The Mittiot Cometh

Nov, 1st 2012

There really has never been a candidate like this. For anyone to say that they know what he truly believes is sheer lunacy. Chait is right:

"The different iterations of his career differ so wildly, yet comport so perfectly with his political ambitions of the moment, that it is simply impossible to separate his panders from his actual beliefs, the means from the ends."

The following video drives home the point in a fashion that would be hilarious were the stakes not so damn high. 

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Worth Repeating

Nov 1st, 2012

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"If the 1994 or 2003 version of Mitt Romney were running for president, I may well have voted for him..."
-- New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg from his just released endorsement of President Obama

Mitt Watch: What Sandy Tells Us About The Candidate And His Party

Oct 31st, 2012

UPDATE 4pm CST 11/1/12: In this piece, I made mention of Gov. Christie's very public praise of the President's management of the disaster response. The GOP has begun to savage him for it. That didn't take long.

Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath are perfectly legitimate political issues. That anyone would argue otherwise is ridiculous.

Chait puts it best:

"What you are going to see over the next week is an overt effort by Democrats to politicize the issue of disaster response. They're right to do it. Conservatives are already complaining about this, but the attempt to wall disaster response off from politics in the aftermath of a disaster is an attempt to insulate Republicans from the consequences of their policies."

The GOP has directly targeted our national disaster response mechanisms, having gone so far as to threaten a total government shutdown last year while seeking a nearly forty percent cut to first responders. The outright elimination of FEMA has become a central position among the party's leadership.

Mitt Watch: Ugly Deals And Not So Blind Trusts

Sept 25th, 2012

While everyone is debating either the fairness of the rate or the bizarre and hypocritical over-payment revealed in the release of Mitt Romney's 2011 tax returns, there are some darker and more complicated issues raised.

After reminding us that it was Romney himself who stated years ago "you can always tell a blind trust what it can and cannot do," FT reports that his investments in Chinese energy concern Cnooc, a group with direct dealings in Tehran and a history of human rights abuses, seem to have been made and sold with suspiciously convenient timing regarding his political ambitions.

The short version: his "blind trust" invested in Cnooc after their practices were raising eyebrows and under investigation here in the U.S. but divested late in the Summer of 2011 just before candidate Romney made talking tough on China one of his campaign's talking points. More on this HERE. 

The next time we hear anyone from Team Romney refer to the "morality of capitalism," it's worth asking them just what the hell they think they're talking about.

In A Nutshell

Sept 23rd, 2012

Quote Of The Day - Here And Now Edition

Sept 22nd, 2012

"The Romney campaign has to get turned around. This week I called it incompetent, but only because I was being polite. I really meant 'rolling calamity.'"

-- Peggy Noonan on the increasingly unglued display.

In A Nutshell

Sept 20th, 2012

In A Nutshell

Sept 19th, 2012

GOP Convention Live Blog

Aug 30th, 2012

10:25pm CST 

And there we have it.

An empty suit with no core values who thinks we can magically alter our financial agreements with China, drastically lower taxes where there is actual revenue, raise them where it will cripple aggregate demand, and retool for a battle against the Soviet menace might be the next President of the United States.

Back later with reactions and round ups.

Now We Know Why Romney Picked Ryan

Aug 30th, 2012

In an election year which has seen one of our country's two major parties nominate the most remarkably dishonest public figure in living memory for the presidency, everyone had an opinion on why that liar picked Paul Ryan as his second. 

Some said it was Ryan's "seriousness." 

Others said it was his "grasp of budgets." 

There were even those that said it was a calculated move to appeal to young, conservative women. After all, Ryan does P90X. He is buff.

We were all wrong. Every one of us failed to see what Romney saw. Paul Ryan, as it turns out, is actually capable of lying with a straight face nearly as well as Mitt Romney himself.

Mitt Watch - Puncturing The Myth Of Bain

Aug 29th, 2012

Team Romney has consistently told a tale of rugged, independent capitalist dynamism when describing the GOP nominee's record at Bain. 

He is credited with nearly singlehandedly saving it from collapse. 

This a a huge part of their argument for a corporate presidency.

Is it true? 

Not by a long shot writes Tom Dickinson:

"The federal records, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal that Romney's initial rescue attempt at Bain & Company was actually a disaster – leaving the firm so financially strapped that it had "no value as a going concern." Even worse, the federal bailout ultimately engineered by Romney screwed the FDIC – the bank insurance system backed by taxpayers – out of at least $10 million. And in an added insult, Romney rewarded top executives at Bain with hefty bonuses at the very moment that he was demanding his handout from the feds."

He didn't build this.

It's Official. The GOP's New War Is Actually On Facts

Aug 28th, 2012

It's one thing to note for the umpteenth time that Team Romney lies regularly and without shame. Steve Benen has found that to be a full time job. It's quite another to see what has happened today; the "conservative" movement has actually rallied around a war on facts.

When GOP pollster Neil Newhouse declared earlier that Team Romney is "not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers," it was not some isolated gaffe. As far as the "conservatives" are concerned, it wasn't a gaffe at all. In fact, it seems to be part of a coordinated effort to discredit the provable.

There is a stunning piece of venom from the Weekly Standard. Mark Hemingway smarms:

"Perhaps if we all ignore PolitiFact, they'll go away. But for the time being, the supposedly independent organization continues to crank out skewed and partisan work. There's no better example of this than the the current jihad the "fact checking" organization is waging against the Romney-Ryan health care plan." EMPHASIS OURS

Roll that one over for a minute. Bill Kristol's magazine is likening the act of trying to determine the veracity of political pronouncements with irrational superstition and violence. Specifically, they are coding it with a term designed to evoke images of Islamic supremacists.

They are not alone in this campaign against "fact-checking." 

NRO's editors are carrying Romney's water as well:

"The website PolitiFact is going to be truth-squadding the Republican convention speakers this week, delivering verdicts on which claims are “mostly true” and which deserve a "pants on fire" rating. Our advice: Pay no attention to those ratings. PolitiFact can’t be trusted to get the story right." EMPHASIS OURS

We are witnessing one of the only two major parties in America, the one with deeper pockets I might add, openly sneer at the truth.

Put aside the fact that Rachel Maddow's ongoing battle with PolitiFact puts the lie to arguments that they are some sort of shifty, leftist cabal.

That's not the point. The right is not suggesting that the electorate should take PolitFact or even "fact-checking" with a grain of salt or, perhaps, even do their own research.

Team Romney's mouthpieces, both official and unofficial, are signalling to the base that it is acceptable to dismiss facts altogether.

That's what they are counting on. 

Ryan Watch - A View From The Base

Aug 14th, 2012

With a little bit of a wink and a nudge from Roger Simon:

"This is what the base likes. This is what the base needs. We haven’t been this excited since McCain chose Palin. OK, bad example. We haven’t been this excited since Dole chose Kemp. OK, another bad example. We haven’t been this excited since George H.W. Bush chose Quayle. Ha! Gotcha, there.

The fact is that Paul Ryan has spent virtually his entire adult life in politics, and, therefore, is insulated from time-wasting side issues like understanding how ordinary people live.

He has seen life from the top, and the top is where you want to be. Believe us. We are the base, and we know the difference between coach and Premier Executive seating.

Does Ryan lack any real foreign policy experience? Yes. So what? How much did George W. Bush have when he plunged us into a tragic and unnecessary war for mythical weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?

But let us tell you the upside: There are a lot of people who made out like bandits on that war. They made fortunes. And they are up there flying in first class. Or on their own jets.

And that is the real lesson that any kid from Wisconsin knows: You only go around once in life, so you’ve got to grab for all the gusto you can."

Mitt Watch - The Most Brazen Hypocrite In Presidential History

Aug 13th, 2012

Well, Team Romney today released the latest ad smearing the President and misinforming the electorate about new flexibility allowed to the states in the administration of their benefit programs. There is coverage HERE and HERE and the ad is at the bottom if you are interested.

What makes this lie more egregious than almost all of his others is the fact that Romney fought hard as governor of Massachusetts for states to have the very latitude that he now attacks. Below is a screengrab from the RGA document, bearing his signature, pleading with then President Bush to support "increased waiver authority" in America's welfare system.

I don't expect any comment from Romney or his team explaining the hypocrisy as the entire campaign has become a surreal exercise in the mendacious.

Forget for a moment that the Obama order comes at the request of desperate Republican governors grappling with the ongoing financial crisis. This was something Romney thought was good policy when the economy was comparably strong.

None of this matters to a campaign which has shown its willingness to rile their own base by any means necessary. If that means preying upon white fears and coding propaganda with classic, right wing imagery of shiftless, lazy poor people (psst, "blacks") then so be it.

Diplomacy 101

July 27th, 2012

"If you ask me if that suit makes you look fat, I’m not going to tell you it does even if it does, Brian."

-- A visibly annoyed Chris Wallace attempting to communicate to Fox & Friends' Brian Kilmeade why Romney deserves every bit of criticism he's received for yesterday's spectacle.

Quote Of The Day - Hilarious Flashback Edition

July 27th, 2012

"The Obama campaign can’t bear the thought that the well-traveled Mitt Romney will make a nice impression on his overseas tour."

-- Washington Post "writer" and Mitt Romney groupie Jennifer Rubin on 7/23/12

Mitt Watch - An Idiot Abroad, cont...

July 27th, 2012

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Mitt Watch - An Idiot Abroad

July 26th, 2012

In the American right's fantasy narrative of the Obama presidency, the most pernicious alternative to reality continues to be their portrayal of him as an inept diplomat. It is on this count that the "anyone but Obama" crowd is today experiencing a rude awakening. Barely out of the country on his first international tour as the GOP nominee, Mitt Romney has managed nothing less than the instigation of a minor diplomatic incident over sport. That's just for starters.

Before the day began, Team Romney was already in defensive mode over the jaw-dropping and racially explosive "Anglo-Saxon heritage" remark attributed to an aide. The irony here is rich. That remark smugly asserted that Romney would somehow naturally, even magically, usher in a closer, smoother period in our "special relationship" with England because of certain racial cultural characteristics.

Today's events do not lend much credibility to the claim.

In a matter of mere hours, Mitt Romney did more to undermine his perceived capabilities as a potential commander in chief than the opposition has accomplished in a year. 

He first insulted the English by insinuating that they weren't adequately prepared to host the Olympics. 

This provoked a rousing public dressing down in front of a crowd of 60,000 from London's mayor and star of their Conservative Party, Boris Johnson. 

It also drew an understandably abrasive response from Prime Minister Cameron which has, in turn, sparked a feud between Salt Lake City mayor Ralph Becker and, well, England. 

In other news, Romney seems to have casually disclosed the rough location of the head of MI6 to the public which is, to say the least, a serious breach in protocol. 

While his gaffes continued to mount, his meeting with the Prime Minister apparently went so poorly that it has resulted in leaks from sources present comparing it to a "car crash" and stating that Romney was "worse than Palin." 

The cherry on the cake was his awkward meeting with Labor Party representative Ed Miliband during which he appears to have forgotten Miliband's name. 

Oh, and he referred to the United Kingdom by the wrong name.

One really has to hand it to him for uniting the members of Labor and the Conservative Party in mutual disgust.

This was all before dinner.

He managed to pack this much incompetence into a single day.

You can't invent this stuff.

What makes this spectacle all the more amazing is that Romney arrived in England with plenty of baggage. This is a candidate who has a long history of glibly dismissing America's most important military and political partner.

In his book, No Apology, Romney notoriously wrote (H/T):

"England is just a small island. Its roads and houses are small. With few exceptions, it doesn't make things that people in the rest of the world want to buy. And if it hadn't been separated from the continent by water, it almost certainly would have been lost to Hitler's ambitions."

So much for honoring Britain's historic courage.

Ahead of the last presidential contest, Romney singled out England as a nation in decline and called it "second-tier."

In spite of what some folks are saying, this was a pattern and it is a big deal.

Romney had to be perfect today. This trip is his one chance before the election to prove himself as a statesman rather than just another partisan American opportunist. Instead, he has so far rendered himself a laughing stock at best. At worst, he's coming across as so un-skilled at international relations that it presents some serious security concerns.

It will be very interesting to watch the GOP attempt to recover from all this. The relative silence of the right wing's fear factories today gives the impression that they understand how bad this is. It's the smart move not to start the pro-Romney spin in earnest just yet. After all, there's no telling how much damage he can do on day two.

Worth A Thousand Words

July 26th, 2012

Romney shortly after his meeting with British Prime Minister Cameron today. Coming on the heels of his gaffe-a-minute approach to the trip (foreign press coverage HERE, HERE and HERE), I find his expression unsurprising.

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Mitt's Total Disconnect

July 11th, 2012

While speaking to the NAACP convention today, Mitt got booed severely when he reaffirmed his commitment to the total repeal of "Obamacare." Did he try to recover? Well, yeah. But his pivot was to a "survey of the Chamber of Commerce."

You cannot make this stuff up.