The Grand Old Party spent two and a half days building up to the rousing finale of its 2012 national convention: the exhumation of Clint Eastwood.
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Erin O'Brien
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38 comments:
An elderly man talking to an empty chair? Sure sign of dementia.
Jamelle Bouie @jbouie.
This is a perfect representation of the campaign: an old white man arguing with an imaginary Barack Obama.
lost anarchist
There is so much to capitalize on here ... the Clyde jokes, the "make my day" reference in a room full of so-called "pro-gun rights" supporters where guns were prohibited, the endless empty chair quips ....
Yep. Lot's to capitalize on for the MSNBC crowd but, it was funny, a light moment, an American icon supporting the conservative cause, and, unscripted. A big plus for R&R and you'll see it in the polls. It definitely got under O's skin. Did you see his tweeted reply? A very defensive reply to a comedy skit. With the swing state Polls dead even, do you think someone's worried?
Something about Mitt that you didn't see on liberal coverage of convention.
Gee, Bill, maybe the Romney team should have given this couple a slot during the 60 minutes they secured on national TV instead of the Clintster.
Maybe. But they didn't. And the liberal media, even though they knew of it, didn't bother to even mention that an old couple who lost their son to cancer was explaing how Mitt was absolutely selfless in helping their family, practically and personally, through their greif. They just keep repeating how he cannot relate to the average person. Plus, Romney himself, like many great men and women, aren't comfortable bragging about themselves. Contrast that with the current brag master who'd favorite words are I and me.
Sure Bill, the colossal RNC 2012 convention botch was the media's fault.
uh-huh.
I don't consider Clint's act to be a botch and neither does the campaign. The media just does NOT want to cover anything about the Romney's that doesn't fit their narrative. It's that simple.
“The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at or repair”
Douglas Adams
I wonder, had Clint spoken at the DNC and done the same thing (e.g., had a conversation with an empty chair representing Romney) that we'd be seeing the vitriol, riducule, insert your geriatric joke of choice here we're seeing now from the left and elsewhere ... yep, that' s just what I thought.
Al
TRAG
P.S. Favorite Clint movie? Toss up between Dirty Harry and Unforgiven. Oh, and I always liked the Eiger Sanction too.
@ Bill: RE: "brag master"
Your examples?
The President has been in office roughly 3 years 8 months. I know its hard to account for three fourths of a year, so we'll round that down to three.
Find me a credible (no Breitbart, no Drudge, to Daily Caller, and no Beck) source, 1 for each year of his Presidency wherein the President can clearly be seen to "bragging" in a personal way about anything his administration has achieved.
I give you an idea where you might get started: The bin Laden announcement. The President used "we" and "our" maybe sixty times. He used "I" maybe six times. He rarely brought the raid up before this election cycle became toxic, and when he has brought it up it's in response to an attack from Republicans or their friends on the Fevered Wingnut Fringe.
Extra points for neatness. Stay in the margins.
Sorry to be imprecise with numbers, but I don't have time right now to review it again.
MR
Don't think the media is biased? Jake Tapper, chief WH correspondent for ABC disagrees.
In an interview with Laura Ingraham, White House reporter Jake Tapper said that the media is failing the country.
"A lot of people are hurting out there. Unemployment is 8.3 percent. That doesn’t even take into account the underemployed,” he said, arguing that too much time has been spent not talking about the economy.
No shit. Let's make an issue of the buffoon Akins comment and broad stroke all conservatives as being of the same bent. Throw in same sex marriage and we won't get back to the economy until after the election.
"Tapper also criticized the media for not giving enough attention to the war in Afghanistan."
Oh yeah. That nasty bit of business in the Mid-East that we're losing.
"Tapper also said he relates to Mark Halperin's recent comments about the media. Over the weekend, Halperin said, 'I think the press still likes this story a lot, the media is very susceptible to doing what the Obama campaign wants, which is to focus on this."
'I have said before… [that I] thought the media helped tip the scales. I didn’t think the coverage in 2008 was especially fair to either Hilary Clinton or John McCain,' Tapper said.
Tapper has also been critical of the lack of face time the president has given the legitimate media:
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/jake-tapper-to-president-obama-after-press-briefing-dont-be-a-stranger/
And seems to be rather fair and balanced when it comes to R/D:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/314250/jake-tapper-wheres-presidents-plan-alexander-kazam
I like it that my observation is backed by the Kos Kids when they have this to say about Mr. Tapper:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/26/1123668/-Jake-Tapper-demonstrates-why-the-media-is-useless
Thanks for that Armando.
Jake Tapper, perhaps the most balanced journalist in the business.
@ All-RE: "Liberal Media"-
The media this phrase is usually applied to the major networks both broadcast and cable.
The "Liberal Media" are all employees of the giant corporations that own said networks. There are no Mom-n-Pop operations in broadcasting.
Giant corporations tend to be very, very conservative.
MR
@ Jon Moore-
To put things in a context where we can be informed about the mindset of aspecific member of the media, Mark Halperin is the guy who had to apologize on-air for calling the President a "dick" on-air.
MR
@MR
Apparently Jake Tapper may agree with him.
bmastiff at 5:15 PM August 31, 2012
1) The primary point that Clint made -- that 23 million unemployed Americans is unacceptable -- should have been endorsed by Democrats. Yet Democrats in the news media can't address that because it exposes the utter hypocrisy and corruption of the party. I say that as someone who worked months as a volunteer in 3 Democratic congressional campaigns, in Howard Dean's 2004 campaign and in Obama's 2008 campaign (both primary and general.)
2) No one can acknowledge that Obama had an enormous concentration of power in January 2009 --huge Democratic supermajority in House, filibuster-proof 60 votes in Senate. And he chose to stab the American people in the back so that Goldman Sachs, the Big Banks and his other donors could avoid suffering the consequences of their corrupt gambling.
3) Just as Democrats can't acknowledge that it was a corrupt Bill Clinton who joined with Phil Gramm to destroy the banking regs set up by FDR. That it was Bill Clinton who let his Wall Street buddies rape our economy. Just as they can't acknowledge that Hillary sent 4500 US soldiers to their deaths in Iraq because Israeli billionaire Haim Saban dumped $14 Mil into the party in 2000-2002 to ensure Israel's enemy was removed (see Wikipedia on Haim).
4) Clint has integrity --which is why he utterly despises the hypocrites running the Democratic Party.
exelYouShout out to Al TRAG:
Aren't the conspirators still in the Army in the Georgia would-be terrorist case subject to an Army court-martial and execution for treason? It seems to me that military justice is going to be swifter and surer. The purpose of their conspiracy was to attack their own country in a time of war.
MR
Q bmastiff:
Lots of points in there subject to debate. I'll just address a couple.
1)The idea that the President had "an enormous concentration of power in January 2009" is...well...wrong. There was a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate for roughly 5 months-the stretch of time between when Al Franken was finally seated and the when Scott Brown was seated to replace Senator Kennedy. Five months, not the entire 111th Congress as righties frequently claim. And even during that brief period of time Senator McConnell used every procedural move he could make to slow or stop Mr Obama's initiatives.
2)The idea that as a Senator Hillary Clinton's vote for the AUMF for Iraq (or for that matter any single Senator's vote) was directly responsible for the decision to go into Iraq(and 4500 of our finest dead) is just patently wing-nut crazy. The AUMF didn't pass by a single vote. Any one Senator's vote therefore mad zero difference.
3)Of course 23 million unemployed or underemployed is unacceptable. But your comment is couched to make it look as if Democrats haven't been trying to do anything, and that's ridiculous. Late last summer Mr Obama introduced the American Jobs Act, and the GOP just said no. Since they took the House in 2010 the GOP has just said NO to anything Mr Obama and Democrats in Congress have proposed.
MR
I'm not even going to try to keep up with all of this, but I will shoot one easy arrow at bmastiff.
The primary point that Clint made -- that 23 million unemployed Americans is unacceptable -- should have been endorsed by Democrats.
OF COURSE that sentiment is endorsed by Dems, by libs, by righties, by probably just about every American.
Why, bmastiff, even Clyde doesn't like high unemployment.
Nice try, but it doesn't change the fact that Eastwood looked and behaved like an oaf.
As for the media, peeps, y'all are as big a part of it as you are a part of voting. Clicks get screen time. Just ask Arianna Huffington or Matt Drudge.
Americans have stopped caring about the foreign wars. The topic doesn't garner clicks or ratings, which is exactly why Mittens didn't mention Afghanistan, Iraq or the troops Thursday night.
Oh, and for the record, bmastiff, I've always adored Clint and mostly just felt embarrassed for him. I never cared one way or the other about his politics and I still don't.
Yeah, he's 82, but he opted to step onto the national political stage and make himself fair game.
The biggest loser? Romney of course.
WSJ Opinion Page, April 30, 2012:
While contemplating how the killing of bin Laden reflects on the president, consider the way he emphasized his own role in the hazardous mission accomplished by SEAL Team 6:
"I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority . . . even as I continued our broader effort. . . . Then, after years of painstaking work by my intelligence community I was briefed . . . I met repeatedly with my national security team . . . And finally last week I determined that I had enough intelligence to take action. . . . Today, at my direction . . ."
So what's your point, Obama should never use the word "I" ?
Here are a few other excerpts from Obama's remarks that day:
Over the last 10 years, thanks to the tireless and heroic work of our military and our counterterrorism professionals, we’ve made great strides in that effort.
Then, last August, after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community ...
A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability.
source
It's pretty obvious that the President is using the UBL get to make himself look good and, who can blame him? He did, however leave himself a life raft that would have placed the blame on a General, if the operation had failed. Who would blame him? As it turns out, lots of Navy Seals think he's making it all about himself and minimizing the roles of everyone else. I agree with them. You don't. The military is mostly pro Romney. That's not a surprise. This is one of those unwinnable arguments. I'll give him some credit, if he's learned how to pronounce Navy Corpsman.
It just makes me sad...like ALL the lies they are telling.
Well, get your anti depressants ready, Mike. Lies squared begins Tuesday.
What I want to know is where was the hair and makeup crew? Surely, with a little movie magic they could have made him look a little less like he had one foot in the grave. Or maybe that was the look they were going for?
I love Clint, but I had to look away.
P.S. Erin...I loved your tweet: "Somebody play Misty for me."
Classic! I almost got goosebumps!
DDP, that is exactly what I was thinking. They way his hair was standing up was just plain embarrassing. I mean come on, they couldn't comb a bead of Brylcreem through that?
Bryl-creem, a little dab'll do ya,
Bryl-creem, you'll look so debonair.
Bryl-creem, the gals will all pursue ya,
They'll love to RUN their fingers through your hair.
I still think he was funny and, I don't think he's too worried about looking his age.
@all
If all you've got is Eastwood, you're bobbing for apples with a blindfold on. Many of the Democratic delegates aren't even going to their own convention. What does that tell you? No matter, I not a huge fan of Romney, but I believe he has the American people's interest at heart. More so than Obama.
If Obama gets the Black vote, and he will, and the majority of the Hispanic vote, and the Independent vote, he will win. If the independents vote for Romney, Obama has a big problem, and could lose.
I think Romney will beat Obama in a debate, and I think Ryan will clean Biden's clock in a big way in their debate. Doesn't really matter what I think, but it does matter what the majority of people think.
Be prepared, Romney/Ryan could win this thing
@Yabu-dabadoo-
"If all you've got is Eastwood" should be directed at the Republican National Committee and the Romney campaign...Certain wingers think he was hilarious and spot-on...but the vast majority of opinion across the spectrum thought it was stupid to allow ANYONE to go out there unscripted, let alone an 82-year old loose cannon. He took 12 minutes-he was scheduled for 5. Because of the overrun the convention was forced to cut what is by all accounts a quite endearing video collection of Romney home movies that might have served to humanize him a bit more.
As to the debates, just go to the video of the primary debates. Mitt's mouth can be a weapon of self-destruction when he goes off script, and his skin is very thin. Remember the $10,000 bet? Remember him grabbing Perry's shoulder in an effort to intimidate him?
The President is going to slice, dice, chop and puree him. What the fuck is Romney going to have to say in a foreign policy debate? Bomb Iran, invade Syria, and Russia is our biggest geopolitical foe? Pick a trade war with the Chinese? How to insult Great Britain in two short days? Romney can't talk about debt reduction, because the Ryan budget he's already endorsed doesn't even balance the deficit-not the debt, the deficit-until 2040 because despite turning Medicare into a coupon program benefiting the insurance companies, which is not indexed to rising medical costs, he makes the Bush tax cuts permanent and then doubles down on them with additional wasteful tax cuts to the rich. Wasteful because the Bush tax cuts were supposed to encourage "job creators" who turned out to be job cremators. The top 1% or 2% have been throwing the money on the pile, not creating jobs.
"If all you got is Eastwood"...yeah, maybe that IS all the GOP has...
MR
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs,,that is the hammer.
So, according to the GOP, we are choosing between an empty chair and an empty suit. Did I get that right?
Real Clear Politics averages the most trusted polls. You can see numbers and clear graphics here:
Obama vs. Romney 2012
Obama vs. McCain 2008
RCP is an excellent source to check out what the country is thinking at a given moment. Check out the electoral vote count too. Got swing states?
Sure.
Ohio, 18 electoral votes
Florida, 29 electoral votes
Pennsylvania, 20 electoral votes
There is something beautifully ironic about the vid associated with this post being "no longer available" due to "multiple third-party notifications of copyright infringement." I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's there.
The 2012 Republican Convention is now copyrighted?
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