COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Monday, October 08, 2012

The smartest man in the room


“I think that I’m a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that I’m gonna think I’m a better political director than my political director.” Barack Obama

Posted at 09:00 AM ET, 10/07/2012
The overrated president gets his comeuppance

It is not surprising that aides would be “shell-shocked,” as the Daily Beast put it, over President Obama’s horrendous performance at the debate. That no one on the left imagined that he would do so poorly tells us much about the Obama bubble and the president’s distorted self-image.
Push back on the excuse narrative just a bit, and you see how attenuated the rationale must become to preserve Obama's image of the most brilliant man ever to hold the presidency. How can someone supposedly so rhetorically gifted, so smart and so wonkish be stumped, halting and testy? We are told, “Partly lost in the fray was Obama’s history as a good but not necessarily great debater with a style at times nonchalant and diffident.” Such a description attempts to preserves the notion he could do better if he really wanted to. But that’s bizarre, to put it mildly, a confession of arrogance in defense of incompetence.
Truth be told, he gave a rotten convention speech, and his State of the Union addresses have varied from deadly dull ( 2011) to inconsequential (2012). Maybe, he is a one-trick orator, the Meredith Willson of politics. A single speech (with variations thereon) is all he’s got. The “red states-blue states, have hope, and we’re going to reinvent the globe” got him through a 2008 campaign, but it has no place in the repertoire for a sitting president in a reelection campaign.
It’s even worse when it comes to unscripted moments, which for years have led conservatives to mock the president’s incoherence. The “uh” problem is hardly new.
Moreover, he doesn’t have a good story to tell or a good record to run on. Mitt Romney’s senior economic adviser Glenn Hubbard released a statement on Friday explaining that “even after passing a nearly $1 trillion stimulus and enjoying strong Congressional majorities for two years, President Obama still hasn’t lived up to his promises. Consider this: If the number of people in the jobs force was the same as when President Obama was elected, the unemployment rate would be near 11 percent. . . .Today, 23 million people across the country are struggling to find work, and it’s clear we need a new leader in the White House to turn our economy around.” To that, Obama responds no one could do better? The failing is so great and the excuse so flimsy not even a gifted debater could slip through unbruised.
In other words, a not quick-on-his feet fellow with a halting delivery doesn’t have much to say. No wonder it was a fiasco.
Moreover, he’s never bothered to understand his opponents’ actual arguments, preferring to rest on short distortions of his opponent’s position ($5 trillion tax cut, destroy Medicare, etc.). That is why he had nothing to say in response to Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) — the complete un-Obama — when the Budget Committee chairman eviscerated his Obamacare plan:
His condescending look and testy reaction (both at the health-care forum and in the debate) are evidence of his inability to engage his opponents, not the source of his problems.
Maybe he can memorize some more jabs. But unless he is going to spend a couple weeks learning the ins and outs of his own policies as well as his opponent’s and come up with some bigger, bolder ideas it is not likely he’ll be able to measure up to Romney. So far it seems Obama is doubling down on his accusation that Romney is “lying,” especially about the Romney tax plan. He already tried that the first time, and Romney patiently explained that the president had it wrong. So how is insisting that Romney is still not telling the truth going to help Obama? It frankly seems like a recipe for disaster. Obama is so wedded to his own false spin it isn’t clear that he can do real damage to his opponent.
Obama’s rhetorical weakness suggests he is not the great intellect he and his admirers have come to venerate. When confronted with an agile opponent and a factual barrage, he is the veritable deer in the headlights. (Recall during the debate when Romney turned Obama’s laudatory comments about Medicare into a defense of his premium support plan. “And by the way, if the government can be as efficient as the private sector and offer premiums that are as low as the private sector, people will be happy to get traditional Medicare, or they’ll be able to get a private plan.” Boom.)
Obama always believes that he is the smartest person in the room. (“I think that I’m a better speechwriter than my speechwriters. I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that I’m gonna think I’m a better political director than my political director.”) The realization that he’s not comes as a shock to some on the left. As for the revelatory moment, conservatives can only shrug and say, “It’s about time.”
By Jennifer Rubin  |  09:00 AM ET, 10/07/2012 

103 comments:

  1. The use of disfluencies, irony and deception is a means to mentally block emotional pain that people are experiencing either from a crime or a bad childhood. Some are abused as children and suffer emotional issues (ie. not able rather than not willing to bond with other people on an emotional level). In other words, they are deceiving themselves rather than those around them; deception is a coping mechanism they developed to deal with a world they do not belong in. It is the result rather than the cause.

    The use of causal phrases is also because the mind has blocked emotion completely so that only logic remains. As for the “disfluencies,” how many of us do not use these in our daily speech? Obama was obviously nervous during the debate. That in itself is concerning for a POTUS.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, he needs a shrink.

    Most have known that for a long time.

    He needs to come clean.

    He might start by admitting Bill Ayers wrote his book.

    Just as starters.

    He needs to be gotten the hell out of The White House.

    He is a national embarrassment, and dangerous to us all, regardless of whether we might feel pity for him.

    b

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dangerous to us all -

    October 7, 2012
    Security team pulled out of Libya in August
    Rick Moran

    The blundering boobs at the State Department recalled a 16-man security team in August just as the Libyan diplomats were asking for more security, not less.

    CBS:

    CBS News has learned that congressional investigators have issued a subpoena to a former top security official at the US mission in Libya. The official is Lt. Col. Andy Wood, a Utah National Guard Army Green Beret who headed up a Special Forces "Site Security Team" in Libya.

    The subpoena compels Lt. Col. Wood to appear at a House Oversight Committee hearing next week that will examine security decisions leading up to the Sept. 11 Muslim extremist terror assault on the U.S. compound at Benghazi. U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three of his colleagues were killed in the attack.

    Lt. Col. Wood has told CBS News and congressional investigators that his 16-member team and a six-member State Department elite force called a Mobile Security Deployment team left Libya in August, just one month before the Benghazi assault. Wood says that's despite the fact that US officials in Libya wanted security increased, not decreased.

    Wood says he met daily with Stevens and that security was a constant challenge. There were 13 threats or attacks on western diplomats and officials in Libya in the six months leading up to the September 11 attack.

    A senior State Department official told CBS News that half of the 13 incidents before September 11 were fairly minor or routine in nature, and that the Benghazi attack was so lethal and overwhelming, that a diplomatic post would not be able to repel it.

    That "senior State Department official" should be fired. Is he actually saying that 16 Green Berets would not have been able to fight off a few terrorists? Note also, "minor or routine" incidents. So I guess its ok because 5 or 6 incidents prior to 9/11 were routine and could be ignored? What about the other 5 or 6 that weren't so routine? Why were those incidents not enough to sound the alarm?

    The next debate will be on foreign policy. Watch as Obama fobs off questions about the consulate attack and death of our ambassador by using the same line the State Department is using; we don't want to comment on an ongoing FBI investigation.

    Rep. Issa's committee won't take that kind of nonsense.





    b

    ReplyDelete
  4. But he looks nice b. s.-ing with Barbara Wa-Wa....


    b

    ReplyDelete
  5. You're peeing into the wind. He lost his first debate (as have 5 of the last 6 incumbents,) for the same reason almost all incumbents lose their first debate; he's been around the policy so long, that he just assumes that no one can take seriously the nonsense that his opponent is promoting. Not being used to being personally involved in "defending his own viewpoint" (he's been the "decider," remember,) he points out the short-hand version of why his opponent is wrong, and moves on to something else, not realizing that the public isn't at all sure that the opponent isn't right.

    Same thing, basically, happened to Dubya. I remember; it was painful.

    Romney lied like a dog about his tax plan. He has spent over a year running around the country promoting a 20% Tax Cut, plus no capital gains, no estate tax, etc.

    The non-partisan experts that have looked at it have put the total package at between $480 and $500 Billion/Yr, which comes out to right at $5 Trillion over 10 years, which is what they all talk about nowadays.

    They concluded that if you took every single deduction away from the top 10% it still wouldn't come close to making up for their gains under the tax plan (something like $280 Billion/yr, I believe.)

    Which means the Top 10% get a very large tax cut, which means those lower down the totem pole have to make up for it - either in cuts to the home mortgage deduction, or deductions for State and Local taxes, or Child Deduction, or Charitable Deductions, or some combination of all of the above.

    Romney lied about his health plan covering "Pre-existing Conditions." His campaign walked it back IMMEDIATELY after the debate. etc, etc.

    Look, these things follow a pattern. The Incumbent always gets his act together in the second debate. Then, the Press goes gaga. "President Wins Second Debate,' the headline blare. "Points out weaknesses in challengers proposals," they trumpet.

    In the end, the candidate that was ahead going into the debates wins the election. It's just the way it is.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "In the end, the candidate that was ahead going into the debates wins the election. It's just the way it is."

      You bet:
      Just like Photo ID is "Voter Suppression"

      ...It's just the way it is.

      No Doubt About It.

      Delete
  6. Rufus II's Man Wins in Venezuela!

    Yay!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. As there is no No Doubt About It that you are

    ONE STUPID-ASS MOTHERFUCKER!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Mr. Alternative Energy...

    ...who has yet to do anything other than to purchase a Government Motors Vehicle that can eat foodstock w/o going South.

    (...so to speak)

    ReplyDelete
  9. "Romney lied like a dog"

    ...but BHO tells the truth about who he really is every time his lips move.

    ReplyDelete
  10. " He needs to come clean.

    He might start by admitting Bill Ayers wrote his book.

    Just as starters.

    He needs to be gotten the hell out of The White House.

    He is a national embarrassment, and dangerous to us all, regardless of whether we might feel pity for him.
    "

    Amen, (ex) Farmer Bob!

    ReplyDelete
  11. btw,

    I feel ZERO Pity for the poor little rich kid bequeathed 500K by his typical WHITE Grandma.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yeah, Rufass, I'm a racist for repeating BHO's description of his Grandmother.

    (...because I Capitalized "white")

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ...and wrote the Evil Word:

      CAPITAL

      ...I'm a Goner.

      Delete
  13. Rufus, are you celebrating Hugo's win? You should be. He and you are lock step on the issues.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A Man of Logic.

      ...no doubt about it.

      Delete
    2. I don't know much about Venezuela, Gag. I'm having a hard enough time trying to figure out Mississippi. :)

      Delete
    3. I am pretty sure, however, that it's not my place to tell the Venezuelans who they should elect for President.

      Delete
    4. ha ha!

      Socialism here, there, and everywhere is one big fucking laugh.

      ...to some

      Delete
  14. Well, it's true, we were much more of a "laissez-faire Capitalist" society in 1930. How did that work out?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Harold Hamm, Romney's "Energy Advisor" is running around telling the chumps that the U.S. can be Energy Independent if they just support the old "drill, baby, drill" mantra, and that The BAKKEN CAN PRODUCE 2 MILLION BBLS OF OIL/DAY.

    Meanwhile, he's pulling his Own Rigs out of the State.

    I told you a Year ago that the Bakken would never produce a million bbls/day, and that it might not even get above 750,000 bbl/day.

    Well, guess what, we're going to know in a couple of months who was right. Any bettors out there?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, and the Eagle Ford is no more than a year behind it.

      Delete
  16. "betters"

    Got that Solar Water Heater Yet?

    Son got his permit for my 10 kw PV Setup.

    ...also shades the roof from that Cruel Equatorial Sunlight.

    Made our home much cooler.

    ...son and friend use AC a lot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One who is an asshole is asshole...

      ...I'm better than that.

      ...but then I don't gamble to support socialist govt.

      Delete
    2. For the taxpayer support for the Solar Tax Credit (subsidy,) I mean.

      Delete
    3. (Imaginary Rufus II has installed a Solar Water Heater)

      ...a win, win, win, for Everyone.

      Delete
  17. Yep, North Dakota is in a Depression.

    ...just as you and BHO want for the USA.

    not

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Bakken Shale Play has been a great thing for North Dakota (and for the U.S.)

      But, it is what it is (a tight oil play.) Such plays "boom," then "peak," then "decline, rapidly."

      They are what they are.

      Delete
    2. ...as are the jobs that more men since NINETEEN FORTY EIGHT do not have.

      ...under your Obamanation.

      Delete
  18. What is the best selling vehicle in the USA?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The F-150 (and, most of those are of the six-cylinder, Eco-Boost variety.)

      Delete
  19. Clint Shoulda Had an Empty Suit on that Empty Chair.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Report from merry old dying England -

    perhaps coming to you too - if Rufus/ObamaCare survives, you won't -

    October 8, 2012
    Under Obamacare, it will never get this bad, will it?
    Rick Moran

    The headline and teaser say a lot.

    From The Telegraph:

    "Patients starve and die of thirst on hospital wards"

    "Forty-three hospital patients starved to death last year and 111 died of thirst while being treated on wards, new figures disclose today."

    It gets grimmer:

    The death toll was disclosed by the Government amid mounting concern over the dignity of patients on NHS wards.

    They will also fuel concerns about care homes, as it was disclosed that eight people starved to death and 21 people died of thirst while in care.

    Last night there were warnings that they must prompt action by the NHS and care home regulators to prevent further deaths among patients.

    The Office for National Statistics figures also showed that:

    * as well as 43 people who starved to death, 287 people were recorded by doctors as being malnourished when they died in hospitals;

    * there were 558 cases where doctors recorded that a patient had died in a state of severe dehydration in hospitals;

    * 78 hospital and 39 care home patients were killed by bedsores, while a further 650 people who died had their presence noted on their death certificates;

    * 21,696 were recorded as suffering from septicemia when they died, a condition which experts say is most often associated with infected wounds.

    Yes, well at least they all had free insurance.

    Any additional commentary would be superfluous.



    b

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, but what does that have to do with us?

      I mean, we have our Own problems (the thousands, or hundreds of thousands, that die in their homes because they have NO care.)

      Delete
    2. Romneycare/Obamacare is modeled after the Swiss agenda, which is arguably the best in the world.

      Delete
  21. You guys are worried about personalities, and labels, and missing what's important:

    1) Rising Energy Costs

    and,

    2) Declining Household Income


    These problems didn't begin with the last election, and won't end with the next one.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Trying again. In the low taxes laissez-faire capitalism model, the "needy" are advised to rely on (after boot-strapping): family, friends, neighbors, the church, the community, and charity, in just about that order, which closely parallels how most estates get probated. So I'm curious - what charities do you all support? Is the consensus that private charitable organizations are more reliable and/or efficient than the State? I won't have much, depending on when my number is called, and, in the great game of things, it hardly much matters, but I'd like to think that somebody gets a boost from the "residue" of my "estate."

    Then again there are days when I am surely convinced that the species is not worth the spit in my John Henry.



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why not just pick out someone you like, and leave it to them?

      Delete
    2. Is there a food bank, or a homeless shelter in your neighborhood that seems to do good work with the funds available?

      Delete
    3. Ask the Superintendent of your school district to set up a scholarship fund for smart, but low-income kids to go to college.

      Make sure it's stipulated that all of the funds go to recipients, and not to an administrator.

      Delete
    4. I will tell you ONE place where the VA really falls short. It's extremely difficult for an Iraqi, or Afghan Vet to get joint/bone replacements. The VA, basically, doesn't want to do them until they're much older (that way, they only have to do one, not two.)

      In the meantime, the VA, essentially, keeps them drugged-up on painkillers. It's a pretty tough deal. But, with Any large charity you have to be very wary of "Administrative" Costs. Talk to the administrator of the local VA if you have a proclivity to want to go in that direction. Most of the VA people are pretty good folks.

      Delete
    5. One nice thing about not having any heirs is you know no one will fight over the estate, and, you don't have to go to the trouble of writing out of the will those relatives you can't stand, which, in the end, might be all of them. Getting you back to square one.

      My basic objection to Obama/Care is I feel certain quality of care will go down and I can't stomach the idea of the government making decisions about the culling of the herd.

      Ruf has some good suggestions above.

      I'd try somehow to make certain it got into the hands of somebody and in such a way that it won't be wasted, gambled away, or vacationed to some island paradise.

      This is where a lawyer might help, making sure there is a little fiduciary duty in there somehow, if you can find a lawyer who won't waste it, gamble it away, or vacation at your expense to some island paradise.

      You have your work cut out for you.

      If you want to help overseas, both the Lutheran Church and the Catholic Church have very responsible organizations that do a good job of seeing to it that the money would actually get out there and do some good to somebody. They have a contest each year seeing who does the best job of that.

      b

      Delete
    6. Key is keeping it local as per your first few suggestions. Don't have enough for the VA angle but will bear in mind for those who do (and admit it.)

      And nothing wrong with your brain Rufus. Hang tough.

      (RE admin costs - United Way - never got a dime from me since and the office pressure was pretty intense.)

      Delete
    7. Re-read "Great Expectations."

      Delete
    8. .

      Then again there are days when I am surely convinced that the species is not worth the spit in my John Henry.

      Give it to the Humane Society.

      .

      Delete
    9. I intend to - half of it if not all.

      Delete
    10. .

      You could give the other half to the "Save the Wolves in Idaho Foundation".

      Bob would love that.

      .

      Delete
    11. And yes, b, I intend to have an attorney draft the will. I'm all signed, sealed, and delivered. Even got a safe. Bolted to the wall. Cement.

      Delete
  23. Doom doom, doom and gloom
    Who's the dullest in the room
    The empty man in the empty suit
    Sitting in the empty chair to boot
    Or one old Rufus two
    Who takes his every cue
    From some democratic talking point
    His brains so badly out of joint
    He must come from Nivevah
    And we should pity
    That great city
    In which there are
    120,000 who know not
    The right hand from
    The left I wot
    And also much cattle
    Equally untaught


    b

    ReplyDelete
  24. People can get rich in strange ways. There was a much talked about incident in my fair city where a young gentleman of no means cared for an older lady of means for several years, and, by golly, after she died and the will was read in the lawyer's office, he got it all, over 2 million.

    He seemed to be the smartest man in that room on that day.

    b

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Am intimately knowledgeable of a similar situation; Laughed my ass off. (some bewildered, and pissed off worthless relatives in the room.) :)

      Delete
    2. And what would (any of) you do with, say, $2 million?

      Delete
    3. I'd put most of it towards Whiskey, Poker, and High-Class Whores.

      The rest of it I'd probably just piss away. :)

      Delete
    4. I'd be thinking Island Paradise.

      Delete
    5. Al long as it had fast wimmin, and slow horses, I'd be right at home. :)

      Delete
    6. It's long been said that the best way to end up with a small fortune

      is to invest a large fortune with Rufus. :)

      Delete
  25. BTW, it seems the "Labor Participation Rate" is about where pre-recession estimates said it would be. Baby-Boomers retiring have subtracted about 3% from the top-line number.

    Calculated Risk


    In other words, although 7.8% isn't a particularly good number, it IS a legitimate number, more or less.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not when it's mostly government and service industry jobs. Service industry jobs: Starbucks, McDonalds, etc.

      It's a bullshit number full of lies and half truths. The empty chair has failed miserably.

      Delete
    2. Yes, Gag, you're correct about all that (see my comment, below.)

      McDonalds jobs are Not Manufacturing jobs. I'm just pointing out that the "Participation Rate" argument is the wrong argument.

      There are no "lies" in the number, and no "half truths" in the number. Numbers is numbers. They is what they is. Do you even click on the BLS links when I post them?

      This is not an "Obama Deal." It's not even an "Obama/Bush Deal." It might be an "Obama/Bush/Clinton/Bush" Deal. OR, it might even be a "Nixon-through-Obama" Deal.

      Whatever it is, it's deeply systemic in our paradigm, now; and, it really needs to be considered in an intelligent, non-partisan way.

      Delete
    3. I don't trust BLS. I read all their explanations and saw all their hand wringing. They are supporters of Obama and want him to get re-elected. I work with numbers everyday. You can manipulate them til the cows come home. Lying numbers is lying numbers.

      The lab experiment failed, time to get the lab rat out of the office. The liberal guilt ridden white folks who voted Obama in had their chance and failed miserably. Like I said before, I am ready for some new nonsense from another person.

      Delete
    4. Brutha, puhleeze; drop the goofy "guilt-ridden" crap.

      The Economy Totally Imploded at the end of Bush's term, and McCain was a shitty candidate (you think Iowa, Ohio, and beloved Jesus, Indiana voted for Obama because they were "liberal, guilt-ridden, or because McNutz went up there and campaigned against Two of the Most Important Industries, Agriculture, and Ethanol?)

      Delete
    5. whatever Rufus. All your BS is boring. Kindly stop it.

      Delete
    6. Let me gift you with a number, bubba: 37%

      That's the percentage of Voters that are White, Male.

      There's only one thing in the world that you can bet the farm, and all the livestock on; that number will be Smaller in 2016.

      The Party that thinks it will stay in power favoring that bloc, well at the expense of all others, is deluding itself. It's like "peak oil;" it might not be evident, today, but you won't be able to talk your way around it tomorrow.

      Delete
  26. One of the Two Very Large Mistakes that we've made is, somewhere along the line, we allowed ourselves to become persuaded that we could take the worst of a very unfair Trade Regime with China, and come out ahead.

    I won't go into the arguments (they're long and tedious,) but, basically, they were nonsense. They were Great for the Mitt Romneys of the world, but they were horrible for the Rufiis and associated clans. (Cheap prices at Walmart aren't nearly as sweet when you have half your unemployed relatives pitching tents in your back yard.)

    The "New" Misery Index: The Price of Gas + the number of relatives sleeping in your living room.

    ReplyDelete
  27. The EEX (European Energy Exchange) recent report on September’s trading results showed that both peak-load and baseload day-ahead electricity prices in Germany and Austria are lower than that of Switzerland and France.
    Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1pu3z)



    The average price difference in September was 4%. “The drop over the past 12 months in Germany has indeed been quite dramatic at around 18% – from 5.264 cents per kilowatt-hour in September 2011 to the current 4.467 cents last month.”

    In other words, as Germany’s renewable energy has boomed, its electricity prices have dropped relative to those of its nuclear-heavy neighbors.



    This news is especially important due to the fact that nuclear power, which provides about 75% of France’s electricity, is often touted as a particularly inexpensive source of baseload power (if it is from old nuclear power plants). But, that doesn’t seem to be the case here.

    Also, renewable energy opponents repeatedly voice their concern about the cost impact of low-emissions power sources scaring away “industry.” Odd. The cost impact seems to be a beneficial one here.

    Industry pays rates on the power exchange, which are determined by

    Clean Technica (http://s.tt/1pu3z)

    Looks like those Commie Germans got lucky, again


    And, the hits to the tea party/kochs just keep on comin'.

    ReplyDelete


  28. I feel guilty that I voted for McCain.

    I have no idea what I would do with a one or two million dollar "gift."

    I wouldn't know how to work "this market." Indexing might be fine - as long as (a) the central banks continue to prop up the markets until (b) the politicians begin to engage, two fat hypotheticals right there. Throw in HFT, unregulated derivatives markets, and failure to get back to the Glass-Steagall wall, and the retail investor is out of his weight class toot sweet. Two million would go the way of a Las Vegas stage act - poof.

    I might consider trying to build an enterprise but I doubt I have a sufficient skill set. I would consider it anyway.

    That leaves real estate - and commodities.

    I would lean toward the purchase of real estate, likely a fixer-upper since I like that stuff.

    But commodities? Despite what I read, I can't find an investment adviser or financial planner who will recommend gold, even though I see that portfolios of the super-rich are "uniformly diversified" among real estate, commodities and equities.

    Have no clue really. I think I would pay my taxes and find a beach house on Maui but I'm guessing I would need more than two million less taxes.

    Would you like pineapple with your pina colada?

    Considering the pressure that must be oozing out of Washington about now, Obama personally seems quite stable - no yelling and screaming like Clinton, no toilet interviews like Johnson, no word salad ala GWB. He's so calm he's almost Reaganesque. I bet Michelle has popped a fuse or two.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Although, a Southwesterner might be able to get a little Agave action going.

      Oh, to be 10 years younger. (or, maybe 20) :)

      Delete
    2. I'm scared to hell of the market, right now. Some Gold is okay, but how much do you really want?

      If things really go to hell in a bona fide depression . . . . . . well, who the hell knows? My Grandfather lost a chain of dry goods stores, and what was, a few years later,a few million dollars worth of cypress

      (property taxes, with Land you can't forget the property taxes)

      in the depression. Timing is everything. Do you have any idea what the demand for cypress was during WWII?

      Delete
    3. My father was able to get a job chopping those cypress trees down, though. For $0.25 . . . . . . . . a Day. (a "Day" was 12 hrs on that job.)


      Them laissez-faire capitalist policies was A-OK back in the good ol' 30's. :)

      Delete
  29. Considering the pressure that must be oozing out of Washington about now, Obama personally seems quite stable - no yelling and screaming like Clinton, no toilet interviews like Johnson, no word salad ala GWB. He's so calm he's almost Reaganesque.

    It goes Denial, Anger, Bargaining, and finally Acceptance.

    --
    Pat Robertson points out that the consequences of not believing his preaching is eternity in a hot place. Al Gore says essentially the same thing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The death rattle of inevitability resonates in Washington but it seems to be coming more from this bizarre Rodney Dangerfield element of bold and uncompromising stalwarts valiantly and courageously holding down the fort of Republicanism against the heinous assault of progressive scientism and godless materialism. I just can't bring myself to hate Obama as much as I loathe and despise the scaly relics that comprise the remnants of what used to be a viable political party with a coherent set of beliefs. What Obama may or may not have "accepted" has as much to do with the reality of an obsolete party going most unquietly into that good dark night of oblivion as it does with the failure of Obama the President and the modern liberal policy platform.

      You left out depression. The next ten years are going to be full of it.

      Delete
  30. But, if things go the way I suspect, Scrub land looks good.

    I just would't want to be mortgaged very heavily on it.

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  31. You can't make this stuff up:

    Charlie Fuqua, the Republican candidate for the Arkansas House of Representatives who called for expelling Muslims from the United States in his book, also wrote in support for instituting the death penalty for "rebellious children."

    In "God's Law," Fuqua's 2012 book, the candidate wrote that while parents love their children, a process could be set up to allow for the institution of the death penalty for "rebellious children," according to the Arkansas Times. Fuqua, who is anti-abortion, points out that the course of action involved in sentencing a child to death is described in the Bible and would involve judicial approval. While it is unlikely that many parents would seek to have their children killed by the government, Fuqua wrote, such power would serve as a way to stop rebellious children.

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    1. Wonderful. I love it when sentences are so chockfull of goodness that I have to go back and reread, and then reread, again. Excellent wordsmithing and construction. Please keep writing here (even though you're going to be attacked, viciously, in the coming days.) We don't get enough of it.

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    2. :) I was actually gushing over the 4:57 comment, btw.

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  32. MILITARY TIMES POLL: R 66% O 26%...


    The folks doing the heavy lifting don't seem to appreciate the genius of the smartest man in the room, their Commander in Chief.

    .....

    I'd excommunicate this Fuqua fellow from the Republican Party, though he seems to have a working grasp of the Muslim problem.

    b

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    1. REPORT: Ambassador Stevens Wanted Security Team to Stay in Libya Past August...

      Made 'Multiple Pleas' For More Security...

      Warned of Danger on Day of Death...



      I imagine the Diplomatic Corps has its doots, too, these days.


      b

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  33. I go out and drive about the country side and when I come back all is 'sweetness and light' --

    GALLUP: 5-POINT ROMNEY BOUNCE...

    PEW: 18-point shift among women...

    POLL: Romney leads among independents 51-35...

    'Enthusiasm' gap 13-point spread for Republican...

    R closes gap in Michigan...


    They got a fox hunting club here, though they don't kill the foxes, and it's all for show. You know, horses, fox hounds, red coats, bugles, shiny black boots, liquor from The Liquor Barn, which has a vodka made in Wisconsin called Death's Door, which I was tempted to buy for Rufus, and wines from all over the world, even down to the provinces in France.


    b

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    1. But not a bottle of the fine 'Five Wives' vodka was to be found. The Mormons may have cleaned the place out. Or the Romney campaign.

      Five Wives Vodka was introduced into the Utah market in December of 2011 where it quickly became a favorite of Utah vodka drinkers.

      In March of 2012 readers of the City Weekly, Salt Lake City's weekly alternative paper, voted Five Wives Vodka as winner in the annual "Best of Utah" issue. Five Wives Vodka received accolades as the states "Best New Spirit."

      With is blend of Wasatch mountain spring water gathered five gallons at a time from a spring in beautiful Ogden Canyon mixed with distilled spirit from a 50/50 blend of corn and wheat to 80 proof (40% ABV), Five Wives subtle sweetness and smooth finish quickly gathered more fans around the state of Utah.

      Five Wives Vodka was well on its way to becoming a regional favorite when things really heated up. In May of 2012, the neighboring state of Idaho determined that Five Wives Vodka would not be allowed to be sold through the Idaho state liquor system to several bars that had requested the product.

      Apparently the Idaho didn't like the quirky label of the product.


      http://ogdensown.com/five-wives-vodka.html


      b

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  34. A Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives has a history of writing in support of slavery and the Confederacy, along with comparing Abraham Lincoln to Karl Marx.

    State Rep. Loy Mauch (R-Bismarck) wrote a series of letters to the editor of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, defending slavery and attacking Lincoln, the Arkansas Times reports.

    The revelations about Mauch's letters come days after it was reported that state Rep. Jon Hubbard (R-Jonesboro) wrote that slavery "may have been a blessing" in a 2010 book.

    The Arkansas Republican Party has condemned Hubbard's comments, along with comments by Republican legislative candidate Charlie Fuqua, who advocated expelling Muslims from the United States.

    Mauch, a first term legislator, wrote the letters starting in 2000. He has called Lincoln a "fake neurotic Northern war criminal" and said the 16th president committed "premeditated murder" on the Constitution. He called Lincoln and Civil War generals "Wehrmacht leaders" -- the name for the armed forces in Nazi Germany. He also praised his ancestors for standing up to "Northern aggression" and said the Confederate flag is "a symbol of Christian liberty vs. the new world order."

    In two letters, Mauch wrote about the Bible and slavery. The Arkansas Times quotes from a letter Mauch wrote in 2009:

    If slavery were so God-awful, why didn’t Jesus or Paul condemn it, why was it in the Constitution and why wasn’t there a war before 1861?

    In 2010, it was reported that Mauch . . . .

    Was there something in the water at the Republican Convention?

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    1. He's nuts, Rufus. But don't forget how many democrats were members of the KKK, and it was the Republicans that ended slavery. I'd kick his ass out if I had the ability to do it.


      The Arkansas Republican Party has condemned Hubbard's comments

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    2. :)

      You forgot to mention that it was, largely, Those KKK Dems that switched over, and became the South's New Republicans - just like LBJ said they would when he signed the Civil Rights Act.

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  35. Rasmussen Reports that the....
    Richest man in the room has lost his bounce...
    Smartest man in the room has closed the post debate gap

    Both are at 48%
    Obama leads in Ohio...

    The must win State for Richie Rich

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  36. Boobie touted Rasmussen, when Romney was leading, ther.

    Now he touts anyone that has Romney ahead, while ignoring his old friend, Rasmussen. He has become a fountain of bubble babble bullshit

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    1. Now, now, crapper, your right arm is coming up again. You must learn to control your aggression. People can have heart attacks and strokes from anger, you know.

      b

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    2. You can take satisfaction that your fellow the libertarian has about three percent in, can't recall whether it was Michigan or Wisconsin, but it is about the difference between R and O. That ought to make you feel important.

      b

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    3. Here 'tis -

      LANSING — Republican candidate Mitt Romney’s strong performance in his first debate with President Barack Obama helped him trim Obama’s lead in Michigan to three percentage points, a poll released today to the Free Press shows.

      Obama’s 10 percentage point lead (47%-37%) in a poll conducted last month by EPIC-MRA of Lansing dropped to 3 points (48% to 45%), according to the poll of 600 likely voters conducted by EPIC-MRA of Lansing. The gap between Romney and Obama was within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

      Undecided voters shrank from the September survey’s 16% to just 7%.

      EPIC’s September poll and others last month appeared to put Michigan out of reach for Romney, a native son.

      “Romney has come back like gangbusters,” said EPIC-MRA President Bernie Porn. “Whether or not it’s long-lasting, only time will tell, but probably the remaining debates will be key.”

      Conducted in the three days following the Wednesday debate, the poll showed more than five times as many Michiganders interviewed named Romney, not Obama, as the debate’s winner. Romney’s numbers improved most dramatically among independent and undecided voters. In the debate, Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts and the son of former Michigan Gov. George Romney, used a rapid fire attack and kept a more deliberate Obama, the Democrat, on the defensive.

      The results mirror other newly released national polls which show the race tightening both nationally and in critical swing states.


      b

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  37. Interesting, from Wonkblog:

    In a helpful fact-check at MarketWatch, Rex Nutting corrects a mistake that I — and a number of other economic commentators — made Friday: The employment gains on the Household Survey didn’t come from part-time jobs.

    The mistake I made was looking at table A-8, the table that tracks part-time work among people who want full-time work, rather than A-9, which tracks part-time work overall. A-8 showed a spike — which is why U6, the broadest measure of labor-market misery, the one that counts part-time workers who want to be full-time, didn’t budge — but A-9 didn’t.

    That’s a lot of jargon, so here’s the bottom line. The number of workers who are involuntarily part-time did rise sharply in September. But the number of part-time workers overall fell a bit. That is to say, the job gains on the Household Survey came from full-time work. Nutting even posted the following helpful graph.

    Here's the graph:

    Graph

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  38. The Republicans rufus, seem to have gone bubbling bonkers.

    Their elected officials are spouting bile that makes boobie seek intellectual, by comparison.

    He only wanted to abort them, in November 2008, not make them slaves.

    Mr Mauch does not mention that back in the days when Jesus was riding an ass that slavery was not catagorized by the color of the slaves skin, but it was an economic condition. Often caused by being on the lolsing side of a war.

    Iin Jesus's day those folks that supported the Confederate States of America would have become the slaves of their newly freed black masters.

    Mr Mauch is dumber than a dog

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  39. Bubbling Bonkers? :)

    I'm voting for "Full Boil Batshit Crazy!"

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Indeed you are Rufus, you are voting for full boil batshit crazy Obama.

      The guy, nay, the Constitutional Law Professor, who recommended putting children in comfort rooms to die and said the killing of the Ambassador and others was just a bump in the road. The guy that promised to stop the seas from rising and heal the earth, and that sucked up to the Saudi King you can't stand.

      Your guy, full boil batshit crazy Obama.

      :)

      You got it right, Rufus!

      yeaeeeeee

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    2. I'd like to see a little documentation on that 'comfort room' thing, if you don't mind.

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  40. It seems the O'man tanked on the 4th, but bumped up a bit in today's polling. The Rasmussen Poll, and the 7 day Gallup poll both popped +2, today.

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