I’m less and less crazy Josh Marshall’s “bitch slap theory of politics”, both because the term makes me uncomfortable (all the time I’ve spent around you militant feminists in the comments, I guess) and because I think he exaggerates its importance somewhat. But he’s certainly right that when Romney hides behind Glenn Kessler’s skirt he doesn’t look much like the Ericksonian ideal of a rugged frontier tough guy:
There’s a meta-politics Obama is playing by slashing at Romney with suggestions he might be a felon. He’s wounding Romney, who is clearly rattled and angry about the charges, but just as clearly can’t defend himself or strike back. As I’ve noted many times, a thick layer of presidential politics (in a way that’s distinct from US politics at really every other level) resides at the brainstem level of cogitation — with gambits to assert power and demonstrate dominance. Obama looked in control of this situation; Romney didn’t.
[….]This is and will remain a low single digit race. But the President’s team is making Romney look shifty and silly and weak.
The Obama campaign is doing a great job with this issue, so give them some money if you can.
Jon
If it makes you feel any better, it’s a description not an endorsement of bitch slapping, and I think it’s a fairly accurate one on a number of levels, largely *because* it is ugly and about dominance. Also, whether you like it or not, it’s a convenient cultural reference that people who went to worse colleges than you would understand.
smintheus
Hardly anything new in the observation that you put your opponent on the defensive any way you can. LBJ, “pig f^cker”, and all that.
Jon
I love how DougJ doesn’t like the term “bitch slap,” but then proceeds to use the phrase “hide behind the skirt.” Those militant feminists obviously have not completed your training, young Jedi.
quannlace
Romney and crew have really handled it badly. Veering from refusing to talk about it, denial, then whining about it ( asking for apology about Obama’s mean comments; trying to get the Globe to retract the story.) And then his sit downs with all the major news channels where he just keeps repeating the same lines, no matter what the question is.
Do the people on his staff actually get paid for all this expert stratee-geree?
HE Pennypacker, Wealthy Industrialist
Ponied up some money. Go team blue.
DougJ
@Jon:
I don’t see how “hide behind the skirts” is sexist. It’s a child running to his parent, in this case the mother.
JCT
@quannlace:
Even if they were making good suggestions there is no evidence that Romney would listen. I don’t think he takes direction “well”.
AliceBlue
I read about Mitt demanding apologies and retractions and I can’t help but think “isn’t this what the Democratic candidate usually does?”
Mino
I thought the optics of his sitdown interview were very weak-looking.
And, did his clothing give a first impression of a Thurston Howell III ascot? I had to look twice. But maybe that’s just me.
Mino
@Jon: PC is haaard.
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
this thread is a k-hole.
navigator
This is working.
I live in a red area of NC, and the local newspaper comment boards are a reliable catalog of the latest rightward spin. When their partisans think they’re winning an issue, they personally attack those who disagree. But on this they’re confused and attempting to bring up the old “the left hates business” line. This resonates not only at the factual level, but the “hate that our guy is looking prissy in response” level. They do not identify with Romney, and in fact, dislike him as much as everyone else. Keeping their enthusiasm low is important.
Keep it up. If you’re explaining, you’re losing.
Valdivia
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/07/14/obama_responds_to_romney_request_for_apology.html
booom!
I so love this team Obama.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@DougJ: You are correct, and it is not sexist, imho as a female. Also, nice nod to the 50th anniversary of their 1st show, July 12, 1962 (I forget what venue).
shortstop
@quannlace: Their choices are strictly limited, given that Mitt ran Bain until 2002 and everyone knows it,
so they’re reduced to trying to brazen it out with cries of victimhood. Even so, as Marshall says, demanding apologies and retractions you don’t have the power to get screams weakness. I can see how they jumped on the “possible felony” line to bemoan Obama’s terrible incivility–the Village loves that shit–but I don’t understand what they thought they had to gain by a second ludicrous demand for a media retraction. It makes them look like crybabies, it pisses off the media…and the approval it engenders among the “see how librul the media is!” crowd can’t be enough to offset that.
handy
I think a good nick for Kessler at this point would be WaPo Bob.
“Their infidels are committing suicide by the hundreds on the doors of Romney campaign buses. Be assured, the governor’s campaign is safe, protected.”
the Conster
My google-fu is too weak now, but there’s a clip of an interview Obama gave at one of those newspaper editorial boards in 2008 where he said very calmly that he likes to work with people and collaborate, and then when asked about what if he doesn’t get his way? Obama calmly said, “then I crush them”, flashed that dazzling smile and laughed. I remember seeing that and thinking I wouldn’t want to be crushed by Obama, because you’d never.see.it.coming. Oh, imagine Mitt’s inner circle right now as he’s preparing to leave for the Olympics to watch his wife’s dancing horse after whining on all 4 networks. Republicans hate effete dandies, and look at what they’ve got to work with.
TaMara (BHF)
What’s he mean by this?
I’ll be in a very red state later this month, can’t wait to see what the temperature is there..and I’m not talking weather.
shortstop
@DougJ: Have you ever heard it applied to a female? I’ve only ever heard it used to insult males.
taylormattd
Me too. It makes so-called progressive bloggers desire candidates who do nothing but scream at the TV.
To them, the yelling and screaming is the end goal.
Step (1): Candidate X proves they are part of the democratic wing of the democratic party by leeeeeeedership / balls / bullypulpit / screaming on TV;
Step (2): …….
Step (3): Single payer, etc.
NonyNony
@TaMara (BHF):
He means that the final difference between Obama’s and Romney’s vote tallies will be in the single digits. Less than 10% in the popular vote count, and less than 10% in the swing state vote count as well.
He’s right – the absolute best I expect Obama to hit is about 54%. Romney 45%, Obama 53%, Miscellaneous Third Party 1%. (That would be better than ’08, where Obama only hit 53% and McCain managed 46%, but Romney is less likeable than Grampa McCain was). If Obama beats Romney by more than 10% we’re looking at a blow-out, and I wouldn’t predict a blow-out with this economy.
patrick II
@DougJ:
I don’t think I have ever heard a woman accused of hiding behind someone else’s skirt, so it is not a “child” hiding, but a “boy child” hiding behind his mother’s skirt.
dmsilev
@TaMara (BHF): He means that the race will remain close to evenly split, with only a few percentage points separating the two candidates.
Jewish Steel
@DougJ: You’re saying my Utilikilt makes me a mother?
different-church-lady
That’s because Romney is shifty and silly and weak.
NonyNony
@patrick II:
That’s the usage I’m familiar with. I can’t think of a woman being accused of hiding behind someone’s skirt. Also there doesn’t seem to be an equivalent of a child hiding behind their daddy.
I’ve long considered it to be in the “you’re so weak and afraid you have to have a woman do your fighting for you” category of insults. Which means that the putting Glenn Kessler into the skirt for this analogy layers the sexism on to me as well.
amk
well doug, talking of bitch slapping, hope this latest one on apology doesn’t get your knickers in a twist.
RaflW
Seemed like the consensus on Uppers this morning was that Obama was being un-Democratic in the Bain-Romney fight. As in, not being a softie who pulls punches.
This has disoriented the Romney campaign. They did not expect Rove-style politics. Of course, the Obama campaign is owning the attack, unlike the Swiftboating or Willie Hortoning, both of which had to be done by “outside” groups. [And they’re not lying their asses off, like the Swiftboaters did.]
This morning’s Obama campaign ad with Mitt warbling America the Beautiful is a devastating ad, and it has Obama opening with “I approve this message” so there’s no chickeshit hiding behind SuperPACs, even.
I think the GOP is shocked that a Democrat is bringing a Mac-9 to a gun fight, when they expected a butterknife. So the Village will be super-shrill on tomorrow’s TV bullshit-fests about Obama breaking the fine china and sullying the carpets at 1900 Pennsylvania and how that’s never, ever happened before.
The clucking disapproval and pearl-clutching will be thick as mucus. And you know what that means: it’s working.
slag
@Jon: Agreed.
And I agree with DougJ on dislike for the Marshall theory. But I’m trying to reconcile that dislike with the enjoyment I get from watching Rmoney twist himself like a pretzel. I think my enjoyment is related to the fact that Republican rhetoric–in particular–relies so heavily on simple-mindedness and yet here Rmoney is trying to deal in a murky, nuanced world. And it’s a world of his own creation, in this case. Maybe it’s a schadenfreude theory of politics? But that doesn’t take into account the irony of the thing. How about the “karmic retribution” theory of politics? Though Buddhists may object to that.
patrick II
Political bitch-slapping can be important. I think it is the main reason we had George Bush for president twice. Bush v Gore and Bush v Kerry both had the air of the tough guy doing what it took to keep the wimps out of office.
shortstop
@NonyNony: I don’t think it will be anywhere near the seven-point shellacking of 2008 (which was excellent given that presidential races are almost always under two-pointers in non-incumbent years). I think this will be a two- or three-point race nationally, with a lopsided electoral vote…probably 303 Obama.
the Conster
People like winners, it’s just that simple. Just win, baby. The fact that your guy is a smart charming cool smooth dude, and your opponent is a douchey lying shitweasel just makes it all that much sweeter to watch. Bitch slap away, O Team.
NonyNony
@slag:
I know that my dislike for Marshall’s idea stems from the fact that I don’t want it to be true. I really, really don’t want to believe that our political process for selecting a president boils down to a reality show competition where the one who makes the other look “weakest” wins.
I know that’s simplistic – that that smacking-around stage of the campaign is just for that final 1/3 of the population who don’t have their minds made up before August. Still, I don’t like the idea that 1/3 of the election process is two alpha primates banging their chests and howling and trying to force the other one to blink and run away.
That said – there’s a difference between me not liking a theory and the theory not being true. The older I get, the more it looks like what goes on in a political campaign is a combination of alpha primates throwing shit at each other while howling madly and the price of gas the week before election day. It’d be depressing, if I didn’t know that the alternatives we have amount to dictatorship to one degree or another, where we don’t even get the input based on the price of gas and how well the primates howl.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@NonyNony: My sense has always been that it’s an image of a skittish child, who needs to hide behind the parental authority figure. Rooted in old gender stereotypes, sure but for me the focus in on the immaturity and fearfulness. I recognize that opinions differ.
TaMara (BHF)
@NonyNony: Thanks. So in other words, if Obama wins the election with these numbers, he can declare he’s has received an election mandate?
NonyNony
@shortstop:
I wouldn’t think so either – 45% is Romney’s floor, and that’s the WORST he should expect to do.
That said – Romney really is trying his damnedest to make it a 7% or more spread.
NonyNony
@TaMara (BHF):
Only if he’s going to change his political party to “Republican”.
For a Democrat to get a mandate, the President has to win by 12%, the House has to be Democratically controlled and the Senate must have 66+ Democrats seated. Anything less and it’s obvious that the will of the people is bi-partisanship.
amk
@the Conster: +1. Fuck the pearl clutchers. Also. Too.
slag
@NonyNony: I agree with much of your argument. But, in this case, I’m not as interested in Obama’s dominance, so I don’t think the Marshall theory is the reason for my own reaction (and I am not a precious snowflake–as far as I know). My attention is more focused on Mitt Rmoney here. It’s his weakness that’s more interesting than Obama’s strength. In this case, Obama just appears to be adding an assist every now and again–not doing all the work. Leading from behind, if you will. Is that contrary to the Marshall theory?
Valdivia
@slag:
I don’t want to go there but–bitch-slap from behind?
burnspbesq
What I would say if I were Obama:
“I should apologize? Wait a sec. I’m not the one who told two completely different stories to two Federal agencies, and told both of those stories under penalty of perjury. I think the American people have a right to ask Governor Romney which of those two stories was a lie. And if he’s willing to lie under oath to a Federal agency, why wouldn’t he lie to the American people about his plans for America?
“My fellow Americans, the issue is trust. Do you trust Mitt Romney?”
Valdivia
@burnspbesq:
they kicked him hard and good with the apology thing. See amk’s link upthread (or mine, which says boom)
RaflW
@the Conster:
There has got to be a mole or some way of getting word out about what happens at the very expensive American expat fundraiser Mitt is planning in London. It just smacks of Swiss bank accounts and Cayman tax dodges.
It may be perfectly legal to shake down fellow American (and green card) globe-trotters in London, but the optics are terrible given the current framing. Hee hee.
slag
@Valdivia: Yeah. That’s not the most plausible scenario. And also…ick.
amk
@burnspbesq: That’s exactly what he has been in all those interviews. His ads say it more pugnaciously.
shortstop
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Except that it’s very often employed in reference to a man hiding behind his wife’s skirts, and sometimes–as in the case of Nixon and his daughter Julie, his staunchest public defender–to his own child’s. It seems to have more to do with gender roles than with parent-child relationships. Either way, it’s intended to impugn a perceived lack of
masculine autonomy.
DougJ
@patrick II:
By that reasoning, “wimp” and “candy ass” are also sexist because they’re only applied to men.
Lavocat
Stop. Just stop. You’re waaaaaay overthinking this meta bullshit.
Boys and girls, here’s what it comes down to: a black man is president and he is calling his rich, white male challenger out as the fucking FELON he very probably is!
Think about that for a minute. The black president is calling the white challenger a criminal.
‘BOUT FUCKIN’ TIME, Y’ALL!
That’s about as hardcore, as in-yer-fuckin’-face as you can get in American politics, circa 2012.
Keep it comin’! I like this new Obama!
Lavocat
And, by the way, that sound you heard?
Yeah, that was ‘Bama bitchslapping Mittens.
Haydnseek
@navigator: Their enthusiasm may be low, but sure as shit they’ll turn of FuxNews long enough to vote for Rmoney on election day. Do you really think they’ll stay home? Fuck no, not as long as Blackie McMuslim is in the picture…
Peter
I’m honestly not so sure it WILL be a single-digit election. Maybe it’s the hopeless optimist in me speaking, but I really think we could be looking at a campaign implosion in its early stages. It’s not so much the Bain thing itself (although that is a Big Fucking Deal, and is the sort of thing that can play out over months) as the slow, inept, downright whiny way the Romney campaign’s responding. If they keep acting like this and Obama keeps kicking them in the balls like this, things could very well fall apart, especially if they don’t make a really solid VP choice. And if the UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH starts to sense that Romney is a loser, they might decide to hitch their wagons downstream, in House and State elections. That would be like pulling the plug on a terminal patient.
Wishful thinking? Maybe so. But I gotta say, things are looking up right now.
Robin G.
@NonyNony:
Really? I’ve heard lots of examples of girls who “run crying to Daddy”. Not so much their moms, though. It’s something about running to your opposite gendered parent; not sure what it means, though there *is* a visceral suspicion in my mind that it’s sexist. Who knows.
Anyway, I don’t particularly mind the term bitch-slap, because (as was said above) it’s referring to a down-in-the-dirt kind of method, and is pretty representative of what’s being accomplished. Obama wants to make Romney look like his bitch, in exactly the way that slang resonates with the electorate. To call it something else would be PC but less accurate, I think.
And I’m loving it. I’d have problems if the method was being used for fake issues or flat lies (ie, swiftboating), but it’s brutally competent politics about real problems in Romney’s history, ones *he* brought up by saying his Bain tenure qualified him for President. After years of wishing to God that Democrats would show half the political competence of the Republican war machine, this is like Christmas.
Haydnseek
@NonyNony: Wouldn’t predict a blow out? Hell, I don’t even predict an Obama victory given the breathtaking stupidity of the current electorate, voter suppression, and Citizens United. I wish I shared your optimism.
amk
@Lavocat: This. Rest is all navel gazing bullshit.
NonyNony
@Robin G.:
I think this is a salient point. Democratic voters have historically been squeamish about their candidates “getting down into the mud” with the political attacks. But this is a political attack based on stuff that Romney brought up himself and that are salient to the reasons he claims he’s qualified to run for president.
This isn’t about bagging on Romney’s religion, or digging in the dirt to find out if he once paid for a girlfriend’s abortion, or some other personal attack. This is a rebuttal of Romney’s own public claims. That makes it “fair” to people who are likely to vote Democratic. And makes it different from other “unfair” more “personal” attacks that Democratic voters tend to be uncomfortable with.
catclub
@burnspbesq: What I would say if I were Obama:
The Pakistanis asked us to apologize for sending a Seal Team to kill bin Laden. We didn’t.
NonyNony
@Haydnseek:
I have quite a few Republican family members. A few of them are starting to talk about writing in Ron Paul because Romney is so awful. They know it’s a lost cause, but they’d rather “vote their conscience” than give a vote to Romney.
I don’t think you quite understand just how little difference there is between a Black Muslim Elitist Liberal and a Fake Conservative Elitist Mormon in the eyes of some Republicans. Plenty of Republicans have spent decades hating “liberal elites” and here’s a guy who was a) governor of Taxachussets and b) acts more elitist than the Queen of England. They. Don’t. Like. Him.
Haydnseek
@Lavocat: I agree. I’d like him more if he would say it louder and more often. He has the bully pulpit, so let’s get our bully on.
Catsy
@NonyNony:
FTFY.
Ben Cisco
Oh Miiitttt, come out to play-i-ay…
Joey Maloney
@NonyNony:
Just take a moment to look at that sentence. Let the meaning soak in to your consciousness.
We truly are living in a wondrous age.
J.D. Rhoades
I’ve been saying for weeks that at LEAST 3/4 of Obama ads should be about his flip-flopping and proven lies and end with the blunt tagline: “You can’t trust Mitt Romney.”
You can deplore “nasty” political ads and “name calling” all you want, but the fact is, they work. They worked against Jon Kerry, and they worked against Al Gore. If the Obama team has the stones to keep this up, they’ll beat Romney.
Haydnseek
@NonyNony: Point well taken. I don’t have your experience with red state republicans, with the exception of some rarely seen relatives, so I thank you for pointing out some things I might not be aware of, as I live in Los Angeles and am willing to admit that if I’m not careful I can unwittingly inhabit my own version of the bubble. Do you really think they’ll write in Ron Paul? I hope you’re right, but I just see so much raw hatred for Obama out there that I can’t get past the idea that red state repubs will do ANYTHING to beat him. Like I said, I hope I’m wrong.
AkaDad
I don’t wear a uniform, so I’m just a regular feminist.
gf120581
@NonyNony: Very true. To put it mildly, nobody outside his family and/or his income bracket likes Mitt. Nobody is voting for him because they like him, they’re voting for him so they can vote against Obama.
Unfortunately for Mitt, “vote for me because the other guy sucks” is not a winning strategy unless the other guy is completely loathsome.
rikyrah
@the Conster:
here it is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZC8C_JH2eQc
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@J.D. Rhoades: The key difference here is that unlike the “nasty attacks” used against Gore and Kerry, these ads use demonstrable facts, some of which involve sworn statements. Quite a salient contrast.
Hal
Not candidates don’t win elections. John Kerry found that out the hard way in 2004. Mitt Romney’s only selling point at this time is he’s not Obama, but so much of the electorate still blames Bush in the majority for the condition of the economy that not being Obama will only appeal to people who weren’t going to vote for him in the first place.
So no, I don’t expect Obama to win 60-40, but acting like 52 or 53% is great is glass half full mentality. How many Presidents win by 10 points or more in any election? Hell, Saint Ronnie only got 50.1% of the popular vote in 1980.
rikyrah
@Lavocat:
.
I’m with you. I was tickled….LYAO tickled, listening to Democrat Jim Clyburn cast aspersions at Mitt Romney’s love for America because he has accounts offshore.
” How can he be for America, if he keeps his money outside the country?”
Clyburn asked in that folksy southern accent, putting the shiv into Willard.
Oh, the utter delight of seeing Democrats QUESTIONING THE PATRIOTISM OF A GOP NOMINEE.
Waving that American flag…
makes me smile now, just thinking about it.
Turgidson
Not sure I agree with Marshall about this. Unless a shock to the economy throws Mitt a life preserver, I think Obama wins by 5 or so points nationally and nearly sweeps the swing states with room to spare and dominates the EC.
Romney has been nailed to the wall as a liar on forms signed under penalty of perjury and by his own words and on top of that is proving to be a total fucking amateur now that he’s in the big leagues against the O team. I think Obama’s already-somewhat-stable lead gradually widens with each new uppercut he lands to Mitt’s glass jaw. It won’t be a landslide simply because of how many knuckledraggers there are who won’t vote for that boy. But he’s gonna win easily unless something big happens to shake up the race, IMO.
NonyNony
@Haydnseek:
Some of them, yes. And the more Mitt Romney acts like Mitt Romney, the more they might be swayed to do the same.
The thing you have to understand is that racism doesn’t motivate 100% of the Republican party’s voters. It may (sadly) not be a demotivator either, but just saying “BLACK MAN IN THE WHITE HOUSE”, while a motivator for a good-sized chunk of the GOP, isn’t getting everyone worked up.
The GOP voters I’m related to have bought into a narrative of hating taxes and hating “liberal elites”, and secondarily voting their “conservative Catholic values” (i.e. anti-abortion, anti-birth control). They vote primarily for candidates who promise to lower their taxes.
They don’t actually believe that Romney will lower their taxes. They believe that Romney is a secret big-government liberal – after all, isn’t that what his record in “Taxachusetts” says?
They also don’t believe he’s actually anti-abortion – they were passing around stuff about Stericycle long before I’d even heard about it and claiming that showed he was willing to profit off abortion “just like Planned Parenthood does” (sigh).
And they don’t like his elitist attitude. To them it confirms that he’s a “liberal elitist”. Most of them have been raised on a steady diet of “liberal elitist” smears and enough logical fallacies that they now believe that if you’re an elitist that means you’re a liberal. When you hear them say that Mitt Romney acts arrogant and smug “just like Al Gore”, well, you know he’s not winning them over.
He may be able to win them over by November. The promise of lower taxes is a strong one, and they may choose to believe it in the end. But right now they’re firmly camped in the “if Mitt Romney loses this time we can run a REAL Republican in 2016” camp, and that makes them more likely to vote for Ron Paul.
ETA: Forgot about the fact that he’s a member of a cult. One of my Republican brothers once flat out told me that he’d have problems voting for Romney because LDS is a cult. I know other members of my family believe that LDS is a cult instead of a “real religion” too, and that’s making it hard for them to commit to pulling the lever for Romney.
WereBear
And they should have seen this coming, because of the way Team Obama worked on McCain in 2008. When they uncorked the Keating Scandal, which happened before the ken of a lot of the electorate, they were ready with a website and a movie and a ton of prepared material; because they knew most people had forgotten about it, or never knew it.
But in the midst of financial scandal, they followed up on McCain’s own weakness in the area with his greatest scandal, which was about finance.
Republicans should have known and respected what they were dealing with. But they prefer to believe their own lies; and they respect nothing.
Villago Delenda Est
Who will be OvenMitt’s beast of burden? Kessler? The morons at FactCheck.org?
mclaren
Fixed:
And by “thick layer,” we mean “99.9999999999999%.”
elftx
a bit off topic but o so relevant to the GOP of today..did anyone notice this?
http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2012/07/13/eastern-iowa-state-senate-candidate-drops-bid-says-she-has-been-appointed-u-s-senator-instead/
Maude
@WereBear:
The Republicans don’t understand respect.
Spatula
@TaMara (BHF):
HELL YES!
Why not? Bush did it with a 1% win over Kerry and no one batted an eye.
The only thing I admire about republicans is their brazen shamelessnes in pursuit of their goals. If only the Dems could…oh well, never mind…
Spatula
@TaMara (BHF):
HELL YES!
Why not? Bush did it with a 1% win over Kerry and no one batted an eye.
The only thing I admire about republicans is their brazen shamelessnes in pursuit of their goals. If only the Dems could…oh well, never mind…
the Conster
@elftx:
What the paper didn’t say was that then the men with butterfly nets came and took her away.
the Conster
@rikyrah:
That’s the one – I was googling Iowa newspapers. If he perceives someone’s taking advantage of his conciliatory nature, he’s a stone cold killer. Look out Mitt. Muchas gracias rikyrah.
Trentrunner
“Bitch-slapping”? Bah.
Wake me when we get to the cunt-walloping.
CarolDuhart2
@Haydnseek: Here’s something that just occurred to me in that vein: They know that even if Obama wins, he goes away in four years anyway regardless of what they do. So the choice is vote for Romney or sit it out and wait for someone else better. They know what they are getting with Obama, and they may not like it, but at least it will come to a definite end regardless of what they do or don’t do. This just might be enough to convince the less than enthused on the Republican side to sit at home and just wait.
That’s one of the reasons why Presidents more often win second terms these days. Folks know that unless the President is a real disaster on wheels, they can wait him out and try with a new clean slate four years later because of term limits. Without term limits, there would be more solidarity and determination to vote so and so out.
pk
@gf120581:
But for republicans the other guy is loathsome. They hate Obama. If Democrats had put up a Romney like figure against Bush I’d have still voted for him. I don’t believe for a minute that republicans will not vote for Romney. Hate is a powerful driving force. And the intensity of their Obama hatred cannot be underestimated.
SFAW
@DougJ:
I think the semantic (or whatever) problem with “bitch slap” and “hiding behind your mother’s skirt”, vis-a-vis sexism, is because they apply a female-specific term (“bitch” and “mother”) to a male.
“Wimp” and “candy-ass” imputes (or maybe ascribes) no sex (or gender, for you candy-asses) to the object of the insult. “Pussy”, on the other hand, does.
Haydnseek
@CarolDuhart2: Well, HE goes away, but Hillary doesn’t, or whoever the Dems come up with next time. The incumbent has a big advantage, the bully pulpit not the least of them. I have seen nothing to indicate that the repubs are willing to throw in the towel and adopt a “wait until next year strategy.” Their hatred of Obama is so intense that they will lie, cheat, steal, and subvert the electoral process to make sure he loses. Just read pk at #83. Well said.
SFAW
@Haydnseek:
Well, maybe if Obama had been more willing to work with them, they wouldn’t hate him so much.
Lavocat
@Trentrunner: Hey now.
But seriously, folks, I LOVE that commercial of Obama’s. The creepiest part is Mittens singing “America The Beautiful” so horribly out of tune. If this Romneybot were given a citizenship test, any takers on whether or not he’d actually pass? NFW.
He’s as out of touch as he is out of tune.
Dammit, he paid good money for that presidency and, by god, he’s gonna have it!