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You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2012 / Monday Evening Open Thread: Hunkering Down

Monday Evening Open Thread: Hunkering Down

by Anne Laurie|  August 27, 20127:12 pm| 98 Comments

This post is in: Election 2012, Open Threads, Republican Venality

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Smart piece from Jonathan Bernstein: “Why Do Republicans Bash Obama for Being ‘Divisive’?“:

Republicans from Mitch McConnell to Marco Rubio and more have settled on “divisiveness” as one of Obama’s greatest sins. Why? Paul Waldman theorizes that it’s projection: the Senate Minority Leader who says that his number one priority is defeating Obama conflates that into thinking that it’s Obama who is divisive.

Interesting, but I suspect something else is going on here: Luntzism.

The hallmark of Republicans in the Frank Luntz era has been to find words that test well and embrace them, and find words that test badly and tar the opposition with them. Not concepts, not ideas, and certainly not policies. Words. So Republicans say they are all for “patient-centered” health care, but they’re against the “divisive” Barack Obama…

n Romney’s case, this very much goes with what Greg describes as the “just trust me” campaign by Romney and Republicans in general. If you believe that campaigns are really just about finding words that move the dial and not about developing real policy options that drive voter decision-making, then you wind up with exactly that kind of campaign, in which actual policy preferences remain a mystery. Reducing political campaigns to a series of buzz words entirely divorced from policy certainly would seem to be destructive of proper representation and accountability. So perhaps the real problem here is for democracy.

***********
Apart from waiting for the storm to touch down, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

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Reader Interactions

98Comments

  1. 1.

    Jeffro

    August 27, 2012 at 7:14 pm

    You could call it Luntzism, but it’s better known as Rovism.

  2. 2.

    Parrotlover77

    August 27, 2012 at 7:16 pm

    Lemme try this again. Not much participation last time.

    I’m running some “unofficial” Balloon Juice Fantasy Football leagues. I commissioned one of the official leagues last year, but haven’t been able to contact the gentleman who coordinated the whole thing last year and Cole isn’t answering my emails (he’s obviously very busy with the DNC convention coming up). Let’s have some fun anyway. If a FPer wants to bump this to the front page, feel free.

    I’m creating two leagues initially, one Points and one H2H. Choose the one you prefer!

    BJFL Wingnut Welfare League
    Points Only League
    Up to 16 participants
    Roster: QB, WR, RB, TE, W/R/T, K, DEF, 4 BN
    Draft: Thur Aug 30 10:00pm EDT

    Join this league if you prefer points leagues, if you are inexperienced with fantasy football, or if you are not sure you can commit to managing your team week to week.

    Please use the name you use in the BJ comments section as your team name.

    http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/bjfl_wingnutwelfare
    League ID: 721256
    Password: webuiltthis

    BJFL Four More Years League
    Head to Head League
    Up to 12 Participants, 2 Divisions
    Roster: QB, 2 WR, 2 RB, TE, W/R/T, K, DEF, 4 BN
    Draft: Wed Aug 29 10:00pm EDT

    Join this league if you prefer head to head leagues, but please be sure to commit to taking care of your team every week so we don’t have unfair matchups against teams with missing active players.

    Please use the name you use in the BJ comments section as your team name.

    http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/league/bjfl4moreyears
    League ID: 721189
    Password: webuiltthis

    Both have the same scoring rules, which are pretty conventional, but with a few minor adjustments and bonuses to try to make all positions somewhat competitive.

    If we run out of slots, I’m up to creating more leagues and having more commissioners! Email me if you are interested in being a commissioner. To avoid spam, I’m posting a link to my website’s contact form instead of my email address. :-) http://www.avianwaves.com/contact.aspx

  3. 3.

    wrb

    August 27, 2012 at 7:19 pm

    It is a combination of Luntzism and Roveism.

    They attack everything Obama proposes, and everything about Obama, people notice an ugly atmosphere and the Rs jump around pointing, “See see, he made it divisive, if he wasn’t so awful we wouldn’t have had to attack!”

  4. 4.

    Phylllis

    August 27, 2012 at 7:21 pm

    Fixing to go curl up with 11/22/63. I’m about half-way through. I’d almost forgotten how Stephen King is able to put about a thousand tiny tenterhooks in you and ever-so-gently tug on them along and along as you’re reading his stuff.

  5. 5.

    hep kitty

    August 27, 2012 at 7:23 pm

    Oh Newt just admitted most welfare recipients were white, Tweety keeps backing him into a corner about welfare queens and the food stamp president. Wow. It’s amazing to see Newt get smacked around!

    Tweety and Newt, 17-hour debate!

  6. 6.

    Jeffro

    August 27, 2012 at 7:24 pm

    @wrb: that’s exactly right…

    Rove/Luntz
    1) The country is extremely divided/the political climate is extremely divisive
    2) Republicans can do no wrong (IOKIYAR writ large)
    3) Therefore, Obama is to blame for being divisive

    Amirite?

  7. 7.

    eric

    August 27, 2012 at 7:24 pm

    @Jeffro: in truth, it is nihilism.

  8. 8.

    sb

    August 27, 2012 at 7:25 pm

    @Parrotlover77: I’m a huge sports fan but I’m also a teacher starting two months early and, frankly, I’m kind of falling out of love with the game that shortens lifespans and in-love with the other game of football (soccer). Good luck with the league, though. My friend is in a fantasy football league and raves about it.

  9. 9.

    cathyx

    August 27, 2012 at 7:30 pm

    Why do they accuse Obama of being divisive? Because they want to put the blame on him for nothing getting done.

  10. 10.

    J. Michael Neal

    August 27, 2012 at 7:30 pm

    Apart from waiting for the storm to touch down, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

    Editing and revising. I hate editing. I don’t know that I’d call writing *fun*; it’s too intense for that. But there is a sense of accomplishment that comes from making progress on a rough draft that I just don’t get from the process of refining that draft.

    Bleh.

  11. 11.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 27, 2012 at 7:31 pm

    I don’t think McConnell is complicated enough to project. He’s just flat-out demagoguing, because he can and it works.

    Tweety just said the welfare ads have been focus-grouped and they’re aimed at working class white women. Fucking Michael Steele defended the ads and said there’s no race-baiing. I wonder if he felt anything when his soul died.

  12. 12.

    eric

    August 27, 2012 at 7:32 pm

    @cathyx: remember, it was black folk that caused the problems in the South for asking for their rights> It was not the fault of the folks denying those rights using terror and violence. Same as it ever was with the same wicked racial undercurrents.

  13. 13.

    Linda Featheringill

    August 27, 2012 at 7:32 pm

    I think it would be a lovely evening to grumble and complain, and snarl, and hiss, and maybe even scratch.

    Yeah, the world is not treating me with the respect and deference that I deserve, never has, and probably never will.

    About Obama being divisive:

    I suspect at least half of the US [and probably more] understands quite well what Obama has done that is so divisive: He exists and continues to live and continues to behave admirably and is very, very smart.

  14. 14.

    cathyx

    August 27, 2012 at 7:35 pm

    Being black is very divisive.

  15. 15.

    WereBear

    August 27, 2012 at 7:36 pm

    @wrb: It is a combination of Luntzism and Roveism.

    Runtzism!

    @Phylllis: Durn burn it, I just put that on my wish list and now you are making me want to get it. I mean get it NOW.

    But I’ll be strong. Until payday.

  16. 16.

    DCLaw1

    August 27, 2012 at 7:37 pm

    MEGA eye roll when Newt pretended all the dog whistles were actually beautiful silence (“we never said African American!”)

  17. 17.

    Davis X. Machina

    August 27, 2012 at 7:38 pm

    Divisiveness, and the zero-sum politics of early 21st. c America. “Turning Lincoln’s Portrait Towards The Wall” by Harold Polack, at Mark Kleiman’s joint.

  18. 18.

    El Cid

    August 27, 2012 at 7:40 pm

    They attack Democrats for divisiveness precisely when they’re not being divisive.

    They attack Obama for “Chicago style politics” explicitly when there’s none of that (i.e., gangster / thug / ‘dead voter’ / corrupt city machine politics stereotypes) going on.

    They attack Obama for taking over the economy precisely when he’s done no taking over of any private enterprise.

    Or, a few years before, they attack as a coward and deserter the guy who fought in a US war and got shot and laud the guy who used his rich connections to bail out of National Guard duty as a gutsy war hero.

    And on and on and on.

    It’s a bully’s game and one that they never think they’ll have to face, or much less any real fighting back.

  19. 19.

    Yutsano

    August 27, 2012 at 7:41 pm

    So. Flipping. Annoyed. Computers go down Thursday. Part of them not working today. May or may not get fixed tomorrow. Someone shoot me.

  20. 20.

    Hill Dweller

    August 27, 2012 at 7:42 pm

    @cathyx:

    Why do they accuse Obama of being divisive? Because they want to put the blame on him for nothing getting done.

    They’re certainly going to try, but polling suggests it won’t be easy.

    Also too, Obama can cite the record filibusters, near government shutdown, near debt default, “You lie!”, etc. The Republicans have openly and repeatedly said they want Obama to be a one term president. They’ve done everything to destroy his Presidency, and even part time followers of politics seem to grasp that fact.

  21. 21.

    giltay

    August 27, 2012 at 7:42 pm

    News of America, from Canada!

    Daniel Dale, better known for Toronto City Hall reporting (and being chased by an angry mayor) videos Victoria Jackson trying to convince a superhero that Obama is a communist.

    Meanwhile, someone has issued an FOIA request for Obama’s secret beer recipe.

  22. 22.

    hep kitty

    August 27, 2012 at 7:44 pm

    Is anyone going to watch the convention?

  23. 23.

    Davis X. Machina

    August 27, 2012 at 7:44 pm

    From the Pollack piece:

    ““Our society should do what is necessary to make sure that everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed”. In 1991, 94% of Republicans agreed with that statement. In 2009, 83% agreed. This year, only 76% of Republicans did.
    __
    Pew also asked whether people agreed with the claim: “We have gone too far in pushing equal rights in this country.” In 1991, 46% of Republicans agreed. By 2009, 50% did so. This year, that proportion reached 59%.”

  24. 24.

    WereBear

    August 27, 2012 at 7:45 pm

    @WereBear: Nope, wasn’t strong, remembered I had a gift certificate! Woo hoo.

  25. 25.

    Patricia Kayden

    August 27, 2012 at 7:48 pm

    The problem with calling Obama divisive is that he’s very soft spoken and calm. The Repubs are much more animated and nasty in their invective. And they’ve made it clear from the very beginning of his administration that their entire focus has been to bring him down.

    This seems like another ploy to shore up the base because it won’t work with the majority of Americans who don’t already hate the President.

  26. 26.

    Yutsano

    August 27, 2012 at 7:48 pm

    @giltay: That FOIA request has Stromboupoulous written all over it. Me likey!

  27. 27.

    Mike in NC

    August 27, 2012 at 7:49 pm

    @Phylllis:

    11/22/63

    Don’t care much for Stephen King (does he get paid by the word?) but the wife is loving that book.

  28. 28.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 27, 2012 at 7:51 pm

    Sweet Christ, Tweety has David Gregory and Joe Klein on at the same time. That must be his punishment for being uncivil. Or maybe it’s mine. I want to see how JK Very Seriously blames the teachers’ unions for the hurricaine.

    In other news, Willard Romney don’t wanna talk about abortion:

    Mitt Romney suggested to CBS News Monday that abortion rights are mostly outside the president’s purview.[…]“Recognize this is the decision that will be made by the Supreme Court,” Romney told CBS. “The Democrats try and make this a political issue every four years, but this is a matter in the courts. It’s been settled for some time in the courts.”

    I’m frankly bewildered this isn’t a bigger issue, but there are about fifteen things I’m bewildered by in this cycle, and the last one, and the next one. Now matter how cynical you get, you can’t keep up.

  29. 29.

    quannlace

    August 27, 2012 at 7:53 pm

    Divisive makes as much sense as Obama’s supposed ‘rage.’

  30. 30.

    Thoughtcrime

    August 27, 2012 at 7:55 pm

    Romney/Ryan 2012
    “We Bilked It”

  31. 31.

    Spaghetti Lee

    August 27, 2012 at 7:56 pm

    @Davis X. Machina:

    Interesting. I would have honestly guessed lower for the ‘equal opportunity’ question. A lot lower. ‘Equal opportunity, not equal outcomes’ is the classic conservative idea, but these days even equal opportunity (in any meaningful, physical way) is a step too far for them.

  32. 32.

    Calouste

    August 27, 2012 at 7:57 pm

    @Davis X. Machina:

    Those are pretty steep drops in the last three years. Although, looking at the source, Republican party identification has declined significantly over roughly the same period, so they’re really stuck with the hard core radicals.

  33. 33.

    J. Michael Neal

    August 27, 2012 at 7:58 pm

    Okay. I have a half-assed job of revision on that story done. I think I’ll do something else before taking another look at it.

  34. 34.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 27, 2012 at 7:58 pm

    @Parrotlover77:

    You know, I would almost sign up to play if I had the faintest idea of what football was all about.

    But I don’t.

  35. 35.

    Hill Dweller

    August 27, 2012 at 7:58 pm

    A wingnut ad with Huckabee sitting in front of a camera lying his ass off about Obamacare ran during the US Open coverage. He called it the largest tax increase in history.

    This seems to be in line with the talking points in a mailer I received from the wingnut AARP, 60 Plus Association. Being a 30-something registered Dem., I’m not sure why it was sent.

    It is going to get ugly between now and November.

  36. 36.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 27, 2012 at 8:00 pm

    Tweety fluffing McCain, saying he “refused to play the ethnic card”. Ethnic? I don’t expect anyone in the Village to remember it, but “pallin’ around with terrorists” was the race card.

  37. 37.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 27, 2012 at 8:04 pm

    @J. Michael Neal:

    I am great (if I do say it myself) at editing other people’s writing, but terrible and childish at editing, even proofreading, my own. I don’t know why, but tightening one’s own prose (it’s always tightening, isn’t it, never expanding) is among the most painful intellectual exercises ever devised.

  38. 38.

    Paul

    August 27, 2012 at 8:04 pm

    @Hill Dweller:

    Also too, Obama can cite the record filibusters, near government shutdown, near debt default, “You lie!”, etc. The Republicans have openly and repeatedly said they want Obama to be a one term president.

    You are assuming the average voter know what a filibuster is. You are assuming they know what debt is or what a govt shutdown is. The low-information voter is just stupid, but they can very well decide the election.

    Hell, a poll today showed that voters think Obama is the one who wants to destroy Medicare. These people get the government they deserve…

  39. 39.

    danah gaz (fka gaz)

    August 27, 2012 at 8:04 pm

    Considering Republicans basically invented both the Southern Strategy, and Wedge Issues, I really don’t think the word “divisive” means what they think it means.

    I request a moment of thread-wide reflection on the following timeless wisdom with respect to the Republicans.

    IT’S ALWAYS PROJECTION

    That is all.

  40. 40.

    Hill Dweller

    August 27, 2012 at 8:05 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: No, McCain just called “that one” un-American repeatedly. And never mind his behavior since losing, especially during the DADT and START debates.

    Once again, the bar is so low for Republicans. McCain corrects one woman, and he’s turned into MLK Jr.

  41. 41.

    General Stuck

    August 27, 2012 at 8:05 pm

    Filed under deep thoughts, or crazy republicans and pretzel logic.

    Obama signs state of emergency as Isaac barrels toward Louisiana

    http://thehill.com/conventions-2012/gop-convention-tampa/245801-obama-signs-state-of-emergency-as-isaac-barrels-toward-louisiana

    Dear Mr. Jindal

    It has come to our attention that you, like others of your republicans party, have questioned the birth certificate of our current President Barack Obama, and have even signed a recent Louisiana law into effect for presidents having to produce a birth certificate, or or, what, exactly? Or you maybe would like to be sold back to France, or maybe Dry Tortuga. But I digress.

    Please be advised, you are at a big fucking fork in the wingnut road, as is your loony tune party. That since PRESIDENTE OBAMA has signed his name to dole out our cash to you simple sumbitches, in Kenyan ink with an Ostrich penile bone, that the Ostrich has no further use for.

    Theretofore, if you cash the check from Uncle Sam for those federal emergency dollars to hep your godforsaken confederate state to receive federal help, and MOOOOONEY, to help you cope with the on coming Hurricane Isaac. Then by extension, and your dumbass logic, you are embracing Obama as being a US citizen. Or else that check would would bounce back to Africa. Amirite???

    And don’t give me that ex post facto shit, nor that it’s just a question needing asked like how was your pancakes this morning. Cause that shit won’t fly in Obotville, USA. We think You want white people to think a lot about being white before the election, and also too that Obama ain’t, though he is half that, but nevermind. You git my drift. Pea Brane

    And chew on this while your waiting for both the big blowhards, Romney and Isaac . India is further away than Kenya.

    General Stuck

    sincerely, 1-800-pis-soff

  42. 42.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 27, 2012 at 8:08 pm

    @Yutsano:

    So you’re saying this would be a great day for Mitt to cheat on his 2011 taxes?

  43. 43.

    El Cid

    August 27, 2012 at 8:09 pm

    Workers in an Italian coal mine threaten to blow themselves up if the mine is simply shut down.

    About 100 protesting miners on the Italian island of Sardinia have barricaded themselves in a pit, with hundreds of kilograms of explosives.
    __
    They are trying to prevent the country’s only coal mine from being shut down, leaving them without jobs.
    __
    The miners occupied the Carbosulcis mine on Monday and are now holed up some 400m underground.
    __
    They plan to stay there until meeting with the government to discuss the mine’s future is held.
    __
    “I think anyone would protest like us, anyone who is losing their job is prepared to do anything,” one miner told reporters.
    __
    “It’s really serious, everything is closing in this country – it feels like the end of the world.”
    __
    According to reports, the miners want the pit to be diversified into a combined mining and carbon capture site.
    __
    State funding is potentially available for carbon capture – a process of storing polluting emissions underground to help prevent global warming.

  44. 44.

    J. Michael Neal

    August 27, 2012 at 8:10 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: I don’t really find it painful. I would describe it more as tedious. I just don’t get any sense of accomplishment out of it.

  45. 45.

    Chuck Butcher

    August 27, 2012 at 8:11 pm

    Frank Luntz era has been to find words that test well and embrace them, and find words that test badly and tar the opposition with them. Not concepts, not ideas, and certainly not policies. Words

    so that’s what happened to “nigger”

    well, are we deaf, blind, and stupid

  46. 46.

    Paul

    August 27, 2012 at 8:12 pm

    @General Stuck:

    If Jindal had any principals what so ever, he would refuse every single penny from FEMA. The government is evil, remember?!

    Why should his state get FEMA dollars when he and the people that voted for him didn’t want the rest of the country to have a decent health care system?

  47. 47.

    Waynski

    August 27, 2012 at 8:13 pm

    @cathyx:

    Being black is very divisive.

    This and not understanding business or denigrating success and achievement is code for “Obama hates whitey.”

  48. 48.

    Quarks

    August 27, 2012 at 8:17 pm

    @hep kitty: I thought about it, but realized it was important for me to keep some brain cells still operating.

  49. 49.

    Waynski

    August 27, 2012 at 8:18 pm

    @giltay:

    Meanwhile, someone has issued an FOIA request for Obama’s secret beer recipe.

    They probably think it includes dog meat.

  50. 50.

    Steeplejack

    August 27, 2012 at 8:19 pm

    @J. Michael Neal:

    I’m sort of the reverse: I enjoy the process of editing more than that of “composition.” It feels more external, and my inner critic subsides. I’m just working on this piece that needs to be improved. Whereas when I’m composing the inner negativity can rage. “This is awful! How can you write this crap?” Etc. Ugh.

  51. 51.

    TG Chicago

    August 27, 2012 at 8:20 pm

    Eesh. Via Sullivan, Ezra Klein says:

    Romney’s welfare ads are not racist. But the evidence suggests that they work particularly well if the viewer is racist, or at least racially resentful. And these are the ads that are working so unexpectedly well that welfare is now the spine of Romney’s 2012 on-air message in the battleground states.

    Good grief, Ezra. If the ads work especially well at stoking racial resentment, and they were designed to do so (which they clearly were), then the ads ARE, in fact, racist! This isn’t complicated.

    Why do prominent liberals need to overthink stuff so much. This is an easy one. Why THE FUCK do you think Romney chose welfare, of all things, to lie about, Ezra?

  52. 52.

    someguy

    August 27, 2012 at 8:21 pm

    “Divisive” is a secret racist dog whistle meaning uppity ni-CLANG. President. Uppity President. Is divisive.

  53. 53.

    DCLaw1

    August 27, 2012 at 8:22 pm

    I agree with Greg Sargent when he says the obviousness of these dog whistles may be “gaining a bit of traction” (as evinced by Tweety’s passionate argument on Morning Joe).

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/happy-hour-roundup/2012/08/27/6e24e3d4-f086-11e1-adc6-87dfa8eff430_blog.html

  54. 54.

    Redshift

    August 27, 2012 at 8:23 pm

    The hallmark of Republicans in the Frank Luntz era has been to find words that test well and embrace them, and find words that test badly and tar the opposition with them. Not concepts, not ideas, and certainly not policies. Words. So Republicans say they are all for “patient-centered” health care, but they’re against the “divisive” Barack Obama…

    But that’s not the start of it. They could have started doing this just for power, but I think it actually began because they had policies that they knew weren’t popular. Lying about what you’re going to do goes so far, but it’s easier if you just never say what you’re going to do.

    It’s cynical and evil, but to an unfortunate degree, it works.

  55. 55.

    Baud

    August 27, 2012 at 8:24 pm

    @TG Chicago:

    Why THE FUCK do you think Romney chose welfare, of all things, to lie about, Ezra?

    No kidding. Do you think if Obama started making the separation of church and state a centerpiece of his campaign, all these beltway insiders would defend Obama against charges of anti-Mormonism?

  56. 56.

    Villago Delenda Est

    August 27, 2012 at 8:24 pm

    @TG Chicago:

    Why THE FUCK do you think Romney chose welfare, of all things, to lie about, Ezra?

    It has nothing at all to do with Rmoney’s supposed central message that Obama has mishandled the economy? Because that one is getting zero traction…no one has forgotten who drove the entire fucking country into the ditch, and who is sniping at Obama as he tries to get it out of the ditch.

  57. 57.

    DCLaw1

    August 27, 2012 at 8:26 pm

    @TG Chicago:

    Ezra fell into the trap of trying to evaluate a statement or person as itself “racist,” which hinges on intent. The important question is whether it was DESIGNED to appeal to racists, which it plainly was. Arguing or pontificating about the deepest heart of hearts of the messenger is a fool’s errand and allows the accused to slip the hook too easily.

  58. 58.

    gene108

    August 27, 2012 at 8:26 pm

    @Paul:

    You do realize Republicans had no choice but to filibuster an unprecedented amount, because Obama is the most radically socialist (dare I saw closeted communist) President in U.S. history?

    The Senate Republicans had to take a stand to defend our way of life.

  59. 59.

    J. Michael Neal

    August 27, 2012 at 8:27 pm

    @Steeplejack: The difference is probably that I like my writing. Correctly or not, I believe that I’ve gotten damned good at it, good enough that I am going to try writing fiction professionally. So the inner voice that tends to rage during composition is saying, “This stuff is awesome!”

  60. 60.

    Davis X. Machina

    August 27, 2012 at 8:28 pm

    @Redshift: This is, after all, the country where ‘marketing’ first became a university-level discipline, side by side with mathematics, history, philosophy, physics….

    Martianus Capella is dead, so this can’t actually kill him.

  61. 61.

    Ann Rynd

    August 27, 2012 at 8:29 pm

    Sometimes I have leave the room when the R ‘s want to haggle about abortion. I thought it was a settled issue and this political season would pass without having to rehash all the same gruesome details. Sometimes, when men talk about abortion it sounds to me as if they’re just getting off thinking about vaginas. It feels sometimes as if I can see the sweaty adolescent boys with sticky palms behind their faces, pretending to be having serious discussions, and sniggering like Beavis and Butthead in their hidden thoughts. I have no doubt that before election day we’ll have know- nothing discussions about homosexuality, racial intermarriage, promiscuity. All conducted at the lowest level imaginable, with graphic verbal imagery, just for the sake of a few morons who will insist they haven’t made up their minds about who to vote for.
    I feel sorry for our erudite president, whom I cherish, for having to put up with this endless political charade. I long to see more of our pundits explode the way Chris Matthews did this morning. It was like taking a bath after weeks slogging in the mud.

  62. 62.

    Hypatia's Momma

    August 27, 2012 at 8:32 pm

    Working my way through Death’s Jest-Book and Life in the Frozen State, with breaks to re-read The Re-Discovery of Man.

    Plus the usual cat-beatings and grumbling about life.

  63. 63.

    Ruckus

    August 27, 2012 at 8:32 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    It’s not so bad if you ramble on and on and on in the first draft. You get to see it get better. If you are a reasonably good writer in the first place then every syllable you have to cut or move is a pain. Me, I’m a rambling on and on and on sort so editing is almost fun.

  64. 64.

    Paul

    August 27, 2012 at 8:33 pm

    @gene108:

    While I agree with you (snark), the average voter don’t even know what a filibuster is. And now they seem to believe Romney’s welfare ads with all its lies.

    Obama and his team needs to start lying in their ads. Apparently in the great democracy of ours, the biggest liar will win. Who knows why we even have a political media. They have forgotten what their role is.

  65. 65.

    Darkrose

    August 27, 2012 at 8:33 pm

    @WereBear:

    Nope, wasn’t strong, remembered I had a gift certificate!

    I read that as “birth certificate” at first, and thought I was missing a joke.

  66. 66.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 27, 2012 at 8:36 pm

    @TG Chicago:

    Good grief, Ezra. If the ads work especially well at stoking racial resentment, and they were designed to do so (which they clearly were), then the ads ARE, in fact, racist!

    Exactly, race-baiting is racism. End of story. Li’l Ezra is trying a little too hard to earn his place at the adults’ table.

  67. 67.

    Ruckus

    August 27, 2012 at 8:38 pm

    @Paul:
    Because we should be better than moron assholes. And not everyone effected will be one of the moron assholes.

    It’s not a far climb to be better.

  68. 68.

    gogol's wife

    August 27, 2012 at 8:38 pm

    @Paul:

    You know what would happen if Obama started lying in his ads. They give him Pinocchios when he’s telling the truth.

  69. 69.

    danah gaz (fka gaz)

    August 27, 2012 at 8:38 pm

    @Waynski: The impression I got from the FOIA beer recipe request was just that it was a light-hearted gag, coupled with a desire to want to know how Obama made his beer (presumably so they could mimic it).

    When I first heard about this it made me giggle. I shared it with my spouse.

    Admittedly, I didn’t read much about it, and if I were to come across something that were to change my opinion that it was done in jest, and basically harmless, I’d reconsider it.

    That said, I continue to believe that it was not some sort of attempt at a political smear, or otherwise nefarious. I found it quite funny. =)

  70. 70.

    Baud

    August 27, 2012 at 8:39 pm

    What’s with all the hand-wringing among liberals about a single poll about Medicare? It won’t last. I hate hand-wringing.

  71. 71.

    Davis X. Machina

    August 27, 2012 at 8:41 pm

    @Baud: It’s a two-factor poll. The GOP wants to fillet Medicare — their poll share of 60+ and 65+ voters goes down. The incumbent is…..dark. Their poll share of 60+ and 65+ goes up.

    The blend is interesting. Tells you just how that demo feels.

  72. 72.

    mainmati

    August 27, 2012 at 8:43 pm

    @Hill Dweller: I kind of agree. Ok, I come from a long time Dem family but my gentle 85 year old Mom is incensed at the Rethugs, like I’ve never seen her before.

    The Goopers and especially the so-called tea party decided to make this an extremist political environment. Everyone except the totally checked out knows that the GOP has decided to go crazy culturally and economically so it’s a question of how that lines up with voters. Most don’t want to be lemmings and so will resist the GOP crazies.

  73. 73.

    Hill Dweller

    August 27, 2012 at 8:43 pm

    @DCLaw1: Ezra is being too cute by half. He has to state the obvious(it’s race-baiting), but wants to remain a Villager in good standing.

  74. 74.

    Paul

    August 27, 2012 at 8:43 pm

    @gogol’s wife:

    The low-information voter don’t even know what Pinocchios are or who that Kassell guy is. But they do believe whatever the Romney ads say. And there seem to be no consequence whatever to lying.

  75. 75.

    DCLaw1

    August 27, 2012 at 8:43 pm

    The lying about Medicare never struck me as Romney/Ryan truly playing offense, but trying to play the best defense through a false offense. In other words, they felt vulnerable on it and put on their best, lying, brave face as a way of neutralizing the issue, not truly using it as a weapon against Obama. The true purpose of nominating Ryan was to fire up the base and get them in line for Romney. They’d prefer Medicare not be an issue at all if they can help it.

  76. 76.

    Baud

    August 27, 2012 at 8:45 pm

    @Davis X. Machina:

    Tells you just how that demo feels.

    If we’re talking about the possibility of Obama winning the elderly vote, this election is over. I think when all is said and done, however, the Medicare issue will help Obama rather than hurt him.

  77. 77.

    Steeplejack

    August 27, 2012 at 8:46 pm

    @J. Michael Neal:

    So the inner voice that tends to rage during composition is saying, “This stuff is awesome!”

    Well, there’s your problem right there.

  78. 78.

    Roger Moore

    August 27, 2012 at 8:47 pm

    @Waynski:

    They probably think it includes dog meat.

    No, these are people who actually want to brew beer just like the stuff the President makes. They’re just trying every technique they can think of to get the recipe.

  79. 79.

    DCLaw1

    August 27, 2012 at 8:49 pm

    @Hill Dweller: Yeah, and he has that annoying Villager “liberal” tick of needing constantly to go out of his way to prove he’s intellectually honest and fair-minded. He should have kept it simple and clean and just pointed out the ugly cynicism of the ad and what it was meant to do. And trying to definitively declare someone or something “racist” is often a bottomless pit that allows folks to squirm too easily away into others’ assumptions of decency.

  80. 80.

    Villago Delenda Est

    August 27, 2012 at 8:54 pm

    “I’m in favor of abortion being legal in the case of rape and incest and the health and life of the mother. But recognize, this is the decision that will be made by the Supreme Court. The Democrats try and make this a political issue every four years, but this is a matter in the courts. It’s been settled for some time in the courts.”

    This is OvenMitt changing his position yet again on abortion, this time when questioned by CBS’ Scott Pelley. Which his campaign just denied he made.

    Also note the rampant projection here:

    The Democrats try and make this a political issue every four years

  81. 81.

    NotMax

    August 27, 2012 at 8:56 pm

    what’s on the agenda for the evening?

    Evening? Don’t even know yet what’s on the agenda for the rest of the afternoon after a little mowing and sawing into manageable pieces some large branches earlier today.

    Eastern time zone centrism rankles now and again. ;·)

  82. 82.

    Davis X. Machina

    August 27, 2012 at 8:58 pm

    @Baud: He won’t carry the demo, but he doesn’t have to. The 65+ voter numbers in 2008 were +10 for McCain. 60+ voters didn’t vote, as a group, for the eventual winner for the first time in 40 years.

    Obama captures vote-shares no worse than that, he’s in like Flynn, because of other changes in the electorate.

  83. 83.

    Villago Delenda Est

    August 27, 2012 at 8:58 pm

    I don’t know what did it, but I’ve got a comment in moderation, thanks to the arbitrary authoritarianism of FYWP.

  84. 84.

    mainmati

    August 27, 2012 at 8:59 pm

    @General Stuck: Oh and this memo from Guv Bobby

    Why are we wastin’ mah taxpayers money monitorin’ volcanoes, tornadoes and hurricanes….oh wait.

  85. 85.

    Yutsano

    August 27, 2012 at 9:03 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Or probably every day this week. As far as Mondays go this has been a doozy. But at least I get four days off starting Friday. :)

  86. 86.

    Ed in NJ

    August 27, 2012 at 9:03 pm

    @Phylllis:

    Be prepared to be left unfulfilled. I was really excited to read this. Unfortunately, there is a reason why this book took King something like 35 years to finish. He didn’t know how to end it. He still doesn’t.

  87. 87.

    Anne Laurie

    August 27, 2012 at 9:06 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I don’t know why, but tightening one’s own prose (it’s always tightening, isn’t it, never expanding) is among the most painful intellectual exercises ever devised.

    One of my favorite John Kenneth Galbraith quotes: “Revise, revise, revise. It frequently takes me five or six drafts to achieve the note of spontaneity that even my meanest critics concede me.”

    Actually, for me it usually does mean expanding. The Spousal Unit is a professional technical writer and a hella fine editor, but whenever I have him look at one of my drafts (maybe once a week), he’s always “That’s not a sentence, that’s a paragraph. Maybe two paragraphs, once you’ve spelled out the connection between Point A and Point B, which is actually Point C…”

  88. 88.

    cat48

    August 27, 2012 at 9:09 pm

    On the WashPo poll today, Romney had 55% of the White Vote. He just needs 6% more to win if the Electorate is 74% White. We’ll have to see how he gets that final 6%. It’s going to be ugly……

  89. 89.

    lamh35

    August 27, 2012 at 9:12 pm

    Science Geeks Unite.

    Check out this pic of a mountain range…ON MARS!!!

    Mars Curiosity Rover Snaps Incredible Images of Martian Mountain

  90. 90.

    DCLaw1

    August 27, 2012 at 9:13 pm

    New Nate Silver projections, by the way: http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/

  91. 91.

    Roger Moore

    August 27, 2012 at 9:15 pm

    @cat48:

    We’ll have to see how he gets that final 6%.

    I think that would be “how he tries to get that 6%”. It’s going to be especially tough, because a lot of the stuff he’s talking about is going to erode his support among white women. If he’s not careful, he’s going to need 75+% of the white male vote to get to that 61% of the white vote.

  92. 92.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 27, 2012 at 9:16 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: I agree completely. I do find that it is easier if I put the draft away for a few days (time permitting) and then come back to it with fresh eyes.

  93. 93.

    Joseph Nobles

    August 27, 2012 at 9:16 pm

    @giltay: Lord God, now we’ve got beerthers? ;-)

  94. 94.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 27, 2012 at 9:23 pm

    @Joseph Nobles: Win.

  95. 95.

    rmirth

    August 27, 2012 at 9:32 pm

    I don’t know why Ezra and Tweety keep focussing on the ads being “racist or ethnic” — aren’t they flat out untrue in that Obama hasn’t gutted work requirements for welfare recipients as the ad suggests? They should be pointing out the falsehoods in the ad. I couldn’t bear to watch the whole Tweety segment – if that ad has made such gains in couple of weeks I can’t imagine the damage it’ll do in 8-9 weeks. It’s going to be a looong time till November…

  96. 96.

    DCLaw1

    August 27, 2012 at 9:45 pm

    @cat48: Maddow’s doing a segment on this now.

  97. 97.

    raven

    August 27, 2012 at 9:55 pm

    @lamh35: Did you see my pic from Maui?‘
    ‘
    Are you in the Easy?

  98. 98.

    shep

    August 27, 2012 at 11:39 pm

    If you believe that campaigns are really just about finding words that move the dial and not about developing real policy options that drive voter decision-making, then you wind up with exactly that kind of campaign, in which actual policy preferences remain a mystery.

    I believe that for right-wing-authoritarian-following voters, words matter barely more than policy, if at all. What the campaigns are really about is opposing and vanquishing the foe and following the right-wing authoritarian leader. That is all.

    http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/

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