I’ve just been having a really weird night of thinking, and I’m starting to wonder if I am becoming the male Pauline Kael of West Virginia. I just can’t imagine why anyone would vote for Mitt Romney, but my gut tells me this will be another 51-49 election, and Obama could very well lose.
It’s kind of disconcerting. I’ve always felt pretty up to speed on pop culture, but I guess as I age I am less and less in touch with the modern zeitgeist. I was listening to NPR yesterday (that in itself is a red flag for being out of touch, I guess), and they were talking about some new group called s/s/s, which had three independent artists grouped, and I’d never even heard of any of them independently. Of all the pop culture/celebs in bikinis blogs out there, I only ever check the Superficial, because the guy cracks me up, and half the time I have ZERO idea who the alleged celebs are.
I guess what I mean to say is I just feel sort of dissociated from the country at large. I’m watching Kitchen Cousins and Yard Crashers and Restaurant Impossible, when apparently everyone else in the country is watching American Idol. I’m out in the back yard gardening, while the rest of the country is taking their kids to soccer or going to NASCAR events. I’m writing a political blog, and half the country doesn’t even fucking vote. I’m an atheist, while the majority of the country says they believe in God but acts like godless heathens.
I guess this a long way of writing I can’t think of one reason why anyone in the country would vote for Romney, yet I’m shocked and terrified the polls are as close as they are. I hate being out of touch with the country, but if being in touch means supporting a party of sociopaths, I guess I will just have to make my separate peace.
I’m 41 years old and I feel like Burgess Meredith in Grumpy Old Men. Meredith, Matthau, and Lemmon are all dead. Maybe I should stop with those comparisons for now.
*** Update ***
BTW- if you like Matthau and Lemmon (Matthau is one of my all time favorites), you have got to make sure you take the time to see Buddy Buddy. You will laugh for the entire movies. I’d kill for a copy on DVD.
gorram
I’m pretty sure the detachment you’re describing from the glitzy media-saturated nonsense we (“we”?) now consider the pinnacle of culture is the current Zeitgeist…
WaterGirl
Cole, when I am that discouraged or feeling helpless, I try to break out of it by doing something I can control. How about making a big fat donation to Wisconsin? I think that election on June 5 is gonna make or break it for the Democratic Party. It’s well worth the investment, and it might make you feel better.
Arclite
John, it’s not just you. Admittedly, I’m not your typical American: I’m married to a foreigner (Japanese) I live in a foreign, liberal paradise (Hawaii), I believe strongly in a regulated free market, strong social net, taxing the rich at a reasonable rate, and deficit spending during a recession.
When I read political stories about large swaths of the country it just makes no sense to me. AZ, Wall Street, Arkansas, stories from these places seem like they are on another planet. When my wingnut uncle can’t even deign to give credit to Obama for making the call to kill Osama (“I credit the soldiers, not Obama.”) I just think he’s delusional. Also, I don’t understand how American Idol can be the number 1 TV show in the nation and not Game of Thrones or Justified. I don’t understand how half the nation can think evolution untrue or global warming a scam about grants. I really feel like an alien in my own country, except that there’s BJ to remind me that there are like-minded people out there.
BigSouthern
THAT’s the top 10 shows?! Jesus…
The Dangerman
Mitt’s a terrible candidate; an earlier post said he was trying to gain inroads into the African American vote. Silly man; he shouldn’t be trying to get the votes from a group that the Republicans are trying to keep from voting.
Spaghetti Lee
You know what’s funny? Everyone talks about these things as the great Middle American touchstones, but in that Nielsen link it said that about 17.5 million people watch AI. That’s 5% of the country. Nascar in 2010 was 3.6 million people-much less. If you’re out of touch, then so’s a vast majority of the country.
I personally think the country’s full of people who think they’re the only sane one in town and that they’re so out of the mainstream that their fellow Americans can’t even understand them. But the whole idea of Mr. Average American as a NASCAR-lovin’, Reality-TV-watching, Bud Light drinking, department-store-and-casual-dining addicted shmoe, that guy’s a cartoon, invented by David Brooks and Chris Matthews. You could find a few of them out there, sure, but they don’t run the country. There’s all sorts of people out there.
rob in dc
How about understanding the simple dynamic that during Obama’s term the vast majority of people have experienced lower and lower living standards. We can argue till the cows come home about how much of that is attributable to him, but there is a good chance the majority of this country is not interested at all in that argument and will vote against him because their situations have declined over the past 4 years.
Obama’s term has seen a marked decrease in the living standards and general welfare of the vast majority of this country, if you can’t understand how this could lead uninformed voters to vote against him you really have been subsumed by politics. There is in fact a very large difference between understanding neoliberal politics, the democrats economic policy, and the republicans economic policy.
And for better or worse, not matter how much this blog hates to hear it, the last 4 years have seen an ascendant neoliberal economic policy that seeks to gut the middle class for the benefit of financial elites. There is no possible way to argue that Obama is against this general trend, for all his rhetoric his actions show a president with no interest in moving beyond the neoliberal paradigm that consigned this countries economy to the shitter it’s in to begin with.
It’s understandable that voters seek to reject liberalism as Obama has presented it on the economic front. Obama has been good to great on a variety of issues, but economics is certainly not one of them, and a low information voter does not factor in how much of their economic suffering is a consequence of republican obstructionism and asshattey.
And you might hate to hear it, but even a well informed voter can legitimately question Obama’s commitment to a strong middle class in light of his repeated hand jobs for Wall Street and the financier class. This is what us firebaggers warned about for the last 4 years, you reap what you sow. Whether Obama has sowed a sufficient shitfest to get himself unelected, in spite of the various foibles of a republican party so off the rails its absurd, is an open question, but his garbage neoliberal economic policy makes it a question nonetheless.
Hill Dweller
I hate saying it because it sounds like something a Republican would say, but the media is a real problem for Obama. They are ignoring Romney’s daily f ups, while actively pushing narratives that hurt Obama. Hell, it has been that way for his entire Presidency.
Despite being on the edge of a depression, Republicans decided to engage in a level of obstructionism and nihilism not seen in modern political history. They literally said out loud they wanted to destroy Obama, and went about trying to do it, but the media didn’t bat an eye. I don’t know how or if that ever changes.
There is accurate political info available, but you have to dig for it. Most people just aren’t willing to do it. So they rely on the shitty MSM, which fills their heads with nonsense from wingers.
PLH in NYC
I’m a little older than you and see no reason why anyone younger than me can vote Republican but yet they do. I have not a clue as to why a political party that is hell bent on destroying the country just to make BHO a one term president can be appealing to any one but a bunch of racist sociopaths but maybe that’s just me. I am not terrified that Romney will win. I don’t think he will. I am worried that the Dims will not pick up enough progressive House seats or Senate seats to actually accomplish anything useful. Austerity and manufactured debt limit crises for 4 years and this country will be like Greece. Even if the GOP tanks, they will take the country with them. And what jobs will there be for my teenagers?
Just Some Fuckhead
I prefer Kitchen Nightmares.
RossInDetroit
You think YOU’RE out of touch? I spent the day… the WHOLE day… tinkering with record players and phono cartridges.
I’m sure the nice men with the net and the cozy jacket are on their way.
But seriously. This country makes no fucking sense, excuse my French. It makes no sense if you believe the media. Just doesn’t add up, as you’ve clearly explained above.
But most of the people in it do make a sort of sense. At least as individuals. I don’t walk down the street and see people being as insane as the newspapers and opinion polls would lead you to believe we are.
So the problem is the point of view. People are not nuts. Believe the people you know and take the media with a grain of salt.
ETA; What SkettyLee said also, too. he types faster thjan me.
Spaghetti Lee
And put yourself in my shoes-I’m about half your age. You feel out of touch with the modern zeitgeist? I’m part of it, or supposed to be, and it baffles and terrifies me. At least the rest of you can remember a time that wasn’t so completely full of crap.
PLH in NYC
Hey Ross in Detroit: Good for you with turntables. I will be getting my vinyl out of storage in a couple of months and will be able to set up a turntable again. I’m psyched!
mclaren
Americans will vote for Romney because Americans are bully-worshiping sadistic cowards, eager to lick the boot of any thugs who stamps in their faces. Your Americano rushes to kiss the baton of the police goon that’s beating him to death with the unseemly haste of a dog scampering forwad to lick up its master’s vomit. Americans love nothing more than a bully, and Mitt made his bones by firing thousands of workers and getting rich off destroying their lives…and how can you be a bigger bully than that?
Mitt Romney’s inaugural address will be the opening lines from the new AVENGERS movie: “Helpless slaves…what can they do but die?” And the American people will give him a standing ovation.
sfinny
I can’t begin to explain the whole problem, but think back to when you were a republican. My boss and co-workers are long time republican or independent (but I vote republican) voters.
You indicated that it took a great shake to change your thoughts. But most have not had that shake. So they go through the recession and refuse to believe that Bush policies had anything to do with this. So things are getting better in our business, but their thoughts are that more regulation is responsible for less business. Yes it is counter-factual but that does not matter.
satanicpanic
Polls are always close, but we don’t elect people by popular vote. You know that Cole. Sounds like you got a case of the What ifs:
Last night, while I lay thinking here,
Some Whatifs crawled inside my ear
And pranced and partied all night long
And sang their same old Whatif song
RossInDetroit
And one more thing. Don’t get yourself in a sweat about it, John. It’s manufactured bullshit that’s supposed to wind you up because you’re worth more to someone else when you’re more tightly wound. We all are, and most people fall into it. You have better instincts than that and I hope you’ll follow them.
Spaghetti Lee
@mclaren:
“Mr. Romney, There will always be men like you!”
Genine
I can understand the feeling of disconnect. Some of the stuff out there is…. strange, to say the least.
But I’m a stubborn optimist and I believe things will, ultimately, turn out for the best.
hilzoy
I think a lot of it has to do with being informed. There are a lot of people who are busy trying to make the rent and take care of their kids, and who just have this vague sense that Democrats want to take their money away and Republicans are a little mean.
If you’re 41, then I’ve felt this way since you were 10. Arguably before: I honestly could not imagine how Nixon got elected the second time, when you must have been a toddler. One of my camp counselors said she was going to vote for Nixon, and I was completely bewildered: how could she possibly do that?
RossInDetroit
@PLH in NYC:
Baerwald alignment. Proper overhang. Azimuth and VTA, to say nothing of VTF. I’m steeped in the lore and glad to help. Look for me on the AudioKarma website. I’m Bauhausler.
PeakVT
I was listening to NPR yesterday … and they were talking about some new group called s/s/s, which had three independent artists grouped, and I’d never even heard of any of them independently.
Whenever I hear a music review on NPR, I always feel like I’m being told to eat my spinach. Some of artists/groups may be genuinely good, but AFAICT NPR selects them because they look interesting on paper.
TS
As a female – I can vaguely imagine why some white males vote for Mitt – He’s not “different” to them – but why ANY woman in the USA would vote for a party that spends more time discussing her reproductive cycle than any other issue in the wide wide world – well I’m lost.
President Obama should be ahead 90/10 with women – only reason he isn’t – the press lead some to believe Mitt doesn’t mean what he says. Maybe the press really think no-one could mean the stupid things Mitt says – or maybe the press consists of too many of those white males I was talking about.
newhavenguy
@ Cole: all of that has been true for a few decades at least. (What’s new is that the Conservative movement has taken over a major political party, but as long as MTP, the NYT and WaPo don’t hear it the tree never fell at all.)
Dispiriting yes but it shouldn’t be demoralizing; more like background noise. B. 1971 myself, a child of Nixonland. It probably shows.
It is a good world and worth fighting for, dammit. Also, too: even if it weren’t these are some serious bastards who are worth fighting against.
gaz
@rob in dc: I managed to change my mom’s mind. That’s a start. She realized that I actually follow politics. She’s now coming around to the idea that maybe Raygun wasn’t so hot – and she’s cluing in to the decline of a vigilant press and how it effects the zeitgeist (there’s that word again).
We can do what we can do. If you do follow politics, you should be having these kinds of conversations with receptive friends and relatives. Forget the wingnuts, probably, but in my experience you can reach some people that are affected by the wingnuttia.
And FTR, as much as I hate to say it, my mom WAS thoroughly anti-immigration, cafeteria christian, and had a pretty unhealthy dislike of black people. (not my adoptive mom, who is a reliable boomer democrat) but my biological mother.
She’ll probably never get over her dislike for black men. 2 of them carjacked and raped her in seattle in the 80’s so that’s probably something of a trauma that’s intractable this late in the game.
As far as the Christianity and immigration stuff, that was easier. I’m a
christianJesus fan. She just saw what I’ve been doing as far as migrant worker outreach and I introduced her to our mixtec roomates. She’s thoroughly on board with that now. Sometimes just living by example counts for a lot.Montana
It is distressing, but we do live in a 51/49 or 50/50 world in this country. This fact is squashing the country’s ability to deal with the ruinous consequences of this stalemate. I would have thought the 2007-2008 crash would have been the event that woke everyone up and motivated them to focus.
But, the right is, unfortunately, more strident and dumber than I ever imagined. For them, today, the more outrageous the statement or action, the greater the reward.
We may be fucked.
Mr Stagger Lee
I am a long term optimist, but in the short run, this country will be headed for some dark moments. The Republicans win, and the fall of America will come at a speed of a Usain Bolt 100 meter dash. The Democrats the fall will continue but much slower. I think this country will see an uprising, maybe even the breaking apart of the nation. But I do see an moment when the people will take it back and rebuild the nation, you see it in Wisconsin, and it the spark was there in Zucotti Park, it might take years or decades, I do think it will end well.
DW
You’ve got things precisely backwards. It’s the elderly who are most pro-Romney and pro-Republican. If you hung out around senior citizens more you’d realize this. On top of that, you have to add in the white Southerners who have never liked Obama. The young are quite liberal these days. Our generation (I’m 42) continues to f*ck things up but that seems to be our function in life. The bad new is the elderly turn out to vote at a high rate. The good news is that the electoral college is much tougher for Romney than the popular vote. All those white southerners are mostly in states Obama doesn’t need. And there’s still the potential comedy value of the Paulistas at the Republican convention. One more thing – for the first time since 2008, the NFIB survey of small business shows more complaints about regulations and taxes than low demand. That’s good news for Obama – the economy may really be coming back.
BobbyK
I guess this a long way of writing I can’t think of one reason why anyone in the country would vote for Romney
9% unemployment.
AT
Have no fear. The election hasnt started properly. Romney almost killed his primary chances in the debates. Imagine how he’s going to go up against Obama, he will torpedo his chances before the halfway point of the second debate.
Redshift
@Arclite: I suppose one of the reasons it doesn’t bother me as much is that I grew up in Northern Virginia, so from the time I was old enough to pay attention to things outside where I lived, that bizarre other planet has always been just a few miles down the road, not across the country.
BobbyK
If the republicans were even remotely sane this election would be a runaway for the republicans considering this country’s economic situation.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
Hi All,
I’m older as well, and I know the feeling.
Part of it is: “Where you stand depends on where you sit.” As sfinny said, people learn things from those around them. If they’ve never really thought about things from a different point of view, it’s hard to do so.
Don’t get discouraged. Sigh about the silliness and stupidity, and move on. But keep your eye on the prize – don’t forget what’s important and keep working for it.
I’m optimistic, but not complacent.
Cheers,
Scott.
SiubhanDuinne
@John Cole (top):
Which would make you a mael.
hhex65
SMH… you show a little sensitivity and the vultures jump right in
satanicpanic
@AT: Oh I can’t wait for the debates. Romney is going to get crushed. His only chance is to lie so frequently and so blatantly that he makes Obama laugh so hard he pees his pants.
SiubhanDuinne
@mclaren: You are always such a Merry Sunshine.
David Koch
Yet black metrosexual Abe Lincoln leads key swing states of Iowa, Colorado, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virgina by 7 to 11 pts, according to PPP. Only North Carolina and Florida are close and Obama leads there (and Obama has yet to inform seniors that Mittens wants to kill Medicare as we know it).
Geez, enough with the neurotic Woody Allen self doubt.
DW
@rob in dc: A marked decrease? No – things were pretty bad when Obama came in. They haven’t gotten much better but they haven’t really gotten worse. Regarding Wall Street – the TARP bailout took place before Obama was president and was probably necessary. I don’t really see what other hand jobs he’s given them. Also, Wall Street has very clearly and explicitly turned against the Democrats. I’ll do Wall Street the favor of assuming they know their own self interest and that therefore Romney will be much better for them. That’s enough reason to back Obama. I’d have liked him to be more aggressively liberal. The problem is that every time I look at the Congress he had to deal with and how circumstances forced him to depend entirely on the Democrats to get things done, I really don’t see how he could have gone further than he did. Magic pixie dust Hillary Clinton might have done better, but the actual flesh and blood Clinton would have hit the same limits.
Redshift
@DW: Yeah, national polls really are useless for any purpose other than keeping the horse race narrative alive. From everything I’ve read “the polls” are close because Romney has big margins in a bunch of red states that aren’t nearly enough to win.
RossInDetroit
@satanicpanic:
The debates will be fascinating. I think it will be the most extreme case yet of both sides being dead certain their candidate nailed it, and unable to understand why the other side disagrees.
Severe polarization and tunnel vision.
The debates will solve and clarify nothing. It’s just free advertising and an opportunity to feel like you’re involved in the process.
Cap'n Magic
Sad to say, right now the US is just one election away from either becoming the US of FDR or the Machtergreifung of Romney and the rise of a true Fascist America as he’ll give Israel the go-ahead to attack Israel.
RalfW
Here’s why I’m pessimistic (Hill Dweller from the prev thread).
The media is in the bag for a horse race, too many punters are close friends with the rich who’s have had their fee-fees hurt, and they’re all (Maddow and 1 or 2 others excepted) chicken-shit scared of saying anything that could be perceived as even slightly liberal.
Really, the chicken-shit part is the key.
Anthony
As a young person I can reassure you that only one of the people in s/s/s, Sufjan Stevens, is really even marginally well known, so I wouldn’t sweat it.
Cacti
So, how does Mitt get to 51%?
When Bush got there in 2004, he carried 48% of the women’s vote and 40% of the Hispanic vote.
Willard currently sits at 27% of the Hispanic vote.
piratedan
I think that there are a lot of sad, scared, disconnected folks out there. People that don’t understand change, don’t understand technology, don’t see how their past is reflected in their future. They don’t understand other faiths, they don’t understand high finance or people that can cheat so egregiously; they have a hard time embracing new ideas and their kids seem more foreign to them than ever.
It’s a ripe breeding ground for these proto fascists. There is an element that just wants to be in charge, another group that loves the notoriety and they appear to share a casual cruelty about them when they get to deny or withhold something from someone, be it a perceived right, a fair shake or even access to a doctor. They prey on the uninformed, the idle, the scared and folks that want to be mad at someone and they’ll latch onto anyone that wanders into their path; they just have to be different, doesn’t matter how, be it the color of their skin or the deity that they worship.
What worries me the most is that this group wants a fight. They’ve been arming, the rhetoric is already ratcheted up to a fever pitch, they just need the right collective tinder to be lit. Those that feel that they can control the monster are mistaken I believe, they may be feeding this bullshit to the gullible and think that they can just turn it off like a spigot. I’m not so sure that they can. Certain folks are going to have to sacrifice their supposed integrity in order to ratchet down the hate and based on what we’ve seen thus far, they fail that particular character test.
handy
@SiubhanDuinne:
The kind that makes bad predictions I take it.
Suffern ACE
@DW: Ok. Before someone writes about how the S&L crisis produced 100s if not 1,000s of prosecutions, I am going to disagree that the money center banks were not dealt with. HAMP has not provided the relief that it could, and if there was no intention to fight for it, perhaps it would have been better not to have a press conference touting it. I understand that the laws were written to make prosecutions difficult, but we are talking about a set of people who through carelessness and disregard for procedure practically destroyed some pretty fundamental aspects of property ownership – namely, people know who owns what, whether it is the deed to a piece of land or a basic mortgage loan. It was as if doctors suddenly couldn’t remember how to deliver babies all of a sudden. I can see how voters might think that perhaps not enough has been done to ensure that that won’t happen again.
David Koch
Yet on an afternoon, during a work day, before a big weekend, working class white folk poured out to see Black Abe Lincoln in Des Moines
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/02Nn88g1d5fr0/610x.jpg
http://cmsimg.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Site=D2&Date=20120524&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=205240803&Ref=PH&Item=28&Maxw=620&Maxh=465&q=60
I really wish Obama would wear a stove pipe hat.
Anne Laurie
Cole, the summer Silly Season, like the weather, is running well ahead of schedule. Tend your garden, cater to your cat, take the dogs for a walk and leave the OMG DIDJA SEE BREAKING inanity for the paid professionals who’ve had their senses of proportion surgically removed (along with the top quartile of their IQ).
I’m 15 years older than you, closer in age to your parents. “We”, the great American Ninety-Nine-Percenters, survived the Era of Mutually Assured Destruction, Nixon’s re-election, the Watergate almost-coup, and the Reagan Administration’s attempt to destroy the entire ‘immoral minority’ class via malign neglect of the AIDS epidemic… and that’s just before you came of age. The odds are good we’ll survive this last thrashing attempt by the Republican forces of ignorance & hypocricy, and go on to re-elect President Obama once the ‘pickled gherkin summer’ winds down. And if the bad guys manage to steal another election, well, a well-stocked pantry and a strong social network will be more important than ever.
Asking some of the more discrete members of your vast social circle to keep your name in mind when their newly unattached female acquaintances lament their solitude can’t hurt, either. Lots of women who think selfish jerks are sexy when they’re 20 have learned better by the time they’re 40, and the skinny dude doing tank maintenance during Desert Storm has gotten more sophisticated, too.
Redshift
@RalfW: Yeah, but for all that, the more people see of Romney, the less they like him. They can do an emperor’s new clothes number on him all they like, but in the fall when the campaign is really on, they won’t be able to get ratings if they don’t *show* him.
I am also optimistic but not complacent.
cbear
@Just Some Fuckhead:
True dat.
Listening to Gordon Ramsay go off on an expletive-laden tirade at some hapless dunce in virtually every show beats the hell out of hearing Robert Irvine yell “We need to clear out this restaurant NOW!” in every episode.
My all time favorite was Gordon screaming “”You fucking French pig!!!” at a French chef in one show.
That there is quality entertainment in my house.
redshirt
Obama cruisin’ this election, y’all.
amk
You’re already on a binge when the silly season isn’t even upon us ? I suggest you lock your booze cache and throw away the key at least until nov 6th.
David Koch
@Cacti: This.
And more. The white vote plummeted 13% in the 16 years following 1992, when it was 87% of the vote. It was 77% of the vote in 2004, and it’s projected to be 71% in this November.
SIA
@Redshift: Ha, you just made my point. To know Romney is to despise him. There’s a line in the old Nick Nolte film Q and A where one of the characters, talking about a corrupt politician running for office, says something like, “The guy’s a prick. People sense these things.”
Romney’s a prick, and people sense it.
Jager
My UCLA Grandaughter (rode her bike 226 miles in 24 hours, thank you very much) is headed for Copenhagen in August to spend a year at the School of Design. She told me last Sunday that if Romney wins she is staying in Europe for good. Her cousin the NYU Grandaugther, just got back from Madrid after a semester there, has pretty much said the same thing. As fucked up as the 60’s were I don’t recall anybody who wasn’t under the threat of the draft ever talking about leaving the country. This is new to me.
Suffern ACE
@Anne Laurie: The problem with the Dems in regard to silly season I suppose is that there aren’t enough silly Dems at Democratic League Headquarters. I imagine that the republicans spend the spring planning how to fill those airwaves, while the DC dems spend that time looking for summer rentals.
Primigenius
Hmmm… Buddy Buddy… A ‘C’ grade offering from three ‘A+’ talents. If you want to see them in finer fettle, watch The Fortune Cookie. But if you need a laugh, and Buddy Buddy does it, then have a good one.
Yutsano
@Suffern ACE: Willard is way behind on the ground game. His public appearances show that. No handler who knew the local area would have DARED to let him do the stupid things he’s pulled so far. It’s so funny it’s sad. And Obama’s team is out registering folks and canvassing neighbourhoods, even in areas that are tough sells. I personally think it’s all over but the shouting.
gaz
@Yutsano: Me too. I figured on that by the time the GOP primary was in full swing.
Romney will win the nom and lose the general (TM)
I should have had that patented or something =)
redshirt
I just had lunch with two republicans who admitted Obama will win this election as Mitt is just not that exciting. They’ll still vote for him, of course, which is sad. But they’re wavering, at least.
Montysano
If The Superficial cracks you up, try Dlisted.
owlbear1
@BigSouthern:
THAT’s the top 10 shows?! Jesus…
Yes, because everyone who doesn’t believe rubbing colored wax on your forehead will cure a headache stopped watching TV a long time ago.
cbear
@redshirt:
Hmmm, what did they order—-the “char-broiled peasant” or the “fried serf”?
srv
John, you’re just anticipating Fukuyama’s End of Hope in December.
A more relevant Lemmon movie would be Save the Tiger
marina
I live in a more or less liberal college town. Yesterday I went to an event at my kids’ high school, where students set up tables with posters to display their projects. Two kids had done a project on politics; they had photos of Obama and Romney and a question printed out: “Which one are you for?” A high school girl was standing next to me at the table and said without hesitation “I’m for Romney.” I was completely floored. I asked why. “Because he stands up for what he believes.” I asked what he believes in. “America.” I pointed out that if Romney won she wouldn’t be able to stay on her parents’ health insurance until she was 26. She said that she didn’t have health insurance now, that she was a diabetic, and she was resigned to the fact that she would never have health insurance, so politicians’ healthcare positions didn’t matter to her. She’ll be old enough to vote, she said, in the upcoming election. I felt flooded with righteous wrath…and a fat lot of good it did…
Suffern ACE
@Yutsano: Well Lanny Davis says… Oh wait. I hate that guy. Ok. But James Carville says… Oh wait, I’ve never liked him much and don’t trust him either. I got nothing. Must be bed time.
hitchhiker
I remember so well thinking that Bush could NOT win in 2004. Iraq was an absolute disaster. No WMDs. Terrible planning. No exit strategy. Dead and injured Americans, many of them reservists and national guard with families back home. Everyone I knew hated him on a visceral level . . . and strangely that’s what gives me a measure of confidence about 2012.
There are a lot of people who loathe Obama (for reasons that escape me utterly, but they do) — but 2004 showed me that it’s not enough to hate the incumbent. You need enthusiasm for your own candidate, too. And it’s still the case the Romney inspires exactly nobody. They’re stuck with him, and they’ll blow a boatload of thousand dollar bills to push him into our living rooms, but none of it will turn him into a good candidate.
So we have that going for us.
Spaghetti Lee
@marina:
“Because he stands up for what he believes.”
And he believes in so many different things!
David Koch
The Tampa convention is gonna be a disaster.
First, I saw a report today saying it may be struck by a hurricane. And while it’s hard to forecast meteorological hurricanes three months in advance, it will be struck by the Paulbots and the Queen of the Teabillies, each trying to out do each other to steal every spot light.
and you know Bush isn’t gonna show up, so there’ll be the narrative about shrub being too toxic to even be seen in public.
coin operated
@Anne Laurie:, I’m younger than you by just about a decade, but remember these events quite clearly. If neither of us were previously committed, I’d propose to you right now.
coin-op
Suffern ACE
@hitchhiker: If I predict one thing, it’s that after Dukkakis, Kerry and Romney, no party will turn to a relatively dull Mass Politician as the safe candidate to lead their ticket ever again.
TheMightyTrowel
@Jager: Some of us did this after 2004, fewer than those who talked about it. Doubt I’ll ever convince myself to move back though.
Hill Dweller
@marina: She’s probably parroting her parents’ views.
Skippy-san
Off topic, but did you see where that moron James P doubled down on his spending lie about Obama?
karen
As I’ve seen the blanketed Crossroad and other scumbag SUPERPAC ads my mood has swung lower and lower because it’s like the media has already decided that Romney should be President because all that scrutiny he got during the primaries is gone now. Now the media is blowing him every second of every day while not only showing every error or gaffe Obama and his campaign make but ignoring and not mentioning any of Mitt Romney’s. He’s perfect now that the GOP primaries are over and he’s the nominee.
Obama isn’t perfect. He’s far from that. But Romney is soulless. He’ll be a puppet just like Bush was and has Dick Cheney on his team now. Dick fucking Chaney!
I’m so stressed out and depressed about all this that I’ve started binging again. I don’t purge though but somehow the binging numbs the despair about what’s happening to this country. We’ve become venal, petty, hateful and vicious people with no room for compassion for anyone. I try not to feel the red hot rage.
So John sweetie. It’s not just you. I feel in my heart that Obama will win but I’m also aware that it’s wishful thinking that will devastate me if it doesn’t happen.
Linnaeus
You understand, John, that the empire is crumbling but there’s no positive vision (yet) to replace it. You feel out of touch because you can see what’s going on but too many of your fellow citizens can’t or won’t.
Carolinus
Did anyone catch Peggy Noonan’s bizarre WSJ Romney “interview”?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304707604577424642695167400.html?mod=hp_opinion
There’s no video or raw Q & A transcript, instead you have Noonan paraphrasing Romney interspersed with brief Romney quotes and even those are trimmed down with ellipses. It makes it impossible to tell which thoughts and words are Noonan’s and which are paraphrased, rewritten Romney. Heh — and they filed it under their Opinion section :P.
I’d love to see the agreement the Romney team signed with Noonan and the WSJ that essentially allowed her to rewrite, mostly in her own words, and edit apart, his interview. I’m guessing they had final approval, though I guess they could trust a former GOP speechwriter to do what she could to make him sound less awkward, robotic and privileged.
amk
@Hill Dweller: You betcha. Also. Too
FlipYrWhig
@marina: Saying that you’re for Romney because he stands up for what he believes is like being for George W. Bush because he’s so articulate. No one has ever thought that thought.
RadioOne
I think trying to tie in understanding US politics with understanding current pop culture is a really cumbersome point to make.
Yutsano
@Carolinus:
Holy. Fucking. Shit. He’s definitely a total sociopath. The misery of other Americans brings him joy. That’s it: this man needs to be ground into dust.
Linnaeus
@Yutsano:
The GOP is a neofeudalist party. Romney exemplifies that better than most: the tribulations of the peasantry is simply entertainment to him.
Hill Dweller
@karen: Yeah, the media is in the tank for Willard. Even the liberal NYT was fawning over Rove’s completely false ad.
Willard’s trip to the school in Philly was a disaster. The kids wanted nothing to do with him, and he got an earful from the teachers during the round-table his campaign set up. But I’ve heard little about it in the media.
The prophet Nostradumbass
Speaking of “Wha?” when it comes to culture stuff, a couple of friends of mine are coming up here this weekend for an anime thing in San Jose, Fanimecon. They got me a press pass to go to it with them. There is anime I like, but the conventions are really, well, weird. The “cosplay” is kind of out there, though probably not as out there as the “furry” convention ABL had the experience of sharing a hotel with a couple of years ago.
ETA: iPad keyboard, how does it work?
Anthony
@Hill Dweller: Philly’s NPR affiliate made it pretty clear that it wasn’t a warm reception but I don’t know if that story was put out nationally.
Mnemosyne
@hitchhiker:
This. A whole lot of people HATED Bill Clinton in 1996, but Bob Dole was never able to get any traction because, well, he was Bob Dole and people didn’t care.
Republicans thrive on negativity but they don’t seem to realize that their successful politicians are able to project a positive surface. Reagan, obviously, was the most successful at that, but W was pretty good at it, too. Romney … not so much.
ruemara
I’m sorry, but all you people whinging about Obama losing are having some sort of depression party. I don’t see it. Not even slightly. The main issues are House and Senate races, the key is turnout. Post after that urge to slash your wrists dies down.
Hill Dweller
@Anthony: I wish they would focus more on Willard’s ineptitude on the campaign trail.
During the round-table with the teachers in Philly, Willard told them class size didn’t matter. I thought they were going to physically attack him. One of the male teachers, who was clearly exasperated, said he had been teaching for 13 years, and had never met anyone that thought bigger classes were beneficial.
Romney is controlled just as much as Bush was during his campaigns. His handlers only allow friendly interviews, but he still manages to make a fool of himself. He repeatedly says stupid shit when talking to regular people, but those type of conversations are few and far between now.
I know Romney is supposed to be competent, but I’ve seen no evidence to date.
RadioOne
@ruemara: I don’t know about depression or slashed wrists here, but I think most of us think the Obama campaign is trying hard to see if they can take Romney off the table early this election, in order to focus on downticket Senate and House races. Sort of what Clinton did to Dole in ’96.
Redshift
@Hill Dweller:
Do try to keep in mind that it’s only May. While the media may have declared that the general election has started, it’ll still be pretty much nothing but fluff until after the conventions.
ruemara
@RadioOne: Well… I think you most certainly are thinking that. I think a fair portion are weaving a fear cloak together on the internets. It beats working, but it sure gives your will to live a workout.
Elizabelle
Why I will never quit you, Mr. Cole.
Hey, we’re f*cking old right with you. Got the Pauline Kael reference (and it’s perfect) right away.
Now to read the rest of this thread …
Burnspbesq
@rob in dc:
Nonsense. This is the election in which the Electoral College rescues the country. The popular vote will be close, but Obama will carry all the big states except Texas and finish somewhere north of 320 electoral votes.
Elizabelle
A few thoughts on thread comments, and then to bed:
@DW:
This argument has legs. A lot of potential Obama voters see the disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street.
two: yes, Karl Rove’s Crossroads ads are in heavy rotation.
They’re designed to disinform, hold down voter turnout, and demoralize Democrats.
Don’t let them.
three: the mainstream media is a huge problem. Yes, most are in the tank and loyal to their corporate owners.
But tonight’s NBC News covered Romney’s Philadelphia appearance pretty well (to this not paying that much attention viewer). Romney’s “there’s no correlation between class size and achievement” argument is laughable. On either NBC or NPR, it was clear Romney was comparing US students to Singapore. Again, laughable.
Most people are parents first and political animals second.
Burns: interesting about the Electoral College. I think you might be right, but attempted voter suppression and voter misinformation — more blatant than ever — concerns me.
Balloon Juicers: Don’t be demoralized.
Be the spine.
Origuy
@Burnspbesq: Exactly. The math is simple. It takes 270 EVs to win. In 2008, Obama got 365 to McCain’s 173. The 2010 census changed the distribution. If Obama gets every state he got in 2008, and the one vote from Nebraska, he would get 359. Let’s assume that’s best case. His four weakest states in 2008 were IN, NC, OH, and FL. If he loses those, and the Nebraska vote, he still has 303 electoral votes. I don’t think he’ll lose all of those; probably Indiana and maybe North Carolina. Even so, he has to lose two more big states to lose the election. Romney has to hold all of the McCain states and get a bunch more.
Elizabelle
Just checked the NYTimes before bed. From Villager Peter Baker: Obama Takes Early Leap Into Campaign Fray (also called Obama Leaps Into Direct Attacks).
More of that, please.
And it’s working, apparently:
Cue the GWBush White House political director …
Keep ’em on the ropes.
ChrisB
There are two things that worry me:
1. I don’t think most people who follow politics realize what little information “low information” voters actually have. I talk to young construction workers – guys in their 20’s who need to work 50+ hours per week because they need the overtime – and they have no clue about the policy differences between Democrats and Republicans. It’s scary and sad at the same time.
2. Republicans’ unabashed willingness to lie and cheat in any way imaginable to beat Obama.
At least we can expect this to be balanced out by how unpopular Romney should prove to be.
Elizabelle
NYTimes magazine story, to run Memorial Day weekend.
How Did Wisconsin Become the Most Politically Divisive Place in America?
Elizabelle
Look at the differences in these two WaPost headlines, for same story.
First story on website, top left:
Obama fares worse among struggling whites
When you pull the story up, and maybe it’s the dead tree version headline:
Romney holds key advantages among financially struggling white voters
Story isn’t that dire.
Per WaPost-ABC TV poll, Obama lags Romney, 58-32%, among white voters without a college degree.
Mind you, in 2008 Obama won the presidency, while losing white voters without a college degree, 58-40%. Which the Post reports is similar to Kerry and Al Gore results.
And:
Who would “advance the interests of the middle class more generally”? Obama, 50-44%.
WaPost mentions”vast racial divide” — “struggling” whites prefer Romney by 20 points but
Whites and nonwhites … agree Romney would do more than Obama to advocate for the rich, and “by a 23-point margin”, they think Romney would do more to “advance the interests of Wall Street.”
OK, Romney’s got the less educated, struggling whites. Who didn’t vote for Obama in 2008, and didn’t support Kerry or Al Gore either.
Rhoda
I’m much more worried over the recall in WI. I have no clue what is happening, but what polls I’ve seen show Walker taking this and the fact the blame game started on who lost this thing is not encouraging.
kdaug
Don’t sweat it, Cole – “Get Off My Lawn”itude takes place in stages.
You just won’t remember them.
Older_Wiser
Don’t feel bad. I live in one of the most conservative counties in NC, where they think if you’ve ever taken any liberal arts courses you’re an elitist. Or like classical music or watching foreign films with sub-titles. Or don’t own a gun. Or don’t go to church twice a week. Or eat things that don’t come from Domino’s or Burger King.
A lot of people like us, actually, feel very isolated My conclusion is that OK, I have a stronger mind and that’s where I fight. Of course, that just confirms that I am, indeed, an elitist who doesn’t resort to physical blows or robbing a convenience store or stealing some retiree’s pain medications to get high. Of course, as an old person, I don’t even take what the pill-heads need, either, so I think that makes me an elitist, too. Food shopping is more of an obstacle course, dodging all the fat and sugar. Even the local farmer’s market has nothing organically grown. I live in an apt, so my futile efforts at gardening are in large pots on the balcony.
The only thing that is the great equalizer, in their minds, is that I’m in worse financial straits than a lot of them are (my 15 yr old car is proof). Their greatest goals in life are bigger SUVs or trucks, a big house on the lake, and enough money for tuition to send their kids to private “christian” schools. So, since I don’t share those values, either, that makes me even more of an elitist. Needless to say, I sigh a lot.
Triassic Sands
cckids
@Jager:
Oh, yeah. We have a 17-year old daughter, and if by some malign miracle Romney wins, we are looking hard at her going to college in another country. Not sure how we’d swing it, financially, but damn, I’d kind of like both my college-age kids to be away from a Romney-led America.
I’m most afraid of what would happen to my oldest, who is multiply handicapped & relies on Medicaid. The cutbacks that are sure to come under another Repub administration will most likely kill him. The degradation of services during the Bush years was appalling.
Schlemizel
@TS:
THERES THE ONE THAT SCARES ME!
The press is convincing people Mitt doesn’t mean what he is saying.
Thats why Boy Blunder was able to keep it close enough in ’00 for daddys friends to give him the job. I even remember one WashingtonWhore Post story about how Little Georgie couldn’t be a racist because he had black friends and had hired black people. So ignore how he governed TX and who he had surrounded himself with, hes really a good guy.
Schlemizel
@Origuy:
So the media narrative in ’09 will be Obama is weakened and powerless. Which will give cover for the gutless Dimocrats in Congress to prop up the wingnut talking points and we have 4 more years of GOP led wondering the wilderness toward hell.
That almost makes we want a Rmoney win. At least then I wouldn’t have to listen to that bullshit, and money would come screaming out of Washington to get the economy roaring again. We’d get to hell faster and it would be a smoother ride.
We better figure out a way for President Obama to win some of those states you have him losing, at least staying the same in the Senate and maybe picking off a few of the ’10 wingnuts.
cat48
@Origuy:
Moody’s Analytics is projecting 303 Electoral Votes & a win for Obama. Their analysis is done by economic conditions in the swing states. The economy is improving in many of the states he needs. They called 2008 correctly so time will tell.
I can’t decide with FL. Although he technically should lose that state, he has 20x the Infrastructure on the ground than the GOP.
bob h
I’m a lot more optimistic, as Romney demonstrates he is a deeply uninspiring, unimaginative campaigner. I think it will be a turkey shoot in the end.
bob h
@cat48:
Low natural gas prices are fuelling the industrial economies in some of these states. Obama is the main beneficiary of “drill, baby, drill”.
I don’t see how you take Florida if you have written off Hispanic voters. They’re not all meathead Cubans there.
Omnes Omnibus
If one more person quotes national opinion polls and uses them to support some doom-and-gloom, sky-is-falling narrative or speculation, I will start neck punching people. For fuck’s sake, The GOP is going to kick ass in the South. The thing is, if Romney gets 100% of Alabama’s popular vote, he gets the same number of Electoral College votes as he would if he got 50.00001%. It is the state by state polls that will matter. The rest is just noise. Now fucking stop it.
Enlightened Liberal
Obama is a huge favorite to win. I am pessimistic that Democrats will take back the House and the Senate will be close.
The messaging and demagoguery that the right wing put out has so permeated every pore of society. Last night I was talking to some single, female, 30’s-ish friends that were for birth control, but didn’t think that the government should have to pay for them like Obama wants.
I think that the government should pay for birth control for poor women, but of course that is NOT Obama’s position, which I explained. I also explained that in our state, birth control coverage in insurance plans is mandated and has been for years. They all looked at me like I was making this up.
The way we have lost our standard of living in this generation has been by ignorance- social safety nets and laws that people assume are going to protect them are gone or severely eroded. Until the Great Recession, not enough people had been affected directly by this loss of social benefit, maybe now they have. Or maybe not.
Baron Elmo
Remember the 2008 election? The media was giving McCain every break imaginable up to the two-man race getting underway, but they soured on him fast… and Romney never had the cozy relationship with the press that McCain did. Mitt’ll have a much harder time getting away with gaffes after the convention. Bet on it.
Also, Mitt has to take Florida AND Ohio to win, and I don’t see him pulling that off.
Also, too, he’s gonna have to pick a religious right loony as a running mate or the Moral Majority types will bust a cap in his ass. A genuine moderate Republican (assuming he can find one) as his Veep would scare me more than anything, but there’s no way he’ll ever have the stones for a move like that.
asiangrrlMN
I feel your pain, Cole. I’m a 41 year old, bi, agnostic, Asian female who doesn’t watch any TV show now that the one I did watch was cancelled. Unmarried, gloriously child-free, and uninterested in much of what makes America America, I oftentimes feel as if I’m spitting in the wind. No words of encouragement (not that you would expect any from me), just empathy.
NotMax
Just for fun, look at Romney’s ‘home’ states (that is, states where he has/had a house or a history of residence) in terms of who is going to take the electoral votes in each come November:
California? Not a chance.
Massachusetts? Ditto.
Michigan? Extremely unlikely.
Colorado? Unlikely.
New Hampshire? Toss-up.
PLH in NYC
@RossInDetroit: Will Do!
amk
@Omnes Omnibus: Hear, hear.
master c
From the north Texas suburbs-Hello! We need each others support, that’s why Im here. To me the worst part is how many people DO NOT VOTE.. esp 30 somethings who should know better. The both sides do it meme has really permeated, people give up.
delk
The middle s of s/s/s is Sufjan Stevens and his albulm Come on Feel the Illinoise is beautiful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EzeW5KoPUI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otx49Ko3fxw
the Conster
Jeebus Cole and all the nervous Nellies – Obama’s got this. Still need to donate, volunteer and pump his tires to everyone you know, but don’t ever bet against the half black skinny guy with the big ears and funny name.
sherparick
Start with tribalims and a sour economy, and Snidely Whiplash would get 45% of the votes if he ran as a Republican.
1. Going back to the Revolution, at least 25% of the country is certifiably nuts (and the nuts are concentrated among my clan, the Scotch-Irish culture that starts in PA, runs through WVa, Western Maryland, VA, NC, SC, Ken., Tenn, and then spreads through the deep south and southwest). They are nuts on race, nuts on guns, and nuts on economics. From the 1930 to the 1980s they were usually a fringe in one or both major parties, but then came the ’90s and they all moved into the Republican Party and took it over.
2. The Democrats, in particular the DLA Democrats and Bill Clinton, betrayed the and kneecapped the Union movement in 1993 with NAFTA (at a minimum, the deal should have been “Business you want NAFTA and WTO, then Labor gets the repeal of Taft-Hartley and card check”) and failure to reverse the anti-union policies of Reagan-Bush I years. This set the white working class adrift from the one entitiy that could focus them on their economic interests as opposed to their tribal prejuidices. And since the early 90s,, the leaders of the Conservative Movement and preachers of White Evangelical Fundamentalism have been reinforcing the righteousness of those prejudices, and blame shifting economic decline to the “Others” who are the Hippies, the Blacks, the Browns, the Muslims, and “furners” in general.
3. The amazing thing is most people do have the sense that but for Obama things would have been worse and that he has created conditions for healing. The Firebaggers are right in that through much of his first term Obama remained in enthralled to the Rubinite/Cory Booker wing of the party and its Neliberalism (I was enthralled once upon a time to), but he appears to have disenthralled himself over the last year and half.
4. Between Europe and the slowdown in China, India, Brazil, etc., Obama’s fate is somewhat out his hands. If Europe can bounce along past November, the economy may continue to improve. But next year, between Europe and the Teabaggers in Congress, it is going to be a bumpy ride.
LAC
Get over yourself. You want to whine about things, fine. But that is not what I see out there. I believe in Obama and his ability to win this election. The whiny left and the crazy right might be like a drunk Kayne West taking the the mic away from Taylor Swift, but in the end, there will be a second term.
AnnaN
I would recommend Hopscotch. It ages rather well.
AnnaN
I would recommend Hopscotch. It ages rather well.
Rob in CT
I feel this way a lot.
No, I don’t think Obama’s going to lose (I am worried about the Senate, though). It’s not that.
I know how the electoral college works. That’s all fine.
No, what boggles my mind is that 45-50% of the voters in this country will go out and vote for the GOP in November. I think that’s what Cole was on about. It’s just flabbergasting, and depressing.
Elizabelle
@Rob in CT:
May we all be pleasantly surprised.
schrodinger's cat
We don’t live in in 49/51 country, Obama’s biggest problem is the media, it is relentlessly negative about him. The media is intimidated by the Republicans, whereas Democrats don’t seem to have any leverage, that needs to change.
Clime Acts
@rob in dc:
This.
Clime Acts
@SiubhanDuinne:
Someone here has to speak the truth.
The Republic of Stupidity
Careful John… that’s the kind of tag – the male Pauline Kael – that could stick to you for a long, long time… do your enemies really need any more ammunition?
I was recently reading a book on financial bubbles by Galbraith and he happened to mention that during colonial times, there was actually an individual granted the title the ‘Duc ‘d Arkansas’… the Duke of Arkansas… now THAT’S a sobriquet to die for…
MikeInSewickley
Mr. Cole,
You are not alone, believe me. I listen to the chatter when I’m getting my hair cut and I have no idea what planet I’m on.
The Bachelor, The Bachlorette – “Isn’t marriage holy? We must keep the gays from marrying as they will defile the institution. Oh, did you see what happened on the Real Housewives of Hades??”
Idol, Voice, Duet – please shoot me.
Survivor, Big Brother, etc. – “Yes, my children. The lesson to be learned is to always win and make sure everyone else fucking loses.”
So why do I know the name of these things if I hate them? Because even when channel surfing or watching local news (as I would often like to know if the people living next to me are serial killers), the ads for these shows are rammed up your butt.
The country’s owners have decided they have had enough of this “democracy” thing. Citizen’s United was their hall pass to get rid of unions and any regulations they don’t like. Beating the “middle” class into total submission and stealing their votes is just icing on the cake. Obama is probably not going to get re-elected but I will continue to work to make it happen. But since the people don’t really seem to notice that the Congress is completely broken, Obama getting back in won’t really change anything.
The 19th Century railroad baron Jay Gould said it best:
“I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.”
And we are glad to help them as they keep us divided with religion, money, “big government is bad”…
OK, enough, I’m going to find my cats right now and play with them to lower by blood pressure.
gluon1
@Anne Laurie: You guys are, seriously, such a wonderful family. The cool, older sister/cousin/aunt providing the reassuring words of wisdom to her brother/cousin/nephew is how it ought to be.
Ruckus
@Anne Laurie:
Very nice response to a middle aged male dysphoria.
Especially in our Alice in Wonderland political arena, where up is down, down is up, left is right, right is insane…
DFH no.6
@Baron Elmo:
I think this is going to happen, too, and it gets at an important point, even though I believe VP picks seldom have much effect on who wins or loses a presidential election.
This is the exact reason McCain ended up with the Snowbilly Grifter, instead of Lieberman like he wanted.
He was told to either pick the brainless goon in the “fuck me pumps” or he could forget about the religious right doing all the ground pounding for him.
Rmoney will be in the same situation: he’ll be forced to pick some religious right loony, as you say, and it will have a similar effect as in ‘08, I think (i.e., gin up the religious nutter base for a bit after the convention for a presidential candidate they are at best only lukewarm about, but in the end have at least a slightly negative effect overall on election results).
It won’t “ruin” Rmoney’s campaign (any more than Palin “ruined” McCain’s) but it won’t help, either, except in the Bible Belt (where he’ll win the electoral votes anyway) and will instead most likely hurt him (at least a little) in the swing states.
zizi2
The reason the corporate media is propping up Romney is because they need his superpac cash. If his chances are projected to be dim, that cash cow will disappear. Notice how Rove keeps announcing huge projected $$$ tallies but the actual monthly haul falls short, but somehow they media never catches on to the smoke and mirrors.
This is how Romney has bought the media and bought silent complicity as if to say: “You want my ad dollars you better keep me in ht game”
In a way, candidate Obama’s ability to raise tons of $$$ in 2008 also affected his media coverage then. it gave him a fighting chance to taken seriously. But bottom line it was the ad dollars and McCain in the end could not match it and thus dissolved his own competitive narrative.
This is why I strongly believe Scalia was called into some meeting and shown the prospects for his ideological side if he didn’t do anything to stop the runaway Obama coalition & active small donor train. And we see how Citizen’s United masks Romney’s actual campaign fundraising underperformance. This latest $40 million haul is smoke and mirrors that got headlines, while he actually only raised $11.5 million.
Romney’s entire cynical calculation is that he would ride on “racial blowback” sentiment plus economic uncertainty plus highly fragmented information flow to different segments of the population, plus the undeserved general perception of white male competence, and bingo he gets the presidency.
Ironically he’s also counting on that latter “advantage” to shield him no matter what successes President Obama achieves. why he too could have achieved the same or better. He KNOWS that minorities (and women) must work 2x as hard to get 1/2 the credit (if they get credit at all) and he’s soulless enough to exploit that for his own benefit.
He wants to BE President and by golly he’s gonna claw his way, buy, cheat, & do every damn thing to get it, scruples, ethics be damned. It’s a dog eat dog world and he’s gonna do the eating. Winning is everything! And American’s luv that.
Fortunately for us, Pres. Obama is under no illusions what Romney is up to and has prepared the best way he knows how to beat him. It’ll be a nasty election an we all better have the Pepto-bismal handy while we fight in the trenches.
Keith G
Once the corporate message machine gears up to full steam and operates 24/7 with many hundreds of millions of dollars, obama’s numbers will be driven down to dangerous levels among many categories of voters.
This will be painfully close with no guarantees
IrishGirl
John, you think you feel out of touch with the country around you? Try being a woman working In a male dominated profession and a single mother AND living in AZ. And I don’t mean to verbally smack you but to remind you that you are not, by any means, alone.
In fact, if it were not for your gardening (I kills plants for some reason), I would think that we are fraternal twins separated at birth. ;).