You may recall that on about his first day in office Obama returned a famous bust of Winston Churchill to Britain. That was seen as something of an insult to Britain by many. He gave the British Prime Minister tapes of his own hopey changey speeches, which many saw as egotistical but was also a statement of sorts, saying, you aren’t really so special, sport. Perhaps it’s the message in his speeches he actually wanted the PM to get?
In the video below you’ll find that for Obama there was no bow to the Queen of England. His wife even broke protocol by reaching out to give her a pat at some point, as I recall…
This is a man who, unlike most Americans, doesn’t view Western Civilization as all that.Get over it, Britain. You’re a second rate, semi-degenerate nation still on the way down because you went too far to the left too long ago for anyone to care about. Don’t expect us to wring our hands over what you losers did. We’re too busy fighting to make sure it doesn’t happen here…
Mostly a bunch of feckless wankers if you ask me. Put a Gold Medal on that and aim it at the Queen’s arse.What a difference a Mitt Romney goodwill tour makes.
At the rate things are going, the wingnuts are going to make Romney pledge to give that Churchill bust a swirly in the Oval Office toilet.
MoeLarryAndJesus
And, of course, that fucking Churchill bust is still in the White House. Man-Bat Krauthammer repeats this stupid lie in his column today, because facts mean absolutely nothing to bowel movement conservatives.
If I had the power to do so I would shoot them all into space.
jibeaux
So, who *would* our allies be in a Romney administration?
The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik
Silly mistermix, expecting consistency from these bozos…
@jibeaux:
British Petroleum, obviously.
Thoroughly Pizzled
Never forget, this is the guy who said that Barack Obama would murder his own grandmother if it would help him win the election.
schrodinger's cat
What does Western Civilization mean anyway. Is it code for white supremacy?
ETA: Who is Dan Riehl, I had never heard of him before.
jibeaux
@The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik: But we need two, so that when he gives speeches he can say “allies”.
The prophet Nostradumbass
Who the hell is Dan Riehl, anyway?
Patricia Kayden
“You’re a second rate, semi-degenerate nation”
So, why is Romneybot 2.0 wasting his time visiting such a loser nation?
Thomas DeVito
I was talking to an English friend of mine today, and I joked that they had no idea what they unleashed. I said the entirety of Britain is now on the Republican shit-list, and they will never, ever get off it. And lo, I see this blog post confirming it.
He (a Tory, at that), seemed disgusted by the fickleness.
replicnt6
@jibeaux: Just two: Burma and Myanmar.
Also too: http://i.iflip.im/2a63.
Bulworth
We have always been at war with the nation of Great Britain.
rlrr
@jibeaux:
So, who would our allies be in a Romney administration?
The state of Utah and that Mormon settlement in Mexico…
gogol's wife
Why, why is Romney gaining in the polls?
I’m basing this on the right-hand column of 538, having been given a hint by Andrew Sullivan and a BJ commenter earlier today.
Why, God, why?
burnspbesq
Remind me again why anyone with an IQ over 17 pays any attention to Dan Riehl.
Ed Drone
@schrodinger’s cat:
Western Civilization = The US, Western Euprope and Israel.
Anglo-Saxon Heritage = No Jews or brown people
HTH
Ed
burnspbesq
@replicnt6:
What about Congo and Zaire?
Brachiator
Is this an example of that Anglo Saxon special relationship thingy?
Meanwhile, the Brits are having all kinds of fun at Mitten’s expense:
It makes sense that wingnut pundits would go on the offensive. It’s in their nature to offend.
They just can’t help themselves.
burnspbesq
@gogol’s wife:
Because Eric Cantor and Mitch McConnell succeeded in tanking the economy, and people are blaming Obama.
Also too, DRONES!
Hill Dweller
@gogol’s wife: Rasmussen has Willard up by 5.
However, Rasmussen is notorious for putting out weird polls when they want to bolster a Republican meme. Fox and the Republicans want everyone to believe their distortion of Obama’s ‘you didn’t build that’ quote has transformed the race. In reality, they’re desperate to change the subject from Bain and Willard’s taxes.
Valdivia
@gogol’s wife:
are you sure it is not based on polls but the gdp numbers? all the polls this week (except that NYT one) had Obama up.
ETA: the model still predicts Obama will win. Very little change there.
natthedem
ICYMI: The WH pwns Charles Krauthammer and the rightwing blogosphere – Fact Check: The Bust of Winston Churchill
Rafer Janders
@burnspbesq:
Who cares if Britain doesn’t like us? We still have our treasured special relationship with the United Kingdom.
gogol's wife
@Valdivia:
But I’m worried about the trend. You would think that Mitt would be trending down, not up, at this point, after all that’s happened.
But then I don’t watch network or cable TV news, so I’m in the dark.
Valdivia
@gogol’s wife via @Hill Dweller:
Oh I see now it’s a Rass poll. You can totally discount that. Rigged republican spin until a week before the election when they tell the truth so they don’t lose credibility.
Marc
The number for Romney goes up whenever Rasmussen, a strongly republican leaning poll firm, adds a number to the mix. They are always very strongly biased towards republicans early in the polling game, and then try to tighten their numbers towards election day so that they can end with an “accurate” reputation. They’re in the business of driving campaign stories in the direction of republicans.
National polls released by Ras and Gallup today differ by 5 points, for example. Ohio polls differ by 6 to 8 points.
Odie Hugh Manatee
Of the two statements, the latter is the Riehl one. The former was a Riehl lie. :)
I heard on MSNBC a bit ago that Rmoney could announce his veep choice in as little as two weeks. Desperation, I smells it and no amount of expensive cologne will hide it.
I hope he does choose early, that gives us more time to render… I mean, vet them properly.
scav
A) I so want François Hollande to spontaneously offer to rename some minor street as Rue Romney for a month of so (ommiting to mention, bien sûr, that it will be alternatively one-way in opposite directions at random periods of the day). Throw him a parade with the all the jets, etc. I want this mostly because I don’t think I have the imagination to be able to fully predict the results although I assume they’d be head-snapping and abject and funny.
B) They’re fully in his camp now, They’ll be wearing flip-flops as the official COP shoe at his speech in Tampa and proud of them. Waving them about. Perhaps even a flip-flop-drop at the end instead of the traditional balloons.
replicnt6
@Rafer Janders: Not to mention the Nation of Great Britain.
Seanly
I’m getting a little less worried about the election results than I was a few weeks ago. While we are all having fun & #Romneyshambles, I don’t think his gaffes have matriculated to the 90% of folks who don’t read blogs everyday. So a new poll out today that may show Romney leading isn’t very significant in my book.
dmsilev
@Odie Hugh Manatee: Two weeks from now actually wouldn’t be all that early; it’s only about a month until the GOP convention.
Announcing *during* the Olympics, on the other hand, would be quite special.
the Conster
Wait until polls are taken after the end of Mitt’s Excellent Adventure – I think being made the butt of a joke from our staunchest ally – which all three networks covered – will get even the most clueless of the uncommitted voters not paying attention to much of anything to think about whether they want their president laughed at.
Calouste
@schrodinger’s cat:
As Gandhi said, it would be a good idea.
Professor
If you mess with the English, they will take their LANGUAGE back and what will you (Americans) do? Are you gonna learn FRENCH or Spanish?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@gogol’s wife: Sullivan is reading a lot into a little, IMHO. Ever since ’92, maybe before, every two years one party or the other is declared dead, dead as a doornail, dead for eternity never to rise again. Now that seems to happen every other week. The tax returns are the end of Romney; “you didn’t build that” is the end of Obama; the Olympics will be the end of Romney. I think Romney is going too hard, too soon on antecedent-gate; he’s shooting his wad, to use Jennifer Rubin’s phrase. The five to ten percent who are persuadable will mostly be distracted again twelve times between now and November, and I suspect the tax return question will linger longer than pronouns taken out of context.
Nina
On that picture of the president and the prime minister from whitehouse.gov, you can clearly see the backside of Number 10 Downing Street.
Rafer Janders
@Professor:
Pfffhhh. Big deal. We’ll just speak British.
Rafer Janders
Wait, so it was bad that he DIDN’T bow to foreign leaders? I thought it was bad that he did bow….
My head hurts.
Citizen_X
@replicnt6: We have always been at war with the Angles and the Saxons.
gogol's wife
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Okay, that’s somewhat calming. Sullivan did say he was leaving out Rasmussen, so that’s what really scared me.
NancyDarling
Who is Dan Riehl and why does he want to shoot the Queen in the arse? She seems a nice enough old girl to me and hasn’t joined in the fray of Romney bashing—not that he doesn’t deserve it.
However, if, on the remote chance, Mitt is elected, I bet he never gets a state dinner at Buckingham Palace.
gbear
So does Riehl cal for the murder of anyone in either of those two posts? He has a nasty habit of calling for people to be killed for disagreeing with conservatives (LGF is all over Riehl).
butler
@gogol’s wife: This is all normal. Obama has slipped slightly because the economy is still stuck in neutral. Romney will naturally gain some support as Republicans fall in line and more swing voters become aware of him
Yes, as crazy as it sounds to everyone here, there are a good 30% of US citizens who still couldn’t even pick Romney out of a lineup. Some of those people will be “informed” of his existence as the campaign ramps up, and some of them, unfortunately, will vote for Romney. Its a small percentage but it still counts.
Linnaeus
There is an interesting consistency between the two passages if you read between the lines: Riehl’s Toryism (in the older sense, not the colloquial-term-for-the-Conservative-Party sense). In the first passage, he’s attacking the president for not observing the proper cultural forms of Toryism. In the second, he’s attacking Britain for having abandoned Toryism and is promoting Romney as the proper heir of (former) British greatness.
That’s really what American conservatism is: a recrudescence of the old English Tories.
Yutsano
@gogol’s wife: Ignore national polls. Watch the state numbers. Obama is way ahead where he needs to be.
Rafer Janders
I get the distinct impression that Dan Riehl, unlike most Americans, doesn’t view Western Civilization as all that.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@dmsilev:
Either way, the sooner he announces his pick the sooner we can get into body slamming them repeatedly. Mitty needs to pick someone who will bring the crazies out this fall.
My vote is for Chuck Norris. Ted Nugent would be my second choice.
wrb
The British people are little too.
Especially the Welsh.
Maybe Mitt will pat their cute little curly heads.
Valdivia
@gogol’s wife:
just keep your eye on agregations (TPM has one, RCP another, Ezra’s joint does too) and the 538 model. Sully is being his usual nervous nelly (as I was a week ago), in reality the race is super stable.
valdemar
http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/everything-just-so-exciting-2012072736037
We’re sort of taking it seriously over here, but also not in a crazy, doublethink way. We assume he’s a bit like Palin – a US family in-joke that we don’t quite get.
scav
Maybe “You People” are now judged unworthy and don’t need know who his second in command is because of all that shining decency stuff. They’ll be sure to choose whoever’s turn it is. Besides, the mean mean Democrats would only cause problems by researching into their backgrounds and that just can’t be allowed, so the VP will be carefully sheltered in some off-short undisclosed location until needed, if ever.
wrb
@gogol’s wife:
Economy.
Only due to facing a disastrously bad candidate has Obama been able to stay in it at all.
If Mitt puts together two weeks with no fuck up I’ll be getting worried.
dmsilev
@Rafer Janders: It’s actually easy to figure out. Whatever Obama does is bad. Period.
Anniecat45
Dan Riehl did not notice that the Queen gave Michelle Obama and her two daughters a special personally conducted tour of Buckingham Palace a few months after Mrs. Obama’s so-called gaffe.
Guess Her Majesty wasn’t too upset.
geg6
Fucking hilarious. Obama pwns Mittens and his flying monkeys again.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/27/1114318/-Conservatives-outraged-over-Abraham-Lincoln-bust-in-the-Oval-Office
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@valdemar: I actually don’t like the Palin-Romney comparisons, though he is given to word-salad-shooting. I loathe and despise Romney, but he’s not stupid. He’s unbelievably arrogant, and I think Timothy Noah nailed something I’ve been wondering about with Romney and the Olympics. Romney really thinks ‘his’ Olympics were unique, therefore he is unique; that he wasn’t just a competent manager, he saved an essential international institution! (I’m kind of ‘meh’ on the whole thing myself), therefore he is an essential man! unquestionably a man of equal stature to prime ministers and presidents. Also, too, you have to factor in the religious-cultural aspect. There was an article kicking around a couple months ago that even when he was in college, people around Romney saw him as the Mormon JFK, and I’d bet the farm that Romney sees himself as the head of a new political dynasty
Carl Nyberg
Has anyone asked if Romney will be claiming his visit to London as a business expense because his horse was there too? How much of his political entourage will be part of this deduction?
jl
Why are people fussing about the polls again?
The bottom line (chances of winning) on fivethrityeight is the same has it has been for a month. Simulation results show same picture of structural problem for Mitt in electoral college.
If the chances of winning has or does dip a bit, it’s because economic growth estimates for last quarter came in slightly lower than expected. That will do more damage in Silver’s model than one poll.
@Valdivia: yes, what Valdivia said: look at the aggregates. (Edit: I should read the whole comment thread before I pop off, huh?)
schrodinger's cat
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: It was the Winter Olympics any way, not as big as the summer Olympics.
lacp
@NancyDarling: He’s an experiment gone terribly, terribly wrong that spliced Tor Johnson’s genetic material with some form of sea creature.
jwb
@gogol’s wife: Almost certainly the gain in the polls, if it’s not an artifact of pollsters playing games with the numbers, has to do with the “you didn’t build that” comment. Obama’s team was on the defensive on that up to the point at which the Romneybot decided to piss all over England.
Arm The Homeless
@Odie Hugh Manatee: I think that he announces his whole cabinet at one time.
This will keep the wingnuts busy admiring each-others baubles. Admit it. It would be media cat-nip. The idea is out there, to borrow a Cokie-alism.
This is how I imagine them consolidating the base, going into the convention. The consolation in this scenario is that it smells like ‘shakin it up’, and would be hilarious to watch the sub-tribes’ gripes about not getting picked for dodge-ball.
muddy
@schrodinger’s cat: Western Civilization is a class I took as a HS sophomore. On large group days we saw a lot of Charleton Heston movies.
japa21
OT but it appears some election officials in PA aren’t happy with the ID law and don’t plan on enforcing it, including a Republican.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/elections/20120727_Delco_election_official_vows_to_defy_ID_law.html
Hill Dweller
@jl: Not to be too pedantic, but last quarter’s GDP numbers were actually higher than estimated(but still too low). Plus, some of the previous quarters’ growth numbers were revised upward.
The media is spinning like crazy because they want a horse race.
japa21
@jl: Actually GDP growth was above estimates, one of the reasons the DOW has jumped so much today.
Valdivia
@jl:
:)
same thing happens to me.
replicnt6
I screwed up the link to my magnum opus above by ending my sentence with a period. I will try to do better in the future: http://i.iflip.im/2a63.
catclub
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: “and I’d bet the farm that Romney sees himself as the head of a new political dynasty.”
I predicted King David Syndrome for Mitt in Israel, in another thread. Maybe it will happen.
redshirt
@jwb: I don’t care about the polls, really, but this is grasping at straws. I could just as easily say Obama should have gained points based on all the Bain-Tax brouhaha over the last few weeks.
Who knows why the national polls changed. But who cares? It’s not a national election.
replicnt6
I screwed up the link to my magnum opus above by ending my sentence with a period. I will try to do better in the future: http://imgflip.com/i/2a63.
catclub
@Arm The Homeless: I am pretty sure ( to wit: haven’t really got a clue) that it is illegal to name who your cabinet members will be before being elected.
Something about preventing corruption. Anybody know better?
Roy G.
@jibeaux: The Anglos AND the Saxons, aka the coalition of the White and the Willing.
Dennis SGMM
@wrb:
This.
kay
That Churchill bust return was a real turning point in. US relations.
Conservatives need to tackle bigger problems than White House decor if they want to be taken seriously.
God Almighty. How long have they been sulking over this perceived slight to white men? I had no idea this earth-shattering breach in international relations occurred until Mitt Romney made an ass of himself in London.
I’m getting a HUGE kick out of it, because the truth is US conservatives worship British people, in an embarrassing and groveling way. They love royalty, too.
zzyzx
This “You didn’t build that” crap sounds a lot like the Joe the Plumber annoyance from 2008. It’ll get some press, and it’ll be annoying for a week or two, and then – as always – they’ll keep overplaying it after everyone else has caught on and the gains will be lost…
lacp
@catclub: They have to be confirmed by the Senate. Not that that would stop him, of course. He’s Mitt Romney.
Arm The Homeless
@catclub: That sounds about right. /puts on IANAL hat
I guess I am wishcasting at this point that we will get a replay of walnuts campaign. But the smell of desperation is heavy in the air.
p.s. I get the sense that Mitt won’t abide being mocked. He knows he has to put on the Smiler’s mask since he stepped in it, and since he is in someone else’s home.
I predict we will see a more manly show while in Poland and Israel. Maybe taking some firing range time. Perhaps hunting in Poland. Who knows. But I think he wants back what manliness he has lost in the UK.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Dennis SGMM: Yes, but… I’d add two things: there does seem to be a general awareness–at least outside the FoxNews/Limbaugh world– that Obama came into a shitstorm– we are, in fact, better off than we were four years ago; Romney’s not just pretty bad, Obama, and his team, are pretty good. As biased as I am, the only Republican I could see giving Obama a serious run for his money is Mitch Daniels.
jl
@Hill Dweller:
@japa21:
Oops. Did I mishear the news today? 1.5 percent growth. That is pretty lousy. I thought that was slightly below expectation, wasn’t it?
Sorry. I will have time to check later.
Do you folks have a link?
Edit: face saving exercise BEGIN. So, who has been saying ‘1939 forever’, huh, you guys, since forever? face saving exercise END
Brachiator
@Linnaeus:
So, Romney is going to make America strong again by being more British than the British.
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
How about one of those two exemplars of Anglo Saxon values, Jindal or Rubio?
patrick II
@geg6:
What I find remarkable about the story you linked to was that Mitt Romney himself was telling contributors at his dinner that he would return Churchill’s bust from England. They lie so much that they fool themselves into believing bullshit that just isn’t true. In the matter of a Churchill bust it is silly, but it is illustrative of what happens to Republicans lost in their own fact-free dialogue on more important issues.
jwb
@redshirt: I would say that Obama did gain slightly on the Bain-Tax brouhaha. On my reading of the polls, there was a slight tick in his direction last week, which was then canceled by Obama playing defense for a week. Barring something substantive happening, my guess is that there will be a small tick in Obama’s direction in next week’s polls due to Romney’s missteps in London. None of this matters much, of course, since about 90% of the people have already made up their minds and the other 10% are working hard at avoiding everything to do with politics at this point.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Arm The Homeless:
That would be excellent! The M$M would break their arms patting Mitty on the back for his serious choices while we laugh our asses off at the spectacle. Once a bit of blood from some stupid shit some of them have done hits the water the sharks would turn them into a bloody pureed soup that would be truly horrible to behold.
It would be too good to be true.
Valdivia
feel good moment of the day. Mrs. O is the best.
jl
@Valdivia: thanks, that is great pic. Brightens my day. Is the queen on MO’s agenda this trip. Liz might pull something like that too, judging from the last trip.
Also, too, we need a parody poem to memorialize Mitt’s Magical Misery Tour through UK from start to finish, but I got nothing. Anyone can think of anything?
Dennis SGMM
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
A shitstorm indeed. A chance for FDR-level greatness and transformation. A chance not taken.
Bokonon
Like that idiot Brian Kilmeade said on “Fox and Friends” this morning … hey, the British press better back off! Mitt Romney might be President some day!!!
Wow. Back off, huh?
If that response doesn’t encapsulate everything that is wrong with both Fox News and the Romney campaign, I don’t know what else does. So I guess the British better start watching what they say … and sweeten up their attitude … and not report negative stories that make Mitt look bad … and behave more like the cowed, intimidated US media?
Nice.
And what’s with the GOP’s fanboys like Riehl suddenly switching from swooning about “Anglo-Saxon” heritage – you know, that special relationship that Obama just doesn’t honor enough, or sufficienly understand in his bones? Suddenly they are spewing bile on the entire UK, and calling it a “degenerate nation” – just because they are not deferential enough? To MITT ROMNEY?? That same guy that the conservatives were savaging during the primary season?
Crikey. Clearly, ideological consistency matters NOT AT ALL to the GOP’s loyal cadres. All that matters is advancing the official party line. And they behave like a bunch of party hacks from the old Soviet Union.
Valdivia
@jl:
they are meeting as we speak in a reception the Queen is giving for the heads of state heading delegations at the Olympics. Our first lady looks smashing as always.
ETA: no brilliant ideas on this end to memorialize the Mittster’s Excellent Adventures.
replicnt6
@Valdivia: Best First Lady in U.S. history? Or best First Lady in the history of the universe?
Valdivia
@replicnt6:
definitely the latter! :D
Joey Maloney
@wrb:
He would look like a fucking pincushion before he could say “corporations are people, too”.
jl
@Valdivia: Thanks. Will look for pics.
I forgot to ask, politely, were you BSing about getting your dad to switch from Fox to AJ and BBC? I am not sure I believe you. How? Why was he watching Fox in the first place? (Points off unless brief explanation with ans).
Amir Khalid
@catclub:
It’s certainly hella presumptious. And it would be embarrassing to be named the next secretary of such-and-such and then see the candidate who named you lose. But is it actually illegal for a presidential candidate in America? I don’t see why it should be.
scav
@Bokonon: The other thing that struck me about that Faux position is that it bases itself upon the acceptance that a President will use the power of his office, irrespective of the needs of the Nation and official foreign policy, to work off vindictive private grudges.
japa21
@jl: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/stocks-higher-early-on-better-than-expected-q2-gdp-and-consumer-sentiment-20120727-00590
jl
They probably could find a UK wrestler to pick up Mitt, but would throw him another way.
That would be an international incident to remember.
Valdivia
@jl:
Best pics I have seen in one place are here (I secretly wish I could go shopping with this woman, because like me she is a tall girl, and she knows how to rock that)
Not bs’ing. My dad has been calling me and my mom (since 2006) the pinko brigade. He is pretty conservative though I always thought he was pragmatic, but he was Foxified for a while until trying to figure out what was going on in Egypt last year he started listening to Al Jazeera and noticed they have actual news instead of plabum. He listens too to France24, their English all news network. He is still a conservative but not so crazy as to deny reality (had to explain to him about the Churchill bust though, that still got through)
Linnaeus
@Brachiator:
In a sense, though not explicitly so. People like Riehl see Romney as representative of the proper rulers of the United States: moneyed elites who deserve their position by virtue of their wealth and to whom we all owe deference. So when Riehl attacks the British for having moved “too far left”, he’s chiding them for their attempts (which met with varying degrees of success) over the past 65 years or so (or even longer if you want to go back to Lloyd George) to reduce the power of the class system that the Tories in particular embodied. The idea is that British governments went horribly wrong when they did that, and that Romney won’t go down that path.
redshirt
@patrick II: I think this is an important dynamic. They lie so often and so thoroughly, and are so immersed in their own reality bubbles, nothing else matters. Straight up truth smacking them across the face via 4×4 wouldn’t matter if it didn’t jibe with the talking points of the day. They are in a realm beyond delusion, since it appears ordered.
Also, regarding Fox N’ Friends: Yeah, better respect the office of the Presidency. Lord knows Fox does day in, day out.
jl
@Valdivia:
OK, thanks. I give you full marks.
Hoping to get some tips for my tea party brigade.
But, you said he was pragmatic. Not sure I have that much to work with.
Brachiator
@Linnaeus:
So, Romney is going to make America strong again by being more British than the British.
I was making a bit of a joke, but I agree with your overall sentiment.
BTW, Americans translate the British experience into something more natural for some of us, a monied elite. The British royals and their aristocracy was based as much on the ephemera of breeding and lineage (backed up by land wealth) as it was on money.
Bokonon
@scav:
Yeah – you noticed that too. They are normalizing something that shouldn’t be OK. The GOP fan club laughed and smirked and cheered when W. targeted and punished his enemies – believe me, it happened in the private sector as well as in politics (ahem – oil and gas leases, telecom industry, etc.) But then the same people shriek like little girls about “tyranny” and “oppression” and “crony capitalism” at the slightest hint that Obama might use the power of his office to do the same thing – right down to comparing Obama with Nixon, or trying to spin Solyndra into some sort of Teapot Dome style corruption scandal.
But wait – isn’t comparison someone with Nixon’s deviousness and vindictiveness a backhanded compliment in the GOP’s world? Never mind. This is all about winning a news cycle, and finding a way to always, always, always be on the attack – no matter what.
catclub
@Amir Khalid: “According to U.S. law, a candidate cannot “directly or indirectly” promise or pledge an appointment. If a candidate violates this, they can be fined or imprisoned.
This is what Title 18, Part I, Chapter 29, Section 599 of the U.S. Code says:
Whoever, being a candidate, directly or indirectly promises or pledges the appointment, or the use of his influence or support for the appointment of any person to any public or private position or employment, for the purpose of procuring support in his candidacy shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if the violation was willful, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
Ha! I misremembered incorrectly.
a google search on “presidential candidate naming cabinet”
dead existentialist
@lacp: Ha ha!
Valdivia
@jl:
It helps, I think, that he gets freaked out by the religious wing of the other side. That kind of religious incitement evokes in him a vibe of what surrounded the progroms he heard about from his mom and dad, before they left Poland.
But I did successfully convert a full-on republican when I dated him about a year ago. He is now a commie just like us, voting for Obama in the State of Virginia and voting for our Senate candidate. :)
jl
@Valdivia: Ah, I can see how that would be important.
The tea party people in my family are not very religious, and are always slamming religious extremism of any kind.
But then they come from the 100 percent protestant side of my family, so the Xtianist nuttiness probably does not seem so threatening to them.
Valdivia
@jl:
when will you enjoy the pleasure of the company of your tea party familials?
Aside from breathing and drinking I don’t have any other tips. I myself had to storm out of two dinners last year for the jewish holidays because it was Obama hatred galore.
gogol's wife
@Valdivia:
She looks gorgeous.
Valdivia
@gogol’s wife:
I know right? She is all class and warmth too.
Valdivia
@gogol’s wife:
apropos of the Romney numbers–here is this excellent explainer
http://www.tnr.com/blog/electionate/105463/romneys-resilience-doesnt-necessarily-portend-strength
qwerty42
@Bokonon:
Yeah. That ought to get those mean Brits to stop.
Rafer Janders
@catclub:
It’s not at all illegal. The key part of that sentence is “for the purpose of” — basically, you can’t promise someone an office in exchange for their support. It’s meant to outlaw bribery, trading offices for cash, basically. It has nothing to do with announcing your cabinet picks before you win office.
tomvox1
Riehl may want to rethink the open comments policy at his shitbox site–wow, did he take a savage (and deserved) beating in response to this latest spit-flecked diatribe. Whatta dope.
stratplayer
All of those people who are so worried about the removal of a fucking bust of Churchill from the White House would do well to remember that the British people removed the Great Man himself from No. 10 Downing Street in the very first election after Winnie had finished trouncing Hitler for them. I think they can handle this silly bust thing.
Calouste
@Bokonon:
Considering the way Cameron and other high-ranking Conservatives have put the boot in Romney*, they seem to think that there are better odds at Romney winning the Grand National than becoming President.
) the latest comes from Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt:
“When we have the opening ceremony tonight and we tell the world that eight of the world’s top 10 sports were either invented or codified in Britain – and only two in America – I hope Mr Romney is watching.”
binzinerator
@kay:
I commented some years ago on BJ that conservatives truly do not like nor believe in democracy.
Nothing I’ve seen since has made me change my mind.
The kind of government they want is actually a very old one, an aristocracy, especially, I suspect, the kind from 18th century England.
If one recalls what took place in the late 18th century, it might provide some insight into why today’s conservatives just loves them some British royalty. Let’s just say deep down inside, we still have Tories among us.
Which also might explain why they constantly wrap themselves in the flag and accuse their opponents of not being the real Americans. It’s always projection with them.
Bokonon
@qwerty42:
Yep. And you know, Kilmeade literally said the words “they oughtta to back off!”
Yeah – listen up!! Back off now! Or Mitt’s machine is gonna reach out and get you! Just like Mitt got that guy canned over at Politico!! Hey … do you wanna end up on the Terrorist Watch List? You just wait!
I guess this is a reflection that Fox’s spin efforts the previous day didn’t work. I caught about 30 seconds of some Fox broadcast yesterday, where some woman was insisting that Romney’s comments were actually “smart” and perceptive and incisive. You know … Mitt striding purposefully into the UK and holding people accountable, like a proud corporate hombre! Instead of doing what those mean ol’ liberal-biased guttersnipes in the UK media were reporting. Which was stepping on the cake. Screwing the pooch. Wearing his ass for a hat …
HyperIon
@gbear:
I STILL have trouble comprehending the turnaround in LGF.
Rafer Janders
@HyperIon:
Me too. Me too. I know it happened, but I still can’t quite believe it.
Jay in Oregon
@binzinerator:
No, they love unrestrained corporate tyranny.
Some of them are even smart enough to want to be running the corporations in question.
binzinerator
@scav:
They believe that is what their opponents would do, so that makes it ok for them to do it.
Another thing about conservatives’ propensity for projection is that they use it to give themselves the moral greenlight to do whatever it was they wanted to do all along.
They would of course want to use the office of the President to settle private grudges. And in the conservative mind that means the other guy would do that in a heartbeat too. So of course that means there’s nothing wrong with them doing it in the first place.
See how that works?
The Fat Kate Middleton
@Valdivia: The comments, however, are nauseating. I did not think it possible that so much racism could be packed into one thread.
FlipYrWhig
@Brachiator: And, contra the American mores on such things, ostentatious display of wealth, especially of the earned variety rather than inherited, would be considered quite vulgar in bygone Britain. Making money from “trade” is a sign of low breeding, as is evident in just about every courtship novel from the 18th and 19th centuries.
WaterGirl
@gogol’s wife: Didn’t we have this same conversation about the polls at the end of last week? With all the same responses?
Valdivia
@The Fat Kate Middleton:
I stayed away from that, because Yahoo comments are like a sewer.
xian
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: not stupid, arrogant and incurious.
WaterGirl
@qwerty42:
Once a bully, always a bully. Mitt would be an utter disaster as president. Reminds me of W. More “axis of evil” and “in your face” cowboy bullshit. (without the cowboy)
Brachiator
@FlipYrWhig:
Yep. And the hint of historical truth behind shows like Downton Abbey were the rich mercantilist Americans who pimped their daughters to spendthrift British aristocrats too dumb to actually work for a living to support their expensive habits. The Brits got money, the American wives got a title of nobility. As, for example, the American hottie Jennie Jerome who married Lord Churchill, Winston’s father.
sublime33
Mitt Romney = Homer Simpson, except Mitt is better looking.
Mike Dixon
I’m honestly surprised and disappointed that we haven’t yet heard that Cameron and Johnson are “not true conservatives” or better yet, RINOs?
ABL
that is hilarious.
dan riehl is a fuckwit. he’s the one who claimed that black people were being led down the path through the cottonfield of ignorance.
he literally said that.
Liberty60
I, for one, am outraged that Obama refused to bow to the Queen, and,… wait…
No, I am OUTRAGED that Obama is bowing to foreign royalty!!1!
The Other Chuck
I think Dan Riehl’s real message is “PAY ATTENTION TO MEEEEEEEEEE!”
I mean really, anyone subscribing to him is a hardcore 27%er and not worthy of an iota of time. He is the blogger version of Fred Phelps.
Mike G
Have they started renaming food yet?
Whenever Repukes throw a tantrum at another country, they have to start renaming food, like “Freedom Fries”. It’s the sublimation of their inner desire to fling poop and run away crying.
So what’s it going to be?
Fish and Chips will become “Freedom Swimming Critters and
FrenchFreedom Fries”?Shepherd’s Pie will become “Agribusiness Reagan-Pastry”?
JGabriel
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kay:
That’s because US Conservatives are all Tories. I’ve been saying for two or three decades now that the GOP is the party of people who would have supported England in 1776.
.
Rafer Janders
@FlipYrWhig:
Awfully convenient for the guy who’s already got his money (made, let’s not forget, from wringing out slave labor from the serfs by preventing them from owning their own productive farmland). And a not inconvenient social structure if you want to keep power concentrated in the status quo…..
Rafer Janders
@FlipYrWhig:
Which is why they built those enormous fucking mansions, a la Downtown Abbey. To be understated and low-key about it.