Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Bark louder, little dog.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Let there be snark.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

The revolution will be supervised.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2012 / The Ties That Bind

The Ties That Bind

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I know that this will get boos and hisses from some of you, but I saw this on facebook and got hysterical:

Oh, and if you were wondering who would be the first progressive concern troll (ala Peter Daou and the Rush Limbaugh saga), guess no longer:

Actually, no, petunia. Romney wasn’t trying to recruit more women. It was pushed upon him, and then he let it drop as soon as he could:

“I went to my staff, and I said, ‘How come all the people for these jobs are all men?” Romney said. “We took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet.”

“I went to a number of women’s groups and said, ‘Can you help us find folks,’ and they brought us whole binders full of women,” Romney added.

He said his administration had the highest number of women in top positions of any governor in the country.

That version is under fire by a coalition of women’s groups known as MassGAP, which is affiliated with the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus. The group compiled the names of female applicants before Romney came to office and offered them to both Romney and his Democratic opponent Shannon O’Brien.

“It didn’t really have anything to do with Romney asking women to give him names,” said Carolyn Jones, who was secretary of the Massachusetts Womens’ Political Caucus during the time that Romney was governor.

MassGAP, which is non–partisan, issued a statement saying that while the Romney administration started with women comprising 42 percent of newly appointed positions, by 2006, that number had dropped to 25 percent.

“So when the spotlight was on him, sure he paid some lip service. But when no one was looking, those levels plummeted to 25 percent, below where they were in the previous governor’s administration,” said Jesse Mermell, a Democratic selectwoman in Brookline, Mass., who was the executive director of the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus from 2004 to 2008. During that time the organization commissioned a report on women in government positions in the state.

In other words. He lied. Again. He didn’t look for more women candidates. He was presented with a coordinate push by a nonpartisan group in Mass. to have more women in office, and he initially complied, then just let things fall by the wayside.

Not that our manic progressives care. For them, the only thing worse than Republicans are Democrats, and whenever Democrats have a successful line of attack, they collapse in fits of apoplexy and whine about decorum. There’s a special place in the insane asylum for people who think the route to progressive goals involves kneecapping Democrats and fluffing Republicans every step of the way.

Reader Interactions

76Comments

  3. 3.

    jwb

    “Not that our manic progressives care. For them, the only thing worse than Republicans are Democrats, and whenever Democrats have a successful line of attack, they collapse in fits of apoplexy and whine about decorum.”

    It happens with such predictable regularity, I’d almost think they are being paid to have such reactions. Whatever the motivation, it’s one of the reasons we can’t have nice things.

  4. 4.

    mai naem

    Nobody gives a fvck about Clinton and his bimbo eruptions anymore. Seriously, we shouldn’t have given a shit about it back then either. Bring it on. I am not even sure Clinton wouldn’t chuckle at it if somebody made jokes about it now. It’s almost 15 years ago. And,oh yeah, fvck Matt Stoller. How did Kos hook up with this idjit?

  5. 5.

    Short Bus Bully

    Updated that to my Book of Faces earlier today as well, even though I try to avoid the political stuff since a lot of my friends can’t appreciate it.

    But HOLEE SHIT that pic is fucking funny! Can’t stop laughing, just so much fucking hilarity in one shot for so many different reasons, and who the fuck doesn’t love the Clenis?

    Might be the funniest damn captioned pic on the interwebz. Top three for sure.

  6. 6.

    shortstop

    Stoller for the win! You can always count on Matty to miss the mile-wide point.

    Apart from everything else, Mr. XX Recruiter was IN BUSINESS FOR 25 YEARS, as he may have mentioned once or twice, and in that entire time he didn’t meet a single capable female executive! Damn! He sure as hell wasn’t finding any women, capable or not, among the Bain partnership; there weren’t any.

  7. 7.

    Cacti

    Mitt is totally down with the needs of modern women. He knows how important it is for them to get home in time to make dinner.

  8. 8.

    Cacti

    @shortstop:

    He sure as hell wasn’t finding any women, capable or not, among the Bain partnership; there weren’t any

    I’ll bet all of the secretaries were skirts though.

  9. 9.

    Gwangung

    Bring it on. I am not even sure Clinton wouldn’t chuckle at it if somebody made jokes about it now.

    Actually I’m pretty sure Bill would find it funny….

    Hilary, on the other hand…..

  10. 10.

    Warren Terra

    Did someone say Matt Stoller?

    Stoller made an ass of himself a month ago claiming Romney was just as good as Obama. He’s a troll, all right, and a concern troll – but to call him “progressive” is a bit much, as many of the threads from that time will demonstrate.

  11. 11.

    Surly Duff

    The “binders full of women” is simply illustrative of his lack of connection and semblance of a functioning, empathetic human being. There are so many other ways to emphasize that you, as a candidate, support the equality of women in the workplace: “We identified a number of worthy female candidates”, “I looked for qualified women to serve in my administration, and I found plenty”. “Binders full of women” is dehumanizing and particularly pathetic phrasing. It is just another representation that he sees others as the help, and indicates almost a level of contempt for his lessers.
    He simply can’t ad-lib off his talking points or shit goes downhill.

  12. 12.

    JCT

    @Cacti: I’m pretty surprised that this comment didn’t get more play today. Talk about a window into Mitt’s view of women.

  14. 14.

    SatanicPanic

    Matt Stoller, hoocoodanode. Dave Sirota and Cenk Uyger were too busy giving professional left seminars.

  16. 16.

    amk

    There’s a special place in the insane asylum for people who think the route to progressive goals involves kneecapping Democrats and fluffing Republicans every step of the way.

    tagg romney’s place? I am all for that punk taking a swing at the entire line of librul bloggers.

  17. 17.

    Surly Duff

    You know, I’m kind of excited to see the release of Romney’s other resume resources:

    “Binders full of women”
    Binders full of Mexicans”
    “Binders full of negroes colored folk African-Americans”
    “Binders full of fags homos children of God”

  18. 18.

    DPS

    Who would complain about a good-natured joke poking fun at Bill’s well-known enthusiasm for office supplies?

  19. 19.

    Left Coast Tom

    Not that our manic progressives care. For them, the only thing worse than Republicans are Democrats, and whenever Democrats have a successful line of attack, they collapse in fits of apoplexy and whine about decorum.

    At some point we should all agree to stop calling such people “progressives”. The correct descriptive phrase for someone who pushes Republican attack lines which are (necessarily) lies is “Republican”.

  20. 20.

    Warren Terra

    More broadly: leaving aside all the other excellent points (Mitt never hired women to major posts at Bain; Mitt didn’t commission the study to find capable women like he said he did; female representation at the executive level dropped under Mitt’s governorship), we should point out that Mitt was asked about the pay gap between men and women – and his answer was that employers should condescend to hire women, especially if good men were hard to find, and that they should do this even knowing that women were inferior workers needing special accommodation (and quite possibly being paid and promoted less because of the special accommodations!).

    This wasn’t a way to solve the problem the questioner raised; indeed, it’s pretty damn close to saying the questioner was wrong to describe the situation as being a problem!

  23. 23.

    max

    I know that this will get boos and hisses from some of you, but I saw this on facebook and got hysterical:

    I think that’s funny. We need a Onion Joe and Big Dog road show on the Onion.

    max
    [‘Matt Stoller has gone all in on the ‘Am I a freak? Oh yes yes oh yes!’ I get that, but I don’t get that. Oh, well.’]

  24. 24.

    TBogg

    @Warren Terra: Matt Stoller was a Policy Advisor to Alan Grayson who managed to flame out after one term, so you’ll excuse me if I am loathe to take his advice on anything. I remember when he used to be a decent blogger, but his fail turn in politics has left him populating Crankville, Population: him.

  25. 25.

    feebog

    You could sense the desperation throughout his response to the equal pay question. It is one thing to dodge the question; Obama did that quite deftly to a couple questions last night. It is quite another to dodge the question with a lie that you should know will be fact checked and debunked. Really a form of political malpractice.

  27. 27.

    Mnemosyne

    I’m still not sure exactly how that picture was taken, but I love it deeply no matter what caption is put on it.

    Someone at work has this captioned picture up. I had to re-create it because for some reason I couldn’t find it in Google.

  28. 28.

    Corner Store Operator

    I really hope that Grayson doesn’t bring Stoller back when he is re-elected this November, he can do so much better.

  29. 29.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I see Stoller is a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. FDR I’m sure would be so proud.

    Speaking of chuckleheads who lost it for various reasons since the summer of 2008, whatever happened to Jerome Armstrong, is he still locked in a room with boxes of his toe nails and Hillary Is 44 posters?

  30. 30.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @max:

    We need that in real life. Or else a radio show. “It’s Hillbilly Bill and Crazy Uncle Joe in the Morning! Woop woop!”

  31. 31.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Stoller needs to be beaten about the head and shoulders with a heavy binder.

    Because the fact of the matter is, the binder was put together by someone other than OvenMitt’s minions and, as is pointed out, he blew it off.

    This vile sack of shit is undeserving of life.

  32. 32.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mnemosyne: looks a bit photo-shopped to me. As much more an Obama Democrat than a (Bill) Clinton Democrat, I do see a reflection of my own feelings in it.

  33. 33.

    Spaghetti Lee

    Also, sanctimonious semantic parsing is the last refuge of scoundrels in the blogosphere. It’s the first recorded incidence of Brietbart and Daily Caller reporters having someone to look down on.

  36. 36.

    burnspbesq

    @Left Coast Tom:

    At some point we should all agree to stop calling such people “progressives”. The correct descriptive phrase for someone who pushes Republican attack lines which are (necessarily) lies is “Republican”

    I might have said “Quisling.”

  41. 41.

    dance around in your bones

    ♩ ♪ Binders, binders, roly-poly binders, full of women, eat them up yum! ♫ ♬

    (P.S. I iz a wimmin, so no flamin’, por favor!)

  44. 44.

    Michael

    Was Matt Stoller the Edwards hack on talkleft back in 07-08? If so, I always thought that guy never really got over his guy losing in the primaries.

  46. 46.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    No boos, hisses, or fainting couches from me. I saw this and sent it to my wife, who also thought it was funny.

    I can’t figure out how that picture got taken though. Does anyone know the backstory? Was it just staged so dozens of people could write funny captions?

  47. 47.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @Yutsano:

    Just delete the extra http//

    I don’t know why that always happens when I link things, but it does, and I can’t be arsed to fix this one.

  48. 48.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @Nutella: Oh, the one with Hugh Hefner saying “Bitch, please” is priceless. Now I just have to wonder how many people I can send it to.

  49. 49.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    That Clinton joke is tired, boring, and lame. For those who still find that hilarious, there’s the PimpBillClinton twitter account.

  52. 52.

    TG Chicago

    Is “Binders full of women” even an attack? I thought it was just people having some fun with a poor/funny turn of phrase.

    The good news is that it helped to elevate the story John included in this post. That is a legit attack, and nobody who supports Obama (or, for that matter, women’s rights) should have a problem with it.

  53. 53.

    Michael

    Ah, it was OpenLeft. I always found him and Bowers annoying during the early stages of the primaries. I see nothing has changed.

  55. 55.

    vernonlee

    I’ve had a couple of run-ins with Matt Stoller and have concluded he’s a sociopath.

    Just a domineering bully, particularly toward women. Ugh.

    Anyway, funny he should come up today. Looking at the pic of Evil Tagg from the debate, I was wondering if I could think of anyone on the left* who could be that much of a creep. Ping: Matt Fuck That Guy Stoller.

    *or in his case, a left-wing authoritarian. They’re tricky to spot: usually in the US, they’re on the right! I’d put Stoller down as a Social Dominator – aka “double high” – on the Altemeyer scale.

  56. 56.

    WereBear

    @Spaghetti Lee: I don’t know why that always happens when I link things, but it does, and I can’t be arsed to fix this one.

    It’s because the link window comes up with “http” already in it. You are doing something to eliminate the highlighting (or it doesn’t highlight on your device) and so you paste in the whole link with the extra still there.

  57. 57.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    OT: Moe over at Redstate ended up giving one week bans to what looks like five regulars there. All of them can request reinstatement after the one week ban. They didn’t get the usual permaBLAM that Moe loves to dish out because they are favored regulars. It started when Mike “Gamecock” Devine, one of the more obnoxious assholes there (and someone who thinks he is so important that he refers to himself in the third person), tore in to Erick, Son of Erick, and his dismissal of those who think that the polls are cooked against Rmoney. Another regular joined in the personal attack and Moe tempBLAMmed them for a week and then asked if anyone else wanted to join them. Three other morans joined in on the fun and Moe tempBLAMmed them too. Things calmed down after Moe thumped enough baby seals to put the Fear of Moe into them. Redstate has become a ghost town and now the ghosts are turning on each other.

    Good times!

  58. 58.

    CaliCat

    Thanks John. I want to vomit when progressives do this shit. It’s like they think they’re soooo evolved…when in reality, they’re just scared to play in the big kids sandbox.

  59. 59.

    taylormattd

    Matt Stoller is, in my opinion, a raging psychopath who is engaged in what is now a 6 year long jihad against a person he loathes with all of his being, Barack Obama.

  60. 60.

    Cmm

    I think that picture was hilarious, too, and posted it to my FB. I think what really makes it for me is Obama’s pose/face in it.

    And I feel lucky not to know who Matt Stoller is.

  61. 61.

    hildebrand

    The other faux Democrat that needs to be boxed about the head and neck is Buzz Bissinger. Good god what an clueless clown. He is voting for Romney because of Obama’s first debate performance, and also because Obama didn’t get enough done in his first term (Buzz thought the stimulus was too small). His cognitive dissonance is off the charts. Jamelle Bouie tried to talk sense to him but, well, as the saying goes, ‘talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.’

  62. 62.

    BruceFromOhio

    Ah, Twitter. Transmitting stupidity around the world at the speed of light. Mark Twain would have been proud to see how his pithy quote has been integrated into our modern media.

    Not that our manic progressives care. For them, the only thing worse than Republicans are Democrats, and whenever Democrats have a successful line of attack, they collapse in fits of apoplexy and whine about decorum. There’s a special place in the insane asylum for people who think the route to progressive goals involves kneecapping Democrats and fluffing Republicans every step of the way.

    But but but DRONEZ, so shut up, OBots!

  63. 63.

    Ash Can

    I saw this yesterday when commenter Anibundel (IIRC) posted a link to it. I howled. The facial expressions are priceless.

    And Mitt Romney can go eat shit and bark at the moon. What’s the betting line on Miz Ann getting grilled on Mitt’s sexist bullshit today on the View until she storms off the set in a snit?

  64. 64.

    lol

    @TBogg:

    Matt Stoller… “decent blogger“? Stoller thought Obama would lose the nomination because the campaign wouldn’t suck his dick over email. He’s always been politically tone-deaf.

  65. 65.

    low-tech cyclist

    In my book, Matt Stoller’s been the biggest lefty disappointment, and biggest waste of talent and opportunity, since John Edwards. I used to be a big fan of Matt. Now I think we’d all be happier if he just dropped out of sight.

  68. 68.

    gbear

    @Cacti:

    Mitt is totally down with the needs of modern women. He knows how important it is for them to get home in time to make dinner.

    I wonder if the woman who asked for and received flex time in order to go home and make dinner for her family went home and laughed and laughed with her husband about how gullible Mitt was.

    It’s good to have an escape hatch from an abusive boss who doesn’t quit piddling with the report until 7:30pm and then expects you to have it prepared for him first thing next morning.

  70. 70.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @gbear:

    It’s good to have an escape hatch from an abusive boss who doesn’t quit piddling with the report until 7:30pm and then expects you to have it prepared for him first thing next morning.

    I could’ve used one of those 20 years back. The card-carrying sociopath I worked for would get an assignment from the customer with a deliverable date weeks in advance, & sit on the thing until about 3:30 PM of the last workday before, then call in (he was on the road most of the time) & inform the office that we had to pull a collective all-nighter to get the thing out. Then go home, get a good night’s sleep, & next morning throw whatever we produced in our faces as crap.

    Fortunately for all concerned, he soon crossed the wrong person & found himself at the sharp end of a sexual harassment complaint–& when the corporate HR honchos found out what had been going on in his dept, they came down on him like a ton of bricks, & we ended up with a decent human being running the show. Good times…

  71. 71.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    I haven’t read Stoller and don’t know where he’s coming from the but the whole “binders full of women” comedy meme is about as funny as a root canal. I followed one of the tumblr links, went through the pictures and wasn’t amused enough to even smile. There ain’t a whole lot of there there.

    As far as a political attack for being a complete lie, it has legs. Well, it would have legs if it was news that Mitt Romney is a sociopathic liar.

  72. 72.

    retr2327

    At this point, Matt Stoller has pretty much earned a lifetime achievement award in concern trolling, and should be disqualified from any future competitions so as to give other aspiring trolls a fair chance.

  74. 74.

    jayjaybear

    I rather liked the “Texts from Hillary” one…Mitt in the top pic, txting “Hil, I have binders full of women.” and Hil on the bottom pic txting, “So did your grandpa.”

  75. 75.

    Ruviana

    Actually, the pic did kind of offend me, but it made me snort with laughter. Cognitive dissonance, I haz it.

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