The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    Elusive Trope's picture

    The Denial of a Platform

    By Elusive Trope on Fri, 10/05/2012 - 6:49pm |

    One of the intriguing facet of the debate is why Obama didn't bring up of the 47%.  The Obama team claims that was a calculated decision.  They didn't want to give Romney a platform before 55 million+ Americans to do a mea culpa. 

    The result is that Romney has to do the mea culpa on Hannity (whose audience is already not voting for Obama), and America gets just the headline about Romney admitting being "completely wrong" in his own words.

    The commercials about the 47% still continue.

    Obama and Biden will still use the 47% at their rallies.

    Elusive Trope's picture

    The Hail Mary was Successful but Costly

    By Elusive Trope on Thu, 10/04/2012 - 9:00pm |

    Romney down by 9 with 10 minutes left to go, not trusting his defense, went for the Hail Mary pass (just lie through your teeth and hope no one notices).  It was successful.  But the only wide receiver that put fear into the hearts of the defense's backfield was injured in the process.  So there is now 9:41 left in the game, Romney, down by 9 and in field goal range at Obama's 14 yard line no longer has a sigificant passing game.

    Does he play it safe over the next few days and settle for the field goal?

    jollyroger's picture

    Prez to Romney: "Don't you even THINK of patronizing me, you lying shape-shifting sack of tax cheating off-shoring bust out artistry."

    By jollyroger on Thu, 10/04/2012 - 7:22pm |

    It's not enough to have talent, you gotta have character.

    Evidently utterly unmanned by fear of alienating the remaining three undecided voters in the country, "Mr. Nice Guy" (aka The Great Left Hope) actually let Willard get away with a version of "Don't bullshit a bullshitter" to his downcast face, viz, "Don't bullshit a father of five sons".

    Big Bird Wins Debate

    By PeraclesPlease on Thu, 10/04/2012 - 6:19pm |

     

    Rather dumb of Mitt to take on Big Bird personally.

    "I love Big Bird....now I'm going to kill him!!!"

    The perfect embodiment of "compassionate conservatism".

    Lessee, a character 80 million Americans have watched as kids, 95% of preschoolers watch.

    A mainstay for GOP & Dem moms keeping pre-schoolers on educational programs vs. video games.

    A new initiative to bring more Hispanic culture to public TV.

    The debates

    By nothere on Thu, 10/04/2012 - 10:25am |

    I did not watch the debates. I have read the reviews; and I can just about feel the clenching vocal cords as people draw in their breath, silently asking: "What is Obama doing?"

    As if he's some sort of performance artist who seems to have recently gained weight, shock-horror!

    Me? For some reason, all I can think is: Rope-a-Dope.

    I could be wrong; but that's my call.

    Life's full of surprises in the donut hole

    By Flavius on Tue, 10/02/2012 - 10:52pm |

    I'm in it and am being surprised.

    Surprise 1.I'm trapped.When I reached the bottom limit of the coverage gap as it is officially known I figured that as  one way of offsetting the escalation in copays I'd save the Medicare Plan D premium by  simply withdrawing  from the plan for the rest of the year.

    Wrong,When you're in you're in . For the full year.

    Surprise 2.Not all copays are created equal. When I prepared to pay  one of my newly escalated copays today the druggist said

    o "you'll  be able to have these on Oct 10".

    o Me " Need em now "

    Elusive Trope's picture

    So...how are you feeling right now?

    By Elusive Trope on Tue, 10/02/2012 - 10:17pm |

    Talking with the folks around me, there is weird energy.  On the eve of the debate, liberals are "in general" feeling good, but also know "anything can happen" during debate. At the same time there is a sense Obama, Warren et al will pull it out in the end.

    For a moment so happy together.

     

     

    Warren was good enough last night

    By Flavius on Tue, 10/02/2012 - 8:09am |

    in her 2nd debate with Scott Brown.

    I thought she won but of course my view has to be discounted for my partisanship. For me the two telling counts against Brown were his bullying of Warren " I'm not a student in your classroom" and his selection of Scalia as his favorite supreme court justice which countered his strongest sales point , his independent voting record.

    Elusive Trope's picture

    The Infamous Football Analogy

    By Elusive Trope on Mon, 10/01/2012 - 7:33pm |

    Nate Silver has a great blog today, using the infamous football analogy, claiming that Romney is down by 7 early in the fourth quarter with possession of football on his own 20. 

    According to the win probability calculator at AdvancedNFLStats.com, an N.F.L. team down by field goal with 10 minutes left to play in the fourth quarter has a 34 percent probability of winning the game. A team down by a touchdown wins just 16 percent of the time.

    Romney, you want one egg or two?

    By Oxy Mora on Mon, 10/01/2012 - 11:39am |

    I nearly laughed out loud when Romney sidekick Paul Ryan said this weekend, "We've had some missteps, but at the end of the day the choice is really clear."  Acknowledging missteps is a useful persuasive tactic---that is, leading with a "negative" sometimes enhances credibility. But Ryan's acknowledgment that this election is now a choice, not just a referendum, is a huge error and joyously so. The Romney crew are now playing on Obama's turf. The irony is that Romney's initial plan to make the election a referendum on Obama probably ended the moment he picked Ryan as a running mate, making the election not about a sluggish economy but about vouchers, vaginas and vehicles---a field of "play" on which Obama is winning.

    stillidealistic's picture

    Help Me Sort This Out

    By stillidealistic on Fri, 09/28/2012 - 4:31pm |

    I need some help in reconciling the idiot I suspect Romney to be with the "successful" business man and devout Mormon he is purported to be.

    I think we all accept that that he is a man void of guiding principles that propel him. He has switched positions too many times, often with just a few hours or even minutes separating the opposing statements of belief, to accept that any of the positions mean anything to him deep down inside.

    Dueling Israelis

    By artappraiser on Thu, 09/27/2012 - 4:12pm |

    A news post that I can't put in the news section because it requires both links to be given equal attention. These two stories are both atop the New York Times website right now:

    Romney is not even not dumb.

    By Oxy Mora on Thu, 09/27/2012 - 1:00pm |

    Romney isn't that dumb, or not dumb enough to launch a dumb riff about airplane windows not going up and down when he's standing right in front of his wife who has just had a near death experience on a smoke filled jet at thirty thousand feet. That's not even not dumb, but worse. Notice she was not looking at him and she was definitely not even not smiling. I hope Mitt wasn't dumb enough to try to collect on his marriage benefits that night.

    So what's Romney---the world's walking definition of a smart business guy---trying to achieve by appearing to be dumb and not even dumb, but beyond our consciousness of dumb, a kind of Kenyan dumb---inhabiting an alterative reality beyond the dumb of our own shores?  

    Richard Day's picture

    WHO WAS THOMAS JEFFERSON AND WHAT IS AMERICA?

    By Richard Day on Wed, 09/26/2012 - 7:36pm |

    Portrait of Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale.

    There is a great article at the Smithsonian discussing our premier Founding Father.

    I found it remarkable.

    I think it is fair for me to make that appraisal with all of the reading I have done on this subject over the decades and with five or six hours of reading on line every single day—in addition to my bedside book reading.

    In ten pages or so Henry Weincek is able to distil a national consciousness by interpreting a side of Thomas Jefferson that is so glossed over.

    Fun Bumpersticker Time

    By AmericanDreamer on Wed, 09/26/2012 - 10:23am |

    Any that you have seen, or would like to see, out there?

    Here are a few possibilities popping into my head of late:

     

    We're About to Take a Good Thing Too Far

    By Mike Drew on Tue, 09/25/2012 - 3:09pm |

    The attacks on the American embassy in Libya, resulting in four deaths, was a terrible, terrible event. It's not likely to be one-of-a-kind.

    This act was supposedly spurred on by an anti-Islam movie. It happened overseas. But it can backfire here. Religion is a touchy subject. Religious people are notoriously thin-skinned, even intolerant. And religious groups are easily targeted for being different.

    But this isn't about religious tolerance. Or it isn't entirely. It's about attitude.

    Richard Day's picture

    ELECTION HEADLINES!

    By Richard Day on Tue, 09/25/2012 - 2:13am |

     

    Hoboken, NJ

    Today New Jersey Governor Chris Christie fell through the stage set for his speech on Thursday.

    The five hundred pound chief executive had been stumping for a local politician at this Hudson County event (holding an ice cream cone instead of a microphone as is his wont from time to time) when he stumped a little bit too hard atop the pine constructed podium, falling fifty feet into the cavern that had been covered by the stage.

    AARP: Muse Sick in hour Mess-Age

    By PeraclesPlease on Mon, 09/24/2012 - 6:39am |

    [Public Enemy reference]

    I was curious to see AARP's response to Paul Ryan's talk, but on visiting their site, I was more caught up by seeing a Stevie Nicks benefit and a lecture by Mickey Hart. Nicks is almost 65, Hart is almost 70 - the idea of the Grateful Dead informing our geriatric existence isn't something I'd considered before.

    Taking The Wrinkles Out Of Voting

    By Aunt Sam on Sat, 09/22/2012 - 9:48pm |

    I’m going to propose what may seem to some a fairly radical action to ensure our electoral processes will deliver the not quite so right outcome.  If elections are all about deciding which course will deliver the best future for our nation, it seems only logical to let those who will most likely be around for that future to be the ones who make the choices.  Let’s be real, it’s the over age 60 voters who are the ones really responsible for the poor horrific condition of our government today.   Haven’t they done enough damage?  

    Now, according to recent studies, the median male life expectancy is 75 and female is 80 years (and this is high end of age graph).  These are statistics important to consider within the context of our voting processes.  Knowing this, why should those over 60 be allowed to vote?   Their stake in the future is tenuous at best and really this group is not only old in years, but most of their beliefs are usually from reflections in their rear view mirrors, not focusing on what's needed to navigate the road ahead. 

    Victim-hood fractures the Republican Party

    By Oxy Mora on Sat, 09/22/2012 - 10:38am |

    The latent ethos of self-reliance in the American experience has, in my opinion, enabled the Republican party to meld the disparate factions of the wealthy and modest income whites into a successful coalition for the past thirty years. But Romney's broad definition of "victim" includes many in the Republican party who consider themselves to be self-reliant. Like oil and water, self-reliance and victim-hood are not miscible.  

    According to Romney a "victim" is a person who receives government benefits---which then must include many modest income whites upon whom the wealthy Republicans have depended to maintain power.  Romney has put the Republican base in a predicament. As victims they are not the strong and self-reliant persons who in such beliefs steel themselves against the reality of their declining incomes and job opportunities. If they are not victims, are they self reliant enough to vote against their own benefits?   

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