the most important election of your lifetime: 2012 american general election thread

The only hubbub is seniors trying to find a parking space before they give up and park illegally again.

there are a limited number of early bird specials available, i'll have you know

http://www.gonomad.com/lodgings/0906/kapama-images/vulture.jpg

I can't emebed any of the photos of everyone in the parking lot screaming about Ozzie Guillen and Hitler, so...

http://latinorebels.com/2012/04/11/video-from-ozzie-guillen-protest-in-miami/

Guillen protesters are either 60 or Miami Herald columnists.

(housekeeping note: i'm kinda in favor of just having this be a big free-for-all rest-of-2012 politics thread. separate threads for congress and general stuff seems like a recipe for duplication. "election season" tends to warp everything else around it. the presidential race promises to be only not-boring in how annoying it is anyway)

oh I think we're in a for a very lolz-y prez campaign

(...but also maintain a politics thread that's actual about the important shit that goes on instead of the duopoly horse race.)

xp

yeah, who cares

is that what i said? no, it isn't

yeah we still have the gen politics thread

I thought you were asking if we should split up the horseraces

I dunno, goole – it looks like a snooze.

that's what i said!

(l-r: obama, romney)

http://files.myopera.com/edwardpiercy/blog/Duck-Soup-Mirror-Scene-2.JPG

oh ok I reread it

or l-r: gore, bush amirite lol

meh, it will get way more fun when the economy re-tanks in the fall

We will then rely on you to prop it up. Don't ask me how.

Rabbit season

Now this is good--we have a Silly Controversy to distract from Presidential Evil that everyone can Weigh In On:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRjdNKsdR58

She seems sincere--she looked right into the camera.

The B____ Who Used to Run the Music Industry

Wow, I didn't know any of that RIAA stuff. I watched a lot of her in '08. I have something of a crush on her. I don't know if she's ready to switch teams, though.

just a teeny taste for Shakey on how Team Bam can lose the election

haha waht

this is nothing, a 24-hr newscycle blip of no consequence

many more nothings to come

also totally unrelated to "Team Bam". why anybody cares what Hilary Rosen thinks about Romney is a bit of a mystery, beyond the most cynical explanation that this has all just been a trumped-up non-controversy for a slow news day

More! I'm dying of boredom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sIeIcOo4rg

haha yes this thing 99% of our country is not paying attention to will surely be Obama's undoing!

I always suspected Morbz was the 1%

I mean STUFF LIKE THIS. You know, rich Hollywood dyke opens her mouth, inserts condescending foot.

I knew it was a mistake to come back.

you were gone?

you were gone?

― Jilly Boel and the Eltones (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, April 12, 2012 5:11 PM (49 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think he's referring to his Lenten fast

pretty sure nothing like this will come out of the Obama campaign. Much less the endless stream of similar nothings that would be required to reverse Romney and the GOP's deep structural problems.

Romney's been fucked from the start. I should've started taking cash bets from all you fools over a year ago.

nobody except music and/or politics nerds knows or cares who Hillary Rosen is. and this won't change.

ha morbs gimme a break. your ODS is getting as bad as the rightwingers i read for fun. "rich hollywood dyke" eh?

speaking of taking a beating tho:

matt stoller on two primaries lost big by progressives

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/04/internet-democrats-take-a-beating-in-illinois.html

he draws on two other reports, grim/terkel on illinois:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/22/ilya-sheyman-illinois-congress-progressives_n_1372454.html?ref=politics

...and the rothenberg report on maryland

http://rothenbergpoliticalreport.com/news/article/maryland-primary-boosts-democratic-prospects

p interesting in both cases

I have to assume Morbius isn't versed in the details of this, else he'd (surprise) be all over Obama.

1) What Rosen initially said was rational and fair, if politically clumsy;
2) Obama's side has rushed in to denounce (or renounce, or condemn--I forget the exact protocol) her, for reasons that are probably 10% honorable (wives and family should be off-limits, stay-at-home wives do no "not work") and 90% running for cover.

And yes, it'll probably all be forgotten by Monday.

ABC News reporter, wiping slobber from chin, said, "Ann Romney, Governor Romney's secret weapon, is a secret no more."

Lol yeah this is less than nothing. A personal attack that will be rather weakly blown up to fill otherwise dead air.

I've been pretending that I think this whole thing is nothing, because I don't want everyone jumping on me for thinking it's something. But, as always, I think some of the substance is pretty interesting (not any impact on the election, which of course is non-existent).

1) Does Ann Romney being rich preclude her from speaking out about (or understanding) economic anxiety?
2) Once she does, is it okay for Rosen to ridicule her?

It's also spilled over into Rosen's sexuality and the Catholic League and adoption: http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/04/is-this-all-there-is-war-on-moms-adoptive-parents-define-campaign-news-day-1.php. Those of you who hate all this will applaud Alec MacGillis's piece:

Apparently, we’re supposed to shrug at all this, roll with it. Deny or complain about the reality of the modern news cycle, and you’re a nostalgic prude. But I’m willing to suffer that label. This stuff is ridiculous, and I’ve been through enough of these campaigns to know that it’s getting worse. When the possible future First Lady, a woman who by most reports is as dignified as they come, is dragooned into setting up a Twitter account late on a weekday night so she can tweet her outrage over a line spoken on a news network no one watches, and her grown sons then chime in with their own go-mom tweets, and the rest of us get breathless ("game on!")—well, it’s time to pause for at least a millisecond and recognize that while this is how it is, it doesn’t have to be this way. We do still have personal agency. We can shut it off, put it down, and get the nail clipper.

1) Does Ann Romney being rich preclude her from speaking out about (or understanding) economic anxiety?

It didn't prevent Eleanor Roosevelt. But Ann Romney lacks Mrs. Roosevelt's curiosity (evident even in the twenties and early thirties). As for Rosen, she proved she's an amateur by making a remark that thousands of bloggers left and right would turn into front page news. When you're working for the frontrunner that's not what you do.

she is not working for the frontrunner

1) Does Ann Romney being rich preclude her from speaking out about (or understanding) economic anxiety?

no. it does, however, give others due cause to doubt her ability to really understand the economic concerns of the poor and middle class.

2) Once she does, is it okay for Rosen to ridicule her?

sure. but it's also okay for others to take offense at that ridicule.

I loved this:

Barbara Bush joined in the chorus of those defending Ann Romney today, saying on Fox News that “five boys is a handful, trust me. Raising George Walker was not easy.”

Mom and Obama united as to who's really to blame.

wasn't Ann Romney in Throw Momma from the Train?

btw the #AskRomney hashtag on twitter is full of cheap, obvious lulz, but lulz nonetheless.

#AskRomney when you saw the Trayvon Martin story on the news, how surprised were you that black people still exist

#askromney how many people say ritt momney on accident?

#AskRomney Why didn't you become Batman? You have enough money to be Batman. Are you afraid to be Batman?

#AskRomney a/s/l?

#AskRomney Which days in her life did Ann Romney work? Please specify

#AskRomney If I put on the sunglasses Rowdy Roddy Piper gave me, will you look like an alien?

btw how many Pavlovian base bonus pts for both "Hilary" and "Rosen"?

Show us on your abacus.