Well, now that you raise the question, Mitt…


Rmoney is pandering to the birthers now at a campaign stop in Michigan.

No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised.

Wait…how do I know that? I haven’t seen Mitt’s birth certificate, but I’ve seen Obama’s. Why should I believe him?

Oh. Because he’s white and looks like everyone else at his rallies. White people look like they were born in America, while brown people all look like foreigners and their claims of being born here are all questionable. I forgot.

I’d like to see him repeat that claim at an open rally in inner city Detroit, though. He might be the funny-looking one there.

Comments

  1. captainahags says

    Don’t worry guys- we live in a post-racial America. Black president elected=no more racism, right?

  2. mythbri says

    Mittens’ grandfather was from Mexico, if I recall correctly. Him and his multiple wives.

    How do we know that Mittens isn’t actually a Mexican citizen? Does this mean I can photoshop racist images of ol’ Mittens wearing a sombrero as an expression of my Free Speech and Skepticism of Mittens’ claim that he’s a U.S. citizen?

  3. markr1957 Inc. says

    So that’s why nobody ever asks to see my birth certificate. Middle-age married (therefore hetero, right) white maleness proves so much, yes?

    No, wait – I was born in Libya and I have 2 British birth certificates as well as a US naturalization certificate and a US passport. Fuck, who am I? Just as well I can’t run for President eh!

  4. vaiyt says

    No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate.

    Because everyone knows you’re not American. You’re a citizen of dollar, and your only allegiance is to money.

  5. gussnarp says

    In case there was any doubt about whether the whole birther thing was just thinly veiled racism and whether Romney was running a dog whistle campaign so transparent it was more like a train whistle.

  6. says

    I’d like to see him repeat that claim at an open rally in inner city Detroit, though. He might be the funny-looking one there.

    Assuming of course:
    1) Mitt ever stops in Detroit (and not a predominantly white suburb, while claiming he was in Detroit)
    2) Any Detroit resident would bother to show up. But, who knows? You might get one or two attendees who are in it for the lulz.

  7. says

    The Mittster is programmed to lie. He is a lying machine. Mo’ better lying than any previous U.S. candidate for the Presidency. It’s quite an accomplishment. Of course he feels a delightul burning in his bosom when he contemplates the birther lies. His people! Group hug!

    Every campaign is guilty of exaggerations, embellishments, distortions, and half-truths. But this is another thing altogether. I’ve been directly involved in seven presidential campaigns, and I don’t recall a presidential candidate lying with such audacity, over and over again. Why does he do it, and how can he get away with it?

    The obvious answer is such lies are effective. Polls show voters are starting to believe them, especially in swing states where they’re being repeated constantly in media spots financed by Romney’s super PAC or ancillary PACs and so-called “social welfare” organizations (political fronts disguised as charities, such as Karl Rove and the Koch brothers have set up).

    Robert Reich

    …We knew he was a cypher — that he’ll say and do whatever is expedient, change positions like a chameleon, eschew any core principles.

    Yet resorting to outright lies — and organizing a presidential campaign around a series of lies — reveals a whole new level of cynicism…

    I don’t think journalists have realized that Romney doesn’t even know he’s lying. My theory is that mormonism excised the part of his brain that normally distinguishes between fact and fiction. Romney’s version of reality is, “Truth is whatever I say it is, now, this moment.” This attitude allows the Mittbot 3000 to lie with supreme confidence.

  8. KG says

    kayden@10,

    WTF are you on about? IIRC, PZ has said explicitly that he is going to hold his nose and vote for Obama, because the alternative is so much worse. Even if that were not the case, your comment makes no sense.

  9. patterson says

    Maybe I’m being naive but I can’t see this kind of stuff working out for him in the long run. I think eventually there will be a Todd Akin moment where he comes up with something so horrendous even the tea partiers facepalm.

  10. anuran says

    He was also an anchor baby.
    His family left the US for Mexico because they could get away with having harems. When they came back it wasn’t clear they could still stay in the US. But Baby Willard clinched it.

    Fucking illegal immigrants having kids so they can take advantage of America. I hate ’em :)

  11. Menyambal --- Sambal's Little Helper says

    The head guy of the Republican National Committee was on MSNBC trying to say that Mitt just had a lighthearted moment and meant nothing about Obama, and he was asking where the Democrat outrage was when somebody else went blah blah blah. He sounded weak.

    Mitt doesn’t seem to have much of a sense of humor, and certainly can’t relate to other people. He should not have gone there.

  12. says

    Cross-posted from the [Lounge] thread. Romney has been getting away with the lies. The entire Republican Convention taking place in Tampa will be centered on the theme “We Built This” — a theme based on a misinterpretation of an Obama speech, and then on follow-up that contained even more lies and misinterpretation.

    Reality just keeps on biting Romney in the ass.

    [Excerpted from The Maddow Blog …Romney was desperate to prove that American free enterprise thrives without the support of government, but when he pointed to examples, they all thrived thanks to the support of public institutions and tax dollars. This happened over and over and over and over again, ultimately proving that the entire line of attack is self-defeating.

    And the problem will apparently continue, as if self-awareness no longer matters at all.

    Links to back up the “over and over and over and over” portion of the quote above:
    Think Progress on July 25
    Huffington Post on July 30
    Washington Post on July 26
    Daily Kos on July 25

    The Maddow Blog article provides evidence that the “We Built This” speakers selected for the Republican convention follow the pattern of Romney-touted business persons whose success depends, in large part, on government grants and government contracts.

    …small business owner Sher Valenzuela is slated to deliver a speech about small business issues. But contrary to the evening’s theme, Valenzuela’s company, First State Manufacturing, has received millions of dollars in federal loans and contracts. Valenzuela has not only attributed her success in part to this outside assistance, but urged other small business owners to follow the same strategy of seeking government funds.

  13. a miasma of incandescent plasma says

    We were born here…

    Because it’s us vs. them. Glad he came out and said it.

  14. says

    While I was obtaining my passport at the post office, the lady asked for proof of address, which I’d forgotten to bring but luckily had a bill in the car with me. I excused myself and ran out to my car and came back with the bill. She said, “Thanks, hun. I know you’re from here, you don’t look foreign, but we have to follow the rules.” I was shocked. You never know how to respond to casual racism like that.

  15. raven says

    Maybe I’m being naive but I can’t see this kind of stuff working out for him in the long run.

    You are being naive.

    Romney’s base lies as much or more than he does. He didn’t make up the birther mythology, he is just pandering to it.

    These are the people who think “reality based community” is a horrible place.

  16. says

    Menyambal:

    Mitt doesn’t seem to have much of a sense of humor

    People who have been catered to all their lives, like white Mor[m]on men have, don’t develop one, because it would require taking a critical look at themselves. What passes for “humor” with them is punching down.

    Julielada, it is always worth following up with the person’s supervisor. That supervisor may be racist, too, but at least you are getting the message across that someone out there objects to it.

    Raven, I agree. It’s been working out just swell for the GOP for the last 30 years, especially the last 10. They own the damn media; what do they have to fear?

  17. says

    I’m pretty sure that Mittbot 2000 was mostly assembled in a Mexican plant near Tijuana. They only slapped the hair piece on him in Michigan, so that they could slap the made in America sticker on him.

  18. Doug Little says

    They really aren’t trying very hard to hide their bigotry these days are they. Bravo to the douche nozzle that is Mitt R’money.

    I guess being a white middle aged man means you get a free pass on the birth certificate thing. I might still be in with a shot of running for President although my Aussie accent might give me away.

  19. Reginald Selkirk says

    I never asked about Mitt’s birth certificate, but lots of people have asked about his tax returns. His latest story about how he doesn’t want to reveal his religious contributions is a load of cattle effluence because:
    1) Romney has a history of lying, and lying on or about his tax returns.
    2) He says he want his religious giving to be private, but it became my business when he deducted it from his taxes.

  20. raven says

    American Incomes Are Falling And Near-Retirees Are Getting Crushed: Study
    ..By Henry Blodget

    Annual incomes in the United States have dropped sharply in recent years, and near-retirees are getting hit the worst.

    That’s the conclusion of a new study by Sentier Research, which looked at the trend in median U.S. household incomes since 2000.

    Twelve years ago, after adjusting for inflation, the median household in the United States earned about $55,000 per year, reports Catherine Rampell of the New York Times, citing Sentier’s data.

    Now, the median income has fallen to about $51,000.

    The two age-groups that have been hit the worst in this period are households led by those in the 55-64 age group and those in the 25-34 age group. The incomes of the near-retirees have fallen by nearly 10% in the past three years. etc.

    As everyone knows, we have been getting steadily poorer in the 21st century.

    This is a lot of what is driving the Tea Party.

    Unfortunately, it was the Tea Party/GOP who produced this nonmiracle economy, the Bush Catastrophe.

    Bush gave us a lost generation. I’m sure Romney et al. will make it two lost generations.

  21. says

    Elitist, animal abusing, hypocritical piece of shit – release your tax forms. Talk about the Romneycare you implemented as governor. Talk about your pro-choice stance until the teabaggers got ahold of you. Tell us how you and your running mate want to set back women’s rights 200 years and defund Planned Parenthood and give the wealthiest people and corporations extended tax cuts while you make up the difference by slashing Social Security, Medicare, education, and health care. Shit for brains. Of course, that probably helps when you’re pandering to the birther crowds.

    Jayzus! I really don’t even want to vote for Obama and these asswipes are forcing it.

  22. raven says

    , but lots of people have asked about his tax returns. His latest story about how he doesn’t want to reveal…

    Romney has a $100 million IRA offshore in Bermuda among, most likely, other assets offshore.

    I assume he took advantage of legal tax loopholes and drove trucks filled with cash though them.

    But maybe not. If you look t what Bain and Romney did, they edged the law at best and it’s quite possible, just broke it when they could get away with it.

    That is how a lot of the rich operate especially on Wall Street.

    And we may never know. Because Romney so far hasn’t released a whole lot of info. Maybe he doesn’t have something to hide but he is acting like he does.

    Where is the birth certificate? Where are the tax returns?

  23. frog says

    Dear Mitt,

    You haven’t been asked about your birth certificate because your opponents aren’t delusional morons.

  24. twincats says

    I never asked about Mitt’s birth certificate, but lots of people have asked about his tax returns. His latest story about how he doesn’t want to reveal his religious contributions is a load of cattle effluence because:
    1) Romney has a history of lying, and lying on or about his tax returns.
    2) He says he want his religious giving to be private, but it became my business when he deducted it from his taxes.

    I’m sure I’m not alone in advocating that Rmoney be allowed redact his religious giving numbers as long as we get the goods on whether he got amnesty on foreign money in 2009.

    But the sudden bashfulness about church tithing is, of course, just one more fake reason to not share information. Unless he’s been lying to the LDS, too…

  25. says

    Why does he do it, and how can he get away with it?
    The obvious answer is such lies are effective. Polls show voters are starting to believe them…

    …We knew he was a cypher — that he’ll say and do whatever is expedient, change positions like a chameleon, eschew any core principles.

    On that note, everyone should read this. I just finished it this week and it hits home so hard it’s scary.

  26. says

    Unless he’s been lying to the LDS, too…

    Seems likely.

    From an ex-mormon:

    In Romney’s case, in 2010 he gave $1.5 million, closer to 7 percent of his adjusted gross income. In 2011, he gave $2.6 million, or 12.4 percent of his income.

    From: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Elections/President/2012/0124/Mitt-Romney-taxes-show-very-high-charitable-giving-tied-to-Mormon-church

    He also gave to other charitable contributions, but as we all know, tithes do not include all the other offerings. You don’t deduct fast offering or missionary contributions from your tithe amount and still call yourself a full tithe payer. This is something that non-mormons would not quite grasp if they just had an overall figure of charitable contributions.

    So that 7% of gross in 2010 would reflect 10% of net. And the extra payment in 2011 is to catch up to an average of 10% gross while it was still possible to do damage control. [And the guess is that Romney did not go back further than 2010 in this mormon-tithe damage control.]

    Mitt donated $10,000 to the National Organization for Marriage.
    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/30/1034504/-Mitt-Romney-s-quiet-contribution-to-Prop-8-backers-again-exposes-laxity-of-Alabama-PAC-rules

  27. says

    From ex-mormon Stray Mutt:

    If his sources of income can be manipulated in such a way that he’s taxed at only 14%, then his finances are probably far more complex than what’s net or gross. In many of his deals, he made ChurchCo [the mormon church] a shareholder to the tune of 10% of his shares. So Mitt could argue that he has already tithed on income from those deals, even though he continues to make money from them

  28. unclefrogy says

    >But the sudden bashfulness about church tithing is, of course, just one more fake reason to not share information. Unless he’s been lying to the LDS, too…

    he wouldn’t lie to his church he is a bishop or something

    if he can just keep juggling the lies long enough to get elected it will be OK seems to be the plan from what I can see.

    I too wonder if he can keep it up without blowing it and he or someone in the campaign say what they shouldn’t

    uncle frogy

  29. says

    The following Republican notables, among others, will be speaking at the Republican convention:

    Donald Trump, birther-in-chief

    Sherrif Joe Arpaio, birther soldier, general racist, and persecutor of immigrants

    Kris Kobach, fellow mormon, author of Arizona’s “driving while brown” law, and close personal brain-fried friend of Romney.

  30. thomasc says

    This reeks of hipocrisy on Mitt’s part. His father had his very own birther controversy back when he was running for the Republican nomination versus Nixon.

    George Romney was born in Mexico, to parents who were American Citizens. However, when he was running, there were questions about his eligibility due to the place of his birth. Since he was entitled to US citizenship at birth, because his parents were US citizens, it was argued that he was a natural born citizen.

    George Romney himself was unequivocal.

    “I am a natural born citizen. My parents were American citizens. I was a citizen at birth,” he said, according to a typewritten statement found in his archives.

    At one point, the Congressional Research Service – an arm of the Library of Congress that is supposed to provide authoritative but impartial research for elected members – advised that its analysts agreed with George Romney, according to a congressional source.

    In a paper in November aimed at clarifying presidential eligibility, the Congressional Research Service declared that the practical, legal meaning of “natural born citizen” would “most likely include” not only anyone born on U.S. soil but anyone born overseas of at least one parent who was a U.S. citizen.

    The definition above hasn’t been tested in a court of law, but it’s clear that had Obama been born in Kenya (he wasn’t, he was born in Hawaii) he could still be considered a natural born citizen under the same definition that classified George Romney as a natural born citizen.

    By bringing the birther nonsense up, and ignoring his father’s own controversy, Romney is clearly demonstrating the racism that underlies the birther movement.

  31. says

    he wouldn’t lie to his church he is a bishop or something

    Romney rose one step higher than Bishop, to Stake President (in charge of many bishops).

    Romney would find a way to lie to his church while simultaneously convincing himself that he is not lying to his church.

    Ann Romney: I love tithing. When Mitt and I give that check, I actually cry.

    Mitt Romney: So do I, but for a different reason.

    Source: http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/aug/23/highlights-gov-mitt-and-ann-romney-interview-parad/

  32. robro says

    George Romney, Mitten’s dad, was born in a Mormon colonia in Mexico. George Romney’s great grandfather moved to Mexico in 1885 with his 3 wives to found Colonia Dublán. Because George Romney’s parents were American citizens, he was eligible to run for president in 1968.

    But Mitt Romney is an opportunistic politician and all around ass. Of course he’s going to pander to the birthers, just like he’s pandered to the so-called “pro-life” crowd for which there’s probably a lot of overlap.

  33. says

    Chronicling Mitt’s Mendacity, Vol. XXXI
    Excerpt (one of 37 entries)

    1. Referencing the money he gives to his church every year, Romney said, “This is done entirely privately. One of the downsides of releasing one’s financial information is that this is now all public, but we had never intended our contributions to be known.”

    This is ridiculously untrue.

    He does realize Google exists, right? Romney understands that it’s easy to document countless examples of him boasting, not only about his tithing, but the specific percentage of his income he turns over to his church every year, doesn’t he?

    New financial revelations, coverage in The New York Times.

    …Bain private equity funds in which the Romney family’s trusts are invested appear to have used an aggressive tax approach, which some tax lawyers believe is not legal, to save Bain partners more than $200 million in income taxes and more than $20 million in Medicare taxes.

    Annual reports for four Bain Capital funds indicate that the funds converted $1.05 billion in accumulated fees that otherwise would have been ordinary income for Bain partners into capital gains, which are taxed at a much lower rate….

  34. loopyj says

    That right, you gaping asshole, no one’s asked to see your birth certificate, but they have asked to see your tax returns. Why should anyone simply trust you and believe what you say about the contents of your those returns? It’s time to come clean. And I want the original documents, not some officially certified summary report or nothin’. If you want to keep your finances and business affairs private, Twit-Mitt, you shouldn’t be running for President (but I understand why you are…you feel entitled and think that politics is a great little hobby-job for someone like you).

  35. says

    From Mother Jones coverage:

    http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/08/romney-birtherism-joke-michigan

    Romney is not himself a birther. He was engaging in ironic post-birtherism—showing solidarity with birthers by making a humorous remark that can be plausibly denied as a joke later. This is a necessary device for a Republican politician who wants to rile up the base without seeming like a lunatic, because the belief that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States is still held by nearly half of self-identified Republicans even after the very public release of the president’s birth certificate. Birtherism remains the most frank and widespread evidence of racial animus among some of the president’s critics. As Ta-Nehisi Coates writes in The Atlantic this month, the birthers, strapped in their waxen wings, aim for nothing less than the sun: “If Obama is not truly American, then America has still never had a black president.”…

    That’s the problem with Romney’s “joke,” too. It falls into a long list of remarks that suggest an emotional myopia based on an extremely sheltered life experience. It comes across as gloating about the fact that, as a rich white man born into a wealthy and powerful family, Romney has rarely been subject to the kind of racist or sexist assumptions that clog the daily lives of millions of Americans. Romney might as well joke that he’s never been mistaken for a waiter in a restaurant or a clerk in a retail store, or that he’s never been selected for extra screening at an airport or randomly told to empty his pockets by the NYPD. The reason Romney doesn’t have to show the country his papers isn’t because everyone knows he was born in Michigan. It’s because whiteness remains unquestionably “American” for some people in a way blackness does not. That should not be a point of pride for Romney; it should be a matter of anger and disappointment.

  36. says

    The extent of birtherism in the Republican Party. Link.

    In a New York Times/CBS poll released last week [April, 2012], a 45% plurality of Republicans said Obama was not born in America. Only one third (33%) of Republicans said Obama was born in America, while an additional 22% said they weren’t sure.

    Belief in birtherism fell briefly after Obama released his long-form birth certificate … then it quickly shot up again. Birtherism is on the rise. It is not diminishing.

  37. unbound says

    “No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate.”

    That would be because of the majority of idiots in the US have been sucked into the nonsense Pravda…er, Faux News…spits outs. On the idiotic progressive side, they may ask you about alternative medicine however…

  38. says

    The extent of Romney’s ignorance is hard to plumb. It’s so deep it’s inexplicable for a serious presidential candidate. Romney and his staff consistently fail when it comes to research. Google, Mr. Romney, please google.

    On welfare policy, the Romney campaign said this week that all the administration needs to do “is have HHS send out a hard letter making sure that the only things that will qualify under the work requirement is hard training and the cooperative programs with employers and define it in such a way that what was allowed before is all that’s allowed in the future…. That’s all that’s required.”

    The administration already did this two months ago. [quoted from The Maddow Blog]

    Here’s a PDF of actual document: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/PDF/Chairman%20Camp%20TANF%207%2018%20.pdf

  39. says

    Greg Sargent at the Washington Post weighs in:

    … Coming just after days spent debating Todd Akin’s “legitimate rape” remark, this is again a reminder of the extreme voices in the GOP, which Romney has at times been slow to denounce. And it seems less than presidential, to put it mildly. The fact that uncomfortably large numbers still believe Obama has perpetrated an elaborate plot to fake his birthplace and ascend to the presidency illegitimately is a pretty damn big deal….

    Link.

  40. thecalmone says

    Why is it that the requirements for US presidential candidates are so restrictive, anyway. Aren’t you cheating yourselves of potentially good leaders?

    Our current (Australian) prime minister is not only a woman, but is an atheist and was born overseas (Wales).

  41. Randomfactor says

    Actually, there HAVE been calls to see his actual, long-form birth certificate. Not because of any questions about his citizenship (to me, that’s measured more by things he failed at, like striving for your country’s betterment) but because his middle name probably isn’t “Mitt” but “Milton.”

    I guess a nickname of “Milt” isn’t masculine enough unless you’re a fish.

  42. aufwuch says

    Just took early retirement, (gov. marine toxicologist) and was surrounded by many what I though were intelligent staff that were considered critical thinkers,but… Office has 33 scientist and techs but split 50:50 for Obama and Romney. WTF. Can’t wrap my head around folks voting against their own future. This really scares the hell out of me; Obama may very well lose in Nov.due to voter turnout and we then we are all totally fucked unless your in the top 2-3% of net worth. What’s wrong here? This great country is turning into one of God, Guns, and Zombies. (don’t go there I own a rifle)
    64 and very scared.

  43. Lofty says

    Our current (Australian) prime minister is not only a woman, but is an atheist and was born overseas (Wales).

    But she isn’t A+ so she can be as silly as she likes. (School chaplaincy for one)

  44. dobby says

    Now Mittens is using the “Limbaugh defense”: it was all a joke. Can’t you tell a joke when you hear one? Why are you so sensitive? No, I don’t support the birthers, wink wink.

  45. ottod says

    I’m disturbed that many of the comments seem to imply that somehow Mormonism is somehow goofier than any of the other varieties of xtianity. I’m also disturbed that most of those comments do not suggest better than a third-hand knowledge of Mormonism, and are perfectly willing to accept any misrepresentation or stereotype they’ve tripped over. It seems to me that Willard’s religion is no more or less nonsensical than Obama’s. To suggest that Mormonism is somehow less credible than other religions seems to me to also suggest that practitioners of other garden-variety religions are more credible. Does that really make any sense?

  46. shadow says

    Mitt Robbedme probably has on his 1999~2002 tax forms CEO of BAIN capitol as his job — when he has said he left BAIN in ’99.

    If that is the case (possible, even probable) then, whether he paid his tithe or taxes properly, he was either lying to the IRS or to the SEC and, either way, to the people! Not that he cares about that, just getting caught would tank his chances, though.

    That’s why he won’t release the taxes. Not until he gets them changed, anyway.

  47. Randomfactor says

    Mitt has the robust sense of humor of Frank Burns on M*A*S*H.

    Sure, he inspires laughter, but…

  48. imthegenieicandoanything says

    I also am remided of Frank Burns, except that in both the film and TV show, one could discern a stunted basic humanity in Major Burns at times, and his profession, semi-competent though he was, regularly saved people’s lives.

    Rmoney likely cares about no one and nothing, and this is because he is unable to. He is an empty, animated human flesh suit, perhaps operated by a mass of swarming, semi-sentient spiders.

    But that might be giving him too much credit.

    Rmoney is the worst man ever, easily (!!!) beating Dudya, to threaten to become POTUS, and therefore the perfect candidate for the criminals against humanity that are the “Republican” Party and the stupid, ignorant, insane, and evil ‘Mer’kins who support it.

    The nation will not recover, perhaps ever, but not in my lifetime, if Rmoney buys or cheats his way into office.

  49. says

    I’m disturbed that many of the comments seem to imply that somehow Mormonism is somehow goofier than any of the other varieties of xtianity.

    Yep. Magic underpants, magic crackers, what’s the difference? I generally like to refer to “judeo-christian-islamic-mormon” because, after all, they’re all supposedly followers of the same god, they only differ in terms of which revalation they acknowledge as the current most applicable one. And they’re all equally laughable.

  50. azathoth says

    Other things that have never happened to Mittens Romney:

    -He’s never received a Stop & Frisk.
    -He’s never had a cap refuse to pick him up.
    -He’s never gotten pregnant from a rape.

  51. says

    Romney currently polls 0% with African-Americans? Isn’t that really a problem for a potential president, that one large group of citizens wants absolutely nothing to do with him?
    Well, that’s what I though before I saw on Maddow that McCain got 4% of the A-A vote in 2008. No big deal then.

  52. witlesschum says

    Why is it that the requirements for US presidential candidates are so restrictive, anyway. Aren’t you cheating yourselves of potentially good leaders?

    Our current (Australian) prime minister is not only a woman, but is an atheist and was born overseas (Wales).

    The rules were supposedly made restrictive because the people who wrote the constitution were afraid the King of Prussia or someone like tha would seek the presidency of the U.S. as a way of dragging us into Europe’s wars.

    I’m disturbed that many of the comments seem to imply that somehow Mormonism is somehow goofier than any of the other varieties of xtianity. I’m also disturbed that most of those comments do not suggest better than a third-hand knowledge of Mormonism, and are perfectly willing to accept any misrepresentation or stereotype they’ve tripped over. It seems to me that Willard’s religion is no more or less nonsensical than Obama’s. To suggest that Mormonism is somehow less credible than other religions seems to me to also suggest that practitioners of other garden-variety religions are more credible. Does that really make any sense?

    Mormonism is recent, so the seems show much more easily. Also, read some Book of Mormom, it’s crazier than the bible and Shakespeare didn’t work on it.

  53. katansi says

    I still can’t wrap my mind around one guy being so fucking douchy and half the population IDENTIFYING with that doucheness. What is wrong with America?

  54. Menyambal --- Sambal's Little Helper says

    Mormon teen boys go off on mission projects for a year or so. Many of them wind up living in mud huts, most travel by bicycle. Mitt did his mission tour in France.

    (Mexicans call the Mormon missionaries “huevos”, because there’s always two of them. (Huevos is the word for eggs, but it almost always refers to testicles (kind of like “nuts” in American).)

  55. theophontes (坏蛋) says

    @ robro

    Of course he’s going to pander to the birthers, just like he’s pandered to the so-called “pro-life” crowd for which there’s probably a lot of overlap.

    Setting aside thomasc‘s killer argument at #40, let us just run with these people as a thought experiment:

    A pro-life/birther clusterfuck can only lead to a single conclusion … It is not where one is born that counts. It is where one was conceived. So that naughty weekend get-away that George and Lenore Rmoney took to Chihuahua back in the summer of 1946!!!!elebenty!!!1!! He isn’t elligible to run for the presidency anyhow!!!


    Teh birthers seem to forget that Obama’s mother was a White American ™ – perhaps her crime was to be a woman?

    @ witlesschum

    Our current (Australian) prime minister is not only a woman, but is an atheist and was born overseas (Wales).

    Good point. Democratic Iran (ie:before the installation of the shah) had two ministers in their cabinet who where brought in -as foreign citizens- to run their ministries. Why should a country not hire in good (prime) ministers, from anywhere in the world, like top soccer clubs hire in top managers?

  56. anarchy4angels says

    I’ve not seen mittens’ birth certificate, but I’ve not seen his tax returns either. Anyone would think he had something to hide…

  57. desoto says

    harbo

    “Mitt”

    sounds a bit German to me!

    Mit – german for “with”. I can do mit out Mitt!

  58. carlie says

    Romney currently polls 0% with African-Americans? Isn’t that really a problem for a potential president, that one large group of citizens wants absolutely nothing to do with him?

    That’s why the Republican party is working so hard to disenfranchise voters.

  59. says

    A” pro-life/birther “clusterfuck can only lead to a single conclusion … It is not where one is born that counts. It is where one was “conceived”.

    I bet you could sell, them on that idea. All you have to do is start talking about all these immigrants that cross the border while pregnant, so they can have their babies in America.

    Remember, they’ll buy into any idea that’ll let them hate on the outgroup.

  60. carbonbasedlifeform says

    Why is it that the requirements for US presidential candidates are so restrictive, anyway.

    Article 2, Section 1 of the US Constitution says (in part)

    No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States.

    Does that answer your question?

  61. says

    Something that’s always made me a little uncomfortable is the blanket assumption that GOP leadership were all incredibly ignorant or stupid. I’ve never had any difficulty concluding that some are – Bush Jr., Perry, Palin, for example.

    But I’ve always had the impression that many of those who find their way into leadership in the modern GOP weren’t stupid at all. They know quite well that something approaching 90% of what comes out of their face is untrue.

    After reading The Authoritarians (already linked in thread by LykeX @ #34), it seems the evidence supports this case.

    “High doubles” (people who score high as Right-Wing Authoritarians and Social Dominators) do not show the same difficulty with reasoning skills. They do not show the same inability to parse fact.

    It is simply that they don’t care. They will say whatever will influence their followers. Further, and especially after having been in power for awhile, they know their followers will not fact check, and if their followers do fact check and discover they are wrong, the error will be filed away in the remarkably compartmentalized brain of the follower.

    So they just have to avoid crossing the line that causes such a massive blow back from the moderate/left as to be untenable. Given the corporate owned media’s “both sides of the story, can’t-look-biased” methodology, and given the apathy and frustration this type of bullshit has fostered within the opposition, that line is absurdly high.

    Anything else is fair game.

    So I think it might be a bit of a disservice to just consider the Mittens/Ryan type leader blisteringly ignorant or stupid.

    It might make for tactical error in response to their methods.

  62. gregoryhilliard says

    Of course Mittens wasn’t born in Detroit. He was assembled at his dad’s American Motors plant. As much as I liked the Gremlin, we all know how American Motors turned out. I think Mittens is headed for that same scrap heap. Nor do I care about his birth certificate — the tax returns, now those I would like to see.

  63. dean says

    He has a history of foot-in-mouth gaffes here in Michigan. Earlier this year, during the Republican primary lead-up, he ran many ads. Two gained a bit of infamy.

    In the first he was shown driving through Detroit in a new Chrysler (I think the 200), and the voiceover stated how proud he was of the new cars Detroit companies were designing an building here. The problem: the car was driving is actually assembled in Canada, not Detroit

    In the second he ran an ad about the fond memories he had of attending the Detroit auto show with his father when he was younger. The ad featured a photo of a younger him (as all photos do, in reality) and his father, on a platform, gazing earnestly down at the vast display below them. The problem: some examination of the display attracting their attention was found to be from the 1964 World Fair in New York, not the Detroit auto show.

    His latest blunder has already caused the Twitter universe to respond:
    https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23futuremittjokes

    One of my favorites: “I just flew in and boy are my arms tired from creating complicated tax dodging investments.”

    The harshest one I’ve seen is this one:
    “Now I’ve not had my opponent’s supporters compare my wife to a monkey”

  64. says

    Oh, look! It’s Birtherpalooza in Arizona. They are having their own convention.
    Link.

    Excerpt:

    Some of the best known birthers in the nation are scheduled to take the stage at a star-studded event in Phoenix, where they plan to call for Congress to investigate whether President Obama’s birth certificate is real.

    There will be singing. There will be speeches. Drinks will be available for purchase. … Promoters are calling it “A Greater Phoenix Tea Party Patriots Event” but you can call it Birtherpalooza.

    The star of the gala is Sheriff Joe Arpaio… Arpaio has positioned himself as one of the leaders of the birther movement. For almost a year, he has been using a combination of taxpayer money [oh, lovely, yet another bogus use of my tax dollars] and amateur volunteers to try to bolster the conspiracy theory that Obama’s birth records are elaborate forgeries designed to put a foreigner in the White House.

    At a news conference in July, Arpaio proposed the idea of having Congress take up the investigation….

    So far the “evidence” he produced has largely been testimony of fellow birthers who are already true believers in the conspiracy…..

    Some enterprising journalists have got to crash that party.

    There’s a video of Pat Boone’s birther rant at the link.

  65. says

    The Daily Kos illustrated Romney’s hypocrisy when it comes to women’s rights. Video and text at the link.

    Excerpt:

    Say what you will about the ultra-hardline reproductive politics of Todd Akin and Paul Ryan, but at least those two have always been true believers. Mitt Romney, not so much. As his former strategist Michael Murphy put it in 2005, “He’s been a pro-life Mormon faking it as a pro-choice friendly.” But Romney’s public transformation from an “unwavering” supporter of Roe v. Wade into a strong backer of the GOP’s all-out assault on women’s reproductive rights isn’t just rank opportunism. To accomplish that extremist makeover, Mitt Romney had to turn his back on a “dear, close family relative” who died 50 years ago of a then-illegal abortion.

    As Salon’s Justin Elliott documented last year in “The Abortion That Mitt Doesn’t Talk About Anymore,” it was his own family story which informed his pro-choice position during his 1994 Senate run against Ted Kennedy. When Kennedy labeled him “Multiple Choice Mitt,” during their debate, Romney responded with a tale of personal loss:

    “On the idea of ‘multiple-choice,’ I have to respond. I have my own beliefs, and those beliefs are very dear to me. One of them is that I do not impose my beliefs on other people. Many, many years ago, I had a dear, close family relative that was very close to me who passed away from an illegal abortion. It is since that time that my mother and my family have been committed to the belief that we can believe as we want, but we will not force our beliefs on others on that matter. And you will not see me wavering on that.”…

  66. Azkyroth, Former Growing Toaster Oven says

    Of course, people keep asking to see information on Mitt’s income and assets instead.

    It’s fortunate the GOP aren’t clever enough to label them “worthers.”

  67. says

    A collection of late-night talk show hosts dissing Romney:

    “Mitt Romney has been giving his volunteers a free sweatshirt for making phone calls on his behalf. The sweatshirts are just like Romney, 100 percent reversible.” -Jimmy Fallon

    “Mitt Romney was attacking Obama about our failing education system. He has a point. We are graduating millions of people in this country who are so lacking in basic analytical skills, they are considering voting for Mitt Romney.” –Bill Maher

    “That Mitt Romney, he is a master campaigner. This week he was introducing his wife, and he said, ‘She is the heavyweight champion of my life.’ Which may explain why on the ride home, he was strapped to the roof of the car.” –Bill Maher

    “Mitt Romney is saying his comments about liking to fire people were taken out of context. Yeah, what he actually said was he likes to set poor people on fire.” –Conan O’Brien

  68. lorn says

    Nobody asked him because it is general knowledge that androids don’t get birth certificates, they come with a warranty card and an inspector’s chit stuffed in the left ear.

  69. says

    Nobody asked him because it is general knowledge that androids don’t get birth certificates, they come with a warranty card and an inspector’s chit stuffed in the left ear.

    LOL. From what I read, extraordinary effort is being expended to make the Mittster look like a real human being at the Republican convention.

    Last week the New York Times published a behind-the-scenes article about the stagecraft for the upcoming Republican National Convention, which apparently will be devoted to the hopeless task of presenting Mitt Romney as a warm and accessible person. A stage set finished in dark wood that cost $2.5 million and was supposedly inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright has been bedecked with 13 high-definition video monitors, the largest of them 29 feet by 12 feet. All of this has been designed, says Romney adviser Russ Schriefer, to convey the idea “that you’re not looking at a stage, you’re looking into someone’s living room.”…

    http://www.salon.com/2012/08/25/a_short_history_of_the_phony_political_convention/

    New York Times article.

    The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Romney’s LDS faith is going to be used to humanize him at the convention. Yeah, like that’s going to work. In addition to the LDS faith as a big part of his bio, six LDS speakers or prayers are lined up.

  70. says

    Somehow, I really am enjoying the fact that the faux human will be presented at the convention in a faux living room. It’s meta. It’s ironic. It’s funny.

    I do think they could amp the drama with a rotating stage, presenting several faux settings. One of these should be faux rural, with hay bales and Romney in his forgive-my-old-white-man-body levis.

    A workout/gym set for Ryan would be entertaining. I want to see if he’s fit enough to give a speech while doing one-handed pushups.

    End with a comedy club setting in which Romney reprises all of his terrible jokes.

  71. says

    Nobody asked him because it is general knowledge that androids don’t get birth certificates, they come with a warranty card and an inspector’s chit stuffed in the left ear.

    This may just be me showing my liking for fucking with politicians, but I’d be totally in favor of a campaign demanding that Romney show his left ear to prove that he’s not an android.

    Of course, the people who most need to get the point, wouldn’t.

  72. RFW says

    @ #9 Lynna, OM says:

    Romney’s humor module is malfunctioning again.

    Mormons don’t have humor modules.

    @ #26 Doug Little says:

    Bravo to the douche nozzle that is Mitt R’money.

    That is an insult to douche nozzles everywhere. At least they are useful, though humble, implements when needed, unlike R’money, who is neither humble nor useful. Nor needed, when it comes down to it.

    @ #57 ottod says:

    I’m disturbed that many of the comments seem to imply that somehow Mormonism is somehow goofier than any of the other varieties of xtianity.

    But mormonism is, in fact, goofier than many another religion. It’s a cult that is fairly successfui in extinguishing any sense of inquiry or intellectual curiosity among its adherents. The methods may differ from those of the scienos, but the end result is remarkably similar.

    And mormonism is not a version of xtianity, any more than Islam is.

    So don’t be disturbed: people are speaking truth.

  73. nemothederv says

    African americans: Obama 94%. Romney 0%
    Latin americans: Obama 63%. Romney 29%
    Women: Obama 58%. Romney 38%

    I doubt that these numbers are going to move any by November and Mitt knows it. Standby as the rally cry for the skinhead vote continues.

  74. StevoR says

    Mittens to birther mob : “I’m one of you! Listen! Ha-ha!”

    Mittens aside to everyone else : “Ha-ha! Nah, I was just jokin’ not really.”

    Mittens whispers back to birther mob : “Psst. No, I was joking about joking there I’m really am one of you, you know!”

  75. StevoR says

    Well I was going to say :

    +++++

    @45. Lynna, OM :

    From Mother Jones coverage .. (Snip) .. As Ta-Nehisi Coates writes in The Atlantic this month, the birthers, strapped in their waxen wings, aim for nothing less than the sun: “If Obama is not truly American, then America has still never had a black president.”…

    But assuming everybody follows the traditional Jewish matrilineal descent system where your ethnicty is determined by your mother (& everybody on the planet does, right? Right?*) then Obama is actually a white Amercian like his mother surely?

    Which, natch, means Obama isn’t really a black / African Amercian president in any case no?

    NOT that it should matters in the slightest what skin colour anybody has anyhow.

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    * Oddly enough I am aware that there are just a few oddballs on Earth who do not, in fact, follow Jewish ways on everything!

    But it seems someone’s beaten me to it so I won’t.

  76. StevoR says

    @67. Menyambal — Sambal’s Little Helper :

    .. (snip) .. (Mexicans call the Mormon missionaries “huevos”, because there’s always two of them. (Huevos is the word for eggs, but it almost always refers to testicles (kind of like “nuts” in American).)

    Three things :

    1) I thought they usually used cahones / cajones for that meaning, no?

    2) Don’t Jehovah’s solicitors Witnesses & quite a few other suchlike cults also send pests missionaries around the streets in pairs too? What do the Mexicans* call them?

    3) So what do you say in Mexico when you’re talking about eggs in the sense of cooking, shopping then? Still use Huevos or is there another egg word?

    +++++

    * NB. “Mexican” in South Australia and I think some other parts of Australia is generally slang for “Victorian” – one of our southern-er states.

  77. mothra says

    I think Lawrence O’Donnell [‘The Last Word’ MSNBC] has the gist of Mitt’s refusal to release 10 years of tax returns such as President Obama has done. Lawrence noted that within this period there was an amnesty granted to people and corporations holding offshore accounts and that by simply paying up, they were immune to future prosecution (for tax evasion). In other words, a pardoned felony would be revealed in Mitt’s tax record, not exactly presidential credentials for a supposed economic reformer. Although, this is lock step with his record at Bane Capital: buying companies, dismantling same and selling assets for profit while claiming to be a job creator.

  78. David Marjanović says

    Why is it that the requirements for US presidential candidates are so restrictive, anyway. Aren’t you cheating yourselves of potentially good leaders?

    It’s to prevent a foreign prince or his strawman to become president.

    Made sense in the 18th century. Unfortunately, the big-C Constitution is 1) the one that’s the most difficult to amend in the world, and 2) worshipped instead of read by way too many people.

    “Teh birthers” seem to forget that Obama’s mother was a White American ™ – perhaps her crime was to be a woman?

    Some of them have actually tried to argue that, yes.

    Democratic Iran (ie:before the installation of the shah) had two ministers in their cabinet who where brought in -as foreign citizens- to run their ministries. Why should a country not hire in good (prime) ministers, from anywhere in the world, like top soccer clubs hire in top managers?

    Bingo.

    1) I thought they usually used cahones / cajones for that meaning, no?

    1) Did you really think one word is enough? :-) English has “nuts” and “balls”, too.
    2) Cojones. A and o are never pronounced the same, and h isn’t pronounced at all.