Symmetry required it: 2012 american general election thread #2

idk im confused

they must be diff videos, romney gettin surveilled

the level of antipathy for Romney within the Republican ranks must be astronomical for this shit to be leaking

it would only take one angry rich republican to leak it, right?

how many angry rich Republicans does it take to screw one mitten?

All right, there are 47 percent who are with him... who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement.

tbf i do believe this

These clips are new to me. Normally I don't think stuff like this matters much, but the timing isn't good for Romney--like if Obama's guns-and-religion video surfaced a month before than election rather than eight. One more instance of Romney reverting to self-caricature.

he sounds so confident! such firm convictions! where did candidate fuckup go

clips are w/e but politico piece is a bomb

Love the implication that no Obama supporter pays taxes yet all feel entitled to gubmint handouts.

"It's hard to serve as president for all Americans when you've disdainfully written off half the nation."

-- Obama campaign manager Jim Messina, commenting on the hidden camera video showing Romney talking disparagingly of 47% of all voters.

layup, assist romney

starting to think Mitt eating those cheesy grits was just a ploy to lure Mississippi voters and that he doesn't really care about them

Look at that -- Romney can speak with ease and in complete sentences!

My dad used to say, "Being right early is not good in politics."

this is p amazing when you consider what George was probably talking about...

Nah, that's the same source as the chinese labourers video,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEkDYkuuPD4

my dad used to say, drunk afternoons staring listlessly out the window at nothing, being right early...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnB0NZzl5HA&feature=player_embedded

this feels like it's gonna be a pretty devastating blow to his campaign

is this the shit that goes on at Republican fundraisers?

in a matter of minutes we find out that that young punk-ass Breitbartist is fucking with liberals.

lol @ whether they like the guy or not

good luck mitt!

How much in taxes did you pay, Romney?

I thought they might be able to wriggle out of this when it was just a transcript, but the video...

Wow, this could be his Ratner moment.

i hate to give that moron credit but santorum is positioning himself nicely for 2016. hard to imagine his social policy won't be even more toxic in four years but he's definitely building himself a bigger base, if huckabee has any intentions of running he should be concerned. fuck them both obv.

― balls, Monday, 17 September 2012 20:12 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I am kind of amused and kind of horrified at the almighty shitshow that will happen in 2016 if Romney goes down for being too wishywashy. Though there was that article just after the Ryan pick speculating that Ryan was there to inoculate against this sort of thing. Still though, it's hard not to see large sections of the (dwindling, but still) GOP base coming to the conclusion that the cure is MOAR JEBUS.

Describing his family background, he quipped about his father, "Had he been born of Mexican parents, I'd have a better shot of winning this." Contending that he is a self-made millionaire who earned his own fortune, Romney insisted, "I have inherited nothing."

who the fuck is this guy

I guess Romney's just cutting to the chase rather than waiting for Kanye to make the announcement on a telethon?

The great / damning thing about those videos is that he looks more relaxed in them, amongst his kind, than basically ever. Though oh mittenpaws at him fucking up the "then I'd have to shoot you" joke.

I am kind of amused and kind of horrified at the almighty shitshow that will happen in 2016 if Romney goes down for being too wishywashy. Though there was that article just after the Ryan pick speculating that Ryan was there to inoculate against this sort of thing. Still though, it's hard not to see large sections of the (dwindling, but still) GOP base coming to the conclusion that the cure is MOAR JEBUS.

they already came to this conclusion, the MOAR JEBUS dudes just can't handle being a national candidate for more than ten minutes w/o flaming out.

its sad really

Hahah Erick Erickson WOULD double down:

https://twitter.com/EWErickson/status/247817679551987713

hah

has any other presidential candidate -- ever -- expressed this kind of total disdain for the kind of ppl who would vote for his opponent?

Almost certainly. They just weren't recorded this way.

Nixon often did in private.

yeah this is very Nixon

I feel like in the last couple days, between Santorum's "elite, smart people will never vote for the GOP," the arrest and subsequent martyrization of Nakoula (which my right-wing friend was all het up about over the weekend) and Romney's dripping disdain when he says "entitlements," the paranoia levels of losing this election have just reached crisis mode, and they have no idea how to stop the bleeding.

yes but Patrick Brennan has an explanation. El pobre.

That seems to be little but 'why because statistics'

RNC head Rance Pulliniks is on CNN about the videos.

Rance Pulliniks? Rience Priebus? these people are all made up.

Excellent defense--he wants to quibble over the precision of the 47% figure: "Look, Joe, I don't have the numbers in front of me."

Love the implication that no Obama supporter pays taxes yet all feel entitled to gubmint handouts.

― ella fingerblast hurls forever (suzy)

^^fucking this

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/09/17/rush-limbaugh-says-welfare-recipients-turn-out-to-vote-in-force-they-really-dont/

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/income_support_table.png

I wonder how much worse it's gunna get; a lot of it seems like the standard gnashing of a generation losing its hegemonic grip only multiplied by the fact that the group is comprised by the most resentful, small-minded victims of modernity. Like, there ain't enough Cialis and Rogaine in the galaxy that could compensate for this psychodrama.

I thought a huge number of the people not paying income taxes were retired or had everything deducted because of mortgage/kids -- many of them Republican voters this year, no?

And of course everyone of working age pays payroll taxes except the people who can live off investments or corporate income. Working for a wage isn't taking responsibility?

Don't remember if this was linked here, but it's very on point: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/we-are-not-all-entrepreneurs/

I thought a huge number of the people not paying income taxes were retired or had everything deducted because of mortgage/kids -- many of them Republican voters this year, no

exactly!!

The nonpartisan Tax Foundation has measured the top nonpayer threshold. This is the highest income taxpayer that owes no income taxes, setting aside unusual tax situations. They looked at how the top nonpayer threshold changed from 1993 to today for a married couple with two kids... That threshold drops slightly to about $50,300 this year.

http://keithhennessey.com/2010/04/15/off-the-rolls/

if i had a dime for every Obam-hating, tea-party sympathizing person in my very red state who makes about ~50k and essentially pays no federal income taxes...

Rance Pulliniks? Rience Priebus? these people are all made up.

I think clemenza was riffing on

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bpv/images/a/a4/Rance_Mulliniks.jpg

The numbers and actual reality don't mean shit; they're all about campaigning against the Great Moral Evil, that someone somewhere is getting away with something and not being punished for it. Outlays of public money are seen as rewards and rewards-only, not as a minimal stipend to keep you from dying in the fuckin' street. Taxes are always a crippling punishment, not a basic fee of citizenship and revenue to make sure shit still works.

They have no problem with handing out dumptrucks full of money to people; they only have weird and hypocritical means of making that morally justified. Because money transfers are rewards only, it's only morally right to reward people who've "earned" or are "deserving" it. Defense contractors? Sure! They punish wrongdoers and support the Party ideology! Poor people? They don't work and thus don't deserve to be rewarded.

These are rightwing authoritarian followers, ffs. Ideology rules all and stats saying otherwise are biased and thus malicious and always lying.

Yeah, I've been giving Redonkulous a new name every time I post about him. (xpost)

Reihan Salam said the videos "aren't necessarily fatal," then went on to express his amazement that Romney said this stuff (plus, rather clinically, pointed out who exactly it is who's not paying income tax). He's on Romney's side.

the 5 undecideds who remain are gonna be really pissed off about this