Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

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

Come on, man.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

The words do not have to be perfect.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

People are complicated. Love is not.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

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

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

You are here: Home / We’re gonna need a bigger meteor

We’re gonna need a bigger meteor

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Time to call it a day for our so-called civilization:

Mitt Romney will be participating in his own political version of Monday Night Football when he faces off against President Obama in their final debate of the campaign cycle. But on Sunday morning, Mr. Romney took a break from debate preparation to make a stop at a gridiron of a different sort — a flag football beach face-off between members of the news media and members of Mr. Romney’s staff.

There aren’t enough guillotines to deal with this problem, IMHO.

Reader Interactions

190Comments

  6. 6.

    Bago

    Searching for “Obama plays basketball with reporters” only gets hits on a college game and a benefit game with nba types. Then Romney on football.

  7. 7.

    Hill Dweller

    NBC’s Sunday night news broadcast covered this like it was the greatest thing that has happened to mankind, going back to the story twice in a half hour. Couple that with Todd and Gregory pretending Romney was a great man and Dems’ have an enthusiasm problem, and I was looking for the Drano.

  8. 8.

    trollhattan

    @freelancer:
    [shakes fist at moar faster commenter]
    Willard has a tyre swing comprising the finest of Formula 1 tyres assembled from the haunch skins of ivy league virgin ivy field hockey scholarship co-eds, suspended from Brazilian rosewood trees grown in a Wasach greenhouse, but after evaluation nobody in the media deserves a ride.

  9. 9.

    Jerzy Russian

    I don’t think we necessarily need a bigger meteor. Several smaller ones will do in a pinch.

  11. 11.

    scav

    We should be able to measure that sheer quantity of individuals sucking up to one another in isobars: might even impact local weather and wind patterns.

  15. 15.

    burnspbesq

    @trollhattan:

    assembled from the haunch skins of ivy league virgin ivy field hockey scholarship co-eds

    There are neither virgins nor athletic scholarships in the Ivy League.

  16. 16.

    SFAW

    We can expect to hear about Obama being counseled to wear earth tones any day now.

    I’ve always been a strong supporter of freedom of the Press, but they sure do try one’s patience a lot. Shit like this makes me wistful for Danny Casolaro.

  17. 17.

    JoeShabadoo

    @lacp:If they have a brain they let the media win.
    Romney may be out of touch but he’s a businessman so he should no you don’t beat the hell out of the guy you want to do business with when you play him in golf (or football).

  20. 20.

    SFAW

    Of course, on the plus side, if Obama wins, we’ll have four more years of Preznit Romney on the Sunday bobbleheads. Preznit McCain might get jealous, though.

  21. 21.

    DPS

    Why do you resent our media getting the occasional tugjob from plutocrats and their agents? America was founded on tugjobs.

  24. 24.

    Spaghetti Lee

    I dunno man. I’d kill for a chance like that.

    “Oh, it’s touch football? My apologies, governor! Sorry about the broken arm.”

    (In reality, of course, I’d get smothered in secret service guys and probably go to jail. But it would be worth it!)

  26. 26.

    SFAW

    @burnspbesq:

    There are neither virgins nor athletic scholarships in the Ivy League.

    Don’t know about the former, but I bet there are a few of the latter floating around. Maybe not named as such, but being used that way all the same.

  31. 31.

    DPS

    This is just another instance of you libtards never being satisfied. Haven’t you ever heard of the concept of an adversarial press?!? What do you think this is?!? The media are playing on the opposite side from the campaign. They’re trying to keep the Romney campaign from scoring. Doesn’t get any more adversarial than that. So find something legitimate to complain about.

  34. 34.

    Richard Fox

    Just finished watching a bbc production from the 60’s called “the Caeasars” and concluded the episode on Caligula. Then happened upon this thread. Why does it all seem so familiar. Some things seem destined to remain the same. Bread, circuses, tyrants.. Meteors seem vaguely comforting by comparison. Sigh.

  36. 36.

    Jay in Oregon

    @JoeShabadoo:

    Romney may be out of touch but he’s a businessman so he should no you don’t beat the hell out of the guy you want to do business with when you play him in golf (or football).

    In Romney’s world, he’s the guy that gets sucked up to in order to make the deal.

    Running for President is probably the closest he’s come to sucking up to anybody, let alone someone of a lower caste than him.

  40. 40.

    PeakVT

    I suppose the bright side here is that the Romney campaign is so freaking incompetent that they didn’t figure out they had to give the reporters a smooch until there was less than three weeks to go.

    ETA: IIRC, Obama plays sports with his Secret Service detachment. That’s good thinking right there.

  41. 41.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    Let me guess… Rmoney was tossing their balls all over the field. Ummm… they were handing their balls to Rmoney?

    Did Mitt sweat or leak lubricant?

  43. 43.

    burnspbesq

    @TheMightyTrowel:

    Sports are more fun with knives on your feet.

    And a bludgeon in your hand.

    I get the bludgeon part. I grew up playing lax. My ankles were never good enough for the knives part.

  44. 44.

    Tripod

    I’m sure the intent was to invoke echoes of Camelot or some such shit. Just like Jack and Bobby tossing the pigskin around… Of course the percentage of the voting population that would get that is getting pretty small.

    PS- Also really fucking stupid is the current dkos fixation on alt.history wish fulfillment through secession.

  45. 45.

    eemom

    We can expect to hear about Obama being counseled to wear earth tones any day now.

    You know, I’d forgotten all about Somerby. What’s he up to these days? Is it possible he hasn’t self-combusted yet?

  46. 46.

    Jerzy Russian

    @SFAW:

    Don’t know about that, but I hear a really strong check from a 6-3, 250 lb. defenseman will knock the shit out of you.

    I read a very lengthy article about athletes having the shit knocked out of them literally, or having the shit come out involuntarily. This seems to happen to long distance runners especially often. This article was either in SI or on ESPN, as I recall.

  47. 47.

    eemom

    stool softener

    Milk of Romnesia was one of the hilarities making the rounds after Obama’s speech on Friday.

  49. 49.

    SFAW

    @burnspbesq:

    I grew up playing lax.

    Where? (I think you mentioned it before, but I have CRS, so I need a refresher.)

    @Jerzy Russian:

    This seems to happen to long distance runners especially often.

    I think Uta Pippig experienced that during a Boston Marathon. Not a whole lot of fun, I imagine.

  53. 53.

    DP

    Correction: An earlier version of this post mistakenly referred to the Secret Service agents on Mr. Romney’s team as the defensive line. They were acting as the offensive line as Ann Romney threw a touchdown pass.

    I am speechless…

  58. 58.

    suzanne

    So I just got polled about an hour ago, I think for the Flake/Carmona Senate race. When they asked me if identified as conservative, moderate, or liberal, after I had spent ten minutes vehemently stating how much I was pro-Carmona and Obama and exceedingly anti-Flake and Romney, I just laughed right at the schmuck pollster. Should be interesting to see the results here pretty soon.

  62. 62.

    Narcissus

    @DP: After feeding this into the speakwrite, Winston Smith walked down to the Chestnut Tree Cafe and drank himself to death.

  64. 64.

    CW in LA

    How do you report someone for spamming the board? For that matter, with all the moderators here, why is there so much leeway afforded blatant trolls?

  65. 65.

    mainmati

    @Thoroughly Pizzled: I have two award-winning brothers who work for the media (Dallas News and Reuters) and they utterly despise the Romneybot. There’s the Beltway Opiners and there’s real journos.

    I’ve been increasingly disappointed in the Kaplan Test Prep daily, which gets heaved onto random parts of my front lawn daily. (As a proud newsboy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, I was delivering by bicycle perfectly folded papers onto doorstops (or inside storm doors if raining/snowing) from the age of 10 and these losers drive around in cars (he rants, slams head).

    Anyway, there’s a real legit media out there but there’s also a bullshit mostly TV no-thing media out there. And then’s there’s FauxNews, which is actively destructively of this country’s future.

  67. 67.

    Smiling Mortician

    For the first time in my life, I can sincerely say that this is good news for John McCain.

  72. 72.

    Poopyman

    @Poopyman: OK, I’ve found the article. So….. Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

    The game ended early — Mr. Romney’s aides needed to get to debate prep, and the reporters had stories to file.

    And just what did they have to write about? A “football” game.

    Since VDE is apparently taking a break from rage, I’ll be the one to say it. But no tumbrels for these assholes.

  74. 74.

    Robin G.

    You know, every time I think we’ve dug through the bottom of the barrel, tunneled into the top soil, and cracked the bed rock, someone tosses me a jackhammer and says not to stop until we’ve hit magma.

  77. 77.

    Political Observer

    @DPS:

    A Romney Presidency means an extension of tax cuts to grow the economy. It means an America that will achieve North American energy independence, and an America that won’t apologize for its position in the world order.

    It means an America that chooses paychecks over food stamps. That chooses economic growth over unemployment checks. One that chooses economic independence and free enterprise over economic dependence and recession.

  79. 79.

    freelancer

    @Mike in NC:

    Doug gets paid more than fifty cents a comment.

    Hey PO, it’s your birthday,
    and we gonna party like it’s your birthday.
    Gonna pay you, half a buck a ‘submit’.
    and you’re gonna make out like a GOP bandit.

    Spend your time in a cafe,
    turning liberal sites into disarray,
    don’t you know it’s worth it just ’cause as you say,
    one’s better than the other, but you’re
    dependent on the grifters sucking off those promoting “free enterprise”.

    Word to your mother.

  80. 80.

    piratedan

    @Political Observer: ohhhhh, so we’re invading Canada and Mexico and adding them to the collective to ensure our energy independence and our position in the world order is what? Are you implying that Amerika (fuk yeah implied) answers to anyone? Get thee gone heathen lest the bombs of righteousness fail to slay thee as an unbeliever! There’s a drone with your name and address ready for you, as soon as they’re done with the back order in China.

  82. 82.

    Drew

    I love that line-Obama “apologizing” for America. Personally I think our country owes the world many, many apologies, but I’m not enough of a tard to believe that that has been this administration’s approach.

  84. 84.

    SFAW

    @Political Observer:

    Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a comment where every sentence is a lie. New world record!

    Oh, and America’s position in the world order? Well, courtesy of your Rethug fellatees, America’s position will be as thralls to your Chinese overlords.

    So, yeah, thanks to your buds, we won’t have apologize for being a laughingstock within two years after “President Romney” gets “elected.”

    “Hey, bai guei! Get me some more tea, or I won’t give your pitiful excuse for a country another loan. Chop chop!”

  88. 88.

    Political Observer

    @DPS:

    You know what’s really interesting?

    The phrase “former President Obama”.

    Only a few more months.

  89. 89.

    TenguPhule

    There aren’t enough guillotines to deal with this problem, IMHO.

    Manufacturing jobs coming home!

    Also, undertakers looking better as a career all the time.

  90. 90.

    TenguPhule

    The phrase “former President Obama”.

    Which sadly we must resign ourselves to….in 2016.

  93. 93.

    Another Halocene Human

    @mainmati: As a proud newsboy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, I was delivering by bicycle perfectly folded papers onto doorstops (or inside storm doors if raining/snowing) from the age of 10 and these losers drive around in cars (he rants, slams head).

    Hell, yeah. Then the permanent recession hit (early 1990s) and they decided loser adults in cars could throw papers at subscribers. Because the delivery person didn’t have to collect the subscription money any more.

    Fuck the newspapers.

  94. 94.

    SFAW

    @Political Observer:

    He’ll be “coming” right around the time you wrap yore purty mouth around his “magic wand.” Just don’t get upset if’n he calls you “Ann” by mistake.

    “Suck it”? Yeah, another case of Rethug projection. I’m sure Willard would appreciate it if you swallow. Normally, I’d suggest you practice, but it sounds like you’ve been doing that for awhile.

    Fucking amateur. I’d need to give myself a PFL to make me as smart as you. Come back if you ever get new material – something written by someone with an IQ higher than 53, ’cause you ain’t up to that.

  99. 99.

    Political Observer

    @eemom:

    And you’ll be making empty threats about “MOVING TO CANADA !! !11 11 111 and then not doing it, in about, ooooh, sixteen days.

    Suck. On. it.

  102. 102.

    Political Observer

    SIXTEEN DAYS until the “Jesusland” and “United States of Canada” meme is reborn.

  105. 105.

    pseudonymous in nc

    First time Very Ass has resorted to copypasta from his talking points.

    Must suck to be the designated paid troll on the weekend shift, especially when he knows that his guy is going to lose.

  111. 111.

    Political Observer

    @suzanne:

    There will be much wailing and grinding of teeth on this blog in seventeen days. That’s for damn sure. And it won’t be from me.

  117. 117.

    DPS

    @Chris:

    You’ve got a little bit of drool there, on your lip. Just go ahead and wipe that off. Also, it’s OK to close your mouth. Don’t worry: you’ll still be able to breathe.

  118. 118.

    TexasMango

    @Political Observer: Actually early voting in NC is going very, very well for the president as well as in all of the other battleground states.

    Early voting numbers are exceeding 2008, black voters are voting at a higher percentage then their population and Democrats are whooping Republicans in early votes and mail in votes across the country.

    Suck on that, bitch.

  122. 122.

    Arclite

    @Bago:

    Searching for “Obama plays basketball with reporters” only gets hits on a college game and a benefit game with nba types. Then Romney on football.

    Both sides do it, obviously.

  123. 123.

    Arclite

    @lacp:

    So did Willard’s guys cheat?

    Welllllllll, they spent the whole week before the game talking about how they were going to pass the whole game, then they paid off the refs and never threw the ball once. Does that count?

  124. 124.

    Arclite

    @SFAW:

    Of course, on the plus side, if Obama wins, we’ll have four more years of Preznit Romney on the Sunday bobbleheads. Preznit McCain might get jealous, though.

    You know, I’m not so sure about that. Yes, part of why McCain was on was b/c he ran for prez, but also b/c he had been senator for 18 years or something. The combination is what made him exciting. That and he was “mavericky.”

    Rmoney doesn’t have that much going for him other than his prez run.

  125. 125.

    PeakVT

    @Arclite: I think you’re right. Romney was the not-as-bad-as-the-other-guys candidate in the primaries, and now he’s the not-as-blah-as-the-other-guy candidate in the general. Nobody likes Mitt; his supporters just hate him less.

  127. 127.

    bago

    Sweet Jesus, everyone who nibbled on that tribal bait that was trolling so… Un-subtly, needs to step their awareness of internet traditions.

  130. 130.

    James E. Powell

    @Arclite:

    Romney has nothing going for him. He only got the nomination because he had tons of money and all the other candidates were so far out of the mainstream that no sane person wanted them to get the nomination.

    He has no programs, no ideas, no principles. All he has is his insatiable hunger for attention and acclaim. He needs to win the presidency very badly or his whole life means nothing.

    The only thing he has going for him in this election is that this is the United States of America and he is the white guy.

  132. 132.

    Donut

    @PeakVT:

    Hate Romney less? Dunno. I think they hate Obama more than anything. IMO, they are driven far more by that, and Romney is simply a vehicle through which their stupid, death-spiral rage can be expressed. Romney as empty vessel for mostly idiot white people, if you will.

  141. 141.

    kay

    They probably know something about him after the game. Which would put them ahead of the rest of the country.

    Maybe they could interview one another and we’d find out if he said anything about us.

  144. 144.

    pattonbt

    @Political Observer: Dude, you went too far with that one, you let the mask slip a bit. Not that your good before that, but you kept it together and consistent reasonably well. Poor tell.

  145. 145.

    Ksmiami

    @Political Observer: why does the prospect of war with persia and screwing the middle class and poor make you so happy? I mean as a rich person, I’ll be fine but I don’t think… Based on your limited vocabulary and thinking ability that you will emerge unscathed. Oh and the other thing – I live near some of the romneys and honestly they are mostly contemptuous of the very people voting for them. But Good luck to you and please stop polluting the threads at balloon juice

  146. 146.

    Chyron HR

    Remember, guys, if Romney somehow wins despite 538 saying his chances are only 1/3, you have to call him “President-Elect Romney”.

    Whereas if President Obama is re-elected, Republicans will continue to call him “Halfrican Mulatto Rapist Welfare Thug Boy NigObama,” because, well, duh.

  147. 147.

    SFAW

    @Arclite:

    Rmoney doesn’t have that much going for him other than his prez run.

    You’re apparently assuming the Sunday Bobbleheads are rational.

    As Yutsano might say: Totes adorbs.

    (Yutsano –

    Am I gettin’ the hipster lingo, that you beatniks are using, semi-correct? All reet!)

  148. 148.

    kay

    Also, maybe it’s just me, but did they do an unusually horrible job on Benghazi?
    Whatever the administration did or didn’t say, aren’t they supposed to find some additional information rather than blindly launching conflicting accusations?
    Maybe they could have waited ten minutes and verified something or other?

  149. 149.

    T. Bombadil

    There aren’t enough guillotines to deal with this problem, IMHO.

    The care and feeding of the press is what competent, pro-active organizations do whether the organization in question is corporate, nonprofit, or governmental – or a local small business trying to wrangle a good story in the local paper.

  150. 150.

    T. Bombadil

    There aren’t enough guillotines to deal with this problem, IMHO.

    The care and feeding of the press is what competent, pro-active organizations do whether the organization in question is corporate, nonprofit, or governmental – or a local small business trying to wrangle a good story in the local paper.

  151. 151.

    Soshy

    @kay:

    My favorite attempt to recover the narrative was made by Peter King:

    As far as it being an act of terror, the president was almost four minutes into his statement on September 12th before he mentioned an act of terror…. It wasn’t until he was well into the remarks.

    Four minutes!!!

  153. 153.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @kay:

    Also, maybe it’s just me, but did they do an unusually horrible job on Benghazi?

    Honestly, I think Benghazi is a nothingburger. I know, 4 Americans dead, yada yada yada. But in the grand scheme of presidential fuck-ups, it’s way down the list, and most Americans don’t really notice all the fuss. I’m relatively wired in politically and it makes no sense to me why anyone things this is a big “get” on the administration.

  154. 154.

    kay

    @Soshy:

    It’s just bizarre.
    They started with “Rice, Clinton and Obama lied about it because, politics”
    But now it looks like what Rice said has been coraborated, and it’s too late to pursue the bigger question, which is “what happpened?”
    It’s certainly possible the Administration lied, but why jump on that and make THAT the story?
    Now we’re in he said/ she said unknowable territory, and we’ll never know WHAT HAPPENED.
    Republiicans sent them off on a wild goose chase.

  156. 156.

    SFAW

    @KoolEarl:

    When are you people going to stop responding to the PO trolling?

    Any/all of the following:

    1) When DougJ stops trolling “his own” blog
    2) After Obama beats Rmoney and PO disappears
    3) PO will stop himself – although not on purpose – when the embedded virus that John has written into the page code hoses PO’s PC
    4) When, taking a tip from Yutsano, we all start telling PO how “totes adorbs” she is. (See, Yutsy, you created a monster.)
    5) After burns or Omnes sends PO a writ of habeas corpus flagrante delicto venividivici
    6) That meteor really does hit
    7) When both sides do it
    8) When Teh Turtle decides not to be a treasonous fuck, and work for the good of the country Nah, too unlikely
    9) The J-E-T-S win the Super Bowl
    10) Joe Arpaio resigns
    11) John Sunununununu, a/k/a Prolapsed Pig Rectum, gets some class Yah, right

    I got more, but you get the idea

  157. 157.

    kay

    @Soshy:

    Right. And media got co-opted into the GOP political frame. But why? It was so obviously a political frame. Why pursue what Republicans say is important, exclusively? It looks like they got their line of questioning from Andrea Saul, and now they’re not going to be credible on the “the Administration lied” bit even if it turns out Clinton or Obama DID lie. They shouldn’t have piled on the accusation leveled at Rice if for no other reason than if they were wrong (and it looks like they were) they’re discredited on this story.

  158. 158.

    Kirbster

    @Ksmiami:

    Even as a rich person, I wouldn’t be too sanguine about surviving a Romney administration. Unless you’re Romney-level rich and have access to insider information, the inevitable economic crash that would result from Romney’s policies could easily sweep away a lifetime of savings and investments.

  159. 159.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @arguingwithsignposts:
    @kay: I think a big part of the the problem for Romney on the whole Libya question is that the real questions do not help them at all. The real questions, ones that were featured on numerous FP posts here on this log, is whether, when, and the US should get involved in the internal affairs of other countries. The Obama Admin threaded a mighty small needle in Libya. The Romney folks do know he is open to criticism for getting involved, but they can’t do it honestly because it would require saying that the would have gone in harder and probably with ground troops. This would not be popular with a war weary public. OTOH, they are instinctively pro-war so saying they would have stayed out would not be believed. As a result, they opted to go with BS and hope that some of it sticks with with both people who want more and those who wanted less. The problem they have is that, unless you come from the point of view that we should not have gotten involved at all, Obama’s strategy seems to have been fairly effective.

  160. 160.

    debbie

    I think what Romney showed on Benghazi is his inability to quickly pivot. He kept pushing the message he was told to push and didn’t adapt to Obama’s response. This reminded me of Bush and his refusal to see that there were strategery problems in Iraq until 2-3 years into it.

  163. 163.

    kay

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    When I was listening to what media were asking, I thought they knew something. They had some idea of what actually happened, so that’s why they were pursuing the story framed around the Administration lying. I thought we’d get to what they were lying about, because we were all but told, “they’re lying.”
    But I guess I gave them too much credit. They went right to the “Administration is covering up what really happened here” with absolutely nothing other than conflicting statements. They had no idea whether they were lying or not because they didn’t know what happened. It’s just weak. They didn’t anticipate that maybe, possibly, Rice wasn’t lying? Now what do they do? Go back to “what happened?” They’ve muddled it up so much it’s now a matter of opinion.

  164. 164.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @kay: Don’t these people watch cop shows. Everyone knows the authorities don’t release all the information, leaving some things that only they and the killer know.

  165. 165.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @kay:
    For the answer to that, look at the media’s history and what they say about candidates and positions. Not the lines they push, but how they push them. Those are your tells, the reflections of their feelings that screen out suspicions of conspiratorial collaboration.

    I think it comes down to the national media being comprised of rich people with serious daddy issues. Serious, serious, ‘Is television one giant closet?!’ daddy issues. They like ‘tough guys’ and ‘tough love’, and those tough guys aren’t actually tough and the tough love isn’t actually love – but they feel like it if you’re old, rich, and have daddy issues. The framing that the safety net is entitlements for lazy people and the reaction that Romney was strong and commanding in the first debate were almost universal. Notice that after that debate, slobbering over Romney increased tenfold.

    Democratic candidates are almost always intelligent, and the party defines itself by not having positions of ‘fuck over (Insert Noun Here) because it builds character’. So Republicans get the leg humping.

  166. 166.

    liberal

    @Political Observer:

    It means an America that will achieve North American energy independence…

    LOL. Another stupid right-winger who doesn’t know dick about economics.

    Even if there was enough fossil fuels for N.A. to be “energy independent,” it’s irrelevant because oil is priced in a world market.

    But you wouldn’t know anything about that, because like most so-called conservatives, you wouldn’t know anything about real markets even if they slapped you up the backside of the head. All you know about are government handouts, disguised as economic rents. Though your IQ is too low for you to actually comprehend the concept of “rent”.

  167. 167.

    kay

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I think it was naive (and vaguely insulting) to assume Obama is going to make a statement that “proves” something or other. He’s precise with language, and if he’s not, that’s deliberate too. Of course he’s going to say he allowed for anything because didn’t know yet. How long have they been listening to him? I think I know of one time in 4 years where he spoke even somewhat loosely, and that was Henry Gates, and he was absolutely right about the Gates arrest. Ya know, the truth slipped out there. Unwise, maybe, since they went freaking berserk, but not untrue.

  168. 168.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @kay:

    Maybe they could have waited ten minutes and verified something or other?

    Faux News came back from break, so they had all they needed to start their gobshite engines.

    I think we underestimate the extent to which wingnuttia now defines “terrorism!1!!1” very strictly as “shit Muslims do”.

    @kay:

    They went right to the “Administration is covering up what really happened here” with absolutely nothing other than conflicting statements. They had no idea whether they were lying or not because they didn’t know what happened.

    This is where the denuding of foreign bureaux (and the sad loss of bona fide journalists like Anthony Shadid) comes in: it feels like there are no political journalists on duty in the US in situations like this other than anchors and on-camera talent and campaign journalists riding on the fucking buses. Whoever has the State and DoD/spook beats needs time to do some actual reporting, and in the meantime, there’s pressure to report something, so they go to the fucking campaigns and idiots like Peter King because they’re generating fresh material.

    It’s like how Google’s search algorithms will now give you 592 results from the last six minutes on a breaking topic saying the same dum thing, but nothing substantial from last week.

  169. 169.

    ericblair

    @kay:

    When I was listening to what media were asking, I thought they knew something. They had some idea of what actually happened, so that’s why they were pursuing the story framed around the Administration lying

    You’ll also note that none of these assholes seem to have any worry about being considered disloyal or helping the enemy by attacking the President of the United States right after an attack on our government. If it was a gooper in the White House, these guys would have been out of jobs or worse by now, but if it’s a Dem, they have absolutely no worry at all.

  170. 170.

    kay

    @ericblair:

    They turned it into this crazy parsing of language. Act of terror. Terror of act. Of act terror. Which doesn’t matter at all unless it’s an act of terror, or someone actually said it wasn’t. If it turns out it was the film, now it’s too late to pursue that and that’s probably important. Who made the film? Why was the film released a month before an election? Oh, well. We’ll never know!

  173. 173.

    Ksmiami

    @Kirbster: oh it will be pretty horrific if even one iota of the Ryan plan gets implemented and we go to war w Iran . I just meant that its quite doubtful based on political observers status that he makes more than 600k per year so he has no business cheering on rmoney

  175. 175.

    Elie

    Why are we here? I just can’t get the question out of my head… despite the President’s shaky first debate, I do not at all get the huge shift in momemntum and the polls. Suddenly, all the good things that Americans formerly believed about this President have been replaced by a lying bully who has lied in consecutive outings? What they hey is going on? This whol Benghazi nothing burger is the same thing — what happened??? This just doesnt add up..

  176. 176.

    kay

    @Keith G:

    Thanks. I hadn’t seen it. I’ve been swamped. I think it’s fairly standard speculation, where they interview two people who aren’t voting for Obama and extrapolate from that. I actually know Joe O’Neil and I don’t think he really said anything earth-shattering there. We all think opinions have hardened, which goes against the premise of the piece, which is voters will swing to Romney.

    I think this is the important part of the article:

    “This could spell trouble for Obama, who won only 44 percent of the vote in Defiance County in 2008— still six points better than Sen. John F. Kerry’s showing in 2004. Closing the gaps in GOP strongholds was part of what allowed Obama to win 51.3 percent of the vote in Ohio. He was the first Democrat to top 50 percent since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.”

    There’s a persistant media myth that union members vote exclusively for Democrats, but it isn’t true. I think the margin in the upper midwest (broadly) is 40-45% GOP, and that’s higher in manufacturing (as opposed to say, service) because they’re older and whiter and more male. Democrats don’t like to talk about it because it’s a division, and Republicans don’t like to talk about it because it contradicts the “union lockstep thugs” talking point.

    It is true that closing the gaps in GOP strongholds is important, but as you know that’s true for every Democrat in Ohio. We only win by inches.

  177. 177.

    kay

    @Keith G:

    And right on cue, the Q/CBS poll has Obama up 5 in Ohio, which is good news :)

    The Plain Dealer has a poll coming out that they’re all waiting for here. It’s due like the 28th or something. They say it’s always predictive. I had forgotten about it, but I looked and it was on the money in 2004, with Bush two points up.

  178. 178.

    1badbaba3

    @Elie: The UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH must flow – into the coffers of the multimedia hydra. No horserace, no cash. C’mon, we’re running a business here, for Pete’s sake. That’s all. One debate does not cancel the three worst months in Presidential campaign history. Never happen, Chief. But they don’t get paid if they don’t play.

    Sorry, not worried in the slightest. Forward, bitchez!

  179. 179.

    kay

    @Keith G:

    I, personally, get really frustrated with union members voting GOP. I am out of patience with that. I went into a mini-rant at the jail last week that was probably not helpful. I was tired and I thought “oh, just FUCK you with this, I hope you lose your health insurance and your pension”.

  180. 180.

    Elie

    @1badbaba3:

    Thanks — I needed that —

    Have been doorbelling and phone banking to stay positive — there is lots of energy here in VA — a key battleground state and we have people here from Massachusetts and also a couple of volunteers from Australia who fear the election of Romney — pretty cool…

  181. 181.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    There aren’t enough guillotines to deal with this problem, IMHO.

    “Gentlemen! We cannot allow a guillotine GAP!” — Gen Jack D. Ripper

  182. 182.

    mds

    @Elie:

    Why are we here? I just can’t get the question out of my head… despite the President’s shaky first debate, I do not at all get the huge shift in momemntum and the polls.

    @1badbaba3:

    The UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH must flow

    Some of that, certainly, though given how little bang for the buck Willard has been getting so far, it’s less than people had feared.

    Picking up on a previously-mentioned theory, I think there were a lot of people looking for an excuse not to support Obama (and we’re talking low-information swing voters, not firebaggers), but quite underwhelmed by what they had seen of Romney so far. Then Romney pulls off his fact-free bullying asshole maneuver in the first debate, and suddenly he looks like a contender worth giving a chance.

    Also too, based on my parental conduit to Fox News / Talibornagain Land, there has been a massive full-court press by Religious Right leaders to urge their followers to forget everything they’ve been told about Mormonism up to 2012 and get out and cast a vote for Romney and Jesus to pull America back from the brink of Religious Right leaders becoming politically irrelevant America’s collapse into godless anarchy. First we had “Explicitly endorse a (Republican) candidate from the pulpit” day, and now there’s been a full-page “Billy” [i.e., Franklin] Graham ad in a bunch of yesterday’s papers. They are all in on beating the leftist Kenyan Muslim usurper, and they’re not going to let even the least pretense of consistency or principles get in their way. They’re so completely bankrupt at the morality bank, they’ve even got Ralph Reed helping out again.

    I do hope that if/when Romney loses, that there’s a little bit of internecine warfare over religious strategery. But I’m not going to hold my breath.

  183. 183.

    Cassidy

    It’s been a little over a week, so I’m going to do some light spamming again. On Feb 2, 2013 I’ll be taking part in the Fight for Air Climb in Jacksonville, FL. My Firefighting class is required by our Chief to do a community service project to remind and reinforce the idea that Firefighters are public servants and role models; personally, I agree with that sentiment. I don’t have a eprsonal connection to lung cancer, or any cancer really, either than my continual struggle to quit smoking.

    So, your donation, if you’re willing, either contributes money to that particular cause or buys you a small piece of my misery. I’ll be climbing 42 stories up in full bunker gear and air pack (roughly 30lbs). If you can or feel like it, please donate. I’ve already met my goal thanks to two very generous individuals. At this point it’s become a bit of a competition between classmates (I’m 3rd place) and to see if we can get our team into 1st (currently 2nd).

  184. 184.

    1badbaba3

    @kay: Here in the home of the Sit-Down Strike of ’37, I am often taken aback at the resentment towards Unions, and the blame they take for “The Downturn”. Flint is a shell of it’s former glory – such as it was – and the idea that your Union member neighbor and his cabin up North are more responsible for sending jobs to Mexico and China than Hedge Fund motherfuckers and golden parachutes for bad execs just blows my mind. Now we’ve got the Nerd (Snyder) sucking up for the DeVos crime syndicate and they are trying to pull a Brain Capital on us with this Emergency Manager shite. Voting against one’s best interest, indeed.

    Don’t blame me, I voted for Bernero.

  185. 185.

    Seanly

    @Jerzy Russian:

    Lots & lots of smaller ones…

    Something tells me this event devolved into a big tickle fight, full of delighted squealing and overly eager laughing.

  186. 186.

    weaselone

    I wasn’t particularly surprised that the media as a whole followed the Fox News driven cover up story as it has the gossipy salaciousness that the modern media laps up with the fervor of an alcoholic who just spilled their last bottle of beer on the bathroom floor. What has surprised me is that they continue to push this idea of a cover up of a preplanned Al Queda strike, even as the picture of what happened in Benghazi has been filled in. It now appears that it was carried out by a Libyan militia group with a strong anti-American sentiment, but extremely tenuous ties to Al Queda. The attack was organized, but not pre-planned and was sparked by the video trailer and the opportunity presented by the reaction to it. The MSM appears to have missed this.

  188. 188.

    maya

    That settles it. I know who I’m voting for; the president I’d like to play flag football with. If only I could get my 350 lb beer-belly hulk outta this comfy Lazy-Boy recliner.

  189. 189.

    Maude

    @maya:
    You’ll be sorry. The sand will be in places you don’t want it to go.

    The media either does horse race or soap opera. The Bengazi story was set as a soap opera. A lot of the media is ignorant and lazy. It showed up in this story and yet they kept it up.
    Obama doesn’t lie, so they can’t do a gotcha. He has called them out and they hate that. He is intelligent and that is a really offensive thing to the media.
    They don’t care about what happened, they want revenue. Don’t forget that the tv media are celebrities ans very self important.
    Just remember the run up to the Iraq War and that is the tell.

  190. 190.

    Mnemosyne

    @Elie:

    As far as I can tell, discouraged Republican voters had been telling pollsters that they weren’t planning to vote for Romney. Then he had a not-bad debate performance, and they all started telling the pollsters that they were Likely Voters.

    If you look at the polling breakdown, Romney’s “national” surge all happened in the South. The numbers have barely moved at all in the West, East, and Midwest. And unfortunately for the South, we have this little thing called the Electoral College that means that swamping the popular vote doesn’t mean very much to the actual election.

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