President Obama has filed a lawsuit to maintain early voting privileges for Ohio voters. Mitt Romney is lying about it, arguing that Obama filed a lawsuit in which the president claims that it’s unconstitutional for Ohio to allow military service members to vote early.
If it sounds stupid to you, that’s because it is.
As part of Republicans’ ongoing effort to suppress the Democratic vote this year, Republicans in Ohio revoked early voting privileges for everyone living in Ohio except for military service men and women. President Obama filed a lawsuit to block that law, not because he wants to revoke early voting privileges for military folks, but because he wants to restore early voting privileges to everyone living in Ohio.
Either because he is extremely stupid or, as is more likely, he is a dirty stinking liar, Mitt Romney took to Facebook today and claimed that President Obama is trying to curtail the voting rights for military voters.
Here’s what Romney posted:
President Obama’s lawsuit claiming it is unconstitutional for Ohio to allow servicemen and women extended early voting privileges during the state’s early voting period is an outrage. The brave men and women of our military make tremendous sacrifices to protect and defend our freedoms, and we should do everything we can to protect their fundamental right to vote. I stand with the fifteen military groups that are defending the rights of military voters, and if I’m entrusted to be the commander-in-chief, I’ll work to protect the voting rights of our military, not undermine them.
Here’s what his idiot campaign manager, Eric Fehrnstrom tweeted: “Ohio was right to extend early voting days to military voters & families. Obama is wrong to file lawsuit to stop it.”
[full post at ABLC]
Baud
The first two words in your title imply the third.
Randiego
It’s time for the Obama team to explicitly call the liars liars.
ABL
@Baud: Touché.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
I must admit that the Rmoney campaign has elevated the art of spinning news into lies to a level I had never believed possible.
gnomedad
You got it right the first time. Liars, not idiots, not in this case.
Nethead Jay
I believe I know where they got this one from. I’ve an acquaintance on Facebook from a board I used to hang out on who pretty much lives in the right-wing-o-sphere. I haven’t muted her because her postings work well as an early-warning system about what’s bubbling over on the nutty side. This one showed op yesterday from guess where: Breitbart.com! So I guess that’s where Rmoney’s campaign are getting their ideas from these days…
WereBear
@Nethead Jay: Sadly, my brother was on Facebook with the same crap; I posted Kay’s explanation and have avoided that entry since… he does well financially, hangs with people who are even more so.
Romney meat wannabees, when it gets right down to it. They are below the sweet tax cut cutoff; but classically, do not think so!
El Cid
Is it time yet for Jon Stewart to start yelling about how this makes both sides be terribly hypocritical?
dmsilev
How stupid a lie is this? So stupid that even Ed Morissey has figured out that it is a lie. Granted, it took him a little while, but he did get there.
Shawn in ShowMe
Mittbot continues to run bizarre campaign focused on turning right-wingers against the President. Dude, you could have saved your money and spent that on, you know, picking up new voters.
Next in Mittbot subroutine: Turning Wile E. Coyote against The Roadrunner.
dmsilev
@Shawn in ShowMe: It’s not bizarre, but instead is a tell that there’s a crippling weakness to Romney’s campaign: His “base” doesn’t trust him. Normally, as you say, a candidate tacks at least rhetorically towards the center after winning the nomination. Romney apparently believes that he can’t do that without running the risk of losing an appreciable chunk of his supporters.
So, he’s caught in a trap of his own making.
FlipYrWhig
At one point I was starting to pity Mitt Romney. Now I’m starting to hate that fuckface worse than any Republican of recent vintage.
Smiling Mortician
@dmsilev:
True that, but also . . .
@Shawn in ShowMe:
I don’t think he can, actually. He’s got nothing — nothing — to offer them.
Todd
I’m half tempted to want Romney to win, just so The Troops get the chickenhawk war that they seem to want. The chickenhawks will recklessly spend the troops, underfund their human needs during and after, and allow their contractor pals to profiteer vast fortunes.
Dogs and soldiers stay off the grass.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
It is indeed a weapons grade stupid lie when Ed Morrissey can see it’s not true, and feels compelled to admit as much.
Nethead Jay
@WereBear: Yeah, it’s sad. I posted Kay’s rebuttal too, deafening silence since. We used to be able to discuss things somewhat, but these days about the only thing we have in common is being Saints fans. Her wingerism doesn’t come from from being wealthy though, it’s more to do with being a huge gun fanatic plus having a problem with “welfare leeches”. You can probably guess what that’s code for.
Cacti
At times I almost feel sorry for Romney for being such a glass-jawed pansy of a candidate.
Then he comes out with some outrageous lie and reminds me why I can’t stand his ass.
Mark S.
@Todd:
We already got that. It was 2001-2009.
I’m not sure anyone in the Romney campaign understands how the Electoral College works. That’s why Nate Silver is giving Obama a 71% chance of winning.
Mark S.
Huh, I’ve never come close to feeling sorry for Mitt. I haven’t seen or read anything about him that makes him likeable or even human. He’s just a rich spoiled asshole.
gnomedad
@Nethead Jay:
I have a winger sibling, too. It’s useless to rebut this stuff, because he “knows” Obama hates the military and is generally evil, so this sort of thing is just self-evidently true.
JPL
Why not just post when Romney doesn’t lie?
Mr Stagger Lee
mmmmm women’s beach volleyball!! Brazil!!! Oh I’m sorry, anyway, I wonder how long before Mittens says %^$^ it and bring in Karl Rove fulltime? I wish I could have the scotch and Maalox concession at the RNC convention
Elisabeth
Which Mormon commandments allows perpetual lying?
Shawn in ShowMe
@JPL:
Shucks, you don’t need a blog for that. You could fit all the occurrences of that between now and Nov 4 on a Post-it note.
FlipYrWhig
@Mark S.: Well, there’s something pitiful in the way he craves approval and validation, and you can’t be pitiful without soliciting pity. But, you know, fuck him.
I used to think the whole George W. Bush presidency was the result of a Trading Places-style bet between Poppy and Barbara Bush to test whether their idiot son might be able to become president, and that Poppy only went along with it because he knew if it all went to hell people would start to look back fondly on his administration by comparison. But at the rate the Romney campaign is going, the Dubya regime is going to look like paragons of decency and virtue by, like, Tuesday.
raven
@Todd: Fayettenam!
Cacti
@Elisabeth:
“Lying for the Lord” is a well-established practice among the Mormon aristocracy. And Mitt has a White Horse Prophecy to fulfill.
FlipYrWhig
@Elisabeth: I think Joseph Smith pretty much put that in motion when he said an angel led him to find brass plates in a box, which he then had to translate with a stone inside a hat.
JPL
Man without balls…
Mitt mentioned that he would not talk about Chick Fil A or Michelle Bachmann’s attack on Huma Abedin because it is not part of his campaign. Since the news won’t highlight his lies why not write about his lack of courage.
Sorry ABL I love you but most of what you write, I’ve already read at Think Progress.
SiubhanDuinne
@Elisabeth:
All of them, Katie.
SiubhanDuinne
@JPL:
What, and totally kill off Balloon Juice?
Rekster
@WereBear: Here’s a comment from Uncle Dave over at Juanitajean.com that sums this up pretty well:
scav
I can’t decide if it’s sheer innate knowledge of his no-information base that prompts such ramshackle lies emerging from his campaign or his innate personal contempt for the tragically necessary hoi polloi that is bleeding through.
jayboat
@raven:
Have you spent time in central North Carolina? THAT term is something only people from that area would use.
(I grew up there.)
Anya
I wouldn’t be surprised if Romney campaign’s next (Look! Squirrel!) strategy involves Soros/black helicopters/UN/Rev Wright and the likes.
Brachiator
@FlipYrWhig:
Smith was just trying to top an earlier whopper. The one about the guy wandering in the desert, finding a deity stuck in flaming shrubbery, and the mumbo jumbo about scrawling 10 laws on a couple of rocks.
BTW, there are news stories about Clint Eastwood endorsing Mittens at some fund raiser. Look for a mediagasm over this. Apparently, Eastwood thinks that Romney is a handsome man who will guarantee a fair tax system.
Horrendo Slapp (formerly Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)
God damn, I hate Mitt Romney. There are no words for my hatred of this dickwad.
Oh, and since the trolls are falling down on the job, and we haven’t seen any of this lately, I guess it’s up to me to fill in:
ABL, you’re the real racist for bringing this up! And for being blatantly and publicly black. Since when have white guys had any breaks in this country? We can’t even call you people–well, you know what I mean. Fascists.
magurakurin
@Mark S.:
Maybe Mark Penn is running his campaign.
raven
@jayboat: US Army 66-69. Word got around. Course I fish Hatteras and go up the Asheville from time-to-time!
JPL
@Brachiator: Is it possible that Joseph Smith is Palin’s role model. Grifters gotta grift.
Clint is a repub.
Anoniminous
@FlipYrWhig:
The Angel Moroni, no less.
jwb
@FlipYrWhig: There is an argument to be made that this is a test of the Citizen United world. If the overlords can get an awful candidate like the Mittwit elected with nothing but a shitload of money, they know their money will be more or less sufficient to get anyone they want elected.
geg6
This is OT in a big way, but since we have no open threads, I gotta go with it here. First, I’m so proud of Pitt and the Steelers tonight, I could just burst. Four out of six Pro Football Hall of Famers inducted today either played college ball at Pitt or were Steelers. A great induction ceremony for people like me. Love them all.
Second, what a fucking day! John and I took our Otis to our cabin in Titusville for the first tome today. Now, understand, he’s a house dog through and through and a rescue with security issues. We never have to use a leash or tie him because he never strays more than 20 or 30 feet from one of us, no matter what. He’s skittish about strange people and strange places, but like all goldens, has a sweet temperament and is very loyal. He was very nervous about being on a strange place, but with some encouragement and time, he started to explore the property. John left me outside while he was inside doing some work (a year and a half ago, we almost lost it completely to ice buildup and flooding, long story) while I stayed outside to watch Otis. He was finally getting enough courage to range a bit but easily in my sight. I was watching him and all of a sudden he disappeared! I called and he didn’t come. That never happens as I’m his favorite human. I ran down to where I saw him last and there he was, barely holding his head above the water in the Oil Creek, on which our cabin sits on the banks. Otis had walked right off the bluff overlooking the creek, never realizing it was there! I screamed and screamed for John, but he was running the shop vac and couldn’t hear. I was afraid to leave Otis as he was in a panic (yes I know goldens should know how to swim, but he’s 7 and has never been in water) but I couldn’t get down the bluff to him and was freaking out because Otis was barely keeping his head up and I was afraid he’d drown. The bluff was about 10 feet high and I am not familiar enough with the creek to feel okay about jumping in without someone there to make sure I didn’t go into a hole or caught in a bad current. Finally, I ran back to the cabin and tore my vocal cords screaming at John to come and then ran back to where Otis was frantically trying to get his front paws into the banks of the bluff to get out. John ran down and jumped into the creek, I ran and got a rope and we got Otis the fifty feet or so to the place where it was possible for him to climb out with a boost from John. We al collapsed in a muddy heap.
Otis is my baby. I can’t tell you how frightened both John and I were. John is my hero and Otis is now sleeping like a sweet baby, smelling like a rose after the bath he got when we got home. I have never been so happy to have the three of us together. I love my man so much! And I love my dog, who I will never let have a look in his eye again like I saw today.
Drinking heavily tonight. Two bottles of reisling should make me calm down enough to sleep
FlipYrWhig
@Anoniminous: It’s not very nice of me, but I liked the nickname I gave Mormonism in an earlier thread: Steampunk Scientology.
@jwb: Agreed. I think it’s been presumed since the dawn of TV that a presidential candidate has to at least seem _slightly_ likeable. Or, even if not likeable exactly, to have some sort of human-scale connection to the public. If Romney pulls it off while lacking that entirely, it’ll be a return to the 19th-century presidents being installed by machinations in smoke-filled rooms. And we’ll retrospectively see the rank pandering of the Dubya Bush crew as a step _up_.
FlipYrWhig
@geg6: Holeeee shee-IT that sounds like an ordeal and a half. So glad it worked out!
Bubblegum Tate
@jayboat:
I learned that term when I was in college in Greensboro. My friend grew up there and taught me the nicknames (Fayettenam, Fatalville…I preferred the former). He also took me there to go to his house for Thanksgiving. The driving tour of Fayettenam included lots of pawn shops, used car lots, and crime scenes.
Studly Pantload, the emotionally unavailable unicorn
@geg6 Way too much adventure for the three of you by a million miles, I’m sure. Here in the Pantload household, our pets are our bebbehs, as well, and we’d also move heaven and earth to keep them safe.
SO glad it turned out well.
raven
@geg6: Wow, glad it worked out. Years ago my Henry Doodle Bug, a shepherd collie, got stuck in a leaf covered cove in Lake Wappapello MO. It was early spring and the water was cold as shit but I knew I had to go get him because he was struggling mightily and I knew he run out of gas. I stripped down know I’d need dry clothes because the sun was setting quickly. I got deep enough to swim and plowed through the leaves on the top of the water. Just as I got to him he broke free and headed for the shore. I froze my ass off but we got back to the campground ok. I drank then so I did the same thing you did.
raven
@Bubblegum Tate: At all the bases they would tell us, it is the job of the people out there to separate you from your money. The base towns in Korea and Vietnam took it all to a new level. “Love you long time. . .”
jayboat
@Bubblegum Tate:
One of my high school buddy’s family owned most of those pawn shops. I hated being in that town and left as soon as I could. Awful during my high school years (67-69)- all the bars were decorated to look like Nam and had all Vietnamese waitresses.
jayboat
Also, too… Diary Of A Mad Black Woman is showing right now on BET.
Just sayin’. 8-]
Patricia Kayden
@Randiego: Exactly.
We already know that Romney is a liar and nothing but a liar. Obama needs to make that clear to the public — in ads, at speeches, through surrogates, through blogs, in the media, at campaign stops, etc.
Call out the Robot Liar. Play hard. Punch back.
raven
@jayboat: Bet there was some good shit available out back!
AxelFoley
@Mark S.:
This.
jayboat
@raven:
Heh. You know it. There was a group of GI’s at Bragg I knew that had a great thing going… they would get their friends over there to buy TV’s, cut the picture tubes open, pack em full and weld the glass back together for a nice, airtight container.
Good times.
raven
@jayboat: Speakers from the PX worked very well.
Villago Delenda Est
@jayboat:
I was never stationed at Bragg, but had friends who’d been there, and were there, and had heard “Fayettenam” before from them.
It’s rather an interesting construction, because in both Vietnam and Korea the civilian communities near to a US Army base were and are referred to as “the Ville”. From the French…I assume the term was introduced into Korea by Vietnam vets who were still serving.
You don’t hear the nearby civilian communities in Germany referred to as “the Ville”…at least I never did.
So, Fayetteville = Fayettenam. The ville of Fort Bragg.
Brachiator
@Villago Delenda Est:
Very interesting. Reminds me of how the word boondocks was brought to the US by military personnel who had served in the Philippines.
NCSteve
If Team Mitt ever figures out that he can’t win the general with nothing but the kind of people who eat this nonsense up because they can see into Obama’s secret heart and therefore “Freedum! Wolvereeeeenes!,” this thing could really turn in to a race.