I saw this first reported last night by Kossack Mike Nellis
Host: "I wanna ask something I know a lot of people want to know. What is it like for you to hear the President of the United States call your Dad a liar?"
Tagg: "You know, ah, rush down to the debate stage and take a swing at him. But you know you can't do that because, well, first there's a lot of secret service agents between you and him...
Now Tagg does go on to say that handling the slings and arrows of the campaign such as this are simply part of "nature of the process.." which is true, but it's telling that that wasn't his first thought - it was his third. Just to diagram this...
a) Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda Slugged that Uppity Nigra for insulting Papa.
b) Damn Secret Service would Spank Me
c) Oh, well - just have to take it, it's "part of the game" - at least I get to prove on the radio that I am #TaggStrong even if I had to sit their on my hands during the vicious attack of the dread pirate Barack.
There's a whole lot of fail in that logic path.
What's worse is that the TaggSmash story just hit the Hollywood Reporter
The HR provided a more full quote, so it's only fair to include it.
James Lipton: President Obama Was 'Gary Cooper' in Debate (Video)
Obama-Romney Debate: New Developments Since the Candidates' Skirmish
Appearing Wednesday on the Bill LuMaye Show, a talk radio program based in North Carolina, Tagg Romney bristled when LuMaye asked, "What is it like for you to have the President of the United States call your dad a liar?"
"(You) jump out of your seat and you want to rush down to the debate stage and take a swing at him, but you know you can't do that because ... there's a lot of secret service people between you and him. But also because this is the nature of the process. They're going to try do everything they can do to try to make my dad into someone he's not. We signed up for it. We've got to kind of sit there and take our punches, and then send 'em right back the other way."
I think the start of Tagg's answer here was honest and then he slowly began to reel it back in. Who wouldn't want to defend the Father he loves?
But here's the thing - his first thought is violence. Even if he might never act on it - that's what was at the top of his mind. It doesn't first occur to him that Just suggesting Violence Against the President shows a PROFOUND level of disrespect for the NATION, not to mention the Office that he currently holds, and his Daddy aspires too.
I was born just one month after President Kennedy was killed. I graduated High School the same year that President Reagan was shot. I remember a time when You just didn't JOKE about this shit okay?
I mean really, even as a joke - and it's not a funny one - that's just beyond the pale to imagine the young-buck son of a challenger sitting there during a debate wishing he could Slug The President, if not for those pesky Secret Service Agents in the way.
How much do you think he was channeling much of the Fox News audience with that comment, the people who've cheered when Chicago didn't get the Olympics, the people who only voted for Romney because he was the biggest, meanest dog in the campaign who they thought could really "Take it Too Obama!".
How do you think Sasha and Malia feel?
IMO there may be more to this than his simply being an after-the-fact, wish I could, shoulda, woulda bully fuckhead punkass pussy reaction within his own mind, he really is that bully, because that's who his Dad is. The bit with shaving off the Fey kids hair, slamming a teacher into a door, pretending to be a cop and pulling people over, screaming explicitives at a Security Worker at the Olympics, physically assaulting members of LMFAO on an Airplane, tripping his daughter in law to win a foot race - being an arrogant bully who expects everyone else to automatically and reflexively defer themselves to the WHIMS OF THE ROMNEYS is exactly who his dad is, and it's exactly who his kids have become.
The are Entitled to Lie to the Nation to get what they want, how Dare someone call their lies - LIES.
It goes back to what Chris Hayes said about how people like Romney's think they're above it all.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
"The theme of the last 10 years of this country is that the people at the top don't think the rules apply to them. And you send your people to site down and negotiate a set of rules, and 20 minutes into it you throw it out the window. Everything we've seen, from the financial crisis yo every thing else that's happened to this country has been about the Oligarchs and the ruling class, and the people at the top, feeling like they are not a party to the social contract. So some stupid little contract that was negotiated by your people, you don't worry about it 20 minutes into it. "
In this case Chris was talking about Romney very quickly breaking the tightly negotiated debate rule that the candidates couldn't ask each other questions.
"Have you look at your Pension Plan, Mr President? Have you looked at you're Pension Plans? Have you looked at it?" A Bully in action.
Just imagine if this was the face that you saw when things didn't go Daddy's way?
Mitt Romney Scowling at Hoffsta Debate
Perhaps you would look just like this, remember the many many times you would have certainly seen that face during times of stress and distress.
Romeny Family at Hoffstra
And you could just see it in their scowls as they scurried out of the Hoffstra hall lickety split.
They can't handle their Imperial Body being challenged by that no-account upstart President of the United States NEGRO, who should clearly have received the back of Tagg's Glove for his insolence and temerity.
Yes, they are the American Antoinettes.
The mainstream political press hasn't picked this up yet, but the gossip media press has and frankly more people pay attention to Extra, than they do even to Fox.
People are starting to notice.
Now so far the Romney family, including his brother Josh who responded to a question about this on The View basically said Tagg was "joking". Well, sure, that's funny - in some banana republic somewhere. In response I have a little joke for Tagg.
Vyan
10:58 AM PT: I'm skimming MSNBC this morning since I have a day off (at last) and so far even though they haven't really delved into it deeply - the last three programs (Now with Alex, Andrea Mitchell and Tamron Hall) have all mentioned what Tagg said. Like I said, "it's got legs" - no telling where it will walk until someone - like I've done - starts to break down the clearly inappropriate and mendacious thought pattern behind it.
So far, no one - except in this post - has. Could be interesting when the Cycle comes on with Toure and/or Charles Blow takes a swing at it. Maybe they won't, maybe they will.
11:04 AM PT: I do take the point that this isn't something the campaign would want to focus on. Strategically they probably wouldn't because on a basic level it's fairly innocuous on the surface. On the other hand, I think this Basic Disrespect of the Presidency has gotten completely out of hand. It was WRONG for someone to throw their shoes at President Bush, I'm not too partisan to admit that. It's also Wrong to throw around lose talk about wanting to "Slug the President"- ANY PRESIDENT - we can't expect our nation to heal it's massive political dysfunction if we can't all agree to this very simple position. There's no excuse. Ever.
11:11 AM PT: Ok, Now this shit Is ON. Salon has got it.
Tagg Romney: Mr. White Privilege
Tagg Romney, grandson of George Romney, son of Mitt Romney, is the latest flesh-and-blood embodiment of White Privilege on the national presidential stage. Though that stage has historically been a catwalk for the whitest and most privileged in the world, Tagg is in a class few achieve. With his lineage and his inherited wealth he equals George W. Bush when it comes to getting advantages by virtue of nothing more than whose crotch he popped out of in the hospital delivery room.
....
One of the hallmarks of White Privilege is the unquestioned and largely unchallenged assumption that white people can say heinous things about people of color without blowback or even mild criticism – things that people of color rarely dare to say about white people, for fear of serious retribution. Tagg – aka Mr. White Privilege – proves the point perfectly. He feels totally comfortable fantasizing about committing physical violence against an African American man. And remember, he’s not just any white guy pondering such grotesque dreams. On the contrary, he’s one of the public faces of a national presidential campaign appearing in a public media interview, meaning White Privilege has made him feel so comfortable airing such notions, that he didn’t hesitate to whimsically broadcast them to thousands of voters.
Oh Snap!
11:18 AM PT: Just heard on Tamron Hall -
"Imagine if Barack Obama had a teenage son and he said he'd like to Slug The President- the outrage on Fox News would be enormous"
Not an exact quote, but in the ballpark - however here's the thing. Barack and Michelle Obama would NOT raise a son who would say such a thing. Period.
11:29 AM PT: Now it's starting to boomerang back into Romney's own policy position on Guns and Violence
11:34 AM PT: Well, here's a question that's directly on point.
I would say "Sure, let him come and see what he's really made of" - but they might want to have a little "chat" with him first, like that talking to they gave Ted Nugent after he spouted off about "Chopping their Heads Off" at the NRA. If Ted gets the Talk, Tagg gets the Talk, just to set him straight.
12:27 PM PT: Some parting Tweets On this