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[Brentai]

Where are all these banks even finding the money to donate?

[Caithness]

From the bailout funds that they were supposed to lend to consumers but didn't?

Banks are not hurting currently. Not even close.

[Mothra]

...So Bank of America is using a sizable sum of the bailout money Obama's administration gave them to booster Romney's campaign.

Good god the pair on these guys.

[Thad]

Don't forget the government loan with negative interest.

[Brentai]

Obama's administration

Bush's administration.

Don't worry, literally the majority of the country thinks it was Obama's idea now.  That's how Freedom is Slavery we've gotten here.

[Mothra]

The corporate bailouts were put into place by the last administration? That's news to me.

[Brentai]

For banks specifically, yes, Bush's Treasury Secretary wrote TARP and Bush signed it.

In fairness, BoA paid their loan off years ago, so right now they're playing with money they acquired from their usual completely ethical means, not public money.

[Ted Belmont]

FOX News wastes no time in trying to spin Newt's infidelity as a positive.

[Mongrel]

I like how the entire argument boiled down to "He met three golddiggers! Three!!!!1omg"

[Mothra]

Colbert's Rock Me Like a Herman Cain speech. 2:40 is gold:

"Of course, the pundits out there in the media have asked, 'Is this all some joke?' We've all heard it, haven't we? And I say, if they are calling being able to form a Super PAC, and collecting unlimited, untraceable amounts of money from individuals, unions, and corporations, and spend that money on political ads and for personal enrichment, and then surrender that Super PAC to one of my closest friends while I explore a run for office. If that is a joke? Than they are saying our entire campaign finance system is a joke. And I don't know about you, but I have been paid to be offended by that!"

[Mongrel]

Newt just won SC. COMEDY ENSUES.

The Democrats suuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrre will be happy with that.

EDIT: Loved this quote

South Carolina Republicans, deciding that Romney was too inconsistent, flip-floppish and lacking in core values, seem to have gone with Newt Gingrich. In unrelated news I was feeling a bit too warm so I set myself on fire.

EDIT2: Oh god, they keep getting better.

Looks like the Gingrinch stole Romney's Christmas

[Thad]

Ugh.  Now we have to pretend this is a two-man race at least through Super Tuesday.

Double-digit lead, too.  Clearly I underestimated the hypocrisy of Republican Primary voters.

That said, keep in mind Democrats are allowed to vote in the SC Republican primary.  I'm not saying that a HUGE number of Newt's advantage was from Democrats trying to sabotage the nomination, but let's put it this way -- Herman Cain got 1.1% exclusively as a last-minute prank by Stephen Colbert, and it's not exactly a stretch to guess that, say, three times that number voted Gingrich because they want a weak Republican nominee.

This "I can beat Obama in the debates" business is just sort of a weird fantasy.  I mean, okay, if the presidential debates were ACTUAL debates, based entirely around the persuasiveness of a candidate's argument, then Gingrich might have a shot (though this idea that Obama's not a shrewd debater himself is just a weird sort of right-wing fantasy).

But they're not.  Presidential debates aren't debates, and general election debates aren't primary debates.

McCain didn't lose the '08 debates on the strength of his argument.  (Well, he did, but that's not why public opinion turned sharply against him.)  He lost them because he spent them being a condescending, sneering prick.

Romney's biggest weakness -- bigger than his inconsistency -- is that he can't go a week without saying something spectacularly out-of-touch and may as well be walking around in a top hat and a monocle.  (For those who missed it, he recently stated that he makes a little bit of money on speaking engagements but not that much -- and fact-checkers noted that he made about $375K on speaking engagements in '10.)  Gingrich's biggest weakness -- bigger than his personal and political history -- is that he can't go a week without saying something that's not only insane but actually cruel.  Where Santorum started furiously backpedaling and denying when the media caught him making reference to black people on food stamps, Newt chose to double down and indeed act completely baffled that people were offended.

[Thad]

Speaking to CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley the day after winning South Carolina’s primary, Gingrich characterized the $300,000 penalty leveled by the House Ethics Committee as reimbursement for the cost of the investigation.

Gingrich also claimed he persuaded fellow Republicans in the House of Representatives to vote “yes” on the ethics charges against him in order to put a swift end to the proceedings. Doing so helped lawmakers move on the balancing the budget, Gingrich said.

Gingrich's other problem: he thinks we're really fucking stupid.

Course, in the case of the SC primary, he was right.

[Thad]

Josh Marshall: Don’t Be Stupid: It’s Not About the Money.

I keep hearing that people are claiming it’s a problem that Mitt Romney is rich. Only no one actually seems to be saying that. I understand why Mitt Romney is claiming that, which he continually does. He’s changing the subject and trying to fight with a straw-man. But there’s abundant evidence — both negative and positive — that voters really don’t begrudge politicians their wealth. John Kerry, because of his marriage, was and is fabulously wealthy. Mike Bloomberg, not a problem. Bushes, Kennedys. It’s always a part of their public profile; but seldom an issue that cuts against them. So let’s cut the crap. It’s not an issue for Romney now. Everybody knows he’s worth somewhere between $150 and $250 million. He actually talks about it constantly, in as much as most of the premise of his campaign is his very real record of success as a businessman.

And let’s give him his due: he was really successful. Romney was born to wealth and privilege (Dad was CEO of AMC, then longtime governor). Mitt made a huge fortune on his own on top of that. But no one remotely relevant to this election begrudges him that. And he and his campaign know it.

Romney’s problem is that he’s running in a year in which tax equity has suddenly been thrust to the center of the public debate.

Last night, in addition to the usual "I'm not going to apologize for being successful" horseshit, Mitt said something to the effect of "No, I don't pay any more in taxes than I have to.  And I don't think anyone who pays more taxes than they're legally obligated to SHOULD be President."

And you know, that's fair enough.  But once again, it's not the POINT.

No, if I were making a million a year, I WOULDN'T donate extra to the IRS; Mitt's right, that would be crazy.

The problem isn't that he doesn't pay more than he has to.  The problem is that he doesn't think the government SHOULD require him to pay any more than he already does.

Newt's got a similar tone-deaf response to this.  He smells blood in the water but doesn't know what to do about it.  He's got some claptrap about his "Mitt Romney tax plan", which is tactically good but in practice foolish.  He's stated that he doesn't want to raise Romney's taxes, he wants to lower EVERYBODY ELSE'S taxes to Romney's level.

But, see, most people are ALREADY paying about the same percentage Romney does.  And most people think Romney SHOULD be taxed more.

Granted, Newt's still trying to win the Republican nomination, and you can't actually do that if you suggest that there is ever an occasion where it is appropriate to raise taxes on anyone for any reason, ever.  But in the off chance that he actually GETS the nom, he's not going to be able to pull off this kind of "It's not fair that his taxes are so low; let's not raise them" double-talk.

[Mongrel]

Aislin <3 <3 <3

[Brentai]

I have to be fair.  Newt at least addresses the problem that I make a tenth* of what Mitt Romney does and my tax rate is more than double what his is.

Mitt Romney doesn't think there's a problem with his tax rate, which is irritating, and he also doesn't seem to think there's a problem with MY tax rate, which is personally insulting.

* Probably more like a fifth.

[Shinra]

I know it's standard practice to release your tax returns when you're running for president, but it's not like it hasn't been refused before. It seems like a really dangerous thing to tell the people who consider tax disparity one of the biggest issues in America that you only paid 14% of your income in taxes because of capital gains fuckery and excessive deduction exploitation.

If anything Mitt is just providing his opposition with a great argument for upping the capital gains tax.

Romney paid 14% tax rateYes, Mitt Romney paid far less than the maximum tax rate on his millions. But he's not alone -- 80% of Americans have an effective tax rate below 15%. FULL STORY

And here's CNN taking a page from FOX. "Yes, Mitt Romney paid almost nothing in taxes despite being a multi millionaire, but neither did most Americans! Vote republican."


Here's the hilarious logic used to construct that argument:

If you consider income tax liability alone, the average effective federal tax rate for people with incomes between $40,000 and $50,000, for instance, is just 3.2%, according to Tax Policy Center estimates. (In measuring income, the center uses gross income and adds to it other forms of compensation, such as the money your employer contributes to your retirement savings.)

Since my employer's contributions to my 401k aren't being taxed at the time of contribution, my effective tax rate is 5% lower! It's magic!

except for the part where I have to pay taxes on everything I withdraw from my 401k at the time it is withdrawn, including my employer's contributions. Stay classy, CNN.

[Pacobird]

McCain didn't lose the '08 debates on the strength of his argument.  (Well, he did, but that's not why public opinion turned sharply against him.)  He lost them because he spent them being a condescending, sneering prick.

Eh.  If the Factory Showroom theory of presidential debates holds, any effect of the prez debates was totally overshadowed by the most lop-sided and hilarious VP debate in history.

(if anybody didn't watch the 08 VP debate you really should dig it up on youtube.  Palin being Palin, Biden on top of his game as the best debater in the Dem field in 08)

[Thad]

I know it's standard practice to release your tax returns when you're running for president, but it's not like it hasn't been refused before. It seems like a really dangerous thing to tell the people who consider tax disparity one of the biggest issues in America that you only paid 14% of your income in taxes because of capital gains fuckery and excessive deduction exploitation.

It's not like people didn't know, though.  What choice did he have?  He could either release his records and get pilloried for how low his taxes were, or not release his records and get pilloried for how low his taxes were and also for trying to hide it.

If anything Mitt is just providing his opposition with a great argument for upping the capital gains tax.

Which is true, and a good thing.

Eh.  If the Factory Showroom theory of presidential debates holds, any effect of the prez debates was totally overshadowed by the most lop-sided and hilarious VP debate in history.

(if anybody didn't watch the 08 VP debate you really should dig it up on youtube.  Palin being Palin, Biden on top of his game as the best debater in the Dem field in 08)

"Overshadowed" in what sense?

I think "THAT one" was a real defining moment in the campaign.

The veep debate was probably more interesting, but Palin's deer-in-the-headlights interview with Couric is the thing everybody remembers.

[Pacobird]

forgot about "that one"

Still, the wink?  The Couric interview was crazy, sure, but the debate clinched how incredibly not-ready-for-prime-time Palin really was.  Bad interviews at least have some plausible deniability; in the debate, Palin was 100% confident, on-point, and clueless.

Palin sunk that campaign, man.  Obama v. McCain actually would have been pretty close, but then they brought her out at the exact moment when America was at its most tired of Evangelical Christianity.

Anyway, today I am more annoyed at the Academy Award nominations coming out without a single nod for Melancholia.  Come on, guys; a known suicidal depressive says a few weird things about Hitler and suddenly you all go apeshit?