Its what’s counting the numbers that I’m afraid of.
2.
Elizabelle
Are we gonna do a liveblog with tonight’s debate?
Hanging with BJ for the VP debate rocked.
3.
mai naem
I cannot fathom how Ohio can be close after the auto bailout. Seriously, how stupid do you have to be to know that Mitt Romney does not give a crap about you and that he would be perfectly happy to have a 20 percent unemployment rate in Ohio just to give him an advantage in this election.
I know I sound obsessive about this but it bugs me because I think Paul Ryan is a lying POS. He says he’s 6’2″. Obama’s supposed to be 6’1″. Biden’s supposed to be 6’0″. How come during the Ryan/Biden debate, there is barely a difference in height between Biden and Ryan? The difference is to the point where in some of the video/pics, Biden looks taller than Ryan. Clinton’s supposed to be 6’2″. There is a noticeable difference in Clinton and Biden pics. Also too, Ryan lies about washing pans.
4.
raven
Mornin Joe HORSE RACE! IT”S SLIPPING AWAY FROM OBAMA!
5.
raven
Halperin is struck by how dems are wetting their beds! Must read BJ.
6.
Schlemizel
Positive? I’m positive life sucks. Does that count?
Morning Joe: 3 hours of shallow concern trolling aimed at the unwired.
8.
geg6
I am holding close to my heart and keeping pictured in my head the “Chill the fuck out…I got this” meme. I do not believe he will fuck it up twice. Not that I think he fucked it up the first time around, but my impression of the debate was at odds with the screaming drama queens.
I am sooooooo glad I only watch this shit on CSPAN. I miss out on being told how it went and am crippled by depending on my own impressions.
9.
Linda Featheringill
Relax, folks. Intrade is still on our side, 61.8 to 38.2.
10.
raven
@NotMax: Actually it’s only two, they rerun the first hour!
11.
amk
Oh boy, preemptive chicken littling based moaning joke show ? Relax folks.
12.
owlbear1
I’m pretty positive my EPA bashing Republican neighbor would run squealing the police if somebody started dumping anti-freeze in his garden.
Pretty positive.
13.
Linda Featheringill
Seriously, Team Obama has always said that it would be a tight, hard fought race. And it will be.
And naturally the Republicans will throw everything they have at the race. They stand to lose a lot.
I of course, have been quite emotional about the whole thing. But you should do as I say, not as I do.
No one I know in Ohio ever believed it was going to be anything other than close. We have people here who have been following this for 30 years. They really didn’t. Even when we were further up, they knew it would tighten.
That’s why they call them swing states :)
15.
Linda Featheringill
Question: How do rich people vote? I don’t mean for whom, but how? Do they stand in line at the poll? Or did they before early voting started spreading?
16.
bemused
Piers Morgan (thread below) is a moron. He was the best CNN could find to replace Larry King?!
I had to laugh at Piers saying Mitt could save America even though he is utterly unprincipled because he doesn’t sleep around or drink and is a “great businessman”. It is so similar to a tea party supporter, probably in his 60’s or 70’s, who wrote a letter to a local paper in rebuttal to a young man’s letter of support for Obama, listing Mitt’s flaws. It was amazing how Piers and some rural, dopey, old tea party supporter had almost the same non-sensical views of Mitt, good businessman with family values. The only difference was that the old tea party guy doesn’t know Mitt is unprincipled. Piers does. Incredible.
17.
kay
I’ll be interested to see how many watch. I would have said the first debate would get much higher numbers than the second, but I didn’t anticipate quite this much debate-hype and people love a rematch narrative.
18.
TheMightyTrowel
what time zone is it?
19.
PreservedKillick
I have instituted a few rules.
(a) Do not go to Kos. Way too negative and I’m sure half of it is concern trolls.
(b) Forget the MSM. Not only are they bleeding influence, they are focused on the wrong thing. They want a horse race, not what’s best for the country. Probably why they are bleeding influence.
(c) Since that means I have basically sealed myself into a self-selected bubble, recognize that choice and do something about it. Phone bank and knock doors. I HATE doing both of those things, but they are at least productive and better than sitting around pearl clutching.
(d) Take a quick walk in Romney’s shoes. Flip the numbers and imagine you are facing his electoral map and polling numbers. Not so comfortable, is it?
Well honestly, it’s not like Larry King was all that, either. Piers Morgan is just as obsequious and puffball as an interviewer, with a different accent and his Murdochian politics on his sleeve. And no suspenders. By which I mean braces, since he’s British, I guess.
So when Ann (or more likely their cook) asks Mitt “What would you like for breakfast?” why do I get the feeling the answer is “Let’s not get entangled in specifics.”
23.
bemused
Jonathan Chait thinks if Mitt becomes president, he could rapidly implement Ryan’s budget plan, rewriting America’s social compact in one swift stroke. Ryan has said 2013 is the magic year that determines how all this gets resolved. I can’t read anymore right now because I feel sick and terrified.
@PreservedKillick: (b) Forget the MSM. Not only are they bleeding influence, they are focused on the wrong thing. They want a horse race, not what’s best for the country. Probably why they are bleeding influence.
We have the misfortune to be midway in this process. Old people still think they are watching Walter Cronkite; young people know they are getting Vanna White.
True but we knew King was a puffball. Piers is worse, unwatchable at any time and now even more unreadable.
26.
cmm
I was thinking about if I was in the audience tonight and got to ask a question, it would be either:
I am Jewish, and I work for the only hospital in our area, which is the only decently paying employer in the area as well. A Catholic healthcare system is currently negotiating a take over deal. My religious tradition has no problem whatsoever with any form of birth control. Mr. Romney, explain why I should vote for a candidate who supports the right of an employer to deny me a health benefit that everyone else receives with their insurance, on the basis of religious freedom? Where does the employee’s religious freedom factor in?
or
I have always been a conservative on foreign relations and economic issues, and have voted Republican in several past elections. However, I am also in a 20-year relationship with a woman who is the love of my life, and I want to be able to have our relationship fully recognized with the same benefits that straight married couples receive. Mr. Romney, why should I vote for a ticket that wants to halt and roll back the progress that has been made in GLBT civil rights? What good does it do someone like me to gain a more secure financial future if my ability to share it with and will it to my partner is undermined?
Of course there are obvious Balloon Juicy answers to both “dilemmas” and neither dilemma is actually mine because I am a wild-eyed pinko lib. But I sure would like to see Romney get a question like that.
27.
sharl
Nuanced and (at least to me) interesting interview [audio link*] with Dr. Nicole Anderson-Cobb, an AfAm professional woman in Chicago, regarding the Presidential election and how her community – and her mother, who sounds like she should be called Obot Prime – are handling it.
The most intriguing thing Anderson-Cobb said, toward the end of the interview, is that Obama should not suppress his emotions so completely, i.e., he should not worry so much about keeping the Angry Black Man under wraps.
It’s a shame that there was not more time to get into this further, because (IMO) it’s what Big Media would do with The Angry Black Man – or even the hint of same – which is the major concern. There was no way to tell whether Anderson-Cobb was factoring that into her answer, or whether she was just considering the hypothetical response of her own local community.
*Link goes to a page with audio for yesterday’s entire one-hour show, but the interview in question is in the first 25 minutes or so. Unfortunately I didn’t see any written transcript; that show is run on the cheap, so I doubt there will ever be one.
Ugh. I saw a quotte from that same article (I think a few posts before this one on this blog) and it literally made me sick to my stomach with anxiety.
As an officially recognized senior (and news junkie dating back to pre-Cronkite), I must take strong exception to the generalization.
31.
cmm
As far as the uptick in numbers of women voters leaning toward Mitt, and the “bounce” he got from the last debate… I remember watching (the 20 min or so I could stomach) and thinking, “Geez, if I was a middle of the road/lean conservative but thought Bush etc. was too far right, and hadn’t been paying too much attention to things before now, Mitt would sound pretty good.”
They should make more hay of the idea that Mitt made gains by pretending to be LESS conservative, more like Obama, because this is NOT a “center-right” country (at least not today’s version of right). What the Republicans REALLY want to do if they win scares most Americans when it is spelled out to them. That point needs to be hammered home.
I need to do some phone banking or something even though it feels really useless considering I am deep in the reddest South.
One thing which is rarely touched upon is the obvious influence on Obama of the milieu in which he grew up, emphasizing and taking in by example of its practice the Hawaiian concept of pono, a preferably non-confrontational working to mutually acceptable consensus.
34.
TheMightyTrowel
@cmm: there might be a local or state election where your help could really make a difference. we always focus on the prez, but local candidates need support too!
Less so than it was even a few elections back, yet politics in the 50th state remains much, much more laid back, even genteel, than any place I’ve experienced on the mainland.
There are certainly specifics I don’t care for about him (and one thing I find absolutely repugnant), but even taking that into account, Dan Inouye presents an example of the style.
39.
sharl
@NotMax: That’s a good point about the role Hawaii played in fashioning Obama’s approach to dealing with others. But given the fact that he actually cut his teeth politically in rough-&-tumble Chicago, did he actually use that mellow approach among all those sharp elbows in Cook County?
I honestly don’t know – other than hearing the occasional news piece, I’ve never looked closely into the manner of his rise in Chicago/Illinois politics.
40.
debbie
I just listened to Senor being interviewed on NPR. Romney will be Bush all over again, and Benghazi will be Iraq all over again.
According to Senor, Romney agrees that an air strike has many drawbacks, but it’s a sign of Obama’s weakness that Panette is discussing them in public. So much better to talk tough in public. Am I wrong to see Romney poncing across a flight deck in the near future should he win?
It makes me physically ill that they are giving Senor so much deference. Again. It’s unforgivable among people who were duped so badly on Iraq. There’s no excuse for it. It has to be knowing and deliberate.
The Romney spin from media really does have a lot in common with the Bush coverage, first time. Business experience, really and truly a moderate, despite his advisors and his VP choice (and what he says), the bullshit about how he “worked across the aisle at the state-level.” A Reformer Who Gets Results!
Romney’s even got the moderate-daddy political pedigree.
It’s Bush 2000 all over again. They will never, ever give up on their dream of a moderate Republican. Never. If there isn’t one, they invent one.
42.
amk
@debbie: Do you seriously think that after the eyerack clusterfuck that any part of world, including eewrope, will stand for another war in that area ? The usual arm twisting of ‘our traditional allies’ ain’t gonna work given the mittbot’s constant dissing of them and russia and china aren’t going to sit on the sidelines like they did with eyerack.
43.
Ash Can
@sharl: I believe he did use that approach. His diplomatic nature won him many allies around the city, county, and state, which helped him on his way as he rose (quickly) through the political ranks. His perseverance and ability to use a shiv when he needs to don’t hurt either.
It’s hard to stay positive when you know Mr. Potter will be banging on your door in a couple of weeks and you’ll be largely empty-handed.
45.
jwb
@raven: Halperin’s internet monitor is running about a week slow. The big question is whether the President’s supporters in the media, on twitter and on blogs have figured out what they need to do after the debate tonight. Are they prepared to pivot and go after Romney on everything and no matter what tonight? I trust Obama will be in great form tonight, but even if he isn’t there is no reason to help the other side out.
but it’s a sign of Obama’s weakness that Panette is discussing them in public
It was also a sign of weakness that it wasn’t discussed in public. But nothing Dan Senor says is ever mentioned the next day. He just says something else. Each day is a brand new beginning, if you’re Dan Senor. I am honestly curious. Is there any personal shame or trepidation? Do the people who interview him ever say “this is the same guy who made tons of shit up and made all of us look like fools?”
One would think at some point it would become personal.
50.
Ash Can
Speaking of Romney and general wreckage, what’s the line on how long Ann Romney lasts on the View Thursday before she stops putting up with the other women’s impertinent questions and storms off the set? After all, she won’t have Mitt there to squeeze her hand when she’s getting too far off script, to remind her that he’s running for president, for Pete’s sake.
Hawaiian Chicago-Style Politics. Not to be confused with Hawaiian Chicago-Style Pizza.
52.
mai naem
@Kay: Senor is never on with a an even somewhat radical leftie(by Morning Ho standards) so, yeah, never ever any pushback. And ofcourse Mika is friends with his wife so she can’t push back because what would she say to her equally privileged friend at the cocktail party or salon day or whatever they do when they get together.
@NotMax: I read about Inouye;s exploits during WWII. OMG, the guy was a freaking real life Rambo. He killed like 8 German soldiers after his arm was hanging by a thread. And he had already killed another 17 in a suicide like attack on a German station. Something Romney or Ryan or their kids or their grandkids will never ever do.
@amk: Bruce Bartlett’s been saying stuff about Republican economic plans since Dumbya. Even Stockman’s criticized trickle down/unpaid tax cuts for the rich. Honest to god, Reagan would not not only make it through a Repub primary but he would be considered a joke.
53.
debbie
@amk:
Do you seriously think that after the eyerack clusterfuck that any part of world, including eewrope, will stand for another war in that area ?
But to Senor et al, that won’t matter. To them, nothing can stand in the way of American exceptionalism.
Just the thought that this country could (and would) return to the very same policies that got us in the mess we are today (both domestically and internationally) is just too much. And if something like a lousy debate performance helps achieve this, then maybe America should die after all.
I hear Senor’s interviews, I read Yoo’s nonsense, I see Bolton pontificating, and I lose all hope.
54.
debbie
@ mai naem:
Don’t forget Max Cleland, the paraplegic Vietnam veteran called a coward by the cowardly Republican Saxby Chambliss. They know no shame.
55.
amk
@debbie: Well, they can have their wet dreams. But reality is a bitch.
Expecting Walter Cronkite and getting Vanna White.
I think that’s a great metaphor for the media.
Corollary: expecting Ronald Reagan and getting Newt Gingrich, or John Birch types for the 21st century.
Outdated mental reference points.
58.
Mandarama
Southern Beale, we must be in the same neck of the woods! I couldn’t get tickets to see MCC, but did get to see the Ben Folds Five reunion at the Ryman.
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TenguPhule
Its what’s counting the numbers that I’m afraid of.
Elizabelle
Are we gonna do a liveblog with tonight’s debate?
Hanging with BJ for the VP debate rocked.
mai naem
I cannot fathom how Ohio can be close after the auto bailout. Seriously, how stupid do you have to be to know that Mitt Romney does not give a crap about you and that he would be perfectly happy to have a 20 percent unemployment rate in Ohio just to give him an advantage in this election.
I know I sound obsessive about this but it bugs me because I think Paul Ryan is a lying POS. He says he’s 6’2″. Obama’s supposed to be 6’1″. Biden’s supposed to be 6’0″. How come during the Ryan/Biden debate, there is barely a difference in height between Biden and Ryan? The difference is to the point where in some of the video/pics, Biden looks taller than Ryan. Clinton’s supposed to be 6’2″. There is a noticeable difference in Clinton and Biden pics. Also too, Ryan lies about washing pans.
raven
Mornin Joe HORSE RACE! IT”S SLIPPING AWAY FROM OBAMA!
raven
Halperin is struck by how dems are wetting their beds! Must read BJ.
Schlemizel
Positive? I’m positive life sucks. Does that count?
NotMax
@raven
Morning Joe: 3 hours of shallow concern trolling aimed at the unwired.
geg6
I am holding close to my heart and keeping pictured in my head the “Chill the fuck out…I got this” meme. I do not believe he will fuck it up twice. Not that I think he fucked it up the first time around, but my impression of the debate was at odds with the screaming drama queens.
I am sooooooo glad I only watch this shit on CSPAN. I miss out on being told how it went and am crippled by depending on my own impressions.
Linda Featheringill
Relax, folks. Intrade is still on our side, 61.8 to 38.2.
raven
@NotMax: Actually it’s only two, they rerun the first hour!
amk
Oh boy, preemptive chicken littling based moaning joke show ? Relax folks.
owlbear1
I’m pretty positive my EPA bashing Republican neighbor would run squealing the police if somebody started dumping anti-freeze in his garden.
Pretty positive.
Linda Featheringill
Seriously, Team Obama has always said that it would be a tight, hard fought race. And it will be.
And naturally the Republicans will throw everything they have at the race. They stand to lose a lot.
I of course, have been quite emotional about the whole thing. But you should do as I say, not as I do.
:-)
kay
@mai naem:
No one I know in Ohio ever believed it was going to be anything other than close. We have people here who have been following this for 30 years. They really didn’t. Even when we were further up, they knew it would tighten.
That’s why they call them swing states :)
Linda Featheringill
Question: How do rich people vote? I don’t mean for whom, but how? Do they stand in line at the poll? Or did they before early voting started spreading?
bemused
Piers Morgan (thread below) is a moron. He was the best CNN could find to replace Larry King?!
I had to laugh at Piers saying Mitt could save America even though he is utterly unprincipled because he doesn’t sleep around or drink and is a “great businessman”. It is so similar to a tea party supporter, probably in his 60’s or 70’s, who wrote a letter to a local paper in rebuttal to a young man’s letter of support for Obama, listing Mitt’s flaws. It was amazing how Piers and some rural, dopey, old tea party supporter had almost the same non-sensical views of Mitt, good businessman with family values. The only difference was that the old tea party guy doesn’t know Mitt is unprincipled. Piers does. Incredible.
kay
I’ll be interested to see how many watch. I would have said the first debate would get much higher numbers than the second, but I didn’t anticipate quite this much debate-hype and people love a rematch narrative.
TheMightyTrowel
what time zone is it?
PreservedKillick
I have instituted a few rules.
(a) Do not go to Kos. Way too negative and I’m sure half of it is concern trolls.
(b) Forget the MSM. Not only are they bleeding influence, they are focused on the wrong thing. They want a horse race, not what’s best for the country. Probably why they are bleeding influence.
(c) Since that means I have basically sealed myself into a self-selected bubble, recognize that choice and do something about it. Phone bank and knock doors. I HATE doing both of those things, but they are at least productive and better than sitting around pearl clutching.
(d) Take a quick walk in Romney’s shoes. Flip the numbers and imagine you are facing his electoral map and polling numbers. Not so comfortable, is it?
cmm
@bemused:
Well honestly, it’s not like Larry King was all that, either. Piers Morgan is just as obsequious and puffball as an interviewer, with a different accent and his Murdochian politics on his sleeve. And no suspenders. By which I mean braces, since he’s British, I guess.
amk
Even friggin’ bruce bartlett is dissing mittbot’s “tax plan” nonsense.
NotMax
So when Ann (or more likely their cook) asks Mitt “What would you like for breakfast?” why do I get the feeling the answer is “Let’s not get entangled in specifics.”
bemused
Jonathan Chait thinks if Mitt becomes president, he could rapidly implement Ryan’s budget plan, rewriting America’s social compact in one swift stroke. Ryan has said 2013 is the magic year that determines how all this gets resolved. I can’t read anymore right now because I feel sick and terrified.
WereBear
We have the misfortune to be midway in this process. Old people still think they are watching Walter Cronkite; young people know they are getting Vanna White.
bemused
@cmm:
True but we knew King was a puffball. Piers is worse, unwatchable at any time and now even more unreadable.
cmm
I was thinking about if I was in the audience tonight and got to ask a question, it would be either:
I am Jewish, and I work for the only hospital in our area, which is the only decently paying employer in the area as well. A Catholic healthcare system is currently negotiating a take over deal. My religious tradition has no problem whatsoever with any form of birth control. Mr. Romney, explain why I should vote for a candidate who supports the right of an employer to deny me a health benefit that everyone else receives with their insurance, on the basis of religious freedom? Where does the employee’s religious freedom factor in?
or
I have always been a conservative on foreign relations and economic issues, and have voted Republican in several past elections. However, I am also in a 20-year relationship with a woman who is the love of my life, and I want to be able to have our relationship fully recognized with the same benefits that straight married couples receive. Mr. Romney, why should I vote for a ticket that wants to halt and roll back the progress that has been made in GLBT civil rights? What good does it do someone like me to gain a more secure financial future if my ability to share it with and will it to my partner is undermined?
Of course there are obvious Balloon Juicy answers to both “dilemmas” and neither dilemma is actually mine because I am a wild-eyed pinko lib. But I sure would like to see Romney get a question like that.
sharl
Nuanced and (at least to me) interesting interview [audio link*] with Dr. Nicole Anderson-Cobb, an AfAm professional woman in Chicago, regarding the Presidential election and how her community – and her mother, who sounds like she should be called Obot Prime – are handling it.
The most intriguing thing Anderson-Cobb said, toward the end of the interview, is that Obama should not suppress his emotions so completely, i.e., he should not worry so much about keeping the Angry Black Man under wraps.
It’s a shame that there was not more time to get into this further, because (IMO) it’s what Big Media would do with The Angry Black Man – or even the hint of same – which is the major concern. There was no way to tell whether Anderson-Cobb was factoring that into her answer, or whether she was just considering the hypothetical response of her own local community.
*Link goes to a page with audio for yesterday’s entire one-hour show, but the interview in question is in the first 25 minutes or so. Unfortunately I didn’t see any written transcript; that show is run on the cheap, so I doubt there will ever be one.
cmm
@bemused:
Ugh. I saw a quotte from that same article (I think a few posts before this one on this blog) and it literally made me sick to my stomach with anxiety.
amk
2012 Deficit Down By $207 Billion
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/10/06/score-for-obama-the-2012-deficit-down-by-207-billion-and-heading-lower/
NotMax
@WereBear
As an officially recognized senior (and news junkie dating back to pre-Cronkite), I must take strong exception to the generalization.
cmm
As far as the uptick in numbers of women voters leaning toward Mitt, and the “bounce” he got from the last debate… I remember watching (the 20 min or so I could stomach) and thinking, “Geez, if I was a middle of the road/lean conservative but thought Bush etc. was too far right, and hadn’t been paying too much attention to things before now, Mitt would sound pretty good.”
They should make more hay of the idea that Mitt made gains by pretending to be LESS conservative, more like Obama, because this is NOT a “center-right” country (at least not today’s version of right). What the Republicans REALLY want to do if they win scares most Americans when it is spelled out to them. That point needs to be hammered home.
I need to do some phone banking or something even though it feels really useless considering I am deep in the reddest South.
arguingwithsignposts
@raven:
Wow, I didn’t know that. So the Morning Joke crew isn’t even tough enough to do a full three hours. Lightweights.
NotMax
@sharl
One thing which is rarely touched upon is the obvious influence on Obama of the milieu in which he grew up, emphasizing and taking in by example of its practice the Hawaiian concept of pono, a preferably non-confrontational working to mutually acceptable consensus.
TheMightyTrowel
@cmm: there might be a local or state election where your help could really make a difference. we always focus on the prez, but local candidates need support too!
cmm
@NotMax:
Oh, Obama and his Hawaiian-style politics, of course! Those thugs.
Applejinx
Calm down. There is always la guillotine.
Don’t calm down too much. Both sides remember la guillotine.
Linda Featheringill
@WereBear:
Come on, WearBear. You don’t really believe this, do you? I’m sure it’s just a momentary difficulty in finding the right words.
NotMax
@cmm
Less so than it was even a few elections back, yet politics in the 50th state remains much, much more laid back, even genteel, than any place I’ve experienced on the mainland.
There are certainly specifics I don’t care for about him (and one thing I find absolutely repugnant), but even taking that into account, Dan Inouye presents an example of the style.
sharl
@NotMax: That’s a good point about the role Hawaii played in fashioning Obama’s approach to dealing with others. But given the fact that he actually cut his teeth politically in rough-&-tumble Chicago, did he actually use that mellow approach among all those sharp elbows in Cook County?
I honestly don’t know – other than hearing the occasional news piece, I’ve never looked closely into the manner of his rise in Chicago/Illinois politics.
debbie
I just listened to Senor being interviewed on NPR. Romney will be Bush all over again, and Benghazi will be Iraq all over again.
According to Senor, Romney agrees that an air strike has many drawbacks, but it’s a sign of Obama’s weakness that Panette is discussing them in public. So much better to talk tough in public. Am I wrong to see Romney poncing across a flight deck in the near future should he win?
Kay
@debbie:
It makes me physically ill that they are giving Senor so much deference. Again. It’s unforgivable among people who were duped so badly on Iraq. There’s no excuse for it. It has to be knowing and deliberate.
The Romney spin from media really does have a lot in common with the Bush coverage, first time. Business experience, really and truly a moderate, despite his advisors and his VP choice (and what he says), the bullshit about how he “worked across the aisle at the state-level.” A Reformer Who Gets Results!
Romney’s even got the moderate-daddy political pedigree.
It’s Bush 2000 all over again. They will never, ever give up on their dream of a moderate Republican. Never. If there isn’t one, they invent one.
amk
@debbie: Do you seriously think that after the eyerack clusterfuck that any part of world, including eewrope, will stand for another war in that area ? The usual arm twisting of ‘our traditional allies’ ain’t gonna work given the mittbot’s constant dissing of them and russia and china aren’t going to sit on the sidelines like they did with eyerack.
Ash Can
@sharl: I believe he did use that approach. His diplomatic nature won him many allies around the city, county, and state, which helped him on his way as he rose (quickly) through the political ranks. His perseverance and ability to use a shiv when he needs to don’t hurt either.
jurassicpork
It’s hard to stay positive when you know Mr. Potter will be banging on your door in a couple of weeks and you’ll be largely empty-handed.
jwb
@raven: Halperin’s internet monitor is running about a week slow. The big question is whether the President’s supporters in the media, on twitter and on blogs have figured out what they need to do after the debate tonight. Are they prepared to pivot and go after Romney on everything and no matter what tonight? I trust Obama will be in great form tonight, but even if he isn’t there is no reason to help the other side out.
Southern Beale
Ha!! We just saw Mary Chapin Carpenter at the Ryman Auditorium two weeks ago. She did this song.
I love her to death.
Southern Beale
Ha!! We just saw Mary Chapin Carpenter at the Ryman Auditorium two weeks ago. She did this song.
I love her to death.
Mandalay
@amk:
To support that argument, Britain Just told the US to go take a hike on the extradition of Gary McKinnon…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/9611784/Gary-McKinnon-saved-from-extradition-to-US-on-hacking-charges.html
I’m sure the outrage will spew all day along.
Kay
@debbie:
It was also a sign of weakness that it wasn’t discussed in public. But nothing Dan Senor says is ever mentioned the next day. He just says something else. Each day is a brand new beginning, if you’re Dan Senor. I am honestly curious. Is there any personal shame or trepidation? Do the people who interview him ever say “this is the same guy who made tons of shit up and made all of us look like fools?”
One would think at some point it would become personal.
Ash Can
Speaking of Romney and general wreckage, what’s the line on how long Ann Romney lasts on the View Thursday before she stops putting up with the other women’s impertinent questions and storms off the set? After all, she won’t have Mitt there to squeeze her hand when she’s getting too far off script, to remind her that he’s running for president, for Pete’s sake.
weaselone
@NotMax:
Hawaiian Chicago-Style Politics. Not to be confused with Hawaiian Chicago-Style Pizza.
mai naem
@Kay: Senor is never on with a an even somewhat radical leftie(by Morning Ho standards) so, yeah, never ever any pushback. And ofcourse Mika is friends with his wife so she can’t push back because what would she say to her equally privileged friend at the cocktail party or salon day or whatever they do when they get together.
@NotMax: I read about Inouye;s exploits during WWII. OMG, the guy was a freaking real life Rambo. He killed like 8 German soldiers after his arm was hanging by a thread. And he had already killed another 17 in a suicide like attack on a German station. Something Romney or Ryan or their kids or their grandkids will never ever do.
@amk: Bruce Bartlett’s been saying stuff about Republican economic plans since Dumbya. Even Stockman’s criticized trickle down/unpaid tax cuts for the rich. Honest to god, Reagan would not not only make it through a Repub primary but he would be considered a joke.
debbie
@amk:
But to Senor et al, that won’t matter. To them, nothing can stand in the way of American exceptionalism.
Just the thought that this country could (and would) return to the very same policies that got us in the mess we are today (both domestically and internationally) is just too much. And if something like a lousy debate performance helps achieve this, then maybe America should die after all.
I hear Senor’s interviews, I read Yoo’s nonsense, I see Bolton pontificating, and I lose all hope.
debbie
@ mai naem:
Don’t forget Max Cleland, the paraplegic Vietnam veteran called a coward by the cowardly Republican Saxby Chambliss. They know no shame.
amk
@debbie: Well, they can have their wet dreams. But reality is a bitch.
Kira
Ryan bullies his way into soup kitchen to take photos washing clean dishes in Youngstown, OH.
Classy dude.
Elizabelle
@WereBear:
Expecting Walter Cronkite and getting Vanna White.
I think that’s a great metaphor for the media.
Corollary: expecting Ronald Reagan and getting Newt Gingrich, or John Birch types for the 21st century.
Outdated mental reference points.
Mandarama
Southern Beale, we must be in the same neck of the woods! I couldn’t get tickets to see MCC, but did get to see the Ben Folds Five reunion at the Ryman.