Category Archives: 2012 Election

The Stephen Colbert Phenomenon

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

It began with ‘I am a Super PAC and So Can You’. Then Colbert turned over his Super PAC to Jon Stewart in order to enable the creation of a Presidential exploratory committee … and then Colbert was interviewed on ABC’s This Week about his Presidential ambitions by no less than George Stephanopoulos.

Colbert chewed him up and spit him out.

The Super PAC has hit the ground running. It began its new independent-from-Colbert incarnation with this instant classic advertisement, Mitt Romney (Serial Killer):

Then they went after Newt Gingrich in Double Negative:

And now ~~he’s released~~ the totally unrelated Super PAC has released this latest Herman Cainiod jem:

In addition to these acts of national conscious-raising, Colbert has already forced Huntsman from the race. Huntsman withdrew when polling showed Colbert running ahead of Huntsman in South Carolina.

But wait. Do you think a comedian should not be messing with the important business of picking a GOP candidate? Not to worry, the ~~Colbert~~ Super PAC agrees, and is running an anti-Colbert commercial too:

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Figures

Posted on January 14, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

You know that financed-by-Newt-Gingrich-buddies Ultimate Mitt Romney Hit Video I wrote about the other day? Seems it has a few problems, much in keeping with the character of the candidate it is designed to help.

Like, accuracy. The people in Gaffney, SC say say the plant closing featured in the video wasn’t a big deal. Similarly, Marianna, Fla workers cry foul over anti-Romney film.

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Ultimate Mitt Romney Hit Video

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Michael Froomkin

When Mitt Romney Came To Town — Full, complete version

The amazing thing about this 28-minute-long Occupy Wall Street-style hit piece is who made it: Newt Gingrich’s Super PAC.

Barney Frank was widely quoted when he said, “I never thought I’d live such a good life that I would see Newt Gingrich be the nominee of the Republican party.” Turns out even if you lived only a sort of good life, Newt is just great as a spoiler.

Posted in 2012 Election, 99% | 2 Comments

Ron Paul’s Trippy Case for Unwinding the Empire

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

Ron Paul is not fit to be President (see, e.g., this and this). But he does have qualities that make him interesting. One is that on issues he cares about — racism apparently not being one of them — he is more principled, more consistent (and more extreme) than we are used to seeing in a putative national candidate. (Reagan was certainly not consistent; he raised taxes significantly.) One of those issues is monetary policy: he hates the Fed; although I don’t go far down that road with him, Paul’s pushes for Fed transparency (with Alan Grayson) have been beneficial, and the results deeply revelatory. Another is his support for what we used to call isolationism, but Paul wishes to rebrand as loving our foreign friends.

Here’s his case for pulling back from empire:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMHBEAeNa-c

Something about the presentation made me think of Mike Gravel.

Kidding aside, Paul does have a serious point: US military adventurism doesn’t work out very well for us or our, um, beneficiaries. The US has at least 662 foreign military bases in well over 150 nations — not counting all the secret ones where no one has ever been tortured or subjected to rendition in places where they torture folks. The latest new foreign military base is in Australia, a state no doubt in danger of imminent invasion.

Bases create demand for infrastructure to protect them, which is then used to justify a larger number of carriers and other force projection tools. Those in turn need bases to supply them… Meanwhile, other countries feel occupied, or encircled. And the US spends far more on arms then any other country in the rest of the world. Indeed more than then the sum of the expenditures of the next 15 countries (2010 data.)

Posted in 2012 Election, National Security | 2 Comments