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You are here: Home / Politics / Crazification Factor / When you’ve lost Halperin and his 500…

When you’ve lost Halperin and his 500…

by Dennis G.|  September 12, 20121:16 pm| 115 Comments

This post is in: Crazification Factor, Crock Pot Craziness, Election 2012, Open Threads, Assholes, Good News For Conservatives, Romney of the Uncanny Valley

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<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/59124558@N06/7461775248/” title=”Craven by dengre.bj, on Flickr”><img src=”http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8015/7461775248_0645eef526.jpg” width=”292″ height=”431″ alt=”Craven”></a>

…does it mean you might not be ready for Prime Time.

Here is how Mini-Drudge reacted to Mitt’s ill-advised smirkdown:

Unless the Romney campaign has gamed this crisis out in some manner completely invisible to the Gang of 500, his doubling down on criticism of the President for the statement coming out of Cairo is likely to be seen as one of the most craven and ill-advised tactical moves in this entire campaign.

Romney’s decision to use a fatal attack on Americans as an opportunity to seek political gain based on a complete lie is just the latest example of his copyrighted #romneyshambles campaign. It is a classic #romneyfail.

The debates are weeks away and Romney has many, many more opportunities to dig his hole deeper (like his sit-down with Univision on 9-19 to discuss Latino issues).

Sure Bill Krystol still has his back, but it won’t be long before even he joins other nutters in marking Mitt as roadkill.  The Paulites and Teabaggers will move their support to the Libertarian candidate (to punish the GOP for nominating Mitt-the-fuck-up) and everybody else in Wingnutopia will move their energy towards saving GOP control of the House.

Asshole is way too polite to describe a craven creature like Mitt.

Cheers

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Reader Interactions

115Comments

  1. 1.

    rob!

    September 12, 2012 at 1:20 pm

    Yeah, I just moved Romney from Dismiss and Mock to Officially Hate. What a loathsome POS he is.

  2. 2.

    General Stuck

    September 12, 2012 at 1:21 pm

    Two fatal attacks from this tragedy. One for the victims in Libya, and their families.

    And with any luck, the other fatality to Mitt Romney’s craven asshole campaign for president.

  3. 3.

    jwb

    September 12, 2012 at 1:21 pm

    Bill Krystol is always wrong, so I imagine he’ll cover Mittwit’s back right to the moment Kristol goes off the cliff with him. It’s just too bad that these falls never seem to damage Krystol. He’s kind of like Wile Coyote in that respect.

  4. 4.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 12, 2012 at 1:22 pm

    OK, I’m now revising my prediction of who will be the first to drop the N bomb.

    It won’t be Limbaugh. It will be Rmoney, during the first debate.

  5. 5.

    Keith

    September 12, 2012 at 1:23 pm

    The man has no political instincts at all. I remember thinking how bad a candidate McCain was, but it was a kind of sad image of a guy who is campaigning like it’s still the 1950s. Mitt’s a guy who is campaigning like he’s Welcome to Mooseport (with all of the messaging sophistication of Ray the Plumber)
    His patrons are *not* getting their money’s worth. Not by a longshot.

  6. 6.

    quannlace

    September 12, 2012 at 1:24 pm

    Okay, who or what is ‘The 500?’

  7. 7.

    Richard

    September 12, 2012 at 1:24 pm

    He walked away from the press conference podium today SMILING.

    https://twitter.com/CharlesDharapak/status/245893711257563136/photo/1/large

    It doesn’t strike me that this guy cares an awful lot about the people who died. They mean nothing to him.

    This event to him is no different than “You didn’t build that”, just another thing to apply lies and distortions to to try to score political points.

  8. 8.

    PaulW

    September 12, 2012 at 1:25 pm

    Twitter needs more #RomneySmirk tweets to trend it upward.

    #RomneyShambles is sooooo July 2012.

  9. 9.

    Xboxershorts

    September 12, 2012 at 1:25 pm

    I call him the MittWit for a reason

  10. 10.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 12, 2012 at 1:25 pm

    @quannlace:

    The vile, toxic vermin of the Village.

  11. 11.

    Dennis SGMM

    September 12, 2012 at 1:25 pm

    Conservatism has been failed yet again.

  12. 12.

    patrick II

    September 12, 2012 at 1:25 pm

    Romney has reached the confused McCain stage of his campaign where, driven by increasing disbelief that he hasn’t been awarded the presidency yet, he is outraged by anything Obama does.

  13. 13.

    amk

    September 12, 2012 at 1:27 pm

    Dennis – you missed out ‘coward’.

    @Villago Delenda Est: Yup. mittbot is a teabagger now officially.

  14. 14.

    hep kitty

    September 12, 2012 at 1:27 pm

    Someone on here told me not to be smug the other day. Can I do it now?

  15. 15.

    jl

    September 12, 2012 at 1:27 pm

    @Richard: Walked away smiling from a statement based on at least two lies, made to public in the middle of foreign crisis.

    Has CNN corrected their misleading reports yet, that swallowed the Romneylies(TM) hook line and sinker? Has CNN corrected the record repeatedly, and apologized repeatedly?

    If not, why not?

    Sickening behavior on display today from craven liars running for office, and craven incompetent corporate hacks.

  16. 16.

    dmsilev

    September 12, 2012 at 1:28 pm

    Fuck, he even lost John Sununu, who ostensibly is one of Romney’s own advisers.

    Can we officially declare the start of “rats abandoning sinking ship” season?

  17. 17.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    September 12, 2012 at 1:29 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Mitt probably hasn’t heard the word enough to be able to use it effectively. I suspect he’ll call Obama “the help.”

  18. 18.

    Dr. Loveless

    September 12, 2012 at 1:29 pm

    I’m still not convinced that the first Ni-CLANG! will come from Romney. I am expecting a “THAT ONE!” moment during the debates, however.

  19. 19.

    ranchandsyrup

    September 12, 2012 at 1:29 pm

    To many wingers, the smirking was the only part that mattered. Not the content of the remarks. I say it’s latent racism, they say it’s fear for their country. Same thing.

  20. 20.

    jwb

    September 12, 2012 at 1:31 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: I might be wrong, but I don’t think Romneybot was programmed to drop the N-bomb. If he had been, he’d have already dropped it.

    Thought the opening of this article, which begins with the profile of a voter who prefers the sooper sekret Mooslim soshulist to the rich dick Mormon, was fascinating in the way that you can’t help gawking when you drive by a car accident. It may also explain why Mittwit has been acting so crazy. I mean when you’ve lost the sooper sekret Mooslim soshulist believers, who do you have left?

  21. 21.

    dmsilev

    September 12, 2012 at 1:32 pm

    Apparently Mitt still has Jim deMint, Sarah Palin, and Newt Gingrich.

    I’m not really sure that’s a ringing endorsement.

  22. 22.

    curiousleo

    September 12, 2012 at 1:33 pm

    Romney hasn’t lost all the Repubs: DeMint has his back.

    @Richard: As I said on the other thread, that pic of him smiling or smirking makes me HULK SMASH angry.

  23. 23.

    Svensker

    September 12, 2012 at 1:33 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Do you have a link to the Sununu thing?

  24. 24.

    hep kitty

    September 12, 2012 at 1:34 pm

    @dmsilev:

    he even lost John Sununu

    Keanu Reeves voice: Whoa

  25. 25.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    September 12, 2012 at 1:37 pm

    Rmoney’s post-presser smirk was right up there with Bush’s “feels good!” Fist pump for creepiness.

    I’m curious to see if, even at this late hour, pubbies and trolls start longing for the new nominee out of nowhere again.

  26. 26.

    Nina

    September 12, 2012 at 1:37 pm

    Halperin has often said in print that there are only 500 people in the United States whose opinion matters. It’s who we call The Village.

    Halperin desperately wants to believe that he’s a leader in this group of 500, when really he only says whatever it is that at the moment will ingratiate himself with the greatest number of these 500.

  27. 27.

    YellowJournalism

    September 12, 2012 at 1:37 pm

    @Dr. Loveless: No, it will be a “you people” statement.

  28. 28.

    dmsilev

    September 12, 2012 at 1:37 pm

    @Svensker: Here’s a link:

    Romney’s decision to weigh in is generating criticism from fellow Republicans. Former Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire said on MSNBC Wednesday morning: “They probably should have waited. … You look at the way things unfolded, you look at the timing of it, they probably should have waited.”

  29. 29.

    ayn shtyn

    September 12, 2012 at 1:39 pm

    @jl: They just itemized the correct timeline with the texts of the statements, followed by a discussion with Wolf Blitzer where, in between farts, he questioned whether the first statement was issued before or after the breach.

  30. 30.

    max

    September 12, 2012 at 1:39 pm

    It is a classic #romneyfail.

    I continue to be baffled as to why the usual sorts (on our side) didn’t sniff this guy out long ago. I watching him campaign in 2008 and my gut reaction was ‘dirtbag on a stick’.

    Sure Bill Krystol still has his back

    Well, given that it’s Kristol’s policy Romney is following, all run by Kristol’s pal, he’d better be in favor of it.

    The Paulites and Teabaggers will move their support to the Libertarian candidate (to punish the GOP for nominating Mitt-the-fuck-up) and everybody else in Wingnutopia will move their energy towards saving GOP control of the House.

    We’ll see. One way or another, the base ain’t gonna turn out for the Mormon Robot.

    max
    [‘Now I feel really bad for the Mormons.’]

  31. 31.

    Nom de Plume

    September 12, 2012 at 1:39 pm

    OT, but is it too much to ask the 093248157938475 front pagers here to coordinate their fucking posts just a little bit? Cole? Wakey-wakey…

  32. 32.

    ayn shtyn

    September 12, 2012 at 1:40 pm

    @jl: @jl: They just itemized the correct timeline with the texts of the statements, followed by a discussion with Wolf Blitzer where, between farts, he questioned whether the first statement was issued before or after the breach.

  33. 33.

    Culture of Truth

    September 12, 2012 at 1:40 pm

    McCain was never, never this bad. Even during the financial crisis – his panic – his heart was generally, more or less, in the right place. I think he respected Obama but felt he was too green for the job.

    Romney is just a mess. I don’t who he’s listening too, but he’s lost the Village, and they were always his best chance.

  34. 34.

    Mr. Longform

    September 12, 2012 at 1:40 pm

    As Charlie Pierce has said, Romney can’t help stepping on his own dick. I think with this he has finally succeeded in stepping on his dick, kicking himself in the balls, and sticking his head up his ass all at the same time. Who said he can’t multitask?

  35. 35.

    lamh35

    September 12, 2012 at 1:41 pm

    Damn…even Faux News???

    From Fallows at Atlantic earlier this morning:

    *Update I have just seen Jeffrey Goldberg’s report on an immediate response from the Romney camp. That is revealing and not encouraging. On the other hand, I am watching Fox & Friends right now to see how they are presenting things. They’ve just finished with a foreign-policy expert who urged Romney to stand down for a day or so. She says, “I am a hawk, but this is not the time to politicize the issue.”

    http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/09/three-quick-points-on-the-libya-killings/262263/

  36. 36.

    jl

    September 12, 2012 at 1:42 pm

    @dmsilev: I guess that is as good as Sununu can do. Or maybe he is trimming, since he does not want to completely destroy his public career, and wants to pretend he does not understand what Romney and his thugs are doing.

    Let’s fix the last part of Sununu’s statement:

    ” You look at the way things unfolded, you look at the timing of it, they probably should have waited not launched a dishonest political attack on the administration, one based on blatent falsehoods, in the middle of a foreign crisis. In fact, maybe that is bad idea, no matter what the timing”

    How is that?

  37. 37.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 12, 2012 at 1:43 pm

    @Nom de Plume:

    OT, but is it too much to ask the 093248157938475 front pagers here to coordinate their fucking posts just a little bit?

    Yes.

    SATSQ.

  38. 38.

    lamh35

    September 12, 2012 at 1:43 pm

    ooh, sully’s pissed

    @sullydish Romney’s statements on embassy crisis are disqualifying instincts for someone hoping to be POTUS. Disqualifying: Unfit For Government

  39. 39.

    amk

    September 12, 2012 at 1:44 pm

    @lamh35: Talk about screwing the pooch. Which mittbot doesn’t seem to know even after doing it to his.

  40. 40.

    ? Martin

    September 12, 2012 at 1:44 pm

    Obama already didn’t respect Mitt. This is just going to dial it to 11. The last debate is just on foreign policy. That’s going to be a beat-down. That’s going to be the last visual people have going into the election.

  41. 41.

    FormerSwingVoter

    September 12, 2012 at 1:44 pm

    Wow.

    Just wow.

    …

    I didn’t really think of Romney as literally, unapologetically evil until today. Smiling. When talking about dead Americans. What a twisted, sociopathic fuck.

    That fucker is so indescribably evil that he probably needs to strangle a kitten to get an erection.

  42. 42.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 12, 2012 at 1:45 pm

    @Mr. Longform:

    It really is quite fascinating watching him do all these things simultaneously, and then, with a lack of self-awareness that is breathtaking, smirks as he walks away from the podium.

  43. 43.

    Culture of Truth

    September 12, 2012 at 1:45 pm

    Was Sununu wearing an Obama bumper sticker on his head?

    hee hee

  44. 44.

    Someguy

    September 12, 2012 at 1:45 pm

    The nerve of this SOB to take things that happen abroad and attempt to capitalize on them domestically makes me sick. Politics stops at the water’s edge – remember that one Mitt?

  45. 45.

    Thor Heyerdahl

    September 12, 2012 at 1:45 pm

    @amk:

    alk about screwing the pooch. Which mittbot doesn’t seem to know even after doing it to his.

    He’s too busy fucking that chicken

  46. 46.

    ? Martin

    September 12, 2012 at 1:46 pm

    @lamh35: So much for Mitten’s Burkean modesty…

  47. 47.

    lamh35

    September 12, 2012 at 1:48 pm

    well damn someone tweeted this, if Perkins said this then damn

    @SabrinaSiddiqui
    RT @aterkel: Tony Perkins: “I don’t think the president sympathizes” with perpetrators of the attacks in Egypt/Libya #npclunch

  48. 48.

    Culture of Truth

    September 12, 2012 at 1:48 pm

    He’s Lost Paul Ryan Too

    Ryan, today:

    “it’s very important that a president speak with a single voice representing our principles and our values.”

  49. 49.

    cusorial

    September 12, 2012 at 1:49 pm

    Have to love Halperin’s initial qualifier. It’s not the naked opportunism or sheer tactlessness that’s disqualifying, what’s unforgivable is that it might not work. The lesson everyone absorbed from Karl Rove – assholery is fine, if it results in political gain.

  50. 50.

    mechwarrior online

    September 12, 2012 at 1:50 pm

    This is the moment Mitt lost. There is a reason why senior Republicans aren’t backing him up on this. He’ll get Limbaugh and other cranks, but nobody who counts. His reaction is just… insane.

    Turning the diplomatic corps into a political football won’t end well. I don’t care how much money he has, he still has to work with all the federal workers, contractors, diplomats, soldiers, et all when he gets to DC. This comes off as blaming the diplomats for getting themselves killed, at least that’s the reaction I’ve seen all day. It’s scary in a way.

    Usually politics is kept out of shit. We don’t care. Most of the stupidity and nonsense on TV is to whip up the crazies in either parties base and drag them out. It’s all an act. And like a good rugby match when the day is done everybody goes out for a drink together, nobody cares. Leave the D vs R stuff for the morons out in flyover land who care about that sort of shit. But people seem angered over this, there is a palpable sense of rage.

  51. 51.

    LD50

    September 12, 2012 at 1:51 pm

    Every day I think, “I shouldn’t get too happy, certainly any day now Romney/Ryan will quit fucking up and things will get close again”. I need to quit worrying.

  52. 52.

    Dr. Loveless

    September 12, 2012 at 1:52 pm

    Interesting take on it from MoJo. I think Mittens’ smirk gave away the game, though.

    Romney Goes Full D’Souza

  53. 53.

    Alison

    September 12, 2012 at 1:53 pm

    @Richard:

    It doesn’t strike me that this guy cares an awful lot about the people who died. They mean nothing to him

    Just like with poor people on Medicaid and/or food stamps; LGBT people and their families; rape victims; etc – he is absolutely incapable of viewing people as people. He has zero empathy at all, and I don’t mean that just as a dig, but as an actual fact. He cannot see others as actual human beings with lives and feelings and problems and hearts. They’re like…I don’t know, widgets in a widget factory or something.

    Which is why whenever Ann or whoever prattles on about what a good and loving person he is, I just don’t believe it, not one bit. I don’t think the dude even knows what it means to love or to actually care about people beyond platitudes.

    Ugh, I really despise him. he’s just a horrible horrible man.

  54. 54.

    ? Martin

    September 12, 2012 at 1:54 pm

    Whelp, DeMint has his back. Winning!

  55. 55.

    trollhattan

    September 12, 2012 at 1:55 pm

    @Richard:
    Wow, tie matches drapes. Isn’t that a metaphor for something…?

    Hope he tipped his dresser today.

  56. 56.

    Culture of Truth

    September 12, 2012 at 1:55 pm

    Breaking: Al Qaeda Leaders Blast GOP: “Obama Sympathizes With Us, WTF?”

  57. 57.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 12, 2012 at 1:56 pm

    @Richard:

    It doesn’t strike me that this guy cares an awful lot about the people who died. They mean nothing to him

    They’re “the help”. One does not give a rat’s ass about “the help.” “The help” are fully expendable and replaceable.

  58. 58.

    Suffern ACE

    September 12, 2012 at 1:56 pm

    @dmsilev: This whole thing is so Palinesque and Gringrichi in its shameless instapandering, I’m wondering if Romney hasn’t hired their campaign people.

    It’s not like the president hasn’t had those moments where I was wondering why he was commenting on something. The whole fiasco Gates affair that ended in the beer summit was one of those times. (And there have been very few of those). But Romney is just being foolish here. Making stuff up to get attention is what Gingrich and Palin do.

  59. 59.

    Culture of Truth

    September 12, 2012 at 1:57 pm

    We’re told people went to Mitt when their child had leukemia. Okay, so? What happened then? He was their mormon pastor. But was he any good at it? Does he still do it? If not, why not?

    He seems like a completely unempathetic person.

  60. 60.

    eric

    September 12, 2012 at 1:58 pm

    one other point….from what i have seen, the ambassador was well liked and respected by both sides of the aisle and I suspect that there is a personal element that many of the GOP adults dont want to sully the guy’s death on mitt’s behalf. Sure, demint and newt will, they are whores. I think the establishment will be very respectful of the president and the late-ambassador.

  61. 61.

    mechwarrior online

    September 12, 2012 at 1:58 pm

    @Alison:

    There is a difference though, one that might not mean much to people outside of Beltway Land, but it’s there. All those people you listed, are political pawns used in battles to gin up votes for the political boxing matches. In a sense, nobody gives a rats ass about them. Tools to land blows on people, useful rubes to pander to for votes… but in the end nobody who counts when the work day is done and it’s time for drinks and a meal.

    Diplomats and foreign service people are something else. They are part of the machine and establishment. They know the game. They are the people you have to work with.

    That’s why the outrage. He’s stepped in it, big time. Just as Bachmann’s rantings were a-ok till she went after people at state and DOD and then she became toxic.

    As they said in the departed “there are people you can hit, and there are people you can’t hit, that’s a person you can’t hit”

  62. 62.

    FlipYrWhig

    September 12, 2012 at 1:59 pm

    @dmsilev: There are actually two different John Sununus. The father, who was governor of New Hampshire and George H.W. Bush’s chief of staff, and the son, who was a one-term senator from New Hampshire. The one being quoted here is not the one who’s been all over the TV as a Romney surrogate.

  63. 63.

    Elizabelle

    September 12, 2012 at 1:59 pm

    Beginning of the end of the Romney campaign.

    You don’t want your CIC going off like that, and especially before the facts are in. Politics stops at the water’s edge.

    RE Romney’s smile: I think he’s thinking “well, I’ve got Adelson off my back for a while with that one.”

  64. 64.

    TenguPhule

    September 12, 2012 at 2:00 pm

    Unless the Romney campaign has gamed this crisis out in some manner completely invisible to the Gang of 500,

    Romney-tron has just installed Civ II on Windows 95 and is proceeding to use the cheat hack to get unlimited corporate cash in order to nuke Persia to get rid of its monument bonus.

  65. 65.

    TenguPhule

    September 12, 2012 at 2:02 pm

    Politics stops at the water’s edge.

    In the herd of buffalo facing out against the pack of wolves, Romney is the one pushing his way back to the center to open a hole to the females and young.

  66. 66.

    trollhattan

    September 12, 2012 at 2:02 pm

    @Culture of Truth:
    Walnuts did have that moment where he stopped the woman who was ragging on Obama’s insipient Muslimism, or whatever substituted for “N’clang” back in the day, to correct her and defend Obama. It was automatic and unscripted and I took it as a flash of the “old” McCain–the one Rove destroyed in 2000.

    I cannot envision Willard doing any such thing. Ever.

  67. 67.

    hep kitty

    September 12, 2012 at 2:03 pm

    @Culture of Truth: Regular old churches expect such things from their pastors as a given. They’re funny that way. So someone’s trying to act like it’s a big deal coming from a Mormon bishop?? What are they, royalty?

  68. 68.

    Anna in PDX

    September 12, 2012 at 2:05 pm

    I’m a former Foreign Service Officer and was serving in Saudi Arabia when some terrorist attacks happened there. I am absolutely appalled at this Republican reaction to a national crisis. They seem to have no concept of normal behavior. You do not do this. It is just wrong. It is like Bush outing his own CIA officer and putting tons of agents in danger for their lives by doing so, for petty political purposes and in order to start a war on false pretences. I don’t see how any moral being can be a member of this sociopathic, treasonous party.

  69. 69.

    Alison

    September 12, 2012 at 2:07 pm

    And damn, I want the picture of that fucking smirk on the front page of every damn newspaper in the country. People need to see that. A moment when his fucking veil slipped and showed the actual cruel, heartless monster he truly is.

  70. 70.

    dmsilev

    September 12, 2012 at 2:08 pm

    We can, if it’s at all possible, up the asshole quotient another notch. Team Romney is now blaming Obama’s policies for the attack:

    In talking points currently being pushed to Republican leaders and top surrogates, the Romney campaign recommends attacking President’s Obama “foreign policy of weakness” and dismissing questions about how the campaign responded to the crisis last night.
    […]
    “We have seen a foreign policy of weakness and decline in American influence and respect. Yesterday, we saw the consequences of this perceived weakness.”

  71. 71.

    Culture of Truth

    September 12, 2012 at 2:08 pm

    @hep kitty: I don’t think they were saying it’s a big deal, as much as indicates some humanity. In other words, it may be big deal when you’re famous for being a ruthless CEO, and no one questions he was good at that.

    However, I suspect that got the title for his family name rather than earned it because he was just that awesome at empathizing.

  72. 72.

    japa21

    September 12, 2012 at 2:09 pm

    @trollhattan: He already had that same opportunity when, at one of his events, a woman said that Obama was “a monster’ and all he did was nod his head and smile.

  73. 73.

    Culture of Truth

    September 12, 2012 at 2:11 pm

    This is, word for word, the accusation leveled at Bill Clinton in 1993 and every Democrat ever.

    Funny, the only politician who didn’t send signals of weakness was the guy in place when we were actually attacked.

  74. 74.

    japa21

    September 12, 2012 at 2:11 pm

    @dmsilev: Of course, there are all these pro America, anti the attackers demonstrations going on in Libya and Tunisia. Just goes to show how little respect Obama has earned for this country in the world.

  75. 75.

    feebog

    September 12, 2012 at 2:11 pm

    It will be fasinating to read the tell-all book of the Romney campaign that is sure to come out after the election. Sort of a mash up between the sinking of the Titanic and crash of the Hindenberg.

  76. 76.

    Anna in PDX

    September 12, 2012 at 2:11 pm

    71: No class at all. Boy. How low can they go.

  77. 77.

    chopper

    September 12, 2012 at 2:13 pm

    @Culture of Truth:

    I think he respected Obama but felt he was too green for the job.

    not really. walnuts hated obama back from their senate days.

    then again, walnuts hated a lot of people. he’s just a straight-up hater.

  78. 78.

    jl

    September 12, 2012 at 2:13 pm

    @dmsilev:

    They’ve gone all in. In to depravity. Bet all the chips on dishonest and depraved political attacks in the middle of a foreign crisis to get a few more votes from voters they think they can dupe.

    If, or as soon as, the public understands the complete and total dishonesty of their attacks, they are done.

    Given the understandably intense public interest in attacks on US government abroad, my bet is on “as soon as”.

    I imagine Obama and Biden fury simmering for a few weeks before the debates. They will be interesting.

  79. 79.

    Suffern ACE

    September 12, 2012 at 2:13 pm

    @dmsilev: He’s setting up for this “I don’t care if we’re in Iraq for 100 years” McCain moment.

    Jeebus. It’s not like our embassies didn’t come under attack in the middle east before 2009.

  80. 80.

    dmsilev

    September 12, 2012 at 2:14 pm

    @Anna in PDX: I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that we haven’t yet seen the nadir.

  81. 81.

    Gindy53

    September 12, 2012 at 2:15 pm

    I think Bibi and Adelson wasted $5M on the stupid movie. It is doing exactly the opposite of what they thought it would do.

  82. 82.

    different-church-lady

    September 12, 2012 at 2:17 pm

    @dmsilev:

    “We have seen a foreign policy of weakness and decline in American influence and respect. Yesterday, we saw the consequences of this perceived weakness.”

    Yeah, lord knows something like this never would have happened under a guy like Reagan.

  83. 83.

    curiousleo

    September 12, 2012 at 2:18 pm

    @dmsilev: interesting that (as I interpret your link) the talking points are beling leaked/reported as the cynical plays they are.

  84. 84.

    Applejinx

    September 12, 2012 at 2:19 pm

    Not pleased with this smile.

    I blew up the picture, and lightened it with the following operations-
    Unsharp Mask, very large pixel radius, faded through luminosity
    Smart Blur to soften some of the JPEG artifacts
    Reduced size, bilinear
    Unsharp Mask again, faded through Color Dodge
    Reduced size again, bilinear
    Unsharp Mask, faded through Linear Dodge
    Reduced size, bilinear

    No retouching of the smirk, no operations that aren’t applied to the entire image indiscriminately. And LOOK at that smile.

  85. 85.

    Anna in PDX

    September 12, 2012 at 2:20 pm

    I can’t see how this horrible behavior that borders on treason is going to get Romney a single vote. The nutjobs who think that Obama is a secret Muslim were voting for him anyhow.

  86. 86.

    Maude

    September 12, 2012 at 2:20 pm

    @Anna in PDX:
    The Republican leadership in Congress has split from Romney and the other jerks.
    They echoed what Obama said.
    I have no words about Romney. Too despicable.

  87. 87.

    Anna in PDX

    September 12, 2012 at 2:23 pm

    @Maude: I guess like the Plame incident, it is a real instance of going rogue. There has been a bipartisan consensus on this forever. There are only a few things that you can’t use for partisan purposes, whether it’s an election year or not, and one of them would be a foreign terrorism incident. Another would be outing your own CIA operatives. Put this person in charge of our foreign policy? The mind reels.

    And what the hell does he think he would have done differently that would have prevented a riot in a foreign country? WTF is he even trying to say?

  88. 88.

    gbear

    September 12, 2012 at 2:24 pm

    I have a mental picture of Mitt, Ryan and Reince Priebus battling each other for the last lifeboat only to find that their compatriots who got off the ship in time have drilled very large holes in the bottom of their lifeboat. EVERYone is going to hate Mitt and Reince before this is over, and this will be a joy to watch.

  89. 89.

    Culture of Truth

    September 12, 2012 at 2:24 pm

    “Unsharp Mask, Faded through Linear Dodge”

    How appropriate

  90. 90.

    shoutingattherain

    September 12, 2012 at 2:26 pm

    @feebog: “Titanic Explodes in Lakehurst While Approaching Mooring Mast! Oh the Humanity!”

  91. 91.

    SenyorDave

    September 12, 2012 at 2:30 pm

    @lamh35: I actually think “unfit for government” is a great way of framing Romney’s response. I wouldn’t vote for him for any office no matter who he was running against, and I wouldn’t hire him a s a junior analyst based on his complete lack of character.

  92. 92.

    Applejinx

    September 12, 2012 at 2:30 pm

    I don’t really want to be hunted down like a dog by armed rightwingers for photoshopping their guy’s moment of smirkness, so I figured I’d stick to overall image-sharpening-and-blurring operations. Anybody can overlay this picture over a blown-up copy of the original photo also on twitter and see that I haven’t put in a blessed thing that’s not in the original photo.

    And LOOK at that curled-lip smile and the way his eyes are a little scrunched up in delight.

  93. 93.

    catclub

    September 12, 2012 at 2:32 pm

    Anyone else see Washington Monthly and its bits on closing down the GOP if they lose this election? Rush Limbaugh is starting the recriminations over the loss early.

    And that was the main point. If they are already planning the recriminations over the lost election, this long before the election, popcorn futures are way up.

    Schadenfreudelicious.

  94. 94.

    different-church-lady

    September 12, 2012 at 2:34 pm

    @Applejinx:

    I don’t really want to be hunted down like a dog by armed rightwingers for photoshopping their guy’s moment of smirkness

    Which is also why I haven’t yet taken this photo and done meme-text over it that says “DEAD AMERICANS… MAKE ME HAPPY”

  95. 95.

    Suffern ACE

    September 12, 2012 at 2:38 pm

    @Anna in PDX: I guess he’s going to come out and say that this wouldn’t happen if we had put boots on the ground in Libya. Heck, it might even be a full throated endorsement of Qaddafi by the end of the day. And why not invade Iran – the fact that the hasn’t yet is a problem (if you are a neocon)

    Then a bit of pissing off the Russians by claiming that they’re behind it…whatever it is, it won’t make sense. It will ramble. It will make it out that the nations of the earth are like little children that need us to be the daddy.

    And then he’ll complain that the world events are just shiny objects to distract us from the true focus on the economy.

  96. 96.

    Culture of Truth

    September 12, 2012 at 2:39 pm

    HBO should start writing this movie now.

    Who could play Mitt? That guy in Atlas Shrugged would be ok.

  97. 97.

    Applejinx

    September 12, 2012 at 2:40 pm

    @different-church-lady: What’s the context for that one?

    I think sometimes all you have to do is show his face and reveal the context. You don’t have to write up captions. That’s the thing- you don’t have to make up captions. The reality is quite bad enough.

  98. 98.

    Nina

    September 12, 2012 at 2:42 pm

    I think Romney has done a great deal of good for people he feels close to. I have no trouble believing the leukemia story. He once closed down his whole office so that they could join search parties for the missing daughter of one of Mitt’s buddies.

    But.

    I suspect that Mitt has never exerted himself in the slightest for someone who wasn’t a close friend. The people who lost jobs because of Bain and discovered that their pensions had been sucked dry… I never heard a single story of him shedding a tear for those unfortunates, or trying to ameliorate the damage his company had done.

    The consulate staff in Benghazi, the entire State Department, is completely faceless to Mitt. So he can toss them overboard in a heartbeat, say things to deliberately anger the Arab street, just to score political points here at home.

    I hope he pours every cent he ever stole into this election, and has to mortgage his shiny waterfront homes. I hope a post-election audit closes down all his hidden bank accounts and hits him with multimillion dollar fines. Since money is really the only thing he really cares about.

  99. 99.

    Ruckus

    September 12, 2012 at 2:43 pm

    @SenyorDave:
    Would you even hire him to serve fries? I wouldn’t. At this point I’d be afraid for the customers, let alone my business.

  100. 100.

    jl

    September 12, 2012 at 2:44 pm

    @Suffern ACE:

    Russians behind it? Don’t you mean the Soviet Union?

    You obviously don’t have the foreign policy expertise of the Romney campaign.

  101. 101.

    different-church-lady

    September 12, 2012 at 2:44 pm

    @Applejinx: That’s from this morning at the podium, earlier on from the one you enhanced.

    How anyone could be wearing an expression like that in those circumstances is inexplicable. Yet another glitch in the ROMNEYTRON code.

  102. 102.

    jl

    September 12, 2012 at 2:45 pm

    @Applejinx: I think the caption

    “Romeny’s face after he just lied to the country in the middle of a foreign crisis.” would be good caption.

  103. 103.

    JoeShabadoo

    September 12, 2012 at 2:49 pm

    I think Romney and his advisors figure he just can’t dig much deeper since the base already hates him but will support him anyway and he is doing terrible in the electoral college. He is going to throw wild, horrible things at Obama hoping some of it sticks because its his only chance. While I still think he can dig deeper he would probably benefit by saying 10 terrible lies as long as one knocked Obama down a little.
    Basically I think Mitts seen the numbers and reactions and is already in desperation mode.

  104. 104.

    Rita R.

    September 12, 2012 at 2:50 pm

    I’m so shocked and enraged that it’s hard to even be coherent about how sociopathically ugly this is.

    Sully is right, this incident alone disqualifies Romney from office. It’s also dead on that it shows how Romney views others — not as real people, but as pawns to be played in a big game of “How does this benefit Mitt.” It’s why he had no problem when Bain would swoop in and destroy companies, costing hundreds of people their jobs and crippling communities.

    Problem is, this is not a fucking game. And the foreign policy stakes are infinitely greater than just one company or one community. Can you imagine how dangerous it would be for this mendacious asshole to be president? It would make Bush look like a steady, sober leader.

  105. 105.

    chopper

    September 12, 2012 at 2:52 pm

    @Ruckus:

    i wouldn’t hire him to pump my gas. he’d end up pulling a zoolander or something.

  106. 106.

    joel hanes

    September 12, 2012 at 2:58 pm

    @hep kitty:

    Sure thing.

  107. 107.

    Ruckus

    September 12, 2012 at 3:00 pm

    @chopper:
    Whatever he did or said, it would be the wrong thing and most likely blow up in someone elses face.

    How does he go through life as such a gigantic fuck up and come out smelling like a 5 million dollar, 5lb sack of horse shit?

  108. 108.

    OGLiberal

    September 12, 2012 at 3:00 pm

    I wouldn’t give Halperin too much credit here. He has a longer “clarification” post up now – apparently, people were saying mean things about him on the Twitter. His only fault with Romney is the timing of the statement, not the content. I think it’s fair to say that the Romney camp should have waited at least a couple days before they said anything. But Halperin doesn’t touch the lies and inaccuracies in the Romney statements. In fact, he says that the “apology” line is central to Romney’s overall argument, implying that he should be taking this line of attack.

    You will never, ever get Halperin to say that a politician lied. Well, maybe a Democrat, but never a GOPer.

  109. 109.

    Dr. Loveless

    September 12, 2012 at 3:03 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    Which is also why I haven’t yet taken this photo and done meme-text over it that says “DEAD AMERICANS… MAKE ME HAPPY”

    That’s OK. I added WHY SO SERIOUS? and put it up on Facebook.

  110. 110.

    Patricia Kayden

    September 12, 2012 at 4:23 pm

    Not surprised that a vulture capitalist is turning out to be a vulture Presidential candidate. The Bot is just awful. Repubs better find someone likable for 2016.

  111. 111.

    Meg

    September 12, 2012 at 5:06 pm

    @Richard:
    For months I have thought Romney is very much like Palin, sociopath, liar, empty suit, very much entitled.

    Now that picture of Romney walking away smiling again reminds me of this Palin stunt (Palin walking away smiling after giving her resignation speech),
    http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/115/article_4200.asp

  112. 112.

    Meg

    September 12, 2012 at 5:07 pm

    @Richard:
    For months I have thought Romney is very much like Palin, sociopath, liar, empty suit, very much entitled.

    Now that picture of Romney walking away smiling again reminds me of this Palin stunt (Palin walking away smiling after giving her resignation speech),
    http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/115/article_4200.asp

  113. 113.

    JR in WV

    September 12, 2012 at 6:22 pm

    Words fail me. What a freak show this Republican campaign is.

    What a sociopath Romney turns out to be. I hope the billion$$ of dollars don’t manage to successfully repaint him as a human being superior to President Obama. It’s hard for me not to worry about the avalanche of money.

    Watching football over the weekend, I was puzzled that we didn’t see any campaign commercials at all. What’s with that?

    We aren’t in a swing state, but still?…

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. #romneyshambles | The Wellington Street Post says:
    September 12, 2012 at 1:53 pm

    […] until the debates for Mitt Romney to demonstrate his manifest unfitness to be president. Instead, it happened already and its still eight weeks until the election: Romney’s decision to use a fatal attack on […]

  2. #romneyshambles | Liblogs says:
    September 12, 2012 at 2:00 pm

    […] until the debates for Mitt Romney to demonstrate his manifest unfitness to be president. Instead, it happened already and its still eight weeks until the election: Romney’s decision to use a fatal attack on […]

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