Sense and Nonsense

Mitt Romney: Prevaricator

Mitt Romney likes to boast about his willingness to "tell people what I actually believe."  That's utter nonsense.  He's the artful dodger.  Here's his "straightforward" explanation in 2005 of his position on abortion:

“I can tell you what my position is, which is — and it’s in a very narrowly defined sphere — which is, as candidate for governor and as governor of Massachusetts,” Romney said, “what I said to people was that I personally did not favor abortion, that I am personally pro-life. However, as governor, I would not change the laws of the commonwealth relating to abortion.

“Now I don’t try and put a bow around that and say, what does that mean you are? Does that mean you’re pro-life or pro-choice? Because that whole package, meaning I’m personally pro-life but I won’t change the laws, you could describe that as — I don’t think you can describe it in one hyphenated word.”

See the wonderful opinion piece by Ruth Marcus at The Washington Post, in which this quote appears.  Yup: Mitt Romney, straight talker. 

Romney's Inanity, Redux

                           Cartoon: Dan Wasserman in the Boston Globe.

Two posts below, I commented on Mitt Romney's inane performance on his recent foreign trip.  Tom Friedman had a column in this morning's New York Times that perfectly summarized what's wrong with the long pattern of American politicians cozying up to Israel (and Jewish voters here at home) and what's wrong with Mitt Romney's recent behavior in Israel.  Good reading.  You might as well read Maureen Dowd's delightful mockery of Romney, too.

It's pretty funny to see in today's news that Romney also praised Israel's health care system while he was there.  The Israeli system has far more government control than the new American system, which Romney says he deplores.  Romney will say anything to curry favor with an audience.  

UPDATE:  On what's wrong with Romney's emphasis on culture as the primary explanation for the difference between Israeli prosperity and Palestinian impoverishment, see this excellent piece by James Fallows.

 

Romney's Inanity

I've enjoyed watching Mitt Romney stumble his way through his foreign trip.  This was supposed to be his big chance to show off his foreign-policy chops, his opportunity to impress Americans by his abiility to navigate global waters.  Epic failure.

I loved his foolish performance in London, where he insulted the British on their Olympic preparations.  But it was his vapid eagerness to curry favor with America's Jewish community that floored me the most: calling Jerusalem the "capital of Israel," and blaming low Palestinian GDP on culture rather than the oppressive Israeli occupation. Disgusting.

Of course, Romney is only part of the unfortunately long line of American politicians over many decades standing in blind support of Israel.  But his words show him to be one of the most craven and absurd of them.

Incredibly Dull Campaign

David Brooks has an excellent op-ed piece in this morning's New York Times.  He complains that the 2012 presidential campaign is one of the dullest ever, symptomatic of the general decline in American politics. 

Drop Joe Biden? Utter Nonsense.

You've probably seen the arguments, made by people as different as Bill Keller of the New York Times and Ben Heineman at The Atlantic's website, that Obama ought to drop Joe Biden from the Democratic ticket and go with a different running mate this year.  These ideas are nonsense, as I'll explain more soon. 

Meanwhile, take a look at Joe Biden, in the video below, ripping into Romney.  What's not to like?  Go, Joe!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

 

 

Ayotte and Romney: The "Screw-Transparency" Ticket

Oh, my.  One is starting to see the name of Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) popping up as a possible running-mate for Mitt Romney.  And Kelly seems to fancy the notion herself, as you can see here.  No shortage of ego in this lady.

But a Romney-Ayotte ticket makes perfect sense.  Both Romney and Ayotte are infamous for having instructed their staffs, as they left state offices (he as governor of MA, she as Attorney General of NH), to delete emails from their states' computer systems.  

This is what one gets from Republican office-holders: secrecy, obfuscation, opacity, prevarication, mendacity.

So, by all means, Mitt: consider Ayotte seriously.  She's a clone.  If you win the White House and then kick the bucket, she'll be just like you. Indistinguishable, really, except that she didn't make a fortune, as you did, by taking over companies, loading them with debt, and firing lots of people. 

 

 

How to Lose a Presidential Election

Lots of things can happen between now and November.  And there are lots of ways the hapless Democratic party can manage to lose this presidential election.  But when it comes to world-class competitors in the field of throwing away election victories, NOBODY beats the Republicans.

To support this assertion, we could look back a mere four years at the grotesquely incompetent McCain/Palin ticket. OR, we could simply look at the current race, in which candidates for the Republican nomination, via their morbid eagerness to cozy-up to rabid conservatives, have alienated an extremely important demographic group in swing states: women under 50.   And here's what that means in the presidential race at the moment: 

By expressing their eagerness to trample on the most fundamental right of women to control what happens to their own bodies, Romney and his Republican competitors are ceding this election to Obama.  The whole contraception controversy has cut sharply against the Republicans.  Good: couldn't happen to a more cowardly and craven group of f*ckers.  By trying to curry the favor of evangelical Christians and other far-right voters, Romney and the other Republican candidates have slit their own throats.