Any predictions on what form Romney’s much-heralded zingers will take?
I’m thinking something about “shovel ready” and a few number-related jokes about jobs and the economy. Maybe something about Solyndra?
What are your guesses?
by DougJ| 181 Comments
This post is in: Election 2012, Open Threads
Any predictions on what form Romney’s much-heralded zingers will take?
I’m thinking something about “shovel ready” and a few number-related jokes about jobs and the economy. Maybe something about Solyndra?
What are your guesses?
Comments are closed.
Chris
Something about apologizing for America and the consulate, I’m guessing. If that smirk was any indication, he really thinks that was a winner, unlike the 47% video he had the good sense to talk about behind closed doors.
Joey Maloney
“Up yours, n*gger!”
Yutsano
Is it to much to hope for a birfer joke?
shortstop
“Your mother married a black guy”?
Seriously, “change” will make an appearance, I suspect, and we will probably hear about such fresh topics as community organizing, being proud of America and bowing to Arabs.
ETA: Also, too, redistribution.
taylormattd
If there is a single smart person anywhere near Mitt’s campaign, the zingers will relate to anemic job growth.
c u n d gulag
“Yo Mama – THAT’s who let the dogs out!”
Oh shoot, why did they have me mention dogs in this zinger? Don’t they know I’m running for President, for Pete’s sakes?
Corner Stone
I’m thinking it will be the form of the zinger, and not really the “zing” itself.
By that I mean he’ll be zingering in dog whistle and speaking Darmok for Wingnuts(tm) and no one will know what the hell he’s talking about.
Corner Stone
TD Texans bizantzies!!
Violet
Something related to a teleprompter.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Golf. From what I can see, ‘wingers are absolutely obsessed about the fact that Obama plays golf. It’s just the kind of thing that Dennis Miller and Tagg would think will resonate throughout the heartland. And a really ham-fisted attempt to pun on “hope and change”
taylormattd
Ooh. How much you wanna bet he works in “There you go again”?
Someone on his staff right now is thinking “it worked well for Clinton during the DNC . . . “
WaterGirl
I am pretty sure there will be an attempt at a zinger about “running on hope and change” and then saying “you can’t change washington from the inside”.
SatanicPanic
I expect some puns on reneging on promises
ETA, it would be awesome if he pulled what Eminem does in the final rap battle in 8 Mile- go first, quickly run down a list of all the ways he himself is lame- leaving the other guy with no material- and then launches into a devastating attack on the other guy before he can get a word in.
askew
I am going with teleprompter and fast and furious for the jokes. The teleprompter joke is to remind the public that Romney is the smart one on stage and the fast and furious joke will be to state that Obama can’t control the government.
karl
Hope and change.
Corner Stone
Why do all the fonts nowadays make any word with an ” r n ” combo look like an ” m “? In the word “corny” it looks like “comy” to me.
Mehh! Now I have to adjust the onion on my belt!
/old man rants
taylormattd
“You promised hope and change, but we got nope and [something that rhymes with change]”
Warren Terra
Take my wives … please.
(Someone had to do it, and I have little dignity).
I do think that, per karl, Hope And Change is the most likely angle of attack for the desired Republican narrative.
R. Porrofatto
Right out of the gate Obama should say how much he’s looking forward to the debate with Governor Romney, and how he heard that Mr. Romney has even gone through the trouble to memorize and practice some special “zingers” for these debates, so he can’t wait to hear some of those too.
It will make Romney look even more ridiculous when he tries one.
Yutsano
@taylormattd: Nope and strange. Remember this is Willard, it doesn’t have to make SENSE. Just sound good.
Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God
IMO, Romney will pull a Scott Brown and transform into a Walking Internet Meme Machine. Like Brown, he’s already lost on the substance, so now he has to get nasty to drag both of them down into the muck.
A true N-CLANG! moment is unlikely. But I bet we’re all going to be surprised as to just how close to that line Romney is willing to go.
smintheus
“Fast and Furious”…maybe to describe one of Obama’s debate responses or his charges against Mitt.
the Conster
Something about Obama not building that hope and change thing from the inside, faster and furiouser while sympathizing with terrorists.
Emdee
@karl: I agree. I expect “You can’t just hope that things will change.”
R. Porrofatto
“You see this watch? You see this watch? That watch costs more than your car!”
Dennis SGMM
I can tell you what won’t be in the zingers; mormonism, the Cayman Islands, Swiss bank accounts, vouchers, tax rates, and George W. Bush.
ETA: Bain Capital also, too.
arguingwithsignposts
@Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God:
Y U No give us tax breaks?
U Mad Bro?
Fuuuuuuuuuuu!
taylormattd
The best part will be the smug smirk on his face as he woodenly delivers the zinger.
SatanicPanic
@R. Porrofatto: Obama did just that in healthcare summit. Cantor had a big pile of copies of the ACA. Obama said pretty much “oh, you’ve brought props!”
Violet
@WaterGirl:
Yeah, something like, “President Obama said you can’t change Washington from the inside, but you can’t just move there and hope it changes.” [Mitt looks around with that mouth-open fake smile, waiting for the laughter and applause that doesn’t materialize.]
PaulW
“I eat pieces of sh-t like you for breakfast” – Shooter
“You eat pieces of sh-t for breakfast?” – Happy Gilmore
redshirt
“I know Bill Clinton. You’re no Bill Clinton, Barack Hussein Obama”.
Spaghetti Lee
Whatever the topic, they’ll be so full of Wingnut Code that it will blow right over the heads of everyone else. People who read Red State and Instapundit will cheer and whoop and everyone else will go “WTF is he talking about?”
PaulW
Romney’s back-up zinger “Well, you got big ears!”
jwb
I expect that Mittwit will try to set up a line about how Obama lies. I really hope that he goes for a teleprompter joke because that’s like stepping into the counterpunch when you’ve announced you’ve spending weeks memorizing zingers.
Warren Terra
One thing: all this speculation on “Zingers” – I’d bet on one zinger, used several times as a refrain or mantra. Because Romney really needs his chosen zinger to penetrate …
PaulW
@redshirt:
“That was uncalled for, Bain CEO guy.”
Violet
@Spaghetti Lee: Oh, oh, then it’ll be something about golf.
Applejinx
I’m going to bet that Obama will not do any zingers at all. Sort of a ‘don’t hate the player, hate the game’ thing.
He has a situation going where people basically trust him and like him, and mistrust and dislike Romney. It’s the opposite of the Carter/Reagan thing where Reagan (unworthily) had people’s trust and liking. They wanted to believe, but they don’t want to believe in Romney.
Obama shouldn’t be any more rattled by this than anything else.
I do hope he responds to a Romney rude interruption with “it’s not your turn”, though.
Anya
Something about hope & change, healing the planet, apology tour and any number of shit that fascinates wingnuts.
Also, too, this @Spaghetti Lee:
Disco
I don’t expect Fast & Furious stuff unless Romney is stupid, which he is. The general public has not followed that issue, and Mittens doesn’t have six hours to blather about it.
Zingers aren’t going to do it. They will not win it for him.
Some guy in Austin
They sure are playing the expectations game bass-ackwards. I saw Christie on dancin’ daves this morning talking about how it will be a new campaign on Thursday.
shortstop
OT, we’re having a little struggle in the old condo association over the issues of management and rental caps. Last night I dreamed that an assholish neighbor proposed hiring a management company that is a subsidiary of Bain. I woke up sweating and trembling, and roused the third baseman to share my nightmare. Only after he pointed out that Bain is unlikely to be interested in managing 12-unit condo buildings in Chicago did I settle down.
GeneJockey
I suspect that the humor-challenged Mr. Romney will deliver his zingers with all the flair and panache he’s become known for on the campaign trail – you know, like when he talked about opening windows on airplanes and such.
The problem with preplanned zingers is that the the conversation has to go exactly where you want it to go, and in real life conversations rarely do that. So, he’ll be trying to squeeze them in where they don’t really fit. And it leaves out of the equation the fact that Obama isn’t a target that just sits there waiting to be zinged.
Furthermore, Romney, every time I’ve seen him, even in carefully staged and choreographed commercials, comes across as someone uncomfortable in his skin, whereas Obama comes across as cool, calm, and unflappable. This is why I got a chuckle out of the Right’s flirtation with Newt Gingrich, back in the heady days of the primary, because they expected Newt to turn Obama into a stammering puddle of flopsweat. Obama is not the ‘Affirmative Action’ President they want to think he is.
barath
OT: Booman has an awesome takedown of Freddie’s drone drone:
taylormattd
Maybe he’ll say this:
Violet
@Applejinx: I don’t think he can. Black man interrupting rich, white man will not play well, even though black man is the President of the United States. Obama probably knows this. There are other ways for him to do the same thing. Like letting Romney talk over him, ending with Romney looking like he’s needy and long-winded.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Spaghetti Lee: Yup. Romney will be using Limbaugh-speak to reach an audience more attuned to NPR, MTP and TDS. I’ll be watching for Obama to use a stiletto, some understated, indirect line designed to get under Romney’s skin that most people won’t even notice, phrases like “multiple choice” or “pig in a poke”
taylormattd
@redshirt: Oh, that’s so good.
Forum Transmitted Disease
IF Romney could limit his discussion only to job growth, he could fight this to a draw. But he can’t, he’s neither that smart nor disciplined, and I suspect Obama is going to make him look like a circus clown, although it will be reported as being “close”.
Otherwise this would shape up to be one of the shittiest campaigns for journalist’s paychecks in quite some time.
Violet
@Some guy in Austin: Christie’s playing his expectations game just right. The one where he’s running for the 2016 nomination.
jwb
@barath: I like the fact that Booman called Freddie “this dude.”
taylormattd
@barath: Well, I have one problem with that analysis. If I’m not mistaken, the administration may well be defining “civilian” way too narrowly.
Dennis SGMM
Guessing that Obama will keep his responses short, to the point, and factual in the interest of giving Romney’s mouth room for as many feet as possible.
beltane
@barath: But Jane Hamsher says Booman is “a troll with a blog” so there.
shortstop
@GeneJockey:
Mmmhmmmm. Remember the woodenness of Palin’s “Say it ain’t so, Joe”?
Davis X. Machina
@barath: You can’t escape getting the impression sometimes that if the same thing were going on with dumb bombs, gravity bombs, iron bombs, from human-piloted fixed-wing aircraft, the criticism wouldn’t cease, to be sure, but it would be more muted.
It’s like papal bulls against the crossbow….
Chris
@Applejinx:
Yep. And Romney can’t even get his own base to like him.
Corner Stone
@SatanicPanic:
I always loved that part. Obama said something shadedly dismissive then pointed at the stack of papers and said something like (paraphrase) “Let me guess, that’s what you’ve got there. When we do props like this…”
I admit it, I felt a tingle.
The Dangerman
@R. Porrofatto:
I would throw a left hook right off the bat (hmm, never too early too mix sports metaphors) to unbalance Romney; if I were Obama, I’d basically accuse Romney of being a pardoned tax cheat over the UBS thing.
taylormattd
@beltane: Blackface Jane calling someone else a troll is amusing.
DPS
“You haven’t done a very good job as president.”
or
“I would be a preferable alternative if Americans’ choice is between you and me.”
or
“Voting for you is not as good an idea as voting for me.”
Professor
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I didn’t know that ‘you people’ understand the idiom: ‘buying a pig in the poke’ (snark)
shortstop
@Corner Stone: I should keep reports of that meeting around the house to read when I need some tasty political porn.
Corner Stone
@barath:
I’m sorry, what?
That’s not an awesome takedown. That’s buffoonery.
Joey Maloney
@Corner Stone: Darmok for Wingnuts™
Win. Or should I say, “Obama at the podium”?
GeneJockey
@shortstop:
Exactly. And nobody’s gonna have starbursts shooting out of the TV when Mitt winks at them.
Corner Stone
@Davis X. Machina: Only if you were disingenuous.
Dennis SGMM
Is it true that the Romney campaign has demanded that the debates allow designated hitters?
Mr Stagger Lee
I just had a weird thought, Mitt Romney doing like Eminem in 8 Mile with Lose Yourself playing in the background practicing those zingers. EEEHH!
boss bitch
He’ll repeat the faded poster joke that Ryan told during convention or some interview.
Violet
“One of my gardeners told me he hoped there would be change in the White House.”
“I don’t play golf every day, not even on holiday at one of my summer homes.”
SiubhanDuinne
@Corner Stone:
That you, Comer Stone?
Violet
“You didn’t build the economy, Mr. Obama.”
Southern Beale
“Well my gosh my golly, say it is not so, O.”
Or something equally lame and stiff and not spontaneous.
Another Halocene Human
OT: Aaaauauiiiiiiieeee, Constance McGillicuddy III’s smarmy face is on my computer. NO! NON! NEIN! IA DA YO! Not voting “Mack” for love or money.
And I hope your wife loses her race, too.
Go back to California, you smarmy prick.
JPL
@the Conster: Yup.. He’ll go with that hopey, changey thing Palin love’s.
Chyron HR
@shortstop:
Romney: Can I call you “Boy”?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Another Halocene Human: I had to make a google. I did not know that the “Connie Macks” were actually Cornelius (edited) MacGillicuddys (which is a very cool name, what is their problem?). I also did not know that the Widow Bono was married to Old Man Mack’s kid. I thought by now I has plumbed the depths of political junkiedom. Who knows what trivia still lurks in the shadows of the intertubes?
Keith
I don’t see Romney doing anything more creative than “There you go again”
mr.peabody
Doesn’t it kind of defeat the point to announce your ‘zingers’ in advance? Now they’re just setting Mitt up to fail.
NTTAWWT.
And on Freddie’s piece-The question the purebreds never answer is, What do you like better, huge land invasions by our troops, or drone strikes?
And ‘neither’ is not an option.
Dennis SGMM
“The wealthy are not above the law. Why, I’ve never slept under a bridge in my entire life.”
Southern Beale
Twitter has a #MittZingers hashtag which is pretty funny. My favorite is, “Is you car elevator running? If so, better catch it.”
Geoduck
Another vote for teleprompter. It stokes the base, and doesn’t get too deep into the whole blah thing to scare off the swing voters.
Anya
@SatanicPanic:
@Corner Stone: President Obama Chides Rep. Cantor for Use of Props at Health-Care Summit
About Romney zingers, I think it will be very early in the debate and it will involve channeling Reagan’s “there you go again.” If the moderator asks POTUS a question about job loses or job creation, the president will point out that when he took office the economy was losing 700,000 jobs a month and is now gaining jobs. This is when Rombot 2.4 will deliver his well practiced zinger.
WaterGirl
@Violet: That’s it!
gogol's wife
As I said last night, I’m betting on “Would you believe . . .” and “Sorry about that, Chief.”
RSA
My guess is that Romney’s handlers have pored over Obama’s speeches and his 2008 debate performance, looking for phrases and themes that Obama is likely to use in this debate. They’ve then fashioned a couple of dozen responses; these won’t be clever sounding, but they’ll try to shift the perspective to favor Romney.
At least, that’s what I think will be viewed as zingers, rather than “There you go again.” Romney’s no Reagan, and he can’t count on any kind of charisma carrying him through. This also means, I think, that we’ll see Romney stiffly applying his zingers with the wrong timing and in a slightly wrong context. Natural language understanding isn’t his strong suit.
JPL
During Mitt’s opening statement, he will call Obama’s ads lies and at one point say he finds it unfortunate that we have a President who condones lying. It’s not worthy of the office…blah..blah..blah.
Mike in NC
Not understanding how America works. Cadillac driving welfare queens and strapping young bucks buying t-bone steaks. Betraying Czechoslovakia. Apologizing to Islamofascists. Gutting the Defense budget and Medicare.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
I thought Kilgore Trout on LGF had the correct answer: Romney will say “You didn’t build that.” And it will be done at some really bad time.
Dennis SGMM
An effective, well-timed, zinger requires some empathy with the intended audience. Romney is the most empathy-deficient candidate that I’ve ever seen in nearly fifty years of following American politics.
Violet
The problem now is that the post-debate discussions are going to include “Was that one of Romney’s zingers?”, “I don’t think Romney landed any of his zingers.”, “[This] zinger worked, but [that] one didn’t.”, “Obama had better zingers.” Etc. The discussion will be about zingers, not about Romney’s skills or talking points. Especially on twitter, the zinger discussion will be brutal.
Plus, there will be #Romneyzingers drinking games.
Todd
@Joey Maloney:
When the walls fell…
jwb
Beyond predicting the zingers, we should see whether we can write the media spin after the debate. Will they go all in for the Romney hit a homerun approach no matter the evidence of the debate? I also wonder if they are going to do the focus group with the little response machines that proved so effective in dismantling the post-debate spin last time around.
James E. Powell
Everyone hosting a debate-watch party will have stock up with these.
Although the link is to Wal-Mart, I recommend Costco.
schrodinger's cat
You promised us hope and change, now we have no hope and you can keep the change.
OT: I have Dell Latitude Laptop (E6400) and the bottom part of the display seems to be disintegrating, just some horizontal lines under the bottom tool bar. Has any body else had that problem? The computer is about 3 1/2 years old. The computer seems to be working well otherwise.
ShadeTail
I would guess either something trite and predictable that everyone will roll their eyes over, or something out of the right-wing weeds that will sail over the heads of most of the electorate.
Either way, I expect his “zingers” to fall flat. Assuming, of course, that it’s even real and not just speculative horse race nonsense from the DC villagers.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Anya: the look on Cantor’s face when Obama’s done with him is priceless!
@JPL: I’m sure that will happen, but I don’t think even Romney would think that’s a zinger. I keep thinking of Scottie Brown’s face when he forced the square peg of Fauxcohontas into his opening statement, looking scared and unsure of himself, like the HS sophomore whose friends had goaded him in to standing up to the mean teacher. The common denominator of those campaigns is Fernstrom, who I’m sure has just as would-be clever lines and strategeries rehearsed Romney. The difference is Romney’s arrogance will make him look like a dick and a doofus. I think.
Anya
Speaking of debates, did any of you watch Tammy Baldwin debate Tommy Thompson? I only caught 10 minutes of it and I thought they were both awful. I can’t imagine it helped either of them, so it’s good that Rep. Baldwin is way ahead.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@mr.peabody: Of course it’s an option, in the same way that the US not responding to Pearl Harbor would have kept us out of World War 2.
Southern Beale
Remember Bush’s “zinger,” “Want some wood? {heh heh heh}”
That was so odd, but I remember people thought it was a good one. And I guess that was unscripted because no one knew Kerry was going to accuse Bush of owning timber or whatever the BS set up for that was.
Southern Beale
@Anya:
I’m sure my Twitter feed is biased but according to that, Thompson tripped all over himself.
Violet
@jwb: Don’t know if they’re doing the instant response metering, but found this on CNN’s blog:
Were the people doing the real time reaction last time from one state or from all over the country?
Anya
@Southern Beale: He came off old and cranky and kept mispronouncing things. But Baldwin was so meek it annoyed me.
Southern Beale
Also, there’s this:
So I’m guessing something about Obama being a Hollywood celebrity to busy with his Hollywood friends for presidentin’.
Southern Beale
Also, probably, “you can’t keep blaming Bush.”
Except of course we all do. Most Americans blame Bush for ruining the economy.
Southern Beale
Oh yeah and remember when the media made a big deal about Al Gore’s sighs? Yeah the media can turn any fail into a “zinger” if they want to.
James E. Powell
@Southern Beale:
My reply to that: We are not blaming Bush, we are blaming the Bush’s policies. It was those policies that brought down the economy and now you are asking us to go back to those policies.
SarahT
Romney 25 minutes into 1st debate : “(sputters, coughs, sputters , stammers) Oh yeah ? Well at least we didn’t EAT our dog ! (resumes sputtering & coughing)”
Corner Stone
INT TD for Texans bizerattis!
ding dong
Something to do with him being the grandpa of obamacare romneycare and obama being the daddy. Baby daddy? Romney would say something stupid like that.
mr.peabody
OT, but somebody needs to intervene with Chris Christie. The dude is gonna have a heart attack soon if he doesn’t step away from the table.
I don’t like the dude’s politics, but he is interesting. He’s got a family to think about.
Alex S.
Well, it will be awkward.
The best zinger against Obama, in my opinion, came from Sarah Palin, actually. At her RNC speech she said that Obama had no major legislative initiative on his record, but already wrote two autobiographies (by 2008). That was good.
My contribution: “Barry cheated by stealing my healthcare idea” or something like that…
@redshirt: I like that.
StevetheWeave
@R. Porrofatto: +1
RossInDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
@SatanicPanic:
IIRC, part of that putdown was ‘you went to Cranbrook’. Yeah, same Cranbrook that Mittens attended.
We can hope.
PreservedKillick
@Violet:
Of course. That’s the whole point. Romney doesn’t want to talk about actual, you know, policy – because that’s toxic. Since you don’t want to be called on that, you setup the debate to be about “zingers”, and you load up with “zingers”, which is simple compared to loading up with a bunch of policy. That you don’t actually want to discuss anyway. Worked OK for Sarah Palin, right?
You want to make sure you start all of that by accusing the press of bias first, so that they will overcorrect away from anywhere near where they might call you on this tactic.
The entire Romney campaign is just so shallow and cynical, it annoys. They really need to be called out for trying to run a campaign so obviously based on lies, twisted sound bites and an utter lack of substance.
Mike E
I’ll be at my GOTV phone job for the first hour so I will collect zingers online soon after from y’all.
ETA it will be some variation on “I’ve made my bed and I will shit in it all I want!” or “That chicken is just a good friend.”
Alex S.
@taylormattd:
haha…
Corner Stone
TD Texans bizzies!!
wrb
I don’t think zingers will do it.
If you take the teleprompter from the affirmative action, transcript-hiding, gay, lazy, golfing Muslim Kenyan negro and don’t wipe the floor with him what does it say about Mitt?
What does it say about the future of the white race?
Joey Maloney
@mr.peabody:
If by “intervene” you mean “deliver him a plate of delicious, piping hot deep-fried Mars bars and a sack of triple bacon cheeseburgers”.
Anya
@mr.peabody: Don’t forget, camera adds ten pounds.
bemused senior
@Corner Stone: Here is a story that reports various sources for drone casualties. Compare and contrast even the high end estimates with the conventional war civilian casualties.
Nancy Cadet
R-Money zingers:
1. “Salaam Aleikhum” as greeting to his ‘secret Kenyan Muslim’opponent
2. “Boxers or briefs? Why neither, my man…”
3. Whispering “White Power” at strategic moments throughout debate, as the renowned “Katherine Harris” impersonator (Janeane Garofalo) does on Sam Seder’s Majority Report podcasts, when she’s being interviewed.
Ohmmade
“We hoped you’d get us jobs, but instead all we got was pocket change.”
quannlace
“You people better back off or I’ll sic Ann on you again.”
Fort Geek
@arguingwithsignposts: I’d give money to see rMoney using the “Ermahgerd!!” meme.
quannlace
Something about the NFL replacement refs?
Triassic Sands
@Yutsano:
My initial thought. If Romney wants to appeal to his base, he’ll have to have at least one birth certificate zinger.
Shalimar
If he makes a penis joke, I will contribute to the Romney campaign just to keep the entertaining implosion going.
JPL
@SarahT: Do you mean that he might wander around the stage looking for Mr. Puddles?
JoyfulA
@Another Halocene Human: Cornelius, isn’t it?
Jim, not at all foolish, beat me to the trivia correction. The reason is perhaps that “Cornelius McGillicuddy Baseball Stadium” wouldn’t fit on the front door of the park.
Corner Stone
Sweep the leg. Yeeeeaaahhhh, put ’em in a body bag!
or IOW, TD Texans bizzeroos!!
cat48
Plouffe on MTP was asked about Rombot by Gregory & the zingers & debate practicing since June & Christie’s stmt that it would change the race. Plouffe in his dry, matter of fact way cracked me up, “Well, we’re sure he’ll put on quite a show Wednesday night.”
It sorta sums up Rombot “a show” and frankly, he has been quite a spectacle to behold since he started the general.
JoeShabadoo
It isn’t going to be any different than a regular debate.
If zingers could just be made ready and thrown into the debates they would already be there. A “zinger” is just an effective attack which is what each side in the debate is already trying to do.
If Romney is really pushing this it just means he is going to roboticly say some lines at entirely inappropriate times or say lines that are borderline inappropriate because he needs a win or he is toast. Romney couldn’t even pull off a good zinger without looking awkward.
Corner Stone
@bemused senior: I’d like for you to flesh your comment out a little further if you choose to please.
Another Halocene Human
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: oops, fudged his name again, sorry. I just think it’s so ridiculous that he goes by Connie Mack, it’s like a fucking combover.
bemused senior
@Corner Stone: Your post I responded to seemed to discount the casualty numbers in Booman’s article (perhaps I was misinterpreting it). The article I cited describes various estimates, and even the highest don’t seem comparable even in order of magnitude terms to boots-on-the-ground (or pilot-in-the-air) warfare. IMHO Booman’s arguments hold no matter whose estimate for civilian casualties you adopt.
Frankensteinbeck
@wrb:
As a member of the white race, I would like to say that Romney does not represent me, I am in no way dependent on his ‘zingers’, and if asked to debate Black Metrosexual Abe Lincoln I would run the fuck the other way. And then vote for him. Again.
wrb
@Frankensteinbeck:
Ah, but the cognitive dissonance if the brilliant captain of finance can’t utterly trounce the Kenyan slacker from the ghettos of Kansas!
Minds must implode.
askew
@Alex S.:
Except it wasn’t true. Obama managed to get 3 major legislative initiatives enacted (Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, Lugar-Obama nuclear non-proliferation initiative, and the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act) while in the Senate for 4 years. Which is more than many senators have gotten done in twice the time (see Hillary Clinton).
Corner Stone
@bemused senior: No, you had it correctly I think.
For anyone to ever cite Booman on any tangentially related issue from here on in is an endorsement of Booman’s sheer swallowing of the entire Obama presidency absent criticism.
No civilians killed this year? Buffoon.
shortstop
Didn’t Mitt already tell some reporter he was going to tell Obama, “There you go again!” in a debate? This provides the double benefit of being a hoary old standard and having been preannounced. Should be stunningly effective.
Dave N.
@GeneJockey:
I picture George Costanza trying to set-up his co-worker so he can deliver his rehearsed “jerk store” line.
Ash Can
Something about Prince Albert in the can, whether Obama’s refrigerator is running, and “‘orange’ you glad I didn’t say ‘banana.'”
scav
@Ash Can: You 8 the Sandbox?#33;
Alex S.
@askew:
I’d give it a half-true. None of these acts really entered the public consciousness even though they’re important. McCain had at least McCain-Feingold, until the Supreme Court killed it.
hitchhiker
They’re saying that part of the debate will be about the role of government . . . this could actually be interesting.
lacp
This debate should be almost too painful to watch. With the cyborg firing off non sequiturs randomly throughout the evening, then immediately mugging for the cameras, the net effect (at least for me) would be kind of like watching someone get hemorrhoid surgery without anesthetics.
Jon
The you didn’t tbuild that thing.
Xecky Gilchrist
@Corner Stone: Darmok for Wingnuts™
Soooo much win
LanceThruster
If Rmoney picks any time in the debate to rudely interrupt the President, I hope Obama covers his mouth, pretending to grumble, “Douchebag says ‘What?'” until that point Rmoney says, “What?”
He might even throw in on his own, “And I am not a douchebag!”
mapaghimagsik
@Anya:then he must have eaten about 20 of them
nellcote
I think PBO will beat Rmoney to the “there you go again” line.
Xecky Gilchrist
I’m going to guess that Rmoney is going to reach back to 2008 for zingers – Rev. Wright, community organizing, fifty-seven states, etc.
Then maybe a few of the Limbaughisms – Darmok for Wingnuts™! ha, thanks, Corner Stone – that he doesn’t even really understand but is hauling out as sort of cargo-cult wingnut talismans.
YellowJournalism
Something about Pibnochio and something about owing he American people change back for taking all their hope. And magical unicorns.
H. Dumpty
Obama should reprise his “skinny kid with a funny name” line from 2008, but point out that no matter who wins, the net president will fit that bill. It seems silly, but there’s some political value in pointing out the ridiculousness of a grown man willfully going by “Mitt”, especially if he wants to be the leader of the free world (or whatever). Turns the “otherness” game back on Mitt because it just seems aristocratic. Best part – he can do it while sounding inclusive.
StonyPillow
Christie, when the floor joists fell.
BC
The problem with Romney practicing the zingers is that he will let them loose at the first opportunity without fully considering the context. He did this with the Libya incident, attacking the president for what embassy in Egypt said at a time when the ambassador in Libya was being attacked. I think he might do this with his idea of how Obama lies about Romney – try to use one of his zingers when Obama makes a contrast between himself and Romney. My gut instinct is whatever the zinger is, it will be thought by general public to be off topic or inappropriate and Romney will lose another news cycle.
Cacti
“There you go again” – because Rmoney imagines himself the second coming of Reagan, all the way down to how he dyes his hair.
Also, too:
Apologizing for America
Abandoning Israel
Teleprompter
Hope and Change
Reverend Wright
Obamacare
etc.
The same stale crap he’s been peddling for months.
GoodGuyGreg
Some guy on the tweeter suggested, “The President should stop apologizing FOR America & start apologizing TO America.”
I’m going to say there’s a 98% chance of this being said verbatim.
Squiregeek
How about, “Well, that’s what a smart person would say, but we’re republicans…”
Quaker in a Basement
“Your mother was so fat that she had to buy cheap, unfashionable pret-a-porter!”
Sandia Blanca
Romney’s five sons will join him on stage for a “Gangnam Style” flashmob. Zing!
askew
@Alex S.:
Doesn’t matter if they’ve entered the public conscious. What matters is if the legislation had significant impact. All of those bills did.
artem1s
@Joey Maloney:
Obama at the podium, when the jobs were lost.
Cheney at the hunt, his aim wide.
SarahT
@JPL – Mr. Puddles, HA!; @ Sandia Blanca – I’d pay big bucks to see that !
hoi polloi
I think the more interesting question is how many of the “zingers” are, like 47%, out of
leftright field crazy-ass talking point stuff that will just baffle any genuinely persuadable voters.That said, he’ll also say something along the lines of “stop apologizing for America!”
Fun game: what do you drink when Mitt gets one of his zingers off? A stinger?
Uncle Ebeneezer
But, I brought all these……
Or maybe: “I was talking to a bright young man named Conor Freidersdorf the other day…”
Snarki, child of Loki
Romney: “Yeah, Obama is all about change…and hey, that reminds me! How many ni..black guys does it take to change Washington?”
amk
@Keith: Yup. Being the bot he is, he’ll repeat it all through out the debayte.
SBJules
@Cacti:
He will accuse The President of Stealing Obamacare.
His handlers will revolt.
JoeShabadoo
@Sandia Blanca: He already did the Gangnam Style zinger
KrisWV
@mr.peabody: Seriously. He’s scary to watch, you think “he’s going to have a heart attack at any moment.”
Gee
God, Romney’s like George Costanza practicing a zinger in “The Comeback”. I bet Seinfeld and David didn’t realize how prescient they were being: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KmTTy_MM5w&feature=related
SFAW
@Corner Stone:
“Darmok and Jihad with Viagra? WTF is this shit? Which MF nerd/hippie wrote this?”
HelloRochester
I’m gonna go with “Where’s The Beef?!” It hits his target demo and will definitely make people have warm fuzzy thoughts about their magical worry-free, tax-free lives under St Ron of Reagan.
yopd1
@Triassic Sands: THIS!
"Fair and Balanced" Dave
After Romney’s first failed attempt at humor, Obama’s response should be:
“Apparently, Governor Romney outsourced his joke writers”
Sasha
“Mr. Obama, tear down this wall separating church and state!”