– McGinn’s budget has more money for rail and for cops and a gunshot locator.
– Obama has totally failed Czechoslovakia.
– This BikePAC fundraiser looks like fun.
– Who Paul Ryan spoke with at the values voters summit (h/t).
Can’t Bring Yourself to Type the Word “Ass”?
Eager to share our brilliant political commentary and blunt media criticism, but too genteel to link to horsesass.org? Well, good news, ladies: we also answer to HASeattle.com, because, you know, whatever. You're welcome!
Shouldn’t that be boxers, briefs, or sacred undergarments?
Secretary Clinton, seeing as there was an attack on Benghazi consulate in June of this year
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/......htm#LIBYA
and considering the fact that Libya’s leader was killed by an unruly mob only a year ago, wouldn’t you consider this country to be unstable and wouldn’t you consider it prudent to protect your diplomatic corps in that nation on the anniversary of 9/11, a date in which there typically are protests of some sort against the US in a lot of Middle Eastern nations?
You may consider this a 3:00 a.m. phone call and I’ll take my answer off the air.
Thank you, Madame Secretary.
@ 1
Michael, the real joke is a segue from boxers and briefs to his ‘rigid’ state.
Get your mind into the gutter, man.
Romney rising.
Hopenchange, baby:
(Reuters) – Factory activity in New York state contracted for a second month in a row in September, falling to its lowest level in nearly 3-1/2 years as new orders shrank further, a report from the New York Federal Reserve showed on Monday.
The New York Fed’s “Empire State” general business conditions index dropped to minus 10.41, from minus 5.85 in August, frustrating economists’ forecasts for an improvement to minus 2, according to a Reuters poll. It was the lowest level since April 2009.
http://www.reuters.com/article.....O120120917
Two more months of news like this before the election. Obama’s foreign policy chops now being called into question, for good reason, and the economic slide becoming ever more apparent.
The Vulture-Voucher ticket continues to flail and fail… Few to no worries there.
Meanwhile, GM, which counts the US government as its largest shareholder, is slashing 1,000 jobs in Europe:
(Reuters) – General Motors’ (GM.N) ailing Opel business in Europe plans to thin its administrative ranks by 30 percent, or 1,000 jobs, in its Ruesselsheim headquarters in Germany, newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported on Wednesday citing two unnamed board members.
http://www.reuters.com/article.....0U20120912
GM has asked the government to sell the final stake and the government has refused.
Two reasons I can think of for the refusal:
1. The federal government would book a HUGE loss on the investment. No more GM is Alive!!! (except from Biden and Rujax, who share the same brain) when it’s clear we lost our boxers and briefs @ 1 on the ‘investment’. Obama can’t afford that before the election.
2. The government can’t keep its finger on the GM scale if it doesn’t own a fourth of the company, and GM would then be free to do to the unions what a normal bankrupcty would have done to the unions in 2009. Obama needs those union members, particularly those in OH and MI, to vote Democrat this year.
One of the participants of the rally, Abdullah Ismail, passed away after he was taken to Mayo Hospital. Witnesses said he had complained of feeling unwell from the smoke from US flags burnt at the rally.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/43.....consulate/
No word yet on whether Obama called the family of the protestor to express condolences, but it’s early still.
From the Department of No Shit, Sherlock:
US consulate in Benghazi ‘did not have enough security’
By Frank Gardner
BBC security correspondent
US embassies and consulates in areas of the world where they are deemed liable to attack are usually offered a formal security contract called a Worldwide Protective Services Agreement, known in the industry as a ‘Wips’.
The contract, or so-called tasking order, is between the US state department and any one of several major private military contractors such as DynCorp International and Aegis Defence Services.
Under this agreement, extensive security precautions are put in place, including low-profile armoured vehicles, run-flat tyres, sufficient weapons, ammunition and trained personnel, as well as a tried and tested command and control system.
But sources have told the BBC that on the advice of a US diplomatic regional security officer, the mission in Benghazi was not given the full contract despite lobbying by private contractors.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/worl.....t-19605322
And here’s the money quote from the piece:
Given the unstable security situation in Benghazi and eastern Libya that has developed this year, it is surprising that security precautions for such a sensitive diplomatic mission were not more robust.
Now, why didn’t I think to ask that question?
I’m wondering if Doctor Steve still thinks that the real story from last week is Mitt Romney’s ‘disaster’.
I know he’ll continue to spew it, I just wonder if he really thinks it.
On TV ads: for the longest time, it seemed like Democrats just couldn’t do effective political ads. Maybe it was Clinton’s speech during the DNC, but I think this is finally some pretty devastating stuff:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/.....is-winning
On the posting itself, the unfortunate thing is that if voter suppression doesn’t deliver the election for them this time, it will take Republicans a couple more cycles to realize that the problem isn’t that their candidates aren’t conservative enough.
“They goin’ put y’all in back in da basement.”
Column: Obama keeps us in our parents’ homes
By Alex Schriver
Even policies that Obama touts as beneficial for young people really only serve to create a greater dependence on parents or the government. Staying on your parents’ health insurance might sound attractive, but wouldn’t it be better if Obama’s policies hadn’t made it tougher to get a job in the first place? Adding more regulatory red tape for employers makes it less likely they’ll hire, keeping young people stuck at home, dependent on mom and dad.
Or take college loans, where bipartisan efforts kept interest rates low. Wouldn’t it be better if college costs weren’t ballooning in the first place, requiring all that borrowing and dependence on government loans?
This isn’t what young adults bargained for when they voted for Barack Obama in 2008. He was a candidate who promised big things. He said that unemployment would stay under 8%, that college would be affordable for everyone, and that he’d cut the deficit in half. He’s 0 for 3 on those promises, and young people know it.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/o.....57789830/1
Seems Obama may have trouble getting those young people to fawn over him again this year.
And if they DO turn out, will they do so as Democrats or as Republicans?
http://datechguyblog.com/2012/.....t-edition/
Because the GOP has a registration advantage better than it did in 2004.
To RR, when you get up…
What’s the best stock play for popcorn? I think we’re going to be consuming LOTS of the stuff over the next 6-7 weeks, as we watch Romney implode.
I was skimming Capt’n Crunch’s posts above (I can’t read them anymore, I just can’t), and it struck me that he is a real microcosm of the Republican brand in general – growing more shrill and disordered and unfocused by the day.
So, it seemed that there might be profit to be had off the Romney implosion – my first thought was popcorn, though butter or salt might be good plays as well. (I’m a big fan of butter and tamari – great flavor combination!)
Anyway, RR, maybe we should have a contest on the best way to leverage the slow-motion trainwreck that is Romney/Ryan to make money on stock?
Watcha think?
Hey, Lib Despair, how do you feel about your oldest growing up, going into public service, and being posted in the Middle East, say in Libya, and protected under the orders of a Secretary of State who serves at the pleasure of President Obama?
Is it better to die in service to your country because State didn’t take care of you than it is to die in service to your country because the military didn’t take care of you?
BTW to Rujax! yesterday –
Big thank you for the reference to…
MORE COWBELL!
I LOVE that!
Here‘s the whole thing.
@ 14
Here’s a stream of thought for the day:
Cowbell —>>> SNL piece.
Once upon a time SNL was funny (this is the 39th or 40th year). Back then John Belushi was a cast member.
Belushi died at a young age and was profiled in a famous tome entitled ‘Wired’.
The author of that was Bob Woodward.
Why, here’s Bob Woodward today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded
The title of the video:
Bob Woodward: Ryan’s Budget Plan Serious; Obama’s Plan Plays Political Games
I was wondering how to bring that up. Thanks for the opening, Lib Despair.
I would have felt terrible if a loved one (I can’t write about my child’s demise – sorry, you sick fuck) had died at the WTC or Pentagon when the Bush administration, as we now well know, utterly dropped the ball on protecting the US from al Qaeda.
I’d have felt absolutely horrible if a loved one had died in an absolutely pointless war in Iraq, started on lies and perpetrated solely to bolster the political power of the Republicans.
I’d have felt horrible if a loved died because of the inaccessibility of medical care, or the destruction of women’s health services, at the hands of the right-wing Taliban in the US.
I’d have felt terrible if a loved lost their right to participate in elections in our country, because some Republican wanted to win bad enough to shred the basic foundation of our republic.
I’d have felt terrible if a loved one could not achieve their potential – potential both to succeed individually as well as to contribute to our shared society maximally – because we’ve rigged our system to perpetuate the security of greedy asssholes like yourself.
You want us to elect Romney, why, again?
You’re growing very shrill, Capt’n Crunch.
@14 I’ve wondered where that came from. I usually just see a short clip of the guy banging on the cow bell, sometimes as an avatar. On the recording sites I frequent it seems someone is always looking for a chance to contribute, “It needs more cowbell!”
There’s a reason Bob wants to talk about Benghazi. He doesn’t want to talk about this:
It’s gotta just burn Republican asses that, with everything going wrong for Pres. Obama, the Romney campaign still can’t stop acting like a bunch of Keystone Cops. Thing is, they still haven’t figured it out. David Frum has. We’ll outsource to Brad DeLong:
It’s the policies, stupid!
I think the ‘spiking the ball on the 50th’ is an apt metaphor for you, I think by Steve.
BTW, Bob Woodward is a putz and a stenographer, and I certainly don’t give him any credibility. But you run with that, if that’s what you need – we all know you’re hurting right now, and we’re here for you. Let it all out.
This interview with architect Andres Duany has been making the rounds lately. It’s a pretty good take on New Urbanism and the future of housing in America.
A new study from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service shows that tax cuts for the rich don’t spur saving, growth, job creation, or anything else. The only thing cutting taxes for the rich produces is income inequality.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/49059989
@17
I’m often surprised at how few people know about that skit. It’s one of the few things Will Farrell ever did that was actually funny, though, frankly, Christopher Walken is the one who makes it all work.
‘Course, now, you’ll not ever hear Don’t Fear the Reaper without thinking, “I got a fever for cowbell!”
@ 18
Gee, Journolist founder Ezra Klein says the Romney campaign is in trouble.
Over the weekend he said the Romney campaign cancelled an Abba concert because their music was too angry, then had to retract when it turned out he repeated satire as news.
Thanks for the snicker.
Look at the polls, look at the crosstabs, look at the states polled for voter participation data in 2008 and 2010 elections, then decide whether this year is more like 2008 or more like 2010.
Then go change your shorts, DJ.
@22
Walken always struck me as kinda creepy, though his appearances on SNL really showed what a gift for comedy the guy has – I really like him.
Have you seen this?
@23 Mitt Romney is losing Latino women by 53 points.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/.....ml?hp=t3_3
@12 Buying ConAgra (CAG) will get you a piece of Orville Redenbacher’s Popcorn, or if you’d rather bet on chips you can play Pringles by buying Kellogg (K). One of the more direct ways to play the election is defense stocks: long for Romney or short for Obama, using options for leverage.
@25 Is that all?
Cap’n is sounding more like puddy every day…there, there, let is all out…
Poll error – SQUAWK!! – Poll error!!!
Josh Marshall:
It’s going to be a long 6 weeks. Do you have this, Cap’n?
President Obama 66% Romney 34% on Intrade free market. That makes 17 of 17 with long odds on Romney-Ryan as a losing ticket.
http://www.oddschecker.com/spe.....ion/winner
@18 “It’s gotta just burn Republican asses that, with everything going wrong for Pres. Obama, the Romney campaign still can’t stop acting like a bunch of Keystone Cops.”
If Romney can’t beat a black Kenyan communist with a forged birth certificate who was brainwashed by radical imams in Indonesian madrassas and pals around with terrorists, he isn’t cut out for politics and should consider some other line of work.
@30
I think that’s exactly what has Cap’n’s shorts in a bunch lately.
I think that thought is like a gerbil on a wheel in his head.
Like I said, it’s going to be a long 6 weeks around here.
@23 Man, you are delusional, even for a Golden Goat honoree.
@ 28
I thought it was ‘On Death and Dying’.
On this very topic over at kos, an issue that we’ve all seen play out on these humble threads here at HA…
BINGO!
Will they get Woodie Harellson to play Eric Fehrnstrom in that movie?
@33
Grieving seemed more appropriate for you, Cap’n.
@ 23
Gee, Journolist founder Ezra Klein says the Romney campaign is in trouble.
In other words, you have no counter to the facts cited in that piece. Oh, and you seem to have ignored David Frum. Thank you for playing.
Look at the polls, look at the crosstabs, look at the states polled for voter participation data in 2008 and 2010 elections, then decide whether this year is more like 2008 or more like 2010.
Please do. Then come back and tell us how many of them predict that Romney will win.
Or, have you’ve been drinking a bit too much of this kool-aid:
Right. ‘Cause arguing that pollsters are using the wrong likely voter model is such a compelling argument. As several people noted on Twitter, that’s a great way to wake up with a headache on the morning after an election.
@34 “which one of his staffers will be the first to write the tell-all book of just how bad the campaign really was all along”
Probably whoever Romney heaps the most blame on.
Good thing we elected Obama so the Middle East nations all love us now.
US diplomats in Beirut burning classified material
By MATTHEW LEE | Associated Press – 22 mins ago
Ah, no worries! Merely routine.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss security procedures, said the decision to “reduce classified holdings” was routine and made by embassy staff.
I feel a plea for more college funding coming:
The warning also noted that the Fulbright and the English Language Fellow programs that gave grants to American scholars to live and work in Lebanon during the academic year have been suspended “because of the deteriorating security situation and the increased possibility of attacks against U.S. citizens in Lebanon.”
http://news.yahoo.com/us-diplo.....33328.html
Just Czechoslovakia? Don’t forget how we have shunned Qurac and Bialya! Equatorial Kundu is getting short shrift. And don’t get me started on how we ignore Lemuria!
Serial and Puddy, please join with me and contact Fox News immediately and demand Fox to be publicly outraged about those countries too!
I’ve been begging Cap’n Crunch for this very thing for months. I have found it remarkably telling that he is unwilling or incapable for doing so – it erodes both his, and his candidate’s, credibility – fatally.
@39
But what if Albania gets THE BOMB??!
@ 36
‘Cause arguing that pollsters are using the wrong likely voter model is such a compelling argument. As several people noted on Twitter, that’s a great way to wake up with a headache on the morning after an election.
Well, I don’t know about that.
Kos does, tho:
Daily Kos has filed a lawsuit against its former pollster, Research 2000, for breach of contract, fraud and negligent misrepresentation.
The seven-count complaint, filed in a northern California court Wednesday, claims that at least a portion of the polling produced for the liberal website was falsified and that Research 2000 refuses to produce the raw data to verify its work.
http://www.politico.com/news/s.....39304.html
And if they weren’t doing that you’d be grousing about lack a preparedness.
Your entire ‘argument’ is, “There’s a crisis! There’s a crisis! Vote for Romney!! There’s a crisis!”
Perhaps you’d be more effective with a group that was, um, a bit, uh, lower-information?
But we understand. Get all that hurt out, cry it out, big guy, we’re here for you.
@42
So fraud committed by a pollster means that all pollster engage in systematic error that is falsely deflating Romney’s numbers?
Really? That where you are?
You sound like you could use a hug. Cry it on out, you’ll feel better, someday.
The Duchy of Grand Fenwick already has the bomb. I read on the internet that George Bush discovered they developed it from their yellow cake.
I heard Rush say that polling results is a form of Voter Suppression worse that what the Republicans were doing in Florida and Pennsylvania.
@45
Yellow cake? But what kind of frosting did it have?
People actually begin sentences that way. *shakes head* The search for credibility continues.
@ 43
Your entire ‘argument’ is, “There’s a crisis! There’s a crisis! Vote for Romney!! There’s a crisis!”
I didn’t say that. I’m just wondering why we weren’t prepared in Benghazi, given all that is known about that region, plus the powder keg that is the date 9/11.
Spontaneous protests with RPGs because of a Youtube video. You really believe that?
I don’t think I have made a pro-Romney comment in the past week (maybe I did and I’m wrong about my recollection). You keep asking me for a list and I see no reason to provide one.
It’s enough to point out the economic slide and now Obama’s foreign policy chops being questioned as it turns out his Middle East policy of appeasement is blowing up in his face. That’s really been my focus. To sow doubt.
I’ll let Romney/Ryan promote themselves and their agenda. I prefer to bring up items that otherwise don’t get talked about on HA. My guess is the blog administrators would rather see that than a group Obama hug.
Here’s what I’ve spent much of the past few days trying to get HA to consider:
We lost four Americans, on American soil, due to an Al-Queda attack and the MSM focus is on Romney’s statement? Really? I didn’t think people like Doctor Steve would buy that line. Rujax, sure, but most of the rest of you are supposed to have some intelligence. It’s the educated folks who prefer Obama, right?
The central problem. Sucks to be them. Reich’s article here.
9. “I’m wondering if Doctor Steve still thinks that the real story from last week is Mitt Romney’s ‘disaster’.”
Eh, it needs more cowbells.
“I’m wondering if Republican Peggy Noonan still thinks that the real story from last week is Mitt Romney’s ‘disaster’.
There, that’s better.
“I know he’ll continue to spew it, I just wonder if he really thinks it.”
I quote Noonan, for some strange reason you have to lie about it, claiming it’s my opinion, not hers. I remind you that it it’s Noonan’s opinion, then you come back again. Sigh!
Andrea Mitchell just described the Romney campaign staff as already being in “post-mortum mode”. If you’re as bored with your “disaster” thing as I am, try working with that one.
@ 42
Well, I don’t know about that.
Oh, what you don’t know could stop a raging team of horses dead in its tracks. In case you hadn’t noticed, there were serious statistical anomalies with Research 2000’s numbers. The Real Clear Politics piece I cited, however, doesn’t say a thing about statistical anomalies–just that pollsters don’t really understand their own models.
‘Course, no one here would believe you capable of understanding the difference between statistical anomalies and likely voter models. But, keep flailing. If your shorts aren’t filling up right now, we can rightly conclude that you suffer from a severe form of constipation.
@6
Personally, I think the USA would be a better place if most corporations had very large shareholders with some interest in the public good, rather than a single minded interest in profit at any cost.
If we’re going to declare corporations to be people, then corporations need to act like people. People need to make money, but for most people money is not the primary motivation.
Public corporations are required by shareholders to be only interested in profit. People care about many other things … clean air, water, social standing, quality of life.
As has been said over and over, and even in little words you can understand, YOU DON’T KNOW JACK about the details of What was known and what preparedness was in place.
You just do not know that. We all agree we need to know that, but it will take time and investigation to know that.
In the meantime, you and your buddies harp on this and pretend to ‘know’ and fill the uncertainty with as much FUD as you can muster.
It’s unfortunate that you have no credibility.
Indeed.
Your failure, and the larger Romney campaign’s failure, utter failure, to provide a compelling positive argument for him, lazily relying on events to sink Obama – IS NOT WORKING – either here on HA with you, or nationally with the Romney campaign.
Again, as has been said, many times, many ways…
That probably goes for you, too, Cap’n.
@49…
So what does the “foriegn policy expert” Klownflake Klownservative” think we do?
Carpet bomb the fucking city?
Go suck Wolfowitz some more, moron.
@ 49
We lost four Americans, on American soil, due to an Al-Queda attack and the MSM focus is on Romney’s statement? Really?
Yes, Really! In case you hadn’t noticed, Gov. Romney is trying to convince the American people that he can do the job better than Pres. Obama. That the Romney campaign can’t seem to keep the basic facts straight, let alone articulate what would be a better policy under the broad circumstances, is entirely germane to the present election.
@6
If you don’t want that kind of shareholder,
THEN DON”T ASK THE GOVERNMENT FOR A BAILOUT.
If the bank bailout
(which was created on Bush’s watch)
had been constructed this way,
think of the leverage the government would have on the banks …
In case you hadn’t noticed, there were serious statistical anomalies with Research 2000’s numbers.
Here’s a Reuters/Ipsos poll from last week:
http://www.ipsos-na.com/download/pr.aspx?id=11965
That poll had 52.5% Democrats as participants. And only 7% independents – we know that independents currently prefer Romney to Obama.
RCP used it, then pulled it after the outcry.
You don’t think that a + 13 oversampling of Democrats isn’t a “serious statistical anomaly”?
Yes, really.
Because ROMNEY WANTS TO BE FUCKING PRESIDENT OF THE USA, fool. The point is, his behavior was so outrageously intemperate and unpresidential and transparently self-serving, that it essentially disqualified him for the office.
So, yes, the focus on Romney, 6 weeks before the election, for his behavior around and event that you correctly characterize as…
when he so shamefully sought to exploit those events and undermine the sitting President during that crisis, is completely appropriate.
Next question?
@59
When do you guys think that Cap’n Crunch is going to let up on the “OVERSAMPLING!!” whining? Nov 7?
@ 53
People need to make money, but for most people money is not the primary motivation.
We call these people ’employees’.
For people who create companies because making money IS the primary motivation, and who pay ’employees’ to do so, we reserve the term ‘owners’.
Benghazi is a consulate, not an embassy.
A consulate is a smaller diplomatic outpost than an embassy.
Our Libyan embassy in Tripoli was just fine,
as was our Egyptian embassy in Cairo,
even though there were riots there.
There are limits to security.
In hindsight, our ambassador to Libya should have been in the embassy on 9/11 rather than at a consulate. That was probably his own call. He may have felt safe due to his popularity with the Libyans in general, not thinking of the power of a very disgruntled minority in these situations.
Oh, yeah, that reminds me….anybody know when the much vaunted ‘carpet bombing’ is going to start?
@63
Which further illustrates that at this time, right now, we DO NOT HAVE ALL THE FACTS YET.
My point being, that Cap’n Crunch’s entire bleat is trying to fill the void with doubt and anger and a magical story line that will turn people against Obama.
Notably, against Obama, but not for Romeny – which is the core of their demise.
And the term ‘clueless prick’ is reserved for people who write things like that.
@59
You don’t think that a + 13 oversampling of Democrats isn’t a “serious statistical anomaly”?
As a matter of fact, it’s not. That’s a sampling error, which every poll has and for which every polling operation in the world compensates. As stated in the IPSOS report:
But, people like you are too stupid to understand the difference between a sampling error and an actual statistical anomaly, so web sites like Real Clear Politics cave in to pressure from their ignorant readership.
“There’s a crisis! There’s a crisis! Vote for Romney!! There’s a crisis!”
Make some room in that for “I hate Obama!” and it’s spot on.
@ 65
Our UN Ambassador was on 5 talk shows yesterday saying that it was because of the Youtube video. If we don’t have all of the facts yet, why would she be so insistent of her version of events?
We have State Department refusing to answer questions and pointing us to WH. Carney deflects questions and points to State.
How convenient.
@68
I think you’re right, because they never ever, as Cap’n admits, encourage a Romney vote, just Obama hatred.
@ 69
Our UN Ambassador was on 5 talk shows yesterday saying that it was because of the Youtube video. If we don’t have all of the facts yet, why would she be so insistent of her version of events?
Gosh, might our UN Ambassador be privy to facts that are not at our disposal? Does it hurt to be as stupid as you are?
@63
In situations like that you consult with experts and in this case our ambassador was the expert. Sometimes people doing dangerous work in dangerous places get killed.
@69
The state department isn’t answering questions because they’ve provided all the info that they can and the situation is now, rightly, being treated as a crime. No one comments much on open criminal investigations.
@ 72
Sometimes people doing dangerous work in dangerous places get killed.
Shouldn’t people in dangerous places on incendiary dates be protected, Secretary Clinton?
Since the Benghazi consulate came under attack as recently @ 2 as June, could it not have been predicted that another attack could also occur and that an enhancement of security is just common sense?
What blows me away is the HA willingness to shrug shoulders and essentially blame the ambassador for being in that predicament, while there’s little trouble blaming deaths of soldiers, even in Afghanistan after Obama’s troop surge, on GWB43.
Under the bus you go, dead diplomat guy. All in service to The One.
Assholes like Raw-Money (and because he’s so sprung on the “Big Money Boys”: the Klownflake Klownservative) are NOT CREATING or BUILDING BUSINESSES.
Bain Capital (and the rest of their ilk) was/were created to suck fortunes out of their targets, and they were very successful at it. In doing so, they destroyed jobs, wrecked Companies and shattered lives and communities.
But that’s just collateral damage, eh “bob”?
Just like the 20,000 dead and wounded American Servicepersons; 118,000 dead and 1 MILLION displaced Iraqis…victims of a war to line the pockets of Dick Cheney and the military-industrial complex and to boost the ego of momma’s boy little Georgie.
But they just got in the way too…huh, “bob”.
I’d call you vapid and morally bankrupt, but that would be an insult to the vapid and morally bankrupt.
The ODS is strong in this one…
What would you have us do, Cap’n, vote for Romney?
I think we’ve all been waiting for you to make the case….
At a glance, you might think this one belongs on the Mormon thread. But it’s actually about Mitt’s Middle-East policy, the one he won’t talk about.
One might say that Mitt’s entire foreign policy plan, well, at least step number one, could be summed up as “convert Paul Ryan to the Mormon church”.
A man of deep faith who doesn’t want to talk about it. Hmm, and he doesn’t want to talk about his Middle East policy either.
Nah, it couldn’t be. Heh. Could it?
From @ 53 GM to @ 76 Iraq in one Rujaxian leap.
You are making less sense this morning than on most others.
As a great man once said:
@57
Clearly, the State Department should have been running around telling Ambassador Rice how to do his job, right?
It’s one thing to play Monday Morning Quarterback. It’s quite another to try playing Monday Morning Quarterback when you clearly don’t even know that a football is ovoid.
Did the excursion into Iraq not take resources away from Afghanistan? Would the war in Afghanistan not have ended by now had we not taking that side trip into Iraq?
Is it really too much to ask that you back up your criticisms with even a modicum of intelligence? Apparently so.
@62 –
Let’s just overlook the fact that you sound like an elitist prick
(specifically because “employees” have motivations other than money, just as “owners” do)
& talk about the facts.
Need to make the distinction here between publicly held (companies that have had their IPO & sold stock) & privately held corporations. Privately held corporations can & sometimes do reflect the entire range of values of their owners.
Publicly held corporations usually reflect the interests of their *investors* who are interested only in profit. There are exceptions to this (Facebook, for example, has had an IPO but the founder is still majority shareholder).
Once a company has sold enough stock to be majority owned by investors, it has no interest higher than profit. If the management of such a company tries to place another interest higher, it will be replaced by the board of directors.
But why do I need to tell you this … you’re supposed to understand it being a Republican & all.
@ 78
What would you have us do
Lib Sci’s oldest child matriculates through post-secondary education and chooses a life in public service – NGO, military – something about which the average American would be proud.
A major anti-American violent event occurs overseas, on American soil, and this child dies.
HA shrugs and dismisses with
Sometimes people doing dangerous work in dangerous places get killed.
Lib Sci, I guess what I would have you do is utter some other type of response.
@ 84
Lib Sci, I guess what I would have you do is utter some other type of response.
OMG, this is precious. We’re not running around like chicken little, so dipshit here thinks we’re off our rockers.
Can you come up with a reason why we should be running around like chicken little? Why is mourning these deaths just not a sufficient response?
http://www.juancole.com/2012/0.....ffect.html
I’m going to help ‘ol “bob” out here…after admonishing him to really…
…get some facts instead of relying on Fox or Rush or Dori Monson or Erick Erickson or whoever the fuck he gets his bullshit from (the fucking WSJ editorial page…Frooma Horrop for god’s sake..Max Boot????)…
Jaun Cole knows as much or more than anybody about the Middle East and writes about it all the time.
It’s not hard to find, “bob”.
@75
I’m not blaming the ambassador and I don’t see other people blaming the ambassador either. What I see is your warped worldview turning our statements into things they’re not and a refusal on your part to deal with reality and facts.
We’re all troubled by what happened, we all want to get to the bottom of what happened and make changes so that it wont happen again.
http://www.juancole.com/2012/0.....folds.html
There’s a LOT more and it’s got big words in it, “bob”…take it slow.
I would ask ‘bob’ to leave my children out of his self-serving scenarios.
@ 86
Problem with G-juan-o’s story, Rujax, is that there is no mention of the other two deaths. A Libyan gives the indication that Libyans fought valiantly but were overwhelmed.
Western sources say the Libyan ‘guards’ cut and run. Since they probably were the ones who disclosed the location of the ‘secret’ safe house, the LIbyan angle should be looked at with a critical eye.
The US team that came in was told there were 10 staff and there turned out to be 37. It’s one of the reasons they were undermanned even when responding to a crisis, and it likely caused the other two deaths.
It’s hard to have a critical eye when you have to move your lips to read. We understand, Rujax.
@74
We don’t know that they didn’t beef up security there and we don’t know that what the attackers used against the Benghazi consulate could have been defended against. Sometimes the otherside wins firefights.
Maybe, but who would you ask about such things? Me I’d ask the ambassador. Which is probably what happened. We don’t know yet what questions were asked and what plans were made. Let’s not fly off the handle.
That, and electing competent, cool-headed, rational leaders who lead effective, clear-eyed government bureaucracies.
Chicken little, or this?
@ 89
I know it makes it uncomfortable to participate in such dismissive attitudes about the deaths of Americans, doesn’t it, Lib Sci?
Descending into puddyisms…not a good sign.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpoi.....fpnewsfeed
Damn, “bob”…back to the drawing board huh?
“bob”‘s acting like his buddy’s campaign!
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo......?ref=fpblg
@84. I find your crocodile tears and outrage to be disingenuous. From your other postings, you have little problem with war and conflict and death when they happen under Republican rule, but you fake indignation when this happened on Obama’s watch and you think you can make political points.
You are like Romney, a man who would say almost anything if it would help him win.
Huh? No thread in honor of the 1 year anniversary of the “gimme free stuff” occupy loser movement?
Why is mourning these deaths just not a sufficient response?
Mourning would be sufficient, certainly.
Dismissing them as a ‘Hey, shit happens.’ event, as I suggest occurred above, is not only insufficient, but inappropriate.
I haven’t seen mourning, nor anything close to it. What I’ve seen is a circling of the MSM wagons and an onslaught of critcism of Romney for his statement, while in the meantime we haven’t seen Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama answering any questions. Instead we’ve seen Rice (a woman, not a man @ 82) claim it’s because of a video, while the facts are that the attack occurred on 9/11, Zawahiri called for an attack on Americans in Libya on 9/10, we’ve learned that Al Queda was involved, and we know that a previous attack @ 2 occurred at the same location in June and yet we were unprepared on 9/11.
The one major Q&A session that’s occurred since the attack is Romney defending his statement to a roomful of press who had coordinated their questions beforehand.
This doesn’t bother anyone?
I might also point out that we’ve got diplomatic crises all over the Middle East and yet HA doesn’t have a thread on the topic. Just an observation.
I would ask ‘bob’ to leave my children out of his self-serving scenarios.
Good luck with that. Bob will use every means necessary to further his agenda.He is a man who made fun of the looks of the president’s daughter so he could score social status points with his conservative friends.
Is this not a factual statement? Can you remove all risk?
Look, my dad was a commercial fisherman when I was a kid. We all knew that my dad was good at what he did and we all knew that he was cautious as hell, but whenever it was stormy or he was a little overdue we still worried. Why? Because we all knew that you can’t remove all risk and there’s a chance that when dad went out fishing he might not be coming home.
Thankfully, my dad always made it home. But, some people didn’t. Sometimes boats burned or sank and people needed rescued. And sometimes there was blame or fault to be found. But, sometimes there wasn’t. Sometimes people doing dangerous work in dangerous places get killed.
@ 101
Fishing is dangerous work, yes.
Doesn’t mean you dismiss fishing drowning deaths when the boat doesn’t have life preservers.
Yes, Michael, your statement is factual.
I could point out that dying in Iraq is a something that happens to soldiers who do dangerous work and is to be expected – they chose that line of work.. Were I to do so, you know what the HA response would be.
@ 100
He is a man who made fun of the looks of the president’s daughter so he could score social status points with his conservative friends.
No, I did it because I make snide and sarcastic jokes. I do it repeatedly and I have all sorts of targets – I’m pretty consistently sarcastic and more than occasionally mean. I see no reason to hold back because of the target’s skin color, even though I know what the response from the Doctor Steves will be.
I thought @63. Rael’s analysis summed it up pretty well.
I could point out that dying in Iraq is a something that happens to soldiers who do dangerous work and is to be expected – they chose that line of work.
True but you are willfully ignoring the bigger picture, that the soldiers should not have been there in the first place. Being killed in Iraq is like drowning from a boat without life preservers. Both were needless mistakes that should have been avoided in the first place.
103. Serial Conservative spews:
I do it repeatedly and I have all sorts of targets
and all of them are black. Connect the dots.
As I’ve pointed out not only in #101, but in all my posts about the ambassadors death…
Fox Suppresses Its Own Polls
“There is a conspicuous trend developing at Fox News …. they are burying their own polls ….
“[T]he Fox News poll published yesterday gave Obama a pronounced lead of 48% to 43% for Romney. It included a 12 point swing in Obama’s favor by Independents, and the GOP advantage in enthusiasm has evaporated. In virtually every category of voter attitude Obama held a lead: On foreign policy (+15), education (+14), Medicare (+11), health care (+9), terrorism (+8), immigration (+4), taxes (+3), making the country a better place to live (+2), honesty (+11), steady leader (+10 ), the right experience (+7), keeping promises (+4), and strong moral values (+2). …
“There has been no mention of this poll on the Fox News community web site, Fox Nation. And this is not the first time that’s occurred. Last month the Fox Nationalists posted the results of a Rassmussen poll that put Romney in the lead. The article neglected to say that three other polls released the same day had Obama ahead, and one of those was a Fox News poll that put Obama up by nine points. …
“When the folks at Fox are running so scared that they choose to hide the polls they spend so much money on, you know they are trembling severely. More importantly, they are exposing themselves as frauds who are more interested in deception than journalism. But then, that isn’t exactly news.”
http://www.dailykos.com/story/.....Fox-Nation
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Do you get the impression that many Republicans are just standing around picking their noses while waiting for the autopsy to start? I do.
Well, well, even RedState is writing Mitt’s obituary:
http://www.redstate.com/2012/0.....would-win/
“bob”‘s like Raw-Money…
…getting his ass kicked.
@104 I could point out that dying in Iraq is a something that happens to soldiers who do dangerous work and is to be expected – they chose that line of work.. Were I to do so, you know what the HA response would be.
Are you saying that or not? As you pointed out, you know what the HA response will be if you do.
I don’t know how I should read this comment. You’re trying to be snarky, but the way you stated it comes across as what you actually believe.
You’ve already told us you didn’t serve. The next step is to admit you don’t know what soldiers’ motivations are, or how they feel about serving. So I’ll tell you. Many of them are very patriotic and see military service as a job that needs to be done, and someone has to do it. They choose to be our best, and they are. But none of them would choose to have their lives needlessly thrown away by poor leadership. They understand that they may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice, but they don’t want to die uselessly or in vain.
I hope that helps you understand our military folks better, so that you can make more sensible (and sensitive) comments about them whenever the subject of our soldiers comes up in a discussion.
@109,
Raw-Money……getting his ass kicked.
And yet, I worry about three things
1) Cit United carpetbombing ads by republicans
2) Voter Suppression by republicans
3) Electronic voting being hacked by republicans
Those, to me, could be enough to change the election
1. We’ve had that conversation on here a few times, the responses ran the gambit.
2. It’s unreasonable to expect members of the left and members of the right to fly off the the handle at the same things every time.
re 103: The response to your comment had nothing to do with skin color. It had to do with a brutal criticism of a child’s appearance when that child is at a very sensitive age.
I remember when I criticized Bush’s 20-something twins for being drug-addled drunks, I was criticised for being too harshe on young people.
@ 99
So, we’re all supposed to rend our garments and moan publicly in order to satisfy your sense of decorum? Seriously?
Gov. Romney criticized Pres. Obama based on a fase set of facts! Does that not deserve criticism, or does Romney get a pass on this, because, well, he’s just such a nice guy?
First of all, let’s get the facts straight. They aren’t answering the questions you want them to answer. They have answered questions that are appropriate under the circumstances.
Secondly, you’ve yet to lay a proper foundation for the questions you think they should answer. I’ve pointed this out in other points of the thread. The level of security both at the Embassy in Tripoli and at the consulate in Benghazi was Ambassador Rice’s responsibility. Are you saying that the Department of State is supposed to be micromanaging the security levels and ambassador movements in every foreign service post?
This is why we laugh at you, Bob. You’re an idiot who happens to think he knows more about the Middle East than a tenured professor of history specializing in Middle East Studies at the University of Michigan. Juan Cole is waaaaay out of your league, sport.