Symmetry required it: 2012 american general election thread #2

to the GOP teachers ARE pinko terrorists.

true, luckily tho she is running in mass

inko terrorist is forgive me somewhat facetious, what she comes off as is hopelessly old fashionedly liberal

lol I'm just saying she gets to get away with saying that stuff because she is from Oklahoma originally and when she speaks, she sounds like she is reading you a darling bedtime story about evil corporations sucking the country dry

that does sound quite pleasant tbh

I hope she wins, but her speech at the DNC made it very obvious to me why she has struggled against Brown: he is very clearly a Massachusetts native through and through, and she is very clearly not. Might not be fair, but I can definitely see why people find Brown more "relatable".

She should reiterate her love of the Boston Celtics at every campaign stop, and to show how Irish she can get, pronounce "Celtic" with a hard 'C'.

Kittery-born Scott Brown, Massachusetts native (and President)

(I know what you mean, just being pedantic)

FOX & Friends: Stupid idiots, or big stupid idiots? http://gawker.com/5943815/fox--friends-gets-trolled-hard-by-former-obama-supporter-pretending-to-be-for-romney

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

Bring Back Corny Capitalism

http://www.thegreatmortgagerevolt.com/wp-content/uploads/image/run-on-the-savings-and-loan-or-bank.jpg

hard to tell if that's some trolling or just par for the avg young Romney supporter

re F & F

Kind of expected him to start shouting "Baba booey! Baba booey!" at the end.

Just thinking about one of those factoids that nobody ever mentions enough, when it comes to how "divided" the country is, or how America is a fundamentally conservative country or whatever: If Obama wins this year, that will mean that the Democratic candidate has gotten more votes than the Republican in 5 out of the last 6 presidential elections. The 2000 election skews things, obviously, and makes it seem like more of an even split than it really is. But if Republicans lose this year, somebody in that party should start seriously asking why America hates them so much.

I loved "It's a funny story. I lost a basketball game to my friend. He's a big supporter of your show."

This one's for you, Morbius. From the NY Times Sunday Book Review interview with Nicholson Baker:

Q: And among authors you’ve met already, who most impressed you?

A: I’m impressed by all of them. They seem to be able to work hard and finish big shiny books and keep going and complain about their hotels and give bouncy interviews and readings and do all the things you’re expected to do.

We’re in the middle of a presidential administration in which one man in an office with velvet couches goes down a kill list. Our president has become an assassin. This sickens me and makes me want to stop writing altogether.

velvet couches is the ultimate symbol of the corrupt oligarchy

Obama admin compelling Baker to stop writing is def a commendable achievement

Just thinking about one of those factoids that nobody ever mentions enough, when it comes to how "divided" the country is, or how America is a fundamentally conservative country or whatever: If Obama wins this year, that will mean that the Democratic candidate has gotten more votes than the Republican in 5 out of the last 6 presidential elections. The 2000 election skews things, obviously, and makes it seem like more of an even split than it really is. But if Republicans lose this year, somebody in that party should start seriously asking why America hates them so much.

they get to put off asking this question because you can still win congress - esp the senate - w/ less than half of the country voting for you

in any case 'america' doesn't hate them because they define america as rural white males

reproducing all of this because lol

davidfrum ‏@davidfrum

(1) This AM's Politico story about Stuart Stevens being to blame for Romney campaign's troubles utterly misses the point.

davidfrum ‏@davidfrum

(2) The Romney campaign has a messaging problem because it has a policy problem.

davidfrum ‏@davidfrum

(3) The policy problem is that the Romney campaign offers nothing but bad news to hardpressed Americans and the broader middle class.

davidfrum ‏@davidfrum

(4) How do you message: I'm doing away w Medicaid over the next 10 yrs, Medicare after that, to finance a cut in the top rate of tax to 28%?

davidfrum ‏@davidfrum

(5) I don't care if you hire the people who produce the ATT ads that make my wife cry, there's no lipsticking that pig.

davidfrum ‏@davidfrum

(6) The problem isn't the campaign leadership; it's the party's followership

davidfrum ‏@davidfrum

(7) Over course of campaign, Romney has changed from a pragmatic, capable manager into a dog-whistling culture warrior.

davidfrum ‏@davidfrum

(8) Candidate cd have and shd have resisted that pressure - but it's rich for ppl who demanded the change to complain about consequences.

davidfrum ‏@davidfrum

(9) I thought Stevens' - drafted Tampa speech did good job of humanizing the man, Mitt Romney

davidfrum ‏@davidfrum

(10) But voters do care about the q: what will this presidency do for me? And "dick you over" is not a winning answer

davidfrum ‏@davidfrum

Oh - and happy Rosh Hashonah everybody.

lol

Joe Mande ‏@JoeMande
You baptize dead Jews. RT @MittRomney: Ann & I extend our warmest wishes to the Jewish Community for a happy, peaceful year. L’Shanah Tovah.

dammmmmmmmmmn

theologically that whole controversy is the funniest fukken thing, it's like out of eco or something (positive i've said exactly this before)

Frum's been frisky since breathing the air of liberty in the last four years.

it is weird to me that my wife's super-conservative, super-super-Christian extended relatives are all apparently supporting a Mormon for president with no qualms.

not gonna speak about your wife's relatives but all of the ppl I know who are supporting Romney are doing so because either:

a) they view politics through the same prism they view football and are rooting for their team through a rough patch, and/or
b) they are rooting for the white guy

well they're obviously putting politics ahead of beliefs in this case, i'm just curious how they feel about it or how they're justifying it. but not curious enough about it to actually have a conversation with them about it.

oh come on theological disputes can be so fascinating

and extrapolating from them to the republican party as a whole, which emphasizes christianity so heavily. just not seeing much discussion of romney's mormonism and how republicans feel about it in general and curious about it.

n/a with respect it's not that odd. i think the "evangelicals hate mormons!" idea has been liberal fantasizing all along. they may not be going to heaven but in this life they are definitely on the team, and the choice is plainly easy.

http://election.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/autographics/EV_map.png

i like proportional maps like this

one charismatic illiterate preacher to another – it's all pink in the middle

they're handy for remembering where people actually live in this country

xp

Another day, another story about Romney campaign meltdown:

The peril to Romney’s candidacy of being seen through the lens of desperation can’t be overstated. The paramount strategic objective of any campaign is to maintain control of the candidate’s public image—and if the media filter begins to view his every move through a dark or unflattering prism, things can quickly spin out of control, to a point where nothing he says or does is taken at face value. “Romney is in a very bad place,” says another senior Republican strategist. “He’s got the Republican intelligentsia second-guessing him, publicly and privately. The party base has never trusted him and thinks that everything bad it ever thought about him is being borne out now. And he’s got the media believing that he can’t win. He’s right on the edge of a self-­fulfilling downward spiral.”

Whether Romney can resist that spiral in the two weeks between now and the first presidential debate is an open question—but there’s no doubt that the pressure on him to win that debate decisively is now almost overwhelming. “If he doesn’t, you’ll see the whole thing start to unravel pretty quickly, à la Dole in 1996,” says a third GOP strategist, arguing that Romney’s fund-­raising will dry up and the expected flood of money from conservative super-pacs will be reduced to a trickle.

http://nymag.com/news/politics/powergrid/mitt-romney-middle-east-unrest-2012-9/index1.html

somewhat distorted still by e.g. wyoming's two entire senators xp

not gonna speak about your wife's relatives but all of the ppl I know who are supporting Romney are doing so because either:

a) they view politics through the same prism they view football and are rooting for their team through a rough patch, and/or
b) they are rooting for the white guy
--wtf where's my chapbook (DJP)

they are rooting for team white guy

lol @ Frum tweets

i think there are two reasons Frum hasn't come out and openly supported Obama:
1) the notion that Obama's been high-hatting Bibi
2) the built-in readership he gets from apoplectic Republicans and gloating liberals over his perceived identity crisis. if he vocally supports then all the drama is gone.

vocally supports Obama

I do think there's an element of truth to the dislike between evangelicals and Mormons. Look at how Romney did in the Bible Belt during the primaries, despite having little to no realistic opposition. I thought it was a big gamble for Romney to put his Mormonism front and center at the Convention, all those tributes from his parishioners intended to humanize him - I wonder if that might have had something to do with the lack of a bounce.

there are better reasons for them to be suspicious than his religion such as his tenure as a moderate democrat

Posted this elsewhere, but my mom has been needling her far-right, evangelical sister about this. Sister is happily voting Romney, mainly on social issues, secondarily because he's "a businessman." Won't really discuss the Mormonism-is-a-cult aspects of this at all, just happy to try to get rid Obama in any way possible.

At my mom's birthday dinner last week she said semi-ironically, "I qualify for Social Security in two years!" I almost said, "If you vote for Romney you won't have Medicare, so I'm glad you've got something. I also almost said: "I may have to vote for Obama because I don't have the money to take care of you in ten years when President Romney has you living on vouchers."

* something."

Not a lot of people on the evangelical right are talking about it because they're very good at closing ranks, but they all grew up hearing the same Joseph Smith was a False Prophet sermons I did, and it's definitely in the back of their heads.

yeah it's funny hearing family members dance around the Mormon thing. my folks got kinda evangelical-ish for a while in the mid-80s when they rejoined the Southern Baptist church after a few years as Presbyterians. i distinctly remember my mom making vague, delicate criticisms of Mormonism and how it wasn't 'technically Christian' when i was a kid. i brought this up recently and she totally played dumb.

these people aint happy lest theyre mucking around in somebodys business

i think the math works out to

(false-prophet christian) + (evangelical golden boy) >>> (secret muslim) + (cafeteria catholic)

yeah for these folks the 'cult' of Mormonism always beats cult of liberal secularism so

(is Ryan evangelical?)

It does add a fkn odd edge to the "sympathise with the enemies" bullshit though - like isn't "respect for all religions" the sort of talk that's allowed the continued existence of your tribe?