Fish for Friday

October surprise! All this week I've been fretting over "Romney creep" (as distinct from Romney the Creep). With each new day of polling data, he seemed to inch higher. Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin—all seemed to be slipping into his camp.

Worst of all, the Rasmussen daily tracking poll gave Romney a lead in Ohio. But out of nowhere and none too soon came an October Surprise—Hurricane Sandy!
    Not a happy development for millions of Americans on the East Coast, but a miracle for Obama. There he is, looking leaderly 24/7 on all the TV networks. Free air time, too. And there's Chris Christie, the Keynote Speaker at the Republican National Convention, the man who said that "Obama can't find the light switch," praising Obama for his leadership, cooperation, and steadfast help! And there's Romney, refusing to acknowledge reporters who ask about a campaign assertion that FEMA should be taken private! It's hard for me to imagine how Romney can now pull off an election win.
    Maureen Dowd, in her New York Times op-ed piece on Tuesday ("The 'I' of the Storm"), nailed Christie's probable motives for sabotaging Romney. I'm always delighted when Dowd sees things the same way I do. [personal communication]

The New Yorker magazine has endorsed President Obama for reëlection in a "Talk of the Town" piece that is well worth reading. Here's how it concludes:

The reëlection of Barack Obama is a matter of great urgency. Not only are we in broad agreement with his policy directions; we also see in him what is absent in Mitt Romney—a first-rate political temperament and a deep sense of fairness and integrity. A two-term Obama Administration will leave an enduringly positive imprint on political life. It will bolster the ideal of good governance and a social vision that tempers individualism with a concern for community. Every Presidential election involves a contest over the idea of America. Obama’s America—one that progresses, however falteringly, toward social justice, tolerance, and equality—represents the future that this country deserves. [personal communication]

Very interesting take on a Romney Presidency: "Why the GOP Should Fear a Romney Presidency," by Jack M. Balkin, The Atlantic, Oct 25 [personal communication; excerpt:]

The predicament of a Romney presidency is that he may make George W. Bush look good by comparison. During most of Bush's eight years in office, the Republican Party was united and willing to follow his lead. Romney will not be so lucky. The party he heads has become so rigid, radical, and unrealistic that, despite his best efforts, he may end up as the last of the Reagan-era Republican leaders—a disjunctive president like John Quincy Adams, James Buchanan, Herbert Hoover, or Jimmy Carter....
    The next Jimmy Carter will be a Republican president—a Republican who, due to circumstances beyond his control, unwittingly presides over the dissolution of the Reagan coalition. If Obama is reelected, we might decide in hindsight that George W. Bush best fits that description. But if Obama loses, the president who finally unravels Reaganism could turn out to be Mitt Romney.

My Vote: Until recently I had been planning to sit out this election and cast no vote for President. However, two recent events have changed my mind. The first was the glowing and succinct endorsement by General Colin Powell, a moderate Republican, of President Obama. The second was Obama's reference to Mitt Romney as a "bullshitter." Regardless of what you may think of Obama's policies, one thing is for sure—he tells like it is. So the real question for this election is do you want another Republican bullshitter as your president or the incumbent who tells it like it is? My vote will go to President Obama. [personal communication]

Karl Rove checks
the polls he's skewed

Morris, thanks for sending me the trestina challenge. After seeing what you did with the trestina for "Thor's Day" today, I decided that I had to meet your challenge, which was to write a triptina using the three words election, Romney, Obama:

People's Election: Romney-Obama?

With Rove and ravening wealth for Romney—
Their lying ads skewing the election—
2012's doubtful for Obama.

Citizens First confounds the election:
Cash turns thoughtless voters off Obama
And scares them to the clutches of Romney.

If five Supremes overrule Obama,
And as they gave it Bush give it Romney,
Citizens end up last this election. [personal communication]

You have to see this, it is hilarious [personal communication]:




Too strong for fish?: "A Fan Letter to Certain Conservative Politicians," by John Scalzi, October 25. Note that Scalzi's piece is fictionial, intended as satire and, as he explains in "A Few Process Notes on 'Fan Letter'," is not meant to be funny. [personal communication; excerpt:]

Dear certain conservative politicians:
    Hi! I’m a rapist. I’m one of those men who likes to force myself on women without their consent or desire and then batter them sexually. The details of how I do this are not particularly important at the moment—although I love when you try to make distinctions about “forcible rape” or “legitimate rape” because that gives me all sorts of wiggle room—but I will tell you one of the details about why I do it: I like to control women and, also and independently, I like to remind them how little control they have. There’s just something about making the point to a woman that her consent and her control of her own body is not relevant against the need for a man to possess that body and control it that just plain gets me off. A guy’s got needs, you know? And my need is for control. Sweet, sweet control.
    So I want to take time out of my schedule to thank you for supporting my right to control a woman’s life, not just when I’m raping her, but for all the rest of her life as well.
    Ah, I see by your surprised face that you at the very least claim to have no idea what I’m talking about. Well, here’s the thing. Every time you say “I oppose a woman’s right to abortion, even in cases of rape,” what you’re also saying is “I believe that a man who rapes a woman has more of a right to control a woman’s body and life than that woman does.”....

Limerick of the Week:

Tamar was a priestess of Isis,
Who endured the heartbreak of psoriasis;
    Her doctor, the brute,
    Was far less than astute,
He said it was hypocondriasis.