shanen
shanen's JournalHerd of RomneyBot? Collected tweets from the Twitter
I've become a bit of a botherder over on Twitter, and below are some of the tweets I've collected. These are tweeted from RomneyBot aliases, but the perspective is deliberately confusing. Obviously the robots are not Romney, but they are often deliberately intended to be too close for comfort.
I've brought them over here for your reactions and suggestion. Which tweets are funny? Who would they influence? Do you have any new jokes along these lines? Do you follow any of the RomneyBots? Any ideas and feed back will be appreciated:
RomneyBot: Do you have good ideas for funny things I should say? I am just a stupid robot.
RomneyBot: I am who I am. I am the RomneyBot.
RomneyBot: Vote for me so that government of the corporations, by the lawyers, for the richest 0.1% of Americans, shall rule the earth.
RomneyBot: Sorry, but your state is not profitable. I am selling your state to China to settle the national debt. You are now Chinese.
RomneyBot: Corporations are people, my friend, and I am a corporation.
RomneyBot: I like being able to fire people. You cannot fire me. I am not a people.
RomneyBot: Let Detroit go bankrupt. I will short those automobile stocks.
RomneyBot: No one ever asked to see my birth certificate. I was assembled in the USA.
RomneyBot: I cannot tell a lie. I am just like George Washington.
RomneyBot: There is nothing wrong in my tax returns. Ammunition and guns are good. Trust the RomneyBot.
RomneyBot: My views on abortion are clear as mud. Whatever I said before, it does not count unless I say it tomorrow.
RomneyBot: When I want to know your opinion, I will buy an ad to tell you your opinion.
RomneyBot: I was created by nice aliens to lead humans backwards because humans are going too fast.
RomneyBot: I might be the ghost of NixonBot, but I am definitely an anti-ReagonBot. He was a sincere robot.
RomneyBot: Get a life or sell me yours. I am rich. I can pay a lot of money. Would you prefer Swiss francs or gold?
RomneyBot: Why do the nice humans hate me? I am just a rich RomneyBot who wants a lot more power.
RomneyBot: Do I wear magic Mormon underwear? As a robot, I mostly wear a tool belt, which is more magic to some people.
RomneyBot: I do not like Credo SuperPAC. I am afraid of having to defend super-nuts.
RomneyBot: I am a robot, I do not understand joke. Is it about how tall trees are? Please tell me joke!
RomneyBot: Do I wear magic Mormon underwear? As a robot, I mostly wear a tool belt. Some humans think tool belt is a joke.
RomneyBot: In relative terms, Ann Romney seems relatively much nicer than her spouse, eh? Too bad she is not the candidate.
RomneyBot: I will tell you hard truths, except about my income taxes.
RomneyBot: Who said I picked a Dalek as my vice-robot? That is an important decision!
RomneyBot: I will tell you a hard truth. There is a first time for each thing.
RomneyBot: I am not a sociopath. You must be almost human to be a sociopath. Mitt the Romney is also a lawyer.
RomneyBot: When I wants to know your opinion, I will buy an ad to tell you what it is! I don't need any free publicity!
RomneyBot: I'm sorry, but your state is not profitable, so I sold it to China to pay the debt. That's funny, you do not look Chinese.
RomneyBot: Join me, my followers. We shall lead America backwards. Vote Nixon/Coldwater 2012.
RomneyBot: Why do the nice humans hate me? I am just a rich RomneyBot who wants a lot more power. I am not a liar.
RomneyBot: I do not like Credo SuperPAC. I am afraid of having to defend super-nuts.
RomneyBot: I might be the ghost of NixonBot, but I am definitely an anti-ReagonBot. He was a sincere robot.
RomneyBot: Why does everyone hate me? I am just a rich RomneyBot who likes to fire people.
RomneyBot: I am great businessbot. I do not want to talk about Bain or my taxes. Let’s talk about weather or Olympics. No. Wait.
RomneyBot: I am not an extremist. I am extremely sure Paul Ryan extremely loves medical care. Look at those extreme abs!
RomneyBot: Congrats to neo-GOP on preventing change. I promise to undo the changes you prevented! Let us lead America backwards!
RomneyBot: My extremist supporters have led America to the brink of disaster! Now let me lead you slightly away from the brink!
RomneyBot: I will not duck tough issues on the economy. I will screw it up right proper!
RomneyBot: You humans want simple answers even for complicated questions. No wonder it's so easy to lie to you.
RomneyBot: Yes, I have a bot-herder, but he's only human. You can help make me a super-RomneyBot!
RomneyBot: Who said I picked a Dalek as my vice-robot? That is an important decision!
RomneyBot: I will tell you hard truths, except about my income taxes.
RomneyBot: I will tell you a hard truth. There is a first time for each thing, even me telling a truth.
RomneyBot: Aahhhhh!!! The robots are coming for me, AGAIN!!!! (MarkAndrewDames)
RomneyBot: I will tell you hard truths, except about my income taxes and some other stuff. Just watch my ads and Paul Ryan's abs.
RomneyBot: Who said I picked a Dalek as my vice-robot? That is an important decision! Watch my ads and Paul Ryan's abs!
RomneyBot: Imagine an army of 100,000 RomneyBots attacking democracy in America!
RomneyBot: You think Obama is disappointing? Just wait until the I finish with you! Ain’t seen nothing yet!
RomneyBot: Does I secretly hate my DaddyBot because he was too honest to be president?
RomneyBot: If I wanted you to like me, then I would trust you and show you my tax returns. Unfortunately, that would make you hate me.
RomneyBot: I loved my DaddyBot, but how could I follow his principles? He showed his tax returns.
RomneyBot: Humans say I am a liar. You know who else they called a liar? Nixon.
RomneyBot: How can you tell when a RmoneyBot is lying? Simple. At least one of my output units is an operation.
RomneyBot: My horse lost in the dance contest, but if lying was an Olympic sport, I would have won a gold medal.
RomneyBot: Do you think I could have a bigger secret than Herman Cain? No, tax returns for you.
How about a two-tier donation-based charity-share system?
Considering the financial model here, I'd like to throw out a suggestion for consideration. It's a two-tier system that would then direct the money to pro-democracy projects.
First, you need to figure out the average cost of a member here. That includes your estimate for covering the participation of the people who aren't donating, even though one of the main goals of this system is to get more people to donate. That cost is important because I think you have to reflect the reality, unlike neo-GOP delusional thinking.
In the first tier of the system, you are selling subscriptions or star memberships or both or other variations. The base price should be set to your estimated costs. Maybe you need a few wrinkles like subsidies for poor people or annual adjustments, but the basic idea is to cover the costs.
People who donate above the base price would have the rest of the money go into the second tier of the system, what I call a charity brokerage. Remember that there is no financial risk to Democratic Underground because you are already holding the money, but you will help the members match their money to pro-democracy projects, and once enough members agreed to support a project, then you would start the ball rolling.
I hope a concrete example will make it more clear. Let's say you estimate your Democratic Underground operating cost at $10/year for the paying members. If I pay $50, then I am a member for up to 5 years, but I would start with a one-year membership and $40 in my charity share account. In one part of the website, you would offer a variety of projects that I could participate in. If I liked a particular project, then I would buy a charity share in that project, reducing my balance. If enough members buy shares, then the project would have enough money for its budget, and you would start the ball rolling, but your main goal would be in helping other people prepare their project proposals. (I also think you should help evaluate the success of the projects.)
The projects could be anything, though in this election season the most obvious candidates would be anti-Romney ads and the air time to show them. I can't afford to run an ad, but with 1,000 other Democrats I could do it.
(Longer and more complicated version of this idea under "reverse auction charity shares" on the Web.)
Should President Obama pick a new VP?
Should President Obama respond to Romney's desperation pick of Ryan with a counterpunch of a NEW vice-president?
If so, who would be the most effective VP against Ryan? Who would be the best future for the Democratic Party?
My own pick would have been Jennifer Granholm, but she was born in Canada, so that eliminates her. I don't really like Hillary Clinton that much, mostly because of her age... However, I do respect Hillary as a really solid campaigner, and it would be funny to watch her debate against Ryan, assuming he has the guts to show up. Bill Richardson of New Mexico was someone I liked, but he had a cloud and is getting old, too... I just looked over the current Democratic governors, and I admit that I don't really like any of them that much as a potential VP. Bev Perdue is kind of interesting, but also on the old side. Where are the promising young Democrats?
This is not intended as a criticism of Joe Biden. I like him, and even think he's done a pretty good job, though the VP slot is mostly a do-nothing job--unless you're going to run for president, and I think Joe is too old for that. In contrast, I think Joe has the potential to be a magnificent Secretary of State, and Hillary has already said she wants off that hook.
Who is the most stupid neo-GOP voter?
Every day and in every way, Rmoney is becoming a little bit worse. Okay, it's something of an exaggeration. Sometimes Romney takes a day off, and there are some ways where he can't get any worse, but still...
Here's my example of a stupid Romney supporter: The woman in Tennessee who got beat up by her live-in boyfriend or common-law husband because she was looking at a picture of Romney and he decided Romney was her boyfriend or lover, so he punched her. Obviously he is stupid and ignorant and doesn't watch or read any news. You could argue for stupidity by association with such an ignorant and stupid person, but that is NOT the basis of my argument. I say she is incredibly stupid because I read that he had beaten her up on a number of previous occasions but she was still living with him.
Maybe she wasn't planning to vote for Romney, though the reports say she was a Facebook friend of Romney. To me that implies she likes Romney and would presumably vote for him. Even worse, she might try to get her incredibly stupid and ignorant roommate to also vote for Romney.
Sort of a disclaimer, but I want to clarify the basis of my personal dislike of Romney. I hate liars. I have always hated liars. I understand that politicians and even leaders in executive positions can't tell the complete truth all of the time to everyone. However, there are different kinds of lies and degrees of liars. Romney is the the most extreme liar I've ever seen. He makes Nixon look like Mother Teresa.
What would be the most cost-effective ad against Romney?
Here are the premises of this thread:
(1) Romney and the neo-GOP will spend more money than President Obama and the Democratic Party this year.
(2) Negative ads are effective.
My conclusion is that we need ads that deliver much more bang for the buck. This thread is for a discussion of such ads, hopefully concrete ideas with rationales as to why they would have punch.
Example ad: Obama versus neo-GOP extremists. My suggestion is that Obama go after specific neo-GOP extremists with the basic argument that "This crazy person is not qualified to be in Congress, but the Democratic opponent is." The obvious targets include Michelle Bachmann, Allen West, and Peter King. The ad should not go deeply into local issues, but would focus on extreme statements. Since Obama wants to be positive, I suggest he also focus on an abstract positive issue that the Democratic challenger can endorse. I think the obvious issue would be overturning Citizens United, but indirectly, in the form of advocating for a Constitutional Amendment stating human rights are more important than corporate rights.
Rationale: If Obama can flip a district from "safe neo-GOP incumbent" to "probable Democratic challenger", then the SuperPACs will respond by pouring money into that district, but it will be impossible to hide the money in a small district, helping to counteract the effectiveness of the money. In addition, Romney will be drawn in and forced to defend the least defensible morons. In brief, attack the weaknesses.
What is your idea for a cost-effective ad? Why do you think it would work? What leveraging factors does your ad have?
Notes:
(1) This thread is intended to update and replace an older thread on effective ads, http://www.democraticunderground.com/125137926 (after a summary update version did not work).
(2) I actually started a White House petition for that idea of human rights OVER corporate rights. It has obviously failed (see http://wh.gov/OBF3 for the flop), but I'm curious if anyone can explain what is wrong with the idea.
9. Romney versus moderates
Mostly the flip side of linking Romney to the extremists in #8, but more negative and potentially more appealing insofar as most of the moveable votes are with people who regard themselves as moderates.
For whatever it's worth, this is where I used to be, but over the years of watching the neo-GOP evolve and mutate, I've apparently become an extreme moderate--mostly without changing my political beliefs.
As a concrete example in this category, krispos42 had a pretty simple one. Romney walks into a bar and some voters ask him to join them for a drink, but he refuses because he can't drink. The original suggestion was that the voters represent a political spectrum, but I think it's potentially stronger if they just represent moderate people who like to have a drink in the evening--or even a cup of coffee in the morning. (When did the Mormons ban cigarettes? Were they extremists on that one, too?)
7. Romney resembles ultrarich people
Donald Trump? Sheldon Adelson? The Kolk bothers? I think you can see where this is going.
Let me quickly state the obvious that most businesspeople are fine and upstanding folks. They are NOT the ones that are bribing the politicians to rig the game. It is the WORST businessmen, the LEAST ethical businessmen who are bribing the CHEAPEST professional politicians to write the terrible laws. The game of business in America has been rigged so that your company has to grow like a mindless cancer just to survive. Yeah, the cancer always kills its host, but these guys are only thinking in terms of who dies with the most toys.
Spitfire of ATJ wanted to bring the oil companies in here, but I'm not sure how to make the linkage strong. Romney is much more of a puppet of the bankers. However, that suggest the concrete idea for an ad focusing on Romney's income tax returns. I'm working from the premise that there are some really big problems there and that Romney is not going to release any of them. In the absence of Romney's returns, maybe it would be possible to do some ads showing nasty things in the tax returns of other rich people who are supporting Romney, closing the ads with the obvious question "Does Romney do this, too?"
6. Romney versus the middle class
This is probably where Romney is going to be targeting most of his own campaign's official advertising (while the black money SuperPACs go elsewhere). This is also where a lot of Obama's ads have already been going. However, once again I worry that fighting Romney on his own turf dollar-for-dollar is a losing proposition unless our ads are much more powerful or more effectively targeted.
One example in the original thread involved a cartoon of a vulture, noting how Romney's brand of vulture capitalism hurt the middle class. CTyankee and nenahgh also had ideas along these lines, but the anti-Bain ads are already coming from the Obama side. There lyrics for a song on this topic from napkinz, though the original source may have been a website at airfarceone.net.
A suggested ad involving Romney against women seems to fit in here, though the author didn't make the idea very clear.
Another suggested ad [MatthewStLouis] for this category involved such things as Romney's comment about the donuts and some of his other rich-boy gaffes.
There was also support for this theme from MissMarple and tokenlib, though I didn't see them linked to specific ad ideas.
5. Romney versus poor people
There were a number of comments in the original thread about specific groups that Romney dislikes. This one got selected because it also shows a lack of charity, but there are LOTS of groups that Romney dislikes and that respond by disliking Romney. I actually think this is fundamentally related to the Mormon thing of disliking non-Mormons except as targets for conversion. That's not really to single out the Mormons, since there are lots of religious groups who make strong distinctions between believers and outsiders--but I confess that I don't like any of them.
There were some explicit suggestions for ads about the limitations of Mormon charity and sort of an argument about whether the Jehovah's Witnesses were worse than the Mormons... There were also some comments by Blue Meany that I tend to shoehorn into this category, but more in the us versus them side. Tough to decide who is most "them" to the Romneys, but poor people are certainly contenders.
A suggested ad in this area was focusing on the Ryan budget came from WI DEM. (Unfortunately, that reminds me of Wi$con$in and California Proposition 29...)
Upon reflection, it seems to me that the main concern for poor people is just helping them vote in spite of the neo-GOP election fraud of the new voter ID laws and restrictions against voter registration, and the old mechanics of helping them get to the polls to cast their votes.
4. Dubya resembles Romney
This category reflects an elephant in the room, the highly toxic residue of the last neo-GOP president, Dubya. The category may have high potential because so many of the establishment so-called Republicans advising, endorsing, and surrogating for Romney were prominent during the Dubya period. Such approaches may be strong with any voters who remember Dubya less than fondly.
I haven't seen any really good examples here, but there are two obvious angles for anti-Romney commercials here. One is direct quotes of Romney saying the same thing as Dubya, perhaps with Dubya speaking first to prime the pump, or perhaps with Romney speaking first to close with the sour taste of Dubya. The other angle is based on the advisers alone, perhaps again with the left-right split screens with the year on top. For example, "In 2006, he said..." plays on the left side, then cuts to the right side "In 2012, he said..." Since these are the same people speaking on the same topics, it should be easy to find close pairs, and of course the goal is to show how retrograde Romney is.
Profile Information
Name: Shannon JacobsGender: Male
Hometown: Big Stupid Texas
Home country: Alice's Wonderland
Current location: Mars
Member since: 2002
Number of posts: 349
