Displaying 661 To 690 Of 732 Comments GOP Economics – How to Become Taller by Digging Holes Marketing? maybe. Who is listening? The “news media” is not; they have been seinfelded to death. They are useless. If you go by blogs, the left wing and the right wing both hate him equally. The left calls him a “corporatist sell out” in the pay of Wall Street; the right wing says that he is a “socialist”. Those insults describe them; they do not describe Obama. So, Obama needs an ad campaign. What is the brand? What are the demographics for this marketing? I am not being a smart aleck, as I see the necessity. Everything else is advertised, why not a president? » Posted By agrippa On April 12, 2011 @ 6:35 pm I doubt if those people have much interest in what happens. There are on a mission – or, perhaps, they are nihilists – to do what a “man’s gotta do’. Your article is on point, ad lib. » Posted By agrippa On April 11, 2011 @ 7:11 pm fire eaters of the RW type! May they burn down their own house, without setting fire to everyone else’s house. We have our fire eaters of the LW type as well. They are not as dangerous, though. Americans, by and large are moderate. Not all that “liberal”; not all that “conservative”. Most seem to seem conservative in the sense of being very cautious about “big changes”. » Posted By agrippa On April 11, 2011 @ 7:35 pm Tough situation. The RW radicals do want to wreck the government. I doubt if they will be able to restrain themselves. I do not subscribe to the doctrine of “the worse, the better”. I am in a quandry myself; and, I hope that Obama has the wit and the wisdom to calculate accurately. Obama does have a problem with fire eaters on the left; they hate him as much as the RW fire eaters do. he has managed not to respond to their imprecations, just as he has with the RW fire eaters. He must have very strong nerves. This has to be played carefully. » Posted By agrippa On April 11, 2011 @ 7:27 pm The GOP will have two more opportunities to shut down the government. They may not have the self discipline to pass up that opportunity. Being nihilists they do have a fervent widh to do so. So, we have a problem: How do you refute the argument of nihilists who are the prisoner of their passion? I see two: take the argument to the people and rely upon their good sense to understand what is happening. I prefer the first option, as the second can easily spin out of control; the second option brings the principle of ‘the worse the better’ into play. The firat option may not work, as it may be arguing into a void. But, it has to be done. » Posted By agrippa On April 11, 2011 @ 8:37 am Back to the Future, or Fun with Left and Right. Not. Contemptible. I have a premonition of “the terrible ifs accumulate” ( from Winston Churchill); that forces/processes are being set in motion that no one can stop. And, many do not want to stop. And, a near majority of americans do not have a clue. Many americans know next to nothing about government, politcs and current events and do not wish to know. There is that: we will have a bloody mess on our hands and the great mass of people will have no idea of how or why we got to that point. » Posted By agrippa On April 8, 2011 @ 1:58 pm I think that they are trying to wreck the economy — out of spite. That, to me, is their “plan.” Cher, I think that you give them too credit to call what they are doing as part of a “plan”. » Posted By agrippa On April 8, 2011 @ 1:46 pm Cher, true. What is worse is that a substantial number of people in the USA pay no attention at all to politics, government and current events and do not want to pay attention. There is a price to be paid for willed ignorance. The Democrats are doing dmage control; the Congressional Democrats in the 111th Congress failed to do what needed to be done and, now, the price is being paid. » Posted By agrippa On April 8, 2011 @ 12:00 pm Good quotation. It does fit the times. I am not surprised by any of this. The USA is not the sort of country, and americans are not the sort of people who do well at sorting out problems and coming up with solutions. We prefer to pretend that the problems do not exist; and, then, when the problems can no longer be ignored, go into a panic. The USA has done that several times. We are in a panic now; and, the GOP is leading the panic. » Posted By agrippa On April 8, 2011 @ 11:53 am This current political siutation, across the country, is pretty sad. It is as if many want the country to come apart. » Posted By agrippa On April 8, 2011 @ 8:30 am Keramas, recruiting or ‘self recruiting’ is very important. People do have to run for office. That is a hard thing to do. I hope that people do step up and do it. We are in great need of real talent in Washington. » Posted By agrippa On April 7, 2011 @ 11:06 am I have never seen or heard much of a “left” in the USA. There has been a lot written about why there is no real left in the USA ; I have my own ideas about why there is not. What I do know is that my social democratic views put me in a permanent minority. And, I have no words and I have no deeds that will change that. Obama is not a leftist; he is not an ideologue. Nor, is he a table pounder; he does – quite unrealistically, in my view – expect people to be responsible adults and not be the prisoner of their passions. That is, I think, his most serious person failing. he expects other politicians to be rational and mature. Very few of them are rational and mature. Obama is not going to do what progressives/leftists want him to do. For one thing, it is not his way of doing business. For the other, there is no one to “make him do it”. To me, what needs to be done is clear: organize, recruit good, honest and competent liberals to run for Congress; get those candidates elected. That is how you get the laws that people say that they want. It is completely futile to tell Obama to do what he is not going to do. Calling him a “corporatist” or ‘sellout” is equally pointless. I think that Obama is too rational and too practical for politics. Politics is not about reason; it is about passion, mainly fear and anger. Fear and snger make you stupid and foolish. » Posted By agrippa On April 7, 2011 @ 7:08 am Kloppenburg is ahead in the Wis Supreme Court race. She may defeated Prosser. I do not know if there will be recount. » Posted By agrippa On April 6, 2011 @ 12:39 pm From the Muddy Banks of Rememberance I am old – 65 – but, I see that he meant a lot to you. Suicide is quite tragic. » Posted By agrippa On April 6, 2011 @ 5:06 am You may be right about that. » Posted By agrippa On April 5, 2011 @ 10:07 am It looks like the guy was very political very early on. I wonder who recruited him. » Posted By agrippa On April 5, 2011 @ 10:03 am People do need to get fired up; as I said, that is the only counter to the fear and anger the GOP is making use of. The Democrats in Congress are very weak; they have been for years. And, it is Congress that writes laws. The root cause is the inability to get organized and build up from the precinct and district level. That is how you get good people in Congress. I do know that a progressive/liberal majority is needed to pass progressive/liberal legislation. If those laws are passed, Obama will sign them. If I were Obama, I would say straight out: get organized and elect people who will pass the laws that you want passed. In other words: “make me” » Posted By agrippa On April 5, 2011 @ 8:48 am The state of politics in the USA is such that the GOP may succeed in getting most of these cuts. The conservative political faction ( who used to vote Democratic, but now vote GOP) that controls the South; the northern union members who forgot how they got that good pay; both constitute a large portion of those vote GOP and ought to vote Democrat. Emotions like fear and anger – the stock in trade of the GOP – usually win out over fact and logic. Hedges is correct. We do need a mass movement. A mass movement to do exactly as he suggests. That is how you counter the fear and anger being made use of by the GOP. » Posted By agrippa On April 5, 2011 @ 7:15 am The Democratic Scorpions: Always the Sting in Our Own Collective Ass Politics is local; and, organized bottom up. » Posted By agrippa On April 5, 2011 @ 5:26 am Obama is a responsible adult; he expects that same maturity from others. Sad to say, he will be disappointed. That is why he was elected: to be a statesman, a responsible adult. I think that what is necessary is pretty clear: organize. Recruit good, competent and honest progressives to run for office. get them nominated; get them elected. At the end of the day, that is what Obama expects progressives to do. And, he is correct to expect just that. The issue is: will that be done? That issue is in doubt. When it comes to it, it is not about politics. It is about governing. Governing is about seeing real problems; seeing real solutions; and, taking real and effective measures toward implementing those solutions. The political class – professional politicians and the commentariat are doing politics. The political class is not governing. If nothing is done, the country faces years of stagnation; no prosperity; no depression. We face years of “blah on steroids”. » Posted By agrippa On April 4, 2011 @ 2:29 pm I think that morality does expand with maturity. As we grow and get wiser, our morality can become more nuanced. We, also, learn from experience and learn about consequences. » Posted By agrippa On April 11, 2011 @ 7:15 pm You maybe right about the falling influence of convential religion. I do think that US convential morality is largely legitimized by religion. » Posted By agrippa On April 11, 2011 @ 9:05 am Those six levels make sense to me; but, I think, that they will not make sense to many others. Most of US conventional/mainstream morality is grounded in the Bible. US society basically uses that book to make our morality legitimate. Other societies have a different basis. Our morality tends to be personal; our personal relationship to “god”, and our personal salvation. There is little talk about the here and the now; and, little talk about the public sphere. » Posted By agrippa On April 11, 2011 @ 8:22 am escibacat, “the man on horseback” is what was called in other countries. A savior who will come and tell everyone what to do and how to do it. It looks to me that Obama is as far “left” as a DEmocratic Prty president is going to get. I am convinced that the GOP regards the South ( the Old Confederacy) as a great example of good government. The GOP would be very pleased if the rest of the country were that way. » Posted By agrippa On April 4, 2011 @ 7:54 am Cher, we have a system that works against compromise. Much of Europe has a parliamentary system with proportional representation. This means coalition govt and compromise is built in into the system. Obama is supposed to be some sort of “superman” who tells everyone what to do. People are used to what is called “Imperial Presidency”. » Posted By agrippa On April 4, 2011 @ 6:59 am I think that Congress is as important as the president. It is Congress that passes the budget and the other laws. The President does not make laws. It appears that people tend to forget that fact. If you want progressive laws passed — you need a progressive majority in Congress. Rove knows how to manipulate. He knows the key words and key phrases to get people stirred up. He knows what many people – the right wing base – want to hear and want to believe. And, he knows to get them out and about. The media has never done a good job of exposing that. Except for the short period of the Fairness Doctrine, the press has mostly been quite partisan. So, the press has rarely doe well with problnig/forensic journalism. I think that it is important that the “Sold South” of “Dixiecrat” days is now solid GOP. It is the same faction; now it is the gOP that must cater to that faction. » Posted By agrippa On April 4, 2011 @ 5:57 am I do not know how the politics will play between now and 2012. The GOP geographic base is the South; it is the same conservative faction that was in the Democratic Party, and the faction that FDR and JFK had to deal with. Those people are faithful GOP voters. Outside that region, the GOP has their faithful there; almost half will vote GOP whatever the situation. For the whole country, neither party has a working majority. Economically, this is the most serious recession since WW2. To make matters worse, neither the washington politicians nor the professional economists have any solutions. The economists who do have good ideas that will work are outside the mainstream and largely ignored. » Posted By agrippa On April 2, 2011 @ 10:51 am Southern Discomfort – Code Red Good article! A large portion of the South is still that way. Those beliefs/beahviors remain. » Posted By agrippa On April 3, 2011 @ 6:14 am DON’T PANIC … It’s Just the C I A. I expect that the CIA would be in Libya. The CIA is a pretty inexpensive way to take on an adversary. It appears that Obama was, heaven forfend, telling the truth when he wanted some other country to do the flying and bombing. As for the right: The GOP is an organized fatuity. Their main goal is to get elected and stay there. When there? No clue, save one of the oldest rules in politics: reward your friends and punish your enemies. » Posted By agrippa On April 1, 2011 @ 5:19 am Free Speech and Commenters’ Experiences at The Huffington Post I consider that place fatuous. What AH wants to do: be important and make a lot of money. » Posted By agrippa On April 1, 2011 @ 5:10 amComments Posted By agrippa
It does appear that they are destroying themselves and that should be be stopped. But, how do you let them destroy themselves? They can do great harm to the country in the process of wrecking themselves.
The other: “kick it up a notch”. Rouse counter passions.
That is the state of american politics today; unless you want to treat it as a black comedy. I go contrmptible one day and black comedy the next day. Perhaps, it is both.
As in: “My neighbor has a cow, and I do not have a cow. I want his cow to die.”
The irrationality and the willed self destructiveness remind me of the run up to the Civil War. Folly run rampant.
Congress did not have the progressive majority needed to pass progressive laws.
Oxford is in southern Ohio – copperhesd country ( copperheads were soft on preserving the union during the Civil War) – I exoect that Ohio U is a very conservative school and the Econ and poly sci Depts were very conservative. I expect that he got all the conventional wisdom stuff.
The Dems in Congress may, themselves, need to be replaced by more talented, energetic and committed people. It is as if many of them are “burned out”.
Congress ans state legislatures are as important as the president.
I am, and I know that I am, in a permanent minority in the USA. My beliefs are congruent with those of the German SPD and some elements of the British Labour Party. I, also, know that the GOP, nationwide, will get, at least 45% of those who vote. And, in many places, a local majority, such as the Deep South.
That makes a big difference.
The conservative faction controlling the South changed political parties; from Democrat to Republican.
They are narcissistic nihilists.
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Stands to reason, as AH is fatuous.
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