Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

I don’t recall signing up for living in a dystopian sci-fi novel.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

Finding joy where we can, and muddling through where we can’t.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Come on, man.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

“But what about the lurkers?”

The real work of an opposition party is to hold the people in power accountable.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: Bring on the Sad Mime Photoshop

Open Thread: Bring on the Sad Mime Photoshop

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(Tom Toles via GoComics.com)

Or maybe just matching pimp’n’ho costumes for the Robot/Undertaker 2012 ticket. Jonathan Chait at NYMag explains how “Ryan Helps Romney Reclaim His Political Virginity“:

… How can Romney, whose campaign spent months relentlessly smearing Republican and Democratic foe alike and spitting derision at the naïveté of anybody who objected, reclaim his political virginity? By bathing in Ryan’s soft glow.

One underrated aspect of the new GOP veep nominee’s political arsenal is a recurring persona of his that you might call Sad Paul Ryan. Sad Paul Ryan is less an ideological crusader and more like a wide-eyed boy who has come to Washington full of hope only to have his youthful dreams crushed by nastiness and name-calling. How Ryan’s high-minded belief in the purity of political debate managed to survive his rise to power as a Washington staffer, I cannot say. So emotionally vulnerable is Sad Paul Ryan that even a statistical recitation of the effects of his plan will nearly reduce him to tears. He is capable of complaining that Obama will “affix views to your opponent that they do not have so you can demonize them” — two sentences after accusing Obama of advocating “socialized medicine.”

Yet Sad Paul Ryan appears so genuinely sad when he says such things — quite likely because he lacks the self-awareness that might complicate his earnest dejection — that he melts the cynicism of hardened observers. So Romney’s advisers are now proclaiming, “We are betting that a substantive campaign, conducted on the high ground, and focused primarily on jobs and the economy, will trump a campaign that is designed to appeal to our worst instincts,” and the candidate himself is delivering lines such as “Mr. President, take your campaign out of the gutter and let’s talk about issues.” (Talking About the Issues is Ryan’s thing, unless talking about the Issues means discussing any specific element contained within his plan, in which case he would rather talk about bowhunting or catfish noodling.) Romney and Ryan inaugurated their new high-road campaign with the charge that Obama “robbed” $700 billion from Medicare, declining to mention that their own plans keep the same cuts in place….

Somehow, the ‘extreme sport’ of catfish noodling is an almost unduely apt metaphor for the Gekko/Galt 2012 ticket: wading through a river of mud, hoping to score by sticking one’s arm down the throat of a bloated bottom feeder like Rupert Murdoch, Sheldon Adelman, or David/Charles Koch…

Reader Interactions

70Comments

  1. 1.

    Redshift

    wading through a river of mud, hoping to score by sticking one’s arm down the throat of a bloated bottom feeder like Rupert Murdoch, Sheldon Adelman, or David/Charles Koch…

    Arm?

  2. 2.

    jl

    ‘Sad Paul Ryan’ aka petulant whiner, who uses whining to respond to substantive responses to his flim flam.

    Gee, I wonder what term will come to the voting public’s mind at the show Ryan will put on?

    ‘Sad Paul Ryan’
    or
    ‘petulant whiner’?

  3. 3.

    Turgidson

    Sad Paul Ryan. I like it. And Chait is totally right – Ryan only wants to talk issues if the talk is limited to adoring soliloquies about the brilliance of Paul Ryan. Point out that his policies accurately render him a callous granny-starver and the water works erupt.

    They really do probably think this is some kind of ace in the hole – like Jack Nicholson’s Joker putting on a pair of glasses to try to get Batman to refrain from punching him off the roof of the cathedral. “You wouldn’t hit a guy with glasses Sad Paul Ryan, would you?”

    The Obama campaign will bluntly educate them otherwise. They are refreshingly unconcerned about hurting these sociopaths’ fee fees.

  4. 4.

    joeyess

    How Ryan’s high-minded belief in the purity of political debate managed to survive his rise to power as a Washington staffer, I cannot say.

    I can.

    He’s a fucking sociopath.

    Next question…..

    Oh, and Cole? You have site problems.

  6. 6.

    lamh35

    Devo to Release Song About Mitt Romney’s Dog

    The track also comes as Devo’s founder and commercial director, Gerald V. Casale, kicks off his Remember Seamus campaign, which is supposed to help “make 2012 the year where animals like Seamus are valued and honesty is praised.”

    Devo is also helping to back Dogs Against Romney, with Casale designing a special edition shirt for the group. Casale is also involved in an upcoming smartphone game called “The Crate Escape: Seamus Unleashed,” which sees release on August 26th, otherwise known as National Dog Day

  7. 7.

    scav

    Hello? Duz Tunch still hate me? ETA: Whew, for at least a little bit. maybe he’s just not paying attention.

  9. 9.

    Turgidson

    @joeyess:

    Also too, his “high minded belief” is a ruse for the cameras and the Villagers, only. He’s every bit the political pondscum Tom DeLay was, only worse because he bamboozles people into thinking he’s some sort of earnest guy with good intentions. Fuck that. As you said, sociopath. A particularly nasty one, seeing as his vision for the future includes millions of impoverished seniors deciding between rent, food, and medical care each month.

  11. 11.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    Romney’s advisers are now proclaiming, “We are betting that a substantive campaign, conducted on the high ground, and focused primarily on jobs and the economy, will trump a campaign that is designed to appeal to our worst instincts,”

    I agree, actually, but they’re wrong about which is which (and about their idea that they can make Romney’s campaign the substantive one by assertion.)

  13. 13.

    danah gaz (fka gaz)

    meh. I was playing vice city (blast from the past, plus I like murdering peds to bad 80’s music)

    I was doing all of the side stuff (for 100% completion)

    I had completed most of it (including the really tough bits)… was at like 71%

    saved my game at the mansion on starfish…

    and whenever I try to leave starfish island now the game crashes. I even tried drowning myself to respawn at a hospital.. it crashes right after respawning.

    I haz a sad. Very much so…

  15. 15.

    Scotty

    Just caught the Fox News interview with Paul Ryan. Good God did Ryan look like a deer caught in headlights. He stumbled and bumbled through answers and couldn’t answer some of the most simple questions that any reasonable political person knew would be coming. And this was on Fox New mind you. His answers on Ayn Rand were priceless… Apparently he was for Rand before he was against him.

  16. 16.

    Linda Featheringill

    Wonderful cartoon drawing of Granny Starver!

    Okay. Now I’ll go back and read the post and comments.

  17. 17.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    “Innocent, sad Ryan”

    Kobold Christ on a pogo stick, is it possible that Romney selected Ryan based on some stupid grandpa thing because Ryan acts like a hurt boy? Even one was saying it was wub’ at first sight when Romeny meet Ryan.

  18. 18.

    Violet

    @lamh35:
    I keep hearing the B52’s:
    I got me a car,
    Roof as big as a whale and we’re headin’ on up
    To the Roof Rack
    I got me a Chrysler, it seats about 20
    So come on and bring your dog snack money
    The Roof Rack is a little old place where we can get together
    Roof Rack baby, Roof Rack, baby.

  19. 19.

    Villago Delenda Est

    that he melts the cynicism of hardened observers.

    Only the dipshits of the Village, who are paid to set aside the few critical thinking skills they have to keep their phoney-baloney jobs.

    Outside of that crowd, Ryan is recognized for what he is: a sociopath.

  23. 23.

    lamh35

    When I see comments like this from Obama:

    Obama Compliments Romney … Sort Of

    In an interview with KXNO sports radio today, President Obama was asked to say something nice about Mitt Romney, Politico reports. Here’s his response:
    “He seems to have a great family. And I really think he had a great health care plan when he was in Massachusetts,” Obama said. “Seems to be working really well — One of the reasons why we set up the same kind of plan nationally and we’re implementing it right now.”

    I’m reminded of that video of then Senator Obama responding to the an editorial board about his temperament:

    I will crush them.

    . You know, if someone comes at me, I will knock ’em out. If not, then I’ll try to understand their point of view. That actually serves me well. I give the benefit of the doubt, I try to understand their point of view. If I perceive that they try to take advantage of that, then I will crush them.

  27. 27.

    PeakVT

    Romney would have paid less than 1% in taxes if the Ryan plan was in effect for TY 2010. One G-D, M-F percent.

    I cannot get over that, and refuse to on principle.

  30. 30.

    IowaOldLady

    I’m a little worried. Until a week or so ago, Obama had Romney totally on the defensive. Romney could get no traction because he was busy running around answering Obama’s ads. But since “you didn’t build” and the “welfare recipients will sit around drinking Red Bull and sucking up your dollars,” Obama seems on the defensive, answering these stupid lies rather than setting the topic of conversation. And when you’re on the defensive, you’re losing.

    But I don’t know how you deal with liars. If they’re willing to say anything, how can you anticipate that? “Obama eats babies.” Didn’t see that one coming, did you Mr. President?

    I need a drink.

  31. 31.

    Violet

    @IowaOldLady: The selection of the running mate always changes the discussion. There’s a bit of a polling bump, a honeymoon phase for the VP candidate, and then things settle down.

    Obama’s campaign has been ready for Ryan. They’ve only just begun to fight. Don’t fret too much.

  32. 32.

    Turgidson

    @IowaOldLady:

    The Romney campaign is still whining more than they’re attacking. And the early returns seem to be saying that there isn’t gonna be much of a Ryan bump because the people who already know who he is don’t like him.

    The Obama campaign is doing what they can to combat the worst of the lies, and even some of the biggest beltway wankers have called the welfare thing a lie, so I don’t think that one will do too much damage. Not half as much as the Obama campaign’s coming granny-starver demolition will do the Rich Fuck/Randroid Fuck ticket, anyway.

  35. 35.

    jp7505a

    NOT TO WORRY – according to Ryan – R&R will explain all of the details of their taxe plan and budget in due time – after they are elected. I suddenly realize how they will fill in the magic astrick —- they have a ton of bridges to no where they want to sell, and a bit of swamp land

  37. 37.

    EconWatcher

    @IowaOldLady:

    I’m by nature a huge worrier and pessimist.

    But the O team has not seemed to be on the defensive to me at all. They seem to be inflicting one body blow after another, relentlessly.

    If the stakes weren’t so high, I’d really be enjoying this, the way you enjoy watching a top athlete or master craftsman do what he does best.

    You think your business experience qualifies you to be president? Well, let’s talk about what you actually did, and to whom, to make those millions.

    And by the way, did you pay taxes on all of that?

    Oh, and about that boyish legislator you just picked as your partner–what was his idea again about old folks and cat food? Let’s chat some more.

    Really, if this were in the ring, we’d be anticipating a TKO very soon.

    Let’s just hope they can keep it up.

  38. 38.

    lamh35

    @IowaOldLady: u really do need a drink if you think that the Obama camp in on the defensive. Nothing in what I’ve seen or have been reading today seems to imply that they are on defensive. If anything, most of the conversation is about how thanks to the Ryan pic, the election conversation and coverage has gone from economics and a refererendum on Obama’s policies (which would put the O-team on defensive) to a conversation about Medicare, Medicaid, social saftey net and Paul Ryan the “grandmother killer” and how the GOP operatives are already voicing their discomfort with the Ryan pick.

    The O-team is NOT on defensive, IMHO.

  39. 39.

    Redshift

    @IowaOldLady: Don’t get overly worried. (Being just worried enough is good motivation, though!) Yes, we’re at the point in the campaign where Obama needs to respond to some attacks to neutralize them. But defending doesn’t mean there’s no attack — Romney is still running around answering Obama’s ads, and still getting no traction.

    He didn’t pick a Palin-esque “game-change” VP because his attacks were succeeding and he was feeling confident.

  40. 40.

    Rhoda

    @IowaOldLady: I don’t get why you’re worried.

    The “you didn’t build that” and the welfare ads would have come from ANY Republican campaign; that they’re lies and desperate alienates Mittens from the MSM and these have been rebutted.

    I know the Republicans have a ton of money; but they’ve been outspending POTUS since July and he’s been pulling away. Now we’re in the middle of the Medicare fight and if POTUS wins that; that right there is the whole ball game. This is the time to be linking to TPM about how POTUS expanded coverage for seniors and that $700 billion was waste and fraud. Keep it simple. And then hit them w/the voucher/coupon (whatever you prefer) ending Medicare as we know it ad.

    That is coming.

    Today, Mitt Romney’s team did everything the pundits on Morning Joe and the columnists and bloggers said they had to do to win. Meanwhile, the coverage I’ve been seeing all says how the Ryan plan ends Medicare as we know it. The Democrats are winning this fight. And they’ll have enough money and they have the bully pulpit to get their facts out. And the fact that Ryan is on the ticket is a boon to House and Senate democrats that will tie the Ryan budget to their opponents and the campaign; echoing the President’s message and moving voters towards the Democrats.

    Republicans have one play: $700 billion in “cuts” to Medicare that never happened. I was watching NBC news last night; they played the clip of Romney saying that and then said it didn’t happen. That is not good for the Romney campaign. And this is their best weapon. Wait until we move towards the Voucher-care discussion.

    Romney is still on the defensive. This sad sack had his entire team disavowing his VP pick, lmao. This campaign has been cut off at the head and we’re watching the death throes IMO; that’s what I’ve felt since I saw the VP denial story anyway. Even the McCain team waited until closer to election day to implode.

    Then again, Sarah Palin was a better pick initially than Ryan. How about them apples?

  42. 42.

    IowaOldLady

    You all are making me feel much better. Lying infuriates me. I’m going to have to get better at putting it in perspective if I want to survive until November without a vein bursting in my temple and spurting blood all over my keyboard.

  43. 43.

    Turgidson

    @Xecky Gilchrist:

    Romney’s advisers are now proclaiming, “We are betting that a substantive campaign, conducted on the high ground, and focused primarily on jobs and the economy, will trump a campaign that is designed to appeal to our worst instincts,”

    …reports are sketchy, but it appears that at least 5 people within earshot of this remark died minutes later from laughing too hard. Another 17 had to be hospitalized.

  44. 44.

    Violet

    @Rhoda:

    Then again, Sarah Palin was a better pick initially than Ryan. How about them apples?

    Truly good news for John McCain! You’d think he’d be grateful instead of bringing up Mitt’s taxes again.

  45. 45.

    Valdivia

    well the twiterverse is telling me that Romney, the RNC and the usual suspects (Fox and co) are now flipping the script and making Obamacare the end of medicare. As I said before they are playing it like 2010. I really hope the O team can start countering this soon. Can’t let that linger.

  46. 46.

    Turgidson

    @IowaOldLady:

    Understandable. The coverage of a couple recent things – namely when Romney got entangled in a web of his own lies over his Bain tenure, complete with signed govt filings, then lied about it some more, but never really paid the piper for it IMO; and the “Harry Reid must be lying, because we say so” charade, made me spitting mad about how fucking pathetic the coverage of the campaign was and is.

    But the Obama team’s relentless pummeling of Romney, and indifference to the media’s horrified shrieks that they stop hurting poor Mittens or they’ll hold their breath until they pass out, cheers me up when I’m down.

  47. 47.

    Roger Moore

    @Turgidson:

    …reports are sketchy, but it appears that at least 5 people within earshot of this remark died minutes later from laughing too hard. Another 17 had to be hospitalized.

    Good thing they didn’t say, “Wenn ist das Nunnstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!” or they’d all be dead.

  48. 48.

    Turgidson

    @Valdivia:

    “We saved Medicare money without touching benefits for seniors, while closing the prescription donut hole. They want to give you a fucking voucher and tell you to fuck off.”

    Clean up the language a bit and there’s your talking point. Though I agree the Democrats need to get out in front of it.

  49. 49.

    StringOnAStick

    RE: Ryan the Master catfish noodler. Let’s get all Freudian, shall we? Noodling is exactly what you’d expect Ryan to do; fooling the fish (citizen) into thinking that seductively moving hand (mouth) is something good for you and tasty, when it is really a way for the predator (Ryan & his bankster buddies) to yank you out of your home and club you to death on the shore (sidewalk).

  50. 50.

    Valdivia

    @Turgidson:

    great line I just hope this doesn’t go on for days and days. That Romney ad is already running on TV, the O team can’t wait. That alone is what is making me nervous.

  51. 51.

    Redshift

    @Valdivia: The first debunking of Mitt claiming “Obama cut Medicare!” on the Obama Truth Team site is from January. This isn’t a new thing for Romney; the reason he’s going back to it now isn’t because he’s strategically choosing to “flip the script,” it’s because he chose a VP that put Medicare cuts front and center, and his only hope is that a lie will stick.

    It’s disgusting, but I’m not overly worried about claims that Obama has already cut Medicare will be very effective with people who know whether their benefits have been cut (and who listen to AARP.)

  52. 52.

    lamh35

    Paul Ryan Can’t Escape Own Budget Package In Debut Solo Interview

    Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have insisted they’re not running on the House budget plan Ryan’s best known for. Romney has his own economic plans, vague as they may be, and his campaign has tried to emphasize they’re different from Ryan’s.
    Ryan’s first solo interview as the Republican VP nominee suggested not everyone is persuaded.
    Ryan repeatedly tried to deflect attention from his own highly controversial budget proposal in an interview with Fox News’s Brit Hume Tuesday…

    Hume didn’t buy the suggestion that the Romney-Ryan ticket wasn’t running on Ryan’s budget plan, and the interview focused largely on Ryan’s budget package. In one exchange on balancing the budget, Hume objected when Ryan tried to talk about Romney’s plan — which has drawn fire for being vague at best. Hume insisted Ryan talk about his own economic vision, which doesn’t bring the budget into balance for decades.
    Ryan couldn’t predict when Romney’s plan would balance the budget…

  55. 55.

    lamh35

    @Valdivia: first thought, wow they brought Brit Hume back for the interview.

    2nd thought, and this is on FoxNews. what will probably be the easiest place for him to interview

  59. 59.

    Rhoda

    @Valdivia: They made an ad because the news reports yesterday all reported on their claim as a lie. Now, they’re hoping to make the reports Republicans claim x, Democrats claim Y thing I guess ETA failing that just keep lying with their money. I’m not worried. I am confident in the Obama teams ability to flip the script on Mittens and his minions.

  60. 60.

    lamh35

    Ryan Pressed To Explain His Own Budget’s Medicare Cuts

    Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Mitt Romney’s newly selected vice presidential running mate, on Tuesday night struggled to explain why his budget, which has been embraced by both Romney and the GOP, sustains the same Medicare cuts of which his campaign is now attacking President Obama.

    “Doesn’t your budget also cut Medicare for the same amount?” Fox News’ Brit Hume asked in an evening interview.
    “Only President Obama raids $716 billion from the Medicare program,” Ryan responded. “He cut $716 billion from the Medicare program to pay for Obamacare. We don’t do that.”

    “You’re not saying you don’t contemplate in the budget planning significant savings of $500 billion in Medicare, though, are you?” pressed Hume.
    “No. We can get in the complicated baseline issues but that is the current law,” Ryan returned. “So what we do is we keep with the current law in our budget.”
    “But it’s the case that in the budget you passed through the House of Representatives, significant savings of upward of $500 million in Medicare,” Hume continued…

  61. 61.

    Turgidson

    @Valdivia:

    I’m comforted by the fact that Mittens has been spewing lies this whole time and they don’t seem to be having the desired effect among anyone outside the knuckledragging base.

    Considering that as noted above, Obama has already made ads debunking this whopper, and Ryan’s own budget includes the same cuts, and that quick memorable talking points can easily be put into service to debunk, I think we’ll win this messaging battle.

    Also, I forget where I saw it – maybe Sargent or Ezra – but there was a blog post about how voters tend to have preconceived notions about which party is “good” on a particular topic, and traditionally people trust the Democrats with Medicare and SS more than the GOP. Which hopefully provides a built-in advantage (and partly explains how the GOP until recently maintained a foreign policy advantage for years after exposing themselves as total fucking failures).

    2010, I think, was an anomaly of low turnout and Democratic message failure re the ACA that skewed the electorate toward the braindead teabaggers and Medicare-scooter-driving “keep government out of my Medicare” set. That voter pool was more than willing to believe that the Democrats were the real Medicare-cutting monsters. I don’t expect a repeat. Especially with the GOP’s lemming-like march off the Ryan budget cliff (twice!).

  62. 62.

    muddy

    @raven:

    Mitter Shit is on the mattress
    Mitter Shit is on the highway
    Mitter Shit is on the front porch
    Mitter Shit is in the hallway

  63. 63.

    Roger Moore

    @Turgidson:
    The other thing to consider is that somebody like Romney has a limited store of credibility. If he lies all the time- and he seems to do just that- he will eventually say things that ordinary voters recognize as being whoppers. Once they’ve heard him make two or three obvious lies, they’re going to figure out that he’s completely untrustworthy. Even worse, he may manage to reach the same stage with the Village; if that happens before the election it will become the narrative and he’ll get creamed.

  64. 64.

    kay

    @IowaOldLady:

    In 2008, at about this time, Nate Silver had Obama as 65% to win. Around.

    I think it’s about 70% right now. 70% is pretty good. 75% is really good :)

    I just don’t think we’re going to see either side “implode” or anything dramatic like that, because most people have already made up their minds.

    Although in my opinion both Romney
    and Ryan are weird enough to do something really odd and horrible that stands out, so that would be fun :)

  68. 68.

    Roger Moore

    @kay:
    The other thing to remember is that the forecast you see when you go to Nate’s site is his November 6th forecast. It includes some small chance that there will be a September or October surprise that throws our current calculations off. If you look at his “now-cast” that predicts what would happen if the election were held today, it gives him a chance that’s almost 80%.

  69. 69.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @lamh35:

    Devo is also helping to back Dogs Against Romney, with Casale designing a special edition shirt for the group. Casale is also involved in an upcoming smartphone game called “The Crate Escape: Seamus Unleashed,” which sees release on August 26th, otherwise known as National Dog Day

    Sheerest coincidence that the Republican Nominating Convention gets underway on August 27th.

    Coincidence, right?

    RIGHT?

  70. 70.

    Calouste

    Just read a transcript of part of the Ryan interview. The Romney campaign didn’t seem to have caught on to the fact that the base didn’t want Ryan as much as they wanted his budget. Disavowing or softening the Ryan budget is not going to help Romney with the base, it is just going to make him look even more of a RINO. The Ericksons of this world want a solid endorsement from Romney for the Ryan budget, not this wishy-washy stuff.

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