Republicans had an opening on Benghazi and man did Romney screw that pooch. The latest is that Peter King is whining because Obama took 4 minutes to say the word “terror” in his Rose Garden remarks. Saying “terror” is apparently like starting CPR – by the time 4 minutes have elapsed, it’s too late.
The rest of the Romney campaign is just hoping the whole conversation will go away and have just shut up about it. Perhaps that’s because they are thinking up a new line of attack that will be unveiled by Romney on Monday (I’m sure they are). But for the moment, Benghazi has gone the way of the welfare reform attacks.
The real critique of Obama’s Libya policy is that his commitment of our forces there drew us into responsibility for the inevitable instability that would surround Qaddafi’s fall. Romney can’t say that, because he would have probably committed more military resources to Libyan intervention, talked tougher, and bombed more. So instead he goes for the capillaries on Benghazi, but his butter knife slipped. Now we’re left wondering if he can find another tiny, meaningless, stylistic critique, or if he’s going to just pretend the whole thing didn’t happen.
rlrr
Please proceed, Governor…
fuzz
I think you’re exactly right with this. It’s the same with Afghanistan/Pakistan. The real critique of Obama’s strategy would be the troop surge and the increase in drone strikes, and how we should have listened to Biden and the ‘small footprint/counter terrorism’ crowd. Romney can’t say that though because he probably would have done the same thing as Obama. Instead he just says the withdrawl date/deadline shows weakness.
Keith
Part of me wishes they knew how ridiculous it sounds when their critique consists of the exact combination of words they used (thanks, Rudy!) and at what point in a statement the words are spoken. It really does feel like having a conversation with a 13 year old who has gotten to the smartass phase of their life where they start to learn grammar in school and let everyone know it.
jeffreyw
It’ll be those latte sippin young jihadi bucks spreading hate for Jesus with support from our tax dollars.
Soonergrunt
I think you can expect to see more on Benghazi. It’s red meat to the base. They honestly think there’s been some kind of cover-up. Just look at the idiot trolls we have around here and how they keep trying to fuck that chicken over and over again.
And it’s red meat for the conservative base because they think that firstly, it’s an opening in an area where Obama has been pretty solid–nigh unassailable, foreign policy. And it’s red meat secondly because they think their candidate was unfairly treated in the last debate by Candy Crowley over it, and they keep insisting that she’s walked back her fact check of Rmoney even though she has explicitly said on more than one occasion that is not the case.
The next debate is foreign policy, and there’s only two real things they can attack this President on–his unwillingness to allow Israel to pull us into another regional conflict with Iran, and Libya, which, with the exception of Benghazi, has been handled exceptionally well by this Administration (better than I thought it would go, certainly).
And Rmoney NEEDS to make some headway on foreign policy. Americans generally don’t vote on foreign policy, but if that’s the only subject left to sway the last six uncommitted voters, then he can’t let things stand as they are with his reputation for international fecklessness being all he has.
MattF
Seriously… four whole minutes, almost. Grounds for impeachment, almost. I’m glad I’m not that chicken ’cause I’d be getting real sore right about now.
RaflW
Read this morning that Romney has moved to economy because his dial groups at the last debate liked that, and didn’t like it when he was pooch-screwing.
Not their kink, I guess.
beltane
This type of stupidity is why Republicans should never be in charge of foreign policy again.
PreservedKillick
Oh, we’ll hear about Benghazi.
Just look at Romney’s performance in every debate. He *has* to get the last word, always. And he knows Obama spanked him on Benghazi last time. Reason #1.
Reason #2 is that his base is a bunch of racist assholes who will simply not stomach the notion that their guy was bested by a ni-CLANG. The Evile Candy Crowley will not be moderating this one, but one of their own. They must have blood.
Romney has some serious skin in this debate, oddly enough. Not so much because more than about .001% of the people in the US truly care about foreign affairs, but because the last Benghazi exchange called his manhood into account.
Not only does he want retribution, his base demands it.
I really hope Obama nails him to the wall for trying to use the deaths of four Americans for political gain. *THAT* is something that everyone in this country actually will care about.
The Moar You Know
Be prepared. Reuters picked up this turd this morning and the MSM looks like they’re preparing to smear it everywhere they can.
BGinCHI
Anyone else hear that line Megyn Kelly said on Fox News?
“Declaring something an act of terror does not necessarily mean you are declaring it a terrorist act.”
There it is.
Future historians! Right here! Your book/dissertation thesis!
Michael
Another possibility is this:
Obama clearly knew what was coming when Romney started on his nonsense in the 2nd debate (“please proceed”), and they got crushed. They may be thinking the bets strategy will be to spend the next few days formulating an attack, and then springing it on the Pres so that he’s hearing it for the first time in the debate.
vayama
I was totally mystified why Benghazi was a partisan issue, so I had to have this explained to me by my Republican relatives:
It’s very important that we hold Obama to an especially high level of scrutiny with regard to Islamic terrorism. Unlike other Presidents, Obama is a foreign n*gger, so he has to be especially outspoken on the topic prove that he isn’t a Muslim or a terrorist sympathizer.
I hope this helps you as much as it helped me.
FlipYrWhig
Sometimes terrorists kill people. The end. Such a non-story unless you personally know one of the people involved.
MattF
@vayama: Thank you. I feel totally helped now.
I am not a kook
Watch for Rmoney try to work the word “foreign” into sentences about Obummer. Tried already in the last debate.
Watch for Obama throw some sand in Rmoney’s routines by reusing “please proceed Governor” at some point just to fnck with him. A guy can dream anyway…
Central Planning
I really don’t understand what calling the attack “terrorism” in the first 4 minutes, 24 hours, 1 week, or whatever does for us.
Does Seal Team 6 only mobilize on some phrase which contains some form of the word “terror”?
shortstop
I think Romney continues to wave the butter knife impotently for most of 90 minutes on Monday night, punctuated only by repeated jabs at Obama’s insufficient obeisance to Bibi. He has literally nothing else.
Meanwhile, Obama will cover miles of foreign-policy ground, demonstrating his grasp and range and understanding that there’s a whole big globe out there with a lot of different players in it. The media will call it a draw, golf clapping Romney’s testy barbs and ignoring the fact that there was only one grownup on the stage.
Michael
@Central Planning: Ron Christie said on the Ed Schultz show that it’s evidence of a cover-up. This is the new conspiracy theory I’m thinking.
amk
I will just repeat my tweet.
The party that dropped the ball on 9/11, lied about Iraq & the subsequent mess and failed to get obl is totally unfit to talk about Libya.
We are pre-wetting our undies on what mittbot would say and do.
Central Planning
One other thing: Rmoney keeps saying he has business experience and that makes him better than Obama. Since Rmoney has no foreign policy experience, will he admit that Obama is a better candidate in that respect?
chopper
@vayama:
it’s like the opposite of ‘only nixon can go to china’.
RaflW
@Soonergrunt: Americans generally donât vote on foreign policy
That’s the CW, and most likely true.
But. Americans are seriously war-weary. They also do vote on whether a contender ‘looks’ Presidential. If Obama can 1) make Mitty look naive on FP, 2) make Mitty seem too risky as to new wars, 3) tie Mitty’s cadre of advisers to the neocon jackasses who dragged us into the wrong war and put all of it on a credit card (yours! mine! not the 1%s!) 4) remind ppl Mitty would have continued the Bush doctrine of letting Osama hang out in his big ole house in the countryside, running a global op that our military under this CIC dismantled.
There might be some movement after all.
CaseyL
Anyone know what the structure of the third debate will be, and who’s moderating?
Aimai
@Central Planning:
Yes. It’s the bat shit signal.
Bulworth
Why do you hate Amercia?
jshooper
chopper
@shortstop:
of course if mittens brings up his ‘best friend’ bibi, obama gets to point out that mittens said on tape that he doesn’t even believe in a two state solution (which if pointed out right can really be devastating), and that in the gooper debates mittens basically said he’d outsource his middle east policy to netanyahu.
BGinCHI
@shortstop: You forgot Soviet Russia. Romney totally has their number.
vayama
@chopper:
Exactly! See, the specialness of white people makes them dynamic and exciting. The specialness of black people just makes them suspect, at all times, about everything.
Cacti
OT but…
Nate Silver has Obama back over 70% at 538.
Looks like the POTUS absorbed Rmoney’s best shot, and Mittens hit his high water mark at 37%.
Randy P
Has anyone spotted any signs of that weird “have you looked at your pension” attack in the wild? Romney didn’t get a chance to say all of it, but I heard enough to guess this was supposed to be a killer talking point. A zinger, if you will. He was starting to say “your IRA invests in foreign banks or stocks” and I think that was going to be “that’s exactly equivalent to my sheltering assets in the Cayman Islands”.
He’s not an original thinker, so I’m assuming this one was focus-grouped out there in Foxistan somewhere.
Bulworth
You’re doing that thing again. Thinking. Reasoning.
catclub
@CaseyL: Yes.
BGinCHI
@vayama: We had to literally drag them to this country, so how can they claim they love it?
RaflW
@BGinCHI:
âDeclaring something an act of terror does not necessarily mean you are declaring it a terrorist act.â
“Today,” minister of information Megyn Kelly shared in a Fox exclusive, “glorious leader Romney has announced that due to the beautiful drought in the midwest, commodity-sellers are enjoying record prices. Happy customers are lining up to buy bread since they know these prices are supporting our seven remaining Small Family FarmsTM”
I mean really, are we actually living in Orwell’s world yet? Is the US on a path to North Korean insanity?
catclub
@Randy P: It worked against Newt, who, in the long and forgotten past, had a moment when he was a far better attacker of Mitt, Bain Cap and vulture capitalism, than Obama has been most of the campaign.
It is now October 19 and Mitt Romney has essentially skated on not releasing tax returns.
gnomedad
As President, Mitt Romney will freak about terrorism instantly without waiting for so-called “experts” and “information” to tell him what is actually happening.
amk
@Randy P: Foxistan indeed.
Chyron HR
@Cacti:
But Romney is up FIDDY POINTS in the Gallup tracking poll! Victory!
Davis X. Machina
The classic novice negative HS debate goof is to run a counterplan and attack the affirmative on significance-and-harms.
You wind up with a team that says ‘there is no problem — and we can solve it better’.
On Libya, Syria, and God knows where else it’s “You have no business going in there… and when we take over, we’ll escalate.”
The GOP keeps on doing this. 9th graders generally do it once.
Tone In DC
@BGinCHI:
I truly hope no sentient life form actually said that. That actually hurt my eyes when I read it.
flukebucket
The only thing Romney knows about foreign policy is that The Russians Are Coming!
I say something very similar to every Benghazi freak I run across. They have no answer for it.
beltane
Imagine if Democrats had taken to parsing every incoherent utterance of George W. Bush. Geez, we would never have been able to have functioning lives if that had been the case.
How many terrorists dance on the head of a pin?
Quincy
Yeah Romney may drop this from his stump speech, but it isn’t going away. The wingnuts love their conspiracy theories more than their own children and are fiercely protective of them. The MSM seems to gave swallowed whole the idea that what Obama said when is of grave importance, Stewart even asked him about it on the Daily Show. And Romney has nothing else to attack with in the debate, and of he didn’t make a debate issue out of the worst scandal in history the wingnut meltdown would be nuclear. They’d probably accuse him of trying to throw the election.
hueyplong
I was also thinking of the “have you looked at your pension?” thing. It was so breathless, and repeated with such increasing intensity and rapidity, that it made him look like a guy who would totally melt down and do something scary the first time after 1.20.13 that someone thwarted his will on any point, however small.
A repeat would seem even more inappropriate in a foreign affairs debate, though at this point 99% of the viewers are probably just fans rooting for their team.
I’m in that 99%, so it isn’t said in condescension.
GregB
The Republican Language Police has a sad whenever words aren’t used in the exact same way they want them used and with the repetition and frequency of a GOP talking point.
Don’t make the GOP language Police sad, say things the way they want them to be said or else…Wolverines!
peorgietirebiter
@Michael:
.
This would require Team Mitt generating an original/untested thought. They might have the capacity for such a thing, but I don’t believe they have the confidence or courage to risk it.
jurassicpork
“The latest is that Peter King is whining because Obama took 4 minutes to say the word âterrorâ in his Rose Garden remarks.”
Yeah, well, the right wing nut jobs running the government before had eight years to kill bin Laden and didn’t.
Having said that, here’s The Debate Liberals Are Dying to Hear.
Kane
TeamRomney made a strategic error by agreeing to a final debate that will focus entirely on foreign policy. Why they would agree to debate the one topic where Romney is weakest and where Obama has his highest approval ratings is beyond me.
Joel
@vayama: That explains it for some of the base. I run into other elements of the team red base that aren’t so vitriolically racist. Their motivation is purely partisan: Romney came out with this dumbshit critique on the night of the offensive and now he just needs to flog the shit out of it until it works.
Alternatively, Romney could come out in a complete reversal on Monday. God only knows.
RaflW
@shortstop: Meanwhile, Obama will cover miles of foreign-policy ground, demonstrating his grasp and range and understanding that thereâs a whole big globe out there with a lot of different players in it.
And Obama will be spun as arrogant, not connecting to average viewers, and, if at all possible, mean also too.
Tone In DC
I gotta use that. Especially when Akin, Bachmann, Cheney Jr. or any DimBart disciple is spouting off.
Joel
@beltane: I think the best analogy for Benghazi/Fast and the Furious/Solyndra would be 9/11 truthers, although that was by no means a partisan thing.
PreservedKillick
@catclub:
There we go.
“Governor, are you seriously attacking me because you somehow have managed to convince yourself I didn’t call this a terror attack for 14 days, when I said it was the day after the attack when you have had six years to sanitize your tax returns and release them…and you haven’t?”
Cargo
My fellow Americans.
God jesus terrorist terrorists god Jesus God. Muslims terrorist islamofascist muslim terror terrorist terror. Jesus America freedom God Liberty America America God Jesus. Terror muslim terror terror muslim islam terror.
God bless America. Thank you and goodnight.
Matt McIrvin
@CaseyL: The moderator is olde-timey pundit-show host Bob Schieffer, who moderated the third debates in 2004 and 2008. Expect little help from him.
waratah
I hope I am wrong but I think the moderator for this debate will be glad to assist Romney on this issue.
PreservedKillick
@Cargo:
The thing is, with Romney, even that is at least 47% a lie.
vayama
@Joel:
Yes, but it will work, at least as a tactic to excite the GOP base. And we all know why it will work.
But in the end, that’s all Romney has. He isn’t going to win anyone over. He’s just trying to prove to the unenthusiastic GOP base that he finally understands their dog-whistle language.
JoyfulA
@waratah: His brother was a business partner of GW, right?
Culture of Truth
Jon Stewart is a funny guy. He actually asked Obama why there would any confusion about an attack by a mob in the middle of the night in a city in a country in North Africa we have been openly hostile with generations. Why indeed?
Culture of Truth
Remember why called the terrorists “folks” the night of the attacks? Good times.
Jorge
Foxistan?
How the heck has this awesome phrase never penetrated into my head?
Holy crap that is beautiful!
Enhanced Mooching Techniques
Romney desperately out alpha Obama and Benghazi is the only thing he has to do it on. If it was a sane candidate he would be going after the security lapse and imply Obama doesn’t think ahead far enough. But accuse President Drone Launcher of being a wuss about terrorism.
beltane
@waratah: Bob Schieffer is personally responsible for doing his part in promoting the Bush administrations disastrous foreign policy. I have no hopes for this debate.
Michael
@peorgietirebiter: Ha! Touché.
Culture of Truth
sorry the above should read “when Bush called the terrorits folks”
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Michael:
I hope that Ron “The fact of the matter” Christie gets hit by a truck while crossing the street some day. If the cross-eyed bastard saw it coming he probably wouldn’t know which one to step out of the way from. I can’t stand that worthless piece of shit and I have no idea why MSNBC feels the idiot is fit to put on TV.
He belongs on Faux “News”.
burnspbesq
@BGinCHI:
Even allowing that it’s a Fox News Channel personality saying it, that’s just breathtakingly stupid. Is she taking denial-of-obvious-reality lessons from the Serbian football federation?
amk
@Culture of Truth: stew-rat is an asshat.
shortstop
@Kane: I think they really do assume that the black man from a family no one ever heard of simply doesn’t know what he’s doing in any realm–that’s part of it. But even more, they’ve shown throughout this campaign that they have zero awareness of their real weak spots and constantly overestimate their strengths. They didn’t understand that private equity has a real dark side to voters who enjoy having jobs. They didn’t think seniors would bite back on having Medicare eviscerated. They didn’t get that you can’t claim executive governing experience while denying your biggest achievement. They became bewildered and defensive when women and Latinos indicated they don’t dig being patronized. They sent Romney over to “be presidential” in front of foreign leaders, whom he roundly insulted and antagonized.
It’s as though no one on that campaign has ever been out of the corporate world and had to think about how people in a democracy, not an authoritarian hierarchy, are likely to respond to events. And we know there are people on his campaign who’ve worked on quite a lot of campaigns, so the assumption has to be that they’re not getting listened to, and that the hideous family with its sky-high entitlement is making all the decisions.
Said it before, saying it again, can’t wait for the tell-all books from campaign advisors trying to salvage their careers after this.
ericblair
@Joel:
I’m trying to figure this out, and it’s difficult because you’ve got multiple layers of bullshit, tribalism, fantasy history, and neural failure to consider. 9/11 truthing is more your classic conspiracy theory, where a shadowy group is both fiendishly clever and ridiculously sloppy, and any negative evidence just means the conspiracy is that much bigger and more dangerous.
The gooper “scandals” are more like birtherism: some derogatory evidence or outcome coupled with deliberately misunderstood context and zero understanding of US law, blown deliberately out of all sane proportion, and ultimately relying on some truly deranged word parsing to keep it going. “Act of terror” versus “terrorist act” is like “certificate of live birth” versus “birth certificate”.
I’m not sure how the whole Bengazi thing is playing with what’s left of the undecided or unmotivated. If you actually listen to it, it makes no fucking sense, of course. President takes a whole day to investigate what happened, and uses one bunch of words instead of another that mean the same thing. Wish my insurance company could be that quick investigating a fender bender. However, the question is, are enough people stupid or disengaged enough to think there’s something to this word salad if enough talking heads are yammering on about it enough. I’m not an expert in abnormal psychology.
gene108
What’s interesting about how strongly the right-wing embraced this line of attack and how readily conservative voters bought into is that it goes back to the McGovern-Carter era, where Democrats became the “effeminate sissy” party that was soft on blowing up America’s enemies.
It seems the fairly hawkish Clinton Administration and Obama Administration are not going to change this mindset.
It’ll take a long time before people just pass on and maybe reality can set into the discussion of which Party stands for what at the present time.
Michael
@Odie Hugh Manatee: I agree 100%. I just thought it was good insight into the mind of a wingnut. Romney doesn’t have to say Obama is covering something up, just repeat the “he didn’t say terrorism!” garbage and let he idiot hacks “speculate” as to why, thus spreading the idea of the coverup. I believe that’s how you conduct a “whisper campaign” on national television.
beltane
@burnspbesq: I hope Megyn Kelly never uses the term “War on Terror” again as it is an inadequate substitute for “War on Terrorist Acts”.
The Republicans have already exceeded anything Franz Kafka could dream of at this point.
gbear
@MattF:
Wasn’t it about four minutes of material that Fox edited out of the debate transcript when Romney was asked about gun control?
Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God
@BGinCHI:
But… but… A is A!
ding dong
The biggest thing Obamas got going for him in debate 3 is that Romney does not give a crap about foreign policy. Not interested because that is not where he and his cronies can rape and pillage.
Just Some Fuckhead
Was Obama wearing a flag pin, with his hand placed over his heart when he said “terra”? Because you just can’t willy nilly say “terra” for the win. Dey’s rulez!
Culture of Truth
Also, the begin by assuming the truth of their argument, and shift the burden of proof to other side. They’re very reasonable, they just want to see proof the President was born in America – is that so bad? No, not a statement from the Hawaii Sec of State, real proof. Not that short-form, real proof. And, hey, why does the President keep coming with different levels of proof anyway, what’s he hiding?
amk
OT. Karma, the beeyotch, at work.
karen tumulty
burnspbesq
@Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God:
Where did you get that ridiculous idea?
JR
Shorter Peter King: “Okay, sure, Obama said ‘act of terror’ in 1/5040th the time that Mitt Romney claimed he took to say it, but it was still TOO SLOW!”
And let’s just keep in mind that the reason they’re hitting this point is because they have nothing else to hit Obama on for foreign policy, and they’ve got 90 minutes of discussion in front of 55+ million people coming up where that’s the topic. That doesn’t mean he can go light on debate prep, or avoid tough questions about Benghazi, but it does mean that the other 80 minutes of discussion should be generally favorable to the guy who didn’t manage to piss off the entire United Kingdom in just one sentence.
GregB
@Kane:
Because Romney is an arrogant prick and he and his jack-suited minions think Obama is an idiot who’s out of his league.
Prepare for Ann Romney to Rush the stage with a coat hanger.
Culture of Truth
Muammar Qaddafi is going enjoy watching Obama and Romney go at each other.
burnspbesq
@beltane:
Someone should remind the republicans that this line comes from a work of fiction.
Culture of Truth
@GregB: No wire hangers!
dmsilev
@flukebucket:
Fixed for accuracy.
BGinCHI
@Culture of Truth: Is Obama Qaddafi’s love child?
I mean, it’s possible.
beltane
@BGinCHI: See, he is a secret Muslim and the type of man who would murder his father.
ericblair
@JR:
This debate might be a read headbanger, because we’ve got Friend of Bush Schieffer at the helm, and the gooper/Village concept of “foreign policy” is no more and no less than “scary Middle Eastern brown people”.
Maybe we’ll talk about China buying seventy kajillion dollars worth of US bonds and so we’ll all be speaking Mandarin and eating duck by the end of next week, but that can go in bad directions for Romney pretty quickly. Talking about the EU can suck for Romney too, if somebody can remind people that this is what austerity ends up looking like.
Maybe Schieffer and Romney can talk about how to get a good deal on a villa in the Loire valley, and whether having your own vinyard is a good idea or not. That should take an hour or so of it.
hep kitty
Is there some reason anyone should listen to any republican on Middle East policy, much less Mitt Romney who cannot set foot on foreign soil without humiliating the entire country? Any successes, for their side, say in the last dozen years or so on that front?
And John Bolton, also too.
Flying Squirrel Girl
Someone here said this the other day and summed it up beautifully:
(first attempt at blockquote, hope I don’t embarrass myself)
Higgs Boson's Mate
Look for Josh Romney to serve his country by glaring at Obama throughout the debate.
amk
If mittbot brings up the china issue and how he is gonna go muthafuckah on them, all the kenyan muslin has to do is coolly to tell him how he won that fucking tariff war too.
? Martin
Mitt needs to drop the Benghazi thing. Obama won the aftermath debate, and he can just point to debate #2, say it’s been settled and fact checked and pivot to what he wants to talk about, which would be Mitt’s terrible performance that day which the public views very negatively. There’s no upside for Mitt talking about Benghazi.
I’m not sure what’s a better topic for him on foreign policy – he hasn’t stuck his dick in his mouth over China yet, so he might be able to hold on that – but that’s dangerous too.
pseudonymous in nc
Let’s not forget that Peter King’s acknowledgement of being an active supporter of terrorists in Northern Ireland is infinitely late.
? Martin
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
I suspect Josh believes he can control people’s minds. In the last debate he was trying to get Obama to confess to being born in Kenya.
Culture of Truth
Anyone else getting an ad on BJ from Romney saying he’ll end dependence?
Yutsano
@BGinCHI: It would, as always, be irresponsible not to speculate. Thanks Nooners!
Higgs Boson's Mate
Mitt will go back to criticizing Obama for not being sufficiently supportive of Israel. He will use the words “bright red line,” and “sanctions aren’t working,” and “military intervention,” when talking about Iran.
dmsilev
@? Martin: China will be difficult for Mitt as well, given his sterling history as an outsourcing pioneer and so forth. Many many openings for Obama to jam Mitt’s foot down Mitt’s throat.
BGinCHI
Schieffer will suck at corralling Mitt’s bullying.
He’s an old fart who was never too smart.
He also has that unauthoritative high-pitched voice that makes you want to talk over him. I’m pretty sure he went to high school with Grover Cleveland.
shortstop
@pseudonymous in nc: This. It drives me crazy that he’s never questioned about being all hardass on brown terrorists while actively supporting and funding white ones. Asshole.
Culture of Truth
Benghazi was by far Romney’s strongest issue, and he’s lied about it, in public, twice.
Having said that, this debate is still a tough one for Obama. It’s easy to say, ‘I’ll stop Iran’; not so easy to say, ‘honestly, no one can.’ Easy to say I’ll get tough on China, not as easy to point out that would start a ruinous trade war.
dmsilev
@Culture of Truth: I haven’t seen that one here, but I’ve seen it at other left-ish blogs (LG&M, for instance). Keyword-based ad bots, I assume, since I can’t imagine that even the Romney campaign is stupid enough to deliberately target progressive blogs with their advertising.
shortstop
@BGinCHI: Excuse me, he was there when Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald, so show him some respect, please, as he continues to phone it in for decades.
ETA: I guess we need to update “phone it in” for modern tech-naw-low-jee, but I really enjoy saying it. It slides off the tongue with retro flair.
WarMunchkin
I don’t really get this whole Benghazi thing. It was pretty clear that everyone thought the attack was in a response to the video. After that, I heard news sources say that gov’t sources thought there was limited evidence for a premediated strike but they couldn’t prove it.
Which I think is a completely normal (and not incompetent) response… what exactly is the big deal?
Kane
Bin Laden is dead. The Iraq war is over. Eviscerated al-Qaeda leadership. Gaddafi is dead. Prevented a massacre in Libya. Mubarak is gone. Afghanistan war is moving to a close. Iran is facing unprecedented economic sanctions. New START treaty in place. Free-trade agreements with Korea, Colombia, and Panama. Strengthened relationships in Latin America. Restored relationships with our allies. Led an international effort to ensure the emergence of an independent South Sudan. Kept the country safe from another 9/11 type attack.
What part of this do you oppose, Mr Romney?
Higgs Boson's Mate
@? Martin:
To be fair to Josh, he was wearing his triple-secret magic underoos, the ones with the angel Moroni embroidered on the left bun and Joseph Smith embroidered on the right bun – in gold thread, natch.
BGinCHI
Obama should ask viewers to consider the progress made in the middle east, and especially between Israel and its neighbors, in Democratic administrations compared to GOP ones.
He should invoke Clinton.
He should ask whether war is a good way to secure peace. He should ask whether Iraq was the GOP’s idea of a peace-keeping mission.
Now that’s a bright red line.
Culture of Truth
Schieffer will suck at corralling Mittâs bullying.
I hope it looks like he’s beating up on an old man. If he does, Obama should stop him and saying “Governor, I believe Mr. Schieffer was talking. Please proceed, Bob.”
“uh… thank you Mr. President”
Xecky Gilchrist
@jshooper: So weâre back to the idea that âworse than bushâ Barry should have just left Qaddaffi alone to slaughter his people as he wished ?
Yay! That’s one, and I’ve only just opened my browser.
What? Oh, sorry. I should have mentioned – I collect Belligerent ‘So’.
Yutsano
@Kane: All of it. Duh.
amk
OT. Denver Post endorses the kenyan muslin usurper. Is CO slipping away from mittbot?
Omnes Omnibus
@beltane: Othello/Oedipus?
shortstop
@amk: That reminds me, since there are fellow Chicagoans here: Is the Tribune going to endorse Obama again? I do not think the fuckers will.
amk
@Kane: egg.sack.lee.
xian
@Soonergrunt: also… MUSLIMS
Schlemizel
@shortstop:
Does anyone pay any attention to newspaper endorsements anymore? Well, except to point to any that endorse a Dem & whine about librule bias?
It might have had influence with the great unwashed at one time but most of them get their news from Facebook now
dmsilev
@shortstop: Doubt it, given the Trib’s long long history as a GOP mouthpiece, but does anyone really care?
BGinCHI
@shortstop: Not sure, but I hope they follow Newsweek down the shithole of history.
I hate that fucking paper.
Come to think of it, I hope they endorse Romney. Match made in heaven.
Culture of Truth
What part of this do you oppose, Mr Romney?
Benghazi. Muslim Brotherhood. Iran. Pakistan. Yemen. Afghanistan. China.
“I don’t care about South Sudan, Mr. President, I can about South Carolina”
amk
@Culture of Truth: Now, that would be a zinger.
btw, wtf happened to all those zingers that mittbot was rehearsing for months that were supposed to destroy the usurper ?
rlrr
@ding dong:
Except the money that will be funneled to his cronies via defense contracts.
Culture of Truth
Is there a Tribb Romney?
rlrr
@Just Some Fuckhead:
It only counts if he says it while standing on the smoking ruin where thousands have died.
Suffern ACE
@Matt McIrvin: I agree. He is a long time Bush family friend and asset. He has large thumbs to place on the scales and he won’t be placing them on the democratic side.
Schlemizel
@amk:
I think those zinger hints were a misdirection. Given what happened that night maybe they worked?
Ruckus
@Soonergrunt:
…the last six uncommitted voters…
Have a good friend who is one of the six. Talked to him last night and don’t think I made much headway. He is definitely not voting for mittshit and thinks the man is horrible but he is not convinced that Obama is any better. Could not give me any specifics on why, I tried giving him several. He stated he gets tons of emails from both sides and has no idea who to believe.
Don’t think I made any ground.
I wonder how many undecided/uncommitted voters there really are who are in the same position, they just don’t know which side to believe given the level of bullshit thrown.
Scratch
@BGinCHI:
It’s absolutely mind-blowing that Megyn Kelly would say that seeing how she’s the person who stretched pepper spray into being a food product, essentially.
But somehow an act of terror isn’t a terrorist act, essentially.
Sly
I guess waiting four minutes to call a specific event an “act of terror” is worse than waiting 20+ years to stop praising the IRA, and only because the political leadership in Ireland (including those in the IRA, who King once called the “legitimate voice of occupied Ireland”) weren’t too keen on the war in Iraq.
The best part about redistricting is that this asshole isn’t my Congressman anymore, though I would have preferred the more widely accepted method of turning a whore out from elected office over a redrawing of political boundaries.
quannlace
MSNBC has been rerunning endlesslly the charity dinner Obama and Rodney gave little stand-up speeches last night. (It was funny, but come on, guys.)
But one comment just blew me away. Saying that Romney got more laughs.
“There were a lot of Wall Street execs in the audience. Many of them voted for Obama last time. This time they’re going for Romney.”
“Why?”
“They say Obama doesn’t understand the economy.”
The Fuck???
translation: Obama won’t let us run riot like we did in 2007-8. We didn’t get a chance to totally destroy the country’s economy but trust us. We know what we’re doing”
BGinCHI
@Scratch: If Roger Ailes tells you to jump, you say How High!
I’d say, you first, you fat motherfucker.
BGinCHI
@quannlace: Translation: No Blacks Allowed.
amk
@Culture of Truth:
Yes, what about them, governor ?
WaterGirl
So the republican talking point is that Obama said the word terror 4 minutes too late?
I’m sorry, remind me again of who was president and continued reading My Pet Goat for 7 or 9 minutes after he was notified that the first tower had been hit?
dmsilev
@WaterGirl: Bill Clinton. Or maybe it was Jimmy Carter.
Hope that helps.
Jay C
@vayama:
Isn’t a more-or-less sanitized version of this pretty much what Mitt Romney spouted off about on 9/11/12? Until the negative reaction caused him to back off (and, since then, diligently work to bury the comment)? I’m surprised President Obama didn’t bring this “gaffe” up in the last debate.
@Culture of Truth:
Umm, I’m not sure Col. Qaddafi is going to able to get good satellite reception in his present location…
rlrr
@WaterGirl:
IOKIYAR, always.
rlrr
Maybe Romney will go full wingtard to shore up his base and start spouting off about Agenda 21…
Sly
@quannlace:
Wall Street Executive #1: Regulation on derivatives? A Federal agency dedicated to going after fraud in the FIRE sector? An end to the carried interest deduction? We have to protect our phony-baloney jobs here, gentleman! We must do something about this immediately! Immediately! Immediately! Harrumph, harrumph, harrumph!
Wall Street Executives: Harrumph, harrumph, harrumph!
Wall Street Executive #1 (points at Jamie Dimon): I didn’t get a harrumph out of that guy!
Jamie Dimon: Harrumph!
Wall Street Executive #1: Watch your ass.
Mnemosyne
@Culture of Truth:
The one I keep getting says something about “recovery, not dependency.” I’m not sure if it’s an ad for Romney or for the Betty Ford Center.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jay C: Satellite reception is great; unfortunately, the only channels available are CNN and the Paint-drying Channel.
KXB
@BGinCHI:
Rumsfeld (Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence) must be smiling.
shortstop
@dmsilev: No one cares, no, except to point and laugh at the newspaper of a very blue city edited by white males from the very red North Shore.
KXB
@WarMunchkin:
Evidently, terrorism is evident right away. Yet, domestically, everyday crime needs, you know, actual investigations.
nellcote
Just read the headlines at Drudge, Malkin and Breitbart to get Rmoney’s talking points for the FP debate.
WaterGirl
@dmsilev: You made me laugh!
Which is a good thing, because these fuckers have no shame, and it’s making me crazy.
nellcote
@Culture of Truth:
PBO won another WTO challenge to China on steel exports this morning.
Paul
@quannlace:
The SP 500 is up around 75% since Obama took over. The SP 500 literally lost value during Bush’s term.
I think it is the Wall Street execs that don’t understand the economy (hell, Jack Welch is a perfect example) or they are simply showing their selfishness as they want even lower taxes than the low ones they already have.
Paul
Nobody outside the beltway cares. BTW – we got bin Laden…
danimal
I’ve been mystified on the whole Benghazi flap for awhile now. It dawned on me today that one reason conservatives have played up the events may be to soften up Susan Rice in case she is nominated to replace Hillary Clinton. If anyone screwed up White House communications, it was her. Lowering Rice’s profile wouldn’t be Romney’s rationale, since he presumably still thinks he can win and be the nominator-in-chief, but it does give an explanation for the institutional actors within the GOP.
Jay C
@danimal:
You really think that Senate Republicans would try to derail Amb. Rice’s possible SoS nomination over a messaging flap like this? I mean, of course they would – they’re Senate Repubs, after all – but I’m guessing that a major policy change in second Obama Administration will be a highly-reduced tolerance for nomination obstructionism like we’ve seen up til now. For as important a post as State, holding up a nominee over BS issues – especially yesterday’s BS over Benghazi “messaging ” is probably going to merit an embarrassing steamrollering. Not that GOP Senators have much shame, anyway….
AxelFoley
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
burnspbesq
@Jay C:
Devil forgot to pay the bill again?
danimal
@Jay C: Almost all nomination flaps are over BS. Does anyone really care about the foreign-born nanny, the overly generous tax deduction or even the poolboy with two wetsuits?
Paul
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
I have no idea why MSNBC invites him. I always change the channel when he comes on. All he has is twisted conspiracy theories, which I just find it insulting to have to listen to.
They might as well invite Rush Limbaugh. They are both right-wing pundits.
Chris
@danimal:
That, certainly, as far as the elites of the GOP are concerned.
As far as the base is concerned? It’s a story that involves the terms “conspiracy/cover-up,” “Muslim terrorist attack,” and “Barack Hussein Obama,” so they come to it like pigs to slop. That, and it’s an opportunity to pay back in kind the people few and far on this side of the aisle who dared to question whether maybe George Bush hadn’t paid enough attention to warnings of 9/11. (AND the comparison to Watergate also lets them scream “LIBERAL BIAS!” because Watergate was punished and this likely won’t be).
Kevin
“F**k that chicken!” “Screw the pooch!”
Will someone please think of the poor animals?
xian
Remember when Romney said this (emphasis added)?
Good times…
Compound F
“Five years, seven countries.”
— Wes Clark
If you credulous donks really believe R2P, then I recommend Lynn Westmoreland as your mentor in all things worldly and other-worldly. He’ll be a step up from your current sensei.
I’d like to say that your completely missing the point on Libya is, “unbelievable!” but I’ve seen it before with the Rethugs. Say it with me: Regime change IOKIYAD!