From Pine View Farm

September, 2012 archive

Not the 47% 2

Chuck for explains that Mitt the Flip’s moment of honesty will have little impact in Wingnut World, since, for its inhabitants, the 47% is those other guys.

He does not mince words.

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Support the Troops, Republican Style 0

It’s a three-part plan.

      1. Send them to war.
      2. Bring (at least most) of them home.
      3. Throw them away.

Via C&L.

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Tagged, Obama Derangement Syndrone Dept. 0

In the Hamptons, no less. Gatsby’s playground.

A 63-year-old man who reportedly confessed to a months-long anti-Obama graffiti spree in a tony Hamptons village has been charged with felony criminal mischief and 13 misdemeanor counts, police report.

Lawrence Nickel was collared last week by East Hampton cops in connection with a four-month probe of the vandalism, which “made derogatory references to President Obama and his policies.”

Words fail me.

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For a Three-Hour Tour 0

StevenD guides you through RomneyWorld. Go along for the ride.

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Meet the 47% (with Susie Sampson) 0

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Lies and Lying Liars 0

Because it’s all they got.

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Meeting the Mitt 0

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The Party, Not the Person 2

It increasingly appears that the Republican Party is going to lose the presidential election and, indeed, may take down its Congressional candidates as collateral damage.

If that happens, Republican insiders will certainly argue that they lost because Mitt the Flip was not conservative enough. The Republican answer to every political failure seems to be that it was because they were not conservative enough. It generally is not an accurate answer, but it’s the only one they’ve got.

At the Guardian, Gary Younge points out that, actually, it’s not the person. It is the party. A nugget:

The trouble was that almost all the Republican contenders during the primary were either extremely colourful or, as candidates at least, stank. There was Newt Gingrich, who wanted to build permanent bases on the moon and, according to his ex-wife, demanded an open three-way relationship with the mistress who is now his current wife; Ricky Perry, who could not remember his own talking points; and Herman Cain, who was accused by several women of sexual harassment and proudly stated that he did not know the name of the president of “Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan”. Each, for a while, was a frontrunner.

So when people wonder how Mitt Romney became the party’s standard-bearer they need to first remember just how low the standards were. To make sense within the Republican party was, almost by definition, to appear nonsensical outside it. More credible candidates took a look at what you’d have to say and do to compete and decided to sit the election out.

It is today’s QOTD writ large.

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Republican Class Warfare 0

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Via C&L, which has additional commentary.

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QOTD 0

Bill Clinton:

The problem with any ideology is that it gives you the answer before you examine the evidence.

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The Unbearable Lightness of Mitting 0

You just can’t get too much Richie Rich.

Oh, wait. Richie Rich was kind and likable.

This isn’t him.

Joking aside, I know that I and others are beating this to death.

I believe this is wholly justified. For the first time, after years of watching flips, we are getting a glimpse of a flipless Mitt, and, as Steven M. pointed out the other day, it ain’t pretty. A snippet from Steven M.’s post:

Romney has no ideological convictions, but — as I’ve said many times — he has a deep reserve of free-floating anger. In this he’s like Nixon, except that Nixon resented certain fixed groups (economic elites, blacks, Jews), while Romney seems to despise … well, anyone who gets in his way.

Video via AmericaBlog.

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Everybody Must Get Fracked 0

Whaddya want anyway? CH4 in your beer?

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Facebook Frolics: Tech Bubble Redux 0

At MarketWatch, John Shinal takes a look at Facebook’s market flop and tries to find some lessons for investors.

The bubble finally popped as shares were sold at new highs to retail investors, who as usual had no one left to sell to when the music stopped playing. This dynamic is at the heart of every investment bubble since the Dutch tulip craze. Savvy insiders buy low and sell high to regular folks who do the opposite.

He goes on to warn readers to beware the myth of the tech superstar. Otherwise, you might be zucked.

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“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0

Busted for exporting politeness:

Two Roanoke men have been charged in what federal authorities say was a Virginia-to-Connecticut gun-running operation.

Also, be sure to train for politeness:

Mark Jarrell, 41, of Canada, Ky., was in the process of separating three locomotives from a train around 8:15 p.m. Thursday when he was shot, said Robin Chapman, director of public relations for Norfolk Southern Corp.

“He stepped off the tracks, turned around and was shot in the chest by an unknown assailant,” Chapman said. “He got back on the locomotive, and got on the radio and called for assistance.”

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Running a Business-Like Campaign 0

Image:  Romney campaign borrows money, pays bonuses to staffers

Via Democratic Underground.

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The Fee Hand of the Political Market 0

Jay Bookman wonders why the message of the market doesn’t resonate with the Republican Party:

But Mitt Romney, for all his faults, is not the problem. His campaign team is not the problem. . . .

The problem is not the salesman. The problem is the product that he is attempting to peddle.

Remember, if they lose again this year, the Republican presidential candidate will have won a plurality of votes just once in the last six cycles, dating all the way back to 1992. That sole victory was itself an historic anomaly, with George W. Bush riding the patriotic post-9/11 wave to a very narrow two-point margin over John Kerry in 2004. The market is trying to tell them something.

Two words explain the falling value of the GOP’s stock: Southern. Strategy.

They are running out of bigots.

Afterthought:

Not long ago, I saw a vehicle with one of those “Don’t Re-Nig” bumper stickers. “Okay,” I said to myself, “a racist.”

The racist part did not surprise me. The advertising-the-racism did, mildly. Generally, even racists try to hide it in public these days, and the bumper sticker is somewhat more overt than the more common act of plastering the vehicle with the stars and bars.

Recently, a reader of Leonard Pitts, Jr., also saw one of those bumper stickers and wrote Mr. Pitts about it. Pitts addressed it in his column. A snippet:

When he was asked about that bumper sticker, Billy Smith of Ludowici, Ga., who manufactured it with his wife Paula told a reporter: “We didn’t mean it in a racist way.” The driver of that car would likely have said the same.

But they do not lie for our benefit. They lie to conscience — and to self.

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Bonded by the iHype 0

The Denver Post explores how Apple ihypes its iJunk while herds of iJunkies line for their iFixes. You’d think it was a the holy iGrail.

Some consumers, such as Aurora resident Darvell Davenport, say they enjoy the experience of showing up early for a product launch.

“It’s fun, you meet new people and interact,” said the 21-year-old, who

Customers line up outside Park Meadows mall near Denver Friday morning in hopes of being among the first to snag an iPhone 5. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)
has also camped out for an iPad and basketball sneakers. “Just the sleep part is messed up.”

(snip)

“We’re very social animals,” (Univ. of Colo. Professor Phil–ed.) Fernbach said. “When we see someone else doing something, we automatically infer from that that it might be a good thing to do.”

At the San Jose Mercury-News, Apple’s local rag, Larry Magid worries about whether the media are playing into Apple’s hype strategy:

I don’t blame Apple for all the hype. It’s their job to maximize interest in their products. But I do blame the press — myself included — for obsessing over them. I keep telling myself to put Apple products into perspective, but I’m as guilty as anyone when it comes to covering Apple more than other companies. It’s partially competitive pressure and, in my case, it’s partially demand from radio and TV stations I work with. And when it comes to blog posts, there’s another incentive — stories about Apple products get more hits than other stories. So if you’re looking to maximize viewers (which often translates into more revenue), then you can’t go wrong by writing about Apple, which, of course, is exactly what I just did.

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QOTD 0

James Fenimore Cooper, from the Quotemaster (subscribe here):

America owes most of its social prejudices to the exaggerated religious opinions of the different sects which were so instrumental in establishing the colonies.

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Rick Scott Auditions for the 47% 0

Republicans: Agin’ that evul fedrul guvmint money until except when they ain’t.

Florida governor Rick “Lex Luthor” Scott (R–Medicare Fraud) is miffed that he can’t stick his hand into the fedrul cash drawer.

Scott (R–Medicare fraud) originally wrote to Obama and (FEMA Director Craig–ed.) Fugate to request aid about two weeks after Isaac — which became a hurricane days after sideswiping Florida — caused flooding in Palm Beach County and the Panhandle. Fugate, who served as director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management from 2001-09, this week let Scott know his request had been denied.

Fugate’s letter stated that the damage was not severe enough to require federal aid, and basically argued that Florida could handle the costs on its own.

The rejection is the latest dust-up in a tenuous relationship between Scott and the federal government.

Shortly after coming into office, Scott rejected more than $2 billion in federal funds aimed at building a high-speed rail line. Obama criticized Scott for the snub, saying he thought it was “wrong.”

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“What Better Man than Me To Take Away Medicare . . .” 0

I guess because giving tax breaks to rich folks so they can buy car elevators is more important than giving old folks the heath care benefits for which they have paid their Medicare taxes throughout their working lives.

And Tommy Thompson is reputed to be a “moderate” Republican. “Moderate” Republican has become an oxymoron.

Via The Booman Tribune.

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