Observations from the Coffee Shop 2.28

Next week is Armory Week but the kids who play at politics in Washington just wont to get out of the way. I say play at politics because at the moment they seem more like spoiled brats on the playground than leaders of anything important. Tomorrow the sequester will take effect, yes will take effect, and the current debate centers more on whose idea it was than on how to deal with it. Even Wall Street may have finally said the hell with them as the stock market nears an all time record high. Of course eventually the cuts will be felt and we can all watch as it crashes back down. The only idea Republicans have is to give President Obama the authority to move the cuts around, in effect making all the cuts the President's, something he refuses to accept.

Elsewhere in the nation's capitol Senators for all practical purposes scolded police chiefs who support background checks for gun purchases. During the Senate Judiciary Committee Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told the police chief of Milwaukee that the limited resources of police departments is a reason to bolster gun ownership and not limit it.

Also The Supreme Court, on the same day a statue of Rosa Parks was unveiled in the U.S. Capitol, announced it is considering part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and whether there is still a need for an important part of it. The section SCOTUS will look at requires that states with a history of discrimination get approval before making changes to how they hold elections. Rather than try and explain it I'll leave this link to a good article in the Miami Herald.

Turning to the petty side of politics the wingnuts continue to snub New Jersey Governor Chris Christie by not inviting him to speak at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference. Apparently the conservatives still blame Christie for President Obama's reelection and don't care that he is the only Republican with an approval rating, currently an unreal 74%, to rival Hillary Clinton's. To Christie's credit he said this; "So I didn't know that I hadn't been invited to CPAC until like two days ago when I saw it in the news. It’s not like I’m lacking for invitations to speak, both here or around the country, it’s not like I have a whole lot of openings in my schedule."

The current list of those speaking instead of Christie includes the winners Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Allen West, Rick Santorum, and Sarah Palin. As a bonus Wayne LaPierre will be speaking. Somehow the wingnuts see their losing past as the best hope for their winning future.

I have no words.

update - Barring any totally unforeseen and just as totally unexpected, changes the sequester games officially begin at 11:59 p.m. Friday. Why than? According to both sides, the White House and Republicans actually agree, President Obama can decide at what time to start the cuts. He just has to do it by 11:59 p.m. Friday.

Sunday Observations 2.3

It being Super Bowl Sunday I want to start with a beer related thought. I often joke about signs of the apocalypse but I saw something this week that just might be the final sign. This week the Justice Department blocked Anheuser Busch, the makers of Budweiser, from a complete takeover of Grupo Modelo who just happens to make Corona. AB fully admits the takeover attempt is out of fear of good beer. "We must slow the volume trend of High End Segment and cannot let the industry transform," said an AB spokesman. In the last ten years the number of craft (read that good) beer brewers has quadrupled while over the past two years Budweiser sales have fallen over ten percent. The combined AB/Modelo would control over half the U.S. beer market hence the anti-trust suit by the DOJ which is enough to thwart the apocalypse for now. Or it should until the vegetable growers try and corner the lime market.

Here is an example of the fun side of twitter. I read this tweet a couple days ago, "Leaning over stretching, I panicked for a second b/c I suddenly couldn't move my head. And...I was standing on my hair." Sadly I fully understood how this could happen but it made me smile just to read it because hey I've been there.

There hasn't been any reason to mention Willard for some time now but I found out a couple things this week that have changed that. The first isn't surprising at all. You might remember that during hurricane Sandy Willie's campaign changed one of their events into a pseudo food drive for victims of the storm. I've been reading an ebook by BuzzFeed's Michael Hastings in which he says that before the event the campaign dropped $5,000 at a Dayton, Ohio Walmart to stock the rally's shelves with canned goods. You know, in case Romney supporters were cheap bastards who couldn't afford a can of beans.

The other thing about Willard really did surprise me and reminded me that I had once thought that if Willard had run as the Massachusetts Governor Romney, and not the right wing kowtowing nutjob Romney, he might have won. Thursday the Romney campaign filed its latest report with the Federal Election Commission. It seems that after the election, and with no announcement at all, they had donated $90,000 to the Red Cross for Sandy relief. I thought that I should give him credit for that after all the abuse I dished out over the last year. Than again I should also note that the campaign still has $4 million in the bank.

The Hastings eBook is called Panic 2012: The Sublime and Terrifying Inside Story of Obama's Final Campaign and costs just $5 on Amazon. It's basically a 150 page BuzzFeed article about the campaign's last months which is funny and totally eye opening. It's worth reading and no I don't get a cut.

I don't normally share personal email but this one from a friend on Friday sums up the week so well. "Israel attacking Syria, terrorists attacking our embassy, China attacking the NY Times, Republicans attacking Hagel, all of England attacking the artist who painted Kate's portrait, people attacking commercials... I need a beer." I hope she got that beer and it wasn't a Budweiser.

Have I ever mentioned that I would totally like to go to China?

Observations on the 2012 Election 11.8

It's about time to retire the Election 2012 headline but I said I would get back to how historic the day was. Maybe we need to wait a couple years to really say but there are some simple facts that made the day historic and some not so simple ideas. I think I'm going to break this into two parts though. First a few thoughts on the Republican Party, which I may have sent to the dustbin of history a bit early, and than some outright gloating about the winners on Tuesday.

I heard something yesterday that is just dead on, the right wing media runs the Republican Party and not the other way around. They set the tone and the wingnuts run with it and enforce what the talking idiots say. On top of that they get all their news from the same place, Fox News, so it's gotten to the point that they believe everything they say to each other and really can't comprehend that maybe their stands on issues are just way out of line with where the country is going. Tuesday night they were collectively stunned by the results because they do believe all their own bull shit.

The Republican Party itself has to realize this country isn't just changing, it has already changed in many ways. Every month 50,000 Hispanic children turn 18 and they vote. As much as I hate to say it Dubya, because he was Governor of Texas, actually thought out an immigration policy and got almost half the Hispanic vote while Willard got just a quarter of it. Simply trotting out Mark Rubio as the token Hispanic VP candidate would't have mattered even though Bill O'Reilly seems to think that's all it would have taken to win. Another interesting thing is this, have you ever noticed how the wingnuts always talk in code about Hispanics and African-Americans? They like to say that all blacks are on welfare and want free things while all Mexicans are illegals. Now the percentage of Asian Americans who voted for Obama was higher than the percentage of Hispanics but the talking heads never mentioned this fact. Maybe because it doesn't fit their code as they like to say all Asians are hard working and probably don't want to acknowledge that this group is largely turned off by the Republicans too.

But there are so many other problems for the wingnuts and Republicans. Seventy percent of unmarried women voted for Obama and as high as ninety percent of gays voted for him. They may still make the most noise on the subject but it does seem EWS (Evangelical Wingnut Conservatism) is beginning to lose its own culture war. Enough said.

This is just too funny to leave out. Paul Ryan lost his home state of Wisconsin and Romney not only lost his home state of Massachusetts but every state in which he currently owns a home. There are just too many of those to list here.

So could the Republicans have defeated President Obama? Honestly I don't think so but I do think there were two candidates that might have have had a chance. Jeb Bush, the Bush who should have been president before and was smart enough not to run this time, and John Huntsman, a conservative on economic issues but a moderate on social ones he was devoured early in the GOP primary season. Huntsman was the only candidate that actually scared me early in the campaign, the wingnuts took care of that.

Maybe the best and shortest description of the election result came from Charles M. Blow in "Picket Fence Apocalypse" a New York Times opinion on Wednesday. "No, you cannot have your country back. America is moving forward," he began. And than finished with this line; "Republicans are trying to hold back a storm surge of demographic change with a white picket fence. Good luck with that."

Before I finish I need to say this. I hope you saw some of the Fox News election coverage Tuesday night. The epic on air meltdown when their own people called the election for Obama was nutjob theatre at its awesome best, it just had to be seen.

Next up, and my final election post, let the gloating begin.

Observations on the 2012 Election 11.7

Doug Mills/The New York Times

I'm so tired after a long but historic day yesterday, still some thoughts while they are still fresh in my mind. To start Barack Obama won a second term as President of the United States. I really don't know what else to say at the moment. I was sure he would win, again I told you so, but still it's just such a totally amazing thing to be able to say that. One thing it does mean is the country really does have a health care plan for all Americans now. Also we can finally now say that the white male political establishment will never again be the same again, never. Never again will a party win the presidency with just white men, they will need a mix including those 'brown people' and women and poor that the current Republican Party so despises. Welcome to the 21^st Century.

This is something I have been thinking for some time. The Republican side is now for all practical purposes politically bankrupt. For the past four years their only plan was to deny President Obama a second term and they failed. There is no plan B for them. That realization was highlighted last night by an epic meltdown on Fox News and Donald Trump's tweeting for revolution, tweets that he quickly deleted when it was brought to his attention that what he was saying was legally treason. In his concession speech the candidate himself rose above that and showed that he probably is a good man and was brought down by his own party with their archaic ideas. Mitt Romney, Governor of Massachusetts, might have won yesterday.

So where are we now? Hard to tell, a cynic will expect nothing to change. The thing is a second term president is a totally different beast who really has nothing to worry about but his or her legacy. There are no more elections down the road for Obama. The Republicans will have to work with him now or watch their once great party slide into that proverbial dustbin of history. Perfect time for Steven Spielberg's Lincoln to be in theaters.

The American people proved something too. We might disagree on so many issues but don't ever say we cant't vote and don't think you can buy the Presidency of the United States. Karl Rove, the Koch brothers, and all the others could have just thrown all their millions of dollars into a dumpster for all the good it did them.

How historic was yesterday? I'll get back to you, that question has to wait until I have some coffee and ponder it some.

Observations on the 2012 Election

The election is almost here, proven by the fact that all my favorite people from Alex Wagner to Rachel Maddow to Krystal Ball are all working on a Sunday night. I suppose if I want to act like I know anything at all about politics I must offer my prediction and not wait till the votes are finally counted. Saying I told you so just wouldn't be as much fun if I didn't tell you so in the first place so here is my pick for winner of the 2012 Presidential election.

I'm that rare person who is sometimes accused of being overly cynical but at other times, times usually involving politics, accused of being overly optimistic. That being said I think Tuesday President Obama will win re-election and will win by a margin not as close as the national polls are showing.

You might tell me to look at those polls again but the thing is I don't think late national polls mean as much as they once did for one simple reason. By the time polls open Tuesday more than 29 million people will have already voted, a record any way you look at it. You can ignore that if you want but another problem with national polls is that they are national in the first place. In some southern states Romney is ahead by twenty or thirty points which throws off the national averages yet doesn't effect the final electoral count in the least, Mississippi still has six electoral votes and California has fifty-five in the only poll that matters.

Another reason I don't believe the polls involves women. President Obama is way ahead among single women, younger women, and single mothers yet Romney is ahead among married women of all ages. Are married women and single women that different? I really don't think so, unless they are voting for Romney just because their husbands are voting for Romney but I'm not going there, I don't have the time for ignorance on that level. Another possible reason, and slightly more understandable, is that they don't want their husbands to know who they are voting for.

As always I may be wrong, one way or the other we'll all know together in about forty-eight hours.

Observations on Sandy 11.3

And than yesterday it happened, slowly lights began to spread across lower Manhattan. It started in the East Village where the sub-station had exploded during the storm than spread to Chelsea, SoHo, and finally the Village. You would have thought it was New Years Eve the way people were honking their car horns and yelling in the streets. The gallery is in the East Village and was in the first wave so that's where we spent the evening until we heard our building had power sometime around 11, than it was off to a now well lit and warm apartment. One would think a party was called for but after a small celebration at the gallery all I really wanted to do was crash in a warm bed.

It's nice to have our power back but as I write this there are still a million people without power in New York City alone. Some loose ends ...

I still haven't had much first hand news from Stone Harbor but I saw a headline that said Wildwood and Ocean City were the two hardest hit areas in Cape May County, New Jersey. One is to the south of Stone Harbor while the other is to the north. The storm gods must have smiled on Stone Harbor a bit.

Yesterday afternoon we could hear explosions in the city, under the circumstances not exactly what one wanted to hear. Turns out the NYPD was exploding what they called "damaged munitions" out in the harbor. A heads up would have been very nice, very nice indeed.

Some laughed when Goldman Sachs totally sandbagged their building before Sandy hit, the joke being that maybe they wouldn't take away the bags after the storm passed. Nobody laughed afterwards because their building was the only one in the Financial District not flooded and due to their massive generator it was also the only area that never went dark. The dark area immediately bordering Sachs' building became known as the dead zone.

I never thought much about who lived in our neighborhood a century or more ago until Halloween this year. Street after street of darkened apartment buildings and store fronts looking like one huge eerie haunted village. It wasn't hard to picture ghosts peaking out of the windows and zombies running across the wet streets. You don't believe in zombies? Just wait, if Willard wins Tuesday's election the zombie apocalypse will be upon us for sure.

One important lesson I learned during the blackout was that I can survive for a time on bottled water, those little Via Coffee packs by Starbucks, peanut butter, and Ritz crackers. Good to know.

Observations on the 2012 Election 11.2

The election is only days, literally hours, away now but it really hasn't been on my mind much. I know, I must be ill, but somehow living in the dark zone seems to do that to you. Still I'm still breathing ....

Yesterday, in a totally surprise move, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg endorsed President Obama in Tuesday's election. Bloomberg had stated all summer long that he wouldn't endorse anybody, probably because he thinks the best person for the job is Michael Bloomberg. In all honesty sometimes, especially after the past few days, I think the same thing.

On his website Bloomberg, who is both an ex-Democrat and an ex-republican, said this; "One sees climate change as an urgent problem that threatens our planet; one does not. I want our president to place scientific evidence and risk management above electoral politics." Also important in his decision were education, marriage equality, and women's rights. Bloomberg added that if the Willard of old were running for president he would have voted for him, but he isn't, well not today, maybe he will be tomorrow.

Full Endorsement

Observations on Sandy 10.30

Thought I would throw up a quick post before I wander out to see what's happening. Just shy of two million without power in the city and as of now I have no idea for how long. I have double batteries for everything so I should be okay for now and I can always go uptown for a charge but than I'm sure everybody has the same idea. The apartment smells of wet clothes and something electrical. The latter isn't anything here, I think it's coming from the subways, probably everything shorting out overnight. As with the power there isn't any timetable for when the subways will be back, than again I suppose there can't be without knowing about the power first. It's either a vicious cycle or I'm still mentally wiped, hard to tell at this point.

I guess I'm just an adrenalin junkie because I need to get out and look around while the VQs seem to be perfectly happy watching a movie and contemplating empty wine bottles, probably mentally calculating how many they have left and how long they will last. As for myself, I went up on the roof when i woke up and what stuck me was just how quiet it is, unreal how a city this size can be so quiet.

12:45PM - Surviving so far, actually I'll be happy as long as I have batteries and a 4G connection and those are a few things I do have. Well I have batteries and Ash has the 4G but she doesn't need it to drink wine and watch movies so I claimed it. Latest is the power could be out here for two or three days but that is subject to change. All the subway tunnels in lower Manhattan are flooded and it's a total mess in the streets, trash, trees, leaves blowing everywhere. Haven't heard anything about Stone Harbor yet, my dad said it could be days till anybody gets in there too. I was looking at photos I took yesterday and so far I'm unimpressed, visibility was terrible, it was more like a blizzard than like Irene. As always we shall see, maybe with some work. Now I'm off to check on Foxy.

5:40PM - The sun returned to the Village an hour or so ago, briefly, but it was there, I know it was, I saw it, maybe. Anyway, when I checked on Foxy I found the family had sustained an injury, Foxy has a massive scratch on her hood. The garage manager said some branches had blown in and one landed right on her. Pisses me off cause that may be the biggest scratch in all the time I own her. The latest on the power situation is four days, via Reuters not ConEd, but we have come up with a wonderful plan in the event it drags on, it seems my dad is going to get some company. There is nothing much to keep us here without power so some outlet shopping may be called for plus I can get an estimate on a paint job while I'm there because I am not about to pay what they would gouge me up here.

Geek notes, I know it's probably something not worth mentioning but don't forget you can always use your cell phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot if you lose your Wi-Fi. Also there are some decently priced battery packs out there that can run your comp for up to 6 hours, I just grabbed a Duracell model today.

Political note, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was asked on Fox News whether Willard would tour damage in his state and said; "I have no idea, nor am I the least bit concerned or interested. I have a job to do in New Jersey that is much bigger than presidential politics. If you think right now I give a damn about president politics, then you don’t know me." So some Republicans still really are relatively sane, too bad their party despises them for it. Today was probably the day Christie lost the 2016 Republican nomination for president.

Observations on the 2012 Election 10.23

Last night was the third and final presidential debate between President Obama and Willard. I don't think they have been anywhere near as important as some would have us think. The polls really are skewed in a way but not by any side or the other trying to make them look good. They are skewed by the facts of a modern election. Despite all the Republican attempts to stop it in some states for the first time more people may have voted before election day than actually vote on it. Also I don't see how it is possible to look at these two men and be undecided, seriously, if you are undecided at this point you are probably undecided about a lot of things in life.

But if you really are still undecided I'm writing this in an attempt to sway you. Below you will find all you need to know about Willard Romney. What he wrote about the auto industry bailout in The New York Times back in 2008 and what he said on the same subject during last night's debate. I think the few paragraphs I'm posting are enough to make my point but if not at the bottom you will find links to the complete Times piece and the full debate transcript.

Let Detroit Go Bankrupt
By Mitt Romney
Published: November 18, 2008
"If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.
Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check...."

Presidential Debate
October 22, 2012
Romney: "I’m a son of Detroit. I was born in Detroit. My dad was head of a car company. I like American cars. And I would do nothing to hurt the U.S. auto industry. My plan to get the industry on its feet when it was in real trouble was not to start writing checks. It was President Bush that wrote the first checks. I disagree with that. I said they need, these companies need to go through a managed bankruptcy. And in that process, they can get government help and government guarantees, but they need to go through bankruptcy to get rid of excess cost and the debt burden that they’d, they’d built up."
President Obama: "Governor Romney, that’s not what you said…"

As I said last night; game, set, match President Obama.

Romney Opinion Piece
Debate Transcript

Observations from the Window 10.20

I was going to write this earlier but I thought it would be better if I waited till I wasn't quite as irritated as I was. Irritated isn't the right word, I was totally disgusted. At Tuesday night's debate Katherine Fenton, a 24 year old kindergarten teacher, had the gall to ask Willard what he would do about the gender wage gap. In his answer Romney explained how hard it was to find qualified women to serve in his administration in Massachusetts and dropped the now infamous "binders full of women" line. For her efforts, and like Sandra Fluke before her, Fenton has now had her name trashed from coast to coast by the neanderthal press.

Nobody has of yet called her a slut but they have called her a feminazi, a party girl, and a member of some phantom left wing conspiracy to destroy the American dream by making women equal partners in it. They scoured her Facebook page and Twitter account, which has since been deleted, and discovered that, omg, she liked drinking and sex. She wasn't ladylike enough, she likes manly things, and to top it off she wrote about in public when she should have at home cooking dinner. The wingnuts love to talk about terror and well they should because they win more elections on pure fear than anybody has since the Civil War. Isn't something like this just terrorism in a different form? When it's a man it's a "pointed question" but when it's a woman asking it suddenly becomes personal, your'e just a slut.

I've never really thought of myself as a feminist, I don't like having to 'be' anything, but maybe it's time I did. Seriously if the wingnuts and angry old white men are so scared of the term it must be good for something. Just think about it, if women were to trash a man for asking a simple question there would be hell to pay. But they are allowed. Don't dare call fat Limbaugh fat but somehow Candy Crowley's weight can be an important issue for post-debate discussion. They are allowed. Think women are equal in today's America? Like many minorities they may feel equal but under the nice calm surface of equality a woman is one pointed question away from being just another slut.

I was going to leave a link to the article that totally disgusted me but I changed my mind, why give them the traffic, and after my rave review you probably wouldn't read it anyway. Instead I'll leave a link to a Raw Story article on it and finish with a paragraph from the same.

"The article, published anonymously, alleged that Katherine Fenton’s Twitter account “reveals that purple Joose is her choice to get blackout drunk and she has a history of getting wet at happy hour.”
The article also highlights sexually suggestive messages Fenton allegedly sent from her Twitter account. The Twitter account cited in the article no longer exists."

Published anonymously, fucking cowards.

Observations 10.19

"Corporations are people, banks are people. People are just empty vessels through which Facebook expresses itself." Well ....

Corporations are people my friend


link
Published on Oct 18, 2012 by SchlepLabs
in association with Actually.org

Observations 11.13

With just 23 days left until the election super pacs on both sides are beginning to ramp up their campaigns. The latest on the Democrat/liberal side is Actually.org, a collaboration of American Bridge 21^st Century
and the Jewish Council for Education & Research. The following description and video are from their website.

"When lies go unchecked, we all lose. Actually.org spreads the truth, because the truth matters, even in politics. Our team calls ’em like they see ’em, and we hope you’ll support the truth by sharing Actually.org videos before Election Day."

The facts are out there, just not in Romney’s campaign.

link

Observations on the 2012 Election

The vice presidential debate is tomorrow night and it seems to be up to VP Joe Biden to make us all forget President Obama's dismal performance in last week's debate. What Biden needs to do is force Paul Ryan to talk actual facts and figures when discussing the GOP budget plans yet not let him look like he is smarter than the rest of us. Ryan supposedly knows more about the budget than anybody in Washington and could make all our heads spin if given the chance.

While I'm looking forward to Biden's 'happy warrior' side I also hope he doesn't get too happy and stick his foot in his mouth. The media needs to be talking about the this debate and not the last one but for the right reasons. He needs to be in the form he was in for a 2008 Democratic presidential primary debate in which he had this to say about then GOP candidate and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani; “There only three things he mentions in a sentence: A noun and a verb and 9/11, I mean, there’s nothing else.” Sadly I guess he should refrain from using the f-word too.

Looking ahead to the second Presidential debate I have faith President Obama will come back strong against Willard. The format is town hall style so more suitable to the President. Also Bain and the 47% video are sure to come up with the public, or the public as the Gallup people see it, asking the questions. But if I were given just one political wish it is that this man could fill in for Obama for just one night ....

link

Observations on the 2012 Election 10.4

I know, I know, calm down, this too shall pass. Willard looked good in last night's debate, like he was giving a presentation to some board of directors, and President Obama didn't look his best, like he would much rather be somewhere else on his wedding anniversary. But when all the dust settles the President will still be ahead and in all likelihood Romney will have stuck his foot in his mouth again or had it forced there by his VP choice Paul Ryan.

I only found one thing troubling last night and that was the fact that neither Bain or the 47% video were mentioned even once. After some thought I finally decided it was on purpose, it had to be on purpose, and came up with my theory on Obama's performance last night that I think is as good as anyone else's.

Last night's debate was heavily scripted and played to Romney's strong suit, speaking to a board of directors or in a planning meeting of some sort. It was totally wrong for Obama who is at his best when he is talking to real people. If you don't believe that simply Google Obama at a rally in Denver today. My theory is that Obama decided to let Romney have his best shot, pass the baton to Biden next week, and take Romney head-on in the second debate with its town hall format where Bain and the 47% are sure to be questioned. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe the President just didn't show up for some reason, either way Willard can't perform like that for another month. The only problem is in the perception because in politics if you aren't winning you seem to be losing.

One other thing that is certain after the debate is that Romney is every bit as good a liar as his partner Ryan. Hopefully next week Vice President Biden doesn't let Ryan get away with it without challenging him. I honestly can't see why anybody would decide to vote for Romney when so much of what he said last night was simply not true. But than I remembered a quote from an old Seinfeld episode.

"Jerry, just remember, it's not a lie if you believe it."

10/5 update - From Mother Jones today; "On a conference call with reporters, a defensive David Axelrod, Obama's chief strategist, noted that the president's supporters would have liked to see Obama slam Romney on Bain, tax returns, and the 47 percent video. But, he added, "a lot of these issues are well known to the public," and Obama's "choice was to talk about the main things people are worried about in their lives." Obama, Axelrod said, had wanted to avoid an insult-fest and instead use the debate to discuss the future. He did note that following the debate the campaign would "make some adjustments.'"

Observations on the 2012 Election 10.3

Tonight is the first of three debates between Willard and President Obama as the Presidential election campaign enters its final phase. No matter what the talking heads on both sides say I have to wonder just how important this phase is. Early voting has already begun in seven states, the latest being the all important Ohio where it began yesterday. Still a committed political geek can't help but be excited if just for the debate's entertainment value. The entertainment started early when poor Willard couldn't even get his campaign through debate prep without messing up. It was leaked by his handlers that during debate prep Willard had been given a bag full of 'zingers' to use on the President. This is nothing new, unless they are literally talking about twinkies, but you aren't supposed to announce it ahead of time. It's supposed to at least seem like the candidate came up with them on his own.

Something sure to be debated after the election is the effect that the billions of dollars poured into the campaigns by corporations had. This is the first Presidential election since the United States Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case in 2010. The Court, in a 5-4 decision, said that the First Amendment prohibited the government from restricting independent political expenditures by corporations or, as Willard himself put it, corporations are people my friend. It just doesn't seem to be having the effect the Repubes and wingnuts wanted but it still needs to be overturned, something that should be high on any list of possible legislation for an Obama second term.

The dissenting opinion was written by Justice John Stevens who showed how strongly he felt by actually reading a large part of it from the bench. Stevens than retired as the third longest serving justice in the history of the court. Below are a pair of excerpts from that opinion, if you are brave, bored, or just a total political fool like me you can read the complete opinion here.

"In the context of election to public office, the distinction between corporate and human speakers is significant. Although they make enormous contributions to our society, corporations are not actually members of it. They cannot vote or run for office. Because they may be managed and controlled by nonresidents, their interests may conflict in fundamental respects with the interests of eligible voters. The financial resources, legal structure, and instrumental orientation of corporations raise legitimate concerns about their role in the electoral process. Our lawmakers have a compelling constitutional basis, if not also a democratic duty, to take measures designed to guard against the potentially deleterious effects of corporate spending in local and national races....

At bottom, the Court's opinion is thus a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self government since the founding, and who have fought against the distinctive corrupting potential of corporate electioneering since the days of Theodore Roosevelt. It is a strange time to repudiate that common sense. While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics."

If you got this far thanks for reading and that concludes today's lesson. Don't forget, the circus begins tonight at 9 PM Eastern.

Observations on the 2012 Election 9.28

Some videos just speak for themselves. There is nothing I could possibly add to this other than fill in the beeps but I have faith in your ability fill them in for yourself. If not let me know ....


link

9/29 update - The previous link was removed from youtube due to copyright blah, blah, blah so here is a new video and link.

Observations on the 2012 Election 9.26

Today (9.26), in an attempt to shore up their floundering candidate, Willard's campaign released a video in which he tries to convince the 47% that he does indeed care about them. I'm not sure a politician of the caliber of Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton could talk their way out of Willard's comments let alone, well, a non-politician.  The new video will be the only one the Romney campaign will air anywhere this weekend. Their only national ad will be a video trying to convince people you didn't mean what they saw and heard you say.

Whatever, the Democratic National Committee, now seemingly out for blood, quickly released this video which also will begin airing nationally on Friday. In it Willard rebuts his own new ad with words from his past. The Romney ad is titled "Too Many Americans" while the DNC video is called simply ....

Those People


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Published on Sep 26, 2012 by DemRapidResponse

For the record, "Romney: Believe In half of America" is just one hell of a line. I may need a t-shirt or one of those things to keep my beer cold.

9/27 update - I saw another good line in The New York Times election blog today. Talking about the knowns and unknowns of the next 40 days it said this; "The fat lady is waiting in the wings and she’s gargling with honey and lemon juice."

On the night of November 1^st, just days before the election, ex-President George W. Bush will deliver the keynote address at something called the Cayman Alternative Investment Summit. The CAIS calls itself "an international conference that will bring together the world's leading institutional investors, fund managers, academics, economists and regulators in the Cayman Islands, the world's leading domicile for investment funds, to discuss and debate the fundamentals of a vibrant future for the alternative investments industry." I'm sure Willard is thrilled.

As always, you can't make this shit up.

Observations from the Edge 9.26

Welcome to the new world. This is a video of the end of a protest in Madrid, Spain yesterday. The protest was over Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy government's plan to impose €39 billion of 'austerity' reforms on the Spanish economy. They would include tax increases, budget cuts, and something called structural reforms to social programs. As in Greece the Spanish recession continues to deepen with each round of cuts yet the government's only answer seems to be yet more cuts.

Recently GOP leaders have accused President Obama of looking to Europe for ideas, not that this is always a bad thing, yet if the Romney/Ryan plans for massive cuts in social programs isn't austerity what is? The question is would the end result of American austerity look something like this? Hopefully we will never know because it seems more and more like Willard is heading for a crash of epic proportions.

25 septiembre 2012


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Observations on the 2012 Election 9.18

Yesterday one of my favorite reporters, David Corn of Mother Jones, broke a story that seems to have been building for some time. On May 17^th Willard spoke at a $50,000 a plate fund raiser in Florida, unbeknownst to him the comments were secretly recorded by someone who remains unknown. Audio snippets began appearing on YouTube a few weeks later and video in August but there was doubt about their authenticity and they were mainly overlooked by the msm. However Corn, along with Democratic Party video researcher James Carter (grandson of ex-President Jimmy Carter), had been pushing the mysterious owner for the complete videos since the beginning of August.

Since Corn released his original story yesterday there has been so much written about the videos and what they mean so I'll spare you repeating any of it. At the end I'll post some of the main links if anybody is interesting in reading Corn's articles or watching the videos.

I will say that I received an email from a friend this morning in which she commented on Willard saying; "cause you just don't know whether he truly believes this stuff (which is scary) or whether he just says it to get elected (which is scary)." She was commenting on the following segment of Willard's chat that explains where all the 47% headlines are coming from. For the record almost half of those he is talking about are retired seniors on Social Security.

"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the President no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what...These are people who pay no income tax ...  My job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

Like I said so much has been written about it all does or does not mean but there is one thing I haven't heard anywhere. To me at least it's just another example of how out of touch Willard is in these newfangled times we live in. I can walk down the street and take a hi-def video with my phone yet this man is running for President of the United States and doesn't seem to realize his every spoken word may be recorded. To me this total ignorance says more about the man than all the words he spouted to his rich donor friends.

Last night, after Mother Jones had released the first pieces of the video, Willard hastily called a press conference at which he called for the release of the complete video. He evidently thought that would be a good thing. Also, this morning, a reporter asked him if he would like to retract anything he said, he declined.  Like I said, ignorant.

Maybe we should take it easy on him. Maybe Willie just spent too much time hiding out in France during the Vietnam War because the video appears to be the "let them eat cake" moment of his quickly sinking Presidential campaign.

David Corn's page at Mother Jones
Full Willard video Part 1 and Part 2

9/19 update - Dana Milbank had a good column in today's Washington Post, "Media should go easy on Romney, for their own sake," that includes a list of some of Willard's finest, shall we say, comments. "I have some great friends that are NASCAR team owners" is a personal fav of mine. Also Mother Jones released a full transcript of the Willard video that you can find here.

Observations from the Window 9.13

I've probably mentioned before that there was a time that John McCain was a Republican I actually liked. That was a time before he ran for President, met Sarah Palin, and drank the wingnut kool aid. Every now and than the old McCain screams to get out and he says something that reminds me why I once liked him, yesterday was such a day. On a day when Willard* tried once again to show the world why he shouldn't be President of The United States McCain stood on the U.S. Senate floor and said this ....

"It is with a heavy heart that I rise today to speak about the horrific attack yesterday on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that killed four Americans. The two confirmed thus far to be among the dead are Sean Smith, an Air Force veteran turned State Department Information Management Officer – and Ambassador Chris Stevens, one of America’s finest and bravest Foreign Service Officers.

I did not know Sean Smith, but I had gotten to know Chris Stevens quite well. And in Chris’s death, the Libyan people have lost a great champion and believer in the peaceful aspirations of their democratic revolution. The American people have lost a selfless and dedicated servant of our interests and values. And I have lost a friend. My thoughts and prayers today are with Chris’s family and the loved ones of his fallen colleagues. May God grant them comfort in their time of grief ...."

Full text of McCain's statement.

That being said McCain was just on the morning news shows blasting President Obama and rattling the sabers as he is wont to do at the drop of a hat. That kool aid as a long shelf life.

As I write this, a full 24 hours after the event, as far as I know Willard still hasn't even offered his condolences to the families of the diplomats killed in Libya. Maybe today he will or maybe he will just triple down on the ignorant statements he made yesterday. Time will tell but I know what side I'm betting on.

*If you want to know a little more here is a good column on the Willard/Libya subject posted on Forbes yesterday afternoon.
"The Lost Soul of Mitt Romney"