The Watering Hole, Saturday, October 20, 2012 – Romnesia

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Campaigning at George Mason University on Friday, President Barack Obama took a new approach to Governor Mitt Romney’s constant changes of position. He announced that we have to name this condition, and he suggested “Romnesia, a condition that causes one to forget their past statements and beliefs.”

[Transcript and video from Think Progress]

OBAMA: Now, I’m not a medical doctor but I do want to go over some of the symptoms with you because I want to make sure nobody else catches it.
If you say you’re for equal pay for equal work, but you keep refusing to say whether or not you’d sign a bill that protects equal pay for equal work – you might have Romnesia. If you say women should have access to contraceptive care, but you support legislation that would let your employer deny you contraceptive care – you might have a case of Romnesia. If you say you’ll protect a woman’s right to choose, but you stand up at a primary debate and said that you’d be “delighted” to sign a law outlawing that right to choose in all cases – man, you’ve definitely got Romnesia. [...]

And if you come down with a case of Romnesia, and you can’t seem to remember the policies that are still on your website, or the promises you’ve made over the six years you’ve been running for President, here’s the good news: Obamacare covers pre-existing conditions.

We can fix you up. We’ve got a cure. We can make you well, Virginia. This is a curable disease.

Of course, the president was just being polite. Mitt Romney is, without question, a habitual liar. People often say that every politician tells lies to get elected, but not like this guy, and not so often and about so many things. There isn’t an issue out there on which Mitt Romney hasn’t taken two or more positions, often contradictory.

On Monday night, the two candidates will meet in one last debate, this one centered on Foreign Policy. Now, Mitt Romney has no foreign policy credentials whatsoever. His money has spent more time in foreign countries than he has. His foreign policy advisers consist primarily of Bush Administration war hawks who think the second best cure to whatever ails America, after tax cuts, is War, especially if it’s based on the pretense of “defending Israel.” In fact, Republicans believe that every American president is constitutionally responsible for defending Israel, no matter what that nation’s government does. And they believe in the idea of pre-emptive warfare to “eliminate existential threats.” What are those, exactly? Well, technically, nobody can truly say because they exist only in people’s minds. They’re based on the loose idea that anything that might conceivably be used as a weapon against Israel is a threat whose existence justifies the use of military force to eliminate it. Thus, if Iran is enriching uranium for a modern electricity program, the idea that five or six years from now (or even two or three) they might be able to build a nuclear weapon becomes a morally justified use of military force. This makes total sense in the right-wing mind. By that rationale, because anyone who buys both a gun and the ammunition for it might one day kill an innocent person, Society would be justified in sentencing that person to death before they even got home. Doesn’t make sense, does it?

This is our Open Thread. You can discuss Romnesia or any other topic that tickles your fancy, though we prefer you not post any videos of your fancy being tickled.

[Cross-posted at Pick Wayne's Brain.]

UPDATE: I found this on Twitter, a perfect example of Romnesia in action:

https://twitter.com/KawaiiMagpie/status/256536982417723392/photo/1

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83 thoughts on “The Watering Hole, Saturday, October 20, 2012 – Romnesia”

  1. Republicans are desperate to tarnish Obama’s foreign policy record, and their only hope is to use the Benghazi attack timeline against his surrogates, but even that is falling apart.

    CIA Documents Supported Susan Rice’s Description of Benghazi Attacks

    The Romney campaign may have misfired with its suggestion that statements by President Obama and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice about the Benghazi attack last month weren’t supported by intelligence, according to documents provided by a senior U.S. intelligence official.

    Issa’s Benghazi Document Dump Exposes Several Libyans Working With the U.S.

    House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) compromised the identities of several Libyans working with the U.S. government and placed their lives in danger when he released reams of State Department communications Friday, according to Obama administration officials.

    I had a hunch that any reports in the immediate aftermath of the attack were likely to leave out details that might compromise clandestine sources, and it seems that those details are all the Reich has to complain about. Issa is the one who should be fired, not Ambassador Rice.

    • I have a hunch you’re correct House. I don’t know why these children think the President should immediately report everything the CIA tells him to the news media.

    • In a Capitalistic, Free-Enterprise system, why should it be illegal for someone running for office who has enough money to buy the company that makes the voting machines that counts the votes that determines who gets elected to run the country that gives the tax breaks to the guy that has enough money to buy the company that makes the machines that counts the votes?

      • While Romnesia is contagious, and reached epidemic proportions before being officially diagnosed, the contagion seems limited to Republicans and evangelical christians.

        Liberals, Democrats and Progressives apparently have a natural immunity to the condition.

        • The vector for this insidious affliction seems to be overbuilt ostentatious palaces of worship and corporate boardrooms.

          • The source of this disease has already been located. It began as a Staff Infection at Bain Capital.

            • Actually, it incubated at Bain and Company. Bain Capital was an internal effort by the old man Bill Bain to localize the infection within Bain Capital.

          • The medical profession is just beginning to realize the need for doctors who specialize in treating Romnesia. All across the country, medical schools are gearing up for a new field of medical specialization: Romnesiologists. The discipline is a cross-field merging of proctology and psychology.

            • Frugal, for full recovery, once crainial removal has been successfully accomplished, psychological treatment is absolutely necessary to remove the residual fecal matter in the crainum. Without proper psychological treatments, relapses are likely to occur, usually as a result of truth deprivation over long periods of time leading to an imbalance of the mental mechanisms necessary for dealing with a fact-based reality.

              In addition, the services of a good opthomologist will be needed, to treat the extreme myopia associated with the condition.

            • Hmmh. You mean that those without a mind still need a psychologist simply for removal of cranial fecal matter? I’d think one of those dudes that pumps out outhouse cellars at USFS Campgrounds could do the trick at substantial cost savings. OTOH, if all Republicans were to be treated as needed, there’s a million jobs, at least. Likely both psychology AND septic pumping would soon begin to resemble the rebirthed auto industry — in the job creation realm, at least.

            • I can just see the late-night commercials:

              Do you suffer from Romnesia? Are you having difficulty remembering which wife you’re supposed to sleep with tonight? Or maybe you told your employees they were getting a raise, just before you cut their pay? Is your head so far up your ass that the last time you saw daylight Ronald Reagan was the governor of California?

              Well, don’t worry, help is available, right here at the Bush II Ranch. Relax in our hot tub for twelve as you unwind with fellow sufferers. Group therapy sessions are available around the clock where you and other Romnesiacs can trade war stories over how much money you made after you helped destroy the economy for everone else. Whether it’s relaxing in the sauna or enjoying a deep tissue massage from our certified, bikini-clad masseuses, you’ll feel right at home at the Bush II Ranch.

              All inquiries are kept in the strictest confidence, and all major credit cards are accepted. Corporate cards are especially welcome.

              The Bush II Ranch, where help for Romnesia is always available. We won’t cure it, but after a two-week stay, you’ll feel much better about having it.

  6. As usual, I’m almost an hour behind watching MSNBC this morning, but Melissa Harris-Perry’s story about the tea sets, and the analogy to the election, is about the cleverest thing I’ve watched in a long time.

  8. Just filled out my vote-by-mail ballot for Nov. 6. I’m taking it as a good omen that my ballot is #4444.

  10. This is why the GOoPers are whining, ever and always whining, about unions and their “thugs forcing workers to vote and campaign for Democrats”. It’s because they are doing it from the top down. They sit and think what they would do under a certain temptation and simply accuse others of carrying out their own dark thoughts. It’s called “projection”.

    http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/10/20/1054351/ceo-asks-employees-to-help-company-and-yourself-by-donating-2500-to-romney/

  14. Hola.

    Badmoodman is right, it’s Barthelona, even in Barthelona Hooda!

    Not so great start this morning. Going out only a block from our hotel some asshole splattered us with brown paint from behind! He reacted like “oh no, you got shit all over you, Come I will help you get cleaned up”. Cleaned up alright, his intent was of course to clean us out. We had none of it and now have some ruined clothing. Knew enough to not to go for the scam but come on man, ruin clothes for the hope that some gullible tourist will follow you? As I said, ASSHOLE.

    Great day after that though. Guided tour of the old city, some seafood by the raging Mediterranean – huge waves, and finished off the day with some tapas outdoors in the rain. Now midnight and dead tired.

    Hope everyone is doing well. Romnesia – I love it!

    • via The Political Carnival http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2012/10/20/iran-has-agreed-to-one-on-one-nuclear-talks-for-the-first-time/

      UPDATE: Huh?

      Statement by NSC Spox Tommy Vietor: It’s not true that US & Iran have agreed to one-on-one talks or any meeting after the American elections

      — Jason Leopold (@JasonLeopold) October 20, 2012

      And via Jason:

      Full Statement by NSC Spokesman Tommy Vietor on Iran

      It’s not true that the United States and Iran have agreed to one-on-one talks or any meeting after the American elections. We continue to work with the P-5 on a diplomatic solution and have said from the outset that we would be prepared to meet bilaterally. The President has made clear that he will prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and we will do what we must to achieve that. It has always been our goal for sanctions to pressure Iran to come in line with its obligations. The onus is on the Iranians to do so, otherwise they will continue to face crippling sanctions and increased pressure.

    • A guitar signed by Kid Rock might have had some value, but then letting Paul Ryan sign it just lowered that value tenfold.

      If I won it (I’m not entering), I would hold a press conference to scrub off their signatures in front of everybody, then proudly say, “Now it’s worth keeping.”

      • I’d stage an impromptu concert, lip-sync “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and smash it at the end.

    • It’s really become a parody of itself. You write in with the most inventively insane, crude letter you can think of, just so it gets published. Daily Kos is enabling nutbags to the point where it loses all relevance.

      • Markos only does it so he can make fun of the RWNJs. He’s not trying to seriously inform anybody. It’s nothing but entertainment. I would hardly say dKos “loses all relevance” because they publish these morons’ letters.

  27. At least seven people (so far) have retweeted my comment. I’m just trying to counter Romney’s argument that nobody dies because they lack health insurance. My brother did.

    • This is just another example of why I feel candidates for any public office should only be allowed to accept campaign contributions (or any other kind of help) from individual PEOPLE whom they would represent in office, and not from corporations of any kind (unions included). If you’re running for President, you can only accept contributions from legal American residents. If you;re running for Governor, Senator or US Rep, you can only accept donations from residents of your state. (Since a US Rep only has to reside within the state and not within the district being represented, I’ll allow donations from the rest of the state.) You cannot accept donations from people outside your state and you cannot accept donations from political organizations at all, let alone donations from a political organization from another state.

      It boils down to this: Why should I let a candidate running to represent me in office accept donations from someone that candidate won’t be representing in office? And I practice this, too, in that I never donate to a candidate from another state. I’m sure people in Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania don’t want their elections influenced by people from another state.

      [Edited for clarity.]

    • Why nothing at all could possibly go wrong. Once we get rid of all those Socialist programs and make sure everybody relies on Guns and God, we will all live in perfect harmony. No one will go hungry. Everyone will have jobs. Daughters will remain pure and virgins until they get married. Just repeat after me:

      nothing at all could possibly go wrong
      nothing at all could possibly go wrong
      nothing at all could possibly go wrong
      nothing at all could possibly go wrong
      nothing at all could possibly go wrong…..

    • He should appoint a special prosecutor. There is no one more right wing partisan than Koocky. He plans to run for governor next year.

      • He won’t appoint a special prosecutor, the people will have to apply a huge amount of pressure for that to happen.

  37. I don’t like the label “Truther” because, like the stars of this new film being discussed, I do not accept the official version of events of 9/11, but I am not prepared to just accept, without evidence, that our government was behind it, which is what being labeled a “Truther” means these days. People like me want to be told the truth, no matter how ugly or disturbing it is. Was it simply a mass chain of incompetence which led to what happened? Were elements of our government aware of what was about to happen and let it happen for their own reasons? I don’t know. I only know one thing for certain: The 9/11 Commission Report is not an accurate account of that day’s events. And lacking any proof for another explanation, that’s as far as I’m wiling to go on this one. But I am looking forward to one day seeing this film. These actors would not get involved in a RWNJ movie like the other 9/11 films we’ve heard about.

    http://www.alan.com/2012/10/20/truther-movie-to-star-ed-asner-and-martin-sheen/

    • Wayne, it has been said, “when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

      We know that buildings made of concrete and steel don’t collapse at free-fall speeds, but the Twin Towers did.

      We know that commercial airliners cannot penetrate 9 feet of reinforced concrete, but the commercial airliner that hit the Pentagon did.

      We know that commercial airliners that crash into the ground don’t disintegrate, but Flight 93 did.

      It is improbable that planned demolition charges brought down the Twin Towers and Building 7. It is improbable that a military jet/missle struck the Pentagon. It is improbable that something other than Flight 93 crash-landed in that field.

      It is impossible that 11 Saudis with box-cutters pulled off the impossible.

      But our government conducted the investigation, or, rather, our government did not conduct an investigation – it conducted a cover-up. And it is precicely because the government conducted a cover-up that the circumstantial evidence leads but to one conclusion: one or more individuals highly placed in the government planned, coordinated and executed the greatest crime ever to occur on American soil.

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