Worse Comes To Worst

Today's piece for the Daily Banter expands on my comments here yesterday about Mitt Romney's reaction to the embassy attacks in Libya and Egypt and what it unequivocally says about him as a candidate and a person.

Here's an excerpt:

"I get that Romney's been in the race for some time and that he's screwed up almost the entire way, making gaffe upon gaffe and generally being a cringe-inducingly awful presidential hopeful for the Republicans -- but the last month or so has really seen him hit his stride when it comes to wrapping his hands around the figurative award for Worst Presidential Candidate Ever and raising that sucker high over his head while tears of joy stream down his cheeks. It was just three days ago that I wrote, right here, that the Romney campaign was in a state of utter turmoil, that its various lies, miscalculations and amateurish screw-ups had even the GOP faithful screaming for Romney's blue blood -- and that piece was actually written as a response to an earlier column that examined Mitt's shortcomings as he fumbled his way toward election day. But every time I think Romney's achieved a personal best when it comes to his willingness to say or do anything, no matter how ridiculous or divorced from reality, to put himself in the White House, he one-ups both himself and my expectations."

Read the Rest Here

Tough, Enough

I wanted to take a quick second and add something to the earlier post on yesterday's Libya attack, the column that ran at the Daily Banter.

While I'd love to see the United States and every other civilized nation on the planet not have to concern themselves with tempering their language or art to avoid offending the most strident believers in Islam, I think it's ludicrous for anybody to claim that the U.S. embassy in Cairo should've stood its ground and not attempted to defuse the very dangerous situation developing right outside its front gates yesterday. It's really easy for some America cheerleading, bumper-sticker sloganeering, Chuck Norris worshiping asshole to self-righteously proclaim from the comfort of an air conditioned office that as things were heating up the official statement from our embassy in Egypt should've been, "Fuck you, Muslims! We believe in free speech in America! USA! USA! Suck our truck nuts!" It's easy because it's not that person's rear-end that's a twitchy religious zealot's finger away from being blown to hell by an RPG. When you've got a furious mob breathing down your neck and screaming for your blood, you do everything you can to protect yourself and the lives of those around you. It's called diplomacy -- and it's what the staff inside that embassy was there to engage in. A strict and sanctimonious adherence to ideals is a luxury people on the ground in a foreign country can't always afford.

Those currently criticizing the initial reaction of the U.S. embassy in Cairo as protesters were threatening to breach the compound's walls -- the so-called "apologizing" for the mob's perceived religious offense -- should think about that before they decide to mouth off like a bunch of strutting jackasses.

Attack of the Show

Man, Mitt Romney seriously can't catch a break. And by that I mean that he's a craven idiot who can't make a right decision to save his life. The surprising thing is only that everyone seems mercilessly willing to call him out on it.

By now you probably know that Romney not only jumped the gun and ran his mouth off about the embassy attacks before all the facts were in, getting things horribly wrong in a gutless attempt to use the violence overseas to paint the president as weak on foreign policy and an America apologist, but he's continued to repeat that false information over and over again despite being called out for being wrong. Like a suburban pussy boastfully hamming it up for a gang initiation, he's trying so hard to prove that he's got what it takes to be one of the tough-talking chicken hawks on the right that he'll literally say anything to endear himself to them, and all it really takes is to point at Obama and blame him for everything.

The beauty of this new colossal fuck-up is that it's so perfectly Romney -- it really shows off everything worth disliking about him and his campaign. You've got the flop-sweaty stench of desperation, the inadvertent flaunting of his complete lack of knowledge about anything related to foreign policy which leads to far more harm than good, the comical inverse correlation between how bad-ass he aims to appear and how bad-ass he actually is, and of course the blatant lying followed by the inevitable doubling and tripling-down on that lie.

I kid you not: Romney is the worst presidential candidate either party has nominated in forever.

But his involuntary condemnation of the president in an effort to score partisan political points just proves what I wrote a month ago about where we're at now as a nation.

Gods of War

Today's piece for the Daily Banter takes a look at the protest in Libya that killed an American ambassador and three other U.S. diplomats.

The excuse that angry, violent mobs used to attack our embassies in both Libya and Egypt? Somebody said something bad about Muhammad.

The gloves are off on this one.

Here's an excerpt:

"The Middle East/Northern Africa is one of the most bustling and thriving regions of the world — and it also happens to be one of the most culturally stunted, thanks in large part to a nearly absolute devotion to ancient superstition that’s been allowed to dictate, typically with a governmental mandate, every facet of the lives of those who live there. In many Middle Eastern countries, Islam is a meal that’s force-fed — and it’s a fact that’s held an otherwise vibrant point on the globe stuck in time while putting those outside its purview in the unenviable position of having to walk on eggshells and gush ridiculous platitudes in an effort to make sure the often barbaric beliefs that rule the lives of its people are never shown anything less than the utmost respect. Because if they aren’t, well, you get what we’re witnessing right now in Libya."

Read the Rest Here