June 8, 2012

"For the president of the United States to stand up and say the private sector is doing fine is going to go down in history as an extraordinary miscalculation."

Said Mitt Romney.
Romney also addressed the president's argument that the federal government should help state and local jurisdictions hire more employees...

"Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did. It's time to cut back on government," Romney said....

"I think he's defining what it means to be detached and out of touch with the American people."

119 comments:

Michael K said...

Obama defines "out of touch." He was creating traffic jams in Los Angeles this week. Thank God he's gone for a few days. I have to drive up the 405 this afternoon later.

chickelit said...

Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did. It's time to cut back on government


POTUS heard it as "Render unto Caesar the things which are cheezers'"

bagoh20 said...

"There is no Soviet domination of eastern Europe, and there never will be."

DADvocate said...

Yes, we need more state and local government employees so we can pay more taxes for the salaries of minimally productive people.

Scott said...

Calling it "an extraordinary miscalculation" is a little over the top. It's too early in the campaign to have an impact.

Unknown said...

"Fine" means totally fuc*ed up.
Look it up.

chickelit said...

It's too early in the campaign to have an impact.

Maybe he wasn't referring to the campaign but rather to the economy. I know some conflate the two, but I see a difference.

DADvocate said...

Calling it "an extraordinary miscalculation" is a little over the top. It's too early in the campaign to have an impact.

No. It's entirely accurate economically. It may not have the impact on the election desire, but it is accurate.

Ann Althouse said...

"Calling it "an extraordinary miscalculation" is a little over the top."

Whoa! Yeah. That Romney rhetoric is so outlandish. Tone it down!

garage mahal said...

Romney said today we need less cops. But he impersonated a cop and pulled people over. He flips flops on even that!

Scott said...

It's a miscalculation, but it's not "extraordinary." In fact, it's pretty typical.

Original Mike said...

Hey, garage! When is that secret router thing coming to a head?

chuck said...

The "Help, I'm Lost" flyer in the previous post seems appropriate here.

Scott said...

Anyone who says that this gaffe will "go down in history" doesn't have a sense of history.

X said...

Barack Obama doesn't care about private sector people.

Unknown said...

The President clearly needs an extended vacation. He's not governing as it is, so he won't be missed. Michelle is better at the pr, and let Mr. Whipple worry about the money. He should go play golf for two weeks in Hilton Head with some buds, and Choom it up. He'll come back a new man, and his approval ratings will rise by 5.

edutcher said...

Gerry Ford saying Poland was independent of the Soviet Union, Carter telling us Amy advised him on nuclear proliferation, and Kerry telling us he voted for it before he voted against it - all in one.

You can tell this guy has never had to defend a record before.

n.n said...

The private sector is experiencing progressive margin compression. There are individuals and businesses treading water through the consumption of savings. There are many more who are following the government's lead and delaying accountability through the accumulation of debt. Both situations have a finite lifetime.

Anonymous said...

Romney is finished. Good bye, GOP, it was nice knowing you.

Unknown said...

Garage,

I got a real, genuine Pow Wow Chow recipe for crow ala mode. It's yummy, and is even tastier when cold weather hits, say early November.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Obama is the Hollywood president.

"President Obama's problem now isn't what Wisconsin did, it's how he looks each day—careening around, always in flight, a superfluous figure. No one even looks to him for leadership now. He doesn't go to Wisconsin, where the fight is. He goes to Sarah Jessica Parker's place, where the money is."
--Peggy Noonan

Rick said...

I am impressed with the speed, accuracy, and articulateness of Romney's slam on Obama for Obama's latest demonstration of idiocy.

caseym54 said...

Shorter Obama: "The private sector is doing fine; it's the public sector that needs to grow faster."

And he didn't change that much in his walk-back.

Hagar said...

It is not a miscalculation.
Obama just has a seriously warped understanding of economics.

granmary said...

The trouble with Obama is he is a socialist who refuses to believe he has 'run out of other people's money' as Maggie Thatcher could have told him would happen.He is still willing to destroy capitalism to grow govt. & refuses to believe that he will kill the golden goose.

KCFleming said...

The message 'Obama's out of touch' will be hit repeatedly in the coming months.

The golf, the vacations, the Hollywood parties; all will be revisited.

An Obama billboard with the phrase "The private sector is doing fine." might drive the point home.

cubanbob said...

Scott said...
Calling it "an extraordinary miscalculation" is a little over the top. It's too early in the campaign to have an impact.

6/8/12 4:31 PM

Romney needs to be a bit more pithy. What he should have said is " who are you going to believe? The democrats or your lying eyes?"

がんこもん said...

MichealK: I fortunately managed to avoid His Highness when he was up here messing up the Bay Area commute traffic earlier.

Out of touch doesn't even BEGIN to describe Teh Won's arrogance. Upon reflection, he and the ridiculously elitist fool Anna Wintour are a perfect pair - neither has ever really accomplished anything on their own, both were helped to where they are through friends/family and neither has any understanding of real life. Oh, and they are both hypocrites of a very high order.

hawkeyedjb said...

The Private Sector. You know, the evil people who took all the money away from government employees. They're doing fine. So let's go take the money back.

bagoh20 said...

"
You can tell this guy has never had to defend a record before."


Nobody who hasn't should ever be considered for the most important job in the world. That was an "extraordinary miscalculation". You might call it asinine.

bagoh20 said...

If the private sector was doing fine, the public one would too, but it can't work the other way. What a fool.

caseym54 said...

It's too early in the campaign to have an impact.

We'll just have to make sure every hears it, again and again. Make it a catch-phrase, with lots of broken things referred to as "doing just fine."

You know, like "The Twins are doing just fine this year." Or "Greece is just having some temporary problems. Fundamentally they're doing just fine"

Or, reaching back into history, try “The fundamental business of the country, that is production and distribution of commodities, is on a sound and prosperous basis.” —President Herbert Hoover

Synova said...

Does anyone remember... I think it was 2004... and unemployment was 5% or some such and how unemployment was such a big deal in the election? Heck, maybe it was when Bush I was trying to get re-elected. I'm getting old!

It's the old... Republican President; News reports on the homeless at 10. Democrat President; homeless, what homeless?

But anyhow, someone pointed out that, really, 5% unemployment is not bad at all, and I distinctly remember the person on television puffing up and saying, "Well! Tell that the person who doesn't have a job!"

OH! And good news... my second child finally found a job. It's doing political cold-calling and polls for the left, but hey... I'm not picky. It's not dealing drugs and it's not prostitution, which *in this economy* are about the only other choices for a 19 year old with no work experience.

If my 15 and 17 year olds are working at McDonalds by November Obama may yet win. But I'm thinking that McDonalds will still be hiring unemployed adults to work part-time minimum wage flipping burgers.

KCFleming said...

My father's doing fine, though he died a month ago.

JohnBoy said...

The thing that bugs me is the O should be polling in the mid-30s. The country really has gotten stupider.

edutcher said...

Synova said...

Does anyone remember... I think it was 2004... and unemployment was 5% or some such and how unemployment was such a big deal in the election? Heck, maybe it was when Bush I was trying to get re-elected. I'm getting old!

You're right, but wait until you get to be my age and the neurons start flaking off.

And the unemployment figure didn't start to tick upward until July.

The good old days

If such a thing happens now it won't be enough to save Choom.

Scott M said...

Romney said today we need less cops. But he impersonated a cop and pulled people over. He flips flops on even that!

We had far fewer non-nonsensical sentences ending in unnecessary exclamation points while you were away, GM.

KCFleming said...

Re: Myself.

What ...too soon?

bagoh20 said...

"We'll just have to make sure every hears it, again and again. Make it a catch-phrase, with lots of broken things referred to as "doing just fine."

The left did this with W and the “Hell of a job, Brownie!"

Rabel said...

Great quote from the walkback interview:

"It is absolutely clear that the economy is not doing fine. That's why I had a press conference," Obama said.

Some people are at their best when under pressure. Others aren't.

Chip S. said...

Let's be fair.

The entirety of Obama's interaction with people in the private sector is at fundraisers. His donors are doing fine.

bagoh20 said...

"The thing that bugs me is the O should be polling in the mid-30s. The country really has gotten stupider."

It seems there is really only about 6% of the electorate even in play anymore.

yashu said...

Scott, I think the term "history" can include things like Bush I's "read my lips no new taxes" or Carter's "malaise" speech or Reagan's "we begin bombing in five minutes" joke, etc. Of course it's not D-Day or Magna Carta history, but it's fair to say stuff like that goes down "in history" nonetheless.

yashu said...

Where is America's Politico?

I fear he might have stopped taking medication for his dissociative identity disorder and his Mittbot alter is periodically coming out again... doing god knows what mischief from within the CORE of the Obama campaign.

That would explain a lot about the past few weeks.

Brian Brown said...

Well, he did say state & local government hiring is going in the wrong direction.

So yeah, he's pretty much miscalculating.

X said...

Can't the private sector just eat some cake?

Revenant said...

Romney said today we need less cops.

Unfortunately I have a feeling you completely misrepresented what he said. Because, well, Romney's a Republican, and you're you.

Which is a damned shame, because if Romney really HAD said he was going to cut police forces, I'd consider giving my throwaway I-live-in-california-so-who-cares vote to him instead of Gary Johnson. :)

bagoh20 said...

Politically, it seems that expressing underestimation for a problem is just about the worst thing you can say. A lot of the most serious gaffs are that.

Brian Brown said...

garage mahal said...
Romney said today we need less cops.


You are silly beyond compare.

By the way, I got a nice laugh out of the AlterNet piece that said the WI recall wasn't about unions because unions were never mentioned in the campaign.

How Could it Be a Referendum on Union Rights When Nobody Ran on Union Rights?

Now go tell them they don't know what the fuck they're talking about, monkey.

Seeing Red said...

--garage mahal said...
Romney said today we need less cops---


I thought that's what the drones are for?

garage mahal said...

Now go tell them they don't know what the fuck they're talking about, monkey.

I corrected the poster who claimed the words "collective bargaining" were never mentioned in the campaign. Which they were, several times. Democrats should have run on it, but the WISDEMS are completely worthless, as is the Democratic Party, really.

Original Mike said...

Hoosier your governor?

garage mahal said...

You can break out of the cult Mike, but you have to first recognize that you're in a cult.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Can't the private sector just shut up and pay?

KCFleming said...

Obama meant that the economy is just pinin' for the fjords.

Seeing Red said...

They couldn't run on it, GM. The words "collective bargaining" means taxpayers' pocketbooks.


Wisconsin saw the temper tantrum thrown when the taxpayer milk slowed down from the public teat.

The citizens of WI voted in their own self-interest. What's the problem with that?

Tully said...

"Doing fine" means "not having their butts handed to them by voters like my union buddies in Wisconsin and California."

Cry me a river, Obambi.

Seeing Red said...

The recall victory of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is sending shockwaves through Europe as right-wing and left-wing newspapers marvel at the Republican's ability to survive an election months after stripping the collective bargaining rights of public-sector unions. In European countries, where a much larger percentage of the labor force is unionized, politicians typically face insurmountable opposition from labor groups during wage and work-hour disputes. Today, some of the continent's biggest paper's are doing a double-take at headlines from over here.




"Wisconsin is not France," reads the headline of Pierre-Yves Dugua's article in Le Figaro, France's conservative broadsheet.

edutcher said...

JohnBoy said...

The thing that bugs me is the O should be polling in the mid-30s.

What makes you think he isn't?

garage mahal said...

They couldn't run on it, GM. The words "collective bargaining" means taxpayers' pocketbooks.

Most people agreed with the concessions, and were split on whether collective bargaining rights should exist. Democrats never made the argument that stripping CB was solely a power grab to enrich themselves.

Known Unknown said...

Darn. The Professor didn't use my tag.

Daddy Binx said...

Pogo said...
Obama meant that the economy is just pinin' for the fjords.


That's it! It's just tired and shagged out after a long squawk.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Obama innately believes there is too much money and profit in the private sector. So, he naturally thinks the private sector is fine. What he said is how he really thinks and can be stated in his old soundbite of
"at some point, you have made enough money".

Paul said...

Obama is NOT OUT OF TOUCH!!

At lest on Pluto everything is fine.

Ok.. maybe Obama just needs another vacation.

Let's give him one in Nov. He can room in with Jimmy Carter.

Original Mike said...

"Obama meant that the economy is just pinin' for the fjords."

Pinin'? It's rung down the curtain and gone to join the choir invisible.

yashu said...

Seeing Red, that's very interesting and very cool: so Wisconsin doesn't just have "national implications"; its example is considered a big deal internationally too. How astonishing, how mystifying that Wisconsin election must seem to Europeans.

"Wisconsin is not France": vive la différence!

Seeing Red said...

--Most people agreed with the concessions, and were split on whether collective bargaining rights should exist. Democrats never made the argument that stripping CB was solely a power grab to enrich themselves---


you mean enriching the school districts so there could be more money spent on the children?

Or explaining why the state should be the middleman and collect the dues?

Those that didn't accept the concessions got new contracts and saddled the taxpayer with more debt.

Other options were flexible, it could have been 2 years for recertification, right?

They threw a hissy and exposed the sausage-making.

Revenant said...

Democrats never made the argument that stripping CB was solely a power grab to enrich themselves.

I'm having fun imagining who the "themselves" in that sentence is supposed to be.

Steven said...

Calling it "an extraordinary miscalculation" is a little over the top. It's too early in the campaign to have an impact.

The lovely thing about a statement by Obama in Obama's own voice is you can actually insert it into an attack ad that runs in, say, October, along with economic statistics and showing pictures of closed factories. What's the President going to say in response? "Oh, I said that back in June?"

kcom said...

"And he didn't change that much in his walk-back."

Is he going to have to do a hostage video to atone for his sins (against himself)?

garage mahal said...

I'm having fun imagining who the "themselves" in that sentence is supposed to be.

Since Democrats weren't the ones attacking CB it should be self evident who is getting enriched by that action.

Brian Brown said...

garage mahal said...



Since Democrats weren't the ones attacking CB it should be self evident who is getting enriched by that action.


It is. The people who stopped paying union dues.

Bruce Hayden said...

I am impressed with the speed, accuracy, and articulateness of Romney's slam on Obama for Obama's latest demonstration of idiocy.

The Romney campaign is a pleasant surprise. A lot of people didn't think that he could or would go after Obama. He has, and has done a good job of it.

His responses seem the result of a well-oiled machine. Obama, or some other famous Dem, says something stupid, and the Romney campaign, and often Romney himself, have a good reply out that news cycle.

This is such a change from McCain's campaign, which seemed to be on defense from almost the start. Romney's campaign has seemingly put the Obama campaign on defense at least partially by their immediate and disciplined responses.

We learned in Desert Storm, and then later in our incursion into Iraq how important it was to get inside of the enemy's decision loop, and I do think that the Romney camp has done so, or is at least close to doing so.

The more this happens, the more Romney's election will seem inevitable. Romney's team is landing blows on Obama, and those expected attacks by the latter on Romney seem inevitably to be turned around and against Obama.

Who really looks more Presidential right now - President Obama? Or Gov. Romney? I would suggest the latter, esp. given his ability to maintain calm while landing blows.

Mark said...

RE: Obama's position in the polls.

Remember how close things were in the WI Governor's Recall?

Remember those exit polls?

People aren't getting more stupid, they're just being more frugal with the truth when it comes to talking to pollsters. (And who can blame them, when Obama is demagoguing big-ticket Rommey supporters? Today the President demonizes millionaire citizens; tomorrow the local Chief of Police is pulling you over every other day because of something you said in a "man on the street" interview on the local news.)

Lawyer Mom said...

Romney gets some Tuesday testosterone. Hooray.

Larry J said...

Imagine this for a Romney ad:

Obama: "The private sector is doing fine."

Cut to Richard Pryor: "Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?"

Eric said...

Obama defines "out of touch." He was creating traffic jams in Los Angeles this week. Thank God he's gone for a few days. I have to drive up the 405 this afternoon later.

The inconvenience wouldn't bother me so much if I thought he was presidentin' instead of just fundraising.

Dave said...

"Fine" means that their has been growth in employment and profit at levels that would be fine if we weren't in the Republican Depression.

Romney, Boner et al focused on that word to try to distract from the FACTUAL comments President Obama made about the danger of excessive austerity in a time of economic weakness. Romney, Cantor, Boner, etc. all know that to be true - they just want to get back in the White House at which time they'll go ahead and do exactly what Obama wants to do now.

DADvocate said...

Looking at garage's comments, one can see he's dumber than ever. Preaching bigotry and lies. That loss the other night must have caused some brain damage.

Tim said...

"Since Democrats weren't the ones attacking CB it should be self evident who is getting enriched by that action."

Really?

Obvious?

Ok then, name one person who has been "enriched by that action," and by how much.

Synova said...

"Democrats never made the argument that stripping CB was solely a power grab to enrich themselves."

I'm trying to imagine *anyone* arguing that reigning in unions was solely a power grab to enrich themselves.

I think I sprained something a couple of inches behind my left eye.

Cedarford said...

Rick said...
I am impressed with the speed, accuracy, and articulateness of Romney's slam on Obama for Obama's latest demonstration of idiocy

==========
Right now, Team Romney is shaping up to be a far better, nimbler and shall we say effectively aggressive team than Team McCain.

And dare we say Team Axelrod, now stuck with the dregs of dreamy Hope&CHange in "soaring speeches" and deperately trying to use all the race, class, and gender cards they can pull.

All while a feckless President criss-crosses the country trying to blame Republicans for everything he has done that has gone wrong and seeking Hollywood celebs and other "beautiful people" glitteratti to cling to, that will tell him he is still their shining Black Messiah.

Meanwhile, Romney just stays calm and tells us things will get a lot better with a change of leadership.

Synova said...

"Romney, Boner et al focused on that word to try to distract from the FACTUAL comments President Obama made about the danger of excessive austerity in a time of economic weakness."

What are those dangers, Dave, and what counts as "excessive?"

What Obama wants to do is more of what was done with the "stimulous" which appears to have gone almost entirely to the non-productive public sector.

Please explain how funneling more money away from private sector industry and business in favor of government non-productive activities is neutral rather than actively harmful to economic growth? (Note, I'm not asking you to explain how it's helpful, just explain how it doesn't f*ck the economy in the ass.)

Bush told us to all go shopping. At least *that* lack of austerity kept the money circulating in the private sector.

Obama borrowed trillions from the Chinese and our children's future in order to save public employees from feeling the pain that other people had to learn to deal with, to save them having to enact "austerity" while the rest of us bite the bullet and figure what we can do with less.

We were told that the stimulous was going to stimulate the economy, to industry and to create jobs.

Liars. All of them. "Created" jobs became "saved" jobs in the public sector and nothing was built and no economy grew.

Oh wait!

Solyndra!

Er... nevermind.

But I'll be waiting for the explanation of the non-destructive nature of growth in public obligations during a recession. Honest, you don't even have to explain how it helps anything.

Michael said...

Dave. 4 million jobs created, if true, is piss poor. The "recovery" has been less than half the rate of a normal recovery, after each of the last ten or more downturns. No one with an ounce of economic understanding would claim the provate sector is doing "fine" and the president quickly swallowed every stupid word.

You may choose to call the current conditions a Republican Depression but you would then be ignoring the Democrat Summer of Recovery of 2010 which fizzled together with the gigantic stimulus spending that did not work.

The numbers do not lend themselves to pithy talking points. 4 million jobs added at the current rate will normalize the workforce in seventy years. Or so.

bagoh20 said...

Synova, Often you are just wonderful.

fbsakamoto said...

I was aghast when I heard Obama speaking today. Too bad he is unawere of Wi Walker's success keeping public sector employees employed in this poor economy.

Geez, private sector employers got hammered in 08 & 09 with big layoffs and now they are recovering a bit.

It will be hard to bear 4 more years of this cluelessness. I hope Romney can garner voter confidence.

Brian Brown said...

Dave said...

Romney, Boner et al focused on that word to try to distract from the FACTUAL comments President Obama made about the danger of excessive austerity in a time of economic weaknes


Hilarious.

I like how you capitalized factual as if that makes it true.

To be clear, there is no evidence, anywhere at all, that cutting government spending negatively impacts GDP.

Alternatively, there is no evidence, anywhere at all, that government spending stimulates economic growth.

FACTUAL!

Robert Cook said...

"Calling it 'an extraordinary miscalculation' is a little over the top. It's too early in the campaign to have an impact."

Romney really has no interest in the substance of Obama's comments, right or wrong, "extraordinary miscalculation" or minor word fart; he just wants to define it as a major gaffe so he can use it to his political advantage. Which is to be expected in politics, of course, but anyone who thinks Romney is any more connected to the American people and our reality than Obama, or gives any more of a real shit about us, is hopelessly mistaken about who these people are.

a psychiatrist who learned from veterans said...

More than anything I was struck by Romney's caring tone of voice and manner.

Robert Cook said...

"More than anything I was struck by Romney's caring tone of voice and manner."

I hear they're doing amazing things with robotics these days.

Tim said...

So where did the idiot "I heart WI" go?

I thought the obvious answer as to who was "enriched by that action" would have produced a cascade of names by now.

Instead, we hear crickets...

Which, of course, suits the mindless talking point.

Tim said...

"I hear they're doing amazing things with robotics these days."

Not in the Soviet Union, Comrade.

Robert Cook said...

"Not in the Soviet Union, Comrade."

Random non-sequiturs are rarely funny...or make a point, dude.

chickelit said...

Robert Cook wrote: but anyone who thinks Romney is any more connected to the American people and our reality than Obama, or gives any more of a real shit about us, is hopelessly mistaken about who these people are.

Even if true, it's perception which counts. The recent events in Wisconsin "connect better" with Romney; Obama distanced himself and thus can reap no benefits of that referendum.

The Tea Party is alive and well and despite a tenuous initial rejection of Romney, the adherents of that faction are slowly opening to him--he'll always be better than the alternative.

Seeing Red said...

--Romney, Boner et al focused on that word to try to distract from the FACTUAL comments President Obama made about the danger of excessive austerity in a time of economic weakness. Romney, Cantor, Boner, etc. all know that to be true - they just want to get back in the White House at which time they'll go ahead and do exactly what Obama wants to do now.---


My retirement is getting more austere by the day so some public worker can retire on $75k/yr w/great health insurance.

I thought we're all in this together?

Known Unknown said...

but anyone who thinks Romney is any more connected to the American people and our reality than Obama, or gives any more of a real shit about us, is hopelessly mistaken about who these people are.

Such a joy to be around.


My word verification was a dyslexic Butterfield 8.

Tim said...

"Random non-sequiturs are rarely funny...or make a point, dude."

Funny you should say that...

Seeing Red said...

Via Samizdata:

"The late economist Mancur Olson has argued that economies tend to grow more slowly as rent-seeking coalitions become pervasive and ubiquitous, since they divert resources from wealth-creating to wealth-consuming uses. This is one reason, he argues, why the United States grew so rapidly in the nineteenth century, and why West Germany and Japan grew so rapidly in the two or three decades after World War II. At such times, these economies were open to investment and entrepreneurship, and, as a consequence, they enjoyed historically high rates of growth. With the passage of time, all of these systems were gradually encumbered by coalitions seeking benefits through the state. Political paralysis and slow growth, Olson argues, are by-products of political systems captured by rent-seeking coalitions. These groups, operating collectively, can block any overall effort to cut spending or to address the problems of deficits and debt."

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I'd consider giving my throwaway I-live-in-california-so-who-cares vote to him instead of Gary Johnson.

Be more creative. I'm giving my throwaway I-live-in-california-so-who-cares vote to

Zaphod Beeblebrox I just have to practice how to spell it correctly. I don't want to look stupid or anything.

Original Mike said...

DBQ: Vote for Nobody.

Nobody will balance the budget.
Nobody will lower your taxes.

Well, you get the idea.

garage mahal said...

Looking at garage's comments, one can see he's dumber than ever. Preaching bigotry and lies. That loss the other night must have caused some brain damage.

Bigotry is pointing out the real reason your dead eyed Jesus busted unions? You in denial? Want to believe it was for some actual honorable reason?

Original Mike said...

Dead eyed Jesus? What's that?

"Want to believe it was for some actual honorable reason?"

Yeah, it's called balancing a budget.

garage mahal said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
garage mahal said...

The budget has to be balanced by law. Every governor in the past 50 yrs balanced the budget w/o taking apart unions.

And, of course, the budget currently isn't even balanced. They intercepted some mortgage settlement funds meant for homeowners to bring it in balance, and refinanced some debt that will cost us 140 million in interest.

West Town said...

Robert Cook said... "More than anything I was struck by Romney's caring tone of voice and manner."

I hear they're doing amazing things with robotics these days.

6/8/12 9:47 PM

I chuckled here...and I'm a Romney supporter. Robert Cook, I disagree with much that you say, but admire your integrity and intelligence.

Original Mike said...

You need to understand the difference between a balanced operating budget and a structural deficit. But I'm not going to do the heavy lifting of educating you. I'm going to bed.

JAL said...

Sock it to 'em, Mitt.

Michael K said...

"Romney really has no interest in the substance of Obama's comments, right or wrong, "extraordinary miscalculation" or minor word fart; he just wants to define it as a major gaffe so he can use it to his political advantage. "

Ditto for Obama but he is the one who keeps saying stupid things.

Anonymous said...

@SeeingRed:
I thought we're all in this together?


"It’s all these ‘gatherers’ and ‘sharers’, going round counting and measuring and taking off to storage. They do more gathering than sharing, and we never see most of the stuff again."

Robert Cook said...

"I chuckled here...and I'm a Romney supporter. Robert Cook, I disagree with much that you say, but admire your integrity and intelligence."

Why, thank you, West Town. That's very nice if you to say.

Hagar said...

Your sarcasm/irony filter needs cleaning.

Brian Brown said...

garage mahal said...
The budget has to be balanced by law. Every governor in the past 50 yrs balanced the budget w/o taking apart unions.


Er, has the state of WI ever had a $3 billion dollar deficit?

And, if unions are so great, why did dues decrease by 2/3rds since Walker's budget bill passed?

Hagar said...

Unions are good, and the great unwashed need to be made to understand that.

Robert Cook said...

"Your sarcasm/irony filter needs cleaning."

If West Town is being sarcastic or ironic in his pleasant comment to me, I must bow to his mastery of the understated dig, as I still do not detect what you seem to see as snark aimed at me. Rather, I see someone being cordial toward someone of differing political views than he.

Or were you speaking to someone else?

Steve Koch said...

I'm glad Robert Cook posts here, too. He is able to present the lefty perspective in an adult way and is not a hacktivist.



Re: Garage's objection to Walker's "union busting", it would be good if Garage would be more specific. Walker did nothing to non gov unions. The major reform that Walker made that drove gov union bosses out of their minds was to eliminate the mandatory confiscation of gov union members' wages to page union dues. What is wrong with that, why should the government(!) be forcing citizens to join a union and confiscating their wages to pay union dues?

Once gov workers had free choice about whether or not they wanted to join the gov unions, they left the unions in droves. Walker's reform was right morally and financially which is why Walker did so well in the recall election.

It is true that Walker has deeply wounded the union movement and that his leadership is likely to lead to similar reforms all over the country. Indiana did away with compulsory confiscation of gov workers' wages to pay union dues several years ago. Since then, Indiana gov unions have lost 90% of their members!

Fen said...

Garage: Bigotry is pointing out the real reason your dead eyed Jesus busted unions? You in denial? Want to believe it was for some actual honorable reason?

See? Crack should be all over this. For Disciple Garage, any disagreement must come from hatred and bad faith. Its beyond his comprehension that Walker "busted" unions soley to get spending under control. So it had to be for Evil reasons.

furious_a said...
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furious_a said...

Garage: Romney said today we need less cops.

That would be "fewer" -- not "less" -- cops, which either the literate way or Garage's way wasn't what Romney said.

What Romney actually said was that we don't need *more* cops/firemen/etc/.

Garage -- every word a lie, including "and" and "the".

chickelit said...

Garage -- every word a lie, including "and" and "the".

Are you saying that garage is inarticulate? That almost constitutes a proof.