Rantings of a Bastard

Republican politicians: We don't like Obamacare!
Republican politicians: We're going to repeal Obamacare in the House 37 times!
Republican politicians: The employer mandate in Obamacare is terribad for business!

Obama spokesman: We're delaying the employer mandate until at least 2015, in order to work some problems out.

*beat*

Republican politicians: We demand an investigation into why the thing we hate so much is being delayed!


All that's missing is "I didn't get a harumph out of that guy."

Motherfucker say what?

Yes, indeed... one of the authors of the Patriot Act is upset that the NSA has its' hands on millions of Verizon customers' records. Because, fuck, I don't know... it's only okay under Republican Presidents?

The House of Representatives voted to repeal Obamacare... this makes the 37th time... because the new Republican members hadn't had a chance to do so yet.

Wow... they're giving the lil' baby Republican Representatives a nice shiny rattle symbolic vote.

Said vote being a festering waste of time, but hey... it's not like there's actual issues to deal with.

Rand Paul - still fucking crazy.

As for the Small Arms Treaty... he's either stupid, because it doesn't take any anyone's guns in the U.S., or he's pandering to a base that is stupid. I'm not sure which one is worse.

that South Carolina voters are either incapable of learning, have the memory retention of goldfish, or are thundering morons.

And I'm probably not being fair to the goldfish.

Another clueless Republican joins the birthers.

1) Why is this still a thing?

2) Uh, Tom... can I call you Tom? There's a reason the mainstream media hasn't investigated this more deeply. It's the same reason that they haven't investigated whether Obama's a Reptoid. BECAUSE IT'S A FUCKING NUTTER THEORY!

McCain reverses course on his reverse course as he once again backs the latest Republican to win the "Shitstain of the Moment" Award.

You'd think he'd avoid sudden changes in direction at his age.

Some Republicans are now claiming that the reason Mitt is trailing in the polls is that the pollsters are calling too many Democrats.

....

Okay, sure, it's possible that Democrats are over-sampled in some polls. Depending on the state, and the area being called, it could be really oversampled. But that's why they poll hundreds of people. And that's why there are multiple polls. And that's why those polls have margins of error.

So, is it possible that Mitt is behind in the polls because the polls are biased? Sure.

It's also possible that Mitt is behind in the polls because he's an unlikeable dick with a tendency to stick his foot in his mouth and the personal charm and charisma of a dead fish. It's possible that he's behind in the polls because every time he tries to sympathize with anyone other then the very rich, no one buys it for a second. And it could be that he's behind in the polls, because he's just behind in the polls.

We'll see what the results are come Election Day, but if I were Ann Romney, I wouldn't worry about what curtains to put up in the White House.

Republicans are playing fast and loose with quotes from Obama?

This is new and shocking behavior!

(I seem to use that subject a lot.)

Paul Ryan: When I blamed Obama for that GM plant closing, and said it was all his fault, and he's a liar and a promise breaker... I totally wasn't blaming him, honest.

Mitt flip-flops on everything. Including whether he was active at Bain Capital or not.

So, he's inactive at Bain Capital when it comes to closing businesses and outsourcing jobs, but he's active at Bain Capital when it comes to reducing his tax burden. Why, that makes complete and logical sense, and the GOP base will completely fucking ignore it.

Ann Romney: Fuck you all, you're not getting any more tax returns. (I'm punching it up a little.)

Here's what gets me about this issue.

They're damned if they do, and they're damned if they don't. Okay, look, your typical member of the Republican base is not going to give a monkey's brass balls about this, but Romney cannot win with just the Republican base. He needs to attract some independents. And one of the things those independents are looking at are the lack of info on his tax returns.

If he doesn't give out more years' worth of returns, the Obama campaign and various Democratic allies will say he's hiding something. Could he be hiding something? Sure. He could. But you can damn well know that someone at the IRS has since checked those returns over and over again.

If he does release more returns, and there's nothing majorly damning there, people will ask why the hell he hid them for so long. So, I have to imagine there's something there, that while not illegal (because the IRS would have a goddamned field day), would hurt his campaign.

Except.

Except he's basically been running since 2007. Yeah, he lost the nomination battle in 2007 to McCain (he came in third, just slightly behind Huckabee, in overall delegates), but you know he was thinking, even then, that he would be running again in 2012 if McCain didn't win. And as we know, McCain didn't win.

So, at the very least, he could have made his returns look nice and politically safe for at least a couple more years then he's released. Which is just further fuel on the fire.

So what could be in there? Massive donations to the Mormon Church? Ehhh... you know, I'm an atheist, but if someone wants to donate huge whacks of their own cash to a religion, fuck it, it's their money. Could it be that he's paying a really low tax rate because most of his income is through capital gains? Well, that actually wouldn't be a shock. It's assumed that's the case, in fact. Could it be that he's worth a quarter of a billion dollars? Fuck it, we already know he's out of touch with the middle class and the poor, based on his "I have friends who own NASCAR teams" statements.

Personally, I think even if you set this issue aside, he doesn't have much of a chance of becoming President in 2012. Does that mean he'll run again in 2016 if Obama gets a second term? Frankly, I doubt it. He's be 69 then, same age as Reagan when he got elected, and Reagan's the record holder. (McCain, if he had won, would have been 72, and if you don't think his age combined with Sarah Palin's lack of... well, everything... played into their defeat, you're fooling yourself.)

Why do I see this as a talking point on the Daily Show tomorrow? The Romney campaign requested several years of tax return info from potential VP candidates.

Personally, if I had been a contender for the spot, I'd have asked for the same from Romney, but I'm just that sort of asshole.

Mitt Romney is going to announce his choice for VP today.

And apparently, Marco Rubio, Tim Pawlenty and Rob Portman have all been told it isn't going to be them. Sorry guy, but you've been passed over for... Paul Ryan?

Honestly, I think Rubio would have been a smarter choice. It's not like Republicans were going to get a shitload of the Latino vote anyway, but Rubio might have gotten them some. (Probably not a whole lot, as the whole "Cubans who land on U.S. soil are automagically granted safe harbor, and everyone else fleeing a life of poverty or violence in Central or South America can go fuck themselves" has not engendered a whole bunch of warm fuzzies all around.) But Florida is a swing state, and picking Rubio would probably garner him a few points there. (Obama's got a slim lead there in the latest polls...)

But yeah, apparently, it's going to be Paul Ryan. Unless it isn't. I'm sure I'll have something snarky to say regardless of who he picks.

Harry Reid has raised the bar on the whole thing with Mitt Romney's tax returns. He's claiming that someone from Bain Capital (and he's not saying who) told him that Mitt didn't pay any taxes for 10 years.

Now, the IRS has a decent track record of catching people cheating on their taxes (not perfect, just decent), and you know after this shit hit the fan, someone there probably went back and looked over them "just in case".

Still, given the whole rigamarole over "Americans who aren't paying taxes" (by which they mean that they get a refund or whatever), this isn't good for Romney. It's not going away any time soon, and he could solve it by releasing some documents, but he won't, for whatever reason.

Sit back and get the popcorn.