Pat Oliphant for August 06, 2012

Lobbying is killing the USA. Only the rich get representation in our version of democracy. The middle class cannot afford a lobbyist to influence a politician to do anything for them. Money — the great unequalizer.

my advisor sez if romney gets elected, by march wall street will skid back to bush-era levels, then ram every cent into the standard & poors ya can before the market bounces up with the tax repeals you know are coming. if obama gets reelected, take my wife to bermuda and piss it all away. it’ll buy more and i’ll enjoy it just as much.

Look up “sleaze” in the dictionary and there is a picture of Twit.

With what, your sharp whit? You’re toothless and clawless.

Wrestling might have been a better metaphor for this situation, but that probably would have been too hard to draw. Traditional boxing isn’t nearly as popular as it used to be, and I suppose its use here is intended to show pathetic white people having it out in a ridiculously square manner.

This whole situation might be similar to when Dan Rather released an unsubstantiated copy of a file about GW Bush’s military record. Most likely, he was scammed then. Possibly, Reid’s source is also misleading him. The plan might be to let tensions build, then release the returns to show nothing untoward … making Reid look a fool./

It wouldn’t take much to do that, with his reedy (ha, a pun) voice and timid appearance. I cringe when I see him on television. Did Reid ever consider getting more stylish glasses? He’s obviously a smart man, but he looks like some feeble character out of Dickens. Or the Charles Atlas 90-lb weakling. Physical appearances are important now that the entertainment industry shows us important successful people are to be taken seriously only if they look like colorful movie characters. Presidential candidates also need to be interviewed jogging – does Romney jog?/

Years ago, Republicans in the spotlight looked the epitome of well-fed, cranky plutocrats.(Oliphant still portrays them as such.) Then they wised up. These days, Republican spokesmen appear younger, stylish, physically fit, and sartorially sharp in a John Held Jr illustration kind of way – an Ayn Rand prosperous-and-flaunt-it look./

Even the Republican women in the spotlight today look — dare I say? — desirable. (A far cry from the Nixon girls.) Female pundits on the conservative side have a kind of Elsa-the-she-wolf look. Has this been a focused plan? Cadillac was formerly perceived as a car only for old people, and its main market was literally dying off. Cadillac then used a success about-face ad strategy to sell its cars as a brand appealing to younger, affluent people./

Ever since Nixon’s first campaign, the Republicans have tended to use the latest in psychological selling technology for their candidates. (Some candidates didn’t do this, to their everlasting woe.) They usually play chess while the Democrats play checkers. Is that wrong? In this era when it’s not important how you play the game but whether you win or lose — probably not. I wonder if Karl Rove will ever get religion and write a tell-all book?/

So I wonder if all this is just a put-on, another story during the Silly Season.

No champs, just chumps!

How bad can Mitt’s tax returns be? Well, when he showed them to McCain, McCain selected Palin.

Right on target, Oliphant (if you’ll pardon the pun). This was orchestrated from the beginning: Reid’s up for re-election in 2016 and can “safely” throw these punches. The Democrats know that people who can’t stand Reid will try to make this about him, but the Pandora’s Box they wanted to open has been opened. This only hurts Romney.

You see it pretty clearly! Many others do as well. Yet we continue to vote the bastards (BOTH parties) into office, thereby perpetuating the decline in DC. It looks like We The People have let this get away from us, due in great measure to our “constitutional” sense of entitlement and the apathy it inspires. It wasn’t easy making this effed-up situation come to be. I really don’t see us collectively possessing the wherewithal to turn us back onto to a sustainable course.