I've seen plenty of presidential candidates go off message at inopportune times, but it's rare to see a White House hopeful deliberately throw his message out the window just as the general election is heating up.
For over a year, Mitt Romney had a very specific focus: jobs and the economy. There were clearly legitimate questions about whether he had any credibility on the subject, and whether his agenda would make matters worse, but he was a disciplined candidate who remained focused on his principal goal.
And while this made sense -- polls show Americans care more about jobs and the economy than anything else -- the Republican shifted gears two weeks ago, moving his focus to "values" issues like welfare and contraception. Then Romney changed his message again, talking up Medicare.
As of yesterday, Romney has been reduced to arguing that the campaign is about ... the campaign.
Campaigning in Ohio, Romney pushed the rhetorical envelope even further, saying President Obama and his team have "disgraced the presidency." He added that Obama is "angry and desperate," concluding, "T[]ake your campaign of division and anger and hate back to Chicago and let us get about rebuilding and reuniting America."
The Obama campaign's Ben LaBolt said Romney seemed "unhinged," and there's some truth to that. But keep in mind, Romney wasn't just flying off the handle in an overly-emotional tirade; he was reading the words written for him and placed on his trusted teleprompter. This was, in other words, unhinged and planned.
So, instead of talking about unemployment and the fragile economic recovery, the Romney campaign is focused on talking about the campaign. Nothing persuades struggling voters more than listening to politicians talk endlessly about campaign tactics and strategy, right?
Of course, there's another important angle to this: the substance of Romney's criticisms are also absurd, and if he's looking for an "angry and desperate" candidate, he's better off looking in the mirror.
There's been a concerted Republican effort over the last week or so to suggest President Obama is pushing the 2012 race in an ugly direction. That's ridiculous.
As we discussed last week, Mitt Romney has spent the last several months arguing that President Obama is a corrupt liar, who hates free enterprise and religion, and who's driven by an ideology that's "foreign to the American experience." One of Romney's chief surrogates has said the president should "learn how to be an American," and "has no idea how the American system functions," in part because "he spent his early years in Hawaii smoking something."
And then Romney complains about Obama making "personal attacks."
Look, this is just crazy. Romney has disgraced himself with nearly-uncontrollable lying, so he's accusing Obama of being a disgrace. Romney is lashing out angrily, so he's accusing Obama of being angry. Romney will do anything to win, so he's accusing Obama of being willing to do anything to win. Romney is running a sleazy, substance-less, integrity-free campaign, so he's accusing Obama of taking the campaign into the gutter.
To be sure, I'm not suggesting Obama is pure as the driven snow, but there's hardly anything the president's re-election team has done that pushes the boundaries of decency. There's been plenty of spin and borderline shots from the Democratic campaign, but nothing that warrants Republicans and reporters to reach for the fainting couch.
Ultimately, I have to wonder whether Romney thinks he's helping himself with this garbage. Does he think voters want to hear less about jobs and more about Romney's perception of Obama being a big meanie?
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Somewhere I remember reading that the Ryan pick was supposed to elevate the debate, to focus on the real differences between Obama's economic vision and Romney's anemic, err, I mean economic vision.
But instead we get boilerplate victimhood.
Campaigning about the campaign?
Maybe Willard should change his "mittle" name from Mittens to "Meta"!
;-)
The Blaze put up a Moveon dot org video
See The Video That Moveon.Org Thinks Could Stop Mitt Romney Getting Elected
in it are all the baseless lies and marxicratic crazy extremist talking points (same as you hear on TRMS spewed by Maddow herself and others) to a tee. Check it out there or on You Tube. See for yourself. It's YOUR brainwashing seesion for today boys & girls. There is nothing new in it, just the same trash you've been hearing for months on Maddow's show. Only YOU anyone of you could be in it!
The George Soros machine at work destroying this country, or at least trying to. Maddow and msnbcers are just Soros puppets.
Soros should get a TV program on MSNBC. He owns it already.
All of the points / prongs in the video are facts. What is your alternative theory that is not "trash"?
There ya go again. Line right up behind the other brainwashed foolish people ahead of you. tsk tsk tsk. you folks just can't escape the grasp of the lies that have been told you.
Think for YOURSELF. Explore the facts and get the real answers.
You deserve better.
Gee Irish, how about pointing out facts, instead of repeating FAUX NOISE tirades. Stop with the false equivalences, Moveon.org unlike other organizations on the right put out ads that have facts. I don't see you squealing about "CrossRoads GPS, Americans for Prosperity. et.al) that have put out nothing but fear filled, buzz-word lies, distortions and fantasy.
Mittens actually is unhinged because: 1) his only plan is to further the economic interests of the top 5%, 2) he can't flip-flop anymore, 3) his pick of the faux economic conservative Paul Ryan didn't really help his numbers, 4) poor Mittens is so confused by the lies and flip-flops that he just can't take it!
Pick Mittens because it is his turn (dayum it) - that's what he really wants to say! And you bigoted sheeple will fall for the Ponzi scheme every time!
why, Patty, here again and still no evidence or facts. It's nice to see that a Catholic has no more interest in the words of his holy book about liars than a Mormon. If you have things to back up your nonsense, please do show them. We've been waiting patiently. For someone who claims s/he wants everyone to see such "facts" to get the "real answers" you have shown yourself either incapable or unwilling to provide them. Which is it, Pat?
Patty the Potato Head is being paid by George Soros to make us stronger in our fight against Tea party lunacy
You use names like "Willard" and "Mittens" which are catch phrase names used only by msnbc pundits and you cannot even be original.
You use name calling and personal attacks against those whose OPINIONS vary from yours such as mine and others and regardless the LENGTHY validations I have shown as facts and real answers, you deny they exist or have been preposed. (Nuns on the Bus) (Liberation Theology) etc etc
"Patty the potato head", great comeback for a playground child but nothing of mature merit when it comes to adult conversation about issues with people who disagree with you. I been called worse here, "phuckface", "short buser", and some weirdo referencing dirty diapers but nothing of merit. Aside from a couple well spoken concerned individuals I conversed with here. The rest seem to be driven by namecalling and shouting matches and mimicking msnbc hosts who tell them how to think and what to reply/say.
Then the last resort, answer the post I present with a question. Frustratingly endless hyped up talking points exchanged instead of proper adult conversation and diallgue/discourse. Just plain childish.
Read the next upcoming bog items presented here. They are all opinionated crap without actual facts. Just marxicratic talking points. Backed by radical special interest progressive web sites articles and extremist veiwpoints. Then the "choir" here all echoes what been written. Sheeple? Brainwashed?
Where the "bigot" stuff came from I have no idea. Wild card incredulity. Just more senseless namecalling.
Better time will be spent playing the new Madden 13 demo than trying to exercise a reasonable conversation in Maddow madness and crazy extremist land TRMS blog.
Madden 13 with the infinity engine. Looks impressive so far. The game releases August 28th!!!
When did idiot conservatives learn how to turn off caps locks and start using italics?
Now surely you realize this rant is pointless as Soros is on one side and Murdoch on the other. This is all a game to play at your emotions while they strip the country of its wealth. The powers that be keep making this nonsense of a 2 party system and everyone keeps lapping it up..... with a passion. This is a means to keep us divided so they can continue to have there way while you all are to busy bickering about things that do not matter. Perhaps you should Google the NDAA, ACTA, SOPA, PIPA, CISPA and other bills like them to see what is happening to this country behind the veil of "politics".
Okay, human to human...and if you are a Pats fan, I am banking on you being a human...Question: why do you even pretend there is any such thing as a One Size Fits All real answer.
People DO think for themselves. They take the facts and digest them according to familial and social experiences, education, gender, religion, and regional cultures, which all color individual outlooks, some of which match yours and many of which differ from yours.
You are asking that we become cookie-cutter people who act and think as you do. But we all weren't raised as you were raised, where you were raised, how you were raised. Factor in different priorites, different causes, different dreams... there is so much diversity among humans. Why can we not celebrate our uniqueness, rather than tear it down and force us all, regardless of culture or ideals, into some mold which makes you comfortable?
One size does not fit all.
IrishPat7, are you SERIOUSLY suggesting that democrats are the ones being fed lies? You MUST work for Romney's campaign. The only pro-republican news source is Fox, who, as you may or may not know, is BANNED from broadcasting in most countries around the world, as they don't meet unbiased reporting standards.
What the hell is wrong with you republican voters? Do you make over $500k a year? Because if not, you will PAY MORE TAXES UNDER ROMNEY than Obama. At the same time, I hope you don't get sick or lose your job, because under Romney there won't be unemployment benefits, and he's vowed to waste years of his time dismantling Obamacase, WHICH WILL COST BILLIONS TO DO. This guy is a shallow loser. Nothing more. Unless you are in his pockets, you would be brain-dead to actually think he's the better candidate.
Hey Irish, two things:
1) "Willard" and "Mittens" which are catch phrase names used only by msnbc - actually his first name is "Williard" and Mittens is cute and cuddly (sort of)
2) When you're going on a diatribe to get your point across please be grammatically correct and at least use "spell check".
Thank you,
awww, still no facts or evidence from Patty. Shucks.
I don't think that many people outside the Fox bubble think Obama is angry or mean. It makes me wonder if Romney and his staff realize there is an "outside the Fox bubble?" I mean every step Romney has taken is aimed squarely at energizing the Fox news dittohead base. He must believe that is all he needs to win.
You're a liar and traitor for supporting the illegal alien and traitor Obummer and the buffoon Biden.
One hopes you are a parody troll.
One could be wrong...
Jose, are you a plant trying to make conservatives look like idiots? Because it's working.
Want to know how you can tell when you have a winning argument against a Republican?
They answer your argument with "birthirism" and start calling you a traitor (or terrorist, or un-patriotic, or liberal, or socialist...)
Jose tell your friends at Crossroads that we prefer the afternoon trolls to you guys on the early morning shift. At least Shooter tries. You aren't even amusing.
Simple PROJECTION from romney...He does it all the time..shifts his feelings, attitudes and vitriol to his opponents..Look to the primary..Never about him and what he would do..mostly about President Obama and carpet bombing his opponents with lies!
ARodney - don't be silly - they don't have to try. Plants and other vegetables (e.g. broccoli) always make "conservatives" look like idiots!
;-)
People who generally make claims or introduce things such as patriotism or religion as a means of rhetoric are lying, or at least that is what the CIA say.
It's not simply projection. I've thought for quite a while now that eventually Republicans would come to the point of insisting that Obama was doing something unseemly simply by campaigning for re-election. And here we are, and that is just what Romney is now doing. There have been hints of this before, but now it's front and center: the actual Republican candidate for president would have us believe that it is somehow disgraceful for the Democratic candidate to be campaigning at all. It's deliberate and very cynical.
Put simple, MeddlingMonk, the tactic is to accuse your opponent of your weaknesses first so that if they dare to attack you on that it looks like (s)he said/(s)he said. The incurious watcher will then chalk it up to campaign BS and ignore. It's a cheap way of defusing criticism before the fact.
Yes, this has officially become shill central.
Obama is now running the ad in Cleveland accusing Romney of killing a guys wife, and Biden (in dialect) says Romney is going to put people in chains.
And the left thinks this kind of attack is just fine. There's a saying that the aggressor in a conflict sets the rules of engagement. OK. When do we get to hear why Obama allowed one of representatives to present a bio having him born in Kenya?
Waa Waaa Waaaaaaaaa
No Fair They're playing by our rules
As we used to say Eat S*it and Die
Shooter - when will you ever bring an honest view to the discussion. First, the Obama campaign is not running that ad; next, the ad does not accuse Romney of killing Joe Soptic's wife - but it does point out the human cost of the way Romney makes his money. Repealing Dodd-Frank, and repealing the Affordable Care Act does once again bind consumers to the mercy of "too big to fail" banks, predatory lenders, and abusive insurance companies.
You know as well as I do that the "Kenya" reference has been debunked. You've seen the birth certificate with your own eyes - so to continue to harp on it is distractive nonsense.
Why you continue to fight so hard for Romney to be elected so he can screw you over, I just can't fathom.
The guy in the ad is stating his view! Keep it rolling!
Well said June. And catch up, Shoooter, it wouldn't matter if he WAS born in Kenya. His mother's an American citizen so he would be too...
It's never been litigated as far as anyone can tell, but the basis for "Natural Born Citizen" is the British law defining a "Natural Born Subject of the Crown". See, once Britain became an empire, they had a problem. Only first-born native sons of British subjects were allowed to inherit(to avoid diluting estates). This was a problem when you, as King, needed to administer your possessions overseas. You could either send old farts and their wives past their child bearing years who tended to die off quickly under the stress of being beyond civilization or you could send youthful vigorous types who would then have to come back to British soil to bear children in order to keep lines of succession clear.
The only US law that has ever mentioned "natural born citizen" (other than the one post-hoc legitimizing McCain's status) was the Naturalization Act of 1790, it was repealed by the Naturalization Act of 1795, which doesn't use the language. It does clue you in however, to the idea that the notion of "natural born (X)" was so obvious to the 1st Congress that it was superfluous to the 5th. And by the language used, we can argue that they mean "born to blood" rather than "born to soil". But nobody has taken it to court.
From Blackstone's commentaries (1765) (from which we derive a lot of common law):
An error has occurred, we are idiots and our software has posted your comment twice, yet again.
LMAO at the title of the video
Swift Boat.
What traitors illegal alien Obummer and buffoon Biden are. In Nov a tidal wave is going to hit the DemRat traitors and sweep them into the dustbin of history.
Thank you for your erudite and nuanced post . It has elevated the conversation here
I see another eloquent denizen from inside the Fox bubble has come to substantiate the validity of Mr. Benen's observations. Thank you for playing, Jose.
So with your hateful and almost scathing post, Jose, you're trying to prove that yes, indeedy, Mitt and Paul are running a hate-mongering crapfest of a campaign right now?
Spit in one hand and wish in the other, Jose'! see which fills up the fastest!
Jose, you need a mental health check and maybe a xanax to relax- do you have health insurance??? If so, you are luckier than millions of other people (including children) who don't and Mitt Robme doesn'y care...
Jose, do you have a Romney bumpersticker on your forehead?
Your name is Jose Dinero. Sounds exactly like the kind of person Republicans would like to deport. Or at the very least, make you show papers upon being asked. Stop watching Fox News. Your mind has been poisoned. They are not your friends. They are your enemy.
Hard to believe "Joe Money" would be one of Willard's fans... not.
LOL!
;-)
Romney is not running a very good campaign.
The trolls on here are as desperate as Wrong-ney and Lyin'. I must say I am amused.
I'm disappointed. All that anger and resentment, and still they're just phoning it in.
He's trying out a new magical theory of projection, which is coming off as rubber and glue but, he is misguided in his efforts because everyone is listening, except to him. He won't talk to us, so we will not listen to him. Once a liar always a liar, his first mistake was his first lie.
According to Willard, his first name (note: not "Mitt") is his first lie. "Hello, he lied!"
Willard even lies about his own name - check out his incredible mendacity at the 1:25 mark!
;-)
He's trying out a new magical theory of projection, which is coming off as rubber and glue but, he is misguided in his efforts because everyone is listening, except to him. He won't talk to us, so we will not listen to him. Once a liar always a liar, his first mistake was his first lie.
It's double posting
This candidate is exactly what the Anyone But Obama strategy deserves. The Executive Office requires far more from the person who is to occupy that seat than some prerequisite R on one's voter card.
Desperation = Angry Black Man campaign, better known as the Dog Whistle Express
Yes, if one criticizes dear leader one must be racist. The buffoon couldn't manage his way out of a paper bag. He's a traitor and a fake.
Give us an example of an Angry Obama. Please. Please. Please.
Barack Obama won the Presidency of the United States as a black man with a funny name. He has spent a lifetime learning how to control his emotions. One of the traits that has endeared him to the voters is his ability to project calm confident leadership the very antithesis of angry and division. In fact, if you hung around here at all you would realize that a lot of us have complained over the years that the President is too calm (too detached) and too willing to work with knuckleheads like you.
Ron: I do think Obama tends to hold himself back and made a big mistake trusting honest dialogue on policy from the other side, even if it was a planned strategy to show he, Obama, tried and exposed the Republicans oppositional pathology and showed himself to be the adult voice in the room. Whatever the plan was, I do believe Obama is the most adult voice in the room but believe he should have opened much stronger than the apparent give-in he appeared to be after starting his administration.
Angry Obama? That's a hoot! There's a reason so many people have referred to the President as "No-drama Obama" - I can't begin to fathom how he's stayed as calm and level-headed as he has in the face of such relentlessly unreasoning opposition.
;-)
Joe, you are saying treason… get a grip! Angry? hah! Did you ever stop defense tactic to wonder why A.A. people say such things are racist dog whistles? Angry Black Man… is the person saying it racist or the intended audience? I'd say the one saying it is playing racial politics and those responding to it are racist.
Anger, division and hate sounds like Ryan's backers. the T.P.ers. Now the chameleon Rmoney turns into a T.P.er with the snake and all. Next, he'll walk around wearing a holster on his leg and saying those Damn Dirty Apes want to pry this from my cold dead hand. I need it for varmint hunting.
Jose, I would like to point out the irony behind you being a conservative (with a name like yours). Your own party hates you out of spite and political principle. Are you so upset by not being accepted into the club you want to be part of so badly that you are willing to repeatedly copy and paste the same senseless venom over and over again. You have nothing to prove here except how silly you are.
If you can paint you opponent with everything that is wrong with YOURSELF, some voters will consider it a wash. It diminishes the effect of your own lies & deceit if the voter can say "Well Obama is ________— too!" Rove at work.
If you look at the recent talking points of the Romney campaign and its surrogates (Obama eliminated the work requirement for welfare; Obama stole money from the Medicare trust fund to pay for Obamacare, a risky government program that is not for you) paired with their unwarranted apoplexy over the Biden “chains” comment, it is obvious where Romney is planning to take the campaign.
If you can paint you opponent with everything that is wrong with YOURSELF, some voters will consider it a wash. It diminishes the effect of your own lies & deceit if the voter can say "Well Obama is ________— too!"
You're going down hard in Nov Leftist traitors. You know it. Get out of America. It is not for you.
You go, gurl!
I think you're supposed to be over on the Yahoo comments section, poor fearful baby troll.
This guy's a domestic terrorist waiting to happen... someone hide his guns (quickly)!!!
Oh I like this guy . At least the posts are short and stupid as opposed to shooter's and potato pat's link embedded treatises.
That's really @#$%&* ^ to try to order us to leave, when there are folks trying to undermine the power of voting under your nose, talk about traitors.
buffoons… playing puppet to the puppetmasters. Don't even notice the hand up there, either.
Oh, but they so desperately want their country back: a magical land that never existed where the people are all white, the women are all docile, and all the queer people are shoved deep into the back of the closet.
Trouble is, it's really our country. Anyone who can't accept that is the one who doesn't belong.
You're failure of a (snicker) pResident and buffoon of a (snicker) Vice-pResident is obvious for all to see. You are going to be hit by a tidal wave losers. Crawl up into the fetal position now to prepare.
Wait, Jose Dinero is Mitt Rmoney in Spanish, right?! (/snickerz)
Maybe Jose Culero!
My question here is "Jose". Why is a white guy, hiding behind a Hispanic screen name, spitting racist remarks about a black President? And yes we do know you are Caucasian. Because Hispanics do not use words like "snicker" or "buffoon" or phrases of "swept up in a tidal wave". That's strictly Caucasian Fox News rhetoric.
So either have the testicular fortitude. To make a name with your own name. And say these things without ambiguity. Or just stfu. Because we do not feed trolls here. Trolls are like cats. You feed them once, and they never go away. And for me cats are like bullsh*t. I'm allergic to them both.
"Jose" - maybe you should eat a "Snicker". Apparently, when you get hungry you say stupid things.
;-)
it might be george zimmerman
I don't think this is just Rovian tactical attribution of their own wrongdoing onto the other side to preemptively convert any discussion of their own wrongdoing into a "both sides do it" narrative. There is no sign that the MSM is prepared to discuss, or even capable of discussing, the serial lying and recent turn to race-baiting in a sustained, meta-narrative way that could hurt them. Nor do I think its mere projection.
Instead, I think if flows directly from the fact that, since sometime during the Reagan years, Republicans have come to quite literally, if not always consciously, believe they are absolutely entitled to power. Divine right, cultural superiority, a self-image play in which they're the only ones keeping the barbarians and parasites at bay and thus deserve power because they've earned it and the safety of the nation requires it. All of that seems to play a role. Elections, in their view, are just mostly meaningless symbolic ceremonies whose sole purpose is to confer a mantle of democratic legitimacy to their rule.
And the result of all of that is that nothing is beyond the pale for them but everything is beyond the pale for their opponents. Democrats are supposed to play the role of scapegoat for all of what Republicans conceive to be the nation's sins and fears and anxieties, accept their drubbing passively and thereafter submit to the policy demands of Republicans.
So every time that mere meaningless legitimization ceremony threatens to turn into a substantive democratic process that might deprive them of power to which they're devinely entitled, they go absolutely bananas. By their lights, the mere idea of Democrats fighting back is a violation of the divine order and it outrages and infuriates them.
Mitt's sense of outrage is, I think, real. It's Mitt's turn, and that awful person on the other side is practically stealing something that's rightfully Mitt's. Saw the same outrage from McCain. Saw the same blind fury and descent into insanity when Clinton had the temerity to defeat a president who they didn't like very much and supported tepidly, but was on their team.
Very much, agree, Steve.
Good description of bully behavior, Steve, towards submissive behavior. The typical Yin-Yang relationship between Republicans and Democrats indeed goes back to Reagan. But getting submissives to behave like leaders is a stretch. We need honest progressives to replace the submissives in the primaries, which we should have started on back in 2008.
I am thoroughly impressed by this insightful, well articulated observation. Please note that there truly isn't going to be any substantive response outside of plenty of ad hominem or straw man arguments. Why you might ask? Because when progressives say stuff that is truly well thought out it is very hard to defeat with the mindless zombie, brain eating rhetoric that the right responds with. Bravo.
The Rmoney Plan: Lie!
The Rawmoney name: Lie!
Willard even lies about his own name - check out his incredible mendacity at the 1:25 mark!
;-)
Rather striking comment from Palin over on fox about the Biden remarks-
"If that's not the nail in the coffin, really, the strategists there in the Obama campaign have got to look at a diplomatic way of replacing Joe Biden on the ticket with Hillary," Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee and a Fox News contributor, said. "And I don't want to throw out that suggestion and have them actually accept the suggestion because then an Obama-Hillary Clinton ticket would have a darn good chance of winning."
Striking, yes. Proving again that Palin is still a political novice with startling ignorance whose advice is worth nothing.
^ I was going to say.. She should try selling the "Sham-wow" or Oxy-clean, at least then she could have a clear script to follow.
Palin is like the Kardashians. She just won't go away.
Hey Palin ; where's yer invite to the convention. They shMit on you and yet you come back for more .
Battered wife syndrome much?
I don't think I'm gonna love her nuts...
;-)
Romney knows he's not very likeable. His favorability ratings are upside down, so now he's trying sink Obama's. I doubt it'll work. The man is in a very deep hole. He's a VERY RICH guy who doesn't want the public to know just how rich he is and how much/little he's paid in taxes. He's changed his positions so many times his own party's base doesn't trust him. He claimed his biggest asset is his business experience, but now says he doesn't want to talk about it. I'd love to know why he decide to run in the first place. He doesn't even seem suited for the campaign, let alone the job.
Romney's changed his positions so many times, I have to wonder if even he knows what he stands for anymore...
He's just looking for a new title. CEO and Chairman of the Board weren't enough. But just as when he held those titles at Bain, he doesn't want to really have to work for a living.
I definitely feel Mitt's in it for the photo ops. He probably has an I-Love-Me wall in the ornate office of one of his houses. On that wall are all his "leadership" photos in expensive frames, proof he's someone special. And there at the top of this wall is an empty space just waiting for that executive photo of him in the Oval Office.
"The more you defend a lie, the angrier you become." Mitch Albom......Desperation is never pretty, whether it is a hungry child or a spoiled rich dude whose feelings of entitlement are being frustrated. The real dirt about Mitt has not come out yet.
"Desperation is never pretty."
Quite true. And with respect to Romney, I'm tempted to say it's the sign of a campaign in near collapse.
When even your own campaign can't seem to agree on the candidate's so-called 'position', you've got serious problems.
Aww now don't pick on Jose. He's only repeating the same lies and distortions that he's heard and echoing his candidates behavior.
Listen- the further this election goes along, the more unhinged the right wing is going to become. Romney thought he had a chance to placate them with the Ryan pick, turns out that was only more fuel for their fire and Romney now has to keep tacking right in order to keep the Teapers satisfied and excited enough to actually turn out in Nov.
Good luck with that, Mitt. Good luck with that, Jose. Keep on spouting your vitriol and panic, you're only driving your party further to the edge.