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

[Phoenix Dark]

My bad, fixed now

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I'd be curious to see how this shakes out.  Will advertisers start slowly crawling back when the heat has subsided?

Rush could probably survive but the other people the article mentions (Mark Levin, Tom Leykis, etc.) might not.  Either way, I doubt Rush Limbaugh really cares because he's in his 60s, is worth hundreds of millions, and can retire if he wants to.  If he's the one credited for bringing conservative talk radio into prominence, he probably doesn't care if he causes the destruction of it.

I don't really give a shit about talk radio anyway, let alone conservative talk radio.

[Phoenix Dark]

I think Rush (and conservatives in general) gravely miscalculated the response to this, especially from women. A vast majority supported Obama's position before Fluke even entered the equation, and all this has done is further bolster the numbers.

And yet republicans are still on the death march, taking this issue to its ideologically extreme peak regardless of the consequences. I understand the initial plan of framing this as purely religious, but that relies entirely on a male demographic that's uneducated about female issues/cootie parts. From many (conservative and/or dumbass) male perspectives, this is indeed all about sex because birth control=birth control duh; it would certainly follow that if a woman was running out of birth control or couldn't afford it, she MUST be having lots of sex.

To the average woman and many dudes married to women, this couldn't be further from the truth. That plus the fact that the 24-55 female demographic is highly coveted by advertisers created quite the perfect storm here, and I'd expect it to influence voting in November. Assuming the economy doesn't crash...
http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/results/president/exit-polls.html

...it's stuff like this that could lead to Obama taking 60% of the female vote.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I think the bigger issue overall is that the GOP has moved so far to the right since 2008 that this shouldn't have even been discussed.  I mean, nobody has really had a discussion on the merits of birth control (who wasn't on the fringes) since the 1960s but the GOP thought that this was a great time to bring it back up.  At a time when the party is alienating a potential power base for them (hispanics), they thought "wow, let's find a way to alienate 51% of the population!"  I don't even really see too many men who aren't on the far right fringes supporting Rush either.

It's like the GOP is trying their hardest to fail.

Yet even in this type of environment, Ron Paul is still dead last

[benjipwns]

You have to want to protect America from the secular Muslim threat not surrender and let them impose Sharia law to get anywhere in the GOP.

[Phoenix Dark]

Maybe that Johnathan Chait article about this being the (current) GOP's last chance was right.
http://nymag.com/news/features/gop-primary-chait-2012-3/

[Human Snorenado]

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/louis-c-k-withdraws-as-host-of-radio-and-television-correspondents-dinner/

Fuuuuuuck.  Louis CK was gonna do the White House Correspondent's dinner, then Greta van Sustern (bff of ignorant harpy Sarah Palin) was all 'I HAS A SAD!" and now he's not gonna.  FUCK YOU, YOU STUPID SCIENTOLOGY BITCHFUCK.

[Phoenix Dark]

Obama should respond by doing whatever routine CK prepared

[Great Rumbler]

I've been watching a lot of the Dean Martin celebrity roasts, so I currently think that they should just wheel in Don Rickles and see what happens.

[Mandark]

"What kinda name's Obama, Japanese?  Oh, Kenyan?  Yeah, since the war they're all Kenyan."

[Barry Egan]

god yes.  please keep talking rick.

[Brehvolution]

The only reason there are so many debates is to sell commercials.

That's the ultimate underlying motive but I don't think it's the direct motive.

The message never changes between the debates. If there was actual policy being discussed I'd be inclined to agree with you more. But it's all 'obama herp derrrp' instead what they would do to actually make something better for the citizens of this country.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Maybe that Johnathan Chait article about this being the (current) GOP's last chance was right.
http://nymag.com/news/features/gop-primary-chait-2012-3/

I don't really agree with the article because the 2008 elections were driven on the economy bursting apart at the seams, not demographics, although that probably played a role.  That and Obama successfully sold himself as an outsider.

Theoretically, if we listened to the idea of demographics, the Republican party as is would have been made extinct in the 1960s.  In fact, the 1964 election was basically the election that proved the GOP was dead.  Of course, we've read Nixonland so we know exactly where that story goes.

Although I'm no Republican by any means, I think the biggest problem is that the GOP screwed itself by letting the tea party wing of the party run things, effectively driving out moderate Republicans.  If the GOP political field weren't so hostile to everyone who isn't a far right extremist, you'd probably have people like Mitch Daniels in the running instead of Rick fucking Santorum.  Their loss though and I won't be shedding tears when they (most likely) will lose by a larger margin than they did in 2008.

[Mandark]

I think if you broke down the 2008 voting shares by race, gender, and college education, then applied them to the makeup of the 1992 electorate, McCain would have won.

Also, Nixonland was basically a win for demographic analysis.  Kevin Phillips, Emerging Republican Majority, blah blah blah.

[Oblivion]

Sounds like Rush and Co. are royally fucked
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/10/rush-limbaugh-scandal-proves-contagious-for-talk-radio-advertisers.html

I wish this was the case, but this seems like a temporary setback more than anything.

But this commenter at balloon-juice did bring up a pretty good point about this situation being a little different from some of the shit Rush has said before:

[Phoenix Dark]

truth bomb

[Hock]

Yeah, I noticed that too. After all the shit he said, this is what gets the advertisers to drop out. I remember one time he had this rant going on about how now that Obama is president, black people are gonna be beating up white people with no fear. I don't know how much that media coverage that got, but not nearly as much as this.

[Barry Egan]

a not insignificant difference between the president of the united states and Fluke is that she is not a day-to-day public figure, she's just a citizen who happened to speak publicly on an issue that concerned her. 

[Human Snorenado]

Too bad, but this is looking over.  If Newt's fucking ego wasn't larger than his head, he would have got out.  Not-Romney votes would have let Santorum re-write the narrative and then we're talking about a way different race.  Bummer.  Now watch as the slime gates open and all the GOP super-pacs take aim at Obama.  Shit's been mellow compared to what's about to happen.  We'll be longing for the days when people demanded to see his birth certificate, sang Barack the Magic Negro and photoshopped watermelons on the White House lawn.  All that shit is gonna be tame compared to the next 7-8 months.

[benjipwns]

Too bad, but this is looking over.  If Newt's fucking ego wasn't larger than his head, he would have got out.

Not so fast!

http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2012/03/11/exclusive-gingrich-perry-pre-convention-ticket-works

Sources close to the Gingrich campaign say preliminary "what-if" conversations are underway that could lead to a Gingrich-Perry ticket being announced prior to the  Republican National Convention at the end of August.

Gingrich insiders hope forming a predetermined ticket with Perry will unite the evangelical, Tea Party and very conservative voters that make up the core of the GOP.

The message never changes between the debates. If there was actual policy being discussed I'd be inclined to agree with you more. But it's all 'obama herp derrrp' instead what they would do to actually make something better for the citizens of this country.

No, I agree with you there. I probably rambled off too much. I was trying to say it's a lot like sports reporting in that something minor and often insignificant say a "gaffe" or great answer or what have you becomes what they talk about for a week as if it's impacting the campaign and then come back and explain everything through these five or six moments or statements.

i.e. there was little on how Gingrich's campaign was basically non-existent on the ground, but his debate performances were showing "leadership" and making him a "front-runner" and then they did a bunch of polls to show the "result" of the debates, etc.

If the GOP political field weren't so hostile to everyone who isn't a far right extremist, you'd probably have people like Mitch Daniels in the running instead of Rick fucking Santorum.

Mitch Daniels probably didn't run because of whatever is the deal with his wife.

I'm not sure he's "moderate", likely nominee Romney (if you want him to be) and "rising star" Paul Ryan are more "moderate" than Daniels is. Daniels just thinks that cutting government should be a priority and everything else can wait until that is done first, he's still a social conservative. Anti-abortion, anti-immigration, pro-war on drugs, anti-gay marriage AND anti-civil unions, pro-death penalty, pro-prayer in schools, etc.

[Phoenix Dark]

I like Daniels well enough but let's not forget he's the dude who estimated the Iraq war would cost 60b

and lol @ the Newt/Perry nonsense. Evangelicals already rejected Perry, why would they give him another chance. This has to be the most egotistical idea I've heard during a primary: (publicly) forming a ticket before the convention? lolwut

[benjipwns]

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/11/santorums-war-on-teleprompters/

Republican Rick Santorum has for quite a while taken issue with candidates on the trail who use a teleprompter. It's a dig on President Barack Obama, and more recently has been used to attack Mitt Romney - a man who's also been known to use a prompter or two.

But campaigning along the Gulf Coast in the Tuesday primary state of Mississippi, Santorum took it a step further, saying use of the digital word machine should be outlawed.

"See, I always believed that when you run for president of the United States, it should be illegal to read off a teleprompter," Santorum said at a Gulfport restaurant. "Because all you're doing is reading someone else's words to people."

He continued to elaborate on why he believes prompters should have no place in politics, saying that people should know that a candidate's words haven't been "focus-grouped" and that the words are the candidate's - not those of "pollsters and speechwriters."

"You're voting for someone who is going to be the leader of our government," Santorum said. "It's important for you to understand who that person is in their own words, see them, look them in the eye...hear what's (in their)  heart."

"You're choosing a leader. A leader isn't just about what's written on a piece of paper."

[Phoenix Dark]

Funny, I was watching some of the Obama v McCain debates last night and ole' Barry was doing damn well without a teleprompter.

[Great Rumbler]

Can you believe that Roosevelt read his Pearl Harbor speech off a sheet of paper? What a fraud.

[Human Snorenado]

Lincoln had to WRITE DOWN the Gettysburg Address.  Fucking failure.

[benjipwns]

 


 

[Joe Molotov]

Lincoln had to WRITE DOWN the Gettysburg Address.  Fucking failure.

More like the Shittysberg Address, amirite? Made me throw up harder than JFK.

[Brehvolution]

Santorum is God's teleprompter.

[Joe Molotov]

Mississippi bring the real talk

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

I had a hard time understanding that guy who was missing his front teeth who was living in that dilapidated hovel.  Did he say that he didn't have indoor plumbing?

I also find it disturbing about the people who extol the values of hard work but there's trash and shit strewn around their property.

[Phoenix Dark]

He's worked so hard he has earned the right to live like a pig

[benjipwns]

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/215379-specter-says-obama-ditched-him-after-he-provided-60th-vote-to-pass-health-law

Former Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) writes in a new book that President Obama ditched him in the 2010 election after he helped Obama win the biggest legislative victory of his term by passing healthcare reform.

Specter also claims that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) did not uphold his promise to grant him seniority accrued over 28 years of service in the Senate as a Republican.
...
Specter laments that Obama and Vice President Biden did not do more to help him in the final days of his primary race against former Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), who beat him 54 percent to 46 percent in the 2010 Pennsylvania Senate Democratic primary.

Specter writes that Obama turned down a request to campaign with him in the final days of the primary, because the president’s advisers feared he would look weak if he intervened and Specter lost.
...
Specter believes Reid acted with “duplicity” while managing the party switch. Specter said Reid promised him that he would be recognized on the seniority list as a Democrat elected in 1980, but failed to deliver on it. 

Had Specter been given the seniority he was promised, he would have become chairman of the powerful Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations subcommittee and next in line to chair the Judiciary Committee.

Instead, Reid stripped Specter of all his seniority by passing a short resolution by unanimous consent in a nearly-empty chamber, burying him at the bottom of the Democrats’ seniority list.

Specter found out about it after his press secretary emailed him a press account of the switch.
...
He says Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), now the chairman of the Labor, Health and Human Services subcommittee, declined a request to let Specter take over as chairman at least until the election.

Sens. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) refused to let him move past them in seniority on the Judiciary Committee.

wtf did he expect?

He makes surprising revelations about Republican leaders, as well ... Specter says that one of Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s (Ky.) first concerns after learning of the impending party switch was that he might be blamed for driving Specter out of the GOP.
...
“When I told him I was going to change parties, he was visibly displeased but not ruffled. Mostly, he was taciturn,” Specter recounts. “McConnell and I had a serious discussion. He was very nice and very professional. ‘Don’t do it,’ he said. ‘It’d be a big mistake. Serve out your time as a Republican and retire gracefully.’”

McConnell worried that he might get blamed for driving Specter to join the Democrats. He raised the issue at a meeting of the Senate Republican conference where Specter announced his decision.

The hell is surprising about that?

[Brehvolution]

Mississippi bring the real talk

None of those people could spell Mississippi.

[Dickie Dee]

[youtube]O7r2i6NrqNs[youtube]

Mississippi bring the real talk

None of those people could spell Mississippi.

[Joe Molotov]

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Romney is part of an AWESOME Fantasy Football league

[Human Snorenado]

At this point, it's completely possible that when he sits down at some local greasy diner for a campaign stop, he orders his eggs faberge.  Dude is completely tone deaf on the wealth issue.

[Mr. Gundam]

Why should he be? He earned his money fair and square on his own without any nepotis... fuck it, I can't keep it up.

[Great Rumbler]

I would pay good money to see that debate.

[Human Snorenado]

I'd love to see Palin in a real debate, where she can't get away with the shit that she did vs. Biden. "I'm gonna answer the questions the way I want!"  WTF is this bullshit, you lying harpy?  STFU.

[Joe Molotov]

When Obama hugged a black man in 1990, it was like the Civil War all over again, only this time it was the negros enslaving us, with their House Parties and their Kriss Krosses making us jump jump.

[Dickie Dee]

Who can deny that to we went off course from the traditional values that made America great to where everything was inside out and wiggity, wiggity, wiggity wack

[tiesto]

Mississippi bring the real talk

Is that Chronovore at 0:18?

[Phoenix Dark]

The funny thing about that Obama ad is that it pretty much plays long ass portions of her comments. There is little splicing and dicing or half second bits.

She literally said he wants to go back to the pre-Civil War days when things were segregated based on race. As if that was the most recent time to harken back to

[Positive Touch]

The funny thing about that Obama ad is that it pretty much plays long ass portions of her comments. There is little splicing and dicing or half second bits.

She literally said he wants to go back to the pre-Civil War days when things were segregated based on race. As if that was the most recent time to harken back to

what in gods name

[Great Rumbler]

Wait, I thought pre-Civil War race relations was what the Tea Party wanted?

[Phoenix Dark]

Bell certainly had some controversial views, but there is no evidence that he was racist. Conservatives tend to view any nuanced discussion of racism as biased against white people. If you've ever taken a sociology or criminology course with a loud conservative white guy in the class, you know what I mean.

Republicans just seem upset that MOST PEOPLE think Obama is a good dude with a nice family, regardless of whether they agree with him politically. The image they've created for him just doesn't match the reality of a guy who was raised by his white grandparents and in as personable as Obama is.


WHAT A RACIST

[Human Snorenado]

Santorum is spreading! 

[TakingBackSunday]

Santorum is frothy tonight.  Good time to be, too.  If he spreads this much into Illinoise, he may just pull IL off.

[Joe Molotov]

A flood of Santorum is washing over the south.

[benjipwns]

Downside is they're both proportional so Romney got almost as many delegates.

30 for Santorum.
24 for Romney.
24 for Newt.
According to NYT.

[Human Snorenado]

Fucking Newt.  Needs to get out now.

[Phoenix Dark]

Romney wasn't going to win in the south anyway imo, but regardless he's still a weak front runner. It's not like he's losing to some Hillary-quality candidate with money and clout. He's losing to a complete batshit crazy dude

[Dickie Dee]

WHAT A RACIST

Love the look he gives Michelle after the baby stops crying 

[Phoenix Dark]

the face

[Oblivion]

Can someone recommend me a good resource on the whole Greek crisis thing. I need it for work.

[benjipwns]

Ron Paul's media coverage, if you can call it that, is done: http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/03/nbc-pulls-ron-pauls-last-embed-117436.html

A couple weeks back I noted that Ron Paul, the lonely delegate hunter, had only one full-time, embedded reporter on his trail: Anthony Terrell of NBC News. Other reporters have provided some coverage of the candidate, but for the last few weeks Terrell was the only proverbial boy on the bus.

But now, Ron Paul is officially embedless.

Earlier this week, NBC decided that Terrell would transition off the trail and back to his job with MSNBC, though a spokesperson there would not comment on the move.

Santorum says Fox News is against him (someone inform Rupert Murdoch)

"The man has had a ten-to-one money advantage," Santorum said of Romney on the radio show "Kilmeade & Friends."

"He's had all the organizational advantage. He has Fox News shilling for him every day -- no offense, Brian, but I see it -- and yet, he can't seal the deal because he just doesn't have the goods to be able to motivate the Republican base and win this election."
...
Santorum said he apologized if his staff had been bad at responding to interview requests and promised to return to the show, but held firm on his accusation. "I can tell you, we watch the coverage there, and you know, look, you guys are allowed to cover what you want to cover," he said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/13/rick-santorum-fox-mitt-romney_n_1341823.html

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/73981.html

Van Susteren also called out Santorum for saying Fox News was “shilling” for Romney. Santorum, however, said he “wasn’t talking about your show or Sean [Hannity’s] show.” He called the two hosts “awesome,” but said the network’s news coverage gives too much airtime to Romney.

“Look, I’m not complaining; I’m not going to be whining about this,” Santorum said. “That’s the reality and we’ve had to deal with it, and our feeling is we’re just going to go out and overcome this. We’ve overcome a lot in this race and we’re doing great. We’re on our way to victory.”

[Phoenix Dark]

Paul's campaign has been an utter failure. I read an article where a reporter argued the media kind of missed the boat on Paul in 08 and wanted to avoid that mistake this time. Turns out there was no boat in 2012, his campaign has basically been dead since Iowa.

[Mandark]

Depends on what your standards are.  For a fringe candidate that was never going to be acceptable to a plurality of GOP voters, he's done pretty well.  If you mean a candidate looking to actually win the nomination, of course he's gotten thrashed.

As an ideological candidate looking to pull the more mainstream guys towards his positions?  Haven't noticed Romney or anyone feeling pressured by Paul's stances on civil liberties, foreign policy, or the drug war.  There does seem to be more general paranoia about the Fed from the right than I can remember, but I don't think that's going to translate into anything serious.  Maybe I missed something.  benji?


Anyways, I'm sure lots of Paul supporters (especially the young, libbie-come-lately types) are all wound up about him being denied coverage by the military-industrial-media-fluoridation complex, but he's been treated fine for a guy who never was going to win, and who failed to deal with adverse press when the newsletters were brought up.

[Mandark]

Let's not go around throwing out accusations like that.

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I mean, who are we to say his racism's closeted?

[close]