Mitt Romney has a problem with sounding authentic

I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America that’s the America millions of Americans believe in. That’s the America I love.
Mitt Romney • Employing, in a stump speech, one of the most laughably overwrought and saccharine lines we’ve heard from the world of politics. This sort of canned rhetoric is especially damaging to Mitt Romney in a way that it wouldn’t be for a Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul or Rick Santorum, reason being that Romney has a habit of painstakingly inserting, verbatim, the same lines (schmaltzy as they may be) into almost every appearance he has. GOP debate? Better say America needs to lead the free world while the free world leads the whole world. Post-primary pump-up speech? Better start quoting “America the Beautiful.” It adds up to foster the very impression Romney can’t afford — that of tone-deafness, and of overly produced, focus-group tested patter. source

Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

An unnecessary apology? Yesterday, a post over at America Blog noted that “Keep America American,” a phrase Mitt Romney sometimes uses while campaigning, is also a slogan once used by the Klu Klux Klan. Now, while this is embarrassing for the Romney campaign, it’s probably not an intentional effort by Romney to co-opt the KKK’s message, or pander to the group’s base. That is, it’s almost certainly just an unfortunate coincidence. What’s odd, though, is that hours after reporting on the story, MSNBC felt the need to issue an apology. But why? We missed MSNBC’s original report, but as you can see above, Chris Matthews specifically apologizes for “report[ing] on a blog item that compared a phrase used by the Romney campaign to one used by the KKK way back in the 1920s.” But…the phrase was used by both groups. It’s a fact. MSNBC doesn’t dispute this. So why was it, in Matthews’ words, “irresponsible,” and indicative of an “appalling lack of judgement,” for the network to point it out? Can someone who saw the original report shed some light on this? source

Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

americans are funny. At least, that was the conclusion drawn from a survey by social networking site Badoo (who?), in which 30,000 people in 15 countries were asked to name the world’s funniest citizens. Americans came out on top, with Spaniards and Italians taking second and third, respectively. But wait–what exactly did they mean by “funny?” Was it in a, “That joke was hilarious!” sort of way, or a “You have toilet paper stuck to your shoe and nobody’s telling you” sort of way? We don’t know, so we’re not sure whether or not Americans should rejoice at this news. Similarly, should Germany be proud or embarrassed that they came in dead last? source

Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

[IOC members] don’t hate America, they hate the USOC, and with good reason. Congress doesn’t need to do any new reform. The USOC just needs new leadership.
NBC’s Dick Ebersol • Describing why Chicago lost in the vote to get the 2016 Olympics. Ebersol knows – he runs the network’s Olympic operation, and they’re the largest Olympic rights-holder. His argument? The USOC is a little too greedy for their own good. The USOC gets a lot of sponsorship and television money, and they made things worse by trying to get their own TV deal. Too bad Obama didn’t know that, because he made a fool of himself on the world stage trying to help those guys. • source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

1. The Grateful Dead’s “American Beauty” is one of those albums that feels like you’ve heard it a million times, even if it’s only your first time. Phil Lesh’s coming-out party as a lead vocalist, “Box of Rain,” is the album’s honest, emotive high point.
2. The Beach Boys hit creative peaks long after Brian Wilson hit his personal creative peak, especially on the less-Beach-more-Boys classic “Sunflower.” The album was a truly collective work, and songs like “Add Some Music to Your Day” earned accolades, if not chart success.
3. When critics call Wilco “dad rock,” it’s because they think Wilco sounds like America. We’d prefer to leave that comparison alone and just appreciate the fact that “Sister Golden Hair” is a worthy guilty pleasure.
4. Neil Young is one of those guys who records music by the bucketful but is very picky about how it’s released. It took nearly 30 years for “On The Beach,” one of his best albums, to reach the CD format. Screw “Heart of Gold” – the dim, bluesy “For the Turnstiles” is how Neil Young should be remembered.
5. Did someone say AM Gold? Because you don’t get more golden than The Hollies‘ “The Air That I Breathe,” perhaps the best cheesy pop song to come out of the 1970s. Fun fact: Albert Hammond co-wrote this; his son, Albert Hammond, Jr., is The Strokes’ guitarist. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jan 2012 14:25