The complete, unedited Romney fundraiser tapes

By now you've probably seen Mother Jones release of the complete Romney tapes from his fateful fundraiser. I'm going to post them here anyway, for archival purposes. Part One



Part Two



There was a small camera glitch in the recording so about two minutes of the entire speech are missing. This vital omission was immediately seized upon by the Might Hit Trolling Brigade of the far right as proof positive of O'Keefe inspired deceitful editing. The valiant keyboardists of Wingtopia thus declared the video thoroughly debunked. Much chest bumping among the ranks ensured. Unsurprisingly, this immediately triggered an avalanche of amusing snark on the #missing2min hashtag this afternoon.

The surprise find on the twitter today came from Atrios. I don't know who this old guy is, but his Piggie of the Week bit is worth watching.



Maybe it's just me. Sure he's a little too derivative but I ended up watching it all. I thought he was kind of cute. Maybe it's a generational thing.

Oh, and contrary to my earlier theory, it's now rather clear that the bartender did it.

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You make me feel like dancing

New campaign ads are coming out in droves. A lot of good ones, but this is my favorite of the morning.



I do hope they cover the dressage event at the Oympics this year.

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Romney's the problem

This latest ad from Team Obama is getting rave reviews on the social nets and rightly so. Packs a lot of win into 30 seconds.



[via Greg Sargent]

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Hey Mambo

Wish there was actual footage of her performance for this one but the recording is so good, I'm posting it anyway. Not quite PC I guess, but for reasons I no longer remember this was one of my favorite songs as a child. The song was covered by many. I vaguely remember Dean Martin doing it. But no one did it like Rosemary.



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A change is gonna come

Someday. Feels like I've been waiting for a very long time.

Since I'm getting a late start -- again -- and it's already a holiday weekend, I'm going to post this via Greg Mitchell on the twitter. Always did love Sam Cooke and the video here seems especially appropriate for these times.



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Live cam: For the birds

A new addition to my live cam collection. Decided not to embed the player because it will probably screw up the page load, but here's the links. Both work for me but I understand some people can only access one or the other.

Great Blue Heron Nest or Great Blue Heron Nest. They have a new egg and it appears from a quick check this morning, they also already have one baby heron. Or maybe that's the mom whose butt end I saw.

I've added them to the sidebar links.

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It's Raining Mitt

Dozed off so I missed this when it aired on Letterman a few nights ago, but thanks to the magic of the internets, you don't have to stay up all night waiting for the show to be rerun.



Not the funniest campaign song parody I've ever seen, but the lyrics were topical and cleverly worked into the tune. And I like Martin Short. Wonder how many people will understand the references though. Trying to imagine future historians watching this stuff.

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Beer bottle orchestra

This came across the transom yesterday. Love it. I'm told it's very big in the Midwest.



[Direct Link] Via hush6.

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She's my pride and joy

I was so bummed I forgot to watch The Voice last night. A woman I've known, literally since she was a baby, was on the show. But thanks to my Facebook friends who posted the video, I got to watch Naia Kete nail her performance. (Sorry, it can't be embedded.)

She was so great, I was seriously in tears, just busting with pride and happiness for her. And that's her mom Kulpana in the video at the end. Who is also a tremendous musician in her own right, having fronted more than one successful band. In fact the whole family is ridiculously talented. Pretty sure the tall guy with the dreads is Naia's baby brother, also a fabulous performer. Think the last time I saw him, he was barely out of his stroller. They grow so fast.

Anyway, Naia got to pick between two teams. I'm glad she chose Blake. I didn't like the way Cee Lo was looking at her. I suspect he would have been hitting on her more than coaching her. Blake seemed much more sincerely interested in her talent.

Meanwhile, I haven't had a real vacation in at least five years and I found an affordable beach I like. Don't think I can deal with politics tonight. I spent three hours this afternoon in the sun, walking on the sand to collect a handful of shells. My hair is all fluffy from the salt air. Which is more exercise than I've had in at least six months. Feeling tired, but happy and peaceful.

Going to spend a few days here before the hotel rates go up. But it might rain tomorrow so I'll catch up in the morning.
[photo viawith bonus video]

Off the hook

Why I love the twitter machine. This, from 1964, showed up in my stream with the caption, "They seemed so dangerous then." So they did, but in retrospect, they look so innocent compared to what happened after...



Via my long time pal A. Rascal, who introduced me to the fabulous Michele Hush, who not only has an exquisite eye for the gorgeously historic sounds and images of my era but is on a mission I admire and support. Instantly fell in love with her blog dedicated to rescuing the endangered word "divinipotent." Click over and check the sidebar to find other words in need of adoption.

For what it's worth

In honor of the Wisconsin activists, the Occupy movement, some of whom are right now occupying Congress, and all the 99%ers who fight in their own ways for equal opportunity for everyone to succeed, this stunning mashup of one my old time favorite songs is for you.



I seriously got goosebumps watching this. Thanks to Watergate Summer for the link.

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Romney likes firing people

Much hilarity on the internets today, along with the mandatory disclaimers about context, over Willard's latest foot in mouth striving for populist appeal. I'd argue the context doesn't matter. Willard "Mittens" Romney does like firing people. He said the words. That happened. Doesn't matter if he's talking about corporate persons or real people. He likes to fire them. Just another Freudian slip on the GOP fail trail.

"I want individuals to have their own insurance. That means the insurance company will have an incentive to keep you healthy. It also means that if you don’t like what they do, you could fire them. I like being able to fire people who provide services to me. You know, if someone isn’t giving the good service, I want to say, I’m going to go get someone else to provide this service to me."

Lots of speculation about how it will play with the voters and what the other campaigns might do with it. If it had happened in September I'd say it could be exactly the kind of weird litle slip that might sink his election. This early in the silly season, I expect it will be overshadowed soon enough by the next tone deaf utterance he spits out.

Of more importance to me is how absurd the entire statement is, in context. It's not so easy to fire a health insurance company. If you get your insurance through work, you don't really have a choice. If you're a single payer, and also have a pre-existing conditon, you don't have a choice either. Not if the GOPers realize their dream of abolishing the protections in the so-called ObamaCare. And even if you did have a choice, it's not like there's some great abundance of benevolent health care insurers just waiting for you to choose them so they can fulfill their lifelong dream of taking really good care of you. They're all in the same business. That being to turn a profit by denying you treatment when you need it the most.

Bi-partisan support for Obama

Under the Willard Romney rules for using out of context quotes in campaign ads, by rights, Team Obama should air this on a continuous loop. They won't, and it's clearly marked as a fake ad, but nonetheless it deserves to be widely disseminated if only for the great production values.



You'll recall this a play off McCain's Freudian slip the other night. Frankly, I'm surprised it took this long to be produced. Internets are usually quicker on the draw. [Via Anne Laurie]

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McCain's Freudian slip

I usually ignore these momentary mental lapses because hell, they can happen to anybody. I might confess to having a few myself. But this one is very funny. McCain, on the stump for Romney this week, forgets which candidate he's supporting.



Admit, it crossed my mind that McCain may secretly be hoping Romney tanks. In fact, I've been wondering why McCain is on the stump for Willard at all. Quite a bit of bad blood between them from the last time around. Figure he must be hoping for a Cabinet appointment. Maybe Secretary of Defense? [Via TPM]

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Everything changes

Nothing to do with politics. I watched this yesterday and it's still haunting me so I'm sharing it across my various social platforms. Guy has a art project. Takes one self protrait photo a day. He keeps it going for years. By the end, the change is profound, a little sad, but somehow inspiring. Watch it to the end.



Direct link to video.

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Nerdgasm

If I was banished to a desert island and only allowed one author's collected works, it would be Tolkien. Sure, there's a lot of authors I love and collections of more intellectual heft but Tolkien defined my life in more ways than I could tell in a blog post. So I'm really excited The Hobbit movie released the first official trailer. Think that means the movie is almost ready to be released.



It appears they've added some dialogue. There are lines in this trailer I don't remember from the book. I was wondering how they would make it palatable for an older audience. The Hobbit, in comparison to Lord of the Rings, is just a kid's book. Giving it deeper context with added dialogue will only make it better I think. Can't wait to see the completed project.

Jazz is the thing that folks. Dig. Best.

Yes, I know it's traditional to post them, but forget White Christmas or Count Your Blessings or the rest of Bing's sappy holiday songs. This isn't festive in a seasonal way, but it's rocking around the Christmas tree.

I quit, I give up...

I can no longer tell the difference between real headlines and The Onion. I only got two right on this short quiz.

And since I'm doing quick links, here's a few more I've been saving up for too long.

A sadly true campaign finance flow chart.

Tom Tomorrow illustrates class conflict. One of his best strips ever.

The most powerful photos of 2011.

And to end on jollier note, for real, the most awesome card trick I've ever seen. I'm told it's faked. I don't care. Don't want to know how they did it. Just want to suspend my disbelief and enjoy the magic, if only for a moment.

[Godzilla tree via pzmyers]

If the Peanuts gang were Republicans at a dinner table - Updated

Move over Bad Lip Reading guy, this Charlie Brown Thanksgiving rewrite is the best mash-up ever.



[Hat tip Dependable Renegade]

Update: Unrelated to Thanksgiving, but equally brilliant, Legos Occupy News Bins. [Hat tip SoBeale.]

2000 Light Years from Home

It's another one of those nights when I have so much to say, I can't say anything. Except this.





Presently, I'm wandering somewhere within the space between those two worlds. The same, but different. Sound is better in the first one. Video in the live version so captures the essence of that moment in time.