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

lol wow

well msnbc is going to be more unbearable than usual this week.

the rest of boehner's comments are pretty fucking amazing too

“Mitt Romney has some friends, relatives and fellow Mormons ... some people that are going to vote for him. But that’s not what this election is about. This election is going to be a referendum on the president’s failed economic policies.

“Mitt Romney believes, just like we do, that if we’re going to get the economy back, if we’re going to put the American people back to work, we need to fix the tax code, we need to stop the regulatory juggernaut that’s going on in Washington and we need to fix our economy. Solid guy, he’s going to do a great job, even if you don’t fall in love with him.”

some friends, relatives and fellow Mormons

Mitt Romney: beloved Mormon to some, not Barack Obama to all

Mitt Romney has some friends, relatives and fellow Mormons ... some people that are going to vote for him

he's already got about 300 votes in the bag

Mitt Romney has some wives, relatives, fellow Mormons ... some people that are going to vote for him

Looks like the issue of Romney's undisclosed tax returns, investment decisions, and the $100 million IRA is starting to move to center stage a bit. Was surprised to see Dick Durbin spend so much time talking about it on TV this morning and then there's this new Vanity Fair piece:

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/08/investigating-mitt-romney-offshore-accounts

Obama's got a video out 'asking the questions' about why he won't disclose those tax returns.

the $100 million ira is just unbelievable

http://i.imgur.com/zNQva.jpg
im running for office for petes sake, i cant have a 100 million dollar ira!

how is the IRA even possible. aren't there limits?

thats the thing, youre only suposed to be able to put $6000 in a year but i guess theres a loophole where you can put partnerships in there and declare the value as you see fit, so you could say this partnership is worth zero and then it produces $100m in returns and youre all oh how nice $100m tax free money

i mean conceivably you could put $6000 a/y in and come away w/$100m if you were the best investor in the history of time but thats not how romney did it

ppl absolutely do not give a shit about stuff like this, see other elections.

i don't know, let's say he put in 6K a year for 40 years, that's $240K. i think ending up with 100 million off of that based on portfolio investments alone is actually impossible

Morbs otm. This is just more "narrative" writing.

you guys are both for sure wrong

i mean conceivably you could put $6000 a/y in and come away w/$100m if you were the best investor in the history of time but thats not how romney did it

― lag∞n, Monday, July 9, 2012 8:33 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

or if you retired at 119

romney the plays by rich guy rules rich guy is his defining negative characteristic

As a campaign question where and how Romnicon got his dough matters less than how he plans to tax and regulate people with his dough.

you have it exactly backwards

all the research shows people vote based on character much more than any campaign plans and promises

The only way Obama could frame it is in the Nixonian sense. "Now I believe Gov. Romney is an honest man with a right to earn his money in a lawful manner. However, I am asking that he pay his share of taxes."

all the research shows people vote based on character much more than any campaign plans and promises

right - and most Americans don't give a shit how pols earn a living.

where are you getting this from

you think a casino owner could be elected president, how about a mob boss

talking to decent, hardworking folks

you think a casino owner could be elected president, how about a mob boss

how bout JFK?

all of us have talked to most americans

romney has engaged in a number of practices eg off-shoring that are deeply unpopular and its going to be an impediment to his election

you think a casino owner could be elected president, how about a mob boss

how bout JFK?

― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, July 9, 2012 9:49 AM (26 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol good one sure

*I* don't give a shit how Mittens steals/keeps his money. Handing out speeding tix at the Indy 500, etc.

Charlie Rangel is getting reelected after storing cash in his freezer AND stealing votes in his primary.

rangel didnt keep cash in his freezer! that was bill jefferson

lol racist

how bout JFK?

You got the right ta-ta but the wrong ho-ho.

maybe it was in the cooler in his Caribbean condo

xxp

you as crazy as your mama!

I think we p much know who the idiots who will decide this election are

Hint: they're different from the idiots who say "Obama isn't PERFECT, BUT..."

xpost goes to show it's in the genes!

I think we p much know who the idiots who will decide this election are

― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Monday, July 9, 2012 10:02 AM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you know nothing whatsoever abt it

you know what i do know? fuck this thread, enjoy the wank.

and scene

i'm with morbz that romney's wealth won't really matter as much as people think it will. america 2012 is a post-facts zone. take TPM's article from this morning:

So here we’ll have Mitt Romney — the millionaire outsourcer guy who claims to believe wealthy Americans are already doing just fine — saying it’s appropriate to hold the middle-class’s tax cuts hostage until the yacht-owning set that finances his campaign gets its tax cuts too.

There may be some nimble Republican politician out there who could dance around this problem, but I don’t think Mitt Romney can. Which is why the fight will be so clarifying and, I assume, why the White House and Obama campaign seem eager to relaunch it.

In the end, the legislative politics that determine what actually happens to the Bush tax cuts will be shaped by the election. Obviously, if Republicans win they won’t need to take anything hostage. But I doubt that’s enough to protect Romney from having to answer for the strategy as it exists right now. And I don’t think screaming “tax hike!” will suffice.

call me super-cynical, but i think screaming "tax hike!" will suffice for a lot of people, or at least that it will be more effective than screaming "he is rich!".

the quotes tpm called out from the stories on romney's hamptons fundraiser were choice

my cynicism may be a bit due to watching americans do nothing about climate change every day, but i would never trust the people of this country, collectively, to make decisions based off of facts

lol i feel the exact same way about the people at this fundraiser:

“We’ve got the message,” she added. “But my college kid, the baby sitters, the nails ladies — everybody who’s got the right to vote — they don’t understand what’s going on. I just think if you’re lower income — one, you’re not as educated, two, they don’t understand how it works, they don’t understand how the systems work, they don’t understand the impact.”

everybody who’s got the right to vote

hmmm

man poor nail ladies!

JUST SAY "KOREANS"

Burton and his colleagues spent the early months of 2012 trying out the pitch that Romney was the most far-right presidential candidate since Barry Goldwater. It fell flat. The public did not view Romney as an extremist. For example, when Priorities informed a focus group that Romney supported the Ryan budget plan — and thus championed “ending Medicare as we know it” — while also advocating tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, the respondents simply refused to believe any politician would do such a thing.

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/07/nobody-takes-conservative-wingnuttery-face-value