Archive for Presidential Race
Responding To The Pearl Clutchers
Posted by: | CommentsAll the fuss over Newark, NJ Mayor Corey Booker’s comments about Obama’s “nauseating” campaign ad slamming Mitt Romney’s experience with Bain Capital has Booker backtracking, the White House scolding and Republicans clutching their pearls. How dare he slam the private equity firms for maximizing profits at the expense of workers? No business-friendly politician would do that, would they?
Think Progress reminds us of pearl-clutching, anti-capitalist Republicans who did:
Here are the top 10 comments about Bain from Romney’s Republican rivals:
1) “The idea that you’ve got private equity companies that come in and take companies apart so they can make profits and have people lose their jobs, that’s not what the Republican Party’s about.” — Rick Perry [New York Times, 1/12/12]2) “The Bain model is to go in at a very low price, borrow an immense amount of money, pay Bain an immense amount of money and leave. I’ll let you decide if that’s really good capitalism. I think that’s exploitation.” — Newt Gingrich [New York Times, 1/17/12]
3) “Instead of trying to work with them to try to find a way to keep the jobs and to get them back on their feet, it’s all about how much money can we make, how quick can we make it, and then get out of town and find the next carcass to feed upon” — Rick Perry [National Journal, 1/10/12]
4) “We find it pretty hard to justify rich people figuring out clever legal ways to loot a company, leaving behind 1,700 families without a job.” — Newt Gingrich [Globe and Mail, 1/9/12]
Six more at Think Progress. How rude, Digby observes.
‘But I Stand By What I Said Whatever It Was’
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The Day Before The Day
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What’s the CW on who’s going to win all these races? Have you already voted? What do you think the GOP Presidential primary vote will look like? I’m guessing Romney doesn’t break 58% and that Ron Paul has his best southern state showing.
This would also be a great place to let everyone know where the election night parties and gatherings are.
With 37 different ballot styles in Buncombe County (Thanks a lot, Tim Moffitt), the Board of Elections may take a little more time than usual to release results tomorrow, but you can watch for results at this link right here.
Voting Begins Tomorrow
Posted by: | CommentsTime to get your votin’ hat on. Voting prior to May 8th means that you can tell those callers, door knockers, and poliscolds, “I already voted.”
The Road We’ve Traveled
Posted by: | CommentsFrom the Obama 2012 campaign:
Talking Points Memo has an interesting breakdown of the video here.
Ron Paul’s Drag Race
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From The Advocate:
@RonPaulDragRace, a new satirical Twitter account, pokes fun at current events and brings the seemingly opposing realms of politics and drag queens into one hysterical feed.
Join the fun here.
The New Democratic Majority
Posted by: | CommentsMitt Romney regularly says things like “We are only inches away from no longer being a free economy,” and that this election “could be our last chance.”
The Republican Party is in the grips of many fever dreams. But this is not one of them. To be sure, the apocalyptic ideological analysis—that “freedom” is incompatible with Clinton-era tax rates and Massachusetts-style health care—is pure crazy. But the panicked strategic analysis, and the sense of urgency it gives rise to, is actually quite sound. The modern GOP—the party of Nixon, Reagan, and both Bushes—is staring down its own demographic extinction. Right-wing warnings of impending tyranny express, in hyperbolic form, well-grounded dread: that conservative America will soon come to be dominated, in a semi-permanent fashion, by an ascendant Democratic coalition hostile to its outlook and interests. And this impending doom has colored the party’s frantic, fearful response to the Obama presidency.
Mitt Rmoney
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I saw the title of this post on a scrolling news ticker running across the teevee at the Asheville Brewing Company tonight.
Discuss.
Senator Al Franken’s Speech at the 2012 CA Democratic Convention
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“Somehow, [Clint Eastwood's] Super Bowl ad became controversial. Why? How can optimism — cheerleading for an American comeback be controversial? Who is against that? Who has ever been against that? Ever?
“Watching Republicans complain about that ad is like watching someone root for the dealer in Blackjack.”
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“It’s time for some negative reinforcement.”
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“Paul [Wellstone] once said the future belongs to those who are passionate and work hard … Elections are always our best chance to prove Paul right”
Eddie Lives
Posted by: | CommentsIncluding November outcomes, a lot remains uncertain in this election season, and redistricting accounts for a lot of it: who is in, who is out, who can run, who can vote and vote where. Much of the rhetoric and legislation from the Republican side has a retrograde feel to it. In the wake of Democratic gains in 2006 and 2008, and the economic collapse in 2008, the Republican strategy seems to be one, enormous rearguard action to forestall the inevitable as demographic reality slowly seeps in, one last, desperate culture war counteroffensive before the end. Emblematic of that is the open reemergence of the Southern Strategy, in rhetoric, legislation and redistricting. There will be more on Republican redistricting to come, but first some observations about the flavor of the Republican primaries.
Those of us of a certain age remember an old TV sitcom, “Leave It To Beaver.” It was pretty saccharine fare, except for one particular character, a two-faced kid named Eddie Haskell.
