Symmetry required it: 2012 american general election thread #2

this is not really uncharacteristic or an unusual thing for Romney, he's been fucking up with these kinds of tone-deaf gaffes literally since day 1 of his campaign. to wit:

The choice of the Bittersweet Farm for his announcement is an interesting one for Mr. Romney, who regularly argues for a smaller federal government that spends less. The rolling green hills of the farm were preserved in recent years in part with $1 million in federal money, according to a recent report in Seacoast Online.

A spokesman for Mr. Romney’s campaign told John Harwood of The New York Times: “I don’t think it’s fair to call it a federally subsidized backdrop. It’s a nice farm in New Hampshire, a landmark.”

this clown is so doomed

― metally ill (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, June 2, 2011 8:09 PM

that is the one thing he's got going for him here, just shrugging it off and hoping that whoever the heck is still on Team Romney is desensitized to his nonsensical bullshit

If I cared about tell all political campaign books I'd be excited about the one about the Romney campaign.

http://a.abcnews.com/images/Politics/ap_mitt_romney_ll_120806_wg.jpg

"If I cared about tell all political campaign books I'd be excited about the one about my campaign."

tbh i see the most egregious 'gaffe' (ugh that word)

the use of 'gaffe' over the past 48 hours is crazy to me, like they're talking about it like he slipped up on the stairs up to the platform rather than cogently expressed his disdain for american voters

tbh i think avoiding letterman/snl/the view is romney's wisest recent political decision

apropos of nothing but
http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_makiy4e0MJ1qdmmiqo1_500.gif
he's saying,

LET'S DESTROY THE ENVIRONMENT

and Toontown

Speaking of which, Obama's on Letterman tonight to do the second half of Jay Pharoah's "Hey, take a look at my secret weapon" routine.

wish obama could bring this up in a debate, but then it would look like he was being mean to money-sucking bible hicks:

Of the 22 states that went to McCain in 2008, 86 percent received more federal spending than they paid in taxes in 2010. In contrast, 55 percent of the states that went to Obama received more federal spending than they paid in taxes. Republican states, on average, received $1.46 in federal spending for every tax dollar paid; Democratic states, on average, received $1.16.

Equivalence on the "guns and religion" thing is a farce. Obama was making an accusation about some people being reactionary. People sometimes are reactionary. He didn't say only conservatives are reactionary.

Romney said half of the country are unwilling to take responsibility for themselves.

the one thing obama CAN do during a debate is point out that EVERYONE in this country relies on government. for, like, almost everything. unless they live in a unabomber cabin and trap their meat. and more specifically that romney made millions because of a tax code loophole. he can bring that up, right?

I suspect Obama realizes that looking aggressive works against him, and so he will mostly just wait for Romney to put his foot in his mouth, as he inevitably will

the main equivalency w/guns n religion is that obama was talking to donors about OTHER people, not in the room, in unflattering terms, just like romney has here but yes agreed, at least obama didn't say something as nut-crushingly callous as "my job is not to care about them" as romney went on to do

i'm surprised there's so little furore over the line about how he'd be doing better in this campaign if his dad were mexican, that is just such an insane thing to say

the one thing obama CAN do during a debate is point out that EVERYONE in this country relies on government. for, like, almost everything. unless they live in a unabomber cabin and trap their meat. and more specifically that romney made millions because of a tax code loophole. he can bring that up, right?

last time he did brought us "you didn't build that"

there are really so many potential furors in this thing, not shocking the one where he flips off HALF the United States, rather than another country or a smaller (though still significant) section of America is getting the most attention.

to his face though. would be different. actually say that mitt made his money because he manipulated the tax code. to his face. tell mitt he should be thanking the federal government every day.

make him look like the biggest welfare motherfucker on the planet.

it's going to be hard for Obama to NOT call out a moment of hypocrisy in Mitt, since there will be so many. there basically isn't a single political topic mitt is genuine or consistent on. but going ham has a lot of risks.

you don't want to push romney into going full psychotic bc who knows what he'll do

obama doesn't go ham but he is an expert in cold cuts

everything he said made perfect sense in that milieu. of course he believes that having money is proof of virtue. of course he did it all himself with no help from daddy or the government or the rabble. of course being a rich white man from a rich white family was no advantage -- he had to fight past all those affirmative action candidates who were given a leg up.

romney may or may not believe this, although he probably does. but certainly his audience did and does.

this is what stunned me about chait saying he was 'shocked' -- this is everyday shit. ppl made such a fuss about todd akin, but he just said out loud, awkwardly, what is in the fucking republican platform.

if the republican agenda specifically stated that non-whites should be sanctioned with extreme prejudice, the media would ignore it until some cracker state senator started yelling about darkies. then it would be unseemly, and therefore, news.

mitt has terrible teeth. does he just not brush or what

is is what stunned me about chait saying he was 'shocked' -- this is everyday shit. ppl made such a fuss about todd akin, but he just said out loud, awkwardly, what is in the fucking republican platform.

The comments on the GOP-penned posts to which we've linked today agree!

chait wasn't shocked that a GOPer would think these things - he just took Mitt for an idiot rather than an asshole.

more of a "whichever way the wind blows, let it not be said I don't also blow" kind of politician

then he is curiously naive

but mitt it would actually be your actual job to worry about those people

i'm surprised there's so little furore over the line about how he'd be doing better in this campaign if his dad were mexican, that is just such an insane thing to say

This x1000

unabomber now gets 100% government entitlements now, funny enough.

mittens u sly dog

The GOP presidential candidate said he did not mean to write off nearly half the electorate. Instead, he was merely stating the fact that they support the president's "more European than American" outlook on wealth redistribution.

unabomber not paying any income tax, fer sure

must be an obama supporter

some of the coverage is beginning to read like one of Didion's 80s/early-90s political pieces

At an airport in Salt Lake City, Kevin Madden, a senior adviser, waved a group of reporters over to look at his iPhone. It displayed a headline in the Romney-friendly Drudge Report about a poll that showed the presidential race tightening.

A few hours later, Mr. Romney’s staff members summoned a handful of reporters to watch him carry four of his young grandchildren across a tarmac here and onto his plane for a tour.

But the video kept coming up anyway. When pressed, Mr. Madden offered a relentlessly on-message reply to questions about the candidate’s mood and reaction to the drip-drip-drip release of the fund-raiser footage by Mother Jones magazine.

“We’re still focused,” he said. “This is an election that is focused on the economy. It’s focused on the direction of the country.”

Political fictions.

i'm surprised there's so little furore over the line about how he'd be doing better in this campaign if his dad were mexican, that is just such an insane thing to say

This x1000

― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Tuesday, September 18, 2012 8:10 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark

I would wager that most white americans, even if it was just a lil' tiny bit, have considered themselves the victim of 'reverse racism' in the past

yeah, but most americans are idiots. more than half the country at least. if not more.

i love them all though.

"I'm not saying that you and your family are a piece of shit. I'm saying that if you and your family aren't a piece of shit, then the family next door is."

Saying that he has "two perspectives on the peace process," Romney elaborates:

"One is the one which I've had for some time, which is that the Palestinians have no interest whatsoever in establishing peace, and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish."

http://i.imgur.com/2igdf.jpg

I saved a copy of that pic, in case it vanishes once the originator understands she looks like a complete fool.

that picture should be on the dollar bill.

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

Has this been out long? Didn't know about it until just now. I've never been much of a Randy Newman fan--I tried--and truthfully, this doesn't hold much interest for me as music. But it does get at something--if it's new, I'm sure it will get some attention.

^^ It doesn't seem especially fresh or keen to me, certainly not enough to make a dime's worth of difference to the election.

ugh. he shouldn't post stuff when he's drunk.

sail away 2012. he's the worst. wish he would sail away.

his voice sucks and the music sucks and the lyrics are trite but other than that i really like his "sly" "subtle" message that he hits me over the head with until my brains are leaking out my ears.

It's "Sail Away" in a different context, so no, it's not new, but the sentiment's out there, and since no one else has put it to song yet--or at least not in those words--I give him credit.