Friday, September 28, 2012

Political Analysis Of The Day

Romney is an almost perfect amalgam of all the great out-of-touch douchebags of our national cinema: he’s Gregg Marmalaard from Animal House mixed with Billy Zane’s sneering, tux-wearing Cal character in Titanic to pussy-ass Prince Humperdinck to Roy Stalin to Gordon Gekko (he’s literally Gordon Gekko). He’s everything we’ve been trained to despise, the guy who had everything handed to him, doesn’t fight his own battles and insists there’s only room in the lifeboat for himself – and yet the Democrats, for some reason, have had terrible trouble beating him in a popularity contest.

The fact that Barack Obama needed a Himalayan mountain range of cash and some rather extreme last-minute incompetence on Romney’s part to pull safely ahead in this race is what really speaks to the brokenness of this system. Bruni of the Times is right that the process scares away qualified candidates who could have given Obama a better run for all that money. But what he misses is that the brutal campaign process, with its two years of nearly constant media abuse and “gotcha” watch-dogging, serves mainly to select out any candidate who is considered anything like a threat to the corrupt political establishment – and that selection process is the only thing that has kept this race close. - Matt Taibbi - Rolling Stone.

  

9 comments:

Paladin said...

Politics is (are?) funny. Both sides see the other side as a bunch of bumbling, inept, moronic, a-holes who simultaneously seem to accidentally develop deviously genious plans to thwart the "good guys". And everyone always seems baffled that their opponent is so hard to beat. It should be easy, right?... I mean they are drooling idiots for cryin' out loud!

Its also interesting that the writer of the opinion piece thinks President Obama is "safely ahead". As much as I'm sure he would like that to be true, its not. All you have to do is look at history to see how foolish calling a race this far from the end is. Add to that fact the wild over-sampling of Democrats in most of the polls that yield those results and its clear that the race isn't over until its over.

Paladin said...

Oh... and I completely agree with his point about the "establishment" digging its claws in and not wanting to give up power. Removing the boulders of power mongering politicians, both Republican and Democrat, is tough to do. But evan as hard as that is to do, its even more essential that we accomplish it. Liberty depends upon it.

Kal said...

I like the second comment more than the first one as you knew I would. Even you can't believe that Mitt will win or that the election will even be close. It's going to be a massacre unless people stay home thinking the race is over. But be honest, Mitt is a boob, isn't he?

Will said...

The Mittbot 2000 usually lies about Obama and his policies but was refreshingly honest in that video about not caring about the other "47%". This is what the Republican Party is about, they may actually feel sorry about the poors but they won't do anything about. All their sympathies is with the "creators" and not with the "looters". Mitt is the living avatar of the Republican Party

Kal said...

Someone said the difference with Romney is that when he moved up the ladder of success he burned the rungs behind him. He only cares for himself and his class, like any patrician.

Paladin said...

Cal - I don't know who is going to win. Neither do the "experts". If anyone wants to go ahead and print the "Dewey Beats Truman" headlines, they should feel free. I'm taking a wait and see approach.

If you're basing your assumption of a massive win for President Obama on the polls - know this: Polls are often as much about *shaping* public opinion as they are about *reflecting* it. Want an example?

Recent NY Times poll of Florida shows Obama over Mitt by 9%. Seems pretty substantial, yes? When you look at how they arrive at that number, though, you see that they over-sampled Democratic voters by 6% over Republican voters. Basically, assuming that Dems would turn out on election day 6% higher than Republicans. So, what's wrong with that?

In 2008, during the Obama landslide victory, Democrats in Florida only out voted Republicans at a rate of 3%. I would imagine that it would be hard to find someone outside of a mental institution who believes that given the current state of things Democrats will show up at TWICE the overflow that they had during Obama-mania in 2008. The passion just ain't there. You see this sort of shenanigans over and over again with polls. That's why I take them with a huge grain of salt.

My personal opinion on the candidates? I'm being given a choice between a crap sandwich, and a crap sandwich with mustard. Given those alternatives I'll take mine with extra mustard, please. :)

david_b said...

Carter was ahead of Reagan until the last week or so before the '80 election.

Paladin is right about the crap sandwiches description; we've had four years of the current one, '..like you'd want more of that.'

As Americans and world leaders, we'll just move to the next administration.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

It's true. The American process for electing a president is bat-shit crazy.

Kal said...

But still great theatre and comedy. That Mitt Romney is a gift to Left Wing political humor and I am giggling along with it all. After I lived through eight years of that numnut Bush I deserve my pound of progressive flesh and Mitt is the one who will provide it. I might just become a little less hateful and partisan once the whole thing is settled and settled definitively. I am pretty satified with the way this Romney campaign has self immolated.