I’m posting this mainly for the line about false equivalences. But I also like the warning at the end.
Of course, the whole problem with this is that the political parties often do hope that you will get bored with the election and tune out, since then the results will be defined by party stalwarts (“the base”). Ironically, this means that this comic is part of the problem, not the solution.
What can be done to respond to the lies that are inevitably spread during political campaigns? If the candidate being attacked denies them, they often just help spread the lies more. But if they don’t respond to them, then people will think they are true.
So it is very interesting to see how the Obama campaign is responding to a $6.1 million attack ad launched by the Koch brothers. Here’s the attack ad:
The claims in this ad were all debunked by all three major fact checking organizations: PolitiFact, Factcheck.org, and The Fact Checker. And yet here they are again, being repeated “without any shame“.
So what can Obama do? I am reminded of Ronald Reagan’s famous response of “There you go again” to an attack from Jimmy Carter during a 1980 presidential debate. I think you can respond, but the response has to be a counter-attack.
I think the Obama campaign did a reasonably good job with the response:
What do you think? Will this response make any difference? I guess at the very least we got to see Stephanie Cutter say “BS”.
“This story just keeps getting bigger and bigger. CNN said Secret Service agents may have visited a strip club in El Salvador as well. Don’t you like that language, ‘they visited’? That’s what guys do when they go to strip clubs, they visit. ‘Hi, just visiting.’ No, you visit a hospital!” – Jay Leno
“Now allegations are coming out that the Secret Service were partying with strippers and hookers, not just in Colombia but in El Salvador, Buenos Aires, Moscow. You got to hand it to these guys. A lot of us look at the world and say, ‘F**k it.’ These people actually do it.” – Bill Maher
“Big medical news — according to the CDC, there’s been a huge increase in SSSTDs. Those are Secret Service Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Be careful.” – Jay Leno
“We’re learning more and more about that whole Secret Service sex scandal. Apparently the prostitutes in Colombia had code names for the different Secret Service guys they were seeing. I mentioned this the other night: the guy who kept wanting to change positions, his nickname was “Mitt.” The main guy who wanted to keep putting off paying for stuff until later… his nickname was “Obama.” Kind of interesting.” – Jay Leno
“After appearing on our show this week, President Obama has officially become the most televised president in history. Even Ryan Seacrest is like, ‘Dude, scale it back!'” – Jimmy Fallon
“It looks like the Republicans are going back to the strategy of 2008 where Obama is characterized as a celebrity. Says the party who is gay for Ronald Reagan. Come on, you can’t worship Ronald Reagan and then attack Obama for being a celebrity. That’s like running Chris Christie and saying Obama has a fat ass.” – Bill Maher
“This week Mitt Romney’s Super PAC put out a new ad that tries to ridicule Obama because he was singing Al Green. Let that be a lesson to you aspiring politicians. If you must sing on the campaign trail, make it ‘America the Beautiful,’ off key, in mom jeans.” – Bill Maher
“Romney is going to have to pick a vice president and apparently it is between Chris Christie and the senator from Florida, Marco Rubio. So it’s between a Cuban American and a Cubic American.” – Bill Maher
“Mitt has to be very careful because he doesn’t want to pick a vice president who will overshadow him. So he has narrowed the field to the other guy from Wham!, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Oates.” – Bill Maher
“Other people say that Mitt should balance the ticket by picking someone who has taken all of the opposite positions of him, like himself.” – Bill Maher
“Mitt Romney trying to compete for the youth vote told some kids that some of the places he hides his money are the same places they go to on spring break.” – Bill Maher
“A new campaign video by Barack Obama implies that Mitt Romney would not have killed Osama bin Laden if he had been president. Today Romney shot back. He said not only would he have killed bin Laden, he would have strapped him to the roof of his car and taken him on vacation with him as well.” – Jay Leno
“Mitt Romney swept even more primaries. There was a big Mormon celebration afterward. People were drinking apple juice and eating animal crackers until nearly 9 p.m.” – Bill Maher
“Newt Gingrich is dropping out of the Republican race. People are wondering what Newt Gingrich will do. Well, right now he’s working on a half-hearted endorsement for Mitt Romney.” – David Letterman
“Newt Gingrich says he’s going to make an announcement on Tuesday that he’s suspending his presidential campaign. Yes, he’s letting us down gently. And also because technicians are still working on Callista to install her sad face.” – Bill Maher
“They’re calling Newt the biggest gas bag to go down since the Hindenburg.” – David Letterman
“New Rule: Let’s follow Canada, and get rid of the penny. It costs more to make than it’s worth. And we don’t need another copper-colored reminder that government is a useless, stupid boondoggle. We already have John Boehner.” – Bill Maher
“New Rule: If the Indians have a rocket that works, but the North Koreans don’t, we have to stop being scared of North Korea and start being scared of India. Now, you may ask, why would the Indians launch a missile at us? Well, as Sarah Palin points out we did steal their land.” – Bill Maher
“Have you been following this sleazy John Edwards’ trial? Oh my God. I tell you, this John Edwards, I don’t think he’s learned anything from all of this. Did you see what happened today? He got one of the jurors pregnant.” – Jay Leno
“The Census Bureau reports that the number of interracial couples has increased over 40% since 2000. The most common couplings are black and white, white and Hispanic, and NBA player and Kardashian.” – Conan O’Brien
Is anyone else frightened by the fact that most of Mitt Romney’s foreign policy advisors are the same neocon chicken hawks that lied us into two disastrous wars and made the world hate us? Twenty three of Romney’s most senior advisors formerly advised George W. Bush.
For example, Robert Kagan (founder of the Project for a New American Century), Eliot Cohen (promoted the conquest of Iraq and Iran in 2002), John Bolton (UN Ambassador under Dubya, even though he claimed “There is no such thing as the United Nations”), Michael Chertoff (Bush’s secretary of homeland security, who brought us full-body scanners), Meghan O’Sullivan (deputy national security advisor on Iraq and Afghanistan under Bush), Michael Hayden (who got Bush to ignore Congress and the constitution and institute warrant-less wiretaps of American phone calls), and Cofer Black (former Vice Chairman of Blackwater).
If you miss Bush’s foreign policy disasters, you’ll LOVE Romney.
UPDATE: Three weeks ago, Romney hired another former Bush administration official, Richard Grenell, to be his foreign policy spokesperson. Grinell stepped down under fire on Tuesday, but his resignation had nothing to do with foreign policy. Richard Grenell is openly gay and supports gay marraige, causing an outcry from Christian conservatives. And a full flip-flip from Romney. The NY Times calls this mess Romney’s “first public misstep since effectively clinching the nomination.”
Only Jon Stewart could get away with asking these questions:
Obama is officially winding down the war in Afghanistan, but will it ever really be over?
The Republicans and Fox News have gotten to the point where they just reflexively attack Obama for everything he does, even if it is something they themselves do all the time. They are blind to their own hypocrisy:
My big question now is, are the Republicans just projecting? Have they actually attacked Obama for anything recently that they aren’t guilty of themselves? If they have, tell us in the comments.
And The Atlantic points out how Republicans are using the same strategy they used against John Kerry with the Swift Boat attacks — take a candidate’s greatest strength and use it against them, using lies and innuendo.
The American people fell for this once. If they fall for it again, shame on them.
UPDATE: Mark McKinnon thinks the Republicans going bananas over Obama mentioning the death of Osama bin Laden is likely to backfire.
What I find ironic about this comic is that it asks “why stop there?” but the truth is that we never stopped. Most politicians are already more like actors anyway, and the movies (especially Pixar) have blurred the line between real and virtual actors. For all we know, Romney is a CGI. And if Obama were replaced by a CGI, he wouldn’t have to worry about being assassinated by some right-wing nutcase.
The only choice seems to be between thinking this is a good idea, and thinking that it has already been done. Mission Accomplished!
“A new poll found that Michelle Obama has a much higher approval rating than Barack Obama. Which explains Barack’s new slogan, ‘Vote for Michelle Obama’s Husband.'” – Jimmy Fallon
“According to a new ABC poll, both Michelle Obama and Ann Romney are more popular than their husbands. At this point, so is asbestos.” – Jimmy Kimmel
“A new Republican ad came out that claims President Obama is too focused on being cool. President Obama hasn’t responded to the ad because he’s too busy snowboarding with the boy band One Direction.” – Conan O’Brien
“While discussing the U.S. policy on Iran today, Joe Biden said that President Obama, quote, ‘has a big stick.’ In related news, Joe Biden is now banned from the White House steam room.” – Jimmy Fallon
“Newt Gingrich says that next week he will announce that he is dropping out of the race. Isn’t that already the announcement? If you say next week I’ll announce I’m dropping out of the race, what’s the point of having the announcement next week?” – David Letterman
“Newt Gingrich is going to announce next week that he is dropping out of the presidential race. If you wonder why he’s waiting, it’s because it takes him that long to gather a crowd.” – Jay Leno
“Texas Governor Rick Perry endorsed Mitt Romney for president. Perry said he chose Romney because out of the one candidate left, he’s the best.” – Conan O’Brien
“A college student launched a group called African-Americans for Romney. After a couple of days he was forced to change the name to That Black Guy for Romney.” – Conan O’Brien
“Today is Bring Your Child to Work Day — or as it’s known at the iPad factory in China, Bring Your Parents to Work Day.” – Conan O’Brien
“Bring Your Child to Work Day — that’s how we got George W. Bush.” – David Letterman
“Have you been watching this John Edwards trial? I don’t know what kind of president John Edwards would have been, but I’m pretty sure he would have gotten along really well with the Secret Service.” – Jay Leno
The problem is that the media doesn’t even have to make shit up like this, they can just repeat the crap that other people make up.
Author Stephen King has a fantastic rant in The Daily Beast. Go read it now.
If you need some incentive to go read it, here are a few choice quotes. But the whole thing is reasonably short, funny, and as good a read as any Stephen King story:
The U.S. senators and representatives who refuse even to consider raising taxes on the rich—they squall like scalded babies (usually on Fox News) every time the subject comes up—are not, by and large, superrich themselves, although many are millionaires and all have had the equivalent of Obamacare for years. They simply idolize the rich. Don’t ask me why; I don’t get it either, since most rich people are as boring as old, dead dog shit. The Mitch McConnells and John Boehners and Eric Cantors just can’t seem to help themselves. These guys and their right-wing supporters regard deep pockets like Christy Walton and Sheldon Adelson the way little girls regard Justin Bieber … which is to say, with wide eyes, slack jaws, and the drool of adoration dripping from their chins. I’ve gotten the same reaction myself, even though I’m only “baby rich” compared with some of these guys, who float serenely over the lives of the struggling middle class like blimps made of thousand-dollar bills.
What some of us want—those who aren’t blinded by a lot of bullshit persiflage thrown up to mask the idea that rich folks want to keep their damn money—is for you to acknowledge that you couldn’t have made it in America without America. That you were fortunate enough to be born in a country where upward mobility is possible (a subject upon which Barack Obama can speak with the authority of experience), but where the channels making such upward mobility possible are being increasingly clogged. That it’s not fair to ask the middle class to assume a disproportionate amount of the tax burden. Not fair? It’s un-fucking-American is what it is.
According to the constitution, patents are supposed to “promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts”, but nowadays they are mainly used to stifle innovation, crush competition, and keep lawyers employed.
Part of the problem is that patents are supposed to be for things that are “non-obvious”, but the patent office is so overwhelmed they can’t take the time to sort things out. They usually just end up granting patents that never should have been issued, on the theory that if there is a problem it will get sorted out in court.
Bad idea.
I make my living from software, but I believe there should be no patents issued for software at all.
“After winning five primaries yesterday, Mitt Romney has his new campaign slogan. ‘Well, I guess you’re stuck with me.'” – Jay Leno
“Yesterday Mitt Romney won all five of the primaries. Apparently when you buy four primaries, you get the fifth for free.” – Conan O’Brien
“Mitt Romney gets a lot of criticism because he’s kind of stiff, he’s sort of cold, he’s sort of aloof. And I thought, ‘Well, wait a minute. Let’s look at the bright side of this.’ Mitt Romney is an inspiration to kids all over this country who sadly were born without a personality.” – David Letterman
“Romney proves with a little hard work and a little luck, even a multi-millionaire white guy from Harvard can succeed in this country.” – Jay Leno
“Yesterday’s show was incredible — we had the president of the United States, Barack Obama, on the show. Obama hung out with me backstage, he did ‘Slow Jam the News,’ he gave a long interview — at one point, I was like, ‘Dude, don’t you have a country to run?'” – Jimmy Fallon
“Republicans release a new anti-Obama attack ad. I can’t wait to hear what country he was born in now!” – Stephen Colbert
“In the wake of the Colombian prostitution scandal, another Secret Service agent has been removed from his position at the White House and demoted to protecting the animatronic presidents at Disney world.” – David Letterman
From David Letterman’s “Top Ten Signs Your Boss Is A Jerk”: #1. Always nags you to guard the president instead of sleeping with hookers.
“Yesterday the Dalai Lama said he likes George W. Bush as a person, but not as a president. When asked for comment, Bush said, ‘I love him as a Dalai, but not as a Lama.'” – Conan O’Brien
The best jokes made by Barack Obama and Jimmy Kimmel:
On Obama
“Remember when the country rallied around you in hope for a better tomorrow? That was a good one.” – Kimmel
“What’s the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? A pit bull is delicious.” – Obama
“I have not seen ‘The Hunger Games.’ Not enough class warfare.” – Obama
“This is how you know the country’s in bad shape. The president is starving. North Korea is sending him food aid.” – Kimmel (on Obama’s weight)
“There’s a term for President Obama. Not two terms.” – Kimmel
On Romney
“We both have degrees from Harvard. I have one, he has two. What a snob.” – Obama
“It’s nice to be here in the nice, vast Hilton ballroom. Or as Mitt Romney would call it, a fixer-upper.” – Obama
“He was so incensed that he asked if he could get some time on the Merv Griffin show.” – Obama (on Obama’s appearance on Jimmy Fallon)
On Republicans
“I guess it wasn’t Rick’s year. Rick’s year is 1954.” – Kimmel (on Rick Santorum)
“It’s great to see the Gingriches here. I guess that means the check cleared.” – Kimmel
“The reason he [House Speaker John Boehner] smokes so many cigarettes is because his tears keep putting them out.” – Kimmel
On Democrats
“Uggie [the dog] is amazing. He can roll over on command. He’s a Democrat.” – Kimmel
“We used to march. Now we Occupy.” – Kimmel (on America’s weight problem)
“Three Hillaries? That sounds like President Clinton’s worst nightmare.” – Kimmel (on Press Secretary Jay Carney knowing multiple Hilary Rosens)
“Four years ago I was locked in a primary battle with Hillary Clinton. Now she won’t stop drunk-texting me.” – Obama
On the Media
“I’d like everyone to look under their seats. Under each you’ll find a copy of Keith Olbermann’s resume.” – Kimmel
“What’s black and white and read all over? Nothing anymore.” – Kimmel
“There’s no one linking to as much hard-hitting journalism as you’re linking to.” – Obama (addressing Arianna Huffington)
On Celebrities
“If you’re looking for the biggest threat to America, it’s right there — Kim Kardashian.” – Kimmel
“Everything that is wrong with America is here in this room.” – Kimmel (after listing off the politicians, members of the media and celebrities in attendance)
“Jimmy got his start on “The Man Show.” In Washington that’s what we call a congressional hearing on contraception.” – Obama
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