The Empty Chair still has legs

Leaving aside Clint Eastwood’s rambling at the Republican Convention, the old gag of the empty chair, dusted off and placed in the bright lights, left a huge impression.

In the wake of The First Gay President’s hapless debate appearance, and the subsequent liberal melt-down, here is the cover of the new issue of The New Yorker magazine:

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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22 Comments

  1. frjim4321 says:

    Think all Barack needed to do that night was not make any gaffes.

    Think their plan was to have him sit on his lead.

    Axelrod is no dummy.

    Think one of the best comments I heard was on POTUS yesterday, and that was that the improved jobs numbers (7.8) pretty much washed any gain the challenger realized from the debate.

    Also, Romney’s been doing nothing but running for president for five years while Barack has had a real job.

  2. Sissy says:

    Thanks for the good laugh this morning, Father Jim. Sorry, we all watched David Axelrod have a meltdown,complete with flop sweat, on the cable shows afterwards. That performance was not a “plan”. His entire performance was the “gaffe”. What the whole nation saw, finally, was what conservatives saw quite readily 5 years ago – the emperor has no clothes. This man wanted to be president, and once he was, that was the end of it. He’s been playing golf and shooting hoops ever since. And he can go right on doing what he enjoys most in Hawaii starting in January.

  3. frjim4321 says:

    Nuts, Sissy, I did not get to see D.A. on the cable shows afterwards.

  4. tealady24 says:

    Barack, or Barry are whatever he’s calling himself these days (and he doesn’t want to know what I call him) has NEVER HAD A JOB HIS WHOLE SORRY LIFE! The man is a fraud, fake, phony, crafty, deceptive, misrepresentative, feigned, superficial, a bamboozler and any other like adjective you can think up.

    This is a man who goes to Catholic U’s and has them cover up statues of Jesus; and they DO IT!! He deliberately leaves out the words “our Creator” from the D O I and nobody says a word. He thinks he can re-write American history; when all is said and finally done, he will be a small, terrible blip in the big picture.

    He is a media invention and he proved it absolutely on Wednesday evening. He has never worked, doesn’t work now, and is looking forward to his talk show once he’s out of the WH. We will accommodate his wishes!

  5. Sissy says:

    frjim4321 said: “I did not get to see D.A. on the cable shows afterwards.”

    So, you’re saying that the fact that you didn’t get to see it renders it unreal? Reality exists; it is independent of your perception, Father Jim. I know that’s not how your subjective philosophy of the world works, but the rest of us live in an objective universe where David Axelrod and Chris Matthews hyperventilated and did everything but cry. I enjoyed it so much, I have to go to confession this afternoon.

  6. “the improved jobs numbers (7.8) pretty much washed any gain the challenger realized from the debate.”

    Still more people out of work last month in previous months, but the phoney-baloney-plastic-banana official unemployment number goes down, just in time for the election fun-up?

    Well, that this administration for you. All politics, all the time.

  7. Sissy says:

    “the improved jobs numbers (7.8) pretty much washed any gain the challenger realized from the debate.”

    Rasmussen disagrees. His nightly polling since the election (including post-fake-employment stats), show Romney taking the lead and gaining a point each night, including last night. Here’s the problem with the fake unemployment number: out-of-work people know they are still out-of-work. Everyone has a relative and/or neighbor who is under or unemployed. You can’t fool the public with this particular lie.

  8. Joseph-Mary says:

    I like that cover! We do not really have a president at all. Not an American and he hates this country and is out to bring it down and, admitedly, is doing a good job of THAT. But not a good job anywhere where it counts. He is good at promoting and protecting and paying for intrinsic evils though, I cannot forget that. And he would be good at persecuting the Church if America is stupid enough to re-elect this communist. He needs to be brought up on charges!

  9. benedetta says:

    I read somewhere that Obama looked like he just doesn’t want the Presidency.

    I don’t doubt that some of his stage presence was meticulously planned ahead of time, but it just failed bigtime. Meanwhile gas is up to $5 in CA.

  10. catholicmidwest says:

    Or maybe Fr. Jim, you should see the reaction by Chris Matthews. You remember, he’s the “tickle up my leg” guy. Or maybe you should see Colbert’s take on Chris Matthews’ reaction:

    http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/419820/october-04-2012/chris-matthews–impotent-rage

  11. catholicmidwest says:

    BTW, I don’t know what everyone’s let down about. Admittedly, I don’t watch Obama much, but he always looks like that to me. He’s sneering and overbearing while being ignorant and confrontational. I have no idea how he got elected in the first place.

    I appreciated the fact that the moderator actually let us have a look at the candidates as they are, without a filter. It was honest.

  12. Midwest St. Michael says:

    “the improved jobs numbers (7.8) pretty much washed any gain the challenger realized from the debate.”

    Yeah, sure, “improved.” From when? This is the same number when The First Gay President took office. How is that “improved”? Summer(s) of recovery? Yeah, right.

    The empty chair/suit had the following happen to him:

    Deer. Headlights. Boom.

    No amount of spin on “the improved jobs numbers” “washed any gain the challenger realized from the debate.”

    Oh, and this “real job” the FGP has done has been atrocious, at best.

    Fr. Z summed up the the empty chair/suit’s “job” he has done these last 3+ years with this post:

    https://wdtprs.com/2012/10/pres-obamas-record-in-regard-to-christians-and-biblical-values/

  13. Sissy says:

    “I read somewhere that Obama looked like he just doesn’t want the Presidency.”

    I’m happy to know he agrees with the rest of us!

  14. JKnott says:

    Obama just couldn’t stand up to the prayers of a good Bishop Conley who prayed at the University before the debate.
    http://cantuar.blogspot.com/2012/10/did-you-know-that-bishop-processed-holy_6.html

    And so, after his pathetic showing at the debate, Obama must restore his ego like a good bully dictator:
    Obama on Free-Birth-Control Mandate: ‘That’s Why We Passed This Law…We Are Going to Keep It’
    http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-free-birth-control-mandate-thats-why-we-passed-lawwe-are-going-keep-it

  15. heway says:

    Father Jim…you are out of control! Obama looked like he wanted his Momma to come save him. Meanwhile Mr. Romney was classy, informed and informing, presidential and very respectful of the president, What was Obama looking at down there? Searching for Axelrod or Clinton to give him words. What a revelation it was.
    How can one (catholic and intelligent) support a person who supports infanticide?????

  16. Suburbanbanshee says:

    Um, guys, I know Fr. Jim isn’t a fan favorite around here. But “Darn, I missed David Axelrod” isn’t a horrible comment, or even a contradiction of what was said.

    Breathe, folks. It’s only October. There’s still a month to go, and you need to keep up your sense of proportion in order to keep up your fighting strength.

  17. Suburbanbanshee says:

    For the younger folks, “Nuts” in this context is an expression of mild regret. It can of course also mean “Nope, no go” (as in the famous Ardennes Forest reply to the Germans) or “crazy” (when used as an adjective). But in this case, it was the expression of mild regret.

  18. yatzer says:

    Improved job numbers? I have more family and friends out of work now than before. Tell us where these jobs are.

  19. Sissy says:

    Suburbanbanshee said: “For the younger folks, “Nuts” in this context is an expression of mild regret. It can of course also mean “Nope, no go” (as in the famous Ardennes Forest reply to the Germans) or “crazy” (when used as an adjective). But in this case, it was the expression of mild regret.”

    You took it to mean the first definition you gave; I took it to mean the second. There’s no way to tell how Father meant it from the context. But your surmise is more charitable, so, on second thought, I’m going with that.

  20. ghp95134 says:

    Sissy,
    You took it to mean the first definition you gave; I took it to mean the second. There’s no way to tell how Father meant it from the context. But your surmise is more charitable, so, on second thought, I’m going with that.
    I’m guessing Fr. 4321 is about my age group (late 50s-early 60s) …therefore, I took him to mean “Rats!” Just a (very) mild expletive.
    ======Background=========
    From Wiki:
    According to various accounts from those present, when McAuliffe was told of the German demand for surrender he said “nuts”. At a loss for an official reply, Lt. Col. Harry Kinnard suggested that his first remark summed up the situation well, which was agreed to by the others. The official reply was typed and delivered by Colonel Joseph Harper, commanding the 327th Glider Infantry, to the German delegation. It was as follows:

    To the German Commander.

    NUTS!

    The American Commander

    Suffice it to say, the Germans were perplexed at the short reply. Harper offered an explanation of the meaning of the word to the Germans, telling them that in “plain English” it meant “Go to hell.” The word choice came directly from McAuliffe and was typical for him. Vincent Vicari, his personal aide at the time, recalled that “General Mac was the only general I ever knew who did not use profane language. ‘Nuts’ was part of his normal vocabulary.”
    ========
    I’m still betting that Fr. 4321 meant “rats!”.

    –Guy

  21. CharlesG says:

    So Obama has had a real job for the past four years, Fr. Jim? I can’t say that I’m too impressed with the results: high unemployment, lower median income, anemic economic growth, skyrocketing debt, threats to the religious liberty of Catholic institutions, promotion of abortion at all costs and public funding of abortion and contraception, further government promotion of homosexual activity and the continued support for government redefinition of marriage away from one man and one woman, a hyperpartisan health care reform cram down that the American people don’t want that will take away people’s current plans, imposition of a mandate to pay for a maximum coverage health insurance and establishment of unaccountable death panels to ration healthcare, a Nobel Peace Prize for not having done a darned thing, the Moslem world hating us more than ever, the Mideast in flames, Iran closer to being a nuclear power than ever, an improved golf game, a president who thinks traipsing off Las Vegas and partaying with Jay-Z and Beyonce, going on Letterman and the View is more important than dealing with the Mideast crisis and meeting world leaders like Netanyahyu, etc.

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