After reading about the Romney campaign’s renewed effort to “vet” the President by attacking President Obama about all of the shit that was discussed back in 2008, does anyone else get the impression that Mitt Romney is one of those guys who is calm on the surface, but scary as fuck behind closed doors? Like, when he powers down, he pulls his Mission Impossible 2-style face mask off, and white doves start flying out of his mouth?
I’m just asking, because the Romney campaign is falling apart and I’m not sure how much more Mitt3PO can stand without going America on everyone’s asses. Certainly, Mitt’s new plan to talk about cocaine, marijuana, Fast and Furious, Solyndra, Goddamn America, and Rod Blagojevich is the dumbest fucking idea I ever heard of.
Look: Nobody whose brain is not attached by electrode to the Fox News Grumpy White Guy Info-station is interested in hearing about that crap anymore. Nobody. If you’re gonna bring up old shit, at least make it interesting. Have Sheriff Joe conduct a taxpayer-subsidized survey of the number of Negroes President Obama has hugged or something. (We know it’s at least one.)
Moreover, how in thee hail are you gonna vet a guy who has served as president for the last 3 1/2 years? It doesn’t make any sense.
It seems to me that Mittroid is used to getting his way. He thought that he would be able to buy this presidency because it’s his turn, dammit. Mitt was willing to play nice (ok, nice-ish), and to stick to low-volume dog whistles and tame microaggressions. But that was before the skinny black guy had the nerve to call him out for making hundreds of millions of dollars off of the backs of American workers, and then lying about it. And then that campaign manager of his, that Stephanie lady, had the nerve to call Mittens a felon. That was over the line, man!
Except she totally did not call him a felon. She merely said what is true: that if Mitt Romney lied on his SEC filings he might have committed a felony.
But if there’s one thing that Republicans do well, it’s irrational victimhood. And Romney is wearing his victimhood like a champion.
Elisabeth
I would have Ms. Cutter’s babies if that was biologically possible. The Romney campaign would have called her a bitch if they thought they could. And then it is one small step to calling POTUS ni-CLANG!
Jay B.
Actually, he’s wearing his victimhood like a total fucking loser. Even the fat whiny core of the GOP seems sickened by it. Maybe they should amp up the Socialist Kenyan rhetoric to show their finely-honed sense of hypocrisy.
NOTE: Romney, if he lied on the SEC filings IS a felon. A moderate born in Honolulu is not in any sense a socialist Kenyan.
the Conster
What’s hilarious is Mitt is having to work like a mofo to appease the people who would never vote for Obama in a million years. Keep fornicating with that fowl, Mittens.
bleh
It seems to me that Mittroid is used to getting his way.
Ya think? Like a guy who has been surrounded by corporate kiss-ups, people who want access to his money, and other assorted yes-men, for his entire adult life? Like, say, Dick Cheney was?
If ever there was an argument that a “CEO president” is exactly what we don’t need, it’s these guys. They simply don’t understand how politics works. They don’t understand how to operate in a system that is not heavily authoritarian. Granted that they are very effective within such a system, but our government is not (thank FSM) such a system, and guys like that are simply ineffective — or worse, see again under Cheney, Richard — when they try to operate in it.
This minor collapse is a testament to the virtues of a public political campaign. FSM help us if ever the candidates can retreat permanently behind a wall of ads and scripted appearances.
MattW
I’m waiting for Romney to have his own Colonel Jessep moment.
Just Some Fuckhead
Mitt knows hazing.
taylormattd
My favorite thing about the “vetting” is how it reads like a list of the smears the Clinton campaign attempted back in 2007 and 2008.
Hey Mitt, give Hillary a call and ask her how that worked out.
jl
“anyone else get the impression that Mitt Romney is one of those guys who is calm on the surface”
But he is not calm on the surface. He always lets his out of control ‘control freak’ flag fly every time I see or hear him.
“but scary as fuck behind closed doors?”
I would say even scarier behind closed doors. Definitely grade AA candidate for a crazy boss.
He reminds me of a few bosses I knew of in my brief transit through the outlying districts of the finance industry realm.
Warren Terra
Obligatory image to accompany the Stephanie Cutter part of the post.
__
(h/t commenter “Joe From Lowell”, in an LGM thread)
jwb
@jl: Just wait until when Mittster’s national poll numbers start to move—that’s when the shit is really going to hit the fan. He’s still at the point where he can think he’s just had a few bad days, glance at the polls and convince himself that it doesn’t really mean anything. Given how close he already is to coming apart at the seams, when those polls do start to move we’re in for a spectacular treat.
General Stuck
I’ve always thought that Romney has a mean streak, even sadistic streak that could be compared to George W Bush in that department. Which when I noticed that in candidate Bush in 2000, during the debates with Gore, got me interested and more involved in politics. I think Romney is scarier than Bush in that department. You can’t trust anything he says, and there is no knowing or even pre guessing who he might decide to please on any given day. And his being tied to the GOP, that is a scary proposition. GWB had no bones to make for the right wing. He was that personified, and therefore, to some degree, having the creds to say no to Dick Cheney for bombing Iran. Though he already had a sea of blood on his hands with Iraq. Mitt is a cypher on anything but making money, totally empty on any and all other human things, imo.
22over7
Does Mitt understand that, if he gets to trot out all the golden goodies from Obama’s mythical past–you know, born in Kenya, Muslim, drug addict, who probably fornicated with white women, and all the other lies–that it’s going to be open season on Mitt, too?
(Note: I started to pontificate at length about the metric tons of shit available to pour down on Mitt, and then remembered that I’m preaching to the choir here. Edited for brevity.)
Does he (or his handlers) really not think about what Axelrod will do if provoked? Does he really think that Joe Arpaio is the target constiuency?
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@bleh:
Not necessarily. I’ve seen on at least two occasions that overzealous authoritarianism and top-down decision-making has the effect of getting all the good middle-level leaders to bail and take another job.
I thought it was pretty clear in the business world that “knowledge workers” don’t respond to that type of leadership. The ones who stick around are the ones with fewer options.
KG
@MattW: if we’re lucky, it’ll be in the middle of his acceptance speech at the convention
ETA: or better yet, at the debates
Ben Cisco
That’s a keeper.
Reality is a hell of a thing to grasp for someone who’s never had to.
And this is just the warmup act.
Bokonon
And yet Romney is closing the gap with Obama in the polls.
I don’t get it. Romney is running a horrible campaign, but people still seem to be voting for him as a referendum on the economy – content be darned, lying be darned, dislikability be darned, Bain Capital be darned …
Turgidson
@Elisabeth:
Me too, and I’m a dude. But don’t tell my wife I said that.
I am crushing a bit on Ms. Cutter lately. She’s one of the best Democratic campaign surrogates in recent memory.
Suzan
Romney reminds me of the boss who fired me. Privledged CEO who demanded deference. He was a mormon too, all sweet and christian like on the outside, but very vicious behind closed doors. I’ll bet I’m not the only one who gets that vibe from Romney.
Is “may have committed a felony” worse than “learn to be an American?”
If its going to come down to “he’s being mean to me”, I nominate one of you to keep a list of all the mean things Romney or his agents have said about Obama.
Omnes Omnibus
@Bokonon: Closing in swing states or just building on his lead in Wingnutland? National polling doesn’t tell us much.
Violet
If they’re calling her a bitch, she’s doing something right.
Evolving Deep Southerner
@MattW: Shit, 47% of this country, at least, would vote for Colonel Jessup.
Turgidson
@Bokonon:
This is the same country that elected a bunch of brain damaged teabaggers to a House majority not two years ago (though not the same electorate as it will be in November). Point being, it’s going to be closer than it has any business being no matter how many times Obama humiliates Mittens. And besides, the Bain offensive is more of a long game strategy than something that wins a news cycle or two. Plus, the past week of getting Mittens pantsed over and over again might not be reflected in the polls yet, if it’s having a short term effect.
Obama’s vulnerable to an unexpected shock to the economy or world affairs, and if the economy is sputtering particularly badly in Sept. and Oct. One or both of these things could happen, admittedly. But I think Obama’s got this race totally under control barring that. He’s consistently led in more than enough swing states to win the election pretty much the whole time, and his campaign is taking Mittens to school daily.
Elisabeth
@Omnes Omnibus:
I hate the focus on national polls, no matter who’s ahead, and that’s half the reason I don’t go to TPM as much anymore.
pattonbt
I think Mitt had no choice but to go full hate (whether he wanted to or not I am not sure – but I think not. Not because he’s such a swell guy, but he’s weak and can’t pull it off and knows it’s mostly phony. He can’t naturally demagogue so a campaign of demagoguing will make him look worse than he is).
The problem for Mitt is his big money backers. They are demanding he “get aggressive”. And they have wanted to howl outloud about OBummer for four years now. They desperately want to hate Obama full on in public, and they can do that through the PACs with no real impact to themselves. But they also really want their candidate to do the same (and thus validate their irrational hatred – see Ruperth Murdoch). They have really come to believe that the are the MOTU and us plebes just arent giving them their rightful due and if we just saw how hideous Obambi was to them, we back them to the hilt. They’va gone off the crazy cliff and have money to spare.
These guys just want to hate on Obama and they gave Romney no choice. Add on to that that Romney has now lost the ability to run on any of his own record (due to his staggering incompetence as a campaigner – and human being), he’s left with nothing else. So it’s going to get bumpy and bad.
I personally dont see this “taking off the gloves” and “vetting” BS getting any traction, and I think it will backfire for the most part, but it will be nasty (I mean cocaine use and Unamerican in the last 24 hours – from official spokespeople no less). I mean, Obama’s been in office for 4 years. He’s known and liked (whether you agree with his policies or not). The 27% just doesnt get that most of America likes O personally.
So since hate is all they have, thats what it will be until the election. Problem is, that cant hold up. And just imagine what the convention will be like.
Imagine Romney on national television trying to bring the hate. He’s bad enough as is but it will be FAIL on a monumental scale.
edmund dantes
Definitely want to keep nailing him to the wall, but where is the part where the guys says she’s done nothing important in her own life (make babies)?
I think I’m missing the dog whistle on this one a little bit or is it in a reference part that is not quoted? Otherwise it just says she’s doing nothing in her life (which definitely is probably false since I’m assuming any person that would get the role she’s in has had some pretty talented things going on in their lives.)
Brian R.
@Bokonon:
And yet Romney is closing the gap with Obama in the polls.
According to the TPM poll tracker, Obama is pulling ahead nationally and also in the electoral college predictions.
polltracker.talkingpointsmemo.com/
TaMara (BHF)
ABL@top – I kinda love you. You have been on fire lately. Don’t stop.
Litlebritdifrnt
I was talking to a Dem friend of mine this morning and we both agreed that if the Obama camp is releasing this stuff about Bain and Taxes and stuff THIS EARLY then it must mean that they have a boatload more to unload. There is no way the campaign would be so inept as to fire their best weapons this early in the battle. As someone quoted Halperin the other day “the republicans are nervous because they know that THERE IS A LOT MORE COMING”. Hell Mittens might be out as the nominee before the convention.
Elisabeth
@Brian R.:
FWIW, newest CBS poll has Romney +1.
yet another jeff
More and more, Mitt is reminding me of John Lithgow’s Trinity Killer on Dexter.
Brian R.
@pattonbt:
Imagine Romney on national television trying to bring the hate. He’s bad enough as is but it will be FAIL on a monumental scale.
That’s an excellent point. He doesn’t have the innate trust of the GOP crowd to get them to follow his lead, and he doesn’t have the political chops to work a hostile crowd.
Violet
@Litlebritdifrnt: That was my call when this broke–when was it? Last week? Two weeks ago? Seems forever. I think this is a massive problem for Mitt and the other Republican candidates don’t want to be tied to someone who’s going to be dead weight. If more comes out about Mitt’s taxes and business practices before the convention, the convention itself could be a chaotic scene.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Brian R.:
The only forecast I look at these days is Nate. He is the master. When I see tweets of reports of the daily polls and stuff which show “narrowing” I wander over to Nate’s and check that POTUS has a 68% chance of winning and calm down.
JGabriel
@Suzan:
Hell, Romney IS the boss that fired me. I worked for one of the companies he shifted to outsourcing/off-shoring in the mid-90s. Just two weeks severance, which is a ridiculously lame severance by NY IT standards.
Personally, it wasn’t a big deal. I didn’t have kids or family to worry about, and I got a new job soon enough. But there really should be a website where people can get a list of all the companies where Bain fired people so people can check to see if they’ve been fired by Mitt Romney.
The number of people Mitt Romney fired over 25 years has got to be in the hundreds of thousand, possibly the low millions.
Edited To Add — They could call the website: DidMittRomneyFireMe.com
.
wrb
Vetting is good.
Where are the tax returns?
Turgidson
@Elisabeth:
This may be totally offbase, but it seems like TPM has some formula that’s pessmistic for Democrats. The occasional bad poll for a Democrat seems to weigh a lot more on the average than a raft of OK to good ones. I have no research to back this up, mind you. I just find myself consistently surprised at their aggregated horse race numbers, vs. the polls I see here and there.
David Koch
Stephanie Cutter is so fucking hawt, when I shook her hand I got 3rd degree burns.
General Stuck
@Bokonon:
Voters aren’t yet processing or even hearing the current pissing matches going on. They are still doing the summer thing. And we have an avidly divided electorate to begin with, and deeper entrenchment for tribal affiliations, than ever before.
They won’t start paying attention until the conventions, and even then, not like they will tune in after Labor Day for the election stretch run. And all these things going on with the Romney camp will be highlighted by Obama, and the fact that IMO, Romney is just not suited for the presidency of the US. He is too brittle and we will see his short fuse on display as well. I don’t think voters will like that, put up beside a guy they like, but wish he’d made the economy recover a little better.
The Obama team drove in the dagger on Mitt’s only claim to qualification to be president, being his business experience, and we are seeing the Romney campaign slowly die from the inside out, and they know it. And why they can’t help themselves but to lash out. And walk into the trap to make this about two people to choose from, instead of a referendum just on Obama’s performance as president.
Roger Moore
@Suzan:
It sure as hell is, because it’s accurate and to the point. The truth hurts.
And does anyone think that Romney’s whole “he can’t call me that” crap just comes off as being a guy who can dish it out but can’t take it?
Steeplejack
@yet another jeff:
John Lithgow is on Dexter?! God, I am so far behind. I need to hole up one weekend and watch the whole series end to end.
texascowgirl
They better leave Stephanie Cutter alone. She will cutter bitch up!
Baud
@General Stuck:
What you said.
Calouste
@Litlebritdifrnt:
It’s also about building a narrative. It started out with “Romney won’t release his tax returns”. It’s now moving into “Why won’t Romney release his tax returns?” and it will then go to “Is Romney hiding something in his tax returns?” and “What is Romney hiding in his tax returns?” and finally it will end up with “Is Romney hiding “x” in his tax returns?”
You can throw out immediately that Romney paid a 0% tax rate or used the amnesty for Swiss bank accounts, but the general public is not going to accept that unless they have been prepared for it.
JGabriel
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Turgidson:
Stick with the numbers from Nate Silver’s model at 538.
TPM’s aggregation includes unweighted Rasmussen numbers. It’s just a rough average, like Real Clear Politics. Not very sophisticated.
.
jwb
@Turgidson: I think TPM factors Rassmussen in quite heavily. That’s why insofar as I follow the polling there, I only look at how the numbers have changed. I also don’t visit TPM much right now because they plaster those damn poll results all over the site—and really I don’t want to be reminded every ten seconds.
wrb
So much vetting of Mitt remains to be done.
The possibilities boggle.
It would be irresponsible not to vet.
Violet
@Calouste: Yes, this is how it will work. Exactly. We’re already on part two, “Why won’t he release his tax returns?” and we’re hearing rumbles of three and four, “is he hiding something?” and “what is he hiding?” I figure the Obama campaign must know what he’s hiding, otherwise they wouldn’t play this game. If it turns out to be nothing….no, that can’t happen because if it’s nothing, Romney would just release them. That’s how people’s brains work on this. The longer he waits, the more people think, “WHY won’t he release them? I’d release mine. I have nothing to hide. He must be hiding something. What’s he hiding?”
Nora
@ Steeplejack : Not only was John Lithgow on Dexter (fourth season), but his performance was really top notch; it’s the best Dexter season I’ve seen yet. You HAVE to watch it!
Jim Faith
There was an old SNL skit with Phil Hartman as Ronald Reagan. In front of the camera, he was the doddering old grandpa meeting a troop of girl scouts. As soon as the cameras were gone, his office turned into a crisis situation room and his real Cheney-like personality came out. It was pretty funny. Reminds me of the phony Mitt they’re trying to sell.
Litlebritdifrnt
@wrb:
As I said, there is a boatload more out there, there has to be. The Obama machine is so good that I refuse to believe (as Rubin claimed) that they have “shot their wad” this early in the campaign. As someone else said the other day, they probably have an army of oppo researchers hunched over their computers in windowless rooms, digging, and digging, and digging. Mitt has no idea what is coming.
Evolving Deep Southerner
@Turgidson: That’s because TPM’s hit-or-miss and have been as long as I’ve been reading, which is a good long while now. When they nail something, they really do, and when they’re lame, they’re really lame. And this is from someone who visits TPM almost as much as he visits this blog, and that’s a lot. Ignore their polling numbers. Nate Silver’s the way to go. Going to the NYT dark side may fuck up his mojo, but I don’t think so. I think he’s a dude who can only go one way, an idiot savant with regard to this kind of shit. I don’t think he’d know how to change it if he wanted to for anyone.
yet another jeff
@22over7: More and more, Mitt is reminding me of John Lithgow’s Trinity Killer on Dexter.
yet another jeff
@22over7: More and more, Mitt is reminding me of John Lithgow’s Trinity Killer on Dexter.
Wayne
I don’t see a lot of difference between Romney and Rick Scott down here in Florida. If Scott is running Florida like a business, he’s a crappy business person.
Elisabeth
@Turgidson:
And they plaster that shit at the top of the page. Drives me crazy!
mai naem
Can you see Mitt Romney in his magic underwear, shaving looking at the mirror,bitching to himself about that uppity woman and the uppity ni-CLANG- He doesn’t like that they aren’t acting like the “Help.”
Does the idjit realize that Stephanie Cutter could probably raise several hundred thousand dollars for the Obama campaign with one of those lottery dinners like Obama’s?
jwb
@Violet: Even worse for Romney, people know the game, so they are going to start from the presumption that he has something to hide and the only thing they are wondering is how bad it is. The longer he waits, the more that badness grows. That’s the problem with secrets: if they think you have one, they’ll fill it out for you.
Roger Moore
@Litlebritdifrnt:
One of the interesting things to ask is what Mitt will do if the whole thing hasn’t blown over by the time he’s scheduled to leave for the Olympics. Will he visibly panic by changing his schedule and not being there to watch his horse, or does he leave the country and give Obama a chance to spring something new while he’s out of town and can’t respond instantly? Given how top-down his management style is, being away from the office for an extended period could be a major problem.
Jay
“Certainly, Mitt’s new plan to talk about cocaine, marijuana, Fast and Furious, Solyndra, Goddamn America, and Rod Blagojevich is the dumbest fucking idea I ever heard of.”
I don’t think it’s the job of this President’s best – known surrogates to take real, brass – knuckle shots at Romney (I don’t think the Bain stuff has been brass knuckle at all, just, you know, truthful). Bloggers, and a couple hit men in politics but not working for Obama (I mean Carville and Begala here) are better for this. So if team Romney wants to go in with all of the above, I’d fire back like all hell with “Stericycle,” Romney’s failure to use his position in the Mormon Church to open up ANY kind of racial diversity whatsoever in that institution, his fence-sitting on Vietnam Service, etc.
Seriously, Mittens, you really don’t wanna play.
Steeplejack
@Nora:
Damn, another load of stuff going into the “to be watched” queue.
jwb
@efgoldman: At the moment, he’s not acting like someone who knows what’s coming; he’s not even really acting like someone who has fully comprehended what has hit him.
WaterGirl
What i find striking is the sheer ugliness and personal attack on Stephanie Cutter:
“who has nothing to point to in her own life”.
I’m sorry, but that’s just plain hateful and mean. Very sexist. There’s no way anything like that would be said about a man. I despise these people.
Roger Moore
@Wayne:
Only if you assume the purpose of a business is to help its shareholders. If you think its purpose is to enrich its management, he appears to be doing a bang-up job.
Calouste
@Violet:
Someone here mentioned a lawyers’ saying that you don’t ask a question (in front of the jury) if you don’t know the answer already. Obama is a lawyer.
Calouste
@jwb:
Mitt is still trying to come to grips with the idea that “The Help” would question him.
He’s not very successfull so far and I doubt he’ll get there before Novemeber.
Turgidson
@WaterGirl:
I agree. But I am also confident that Stephanie Cutter will take this nonsense in stride and keep delivering political body blows.
She can “point to in her life” the fact that she’s a big part of the team that’s running circles around Mittens, while pointing and laughing, also too.
SFAW
As much as I want there to be a major-league smoking gun in Mittens’s tax returns, I sometimes get the queasy feeling that he (or his team) is playing rope-a-dope with Obama. Specifically, after three or four weeks of Obama surrogates piling on the “where are they?” thing, he releases them, and, lo and behold, there’s – – nothing. And Obama is made to look like a fool, and His Mittness gets a good, non-convention-related bump in the polls.
Now, I don’t think Mitt is that subtle a thinker, to be able to plan that. But, still …
I mean, I don’t wake up screaming from nightmares about this, but I still get a little worried. FSM, I hope it’s just because I worry about everything. Well, except the Mets, of course.
cxs
@JGabriel: That’s a brilliant idea!
Baud
@SFAW:
Not really. It’ll be disappointing for us if there is nothing in those returns, but Obama will just say Mitt finally did the right thing and move on.
rikyrah
the way Cutter mows down GOP operatives…it’s a thing of beauty
Jay
@rikyrah:
Cutter doesn’t mess. She’s worked for Ted Kennedy and Ned Lamont (although I think she botched a response to Lieberman the first day of the general election), plus FLOTUS, no?
Omnes Omnibus
@SFAW: I just do not think that the Obama campaign would be pushing this if they did not have a damned good idea of what is in there. You can’t bluff people who have seen your hand.
WaterGirl
@Violet: People like to be right about things and people retain information better and are more open to changing their minds, I think, when there’s a personal connection.
So there’s this period of waiting to find out, which is priming the pump. People speculate. One person thinks it’s a low tax rate. Someone else thinks it’s the UBS scandal. Some think he’s given ore to the Mormon church than he’s paid in taxes. Others think he hasn’t tithed 10% of his income. (I personally think it’s all of the above.)
So then when it does come out, there’s “oh, I was right, I knew he had a low tax rate.” Or “Mary was right, he was part of that tax dodging thing with UBS”. Etc. It all sticks because they have primed the pump.
WaterGirl
@Turgidson: I’m with you – I’m not at all worried about her feelings or how she’s handling it. I jus think it says a lot about them. And if anyone still thinks MItt is a nice guy or anything resembling a gentleman, well, I don’t see how they could think that unless they’re just not paying attention.
WaterGirl
@JGabriel: I think you should buy that domain right this minute. And then offer to give it to the Obama campaign. Get Rachel to talk about it on her show. I don’t know, there are a million ways to go, but I think you should snap up the domain now.
And I see that I’m talking to myself now. Not a good sign.
ChrisNYC
I would be so horrified if Obama’s campaign wasted time calling out the staff of other campaigns by name. So so so weak. Just unutterably weak.
SFAW
@Baud:
I’m less sanguine. Any halfway-talented operative in the Carville mold could do it.
@Omnes Omnibus:
I guess the question is whether they’ve seen Mitt’s hand. I really want to believe you’re right. And, frankly, I don’t think my worries are especially well grounded in reality. But a large part of my career has been dealing with possible-but-not-especially-likely scenarios, and generating backup plans. So, it’s a little tough for me to break the habit. Plus, I tend to worry more than the average bear.
Basically, I probably won’t be at ease until Obama has a verified Electoral College count of 270 or greater. Looks like I picked the wrong year to give up sniffing glue.
Roger Moore
@WaterGirl:
And if he never reveals anything, people are stuck with the memory of all the nasty things people speculated he might have done. Heck, even if he releases his taxes he won’t be off the hook. They’re likely to be complex enough that it will take people a long time to look through all the details, so he won’t get an instant exoneration. To the contrary, they’re likely to be complex enough that no amount of examination will be enough to conclusively clear him of any wrongdoing. If people are given long enough to get it into their heads that he did something wrong and he’s never conclusively cleared, they’ll still have the vague idea that he cheated on his taxes even though nobody found anything.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: I frequently talk to myself. I always try to converse with the wisest person in the room.
And, when that person doesn’t talk to me, I walk away muttering softly to myself.
JPL
@ChrisNYC: The media only adds to that though. Hilary Rosen called out Mitt on using his wife and was on the news 24/7 but Sununu apologized.
kamalokitty
Yes. As a matter of fact, that Romney temper is well documented. See here for cool video. Pay special attention to the last one where he is doing the radio interview, and the interviewer is challenging him. This is not a man accustomed to being challenged. Probably ever. Google for more great temper-related documentation.
So yes, I cannot wait until the debates. We have President Uber Cool versus Mitt Romney who is just this side of blowing a gasket and often needs his wife to talk him off the ledge. Who cannot stand to have anyone yank his chain. Yanketh the chain with gusto! Yippee! Pass the popcorn. I just want to see him try to put his hand on Obama’s shoulder in that patronizing “down boy” kind of way.
“Romney is wearing his victimhood like a
championchump.”All fixed!
brettvk
@JGabriel: This is an absolutely excellent idea.
WaterGirl
@Omnes Omnibus: I feel so much better now!
Lex
I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: Anyone who doubts the existence of eternity need only contemplate the wingnut capacity for playing the victim.
curiousleodog
@JGabriel: OMG. That is a brilliant idea. Do it. Do it now. It would be incredibly awesome.
curiousleodog
@efgoldman:
Your lips to G-d’s ears.
brettvk
…does anyone else get the impression that Mitt Romney is one of those guys who is calm on the surface, but scary as fuck behind closed doors?
I may have said this here before, but — I hardly ever watch television, most of my news consumption is via radio or Net. What really strikes me about Mitt, and what I haven’t seen discussed yet, is all the tension in his voice in almost all the soundbites I hear from him. He never sounds like he’s breathing easy when he talks in recorded venues. I’d love to hear a clandestine recording of him addressing one of those $25K-a-plate shindigs, to see if his vocal cords relax when he’s talking to his base. But, unlike you, ABL, I think what we see in Mitt’s public persona is not so much leashed hostility (although that’s probably there) as a profound discomfort/distaste with trying to communicate with voters. Because he should rule by right, consent of the mud people be damned.
ChrisNYC
@JPL: I just don’t get why Romney’s campaign thinks there’s payoff from going after a staffer. Who cares? Americans couldn’t pick Stephanie Cutter out of a line up of two people. Voters don’t respond to candidates who say, “Look how mean they’re treating me. These bad people.” See e.g., Palin. Talk about the voters not yourself and how oh it’s so hard and I’m insulted boo hoo. Mitt’s campaign has been asleep or something for the past couple of cycles.
Valdivia
@JGabriel:
awesome idea. Someone had to do that! :)
dopey-o
if Mitt gets thru the convention in 1 piece, there’s always the pre-written oppo research:
amazon.com/The-God-Makers-Shocking-Believes/dp/1565077172/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342666916…
(a born-again christian critiques the mormon church. and yes, it is ugly.)
dopey-o
if Mitt gets thru the convention in 1 piece, there’s always the pre-written oppo research:
amazon.com/The-God-Makers-Shocking-Believes/dp/1565077172/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342666916…
(a born-again christian critiques the mormon church. and yes, it is ugly.)
RadioOne
We’ve been talking about this stuff for five years now. The birth certificate, Rev. Wright, smoking weed, the Chicago connections, Bill Ayers. Chris Matthews has been infatuated with whether or not the President is “foreign” or “the Other” for five fucking years.
Are we still so defensive that we’re going to fight this all over again now that the Romney campaign has decided to go all in?
Go on offense: Bain, tax returns, the fact that Romney would appoint another Antonin Scalia, especially because of the idiotic kid gloves treatment Piers Morgan gave to Scalia tonight, and how bad he looked anyways.
Caz
Did I miss the memo or something?? Since when is Romney’s campaign falling apart? I’ve seen nothing but a hot streak following dead even polls ever since Obama improvised his “all businesses should thank the govt for their success” Roanoke non-teleprompter epic fail.
And what makes Romney a sexist and a racist? Oh yeah, the fact that he’s a republican. All R’s are sexist and racist, right? The good ol’, tired race card that Americans are tired of being insulted with constantly, as if anyone is dumb enough to buy that R’s are mostly rich, white, sexist, racists. The fact that you D’s keep alleging this turns Americans off because, for one thing, it’s not true, and second Americans are insulted that you think they will buy this crap over and over and over again.
Sometimes black people fail just as bad as white people believe it or not. And in this case, our black president has failed miserably. People like him less all the time, not because he’s black, but because he’s a liar, a failure, and an arrogant elitist hypocrit snob. Black has nothing to do with it.
But I do recall quite a bit of racism in the last election that Obama won. Nearly every black voter opted for Obama. Seems to me when most blacks voted for Obama it was racist because they chose him based on his skin color and against McCain because he was white.
Of course, this is acceptable racism these days, almost hip and cool, just like Obama. He’s one hip dude, and a total liar and failure.
I’m gonna vote for the white guy in November because, well, he’s just a better candidate. And hopefully the white guy will win even in spite of all the racist votes for Obama.
You ought to at least be honest about all this shit instead of trying to pass off the BS as some sort of genuine critical analysis of the current presidential campaign. The fact that you’re full of it and you know it makes Obama the perfect guy for you, because he supports being full of it and insulting and lying to the American people all the time too.
And next time he wants us to thank the govt for helping us all be happy and successful, he should try to remember that every single thing the govt DOES provide was paid for with OUR money. And Americans will continue to be successful in spite of govt’s best efforts to stop them while at the same time demanding a thank you for screwing us up at every turn.
I don’t have anything on the sexism allegation because, well, there really isn’t anything relevant on it…it’s a non-issue.
Are there any other ‘ists out there you can accuse the rich white guy of? If so, you better get going on it because before you know it you’ll be calling him President Romney. Well, you’ll probably stick with the racism and keep the rich white racist moniker. That goes good with cheese by the way.
Late!
Caz
I think it’s hilarious that you are all accusing Romney of running a hate campaign that’s off the charts, yet as a group, you all are the most hateful, disgusting, insulting, obscene group of idiots in the nation.
I wouldn’t let a kid look at this website with all the hate-filled rage you let fly, loaded with the most obscene language, insults, and name-calling possible.
I mean, this blog actually has categories named after four letter words.
But Romney is the candidate of hate, right? LOL.
It turns people off, which is one of many reasons that Obama is going to lose in November. Other reasons include the economy, the arrogance, the class warfare agenda, the spending spree, the corruption, the lack of transparency, the sidestepping of Congress, the subversion of the Constitution, the position that we should thank the govt for everything good we make of our lives, the attacks on capitalism and success, the redistribution of wealth, the Fast and Furious scandal, the phony Dept. of Justice, the Obamacare, the constant racism allegations, the unemployment rate, the lawsuits againts states for, the refusal to enforce immigration laws, and the hate, my god, the hate!
Good luck with all that, MF’ers!
Having said all that, I think Romney will make a terrible president, so what does that tell you about how abhorrent Obama is as King of the America?
Hope, change, and fundamental transformation scare the American people know that they know what he meant by them!
Ok, time for trolls to hit the hay, have a good night, useful idiots!
SFAW
There seems to be a horse’s-ass-fly stuck in my computer, because all I get when trying to read the last two comments was a lot of buzzing. Although I’ve never heard buzzing that sounded like a combination of “blah blah blah” combined with a scream about how much someone fucking hates the blackity-black man in the White House – but there’s a
first20th100th time for everything, I guesskay
Cutter is an effective advocate, so of course they’re going to attack her personally.
She loves to fight, which in my experience is relatively rare, there’s joy in what she does, so I think personal attacks from the Romney camp are just
going to give her the adrenaline hit she runs on.
If they’re responding to her, she’ll take that as a sign she’s winning.
She doesn’t care if they approve of her :)
They’d never say this if she were a man, BTW. Romney seems to have hired some deeply conventional people, because
telling aggressive women that they have unfufilling personal lives is an idea that is decades old. It’s a boring outdated insult. I didn’t know anyone under 80 yrs old still believed that.
SFAW
@kay:
Gee, Rushbo must be older than I thought.
g
@Caz: Seems to me when most blacks voted for Obama it was racist because they chose him based on his skin color and against McCain because he was white.
And you know this how? perhaps by making generalizations about black people based on racial stereotypes? There’s a name for that kind of thing…..
Another Halocene Human
@g: Maybe Black voters are just better educated as voters and know which side their bread is buttered on, while the manic 27% are delusional clowns who would fail a citizenship test if questioned today and in a just world would be barred from voting by the same grounds their spiritual forebears denied freedman the franchise in the late 19th century.