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. 

Via

Mitt Watch - An Idiot Abroad, cont...

July 27th, 2012

Via

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.

We Can't Keep Up With Romney's Gaffes

Feb 3rd, 2012

Maybe Romney is going for a new record; a gaffe a day. First, of course, there was the "very poor" remark we covered HERE and HERE. Next came the Trump and Romney Show. Now, there is this.

It's not merely that his pronouncement today that "we are the only people who put our hands over our hearts during the national anthem" is patently, wildly and provably false; His explanation of why FDR asked Americans to do so is a misrepresentation bordering on historical illiteracy.

Cain Watch - Why? Why Is He Doing This? cont...

Nov 14th, 2011

Wow. Jeff Spross adds this withering look at Cain's bumbling in light of today's "Libya moment."

Cain Watch - Why? Why Is He Doing This?

Nov 14th, 2011

I think it's a legitimate question; Why, for goodness sake's, is Herman Cain still running? This train-wreck goes beyond a "performance art" candidacy. Today's display of raw ignorance on the subject of Libya should make every foreign policy attuned conservative run from him, but quick.

By Alex Seitz-Wald and Jeff Spross observe:

"Unlike Rick Perry’s infamous "oops" moment, Cain doesn’t appear to have a momentary brain lapse, but seems to be genuinely befuddled by the substance of the question. Last month, Cain said he had studied up on foreign policy and "challenge[d] anybody who says I wouldn’t know how to address foreign policy."

While becoming the next commander in chief is looking increasingly unlikely for Cain, he has a backup plan. This weekend, he said he would like to be secretary of defense so he could "kick the you-know-what out of everyone in the world."

What DOES Herman Cain Know?

Nov 1st, 2011
by F. Grey Parker

It has been a longstanding complaint of the Republican establishment that President Obama "lacked experience" at the time of his election. Apparently, their base has enamored itself to a candidate who lacks basic knowledge.

Herman Cain has very recently topped his public display of ignorance regarding the Palestinian claim of a "right of return." In an interview with Judy Woodruff, Cain appeared to be very worried that the Chinese might, someday soon, actually develop nuclear weapons.

Charting Palin's Brain

Oct 7th, 2011

First of all, I want to admit up front that I was wrong and most everyone else was right; Sarah Palin is not running for the office of the Presidency in 2012. It was a money making scheme all along. That said, I came across this chart today which pokes some fun at her thought processes. It's still worth sharing.

Perry Watch - Foreign Policy Nonsense

Sept 23rd, 2011

There isn't really an issue in foreign policy that should currently concern us more than the potential insecurity of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. Except, of course, the prospect that a President Perry would have to deal with the situation. Gov. Perry has been legitimately savaged for his response to a question on that topic during last night's debate.


Kevin Drum writes that the answer was little more than a "Palinesque bit of word salad." I think this is unfair to Palin. So obtuse was his response that it should end his candidacy. First of all, Perry is wrong on the facts of our strategic arms agreements with India. Second of all, what the hell good does a "relationship" with India do in the event that the Taliban actually gains control of one or more warheads? Lastly, trying to score points with his party's old school hawks by bringing up arms sales to Taiwan simply made no damn sense.

One of Romney's advisors is quoted by the Weekly Standard as having described the statements as "completely unintelligible." That didn't stop Perry's biggest backer, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback, from piling on in his defense

"You gotta have a relationship to know what’s going on. I’ve worked with the Pakistanis, and particularly in Pakistan you need a relationship, because the country’s a pretty unstable place, and it’s run by the army. You gotta know the guy that’s the head of the place."

Mkay. Except the "relationship" Perry discussed was with India.

Team Perry, mired in stunning yokelism, has no business running an American state much less the Armed Forces.

Tweet Of The Week

Sept 17th, 2011

Rick Perry's Big Bold Faced Lie

Sept 13th, 2011

During last night's Tea Party sponsored "debate," Gov. Rick Perry dropped a line that was so provably untrue it was actually impressive. Regarding the 2009 stimulus, Perry declared that:

"It created zero jobs."

Yes, Politifact gave it a "pants on fire" rating. As a matter of course. The whole exchange is worth reading as it more than confirms that we are dealing with something other than a political party.

Perry Watch - Unoriginality Edition

Sept 1st, 2011

Remember the nutty lie about President Obama doing more for Brazilian oil exploration then he has domestically? Remember how even Fox News was shamed into toning it down because it was a blatant falsehood?

Well, apparently, Republican Presidential hopeful Texas Gov. Rick Perry never got that memo. In his continuing quest for attention and validation, he repeated it recently. This has naturally earned him a Politifact "pants-on-fire" award.

Also, would someone please tell Perry that when you fire a gun in the air the bullet comes back down? Just an aside. Thinking of the children.

Bachmann Watch - White People Edition

Aug 29th, 2011

Well, here's an interesting recent appearance by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN). You might not really absorb or even make it to the absurdity which follows her let's-get-the-crowd-goin' opener because you will be too stunned:

"WHO LIKES WHITE PEOPLE?!" (video below)

There are unconfirmed reports that a music group called the "White People Soul Band" performed at this event. Who gives a shit? The woman has no judgment. Mrs. Bachmann's apologists are already going into overdrive on social networks to blame those of us who are offended for being offended by her offensiveness. Watch for yourself. And keep watching because there is something else going on here that is far more illuminating...

Michele Bachman may be more mind-numbingly ignorant of scripture than anyone I have heard in my life. She tells the fawning crowd that "God is not partial" right before, with her very next breath, she preaches a garbled version of the First Book of Samuel. If you are unfamiliar, this is partly the fable of Jonathan, son of King Saul, who lays waste to a garrison of Philistines nearly single handed with only the assistance of his armor-bearer. This is possible through the blessing of the vengeful, Old Testament God. Such rich poetry is perhaps too delicate a thing for one who cannot accurately define the word "partial."


It is also one more example of the Dominionist habit of throwing the word Jesus around pretty indiscriminately while simultaneously focusing most of their attention on the blood and the war and killing in the Torah.

I recommend Lewis Black's take on this phenomena.

Telling It Like It Is

Aug 20th, 2011

The other day a reader remarked that I "sure do praise a lot Republicans lately." I am not sure this is altogether accurate. I will concede that there a lot of un-elected Republicans and conservatives I truly respect. That is because they aren't bat shit crazy.

This brings me to Bruce Bartlett. Mr. Bartlett is an economist whose work I read daily and cite often. Yes, he was an instrumental member of the Reagan and Bush 1 administrations. He is also a man of reason and, dare I say it, even political bravery. He very nearly achieved pariah status in the "conservative" community with his 2006 book, Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy.

This week, he drew a lot of attention for simply telling it like it is:

"Rick Perry is an idiot and, uh, I don't think anyone would disagree with that."


One Bruce Bartlett was more effective than one million progressives chanting the same line in unison could have been.

It is now more important than ever that we prevent the same sort of ideological hijacking of the left that we have seen with the Tea Party on the right. For all those who are grumbling about third parties and primary challenges to the President, I would like to remind them that we failed to turn out in the last election. We also failed completely to politic the independent voter with the work of any of the many allies we actually have on the other side of the aisle. This isn't the first time a fellow like Bartlett has said what we want to say more effectively. It's just that we usually don't pay attention.

Smart Republican Vs. Murdoch Drone

April 3rd, 2011

I am no fan of Peter Schiff's economic philosophies. That said, he is quite brilliant and well informed. The clip below from Media Matters is a truly spectacular exchange between Mr. Schiff and the Murdoch Device's Eric Bolling.

Palin Attempts To Answer Question

Feb 7th, 2011

In all seriousness, this may be the most intellectually challenged statement from any major player on the right I have ever encountered. Again, Sarah Palin speaks only to the most adoring and fawning interviewers. 

The venues in which she appears are specifically chosen to ensure that she hits it out of the park. That she can't manage to win a rigged game is the point of drawing attention to moments like these. The following is a response to a question from David Brody for Pat Robertson's 700 Club regarding her position on the American reaction to the Egyptian crisis. We must assume that this is the best she could do in gluing together her prepared talking points.

"It’s a difficult situation, this is that 3am White House phone call and it seems for many of us trying to get that information from our leader in the White House it it seems that that call went right to um the answering machine. And nobody yet has, no body yet has explained to the American public what they know, and surely they know more than the rest of us know who it is who will be taking the place of Mubarak and I’m not real enthused about what it is that that’s being done on a national level and from DC in regards to understanding all the situation there in Egypt. And in these areas that are so volatile right now because obviously it’s not just Egypt but the other countries too where we are seeing uprisings, we know that now more than ever, we need strength and sound mind there in the White House. We need to know what it is that America stands for so we know who it is that America will stand with. And we do not have all that information yet."

Okay. Let's bypass analysis of her troubled grammar.

First of all, framing an answer to so complex a set of of geopolitical equations with the imagery of a not terribly popular Hillary Clinton Campaign Ad from the 2008 cycle is jaw dropping. More amazing is the fact that she clearly didn't understand the ad itself which was not about answering the people's questions but rather an ability to manage crises while the nation sleeps.

Second of all, Mrs. Palin implies that we don't, in fact, have the information telling us what America "stands for." One has to wonder whether she even realizes that this was the gist of her remark

Third of all, that such a staunch apologist of the secretive, torture dependent security-state constructed during the during the George W. Bush years would now be condemning the Obama Administration for not be exposing the inner-workings of an international crisis more publicly simply boggles.

I could go on...

Beinart On The Tea Party's "Constitutionalists"

Jan 5th, 2011

Writing for The Daily Beast, Peter Beinart notes the big gap in the Tea Party's pseudo-worship of the U.S. Constitution:

“But beneath this apparent right-wing continuity lies a massive shift. For President Bush, believing in the Constitution meant believing that when it comes to national security, the federal government in general—and the president in particular—can do pretty much whatever they want. For the new Republican Congress, by contrast, believing in the Constitution means believing that when it comes to intervening in the economy, the federal government in general—and the president in particular—can do barely anything at all.

Today’s Tea Partiers generally ignore this shift because they ignore national security itself. Their “Contract from America” doesn’t even mention foreign policy. But imagine what would happen if the Tea Partiers did grapple with the foreign policy implications of their constitutional vision. They believe, after all, that the framers of the Constitution wanted federal power to be extremely limited so it wouldn’t infringe upon personal liberty. They’re fond of quoting Thomas Jefferson, the founder most associated with distrust of a powerful federal government. And they generally downplay the role of Alexander Hamilton, who believed that only a strong central state could build America into an industrial power. But Jefferson’s distrust of federal power was deeply bound up with his fear of militaries and empires. He believed that a standing army, if created, would menace individual freedom and he wanted America to be a trading nation that would steer clear of the “entangling alliances” that defined European power politics."

Indeed.

Glenn Beck and White Power

Dec 9th, 2010

How far does Glenn Beck have to go before enough is enough. From this morning's program:
"If you are white or you are an American citizen or a white American citizen you are pretty much toast."

Grover Norquist Endorses What?

Nov 19th, 2010

In an interview with Politico, Grover Norquist, the head of Americans For Tax Reform, states that the Republican victories in the 2010 election were essentially a mandate for a 1995 style government shutdown.

I don't think that this is what Reagan had in mind when he tapped Norquist to head the group back in 1985. It's mission to "oppose all tax increases on principle" has become so outdated as to be anachronistic and so destructive as to hearken back to the robber-baron culture of a century ago.

"It's up to Obama," He says, to stop "the spendathon."

No, it's not. Obama has chosen to govern. When one considers the total disaster that the previous shutdown was, not just for Republicans but for the country, one has to ask if this man has any contact whatsoever with ordinary Americans who do not sit amongst the top 2% in terms of personal wealth or, for that matter, those who do not sit on the boards of right wing advocacy groups.

It must be noted, one more time, that Mr. Norquist is extreme by even contemporary Libertarian standards. He does not want to make government more efficient. In his own words, he has so much as called for the elimination of government completely (see the photo to the upper left).

Hi, I'm a Tea-Partier

Oct 29th, 2010

This is making the rounds. It would be funnier if it weren't so true.