• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

In my day, never was longer.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Books are my comfort food!

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

People are complicated. Love is not.

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

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Open Threads / Even the Conservative Forbes

Even the Conservative Forbes

by @heymistermix.com|  October 20, 20129:18 am| 55 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

FacebookTweetEmail

Somebody at Forbes didn’t get the message that being a conservative magazine means you have to lie for Romney. Exhibit A: “If Romney Cuts Taxes For The Rich By 20%, He Will Have To Raise Taxes For The Middle Class By $1 Trillion”. (via Buffalopundit)

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Free Range Saturday: Open Thread
Next Post: Hey Girl »

Reader Interactions

55Comments

  1. 1.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 20, 2012 at 9:20 am

    That somebody is not in Steve “Entitled Inherited Fortune Asshole” Forbes’ good graces, I’m sure.

    The facts. They have an annoying bias against greedy assholes.

  2. 2.

    Southern Beale

    October 20, 2012 at 9:21 am

    Southern Beale is tired of Gannett’s shit.

    Honestly, the media is over.

  3. 3.

    dmsilev

    October 20, 2012 at 9:26 am

    You’re assuming that Romney actually cares about holding down or even decreasing the deficit.

    How sweetly naive of you.

  4. 4.

    KoolEarl

    October 20, 2012 at 9:38 am

    Good news from PPP: Obama up in VA 49-47

  5. 5.

    Schlemizel

    October 20, 2012 at 9:38 am

    David Stockman, St. Ronald’s budget director, told us WHILE THE HOLY ONE WAS STILL THE SITTING PRESIDENT that the goal of the administration was not to balance the budget but to bankrupt it. He said that in public, to reporters who reported the statement and he reiterated it in the book he wrote after he left the administration.

    They are succeeding beyond their wildest dreams and performing this act of treason in broad daylight with the full knowledge of the media who stands by and lets it happen. Heaven forfend that they actually hold Willards feet to the fire and make him explain his tax proposal, or point out but its impossibility and his inability to defend it.

  6. 6.

    Baud

    October 20, 2012 at 9:39 am

    One should only read Forbes magazine in quiet rooms.

  7. 7.

    beltane

    October 20, 2012 at 9:40 am

    DoJ joins in lawsuit against the Gallup polling organization http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/story/2012-08-22/justice-department-joins-suit-against-gallup/57215932/1

  8. 8.

    Lurking Canadian

    October 20, 2012 at 9:42 am

    Somebody needs to update his resume with a quickness.

  9. 9.

    beltane

    October 20, 2012 at 9:42 am

    @Schlemizel: The media doesn’t just stand by and let it happen; the media actively assists the Republican party in their treason.

  10. 10.

    burnspbesq

    October 20, 2012 at 9:52 am

    Being able to do simple arithmetic is a core competency for business journalists. Not surprised that Forbes can figure out the effect of the latest ephemeral manifestation of Romney’s ever-changing tax plan. Would be much more surprised if Forbes said it was a bad thing.

  11. 11.

    MattF

    October 20, 2012 at 9:59 am

    This is surprising. I’d guess that there’s some bad blood between Forbes and Romney– nobody likes Mitt, particularly once you get to know him.

  12. 12.

    Chyron HR

    October 20, 2012 at 10:00 am

    @KoolEarl:

    !YROTCIV

  13. 13.

    Southern Beale

    October 20, 2012 at 10:07 am

    I love the Money Boo Boo category, BTW. Plan to steal that some day, fair warning.

  14. 14.

    Hill Dweller

    October 20, 2012 at 10:31 am

    Mark Zandi, Moody’s head economist and McCain’s top economic adviser in ’08, called Willard’s numbers bullshit.

    Willard’s entire campaign is bullshit. When pressed to justify his 12 million jobs plan, they cited 3 studies that don’t even support his claims.

  15. 15.

    RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist

    October 20, 2012 at 10:37 am

    I don’t doubt that Forbes’ analysis is true. But whose mind is that going to change? What Forbes reader will look at that and think “Well, Obama it is then!”?

  16. 16.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 20, 2012 at 10:45 am

    @RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist: Well, fuck it then. Why publish anything? Look, this kind of thing is useful; we joke about “even the liberal …”, but it can play. This is the reverse, a fairly conservative, business oriented publication calling bullshit on a conservative politician’s plans. This can be waved at “undecided” voters without being dismissed as the work of the liberal MSM.

  17. 17.

    22over7

    October 20, 2012 at 10:49 am

    @dmsilev:

    This. Romney has no interest in deficit reduction. We’ll stop hearing about it and the issue will mysteriously go away. The few actual deficit hawks in Congress will be ignored or talked about as harmless cranks.

    Social Security to Wall Street, Medicare to the insurance companies, and war, war, war (on brown people here and abroad) for the MIC and its plucky cousin, the Law Enforcement Industrial Complex. Drones will be used more at home, since they’re cheap and (relatively) easy to operate. They’re not a good revenue generator, though, so it’s back to tanks and submarines for the wars abroad.

  18. 18.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 20, 2012 at 10:51 am

    @beltane:

    The lawsuit says Gallup actually wrote the request for proposal that the Army’s contracting officer issued. Gallup wrote the proposal so the contract could be awarded only to a company with characteristics that were unique to Gallup, according to Lindley’s allegations.

    I am shocked (!) that there is gambling going on in this establishment!

  19. 19.

    RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist

    October 20, 2012 at 10:52 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    My point wasn’t that it’s useless to tell the truth. Just that this close to the election, repeating once again the well publicized fact that Mitt’s tax plan is a fever dream and a fraud is unlikely to have an impact. 6 months ago, maybe.

  20. 20.

    InvincibleIronyMan

    October 20, 2012 at 10:52 am

    It’s not that surprising, you can usually count on the business press to tell the truth (from a certain perspective, of course).

    “But the education for elites … has to allow creativity and independence. Otherwise they won’t be able to do their job of making money. You find the same thing in the press. That’s why I read the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times and Business Week. They just have to tell the truth.”
    – Noam Chomsky

  21. 21.

    weaselone

    October 20, 2012 at 10:56 am

    @22over7:

    Oh, the deficit will be decreased. Just look for a several hundred billion dollars to be labelled special expenditures and shifted off budget.

  22. 22.

    22over7

    October 20, 2012 at 11:03 am

    @weaselone:

    You’re right, of course. I forgot. Accounting magic!

  23. 23.

    ericblair

    October 20, 2012 at 11:12 am

    @burnspbesq:

    Being able to do simple arithmetic is a core competency for business journalists. Not surprised that Forbes can figure out the effect of the latest ephemeral manifestation of Romney’s ever-changing tax plan. Would be much more surprised if Forbes said it was a bad thing.

    I think this is debatable: the last couple of decades of business journalism involved a lot of bad arithmetic, sucking up to corporate management, and shilling for crappy investments. Of course most biz journalists should be able to figure out the impact of Romney’s “plan” (well, except for McArgleBargle et al). However, whether they choose to blow the whistle on it or cover it up and spin it as Bold Leadership is a choice.

  24. 24.

    MattF

    October 20, 2012 at 11:24 am

    @RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist: Still, this feeds the basic unease about Romney. If elected, what is he actually going to do? It’s certainly possible to theorize– but the only thing you can be completely sure of is that he can’t do most the things he says he’s going to do, because they are impossible.

  25. 25.

    ericblair

    October 20, 2012 at 11:28 am

    @MattF:

    Still, this feeds the basic unease about Romney. If elected, what is he actually going to do?

    The only thing you know he’s going to do is lower his own taxes.

    Was just listening to a BBC documentary on Obama and Romney, and it was funny listening to them analyze Romney’s positions with a lot of “seems to be”, “reminiscent of”, and the like, because there just is no there there. Trying to analyze it is useless.

  26. 26.

    RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist

    October 20, 2012 at 11:31 am

    This is probably old news but Rolling Stone has a good 2-page article summarizing a number of tax dodges that Mitt has or may have used. Makes him look like a Taker rather than a Maker.

  27. 27.

    22over7

    October 20, 2012 at 11:33 am

    MattF, the people who will vote for Romney are not at all interested in what is possible. Look at what they believe right now.

    Besides, these issues are boring and complicated. All that matters is defeating the Kenyan Muslim Atheist Bisexual Socialist Communist blah man who’s going to take away all the guns and the white women.

  28. 28.

    MattF

    October 20, 2012 at 11:46 am

    @22over7: What I think is that, every four years, we rediscover the irritating fact that Presidential elections are decided by people who can’t make up their minds. It’s frustrating, but that’s the group that has to be targeted.

  29. 29.

    Frankensteinbeck

    October 20, 2012 at 11:50 am

    @ericblair:
    Obviously you CAN’T be sure because the man’s so damn inconsistent in his promises, but as a governor he rubber stamped whatever was handed to him, as a Mormon Bishop (presumably a position where he reported to no one) he was rabidly right wing social conservative (particularly anti-abortion and anti-pornography), as a businessman he would do absolutely anything, ANYTHING, for another buck, and as a person he has admitted that he hates the poorer half of the country.

    I’d say this gives us at least a good guess.

  30. 30.

    Davis X. Machina

    October 20, 2012 at 11:51 am

    @MattF: “Things are bad. Obama didn’t fix them all. Romney won’t fix them either. But Obama didn’t fix them all. So I’m voting for Romney. Who won’t fix them.”

    The ‘thinking’ of your basic swing voter.

  31. 31.

    Paul

    October 20, 2012 at 12:02 pm

    @Davis X. Machina:

    Just added a tweak that I think more accurately describes the situation and “thinking” of the basic swing voter.

    “Things are bad. Romney’s party caused things to be bad. Obama didn’t fix them all in less than 4 years. Romney won’t fix them either. But Obama didn’t fix them all. So I’m voting for Romney. Who won’t fix them. And whose party caused them.”

    I read an interesting article that followed up on some of the undecided voters after the last debate. Amazingly, most of them are still undecided. It just boggles the mind.

  32. 32.

    Davis X. Machina

    October 20, 2012 at 12:09 pm

    @Paul: It’s a winning formula.

    Cameron and the Tories fought the last election on the platform of “Things are bad. In response we promise you, up front, that we’re going to do things known and calculated to make them worse. Not only that, they made things worse the last time we did them, and that’s within the memory of most voters, like you.. Vote for us. Hey, we’re not Labour.”

    And 40%, give or take, of the electorate did so. Nick Clegg’s ego — the only man-made object in Britain visible from the International Space Station — did the rest.

  33. 33.

    gelfling545

    October 20, 2012 at 12:15 pm

    @RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist: True. Everybody who wants to know about this already does including his fellow billionaires in the “I’ve got mine” club who know & think it’s a fine idea. It is nice for the media to report facts for a change, however.

  34. 34.

    burnspbesq

    October 20, 2012 at 12:16 pm

    @ericblair:

    Fortune figured out Enron long before DOJ or the SEC.

  35. 35.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 20, 2012 at 12:27 pm

    @Davis X. Machina:

    Also, Obama is, how shall we say it, a ni*CLANG*.

  36. 36.

    blingee

    October 20, 2012 at 12:27 pm

    Maybe it has something to do with Jack Welch being given the boot. Who knows.

  37. 37.

    Davis X. Machina

    October 20, 2012 at 12:32 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Heaven forfend! These are the thoughtful independent, swing voters, whose minds would never drift in that direction — because they’re busy drifting in aimless circles instead.

  38. 38.

    shortstop

    October 20, 2012 at 12:48 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Our “independent” downstairs neighbors “just can’t figure out” what they don’t like about Obama. They know they don’t like Romney’s policies, but something troubles them about Obama, and it’s just too elusive for them to identify. Since they call the cops every time there’s a brown person in the parking lot, I think I might be able to nail down the source of their worry.

  39. 39.

    Frankensteinbeck

    October 20, 2012 at 12:59 pm

    @shortstop:
    This is important to understanding race in this country. Being identified as racist is punished socially, but behavior that is deniably racist is not. This stuff gets internalized, and you have a whole bunch of people who really believe they’re not racist, believe they don’t have a problem with blacks, would never use the N-word or any other undeniably identifiable marker of racism – but still actually do hate and fear blacks. Like libertarians are closet Republicans, they accept everything but the label.

  40. 40.

    Jewish Steel

    October 20, 2012 at 1:02 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: Yes, but he is very sweet to his family. Wait! No he’s not! He’s a competitive asshole even with his daughters-in-law.

  41. 41.

    Paul

    October 20, 2012 at 1:04 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    People that claim they are libertarians are not much than those people that claim that President Obama is a socialist. They have no clue whatsoever what the two words really mean.

  42. 42.

    James E. Powell

    October 20, 2012 at 1:18 pm

    @22over7:

    The few actual deficit hawks in Congress will be ignored or talked about as harmless cranks.

    The actual deficit hawks, those who wail about the deficit no matter what the current economy is doing, are cranks. But they are not harmless and they are never ignored.

    It is something about debt/deficit and how those issues resonate in the minds of voters who have no idea how the economy works. Deficit hawks have a permanent seat at the Sunday talk show tables; NPR and Charlie Rose love them.

  43. 43.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    October 20, 2012 at 1:40 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    This is important to understanding race in this country. Being identified as racist is punished socially, but behavior that is deniably racist is not.

    Despite our high hopes at the time, the Civil Rights Act didn’t end racism – or even begin to end it. Instead, overt racism has been tamped down (a bit) while racism continues to thrive. The mindless opposition to anything and everything Obama proposes is given momentum and cover by ingrained racism. When a universally disliked phony like Mitt Romney is competitive in this election, the conclusion that much of this this nation remains irredeemably racist is foregone.

  44. 44.

    Forum Transmitted Disease

    October 20, 2012 at 1:40 pm

    “even the liberal Forbes magazine…”

    you know that’s next!

  45. 45.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    October 20, 2012 at 1:59 pm

    @Forum Transmitted Disease:
    They’re compelled to hire TIna Brown?

  46. 46.

    Frankensteinbeck

    October 20, 2012 at 2:02 pm

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate:
    I have higher hopes than that. The Civil Rights Act didn’t change any minds already made up. Younger people have grown up with only some signals that the races are enemies, rather than a constant unified message. In the South less has changed because of social isolation, and having grown up there I can say they just plain hate everybody. They hate, period.

    I truly believe things have improved and are improving, but yes, Obama’s presidency has made plain that racism remains powerful. When people don’t want to admit their racism even to themselves, you get exactly what we’ve seen – frothing, incoherent anger that assumes that everything Obama stands for must be evil. They’re angry and they don’t know why, so they spread it around to excuses.

    EDIT – Ironically, this fits the ‘Who are we voting for, dear?’ ‘We’re voting for the nigger.’ story perfectly. This couple, having no need to cover their racism, didn’t have to go crazy when it smacked them in the face.

  47. 47.

    WereBear

    October 20, 2012 at 2:22 pm

    Undecided voters have no clue how things work. That is why they cannot decide on the issues: it’s alsknkjsdao vs. 2938hsoieyi!

    So they go by gut hunches, the last article headline they saw, what their friends say…

  48. 48.

    JustAnotherBob

    October 20, 2012 at 2:45 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    you have a whole bunch of people who really believe they’re not racist, believe they don’t have a problem with blacks, would never use the N-word or any other undeniably identifiable marker of racism – but still actually do hate and fear blacks. Like libertarians are closet Republicans, they accept everything but the label.

    I suspect there’s a slightly less odious form of racism as well. A number of people probably have a hard time believing that someone with dark skin could be competent enough to do a quality job as president. They think only white males can do the really hard jobs.

  49. 49.

    JustAnotherBob

    October 20, 2012 at 2:52 pm

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate:

    Despite our high hopes at the time, the Civil Rights Act didn’t end racism – or even begin to end it.

    I totally disagree with this statement, the last part of the statement.

    I grew up in the segregated South. In the 1940s and 1950s.

    The Civil Rights Act ripped down the legal barriers which had prevented non-whites from entering mainstream America.

    If you think that we haven’t made tremendous progress toward eliminating racism you aren’t aware where we started. That’s not to say that we don’t have further to go or that it would be better were we moving faster, but don’t piss on the progress we’ve made. This is totally different country than the one in which I grew up.

  50. 50.

    James E. Powell

    October 20, 2012 at 4:22 pm

    @JustAnotherBob:

    This is totally different country than the one in which I grew up.

    I was born in 1955 and I agree with you completely.

    If you consider where we are right now on gay/lesbian rights generally and same-sex marriage specifically we aren’t even the same country we were in 2004.

    We can’t rest on what has been achieved, but we ought to acknowledge and honor what we have achieved to remind ourselves that we have the power to produce positive changes.

  51. 51.

    JustAnotherBob

    October 20, 2012 at 4:34 pm

    @James E. Powell:

    It is very important to recognize and celebrate progress.

    That helps fire ourselves up to do even more.

    Beating ourselves up over what has not yet been done brings only despair and drains motivation. We need to identify what needs to be done, but we need to remind ourselves that we’ve made tremendous change and we can make more.

  52. 52.

    McJulie

    October 20, 2012 at 5:57 pm

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate:

    Despite our high hopes at the time, the Civil Rights Act didn’t end racism – or even begin to end it.

    With the second part, I think you are being to pessimistic. I don’t think Obama could ever have won without significant strides forward on the racism front.

    I just think progress always has so much pushback that it’s easy to feel like we aren’t moving forward even when we are. Like walking headfirst into a Santana* wind.

    *Or Santa Ana, as the proper name for the extremely strong, dry, and sometimes oven-hot winds is debatable. But when I grew up in Santa Ana we always called them Santana winds, possibly because we otherwise found the duplicate names confusing.

  53. 53.

    Patricia Kayden

    October 20, 2012 at 6:42 pm

    So if Romneybot lowers taxes for himself and his rich buddies, we are screwed! Thank you Forbes for saying the obvious.

  54. 54.

    Mike G

    October 20, 2012 at 10:06 pm

    I’m still dumbfounded that Forbes acknowledged that the well-being of Americans who aren’t rich is a legitimate concern.

  55. 55.

    Starlit

    October 20, 2012 at 10:14 pm

    @Davis X. Machina: You know, that just made it all clear to me: they all hate work, except for the fact that people who do useful things in community life can be despised as common.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road -  ?BillinGlendaleCA - Gold! 1
Image by BillinGlendaleCA (5/10/25)

Recent Comments

  • Glory b on Brief Media Note (Open Thread) (May 14, 2025 @ 8:15pm)
  • Gin & Tonic on Wednesday Night Open Thread (May 14, 2025 @ 8:14pm)
  • Bupalos on Brief Media Note (Open Thread) (May 14, 2025 @ 8:12pm)
  • H.E.Wolf on Wednesday Night Open Thread (May 14, 2025 @ 8:11pm)
  • Bupalos on Brief Media Note (Open Thread) (May 14, 2025 @ 8:11pm)

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
War in Ukraine
Donate to Razom for Ukraine

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Meetups

Upcoming Ohio Meetup May 17
5/11 Post about the May 17 Ohio Meetup

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Hands Off! – Denver, San Diego & Austin

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!