ox45tallboy: Romney's record at Bain and his record as governor is every bit as important as Obama's record as Senator, and now President.

romney's record of trying to simultaneously hold multiple positions is kinda important, too - and this latest dustup is just further hammering that home. and it isn't as tho they are highlighting an inconsistency, or a change of stance or position - it's that he holds diametrically opposed positions on 1 singular thing. he was running bain when it comes to MA residency, but he wasn't when it comes to owning a business that disposed of aborted fetuses. he was running bain when it comes to SEC filings, but he wasn't running bain when it comes to actual bain business practices.

i just dunno that anything specifically about bain is the crux here, any more than it being a perfect example to point out Schrodinger's candidate.

propasaurus: Coco LaFemme: Brutal is right. It's very cutting in its honesty and directness. Like someone else pointed out though, it's July and the election is in November. An ad like this would be at its zenith of effectiveness after the debates, when the push to really stick in the minds of undecided voters is being made.

My parents remember the "Daisy" ad, and my dad said it scared him shiatless, and he was 15 when that came out. The spectre of nuclear annihilation was still very present, and the ad itself was basically saying, "Vote LBJ, or Goldwater will have us all blown to smithereens by the Soviets."

Makes me think that if this is what they've got loaded for July, they've got something really devastating in the pipeline for October.

They'll stay on one message until November, and throw the occasional 'we killed Osama Bin Laden' out there once in a while.

It'll work too.

KarmicDisaster: mrmyxolodian: "There is no whining in politics. Stop demanding an apology, release your tax returns."

-- GOP strategist John Weaver, quoted by the AP, calling on Mitt Romney to disclose his tax returns.

Hmmm. I think that it is likely that the returns are going to show more of the same or worse, or he would have released them already instead of just the two "fixed" returns generated after he decided to run. Maybe that is why the Dems released this ad now, it puts Romney in a very hard place by priming the public in case he was thinking of releasing the returns now in the hope that things will blow over by the election.

"If you have things to hide, then maybe you're doing things wrong. I think you ought to be willing to release everything to the American people."

-- Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (R), quoted by the AP, calling on Mitt Romney to release his tax returns.

Dafatone: I'm less impressed by the singing and most of the commercial than most people, I think.

But. "Mitt Romney's not the solution. He's the problem." Boom.

^
|
|
THIS.

I think this is a brilliant bit and very likely to be a recurring theme. It turns Reagan's tired old quote about how "government is not the solution..." on its head and throws it back at Republicans.

runaway06: Whats with the crazy troll-alt paranoia?

I think it goes something like this: "Pay attention to MEEEEEEEE!"

/at least, that's how I'm reading it.

Dr.Zom: I'm still not sure he'll be the nominee though. I suspect a Hail Mary.

Despite the corporate controlled media's rush to defend Romney against the "felony" accusation, the sworn SEC documents he filed prove beyond a reasonable doubt that either Romney a) committed one or more felonies by falsely saying he was running Bain Capital when he wasn't, or b) is lying now and really was in control of Bain Capital when he previously swore he was.

As a progressive, I'd like to personally thank the Republicans. You've nominated a guy whose candidacy is now over before it even began. Good show. You should have gone with a winner like Bachmann or Gingrich. Then you'd at least have a chance.

HeartBurnKid: You know, I'd point out how tone-deaf it was for the Republicans to nominate Romney at this point in history (seriously, there are people out on Wall Street and in every major city protesting the very cloth that Romney is cut from on a daily basis), but the sad truth is, he's one of the better candidates they had to choose from. Though I do think Huntsman or Johnson would have been a better choice, still.

I've been making this point since last fall. Romney only rose to the top of the GOP shiatpile because all the smart and capable ones (yes, they're out there) read the tealeaves and decided to sit this one out in favor of 2016. As is it the GOP is now saddled with a wooden indian...a caricature of a candidate who was so bad in 2008 that he got beat by a bumbling old fool who couldn't even remember how many houses he owns.

It's so bad that not even the GOP bigwigs can avoid drawing the conclusion that Romney is nothing more than a much wealthier version of Governor Perry...a good looking guy who gives a great stump speech, but is otherwise dumber than a rock.

Vince Lombardi said it best...the best defense is a good offense, and the Obama campaign's offensive line just took over the game. You just watch, about every two weeks from now through the end of October they'll rock Romney back on his heels with one of those left jabs someone mentioned above. It's gonna be a train wreck to watch, for sure.

No wonder Condi Rice said NO FARKING WAY!!! again... ;^)

Altair: "Daisy" was hyperbole, this is not.

Precisely.

It's also simple, elegant and memorable.

I'm in awe right now. This ad is good. Really good.

Oh poor Mitt. And it's only July. Enjoy you're next three and a half months of being taken to the woodshed, you jagoff.

If he continues to botch this campaign as badly as he has (and God were those interviews he gave yesterday a total disaster) I wonder if he'll be booed when he comes out on stage at the Convention next month. That would be a farking riot.

ox45tallboy: bugontherug: As a progressive, I'd like to personally thank the Republicans. You've nominated a guy whose candidacy is now over before it even began. Good show. You should have gone with a winner like Bachmann or Gingrich. Then you'd at least have a chance.

[blogs.citypages.com image 390x285]

"I know! I so wanted to be first lady!"

Heh. Funnied that one, I did.

SFSailor: stoli n coke: Dr.Zom: simplicimus: Winning: If they're doing this kind of advertising this early in the campaign, I can't wait to see what they're working on a few months away from the election.

Seems they've already found Mitt's weak spot, damage control. Expect more left jabs working that weak spot.

I think they struck a vein - Romney might bleed out before the convention.

There must be something catastrophic on his tax returns that the White House already knows. That's the only explanation for Romney flailing around so much to keep from releasing them.

And just by refusing to release them, the Obama campaign can put out an ad saying that Romney can't even live up to the example set by his own father.

WH might already know?

Huh. Good point.

Think McCain (who saw lots of his tax returns before selecting Palin) tipped them?

/ mobile replying sucks

They don't need McCain. Do you think the White House couldn't just get the tax returns straight from the IRS?

stoli n coke: SFSailor: stoli n coke: Dr.Zom: simplicimus: Winning: If they're doing this kind of advertising this early in the campaign, I can't wait to see what they're working on a few months away from the election.

Seems they've already found Mitt's weak spot, damage control. Expect more left jabs working that weak spot.

I think they struck a vein - Romney might bleed out before the convention.

There must be something catastrophic on his tax returns that the White House already knows. That's the only explanation for Romney flailing around so much to keep from releasing them.

And just by refusing to release them, the Obama campaign can put out an ad saying that Romney can't even live up to the example set by his own father.

WH might already know?

Huh. Good point.

Think McCain (who saw lots of his tax returns before selecting Palin) tipped them?

/ mobile replying sucks

They don't need McCain. Do you think the White House couldn't just get the tax returns straight from the IRS?

Our president already knows all about the tax returns, he just can't release them. That's what we're waiting on Rmoney to do.

GAT_00: propasaurus: [img816.imageshack.us image 480x240]

Umm...where is Amercia?

Ask Mitt's campaign.

moralpanic: GAT_00: BSABSVR: People will have moved on from this ad by September.

Yeah, this was stupid to release this early.

And nothing tops Daisy, ever.

You guys act like this is the only ad they're going to run. When your opponent is down, you go for the jugular. To wait until Sept to run this, people would say Obama is just rehashing the same arguments.

You want to disenfranchise his supporters before they can pick up steam. Do the gut punching now, once people see you in a negative light, it's much harder to make them like you.

I hope the November ad is a perp-walk for Mitt relating to perjury and tax evasion.

Shrugging Atlas: Oh poor Mitt. And it's only July. Enjoy you're next three and a half months of being taken to the woodshed, you jagoff.

If he continues to botch this campaign as badly as he has (and God were those interviews he gave yesterday a total disaster) I wonder if he'll be booed when he comes out on stage at the Convention next month. That would be a farking riot.

What's amazing is that there's a goldmine of stuff to use against him. Forget not being liberal, not having the right ideas, etc... there's a ton of stuff you could use against him for not being conservative enough. Plus the lying and flip-flopping (Paulites hate that crap, since a lot of them are fed up all "lying politicians") -- it really makes me wonder if Obama's camp will gently remind conservatives about how bad Romney is for them before the convention...

BO is a straight dickbag. Hope and change you promised. And instead of working you choose slander? Fark you. Im tired of you, tired of nazi joe up there yelling like some hitler wannabe. You've got your fame... move on please

Cuchulane: Mrtraveler01: BSABSVR: But that was a time when everyone had 3 TV channels to watch. The effectiveness is that people are still talking about it three generations later. People will have moved on from this ad by September August.
FTFY

You underestimate how short the attention span of American's is when it comes to stuff like this.

The particulars of a certain ad maybe, but the trick is planting the seed of an image that sticks, sprouts, and becomes rooted into the subconscious. Then association takes over. The Republicans and their propaganda arm at Fox have this mastered by endless repetition of talking points distilled down to single words. The relativity between the talking point and the truth is irrelevant. For a large segment of the population the word association of Obama/Socialism is now automatic. The Democrats need to create an auto association of Romney/______. Outsourcer is worth a shot. Plutocrat might go over most peoples heads.

Vulture Capitalist still has a bit of heft to it.

Tickle Mittens: moralpanic: GAT_00: BSABSVR: People will have moved on from this ad by September.

Yeah, this was stupid to release this early.

And nothing tops Daisy, ever.

You guys act like this is the only ad they're going to run. When your opponent is down, you go for the jugular. To wait until Sept to run this, people would say Obama is just rehashing the same arguments.

You want to disenfranchise his supporters before they can pick up steam. Do the gut punching now, once people see you in a negative light, it's much harder to make them like you.

I hope the November ad is a perp-walk for Mitt relating to perjury and tax evasion.

I think he'll be disqualified in most voters' minds before the convention, even. Romney is a disaster for the GOP. They really need to look into alternatives between now and August.

bugontherug: Tickle Mittens: moralpanic: GAT_00: BSABSVR: People will have moved on from this ad by September.

Yeah, this was stupid to release this early.

And nothing tops Daisy, ever.

You guys act like this is the only ad they're going to run. When your opponent is down, you go for the jugular. To wait until Sept to run this, people would say Obama is just rehashing the same arguments.

You want to disenfranchise his supporters before they can pick up steam. Do the gut punching now, once people see you in a negative light, it's much harder to make them like you.

I hope the November ad is a perp-walk for Mitt relating to perjury and tax evasion.

I think he'll be disqualified in most voters' minds before the convention, even. Romney is a disaster for the GOP. They really need to look into alternatives between now and August.

He's still polling fairly well.

GAT_00: BSABSVR: People will have moved on from this ad by September.

Yeah, this was stupid to release this early.

No it wasn't. For a number of reasons.

The most important is because Romney can't do a farking thing to refute anything in that ad, because it's all true. Daisy was fearmongering and largely bullshiat at that. This is just adding to the narrative at this point. As you said, no ad will ever trump Daisy, nor does it have to. They can chrun out stuff like this as often as they want for very little cash from now until Election Day.

Second, there's more at stake than just the Presidency. In every poll where the questions is asked...regardless of who has the lead...the large majority of people state they think Obama will win...which means even Romney supporters think they're farked. The more they think that, that more they just don't even bother to donate cash, phonebank, knock on doors, and possibly even vote. So killing their morale is key to all those downticket races. Also, keep in mind he hasn't picked a VP yet....now's the time to give anyone that may be worth a damn second thoughts about hitching their wagon to this failtrain.

Finally, to those first two points: you never, ever take your foot off the throat of an opponent you've been beating on for nearly a month straight who's completely on the defensive. Romney's campaign is in total reaction mode....and they're farking horrible at it even by the low standards they've set for themselves. Those interviews yesterday and the fact he doubled down on not releasing his tax returns were just awful. Furthermore there's no indication the public is responding negatively to these ads. And frankly, I don't think Romney has the chops to withstand this barrage. The guy's never been questioned his entire life...and this has to be the rudest awakaning one could imagine for him. He's simply not cut out for this.

The Obama campaign is in complete control, and you never willingly give that up. Romney has the Convention and the VP pick that will allow them to take over some news cycles and headlines, so you just keep swinging in the meantime.

BigOle8point: BO is a straight dickbag. Hope and change you promised. And instead of working you choose slander? Fark you. Im tired of you, tired of nazi joe up there yelling like some hitler wannabe. You've got your fame... move on please

This sounds like a rationally formed opinion, with the goal being the increase in the quality of Americans' lives. Kudos to you, sir.

propasaurus: Coco LaFemme: Brutal is right. It's very cutting in its honesty and directness. Like someone else pointed out though, it's July and the election is in November. An ad like this would be at its zenith of effectiveness after the debates, when the push to really stick in the minds of undecided voters is being made.

My parents remember the "Daisy" ad, and my dad said it scared him shiatless, and he was 15 when that came out. The spectre of nuclear annihilation was still very present, and the ad itself was basically saying, "Vote LBJ, or Goldwater will have us all blown to smithereens by the Soviets."

Makes me think that if this is what they've got loaded for July, they've got something really devastating in the pipeline for October.

One of the goals of this is make the Romney campaign devote time and money to fighting this rather than either attacking Obama or advancing their own ideas... I'm sorry, I laughed so hard typing that last part, I snorted bourbon down my nose, which burns like shiat.

Anyway: it makes sense to run this now, rather than hold it back for later, because it really resonates while this narrative is in the news cycle.

Third-best case is that Romney is forced to spend a lot of money defending swing states that otherwise he wouldn't have to. Second-best case is that it makes some swing states unwinnable and Romney has to cede them to Obama's Fifty State Strategy. Best case is that the Repubs become so fearful that they actually dump Romney at the convention... which basically amounts to throwing away every campaign dollar spent so far.

elchip: bugontherug: Tickle Mittens: moralpanic: GAT_00: BSABSVR: People will have moved on from this ad by September.

Yeah, this was stupid to release this early.

And nothing tops Daisy, ever.

You guys act like this is the only ad they're going to run. When your opponent is down, you go for the jugular. To wait until Sept to run this, people would say Obama is just rehashing the same arguments.

You want to disenfranchise his supporters before they can pick up steam. Do the gut punching now, once people see you in a negative light, it's much harder to make them like you.

I hope the November ad is a perp-walk for Mitt relating to perjury and tax evasion.

I think he'll be disqualified in most voters' minds before the convention, even. Romney is a disaster for the GOP. They really need to look into alternatives between now and August.

He's still polling fairly well.

Given the state of the economy, he's really not. The fact that he doesn't already have a decisive lead over Obama shows what a weak candidate he is. Very weak. And this line of attack hasn't fully sunk in yet.

Mitt the Machine is an electoral disaster for Republicans. The gulf is going to be so wide, it's going to affect the downballot races too.

BigOle8point: BO is a straight dickbag. Hope and change you promised. And instead of working you choose slander? Fark you. Im tired of you, tired of nazi joe up there yelling like some hitler wannabe. You've got your fame... move on please

Which one is "nazi joe" again? Is that Joe Biden? Funny, I never would have pegged him as a Nazi. Good work outing the old fascist! Are there any other members of this administration that are also members of the Nazi party? Please, do share!

BigOle8point: BO is a straight dickbag. Hope and change you promised. And instead of working you choose slander? Fark you. Im tired of you, tired of nazi joe up there yelling like some hitler wannabe. You've got your fame... move on please

Yup...right on, bruthah! We got 8% unemployment instead of the 20% we were headed to (if he'd allowed GM to go under). We got Osama bin Laden as crab food on the bottom of the Indian Ocean. We got the troops out of Iraq and leaving Afghanistan. And we got ACA. Oh...and four more years.

How's yer side doin'?

elchip: bugontherug: Tickle Mittens: moralpanic: GAT_00: BSABSVR: People will have moved on from this ad by September.

Yeah, this was stupid to release this early.

And nothing tops Daisy, ever.

You guys act like this is the only ad they're going to run. When your opponent is down, you go for the jugular. To wait until Sept to run this, people would say Obama is just rehashing the same arguments.

You want to disenfranchise his supporters before they can pick up steam. Do the gut punching now, once people see you in a negative light, it's much harder to make them like you.

I hope the November ad is a perp-walk for Mitt relating to perjury and tax evasion.

I think he'll be disqualified in most voters' minds before the convention, even. Romney is a disaster for the GOP. They really need to look into alternatives between now and August.

He's still polling fairly well.

Obama has even opened up a slight lead on the crucial "who will do a better job handling the economy" question.

Link

This is what happens when you nominate a vulture capitalist during a global recession.

This issue would have been kept at a low murmur if Mittens hadn't tried to come out swinging with his indignant "how dare he!" response. Bad move Willard.

ps69: This issue would have been kept at a low murmur if Mittens hadn't tried to come out swinging with his indignant "how dare he!" response. Bad move Willard.

Especially since it came off as less of a "swing," and more of a "whine."

"Oooh. You're not supposed to say mean things in a presidential election. It's not fair!"
~~Willard Mitt Romney, commenting on Obama ads calling him to question as a vulture capitalist, possible felon, and definite liar.

Random aside: This is where Citizens United comes back to bite the Republicans. It makes a Convention rebellion and discarding Romney for some less wounded candidate (RON PAUL!) far more likely, because the SuperPACs control the bulk of the money and they can spend it to support any damn candidate or cause they choose to.

/Obama really knows his Sun Tzu, doesn't he?

Corvus: Romney know if he releases his tax info he is sunk. That thing probably is full of tax evasion and other embarrassing crap.

Think he had 4 years to clean up his tax records and the ones he planned on releasing to the public has him only being taxed little more than 14%. Think how bad the others are.

That's the stunning hubris of this. Romney has been planning to run for office for decades, probably. His first Senate race was in 1994. 1994! He is an ambitious man. And yet, he thinks he can forgo the normal tests and obligations of running for office. With enough obfuscation and lying, he thinks, it'll be fine. I don't use the word lying lightly, but it is the only word that accurately describes his statements about his professional life and policy positions.

He's trapped in lies, and unnecessary ones, avoidable ones that a normal man of ambition (one grounded in reality and with a lick of foresight) would have indeed avoided. I am not sure if this is just contempt for America and the media (assuming they'll buy anything he says), or if the crucial thing that explains his behaviour is that he thinks he is not subject to the same rules as everybody else.

Corvus: BigOle8point: BO is a straight dickbag. Hope and change you promised. And instead of working you choose slander? Fark you. Im tired of you, tired of nazi joe up there yelling like some hitler wannabe. You've got your fame... move on please

Actually he passed some of the biggest legislation in history. The Stimulus program that moved this country from losing jobs to gaining jobs and the biggest healthcare reform since medicare.

Slander? What he said wrong? Romney doesn't have these off shore accounts? Romney admits he has these accounts!! Are you then saying Romney and his tax form is lying?

Can't you just hit the Poe's Law "Funny" button and move on like I did? If ignored, a comment is either Stupid or Funny, and no else one will have to waste brain cells knowing or caring about it beyond that!

ps69: This issue would have been kept at a low murmur if Mittens hadn't tried to come out swinging with his indignant "how dare he!" response. Bad move Willard.

It wouldn't have picked up momentum as fast, but the fact he either lied to the American People or lied to the SEC would have and will make this a big issue.
He's either a liar or a felon.
The choice is up to him.