We have a few rolling poll averages taken largely since Paul Ryan was announced as Romney’s pick for VP. Gallup has Romney on top by 2. Rasmussen, taken entirely after the Ryan pick, has MR up by 3. Things have bounced around in these polls very tightly for a while now. What we can infer is that the Ryan pick did no immediate harm to Romney. I can infer all by my lonesome that Ryan inspired the GOP base and, in essence, closed the deal with conservatives. They’ll show up now and that could make the difference.
Ryan’s approval/disapproval is 39% to 25% respectively, meaning a big chunk of people just don’t know him well enough to have an opinion. Though being well ahead in the approval derby is a far better place for Ryan to start. As I mentioned earlier: On first blush, he’s likable. He’s not an easy target either. His plan is an easy target. He’s not. It’s interesting to watch Democrats try to demonize a plan, not mock a person. They are not very good at it. Many are out of practice discussing real issues. Mockery of Ryan is coming and it will probably be fun. I’m not up on my current SNL cast members but think Alec Baldwin 50 pounds ago riding around in the Wienermobile. Someone will nail it.
How Ryan is defined over the next few days matters. Based on what I’ve seen so far the Democrats are trying mightily – and failing – to demonize Ryan. This could change of course. One crappy interview is all the media needs. So far support for Ryan is coming from some vaguely surprising places. And the criticism is borderline pathetic.
Debbie Wasserman-Schultz needs to go away. Is Bill Clinton the only Democrat left standing who understands how to clock Republicans in a way the middle appreciates? Progs have turned the party into a bunch of blabbering boobs always on the verge of screaming the truth by accident and appearing frustrated that they can’t. JUST LET ME CONFUSE THINGS WITH GIBBERISH! If we talk issues we might lose and if we lose we can’t tell everyone how to live and then people will feel bad because we know better and they look to us to know how to feel! For time’s sake this is often distilled down to one word: Racist! Sometimes two: Grandma! Cliff! At any rate, Ryan is holding up well so far.
Democrats will have to figure out a way to attack Ryan’s plan in way that isn’t easily rebutted hysteria. If Wolf Blitzer is dismissing your talking points out hand – ya got problems. As with 2010 there is a case the Democrats could make but it lacks emotionalism, so they will blow dog whistles instead. This is more fun I suppose. I’m not sure there is anyone left in the party (except Bill Clinton) who can make the case calmly, such is the corrosiveness of hologram Obama. Biden told a largely black audience today that Romney wanted to put “y’all“ back in chains. As always, comments like this both assume black voters are toddlers and send ever more white voters quietly fleeing. I can almost feel Biden’s brain thinking “There are black people here! Hit ‘y’all’ hard!” Giuliani asked out loud if Biden has the mental capacity to be President. A question well worth pondering. I think Biden’s smart enough – when he lays off the sauce.
Post Ryan announcement, the race is still up for grabs in my estimation. The emergent Romney narrative of “put adults back in charge” is becoming clearer. Obama’s narrative remains making the other side toxic. Tough sell, but doable. The Chicago cabal is good at its job.
Related articles
- The 3 Dumbest Things Democrats Have Said in the Last Day (theatlantic.com)
- Biden calls Ryan policies ‘irresponsible’ (miamiherald.com)
After the juvenile, junior high antics of the obots in 08- adults in charge is a tempting message.
I hope no one here is offended by papaya. I like them.
Both sides are guilty of thinking they know better and wanting to tell everyone else how to live.
I doubt that the whole Biden “they’re gonna put y’all in chains” comment was an off the cuff gaffe, although I think Biden is hilariously gaffe prone to the point where I wonder if they just bring him out there just to say something stupid.
I don’t think it was a gaffe on Biden’s part, especially considering the fact that he was flanked by teleprompters. I think “They’re Gonna Put Ya’ll Back In Chains” is out there for a reason, and not just specifically to encourage bloc-voting. It’s the big lie, and goes back to what John said about Romney/Ryan allowing OFA to define them rather than defining themselves. Gaffe or not, “They’re Gonna Put Ya’ll Back In Chains” has legs, and again based on the big lie idea, the absurdity of it isn’t really an issue, it’s the fact that it’s out there.
Same deal goes for the Debbie Wasserman Schultz “interview” with Wolf Blitzer. One can surmise that the whole talking point was that “The Ryan plan is going to shred the safety net of Medicare” but when pressed and questioned, DWS couldn’t articulate it.. I think part of it is that the media has given the Obama team a pass for the most part, and they aren’t prepared to think on their feet. I was suprised that it came from Wolf Blitzer, although probably not as surprised as Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Whether you agree with Bill Clinton or not, listening to him speak, he seemed like a person that not only had a grasp on the issues, but was genuinely invested in the issues he was talking about. For me that was what was so captivating about watching Clinton as President, he seemed genuinely engaged in what he was talking about… part of that is because he seemed to have that kind of mind and I’m sure part of it was that Clinton can sell ice to eskimos if he wanted to.
Most of the Obama team of Democrats that I see up there now seem like they are just talking through it.
I’m not even really excited about debates at this point, as much as you can still call them debates.
“One can surmise that the whole talking point was that “The Ryan plan is going to shred the safety net of Medicare” but when pressed and questioned, DWS couldn’t articulate it.. ”
Even worse, Ryan’s budget does nothing to combat the spread of feline AIDS.
ROFLLL Tamer.
Bill Clinton has a brilliant political mind, the best of my lifetime, anyway. Not surprisingly, many Americans would install him permanently in the WH if they could.
The O camp and its’ groupies haven’t had to answer a hard question, ever, they do not know how and it’s too late to learn. This plays out to Romney’s benefit. Also the Ryan pick is forcing the networks to give Romney some air time and exposure, and likely not happily, to be sure… All O and his pals have left is character assassination, and ultimately, the Race card, watch for it, they will drop it with a thud.
No other administration would have been able to put a shroud over F and F, or Solyndra, as this one has. I read just today that not only is one of O’s top bundlers a 35% owner of Solyndra, he is also BFF with Jarrett and Jarrett’s late father. What an incestuous little bunch of crooks they are.
I’m at a complete loss as to why any of them think the race card is anything but counter productive. It offends the exact people they need: working class whites.
And to think Cokie Roberts had the gall to claim that Romney’s trip to Poland was to whip up support among “that ethnic group.” Proglodytes have race on the brain.
Somebody who gets paid to write saved me the trouble of a blog post:
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/313882/white-brain-victor-davis-hanson
If I’d posted that article Tamerlane, someone would be along any minute to suggest I’m promoting conservatives and their ideas. How DO you get away with it?
Forgot the obligatory wink. Here ya go:
He’s honest.
Nobody who sticks around here commenting is pro-Obama or wants him to be President. Every single person who posts here regularly sees that Obama and his surrogates use race as a weapon.
“If I’d posted that article … someone would be along any minute to suggest I’m promoting conservatives and their ideas.”
But you are. Which is your prerogative. Still, you’ve yet to make a persuasive argument that the GOP ticket’s plans for the economy, the budget, health care, etc., are anything but standard conservative fare.
I heard the Biden line this morning. (I always listen to Rush when I go pick up hay.) It sounded prepared to me, but also as if Biden hesitated for a second before committing to what the still-functioning bit of his brain must’ve realized was a stupid affectation.
As someone who first picked up ‘yall’ 25 years ago from a GF from Kentucky, then had it burnished by a colleague from Texas, and now has it nurtured on a regular basis by a buddy from ‘bama, I can assure all y’all that Joe Biden, bless his heart, never uses that colloquialism.
Don’t get me started on how preposterous a statement it was, or the desperate, flaming race-baiting behind it.
I think you’re missing the point on the chains comment. If Team Obama needs to scare black people into not wandering, he’s got bigger problems than the white working class.
Also, this befuddlement on the left over Mediscaring not really working is a product of Romney’s brilliance in picking Ryan. It’s part of why he was picked, though before I get to that I’d like to point that Ryan and Christie were the last two standing, according to news reports, and the only reason Christie didn’t make the final cut was because he refused to resign the governorship. With that gloating point done, let me take a shot at explaining the befuddlement.
Every talking point Obamacrats have made so far in the Mediscare attempt just points to the flaws in Obamacare. Mediscaring involves making people afraid of the personal cost to them of privatization. But Obamacare has been promised to lower costs and premiums, neither of which it does, but those are the talking points.
Obamacrats arguments reveal the big lie. Health care costs are not going down, and premiums are going up, because of Obamcare. It gives cart blanche to the whole health care industry to take a captive audience for a wild, partially government-funded ride. That’s why Mediscare is not working. Because, like with the economy, Obamacrats bump into their own lies via the very points they are arguing.
With Ryan, Romney has Obama and Biden boxed into a corner on two of the most important issues of the election, just like Ali did to Frasier once he was done with rope-a-dope.
Here’s another way Romney is out-thinking Obama. Team Obama thinks they know they game. They’ve studied every election they think matters and are trying to force their own cumulative narrative of what’s worked in elections they think can help. To that end, they expected Ryan to have to transform his friendly persona into an attack dog persona. But that’s not happening. Ryan is now out there selling Romney’s positive agenda, while Romney goes on the offense, as he did in his well-covered speech today telling Obama to take his hate back to Chicago.
It’s Romney</I. who's going to take the fight directly to Obama, not Ryan, and because Team Obama thinks they know what to expect, it's putting them off-balance and off-message. While he's on the attack, ftr, he's making the most sensible appeals to the broad, moderate middle, so the bipartisan appeal game is starting under the auspices of offense, another unexpected point. Romney can only pull that off because of who he is. He's polite, efficient, and deadly.
BTW, I'm going to Oxford, OH to see Ryan in person tomorrow. He's speaking at his alma mater, so he should be on his best game. I can't wait. I'm leaving hours early just to get a good place in line. It looks like we'll have lots to talk about Friday.
Clean up on aisle 8! John, if you see this, would you be so kind as to close that italics tag for me? I hate to see all that italics at the end of my comment. It kind of ruins it for me. Color me a pedant if you have to.
I don’t understand your logic here, Lola. I agree that obamacare is an insurance corp. boondoggle with increasing governmental subsidization of those corporations; as the public is less and less able to afford the increasing premiums and medicaid is broadened, but how does this make the privatization of medicare that Ryan proposes any more palatable? Yes, it points to obama’s continual hypocrisy and deflates his argument, but a boondoggle is a boondoggle and the vendorization of medicare by Ryan is a boondoggle as well.
lililiam, I’m not suggesting that Ryan’s Medicare proposal is any better. I’m not taking a side on that until I see more detail. Right now Ryan-Wyden is big on ideas and short on specific policy. But Romney-Ryan’s argument is that a) they can restore the Obamacare cuts to Medicare via repealing Obamcare, b) that current and near-future retirees will see no changes to what they’ve expected, and c) that they can present a choice and preserve Medicare by providing better services to long-term future retirees via a competitive market of government-approved private insurance policies that compete with Medicare itself, and that are highly regulated in structure. I’d have to see more policy details to know, but so far it sounds an awful lot like the conservative version of a public option.
This is exactly right.
And yet you’ve been shilling for the Republican version of the big lie. That’d be bad enough if you were a Republican but you claim you’re a liberal. Your webs are tangled, Lola.
If their new plan provides better services then why is it desirable for current and near future retirees to stay on the old plan?
And “government approved private insurance policies” are still private insurance – how does private insurance sound an awful lot like a public option?
Not so much as your thinking is simplistic and boxed in, Zal.
Do not feed the troll
No surprise here, but I agree with lililam and zal. I really cannot comprehend your enthusiasm for R/R, Lola-at-large. But I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree. It confounds me that any former or current democrat can support R/R. I voted McCain/Palin as a protest, and I could live with them winning, but these two? It is mind boggling.
I am not criticizing Lola’s support of Romney, we just need to go there with eyes wide open, if possible. I cannot vote for obama, I cannot stand him. I was preparing to vote for Romney and likely still will (I am not sure, to be honest), but Ryan gives me a gut level fear and aversion that obama gave me when I first heard him in 2004. I had hoped that Romney would have opted for someone more healing and moderate, but he pandered to the extremists and the good ole boys. I would have much preferred Christie (I consider his candor and humor to be healing) or possibly ole whats his name from Ohio. I am disappointed. I had no difficulty voting for McCain- I actually like him, but I do not like Ryan. And that only covers the emotional aspect of things- I don’t have the energy to discuss the logic right now, unfortunately- too busy surviving.
Romney seems to have accomplished two things with the selection of Ryan. He shut up the whining nay-saying of the far right who were critical of the “moderate” Romney. The symbolism of a fiscal conservative with no real power as VP was enough apparently to get them on board. Next up the Obama-ites were caught flat-footed when Romney did not select a minority in the form of Rubio or some other Hispanic (or even more exotic Jindal) officeholder. Democrats are so invested in their theories of cobbling together coalitions of disparate groups and the growth of minority populations that they believe pandering is the only way to win a national election and that it had established some kind of precedent with their fake popular Obama. Romney is implying that he thinks Obama is a fluke, an aberration of strange circumstances, and a disaster not to be repeated. This has freaked out the Democrats and media. Romney also ignored the conventional wisdom of geographic diversity by selecting a fellow mid-westerner. I know Romney was the governor of Massachusetts but he is from Michigan and is essentially a mid-westerner as is Ryan. Romney seems to have threaded the needle with his own party and spit in the eye of the Democrats at the same time. Will it work? Maybe.
You know who else did this? William Jefferson Clinton. Remember all the hay that was made? The media was like, pffft! What’s he doing picking another Southerner?
I totally disagree with you about Romney implying any such thing about Obama and race. He’s acting like it doesn’t matter, like Obama is the same as any opponent.
That’s Obama, Obamacrats, and the media projecting their fear of what they hope people won’t read into the situation. That’s also the black community’s ultimate fear. I’ve heard it myself from friends and students. I understand it, but I don’t think it’s warranted.
My advice to the next party who wants to break a ceiling is to pick a more competent candidate.
Many voters have seen themselves in neat boxes for years. One labeled D, one R, and one called Indie.. Of course there are several sub categories over there in smaller boxes..We question each other’s virginity, have we strayed too far from Our box ? We even question ourselves..We see O in bed with Wall St, but because he’s partially Black, we don’t speak up. We see him enjoying life like a sultan, on our dime, and look aside.We watch him commit war crimes and shrug. .We zip our lips because we desperately want to remain in our long held box. To speak up, would be to lose our purity. We tolerate the intolerable, because we don’t want to leave a nice neighborhood of boxes that used to stand for something. It is comfortable there.
If all the boxes were rendered meaningless and empty, would we give them up ? Not easily, imo.
My grandmother told me I should read Pride and Prejudice once a year, along with Thoreau. Some years, they seem like new, fresh books, which only proves that the reader has changed, the books are still the same.
Perhaps we should allow ourselves to re-define our m.o. to something that reflects our present day grown up selves, or better yet, stop trying to fit into tight little boxes. I doubt the sky will fall.
Nice. Well said, Conner.
Very well said, Connor/Sophie.
One cannot read enough of Jane Austen.
Can’t help noticing that for three years Obama and his supporters, who define themselves as Democrats and liberals and progressives, have been sarcastically denigrated as “progs” and “bots” and criticized by liberals and progressives for being less than liberal and progressive.
How does the little boxes and self-expression as self-definitiion fit into that?
Is “liberal,” and other ideological identifiers, defined by each of us individually according to how we feel we want to be identified, and applied as we see fit to those we don’t like, or is there an actual definition of words that we can use to identify particular beliefs and actions?
Conner, what an interesting way to put this. Yes we feel comfortable in our nice little niche and consider ourselves pure, unviolated by the realities of politics as long as we vote appropriately. Perhaps this is why so many of us felt violated by the Dem Party? Not because the Obamacrats used dirty illegal tactics, all campaigns incorporate some degree of this to win, but that they did so to their OWN party members. We were used to being called vile things from repubs but not other dems.
My personal favorite political slur is “Democrat Party” when right conservatives refuse to call them “democratic” and I honestly I try and avoid calling people “repugs”, “proglodyte”, “prog”, even “liberal” because I think most people are either labelling themselves or judging against a cultural or societal idea of what those labels mean rather than the political ideology behind them and that’s when the whole magilla starts.
I am very liberal in my thinking and I expect the goverment to protect my rights to think and express myself in that way. I’m progressive in my social views, and I expect the government apparatus to function based on established laws under the US Constitution, not govern by either the prevailing winds of culture or the bygone more puritanical beliefs and culture of the culture of the past.
In terms of what I expect from the government in terms of guiding and participating force in out society, I considered myself mostly a blue collar New Deal Democrat.. and once I felt that the Democratic Party no longer represented those values I dont feel the same amount of affinity with modern Democrats.
Great comment, Sophie/Connor!
For sophie:
Thanks Zal, The best part was the martini. The rest ? Let me sip my martini and get back to you.
Is this Kunslter’s theme song?
“If Team Obama needs to scare black people into not wandering, he’s got bigger problems than the white working class. ”
They aren’t in danger of ‘wandering’, just not showing up to vote.
All indicators point to OFA conceding that the white indie vote is lost. Biden’s race-baiting won’t drive away a single indie voter who’d otherwise have voted for BO, but it may well inspire a black or a guilty white who were gonna sit home on Nov 6 to go and vote … or to send another $3.
Plus, the proglodytes are obsessed with race. They can’t help themselves.
“How Ryan is defined over the next few days matters. Based on what I’ve seen so far the Democrats are trying mightily – and failing – to demonize Ryan.”
John, I agree with your first sentence, but disagree with the second. I don’t think the Dems and O’s campaign have really started in on defining Ryan yet. My guess is they’re waiting till after the GOP Convention. Isn’t that when they started taking the hammer and tongs to Palin? Ryan stands a better chance now than he would’ve in the past — now that we’re closer to the fiscal cliff — but he’s still strapped to the proverbial “third rail.” There’s no evidence that that “rail” is no longer politically fatal, at least on the national stage. Or is there?
re: NES at 8:58 am:
Hmmm….. It sounds like they started trying to define him since Romney’s VP pick was announced, and the MSM is gleefully joining in the fray.
My opinion (which I’m sure will be pounced upon by the usual suspects, but I don’t give a fuck) is that the Dems and ObamaKamp are shitting their pants over this pick.
Have you noticed that their most vicious attacks on Romney/Ryan are the same old “Mediscare” tactics? That forces them to have to talk about Obamacare, and now, they have to defend all the money Obamacare stole from Medicare to fund itself. The only problem is that many of the cuts have already manifested, and seniors/disabled are already finding their drugs have been changed to generic (sometimes with disastrous effects – I know of one personally who had to be hospitalized because of an allergy to the buffers)
What will be interesting (to me) are the poll numbers of the bases of these two parties after their respective conventions. That’s when we’ll get a real picture of what we can expect in November, and I’m afraid it won’t bode very well for Obama. That delights me.
NES. If I remember correctly the Obots went nuts almost immediately on Palin. Then walked it back a bit until the Couric interview. The difference here is that Palin was a personal target for so many in the heat of a faddish campaign. Obama is not longer a fad. Ryan is harder to target personally unless they find stuff I don’t know about yet- which they could. I know seeing something about him and Ayn Rand turned me off but I doubt that adds up to much of a target.
Another reason this will be tougher: Saw a Zogby poll that says MR’s support among young voters has jumped up since Ryan come on. He’ll never get the majority but if he cuts in deeply Obama is in trouble. This confirms (at least for now and if the poll is any good) a theory I have about unformed youth frustration with the “third rail” thesis. No one under 40 I’ve ever met seriously thinks S.S. will be around for them. There is untapped resentment about the entire set up now and deep cynicism as well. Ron Paul tapped it on the periphery – is it about to go mainstream? I don’t know. It’s set up to. How this dynamic plays out over the next 2 months I do not know. I do think it’s something that we’ll continue to see going forward.
So I do think the “third rail” is weakening and Ryan is capable of selling an alternative. and I don’t see senior voters dashing to Obama in mass. The game is to get enough of them to in Ohio and Florida.
Biden has become more scary than Palin ever was. At least she was sober, and perhaps, teachable, in an emergency.
Anthony, I didn’t mean to imply that Obama/Dems haven’t started trying to define Ryan yet. They’ve certainly started; I was just noting that they haven’t done their best (worst from our perspective) yet. Eg, we haven’t yet seen pushing-granny-off-the-cliff calibre ads yet. I’m confident, however, that they’ll come in time.
I, too, am delighted that their initial Mediscare tactics have largely backfired by focusing attention on Obamacare and the 700 billion that was taken out of Medicare to fund it. (Amazing that the Dems appear to have been unprepared for that blowback.)
I really want to share your confidence that the Ryan pick will not fatally injure Romney — please bottle that (confidence) and send it to me.
JWS: Very interesting comment — lots of food for thought.
I agree that there is growing generational resentment among the young and that Ron Paul tapped it. I don’t know that it’ll go mainstream in this election cycle — we’ll see — but it will be a big issue going forward as more and more Boomers retire and tap into SS and Medicare. Paul Ryan is ideally placed — party-wise and philosophically — to tap into it for his future run(s) for the WH. I don’t look forward to the age-wars…they’ll be ugly.
It should be noted that Obama fired the first politically-weighty shot in the age-war with his “time to turn the page” rhetoric (aimed at HRC, the ultimate Boomer).
NES
They can’t go too far with the “Pushing Granny Off the Cliff While Her LIttle Rascal Is Still In First Gear” yet because the most obvious response would be to shed light on their own nefarious Comparative Effectiveness Research Review Boards (better known as “Death Panels”, and the last time I looked were written into the Stimulus Maximus, pp 400-426).
What would be better than me bottling my optimism is to get a look at internal polls, without the outliers and comprised of a wide enough swath of people that would most accurately represent the registered, partisan, likely and Independent voters, which as John pointed out, show a Romney advantage. At this writing, I feel confident. Who knows what’s going to happen in a few weeks, but right now everything looks fine.
As far as the Ryan pick, VP’s are selected to bring the faction of the partisan base to the polls, and as I said, Romney had a problem with conservative/Tea Party voters. Hopefully, selecting Ryan as VP took care of that. Think Kennedy/Johnson, Clinton/Gore, etc. Even Obama/Biden. VP picks are made to mobilize the base. Nothing more, nothing less.
The toughest nut to crack will be the most populous part of Fl., the Southeastern area. DWS territory, if she were not Jewish, she would be lucky to get elected to the local school board.
That is definitely an O area, except that unemployment is through the roof, and businesses are closing their doors every day. It will be interesting.
I was thinking about the whole DWS thing last night, and if there is a reason that she’s a part of the Obama/OFA machine it’s because of the area of SE Florida that she can bring.
The whole “chains” thing that Biden said IMO wasn’t meant to alienate white middle class voters, I think Obama has done a pretty good job of that already, but it’s there to scare a black voters into not sitting this election out. I think that’ll come up again for middle class women via reproductive rights, etc. and ultimately other voting blocs as the OFA team can craft scary issues around whatever pushes their buttons (probably immigration reform or lack thereof for Latinos). Romney will do the same thing to play up to his base with finance reform, entitlement program reform and use Ryan to play up to the evangelicals and religous right and sidestepping the fact that he’s Mormon.
So basically that puts us at the same split that we normally have and the election will be decided by that 5% of the people who havent made up their minds or dont care either way.
I just don’t see a lot of good ideas coming from either side at this point. Ryan’s medical reform proposal sounds a little less threatening than the media is making it out to be, but a quick glance at Romney’s economic plan (particularly in terms of labor and jobs) seems to be the same boiler plate Republican BS that they’ve been shilling in every election cycle since the 80s when manufacturing went down the tubes in the US (aka we’re going to train workers to have BETTER and MODERN jobs and get rid of all those pesky taxes and labor unions that are getting away of your ability to prosper). It’s a shitty plan, but at least he is coming to the table with one. Does the Obama team even have a plan? All I keep seeing are these stupid ads asking me to wish Barack a Happy Birthday and platitudes about how this election is going to come down to one view of a way of life (Barry’s) versus another (not Barry’s).
I also don’t see the connection that Lola/AB is trying to point out that Romney is “Clinton-like” or a Conservative Clinton as she put it… the only characteristic that I see Romney and Clinton sharing thus far is that they were both Governors…. but that’s about it.
I’m not under any illusions that Romney will be any different than Obama, other than providing the perception that someone “adult” is standing at the podium and doing the best they can while behind the curtain the banking and corporate cartels have a giant vaccum cleaner sucking every dollar and resource they can from this country while they still can…and I’ll say to myself “He may be a douche, but at least he gives the perception that he’s a competent douche”.
I think that this election is going to be ugly in the sense that we’re going to see more of what we saw in terms of “they’re gonna put ya’ll in chains” and stuff like that, and sooner or later we will start to see that from the Romney camp as well (Trump promises a “surprise” at the RNC) and Romney will try and triangulate and be above the fray as his ground team starts to play the game as well.
For me though, and this goes back to the challenge that Lola threw out that instead of complaining about it do something about it, I think what is going to happen as we go from post-industrial, post-technological/service based economy, we are going to have to start looking at what direction we’re going to go towards (possibly we go back to move state driven and local governement) because eventually once the two party system no longer has to run interference for the oligarchs and is unfettered from providing entitlement programs for the masses,that is what the idea of “small goverment” seems to mean IMO and I’m fine with that… I’d rather have a voice and contribution on that level than constantly feel sold out and manipulated by the big two party apparatus that we have in place now.
JWS asks: “Is Bill Clinton the only Democrat left standing who understands how to clock Republicans in a way the middle appreciates?”
Yes. The current crop of Democrats are completely unable to discuss substance. For one – every single economic policy they’ve tried hasn’t worked, and they honestly don’t know why. Secondly, they have never really understood their own health care plan and so none of them – including Obama – can actually make sense or explain it. I bet many of them were actually suprised by the cuts it makes to Medicare.
Where I disagree with your analysis John is that Clinton could absolutely explain coherently the difference in vision b/n Republicans and Democracts. I’m just not convinced he disagrees with where the Republicans are on deficit-busting, including their plan around entitlement reform. In fact, the Ryan plan – to safeguard for current recipients and provide a voucher program that injects competition into the marketplace for future recipients – is right along the lines of the type of plans that Clinton found attractive during this administration. Not all the time, but he finds those ideas compelling.
Remember, many people in his administration were pretty fiscally conservative – believing in free-trade, experimenting with education vouchers, budget balancing, etc. It’s why he clearly likes Ryan himself; it’s why people like Erskine Bowles have praised Ryan as brilliant. So, I’m not so sure Clinton would have the kind of fullthroated argument against where Romney/Ryan are now that we would expect.
Great comment, Dan. Agree on Clinton. In retrospect I find I didn’t like Clinton as well as I did when he was in office (and I voted for him twice).
He shilled for the Selected Won’s plan of defunding SS by two percent, and I think he was a banker plant as witnessed by how he gutted banking regulations and reform. And then there’s NAFTA and WTO.
Ah, it was run_dmc’s comment I answering. Don’t I feel foolish?
On another front – true story: My partner voted for Obama in 2008, and I never fail to give him grief over that. He is NOT voting for him this time around. And, this morning he woke up early, dug his P90X dvds out of a back closet and did the full regimen. He said he was “inspired by Paul Ryan.”
P90X-factor??
Unfortunately for Biden, it also reminded us of what an asshole he can sound like when he does President Jarrett’s bidding by speaking like a total dick. I never heard a more uncomfortable “y’all” in my life. He knew he was pushing it, and I’m glad it blew up in his face.
WP comments acting up. This was supposed to be in response to fembotsforobama @ 3:06 pm
Stories again circulating about BHO’s timeline if he’s gonna dump Biden. I think this is more possible than most, but still not at all probable. Polling in the next few weeks will matter. And Biden keeps making a jackass of himself.
I just checked the Google, and it sounds like that maybe that rumor came from a quote where Palin is saying that Obama should dump Biden over the “chains” remark and replace him with Hillary as VP. I think right after that she shoot a moose or something.
Joe Biden’s antics are the only amusement and pleasure I take from the train wreck that is the Obama administration, and for that reason alone I hope he goes down with the ship with Barry. That guy is just a sitcom waiting to happen.
Obama won’t dare drop Biden — it’ll look desperate. Besides he’d have to admit he was wrong by passing Hillary up for Biden in ’08. Lastly, Biden’s paying his way by being a vicious attack dog. The “chains” comment was not a gaffe — I agree with Tamer that it was scripted and intended to scare AfAms into voting.
Also in a bizarre/paranoid way, having the “chains” remark continue to get traction in the media (even negative traction) only helpes to scare black voters into not staying home on election day. If Obama chastises Biden over it he’d be saying he didn’t agree with it and people don’t have anything to worry about.
Biden is like the stand up comedian who warms up the audience before a burlesque show. He can go out and say the stupid/ugly things that Barry cant.
I disagree Dan. I think Biden is a sitcom that’s currently on the air with horrible ratings.
Zing!
Your’e right Jay, unfortunately
I get that the Biden chains comment serves a dog whistle to AAs. But I also see it as a dog whistle to *anyone* who is thinking about staying home or voting 3rd party on election day. I’m reminded of the old “workers cast off your chains” and women have been chained down by their female parts, the modern day version of the chastity belt. Biden’s comment was NOT a gaffe it was to remind everybody of their past subjugation under republican rule and the 50′s when we were held down by our lack of rights — civil, workers, woman’s etc.
Biden didn’t quote Marx, he said “he’s gonna put y’all back in chains” in some sort of fake preacher accent. Every statement from the obamalonians is larded with racism.
Here’s my guess: it was a line originally crafted for teh Messiah to deliver, then got passed off to the Court Jester without anyone thinking it through.
Hilarious and heartening about your partner. Kudos to him!
In case it isn’t obvious, the partner-related comment above is addressed to run_dmc.
WTF!
http://gawker.com/5934637/eminently-captionable-photo-of-obama-looking-like-a-wizard-naturally-becomes-a-meme?utm_campaign=socialflow_gawker_twitter&utm_source=gawker_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow
As Mom pointed out at UW’s, the first comment in the link above is hilarious:
“He’s just revealing himself through that palantir to the Dark Lord thereby laying claim to the throne of Gondor. Nothing to see here. It’s all very procedural.”
Serendipitous my a**! This is just another variation on the halo.
Exactly. AP strikes again, in the service of the Lord Obama.
This looks interesting:
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/15/former-obama-campaign-co-chair-to-stump-for-romney/
Arthur Davis is a BlueDog Dem, Just when you think they are a vanishing breed, a few pop up.