Sometimes a stately posture during a debate can determine whether or not a candidate appears ‘presidential,’ but the best test is what the candidate does during a time of domestic crisis. When monster Hurricane Sandy hurled the brunt of its fury on the east coast, primarily New Jersey and New York City, this Monday we were afforded that opportunity. The differences were glaring. Of course, President Obama has the advantage – he is, after all, currently the President of the United States and it’s his duty to react decisively and with authority whenever the country is attacked by terrorists or […]
Continue readingCategory Archives: Mitt Romney
Mitt Romney to President Obama in third debate: I agree with you, but I still think you’re wrong
If flip-flopping were made an Olympic sport, Mitt Romney would have won the gold. The governor continued to shape-shift himself to center-right in the third and final presidential debate, moderated by Bob Shieffer of CBS, in Boca Raton, FL on Monday night. Well, Shieffer was the official moderator, but Romney didn’t seem to notice; as in last Tuesday’s town hall, Romney intermittently admonished President Obama, “Listen, I’m talking right now — you’ll get your turn.” Okaaaay, Mitt! Sarcastic zingers were volleyed back and forth by Romney and Obama. The one which delighted the twitterverse most, making “horses and bayonets” trending, […]
Continue readingPresident Obama “brings it” in second debate; Romney? Still fibbing, mostly
The stage in Tuesday’s debate, a town hall moderated by Candy Crowley (CNN, State of the Union) in Hempstead, NY, could have been set up like a boxing ring, because both President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney came out swinging…verbally. Roused from his near somnambulant state in the previous debate, President Obama sparred with spirit — and at one point, during a foreign policy question, he went from professorial to parental, complete with pointing finger. Governor Romney’s legs scissored stiffly about the stage, making him appear like a robotic comedian in dire need of his joints lubricated (deja vu: […]
Continue readingRomney debate strategy: flip flop and talk really, really fast
Mitt Romney showed up at Wednesday’s debate with President Barack Obama looking not at all as if he’d struggled with a bout of diarrhea the night before. Instead the Governor appeared tanned, fully caffeinated and chomping at the bit — one half-expected steam to puff from both ears. In contrast, President Obama appeared calm, cool, and, according to most pundits, professorial. The Jock versus the Nerd. In an interview on CNN Tuesday, former ABC News anchor Carole Simpson said that after moderating a debate in 1992 between then-President George H.W. Bush and challenger Bill Clinton, viewers told her afterward that […]
Continue readingS**t Mitt Romney says
In a campaign year that seems more like a production of Comedy Central than a battle between two serious challengers, Campaign 2012 will go down in history as one which made us laugh, cringe, and cry…simultaneously. And you thought Campaign 2008, with Sarah Palin winking and gamboling about, was bizarre… Ah, Mitt Romney. Is there some sort of disconnect going on between your brain and your mouth? Romney’s gaffes often go way beyond the maladroit of President George W. Bush. It almost seems as if Mitt Romney is always thinking aloud, sans filter and self-editing. I’ve said this before, and […]
Continue readingHolding stolen documents for ransom a new cottage industry? Hackers alledgedly steal Mitt Romney’s tax returns
In William Gibson’s novel Neuromancer, cyber-criminals traffic in stolen information and data; now an anonymous group of hackers have claimed to have cracked into the servers of PriceWaterhouseCooper’s Franklin, Tenn. office and stolen Mitt Romney’s tax returns prior to 2010. I doubt that this is the kind of inventive entrepreneurship Romney has been touting on the campaign trail: ransoming stolen documents for start-up capital. On Sunday, the presumptive data-kidnappers posted this ransom note on Pastebin, a site which allows people to paste text anonymonously: Romney’s 1040 tax returns were taken from the PWC office 8/25/2012 by gaining access to the […]
Continue readingWhat if the chair talked back to Clint Eastwood…
It was surreal watching Clint Eastwood, a man with five Academy Awards sitting on his mantle, performing an improvisation with an empty chair at the Republican National Convention this past Thursday. Eastwood’s performance art was the opening act before Florida Senator Marco Rubio gave his speech nominating Mitt Romney for President, followed by Romney and his own Big Speech. This was either the dumbest idea ever or an absolutely brilliant idea — and considering how dull and uninspiring Mitt Romney’s speech turned out to be, perhaps it’s the latter. Not that there hasn’t been awkward programming at past Democratic National […]
Continue readingMitt Romney’s Marie Antoinette moment: party yacht flies Cayman Islands flag
Oh, what have we here? Why it’s a yacht flying the flag of the Cayman Islands — a yacht owned by a Florida developer who hosted a lavish party in honor of Mitt Romney’s formal nomination. The yacht, aptly named “Cracker Bay,” was attended by about 50 GOP party animals, including Romney relatives. A woman living aboard a less impressive boat moored at the St. Petersburg Municipal Marina remarked, “I think it’s ironic they do this aboard a yacht that doesn’t even pay its taxes.” Indeed. Definitely a ‘Marie Antoinette’ moment for Mittens. I reckon the most Republican spin doctors […]
Continue readingMissouri Rep. Todd Akin: Women’s uteri have spidey-sense in cases of rape
Just when the GOP thought they’d put a lid on Republican candidates making stupid public comments, here comes Missouri Republican Congressman Todd Akin with a new zinger (he’s currently vying for the Missouri U.S. Senate seat against Democrat Claire McCaskill). In a brief paragraph, uttered in an interview on Sunday, Rep. Akin managed a grammatical trifeca of irony, oxymoron and redundancy by attempting to define ‘legitimate vs illegitimate rape.’ “It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that is really rare,” The Tea Party-backed Akin said of pregnancy caused by rape. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female […]
Continue readingJohn Sununu: stupid surrogate tricks
I guess Mitt Romney is a little piss-poor when it comes to articulate, thoughtful campaign surrogates. He’s got Donald Trump blathering on about President Obama’s birth certificate and now he’s got John Sununu calling the President “stupid.” Sununu really stepped in it again today. To be charitable, the worst of the quote was taken out of context: “The men and women all over America who have worked hard to build these businesses, their businesses, from the ground up is how our economy became the envy of the world. It is the American way, and I wish this president would learn […]
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