On election night, a reality check looms for someone
The multiplicity of modern media has made it possible to create worlds within worlds, realities within realities. You can, for example, choose a reality in which Barack Obama is up by 3.5 percentage points, with an 80 percent chance of being re-elected, or you can choose to live in a competing reality in which “unskewed” polling reports the happy news that Mitt Romney is actually up almost eight points in national polls.
However, a time will always arrive when your created reality must be “trued up” against actual reality. You can delay that moment, you can dodge that moment, but eventually it must come. Media technology, with all of its magic, has not yet created a work-around to that harsh exercise.
In the runup to the Iraq War, for example, the Bush administration created a reality in which Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, American forces would be greeted as liberators, ethnic differences in Iraq were of little consequence and the invasion would more or less pay for itself. Actual reality proved to be quite a bit different, but it took several agonizing years for our leaders to admit just how delusional their created reality had been, and to realign their policies accordingly.
Election days also have a way of realigning created realities to actual reality. On the evening of Nov. 6, we will not only have an answer to whether the polls or the “unskewed polls” had proved more accurate, we will learn a lot more about the American people as well. Each political party entered this campaign season confident that it had the backing of the majority of Americans; each believed that its message was more true to American values and more responsive to America’s needs.
The election is going to tell us which reality was correct, and which is in need of alteration.
In my own personal created reality — and given human limitations and our imperfect understanding of the world, we all live in created realities of varying accuracies — Barack Obama should and probably will be re-elected. In my reality, those conservatives who have been pouring into movie theaters to see “2016: Obama’s America” may have to come to grips on Election Night with the fact that a majority of their fellow Americans simply do not see the world as they do, that in fact they, not the president and his supporters, are the minority that is out of touch with the American mainstream.
I understand that would not be easy to accept, and that most will employ any means available to avoid doing so. The process is already underway and is easily observable. For example, the claim that current polls are biased against conservatives is at root a defense mechanism that allows them to deny in public, and for a while, an outcome that many of them in private now fear to be looming.
And should that argument fail, fear not, because this is a defense in layers. Conservatives are already preparing a fallback defense blaming their loss on the media. Beyond that they have prepared a defense in which they blame it on Mitt Romney, and beyond that on the Republican establishment that forced the selection of Romney on a party base that knew better.
All of those layers of psychic defense are designed to defend the inner sanctum, the holy of holies. Whatever happens, blame must not be allowed to fall on the conservative message. Blame it on those selected to spread the message, blame it on those who distorted the message, blame it on those too stupid to appreciate the message, but whatever happens, do not blame it on the message.
Because if the message is wrong, it forces a readjustment to reality that is too painful to be considered.
Read, for example, Erick Erickson, the CNN analyst and Redstate.com founder:
“There are a lot of elitist Republicans who have spent several years telling us Mitt Romney was the only electable Republican. Because the opinion makers and news media these elitists hang out with have concluded Romney will not win, the elitists are in full on panic mode. They conspired to shut out others, tear down others, and prop up Romney with the electability argument. He is now not winning against the second coming of Jimmy Carter. They know there will be many conservatives, should Mitt Romney lose, who will not be satisfied until every bridge is burned with these jerks, hopefully with the elitist jerks tied to the bridge as it burns.”
Read his conservative colleague, Ben Domenech:
“There will be very negative consequences for a Romney loss for the power of center-right elites who are largely viewed as foisting him on the base despite the latter’s objections. A Romney loss almost certainly pushes the 2016 nominee rightward, and I doubt the megaphones will be powerful enough to frame the 2012 contest, as they did in 2008, as one where the conservative Veep choice dragged down the ticket.
“Like it or not, the money and opinion elites on the center-right own Romney’s failure from the perspective of the base — they need him to win. And the reality is that if Romney loses, it will have little if anything to do with Paul Ryan’s big ideas, tactical choices, or elite misgivings — and far more to do with the simple fact that Romney is still disliked by most voters.”
Both men insist — and on this they are correct — that the battle is not yet lost. There is still time — barely — to turn the race around, although at this point something major would have to happen to do so. I have yet to see such anguished handwringing from anyone on the left, which tells you something.
The thrust of the argument from Erickson, Domenech and many others is equally telling: Should we fail, our failure can be explained only by the fact that our movement has been insufficiently pure, that our message is insufficiently pure, and that we ourselves have been insufficiently pure. Move farther right, ever farther right, for there lies true salvation.
From my version of reality, that response dooms you to perpetual minority status. From theirs, it represents pursuit of the true faith. And one of those realities is very very wrong.
– Jay Bookman
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1,181 comments Add your comment
East Lake Ira
September 26th, 2012
1:47 pm
Debates Do Not Matter
You Republicans that believe Romney will do anything but act wooden and sanctimonious during the debates are fooling yourselves.
He’ll lie lie lie like he always does.
America will laugh and point.
Fly-On-The-Wall
September 26th, 2012
1:47 pm
Wow, I just read something interesting. Tom (Vet) just said that he listens to and watches Right wing programs but he feels that MSNBC & CNN must lie just as much.
There in lies the problem, no trust at all for the media. So if one side is doing it all the time then the others must as well. Wow.
I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
1:48 pm
maybe they ought to poll at night when republicans are home from work, just say’n
getalife
September 26th, 2012
1:48 pm
I’m a lib,
I think all the polls will correct right before the election so keep up that hope for change.
Fred ™
September 26th, 2012
1:49 pm
Tom(Independent Viet Vet-USAF)
September 26th, 2012
1:43 pm
Fred – You are right, sometimes I listen to Boortz(talk radio) and watch Fox, they do not tell anymore lies than say CNN or MSNBC? You listen to both and then form your own opinions. Thanks for the beer comment, but do not smoke or use alcohol, kinda of a health nut. That’s why my wife calls me Spartacus but I think you made lite of that previously.
++++++++++++++++++
ok, no beer. You want to walk up Stone Mountain instead?
Neal got boring after he sold out to the Republicans. All he says now for 4 and 1/2 hours is “Obama sucks.” Oh and every once in a while he’ll toss in a 76th grade crotch joke for change. As to MSNBC, I can’t say, I don’t watch it. I DID however watch them once. They had some show on where this dude was setting up stings for child molesters. I forget the name though. Cnn? Sometimes, not much. I mostly watch local news (wsb) and read. I find a plethora of articles, left and right, being posted right here. That’s how I often get behind in the discussion, I’m reading the links……… most folks don’t read the links, including the ones they post often times lol.
atelr8
September 26th, 2012
1:50 pm
Class of ‘98
Regarding your first post here today (re: Biden & Obama supporters) & others where you have belittled the intelligence of Obama supporters: You should have been in my company when I visited my ring wing family tree limb up in Minnesota recently. To a one they only rely on Fox News, Rush Limbaugh & Sean for their information & I kid you not.
Among my regrets after leaving their company, was the fact that I didn’t push them on whether they ever thought outside of their box, or looked outside their own beliefs & challenged themselves with a viewpoint other than those which they have held since their political opinions were first formed.
When they mentioned those media choices & I responded with, “What else?” I was met by the sound of crickets. Then my Aunt proudly spoke out & said, “Fox News is number 1″ & held her finger out with a 1 raised, as if their ratings status proved that everything she espoused was correct. I should have asked her why she was so personally invested in the ratings status of one media site but I didn’t, hence one aspect of my regrets.
Those of us who have been on both sides of the political spectrum & know our way around the internet as well as the newspapers & the television & radio dials, we really have no excuse for not trying to broaden our knowledge beyond what we are comfortable with.
And before you respond by challenging me or asking if go outside of my own media “comfort” zone, rest assured that you already know the answer or I would not have brought this up here.
On a final general note to everyone: Whether you are on the right or the left, if you are too lazy to independently fact check those e-mails you receive that have been forwarded to you, you deserve a special place in the halls of ignominy if you forward them on unverified!
I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
1:50 pm
Yea East lake, for 2 weeks it was a movie that caused our people to be murdered. Yea, a movie. The guy is a piece of work…..and the View is a good place for him
JamVet
September 26th, 2012
1:50 pm
I think the debates are too late to change any minds.
The only reason I can think of to even think of watching them (and I wont) would be to see if Mitt “Gaffe” Romney sticks his feet in his mouth yet again.
Maybe he can clarify his position on how our embassy personnel sympathized with their attackers…
Fred ™
September 26th, 2012
1:50 pm
I’m a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with…cause we’re smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
1:48 pm
maybe they ought to poll at night when republicans are home from work, just say’n
+++++++++++++++++++++
Well either they could get you right the hell now or you are ripping off your employer by blogging instead of working………
bez
September 26th, 2012
1:51 pm
Good article.
Erwin's cat
September 26th, 2012
1:53 pm
missing baryons finally found?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49180935/ns/technology_and_science-space#.UGM__VGuAik
Erwin's cat
September 26th, 2012
1:53 pm
missing baryons finally found?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49180935/ns/technology_and_science-space#.UGM__VGuAik
getalife
September 26th, 2012
1:53 pm
I just want to see if romney can remember all his positions.
I think it will be another train wreck for romney.
I think our President knows his positions..
I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
1:53 pm
I own it Fred. Evil over taxed one percenter. What else ya got.
gm
September 26th, 2012
1:53 pm
Mitt (Gordon Gekko) insulted half Americans beyond closed doors, most of these people were his own base, for all you right loonies name what President that has insulted his own base and won?
Mitt could have called southern conservatives poor white tr””””and they still would line up and vote for him just like former druger, high school drop out Rush Limbaugh said “this is not about Mitt its about voting against Obama.
The polls are correct Mitt will get all of the southern white males except Florida, 20% white conservative women and Obama will get every thing else, this guy makes Bush look like Reagan ”””’
Fred ™
September 26th, 2012
1:53 pm
I’m a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with…cause we’re smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
1:46 pm
who is Rush?
+++++++++++++++++++
Really? Are you that clueless or just 15 years old?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpCASVFyQoE
Joe Hussein Mama
September 26th, 2012
1:53 pm
Ima Librul — “You are kidding Joe, right?”
Nope. I’m dead serious.
Show me — mathematically — why that’s a problem. And if you don’t have any background in statistics, I won’t have any problem spotting that and calling you out on it.
BTW, saying something like ‘everybody knows’ is not evidence.
I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
1:54 pm
getalife………yea right…..a movie….no, a terrorist attack…..no a movie……..State Dept say’s a terrorist attack….no, a movie…….No, CIA sat terror………9/11, not a movie…….uh uh uh
Goldie
September 26th, 2012
1:55 pm
“Why they vilify peaceful believers in individual responsibility and achievement but seek to embrace those that would slay them.”
hmmm… Misty, got Kool-aid?
Fred ™
September 26th, 2012
1:55 pm
I’m a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with…cause we’re smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
1:54 pm
getalife………yea right…..a movie….no, a terrorist attack…..no a movie……..State Dept say’s a terrorist attack….no, a movie…….No, CIA sat terror………9/11, not a movie…….uh uh uh
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Thanks but I saw fox and heard Neal and Rush. I don’t need your poor repeating of their words…….
Mr. Snarky
September 26th, 2012
1:57 pm
I’m just glad the repubs have it locked up tight based on their internal secret polling. I’m sure they’re all sleeping like babies. I wouldn’t want anyone panicking or anything.
Citizen of the World
September 26th, 2012
1:58 pm
I remember when it looked like Hurricane Isaac might hit Tampa during the Republican Convention — since many among them appear to believe in divine retribution (take that, New Orleans!), a friend remarked that maybe they would have to consider the error of their ways if the hurricane hit them in the convention. I said, yes, they probably will, but it won’t be the way you are thinking. They won’t think they’re wrong as much as not “right” enough.
Fred ™
September 26th, 2012
1:58 pm
I’m a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with…cause we’re smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
1:53 pm
I own it Fred. Evil over taxed one percenter. What else ya got.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Really? Overtaxed? You need a better accountant. I only paid 9% last year.
I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
1:59 pm
Joe, I’m not a statistician, but calling more Democrats than republicans and asking who they plan to vote for and saying that Obama is leading is a little dishonest.
Fred ™
September 26th, 2012
1:59 pm
They won’t think they’re wrong as much as not “right” enough.
Wow. What’s sad is that you are probably correct…………
Fred ™
September 26th, 2012
2:00 pm
Joe, I’m not a statistician, but calling more Democrats than republicans and asking who they plan to vote for and saying that Obama is leading is a little dishonest.
Really? And you have proof of this dishonesty you can post for us?
I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
2:00 pm
22% adjusted Fred on 1.3 mil in profit.
Granny Godzilla - Union Thugette
September 26th, 2012
2:00 pm
JamVet
September 26th, 2012
1:44 pm
For some reason, Asians apparently haven’t had as difficult a struggle to succeed in this country as other minorities.
.
.
.
We stopped building railroads
stands for decibels
September 26th, 2012
2:01 pm
Gallup suddenly has Obama up by 6.
…but I see that Gallup claims to poll “registered voters” as opposed to what I’m told is a more accurate (at this point in the season) “likely voters.”
http://www.gallup.com/poll/150743/Obama-Romney.aspx
which, I would think, might tend to favor Obama somewhat.
But then Nate Silver had Gallup with a +2.5 GOP house effect, so, I’m not sure what to think here.
getalife
September 26th, 2012
2:01 pm
I’m a lib,
Did you listen to our President’s UN speech?
It was very informative .
I even listened to iamanutjob’s last UN speech.
It was toned down but full of propaganda.
Obama is over
September 26th, 2012
2:01 pm
Polls are routinely manipulated to reflect the author’s perspective. The NYT’s had Jimmy Carter tied or leading Reagan significantly in their polls in the key “swing” states before Reagan’s landslide victory. The most recent egregious embarassing example of media bias was when you focused on Romney’s comments on the Libyan crisis while American lives were being lost. The concern was not about how we should protect Americans in harm’s way or what happened, but rather how to find a soundbite to embarass Romney. The realty here is the Obama adminstration’s agenda has been a dismal failure. His energy policy has wasted $billions.His foreign policy has caused our allies to not trust us while ecouraging our enemies to attack us. His domestic economic policies have resulted in consistently high unemployment, increased poverty rates, lower average incomes for everyone, and greater Government dependence. The media has done an excellent job providing salacious distractions from how badly the country is doing in order to shelter Obama from the cold cruel reality that none of his ideas are working. Yet he wants more of the same- passing the blame, ever increasing spending, and more government control.
JamVet
September 26th, 2012
2:02 pm
Evil over taxed one percenter.
George Soros and John Kerry say thank you for doing yeoman’s work for them…
getalife
September 26th, 2012
2:02 pm
The Braves are in the playoffs.
Congrats Atlanta.
Win it for Chipper.
I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
2:03 pm
Sorry getalife, I haven’t listed to Obama in over a year……….I watch the news, not Letterman, The View or MTV.
Don
September 26th, 2012
2:03 pm
If Romney loses, the GOP base will blame it on him not being a “true conservative” and the Republican party will finish it’s jerk to the right and become largely irrelevant in American politics.
Too bad, I liked the two party system.
I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
2:04 pm
Better than that Jamvet, I provide 135 people with good jobs….with health Insurance I can afford for now.
Tinkerella
September 26th, 2012
2:04 pm
And Santorum & DeMint just backed Akin. And then the repubs wanna know why they are trailing? It ain’t rocket science, gentlemen.
skipper
September 26th, 2012
2:05 pm
I am not better off than I was four years ago……
TaxPayer
September 26th, 2012
2:05 pm
You see, the way they make them polls come out in favor of Obama is they call folks and ask them if they are in favor of Obama and if they say no, they hang up on them and they keep doing that until they get enough Obama voters. Just ask any Republican. They’ll tell you. It’s the truth. They oversample Obama supporters because that’s the only way they can win. And that’s why Republicans had to take steps to undersample Obama supporters at the polls. So they could make things balanced again.
Fred ™
September 26th, 2012
2:05 pm
22% adjusted Fred on 1.3 mil in profit.
Make that a MUCH better accountant lol. Hell, even Romney gets down to 13%.
getalife
September 26th, 2012
2:05 pm
Refs are close to a deal and could be back Sunday.
TaxPayer
September 26th, 2012
2:05 pm
Another broken bootstrap at 2:05.
mm
September 26th, 2012
2:05 pm
” I’m not a statistician, but calling more Democrats than republicans and asking who they plan to vote for and saying that Obama is leading is a little dishonest.”
The dolts really believe this.
JamVet
September 26th, 2012
2:06 pm
We Hebes stand side by side with our black, yellow and red brothers and sisters! Always have and always will!
I love that we ALL are united in standing up to the misogyny, bigotry, intolerance and xenophobia of the Lily White Party.
And the two conventions always demonstrate that…
Keep Up the Good Fight!
September 26th, 2012
2:07 pm
Sorry getalife, I haven’t listed to Obama in over a year……….I watch the news, not Letterman, The View or MTV
Can the silly poster be any more silly…
Posting talking point absuridty is just inanity.
Fred ™
September 26th, 2012
2:07 pm
I’m a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with…cause we’re smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
2:03 pm
Sorry getalife, I haven’t listed to Obama in over a year……….I watch the news, not Letterman, The View or MTV.
+++++++++++++++++++
No you don’t. You watch FOX. They are a tabloid not news. They always have been.
Joe Hussein Mama
September 26th, 2012
2:07 pm
I’ma Librul — “Joe, I’m not a statistician”
No kidding. I would never have guessed.
“but calling more Democrats than republicans and asking who they plan to vote for and saying that Obama is leading is a little dishonest.”
Oh, so you’re claiming that Democrats are overselected by design? Got some proof of that?
I wonder why conservatives aren’t bothered by polls that undersample poor people? After all, those poor people are less likely to have phones, but more likely to vote for Obama, right? And I wonder why conservatives don’t worry about the racial and gender makeup of survey populations? After all, if party identification makes such a difference, then shouldn’t the race and gender of the respondents make a difference? How about state of residence? Do you know for a fact that Rasmussen polls proportionally across all 50 states, or do you just take his word for it?
The fact of the matter is that if you perform your sample selection properly and have a large enough sample, your results will reflect the larger population’s results (within the margin of error) *even if* certain groups are over- or under-represented. This lately fashionable notion that polls are somehow skewed if their sample populations don’t accurately reflect the population they’re drawn from is quite simply total bullspit. IMO, it’s nothing more than conservatives trying to spin themselves some hope when Romney’s election chances are clearly going down the drain.
Just FYI, if you’re not a statistician, then perhaps you should refrain from making unsupported assertions about sampling and polling practices being “dishonest.”
Citizen of the World
September 26th, 2012
2:07 pm
Fly-on-the-Wall @ 1:47, that’s part of the “beauty” of Fox News. The network is so biased, while claiming to be Fair & Balanced, that even the people who watch it can see right through that claim. But it appeals to their fears and prejudices, so they will accept it, while assuming that all other media must be just as biased on the other side, otherwise, why would those crazy liberals tune in?
But that’s a cornerstone of brainwashing — to destroy faith in institutions. And Fox News has thoroughly destroyed their viewers’ faith in the institution of journalism.
Fred ™
September 26th, 2012
2:08 pm
I’m a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with…cause we’re smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
2:04 pm
Better than that Jamvet, I provide 135 people with good jobs…….
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
No you don’t. Your CUSTOMERS provide jobs for 135 people. If you had no customers you wouldn’tpay those people for 15 seconds. THAT is the fallacy of your “job creator” BS.
East Cobb RINO, Inc. (LLC)
September 26th, 2012
2:09 pm
“The Braves are in the playoffs.”
*************
Does that foretell a Dem win in November? Braves were in playoffs most of the 90s when Clinton was in office. Then had a playoff drought during the Bush years. They have had a resurgence since Obama took office. They were also competitive during the Carter administration and sucked during the Reagan/Bush1 years. So now we have our answer.
Jay
September 26th, 2012
2:09 pm
“The most recent egregious embarassing example of media bias was when you focused on Romney’s comments on the Libyan crisis while American lives were being lost. The concern was not about how we should protect Americans in harm’s way or what happened, but rather how to find a soundbite to embarass Romney.
Just when you think you’ve seen the limits, somebody steps up to take it to an HNL.
In this case, it wasn’t Romney’s fault for accusing the president of sympathizing with terrorists, and doing so at a point when the bodies of our fellow Americans were still warm; no, it’s media bias because the media dared to REPORT those comments.
Sheez.
getalife
September 26th, 2012
2:09 pm
I’m a lib,
I can tell,
You are very uninformed and read rw propaganda hoping for change.
Not going to happen .
Fred ™
September 26th, 2012
2:09 pm
JamVet
September 26th, 2012
2:06 pm
We Hebes stand side by side with our black, yellow and red brothers and sisters! Always have and always will!
++++++++++++++++++
Screw you. You left us white rednecks off your list dummy.
I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
2:11 pm
Fred, I run a simple business ( yea, I know, bring the jokes) and I’m in a 35% bracket with little wiggle room to lower the rate……And just so you’ll know, they are changing the rules as we speak about direct expense and depreciating expenses. Example, IF I put a 4,000 transmission in a truck, I write that off as an expense and enjoy the entire expense this year. I’m being told now I have to depreciate that now and take the 4 grand over 5 years. Really helping me stay profitable and hire folks right?
Michael G.
September 26th, 2012
2:11 pm
Jay,
I’m looking forward to the day after the election and hearing your excuses for Obama’s defeat. (Most likely because of an Israeli pre-emptive strike against Iran) Then we can shove this blog about completing realities back in your face.
JamVet
September 26th, 2012
2:12 pm
…not Letterman…
Nor I. Except tonight.
I want to change the world
I want to make it well
How can I change the world
When I can’t change myself
Try again tomorrow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-fuNVhbhZQ
Fred ™
September 26th, 2012
2:13 pm
getalife
September 26th, 2012
2:05 pm
Refs are close to a deal and could be back Sunday.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Damn right. That stupidity Monday night cost the bookies anywhere fro 150 million to half a billion depending on who you read. For that much money they’ll put a hit on Goodell and he damn well knows it.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8422934/seattle-seahawks-vs-green-bay-packers-disputed-mnf-call-shifted-150-250m-bets
I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
2:14 pm
Yea Fred, sorry, I did build it. My risk, my work, my ideas, my hires. Everyone but the guvment has customers.
I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
2:14 pm
Fred, you sound like one little bitter underachiever to me.
gm
September 26th, 2012
2:14 pm
Obama is over
Can you say he has kept you safe for 4 years, bad Obama for running up the debt how dare he spend billions on Americans who were in need because the last administration destroyed the economy.
We are sure it was the media who called half of the country free loaders, you people need help””
+
Jay
September 26th, 2012
2:15 pm
See ya election night, Michael!
One way or the other, right?
Fred ™
September 26th, 2012
2:15 pm
Jamvet: Referencing my 2:09: I left off the
I’m sure you knew it to be jocularity but just to make sure……..
detritusUSA
September 26th, 2012
2:16 pm
It is frightening to think that the republicans would go even further to the right. They would be approaching a totalitarian philosophy.
East Cobb RINO, Inc. (LLC)
September 26th, 2012
2:16 pm
“Refs are close to a deal and could be back Sunday.”
*****************
Much to the chagrin of the teams playing Thursday night.
cc
September 26th, 2012
2:16 pm
For the most part, this election will see two different classes of voters: the pro-Obama and anti-Obama factions. There will be some pro-Romney voters, but they will be in the decided minority. The anti-Obama voters have no choice, and they will not sit this election out because Romney isn’t conservative enough to suit them. The so-called news media is very biased toward Obama and I, as an anti-Obama voter, am happy to see the widespread coverage the polls are getting. These polls serve to unify and energize the conservative base, and they may even be working to Romney’s advantage in a way you do not explore in this column.
“Barack Obama should and probably will be re-elected.”
Well, Jay, your column IS an opinion column, isn’t it?
JamVet
September 26th, 2012
2:17 pm
My bad, Fred!
! love rednecks and especially our RC. (The dope smoking/peaceful kind, not that right wing, Aryan nation kind!)
You know. Charlie Daniels before he went dipstick on us…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYBSvn5juIk
TaxPayer
September 26th, 2012
2:17 pm
How did poor lib ever survive in the days before Accelerated Depreciation. The horrors.
Get Real
September 26th, 2012
2:17 pm
Jay, no doubt you and I live in two very different realities however I agree that much to my dismay Obama will be re-elected but we disagree that he should. We will also disagree on the reasons why he will be re-elected; as far as I am concerned there are the riders and then there are the wagon pullers. Unfortunately, there are many more riders now in this country than wagon pullers and with Obama’s re-election it is only going to get worse…..
Mark in mid-town
September 26th, 2012
2:19 pm
Jay Bookman writes: “In the runup to the Iraq War, for example, the Bush administration created a reality in which Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, ”
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That is such a shamelessly dishonest rewriting of history and Bookman is certainly not the only liberal Democrat who engages in it. It was largely the Clinton Administration and Democrats before Bush ever became president who pushed the narrative that Saddam Hussein had a substantail WMD program, along with a whispering campaign about how the first President Bush didn’t take care of the Saddam Hussein problem. In fact, it was 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry who in the late 1990s claimed that he was even ahead of his party and the country in the need to confront and stand up to Saddam Hussein. It’s legitimate to argue that Bush should not have attacked Iraq as he did, but it’s just disgustingly dishonest to claim that the Bush Administration created a reality in which Saddam Hussein had WMD.
I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
2:20 pm
detritus, How far left is this tribe on here. Off the map left is the correct answer. Funny reading how centrist the regulars on here think they are. Hell, It’s a loon farm that could make money having people pay to see it
Keep Up the Good Fight!
September 26th, 2012
2:20 pm
Yea Fred, sorry, I did build it. My risk, my work, my ideas, my hires
Hmmm… funny how this posting buffoonery comes from the same poster who just whined about how his ability to take a tax credit for an investment in his business over 1 yr vs 5 years was an issue.
So much for the “I did build it”…. Sorry Charlie.
Fred ™
September 26th, 2012
2:22 pm
I’m a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with…cause we’re smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
2:14 pm
Yea Fred, sorry, I did build it. My risk, my work, my ideas, my hires. Everyone but the guvment has customers.
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And without customers, you have no business despite your risk and all that other stuff you pat yourself on the back for.
As to ME being an underachiever? Yeah that’s me. I made enough that I QUIT at 40 and just do enough contracting to stay “alive” as a business while I live off the profit. I underachieved alright. I underachieved so much I send my daughter to Woodward Academy.
You are just as wrong on that as you are on everything else. Probably the major difference between me and you talk radio blowhards is my humility. I don’t consider myself “better” than someone based on my salary. Teachers KNOW they won’t make much going into the deal but they do it anyway. Firemen know they won’t ever be rich but they do it anyway. Soldier and policemen risk their lives for peanuts, yet they do it anyway. I KNOW I’m no better than any of those folks, yet you think they are pond scum. How sad. In order for you to feel important you have to run others down. You know who the most important folks in our communities are?
The trash men. Let THEM stop for a month and see what happens……..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uLtyzRgmyI
JOE COOL............
September 26th, 2012
2:22 pm
skipper
September 26th, 2012
2:05 pm
“I am not better off than I was four years ago……”
As the CONs say, get up and stop being a moocher.
TBone
September 26th, 2012
2:23 pm
Why can’t y’all just wait until the people make their votes count on November 6th. It seems as if the Obasma proppers are getting a little panicked with 6 weeks to go. Vote for the MORMON not the MORON.
Get Real
September 26th, 2012
2:24 pm
Mark in Mid Town…
Yes, I guess along with Bush, British Intelligence and Mossad were complicit in creating Jay’s alternate reality about WMDs
East Cobb RINO, Inc. (LLC)
September 26th, 2012
2:24 pm
A 4000 dollar engine should have an expected lifespan of at least 4-5 years so that depreciation over the useful life of capital equipment makes sense. If that 4000 engine has to be replaced every year then the entire expense would seem reasonable for that year. I believe it has typically been this way except for 2011 when the Obama administration approved a bill that would allow for certain items to be fully depreciated that year as part of a stimulus package. Not sure if it was extended beyond that though. Perhaps there is a CPA amongst us who could better explain it.
JOE COOL............
September 26th, 2012
2:25 pm
skipper
September 26th, 2012
2:05 pm
“I am not better off than I was four years ago……”
Maybe you should have turned stripper instead of a skipper.
I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
2:25 pm
Fred, you don’t know me. Want to compare charitable giving for a little wager? Picking an insult on a blog because they have a different political opinion than you makes you look rather “small”
Joe Hussein Mama
September 26th, 2012
2:26 pm
Mark in mid-town — “It was largely the Clinton Administration and Democrats before Bush ever became president who pushed the narrative that Saddam Hussein had a substantail WMD program”
Horse pucky.
Clinton didn’t push the ‘African yellowcake’ and ‘aluminum tubes’ arguments, and he didn’t make up the bulldada excuse that Iraqi noncompliance with UN resolutions gave us the authority to invade. I’ve read the applicable resolutions many times, and they all spelled out next steps in case Saddam Hussein didn’t act right — and NONE of them said anything remotely like ‘and then member States can go kick his azz after that point.’
If there’s some shamelessly dishonest rewriting of history, it’s on your part. At least have the stones to stand up and say ‘yeah, we did it and we’re proud of it.’ Don’t wuss out and try to blame Bush’s screwup in Iraq on Clinton.
After all, Clinton wasn’t in office, so by GOP standards, Bush owns that war all by himself.
Steve Shamrock
September 26th, 2012
2:27 pm
Don’t get too cocky and ahead of yourself Jay…there are 3 debates coming up.
Whatever happens in November…happens…we will be fine. We will not stop trying to hold our President to his campaign promises nor stop holding him accountable (since so called “Journalists” like yourself won’t).
I will vote on November 2nd and will urge all others that are not pleased with the way the country is headed to do the same.
I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
2:28 pm
East Cobb…..just got the call last week that all this is changing as of now. My CFO say’s our tax bill will go up about 25-30K on 1.3 mil in pre tax. I guess they are looking at every angle for cash. Maybe GE might pay a little tax. That would help.
Lord Help Us
September 26th, 2012
2:29 pm
‘t was largely the Clinton Administration and Democrats before Bush ever became president who pushed the narrative that Saddam Hussein had a substantail WMD program’
Remember when Clinton warned about mushroom clouds and said that, ‘there is no doubt that Iraq has, in fact, reconstituted its nuclear program.’
Get Real
September 26th, 2012
2:29 pm
Wow Fred….lot’s of hostility there. I do not believe I am better than anyone else because I have achieved, I have worked very hard as it appears you have as well. Did you feel you were “entitled” to your success….I hope the answer is NO as that is my answer as well…
JamVet
September 26th, 2012
2:30 pm
TBone, that’s fine. You vote for that shameless, unprincipled coward from Massachusetts.
Or don’t.
Either way he will never darken the doorway of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Except as a guest of the President and First Lady…
Steve Shamrock
September 26th, 2012
2:30 pm
“There is still time — barely — to turn the race around, although at this point something major would have to happen to do so. I have yet to see such anguished handwringing from anyone on the left, which tells you something.”
Come out of the Bookman Liberal Bubble…please also remove the word “Journalist” from your bio.
I am still voting for Romney/Ryan despite the fact that the liberal with a “Journalism” degree from Penn State has told me the race is all but over.
Suck on that.
Fred ™
September 26th, 2012
2:30 pm
Jamvet: Speaking of rednecks with a huge change of heart have you heard Merle’s “America First?” It’s a long way from Okie From Muskogee lol. “Let’s get out of Iraq and get back on track…..”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UodJB1tRNVE
Granny Godzilla - Union Thugette
September 26th, 2012
2:31 pm
Mark
Bless your heart.
Jack
September 26th, 2012
2:31 pm
Reality for liberals includes their belief that I’m not entitled to what I have; that I’m supposed to share it with someone else: That’s what Obama considers to be fair. I’ll never understand why I’m being unfair if I don’t want to pay for the illegitimacy of others.
I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
2:32 pm
Obama will give a 100 answers during the debates……………..and say nothing. He’s the master at it
Jay
September 26th, 2012
2:33 pm
Feeling a bit feisty, Shamrock? Fear will do that to you, I’m told.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
September 26th, 2012
2:34 pm
East Cobb, you got it.
But hey, remember that poster did it all by himself….. tax deductions and tax credits are all part of building it on his own.
Can the claims by “I’m a liberal” get any sillier? Why I bet he’s making millions in the checkout line of the Whole Foods.
I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
2:35 pm
Jack……..no, the reality is that if they find out that hot dogs are bad for you, they want to ban hot dog,,,,,,,not that just THEY give them up.
stands for decibels
September 26th, 2012
2:36 pm
Clinton didn’t push the ‘African yellowcake’ and ‘aluminum tubes’ arguments
Aluminum tubes? you triggered a Cheney-related memory I wanted to share.
I’d love to post a sampling, but even if I cleaned it up, Jay would probably have to pull it.
East Cobb RINO, Inc. (LLC)
September 26th, 2012
2:37 pm
It could be that leasing a new truck instead of replacing the motor may have been a better tax move. Then when the old truck is scrapped the depreciation could be accelerated.
I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
2:38 pm
You looking for a job East Cobb? You would have to move to Augusta.
Mark in mid-town
September 26th, 2012
2:39 pm
John Kerry from 1998:
1) “Every bit of intelligence John (McCain) and I have says within various periods of time, he can rebuild both chemical and biological. And every indication is, because of his deception and duplicity in the past, he will seek to do that. So we will not eliminate the problem for ourselves or for the rest of the world with a bombing attack.
2) “I am way ahead of the commander in chief, and I’m probably way ahead of my colleagues and certainly of much of the country. But I believe this. I believe that he has used these weapons before. He has invaded another country. He views himself as a modern-day Nebuchadnezzar. He wants to continue to play the uniting critical role in that part of the world. And I think we have to stand up to that.”
Steve Shamrock
September 26th, 2012
2:40 pm
Thanks for responding Jay…does being called out as a fraud of a Journalist make you respond to my posts? Deep thoughts…go look in the mirror and ask yourself…does the fact that I slam the Republicans 95% of the time make me a biased liberal? Am I really doing my job as a Journalist by blindly campaigning for Barack Obama?
I'm a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with...cause we're smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
2:40 pm
Mark, they don’t allow hind sight on here.
St Simons
September 26th, 2012
2:40 pm
Republicans have become so insular that they are like a slightly paranoid shut-in who is going crazier and crazier every day. They start obsessing over something, and with no one else to talk to and break their train of thought, they turn & talk to themselves in their closed echo-chamber. And that crazy obsession goes around and around in their head, until it evolves into full-blown delusion.
Cons need to get out more.
Fred ™
September 26th, 2012
2:42 pm
I’m a liberal and believe everything I read and nothing the other side comes up with…cause we’re smart and they are not
September 26th, 2012
2:25 pm
Fred, you don’t know me. Want to compare charitable giving for a little wager? Picking an insult on a blog because they have a different political opinion than you makes you look rather “small”
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I give 10% (gross) to my wife’s church. I volunteer with several groups, including TYSA and we donate clothes and other items to AKS. I built more free crap the last 5 years than I did paid for stuff for folks that couldn’t afford it. I have a friend who is a preacher at a very poor church. I regularly buy him and his family groceries. I have another friend with cancer who can no longer work. After 40 years he has no insurance because he’s not working at that company anymore and now has “pre existing causes.”. I give him money and food. I rarely talkl about my charity, but there are few people who can or would match it. I’ve been known to literally give bums the shirt of coat off my back.
As to me belittling? I’m not the one calling folks moochers and drains on society. Your very screen name screams asshat. All it takes to “belittle” you is quote you.