Climate Changes the GOP Convention

post from The American Prospect on 22 August 2012 11:38:31 PM. © The American Prospect

Mitt Romney Public image of Mitt Romney George W. Romney Politics

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Open Thread

post from Crooks and Liars on 22 August 2012 11:30:52 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Mitt Romney's coat-tails (and his history as an unregistered lobbyist) cause problems for a North Carolina GOP candidate. Open thread below...

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Open Thread for Night Owls: Judge Head, the
United Nations, and you

post from Daily Kos on 22 August 2012 11:30:03 PM. © Daily Kos

This local news clip is noteworthy only because it presents one of the only recent instances in which I've heard a conservative officeholder argue for a tax increase. Not for the sake of improving infrastructure, mind you, or for gaining better services, or in order to fund projects to help decrease the local crime rate?no, the reason Judge Tom Head supports a 0.017 percent property tax hike is to prepare Lubbock County, Texas to defend themselves from an invasion of United Nations troops called in by Obama to quell the violent unrest that will be caused by Obama's reelection.
(FOX 34, via Talking Points Memo)

?I?m thinking worst case scenario now,? Head said during an appearance on FOX 34 in Lubbock. ?Civil unrest, civil disobedience, civil war, maybe. And we?re not talking just a few riots here and demonstrations, we?re talking Lexington, Concord, take up arms and get rid of the guy.? [...]
He said he feared Obama would hand over sovereignty of the United States to the United Nations and the unrest would naturally follow.

But fear not, America, because Judge Tom Head will personally defend Lubbock County from the upcoming U.N. invasion. And that's where you come in, dear Lubbock County residents. Your .017 cents per dollar property tax increase will go towards helping to train the Lubbock County sheriff's department to battle against the United Nations forces.

?And the sheriff, I?ve already asked him, I said, ?You gonna back me??? the judge said. ?He said, ?Yeah, I?ll back you.? Well, I don?t want a bunch of rookies back there. I want trained, equipped, seasoned veteran officers to back me.?

I can honestly say that it is going to be very ... surprising ... if the only thing standing between us and the encroaching armies of the United Nations is the Lubbock County sheriff's office.

As has been amply demonstrated by the state's current governor, there are no competency requirements for holding office in Texas, so it is unlikely that Mr. Head's comments will much affect his career doing whatever it is he does. There is also no word on whether or not the Red Dawn remake will be hastily re-cut to match Judge Head's predictions, but I would heartily advise it, because let's face it: That sounds pretty cool. I am not sure the United Nations makes for a more credible threat than the North Korean army, but in general you should not choose, as your fictional invaders, a force that could be easily subdued by offering them sandwiches.

That said, I am not particularly worried about the U.N. as invaders either. Since every solid arch-conservative knows that United Nations forces travel almost exclusively via energy-efficient vehicles, we should be fine so long as we prevent our government from constructing any more bicycle paths.

Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2009:

The Texas Republican Party platform has always been a good read if you like chills up your spine. But the latest effort by the Gee Oh Pee in Texas takes this another step. The Houston Chronicle reports:
Texas high school students would learn about such significant individuals and milestones of conservative politics as Newt Gingrich and the rise of the Moral Majority ? but nothing about liberals ? under the first draft of new standards for public school history textbooks.
The first draft for proposed standards in United States History Studies Since Reconstruction declares that students should be expected "to identify significant conservative advocacy organizations and individuals, such as Newt Gingrich, Phyllis Schlafly and the Moral Majority," according to the Dallas Morning News.

Tweet of the Day:

Wow. The Republican Party can't even attract a female hurricane.
— @RexHuppke via web

Tune in Monday to Friday from 9-11 AM ET for Daily Kos Radio, hosted by David Waldman a/k/a KagroX. You can listen here. Akin-mania continued today on Daily Kos Radio, and we discussed it with DemFromCT in his regular polling and issues report, with callers Greg from NYC, and fuzz2347, and with e-mail correspondent GideonAB. Plus we marvel at mainstream columnists suddenly discovering the "Talibanesque" nature of today's conservo-nuts.

Non-Flash link

High Impact Posts. Top Comments.

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-Owls-Judge-Head-the-United-Nations-and-you

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What It Feels Like to Disenfranchise Voters if
You're Republican POS

post from MyDD on 22 August 2012 11:20:12 PM. © MyDD

That heinous individual is James Bopp. And who is James Bopp? Well, he is an Indiana lawyer and a Romney delegate to the GOP convention. He is also the attorney who represented Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the 2010 case that upended[...]

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Nashville considering 2016 convention bids

post from DemConWatch on 22 August 2012 11:05:00 PM. © DemConWatch

The latest 2016 news:

If the political winds shift and candy-apple-red Tennessee has enough appeal to Democrats or Republicans in 2016 or beyond, Nashville will be ready and able to host a presidential nominating convention, city officials say.
But is the city willing to deal with the costs and headaches of bringing in tens of thousands of visitors and the international spotlight?
As Tampa, Fla., and Charlotte, N.C., prepare to host the Republican and Democratic national conventions, respectively, in the next three weeks, Nashville is considering making a pitch for a future convention.
“We’re clearly at a position as a city that we could do it,” Mayor Karl Dean said. “With the new convention center, the new hotels coming online, we have the infrastructure to do it, and I think Nashville would have a great appeal.

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C&L's Late Night Music Club With The Echo
Friendly

post from Crooks and Liars on 22 August 2012 11:00:48 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Title: Same MistakesArtist: The Echo Friendly

I'm digging this song that I heard during the credits of an episode of HBO's Girls. It reminds me of something but I can't put my finger on it. Any ideas?

Same Mistakes

Price: $0.99 (As of 08/22/12 06:01 pm details)

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Onion: "Republicans Condemn Akin's Comments As
Blemish On Party's Otherwise Spotless Women's Rights Record"

post from US Politics | AMERICAblog News on 22 August 2012 11:00:45 PM. © US Politics | AMERICAblog News

Hysterical from the Onion. It's short and good, no excerpt really possible, just go read it and smile.

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Late Night: Where Has the Federal Reserve Been

So we sit here with the official unemployment rate at 8.3% and the rate of un and underemployeds at 15%. These number still translate to nearly 13 million unemployed and another 10 to 15 million underemployed. And again, these numbers do NOT include[...]

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Mitt Romney, Sexy Man

Prior to 2008, one of the things you could count on in every presidential campaigning was subtle Republican attempts to imply that the Democratic candidate was wimpy, soft, maybe even girly. And if the Democrat was just a little bit light in the loafers then maybe that meant that if you voted for him, you were too.

Then came 2008, when the Republicans were faced with a candidate they couldn't quite make that argument about. Sure, their guy was a war hero, but that was 40 years ago, and now he just seemed like a grumpy old man. The Democrat, on the other hand, was young, black, and famously cool, hanging out with movie stars and almost never caught looking goofy or wearing a silly hat. Women swooned over him (remember "I've Got a Crush On Obama"?). To me, the moment that most exemplified the 2008 campaign was when Obama went to Kuwait to visit the troops, and met a few hundred of them in a gym. Someone brought out a basketball, and Obama, who played on his high school team, walked up to the three-point line and drained it on his first try to the cheers of the crowd. I always pictured the staff in McCain headquarters watching it on TV with pained expressions on their faces, somebody muttering, "Oh for Christ's sake" under his breath.

A lot has happened since then, but the idea that Obama is a cool customer remains endlessly maddening to conservatives, at least judging by the response I've gotten when I've written about this before. Which brings us to a rather remarkable article by Kevin Williamson in the National Review. You think Mitt Romney is an awkward, Ward Cleaver type about whom no one would ever make an "I've Got A Crush On Mitt" video? Au contraire, says Williamson. "What do women want?" he begins by asking. And the answer is, they want them some hot, steaming Mittster:

You want off-the-charts status? Check out the curriculum vitae of one Willard M. Romney: $200 million in the bank (and a hell of a lot more if he didn't give so much away), apex alpha executive, CEO, chairman of the board, governor, bishop, boss of everything he's ever touched. Son of the same, father of more. It is a curious scientific fact (explained in evolutionary biology by the Trivers-Willard hypothesis ? Willard, notice) that high-status animals tend to have more male offspring than female offspring, which holds true across many species, from red deer to mink to Homo sap. The offspring of rich families are statistically biased in favor of sons ? the children of the general population are 51 percent male and 49 percent female, but the children of the Forbes billionaire list are 60 percent male. Have a gander at that Romney family picture: five sons, zero daughters. Romney has 18 grandchildren, and they exceed a 2:1 ratio of grandsons to granddaughters (13:5). When they go to church at their summer-vacation home, the Romney clan makes up a third of the congregation. He is basically a tribal chieftain.
Professor Obama? Two daughters. May as well give the guy a cardigan. And fallopian tubes.
From an evolutionary point of view, Mitt Romney should get 100 percent of the female vote. All of it. He should get Michelle Obama's vote. You can insert your own Mormon polygamy joke here, but the ladies do tend to flock to successful executives and entrepreneurs.

This might read like satire, except what would Williamson be satirizing? His own side's insecurities? No, I think he's sending a message to conservatives, even if it's a bit tongue-in-cheek, that they're still the masculine party and their champions are still masculine men. Which is more important than ever, given how long it's been since they've been able to ridicule a Democratic presidential candidate for being prissy. Now all Romney needs is to go down to Crawford and have George W. Bush take him out to clear some brush, then maybe try on a flight suit and work on his strut.

Mitt Romney Pratt?Romney family Willard Public image of Mitt Romney Political positions of Mitt Romney Politics

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A Quick Question

For a little project we're putting together, when did you first start reading TPM and why? As the guy who's been on the receiving end of your emails for more than eleven years, folks come in different cohorts: people who were there from day one, ones[...]

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