Mental Masturbation

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It’s only been a week and I’m already getting burned out on election postmortems. Every warm body with a keyboard and a internet connection is telling us what happened and more importantly what it all means.

Here is what last week’s results mean:

1. Barack Obama will be POTUS for four more years.

2. The GOP will control the House of Representatives for at least two more years.

3. The Democrats will control the Senate for at least two more years, but they will lack a filibuster-proof majority.

4. The GOP will control a majority of the governorships.

5. Marijuana will be legal in two states (but it’s still illegal under federal law).

That’s it. That’s all the results mean. There is no deeper meaning, no lesson to be learned.

Barack Obama won a very close race. Even if you think he stole the election (I’m pretty sure he cheated but not so sure it mattered) you have to admit the race was close enough to make stealing it possible. Out of about 120 million votes cast the difference was less than 1%, and about 450,000 votes in 4 key states would have changed the outcome. Both sides each spent over a billion dollars on trying to win the White House, but even fewer people voted than in previous years.

We can sit here playing What If and Coulda-Woulda-Shoulda until the cows come home, but it still won’t change anything. Besides, there really are no clear answers. Keep in mind that hindsight isn’t always 20/20 – yes, Mitt Romney could have done things differently, but that doesn’t mean that he would have fared better if he had.

In this election every possible strategy had pluses and minuses. If Romney had been more aggressive in attacking Obama on some issues that might indeed have won him some more votes, but it would likely have lost him some others as well. The truth is we will never know for sure.

History tells us that 2014 should be a good year for Republicans. That’s because the party holding the White House usually loses seats in Congress in off-year elections, especially in the 6th year of an administration. But that’s really just a trend, not a rule that is carved in stone.

The biggest factors in 2014 and 2016 will be the economy and whether we are at peace or at war. But even then how those factors affect those elections will hinge on public perceptions as to which side deserves credit and/or blame for the situations as they exist then. (In 2002 war was popular, in 2006 it was not.)

If the voters are happy in 2014 chances are they will reelect incumbents. But if they are unhappy they might give the GOP the Senate or they might give the House back to the Democrats.

As for 2016, chances are the economy will have improved by then, regardless of what happens in Washington. But Obama won’t be running for reelection (never again praise Jeebus!) so it’s hard to predict how the economy will affect the election. Reagan’s popularity helped GHW Bush win in 1988, but Clinton’s popularity wasn’t enough to put Gore over the top in 2000.

My prediction:

1. The GOP will again hold the White House one day. Then the Democrats will eventually take it back. The same goes for Congress, and so forth and so on until the end of time.

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Hunker Down Time

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hun·ker
intransitive verb ˈhəŋ-kər
hun·kered hun·ker·ing

Definition of HUNKER
1: crouch, squat —usually used with down
2: to settle in or dig in for a sustained period —used with down

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I was wrong.

I freely admit it and make no excuses. My judgment was in error. I really believed that Mitt Romney would win. I was wrong. I am chagrined, embarrassed and humbled.

But I will not be a hypocrite. I have nothing but scorn and disdain for those know-it-all types who offer predictions and opinions but refuse to acknowledge when they are wrong, especially those who make their living that way. They continue along without the slightest show of humility after egregious errors in judgment, like the bloggers who denounced Hillary Clinton in favor of Barack Obama.

I do not believe I misjudged either of the candidates, but my assessment of the electorate obviously was significantly off the mark. I have taken great pride in making accurate evaluations and predictions in the past, but I have no explanation for making such a bad call this time.

I do not apologize, because to err is human. I did not ask anyone to risk their life, freedom or fortune on my advice. My advice was worth exactly what you paid for it.

Nonetheless, I feel it is time for me to step back and reassess things. I honestly have no idea what will happen next, but I am filled with foreboding. Those of you who have lived in places like Kansas and Oklahoma are familiar with storm cellars. They provide a safe place to hide when Mother Nature is on the rag. I am not giving anyone advice, but I plan to find a storm cellar and hunker down to wait out the coming storm.

While I’m down there I’ll try to figure out where I went wrong.

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The Romney Tsunami

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Mitt Romney has tapped into what Nixon called the Silent Majority.

There are millions of people out there that are non-political. They don’t talk about politics. They don’t go to protests or donate to candidates and they damn sure don’t answer opinion polls. But they do vote, especially when they are unhappy.

Right now they ain’t happy.

When they are happy they either stay home or they vote for incumbents. They are happiest in times of peace and prosperity. When the economy is booming and none of our kids are dying in foreign countries, they are very forgiving. Just ask the Big Dawg.

They aren’t stupid or ignorant, they just prefer to think about other stuff, like Dancing With The Stars and NFL fantasy football. Unlike us, they find politics to be boring. But that doesn’t mean they don’t care.

They know when things aren’t the way they oughta be. They weren’t happy in 2004, but not unhappy enough to do anything about it. They were very unhappy in 2006, so they voted out a lot of incumbents, especially the ones in power – the Republicans. They still weren’t happy in 2008, so they voted out some more GOP incumbents and switched the party controlling the White House to the Democrats.

But then they got even more pissed off in 2010 and started voting out Democrats. And they are still pissed today.

You can spend a billion dollars on campaign ads, but these voters know when mama ain’t happy. And as my uncle would say, “When mama ain’t happy, nobody’s happy.”

A lot of this is pure luck on Mitt’s part. If he would have won the nomination in 2008 he would have lost to Obama because 2008 was a “any Democrat” year. This year is basically “any Republican”.

So he’s gonna get four years to make mama happy. If he doesn’t, he’ll be replaced too.

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My plan:

Today: Vote for Mitt Romney (done)

Tonight: Get drunk while I watch the election returns come in.

Tomorrow: Celebrate (recover from hangover)

Thursday: Start holding Mitt Romney’s feet to the fire.

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Prejudice, Sterotypes and Bigotry

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Warner Todd Huston at Breitbart:

L.A. Times Hears Racist Dog Whistles from Romney Voters

Sandy Banks of the L.A. Times has figured out why anyone would vote against Barack Obama. Why, they are all racists, of course. Oh, you don’t use “the N word,” she tells us, but we know what you Romney voters really think.

Banks dropped all pretense of logic or fairness in her Sunday piece, claiming that the nation’s “kumbaya era” is over merely because a white man dared run against Barack Obama for the office of President of the United States.

Like all these hate-filled screeds that cast any non-Obama voter as a racist, Banks doesn’t bother trying to actually explain how a nation that elected a black man as President could suddenly revert to pre-civil rights oppression. She just states it straight as if it is obvious fact.

This has been the single most disgusting attack against Romney voters and, if Obama loses his bid for reelection, be prepared to see every last left-winger on TV and in the commentariat claim that the only reason Obama lost is because the country is filled with hood-wearing, Jim Crow-loving racists.

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You don’t have to be an Obama follower to think like that:

In the last couple of days, I have read the consternation of the left as they see the evangelicals and other right wing followers get behind their Mormon. It’s as if the left has forgotten all of the studies by Bob Altemeyer and lessons learned from John Dean about the nature of the authoritarian follower. But it’s even weirder than that because although the right has made it a badge of honor to decouple cause from effect, ignore evidence and discourage reasoned thinking in its followers so that the world looks to them like a violent, chaotic place, I never thought I would see the same sort of behavior rising in the left.

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I was raised in fundamentalist church in a red zone of California. My mom was (and is) a feminist but not a liberal. So I first hit adulthood with a right-wing tilt to my politics. The first time I voted in a presidential election I cast my ballot for Ronnie Raygun. But during my twenties I moved steadily to the left until by the time I was thirty I was a borderline socialist.

I stayed that way for a long time. I was proud to be a liberal and a yellow-dog Democrat. 2008 cured me of that yellow-dog thingie but I still consider myself a liberal Democrat-in-exile.

Zero Hour – “E” Day!

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Hot Air:

Romney’s crowds are building—28,000 in Morrisville, Pa., last night; 30,000 in West Chester, Ohio, Friday It isn’t only a triumph of advance planning: People came, they got through security and waited for hours in the cold. His rallies look like rallies now, not enactments. In some new way he’s caught his stride. He looks happy and grateful. His closing speech has been positive, future-looking, sweetly patriotic. His closing ads are sharp—the one about what’s going on at the rallies is moving.

All the vibrations are right A person who is helping him who is not a longtime Romneyite told me, yesterday: “I joined because I was anti Obama—I’m a patriot, I’ll join up But now I am pro-Romney.” Why? “I’ve spent time with him and I care about him and admire him. He’s a genuinely good man.” Looking at the crowds on TV, hearing them chant “Three more days” and “Two more days”—it feels like a lot of Republicans have gone from anti-Obama to pro-Romney.

Something old is roaring back. One of the Romney campaign’s surrogates, who appeared at a rally with him the other night, spoke of the intensity and joy of the crowd “I worked the rope line, people wouldn’t let go of my hand.” It startled him. A former political figure who’s been in Ohio told me this morning something is moving with evangelicals, other church-going Protestants and religious Catholics. He said what’s happening with them is quiet, unreported and spreading: They really want Romney now, they’ll go out and vote, the election has taken on a new importance to them.

I suspect both Romney and Obama have a sense of what’s coming, and it’s part of why Romney looks so peaceful and Obama so roiled.

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Those of you that haven’t voted yet need to get your asses up and go do it. Those of you who already have voted need to get out there and do it again.

There will be a Drunken Live Blog/Party/Wake tonight starting at 4:00 pm Klown time.

Rules for today: Check Twitter at least once a minute and believe everything you read. Panic early & often. If your religion prohibits alcohol try guzzling NyQuil or an “herbal” remedy.

If you’re bored you can count your toes or play with the troll. I told ABG I would un-ban him for the day. But I expect him to make an early exit.

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REMEMBER MAY 31, 2008!!

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Obamanation delenda est. Nos morituri te salutamus.

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We have always known that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. It’s worse now, because capture of government is so much more important than it once was. There was a time when there was enough freedom that it hardly mattered which brand of crooks ran government. - Jerry Pournelle

Closing Speeches

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Here are Mitt Romney’s and Barack Obama’s closing speeches of the 2012 campaign.

See you in the morning.

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One More Day – A Message From Hillbuzz

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Kevin DuJan:

I would like to take a moment to ask you to please be charitable in the days ahead…but especially on Tuesday…while dealing with Obama cultists and all those on the Left when Barack Obama loses his reelection bid.

The Left will lash out with anger…and will generally behave like vampires doused in Holy Water, tossed out on their bare butts into the blazing sun, and then rolled around in pits of garlic and evaporated angels’ tears.

It will be tempting to taunt these people while they’re in their misery, but you have more class than that.

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This may surprise you but I agree with Kevin. We’re better than them. Let’s take the high road.

Celebrate, but don’t gloat.

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If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink. For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee. – Proverbs 25:21-22

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Are You A BGV?

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Stephen Green (aka “Vodkapundit”):

The polls also have a hard time making numbers out of “broken glass voters.” These are folks who (like me) voted for Bob Barr four years ago, or held their nose and grudgingly voted for McCain, or just stayed home. This year they’d crawl naked over broken glass to vote against Obama. There are even a few BGV types who voted for Obama last time around. They can also be filed under “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” They feel betrayed, and rightly so.

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I would crawl five miles through broken glass while naked in the snow uphill both ways to vote against Obama.

Just one more week. Just seven more days.

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Grassroots vs. Astroturf

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Kevin Drum:

Obama’s Ground Game Advantage May Not Be As Big As It Looks

There’s been a disconnect in the ground games of the major parties for some time. Democrats tend to rely on paid, professional operations, while Republicans rely more on volunteer efforts, largely from evangelical churches. This is something that actually works in the Republicans’ favor, since volunteer efforts from friends and neighbors tend to be more effective at switching votes than professional phone banks. (Also cheaper.) On the other hand, the professional organizations are often more thorough, and are better at the actual logistics of getting people to the polls.

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The Mormon church has 14 million member, most of them in the United States. It is a church that emphasizes missionary work – knocking on doors and spreading the word. They are very organized, with up-to-date membership lists containing addresses and phone numbers. And for the first time in history one of the two major party nominees is a member of their church.

The Mormons are just one church. Yeah, the IRS says churches can’t mix religion and politics, but how do you stop them? What happens when preachers and pastors across the nation stand behind their pulpits the next two weekends and exhort their congregations to vote on November 6th?

How effective is the Republican ground game?

Remember Chik-fil-A Appreciation Day? It started out as a protest against Chik-fil-A organized by Democrats and interest groups associated with the Democratic party. The only news coverage was of that protest.

In what turned out to be an unplanned field test of the GOP ground game a counter-protest was organized, mostly through churches and the social media. On August 1, Chick-fil-A restaurants across the country reported an average of 29.9 percent more sales and 367 more customers than on a typical Wednesday. It was the single busiest day in Chik-fil-A history.

My prediction: On November 6th, Mitt Romney will win Ohio, but he won’t need it. He will easily win in excess of 300 electoral votes. And he’ll do it without spending millions of dollars to astroturf up a bunch of supporters either.

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We have not yet begun to fight!

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Reality bites Jonathan Chait:

Romney Says He’s Winning — It’s a Bluff

Romney is carefully attempting to project an atmosphere of momentum, in the hopes of winning positive media coverage and, thus, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Over the last week, Romney’s campaign has orchestrated a series of high-profile gambits in order to feed its momentum narrative….

Karl Rove employed exactly this strategy in 2000. As we now know, the race was excruciatingly close, and Al Gore won the national vote by half a percentage point. But at the time, Bush projected a jaunty air of confidence. Rove publicly predicted Bush would win 320 electoral votes. Bush even spent the final days stumping in California, supposedly because he was so sure of victory he wanted an icing-on-the-cake win in a deep blue state.

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I can picture it now. It’s late at night on November 6th, and the journolistas are gathered in their secret bunker. Empty pizza boxes and Starbucks cups are scattered around. They are all gathered around a big table, staring at a U.S. map covered in red. The room stinks of Cheeto farts and flop sweat.

“We’re gonna win this thing, I tell ya!” Jonathan Chait cries. “We’re gonna win it!“

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Where Obots Come From

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And they say science majors are for the smart kids:

Surprise! ‘Undecided’ debate questioner at Tuesday’s debate declares for Obama

In a shocking development, the 20-year-old exercise science major who led off Tuesday’s presidential debate seeking reassurance from the candidates about his job prospects has apparently endorsed President Barack Obama.

The Associated Press reports that Adelphi University student Jeremy Epstein said Wednesday he still clings to the “undecided” label, but would cast his vote for Obama if the election were held today.

Epstein told the AP that he was dazzled when Obama gazed into his eyes.

“I felt like he was saying he wanted a bright future for me, that he was talking about the youth of America,” Epstein said.

Epstein did not correctly recall each candidate’s answer to his probing question, however.

Part of Obama’s response to Epstein’s question involved an unsolicited digression about manufacturing jobs.

“I want to build manufacturing jobs in this country again,” Obama said, before he took credit for saving the American auto industry.

Epstein apparently walked away from the debate thinking that Romney, not Obama, had brought up the manufacturing industry.

“Gov. Romney went into a discussion about manufacturing jobs,” Epstein said, according to the Associated Press. “I don’t think people in college like me are looking for that kind of job right now.”

The transcript of Tuesday’s debate shows that Romney made no mention of manufacturing in his response to Epstein’s question, or in any part of the exchange that followed the question.

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Nobody under thirty should be allowed to vote.

But wait! There’s more!

Did I say he was a science major? I meant “exercise science.” From Adelphi University:

Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science
Exercise Science, Health Studies, Physical Education, and Sport Management

The Department of Exercise Science, Health Studies, Physical Education and Sports Management offers undergraduate programs which lead to career options in exercise science. Specialized tracks in exercise science include fitness specialization, and pre-physical therapy.

In addition to the University’s General Education requirements, students seeking Exercise Science must complete 41 credits of Exercise Science Foundations, including a three credit practicum; 19 credits of Exercise Science electives and 32 additional elective credits. The Exercise Science Program prepares students for careers in strength and conditioning, exercise leadership and personal training. Many students continue on to their Master’s Degree in Exercise Science. Courses include learning objectives for the American College of Sports Medicine, Health/Fitness Specialist Certification.

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My prediction:

Three years from now this choomer is gonna be sitting in Zuccotti Park whinging that he can’t get a job to pay off his student loans. (Current tuition and fees at Adelphi is about $30,000 year.)

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Preference Cascade Underway?

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Katrina Trinko:

Romney Seven Points Ahead in Gallup Poll

In today’s Gallup, Mitt Romney has a significant lead over President Obama among likely voters: seven points. Romney is at 52 percent to Obama’s 45 percent.

So what’s going on? I talked to Frank Newport, Gallup’s editor-in-chief, who warned that poll watchers should be careful to remember that Gallup’s daily number is an average of seven days. “It takes a while for any impact, in say the debate Tuesday night, to percolate through,” Newport says. “I think we’re just still seeing the positive enthusiasm on the part of the Romney people that came out at the first debate, and I think it’s too early to tell what’s going to happen” as a result of the second debate.

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I’m not a bean counter or a number cruncher so I’ll leave that to others. My basic rule of not trusting polls still remains in effect. But I will point out that this poll covers both the first presidential debate and the match-up between Paul Ryan and Joe Biden.

So what does this mean?

Nothing.

Maybe.

The only poll that really matters is the one on November 6th.

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Thank You Sir! May I Have Another?

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Pathetic.

The Nation:

Re-Elect the President

Progressive opinions on Barack Obama’s first term are as conflicted as his record. These differences are a sign of a diverse and spirited left, and we welcome continued debate in our pages about the president’s record and policies. But that discussion should not obscure what is at stake in this election. A victory for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan in November would validate the reactionary extremists who have captured the Republican Party. It would represent the triumph of social Darwinism, the religious right, corporate power and the big money donors who thrive in a new Gilded Age of inequality. It would strike a devastating blow to progressive values and movements, locking us in rear-guard actions on a range of issues—from the rights of women, minorities, immigrants and LGBT people to the preservation of social insurance programs and a progressive tax structure. Inside the Democratic Party, Obama’s defeat would embolden the Blue Dogs and New Dems, who have greased the party’s slide to the right. Whatever disappointments we have with Obama’s first term—and there are many—progressives have a profound interest in the popular rejection of the Romney/Ryan ticket.

It’s true that many issues of fundamental importance have been absent from this election—from catastrophic climate change and staggering rates of poverty to the militarization of foreign policy and the continued growth of the national security state. Their omission has been enabled to a degree by the Republican Party’s rightward lurch, as well as the Romney team’s recurring gaffes and its naked hostility to vast sectors of the American electorate. As a result, the president has been successful, so far, in running a campaign that appeals to key progressive constituencies (women, Latinos, LGBT people) but without the broad call for change that distinguished his 2008 election.

As such, we have no illusions about the audacity of hope, no faith that the re-election of President Obama alone will accomplish the radical change this magazine has championed. For America to be on a different path in 2016 from that of 2012, progressive movements will have to “occupy” all the levers of power—in Washington, in the states and in the streets.

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Ever seen someone making a complete fool of themselves and it’s so embarrassing that you go past feeling bad for them and start to get to get angry at them? You want to slap ‘em and shake ‘em and kick ‘em in the ass and yell “Get a fucking grip and show some self respect!”

Yeah, it’s that bad.

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How Reagan Won – 14 Words

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There are many parallels between this year’s election and the election of 1980. A bad economy, an unpopular Democratic incumbent and serious talk about a war with Iran are just three similarities between the two elections.

Jimmy Carter based his reelection strategy on painting Ronald Reagan as a dangerous radical. Reagan blew that strategy away and won the election with 14 words:

“There you go again”

“Are you better off than you were four years ago?”

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The debate was held a week before the election. Prior to the debate Carter held a narrow lead over Reagan. On election day Reagan won in a landslide.

BONUS:

Even Mondale had to laugh at this one:

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I ain’t telling you how to vote but if you vote for Obama you’re gonna burn in hell!

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No, seriously:

Bishop: Democrats Endorse ‘Intrinsic Evils’ and Supporters put their ‘Soul in Serious Jeopardy’

The Roman Catholic Bishop of Springfield, Illinois, is warning that the Democratic Party has endorsed “intrinsic evils” and consequently, voters who back Democratic candidates have put their eternal salvation at risk. In the Catholic Times, the official newspaper of the Springfield diocese, Bishop Thomas John Paprocki uses the manufactured controversy about mentioning “God” in the Democratic Platform to argue that the Democrats are hostile to faith, and went on to attack Democrats for endorsing gay rights and opposing the criminalization of abortion. He said those two planks demonstrate that the Democrats “explicitly endorse intrinsic evils,” while noting that he has “read the Republican Party Platform and there is nothing in it that supports or promotes an intrinsic evil or a serious sin.”

Paprocki concludes with a warning that while he is “not telling you which party or which candidates to vote for or against,” backing the Democratic Party may put your eternal salvation at risk: “a vote for a candidate who promotes actions or behaviors that are intrinsically evil and gravely sinful makes you morally complicit and places the eternal salvation of your own soul in serious jeopardy.”

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The last time I went to confession the priest said “I told you to stay out of here! You’re not even Catholic!“

Mentirosos

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All this was inspired by the principle–which is quite true within itself–that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.

—Adolf Hitler , Mein Kampf

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As you may have noticed, I have been feeling a little stressed out lately. Okay, I’m very stressed out. I think I figured out why.

First of all, I freely admit that I want Barack Obama to lose. When I say “I want” I don’t mean it the same way I would say “I want a Sausage and Egg McMuffin.” I really believe that it is in the best interest of the nation, liberalism and the Democratic party that Obama be defeated. I say this because I want to acknowledge the existence of bias and the possibility of wishful thinking.

History says that Barack Obama should lose. So does my gut. But “gut” I don’t mean a hunch I mean an educated guess. My gut tells me to expect a landslide victory by Mitt Romney.

This is where the stress comes in.

Data that should be objective is indicating that Obama is winning. I’m talking about polls. Every day that goes by we are treated to new polls showing that Obama has anywhere from a small lead to a virtual lock on winning. But there is evidence that all these polls are heavily slanted to favor Democrats.

Somebody is lying, but who?

Add to that a media that would put Lord Haw-Haw, Tokyo Rose and Baghdad Bob all to shame. They should be wearing short skirts and waving pom-poms. They simply will not give Mitt Romney a fair shake.

As Agent Muldur would say, “The Truth Is Out There”. But I’m not worried about my assessment of the candidates, I am concerned about my assessment of the electorate. That is what is stressing me out.

We are seeing an attempt to use the Big Lie, but is it working? Will the media be able to fool enough people to let Obama steal another term? The media can’t control people even though they try. Chik-fil-A Appreciation Day is proof of that.

Like I said, my gut tells me that Romney is going to win this thing. But the constant barrage of lies and misinformation from the media is making me doubt my gut. Normally I would deal with it by drinking heavily but the doctor won’t let me do that anymore.

I am giving everyone fair warning. If Obama wins I’m gonna lose it. I may lose it anyway.

We all go a little mad sometimes.

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“These are not bumps in the road, these are human lives”

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Tell the panty-wetters that Mitt just got real:

Romney seizes on ‘bumps in the road’

Mitt Romney is jumping on President Obama’s description of recent events in the Middle East as “bumps in the road” to democracy — only the latest comment from the president to become a Republican attack line.

“His indication that developments in the Middle East represent bumps in the road is a very different view than I have,” the Republican candidate told ABC News. “I can’t imagine saying something like the assassination of ambassadors is a bump in the road.”

Romney gave a similar comment to NBC News. “There are extraordinary events going on in the Middle East and considering those events, either one of them or all of them collectively, as bumps in the road shows a person who has a very different perspective about world affairs [than] the perspective I have,” he said.

Shortly after the interviews, while speaking to a crowd in Pueblo, Colo., Romney declared, “These are not bumps in the road, these are human lives.”

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Jay Carney gives the lapdog media their official talking points:

The president was referring to the transformations in the region. There is a certain rather desperate attempt to grasp at words and phrases here to find political advantage. And in this case, that’s profoundly offensive.

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I am sick and fucking tired of this goddamn boo-hoo WATB concern trolling defeatist bullshit!

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John W. Smart:

Romney, unlike McCain, once gave of the distinct odor of a man who intended to win. He still does here and there. But his campaign has moved into the dangerous and often lethal “just wait till the debates” phase. This is like the fan whose football team is losing with 1 minute left yelping “Plenty of time! Plenty of time!” Sometimes 1 minute is enough – usually it isn’t. Especially when the commentators are hell-bent on calling the game with 45 seconds left.

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I am sick and fucking tired of this goddamn boo-hoo WATB concern trolling defeatist bullshit! I like John but if I was his military commander in wartime I would have him shot. The Obots I can handle, it’s the people on our side pissing in their pants that makes me sick! FUCKING GROW A PAIR!!!!!

de·feat·ism
noun \di-ˈfē-ˌti-zəm, dē-\
Definition of DEFEATISM
: an attitude of accepting, expecting, or being resigned to defeat
— de·feat·ist noun or adjective

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Defeatism is a self-fulfilling prophecy. You decide you can’t win so you don’t try. Because you don’t try, you lose.

But you wanna know the worst part?

John KNOWS the media is against Mitt Romney. He KNOWS the media is trying to convince people that Mitt can’t win. But he’s still basing his opinion of Mitt’s campaign ON WHAT THE MEDIA IS TELLING HIM!!!!

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This has been a long journey and there’s still over a month to go. I almost quit blogging two years ago. I really can’t contemplate four more years of Obama.

Seriously.

I can’t control what happens on other blogs, but defeatism will not be tolerated here. And don’t expect to see my smiling face at any panty-wetter blogs either.

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No wonder the media is freaking out

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Let the panty-wetting begin:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows Mitt Romney attracting support from 48% of voters nationwide, while President Obama earns 45% of the vote. Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate, and five percent (5%) are undecided.

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Is this poll an outlier or the tipping point of a preference cascade? We’ll find out in the next couple weeks.

Here’s what I want to know:

It’s been three days now. Where are the polls showing public opinion on Mitt’s statement from Tuesday night and the media reaction? I have yet to see a single poll, scientific or otherwise, asking Joe and Jane Public what they think.

The reason I ask is because I get the feeling that this lady here is not an exception:

“I think you’ve been suck ups…I think you’ve got your embroidered knee pads from the White House, buddy. That’s what I think.”

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It’s da rulz!

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Rick Moran:

The Rules Fight Food Fight

Any hope that Mitt Romney might have had that the Ron Paul faction of the Republican Party would mind their P’s and Q’s during his coronation at the GOP convention has come a cropper. And ironically, the revolt is the result of his own efforts to reform the rules to make sure that a tiny minority can’t overturn the will of the majority who voted in a state primary.

An old-fashioned floor fight is brewing over new rules pushed through by the Romney campaign that have the Ron Paul delegates up in arms, as well as several state party chairmen who believe that the national party is trying to seize control over the delegate selection process. For the insurgent Paul forces, the rules changes would prevent them from wreaking the kinds of havoc at state GOP conventions that led to chaos in Louisiana and bitter clashes between the factions at the Nevada and Maine state conventions. At issue is a rule that would allow presidential candidates to vet delegates in order to insure their loyalty, and another rule designed to squash incipient revolts like the Ron Paul insurgency that would require delegations from statewide caucuses and conventions to adhere to the will of the majority who voted.

The latter rule is what is angering the Paul people. With a brilliant organizing effort, the Paul campaign literally took over the state conventions in Nevada, Maine, and Louisiana, catching establishment Republicans unawares and sending their own delegations to the Tampa convention. In Louisiana, regular GOP party members didn’t take their demotion gracefully. They called in the police, who physically escorted some Paul delegates out of the hall, injuring several. The establishment Republicans then went ahead and held a rump convention where they elected their own delegates. The Maine and Nevada state conventions were hardly less peaceful, with the well-organized Paul campaign running rings around the establishment Republicans.

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Imagine if your state voted for Hillary Clinton but the delegates gave their votes to Barack Obama instead.

Oh, wait . . .

I’m not sure I have a handle on exactly what is going down in Tampa. But I know that democratic principles are more important than party rules. The voters get to decide, and their wishes should be respected.

Even if they vote for the wrong person.

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