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

[Positive Touch]

palin didnt know shit but at least she had charisma.  people liked her til they realized she realized she couldnt answer a question.  paul, on the other hand, comes off as just another flimsy cracker-jack typical republican, whos record is easily shredded to boot.

[pickle]

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/tom_head_civil_war.php?ref=fpnewsfeed

We gotta raise taxes because....UN BLACK HELICOPTERS!!!

He vowed to stand in front of the county’s armored vehicle and stare down the U.N. troops if that happens.

 

[Oblivion]

[Human Snorenado]

I think that pretty much all Tea Partiers are sad that they've never actually lived through Red Dawn.  WOLVERINES!

[Yeti]

(Image removed from quote.)

 

[Mr. Gundam]

Surprised no one posted this.

http://gawker.com/5936394/the-bain-files-inside-mitt-romneys-tax+dodging-cayman-schemes

Pretty dense stuff, I'll be interested to see what people find in it. Probably won't have an impact on the election, though.

[Human Snorenado]

Someone with a CPA needs to go through it.  I'll sic my Accounting professor on it tonight if he hasn't already seen it.

[Phoenix Dark]

well that didn't take long

Bain Documents: Romney Offshore Investments Used 'Blockers' To Avoid Taxes

The newly released documents rekindle questions about one of the more technical tax questions that has emerged about Romney's investments – the use of so-called "blocker" entities. The blocker is a paper company that serves as a buffer between the investor and the fund holding the investments, Wilkins explained. That means the investment income can be counted as a dividend and in some cases avoid income tax.

In the financials for the Bain Capital Asia Fund, for instance, the audit describes the establishment of blocker corporations to hold more than $92 million in contributions from the fund.

Some experts have pointed to the blockers to help explain how Romney has been able to amass between $20.7 million and $101.6 million in a tax-free IRA, many times more than the typical amount an IRA can hold. Romney has not responded to questions about his IRA.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/bain-documents-romney-offshore-investments-blockers-avoid-taxes/story?id=17067015#.UDa0kKCJ6iB

Bain used the same havens to dodge taxes during Romney's tenure

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

In response to pressure for Todd Akin to drop out, he says, "NO U": http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/08/todd-akin-to-claire-mccaskill-you-should-drop-out/

[Positive Touch]

and im damn happy he's staying in


hey, did you guys hear joe arpaio is a speaker at the convention?  this is gonna be the best/most infuriating convention EVER

[Great Rumbler]

well that didn't take long

Bain Documents: Romney Offshore Investments Used 'Blockers' To Avoid Taxes

The newly released documents rekindle questions about one of the more technical tax questions that has emerged about Romney's investments – the use of so-called "blocker" entities. The blocker is a paper company that serves as a buffer between the investor and the fund holding the investments, Wilkins explained. That means the investment income can be counted as a dividend and in some cases avoid income tax.

In the financials for the Bain Capital Asia Fund, for instance, the audit describes the establishment of blocker corporations to hold more than $92 million in contributions from the fund.

Some experts have pointed to the blockers to help explain how Romney has been able to amass between $20.7 million and $101.6 million in a tax-free IRA, many times more than the typical amount an IRA can hold. Romney has not responded to questions about his IRA.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/bain-documents-romney-offshore-investments-blockers-avoid-taxes/story?id=17067015#.UDa0kKCJ6iB

Bain used the same havens to dodge taxes during Romney's tenure

And this is the guy that complains about people getting free money from the government.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

and im damn happy he's staying in

Yep, he may be the guy who prevents a GOP majority in the Senate

[Joe Molotov]

A wild Ron Paul appears! He uses "LOLbertarianism" against the RNC. It's super effective!

http://www.cnbc.com/id/48770752

The gold standard has returned to mainstream U.S. politics for the first time in 30 years, with a “gold commission” set to become part of official Republican party policy.

Drafts of the party platform, which it will adopt at a convention in Tampa Bay, Florida, next week, call for an audit of Federal Reserve monetary policy and a commission to look at restoring the link between the dollar and gold.

The move shows how five years of easy monetary policy — and the efforts of congressman Ron Paul — have made the once-fringe idea of returning to gold-as-money a legitimate part of Republican debate.

Marsha Blackburn, a Republican congresswoman from Tennessee and co-chair of the platform committee, said the issues were not adopted merely to placate Paul and the delegates that he picked up during his campaign for the party’s nomination.

“These were adopted because they are things that Republicans agree on,” Blackburn told the Financial Times. “The House recently passed a bill on this, and this is something that we think needs to be done.”

[Brehvolution]

Does anyone ever get the feeling that the GOP believes that this is their country and we are all just lucky to live here?

[Great Rumbler]

At a campaign stop in his home state of Michigan Friday, Mitt Romney made a joke referencing the continued doubts about President Obama's birth certificate raised by Romney supporters like Donald Trump.

"I love being home, where but the both of us were born," Romney said after introducing his wife, fellow Michigan native Ann. "No one asked to see my birth certificate. They know this is where we were born and raised."

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/romney-jokes-no-one-ever-asked-to-see

[Joe Molotov]

It's good being white.

[Barry Egan]

It's good being white.

It's funny because this is the only way to interpret what he's saying. 

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

A wild Ron Paul appears! He uses "LOLbertarianism" against the RNC. It's super effective!

http://www.cnbc.com/id/48770752

The gold standard has returned to mainstream U.S. politics for the first time in 30 years, with a “gold commission” set to become part of official Republican party policy.

Drafts of the party platform, which it will adopt at a convention in Tampa Bay, Florida, next week, call for an audit of Federal Reserve monetary policy and a commission to look at restoring the link between the dollar and gold.

The move shows how five years of easy monetary policy — and the efforts of congressman Ron Paul — have made the once-fringe idea of returning to gold-as-money a legitimate part of Republican debate.

Marsha Blackburn, a Republican congresswoman from Tennessee and co-chair of the platform committee, said the issues were not adopted merely to placate Paul and the delegates that he picked up during his campaign for the party’s nomination.

“These were adopted because they are things that Republicans agree on,” Blackburn told the Financial Times. “The House recently passed a bill on this, and this is something that we think needs to be done.”

Great!  I anticipate the GOP embracing such things like sovereign citizenship and anti-water fluoridation now.  Which given the roots of the former, we might see that here shortly.

[Positive Touch]

Does anyone ever get the feeling that the GOP believes that this is their country and we are all just lucky to live here?

  i think that perfectly sums up republican thinking

[Joe Molotov]

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/susana_martinez_custer.php?ref=fpnewsfeed

You can't make this stuff up. 

[tiesto]

I know what my tea party buddies are getting for Christmas this year, a nice "Barry Soetero" mug:

Made In The USA Mug
(SKU OFA0805)
There's really no way to make the conspiracy about President Obama's birth certificate completely go away, so we might as well laugh at it -- and make sure as many people as possible are in on the joke. Get your Obama birth certificate Made in the USA mug today.
$22.50

https://store.barackobama.com/obama-2012-store-home-outdoors/obama-2012-store-kitchen/made-in-the-usa-mug.html?source=socnet_20120825_BO_FB_USA_MUG2_MERCH&utm_medium=fb&utm_source=bo_fb&utm_campaign=socnet_20120825_BO_FB_USA_MUG2_MERCH

[Yeti]

https://store.barackobama.com/obama-2012-store-home-outdoors/obama-2012-store-kitchen/made-in-the-usa-mug.html?source=socnet_20120825_BO_FB_USA_MUG2_MERCH&utm_medium=fb&utm_source=bo_fb&utm_campaign=socnet_20120825_BO_FB_USA_MUG2_MERCH

They have all kinds of shirts like Asian Americans for Obama, Jewish Americans for Obama, etc., but I can't seem to find a White Males for Obama shirt. 

[Snuflupagulus]

$22.50...? 

Fuck it. I'm in for two. Gotta have a spare at work.

[Phoenix Dark]

I know what my tea party buddies are getting for Christmas this year, a nice "Barry Soetero" mug:
https://store.barackobama.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/m/e/merch_0012_mug.jpg

Made In The USA Mug
(SKU OFA0805)
There's really no way to make the conspiracy about President Obama's birth certificate completely go away, so we might as well laugh at it -- and make sure as many people as possible are in on the joke. Get your Obama birth certificate Made in the USA mug today.
$22.50

https://store.barackobama.com/obama-2012-store-home-outdoors/obama-2012-store-kitchen/made-in-the-usa-mug.html?source=socnet_20120825_BO_FB_USA_MUG2_MERCH&utm_medium=fb&utm_source=bo_fb&utm_campaign=socnet_20120825_BO_FB_USA_MUG2_MERCH

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Looks like I'm going to be volunteering for Osama bin Barack on the weekends until further notice.

[Phoenix Dark]

Where lol?

[Human Snorenado]

I thought about it.  But I work Saturday mornings and between work and school don't have a lot of spare time, so fuck Barry Soetero.  I might give him some money for one of those mugs tho, and I'm sending money to candidates in competitive Senate races because honestly that might be more important.  Plus, I Elizabeth Warren.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Where lol?

Central Iowa area.

Also,



http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2332/middle-class-optimism-income-barack-obama-mitt-romney-congress-wealth-income-lost-decade-worst

[Dickie Dee]

lol

[Barry Egan]

[Human Snorenado]

I just glanced at that and thought it said Aimee Mann and was all wtf for a second

[Oblivion]

Uh ohhhhhhh:

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/romney-im-very-proud-of-my-health-care-reform-in-massachusetts/

[Joe Molotov]

Uh ohhhhhhh:

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/romney-im-very-proud-of-my-health-care-reform-in-massachusetts/

RIP Rmoney, you had a good run. Tomorrow at the RNC we're going to hear about how he's having to drop out of the race due to family issues (waking up with his dressage horse's head beside him in bed) and Paul Ryan is getting all his candidates.  :'(

[Broseidon]

[Mr. Gundam]

Does anyone ever get the feeling that the GOP believes that this is their country and we are all just lucky to live here?

Yep. "I paid for it, so it's mine!"

[Great Rumbler]

[Oblivion]

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3460628&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1016#post406889167

 

[Dickie Dee]

Wow, I wish Matthews wasn't usually such a clod because when he's awesome he is pretty awesome:

Political observers have noted for a while that Mitt Romney’s claim that President Obama gutted the work requirement in the 1996 welfare reform law is false. But few in the mainstream media have have gone so far as to accuse Republicans of playing the ‘race card.’

But Chris Matthews, the host of MSNBC’s “Hardball,” didn’t hold back in a tirade launched against RNC Chairman Reince Priebus Monday morning, accusing the Romney campaign of using race to defeat Obama. Matthews lit into Priebus, citing both the welfare attacks and Romney’s recent birth certificate joke as evidence that the GOP is “playing that little ethnic card there.”

“I have to call you on this, Mr. Chairman,” Matthews said in an appearance with Priebus on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” as he responded to Republicans’ criticism that Obama is running a very negative campaign. “But they’ve both negative. That cheap shot about ‘I don’t have a problem with my birth certificate’ was awful. It is an embarrassment to your party to play that card.”

Matthews continued, turning the attacks up a notch:

“You can play your games and giggle about it but the fact is your side playing that card. When you start talking about work requirements, you know what game you’re playing and everybody knows what game you’re playing. It’s a race card and yeah, if your name’s Romney, yeah you were well born, you went to prep school, yeah, brag about it. This guy has an African name and he’s got to live with it. Look who’s gone further in their life. Who was born on third base? Making fun of the guy’s birth certificate issue when it was never a real issue except for the right wing.”     

Priebus pushed back against Matthews remarks. “Congratulations,” he said. “You’re loaded up, you got it out.” Priebus argued that Romney’s birth certificate comment was just “a moment of levity” and “everybody gets it.”

“It just seems funny the first joke he’s ever told in his life is about Obama’s birth certificate,” Matthews responded.

Though few have said explicitly that Romney’s welfare attacks are about race, it was a charge launched at Newt Gingrich, who made “paychecks versus food stamps” a central issue in his primary bid for the nomination.

“Under Obama’s plan, you wouldn’t have to work and wouldn’t have to train for a job,” one of many Romney ads on welfare says. “They just send you your welfare check.”

Last week, President Obama cited the welfare attacks as evidence that Romney was playing dirty. “The contrast, I think it is pretty stark,” Obama said at a press conference. “They can run the campaign they want, but the truth of the matter is that you can’t make stuff up. That’s one thing that you learn as president of the United States: You will be called into account.”

Though Matthews comments stand out, he isn’t the first to note the connotations Romney is hoping to play up with the welfare attacks.

“The presumptive Republican presidential nominee wants voters to conjure images in their minds of freeloading moms sitting on couches watching big screen televisions,” the editorial board of the Des Moines Register wrote earlier this month. “And he wants voters to think the president is helping them do just that … but the idea of anyone ‘sponging off the system’ is apparently something Romney believes voters will rally behind him to oppose. He may be right.”

[Phoenix Dark]

While I agree with Matthews on the Welfare ad, I don't believe Romney was playing the race card with the Michigan/birther comment. It struck me as an off the cuff, awkward attempt at snobby humor from someone who seems almost incapable of being funny.

I don't even have a tv but see or hear the welfare ad nearly daily. It's played on various online streaming sites like Hulu, and at work it's often a commercial on Pandora. It's a very potent ad, but is so matter-of-fact that it's easy to debunk. Luckily many in the media are doing that, and I'd imagine many people are looking up the ad/facts online. Still, it's the type of ad that makes more than a few people say "aha, I knew it all along"

[Van Cruncheon]

why is this story getting no media traction?

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/08/prosecutors-us-soldiers-plotted-kill-president-obama/56238/

[Mr. Gundam]

why is this story getting no media traction?

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/08/prosecutors-us-soldiers-plotted-kill-president-obama/56238/

Bomb targets in Washington state was part of the plan? Huh.

More details in the AP article:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SOLDIERS_CHARGED_PLOT?SITE=ILNOR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Phoenix Dark]

hmm wow

I've been wondering  about the general tone of recent (and not so recent) attacks against Obama becoming more and more extreme. This new OPSEC group of former SEALS/military figures is especially odious, claiming Obama is purposely putting specials ops personnel at risk for political gain. Plus all the hand wringing over the upcoming military budget cuts putting soldiers' lives, and the country, at risk. Really dangerous stuff.

Remember when that report on right wing extremism (commissioned by the Bush administration) being on the rise was met with revulsion and anger from Fox/conservatives?

[Mr. Gundam]

The prosecutor said the militia group had big plans. It plotted to take over Fort Stewart by seizing its ammunition control point and talked of bombing the Forsyth Park fountain in nearby Savannah, she said. In Washington state, she added, the group plotted to bomb a dam and poison the state's apple crop. Ultimately, prosecutors said, the militia's goal was to overthrow the government and assassinate the president.

I'm really surprised this isn't getting more coverage.

[tiesto]

I think the Republican party isn't out to win, all they care about is trolling women at this point:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-slansky-/paul-ryan-said-something-_b_1832377.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

Last week, Paul Ryan gave an interview in which, defending his position that there should be no excuses for abortion, he referred to rape as a "method of conception."

Wow, right? Talk about a benign euphemism. Rape -- RAPE! -- is now a "method of conception." You know, like love-making, just without the love.

There could be no greater testament to the utter abdication of responsibility by what passes for a "news" media in America in 2012 than that, despite the grotesquerie of this cavalierly callous comment, chances are better than good that this is the first you're hearing of it.

Here, watch it -- and try to figure out why this has gotten NO MAINSTREAM MEDIA play (not even here at the Huffington Post) despite it being, to my mind, a far more offensive remark than Todd Akin's imbecilic blurt of last weekend. What, are we tired of stupid remarks about rape now, so Ryan gets a free pass?

Given the demands for Akin's resignation from a mere Senate race when his musings on "legitimate rape" were publicized, what do you imagine the reaction would be if people were as familiar with VP wannabe Ryan's stunning statement? Might there be a cacophony of outrage? Might there be calls for his resignation from the ticket? Might there be a focus on how fundamentally oblivious these people who would make our laws are to not just women's but humans' rights and dignity? Sure, there might, but then of course people would have to have heard about it.

According to the man who would be the proverbial heartbeat away from the White House, and who in any event would -- given Romney's utter hollowness -- have an inordinate influence on the judicial appointments that will determine how much freedom our children get to live under, RAPE = "METHOD OF CONCEPTION." And yet, unless you're a frequenter of one of a dozen or so lefty blogs -- or my friend on Facebook -- you probably knew nothing about it.

I truly despair for the country my 14-year-old daughter is inheriting. That a remark this intensely revealing of the danger posed by this ticket can go basically unreported is as nauseating to me as the quote itself.

[Joe Molotov]

If your daughter gets pregnant from pre-martial sex, is that the same thing as rape? No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no...well okay, yes.

“I lived something similar to that with my own family,” he went on to say. “She chose life and I commend her for that. She knew my views but fortunately for me … she chose the way I thought. Now don't get me wrong. It wasn't rape.”

Smith was then asked if his daughter's unwed pregnancy and rape were similar. “No, no, no. Put yourself in a father's position, yes, I mean it is similar,” he said.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/08/gop_senate_candidate_likens_ra.html

[Human Snorenado]

On the other end of the spectrum, you have Paul Ryan saying that rape is "a method of conception" so hey, there's still some debate about this amongst the party!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-slansky-/paul-ryan-said-something-_b_1832377.html

[brawndolicious]

I think at this point, conservatives consider abortion a worse sin than rape.

[Snuflupagulus]

Ehh, going by the general tone and diction with which conservatives discuss rape, I'm not sure they even consider it sin.

[Phoenix Dark]

It's like the apex of the "both sides do it" logic. Rape is bad but abortion is just as bad! Let us find the middle ground by redefining rape and banning all abortions

[Van Cruncheon]

you almost trolled me there.

[Brehvolution]

I've had 2 moles removed from my body. Is that a mass of cells or an abortion? I understand that moles wouldn't become a child. But moles can become cancerous thus endangering my life. People get their appendix removed or risk dying in case of infection. Is that an abortion or just a mass of cells? 

Dead soldiers are worth more than dead fetuses. I get it.

[Boogie]

I knew nintenho's comment was going to draw him out.

edit: *whew*, new page, we're safe.

[Van Cruncheon]

zero, did an angel (which probably doesn't exist) come down from heaven (which probably doesn't exist) and inject your melanin deposit with a soul (which probably doesn't exist)?

i'm pretty sure no angel (which probably doesn't exist) did.

[Van Cruncheon]

I mean, if we can predicate our absolutist arguments on things like "sin," things upon which the absolutist demonstrably holds doubt ("there's probably no such thing"), then hey: BABY KILLER!!!!! BABY KILLERRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[Van Cruncheon]

oh shit, i got trolled.

[Phoenix Dark]

 

[Mr. Gundam]

What a cute couple.

[Phoenix Dark]

you can tell Tagg knows he dun goofed

[TakingBackSunday]

There's probably no such thing as sin... but in terms of relative harm, and thus, which deserves a harsher punishment?

I frankly don't see how anyone could argue that rape is worse.

....

holy fucking shit

[Great Rumbler]

you can tell Tagg knows he dun goofed

So awkward!