Professional curmudgeon linguist John McWhorter, at TNR, pities the fool who won’t vote for Obama:
… [W]e have a President who has touted extra billions of dollars to community colleges; has states competing for Race To The Top funds to improve public schools where No Child Left Behind failed; has barnstormed the country pushing a jobs bill, and created the beginnings of a national health care system after 70 years of failed attempts. On what basis is this not a pro-black President? Have the results been dramatic? No—but a Republican establishment bent on keeping Obama from accomplishing a single thing has played a certain role in that. How Obama was supposed to have “blacked” his way past this obstructionism is decidedly unclear…
Prominent ‘Race to the Top’ critic Diane Ravitch, at CNN’s School of Thought blog, “Why I Will Vote for President Obama“:
… If elected president, Romney will curtail spending on everything except privatization of public education. He will lower standards for entering the teaching profession. His policies will devastate our public schools and dismantle the education profession. He supports charters and vouchers and welcomes the takeover of public schools by for-profit entrepreneurs. Unlike the Massachusetts reforms that he wrongly takes credit for, he offers not a single idea to improve public education. Romney nowhere acknowledges that free public education is a public responsibility and an essential institution in a democratic society.
Under a Romney administration, I fear not only for the future of public education but for the future of our society. Presently, nearly 25% of American children are growing up in poverty. We lead the advanced nations of the world in child poverty. Romney offers no proposals to reduce that scandalous number. Only government action can make a dent in a problem of that magnitude, but Romney believes in private charity, not government action….
A Romney administration promises a society in which life is very sweet for those at the very top, but hard, mean, and brutish for the growing number of Americans falling out of the middle class and into poverty….
But if the Smoking Gun is correct, Meat Loaf will not be voting for Romney…
The singer Meat Loaf, who [Friday] endorsed Mitt Romney at a raucous rally in Ohio, is not registered to vote in his home state of Texas, and this week sought a mail ballot from a Los Angeles home that he sold 17 months ago, records show…
The performer, a Texas native, earlier this year moved to Austin, where he purchased a $1.475 million home in March (the deed to the 1.1 acre property is in the name of the Abercrombie Lane Trust). In mid-June, Aday kicked off his 2012 concert tour in the state capitol, where the Austin American-Statesman referred to him as a “new Austinite.”
But Aday never got around to registering to vote in Texas, according to Travis County voter registration records and representatives with the county’s voter registrar. To be eligible to cast a ballot on November 6, Texas residents had to register to vote by October 9.
The singer, however, remains registered in Los Angeles, where he last voted in November 2008, according to records…
Well, it’s not as if Texas will fall out of the ( R ) column for the lack — or that California would have gone red if he’d bothered to vote there. But imagine the social embarrassment of getting busted as a non-voter after such a public, not to mention humiliating, endorsement…
Sophist
It’s Meatloaf. I don’t think fear of social embarrassment has a particularly strong influence on his behavior.
Sarah, Proud and Tall
Two McWhorter wiki links, no article linky. You fix.
Viva BrisVegas
If he sold his Los Angeles address 17 months ago and moved to Austin, just how does he manage to vote in California?
Nicole
People need to cut Meatloaf a break. Back in the 1970’s, half his brain was placed into a Frankenstein’s beefcake by a transvestite, and he’s never really recovered.
Cmm
I will always love that the New York Times insisted on referring to Meat Loaf as “Mr. Loaf” back in the day. Not sure what their standard is these days.
Alison
@Viva BrisVegas: Retroactively cancelling the home sale?
James E. Powell
Everybody will have a similar moment that he or she will recall. For me, it was seeing Romney on a stage with Meatloaf in Defiance, Ohio. Romney standing there on that stage in Dumptruck County, Ohio, with that campaign rictus of his, watching Meatloaf butcher America the Beautiful. And right then I knew he was going to lose.
Haydnseek
Please! Let us not be so harsh! The list of Rmoney endorsers is quite impressive! We have one Donald Trump, one Ted Nugent, a prolapsed pig rectum in the form of a defective human named Sununu (not my term, can’t remember whose at +4 but trying to avoid plagiarism) and a host of grifters, scoundrels, and out and out neo-fascists. I saw the performance of Mr. Loaf at what seemed to be an Rmoney event, and while his performance was problematic, at best, I have no doubt that he’ll be fine, as long as he doesn’t venture too close to the governor of the great state of New Jersey.
mai naem
@James E. Powell: The worst part was that Rmoney didn’t know how to act(react?) during the endorsement. He didn’t look embarrassed/shocked but he didn’t quite look happy. It was just this dumb look of “Sheet, I look dumb whatever face I put on.”
I actually would be more worried about voter fraud if I was Meat Loaf not get caught as a non-voter but it would be some sweet schadenfreude watching him getting busted for voter fraud. We could send that to Von Sparksky, John Fund, Husted and Steve Einhorn.
Also too, WTF is wrong with these ex-Goldman Sachs a-holes? Leon Cooperman and Steve Einhorn are both ex-GS bigshots. How could these mofos come from the same place as Corzine and Robert Rubin. And, yeah, I know about Corzine and Rubin’s post-political financial fvck ups.
Michael G
I would do anything for Mitt, but I won’t do that.
Haydnseek
@Michael G: Nice!
Phoenician in a time of Romans
@Nicole:
Back in the 1970’s, half his brain was placed into a Frankenstein’s beefcake by a transvestite, and he’s never really recovered.
Well, we all did a lot of drugs back then…
I think he should be hounded for potential voter fraud and intimidated into not voting.
gene108
I know several people, who are voting for Romney because they feel Obama didn’t get it done with regards to the economy and figure someone, who made a pile of cash will help them make piles of cash.
I’m not sure what the best way is to point out to people that America does better economically under Democrats. These guys are huge fans of Bill Clinton, because of how prosperous the 1990’s were.
These aren’t generally stupid people and have an above average degree of intellectual curiosity, but I guess political awareness is a blind spot for them.
Also, too telling a lot of people that the poors will get hammered in a Romney administration doesn’t really connect, because that sort of thing doesn’t effect them directly.
Villago Delenda Est
@Michael G:
You took the words right out of my mouth.
All revved up with no place to go.
Anne Laurie
@Sarah, Proud and Tall: Dang. Fixed, thank you!
(This machine need replacing, but that task keeps getting bumped by larger projects like the heating system, and the rapidly-failing wiring… )
mikej
More Obama votes and fewer for Romney? Ain’t no doubt about it we’re doubly blessed.
gene108
@Michael G:
When Corzine was governor in New Jersey, he passed a couple of taxes.
One that was handled poorly and quickly turned people off to him was a 1% increase in the sales tax. He let the state government get shut down for a week, while he refused to pass the legislature’s budget unless the sales tax increase was passed.
The other was a surtax on incomes over a million dollars.
Gov. Christie pretty quickly rolled back the millionaire’s tax, while leaving the sales tax increase in place.
The millionaire’s tax cost the state $800 million, which Gov. Christie offset by slashing funding to school districts, which led to a waves of teachers “retiring early” or getting laid off, back in 2010.
Also, too Gov. Christie’s gutted services to the poors, but since most people don’t deal with the poors, you have half the state thinking he’s doing a great job because his actions haven’t hit home for them.
JoyceH
@gene108:
Uh… he made that pile of cash for HIMSELF. Not for anybody else. Others he interacted with during his ‘business’ (*cough* piracy, plunder, pillage *cough*) career didn’t fare so well.
Princess
Well, two out of three ain’t bad.
Plantsmantx
Every Presidential candidate I’ve voted for has been a Democrat, and I voted for them in large part on the basis of their commitment to black America. I’ve never read or heard anyone say that voting for all those white candidates on that basis was a questionable thing to do.
Why is John McWhorter voting for Obama?
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
@gene108: It’s really simple, Gene– Obama’s a Negro, and that just won’t do.
giltay
As much as I disagree with Meat Loaf’s endorsement, I prefer the Canadian system where you can register to vote at the polling place on voting day. Forgetting to register is a little screwup that should interfere with the fundamental democratic right.
Seth Owen
@giltay: Thats because Canada wants people to vote. Texas, not so much, especially if they are the wrong sort. A number if US states have much later voter registration deadlines.
El Cid
In this actual, real, existing world, come inauguration day this January the President will either be A or B.
That’s it. There will be no other options, there are no other surprise developments.
And in this actual, real, existing world, some of the things A will do as President differ from B and vice versa, while some will remain the same.
Many of the things which would be the same or nearly the same vary between non-helpful and harmful.
However, the things which are different are of enormous significance.
Whether you choose between A & B or not, there will be a result — either A or B will have the entire power of the highest political office in the United States in his hands.
There will be no X% of A and Y% of (Preferred Alternative). There will be A or B. That’s it. It doesn’t matter how you feel about that choice, or whether you think the differences in outcomes are of worthwhile significance or not. The outcome is irrespective of your feelings and conscience.
If you don’t want B, you can exert some effort in this actually existing world to cause the outcome to be A taking office, or vice-versa.
If you don’t want A or B, you will still get A or B, and so will everyone else in the country and world. Reality does not listen to what you want, it reflects what happens. It is what happens, by definition.
Davis X. Machina
@giltay re same day registration.
We have that in Maine. We’ve had it for almost 40 years. The GOP-majority legislature did away with it last year, and we turned right around and restored it via referendum — a referendum that got the necessary signatures in the least time ever recorded.
Amir Khalid
@Cmm:
Meatloaf’s real name is Marvin Lee Aday, and I’ve seen him go by the acting credit Meatloaf Aday. Per NYT’s house style, he should be Mr. Aday in subsequent mentions.
Steeplejack
@Amir Khalid:
While you’re being pedantic, please note that his stage name is “Meat Loaf,” not “Meatloaf.”
Amir Khalid
@Steeplejack:
I standz corrected. Meat Loaf it is.
psycholinguist
McWhorter is a strait up badass, one of those rare academics who has real scholarly accomplishments and the gift of communicating them to a general audience. I assign a few of his linguistic papers to my freshpeople, and it is pretty cool to see how it changes their self-perception afterwords. Makes them feel scholarly and engaged. Good stuff.
Mike in NC
Looking forward to Meat Loaf, Ted Nugent, and Hank Williams Jr. to announce “LosersTour 2013”.
Steeplejack
@Amir Khalid:
Sorry. I got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.
RaflW
@giltay: Minnesota has election-day registration at the polls too. Or we do now.
It looks quite likely that the f’d up “voter ID” amendment will pass, at which point a whole lot of people who lack a current, gov’t issued photo ID with their current, correct residential address will be out o’ luck on at-the-polls registering.
And really, we won’t know how this amendment will be implemented – if (urp) – it passes. So it matters who the heck we elect to our MN state House and Senate.
Scary times…
muddy
@Mike in NC: I saw on tv that Romney is having a huge rally coming up (today?) and that the big star is Kid Rock. He really does go for the cutting edge of the music scene.
Hal
@gene108:
And this should be exhibit number one of why voting for Romney is so fucking stupid. Republicans tried to flush Bill Clinton out of the White House and all the same bullshit conspiracy theories and hatred you see now for Obama was test run on Bill and Hilary Clinton.
Clinton stayed President and left the Oval Office with a country doing pretty damn good economically. Then they voted for Bush, the country went off a cliff, and because Obama hasn’t been able to waive his magic black wand and make America a utopia, they want to vote for the android who can barely emulate human behavior because my gosh, he made so much money at Bain, he’ll be a fantastic President!
Oh, and yes, I realize the role Clinton played in deregulation and the effect on the housing crisis etc, but still…
Zak44
@Steeplejack:
Or, in a New York Times concert review many years ago, “Mr. Loaf.”
BTW, does this make him guilty of “voter fraud”?
JustAnotherBob
@gene108:
You could start with this information from FOX Business News –
Thanks to their pro-business approach and the anemic recovery, Republicans would seem to have a clear path to grab the economic mantle heading into the 2012 race for the White House.
However, history actually shows that the U.S. economy, stock prices and corporate profits have generated stronger growth under Democratic administrations than Republican ones.
According to McGraw-Hill’s (MHP ) S&P Capital IQ, the S&P 500 has rallied an average of 12.1% per year since 1901 when Democrats occupy the White House, compared with just 5.1% for the GOP.
Likewise, gross domestic product has increased 4.2% each year since 1949 when Democrats run the executive branch, versus 2.6% under Republicans.
Even corporate profits show a disparity: S&P 500 GAAP earnings per share climbed a median of 10.5% per year since 1936 during Democratic administrations, besting an 8.9% median advance under Republicans, S&P said.
Due to their “tax-and-spend” reputation, investors expect Democratic administrations to underperform Republican ones and be “poison to any portfolio,” Sam Stovall, chief equity strategist at S&P Capital IQ, wrote in a note. “History shows the opposite to be true, however.”
http://www.foxbusiness.com/investing/2012/09/04/history-shows-markets-gdp-outperform-under-democrats/#ixzz2AzCIeQQR
The you could show them this page that finds –
“(A) $10,000 investment in the S.& P. stock market index* would have grown to $11,733 if invested under Republican presidents only, although that would be $51,211 if we exclude Herbert Hoover’s presidency during the Great Depression. Invested under Democratic presidents only, $10,000 would have grown to $300,671 at a compound rate of 8.9 percent over nearly 40 years.”
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/10/14/opinion/20081014_OPCHART.html
gene108
@Hal:
I was thinking about Clinton and deregulation, but figure all else being the same a Republican House and Senate after Bush, Jr. took office would’ve done it anyway.
mainmati
@Alison: Love it!! Meatloaf is as smart as a, well, meatloaf.