This video of Chris Matthews confronting a woman calling President Obama a “communist” pretty much sums up how our political discourse in this country is now devoid of any intellectual content. The woman repeatedly tells Matthews to “study it out” but then seems incapable of explaining what a communist actually is.
Matthews was right to confront the woman and there was little need to editorialize on the scene before the Vice Presidential debate. The further statement that Obama is not an American further captures the blind hate directed against this president. I have been a vocal critic of President Obama but this type of senseless and vacuous rage is an embarrassment to the entire country. While I am not willing to give up on democracy just yet, this woman makes a powerful case for oligarchy. Fortunately I think we can do better despite all evidence to the contrary.
Gene H:
no, I am still me.
I agree that both parties are in bed with big corporations and that this needs to end. This has been a good deal of the problem for a very long time. I dont care about big corporations being big, I just care that they subvert market signals through the use of government force [regulations]. Politicians usually dont write regulations, lobbying firms write legislation for the purpose of giving their clients/industry an edge over competitors and consumers. It is really an ugly business.
I obviously havent looked at all the regulations, nor even 1% but the ones I have looked at seem to give an advantage to a firm or product over another. Even your glorious Glass/Steagal act appears to have been written for the purpose of one bank getting a leg up on another bank.
This is just the type of comment people who reference the Bible when making their arguments for/against……anything. When asked to provide the passage, they just say ‘it’s in there’. Most often, it isn’t.
nick, Whether you like Matthews or not, he has been out front in addressing the racism in this year’s election. I commend him for taking on these tea party types.
I would label this brief debate on the video as Idiot v Blowhard. Did anyone see Matthews on Jeopardy? His bluster greatly exceeds his knowledge. Of all the Washingtonians he was near the bottom in knowledge, but it didn’t prevent him from huffing and puffing. The sharp ones were Chuck Todd, Robert Gibbs, Chris Wallace, Clarence Page, Katy Kay and Thomas Friedman.
“The sharp ones were Chuck Todd, Robert Gibbs, Chris Wallace, Clarence Page, Katy Kay and Thomas Friedman.”
Nick,
We’ll have to agree to disagree on the above. I think all of them are of the “pundit” class, which makes them tools/fools in my book, especially Friedman. Of course we both do represent different political viewpoints. As to Matthews I think his heart is in the right place, but he projects his own limited view onto the news he is commenting on, so I pay little attention to him.
“We need a re-boot of the fairness doctrine and a break up of the media monopolies.”
Not only yeah, but Hell yeah.
Mike S, X2 on both of your statements, well said including the agreement w/Dredd. The fourth estate exemplified by (but not limited to) FOX and talk radio has become a fifth column in the political discourse. We need a re-boot of the fairness doctrine and a break up of the media monopolies.
And what Mike S. said about the mislabeling being code for “he’s black.”
Bron,
Other than Obama has literally done nothing to pursue nationalizing any market segments – even the one’s that should be by their track record as bad actors (Wall Street Big Banks looking your direction, you unindicted criminals) – making the analysis of him being a socialist a non-starter, you finally got it right. He, like every other pol taking corporate campaign graft and doing the bidding of corporate lobbyists, is a corporatist. Which as has been pointed out many times here before is the kissing cousin of Italian style fascism. In that respect, there is no difference between either party or their candidates. They are different in one key way though. I was discussing this very topic with a conservative friend of mine last night and we ended in total agreement. This is a guy who plans to vote Romney, btw. On the level of corporatism and the corrupting influence of money, both parties and all candidates for them are exactly alike. They don’t represent the people anymore, just the corporations. This is a situation we both agreed will eventually end in disaster, the form of which precisely to be determined. Where they are different is that the Democratic Party has no spine at all to stand up for the Constitution properly (simply prostitutes) and the Republican Party is infested with extremists, some of whom border on Nazis (not hyperbole, not Godwin’s law, but by objective description of their far right oppressive agendas).
But I am very pleased with you for getting your definitions in an acceptably accurate form for a change, Bron.
Did the aliens that replaced Gyges with a nearly exact duplicate stop by your house too?
I left it out of the above but I will state it here. People call Obama a communist, Nazi, socialist and/or “not American” as code words for “he’s black”.
“While I am not willing to give up on democracy just yet, this woman makes a powerful case for oligarchy.”
Professor,
There are times when I have to argue myself out of the same reasoning. I think what Dredd said regarding Agnotology is of paramount importance. I believe there has been a conscious dumbing down of the American Public and I think it has been done with malice aforethought, by a coalition made up of the ignorant ideologues, in tandem with many of our Plutocrats. This is readily apparent in the Mainstream Media and in the selections for TV dramas. This effect has also taken place in our schools.
As far as misunderstanding of what a “communist”, or a NAZI really is we have seen it in public discourse since Obama’s election. Knowing the true definitions and having known real life communists in my life, the idea expressed that the President is either a Communist, Socialist, or even Nazi is one expressed by ignorant people who don’t understand the terms they are using. President Obama, is a centrist, with a very mild left wing lean.
“You know that she thinks she “owned” Chris Matthews here, right? She’ll be bragging for years. “…so I told ‘study it out’!””
Chrislrob, you understand her psychology perfectly and it applies macro-cosmically to all these “Teabaggers”, who are ignorant people who think they are wise. The most dangerous humans other than psychopaths, sociopaths and narcissists, are those who are ignorant but believe themselves acutely perceptive
“communism:
Economic and social system in which all (or nearly all) property and resources are collectively owned by a classless society and not by individual citizens.”
Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/communism.html#ixzz295lwMAtO
The Pres. doesnt seem to be against private property.
“it envisaged common ownership of all land and capital and withering away of the coercive power of the state.”
He doesnt seem to be withering the state away.
“In such a society, social relations were to be regulated on the fairest of all principles: from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”
The Pres. believes in a little bit of that, wanting the rich to pay a little bit more.
“socialism”
An economic system in which goods and services are provided through a central system of cooperative and/or government ownership rather than through competition and a free market system.”
The Pres is for some of that.
“Corporative state:
The economic system inaugurated by the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini in Italy. It was adapted in modified form under other European dictatorships, among them Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist regime in Germany and the Spanish regime of Francisco Franco. Although the Italian system was based upon unlimited government control of economic life, it still preserved the framework of capitalism. Legislation of 1926 and later years set up guilds, or associations, of employees and employers to administer various sectors of the national economy. These were represented in the national council of corporations. The corporations were generally weighted by the state in favor of the wealthy classes, and they served to combat socialism and syndicalism by absorbing the trade union movement. The Italian corporative state aimed in general at reduced consumption in the interest of militarization.”
Hmmm? A corporatist?
Whatever he is, he needs to go.
“…The further statement that Obama is not an American further captures the blind hate directed against this president…”
I found this the most incredible and maddening portion of the tape. After being unable to defend what a communist is (was) let alone why she believes Mr. Obama is one, when confronted about the President’s birth, she actually said, “Just because he was born here doesn’t mean he thinks like us.” Like whom? Obviously, the woman couldn’t defend her own inane accusation, so it’s reasonable to assume her objection to the President must be based on something else. Now what could it be? Hmmmmmmmm.
You know that she thinks she “owned” Chris Matthews here, right? She’ll be bragging for years. “…so I told ‘study it out’!”
This lady makes the “Obama Phone” lady look like a genius.
Obama was born in Hawaii. That isn’t part of the continental U.S., but neither is Alaska.
People using technical terms they can’t define let alone apply in a proper context because they are value loaded regardless of whether they are accurate?
Why . . . that tactic/strategy sounds vaguely familiar.
Almost as if I’d seen it done here many many many many many times.
And the Zen masters have asked me to ask you to stop giving away their best secrets, OS.
“ I have been a vocal critic of President Obama but this type of senseless and vacuous rage is an embarrassment to the entire country.
Well said.
We must criticize the errors of state and federal government as responsible citizens.
But constructive criticism is based on mature knowledge.
The woman shows us why Agnotology is growing in importance:
(Agnotology: The Surge).
I live in the very red end of the state and have had numerous opportunities to have this type of conversation. Most of the time I don’t bother, but if I have the time, I mess with them a bit, hoping I will at least get them to question their own claimed beliefs.
I am reminded of the story of a famous Zen master, who was known for his skill at argument. A student once asked him what was his secret for winning arguments. He replied, “Just ask them questions until they can no longer answer.?
No doubt American Exceptionalism is dead! This and the various man on the street Q&As screams about the dumbing down of America!
McCarthyism ever lives. History is forgotten about the pre-New Deal horrors.