Romney, along with his whole campaign, pisses me off and blows my mind just about every day. They also leave me baffled. I'm left with, as Wisper, describes in an earlier diary a "mixture of face-palm and not-surprised". A face palm, because, until this election, I have never seen such a bad candidate for President of the United States or such a poorly run campaign (which, of course, adds "can't run an effective organization" and "can't adapt to changing circumstances" to the long list of Worst Candidate Ever). "Not-surprised" because he and his campaign screw up, alienate, and show off how bad they are on a daily basis.
We are in uncharted territory, folks. And, to find our way in this strange land, we need a new tool. So, I present to you...
The Idiot/A-hole Index: a tool for metric to help us figure out if Romney, on any given day, and on any given subject is being more of an idiot or just a straight-up A-hole.
"But he's both an idiot an a-hole" you say? Of course, but some days and in some ways he's more one than the other.
"But why the I/A Index? What's it really matter if Romney and Co. are being Idiots or A-holes?" The two biggest reasons:
1. Trying to comprehend his idiocy and a-hole-ery leaves many a mind spinning. Having a simple way to organize our thoughts around this leaves us more time to read, walk the dog, volunteer, or do other things unencumbered by mutterings such as "I just don't get it...what is wrong with him?"
2. It's election season. There's lots of work to be done. With the amount of idiocy and a-hole-ery coming from Romney, having a simple way to express one's thoughts on these matters will save hours of typing over the few weeks.
Added Benefit: A deeper, richer understanding of How Bad Mitt Romney Is. Not "How", as in "to what degree". We are all sure that is pretty close to maxxed out in the degree of his badness. (I would say maxxed out, but if I had said that last month, Romney would have proven me wrong.) No, what I think will be helpful to many, and even bring a bit of inner peace to some, is understanding how Mitt Romney is bad by understanding the "How" as "In what manner". Is Mitt Romney, along with his words and actions, bad because they display incompetence, myopia, and bon-headedness or are is he bad because he is morally corrupted and/or bankrupt?
How does work? Join me after the Tang calligraphy.
The I/A Index is a score from 1-100.
100 = pure idiocy.
1 =unadulterated assholery (I think it's okay to say that below the fold)
For example, "Romney's remarks today were I/A 70" might indicate that I thought his assholery provided a solid base for why he would think the thing he said, which was kind of assholish, but that I thought the fact he actually said them was really stupid.
Someone might disagree stating that "No way that was I/A 10. That wasn't a gaffe. That was boasting"
btw, an easy way to to remember which is high and which is low:
100 =%age of the other candidates that are smarter than Mitt Romney
1 = number of real friends Mitt Romney has
So, for Mitt the past couple of days,
Campaigning on 9/11: I/A 20 . Not smart, but he's desperate to close gap, could be seen as a viable option, but only by a an asshole that doesn't give shit about the people who died on 9/11 or those still living with that day.
First Attack on Obama (re: embassy tweet) I/A 10. (He had to get folks to forget his earlier assholery)
Doubling down in Press Conference : I/A 5
Subsequent statements: I/A 70 (just keeps digging that hole)
Cheers