Maybe I’m just a happy warrior, but politics seem fun again for the first time in about two years. Do you feel the same way?
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
Not at all. I’m more terrified than ever. But I include environmental pollution, extinction, global climate change and Fukushima under the general umbrella of “politics.” I’m fairly certain that no matter what happens next, politically speaking, we’re screwed.
I kinda agree with this.
It takes a LONG time to turn a giant ship around, and there are LOT of problems.
That said, I enjoy watching the Romneybot 2012 struggle to process its recent problems.
I don’t mean to be a total killjoy. I grok schadenfreude as well as anybody, I reckon, and Team Romney has been sloughing it off these last few days like the sun slinging a layer of plasma every 11 years or so, and I find it delightful. But chunking up a bit, I can’t help thinking that we’ve failed as a species, and some tough bills are about to come due.
What you both said. I’m enjoying the inevitable and highly entertaining Romneybot implosion, but I’d enjoy it a lot more were it not for the fact that a substantial part of the electorate – and it could still be a plurality – is so immersed in an alternate, fact-free reality that crap like this doesn’t matter. In the best case scenario – the one where the crazies don’t seize all three branches of government in November – the lesson they will still take from a Romney defeat is to double down on their craziness, virtually ensuring that we’ll make no meaningful progress for at least the next four years on any of the urgent catastrophes now unfolding. And the lost time matters. A lot.
Word on the street is that Pats and Giants fans have more fun than Vikings and Browns fans, too.
Further bulletins as events warrant.
Next thing you’re gonna tell me is that it’s more fun to find a five dollar bill on the ground than it is to get mugged!
And a hearty lol to those in this thread who are already declaring the Romney demolishing insufficient. How Has Obama Failed You Today?
After hearing Romney’s pathetic whining this morning on Faux about Theresa Kerry never having released tax returns on her 200+ million dollar fortune, I had to laugh. This guy is reminding people about how rich he is and thinks it’s effective push back?
Now if only one of Obama’s surrogates would make a comment about how Mitt must be running to become first lady, the public undressing will be complete.
Jesus Christ, what do Obama’s failures (real or imagined) have to do with this?
The biggest reason Romney’s implosion is insufficient to doom his chances in November isn’t Obama’s left critics. It’s the 40% or of the electorate who’d vote for Ted Bundy before they’d vote for a black Kenyan socialist interloper. That leaves exactly 10% Romney needs to sway in a bad economy with an unlimited shitload of corporate messaging money and a supine political media.
In a close race, the lack of enthusiasm by Obama’s left critics will be a factor. But people tired of a crap economy will be more of a factor, and any Republican’s exemption from criticism will matter far, far more.
In any normal circumstances the Romneybot’s arrogance, lies, and platform would have left his campaign DOA months ago, but in a Fox-saturated, post-Citizens United world, reality no longer means as much as it ought to. I can’t think of any revelation, including the proverbial dead girl or live boy, that doesn’t still leave Romney as a much more viable candidate than he has any right to be.
Well, if I read the doom brigade correctly, he’s apparently failed to singlehandedly end the scourges of poverty, corporatism, and the looming ecological collapse of our species that is totally happening, no fooling.
I guess even when we win, it’s still losing…
If you’re referring to my remarks, I didn’t blame any of that stuff on President Obama. I blamed our idiotic species.
We can have a merry old time following the ups and downs of the various campaigns like it’s a basketball game, but if you adjust your focus outward a little bit, the goddamned arena’s on fire, and our best shot at putting the fire out isn’t even allowed to deal with that emergency because he’s tied up at the moment fighting the bad guys about which corporation is sponsoring the athletes’ jerseys and shoes. And I don’t blame him, because if he doesn’t engage that fight then he loses any chance of addressing our real problems in the future to some psycho who thinks arena fires create jobs.
If you don’t think ecological collapse is at least peeking around the corner, ask Colorado, California, everybody in the Derecho path (Derecho? this shit is so off the map that we don’t even have a word for it in our fucking own language). Ask the damn trees while you’re at it.
Again: this isn’t the President’s fault, and I don’t believe for a second that he wouldn’t devote his full energies into fighting for solutions were he allowed, but our byzantine congressional system of rules, and a shit-ton of money, has got his hands–all our hands–tied to the point that we’re essentially deer in the headlights watching helplessly while we poison the world, and ourselves.
Have fun with your little game of politics. It’s better than choo-choo trains, and ‘way more stimulating. And when another 75 or so people die due to extreme temperatures and power failures in the wake of a–no shit–“land hurricane,” just laugh them off derisively as victims of “the scourges of poverty, corporatism, and the looming ecological collapse of our species that is totally happening, no fooling.”
Slap yourself and your friends on the back silly when you see the effect of Fukushima unfold over the next 30-50 years, if you live long enough to see it, because radioactive contamination is goddamned funny.
Because we’re totally winning this game. Mitt looks like the troglodyte asshole that he is, and that means the good guys won.
That’s not smoke you smell, citizen, that’s the aroma of WINNING. That’s victory at 10:00, 2:00 and 6:00.
The biggest reason Romney’s implosion is insufficient to doom his chances in November isn’t Obama’s left critics. It’s the 40% or of the electorate who’d vote for Ted Bundy before they’d vote for a black Kenyan socialist interloper. That leaves exactly 10% Romney needs to sway in a bad economy with an unlimited shitload of corporate messaging money and a supine political media.
Your point about the growth of polarization is well-taken, but you’re ignoring the flip side. The same polarization that guarantees that a ham sandwich with an R after its name will get at least 40% of the vote also makes it harder for that ham sandwich to pick up that last 10%. Just as there are a lot more voters who are absolute locks for each of the parties, there are many fewer voters who are convincible.
A 2% lead in 2012 is the same as a 4% in 1996 and an 8% lead in 1948.
No. The stupid, it hurts more than ever.
Burns. The stupid burns. Hearkens back to the Wicked Witch of the West getting water thrown in her face.
Yes. The Dems are playing offense. I feel like the obnoxious pig riding in the back of the car in the Geico ad. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
I’ll be the token non doom-n-gloomer! Yes, politics has been more fun lately.
You can kind of judge the political success of Democrats – or at least the amount of fail on the other side – by how much Obama-bashing there is in the Daily Kos comics. There hasn’t been any for nearly a month, so that must mean something.
Its always more fun to be playing offence rather than defence, and winning rather than losing. But the extent of the victory still matters. An Obama Presidency shackled by a GO Congress and SCOTUS is goin to be very little fun, if at all. And like others here said. Some problems just won’t wait for the reality challenged to turn around. Humanity is losing ground, fast, and we don’t want a WW3 to bring that reality home to roost.
Yes, it’s fun to be on top. I did not enjoy June, which was not a good month for Obama. July is much better. August is likely to be a huge amount of fun, since there is more to come in Bain, since most people have not heard of Stericycle.
“politics seem fun again for the first time in about two years.”
Not for Republicans.
Obama seems to be having fun. Just watched a video of his townhall mtg where he alternated between men and women for questions. He was all smiles and jokiness.
I love offense for a change, especially when the opposition is so lame. That makes the fight all the more fun.
Not to mention, Obama’s serene confidence and good humor right now contrast so nicely with Romney’s upset and flailing anger. Asked should he apologize? The very idea seemed to amuse our President, not to mention giving him a lovely launching pad for a neat “the buck stops here” skewering of Mr. Retroactive Retirement.
Cheerful confidence versus irate impotence — how’s that for a narrative to establish?
The Bain disclosures have made me feel like for the first time there’s daylight to discuss real policy differences. And it comes at a time where R’s in Congress have to start thinking about what they would be leaving Romney and themselves to work with if they succeed in Nov.
I still think Romney’s going to ‘escape’ to Europe next week and he’ll be opening himself up to a whole pile of foreign policy fiasco’s.
And Olympics related questions, which are now bubbling up and out.
.
He’ll be amongst friends – Business In Jerusalem @ $60,000 per Plate
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."In a fixed fight, the marks still cheer when the designated winner looks like he’s going to win.
Gotta love it.
Snore.
AG
Boo..Agreed!…Romney is going to win, and Republicans will gain control of the Senate!
Despite dishonest millions spent on advertising (Obama blowing his wad on pathetic ads while Romney is crushing him in fundraising, saving his ammunition for the big push after Labor Day):
Gallup Obama 47 Romney 45 amont Registered, not Likely Voters. Polling likely voters usually adds 2 to 4 points for the evil Republicans.
Rasmussen (I know, Conservative hack, but his poll most accurately predicted the 2008 margin of victory for Obama) Romney 46 Obama 44.
Finally, no President has ever garnered a percentage of the vote more than 1 or 2 points higher than his approval rating, and Obama is stuck at 47 percent–the undecideds will break towards the challenger.
If the election were held today, Romeny wins 51 to 49. (I know, I know, the Election is determined by the Electoral college, but the Popular vote winner has only failed to win the Electoral College vote one time since 1888.)
Hopefully, only 113 days until our great country is freed from the shackles of the most pathetic administration, save perhaps Jimmy Carter, of this century.
Are you off your meds again?
Did you know that the 1970’s were in this century?
1970’s? Which election? Bush is the only President to win the Presidency in this century without having the highest percentage of the popular vote.
I guess that’s some of that new history they’re teaching in Texas, in addition to a few other places, apparently.
Then quote the election! Which year? Which candidate?
Should we bet $10,000?
Jane, you can discount the Electoral College all you want, but national polls are meaningless in a presidential election. What you need to look for are compilations of state polls. And those have had Obama comfortably up in electoral votes all year.
Not saying Romney can’t win – he clearly can. And not saying it should be like that – I’d love to see the Electoral College abolished and popular vote elect the President. But it doesn’t. If the election were held today, he’d lose, pretty decisively.
He only has leads of 2 to 3 points in most battleground states, and that is typically among registered voters. Likely voter polls add 2 to 3 points for Republicans–we vote more than you!
Also, Obama does not poll above 50 percent in any poll, save the rare outlier. Look at history–undecideds break to the challenger. If you really want to predict the outcome if the election were held today, take Obama’s totals in any of these state polls, and add a maximum of two points–then tell me in how many of those state polls does his vote total exceed 50 percent. Answer: Not many–Obama definitely loses if we go to the polls tomorrow. Don’t worry–he still has over three months to smear Romney personally, while Romney hammers away at the worst recovery from a Recession in this century. It’ll be a horse race until the end.
But then again, this is paramount to two sports fan arguing who is going to win the game, when the score is close in the third quarter.
He only has leads of 2 to 3 points in most battleground states
He doesn’t need to win them all.
He’s up six in Colorado, double-digits in NM, almost five in Nevada, almost six in Ohio, over seven in PA, and six and a half in Wisconsin. None of those are close, and that would do it, even if Romney won all of the other battleground states. Romney needs to run the table; being “close” in “most” of them means he loses.
we vote more than you!
Not when Barack Obama is on the ticket. We learned this last time.
You are clearly an idiot with Rasmussen. He works the ref with the poll. This far out, his polls are wildly biased. As he get closer, he tightens the screen. The week before, he is exactly on.
How does he bias the polls? Mostly, IMHO, by screwing with the population mix – he credits the population with 5-6 % more republicans.
His polls are biased. He is a hack. You are a whore.
Obama blowing his wad on pathetic ads
You don’t think that comes across as a little forced, two days after this was released?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud3mMj0AZZk
You can only push bullshit so far. Anyone who hits that statement is just going to discount everything else you have to say.
I know, Conservative hack, but his poll most accurately predicted the 2008 margin of victory for Obama
Rasmussen’s final polls quite accurately (not most accurately, but quite accurately indeed) predicted Obama’s 2008 margin, just as his final polls will quite accurately predict Obama’s margin of victory in 2012. Scott Rasmussen has a great little scam going: he spends the campaign putting out skewed numbers to help the Republicans, being a huge outlier among national pollsters, and then in the last month he “detects” a huge swing towards the Democrat that nobody else is picking up, and ends up publishing quite good, non-bullshit final results. These then boost his credibility, making the skewed polls he puts out during the next election cycle that much more credible.
Finally, no President has ever garnered a percentage of the vote more than 1 or 2 points higher than his approval rating
No President has ever had the good fortune to run against Mitt Romney, either.
the undecideds will break towards the challenger The undecideds who make up their minds in the last two weeks of the campaign break towards the challenger (though by what margin can vary a great deal). However, most of the people who are undecided in the middle of July will not break “towards the challenger,” but will go home to the party of their preference over the next three months. Then, the people who are left will break towards the challenger. We’ll see how many of them there are this October.
Exactly the point that I make above, not that either of us are original – many note this about Rasmussen, who is a shameless hustler and totally biased. The question is, how does he do it? My guess is by shading on the population parameter %repub/%dem. If you push up the %repub by 3-4 pts, you get a slight Repub tilt. By gradually nudging the values down over the last month, you get in line with everyone else so that you can spend the last 2-3 days really polishing and trying for that “closest to outcome” prize which pays the rent for the next 4 years.
Always enjoy watching some smug, wealthy, white guy trying to play rope-a-dope and continuing to trip on his shoe laces.
rmoney has the kind of glorious stupidity GWB and Perry share, so it is amusing watching him trying to talk his way out of a paper bag of his own making.
a transcendent arc of fail…
i think by the election it will come down to a ‘would you buy a used hedge fund from this guy?’
iow, he’s plain shifty. he’s squared his conscience with daily doses of placebo redemption a la smith and now parades the resultant body language as that of a great leader, poised to save the economy, the republican way, ie tanking it to new lows.
thing is the peeps are less gullible every day they watch their futures dwindle, and mittens looks like a central casting brylcreem ad candidate from 1955, which is pretty much when religion of predator capitalism conquered his willing heart.
his oily expectation that every american would have done the same as he, given the opportunities, is looking ever more delusional.
transparent liars are fun to watch, as keeping his story straight is obviously far beyond the reach of his entitlement-addled brain, and the pressure of the election building should provide more comic relief in this dept.
whoever inherits this clusterfuck is in for an unfunny few years, a few laffs meanwhile won’t hurt…