Now BuzzFeed is Trolling the Left: What if Mitt Romney Was Right About Everything?

But I'll link it anyway because I don't have anything else.

I know @benk84 Brought It this morning, as he does most mornings. But he does so much Bringing that sometimes I'm forced to re-bring something if I want to bring anything at all.

The article reads as if the pitch meeting resulted in this Exciting Trolling Opportunity, and no one actually wanted to write the article, but they couldn't think of any good business reason to give up on thousands of hits.

Still, a half-hearted, I-can't-believe-we're-doing-this effort worked, sort of, for Kaboom (now rewritten with 500% more pictures and funny captions and 200% more hate).

Despite the audible sigh of "I'll Do This, If I Must" that comes through McKay Coppin's writing at every turn, it's still halfway decent.

In the most actively cited example of the Republican nominee’s foresight, Romneyites point to the candidate’s hardline rhetoric last year against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his administration. During the campaign, Romney frequently criticized Obama for foolishly attempting to make common cause with the Kremlin, and repeatedly referred to Russia as “our number one geopolitical foe.”

Many observers found this fixation strange, and Democrats tried to turn it into a punchline. A New York Times editorial in March of last year said Romney’s assertions regarding Russia represented either “a shocking lack of knowledge about international affairs or just craven politics.” And in an October debate, Obama sarcastically mocked his opponent’s Russia rhetoric. “The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years,” the president quipped at the time.

That line still chafes Robert O’Brien, a Los Angeles lawyer and friend of Romney’s who served as a foreign policy adviser.

“Everyone thought, Oh my goodness that is so clever and Mitt’s caught in the Cold War and doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” O’Brien said. “Well guess what. With all of these foreign policy initiatives — Syria, Iran, [Edward] Snowden — who’s out there causing problems for America? It’s Putin and the Russians.”

...

Admirers point to other examples of Romney’s unrewarded wisdom, as well.

During a foreign policy debate in October, the candidate briefly expressed concern over Islamic extremists taking control of northern Mali — an obscure reference that was mocked on Twitter at the time, including by liberal comedian Bill Maher. Three months later, France sent troops into the country at the behest of the Malian president, bringing the conflict to front pages around the world.

...

And Jennifer Rubin, the conservative Washington Post blogger who became Romney’s most outspoken advocate in the press, accused members of the news media of failing to take the Republican’s arguments seriously, while allowing the incumbent skate through the race untouched.

“As for the media, they are the least self-reflective people I know,” Rubin said.

Indeed. I know Kaboom kids when I read them. The media was taught by Kaboom that there is no difference between truth and lie except for a splash of childish imagination, and now they retransmit Kaboom's dark philosophy to the nation with every report.

No but seriously, for people in a field which supposedly requires intelligence and "mind work" they do not think, at all, ever. They should be ashamed, but Kaboom also teaches children to recast one's shames as virtues.

posted by Ace at 02:26 PM

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