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Comments Posted By KQµårk 死神

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Is the Smart Money on Romney Actually Being Dumb?

Agreed I think being able to accomplish certain levels of education does require people to have a certain level of a certain kind of intelligence. I consider people with real intelligence to have not only common sense but a certain kind of wisdom to discern the real truths in the world around them. About everyone I’ve encountered on the Planet has this kind of discernment. So using that as that ultimate yardstick in experiencing intelligent people I see very very few Republicans including Romney who have that kind of intelligence anymore.

An intelligent person by no means needs to know all the answers but they should know most of the right questions or be inquisitive enough to try and discover the right questions to ask.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 10, 2012 @ 3:12 pm

Will do CL.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 10, 2012 @ 11:35 am

Many people say this election lacks vision on both sides. But I think both candidates have antithetical visions they both have laid out there for voters to choose. Obama has focused on tax fairness as his biggest concern and letting the Bush tax cuts expire for the rich AND raising capital gains taxes, cutting tax credits for big oil and tax incentives to ship jobs over seas. While Romney has clearly stated he’s for the 1% over and over where his biggest evidence is his tax plan that would give more tax cuts to the wealthy while making the middle class pay for them. Just because Romney’s vision come off as gaffes like he doesn’t care about the poor and likes to fire people doesn’t mean that’s his true vision.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 10, 2012 @ 11:34 am

No doubt ambition and greed make up for talent and intelligence often for people who are ‘successful’. Look at Aryanna for Pete’s sake.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 10, 2012 @ 11:26 am

Like I said to K the empirical evidence is on your side of the argument. I definitely have to rationalize a bit myself to infer that Romney is even a little above average intelligence. The only concrete empirical evidence I have on my side are Romney’s educational credentials which would lead me to believe that Romney is at least a bit more intelligent than average or he would not have been able to complete his JD and MBA at Harvard. But again is it really intelligence that matters in the real world and to that question I say no it doesn’t based on my knowledge about PhD’s who have all the academic credentials in the world but still use common household spray paint to spray their bumpers after getting dinged (long story).

It think there is a greater truth here as well. For so many years the right wing has been pushing the self fulfilling prophecy that guvment is bad and only attracts incompetent people has come full circle. Now the GOP is stuck with not only a bunch of people that are not passionate about good governance but where ideology is favored over competence. So the GOP now gets the kind of candidates it deserves, those propelled by the peter principle where everyone rises to their level of incompetence.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 10, 2012 @ 11:22 am

Indeed Sally I see allot of parallels in their emotional development and resulting behavior. To sum it up both are thin skinned bullies with a daddy complex. Both are extremely insecure men in their own ways. Romney is insecure about showing who he really is to people and Bush is insecure because he does not have confidence in his intelligent so both show a faux toughness. I read an article several years ago written by a psychologist that disused the neurotic tendencies of GWB and that’s essentially the diagnosis he came up with for Bush. But let me say I see allot more mean intent in Romney than I saw in Bush. While Bush was content making others play the bad guy for him Romney relishes negativity, lies and attacking. Remember Bush’s first campaign was very positive save for the dirty tricks played by Rove in the primaries. Sure it was all a lie but Romney is incapable of being positive.

Again Obama cannot be more opposite. He is tough as nails but does not have to show it because he’s one of the most secure people I’ve ever seen in the public spotlight. He’s got a little abandanment issue with his father but it did not manifest in any severely negative behavioral traits, save for a tad of passive aggressive and petulant behavior at times. I think he’s much more centered because he has such a great wife and family to support him. Writing the book about his father was the only catharsis he needed to not let his childhood issues spoil his life. I know to some people especially race tinged people the confidence Obama shows comes off as arrogant or dare I say uppity.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 10, 2012 @ 8:16 am

I absolutely agree and good way to describe it.

Not saying Romney is one but psychopaths are extremely cunning at feigning human behavior but they still don’t have a clue what being an empathetic human means.

Romney to me seems like a terrible big picture thinker which is the antithesis of President Obama. So many times I’ve seen Romney interviewed where he says absolutely nothing of substance. His whole campaign is just a meandering group of disjointed attacks rather than having a coherent strategy. Maybe Romney has AADD.

The first thing that really sold me on Obama in 2008 was when I read a transcript of an interview he had with Wolfe Blitzer about foreign policy. I found it astounding how much Obama understood the big picture but understood nuance as well. I just said to myself this guy ‘gets it’ like no candidate I’ve seen in a while.

If you don’t have a good BS filter Romney can sound like a smart guy but he really does not understand the crux of any issue.

You last point is spot on too. Romney has a truly uncomfortable presence because he just think he’s above being questioned. I think the difference between his interviews and W’s and Palin’s interviews is Romney resents being questioned and that’s why he’s defensive while the other two are insecure so that’s why they get defensive. So Romney comes off as mean spirited and the other two come off as being more human.

Again compare Obama. He is always comfortable in his own skin and any combativeness he shows is more based on his experience debating dare I say intellectuals. He does get aggressive when someone like O’Reilly asks stupid questions but I don’t blame him.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 9, 2012 @ 9:15 pm

I know exactly what you mean W and Scott Walker have that look too. Honestly I’m not so sure I see that in Romney. I would have to meet him in person because it’s not that obvious to me.

I’ve know allot of intelligent people and the one thing I found is that intelligence is pretty diverse and very complex. I’ve met PhDs that were dumb as a pile of rocks and high school dropouts who were brilliant. I think there is also an innate intelligence IQ and an emotional IQ. To me because Romney had such a guarded life his emotional IQ seems real low.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 9, 2012 @ 8:53 pm

What Romney did at Bain is exactly what he’s trying to do with Obama’s efforts as POTUS. I have little doubt the economy is going to take off in the next four years no matter what. One reason is Obamacare will lead to a boom of growth for small business. By 2014 for the first time small business employees will have guaranteed access to healthcare insurance. So it takes away the biggest competitive advantage that big business had over small business for decades in their competition for good employees. Also big business and the rich just can’t hold onto their huge sums of cash for another four years and grow profits at the current rate without hiring more people. So like he did at Bain Romney is trying to make his political capital off of a real visionaries work.

It doesn’t end there because Romney will leverage the US. Romney will no doubt increase government spending and the debt because that’s what Republicans do. He already said as much by saying he would increase the pentagon budget 5% and believe me he has no intention of paying for his tax cuts, he never did. He knows that Reagan’s boom was based on an increase in government spending which was 3.5% per year. While under Obama the only thing that stopped unemployment from being around 7% instead of over 8% is an annual decrease in government spending averaging 1.5% per year thanks to GOP governors. Romney if he wins will take over the US and artificially grow the economy even further than it would by leveraging America even deeper into debt. Not by investing in things that would help the country like a clean energy future but by expanding the MIC for an enemy that does not exist.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 9, 2012 @ 8:26 pm

You are dead on about Romney. He was a pirate. He was not a Steve Jobs entrepreneur that created something, instead he exploited other people’s hard work and true business acumen.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 9, 2012 @ 8:03 pm

To me the strongest character trait I read from Romney is he judges everything and everyone based on the money it’s worth or makes. It seems he’s got his mind on his money and money on his mind 24/7.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 9, 2012 @ 7:26 pm

I’d love to see a study showing what percentage of the rich are sociopaths compared to the population as a whole.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 9, 2012 @ 7:23 pm

In the spotlight Romney is truly starting to make GWB look like a genius in comparison.

If you go by empirical evidence alone you would have to say he’s that dumb.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 9, 2012 @ 7:20 pm

AdLib even though you have put together an almost airtight argument that Romney is dumb or at least has no common sense, I’ll play Devil’s advocate a bit.

Since Romney has no core convictions and is a liar he sounds dumb. Of course that could just be part of what you are saying since liars and people with no core are dumb by definition because they don’t have the capacity to develop a core personality or integrity. But let’s say for argument sake Romney had at least an above average intelligence when it came to making money at least in the fixed system he was one of the better fixers. Since making money was perhaps his only true core value he performed at that very well showing that when he put his mind to it he did show some innate intelligence.

But in politics when you have no core convictions and are a liar, save for wanting to win you look incredibly dumb because you are campaigning lie to lie. Studies have shown it takes much much more brain power to tell a lie than to tell the truth. To me that seems obvious because telling the truth is just simple recall while lying is like creative writing over and over. If you’re not William Shakespeare, Agatha Christie or Charles Dickens most people simply don’t have the brain power to recant their fictional stories exactly the same over and over again.

I also have the belief that ideology makes you dumb as a pile of rocks. You just don’t have the ability to look at the world that exists without rationalizing away everything that does not fit your ideology. For example we know there is no good reason to give the rich lower taxes. That ideology is totally corrupt so you aimlessly have to invent reasons to justify a falsehood again requiring brain power.

So sure I think Romney has ZERO common sense and a very narrow world view based on his protected history you describe so well. But I think Romney like most Republicans are not inherently dumb but waste most of their brain power either trying to recant lies or using rationalizations to describe failed ideologies.

Like I always say. Human being’s greatest strength is their capacity to reason while there greatest weakness is their propensity to rationalize.

So I guess my bottom line is Romney has no common sense and is not smart enough to lie or pass himself off as someone he’s not. So yeah Romney is dumb just for making the bad decisions he’s made so far resulting in all these gaffes that trickle out inevitably.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 9, 2012 @ 7:17 pm

The Sikh That Defined Whiteness in America

Or as Romney calls the the Sikh people; “Sheikhs”.

Very informative and poignant article. Sorry or the little political jab at Romney. I couldn’t help myself.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 8, 2012 @ 10:58 am

The Importance of Being Earnest about Releasing Tax Returns, Especially Romney

😆 good one. Since Romney is a robot can we send him to Mars. He would be much more useful there than on our planet.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 8, 2012 @ 8:31 pm

Great point especially considering the new revelation that came out that the Romney used money from Latin American dictators to start Bain Capital. We already know he invested heavily in companies that did business with Iran and other rogue nations.

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul/19/nation/la-na-bain-creation-20120719

It’s really a question of ethics and Romney shows he has none.

Your last question was probably rhetorical but to answer it bluntly; “Absolutely Not”.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 8, 2012 @ 10:52 am

We have to Remember McCain did not see returns from 2008 and 2009 which would be the most likely years Romney paid almost no taxes because the financial system crashed. It’s lame of Romney not to even trust himself enough to explain to people why he may have not paid many taxes those years. Since his income is almost all gains on investments you would think people would understand almost all his investments lost ground during the financial collapse.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 7, 2012 @ 9:50 pm

I heard some right wing pundit say Romney should only release two years of tax returns because that’s what McCain did. Let me shut that one down right now.

First McCain may have been the best known candidate to run for president since LBJ. Because he was in congress, he disclosed congressional financial statements for decades. And when McCain did get in trouble with the Savings and Loan scandal even that information was public record. While we have Romney who purposely erased all the records he could while he was Gov of MA.

Second unlike Romney, McCain did not run on his business record, he ran on his congressional record. The fact that Romney is now solely running on his business acumen makes voters want to see his taxes much more than McCain’s.

Third McCain’s medical past was far more important to the voters than his tax returns. He disclosed those medical records for all the press to see in a similar way Obama showed his BC.

Fourth what voters saw in McCain’s returns did not raise eyebrows. He paid a pretty standard rate and did not do things like hide money offshore or build up $100MM IRAs like Romney did. There was no smoke there.

Finally McCain was the exception rather than the rule because of everything I mentioned above. Traditionally Presidential candidates released AT LEAST five years of their tax returns, the average is closer to seven years.

Any right wing pundit that is trying to use the McCain defense is just trying to fecklessly defend Romney’s inability to be straight with the American voters.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 6, 2012 @ 6:36 pm

2belinda that would absolutely be in his returns. It could be that one of the investments he made big money from was something right wingers are against. Thanks to Romney’s secrecy speculation is really endless.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 6, 2012 @ 6:23 pm

The ironic part is I think Reid has a good idea of what’s in Romney’s tax returns and furthermore he knows it’s so politically radioactive that he knows Romney will never ever release the returns. That’s why Reid knew he could say anything about them. Reid is not a dumb guy. He would never say what he did without either knowing what he said was absolutely true or something even worse was true.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 6, 2012 @ 6:21 pm

FYI another theory out there for why Romney will never release his taxes is that people speculate he shorted the Mormon church with his tithing. In 2010 it showed RMoney donated the minimum 10% to the Mormon Church. Based on a longstanding honor code Mormon leaders like Romney promise to tithe at LEAST 10% of their income, while much more is expected for wealthy people.

One of the few things we know for sure about Romney now is he’s not only a greedy bastard but a cheap greedy bastard. The biggest example is that he chose Utah as his home state just to get a homestead tax rebate even though he knew he was running for Gov of Mass. So he could have donated much less than 10% to the Mormon Church and that would get him in trouble with his most passionate base, the Mormons.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 6, 2012 @ 2:39 pm

PolitiFail is at it again calling Reid a ‘Pants-on-Fire’ liar for launching unsubstantiated claims about Romney’s tax returns.

OK but no mention that Romney is WILLFULLY making yet unsubstantiated claims about tax returns he refuses to disclose. Until Romney releases his tax returns ANYTHING he says about previous returns is unsubstantiated and we all know his word is worth shyte.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 6, 2012 @ 2:11 pm

Agreed. He’s also like any control freak who is not a strategic thinker at all, unless it comes to RMoney inc.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 6, 2012 @ 1:56 pm

I just thought about it logically and Romney has shown the only thing he’s really afraid of is his base. He doesn’t care about anyone that leans left or he wouldn’t keep lying about Obama and he has even moderated his policies toward swing voters. So if he did pay a low tax rate or send even more money overseas or something like that he knows the right wing would defend him. But if he has one donation to a horrible ‘librul’ group that would be unforgivable with the only voters he seems to value.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 6, 2012 @ 12:47 pm

The thing I can’t believe is here is a guy that knew he was going to run for president by at least 2002 maybe as early as 1994. Yet he is still hiding money overseas, blowing up his IRA and taking every weasily tax break possible. That tells you all you need to know about his priorities. I think he literally wants to be president so he can cut taxes for himself.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 6, 2012 @ 12:44 pm

I agree with everything you said and you stated an excellent reason for wanting to see his tax returns. I did not touch on Romney’s elitist motivations but that is certainly part of the reason Romney does not want to release his returns. People like Romney don’t know what real work is.

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 6, 2012 @ 8:17 am

Weekend Music Thread – Romney Roasting

How can I forget.

Lies, Lies, Lies – Thompson Twins

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 4, 2012 @ 3:24 pm

And lest us not forget. Dennis Moore aka Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney, Mitt Romney
Without a merry band
He steals from the poor
And gives to the rich
Stupid bitch!

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 4, 2012 @ 2:29 pm

Mitt Romney’s Dog Sings – The Ballad of Seamus Romney

» Posted By KQµårk 死神 On August 4, 2012 @ 2:07 pm