Dead Presidents
By Anthony Bergen
E-Mail: bergen.anthony@gmail.com
Anonymous asked: What do you think about Republicans who want Obama to fail at his job?
To be fair to Republicans, there were plenty of Democrats who wanted George W. Bush to fail at his job, too. It’s borderline treasonous thinking. We only have one President, and our President — whether Democrat or Republican — are not the Presidents of their party, but the Presidents of all of us.
I want all of our Presidents to succeed. Sometimes, I want a different President, or I want the President we have to lose an election, but I never want our President to fail. If our President fails, we all lose out on something. It’s not good for anybody; even his political opponents.
While Republicans like Dick Cheney or Mitch McConnell take shots at President Obama at every turn, I’ll hope that the majority of Republicans throughout the country feel the same way as George W. Bush, who has said, “I love my country a lot more than I love politics. I think it is essential that Obama be helped in the office.”
Anonymous Asks:
deadpresidents Said:
Well, Romney’s giving a major speech tonight in New Hampshire — and since New Hampshire has already voted and Romney will easily win the five Northeastern states holding their primaries today (including biggies like New York and Pennsylvania) — I’ll go out on a limb and say that the national campaign probably starts tonight. I don’t know what Romney’s going to say, but I would imagine he’ll set his sights on President Obama for good beginning with the polls that close tonight.
It’s the smart thing to do. Romney doesn’t need to fight for the GOP nomination anymore. It’s his. He doesn’t need to waste money fighting off Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, and he doesn’t need to swing any further to the right than he already has. What Romney must do is start building a powerhouse team around him, keep raising a shitload of money, plug any leaks or repair any damage from the primaries, start moving to the center, and target Obama every day until November 6th.
This is where it will finally get interesting. Sure, things will calm down a bit until we get closer to the conventions, but this is where we find out if Romney can hang with Obama on the big stage. Oddly enough, Romney matches up better with Obama nationally than he matched up against his fellow Republican opponents in the party contests. Romney had a hard time being the the best Republican for GOP voters, but that’s not a problem he has from this point forward. Can he gain some of those independents and moderates? That’s what his chances hinge on.
I’m interested to see if Romney tries to get a boost by naming his running mate sometime soon. Normally, candidates wait until the convention (or a few days before the convention) to do so, but I don’t think it’s an accident that he campaigned with Florida Senator Marco Rubio recently (in Pennsylvania, of all places). I don’t think Rubio’s the best VP pick for Romney, but it got people talking, and that’s exactly what Romney wants. He may shake things up by naming a running mate soon in order to get the press focus and also in order to enlist another heavy-hitter that can raise money or be a surrogate in another part of the country so that the Romney campaign can basically be two places at once. It would also be helpful for Romney because I think he wants to stay above the fray and not get dirty (and I’m not even sure Romney has it in him to be dirty), but a VP pick can be the hatchet man (or woman) and let Romney keep his shiny white dress shirts clean.
There is a precedent for an early VP pick. In 1976, when Ronald Reagan challenged Gerald Ford for the GOP nomination, Reagan announced his choice of a running mate, Pennsylvania Senator Richard Schweiker, and that was during the primaries, before the Republicans even decided between Ford and Reagan. The ultra-Conservative Reagan did that in order to shore up support among Republican moderates that he was trying to win away from President Ford, so I can see the moderate Romney naming a Rubio or Paul Ryan as his running mate sometime soon in order to solidify his standing among the Conservatives that are still wary about him.
After this crazy process, though, I think the pregame show is over and now it’s time for the main event. Unfortunately for us, the main event is almost 7 months long.
Oooooh, “Saint” Santorum said a bad word….POTTY MOUTH!
Colossians 3:8: But now ye also put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Matthew 12:34-12:37: 34: O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
35: A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil evil things.
36: But I say unto you. That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
37: For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shall be condemned.
Matthew 15:17-15:20: 17: Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
18: But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth the heart; and they defile the man.
19: For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
20: These are the things which defile a man
And, if I can take the liberty to rephrase Matthew 15:21, “Then Jesus went thence; and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, and then reminded everybody to leave him the hell out of politics because everybody is a hypocrite at some point in their life and religion shouldn’t be a part of this process.”
(Rebloggable format by request)
No, I can’t.
That’s the thing: I literally cannot explain why someone who believes the things that Rick Santorum believes and says the things that Rick Santorum says can be a leading contender for a major party’s Presidential nomination this late in a campaign in the 21st Century. I can’t explain it because I genuinely can’t understand it.
I know that I keep saying the same thing, but I truly am embarrassed for my country. It hurts my heart to recognize that there is a large part of the population that agrees with Santorum and finds him appealing. He is a disgraceful, hate-filled, ignorant man. A religious extremist like Santorum should not be able to get as deep into the Presidential election process in a country like the United States. And I don’t use “religious extremist” lightly. The man as much of an extremist for Christianity as the proponents of Sharia law are extremists for Islam.
Everything begins and ends with religion for Rick Santorum, and his faith is a narrow-minded faith of exclusion that is completely absent of reason. As I have previously noted, Santorum is a man who said, “Intelligent design is a legitimate scientific theory that should be taught in science class.”
An even more frightening quote from Santorum is his argument last February that our “national religion” or “national faith” is rooted in Christianity:
“The idea that the Crusades and the fight of Christendom against Islam is somehow an aggression on our part is absolutely anti-historical. And that is what the perception is by the American left who hates Christendom. They hate Western civilization at the core. That’s the problem.
What I’m talking about is onward American soldiers. What we’re talking about are core American values. ‘All men are created equal’ — that’s a Christian value, but it’s an American value. It’s become part of our national religion, if you will. The point I was trying to make was that the national faith, the national ideal, is rooted in the Christian ideal — in the Judeo-Christian concept of the person.”
These are the words of a serious contender for the Presidency, and these are words that scare the shit out of me. I’m all for freedom of religion and I respect everyone’s faith or spiritual belief or choice to not believe. But when I start hearing things like “national religion”, my palms start sweating, the hair stands up on the back of my neck, and I wonder when the extremists are going to start acting like the Taliban and destroying cultural icons that don’t jive with their particular faith, or commanding that we start living our lives in the manner that their Bible says we should.
As Presidential campaigns continue and grow, the normal, sane candidate usually takes time to clarify remarks which may seem controversial or extreme, and that’s where we really are seeing proof of who Rick Santorum actually is. It was just Sunday morning when Santorum told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that John F. Kennedy’s 1960 speech to ministers in Houston makes him want to throw up. That speech was inspirational. It crossed religious, racial, and political party lines. It was a testament to the grand experiment in liberty which this nation was created from as JFK noted that his religion had nothing to do with his ability to protect and preserve the Constitution. Yet, that sentiment from Kennedy makes Santorum want to vomit.
That’s one of our leading contenders for the Presidency, my friends. That’s a man who made sure to add “I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.” I guess we’re from different Americas. Rick Santorum’s extreme religious ideology isn’t what the Founders intended for the President of a democratic republic; it’s more in line with being the Supreme Ayatollah of a theocracy. I am adamantly opposed to Rick Santorum not just because of his extremism or his ignorance or his boorish beliefs or his complete lack of understanding of people who are different than those who he sees at Church. My opposition is focused on the fact that people like him are dangerous and I am frightened for my country.
swag-gr Asks:
deadpresidents Said:
No, I can’t.
That’s the thing: I literally cannot explain why someone who believes the things that Rick Santorum believes and says the things that Rick Santorum says can be a leading contender for a major party’s Presidential nomination this late in a campaign in the 21st Century. I can’t explain it because I genuinely can’t understand it.
I know that I keep saying the same thing, but I truly am embarrassed for my country. It hurts my heart to recognize that there is a large part of the population that agrees with Santorum and finds him appealing. He is a disgraceful, hate-filled, ignorant man. A religious extremist like Santorum should not be able to get as deep into the Presidential election process in a country like the United States. And I don’t use “religious extremist” lightly. The man as much of an extremist for Christianity as the proponents of Sharia law are extremists for Islam.
Everything begins and ends with religion for Rick Santorum, and his faith is a narrow-minded faith of exclusion that is completely absent of reason. As I have previously noted, Santorum is a man who said, “Intelligent design is a legitimate scientific theory that should be taught in science class.”
An even more frightening quote from Santorum is his argument last February that our “national religion” or “national faith” is rooted in Christianity:
“The idea that the Crusades and the fight of Christendom against Islam is somehow an aggression on our part is absolutely anti-historical. And that is what the perception is by the American left who hates Christendom. They hate Western civilization at the core. That’s the problem.
What I’m talking about is onward American soldiers. What we’re talking about are core American values. ‘All men are created equal’ — that’s a Christian value, but it’s an American value. It’s become part of our national religion, if you will. The point I was trying to make was that the national faith, the national ideal, is rooted in the Christian ideal — in the Judeo-Christian concept of the person.”
These are the words of a serious contender for the Presidency, and these are words that scare the shit out of me. I’m all for freedom of religion and I respect everyone’s faith or spiritual belief or choice to not believe. But when I start hearing things like “national religion”, my palms start sweating, the hair stands up on the back of my neck, and I wonder when the extremists are going to start acting like the Taliban and destroying cultural icons that don’t jive with their particular faith, or commanding that we start living our lives in the manner that their Bible says we should.
As Presidential campaigns continue and grow, the normal, sane candidate usually takes time to clarify remarks which may seem controversial or extreme, and that’s where we really are seeing proof of who Rick Santorum actually is. It was just Sunday morning when Santorum told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that John F. Kennedy’s 1960 speech to ministers in Houston makes him want to throw up. That speech was inspirational. It crossed religious, racial, and political party lines. It was a testament to the grand experiment in liberty which this nation was created from as JFK noted that his religion had nothing to do with his ability to protect and preserve the Constitution. Yet, that sentiment from Kennedy makes Santorum want to vomit.
That’s one of our leading contenders for the Presidency, my friends. That’s a man who made sure to add “I don’t believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute.” I guess we’re from different Americas. Rick Santorum’s extreme religious ideology isn’t what the Founders intended for the President of a democratic republic; it’s more in line with being the Supreme Ayatollah of a theocracy. I am adamantly opposed to Rick Santorum not just because of his extremism or his ignorance or his boorish beliefs or his complete lack of understanding of people who are different than those who he sees at Church. My opposition is focused on the fact that people like him are dangerous and I am frightened for my country.
THANK YOU, Mr. Friedersdorf! This is almost certainly my favorite sentence that has been written so far about the 2012 Presidential campaign, and the entire article in The Atlantic plainly illustrates the ridiculousness behind the obsession that Rick Santorum — or any Presidential hopeful or American politician — seems to harbor about our sex lives.
With that said, I must admit that the past few weeks of the campaign have seemed to leave me wishing something about Rick Santorum’s sex life: I have a powerful hope that he will do us all a favor and just go fuck himself.
Look at me — raising the bar for political discourse, as always!
I jotted down some thoughts while watching the President give the State of the Union speech (BUILT TO LAST!), sponsored by Masterlock and Siemens and apparently Ford (BUILT TO LAST! FORD TOUGH!). Let’s see if I can read my handwriting.
•I’ll admit it: the Gabby Giffords/Obama hug was a tear-jerker even for a tough (FORD TOUGH?) manly man like me.
•There was a little bit of Obama’s 2008 stump speech mixed in with the same SOTU speech we’ve been hearing from Presidents for 30 years
•I sure hope the President says “Built To Last” 600 times tonight. Can’t wait to see that on campaign banners…ugh.
•Every President in every SOTU says that “the State of our Union is strong” or “getting stronger” and then throws in a bunch of stats about how awesome his Administration has been. I know it will never happen, but I’d love for a President to get up there and say, “the State of our Union is bleh” or “as you can tell, the State of our Union continues to suck a bunch of dicks”
•The President turned that smirk on for a while when he took some shots at Congress. I liked that. I always like when the President pulls the “You haven’t acted, so I will” card.
•It’s an ancient tradition, but the dueling cheers between the two parties during the speech is hilarious. There’s nothing better than watching Speaker Boehner look to the GOP side to see if someone is clapping when they shouldn’t be.
•The President needs to watch some Clinton (and even George W. Bush) tapes and learn how to play to the camera every once in a while. There are a hundred million people watching, so maybe he shouldn’t keep those eyes glued to the TelePrompter. You know, Clinton once ad-libbed a chunk of the SOTU when the TelePrompter crapped out? Obama would shut down like the Tin Man without oil.
•”Take the money we’re no longer spending on the war…and do some nation-building here at home” — Awesome line
•Sorry, Geithner, are we keeping you awake?
•John Dingell looks like the fucking Crypt Keeper
•BUILT TO LAST!
•Sorry, Mr. Vice President, are we keeping YOU awake? Biden is either sleeping, or checking his iPhone.
•Speaker Boehner wanted a cigarette three minutes into the speech; he’s jonesin’ now
•Oh dear God…the “crying over spilled milk” joke was HORRENDOUS. I’m so glad that Congress groaned at that and didn’t let the President get away with that joke. They keep one member of the Cabinet away from the Capitol as a designated survivor in case of a bomb like that.
•When Obama said, “So, if you are a big bank or financial institution…”, it absolutely felt like he was going to follow it with, “…go fuck yourself.” I bet both sides would have cheered for that.
•Did Richard Cordray get booed by a Joint Session of Congress? That’s a fun one to add to the resume.
•Hey, look, Attorney General Warren Moon!
•Eric Cantor is one smarmy-looking motherfucker.
•I love that Obama mentioned the fact that a simply majority isn’t enough to get ANYTHING done in Congress and that we have to stop perpetual campaigning! I truly believe those are two of the biggest problems in American politics today.
•It’s so funny how the GOP started cheering as Obama was saying “The Executive Branch also needs to change…”. Ouch…burn.
•I want to slap Mitch McConnell’s neck fat.
•Hey John Kerry, nice face, you fucking ghoul.
•Bashar al-Assad: Watch yo’ ass…Hillary’s gonna kill you, too!
•Iran: Watch yo’ ass…Barack might bomb you, too!
•”Iran can rejoin the community of nations” if they behave. You know, like Libya did for awhile…
•Good to know that “Christians, Muslims, and Jews” will all be treated equally. No mention for us godless sodomites who don’t believe. Are we just kinda fucked, Mr. President?
•BUILT TO LAST!
•Oh God, we get it…just end this shit already.
•As Obama was blasting the problems with Congress, I would have donated $2,500 to the campaign if he just turned his back to the audience and looked directly at Boehner while saying, “WHO IS TO BLAME?”
•Congress “should learn a thing or two from the service of our troops” — when you put on the uniform, it doesn’t matter what your background is or what you believe, we all work together to urinate on dead enemies and degrade foreign cultures.
•If I was Obama, I would have just shown the picture of Osama bin Laden’s dead body for 20 minutes and said, “Okay, America, let’s point and laugh”. Hell, that’s what I’d do all the way until November. (Way to be hypocritical about degrading our enemies, Anthony.)
•Alright, that’s all for now. There’s no way in hell that I’m watching Indiana Governor Oompa Loompa’s response.
•BUILT TO LAST!
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Overrated Radio, Episode 3.5 (Supplemental Episode)
Hello everybody! Keith called me on Tuesday night and wanted to do a supplemental podcast for this week that focused completely on politics. So, we recorded this, but there was a storm that blew through the area that night and screwed up my internet connection until today. We would have liked to have posted this on Tuesday, but it’s still good and it focuses on nothing but the Presidential campaign. Listen to it above, or download it here.
Surprisingly, the all-politics episode was Keith’s idea. We talk about Mitt Romney’s likely nomination, potential Vice Presidential running mates, Jon Huntsman’s campaign and his possibilities for 2016, and President Obama’s Administration. Keith and I also look at whether or not Romney can beat Obama (you may be surprised at my answer), and what each candidate will need to do to win the White House in November.
It’s an all-politics supplemental episode of Overrated Radio. We’ll be back with a special BIRTHDAY episode of Overrated Radio tomorrow, which means we’re going to be exactly one year away from Inauguration Day, as well!
*P.S.: Sorry for the delay in getting this up. The audio is also a little shaky because Keith had a cold and we recorded it without planning ahead, but I promise you…if you’re interested in Presidential politics, you’ll like this episode.
Anonymous Asks:
deadpresidents Said:
I’ll say this: Ron Paul is doing better than I expected so far, but I think his two strongest states coming into 2012 were Iowa and New Hampshire and those contests are already finished (and despite his strong performances, he didn’t win either of them, by the way).
Ron Paul can’t win because, on a national level, his views are too extreme and radical for the majority of American voters. All of the support that Ron Paul has is all of the support that Ron Paul will get. The Republican Party will not nominate Ron Paul because Ron Paul can’t win a national election. The GOP knows this, and there is no way that they would want Ron Paul to be the Republican nominee.
By the way, if you take the politics out of the equation — if Ron Paul had the same political positions as Mitt Romney or Jon Huntsman or Newt Gingrich — he still would be a bad choice for the Republicans. Why? He’s too old. There were concerns about John McCain in 2008 and Bob Dole in 1996. Ron Paul will be 77 years old on Election Day. He would be the oldest major party Presidential nominee in American History. He’s older than Reagan was in 1984 when he sought a second term. He’s older than Eisenhower was when he left office. He’s older than John McCain — not older than McCain was in 2008, but older than McCain is NOW. McCain was born in August 1936; Paul was born a full year earlier, in August 1935.
I’m not going to get in the argument again with the Paul supporters, but just stop already — not only is he never going to be President of the United States, but he’s never going to be nominated for President. If you want to be realistic, get behind his son. Rand has a better chance than Ron (but that’s not going to happen, either).
furaru Asks:
deadpresidents Said:
I have not paid any attention at all to Buddy Roemer. My editor at AND Magazine, Aaron Stipkovich, taped an interview with Governor Roemer last month and he came across really well and was apparently a really nice guy, but his Presidential bid is more than a longshot. Roemer was Governor of Louisiana 20 years ago, so he’s been out of office for a really long time. He was a Blue Dog Democrat throughout his 7 years in Congress and only switched to the GOP in his last year as Governor. He was a rare Louisiana politician in that he was honest and didn’t go to jail, but I just don’t know a whole lot about the man. And, let’s be honest, if he couldn’t make it into the debates with the motley crew of Republican candidates over the past year, there’s probably not much of a reason to focus too much energy towards him.
This is a really good article from Ben Smith at Politico. Romney is going to be the Republican nominee, and a win in South Carolina would all but clinch the nomination. That will give Romney plenty of time to build a base amongst Conservatives who distrust him, raise more-and-more money, and prepare for facing Obama. Obama is not unbeatable, especially if Romney clinches the GOP nomination sooner rather than later.
