Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

In my day, never was longer.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

Their shamelessness is their super power.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

You are here: Home / Beep beep’m beep beep yeah

Beep beep’m beep beep yeah

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But it’s classy because it was a dressage bus:

Today is the day of the dueling mega-speeches on the presidential campaign trail. And reporters waiting around the venue of President Obama’s event were greeted by a Romney campaign bus circling the venue and volubly honking its horn, something you’d expect a rival wrestling team to do to disrupt the other team’s pep talk.

But a Daily Kos commenter used profanity to describe Romney last week, so double technical.

Reader Interactions

80Comments

  1. 1.

    Roger Moore

    Stay classy, Mitt Romney. Lets make sure this kind of thing gets some press every time it happens. People will figure out pretty quickly what kind of person Mittens is.

  2. 2.

    Yutsano

    BOTH SIDES DO IT! OBAMA WAS GONNA BUST UP WILLARD’S SOLYNDRA SPEECH! THE FACT THAT HE DIDN’T JUST PROVES HE’S GOING TO!!

    /wingnut

  8. 8.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Can you imagine the stampede of Democrats–elected and formerly elected–stampeding CNN, MSNBC and The Other Place to denounce this tactic if Obama’s bus did it, or if one 20 year old Obama volunteer brought a vuvuzeela (sp?) to a Romney event?

  10. 10.

    Valdivia

    First: triple points Doug for that title

    Second: if a campaign is a representation of the candidate what does this say about Romney. They are puerile. Stunts and bullying. And the media eats it up like it’s some form of genius?

    Can someone explain it to me please?

  11. 11.

    wesindc

    Have we really devolved to 12 year old tactics in politics now. Duh, stupid question I know.

  12. 12.

    redshirt

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Can you imagine their reaction to any response by the Obama campaign?

    I also think this is a call to arms to the wingnuts – they’ll hear about these disruptions, then take it upon themselves to do the same. Add in some “grassroots” support from the Kochs et al and I could see angry mobs of scooter driving tea partiers clogging the roads to and from any Obama event. Bonus points because Rmoney can deny he’d ever stoop to such uncivil discourse.

  14. 14.

    BGinCHI

    You’d think even the Villagers would get tired of this dick by now. Except for the ones who are also dicks. Which is most of them.

  15. 15.

    4tehlulz

    @Valdivia: The media likes bullies, apparently even more if they second-rate.

    Oh, what he could do with a nuclear arsenal! The media would eat that shit for lunch (before they were vaporized by the counterstrike…).

  16. 16.

    Tavism

    If you have ever canvassed or held signs for a Dem candidate you know that harassment is “go-to” mode for troglodytes who drive by. I always thought the idiots screaming obscenities were actually non-voters*, but apparently they have taken over the GOP.

    *I thought this because if you are out canvassing and you run into GOP campaign canvassers it is usually a pleasant “we’re all in this walking around this god-forsaken corner of New Hampshire together” kinda vibe, so I assumed the idiots are people who really could care less about the campaign.

  17. 17.

    JenJen

    Wait a minute… so who the hell is on this Romney campaign bus? Romney’s supposed to be down here in Cincinnati today; what’s the bus doing in Cleveland?

    Did they seriously dispatch a bus to Cleveland just to heckle and razz the President and those gathered to hear him speak? For fuck’s sake!

  18. 18.

    Mark S.

    That sounds like something Biff would do to Marty McFly’s dad. Except even lamer.

  20. 20.

    celticdragonchick

    As I suggested at LGF, the bus should be greeted by 15 or so Obama fans who stand in the way and rfuse to let the bus pass, and then plaster it with several hundred Obama stickers.

  21. 21.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    This is fitting because I think the thing that drives Republicans the most is spite.

  22. 22.

    pseudonymous in nc

    Rmoney might have the first presidential campaign run on the principle of trolling.

  29. 29.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @JenJen: I say, old top, you can’t expect one to ride the motor coach— the what? is that so? By Jove, how things change– you can’t expect one to ride in a “bus” when there are no press folks about. What’s the point? That behemoth will lurch about, and the fumes are most disagreeable. And having to pose for pictures sharing a bench seat with that odd little Kasich fellow. Distract the ink stained wretches with a bit of fun while one flies in on the small aerocraft and is picked up by a proper motorcar– one does miss the LaSalle mother had, so much leg room!– and driven to the gathering properly.

  33. 33.

    slippy

    @rlrr: A bus is too small for rMoney’s Personal Isolation Tank. He keeps that on his luxury yacht, and is helicoptered in for the brief periods in which he is permitted to expose himself to the open air.

    This is a guy who can’t identify a donut. Jesus. How far off the planet Earth do you have to be?

  34. 34.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    But a Daily Kos commenter used profanity to describe Romney last week, so double technical.

    And then 734 other DKos commenters said “bbbut the parties are exactly the same hhhnnnnh!” (that last is an attempt to transcribe a Reedy Nasal Whine.)

  35. 35.

    Dice

    This stunt speaks volumes about how seriously rMoney takes the job he’s running for. You can’t get rid of creeping fascism after a “game” in the shower; like herpes, it’s just there. Willard illustrates once again the absolute disdain der Recht has for anyone they consider “other,” from Barack Obama on down.

  38. 38.

    celticdragonchick

    @slippy:

    This is a guy who can’t identify a donut. Jesus. How far off the planet Earth do you have to be?

    In his case, the Uncanny Valley became a singularity. No escape is possible…

  39. 39.

    celticdragonchick

    @slippy:

    This is a guy who can’t identify a donut. Jesus. How far off the planet Earth do you have to be?

    In his case, the Uncanny Valley became a singularity. No escape is possible…

  40. 40.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    reporters waiting around the venue of President Obama’s event were greeted by a Romney campaign bus circling the venue and volubly honking its horn

    Oh yeah, that doesn’t smack of desperation at all.

  41. 41.

    gbear

    We need to get a crowd of DFHs to attend Romney events and slowly wave their arms back and forth in the air while chanting ‘All We Are Saaa-yinnnng, Is Die In A Fire.’

  42. 42.

    Valdivia

    @Dice:

    what you said gets pretty much to where my thoughts are. I am so disgusted. Gah.

    @4tehlulz:

    I actually think the Village likes alpha behaviour and this is not Alpha at all it’s juvenile and pranky.

  43. 43.

    Roger Moore

    @gussie:

    Pretty sure we all know what Romney said today.

    We do? This is the guy who can’t decide what his name is, much less what his policies are, so how can we be sure what he was going to say today?

  44. 44.

    RaflW

    Obama: “I will work with anyone in any party who believes we are in this together.” Romney: Bus circling and rudely honking.

    Yep. Cleveland in a nutshell.

  45. 45.

    ksmiami

    And yet, we are still waiting with baited breath to hear a compelling reason for Romney’s candidacy besides daddy issues and that he wants to keep his taxes on offshore accounts low…

    freaking freak

  46. 46.

    Rita R.

    So Josh Marshall thinks juvenile pranks like this amount to “smart politics.” Really? What message does this send to the American people? That President Romney’s going set dog poo on fire and throw it on Iran’s doorstep to get them to stop their nuclear program? That he’s going to prevent an al-Qaida attack by sending 20 unpaid-for pizzas to Ayman al-Zawahiri? That he’s going to get legislation through Congress by pinning the Majority Leader down and cutting his hair — oh, wait, he did that already…

  47. 47.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Forum Transmitted Disease: Josh Marshall says this is a deliberate appeal to the Ditthoheads, Palinites, and other howler monkeys, kinda like playing footsie with Trump. Romney and/or Fernstrom have IOKIYAR figured out.

    @JenJen: until November, it’s always gonna be five o’clock somewhere. Cheers!

  48. 48.

    kindness

    When I first saw this at another blog I wondered why some Obama supporter didn’t just step off the curb in front of Romney’s bus and stop the bus. Or possibly drag a handy Grandma out by her hair in front of the bus and call oneself Romney saving Social Security and Medicare (and stopping the damn bus).

  49. 49.

    Valdivia

    @Rita R.:

    I have stopped paying attention to Josh. He thought in 2008 all through the summer that Obama was a loser candidate. I remember the posts very well. So it doesn’t surprise me he thinks this is smart. God this people are like little children aren’t they?

  50. 50.

    Roger Moore

    @Rita R.:

    So Josh Marshall thinks juvenile pranks like this amount to “smart politics.” Really? What message does this send to the American people?

    I’m not sure he’s right, but you’re missing a major part of his point. The message this sends to most Americans is absolutely nothing, because they still aren’t paying attention to this stuff. The only people who are paying attention right now are people who really care about this stuff. The people who already like Obama (or hate Romney) are going to see this as an asshole stunt by Romney. The people who hate Obama are going to see this as a sign that Romney gets their hate and is going to dial it up to eleven. That’s a message he very much wants to send.

  52. 52.

    Roger Moore

    @kindness:

    When I first saw this at another blog I wondered why some Obama supporter didn’t just step off the curb in front of Romney’s bus and stop the bus.

    Because they knew they were dealing with Republicans, and consequently had no confidence that the bus would stop for them. If honking at Obama’s rally is supposed to make the Republican base think better of Romney, imagine what running a couple of them over with his campaign bus would do.

  53. 53.

    RaflW

    @kindness:

    I think letting the bus go on an on in its rudeness was pitch-perfect.

    Way way back in ’06, about 800 christian whackos came to St. Paul to freak out about gay marriage. They came into the capitol and literally banged on hearing room doors of committees that weren’t hearing a marriage bill.

    It was nuts.

    The following week, 2,000 progressive interfaith people came to the capitol and had a tidy, respectful and even up-beat rally calling on the legislature to vote down the anti-marriage amendment bill (ms. Bachmann’s BTW).

    The rest of the session, legislators I know said the tide turned when members saw the stark contrast between the raving and the respectful.

    Now, there are times when we progressives need to fight like hell. But schoolyard antics like the Romney bus? let ’em screw themselves.

    ETA: 6 years later the ravers got their wish. But 6 years may prove to be the margin, since about 2% per year migrate to pro-lgbt voting.

  55. 55.

    Ash Can

    @celticdragonchick: I saw your comment there, and thought it was a hell of a great idea. And the ensuing discussion of fighter planes landing on the wrong aircraft carriers by mistake and getting covered with squadron stickers and graffiti cracked me up.

  56. 56.

    The Red Pen

    Hulu+ has a “Hulu+ Exclusive” series called Battleground. It’s a pretty funny low-budget “mockumentary” about a fictional Democratic senatorial campaign in Wisconsin. The candidate has a son on the staff who is an incredible moron and basically provides comic relief (sometime the best part of the show).

    This is the kind of campaign stunt he keeps trying to do (and other staffers are dispatched to diplomatically stop him from doing).

    That’s a character, on TV, who is an idiot. This is a real presidential campaign. Amazing.

  57. 57.

    Rita R.

    @Roger Moore:

    I know that’s his argument, but I think the people who hate Obama don’t need college frat-style pranks like this to vote for Romney, they’re going to be first in line at the polls in November regardless. And I wouldn’t be so sure people aren’t paying attention — I’d bet these appearances are leading the local news today in swing-state Ohio and this bus-honking silliness is the sort of thing people would hear about and remember. I don’t know that it would make them believe Romney’s serious and focused on the economy when he’s spending time essentially trying to moon the president.

  58. 58.

    Valdivia

    @The Red Pen:

    I have seen that advertised when I log in and wondered about it. Now I will check it out.

    It amazes me too, even more because people out there think it’s genius.

  59. 59.

    Ash Can

    I’d really, really like to have a president who isn’t a 6th-grader with an attitude problem. Really.

  60. 60.

    gnomedad

    First they came for the wealthy ‘droids, and I didn’t blow my bus horn because I wasn’t a wealthy ‘droid …

  61. 61.

    Emdee

    This is of a kind with Romney paying supporters to heckle Axelrod’s speech in Boston or wherever several days ago. Now that Mittens has purchased the GOP nomination, he literally believes the President of the United States has no right to be heard.

    Someone with a TV producer’s ear should ask if any GOP nominee in the modern era has tried such tactics on a white Democratic nominee…

  62. 62.

    gnomedad

    You can’t blame Rmoney for the behavior of random individuals driving a large bus with the Rmoney campaign on it.

  63. 63.

    RossInDetroit

    @Roger Moore:

    The message this sends to most Americans is absolutely nothing, because they still aren’t paying attention to this stuff.

    The message that this sends to the reporters who were lined up and having their ears assaulted is “you wouldn’t dare call us on this stunt”. And they’re right.

  64. 64.

    Xenos

    A handful of caltrops will go a long way to deal with that sort of bus harassment.

    Also – I just love the use of the term ‘double foul’. It is exactly what they are trying to pull off.

  65. 65.

    Mnemosyne

    @Ash Can:

    You have to admit, it’s pretty impressive that Romney is making W look like a mature and rational adult.

  66. 66.

    Rita R.

    @RossInDetroit:

    Maybe, but this is two events now at which the Romney people have made the reporters’ lives more difficult. They had a hard time hearing Axelrod speak in Boston over the Romney demonstrators, and now, as you say, had their ears assaulted. Not really a smart move to piss off the campaign reporters, because it could come back to bite them in the ass. Remember what the press corps did to Al Gore in 2000 because they didn’t like the food on his plane.

  67. 67.

    Egg Berry

    Someone at LGF dreamed of having Air Force One do a 500 ft flyover at a Romney event. I’d pay good money to see that.

  68. 68.

    MattR

    @Rita R.:

    Remember what the press corps did to Al Gore in 2000 because they didn’t like the food on his plane he is a Democrat.

    FTFY

  70. 70.

    Amir Khalid

    Let’s see what kind of campaign leader Mitt is. Let’s see if whoever is behind this juvenile stunt gets their sorry childish ass booted off the campaign.

    Mitt ought to show he understands that, as a presidential candidate, he must do more than constantly gainsay his opponent on vision and policy. He must conduct himself like a president, and exact from his campaign that they too must conduct themselves properly. Because their conduct reflects on his judgement in hiring them.

    This is one of the many little pop quizzes, if you will, of presidential quality that Mitt is facing along the way to November. He hasn’t been doing particularly well on them.

  71. 71.

    RedKitten

    This is a guy who can’t identify a donut. Jesus. How far off the planet Earth do you have to be?

    Yeah, has anybody else noticed that since Romney became a contender, that all of the trash-talk about Obama being an arugula-eating elitist has screeched to a complete and utter halt?

  74. 74.

    AliceBlue

    My nomination for the Romney campaign song:

    The wheels on the bus go round and round
    round and round, round and round,
    The wheels on the bus go round and round
    All through the town.

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