OhRomneycare.

So this story caught my eye this week - Santorum went after the Massachusetts Healthcare Plan that Romney helped initiate in 2006, calling it 'An Abject Failure.'

Clearly Santorum is not doing his homework. Here's how I know that: because he's wrong.

In fact, the Massachusetts Healthcare reform was arguably one of the best things that could have happened for the state in recent years. More than 98% of MA residents are covered, essentially every child and it only cost the state a staggering ONE PERCENT in additional spending. In short, it was A Decisive Success, Rick. Google it.

So I know Mitt Romney is a ridiculous Ken doll of a man in his public life but this is definitely as aspect of his political career that I will happily brag about as a Massgal (a term I just made up and will never use again). I'm not saying this necessarily makes him a better contender for President, and I'm not saying I call my friends up on the weeknights to gab about Romney's latest mom jeans, what I am saying is that this decision for the state was anything BUT a failure. And herein lies the most painful irony of the rest of the hunger games Presidential Campaign.

The fact that Santorum is already going around bashing 'Romneycare,' which is something nobody in Massachusetts actually calls it, is going to be a really difficult issue for Romney to defend. On the one hand, the bill worked for Massachusetts. It was great for Massachusetts - our overall health is up and it's not generally crippling to business, large or small. But if he defends it, he's four steps farther to the left of Conservatism, an image he's already struggling to maintain. However if he decries it he will be flip flopping even more fervently and it will hurt his interest to repudiate his own (correct) decision, which he should be able to brag about as a political success. Tough call, Mittens.

I think it will be worth noting how Romney handles this future awkward dinner party of an issue. One of his biggest political successes is now going to be working against him and it won't matter much that Massachusetts might wholly agree with it because come the actual election this state is going to remain as blue as they come. Seriously, I'd see the lone McCain bumper sticker in 2008 and wonder if they were lost. It's valiant in it's own way to support a Republican Presidential candidate here but come on, we all know you just wasted $2.50.

I suppose in a country where Socialism is a dirty word any uniform law on a social issue, even one as important as our health, is considered a breach of our rights. Our rights to health? I can't help but notice that this is not a strong argument against Romney's politics, this is just bad math.

Link..

http://www.npr.org/2012/02/08/146583319/double-take-toons-the-hat-rick

This is great.

Santorum - Viable candidate, or long running GOP joke about being a politician against gay marriage?

So. Rick Santorum. Taking the election by storm (or so they tell us).
It seems that with Santorum's sudden rise he is the candidate who we should be recognizing as the key threat to Romney, Gingrich and Paul. Of course, this is a fun development albeit not one that I think should have people buying their Santorum for President decals and grocery totes juuust yet.

In terms of the media circus surrounding the primaries and caucuses (caucii? I like that better) it's certainly more entertaining to keep the field from narrowing too much this early on. And Santorum has a lot to say that the media is more than happy to give him stage time for. This is the common issue with these kinds of spikes in the primaries - nomatter how much attention you give to the guy who's got the hot button issue, in the end only the smallest, least electorally represented groups are going to really WANT that man in control. I consider this true in the case of Rick Santorum. People were zombie walking toward the proverbial 'anti-aboration baby killing socialist machine' sign flashing behind him and just bumped into him along the way. Bam. Voted for.

So let's suspend disbelief for a moment and pretend that Santorum were actually chosen at the RNC. Now imagine he won the same three states - Colorado, Montana and Missouri, for a total of 29 electoral college votes. Now consider that Romney won Florida, which has 29 electoral votes in itself. That's not counting the other two he's won so far. I'm not saying that Santorum doesn't have a chance, I'm just saying the numbers matter. A candidate winning a state that has more eventual electoral votes during the Primary actually means a lot more than how many states a candidate has won, regardless of the supposed victory. The more represented states are the ones that people should be looking at, because come convention time it's more likely the GOP will choose the candidate people like more in the harsh flourescent light of population density.

Ultimately I think Santorum is going to get the attention he needs to still be considered viable, maybe snag a couple of more states who knows maybe go out and get that new tie he's been eyeballing at Banana Republic for when he has to make his concession speech to Romney (....) and eventually they will get John Slattery to play him in the movie of the Years America Unraveled. You need to picture that title with a Jane Austen character staring across a field at a sunset with wind blowing through their hair.

Shame

Over the weekend I went to see the movie 'Shame,' a film by Steve McQueen chronicling the life of a sex addict - Brandon Sullivan - played by Michael Fassbender, also known for a small role Lt. Archie Hilcox in Inglorious Basterds and a surprisingly emotional role as the young Magneto in X-Men: First Class. Here is where Michael Fassbender first caught my eye. Up until then the X-Men series has played out as more of an unhappy family reunion of celebrities.

In 'Shame,' Fassbender gives an authentically disturbing, evoking and painful performance. His character Brandon is a sex addict whose sister comes to visit him (Carey Mulligan, reprising her irritatingly typecast role as the withering victim) and throws his life sharply off balance. First we get a good look at Brandon's social, professional and personal life. A look into these aspects of his life in such sharp focus that I dare you not to feel like a pervert for just sitting through it. It's incredibly effective, and sets the stage for every painfully congenital moment in the film's arc.

Carey Mulligan (playing Sissy Sullivan) does a great job of making you feel both sympathetic toward and totally turned off by her needy, energetic and pathetic disposition. At the point in the film where she makes an appearance the audience is already so wrapped up in Brandon's life that we can't help but vicariously bristle at the intrusion. This makes the volatile dynamic between the siblings all the more raw, the tension between them bubbling up and over multiple times resulting in the fierce manifestations of Brandon's inner demons.

Of course, only with an actor like Michael Fassbender can this evoke such a visceral and acute response to a dynamic. I will go as far as to say that I have never felt so much through a character as Michael Fassbender made me feel through Brandon. Though the audience is given access to Brandon's daily life and rituals we are never subject to his thoughts or to his actual processes. We are tourists, trying to understand a man through only his face and his routines and I have to say I have trouble thinking of any actor that can put so much intensity into any scene using only his expression. The script isn't dialogue heavy - the subtle tremors of emotion in Fassbender's expression and the score serve as more than enough to get you to not only connect on an alarmingly real level with the character but to self reflect in a way that will make you uncomfortable with yourself. Watching Fassbender play this incredibly controlled, tragic man will give you the same discomfort that you might feel watching somebody grieve. Probably because in a lot of ways you are.

Steve McQueen directs the film in a way I can best describe as patient. If you haven't caught on by now, you are more than likely going to find yourself in a state of tension for the entire film. But McQueen doesn't rush it, he doesn't give the audience the gratification of moving things along or of finding resolution. His direction is patient, at times drawn out and it never lets you get away with sitting back and assuming things will be fine. His directing along with the score takes it's time, makes you sit with Brandon through every painful moment of his life because he's not going to let you off that easily. You don't get to just infer the suffering of this man, you are going to watch it unfold in real time. This is where the film's power comes from. Instead of rushing the scenes, creating distracting dialogue and making Brandon universally relatable the camera lingers long enough on Fassbender's face during scenes so graphic (emotionally and at times sexually) that you can barely sit still, creating the almost unbearable discomfort that defines his character.

All in all, an incredible film. I can't recommend it enough - just make sure you don't have any social plans after seeing it because this one will stay with you for a while.

You can find the trailor here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62nelnMXW3M
If you've seen it, what do you think?

More like Cam-pain

The circus of campaign politics is like a painfully staged reality show. It's like the Jersey shore with more moderators and just narrowly less nauseating. It's got the same desperate composure that contestants on Survivor try to maintain. It's like the Real Housewives of the United States, with all the fake smiles and backhanded accusations. I'm pretty sure Rick Perry already broke a nail or two trying to claw his way out of his own public image.

My real interest lies in how the drama of campaigning for the Presidency this term is going to unfold. It's an interesting climate - The Obama Administration has made some of it's more drastic changes in the past two years, with Obamacare, Bin Laden and the brand new headlines about a drop in the unemployment rate all making his resume look a little more sparkling than it did in year one. The GOP has less to point fingers about, but that isn't their biggest problem. The most interesting aspect of the campaign is going to be watching whichever Republican candidate that gets chosen (ahemittromney) try to sell themselves as the better choice. This is the issue the Republican party faces - they've had a good 3+ years complaining about what's wrong with the Obama presidency but now the spotlight has swung their way and finally they get to answer the million dollar (or trillion, depending on which debt you're looking at) question, 'well what have you got to show us that's better?'

They gave us Herman Cain, whom I can't believe was taken seriously as long as he was, Rick Santorum, whom I heard in one debate actually claim as president he would go to war with China, Newt Gingrich who is like the guy in your office that steals all the nice pens and keeps looking for them with everyone else, Rick Perry (ouch), Michelle Bachmann whose bible belt just did not match the GOPs outfit, Mitt Romney who makes plastic itself feel inadequate, and Ron Paul who... okay next candidate.

The two front running candidates that are now narrowing the field are going to make this even more fun. Newt Gingrich is the extreme, not quite as painful to watch as a Sarah Palin or Herman Cain but still kind of a loose canon. Mitt Romney well, that man needs a Raegan-sized team of advisors to get him to just close his wallet and walk away from the microphone. I've never heard anybody make such an absurd amount of gaffes about the same subject. Stop talking about money, Mitt. It isn't water.

I have a feeling this whole thing is going to play out like one big Arrested Development joke.

That is the subject matter for this forum. Along with some commentaries on movies and tv, which, fair warning, will mostly be about Batman. Happy Friday everyone.