responsibility for what happens when he’s President! Except for the good stuff!”
Keith
In GOP Merika, ring kiss *you*!
Dave
“right of center center” sure covers a lot of territory these days
Gabriel Bellatrix
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): Nah man, it’s a perfect slogan for Romney:
HYPE because Romney has nothing under his belt but one failed term as Governor, and
BLAME because Romney’s campaign is based on blaming President Obama for everything that’s wrong with the country, particularly–no, especially–the things that aren’t his fault.
Carnacki
Republicans would love to see a Sistah Souljah moment from Romney. They love when women, especially African American women, are thrown under a bus
Culture of Truth
Romney was born on a silver base and thinks that makes him a miner.
gaz
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): That bumper sticker is some Weak Sauce.
It has an untampered Obama logo and Obama colors on it – FAIL. Even the greenest intern in marketing knows that’s a poor choice.
It is entirely negative. It doesn’t even SAY Romney on it. FAIL. You can’t win an election by focusing entirely on your opponent.
The HYPE & BLAME thing has no oomph. It’s pretty damned awkward. we HOPED he’d CHANGE while still weak, would be better. OTOH: At least it isn’t ROPE & HANG
Weak. I hope Romney’s campaign continues this way. If so, the election is already over.
ETA: As at least one other commenter pointed out it almost seems as though HYPE & BLAME points at Romney. So there’s another FAIL
beltane
@Carnacki: Well it’s not like he can throw Rush Limbaugh under the bus. If he did that the bus would get stuck.
the Conster
While Romney is on his knees looking to pleasure the clown brigade, Obama is pedal to the medal campaigning for the women’s vote. Romney will never be able to get off his knees, never mind get off his heels.
Catsy
@gaz: As I wrote on the GOS thread, the human brain processes color before shape, and shape before language. This is why I sort my Lego collection by part rather than color–because it’s much easier to pick the color I want out of a bin full of the same shape than to search for the shape I need in a sea of, say, lime green.
Unless you’re behind someone at a stop light, all you’re going to notice is the Obama campaign logo–and even then you might glance at the words, go “huh?” and move on.
This is Titanic-level fail.
gaz
@Catsy: Precisely. That’s like the first thing they teach you in advertising, isn’t it?
beltane
And here’s more courageous behavior from Mitt the Wet Noodle: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/03/1088510/-Mitt-Romney-quietly-distances-himself-from-labor-adviser-as-labor-board-leak-investigation-heats-up
Hill Dweller
At a fundraiser last night, Willard unveiled a story about a pin he commissioned for the Olympics in Salt Lake City saying ‘United We Stand’.
The pin was made in China…
chopper
@Gabriel Bellatrix:
of course, the ‘blame’ part is based on one of the main plays in the gooper book, which is to accuse the other dude of doing the shit you’re pushing. mittens is a guy whose entire campaign is based on blaming obama for every problem in the world.
Culture of Truth
Unless you’re behind someone at a stop light
Those are by color, too aren’t they
urizon
No Stormfront?
Culture of Truth
@urizon No Stormfront?<:
Roger Moore
@Richard:
The Brotherhood of Evil
MutantsConservativesSteve
@gaz: Republicans have this thing with wanting to mock Obama’s slogans instead of coming up with their own slogans – which is pretty much a guaranteed fail because you’re playing on the other guy’s end of the field. Remember that speech where John McCain kept saying, “That’s not change we can believe in”?
rb
@Catsy: As I wrote on the GOS thread, the human brain processes color before shape, and shape before language. This is why I sort my Lego collection by part rather than color—because it’s much easier to pick the color I want out of a bin full of the same shape than to search for the shape I need in a sea of, say, lime green.
Hey, that’s fascinating (sincerely). Thanks.
Jennifer
I still want to see a bumpersticker that says:
FDR, 1932: The New Deal
GOP, 2012: The Raw Deal
I may just have to make it myself.
Culture of Truth
I suggest a thread devoted to Romney campaign slogans. We can do better!
Shrillhouse
Man, when you have to kiss Tucker Carlson’s
ringbowtie, you know you’ve hit bottom…Rommie
@beltane: LOL, Rush is a speedbump too big, he’d launch the bus into the nearby gulch.
And I vote Super Adventure Club, just because I enjoy parody finding real life.
eemom
@Hill Dweller:
speaking of China, it would be SO nice if instead of regurgitating the same old bullshit themes 24/7, this blog could produce a post on something as timely and intriguing as the Chen Guancheng situation.
And no, Freddie de Boob’s Greenwald-wannabe “Yeah but WARS” drek the other day doesn’t count as a post.
schrodinger's cat
Speaking of China, does anyone know what is going on with Chinese dissident, a quick reading of headlines on this topic, which is all I have managed to do, makes little sens.
Villago Delenda Est
@Hill Dweller:
In addition to this, they have no fracking clue as to what the Gilded Age was like for 99% of Americans. Which is the group they’d be a part of. The ones desperately trying to live from day to day. Sort of like now.
Culture of Truth
@Jennifer: you know that scene in the ‘social network’ re ‘thefacebook’? It should be just “new deal” & “raw deal”
schrodinger's cat
@Rommie: I think we either need a double decker bus or a train.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Culture of Truth: I don’t want them cribbing off of us.
Legalize
Christ, can you imagine the smell in that room? I wonder if they had to put down drop cloths over the furniture. I pity the staff charged with getting trampled Cheetos, sweat stains, and FAIL out of the carpet.
Jennifer
@Culture of Truth: Eh, I haven’t seen it, because I HATE HATE HATE the Facebook, so not catching your drift…
DFH no.6
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
I’m less worried than I would be otherwise only because the American economy seems to be truly, finally, improving (for reals) even if it is still pretty anemic.
That’s all that really counts.
We see the Republicans (with Romney now leading the charge) for the obvious fools, knaves, and dangerous assholes that they are.
But fully 45% of your fellow (voting) Americans don’t see them that way at all.
They see the Democrats as the obvious fools, knaves, and dangerous assholes (and, well…).
And the stupid swing voters who will – along with each side’s GOTV – decide the election (who are swing voters because they don’t know what to think until the last goddamn moment) are pretty impervious to the crazy idiocy that is modern movement conservatism, and neither see Romney as the robotic incompetent weathervane we know and love, nor have the first clue about any of these complete-jackass rightwing bloggers (and wouldn’t care if they did).
Think of them as the fucking gasoline price voters. That’s their level of political understanding.
Anyway, we stay on this piss-poor-but-still-better-than-it-was economic track, Obama wins a squeaker (and maybe we hold the Senate, though I’d bet otherwise).
We tank at all, even a little (and especially in August, September, and/or October) and it’s President Romney with a Republican Congress.
That simple.
Argive
@Villago Delenda Est:
It’s honestly really depressing when I see conservative bloggers doing stuff like appealing to their readers for help to pay sky-high medical bills, and then bashing the ACA as socialism. Or complaining about how the government hasn’t cracked down on Wall Street right after talking about how it’s so necessary for the US to get rid of thousands of financial regulations.
Turgidson
Daily Caller?
Why the hell were they invited? So that everyone else in the room could point and laugh?
Culture of Truth
@Jennifer: I think the bumper sticker would be punchier as:
FDR: NEW DEAl
GOP: RAW DEAL
Incidentially, I’m not on facebook either but the movie is pretty good.
schrodinger's cat
@DFH no.6: Concern trolling, you are doing it right.
Culture of Truth
They are they only ones with a car. You know how it is.
SatanicPanic
@DFH no.6: I disagree. There are no swing voters, just people who don’t like party labels. All that matters is which side gets their base + their alleged independents more enthused about showing up to vote. And Romney is going to be seen as every bit the boring, stuffy, weirdo that he is. Flooding the airwaves with ads will only make it worse for him. He’s going down like Meg Whitman. It won’t even be close.
Turgidson
@Culture of Truth:
That really is the only plausible explanation.
I bet their car smells like rancid milk.
Jay C
@Steve:
A little FTFY “help” here:
–
Accurate as printed!
I don’t think this year’s GE is going to be a romp, by any means, but if the Rmoney campaign, as has been handled so far, is the best they can do, they are in DEEP shit even before the Convention. Which I do think has the very likely possibility to become another 1992 for the GOP, if not quite a Chicago-1968 scenario…
Turgidson
Having lived through that election in California, that’s the comparison I keep thinking of. It felt like you couldn’t go more than 15 minutes without seeing one of her ads. I of course wasn’t going to vote for her regardless, but I went from not particularly caring about her either way to loathing her because of her stupid ads. And I can’t imagine they won over very many people – while turning off exponentially more. Empty platitudes and tired GOP talking points are bad enough in small doses. When you can’t turn on the TV without being inundated with them, well that’s just obnoxious.
Thankfully, presidential elections are pretty quiet in CA on the ad front. I can’t imagine living in Ohio and trying to watch tv this year.
cat48
Mittbot & the GOP’s incessant whining about OBL & Obama being partisan & wrong, has had the odd effect of driving Obama’s poll #’s up 4 points in the last 5 days to 51% on Gallup. Please keep up your incessant whining asshats……..
Catsy
@Culture of Truth:
And for exactly that reason.
Same reason why in the Windows event log, Errors are red, Warnings yellow, and Informationals white. Imagine those icons as being all the same color and how difficult it would be to immediately pick out errors.
schrodinger's cat
Also, Romney’s policies as the Governor of Massachusetts, mirror Obama’s on not just health care but a host of other issues, like environmental protection, green energy, etc. etc. That is not going to sit well with the 27% aka the base.
Xecky Gilchrist
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): You gotta check out the new GOP bumper sticker
Republicans really are awful at punning on things, aren’t they. This one’s bad, but I still think “Coalition of the Wild-Eyed” is the one to beat for hyperextension over stretching for a play on words.
Calouste
@flukebucket:
Look at how Donald Trump did it. He got to $200 million in net worth by inheriting $400 million from his father.
Culture of Truth
I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’ve not been terribly impressed by team Romney’s overall strategery thus far. Time to get your act together, and come up with your own damn logo.
Comrade Dread
You know, if Mitt Romney had any self-respect and wasn’t a complete whore who would sell his wife as an after-dinner snack to an Anaconda if he thought it would get him another 1% of the vote in a swing state, he would have strolled into that meeting 15 minutes late, and tell them:
“I’m richer than God and have more billionaire friends that you can conceive of. Here’s how it’s going to work, you will continue to praise me as a true conservative to the rubes who follow believe whatever f***ing, incoherent bulls*** you and the other 999 monkeys in your office inflict upon the internet on a daily basis. You will do this, not because of your principles, but because you have no damn choice. You’ve just spent the last three years telling these halfwits that this is the most important election ever and the GOP nominee winning is the last possible brake against the oncoming soshalist Muslim tyranny.”
“So get back to your f***ing keyboards and blow me. Because I’m that GOP nominee and you’ve got no choice.”
SatanicPanic
@Turgidson: Oh it was brutal. Radio ads, TV ads. It was inescapable, and my TV doesn’t even get any channels, just the exposure I got at other peoples’ houses and in waiting rooms was enough.
gex
@gaz: Elitist! Education? We don’t need that. There can’t possibly be any advantage to knowledge that a MS Word Wizard won’t do for the Joe Six-Packs of the world.
Redshift
@Villago Delenda Est:
It’s reminiscent of the classic anecdote from Isaac Asimov. In a conversation with him, a fan sighed “wouldn’t it be wonderful to live back when everyone had servants?” He answered “Certainly not, madam, we would be the servants!”
schrodinger's cat
@Comrade Dread: That’s what Romney would sound like if he was Dirty Harry.
Wilson Heath
Remember that scene in “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” where Pappy O’Daniel claims the boys as his personal brain trust? Major deja vu.
gex
@Argive: And this gives me another opportunity to crank about my BIL. Florida “Independent”, convinced his taxes are too high, the gov’t spends too much, and works for Lockheed Martin on one of the boondoggle projects. For background.
We were visiting the other BIL who had a stroke and has had to live in a long term care facility. His former employer changed insurance companies and now the new company won’t cover him because it is, you guessed it, a pre-existing condition. Listening to two Republicans complain about astronomical health care costs since the uncovered charges are more than the covered charges and bitching about the preexisting condition dump.
I wanted so badly to let them know that the ACA addresses the preexisting conditions issue, but why bother. They won’t appreciate it. Democrats will still be the tax and spend to give to the wrong people party.
Redshift
@Catsy:
I have had that exact experience even with less idiotic anti-Obama bumper stickers. I pulled up behind someone with one of the stupid “nobama” stickers with the Obama logo for the ‘O’, and if I hadn’t gotten close because the light was read, I never would have noticed that it wasn’t an Obama sticker.
Hoist once again on the petard of their delusion that a vast majority really already agrees with them, so all they have to do is flash the Obama logo and it’ll be like a red flag to a bull.
urizon
@Culture of Truth: Indeed.
Cris (without an H)
If you have state it on the label, it’s because nobody would believe it otherwise. Sort of like “made with real cheese.”
Southern Beale
Today’s blogwhore: A gay Tennessee high school student tells his story about what it’s like to be gay in Tennessee in the student yearbook and is promptly embraced for being different, just like on an episode of “Glee.”
Ha ha just kidding! No, petitions are circulated urging students to tear the page from their yearbook in protest at graduation or to deny the gay student the right to attend graduation ceremonies, while a county school board member Van Shaver calls for a criminal investigation into the yearbook’s faculty advisers.
Of course!
Bludger
Just contrast this collection of right wing nutjob bloggers with progressive bloggers…
Who would ever listen to them about anything? Other than the awesome ability to successfully attract lunatics by constantly playing on fears and flat-out lying?
Really? Ace of Spades? Holy Cow…
Redshift
Obviously, this is a clear sign that Romney can pivot to the center and his base will understand, as the punditubbies are always telling us.
Uncle Cosmo
@xian: “We’re not stupid”–? No, they’re just supporting stupid. Which is even worse.
RalfW
OT but related to yesterday’s glibertarian Metro silliness, “Oh noes” says Joyner, D.C. taxis cost more.
danielx
I’m already wondering what sort of encomium in praise of the Marquis will be penned by John Hindraker, aka Assrocket. He’ll have to stretch to match his description of George Bush as a man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, but I have no doubt he’ll be up to the task.
Of course, it does cause one to wonder who is going to be administering the tongue baths, Mittens or the wingnut media stars. I’m choosing door #1, since Mr. Pierce’s tagline of “I’m Mitt Romney, bitches, and I’m all you got left” rings more true to the Romney personality. Somehow I just can’t see the Marquis genuflecting to the likes of Erick son of Erick.
Or any other wingnut, for that matter. What have they done for Mittens lately?
arguingwithsignposts
@RalfW: I’m not even going to comment on JJ’s current silliness. Maybe he’ll buy a leather jacket.
eemom
@schrodinger’s cat: @eemom:
Great minds, etc.
AFAIK what’s going on now is that the poor man is in the hospital and pleading for he and his family to go home with HRC on her plane. He’s saying that the reason he left the embassy was that he was told his wife would be beaten to death if he didn’t. The US officials at the embassy deny that, but they evidently did tell him that if he didn’t leave his wife and kids would be returned to the province where they were kept under house arrest and the US could do nothing to guarantee their safety there.
Uncle Cosmo
@Roger Moore: Sorry I’m late to the christening but seems to me that ol’ Oven Mitt was meeting with the infamous
DFH no.6
@schrodinger’s cat:
Not “concern trolling” but if you choose to see my comment that way, fine.
I’ve been following (and participating in via canvassing, etc.) politics at the local and national level for over 45 years now, and I’m calling it as I see it from those years of experience. As usual, I’m helping with some campaigns once again this election cycle (maybe like 2008 I’ll take a little vacation to work on Obama’s campaign in the fall over in New Mexico since AZ is most definitely NOT in play, as it was not then, either).
So I don’t just bitch and moan, I help out what little I can.
And I hope I’m dead wrong and Obama wins in a landslide (as some here are predicting) and the Democrats not only keep the Senate, but take back the House.
Call me skeptical, though.
The American electorate is a pretty dumb animal (see, for instance, elections: 2010). It’s the economy, stupid.
In the immortal words of Principal Skinner: Prove me wrong, children. Prove me wrong.
Napoleon
@Turgidson:
Well I do and we have already had months of political ads and at this point both candidates for Pres and Sen are on the air with their own ads (as opposed to 3rd parties).
JPL
@DFH no.6: I agree but I’d add that the Americans want change and want it now. We’re impatient sorts. They knew we were on a cliff but thought it could be fixed in months rather than years.
Bokonon
Think that Obama’s birth certificate will come up?
schrodinger's cat
@DFH no.6: Sorry I called you a concern troll, they abound on this blog, including some of FPs, for example, Steve of No more Mr Nice Guy.
I think your take is overly negative, the election won’t be a cake walk, Romney has tons of problems with his base, he comes across as tone deaf even to people not invested in politics.
It is a fight that I think we can win, no need to wallow in tears of self-pity at the very outset.
pseudonymous in nc
No photos of the meetup so that Althouse can pontificate on whose manboobs were least appropriate?
DFH no.6
@SatanicPanic:
And I disagree back most strongly, Sir (or Madam)!
There most certainly are swing voters. Many in fact, particularly in presidential elections.
Across the country there are millions of these people, mostly made up of so-called Independents who don’t always happen to vote Republican (something less than half of Independents) and the conservadems, who are just as likely to vote for a Republican as a Democrat, usually depending on how conservative they believe the Democrat to be (or, in the case of the president, whether “things” – foreign and domestic, and this year it’s almost entirely domestic – are looking “up” or not). Not a few of these conservadems would “swing” their vote to Obama if he wasn’t so inconveniently black. So they’ll swing their vote to the white man (as many of them did in 2008).
Relatively few Republican voters ever “swing” their vote to a Democrat (part of that whole “lockstep” thing fascists are so good at).
In a close election, with both sides doing about as well as they can with their GOTV, swing voters make the difference.
They’re the primary reason the state of the economy will be all-important for the elections this fall, because I expect both the Dems and the fascists will come close to maximizing their GOTV. The state of the economy will not have a dispositive effect on either side’s base – Obama’s supporters will campaign and vote for him to stay in office whether the economy’s up or down, and in similar fashion the fascists will stay united in their desire to turn out the soshulist Kenyan usurper no matter what (including having a pretty shitty nominee in Willard).
If the economy’s ok, enough of the “gas-price” voters (oversimplifying, but not by much) will vote for Obama (and down-ticket Dems) to re-elect the president, and even narrowly keep the Senate Democratic.
If it’s not, they “swing” over and put Romney in.
Why else would the economy matter so much for the election (“swing” it one way or the other, to coin a phrase) if there were no “swing” voters?
But of course there are.
Cris (without an H)
I don’t know if this has always been the case, but the last four elections have convinced me that it is the case right now.
Turgidson
@Napoleon:
I don’t envy you. There should be a pie filter for political ads on TV. Hopefully November gets here surprisingly fast for you.
MrCheesyPuff
Confederacy of Dunces – says it all
LanceThruster
@Richard:
That’s reminds of that joke where someone says a design is “idiot proof” and the response is, “You haven’t met our particular idiots.”
Phil Perspective
@Steve: Atrios. Oliver Willis. Real Che-loving revolutionaries there!!
DFH no.6
@JPL:
I agree that was a big factor in 2010, and the reason my emails at the time were screaming variations on “I can’t believe we’re about to hand the keys right back to the stupid and evil motherfuckers who drove us into the ditch in the first place!”
But the fascists also just did a much better job of GOTV in those mid-terms (the whole Tea Party thing helped them enormously with that, with the glaring exceptions of that witch-girl O’Donnell in Delaware and that crazy lady who ran against Reid in Nevada), and too many lukewarm Obama (and 2008 down-ticket Dem) voters simply stayed home. I expect that to even out this year.
DFH no.6
@schrodinger’s cat:
I’m as likely to be wrong in my prognostication on the election as any commenter, in print, on the air, or on this intertube thing.
As I said, I hope I am wrong. I hope my take is overly negative – I would very much prefer that “Chill The Fuck Out – I Got This” pertained (I enjoyed sending that to some of my concerned family and friends near the end in ’08).
I’m just not as sanguine this time around, almost entirely due to the anemic economy (and seeing how bad things went in 2010, particularly at the state level).
I do think Obama can win, and I even expect him to. I’ll do my part to help. But I also expect it will be close, too close.
A Romney presidency (and if that happens, almost certainly a solidly-Republican Congress) would be an unmitigated disaster, and I’m afraid I don’t have enough years left in me to see us get past that.
So, concern troll is concerned, I guess.
LanceThruster
@DFH no.6:
I tend to agree with you that a perfect storm of unfortunate occurrences is all it ever takes for things to go horribly and irrevocably wrong.
We can’t let our guard down for a second, and must not ease up till that opera lady sings (and not even then!).
Nellcote
How is it okay to appropriate someone’s logo? Aren’t there copyright issues?