"A black sheriff?!": The Official Topic of Obama and New Era American Politics

[bdoughty]

Romney is not winning a lot of points in my book. I read the Romenycare comments from him.  If he had any testicular fortitude, he would be putting out his tax records to shut Reid up and then go after Obama to release his college records from Columbia.

[Great Rumbler]

http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/08/team-obama-says-they-dont-story-of-man-who-stars-of-131462.html

Can someone explain the outrage to me?

[Joe Molotov]

http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/08/team-obama-says-they-dont-story-of-man-who-stars-of-131462.html

Can someone explain the outrage to me?

Obama's coordinating with his PACs! PAC are bad....NO WAIT, I mean Obama is bad! Unlimited political spending is still great! Whew, that was a close one.

[Brehvolution]

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/417589/august-08-2012/obamacare-s-effect-on-pizza-costs

[Human Snorenado]

Romney is not winning a lot of points in my book. I read the Romenycare comments from him.  If he had any testicular fortitude, he would be putting out his tax records to shut Reid up and then go after Obama to release his college records from Columbia.

Ah yes, the "release your college records" canard, because clearly this guy has just been handed everything throughout his entire life, as opposed to self-motivated go-getters that pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps to make something of themselves.  You know, like George W. Bush and Mitt Romney.

It's gotta be hard to be a Republican these days.

[Joe Molotov]

Rich folks got it tough, COG. 99%ers demanding rights and shit, it's not like the good ol' days.

[Barry Egan]

The Obama campaign still manages to have questions about Romneys taxes:



While Harry Ried continues his long-form round of Guess Who:

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/harry-reid-my-source-on-romneys-taxes-is

“This person is an investor in Bain Capital, a Republican also, and somebody who has been dealing with Romney’s company for a long, long time and he has direct knowledge of this,” said Reid aide Jose Parra, referring to Romney’s tax returns.

Getting awfully specific for something completely made up.

Also,  this: 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/conservative-group-launches-dump-romney-campaign

A group called "Jews and Christians Together," which backed Rick Santorum in the Republican primary, is sending a memo to Republican National Convention delegates urging them not to vote for Mitt Romney at the convention, even if they're bound to him

We’re just saying that Romney has so many liabilities that will be exploited by Obama," Baldwin said in a phone interview. "I don’t have a problems with Mormons personally, but it is a liability issue" among evangelical voters, Baldwin said.

[Barry Egan]

Oh and here's a video of our old friend and one of Romneys chosen surrogates gushing about what a great guy he is:

[Phoenix Dark]

Conservatives whining over super PACs? lol. Obama is beating you at your own game, with less money

[Phoenix Dark]

Obama has nothing to do with his super PAC

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I'd imagine Axerod knew about that ad weeks before it aired. Same with Romney's folks talking to Karl Rove

[close]

[Mandark]

there's also no reason for repugnantly stupid shit like this not to get called out

Unless it's a candidate lying about knowledge of a bunch of racist newsletters he published. 

[Phoenix Dark]

Agreed, it's a stupid ad. Although I agree with the official Romney team response that if the lady had lived in MA, she would have survived thanks to universal health care

[AdmiralViscen]

I think the death ad was the first overreach by Obama or his allies and I absolutely cannot believe Romney whiffed it

Romney is not winning a lot of points in my book. I read the Romenycare comments from him.  If he had any testicular fortitude, he would be putting out his tax records to shut Reid up and then go after Obama to release his college records from Columbia.

Unless Reid is right LOL

[Human Snorenado]

there's also no reason for repugnantly stupid shit like this not to get called out

Unless it's a candidate lying about knowledge of a bunch of racist newsletters he published. 

[Brehvolution]

“We are not auditioning for fearless leader,” Grover Norquist told conservatives at the CPAC convention in February. “We don’t need a president to tell us in what direction to go. We know what direction to go. We want the Ryan budget. … We just need a president to sign this stuff. We don’t need someone to think it up or design it. The leadership now for the modern conservative movement for the next 20 years will be coming out of the House and the Senate.”

Norquist went on: “Pick a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to become president of the United States. This is a change for Republicans: the House and Senate doing the work with the president signing bills. His job is to be captain of the team, to sign the legislation that has already been prepared.”

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/mitt-romney-paul-ryan-budget-conservatives-vice-president-health-care.php?ref=fpa

So Grover wants a real Manchurian candidate?

[Mr. Gundam]

So they want another Bush?

[benjipwns]

That's not really a new thing from Grover, IIRC he's long contended that chasing the Presidency is misguided (especially after Forbes bombed) and that real change has to be done through Congress since a President (like Clinton) will play along with the "national vibe" or whatever.

And because it's easier to knock off (ELECTORALLY) Congresspeople.

[Brehvolution]

Agreed, it's a stupid ad. Although I agree with the official Romney team response that if the lady had lived in MA, she would have survived thanks to universal health care

https://twitter.com/jwpetersNYT/status/233687261445779456

[Human Snorenado]

Nothing like a knife in the back from a fellow Mormon, eh Mitt?

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/jon-huntsman-sr-calls-on-romney-to-release-his-tax-returns.php?ref=fpb

In further Rmoney news, he's begging Obama to stop hammering him on his taxes and Bain:

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/romney-to-obama-please-stop-attacking-my-business-taxes.php?ref=fpa

“Our campaign would be — helped immensely if we had an agreement between both campaigns that we were only going to talk about issues and that attacks based upon — business or family or taxes or things of that nature,” Romney said, according to excerpts of an upcoming interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd released Friday.

Of course your campaign would be helped immensely, Willard.  You're LOSING.  You're losing because as much as the economy sucks, Washington is paralyzed by historic, unprecedented gridlock and we have a freaking BLACK PRESIDENT, America doesn't want a corporate raiding, outsourcing, Cayman tax-shelter having Layoffer in chief.  Shit's gotta sting, broseph.

[Barry Egan]

Without having seen it in context, that comes across as fairly whiney and submissive for a republican candidate, especially one with a book out called NO APOLOGIES or something similar.  A winner laughs off baseless attacks and sees the impotence in them.  How am I supposed to project my deep-seated yearning for a commanding father figure on to this dude now?

[Great Rumbler]

Romney: Upset that people are [possibly] overestimating his ability to avoid paying taxes and fire lots of people in order to make a ton of money

Obama: Shrugs off accusations that he's a socialist, Kenyan, Muslim terrorist who wants to take away everyone's guns, force God-fearing Americans into gay sex orgies, give free money to lazy minorities, and run our country into the ground while bowing and scraping to European/Asian/Middle East nations

[Human Snorenado]

Without having seen it in context, that comes across as fairly whiney and submissive for a republican candidate, especially one with a book out called NO APOLOGIES or something similar.  A winner laughs off baseless attacks and sees the impotence in them.  How am I supposed to project my deep-seated yearning for a commanding father figure on to this dude now?

Keep in mind that this is Willard Mittens Romney we're talking about here.  He was born with a silver spoon for the platinum spoon in his ass, and everytime he opens his mouth and says stuff like this I just become more convinced that he's astounded that all of us in the serf class aren't overjoyed and throwing him a parade all the way to the White House because he deigned to let us elect him President and save us from the evil Black Man.

[Joe Molotov]

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/romney-to-obama-please-stop-attacking-my-business-taxes.php?ref=fpa

“Our campaign would be — helped immensely if we had an agreement between both campaigns that we were only going to talk about issues and that attacks based upon — business or family or taxes or things of that nature,” Romney said, according to excerpts of an upcoming interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd released Friday.

LOL, wow. I can't believe he actually said that. After Kerry got swiftboated and Obama's birth certificate, now we're gonna focus on issues?

But surely Romney himself would never attack someone else's "business or family or taxes or things of that nature."

[Howard Alan Treesong]

that wasn't Romney! that was a SuperPAC! they're not coordinating!

[Joe Molotov]

$1.6 million working for a company that got people kicked out of their homes seems like such a drop in the bucket in these heady Bain Capital days.

[Van Cruncheon]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/fareed-zakaria-suspended-by-cnn-time-for-plagiarism/2012/08/10/f6315e96-e335-11e1-ae7f-d2a13e249eb2_story.html -- fgsfds

[Oblivion]

Gawd, what the hell was Fareed thinking?

[Mandark]

Yeesh.  Both Zakaria and the source he took from are way too high profile to expect nobody to notice.

And I don't want to come off as "I never liked him..." because he was a rare rational voice talking about foreign policy in the early 00's, but a lot of his other writing (especially on economic policy) has been pretty lousy.

[Boogie]

yeah, on balance, I like Fareed, but wtf?

[Phoenix Dark]

Romney is picking his VP tomorrow. In Virginia. Lots of talk that it'll be Paul Ryan, but considering it's being announced in Virginia....wouldn't governor Bob McDonnell be the obvious choice?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/10/1118810/-Mitt-Romney-to-announce-GOP-s-2016-front-runner-in-Norfolk-Virginia

If it's Ryan I'm guessing conservatives plan on getting blown out on their own terms - or maybe they feel another economic crash could be the trojan horse required to make this work. Because there's no fucking way any sensible establishment republican could look at Ryan's budget and put him on a national ticket.

get ready to hear "voucher" a million times bros

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Romney is picking his VP tomorrow. In Virginia. Lots of talk that it'll be Paul Ryan, but considering it's being announced in Virginia....wouldn't governor Bob McDonnell be the obvious choice?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/10/1118810/-Mitt-Romney-to-announce-GOP-s-2016-front-runner-in-Norfolk-Virginia

If it's Ryan I'm guessing conservatives plan on getting blown out on their own terms - or maybe they feel another economic crash could be the trojan horse required to make this work. Because there's no fucking way any sensible establishment republican could look at Ryan's budget and put him on a national ticket.

get ready to hear "voucher" a million times bros

I still think it will be a woman or a minority.  Just a pulled-out-of-my-ass guess though.

[Phoenix Dark]

oh shit, multiple people on NBC are confirming Ryan and the secret service allegedly just showed up at his house 

[Human Snorenado]

Romney is picking his VP tomorrow. In Virginia. Lots of talk that it'll be Paul Ryan, but considering it's being announced in Virginia....wouldn't governor Bob McDonnell be the obvious choice?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/10/1118810/-Mitt-Romney-to-announce-GOP-s-2016-front-runner-in-Norfolk-Virginia

If it's Ryan I'm guessing conservatives plan on getting blown out on their own terms - or maybe they feel another economic crash could be the trojan horse required to make this work. Because there's no fucking way any sensible establishment republican could look at Ryan's budget and put him on a national ticket.

get ready to hear "voucher" a million times bros

Obama announced Biden in Indiana iirc, and Palin got announced somewhere in the mid-west.  Romney is going to lose Minnesota and Wisconsin no matter what, makes more sense to do it somewhere where he can have an impact from being there at least.

[Human Snorenado]

oh shit, multiple people on NBC are confirming Ryan and the secret service allegedly just showed up at his house 

We can't be that lucky, can we?  Also, poor T-Paw- losing out on the veep nod two elections in a row, first to a grifting hillbilly barbie wannabe and then to a dead eyed granny killing Randroid.  I honestly don't think that Romney could have made a choice that HELPED him overly much, but this will end up actively hurting him in the long run.  Makes Florida more of a stretch, for sure.

[Human Snorenado]

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/11/romney-to-announce-running-mate-saturday-morning/?hpt=hp_t1

And yet many Republicans who spoke to CNN – all of them granted anonymity to speak freely without angering Romney officials in Boston - wondered why Romney would announce the pick on a weekend when millions of potential voters are likely to be distracted by the Olympics, PGA golf, late season baseball and the box office release of the latest Bourne thriller.

"This is probably just the Romney campaign jerking with the press," said one Republican operative close to one of Romney's potential running mates, referring to the private jet in Wisconsin.

Many rank-and-file Romney staffers contacted by CNN remained clueless about plans for VP rollout, but admitted that it would only take a late night phone call and a few hours to fly Romney's pick into Virginia from Florida, New Hampshire, Ohio or elsewhere early on Saturday morning.

Aides to several Republicans on the vice presidential shortlist said their bosses had not been contacted by Romney as of Friday evening.

[Phoenix Dark]

Gotta change the subject from taxes/Bain by any means!

[Oblivion]

"I have made the decision to release 10 years of tax returns. Paul Ryan's. // LOL #gopfail

[Eric P]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/us/politics/mitt-romney-names-paul-ryan-as-his-running-mate.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

WASHINGTON – Mitt Romney has chosen Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin to be his running mate and will introduce him on Saturday morning in Norfolk, Va., the campaign said, a selection that shakes up the presidential race and presents a Republican ticket that offers a sharp choice for voters in November.

what a wonderful thing to wake up to

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

GOP: "Fuck it"

[Joe Molotov]

[Barry Egan]

How I learned to stop worrying and love the GAME CHANGE

[Human Snorenado]

Obama and co. have to be shaking their heads.  Well, after they stopped laughing uncontrollably.

[Barry Egan]

"when deciding on the VP choice, we really wanted something that resembled the 'American Psycho Ticket' as closely as possible".

[Human Snorenado]

I'm sorry, I have to return some videos.

[Joe Molotov]

Romney: "Just because I picked the guy doesn't mean I actually agree with him or plan to implement the Ryan Budget in way, so please don't attack me on that, Mr. Obama.  "

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/11/romney-camp-prepares-medicare-defense-after-ryan-pick/

1) Does this mean Mitt Romney is adopting the Paul Ryan plan?

· Gov. Romney applauds Paul Ryan for going in the right direction with his budget, and as president he will be putting together his own plan for cutting the deficit and putting the budget on a path to balance.

· Romney’s administration will go through the budget line by line and ask two questions: Can we afford it? And, if not, should we borrow money from China to pay for it?

· Mitt Romney will start with the easiest cut of all: Obamacare, a trillion-dollar entitlement we don’t want and can’t afford.

· Mitt Romney also laid out commonsense reforms that will make good on our promises to today’s seniors and save Social Security and Medicare for future generations.

2) Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have different views on some policy areas – like Medicare spending, entitlement reform, labor, etc. – do you think those differences are going to hurt or help?

· Of course they aren’t going to have the same view on every issue. But they both share the view that this election is a choice about two fundamentally different paths for this country. President Obama has taken America down a path of debt and decline. Romney and Ryan believe in a path for America that leads to more jobs, less debt and smaller government. So, while you might find an issue or two where they might not agree, they are in complete agreement on the direction that they want to lead America

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Republicans and Democrats agree: Thanks for picking Paul Ryan!

[Mandark]

I'm proud to have Mr. Ryan on the ticket.  However, let it be known that I disagree with him on the only issues which have made him a prominent figure!

I'm skeptical this will actually hurt Romney, but it's still dumb.

[Phoenix Dark]

I'm proud to have Mr. Ryan on the ticket.  However, let it be known that I disagree with him on the only issues which have made him a prominent figure!

I'm skeptical this will actually hurt Romney, but it's still dumb.

Why? Just curious.

[Mandark]

I'll probably write a big block of text at some point, if only to clarify for myself, but short version is I think there will be a huge amount of obfuscation and bullshitting about what's in Ryan's plan and what's in Obamacare, and the media won't do a great job cutting through all that to the facts.  So people will hear conflicting stories and gravitate to the one that upsets their worldview the least.

[Oblivion]

edit:

aw, the Chairman seemed to make the same mistake. Makes it less amusing now.

[Oblivion]

lol:

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/08/11/677261/paul-ryan-qualified/

[Sman]

Knowing everything I know about Paul Ryan, I view this pick as polarizing. If I were a guy not interested in politics, I'd be more motivated to vote in this election with Ryan on the Republican ticket. Not for Obama, but rather against the Republicans.

I guess, conversely, this must have the opposite effect on Conservatives (make them vote for Romney).

[Phoenix Dark]

I'll probably write a big block of text at some point, if only to clarify for myself, but short version is I think there will be a huge amount of obfuscation and bullshitting about what's in Ryan's plan and what's in Obamacare, and the media won't do a great job cutting through all that to the facts.  So people will hear conflicting stories and gravitate to the one that upsets their worldview the least.

Interestingly the Ryan plan is more unpopular than Obamacare in many places. The last polls I saw had it with a 16 point unavailability edge in Florida. Yeah...

I do feel there's too much celebrating on the left right now, but it's also true the budget is very unpopular, as that NY-26 race showed last year where a dem won a seat dominated by republicans for decades

[Oblivion]

Romney's pretend second wife, Jennifer Rubin, was asked how the Ryan plan isn't radical, and the only defense she could muster was that Ron Wyden also supported it.

Unfortunately, what Wyden supported was a modification of the Ryan plan, but even he rejects the Ryan plan as is. These people are absolutely fucked if that's the best they can do.

[brawndolicious]

I'll probably write a big block of text at some point, if only to clarify for myself, but short version is I think there will be a huge amount of obfuscation and bullshitting about what's in Ryan's plan and what's in Obamacare, and the media won't do a great job cutting through all that to the facts.  So people will hear conflicting stories and gravitate to the one that upsets their worldview the least.

eh, so far the Obama camp has been pretty good at "setting the narrative" about Romney's policies/history. I don't think they'll have any trouble convincing seniors/poor people that the Ryan budget is a disaster for them.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Knowing everything I know about Paul Ryan, I view this pick as polarizing. If I were a guy not interested in politics, I'd be more motivated to vote in this election with Ryan on the Republican ticket. Not for Obama, but rather against the Republicans.

I guess, conversely, this must have the opposite effect on Conservatives (make them vote for Romney).

This election was going to boil down to Not Obama vs. Not Romney anyway

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Double post!

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/10/us/mississippi-juvenile-justice/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

(CNN) -- Officials in Lauderdale County, Mississippi, have operated "a school-to-prison pipeline" that violates the constitutional rights of juveniles by incarcerating them for alleged school disciplinary infractions, some as minor as defiance, the U.S. Department of Justice said Friday.

"Students most affected by this system are African-American children and children with disabilities," the Justice Department said.

The federal agency's civil rights division seeks "meaningful negotiations" in 60 days to end the constitutional violations or else a federal lawsuit would be filed against state, county and local officials in Meridian, according to a Justice Department letter dated Friday to those officials.

The letter also names two Lauderdale County Youth Court judges, Frank Coleman and Veldore Young.  State and local officials couldn't be reached immediately for comment Friday.

"The systematic disregard for children's basic constitutional rights by agencies with a duty to protect and serve these children betrays the public trust," Thomas E. Perez, assistant U.S. attorney general, said in a statement. "We hope to resolve the concerns outlined in our findings in a collaborative fashion, but we will not hesitate to take appropriate legal action if necessary."
In 2009, the Lauderdale County Juvenile Detention Facility in Meridian was the target of a federal class-action lawsuit by the Southern Poverty Law Center that alleged children and teens were subjected to "shockingly inhumane" treatment, the center said.

The alleged mistreatment included youngsters being "crammed into small, filthy cells and tormented with the arbitrary use of Mace as a punishment for even the most minor infractions -- such as 'talking too much' or failing to sit in the 'back of their cells,'" the center said in a statement.

In 2010, Lauderdale County officials and the center reached an agreement to reform the jail system and consider alternatives to sending youths to the detention center, said the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit civil rights group.

"I think this is evidence of a broken system where the most vulnerable population of kids are not receiving their constitutionally guaranteed rights," Jody Owens II, managing attorney for the center's Mississippi office, told CNN.

On Friday, the U.S. Justice Department accused Meridian police of automatically arresting all students referred by the city's public schools and then sending them to the county juvenile justice system, "where existing due process protections are illusory and inadequate," the federal letter says.

The police department command staff and officers characterized their agency as a "taxi service" for the schools and juvenile detention facility, without assessing the circumstances of the alleged charges against students, the Justice Department said.

"The Youth Court places children on probation, and the terms of the probation set by the Youth Court and DYS require children on probation to serve any suspensions from school incarcerated in the juvenile detention center," the Justice Department letter said.

TL;DR version - Mississippi county has a school to (privatized) prison pipeline where minors get sent to prison for very minor offenses.

[Joe Molotov]

Just another example of Obama taking away our rights.

[Brehvolution]

Sounds like the adults need some prison time for their crime is much greater than the children.

[Great Rumbler]

Mississippi, ladies and gentleman, Mississippi.