Symmetry required it: 2012 american general election thread #2

oh how we long for the days of Al Gore's earth tones

I am sort of curious about what the DNC convention's going to be like, particularly since Obama's mentioned (spoilers) that his second term will involve even more making compromises that the left won't like (and the right won't give credit for).

Like, does he have a platform to argue from as regards "Vote for me and I'll get done all this shit that I've been unable or unwilling to get done so far?", or is the conference just going to be big screens alternating between the ACA logo and Mitt Romney's face?

“It’s fun. It’s funny,” Malkin explained to POLITICO. “Clint Eastwood resonated with voters outside the snotty, derisive NY-DC-Hollywood axis. He braved derision and ridicule for standing on the convention stage. Activists on the right wanted to demonstrate … their appreciation. As always, humor is the best medicine.”

I've read about various antecedents for Clint--Harvey, The Sixth Sense, others--but didn't come across this one:

http://cineawesome.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/King-of-Comedy-2.jpg

I'm not sure if the cardboard cutouts make such conversations more or less surreal.

some dem apparatchik ((c) alfred) on cspan today mentioned something like "buiding our economy from the middle class up" which i thought was just a perfect sad slogan for democrats

It's indictment of our times. You can't even talk about the poor as worth helping if you want to get elected.

I think a lot of technically-poor people probably self-identify as middle class, is the thing

http://asociologist.com/2012/02/03/americans-80-or-45-middle-class-or-response-categories-matter/

I think a lot of technically-poor people probably self-identify as middle class, is the thing

― iatee, Monday, September 3, 2012 9:38 PM (9 minutes ago)

oh totally, it's just sad

dems not trying to help working class

For the purposes of the argument, any American with a mortgage probably identifies as middle class.

http://mlkshk.com/r/J28P
http://mlkshk.com/r/J28Q

Ewwww.

The thing with "middle class" is that in the national fiction of the classless society, it's the only class anyone's allowed to talk about or belong to. So Republicans talk about how tax hikes on people making over $250,000 are going to hurt the middle class, and Democrats have to frame arguments for the safety net strictly in terms of the middle class.

yup

anyway I take back what I said earlier itt about paul ryan's lies not being a big deal, I was at the gym this morning and the today show was on and matt lauer was tearing paul ryan apart in an interview about his speech. the today show! 'mainstream journalists mention it when politicians lie' is a weird fad, I wonder if it has any legs.

it might not even be a good thing, cause the big lies generally aren't true/false things, they're in the framing

paul ryan is just bad at lying/doesnt get it

I feel like his whole career has involved lying tho and it got him pretty far

maybe things are different 'on the big stage'

yeah its just the classic transition to the big stage

ha xp

but i do think that years of blogger complaints abt he said/she said reportage is starting to affect the mainstream, especially what w/former outsider bloggers rising in the ranks, arguably its been going on for a while w/outlets employing fact checkers as the first acknowledgement that something might be wrong w/their coverage

I can personally vouch that the New Yorker fact checks some pretty tiny stuff in, say, bio pieces about very minor musicians

ya i meant this relatively new development of writing articles for the public specifically checking facts like http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker rather than the waning traditional behind the scenes practice

never thought abt that tho its kind of interesting how one is on the rise while the others disappearing

im fb friends w/a nyer fact checker, just someone i met once at a party, maybe you talked to her, and the circle of life is complete

technically-poor ppl, wake the fuck up

poors are just those who have yet to wake up to personal responsibility start creating jobs

I saw more coverage in the Washington Post this morning re Ryan's lies about how many marathons he ran, and his time in the one he ran. Maybe this lie has, uh, legs.

paul ryan invented the marathon

More from yesterday:

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/09/fact-check-paul-ryans-jimmy-carter-comments/

The runner "Steve Prefontaine" was actually based on a young Paul Ryan.

He was running carrying an old person on his back and pushing a welfare baby in a jogger stroller. If he wasnt under such an unfair load he totally woulda been sub three.

he created 5 businesses while on route

http://www.salon.com/2012/09/02/paul_ryans_marathon_lie/

How fast can he run a 440 while undergoing electroshock?

it's super hilarious to me that Ryan is being painted/outed as a liar, not for his political speech, but for talking shit to Runner's World

dude CLEARLY didn't spend much time interacting with other runners, or else he thought he could hypnotize them with his magic abs

al gore is fat!!

Generally I think runners who could approach sub-3 hours in the marathon don't have a lot of love for P90X types.

that doesn't really make sense, just felt like throwing that out there.

xp

http://static8.businessinsider.com/image/4c0533797f8b9a3c3bdf0000/gore-kiss.jpg

http://nighthawknews.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/godfather_kiss_of_death1.jpg

So Paul Ryan's college girlfriend was/is hot, and better yet, wants nothing to do with him anymore.

This fuckin' guy.

gore smash tipper still jarring after all these years.

1) that is a weird video
2) since the video was about working out and not about her blanking Ryan, I googled her to find the disavowal and discovered the internet is gleeful that she spent time in jail
3) ;_;

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/09/paul-ryan-secret-service-nickname-bowhunter.html

sorry but it reminds me of this:

your favorite SNL skits, show me them

Rocker: (burning with rage at the audience) SHUT UP!! What are you looking at, you homo MEXICANS?? Any of you ever been bow hunting? I bow hunt! I love my FATHER! I love IRON EAGLE MOVIES! You all aint half the man my daddy is, Popeye John Rocker Senior!

Colin: John, what about your message for the new year?

Rocker: (to himself) Right. Stay focused, Rocker. Daddy's watching. Go hard, like WWF. (to audience) Okay, second, in the new millenium, I hope that we can all join together to track down that black baby that the Jews and the Pope had together and kill it before it can destroy the world.

no offense to the sportspersons out there

holy shit, I don't remember that skit at all, sounds amazing

http://www.blinkx.com/watch-video/snl-will-ferrell-is-john-rocker/5XnvNroJGOhzVSq9d6hAaQ

"I started with rabbits, ducks and pheasant before getting into deer hunting. I worked mowing lawns when I was a kid to save money to buy a shotgun and bought a Browning BPS 20-gauge for pheasants," Ryan told the magazine. "I still have it." But "Shotgun Hunter" doesn't have the same ring to it (and "Deer Hunter" gets complicated).

"Shotgun Hunter" actually sounds pretty all right, as code-names go. Maybe doesn't roll off the tongue but it'd be a cool video game maybe? Or the name of an anime character. Rick "Shotgun" Hunter is a crackerjack mecha pilot...