November 11, 2012

"Mitt Romney is losing 593 friends per hour..."

"... at least on Facebook today from 10 to 11 a.m. You can loiter on his page and watch them plummet by the second." That was written by a WaPo blogger yesterday:
Refresh the page – 12.08 million. Refresh again – 15 less. It would seem the defeated presidential candidate faces a problem unique to the social media age: The race may be over, but on the Internet his bid for president remains as a frozen digital relic....

Maybe the sudden follower fall-off supports criticism that Romney was not terribly well-liked by his party’s base and those partisans are now looking for new party leaders to follow. (Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has seen a modest jump.) The dropping-off effect also has not afflicted lesser profile third-party candidates. Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson’s Facebook friend count rose during the same period that Romney’s fell. So did that of Green Party candidate Jill Stein. On Thursday, Stein was already posting again: “Our social movement is growing but there’s no time for rest,” she wrote. “Democracy doesn’t just happen on election day.”
Well, yeah. Stein and Johnson each embody a movement that goes forward. In fact, they only embodied a movement and were never possible winners. Romney was only ever a candidate and never any kind of a movement. There's nothing to follow now — even if you actually like the guy. But I'm sure many WaPo bloggers and others enjoy thinking that nobody ever liked Mitt Romney. And now everyone who ever Facebook-liked him is quick to unlike him, like liking him is like liking the unlikeable kid in high school which will get unlikeability on you. It's just Facebook. Well, but maybe that is how Facebook feels. You have your page, with the things you "like," and that makes a picture of you, a picture you must craft and edit to project likeability.

129 comments:

DADvocate said...

Facebook, itself, is losing more friends per hour than that.

john said...

I might be chagrined to find out how many facebook friends I lose in an hour.

If I counted my friends.

If I had facebook.

shiloh said...

Victory has 100 fathers and defeat is an orphan! ~ JFK

Not that Willard ever had any true friends, they mostly hated/despised Obama.

Not to worry as he still has the Mormon church ...

mccullough said...

I was surprised Romney had so many Facebook friends, over 12 million. I doubt he's losing more friends than the Washington Post is losing subscribers.

john said...

Romney's loss means that his name placed in nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize has most certainly been pulled.

Perhaps that would hurt more than this superficial facebook likeablity issue.

Automatic_Wing said...

Things are so bad for Romney that Jennifer Rubin and Hugh Hewitt just defriended him.

Darrell said...

How many fake friends is Obama losing an hour?

Weren't 80% of his fictitious? I am too lazy to Google the old stories.

somefeller said...

Things are so bad for Romney that Jennifer Rubin and Hugh Hewitt just defriended him.

Maguro wins the thread.

Rose said...

Of course it couldn't be that people are tired of campaign info, the campaign is over, and it's like taking the bumper sticker off your car.

The interesting thing about Romney is that people came to like him, and were no longer just voting against Obama.

It's even more interesting when you get to talk to someone who has worked with him. This was a high caliber man - and we have missed out on a great opportunity.

garage mahal said...

The bleeding heart in me thinks it's cruel pointing out the Romney unlikes.

AF said...

"But I'm sure many WaPo bloggers and others enjoy thinking that nobody ever liked Mitt Romney."

Agreed that Facebook "likes" are poor evidence for anything.

I think that by the end of the campaign, Romney was liked; he just wasn't well liked.

edutcher said...

Actually, I'm sure Facebook friends are the most expendable.

shiloh said...

Victory has 100 fathers and defeat is an orphan! ~ JFK

No, moron. Old Chinese proverb.

Not that Willard ever had any true friends, they mostly hated/despised Obama.

I'd be willing to bet all the people whom he's helped out of the goodness of his heart are his friends.

Unlike the little weasel and some phony folksy who have nothing but gall, bile, and spleen to offer the world.

And, while we're at it, where were you hiding out 10/5 - 11/5 when the Romster was winning?

Barney Frank's pizza boy?

Or Michael Moore's?

(ewwww...)

sakredkow said...

Does Althouse think they signed up to really be friends?

Palladian said...

So this is how they fill column inches after the election.

Palladian said...

People still use Facebook? LOL.

Shouting Thomas said...

The left is not only happy as a pig in shit about winning...

It's vengeful in defeat.

Because the people who oppose them are evil. Romney wasn't just a guy running on a different set of ideas. He was the very embodiment of evil.

Defeating him was as triumph for Good! All hail the God of Government!

edutcher said...

You forgot the Sieg Heil!

Rusty said...

He lost. He has no friends.

roesch/voltaire said...

It seems the right can not stop the hate and fear mongering, but then a few have some sense as in this example: "As W.’s former aide Karen Hughes put it in Politico on Friday, “If another Republican man says anything about rape other than it is a horrific, violent crime, I want to personally cut out his tongue.”

Hagar said...

Victory has 100 fathers and defeat is an orphan!

I thought that one was attributed to Napoleon, but Google says it was Count Ciano talking about success and failure, and the exact phrase was used in the movie "The Desert Fox."

Shouting Thomas said...

It seems the right can not stop the hate and fear mongering,

It only seems that way, R/V, because you keep fabricating an enemy that lives by hate and fear.

What you really mean is that you receive disagreement as "hate" and "fear."

Stop doing that, and you'll feel better.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Wow this is really important journalism work being done by the Wapo and being relayed by Althouse. Next, I bet you will tell us all about what one of the white,female, librul NYT columnists thought about the election.

JohnJ said...

Probably too soon for an article lamenting the loss of moderates like Romney from the repub party.

Renee said...

A lot of my political friends 'like' candidates they oppose.


When you 'like' something on Facebook, it just means you're following it. It doesn't mean you're endorsing it. Anyone who follows politics on Facebook knows this. Many of my Scott Brown supporters also 'liked' Elizabeth Warren.

Right not Democrats aren't enjoying the win, they're just enjoying that the Republicans lost.

It's sad I feel like I'm supporting my President more then my liberal friends, there are many issues on his plate that need immediate response for the sake of our country, and all they want is to see us miserable.

Anonymous said...

I'm not trying to be alarmist, but Facebook is just one example of how the big players in search engine, email, and social networking companies don't really give a s**t about you.

Not breaking news, I know, but act accordingly. Better than having the gov't do it, but they're not your friends.

Titus said...

Romney=loser.

tits.

Wince said...

As was my immediate take on the Obama-friendly media reaction to the results on election night: it was all about Romney and his loss.

And still, nothing about the man of the hour, Barack Obama, and his plan for the second term.

That sound you hear, I think, is called whistling past the graveyard.

BTW, just posted my take on ORCA at the bottom of last night's thread.

edutcher said...

No, Titus, Choom voters.

KCFleming said...

Coming soon: articles criticizing companies forced into lay offs or reducing worker hours due to Obamacare.

They're evil! Tweet your disgust! Boycott them until they close!

Have I mentioned the upcoming wave of Medicare shortages? But doctors are evil! Let's boycott them or fine them into compliance! Surely from these beatings will spring an abundance!

No wonder Romney has no friends. The fool actually believes in the Gods of the Copybook Headings, the mendacious little shit.

Titus said...

No one likes losers.

tits.

Paco Wové said...

"you keep fabricating an enemy that lives by hate and fear."

Yes, I'm trying to figure out what "fear-mongering" the Repubs were up to this time. ("Deficits! Eeek!").

A guy I went to school with ended up as a research biologist at a big land-grant school out west. He's quite good in his field, but once he gets onto politics reverts into a 10-year-old he's like a combination of R/V and off-his-meds-Ritmo. It's quite startling and disheartening to see.

From witnessing the process close up, I think lots of academics spend so much of their teens and early adulthoods so deep into their own esoteric fields that they have little concept of how most of society works. (I'm not sure if that makes them any different than most people, though.)

KCFleming said...

Come on garage, don't bullshit us. You're grave dancing, drunk on victory. Go ahead, revel while you can. A cold fucking January is ahead. Unexpectedly, economists are predicting another recession. Layoffs, hours cut, shortages, rationing ahead.

But dance dance dance like a fool.

Titus said...

Poor Pigo/Dutchy, both big time losers.

tits.

Paco Wové said...

"the upcoming wave of Medicare shortages"

But Pogo, health care is a human right! How dare you expect people to pay for it!

KCFleming said...

Titus, you became a nasty piece of work over time. Ugly, petty, and vain.

Now you're just boring as hell.

KCFleming said...

@Paco

I have seen the letters that have been going out for the past 3-4 months telling those over 65 that there are no available appointments.

Nothing to do with Obamacare, though. Nothing at all. Just coincidence.

Paul said...

Well they were not real FRIENDS. They were political friends and political friends are only friends if you are in power.

garage mahal said...

Come on garage, don't bullshit us. You're grave dancing, drunk on victory

I told you, I'm a bleeding heart liberal. Rubbing someone's nose in how unpopular they are isn't very nice. It reminds of the Will Ferrell character in that SNL skit where he wins the election, and then harasses and stalks the loser for weeks.

Darrell said...

Is Burger King still giving you a free Whopper when you give up 10 Facebook "friends"? Maybe Romeny's just hungry. Or feeding the poor.

DADvocate said...

Not to worry as he still has the Mormon church ...

The thinly disguised religious bigotry comes out.

Darrell said...

I was reading that Romney lost big in some solid Mormon areas--according to the counters. That wouldn't be suspicious. Not at all.

edutcher said...

Titus said...

Poor Pigo/Dutchy, both big time losers.

tits.


I seem to recall any number of surveys, backed up, I might add, by The Blonde's long history as a nurse in communicable disease, that homosexuals have not only a higher VD rate, but a higher illness rate, generally.

ObamaTax is going to put the kibosh on a lot of medical research and innovation.

And you voted for it.

KCFleming said...

Well then, garage, your heart will get lots of practice, and soon.

shiloh said...

PEW EXIT POLL: More Mormons Voted For George Bush In 2004 Than Mitt Romney In 2012

garage mahal said...

Pogo
You overestimate the "victory" I think. Already the Very Serious Pundit Class is waxing about a Grand Bargain with Republicans. There is zero talk about jobs, even though that's what people voted for. My fear is Obama will do something fucking stupid like raising the retirement age in exchange for a little bump in rates for top earners. Republicans would gladly take that deal, they've wanted to do that for decades, but they want a Democrat doing it, not them.

And we are back to one party rule in Wisconsin, so I can only imagine the fresh new hell Walker will inflict on the state.

Ipso Fatso said...

It's kinda like the losing World Series team arriving at the airport and 22 people are there to greet them. Everybody loves a winner, not many love a loser. The sad part is how the press will continue to build up BO as the second coming of Christ over the next four years. Now that will be sickening.

Michael K said...

"Blogger Rose said...

Of course it couldn't be that people are tired of campaign info, the campaign is over, and it's like taking the bumper sticker off your car."

My McCain-Palin sticker stayed on until I gave the car to my son. My Romney-Ryan sticker will stay. Some day, I may add another above that says, "Don't blame me I voted for..."

Michael K said...

"Blogger roesch/voltaire said...

It seems the right can not stop the hate and fear mongering,:

No, I cannot stop the fear. Hate was never there but I do feel sorry for the duped.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jr565 said...

shiloh wrote:
PEW EXIT POLL: More Mormons Voted For George Bush In 2004 Than Mitt Romney In 2012

Less people voted overall. Less women voted for Obama, Less blacks voted for Obama than last time.
A lot of these statistics are meaningless considering no election has the same number of voters every time and candidates are different every time. And the difference was 2% of Mormons, not some extreme swing.

jungatheart said...

Aw, give gm a break. He was gracious enough not to dance the day of...that's pretty classy for around here.

jr565 said...

Ipso wrote:
It's kinda like the losing World Series team arriving at the airport and 22 people are there to greet them. Everybody loves a winner, not many love a loser. The sad part is how the press will continue to build up BO as the second coming of Christ over the next four years. Now that will be sickening.

Christ rose from the dead and brought the dead back to life. Obama raised the national debt to highs undreamed of by any former president.

tim maguire said...

However superficial the trend may be (everyone is dialing back the politics/now that he's just the GOP loser ftom 2012, what's left to follow?), it is nevertheless mesmerizing.

jr565 said...

Garage Mahal wrote:
I told you, I'm a bleeding heart liberal. Rubbing someone's nose in how unpopular they are isn't very nice. It reminds of the Will Ferrell character in that SNL skit where he wins the election, and then harasses and stalks the loser for weeks.

Actually on SNL last night they gave Romney a sendoff that was actually respectful. He came across like a total square (i.e. he was drinking milk as if it was booze to console himself for the loss) , and his sons all interchangable to the point where he can't even tell them apart.
But they didn't paint him as the heartless guy who's going to fire everybody or who hates the poor. Or the evil republican.
Which is something, I guess.

jr565 said...

Obama won the 2008 election 53 to 46 percent over John Mccain . His numbers now are are 50 to 48 percent over Mitt Romney. So, Romney in fact had a closer electoin than Mccain and Obama, even though the votes were less (overall and for both candidates individually) .
2% difference is a lot less than 6%.

shiloh said...

garage, not to worry as, bottom line, Scott Walker wants to get re-elected.

WI ~ Obama 53 / Willard 46

One assumes Walker knows how to add er arithmetic.

Rep extremism may it RIP!

jr565 said...

That was fast:
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/11/09/former-u-s-prosecutor-negotiating-plea-deal-for-jackson-jr/
I swear, Democrat voters have to be the dumbest voters around.

Unknown said...

593 friends per hour. That's about 10 per minute. More than many people have their whole lives.
But on the bright side for Mitt he has a large and loving family and a big heart, so he'll be fine.

jr565 said...

Papa John pizza will most likely cut hours to deal with the Affordable Care Act.


Under the Affordable Care Act, full-time employees — those working 30 hours or more per week — would have to be provided with insurance at companies with more than 50 workers. Schnatter said it was likely that some franchise owners would reduce employees' hours in order to avoid having to cover them.

"That's probably what's going to happen," he said. "It's common sense. That's what I call lose-lose."

As goes Papa John so goes the nation, particularly with smaller businesses. And it's only just beginning.

http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/state/john-schnatter-papa-johns-ceo-obamacare-likely-to-raise-costs-employees-hours-being-cut



jr565 said...

shiloh wrote:
garage, not to worry as, bottom line, Scott Walker wants to get re-elected.

WI ~ Obama 53 / Willard 46

One assumes Walker knows how to add er arithmetic.

Except... Walker got reelected.

shiloh said...

"Except... Walker got reelected."

No, Walker survived "recall" because most WI voters did not believe the recall process was fair.

If Walker/Ryan is/are so damn powerful, how come they couldn't deliver WI to Willard. Willard also had more con billionaire $$$, much like Walker had in his recall.

harrogate said...

I haven't checked in in a bit. Hope all are well.

somefeller said...

I haven't checked in in a bit. Hope all are well.

Welcome back, harrogate. All's well here and I think everyone is holding up in the manner one would expect. In some cases tragic, in some cases comic and in some cases tragicomic.

I'm Full of Soup said...

We are all yammering about what the exit polls found re demographics etc. How do we know their methods and findings are valid?

somefeller said...

We are all yammering about what the exit polls found re demographics etc. How do we know their methods and findings are valid?

Good question, but if the polls are coming from the people whose polls accurately reflected how the voting went (you know, like those dastardly liberal poll-skewers that Nate Silver was paying attention to), one can assume a certain level of accuracy. But maybe it's all part of the vast conspiracy.

edutcher said...

jr565 said...

Less people voted overall.

True, but 8 million Romney supporters can't be accounted for. We'll hear about all those ballots one day.

shiloh said...

PEW EXIT POLL: More Mormons Voted For George Bush In 2004 Than Mitt Romney In 2012

And we all know how accurate Pew is.

And speaking of being wrong, where were you hiding out 10/5 - 11/5 when the Romster was winning?

Backstage fluffer for Rachel Maddow?

Or was it Ed Schultz?

somefeller said...

I haven't checked in in a bit. Hope all are well.

Welcome back, harrogate. All's well here and I think everyone is holding up in the manner one would expect. In some cases tragic, in some cases comic and in some cases tragicomic.


I see the Lefty circle jerk never ends, which is about as tragicomic as one can get.

some phony folksy will have to drop off soon. He has to rest up so he can go to the "office" tomorrow. Lurking on the "job" is such hard work.

PS Keep in mind exit polls usually skew to the Demos and tend to a high level of self-selection.

somefeller said...

harrogate - as you can see and as I was saying...

edutcher said...

St Lucie County, FL had 141% turnout on election day.

Oh, yeah, some phony folksy wants us all to drink Ned Silver's Kool-Aid.

So, is folksy expecting something special from the Chicago crowd?

He'll get it.

Useless idiots get thrown to the curb first. Just ask Cindy Sheehan and Miss Fluck.

shiloh said...

"harrogate - as you can see and as I was saying..."

Damn, Althouse #1 doting, trained seal never stops as the (64) year old fool fits in well w/all the delusional, self-righteous con lemmings.

Michael K said...

Romney's facebook post thanking his supporters already has 822,000 likes.

Clyde said...

You got nothin' to lose, you don't lose when you lose Fake Friends.

Bender said...

A higher percentage of evangelicals (the ones who are supposedly to blame not turning out for Romney) voted for Romney than did the percentage of Mormons.

shiloh said...

"822,000 likes."

Fixednoise has a prime-time audience of 2.8 million.

WWE Raw has a prime-time audience of 4+ million.

Obama so far has 61,910,594 likes on election day.

Willard so far has 58,654,765 don't like Obama so I'll vote for Romney. :::sigh:::

lies, damned lies and statistics ...

Clyde said...

And from the same album, my all-time favorite Joan Jett song:

Star, Star

NSFW, BTW.

shiloh said...

btw, Obama now has a bigger vote margin than Bush43 in 2004.

edutcher said...

Easy when you destroy 8 million ballots.

And, speaking of destruction, where were you hiding out 10/5 - 11/5 when the Romster was winning?

Hair polisher for Anderson Cooper?

sakredkow said...

Because the people who oppose them are evil. Romney wasn't just a guy running on a different set of ideas. He was the very embodiment of evil.

Romney's a good guy and seemed fairly moderate compared to the other possibilities. Ryan's okay too, and they ran a respectable campaign.

There is some pleasure in making a lot of very arrogant right wingers, a lot of them on Althouse, eat their crow.

Mark Nielsen said...


Not that I put much stock in Facebook, but Mitt has apparently lost more friends than any of us will ever have.

Sydney said...

My mother just taunted me about the Obama victory. My own freakin' mother. I might just go all Chip Ahoy here.

Michael K said...

"
There is some pleasure in making a lot of very arrogant right wingers, a lot of them on Althouse, eat their crow. "

How about when inflation hits 20% ? Will you eat your crow ? Of course not. You'll be blaming the "rich" whose $250,000 a year will not buy a house in Los Angeles. As if anyone would want to live there then.

sakredkow said...

Not that I've been gloating but I understand why others will. ;)

sakredkow said...

Listen my friend, I've said all along here I still thought it was possible the US would fall into an economic depression even if Obama won. And even if Romney would have won.

I voted for Obama because I thought he would be better managing the catastrophe - brought about by both parties IMO - that we have on our hands. That Romney did such a poor job of managing his campaign validates my beliefs to a degree.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
harrogate said...

"I might just go all Chip Ahoy here."

Yeah. It was sorta sad to see that mask fall off. A mask so carefully cultivated and fitted to the digital interface, came off within seconds of FNC calling Ohio for Obama.

O the humanity, and all that.

Howard said...

Making fun of the hysterical bleating of chickenhawk-teabaggers having a paranoid schizophrenic hissy-fit is not gloating. It's just our way of having a bit of fun.

I find it disturbing that the repugs are so far out on the margins of reality that the demoncrats appear reasonable and have a near monopoly on power. Fortunately, the money folks got the message and will not double-down on the tea-bagger fundies.

sakredkow said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Seventeen trillion dollars debt is not a small thing. It will cause more than one mask to fall off.

The only hope a lot of us had that it could be dealt with without massive crippling pain was electing Romney. Pardon us as we struggle to deal with it. We knew the ever compassionate left would prove to be pricks about it, so it's not a huge factor. Just further confirmation of the paucity of sincerity on the part of our liberal friends.

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

Eh, I 'unliked' Paul Ryan VP because it makes me sad to see it, just like it made me sad to drive for nine hours through the Texas countryside this weekend and see sign after sign after sign for R/R. I don't dislike them because they lost. I dislike that we missed an opportunity to elect the best men available for the job.

sakredkow said...

Pardon us as we struggle to deal with it. We knew the ever compassionate left would prove to be pricks about it, so it's not a huge factor.

Oh you were whining and crying about me being a prick gloating about it on day one, and I was doing no such thing.

Here's a tissue.

Anonymous said...

Sydney said:

"My mother just taunted me about the Obama victory. My own freakin' mother. I might just go all Chip Ahoy here."

My mother's a rotten bitch too, so I sympathize.

Caller ID is your friend. When her number flashes on the screen, don't pick up. Life's too short to waste on people who want to crap on you and expect to get away with it.

sakredkow said...

I actually thought it was pretty funny, though I didn't say so.

Anonymous said...

Sydney said:

"My mother just taunted me about the Obama victory. My own freakin' mother. I might just go all Chip Ahoy here."

My mother's a rotten bitch too, so I sympathize.

Caller ID is your friend. When her number flashes on the screen, don't pick up. Life's too short to waste on people who want to crap on you and expect to get away with it.

Renee said...

wyo sis,


I think a lot of liberals, realize the state of our country needs help. I think many liberals, just hope Obama can still do it. They gave him a do over.

Straight forward thoughts from a Catholic African American


" Obama hasn’t improved the lives of black folks. We aren’t stupid! But when the right demonized him rather than his platform they made him a living martyr who had to be defended at all personal cost! Because what stood to be lost by delegitimizing “black” leadership was a higher price to pay than the unemployment rate!"

Again I wish Obama well, because he is our President and this is our country. I didn't vote for him, based on platform and Presidency, but I'm more then sympathetic for African Americans who can not bear to see our first African American President, become a one-term President.


Many of us, not a majority, are not happy with the President's job performance, yet we realize there is a lot at stake for African Americans and they're willing to take that risk, something I can not experience as an American with Caucasian mix.

sakredkow said...

I notice a lot of people haven't shown up here at all, or at least I haven't seen 'em.

I never anticipated people would take it so hard. Shows what I know.

Renee said...

We need better leaders, of all backgrounds. I'm sure there is no pride for the Congressional District that re-elected Jesse Jackson Jr. We need better leaders, but it seems a lot of good people do not want to be bothered with the ugliness of politics.

sakredkow said...

Yeah, who can blame them Renee? It's all I can do to still force myself to vote.

Renee said...

Oops, I didn't know about the most recent news on Jesse Jackson.

Jesse Jackson, Jr. plea deal likely to include resignation, jail time


"Jackson, Jr., the son of civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr., and husband to Chicago Alderman Sandi Jackson, has not yet pleaded guilty to alleged misuse of campaign funds to decorate his house and purchase a $40,000 Rolex watch for a female friend. But CBS Chicago reports the congressman's lawyer, white-collar criminal defense attorney Dan Webb, is negotiating with the federal government a plea bargain that will likely be reached by year's end. "

Darrell said...

Howard in a blender.
There's your punchline.

Unknown said...

It's OK phx I have diminished expectations when it comes to liberals finer feelings.

Rusty said...

oesch/voltaire said...
It seems the right can not stop the hate and fear mongering, but then a few have some sense as in this example: "As W.’s former aide Karen Hughes put it in Politico on Friday, “If another Republican man says anything about rape other than it is a horrific, violent crime, I want to personally cut out his tongue.”

That's pretty comical coming from a guy who not so long ago screamed."OH MY GOD! WALKER IS GOING TO PRIVATIZE DEER HUNTING IN WISCONSIN!!!eleventy OMG!!!"

Cmon. You're a smart guy. Enough with the snarky partisan bullshit.

sakredkow said...

It's OK phx I have diminished expectations when it comes to liberals finer feelings.

I'm sure you're going to go on hating us forever. I predict your despondency will lift but your hatred won't.

I mildly protest being called a liberal.

kentuckyliz said...

It's not like you and Mitt friend each other like personal friends. He had a page as a candidate. People clicked Like to show support. The election is over. It's no longer newsworthy to follow him for candidate updates. It's not personal.

I edit my Likes all the time.

This is just schadenfreude but it reveals ignorance and/or malevolence pretending to misunderstand how people use facebook.

edutcher said...

phx said...

Listen my friend, I've said all along here I still thought it was possible the US would fall into an economic depression even if Obama won.

Even???

You must be joking, it's a sure thing. The irony is that all those people who thought they'd get a piece of the pie think it's 1962 when we were not only the richest country in the world, we were the richest country in the history of the world.

I notice a lot of people haven't shown up here at all, or at least I haven't seen 'em.

None so blind, as they say.

It's amazing what you miss when you spend your life with your head up your ass.

Bender said...

Romney's a good guy and seemed fairly moderate compared to the other possibilities. Ryan's okay too, and they ran a respectable campaign.
There is some pleasure in making a lot of very arrogant right wingers, a lot of them on Althouse, eat their crow.


I don't know how "I told you so" constitutes eating crow. Right wingers have said all along that Romney, a squishy moderate wholly incapable of articulating conservative principles because he did not have them, was weak.

Not only was he weak on principle, but he had proven himself to be weak on the one and only thing he claimed to be his reason for voting for him -- his managerial competence -- proven to be weak by the fact that after running for president for over five years, he still could not get more than 30 percent support in the primaries. And then even those same people who did claim to support him, overwhelmingly the establishment, kept crying for someone else, Mitch Daniels, et al., to please, please, please get in the race.

Had any of the other Republican candidates gotten the nomination instead, even though he or she would have been smeared as being an extremist (Romney certainly wasn't immune from that, was he, even though the idea is laughable), he or she would have done a better job selling the conservative message.

But all of the oh-so-smart folks told us that we just had to nominate this guy who now has done the impossible: losing to the second coming of Jimmy Carter. It takes a very special kind of sucks to do that.

Michael K said...

Blogger phx said...

" It's OK phx I have diminished expectations when it comes to liberals finer feelings.

I'm sure you're going to go on hating us forever. I predict your despondency will lift but your hatred won't.

I mildly protest being called a liberal. "

I don't like the term "liberal" for leftists either.

I don't hate them. That is just projection by your side. I pity you because you have no idea what is coming and how close you came to avoiding a lot of it.

It's not the end of the world, just the end of America as you knew it. Other countries have lost wars the best equivalent I can think of. Some of them, like Rome, disappeared but others, like France and Germany, survived and even prospered later.

The problem is that it was very unpleasant to love through and you have no idea what it will be like. You are far more interested in gay marriage and abortion. As if they mattered when survival is at stake.

sakredkow said...

You are far more interested in gay marriage and abortion.

I don't think you know anything about me. I don't think you know anything about what you are talking about.

Unknown said...

phx
We can only make assessments about what you care about based on your statements here. It's completely possible that you care other things, but you spend a lot of time on the two mentioned issues.

Disagreement is not hate. There are lots of other words that describe it more closely. I'm often appalled, dismayed, disgusted, and/or concerned by things progressives say and do though.

edutcher said...

Bender said...

Romney's a good guy and seemed fairly moderate compared to the other possibilities. Ryan's okay too, and they ran a respectable campaign.
There is some pleasure in making a lot of very arrogant right wingers, a lot of them on Althouse, eat their crow.

I don't know how "I told you so" constitutes eating crow. Right wingers have said all along that Romney, a squishy moderate wholly incapable of articulating conservative principles because he did not have them, was weak.


They also said better him than Zero.

A good many said, the last 4 or 5 months, "the more I find out about this guy, the more I like him".

Except for some Libertarians and other assorted survivalists and Objectivists, most knew they had to knock Choom out of the White House.

The fact that cities like Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia report 98, 99, 99+, or 100% votes for Choom might make some suspicious.

But it's more fun for some to keep hating Romney than think the unthinkable.

And phx isn't making any Conservatives eat anything, despite his wet dreams. The more the Lefties preen, the more the Conservatives are going to dig in their heels.

Nora said...

So refreshing FB page is what goes for journalism at WP these days .....

Unknown said...

Romney was economically the clearest choice in years. He did become a candidate I could support wholeheartedly. He lost. That's about all there is to it except for the people who want to dissect it to death.

For me the new challenge is learning to live with the very real possibility that there is not going to be a turnaround, there is not going to be any sincere effort to cut disastrous, economically unsustainable social programs, there is only going to be more of the same division and diversion until there can't be any more.

edutcher said...

Totally OT, sis, whereabouts in Wyo?

(if it's any of my business...)

Unknown said...

Southwest.
One of the few Wyoming Mormon enclaves, if that makes any difference,

edutcher said...

Interesting.

The Blonde and I drove up from Sidney, NE to Cheyenne and then Laramie and over to Green River on our way to see my sister in SLC.

Gorgeous country, and very nice people.

Unknown said...

edutcher
You should turn at Little America and go North all the way to Montana if you want to see really beautiful country. Not typical of Wyoming at all. More like Idaho. Mountains and trees. Beautiful in summer and so cold in Winter you want to move away. I've lived here most of my life and the people are wonderful. The whole intermountain area is a treasure. Kids still respectful, parents still parenting, men and women like Romney are everywhere and that's why I wanted him to be president. The country could use a little of the kind of people that live here.
I don't say this is the only place to find good men and women, but we have a lot of them here.

edutcher said...

The lady who ran the Pizza Hut in Green River noticed our Yorkie in the car and insisted on getting her some water in a big up and a pan for her to drink.

That really impressed us.

And I know what you mean about Romney.

Unknown said...

The lady at Pizza Hut is entirely typical. We really love it here. And that's saying a lot from my California born husband who hates the cold.

The drive across Nebraska and most of Wyoming is sometimes starkly beautiful, but almost endless. You get tired of the same scene outside the window for miles. We always say they built the freeway across the ugliest part of Wyoming so people wouldn't want to move here.

sakredkow said...
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edutcher said...

The drive you mention was very important to me.

I was raised outside Philadelphia and grew up loving Westerns. To go through that country was a great thrill for me.

We passed through Sidney NE (site of a fort after the Civil War) at sunset just as a UP train was pulling through. Very evocative.

And, although the Continental divide is a bit stark, I thought Green River was glorious.

jr565 said...

Phx wrote:
I voted for Obama because I thought he would be better managing the catastrophe - brought about by both parties IMO - that we have on our hands. That Romney did such a poor job of managing his campaign validates my beliefs to a degree.

with respect that's dumb. Because you're suggesting that the only managerial judgement that we have to look at is how the two manaed their respective campaigns. How about how Obama has managed the economy up till now? He's already managed the catastrophe for four years. Record unemplyment for three of those years. GDP of 2%. Raising of the national debt to levels j dreamed of by Bush (and levels which, if BUsh even tried to raise to Obama would call irresponsible and unpatriotic).
It seems likeObama was running for reelection the moment he set foot in the White House. But even if you're good at getting elected, does that make you good at running the economy? Should that be what you're looking for in a leader? The suggestion that they actually will address the economy? Well, then Obama does has that record and has been failing.

But I think the issue with you, and I may be mistaken, is that you think Obama's policies (govt growth, Keynesian economics, raising taxes) is the better approach than Romney's more free market ones. Thus it would be unlikely that yo would ever vote for Romney to begin with.
Lets say there were two pols both running for office and both had largely the same ideas about running the economy. THEN ou cold make the argument about how one would DOa better job and it would make sense arguing managerial experience. Bt if there are two different approaches being discussed, then management really has nothing to do with it,. Then it becomes a question of which philosophy is better.
If I think free market capitalism is better than big government growth to create jobs, then how good Obama is as a manager is irrelevant since his policies will be detrimental. So why would I vote for him? And vice versa.

My question to you is, why would you have voted for Romney?

jr565 said...
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jr565 said...

Bender wrote:

Had any of the other Republican candidates gotten the nomination instead, even though he or she would have been smeared as being an extremist (Romney certainly wasn't immune from that, was he, even though the idea is laughable), he or she would have done a better job selling the conservative message.

yet Romney beat all the other candidates. You say Ronmey is weak, yet he bested all the other repubs in he field. If they couldn't beat Romney, what makes you think they could beat Obama?
And going through the list, its quite clear that Romney was the only guy that had a chance. Tell us who you think should have been the front runner instread? Ron Pau? Newt Gingrich? Caine?

11/11/12 9:50 PM

Ctmom4 said...

@Edutcher; That is amazing, about St. Lucie, Florida. That is about Obama's margin of victory in Florida. I think Allan West is getting a recount - will they look at the votes for president too?

leslyn said...

I've been waiting for edutcher to back up his voter fraud allegations--but he got nothin'.

Now Ct4mom is buying it.

Despite the "we don't need no stinking fact checkers" mindset, here is the link to the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections, whose web page clearly states,

NOTE* -TURNOUT PERCENTAGES WILL SHOW OVER 100% DUE TO A TWO PAGE BALLOT. NOT ALL VOTERS VOTED THE SECOND CARD CONTAINING THE AMENDMENT.

http://www.slcelections.com/

Waiting for the conspiracies, coverups, and aliens from Roswell to show up in response.... :)

leslyn said...
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edutcher said...

Ctmom4 said...

@Edutcher; That is amazing, about St. Lucie, Florida. That is about Obama's margin of victory in Florida. I think Allan West is getting a recount - will they look at the votes for president too?

'Fraid not. When you look at all the places with Saddam-like votes for Zero, you know the fix was in.

And, if you peruse the analyses of turnout, no one has any evidence the way they did last time that millions of Conservatives stayed home.

Remember the enthusiasm gap even the network polls conceded was there?

Funny how all the polls that skewed D +8 or D +11 or D +13, nonetheless also agreed on that one (and the final skew, btw, was D +2).

For fun, plug in 8 million to the final vote on Romney's side and look at the final percentage. Looks an awful lot like the month after the first debate.

Doesn't it?

Bryan C said...

So, the Washington Post? It's some kind of high-school student newspaper, right? Where the editorial staff are all named "Heather".

jr565 said...

Leaving aside the potential fraud that edutcher is mentioning (not saying that its true, i have yet to see it proven) there's this:
Obama outhustled Romney. It was a base election and Obama did a better job with the ground game. No need for republicans to rethink conservatism as we know it.

http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/333167/407000-votes-four-states-away-presidency

407,000 votes in four states, and Romney would have been president.
Shoulda woulda coulda I realize. However, the election was in fact closer than we think based on the popular vote, and we might want to rethink all the talking pundits arguments about how the changing demos. The demos are changing and certainly repubs should try to add different groups to the rolls. But this was simply a slightly better base turnout than Romney got. Not even as good a turnout as Obama got last time.

sakredkow said...

My question to you is, why would you have voted for Romney?

Good comment, no question, you got a couple of hits in there.

I wouldn't have voted for Romney after seeing the primary debates. There were other issues apart from the economy.

You're right about my inclination to favor Obama's economic policies - although someone like Jon Huntsman could have persuaded me to abandon those policies. And I truly entertained voting for McCain up until he picked Palin as his running mate.

I'm a lot less wedded to particular policies than I am process. I have my favorite policies and approaches, but I believe this country will endure whether they are under the stewrdship of a Republican or Democrat president.

sakredkow said...
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