the most important election of your lifetime: 2012 american general election thread

Obama's team should get together all the "what do we really know about him?" stuff that the PACs picked up at Rove's suggestion in '08, strip it of name references, and literally run the same ads against Romney

yeah it might be trivial if mitt romney had something that defined him beyond bain and romneycare. like, mccain and kerry were rich mofos too, that just wasn't very interesting because they weren't selling themselves like 'I should be president because I am a rich mofo'

again this goes back to what I said upthread, romney needs to switch to "I'm a rich mofo and so can you"

its also not trivial because the fact that theres so much to benefit the super rich in the tax code is a srs big problem in america

I think it's def the defining domestic political issue of this era but how many americans - even moderately left-wing americans - realize that yet? idk.

srsly bummed about this - loved how his supporters were slipping their folks into primaries and hoped for some hardcore hilarity at the convention, a mitt-humiliating display of the enthusiasm gap

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/07/ron-pauls-delegate-insurgency-ends-in-nebraska/

well i think you saw w/occupy getting so much burn despite the relative few people formally involved w/it that theres a lot of interest but obvs it hasnt quite fully coalesced into like tent pole issue or w/e theyd call it

xp

there are definitely a lot of people pissed off about outsourcing/offshoring for whatever reason, and of all political flavors. the issue has a lot of traction if it's pushed, and Romney won't be on the right side of it.

yeah that's how I see it too, which is why despite the 'well what did you accomplish' talk I think occupy will prob go down as a success. the jargon is creeping into the mainstream and in some ways it's inevitable as 'an issue', but I don't think we're at the point where the capital gains tax matters more than romney being a mormon. but I think we'll be there soon enough, and the way this election plays out will be pretty important in that regard.

xp

The saddest thing about election years is that the harsh arguments against the Republican candidates are only marginally less applicable to the Democratic candidates. Especially on economics or foreign policy -- I'll grant the identity politics ones go much more credibly to the Democrats. But pretending huge differences exist just enables the really piddly concessions to these concerns that follow.

the problem isn't what bain did from 99-02, but that romney utterly refuses to accept any responsbility for it, basically admitting that the shit they did was bad. if he was just like "yeah i'm a cutthroat business man, wouldn't you like one in charge of the country" i'm sure plenty of yahoos wouldn't give a shit about how he won his winnings. instead of taking some reagan/bush cowboy perspective on it, he's going nixon.

yeah that's otm but I think that's again sorta due to where we are as a country, the transition point between 'he can run as a businessman because people like businessmen who do business' and 'he cannot run as a businessman because people understand what businessmen do'

nah i think it's because he's a secretive motherfucker

yeah except that when his cutthroat business dealings consist mostly of him paying lower tax rates that yr average american it kinda loses some of its swagger, hes not a cowboy hes an accountant, its quite clear

no way, dude is the least mysterious person to ever run for president. every mormon's the same person. xp

he's an accowntant

haha I have elementary school friend at byu who just got his masters in accounting and posted the degree on fb

the utah economy must be some crazy accounting pyramid scheme

the whole leveraged buyout industry relies heavily on tax arbitrage, doesnt really make anything, and then in his personal life he also excels at dodging taxes, it takes some of the luster off his great sucess

not saying growing some nuts would make mitt a winning candidate, but if the guy wants this to be reagan/carter II he can't be acting like a more nixonian dole

theres no hope its just who he is

I don't think he wants to be reagan, iirc he basically never mentioned him in his autobiography

If only they'd gone with Trump, they wouldn't have to worry about shady business dealings.

Nixon, Romney Sr., Dole, Strom Thurmond.

I agree with da croupier on just how cornered Romney's arguments are now. This might get sort of fun to follow after all.

this is an interesting piece abt romneys business career from last year http://nymag.com/news/politics/mitt-romney-2011-10 i have issues w/some of the characterization of how how his business worked particularly excluding the expert tax loophole finding and soft pedaling the typically massive transfer of funds, but its a good story none the less

such a staggeringly unimportant election

this is otm http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/07/rotting_from_the_top.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/mitt-via-conard-you-owe-me.html

Sullivan mentioned the alleged fetus-disposal company too. Is that the smoking gun in this whole thing?

i think whatll prob end up happening is the fetus disposal company will turn out to be mitt romney, see how it works is the fetuses are sent to him whether at his home or on the road when hes campaigning or fixing the olympics or what have you and he eats them

well that explains the hair

"I'm running for office, for Pete's sake, I can't afford to dispose..." etc.

I don't think he wants to be reagan, iirc he basically never mentioned him in his autobiography

last time there was some reveal about how obama had, in first grade, said he wanted to be president. because ambition is so unsightly in mau mau revolutionaries etc.

but has there ever been anyone who wanted to *be* president quite as much as mitt does? he has no particular vision or plan other than the one he thinks will get him elected.

seems cliche to say it but there really does feel like a lot of 'entitlement' involved

has there ever been anyone who wanted to *be* president quite as much as mitt does?

Hard to make comparisons, but JFK comes immediately to mind.

haha true

may have been overshadowed by his desire to get laid, tho

Nixon was consumed by it, Johnson too. I would guess it applies to most presidents to one degree or another.

Becoming president, that is--I don't think getting laid was high on Nixon's list.

fair enough. i feel that mitt may be most the flabbergasted not to achieve it (if he doesn't) since perhaps henry clay?

I dunno, he grew up in the shadow of someone who failed, and it's not like he's never lost a political campaign

Yes--Romney (like Kennedy) belongs to a group that seems to feel it's their birthright. I don't think that was true of Nixon, even though Oliver Stone has him saying, "Nixon was born to do this!" (xpost)

Nixon probably thought his birthright was to die from TB

I know Kennedy was convinced he'd die young (though not the way he did, obviously). I'm not sure about Nixon...I don't recall anything like that in the bios I've read, but I can't say for sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roodiGY0W1A

FIGHTING BACK

hey look at these douchebags who are criticizing obama, vote for meeee

Other than paying huge fees to the advisors who dreamed up that Romney ad , it probably cost a pittance to produce. Evfen then it wasn't worth the money.

whiny is not a good look for a nominee

not to channel rahm or anything (think he said something similar this weekend - just getting back from WV and catching up with "news")