Bummer, Willard

Ya gotta know that deep down, even a lyin' sack o' shit like Willard isn't really rooting for the country to go up in flames, but ya gotta know also that deeper downer, Willard was praying hard for a few well-timed signs that he could at least spin to make his gang feel a little surer that the country's demise is imminent unless they blah blah blah.



Jobs number is up (except Manufacturing Sector), unemployment number is down, Dow flirting again with record highs, Corporate Profits are up almost across the board, Average Hourly Earnings is up, Consumer Spending is up, Public Confidence is improving, etc etc etc.

Oops

The Question Is

Where the hell was this guy Wednesday nite?  Was this the plan?  To let Romney do all the point-scoring, and then go out and spend a week counter-punching?  Not buyin' it.  Seems like he's admitting he was prepared for a very different debate.  He just flat got beat.

A Voice Of Reason

Repubs have Frank Luntz to teach them how to fuck people over by using the language of resentment and victimhood and entitlement.

The rest of us have George Lakoff to reveal what guys like Luntz are trying to pull, and to explain how we can resist the noxious effects of (mostly GOP) rhetoric.

All politics is based on moral values, with strict conservatives and progressives having different moral values.

There are also morally complex voters — moderates, independents, swing voters — who are progressive on some issues and conservative on others.

All issues are conceptually “framed” — that is, they have a mental structure that fits one’s moral system.

Facts matter, but only when they clearly fit one’s morally-based frames. Facts and figures, when used, should create a moral point in a memorable way. And if the facts don’t fit your frames, the frames stay and the facts are ignored or ridiculed.

--and--

A number to remember: Most people may not be aware of it, but 96% of all Americans make use of what other citizens provide through our government: 96 percent of us have received tax deductions for mortgages, education, and dependent children, business subsidies, unemployment insurance, veterans’ benefits, as well as all the other benefits that we all enjoy because of what we give and have given each other. This applies to almost all Americans, rich or not, Republican or Democrat. If your work contributed, or will contribute, to our country, you have earned, or will earn, whatever you have gotten. You are the 96 deserving percent. The other 4 percent are youngsters — too young to have benefitted yet, but they will inevitably join the 96 percent soon.

Gettin' It Done - 32

It surprises me a little that the Right Radicals didn't kick up more of a fuss on this one.  It is, after all, "just what we might expect from the angry black man."

32. Passed Fair Sentencing Act: Signed 2010 legislation that reduces sentencing disparity between crack versus powder cocaine possession from 100 to 1 to 18 to 1.

Today's Pix

The Debate #1 - Cont'd

More reactions.

Wonkette:

9:33 PM — "Why aren’t both of you embracing Simpson-Bowles", the Washington beltway debate moderator asks about deficit reduction plan that no one else in the country gives a shit about. Why aren’t you licking Alan Simpson’s lesion-caked bald head, Mitt Romney? Why around you sitting on Erskine Bowles’ face right now, Barack Obama?

9:40 PM — Obama doesn’t get why Exxon Mobil gets tax breaks. (The answer is because they’re Exxon Mobil.) He also met a poor lady in Las Vegas, who does not get any tax breaks. An autistic kid, a hobo, a cooper, a barnsmith, a crackhead! President Obama meets a lot of fuck-ups on the trail.

Angry Black Lady at Balloon Juice:

Romney, who just a couple of weeks ago was caught on tape saying that he believes 47 percent of this country are moochers, spoke beautifully about how he wants to create jobs and help the middle class. But he lied. He doesn’t give a shit about the middle class and everything he has said and done up until 6 p.m. EST tonight when he tried to recreate himself as some populist people-lover proves it.

Remember how he lied about supporting the auto bailout when, in fact, he said, “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt”?

Remember when Scott Walker won the recall election, and Mitt Romney claimed that Walker’s win meant Wisconsinites were tired of hiring firefighters, police officers, and teachers? And remember how Walker was all, “WTF bro?!” and Romney was all, “Wait, What’d I Say? I didn’t meant it!”

Remember how he told students to just borrow money from their parents if they wanted to start a small business?

Remember how Romney told students that they should get as much education as they can afford?

But tonight—for these 90 minutes, Mitt Romney wants you to think he feels your pain. Pffft.

Mitt Romney lied.

Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone:

Mitt Romney turned in a polished performance in last night's presidential debate - and revealed himself to be an accomplished and unapologetic liar. In an evening where he sought to slice and dice the president with statistics, Romney baldly misrepresented his own policy prescriptions, made up numbers to fit his attacks, and buried clear contrasts with the president under heaping piles of horseshit.

The Debate #1

Meh.  Didn't watch it.  Haven't seen much "analysis" of it.  From what little I've heard so far, you'd think Obama stopped about 2 minutes in, picked his nose and flicked a giant green booger onto the camera lens, and then mooned poor old Jim Lehrer.

Two things.  First, the election was beginning to look a lot like a blowout, and that means there's a greatly diminished opportunity for the cable and network guys to sell ad time to anybody but the campaigns.  So you can insert your favorite Horse Race meme here.

Secondly - the day before yesterday, Willard was a full-time candidate; he was a full-time candidate last nite; and he's a full-time candidate again today.  Obama has another gig that keeps him pretty busy.

I'll give the Press Poodles credit for one thing - Chuck Todd (of all people -and I'm paraphrasing) said this: in a re-election debate, the challenger gets to paint a nice big flowery picture of how he thinks it oughta be, while the Prez has to show us what the reality of being POTUS actually looks like.

Finally, here's a quickie from Andrea Seabrook at Decode DC:

The incessant, yammering analysis of all these post-game shows is meaningful only in this way -- everyone else in the media watches it. What you see in that gum-flapping, jabber-jaws hour after the debate is the media talking to the media about what the media thought of the debate. Over time, they will come to agreement, and by tomorrow morning, they'll let you know what YOU should think about it.
Have a good night, folks.

In light of some pretty heavy freak-outs coming from people who seem to be solid Obama supporters - eg: Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz, Andrew Sullivan - here's something to think about:  Obama is patient.  His whole time in office, he's "left himself open" to attack.  He's let the other side take shots.  He's done everything he can to mollify and accommodate his opposition, and he "just gives it away every fuckin' time".  And yet, after all that terrible performance, somehow he's kickin' the other guys' asses all over the parkin' lot.

Here's a little tip - watch a clip or two of Ali in his prime.  The fight against Cleveland Williams has always been a favorite of mine.

Ali jabs and backs off - dancing, back-pedalling, jabbing, side-stepping.  It goes on for a round and a half.  And then at about 5:15 - boom.  It's like Williams got used to following Ali around, and Ali just had to wait for the right time to plant his right foot and go off on him.  And then it all started over, and then boom again. And again and again and again.

Here's hoping it works out just like that for Willard (seen here in the black trunks).

Gettin' It Done - 33

Defend what's really worth defending - and defend it against threats that are real.

It's easy to see Iran and N Korea as nothing more than The Paranoid Insular Regimes du Jour.  It's also pretty easy to be dismissive, and to see Kim and Ahmadinejad as petty tyrants we could squash like gnats.  But guess what - it ain't about Iran or N Korea.  It's about countering China's ability to use Iran and N Korea as surrogates to project power.

33. Trimmed and Reoriented Missile Defense: Cut the Reagan-era “Star Wars” missile defense budget, saving $1.4 billion in 2010, and canceled plans to station antiballistic missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic in favor of sea-based defense plan focused on Iran and North Korea.

I don't claim any special knowledge or expertise about US Foreign Policy, but I'm not about to vote for Romney when he tries to tell me our greatest "enemy" in the world is Russia.  Even at the height of the Cold War, we were kinda "back-channel allies" with the Soviets where China was concerned because they were always so scared Mao would try to pull something on their eastern flank - the Ruskies came in pretty handy helping us keep the Chinese bottled up.  Pretty smart play - using one major component of The Red Menace to contain the power and influence of The Red Menace.  So let's not go out of our way to piss off the Russians when it's more than a little likely we're gonna need 'em.

Mr Deity

Mormons are funny in some very interesting ways.

Mr Smooth

I never get tired of listening to smart people talk about important stuff.