U.S. Senator Roy Blunt called U.S. Representative Todd Akin’s recent statements “totally unacceptable” and issued the following joint statement together with former Missouri U.S. Senators John Ashcroft, Kit Bond, John Danforth, and Jim Talent calling for Akin to step aside:
“We do not believe it serves the national interest for Congressman Todd Akin to stay in this race. The issues at stake are too big, and this election is simply too important. The right decision is to step aside.”
Like the Teahadist/Bircher wing is going to listen to these guys. They think the problem with politics is that John Ashcroft and company are too liberal. There is no establishment GOP anymore. The power bases in the current GOP are billionaires for Israel, the tea party, and the religious nuts (who, by the way, have spoken: “This is another case of ‘gotcha politics’ against a conservative leader. Todd Akin has a long and distinguished record of defending women, children and families.”)
At some point, after enough Angles and Akins and other teahadist loons, the Republicans are going to realize the lunatics have taken over and aren’t going anywhere. Even James Joyner might notice one day that there is no rebuilding from the inside.
EriktheRed
I hope this turns out to be true sooner rather than later. Can’t help biting my nails again after seeing the latest Polling tracker on TPM. It currently has Rmoney over Obama by .1 in the popular vote.
arguingwithsignposts
Well, there is always hope.
Zifnab
All this hemming and hawing is really eating away at the GOP’s opportunity to spotlight Nobama and the badness of the Democratic Party. :-p God damn, there is not enough popcorn in the world for this fail parade.
Kathy in St. Louis
Are you kidding? Blunt is an any wing guy. Anyone who could put a dime in his pocket wing guy, so the tea party doesn’t hate him. Kit Bond and John Danforth are past their expiration date. John Danforth could never get elected in Missouri now. He’s too middle of the road. Jim Talent is just a huge nothing. He’s one of the guys who taught the fundies how to go out and get control of school boards and work their way up to political influence. Except for Danforth, they all stink, and he was a huge supporter of Clarence Thomas, so I only give him a partial pass.
shortstop
The only difference between Akin’s abortion policy and that of all the men listed here is…nothing.
Violet
The Missouri caller to Limbaugh’s show today, a woman, specifically said they had voted for Akin, they wanted him to stay in and they were sick of the GOP establishment telling them what to do. Limbaugh didn’t know how to respond.
DH
Danford gave us Clarence Thomas. Forgive me If I am less than impressed with his authority.
Hunter Gathers
You should really listen to what Joe Scarborough has to say about things like this, because he’s on the ‘liberal’ MSNBC. He’s also good for advice on how to look really, really guilty when an intern you’ve been fucking turns up dead in your office.
Mike E
Narcissism, paranoia, tiny inner voices. Yes, let’s continue to discuss women’s health and science generally!
Gotta hit the Costco, the popcorn ain’t gonna butter itself.
joes527
OT (yeah I know … this blog has gone all Akin all the time)
But Obama is sending Biden to Tampa next week.
It would be wrong to hope that he gathers a bunch of people to drive around the Republican Convention honking their horns.
eric
two things: (1) it appears that the GOP learned nothing from the special election in NY and the senate primaries in NV and DE, the crazies dont care what the establishment thinks and dont like being told what they have to do and (2) why would romney take a position AFTER the guy says he is staying so that it makes Mitt look like the weak leader that he really is? more fail with my popcorn
mechwarrior online
I’m not sure why we don’t want them to rebuild. You don’t want them voting Democratic. Pulling the “sane” Republicans into the Democratic party just leaves us with more and more well off “why can’t we just all get along, let the gays marry, and cut social security” nonsense that dominates the Democratic leadership and donor base.
Sure, we get all excited they come over because “abortion rights will be more secure” and ignore the fact that they turn around help give us more free trade agreements, no lowering the minimum wage, rolling back of worker rights, and neoliberal economic policies.
Fuck that.
Ash Can
Cry, douchebags, cry.
Spaghetti Lee
“We do not believe it serves the
nationalGOP interest for Congressman Todd Akin to stay in this race.Fixed!
SFAW
Perhaps, but why should they care? When nut jobs like Sharron Angle can nearly beat people like Reid, then why would they change anything? It’s not as if the TeaBaggers are saying anything radically different from the RNC platform. Add to that the increasing dumbing-down of ‘Murika, the vote-suppression efforts of the Rethug legislatures, and so forth. Throw in a pinch of Rethugs pretending they’re not Rethugs (see Brown, Scott and McDonnell, Bob) and it’s clear sailing.
The only problem the so-called “mainstream” Rethugs have with Akin et al. is that they spoke aloud of the
lovefascismpolicies which must not be named.Elizabelle
Ah, your link is from yet another castrati.
Mark Halperin.
BJ commenter “Teddy’s Person” had a great post from Salon; a former Missouri politician named Jeff Smith with 11 reasons Akin was not likely to drop out, threats from castrati or no.
Violet
If Akin holds on until election day, and wins, the Tea Party will own the GOP. If he leaves early or loses big, the Tea Party might lose some power.
BarbCat
Love watching principle evaporate under the burning light of pragmatism.
To quote Howard Fineman: “Remember this Akin tug of war. It’s what DC will be like if Mitt and the GOP take over power here.”
pragmatism
can we move OTB to “monitor and mock” status?
Carl Nyberg
Romney has called for Akin to resign the GOP nomination.
OK.
What if Akin complies with Romney’s request? The anti-abortion voters will question Romney’s commitment to their issue.
What if Akin refuses Romney? The anti-abortion voters will question Romney’s commitment to their issue. And everyone will see that even Todd Akin can ignore Romney with impunity.
I think Romney would have been better off to state his position clearly. And then Romney could have quipped, “I generally follow the advice of Ronald Reagan. Don’t speak ill of other Republicans. But I do reserve the right to disagree. Rape is never ‘legitimate’.”
And then added, “I’m not going to apologize for something someone else said. Todd Akin made the mess; he’s the one responsible for straightening it up.”
Chris
Quote of the day: my very wealthy, very Republican, Chris Christie adoring friend who’s still totally voting Romney in the fall, but is, you know, a woman, gchats me: “can you save me from my party? These people are crazy!”
Oh, that was good.
Carl Nyberg
Mitt Romney does seem to be a first-class bonehead at not realizing that when he speaks about something he’s giving the media license to cover it more.
There was one news cycle where there was nothing new to say about Romney’s tax returns and then Romney commented on his tax returns.
“Hello! McFly!?”
bk
Didn’t Ashcroft once lose an election to a dead guy?
Brachiator
What does this even mean?
The GOP blank has included a “No exceptions” no abortion plank for sometime. Romney’s VP pick is all for a personhood amendment to the Constitution.
The GOP has responded to the Democrats’ backing of gay marriage by asserting that even civil unions should not be available to gay people and that marriage is definitely off the table.
Republicans have looked at Tea Party insanity, and have decided that it is exactly what they have been looking for.
Oh yeah, and money is pouring in to the GOP by the bucketfull. They obviously think that they are doing something right.
Davis X. Machina
@EriktheRed:
Romney would be up by 8, if a.) Romney didn’t suck so bad, and b.) he wasn’t the nominee of the National Head Trauma Party.
Obama’s still black. He’s still a Democrat.
The economy’s still in the toilet, and the median voter seems incapable of remember why it’s in the toilet.
Oh, and he still hasn’t done x, for all possible values of x, like he promised!. So I’m staying home in November.
If I were the guy, I’d take Bo and go out for cigarettes.
Michael2
Just to point out again, as numerous others have, NOTE: they’re not saying he’s unfit to serve in Congress – e.g. nobody’s saying he should resign from the House or resign at least from the Science Committee.
All they are saying is: we have to win this election, period, and you’ve placed that in jeopardy. We’re not supposed to say those things out loud. You have to go – _from the race_!
Violet
@Brachiator: Well, yes, but Republicans speak of such things only in quiet rooms. Now these uncouth teabaggers are talking out loud. In public. What will the neighbors think?
Steve
Without taking anything away from the earthshattering dumbness of what Akin said, the fact is that a lot of politicians have said amazingly dumb and offensive things, and yet I can’t remember any other candidate being thrown under the bus this rapidly and this unanimously for something they said. Maybe what Akin said truly dwarfs all the other dumb statements out there, but still… wow.
Ben Franklin
This exchange between desperadoes is the gift that keeps re-gifting.
Normally, it’s not good to peak too soon on negative ads. It’s better to wait, during normal phases of political exchange, until October.
It’s different now. The Tea Party is too tipsy on their own brew to keep their snake zipped, and out of public view. They are proud of their members, and see no reason not to display for general public consumption.
It’s only August and the itch to push their agendas has reached a fever pitch. Although there are sober elements with a valid cautionary tale, those persons watch helplessly, as the saliva from the Beast they cut loose, dribbles on the heads of the undecided Indies, and horrified, mortified thinking conservatives who enjoy a distinct minority.
It’s a runaway train of group gropes and certified crazies at the wheel, and no one, especially the ABO’s can do a thing about it, except watch their personal destinies disappear down the rathole..
Carl Nyberg
BTW, to be somewhat cynical…
The economic elites prefer working with Democrats, provided the Democrats are enacting policies preferred by Republicans.
Chris T.
@mechwarrior online: Actually, the most straightforward path I can see (which does not mean it will happen) is for the Republican party to self-immolate as it is doing, and for the Democratic party to split in half, resulting in a far-right-wing group and a right-of-center group.
Chris
@Steve:
I chalk it up to their desperation. They’ve let too many similar obscenities slide for it to be anything else.
JPL
Akin does not believe in abortion in any exception. That is what the new republicans believe. Unfortunately, he’s a “dumb shit” that phrased it poorly.
SatanicPanic
@Steve: It’s like they’re taking a page out of the Democrat’s book.
PZ
Don’t know if this has been brought up but Steve King is joining in on the fun-
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/steve-king-statutory-rape.php?ref=fpb
How long till Mitt Romney says abortion, like income inequality, should only be talked about behind closed doors…
shortstop
@Michael2: Akin has already resigned from the House…to run for this Senate seat. He’s not standing for reelection in the 2nd.
Carl Nyberg
Did the witching hour just pass?
Can Akin no longer resign from the ballot?
Violet
Akin’s supporters are going to see him not only as Braveheart but as Job:
And the Job part:
hitchhiker
Free media for days on end that makes the Rs look like the discombobulated out-of-their-minds party.
More please. Obama must be laughing helplessly at yet ANOTHER hapless opponent.
Valdivia
I love that Blunt–Blunt Amendment guy–is out saying this bs. They all agree with Akin, just can’t forgive him that he said it out loud.
Akin: let your freak flag fly!
General Stuck
Now all we need is a conceal and carry requirement for the wingnut convention. Somebody would check for guns and knives, and no one gets in without either or both.
Duels and shit, sword fights, fisticuffs, and maybe an odd caning or two. This is getting to be the looking glass election into right wing insanity.
When the curtain call comes, I bet they send up balloons that look like bloody fetuses floating around the nuthouse.
JGabriel
John Cole @ Top:
I don’t know how long it’s going to take, but the GOP will eventually become such an electoral failure that a new party will replace it.
There’s no room on the right for a replacement to develop — unless we devolve into complete fascism — which means the most likely scenario will be a continued migration of the Democratic party from center to center-right and the rise of a center-left party. Could be the Greens, could be Working Families, could be some other entity either barely on the radar or not even formed yet.
I don’t know. But I can’t see Republicans, in particular the Tea Party base, taking the steps necessary to remain a viable party rather than an increasingly bonkers right-wing fringe group.
.
Violet
@Carl Nyberg: Yes, the witching hour has passed. Akin can still take himself off the ballot, but it will require a court order.
Shawn in ShowMe
@Davis X. Machina:
The only people who seem to believe the polls are in Left Blogistan. Actual GOP operatives are in a state of panic.
SFAW
And, just to cement my credentials as asshole/jerkoff/dickhead:
A part of me hopes that all the smug “I’m gettin’ me a metric tonne o’ popcorn” commenters here get an unpleasant surprise in November. Joke all you want, but considering the cluelessness of the average voter, stupidity/insanity/evil in candidates is much less of a disqualifier these days.
If the electorate had given any significant indication that they would call bullshit on Romney’s and Ryan’s lies, or Ryan’s “serious thinker” budget, or any of the other crap that the Rethugs try to pass off as wonderful, then y’all would be justified in looking down yer noses at the MO castrati et al. But it hasn’t been looking too good for intelligent policies for a long time.
Yeah, I realize I worry more than most about this shit, but what Mencken said regarding taste also applies to intelligence.
Incoming!
David in NY
Since no one seems to have noticed, Akin is slamming Romney on Hannity. Via TPM:
“Don’t you think Romney made a bigger deal of this than he needed to?” Akin asked Sean Hannity on his radio show. “Why couldn’t he run his race, and I’ll run mine?”
a geek named Bob
The republican side to this campaign season is like watching a car race, wherein one party to the race intentionally wrecks his car every third lap.
This campaign is moving from “neck and neck” drama, into “This week, see what zany hi-jinks Mitt and his lovable crew of idiots have been up to” sitcom.
MattF
I’m for keeping social issues front and center. And Akin’s the man for that.
Litlebritdifrnt
The deadline for Akin to quit has passed! Yeah!
Davis X. Machina
@David in NY: There’s no downside risk to either party in this Kabuki, Romney or Akin — actual ticket-splitting would involve voting for the Kenyan usurper, and that’s not going to happen.
shortstop
@SFAW: “Those aren’t the words that I’d have used,” or whatever dumbass thing Mitt said, but I don’t disagree with your basic sentiment. My own enthusiastic popcorn munching is limited to the supergigantico headache that all this is giving the national party and the Romney-Ryan ticket. I’m not at all convinced that Akin can’t win in November.
Redshift
@Steve: It’s not because he said something dumb that might hurt his chances of getting elected, it’s because he called attention to a policy that is the mainstream of the Republican Party and has been in their platform for decades but that they know is politically toxic.
Torpedoing his own chances (possibly) is bad, highlighting something that most of the current GOP candidates believe but that they only want anti-abortion activists to notice is much worse.
shortstop
@David in NY: Now, THAT’s hilarious. SFAW, can I have a metric ton of popcorn for THAT? Say no and I’ll eat it anyway.
PZ
@Steve: I put it on the birth control fight earlier this year. When we were getting bad job numbers and the economy was stalling, the appalling statements of conservatives over contraception (remember “aspirin between the legs”?) was able to crowd out those headlines.
There has been an uneasy truce in the Republican Party between the fanatical anti-abortion crowd and conservative to right-leaning women. There are plenty of well-to-do women who hate paying taxes, have no love for unions, and who ascribe to the Republican philosophy on the economy who nonetheless are (rightfully) uneasy about men deciding what happens to their bodies. For a time, the truce was maintained by assuring them any anti-choice actions taken would not affect them. However, the center could not hold-if you are pro-life, all abortions must be banned. After years of putting up with this, the anti-abortion fanatics have come to collect and expect Republicans to enact their radical agenda. However, the Republican leadership is in a bind-it can’t try to enact their agenda because it would cost them the support of the women I mentioned but if they throw the anti-abortion types to the curb, they loose their base.
Their only solution is to get people to stop talking about abortion and birth control. Guys like Akin are making that impossible. Hence, why they threw him under the bus…
David in NY
@SFAW: “intelligence”
Wasn’t that Barnum?
SteveinSC
The real worry@Violet:concerning
is that the people of Missouri, after having had the chance to “peek behind the republican curtain,” will nonetheless put Akin in the Senate. This election is shaping up to be a basic IQ test and I am afraid large segments, maybe a majority, of the American public, will fail the test. Then what? A country with countless nuclear weapons guided by unbalanced
peoplereligious fanatics?SFAW
@shortstop:
Tonne, not ton.
Not that I know the difference, of course.
Valdivia
@shortstop:
Agreed. It cements the Republicans in disarray narrative.
First because the story is that the tensions of yesterday and today will be regular events if Romney wins. Also–Romney couldn’t get this guy to back down–leadership! Akin staying in lets us and the media talk about the insane platform which conforms to everything Akin believes.
He may win but now we have a race. And it extends to Ryan and Romney in the best of ways.
e.a.f.
I guess not all nut bars are in the grocery isle. Some of them appear to be in American politics. I must admit we have some nutbars in Canada but none as good as Akins.
People like Akins are the American version of the Taliban. For a woman to have been raped according to the Taliban it needs to be observed by two men, then its rape.
With nut bars like Akins in psoitions of power no wonder the U.S.A. is in such trouble. They’ll never get out of it.
If the Republican executive can’t bring one out of it politican to heel, they need to get new jobs. Akins is an embarassment, but hey it makes the democrats look better & better. Romney can distance himself all he wants from Atkins but unless he can get rid of him, it clearly demonstrates that Romney will not be able to get the Republicans in the Senate or Congress to do what he wants. It will demonstrate he has no power within government. We have already seen what Congress/Senate has done to Obama. Until there is reform in the American poltical system, things willnot get better.
Steve
@David in NY: Funny. But didn’t Hannity also call for Akin to drop out?
David in NY
@shortstop: Thank you. I heartily agree, and want lots of salt and butter on my popcorn.
shortstop
@Davis X. Machina: Perhaps not, but there is value to us in their constantly projecting the image of a party in disarray and disunity, if for no other reason than it briefly takes the slavering MSM focus off Obama’s “hateful” campaign, Biden’s oh-no-it’s-the-worst-ever-gaffes, and similar crap.
Redshift
@EriktheRed:
VP Nom/Convention bounce. Since the GOP convention happens first, it’ll probably get worse unless it’s a ’68 Dem-level debacle, so be ready for that.
The bounces should have largely dissipated by the third week of September or so (and the Dem convention bounce should overtake the fading GOP one before then), so it’s really not worth getting too worked up about the polls until then.
General Stuck
@SFAW:
I don’t think anyone on this blog doesn’t fully appreciate the fucked up process that republicans can always win, no matter what they say or do. There are several reasons for this status, but I see no reason to not be enthused at the truly epic republican clusterfuck we are witnessing. One reason the wingers end up pulling shit out of the fire of defeat, is that they understand the power and infectious nature of having a cheerful winning attitude in politics, especially election politics. No matter how bad things are for their side.
Democrats, on the other hand, are shoveling the eternal shit to find their fail pony. Whatever happens in this election, worrying about the worst that can happen, makes that more possible to come true, than not.
Davis X. Machina
They may throttle back on donations, but at the end of the day they won’t withhold their votes. They may historically have punched above their weight because of their fundraising utility, but how numerous are they? As big a force as the fundamentalist extremists?
Millicent Fenwick‘s been dead for twenty years.
The Dangerman
@a geek named Bob:
The next shoe to drop is going to have to a doozy…
…as a couple of shoes back it was Ryan as VP to a collective “what the fuck”…
…followed by Akin’s rape comments to a collective “WHAT THE FUCK”…
…so, I’m guessing the next one will be Romney releases his tax return AFTER the nomination, showing he’s a former felon.
SFAW
@David in NY:
Mencken. Barnum was usually credited with “There’s a sucker born every minute” but it’s not clear he actually used those exact words.
Emma
@Chris: I hope you said “supposedly Republicans stand for personal responsibility. Save yourself.”
Violet
RE: the PPP poll out today, I saw this over at Sully’s today:
This analysis shows a very large change in one day.
SFAW
@General Stuck:
Hey, I’m cautiously optimistic that people will wake up to said clusterfuck and the collection of devil’s-spawn known as the Republican Party. But the key word is “cautiously.”
David in NY
@SFAW: Yeah. I looked, and there’s a similar genuine Mencken quote (“great masses of the people” or something), but Barnum gets credited for it (or something similar) a lot, so checking it would take actual research, so the hell with it.
shortstop
@SFAW: I do. Take a guess at exactly how small it is.
? Martin
@JGabriel:
The replacement develops in the center, not the right. There’d be a bunch of 3rd parties staking out specific positions – the theocratic party, the economic libertarian party, the nativist party, etc until they somewhat sort themselves off, peel off a swath of Democrats (blue dogs) and emerge as a GOP replacement.
At least, that’s how it worked last time
Jennifer
To paraphrase Churchill:
“The Republicans ride to and fro on tigers they dare not dismount. And the tigers are growing hungry.”
Shawn in ShowMe
@Violet:
Thanks for the info. That’s more good news than I ever hoped for, especially this soon.
Edit: Also explains why the GOP leadership is in a state of panic. The published polls aren’t telling the whole story. The internal polls must be even worse.
jwb
@Violet: If she was allowed on to Limbaugh’s show that’s because Limbaugh wanted her on his show and he wanted to present this impression of being stumped. Not sure exactly why he’d want to do this except perhaps it allows him to equivocate. But nothing happens on that show by chance.
jwb
@joes527: Maybe he’s there to call in the hurricane strike.
SFAW
@David in NY:
David –
Lots of people mention Barnum, but I think, after all is said and done, etc., that persons-other-than-Jonah-Goldberg ascribe it to Mencken.
In any event, it probably don’t matter that much, anyway.
General Stuck
@SFAW:
Why be “cautiously optimistic” outside of doing what needs to be done, when it needs to be done. We win or lose an election, and the only thing lost by being fully optimistic, is maybe some phony pride or sense of embarrassment of what peeps might think. When the truth is, nobody cares if you were wrong, or right, for that matter.
EriktheRed
@Redshift: I se that as a possibility, too, but in the meantime I think I’m gonna give political gawking a a break.
Or at least try….
SFAW
@shortstop:
Do I need to count how many angels can dance on its head?
John O
The lunatics are in the grass.
I still say it’s best for the Dems in the long-run, if it weren’t for the SCOTUS, to get their asses kicked this fall, so that the country gets another (!) good look at Republinomics. Things have to get worse before they get better, historically-speaking, and we just ain’t there yet.
Don’t worry about me. I’ll be voting straight D.
SFAW
@General Stuck:
You know what? I can’t disagree with anything you wrote.
Thanks for the imparted wisdom. (Honest!)
SFAW
@John O:
That was Nader’s post-2000-election rationale, by the way.
wrb
@JGabriel:
Don’t forget they’ve got billionaires to fund them and they control a huge swath of the media spectrum.
They might get more bonkers but they will remain very powerful.
shortstop
@SFAW: I think that one’s been discontinued since angels started being portrayed in modern media as motherly types with ample acreage.
NotMax
Priebus: GOP platform ‘not the platform of Mitt Romney’
Am I the only one who reads this as not at all subtle code for “This is a strident far-right Christian platform. Mitt is a Mormon, so of course it isn’t his his platform.”?
Anagram for Reince Priebus = Eerier Spin Cub
JGabriel
? Martin:
Maybe, but I think the Dems have the center well-covered. Supposing you’re right, then the most likely “center” party to emerge would be the Libertarian party.
Not that I think of them as the center, but they tend to market themselves as the socially liberal (or moderate), fiscal conservatives that a lot of uninformed people think is the center.
On the other hand, it’s a little hard to see how a movement composed of people who prize individualism above all else can ever hierarchically organize themselves to win an election.
.
David in NY
@SFAW: Agreed — lots of attribution to Barnum, but no citation except to Mencken.
JGabriel
@wrb:
Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes, the Koch Brothers, Shelly Adelson … you know what I see there? A lot or really old guys.
I think they’ve peaked. Once they start becoming feeble and/or dying off of old age, it’ll be the perfect ground for a paradigm shift.
.
David in NY
@JGabriel: Really old guys with really rich kids. I’m not at all confident.
SFAW
@shortstop:
Hmmm … I’ve sometimes (well … often, actually) been called a mother-something-or-other, and I have ample acreage, does that make me an angel, too?
Elizabelle
@John O:
No, it won’t be good in any way, John O, for the Democrats to lose this fall.
Don’t say that.
Too much pain for not enough gain.
Stop that sh*t-talking.
John O
@SFAW:
No it wasn’t. I live in IL, so it’s not like it matters, but I will pulling the trigger happily for B. Obama. I’m with John C., he’s too good a man for us to deserve. Being POTUS is a hard job.
I just have come to believe in what I said. Enough f**cking morons watch Mom starve to death because of cuts to Med/Med, and people will get a grip. But not until then. I give you, “breadlines” as evidence.
Adding, who really knows how Mitt would govern? Certainly not me, though I understand he’s some chits to call in with God Man.
NotMax
Corrected:
Priebus: GOP platform ‘not the platform of Mitt Romney’
Am I the only one who reads this as not at all subtle code for “This is a strident far-right Christian platform. Mitt is a Mormon, so of course it isn’t his platform.”?
Anagram for Reince Priebus = Eerier Spin Cub
Roger Moore
@? Martin:
The other aspect would be that there would probably be a genuine realignment in the sense that the definition of left and right would change. Some of the left/right issues (especially economic) would stay the same, but it would throw the rest of the right/left axis into question. Things that are currently hot-button issues would drop off in importance and other things that are currently minor would blow up into the great issues of the day.
John O
@Elizabelle:
I’m dyin’ that it’s even close, Elizabelle.
Just how Media Man wants it. Good for profits.
les
Why should the conservative elite give a shit? Akin’s in MO.; and the only remote claim to sanity there is by comparison to Kansas (where I’m at, watching the Ks. republicans cheerfully try to turn us into the new Texas). There’s every chance Akin can win–Claire’s not particularly attractive (politically) to much of anyone. And the 1% don’t give a shit if the congress is full of fucking loons–their focus on implementing the dominion won’t interfere with moving all of the wealth in the country to the oppressed job creators who now only have half. They’re about looting, not building anything.
SFAW
@John O:
I’m assuming that was in response to my Nader comment. If that’s the case: yeah, it was one of them, perhaps not his only rationale. Well, actually, I guess it falls under the designation “rationalization.” But he used it, was (presumably) proud of it, and was (as far as my feelings toward him) the final nail in the coffin. Not that Saint Ralph gives a shit what I think, of course.
danimal
@NotMax: I am soooo looking forward to the clown-show fail parade of a Republican convention next week. They absolutely can not keep their shit together, and Akin guarantees a social issues focus they are desparate to avoid.
My favorite Reince Priebus anagram is Uric Peni$ Beer. Warm piss describes the man well.
Roger Moore
@John O:
If that worked, you’d think it would have worked the last few times we made the mistake of electing a Republican. The plain truth is that people don’t learn that way, or they learn but forget it too soon to make a real difference.
What we really need to do is to try as hard as possible to make the country better, rather than waiting for the Republicans to make things worse. That has two big benefits. First, it means the country is getting better and the Republicans will have a harder time destroying it the next time they get in power. Second, it means voters will have a reason to vote in favor of the Democrats, rather than just a reason to vote against the Republicans.
Shorter: If you want the Republicans to destroy the country so you can save it, you don’t deserve to win.
Elizabelle
@John O:
Yeah, convenient that.
Dollars transferred (courtesy Citizens United) from gazillionaires who own who knows what to fellow gazillionaires who own media companies, courtesy of the 1996 Telecommunications “Reform” Act.
It’s good to own a government.
JGabriel
@David in NY:
Fair enough, I make no promises. But some of those really rich kids might be really resentful of their dad’s politics.
We’ll see how it plays out over the next decade or two.
.
WereBear
@JGabriel: Also, it’s a different mindset in the over-sixties; they grew up in a very different time, they’re cranky, they feel confused, and a lot of them a flat out bigoted in a way younger generations cannot follow.
shortstop
@SFAW: I don’t think it works that way. But my doctorate in theology* is from Liberty University**, so what do I know?
*Don’t have one
**Never been near the place
@JGabriel: @WereBear: I fear that while many of them may have ‘rental issues, following the money is the surest route to figuring out what they’ll do. Not all of them, of course, but I don’t think this is going to be a generational thing so much as a class thing.
Thoughtcrime
@JGabriel:
Not with assholes like this around:
http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/2012/08/20/peter-thiel-drops-20-1-million-facebook-shares/
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/silicon-valley-billionaire-funding-creation-artificial-libertarian-islands-140840896.html
David in NY
@WereBear: Yeah, but remember, it’s the whole Mars family (and the Koch family, and etc. 16 more times) that gutted (or nearly gutted) the estate tax. Don’t kid yourself, those youngsters want to keep living off the familial teat, and they don’t want anyone to take any of their money.
Amir Khalid
@NotMax:
What on earth does Reinhold Priebus think he is gaining for the Republican party by cutting the balls off its presidential nominee? If Mitt is seen as being at odds with his party over the platform, that just hands Obama a deadly talking point: “Mitt Romney can’t lead his party. How is he going to lead the country?”
gelfling545
@JGabriel: Or at least resentful of Dad spending down their inheritance on politics, perhaps?
danimal
@David in NY: You mean, it’s not…family farms they care about??? I’m so confused. I thought estate taxes were forcing salt o’ the earth farmers to relocate to the big city, where they would get denied welfare because all the social programs favor Those People. Wow, if that’s not true, I don’t know what to think.
Brian
It’s official. Being a pro-life or pro-gay or tolerant towards immigration Republican is like being a Black Klansman.
CarolDuhart2
@JGabriel: If the pattern really holds, a lot of those kids would rather party the money away than spend it on upholding things they don’t even agree with to bring about a world they don’t even yearn for.
‘The billionaires are spending money to try to bring a multi-cultural and relatively tolerant America back to the days before the explosion of the 1960’s. The billionaires are angry Silents (born in the 1930’s or so) who remember when white guys had everything handed to them. But their kids, even the ones born in the 1950’s can’t relate to that world and grew up in a more open society. Plus those guys must be hell to live with with their rantings and resentment over things the kids don’t think important.
CarolDuhart2
Those kids will get the money anyway. They’ll have to pay a little more in taxes, but they won’t be hurting, and social change isn’t really going to be a problem for them at all. So I suspect the next generation will be a bit looser than the Adelson-Koch barons.
OzarkHillbilly
I am so proud…. that the state of Misserri has finally reached the prominent state in national politics so long denied her.
kay
@NotMax:
It’s an insane thing to say. It’s right before the convention. What is he saying? Mitt Romney doesn’t support the platform of the Republican Party?
I think what Akin said was awful and dumb and probably mean-spirited despite his sanctimonious whining, but Republicans are going absolutely crazy over this.
They must see it as hugely damaging. I’m not sure I do but THEY sure do.
schloppenglop
@Amir Khalid:
Akin turned over the rock, and the ugly stuff is squirming under there, exposed to broad dalight, and people are noticing it.
Since they can’t put the rock back now, wouldn’t this let Mitt distance himself from the horror?
“What platform? Oh, that horrible nasty disgusting platform over there? Well, that’s not *my* platform. Mine’s in my pocket here. It’s a nice platform. I’ll show it to you after the election.”