Things are tough on Romney’s worldwide alienation tour, and his press secretary is getting touchy (via):
“Show some respect,” he said after being challenged for not taking questions, according to pool reports.
“We haven’t had another chance to ask a question,” a New York Times reporter said.
“Kiss my ass,” Gorka said back. “This is a Holy site for the Polish people. Show some respect.”
Just a few moments later, Gorka told a Politico reporter to “shove it,” reports CNN.
Cassidy
The butthurt is wonderful.
arguingwithsignposts
Sucks to be you, Gorka.
More of this, please.
General Stuck
Frank Nitti used to talk like that, back in the day.
Valdivia
I hope they keep doing this, it’s like the anit-tire swing.
4tehlulz
FEEL MY ANGER
Morbo
So Poland is his last chance to salvage this tour (“you forgot Poland!”) and this is how his campaign is going to act? Man, talk about your tin ear.
wvng
Royalty does not speak to peons!
Randy P
OT, but from the ABC page about the Poland “kiss my ass” story, I followed a link to this story about gorillas dismantling poacher traps. I love this story on so many levels. I especially love the part where the elder male waved off the human and basically said “stay back, we got this”.
Valdivia
I hate going OT so early in the thread but I just downloaded the Obama App and it is fantastic, wonderfully designed, functional and it has great tools like giving one data on how Obama’s policies have benefited citizens of your state in real numbers (savings, tax cuts etc) also, voting info with new laws rules and how to register
Chyron HR
Shorter Romney 2012 campaign: “Fuck no, a cat can’t look at a goddamned king!”
Tyro
This is kind of funny because the Republicans have fairly consistently depended on a fairly obsequious, fawning press to keep their campaigns afloat, but the Romney campaign is pretty much alienating them. That’s not going to help him at all come the fall.
JGabriel
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Michael Graetz @ NYT:
Why do people keep telling us we shouldn’t begrudge Mitt Romney his wealth? Why the fuck shouldn’t I begrudge it?
I have no doubt that Romney “earned” most of his wealth through ripping off pensions, laying off workers, tax dodges, sucking money out of previously healthy companies, and leaving it to taxpayers to pay off their bankrupt debt. Damn straight I fucking begrudge it; anyone with a moral conscience should.
.
nevsky42
The thought of the Romney campaign and the press corps trapped together in a Sartrean hell just made my day! Thanks, Balloon Juice!
rikyrah
hilarious
rikyrah
@JGabriel:
TELL IT
TELL IT
The Other Bob
@Randy P:
Cool story, but this prime directive BS seems short sighted:
As if the snares are natural? Not only teach them to dismantle traps, but how about we give them AK47’s and teach tem how to ID poachers.
General Stuck
I may have missed it, but was there anyone Romney didn’t piss off on his big adventure to introduce himself to the world?
Linda Featheringill
@Randy P:
The gorilla story is wonderful!
If you are religious, you might say that God keeps his eye on the sparrow. Or you might say that Gaia protects her own. Or you might just say Hallelujah to all of the above.
Good work, guys!
MattF
I think the people of Poland would have been irritated if the Romney campaign didn’t manage to offend them, somehow. Public cursing in a church really just hits the sweet spot, I’d say.
NotMax
Commented earlier about this on a previous thread, but have one more thing to add.
I have run for office in the past. Had anyone who was authorized to speak on my behalf for the campaign done what Gorka did, three things would have happened right away, no delays.
1) He would have been fired.
2) There would be an aide-shaped hole in the door where he was shown out.
3) As the candidate, I would step up to make an unambiguous renunciation and apology for what occurred.
Schlemizel
@General Stuck: Bibi – maybe, it would depend on how softly Willard tongued him I suppose but Bibi seemed happy at the end.
Everyone else? Not so much
debbie
@ Randy P:
Yay for the gorillas! Check out “The Tiger” by John Vaillant to see the tiger version of this.
Any day now, our species will definitely be getting its comeuppance.
gogol's wife
@JGabriel:
Right on. I’m so sick of that sanctimonious tripe.
ellie
Hahahaha That sounds like my mom, a devout Catholic who would say “fuck” in church all the time.
gogol's wife
@General Stuck:
Sheldon Adelson. That’s all that matters.
Wag
@The Other Bob:
Now that’s a plan that could backfire
JGabriel
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General Stuck:
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Bibi Netanyahu, as Schlemizel also notes.
I suspect Bibi may find he’s not too happy with the consequences, though, next time he meets with Obama — especially if that meeting doesn’t happen until Obama’s second term.
(In sing-songy voice:) Awkward.
.
Linda Featheringill
@General Stuck: #17
Has he irritated the Poles yet? I haven’t heard anything. Of course, maybe the good citizens of Poland are just waiting for him to leave so they can regale each other with Romney jokes.
mai naem
I guess Andrea Saul had enough. Just wonder if Andrea Saul is Jewish – the name kinda/sorta sounds Jewish. Maybe she refused to go along to Israel because she thought he would inadvertently say something anti- semitic. BTW, I called it on Rmoney making an inappropriate comment about Jews being good at making money last week.
General Stuck
@JGabriel:
I suppose Bibi was impressed with the prospect of dealing with an American president he could order around like a lap dog. And was pleased and not pissed in that way.
russ
Man, Ole Mitt now has his staff pissed off. I swear, you could get a dislike for the guy just walking by him with no eye contact…
NotMax
@General Stuck
Romney and Netanyahu have been BFFs since they first met in 1976.
redshirt
@The Other Bob: Why hasn’t Obama intervened on behalf of these freedom loving gorillas?
arguingwithsignposts
One other thing about this trip: Why Poland?
I mean, really, what are the strategic geopolitical goals that could possibly be accentuated by a trip to freakin’ Poland (no offense to the Polish). I get London (Olympics) and Israel (sloppy BJ to the tail that wags the evangelical dog), but Poland?
Could someone explain this one?
General Stuck
@NotMax:
Doesn’t mean there isn’t an alpha dog in that relationship. and it ain’t Mitt.
JGabriel
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Linda Featheringill:
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… And the pope said to the hitchhiker, “I’ve had a long fruitful life, young woman. You take the last parachute.”
The hitchhiker replied, “No need, Your Holiness. Mitt Romney just jumped off the plane wearing my backpack.”
.
Schlemizel
@JGabriel: I was thinking that same thing when I was listening to a story on Bibi’s sucking up to the Marquis. They had a rightwing apologist on to say it wasn’t really and endorsement and then a sane Israeli reporter who was a bit upset by it.
It would be nice to think Obama would rub Bibi’s nose in it during his second term but who are we kidding? This is America and even a fairly reasonable President can’t be sen putting Israel in its place. Bibi will probably get the Lieberman treatment – an endorsement from Obama while Bibi’s knife is still in his back.
General Stuck
@arguingwithsignposts:
Poland – commies – Reagan – solidarity
amk
@General Stuck: Actually, poles love saint raygun (because of his tear down the wall bs, which they think was what freed them from them reds) and that love spills over for all rethugs including dubya. And yes, expect all the poles in ‘murka voting for mittbot.
JPL
The Romney spokesman sure put those people in their place.
IOKIYAR and white.
NotMax
@arguing withsignposts
It was pretty much the only place with a name Americans could recognize that invited him. Well, Walesa invited him.
Also too, there are millions upon millions of Polish-Americans.
Gin & Tonic
I had Morning Ho on for a few minutes (I’m in a hotel and couldn’t figure out the remote that quickly) but managed to catch some British-accented woman commenting that Willard could have disarmed the British press and/or people very quickly by just showing a hint of humor. A little self-deprecation can go a long way, I guess, if your operating system is capable of it. The guy is just incapable of showing any flashes of humanity.
ChrisNYC
Gorka’s the guy who gave the same boilerplate nothing answer on immi reform something like 25 times.
I read last week that none of Romney’s senior people went with him on the trip. Stayed in Boston to run the campaign. So bizarre that they view the candidate as tangential to the campaign.
Culture of Truth
“The Americans have always only taken care of their own interests, and they have used everyone else,” Walesa said, according to Der Spiegel.
Exceptionalism, baby!
Waynski
@JGabriel: This. And exactly how did his sons “earn” their wealth? Did they feed the dancing horsies?
SRW1
@Linda Featheringill:
Linda, I feel sad you left out evolution. And it worked so hard to come up with intelligence.
JGabriel
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arguingwithsignposts:
What General Stuck said, plus:
Romney has been repeatedly trash talking Russia as if they were still the Soviet Union so he can play dress-up as a tough anti-Commie (as opposed to that sociaIist ni-CLANG in the White House) — such trash talk will play well to a receptive audience in Poland, or so Romney’s advisers no doubt think.
.
NotMax
@amk
Gotta appreciate at some level the tightrope act of the Polish Foreign Minister.
rlrr
@General Stuck:
Exactly – Romney want people to think he’s the true successor to St. Ronald who single handily wiped communism from the face of the earth, thus freeing the Poles from Soviet tyranny.
Jay C
Heh – so the main news (so far) from the Polish leg of Willard’s Wacky Worldwide Walkabout is that the Big Gaffe has come from his press secretary, not the candidate himself?
That’s Our Mitt! A real master at outsourcing is he…
On a more serious note, I noticed this bit:
WTF is this? An unsubtle allusion to the old BS “Obama is a Communist/Marxist” jibe? I don’t know enough about the structure of the Polish economy to say, but does anyone know what sort of, say, healthcare system they have in Poland? My guess would be that it’s something other than the “free-enterprise” Eden Mitt and the GOP imagine America to be: I wonder, though, what the average Pole (Joe the Polish Plumber?) might think of our outrageously expensive system?
ChrisNYC
Solidarity says not so fast, Lech:
“Soon after the endorsement, however, Solidarity issued a release saying it was ‘in no way’ involved in the endorsement and that it had learned from the AFL-CIO ‘about Mitt Romney’s support for the attacks against trade unions and labor rights.'”
Learned from the AFL-CIO. Ha ha.
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
Can picture it in crystal clarity in the mind’s eye.
“Hey, how about that Queen? If there were a gold medal for frumpy, she’d be a shoo-in.”
kc
LMAO!
Schlemizel
@Schlemizel: edit does not seem to work for me this AM
I really wanted to change “President can’t be sen putting Israel in its place”
to President can’t be seen putting
Israelthe Likkud in its placebut it wouldn’t let me.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
So Mittens gone off about the Soviet Union in Poland yet? The only reason I can see him in Poland is to talk about the Cold War 2 he seems to want.
FlipYrWhig
@NotMax: I suggested somewhere else “it’s great to be in England. The henges are just the right height.”
Cacti
@JGabriel:
So, how was it that the 5 Romney sprogs “earned” that 100 million dollar trust fund?
Culture of Truth
Willard could have disarmed the British press but in England there is no pun control
Yutsano
@NotMax: Hey. OT but had to crash early last night. What was your question for me?
Culture of Truth
He wants to put a missile defense system in Poland or something. I’d say it’s crazy, but I don’t much about it, plus I think Obama is willing to have a modified version.
Walesa is turning into an old crank.
ericblair
Yeah, bit cheeky after the foreign minister tried to gin up some anti-Obama outrage after the Polish death camp reference.
Oh yeah, and this oldie-but-goldie from the same dude:
“Writing in his blog, Mr Czarnecki, an MEP, quoted the foreign minister as saying: ‘Have you heard that Obama may have a Polish connection? His grandfather ate a Polish missionary.'”
NotMax
@Yutsano
Thanks for responding.
A corporation (LLC) doing business exclusively (near as I can determine) in California* is registered there as a foreign corporation, its primary and previous corporate registration (when created) being in Delaware.
* although its sole asset can and sometimes does travel to other states or other countries
Aware that Delaware is renowned as a corporate tax haven, but unclear on what the advantages of having such a set-up might be so far as federal taxation goes.
Will refrain from disclosing the corporation yet so as not to possibly color the situation.
Ubu Imperator
Mitt Romney, makin’ friends.
Valdivia
@Culture of Truth:
not just an old crank but an old crank that has taken very conservative public positions like backing a bill outlawing abortion.
Culture of Truth
He’s become an unber catholic, I believe, somehow this translates in supporting Romney.
Yutsano
@NotMax: Business taxes aren’t my field. :) However setting up shop in Delaware is mostly to avoid state tax rates. It shouldn’t have any impact on federal ones.
Linda Featheringill
@SRW1: #46
Gorillas:
Good point. And if members of this group are teaching each other the technical fine points of protecting themselves, then it will become part of their culture. Good news all around.
Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937
Nice to see we have the A team representing American politics.
Raven
@NotMax: Engulf and Devour?
jwb
@General Stuck: Bibi: “I’m not Romneybot’s friend; I’m his programmer.”
WaterGirl
@Valdivia: I am on the train using my iPad, but couldn’t find an obama app with my search. Could you say more?
JGabriel
@Cacti: That should be a “Via” not an “@”. The quote is from Michael Graetz @ NYT, not me.
.
pk
I have no doubt in my mind this is what he is going to say to the American people. And yet he may still win.
Raven
@WaterGirl: http://www.barackobama.com/app
WaterGirl
@JGabriel: I think if you’re telling people not to begrudge your wealth, you have already lost the arguement.
Mark S.
@Gin & Tonic:
I can’t remember Mitt ever telling a self-deprecating joke. He finds it funnier to walk blind people into doors and make people think they’re going to arrested or fired.
Cacti
@JGabriel:
I figured. It was just a question for general consumption.
The Mitt sprogs “earned” their family money about as much as they “served” their country during the Iraq war.
Villago Delenda Est
This Gorka asswipe really understands the principle of using honey instead of vinegar to persuade.
ericblair
@NotMax:
I’m wondering how well this kind of ethnic pandering works. To first generation maybe, but hell, I qualify as third generation on one side of the family and I don’t have any special interest in our policy there as opposed to anywhere else.
And even for first generation immigrants: by definition, they’re here in the US instead of the old country and probably for a reason, and may not be terribly impressed with a candidate cozying up to the current government.
Mark S.
What ever happened to the empathy liberals are so famous for? Imagine being Romney’s press secretary this week.
dmsilev
@ericblair: I could ask my mom, the daughter of Polish immigrants. Except that there’s not much point; like most Massachusetts residents, she hates Mitt Romney with the heat of a thousand blazing stars and there’s not much that would change that.
bemused
Republicans rant about “angry” Obama and meanie Dems but it’s amazing how easily they lose their shit. A friend who has bumper stickers such as “Not a Republican” and “Coexist” has gotten glares and huffy remarks from people in parking lots. They really are upset to see them. She just smiles and walks on. Rightwingers have anger control issues.
Villago Delenda Est
@arguingwithsignposts:
Germany is on vacation, so OvenMitt had to settle for Poland.
I suppose.
NotMax
@Yutsano
Thanks.
Multiple tries at variations in posting all ended up in FYWP limbo.
The corporation is the one that owns Rafalca.
Valdivia
@WaterGirl:
hi! I got from the the obama site which links you back to the store go to
http://www.barackobama.com/app?source=TheNewObamaForAmericaApp-20120731-misc-HQB&icn=20120731-TheNewObamaForAmericaApp-misc-HQB
and download.
It is fantastic, very good design and excellent at giving the info you need both as a voter and to help register voters.
shortstop
@Chyron HR: Win win win win win.
Cacti
Kiss my ass and show some respect! We’ve given you people all you need to know. Corporations are people my friend, and I’m not concerned about the very poor.
The new Romney 2012 slogan – made completely of quotes from his campaign.
Villago Delenda Est
Back in the 17th century, people like Rmoney “earned” a great deal of wealth in the Caribbean.
They were begrudged this by the local authorities, who hung them from yardarms.
Yutsano
@NotMax: Oh, well they have five years to show some sort of a profit or else for taxation purposes they become a hobby. I’m not certain of the difference, except it has to do with carryback rules and such.
NotMax
@ericblair
Yup.
Mom was born in what was then a part of Poland and couldn’t care a whit about the current country.
Had to spend about 40 minutes on the phone talking her down from the “You didn’t build that” tripe. Sigh. She has a better computer than I, but only turns it on like once a year.
Bobby Thomson
Translation: This was a deliberate fight with the press, a la Bush the Elder with Dan Rather or Newt Gingrich anytime.
Cassidy
@Villago Delenda Est: Shit. If they think this is “begrudging”, I’m sure the ghosts of wealthy people in history would love to explain what a real grudge is. These pansies have it easy. They whine about being punishged for being successful? Fuck them. They should be scared to walk outside their homes in fear of what the poor and middle class would do to them.
El Cid
LEAVE MITT ROMNEY ALOOOOOONE!
WaterGirl
@Raven: Thanks! When I do a search in the apps store, it doesn’t come up. I hope they remedy that!
In any case, it is downloading now from your link. And I am loving you for your zagg keyboard recommendation many moons ago. So much better not to have to hold the iPad in my hand, the way to Chicago, constantly fussing with it so my hand doesn’t get tired.
On my way to a wake and funeral. My brother-in-law is like a brother to me. I have known him and his family since I was 13, and his brother died this week. Life is hard, and life is good. I guess that’s the mystery we all live with.
Yutsano
@NotMax: My uncle is a Polish Jew from New York. Ask him how he feels about the old country. I dare you. :)
Jay in Oregon
@Mark S.:
Don’t forget Romney joking about tripping a pregnant women (his daughter in law, to boot) in order to win a race.
To be clear, I’m pretty sure that he was kidding about having tripped her, not that he was laughing about having done so. But you never know…
Horrendo Slapp (formerly Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)
Is there anybody at all who has anything to do with the Rmoney campaign who isn’t an utter dickwad? I’d have thought that the law of averages if nothing else would dictate that sooner or later there would be somebody in that campaign who wasn’t in the running for Dickwad of the Year, but, damn, their farm system must be good. They just keep coming up with big-league talent, day after day after day after day.
WaterGirl
Tried to delete text in duplicate post, to no avail.
I love my iPod, but this is one area in which it does not excel.
catpal
@NotMax: Delaware is known as a “corporate haven” for lots of reasons see here
Court of Chancery = Judges only, no juries,
Limited corporate/shareholder liability – more rights for Corporate entity over shareholder rights.
No corporate state income tax.
Amir Khalid
@The Other Bob:
It’s actually not Prime Directive bullshit. It’s to avoid contaminating the data. See, the Fossey people are there to study gorillas’ natural behavior. If they start teaching gorillas how to do stuff, the gorillas’ behavior is no longer completely natural, which invalidates all future observations by anyone.
NotMax
@Yutsano
Gotcha.
Mom, her sister and her parents managed to get to a port for like the last boat out (to Brazil), just ahead of the Nazis.
Raven
@WaterGirl: Aw, take care of yourself. My friend with the awful cancer is in the last week of radiation. She has always had beautiful long hair and it is gone now. She’s really hanging tough so we are hopeful.
Valdivia
@WaterGirl:
I too hope they fix it, it may be a listing thing on the iTunes side because it was just released.
Condolences on the death in the family.
WaterGirl
@Valdivia: Pulling into the station soon. You guys have given me something fun to check out as I wait the hour for the Metra train. Thanks!
Amir Khalid
@Villago Delenda Est:
Inviting reporters to kiss one’s ass, and then demanding that they behave respectfully, is kind of like telling your children that they mustn’t swear because it’s fucking rude.
NotMax
@catpal
Thank you.
Bobby Thomson
@ChrisNYC:
If they thought they could get away with hiding him for the rest of the campaign they would do it in a heartbeat.
Yutsano
@WaterGirl: Hugz. And make sure to enjoy the wake. It’s supposed to be a celebration of life. When my uncle died, his funeral turned into one huge laugh fest that he would have loved. Until they read a statement from his daughter. Not a dry eye anywhere. But you’ll see it’s a place for both joy and tears.
@NotMax: His family read the signs early and left some time in the 30s. They became all that was left. At least my uncle doesn’t have the Israel bug.
General Stuck
Great thread title, btw.
amk
@Jay in Oregon: If that is true, it just proves yet again that he is a scum.
Valdivia
So are we not going to get an excited shoutout thread for the inspired choice for keynote speaker?
NotMax
@Yutsano
The village they lived in (then Poland, now a part of Ukraine) had its remaining population wiped out in a massacre during the war, and nowadays exists under a totally different name, as if it had never been.
Nemesis
@Bobby Thomson:
Ill bite.
What does the mittbot campiagn expect to gain from insulting/cursing at the press?
Mark S.
@Jay in Oregon:
I remember in the same article it said that on Romney family vacations, every night the entire family would gather around and critique one of the son’s career and parental decisions of the past year. And I thought my family reunions sucked!
Neddie Jingo
@WaterGirl:
I searched the iTunes store for it as unsuccessfully as you did, but if you go to http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/obama-for-america/id547687124 and click the “View in iTunes” button, it launches iTunes and comes up quick as you like.
I’m downloading it now.
I’m sure it doesn’t show up in a conventional iTunes search because it just launched yesterday. It takes a while for an app to make its presence known to the search servers.
WaterGirl
@Yutsano: He has had severe MS for over 10 years, and it’s been really rough the last few years, so there’s not been much joy. Hopefully the 4 brothers and one sister will be able to shift to some happy memories from before he got so sick. That would be a nice tribute to Keith. (thanks for the hug, tough couple of days)
Villago Delenda Est
@Valdivia:
I know very little about Mayor Castro, but I like what I’ve read so far.
I’m sure we’ll learn much more about this man in the near future.
MaxxLange
So…..this is Salt Lake City-style politics?
Bobby Thomson
@Nemesis: Rally the base (which appreciates all attacks on the press), rally Polish-Americans (the efficacy of the latter of which seems dubious, but I didn’t say it was an effective strategy, just that I think it was deliberate).
WaterGirl
@Raven: So glad your friend is a tough cookie. I truly don’t know where people find the strength. Not everyone does, I know, but impressive when they do. I hope she has a full recovery.
A close frien has had 3 surgeries in 5 weeks. Skin cancer on her nose,. First surgery to remove cancer (very deep) two reconstructive surgeries. Its been breaking my heart but she is doing well and the reconstructive surgeries are starting to make sense as it all comes together.
Thanks for the kinds words, and the info on the app.
SiubhanDuinne
@Valdivia:
Brilliant choice, well done Dems! AAAAAND his name is Castro, which is guaranteed to cause a few winger heads to go all splody.
shortstop
@Bobby Thomson: I also think that was the intention. But I do not think this will play out as they planned. It’s a complicated dance, maintining press approval while convincing the rubes that you hate the librul media as much as they do. It requires far more finesse than Gorka showed here. Can’t anyone on the Romney team play this game?
catpal
@Mark S.: I thought of that, about the Rmoney family crtique time – when Rmoney criticized the London Olympics. the Romney CEO just criticizes Everything, and that is usually learned behavior.
So where did the Romneybot learn this criticizing behavior, and non-tolerance for the lessers – parents? Mormonism?
WaterGirl
@Valdivia: Appreciate the condolences and all the app info. We got stuck on the tracks for a bit so I checked it out now after all.
Looks like app is only a phone version, not an iPad version, but maybe that will be coming, too.
Maybe an iPad version would be too elitist? :-)
Jay C
@Bobby Thomson:
@Nemesis:
Another guess: provoking a fight with the press to burnish their creds with the “biased liberal media” obsessives at home? Nothing seems to chap wingnuts’ asses more than the notion that the “mainstream” media are somehow instinctively prejudiced against them, and thus reinforcing the meme that the only “credible” press is whoever tells them exactly what they want to hear, and congratulates them for believing it.
LanceThruster
Clergyman: I was interested to see a Bible by your bed. You actually find time to read it?
Patton: I sure do. Every goddamn day.
ericblair
@Nemesis:
If they thought clearly and dispassionately about anything, and considered others worthy of consideration, they would hardly be the mittbot campaign now, would they?
“The scribe will shut up or else it gets the hose again!”
Chinn Romney
Obviously the Romney campaign is modeled after that tremendously successful McCain run. And if wants to continue using that model then he should select Santourum as the clown a heartbeat away. I’m not sure a Kelly Ayotte would quite fit.
burnspbesq
Just wait until someone asks Gorka about Gov. Rmoney’s support for death panels.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/look-whos-praising-socialized-medicine/
Villago Delenda Est
@shortstop:
They really do not understand the nature of this game. They are not in control. This is not the absolute dictatorship of a US corporation. The people that they get stabby with will get stabby back, and there’s not a precious thing they can do to stop it.
Villago Delenda Est
@Jay C:
Well, you know, the MSM hasn’t totally given up reporting facts.
This would naturally alienate the wingnuts, as facts have a liberal bias.
As shoring up the base that does not trust them is job one at Rmoney HQ, naturally, playing to that base to demonstrate that they really are working for the base is of course quite important.
NotMax
@catpal
Takes a thick skin to resist the enticing overtures of all those fast-talking car elevator salespeople.
:)
General Stuck
Mitt “Heather” Romney stamps his feets to why the media is not following orders to stenograph his talking points.
Dude is the Frank Burns candidate.
The Fat Kate Middleton
@WaterGirl: I just downloaded it to my iPad 1. Googled the web address posted here, and it showed up in apps. Waiting for the download to finish …
The Thin Black Duke
@Villago Delenda Est: Exactly. I think the press is gonna start doing their jobs and call out Romney’s bullshit, not because it’s the right thing to do, but because they’re pissed. Hey, works for me.
linda
Ha! Remindse of a library patron who yelled into her cellphone “I can’t argue with you NOW! I’M IN THe FUCKING LIBRARY!
Villago Delenda Est
@General Stuck:
Old ferret face!
burnspbesq
@JGabriel:
Reading comprehension fail.
Let’s put the sentence from the Graetz piece that you pulled out of context back in context.
I’m surprised that you can’t recognize a 50-foot-tall strawman, erected for the sole purpose of being knocked down.
(In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I have known Mike Graetz for over 30 years; he was my tax prof in law school, and I still see him occasionally at conferences. I have read both of his major books and most of his scholarly articles. I am highly confident that I have a pretty good understanding of his politics, and I am certain that he has no more use for Gov. Rmoney than you or me.)
kay
3 questions. He’s taken 3 questions from the US press this whole trip.
I’m thrilled the clown lost his temper but I’m not so thrilled that Mitt Romney gets away with blowing them off again and again.
It’s their own fault. They let Palin get away with this, she turned them into useful props for her career as a grifter, and Romney saw how easy they are to intimidate.
Jay C
@General Stuck:
Actually, it seems to be obvious to everyone – in the “whatever Estate” or not – that the last four years have been tough: what Mitt and the GOP are desperate to “divert” is the fact the the current Administration has done a fairly good job of dealing with those tough times: in the face of obsessive Republican obstructionism. Not to mention an intensely serious lack of an alternative vision, outside of name-calling and boilerplate sloganeering (i.e., the standard Republican platform).
SiubhanDuinne
@General Stuck:
Fixed it for ya, Mitt.
shortstop
@Villago Delenda Est: Is it okay that I’m enjoying the hell out of it all?
Our condo association president is among our American children who is not learning. He keeps buying wave petunias for the planters on the front steps. They keep dying. He keeps buying more and they keep dying. He keeps hiring a plumber who overcharges us, doesn’t fix the problem and creates new ones. The president then gives the plumber more money to not fix the original problem and also not correct the new ones the plumber created.
At some point, a normal, reasonable person buys a different kind of flower and finds a new plumber. I am reminded of the Romney campaign. He’s been running for office since 1994. He’s been running for president since at least 2004 (that, or perhaps early 2005, was the year I actually received a phone poll here in Chicago that tested out his presidential aspirations). All these years at this, and he does not learn. No one who works for him, or at least no one in his employ who survives the Romney hammer of control freakery and micromanagement, learns. It’s just amazing.
NotMax
@General Stuck
Dig deeper, Mitt. Deeper.
Every shovelful takes you further down and makes you a smaller and smaller man in the eyes of those watching.
Can’t even commit to recognized terminology for “the press” or “the media.”
Another Halocene Human
@NotMax: What, you don’t think the Ghost of Breitbart (Show some respect! Stop raping people!) isn’t a hot new image that would sweep any right-thinking pol to victory?
Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God
@Culture of Truth:
Arguably one of the greatest trade-unionists of his generation, and he goes for the Republican in his dotage…
…just like American unionists!
Villago Delenda Est
@burnspbesq:
I question whether that wealth was earned, or whether it was stolen.
Rmoney certainly is squirrely enough with documenting that wealth.
Rmoney is a pirate. He should be treated like one.
NotMax
@Another Halocene Human
Sadly, I think the logical extension of this may be to hire someone to turn around and moon the media whenever they get full from spoon feeding.
Another Halocene Human
@NotMax: So, no irony that a labor leader would be inviting Mr. Dine On Your Pension to his country as if he’s a VSP?
Polish politics are weird. I know a polish guy, he has a disability so came to the US for more opportunities. Worked really hard and is successful. However, it’s the South and cops hassle him thinking he’s a bum, tried to run him off practically on his doorstop one night, and he was really upset. Then he turns around and writes these super-libertarian blog posts. Gaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh.
Maybe identifying with the same assholes oppressing him and pissing on everyone who helped him the fuck out makes him feel better about himself, like he has some dignity? My god.
hep kitty
Can it get any better (worse)? I sure hope so and I sure think so. Enjoying the ride!
Amir Khalid
@General Stuck:
Mitt’s not being a Heather, exactly. Corporate types like him and his media people commonly regard journalists as quasi-employees, external extensions of the company PR shop. It’s a worldwide phenomenon, even among people who fancy themselves as having a good rapport with the media. They get mad when journos ask awkward questions. They bullshit journos every chance they get. They’ll expect every story to make them look good, and scold the media if it doesn’t, accurate or not. This is all very typical of what I saw over two decades and change as a journo.
Another Halocene Human
@Jay C: I don’t know, although I’m sure like all fairly nationalist ex-Communist states freed in the 1990s they have more positive feelings towards government institutions since they are now ‘theirs’ and can be bent to achieve whatever aims they will. But also like other states in their position they’ve struggled with a great deal of poverty. In fact, Heifer Int’l does farm aid work in Poland as well as in certain Balkan countries. And Poland has been held back by super-right-wing Catholics throwing wrenches in law and politics (hm, much like another country I could mention).
They’ve got a lot of problems in Poland, although it’s hard to disentangle failures of government from failures in the body politic. They may have the government they both want and deserve.
Another Halocene Human
@ChrisNYC: Hahahahahahahahah!!!! FUCKING A!
NotMax
2Another Halocene Human
Walesa. How do you say “wingnut” in Polish?
Walesa is an ultra-rightist, ultra-conservative, ultra-Catholic rabblerouser who is respected for his actions with Solidarity, but rejected for pretty much everything he’s been associated with since in Poland.
See here.
burnspbesq
@NotMax:
None. Assuming that the LLC has not made a check-the-box election to be treated as a corporation for Federal tax purposes, its members are treated like partners. They will be taxed on their distributive share of the LLC’s income as and when it is earned, regardless of whether it is distributed, and regardless of where it is earned.
Another Halocene Human
@Mark S.: I don’t waste my empathy on douchebags.
Maude
@shortstop:
This reminds me of the landlord. Same thing. It never ends.
NotMax
@burnspbesq
So it’s just a gambit to lower state tax liability, then?
Randy P
@linda: On one Amtrak train I used to ride a lot, one conductor had a standard spiel that started out at top volume, “THIS… IS… THE QUIET CAR!!!”
Origuy
I looked up where there are a lot of Polish Americans. As I expected, the largest communities are in Illinois and New York; Mitt’s not going to get enough votes there to make a difference. After that, though, comes Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Ohio. There are over 800,000 Polish and Polish-Americans in each of the first two.
Another Halocene Human
@Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God: m-f-ing burn.
Another Halocene Human
@NotMax: So he’s basically like a Polish Reagan, with less Alzheimer’s and more bitter?
Another Halocene Human
@Randy P: I love the taste of a hot cup of sarcasm in the morning!
El Cid
__
New York Magazine, via the Krug-Man.
These people need to join up with Latin American right wing upper- and upper-middle classes explaining why any liberal reformist government is just a bunch of commies and why free public education for schoolchildren is theft.
Because that’s exactly what they sound like.
Take note: Right now our upper-middle classes are sounding like the frightened member of the mildly wealthy (and occasionally truly wealthy) classes which allied themselves to the death squad democracies and cheap sub-fascists of the US’ stooge tyrannies.
They are the same as the Venezuelan rich who keep screaming that Hugo Chavez is planning to round them all up and steal all their money (and, horror of horrors, maybe even nationalizing their 2nd, vacation homes for the peasant help they employ), even though it hasn’t yet happened under 2 (two) administrations of Chavez.
Apart from the arrogance of unchallenged superiority and a slavish dual-party oligopoly, whatever the problems are of a Chavez government, destroying the Venezuelan rich isn’t one of them.
They’re still there. They’re still rich. And still they moan and whine like the Khmer Rouge forces have just stormed their homes and replaced all their dinnerware with ugly plastic utensils bearing Chavez’ logo.
Pffft, real revolutionary Communists would have viewed a Chavez type reformist government as a servant of the Venezuelan upper classes, mostly because those people are all still there and they still have pretty much all their money — if not more because the economy is less shitty.
(If Chavez really wanted to torture the upper classes, he’d not just force the broadcasts to be aired but would force them to watch his various 3 hour rambling speeches. Though, to be fair, it’s not a Fidel-style surprise 24+ hour ramble at a Party Congress.)
So, good God, if Hugo Chavez hasn’t yet appropriated all the wealth of the Venezuelan rich and super-rich and given it away to “animals”, how much less should the wealthy and super-wealthy here be whining because maybe Obama mentioned the kahseeno gammblers on Wall Street in the Derivatives Hordes and them paying the murderous tax rates under Clinton?
AxelFoely
Ha, this shit is bad comedy. This whole trip for Mittens.
Ruckus
@JGabriel:
THIS.
Fuck the rich.
How many of them now that they are rich want to fuck over the bottom 1/2 to 2/3 for just a few more pennies. They have lots of dollars to spare, many of us have no spare anything.
Fuck the rich.
They want to dismantle SS. So that those of us who depend on it will have to starve and live in boxes. Or not live at all.
Fuck the rich.
And just remember it doesn’t take much to end up in a position of having nothing. A misstep, an accident or illness, or the economy fucked up that you had nothing to do with.
Fuck the rich.
Another Halocene Human
@El Cid: But what is the point of being rich if the poor are not suffering quite so acutely?
shortstop
@El Cid: Remember in 2008 when a lot of gap-toothed white folks with low foreheads appeared on TV saying that they didn’t want a black president because they feared he’d “put the blacks above us”? It was pure projection, based on the historical treatment of blacks by whites, and so is this. On some level these hysterical folks believe that everyone is hardwired to plunder and screw over humanity. It’s how they act–and they think: wouldn’t everyone, given the chance?
Another Halocene Human
@Ruckus: It’s not now that they are rich. They got rich by fucking people over. They stay rich by fucking people over. And not every person with a lot of money is in that category.
The entire structure of our financial sector, tax regime, and economic regulation is fucked up. It promotes Bainification, and if any firm fails to go along, it will be unwillingly assimilated. CEO salaries must accelerate ever upwards, pensions must be crushed into dust. R&D? What’s that? Develop a new tech and get acquired and everyone laid off. THIS IS OUR DEREGULATED AND MALREGULATED AND UNDERTAXED WORLD.
So, yeah, we created a system that makes sociopaths rich and powerful, and of course sociopaths aren’t going to look back and “give something back” because they’re sociopaths. They’ll gleefully steer the ship onto the rocks just to watch it break up and sink. And anyone who doesn’t get that, doesn’t get it. This is America today.
Villago Delenda Est
@Another Halocene Human:
These people cannot enjoy their gourmet meals unless they know that others are starving.
They are that fucked up.
jurassicpork
Willard’s American Inceptionalism.
El Cid
@Ruckus: Remember, the truly devious super-rich don’t want to just dismantle Social Security for the principle of sending old people back to starving — they want all the money in the Social Security fund which they keep denying it has.
That is a big, fucking pile of money, and they think it’s as easy to get as low-hanging ripe fruit.
pseudonymous in nc
@El Cid:
And — surprise, surprise! — always have US reporters hanging round the designer boutiques in the upscale parts of Caracas who are happy to serve as their megaphones.
FormerSwingVoter
@El Cid:
The best part of that article is that one of the ultra-rich lunatics actually gets it:
Villago Delenda Est
@FormerSwingVoter:
If they keep pushing it, it will be Maximilien Robespierre or Vladimir Lenin. They won’t get the lite version, they’ll get the tumbrels and firing squads version.
Ruckus
@Another Halocene Human:
@El Cid:
Then let the non sociopathic rich speak up. Let them put their money where it will help. How many are doing that? Sure a few are. Read here the other day that a number of the progressive rich are holding back to see which way the wind blows(paraphrasing). We won’t change shit, those in the middle class and those of us below.
I know not all of them are sociopaths, not all of them are assholes. But I don’t see these folks standing up.
That’s why I say Fuck the Rich.
Maybe I’m just having a bad year. That’s it, it’s a bad year and I’ll get rich living on SS.
blondie
Leave it to Mitt and his crew to make Dubya look like a good guy.
Cassidy
@Villago Delenda Est: I’m in. Who’s driving?
El Cid
@pseudonymous in nc: You lie. There cannot be any designer boutiques in upper class Caracas, as such was all appropriated by the state conglomerates and now all those former upper class goods dealers are in gulags making Hugo Chavez commemorative sculptures.
slag
@Valdivia: I wish the Android version was available, but from what I can see of the iPhone app, it looks amazing! I want all do-goody organizations to have apps just like this one. Or, even better, one app that includes a bunch of different do-goody organizations.
If I have nothing special going on at a given time, I want a do-goody app I can turn to for some fast action do-gooding (kind of like Flixter does for movies). Of course, such a thing would require actual planning and structure on the do-goody organization’s part, which is often the larger part of the problem. That, and I’m pretty sure I’m the only person boring enough to ever want such an app.
kay
So reading TPM, I discover that Romney also thinks there are cultural differences that explain the difference in average income between Mexico and the US.
This seems to be a big theme with Mitt Romney, he put it in a book, yet now that he’s running for President it’s off limits for discussion.
Since he’s an absolute cipher, it might be useful if he were forced to elaborate on this (apparently) well-developed theory of his.
What does “culture” mean to Mitt Romney, and why is it so closely bound to certain sums of money?
Maybe the Mystery Man could explain Mexicans to us, or does he only delve into this bizzare world view at fundraisers?
JGabriel
__
__
burnspbesq:
Graetz’s article itself is overall critical of Romney’s refusal to release his returns and does a fair job of critiquing what has been released so far to assess what Romney might be hiding.
To the extent that I didn’t mention that in my comment, I guess you could say the quote is out of context … but my comment wasn’t about that. It was about being annoyed by seeing that rhetorical begrudge flourish everywhere, and getting sick of it — because I certainly think Romney’s wealth should be begrudged, for the reasons stated above.
Graetz was just the latest person to use some variant of the phrase “No one should begrudge Romney his wealth …” I don’t think it was ripped particularly out of context, but opinions may vary.
You may be right. I don’t know him, and you do.
On the other hand, the bio at the end of Graetz’s op-ed says he was “deputy assistant Treasury secretary for tax policy from 1990 to 1991, and an assistant to the Treasury secretary in 1992, under the first President Bush.” I’m not usually the type to cut any Republican appointees of the past 45 years much slack, or assume they haven’t much use for current Republican nominees.
And, frankly, there is nothing to indicate from context that Graetz erected the “begrudge” strawman to knock it down. He seems to be indicating that he may have a problem with how Romney handled his taxes, but not how Romney earned his income. It sounds like a strawman erected not to knock it down, but to provide a shield against those who would accuse Graetz of wanting to punish success. So I don’t think I particularly took it out of context.
Therefore, I would submit that if your analysis of the piece is correct, based on your acquaintance with Graetz, which most of his readers will not share, then it’s his the writing that is unclear, not my reading comprehension that has failed.
.
Betsy
@Gin & Tonic: Unfortunately for the candidate, all his “humor” involves sarcastic remarks, taking low shots at those who are not in a position to fight back, or tormenting one’s subordinates.
Nascar rain ponchos
Having housekeeper at hotel mock-fired
7-11 cookies
walking blind teacher into door on purpose
Sometimes he does try to make light of himself, or put himself down in an attempt to be light-sprited, but it always comes out flatfooted:
I’m not so wealthy! heh-heh! I’m not even going to watch my wife’s dancing horsie! heh-heh!
Creep.
burnspbesq
@NotMax:
It’s probably more about more flexible (or, if you prefer, looser) governance rules. Although Delaware doesn’t tax entities formed there on income generated elsewhere, the 45 states that have an income tax will tax resident members on their share of the LLC’s income.
In broad terms, subject to a shit-load of exceptions, state income taxation of business enterprises distinguishes between business income and non-business income. Non-business income is “allocated” either to the state where it arises or to the state where the business is pincipally located. Business income is “apportioned” among all the states where the enterprise does business, typically according to a formula that looks at sales, payroll, and property. The objective is that every dollar of income gets taxed where it (in some economically meaningful sense) arises, and no dollar of income gets taxed by more than one state.
slag
@JGabriel:
Why are you begrudging Al Capone his wealth? Communist.
El Cid
@El Cid:
I meant to reference this as the prior governing system to Chavez, in which power alternated back and forth between two parties in full agreement to rampage the majority, especially the poor.
None less so than former Venezuelan President Carlos Andres Perez, whose US / IMF-advised “austerity” programs (HEY COOL LET’S DESTROY THE ALREADY-FUCKED VENEZUELAN POOR TO PAY INTEREST PROFITS TO US AND WESTERN SUPER-RICH INVESTORS AND TELL THEM IT’S GOOD FOR ‘EM HA HA HA THAT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN HERE IN THE U.S. WHOOOPS) which he himself had earlier denounced (in his populist phase) as a neutron bomb approach to economics — kills people but leaves buildings standing.
Here’s the Economist’s reporting from 1997 — a year before Chavez was elected, and under IMF follower Rafael Caldera.
Note that the Economist then for Latin America does what the establishment media does today for the whole Western world: it always sees a pro-rich “austerity” program against public spending and against the majority population (middle class, working class, and poor) as “bearing fruit“:
Yeah, fuck those greedy unions again, for not cutting their pay and survival merely because a tiny class of super-rich siphoned off oil profits directly and via corruption and handed the rest of the profits to US and other Western investors and banks.
It’s the greedy unions’ fault (irrespective of the greed of any particular unions) that the 4/5 of Venezuela’s population are poor.
Surely if those union workers were poorer, everyone else would be better! Because, well, fuck them!
Why are all these immature poor people not willing to wait the 20 or 30 or 40 years which might be necessary for the reforms which we promise will benefit them to, you know, benefit them?
Our rich people are patient and can wait with their increased earnings for many decades — why can’t the poor?
What makes the poors and working schlubs so danged impatient? Is it TV? Is it videogames? Maybe we shall never know.
LanceThruster
@General Stuck:
Franks Burns is right. You want to really fry your brain, plug any of Rmoney’s bloviations into the Riley Martinizer (whack packer on the Howard Stern Show) – see: http://www.rileymartinizer.com/Riley-Martin-Izer-Text.cfm
AxelFoely
@MaxxLange:
ROFL! Well played.
JGabriel
Romney via LanceThruster:
Sorry, but it’s unclear: is that Romney before or after you ran the quote through the Riley Martinizer?
‘Cause I can’t tell the difference.
.
mdblanche
Romney and Gorka canvassing a voter in Chicago.
pseudonymous in nc
@FormerSwingVoter:
El Cid has already pointed out that while Chavez is an asshole, he has not actually taken away the designer purses of the Venezuelan 0.1%ers. As for Hollande, the idea that he’s some kind of radical is hilarious in its ignorance.
El Cid
@pseudonymous in nc: To be fair, is Hugo Chavez any more of asshole than the prior Venezuelan leaders? CAP, or Caldera?
There never seem to be any relative standards here — nobody ever seems to mention how Venezuela was before Chavez outside lying mythmakers for the rich.
Valdivia
@Villago Delenda Est:
@SiubhanDuinne:
I have heard he has an amazing rags to riches story and is super charismatic. And as Siubhan points out: Castro! :)
pseudonymous in nc
@El Cid:
Not really. There’s a good argument from the left that he’s not been as effective as his peers on the left in the region, who aren’t as prone to gesture politics. Then again, they didn’t have to deal with a coup attempt in their early days and a fuckheaded Gucci-clad minority who get all the press in the US.
Valdivia
@El Cid:
CAP was a thief and Caldera was an asshole. And the country had a very bad Gini during the 80s. However, how bad the other guys were never excuses how bad the present guy is. Chavez came in with a wave of support and opportunities (and the plutocrats were idiotic in the way they stomped their feet and tried to bully the nation during the coup to get rid of him) but by now it has turned into a parody of how you rig the game so all branches of govt are concentrated under his power. I don’t care if he stays or goes, it matters to me that the institutions are totally destroyed and that the army is now almost completely in control, directly under him.
The worse part: infrastructure crumbling, a wave of violence that affects mostly the poor and the govt has done nothing about it. The country has a lot of real problems still that get lost in people from the US trying to project both the Chavez is a Communist hysteria from the right and the he is a hero to the poor so he can do no wrong ever from the left.
@pseudonymous in nc: or what you said. but I don’t think the coup excuses 10 years later the kind of moves they keep making to prevent anyone in the opposition to win elections.
asiangrrlMN
Every time I think Romney (or his campaign/surrogates) can’t fuck it up even more badly, he does. He is so used to people telling him his shit don’t smell, he can’t interact with people who don’t fawn all over him – even people who should be nominally predisposed to liking him, such as PM David Cameron. He really, really, really sucks at campaigning. Sadly, at least 40% of the population will still vote for him. Oh, and I thought he’d make a kielbasa joke – you know he wanted to do it.
@WaterGirl: So sorry for your loss, WaterGirl. My deepest sympathies to you, your family, and his loved ones.
@Raven: Hugs and sympathy to you and your friend, too.
ETA: Mayor Julian Castro? Nicely played, PBO.
Catsy
@Valdivia:
@SiubhanDuinne:
I was just sitting here thinking that it would be glorious if this guy turns out to be another rising star a la Obama. Even if for no other reason than to successively elect Democratic presidents with the names of “Hussein” and “Castro”–the implosion of wingnut heads would be epic.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN:
Fixteth becuz of blah for you hon.
shortstop
@Catsy:
Then we can enjoy more like the woman at 2:24 here.
The Other Chuck
Good ol Romney and his cohort, still putting the “offensive” in “charm offensive”.
cckids
@bemused:
This. From 2003 on I had a bumper sticker: “If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention”. More than one Repub would confront me & bitch “what about Bush is there to be so upset about, blah, blah. . “. I’d just smile & say, “why do you assume that it is about Bush?”
They were always left sputtering. They knew how lame he was, but he was THEIR scumbag, so they defended him to the end.
LanceThruster
@JGabriel:
Uh-oh. I’m not sure anymore. The more you hit refresh and recalibrate the quote, the more Romneylike it sounds.
I know…I’m scared too.
LanceThruster
@The Other Chuck:
xD
El Cid
@Valdivia:
It’s not a defense of Chavez to have to point out the institutions were totally destroyed before him, as well. Venezuela has never known some period of institutional legitimacy and non-partisanship.
The cult of personality leadership style Chavez has pursued has completely hollowed out potential following governments which could be based in an institutional progressive / leftish / pinkish movement. Yes.
But this in no way should obscure that the prior govermental establishment hollowed out the institutions and subjugated state and state-company controlled power in the interests of corruption and partisan power.
I know, I know, it’s hard to hear this as anything other than a “defense” of Chavez — but any notion that the Punto Fijo regime did anything other than viciously rob from, repress, and let rot the majority is just wrong.
Chavez’ distortions of an idealized preferable system are not the distortions of a previous and better system. They are harmful in the sense of what would have been better, but not so much in terms of what was.
El Cid
@Valdivia:
I emphasize, this is a terrible terrible opener: How bad ‘the other guys were’ isn’t about excusing the current holder of power — but it does the work of contextualizing and explaining the current holder.
It’s the same sort of thing that leads people to compare the citizen development of Cuba to that of the US or Western Europe rather than to the Dominican Republic or Haiti or Nicaragua, which is the sane comparison.
To understand the Chavez government, I’m going of course to want to know how this compares to what was there.
We do it in this country, too: we talk about how the health reform act improves the situation; striding in and negatively comparing its reforms to much better and longer-standing health systems from other nations (Canada, UK, France, etc) certainly has valuable information, but doesn’t take into account the system under reform.