Political Animals (Real World Edition)

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

On the debut night of The Hillary Chronicles (dba USA’s Political Animals), this was the homepage of the Drudge Report:

To recap (upper left):

From Reuters:

Egyptians pelt Clinton motorcade with tomatoes

From Yahoo! News:

‘Monica, Monica’ chants taunt Clinton in Egypt

From CNN:

The protesters threw the tomatoes, shoes and a water bottle as the staff walked to their vans after the ceremony and riot police had to hold back the crowd. A tomato hit an Egyptian official in the face.

The hardworking staff and the Missus gave two Mehs to the USA premiere. But Oh, My! to the Drudge Report.

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Quote o’ the Day (Strain To Explain Bain Edition)

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

Yesterday the Romney campaign unveiled yet another concept with a capital K in trying to counter the Obama campaign’s Swift-Yachting of the former Massachusetts governor.

Romney campaign gunsel Ed Gillespie actually said this to CNN’s Candy Crowley (via Mediaite):

“Because of Mitt Romney’s leadership skills, he was called on to do it [rescue the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics], and he ended up not going back [to Bain] at all and retired retroactively to February of 1999 as a result.”

The CNN interview (check around 3:20):

 

Gillespie said the same thing on yesterday’s Meet the Press (around 1:45):

 

Retired retroactively?

Is that anything like self-deporting?

With lame spin like that,  Gillespie might consider self-deporting from the Romney campaign.

Or would that be retiring retroactively?

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It’s Good To Live In A Two-Daily Town (Ray Allen Farewell Ad-ition)

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

The ever classy Ray Allen said goodbye to Celtics fans today in a full-page Boston Globe ad.

Allen did not, however, run an ad in the Boston Herald.

Questions? Comments? Bitter recriminations?

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“September In July”? Try “Web On TV”

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

The 2012 presidential ad campaigns have gone microwave so early, it’s being called September in July.

But now here’s a new wrinkle:

 

He’s Barack Obama and he approves this message.

Seriously?

That ad is the stuff of web videos posted by Super PACs or party apparatchiks, not the actual presidential candidate.

Don’t get the hardworking staff wrong: This isn’t about the content; this is about the Obama campaign doing its own wet work instead of contracting it out.

Just one more example of defining politics-as-usual down.

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The Hardworking Staff Gets A Letter From Mitt Romney

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

From our Fan Mail from Some Flounder(ing Campaigns) desk

Yesterday it was the Missus who received a money-grubbing letter from Ann Romney (via the Republican National Committee).

Today it’s the hardworking staff receiving a money-grubbing letter from Mitt Romney (via the Republican National Committee).

Opening the envelope now . . .

The letter (close-captioned for the Romney-impaired):

Dear [Hardworking Staff],

Growing up, I was fortunate to have been an eyewitness [at an appropriate distance] to the American Dream. Ordinary people [whom I observed at an appropriate distance] worked hard, seized opportunities, and hammered out a legacy of prosperity [or more often, not] and hope for their children and grandchildren.

That was then. This is now.

Because of President Obama’s failed policies [to cut taxes on the rich], the American Dream [for the 1%] is in dire jeopardy, prosperity is out of reach for many – if not most – [really rich] Americans, and hope is fading fast. That’s the Obama legacy.

And that’s why we must hold him to one (absymal) term. 

For the record: the hardworking staff is a registered Independent; we got this letter most likely because we subscribe to The Weekly Standard.

Regardless, as the Missus said:

Move along. Nothing to collect here.

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London Olympics Five-Ring Circus (G4S Insecurity Services Edition)

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

The upcoming London Olympic Games are a disaster waiting to happen, from their inexplicable Olympics tower to their inexcusable security shortfall.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Security Shortfall Spotlights British Firm

U.K. security firm G4S PLC faced an onslaught of criticism on Friday after admitting it didn’t yet have enough personnel to guard the Olympic Games, with Prime Minister David Cameron calling for the company to face penalties.

G4S’s Chief Executive Nick Buckles has been asked to appear before a parliamentary committee Tuesday to answer questions about the G4S’s fulfillment of its £284 million ($440 million) contract to provide security guards at the Games, which are two weeks away.

G4S is supposed to provide 10,400 security guards for the Olympics. So far it has hired 4,000. Another 9,000 are “in the process of vetting, training and accreditation.”

The British government is so confident in that process, they’re deploying 3,500 military personnel to fill part of the gap. Happily, G4S will lose an estimated (by them) £50 million on the deal.

The funny thing (literally) is, while the BBC is covering this five-ring circus, it’s also spoofing it in the program – sorry, programme –  Twenty Twelve.

Trailer:

Problem is, as with so much of life these days, satire can’t get out front of reality.

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The Missus Gets A Letter From Ann Romney

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

From our Fan Mail From Some Flounder(ing Campaigns) desk

Well the Missus went to the mailbag today and out poured a letter with the return address ANN ROMNEY and the Missus turned to the hardworking staff and said, “Here – you deal with this.”

So we, dutifully, did.

And what the hardproxying staff discovered inside was – wait for it: we’re just opening the envelope now – a letter that begins this way [close-captioned for the Romney-impaired]:

                                                                       Wednesday Morning

Dear Friend,

Even though America has lost its way these past few years, I have not lost my faith in America.

[Yeah, $250 million in assets will do that for you.]

Like my husband, Mitt, I believe in America.

[As long as it doesn’t include Barack Obama as president.]

This is not just a campaign slogan — it is a deep-seated belief that comes from growing up with the best America has to offer: strong families, strong communities, strong faith, and a strong work ethic born of a sense of personal responsibility.

[In other words, a privileged upbringing. And yes, it is just a campaign slogan.]

But let’s cut to the nut graf:

Would you do me a favor and consider supporting the RNC’s important 2012 efforts with a contribution of $25, $50, $100, $250, $500, or even $1,000?

Do you a favor? What – is the Missus related to you?

Hey – do yourself a favor, Ann. Stop sending letters to the Missus.

And oh, yeah – all you GOP phonebankers with caller IDs like Defeat Obama,  you can stop contacting the Missus ten times a day, too.

She’s a registered Democrat.

Move along. Nothing to collect here.

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Let The Whatever-Billion-Dollar Rumpus Begin! (Romney Vapid Response Edition)

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

It’s “September in July,” reports Friday’s Politico Playbook.

“SEPTEMBER IN JULY. With CMAG’s Mitchell West: … [T]he volume of presidential advertising feels more like 60 days out … than dead-of-summer July. So we picked a hot market—… Columbus, OH—and took a look at spot counts at this point in 2012, 2008 … Not only did the spot count basically double between early July 2008, when 845 spots aired, and early July 2012, when 1,640 spots aired, but more presidential spots aired in Columbus, OH during the first 12 days of this month than during the first 12 days of September 2008…

“As of July 12, every presidential ad on the air in the Columbus market was a negative ad.”

So no surprise, here comes another TV spot from Mitt Romney (R-Outraged):

 

From MSNBC’s First Read:

 The Romney campaign is up with another TV ad this morning fighting back on the negative attacks it’s receiving from the Obama campaign. The ad quotes Obama during his 2008 nomination acceptance speech in Denver. “Because if you don’t have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare voters. If you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from… You make a big election about small things.” The ad concludes with this screen shot: “We expect more from a president.” But remember this little rule in politics: If someone is complaining about negative TV ads, that usually means they’re working…

And, as it happens, they are.

Which means this campaign is just going to get uglier when it’s September in September.

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Is This The First Mr. Elizabeth Warren Sighting?

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

From yesterday’s Boston Globe:

Warren and Brown share July 12 anniversary date

Table for four at L’Espalier?

Perhaps not.

But after months of jabbing each other with insults and attacks, Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown – and their spouses — will celebrate a warmer milestone Thursday, if not together, at least with the same spirit.

In a moment of serendipity, the bitter rivals for the US Senate, who seem to agree on so little, both said, “I do,” on July 12, albeit six years apart.

Warren and her husband, fellow Harvard Law professor Bruce Mann, were married in a congregational church in Farmington, Conn., on July 12, 1980, and are now marking 32 years of legal briefs, dinner parties, and dishes together.

Brown and his wife, television reporter Gail Huff, were married on July 12, 1986, at the Tufts University chapel in Medford, making it 26 years of omelet-making, triathlons, and basketball games.

Photos of the loving couples:

 

 

Susan Werner Photography – WernerPhoto.com

Which got the hardworking staff to thinking: Is this the first time we’ve seen Mr. Elizabeth Warren?

We think so.

Tell us if we ‘re wrong (as you always do).

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Dear WGBH: This. Totally. Blows. (III)

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Campaign Outsider

So it’s 12:10 am and the hardworking staff is listening to some opera thing on Classical New England 99.5 FM and trying to write and it’s JUST NOT RIGHT.

(Before you Cosi fan tutteniks get all lathered up, it’s not opera that’s the problem. The hardworking staff just isn’t cultured enough to appreciate it.)

What we’d appreciate is the return of Jazz with Bob Parlocha to 89.7 FM (and yes, we’re sorry we ever called him Bob Tapioca).

But that’s not gonna happen, is it?

So the hardworking staff is officially switching to the webstream of TSF JAZZ, which we listen to with the Missus when we’re in Paris.

Au revoir, terrestrial radio.

We hate to leave you, but we have to go.

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