;)
The Commentariat -- Oct. 24, 2012
** Charles Pierce ties Chuck Todd to the cult of American Exceptionalism. But forget Chuck Todd. Pierce's lesson is something that American men & women smarter than Chuckie need to learn. It's a hard lesson to learn, perhaps because we learned it as "fact" in grade school in the same way & at a proximate time so many of us learned about God & Jesus (or whichever of God's purported sidekicks your mentors preferred). God Bless America.
Presidential Race
Nielsen: "An estimated 59.2 million people tuned in to watch the third and final debate between President Barack Obama and ... Mitt Romney on Monday, October 22."
Jon Cohen of the Washington Post: "The new Washington Post-ABC News national tracking poll has 49 percent of likely voters supporting Republican Mitt Romney, and 48 percent President Obama, a seesawing result that shows the continued narrowness of the contest." ...
... Gallup daily tracking now has Romney up by five, a one-point drop from yesterday. ...
... Nate Silver writes that there's a 50-50 chance Ohio will decide the election. ...
David Jackson of USA Today: "In blasting what he calls 'Romnesia' -- his opponent's habit of changing positions -- Obama told backers Tuesday in Ohio: "Now, we joke about Governor Romney being all over the map, but it speaks to something important -- it speaks of trust. There's no more serious issue in a presidential campaign than trust,' Obama said during a rally in Dayton. 'Trust matters. You want to know that the person who's applying to be your President and Commander-in-Chief is trustworthy, that he means what he says, that he's not just making stuff up depending on whether it's convenient or not.'" The Romney campaign responded by saying Obama broke "virtually every [campaign] promise" he made in 2008.
... President Obama, in Ohio, pretty much calls Mitt Romney a liar. Obama is hoarse already:
Jillian Hughes of CBS News: "... the Obama campaign is feeling good: the president's advisers insist they are winning nationally and in battleground states. And they say this is the race they have always prepared for. 'This is a race we believe we're leading,' said senior strategist David Axelrod on a conference call with reporters, 'We believe we're leading nationally and we're leading in these battleground states.'" ...
... Jonathan Chait of New York: "Despite a lack of any evident positive momentum over the last week -- indeed, in the face of a slight decline from its post-Denver high -- the Romney camp is suddenly bursting with talk that it will not only win but win handily.... This is a bluff. Romney is carefully attempting to project an atmosphere of momentum, in the hopes of winning positive media coverage and, thus, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.... Obama's lead is narrow -- narrow enough that the polling might well be wrong and Romney could win. But he is leading, his lead is not declining, and the widespread perception that Romney is pulling ahead is Romney's campaign suckering the press corps with a confidence game." ...
... Michael Tomasky of Newsweek concurs: creating alternate realities is what conservatives do. ...
... Alec MacGillis of The New Republic: the so-called "liberal media," bored with an election it appeared Obama would win, picked up on the Romney comeback story half-way through the Denver debate, & even though Romney-Ryan have lost every debate since then, the "liberal media" are not letting go of their story. ...
... Kevin Drum of Mother Jones: "The press mostly seems to be stuck in its post-first-debate groove of insisting that Mitt Romney has all the momentum and is closing fast on President Obama. And maybe so. But that's not what our best forecasters think. Models from both Sam Wang and Nate Silver show the same thing: Romney surged after the first debate, but by October 12 that started to turn around. Since then, the momentum has mostly been Obama's."
** Rick Green, editor of the Des Moines Register, on Obama's "informative, passionate, genuine insightful" bid for re-election -- the one you will never hear. CW: very stupid move on the part of the Obama campaign. The POTUS should never be off the record when he speaks to journalists.
President Obama in Delray Beach, Florida, on Tuesday. "You might have Romnesia if ..." riff begins about 3:30 in:
Igor Volsky of Think Progress: in 41 minutes of debate speaking time, Romney told 24 lies myths. CW: Oh, Igor, that's nothing. His campaign told 5 lies in one 30-second ad. ...
... Joe Conason of the National Memo points out a whopper: "'... I like American cars,' said Mitt Romney [during the presidential debate].... 'And I would do nothing to hurt the U.S. auto industry.' That might be considered true -- unless moving the most important American auto parts manufacturer to China counts as hurting the U.S. auto industry.... Those words now stand as one of Romney's most glaring falsehoods in the final debate." ...
... AND Jon Stewart fact-checks Romney's debate performance:
Romney Endorses Obama. Video by the Huffington Post:
Liz Goodwin of Yahoo! News: "Mitt Romney's 2008 op-ed 'Let Detroit Go Bankrupt' soared to the top of The New York Times' online 'Most Viewed' list Tuesday, following a testy exchange between the former governor and President Barack Obama over the auto bailout at Monday night's debate." Romney's op-ed is here. CW: His prescription sucked for a number of reasons: (1) it was completely unworkable, as no private financiers would lend money to the automakers; (2) his first & lengthiest suggestion was to stick it to autoworkers; & (3) he expects the government to fund R&D to help U.S. automakers. We can argue about (3), but -- with some exceptions -- I'm opposed to the government's spending my tax dollars to enrich the titans of industry. This is something that happens too often at the federal, state & even local levels.
Ben Adler of the Nation: in exchange for their endorsement, Mitt Romney secretly promised the Log Cabin Republicans -- the most prominent Republican gay rights organization -- he would support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a major piece of gay rights legislation. ...
... John Aravosis of AmericaBlog: "Let's all count down together to how long it will take for Romney to issue a statement revoking his secret pact to support ENDA: 3, 2, 1...." In an update, Aravosis reports that the American Family Association is not amused: "ENDA will be the official end of religious freedom in America." Blah blah.
Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: Clint Eastwood has cut a 30-second ad for American CrossRove's in support of Mitt Romney. In the scripted ad, Eastwood says the U.S. can't survive another four years of Obama. Blah blah.
Michael Cieply & Brian Stetler of the New York Times: "President Obama will have a starring role in a television drama about one of his biggest accomplishments -- the killing of Osama bin Laden -- that will be shown just two nights before the presidential election.... Set for a prime-time debut on Nov. 4 on the National Geographic Channel, and a release the next day on Netflix, the film -- 'SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden' -- is being backed by Harvey Weinstein, a longtime Democratic contributor and one of the Obama campaign's most vigorous backers." Here's the trailer:
Harold Meyerson of the Washington Post: "The radicals who dominate the Republican Party have entertained Romney's turn to the center as a necessary electoral expedient. The day after a Romney victory, their blitzkrieg will begin -- leaving the moderate Mitt of the general election to historians specializing in short-lived phenomena."
Myles Tanzer of Gawker: "... Donald Trump has been parading around this week alleging that he had a bombshell so big that it was 'bordering on gigantic.' A story so big that it would 'possibly' change the state of the election.... It seems Trump has found some long lost divorce papers drawn up by Michelle Obama." ...
... A few excited tweets from the media about Trump's gigantic announcement, via Politico:
That is not Obama's real hair. #Trumpsurprise -- David Corn, Mother Jones
If a blowhard moron spouts bile about a president and EVERYONE ignores it, does he make a sound? #trump -- Matt Spence, Times of London Washington bureau
I don't want to be too judgmental, but Donald Trump couldn't be dumber if you cut his head off. -- Roger Simon, Politico
AND Welcome to the World of Right-Wing "Fact-Checkers." David Martosko of The Daily Caller has a SCOOP: "In a response to Romney's barb that Obama has allowed the U.S. Navy's inventory of battleships to approach a historic low mark, Obama snarked that 'we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military's changed.' But horses and bayonets both remain vital parts of the U.S. arsenal." (Emphasis added, because it's such a BIG SCOOP.) Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs awards Martosko the "Stupidest Wingnut Article of the Day" prize.
Congressional Races
Rape Is Part of God's Plan. Life is that gift from God that I think even if life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen. -- Richard Mourdock (RTP), Indiana U.S. Senate candidate, during a televised debate
... Ian Millhiser & Travis Waldron of Think Progress have more. They also note that Mitt Romney cut a TV ad for Moredick -- the only ad Romney has made for another GOP candidate this year. Moderate Mitt? Not so much. ...
... Update. Chris Good of ABC News: "Democrats wasted no time linking ... Mitt Romney to Mourdock. Earlier this week, Romney personally appeared in a TV ad for the Indiana state treasurer, offering his endorsement. 'Richard Mourdock's rape comments ... have become part and parcel of the modern Republican Party's platform toward women's health, as Congressional Republicans like Paul Ryan have worked to outlaw all abortions and even narrow the definition of rape,' Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in a statement released to press." She called on Romney to denounce Mourdock & request that the ad be taken down. The Romney camp "distanced itself" from Moredick's remarks. ...
... The Indianapolis Star story, by Mary Beth Schneider & Carrie Ritchie, is here.
Charlie Mahtesian of Politico: In Connecticut, Republican wrestler lady/U.S. Senate candidate Linda McMahon tries to ride the coattails of -- Barack Obama.
Caitlin Huey-Burns of Real Clear Politics: "Republicans face an uphill climb in claiming the [Senate] majority. Of the 33 Senate races across the country, 10 are truly competitive. Democrats have 23 seats to defend. Republicans have 10 of their own to protect, but have to gain four additional seats -- three if Romney is elected -- to gain the upper hand. With Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson's retirement, Nebraska is likely to turn red. But Republicans hold four of the tossup seats -- two of which are in states where the president could help down-ballot candidates. 'Democrats are cautiously optimistic we will hold the majority,' said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Communications Director Matt Canter."
Other Stuff
Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "Women are attending college at higher rates than men, graduating in greater numbers and earning higher grades. Yet one year after graduation, women were making only 82 percent of what their male colleagues were paid, according to a report by the American Association of University Women set to be released Wednesday." CW: this helps explain the gender gap for both presidential candidates. An awful lot of men think women should earn less than men because women are just not as competent. Men know Mitt Romney will help ensure gender inequality, & they think that's great, even if they won't say so. The basis for my assertion? I've known quite a few men who were willing to say as much back in the day. Now they mostly know not to say it, just as they know not to use sexist & racist slurs. Richard Moredick's God-sanctioned rape is a product of this line of thinking. ...
... Update. Along those lines, Prof. Christina Wolbrecht writes a fascinating piece attributing the electoral gender gap to -- men! She's done the research to prove it.
Edward Wyatt of the New York Times: "Debt collection agencies, whose sometimes aggressive tactics have earned them scrutiny from consumer protection groups and state regulators, will come under federal supervision for the first time beginning Jan. 2, when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau begins oversight."
Christine Haughney & David Carr of the New York Times: "Mark Thompson, the former head of the British Broadcasting Corporation who has been drawn into the scandal involving allegations of sexual abuse against the former television personality Jimmy Savile, reiterated in an interview on Tuesday that he was not aware of an investigative report prepared for the BBC program 'Newsnight' into Mr. Savile's behavior until after the investigation was canceled."
News Ledes
** New York Times: "Betty Binns Fletcher, a federal appeals court judge whose liberal record inspired conservative opposition in the Senate when her son was named to serve alongside her on the same Western court, died on Monday in Seattle. She was 89."
New York Times: "The Federal Reserve held its course on Wednesday, announcing no changes in its campaign to stimulate the economy after a two-day meeting of its policy-making committee. The Fed issued an appraisal of the economy almost identical to the one it released six weeks ago. The economy is growing 'at a moderate pace,' it said. Job growth is slow. Housing is doing a little better. Inflation remains under control."
Reuters: "Palestinians fired dozens of rockets into Israel from Gaza on Wednesday and an Israeli air strike killed a militant, a day after the Emir of Qatar made a rare visit to the enclave's Hamas leadership. Hamas claimed responsibility for some of the rocket and mortar bomb attacks...."
Reuters: "April Pettit, an infectious diseases specialist at Vanderbilt University..., who ordered 'extra tests' on the spinal fluid of a patient is credited by colleagues with unlocking the mystery of a devastating fungal meningitis outbreak and prompting a national alert that may have saved lives."
New York Times: "Rajat K. Gupta, the former Goldman Sachs director, was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay a $5 million fine on Wednesday for leaking boardroom secrets to the former hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam. Mr. Gupta, 63, who ran the consulting firm McKinsey & Company and served as a major adviser to the philanthropic efforts of Bill Gates and Bill Clinton, is the most prominent figure to face prison in the government's sweeping crackdown on insider trading."
AP: "The Paris appeals court has upheld former Societe Generale trader Jerome Kerviel's conviction for covering up massive losses, sentencing him to three years in prison and ordering him to pay back a staggering €4.9 billion (about $7 billion) in damages."
New York Times: "European regulators on Wednesday charged Microsoft with an antitrust violation for failing to live up to a prior agreement to give users of its Windows software better access to rival Internet browsers."
AP: "The U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria says the Syrian government and some rebel leaders have agreed to a ceasefire during the upcoming Muslim four-day holiday."
Reuters: "Officials at the White House and State Department were advised two hours after attackers assaulted the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 that an Islamic militant group had claimed credit for the attack, official emails show. The emails, obtained by Reuters from government sources not connected with U.S. spy agencies or the State Department and who requested anonymity, specifically mention that the Libyan group called Ansar al-Sharia had asserted responsibility for the attacks." ...
... Update: "U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday a Facebook post in which an Islamic militant group claimed credit for a recent attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya did not constitute hard evidence of who was responsible."
Share Article
Reader Comments (28)
With all the $$ the Republicans are putting in at the last minute, Romney could win...and the 1% is the reason...they will have bot the presidency for Mitt.
Let's hope the American people see Obama as the best road ahead and out do the 1% in spite of all their money.
In case you don't get New York magazine, here is a link to a feature in the Oct 14 issue, "The Forever Campaign" : http://nymag.com/news/politics/elections-2012/election-timeline.html
There is a fascinating graphic giving campaign histories from 1960 on...Click on the image to see it in larger format.
Here's another gem I received from you know who in Wisconsin:
OBAMA'S WIFE SEEN BY DEAF PEOPLE
Obama and his wife were attending The 9/11 Memorial Ceremony and watched as the Color Guard folded the flag into a triangular shape, according to custom.
A video camera caught the two from the sidelines. Obama's wife leaned over and said to him, "All this for a damn flag?" Obama turned to her, smiled smugly and nodded his head in agreement.
How do we know what was said? The video was presented for translation to a lip reading instructor at The River School, a Washington D.C. school for the deaf. The video is shown at normal speed, 3/4 speed, and 1/2 speed with no banners obstructing her lips.
MAKE THIS GO VIRAL!
One term. For all those who served in the military, and the ones who died or were wounded for a "damn flag" as Michelle call it, just so she could be free to get all the benefits she got, her ivy league education and her husband elected as President of the best country on earth... Shame on her and Obama... for "a damn flag."
You can well imagine my response.
Soon these people will dig up imaginary dirt about Michelle's garden––oh, wait they already have! Well, then, maybe it'll be the dog next–––Michelle loves Bo better than her family.
http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/barackobama/ss/Michelle-Obama-Vs-The-U-S-Flag.htm
Thanks to @Lisa for linking to an About.com investigative piece debunking the chain e-mail which debases Michelle Obama by claiming she made a disparaging remark about the ceremonial folding of the American flag at a 9/11 event. There is no limit to the exhaustive efforts in Right Wing World to create an alternate reality based in fantasy & lies. I hope @P. D. Pepe will send a link or -- better yet -- a copy of the About.com article to her Wisconsin correspondent. Not that it will do any good.
Now, excuse me. I have to go watch the Donald Trump show.
Marie
This landed in my inbox this morning. I would sooooo love to see the unexpurgated Akhilleus version!
Dear Red States:
We're ticked off at your Neanderthal attitudes and politics and we've decided we're leaving: "Legitimate rape." is almost reason enough!
We in California intend to form our own country and we're taking the other Blue States with us.
In case you aren't aware that includes New York, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and the rest of the Northeast.
We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation and especially to the people of the new country of The Enlightened States of America (E.S.A).
To sum up briefly:
You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states.
We get stem cell research and the best beaches.
We get Andrew Cuomo and Elizabeth Warren. You get Bobby Jindal and Todd Akin.
We get the Statue of Liberty. You get OpryLand.
We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom.
We get Harvard. You get Ole' Miss.
We get 85 percent of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs.
You get Alabama.
We get two-thirds of the tax revenue. You get to make the red states pay their fair share.
Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian Coalition's we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single moms.
Please be aware that the E.S.A. will be pro choice and anti war and we're going to want all our citizens back from Afghanistan at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they're apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose and they don't care if you don't show pictures of their children's caskets coming home.
We wish you success in Afghanistan, and possibly Iran as well, but we're not willing to spend our resources in these sorts of pursuits.
With the Blue States in hand we will have firm control of 80% of the country's fresh water, more than 90% of the pineapple and lettuce, 92% of the nation's fresh fruit, 95% of America's quality wines (you can serve French wines at state dinners) 90% of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the US low sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cal Tech, Long Beach State, CAL, San Jose State and MIT.
With the Red States you will have to cope with 88% of all obese Americans and their projected health care costs, 92% of all US mosquitoes, nearly 100% of the tornadoes, 90% of the hurricanes, 99% of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100% of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.
We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.
38% of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62% believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the death penalty or gun laws, 44% say that evolution is only a theory, 53% that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61% of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties.
We're taking the good weed too. You can have that crap they grow in Mexico.
Sincerely,
Citizens of the Enlightened States of America
Warning. The following is a rant. Feel free to move on to the next item.
The right wing bubble has been constructed to protect those who practice cruelty and bigotry from their own consciences. I don't know how many times I've seen right-wing Republicans described as "good, decent people." I'm sure that as long as they get their way, they are good and decent. However, while they may not personally commit mayhem on their fellow citizens, they vote for people who have promised to do so.
I understand that it's hard adjusting to the realization that the way you've lived your life isn't as blameless as you once imagined. When I was a kid in the early 1960s, we had no qualms about looking down on and making fun of people who weren't white, straight, and clean-cut. There was safety in numbers, so it never occurred to me that outside our little group that rode the bus to junior high school people might frown on our behavior, then or ever.
Television broke down many local boundaries, and the Internet has shredded those boundaries. Now an act of cruelty in deepest Wyoming can be witnessed worldwide. Hypocrisy in Kansas among those who claim to value life but would allow poor children to go without healthcare can be broadcast to all with a computer.
When the bubble initially bursts, as it did for people like me in the 1960s, there are two basic ways to turn. In a deeply Republican culture and family, I became an anti-war, civil rights Democrat; I don't know how that happened.
Others I still know from that time, including members of my family, morphed into overt racists and perfected the deeply Christian response of screw them whenever the subject of those who were less fortunate than themselves was raised. To them, America was not only a country rich with natural resources and an educated population but also the home of those who could write laws against war crimes and then treat those laws as so much waste paper. I guess American Exceptionalism is the credo that has bothered me more than any other; it's not enough that we have been gifted a beautiful country and a truly brilliant Constitution; no, we need more. We need to tell the people of the world how great we are and we expect them to agree, I guess. Moreover, if Romney is elected we will have a President who believes that Jesus came to America because this place is so special.
So, whenever I hear about the newest bid for Hypocrite of the Week (in this case it would be Sarah Palin for not calling out Ann Coulter, who appears to be merely a social experiment in how much abuse people will take before they say "enough"--I've always secretly suspected that she's a liberal goofing on a credulous nation) for her comments about ... well, you know what she said.
Why on earth would anyone at this late date think that those who have been addicted to the paranoid style (Hofstadter) lo these many years would have qualms about tactics? Anyone with any self-respect would distance themselves from the Donald, but Romney embraces him. Anyone with any regard for the truth would have called Bachmann out for her attempt at creating a trope about vaccination. Any press with self-respect would flatly report that Romney lies like he breathes. But then again, we are a religious nation (sorry, Christians), and believing in religious nonsense can lead to believing in secular nonsense.
So, I am weary of the outrage over the stupidity and paleolithic attitudes exhibited by those from Brewer to Mourdock to Angle to Ryan to Tinker to Evers to Chance. We may as well complain about the configuration of stars in the sky. Thanks.
I'm with Jack Mahoney. Well said Jack.
Re: Holy Jesus; Mother of God raped by Joseph; in other news US Oats (USO) gains new contract with Dept. of War for feed bags. Mormons caught with pants down, magic undies exposed. Lance Armstrong starts ped cab bus in NYC, promises fastest times lowest rates across city. More after this message of truth from our sponsors. All this for a damn flag?
Bravo to both carlyle and Jack!
Thanks Lisa for the link which I did, indeed, send on to my brother.
The piece from Calyban was Wunderbar! And Jack's rant made me want to sit him down, give him a big piece of my apple cake, a strong cup of tea and say, "I agree, I agree!"
Recommend Efraim Halevy's article in the NYT today debunking Romney's claim that Obama throws allies like Israel under the bus:
"But history tells a different story. Indeed, whenever the United States has put serious, sustained pressure on Israel’s leaders — from the 1950s on — it has come from Republican presidents, not Democratic ones. This was particularly true under Mr. Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush."
@Calyban & Jack: Your amazing posts are being Copied & Pasted ASAP — and will be winging their words to many others!
Jack,
Damn that was good. Extra points for working in references to Richard Hofstadter AND Tinkers, Evers, and Chance. "These are the saddest of possible words..." Murdoch to Rove to Ryan to Romney.
And Calyban, I like your plan, man. Do we need new passports? Can mine look like the cover of Hendrix's Are You Experienced album?
Ooops, that should have been "Tinker" without the s.
Fans of the Cubbies don't have much to cheer about these days. Don't want to depress them even more.
Boy, doesn't Charlie sound in full accord with Kate Madison:
(On Mourdock & Romney) The Trouble with Richard Mourdock Is Not His Alone http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/richard-mourdock-rape-comments-14056616
Charlie Pierce: "Tell me again that I don't have to worry about Romney's having two or three Supreme Court appointments to make, or about a Senate full of Richard Mourdocks passing judgment on them."
Akhilleus: I am campaigning for chief honcho of the passport office just so I can issue your passport personalized exactly as you want it!
Just wanted to throw a tumbler of gas on the delightful flames here at RealityChex today. Here is a slice of Fluffy's Sunday interview with our favorite "love-to-hate" NYT asshole op ed writer, Tommy Freedom, (via Crooks and Liars).
..."Friedman tells The Gregory that (in his opinion) the Obama Campaign must worry that there are a lot of people who only voted for Obama in order to elect "the first black president", but that it didn't work out and therefore are now ready to "try something new."
New? New?
Like a rich white Republican male? Yeah, that would be a real change of pace. /snark."
*******************
Just what I needed, more reason to disdain Tommy. I think my "Get thee to a nunnery" tank is way full!
But still--and always, "Remember the Supremes," even if the debate moderators and talkie show creepsters obviously do not.
USA Today has an online headline that screams:
GOP's Mourdock says rape, abortion comments twisted.
Ain't it the truth? They're twisted alright. But he doesn't want anyone to repeat just how twisted. Isn't it funny how all these idiots, when they get in trouble saying reprehensible things, think they can play the god card and get out of trouble?
So here we have yet another wingnut who tells voters, with a straight face, "I didn't mean what I said" unlike Romney who says "I didn't say what I said, but if I did, I didn't mean it. I don't think."
And no one will hold them accountable.
Meanwhile the press is agog over Trump's Big News. And I don't care if they're making fun of him. The fact that he's got hundreds of "news" outlets repeating his stupidity is all he wants. His Puss on the Front Page. And he's getting it.
Now, if his big news was that Obama once experimented with a gigantic, dyed, stupid-looking Trump-style comb-over, with pictures and video to boot, then THAT would be news! And Fox could hire lip readers to see what Michelle had to say about it. "All that to look like that fool? Are you fucking kidding me? I want a divorce!"
According to christians I may not be able to understand why god would allow the nazis to kill 6,000,000 Jews because he works in mysterious ways but now I am supposed to reject with disgust one of god's followers when he thinks a woman should raise with love the child produced by a traumatic rape?
Someone should tell Moudock that god told us to twist the comment.
Once again, @cowichan, I think you're confused. First of all, I personally don't think there is even the most remote possibility that there is any sort of Judeo-Christian god whose divine plan or day-to-day activities includes killing Jews, raping women, causing hurricanes because the gay people of his creation had a parade, or in any way getting into the activities of earth people.
Second, actual people with brains in their heads who believe in a mindful god also believe that some other malevolent force, either human or supernatural (yo, Lucifer), is responsible for the evil of this world, & that their god is -- as Woody Allen surmised -- an underachiever.
It is, ergo, pretty damned easy for someone like me or for an intelligent person who believes in an anthropomorphic, hands-on god, to condemn the Holocaust, political forces that left the 9th Ward vulnerable to hurricanes, rapists & Richard Moredick. None of these has anything to do with "God's will." It would be terrific if people could get over this perverted notion of a benevolent god who gives your kid cancer because he (& here I mean "he") "never gives you anything you can't handle." Sickness, tornadoes & murder, etc., are not instances of the lord working in mysterious ways.
Marie
While we’re remembering the Supremes, let’s not forget the wingnut heroes who might be awarded lifetime appointments to fuck us up good if Willard the Lying Rat gets to darken the White House linen.
First up, a genius of the new and improved right-wing revolutionary approach to the law (ie, Republicans always right, everyone else, always wrong), an appeals court judge who was awarded that position by being a good little Brownshirt for Dubya, Brett Kavanaugh. This guy is a piece of work. Here’s why he would be a shoe-in as a conservative Supreme: worked hand in glove (ewww) with Ken Starr on the Clinton impeachment, then headed the investigation to prove that the Clintons murdered Vince Foster, helped Bush steal the election in Florida by working on his team of shysters who gave Floridians the one finger salute and told them that only votes for Bush counted. He was then ushered into the Bush White House inner sanctum (another big "ewwww") to provide legal cover for all manner of immoral and illegal stuff dreamed up by those kooks. Perfect for the Supreme Court, doncha think? And best of all? This schmuck is still in his mid forties. He’s got decades of “Fuck you, America” in him.
Next we have another Bush administration flack, Neil Gorsuch who rules on the 10th circuit US Court of Appeals in Denver. Judge Gorsuch is a by the book wingnut who handed down a dissent in a case in which a group had erected tyrannosaurus-sized crosses along a state highway to honor fallen police officers. His take was there was no problem with this and the rest of the court was just flat out wrong to disallow gigantic artifacts promoting Christianity planted by the side of a public highway. Separation clause? What separation clause?
We also have someone everyone will be more familiar with, every conservative’s favorite to argue their case before the Supremes, Paul Clement. He was a Bush Solicitor General and a former clerk for Scalia, and he’s made aggressive arguments for the following: Arizona’s immigration laws, aka Sheriff Joe's Rules, destruction of the Affordable Care Act, Texas’s gerrymandering in favor of Republicans, and, of course, a vigorous legal support for the Defense of Frightened Homophobic Putzes Act. The press already considers him a legal giant nearly on a par with the Dark Lord so his would be another surefire passage to lifetime power.
And all these guys are still pretty young, all lifetime legalistic supporters of wingnut ideology, and all in their mid to late forties which ensures decades of legal mischief, blithe ignoring of precedence, and implementation of right-wing revolution on a scale so frightening that the forces of Freddie Krueger, Michael Myers, a head-spinning Linda Blair, Clive Barker’s Pinhead, and all the HR Giger nightmare Aliens combined would run screaming into the dark to escape the terrors that could be unleashed by a court packed with two or three of these guys to go along with the monsters already in place.
Oh, and we can all forget about Moderate Mitt. That flimsy avatar of electoral deceit will be tossed aside on election day. The righties will have the long knives out and the Mittster will have no choice but to sharpen them and use them. What does he care? A guy without a soul? Without a core? An empty suit waiting to be filled by Karl Rove and the religious right.
Scary shit.
So, you know….what Kate says…
The Constant Weader: You've sussed me out. I am indeed confused. Born that way, will die that way. I take it your explanation is that Romney, Ryan et al are spawn of the devil? Wow!! And I just thought they were prime examples of a failed education system!! Soon I will be a believer in American Exceptionalism,
@cowachin. Comme d'habitude, you misunderstand me again, perhaps willfully. Personally, I don't hold to religious explanations for the bad behavior of people or for, um, destructive "Acts of God." However, religious people who do, do not blame god for the ills of the world, but blame human nature or human failings or some supernatural malevolent force.
I am not much interested in trying to figure out why Romney & Ryan are such bad apples, but I don't blame a supernatural "evil guy," "fallen angel" or what-have-you. Nature or nurture, they are what they are.
Marie
Just wanted to weigh in one last time and thank all you folks for the great conversation every day. Sometimes I just have time to read. Calyban's prescription is brilliant, and P.D., Kate, Marvin, Akhilleus, Carlyle, et al always say what I'm thinking, only with more verve and panache.
Let me double down on Jack's approbation of the RC family.
I love you guys! We've become a kind of virtual family with everything that particular grouping offers.
I look forward everyday with great expectations to what my brothers and sisters out here have to say.
Excelsior!
This goes back a bit. The comedy genius Flip Wilson had a character with earthy values called Jeroldeen. When asked why she did bad things her excuse was "The Devil made me do it".
In Mourdock and Romney's world bad things happen because " God made it happen". No personal responsibility, it's what God wanted.
Sorry Marie, I know this is redundant to your explanation of on the issue. But I am so tired of no personal responsibility by any one in high places in this country, no responsibility by officials paid and charged with administering the laws of our land and gross pandering to the plutocracy by the MSM I could scream.
Seems a coincidence! Calyban's earlier post putting Red States on notice! — and now (read) Steven B. Pinker's piece in the NYTimes which gives a kind of background explanation for the Red/Blue divide. Interesting.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/24/why-are-states-so-red-and-blue/