• 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.

The lights are all blinking red.

This country desperately needs a functioning Fourth Estate.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Another missed opportunity for Jamie Dimon to just shut the fuck up.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

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

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

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

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

Mobile Menu

  • Four Directions Montana
  • 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 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2024 Elections
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Archives for Libby Spencer

Libby Spencer wrote for Balloon Juice from 2011-12.

"Well, it’s my turn to fill in for Doug, and no, I have no idea why he and John so kindly gave me the keys to the place either."

Libby Spencer

The wimp factor

by Libby Spencer|  July 29, 20124:27 pm| 79 Comments

This post is in: Election 2012, Vote Like Your Country Depends On It, Romney of the Uncanny Valley

In the endless quest to sell magazines, this deliberately provocative Newsweek cover is generating some buzz today.

The Mittster told CBS this morning, he “doesn’t care what the media says..” Guessing that’s probably not true.

Haven’t read the article, but I was just musing about Mitt’s social ineptitude last night. In reviewing all the bizarre rhetorical gaffes he’s made over the course of this campaign, it strikes me this is a man who never emotionally matured beyond teenage anxiety. His apparent need to establish his status and superiority by tearing down others borders on complusion.

Thinking particularly of his huge breach in disclosing his meeting with MI6, I see a guy who is still desperately trying to impress the cool kids in prep school who never fully accepted him into their inner circle. Not sure I’d classify that as wimpy, but it certainly suggests an innate insecurity that won’t serve us well should he somehow manage to gain the Oval Office.

Update: “Robert O’Brien, a foreign policy adviser for Romney, responded to the Newsweek cover“:

…The fact is that Mitt Romney is a steely-nerved businessman, who has turned around failed companies, the corruption-plagued 2002 Olympic Winter Games and an almost-bankrupt Massachusetts – against all odds in each case. Moreover, he has raised a great family with his wife, Ann.

Steely-nerved businessman? Don’t believe I’ve ever seen Mittster’s predatory business practices described in quite that way.

The wimp factorPost + Comments (79)

Take me to your Mr. Leader

by Libby Spencer|  July 28, 20123:10 pm| 130 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Open Threads

I’ve been a fan of his work for years but never realized it until I started following Charles Dharapak on the twitter. He delivers the iconic photos every time.

WHEELS DOWN: MItt and Ann Romney arrive in Tel Aviv, Israel, photo via @AP twitter.com/CharlesDharapa…

— Charles Dharapak (@CharlesDharapak) July 28, 2012


[Larger photo]

Rmoneybot is looking a little jetlagged again, so looking forward to more world tour hiliarity.

Talk about whatever.

Addendum: It begins. Zeke Miller is there. Favorite tweet so far: “Romney asked one person where he was from and he replied DC. Romney: ‘Washington, DC! Thanks so much for being here.’”

Take me to your Mr. LeaderPost + Comments (130)

Romney on the road again

by Libby Spencer|  July 28, 201212:11 pm| 103 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Clown Shoes, Romney of the Uncanny Valley

Mr. Personality is off to a flying start.

Not so much as a glance at the press corps from Romney on the plane, which was both funny & telling. Biggest press group traveling w/him yet

— Maeve Reston(@MaeveReston) July 28, 2012

The campaign team shows off their superior organizational skillz.


[original photo via]

Romney plane also decorated w/ Middle East map & Team USA Olympic sign. Aides had an Israeli flag to hang but nixed it

— Holly Bailey (@hollybdc) July 28, 2012

Meanwhile, Team Rmoney is ready for Obama’s “Saturday Surprise.” Whatever that may be. Any guesses?

Romney on the road againPost + Comments (103)

The Parade of Nations

by Libby Spencer|  July 27, 201210:23 pm| 151 Comments

This post is in: Sports

The parade goes on and on. Don’t think I’m going to make it to the end. Just watched parts of the opening ceremony. Don’t think I would have enjoyed it as much if I was in the stadium but I thought Danny Boyle did a fine job. China was a tough act to follow. It was mostly great teevee. My favorite part was the faked helicopter arrival. Disappointed that I didn’t see a skydiver land in the stadium though.

NBC’s coverage is a disaster. Viera and Lauer talk too much. And then they added Costa? I’m done for today.

I probably won’t watch that much of the games. I’m not a summer Olympics person. I like the diving and some of the gymnastics. And of course, I really want to see the dressage event this year. Anybody know when that airs?

Otherwise, I’m a winter Olympics fan. Ski jumping and luge runs interest me more than foot races and broad jumps.

[All my threads are open.]

The Parade of NationsPost + Comments (151)

License to steal

by Libby Spencer|  July 27, 201210:42 am| 87 Comments

This post is in: Education, Nobody could have predicted

This bit of fraud at the taxpayers’ expense mostly slipped under the radar this week.

A charter school mogul was charged today in a multimillion-dollar fraud case by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. […]

Brown, 75, and four executives from her charter schools, were charged with defrauding three charter schools of more than $6.5 million in taxpayer funds.

U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger announced that a federal grand jury had returned a 62-count indictment against Brown and four of her trusted employees. […]

“The bottom line is running a charter school does not give you a license to steal,” FBI Special Agent in Charge George C. Venizelos said.

Kay’s the expert on this issue. I’m not well versed but speaking anecdotally, the first charter school I remember being aware of was started decades ago in NYC, devoted to the performing arts. I recall it worked well. In the present day, there’s a charter school for the performing arts in the tiny town of Hadley, MA, that graduated several of my friends’ kids. It also appears to be a very good school and worth the taxpayer investment.

So I’m thinking charter schools aren’t entirely a bad concept when they’re geared to one specialized area of study that serves a certain segment of the student population who excel in it. But for the most part, as far as I can see, the charter school movement as it currently exists doesn’t serve any educational purpose. It’s little more than an open invitation to steal.

License to stealPost + Comments (87)

The city that never sleeps

by Libby Spencer|  July 26, 20129:02 pm| 19 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

I collect links to livestream webcams. One of my favorites is this one in Times Square. I usually scroll down and bring up the street cam. Looks like that ugly storm has already passed through there.

Adding, if you prefer to see some sun, Las Vegas. You have to sit through a short commercial before it loads.

Open thread if you want it.

The city that never sleepsPost + Comments (19)

Anglo-Saxon relations

by Libby Spencer|  July 26, 20121:38 pm| 98 Comments

This post is in: Clown Shoes, Nobody could have predicted

Yes, the twitter is down (deep breaths my fellow twitter addicts). But no matter. The Balloon Juice community is quicker than twitter. For the readers who don’t have time to read the threads, more marvelous fail from Mitt’s Misery Tour.

Via Litlebritdifrnt, the Mittmaster’s fundraiser is discounting tickets:

The Mitt Romney Summer 2012 World Tour to Three Countries is apparently having trouble moving tickets.

The London blogger Guido Fawkes reports that organizers of a Romney fundraising reception in the city this evening have slashed the original $2,500 ticket price to $1,000 for “a few last minute guests,” in an effort to drum up participation.

Fawkes quotes an email from organizers:

From: XXXX
Subject: romney dinner…..reduced price for last minute guests has been negotiated

Good news: The Romney dinner in London on Thursday, July 26th is reaching an all time record for a one event fundraiser. In order to get us over the top, we have been allowed to invite a few last minute guests at 10,000 [sic] per ticket vs 25,000 [sic] per ticket.”

Can’t improve on the Guardian liveblog’s response to that:

We’d like to know the nature of that all-time record for a one-event fundraiser. What’s the data pool? Thursday night events featuring at least one internationally competitive heptathlete?

Surely athletes get in free.

And via Iowa Old Lady, from the Mittmaster’s pre-tour interview:

As if questioning the enthusiasm of the British public wasn’t enough, Romney appeared to go on to denounce the whole of Europe, telling NBC: “We’re at a point here where we have two different roads we can go down. One leads to Europe. The other leads to the kind of dynamism and prosperity which has always characterised America.”

Being that I generally spend most of my time reading about politics, when I woke up this morning, I did not expect today to be so much fun. Haven’t laughed this much in weeks.

Anglo-Saxon relationsPost + Comments (98)

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Go to page 5
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 7
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Recent Comments

  • Ken on Squishable Wee Hours Open Thread (Apr 11, 2024 @ 7:01am)
  • Shalimar on Chill Grey Dawn Open Thread: The Mother’s Milk of Politics (Apr 11, 2024 @ 7:00am)
  • NotMax on Chill Grey Dawn Open Thread: The Mother’s Milk of Politics (Apr 11, 2024 @ 6:57am)
  • Baud on Chill Grey Dawn Open Thread: The Mother’s Milk of Politics (Apr 11, 2024 @ 6:56am)
  • NotMax on Chill Grey Dawn Open Thread: The Mother’s Milk of Politics (Apr 11, 2024 @ 6:53am)

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

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

Balloon Juice Posts

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

Balloon Juice Meetups!

All Meetups
Talk of Meetups – Meetup Planning
Proposed BJ meetups list from frosty

Fundraising 2023-24

Wis*Dems Supreme Court + SD-8
Virginia House Races
Four Directions – Montana
Worker Power AZ
Four Directions – Arizona
Four Directions – Nevada

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
Positive Climate News
War in Ukraine
Cole’s “Stories from the Road”
Classified Documents Primer

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)

Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Twitter / Spoutible

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

Political Action 2024

Postcard Writing Information

Balloon Juice for Four Directions AZ

Donate

Balloon Juice for Four Directions NV

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 © 2024 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc