Tag Archives: Mitt Romney

The Hostess with the Quotes-est

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Quotes from the News

“If you're sick of hearing me approve this message, believe me, so am I.” Barack Obama

“There are some things about being president that I still have difficulty doing. For example, faking emotion. Because I feel it is an insult to the people I'm dealing with. For me to feign outrage, for example, feels to me like I'm not taking the American people seriously. I'm absolutely positive that I'm serving the American people better if I'm maintaining my authenticity. And that's an overused word. And these days people practice being authentic. But I'm at my best when I believe what I'm saying.” Barack Obama

“…and [Romney's] trying to get [Obama] to stand up and to be a man and to be an American.” Caller to On Point with Tom Ashbrook (WBHR-Boston). I consume a fair bit of media, but how'd I miss the part where Romney's goal was urging the president to become two things he's been since birth? Is this another stunning achievement for Romney or the reason the media often dismisses The Average American?

“One problem for the Obama administration, in my view, is that the stimulus [Recovery and Reinvestment Act] included 5 or 6, or arguably even 10 or 12, bills that, if passed on their own, would be major achievements that the administration would be bragging about today. A stand-alone $29 billion bill to digitize the country's medical records is a big deal. A $90 billion investment in jump-starting renewables is a big deal.” Ezra Klein

“What do we believe…We believe that government has a role to play, not in solving every problem in everybody's life but in helping people help themselves to the American dream…If we want to earn the privilege to lead, it's time for Democrats to stiffen our backbone and stand up for what we believe.” Deval Patrick

“I am the 6th most conservative Democrat in the House of Representatives.” Indiana candidate for U.S. Senate and current Congressman Joe Donnelly

“Facts matter.” Joe Biden

“The American dream is not a sprint, or a marathon, but a relay.” Julian Castro

“Like so many American families, our families weren't asking for much…They simply believed in that fundamental American promise that, even if you don't start with much, if you work hard and do what you're supposed to do, that you should still be able to build a decent life for yourself and and even better life for your kids and grandkids.” Michelle Obama

“Because when you give a speech, you don't give a laundry list. You talk about the things that you, uh, you think are important.” Mitt Romney, explaining to Bret Baier of Fox News why he didn't mention Afghanistan or the troops in his RNC convention speech. Yes, old, but it still rankles. What's that old saw about a gaffe being when a politician accidentally speaks his mind?

“Reporting as 'fact-checking' might have started as a check on outright falsehoods, but it has morphed into a technique for supposedly non-partisan journalists to present opinions as 'facts'. The credibility of reporting has enough problems without claiming objectivity while practicing subjectivity.” L. Gordon Crovitz

“All that exists for any president are the odds.” Michael Lewis

And, your moment of What the Hell are You Saying?!?

A caller from Iowa City to WBHR-Boston's On Point with Tom Ashbrook: “I would like [Obama] to explain why gay marriage is good for the United States and why we should…look forward into the future where gay men can use the women's bathroom and showers.”

Tom Ashbrook: “So you're being facetious?”

Mr. Iowa City: “No, I'm not. I'm saying gay rights is gay rights. Gay men deserve to use the women's bathroom. Well, when will he come out and say that?”

Now, what you need to know about this interchange is: it begins hopping-mad and finishes bewilderingly insistent. I honestly don't know if this guy is in favor of unisex bathrooms by executive order.

Man, oh man, people are weird. Or, as Mr. Iowa City might say, “nuttery is nuttery.” And you can't argue with that.

 

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Justin Time’s 2012 PDG (Political Drinking Game)

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Happy debate night! Grab your favorite beverage and drink when a candidate says:

Gin up (for obvious reasons)

Sword of Damocles or fiscal cliff or sequestration (because what else are you going to do?)

To be clear (here) or Let’s be clear (here)

A (whole) host

Look (only at the beginning of the sentence)

Obamacare (if you’re a Democrat, for self-evident reasons. If you’re Red-leaning, because it’s the government infringing on your liberties)

Average American or Average Voter  or Ordinary American or Average Joe (because you are in that chair, Blanche, you are!)

Middle class

Job creators or small business (because you are one or you’re beholden, Caulfield)

Disingenuous (because “You Lie” was already taken)

Self-deportation (because what are the chances that’ll get used again)

Economy (because it’s …say it with me…the economy, stupid)

Our brave men and women in uniform or our troops (because if anyone deserves a toast, it’s them)

 

Call for entries: I left some good ones off the list. Once you’ve sobered up, add your suggestion to the comments and I’ll add it to the list before the next debate (Veeps on 10/11).

 

 

 

Paul-apalooza!

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In case you were under a rock today and hadn’t heard, Paul Ryan (R-WI) became the Chosen One today, the vice presidential pick for Team Romney. It’s just so exciting, isn’t it? Real News! On a Saturday! Not to take anything from the Iranians and their earthquake or the deaths by lightning strike in India, but ohmygosh, Mitt Romney has a running mate and it’s the physically fit, intellectual powerhouse from Wisconsin, House Representative Paul Ryan. The word of the day in the media is “energized:” the Romney campaign is energized, the Republican base is energized, the fiscal conservatives are energized. It’s almost as if the Romney campaign was lacking energy before or something.

Well, I know I’m breathless from all the excitement and coming up with something smart is going to be ridiculously difficult. Frankly, I’m just so excited and, well, teeming with energy, that I can’t really think straight. So I’m going to do a little P90X and then lay down in a hammock and try to calm down a bit. In the meantime, here’s the short list of highly-energized thoughts that have struck me in these few, electrifying hours since Paul Ryan was crowned the Republican Veep candidate.

The headline for today could also be “Mitt Romney Cedes Foreign Policy Issues in Presidential Race.” Sure, ever since the Republican Primary Show ended, Romney has been focused on the economy. His recent trip abroad was gaffe-filled and generally regarded as graceless, but “it’s the economy, stupid” and the polls show the 2012 candidates in a dead heat, so no big deal, one might say, if Romney puts most of his chips on the electoral kitchen table and talks almost exclusively about domestic issues, particularly the economy. Only, here’s the thing, international issues are still going to need debating. There’s governance to do after the election. That whole being-president thing doesn’t happen in an American vacuum. It might have been wise to choose a VP with some foreign policy credentials or some deeply respected positions on international issues. Instead, Mitt Romney chose Paul Ryan. Paul Ryan is also primarily known for domestic issues, specifically the budget, and also his abs. So, two things there: one, Mitt Romney today looked at the upcoming debates and said “Eurozone crisis? Iran? Israel? China? Global trade? Global climate change? Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt, Syria? Boy, I don’t know. Let’s talk about something else, like maybe the economy. And the economy. We could also just talk about the economy. The one here.” And two, Mitt Romney basically admitted to the American public that he’s concerned with winning the election and not the 4 to 8 years that follow it. You know, those 4 to 8 years when he might actually have to deal with the rest of the world, too.

The GOP is energized, which is good, if you’re a Republican. But this makes Paul Ryan an even more interesting choice for candidate Romney. It’s possible that instead of Ryan electrifying Romney, he’ll simply electrocute him. Ryan’s speech following the State of the Union didn’t make a case for Ryan’s charisma or excitement factor. But he’s been the fresh new thing for the Republicans for awhile, one of the bona fide rising stars of the party. Romney, well, his singing skills aren’t great, that whole “I like trees” thing was possibly one of his most entertaining moments on the campaign trail, and Bill Maher, whether fairly or no, has referred to him as “The World’s Least Interesting Man.” So maybe Romney-Ryan won’t be the Dynamic Duo, but, if you’re Romney, do you want to run the risk of being overshadowed by the light of the newest, freshest, fittest star of the Republican party? It’s a question I would have asked if I were running the campaign.

The upside of the Ryan pick, though, is this and I think it could be good for everyone: Choosing Ryan ensures that some substance will find its way into the conversation. There will be no way to avoid talking about the budget and taxes. This is to the good. Now, for Republicans, my guess is this is the big reason they chose him. After the last election and Palingate, there had to be a smart pick for this election. It’s nearly impossible to read or listen to anything about Ryan that doesn’t include the effusive use of “serious” and “intellectual.” That’s largely due to his budget. Hopefully, there will actually be a real discussion of what Americans want for the country and how we pay for what we want. That would be refreshing.

For Democrats, if they are able to accurately and concisely slice and dice that Ryan budget up so that a fourth-grader can understand it, the choice could be like Christmas morning came early for the Blues. Matt Miller has called Ryan’s budget a “path to nowhere.” Martin Wolf referred to it as “a political fantasyland” and then said about it “You can only say that this is a revolutionary proposal. It would mean the U.S. is going back to the sort of country it was in 1900.” So further discussion about Paul Ryan and his budget, if it’s intense and if the public will sit still for it, could electrify the Democrats, Independents, and anyone else who might not cotton to a taxidermic approach to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Well, it’s a big “if:” serious policy discussions are much less entertaining than “Uz-beki-beki-stan-stan.” They’re mind-numbing in comparison to scandals, snark, and gaffes. And in that spirit, you gotta hand it to Paul Ryan. He began his campaign to become the next vice president with a gaffe of his own. “I’ve some good news and I’ve got some bad news. Why don’t we get rid of the bad news first, okay? President Obama is the president of the United States. And the good news is, on November 6, he won’t be any longer.”

Oh, Mr. Ryan, I guarantee you, even if you and Mr. Romney win the election, Barack Obama will still be the president on November 6. See, he’s the president until the new one is inaugurated. But I know, big guy, it’s been a very exciting day. Probably best to get your first Highly Public Gaffe out of the way early.

Bad Advice

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With Rick Santorum’s exit from the GOP race for the nomination and Mitt Romney’s all-but-certain triumph as Republican standard-bearer for the 2012 election, attention has now inevitably turned to the general Presidential election. I’m no Cassandra here, and certainly only stating the obvious: the months between now and the conventions in late summer will now be filled with two mega-themes. The first will be attempting to predict who Romney will choose to become his running mate. The second will be a micro-analysis of President Obama as both president and candidate. And within this analytic realm will come a veritable host (see how I worked that in there? One of the President’s very favorite words? I pay attention.) of advice for President Obama as he campaigns for his second term in the Oval Office.

Now, there have been times in the past three years when the President has received highly public advice from the punditry, so this will be nothing new. For example, in the time of the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill, there was much criticism, paired with advice, that President Obama needed to focus on the optics; that he had to connect in an emotional manner with the citizens of the Gulf Coast. In all fairness, it should be noted that the President did, in fact, end up with shirt sleeves rolled up, standing on the beach, expressing concern for the residents of Mississippi and Louisiana. Similarly, throughout the first two years of the Obama presidency, the President was frequently compared to Spock and was, usually within the same breath, urged to “connect,” to express emotion, to communicate better.

It seems to me that as the President devotes more of his time to campaigning, the Greek chorus urging “optics,” “emotion,” and “communication” will be silenced by deft manipulation of all three by a man who re-wrote the modern campaign book on all these subjects and techniques in the 2008 election.

Nevertheless, the pundit class and the Twitterverse have cut their collective teeth on one of the most entertaining—and lengthy—Primary campaigns in recent years. The loss of the GOP Primary Circus has left a large void to fill until the conventions. So, in the hours not spent divining the eventual Republican candidate for Veep, the punditry’s role as political Dear Abby will come to the fore.

And here is what I hope they will not say; more accurately, here is what I hope President Obama will not heed. It is advice that was previously given in January of 2011 by Ron Perlstein. In the Newsweek article “What Would Ronnie Do?” Perlstein offered the following (bad) advice to our president. (1.) Simplify Your Story, (2.) Create Handy Villains, and (3.) Be a Divider.

Simplify Your Story: To this voter, candidate Obama earned my vote by not bowing to the easy answer, or at least, not when he could at all help it. Obama became president because people like me appreciated very much the fact that, as candidate in 2008, he was not afraid to say that problems were neither easily nor accurately reduced to sound bites and that “solutions” were seldom reducible to less bullet points than digits found on a human hand. Candidate Obama frequently acknowledged nuance, complexity, and the foolishness of the facile response. As president, he’s generally continued with this reality-based approach. Many call this “pragmatic” in less than flattering ways. Many cite it as a weakness, including Mr. Perlstein. I cannot be the only American who believes this to be one of Obama’s biggest strengths.

Create Handy Villains: As though the world, politically and actually, were not a case of Hic sunt draconis. There be dragons here. Creating them may be strategically smart politically, but it is hardly necessary. The world’s awash in dragons and dragon-slayers alike. The more President/Candidate Obama relies on naming and making them, the more he appears to be a game-player and the less he appears to be the President. Despite the clamor, the easy and obvious appeal of it, the public is tired of games and name-calling. Leave it to the pundits and the bloggers. The president has more important ways to spend his time and energy.

Be A Divider: The nation is divided; as with villainry, there is no need to create something which already exists as the status quo. Neither is there the need to capitalize on it, or exacerbate it. And there is no respect to be found for the one who does so, presidencies aside. If nothing else, we are the theoretically “United States.” Being a Divider may play well to the base, but it seems nothing if not dissonant with the actual identity of the country (or at least the ideal that still makes us care about it).

So, there stands the Bad Advice. For good, if good there be, this voter/citizen/American wishes only that the President will receive two other recommendations. The first, from Marcus Aurelius, whose Meditations the President has reputedly read: “While thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good.” (Or, Mr. President, “Set thyself in motion…and do not look about thee to see if any one will observe it…but be content if the smallest thing goes on well and consider such an event to be no small matter.” The truth will out.) The second, as Aaron Sorkin’s The West Wing put it, “Let Bartlet be Bartlet.” Let Obama be Obama. As a strategy alone, this has its merits. Mitt Romney has been called  by his own staffer “an Etch-a-Sketch;” by Jon Huntsman “a finely lubricated weather vane.” Romney’s greatest weakness politically is his inauthenticity and the sense that he will pander to popular opinion to gain power because his core beliefs are either less compelling or strangely, perpetually absent. If Obama is Obama as a constant, as an authentic three-dimensional constant being, Romney can’t compete (or at least, not at this point in time). But more to the point, Americans are hungry for a real choice. Americans are also hungry for a real person (disregard the polls). They are bone-weary of talking heads and hyper-managed politicians. Let Obama be Obama. I believe no matter how anti-incumbent, anti-politician Americans get, they will still—they will always respond (whether they admit it or not) respectfully to a fundamentally honest and authentic person, even if that person carries the name “Obama.”

Row, Row, Row Your Quotes

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“I’m not worried he’s out of touch. I’m worried he’s Batman.” Bill Maher, on Mitt Romney and his beach house car elevator.

“You know, several of his beach houses don’t have elevators.” David Brooks

“We may make mistakes as a nation and we’ll say we’re sorry for that but apologizing for America is something I will never do.” Mitt Romney, either confused about what “we’re sorry” means, or else being highly particular in differentiating between “we” and “I.”

“Well, if they’re 45 years old and they show up and say ‘I want insurance because I’ve got heart disease,’ it’s like, ‘Hey guys, we can’t play the game like that. You’ve got to get insurance when you’re well and then if you get ill, then you’re going to be covered.’” Mitt Romney on Jay Leno’s show last week.

“You really want us to go through these 2,700 pages?…Is this not totally unrealistic?” Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, regarding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The answers to these questions, in order are: Yes; and No, you are a member of the Supreme Court; judicial review is your job.

“The one little thing we also found, which is sort of ironic, is…among its ability to pay for [Paul Ryan's] budget, they include the tax revenue that…is slated to come in under the President’s health care law at the same time that they want to repeal it. So that’s about 400 billion dollars that they’ve got in there to help finance their budget that they’d have to find some other way to find if they…succeed in repealing the health care law.” Jeanne Cummings

“A fiscal conservative pays for the government he wants.” Matt Miller, “Paul Ryan’s Path to Nowhere,” a short and excellent read.

“There are no ‘Come-Shoot-Me-Clothes.’” Charles M. Blow on Trayvon Martin’s supposed victimization-by-hoodie.

Quotes from the News: Super-Deluxe Bayer Aspirin Edition

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“The annual budget is, frankly, about as honest as the government ever is with itself and with the American people…Look at what we spent in 2011…43% of our spending went to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Another 25% went to the military, to defense. So 68%, almost three-quarters either went to insurance or defense. That is what the federal government is now: it is an insurance conglomerate with a large, standing military.” Ezra Klein

“As the Victorians were with sex, [Mitt Romney] is to money.” David Brooks

“You know, that’s one of the problems of American democracy. We have elections too often and it gets in the way of doing good work in Washington.” Speaker of the House John Boehner

“If the problem is that Congress is responsive to its funders but its funders are only .26% of the American people or .05% of the American people…then the solution is to build a system where the funders are the people, the funders are all of us, so that where they’re responsive to funders, they’re responsive to us.” Lawrence Lessig on public campaign funding and campaign funding reform.

“Poor people have shitty lobbyists.” Jon Stewart

“We can only have as good a foreign policy as the public’s understanding of world affairs. And the tragedy is the public’s understanding of world affairs in America today is abysmal. It is ignorant. It is probably the least informed public about the world among the developed countries in the world.” Zbiegnew Brzezinski

“You know, back in my days, you used Bayer aspirin for contraception. The gals put it between their knees and it wasn’t that costly.” Foster Frees, the money behind Rick Santorum’s 2012 GOP candidacy, when asked by Andrea Mitchell about Santorum’s views against contraception. (Andrea Mitchell’s classic response: “Excuse me; I’m just trying to catch my breath from that, frankly.”)

“The fact of the matter is I think that people would have been happy to have a referendum…on civil rights…” Governor Chris Christie, New Jersey

“If I counterfeit a designer handbag, I’m subject to a ten year jail sentence and a two million dollar fine. If I counterfeit a drug, I’m only subject to a three year jail sentence.” Former associate commissioner of the FDA, William Hubbard

“In the 60’s and 70’s there were two space-faring nations. In the 2010’s there are still two space-faring nations but one of them is not the United States…You know how we can get to Mars? … Go to China, go to the head of state and just whisper, say ‘Leak a memo that says you want to put military bases on Mars.’ It doesn’t even have to be true—just leak it. We’d catch a hold of that memo; we’re on Mars fourteen months later.” Neil DeGrasse Tyson

By the Numbers, Florida Tuesday Edition

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18 Number of states with a higher minimum wage than that of the federal government. The  District of Columbia also has a higher minimum wage. 4 states have a lower minimum wage and 5 states have no minimum wage requirement at all. (U.S. Department of Labor)

42 Percent of U.S. men raised in the bottom fifth of incomes who stay in the bottom fifth as adults. In Denmark, this percentage is 25; in the U.K. the number is 30. (On Point with Tom Ashbrook, WBUR Boston, NPR)

59 Countries holding elections in 2012. This represents one-third of all nations. 26 of these elections will change leadership at the national level (heads of state). One half of the world’s GDP is represented and affected by these elections. (CNN, Fareed Zakaria GPS 1 January 2012)

171 Detainees remaining at Guantanamo Bay. 36 of these are currently awaiting military tribunals or war crimes charges. (PBS NewsHour)

34,000 Amount in dollars earned per household annually to be counted among the world’s richest one percent. (CNN)

170,000 Jobs added in the American auto industry since June 2009. (Bureau of Labor statistics; White House Twitter account 10 January 2012 @whitehouse)

374,000 Amount in dollars earned by Mitt Romney in speaking fees in 2010. Or, as he refers to it “not very much.” (MSNBC; CNN; PBS: NPR)

Weekly Reader

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So my first political memory, such as it is, was getting a copy of Weekly Reader as a young kid during the 1980 elections. The cover had big photographs of both Reagan and Carter and nearly as large illustrations of an elephant and a donkey (each star-spangled in red and blue). It seems like there were balloons, too. At any rate, it conveyed very little substance (I’m sure), and tailored to the 6 year old mind, it told only that something exciting was happening and that there would be something called a president and he would be new to the job. Or some such.

But it was my first newspaper. It was my first introduction to politics. And I bought into it: the patriotism, the excitement, the newsiness of it. My juvenile tongue tripped over the larger words and I enjoyed the pictures and I felt like a grown-up carrying it around and talking about the grown-up world.

I remember this so distinctly that I can tell you that while reading my Weekly Reader about the election, I ate oatmeal for breakfast, into which I had dumped hot chocolate, having recently “invented” the trick. (And, yes, dear reader, I was rereading a paper I had received the day before in school. I was that kind of child.)

So besides the distinct memories of papers and patriotism, it all seems a little strange to me now. If nothing else, at the time, I favored the elephant (it reminded me of a well-loved pair of pants), which is so appalling to me now, I wish I were the lying sort so I could say “and of course I liked the donkey picture best.”

Well, with the debt ceiling debacle of the past summer, with Congress an abysmally disheartening entity, and with presidential nomination debates devolving into booing soldiers, cheering executions, and enthusiastic support for death for the uninsured; with a presidential nominee accused of harassment and receiving increased campaign donations following such; when yet another nominee (the caring mother of 5 + 23) states that “self-reliance means if you don’t work, you don’t eat”; when the entire act of running for president appears to be simply just another way to score a book deal, hawk it, and get rich quick…well, I long for the days of my well-loved Weekly Reader, with its assertion that not only did Mr. Reagan enjoy jelly beans, but whichever candidate won, life would be good for American children everywhere because goodness was what politics was all about.

Well, those days are gone, and I can’t help but feel the world of politics could benefit from an image makeover of the Weekly Reader variety. And maybe that’s the purpose of the conditionally imperative flag pins; it’s certainly the purpose of the jingoistic trope of “American exceptionalism” and the perpetual balloons, the petting zoos, the affinities for regional foods when in the region, the red/white/blue necktie and/or power suit. And while I enjoy a good dose of iconography as much as the next liberal arts junkie, well, there was a genuine sense of the “general welfare,” an authentic notion of “the good,” and an innocence (separate from naïveté) behind the symbolism that I think modern politics would do well to rediscover.

Well, while I’m busy here not holding my breath, I suppose I’ll settle for that November 1980 edition of the Weekly Reader, if anyone’s got a copy handy.

All Told: 10 November 2011

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All Told, Citizen Cain Edition

“A poet once said “Life can be a challenge/Life can seem impossible/ But it’s never easy when there’s so much on the line.” Herman Cain, quoting the theme song from Pokémon, the Movie in a GOP presidential debate—and doing so without any hipster irony, thank you very much.

“I am the Koch brothers’ brother from another mother. Yes!” Herman Cain, quoting Rush Hour 3, and again sans irony. (More on the Koch brothers here and here.)

“To not know that…China…has nuclear weapons and has had them since the 60s is really a problem. It means you haven’t read the newspapers for half a century.” Chris Matthews on Meet the Press, regarding Herman Cain’s insistence that China is trying to acquire nuclear weapons, something they’ve had since 1964.

And, the best take on Candidate Cain—Sim City and Pokemon inclusive—is here, on video from The Rachel Maddow Show.

All Told, Random Politickery Edition

“We went to the company and we said ‘Look, you can’t have any illegals working on our property. I’m running for office, for Pete’s sake. I can’t have illegals.’” Mitt Romney, at the GOP debate, 18 October, 2011.

“My constituents are not in Washington. They’re out across America.” Jim DeMint, senator from South Carolina, whose constituents of course are neither in Washington or across America—they’re in South Carolina.

“Sorry. Oops.” Governor Rick Perry, “stepping in” the abyss of forgetfulness at the CNBC debate Wednesday night, 9 November. (Yeah, here’s the video… you know you wanna look.)

Related: The “I just can’t get enough of this” interlude: Governor Perry in New Hampshire, 28 October 2011.

All Told, Intervention, Iraq, and Afghanistan Edition

“…nobody [commanders on the ground] uses the word ‘victory’ or ‘success’ anymore. The new phrase you keep hearing is ‘Afghan Good Enough.’” Thom Shanker

“Nobody wants peace because everybody profits from war.” Nir Rosen

“…there are not solutions that you can dream up in Washington, there are no universal structures or lessons which you can apply from Bosnia to Afghanistan…Context is everything…what you need above all are people who understand the language, understand the culture, have spent 20-30 years working in these communities.” Rory Stewart

[Iraq] “could have been a place that participated in the Arab Spring and I think it would have been probably much more positive if we’d come in support of that rather than trying to impose that.” Rory Stewart

“And if we actually plant our flag more forthrightly in principles rather than pragmatic security, the world will listen.” Simon Schama

Simi Valley After-Party!

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Oh, how I love presidential debates! Now, I was all fired up to take the transcript and write up a blog post that both fact-checked and countered the candidates’ comments with my own questions/comments/responses. The reality, though, is this: it is three days after the debate at the Reagan Library and the fact-checking has already been done (here and here, for two) and besides being tragically late to that party, I just don’t have time to pretend to do the thing up right. So, from one list and from memory, my impressions of debate night, in no certain order and not to the standards of fact-checking, source-listing, and precision I would like to have presented.

Y’all ready? Here we go.

1.) Flag pins are so 2008. While at one point, it seemed you weren’t even allowed to participate in a debate without visibly demonstrating your membership in the Patriot Club, flag pins are apparently now démodé to the point of irrelevance. Great. So what distraction from substance will we find now?

2.) Looks like Michele Bachmann has lost the petting zoo advantage. Perhaps in a game-changing mood, she’ll reincorporate them into her campaign staff and cart them along to the next debate. Possibly couldn’t hurt.

3.) Or, she could continue playing the mommy card. As she is wont to do, Ms. Bachmann used some of her very limited time to reiterate her five-children-of-my-own-and-twenty-three-foster-children as an important piece of her argument about why she should be president. Motherhood is many things and it could very well be too honorable (when you get it right) for politics. It arguably could make one a better president but it definitely doesn’t qualify one to be president. Ms. Bachmann’s mothering resumé is an important piece of biographical information but we can now already recite it from heart. So why did she give up a minute of her time on it and not something–anything–else? (More on global caliphates, for example! Or does she or does she not also “give propes” to capital punishment, science, the number 9, and/or Galileo?) Besides, it’s a safe bet that the other GOP candidates also stand for “Motherhood, America, and a hot lunch for orphans.”

4.) Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution! This one keeps coming up and it got some play at the debate. To which, for the love of all things Brian Williams, will someone please ask the follow-up questions? To wit: “Many states with balanced budget amendments now find themselves in critical shortfall emergencies, resulting in a lack of liquidity to deal with short-term crises and the loss of thousands of teachers, firefighters, and public servants from employment despite the continuing demand for their services. How would the nation and its jobless rate benefit by adopting this as a permanent policy?” Or: “When states with this requirement run out of funds and into trouble they turn to the federal government for assistance. To whom will the federal government turn when it, under a balanced budget amendment, runs out of funds and encounters a national security situation or natural disaster that requires an immediate outlay of funds?”

5.) I’m not generally one for psychoanalyzing people based on use of language. However, anyone count the number of times Governor Perry used the word “liar,” “lie,” and “lying?” At the very least, it demonstrates an unwillingness to temper one’s speech. And that could present a problem when governing. (I picture Mr. President leaping over a table to grab Other Foreign Leader’s tie, while repeating “You Lie!” Great theatre, Yosemite Sam, but Bad Foreign Policy.)

6.) The biggest applause line of the night wasn’t one of the candidates’ answers. It was Brian Williams asking about capital punishment. He couldn’t even finish the question to Gov. Perry about difficulty sleeping before the applause started. It’s possible that some of us in TV Land found that difficult to sleep on.

And most of all:

7.) I admit my bias. It’s no secret that I’m a pretty safe vote for President Obama to remain president. (However, I don’t rule out the possibility of ever voting for a Republican, some day in some other election.) And, on the chance that my vote doesn’t take the day (Hello, 2000), I still want someone in the oval office who is well-informed and makes reasonable, careful decisions. So here’s the problem: there were too many moments on the stage in Simi Valley that left me wondering if these candidates were chronically under-informed or just plain inattentive; or if they hadn’t chosen their information and policy staffs wisely.

Examples abound. Be against Obama Care all you want but don’t then argue against it by saying you support things that are accomplished by the Affordable Care Act. Mr. Huntsman, the ACA does put things in to address cost-cutting, cost overruns, and the harmonization (digitization) of medical records. Gov. Perry, the ACA is not one-size-fits-all: if, as you believe, the states can do it better, they are absolutely empowered to come up with a plan of their own so long as it accomplishes the objectives of the bill. Too, dear GOP candidates, I understand you are against the mandate but object to the “forced to” language of your argument. No one will be flogged for failing to obtain insurance. A citizen will have to choose whether to purchase insurance or pay a penalty. There’s plenty of room left for debate on that, including the ideological issue of being asked by the government to purchase from private corporations. But since the ACA is not socialized medicine, it is a choice, perhaps unpalatable, but it is still a choice, somewhat similar to taxation: one must either pay taxes or pay the fines, interest, and consequences. I am always left wondering in these discussions if the candidates (or anyone on their staffs) has actually read the legislation.

Similarly, on energy: it seems ill-informed to me to pretend that energy prices and policies depend mostly on the United States’ actions and energy production. To discuss energy and not mention the growing demands of India or China seems almost absurd. To pretend the U.S. has control it’s just not exercising borders on irresponsibility. On the economy and jobs, it’s the same deal. This is not something that can be solved by a better president or, in fact, any president. There are so many things tangled up and causing this situation from housing markets, global economic instability, uncertainty with the euro and the valuation of foreign currencies, and the policies of international banks that no one person can just shout it down or legislate it back to Leave it to Beaver and Mayberry. I hate that the debates end and I’m wondering if our potentially next president understands that.

And it gets worse. One can take a defensible position on immigration and border security. But to suggest that if President Obama were serious he’d put drones on the border when drones are, in fact, being used on the border, well, I don’t know what to say to that. I’m Joe Schmoe, Joe the Plumber, the Average American. And I’ve known that for months thanks not to “the poorest intel” but to the likes of CNN, NPR, and PBS NewsHour. Too, I got no sense from the candidates on this topic that they realized that deportation of immigrants has actually increased under President Obama; no sense, either, of an understanding that our drug and arms policies figure into the violence of the Mexican cartels, despite the mentions of those cartels and their guns.

And I suppose you just can’t top “Please name one scientist you find credible” and the inability to even, say, name a scientist, one scientist, any one will do, hell, make one up. At least Former Governor Palin could come up with the answer “All of ‘em.”

I just want the next candidate for president to be able to do better than that.