2012 U.S. Presidential Election

[Ronin]

Lovely. So Romney gives this buffoon what he wants, and the ungrateful little homunculous turns around and makes it into an argument for why Romney can't be President. Someone explain the logic of this to me, 'cause it looks insane from where I'm standing.

it's right wing talk-radio. isn´t insane par for the course?

[Ironside]

And now there's Bullygate. We're going back to high school for scandals? Really? Why stop there? Why not scrutinize their pre-K and Kindergarten records? Let's see if there are any fetal scandals they might have had in utero!

Maybe this will, in fact, be the most boring election in the history of mankind.

It's probably light dirt following Obama's support for same sex unions. Heavy stuff is saved for later. Or the election will be boring (or normal depending on how you meassure).

[Lemur]

It's probably light dirt following Obama's support for same sex unions. Heavy stuff is saved for later.

Maybe, but I don't think the ebb-and-flow is quite that orchestrated. Seems more like everybody's reacting to the latest brush fire and running around screaming. If you believe what you read, Team Obama wanted to spend this week talking economy and student loans, and wound up being nothing but gay gay gay. Meanwhile Team Romney also wanted to talk economy, and wound up with Bullygate.

I think there's a reason campaigns are so big about "staying on message." It's really hard to do ...

[Ironside]

Maybe, but I don't think the ebb-and-flow is quite that orchestrated. Seems more like everybody's reacting to the latest brush fire and running around screaming. If you believe what you read, Team Obama wanted to spend this week talking economy and student loans, and wound up being nothing but gay gay gay. Meanwhile Team Romney also wanted to talk economy, and wound up with Bullygate.

I think there's a reason campaigns are so big about "staying on message." It's really hard to do ...

Since it's well researched I considered it to be more or less done and planned to be used together with the planned announcement, since it's expected effect would simply be to pull out an apology from Mitt and not much more. It's not that big outside getting a minor label of "secretly hating gays" on Romney by itself, so it can only be used for that.

With the high age (Mitt was 18-19) it might've been milked for more,
but the: "you I know I don't really remember the "prank" where I criminally assulted someone badly enough to give my fellow companions a minor trauma over the issue" is not a sign of a good character or that years of life experience have improved that character. And that falls fully on Romney, but that couldn't be predicted.

[Lemur]

Pretty good take, since Repubs generally lower taxes and raise spending once in power:

If Romney wins, not only will taxes stay low, Republicans will drop their opposition to government spending and deficits. That's because parties in power always support higher deficits and spending. It's just what they do.

We'd love to hear someone say with a straight face that Republicans, if given full power, would seriously stick to their principles of limiting government. Opposing deficits is strictly the purview of the opposition party.

So the Keynesian choice is Romney.

[Lemur]

Eerily accurate:

[PanzerJaeger]

Not only is this true of both parties, but it is (if I may say so myself) the defining characteristic of the Republican Party during my life-time. From Reagan to Bush Jr. the Republicans are the big government, pro-interventionist, increase-the-debt party. By comparison, Clinton and Obama have been responsible for mostly slashing the hell out of the military.

No one remembers GHWB.

[ICantSpellDawg]

Eerily accurate:

That movie looks awesome. He just punched a baby

[gaelic cowboy]

No one remembers GHWB.

I remember in some ways he was more embarrassing than his son and he was more remote than Tristan Da Cunha.

[drone]

No one remembers GHWB.

Indeed, 41 was probably the best president of my lifetime. Tried to do what was right, not just whatever he needed to get reelected. Shame what came out of his loins though.

[Xiahou]

The White House's official website has biographies for all past presidents. Obama has stuck his name into every single one since Coolidge.

Here's the addendum for Reagan:

President Reagan designated Martin Luther King Jr. Day a national holiday; today the Obama Administration honors this tradition, with the First and Second Families participating in service projects on this day.

In a June 28, 1985 speech Reagan called for a fairer tax code, one where a multi-millionaire did not have a lower tax rate than his secretary. Today, President Obama is calling for the same with the Buffett Rule.

[Lemur]

Obama has stuck his name into every single one since Coolidge.

I doubt he did that personally; more likely some overzealous copywriter/flack went a bit gonzo. I expect the site will be toned down shortly.

In the meantime, have fun!

[ICantSpellDawg]

I doubt he did that personally; more likely some overzealous copywriter/flack went a bit gonzo. I expect the site will be toned down shortly.

In the meantime, have fun!

I have immediately enposted this to my interwebs

[Tellos Athenaios]

Clearly, Obama is a time lord.

Clearly, Obama is Sarkozy.

[Lemur]

I love The Onion so damn much.

[ICantSpellDawg]

Does anybody feel like the Obama campaign has spun off the rails this week? The media/democratic onslaught has started in full effect, but the discussion of Bain is not going over well on TV or the internet. Obama supporters are showing themselves to be petty, draconian and anti-capitalist - which may or may not be true. We've got the Rolling Stones ripping on Romney, Obama ripping on him from the NATO forum, a teacher screaming at a student and threatening him with jail, Mayor Booker being held hostage for a retractile clip, Chris Matthews angrily trying to tell Booker how to be a better Obama surrogate, Powell refusing to endorse Obama yet. The sycophancy is becoming weird.

This week has been terrible for the campaign and it was supposed to be terrible for Romney. What do you think happened?

[PanzerJaeger]

Heh, the whole Booker affair has been most enjoyable. He pretty much invalidated the Obama campaign's entire line of attack against Bain, point by point. I especially liked his comments about having to cut jobs as mayor to keep government functional. His defense of Bain was better than anything the Romney people have put out so far.

If I had to guess as to why the anti-Bain rollout is flailing out of the gate and experiencing so much pushback, even from Obama surrogates, I would suggest that the fundamental message they are pushing transcends party lines and offends Americans of all types on a deeper level. America, for better or worse, is still very much the home of unabashed, unashamed, free market capitalism. It is in our blood - a major part of the 'American Spirit'. It is the reason we stood alone for so long as the only nation in the developed world without socialized healthcare (and why a majority of us still do not want it), but it is also the reason why we have an insanely high GDP even after our near complete deindustrialization.

The GOP is more overtly pro-business while the Democrats feign a kind of populism-lite, but both parties (and the vast majority of Americans) share a mutual respect and admiration for wealth creation and success in industry. Even after the Wall Street financial crisis, polls show Americans still are still overwhelmingly positive towards the rich. The kind of cynical attacks on Romney's success in business that Obama has been peddling are not only offensive, but deeply un-American. Americans are comfortable with vicious attacks on the candidate's personal lives, past associations, and any number of random, distorted, and seemingly meaningless assertions about nearly every aspect of their lives since birth, but attacking someone for being successful and making buckets of money just does not sit well.

[ICantSpellDawg]

I like Cory Booker. He reminds me of a third way politician. He's most likely gay, has no established position on abortion, gets along well with the Republican gov of his state, defends private equity, has a good sense of humor. He is going places in the new political culture. I may not ever vote for him, but hes going to have a good run. All I require though, to vote for a politician, is that they at least recognize that the abortion issue is not a simple one and needs serious caution due to the destruction of human life and the protection of the rights of the woman over her own body. Ill listen to whatever you have to say after then, but you wont get past the door if you cant aknowledge that basic reality. My own litmus test

[ICantSpellDawg]

As I've said before, he knows how to create wealth for the owner/investor class. We are the owner/investor class in the U.S.A. We are not employees of our government. We would be well serves with a guy like Mitt in the White House

[gaelic cowboy]

As I've said before, he knows how to create wealth for the owner/investor class. We are the owner/investor class in the U.S.A. We are not employees of our government. We would be well serves with a guy like Mitt in the White House

I hope you mean served as in served on a plate for the rampant appetites of Gordon Gekko types in Wall Street.

They destroyed more jobs through overfinalcialisation of your economy which ultimately required a bailout.

And the big laugh is there not lieing when they say that if they hadnt got a bailout things would be worse than now. It's plainly obvious these finacial types know sweet all about business.


Also the idea that America is really America INC and requires a CEO to run it from the White House is silly.

[Major Robert Dump]

I don't see how what Romeny did was any worse than giving money hand-over-fist to Green Energy companies that go belly up. Solandra was just the tip of the iceberg, and as I understand it, virtually all those companies were Obama cronies.

Happens in politics, got it, been there done that. But what Romney did is no worse, in fact, you could argue that at least he doesn't steal from the taxpayers.

But hey, Obama walks on water as far as his supporters are concerned. Thats party politics, yo

[Xiahou]

I don't see how what Romeny did was any worse than giving money hand-over-fist to Green Energy companies that go belly up. Solandra was just the tip of the iceberg, and as I understand it, virtually all those companies were Obama cronies.

Listen to Jay Carney explain the difference.

[Lemur]

Meanwhile, silly season continues. Apparently Team Romney's iPhone app misspells America. In a graphic. OH THE HUMANITY!

[a completely inoffensive name]

What's the point of linking to such stupid things. I would rather have the thread die than generate conversation on things not in any way important.

[drone]

What's the point of linking to such stupid things. I would rather have the thread die than generate conversation on things not in any way important.

Stuff like this just illustrates how insanely stupid this whole race has been. We may as well elect Zaphod come November.

Birthers for the win...

[Xiahou]

What's the point of linking to such stupid things. I would rather have the thread die than generate conversation on things not in any way important.

I wish such inconsequential things were ignored- but they're not. I was watching local news at the gym today and they ran this story.

[Tuuvi]

C'mon guys are you all really that blind? The morman prophet and wall street are the ones pulling the strings behind Romney's candidacy. Spelling America "Amercia" might seem like a simple typo, nothing to worry about, but it's really something more sinister. It was a freudian slip that betrayed Romney's true intentions: to create an un-christian corporate funded morman theocracy. The truth couldn't be more obvious.

[Major Robert Dump]

Originally Romney was going to buy America, cash out all her liquid assets, and fire everyone, making off with the dough. Then he realized that would make him like $7, so now he is bent on reshaping america in the image of BYU so he can get a bigger planet from Xenu

[a completely inoffensive name]

I am even more distrustful of Romney after reading "A Study in Scarlet". Poor Jefferson Hope.

[Lemur]

I think things like the iPhone app and Polandgate illustrate how thin the campaign is right now. It truly is silly season. Will this whole thing get more substantive? Maybe. Possibly.

Oh, and Fox and Friends ran a 4-minute attack ad against the Prez, claiming it was journalism. Network sorta-kinda apologized. Meh. Nothing to see here, really.

-edit-

Also note that Willard Mittington Romney's newly released birth certificate is just a "certificate of live birth," which is a completely different thing, according to the internets. Also it does not say he is not a unicorn. I SMELL CONSPIRACY.