The GOP’s Black Sox, Actual Voter Fraud, Obama Without Romney, dyanmiting the Tea Party Mt. Rushmore, the GOP goes crawling back to Todd Akin, and a special guest appearance by Sir Patrick Stewart.
Welcome to the Daily Sausage.
First up, we have a post from John Cole at Balloon Juice, who is as incredulous as I am at the GOP’s sudden embrace of poll-denying.
Cole happens to have three theories on why the GOP has decided to go even more off the rails:
Theory #1- Victimhood is so much easier and far more soothing than objective reality. They can scream about how every polling outlet is against them and affirm the “left wing bias” of the media. Ed Henry and Chris Wallace are giggling right now.
Theory #2- They know they are going to lose, so they are just poisoning the well, trying to nullify the impact of an Obama victory. For Republicans, this is a viable strategy. For Democrats. this seems kind of silly, since anyone with a pulse knows that Jim Demint and the teahadists are going to spend the next four years sabotaging Obama regardless, much like they have for the past four years.
Finally, there is option #3- the point of claiming the polls are wrong is to provide cover for Republican governors to throw the election.
Personally, I think there’s a fourth option. The national GOP knows that Romney’s goose is cooked and Obama is gonna beat him like he owes him money. However, they’re desperate to avoid a 2008-style wipeout where legions of very enthusiastic Democratic voters go to the polls and vote all Democrat while the GOPs voters stay home, torpedoing the GOP’s chances of taking the Senate and holding the House. Consequently, they’ve created a new reality where the polls fail to take into account some kind of wishy thinking and starmaths that magically make the electorate about 10% more conservative than it actually is.
Normally, I’d dismiss #3 as the rantings of a deranged lunatic, but the GOP is currently engaged with voter disenfranchisement with such zeal that, frankly, it’s a little irresponsible to remove it from the table.
That being said, the idea that nine Attorneys General, Secretaries of State, and Governors could engage in a criminal conspiracy to throw a Presidential election and defraud the American people by swinging multiple states to Mitt Romney through nefarious means borders on the nearly impossible. Note: I said “nearly impossible”. If Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Iowa, Colorado, and Arizona ALL go for Mitt Romney, then it’s probably time to start stocking up on guns, ammo, and canned goods and put on your best looting shoes.
Next up: Actual Voter Fraud!
What’s more likely: the national GOP keeps hiring a guy accused of multiple instances of felony voter fraud on accident, or they keep hiring him on purpose?
So, as posed by one of the Balloon Juice commenters, I have to ask: has there ever been a political movement entirely based on the premise of projecting onto its opponents the things that it’s constantly doing itself?
Moving on, we have a new article from Doghouse Riley taking down Ross Douthat, “And If Only The Vietnamese Had Worn Bright Red Coats And Formed Infantry Squares”.
This is your man. He is precisely the Republican Republicans who now blast his “campaign style” wanted, lest the party nominate a real Republican. He’s not bright, because your party’s been Santorumized, and he’s had to become a Right to Lifer, which ought to please you, but, you know, tends to make for a candidate no one believes when he opens his mouth. The only thing he knows about foreign policy is that Israel has God’s stamp of approval.
You’re all bubble boys. Y’all imagined that Mitt Romney: He’ll Run the Country Just Like He Screwed Those Widows and Orphans! was a sure-fire electoral winner. How long have people been calling you on this shit? How long have you simply ignored it? How long has the Republican party been the party of corporate interests, and fuck everyone else? You can say it directly to each other; hell, Romney got a bounce among Republicans when that video surfaced. But you’ve spent the last three decades pretending in public you don’t mean it. How d’ya get to be thirty-two years old, let alone Brooks’ fifty, without understanding that personal dishonesty isn’t really a very good plan, unless all you want is money and don’t care how you get it?
And fuck if this isn’t precisely the sort of campaign coverage you used to celebrate. Hell, wallow in. From the Gipper to Lee Atwater, from Mike Dukakis in a tank to John Kerry on a surfboard. Now our campaigns aren’t about substance? Go ahead. You start.
Very nice. Although, when Douthat starts talking about Obama actions without Romneys context, all I can think of is Garfield Minus Garfield.
Joe Walsh is a terrible human being. Failed businessman, deadbeat dad, and he attacked the war record of his opponent, Tammy Duckworth, who lose both legs in Iraq. Your garden variety conservative grifter.
Steve King is also a terrible human being. He’s the Patron Saint of lost conservative causes, the kind of stuff that makes other conservatives back away nervously lest his extremist stink rub off on them.
Michele Bachmann is, along with Walsh and King, another terrible human being. If there were a vote for a member of Congress most likely to end up in the history books for leading a purge of suspected communist Muslims, Michele Bachmann would win in a landslide.
And finally there’s Allen West, who might be the worst person of all. West was discharged from the military after beating and torturing an Iraqi police officer he suspected of attempting to ambush his unit. West later said that there are about 80 members of the Democratic Party that are card carrying members of the Communist Party, referring to the Congressional Progressive Caucus. He most recently made a statement threatening basically the entire Middle East with death and destruction.
Normally, I’d say that loonies like these are useful for fundraising purposes, but no. These are people that are certifiably insane and have no business managing a fast food joint, much less being Congresspeople.
Speaking of terrible congresspeople, the NRSC has gone slinking back to Todd Akin.
Apparently extremism is no vice when control of the Senate is up for grabs.
Remember when there were all those Republicans calling on him to drop out? Ah, the good old days, when they at least paid lip service to not being completely insane.
And finally, a special guest appearance by Sir Patrick Stewart.
