Mitt needed a lift from the pizza man

Back in September, Florida pizza shop owner Scott Van Duzer guaranteed himself a place in political photo-history with his impromptu bear hug of Barack Obama during the president's  unscheduled campaign stop in Ft. Pierce. Some onlookers were said to gasp at the sight.   It was all in fun and although it didn't seem so at the time,   you could  later look back on it to define  the differences  between the campaign souls  of the two presidential candidates:  Obama's easy spontaneity  in a crowd and Mitt Romney's herky-jerky body movements and unconvincing smiles. For all of the money spent on his campaign, you'd think they would have set aside a little to match the pizza owner's  spirited scene.

I, and apparently a lot of other people, couldn't quite get past the notion that Mitt was  unable to break  from the mold of a powerful  businessman who wanted to  incorporate every store front (and pizza shop, maybe) in America.  From body language to scripted repetition of thought-lines - "I've done it before and can do it again", he repeatedly pledged, as though we hadn't heard him the first thousand  times -  never convinced a majority of the 99 per centers that he could relate to our worlds.

By all previous notions of winning politics, he should have coasted to the White House. A slowly recovering  economy, the every-present racial undercurrents, a flood of more campaign money than could be restrained by Hoover Dam, or more succinctly, the three Rs of this year's campaign - racism, religion and Rovism.  Obama was undermined by the U.S.Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Republican Jewish Coalition, evangelicals and countless religious broadcasters, including Mike Huckabee, who loudly protested the nation's movement toward a more liberating  social gospel that accepted same-sex marriage, contraceptives   and other individual lifestyle choices.   "Sociocultural rot," cried Plain Dealer deputy editorial page editor Kevin O'Brien,  a fully accredited Hard Right thinker, in another weepy outburst on today's Op-Ed page labeled "It's twilight in America".

Clearly, even for the stubborn CEO like Romney, he ecountered more on his plate than he could handle and raced to the tall weeds in the Tea Party for cover.  Whether it was personal choice, health care,   climate change  or the auto industry, Mitt remained a Tea party captive and never deviated from the script - at least his current one, not the older one as governor  of Massachusetts.  On Tuesday, the same state rolled over him , with 61 pct. favoring Obama.

Now, the post-mortems are piling up from the right, declaring him to be a traitor to the conservatives' cause, that he wasn't really one of them.

Oh? Then who was he?

We may never know.

Grumpy Abe's instant post-election analysis

            WHEW!

Life challenges on the white-guy track

There's been a lot of attention  given to white guys , the pejorative term for white males,  during this election season.  That's because the polls once again showed white guys strongly favoring Mitt Romney, a self-iconic success story,  over President Obama.  Political thinkers, sociologists and the producers of Romney lapel buttons have all checked into the long-running phenomenon of why white guys prefer Republicans.

Still unsatisfied with the GOP quarry, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina went so far as to complain that "We're not generating enough angry  white guys to stay in business for the long term."  What he fears as a generic white Southern Republican is that minorities will become the majorities in the U.S.over the next decade and where will that leave the white guy party?  Well, where?

A number of theories are around.  The Economist recently reported a paper published in Psychological Science that suggests that muscles have something to do with the political profile of white guys.  Researchers Michael Petersen  (University of Aarthus in Denmark) and Daniel Sznycer (University of California, Santa Barbara) asked their subjects whether  resources should be redistributed to the poor.  Musculature identified those who opposed such redistribution.

The scholars didn't say so, but it does seem that one clue to the white guys'  preference for Mitt Romney could be their  desperate  remedy for erectile dysfunction against groups of rivals.

It comes down to fear of losing the dominance that only Republicans can offer in their campaign bombast about success in a rapidly changing marketplace.    Will, for example, the white guys'  traditional cookout role of grilling steaks  be diluted by pushy females who escape from the kitchen?  Or as Executive Chef Elisabeth Karmel asks: Is the grill the last bastion of masculinity?

As one who grew up in a family with many cousins of Republican toughs with Popeye arms,  I can say that yes, there is anger  and resentment over minorities and women's roles  that have been coming on for decades.  A college professor once complained to me that female professors were  getting too sassy around him.  And a former boss didn't know how he could survive  after his company had placed a woman executive above him.

Stricken by such thoughts of servitude to The Others, some fearful white guys still rely on holstered sidearms, barbells and hairy chests to prove they are not sissies.  How else can they disguise their resentfulness and insecurity over the threats to their masculinity?  To them, seeking refuge in the brave old world of Republicanism would at least give them a temporary  safety net.

Adelson tells all, or at least some of it

When you're one of the richest  guys in America, you don't have to be asked twice to share your views with the Wall Street Journal.  As a record contributor to Republican candidates against
President Obama,  here we have multi-multi-billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson  stepping up to explain why he's a former Democrat who has staunchly supported the Republican team.

You may recall that it was Newt Gingrich, alas, the lone GOP candidate to promise that he would build  a permanent base on the moon, who got a political life preserver stuffed with $20 million from Adelson before  Newt, for all of his dreamy chutzpah,  landed on the dark side of the lunar landscape.  That was when Adelson switched his allegiance to Romney, with the explanation that he didn't leave the Democratic Party but rather, it left him.  Nice try, for a guy whose fortunes are amply inflated by his investments in Macau, his Chinese  Mecca for high rollers. (I keep waiting for a poor crossroads preacher to buck the uber wealthy class and stand up to  say that  Obama is a nice guy.)

Adelson,  a devoted advocate of Israel, said he doesn't trust Obama to defend that nation  and doesn't mind saying so. . On domestic matters,  he is not thrilled with unions, either,  and is said to own the only non-union casino in Vegas.   On that score, when he says he no longer shares Democrats' values, I'd say good for them.

A one-liner for Romney on how he sees himself

As we mercifully approach  the calling hours for the presidential election, allow me to wrap up the entire Romney campaign with a single line on how he appeared to me (as distilled from his many first-person opinions of himself as the new CEO in the Oval Office" :

                       "Trust me: Whatever I was is whatever I might be"

Republican Rick Scott hacks the vote in Florida's hot sun

My question of the day: What the hell is Florida Gov. Rick Scott, one of the GOP's certified hacks, doing in a photo with the American flag?  They are mutually exclusive.  The flag is intended to signify the noble American spirit.  Scott signifies  that he is only one of the GOP's certified hacks.

He revived that title again this election season  with his directives  to shorten the hours of early voting in his state.  It led to lines at the polls that caused delays (in the Sunshine State)  of three to four hours - and longer.

But he doubtless was tutored by his  fellow-Republican vote shrinker, Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, who repeatedly defended his shameless action  by declaring it to be "fair" and "honest".
So what has Scott had to say under the barrage of criticism that he is hacking the election in Florida?

'"I'm focussed on making sure that we have fair, honest elections," the Washington Post quoted Scott, who had an approval rating in the state of 39 pct. - even before he set out to shutter the election for his side.

Oh, another thing, now that Scott has got me started:  The cars of some of those who stood in line for hours were towed away.

This is how they do it in those countries that we say we hate.

Dubya returns - still much like The Shadow

The Cayman Islands are a rich man's offshore piggy bank nestled just south of Cuba. They are easily accessible by private jets that are met by limos at the airports.   They are  an escape by oppressed  folks who have so much money that   there's not much more they can do with it so they hide it from the tax collectors until something better comes along - which it won't.

For these miillion-billion-zillionaires, since it is not possible to get to heaven while they are still breathing, the Caymans are their  luxurious tax-free destination of choice. Smart money-guys like Mitt Romney would have it no other way.

The true Republican brand of the  party's moneyed achievers  was again disclosed a few days ago when reports filtered out of the Caymans that George W. Bush was on hand to be the keynote speaker at a global investment conferfence.  In the perfect fit of the Ritz-Carlton. On Grand Cayman Island.

But then  we lost the narrative of Dubya's sudden reappearance like Jacob Marley's ghost. Until then we had given up on seeing the former president again inasmuch as his party declared him to be a non-person in the current campaign.   We could be heard shouting, "George W. Bush LIVES!"

But no sooner  than we wanted to eavesdrop on his return, the entire trip was blacked out.  Reporters were banned from covering the speech and the participants who paid $4,000 to hear it were  told not to say a word about it. Conference spokesman Dan Kneipp said the restrictions were  imposed by Bush's staff.

As long as the topic is investment savvy, do you think that somebody might have asked Dubya about why he approved the trade of Sammy Sosa when he was a managing partner of the Texas Rangers?  Or how Texas oilmen rushed to his aid  to buy his cash-poor oil company?  "I'm all name and no money," he once said.  But now as his party is concerned, it's the other way around.







   

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An open letter to Josh Mandel from his cousins

To continue the narrative of the final days of the election season, you may find it interesting to read a letter, in its entirety from from members of the Mandel family to Josh Mandel, Republican candidate for the U.S.  Senate, forwarded  to me by a reader:


FYI

>
> Open Letter to Josh Mandel, Republican
>
> Candidate for U.S. Senator from Ohio
>
> Dear Josh,
>
> Four years ago you came into our family. We still remember the excitement
>
> surrounding your wedding, and how happy our family members were as they
>
> described it afterwards. So we were deeply saddened when you announced during
>
> your October 18th debate with Senator Sherrod Brown that you believe only some
>
> people should share this right to marry the person they love, while others should not.
>
> Your cousins, Ellen Ratner and Cholene Espinoza, are among the many wonderful
>
> couples whose rights you do not recognize. They were married almost eight years ago
>
> in Massachusetts, at a time when it was the only state in the nation to allow same-sex
>
> marriage. Their wedding, like yours, was a beautiful and happy occasion for all of us in
>
> our family. It hurts us that you would embrace discrimination against them and
>
> countless other loving couples in Ohio and around the country.
>
> We are equally distressed by your belief that gay men and women should not be
>
> allowed to serve openly in the military. Like you, Cholene spent many years in the
>
> armed forces. A graduate of the Air Force Academy and an accomplished pilot, she
>
> became the second woman in history to fly the U-2 reconnaissance plane. And yet,
>
> you have argued that she, like many gay and lesbian soldiers, should be forced to live
>
> a life of secrecy and lies.
>
> Josh, as you know, our roots are deep in the Cleveland area and we have friends and
>
> family we love throughout Ohio. This family is sprawling and diverse, but it has
>
> always believed strongly in the values of equality and inclusiveness. Your
>
> discriminatory stance violates these core values of our family. Nevertheless we hope
>
> that over time, as you advance in years and wisdom, you will come to embrace the
>
> values of inclusiveness and equality as well.
>
> Your cousins,
>
> Michael Ratner, Bruce Ratner, Karen Ranucci, Pamela Lipkin, Rebecca Ratner,
>
> Elizabeth Ratner, Patrick Markee, Jacob Ratner. Ana Ratner 

Score one for Husted, at the bottom of the wash

From today's pile of dirty laundry:

You can be sure that Secretary of State Jon Husted, Ohio'a vote suppressor- in - chief,  is feeling rather puffy today now that the appellate court in Cincinnati voted 2-1 to uphold his  heavy hand in denying provisional ballots to voters even if they were misled by poll workers on their valid polling places.

As has been widely reported throughout the long election season , Republican Husted has resorted to  various ploys  of restricting certain voters in a Frankenstein role  with the voice of a canary.  "The rules are clear, and we can now focus on a fair election, " Husted proudly chirped,  with a familiar reprise of intellectual dishonesty.

But the rules in this election have never  been clearly articulated by him ever since the Republican  preservationists  cynically  set out to  use voter "fraud" as their lame excuse for excising blacks,  the elderly  and other urbanites  from the rolls.  Mythical fraud, of course.   So Husted then inserted meaningless  terms like "uniformity" and "fairness" to gird GOP  hopes of winning the state.

Make me laugh. Never have the rules of electoral engagement - even recalling the messy handiwork of former Secretary of State Ken Blackwell - has anybody worked harder and more deliberately, expending taxpayer money and his own office's energy,  as Husted to game the system.  If you don't think so,  you also would agree to  accept a poll tax.