Getting the band back together:
“The Bush economy is one of the worst on record… Given all that, you’d think Republicans would be running from anything or anyone who even vaguely reminded Americans of our 43rd president. In fact, the GOP seems eager to get the old gang back together.”
“Last week, when CNN asked House Speaker John Boehner whom Mitt Romney, the likely GOP presidential nominee, should choose as his vice presidential running mate, he named Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. Daniels and Portman served as budget directors in the Bush White House… Meanwhile, Romney’s campaign staff is thick with Bush administration veterans.”
Villago Delenda Est
Well, it’s all they know. Crash and burn the world’s largest economy.
As long as they personally profit from it, it’s all good.
Privatize the Profits! Socialize the Costs!
American Game of Thrones:
http://www.thefrisky.com/2012-04-29/a-game-of-thrones-american-political-primer/
(I didn’t recognize the face opposite the Fratboy, until my son told me it’s the retarded guy who carries the crippled Stark boy around!)
dmsilev
On a similar note, the people trotted out by the Romney campaign to go after Obama on the whole bin Laden thing have included Donald Rumsfeld and John Bolton.
bemused
OT. MSNBC, Alex Wagner Show, Jonathan Chait is on now.
The Other Chuck
@Privatize the Profits! Socialize the Costs!:
You ever wonder if the actor who plays Hodor practices his lines in front of the mirror?
“Hodor. Hodor. Hodor? Hodor! Hodor.”
Hill Dweller
@dmsilev: They’re dancing to Obama’s tune.
Romney, who has no foreign policy experience, has to cart out the Bushies(arguably the most incompetent foreign policy team in US history). It also reinforces the ‘Romney is Bush on steroids’ talking point, which Bill Clinton has started using at campaign events.
rlrr
@The Other Chuck:
The Bush/Hodor comparison is a bit unfair. Hodor seems to be a decent person…
Schlemizel
I guess this should be the final test – are the American voters this fucking stupid, this fucking dull-witted this fucking brain damaged that they can’t remember 4 years back?
If it turns out the answer is yes we might just as well give up because not only is there no point in trying to save the country it would actually be a bad idea to try.
ETA – sorry but at the moment I have lost hope & am sick to the teeth with the whole process. November can’t come soon enough and I hope the Mayans were right.
c u n d gulag
In all fairness, who else are they going to get to work for Mitt, but dumbass “Baby Doc” Bush retreads?
If a person has any brains, he/she won’t go anywhere near that Cyborg and his incompetent campaign!
And no one but a feckin’ idjit would want to attach their name to Mitt as Bush III – “The Apocolypse! And This Time We Really Mean It!!!”
DougJ, Head of Infidelity
@bemused:
Thanks, I watched it.
Kane
The regurgitation of the same failed policies that were soundly rejected in 2008 aren’t about to excite anyone in 2012. But rather than adapt their policies to a changing world, republicans are convinced that all they need is a new frontman and a new marketing slogan to make the sale.
feebog
@rirr:
With a bigger vocabulary as well…
Ruckus
It’s all they have. The only people who will, OK I almost said work, stand on the conservative side are assholes. And as much as we all can aspire to be assholes at times, conservatives are assholes, all day, all night, all the time, period. They are the only ones left, if there were ever any non asshole conservatives.
butler
Slightly OT, I don’t know if this has been discussed here on BJ yet, but Mitt Romney’s ID has apparently written a book about how the 1% really are the best people ever and everyone else should either die or be like them.
Some highlights: Credit Default swaps are totally great, it was actually a “run on the bank” that cause the 2008 collapse.
Warren Buffet is evil for giving money to charity.
You should pick a spouse in the same way you might pick out a new car.
Brachiator
Somehow, the phrase “thick as thieves” comes easily to mind.
@Schlemizel:
It looks like we are going to find out.
The choices are pretty clear, and it looks like Romney has no problem going back to the Bush days as far as foreign policy goes. What they are going to try to push is the notion that he and these guys will make America strong.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Schlemizel:
__
I don’t think American voters are as forgetfull as your pessimistic take presumes. They don’t remember details, but they do assimilate the broad strokes of what has happened into pop-culture. GWB will be remembered as a fuckup for a very long time and anything too closely associated with him will be toxic. The problem with American voters isn’t so much that they have no memory of even the recent past as that very few of them have a solid grasp on the role that Congress plays in setting policy and running our govt, because that story, even when boiled down to the Schoolhouse Rock level of idealization, is a lot more complicated that just The POTUS: Good, Bad or Ugly?. Too many moving parts to keep track of. So far too many of our voters just don’t bother with midterm elections. If the POTUS isn’t on the ballot, why bother? That is where we really get into trouble.
PeakVT
In fact, the GOP seems eager to get the old gang back together.
The Bush economy was good for the 1%. Why wouldn’t GOP politicians want to get the Bush team back together?
Culture of Truth
I was watching the Sunday talk shows and they are now trotting out the argument the Bush economy totally rocked!1! Sure, they’ve been saying Obama and Doddfrank caused the recession in 2007 for a while now, but this takes the step into unreality a bit further, and is probably better, since it has an element of truth. Thing were good for a while, until they went to hell. But it’s also risky, because it does suggest, (negatively for those that who think about cause & effect) that we should return to a setof policies in place just before everything crashed.
gene108
@dmsilev:
But Rumsfeld and Bolton captured Saddam and had him stand trial in an Iraqi court, before he was executed, so there was no Executive overreach under Bush & Co. (/wingnut-parrot).
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@butler:
__
Please tell me this doesn’t include strapping a dog-crate up on top to make sure the aerodynamics are up to snuff.
Hill Dweller
The Obama campaign just released at map of all Willard’s offshore accounts.
Culture of Truth
Were I Romney, I would probably try this: “yes I want to return to the Bush policies of low taxes, fiscal responsbility, health care choice, and low gas prices. But I also want to restrain Fannie Mae, which as well know, caused the recession in 2008. Obama’s policies made the Fannie Mae-caused recession worse, of course they did, since Obama & Fanniemae believe in big government, which as we all know alone caused the Obamafanniemae Recession. I want to return to booming, free economy instead of the Obama Recession. Won’t you help me?”
priscianusjr
““The Bush economy is one of the worst on record… ”
For most people. For them and their friends, it was a pretty good racket.
MikeJ
@Hill Dweller:
That they know about.
Chris
@Hill Dweller:
“arguably the most incompetent foreign policy team in U. S. history”
Amen!
@Schlemizel:
I think we took that test and failed in 2010, but YMMV
Hill Dweller
@Culture of Truth: The fact remains Bush had the worst economic record since Hoover. If Romney wants to re-litigate the Bush years, the Obama campaign is more than happy to do it.
The Obama campaign’s slogan is ‘Forward’. As in, don’t go back to the Bush policies. They knew Willard had no choice but to embrace Dubya’s policies and advisers, and shaped their messaging accordingly.
Linda Featheringill
@c u n d gulag:
My points exactly. But you beat me to it.
[Point for your side. :-)]
catclub
The one thing the Bush team did well was run political campaigns, so having Bush people on the campaign makes sense.
McCain people? not so much.
All the rest, running a government or managing an economy, or Bush foreign policy experts, other here have beaten me to the fact that they were not exemplary.
It is an interesting point though, of whom will Romney draw on for his administration if elected. GWB drew on old Nixon hacks in contrast to people from his father’s administration.
I guess the Liberty U grads will really see their stars rise.
Mike in NC
Nobody else would touch them with a 10-foot pole.
Tonybrown74
@catclub:
Honestly, I’m not so sure about this. What we did have at the time (at least in 2004), however, was a climate of fear that the administration kept hyping up. All the terror alert leves kept going up whenever Kerry went up in the pols. That kept 9/11 in people’s minds constantly. And then, people still believed that there was a link between Iraq and 9/11. All the fuck-ups weren’t really on display until after that election.
It’s easy to convince people that you are in the right when you believe that we were in danger of being attacked again.
Schlemizel
@Chris:
Stop trying to cheer me up!
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us? (formerly MarkJ)
@Kane: Oh, I think those Bushies all know they’re on a sinking ship. They’re just trying to extract as much lucre from the Romneybot as they can before the ship goes completely under in November.
It would be nice if journalists started asking Romney about all his Bush retreads though, and whether that means his administration would model Bush’s. Because that would remind voters how all that worked out. It’s weird that the last Republican president’s name (and he was a two termer!) never get’s mentioned anymore.
Tonal Crow
Nooooo, whatever you do don’t throw me in the
briar patchBush. He’ll be a formidable opponent!Tokyokie
@catclub: Not Liberty grads so much as those from BYU.
burritoboy
Not Liberty grads or just those from BYU, but if you’re a BYU grad and magic underpants aficionado with an MBA from a top-tier school, I think you’re going to be taken well care of. How that’s supposed to appeal to anyone else, I have no idea.
balconesfault
Kind of like the bad future robot from Terminator 2, eh?
You can blow them to smithereens, but they just all flow back together and create a new Terminator.
Coming soon, to destroy a recovery near you!
Omnes Omnibus
@feebog: Hodor.
Jay in Oregon
@Mike in NC:
I would. Repeatedly, and with great force.