The GOP national convention will begin on Tuesday instead of Monday because of the pending hurricane. I hope it’s not canceled entirely; should be the most off-the-wall entertainment since the Twilight Zone.
Via DougJ, The Economist on Mittens:
But competence is worthless without direction and, frankly, character. Would that Candidate Romney had indeed presented himself as a solid chief executive who got things done. Instead he has appeared as a fawning PR man, apparently willing to do or say just about anything to get elected. In some areas, notably social policy and foreign affairs, the result is that he is now committed to needlessly extreme or dangerous courses that he may not actually believe in but will find hard to drop; in others, especially to do with the economy, the lack of details means that some attractive-sounding headline policies prove meaningless (and possibly dangerous) on closer inspection. Behind all this sits the worrying idea of a man who does not really know his own mind. America won’t vote for that man; nor would this newspaper. …
… Mr Romney may calculate that it is best to keep quiet: the faltering economy will drive voters towards him. It is more likely, however, that his evasiveness will erode his main competitive advantage. A businessman without a credible plan to fix a problem stops being a credible businessman. So does a businessman who tells you one thing at breakfast and the opposite at supper. Indeed, all this underlines the main doubt: nobody knows who this strange man really is. It is half a decade since he ran something. Why won’t he talk about his business career openly? Why has he been so reluctant to disclose his tax returns? How can a leader change tack so often? Where does he really want to take the world’s most powerful country?
Yeah, pretty much.
Yep!
Why has he been so reluctant to disclose his tax returns?
Because it would reveal how much he tithes.
This is huge, when The Economist comes down against someone playing a corporate conservative. Sensible business types, the ones you could have a rational conversation with, might listen.
OTOH, I’m seeing all sorts of hype for the anti-Obama movie, 2016- Obama’s America. It’s one thing for The Economist to shed some doubt (for those willing to read it) on Mitt Romney, but can this stand up against the millions being propagandized to hate Obama?
I worked for the Federal Government for 34 years; and, the one thing I learned is that the Federal Government IS NOT a business–nor should it be. People should be reminded 10 times a day of how badly this country fared under it’s first MBA President, George W. Bush. And, when the spending of our tax dollars is discussed, the amount of money spent by Bush and the Republican Congress during those eight years should be repeated and repeated and repeated. The failure of the Bush Administration should NOT be forgotten.
Swami, I suspect the answer is actually about how little he tithes. A man as financially comfortable as he is should have no trouble with contributing the expected 10%, and I bet he’s not. I think there are some Elders who won’t be amused if they find out the real numbers.
biggerbox: That’s probably why Reid is pissed at Romney — Reid wants to nail him for cheating the church.
moonbat,
FOX has been propagandizing against Obama for well over 4 years now, and so has Rush and the rest of the right wing radio herd of Yak, so I’m not sure how much more damage they can do – but they WILL try!
What we need to point out to those amongst “Zee Followers” that we might be able to reach, is, if Mitt can’t stand up to Rush and Tony Perkins, how’s he going to do with Putin and the Iranian Ayatollah’s?
Sure, idiot neocons like Kristoll and Bolton will tell Mitt to nuke Iran – but Russia’s a whole different ballgame.
While I hope that all of our Florida friends stay safe, this non-believer is gloating that the Village Moron’s Convention has been put off a day – “God’s judgement?” I know the male and female strippers and hookers brought to FL were hoping that these “Family Values” people would “make if rain” – but I think they were hoping it was in the form of bills, not raindrops. Well kids, just think – they’ll be all the hornier!
Unfortunately, it looks like Isaac is headed towards New Orleans – too bad it can’t just hit the uber-Christian voucher schools male Conservate brown bimbo, Bayou Bobby J, is hoping will be used as a model to make the rest of America as faithful as our Evangelicas, and at least as stupid and ignorant.
The question no one has asked is how many GOP delegates are in a no-show category. Tampa expects 60K visitors for the convention – most of them should have flown in by now. How many of them looked at the track of an impending hurricane and said – “Not me!”. No one is counting heads (that I know of.)
Re-booking is no trivial matter – the planes for this weekend were probably maxed out months ago. BTW, what are the convention rules for a state quorum? What if a state can’t field a quorum?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/26/1124299/-Gov-Charlie-Crist-Endorses-Pres-Obama
What if a state can’t field a quorum?
Well, they could always call on the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Lynne, thanks for the link.
Charlie Christ was a pretty moderate gov., although he ran touting “the Bush tradition” whatever that means.
Charlie is currently working for the law firm of Morgan and Morgan (and Morgan and Morgan). John Morgan, while a huge blow hard ,is a very big Democrat supporter in Fl.
My wife thought he was a schmuck until I told her of his party support. My wife works for a big insurance firm, and most insurance people loathe lawyers.( rather like those Allstate commercials with the “mayhem” character.)
Mitt is a serial liar devoid of any substance. He reminds me of Gertrude Stein’s saying about the city of Oakland, CA, “there is no there there.” I am also less than impressed with Mitt’s selection of the Randroid Paul Ryan, both of whom are dead set to do the bidding of the Koch brothers and make life better for the very rich, and damn miserable for everyone else not within their charmed circle.
FOX has been propagandizing against Obama for well over 4 years now, and so has Rush and the rest of the right wing radio herd of Yak, so I’m not sure how much more damage they can do – but they WILL try!
True, but it’s the Undecideds that (both sides) are going after. And when I read how tight this race is – when this is completely undeserved given the opposition – it scares me.
moonbat,
As a rule, I’m 100% against voter suppression.
But if, after 30 years of Nixon, Reagan, and Bush I, and 8 years of Bush II, if someone is still “undecided” right about now, then I might consider wanting to suppress THEIR vote.
I have a better understanding of why the moronic religious knuckle-draggers vote for other moronic religious knuckle-draggers, than I do of the people who haven’t yet made up their minds.
What?
Do I need to hold a mirror up to your mouths to see if you’re still breathing?
How the feck are you still undecided when Mitt is offering the exact same Reagan/W economic plan – ON STEROIDS! – that brought this once great nation to its knees?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
How?
HOW????????????
“What are my choices? Oh, I see, a Nathan’s hot dog with ‘the works,’ or a poop-tube from an old Schnauzer, with spackle and broken glass.
Hmm…
What?
No, not yet.
I’m “undecided.”
Give me a couple of decades.
Let’s stop calling these people “undecided.”
Uninformed, uncaring, I’ll accept.
But they’re not “undecided.”
They’re feckin’ morons!
CUND_gulag – I find myself in favor of a module added to the computerized voting machines that would run you through 10 basic multiple-choice questions, 5 submitted by the GOP, 5 submitted by the DNC – all vetted by fact-check. If you can’t get a score of 80% or more – when you can look up the 10 questions in advance – your vote is disqualified.
Doug …That would never work. The majority of wingnuts would be disenfranchised by their reading comprehension.
biggerbox… I suspect that Romney is just trying to use the church as a shield. His wife claims they won’t release them because they don’t want to give Obama ammunition, and he claims that releasing them would impinge on his religious liberty. It can’t be both! I think his wife is closer to the truth.