I recently appeared on Jeff Crouere's television show, Ringside: Politics With a Punch, on WLAE in New Orleans. Not owning a television (since 1994), I haven't seen how I looked. However, several people have advised me to stick to radio. So noted.
With me on the show was my radio co-host, the insightful and brilliant Michele Gaudin. Listeners of our Baldy and The Blonde show know that Michele has a gift for stating complex and controversial arguments in ways that are persuasive and easy to understand, and that I say a bunch of stupid stuff, plus a few smart-sounding things I copied off of someone else. When I get too stupid, Michele mercifully cuts me off. Miraculously, we seem to always agree on issues big and small. (Listeners to our first few shows may recall the only on-air disagreement we have ever had: I think "Burnin' Love" is a cool song; Michele thinks it stinks. She is wrong, of course, but I can't kick her out of the booth for that.)
While taping the Ringside television show, we discovered another area of disagreement when I said I think Barack Obama will win again in 2012 (ugh). That didn't go over well in the studio, and I'm likely in an ever-shrinking minority who thinks we'll get another four years of "Change," but I think things are lining up well for the Teleprompter-Reader-In-Chief.
In no particular order, here is why I think Barack Obama, or Barry Soetoro, or whatever his name is, will win in 2012:
1. MONEY. Lots and lots and lots of money. Oborrowa will likely have a billion-dollar propaganda budget for his campaign, and he won't leave anything on the table. If there's one thing he does well, it's spend. Of course, the Republican nominee will have a giant war chest as well, but it will be significantly smaller than Barry's.
MONEY EDGE: OBORROWA.
2. DUMBASSES. Lots and lots and lots of dumbasses. The mass of Republican voters are not dumbasses, but the Republican establishment certainly are, and thanks to them the Republicans will nominate a clunker who resembles Oborrowa in more ways than they care to admit, like continuing these undeclared wars of aggression, giving Wall Street whatever it wants, allowing the Federal Reserve to continue its destruction of the American economy, spending way more than what the Treasury takes in, and bailing out large corporations and even entire countries. The mass of Democrat voters are not dumbasses, but the Democrat establishment certainly are, and thanks to them the Democrats will nominate someone who has taken the worst of the Baby Bush presidency and somehow made it even worse. The mass of the Independent voters are not dumbasses, but a disturbingly large number of them will vote for the Republicrat for the millionth time in a row, hoping that this time will be different. In the battle for capturing the dumbass vote, the edge certainly has to go to the worst candidate, and no one could be worse than Oborrowa.
DUMBASS EDGE: OBORROWA.
3. EXTREME DUMBASSES. Lots and lots and lots of extreme dumbasses. These are people who make your everyday dumbasses look fairly sensible. These are people who already have their minds made up, and they will vote for Oborrowa no matter what. For example, at a recent fund-raiser in San Francisco, some "protesters" serenaded Oborrowa with a song that started like this:
"Dear Mr. President we honor you today sir
Each of us brought you five thousand dollars
It takes a lot of Benjamins to run a campaign
I paid my dues, where's our change?
We'll vote for you in 2012, yes that's true
Look at the Republicans — what else can we do
Even though we don't know if we'll retain our liberties
In what you seem content to call a free society."
Apart from being the most pathetic protest song of all time, it reveals a disturbing sentiment: Oborrowa can fail to deliver the change he ran on, he can even threaten our liberties, and yet the extreme dumbasses will continue to donate heavily and have already pledged to vote for him in 2012. Of course, there are extreme dumbasses among Republican voters, too, but they haven’t publicly told their candidate, "It's okay if you turn out to be the opposite of what we thought, and that you might threaten our freedom. You've got our money and our votes."
EXTREME-DUBMASS EDGE: OBORROWA.
4. WARS. Lots and lots and lots of wars. Americans love them, and O-Bomb-Away has delivered big-time. Republican candidates talk a good game when it comes to attacking countries that have not attacked us, but O-Bomb-Away has fired the missiles and deployed the troops. Plus, incumbent presidents don't lose elections when we're fighting a war, much less four of them.
WAR EDGE: O-BOMB-AWAY.
5. ELECTION FRAUD. Lots and lots and lots of election fraud. This one is a toss-up, as both parties are really good at it. But Oborrowa has something none of the Republicans have: the U.S. Attorney General.
ELECTION-FRAUD EDGE: OBORROWA.
6. FREE PROPAGANDA. Lots and lots and lots of free propaganda. Much of the media will continue to praise O-Bomb-Away for expanding our undeclared (read: illegal) wars of aggression and for his promise to redistribute the wealth (although they‘ll call it something else). School children from coast to coast will once again break out in song about our Dear Leader Who Will Bring Change. Last year, Siena College asked 238 "presidential scholars" to rank the U.S. presidents; Oborrowa was ranked fifteenth-best. Earlier this year the Institute for the Study of the Americas at the University of London ranked Oborrowa eighth-best. The Republicans have nothing that can match this nonsense.
FREE-PROPAGANDA EDGE: O-BOMB-AWAY.
7. SPECIAL FOOTNOTE. Oborrowa may have a difficult time if the economy suffers a serious downturn before the election. Actually, that's practically a guarantee. But what's also a guarantee is that the propaganda machine will tell us that turds are roses and rats are kittens, and many will believe it (see dumbasses and extreme dumbasses, above). The propagandists will also tell us that everything would be much worse if Oborrowa had not saved us. Yes, I know all about Jimmy Carter being one-and-done, but I also know that every day of FDR's presidency, the country was in a depression and/or war, and he was 3-0 as an incumbent.
BOTTOM LINE: Oborrowa can lose only if the economy suffers a complete meltdown in the next eighteen months, and even then he's got a good shot. Unless . . .
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE: . . . Unless the Republicans nominate someone who is significantly different from Oborrowa on major issues like the wars, Wall Street, corporate favoritism, and spending. Don't hold your breath.
With me on the show was my radio co-host, the insightful and brilliant Michele Gaudin. Listeners of our Baldy and The Blonde show know that Michele has a gift for stating complex and controversial arguments in ways that are persuasive and easy to understand, and that I say a bunch of stupid stuff, plus a few smart-sounding things I copied off of someone else. When I get too stupid, Michele mercifully cuts me off. Miraculously, we seem to always agree on issues big and small. (Listeners to our first few shows may recall the only on-air disagreement we have ever had: I think "Burnin' Love" is a cool song; Michele thinks it stinks. She is wrong, of course, but I can't kick her out of the booth for that.)
While taping the Ringside television show, we discovered another area of disagreement when I said I think Barack Obama will win again in 2012 (ugh). That didn't go over well in the studio, and I'm likely in an ever-shrinking minority who thinks we'll get another four years of "Change," but I think things are lining up well for the Teleprompter-Reader-In-Chief.
In no particular order, here is why I think Barack Obama, or Barry Soetoro, or whatever his name is, will win in 2012:
1. MONEY. Lots and lots and lots of money. Oborrowa will likely have a billion-dollar propaganda budget for his campaign, and he won't leave anything on the table. If there's one thing he does well, it's spend. Of course, the Republican nominee will have a giant war chest as well, but it will be significantly smaller than Barry's.
MONEY EDGE: OBORROWA.
2. DUMBASSES. Lots and lots and lots of dumbasses. The mass of Republican voters are not dumbasses, but the Republican establishment certainly are, and thanks to them the Republicans will nominate a clunker who resembles Oborrowa in more ways than they care to admit, like continuing these undeclared wars of aggression, giving Wall Street whatever it wants, allowing the Federal Reserve to continue its destruction of the American economy, spending way more than what the Treasury takes in, and bailing out large corporations and even entire countries. The mass of Democrat voters are not dumbasses, but the Democrat establishment certainly are, and thanks to them the Democrats will nominate someone who has taken the worst of the Baby Bush presidency and somehow made it even worse. The mass of the Independent voters are not dumbasses, but a disturbingly large number of them will vote for the Republicrat for the millionth time in a row, hoping that this time will be different. In the battle for capturing the dumbass vote, the edge certainly has to go to the worst candidate, and no one could be worse than Oborrowa.
DUMBASS EDGE: OBORROWA.
3. EXTREME DUMBASSES. Lots and lots and lots of extreme dumbasses. These are people who make your everyday dumbasses look fairly sensible. These are people who already have their minds made up, and they will vote for Oborrowa no matter what. For example, at a recent fund-raiser in San Francisco, some "protesters" serenaded Oborrowa with a song that started like this:
"Dear Mr. President we honor you today sir
Each of us brought you five thousand dollars
It takes a lot of Benjamins to run a campaign
I paid my dues, where's our change?
We'll vote for you in 2012, yes that's true
Look at the Republicans — what else can we do
Even though we don't know if we'll retain our liberties
In what you seem content to call a free society."
Apart from being the most pathetic protest song of all time, it reveals a disturbing sentiment: Oborrowa can fail to deliver the change he ran on, he can even threaten our liberties, and yet the extreme dumbasses will continue to donate heavily and have already pledged to vote for him in 2012. Of course, there are extreme dumbasses among Republican voters, too, but they haven’t publicly told their candidate, "It's okay if you turn out to be the opposite of what we thought, and that you might threaten our freedom. You've got our money and our votes."
EXTREME-DUBMASS EDGE: OBORROWA.
4. WARS. Lots and lots and lots of wars. Americans love them, and O-Bomb-Away has delivered big-time. Republican candidates talk a good game when it comes to attacking countries that have not attacked us, but O-Bomb-Away has fired the missiles and deployed the troops. Plus, incumbent presidents don't lose elections when we're fighting a war, much less four of them.
WAR EDGE: O-BOMB-AWAY.
5. ELECTION FRAUD. Lots and lots and lots of election fraud. This one is a toss-up, as both parties are really good at it. But Oborrowa has something none of the Republicans have: the U.S. Attorney General.
ELECTION-FRAUD EDGE: OBORROWA.
6. FREE PROPAGANDA. Lots and lots and lots of free propaganda. Much of the media will continue to praise O-Bomb-Away for expanding our undeclared (read: illegal) wars of aggression and for his promise to redistribute the wealth (although they‘ll call it something else). School children from coast to coast will once again break out in song about our Dear Leader Who Will Bring Change. Last year, Siena College asked 238 "presidential scholars" to rank the U.S. presidents; Oborrowa was ranked fifteenth-best. Earlier this year the Institute for the Study of the Americas at the University of London ranked Oborrowa eighth-best. The Republicans have nothing that can match this nonsense.
FREE-PROPAGANDA EDGE: O-BOMB-AWAY.
7. SPECIAL FOOTNOTE. Oborrowa may have a difficult time if the economy suffers a serious downturn before the election. Actually, that's practically a guarantee. But what's also a guarantee is that the propaganda machine will tell us that turds are roses and rats are kittens, and many will believe it (see dumbasses and extreme dumbasses, above). The propagandists will also tell us that everything would be much worse if Oborrowa had not saved us. Yes, I know all about Jimmy Carter being one-and-done, but I also know that every day of FDR's presidency, the country was in a depression and/or war, and he was 3-0 as an incumbent.
BOTTOM LINE: Oborrowa can lose only if the economy suffers a complete meltdown in the next eighteen months, and even then he's got a good shot. Unless . . .
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE: . . . Unless the Republicans nominate someone who is significantly different from Oborrowa on major issues like the wars, Wall Street, corporate favoritism, and spending. Don't hold your breath.