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

that's racist, but also: lol at the idea that electing mitt romney would improve the relationship between britain and the u.s.

its really high up on the list of priorities for most americans tho

yeah, i mean what an odd thing to say something racist about. why not say it about something ppl care about?

our relationship w/brittan seems... fine. ok guys i dont think we need to use racism on this one. next.

"where can we deploy racism most effectively fellas? any thoughts."

"great britain. got to be."

*high fives* "we are so winning this election"

yeah, i mean what an odd thing to say something racist about. why not say it about something ppl care about?

OTM

I feel like I should be offended but how can you get mad at such ineptitude?

the 'special relationship' is something that, oddly, american conservatives suddenly care about whenever it's in danger of being forgotten

or whenever Churchill busts are returned

deep in the right wing there's still a lot of knee-jerk royalism. i never believe that shit matters when i read about it but it's still gross.

is "hang/give joint press conference with boris johnson" on his itinerary for london? i hope so.

hang or hang w/

1. hang boris johnson
2. ???
3. profit

I'm offended by Romney/his team's rationale here, but I am LOLing at the societally sanctioned insensitivity this kind of person is allowed - nay, encouraged - to flaunt.

Special relationship means, in 2012: 'we send soldiers to a conflict, these people will also do this with very little effort on our part.' Neocons are less bothered about British *royalty* (princesses/duchesses in pretty dresses aside) than shared experience of/nostalgia for WWII (and unambiguously winning same, unlike ALL WARS SINCE). They genuinely have no idea/couldn't give a shit about anything post-1947.

I guess the only question I have left is: is that dressage horse a Paso Fino or a Lipizzaner?

Second verse, same as the first:

Mitt Romney promised “complete transparency” when he took charge of the scandal-plagued Salt Lake City Olympics, a pledge that included access to his own correspondence and plans for an extensive public archive of documents related to the Games.

But some who worked with Romney describe a close-to-the-vest chief executive unwilling to share so much as a budget with a state board responsible for spending oversight. Archivists now say most key records about the Games’ internal workings were destroyed under the supervision of a staff member shortly after the flame was extinguished at Olympic Cauldron Park, after Romney had returned to Massachusetts.

“Transparency? There was none with [the Salt Lake Organizing Committee] when he was there,” said Kenneth Bullock, a committee member who represented the Utah League of Cities and Towns. “Their transparency became a black hole. It was nonexistent.”

According to Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul, “Mitt Romney resigned from SLOC in early 2002 to run for governor of Massachusetts and was not involved in the decision-making regarding the final disposition of records.”

So he retroactively retired from Bain to work on the Olympics and had nothing to do with decision making there, despite being listed as CEO. Then he retired from the SLOC in 2002 to run for governor and had nothing to do with decision making there. What exactly does this motherfucker actually DO?

exciting to think about what venture he'd be busy kicking off during the last year of his presidency

His signature might be on the bills, but he can't take responsibility for PASSING them, he had retired to work on his presidential memoirs.

Campaign is denying that it was an official advisor:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/romney-camp-anglo-saxon-report-false/2012/07/25/gJQAS9D38W_blog.html

ah the fact too good to check.

One thing Obama's side was very good at in 2008 was hanging back and letting the other side step in it. (Something that obviously took a lot of discipline in the first few weeks after Palin was named.) The fact that Biden and Axelrod felt the need to respond to this within the hour is not good.

What do you guys think of former Salt Lake City mayor/3rd party candidate Rocky Anderson? I'm considering giving him my vote.

I don't know a ton about him, but some of these positions are dubious at best:

http://dissidentvoice.org/2012/04/ralph-nader-rocky-anderson-and-the-green-party-a-political-un-love-story/

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/07/romney-london-olympics-david-cameron.php?ref=fpa

Hang back, Obama. Let Mitt go on his tour.

“We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world,” Cameron said. “Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere.”

burn

or in another of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world with an authoritarian government

Romney's visit getting great reviews.

itt Romney is perhaps the only politician who could start a trip that was supposed to be a charm offensive by being utterly devoid of charm and mildly offensive.

lol

the 'special relationship' is something that, oddly, american conservatives suddenly care about whenever it's in danger of being forgotten

Or when yr President needs some sap to help legitimize an illegal war.

arch

20 minutes ago

I don't have a clue where Salt Lake City is, it sounds ghastly.

Mitt's killin' it, huh

the 'special relationship' is about wasp sentiment, full stop.

xp lol 'ghastly'

davidknight

Today 03:23 PM

To be fair if the first person he meets is that ludicrous little twerp Miliband then I am not surprised he has misunderstood the British.

this is the most entertaining comment thread I've read in a while

is alex spillius the telegraph's house labourite?

Are you so lacking in self esteem you need the warm affirmation of someone like Romney?

What is happening to the UK? The wonderfully cynical country of my youth is turning into a set of fools who believe their own BS.

^^^After all these years, someone finally steps forward as the logical replacement for Stuart Smalley on Daily Affirmation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ldAQ6Rh5ZI

Sullivan is naturally going to town on Romney's London misaventures, but even taking into account the source, this is indeed really strange:

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/07/the-persistent-oddness-of-mitt-romney.html?tw_p=twt

Reminds me in a way of Clarence Thomas at his confirmation hearing saying that he didn't watch Anita Hill's testimony. If someone brought false accusation against you, of course you'd watch--you'd be monitoring every last word spoken. Ditto, for different reasons, Romney.

"fuck that bitch and the horse she rode in on"

fuck that bitch and the pubic hair coke can i showed her

how is being bored by equestrian events and refusing to watch them in any way comparable to ignoring someone's televised sexual harassment accusations against you

I feel like you've gone beyond orders of magnitude and jumped universes

like, I think the punchline takeaway of "Mitt Romney doesn't give a shit about his wife" is funny enough on his own without comparing owning a horse to sexual harassment

"This is either a fib, designed to insulate him from whatever minimal fallout there is from owning a dressage horse"

yes it's a fib, dummy

"sure, he owns a dressage horse, but it's not like he watches it. he's a regular guy. just like me."

either that or horses, being animals, are not money or political power so mitt isn't particularly interested in them.

I wasn't comparing the circumstances, just how the fact of not-watching stretches credulity to the breaking point. I would think that, no matter how bored you might be by the event, watching your wife's horse compete in the Olympics would be automatic. That's all.

He's so rich he doesn't even have to watch the dressage horse

i think maybe i have a horse in the olympics or something, idk w/e lol

oh c'mon this is such a manufactured controversy who among us hasn't run a horse in the olympics? yawn.

srsly can we focus on the real issues here folks like how obama totally hates the small business people who are literally the beating heart of this great nation

Obama is beating the horse of this great nation

Romney hires a dude to watch his wife's horse compete in dressage. HE IS THAT RICH.

A wealthy married couple find themselves suddenly in strait circumstances

"Maybe you should learn to cook and clean so we can fire our maid," said the man to his wife.

"Maybe you should learn to fuck me and we can fire the gardener."

idk maybe that joke isn't pertinent, i just like it