Symmetry required it: 2012 american general election thread #2

https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/260005_4593850525823_2055429173_n.jpg

^strong burn imo

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/09/mitt-romneys-libya-comments-backfire-badly/56784/

http://cdn.theatlanticwire.com/img/upload/2012/09/12/rendered/3ba6cc083a1e6b11a098475cc7b82641_250x534.jpg

Anne Patterson is the current ambassador to Egypt, by the way. She's worked for the State Department since 1973 and had many, many appointments. Was even ambassador to the U.N. for a time under George W. Bush. It's her press officer whose statement Romney decided to criticize.

Pretty amazing record:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_W._Patterson

Just watched that PBS Norm Coleman interview. "We've subcontracted our Syrian policy to Kofi Annan."

Dan Calabrese wrote for Cain TV -- as in Herman Cain

Jesus fucking christ

Just watched that PBS Norm Coleman interview. "We've subcontracted our Syrian policy to Kofi Annan."
--timellison

Considering they think the ussr is the worlds greatest threat, they seem to know very little about the situation that fighting Syria would get us into with Russia..

lolllll

Also Kofi Annan has already stepped down, so that's some highly efficient subcontracting.

"We've subcontracted our Syrian policy to Kofi Annan. He's got some time on his hands now, wants to keep busy."

kofi annan!

Keep them dogwhistles whistlin'!

Great zing: Romney thinks he’s Clint Eastwood playing The Man With No Name, when he’s really only Glenn Campbell playing Ranger LaBoeuf.

And what if they ask "Did Governor Romney 'jump the gun' last night in releasing his statement?"? Say, "No. It is never too soon to stand up for American values and interests."

Republican talking points preemptive strike!

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec12/foreignpolicy_09-12.html

coleman kind of gives the classy verison of this, shifted (kind of) from saying obama sympathized with murderers to saying that he didn't stand up for american values. embassy staff in cairo trying to quell a riot = obama, i guess is how it works

There is nothing classy about Norm Coleman, ever. And not making fun of others' religions even when sorely tempted = American values.

I don't know how well the republicans standing with a shady convicted criminal like Nakoula Basseley Nakoula is going to play out for them.

you're talking about the same pundit class that was celebrating James O'Keefe

Yeah, but O'Keefe is a young white douchebag. I don't think their base is going to be as sympathetic to Nakoula.

if there's anything the past 6 years has shown me, it's that scared white people love to have minorities they can point to who say the same crazy shit they're saying to prove that they aren't racist

http://mitchieville.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/richard-nixon-james-brown.jpg

"I only got seventh-grade education, but I have a doctorate in funk, and I like to put that to good use."

so now conservatives accuse Sebelius of violating the Hatch Act.

Watched Sean Hannity with Ann Coulter on Fox News for a minute or 2 last night, before I had to change the channel(or I would have destroyed my tv).

Their message was basically that these radicals in Libya and Egypt clearly speak for everyone in those countries, so we need to cut off all aid to those countries and blow them up before they become Iran. Plus Obama is a wimp who will not stand up for American values.

Nothing new, of course, but irritating to watch all the same. Jennifer Rubin on the Washington Post's blog basically makes these same dumb arguments today.

so now conservatives accuse Sebelius of violating the Hatch Act.

conservatives, or...the U.S. Office of Special Counsel?

The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) sent findings to the President today from its investigation of
complaints of prohibited political activity by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius.
OSC concluded that Secretary Sebelius violated the Hatch Act when she made extemporaneous partisan
remarks in a speech delivered in her official capacity on February 25, 2012. The Hatch Act prohibits federal
employees from using their official authority or influence to affect the outcome of an election. A federal
employee is permitted to make partisan remarks when speaking in their personal capacity, but not when
using their official title or when speaking about agency business.

Navy warships and an FBI team headed to Libya.

lol if you think this is going to result in anything that can be reasonably construed as "justice". best case scenario they bomb some scapegoats.

pretty dumb of her (or her staff or whoever thought she could do that). good that they already reiumbursed but really?

Oof -- never mind!

This is good

http://www.juancole.com/2012/09/romney-jumps-the-shark-libya-egypt-and-the-butterfly-effect.html

Just saw Romney giving a stump speech and he is really going for the foreign policy thing.

maybe Romney actually wants to destroy the Republican party?

Romney is like a Republican Dalek.

Comment from that Juan Cole piece that's EXCELLENT:

Charley James
09/13/2012 at 8:48 am

Thanks to his uninformed yet smug news conference Monday about the Libya and Egupt attacks, I finally put my finger on what it is about the Republican who would be president that is so bothersome: There is something fundamentally untouched about Willard “Mitt” Romney, something offensively virginal.

The few lines in his face that supporters might confuse for life experience are actually the lines of an overindulged child who has never been beaten and tear gassed by the police at a peaceful demonstration, or been locked away in a precinct house and denied the use of a toilet, and certainly not chained to the floor of a huge Air Force transport flying him hooded to a secret prison in a remote corner of a Caribbean island where the government providing the free flight hopes the world will forget about him.

“Overindulged child” puts Romney in perspective. He’s a man who never had to decide whether to pay the electric company or the rent, or balance whether buying a piece of fruit today means he might not have enough cash to refill a prescription next week. He has no idea what the word “struggle” means and he lets everyone else know it.

Romney gives off a kind of full-of-himself belief that being nimble and clever and lucky – very lucky, starting with the accident of birth that found him being swaddled by a talented father – transcends the reality of any sort of human suffering.

Fascinating to watch the Romney campaign constant changing of the subject from the one issue that actually works for them

But then again maybe racism ends up being their best weapon. Welfare recipients vs Muslims. Whatever works

Meanwhile:

http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2012-09-11/5-more-charged-ft-stewart-military-militia-case

I just got an email from Beyonce titled "I don't usually email you"

lol, why you lyin' girl

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/us-identifies-anti-muslim-filmmaker/story-fnd134gw-1226473817626

A US law enforcement official says a man named Nakoula Basseley Nakoula is behind the anti-Muslim film that has sparked mob attacks on US missions in Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

A man who calls himself Sam Bacile has said he created the film, but The Associated Press has connected Nakoula to the Bacile persona.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss an ongoing investigation.

The self-proclaimed director of Innocence of Muslims initially claimed a Jewish and Israeli background. But others involved in the film said his statements were contrived as evidence mounted that the film's key player was a southern Californian Coptic Christian.

Nakoula, 55, told The Associated Press in an interview outside Los Angeles that he managed logistics for the company that produced the film.

the coptic community has suffered more overt bigotry and harassment in egypt recent, this will probably not help matters.

part of me would be okay with just throwing this guy to the angry mob tbh

he's in california! any anti-coptic mob will pick a local out for you tho.

Romney is like a Republican Dalek.

This is perfect.

I just got an email from Beyonce titled "I don't usually email you"

lol, why you lyin' girl

lol

How come I never get any famous people emailing me? Is there any sort of competition out there, like a scavenger hunt or Pokemon? I got Kal Penn! I got Beyonce! There should be.

I could email you.

So Rumsfeld is back and weighing in on twitter. Great

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/09/13/13843732-rumsfelds-misguided-self-defeating-standards

Ned, I smell a book: "Ned Ragget Emails America."

I'm sure that Ned Ragget guy can do what he wants, I was talking about me.

Meantime:

http://gawker.com/5942994/is-the-mysterious-director-of-muslim-innocence-a-convicted-fraudster-named-nakoula-basseley-nakoula

(Builds on that AP bit.)

Sorry, didn't mean to misspell. Distracted. Still, gives me an idea to launch a cheap Ragget knockoff line. http://nedragget.tumblr.com/ not claimed yet ...

"Sam Bacile" is remarkably close to "imbecile."