;)
The Commentariat -- Oct. 23, 2012
Presidential Race
Every time you've offered an opinion, you've been wrong. -- President Barack Obama, to Mitt Romney, during the final 2012 presidential debate
Syria is Iran's path to the sea. -- Mitt Romney (The two countries don't share a border & Iran has about 1,500 miles of coastline.)
Obama's bin Laden. -- Bob Schieffer
David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "President Obama seemed to use the authority of his office to put ... Mitt Romney on his heels in their final presidential debate Monday night, telling Romney he didn't understand foreign-policy problems as well as he does." The New York Times report, by Peter Baker & Helene Cooper, is here.
... The full transcript is here, via the Washington Post.
How Obama delivers a prepared zinger -- and perhaps the only memorable lines from the foreign policy debate. It was nice of Romney to provide the set-up:
NEW. Amy Davidson of the New Yorker has an entertaining take on the debate. Read to the end. ...
... NEW. John Cassidy's assessment is more detailed.
Joe Klein of Time: "President Obama won the foreign policy debate, cleanly and decisively, on both style and substance. It was as clear a victory as Mitt Romney's in the first debate. And Romney lost in similar fashion: he seemed nervous, scattered, unconvincing -- and he practiced unilateral disarmament, agreeing with Obama hither and yon -- on Iraq (as opposed to two weeks ago), on Afghanistan (as opposed to interviews he's given this fall), on Libya and Syria and Iran. He didn't have a single creative or elegantly stated foreign policy thought and, indeed, seemed foolish at times, using the word peace about as often as George McGovern in 1972 (not that McGovern was foolish, but Romney has run so hot and aggressive on foreign policy that he seemed a sudden convert to transcendental meditation or Yoko Ono's secret consort)."
Steve M. of No More Mister Nice Blog thinks Obama should graciously accept Mitt Romney's endorsement. Thanks to Victoria D. for the link.
Josh Marshall of TPM: "Romney looked pained and rambling through most of the debate. I don't think I've ever seen Romney sweat like that, literally or figuratively. And I think national security politics mainly revolves around demonstrations of strength and coherence. To put a finer point on it, dominance. On that count, Obama won hands down."
Steve Kornacki of Salon: Monday's debate was Obama's best debate performance & Romney's worst. Too bad it will likely have a much smaller audience & little effect on the election.
Michael Hirsh of the National Journal: "... in making a vague and restrained case for a stronger America that would nonetheless steer clear of military involvement in hot spots such as Iran and Syria, Romney rendered almost moot any serious differences he might have with President Obama over foreign policy. All of which only raised a question not helpful to Romney's case: Why replace the man in the Oval Office?"
Glenn Greenwald liveblogs the debate. Not too long & definitely worth a read.
Steve Erlanger of the New York Times: "Monday night's American presidential debate on foreign policy presented a skewed vision of the world, even the world defined by American national interests."
Charles Pierce files "a report form the flip-floppy debate." He doesn't let anybody off the hook, including you & me.
Howard Fineman: The Obama campaign says Mitt Romney was just flat-out lying when he claimed he had favored government support of the auto industry bailout. Romney backers can't seem to defend Romney's claim. No link.
Chuck Todd says Romney sounded like he was giving a book report of places in foreign countries. He sez Republicans he talked to were unhappy with Romney's answers. The Obama campaign is feeling good. "Romney never engaged the President on the toughest zingers." You know the night was a bust for Romney when Chuckie doesn't go the he-said/he-said route.
Rachel Maddow (& contributor Victoria D.) report the CBS insta-poll of undecided voters: 53% said Obama won the debate to 23% for Romney. CNN insta-poll of registered voters: 48% for Obama; 40% said Romney won. ...
... Nate Silver analyzes last night's insta-poll results & possible impacts of the debate.
Obama's first post-debate ad, which according to Greg Sargent is going up in nine states. "By contrast," Sargent writes, "Romney's new ad features footage of him at yesterday's debate attacking Obama for his ... fictional apology tour":
... Matt Vasilogambros of the National Journal: "... President Obama's campaign is releasing a 20-page booklet called 'Blueprint for America's Future' on Tuesday and airing a new television ad [above] to support it. While several of his policy initiatives are not new, laid out in the last State of the Union address and during Obama's convention speech in September, they are likely the basis for his campaign's messaging in the final two weeks of the election.... The Obama campaign plans on printing 3.5 million copies of the plan and it will be distributed to campaign field offices...." ...
... CW: there's an online version of the booklet, beginning here. Nice that on every single page, including the overview, there is a campaign contribution form.
Michael Tomasky of Newsweek must have a crystal ball. Otherwise, how could he possibly know that "Romney is going to lie like crazy..., trying to Etch a Sketch away 18 months' worth of war-mongering neocon statements and positions." ...
... CW: We'll just see if he's right. The New York Times will be liveblogging & fact-checking the debate. ...
... Update: the Times now has an interactive feature with its fact-checking entries pegged to video of the debate.
Andrew Rosenthal of the New York Times: "The Romney campaign is spending so much time on Benghazi only because Mr. Obama's foreign policy record is strong."
Hamed Aleaziz of Think Progress: "Efraim Halevy, former chief of Israel’s spy agency the Mossad, said in two separate interviews on Sunday and Monday that President Obama's approach toward Iran has been "'courageous' and 'brave.'" Halevy said, "What Romney is doing is mortally destroying any chance of a resolution without war."
Michael Birnbaum & Keith Richburg of the Washington Post: "From Europe to China to the Middle East, perceptions of the contest have lagged behind indications that [President Obama & Mitt Romney] are in a virtual dead heat. Obama remains widely popular abroad, and there are signs that many leaders are unprepared for a Romney presidency.... From the Scottish Highlands to the heel of Italy, it's Obama country all the way. One survey last month from the German Marshall Fund found Europeans breaking 75 percent for Obama and 8 percent for Romney. Even conservative leaders have maneuvered themselves to appear closer to the U.S. president...."
Zack Ford of Think Progress: "Mitt Romney's campaign seemed to flip-flop last week on whether he supports an amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning same-sex marriage, but the convoluted clarification demonstrated that his positions on the issue are purely political and as insensitive as ever.... Romney clearly doesn't have families in mind -- he just wants to appeal to both conservatives and moderates by having no discernible position at all."
Josh Marshall of TPM: Ronna Romney, an ex-sister-in-law of Mitt Romney who "has a minor role in the Romney campaign..., posted ... grotesque images of the mangled body of the late Ambassador Chris Stevens with the words 'Obama killed him' surrounded by dripping blood.... A few TPM Readers note ... that [she] ... seemed not to realize or not to care that the picture on the right is of the late Libya dictator Gaddafi. Later Update: And she took it down."
Gilma Avalos & Brian Hamacher of NBC South Florida: "A blimp-like aircraft carrying a Mitt Romney campaign message crash landed in a field in Davie, [Florida,] Sunday night, officials said." A commenter writes, "They probably took Mitt's advise and decided to cut a few windows in the balloon once it was in the air." He's referring to this:
Congressional Races
If Claire McCaskill were a dog, she'd be a 'Bullshitsu.' -- Rick Tyler, senior advisor to Rep. Todd Akin, in a tweet playing on Akin's remark in which he compared McCaskill to a dog
Other Stuff
Michiko Kakutani of the New York Times reviews Jeff Toobin's The Oath, a book about the Roberts Court.
William Greider, who covered George McGovern for the Washington Post during the 1972 presidential campaign, writes a fine remembrance of McGovern.
Alan Cowell of the New York Times: "The director general of the British Broadcasting Corporation on Tuesday defended the institution's handling of a burgeoning sex abuse scandal involving one of its best-known personalities, saying the corporation was not trying to 'avoid answering questions' and had begun inquiries that were 'the opposite of an attempt to hide things.'" CW: this story is a proverbial "sticky wicket" for the Times as its incoming CEO Mark Thompson was director general of the BBC when a BBC investigative program dropped its planned story about serial sex-abuse allegations against popular BBC personality Jimmy Savile. Thompson pleads ignorance.
News Ledes
AP: "The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago upheld a lower court's finding that Indiana violated federal regulations when it enacted a law that denied Planned Parenthood Medicaid funds for general health services including cancer screenings."
CBS News: "Massachusetts state officials say they found unclean conditions including visible black specks of fungus in steroids made by a pharmacy linked to a deadly outbreak of meningitis. Gov. Deval Patrick said Tuesday the state has moved to revoke the license of the New England Compounding Center and three pharmacists. The state also said it is launching a criminal investigation into the company that is identified as the source of a 17-state meningitis outbreak."
New York Times: John Kiriakou, "a former Central Intelligence Agency officer accused of leaking to journalists the identities of two former colleagues involved in the agency's detention and interrogation program for high-level Qaeda suspects, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a single charge. The plea deal was a victory for the Obama administration's crackdown on unauthorized disclosures of government secrets."
ABC News: "The housing market is revving up and gaining strength in some parts of the country. Average US home prices rose 1.3 percent in the third quarter -- the biggest quarterly gain since 2006, according to the third quarter Zillow Real Estate Market Reports. But the pace of the recovery is uneven."
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Reader Comments (30)
NYT live blogging is not very up to the minute...dissappointing
Been going back and forth between C-SPAN and Daily Kos blogging.
Not sure I trust Daily Kos very much, but Romney does seem flustered and stressed out. Obama clearly winning.
Romney sweating a lot.
The president was at his best, technically and forensically tonight, at least compared to the other debates, an indication of the advantage the Lying Rat gained through the crucible of the Republican primaries. Clearly, had Obama had the same amount of practice, his first outing would not have been nearly as bad. He's not anywhere near the smooth, slick, snake-oil peddler that Romney is, but then not many are.
Romney dialed back (read: lied about) nearly all of his prior positions. No surprise there. He needed to seem reasonable and presidential. But Obama took him to school on many points.
Happy to see him whack the Rat about his many fustian lies about fantasy apology tours. I wish just once he would have stopped the RomneyPig when he twice, in one sentence, insulted all Democrats by using the Fox approved insult "Democrat Senators".
Prediction?
I think the press, at least the ignorant, in the bag losers like Chucky Todd and Mark (Republican Ball Licker) Halperin, and Fuzzy (no balls at all) Gregory, and all the Fox Fools, will give the win to Romney for not tripping too badly over his lies.
Foreign policy is a difficult area and an easy one for a pretender like Romney to criticize and to thrust his scrawny chest out and set his chin towards policy vulgarity and precocious, unmediated statements of violent and thoughtless positions, but the president, I feel, took a strong and consistent tack, educating a bragging bully in the finer points of dealing with friends and foes abroad who are not impressed by the elevator in one's garage, at least as far as it's possible to do that with a lapidarian liar like Romney.
Brooks (I just heard) has declared that the president was insulting and contemptuous toward the Rat. I guess he should have asked his royal Ratness for permission to question him about his waterfall of lies.
In fact, he was as polite as he possibly could be to a lying piece of dung.
My take? Obama on points. No knockout, but a good, solid performance; technically detailed, emotionally stable, and full of the kind of character that Romney lacks completely.
The press? At best, they'll call it a tie. Most will give it, I think, to the rodent. It's what Romney expects, after all, isn't it?
Oh, one more point. Romney was his usual bullying self, riding roughshod over the moderator and even the president when it suited his royal dickness, even going so far as telling Schieffer that his question was stupid and declining to answer it. (In fairness, hypotheticals can be a little silly but they do, if treated properly, allow one to display one's thought process. They're a bit like thought experiments. The point is not to get the right answer, but to demonstrate that you know how to wend your way through to a reasonable position, to show your chops, something the Rat declined, due, no doubt to his inability to think on his feet without a script. Some president.)
CBS instapoll of tonight's debate: 53% Obama; 23 % Romney
Well, I was wrong about Halperin. Sort of. On Charlie Rose he gave it to the president "on points" but then went on for five straight minutes about what an amazing, exceptional, incredible (blow job, blow job, blow) job Romney did. The only other thing he had to say about the president was that this debate wouldn't help him at all.
Big surprise there.
I can't imagine what other nations must think about the possibility of what four more years of Bush-style ignorance and bullying would be like if Romney were to successfully steal the election. It seemed like the Rat has some kind of inside information on that score, however, because he repeatedly qualified his statements by saying things like "When I am president"....
He probably shouldn't be letting on the results of his meetings with Diebold officials who, no doubt, have promised him the presidency, for certain considerations, of course.
Well let's see what the morrow brings.
Did anyone else notice Sir Willard of Mitt sort of bouncing in his chair like maybe he was tapping a heel on the floor? I looked at the print on the blue wall behind him thinking it might be the camera but it wasn't moving and neither was Obama. The Ratmeister looked jittery to me. Anybody else?
When the Bully-in-Chief allowed him to talk, Obama clearly won the foreign policy debate, but the real debate has been and continues to be about the swing states, particularly Ohio, and Obama won that, too. Because we are winding down unpopular wars and because most American's do feel safer now than they did four years ago, Romney's backpedaling on his bellicose foreign policy rhetoric won't much matter other than offering another stark example, if anyone needed one, of his willingness to say ANYTHING in pursuit of the presidency, but his denial of his previous call to "let Detroit go bankrupt," regardless of the weak positive spin he tried to put on it tonight, will convince no one not already firmly in his camp.
Syria, Iran and the entire Middle East do matter, but in two weeks Ohio counts more.
..." Every time you've offered an opinion, you've been wrong. -- President Barack Obama, to Mitt Romney, during the final 2012 presidential debate
Syria is Iran's path to the sea. -- Mitt Romney (The two countries don't share a border & Iran has about 1,500 miles of coastline.)
Obama's bin Laden. -- Bob Schieffer..."
You have said it all, Marie! Obama came out strong, sturdy and commander-in-chief like. The visuals were even stronger than the speech.
I wanted to give MittWitt a handkerchief to wipe his sweaty lyin' brow. This guy is a narcissist with a drive to power--but absolutely NO CLASS! He was a disaster.
And Bob Schieffer--on a par with Jim Leher. A pussy. And a real asshole with his "Obama bin Laden" goof! Bought off MSM--tilted towards RawMoney, and was unable to set ANY boundaries whatever! Definitely a tie for worst moderator--which is obviously a job for WOMEN! Candy Crowley and Martha Radditz could take these old corporatists down in a New York minute. I think there should be a rule that only women can moderate a debate between two narcissistic Alpha males--particular when one is a pathological liar. MittWitt down!
Go Obama! Remember the Supremes!
Past the nit-picking and weiner-stretching that also shows up at a debate, I'm amazed that in a foreign policy for the President of the US of A that one of the most important issue went fluttering through the breeze. PALESTINE MATTERS.
The issue of a Palestinian state was a principal factor regarding the 9/11 attacks. The Muslims world holds us directly accountable for their illegal oppression at the hands of Israel because we threw ourselves front and center as the principal negotiators of a peace deal. Except it never happened and seems very unlikely, especially under the Israeli Tea Party candidate Bibi Isayahoo. Despite the fact that the Palestinian authority is democratically-elected, moderate and extremely organized considering their situation. So we're held accountable, which means OUR troops our being killed and OUR national security threatened for this one geopolitical clusterfuck.
Romney mentioned Palestine once in the debate, and I don't see how Obama didn't seize the opportunity to expose Rmoney's gaping asshole. In the now famous undercover video, Romney completely writes off the Palestinian people and their quest for independence. He basically says they're not worthy because they're so culturally bankrupt. What a Royal cock socker. If he becomes Prez, we instantly lose all credibility with this issue because we can't even pretend we're trying because he just showed his cards before the game started. The hatred will boil over again as the Muslim world gains more freedoms and sees their Palestinian brothers locked in their cages behind the Israeli wall.
Disregarding the elephant in the room, Obama wins the debate game show 2-1, and the circus rolls on...
We could not help but remark on the fact that both male moderators were really much older and less alert than the females.Why did they talk poor Leher into the job and ask Schieffer, another codger? Strange.
Of course I would pick Rachel and Cenk myself.
We could not help but remark on the fact that both male moderators were really much older and less alert than the females.Why did they talk poor Leher into the job and ask Schieffer, another codger? Strange.
Of course I would pick Rachel and Cenk myself.
With all of MittWitt's saber rattling about Iran, I turned to Juan Cole--Professor of Middle-Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan.
He debunks the "Ten Republican Myths about Obama and Iran," with lots of facts. OMG! What are those? MittWitt never met a fact he didn't want to mess with. Good luck on screwing around with these, RatMan!
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/14124-focus-top-ten-republican-myths-about-obama-and-iran
I read the review of Toobin's book with interest. I have to agree with his assessment of Obama's lack of concern for judicial issues, such as appointing judges. But what got me was his description of Thomas as "conservative intellectual pathbreaker." "Intellectual"? Who never asks a question, never engages anyone who appears before the court?
Anyway, I think of Justice Souter as the ideal justice. That's where I am coming from. I hope Toobin is right in the nice things he says about Roberts.
Obama clearly was the winner and very much in control of this last debate. Mitt, on the other hand, was a barely contained pressure cooker. Maybe that's what Tommy Bones noticed (the lid about to blow)...and when the Eyes of the Rat were turned on Obama, one could almost feel that we were mille-seconds away from an eruption.
While this was a toned-down Mitt, he continued to dissemble and espouse the same fairy tales about his 'fabled history as the successful-reach-across-the-aisle governor' and put out the same misinformation (or lack thereof) for his plans. Once again, it was his old, you-can't-nail-jell -to-the-wall persona on display.
Damn the cursor/delete... "jelly" not jell, that's the odd missing space in my last line!
I once had a student who was manic/depressive. In his manic state his speech was hurried, never pausing not even it seemed for breaths. He would start telling you about a particular subject but became tangential in the delivery so that the original subject became lost in a morass of unrelated matters. Last night watching Romney I was struck by this same manic quality–––at times it bordered on frightening.
I have no nails left––chewed the last one off the right little pinkie.
Since none of the pundits seems to be saying this, I will. I think Romney feels he's already won the presidency. Counting the votes is just a formality (hey, if they don't quite work out, he can fix them). Therefore, his purpose last night was to assure our allies -- who for some odd reason think he's Bush III -- that he will continue Obama's foreign policy agenda, not Dubya's. Yeah, it would have worked better if Romney had not gone into flop-sweat mode & if Obama had not repeatedly pointed out that Romney had radically different policies yesterday. But for Romney, other than those downers, Mission Accomplished.
Romney's more important target audience was white male high-school dropouts & a few low-info suburban moms. So his message was, "I'm a car guy & I did want to save the auto industry. P.S. Your sons & daughters will not be going to ground in Syria."
So, overall, I think Romney accomplished what he set out to do. He told voters, "I am not a warmonger. And I did not say the things I said last week." For voters who haven't been paying attention -- i.e., the ones who are still persuadable -- that's good enough.
Marie
Update: Greg Sargent alludes to some of these points here.
Did anyone notice at the end of the debate when our President and King Rat were shaking hands with people in the audience, that Queen Rat was standing behind her husband and holding him as if to stop him from falling into the audience? Meanwhile, beautiful Michelle, stood beside her husband, as an equal partner.
Leslie Gore and friends "You Don't Own Me." Right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M_hcioeOyk
I have to agree with Marie's take on Romney's belief that he's already won. I wasn't kidding earlier when I said that the way the Rat was continually qualifying his lies, er, statements, with "When I'm president, I will....." suggests that the powers that have slithered out from the right, the Kochs, Rove, Teabagger billionaires, local and national republican officials who are planning to successfully steal yet another presidential election, have already informed him that it's in the bag.
Still, he doesn't enjoy being made to look foolish, and Obama did that last night. One way you can tell when someone is not arguing from strength, or knowledge, is when they won't let the other side get a word in edgewise. Time clearly wasn't an issue at least for the Rat even though Schieffer several times did tell the candidates they had two minutes, or whatever, for their answer. It seemed like Obama would make his point in a direct straightforward manner complete with contemporary and historical references and actual facts. His answers were brisk, concise, and to the point.
The Rat would then go on for-fucking-ever, rambling, whining, waving his little rat claws around, hardly ever answering the question, but returning time and again to his well worn lies. At one point I got the feeling that he wanted to just come right out and say, "Look, people, these democratic dog and pony shows are all well and good, but it's time to get on with things. I'm president, and that's that. I mean LOOK at this guy. He's black for pete's sake! He should be parking my car not making me sweat over things that don't matter!"
Meanwhile, in my head, I see, like a scene in a horror movie, Republican henchmen across the country unlocking doors to secret chambers wherein hundreds of voting machines are being tested. A flip is switched, their screens come to life and one by one they all say "Winner: Romney". The henchmen gurgle with glee as the camera pulls back and the door is closed. The camera tilts up to a calendar and zooms in on Tuesday, November 6, 2012.
Fade to red.
Gee, and here I thought Romney's "when I'm president" was just a cheap psyche-out trick recommended by his debate wranglers.
Silly me!
In a few hours my 12 year old Wheaten and I will head out into the rain and happily doorbell for Obama. Charlie is a big fan of Bo - he has an "I Bark for Barack " bumpersticker on our car.
Marie: Your prescience is alarming but probably accurate. If even in the polls, Romney will win big. We " libruls," a diminishing lot, should be thinking about what happens next.
When things get really shitty, as they are bound to, a new poliical party will be viable for the first time in over a hundred years. If Romney does even half of what he has promised, a disaster is inevitable. As the forty seven percent become the sixty five percent, hunger, fear, suppression, and anger will cause a general favorable response to the promise of hope and deliverance.
An organized opposition with a liberal agenda will be prepared for leadership. Unprepared, we can expect a demogogic despot from either of the two parties to take advantage of the troubles.
Defeatism didn't get us through the Depression or WWII, and it never won an election.
Action rather than complaint would seem to be in order.
Well, before I get any more gloomy about stolen elections and the like, I wanted to pass on a list I thought you all might enjoy, since you're all readers. These are the best of the bunch (with editorial asides from moi).
Questions asked in bookstores:
1. Didn’t Dickens ever write anything fun? (What, you don't think Bleak House is a knee slapper all the way through?)
2. Do you have any Robin Hood books where he doesn’t steal from the rich? It’s my husband’s birthday. He’s a banker and his name is Robin, see? He wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea. (Can't you see Lady Ann in a bookstore? "Do you have any books about rats that don't eat people? You see, my husband's name is Willard and....")
3. I’m looking for a book on my kid’s reading list. Do you have something called “Tequila Mockingbird”? (Remember kids, drinking heavily while you read makes you older budweiser.)
4. Do you have “Fiddler on a Hot Tin Roof?” (A Tennessee Williams musical about Jews escaping czarist pogroms by moving to Mississippi and becoming drunken college football heroes.)
5. What books do you have that would make guests looking at my bookshelf think “Wow, this guy is really smart”? (Sounds like a Dubya question. Remember when Rove used to talk about Bush reading philosophy and history? Ha! I used to picture Bush trying to read Wittgenstein. Do you remember Bush toting around a big bio of Dean Acheson on the campaign trail? A reporter asked him what he had learned from the book. Bush froze and said he’d just started it. Two weeks later he was asked again about the book. Another freeze. Then he started rambling on about world peace. What a fucking moron.)
6. Where do all these books come from? Did you buy them from Amazon?
7. Customer: We have some really old books in our attic. Would you be interested in buying them? Bookseller: That depends. What sort of books?
Customer: We have a copy of Gone with the Wind printed in the 1890s.
Bookseller: Ahh….Gone with the Wind was written in the 1930s.
Customer: Well, yeah, but this is a really old copy.
We may all be in the bookstores soon asking:
"Do you have any books about moving to Canada?"
Victoria,
I'm not being defeatist, just trying to maintain an even keel. I don't actually know what will happen but I have no doubt that there will be serious election irregularities. I don't know if Republicans will be able to do enough damage to be successful at stealing this election but they did it before and no one said anything about it, so I don't have any doubts that they're trying it again. As to whether they'll steal enough votes or keep enough people from voting to win, that remains to be seen.
But I haven't given up and I don't think anyone else should either. That being said, I've been trying to deal with rising outrage over the fact that a party that promises a return to financial calamity, increased economic disparity, disgraced policies, and never ending war, can force its will on an entire nation by short circuiting a presidential election.
The trick is how to make this problem known and understood by these same people whose votes may not even be counted properly in a few weeks.
I am with Victoria. Meanwhile, trying to get Kurt Shrader elected here in Oregon. His opponent--what else but a Koch-funded TeaBagger. Iam thinking "green" thoughts for Obama and sticking pins in my voo doo doll for MittWitt--especially for a "tax audit" and "nose hairs!"
I also noticed last night that Lady Rmney seemed to be holding up MittWitt after the debate. He looks like he has some serious back issues, and cannot stand up straight or move his hands above his waist--sorta like McCain. Mabe his ruthless Mormon God has smote him down for all his fuckin' lies.
J
alphonsegaston: If the review of Toobin's book you refer to is in today's NYT I ask you to reread the last paragraph. The flattering picture of Roberts is a description of the legal devil coming for your soul. So much of today's humanist legislation is founded on the Commerce law that is squarely in the the right wing's bombsight. That bomber is piloted by Mr Roberts and his target is your rights.
Carlyle: a third party is the last thing the US needs. There is no room on the right for a new party in a country in which the left wing party is at the limits of the right wing in many Democracies. A new party on the left would split the liberal vote for the next generation. To see the results cast your sights to Canada where, thanks to 1 right-wing party and 2 center left parties, a majority right wing party is busy dismantling our democratic heritage empowered by 39% of the popular vote.
2 months ago I was wondering if I was about to witness the crushing of the Republican party, an echo of Johnson's victory over Goldwater. Just yesterday, it seems, I was chuckling at Romney the etch-a-sketch candidate. Today I'm witnessing a cliff-hanger. Perhaps a people may not deserve the government they have but I think that a people who tolerate lies in politics does.
I missed the debate last night as I was doing the do at a local campaign. Actually, it was probably best. I was alternating between praying and trying to find heads to rip off. Daily, my son takes a measurement of what he refers to as my "fuse" and posts an appropriate alert. It was definitely a "yikes" day.
Kate, interesting that you notice Lady SB. I'm always looking for her reaction. She is the best gauge of how his Lordship has performed. After the 2nd debate, I felt confident that she was going to hurl. The rest of the lesser gentry surrounded him like a cootie phalanx ( my son's words). Good to hear she had to prop him up.
I haven't given up on Obama. Otherwise, I'd have a for sale sign in front of the house already. Yup, I think Lady SB can cease gathering bids to tear out the WH gardens and replace them with a dressage ring.
I really look forward to everyone comments. Again as Sherlock says lets all crack on then.
To continue with the books for the brightest: Here's something I wrote when George W. Bush––you remember him?––had a birthday and the media was giving him some verbal cake and candles: What would one want to convey to this esteemed President on his birthday?
Gosh, what a question––one could spend sleepless nights thinking of what kinds of wishes one would want to convey. But then I remembered that when asked what was his favorite book–––this was back in 2000––he said, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.” For those of you who are not familiar with this classic children’s tale by Eric Carle it’s hero, the caterpillar, is defined almost entirely by the strength of his appetites; the bug’s progress through slices of cake and a variety of fruits appears to be insatiable. Far from being punished for his indulgence, he suffers no more than a mild tummy ache before being transformed into a butterfly. Hmmmm, I’m thinking here, how about coming up with a book of my own––a sort of revisionist hungry caterpillar but instead of food that this creature consumes, it’s WORDS–Bush’s own words––all the lies, all the denials, all the great job, Brownies, all the false promises, etc. I could get my pal, Josie, to illustrate––brush up on those mushroom cloud pictures, sweetie–––but the ending wouldn’t be the metamorphous of bug to butterfly, but bug to moth whose life span is no longer than a few days. Then I’d wrap it up and send Special Delivery To Mr. Presdent––I’d deliberately misspell his title, just to give him a chuckle–but then, maybe he wouldn’t notice. So now that I’ve decided all that, what for the wrapping paper? The silver shimmer or the Batman comic one––sliver shimmer? Batman comic? Oh, shit, another sleepless night!