Month: March 2012

Scott Adams answers:  

My hypothesis is that apologies are a way for humans to determine their status in society. A king and queen never apologize for their actions because they don't need to. But the server at your local restaurant apologizes even when he knows the customer is in the wrong, because the server has a lower status than his boss, who in turn has a lower status than the customers.

When you're trying to determine the status of people, apologies are reliable markers. In the Limbaugh/Fluke situation, society is asking Limbaugh to acknowledge that despite his many listeners, and despite his alleged influence on politics, his status is lower than that of the 3.5 billion women on the planet. Limbaugh's apology clarified his status, like a submissive dog lowering his head when a more dominant dog comes near.

Today on the Dish, Andrew endorsed Santorum as the best candidate to heighten the GOP's contradictions, explained how Romney – and not Obama – wanted to make the US into Europe, guessed that lying was Mitt's first resort, and wondered what would happen if Newt actually followed through on his pledge to quit if he lost Alabama and Mississippi. We pulled reax to Super Tuesday (hilarious follow-up here and above), examined whether the media would start calling Romney out when he lied, connected Romney to Rush, unearthed a new explanation for why Santorum turned off Catholics, played the sucker's game of predicting Newt's next move, and saw Paul's delegate strategy struggle. The popular vote mattered, the GOP was likely screwed without more Hispanic voters, campaigns struggled with text messages, and the election of 1896 was craaaazy. Ad War Update here.

Andrew also reflected on his (long since rejected) offer to join Opus Dei, stood his ground on the Limbaugh boycott (follow-up here), peered into Netanyahu's psyche, and flagged some concerns about ruling out a containment policy for Iran. A brave Iranian girl uploaded some subtle resistance against the regime to YouTube, the Republican Persian obsession excluded other nuclear threats, and drones did more than you think. We watched Rush stroll into a trap on contraception, noted some parallel misogyny on the left, charted one way that the pill's price might rise, updated you on the rising marriage equality tide in Maine, aired more reader debate on posthumous baptism, and tracked with the Kochtopus tentacles reaching for Cato. The GOP caught up on prison reform, high gas prices weren't so bad, and the food stamps for soda discussion moved forward. The iPad helped construction, tablets spread far and wide, apps outsourced chores, a YouTube guy broke down viral videos, unfriending on Facebook surged, and the web photoshopped Michelle Obama. Quote for the Day here, AAA here, Cool Ad here, Yglesias Nominee here, VFYW here, MHB here, and FOTD here.

– Z.B.

A YouTube insider shares what he knows:

"Republicans who have chosen to associate with the birthers have done their party and their country a disservice. And as Sheriff Arpaio settles comfortably into that political mental ward, the same must be said of those Republicans who choose to associate themselves with him more broadly. Those who cannot distinguish between the birthers’ flim-flam and the critical questions that face our nation in 2012 will not win and do not deserve to," – National Review. 

In Hawaii, Ron Paul has reissued a positive ad from last year: 

Emily Shultheis explains what's at stake in the Aloha State:

[T]he opportunities for Paul to actually win a state are starting to narrow — and Hawaii, another caucus state that will get much less attention than the two Deep South states voting the same day, is one of those few remaining chances. And given the hesitance of the pro-Paul super PAC to commit to more spending on the candidate's behalf, the Paul campaign may be on its own in promoting the candidate in the Aloha State.

Kevin Bohn takes stock of spending on next week's races in the South. Meanwhile, Gingrich's campaign takes to Facebook Timeline to mock Romney's "liberal and out-of-touch" record: 

Kate Kaye captions: 

One item in particular stands out on the RomneyRecord page, which allows owners to increase the size of posts they want to make more prominent. The 2002 timeline post encompasses the width of the page, and displays a bright pink flyer wishing people "A Great Pride Weekend." … The flyer was evidently distributed during the 2002 Massachusetts gubernatorial election, which Romney won. The text posted by the Gingrich campaign above the image reads simply, "Supporting equal rights for all!" The flyer states, "All citizens deserve equal rights regardless of their sexual preference," however, it makes no reference to same sex marriage, which Romney currently opposes.

More on Romney's pro-gay record here. Previous Ad War Updates: Mar 6, Mar 5, Mar 2, Mar 1, Feb 29, Feb 28, Feb 27, Feb 23, Feb 22, Feb 21, Feb 17, Feb 16, Feb 15, Feb 14, Feb 13, Feb 9, Feb 8, Feb 7, Feb 6, Feb 3, Feb 2, Feb 1, Jan 30, Jan 29, Jan 27, Jan 26, Jan 25, Jan 24, Jan 22, Jan 20, Jan 19, Jan 18, Jan 17, Jan 16 and Jan 12.

Alexis Madrigal channels Tim Cook's data.

If he doesn't actually win in Alabama and Missisippi, according to his spokesman, via the Hill. There doesn't seem much wriggle room in the quote. So if Santorum wins those states, as he well might, we're into a three-man race. And it could be an even worse month for Romney than he imagined.

Lizza keeps an eye on it:

[Nelson Polsby, author of "Consequences of Party Reform"] pointed out that when voters can only choose one person in a multi-candidate field, it becomes difficult to divine what the electorate is really saying. "Once the number of alternatives available to an electorate rises above two, and so long as only first choices of voters are counted, there is a nontrivial likelihood that the plurality winner of such an election will turn out to be unwanted by a majority." Mitt Romney continues to be the kind of plurality winner Polsby warned party leaders about. After twenty-three contests, Romney has secured 3,219,648 votes out of 8,094,438 cast. His share of the total vote is 39.8 per cent.

Pakistani Hindus pose for a photograph during the celebration of the Holi festival in Karachi on March 7, 2012. Holi, a Festival of colours, is a popular Hindu spring festival observed at the end of winter season on the last full moon day of the lunar month. By Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images.

Chait contemplates Gingrich's next move:

Gingrich is in the unusual position of running a campaign that helps the front-runner. … He has something of immense value to offer Romney right now, something that is highly perishable. So if you’re Gingrich, don’t you approach somebody close to Romney and discuss a trade? A post in his administration, some help from his donor network, maybe some customers for you lobbying historical business?

PM Carpenter counters. David Corn notes that that zombies are bad negotiators:

Romney doesn't have much leverage over them. Zombies are hard to reason with. They're already dead. They're tough to bribe. They want to kill you. … Gingrich has, undoubtedly, already calculated how much his lecture fees will rise with each week he stays in the race.