to First Draft
We will have a crack van for the Iowa caucus results, starting from probably about 7 CST or so. I can promise I'll put up with two hours of Tweety, but probably not much more than that.
Steve on what everybody's going to say anyway:
If Mitt Romney wins, he doesn't really win because that's what was expected. So the second-place finisher wins. Unless that's Ron Paul. Ron Paul never wins. Even if he wins.
If Rick Santorum wins, he doesn't really win because he'll be next in line for media scrutiny and opponents' attack ads that will see him sink faster than Newt, Herman and Michelle. So Santorum is better off finishing second - or even a strong third.
If Michelle Bachmann wins, she doesn't really win because no one will take it seriously. Finishing third would seem like less of a fluke.
Jon Huntsman either wins by not competing in Iowa or loses by not competing in Iowa. But you don't really win if you don't compete in Iowa.
If Newt Gingrich wins, he doesn't really win because he's been so damaged. And if Newt Gingrich doesn't win, he also loses because he's so damaged.
If Rick Perry wins, he doesn't really win because nobody takes him seriously anymore. He's really vying for the Santorum-Bachmann second- or third-place finish.
Be here or wish you had been!
A.
Good morning, sleepyheads - let me get all the party favours and confetti swept out of the airlock, and we'll get to the more recent stuff.
First up - Jim Rob is still throwing a hissy fit about Romney.
Me? I can't wait for the day Romney gets the nomination. We'll have to all work double shifts to clean the exploding head detritus off the iso chamber walls.
The day the tea party embraces Mitt Romney is the day the tea party accepts defeat
Vanity | Dec 17, 2012 | Jim RobinsonPosted on Saturday, December 17, 2011 2:08:08 PM by Jim Robinson
First there was the Reagan Revolution, then Newt's Republican Revolution, and now the Tea Party Revolution.
Then the Palin Phenomenon, then the Perry Phenomenon, then the Cain Trainwreck, then the Bachmann-Turner Overreach. How is this trend looking to ya so far, Jimbo?
In each successive revolution, the lovers of liberty threw off a bit more of the yoke of the oppressive ruling class to reestablish some vital part of our God given liberty and freedom.
But enough about Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos
Pro-life, small government, big defense Ronald Reagan set and accomplished the goal of bringing down the socialist Soviet Union as a threat to the world and reestablished free America as the dominate superpower. He rescued America from the hapless Jimmy Carter who had dragged the nation down into to the depths of despair.
And all this time I was thinking that Reagan was president in 1982.
Reagan taught us that our best years were indeed yet to come. He reinvigorated our economy by reducing government regulations and taxes and created a free market environment ripe for capitalism to flourish.
Um - the corporate giveaways and capital gains tax cuts occurred in 1981.
A lover of life and freedom, he fought off the socialists and merchants of doom and death at every turn
Nah - that was just him confusing movies he was in with reality.
and sparked the beginning of the decades long Reagan Economy. He was a champion of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness and he delivered us from evil.
While sleeping at Cabinet meetings and ony waking to spin multiple plates on sticks while singing the Catalina Magdelina Hoopensteiner Wallendiner song, yes, yes, we get it.
Pro-life, small government, big defense Reaganite, Newt Gingrich, set and accomplished the major goal of wresting the congressional majority away from the socialist Democrats who had held it for forty years. His conservative Republican Revolution cut the taxes, cut the spending, cut the deficit, cut unemployment, blocked President Clinton's progressive agenda, blocked HillaryCare, reformed welfare, defended life, and balanced the budget four years running, ensuring that the Reagan Economy flourished and stretched throughout his term and beyond.
Mitt Romney set goals of protecting and sustaining abortion as safe and legal in America. He sought to be more radical than Ted Kennedy in respects to "gay rights." He swore to defend Massachusetts' strict gun-control laws that "kept us safe" and promised not to chip away at them. He set and accomplished the goal of bringing big government healthcare solutions to his state and mandating that all formerly free citizens must purchase a government approved product or suffer a tax penalty. He loves mandates against the people.
He stated that he was an independent during Reagan-Bush and he was not returning to Reagan-Bush. And he didn't. Instead, he delivered taxpayer funded abortion, gay marriage, gun-control, socialized healthcare, busted budgets, ruined economy, liberal activist judges and a destroyed Republican label.
It's funny as fuck, you bunch of losers complaining about somebody else destroying the "Republican Label".
Nice of you to admit that it's just another product with a shitty ad campaign, though.
Romney was and is demonstrably per record an anti-Reagan, pro-big government, pro-abortion, pro-gay agenda, pro-gun-control, anti-liberty, pro-socialist healthcare, mandate-loving, liberal judge appointing, budget busting progressive.
He is without a doubt the exact opposite of Reagan, Gingrich, the Reagan Revolution, the Republican Revolution and the Tea Party Revolution.
If the Tea Party now embraces Romney, it will have accepted defeat and surrendered to the ruling class.
There is a reason why the elite establishment GOPers are pushing the anti-Reagan Romney and rejecting the pro-life, Reaganite Newt Gingrich. And I guarantee you, it's not in the best interest of the Tea Party or the Liberty we seek.
Not on my watch!! No Romney, no way!!
Why does the Tea Party hate America?
Rebellion is brewing!!
1 posted on Saturday, December 17, 2011 2:08:13 PM by Jim Robinson
To: Jim RobinsonIf the Tea Party now embraces Romney, it will have accepted defeat and surrendered to the ruling class.What if Romney eventually becomes the GOP nominee, and in Nov. '12 it's either him or another 4 years of America's Chickens Coming Home to Roost?
Should the Tea Party very begrudgingly mumble some kind of wet napkin support for Romney, or write off the White House and focus on Conservative House/Senate candidates to thwart the Executive Branch?
Just askin'
24 posted on Saturday, December 17, 2011 2:26:57 PM by DTogo (High time to bring back the Sons of Liberty !!)..To: montyspythonWhat don’t you understand regarding the term ZOT?If people get ZOT'd merely for expressing a different opinion, you don't have to ZOT me. I'm outta here.
(Proud to be FReeper since Dec 3, 1997)
----
Send treats to the troops...
Great because you did it.
www.AnySoldier.com
(An entirely free service)..To: JCGbye
33 posted on Saturday, December 17, 2011 2:31:50 PM by Jim Robinson (Rebellion is brewing!! Impeach the corrupt Marxist bastard!!)
To: LoneRangerMassachusetts> What the Tea Party needs is to pack the Congress with like minded conservatives.
Excellent point and one that bears repeating.
I’m not spending anything on the Presidential race. The field ranges from iffy to horrible. I’m saving my bucks to spend on Congressional races where we have a chance to turn the tide.
I suggest we all do the same. Congress is where we can override Zer0 or a capitulating RINO.
50 posted on Saturday, December 17, 2011 2:40:29 PM by VictoryGal (Never give up, never surrender! REMEMBER NEDA)
To: JCGI remember a time not too long ago when Ann Coulter was welcomed at FR; there are still pictures of her with FR members somewhere back in the archives. But here she is, solidly in bed with Romney and the other northeastern RINO’s/liberals.
Whether its her love of Chris Cristie (She likes an obese person? Add their two weights together and divide by two and you have that of a normal person) or what, I don’t know. But she has abandoned conservative principles and now joins those who shun Newt and other Tea Party conservatives. Besides the above linked article, she appeared on O’Reilly’s show last night to hammer home her conversion. Even Rudy (whose fate on here we know) has defended Newt which shows how far out in the Boston tide flats Romney has walked.
Scout got to the Walker fiasco before I could, so I thought I’d take a moment to explain one of the heaviest mysteries I’ve encountered to this stage in life.
Tonight, we’re going out to celebrate The Missus’s birthday with some of her friends. She has some “normal” friends like A and a couple people she met through social engagements and previous jobs. Then, there are her work friends, who have been known to plow through an entire bottle of Red Stag and then give each other “cleavage checks” before they head out to the bars.
We will be going out with the latter this evening.
Early in this process, I volunteered to be the designated driver. I don’t like getting shit-hammered, I really hate hangovers and if I’m getting drunk, I’d like to make sure I’m safe about it.
I think it goes back to my first experience with a drunken driver. When I was 17 or so, my best friend decided no one was driving his car, dammit, and he was just fucking fine. Thus, I found myself riding shotgun, sober as a judge, on the U.S.S. Look Out For That Fucking Light Pole.
When we were inevitably pulled over, my good friend had the misfortune of breathing within 10 feet of the cop who asked, “You drinking?”
True to form and without missing a beat, my friend answered, “Why? Are you buying?”
It was all down hill from there.
In any case, DDing isn’t exactly popular around here. I know at least two people who have court-mandated breathalyzer-keyed ignition locks on their cars and I can’t read the local paper without seeing something about some idiot who showed up drunk to a DUI hearing.
Dennis Miller, back when he was funny for the right reasons, once noted that there are two groups of people in the country now: Those who get pathetically drunk in public and the rest of us poor bastards who are now expected to drive these pinheads home. The first group seems to be growing while the second group seems to be shrinking.
Here’s my logical “Doc-based” explanation as to why.
Let’s start out with the concept of you and a fellow barhopper heading out for a night on the town. If you both have about equal tolerance and start drinking about the same time, you’re getting hammered at the same rate. You thus both find it equally difficult to walk, you both are OK when you want to tell the other person “just one more thing” and you each think the other is fucking hilarious.
You have a very small differentiation in how much of an asshole you are being in your own minds because you’re both drunk. You both might be raging assholes who are puking all over yourselves and trying to grab the bartender’s genitalia, but neither of you notices because the gap between your assholic behavior is so small.
I have labeled this differentiation the A.T.G. or “asshole tolerance gap.”
See Figure 1:
Now, let’s think about you, your drunken friends and your poor designated driver. As you continue from rich to good looking to bulletproof to invisible in your alcohol-soaked mind, your DD is sitting there, sipping a Diet Coke and wondering why everyone else at the table thinks it’s hysterical that the woman at the next table is wearing a “Where’s the Beef?” T-shirt over her A-cup-sized chest. It’s also unclear to your DD why one of your party has been staring at the jukebox for 45 minutes trying to find “That one fucking song… you know what I’m talking about? By that chick… With the tits… And… Fuck, man… It was just here!” Meanwhile, the one girl that everyone hates because because after two drinks she makes it clear that when she says “Let’s blow this place!” it in no way means she’s planning to leave, is over in the corner trying to seduce someone’s husband.
It’s not just your friends that become a problem at that stage for the DD. Your own perception of reality has become something between that of a kaleidoscope and an acid trip as you suddenly come apart on your DD in one of the following ways:
1) The “I love you” attack: This is marked by several staggering passes at your beloved DD, who is doing his/her best not to topple over and spill Diet Coke all over the place as you fall slobbering on top of him/her with a “You know I love you, right?”
2) The “horny toad” approach: Alcohol lowers your inhibitions until you suddenly feel like Don Juan or Bella in Twilight. Either way, you sense nothing but yourself, your groin and the DD. There is likely to be a lot of groping, fondling and the inevitable line of “What’s your fucking problem? Don’t you want me?”
3) The “fuck barter” conundrum: Drunks want several things all at once: Food, more booze, sex and sleep. The last one, they really don’t cognitively want, but their body’s putting the squeeze on them to lay down, vomit and start the road to recovery. Still, if you’re drunk, you’re fighting that urge because you “so totally want breakfast/Taco Bell.” Thus, you will offer to trade your DD anything, including a rim job, for the chance to get a stack of waffles or a burrito supreme (no those aren’t euphemisms).
Here’s a tip from me to the rest of the DDs out there: If he/she says, “I will blow you right now for some pancakes,” don’t expect head and don’t bother with the IHOP run. The drunk will be asleep before the second traffic light.
4) The “Dylan Thomas” fight or flight mechanism: Some folks are angry drunks or violent drunks. Some are stubborn drunks. The best way to deal with these drunks is to not be around them in the first place. However, the DD needs to make sure they get home alive. Thus, after what seems like six minutes to you but is actually about 19 hours, the DD will do the “hey, it’s time to get going” thing, which will trigger a “do not go gentle into that good night” moment. You don’t wanna go dammit. That DD fucker isn’t the boss of you. He isn’t the king of Dirk. People can’t tell you what the fuck to do… All of this leads to either a drunken slapfest fight or you running through the parking lot in the middle of a snow storm wearing nothing but a bra, a pair of vomit soaked jeans and one shoe. And if you’re a woman, you’ll likely be wearing even less than that.
At the time you are engaging in any/all of these behaviors, you appear to be totally rational and in the right. Of course, you’re so drunk you spent three minutes making out with the wooden Indian who is guarding the entrance to the smoking lounge at the bar, so what do you know? Meanwhile, the DD is fighting the urge to try to carry you to the car and swearing to GOD that he/she will never DD again. The reason is because he/she sees reality while you are growing more and more and more disturbed and assholic.
Thus, the A.T.G. is much wider.
See Figure 2:
Everyone has an asshole tolerance threshold. Some people can tolerate anything. Take my mother, for example, who works with eighth graders all day. Her tolerance levels are beyond anything I can possibly comprehend. I really think she could have an armored car dropped on her from the top of Empire State Building and emerge unscathed with a “That all you got?” smirk on her face.
Other people are way too sensitive for their own damned good. I remember getting an earful from a former colleague who was incensed at the dominant-male-hegemonic-hierarchial-paternalistic-hegemonic-hegemony of this world after someone in our group made the mistake of referring to a “covered sewer access opening” as a “manhole cover.”
However, for most of us, we have a moderately OK level of tolerance. When someone farts in public, drops an off-color joke or makes an inappropriate movement, we can grit our teeth, blow it off and move on with life. We don’t like it but we tolerate it.
And yet we all have our limits, which is why the A.T.G. is such an effective and rational explanation for why we have fewer DDs and those who do DD don’t like it all that much.
That said, my other theory, known as the “Who the fuck puked in my car?” axiom, also seems promising.
Slamming the door hard on today's "open mouth" trend (see below):
Continuing today's theme of animals with their mouths open, have a Riot:
A.
This magnificent kitty mouth and set of teeth belong to Sassy who is allegedly my old friend Susan Caldwell's daughter Delia's cat. I say allegedly because Sassy the torti lives with Susan who took this awesomely toothsome picture:
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| From Album4 |
My mother is the dark-haired girl sitting between her father and her older sister. They're on the steps of her grandparents' house in Hext, Texas. Said grandparents were probably the source of presents, the dolls, the baseball bat, a stiff new pair of overalls for the oldest boy. My great-grandfather ran a general store and while hardly well-off, at least had enough to spare. His daughter, my grandmother, on the right, isn't even 30 in this picture. You can't see the sunglasses underneath my grandfather's hat. He'd been gassed in World War I and barely survived, living the rest of his life nearly blind and plagued by a slowly deteriorating cardiopulmonary system. By later standards, he would have been declared fully disabled on discharge but full benefits for WWI veterans, even the non-wounded and able-bodied, were a very, very, long time in coming.
My grandparents' existence at this point, at the beginning of The Depression, swung between the places and times my grandather was able to work, assuming there was paying work to find, and the eventuality that his health would fail, if the job didn't end first, or the weather would turn too harsh. They traveled back and forth between the Gulf Coast, where the warm winters were easier, and the Hill Country where they could stay with family during the lean times. A lot of the time in between was spent camping or living out of a truck.
Good morning, gentle people - last clean-up edtion of Obsession starts right now - Let's upwrap our last presents, shall we?
First up, from November 14th - Freepers notice that President Obama's poll numbers have changed course and are rising.
"Pollsters can't be trusted", sez the Freeperati! "I'll wait to see what Rasmussen has to say!"
Um - this is Rasmussen.
Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll (WTH? Hussein rising?)
Rasmussen Reports ^ | 14 November 2011 | Scott RasmussenPosted on Monday, November 14, 2011 8:56:26 AM by ScottinVA
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 23% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Thirty-eight percent (38%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -15 (see trends).
That’s the president’s best Approval Index rating in three months. Still, most voters continue to favor repeal of his primary legislative accomplishment, the health care law.
The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve. It is updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern (sign up for free daily e-mail update). Updates are also available on Twitter and Facebook
Overall, 50% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's job performance. That’s the first time since June that the president has reached the 50% mark. Forty-nine percent (49%) at least somewhat disapprove.
*********************
Monday morning facepalm as Americans appear to be going brain-dead again...
To: TulaneThe Kenyan’s poll numbers are rising. Not good.
Tax the rich, blame do nothing congress, blame Wall St, OWS mau maus, 2nd quarter GDP growth, Libya? What could it be?
To: throwbackHe’s betting on the stupidity of the American people. It’s a pretty good bet.I completely agree. He's still the "shiny new bling," I guess.
To: ScottinVAALL POLLS, that is without exception all public released polls are for profit marketing tools to shape public opinion. They only work as long as gullible people pay attention to them. Best poll is to ask people you know and what you see from people you learned to trust.
23 posted on Monday, November 14, 2011 9:13:37 AM by Mechanicos (Why does the DOE have a SWAT Team?)
To: MechanicosBest poll is to ask people you know and what you see from people you learned to trustI can't speak for others, but the people I know and trust tend conservative. It won't be a good representation of the public at large. That's why I take all those anectotes of "everyone I talk to says he's toast" with a pound of salt.
To: MechanicosRamussen is by far the most accurate right-leaning pollster...it is a mistake to simply dismiss his polls when they don’t tell you what you want to hear.
35 posted on Monday, November 14, 2011 9:22:28 AM by Moby Grape (Formerly Impeach the Boy...name change necessary after the Marxist won)
To: Longbow1969The simple reason is that several GOP candidates’ cults, have been using Alinsky tactics against other Republicans.
Instead of against the left.
Ignoring Reagan’s 11th Commandment.
Reagan was right.
39 posted on Monday, November 14, 2011 9:24:07 AM by Cringing Negativism Network (Evict the unsanitary, violent occupiers. Now.)..To: TulaneWell I think we’re all greatly underestimating something. For the first time in my life that I can ever remember the “tax the rich” “screw them for their success” is not a just a fringe element of people anymore. What I mean by this is I don’t believe it’s just the OWS people. I think there are people you would not expect in your neighborhoods, daily lives, who secretly are angry at the rich and want them punished.
Maybe because they're underwater on their mortgages and/or are out of work, or because the banksters played roulette with their 401Ks, and the rich aren't missing any house payments?
I think there is an undercurrent out there in the country where people who have either stayed stagnant in their salaries or have had financial difficulties are blaming the wealthy for it.
In other breaking news - people who have been mugged are blaming criminals for it. Film at 11.
I’ve never seen anything like that before in America, and its awful. Point is, I think it’d be unwise for the GOP candidates, and the right overall to dismiss the class warfare angle as a singular radical left wing OWS idea. I think it has gained traction, and I think people who don’t identify with the left or the radicalism of it are actually starting to agree with. Which is terrifying.
To: ScottinVAGood Grief! Would some of you folks get a grip...PLEASE!I cannot believe some of you people lap up these daily tracking polls the way you do. If Obama and his administration thought they were in such great shape, they wouldn't be asking Clinton for guidance; they wouldn't be going full throttle against Cain...yada....yada.
It's a daily tracking poll for crying out loud. Way too many variables for me to have a conniption fit over.
I swear, the Left must laugh their A$$es off at us.
To: ScottinVAPredictably, the hand-wringers and doom-and-gloomers here on FR are WAY, WAY overreacting to an job approval poll that is clearly an OUTLIER from every other approval poll currently out there. And of course the majority here is already throwing up their hands, waving the white flag of surrender, and more-or-less declaring Obama the victor one full year prior to an election. YOU PEOPLE SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES.
Folks, think about it... Has there been ANY positive news for the country in the past week? NO! Unemployment is still at an alarmingly high 9%, there are still 14 million people out of work, the national debt has increased by $5 TRILLION over the past three years, we’re on the verge of a nuclear Iran, Obama continues to be mired in scandals, etc. etc. Obama’s approval numbers have consistently remained around 44% on every other poll. So did you ever stop to think that perhaps Rasmussen has taken a BAD SAMPLE of popular opinion over the past several days???
Hindsight's a bitch, innit?
Thursday, December 22, 2011 (4days ago)
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 23% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Thirty-seven percent (37%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -14 (see trends).
That’s the president’s best Approval Index rating since August.But no, too many of you want to panic, give up, and declare Obama unbeatable. It quite frankly MAKES ME SICK and makes me not want to post on Free Republic any longer because I don’t need all this extra negativity in my life.
Go piss up a rope.
If there is ever a time to start building a backbone of steel, it’s NOW!!! And QUIT READING AND LISTENING TO THE STATE RUN MEDIA FOR CRYING OUT!!
Somehow the right-leaning Rasmussen has morphed into the "State Run Media".
Nobody tells me anything.
The media is purposefully going to try to depress you.
They're hiding behind your couch and just waiting to jump out and kill your self esteem with snarky comments about how you dress and what TV shows you watch.
They’re going to try to convince you that the economy is improving when it’s NOT, that Obama’s poll numbers are improving when they AREN’T (Heck, let’s not forget that Jimmy frickin’ Carter had a 54% approval rating in Gallup just 10 months before the 1980 election!), and that the GOP candidates are terrible when they AREN’T!
The American people all KNOW things are bad right now. Poll after poll is showing 80% of them think the country is going in the wrong direction and even more think the economy STINKS, for crying out loud!
I’m officially making my prediction right now that OBAMA IS TOAST IN 2012 AND WILL LOSE HIS RE-ELECTION BID IN A LANDSLIDE. That’s right... MARK IT DOWN AND BOOK IT.
Done and done.
I also predict that Rasmussen will have Obama’s job approval numbers back around 45% within the next week and may even drop below 40% with the next year.
You're definitely batting .000 so far.
Thursday, December 22, 2011 (4days ago)
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 23% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Thirty-seven percent (37%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -14 (see trends).
That’s the president’s best Approval Index rating since August.A LOT can and will happen between now and the November 2012 election. We’re gearing up for yet another deficit reduction battle in Congress with the super-committee over the next couple of weeks, which will almost certainly be a drain on Obama like it was this past summer.
Wall Street Journal: The GOP leaders have somehow managed the remarkable feat of being blamed for opposing a one-year extension of a tax holiday that they are surely going to pass. This is no easy double play. Republicans have also achieved the small miracle of letting [President] Obama position himself as an election-year tax cutter, although he's spent most of his Presidency promoting tax increases and he would hit the economy with one of the largest tax increases ever in 2013. ... At this stage, Republicans would do best to cut their losses and find a way to extend the payroll holiday quickly.
ObamaCare has a very good chance of being struck down and he will be rightly portrayed as a overreaching president who’s signature piece of legislation was ruled unconstitutional. Greece and Italy is almost certain to default at some point, which will send the U.S. stock markets into a tail spin.
And these muon-brained twatwaffles accuse the Left of "hating America"?
The U.S. has a 50-50 chance of lapsing back into another recession during the next year. Would ANY of this make Obama more re-electable??? HELL NO!!
So get a damn grip, people, and START CAMPAIGNING AGAINST OBAMA BY TALKING TO YOUR FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND CO-WORKERS RIGHT NOW!!
85 posted on Monday, November 14, 2011 11:16:48 AM by DestroyLiberalism
I HAZ A THRILLED.
A.
Or is that Santa blankets?
One of the first blog-based books, the anthology Special Plans examines Feith's role in misleading America into war. Buy from Amazon and William, James & Co.
