Karl Rove, like many of his type, can't stand the morning sun. As America brightens up, as the economic news gets better, Karl gets a little cranky. Nothing else can explain his attack on fellow Republican Clint Eastwood, the former elected mayor of Carmel, California. On Sunday Clint growled his way through a Chrysler Super Bowl ad, which picks up on Ronald Reagan's famous "It's Morning Again In America" commercial of 1984. Clint tells us it's "Halftime In America" because Chrysler has rebounded big time from its near-death experience of 2009, only because of Obama's loan program ("bailout" in Rove-speak).
No good, says Karl, it's a corporate plot to re-elect Obama:
The leadership of auto companies feel they need to do something to repay their political patronage. It is a sign of what happens when you have Chicago-style politics, and the president of the United States and his political minions using our tax dollars to buy corporate advertising.That's as close to an anti-American outburst as we've ever heard from the patron saint of the "liberals are traitors" crowd. It's emblematic of the corner that the hard right has painted itself into. Any good news about the health of our economy, or successful government activity, runs smack dab into the gloom-and-doom narrative they've adopted for 2012. The economy is crippled, the loan programs are socialism, there are no new jobs on the horizon and so on.
It's been a bad week for the "Obama's-a-failed-anti-American-socialist" story. A stunningly good jobs report left the Rove-ites groping for a message. And as Mitt bumbles his way to becoming the nominee of the 1%ers in the Republican Party, the Eastwood ad was the last straw: Rove lost his cool.
It's getting clearer and clearer that the Republicans have mistimed the whole election. They haven't bothered to come up with a coherent economic message, sticking with a Herbert Hoover austerity message that would, if implemented, crush the budding recovery. They've opposed the extension of the quintessential middle class tax cut. Their only message was how awful, illegitimate and anti-American is Obama, and now they've blundered into that unforgivable sin, pessimism and gloominess. They've forgotten the great lesson that Reagan taught anyone willing to learn: The candidate with the most optimism wins presidential races.
Meanwhile Obama is basking in that same sunlit recovery that aggravates Karl. Obama understands the political consequences of his successful fight to save the American car industry. It's a symbol across the nation of the decisions he made against strong Republican opposition, and it's political gold in the Rust Belt swing states. Chrysler repaid the loans with interest, unemployment is trending down in Michigan and Ohio, Chrysler will make billions this year, it's all good.
Attacking Clint is a mistake wrapped in irony. He was strongly opposed to the loan program back when: "We shouldn't be bailing out the banks and car companies. If a CEO can't figure out how to make his company profitable, then he shouldn't be the CEO." Standard Republican rhetoric, even if inadequate to the crisis. But Clint is more than an ideological fellow-traveler. He is the macho, tough-minded American male, scarred and unafraid, protecting his family and country. These guys are not expected to say nice things about Obama. If Clint is capable of this heresy, well it could spread to millions of others.
C'mon Karl. Trust the people to figure it out. The "bailout" worked. It saved tens of thousands of jobs, saved tens of thousands of American families from scarcity and despair, saved the American car industry and made an economic recovery more likely. Admit it. Man up. Make my day.
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Lincoln Mitchell: The Republican Tale of Two Commercials
Coach Rove's team is sitting in the locker room whining about the refs, about the opponent, about the fans, about everything but their own lackluster play.
Quarterback Romney can't move the ball. And the few times he's been in the red zone, he's turned it over. The "I don't care about poor people" fumble right before the half killed what little momentum he had.
Then there's Gingrich, the ultimate selfish player who refuses to follow the game plan. He won't even come out of the game when the coach calls for a substitution.
Santorum? Well, what can you say? The kid's got guts, but I think he's played too many games without a helmet.
And ol' Doc Paul, the wily veteran, looks a little winded.
It's halftime in America. And coach, let's face it, your team had an embarrassing first half. They're breaking the first rule of the game, what kids at the Pee-Wee level learn on day one: Don't beat yourself.
Well, if you take Senator Mitch McConnell at his word when he says, publicly, "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president," then it's easy to understand. To the GOP, power is more important than good governance. EVERYTHING, from the debt ceiling crisis, to the constant threat of government shutdown, to the endless filibustering of the President's judicial and administrative nominees, to the nonsensical idea that the automotive bailout wasn't successful, points to a party driven to power grabbing over governing. And, there is no sign it will ever come to an end.... if the Democrats have any piece of that power.
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The Complainer
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F/F
as the america everyone wants it to be again. those seconds did not register as pro-Obama, pro-labor, pro anything other than america. it was only after nit-picking and whatever spin you cycle that it was re-interpreted to fit a meme. sad.
A Stranger moseys horseback down the dusty road to Tampa. He stops into a casino along the way where the calculating, diminutive owner Sheldon tells the Stranger about the bitter feud between three political posses vying to gain control of the town: Mitt's Vulture Boys, Newt's High Mooners, and Rick's Righteous Riders. The Stranger, spying an opportunity to make residual money from the situation, decides to play them against each other.