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

(Romney) must use humor, for three reasons. One is that wit breaks through and sharpens all points. Another is that it is natural to him. Before the voting in Iowa, he wryly told a friend that the caucuses were like the LaBrea Tar Pits: "No one comes out the way they went in." On a conference call recently, he asked a question of his staff. No one answered. Mr. Romney waited. "Bueller? Bueller?" he said, in a perfect imitation of Ben Stein.

Third, President Obama can't stand to be made fun of. His pride won't allow it, his amour propre cannot countenance a joke at his own expense. If Mr. Romney lands a few very funny lines about the president's leadership, Mr. Obama will freak out. That would be fun, wouldn't it?

is this like some real deep satire on the part of the wsj or what?

On a conference call recently, he asked a question of his staff. No one answered. Mr. Romney waited. "Bueller? Bueller?" he said, in a perfect imitation of Ben Stein.

aaaaahahahahahahaha, brilliant! ahaha oh man! woo! WOO! hilarious! aaahahaha, BUELLER! BUELLER?! Where is he? hahahaha yes

― Thanks WEBSITE!! (Z S), Saturday, 25 August 2012 17:11 (43 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha. mitt's one go-to comic impression being the profoundly blank teacher from ferris bueller is a fascinating insight tbh

Ha, so this story about him profiting off the 2002 Olympics is fun enough but frankly I'm all about the photo.

http://www.trbimg.com/img-5038bac6/turbine/la-romney-20120825/600

"It's this big! Kevin Williamson, he's an insightful man."

I once caught a fish that was just the right size.

that's a nice color sweater, I want one

"I can't speak to Governor Romney's motivations," Obama said. "What I can say is that he has signed up for positions, extreme positions, that are very consistent with positions that a number of House Republicans have taken. And whether he actually believes in those or not, I have no doubt that he would carry forward some of the things that he's talked about."

Standard but still-pretty-good verbal judo there.

Mr. Obama tends to freak out about things alot, doesn't he? I remember all the times during his Presidency when he freaked out about stuff. All those times. Yes. So many of them.

"I can't speak to Governor Romney's motivations" is such deep game, just breathtaking - it's the exact same thing Romney did in the "my birth certificate" line, reflected back at him. Incredible

The idea that Obama would freak out if Romney manages to come up with a bit of cutting humor directed at him is very strange. Of course, some Republicans' idea of wit and humor is modeled on Rush Limbaugh's comparing Chelsea Clinton's looks to a dog's. When she was an adolescent.

Still, it's ridiculous.

they think it's important to keep the base worried about obama finally revealing his true color(s). the myth is that he's not the nice, smart, "presidential" gentleman he appears to be, but some crazy anti-christian radical bent on annihilating america.

the Ben Stein bit is the most overused by hacks since forever. I hope Romney keeps doing it.

Romney should do a routine about grocery carts with one bad wheel

"O has no humor because he thinks of himself as the messiah", so say the people that keep saying that. Also that AMERICA MUST BE SAVED!!

What's weird is yesterday's WSJ puff piece on Romney argued the opposite; that he should stay as impersonal as possible and maintain an air of "boring businessman who gets shit done"? And because he ends up inadvertently insulting his audience like every time he tries to make a joke.

the thing with the Yankee fan is amazing; it's like he can barely contain his contempt towards humanity.

peggy noonan writing RNC convention fan fiction is the craziest thing

"It is good that Joe Biden is going to the Republican National Convention to hold high the flag of his party. People make fun of his gaffes, of his embarrassing verbal forays, but he's no fool and he knows how to take it to the other guy. The speech he is working on, to be given in the heart of downtown, just across from the convention site, will be stirring and stentorian: "All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Tampa, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words, 'Ich bin ein Tampon.'"

I wish that were mine. It came in the mail from a Hollywood screenwriter, one of the gifted conservatives who quietly toil there."

a conservative in Hollywood? get outta hear no such thing

waaaaaaa if only we could make fun of Obama!

in a new AP interview obama reveals that his time-tested strategy of compromising with republicans without getting anything in return will be even more successful during his second term:

He said two changes — the facts that “the American people will have voted,” and that Republicans will no longer need to be focused on beating him — could lead to better conditions for deal-making.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/content/images/2006/10/19/dmu_head_in_hands_315x420.jpg

If Republicans are willing, Obama said, “I’m prepared to make a whole range of compromises” that could even rankle his own party.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/content/images/2006/10/19/dmu_head_in_hands_315x420.jpg

yes, republicans will no longer have an incentive to make his term unsuccessful, since the 2014 and 2016 elections will be cancelled

it's well known that the GOP takes its responsibility to govern very seriously, making every effort to improve the welfare of the country no matter WHO the president is

the thing with the Yankee fan is amazing; it's like he can barely contain his contempt towards humanity.

― windjamm voyager (blank), Saturday, 25 August 2012 20:32 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

?
sorry i am just lazily avoiding reading a wsj puff piece on romney but it has all the ingredients of a classic mitt-cannot-relate anecdote

u should read it, it's really funny

"So, Tampa. No one can guess the highlights in advance, but some hopes:

That Gov. Chris Christie brings his Garden State brio, that he is bodacious, funny and pointed, and that people say, the next day, "Man, Obama—Christie really opened up a can of Jersey on him."

can of jersey: http://healutah.org/files/u35/ToxicWaste.jpg

eighties humor

i wish that were mine. it came in the mail from a hollywood screenwriter, one of gifted conservatives who quietly toil there.
http://jewsforsarah.com/wp-content/uploads/david_mamet.jpg

"When a man wearing a New York Yankees shirt recently asked Mr. Romney a question at a New Hampshire town hall event, the candidate told a story that wrapped with a tone-deaf punch line: "It proves one thing," said Mr. Romney. "We all hate Yankees."

His newly announced running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), immediately swooped in with a save: "But not you, sir, we love you," he interjected."

haha, thank you

NJ will have the last laugh on Christie and his enablers w/n the national GOP b/c there isn't a snow cone's chance in hell that NJ will vote for Romney in November.

also, under Fat Governor's watch we now have the fourth highest unemployment rate in the country -- worse than even fucking Michigan at this point. keep talking up that Jersey Miracle, Christie.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9514mYWB21qerwsio1_500.jpg

http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9514mYWB21qerwsio2_500.png

NJ will have the last laugh on Christie and his enablers w/n the national GOP b/c there isn't a snow cone's chance in hell that NJ will vote for Romney in November.

nobody really expects this, nj very well might re-elect christie tho

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2012/08/25/us/politics/25reuters-usa-florida-governor.html

Good thing too, I can't imagine anyone would want to hear from him at this point aside from the insane.

Savvy political move tho

"I care because you don't."

Have you seen this guy at a press conference? Thanks, RNC.

What stops from accepting the Prez's remarks as political (i.e. making the GOP look even more intransigent and stupid) is his (public) commitment to shrinking the deficit.

is the slave thing gonna come back to haunt romney? i don't know the details. maybe he's right about the guard towers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-0imhVH4E0

So has Obama said anything about Neil Armstrong today? Cos the 1st moon landing was a huge success economically, culturally, and globally. It would be pretty stupid in the midst of "You didn't build that!" fever not to point out the best evidence ever that the government CAN do something right.

Maybe people don't want to hear about a government program that pays for itself two times over.

The Washington Post has long been known for its sycophantic coverage of the rich and powerful but it may have hit a new low today. The theme of an article on the presidential race was that Representative Paul Ryan, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, used the word "baseline" in a discussion of the budget with reporters. The reporter and/or editor was just incredibly impressed with this fact.

Real reporters might ask Ryan to identify some of the loopholes that he plans to close to make up for his tax cuts to the wealthy (e.g. mortgage interest deduction, deduction for employer provided health insurance etc.). A real reporter might also ask him to be more specific about the programs he plans to cut or eliminate over the next decade to meet his spending targets. And, they might ask him if he really intends to eliminate the whole federal government by 2040, except for Social Security, health care and the Defense Department as the Congressional Budget Office's analysis of his budget implies.

But hey, those would be questions raised by real reporters. The Post is just so awed by the fact that Ryan used the word "baseline," wow!

http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/beat-the-press/paul-ryan-said-qbaselineq-he-must-be-smart

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/back-to-baseline-cbo-report-makes-paul-ryan-wonky-on-campaign-trail/2012/08/24/a428416a-eda2-11e1-b09d-07d971dee30a_story.html

Has Obama ever, either in relation to a joke or not, played the racism card (NB I completely hate that phrase)? I can only think of Alan Keyes' plantation owners line, and iirc Obama's response was just to roll his damn eyes and check his watch.

i just can't get over this line from the slave labor video of romney:

“95% of life is set up for you if you were born in this country."

i mean there is dubya-level cluelessness and then there is...just off the charts fucking cluelessness.

Guy at the block party yesterday - the block's token hard-right Republican, every block in my very left hood has one - was going on and on at length about how global warming and the melting of the polar ice caps was not scientifically proven, because, you see, when an ice cube melts in a glass, the glass does not overflow. His inability to distinguish between a cube floating in a glass and towering glaciers is proof that science is very, very hard.

http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Sea_Ice_Extent_L.gif

but ice has melted before so it's alright

AFAIK your friend is correct about the ice cube in a glass analogy, which comes down to the physics of displacement. The problem is with ice on land, eg in Greenland and Antarctica. Towering Antarctic glaciers sit on land that won't absorb them if they melt, which means that water will be running into the sea.

The problem with the melting Arctic ice is that water is darker than ice and therefore absorbs more light, producing heat. Warming the Arctic ocean has all sorts of bad effects including melting the Arctic permafrost (releasing trapped methane, a powerful greenhouse gas).

I can (well not really) comprehend climate change denial but what about like safe air and drinking water? Do they deny smog exists as well? Gah.

Chris Hayes' last show, with special guist Ta-Nehisi Coates, discussed The Race Card.

how is TNC on tv?