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You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2012 / Election Blues

Election Blues

by John Cole|  October 10, 20128:28 pm| 113 Comments

This post is in: Election 2012, Serenity Now!

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Every time I try to write about this election, I get about two sentences finished and say “Oh, fuck it” and go watch tv or walk the dogs or do something else. It’s not that I am unmotivated- I will again crawl over glass to vote for Obama, it’s that I just can’t figure out why the election is even close. It appalls me that the debate, in which Obama offered reasonable, cogent responses to debate questions while Romney just basically lied about everything, might have lost the election. I had a dream last night that Romney won, and I yelled at my 71 year old parents (mom will fact check me on this, because she does not technically turn 71 until October 15th, so please do not call me tomorrow morning at 7 am to tell me you are not yet 71, mom. I know. You are 70.98 years old as of this post.) and said “thank you for using one of the last few Presidential votes you have left making sure that none of your children have the safety and security of medicare and social security that you currently enjoy, even though I have been paying into medicare and social security since I was 16, long before you and dad.” I woke up because Rosie bit my god damned foot again, so I don’t know what their dream response was, but since I am sure they are both voting for Romney despite his being a total fraud, I probably wouldn’t want to know what it was anyway.

If Obama loses, we will be at war with Iran.

If Obama loses, the Republicans will lower taxes on the rich and continue to shift the burden to the middle class and poor, to the tune of 5 trillion dollars. That’s a fact, despite Romney lying about it in the debate. Because, you know, job creation. Just like we created NO jobs during the Bush years despite the massive tax cuts and turning a surplus into a massive deficit.

If Obama loses, the assault on women’s rights will continue.

If Obama loses, the EPA will be gutted.

If Obama loses, more corporate leaning and national security fanatics (all probably belonging to Opus Dei, as GOD WANTS IT) will be appointed to the Supreme Court and Roe will be struck down.

If Obama loses, we will spend 2 trillion more on defense, above and beyond what the Pentagon wants.

If Obama loses, Obamacare will be gutted. But in the worst way possible. They’ll get rid of the mandate, but keep all the things that will drive costs up.

If Obama loses, Medicare and Medicaid will be gutted. Medicare will go from the safety net it is for seniors into a target rich environment for insurance fraud, with elderly patients given a pittance in vouchers to get rogered by the free market. Nothing says success than having 70 year olds negotiate dozens of health plans and then get fucked. The market will correct it, I am sure, even though the reason we have Medicare in the first place is because of a failure of the free market. As I said before:

Not to mention, Republicans want to repeal Obamacare, which means that insurers could once again deny you coverage for a pre-existing medical condition. You know how many 70 year olds have pre-existing conditions? ALL OF THEM, FIRST OF WHICH IS BEING 70. None of them would be able to find coverage that would provide them with the security they need, because no insurance company wants to take on a 70 year old diabetic with a thyroid condition, high blood pressure, and cataracts. So guess what would happen?

How can people forget this so quickly?

If Obama loses, gay rights will be set back decades.

If Obama loses, the New Deal will, for all intents and purposes, be repealed. We will be back to the days of the roaring 20’s. You know, right before the crash.

If Obama loses, Dodd/Frank will be history, and our Galtian overlords on Wall Street rule again (not that that ever really stopped, mind you), and all of your pensions, all of your local municipal investments, etc., will be raided and shipped overseas to Cayman accounts. Right next to Mitt’s foreign bank accounts.

If Obama loses, hundreds of billions of dollars in tax dodging money will be “repatriated” so it can be used to copy the Bain model and continue to bankrupt our businesses and send jobs overseas.

If Obama loses, the FDA will be gutted. But don’t worry- the market will correct!

In short, if Obama loses and RMoney wins, it will be an all out disaster for this country. Republicans like to quote the Road to Serfdom as a cautionary text, when they really do have a plan for the road to serfdom. For you and me.

I try to explain this to people, but they just snap at me and tell me I am as much a reactionary as I was when I was a Republican- only my tribe has changed. And hey- who am I to argue with them. They are informed voters who read the newspaper. Our nightly newspaper has very erudite and learned commenters. Folks like Jonah Goldberg, Michelle Malkin, Cal Thomas, George Will, and other deep thinkers are always prominent.

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Reader Interactions

113Comments

  1. 1.

    NR

    October 10, 2012 at 8:31 pm

    It’s okay. Nobody can do anything without 60 votes in the Senate. Or so I was repeatedly told in 2009 and 2010.

  2. 2.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    October 10, 2012 at 8:31 pm

    Yeah, but if Mitt wins: magic! Everyone likes magic.

  3. 3.

    Baud

    October 10, 2012 at 8:32 pm

    only my tribe has changed

    More of an upgrade, if you ask me.

  4. 4.

    Ben Franklin

    October 10, 2012 at 8:34 pm

    Better see some angry blackness, or we are fucked.

  5. 5.

    chopper

    October 10, 2012 at 8:34 pm

    not to be a dick John but now you know how the rest of us felt back when you were voting for bush.

  6. 6.

    Keith

    October 10, 2012 at 8:34 pm

    Buck up, little camper.

  7. 7.

    Comrade Jake

    October 10, 2012 at 8:35 pm

    I just remember after the 2000 election being quite disappointed, and consoling myself by thinking “well how bad can it really be?”

  8. 8.

    Joel

    October 10, 2012 at 8:35 pm

    John, the worst case scenario stuff isn’t really an effective motivator. We should be communicating what Obama can and will do for us. And it’s still quite a lot, obstructionism or no.

    Also, as Sam Wang points out, this election is unusual in the sense that the blue team has been leading the whole way.

  9. 9.

    Lurking Canadian

    October 10, 2012 at 8:37 pm

    Jonah Goldberg, Michelle Malkin, Cal Thomas, George Will,

    Damned liberal media establishment.

  10. 10.

    Birthmarker

    October 10, 2012 at 8:38 pm

    Romney’s election will be the culmination of the Bush agenda. Bush will be regarded as the transitional president, upon whom the US’s decline will be attributed.

    The Supreme Court appointments make me the most frightened.

  11. 11.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 10, 2012 at 8:40 pm

    O/T, but so worth going O/T for:

    Real ‘hotline’: Florida governor gives out sex number instead of one for meningitis

    My old radio station, WUSF, apparently was the first to give out the sadly but ridiculously wrong 800 number for fungal meningitis information, the number provided by the Governor’s office.

    Meningitis is serious, but I have to say I am laughing like a fool at this story.

  12. 12.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    October 10, 2012 at 8:40 pm

    If it makes you feel any better, your parents could vote for Obama all day every day from now until the election and not change the outcome in West Virginia.

  13. 13.

    Yutsano

    October 10, 2012 at 8:40 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead: It’s all in the underwear. Magic underpants gnomes for Willard!

  14. 14.

    Comrade Jake

    October 10, 2012 at 8:40 pm

    At least maybe that fuck Scalia would retire.

  15. 15.

    TheMightyTrowel

    October 10, 2012 at 8:41 pm

    Needs more Australian music.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIDJFwse-aI

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTFDelbpido

  16. 16.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 10, 2012 at 8:42 pm

    Dude, your newspaper runs malkin? Wtf?

  17. 17.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 10, 2012 at 8:43 pm

    Why does 71 sound old when it’s someone else?
    Why does 70 sound young when it’s me?

  18. 18.

    AT

    October 10, 2012 at 8:43 pm

    Civility please. Nothing you say can be taken seriously till you say it nicely!

  19. 19.

    taylormattd

    October 10, 2012 at 8:44 pm

    Do yourself a favor and stop speaking to, listening to, reading posts by, and reading emails from the despair porn crowd.

    They are all fucking nuts, deeply stupid, and perpetually wrong.

  20. 20.

    PeakVT

    October 10, 2012 at 8:44 pm

    … we will spend 2 trillion more on defense above and beyond what the Pentagon wants.

    Fuck strategy, there’s profits to be made! A carrier in every state and a tank in every driveway!

  21. 21.

    raven

    October 10, 2012 at 8:44 pm

    Well my telephone was ringing
    And they told me it was Chairman Mao
    Well my telephone was ringing
    And they told me it was Chairman Mao
    You can tell him anything
    ‘Cause I just don’t wanna talk to him now

    I’ve got the apolitical blues
    And that’s the meanest blues of all
    Apolitical blues
    And that’s the meanest blues of all
    I don’t care if it’s John Wayne
    I just don’t wanna talk to him now

  22. 22.

    ohsuzanna

    October 10, 2012 at 8:45 pm

    Thanks, John. Now I want to go sit in the corner and suck my thumb.
    On the other hand, I’m still feeling better than Andrew Sullivan…..

  23. 23.

    FoxinSocks

    October 10, 2012 at 8:45 pm

    If you’re stressed about the election (and who isn’t?), might I suggest volunteering for the Obama campaign?

    I’ve been a Data Coordinator for the campaign for about a month now and this is the most stress-free election I think I’ve ever had.

    Mainly because I’m so tired I can’t remember what day of the week it is. Worried about Romney moving into the White House? Do 5 hours non-stop of data entry and you won’t be able to remember who’s running for president. Heck, I have no idea what I did that day, except enter “Not Home” and “Lean Obama” about 20,000 &#$%@ times and you know what, it’s fantastic!

    Give it a try! Guaranteed to chase your worries, and your brain cells, away.

  24. 24.

    geg6

    October 10, 2012 at 8:45 pm

    Don’t you start with this emo shit, Cole. If you’re going to rant, do it right. This is only slightly better than Sullivan, Tweety and Big Ed. I get that you’re trying to motivate people, but this is not how to do it.

    You’re better than this.

    Instead of telling us all about the horrors a Romney administration will bring (and you are right about all of those things, mind you), tell us why Obama is the awesome. I have a whole list of great things he’s gotten done. That’s what we should all be talking about. And doing it in the context of how it affects people’s every day lives.

    Are you working on any campaign work? I find canvassing and phone banking to be very encouraging. You should try it.

  25. 25.

    muddy

    October 10, 2012 at 8:45 pm

    My parents are gone now (Dad would have been 99 on the 13th were he still with us), and they were bloody lunatics on most fronts. But fierce Democrats, thank the gods. I remember decades ago telling them they were prejudiced because if a Democrat did a bad thing they’d have an excuse, and if a Republican did a decent thing it was part of a vile secret plot. I didn’t realize at the time that they were prescient, at least about Republicans.

    When I was a kid, my dad told me that Democrats held Congress because they were for the poor and middle people, and there were more of them. He said the Republicans were for the rich people, and they liked to be President because they liked to pretend to be the emperor. I remember him turning purple when Nixon had trumpets blowing to announce him.

    I often think what they’d make of the current situation if they were here. Then I realize my dad would be dead anyway because he’d have a fucking stroke listening to it.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    October 10, 2012 at 8:45 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    your parents could vote for Obama all day every day from now until the election and not change the outcome in West Virginia.

    The Electoral College – Keeping families together since 1788.

  27. 27.

    Davis X. Machina

    October 10, 2012 at 8:46 pm

    How can people forget this so quickly?

    The fundamental depravity of mankind — it doesn’t always win outright, but it always covers the spread.

    The smart Vegas money is on St. Augustine.

  28. 28.

    TheMightyTrowel

    October 10, 2012 at 8:46 pm

    Also:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdZvYwP-kiw&feature=relmfu

    Attn DougJ – there are a wealth of post titles in this song.

  29. 29.

    Concerned Citizen

    October 10, 2012 at 8:46 pm

    I think it has something to do with middle age. We’re fucked and we’ve always been fucked. You just realize it when you turn 40 (give or take a decade).

    That is assuming you have empathy.

  30. 30.

    murakami

    October 10, 2012 at 8:47 pm

    Not to interrupt the panic because, Cthulhu knows, I’ve done plenty of it lately too.

    But I don’t think Republicans will touch Medicare. I think it will go about as well for them as SS reform did in 2005. If we are cursed to have a President Romney, I can’t see him spending all his political capital to try and ram that thing through. Republicans have voted for Medicare ending bills simply because they knew it would play well to the crackpot base and they knew it had absolutely no chance of actually passing.

    Don’t get me wrong, they want to end the New Deal + the LBJ programs, but they won’t. They like getting elected more than they like Ayn Rand. Unless they can come up with a foolproof way to cheat the polls and ensure a majority + presidency for the years to come, they won’t do much other than nibble around the edges, just like they did in the Reagan/Bush/Bush years.

    The ACA will probably largely stay intact for much of the same reasons. The only thing getting cut will be the mandate, which will cause insurance companies to go tits up and then maybe even Republicans will accept some form of single-payer by then as a way to keep the hordes of constituents calm when their insurance has vanished.

  31. 31.

    Comrade Jake

    October 10, 2012 at 8:47 pm

    I am looking forward to Joe the Biden’s debate tomorrow night.

  32. 32.

    Ann Rynd

    October 10, 2012 at 8:48 pm

    Have you been talking to Andrew Sullivan? You squishy conservatives who find themselves over here on the other side, that includes Chris Matthews, sure do have delicate nervous systems. Those of us who never changed our spots are much calmer about this blip, this bump in the road.
    Just try to internalize Michelle Obama. She’s not nearly as drama queeny as you guys.

  33. 33.

    Concerned Citizen

    October 10, 2012 at 8:48 pm

    @Baud: This is why the Electoral College is wrong. The future is urban communities.

  34. 34.

    mikefromArlington

    October 10, 2012 at 8:49 pm

    O man should bring a clown honker horn to the next debate and squeeze that thing every time Romney lies.

  35. 35.

    Lavocat

    October 10, 2012 at 8:49 pm

    Obama is ALREADY at war with Iran.

    WTF do you think nuclear scientist assassinations, embargos, and cyber-attacks are? They are called Acts of War. Had Iran engaged in them against the U.S., you know damned well they would be labelled precisely that.

    So, let’s call them what they are.

    Obama has been at war with Iran for over a year now. The only thing that could change is the temperature of that war.

  36. 36.

    DPS

    October 10, 2012 at 8:51 pm

    I just can’t figure out why the election is even close

    You’re the ex-wingnut; you tell us.

  37. 37.

    raven

    October 10, 2012 at 8:51 pm

    @Lavocat: And he needs to keep up the fire!

  38. 38.

    Comrade Jake

    October 10, 2012 at 8:51 pm

    Can someone explain to me just how Republicans would possibly repeal the ACA when they won’t have anything close to 60 votes in the Senate? I can see them starving the beast with their budgets, but that’s about it.

  39. 39.

    Ben Franklin

    October 10, 2012 at 8:52 pm

    @murakami:

    The ACA will probably largely stay intact for much of the same reasons. The only thing getting cut will be the mandate, which will cause insurance companies to go tits up and then maybe even Republicans will accept some form of single-payer by then as a way to keep the hordes of constituents calm when their insurance has vanished.

    From your keyboard to the electorate’s ears. The inebriated mood-swings make figuring out the psyche of this election makes me bitchy and is coloring me blue, so I thank you for that bit of reasoned perspective.

  40. 40.

    West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.)

    October 10, 2012 at 8:52 pm

    It is so depressing to wander past the Barnes & Noble current events section and see 2/3 of the political books have been written by smirking, right-wing money pigs. They (along with Republican politicians and the fools who vote for them) really are fast ruining this country. They’d love to see creationism taught in schools, abstinence-only to be all that was said in the realm of sex-education… they’d love to officially declare global warming to be a terrible conspiracy. In short, we’d be frelled if, indeed, Robmey is elected.

  41. 41.

    buskertype

    October 10, 2012 at 8:52 pm

    I for one look forward to welcoming our benevolent Mormon overlords.

    Just getting that out there.

  42. 42.

    Baud

    October 10, 2012 at 8:53 pm

    @Concerned Citizen:

    I wish we could go to a popular vote system. Aside from the basic fairness of it, I think it would help give liberal Dems a stronger voice if we were free of the tyranny of swing voters in swing states.

  43. 43.

    geg6

    October 10, 2012 at 8:53 pm

    @muddy:

    I think of my parents a lot, too, in the context of this election (and the last, when it was happening). They were devoted Dems, even my mom who drove me nuts in other ways. And they were big on civil rights, so the racial shit would have them freaking out. My dad would be screaming at the tv the way he always did at the refs during Steeler games.

    @murakami:

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

    Oh, wait…you weren’t joking there, were you?

  44. 44.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 10, 2012 at 8:58 pm

    @mikefromArlington:

    O man should bring a clown honker horn to the next debate and squeeze that thing every time Romney lies.

    Dude, you’ll go deaf w/in the first 10 minutes.

  45. 45.

    trollhattan

    October 10, 2012 at 8:58 pm

    @Baud:
    OTOH the stark lack of presidential advertising in California is a blessing I’d like to preserve.

    Last thing I want to live through is an infestation of a thousand Whitmans.

  46. 46.

    the Conster

    October 10, 2012 at 8:59 pm

    @muddy:

    I hear ya, sister. My Dad, an FDR Democrat all his life, told us countless times that without a middle class the country would never survive. He bought his house in a suburb with a government backed loan after returning from WWII, sent his kids to public schools and public college, and was always grateful for all the government provided services we got – trash collection, good schools, SS, libraries, etc. He didn’t live long enough to see Obama elected, but he’d be so proud.

  47. 47.

    raven

    October 10, 2012 at 8:59 pm

    @Comrade Jake: Yea, because this would totally be the first time they ever made shit up now wouldn’t it?

  48. 48.

    Baud

    October 10, 2012 at 9:00 pm

    @trollhattan:

    I can appreciate that. But don’t you think we’d have a saner Republican Party if the GOP felt pressure to compete for votes in California?

  49. 49.

    PeakVT

    October 10, 2012 at 9:01 pm

    @Comrade Jake: Because the filibuster can be ditched at the beginning of any Congress by a simple majority vote of Senators. If Romney wins the Republicans will likely take the Senate as well.

  50. 50.

    trollhattan

    October 10, 2012 at 9:01 pm

    @arguingwithsignposts: Mine runs Krauthammer. Hard to guess whose boobs are bigger, but they’re at least equally vile. But hey, bomb Iran and everybody’s happy.

  51. 51.

    fourmorewars

    October 10, 2012 at 9:02 pm

    I think John Cole’s respectable newspaper-reading friends, and similar friends of everyone here, and the msm for that matter, should all be forced to answer this: as support for the position that the current right wing is truly unlike any version of a major party in decades, ask them to try and come up with anything the Dems have done that remotely resembles what two different GOP candidates did this year, and, importantly, each at a time he was the front-running conservative alternative. Perry’s threat of physical violence toward the head of the Fed, and Gingrich’s threat of physical arrest/hauling-before-tribunals, of federal judges who ruled contrary to his wishes.

    Look ’em straight in the eye, challenge them to come up with ANYTHING like that from a Dem presidential contender. And feel free to ask what kind of a fucking American they think they are?

  52. 52.

    Howard Beale IV

    October 10, 2012 at 9:03 pm

    @TheMightyTrowel: If ya gonna do Aussie, ya gotta do the Oil.

  53. 53.

    trollhattan

    October 10, 2012 at 9:05 pm

    @Baud:
    I truly don’t know what it takes to raise a crop of sane Republicans in the twenty-first century. We could give the country a few Pete McCloskey’s, but he’d be left of Hugo Chavez these days.

    Our solid Republican districts would fit right in if transported to Idaho.

    Will be interested to see the propellerhead appraisals of the “top two” system after the election.

  54. 54.

    dance around in your bones

    October 10, 2012 at 9:07 pm

    I just can’t…..I just….I’m voting Obama, my whole family is voting Obama (not a wingnut in the bunch, thank Pasta) ….I just think I’ll continue to lurk and silently spew.

    Gads. Grandkid just tried to steal my chocolate bar with caramel and sea salt.

  55. 55.

    muddy

    October 10, 2012 at 9:08 pm

    @geg6:

    My dad would be screaming at the tv

    Yes, it was always delightful to have screaming at the tv during supper every night. So great for the digestion. I asked why did they watch if they only got mad, they said to be informed voters. psh

    My son said one time that I have turned into Nana and Poppop with the tv, I said that at least I did not pretend it was to get new info, I was happy to admit I just liked to yell at assholes. The last dog I had was very sensitive about it, and would take it personally, I had to dial it back on his account. The new dog doesn’t mind yelling nor even gunplay. I’m back in full throat this election. My son lives far away and is no doubt relieved about that.

    I hope he starts yelling at the tv when he is older. Well, he’d have to get a tv first. He’s a no drama, no grudges kind of guy. I have the Irish Alzheimers, can’t remember anything but the grudges. If Romney wins I hope I get full on dementia and miss it all.

  56. 56.

    Comrade Jake

    October 10, 2012 at 9:08 pm

    @PeakVT: I just don’t see them ditching the filibuster. Senators love their power too much.

  57. 57.

    McJulie

    October 10, 2012 at 9:09 pm

    John — all of those are good reasons not to vote for Romney, because he wants to do all of those things. But will he, in fact, get to do all those things? Less likely. Becuase I’m fairly sure that he would have to get all of them done before the house flips in 2014, which I think is a likely outcome of a Romney victory.

    I think if Romney did win, we would instantly see the kind of buyer’s remorse that we got with Bush Jr’s second term. Remember, his second term was kind of a disaster — not just for the country, but for his own agenda. (His first term was just a disaster for the country.)

    Even if, FSM forbid, he got a Republican Senate, I don’t think he would accomplish as much as Obama did in the first two years — because the right wing is very disciplined when it comes to messaging, and not quite so disciplined when it comes to actually doing stuff.

    A lot of Bush Jr’s disastrous “effectiveness” was, ironically, 9/11 — the fact that he failed this country so spectacularly gave him, for a while, a holy glow of inevitability. I doubt Romney will be so fortunate.

  58. 58.

    murakami

    October 10, 2012 at 9:09 pm

    Not at all joking. I remember 2005 clearly. If we get a President Holy Underpants, we will get a repeat of that debacle if he tries to alter Medicare in any serious way. I can’t see a majority of congressmen lining up behind him in case he does want to try an assault on it. It’s one thing to vote against Medicare when it’s a symbolic vote and no one is paying attention. It’s something completely different when the vote actually counts and your telephone is ringing off the hook with angry constituents, especially when those angry constituents are in the group (white folks over 50) who are most likely to vote for you.

    And as President Garments tries to repeal parts of the ACA, this will have the side effect of educating the populace as to what’s actually in it and there will be pushback on everything except for the mandate, which will probably remain unpopular and I can see even Democrats voting to get rid of it, which has a nice side effect of saying “fuck you” to the insurance companies.

    If I’m wrong, then you can laugh in my face and tell me so. But there’s a huge gulf between what can be said on the campaign trail and what can actually be accomplished. I’m just highlighting this gulf.

  59. 59.

    blingee

    October 10, 2012 at 9:16 pm

    Yawn, apparently Cole never saw the cartoon about how “Bill” becomes a law. It takes all 3 branches of gov’t to do most of those apocalyptic things he is flailing his hands over. If they get all that including filibuster proof senate (which is almost impossible mathematically) then yea, the end of the world but otherwise…meh. It will just be G Dubya v2. Yea, Iran will happen because the necons will sell it to the dumbfuck masses and the dumbfuck MSM again just like Iraq and America will get what it deserves….again. I good kick in the ass. Then Hilary will win in 2016….or not.

  60. 60.

    Chris

    October 10, 2012 at 9:16 pm

    @murakami:

    Don’t bet on that. This is the same lot that nominated the “I am not a witch” crazy bitch in Delaware, and some other people just as nuts in other parts of the East Coast, forfeiting a chance to win the Senate just to keep their purity. It’s not at ALL clear to me that they love winning elections more than they love Ayn Rand. Romney, yes, but Congressional teabaggers? I wouldn’t be so sure.

    The Republican Party has gone fucking insane, period, and I’m not about to put any lunacy past them. What’s more, they’ve ALREADY tried to privatize the safety net or destroy it – Social Security under Reagan and Bush II, Medicare under Gingrich, and the Ryan Plan after 2010. You want to bet that they’ll be saner after a Romney victory than they were then? I wouldn’t.

  61. 61.

    danielx

    October 10, 2012 at 9:17 pm

    Deus vult, dude. Just ask Fat Tony Scalia.

  62. 62.

    The Thin Black Duke

    October 10, 2012 at 9:20 pm

    Uh, guys?

    Romney doesn’t need to do a bunch of bad things to fuck up this country.

    But just one lousy decision would be enough. For example, a war with Iran or repealing the ACA or appointing a justice to sit on the Supreme Court. That’s all.

    Let’s not find out, O.K.?

  63. 63.

    gene108

    October 10, 2012 at 9:20 pm

    @murakami:

    The ACA will probably largely stay intact for much of the same reasons.

    Not enough of it has gone into effect to get people to become “dependent” on “government run healthcare”, which is why they are pushing so hard to repeal it. People don’t have a firm opinion about it yet.

    By 2014 it will start to be too late. By 2016, they’ll be running ads declaring the ACA was a Republican idea all the time, so they should get your vote.

  64. 64.

    waratah

    October 10, 2012 at 9:20 pm

    John, Romney is not going to win.

  65. 65.

    Short Bus Bully

    October 10, 2012 at 9:21 pm

    We are fucked no matter how this election turns out. Yeah, I know it’s not fun to think that, but when’s the last time the country was this brutally partisan and divided?

    /calling Abe Lincoln

  66. 66.

    Howard Beale IV

    October 10, 2012 at 9:21 pm

    What everyone should be fearing is a complete GOP sweep. If that happens, I fear that Romney will somehow be ‘unable to fulfill his duties’, leaving Ryan at the helm.

  67. 67.

    Calouste

    October 10, 2012 at 9:24 pm

    @murakami:

    I think Romney doesn’t give a shit about political capital, if he is even aware it exists. He is a C! E! O!, remember, his will will be done.

  68. 68.

    Chris

    October 10, 2012 at 9:25 pm

    @murakami:

    Having read that –

    They’ll try. I don’t know how many Republicans will line up for it when push comes to shove, and I’m not saying it’ll pass, but they will DEFINITELY give it a shot. Just like they already have again and again. Hopefully it’ll fall apart just like the previous attempts, but I’m kind of tired of giving them shot after shot at it.

  69. 69.

    danielx

    October 10, 2012 at 9:27 pm

    @blingee:

    Well, yes, it takes all three branches, but somehow Dubya managed to get virtually everything he wanted in the first six years of the Cheney Regency – er, his first two terms. If people are stupid enough to vote for Romney, they’re stupid enough to elect more Tea Party lunatics to the House and Senate alike. At which point Romney will have all three branches. He has already got the judiciary, no?

  70. 70.

    Howard Beale IV

    October 10, 2012 at 9:28 pm

    @Lavocat: Source for your assertions?

  71. 71.

    Birthmarker

    October 10, 2012 at 9:29 pm

    We thought they would be saner after Obama won.

    Corporatism is the strategy, the rest is just tactics.

  72. 72.

    gene108

    October 10, 2012 at 9:29 pm

    @Concerned Citizen:

    This is why the Electoral College is wrong. The future is urban communities.

    The Constitution was designed to give disproportionate representation to small/rural communities/states.

    It’d take a lot of work to change things to have more proportionate representation at the Federal level.

  73. 73.

    James E. Powell

    October 10, 2012 at 9:29 pm

    Why is this election close? On top of the 27%ers, the country is filled to the brim with ignorant people who have no interest in self-government. They absorb whatever ‘facts’ and ideas surround them, especially those that reinforce or match their pre-existing notions and narratives.

    Obama is not just running against a devoted, united Republican opposition, he is running against thirty years of Republican rhetoric and framing.

    Why else would anyone in the working class or middle class be so concerned with the debt or the deficit instead of unemployment?

    Why else would anyone believe that tax cuts for high earners will create jobs?

    Why else would anyone believe any of the economic programs of the Republican Party will benefit anyone except the wealthiest Americans? I mean, when did they ever do that?

    Why else would any seniors believe that the Republicans will protect or improve Medicare/Medicaid? When did they ever do anything like that?

  74. 74.

    PeakVT

    October 10, 2012 at 9:31 pm

    @gene108: It’s unlikely the Republicans would run an ad that was so honest.

    @Comrade Jake: I don’t think the Republicans would pass up a new chance to really fuck the American people over. Remember, if the Republicans take the Senate (they won’t, fortunately) it would include people like Todd Akin. It would be a much, much crazier caucus than the one that lost control in 2006.

  75. 75.

    James E. Powell

    October 10, 2012 at 9:31 pm

    @gene108:

    It’d take a lot of work to change things to have more proportionate representation at the Federal level.

    My guess is that it would take a nationwide, violent insurrection. There is no way that the elected officials of states like Wyoming or the Dakotas are going to surrender their disproportionate power.

  76. 76.

    blingee

    October 10, 2012 at 9:34 pm

    @danielx: No, G Dubya never got nearly as much. They knew they couldn’t so they only went after things they thought they could get. They wanted to go after Medicare but that failed miserably.

  77. 77.

    Sawgrass Stan

    October 10, 2012 at 9:35 pm

    Yeah, we’re boned.
    Other than that, Cole, you made me remember a dream I had the night Reagan won. I was driving, and arguing with my parents. Screaming. “How could you vote for that nitwit?” But to yell at them, I had to lean past Ronnie himself, who was sitting between us, doing that “well–heh heh” and shrug thing he did.
    Awful.

  78. 78.

    Baud

    October 10, 2012 at 9:36 pm

    @gene108:

    Changing to a popular vote isn’t as hard. You need to get states with 270 electoral votes to pass laws to give their electoral votes to the popular vote winner. Accordingly to nationalpopularvote.com, they are halfway there.

  79. 79.

    Davis X. Machina

    October 10, 2012 at 9:41 pm

    @danielx: Most of what Bush wanted was popular — people like wars, till the bill comes. People like tax cuts. People like massive new social provisions (Medicare part D), until the bill comes.

    And it’s a lot easier if you have a working majority in the Senate, composed of the Republicans who are Republicans, and the Republicans who are Democrats.

    When he tried to deliver to his masters something people didn’t like — Social Security privatization — that didn’t work out so well.

  80. 80.

    My Truth Hurts

    October 10, 2012 at 9:41 pm

    Hey your Mom is eaxactly 1 year older than my Mom! Same Birhday, just 1 year older.

    High Fives for still having our awesome 70 something Moms around!

  81. 81.

    My Truth Hurts

    October 10, 2012 at 9:41 pm

    Hey your Mom is eaxactly 1 year older than my Mom! Same Birhday, just 1 year older.

    High Fives for still having our awesome 70 something Moms around!

  82. 82.

    gene108

    October 10, 2012 at 9:42 pm

    @danielx:

    But what did he want?

    Expanding Medicare was also a long standing Democratic objective.

    Increased funding for the Dept of Ed was also a long standing Democratic objective.

    The tax cuts? The second one passed the Senate because VP Cheney cast the tie breaking vote. Plenty of Republicans voted against those tax cuts at the time.

    Bush, Jr. didn’t campaign on McCain-Feingold or Sarbanes-Oxley, but he signed them into law anyway.

    So much of Bush, Jr. getting everything he wanted is a myth created by the right-wing media and willingly accepted by the Left, because he was able to sell the Big Lie about Iraq having WMD’s to get authorization to use force, even if it meant invading.

    The sad thing about the Iraq invasion, and what I don’t get about the proponents of the invasion, is the tough-talking-go-it-alone diplomacy that culminated in Congress allowing the use of force actually had a positive result at first.

    A result that would’ve shut up the international community and forced the French to suck it. Iraq let the IAEA back into the country and gave them a good bit of freedom to look, where we thought Saddam maybe developing WMD’s.

    The total overreach in actually invading undercut what could’ve been a resounding success for their ideas and yet these morons don’t have the self awareness to accept it.

  83. 83.

    MikeBoyScout

    October 10, 2012 at 9:45 pm

    Cole, I apologize for what I’m about to do. It’s impolite to yell at my host in his house, but….

    Cole,
    Stop complaining and STOP whining and get your seriously concerned fat ass to Ohio. Knock some GD doors. Tell ’em you’re a cracker from West GD Virginia who was born and raised a Republican, voted for President Bush and are there to plead they not make the mistake you did for the sake of the children.
    Don’t give me any of that shy shit. You know the stakes. And GDamnit, you’ve faced worse fears in your life than being shy.
    Now shut up and get out there!

    Sorry bro, but this ain’t the time for cowering in the fox hole. Time to kick some ass, and your post in W VA puts you on point.

  84. 84.

    murakami

    October 10, 2012 at 9:48 pm

    @Chris:

    I don’t think they’ll even give it a real shot. With SS reform, bankers and others stood to win big with all that money being tossed into private hands, so there was an incentive for the Republicans to give it a go. But with Medicare reform, there are no winners.

    The only group who really wins with a successful attack on Medicare are the professional ideologues who don’t have to face the voters. The AARP will be pissed. A lot of older white people, including some who were teabaggers in 2009-10, will vote for Democrats for the first time ever. Insurance companies won’t be happy with such a high risk pool forced on them. The medical industry, which is highly dependent on the guaranteed Medicare dollars, will suffer and possibly have its bubble popped as their customer base shrinks. It’s a lose-lose proposition for the Republicans and most of their backers.

  85. 85.

    gene108

    October 10, 2012 at 9:49 pm

    @Davis X. Machina:

    And it’s a lot easier if you have a working majority in the Senate, composed of the Republicans who are Republicans, and the Republicans who are Democrats.

    The tax cuts were passed using Reconciliation, so they avoided having to get around a Democratic filibuster.

    Bills passed using Reconciliation have to either be neutral or reduce the debt or they automatically lapse in 10 years. That’s why the Bush Tax cuts were and are set to expire.

    Since the Bush, Jr.-Cheney Regency was unstoppable in getting their agenda implemented and just rolled any Democratic opposition, I wonder how how many barrels of oil a day BP and Exxon-Mobile are pumping out of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)?

  86. 86.

    John O

    October 10, 2012 at 9:50 pm

    @Birthmarker:

    Yep. Shorter John Cole.

  87. 87.

    Linda

    October 10, 2012 at 9:52 pm

    I am not a liberal. (If you wonder what I’m doing here, then, it’s a scientific project wherein I observe liberals in their natural habitat. Also, the cute pet stories.). Now then. As a non-liberal, I too wonder why the election is so close. Admittedly, Obama is not my favorite person, but at least he is, recognizably, a person. Romney is like one of the pod people in “Invasion of the Body snatchers,” having trouble doing a convincing impersonation of a human being. All policy issues aside, he just plain gives me the creeps. I envision him sitting across a negotiation table from some human head of state, and can’t see such a session ending well for our side.

  88. 88.

    mai naem

    October 10, 2012 at 9:57 pm

    I was talking to a friend tonight and we both decided if this fvcking country votes for Rmoney, this country fvcking deserves him. It’s not just the fvckers who vote for this as5hole but all the people who can’t get off their fat asses and spend less than hour once every four hours voting. These same fvckers will spend hours watching American Idol and DWTS but OMG, an hour to vote is just too much.

    And BTW when is somebody going to point out that none of Mitt’s precious spawn are serving in any of the Armed Services. Seriously, 5, count ’em, five apparently healthy privileged sons and this supposedly patriotic fvcker isn’t willing to sacrifice one of them, even for a few years.

  89. 89.

    Corner Stone

    October 10, 2012 at 10:00 pm

    I will again crawl over glass to vote for Obama

    Hmmm, no mention of Manchin. Has your glass-crawl-overability index ruled him out?

  90. 90.

    Corner Stone

    October 10, 2012 at 10:01 pm

    @Linda:

    I am not a liberal.

    You’re going to do very well here. Very well, indeed.

    Admittedly, Obama is not my favorite person, but at least he is, recognizably, a person.

    Hmmm, ok. You’re fucked.

  91. 91.

    Donut

    October 10, 2012 at 10:03 pm

    @chopper:

    Snort!

  92. 92.

    Chris

    October 10, 2012 at 10:04 pm

    @murakami:

    That explains why they’ve gone for SS privatization more energetically than Medicare in the past. Huh, thanks. Good point.

    Alright then: they won’t go for Medicare, but they will for Social Security.

  93. 93.

    Citizen Alan

    October 10, 2012 at 10:07 pm

    @Comrade Jake:

    Just to play devil’s advocate (the only kind of advocate a Republican needs, IMO), they only need 51 votes to repeal Obamacare through reconcilliation which was how it was passed in the first place. And that, of course, assumes that the crass bastards don’t abolish the filibuster if they take the Senate.

  94. 94.

    stoned stats

    October 10, 2012 at 10:07 pm

    I’m reminded of the 0 for 34 focus on the family letter from 2008 with the laundry list of dire predictions. I’m not sure you’ll get above .300 but it will not be as bad no matter what. Chill the fk out.

  95. 95.

    Donut

    October 10, 2012 at 10:18 pm

    @Howard Beale IV:

    Nah. Say what you gotta say in less than two minutes, then there’s more time for drinking:

    http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=related&v=sbHdDGdKS-8

    (All due respect to MO, but not my thing. I like my Aussie bands filthier and with blue dreds)

  96. 96.

    Gopher2b

    October 10, 2012 at 10:18 pm

    At least there won’t be any more war on Christmas. Think of the children.

    Romney wins and Schumer becomes an American hero.

  97. 97.

    West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.)

    October 10, 2012 at 10:18 pm

    I guess liberals and conservatives are like dolphins and parrots trying to communicate. (We’re the dolphins — they’re intelligent and have cute smiles. Parrots, on the other hand, while flashy, are very loud and, well, just repeat shit over and over.)

    We see Obama and see a man of intelligence and vision and integrity. The parrots can only squawk “Atheist! Muslim! Socialist! BwaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAA!”

    Maybe we true communication is a thing of the past in American political discourse.

  98. 98.

    JButler

    October 10, 2012 at 10:32 pm

    Everything you listed is correct. That’s why my blood pressure is higher now than it was before I retired. My doctor will not be happy in a week and a half when I go in for my annual appointment.

  99. 99.

    West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.)

    October 10, 2012 at 10:34 pm

    Ooops… that should be “Maybe true communication is a thing of the past…” Ah, the importance of proofreading!

  100. 100.

    Lurker

    October 10, 2012 at 10:35 pm

    @Citizen Alan:

    Just to play devil’s advocate (the only kind of advocate a Republican needs, IMO), they only need 51 votes to repeal Obamacare through reconcilliation which was how it was passed in the first place.

    Not quite. The ACA itself is the Senate bill, which passed the Senate with 60 votes. A package of hotfixes to the ACA were then passed through reconciliation.

  101. 101.

    Irony Abounds

    October 10, 2012 at 11:05 pm

    JC isn’t being emo, he’s just stating the facts. It isn’t emo to check off the horrors that will come from a Romney presidency, it is the shock therapy that every one needs to have to fight harder. With all the talk of Sullivan being a drama queen, there is much to worry about. I was scoffed at when I said the debate was a disaster and Obama really hurt himself, but thus far it has played out exactly as I saw it. Which is not to say all is lost, far from it. But unless people realize just how bad a Romney win would be they won’t realize just how important it is to beat him. False confidence doesn’t help Obama at all. He, and his supporters have to be alarmed and work all the harder.

  102. 102.

    Xtan

    October 10, 2012 at 11:07 pm

    FUCK yeah!
    That’s the JC I come here for!

  103. 103.

    Violet

    October 10, 2012 at 11:37 pm

    Your parents vote Republican? I would have guessed they were Democrats. Huh. Go figure.

  104. 104.

    Davis X. Machina

    October 10, 2012 at 11:48 pm

    @gene108: ANWR drilling wasn’t all that popular. It was one of the few votes that the remaining GOP moderates, Collins and Snowe, among others, e.g, bucked their party on.

  105. 105.

    Carl Nyberg

    October 11, 2012 at 12:23 am

    Even if this election is close and Obama wins, it suggests we have lost the national consensus on stuff that many of us assumed there was consensus on.

    For example, I assume that lying one’s way through a presidential debate would not get the reaction, “The liar won” from the corporate media and the Dem leaning media.

    We live in an insane world. Dealing with the insanity is more complicated than electing Democrats.

  106. 106.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    October 11, 2012 at 12:32 am

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    The magic underwear kind of magic?

    @Yutsano:

    Ninja’d!

  107. 107.

    RaflW

    October 11, 2012 at 12:35 am

    I was w/o a passport for abt 15 years. Finally got it done and in hand a few months ago. Took a really fab vacation about a month ago to try it out (and to celebrate my brother’s 50th).

    I’ve now bought a ticket to visit my cousins in Sweden who I haven’t seen in 24 years. They were really fun people, I think they still will be – we’ve reconnected on Facebook (one of the rare improvements in my life via FB, I’ll hasten to add. Mostly FB is a waste or worse…). Anyway.

    My BF is in grad school, so he can’t come along. I promised him that if I decide to stay (trip is after Nov 6th…), I’ll send for him. ‘Cause if Obama loses, Sweden’s high-tax paradise may look damn attractive.

    ETA: the ticket is R/T. I am planning to return to MN. But if we have Romney and the frickin ‘marriage amendment’ passes, I dunno. Not sure I can hack living in a country & state that double plus hates me.

  108. 108.

    NobodySpecial

    October 11, 2012 at 1:39 am

    I’m thinking about taking Syrian citizenship if Mitt wins, if only because, dammit, if I’m going to be repressed by a bunch of fascist religious pricks, I want to go with experience and competence, rather than these Tea Party clowns.

  109. 109.

    Another Halocene Human

    October 11, 2012 at 3:56 am

    And hey- who am I to argue with them. They are informed voters who read the newspaper. Our nightly newspaper has very erudite and learned commenters. Folks like Jonah Goldberg, Michelle Malkin, Cal Thomas, George Will, and other deep thinkers are always prominent.

    That last paragraph was wicked, John. Quoting for truth. Your point when you get to it, is deliciously pointy.

  110. 110.

    Another Halocene Human

    October 11, 2012 at 3:58 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: Okay, I am laughing now. Fungal meningitis is SO not funny, but thank you for that bit of levity.

    And no, there is nothing Rick Scott and his “people” can’t fuck up. :)

  111. 111.

    Patricia Kayden

    October 11, 2012 at 6:54 am

    @West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.): I have an African Grey Parrot and take exception to your suggestion that Sophie is a Wingnut. Yes, she repeats the same thing over and over again, but I’ve taught her to scream “Obama Obama”, whenever I ask, “Who is the President”. So she’s a Democrat, okay?!

  112. 112.

    rikyrah

    October 11, 2012 at 9:42 am

    bravo, Cole. you laid it out

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