Thursday, October 4, 2012

Things to Know - 5 October

Ben Sargent
1.  After the debate last night, I felt let down, as I indicated on a previous reply for a piddling $3 donation to help call out Mitt's lies.   There is plenty of spin and rancor this morning.  Chris Mathews of MSNBC is positively unhinged.  I am sure we will be reading more and hearing more about as the day goes on.  I am quite sure that Obama is getting an earful this morning from Michelle.  He really needs someone like James Carville and Bill Clinton to take him aside for a good and honest review.  All the feelings of let down, betrayal, disappointment, and unease aside, it still is a question of who is best to occupy the Oval Office.  No question - Barack Obama.  What we saw last night was a real-time etch a sketch performance by an animated and hyper Mitt Romney, and a cool and calm, detached Obama - but failing to call out his challenger's chameleon's etch-a-sketch two step.   Last night's format and moderator, was no help either.  Jim Lehrer's question only asked each debater to state how his policy was different from his opponent's.  What his questions and format did not allow was how responses differed from previous statements.  I am sure Lehrer, as he follows the news every day, knows the stated views and positions presented in the past, but did not ask to explain the inconsistencies.  Charles Blow offers his disappointment.  Gail Collins attempts to bring everyone back to reality and their senses with a more light-hearted column:

2.  The NY Times editorial makes a more dispassionate and even-handed assessment of the debate.  It is small comfort to the nervous:

3.  The "go-to" opinion blog (Nate Silver's 538) tempers all angst and glee back to reality:

4.  I ran across this Paul Krugman column from January of this year.   It really helps to read it over and over again to grasp the real meaning of national debt at the country level as opposed to debt at the family or municipal level.  In our USA case, if we have a stable and functioning government, it is okay and necessary to spend our way (stimulus) to achieve a vibrant economy.   It is the danger of a paralyzed congress and austerity measures in cutting spending that hurt a wide swath of our society that are the real enemy.  Krugman is no dummy, and more people in high places should pay more attention to his advice on policy:

5.  With the president's permission, let's start picking up the pieces on Romney's fantasy ride last night.  Nothing but BS and 180 degree opposite positions.  Here is one big chunk of BullMitt - his creation of 12.5 million jobs, reducing taxes for all, and all those other promises do not add up, he comes up short every which way.  Each new job has to pay over $400,000 to come in where his numbers game plays.  Now is not the time to call Mittnocchio out on his math - that should have been last night.  So, we will get back to work, and talk about something each day where Fantasy in Romneyland will be revealed:

5.  Here are 27 more points of evidence where Etch-a-Sketchney cut corners, invented new corners, or completely lied.  You can look them over, and hopefully the Oval Office team can figure a way to include them in their daily operation to overcome the letdown they gave us last night.  It's not that hard:

6.  In a matter more serious than silly worries about what was and what was not said in a debate, we have the secret surveillance by our government on just about everything we say or do.  It is a contribution from the Walteria News Bureau. If you are not familiar with Walteria, think of a giant underground think tank full of secret agents plotting crossword puzzles hidden with centrifuge code programs (no, not really????).  You will never know:

7. Here is the Paul Krugman of today.   Mitt Romney's lying statement that "his" health care plan will cover pre-existing conditions is raked over the coals.  After the debate even Romney's handlers agreed that their plan does not cover pre-existing conditions.  It is apparent to me that His Mittency did receive some training from his father's career.  Romney reminds me of those slick used car dealers that were hanging around Fort Ord back in the middle 60's just waiting to sell a piece of junk on 4-wheels to unsuspecting recruits who had an Army serial number and a shyster loan from Laurentide finance - no shame at all in passing off a piece of crap as a wonderful and reliable set of wheels:

8.  David Brooks is pretty straight forward in his assessment of the debate.  Yes, Obama did not come off well.  He gives Romney high marks for his casting off all the strings that the Tea Party had on him, and was not afraid of flim-flam, flip flop, untruths, and utter BS.  In effect he praises Mittley for his brazen etch-a-sketch pandering lack of character performance in getting to last night.  IMHO, that is nothing to crow about.  Just because he looked bold and animated and puked out a littany of inconsistencies and lies does not make him presidential material.   Obama, on the other hand, can use this Brooks column to help him define his own back bone:


--
Juan

"A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theatre admission and the babysitter were worth it."  
       -- Alfred Hitchcock
"There are no wise few. Every aristocracy that has ever existed has behaved, in all essential points, exactly like a small mob." 
       -- G. K. Chesterton
"Speak when you are angry--and you will make the best speech you'll ever regret." 
       -- Laurence J. Peter
"Take care of the luxuries, and the necessities will take care of themselves." 
       -- Dorothy Parker
"I don't mind what Congress does, as long as they don't do it in the streets and frighten the horses." 
       -- Victor Hugo


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