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To quote Chris Matthews: HA!

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Via Political Carnival

Hardball Nails Romney as Too Aggressive, Lacking Manners

pic via Gifwich

From the Hardball Post-Debate Wrap-Up Last Night (My Transcript)

Chris Matthews: I thought Romney, he looked like a big-shot CEO who walks into the room and thinks he owns any room he's in, especially what seems like a board room. And he just starts pushing, it's always physical, he just swats them away like flies. He knows they make less than him, and he treats them that way. You know what I'm talking about? He treats moderators as low-grade below the line employees.

John Heileman: The Help.

David Corn of Mother Jones: The Help. I just think the contrast between the first debate and the second debate is that Mitt Romney is excellent at presenting a case. you know, he had to do it as a consultant, walk into these boardrooms with CEOs and say 'I know better than you do.' He had to do it at Bain Capital, get people to give him millions of dollars. And he was unchallenged in the first debate! So he was able to present his case.
But in this debate he got challenged in two directions. From the Moderator Candy Crowley, who I think was fantastic! And also by the President, who didn't let him get away with anything. He had a hard time callibrating how to respond.

Chris Matthews: Here, John (Heileman), respond to this - here he is interrupting Moderator Candy Crowley and trying to go back to answer an earlier question, as if he's going to define the whole format. He also tried to tell Crowley the rules of the debate. He was instructing her, of course. Let's listen:

CROWLEY: -- and the next question --

ROMNEY: He actually got --

CROWLEY: -- for you --

ROMNEY: He actually got the first question. So I get the last question -- last answer --

CROWLEY: (Inaudible) in the follow up, it doesn't quite work like that. But I'm going to give you a chance here. I promise you, I'm going to.

And the next question is for you. So if you want to, you know, continue on -- but I don't want to leave all --

ROMNEY: Candy, Candy --

CROWLEY: -- sitting here --

ROMNEY: Candy, I don't have a policy of stopping wind jobs in Iowa and that -- they're not phantom jobs. They're real jobs.

CROWLEY: OK.

ROMNEY: I appreciate wind jobs in Iowa and across our country. I appreciate the jobs in coal and oil and gas. I'm going to make sure --

CROWLEY: OK.

ROMNEY: -- we're taking advantage of our energy resources. We'll bring back manufacturing to America. We're going to get through a very aggressive energy policy, 31/2 million more jobs in this country. It's critical to our future.

OBAMA: Candy, it's not going to --

CROWLEY: We're going to move you along --

OBAMA: Used to being interrupted.

CROWLEY: We're going to move you both along to taxes over here and all these folks that have been waiting.

Chris Matthews: Can you imagine a flight attendant trying to get him to turn off his phone? The guy just doesn't turn off the damn phone. You know he has fifty excuses, 'by the way I paid for this seat, screw you' basically, with that attitude.

David Corn: He has his own plane!

Chris: Oh, I forgot - he doesn't have to fly with a flight attendant.

John Heileman: I just think Governor Romney did not look good in that exchange. I think in general, and this is the point you started out on raising, they both whined about time keeping. They both interrupted each other.

Chris: But once one guy does it, if the other guy doesn't, he is the victim.

John Heileman: I agree. I just think that from the standpoint of the women voters that you were raising, I think there are a lot of voters who are kinda like - at those moments they look like petty schoolchildren. Talking over each other. Governor Romney was the worst, though, at the moment he said to President Obama "Hold On, you'll get your turn."

Chris: "Hold on, you'll get your turn." Where do you get that chutzpah?

Heileman: Yeah, to the President of the United States. I think in a debate you should have forceful confrontations, but there's something so pat and condescending.

Chris: Without the cordiality and civility, with that lack of deference to the Office.

Heileman: Yes! Whoa - "Hold on son, you'll get your turn" is kinda like - whoa, come on man.



David Corn: Romney wasn't challenged in the first debate. So therefore he didn't have to figure out how to respond. He could focus on making his powerpoint presentation to the voters without being interrupted. And Obama just sort of let him go through. This time around he seemed to get rattled again and again and again. He didn't know whether to deal with the voter asking him the question, whether to deal with the President, or to deal with the moderator. And he got very testy.

Heileman That exchange also reminds you of that one exchange during the Republican Primary Debates when he turned to Anderson Cooper and said, "Anderson! Anderson!" Same thing - "Candy! Candy!"

Chris: His Lifeline, yeah.

Heileman: Appealing to the Refs.

Chris: Okay, Romney's final burst of combativeness came when he was defending the content of his blind trust. But the President worked in a good line. Let's listen here:

ROMNEY: Just going to make a point. Any investments I have over the last eight years have been managed by a blind trust. And I understand they do include investments outside the United States, including in -- in Chinese companies.

Mr. President, have you looked at your pension? Have you looked at your pension?

OBAMA: I've got to say...

ROMNEY: Mr. President, have you looked at your pension?

OBAMA: You know, I -- I don't look at my pension. It's not as big as yours so it doesn't take as long.

ROMNEY: Well, let me give you some advice.

OBAMA: I don't check it that often.

ROMNEY: Let me give you some advice. Look at your pension. You also have investments in Chinese companies. You also have investments outside the United States. You also have investments through a Cayman's trust.

(CROSSTALK)

CROWLEY: We're way off topic here, Governor Romney.

Chris: What was that? Do you know more about what he's getting at there, David?

David Corn: Well, the campaign has told me this time and time again when I've asked about Bain investments and Chinese companies that they outsourced. They go, "Oh, Obama has investments outside in foreign companies." They're basically looking at his Mutual Funds and going through all the companies. He doesn't have anything major in this, though, so they're trying to come up with equivalence that doesn't really exist. And he kinda botched the point in making it.

Heileman: And can I tell you that this exchange to me was the epitome of this debate and Denver. When Gov. Romney raised the thing in Denver about the accountant and it presented a golden opportunity for the President to say "Oh, you gotta pretty good accountant," or something, the President just totally wimped on it, just stepped back and didn't do anything. Here, as soon as Romney went to the pensions, you saw Obama get up out of his chair and start walking over ther like "I am going right at this thing. I've got a pension line, I'm going to get right on this thing. I'm going to try and rip this guy's lungs out." It was the difference for me between the debates.



Chris: I like the fact that his (Obama's) synapses, if you will, that every time he gave an answer it was a Christmas tree he put up responding. And then he'd start putting the baubles on it. "And by the way, Lily Ledbetter. And by the way, Planned Parenthood. And by the way, this..." - he just adorned the tree with these answers.

David Corn: His debate performance was full of strategy. From start to finish, he knew what points he wanted to make. He found the best opportunities, and it all had this great crescendo at the end, with 47%. He waited till the very last moment, when Romney could not . . .

Chris: And he (Obama) also won both polls tonight. He won CNN's and CBS's.

John Heileman: Here again, a mirror image of the last debate. In Denver, Gov. Romney had a strategy and he executed it. President Obama did not have a strategy. In this debate, President Obama had a strategy and executed it.

. . . *snip* . . .

John Heileman: I'll tell you what we also saw tonight was the contempt between the two of them, the physicality of it, the moments when you thought they were going to get the nunchucks out and just start beating each other. (laughter)

Chris: Let me tell you something, knowing the President's contempt from you and a lot of other reporters, I think he held back.

John Heileman: There were just moments when it seethed, seethed.

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Chris Matthews Eviscerates Priebus to Applause

Absolute Epic Takedown of pathetic Reince Priebus by Chris Matthews this morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe.  Of course, Mika and Joe were stunned and flabbergasted that anyone dare question the RNC or their minions, and Tom Brokaw came up with a lame false equivalency  ~ "Both sides do it" he vowed like an old man yelling at the sky. but Chris got the last laugh as the Morning Joe audience applauded all his best lines!  Keep going with this, Chris!!!

Just a taste of what it was like - more quotes further down the page:

"That cheap shot about 'I don't have a problem with my birth certificate' was awful.
It is an embarrassment to your party to play that card. This stuff about getting rid of the work requirement for welfare is dishonest.... and you are playing that little ethnic card there. You can play your games and giggle about it, but the fact is your side is playing that card."
. . . It's funny that the first joke he (Romney) ever told a joke in his life was about Obama's Birth Certificate.
~ MSNBC host Chris Matthews speaking to RNC President Reince Priebus on Morning Joe

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From Huffington Post:

Later when Priebus alleged that Obama was looking at European policies for guidance, Matthews lost it again.

"Where do you get this from?" Matthews shouted. "This is insane." He charged that Priebus was "playing that card again."

"Let's just work on tone," Brzezinski said. "Chris, let him answer the question," Scarborough said.

"I'm not going to get into a shouting match with Chris so you guys can move on," Priebus said. "Because you're losing, that's why," Matthews said. "Garbage, garbage," Priebus muttered.

"It's your garbage," Matthews fired back.

More Via Politico

“I think Obama’s policies have created a sense that, for whatever reason, he’s looking guidance as far as health care is concerned, as far as our spending is concerned, as far as these stimulus packages are concerned, that he’s looking to Europe for guidance,” said Priebus on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” at the start of what would become a heated back and forth.

“What? Where do you get this from? That’s insane,” responded Matthews. “You mean the fact that every president we’ve had has tried to offset the economic cycle with stimulus going the other direction is somehow European?”

“We’ve got to get the debt under control,” said Priebus.

“What does that have to do with Europe and this foreignization of the government. You’re doing it now. Saying that he’s influenced by foreign influences?” said Matthews.

Transcript Via Think Progress

PRIEBUS: But I think Obama’s policies have created a sense that for whatever reason, he’s looking to guidance [from Europe] as far as health care is concerned, as far as our spending is concerned …

MATTHEWS: What? Where do you get this from? This is insane! You mean the Keynesian fiscal policy — you mean the fact that every president we’ve had has tried to offset the economic cycle with stimulus going the other direction is somehow European? … What’s this got to do with Europe and this foreignization of the guy? You’re doing it now! Saying he’s influenced by foreign influences? You’re playing that card again. What’s this European thing of yours? What are you up to with this constant that he’s not really domestic?

PRIEBUS: You don’t think the take-over of our health care system called Obamacare is a problem for most Americans?

MATTHEWS: Let me tell you some history, sir. Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt pushed for that, Truman pushed for that, were they all under the influence of Europe? Where do you get this from?

PRIEBUS: I’m not going to get into a shouting match with Chris, so you guys can just move on.

MATTHEWS: Because you’re losing, that’s why.

PRIEBUS: No, I’m not losing.

Obama Responds to the Todd Akin Fiasco

Obama gets it exactly right.

Via Huff Post

"The views expressed were offensive," said Obama. "Rape is rape. And the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we are talking about doesn't make sense to the American people and certainly doesn't make sense to me. So what I think these comments do underscore is why we shouldn't have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women."

. . . "Although these particular comments have led Governor Romney and other Republicans to distance themselves, I think the underlying notion that we should be making decisions on behalf of women for their health care decisions, or qualifying forcible rape versus non-forcible rape, I think those are broader issues," Obama said. "And that is a significant difference in approach between me and the other party."

Great discussion on Hardball: "Defending the Caveman"

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Michael Smerconish is Wrong about Jet Ski Mitt

Michael Smerconish is substituting for Chris Matthews on Hardball this week, and usually he does a fine job for MSNBC, although he is more of a conservative than Matthews.

But I think he really missed the boat yesterday - literally - in doing the "Let Me Finish" segment about Jet Ski Ken and Barbie . . . excuse me, that is Jet Ski Mitt and Ann Romney.

First of all, the title of his segment was "Let them Relax." Well, when isn't Romney relaxed? He describes himself as an "unemployed" multi-billionaire. He jokes about it all the time. Why wouldn't Romney and Ann be relaxed? They've got it all, and can have it all anytime they choose.

I agree with Smerconish that there's nothing really hoity-toity about a jet ski, which is a common sight in North America. Plenty of "average Joes" have jet skis.

But that picture still matters in the scheme of things, and not because we are "fixated" on the leisure time of presidents or presidential candidates. 

Why would Mitt Romney jump on board a jet ski in front of press photographers the same week that a damning article came out in Vanity Fair about wealth hidden offshore in a tropical paradise? I understand that the Romneys were in New Hampshire on a lake, but most Americans might see the pictures and figure he was more likely in the Cayman Islands or some exotic place where his money is stashed. So it's the watery symbolism of those pictures that might hurt Mitt's chances.

And he seemed to be mugging for the camera as he always does "Look at me relaxing! I deserve it because I'm wealthy!" He seems to be perpetually posing for glamour shots. Does that play well in a country where we are mainly having "staycations" and sweltering in over one-hundred degree temperatures this summer?

Smerconish compared the Romneys to the Obamas, Reagans, and Bushes to make his point. True, all of them have more money than most Americans dream of having. But there the comparison stops.

Yes, Obama has gone to Martha's Vineyard several times for vacation, but we can't really begrudge him borrowing a house for a week so his family can get out of sweltering Washington for some privacy. Were the Romneys looking for privacy on that big noisy jet ski? I think not.

And Obama plays golf to relax - big deal. Playing golf is almost a requirement for public office no matter where you go - a big yawn about that. Most males in our society learn to play golf as teenagers, and it's just not that high-brow, except to certain Republicans who used to fault Bill Clinton for the same thing. Again ~ *yawn*

Most Americans can identify with Ronald Reagan or George Bush wanting to go cocoon at their rancho-deluxe in the West. Frankly that was one of the few likable things about either Reagan or Bush - their "aw shucks" and wanting to put their cowboy boots under their own table for some BBQ now and then. Reagan on a horse cut a great figure, and when Nancy went out riding with him they were actually cute! And trust me, I hated their guts when Reagan was in office, so that's a big concession from me! LOL

But see . . . we never heard Reagan talking about his horse elevator, did we? And George W. usually took his whole White House gang with him to Texas. Those were laid-back, but "working" vacations.

The elder Bushes at Kennebunkport were much more old-money New England posh, and the envy of many people. Remember when murderer Scott Peterson killed his wife then lied to his new girlfriend, Amber Frey, that his family was going to Kennebunkport for Christmas just to impress her? But that's really not favorable towards the Bushes, so forget I brought it up. Anyway . . . it proves that the display of ostentation is a double-edged sword, and I'm afraid the next generation of con-men and Ted Bundy types will probably be lying about their offshore millions and ability to jet ski.

But I jest, and this really isn't funny. The fact is, we are now in a multi-year recession rivaling the Great Depression, and Mitt is no Roosevelt or Kennedy on a sailboat. Sure the Romneys just want to have fun on vacation, but was it just a week ago that Romney and 700 wealthy friends were attending a lavish party in Utah en Chateaux, and before that we saw videos of his dancing horse that is going to the Olympics, and before that, his wife wore a $10,000 t-shirt for an interview. We also had the spectacle of Romney going to Las Vegas with Newt and Trump for a one-night dinner date.

Again, I ask you - when isn't Romney relaxed? When isn't he partying and having fun? He's a "wild and crazy guy" as Ann Romney said.

And one last point - the main difference between Romney and all those other people? They were elected President.

I don't think that's going to happen for Mitt, but I'm sure he'll find solace in money, jet skis, and other ways to relax.

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MSNBC''s Matthews: "This Romney Character" Sings the Song of the Neocon Overlords

Incredibly strong speech by Chris Matthews today - best I've ever heard. He's talking about Romney's nonsensical babbling about vowing to start a war with Iran but having no answers on immigration or taxation. As we know, Romney is just the mouthpiece of the right, a tool, a puppet, or what Matthews calls a "speaker system."

Transcript Via Hungry Coyote.

Let me finish with this Romney character. I don't think Romney cares all that much about the presidency, except that he wants it. If he weren't running, do you think he'd be watching this show or any other show on politics? Mitt cares about three things: his faith, his family, his business. Right now his business is running for president. That's why he's interested in the presidency. It's his business to be interested.

Listen to him answer questions. If the interviewer doesn't ask the most obvious thing, something that Mitt's briefers have been over and over with him, he seems stunned. He doesn't have an answer. Why? Because he never thought of that one.

Fact is, he hasn't thought about many things outside his zone of interest, which again, includes his faith, his family, his business. And this is the most dangerous thing about this guy. Since he doesn't have a foreign policy, he buys the foreign policies of the powers that be. So he sings this song of his neo-con so-called advisers. What they really are, of course, are people who advocate a point of view: The need for a new war with each new Republican president. And they need someone in the White House to push it for them. They need a president who speaks their language, so they write his speeches. They want war with Iran, they just put that in the next speech.

This, as I said, is the dangerous part. We've had experience with a president who came to office with an empty head on foreign policy and bought the entire neo-con pitch, hook, line and sinker. The result was: the one war in this country's history that truly deserves a Dunce Cap.

Mitt won't say a word about taxes that Grover Norquist might disapprove. He won't approve any deal to cut spending that Grover won't say okay to. That doesn't make Mitt a leader, it makes him Grover's Rover. Grover says fetch; Mitt fetches. Grover says beg; Mitt begs. Same with the religious right. Mitt won't say a word that the Pat Robertson/Franklin Graham crowd hasn't approved for his political prayer book. There he was down at Liberty University getting an honorary degree. Now, I didn't know they gave honorary degrees for pandering.

The scariest thing about Mitt Romney is that he really is open for bids. He's sold his soul to every right-wing faction that's out there: the neo-cons on foreign policy, the religious right on social policy, Grover on the tax issue. Why have a brain if you don't have to think? With this crowd around, his only job is to do exactly what he's told. He's done just that. Listen closely. Tell me if you've ever, ever heard Mitt Romney say something that's not pluperfect right-wing talking points. The exact words that pressure groups are telling him to say. This guy isn't a candidate. He's a speaker system.

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Matthews vs. Steele: From One Sycophant to Another

Chris Matthews pushed ex-Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele into a corner with a very simple question: What is the difference between Romney's economic plan and that of George W. Bush?

And Steele refused to answer the question, and instead resorted to an ad hominem attack that Matthews is a "sycophant to Obama." That's hilarious coming from Steele, who is the biggest kiss-up in the Republican Party. LOL

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Chris Matthews Goes Rant-tastic on "Dunce Cap" Republicans

Well actually, he first said that the Democrats and Obama have been "pissant" on the economy, but when a Republican pundit retorted that people want to wait on the private sector to save them, it got his dander up and he lashed back, talking about the fact that Romney wants to continue the same "dunce cap economics" as George Bush, LOL.

(Note: This is not a complete transcript - I did it from the video below and quotes I saw on Twitter, so I will fix it later if it is incorrect)

Matthews:(Obama)...has got to be aggresive. Stop this nickel and dime...a couple of bucks for the teachers, a couple of bucks for the firefighters. I'm going to reduce the payroll tax. This is pissant! You can't get reelected with tactics. He needs a strategy, which is 'we're different than the Republicans. They're basically Free Marketers who sit around and wait for business to deliver this country from hell, and business has let us down.' He's gotta say it.

. . . Here's the idiot Republican argument. You just got a bigger tax cut than Bush gave them, by the way.
. . . You know where they're investing their money? They're investing it in campaigns against the President. They're running ads against the President by the billions of dollars....Who do you think is giving to the Republicans? It's the business guys....

Pundit: Three years after the recovery began--

Matthews: What recovery? There wasn't any Bush 'recovery.' . . . There's only an Obama recovery.

Pundit: You're saying the way to keep the economy going is by more government spending--

Matthews: Investment. Investment. Investment. Have you been to Europe lately? Have you been to Asia? Have you seen how they have trains that go 300 mph while . . . know what we have? We have Amtrak. . . . and beat-up road systems.
. . . Can I make a point here? I feel like I'm teaching first grade. . . . Business and the Republican Party are the same thing. Just like Labor and the Democrats . . .

Pundit: That's crazy.

Matthews: Business wants Republicans to win this election. . . . They're spending tons of money to have that happen. I don't know how you can deny the obvious?

Pundit: Where were they in 2008?

Matthews: They had a weak candidate they didn't believe in. Business supported Barack Obama? Yeah, right.

. . . the same dunce cap leadership that took us into Iraq is the same dunce cap thinking that took us into the financial crisis. . . Dunce-cap policy of deregulation...and tax cuts for the rich.

And from GottaLaff on Political Carnival:

Matthews: “This is the same dunce cap leadership as W! The same dunce cap leadership and policy as W! Deregulation, tax cuts… doing the same thing that got us there [a bad economy]! Romney thinks W was smart! Jesus!!“

Romney Camp Tries to Block Mitt from the Pain of Bain

Chris Matthews on Hardball made the point today that Romney's company "Bain," rhymes with "Pain."

Perhaps that explains somewhat why the Romney Campaign tried to block reporters from access to the candidate today in Florida.

From Politico.com

Reporters were told before the event that Romney wouldn't be taking questions. Regardless, after a speech today in St. Petersburg, Fla., a group of reporters and network embeds set off to the rope line.
First, a volunteer tried to block the path from the press area to where the crowd was assembled. Then a campaign staffer tasked with press relations stood arms spread trying to block reporters, informing them they couldn't walk into the general crowd area.
When reporters ignored her and kept going, she continued to argue that they wouldn't be allowed to shout questions. Her orders went unheeded and the press eventually made it to the line.
Reporters shouted, but over the crowd and the sound system with Romney flanked by Secret Service agents, it wasn't even clear that he could hear them.

A Romney spokesperson tried some damage control about the reporter block:

"This was an error on the part of the campaign staff and volunteers," Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul told POLITICO's Dylan Byers. "We have reminded them that press is allowed on the rope line to record the governor’s interactions with voters."

Yeah, that's good - a Free Press, and all that. Oy vey! Not good PR for Romney!

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