Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I would gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

The willow is too close to the house.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

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

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2012 / Tears of the Clowns

Tears of the Clowns

by | 83 Comments

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So after the latest shitshow fail parade from the increasingly despicable Romney campaign, wingnut bloggers have determine who the real victims are… them:

There is an astonishing amount of complaining among conservatives about how unfair the media was to Mitt Romney yesterday in reporting on — and calling out — his criticism of Obama over the Embassy attacks. The gist of the complaining is that the U.S. Embassy statement was, in fact, an apology in the face of aggression, and that news outlets are stifling legitimate criticism of Obama on foreign policy.

But oddly enough, the critiques tend to avoid directly addressing, or defending, the main thing about Romney’s comments that news outlets and commentators found newsworthy or objectionable.

Remember, they are always, always the victims.

Reader Interactions

83Comments

  1. 1.

    Maude

    This whole Romney thing is so bizarre.
    I can’t wrap my head around this or the origin of the movie trailer.
    Twilight Zone time.

  4. 4.

    Keith

    Sh*t, they’re so off their rockers that Rush Limbaugh was on musing that maybe Al Qaeda gave up OBL specifically so it would help Obama win the election. Can you believe the crap major party figures are spewing out now that the desperation is getting thick?

  6. 6.

    Felinious Wench

    Do you know why oceans are salty? It’s the tears of crying sharks insisting they’ve been misunderstood and just want to cuddle.

    These are sweet, sweet wingnut tears.

  7. 7.

    WereBear

    Remember, Romney was their best candidate.

    Though I do long for a Gingrich run, that’s just my post-modern, ulta-meta, deep-vein-of-sarcasm talking. But a part of me cries Why? they loved him in South Carolina!

  8. 8.

    Dennis SGMM

    OT: It just keeps getting better.
    My best friend in the whole world has been diagnosed with BHC – Benign Hereditary Chorea. His dad suffers from it and I was deluding myself that my friend’s movements were not beginning to mirror those of his father.

    Wish I could be a Buddha and transform this pain into enlightenment.

  9. 9.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    @WereBear: Remember, Romney was their best candidate.

    I never for a moment forget it. I can’t wait to see what they’re going to run in ’16.

  11. 11.

    g

    I guess they “took it out of context.” I mean, it wasn’t like they were reporting on a statement he made to the press…..oh, wait.

  12. 12.

    trollhattan

    Has Willard’s campaign bought a big tunnelling machine yet, because they might as well keep heading to China.

    I’ll adapt a beloved quote for the occasion.

    It must be very strange to be Governor Romney. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can’t get anyone to notice.

  13. 13.

    mai naem

    I think Mitt has Aspergers. He reminds me of the guy Michael Lewis talked about in his book about the subprime mortgage bets. He’s good at one thing, and only one thing and that’s making money. He’s very awkward socially. He lets stuff come out of his mouth that he should have that internal voice telling him No! Shut up! From all independent accounts, he was away making money and Anne was raising the kids. His religion with the patriarchy allowed him to have Aspergers more easily because Anne had to just put up with it. She may have also stuck around for the $$$. For all we know maybe Anne figured it out. And, isn’t there a familial part to Aspergers so chances are one of the sons has it and has had it diagnosed(Josh?) and maybe Anne’s seen it in Mitt.Ofcourse this is all supposition. It doesn’t matter if he has it I don’t want him to be president and if he doesn’t have it, he’s acting way too dicky to be president.

  15. 15.

    Steve

    I have seen sooooo many wingnut comments today to the effect that the liberal media is trying to change the subject from the economy to foreign policy. Do they not understand that Romney called a press conference?

  16. 16.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    @g:

    I guess they “took it out of context.” I mean, it wasn’t like they were reporting on a statement he made to the press..oh, wait

    __

    The poor Republicans. They spent decades training the press corps to act as nothing but brainless stenographers, and then fielded a candidate so awful that all you have to do to make him look bad is put a microphone in front of him and let it run. Heel meet Achilles, Achilles meet Heel.

  18. 18.

    bleh

    I have always thought the grievances of the Teabaggers had their roots in childhood,!when the sharper of their classmates mocked them for being a little dim.

    I used to feel a sense of compassion toward them, not unlike one supposes the Christianists would advocate.

    But not any more. Willing stupidity deserves only limited charity, and AGGRESSIVE stupidity deserves nothing less than overt mockery.

  20. 20.

    dmsilev

    @Steve: Maybe they think the ‘liberal media’ is mind-controlling Romney into saying stupid shit.

    You have to admit, there’s a certain self-consistency to that theory.

  25. 25.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Steve:

    Do they not understand that Romney called a press conference?

    In which he talked about NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING, but the situation in Egypt and Libya?

    They do not understand. It’s caused some sort of infinite looping in their diseased, damaged brain cavities that are filled with some sort of goop other than brain tissue and with less computing power than a TRS-80.

  26. 26.

    dmsilev

    @The Ancient Randonneur: Speaking of that, via Greg Sargent:

    * New NBC/WSJ swing state polls: Obama leads Romney among likely voters by five in Florida and Virginia (49-44 in both); and by seven in Ohio (50-43).

    If that poll is even close to accurate, Mitt is basically fucked unless there’s a real upheaval in the race.

  27. 27.

    Keith G

    What I do get really frustrated over is the claims about how either side is politicizing this incident.

    This is a political event : beginning, middle and end.

    How we react and respond will entail political thought and action. When I hear Halprin bemoan how both side are politicizing this, I think, “Damn straight.” This is not Lothlórien. It is right that we use political processes to address important issues and events.

    Now that the rant is over please let me persude you to listen to Fresh Air interviewing Michael Lewis author of Obama’s Way. You will thank me in the morning

    You can get it off iTunes as well, as I did.

  32. 32.

    ChrisNYC

    They could easily rectify this. Just play Mitt’s awesome press conference 24/7 on Fox. Have all his advocates say, “Let’s look at the tape.” Mitt has important information for voters and we really should be reminded of it.

  33. 33.

    Comrade Jake

    If you want to lose a few brain cells over this, check out Jennifer Rubin’s twitter feed. Did you guys know that Obama’s the Black Jimmy Carter?

  34. 34.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Dennis SGMM:

    I am so sorry about your friend, and sorry that you are sharing his suffering. But also very glad that you have the empathy to share his suffering. I hope whatever the progression of the disease is, it goes slowly and kindly.

  35. 35.

    Maude

    @Dennis SGMM:
    I can’t answer about what to do. I think I got through that phase badly. It is a phase and it feels like it lasts forever. It doesn’t. One small thing that doesn’t at seem important brings you out of the phase. You are most likely coming out of this phase, I call it the abyss.

  36. 36.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Keith G:

    Now that the rant is over please let me persude you to listen to Fresh Air interviewing Michael Lewis author of Obama’s Way. You will thank me in the morning

    seconded. In fact, I posted last night about the Fresh Air interview. One of the best I’ve heard, and I’m a big fan of Terry Gross as an interviewer. As soon as I catch up with the day’s BJ and Charlie Pierce threads, I’m off to read the VF article. Sounds really really good.

  41. 41.

    Suffern ACE

    @dmsilev: You know, this whole pivot to foreign policy thing might have worked for Romney if he would have been able to wait until morning to release his press statement. But he couldn’t.

    After reading that slate piece about how a lot of what we were reading in those tweets from Cairo were responses to “concerned us citizens” already parroting the “apology” meme – while the events were going on is absolutely disgusting. Who does that?

  43. 43.

    raven

    Just came from dinner with my buddy whose wife has brain cancer. The medical prognosis is ok but the damage from the surgery chemo and radiation is manifesting in severe depression for her and it ain’t all that great for him. My wife has been spending a good amount of time with her and I’m doing my best to hang with him. One a bright note, pour friend with anal cancer and her hubby took off for the Easy this morning. She’s only a month past her treatment and didn’t think they’d be able to hack travel until xmas. So that’s good.

  44. 44.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Dennis SGMM:

    I’m hanging on even though I don’t know why I’m hanging on.

    What else are you gonna do? Just from what I know of you from your comments here, you don’t seem to be the giving up or giving in kind. Kind thoughts to your friend.

  46. 46.

    Davis X. Machina

    @amorphous: Hell, yeah…

    What if Ayman al-Zawahiri and other al-Qaida leaders gave up Osama Bin Laden for the express purpose of making Obama look good? Giving Obama stature, political capital. Obama got Osama! I mean really, do you think al-Qaida depends on Osama Bin Laden any more, like it did?… So they give him him, they give away his location. We go in, SEAL Team 6, Obama puffs up… Keep him in power, furthers the cause… Do you think the militant Islamists will be as hopeful of getting rid of Israel with a Republican president or with a Democrat president? Just throwing it out there

    .

  49. 49.

    Keith G

    @Dennis SGMM:

    I never expected to live this long. What the hell do you do when life itself hurts?

    Being a fellow traveler in that regard, what you do is that you keep on living and you give. Doing extra work at a hospice for AIDS patients has rewired how I process my own experience with disease and decline.

  52. 52.

    JPL

    In the bizarro land of Mitt, he did not deny saying what he said, he is saying he was simply repeating what Obama said.
    Personally, I thought he would wake up this morning and deny it. ABC news had a teaser of an interview with George Steph..
    that will be aired in the morning.

  53. 53.

    raven

    @JPL: Boortz was whining like a baby to Jamie Dupree about this “the press ganged up on Mitt by talking to each other about what questions to ask” bullshit. Jamie was great, he calmly explained several time that “of course we do, it’s called preparing”.

  56. 56.

    realbtl

    @Dennis SGMM:
    I used to kind of chuckle over the Bette Davis quote “Getting old is not for sissies.” Now 3 months away from 64 years old I’m going “Uh shit, she was serious.” Now I get it.

    Sorry about your friend. Hang in there.

  57. 57.

    Dennis SGMM

    Thank you all for your kindness and for your advice. You are the best. I am in uncharted waters and I can’t find my way back home.

    It will get better or it will get different, that much I know.

    Again, thank you all for your good wishes and especially for including me in your thoughts.

  62. 62.

    Chris Grrr™

    @Davis X. Machina: What if al-Qaida permitted the Oxyblob to continue living for the express purpose of making American democracy look bad? Keep him in power, furthers the cause… Do you think the militant Islamists will be as hopeful of getting rid of the United States with Oxyblob in place, or with him off the air? Just throwing it out there.

  63. 63.

    Mnemosyne

    @Keith G:

    This is a political event : beginning, middle and end.

    I’ll extend this even further and point out that the very reason four American diplomats are dead is because of politics, both domestic in the US and Libya and international. There is no possible way to divorce those deaths from the politics going on in both countries.

    Not surprisingly, Juan Cole has had some great coverage and analysis of what’s going on politically in the Middle East in general and specifically the current politics in Libya that contributed to what happened. Today’s post: “Mitt Romney Jumps the Shark.”

  65. 65.

    22over7

    @mai naem:

    Don’t go there. You’re making excuses for him and for his behavior. He’s in his sixties, and has been dealing with himself and others for some time now. He’s put himself out for all to see, and he will be judged on his words and his actions. That’s all.

  69. 69.

    Emma

    @Dennis SGMM: You’re hanging on because that’s what a human being does. And because your friend is going to need you. Many years ago I met a Baptist preacher of the sane kind no longer encountered in the wild, and he told me that there were things you couldn’t go around, and you couldn’t refuse, so you just plowed through them. And at the other end, it might have not been “fine” but it was “well done.”

  70. 70.

    jl

    @22over7:

    I agree.

    Mitt’s stiffness and weirdness, by itself, and not the big problem. Everybody, and that includes major politicians, has quirks that seem odd to other people. Even Biden and Obama.

    It’s the ruthless opportunistic lying and misrepresentation, and bad faith that is the problem. I never heard that those things indicated autism or Asperger syndrome.

  71. 71.

    jnfr

    @Dennis SGMM:

    You persevere as best you can. My early life was hell and I never thought I’d live very long, or want to, but eventually I made a really good life for myself and here I am today!

    I hope your friend continues to find life worth living, and that you can stay close.

  72. 72.

    aimai

    @Dennis SGMM:

    I was going to suggest Tich Nhat Hanh–the book of his that I really liked was Anger: Wisdom for cooling the flames. I read it after 9/11 but I have revisted it many times, especially as I get older and get angry about that.

    aimai

  73. 73.

    jnfr

    @WereBear:

    My response is to, in some small way, leave the Earth better than I found it.

    And to increase the sum total of love in the world.

    Yes, those are very good things to do.

  75. 75.

    redshirt

    To imagine we all here somehow are alive at all is just magical. From the big bang to eons of hot soupy darkness till enough atoms joined together creating ginormous clouds of hydrogen which quickly gave birth to mega huge stars which swiftly exploded in ridiculously large explosions, seeding the next generation of stars with heavy metals. Stars form and more stars and one day 5 billion years or so ago our star started to form, and Earth with it. All made up of the dust and gas created by other stars, now dead. And that’s just the start of Earth, from stardust. Think of all the evolutionary wonders that have happened to lead us to right here, right now. Reaching out in the Cloud.

    Life is Magic.

  76. 76.

    suzanne

    @Dennis SGMM: Hugs, for you, and your friend.

    As for why you keep on keeping on… someone needs you, even though you don’t know it yet. And we all have to fight the good fight for those who can’t.

    More hugs.

  79. 79.

    Petorado

    I’m pissed at the media too, for while they finally found the sense to say Mitt trampled over linetalc judgement that a sane politician would never cross, no one seeks to explain why. While it’s all fun and games to turn every domestic policy issue into a Dem vs. Repub battle for our media, people finally saw in this incident that you can’t run every political decision through the filter of “will this piss off the Dems?” Mitts sole angle with this botched event was trying to score the same cheap points with international diplomacy as he gets to do with our health and future financial well-being. Glad at least in this instance the press called out the stupidity and myopic nature of such judgement.

  83. 83.

    kindness

    John did you used to feel like a victim back in the day?

    OK…now I read the thread and see I’m very redundant.

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