Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Monday, January 23, 2012

Wow. What An Ugly Scene.

Brian Williams sits down with Newt and Mitt.

So, I finally caved and watched the GOP debate.

First of all, a lot of it is just invective.

Even more of it is just ridiculous lies.  Just listening to Brian Williams stupid frame of the question about housing made me want to jump through the TV screen and beat him senseless.  The federal government was not responsible for the housing crash.  The Federal Reserve was more responsible than Freddie Mac.  Unscrupulous lenders abused Freddie Mac by dumping crappy mortgages into Freddie.  That facilitated the crisis, but hardly caused it.  Dodd-Frank has not made it harder to get loans, there is a massive glut of housing that depresses housing prices.

I haven't considered the fact that a long debate schedule and a long campaign will simply cement the lies that these guys are spewing in the public record.

Because "moderators" like Brian Williams are unable to say things like, "Dude, that was just pure bullshit!" they will simply continue to repeat these zombie lies.

I can only quote Charlie Pierce: "This is your democracy, America.  Cherish it."

Here we have them talking about foreign policy.  They are consistently trying to out-butch each other and take down Obama.  I don't think you want to engage Obama on foreign policy.  You give him an opportunity to remind people that bin Laden is fish food.

Only Ron Paul makes any sense here.  Admittedly, it's a bit whacky, but it's nice to hear someone saying, "Hey, maybe we shouldn't invade Iran."

(Bonus hilarity: the program guide from the cable box says that the debate is actually "Fear Factor".  Couldn't be more accurate.)

Oh, thank God, we get to hear Frothy Mixtures' opinion on Iran.  Yes, Iran is completely different from the Soviet Union.  The Soviet Union was run by fluffy bunnies, whereas Iran is run by Hitler's with full beards.

Ahhhh, a BP question!  Let's see them pivot this back to it being Obama's fault for over-regulating the oil industry. Canada's not "domestic" dipshit.  And the XL pipeline is a Deepwater Horizon times a brazilian.

I like the Eyeglass Lady's questions.  Newt actually does well with that question about Spanish language.  Cambodian is not a language Mitt.  And kids learn English.  It's their parents that don't learn it. Interesting to watch them suddenly do "brown people outreach" now that we're out of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Confederatestan.

The DREAM Act is a good bill.  Too bad these assholes hate brown children.  And I think military service actually does already fast track citizenship.

People laugh at Mitt's suggestion that people would voluntarily deport themselves.  Why?  That seems perfectly reasonable.

Rick Santorum is speakingmn ,df v,mjkbfv;kjppojfgrkvnaergjnerdfv;kjbn;

Sorry, fell asleep on the keyboard.

Newt is talking about sugar.  You can see him grow wistful about sweet, sweet, delicious sugar.

Mitt wants to "step back" and show some empathy.  Oh, and attack Obama.  NASA, jobs, whatever.  Golf.  Keystone pipeline.  So many lies there.  So hard to unpack.

Ron Paul has no desire to theoretically let people in South Florida drink water.  I know he makes sense on not fighting wars (drug or otherwise) but damn this guy is thick.

David Gregory... Fluffy, you did not just compare football and politics did you?  Did you?  If I see you at the Fourth of July waterfight this summer, I will kick you in the nads for that.  Better yet, I'll have Thing One do it.

Tweet from DemocraticMachine: "Self deportation is also the policy Mitt Romney exercises with his money."

Santorum talks about Schiavo. He saysmn dfbvjlsflbn;d8[gthetgnfdvkjdfnv'p[lpkb

Damn, fell asleep again.  Can he just quit?  Well, he gets some applause for his Schiavo answer, which is a bit weaselly.  Newt defends the Schiavo thing, too.  Seriously, that was what began the cratering of the GOP.  Please, wrap your arms around that debacle.  Again, Paul makes sense within his same old "theory".  Seriously, "Congressman Paul, would you like a soda?"  "Is it a state soda?"

NASA question.  Spending and space.  Again, they will just lie and make up numbers.  Government is bad!  Government can't create jobs!  Obama isn't funding NASA!

Glorious Wife avers that these debates just demonstrate how bankrupt their ideology is.  It can't make sense even internally.  Eyeglass Lady wants to know how you fund it while cutting the budget.  None of these clowns address the real question.

Aggressive private sector space exploration?  How many people will die in THAT!

Another good question about Bush Tax Cuts.  Why should we do more tax cuts create jobs when they didn't under Bush?  Newt pivots to regulation, which is not the same thing.  And Newt, regulation of private land is under the same regulations as public land, it's simply that say, Theodore Roosevelt National Park would not be welcoming to drilling.

I guess Brian Williams is thinking, "This is a Republican party, so I better not ask any non-Republican friendly questions."  But that last question was horrific.  It's just a massive invitation to bloviation and tells us nothing about how these idiots would govern.  It's a stupid question, but at least Newt won't run off stage and eat his liver.

Here's another thing.  There's a ton of evidence that we are beginning to see real growth. Obviously, unemployment under 8% makes beating Obama very difficult.  But it would be impossible for Romney, because he has based his whole campaign on Obama's failures.  He has not offered a vision for governing aside from Obama's A Failure.  Newt at least could define this as a "Clash for the future of Civilization!"  It would be absurd, but it would fit Newt nicely.

Put another way?  Can anyone tell me why Romney wants to be President?

Also, I've found I mute Romney and listen to Gingrich.  I'm not sure why.  Romney just sounds so forced and phony.  Gingrich at least has the smooth patter of a lifelong grifter.

I missed that last bit where Mitt is proud that he made Ted Kennedy take out a mortgage on his house.  Wow, thanks asshole!  I mean, that sort of cuts to the heart of these guys, doesn't it?  They are just assholes.

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