Topic: 2012: The Mayans Warned Us Of Stupid Elections (Read 88573 times)

Brentai · « **Reply #860 on:** July 28, 2012, 07:14:51 PM »

I don't mind making a thing of this. Stuff like this and elevator garage drive two points home:

1. Mitt Romney is not a fucking normal person with normal concerns. He has never been a normal person with normal concerns. He has never been unable to afford a doctor, never worried about making rent, and never looked at something he wanted and said "I can't afford that." Even when "that" could feed, clothe, house and even entertain an entire family for a year.

2. Mitt Romney does not spend his income on creating jobs, he spends it on this garbage*.

* In actuality he seems to put ~50% of his income in nontaxable retirement funds, ~25% goes to the Church, ~10% gets dumped into amazingly low-growth stocks and the rest is a grab-bag of this kind of sometimes-literal horseshit. Also, he is sitting on 7-8% of his total net worth in do-fuckall cash. I have not found any evidence of Mitt Romney's wealth promoting economic growth for anybody except the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

TA · « **Reply #861 on:** July 28, 2012, 08:32:50 PM »

Here's a good read.

I feel like this should be spun off into a "Mitt Romney Is A Robot Wrapped In Flesh" thread.

Thad · « **Reply #862 on:** July 28, 2012, 08:47:11 PM »

Quote from: Shinra on July 28, 2012, 05:36:15 PM

We were all pretty enraged when the right did basically the same shit to Kerry in 04, and Kerry's million dollar hobbies didn't involve a shot at gold medals in an Olympic event.

I must have missed the part where Kerry ran his entire campaign on cutting taxes for the rich.

Quote from: Shinra on July 28, 2012, 05:36:15 PM

There are better things to get mad about and it just makes the left look like petty assholes to throw tirades about horses when Romney has gone on record as saying he thinks corporations are people and he enjoys getting to fire employees.

He most certainly did not.

He said he liked being able to fire "people" -- in context, insurance companies.

He absolutely did not say "he enjoys getting to fire employees".

You're spreading a distortion and saying that that is preferable to criticizing him for something that is actually true. Maybe you should take a moment to reflect on that.

Quote from: Shinra on July 28, 2012, 05:36:15 PM

and I'm gonna be real here: Who the fuck is not voting for Romney, or is going to show up to the polls on election day, because the guy has a dancing horse? Is this going to be an issue for fucking anybody? Is this going to be the last checkbox in the list of checkboxes that makes a moderate decide to vote Democrat? Or are we just dragging a guy through the mud because he's not the person we want to win the Presidency?

No, but it's one of many, many checkboxes on a long list of things that show him as an out-of-touch rich man -- which is directly relevant since he is campaigning entirely on his economic policy.

Brentai · « **Reply #863 on:** July 28, 2012, 09:18:01 PM »

Quote

I've been in the same room with Mitt Romney twice—in Des Moines and Bellevue. I've been in rooms full of people who voted for Romney in the Iowa and Washington State caucuses. I've shared disgusting hotel bathrooms covered in litter and puddles of questionable fluids with men wearing baseball hats and pins bearing Romney's name and Romney T-shirts awkwardly pulled over their very expensive Oxford-cloth button-down shirts. I've stood in line with people at cold ungodly hours of the morning as we all waited to be allowed into Romney rallies. And I have never, once, met a Mitt Romney fan.

Spitting Image-Never met a nice South African

Thad · « **Reply #864 on:** July 30, 2012, 06:41:09 AM »

...so then Mitt goes to Israel and praises the Jews for being good with money.

Off-the-cuff gaffes are one thing, but how do you even say that? How do you not have that red flag in your brain that says "Wait, you're not supposed to say that"? And did he really never run that by anybody?

Mongrel · « **Reply #865 on:** July 30, 2012, 06:59:05 AM »

The funny part was that the Jews liked it (or at least didn't say anything) and the Palestinians were the really angry ones.

Of course Romney was basically calling the Palestinians worthless sacks of backwards garbage, sooooooo...

Brentai · « **Reply #866 on:** July 30, 2012, 07:00:51 AM »

He seems to think they should just pull their chins up and keep driving the economy despite inconvenient regulations.

He just doesn't think that he should be expected to pull his chin up and keep driving the economy despite inconvenient regulations.

Brentai · « **Reply #867 on:** July 30, 2012, 08:37:37 AM »

Romney's camp tries to backpedal by saying his point was more about how cultural superiority in general leads to better income between neighboring countries, for specific example the U.S. and Mexico.

So it sounds to me like instead of beckpedaling they're just doubling down and taking sideways potshots out of latinos from nowhere, but I'm willing to assume I might just be reading between too many lines. Interesting to har what the reaction from Mexico and its people will be, if any.

Zaratustra · « **Reply #868 on:** August 07, 2012, 10:00:24 AM »

Don't hate the horse because it's a rich person's animal. Hate it because even Romney's pets are investments.

Shinra · « **Reply #869 on:** August 07, 2012, 10:19:05 AM »

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/07/politics/reid-romney-taxes/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

It must really suck to be Mitt Romney right now. If it's true, he hasn't paid taxes in ten years. If it's false, the only way he can prove it is by releasing his tax returns, which he's no doubt reluctant to do because he's used accounting tricks to pay as little as possible. Is there any end to this controversy that is positive for him?

Thad · « **Reply #870 on:** August 07, 2012, 10:52:55 AM »

That's the theory, anyway.

But I'm not sure anybody actually believes it, and I think Reid's coming out looking like a jackass.

Guess we'll see. I'm not always good at gauging public reaction to political tactics. But when Jon Stewart does a segment called "You, Harry Reid, Are Terrible" I think it's a pretty good indicator that even people who are predisposed to mistrusting Romney are not flocking to Reid's side.

Brentai · « **Reply #871 on:** August 07, 2012, 11:30:33 AM »

He's basically trying to bluff Romney into proving a negative, and the only people who would be wiling to go along with that shit are ROMNEY'S PEOPLE.

I can't blame Reid for having developed an especially low view of America's general intelligence across the board though.

(I would be angry that he's taken a really easy line, "What EXACTLY the fuck are you hiding?", and completely blown it out by making shit up. But I'm so used to my supposed allies making everything worse that it barely warrants an eyebrow.)

Nickasummers · « **Reply #872 on:** August 07, 2012, 12:02:00 PM »

My dad is extremely conservative so, unfortunately, I heard all about Reid's accusations about an hour after he made them. But in slightly different context. It was more like "Hey Reid is making shit up about Romney to make him look bad WE SHOULD ALL ACCUSE REID OF BEING A PEDOPHILE". I sincerely wish I were joking.

Thad · « **Reply #873 on:** August 07, 2012, 12:12:46 PM »

Quote from: Brentai on August 07, 2012, 11:30:33 AM

(I would be angry that he's taken a really easy line, "What EXACTLY the fuck are you hiding?", and completely blown it out by making shit up. But I'm so used to my supposed allies making everything worse that it barely warrants an eyebrow.)

Yeah, pretty much this.

Honestly, and I hate to say it, but Romney's got a point -- even if his records were totally above-board, there's bound to be SOMETHING in there that someone can seize on and make a big issue out of (as Reid knows from experience).

I think Shinra's generally right that Romney is in a bad situation either way, because if he releases his taxes they'll find SOMETHING bad, and if he doesn't everyone's going to wonder what he's hiding.

But Reid's probably actually made things easier for Romney by engaging in transparent, clumsy exaggeration (and throwing that "Your father would be ashamed of you" crap on top of it, which really just kinda makes me want to punch him in the mouth; fuck you, Harry Reid).

In the end I don't think it's going to make much difference one way or the other; next week we'll be on to the NEXT egregious example of Romney being an out-of-touch rich man, and, more likely than not, Romney himself will be the one responsible for it.

Mongrel · « **Reply #874 on:** August 07, 2012, 12:23:41 PM »

In the end it could turn out that this is as spurious as the birth certificate nonsense, but you have to admit it's a ballsy play.

What if Romney's past taxes are in fact cleaner than the proverbial virgin's honeypot? I know it's not bloody likely, but if it was true Reid would be pilloried and Romney would have an inassailable rock to rant from. He could fuel his whole damn campaign with the resulting wounded indignation. That's a huge fucking risk to take for what's a relatively minor gain.

I suspect that Reid has SOME kind of legitimate information, even if it's not clear proof that Romney didn't pay taxes for 10 years. Until Romney releases his information, I expect this to hang around much as the Birther issue did: Red meat for the base and ignored/derided by the middle and the other camp.

Thad · « **Reply #875 on:** August 07, 2012, 12:48:31 PM »

While cheapening the reputation of any politician foolish enough to actually spout such nonsense.

Mongrel · « **Reply #876 on:** August 07, 2012, 12:53:41 PM »

Yep!

TA · « **Reply #877 on:** August 07, 2012, 01:12:00 PM »

Quote from: Thad on August 07, 2012, 12:12:46 PM

Quote from: Brentai on August 07, 2012, 11:30:33 AM
(I would be angry that he's taken a really easy line, "What EXACTLY the fuck are you hiding?", and completely blown it out by making shit up. But I'm so used to my supposed allies making everything worse that it barely warrants an eyebrow.)

Yeah, pretty much this.

Honestly, and I hate to say it, but Romney's got a point -- even if his records were totally above-board, there's bound to be SOMETHING in there that someone can seize on and make a big issue out of (as Reid knows from experience).

I think Shinra's generally right that Romney is in a bad situation either way, because if he releases his taxes they'll find SOMETHING bad, and if he doesn't everyone's going to wonder what he's hiding.

But Reid's probably actually made things easier for Romney by engaging in transparent, clumsy exaggeration (and throwing that "Your father would be ashamed of you" crap on top of it, which really just kina makes me want to punch him in the mouth; fuck you, Harry Reid).

In the end I don't think it's going to make much difference one way or the other; next week we'll be on to the NEXT egregious example of Romney being an out-of-touch rich man, and, more likely than not, Romney himself will be the one responsible for it.

Or, of course, it might not be a "transparent, clumsy exaggeration".

Thad · « **Reply #878 on:** August 07, 2012, 01:20:06 PM »

Quote

Update x4:

Dear Kossacks,

There are some of you who have expressed doubts about the accuracy of my diary. Fine. To be clear. I watched the entire AC360 segment on CNN. Dana Bash did indeed say, she spoke to an independent source who could corroborate her source with Harry Reid's source. She then took to AC360 twitter to back up her story. Case in point, I posted Bash's tweets. Some of you are now saying the tweets are gone from the ACBlog and her twitter account. I also said, if/when the Dana Bash's video becomes available, i would post the video. Unfortunately, the video is still not available. Whatever is going on @ CNN is on their end not my mind. I am simply relaying to you all what my own eyes saw. I will also change the headline. More importantly, I would never-ever lie or mislead fellow kossack readers.

Thank you,
Rem123

Welp, I'm convinced.

Mongrel · « **Reply #879 on:** August 07, 2012, 01:42:46 PM »

You know, after well over a decade of left-leaning voters complaining about Democrats allowing themselves to be doormats, I'm willing to forgive a little vicious elbow fighting.

Of course it drags down the level of debate even further and all that, but I most of the call for politicians to take the high road have just resulted in people trying to put on a an awkward and ridiculous show of doing so rather than actually evincing any real moral standards. A person takes the real high road because it's fundamental to their character, not because a pundit say it'll make them look more electable.

Even if Reid is completely full of shit, his actions are arguably closer to honesty than a lot of his more seemingly-gracious compatriots.

News:

Author Topic: 2012: The Mayans Warned Us Of Stupid Elections (Read 88573 times)