The Baby Whisperer

Add that to Obama's résumé.

via Democratic Underground:

Last Friday (11/2/12) President Obama was speaking at our local high school. I took my 10wk old son with me. I did pack some formula in the bag as I knew the place would be packed and was unsure about breastfeeding in front of thousands.

My son is an eater and seeing as we were there about 4hrs he had no problem devouring the 8oz I packed. So there I was front row with a hungry baby. I knew I didn't want him to start crying, as the President had just begun to speak, so I covered him up with his blanket and let him go to town.

I noticed the President glance at me while speaking and give a little smile. I thought surely I imagined it. Then, when he was done speaking he came down to do the usual crowd greeting, shaking hands and whatnot. As soon as he got close enough, he pointed to me and gestured his hands in the "hand me the baby" manner. So I handed my son over! He danced with him a second and kissed him on his forehead. As he was handing him back he smiled, nodded at me, and said good job. Everyone has been asking why he told me good job and I just giggle. Here I was worried about breastfeeding in front of all those people and the only person who noticed was The President of the United States, and he supports it! Best feeling EVER!

A golden oldie:




The Prez has some skills and he's gotten lots of practice.  Maybe this time, he can get the House Repubs to gentle down enough to give him a chance to work his magic.

I guess sometimes, the people who really just need a good hug are the ones who're most resistant to kindness.

Watch out, Mr Speaker - The Baby Whisperer is coming.  And if you're not careful, he will comfort you.

See What Happens

Today's Krugman - inspired by a James Fallows piece*:

But I’d go even further: the Democrats now look like the natural party of government. Bush had already established a reputation for being unable to get anything right in the actual business of governing; all that was supposedly left was political prowess, and now that’s gone too. And even the news media have, I think, begun to notice that we aren’t the “center-right” country of fantasy, we’re a diverse nation, ethnically and otherwise, in which a lot of liberal ideas have become perfectly mainstream.

Now go read Fallows.

*Barack Obama's election four years ago was, by definition, more historic than his reelection last night.

But his second win last night was more impressive than his first, and probably more important.

It seems more than a little weird that suddenly, it's not the Democrats who could fuck up a 2-car parade.

More Sore Butts

You get your ass kicked like what happened last Tuesday and it's gonna hurt for a while.  And it's good to know there're plenty of jerks just like me to rub it in for ya too.

Romney won the Old White Guy vote by close to 20 points on average, and close to 30 points in some places.  That's a really big deal, and it wins every national election by a huge margin - if it's 1982 and if it's the only demographic you have to appeal to.  But it isn't, and it isn't.

Here're some highlites (via Rolling Stone) on how it breaks down here in the real world of 2012:

• Latinos voted for Obama 70+% to Romney's (about) 30%
• Blacks (who showed up in numbers just as strong as in 2008) voted for Obama 95% to Romney's 5%
• Gen Y (18-30 years old) voted for Obama 60% to Romney's 37%
• Gen X (31-44 years old) voted for Obama 54% to Romney's 47% (approx)
• Single Women voted for Obama 67% to Romney's 31%

Smart

Many many times, Rachel Maddow is just really annoying.  Just as many times, she shows herself to be among the smartest political analysts anywhere; and why it's a good idea for me to listen to people who frequently annoy me.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Today's The Day

GOTV, baby.

If you were expecting a big glorious post about Election Day - sorry - everything that went before is done and gone; everything that happens over the next several hours depends on our individual actions.  Nothing is written; our destiny is in our own hands.

I'm set to spend most of my day at the Earlysville fire station.  Gitcher butts out and vote.

God willin' and the crick don't rise, we'll be listening to Willard's concession speech about 18 hours from now.

Later.

People

Lizz and Sarah tell us what it is.

Yo, Willard

I didn't watch the "debates".  I'll go along with the many people who say these things are little more than 90 minutes of dueling campaign ads.  Altho', this time, we did get a new wrinkle in that Willard turned it into a more conventional sales pitch.  It really does look and sound like Romney's in there pimping a deal for his group to take over USA, Inc.  Which I think may be a lot closer to the truth than I'm comfortable with.  My biggest problem is that whenever we elect Repubs, we get way too many freakazoids in the bargain (NeoCons, TheoCons, Cold War Retreads, et al) - we gotta remember that the prez isn't the only guy we're handing power to.  So it's iffy enough when you put a guy in the Oval Office who doesn't know his way around Capitol Hill; or doesn't know much about Foreign Affairs; or isn't particularly up on International Trade.  Obama was a big risk 4 years ago because his resume was pretty damned thin, but he seemed like he had his own shit together enough to be trusted to dig into the details to the point where he wouldn't just get railroaded into making supremely stoopid decisions (I'm talkin' Iraq-level stoopid, not Healthcare Reform-not-getting-everything-we-wanted stoopid).

Putting a guy like Mitt Romney in the White House means we start over again.  Plus, Willard may have several more pounds of brain matter than Jr Bush, but the way he's been jerked around by the Wingnuts for the last 6 years makes me think he'll continue trying to shoehorn himself into just about any position these characters want him to take.

Experience matters.  And there's nothing better to get you ready to be POTUS than actually being POTUS.

And BTW, Willard - you've been runnin' your mouth about "Obama's foreign policy unravelling" for months.  What happened?  Focus Group got your tongue?

One last thing - about how "the women" were turned off by the aggressiveness and the confrontational aspects of the campaigns in general.  Because, of course, the ladies are just too genteel; they're bound to suffer a spell of some kind; I do declare they'll get the vapors if the menfolk continue this unpleasant belligerence.

Bullshit.

If somebody was physically assaulting you, and I walked up and planted my fist in the prick's eye socket 4 or 5 times, would you be just a tiny bit relieved, or would you insist on feeling put off by my aggressive behavior?  And who says I need to do that anyway?  Who says women are so frail they can't possibly fend for themselves?  Sorry guys - pretending that "the women" are always hiding behind their powder puffs and are desperately in need of your protection just don't cut it anymore.

The Real Mitt Romney

"I'm not looking for a colony on the moon, just for someone to blame."

Romnesia?

...No problem - gotcha covered.

The Shot Missed 'Round The World

From Democratic Underground:

My favorite question from the audience was a woman who inquired of Romney could he assure her that if elected he would be different from George W. Bush. Romney made some mealy-mouthed response, but Obama landed a punch on Romney's chin.

(Paraphrasing) There are differences between Mr. Romney and George W. Bush. Bush did not want to voucherize Medicare and he was better on immigration.

I consider Obama's response a true verbal assault on Romney, because in my opinion, there is nothing worse than being compared to George W. Bush and pale in that comparison. What a heck of an insult, but executed so beautifully.

I absolutely loved it.

Sam

And from the comments:

I have been here for 10 years, and I came here ranting and raving about George W. Bush. There is no one I despise more. And for Obama to compare Romney to Bush, with Bush coming off better, was simply priceless. I wish I knew where to write that woman to thank her for that question....

Professional Left Podcast Episode 149

(My rather poor attempt at decoding the html at Driftglass's blog, as I try to embed the podcast)

J'accuse!

Aha - Willard's not just a lyin' sack o' shit - he's a cheatin' douche nozzle to boot.



Rules is rules, bubba - from the agreement that both sides signed up for:

"No props, notes, charts, diagrams or other writings can be used by the candidates"

(hat tip = Democratic Underground)

Tough Crowd

The blue-hairs are all up in his grill an' shit.



I know - it's Daily Kos and all, and it's chopped neatly into little bite-sized chunks, but the guy got a pretty bad reaction from people whose votes he has to get if he wants to be Romney's veep.

I suppose it's possible he was sent in there to lay the groundwork for a "speak the painful truth" kind of message - I just can't help thinking these guys are so deep in the bubble that they don't believe any of the terribly bad shit that keeps happening to them is really real(?)

One From Wonkette

Wonkette is on a roll.

...what we need is another ultimately unsuccessful Third Party Candidate to safely release the steam of rage from the national pressure cooker. It worked in the 1980s and the 1990s and all the way to 2000, heh heh. (Funny how Liberal Democrats kind of lost the taste for Third Party candidates after the GOP stomped back into the White House using Nader’s cover, right?)

Huckabee

Mike Huckabee announced he's not running for president in 2012.  I had him pegged as the the guy with the best chance to get the nomination so it comes as a surprise to begin with, but his stated reason seemed a bit odd to me.

“All the factors say go,” Huckabee said during a live, final segment of his eponymous Fox News Channel show Saturday night. “But my heart says no.”

Huckabee noted that while all of the “external” factors pointed toward him running, he only found an “inexplicable inner peace” when he decided not to enter the race.  (from Chris Cillizza, WaPo)

 These guys always talk a huge game about service and sacrifice; and they aren't exactly reluctant about saying Obama is 10 kinds of horrible for the country, but apparently Huck's inner peace just couldn't possibly stand the inconvenience of it all.  Plus, Huckabee did a lot of complaining in 08 about all the mean things people were saying about him.  I guess saving us from the evil Obama just ain't really worth all that.  Phony fuck.