Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Romney in '72


Sorry for the lack of updates - I've been distracted with buying a house, a subject I'm going to have lots to say on in the near future. Tonight's post is pure politics, though, so feel free to skip it if you want.

Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S. Thompson is one of the best books on politics I've ever read. Thompson follows George McGovern around during his presidential campaign, almost from start to finish, and charts the whole thing in his own inimitable style.

What's really interesting, though, is how often the stuff that happened in '72 in the Democratic primaries seems to apply to what's happening right now in the Republican primaries. The following quotes are all to do with Ed Muskie, the "only man who could beat Nixon". For fun, I've substituted Mitt Romney's name for Muskie's (along with a few other subs: Republican for Democrat, Obama for Nixon, that sort of thing). Take a gander and see if any of these strike a chord:

"Romney is already finished," he said then. "He has no base. Nobody's really for Romney. They're only for the Front-Runner, the man who says he's the only one who can beat Obama - but not even Romney himself believes that anymore; he couldn't even win a majority of the Republican vote in New Hampshire, on his own turf."

One of Romney's main problems, thus far, has been that not even his own hired staff people really like him. The older ones try to explain this problem away by saying, "Mitt's under a lot of pressure these days, but he's really a fine guy, underneath."

The younger staff members have apparently never had much contact with "the real Romney." With very few exceptions, they justify their strained allegiance to the man by saying, "I wouldn't be working for him except that he's the only Republican who can beat Obama."

As late as February 15th, Mitt Romney was generally conceded - even by his political opponents - to be within an eyelash or two of having the Republican nomination so skillfully locked up that the primaries wouldn't even be necessary. He had the public endorsements of almost every Big Name in the party, including some who said they were only backing him because he was so far ahead that nobody else had a chance... which was just as well, they said, because it is very important to get the Party machinery into high gear, early on, behind a consensus candidate. And Mitt Romney, they all agreed, was the only Republican who could beat Obama in November.

The word went out early, long before Christmas, and by January it had already filtered down to low-level fringe groups... who were suddenly faced with the choice of either "getting your people behind Romney" or "crippling the party with another one of those goddamn protest movements that'll end up like all the others and not accomplish anything except to guarantee Obama's re-election."

Only a lunatic would do this kind of work: twenty-three primaries in five months; stone drunk from dawn till dusk and huge speed-blisters all over my head. Where is the meaning? The light at the end of the tunnel?

That last one has nothing to do with Muskie or Romney, but I do sympathize with Thompson's despair.

Cazart!

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Super Bowl 2012

I spent the game tweeting and drinking beer. Some of the tweets made Sarah laugh out loud, so I'm posting them up here. Consider any RT's a recommendation to follow the person linked to.



FREE PIZZA MOTHERFUCKERS #papajohns #ymmv

Well, clearly, some Ravens defense would be doing a better job of stopping the Giants here. #yesisaidit

Prohibition is over! Let us drink piss! #budweiser

Love the Doritos commercial. "You didn't see nothing."

RT @ChuckWendig In other news, I think Madonna turned into Mumm-Ra from the Thundercats.

RT @ChuckWendig Whoa. Ryan Gosling covered in koala bears? Well-played, Goodyear tires. #fakesuperbowlcommercials

Sweet! @sarahearle got our taxes sorted in 40 minutes, with no apoplectic rages. And we get a refund. Good year!

RT @Ali_Davis Oh, good. I was worried that GoDaddy might not still be run by fuckheads.

#betterthanbud pic.twitter.com/Caf7yptF

RT @ChuckWendig A flock of parakeets just ate the flesh off of Peyton Manning's bones. Weirdest Bank of America ad EVER. #fakesuperbowlcommercials

Avengers. Oh hell yes.

RT @TeelaJBrown Theory: increased use of dogs in #superbowl ads to combat #PuppyBowl defectors. Expect kittens swarming Madonna at halftime.

RT @ChuckWendig Wow, that Bissel Spot-Bot ad got a little creepy. But I guess it's great that it cleans up all that hooker blood. #fakesuperbowlcommercials

Madness? This. Is. Madonna!

RT @SteveMartinToGo Wow! Maggie Smith can really sing!

RT @God_Damn_Batman I’m not saying Bane should collapse the field with an earthquake generator. But it would make Madonna’s halftime show actually watchable.

Did MIA break reality or flip off the camera?

RT @sispurrier Fuckin' Sith are in fuckin' trouble when those cats stop singing.

RT @TheLewisBlack World Peace are you fucking kidding me. That made me want to go to war.

The second beer has begun. #superbowl #lightweight

RT @mattyglesias Rush Limbaugh is in the Pats' owners box, because the Patriots are evil.

Ouch! Stamos: Denied!

RT @ChuckWendig Now Batman just exploded and turned into 72 chipmunks in a Doritos ad. Did someone spike my party dip? #fakesuperbowlcommercials

And now I am chasing a dog with lint clutched in her mouth. #priorities

The wife has gone to bed, but I will see this thing through! And regret it horribly in the morning. #SuperBowl

GoDaddy: We assume everyone buying a domain name is male, sex-obsessed, and believes that there's actual nudity on our website.

RT @realfreemancbs Remember the Ravens-Pats game, Giants.

That... was the weirdest touchdown I've ever seen.

Sack! Behold the blood-curse of Huginn! #ravens

Incomplete! Giants win! Behold the blood-curse of Muninn! #ravens

And now I guess the Joker's confetti is going to kill everyone? WTF?

Hell of a game. HELL of a game. Congrats to the Giants, condolences to the Patriots, swift recoveries to the injured. #SuperBowl

ANOTHER FREAKING GEICO PIG COMMERCIAL?! RAAAGH!!



So there's that. Have a good night, and I'll leave you with a bit of funny that cropped up on my Twitter feed. Somewhat true, as well.