Tag: Politics: The Reality Television Show for Suckers

The Romney Campaign’s Beautiful Political Stunt

I’ve discussed how I think the Romney campaign needs a better propaganda minister. Perhaps somebody at the campaign is reading my blog because their latest political stunt makes for some amazing propaganda:

Romney was originally slated to campaign over the weekend in Virginia, but canceled plans there and joined running mate Paul Ryan in Ohio. Curt Cashour, Romney’s Virginia communications director, tweeted Monday that the campaign bus will instead be used to transport basic supplies to local storm-relief centers.

Romney’s propaganda minister nailed it. While this stunt costs the Romney campaign nothing of importance it make it appear that Romney is willing to put what resources he has available into helping those likely to be hit hard by the oncoming storm. I think a few additional bonus points could have been generated if Romney personally drove that bus for its first supply run but that would have put the campaign’s star candidate into harm’s way, which is risky this close to an election. Overall I think this stunt was a magnificent piece of work and should really help Romney’s supporters show how much Romney cares about the people.

Rand Paul Makes Hating Him too Easy

Even though I already have good reasons to dislike Rand Paul it’s nice to see that he’s working hard to give me more:

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is running ads in support of controversial Republican Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin in his bid to unseat Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill.

For the past week, RandPAC has been targeting Senate Democrats for voting against Paul’s proposal to cut foreign aid to Libya, Egypt and Pakistan.

Rand Paul is throwing his support behind Todd “Women Rarely Become Pregnant from Legitimate Rape” Akins. Normally I wouldn’t waste your time reporting on this. Nobody should be surprised that one sociopathic neocon is supporting another sociopathic neocon. However the fact that many people in the liberty movement still believe that Rand Paul will be our savior makes this stupid political move noteworthy. Obviously Rand’s opponents are going to descend on this news like vultures on a corpse and his supporters will be expected to justify his actions. It’s going to be damned difficult to justify Rand’s support of Akins since Akins’s did a wonderful job of vilifying himself in the eyes of almost everybody. Heck the Republican Party even told Akins to quite.

This should make for a very entertaining episodes of Politics: The Reality Television Show for Suckers.

The Onion has Started Doing Real Journalism

For agens now the Onion has been one of the best known satire newspapers. It seems that they have decided to do some legitimate news pieces:

HEMPSTEAD, NY—According to reports, millions of viewers across the country are expected to tune in to tonight’s town-hall-style presidential debate at Hofstra University in order to determine which complete and utter sociopath they find more likable this time around.

“I’m very curious to see which one of these two clinically sociopathic individuals will present the most convincing and authentic approximation of an actual human conscience tonight,” said Cincinnati-area voter Miranda Harrick, 40, adding that both candidates, like all successful politicians, were undeniably skilled at such calculated artifice. “I think whoever is able to best manipulate me into thinking they experience normative emotional states such as empathy and regret will probably have my vote come November, so I’m excited to see what happens.”

This election has boiled down to decide which sociopath appeals to you more. Do you want a blood thirsty war monger or a blood thirsty war monger?

The Romney Campaign Needs a Better Propaganda Minister

I don’t know how to put this delicately so I’ll be blunt; the Romney campaign needs to hire a new propaganda minister. After Paul Ryan’s recent fiasco it’s obvious that the campaign’s propaganda minister isn’t doing his job:

The head of a northeast Ohio charity says that the Romney campaign last week “ramrodded their way” into the group’s Youngstown soup kitchen so that GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan could get his picture taken washing dishes in the dining hall.

[…]

Ryan had stopped by the soup kitchen for about 15 minutes on his way to the airport after his Saturday morning town hall in Youngstown. By the time he arrived, the food had already been served, the patrons had left, and the hall had been cleaned.

Upon entering the soup kitchen, Ryan, his wife and three young children greeted and thanked several volunteers, then donned white aprons and offered to clean some dishes. Photographers snapped photos and TV cameras shot footage of Ryan and his family washing pots and pans that did not appear to be dirty.

A propaganda minister has one very simple job: make the candidate or candidates under his or her care look good in the public eye. That’s it. Apparently the Romney campaign’s minister can’t even accomplish that simple task. When this impromptu photo opportunity was starting to develop the minister should have asked some very basic questions such as whether or not Ryan would be able to actually help the soup kitchen. If Ryan came too late to actually help the photo opportunity would be meaningless because it would become public information that the man didn’t actually do anything. In that case the campaign should have just kept rolling and not have bothered going to the kitchen. If Ryan came early enough to help then the minister would have to inform Ryan that he would actually have to help otherwise it would become public information that he did nothing.

This fiasco was a very elementary mistake for a propaganda minister to make. Even an amateur should have caught this and forbidden Ryan from entering that soup kitchen after the patrons had left and everything had been cleaned up. Romney’s campaign really needs to take some lessons from Obama’s campaign. Obama has hired some of the slickest propagandists out there that do some absolutely amazing work. They do such an excellent job that they still have many people who supported Obama during the last election because of his anti-war platform supporting him again even though he’s proven himself to be a complete war monger.

If Romney wants to win the election he needs to get somebody who can propagandize effectively. There are only three weeks left before the election but a really great propagandist could still help pull off a victory by raising Romney and Ryan’s status in the public eye.

The Presidential Debate

Yesterday the first presidential debate was held between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. I would normally give you a summary of the debate and criticized basically everything that was said by both candidates but I didn’t watch it. Instead I did productive things that didn’t involve watching a person argue with a mirror. From what I gathered on my Facebook feed I made the right decision, nothing of substance appears to have been said (although I had some very intoxicated friends who were playing the presidential debate drinking game).

You’re Paying for the Democratic and Republican Party Convetions

Who’s footing the bill for the massive political conventions being used by the political minded to select new masters for everybody in the country? You and I are:

I encourage all Americans to tune into the Republican and Democratic conventions in the coming days, because, after all, you’re paying for it.

Yes, the U.S. Treasury last year cut a $17.7 million check to the Committee on Arrangements for the 2012 Republican National Convention, and a check for an identical amount to the 2012 Democratic National Convention Committee.

That’s $35.4 million taxpayers are paying for things like balloons, speech prep, liquor, newspaper subscriptions, hotel rooms,as I wrote last year. It’s not security spending. Perusing the convention committee’s spending records shows what you’re paying for.

Isn’t it great? Money is taken from you at the point of the state’s gun so the state can spend it on massive spectacles meant to boost the egos of politicians and make everybody involved in the political process feel special (and thus connivence them to continue throwing away time and money on political campaigns). Politics really is a sucker’s game.

The Cost of Political Conventions

Previously on Politics: The Reality Television Show for Suckers supporters of Ron Paul’s campaign sued the Republican National Convention (RNC) for helping Romney in his quest to get the presidential nomination. Paul’s supporters claim that the RNC’s rules requiring delegates to sign pledges to support certain candidates violates federal election rules. Paul’s opponents claim that the RNC is able to run elections however the please because the RNC is a private organization. Clearly both sides cannot be right.

In today’s episode of Politics questions about the RNC’s status as a private organization are raised as they receive money from the state for their nomination process:

Congress has given Tampa — and Charlotte, the location of the Democratic National Convention — $50 million each in taxpayer money to try to ensure everyone is safe for the political gatherings that crown each party’s presidential candidate every four years.

Tax victims are wondering how an organization can claim to be private and still receive state funds. They are also left wondering why the presidential nomination process costs so much money. Will the RNC respond to the tax victim’s concerns? Will the state’s courts side with the Paul supporters or the RNC? Join us next episode to find out!

EDIT: 2012-07-23: 13:23: Apparently I can’t use words as Bruce pointed out in the comments. I mean to say “violates federal election rules.” not “violents federal election rules.” I’ve correct this mistake and my compliments go to Bruce for pointing it out.