Is Mitt Romney "Severely Freudian?"

by: TJ Walker

Mon Feb 13, 2012 at 15:49:26 PM EST

Who is Mitt Romney?

Voiceover from Romney 'I was a severely conservative Republican.'

Severely conservative???

The word 'severely' is most commonly used to describe the following: Disabled, depressed, ill, limited, injured.

So, Michigan conservatives, Mitt Romney basically thinks conservatism is like a 'disease.'

If you're a moderate/independent Michigan Republican, how do you feel about a politician who doesn't believe in anything, but implies, 'I'll pretend to be a diseased extremist, even if I think it's crazy?'

Mitt Romney's father, George Romney was a great Michigan governor who always spoke his mind. He stood up to his church and GOP extremists regarding civil rights.

But Mitt Romney? Has he ever stood up for something unpopular?

Mitt Romney, he's not his father's son. Mitt Romney thinks he can 'brain wash' the rest of us.

Paid for By AmericanLP, not associated with a candidate or candidate's committee.

Notes of concern

by: Hampshire Ite

Tue Feb 07, 2012 at 15:04:45 PM EST

-- About 200 turned out for the anti-equality rally this afternoon.

-- House speaker O'Brien was there and said the bill was a priority for him, regardless of what DJ's list said.

-- There was no counter-protest. Bishop Robinson was there, I believe, and a couple of people from NH Families to answer media questions.

This concerns me a bit.

We had previously believed no one in the House wanted to put it all on the line for this bill. Bates is. We had thought leadership wasn't behind it. O'Brien is. We know that the public doesn't support it, but the opposition still turned out the minimum number of people required to play a crowd on TV.

Make no mistake: Bates and company have done well this news cycle. The pictures and coverage could well be damaging. It is disappointing that a more forceful, on-the-spot response was not mustered in time.

Word on the street is that the bill comes up next week. If so, I would hope a public gathering of some kind - with some of the big names Standing Up has snagged - will be part of the run up.

What the Hell is going on with the Republican Party?

by: TJ Walker

Wed Jan 25, 2012 at 16:47:23 PM EST

What's going on?

Yes, Obama is vulnerable. But the Republicans are flocking to Newt Gingrich. A man with near 100% name ID among likely voters and near 60% unfavorable ratings. 60%! It's almost as if Obama pulled a reverse Watergate, broke into the GOP headquarters, drugged the chairman and had a Mission Impossible style replacement mask put on James Carville who took over things just to screw with Republicans.
But that doesn't quite seem plausible, so here are two other theories.

1. Insanity rage. Anyone beyond a certain age has known friends or family members who were perfectly sane and rational for their entire life and then simply snapped. If it can happen to individuals, it can happen to an entire political party. Sometimes severe trauma can do it. Sometimes it's just blind rage. We've all seen people who are so blinded by rage in a bitter divorce that they reject the mild mannered, efficient lawyer who can draw up a quick property settlement with minimum fees and hassle. Sure, their ex-spouse will get a lot, but your friend will get more this way than if any other way is pursued. By contrast, there is the person who says, "I don't care if I have to spend 150% of my $5 million network! I don't care if I become homeless and have to beg on the streets for the rest of my life! I would rather starve to death than give my spouse a single penny!" So this person hires a lawyer who is skilled at lengthy depositions, hiring private eyes, and firing lots of nuisance law suits. Mission accomplished. Ex- spouse gets nothing. Your friend ends up bankrupt and living in a box on the street.
In this scenario, Republicans are so filled with intense, utter blind rage of Obama, all they care about is finding the one person who can attack, vilify and trash-talk Obama the most forcefully. Well, no one can seriously dispute that Gingrich is uniquely talented for that. Republicans hate Obama so much all they care about is inflicting pain. That's why they don't care about any of New Gingrich's shortcomings. That's why the various so-called family values coalitions rally around the thrice-married, serial adulterous Gingrich against the once-married, idyllic family man Obama. That's why Tea Party members who hate career politicians who get rich off of lobbying and stay in Washington for 35 years don't care about Gingrich's Freddie Mac contracts.

News Flash: it just doesn't matter! Newt Gingrich can publicly marry 5 wives at the same time, he can have a live pay-per-view webcast sexually assaulting an underage boy paid for by the National Endowment by the Arts and it just won't matter. The only thing that matters is hating and trashing Obama, and Gingrich is the best there is among official candidates. Of course if Republicans really had their way, the ticket would be Ann Coulter/Rush Limbaugh in 2012 (who knows, maybe a brokered convention will create that ticket).
Republicans are taking the attitude that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And since Obama is the enemy and Gingrich trashes Obama better than anyone, Gingrich is Obama's worst enemy therefore Gingrich is the Republican's #1 friend.

2. The second scenario has a slightly different beginning, but then blends into the same result. In this scenario, the cause of Republicans flocking to an unelectable scoundrel like Newt Gingrich is the result of Republicans now living in a hermetically sealed bubble. This is a media bubble, geographic bubble, religious bubble, and social bubble.

First, the media. Thanks to the continued rise of Fox News, and conservative websites, plus the steady influence of talk radio, it is now possible for a person to be a news junkie, consider himself to be extraordinarily well-informed, and NEVER hear anything positive about President Obama. In the conservative media universe, where most Republicans now get most of their news, the dominant world view is that President Obama is the worst president in the history of the country. Obama is the most corrupt, least talented and most disastrous leader in the history of the world. Obamacare is the single worst act of public policy ever created. Obama is a foreign-born Muslim socialist who through some fluke slipped into the White House accidently. Now that his hideous flaws have been revealed daily for almost 4 years, Obama will be voted out of office, perhaps by a 95% margin, and sent back on a boat to Africa, where he came from and where he belongs.

It is now possible to hear that worldview perpetuated from a variety of media sources that (if you are a conservative Republican) you trust and admire. Furthermore, it is now easy to surround yourself with friends who all share your beliefs. And everyone at your Christian, suburban, white, Protestant church shares your worldview. And everyone in your neighborhood does too.

So imagine a world where every single trusted media source from the Wall Street Journal, to Fox to Newsmax all agree that Obama will be easily defeated because he is the worst president ever. And every friend you have feels the same. And everyone you work with feels the same. And everyone at your church feels the same. Suddenly, it becomes quite difficult to imagine any reality in which Obama is not the worst President ever and destined to an electoral defeat of epic proportion.
In this bubble, the whole concept of a GOP candidate's "electability" seems quaint and, frankly, irrelevant. In this view, Newt Gingrich is eminently electable because any and every Republican over the age of 35 and born in America (ha, take that Obama!) is electable.

Electability is relative. Since conservatives cannot conceive any circumstances where Obama could b e re-elected, then of course Gingrich is electable. In this sense, Gingrich is "thin" for a presidential candidate, if your comparison pool consists of William Howard Taft and Newt Gingrich.

So why can Romney never be acceptable to a majority of Conservative Republicans today? Quite simply, the problem with Romney is that he does not hate Obama. Romney isn't willing to call Obama a monster. For Christ's sake, Romney isn't even willing to call Obama a socialist or a communist! (He only hints at it). The problem conservatives have with Romney is that they suspect, deep down, that Romney secretly likes and respects Obama and that is the most despicable thing they can think of in a GOP presidential candidate.
Conservatives believe that Romney is bland and milk toast candidates like that don't win elections, because they end up like John McCain and Bob Dole. So to the conservative Republican trapped in the conservative bubble, Romney is actually less electable than Newt Gingrich. And all the polls that show Romney is eminently more acceptable to moderates, independents, and conservative Democrats? They all come from the liberal media and conservatives are too smart to fall for setup tricks from the evil liberal media!

So what do conservatives really want? They want a debate between Obama and Gingrich. And in that debate, they want Gingrich to turn to Obama and sneer "Please get your skinny black ass back on a boat and go back to Kenya where you belong. And don't even think of stepping back into the White House again unless you are willing to swap your grass skirt for a butler's uniform so you can fetch me my tea!"

This is what conservatives mean when they say Gingrich can "beat" Obama in a debate. And when Gingrich does deliver that sound bite, he will have won that 40% of conservative America forever. He will be their lord and savior. But in the process, Gingrich will alienate every single moderate, independent, and conservative Democrat in the nation, thus guaranteeing an Obama landslide victory along with a Democratic sweep of the House and Senate and a possible Democratic re-alignment that could last a generation.
Some of you may be asking, isn't there the chance that conservatives simply have policy differences with Obama? Uh, no. this is entirely personal. Regarding foreign policy, Obama has killed Bin Laden and largely continued Bush's wars and fight against terrorism. Liberals have a problem with Obama's foreign policy, not conservatives.

What about domestic policy? Obama repudiated what every liberal asked for: a single-payer government run universal health care plan. Instead, Obama enacted the Nixon health care plan along with all of the Heritage foundation-advocated mandates. As former Reagan Administration official, Jack Kemp-Ron Paul adviser Bruce Bartlett has written, Obama has governed like a "moderate-conservative Republican."

No, the problems Republicans have with Obama are not political, they are personal (and yes, racial).
So what should Democratic supporters of President Obama do these days when having conversations with Gingrich-supporting Republicans? Here is what I recommend:

1. Whatever you do, don't tell them we want them to nominate Newt Gingrich and that we think Gingrich will be really easy to beat because he is the most detestable national political figure of the last 20 years.
2. When Republicans say "Newt is a great debater and will destroy Obama in the fall debates," just smile and say "Newt sure has done well against Romney and the others in the primary debates." Do not point out that if Newt bashes the media or attacks Obama as the "food stamp" president in a fall debate that he will look like a complete ass to the independent voters who will decide the election.
3. When more headlines pop up claiming that Gingrich has 60% unfavorably ratings and is, in fact, less popular than Charles Manson, Republicans will counter that this is just liberal media spin and that, in fact, Newt is highly electable. Bite your tongue. Do not correct your Republican friends. Instead, simply say, "Any incumbent running at a time of high unemployment will have a hard time winning re-election.
4. When Republicans ponder who Newt should pick as his running mate, please suggest Ann Coulter, or, better yet, Sarah Palin! If you are going to go over-the-top, go all the way!  

Republican Voters of South Carolina

by: TJ Walker

Wed Jan 25, 2012 at 13:10:46 PM EST

"Thank you, thank you, and thank you.  We couldn't have done it better ourselves! You have just voted for a candidate who is viewed unfavorably by 60% of American voters according to the non-partisan Public Policy Polling organization! If there is less popular American politician not currently serving time in prison, we are not aware of one. We are hoping and praying that other Republican Primary voters follow your example and vote for Newt "open marriage" "grandiose" "dump your wives as soon as they get sick" Gingrich in future primaries.

We believe voters selected Newt for Two Reasons: 1. By calling Obama the "Food stamp President" Gingrich let voters know that he shares their belief that a black man should not be allowed to be in the White House unless he is a butler. 2. When Newt showers liberals and the media with contempt, he's damn good at it. You really get the idea that Newt hates and resents liberals. Whereas voters get the feeling that Romney personally likes liberals and the media and gets along with them most of the time.

If the GOP does nominate Gingrich, Obama's re-election is virtually guaranteed. Obama could appoint Willie Horton as Secretary of Defense and turn Camp David into a crack house and still easily beat the cartoonishly detestable Newt Gingrich in a general election."

The State of the Republican Party

by: TJ Walker

Tue Jan 24, 2012 at 16:01:55 PM EST

Instead, the Republican Party is left with the greatest collection of four clowns since Shemp joined the original Three Stooges.

Witness the following:

1.    Mitt Romney. Romney is so awkward and politically tone death that he makes Michael Dukakis and John Kerry look like Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan.  Before our eyes, Romney is morphing from a leading candidate for president into a leading candidate to star in a remake of the "Grey Poupon" mustard commercials. Romney might not be a low-IQ, homophobic bigot like some candidates, but he makes Louis the XIV seem like a man of the people. It seems only a matter of time before Romney announces in a debate that the person who had the greatest impact on his life was Leona Helmsly when she said "only the little people pay taxes.

2.    Newt Gingrich. Where to begin? Newt isn't the most detestable politician you can think of; he is the most detestable human being you can imagine. Period! Newt is the sort of person who if he asked for your permission to marry your daughter or sister, you would offer him a large sum of money to leave quietly and move to another state, or else. If you close your eyes and try to imagine a politician who is utterly repugnant at every single intellectual, moral and even physical level, you would not be able to come up with something worse than a Newt Gingrich.

3.    Rick Santorum. Rick Santorum has all the wit, charm and class of that guy in high school who threw your gay cousin in the dumpster behind the cafeteria. The more you get to know Santorum, as the good voters of Pennsylvania did, the more you want to kick him out of office by nearly 20 points, as the good voters of Pennsylvania did.

4.    Ron Paul. Ever meet a Ron Paul supporter, and not just at a Klan rally or Hitler reenactment party? Have you ever talked to a Ron Paul supporter for 10 minutes? Case closed.

While we at AmericanLP are working tirelessly to support President Obama and all Democratic candidates at the Federal level and we are pulling for every tactical advantage we can get, we have to confess that something doesn't seem right here. This is starting to seem too easy. It's almost like the Republicans are throwing away the election needlessly. The four remaining GOP Presidential candidates is the greatest collection of political losers ever assembled with the possible exception of when David Duke dines alone.

On Holding Down The Conversational Fort, Or, Jobs, Republicans, And Hooey

by: fake consultant

Mon Jan 02, 2012 at 09:07:59 AM EST

After all, they'll say, creating American jobs is the most important thing of all.

But if we were to look back over just the last few months, some would tell us, we could quickly find examples of how Republicans promote ideas that don't seem to value work or workers at all, much less American jobs.

Well as it turns out, "some" seem to be right; to illustrate one of those examples we'll look back a month or two or three to a time some Republicans might wish was long, long, ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

GOP Nuts

by: TJ Walker

Thu Dec 29, 2011 at 09:38:27 AM EST

Conservative Free Speech- My Sign Was Defaced Today

by: michael

Sun Sep 18, 2011 at 19:45:37 PM EDT

On Speaking To Power, Or, When Sanity's Gone, There's Always Satire

by: fake consultant

Mon Aug 01, 2011 at 11:30:46 AM EDT

There is a tentative debt ceiling deal, and this Administration and Congressional Democrats seem to have won everything they wanted: Republicans get to have multiple "we don't approve" votes before 2012 on raising the debt ceiling, there won't be any new revenue, there's going to be another "hostage-taking" event around Christmastime, for many Democrats the issue of the Ryan Budget and the dismantling of Medicare is likely off the table for the 2012 electoral cycle, and the Administration seems to have figured out a way to not involve itself in shaping the way that entitlement reform will work out.

All in all, it's some pretty slick negotiating, and I'm sure this Administration and Democratic Congressional leaders must be very proud.

Even on bad days, however, you gotta have some fun, and that's why I'm encouraging everyone to take a minute today to say #thanksalot.

On Running Your Own Government, Or, Why Pay The Military?

by: fake consultant

Fri Jul 29, 2011 at 09:42:02 AM EDT

You will hear a lot of conversation about the consequences from others; today, however, you are going to get the chance to be both the President and the Secretary of the Treasury, and you will get to decide for yourself exactly what bills the Federal Government should and should not pay as the cash runs out if a deal is not made by the time borrowing authority runs out.

At that point you'll be able to see what's coming for yourself - and once you do, you won't need me to tell you what ugly is going to look like.

Hitler Holds News Conference, Blames Balanced Budget Amendment For U.S. Defeat

by: fake consultant

Tue Jul 26, 2011 at 20:31:11 PM EDT

"All those ideas Mr. Roosevelt spoke of", said Hitler, "Lend-Lease, modular shipbuilding, War Bonds, secret weapons...in the end, all of them were just words, since the Americans' Congress was never willing to allow the country to fully fund its war effort."  

On My Last Weekend, Or, Wanna Save A Few Trillion On Health Care?

by: fake consultant

Sun Jul 24, 2011 at 11:53:58 AM EDT

Instead, I'm going to jump into my own personal life for today's story, and I'm going to do it so that we can stimulate some thinking about where we really need to go to if we ever hope to make some sense out of the crazy way we deliver health care in this country.

Since this appears to be the weekend that a lot of decisions are either going to be made about the future of our "social safety net"...or they wont; we're entirely unsure...let's talk about how it actually works for a lot of us - and how it could work a lot better.

Let us All Now Go Bang Our Heads Against A Wall

by: Kathy Sullivan 2

Tue Jul 19, 2011 at 17:20:29 PM EDT

1. Reductions (but not eliminations) on mortgage interest, higher-cost health plans, charitable deductions, retirement savings like individual retirement accounts and 401(k)s, and tax credits for families with children.  

2.  Change the cost of living calculations for Social Security benefits, so that updates would be lower.
 

Obama Wants To Attack The Middle Class? Take Congress Hostage!

by: fake consultant

Sat Jul 09, 2011 at 04:07:17 AM EDT

And it looks like the President doesn't really lose if you or I get hurt here: in fact, it seems that, in his eyes, it's to his advantage to fight against his own base as he seeks to be "the adult in the room" in the runup to the '12 election.

So we're going to have to find a way to put The Fear on this guy - and I think I've got a plan to force this President to listen.

And it works like this: if this President ain't gonna be moved by our message...we do it by holding the rest of his Party hostage.

Meet your new John McCain

by: Tim C.

Tue Jun 28, 2011 at 19:05:31 PM EDT

From the crushed-presidential-hopes-soaked floor of the Exeter Town Hall, Jon Huntsman Jr., aka "the gazillionaire Mormon ex-governor without visibly malfunctioning cybernetics," chose the pagan holiday of Solstice to declare his quest for supreme temporal power.

MWM, 51, seeks adoring minions for 6-7 month fling, possible eventual LTR. Should like dirt bikes, dinking* and occasional apostasy. Also likes puppies, long walks in the Utah desert, and snuggling in front of a bonfire of $100 bills.

Fun facts:

Republican Legislature - State's Third Most Important Problem

by: Kathy Sullivan 2

Tue May 03, 2011 at 08:26:17 AM EDT

As the economy recovers, New Hampshire residents remained concerned about the state's economy and unemployment, but
at a lower level than in recent months. A lack of jobs and a weak economy is still seen as the most important problem
(31%), but concerns about the state budget have increased to 23% from 18% in February. A significant change is that 7%
say that the newly elected Republican legislature is the most important problem facing the state. Other concerns are high
taxes (5%), education funding (4%), and the quality of education (4%).

On Happy-ing Their Gilmores, Or, Will Body Bags Be The New Gold Watch?

by: fake consultant

Mon Apr 25, 2011 at 19:25:47 PM EDT

I have been encouraging folks to take advantage of the recent Congressional recess to have a few words with your CongressCritter about the proposed Death Of Medicare and all the proposed cuts to Social Security...and you have, as we'll discuss...and now we have an opportunity to do something on a national scale, just as we did a few weeks ago in support of Social Security.

This time, we're going to concentrate on fighting the idea that retirement ages should go up before we become eligible for Social Security and Medicare (and elements of Medicaid, as well), and that Americans should just keep right on working until the age of 67 or so-which isn't going to be any big problem...really...trust us.

Now that just makes no sense, and to help make the point we have a really cool video that you can pass around to all your friends-and your enemies, for that matter, since they'll also have to worry about what happens to them if they should ever make it to old age.  

GOP Forum Hosted By Noted Outsourcer

by: JonnyBBad

Mon Apr 25, 2011 at 07:04:06 AM EDT

Many presidential candidates will be participating in a forum Friday hosted by a group whose founder has literally won awards for outsourcing jobs to China. It is sadly ironic that the first major Republican presidential forum to be held in New Hampshire during the 2012 election cycle celebrates the downfall of the middle class.
New Hampshire has been hit hard by the national recession caused by Wall Street and banks run amok, but the recession only compounded the effect of jobs already lost to China. According to the Economic Policy Institute, New Hampshire lost more jobs to China per capita than any state in the entire country - more than 16,000.

I know this firsthand. My own firm, Suncook Woven Label Co. Inc., made clothing labels for fashion giants like Ralph Lauren, but we shuttered after our fashion company customers moved all of their manufacturing to China. Even though our high-tech company was doing the best work right here in New Hampshire, we couldn't compete with the low-wage labor our customers could find offshore.

They ran for the exits, taking over 60 good New Hampshire jobs with them.  

On Living Up To Your Words, Or, Tornado? That's Not In The Constitution.

by: fake consultant

Wed Apr 20, 2011 at 07:31:55 AM EDT

"If it's not specifically enumerated in the Constitution," they say, "It must be a function of the States-and the 10th Amendment says so!"

None are tougher in their language than those living in the States located below the old Mason-Dixon line-and by an amazing coincidence, just this weekend pretty much all of those States got a bit of a "gut check" in the form of dozens of tornados that slammed into the area.

So we're going to put the Tea Party philosophy to the test today, and see just what exactly the Federal Government should-and should not-be doing to fulfill the Tea Party vision and to help those folks who were hit by this particular natural disaster.

Running the government like a "failing" business?

by: Lucy Edwards

Mon Apr 18, 2011 at 07:13:26 AM EDT

Rotting, staggering reanimated corpse it may be, but it's a rotting, staggering reanimated corpse affecting how our states and nation are being run and how students are being educated, so it's worth poking at a bit.