Romney campaign releases video titled: "Mitt Doesn't Disdain the Poor" (seriously)

This is for real.  (Click then scroll down, the video is still there - the first version was pulled by the Romney campaign, Buzzfeed has a second version they got from the TV station and it's still live.)

Wow, it sounds like an Onion piece.  Titling it "Mitt doesn't disdain the poor."  What's next?  "Mitt doesn't rip the heads off bunnies?"

If you have to say it, you've already lost.

And using Mrs. Romney again!  She's like the red-shirted characters on Star Trek.  When they show up in a scene you know something bad is about to happen, though in her case it means it's already happened.  To bring her out every single time the campaign makes a disastrous mistake.  At this point she's not fixing the problem anymore, she's telegraphing it.

Buzzfeed reports that the Romney campaign has pulled the video (someone figured out that "I'm really not a monster" (or a witch) videos don't tend to go over terribly well with the voters).  But fortunately, Buzzfeed found a copy via the local TV station itself.

Who needs SNL when you got these guys. Read the rest of this post...

Romney Apologizes To Nation's 150 Million 'Starving, Filthy Beggars'

And the Onion weighs in:

In an effort to right his campaign and rebuild his image, Romney promised to bring his message of compassion and economic opportunity to the “ramshackle, mud-floored huts” in which half of all U.S. residents live.

“Let me make this absolutely clear: I have the utmost respect for all of the filth-encrusted, lesion-covered degenerates of this nation,” Romney said. “In the coming weeks, I look forward to meeting real Americans in their squalid, roach-infested hellholes in every corner of this country. I promise to stand up for every one of you, even the 47 percent of you huddled together for warmth, fighting your own family members for moldy crusts of bread as you wallow in your own excrement.”

Added Romney, “And I look forward to serving you as your next president.”

Read the rest of this post...

Arctic sea ice to collapse by 2016

It's a serious problem yet one political party in the US continues to think it's a joke. This is what happens when a party is taken over by extremists who prefer religious texts over scientific experts. As Gaius mentioned recently, the climate predictions are consistently wrong to the slow side.

The news from Cambridge University professor Peter Wadhams is not encouraging. Ignoring the problem is not an option. The Guardian:

In an email to the Guardian he says: "Climate change is no longer something we can aim to do something about in a few decades' time, and that we must not only urgently reduce CO2 emissions but must urgently examine other ways of slowing global warming, such as the various geoengineering ideas that have been put forward."

These include reflecting the sun's rays back into space, making clouds whiter and seeding the ocean with minerals to absorb more CO2.

Wadhams has spent many years collecting ice thickness data from submarines passing below the arctic ocean. He predicted the imminent break-up of sea ice in summer months in 2007, when the previous lowest extent of 4.17 million square kilometres was set. This year, it has unexpectedly plunged a further 500,000 sq km to less than 3.5m sq km. "I have been predicting [the collapse of sea ice in summer months] for many years. The main cause is simply global warming: as the climate has warmed there has been less ice growth during the winter and more ice melt during the summer.

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Video: Romney hoped for American hostage "opportunity"

Dear God.

It's like all those "9/11 Truth" conspiracies, but in this case it's actually kind of true.  At least the part about considering the death of Americans in a foreign attack as an opportunity for political gain.

In the now-infamous video in which Romney says that half the country pays no taxes, thinks of themselves as victims, and don't care for their lives - and he won't have anything to do with them as president - just gave some more today when the entire video was released (only a portion was shown yesterday).

In today's full video, Mitt Romney actually said that if any Americans get taken hostage, like they did in Iran, or any similar national security crisis, Romney would "work to find a way to take advantage of the opportunity."

And Romney did just that, last week when Americans we dying in Libya and he jumped headlong into the crisis in an effort to politicize the death of a US ambassador. At the time, many were asking "what is the man thinking?" Now we know.

Remember that last week Romney's advisers were quoting saying that they saw the murder of American citizens in Libya as "an opportunity."  The exact same language Romney used in May to describe the taking of American citizens as hostages.  From Buzzfeed:

Questioner: When Carter was president, we had hostages. Ronald Reagan was able to make a statement even before he became, he was actually sworn in, and the hostages were released…

Mitt Romney: On the day of his inauguration.

Questioner: Right. So my question is really how can you sort of duplicate that scenario?

Romney: I could ask you, I could ask you how you do I duplicate that scenario?

Questioner: I think it had to do with the fact that the Iranians perceived Reagan… That’s why I’m suggesting that something that you say over the next few months gets the Iranians to understand that their pursuit of the bomb is something that you would prevent. And I think that’s something that could possibly resonate very well with the American public.

Romney: I appreciate the idea. One of the things that’s frustrating to me: in a typical day like this, when I do three or four events like this, the number of foreign policy questions I get is between zero and one. And the American people are not concentrated at all on China, on Russia, Iran, Iraq, and this President’s failure to put in place a status of forces agreement allowing ten to twenty thousand troops to stay in Iraq- unthinkable! And yet, in that election, in the Jimmy Carter election, the fact that we had hostages in Iran, I mean, that was all we talked about. And we had the two helicopters crash in the desert, I mean, that was the focus, and so him solving that made all the difference in the world. I’m afraid today that if you simply got Iran to agree to stand down on nuclear weapons, they’d go, “Now hold on. It’s really a-” I mean, if something of that nature presents itself I will work to find a way to take advantage of the opportunity.

This also perhaps explains Romney's bizarre comments about how his mere presence as the president-elect would bring money flooding back into America. He was comparing himself to Reagan as president-elect during the Iran hostage crisis.

The final irony is that Romney called for the release of the full video, because somehow that was going to exonerate him.

How'd that work out for him? Read the rest of this post...

GOP Sen. Scott Brown denounces Romney, as do others

Ruh roh. Granted, Brown doesn't want to lose his senate race over this. But the fact that he thinks Mitt Romney is hurting his senate race is telling. The Hill:

Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) came out in opposition to Mitt Romney's controversial remarks on the "47 percent."

Brown, who has been distancing himself from elements of the Republican Party, joins GOP Senate candidate in Connecticut Linda McMahon in coming out against the statements.

"That’s not the way I view the world. As someone who grew up in tough circumstances, I know that being on public assistance is not a spot that anyone wants to be in. Too many people today who want to work are being forced into public assistance for lack of jobs," he said in an email to The Hill.

Good luck with that, Scott, because it wasn't just Mitt Romney. Your party chairman, the esteemed Reince Priebus, endorsed the comments too. So that means it's the official policy of the Republican party now. So why are you still a member, Scott?

GOP Senate candidate Linda McMahon in Connecticut, not known for her liberal leanings, denounced Romney too. Of course, the problem for McMahon, as HuffPo points out, is that she used the same 47% talking point that she's now dissing Romney for using.

Even GOP House member Allen West is uncomfortable with what Romney said, and Allen West is crazy.

And now even Romney's host at the now-infamous fundraiser, Marc Leder, seems to be distancing himself from the comments (albeit coyly).

Gonna be a bad couple of days for the Romney campaign. Read the rest of this post...

Looks like Ryan's lying about his "6 percent body fat" too

Is anything this guy says true?

For a "numbers guy" he sure gets a lot of numbers wrong.

Slate has more on exactly what it means to have six percent body fat:

Here’s who else maintains 6 to 8 percent body fat: Olympic 100-meter sprinters, that’s who. Also, world-class boxers, wrestlers, and marathoners, according to this study of elite American athletes. Top collegiate swimmers look pretty fit, right? Well, they average out at a plump 9.5 percent, at least according to another study. Positively porky, compared to Ryan. (For some perspective, the average man has body fat of 17 to 24 percent, and most women a bit more.)

If his claim is to be believed—a Ryan spokesman did not respond to questions—he’s more along the lines of Tour de France cyclists who also get down around 8 or 9 percent to prepare for major races. According to Iñigo San Millan, a veteran cycling physiologist who has worked with numerous Tour de France teams, the lowest body fat he’s ever measured on a cyclist was 8.3 percent. That’s at peak fitness, racing shape.

Ryan’s claim, in other words, puts him squarely in the company of elite athletes. (And also, freakily, with these guys.) But while Ryan is definitely skinny—he told Allen that he’s 6-foot-2 and weighs 163 pounds, and his suits flutter like a Christo project gone wrong—that might be a stretch. At anything less than 10 percent body fat, says Martin Rooney, a well-known trainer who works with NFL and MMA athletes, “a man with his shirt off is lean and shredded. Veins everywhere and really cut up. This is the model and bodybuilder look. So if he is saying he is 6 percent, he is shredded with a six-pack and should have no reason not to do photo shoots everywhere.”

So far, he hasn’t. The only topless Ryan photo to surface is this grainy vacation shot on TMZ, from before he started P90X.

The photo isn't that grainy. Ryan is clearly in good shape. But six percent good shape?

If he lies about the little things... Read the rest of this post...

Guess what? Those lazy-a jobless victims are Romney voters.

Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post points to two fascinating maps from Patchwork Nation.

One shows counties that voted for Obama (the darker the purple the more Obama votes). Note the lack of Obama votes in the south.

And the other shows median household income (the darker the green the higher the income).  Note the extent of poverty in the south.

What you see in the maps is that the poorest parts of the country are mostly in the deep red Republican south.

So guess who doesn't pay taxes while they mooch off the government (to use Romney's sentiment)?  Yup.

Cillizza concludes:

Simply put: Romney’s assessment of an electorate motivated entirely by their relative economic status badly misses the impact that other issues — social ones in particular — have on the electorate. Assuming that anyone who doesn’t pay income taxes must, by necessity, be an Obama voter is a major strategic oversight by Romney that, if not corrected, will cost him the election.

Read the rest of this post...

Middle East protests: "There something different going on in every country"

This is a very nice intro to the broad question of "what's up with the Middle East" from Up With Chris Hayes this past weekend.

Guest host Sam Seder provides a good news summary, and then the panel takes over. The title quote is from Heather Hurlburt:

"There's something different going on in every country."

She then adds:

"If Egypt sneezes, the Muslim world catches cold."

Excellent discussion; watch:



For more information, see this post from yesterday.

GP

To follow or send links: @Gaius_Publius
 

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Sweet Jesus, it's Christmas in September! Hail Romney!

Some people were expecting an October Surprise from the Republicans.  But we never thought Mitt Romney would give it to us in September!

By now you may have heard that Mitt Romney ended his race for the presidency last night.  Well, not officially.  But the race is all but over.  Anyone who gives this man a dime after last night's fiasco, truly doesn't care about a return on their investment.

You see, last night we learned, from a secret video, that Mitt Romney had told some high-paying donors that half of America is worthless, lazy people who don't pay taxes, don't have a job, and don't really want one.

"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax.

Romney went on: "[M]y job is is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

Then, in case you didn't get the message the first time, Romney reiterated his key point, that Democrats don't pay taxes.

"It's a message which I'm gonna carry, and continue to carry, which is, look, the President's approach is attractive to people who are not paying taxes because frankly my discussion about lowering taxes isn't as attractive to them, and therefore I'm [not] likely to draw them into my campaign as effectively as those who were in the middle. This is really a discussion about, about the political process of winning the election."

And if that weren't clear enough, RNC Chair Reince Priebus, always good for adding insult to injury, said Romney's words were "on message." So the entire Republican party is now embracing Mitt Romney's claim that half of the American people are jobless and lazy and see themselves as victims.

Nice job, Reince. I think I see ripples of impact for the House and Senate races ("The chair of the Republican party says you're lazy and you don't pay enough in taxes...").

The reaction from the media was swift, and damning.

Josh Barro of Bloomberg, "Today Mitt Romney Lost the Election."

CNN's Jim Acosta ‏@jimacostacnn
Shorter Romney statement... no apologies.

AP's Kasie Hunt ‏@kasie
Category of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes: U.S. troops serving in combatzones.

TIME's Mark Halperin ‏@MarkHalperin
Many of us have seen pols pander to donors in closed events. I've heard my share Rs+Ds. Never anything this damaging however.

CNN/Daily Beast's @HowardKurtz
Romney on the 47 percent seems a stereotype of an unsympathetic venture capitalist--going to be hard to overcome among non-base voters.

CNBC/NYT's @JohnJHarwood
Ex-GWBush ad-maker McKinnon: Romney fund-raiser tape "potentially crippling"

@JohnJHarwood
Dem pollster Garin on Romney fund-raiser tape: "Reinforces impression he's mistake/prone & arrogant. would be better off if he apologized"

Things are getting so bad, this piece of satire by Andy Borowitz may not be so far off from the truth.

In what his campaign described today as a bold strategy to insure victory in the Presidential contest, Republican nominee Mitt Romney will undergo a procedure to have his mouth wired shut until Tuesday, November 6th.

Read the rest of this post...

Great Britain "united against Mitt Romney"

Who hasn't Mitt Romney offended recently? Film producer Harvey Weinstein's remarks won't do much to improve the tattered reputation of Mitt Romney.

Mr Weinstein told the BBC: “I witnessed Prime Minister saying to a group of people, myself included, that Mitt Romney had that unique distinction of uniting all of England against him with his various remarks. On behalf of my love of England, I have to support the President [Barack Obama] who is anything but making faux-pas.”

Mr Romney did not win many fans during his visit to Britain when he publicly cast doubt on whether Britain was prepared for the Olympics.

The Republican candidate said that because of concerns about security, it was “hard to know just how well it will turn out”.

Read the rest of this post...