The Media Take Aim At ‘The Mob’
By K. Daniel Glover | August 7, 2009
Subtlety is the most destructive weapon of biased journalists. It is the intellectual equivalent of a shot to the casual reader's head from a sniper's gun hundreds of yards away. The unsuspecting victim never knows what hit him.
The sniper's ammunition comes in many calibers -- selective reporting, misleading headlines, loaded adjectives and deceptive cutlines. Some kill instantly; others leave their targets in a permanently vegetative state. But the end result is always the same: liberal indoctrination.
Journalists are beginning to deploy subtlety as a weapon in their coverage of the protests over health care reform. They have learned that a tank barreling down the middle of the street, like the one CNN's Susan Roesgen drove during the Chicago Tea Party in April, is too obvious to work, so they have assumed high and hidden perches instead.
The latest sniper attack occurred last night in Tampa. As has happened across the country the past few weeks, opponents of President Obama's pro-government health care policies rallied at a town hall of their congresswoman, Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor.
The constituents at events like Castor's are the same ones who organized anti-spending and anti-tax tea parties in the spring. The mainstream media at first ignored those grassroots displays of taxpayer outrage and turned to ridicule when the pesky protesters refused to be ignored.
Both weapons exploded in their faces, so the St. Petersburg Times embraced the sniper rifle of subtlety in its coverage of Castor's town hall.
Jon Henke of The Next Right heard the first shot -- the newspaper changed its story, literally -- and exposed the sniper. The Times (whose parent company once employed me at Congressional Quarterly) initially, and correctly, thought it fair to note that the Service Employees International Union organized a counter protest at Castor's event.
The paper also included this explosive quote from an SEIU official hinting at plans to instigate trouble at the event: "We're prepared [for disruption]. We have strategies to deal with it if it should come up."
That language provided important context about a group whose leader once described his thug-like organizing philosophy like this: "[W]e prefer to use the power of persuasion, but if that doesn't work we use the persuasion of power."
The rewrite of the story a short time later dropped the quote and changed the tone of the story to what Henke rightly called "something far more SEIU/Democrat friendly." The second version downplayed SEIU's role even though it was billed as an organizer, and it spun the story from the critical perspective of pro-Obama protesters.
Ironically, the only photographic evidence of a physical encounter that the paper published showed a woman, later identified by Henke as local Democratic operative Karen Miracle, shoving an Obama critic in the face.
That brings us to the second sniper shot fired by the Times: its cutlines for the story. The 17-photo slideshow for the event cast opponents of government-run health care as a rowdy mob but mostly reserved judgment about the other side.
The second photo is a classic case of subtle bias. It reads, "Castor supporters cheer while opponents scowl." The paper also described Miracle and her husband, also a player in local Democratic politics, merely as people "attending to learn more about the health care reform."
When Miracle pushed the man's face, the Times excused the offense with this sympathetic cutline: "According to Karen Miracle, she was defending her husband, who has a heart condition." How dare that evil conservative argue with a man who has a heart condition!
Not all of the local coverage of the ongoing town-hall confrontations is as biased as what the Times published. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch actually included in its report the account of a conservative who was attacked while distributing signs that said "Don't tread on me," one of the slogans of the tea party movement.
But odds are good that sniper attacks like the ones from the Times will become more commonplace as the healthcare debate intensifies in lawmakers' districts this month. The national media in particular are not likely to report on the events objectively when they so desperately want Obama's agenda to be enacted.
So let this be a warning to foes of socialized medicine. Be on the lookout for media snipers. They will amplify every minor mistake you make and downplay the major sins of Obama supporters. Don't give them any ammunition, and do expose them when they take aim at "the mob."
K. Daniel Glover is a project manager for Accuracy In Media. He has worked as an editor, writer and new media specialist in the Washington area since 1991, spending most of that time at National Journal and Congressional Quarterly.
32 Comments | Post a Comment
Look at the 9th picture in that slide show - Mr. Miracle’s heart condition hasn’t kicked in yet, I guess. Pictures 10 and 11 appear to show Mr. Miracle getting into Mr. Osteen’s space.
Look for a “Joe the plumber” (on a smaller scale - he didn’t question The One, only Mr. Obamas plan) tactic from the media aimed at Mr. Osteen starting in 3,2,1…
The St Louis Post-Dispatch (PD) article labeled opponents to the Obama plan as conservatives repeatedly, but never labeled Congressman Carnahan, his supporters, or the Obama health proposals as liberal. Although reporting on the local event, they somehow thought Sen Reid’s claim that opposition to the health plan was “astroturfing” was worth mentioning, yet failed to ask the attendees whether they were being directed by the Republican party in Washington or Pharmaceutical companies. The local Gateway Pundit’s encouragement probably drove most of the opposition turnout. The PD also failed to mention Carnahan’s office bringing in union workers to counter the expected opposition, while denying entry to many of the critics. There is a good reason the Post-Dispatch is derisively called the “comPost-Dispenser”.
wow..at first i cringed/hesitated over hitting the link for this piece ( thinking you the actor Danny Glover) i’m sure you get that a lot?.
Thanks for SOMEONE in the media going so far as to ask the second/followup Q…. the followup inquiry… the Q that reveals the spin on the surface. I don’t see it happening much in the visual media. Kudos
Just be careful out there…the MSM is dying for a clip of some conservative, angry beyond belief, lashing out at some congressman.
Don’t play into their hands.
MOB? smile…this administration doesn’t even have a clue what a mob is yet or they are pretending they don’t..the bought off media is not reporting all the news especially the real honest news..Real Americans are in court, their Senator’s office, Congress , phones faxes , emails, and real G mail..we are coming out of the wood work. like the one Town hall guy yelled, you will NOT make us a Socialist Nation 
and they won’t..not to forget the President is picked long before elections…and is the commie’s puppet..but HE IS COMING Down sooner than later and so is his cronnie’s. Make my day !! G-d Bless AMerica…keep fighting, keep praying, G-d will answer…
The thugs on the left? You poor loony-tuned rightie wingnuts seem to have trouble distinguishing fact from fiction even when it’s sitting in plain sight in front of your noses. You have an administration trying to fix a horrible problem that threatens to cause increasing pain among millions of your countrymen, and it’s being opposed by screeching loonies who willfully distort elements of the plans under discussion and viciously attempt to intimidate and drown out reasoned debate. And you’re suggesting that the problem is on the left? That’s your argument? Please, endeavor to get a clue.
“You have an administration trying to CREATE a horrible problem that threatens to cause increasing pain among millions of your countrymen”
There, fixed it for you, you SEIU/ACORN/MoveOn.org/CodePink brainwashed thug.
Wow, more vivid examples of thugishness. If you have the ability to read and decipher, I think spending perhaps just 26 seconds looking at my blog might tell you that I’m none of the above, and don’t have the remotest affiliation with any of those groups. What I do have a close affiliation with is what a Bush administration official once famously called “the reality-based community.” You might benefit from taking part in that sometime.
And while you’re at it, maybe try talking to one or two or ten people who can’t afford health care, and whose families are one medical bill away from ruin (you won’t have to go far, they’re all around you, no matter where you live). And then you’ll learn why people with an actual conscience (including many in government, the media and the thinking community that the right so loves to pillory) will resist all manner of intimidation in order to make this happen, no matter how long it takes. As Martin Luther King said, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” So we’ll get there eventually, folks, whether you like it or not.
John, I assume that you are for Obamacare because you think it will help make healthcare more accessible to more people. Why do you assume that anyone who opposes it is an unconscionable beast who does not have the same interest at heart? Maybe the plan will not accomplish what you intend? Maybe alternative ideas (which HAVE been proposed, contrary to BHO’s lies) would make healthcare MORE accessible and affordable? Maybe you should not assume you guys have a lock on reality?
The reason someone called you a SEIU/ACORN/MoveOn.org/CodePink brainwashed thug is because you come in here arrogant and insulting with your cliched talking pts all in a rush, which is what SEIU/ACORN/MoveOn.org/CodePink brainwashed thug blog commenters do.
We all want the same thing, but you leftists tend to think anyone who disagrees with you must be an evil creep who wants people to suffer.
Obamacare will NOT provide more people with more affordable healthcare access or healthcare. It doesn’t say what you think it does, and even what it does say won’t work. We are going to save YOUR collectivist butts by figuring out a good market-based healthcare system which will give better access to better healthcare for more people and which wont plunge America even deeper into debt or limit medical innovation the world depends on, dragging you kicking and screaming the whole way, not that we expect you to thank us.
At last, someone who uses reason and persuasion. Thanks for that. I won’t belabor the arguments you may have already read about, but briefly, they include: the market system as presently configured isn’t working for something like 50 million people, so we need to supplement it with something. And when I hear people talking about waiting or slowing down on this issue, I can’t help thinking about how that’s what the medical community and others who support the current system have been saying since the time of Truman, who first tried to fix this. I’m pretty tired of waiting.
I don’t think Obama remotely has all the answers, nor did the Clintons. But we need to find them, and pretty soon. Because besides leaving millions uncovered and locking millions of others into jobs merely because of health coverage, we’re also going to bankrupt the country if we can’t get control of health spending even while the giant baby boom generation uses ever more care. And that won’t happen without some fundamental changes in the financial incentives now governing health care. The market apparently can’t fix that on its own, or it would have already. We need to do it as a nation, which means through legislation.
We have more and more members of “THE MOB” here in CT.
I don’t like them!
The word “mob” is a prelude to striking back with violence. It’s a shortened version of “mobile vulgus” for the movable common people. It implies violent and illegal conduct and suggests that those involved are the pawns of demagogues i.e. rabble rousers.
As used by the administration and Democrats, it’s a new form of hate speech, calling those who oppose the government steamroller ignorant and common and portraying them as pawns for some unnamed enemies of “the people” who are always our intellectual superiors poised to bring us in the Brave New World of tomorrow.
I’ve lived outside the USA for a long time now, but I still think of myself as a concerned citizen. So a few weeks ago I decided to pen the little note posted below.
Unfortunately, this may be the only way.
Dear people, wherever you may be,
I’ve just finished rereading Atlas Shrugged for the third time. The first two times (a long time ago) I applied its lessons to the collapse of the Soviet Bloc. Now Ayn Rand’s work seems more pertinent than ever due the events unfolding in my homeland.
The reason I say my homeland is because I’m an expatriate American English teacher living in South Korea. I’ve been living and working in the ROK for twelve years, but I still send in my absentee ballot for presidential elections every four years.
What I’ve been seeing taking place in the USA since January 20 is making me more upset by the day. The mounting deficits, the growing and dangerous dependence on China (many South Koreans are very jittery about China) to finance those deficits, the talk of instituting new (VAT and a big one at that) taxes to help cover those very same deficits, the bailouts of GM, and particularly Chrysler, the attempt to remove choice and private enterprise from the U.S. health care system, the stimulus that went mostly to government drones rather things that would really stimulate, and above all, the despicable behavior of the mainstream media in covering up Obama’s real Chicago background. I had to go and find the red star at the top of William Ayers website all by myself!
All these things have made me very alarmed concerning the future of my country. So I’ve reached one overriding conclusion: it’s time for Americans to revolt against royal authority for the second time in 234 years.
I say this because I don’t believe the traditional legislative process can stop my country’s slide towards the comfortable euthanasia of West European-style socialism. With the idiocy of Bush to guide them, the Republicans have done a very creditable job of taking Dirty Harry’s 357. and pointing it at least at their feet, if not their heads.
So it’s time to revolt. This will be a difficult idea for many Americans to grasp. After all, we are the product of a culture that has been based on the rule of law from its very beginnings back in medieval England.
What I’m talking about is starving the Government Beast. Come next April 15, 2010 don’t send in your tax forms. Refuse to pay! If you’re a small businessman don’t pay your state (If you live in California, New York, or New Jersey, this applies especially to you) or federal business taxes. Don’t pay your licensing fees! When the Bush tax cuts expire in 2011, don’t file! Simply don’t feed the Beast!
If you’re worried about prosecution, there’s safety in numbers. If ten million Americans refuse to pay, the looters can’t possibly oppress more than a very small number of people. If ten million small business people refuse to knuckle under to the New Jealously Class, then the Beast will be truly crippled and will be forced to beg for mercy. View your refusal to pay blackmail to the looters as a civil rights issue along the lines of what inspired Martin Luther King during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and the early 1960s. IT IS NOT YOUR PATRIOTIC DUTY TO PAY HIGHER TAXES! In fact, it can be considered a form of treason to file on April 15, 2010.
Anyway, this has happened before. What most Americans don’t remember or never learned is that in the run-up to the American Revolution the British backed down twice over the issue of taxes. Parliament repealed both the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts in the face of fierce colonial protests. Remember, the looters don’t have the mighty Royal Navy behind them, or ranks of hard fighting British Grenadiers, all they have in their favor is the willingness to submit of a people who have been comfortable for far too long.
If you don’t think this is too warped, PASS IT ON!
TANSTAAFL!!!
Michael G. Gallagher
Seoul, Korea
(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
AST: mobile vulgus
Muchas Gracchis for the etymology
How does one say “Agent Provocateur” in Latin ?
How can Obama - or his handlers - hope to gain from that opening gambit ? He has no civilian defense force to carry out the end game.
So, what are the rules of engagement for political protest?
I’ve seen plenty of protests over the past 20 years and what we are seeing today is pretty much how they look.
Have the rules changed?
The issue is not the 46 million without health insurance ( but not without access to healthcare). The issue is the ever rising cost of health care as a per cent of GNP. Maybe the answer lies in cutting dramatically all the regulatory agencies that add to the cost .Why do we need National Instiutes of Medicine ; why isn’t Medicare run at the state level. Why is there a Dept Health and Human Services,we have the watch dog CDC? Why do hospitals need those ridiculous clowns called the Joint Commission on Acccreditation? Let’s cut the real fat and stop with this overblown sob story of 46 or was that 57 million without insurance.
Our health care system in America has a couple of problems that it would definitely be a great thing to address. But given that over 80% of Americans are happy with their current health insurance and the health care they receive, I think that we should be very reticent to call it ‘broken’. Particularly since all over the world, people come to America when their own country’s health care system is unable to provide the care that they need. That tells me that there is a lot to like about health care in America.
We lead the world in pharmaceutical research, breakthrough medical discoveries, innovations that benefit the entire world as we share our medicines and procedures across the globe.
Looking at what we can see so far of the reform that’s being proposed, a lot of that would change. It takes a lot of financial investment to conduct medical and pharmaceutical research, and the best way to encourage that investment is to introduce a profit motive for doing it well. This is what we do quite well as a country, and this is why we lead the world. The private market works, and those that risk their capital by investing in medical and pharmaceutical research should be rewarded when the research they have helped to fund achieves success that uncountable millions could potentially benefit from.
Under a single-payer system (government funding) the profit motive is removed. now, this sounds wonderful to a lot of people, but what actually happens when you remove the motivation to make a profit isn’t very pretty. If the only source of funding is tax dollars, then bureaucrats in Congress will be deciding how much tax money is spent on research. When private research makes a profit, some of that profit can be put back into more research, lowering the cost. But if tax dollars are the only source, there is no profit and research costs remain high.
And let’s take a look at the claim that government-provided insurance is going to compete alongside private insurance companies. Sure, it will. For a while, at least. But if you’re a company that provides health care to your employees as part of their compensation package, and you bear that expense, and now the government is going to come along and offer to provide health insurance to your employees for free (or at least for a lot less), then how many companies will continue to provide private insurance? If I had a responsibility to run my company in a financially sound manner, I certainly would. That’s a no-brainer. How long could private insurance companies remain in business when the number of insured people starts to reach into the tens and hundreds of millions? Maybe a few years, at best. Then, the only option left will be the public option.
So, how are we going to address those problems in our health care system? To be honest with you, I’m not sure. But I do know that this reform plan doesn’t fix the problems it’s supposedly trying to address. Doing something just to be doing something doesn’t seem like a good idea to me.
But what about the biggest problem: those 47 million uninsured people out there suffering?
Well, let’s take a look at that number. First of all, if you notice, the Health Care Reform supporters don’t say 47 ‘Americans’ without health care, instead they say 47 million ‘people’ without health care. That’s because nearly half of that 47 million are illegally in the country. But while they seem to have worked pretty hard at avoiding the subtle lie, they somehow have no problem with telling a particularly egregious one: that ANYONE in this country is denied health care. NO ONE is denied necessary care. There isn’t anyone in this country, citizen or immigrant, here legally or illegally, that gets turned away for necessary care. It costs all tax-paying Americans a lot of money to do that; but I don’t hear anyone complaining about that, as it would be awfully heartless to do otherwise.
There is a deliberate attempt to blur the line between health care and health insurance. What they MEAN is that there is a certain number of people who do not have health insurance, and that’s true. But when you remove the nearly half of the 47 million claimed by reform supporters, you’re left with about 25 million or so who ought to even have a legitimate expectation of being able to have health insurance. Of that number, a good portion are young and CHOOSE not to spend money on health insurance. I know I made that choice when I was a little younger than I am now. Also, another portion of that number are those that are between coverage plans, having changed jobs and their previous plan and waiting for their new plan to kick in. If you remove them from consideration, you’re left with (I think) about 10 million Americans who are without health insurance that want health insurance.
Now, this IS a legitimate problem, and I think most people on both sides admit that. But I can’t support risking a health care system that leads the world in innovation and that meets the needs and satisfies more than 80% of the people who use it to provide medical care equal to what the rest of the world currently gets to those 10 million or so while forcing the other 300+ million Americans to endure the same. Talk about unjust!
The solution to the health care problems is actually pretty easy. The first thing you need to identify is the cause in order to address the solution.
The main problem (far from the only one) IS health insurance, not health care. The insured have no idea or care about what their care costs. Their employer pays most of their premiums and they only see the $20 co-pay when they see a doctor. When they change jobs they need to get new insurance.
My proposal is to give a 100% tax credit for the purchase of high deductible ($3000-$5000) catastrophic care insurance that would be portable. Also, pre-tax contributions to a Health Savings Account would roll over year to year.
The above have already been proposed. Here’s how my plan differs - anyone without adequate insurance will have their health care costs (NOT insurance) paid directly by the government. Those with an income over a determined threshold would be assessed a 10% supplemental tax until the costs are repaid. Those whose income is below the threshold will have no liability until their income rises. Estates of deceased patients will be tapped for remaining costs.
The government will make NO health care decisions. Medicaid will be no longer necessary. Fraud rates will plummet because people will be directly responsible for their own costs. All patients’ care will be paid for - no longer will the paying patients need to subsidize the uninsured. Emergency rooms will revert to their original purpose. Everyone will be covered!!
Post 7, 9, 11;
Pretty much on the money!
(And - you certainly deserve credit for posting here!)
Re: Post 19;
Your statement:
“...The issue is the ever rising cost of health care as a per cent of GNP…”
I believe you’re absolutely correct!
The cost of health care has doubled over the last 15 or so years - and is expected to double again in the coming ten. And - the approximately 75% of Americans who have health insurance paid for entirely or mostly by their employers - HAVE NO CLUE how expensive individual health care insurance premiums are for those who are self-employed, 1099’ed, or who work for employers who do not provide health insurance - - or those who have to pay directly for their care.
It is said that 80% of all personal bankruptcies are due to inability to pay health care bills - and that 80% of that group actually had health insurance!
The rapidly rising cost of health care - running 4-5-6 times the inflation rate annually - is the REAL problem! And - without some kind of reform - the number of “uninsured” will continue to rapidily increase. And, of course, run amok cost results in automatic “rationing”.
Re: Post 21;
Your statement:
“...The main problem (far from the only one) IS health insurance, not health care. The insured have no idea or care about what their care costs. Their employer pays most of their premiums and they only see the $20 co-pay when they see a doctor. When they change jobs they need to get new insurance…”
For many individuals, the cost of the insurance is a serious issue.
Some 75% of the population gets all or most of their health insurance premium paid by employers - and they have no clue about the costs of insurance that “individuals” must contend with
Along with the 15+% of uninsured (some of whom cannot afford the premiums; some of whom cannot qualify for the insurance; some of whom choose to go without) - another up to 10% of Americans have to pay the exorbitant premium cost of “individual” (versus empoyer’s group) policies because they are self-employed, work on a 1099 basis, or work for small employers who do not provide insurance.
Naturally, though, the underlying and run amok costs of actual health care services is what drives the cost of insurance. There’s clearly a need to reduce and contain those costs.
First of all, BO wants the tail to wag the dog. Changing health care, health insurance, or whatever for 85% of the country for the other 15% suggests an agenda apart from altruistic concerns.
Besides, what’s the rush? What happened to committee hearings? Notices in the Federal Register? Floor debate? How about solving individual problems first, like nuisance lawsuits and “defensive medicine”? You think BO is going to clamp down on the Trial Lawyers?
BO and the boys aren’t in the least bit of a hurry to secure our southern border from druggies, illegal aliens, or terrorists. So why the big hurry to expand federal power on this front?
Post 22:
TK, referring to posts: Post 7, 9, 11;
Pretty much on the money!
(And - you certainly deserve credit for posting here!)
————————
I see you have finally found Liberals who at last agree with your own Liberal views, which only to serve as proof you are no Libertarian. Gallup shows 74% of Libertarians are strongly against Obama’s Health Care plan (which in a Town Hall on Monday admitted he has yet to read the Health Care Bills) did not know what the particulars of the Health Care Bill contains. But since he gave the Marching Orders, I am sure he knows all about the Bill.
Everyone, mark this moment…TK replied to a question without calling people names, insults, and profanity. Oddly enough, he has agreed with AIM articles as much as most Conservatives here, most in Blogs which no one answered him, and most by his own admissions.
Post 11:CHRI$ DODD (how original),
The only Mob I have seen is when The Administration called in the SEIU and other Union Thugs, seven of which are in jail for assault, five more who are accused of a Hate Crime enhancement for beating down a Conservative Black Man.
Who gave the Treasury the Right to Monetise our Debt? I ask due to the fact that is exactly what they have been doing, and still are doing. This will cause a short time increase in the Markets, but not only sets them up for a huge drop, but will begin Inflation and up to Hyper-Inflation. The US Dollar weakens every time we print money, even if it is to falsely lower Obama’s Debt.
What I do very much like is when anyone in Government or the MSM blame Fox News for causing a debate on Health Care by “claiming” Fox is inciting the citizens to protest (WHICH they do not do), they only show the recorded results of Americans voicing their opinions. That alone is what is making Fox News more and more powerful, as people are seeing the light for the first time, by ignoring the MSM. Just in the past month, FNC viewers have increased by 8 Million so far.
Someone above mentioned “50 Million people uninsured” (The number Obama is using is 47 Million), what the Media does not dare to mention, 30 million of those are young people who deny coverage from their employers only to save a few bucks a month. It is these very same young people who do not participate in 401K programs. Who in the hell raised ‘these’ idiots?
Everyone in the United Stats should be required to read and learn Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, one of my favorite quotes from Paine is:
“To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.” and “Those who want to reap the benefits of this great nation must bear the fatigue of supporting it.”
Government has forgotten that they work for us, not just those who agree with them, which is now a Minority on this issue as is Cap and Trade. Neither of which we can afford, Cap and Trade (wow, what a misleading name), will pay for much of what Obama wants to do to “we the people” will be taxed out of existence all in an effort to bring all of us into an equal class.
Obama tells us, he will keep Private Insurance…Right! He knows as well as anyone who has ever been in Big Business knows that those companies will opt for the ObamaCare, Private Insurance cannot survive without equal competition, therefore in my opinion his claim is a lie.
As for Larry’s comment, he is primarily correct in that rather than going toward socialized Health Care, fix the one we currently have now, it would be $1.6 Trillion dollars cheaper.
When leaving a job and going to a new company, your insurance will not lapse if you have the next job secured and move directly into that companies insurance, or if there is going to be a gap, then you can get Cobra Insurance until you have secured a new job. This is especially important to those who may have a pre-existing condition.
The Government could easily force Tort Reform which would lowed the cap on medical malpractice allowing doctors/surgeons to do fewer tests to cover their butts in order to avoid paying higher Premiums. Thus decreasing Premiums for both Private and Company Insurance, then it would cost the Government to easily pay to cover those who cannot afford to pay, you would be looking at less than $50 Billion dollars easily.
Congress is calling for yet another Stimulus Bill, but Obama knows it would immediately cause larger tax increases, since we have no more money.
Tax Rates for all Americans will automatically increase when Obama allows the Bush Tax Cuts to expire, not to mention what it will cost everyone in the USA when and if Cap and Trade passes. Cap and Trade will raise gasoline prices no less than .63 cents per gallon, electricity will double or more, natural gas prices will double, coal and coal oil will be eliminated, including Clean Burning Coal. He could save all of us on power for heating and cooling by building Nuclear Power Plants, much as Europe has been using for years now.
The Bill will also put us in a Global Economy with the U.N. and the IMF.
***New Flash***
New poll number just released on President Obama’s overall Approval Rating:
Approve: 47%
Disapprove: 52%
This is the latest Rasmussen poll - August 10/11/12, 2009.
According to polling sites and the World Almanac, Bush 43 was at 57% at the same point in his first term.
EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BECAUSE IT NEVER WAS COVERED IN THE IN THE MEDIA (EXEPT FOX NEWS, WHO COVERED THE INTIRE INAUGURATION).
Tiger Woods received a special invitation to speak at the inauguration. His
Those who invited were stunned, shocked when he did not deliver the message they expected. A brief read and you will understand why the media swept Woods’ remarks under the rug with no further ado and why the liberal left of our American society was again displeased with Tiger.
His speech was entitled:
“You’ll Never Walk Alone” [text is word-for-word as posted on Tiger’s web
site]
“I grew up in a military family - and my role models in life were my Mom and Dad, Lt. Colonel Earl Woods. My dad was a Special Forces operator and many nights friends would visit our home. They represented every branch of the service, and every rank.
In my Dad, and in those guests, I saw first hand the dedication and commitment of those who serve. They come from every walk of life; from every
part of our country. Time and again, across generations, they have defended our safety in the dark of night and far from home.
Each day - and particularly on this historic day -we honor the men and women in uniform who serve our country and protect our freedom. They travel
to the dangerous corners of the world, and we must remember that for every person who is in uniform, there are families who wait for them to come home safely.
I am honored that the military is such an important part, not just of my personal life, but of my professional one as well. The golf tournament we do each year here in Washington is a testament to those unsung heroes.
I am the son of a man who dedicated his life to his country, family and the military, and I am a better person for it.
In the summer of 1864, Abraham Lincoln, the man at whose memorial we stand, spoke to the 164th Ohio Regiment and said: ‘I am greatly obliged to you, and to all who have come forward at the call of their country.’
Just as they have stood tall for our country - we must always stand by and support the men and women in uniform and their families.
Thank you, and it is now my pleasure to introduce the US Naval Glee Club ...”
====
Tiger Woods’ 2-minute, 5-second tribute to the our nation’s military was delivered January 18th at the Inaugural Celebration in Washington , DC ! He had been subjected to intense pressure to attend and offer remarks. Especially so by liberals who have demeaned and criticized him for a decade for not joining their ranks.
Yet, at the Lincoln Memorial, instead of paying homage to Barack Obama, Tiger paid tribute to our soldiers. Not once did Tiger mention Obama, the
inauguration or the new administration. He had to understand expressing his love for America and appreciation for our military men and women would
disappoint the national news media and the liberal left. But Tiger is his own man; his father taught him to be his own man.
What? You did not previously know what Tiger said? You did not see a video clip of him speaking on a national television network, you did not see a photo of Tiger at the Lincoln Memorial offering his remarks, you did not
read a story in the NY Times? His appearance at the Inaugural Celebration had been widely hailed and promoted in advance by the Obama inaugural
organizers. Yet January 18 when he came and spoke…
Oh, well.
Re: Post 26;
Your statement:
“...I see you have finally found Liberals who at last agree with your own Liberal views, which only to serve as proof you are no Libertarian…”
I am not a “joiner” nor a “group thinker”.
AND - I’ve told you this SEVERAL times before:
I am a political Independent - and in terms of my personal political philosophy - it includes what I consider to be some of the best precepts taken from among Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, Traditionalist, Liberal and Conservative political thought and policies.
I’m very conservative on most social and cultural issues (I buy Savage’s “borders, language and culture” rant - and O’Reilly’s “culture warrior” mantra) - and I’m moderate and pragmatic on most political issues. In the old-fashioned senses - I’m a committed believer in the general “America First” and “America For Americans” concepts - and, to me, politically-speaking, day-to-day governance should be all about “majority rule”.
Over some 45 years (Independent for 41; GOP for 4), for governors, U.S. Reps, Senators and President - I’ve voted almost equally for GOPs and DEMs - and I’ve also voted for third-party candidates - as well as write-ins.
In my case, I find that I’m almost always confronted with having to vote for the lesser of two evils - and I have absolutely NO RESPECT for either the Democratic or Republican Parties as currently constituted. I am also opposed to ALL extremist political partisans and ideologues.
And, I believe that the unmitigated growth of vitriolic and venomous extreme political partisanship in this country, especially over the last 15 years, if allowed to continue at all levels as is, poses a much more serious threat to the future effective governance of this country than do foreign terrorists or so-called “rogue-states”.
(Note: The ridiculous personal behaviors at many of the recent “Town Halls” is not much different in the level of their ideological partisanship and vehemence than were the most extreme of the various protest movements of the ‘60s - and, of course, those led to many occasions of violence - and very little effective resolution of the problems the protests were focused on.)
If that is what you really believe, then you would agree with me much more often, as I have said to you before when you make common sense comments such as the one above.
As I have said many times before, I was once a Democrat, but the party left me behind. Although a Democrat at the time, I would however vote my heart as to who I thought would help America the most, Obama is not one of them, and NOT because of his skin color. All the way back to when there were nine Democrats vying for the Presidential Front Runner, up past his nomination, he changed his mind so many times, he became someone I knew I could not trust, now he has proved me right.
As for the Town Hall Meetings, such as I have recently mentioned, are made up of, are many Republicans, Independents, Democrats, and even many Blacks are there protesting: See Gallup…
Re: Post 30;
And, as I’ve said, Obama was far from my “first choice” and that I, in fact, entered a write-in vote in the last election.
And, I believe he should have spent ALL of this year focusing solely on the economy - while putting off health care reform and cap and trade until years three and four of his term.
And while I believe he is, personally, at least as capable in all respects as were any other recent presidents, I believe his strategists have blown it - and that like Bush 41 and Carter - he’s likely on his way now to being a one-term wonder.
NEVERTHELESS - the guy’s in office for 3 1/2 more years - so, in the belief that if he succeeds we all succeed - I certainly wish him well and hope that he and the congress affect those decisions and measures that unequivocally end up benefiting the common good.
Socialism - supposedly benefits “the common good”.
Riiiiiiight! Just ask people from all the socialist countries - they come over here for medical care.
August 7 at 10:54 am | #1 | Link
Do not go without a video camera. The thugs on the left have a big megaphone. We need a tag at YouTube to congregate all the video we can get of these rubes being destructive. They have the big megaphone of the lying media. We can have the video of the truth - unedited.
BTW.. if anyone pushes me, I will kick their asses into a coma. Got it, lefty thugs. Not looking for trouble, but if you want to bring it - bring it.