TAIBBI: This Presidential Race Should Never Have Been This Close

[kpete]

... The mere fact that Mitt Romney is even within striking distance of winning this election is an incredible testament to two things: a) the rank incompetence of the Democratic Party, which would have this and every other election for the next half century sewn up if they were a little less money-hungry and tried just a little harder to represent their ostensible constituents, and b) the power of our propaganda machine, which has conditioned all of us to accept the idea that the American population, ideologically speaking, is naturally split down the middle, whereas the real fault lines are a lot closer to the 99-1 ratio the Occupy movement has been talking about since last year….

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/this-presidential-race-should-never-have-been-this-close-20120925

[DCBob]

1. The economic crisis has had alot to do with it..

and Faux newz and other RW media brainwashing a large percent of the electorate.

[Spider Jerusalem]

2. Herein lies the problem

the Republicans know they can't win the economic argument, not on honest terms, so they distort things and make cultural issues assume outsize importance.

[Bonobo]

3. WTF is Taibbi doing here? I thought he was under the bus along with

Turley, Hedges, Nader, Cornell and the others...

[bigtree]

5. Cornel nt.

[Zorra]

45. I believe what he is doing here is making valid points, and raising concerns that many of us have.

While many of us here support the Democratic party and plan to vote for Democrats, it does not mean that we have completely shut off our powers of discernment, and our thought processes, in order to march in lockstep with everything the Democratic party has been doing.

Some of us have questions, and are not deterred from questioning "authority".

I agree with Matt Taibbi. This race should never have been this close.

[bigtree]

4. bullshit

. . . this race reflects the D.C. divide which has plagued the national legislature for decades. The fact that Obama is now pulling comfortably ahead where he needs to is the best scenario we can expect, given the nature of the coverage which always pairs the candidates off as equals.

In fact, it's AMAZING that Romney hasn't been able to capitalize on the economic numbers which have HISTORICALLY denied previous incumbent nominees the presidency.

[Mopar151]

6. A clear and succinct explanation of the bus wreck we're in the middle of. n./t

[ProSense]

7. "the rank incompetence of the Democratic Party"

OK!

[DollarBillHines]

28. Actually, I agree with him.

The Dems are too intimidated to go out and scream "BUSH, BUSH, BUSH, BOEHNER, BOEHNER, BOEHNER!!! from the rooftops.

Not to mention the lying us into war, ruinous tax cuts, etc.

[sadbear]

8. You go talk to a Romney supporter

and then try not to blame American stupidity for the closeness of the polls.

[bigtree]

10. I just had a 60 year old tell me

. . . that all Americans would be required to get a micro chip implanted in their arm under Obama care. Says his wife googled it and it was right there in the bill.

Snopes for the impressionable . . .

http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/microchip.asp

[Mariana]

32. They won't believe Snopes.

My father informed me, when I referred him to Snopes, that Snopes isn't to be trusted because the site is funded by George Soros for the purpose of electing Democrats.

However, he'll believe (or pretend to believe) the contents of those ridiculous e-mails he constantly receives and forwards to everybody, because, he says, "Why would the person who wrote this lie?"

Why, indeed. You know that guy's wife didn't Google anything. He made that up. I swear, that's the one thing that rank and file RWers do that drives me fucking crazy the most, is how often they just flat out lie about shit like that.

[M_M]

41. You see it on Bill Maher's show all the time

Wingnuts repeatedly saying untrue things about tax rates, global warming, America's "decline," etc.

[Mariana]

50. And then they lie about where they heard

the bullshit they're spewing.

"My wife googled it and it's in the bill!" Right.

[Nancy Waterman]

9. Romney bought the primaries

And he is still hoping to buy the election with the limitless money of the PACs. It is a great testament to Americans that they have not been co-opted by the relentless Romney ads and can still see what a jerk he is.

[edhopper]

11. I happen to believe

that if Obama was a true progressive and not a moderate DLC Democrat and had put in place true reform and not picked Wall Street insiders like Geithner, we as a nation would be in better shape and he would, in fact, be in a better position in this race.
So Taibbi has a valid point.

[Cha]

18. I happen to believe that President Obama is a Progressive

Pragmatist and gets things done.

[Selatius]

23. He never ran as a progressive in the campaign.

He advertised himself as a pragmatist.

Anybody who thought he was the next Franklin Roosevelt or JFK was deluding himself. John Edwards and Hillary Clinton's platforms in the primaries were more to the left than Barack Obama's during the primaries.

[Cha]

31. And, yet, PBO is making

Progress!

[edhopper]

37. I wouldn't dispute that

but it doesn't negate what I said about him being more progressive and not picking Wall Street insiders for his financial team.
I think his failure to hold anybody on Wall Street accountable is one of the main reasons that a lot of Americans lost faith in him.
I think if he had been more FDR, his approval would have been in the 60% to 70%.

And I am NOT saying he hasn't done anything, just where I think he should have been and that it would have made him more successful.

In many cases, his pragmatism made him try to make deals with the GOP, who did not want to compromise at all, and ended up biting him in the ass.

[Selatius]

42. Even if he was more progressive, he couldn't pass left-leaning legislation.

For example, he couldn't even get a health care bill through without having the Public Option deleted because right-wing Democrats objected as well as that independent Joe Lieberman. At least Pelosi kept up her end of the bargain. The bill that passed in her House did include a Public Option.

And he was unable to get anything more than the stimulus bill passed, and most of that was in the form of special interest tax cuts instead of a workable jobs program. The Blue Dogs and other right-wing Democrats objected to anything more than that.

I got rightly pissed off when he appointed Geithner and Summers to his team. They're a bunch of hucksters. Stiglitz, Roubini, Galbraith, hell even Krugman were far more qualified. He likely did that as pay-offs to all the bigger donors on Wall Street who supported him.

[edhopper]

46. I think what upset me about those bills

was he started with the capitulation and then negotiated. He took out the Public Option in the hope of getting a single Republican vote, which he did not get. He should have pushed hard for it and then compromised for something. Same with the stimulus, start with a much stronger works bill and then give up somethings for the tax cuts.
He seemed to start at the default position. Bad politics.

I think the Geithner, Sumner picks where his biggest mistakes. And in the end severely hurt the economy. Picking those you mentioned would have gotten us a policy that would have been much more helpful to creating jobs. Also, his seeming lack of doing anything to curtail or punish the financial institutions and people who caused the collapse was a big mistake. Many people were very angry, and he could have channeled that anger into real reform, with progressives and independents backing him against Wall Street. Instead, by following Geithner in protecting Wall Street and the Banks, he allowed the Tea Party to hijack the "anger position".

[Selatius]

47. See, with respect to the health care debate, he just had no backing for a Public Option.

I think after looking at the members in the Democratic caucus in the Senate, he realized he was short on numbers with respect to the Public Option. We all know that Baucus was against it. Ben and Bill Nelson were against it. Claire McCaskill only favored a limited version and ultimately backed away from it following Obama's speech emphasizing the main goal being bringing down costs and increasing affordability, as opposed to setting up a new government-run insurance program. Joe Lieberman was also against such a scheme and threatened to bolt if the bill had one. We ultimately ended up with a center-right proposal dating back to Richard Nixon's idea: A private health insurance mandate.

With respect to Geithner and Summers, I don't really disagree. He knew where his bread was buttered. A lot of his campaign cash came from rich people, especially on Wall Street.

[edhopper]

49. Lyndon Johnson would have gotten them to vote his way

I don't disagree with you analysis, but I think it is open to interpretation on what he could have done being more progressive.
And again, it's not that he wasn't getting the public option, it's that he took it off the table before he had to negotiate it away. And I saw that he did it for Snow's vote, which he failed to secure.
But in the end I am just saying I wish he was more progressive and i think if he was he would be in better shape now and so would the country.

[kysrsoze]

12. WRONG. a) Mindless, selfish, uneducated drones who don't pay attention to facts, and b) the Repub

propaganda machine. Seems like Taibbi really likes the smell of his own crap these days. I respect him that much less with most recent articles he's written.

[Cha]

19. Exactly.. he's exposing himself as someone

who doesn't know wtf he's talking about.

[CoffeeCat]

13. Fox News and right-wing radio...

are fueling the ignorance rip tide that ensnares 20 percent of the electorate. People scoff at Fox News and dismiss it as ridiculous. We know it's ridiculous, but that 20 percent hangs onto it like a blankey. Unfortunately, that 20 percent votes in extremely high numbers. When you've got half of the electorate that doesn't even vote, that leaves 50 percent of the country to make important political decisions. That 20 percent--and their high-voting percentages are causing the chasm and the division in this country.

I watch Fox News and listen to those bastards. I don't mind conservatives. But what they are doing is not "conservative." They are spreading fear, hate and lies--and every once in a while they wrap it all in conservative principals, just to placate these stupid fools who lap it up like hungry wolverines.

Last night, Sean Hannity lied his ass off for a half hour. He took clips of Obama's UN speech--in which Obama talked about the degrading movie. Obama discussed how Americans do not subscribe to this hate, and most were very offended. Hannity took those clips and said that this was Obama's response to and explanation for the recent Benghazi killings. Hannity kept insisting that the Obama Administration was "blaming those killings on this film! That's not true! The Administration is changing their story! Recently, Carney said the attacks were 9-11-related and possibly Al Queda, now Obama is saying that it's the film!"

I wanted to f'n jump through the television. Obama's UN comments were NOT about the Benghazi murders. He was speaking, in general, about the initial protests that had gathered in Benghazi and other Mid East cities. It's a FACT that the movie sparked multiple protests and plenty of Mid East participants said so on national television! Then, we sent investigators to the Mid East to figure out what happened. Those final results aren't ready yet, but preliminary findings show that the killings may have been 9/11 related. We have NOT changed our story.

Anyone with a functioning brain--who actually reads and can think--can understand this. But Fox (and Hannity is the worst!!!) is screaming all of this bullshit. They are clowns. Complete clowns with their hair on fire. And the audience just loves being scared and upset, as they cling to their television sets and rage in anger against Obama.

They are all over Susan Rice and her comments that she made on Meet the Press. Rice clearly stated that the investigation was just beginning and no evidence was available yet about who did the murders. Fox News insists that Rice is lying, covering up, yadda, yadda--because Sean Hannity KNOWS FOR A FACT that Al Queda did this--even though he has no clue. That's what investigations are for, dipshits. So suddenly, my right-wing neighbor is an expert on Middle East affairs and what happened with this investigation--because Sean Hannity told him so! It's such an abomination. These people cannot reason or think for themselves.

It's a complete embarrassment. Our country is full of fuckwits. Fuckwits who vote.

[Cha]

21. Of course it is hate radio and tv that's keeping so

many people brainswashed and ready to "hunt liberals".

Matt Taibbi doesn't know what he's whining about.

[Selatius]

24. Taibbi calling out corporate propaganda does indicate he knows something about it.

With respect to his indictment that the Democratic Party is incompetent, that's arguable, but I wouldn't use that as an excuse to dismiss his criticism of corporate propaganda/hate radio out of hand.

[Mariana]

33. Fox News and Hate Radio

are just feeding their audiences what they want to hear. If they ever let up on what they're doing, the RWers who watch/listen would shut them right off. The fuckwits want to hear the lies - even when they know they're lies.

[Overseas]

14. K&R. Well said.

[Gregorian]

15. Most people are not as intelligent as I have been giving them credit.

[WillyT]

16. HUGE K & R !!! - Thank You !!!

[DevonRex]

17. Fact is that Republicans vote against their interests

Last edited Wed Sep 26, 2012, 09:03 PM - Edit history (1)

and it's damned hard to pry that R off the backend of one of 'em. Every now and then a lightbulb will illuminate above a head here and there. Once it does they don't go back.

It's more like going from religious to atheist for them, or so they think. That's why it's so difficult for them to change parties.

Matt has shown his lack of maturity and experience again. He needs to live a few more years yet before he's ready.

[RobertEarl]

22. Nah. He's got a good point

The party is not what it should be. It has numerous failures and has an image of un-tidyness.

Obama has helped but herding cats is more than a one man job.

[JI7]

26. yup, and racism and other bigotry that exists

[DevonRex]

29. Yes. The absofuckinglutely unpersuadables

because Obama is black. Add them to the ones who hate gay marriage and it happens to be the majority of the Republican Party. It leaves us with a tiny portion of voters to attract. You know, just thank god for pissed off women and union members. We got a few of those. Not tonight because of the other categories above.

[BumRushDaShow]

20. He forgot to include racism

but then those not impacted by it usually don't "see it" for what it is when it is happening. And in Barack Obama's case, it started when he first announced his intention to run.

[Blue_Tires]

54. I was going to mention that as well

How Taibbi neglected the issue entirely is beyond me...

[Thrill]

25. The media has kept Mittens in this

Thats the bottom line. And they're still trying

[Selatius]

27. That's because a closer race means higher ratings for the news networks.

And higher ratings means more profits.

That, and I suspect many of the shareholders who sit on the board of directors of these companies are, themselves, of the 1% and want the tax burden pushed off onto poorer people.

[titaniumsalute]

30. I disagree with Taibbi.

1. Unemployment is still over 8% and there's still a feeling that we're in a recession.
2. So many are still underwater on homes due to the fallen prices.
3. Salaries are flat to down.
4. Healthcare costs keep going up.

People are still not thrilled and they usually take it out on the current administration.

[Tigress DEM]

34. So they wanna throw the US into reverse and go over the same road that got US here?

They blame the current administration for navigating us away from sheer cliffs and changing the tires that got blown out going over economic hazards put in our way by the PREVIOUS administration and many of the people running THIS presidential challenger's campaign.

So let's charge right back over that same road recklessly in reverse and see if it doesn't work better with a good ol' boy like Robme at the wheel? Puuuulese. He doesn't even WANT the job. They just want to seem like they are in it to win it and then keep up their same old attacks so they can blame Obama for whatever else they do to the country.

[JRLeft]

35. Democrats should move against free trade.

And yell buy American from the rooftops.

[cr8tvlde]

52. Whaaaaaat????? ... spend 20 cents more on Kleenex at the local market than WalMart?

Sarcasm...double face palm aka Joe's Sweet Jesus...but this is how "they" justify it. We're saving money.

Having recently been sentenced to a hopefully short term to a very Red, Honey Boo Boo State, it takes me longer to drive to Walmart, not to mention the $5 in gas, than to support my local IGA.

I wish somebody would come up with a smilie for Joe Scarborough's actual "Come to Jesus" moment.

[quaker bill]

36. We had an trashed a candidate who would have done this

Howard Dean was the guy who would have stepped up to this plate, no problem. The media took a dump on him. He was to "angry".

I am not sure that Taibbi was not among them doing it. I think he was.

The election will not be all that close. However, for the model Taibbi likes to work, we have to get past our problem with "angry" candidates. There actually are good reasons to be "angry", and anyone who would be an effective advocate for anything like what Taibbi and probably I would agree to support, will in fact seem "angry".

There is no pretty way to do this and get elected. You actually have to be angry and get the voters angry enough to select someone really different. This is why folks well out on the left pull one or maybe two percent of the vote, they work too hard at not angering people. The right clearly has no problems using anger, on the left we are pretty shy about it.

Any study of historically effective left leaders will show folks who were unafraid of strong and "angry" sounding statements. History is littered with them. Say such things on the left now and the media and all the flowing skirts (male and female) recoil in horror. "He/She sounds so angry" - the answer should be "damn straight because the situation is really that bad", but instead it is a walk back.

[cali]

38. lol. what a crock. he's got it exactly reversed.

rMoney should be creaming the President. Why? The economy, that's why. No president with an economy this bad- and yes it is this bad- should have a chance of winning re-election. That's human nature. It goes along the lines of "this sucks, time to try something different".

[Arkana]

39. Taibbi discounts the endemic racism and the double standard for Obama in this country.

And he forgets--if the economy were good, this race would be a blowout.

[flamingdem]

40. exactly +1

[Jennicut]

43. I am really sick of this argument. The last real landslide was Reagan vs Mondale.

That was when I was a kid. Both popular vote and electoral college. Those days are over. The electorate has been pretty divided since the 90's. Even Clinton won by only 9 points against Dole in 1996 and did not even break over 50%. That was during an economic upswing. And even Bush beat Dukakis by about 8 points in '88 and that was considered a very decisive election because of the electoral map.

I mean, really. Who thinks Obama would be 15 points ahead at this point? A 4 point lead with an economy not in a full recovery is plenty good at this point. Sheesh. These people need to look back at history. I like Matt Taibbi and loved his eye opening stuff on Mittens but this argument goes nowhere.

[closeupready]

44. K&R

nt

[reformist2]

48. Taibbi isn't really wrong, just impatient.

In all honesty, the 1% vs the 99% view of today's GOP should repulse the vast majority of Americans. The GOP has done an excellent job of deceiving 50% of the 99% for a long, long, time. But the good news is that things are changing... we are no longer a 50/50 nation.... a Democratic supermajority is emerging.

[stevenleser]

51. Taibbi's wrong, you're right. Republicans are masters at deception and pulling the right strings in

unsuspecting people. They have 35% of the populace completely convinced that any kind of government help is evil because government is evil. Beyond the 35% who are "true believers" and all that term implies, there are another 10% of the country who tend to believe it. That is 45%.

Taibbi's also a master at pulling the right strings in certain people. He even had you convinced he was right when your own post shows that you know he is wrong. You just couldnt get there for some reason.

[RiffRandell]

53. I like Taibbi, but bottom line, Americans are fucking stupid.