(Non Sequitur via GoComics.com)
__
Professor Krugman chides those who would keep us “Decoupled and Divided“:
And so, predictably, Romney is accusing Obama of “attacking capitalism” and “dividing America” by raising questions about Bain and those hidden tax returns. This is all par for the course; many of us remember how any criticism of Bush was unpatriotic, and if I recall correctly, during the dotcom bubble the Wall Street Journal argued that any skepticism about stock market valuations showed a lack of faith in free markets.
The special Romney twist– aside from the willful misrepresentation of what Obama actually said about business success — is Mitt’s desire to have it both ways. He’s proud of his business record and his success, he says, but at the same time wants us to believe that he had nothing to do with Bain’s actions over a three-year period when he was still its CEO, and is completely unwilling to let us see the tax returns that would tell us something about exactly how he achieved his current wealth. (There are two competing theories about his tax stonewalling. One is that he had one or more years of zero taxes. The other is that he actually made a lot of money in 2009, because he shorted the market. We may never know which is true.)…
… Romney wants us to celebrate the success of people like him, even though their success doesn’t seem to have benefited ordinary families, and even though he stands for policies that would aggravate the gap between a fortunate few and everyone else. And then he accuses Obama of dividing America.
Ever sensitive to any shift in the conventional-wisdom wind currents, Maureen Dowd looks down her Irish nose and asks “Who’s On America’s Side?“:
… Aside from his time running the Salt Lake City Olympics, which he’s happy to publicize, Romney’s whole life, from his $250 million fortune to his tenure at the cultish Bain to his Mormonism, seems as though it’s secreted in a hidden shelter.
Like W., he’s coming across as the privileged kid who grew up at the country club and got special deals because of his dad, but then runs around claiming to be a self-made businessman. That lack of self-awareness, and Romney’s refusal to take responsibility for his own company, are disturbing traits in a leader.
Aaaaand up pops Guess Who, to remind those of short attention span about that mystery period between the Clinton and Obama administrations [warming: Politico link]:
“Eight years was awesome and I was famous and I was powerful,” Bush told the Hoover Institute’s Peter Robinson.
Way to support your party’s narrative, Dubya. At least it explains why Willard “Mitt” Romney is still campaigning for the job, even if he’s doing it so badly that some observers have wondered if he really wants to win.
Geoduck
He wants to win very badly. He’s just never, not once in his entire life, had to answer questions from The Help like this.
14S
Maybe he won’t have a running mate and just retroactively choose him/her at the inauguration. After all, he doesn’t take credit or blame until after he determines whether it hurts him or not.
Maude
This is a bad time for Bush to pop up like a Jack in the Box. Romney has enough trouble.
Now we can wonder what idiot thing Romney will say today.
It’s hot and very humid. Supposed to storm this afternoon.
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
i just read a fascinating article about post-menopausal women who experience what are thought to be psychosomatic menstrual symptoms. its almost entirely anecdotal but the article is mostly about locating such sufferers(who are notoriously reticent) and building a database. the article concludes by drawing comparisons to the early work of alfred kinsey.
Citizen_X
“Eight years was awesome and I was famous and I was powerful.” Jesus. Epitaph for a destructive idiot.
TheMightyTrowel
you know what’s sad. I read that quote by W and the first thing that pops into my mind after all the Romney mendacity is, “well, at least we know he’s telling the truth.”
I just had a knee-jerk positive response to something Bush said and I feel dirty.
NotMax
You can always change the Politico link to the one from Mother Jones used in comment several threads down earlier.
NotMax
Never understood the use of quotes around the name Mitt. Like it or not, Mitt is not a nickname.
One wouldn’t write John “Sidney” McCain III.
Patricia Kayden
Krugman’s article is powerful. So the Righties would have you believe that any criticism of Bain capitalism = hatred of America.
Right.
russ
“Eight years was awesome and famous and I was powerful, and really enjoyed blowin’ stuff up”.
FTFY
Mino
Tweetie had a dweeb from the National Review on yesterday who blurted out that liberals weren’t American while explaining Sununu’s supposed misstatement.
Cervantes
What does the Irishness of Dowd’s nose have to do with anything?
Mino
@Marcellus Shale, Public Dick: So life is giving them cramps. Makes sense to me.
Joseph Nobles
Offered without comment:
http://mobile.cnbc.com/us_news/48220995?refresh=true
presquevu
The returns for ’10 and presumably ’11 he is willing to release, taken together with the 23 years disclosed to the McCain campaign in’08, likely ending with ’06 or ’07, suggests that at least ’09 has something damaging in it. The original offshore amnesty program of the IRS in ’09 suggests one possibility of what might make the ’09 return radioactive to release.
Admittedly, the vetting of VP candidates by the McCain campaign is not the strongest endorsement imaginable, and may have had a blind spot for Enronesque and over-the-top corporate piracy activities in, say, the ’99 to ’02 period.
But the line in the sand drawn for returns before ’10, despite, e.g., Kristol and Will saying he needs to release 3 or 4 or 5 years’ returns makes me think ’09 is where the major turd in the punchbowl lies.
NotMax
@Joseph Nobles
Gergen, the Emir of the Empty Phrase.
Uh-huh. As opposed to the easy and rampant cross-aisle camaraderie of the first term he must fondly remember from some fever dream. Should they maintain a majority, what are they gonna do? Refuse to accept the votes of the electoral college? De-fund the executive branch? Revoke his citizenship? X-ray the original of the Constitution and declare that they’ve found the word ‘white’ in faded ink in Article II, Section 1?
Obama certainly knows that they’ll keep yammering about impeachment, but also that that dog won’t hunt this time.
Joseph Nobles
@NotMax: Thank you. Gergen must have access to some of that sweet Ole Miss Bliss.
In other news, the Syrian defense minister has been assassinated by a suicide bomber. The Syrian intelligence chief and the interior minister have also been seriously wounded.
http://blogs.aljazeera.com/topic/syria/syrias-defence-minister-general-daoud-rajha-was-killed-bomb-attack
I’ve seen an unconfirmed report that it was the defense minister’s bodyguard who was the suicide bomber. And this is on top of four days of fierce fighting in Damascus. I think we just entered the endgame in Syria.
JPL
Remember when every network carried Hilary Rosen’s comment about Ann Romney not working. I’m on antenna and heard it repeated several times. Now it’s okay to give dog whistles to birthers and racists and the networks cover it but suggest it was just a whoops.
Joseph Nobles
The defense minister isn’t the only one who’s died. It’s also Assad’s brother in law, according to Reuters.
Baud
@Joseph Nobles:
You know what would make it even tougher to work with Republicans?
Losing the election.
NotMax
Happy 94th birthday to Nelson Mandela.
Pitch-perfect political genius is Mandela’s gift
Around the globe, July 18 is Nelson Mandela International Day.
danielx
@NotMax:
‘Zackly. Short of impeachment, what are they going to do or fail to do to make life difficult that they’ve done or not done? Impeachment isn’t going to fly since anything for which Obama might be impeached is something that a Republican president might want to do in the future. Not that I’ve noted Republicans give a fiddler’s fuck about making or breaking precedents…refusing to raise the debt limit? That went so well last time, not to mention being unconstitutional; that whole “full faith and credit business” y’know. It’s one thing for a wingnut Congressman to say “I didn’t come here to get along”, it’s another to defund a program near and dear to constituent hearts.
In other news, yesterday was a good day. Mrs. X (she of the month-ago hip replacement) had her first pain free moment in literally years. It only lasted until she started moving around again, but still…worth some tears and celebration, and worth the severe pain of recovery. I don’t know how people past the age of sixty tolerate the procedure and recovery.
NotMax
From Obama:
From Romney:
Alex S.
Fun with Michele Bachmann
NotMax
@danielx
Keep on keepin’ on, Mrs. X. It does get easier.
If it might help just a tad to know, one of my grandmothers had a hip replaced while in her late eighties, and was still boppin’ around at 108.
danielx
Note: frantic screams from not only Douche Limpballs but also from what passes for the Republican establishment these days (Sununu) means you’re doing something right, as does your opponent demanding an apology, as does your opponent “clarifying*” a statement.
I know I’m a one note band on this particular saying, but the Marquis is a rich Wall Street asshole with the all the attitude that goes with it (entitlement, arrogance, etc), and it’s finally starting to sink in.
W raising his face out of the post-Presidential trough about how awesome, famous and powerful he was? Perfect timing for the Republicans; a reminder of just what he did with all that power and awesomeness for eight years, which was pretty much fuck up by the numbers. King Midas in reverse – everything he touched turned to shit. I can hear the phone call now – “George, would you please just shut the fuck up for the next five months? Shutting up forever would be even better, we’re trying to get the American people to forget about your regime.”
Republicans howling about dirty Chicago style politics (as opposed to dirty Texas style politics) and how all these attacks on the Marquis’ finances and business practices are just unfair and…unAmerican? As far as they’re concerned, they’re the only ones who get to play hardball and for them to be on the defensive – about anything – is a violation of the natural order of things. Fuck them, even if the tactics are “dirty”, they’re as American as Apple pie. If Karl Rove is screaming publically about your tactics, you’re definitely doing something right.
Delightful. More, please.
Note: it probably is not news to anyone here, but in Washington terms, “clarifying a previous statement” means you fucked up.
K488
@danielx: Re hip replacement – my mother, who is now 89, had hip replacement surgery in 2001. It was rejuvenating for her, and she’s still very active at the end of her 9th decade. The improvements on this sort of thing have been amazing over the past 30 years, and we extend our best wishes for the future to Mrs X
NotMax
@danielx
Good segment on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show on Tuesday about the dragging out onto the stage of Sununu.
As for Mitt, informally now refer to him as the Calzone Candidate. Take that, Maureen Dowd. :)
geg6
@danielx:
Just to give Mrs. x a little encouragement, my John had both knees replaced on February 29 and it has completely changed his life for the good. He is pain free for the first time since I’ve known him. He’s not allowed to crouch or kneel for 8 months, but we walk three miles a day four days a week now. He’s actually taller than he was (the new knees added about a half or so inch), partly because he’s standing straighter and no longer has bowed legs. It has been amazing. Mrs. x will get there. Takes time and a lot of effort at the physical therapy, but it works and is totally worth it.
gene108
I feel sorry for Mitt.
In a rational world, he’d be able to run on how he solved our nation’s lack of universal coverage by allying government regulation with the free market, so everybody wins.
He’d quietly use his experience as a businessman as a backstop to his ability to get universal coverage passed for the people of Massachusetts.
Unfortunately for Mitt, he badly miscalculated how totally nuts the Republican base actually is and how far they’ve gone over the cliff, with their basic desire to return to the Gilded Age era of government regulations.
He’s stuck with a tenure as governor that is unsellable and a business record, which shouldn’t be his main selling point.
What I don’t understand is his insatiable desire to be President. Why can’t he just say, “to heck with these guys, this isn’t my father’s Republican Party” and go off and enjoy his retirement.
different-church-lady
Jeez, now I even gotta fix it for Krugman?
different-church-lady
@gene108:
Easy — gotta both outdo daddy and make daddy proud. Unbelievable that we could have two presidents so close together who have major daddy issues.
Jeffro
In other news, my Very Right-Wing Brother (VRWB) is telling me that should Obama lose the election, he will of course (of course!) appeal it to the Supreme Court, where, thanks to his new buddy John Roberts, he will be, quote, “re-installed” as Prez.
Because Democrats have a long history of using the Supreme Court to install their Presidents, regardless of the will of the people.
It burns, I tell you, it burns.
different-church-lady
@danielx:
The Magnesia Touch.
gene108
@Patricia Kayden:
For the right-wing, any criticism of anybody who amasses wealth is unAmerican.
To be rich is its own justification of your humanity, so we proles don’t get to question how someone amassed great wealth and if having such wealth has helped society.
That’s part of the whole “Job Creators”, “have you ever gotten a job from a poor person” logic the right-wingers have been floating for years now.
catclub
@Joseph Nobles: “I think we just entered the endgame in Syria.”
Well, if the endgame can last 18 months or more. Perhaps so.
catclub
@Jeffro: I would take that bet.
ET
Oh Mitt wants to win. He just think because of who is his he deserves it and doesn’t have to work for it.
NotMax
@gene108
*cough* Enron, Bernie Madoff, etc., etc., etc., etc. *cough*
As for wondering about Romney’s insatiable desire further up above, besides eclipsing his father’s loss running for president, his mother’s loss running for the Senate and his brother’s loss running for Michigan Attorney General, it’s been pounded into him his whole life that it is his divine destiny, and one doesn’t turn one’s back on destiny.
Elizabelle
@gene108:
I’m thinking Mitt is the dog who caught the car and regrets it.
Not to say it’s OK for him to lie about Obama every time he opens his yap.
He’s diminished himself by running. Before this, a lot of us might have thought “good looking dude who ran the Salt Lake City Olympics.”
stratplayer
So if Obama is “attacking capitalism,” why doesn’t Romney defend it by taking proud ownership of all of his own company’s capitalistic activities?
jwb
@Joseph Nobles: Ha, that Gergen is such a stitch. The GOP hasn’t worked with Obama for four years. Can’t imagine that they will work with him for four more. That’s one reason I’m almost certain Obama is going to pivot against the GOP as a whole as soon as Congress goes into recess without having accomplished anything.
Mino
@NotMax: Happy Birthday, Mr. Mandela. Wish there were more like you in the world.
bemused
@Jeffro:
That’s hilarious. He really thinks that Roberts is now a libtard, dfh, moonbat or does he think Roberts was always secretively a liberal who infiltrated the Supreme Court?
Mino
@geg6: Glad to hear it was so successful. My sister is looking at that down the road.
Valdivia
@danielx:
I put this on the other thread but here it makes even more sense. If you look at the totally ridiculous but vengeful stuff they are going to go with, you can tell this is really working and making him look like an idiot.
They are going to throw every wingut meme at Obama in ads. Braze yourselves.
Mino
@Jeffro: Interesting that the SCOTUS behavior in 2000 seems to have bothered even a die-hard Republican.
Maude
@Joseph Nobles:
This isn’t the end game. The rebels are in Damascus. It is a civil war. Assad stays as long as even one military man supports him.
VOR
@presquevu
Yes, it would make sense that 2009 is the problem. We know he had/has Swiss bank accounts. We know the IRS amnesty program would appear on a 2009 return. We know the McCain campaign reviewed 23 years of tax returns, probably ending with either the 2007 or 2008 return. The Romney campaign is willing to provide two years, but insist the two years be 2010 and the unfiled 2011.
It would be one thing to take advantage of every legal loophole to shield taxes. The 2010 return with the $100M IRA shows that Romney does exactly that. Senator Lindsey Graham says legal tax avoidance is patriotic. But I don’t see how the Tea party types swallow illegal tax avoidance with an undisclosed Swiss bank account. And even the Village Media would go nuts over such a thing.
danielx
@NotMax:
@K488:
@geg6:
Thanks for the good wishes and good thoughts. It takes determination and powerful drugs, but she’s getting there.
@gene108:
This.
I wrote a semi-open letter to Mittens a couple of months back saying the same thing. It went something like this:
Dude, give it up. There’s not enough money in the world to make people like you – fuck, even your party’s base doesn’t like you and they’re supposed to be your supporters. Do a Bill Gates and devote your life and fortune to good works, inside or outside the Mormon Church. If you don’t want to do that, go buy some Ferraris or something. Buy a private island. Buy a ton of blow and hire some hookers. But give up this conceit that you’re going to be President, ’cause you’ve been campaigning almost full time since 2006 and you still can’t pull more than a quarter of the Republican primary vote.
For reasons I’m at a complete loss to explain, he didn’t take my advice or even acknowledge it. I am just devastated.
jwb
@Valdivia: The crony capitalism angle makes sense for the Romney campaign to be pushing, because they are simply trying to produce a lot of noise around the topic so that the muddled middle only thinks, “damn, politicians, they all do this kind of shit.” Doing something like that is really Romney’s best hope for skirting the issue of Bain and his taxes. The other stuff doesn’t strike me as terribly effective since we’ve been through it before and it wasn’t effective last time. But who knows, last time they also didn’t have $2 billion to spend on ads.
Elizabelle
@NotMax:
It makes me happy to think about Nelson Mandela. Courageous and gracious wise man.
Happy birthday, and thank you for reminding us.
anibundel
Thank you Anne Laurie. This will now be the soundtrack of my morning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx0mYN32Kps
YellowJournalism
“Eight years was awesome and I was famous and I was powerful”
Who the hell talks like that past the sixth grade?! I do not miss Bushisms at all.
Wow. So much grammar fail from Bush and the writers. Commas are your friends, people.
NotMax
VOR
My understanding is that the first extension must be filed by Aug. 15 unless a 2nd extension is sought, in which case the return must be filed by Oct. 15.
Which will it be, which will it be?
Valdivia
@jwb:
seems they are running on rage now.
different-church-lady
@NotMax: Used to be that way. A few years ago they changed it to Oct. 15 for the first extension.
lacp
@YellowJournalism: Beavis & Bushhead?
NotMax
@different-church-lady
Thanks.
geg6
@Jeffro:
Jeebus. Your VRWB is completely delusional. You did remind him of who exactly who it was who stole an election that way, right?
@Mino:
Tell your sister to get it done ASAP. She won’t regret it. Though she won’t believe it for the first few days after surgery. It doesn’t take long after that, though, for things to get better. John used a walker for about 2 weeks, a cane for another week or so, and was walking unaided very quickly. Total dedication to the physical therapy regime seems to be the trick.
Jeffro
@bemused: I think it’s more of a “Can’t trust Roberts anymore, therefore SCOTUS isn’t a reliable backstop against progress…er…soshulism, I meant soshulism…” I think that ACA decision really rocked a lot of folks on the right more than we think.
Jeffro
@Mino: It only bothers him now, right? Shoe on the other foot and all that? =)
Linda Featheringill
Bush:
Not very helpful to anyone perhaps but very honest.
He is a child, isn’t he?
BGK
Yesterday afternoon, I was carping about no information being available about the President’s Friday visit. Just after my (admittedly early) bed-time last night, information came out about tickets being handed out at the town OFA office. By the time I saw this this morning, there was already a line and no way could I beg off work on such short notice.
Well, turns out my mother took it on herself to go wait in line. She didn’t get there until 9:00AM, and word going through the line is that there’s only 125 to give out (and she doesn’t know how far back she is), and no word on how many per person (I have an unconfirmed report of one-per).
Tickets being given out at noon. I’m almost giddy at the prospect, though after having waited about seven hours last time only to be informed there was no soup for yrs trly, I’m trying not to hyperventilate.
NCSteve
Well guy’s, it’s official: the NI*clang*! Event Horizon is nigh:
Romney “taking the gloves off!”
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mckaycoppins/how-the-romney-campaign-decided-to-take-the-gloves
Why is it that, instead of thinking of Antony crying ‘havoc’ and lettin’ the war doggies slip, the image that came to mind on reading this was Sonny Corleone waiting for change for a hundred dollar bill from at a toll booth?
muddy
@Linda Featheringill: He is a child, as is Rmoney. They have never had to shift for themselves, but when it’s most inconvenient they want to do it “on their own”. Nevermind that someone else has provided what they need for the task, but still have to come around later and fix it because as small children, they are quite incompetent.
Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God
@NotMax:
At the risk of being depressing: Barring a sudden case of Obama coattails, IMO this is a ‘firewall election’. We’ll be lucky to stop the GOP advance and keep the Senate. So, even if Obama gets his second term, 2013-2014 will be more of the same from the GOP.
The Brass Ring is a Democratic trifecta in 2014. I have a feeling that enough of the low-info voters will have had it with the GOP’s antics by then (as in 2006).
Ruckus
@gene108:
What I don’t understand is his insatiable desire to be President. Why can’t he just say, “to heck with these guys, this isn’t my father’s Republican Party” and go off and enjoy his retirement.
Because his ego is larger than all outdoors, he has fucked over everyone he is going to be able to in business, and so all that’s left is fucking over all the rest of us.