Reason and logic dont sway voters (hi there, teabaggers!) so why should this?

"Republican politician unconcerned with human impact of social conservatism even when living in close proximity to humans."

Politics aside, everything about this story is classic neighbor-quadrupling-home-size usually designated to real estate blogs, until I read this:

The men, who married in San Francisco four years ago, were asked by Mr. Romney’s architect to sign a document that stated they have no objections to his planned renovations, which would obscure a portion of their ocean view. They refused.

That is one ballsy architect.

Seems like the GOP base prefers douches for candidates. The whole Republican primaries could have been have been subtitled "America's Biggest Douche." And Romney won.

And of course, many 'Murkins vote for douches like Romney, either because they're douches themselves, or they aspire to be douches, just like Romney - that is, filthy rich douches who can do whatever the fuck they want, no matter who's hurt, demeaned, inconvenienced, or otherwise trodden into the turf.

@4,

Virtually everyone vying for the nomination was a douche. Romney isn't the biggest douche; he's the most electable one.

@4, 5:

Yup. Plenty on the right look to the same things we call "douchiness" and see a sign of the "take what's mine and fuck the rest" attitude they think the US should, or needs to, employ. It's a zero-sum game where nobody profits unless it's at someone else's expense, so let's elect a dude who's shown a ballsy lack of concern for others- he'll take us far!

It's funny how the San Diego region mimics the country as a whole.

San Diego County, like Orange County up nearer Los Angeles, does lean Republican overall. But with the exception of Coronado (city) and the Point Loma neighborhood, which are heavily Republican, the extreme-coastal neighborhoods like Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach, La Jolla, and the old surf hamlets further north like Cardiff, Encinitas, Leucadia, and Carlsbad are purple to deep-blue.

Those areas tend to be the favored bedroom communities for UC-San Diego, Scripps and Salk, and a buttload of biotech/electronics entrepreneurs, so that's why in part.

The further away from the coast you go, however, the more it feels like Kansas and Indiana and North Dakota—El Cajon and Santee and Vista and Poway and similar hellholes. There are even pockets tucked away in the canyons and mesas that feel like the most backward parts of the Deep South. And all this happens within only about 20 miles from the ocean.

I really don't know why Mittens didn't buy himself an inland mountaintop. He'd feel much more at home there, I'm sure.

At least no one's pet has gone missing.

"Mr. Obama, have you seen Princess?"

"Uh...no kid...come back later...it's dinner time...munch..."

I think this was a useful story, since it showed that Romney, in person, sounds as despicable as his political strategies.

@3,
Hells yeah! That's a great story, I hope it's true.

"I do not support your rights to equality under the law... oh, btw, in order to build my house I need your permission"
"Seriously? Go die in a fire"
"... (sad)..."

Romney's not a "douche." He's a prick.

I'm tuning out until the conventions, other than following the daily polls and scanning the major headlines. Like most people (I would think), I've made up my mind - years ago, in my case.

Unless one of the candidates comes out in favor of puppy molestation, the eating of small children, or making the Satanic Church the official religion of the US, no one is going to change their vote no matter what 'news' stories are released. Anyone who cares that Obama ate dog when he was a kid was already going to vote for Romney. Anyone who really cared Romney was a prick in prep school was already voting for Obama.

I'm sure 'no one' changing their vote is a mild exaggeration on my part. A few thousand here and there, too stoned or indifferent to know about the candidates, might change their opinions because of these stories. But they don't know what they're voting for anyway. Hell, even the issues don't change people's minds. You can remind a Romney supporter, who claims they're voting for him because of unemployment, that the only reason unemployment in MA actually went down under him was that enough people emigrated from the state to lower the unemployment rate, that he actually lost the state a significant number of manufacturing jobs, and that he decimated the higher ed budget, and their response is 'Yeah, but...' with a list of reasons of why he's still better than Obama that completely ignore his record. Likewise, reminding an Obama supporter he hasn't done dick to close Gitmo, that we're still in Afghanistan, and that the economy still sucks will get you a 'Yeah, but...' response from them as well.

They're close enough to polar opposites that, without some truly game-changing story about sex or death, nowhere near enough likely voters remain undecided to really make a difference.

I bet even Romney would not just watch his neighbors get robbed though.

well, it may sway votes in that it adds to the Romney meme that he is way out of touch with the average American.

It just adds to the huge list--

elevator for cars
$10,000 bet
Bain corporate raider
dog on car roof
likes to fire people
he's "unemployed"
makes $60,000 a day
$100,000s in speaking fees "not a lot of $"
won't release more than one year's worth of taxes
Cayman Islands
Swiss bank accounts
wife only has several cars
gives millions to Mormon "causes" such as Prop 8
protests in favor of Vietnam draft two months before getting a deferment; lives in palace in France instead

That's just off the top of my head, without Googling "why Romney is a douche"

@16: I have no argument with Romney being a douche. Living in MA I know exactly how much of a douche he was. Many of the people voting for him know he's a douche. They still think Obama is worse. Looking at it realistically, do you really think any of the things listed above, on their own or cumulatively, are enough for anyone intending to vote for him not to? Or to really sway enough undecideds to Obama's side to make a difference in the electoral college? There are issues that will make some difference, if they get played up enough; immigration, women's rights, etc. But I don't think this penny ante stuff counts.

And I don't necessarily think being out of touch with the average American is enough reason not to vote for someone. Your average American has a 50% chance of being anti-choice, homophobic, fairly racist, xenophobic, devoutly religious (at least in public, and hypocritically so), anti-climate change science, and a believer in Intelligent Design. I don't want my President to share any of those traits with the average American. I want him to be empathic, frighteningly intelligent, well-educated, and to understand the real world isn't black & white in most issues. I know that's a big list, and also one your average American often wants to avoid.

@14, 17: according to that Pew poll this week, 37% of Murkins now consider themselves "Independents", an all-time high. Of course, most of these folks are full of shit and actually do have an allegiance, but some are genuinely flibberdigibbets who have not made up their minds because they have no information. They are the ones the billions in ads are aimed at - but it barely enters their consciousness. I had a woman ask me on Monday if Willard was really Rmoney's actual name.