Symmetry required it: 2012 american general election thread #2

I can't tell if shit is about to get real or not, tbh

Yeah, same here.

http://plainblogaboutpolitics.blogspot.com/2012/09/romney-and-rally-effect.html

I said yesterday that Republicans don't appear to read political scientists on the subject of the effect of the economy on elections. But I've always suspected that sometime in the 1990s Republicans did read Richard Brody's classic article about the "rally effect" -- in which he found that "rally around the flag" effects depend on the reaction of the out-party, not (for example) whether the event in question is successful or not. If the out-party immediately criticizes the president, then he doesn't get a bump in his approval ratings; if they support him or stay quiet, then there's a positive bounce.

In regions where there are large numbers of people ready to inflict harm on anything and anyone American at any given moment, I'm not sure how it could be considered a plan. The "plan" was to tote around an RPG until it was time to use it. And my understanding is that the population of Libya is inordinately armed, even if only a minority of those armed want to blow American shit up. One must presume that anyone carrying a weapon has some sort of "plan," makes me uncomfortable that the gov is taking that line.

trying to figure out why one has to 'distance' themselves from these statements..

The statement from the White House wasn't a response to that. They said that they hadn't cleared the initial press release from before the incident.

In regions where there are large numbers of people ready to inflict harm on anything and anyone American at any given moment, I'm not sure how it could be considered a plan.

What does this mean? I haven't seen the intel, but the volatility of a region has nothing to do w/ whether the act was premeditated or not.

http://www.americablog.com/2012/09/romney-gets-capital-of-libya-wrong-in.html

Blogger takes Romney to woodshed over either not knowing the capital of Libya, or not knowing the difference between an embassy and a consulate, since he referred to our "embassy" in Benghazi multiple times.

international charters that criminalise acts that stir strife on the basis of race, colour or religion

Wonder what this refers to.

Also, it's a much more favorable interpretation to say that extremists hijacked an otherwise peaceful protest to breach an embassy and kill an ambassador than to argue (without any evidence) that it was opportunistic and spontaneous. I guess you want to make the point that America has made lots of enemies abroad and idk, is reaping what they sowed? But you can make that point even if you accept that the attack was premeditated!

xpost I mean, as far as premeditation goes, there wasn't a lot premeditated was there? At least, as I read that proposed theory, the "plan" was, what, just to take advantage of - or foment? - the chaos as an excuse to fire a rocket? The ambassador was apparently not the target. No one was the target. Firing a rocket at the embassy was the "plan," in and of itself. But how much of a plan is that, no matter how premeditated? How many people in Libya, or Iraq, or wherever - America! - currently have as much of a standing "plan," a desire to do damage to something or someone American?

Guess who?

It’s about time our president stood up for America and condemned these Islamic extremists. I realize there must be a lot on his mind these days – what with our economy’s abysmal jobless numbers and Moody’s new warning about yet another downgrade to our nation’s credit rating due to the current administration’s failure to come up with a credible deficit reduction plan. And, of course, he has a busy schedule – with all those rounds of golf, softball interviews with the “Pimp with the Limp,” and fundraising dinners with his corporate cronies. But our nation’s security should be of utmost importance to our Commander-in-chief. America can’t afford any more “leading from behind” in such a dangerous world. We already know that President Obama likes to “speak softly” to our enemies. If he doesn’t have a “big stick” to carry, maybe it’s time for him to grow one.

note that right-wing websites are running with the claim that the ambassador was dead and "dragged through the streets", flatly contradicted by reporting on the ground. probably caused by (willful?) misinterpretation of cellphone photos of stevens being picked up and carried

Those are some ghoulish photos, but nothing like the Gaddafi death walk.

One guy's holding a cellphone in his mouth, making me think of a bunch of ILX FAP Pix from like 7 years ago.

Who is the Pimp with a Limp?

What is she talking about re: offending catholics?

Slim with the Tilted Brim

xp

note that right-wing websites are running with the claim that the ambassador was dead and "dragged through the streets", flatly contradicted by reporting on the ground. probably caused by (willful?) misinterpretation of cellphone photos of stevens being picked up and carried

uh - have u seen the photos? i'm not sure they don't depict what the "right-wing websites" say they do.

Dolphins-dissing President Obama chats Pitbull, Medicare with 'Pimp with the Limp' DJ Laz

yes i have, mordy

I don't want to post them here, but they look like that description. That his dead body is being dragged through the street.

I can't tell if shit is about to get real or not, tbh

not sure what "real" shit you're thinking might happen here...? this is an odd situation but I can't think of any major ramifications it might have, it's not like we're going to invade Libya or Egypt, and the Romney blowback seems like the Romney campaign's standard incompetent fumbling

xp

how does that square with the accounts of being treated and then dying of smoke inhalation, without other injuries, at a benghazi hospital?

CNN now reporting that DeMint, McKeon et al are echoing Romney's bullshit

the shit thats about the get real is bibby hijacking the election to make a crazy ass move against iran

bibby!

bibi acting as arm of romney campaign is bad enough

i'm not sure they don't depict what the "right-wing websites" say they do.

Yeah I know you're not sure, and I'm not sure, and goole's not sure. But people who are actually there seem surer.

fyi, bibi no longer meets w/ romney campaign. israeli government does not believe romney can win. xp

er, our favorite right wing website has been licking its chops for the last two hours.

btw the embassy didn't issue a "statement" last night -- it was a damn tweet!

bibi vs bibby woops

will this man please stop trying to hijack the election to serve his sinister purposes

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/MikeBibbyMiamiHeat.jpg/220px-MikeBibbyMiamiHeat.jpg

I don't want to post them here, but they look like that description. That his dead body is being dragged through the street.

The one that I saw looked like he was being rushed to a medic (and that he was already pretty much gone.)

Sure as hell didn't look like Mogadishu.

Wow -- most of the bipartisan foreign policy establishment condemns Romney.

And Boehner's statement is terser and more politically astute than Romney's.

I haven't looked at the photos (and I'm not going to) but I sort of assume dragged through the street = being rushed to the hospital. these are not mutually exclusive...?

you can't be ignorant of what that phrase means

i guess the question is whether he's dead in the photos. he looks terrible but i have no way of knowing for sure.

uh - have u seen the photos? i'm not sure they don't depict what the "right-wing websites" say they do.

― Mordy, Wednesday, September 12, 2012 6:35 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I've seen two photos, and they don't show anything like what the wingnuts say they do.

Yeah, you could interpret it the way you want to interpret it, but it's not some sort of slam-dunk evidence of being dragged through the street.

honestly, what's the difference? it's not like if his dead body was dragged through the street it would make the attack any more barbaric. this is nitpicking at the edges.

honestly, what's the difference? it's not like if his dead body was dragged through the street it would make the attack any more barbaric. this is nitpicking at the edges.

― Mordy, Wednesday, September 12, 2012 6:59 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it absolutely would make it more barbaric wtf

and you brought it up!

It's a refutation to any right-wing wacko who tries to use the photos of this man's last moments as some sort of evidence that he was quartered by a rabid mob of Mooslems.

i didn't bring it up -- goole did iirc. i went to look at the photos when he mentioned them and it looked like what he was claiming wingnuts said. so i mentioned that. i don't have a stake in it one way or the other.

rabid mob! when we all know this was a peaceful mob that accidentally hugged too tight.

yeah def. seems like you have no stake in it

According to reports, the photos accurately show him being carried away. Not dragged, and it sounds like it was by Libyans trying to rescue him.

well, the stake of not being an idiot i guess

http://urbantitan.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/pope.jpg

omg look at the pope being dragged through the streets.

remember when those soldiers were carried through the streets of mogadishu, with their shoes dragging on the street, never 4get

The photos could possibly be called "ambiguous" if you were being pointedly ungenerous.

Yesterday's talk radio comments on mundane campaign issues are now no longer getting attention. Like this:

Leading conservative talk show hosts Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham are both arguing that the Republican party will or should be shut down if Mitt Romney loses in November — an idea that, however hard to believe, gives you an indication of the right wing’s dissatisfaction with the Republican party.
“If you can’t beat Barack Obama with this record, then shut down the party. Shut it down, start new, with new people. Because this is a gimme election, or at least it should be,” Ingraham said on her radio program yesterday. “Election after election, we hire people who have lost previous campaigns, who have run campaigns that have failed, who have messaged campaigns where the message fell flat, and they keep getting re-hired.”

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/09/rightwing-radio-romney-loses-gop-dies-135205.html