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.
Elaine,
Great link to the Krugman 30 second rule article.
OS,
You are spot on about this lady. She seems like a confused Fox News disciple.
Hold on: shouldn’t we be giving this woman credit for telling the truth half the time? She did say that Obama didn’t think like [us] — Presuming the “us” comprises people like her, that’s not only TRUE but SELF-EVIDENT. Give this lady the “Gettysburg Address Award” but make her share it half and half with someone else.
Speaking of being “told”, MikeS wrote a book review on a Professor, who scientifically over 35 years of study, had proven the existence of a special type of people.
BTW, the professor was intensively and repeatedly consulted by John Dean, the truthteller counsel to Nixon during Watergate. Dean was doing a book then and needed his help.
Simply, an identifiable through a written test type of people, share a strong group of characteristics. They are quite common, in fact, the horror, you might be one yourself. Is it treatable? Don’t know, read the book and find out. Are your friends calling you a RWA? Read it and find out why. 😉
The site is here:
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/
Here is the professor’s comment in 2010 after 300,000 hits on his site where the book is available free of charge for direct downloading. He explains why it is free of charge.
Since the book he has done other studies, among which one on the Tea Baggers. Also available on that site.
Professor Altemeyer:
“….you’ll see that this site has been visited nearly 300,000 times so far. The feedback I’ve gotten from those who have read The Authoritarians enables me to give you the major reason why you might want to do so too. “It ties things together for me,” people have said, “You can see how so many things all fit together.” “It explains the things about conservatives that didn’t make any sense to me,” others have commented. And the one that always brings a smile to my face, “Now at last I understand my brother-in-law” (or grandmother, uncle, woman in my car pool, Congressman, etc.).
Maybe it’ll work that way for you too.
Bob Altemeyer
May, 2010
And here is our MikeS’ review. Did you see it? Read it now if you like. BTW, he creds ANON NURSE and Dredd for the tip, but the review is his.
http://jonathanturley.org/2012/01/21/the-authoritarians-a-book-review-and-book/
Shall I reveal the secret, nah, beg me first. Are you RWA? I thing we have some here who have identified themselves or been openly accused. Worried if you have the disease? Read it and see.
I push a lot of crap here, but MikeS name vouches for this. But not my antics, they are mine only. 😉
And she’s a teacher, I say shaking head in disbelief.
She said it quite clearly the real reason. Somebody “told” her that “he does not think like us”.
Since she can’t define communist, I assume that somebody “told” her. She could have used jsut any old epithet.
As nutzo as this woman is at least she concedes that Obama was born in the US unlike some diehard birthers still kicking around (cough) Trump (cough) Orly Taitz (cough) Kansas.
Run out of your cave throw mindless ignorant baseless verbal accusations. Run into your cave and shout out the mightiness of your stupendipity* into the dark. Sit back and be swathed by the echoes from the hard barren rock walls. ….. Then turn on fox news to hear how bright and intelligent you are.
* Stupidipity ?
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/12/opinion/vice-presidential-debate-highlights-songified.html?hp
Op-Docs
‘V.P. Debate Highlights, Songified’
By The Gregory Brothers
V.P. Debate Highlights, Songified: The Gregory Brothers present a musical mash-up of the vice-presidential debate between Representative Paul D. Ryan and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
By THE GREGORY BROTHERS
Published: October 12, 2012
After watching Thursday night’s heated, partisan vice-presidential debate, we couldn’t help but think what was certainly also on the minds of millions of other disgusted Americans: “Democracy?!? More like DemoCRAZY!!! Electoral College? More like Electoral PRESCHOOL!!! Vice President? More like Vice GET ME OUTTA HEEEEEERE!!!”
It’s at times like these that we just wish politicians would finally learn a lesson from Mozart, Cole Porter and Rihanna. All that angst, anger and conflict might sound terrible as a spoken sentence, but when transformed into soaring melodies, human troubles can change into timeless art.
With that in mind, we present you the vice-presidential debate as it should be: Songified. It is our hope that someday, the vice-presidential candidates of the future will learn a lesson and just sing the whole thing to begin with.
The Gregory Brothers — Andrew, Michael, Evan and Sarah (who is married to Evan) Gregory — are best known for their YouTube music-video mash-ups, including the series Auto-Tune the News and Songify This!, in which they make songs out of non-songs and unintentional singers out of intentional speakers. They live in Brooklyn.
http://www.songifythis.com/2012/10/debate-highlights-songified.html (last week’s debate)
Mike S.,
The 30-second Rule
By Paul Krugman
October 9, 2012
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/09/the-30-second-rule/
Hmm. A late thought about the discussion on This Week. I suggested that it was the job of the news media to check on and report falsehoods from politicians. The response of the other panelists was that the media can’t do that if the opposing candidates didn’t make an issue of it — which as far as I can tell makes no sense at all.
But even granted that, the fact is that the Obama campaign is making an issue of Romney’s falsehoods, or at least trying to. Yet this is apparently considered unworthy of attention, because Obama didn’t make a forceful attack right there on the spot.
So let’s see if I have this straight: it’s not the job of the press to take on political falsehoods unless the other side makes a forceful case in 30 seconds or less. Glad to see that this has been clarified.
“I think Romney may well become the next president, but I’m voting GREEN party.”
Bill McW,
What a wonderful solution! Why didn’t I think of that? It’s such an impressive move on your part to force the country out of its doldrums. What a principled man you are!
Matt Seniff,
“Study it out” is an expression used by some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or, more broadly, “the LDS movement”, as I understand it:
http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?locale=0&sourceId=1fa0991a83d20110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=e1fa5f74db46c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD
“When seeking specific guidance, study the matter out in your mind. At times the Lord’s communication will come only after you have studied a matter out in your own mind….But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right” (D&C 9:7–8). “
Obama is partly to blame.Back in the day, LBJ would tell crowds to “vote for Democrats, from the courthouse to the White House” and because politicians back then gave active, vocal support to fellow candidates of their party, those candidates in turn would campaign for the entire ticket, and they would have masde sure that false charges and ignorant claims like the woman here made would have been answered loud and clear.
I think Romney may well become the next president, but I’m voting GREEN party.
@rcampbell “Just because he was born here doesn’t mean he thinks like us.”
Credit where credit is due – at least she got one thing right. There are two fortunate points here: (1) people who do think like ‘us’ constitute, maybe, 30% of the adult population (2) the rest of us, what ever our differences, are willing to take facts into account – unlike the ‘us’ in her statement.
What ever her deficiencies in reasoning, I kind of like her punch line ‘study it out’. Who can argue with that?
OS,
I think you said it best…..
I think Otteray Scribe put the right definition on “study it out”. If one studied out Mr. Obama’s record of communism, it would be pretty short study. Here’s an excellent example of the derangement of the right. A communist would have forced a national healthcare plan rather than one that relies on everyone paying premiums to private, for-profit insurance companies. Given that Omamcare is a largely a copy of Romneycare and both derive directly from the writings of Stuart Butler of that commie front organization The Heritage Foundation in the early 1990’s, the real question is whether President Obama is a “severe conservative” or Mitt Romney is a Kenyan Muslim communist?
Otteray,
There’s a reason why some people refer to Boehner as “John of Orange.”
Elaine, speaking of race issues, I recall Obama speaking at one of those “roast” dinners. John Boehner was one of the people there. The President quipped, “John is a man of color too. Just not any color known in nature.”
I am not sure if Boehner blushed or not, because if he did, it did not show through the orange.
Blouise 1, October 12, 2012 at 12:27 pm
Obama wants race to be one of the issues … he just can’t be seen as the guy who brought it up.
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It’s called politics. Would you rather have Sarah Palin? It’s called politics.
Elaine, I had forgotten about, “Childrens do learn when standards are high and results are measured.”
Ouch!
The Best of Bush