Big Bird, Binders, and now Romnesia?

You know I am having a hard time processing all this.  I supported the man in 08.  No shame in it.  He was the smartest of the two and had the better Vice Presidential candidate in Joe Biden.  Yes crazy, perpetually half drunk, foot consistently in mouth, not sure what city he’s in – ever,  Uncle Joe Biden.  Tony may fight me on this, but Joe, even half in the the bag, is a genius compared to the killa from Wasilla.  If this was 08 I’d vote for him again.  But this isn’t 2008. I lived in 2008. I lived through 08.  I voted in 2008. And 2008, you are no 2012.  Might have run out the string on that verbiage.

Anyway, this isn’t 2008 and the President’s campaign could not look more different.  I still believe he’s the same smart dude I voted for in 2008.  The problem; he’s trying to keep his job instead of doing his job.  In doing so he is listening to the three most useless people in his campaign: David Axelrod, David Plouffe, and Stephanie Cutter.  And I’m the guy who wrote this about Herman Cain’s campaign manager Mark Block: Down Goes Cain!

What’s the problem with that you ask, seeing as how those three mopped the floor with McCain/Palin in 08?  Here’s the problem, they got a taste and now they’re hooked. Addicts do some crazy and stupid crap to keep feeding the addiction.  These three power addicts are no different than your garden variety East Tennessee Meth heads.  Let me count the ways.

1. Romney talks of cutting spending but gives no clear specifics, except a quick shot at the moderator who works for PBS.  What do we get from the three blind mice?  Two weeks of nonsense about Mitt coming after Big Bird.  This is the leader of the free world mind you, who knows as well as you and I, PBS takes next to no money from the government and will operate fine without it.

2. Romney uses an awkward phrase about binders of women’s resumes and how they went about recruiting women for his cabinet when he was Governor of Massachusetts.  By the way, at that time Romney’s cabinet was over 50% women.  No Governor can make that claim even today.  Even among democrats.  What do we get from Cutter and the gang? A week and a half of binder jokes which did great things for Trapper Keeper sales, only to lower the bar even more for smart and intelligent debate in this country.

3. The President accuses Romney of having amnesia when it comes to some of his practices and polices as Governor.  So for the last week we’ve got nothing but “Do you want a President in the White House with Romnesia?”  That’s a direct quote from advertising and mailers sent out last week by Team Obama.  Again this is the leader of the free world making and repeating stupid lines that Wally and the Beav wouldn’t laugh at, and those two chuckle heads laughed at everything.

So that’s it.  Instead of turning to serious issues that all of Governors comments represent, we get seltzer water shooting lapel flowers and hand buzzers.  Instead of refuting some of the things the Governor said we get open mic night at the improv.  Were those attacks supposed to hurt?  It didn’t hurt Romney one bit.  It only makes you look small Mr. President, because we all know you’re trying to make him look small.  It has become your only shot.

Where I grew up in Jersey, and I’m betting the same for Tony, who’s from Ohio, silly attacks like that would only encourage me to kick the snot out of you.  It only reinforces the idea that you have nothing else, that you’re weak, and ultimately you’re beatable.

Mr. President, I would tell you what I told Rick Santorum, smarten up.  But it’s too late for that.

The final debate is tonight.  Let’s see what meaningless phrase or word Team Shecky Green and his band of cable comedy writers can spin into a Gong Show act for the remaining two weeks of the election.

Yeah it’s a real thing.

 

Thought I was joking?  Here is the high brow, intelligent campaigning we have come to know and love from Obama and his campaign full of not ready for any time players.

Really Mr. President?  Really?

The whoopee cushion of your campaign has run out of gas.

Photo courtesy of Euraputz.com

Presidential Debate #2: The most important debate of our time…until the next one.

It’s go time from Hofstra University in Hempstead New York.  Candy Crowley of CNN is the moderator and she looks like she could spit nails.  The name Candy is a little misleading.  Think of a fat guy named slim.

It’s town hall style tonight.  Questions coming from the audience.  That by itself should be worth a little unintentional comedy. That means the candidates are free range chickens. Free to roam to and fro.  This bit John McCain in the rump last time.  He looked like your great grandfather, wandering around the freeway looking for his puree`ed squash and brownie cake.

Interesting to note both campaigns balked at Crowley as the moderator because she threatened ask her own questions.  God forbid.

Love Crowley already.  Absolutely no introductions.  She just took the first question from the audience and started.  Nice.  Look gang if these guys have to intro themselves, we have bigger problems than these guys ducking tough debate questions.

Second man up with a question about energy.  I expected a blue collar, lunch pail, NY Islanders fan.  Got Droopy Dog, with coke bottle glasses, who apparently free bases helium.

The President has come out stronger.  But how could he not.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!  I think the Obama and Romney just traded paint there.  If not, they definitely shared the same breathing air for a second.  Got very close passing each other on the stage.  Shit just got real, (learned that from the muppets).

Ok we are into the tax plan weeds.  This all benefits the Pres. for two reasons.  First Romney had not offered too many specifics about his plan and Obama can corner him on this.  Second any time not talking about the Libya cover up is a win for the President.

Until Romney expertly pivots it to Obama’s record on debt and deficits.  President is on, but Romney is not wilting.

Katherine something or other asks about equal pay for women in the work place.  Here is the best way to describe this exchange.  From Sam Youngman, former White House press corp, now writes for Reuters, and a Kentucky fan, but we give him a pass on that sometimes:

nuf said

 

 

 

 

 

Now we are beating on George Bush again.  Man, I wasn’t a fan but let the guy fade into his sunset.He served his country with passion and a care for Americans.  Will anyone just own the current situation and start with the fix already.

Mike Jones hits Obama between the eyes.  “I voted for you in 08, why should I vote for you now.”  Good question from the audience for once.  Obama goes down a pretty impressive list of things he’s done.  Three myths that dog him: 1. raised taxes – no he actually cut them  2. Made it harder to get guns – no actually guns have never been easier to get in our history. 3. soft on immigration – no the administration has deported more illegals than Bush 43 did in 8 years.

Best tweet of the night – decided by me.

 

 

 

Trevino was a speech writer in the Bush 43 White House.  Following his twitter feed should be worth 3 college credits in history and political science.

Romney smartly highlights the problem with the past 4 years as to why Obama should not get your vote;  23 million Americans are still out of work.  It’s that number and not the percentage of unemployed that’s most important.  Romney is in a good groove now.

Immigration is up now.  And somehow they have both segued that to each others personal finances and again they get very close to each other, are raising their voices AT each other, and have to be called to task by the moderator.

No joke, there is an obvious dislike between these two men.  It’s much more obvious from Obama then Romney and it’s more than just a passive dislike. Hate is too strong, but it’s close.  But as much as a mormon can bow up, Romney is doing it.

Here we go.  Another great question from the audience, “what happened in Libya?”  They might just come to blows here.  The room is still tight with stress from that last exchange.

Photo courtesy of HarlemGal Inc.

 

 

 

 

 

President still steaming from that last dust up and is speaking forcefully.  However he really didn’t answer the question.  Most pundits on twitter agree that there really is no good answer, that’s why the Pres. ducked it.  Obama did say the buck stops with him.  A lot of bucks floating around on this issue.  HRC has the one that mattered.  Obama is 4 weeks late a buck short on that.   Pres is actually yelling in defiance during his response.

Oh Candy, bad Candy.  Obama said he knew it was a terror attack the day after it happened.  Mitt rightly asks then why did your UN Ambassador say other wise two weeks later, on five different Sunday talk shows?  Candy cut the whole thing off.  I’m not a big conspiracy type but the press has really crapped the bed on this story.  And be advised this embassy story is huge, freaking huge.  Shame on you Candy.  Four Americans are dead.  An Ambassador and 3 former military men.  They were assassinated on US soil and the press seems unwilling to ask a question or allow questions to be asked.

Candy then steps on Romney bringing up Operation Fast and Furious.  Google Fast and Furious, you won’t believe it.  I am no longer in favor of town hall.  Give me Jim Leher any day.  He let them talk at least.

Barry gets the last question and asks something stupid.  Sit down Barry, Thomas Jefferson doesn’t like you.  Romney decides to just ignore the question and do a short bio about himself.  Obama gets to answer last.  We’ll see if he answers Barry’s stupid question or just blames Bush for the bad economy.

To the President’s credit, he actually answered the question.  No matter, it was dumb. Something about what is the biggest misconception about you?  How about housing, unions, DADT, Barry?

And thats it.  No closing arguments.  I like that.   Now normally the two men will shake hands and chat for a bit on stage.  Not tonight.  I’m telling you, they were close to throwing hands.  When the Pres accused Romney of investing in companies in China, Romney replied, “have you ever looked at your pension fund Mr. President?”  Boom. Obama got pissed and the two men kept shouting the same thing at each other and getting closer and closer.  I mean I was expecting some Secret Service agents to come on stage.  That’s how tense it got.

No doubt each side will claim victory, but like the first debate there really was no clear standout in my opinion.  And to me that helps Romney.

Also, the Libya thing is not going away.  Romney flubbed his chance a bit and Candy blocked him some, but the question still remains, if the Pres knew it was a terror attack why did everyone else from his admin to include the UN Ambassador say otherwise?

Two final thoughts from twitter that encapsulate my opinion about debates quite well.

 

 

 

 

 

So same as the last time.  No needle move from the debate.  And if those were undecided voters I’m a Tibetan monk.

Off to Boca for the next one.  That’s right, sunny Boca Raton and Lynn University, for the final Presidential debate.

That’s next Monday, 22 October.  Don’t miss it.

Mad Muppets: Debate fallout continues

It just got real folks.  How real?  This real.

This won’t end well.

At the first Presidential debate, Romney said he would defund PBS.  For most people, PBS means Big Bird and his buddies on Sesame Street.  Mitt’s actual line was, ” “I’m going to stop other things. I like PBS. I love Big Bird. I actually like you, too, Jim [Lehrer, PBS newsman and debate moderator]. But I’m not going to … keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for it.”

And that was the point of this throw away line.  There will be no sacred cows when it comes to the budget.  If it requires borrowing to pay for it, it’s gone.  I like where Romney’s head is right now.  This is the Bain Capital Mitt we need to fix the economy. Now if Debate Mitt shows up two more times, he just might have a fighting chance.

The Obama damage control is trying to spin this as a gaffe.  It isn’t.  It’s a very real and rational response to our current financial woes.  But you can put your knife down Ernie, drop the fake tough guy scowl Bert, even if the money for PBS and NPR is cut off, both will remain on the air. Romney knows, as most clear thinking people do, PBS and NPR (National Public Radio) receive little government subsidy. They derive their money from several sources, the largest of which is their yearly three day fund drive. They receive so little government money that to eradicate the deficit of lets just say 16 trillion, you would have to defund 160,000 trillion PBS stations and another 160,000 trillion NPR stations. Still not a gaffe but an indication of Romney’s fiscal mind set.  A good one in my opinion.  Plus what a set of stones on Mitt to tell the debate moderator, during the debate, he’s fired from his day job if Mitt becomes President.

It was MAN-BEAR-PIG!  

Of all the people who came to the President’s defense after his debate fizzle, I bet Obama wished Al Gore had just got drunk and fell in a gutter somewhere.  But he didn’t.  Big Al was right there on his Current TV station, (ch. 172 on Comcast in Knoxville, check your local listings), giving a full throated defense of the President.  It turns out, according to Al, the President doesn’t have an attitude problem as much as he has an altitude problem.  Yes, the man who has become the butt joke of global warming, claims Romney had the advantage because he arrived in Denver two days prior, while the President rolled in the day of the debate. This put the President at a 2 day disadvantage adapting to the altitude and thus caused him to stammer and stumble his way through the 90 minute debate.

Great Al.  You just proclaimed to the world that the President of the United States can’t make key decision or be engaged unless he’s at sea level.

Gore’s comments prompted this tweet, winner of tweet of the debate, decided by me.

Nice work Al!

Line of the debate.

I’ll leave you with this.  The best line of the night, decided by me. After a lengthy professorial diatribe by the President about China, monetary tariffs, job outsourcing, and a bunch of other things nobody listened to, Mitt uncorked this gem.

“Mr. President I’ve been in business over 25yrs and I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

The only way that line could have been better is if Mitt added, And we’re all now dumber for having heard it.

The VP candidates are up next.  11 October in Danville Kentucky.

Then Romney and Obama go at it again on the 16th in New York, town hall style.  Careful Mitt, the Muppets took Manhattan, Hempstead is just a hop, skip, and a jump from there.

1st Presidential Debate – It’s on now!

Finally.  Did you ever think it.  We have arrived at the precipice.  From that long ago, far away state fair in Iowa in August of 2011, yeah folks read that again, 2011, we’ve arrived. It was a long but enjoyable slog through the primary. We survived it and we’re stronger for it.  So here we are at the first Presidential debate.

Hello from Denver, the University of, to be exact.  Jim Leher from PBS, (Yes Tony Government TV), is the lead off hitter for debate moderators.  He looks like the absent minded professor but he is a viper.  Don’t sleep on Jim Leher, he’ll cut you.

This debate is already better than the primaries for the simple fact Jim didn’t make the candidates intro themselves and didn’t do that creepy example intro that Wolf Blitzer always did.  They went with a little thank you to the crowd and then the major thrust of their platforms.  Romney was all economy as was the President.  Obama however led off with his normal mantra, “As you know we inherited the worst economy in the history of….  Thanks Mr. President , no I didn’t know that.  Very nice of you to alert me to the problem.  And by very nice I mean agonizingly repetitive.

Buckle up folks, this is a domestic debate centered mostly on the economy.  In other words – snooze fest.

So who will be the big winner?  Well if you believe Romney’s camp, the President will win in a walk. Same thing from the Obama side, Romney will be the big winner.  Of course both sides are playing the age old game of lowering expectations.  Both sides have made them so low, just staying upright for the 90 minutes would be considered victory.

Be advised, the challenger, in this case Romney, usually does better in the first debate. But currently Romney is not just doing better, he is schooling the President.  We are in Romney’s wheelhouse right now – talking money, getas, greenbacks, mullah, dare I say Dead Presidents.  Romney is owning the President so badly at the moment, when Leher said you’re over your two minutes, Obama apologized; Leher was talking to Romney.

Whoa, Jim Leher sternly tells the President to move it along as he gets long winded on an answer.  I told you people don’t test Leher, he don’t suffer no fools.

The President is playing prevent defense.  As they say in the NFL, prevent defense only prevents the win.  He is in professor mode big time and I stopped listening several sentences ago.

And we’re into the medicare debate.  Just die already old people, it would make it so much easier and we wouldn’t have to talk about this.  Bathroom break!

The substance of this first debate is pretty boring if you’re not deep into public and government policy.  Did you ever think you would miss the old gang, The Herminator and his 999 plan, The old kook Ron Paul, Rick Perry not being able to count to 3 on his hand, Crazy Santorum wanting war with China and my old buddy Newt, eviscerating debate moderators like a kid burning ants with a magnifying glass.

Wow take a quick trip to the can and miss Jim Leher getting steamed rolled by Romney. Jim has lost control a little bit.  I would not have believed it.

Not sure how the pundits will score this but from my chair Romney was sharp, excited and all over the President from the jump.  The President looked bored at times, annoyed at others.  Romney refuted most of the claims the President made about him.  At one point Romney looked right at the President and said “I know you and your running mate are fond of saying that, but it’s simply not true.  Stop saying it.”  The President actually said “OK” in response.  Amazing.

Lets talk about looks for a minute.  The President looked at the moderator or the camera when he responded, even though his responses were to Romney.  Romney on the other hand looked at the President when he spoke to him, and looked at him when the President was speaking.  Mitt throwing down that laser like focus he busted out on Rick Perry, when Perry tried to be the alpha candidate.

For the content, they mostly made claims about each other’s policy’s and then spent their time refuting what each had just said.

So we got the first one out of the way.  The next might be a little more exciting.  That should be the foreign policy debate.  This one was about economics and the President seemed disengaged.  Interesting, maybe why we’re still in the muck financially in this country.

I know the Vice Presidential debate will be good.  Crazy Uncle Joe vs Eddie Munster, are you kidding me, a barn burner to be sure.