Thursday Reads: Romney Campaign Tactics and Debate Reactions
Posted: October 18, 2012 Filed under: 2012 presidential campaign, abortion rights, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, morning reads, Reproductive Health, Reproductive Rights, U.S. Economy, U.S. Military, U.S. Politics, War on Women, Women's Healthcare, Women's Rights | Tags: abortion, Adam Weinstein, body language, Citizen's United, contraception, employee intimidation, fundraising, Gallup poll, James Lipton, John Sununu, Kerry Healy, Laura Bassett, Mark Leder, MIke Elk, SCOTUS, second presidential debate 2012, swing state women, Virginia Military Institute 103 Comments
Good Morning!
Before I get started, don’t forget that Ann Romney is scheduled to be on The View today at 11AM Eastern.
Now to the news. I think I have some interesting links for you today. I’m going to focus mostly on some aggressive Romney campaign tactics and on reactions to the second presidential debate.
I’m sure you’ve probably heard about the stories that have been coming out about corporate CEOs trying to intimidate their employees into voting for Mitt Romney, see here, here, here, and here.
Late yesterday afternoon, Mike Elk of In These Times revealed that Romney himself has suggested that business owners instruct their employees–and their families–how they should vote. I hope you’ll read the whole article, but I’m going to post the audio of a conference call that Romney held, sponsored by the National Federation of Independent Business. The whole call is quite interesting, but the relevant part is at the end, around the 26:00 point.
Here the transcription, from Mike Elk’s article (emphasis added):
I hope you make it very clear to your employees what you believe is in the best interest of your enterprise and therefore their job and their future in the upcoming elections. And whether you agree with me or you agree with President Obama, or whatever your political view, I hope, I hope you pass those along to your employees.
Nothing illegal about you talking to your employees about what you believe is best for the business, because I think that will figure into their election decision, their voting decision and of course doing that with your family and your kids as well.
I particularly think that our young kids–and when I say young, I mean college-age and high-school age–they need to understand that America runs on a strong and vibrant business [sic] … and that we need more business growing and thriving in this country. They need to understand that what the president is doing by borrowing a trillion dollars more each year than what we spend is running up a credit card that they’re going to have to pay off and that their future is very much in jeopardy by virtue of the policies that the president is putting in place. So I need you to get out there and campaign.
Elk writes that this actually is legal now, thanks to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. He also asks whether Romney is behind the recent rash of reports of CEOs putting pressure on their employees to vote for the Republican ticket.
The call raises the question of whether the Romney campaign is complicit in the corporate attempts to influence employees’ votes that have been recently making headlines….
Beyond Romney’s statements on the call, it’s unclear whether his election operation is actively coordinating workplace campaigning by businesses. Romney press secretary Andrea Saul did not respond to In These Times’ request for comment.
However, the conference call raises troubling questions about what appears to be a growing wave of workplace political pressure unleashed by Citizens United.
At Mother Jones, Adam Weinstein has another story about aggressive Romney campaign tactics. Weinstein obtained some e-mails between the Romney campaign and the Virginia Military Institute, where Romney recently gave a foreign policy speech. The military is required to be nonpartisan and stay out of politics, but Romney pressured the school to allow him to use his speech as what would have in essence been a campaign event.
When Mitt Romney addressed a crowd of cadets at Virginia Military Institute on October 8, he was supposed to give a major foreign policy speech that steered clear of partisan politics. That’s because VMI personnel observe the US military’s tradition of political neutrality when in uniform. But internal emails obtained by Mother Jones show that Romney’s campaign pushed to burnish his commander-in-chief credentials by maximizing military optics around the event. Members of Romney’s staff sought to use the VMI logo in their campaign materials, requested that uniformed cadets be let out of class early to attend Romney’s speech, and asked VMI “to select a few cadet veterans and give them a place of honor” standing behind Romney during his address.
As the campaign pushed for these requests, VMI officials pushed back, concerned that they were for partisan purposes. Each request was denied by the state-run institution, whose students serve in the US military’s Reserve Officers Training Corps, so that VMI would not be seen as endorsing Romney’s candidacy. The Romney campaign also pressured VMI to play host to “15 to 20” retired admirals and generals at the school who traveled there to endorse Romney; VMI eventually relented to that request.
Please do read the whole article at the link.
Remember Mark Leder? He’s the private equity billionaire who hosted the private fund-raiser at which Mitt Romney made his infamous “47 percent” remarks. Leder is giving another fund-raiser for Romney in Florida on Saturday night, according to Ryan Grim and Laura Goldman at HuffPo.
Leder has been telling potential donors that given the uproar following his last fundraiser, he feels an obligation to make the situation right by raising more money for Romney, according to people who have discussed the matter with Leder. One donor, asked if Leder had been noting that he’d been “taking heat” for the last fundraiser, said, “That was the basic pitch, except the word ‘heat’ was replaced by another four-letter word that begins with s.”
Saturday night’s event, unlike his now-famous May fundraiser, will not be held at Leder’s home. It will be in Palm Beach, Fla., and will include other hosts in addition to Leder.
Leder is a leveraged-buyout specialist, much like Romney. He owns Sun Capital Partners, which is based in Boca Raton, Fla. — the site of the upcoming presidential debate, which will be held on Monday. Leder is the co-owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and has been characterized in the press as a “party animal.”
I imagine all of the guests and staff will have to surrender their cell phones before the event. Will there be body searches too?
Contraception came up in the debate on Tuesday night, and Mitt Romney seems to be feeling a bit defensive about it. Abortion rights weren’t addressed, but Romney must be feeling defensive because he released a new ad yesterday.
Apparently Mitt thinks this ad proves he’s “moderate” on abortion. He wants to ban all abortions except in cases where women have been raped, are victims of incest, or whose lives are in danger if they carry the child to term. That seems pretty extreme to me, since abortion is legal, at least for now.
But Romney has also said he supports states passing personhood amendments, he has clearly stated that he will appoint judges who would overturn Roe v. Wade, and he has repeatedly promised to cut all funding for Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood released a statement in response to the ad (h/t Jezebel)
“This is an ad designed to deceive women. The Romney team knows that Mitt Romney’s real agenda for women’s health is deeply unpopular – ending safe and legal abortion, ending Planned Parenthood’s preventive care that millions of people rely on, and repealing the Affordable Care Act and the coverage of birth control with no co-pay. Romney can run from his own agenda, but he can’t hide – women will hold him accountable at the polls on election day.”
I don’t understand how these exceptions that Romney and Ryan keep talking about could work anyway. Would a pregnant girl or women have to prove that she was raped or sexually victimized by a relative? How would that work? Would there have to be a confession by the perpetrator? There certainly wouldn’t be time for the crime to be prosecuted in a court of law in time for an abortion to take place. What about the claim of danger to the mother’s life? Will doctors have to prove the claim to government inspectors? I just don’t think any of this would be realistic. I think we have to assume that these “exceptions” are just more bait and switch from the flim flam ticket.
Romney and his campaign advisers might want to take a look at the results of a new Gallup poll of women in swing states. The poll asks “What do you consider the most important issue for women in this election?” Here are the results:
For men, the top four issues on the list were jobs, the economy, the Federal deficit/balanced budget, and health care. For women, abortion was number one, and the deficit didn’t even make the list! Generally speaking, women had quite different interests than men.
On contraception, Romney surrogate and former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healy told Andrea Mitchell yesterday that contraception is just a “peripheral issue” for women.
Mitchell pressed Healy on the financial considerations for women whose employers refuse to cover contraception on religious grounds. “That is a pocketbook issue,” Mitchell said. “It’s dollars and cents.”
“The problem here is that we are talking about these peripheral issues,” Healy said. ”We need to really be talking about employment, jobs. That’s what women care about.”
Laura Bassett has more on the interview at HuffPo. Bassett notes that during the debate Tuesday Romney tried to gloss over his past statements on the issue of employers making contraception coverage available to employees by during the debate on Tuesday by claiming that
“I just know that I don’t think bureaucrats in Washington should tell someone whether they can use contraceptives or not, and I don’t believe employers should tell someone whether they have contraceptive care or not,” Romney said during Tuesday night’s debate. “Every woman in America should have access to contraceptives and the president’s statement on my policy is completely and totally wrong.”
Romney’s answer subtly changes the subject from insurance coverage of contraception to the more general issue of access to contraception, and it strategically leaves enough wiggle room for his campaign to say that his position has not changed.
Healy followed suit with Andrea Mitchell.
Romney did “not in any way” change his position, Healey said. “Governor Romney is both a strong supporter of religious freedom and also believes in access to contraception for American women.”
Pressed on the details of the Blunt amendment, which would have allowed employers to refuse to cover birth control on moral grounds and which Romney previously said he would support, Healey changed the subject. “The question of whether or not we should force someone to give up their religious freedom to provide insurance coverage in some hypothetical situation is not really the point to most women out there,” she said. “There are 5.5 million unemployed women in the country.”
What’s lost in both Romney’s and Healey’s answers on the contraception issue is the point that President Barack Obama made Tuesday night, which is that for many women, having birth control fully paid for by their insurance plans is an economic issue.
Yesterday afternoon the MSNBC show “The Cycle” had a body language expert, Chris Ulrich on to talk about the interactions between Obama and Romney during the debate. It was fascinating. I can’t embed the video, but I hope you’ll watch it at the link. You won’t regret it.
In a similar vein, if you didn’t see Chris Matthews’ interview with James Lipton of Inside the Actor’s Studio last night, be sure to watch that too. Lipton analyzed the behavior of the two debate participants, and said that he thought he had finally figured out who Mitt Romney is. He’s the boss who tells dumb jokes and expects you to laugh at them–or else. Lipton said that the choice for voters is between a president (Obama) and a boss. Do we want a boss running the country? Lipton said that some people might like that, but he seemed to find it frightening.
I’ll end with the most recent confrontation between ugly, nasty troll John Sununu and Soledad O’Brien, which took place yesterday morning on CNN.
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
Mama Lopez
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Great roundup, bb. I have an early morning appt & can’t check out the links until later tonight. Looking forward to reading them.
I’m so glad you included the James Lipton interview. I watched the show last night. It was great! Lipton’s question, “does America want a president or a boss” was powerful, as well as insightful. I just love James Lipton.
I wanted to share this piece from Media Matters about gas prices: http://mediamatters.org/research/2012/10/17/conservatives-remain-in-denial-after-obama-burs/190708 It confirms Obama’s statement that prices were low in 2008 due to the recession.
The conservative blow back about Candy Crowley’s confirmation of the prez saying “acts of terror” in the Rose Garden is out of control. MSNBC ran the video on nearly all of their shows last night. Something struck me & I hope someone here will take a look at the video & see what they think. When Obama said “get the transcript”, it seems to me that he was looking at/talking to Crowley, although I at first thought he was speaking to Romney. Candy picked up a sheaf of papers from her desk & confirmed Obama’s statement. It looked, to me, as if Obama knew she had the transcript of the Rose Garden speech on her desk, which makes me wonder why. Planned exchange or coincidence? I have to say that Romney’s challenge/raised eyebrows look at Obama wouldn’t leave my mind yesterday. To me it was the look of an angry father about to severely punish his child for getting out of line. His disrespect for the prez was palpable.
I think the Obama team planned to trap Romney on that right wing false meme. They probably brought the evidence along with them and gave it to Candy. It worked perfectly, because the Romney people apparently live in the Fox News/Drudge bubble and don’t bother to check anything in the real world.
Your characterization of Romney’s facial expression is perfect. And Romney couldn’t understand why Obama wasn’t intimidated. The expression on his face when Candy fact checked him was priceless too. He did a kind of double-take, blink a few times and stepped back a few paces. If you have a chance to watch the body language segment that I linked to toward the end of my post, you can see it.
Candy’s understood when she selected the question about Libya what was going to be involved, particularly since Ryan’s debate, she probably had all her notes as most reporters do – she was born to be a reporter. I don’t think Obama gave her anything, this wasn’t a moment of duck duck, it was we/they, and the holder of the card was tv, in the video/transcript for all to see. The other part playing out is mostly about Romney losing the debate, he lost control and he lost the debate, and his entire team is so damn jealous of our President, and his performance. Their reaction is very much like a fucking nervous breakdown, because the election is three weeks away.
Great roundup, bb. The body language thing was very interesting. I kept the link running and there was a really nice tribute to George McGovern that followed.
I’m so glad Ralphb mentioned Somerby on the previous thread because I have gotten out of the habit of visiting the Daily Howler and it’s really worth a read through. It affirms that the attack in Benghazi really was a reaction to the video, a fact that has been obfuscated by the media. Once you realize that, you understand why Sununu was raving at Soledad O’Brien in your link above. It never ceases to amaze me how successful the right wing is in manipulating our lazy and complacent media.
Not defending Romney and his attempt to use VMI for political purposes, but I bristle when people are misled about VMI. There is no mandatory commission after graduation from VMI. In other words, graduates do not automatically serve in the military upon graduation. It’s a far cry from West Point or The Naval Academy. Let’s all remember that Reserve Officer Training Corps is R.O.T.C.For those of us old enough recall, that was available on almost all college campuses at one time. My brother did R.O.T.C. and never served a second in the military nor did he ever have a desire to. I guess it’s a pet peeve with me because my daughter told me that during Senior Class Day when she was in high school, that everyone had to stand and applaud for the 3 graduates in her class who were going to attend VMI. Why? It’s really just another college. It just so happens that they have strict practices and march around in uniforms, but that’s about it. The last time VMI students were called upon to serve the military was during the Civil War. I once met a VMI cadet in Lexington who was interested in dating my friend. The next time I ran into him he was selling cars at a Nissan dealership in Northern Virginia. That’s what he did after graduating from the vaunted VMI. I’m sorry to rant, but I am sick of the reverence directed to the military in this country. So maybe that’s why Romney chose VMI, because his people knew it wasn’t a real military institution but he could get away with pretending it was.
I understand that VMI isn’t a military school in the sense of West Point, but the school has a policy of remaining nonpartisan. (Frankly, I think any school should have that policy.) I was just trying to demonstrate Romney’s amazingly aggressive style of campaigning. He really is treating the presidential campaign like a CEO doing anything to make the sale.
I definitely get your point about false reverence to the military though. I even find it annoying the way everyone religiously “thanks the troops” and says “thank you for your service.” I don’t think the Vietnam War or the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were fought “for our freedom.” They were fought for the corporations.
I’m sorry if it seemed my rant was directed at you, bb. It wasn’t. I agree that all colleges and universities should have a policy of nonpartisanship, I just needed to clarify for anyone who might be misled because I think the distinction is deliberately blurred by those who think that anything or anyone that is even remotely associated with the military or military service is to be revered. I also agree that Romney’s people probably muscled their way with VMI. They are merely a bunch of bullies.
No, I didn’t take it that way at all. I’m glad you did clarify it. Maybe that is the reason the Romney campaign felt they could bully VMI–because they aren’t “real military.”
You might be interested in knowing that Obama has received more donations in his fundraising events from the military, than Romney has.
No question, John Sununu makes for great tv. He also makes Zell Miller appear almost sane.
Those clips that keep popping up from the debate show a very disrespectful Mitt Romney who apparently was led to believe that since the first debate his best chances rest with overtalking, interrupting, and breaking the rules which is – I suppose – an optic that gives him “presidential swagger”. It failed.
James Lipton was right on the money. Romney looked like a hall monitor demanding to see your pass. The type of guy we all hated in school.
I give Obama credit for remaining “cool”. This is a man who has been accused by the GOP of being “unAmerican”, whose birth certificate has been challenged, called a “racist”, referred to as a Kenyan colonialist, and who wife has been compared to a gorilla.
Having to stand on the same stage with this lying sack of crapola, who lies, contorts, and twists his positions into some form of logic must have been galling. But that “gotcha” moment had to be some sort of satisfaction because for once, before an audience of millions, Mitt Romney appeared the fool.
Couldn’t happen to a “nicer guy”.
The body language at the end of the debate told the tale. Ann Romney certainly knew that her husband had f’ed up. I wonder what she’ll do on The View today? I don’t think I can stand to watch it in real time.
I’m going to watch Ann on The View this morning. I can’t wait! 😉
Last night at the Romney’s house, just a typical American family:
I can’t wait for your assessment! Maybe I’ll even watch.
Beata I don’t know how you find the funniest videos. Purrfect! And I love the caricature Ann with her pearls in sleepytime.
Sununu is just a world class scumbag. A true waste of human skin.
….and a waste of oxygen.
I see Sununu as a very dangerous man, because of the tone and behavior towards women, particulary of late, Soledad, I’d be telling her to watch her back. Don’t ever take her eye off him.
This is really funny. The Romney campaign told The Hill that they won’t “rein in the candidate” at Monday night’s third debate. He plans to continue to be just as aggressive and pushy as he was in the second debate. I think a lot of righties have actually convinced themselves that Romney won. I accidentally heard a little bit of Hannity last night as I was switching channels. Hannity claimed that Romney crushed Obama in the debate and the liberal media is just spinning for Obama. Unbelievable!
From The Hill:
Except the Gallup poll of swing state women showed that the most important issue to them is abortion. Ooops!
Lots of good links. Loved the Lipton segment, although I wish Chris had let him finish rather than interrrupt. And the body language clip was fascinating. Agree about Ann Romney at the end of the debate – she knew Romney had screwed the pooch, so to speak, and if he pulls the same disrespectful stunts in the third debate, he’s gone over the cliff in my opinion. Thanks BB for the great roundup.
Thanks for reading, HT.
Every day BB, multiple times every day. You folks are fabulous founts of information and are better at interpretation and disseminating than any journalists/newscaster.
James Lipton was really great. He kind of has Rmoney nailed.
@HT 8:31 – DITTO from me.
Thank you!!
And from me! Excellent news roundup and analysis. You help me stay well informed — and that’s not easy these days.
And from me. Thanks for another wonderful post and now off to read links etc.
And from me, another Ditto!
You can’t find a better bostonboomer, ditto to high five for her.
Yeah. Lipton does have it nailed. He’s the boss from hell.
NPR gathered a group of economists, left/middle/right types. Part I was on this AM with more to follow on ATC, I believe, this afternoon. Here’s the link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/10/18/163106924/a-tax-plan-that-economists-love-and-politicians-hate
The gist of the story, based on what they all could agree upon: eliminate mortgage tax deduction because it benefits the rich the most & encourages purchasing bigger & bigger homes. And, eliminate ALL taxes on corporations. Any chance our Economist in Residence could weigh in on this?
The mortgage tax deduction is one of the most important ones for middle class taxpayers. They could just limit it to first homes. I’m going to have to go see who the “liberal” economists are in that group.
Sorry for chiming in here.
I see they also want to eliminate the payroll tax deduction, which would completely change and probably kill Social Security. It’s not surprising. Planet Money has become a very Wall Street-friendly program.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/07/26/157396666/the-disagreement-behind-our-economic-platform
No problem. The wiping out of corporate taxes (for those corps that actually pay taxes) bothered me the most. Mortgage tax deduction – I’ve only been able to use it once or twice. My total deductions usually aren’t enough to allow me to itemize. I could see limiting it to primary residence and maybe a cap, like deductible for the 1st $200K/$250K of mortgage. Of course, housing prices vary not only across the country, but within each state as well. A cap could be tricky & have to be adjusted annually based on rising property values.
I’ve also only been able to take the mortgage interest tax deduction for 2 yrs out of 24 years of having a mortgage. I didn’t get a big enough loan, apparently. So I won’t miss it.
The problem with all the austerity talk is that it isn’t necessary and will hurt the economy overall.
Oh, completely agree about the austerity policy being the road to ruin for Americans. I was feeling peevish at not having a mortgage interest tax deduction. Which is not a reason to want it taken from others.
Sleazeball Scott Brown accuses Elizabeth Warren of using paid actors to play asbestos workers in her ads–then apologizes later.
Brown is almost as bad a liar as his mentor Mitt Romney.
They are all liars. I can’t help but wonder why anyone would vote for them.
Linda Greenhouse describes the conservative SCOTUS justices’ shameful behavior during arguments in the Texas affirmative actions case. This is a must read!
Good grief, the Supreme Court indulging in very questionable tactics. I wonder if they realize that this type of behaviour erodes the confidence that the public has in their office. Disgraceful.
Clarence Thomas’ appointment eroded my confidence in SCOTUS, many, many moons ago.
What an embarrassment!
Sounds like Romney’s for national healthcare!
He means every woman should be able to buy contraceptives if they can afford it. They might have to buy them in Canada or Europe, but that wouldn’t be a hardship, right?
“He means every woman should be able to buy contraceptives if they can afford it.”
That is exactly what he means BB. I hope that the women who heard that understood it as well as you and I. Romney has made it clear that he doesn’t support contraception coverage in healh insurance. He thinks an employer can just decide that contraception isn’t compatible with his religious view and then refuse that coverage to his female employees in their health insurance. He thinks religious organizations should be exempt from providing contraceptive care. He doesn’t get that contraception is a health issue for women. He thinks like Limbaugh thinks, that it’s the equivalent of a condom. Damn stupid asses.
Obama is threatening to veto any bill that blocks the “fiscal cliff” cuts. This is exactly what Jonathan Chait predicted last week!
Ooooh! Hardball, yes!
Yes. He has learned some lessons.
Well, I watched The View, and Ann didn’t make any big mistakes, unfortunately. She completely sidestepped the abortion question, and they didn’t push her on it. Whoopi asked Ann how she would explain to mothers who had lost children in the wars that Mitt and her sons never served. That was kind of funny.
To Ann Romney: Stop it. This (the possibility of Mitt’s win) is hard. Get in the ring (behind women, you so love, and their fight for fairness and equality. Please step down from your high horse. Imposing austerity is the sure road to Greece.
Ann Romney on The View: These are not direct quotes. They are taken from my memory and some notes I made.
Very softball questions. Whoopi did ask about military service vs. Mormon missions. Ann was asked if part of being a Mormon meant one was opposed to serving in the military? Ann said no, many Mormons do serve ( but not the Romneys, who are, well, special! ).
Whoopi: As First Lady, part of your job will be talking to women whose children are coming home from war in body bags. Your husband did not serve in the military and neither did any of your sons. What will you say to these women?
Ann: Well, my husband did serve through mission to our church and so did all my sons. You know, I always say, I sent my sons away on their missions as boys and they came home men. ( Smiles. )
Whoopi: But some mother’s sons don’t come home alive from military service. What will you say to them?
Ann: You know, one of the hardest things Mitt did as governor was meet with the families in Massachusetts who had lost children in the military. It’s very hard.
Ann was also asked about her views on abortion. Said she is not running for office. Mitt is. Then finally did say she is pro-life. Was asked about Mitt being pro-choice as Gov. of MA. Ann said he was pro-life but served as a pro-choice governor ( well, that explains that, right? ). Also said abortion was a “tender issue” and that the economy would be the deciding factor in the election.
At the end of the segment, Ann reminded people October was Breast Cancer Awareness Month and pointed to an awareness pin she was wearing. Ann said we need to do as much as we can about breast cancer. ( Yeah, like defund Planned Parenthood so the women who depend on it for breast cancer screenings are out of luck. Go to the ER for your mammogram, women! I love you all! )
Josh Romney, the Snail Prince, was in the front row at The View, looking slimey.
Sorry I missed the Prince of Snails. And what’s up with Snail appearing at Mommy’s side all the time? Was he there to jump up and punch the Women of the View if they got to tough on Mommy? He has quite a fiery temper if he wants to punch the POTUS during a debate. Maybe a little anger management when this is all over would be good for Snail.
“Ann said we need to do as much as we can about breast cancer. ( Yeah, like defund Planned Parenthood so the women who depend on it for breast cancer screenings are out of luck. Go to the ER for your mammogram, women! I love you all! )”
Good catch Beata. Ann, like Mitt, is skilled at talking out of both sides of her mouth.
C’mon mouse, us people don’t need that Planned Parenthood indoctrination, after all Mitt can afford a private abortion should the Prince of Snails impregnate a female. The fact that the large majority of women need Planned Parenthood for health care is not a problem for the Mittster and his family. Seems to me that there was one chap in mythology who wanted more, more. I think his name was Midas.
Mouth? I’m thinking they are talking out of another orifice, especially since what they say is pure, unadultered crap.
Ecocat, that was a zinger. Well done. Talking out of one’s rectum is indeed where the entire Romney family seems to excel.
LOL!!!! Yep…..Talkin out their ass, would be a better description.
HT….You should see the steady protest by the christo/teavangelical at the one and only PP Clinic that services half of this Southern State. There are only 2 PP’s in this State. It’s bad enough that they attempt to shame the women who use PP, but most of the people doing the shaming are menz. I’ve escorted women into the nearest PP, including a woman in my own family and running the gauntlet of the subtle shaming is infuriating.
Mouse, that is a disgraceful situation. How can people justify to themselves that preventing women getting health care is a good – no a godly thing to do? While I’m not a Xian, nor any other religious category, I have read all of their books, and seems to me that the protesters are sinning. Perhaps that is what the folks who are friends of Planned Parenthood and man the lines should shout – Sinners, Sinners, Jesus said …and quote the new testament. Perhaps if they were shamed – oh forget it, I’m a naive older lady. They will never change.
Mouse, that kind of protest at PP in my town has been going on for many years. And yes, the protesters are usually men. My “favorite” protester in years past was an elderly never-married Catholic man who lived with his sister. He always had a rosary in one hand and a sign like “Sluts Will Burn in Hell” in his other hand. Bless his heart. /s
Too bad no one asked about the Romney sons who have had children using in vitro fertilization and surrogates.
I apologize if this has been posted before.
Please, please let that be prophetic. It’s time to turn these tea party bustards out, and that includes their moderate face – people like Brown.
Lol, an old world snipe, but it’s probably an insult to the bustards!
Funny from ppp. 60% of New Hampshire voters don’t have an opinion on Bowles-Simpson but 15% do have an opinion on Panetta/Burns, which I made up. 🙂
I hope the Warren lead holds.
I think it will after Brown’s latest outrage which I posted about upthread. It isn’t going over well here.
Breaking News @BreakingNews
More: Federal appeals court in Manhattan becomes 2nd in nation to strike down Defense of Marriage Act – @AP http://huff.to/U9uVJ2
Mother Jones @MotherJones
Romney Military Adviser Wanted Separate Housing for Gay Troops http://mojo.ly/RHn2FB
Woo-Hoo!
WOO-HOO to the Federal Appeals Court Decision. BOO to the separate-but-equal Housing. No more jim crowe
Dana Milbank commits another act of journalism.
Romney’s facts are curious things
lies, lies and more lies.
Here’s a montage from Tweetie on Romney interrupting every one and being rude during debates both now and in the primary …
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/#49454338
The man is constantly rude and disruptive and nasty in all of these debates … you can see the moment he power moved Rick Perry just to remember.
I watched every GOP debate, because I wanted to hear for myself what these guys were campaigning on, particularly the social issues. Romney was very aggressive throughout. Had it not been for all of the other assholes on that stage, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, Ricky Santorum, he would have been a shoo-in for Mr.Uncongeniality
Morning Joe men mock Mika Brzezinski and condescendingly explain to her why working class women don’t care about Romney’s “binder” story. Keep in mind the question he didn’t answer was about equal pay for women.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/18/mika-brzezinski-romney-binders-women_n_1979854.html
Mark Halperin thought they should be discussing “more important issues.”
I haven’t felt well for two days, but still reading and enjoying all posts here. I just had to chime in on the Ole Joe and the wimmins hater club this morning. My sister and I spoke this morning, both of us saw this discussion of “not important stuff”. It never occurred to the assholes they were not just disagreeing with her assessment but mocking her issues and how she felt about it. Don’t you just love when men tell you what’s important to think about and how you feel is silly? And as for Mark Halperin, he is a tool and he is moving up the chain for me, coming close to Lady Ann on the extreme dislike meter.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/mitt-romney-boss-13852713
Just once I wish Mika would get really pissed and tell those asswipes to stop their damned mansplaining, unless they are all cross-dressers.
They’re very dismissive of Mika. Joe treats her like she’s his gal Friday and the other men follow his lead. Occasionally she scolds Joe like he’s a schoolboy, which is often how he behaves, but she usually just rolls her eyes or makes some sort of facial expression or stabs with some quick retort that shows her disgust. Morning Joe, is on some mornings, like a boy’s locker Room.
We should send the Morning Joe boys some towels so they can snap each others ass.
wonder why she went on to the layout in Vanity Fair……..she knows what needs fixing, but doesn’t want out. She needs to leave him, and yes do her on thing on t.v. She can do pretty well for herself without Joe.
Query: Has anyone asked Romney, if elected, how he’ll begin creating jobs immediately and steadily producing 3 million jobs each of his 4 years? (Steve Benen on the Rachel Maddow blog claims a creation of 12 million jobs is already expected whoever wins.) So, maybe I’ve answered my own question, but, in all likelihood, Romney probably doesn’t read Benen. Obama, his campaign, and his pundits need to repeatedly put Romney on the hot seat and water-board him to an answer. Obama exasperates me by not taking on job creation. He could have been repeating that when Governor Romney left MA, the state was 47th in job creation. More needs to be said about those 12 million jobs which now, by waiting, Romney seems to claim and will do little in their creation.
Adviser peregrine would tell Obama to stop repeating the same points in the same way. Be creative. For the next 20 days, talk ad nauseam about job creation in the next term.
I never became exasperated with Hillary and never for a second thought to advise her.
Peregrine…..I think Romney’s message is “If you lower the tax rates on the JOB CREATORS they will create the jobs”. We all know that is horseshit. The Obama campaign has been saying that the “Job Creators” paying lower taxes does NOT incentivize the rich to create jobs. That trickle down ecomonics has generally been the GOP outlook for decades, but we know it doesn’t work. They more money they get, they more they stash in the Caymans and the more jobs they create in China, India, Bangladesh, where they can make even more money to stash in the Caymans.
For the record I do agree that they need a better message or a better way of presenting their message. I think he’s tried to say that rebuilding our infrastructure and retraining our workforce and putting people to work in alternative energy manufacturing is where the jobs will come from, but he’s not articulated that well in the debates. Debates are basically soundbites. Romney is better at memorizing and repeating those soundbites than Obama, but I think Obama has gotten a lot of his message across on the campaign trail.
Mouse, I want specifics…what a laugh! Biden got into R/R’s 20% tax reduction with Ryan. Obama should follow Biden up and ask again and again for facts and he should offer facts as well. Obama has to knock Romney off his game and show him blabbering again.
“Mouse, I want specifics”
So do I and 315 million other American’s
And another thing, I know this won’t be an issue to the important people, just like Romney’s disrespect of the president, their son wanting the punch the president, but Lady Ann on the View trying to equate proselytizing with Military service is despicable. And as an added attraction, throwing in, one of her son’s is a doctor. Act of patriotism vs. what? She said the resemblance is they “get” to mature.
Comments from the article
Her husband and her sons risked having a door closed in their face?
As a retired senior non-comissioned officer with over 20 years sevice to country, her attempt to equate the two is just insulting on a level I cannot express.
Just how many Mormon Missionaries die in the course of they’re duties MS. Romney?
I sorry to rant but this really pissed me off.
It’s an issue for me and it pisses me off like mad.
Holy shit, have you all seen this?
Virginia GOP Caught Throwing Away Voter Registrations | Crooks and Liars
I saw that Jennifer, it’s sicking and it doesn’t surprise me.
TPM has a story about this now. They talked to the Sheriff about it.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/10/virginia_sheriff_republican_voter_registration.php?ref=fpnewsfeed
And of course, what’s in Harrisonburg? Not much other than James Madison University where there are almost 20,000 students!!!!!!
NYT: Party of Independents Analyzes and Criticizes
That was interesting read, Ralph. By the way BB, I’m so glad you put up that article on the Supreme Court.
Thanks. I imagine that sort of thing is happening all over the country.
A feel good story for a change…
Bruce Is Back: Springsteen, Clinton Hit The Trail For Obama
New thread up above.