Another GOP debate but one that will likely be unlike any that have come before. Mitt Romney was the champ, he had it all sewn up, he was just waiting for his glove to be held up and the championship belt wrapped around him…then came Clubber Newt and the following conversation between Romney and his Campaign Manager:
Mitt: He’s just another fighter!
Campaign Manager: No he ain’t just another fighter. This guy is a wrecking machine and he’s hungry! Hell, you ain’t been hungry since you won that belt!
Mitt: You really don’t think I got nothing left do you?
Campaign Manager: Well, Rom, let’s put it this way. Now, three years ago you was supernatural. You was hard and you was nasty and you had this cast-iron jaw but then the worst thing happened to you, that could happen to any fighter. You got civilized. But don’t worry kid. You know, presidents retire, horses retire, Man-o-war retired. They put him out to stud. That’s what you should’ve done, retired.
Mitt Romney, who would be as comfortable participating in a boxing match as he would be befriending the homeless at a soup kitchen, has no choice but to try and look as hateful and hostile as Newt who has captured the tiny hearts and tortured souls of the core voters in the Republican Party.
Can Mitt look genuine as a fighter or will it all look so forced and unnatural, further eroding any sense of honesty and substance about him?
Newt is strongest as a counter-puncher but will he overplay his hand as the hater?
Join us here for a live blog of the NBC Debate which begins at 6:00 pm PST/9:00 pm EST and can be watched online as well as http://NBCPolitic.com.
Hope to see you then!
UPDATE: Those not in EST or CST can watch the debate live at this link:
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/rock-center/46058377/#46058377
Seems that there are many disgruntled folks on the right complaining about NBC attempting to maintain some decorum during the debates.
My suggestion: next time they forget the questions and just hold a “Yo Mama” Slam.
Mitt, Yo Mama was so “country club” she wore hats! 😉
Please excuse my ignorance but all these initials confuse me. What is the POV for?
Hi Nirek! POV stands for Point Of View.
Thanks Adlib. I can sometimes figure out the acronyms and other times they don’t compute with me. Makes me feel old or stupid.
Nirek,
Hey no reason to feel ignorant, there are many that people don’t understand, so many that there are dedicated sites just for that.
Here’s one: http://www.internetslang.com/
Nirek, don’t feel alone there. I have a hard time with that, too. We maybe old but we’re not stupid. We just grew up having to write everything out in long hand. Well, we also had some hand jesters……but, there are new ones of those, too. Good to have young friends. Thank you, Bito, for the link. 🙂
From Politico:
AdLib, how come this picture doesn’t show on my computer? It’s never had a problem with porn. 😉
Mitt Romney’s tax returns shed some light on his investment wealth
More>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2012/01/23/gIQAj5bUMQ_story.html?tid=sm_twitter_washingtonpost
For the sake of comparison, here’s what the Obamas and Gingriches paid in taxes:
Tales of the 1040s
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/tales-of-the-1040s/2012/01/23/gIQA83IRMQ_graphic.html?tid=sm_twitter_washingtonpost
Wow, Bito, what a difference! Big donations there, Newt! I guess he gave more to Tiffany’s.
Bito, thanks for that link , I saved it for future use.
Newt sure is a nice guy giving so much *snark*.
Bito, How sweet it is! Gee, how many jobs did he creat with those profits, dividends, and interest from investments? This shows how BS their claim that the 1% creat jobs. They are not creating product just dollars for themselves.
Sally, quick, do the math, how much of an investment would take to make 20+ million in one year? My guess, a whole hell of a lot! And then
OMG, Bito! How much is the interest rate on investment? I sure wouldn’t know. Wow! And, of course this doesn’t include money in the Cayman Islands or other tax shelters he has. Do these people that like him understand that this is money he is making off of interest? This doesn’t touch the principle! He is not spending that! This is not at all like your paycheck! Once you spend that, it is gone! His principle is still there! He only is spending the money that that money made on interest!
And, how can anyone after looking at this not think Newt is one of the elite insiders!!
OH, AND HE PAID AT A TAX RATE OF 13.9! OMG!
Oh, I know, I am just jealous. YOU’RE DAMN RIGHT!!!! 13.9% rate!
Sally, why do people donate $ to these people when they have so much anyway? Also , do you know what happens to the money in their “war chests”? They can use it for anything they want. Even keep it.
Nirek, too much of that money donated to them is for purchase of them should they win. Not the small people hoping that they will think of them and do good things. No, its those big corporations, the 1%, and financial institutions that are going to expect him to serve them and only them. Nirek, it just makes me want to puke but I won’t.
And Romney thinks he’s going to connect with the majority of Americans, paying only 13.9% in taxes and campaigning to raise taxes on the poor and barely reduce middle class taxes.
I thought his tax rate would be lower than 15% and I’ll bet his tax rates in previous years were lower! Of course he doesn’t want to release previous years!
Adlib, Is it legal to put money in offshore accounts and not pay taxes on the resulting income? I guess I don’t understand this stuff too well.
If I tried to put some of my fortune (small)offshore I’d be sent to jail for tax evasion.
Nirek, according to this author, yes, it is possible by doing what he calls “roundtriping.”
Romney’s Cayman Explanations Don’t Tell the Whole Story
http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2012/01/20/romneys-cayman-explanations-dont-tell-the-whole-story/
How is it right for people to work for $10-25 per hour and pay more than those who do nothing but put money (they probably inherited) into stocks ?
I never understood that. The lower your income the lower your tax rate should be. IMO
Another thing to remember is the payroll tax. With the money coming from “unearned income,” FICA taxes can be avoided.
Does anyone else see Romney’s claim of making Senator Kennedy take a mortgage out on his house as bragging that he has more money than the Kennedy’s? Among other things, of course.
I think he’s so materialistic-to-the-bone that he doesn’t even realize how shabby and petty and spiteful that statement reveals him to be, Sally.
He’s actually proud and pleased that he was able to produce even a low level of financial anxiety in another human being. He’s a walking case of schadenfreude of the worst sort.
Sometimes I think if someone offered a leveraged buyout of “Ann and the five sons” he’d snap it up without a second thought. He loves money. Period.
Kesmarn , he is like most of the GOPers, GREEDY.
‘Zactly, Nirek!
Hey Sally, sure sounds that way to me. I do doubt that Mitt’s claim is true though. I don’t think Ted Kennedy needed to take out a mortgage on his house. That sounds like pure bullshit to me.
KT, why does he say it if not to show himself as having more than Kennedy? I mean, we know that they both have money.
Colbert tonight: “After disappointing showings in Iowa and New Hampshire, Newt’s campaign looked terminally ill…which is generally when he moves on to something better.”
Oooooooooo….ZINGER!
That goes along with this tweet:
Yep, I posted that earlier, but I thought it hilarious.
I/we need to check into this:
Did Mitt have too much baggage on his taxes for the McCain staff or was he too moderate for them?
Both?
Probably both, no reason that it was one or the other. Weird that they spent time vetting Mitt and only spent 39 seconds vetting Palin.
No kidding, Bito! Gee, they fell down on the job with her!
Someone misheard instructions. “Gee, boss, I thought you said: ‘Pick up that bat at the vet’s'”
Looks like I’m not the only one who fell asleep and it seems like AdLib was right. A very boring debate.
A new show on the DIY Network (Do It Yourself) is Self-deportation. How to get the job done over the weekend.
It’s like a cartoon where you pick yourself up and “carry” yourself to the border then toss yourself over the fence.
In Republican minds, any ridiculous thing you can imagine is possible!
AdLib, Newt wouldn’t be for self-deportation. His fellow congressmen had to censure him to get him out of the House! Romney would make the House take out a mortgage.
Newt is for Self-Inflation.
Romney is glad he made America have to mortgage their homes to bail out all of his backers on Wall Street.
I bet a lot of people whose unemployment benefits are about to run out would love to self-deport somewhere, but Mittens doesn’t have any suggestions for them.
Maybe the Planet Kolub?
Kes, my daughter’s unemployment is about to run out and she has been out on at least 3 personal interviews a week. No luck and she cried all weekend. I hate Newt Gingrich! and the GOP!
Sally, sorry about all your daughter’s having to deal with, hoping something good comes up soon from all of her efforts!
Thank you, AdLib. She is trying so hard, even playing herself down because she keeps getting told she is “over qualified”.
It’s a reality that is so blatantly ignored by these Repub weasels as they pander and BS about jobs and the economy.
Corps have outsourced high paying jobs that experienced people used to have and now lower tier jobs are the majority of what’s out there now.
They have been intent on destroying opportunity for the middle class.
Wishing the best for your daughter.
Oh Sally, that’s just too much stress for any young person. It’s really awful — the way they’ve blighted the futures of so many kids.
It’s bad enough to feel a loss of security as one gets older, but it’s so much worse to feel that all one’s prospects are dimmed and almost eliminated in some cases at the very beginning of what should be a bright career.
Best wishes to her and prayers if she’s okay with those, too.
She cried to me, “Mom, I’m 42 and living in my mom’s basement. I feel like a failure.” Of course, I told her she wasn’t any such thing. We keep hoping for something. What else can you do?
I know it’s small consolation to ’em, Sally, but they’re not alone! There are so many people in her situation. And they are NOT failures! This is due to external forces beyond her control. But the RW is good at the blame and shame routine. Takes the spotlight of blame off of them.
Keep on hoping. And encourage her to vote for PBO!
Kes, she is my daughter! She always vote Democrat! In fact, I keep telling her she should get more involved because she can argue a case better than any lawyer! She has taken on the school board when her children were younger. 🙂
It is our society, government and corporate America that have failed her and tens of millions of other Americans who find themselves dealing with the same situation and feelings.
I know words are of little comfort at such times. It’s going to take time for things to turn around and a lot of work. We have to prevail in the elections this year and work with OWS and other fellow Americans to put the pressure on the people we elect to do what we need done to help get things back on track.
Bottom line, we can’t allow the destruction wrought by others on us to influence how we perceive ourselves. They don’t define us by their actions and how they impact us, we define ourselves by our own actions and our reactions to what we’re faced with.
The dedication your daughter exhibits every day to make things better in her life speaks volumes about her character.
Good people feel guilt sometimes in difficult situations that are not of their own making. There are people who are responsible for so many people having trouble finding good jobs but it is definitely not those who are seeking those jobs.
AdLib, thank you so much and I will share this with her. There are many good people out there that are doing their best to get by on their own and there are others that need help. They are not lazy, dirty, or uneducated. No, GOP, you can’t put them in boxes you label!
Oh Sally – how awful for her! I am so sorry! This must be devastating to her, and there are no good solutions unless and until we get serious about looking after people such as she. How can the GOP be so heartless! Yes, employment is picking up some, but where are the corporations with their mountains of cash that are supposed to be the “job creators” when wonderful people such as your daughter have SO much to offer and so few chances to do it????
Please tell her that all of us here are sending her good energies and hoping the best for her. I want something GOOD to come her way and NOW!
A big, virtual <<<<<<<>>>>>>> to both of you! (That’s a hug – but it won’t SAY so.)
We say to Romney, “Join the Kolub!”
The Kolub Med (for Mediocre, in his case).
“I have a good mind to join a Kolub and beat him over the head with it!”
Consider that Newt and Mitt now have a long list of reasons to vote against them that have come up just on Republican issues.
That doesn’t include the long list that will be added when popular POVs are applied to them, like their wanting to kill Medicare and SS, wanting tax cuts not tax increases on the wealthy, oppressing women and the poor, deregulating Wall Street and oil companies, etc.
By all rights, they should be buried in a GE.
So, if this debate changes nothing, Newt continues as the front runner and the GOP Elite is popping Oxycontins.
Dr. Paul probably wrote himself a prescription.
I think that this primary contest may last longer than any R wants. As KQ pointed out the other day, the longer it goes and the further right they go, the bigger contrast will be obvious when the have to get back to the middle for the GE. How many “beep-beep-beep” backups will the electorate be able to not see/hear?
Meanwhile, over at Fox, they are complaining.
Not enough cheering about anti gays and Mexicans for them I guess
Agreed, the more Romney and Gingrich have to publicly pander to extremists, the more they cement themselves in eyes of the public as extremists.
I just saw Newt’s Sr. Advisor whining about the lack of a raucous, NASCAR audience and claiming that NBC controlled them.
Ball gags? Nerve gas? An opening monologue by Ron Paul?
This is insane, that debates are supposed to be about howling, cheering and booing like a magician’s act for 5 year olds? Do the Repubs understand what the word “debate” means?
Maybe they do and have just thrown in the towel on a debate being about arguing about the truths of an issue because they no longer have any to debate.
I heard several analysts say of course these are NOT debates, that the usual sponsors such as the League of Women Voters are totally absent. When you let parties such as the TP do it, all it comes down to is gladiators in the Colloseum. No blood, no guts spilled, no gore – not any FUN. It’s not about issues – it’s about the up and down thumb on someone’s life.
That alone makes these “debates” useless. They’re not seeking the best candidate. They’re seeking the biggest bully on the block.
How did it go? I fell asleep.
You won!
So did we, KQ.
Most of them were asleep, too, KQ.
Hope we are live blogging SOTU tomorrow. What did I do before the Planet! Thanks guys.
We are indeed! See you then, Murph!
Are we VP’ing after? That’s almost as good as us all going out for beer and pizza together!
We will indeed be Live Chatting the SOTU, our crack technical team is working night and day to provide the technology to make this happen!
IOW, I should have it up in time for the SOTU in plenty of time!
Son of a Bitch….the NBC chief pundit Gregory is now switching his conclusion….Romney is on the offense.
Gregory is such a hack. He’s pushed POVs repeatedly that are what’s best for NBC.
Are you really shocked about Gregory at anything he says? #pudnut!
Matthews just mentioned something I missed, that when Castro dies he will “go to another land”.
Mormons believe that when you die, you go to Planet Kolub where God resides. That could rub the religious RWs in FL the wrong way.
Seriously? I did not know that they believed such things. Yikes! Or are you just funnin’ us?
CL, they do, they really do.