Symmetry required it: 2012 american general election thread #2

I just

I mean

I cannot

my sides

xpost

didn't see it, but that line of thinking isn't unprecedented. didn't W say something similar at one point - that emergency rooms are in effect providing universal health care? i have to run in a sec, but here's a NYT article from earlier this year references that in the second paragraph: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/opinion/for-the-uninsured-the-wait-for-health-care.html?_r=0

We pick them up in an ambulance, and take them to the hospital, and give them care.

I can imagine a smiling, jovial Mitt, picking up heart attack victims in his stretch limousine, telling jokes, slapping their knees, while Ann mutters "You people and your health problems" and reads from the Book of Mormon.

its been a popular if not v wise republican thing to say for a while now

this has been the most delightful campaign, the only thing missing is Sarah Palin

But it's completely insane! The guy is running against a guy whose signature policy accomplishment is a still-controversial health care package! His OWN signature policy accomplishment is a health-care package that was sold in part on the grounds that the emergency-room "system" was not acceptable! The ad writes itself: "Mitt Romney hasn't been too specific about his proposals for health care... Until this week."

CBS article, 2009:

This nonsense is surprisingly common in Republican circles. Last year, Tom DeLay argued, "No American is denied health care in America," because everyone can go to the emergency room. Around the same time, George W. Bush said the same thing: "People have access to health care in America. After all, you just go to an emergency room." In 2004, then-HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson said our healthcare system "could be defined as universal coverage," because of emergency rooms.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/28/politics/animal/main4392483.shtml

I really do think the guy's brain is scrambled. He just really can't remember which position he's supposed to take with which audience, and which words go with which spiel. I think if the party and history would let you quit, he would.

are you kidding, he would never ever ever ever EVER quit

I expect that if/when he loses the election, he will give an acceptance speech anyway

he could probably still run for president of his local PTA. competition is weeeeak this year.

I expect that if/when he loses the election, he will give an acceptance speech anyway

oh please please I hope this happens

he could probably still run for president of his local PTA. competition is weeeeak this year.

he would probably campaign on a platform of eliminating children from schools to make the schools leaner and more efficient

"We already have parent-teacher associations; it's called a report card."

I don't mean that quitting is exactly in his temperament, but he just feels to me like an exhausted guy going through the motions of what he has to do, hoping that maybe tomorrow all the bad things will go away and people will be nice to him.

He should really mobilize this, I know he's been looking for experiences of hardship and struggle, to help him connect with regular Americans.

http://i50.tinypic.com/2alweu.jpg

what's with those crazy eyes

she's Michele Bachmann's cousin

The emergency care answer immediately reminded me of the Republican debates with Ron Paul:

"But Congressman, are you saying that society should just let him die?" asked Blitzer, to which several voices in the audience cried out, "Yes!"

"No. I practiced medicine before we had Medicaid, in the early 1960s, when I got out of medical school. I practiced at Santa Rosa Hospital in San Antonio, and the churches took care of them.

It's true, her eyes frighten some of the independents away before they even hear her message. no one can deny that Mitt Romney enjoys considerable advantages as we head into the final weeks of the 2012 Watkins County PTA Presidential Election.

"But Congressman, are you saying that society should just let him die?" asked Blitzer, to which several voices in the audience cried out, "Yes!"

And I'm proud to be an American
Where at least I know I'm free
To die a painful, lonely death
While other citizens laugh at me
And I'd gladly stand up next to you
If I still had legs

He could be prez of his local Junior League! He'd win handily.

Meantime, speaking of health car, roffle at these governors having to grit their teeth.

I thought Romney came across better on 60 Minutes, but only because they filmed the president after he had pulled an all-nighter, getting reports on how his ambassador was killed.

He looked okay in Colorado when he had Croft stand in front of him outside on a sidewalk.

^ this

Still, if you were paying attention to what Romney was saying instead of just listening to the tone of his voice, no person with any sense would vote for him.

omg DJP

i love Newsweek's shocking headlines

OMG what was the big mistake of all of america's women?
Obama already won?? shit, he already won!!!
Steve Jobs could have been saved?? Why didn't we save him, whose fault is this?!
Some lady lived as a Saudi!??!

These all look like old school tabloid headlines.

Steve Jobs could have been saved?? Why didn't we save him, whose fault is this?!

Too bad that guy couldn't afford good health care

I think if the party and history would let you quit, he would.

never seen a pol before, eh

I am so glad that Andrew Power Bottom Sullivan's demented hero fantasies are now the gold standard of newsweekly c.w.

Yes, Bill Clinton won two terms and is a brilliant pol bar none, as he showed in Charlotte in the best speech of both conventions.

this is prob the nicest thing sullivan has ever said abt clinton, interesting to see this softening coinciding w/his hero worship switching parties

are you kidding, he would never ever ever ever EVER quit

I expect that if/when he loses the election, he will give an acceptance speech anyway

yes. I think he thinks his campaign strategy is genius and it would be working fine if all these Noonans and Kristols would stfu. Historically there would have been a high profile firing by now if Mitt thought there was a real problem with his campaign. Sending out Anne to yell "Stop it" at conservative pundits and Bay Buchanon to call Scarborough a liberal shows what his defense will be when he loses.

a brilliant pol, still a stone evil corpo-motherfucker

http://www.salon.com/2012/09/24/clinton_libya_needs_a_wal_mart/

Historically there would have been a high profile firing by now if Mitt thought there was a real problem with his campaign.

well T-Paw just quit as campaign co-chair to take a lobbying or consulting gig, right? but tbh that plays like he's abandoning a sinking ship than anything else

T-Paw was just a mouthpiece not a strategist.

a brilliant pol, still a stone evil corpo-motherfucker

http://www.salon.com/2012/09/24/clinton_libya_needs_a_wal_mart/

lol great url

Plus T-Paw leaving to work in private sector/finance cannot really be criticized by Romney's campaign since it is a calling of a higher order.

what does a "co-chair" even do? i'd love for that to indicate both romney flailing and pawlenty knowing his own career is finished. but that kinda turns on the idea that pawlenty was even important to romney to begin with.

are there like forty co-chairs on a campaign, or what? do they just beg for money all day (romney has enough money to win now, if he was going to win)? was pawlenty edged out because he's as useless to romney as he was for himself? there are a thousand things that could be happening here, i don't want to settle on the meaning i'm looking for, 'fyou get me

Bill Clinton challenges CEO to open stores in Tripoli

gauntlet, thrown

One of those chairs ended up on stage with Eastwood iirc

tpaw was offered a paying job that lasts past november is prob what it came down to

and he realized that a cabinet position was pretty unlikely

yep

http://publicreligion.org/research/2012/09/race-class-culture-survey-2012/

Among southern working class whites, Romney leads by 40 points, 62-22, an extraordinary gap.
The story in the rest of the country is different. In the West, where Colorado and Nevada are battleground states, Romney leads by a modest 5 points, 46-41. In the Northeast, which Obama is expected to sweep, except perhaps for New Hampshire, Romney holds a 4-point advantage among working class whites, 42-38. In the Midwest, where Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin are in play, Obama actually leads among working class whites by 8 points (44-36).

Among southern working class whites, Romney leads by 40 points, 62-22, an extraordinary gap.

obama is black. just sayin'

keep talkin

memeorandum ‏@memeorandum
ELIZABETH WARREN ADMITS SHE IS NOT LICENSED TO PRACTICE LAW IN MASSACHUSETTS (Michael Patrick... http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/09/24/Elizabeth-Warren-Admits-She-Is-Not-Licensed-to-Practice-Law-in-Massachusetts

omg good thing shes not practicing law in massachusetts

hhahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

"Yeah," Romney said in an interview aired on Sunday on the CBS television show "60 Minutes," when he was asked if he thought his relatively low rate was fair. Romney then stared impassively for forty minutes with no further elaboration.

Uh.

hahaha

Romney then stared impassively for forty minutes with no further elaboration.

Wait – he and the reporter sat in the room for 40 minutes w/out talking? Creepo.