:)

... And lookin' like a million, if I do say so myself.

IQ + chutzpah + beer-thirty + a smile = FDL. That's my home team.

Mitt Romney is a cartoon character created by the Department of Cognitive Dissonance.

Jane!!

Its always nice to see Jane. I hope she's doing well, feeling good these days.

Kudos to Jane...

I watched the clip (link from thread at FDL), and pretty much grumbled thru much of it because much of it was the wood-grained hairdo newsreader acting like a real twerp...

honestly, I know Jane and her fellow bloggers need to get whatever exposure they can, but geez, I know it must set their teeth on edge to be coached and prodded throughout the segment...

nonetheless, as I say, nice work by Jane... given the climate she was working in... the rightie? HA!... who was that again? heh heh... don't think I care to find out... that's HIS epitaph.

Jane's a good beat-down.

I watched the full clip on youtube, and this is by no means a "fit" or a melt down. If a candidate can't be passionate about their beliefs, then they have no business running for office. And in this case, he tried to reasonably explain his side. I'm a liberal, but I can't see anything wrong with his demeanor. I'm not saying I agree with all of his positions, but I surely don't think he had any kind of a "fit". It's getting pretty ridiculous in the media, etc. Both sides try to make something out of nothing on a continual basis, just to make the other side look bad. Why can't we just deal with the issues and the personal facts, instead of making them up?

THAT was a fit?!?
LOL
The man is so POLITE!

Well done, Jane. I'm swooning once again.
She lined up the shot perfectly for a salvo; in which direction the mind changes shouldn't be dismissed as arbitrary. Moreover, Gore didn't change his mind out of practical and political convenience for the presidency.
I think they'd have given her more time but were probably afraid she'd conclude Geraghty right out of a job.

Huzzaaah, fine job, Jane. (clapclapclapclap)

The man just defended himself on the youtube clip. While i don't agree with him, he didn't go off on a tear, he stood up for himself.

You can tell right away Jane is on our side - she smiles, she's cute, she's smart and she doesn't have any visible ticks, bugged-out eyes or atavisms. As for the one on the National Review side? Well, I'll try to be nice...

CNN is so lame

I got pretty mad when Rick Sanchez noted that they only had time for a five minute segment. Its a 24 hour news channel that cycles the same garbage over and over. You would think they could have intelligent discussions that go for longer than 5 or 10 minutes, like they have at air america. I guess thoughtful conversation doesn't get the ratings they're looking for...

This is sickening - Romney (whom I DO NOT in any way like) was simply passionate - he never seemed out of control. The CNN anchor was ridiculous - from his characterizations I expected a screaming candidate throwing coffee mugs. You watch the entire ten minute interview and Romney comes across as intellectually consistent and no more forceful than he has to be to get his point across through the constant interruptions of the idiot radio host (pardon the redundancy in that term)

...and Jim Garrity from the National Review, Good reading. HAHAHAHAHA

Romney did not just walk off the set the way other candidiates might have, making excuses. Watch carefully without judgement.

I am an Obama advocate. Clearly it will be a race between the Dem nominee and Mitt Romney. The way he handled the heckling radio host showed that he had the desire to convince. This, and the fact that within the framework of his beliefs he presented them concisely to the other fellow, without distortion. He did not muddy himself in the exchange. This makes him far and away the strongest announced or otherwise candidate for the Repubs. His flip flop will only be crucial to people who think that OTHER people judge a candidate on how closely their own beliefs are perfectly matched. I do not think this is what makes people vote...I believe it is more the strength of belief, the genuine-ness that elicits confidence.

He couldn't have come up with a better campaign commercial if he had tried.

peter sutcliffe @ 2:

frist!!!

Notice how often you are NOT frist??

Nice to see a MSM talkinghead say the ff word - flipflop. Some would call a fip-flopper a revisionist.The entire republic party agenda is bottom line driven and therefore always subject to revision.
Jane was right on the money. And standing toe-to-toe with two male chumps.
The NR guy wanted to dismiss the invocation of Dubya, like they haven't used Slick Willy as their all time whipping boy. Granted hypocracy is no stranger to these people.

Bottom line is, Romney admitted to having one position as a candidate and another position once elected. In commerce this would be recognized as false advertising, and call for legal sanctions. Why should it be acceptable in politics?

Holy shit ! Rick Sanchez is STILL employed. He brings "Douchebaggertry" to a new level.
I will never forgive him for selling out latinos to Newt's gasbag mouthpiece.

[...] Clark Contact the Webmaster Link to Article mitt romney Jane Hamsher On CNN Talking About Mitt’s Fit » Posted at Crooks and [...]

Would never vote for the guy, but what are they talking about? You would have thought he was swearing or something. No news here. 24-hour news cycle filler.

What a terribly misleading headline.
That was a normal discussion.
To call that a fit is ridiculous.

baby jesus, did you know there was a Missouri when you were born 2000 years ago?

Mitt is a flipping floppper.

The Repubs who now say that GW is not a " real conservative" let Bush get away with this impersonation for President and look at him now?

Its not just Mitt's recent pro life stance. How about his life time hunting?

Mitt says he didn't put the dog on the roof of the station wagon. He says we are all thinking of Chey Chase in American vacation.

If they go with Mitt, The repubs will get someone that becoomes something else once in office....

Mitt wouldn't be my 2nd choice if I had to choose only from the GOP candidates.

She's right. I don't think he passed himself off so badly to liberals in that clip. His "double guantanamo" comment has alienated him beyond all repair, however. I know I could never vote for a guy who can't see what's wrong with Guantanamo. The problem he faces is that Liberals already can't stand his eagerness to toss away civil rights, and the right has been told by their corrupt leaders that "god" needs to (re)claim the USA. In the meantime, they are completely ignorant of how they are getting fleeced by their masters. Organized religion is a contageous disease.

A few observations: I think it's fair to say that most of us posting here, (myself included) would just as soon vote for Elmer Fudd as they would Mit Romney. I think he'd make a fine mid-management exec at a Dodge Dealership, but POTUS? No thanks. Having said that, he certainly didn't have a "fit" by any stretch of the imagination, and in fact I think he was relatively calm considering how full of himself the wingnut radio host was. Does that guy like to hear himself drone on and on and on and on or what!? Can you imagine being stuck in a cramped studio for a half hour with that kind of know-it-all Rush wannebee and the burger king onions on his breath!?

Secondly, the thing about Jesus making an appearance in Missouri is a new one on me. That's awesome!.... I mean here did Joseph Smith get this stuff!?

Thirdly, yes, Jane Hamsher is a treasure. If you're ever having a bad day or feeling a bit sorry for yourself, just try saying "Jane Hamsher" a few times out loud. Think of what that amazing woman has been through and the work that she's out there doing, and picture that smile. Works every time!

And why is Firedoglake contributing to CNN's non-news news gathering? This network has been consistently dropping on the scales -- if that interview didn't have the 'news atmosphere' in the background, it could've been Entertainment Tonight. That is all CNN is becoming, The Most Trusted Name In News We Don't Give A Shit About.

I love my Jane, but that was not up to her usual standards. It was unfortunate that they had the clip of Romney not-freaking, instead of the clip of him freaking, but Jane was far too unfocused. Instead of hammering Romney on the flip-flopping, the transparent opportunism, that defines his political life, she drags George Bush and (inexplicably) the other candidates into the discussion. Romney is the prototypical empty suit, he needs to be taken DOWN as the vascillating hollow shell that he is.

What was that? I was most outraged by that host.... you might as well get Drew Carey on CNN. That was unbearable.

If anything, this will make Romney look good and make people who are criticizing him for what he said look like a bunch of hypocrites.

This should be ignored for the most part, or praised by his supporters. It baffles me why it has made it here as negative news for Romney.

Joseph Smith was a New York Jew who only lost half of his followers when his partners outed him as a con artist.

"Jane rocks. She’s one of the best on our side."
i'm sorry, but thats exactly the mentality that is dividing this country. if you're going to make it as highschool as my team is going to beat your team, you know that you're just going to be bias. like everyone else, i don't agree with mitt's personal beliefs, but the thing he is getting heat for is being open to change his beliefs as a human being and not a politician, and he is not denying he is pro life personally, but he is not going to impose that on anyone else. and that is exactly what all politicians should do, not let their church influence those kinds of decisions. jane says all republicans are all extremely pro war anti-choice blah blah. you got to realize that both parties do that. republicans has to get the republican caucus, and democrats do the same in the way they stand up for extremely liberal matters. honestly, the biggest thing i hate about both parties is that democrats are always taking the easy way out by antagonizing republicans for standing up to their beliefs and republicans are always using their religious base to out the democratic party as almost heresy. note im not saying all democrats and repubs do that as jane does. its true that conservatives should be reprimanded for not being up to listening to views differing from what they belief, but liberals do the same in the way they refuse the possibility that a conservative might have something to say. its a lot easier to antagonize someone else, than it is to stand up for what you believe while being antagonized for believing something, which is an american right itself, and especially if someone who has those beliefs to be open and not impose those beliefs on others and then you're being called a flip flopper? if you listen to the interviewer in the youtube video you can see thats not even what he was talking about.

seriously this mass appeal pho-liberality because everyone else is doing it so i want to be on your "side" is lame. can we have something more intelligent said here than "frist!!!
jane hamsher is teh awesome" when she a weak overplayed argument. im sure she knows what shes doing, but i doubt this is her best.

eliot @ 67:
...the thing he is getting heat for is being open to change his beliefs as a human being and not a politician, and he is not denying he is pro life personally, but he is not going to impose that on anyone else. and that is exactly what all politicians should do...blockquote>

No, Mitt should get heat for being the flipflopper he is. If he owned up to his convenient change of belief, he would be a lot stronger than lying about how he was an anti-choice governor, which he was not. Look at his non-response to Brownback's negative attack: rather than saying, yeah, I did say that, but had a change of heart, Mitt somehow makes his single act on embryonic stem cell research serve as a proxy for an anti-choice political career. Mitt's expedience knows no bounds, and were he to *win* the republican nomination, he would just as quickly move toward the center. I don't want to argue about his core beliefs, except to point out that he doesn't have any. Mitt has always taken the politically expedient position. He is deft, but he is not principled. His unmitigated phoniness needs to be pointed out at every opportunity.

No Tiki, They own niether, Their hypocracy lies in the tax money they recieve. Mesquite land owners, business owners, stores, all profit from the revenue from the gambling without getting soiled. It's also in Clark county, one of two Nevada counties that don't allow legal prostitution.

Any religion is only as compassionate, rightious and beautiful as the soul that practices it. Its the LDS as a business thats F***ed up.
Mormons do business with other Mormons on sunday in the presence of the Bishop. Thats how they keep all in the money in the family. (that and the 10% tithe)
I gained quite a bit of respect for the governor after watching that clip however,

I would never vote for Romney because of it.
It seems his spine appears only when he thinks the cameras disappear.

I watched the clip, saw nothing wrong with Mitt's behavior nor inconsistent in his assertions.

I think it's a mistake to go after Mitt in a way that is essentially nit-picking. Trying to pigeon hole him as a flip-flopper, as opportunistic, as insonsistent, misses the point entirely about who Mitt Romney is and what kind of President he might be. To me, the scariest thing about Mitt Romney is that he claims to be a leader in his church, and to have studied it in detail. Coupled with the fact that he is trying to court more traditional Christian voters by portraying Mormons as just another small variation on Christianity tells me a great deal about Mitt Romney. If you know anything about the Mormon church, you know that it is fundamentally and irreconcilably different from Christianity. To portray it as otherwise is essentially dishonest, a tactic designed to do nothing other than to gain votes to get elected into a position of power. I cannot trust anyone who would stoop to such tactics, especially given that Joseph Smith and other Mormon leaders have aspired to be President of the US for the last 100+ years so that they might be in a position to further the growth of their religion.

You might think I am being unfair to Mormons. After all, separation of church and state is not exactly the strong suit of a long line of fundamental Christians. It's certainly essential that we treat ANY candidate who cannot be trusted to keep religious agendas separate from political agendas as unfit to lead. I am simply making the point that Mormons who seek to be President, who seek to create misinformation about the teachings of their religion for political purposes, and who are in a position to kinow in detail about the political agendas of past leaders of the Mormon church deserve a special kind of distrust.

I highly recommend reading "Under the Banner of Heaven" to anyone who would like to find out more about the whole spectrum of religious belief that goes by the name of Mormon.

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

That report was so friggin distorted. The clip shown on CNN was NOT the tantrum Romney had, just some other bit that the suits at the network/the Romney campaign/that douche from the National Review would allow to be shown. THEN they talked about it like it WAS the tantrum. If you're not paying close attention, it seems like they're making a mountain out of a molehill. Thing is, it's not the same friggin molehill.

CNN is worthless. WORTHLESS.

As the process refines itself, have you started making up your mind who you think will be picked as the candidate of choice for each party. Who do you predict will win party nomination http://www.youpolls.com/details.asp?pid=283

True, this CNN piece was obviously designed to put Jane Hamsher on the spot, not Romney, whose tantrum was not shown. Jane should've pointed this out.

Another bone that I have to pick with Jane is when she said that these Republicans are embracing George Bush. Bullshit. They went out of their way to repudiate Bush in their attempts to dredge up the rotting corpse of Reagan. They're just smart enough to know that Bush is too radioactive for them to jump on his coattails like they could in '04 and they'd started realizing that back in last year's mid-term elections.

They've been simultaneously embracing his policies (most notably Iraq) while repudiating the man. Jane really put her foot in her mouth when she said that.

hw @ 80:

I'm not a fan of Romney (or the GOP) in particular, or Mormonism in general, but I think he comes off pretty well. Why would you call this a tantrum? He seems passionate and sincere to me...

Honestly, Mitt comes off as smarmy and plastic to me - just another pol.
He, like Hillary, don't seem to have strongly held beliefs on ANYTHING.
Mitt seems like a vapid hack to me.

I enjoyed the debate during the break (Romney didn't "lose it" at all, by the way. I'd have lost it with that bonehead though. What a cretin.). It was much more interesting than the regular programmed crap. Of course, with an idiot like the guy interviewing him, Mitt comes across as not a bad guy. His position regarding his faith versus public service is correct, but nut jobs like the jackass interviewing him can't accept that. I can't stand anything Mitt Romney stands for, but at least he agrees that he shouldn't impose his faith on other people. That's more than a lot of wingers can say.

The "flip-flop" label has always been stupid. It was stupid with Kerry, it's stupid now.

What I don't like is Romney's politics. I also have a problem with anyone who believes in Mormonism. Now, I also know a lot of very kind Mormons. In fact, I haven't met a Mormon person who I didn't like. But, there's something fundamentally wrong about someone who can buy into it. I'd never vote for someone who actually believed the patent bullshit that is Mormonism.