The Bubble Genius Bob & Chez Show 10/11/12

Posted on October 12, 2012 at 2:59 pm by Bob Cesca

Paul Ryan as Skinny Fred Durst; The Vice Presidential Debate preview; Changing the election narrative; We know where Obama stands; The Obama record of deficit reduction; Indulgent Republican comfort food followed by the smart Democratic diet plan; Americans are stupid; and much more. Brought to you by Bubble Genius!

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  • muselet

    Charlie Pierce on Joe Biden:

    Joe Biden is not riven with self-doubt. Joe Biden is not exhausted by the hurly-burly of politics. Joe Biden is not burdened by the weight of events and laid low by the constant battle against know-nothing obstructionism. Joe Biden is not going to take the stage tonight and find himself wishing he were anywhere else. I mean, god be good to him, as my gran’ used to say, but Joe Biden actually likes all these silly performance pieces in which we insist he be engaged in order to stay vice-president. He revels in them. He would do ten of them a day, if he could. When I consider Joe Biden, and I look at the enthusiasm with which he throws himself into the various cataracts and torrents of hogwash that constitute our politics these days, I find myself looking at him the way I look at people who sky-dive or drive in demolition derbies. I have no idea why they do what they do, and I have absolutely no intention of doing it myself, ever, but, goddamn, do those people look like they’re having fun.

    “Paul Ryan doesn’t like to be questioned.” I watched maybe twenty minutes of the debate before I felt my blood pressure reach dangerous levels, and I swear Ryan was biting the inside of his cheek to keep from screaming “YOU TAKE THAT BACK!” every time Biden took a (usually polite) swipe at him.

    Given ABC News’s general decline (Diane Sawyer as anchor of the flagship broadcast, replacing Charles Gibson?), Yesterday might be an improvement.

    Chez, most of the people crowing about Barack Obama ushering in a new, postracial era were people who weren’t really comfortable voting for a melanin-enhanced person in the first place. I think you’re right, though, that Romney’s debate performance gave a lot of people an excuse to support him, or at least to support him openly.

    Bob, you’re not describing a new phenomenon. People like to feel like they’re backing winners. If Romney does well in a debate and all the pundits start chattering that he’s changed the course of the election, a lot of people are going to rush to climb onto that bandwagon in case that’s the way the election goes. That’s what makes constant polling so insidious, it drives changes in voters’ behavior—maybe not by much, but certainly enough to tip a close election.

    Much as I’d like to see the White House brag about its accomplishments, the reaction from the Romney campaign would be to lie and/or to change the subject to something tangentially related but less positive.

    It’s not really amnesia that makes people support Romney. Short attention span, sure. Apart from registered Republicans, who would vote for the R no matter what, the people who support Romney see that the economy hasn’t turned around yet and blame Obama for the recovery being so slow. Our glorious news media have to take some of the blame for that, but—and it pains me to admit this—it’s not entirely their fault. It’s not like Scott Pelley can go door-to-door among low-information voters and physically force them to learn some facts, after all.

    “This product will get you [laid].” The subtext of just about every advertising campaign, ever.

    If the Rs win, the insanity will not go away this time. As Roy Edroso points out, “they’re getting crazier when they’re ahead.”

    The debt and deficit are terrible, terrible problems that threaten to destroy civilization as we know it, but only when a D is president.

    When the Electoral College numbers start to favor Romney is when I’ll start to worry.

    –alopecia

    • http://www.politicalruminations.com/ nicole

      “The debt and deficit are terrible, terrible problems that threaten to destroy civilization as we know it, but only when a D is president.”

      Word.

  • MrDHalen

    Yea, I’ve become angry and unforgiving with low information voters. To many people have died for us to have what we have and to many people around the world still wish they had a single vote in who governs them.

    Every American with a drop of respect for the founding of this country and the people who has died to protect and progress it, should wake up every morning waiting for the next chance to vote.

    We Americans can be so resolute in our focus and determination when we are truly challenged, but my god do we always have to wait until we are at the brink of collapse to show it?

    Like Bob said, “The guy who represents everything that brought us to economic collapse 4 years ago, and you’re going to vote for him in this election???” That statement should be repeated by every walking and breathing Democrat until this election is over. When someone tells you they’re voting for Romney, just shame them with that line.

    • http://drangedinaz.wordpress.com/ IrishGrrrl

      “Yea, I’ve become angry and unforgiving with low information voters.”

      Me too. Stupid people can’t help it but that’s not the problem here. It’s willful. lazy ignorance. Why are we so hardworking EXCEPT where it comes to patriotic responsibilities? Because we’ve been spoiled by our well-functioning and peaceful (for the most part) system and don’t appreciate it? Which leads to what you said further down….

      “We Americans can be so resolute in our focus and determination when we are truly challenged, but my god do we always have to wait until we are at the brink of collapse to show it?”

      This has been a constant question of mine over the last 15 years…how bad does it have to get? Where’s the line that wakes up the American people? Why do they/we have to wait until we have sunk so low, caused others to suffer so much…why?

      • MrDHalen

        As bad as some things are, we are still living at the peak of civilization in this country. Even though we don’t have a national healthcare system, we live in the safest of times for any humans ever. You might even say it is unnatural in nature for living creatures to be as safe from threats as we are today. Perhaps we have not evolved enough to handle such an unchallenged existence.

        The scary thing is that Mother Nature typically is not very kind to anything that takes its existence for granted.

  • http://twitter.com/scifritz scifritz

    I wonder what the right-winged reaction would be if there was an equal picture of Obama in a magazine with a backwards baseball cap and flexing his muscles…it would be utter fear of a “gangsta prezident”

  • JackDaniel07

    Respectfully disagree with Bob n Chez on one point, though I admit I am still only halfway thru the show…

    Paraphrasing, Chez wondered if there could really be voters out there just “looking for a reason to like Romney”, to which Bob seemed to strongly disagree, shifting into a (legit) critcism about “undecideds.
    But fellas, let me tell you – this is EXACTLY what I am seeing in my sphere of influence….otherwise intelligent and caring people who wanted ANYONE but Romney during the GOP Primary, that thought they had seen Jesus after that 1st presidential debate. The hatred, the seething hatred for this black President is horrifying. I am shitcanning “friends” daily, for good.

    • MrDHalen

      JackDaniel07, I agree!

      There are some white Americans who are convinced they’re wrapped up in some silent race war with the countries minorities today. The truth is that white America has been selling the idea that “anybody can make it” in this country to minorities for decades and you know what, 95% of all minorities have been happily buying and believing it all this time. Now that the possibility of becoming a member of the minority group is in sight, some white Americans have no interest in buying their own “anybody can make it” ideas.

      • JackDaniel07

        spot on – and now further into the show, I have to say Chez is really onto something – something I have not heard/thought of before – that there is probably a large swath of folks who WANT 2007 again. They either didnt get the kick in the balls most of us did, or they dont see it as being serious enough to discontinue their own personal spending sprees.

    • http://www.twitter.com/bobcesca_go Bob Cesca

      Haha! “Bob n’ Chez” is our new Saturday morning cartoon series.

      • http://drangedinaz.wordpress.com/ IrishGrrrl

        OMG, awesome idea! Bob you have the skills to do that and I think you guys could come up with some HI-larious dialog. I can already picture it in my head.

      • JackDaniel07

        ZANY!

      • muselet

        “Bob n’ Chez” is our new Saturday morning cartoon series.

        Brilliant idea! It could be Schoolhouse Rock for the 21st century.

        –alopecia

    • http://drangedinaz.wordpress.com/ IrishGrrrl

      I third that. White guy at work, the day after Romney was nominated, dejectedly walked to his desk and said, “I guess I have to donate to him now”. He wasn’t happy about it but by God he was going to support him. Yesterday he came to work in a Romney/Ryan t-shirt. Irritates me because I don’t bring my politics into the office.

  • Brutlyhonest