Support NeoGAF

[codhand]

hmmm
@RasmussenPoll: Daily Tracking: #Obama: 46%, #Romney: 45%

Ummm....

 

[Four_Chamber]

"The Olympics may be over but Paul Ryan could have gotten a gold medal in hypocrisy," a senior administration official told ABC's Jake Tapper. "As someone who spends all day every day railing against government spending, but then secretly seeks millions in funds for pet projects, he is as Washington as it gets."

I hope he gets blasted on it. I respected Ryan for at least sticking to his guns but it seems that he's no different than these two-faced stooges who rail about the stimulus while letting the money flow freely into the states.

And LOL at Romney still trailing Obama (with Rasmussen nonetheless) and Bill Nelson running up the score on Connie Mack

 

[Tim-E]

I still don't believe that he doesn't understand that to unseat an incumbent, it isn't enough to just say "Hey, he sucks!" for a year. You have to make people want to vote for you and not just against him.

 

[Jooney]

David Simon on Mitt Romney:



He has some posts in the comments section too.

Thanks for sharing. David Simon's forceful arguments in the comments section are sublime.

 

[Jooney]

Last week Romney wanted a truce, Team Obama offers a deal for Romney, doubt he will take it though, heh:


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...obama-camp-on-romneys-taxes-lets-make-a-deal/

Obama campaign manager Jim Messina has an offer for Mitt Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades: Release five years of tax returns and the Obama campaign will stop criticizing or questioning the former Massachusetts governor for not releasing more. (There is no offer to refrain from criticizing the contents of those returns).

So apparently the Romney camp released this letter and their response to it to the press. Why? Are they that desperate to keep this issue in the spotlight? Romney is getting some terrible advice.

 

[Jimothy]

Apparently you guys don't listen to conservative talk radio (I can't blame you, guilty pleasure) but there are at least 2 far right conservative elderly groups out there that call the AARP far left. I am sure that in reality, these groups are funded by the Koch brothers or something, but they are incredibly pathetic and weak calls to action. Chuck Woolery shills for one that I can recall.

I watch Fox News sometimes when I'm bored. Blatant propaganda is a pretty interesting thing to watch.

 

[Plinko]

Why did Romney even comment on how much he paid in taxes percentage-wise? It just brings his tax returns right back into the spotlight.

Because he has no idea how to run a presidential campaign.

I mean, seriously? You make that much money and proclaim to the world that you pay less than a LOT of middle-class Americans? It makes absolutely no sense. His advisors need to be fired after that, because it gives the democrats easy commercials this year.

Show Romney's income.

Show his tax rate.

Show a reasonable American income, show their tax rate being higher.

Talk about how Romney/Ryan want to raise taxes on middle and lower-class Americans even further.

Fin.

 

[Paches]

I watch Fox News sometimes when I'm bored. Blatant propaganda is a pretty interesting thing to watch.

I watched Hannity last night for no reason other than being bored and curious. He had some democrat guy on and then right as he introduced him, 3 seconds later he went in to a tirade about how he needs to apologize immediately for all the hate the democrats are spewing.

I laughed.

 

[codhand]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/16/us-newjersey-unemployment-idUSBRE87F15K20120816

New Jersey's jobless rate rose for the fourth month in a row, to 9.8 percent, up from 9.6 percent in June and from 9.4 percent in July 2011, according to preliminary numbers from the state Department of Labor.

lol Christie

 

[empty vessel]

I'm also really baffled by Romney.

He was arguably a more centrist politician -- even a bit Left leaning -- when he was governor of Massachusetts and there was always the thought that once out of the primaries, that him and his campaign would pivot back to more centrist, more inclusive, big-tent politics that would woo independents (this is going back to Etch-a-Sketch Romney (and by the way, I'm hoping the Dem's seize on this like those fucking purple band-aids the Right used to mock Kerry (like if I had a chance to meet Romney, I'd ask for his signature on an Etch-a-Sketch))).

He would have nothing to lose by going more centrist as he wouldn't lose those on the Left, those on the Right have no other choice, and those undecided Independents in the middle can now choose comfortably between 1 and 1.a.

Instead, he seems to be going the other direction.

It's kind of mind boggling.

I don't find it baffling. You are witnessing politicians responding to a movement. It's the power of the radicalized and organized base that is causing it.

 

[Tim-E]

"Despite polls saying that a majority of Americans saying that Presidential candidates should release more tax returns, it's clear that the Obama Administration is trying to distract you so you don't notice the economy!

Now, let me get back to answering you on this tax return question..."

 

[GhaleonEB]

I see this was posted, but didn't see Romney's response added.

Team Romney: :lol no.

Interesting approach to re-framing the argument. They're trying to make Romney seem even less reasonable by neutralizing his one argument for not releasing them.

Edit: consumer sentiment improved in the mid-month reading, and the index of economic indicators also improved. Good news on both fronts.

 

[Puddles]

This response to a guy who brought up the standard "Romney paid what he legally owed; why don't you cut the IRS a check?" talking point is amazing:

It’s hard to type the same, inevitable response more than once, so let it suffice for me to paste a rejoiner I just threw up on the Wall Street Journal blogsite to similar arguments by some WSJ readers. I’ll only add that with regard to the citation of my own income, don’t you think it inevitable that if I didn’t address that directly, some ad-hominem-loving commentators would rush in to speculate on my own tax history in ridiculous ways? The only way to avoid someone else’s caricature of an effette, expense-accounted Hollywood hypocrite is, after all, to live in Baltimore and pay the taxes that you ought as a citizen of a republic. As to there being better reasons to dislike Mitt Romney, I will take your word for that. I encountered the one that I did yesterday and spoke to it.

From the WSJ blogsite:

On the contrary, gentle WSJ reader, I understand perfectly well our tax code’s venal dualities. My blog comments were intended, obviously enough, to highlight those inequities, such as they have led to a man who wants to president to stand in public and to defend a tax history that allowed him to contribute far less proportionately to the welfare of this republic than millions of other less fortunate citizens.

I know that Mr. Romney paid his designed share of tax; I also know his share wasn’t a fair one. You fellas, on the other hand, seem grandly oblivious to what is so apparent and appalling to millions of your fellow countrymen: That if a man wants something as lofty as the presidency, it might benefit him to realize there is no dignity or honor in publicly professing pride at being part and parcel of a systemic and codified failure by our fmost affluent and entitled citizens to kick in their rightful share.

No, the issue isn’t my understanding of the tax code, it’s your comprehension of republicanism and citizenship, A republic will stand or fall on the willingness of its elites to support and defend the commonweal along with everyone else. I know it will be an epic emotional journey for you gents, but if only for a digressive moment of intellectual curiosity, consider taking your heads out of the stock tables and dividend reports and scanning a few pages of Plato, and if you require a darker vision of our collective future, some Toynbee. Or, if the markets are about to open and you’re pressed for time, at least send one of the office staff — you know, one of those proles serving his country under a higher tax rate than you — to jog over to the Barnes & Noble and snatch up some Cliff Notes.

The sad path of decadent societies is well marked, historically. This one especially so.

I've made essentially this same argument before in bits and pieces, but I've never seen it put together so well. I'm not ashamed to say that I'm going to steal it outright.

 

[Plinko]

I watched Hannity last night for no reason other than being bored and curious. He had some democrat guy on and then right as he introduced him, 3 seconds later he went in to a tirade about how he needs to apologize immediately for all the hate the democrats are spewing.

I laughed.

A few years back I had a job where I drove a lot and could list to the radio for much of the day. It was in northern Michigan where all they air for talk radio is right-wing stuff. I could easily sit through stuff like Limbaugh. He says stupid things but I still get the feeling he's more an entertainer than actual crazy person. Sometimes he's pretty funny.

Hannity, on the other hand, is infuriating. Hate is spewing from his mouth ALL the time. It never ceases. He openly lies on a regular basis and hangs up on callers who question him about it.

 

[codhand]

I see this was posted, but didn't see Romney's response added.

Team Romney: :lol no.

Interesting approach to re-framing the argument. They're trying to make Romney seem even less reasonable by neutralizing his one argument for not releasing them.

"In the meantime, Governor Romney will continue to lay out his plans for a stronger middle class, to save Medicare"

I love that Romney/Ryan treat medicare like it's Obiwan ie "strike me down and I shall become more powerful"

 

[Jooney]

Because he has no idea how to run a presidential campaign.

I mean, seriously? You make that much money and proclaim to the world that you pay less than a LOT of middle-class Americans? It makes absolutely no sense. His advisors need to be fired after that, because it gives the democrats easy commercials this year.

Show Romney's income.

Show his tax rate.

Show a reasonable American income, show their tax rate being higher.

Talk about how Romney/Ryan want to raise taxes on middle and lower-class Americans even further.

Fin.

You forgot to add : show what Romney would pay under the Ryan budget. That's the clincher.

 

[Clevinger]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/16/us-newjersey-unemployment-idUSBRE87F15K20120816

New Jersey's jobless rate rose for the fourth month in a row, to 9.8 percent, up from 9.6 percent in June and from 9.4 percent in July 2011, according to preliminary numbers from the state Department of Labor.

lol Christie

Any day now that austerity is going to start working.

 

[Black Republican]

first WI senate poll after gop primary

@RasmussenPoll: #Wisconsin Senate: #Thompson 54%, #Baldwin 43%

if that holds, yikes, poor WI dems.

 

[watershed]

Any day now that austerity is going to start working.

Christie is just gonna turn around and blame the high unemployment on Obama. He'll do it at the Republic National Convention no less.

 

[TacticalFox88]

first WI senate poll after gop primary

@RasmussenPoll: #Wisconsin Senate: #Thompson 54%, #Baldwin 43%

if that holds, yikes, poor WI dems.

I was hoping these three months they might pull a win out of there ass. :/

 

[codhand]

first WI senate poll after gop primary

@RasmussenPoll: #Wisconsin Senate: #Thompson 54%, #Baldwin 43%

if that holds, yikes, poor WI dems.

The amount of sympathy I have towards Wisconsin dems is at an all-time low.

 

[RustyNails]

A few years back I had a job where I drove a lot and could list to the radio for much of the day. It was in northern Michigan where all they air for talk radio is right-wing stuff. I could easily sit through stuff like Limbaugh. He says stupid things but I still get the feeling he's more an entertainer than actual crazy person. Sometimes he's pretty funny.

Hannity, on the other hand, is infuriating. Hate is spewing from his mouth ALL the time. It never ceases. He openly lies on a regular basis and hangs up on callers who question him about it.

I was listening to Hannity while in Georgia. A caller calls and the conversation starts off nicely enough. Then it shifted to mitt romney's taxes and then when Hannity realizes that the caller supports Obama, he asks him why he loves Obama so much, yells at him and hangs up the phone.

 

[GhaleonEB]

The amount of sympathy I have towards Wisconsin dems is at an all-time low.

Yup.

 

[Dr. Pangloss]

How would you guys feel if after Romney won the election, then he gave a job in the executive to one of his sons? Would there be some serious blow back?

Also if he won again, then I don't see the tax issue fading, especially with tax reform being one of his goals. It would come up again.

 

[TacticalFox88]

How would you guys feel if after Romney won the election, then he gave a job in the executive to one of his sons? Would there be some serious blow back?

Also if he won again, then I don't see the tax issue fading, especially with tax reform being one of his goals. It would come up again.

If Romney won the election, him electing his son to an executive position would literally be the LAST thing on my mind.

 

[watershed]

How would you guys feel if after Romney won the election, then he gave a job in the executive to one of his sons? Would there be some serious blow back?

Also if he won again, then I don't see the tax issue fading, especially with tax reform being one of his goals. It would come up again.

If Romney wins the election I would feel BAD period.

 

[HylianTom]

If Romney wins the election I would feel BAD period.

Yeah.. despite being convinced that we're boned no matter who wins, I still feel a bit better with the Democrats controlling our descent. The idea of Republicans being in charge during difficult/interesting times makes me queasy.

 

[el retorno]

I was listening to Hannity while in Georgia. A caller calls and the conversation starts off nicely enough. Then it shifted to mitt romney's taxes and then when Hannity realizes that the caller supports Obama, he asks him why he loves Obama so much, yells at him and hangs up the phone.

Yup. He'll start insinuating you have a shrine and worship him. He'll also get louder so you can't respond and yell so much BS you can't respond in time even if he's not yelling

New Obama ad about Medicare
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=LJb6tA1cXT0

Amazing ad. its not angry and uses the AARP which seniors trust. I think they had a big role in moblinzing the opposition to Bush's social security privatization

 

[Plinko]

I was listening to Hannity while in Georgia. A caller calls and the conversation starts off nicely enough. Then it shifted to mitt romney's taxes and then when Hannity realizes that the caller supports Obama, he asks him why he loves Obama so much, yells at him and hangs up the phone.

That happens repeatedly every day, every hour of his show.

 

[Dr. Pangloss]

If Romney won the election, him electing his son to an executive position would literally be the LAST thing on my mind.

I know there are more pressing concerns, but just a random thought after reading the family article.

 

[HylianTom]

(Umm.. weird double-post.. ignore..)

 

[codhand]

I was listening to Hannity while in Georgia. A caller calls and the conversation starts off nicely enough. Then it shifted to mitt romney's taxes and then when Hannity realizes that the caller supports Obama, he asks him why he loves Obama so much, yells at him and hangs up the phone.

Funny this happened to me I said something non-offensive to a co-worker and it became, "WHY DO YOU LOVE OBAMA SO MUCH??!!" and I basically said I don't "love him so much", but it was too late.

 

[Tim-E]

(Umm.. weird double-post.. ignore..)

Too late now! What are you trying to hide, Tom???

 

[reggieandTFE]

I was hoping these three months they might pull a win out of there ass. :/

We have to remember folks that Rasmussen likes putting out narrative-setting polls (that always favor Rs) early on.

 

[PantherLotus]

You know the weird thing about Romney? We all know the basic bumbling idiocy required to maintain Swiss Bank and Cayman Island accounts after you announce you're running for President, but seriously: if he willingly paid everything that a normal wealthy person would be required (without deductions or credits), he'd have an EXTREMELY powerful argument for his platform: "If guys like me weren't paying so much in taxes, we could start new businesses and hire more workers."

But nope. He's paying at or near zero, either one of which is below what people making $30k per year are paying. He has absolutely nothing to stand on.

 

[codhand]

Too late now! What are you trying to hide, Tom???

I have a source that says what he said and it was bad.

 

[PantherLotus]

President Obama’s team is offering Mitt Romney a deal on taxes: Publicly release five years of returns, and the Obama campaign will drop its insistence for additional tax information.

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2...y-lets-make-a-deal-on-tax-returns.php?ref=fpa

Oh, they have something.

/tpm-link-self-backpat

 

[markatisu]

hmmm

@RasmussenPoll: Daily Tracking: #Obama: 46%, #Romney: 45%


@RasmussenPoll: #Florida Senate: #Nelson (D) 47%, #Mack (R) 40%

HA HA HA HA HA

I love how blatantly bad Rasmussen is, wasn't Romney up by like 3pts in the last poll

Its like the whole world knows that polling is shit and they don't even try to disguise it when they fix it

 

[Tim-E]

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2...y-lets-make-a-deal-on-tax-returns.php?ref=fpa

Oh, they have something.

/tpm-link-self-backpat

High-five, dude! We liberals are just so awesome and I'm glad we have a newsource that affirms this!

 

[TacticalFox88]

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2...y-lets-make-a-deal-on-tax-returns.php?ref=fpa

Oh, they have something.

/tpm-link-self-backpat

They win either way.

A)Romney concedes to this and releases the tax returns exposing the secret he vehemently tried to keep for the past three months

or

B)He denies this and they continue to hammer him on what he's hiding if he can't even accept five years worth of tax returns AND the issue being dropped.

 

[zchen]

Oh you definitely can. In fact that makes it a bit more fascinating sometimes.

one of the reason I love listening to old Russian and Chinese communist songs

 

[TestOfTide]

Couldn't he just release returns for years that have no relevance to the whole tax return discussion?

 

[Hop]

Couldn't he just release returns for years that have no relevance to the whole tax return discussion?

It's entirely possible there are no such years.

 

[Clevinger]

Couldn't he just release returns for years that have no relevance to the whole tax return discussion?

Skipping years would look really bad.

 

[RustyNails]

Funny this happened to me I said something non-offensive to a co-worker and it became, "WHY DO YOU LOVE OBAMA SO MUCH??!!" and I basically said I don't "love him so much", but it was too late.

It's the definition of strawman argument. They really got nothing other than huff and puff.

 

[Sirpopopop]

Any day now that austerity is going to start working.

He'll win re-election in New Jersey easily.

As long as he keeps on scapegoating unions, and attacks property taxes he should be good.

Unfortunately, the democrats with any real power in the state aren't any better than Christie, and in fact may be worse. Read up on George Norcross some time.

 

[pigeon]

Funny this happened to me I said something non-offensive to a co-worker and it became, "WHY DO YOU LOVE OBAMA SO MUCH??!!" and I basically said I don't "love him so much", but it was too late.

Just say its because of his gentle eyes.

 

[RobotChant]

Romney Advisers: If he loses, blame it on the wifey and kids.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mckaycoppins/the-romney-family-takes-charge

sounds like spin to diffuse talk of Ryan being forced onto the Romney campaign. Even if the family ok'd the pick, that doesn't mean Ryan wasn't the GOP establishment VP pick first. It just means the family went along with who the establishment wanted them to pick.

 

[Particle Physicist]

You know the weird thing about Romney? We all know the basic bumbling idiocy required to maintain Swiss Bank and Cayman Island accounts after you announce you're running for President, but seriously: if he willingly paid everything that a normal wealthy person would be required (without deductions or credits), he'd have an EXTREMELY powerful argument for his platform: "If guys like me weren't paying so much in taxes, we could start new businesses and hire more workers."

But nope. He's paying at or near zero, either one of which is below what people making $30k per year are paying. He has absolutely nothing to stand on.

The guy is an idiot. He has been running for the presidency for about 10 freaken years, is he really that greedy that he didn't want to pay taxes without crazy ass deduction during that time? With all the money he makes, would it really have made that much of a difference for him? Or does he just think tht as long as he wills it to be president, he will be and it doesn't matter what he has done in the past?

 

[Hobbestetrician]

This response to a guy who brought up the standard "Romney paid what he legally owed; why don't you cut the IRS a check?" talking point is amazing:



I've made essentially this same argument before in bits and pieces, but I've never seen it put together so well. I'm not ashamed to say that I'm going to steal it outright.

Jackson50=David Simon confirmed?