Spintested: 01/15/11

Reagan Had Alzheimer's As President, Says Son

Saturday, January 15, 2011

^ - There you have it.

Obama and the DLC-Democrats are Republicans, replicating Reagan policies and courting Reagan Republicans into the Democratic Party..
About Alzheimer's
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Reagan Had Alzheimer's As President, Says Son

Many suspected during his FIRST term.
About Alzheimer's
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama on Civility and Lincoln on the Rule of Law

That was a pep rally. It wasn't a memorial service, it wasn't about about people grieving. It wasn't an 'Irish wake', as so many p0Iitical operatives around here tried to defend it as while it was ongoing (I guess those were the White House operatives who had just gotten off the phones trying to spin the staffs of the lrish-American hosts at MSNBC).

This was a town trying to stem the flow of bad publicity, save the image of the city of Tucson, a Chamber of Commerce effort to save tourism and the image of the state of Arizona.

Look at this, 'chest thumping', cheering for "My tribe is better than your tribe".

It was wholly inappropriate, but it didn't end at the invocation. The cheering for things 'Tucsonian', having nothing to do with the v!ctims or the situation, and speeches by federal government officials (with the highest law enforcement officer in the land and head of the Department of Homeland Security reading passages from the bible?) -- HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND????!!

I never in my life thought I would have to remind people what a national memorial service is (or hold George W. Bush up as a model for anything good or appropriate), but here is what authenticity looks like.

Nobody but a handful in that stadium at the University of Arizona was mourning anything but what they perceived to be a loss to the image of the city and the state where this tragedy took place.

By the way, you don't give out t-shirts as "remembrances" of a memorial event; you're in mourning, you're grieving the loss of loved ones. Its not like you're going to forget, and, in fact, you wish you could; it's not something pleasant you want to remember. The very absence of your loved ones is your "remembrance".
About Gabrielle Giffords
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

What Changes Will We Make After the Giffords Shooting?

Republicans don't control Washington.
About Gabrielle Giffords
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

What Obama Should Have Said in Tucson But Lacked the Courage to

That was a pep rally. It wasn't a memorial service, it wasn't about about people grieving. It wasn't an 'Irish wake', as so many p0Iitical operatives around here tried to defend it as while it was ongoing (I guess those were the White House operatives who had just gotten off the phones trying to spin the staffs of the lrish-American hosts at MSNBC).

This was a town trying to stem the flow of bad publicity, save the image of the city of Tucson, a Chamber of Commerce effort to save tourism and the image of the state of Arizona.

Look at this, 'chest thumping', cheering for "My tribe is better than your tribe".

It was wholly inappropriate, but it didn't end at the invocation. The cheering for things 'Tucsonian', having nothing to do with the v!ctims or the situation, and speeches by federal government officials (with the highest law enforcement officer in the land and head of the Department of Homeland Security reading passages from the bible?) -- HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND????!!

I never in my life thought I would have to remind people what a national memorial service is (or hold George W. Bush up as a model for anything good or appropriate), but here is what authenticity looks like.

Nobody but a handful in that stadium at the University of Arizona was mourning anything but what they perceived to be a loss to the image of the city and the state where this tragedy took place.

By the way, you don't give out t-shirts as "remembrances" of a memorial event; you're in mourning, you're grieving the loss of loved ones. Its not like you're going to forget, and, in fact, you wish you could; it's not something pleasant you want to remember. The very absence of your loved ones is your "remembrance".
About Jared Lee Loughner
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

What Obama Should Have Said in Tucson But Lacked the Courage to

I have just emailed this article to everyone in my address book.

Bravo!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Are you kidding? Tea partiers use that phrase all the time. GOP websites feature it on the heading. No offense, but you need to branch out a little. You're making assumptions that aren't true.
=========================================
Well then we ALL use terms like "We The People", left and right.

Or do you think teabaggers got there first, so they called "sh0tgvn" and have dibs on it?

I'm older than dirt, and have been using it for decades. Or was there some transactio n, some bill of sale that I don't know about? Could teabaggers not use the term "the American way" because Norman Lear uses it?

Have you missed the entire point of my comments? That the Tea Party and Republican s do not 'own' words and phrases which reference America's history or documents or founding declaratio ns or the colors red, white and blue (or martial music or the U.S. military or the U.S. flag)?

Do you really want to cede American symbols to certain groups exclusivel y, and define Americans' displays and expression s of patriotism ?

WHAT'S GOING ON IN YOUR HEADS, PEOPLE????

Giffords' Feeding Tube Replaced

"The attempt by the media and by some of our politicians, to say this incident was not politically motivated, are making a huge mistake. It was, without a doubt, politically motivated"

=======================================================

You base your belief on what?

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

"Privatization of SS wasn't recommended by the debt commission - not even close. It's not going to happen.

I'm done dealing with you now. "

==============================

Tough. I'm not done dealing with you, and good for all the rest of us -- We get to have the last word. See how "wearing down the opposition" works?

Obama & Democrats are joining Republicans in putting Social Security on the table for cuts and privatizing by Obama's Debt Commission.

Obama's already said that if 14 of the 18 commissioners come up with a plan, he's on board, and will back whatever they want to do.

Obama Packs Debt Commission with Social Security Looters:

Obama has filled his new 'debt commission' with Wall Street insiders determined to gut Social Security

http://www.alternet.org/story/146183/obama_packs_debt_commission_with_social_security_looters?page=entire

Obama Packs Debt Commission With Social Security Privatization & Benefit Cut Supporters

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/05/10/obama-packs-debt-committee-with-supportes-of-social-security-benefit-cuts-and-privatization/

http://www.truth-out.org/obama-catfood-commissioner-threatens-small-town-with-nuclear-annihilation62852gt;

You don't put Social Security on the table at all before a 'Deficit Commission' (it's not in danger of going broke, to begin with) or put people like this on your commission if you weren't signaling that you're open to doing it.

And Chris Van Hollen made an interesting parsing slip on CNN about that very point (he never was the brightest color in the box -- Democratic voters are d00med if this is the future leadership of the party).

Go hunt:

http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1008/15/sotu.01.html

[Hint: "partial"]

You get to choose to live under a rock, in ig.no.ran.ce and denial, but you don't get to make that decision for others.
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

"I'm sorry, where were the cheerleaders at this supposed "pep rally"? The football team? Give me a break. It was a memorial, and a time that allowed the people of Tucson to grieve, mourn and experience catharsis."

===========================================================

That was a pep rally. It wasn't a memorial service, it wasn't about about people grieving. It wasn't an 'Irish wake', as so many p0Iitical operatives around here tried to defend it as while it was ongoing (I guess those were the White House operatives who had just gotten off the phones trying to spin the staffs of the lrish-American hosts at MSNBC).

This was a town trying to stem the flow of bad publicity, save the image of the city of Tucson, a Chamber of Commerce effort to save tourism and the image of the state of Arizona.

Look at this, 'chest thumping', cheering for "My tribe is better than your tribe".

It was wholly inappropriate, but it didn't end at the invocation. The cheering for things 'Tucsonian', having nothing to do with the v!ctims or the situation, and speeches by federal government officials (with the highest law enforcement officer in the land and head of the Department of Homeland Security reading passages from the bible?) -- HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND????!!

I never in my life thought I would have to remind people what a national memorial service is (or hold George W. Bush up as a model for anything good or appropriate), but here is what authenticity looks like.

Nobody but a handful in that stadium at the University of Arizona was mourning anything but what they perceived to be a loss to the image of the city and the state where this tragedy took place.

Stop p/ssing up people's legs and telling them it's raining.

By the way, you don't give out t-shirts as "remembrances" of a memorial event; you're in mourning, you're grieving the loss of loved ones. Its not like you're going to forget, and, in fact, you wish you could; it's not something pleasant you want to remember. The very absence of your loved ones is your "remembrance".
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

"I realize that might be a big word for you since you seem to be fond of using zeros instead of the letter O for your writing, so please try looking it up in a dictionary if you don't understand what it means. Thanks."

=============================================

You're insulting and ig.nor.ant. That's a sad combination.

FYI: HP has filters that screen and scrub posts. Using 0 instead of O, ! instead of i, etc., bypasses the filters. Some words that the filters snag are perfectly innocuous words, not anything offensive, abusive or objectionable. Some spelling that others use to avoid filters are for offensive reasons (like 'maroon' for m0r0n).

When your mind registered something different in the way I and others spell words around here, how is it that you naturally assumed it was I and they who were ig.no.rant?

Information is the coin of the realm.
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

That was a pep rally. It wasn't a memorial service, it wasn't about about people grieving. It wasn't an 'Irish wake', as so many p0Iitical operatives around here tried to defend it as while it was ongoing (I guess those were the White House operatives who had just gotten off the phones trying to spin the staffs of the lrish-American hosts at MSNBC).

This was a town trying to stem the flow of bad publicity, save the image of the city of Tucson, a Chamber of Commerce effort to save tourism and the image of the state of Arizona.

Look at this, 'chest thumping', cheering for "My tribe is better than your tribe".

It was wholly inappropriate, but it didn't end at the invocation. The cheering for things 'Tucsonian', having nothing to do with the v!ctims or the situation, and speeches by federal government officials (with the highest law enforcement officer in the land and head of the Department of Homeland Security reading passages from the bible?) -- HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND????!!

I never in my life thought I would have to remind people what a national memorial service is (or hold George W. Bush up as a model for anything good or appropriate), but here is what authenticity looks like.

Nobody but a handful in that stadium at the University of Arizona was mourning anything but what they perceived to be a loss to the image of the city and the state where this tragedy took place.

Stop p/ssing up people's legs and telling them it's raining.

By the way, you don't give out t-shirts as "remembrances" of a memorial event; you're in mourning, you're grieving the loss of loved ones. Its not like you're going to forget, and in fact you wish you could. The very absence of your loved ones is your "remembrance".
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

"Hey, hey, cool down here. I am an "old" liberal Democrat, too, one with a Socialist heart and a very pragmatic head. BTW, when you start with the "We the People", you do sound like a Tea Party member."

====================================================

To begin with, the Tea Party and Republicans do not 'own' words and phrases which reference America's history or documents or founding declarations or the colors red, white and blue (or martial music or the U.S. military or the U.S. flag).

And, to the best of my knowledge, the Tea Party and GOP do not use the phrase 'We The People' (a term allusive of 'the Commons', 'Common Good', 'We, over I') preferring instead the (narcissistic and selfish) rhet0rIc and symbology the "Me, Myself and I", so you're showing some ig.no.rance at not being able to make the distinction between the positions (as well as not knowing your own idealogical icons).

And unless you are stepping up to confess that you're another of cowboyjerkface's accounts/sock puppets, my comments (and whatever ire you perceive) were in response to him, not you.
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Reagan Had Alzheimer's As President, Says Son

Onset of Alzheimer's is as long as 20 years (and perhaps longer) before the first symptoms become apparent to those around the patient.

Alzheimer's patients go to great efforts to try to hide evidence of their mental decline, that they may be having problems with their memory, that there might be a problem with their thought processes, and this was true during and before Alzheimer's became a household word. This was true before Reagan was diagnosed, before his time in the White House.

Reagan's mental decline was known not just within the White House during his presidency, but the diagnosis of Alzheimer's was suspected by those who had experience with Alzheimer's (both by professionals who treated Alzheimer's patients and by families/friends of Alzheimer's patients).

On video somewhere is a 1984 photo-op session in Santa Barbara where a reporter asked Reagan about arms control talks with the Soviets. Reagan was visibly confused, and couldn't form words. Nancy, who was standing beside him, said in a low, almost inaudible voice, "We're doing the best we can", which Reagan then repeated.

After Reagan left office, it was reported that his mental decline while in the WhiteHouse was of concern to some of Reagan's aides, and the senior staff brought it up with James Baker, about what to do. Baker told them he would attend one of their meetings with Reagan, to observe. Apparently Reagan managed to keep it together during the meeting, which is not uncommon -- Alzheimer's families report similar experiences of gathering the family to observe, and patients manage to perform well and hide the problems they're having.

After that meeting, Baker told the staff that "The boss is fine" and nixxed any further need to concern anyone with the aide's doubts.

When that story was reported, nobody in the media thought to ask, "When did James Baker get a medical degree?" or, "Shouldn't there be a protocol for when presidents are suspected of no longer being compes mentes?" Or, what about pre-determining a candidate's mental fitness for the office of the presidency?

The fourth estate has been failing the public for decades, and has only been doing a worse job as time goes by.

Solutions include presidents being given mental status exams in addition to their annual physicals. And before anyone becomes a candidate for the presidency, he/she ought to have had to undergo a mental status exam (an IQ test wouldn't be a bad idea either).
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Reagan Had Alzheimer's As President, Says Son

Onset of Alzheimer's is as long as 20 years (and perhaps longer) before the first symptoms become apparent to those around the patient.

Alzheimer's patients go to great efforts to try to hide evidence of their mental decline, that they may be having problems with their memory, that there might be a problem with their thought processes, and this was true during and before Alzheimer's became a household word. This was true before Reagan was diagnosed, before his time in the White House.

Reagan's mental decline was known not just within the White House during his presidency, but the diagnosis of Alzheimer's was suspected by those who had experience with Alzheimer's (both by professionals who treated Alzheimer's patients and by families/friends of Alzheimer's patients).

On video somewhere is a 1984 photo-op session in Santa Barbara where a reporter asked Reagan about arms control talks with the Soviets. Reagan was visibly confused, and couldn't form words. Nancy, who was standing beside him, said in a low, almost inaudible voice, "We're doing the best we can", which Reagan then repeated.

After Reagan left office, it was reported that his mental decline while in the White House was of concern to some of Reagan's aides, and the senior staff brought it up with James Baker, about what to do. Baker told them he would attend one of their meetings with Reagan, to observe. Apparently Reagan managed to keep it together during the meeting, which is not uncommon -- Alzheimer's families report similar experiences of gathering the family to observe, and patients manage to perform well and hide the problems they're having.

After that meeting, Baker told the staff that "The boss is fine" and nixxed any further need to concern anyone with the aide's doubts.

When that story was reported, nobody in the media thought to ask, "When did James Baker get a medical degree?" or, "Shouldn't there be a protocol for when presidents are suspected of no longer being compes mentes?" Or, what about pre-determining a candidate's mental fitness for the office of the presidency?

The fourth estate has been failing the public for decades, and has only been doing a worse job as time goes by.

Solutions include presidents being given mental status exams in addition to their annual physicals. And before anyone becomes a candidate for the presidency, he/she ought to have had to undergo a mental status exam (an IQ test wouldn't be a bad idea either).
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Arizona Shootings: Our Moment of Silence Needs to Be Followed by More Than Just Lowered Voices

"The bully pulpit is a powerful tool - but, no, it doesn't mean that a President can get through whatever he wants to - note for instance Bush's push to privatize SS - he went all over the country trying to sell it - didn't even get a vote."

==============================================

I guess you didn't see what else I wrote:

"[T]he bully pulpit is one of the most powerful tools (if not the most powerful tool) in a president's arsenal. If you learned nothing else from the Bush years, it should have been that. That a president can get just about anything he wants through Congress and into law if he's stolid and relentless in his sales pitch and tactics. If he keeps at it, escalates his attacks, doesn't take 'no' for an answer, if he never backs down he will wear the opposition down. And if not during his term, then in concert or in relay with the next or a future presidential administration."

Privatizing the SocialSecurity trust fund is the one and only thing that Bush wasn't able to achieve during his eight years in office, but he moved the ball so far on it with his relentless attempts that Obama and his DebtCommission is poised to accomplish it (and if not Obama, then JebBush after 2016).

That's the purpose of the bully pulpit. To soften the opposition. To wear the opposition down. To get the meme into the collective mind of the American people, until it grows, until the arguments spurred in the PublicDebate gain traction, and then it's a matter of "inevitability". For the day that inevitably comes when opportunities present themselves and circumstances converge to enable it to happen (nine-eleven and the PatriotAct is one example).

Not only is this true for SocialSecurity's demise, but for a long list of other things that we've come to take for granted, including free quality K-12 public education (and free/affordable college education), free drinking water, legal abortion, etc.

Democrats' failure to use not only the bully pulpit, but Democrats' minority status in the Congress effectively, as effectively as Republicans have used it, has let anti-ab0rt!onists make women's access to ab0rt!on so difficult that it matters not if women have a legal right to an ab0rt!on if they can't find facilities that perform ab0rt!ons. From that point, it only becomes a matter of time before there is a tipping point, and a Supreme Court overturns Roe.

This BS, !ns@ne argument that "the NRA is so powerful, so why bother trying, why bother trying to regulate or trying to control gvns" has led to decades of lives lost and families destroyed because of opportunities to get RATIONALITY into the public square about the Common Good.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

So instead of a memorial, a pep rally was held.

What you don't think a memorial is the time for was the inevitable thoughts that pop up in people's minds when they mourn, when they're allowed to be with their feelings over events such as the one last weekend, such as "Why did it happen?", "Was there anything we could have done to prevent it?" and "How can we prevent it happening in the future?"

Instead of dealing with the direct causes, Obama tried to make political hay out of it, by promoting the false narrative that the tragedy was the result of over-he@ted p0Iitical rhet0rlc. Had the sh00ter not fixated on G@brielle G!ff0rds, he would have sh0t up the sch00L he was kicked out of. Or his neighborhood. And by the time the public realized the narrative was false, enough time would have passed and something new would have surfaced to capture the media's attention.
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

"The bully pulpit is a powerful tool - but, no, it doesn't mean that a President can get through whatever he wants to - note for instance Bush's push to privatize SS - he went all over the country trying to sell it - didn't even get a vote."

==============================================

I guess you didn't see what else I wrote:

"[T]he bully pulpit is one of the most powerful tools (if not the most powerful tool) in a president's arsenal. If you learned nothing else from the Bush years, it should have been that. That a president can get just about anything he wants through Congress and into law if he's stolid and relentless in his sales pitch and tactics. If he keeps at it, escalates his attacks, doesn't take 'no' for an answer, if he never backs down he will wear the opposition down. And if not during his term, then in concert or in relay with the next or a future presidential administration."

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

The bully pulpit is a powerful tool - but, no, it doesn't mean that a President can get through whatever he wants to - note for instance Bush's push to privatize SS - he went all over the country trying to sell it - didn't even get a vote.
==============================================

I guess you didn't see what else I wrote:

"[T]he bully pulpit is one of the most powerful tools (if not the most powerful tool) in a president's arsenal. If you learned nothing else from the Bush years, it should have been that. That a president can get just about anything he wants through Congress and into law if he's stolid and relentless in his sales pitch and tactics. If he keeps at it, escalates his attacks, doesn't take 'no' for an answer, if he never backs down he will wear the opposition down. And if not during his term, then in concert or in relay with the next or a future presidential administration."

Privatizing the Social Security trust fund is the one and only thing that Bush wasn't able to achieve during his eight years in office, but he moved the ball so far on it with his relentless attempts that Obama and his Debt Commission is poised to accomplish it (and if not Obama, then Jeb Bvsh in 2017).

That's the purpose of the bully pulpit. To soften the opposition. To wear the opposition down. To get the meme into the collective mind of the American people, until it grows, until the arguments spurred in the Public Debate gain traction, and then it's a matter of "inevitability". For the day that inevitably comes when opportunities present themselves and circumstances converge to enable it to happen (nine-eleven and the Patriot Act is one example).

Not only is this true for Social Security's demise, but for a long list of other things that we've come to take for granted, including free quality K-12 public education (and free/affordable college education), water, legal abortion, etc.

Democrats' failure to use not only the bully pulpit, but Democrats' minority status in the Congress effectively, as effectively as Republicans have used it, has let anti-ab0rt!onists make women's access to ab0rt!on so difficult that it matters not if women have a legal right to an ab0rt!on if they can't find facilities that perform ab0rt!ons. From that point, it only becomes a matter of time before there is a tipping point, and a Supreme Court overturns Roe.

This BS, !ns@ne argument that "the NRA is so powerful, so why bother regulating or trying to control gvns" has led to decades of lives lost and families destroyed because of opportunities to get RATIONALITY into the public square about the Common Good.
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

>>>Will President Barack Obama's Tucson speech affect his job approval ratings? If public reaction to Bill Clinton's handling of the Oklahoma City bombing in April 1995 is a guide, Obama is likely experience a bump in his ratings>>>

Had Obama played it straight, had the Virginia Tech service been the model, had he just done it as a memorial and not a pep rally, had he not been laying blame for this tragedy on "heated rhetoric", but the real source (an mentally ill young man who never should have been able to purchase firearms legally), there would be no need to criticize him or Democrats. Certainly not by me.

But from the early moments after the shootings, the White House and the DLC-controlled Democratic Party has trumped up a Iie, staged a response, is putting on a show in order to avoid doing what would is really called for, so as to NOT tell Americans that not only isn't there any money for expanded mental health services (and that politicians are in bed with the gvn lobby, so nobody is going to outlaw extended magazine clips or ban the sales of weapons to the mentally ill), but social service programs and all kinds of other government services are on the chopping block, including Social Security and Medicare.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

"I'm a conservative who is very upset with the tragic shooting of people for simply being Americans doing what we do."

===============================================================

See, this is the problem. You're left believing something that isn't true. You're not alone -- It's remarkable there are any who don't share your belief, given the resources and effort that's been put into having you believe that last Saturday happened because of "inciviIity" and "he@ted p0Iitical rhet0rIc".

The Obamas (Michelle, too) and Democrats aren't talking about the real cause of and solution for the events on Saturday (expansion of mentaI heaIth services and gvn control legisIation) because they have no intention of doing anything to change it. No money is going into mental healthcare. Nobody is going to take on the gvn lobby in this country.

So, our corrupt and broken-beyond-repair government is doing what ins@ne cultures everywhere do; making up a false narrative, revisionist history, to get us over this hump.

You think that the service got "a bit political"?

This liberal Democrat is telling you that Obama's been doing nothing but trying to capitalize p0Iitically on the events of last weekend, and it's a scandal. Or should be.

From day one, hour one, Obama followed in his predecessor Bvsh's footsteps, seizing on an iconic event to conflate the sh00tings with, to instill fe@r in the American people. There's no other explanation for any of this:

http://spintested.blogspot.com/2011/01/polling-lessons-for-obama-from-oklahoma_3840.html
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

Thanks. I guess. ;-)
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Jeb Bush Guides Republican Outreach To Latino Voters

Thank Obama for that.

Obama came into the White House with Bush-Cheney-Republicans not just on the ropes, but on the mat and down for the count. Obama issued a pardon and let them rise again.

After just one month in the White House, instead of going after Republicans and how their failed policies have brought us to the brink of destruction, instead of hammering Bush-Cheney-GOP for our economic woes and wars of choice, Obama and Rahm Emanuel went after Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh, two people with no role in the Republican Party.

Obama and Emanuel never mentioned Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Eric Canter, Karl R0ve, George W, H.W., Jeb Bush, Cheney, NOBODY who is actually IN the Republican Party as the problem. They still don't.

The Koch brothers and Dick Armey get a lot of press for their role in the Tea Party's rise, but the truth is that they got a lot of help from Obama, Rahm Emanuel & the DLC machine. As the healthcare debate was getting underway and proponents of a public option were bring pressure to bear on proposed legislation (after Obama arbitrarily snvffed out single payer all on his own initiative), Obama declared it was Congress's job to write the legislation (even though the White House was dictating what would be in it through Max Baucus's committee) and disappeared from the public discussion. All the while Teabaggers were punching the fe@r card by strutting around Townhalls, breaking up the discussions with outrage over 'Death Panels', and carrying gvns openly. Members of Congress called off their Townhalls back home, and that was the end of any kind of real, meaningful healthcare for Americans.

Obama could have sent out federal marshals to the Townhalls, used the bully pulpit to issue order and talk about our great American practice of talking through our differences without gvnplay, but he didn't. What Obama did instead during the same time period was unleash federal security forces to Pittsburgh to break up peaceful protests of the G20 meeting, test out the new weaponry to use on the growing disquieted masses - http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2009/sep/25/sonic-cannon-g20-pittsburgh

Obama and the DLC-controlled Democratic Party needs Sarah Palin and the Tea Party. The Tea Party serves Obama and the DLC-controlled Democratic Party in several ways. If they could choose any Republican to run against in 2012, it would be Palin, and elevating the Tea Party makes that more of a possibility.

It also lets Democrats keep a legislative agenda to the right of center. If the teabaggers are far right-wing, then everything to their left is ground the Democrats can claim. And that's a lot of corporate-money ground.
About Elections 2012
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

By the way, the bully pulpit is one of the most powerful tools (if not the most powerful tool) in a president's arsenal. If you learned nothing else from the Bush years, it should have been that. That a president can get just about anything he wants through Congress and into law if he's stolid and relentless in his sales pitch and tactics. If he keeps at it, escalates his attacks, doesn't take 'no' for an answer, if he never backs down he will wear the opposition down. And if not during his term, then in concert or in relay with the next or a future presidential administration.

Bush-Cheney-R0ve weren't geniuses, they didn't invent the strategy, nor was it something that political operatives didn't know or that political science students don't learn in poli sci 101 (or business majors at the Wharton school, or MBAs from Harvard). Bush & R0ve were just more ruthless in doing what politicians and the political parties had gone to great lengths to hide from Americans, been more subtle about.

What Bush-Cheney-Rove showed Democrats, though, was that when you have control over both Houses of Congress and the Judiciary, there's no need to be subtle. You don't even have to hide your intentions. You just do it, and ignore anyone who objects. Obama knows this, and does it regularly to the Democratic base.
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

"Wow. You really invest a lot in that power of the bully pulpit thing don't you? Have you ever tried to convince the folks in the NRA about anything? Do you get the 24 hour news cycle?

This is not something that Obama should invest political capital in right now - not because it is not an important issue but because it would be WASTED political capital"

================================================

Wow.

Obama "shouldn't invest political capital in this".

He couldn't be bothered investing political capital in a public option, or single payer.

He couldn't be bothered investing political capital in ending Bush's tax cuts for the rich.

He couldn't be bothered closing Guantanamo.

He couldn't be bothered with windfall profits taxes on gas, cap and trade, EFCA, getting MMS to regulate BP before it destroyed the Gulf Of Mexico and created a Extinction Level Event, etc..

A real stimulus, ending tax breaks to corporations for outsourcing Americans' jobs, implementing a real HAMP and keeping millions of Americans from foreclosure and homelessness?

Nah, Obama can't be bothered.

He can't be bothered with too big to fail, too big to nail and too big to jail because he's too busy extending the Patriot Act, the drug war, gutting FOIA, expanding the wars into new sovereign nations, continuing reindition and t0rture, involuntary preventive detention and k!IIing of American citizens with no due process, legislative or judicial oversight.

And given your response to the question "What policies of Obama's do you like?" ("tax breaks/policies (of the Catfood Commission)"), just exactly how do you come to call yourself a Democrat? Or do you?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

"Wow. You really invest a lot in that power of the bully pulpit thing don't you? Have you ever tried to convince the folks in the NRA about anything? Do you get the 24 hour news cycle?

This is not something that Obama should invest political capital in right now - not because it is not an important issue but because it would be WASTED political capital"

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

But I didn't say that I had the answers. I just noted that yours is only one way of looking at it. And to suggest that people aren't paying attention if they disagree with you, doesn't get anyone anywhere. And it comes off as arrogant and rude. ======================================= You can't explain, you offer no alternatives, but you're sure Obama's got them because "every single POTUS has. But you don't know what they are, can't even come up with one on your own, so I guess with you it's a matter of faith. Eight years of Bush-Cheney, and 40 years of a corporatocracy dismantling the middle class, Republicans and Democrats building upon the previous administrations' and Congresses' handiwork, and you can't bring yourself to even put in the modicum of effort, a soupcon of skepticism, to demand these elected officials do what they pledged to do for our votes. Pardon me, but you're an id-!-ot. There. Your name-calling now has a reason you can point to.
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Michelle Obama Pens Open Letter To Parents After Arizona Shooting

It's not like the Obamas and Democrats are talking about the real cause of and solution for the events on Saturday (expansion of mentaI heaIth services and gvn control legisIation) -- Obama and Democrats are still making it all about "inciviIity" and "intolerance".

Obama should be using the power of the bully pulpit, and the opportunity of the *shock&awe* of last Saturday, and his poll numbers to call for the dramatic expansion of mental health services across the nation (how about now for reintroducing the public option?) and for gun control laws.

If the Bush years taught us anything, it's that anyone can sell anything to Americans, if you're stolid and relentless in your sales pitch and tactics. If you keep at it, escalate your attacks, don't take 'no' for an answer, never back away, you will wear the opposition down. By the way, Bush-Cheney-R0ve weren't geniuses, they didn't invent this strategy, nor was it something that political operatives didn't know or that political science students don't learn in poli sci 101. Bush & R0ve were just more ruthless in doing what politicians and the political parties had gone to great lengths to hide from Americans, be more subtle about.

What Bush-Cheney-Rove showed Democrats, though, was that there was no need to be subtle. It doesn't matter how you get the rhetoric, the spin, on the table, just get it on the table. You don't have to go to great lengths to set up a logical or legitimate premise for it. The shock&awe tactics of having surrogates fan out all over the air waves, with other diversionary news stories competing for air time, will prevent opponents challenging you with logical analyses getting any air time, much less any traction.”
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

House Members Continue Meet-And-Greets In Wake Of Arizona Shooting

It's not like Obama and Democrats are talking about the real cause of and solution for the events on Saturday (expansion of mentaI heaIth services and gvn control legisIation) -- Obama and Democrats are still making it all about "inciviIity". Obama should be using the power of the bully pulpit, and the opportunity of the *shock&awe* of last Saturday, and his poll numbers to call for the dramatic expansion of mental health services across the nation (how about now for reintroducing the public option?) and for gun control laws. If the Bush years taught us anything, it's that anyone can sell anything to Americans, if you're stolid and relentless in your sales pitch and tactics. If you keep at it, escalate your attacks, don't take 'no' for an answer, never back away, you will wear the opposition down. By the way, Bush-Cheney-R0ve weren't geniuses, they didn't invent this strategy, nor was it something that political operatives didn't know or that political science students don't learn in poli sci 101. Bush & R0ve were just more ruthless in doing what politicians and the political parties had gone to great lengths to hide from Americans, be more subtle about. What Bush-Cheney-Rove showed Democrats, though, was that there was no need to be subtle. It doesn't matter how you get the rhetoric, the spin, on the table, just get it on the table. You don't have to go to great lengths to set up a logical or legitimate premise for it. The shock&awe tactics of having surrogates fan out all over the air waves, with other diversionary news stories competing for air time, will prevent opponents challenging you with logical analyses getting any air time, much less any traction.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

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Reagan Had Alzheimer's As President, Says Son

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Reagan Had Alzheimer's As President, Says Son

Obama on Civility and Lincoln on the Rule of Law

What Changes Will We Make After the Giffords Shooting?

What Obama Should Have Said in Tucson But Lacked the Courage to

What Obama Should Have Said in Tucson But Lacked the Courage to

Giffords' Feeding Tube Replaced

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

Reagan Had Alzheimer's As President, Says Son

Reagan Had Alzheimer's As President, Says Son

Arizona Shootings: Our Moment of Silence Needs to Be Followed by More Than Just Lowered Voices

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

Jeb Bush Guides Republican Outreach To Latino Voters

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

Polling Lessons For Obama From Oklahoma City

Michelle Obama Pens Open Letter To Parents After Arizona Shooting

House Members Continue Meet-And-Greets In Wake Of Arizona Shooting

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