I’ve gotten sucked into the WaPo chat things again, as some of my recent posts have indicated. Some of them make no sense to me. Right now, they have a supposedly non-partisan rabbi (I’m not sure why questions about Bain capital are something a rabbi is supposed to know about) explaining why it’s wrong to criticize Romney’s tenure at Bain:
Before we get to assuming you are correct about what constitutes Romney’s “main stated qualification” for becomming the next President, it’s worth noting that you are largely incorrect. It is among the accomplishments he mentions, but so is his ability to govern MA, his strong sense of family, and a set of values which actually resonate with the American public. And to be fait regarding the family and values stuff, the same can be said of the President. In other words, all that is a wash, leaving the Bain stuff available for the Dem.s to assail.
But let’s assume your claim is correct, and let’s agree that the deals are worth examining, even though that involves a level of detail to which most voters pay little attention. What we will find is a track record that created a great deal of value for a great many people, both investors and employees. The rate of job loss in those companies Bain controlled were w/in 1% of the average durring those years. In other words, attacking Bain turns out to be little more than an attempt to sell class warfare to a public that continually resists such efforts. So even if the attack is fair, it it probably unwise, assuming that you support the President.
Think I am wrong? Ask Corey Booker, Ed Rendell and a great many other proud Democrats who know this is not a winning strategy.
So they have a Romney surrogate posing as a non-partisan rabbi “answering” questions from readers. Why?
Update. Here’s this clown on Hannity.
Update. Tell me when this starts to get old.
Q. BOTH SIDES DO IT
I love your writing because you’re one of the few bipartisan centrists who realize that both sides do it, where “it” is pretty much any bad thing. You’re like the rabbinical David Broder. Have you always been so fair and balanced or is it something you learn over time as a rabbi?
– May 23, 2012 11:37 AM Permalink
A. BRAD HIRSCHFIELD :
Just had to say thank you! Comparing me to David Broder is an honor I don’t deserve, but will continue to try to live up to.
Like most wisdom/spiritual tradtions, mine can make people think big or think small. I work hard to make it the former.
Thanks again.
– May 23, 2012 2:07 PM
shortstop
Is it Baruch Korff? I hope it’s Baruch Korff.
Probably not, though. I think he’s daid.
Chyron HR
Just ask Corey Booker, Cory Booker, Booker T. Washington, Booker T.and the M.G.s, whichever you like. They’re all pretty much the same.
Rhoda
They gotta keep the race close to get that Citzens United money, that means shilling for Romney.
Cris (without an H)
@shortstop: it’s Brad Hirschfield.
And that’s exactly the problem. The system as it is does create a great deal of value for some people. And it necessarily does so at the expense of a great many more people. Class warfare? Fuck yes.
Spaghetti Lee
Ask Corey Booker, Ed Rendell and a great many other proud Democrats who know this is not a winning strategy.
I’m gonna hold off until I hear what Zell Miller and Joe Lieberman have to say.
Brachiator
Why would the Post hire a rabbit to talk about Bain? And anyway, I thought that Bugs had retired from public life.
What?
But, WTF, would it be too hard to get a freakin’ economist to discuss Bain? I mean, wouldn’t you think that this might get you closer to an honest assessment?
Silly rabbi.
shortstop
@Spaghetti Lee: Don’t forget Harold Ford. Oh, wait. That asshole has already worn his Leave Private Equity Alooooooone! t-shirt on all the shows.
kd bart
Why a rabbi?
Obviously, he’s a representative of the Jewish Bankers who control the world.
Redshift
What does that even mean? (Yeah, I probably shouldn’t bother, it’s obviously just a wall of BS.) I kinda doubt there’s an official statistic for “percent of jobs lost per company.” And if it were true, isn’t it saying that Romney is no better than average in “job creation”? That would beat his record as governor by a mile, but that’s not saying much.
Yes, the shill is strong with this one.
Comrade Dread
Because there is a desperation in conservative circles to redefine naked, pure, greedy, selfish Objectivist economics with a veneer of religious piety and legitimacy.
Americans are generally religious people, most of whom don’t actually study or know their religious literature and get their ideas from their pastor or from the media.
So if you can somehow get it out in the zeitgeist that being a selfish tool is actually a morally good thing in the eyes of God, then they won’t complain as much when some greedy tools come in, buy up their company, load it up with debt and then drive it into the ground to get a profit at the expense of their jobs and pensions.
Sprinkle in a bit of “You can still help the deserving poor through charity and tax cuts will free up more money for rich people to do that” and you’ve just made yourself a convert to “Christian” objectivism.
eric
This is easy….to make sure that everyone understands the Mormonism is off the table…even the more liberal jews agree. whatever else we do, we cannot talk about romney’s religion. plus, i suspect you will get some great both sides do it and we have to return civility to politics. next one. make it harder.
terraformer
Well, it’s obvious that Romney’s history at Bain is quite damaging, and that’s why this “Rabbi” and other surrogates are out there trying to say it’s not that important or damaging.
The question is whether they really believe that, or whether they think they’ll be successful at painting Bain as a non-issue by going out into the compliant media wasteland and taking advantage of Cokie’s Law (i.e., “It’s out there, so it’s worthy of discussion – regardless of the truth of it”), inculcating the “some people say it’s not important” he-said/she-said that can be endlessly bantered on the Sunday Shows, instead of actually looking into Bain and what Romney did objectively. I think I know the answer.
Carl Nyberg
The corporate media should be viewed as an alcoholic behaving in increasingly destructive ways who is making the “cry for help”.
The stuff on Romney and Bain is 1% propaganda. But it’s not pretending to be something else.
The Washington Post is trying to give its critics ammunition. “Please don’t take this newspaper seriously,” the WP staff is saying, “If you do, we’re all fucked!”
Redshift
If they’re whining, it’s working. The great thing about Bain from an oppo perspective is that people don’t have to pay attention to detail: Here are these real people in your swing state telling you how they lost their jobs and pensions because of Romney.
They have to get into details to attempt to justify it. If you’re explaining, you’re losing.
JGabriel
__
__
Brachiator:
Well, here’s a former OMB Director, under Saint the Baby Reagan, giving his unexpectedly harsh assessment on Fox of Romney’s record at Bain (h/t commenter HRA, in an earlier thread).
.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Isn’t that a common advertising stunt now, using fake surrogates to defend a product in popular forums?
handsmile
Why? Because if you disagree with the rabbi, you’re anti-semitic. Just like most of Obama’s supporters. Especially the Jewish ones.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’m so sick of these bags of assholes. It’s not like Romney has some secret CEO magic he’s gonna whip out after the election. He’s said over and over again what he wants to do: double down on VooDoo economics, cut taxes, mostly for the rich, increase military spending, and demagogue about Social Security and Medicare. You can’t lay off the old and the sick to improve your balance sheet, much as Norquist and Ryan might like to.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
Corey Booker was expressing his opinion. I admire his daring, but he’s wrong.
MattF
That’s… pretty weird.
Consider, e.g., that there are people in the financial world who have had direct dealings with Bain and Romney and have… differing opinions about Bain and Romney. Why not have discussions led by people with opinions who know what they’re talking about? Y’know, as if we’re all adults here. Oh, wait. It’s the Washington Post. Silly me.
Forum Transmitted Disease
Why not? They’re 100% in the tank for Romney, so hey, “by any means necessary”, am I right?
Wasting your time over there. Forget it, Doug. It’s Chinatown.
eric
@Redshift: I also think it cant help romney that most people have got zero clue what “private equity” is and when you explain what it actually is, that wont help either.
Comrade Dread
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Well, you can. You can simply lie to them and convince them to take a medical voucher that won’t cover most of their health care needs and then let them die.
But don’t you dare accuse us of not being pro-Life.
Zifnab
Mormons already vote straight ticket Republican.
bk
I just sent a question asking him if he had any sources for his statement about rate of job losses. My guess is that he doesn’t.
eric
@bk: see bush, burning.
4tehlulz
nonpartisan rabbi = writes for Ariana Huffington
kc
Shut your god damn dick suckers, peons!
jl
Because the guy is a self proclaimed expert on the uses and abuses of religion in public life, and Money = God?
Just gessin’ here, folks.
Edit: sorry, don’t want to be theologically imprecise: Deals = Money = God. It is a trinitarian religion, I think.
eric
@4tehlulz: from the archives and this should tell you EVERYTHING you need to know….
Zach
I’m trying to figure out the best way to make folks recognize that MBA/CEO is not a particularly good qualification for President. To that end: romneyorbush.tumblr.com
JGabriel
__
__
Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Of course not! Who ever heard of such a thing?
By the way, has anyone tried this new Shake Weight(tm) exercise machine? I hear it’s fabulous for toning your arms and abs!
.
Tokyokie
@Brachiator: I’d like to think that Romney is the sort of pompous fool Bugs would gleefully taunt. Elmer Fudd armed with a sense of entitlement instead of a shotgun.
Brachiator
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Funny thing, Mitts says this and some people go, “yeah, we need to run the country like you run a business.”
People are still reeling from the economic downturn, and afraid. The Republicans are trying to capitalize on this, because it is their only hope. It’s a political wildcard, because fear is absolutely immune to facts or reason.
Also, too, I saw a clip on Maddow of VP Biden holding up a chart demolishing much of the GOP criticism of lack of job growth under Obama. I have long been a proponent of the Administration using graphics effectively.
But it was a small, hand held chart, and Biden was fumbling the damn thing, and asking “Can everyone see this?” I kept thinking, can’t you motherfuckers use a green screen or a big projector or something bigger and more dramatic that lets you immediately focus on the point? Pass the goddam thing out, have a link ready, something. Jeez.
jl
@eric: OK, the dude is not a Sadducee. We know that much now.
@Zach: Dub learned to make all sorts of capital disappear. He built far beyond that case studies. He was one creative student.
Spaghetti Lee
@Tokyokie:
Be vewy vewy qwiet! I’m kiwwing jobs!
FlipYrWhig
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I like the part about laying off the sick. I’d love to see an ad about how America would look if Romney ran it the way Bain ran the companies it took over.
Keith G
I am afraid that this is all part of the multi level & multi dozens of millions of dollars effort to rebrand Obama and his campaign. Rove attacks strength. Obama is personally liked. Booker, Ford, Rendell and others (intentionally or not) are helping to paint Obama as underhanded and nauseating.
Rove would be foolish not to take advantage of this golden opportunity. Do you think fred hyatt got the memo?
Riilism
It’s a new feature from the WP. Religious folks weekly mouth off on non-religious, economic subjects. Next week it’s a Zoroastrian discussing the impact of marginal tax rates and the efficacy of supply side economics…
Brachiator
@DougJ, Head of Infidelity:
By the way, you missed the obvious thread title.
Right-wing Shlemiel
yopd1
I love the ranked among the 50 most influential rabbis shtick. I can tell you as a Jew, the only rabbis that are influential to most other Jews are the ones in their Synagogue. And considering he doesn’t have a synagogue, I’m guessing most Jewish folks have probably never even heard of him.
FlipYrWhig
@Brachiator: I still don’t get how in a world where business has been fucking people over for decades there is any helium left in the balloon of arguing that the government should be run like a business. If anything, it’s been being run TOO MUCH like a business.
Southern Beale
Oh c’mon, you know the Jews are so good with money.
/sarcasm
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Brachiator:
No question it sells in Peoria, which only makes it more frustrating.
They actually have a pretty good TV ad, the camera moving along that chart and showing dates and legislation passed and the rise in employment since ’09.
I don’t think this is the one they put on TV, but it’s close. I don’t have the stomach to look at the comments on YouTube.
Southern Beale
@FlipYrWhig:
Indeed. Next idiot who says that will get, “WHICH business? BP that despoiled the Gulf of Mexico? JP Morgan that blew $3 billion on a bet made by a guy named The London Whale? Bank of America, that threw people out of their homes based on fraudulently signed foreclosure documents?”
Keith G
@Brachiator: Years from now, the Obama administration will not be an example of effective use of messaging
Downpuppy
This Rabbi is utterly clueless! he writes about Bain & job loss, but based it on an editorial comment that referred to private equity overall. He talks about pension funds whether Bain threw burdens on the taxpayers, but has obvioiusly No. Fucking. Clue. what he’s talking about.
Who sent him out?
MonkeyBoy
DUH.
1) Jews overwhelmingly vote Democratic.
2) Jews trust and respect rabbis.
3) Maybe Jews will support and vote for Romney because a rabbi told them to.
I would like to see a breakdown of rabbis pontificating in the MSM on domestic politics in the US. I would bet the majority of the pieces are pro Republican. Why? Cause it is edgy contraianism because Jews just don’t vote that way.
FlipYrWhig
@Keith G: Nah, the meta-theme on this one has been “free enterprise.”. Which, frankly, is reminiscent of that scene in Animal House:
FlipYrWhig
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yup, the ad based on the Steve Benen chart. I like it.
Southern Beale
@shortstop:
Harold Ford Jr. had a gig with Merrill Lynch don’t forget.
FlipYrWhig
@Southern Beale: To my delight, Obama has been doing a nice job of pointing out how the values and measures of success in business are a poor match for the values and measures of success in public service. I think that’s key to the campaign and key to the kind of communitarian liberalism I appreciate.
Enlightened Liberal
I just posted a question to the Rabbi asking what in his background as someone who talks of religion in politics qualifies him to opine in the Washington Post on Democratic Party political strategy vis a vis Bain Capital.
We’ll see if there is a reply.
gbear
On the chat page, is there a tally of how many people are connected to the conversation? Is it 400 viewers, 40? This seems like the kind of chat that would be approaching 4 as time moved on. Why should anyone give a rat’s pitutie about what this guy has to say?
Suffern ACE
I’m really surprised that they haven’t played the “Like an army officer, sometimes you have to make tough decisions” line on this. Kind of like the “business is war. I’m a decider. It was war. I make the tough decisions.” Macho Romney up with the “although I didn’t serve in the military, I learnt about it by being a businessman. I’m sun tzu, even when it comes to that stuff.”
MattF
@MonkeyBoy: Point 1) is true. Points 2) and 3) make me suspect you’re not Jewish. Speaking of which, see the Coen brothers’ “A Serious Man.”
Brachiator
@Southern Beale: RE:I’m not sure why questions about Bain capital are something a rabbi is supposed to know about….
So, are they going to have a series of articles, the next one authored by a Scotsman? The one after tha authored by a Ferengi?
@FlipYrWhig:
Again, people are not thinking it through. They have vague fears and are looking for someone to hang their hopes on. And there are a few people who are just stuck on the idea that it takes a strong business person to take the reins of government in his hands (it’s usually a male figure they have in mind).
This may be a variation of the old belief that a retired general or other mighty military man would automatically be a good choice for president.
So for these people, it’s as much about psychological need as political ideology, even though obviously the Republicans try to fill their ranks with military guys (and wannabees) and business types.
Enlightened Liberal
Ok, who from Balloon Juice brought the snark?
“Both sides do it
I love your writing because you’re one of the few bipartisan centrists who realize that both sides do it, where “it” is pretty much any bad thing. You’re like the rabbinical David Broder. Have you always been so fair and balanced or is it something you learn over time as a rabbi”
buckethead
Ohmygod, check out the very last Q in the Q&A, bottom of the page:
Q.
BOTH SIDES DO IT
I love your writing because you’re one of the few bipartisan centrists who realize that both sides do it, where “it” is pretty much any bad thing. You’re like the rabbinical David Broder. Have you always been so fair and balanced or is it something you learn over time as a rabbi?
– May 23, 2012 11:37 AM Permalink
A.
BRAD HIRSCHFIELD :
Just had to say thank you! Comparing me to David Broder is an honor I don’t deserve, but will continue to try to live up to.
Like most wisdom/spiritual tradtions, mine can make people think big or think small. I work hard to make it the former.
Thanks again.
– May 23, 2012 2:07 PM
FlipYrWhig
@Brachiator: Yeah, ok, but that’s not “like a business” per se, that’s just Papa’s Tough Love. Business = military = ruthless and unsentimental.
I think it would be funny to see the degree of contempt that would erupt if someone said that government should be run like a charity.
jl
“Both sides do it
I love your __________ because you’re one of the few bipartisan centrists who realize that both sides do it, where “it” is pretty much any bad thing. You’re like the _________ David Broder. Have you always been so fair and balanced or is it something you learn over time as a________”
BJ should set up a widget for that comment.
Edit: and publish a tally of who fell for it.
FlipYrWhig
@buckethead: How do they not know that that’s an insult? Wow.
Someguy
OT, but it looks like the Right Wing Hate Machine is gearing up to try to take out an effective non-profit through smear tactics. That’s how you know when you’re hurting them, when they engage in personal retaliation.
The Red Pen
@Redshift:
Also my question. This smells like a talking point that the Rabbi couldn’t source or explain if challenged.
FlipYrWhig
@jl: It’s very reminiscent of the pie filter.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Southern Beale:
Considering how Country Club Mittens is in his thinking you got to wonder.
Did it go like this,…?
Mitt, to himself “I need someone to educate those dumb proles on how money works before they vote for that Hammite,.,but who? He has to be prebranded as good with money yet trust worthy. That eliminates most of my friends and economists,….I know! A Heb’ Rabbi! Everyone knows the red sea pedestrians love the mammon”
Redshift
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head here. They’re desperate to make “successful businessman” something that Romney is, not something that he does. That way, it can all be CEO magic, and any discussion of what he did and whether it applies at all to running the country is deemed irrelevant.
I suspect it doesn’t penetrate the CEO bubble that lots of voters have had experience working under executives who “know business” and don’t think they need to know anything about the specific business, and it’s never a positive experience.
Todd
I knew the clown was from the conservative tradition the moment I heard the smarmy tones of condescending concern emanating from his face. They never fail to display it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Hirschfield
The Red Pen
@Brachiator:
Rule of Acquisition #89: Ask not what your profits can do for you, but what you can do for your profits.
buckethead
@FlipYrWhig:
Not only does he not know it’s an insult, that “Question” was posed long before the Q&A started, and he “answered” it after it ended (below the “That’s all for this Q&A” box). Meaning that he was done with the post but just couldn’t resist going back and preening about this.
Redshift
@MattF: Er, I think he was speculating on their thinking, not trying to describe reality.
rlrr
@Zifnab:
The Udall family and Harry Reid being notable exceptions…
MonkeyBoy
@MattF:
I didn’t say that Jews would actually vote for Romney because a rabbi told them to, just that that seems to be the strategy behind having rabbis pontificate on domestic issues.
On the other hand when you read a column by a Black pundit saying something like “Blacks shouldn’t vote for Obama just because he is black”, the intended audience in not Blacks but instead Whites who come away confirmed in the opinion that a lot of Obama’s support is just racial.
Davis X. Machina
Baruch ataha ha Shuk, ha dayan emet.
joes527
@buckethead: Just think. We were present for the birth of a new internet tradition. Thanks DougJ!
TR
It is depressing as hell that these idiots keep mistaking that sarcasm as praise.
TR
I see I’m like the 12th person to point that out.
But seriously, keep doing this and see how many of these idiots bite. Then publish the results and mock the fucking shit out of them.
Alistair
I can’t remember who said it first, but when Republicans say they will run the country like a business, they mean they will burn it down for the insurance money.
Linda Featheringill
Ah, Rabbi.
I think you may be in error.
There was a Jew that lived a long time ago, before the Diaspora, who taught that it was impossible to serve both God and money at the same time.
I think you may have slipped over the line a little bit.
TruthOfAngels
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Romney can take Peoria, IL with 100% of the vote, for all it matters.
Peter
@JGabriel: Oh wow, just listen to the panic in their voice as they jump in to wildly claim that NO NO IT’S NOT DON’T TALK ABOUT THAT
kindness
Normally, I can’t read the comments at the WaPo for long as the reichtwingnutz come out of the woodwork and make any kind of conversation less than useful. How is it that only 13 people have asked this Rabbi questions? How is it that someone who is OBVIOUSLY in the tank for Romney can present himself as unbiased and moderate and from the political center. He’s NONE of those things. Why isn’t he getting the WaPo treatment I normally detest?
eemom
@buckethead:
OT, but are you nymed after the guitarist?
Ash Can
@buckethead: HAHAHAHAHAHA!! Oh Doug, you naughty boy, you.
Calouste
All the RC bishops were busy.
RalfW
“a public that continually resists such [class warfare] efforts.”
Really?
CBS, Sept 2011: 56% raise taxes on rich, 37% don’t raise
WSJ, Nov 2011: 60% of poll’s respondents believe the current structure of the economy favors a small portion of the rich over the rest of the country
April 2012: The majority of Americans believe that the wealthy among us pay too little in taxes–62 percent, according to the latest Gallup poll
So which public is it that resists such class warfare? That would be the rich part of the public, at about 10% of the income distribution, plus most of the tinfoil hat 27%ers.
There’s your resisters. If a president won an election 56-37 (+7% clueless), he or she would be rightly said to have stomped the rival. I’d say taxing the rich (aka class warfare if you’re a Villager) stomps the current bullshit status quo.
Forum Transmitted Disease
I bowed to your troll-fu the first time you got a bite with this.
Now two scalps? Well…these people live in a bubble.
Oddly enough, both the partisan left and right are correct about one thing…both sides do NOT do it. It’s pretty much all on one side. Now, we know who’s at fault in our political system, but a wise teacher of mine taught me that history was written by the winners and not the losers, so I guess we have to wait for the aftermath of the next Civil War to find out who was right.
MTiffany
I haz a qwerstshun ’bout what that thar Hannitymann said ’bout “We once made a promise to Israel as country that we would never ask them to go back to pre-’67 borders.” When the f*ck exactly did ‘we’ make that promise? I recall no such promise being made by me. Is Hannity just lying again?
I remember Netan-yahoo telling President Obama that Israel WOULDN’T go back to pre-’67 borders, or is that just how it works in GOP-land? Once the Israeli PM dictates something, US Presidents are bound to uphold it forever and ever?
Alexandra
Never.
slippy
@eric:
Oh, my fucking god. Someone call a waaaahmbulance!
Redshift
@kindness: Perhaps because the wingnuts aren’t attacking one of their own?
rikyrah
the more they come up with this bullshyt, the more I know that the President’s team’s strategy IS WORKING.
SatanicPanic
@jl: Yes, I want a running list of all the dummies that fall for that one. Add —- David Broder to the lexicon
gene108
@eric:
Driving to grab a quick lunch today. NPR had on two women to talk about the Presidential election. One is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalism professor from UGa and the other is a blogger for U.S. News (I think) and former speech writer for papa Bush.
In a nutshell, you have one brazenly partisan hack trying to slant everything pro-Romney – and she was good, very smooth at attacking Obama and not coming of all Rush-esque angry – while the poor professor really didn’t know, whether to rebut the partisan hack or try to not take sides.
What the partisan hack said that struck me as interesting is Obama’s using a page from Karl Rove’s playbook to attack Romney about his work history at Bain, just like Rove went after Kerry’s service during the Vietnam war.
Now most folks will hear this and think, boy there’s some similarity there, since Bain’s Romney’s strength and Kerry’s military service was his strength, without using the critical evaluation technique of is Obama lying about Romney’s tenure at Bain and were the Swiftboat Vets telling the truth about Kerry.
Note Rove didn’t attack Kerry’s service record. No one on the Bush, Jr. re-election team said anything other than they honor Kerry’s service. It was a totally unrelated and uncoordinated attack by some group from Texas – Swiftboat Vets, I think it was – that started the line of attack.
Anyway, to wind up this rant, look for a lot of “both sides do it” arguments or “a page from Rove’s playbook” reasoning as the basis of Republican counter arguments against Obama’s attacks about Romney’s tenure at Bain. Republicans aren’t going to be talking about what Bain Capitol actually did or the fact Romney changed Bain Capitol’s business strategy after they started funding start ups, like Staples, in order to make a quicker buck by raiding undervalued companies and selling them off.
JenJen
I’ll tell you when it’ll get old, DougJ. On the 12th of Never, that’s when.
And ya don’t stop…!
RalfW
Oh, and can I just say, Ken Rudin of NPR is exactly why I’ve come to hate NPR. Total Villager crap about Obama doing so poorly in KY and AR.
Useless, contextless twaddle = Totebagger kibble.
JGabriel
DougJ @ Top:
LOL’d literally.
I don’t know if it will ever get old. It’s one of those jokes that gets funnier the more times people fall for it.
“The (insert adjective) David Broder” construction will become a meme before it grows old.
.
Gex
@Comrade Dread: Beautiful summary of what has happened to the working class in this country over the last 30 years.
rlrr
@Zach:
I’m trying to figure out the best way to make folks recognize that MBA/CEO is not a particularly good qualification for President.
Just point them to the last MBA/CEO President…
Trinity
Doug J…You are BRIL.
David Hunt
The question answers itself, Doug. Having a Romney surrogate shilling for him while posing as a non-partisan opinion is the point.
Downpuppy
@Redshift: He took a line from the main editorial – an NBER study of private equity in general – and misread it to be about Bain.
I threw him a rather angry question about that, but didn’t get it sent in time for an answer.
Kay
They have spent three days debating Obama’s political tactic.
“Is it fair?”
I think it’s absolutely “fair” but since when do they give a shit, Republicans or political media, about fair? They’re really now going to claim that fairness is just absolutely a high priority to them?
SteveM
Here are the 67 columns the rabbi has written for FoxNews.com.
Jewish Steel
I don’t see that happening.
eemom
dunno, I think it is seriously sad that a sentient being would feel this way.
Commenting at Balloon Juice Since 1937
prove it, loser.
Is it proper for a rabbi to lie?
...now I try to be amused
HA! I wish you’d called him the “post-punk rabbinical David Broder”. He’d probably still bite.
Nutella
@Redshift:
No. If the Bain-infested companies had the same “percent of jobs lost per company” as the non-Bain-infested companies it would say that Romney created exactly zero jobs.
The truth is that he destroyed a lot more jobs than he ‘created’ but the best they can incorrectly claim is that his effect on jobs was a wash.
trollhattan
Was eating a carrot when I read this. Any idea how hard it is to pick carrot bits out of a keyboard. Damn you, Broder, damn you all to heck! [Shakes fist at cloud.]
slag
Holy shit, DougJ, this schtick of yours is really getting good. If you can keep doing this and collecting responses to this same question, you will have a real dataset to work with. You’re becoming a secret agent here. Fuck waterboarding–this is apparently how you get people to reveal their most damning information!
FlipYrWhig
@Commenting at Balloon Juice Since 1937: Yes, as George Tierney Jr. of Greenville South Carolina explained, it’s called “Chakira.”
The Red Pen
@eric:
A Rabbi said this? Judaism is very circumspect about an afterlife. Concepts of Heaven and Hell were introduced into Christianity by Manichean converts. Does this Rabbi understand which religion he’s supposed to be representing? His or his corporate master’s?
gene108
@FlipYrWhig:
Because Ronald Reagan said in his 1981 inauguration speech, “Government is the problem” and several generations of Americans have taken this to be gospel truth.
If Reagan had said, “kick yourself in the nuts”, I’m sure many people would be doing so on a regular basis.
It is not for not the right-wingers deify Reagan.
Nutella
@Calouste:
And all the Mormon bishops are being kept 100% away from the press until after election day.
D-boy
That level of trolling will never get old
trollhattan
@eemom:
Today, Broder; tomorrow, Breitbart. There’s a progression, you know.
Brooklyn Michael
@JGabriel:
This is correct. Until the Villagers clue in on the fact that they’re being mocked, not praised, “You’re like the ___________ David Broder” will never, EVAR grow old. To the meme, and beyond!
Randy P
@Suffern ACE: It would be fun to hear Romney quote Sun Tzu. When Dan Quayle’s handlers (yeah, that was a while ago) tried to fight the dummy image, they had him quoting Plato. That phase didn’t last long. It just made people laugh harder.
mdblanche
Sheesh, quit trying to make me feel sorry for this guy and his low self-esteem.
MattF
@MonkeyBoy: OK. My stupid.
JWL
Lest We Forget: What about Romney’s Swiss bank accounts/overseas investments?
If the shoe was on the other foot, and a democratic presidential candidate refused to disclose that information, does anyone doubt that the republican party would accuse that candidate of being in the pay of a foreign power?
Mark S.
I watched the video and Hannity starts his question to the rabbi with:
When the fuck did we ever do that? Since every president has endorsed the two-state solution, that promise would make it pretty fucking impossible, unless the two-state solution means all the Palestinians move to Jordan.
Arrik
“post-punk David Broder”
“rabbinical David Broder”
keep up the good work, Doug
Dave S.
I especially like that Hirschfeld had already signed off on the discussion, but found the time to answer just one more question. Beautifully done, and please don’t stop; just leave Toms Sietsema and Boswell alone.
catclub
@SteveM: “Here are the 67 columns the rabbi has written for FoxNews.com”
I think it is Dean Baker that calls the Post Fox on Fifteenth.
catclub
@MTiffany: Nobody answers either when I ask how many mutual defense treaties we have with Israel,
and how many we have with Turkey.
[ 0, 1 — NATO]
Zach
@rlrr: “Just point them to the last MBA/CEO President…”
That’s sort of the point — http://romneyorbush.tumblr.com/ — sometimes I feel like the only oen who remembers that Rumsfeld’s nomination was universally lauded because he was going to bring his cowboy brand of no-nonsense efficiency from his perch as Alcoa CEO to the Department of Defense.
Villago Delenda Est
Too fucking stupid to be allowed to continue to live.
Villagers have NO FUCKING IDEA how much Broder was loathed outside their vile little inbred ghetto.
Villago Delenda Est
@gene108:
I stumbled over this a couple of times, before I realized that it should be “It is not for naught that the right-wingers deify Reagan”
rlrr
@Nutella:
And all the Mormon bishops are being kept 100% away from the press until after election day.
Including Romney?
Raven
Romney Pledges to Simplify Federal Student Aid and Revive Bank-Based Lending
rlrr
@Randy P:
When Dan Quayle’s handlers (yeah, that was a while ago) tried to fight the dummy image, they had him quoting Plato.
Especially when Quayle ended up quoting Mickey Mouse’s dog.
Svensker
A very good friend — a classic NY liberal Jew, total Dem, total Obama supporter — sent me this today saying it was great and a shame Obama’s people don’t listen to this guy.
I am beginning to understand Pol Pot — reeducation camps for the win!
Mark S.
@MTiffany:
Whoops, missed your comment.
I like the good rabbi’s answer for those pensions Bain destroyed:
I doubt Bain’s taxes contributed “billions to public employee funds,” unless Bain was a helluva lot more profitable than I thought it was. But that’s an interesting moral two-step there:
This company polluted the water and a bunch of people got cancer. But this company was so profitable that a lot of their taxes went to Medicaid, so it’s all good.
Dave S.
@rlrr: Or the girl from “Diff’rent Strokes.”
George Tierney of Greenville, South Carolina
Oy Vey!
Meshugana rabbi defending vulture capitalism. Thanks, zayde! Way to reinforce centuries old stereotypes.
fucking kapo.
PeakVT
Moar. That will never get old.
taylormattd
GAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH
George Tierney of Greenville, South Carolina
@Svensker: your friend has a problem with criticizing vulture capitalism? why? vulture capitalism is an affront to our concept of tikkun olam.
LanceThruster
@eric:
*I* am lashon ha-rah!
The rabbi has hurt my feelings by claiming that the potential for hurting someone’s fee-fee’s by making a statement that could be trueis a sin. The insensitivity is in pointing out that people cling to their ignorance with a passion.
Your G_wd’s arms are too short to box with me, rabbi!
The Dark Avenger
Rebbe Korff, he daid:
Baruch Korff (July 4, 1914 – July 26, 1995) was a longtime Jewish community activist. He was politically close to Richard Nixon, and was known as “Nixon’s rabbi.”
Mr Blifil
“Ask Cory Booker?” He really wrote that? Now the Mayor of Newark is the shaman who knows what the electorate are feeling? Hey you know what? Plenty of people “asked Cory Booker” what the fuck he was going on about, and he walked that shit back tout suite.
RP
The ending is obviously great, but what struck me was the tone of his responses to the other questions. He’s amazingly snide and passive aggressive.
Yutsano
@Raven: Uhoh. Willard’s gonna get a shitstorm from the hard right now. He really is in an untenable position isn’t he?
Akmed Achakak
As a sufi mystic who thinks Mitt Romney is an evil douchebag, I demand equal time to expound on my views.
Unsympathetic
That man is not a real rabbi. I demand proof of his semicha!
Both Sides Do It
I know it’s just a coincidence and that the person with the moniker in the chat has never seen a word I’ve written but
I AM GOING TO KILL THAT MOTHERFUCKER FOR SULLYING THE GOOD HANDLE OF “BOTH SIDES DO IT”
Violet
@ DougJ @ top:
Never. Never, never, never. I actually laughed out loud this time.
AA+ Bonds
Everything that Romney did as described is kefira, without a doubt
AND SO
this rabbi is a fucking whore and a living walking insult to all Jews and should be shamed in public by his congregation if they want to claim to be in any way religious themselves
But something tells me he’s one of those Wall Street / K Street ‘rabbis’ who exists to make rich criminals look legit
AA+ Bonds
There are seriously tons of fatass rich-ass rabbis floating around out there telling suits that the Law is a-okay with them lying, cheating and stealing – they are an affront to Jews and the Jewish faith and should be treated with absolute and utter contempt by all Jews
I don’t know what the fuck they teach but it is certainly not Torah
AA+ Bonds
Generally, little fucksticks like “Rabbi” Hirschfield remind me of this
And don’t get me wrong – this scheme of oppression works for liberals too
mjshep
@Chyron HR: No, they’re NOT all pretty much the same. Booker T. Jones was the best keyboard player of the lot.
khead
I just wish I had some fresh kitteh pics to piggyback onto a thread like this one.
I will work on it.
moron
I am aware of all wisdom/spiritual tradtions!
Jay Schiavone
@JGabriel: Also great for knocking out your own teeth.
sdb
@Comrade Dread: Christian Objectivist is the perfect term for the GOP.