Tip O'Neill, Andrew Jackson, and Nate Silver

Mon. Dec. 31, 2012:


Dear Readers,

Legendary former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill's famous bromide, that "All Politics Is Local," looms even larger on Dec. 31, 2012, than Tip could have imagined, whenever he said it.  
The following story stars President Andrew Jackson in 1832, and
columnist Nate Silver in 2012:
                                              ______________________________________

The current malaise on Capitol Hill, which has you & me contemplating a vote against every incumbent in whatever is the next election, reminds us not to lose our focus on THE REAL CULPRIT -- local, provincial anger & bias, fueled mostly by Fox News, MSNBC, and Talk Radio ["90% hard conservative" according to a recent media study].

                                                             General Andrew Jackson

Way back in 1832, during Andrew Jackson's 2 biggest crises as president -- South Carolina's tariff nullifications, and AJ's defiant veto of Congress's bill to renew the 20-year charter of the 2nd Bank of the United States -- President Jackson reminded the nation that he [and his vice-president, if John C. Calhoun hadn't resigned in a South Carolina huff over the 1832 Tariff] were the ONLY federal elected officials whom every voter in the whole country had a legitimate chance to vote up or down.  And this made the President's voice the most authentic measure of the whole nation's democratic popular will -- NOT a bunch of what FDR in 1936 dubbed "a few willful men" who at most represented just one Congressional district, with all its indigenous selfish biases.

MAKE NO MISTAKE:  The G.O.P. deserves way more blame for our current "Fiscal Cliff" debacle than
Barrack Hussein Obama.

But, that said, Obama's main weakness is failing to point out, repeatedly,
Andrew Jackson's 1832 point -- fundamental to the way our democratic republic is supposed to work.

Instead, this task is left to a freakin' newspaper columnist:

The fresh new Nostradamus of U.S. politics -- The New York Times's now-famous "FiveThirtyEight" Columnist NATE SILVER, who correctly predicted the election results in all 50 states despite all the absurd Fox Noise fed by Rasmussen and even Gallup pollsters.
It is columnist Nate Silver who has had to make the Andrew Jackson point FOR Obama.

And here it is.  So elegantly simple, as nearly all of Nate Silver's research has been:

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/27/as-swing-districts-dwindle-can-a-divided-house-stand/

The U.S.A. is victimizing itself by allowing its most extremist local ideologues -- represented in the national

House of Representatives and the Senate -- to hold hostage the whole democratic republic's 

Nation-wide Popular Will!

If you have read nothing else in 2012, Dear Readers, please read Nate Silver's one column above, and weep.
As Walt Kelly's Pogo said in the comics, "We have met the enemy, and they are us."

Thu. Dec. 27, 2012:

Dear Cowering & Faithful Readers,
Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman of the NYT, in a column titled "When Prophecy Fails," recently compared deficit/debt doomsday scolds to the delusional Mayan Calendar predictions that the world would end on December 21, 2012.

Here is a cogent nonpartisan reaction to Krugman, from a recently retired Illlinois businessman:


I read this column by Krugman in the Steamboat paper. I think that budget deficits do matter even though Cheney and Krugman do not agree. We have been borrowing about 1/3 of our annual expenditures and the only reason that this debt has not overpowered our economy by now is that the Fed has kept interest rates low. Also, foreign countries are willing to loan us the money by buying US Treasuries in spite of very low interest rates because the dollar is still considered a much safer currency than the euro and a lot of other currencies. 

Most economists believe that it is just a matter of time before inflation starts to rise and the Fed will be forced to raise interest rates to combat this inflation. And then the cost of servicing the national debt will get much more expensive. 

                                   

The federal government can do what no state or family can do and that is to print money. But deficits do matter and I don't see how we will be able to reduce these deficits. Krugman is right that we should not try too hard in a fragile economy to deal with the deficit and that we do need to make sure that the economy is strengthening. But, once again, why didn't the country pay down debt when times were better. Bush made things look better than they were by not even including the cost of the Iraq war in his budgeted expenses. 

Not every expert thinks that Bernancke has lost his mind with his easy money policies but many do. The fed is keeping interest rates at artificially low levels and this is distorting the economic picture and also making it difficult for seniors and others depending on investments in savings accounts or government  bonds to earn a decent return on their investments.
 

In time, it will be difficult to service the government debt - let alone pay down the debt. It is very important that we start to deal in a serious way with the  national debt and it is going to take a lot more than raising taxes on the rich.  We must start cutting expenses and that means entitlement programs. And the politicians would rather continue the charade that deficits don't matter and instead act as though only reelection  matters. Congress and the President are creating an incredible amount of uncertainty with their failure to deal with real problems and this has impacted the economic and job recovery.  

Romney was a lousy candidate but his private speech to big donors in which he said that he could not win the votes of the 47% that rely on government programs was probably very accurate but not smart to say. Why would those dependent on government programs - social security, medicare, medicaid, food stamps, unemployment benefits, etc - not vote for Democrats that vow to keep intact all of these programs and criticize Republicans that say we cannot afford all of this government spending?


Just as I believe that the NRA is losing its popularity with its supporters, I also believe that the politicians are risking their standing with the public. Most Americans thought that a compromise could be reached after the election and are frustrated and angry that we are again delaying and not appearing to be serious about solving problems. I know what I will do - not vote for any incumbent until I see some real progress in dealing with big problems and not kicking them down the road until another election has come and gone.  

"Axis of Evil" # II: The NRA/Republican Complex

Wed. Dec. 26, 2012:


Eisenhower left the White House too early for his 1960 Farewell Address to foresee the USA's
2nd most dangerous "complex" -- not the Military/Industrial complex,
but the NRA/Republican complex.  And George W. Bush should have applied his phrase
"Axis of Evil" to it, too -- not just Iran, Iraq, and North Korea.

If you're too busy, just read the first two of the following four articles:

1.  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-20/why-does-the-nra-fear-the-truth-about-gun-violence-.html?alcmpid=view

2.  http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/n-r-a-leaders-defiant-in-television-appearances/

Wayne LaPierre, VP of the NRA:  The 1994-2004 Assault Weapons Ban "is a phony piece of legislation . . . it's all built on lies that have been found out."

Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York:  LaPierre "blames everything but guns . . .
Trying to prevent shootings in schools without talking about guns is like trying to prevent lung cancer without talking about cigarettes."

If you're an old duffer, trying to get out of grandparenting, then also read the following, and weep:

3.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/25/business/real-and-virtual-firearms-nurture-marketing-link.html

4.  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/24/nyregion/gun-makers-based-in-connecticut-form-a-potent-lobby.html



But once again, Dear Readers, it's the Auzzies who hold the key to gun control --
Nixon to China, Revisited.

                                          FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA

If Barack Obama has any intention of pushing serious gun control he will face enormous political resistance, because that is just the direction to which his opponents are already attuned. Nixon could go to China; Bill Clinton could "end welfare as we know it"; Obama, even, could escalate drone warfare. All those moves brought political gains, but confirming people's fears carries only risk.


This is why the comparison with John Howard after Port Arthur is so inapt. Howard was taking on his natural supporters with the support of his usual opponents -- for Obama it would be the reverse. Almost nothing excites the paranoia of the American Right so much as the idea of a black man taking away their guns.

It was not always thus; once upon a time, gun control was promoted by the white establishment to keep guns out of the hands of vengeful blacks (there was a fascinating account in The Atlantic). But now that gun ownership is widespread, the priority in the heartland -- fuelled by such well-funded lobby groups as the National Rifle Association and the even more extreme Gun Owners of America -- is to hold onto their own weapons to fight off the black/Muslim/communist hordes.

"No Comment" & "No Questions": "Time to Mourn"

Sat. Dec. 22, 2012:

The National Rifle Association is no stranger to this blog.
But does anyone else, Dear Readers, sense a new low in the NRA's silence since Newtown?

Item:
"Many Owners Say Semiautomatic Weapons are Just Another Hobby"
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/us/owners-of-assault-weapons-dismiss-idea-of-federal-ban.html?_r=0

Patrick Mason of Las Vegas uses his AR-15 ["assault"?] rifle for target practice with fruit in the desert.
"I don' want to shoot holes in pieces of paper.  I want to watch a watermelon be destroyed," he said.

Item:
"Minnesota:  Man Charged In Deaths of Intruders"
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/27/us/minnesota-man-charged-in-deaths-of-intruders.html

A Little Falls homeowner was charged for shooting two unarmed teenagers in the midst of an apparent Thanksgiving Day break-in.  Byron David Smith, 64, acknowledged firing "more shots than I needed to" and appeared to take pride in "a good clean finishing shot" for one teenager.  After the teenager fell down the basement stairs, Mr. Smith said he shot him in the face.  His 18-year-old female companion also fell down the stairs after Smith shot her, whereupon his rifle jammed.  So he pulled out his revolver and shot her several times in the chest, according to the complaint.  The Morrison County sheriff said Mr. Smith waited until Friday to report the deaths, explaining that "he didn't want to trouble us on a holiday."


NYT:
"Leaders of the [NRA] organization have declined interview requests since the shootings, the group's Twitter account has gone silent, and it has deactivated its Facebook page."

From the moment the shooting stopped -- Friday Dec. 14, 2012 -- the NRA refrain has been "No Comment."
Same is true of every single Republican in both Houses of Congress.

But then on Friday Dec. Dec. 21, we were treated to what days of hype had advertised
would be "a major contribution" from the NRA regarding the "tragedy of Newtown."

At 11:00 a.m. Fri. Dec. 21, NRA president David Keene [who threatened to punch a filmmaker in 2009, above] introduced NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre, stipulating that there would be "No Questions" after
Mr. LaPierre's long-awaited NRA reaction to Newtown a week earlier.

                   You know your press conference didn't go well if the Murdoch tabloids blast you!

BY ANY MEASURE, THE GOP & NRA SILENCE REPRESENTS THEIR OWN SHAME
ON HOW THE PUBLIC MIGHT RECEIVE THEIR POSITION ON GUNS.


Whether it's guns, abortion, Citizens United, climate control, fiscal cliff, waterboarding
-- AM I CRAZY, OR ARE REPUBLICANS ON THE EVIL SIDE OF EVERY ISSUE?

1.  See Paul Krugman's "Grand Old Planet," on Republicans' biblical geology & climate-change denial -- Marco Rubio says the earth may be just 6000 years old.

2.  See the Boston Globe's "GOP's National Game Doesn't Play Well Locally" -- "birthers," gay marriage,  immigration, you name it.  Evil, Evil, EVIL?

'Tis The Season, and "Bites" Won't Disappoint

Fri. Dec. 21, 2012:


Exhibit A [but only pertinent in tandem to Exhibit B, Below]:

AMAZING GRACE CHRISTMAS HOUSE <http://www.flixxy.com/best-christmas-lights-display.htm>  > > > > Exhibit B:

But Maybe the Ass@#%es Are All G.O.P.?

Thu. Dec. 13, 2012:


Gentle readers, we try to be fair-minded on this site.
But maybe "fair-minded" itself is a concept suffering abuse?
Consider, and softly weep:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-froomkin/republican-lies-2012-election_b_2258586.html

And this:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/23/opinion/krugman-grand-old-planet.html

Missing Our Politicians? Think Scatology

Mon. Dec. 10, 2012:

Gentle Readers,
Thankyou for your patience.
As I was saying . . .  [at the risk of tarnishing Bitesfromedwin's pristine reputation,
a couple faithful readers have requested clarification about Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, the Koch Brothers, and various Democratic politicians as well.  Time for a bipartisan discussion of an important distinction in the English language]:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=asswipe

Benghazi-Pearl Harbor-9/11; Blue State Secession?

Sun. Nov. 18, 2012:

Gentle Readers, there are 2 points today.

One is my own, because I haven't seen this obvious comparison anywhere else.

The other is a GEM forwarded from an Australian.
DO NOT MISS IT.  SCROLL BABY SCROLL!
Perhaps Texas's current petition to secede,
along with several other Red States, gets seen from a fresh angle, Down Under.


I.

Back in 2002, Liberals were a bit unfair to use 20/20 hindsight, to pile on George W. Bush for not foreseeing 9/11, for not understanding the significance of prior warnings -- which always seem so clear in retrospect.

I am no fan of GWB, but even back in 2001-2002, I felt Lib critiques sounded like
Monday Morning Quarterbacking for partisan purposes.

For the histoire-minded, check out similar scathings against FDR after Pearl Harbor.
"How could he not have seen it coming!  Intercepted codes, blah blah blah!"

And what we have now is simply another chapter, Benghazi-style.  Yes, balls were dropped everywhere!  But for Lindsay Graham & John McCain to lead the charge in blaming Benghazi on Obama, Hillary, and Susan Rice seems just as nonsensical as the previous critiques of 1941 and 2001.

As Bob Schieffer repeatedly asked on this morning's "Face the Nation,"
Why did Chris Stevens, our U.S. Ambassador to Libya, who was more attuned to Benghazi Intelligence than anyone, go into his office, on the 11th anniversary of 9/11 no less, when he must have known -- far better than leaders thousands of miles away, like Obama or Hillary or Susan Rice -- how little security there was?!?

           Pro-American Benghazi Citizens Attempting to Rescue U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens


II.  AND NOW, FROM THE LAND DOWN UNDER, WHERE WOMEN GLOW, AND MEN CHUNDER:


Subject: Red vs Blue

Dear Red States:

We're ticked off at your Neanderthal attitudes and politics, so we've decided
we're leaving.

We in California intend to form our own country and we're taking the other Blue
States with us.

In case you aren't aware that includes Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois-- and most of the Northeast.

We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation and especially to the
people of the new country of The Enlightened States of America (E.S.A).

To sum up briefly:

You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states.
We get stem cell research and the best beaches.
We get Andrew Cuomo and Elizabeth Warren. You get Bobby Jindal and Todd Akin.
We get the Statue of Liberty. You get OpryLand.
We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom.
We get Harvard. You get Ol' Miss.
We get 85 per cent of America's venture capital and entrepreneurs.
You get Alabama.
We get two-thirds of the tax revenue. You get to make the red states pay their
fair share.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 per cent lower than the Christian
Coalition's, we get a bunch of happy families.

With the Blue States in hand we will have firm control of 80% of the
country's fresh water, more than 90% of the pineapple and lettuce, 92%
of the nation's fresh fruit, 95% of America's quality wines (you can
serve French wines at state dinners) 90% of all cheese, 90 per cent of
the high tech industry, most of the US low sulphur coal, all living
redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools
plus Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.

With the Red States you will have to cope with 88% of all obese
Americans and their projected health care costs, 92% of all US
mosquitoes, nearly 100% of the tornadoes, 90% of the hurricanes, 99% of
all Southern Baptists, virtually 100% of all televangelists, Rush
Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.

We get Hollywood and Yosemite.

38% of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by
a whale, 62% believe life is sacred unless we're discussing the death
penalty or gun laws, 44% say that evolution is only a theory, 53% that
Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61% of you crazy bastards believe you
are people with higher morals then we lefties.

We're taking the good weed too. You can have that crap they grow in Mexico.

Sincerely,

Citizen of the Enlightened States of America

The Best of a Great Week in the Media

Wed. Nov. 14, 2012:


O Worthy Readers, sit back.  Enjoy a few superb nuggets from this past week.

1.  (One never seen anywhere before JFK+MM.  Is it photoshopped?!?)

2.   Conservative David Frum channels Howard Cosell, and "Tells It Like It Is":
http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/12/opinion/frum-conservatives-despair/index.html?hpt=hp_t2 


3.   Cheer up, G.O.P. voters:  Obama is actually a moderate Republican!  Really!
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/frame_game/2012/11/obama_the_moderate_republican_what_the_2012_election_should_teach_the_gop.html 



4.   On the other hand, maybe the G.O.P. outlook for the next  4 years is bleak indeed:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-11-07/obamas-holding-the-cards

Needing a Martian Invasion: "War of the Worlds"

Tues. Nov. 13, 2012:


Dear Readers, post-election days have brought a bonanza of great stuff.

But this item, below, may be the cream of the crop, for those of us wanting Red & Blue States to
join sides, for once.

 OUTSTANDING ARTICLE, BY JONATHAN HAIDT!

Instead of seceding [as 8 states have started petitions to do] -- PREDICTED, one might boast
by this very site, some gazillion posts ago [wazzit April 2012?] -- why not look to a common enemy,
and unite against it?

Martians, invade!  War of the Worlds, Commence!

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/07/opinion/after-the-election-fear-is-our-only-chance-at-unity.html?pagewanted=all

Avenged vs. "The Turtle" Mitch McConnell

Thu. Nov. 8, 2012:


Faithful readers of Bitesfromedwin will remember one strand in particular, during the long buildup since all the way back to last January, up to Nov. 6's election:

U.S. Senator from Kentucky and Senate Minority Leader for the Republicans, Mitch McConnell,
known unaffectionately by his detractors as "The Turtle" -- Bitesfromedwin sometimes seemed to be the only voice outraged by McConnell's 2010 pronouncement that he saw his Number One job leading the Senate's G.O.P. to be making Barack Obama a 1-term president.

Well, finally, a prominent voice has picked up the Clarion Call.
REJOICE, AND BE GLAD IN IT:  Thomas Friedman speaks out, on this very item.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/07/opinion/friedman-hope-and-change-part-two.html?_r=0

TIME FOR BITESFROMEDWIN TO SHUT DOWN?  MISSION ACCOMPLISHED?

HARDLY:

Yesterday, McConnell's counterpart in the House of Representatives, G.O.P.
Majority Leader John Boehner of Ohio, showed that Obama's victory on Tuesday made no difference to him.  Lovely Republican defiance.

Will Congressional Republicans behave as they have since Jan. 2009?
On taxes, about deficits, about the national debt?
Don't cut taxes on the rich by one penny.
Balance our national budget on the backs of the middle and lower class.
Cut as many entitlements as possible.
Don't touch bloated military spending.
Don't touch the wealthy's huge fortunes.

HERE WE GO.

On the Eve of Blackmail Victory: Sheep's Clothing

Mon. Nov. 6, 2012:

A fair-minded loved one from Redondo received the following "balanced" if unenthusiastic endorsement of Mitt Romney for president.  It arrived here in Boston, where the 6 o'clock news on all major networks are currently showing pro-GOP ads over Democratic ads at what appears to be a 5-to-1 ratio.
If ads matter in Boston, Romney/Ryan will win New Hampshire, and Scott Brown will keep Ted Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat representing Massachusetts.

Here's the Romney endorsement:



                                                       http://www.tylernewton.com

And here's my reply:

Compared to Tea Party rants, this seems indeed relatively balanced & fair, and relatively enjoyable to read.

However:  Maybe it is a measure of how frustrated Bitesfromedwin has become with despicable GOP tactics, that this blog does not agree with it.
In fact, at this point, Bites sees it as Fair-mindedness in Sheep's Clothing -- far more dangerous in misleading people than right-wing extremists' junk.

  

Let me give just one example:

The writer seems willfully blind to experts' assessments about Romney's tax plan, which the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center demonstrated as patently false!  This annoyed the GOP so much, that they got GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell ["My #1 goal as Senate Minority Leader is to make Obama a one-term president!"] to get the TPC report thrown out!

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/business/tax-policy-center-in-spotlight-for-its-white-paper.html

Sometimes, baloney gets packaged as nonpartisan reasonableness.
This surfaced in the 1st Obama/Romney Debate.

Note Romney's technique [it can disqualify you in formal debating] called "Spreading":


"Romney used a debate technique called Spreading.  Climate deniers and creationists use it to cram falsehoods as arguments into what sounds like a rational discussion.  In a classic debating competition, spreading is illegal and gets you disqualified from a debating match.  Spreading is purposeful lying by flooding or dominating a debate with false information based on a rational statement.  The faster your argument is presented, the less people can respond.  The points are short and nonspecific and don't add up.  The listener and moderator literally can't follow what the person is saying to even get their arms around the message to respond.  The person then dives in again very quickly with more.  It's a way for a less intelligent person to appear smart.  I've worked with climate scientists on how to respond to such mind-numbing claptrap.  The other name for it is a Gish Gallop.  Duane Gish who was a creationist came up with it to argue with science.  Talk over the other person with your lie, as if it's the truth.  Fox News was built on it."
 

In my perhaps by-now warped-by-frustration opinion, the Tyler Newton endorsement of Romney, above, is ingenuous at best, and "spreading" at worst.

To reward the GOP with a Romney endorsement is nothing less than giving in to 4 years of blackmail.  

I know, I know -- this is Paul Krugman again.  But his words almost exactly describe & explain the biggest reason why Tyler Newton's "fair-minded" endorsement of Romney is frustrating in the extreme.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/02/opinion/krugman-the-blackmail-caucus.html?_r=0

By the way, as I write this, Romney ads, and Scott Brown ads, in sheer numbers, are absolutely

creaming Obama's & Elizabeth Warren's spots.

You can thank the Supreme Court's notorious 5-4 Citizens United ruling of 2010 for enabling wealthy Republicans like Sheldon Adelson & the Koch Brothers to buy control of our federal government.  And if Hollywood had as much money & power, then Citizens United would have bought the election for Obama & Elizabeth Warren.  

It totally sucks.

And back to the language of Tyner Newton's "endorsement":  "Does the Obama/Romney choice even matter?"

  

Well, in foreign affairs, consider how we are still trying to dig ourselves out of the consequences of GWB's neo-con "Get Saddam Hussein for Daddy Bush" war -- which also made us shift our focus in March 2003 from a nearly defeated Taliban in Afghanistan.  

And, in domestic affairs, consider how GWB's policy of economic deregulation at home enabled the obscene housing bubble & crash, with full Big Bank & Wall Street collusion, while the SEC stood cluelessly & toothlessly by, and federal rating agencies like Moody's, and Standard & Poor, not only stood by, but actually gave Triple-AAA ratings to wildly inflated housing mortgage junk bonds! 

That's why, for me, the "Tyler Newton" endorsement is fair-mindedness-in-sheep's-clothing.
It is a difficult pill to swallow -- as "balanced" as it seems.
Also, one has to consider the source.

Will a reader fill us in?  Who IS "Tyler Newton"?  He appears to be a young businessman.  He calls his
business-oriented blog "The Dynamist."

Redondo's Heraldo Speaks vs. Partisan Nonsense

Wed. October 31, 2012:


Gentle Souls,

What follows is an earnest & eloquent rant, against the partisan nonsense which spews out
"facts" like Obama's Muslim Flag hanging over his desk in the Oval Office, or "facts" like
Obama playing 110 golf games in -- whazzit -- 48 hours?

And the Left has its own "Sick Puppies," as GHWB [#41] referred to the MSNBC evening anchors.

Here it is:

• 

  Hugh  This video just totally changed my vote. Can't believe Obama would have the audacity to play 100+ rounds of golf. I would personally like to thank the group that spent the last four years counting Obama's golf rounds so they could make this propaganda video, completely disregard my intelligence with a blatant disregard for objectivity, and make our country a better place in the process. It's impartial videos like this that make modern politics a bastion of honesty and integrity and without them, I would never know that Republicans don't play golf. Thanks for sharing...

  11 hours ago · Like
• 

  Fred to Hugh; Sometimes intelligence gets in the way of having the ability to be objective on the issues. This video states the facts of Obama's inability to do what he said he would do in his first term, which is why people voted for him. All the things that he blamed Bush for failing to do, he has failed to accomplish, two fold. How come every time somebody states factual truths about Obama, it becomes a bastion of honesty and lacks integrity, because its not what you want to hear. If all you heard in this video, was the amount of time Obama spent on the golf course, makes this video blatantly propagandizing Obama, then I don't know what to say!! Oh, by the way, fact check if you want, but the bias media always had the same response every time Bush played golf, which I think was about half of what Obama played in 8 years!!! Make a deal with you, Nov 6th is right around the corner, and we are going to cancel each others vote out, so lets leave it at that!!! The future will affect you much more then me, so I hope the outcome works to your benefit.

  6 hours ago · Edited · Like
• 

  Hugh  Here are some objective facts from factcheck.org relevant to the video. Obama ‘Doubled’ Deficit?
  
  Romney: The president said he’d cut the deficit in half. Unfortunately, he doubled it. Trillion-dollar deficits for the last four years.
  
  It’s not true that Obama “doubled” the deficit. He inherited a $1.2 trillion deficit and deficits have remained at or above that level, as Romney said, every year since then. Romney is right, however, that Obama has not kept his promise to cut the deficit in half.
  
  Here’s the budget history in brief: The 2009 fiscal year began Oct. 1, 2008, when George W. Bush was president, and ended Sept. 30, 2009 with Obama as president. By the time Obama took office in January 2009, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office had already estimated that the federal government would end fiscal 2009 with a $1.2 trillion deficit because of higher spending and lower revenues.
  
  Obama added to the 2009 deficit, but not by much. We found that Obama was responsible at most for an additional $203 billion. The government ended $1.4 trillion in the red that year. The deficits were about $1.3 trillion each year for the next two years, and this fiscal year just ended with a shortfall of nearly $1.2 trillion.
  
  So, Obama didn’t double the deficits. But the president did pledge to cut them in half by the end of his first term during his State of the Union address on Feb. 24, 2009. A Congressional Budget Office analysis of the president’s latest budget plan doesn’t show the deficit being cut in half until 2014.

  2 hours ago · Like
• 

  Hugh  That comes from a good page of fact checking from the first debate...http://factcheck.org/2012/10/dubious-denver-debate-declarations/ Seems to me to prove that both parties are full of BS. In response to my reaction to hearing what I "want to hear," all I can say is that all I want to hear are facts. I want to make it very clear that I don't think it's wrong at all to vote for Romney. I don't think it's right at all to vote for Obama. I just want people to give me info that truly is fair and balanced. My father feeds me positive stuff about Obama all day long and I don't "want to hear" that either. None of his sources are fair and balanced. NYT, MSNBC, etc. I can't be more adamant that that is NOT what I want to hear either. I don't want any more Chris Mathews, Sean Hannity, Dinesh D'souza or Michael Moore. I want those people to stop being so successful making money off all of us watching all of their decidedly un-objective garbage and I want factcheck.org to have it's own news network so I can watch that all day.
  
  As far as I can tell from this video, it makes two points in the first 3 and a half minutes. 1) That Obama has doubled the budget instead of halving it like he promised (clarified above) and 2) That Obama played over 100 hours of golf instead of "not resting until every citizen can find a job." Beyond that it tells me the length in years of one trillions seconds, the length of one trillion inches of string, and the fact that one trillion paper clips is equal to 8 thousand Honda Accords. These are interesting facts, but aren't giving me much info on the issues. Are there other substantive facts that I'm missing here? I think this is why one of the main things I took away from my viewing was the hours of golf, a claim I couldn't substantiate or negate on factcheck.org, likely because it's irrelevant.
  
  The rest of the video does a handful of things:
  1. SPECULATES that we will run out of money like Italy, Greece, Spain, etc. (this is a scare tactic, right? It's definitely not a fact as it hasn't happened yet, so it's said to scare us. That is what propaganda does, isn't it?)
  2. Says to "consider" Obama's record on Energy, foreign policy, national sec., healthcare, immigration, and transparency, but doesn't give us any facts here. Just that we need to consider it.
  3. From minute 3:30-4:30 it gives a definition of "statism," putting Obama in a graphic next to Marx, Hugo Chavez, and Che Guevara. (not many substantive facts here, just a bold and, in my opinion, dangerous comparison)
  4. From 4:00-5:00, it gives us a list of champions of conservatism and says to "JOIN US."
  5. From 5:00-6:30ish it quotes Ronald Reagan. (great quotes by the way)
  6. And from 6:30 on it tells us to vote conservative for the 530,000 elected U.S. offices.
  
  So, tell me if I'm wrong here, but the "facts" related to Obama's term in this film are still limited to the budget doubling vs. Halving (doubling = false, but Obama didn't accomplish his promise of halving it) and 100+ hours of golf.
  
  Here is the definition of propaganda (from Wikipedia) -
  
  Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position by presenting only one side of an argument. Propaganda is usually repeated and dispersed over a wide variety of media in order to create the chosen result in audience attitudes. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda, in its most basic sense, presents information primarily to influence an audience. Propaganda often presents facts selectively (thus possibly lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or uses loaded messages to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the attitude toward the subject in the target audience to further a political or religious agenda. Propaganda can be used as a form of political warfare.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda)
  
  So how on earth is this video not propaganda? It is the absolute definition of propaganda, at least according to Wikipedia. And if the purpose of propaganda is to get people to buy into something and, even better, get them to disperse it themselves, it's working like a charm. You posted it on facebook.
  
  Now I am very aware that I am a blustering a-hole at this point, but I wouldn't put so much effort into this if I didn't think it was really important for the world to at least see videos like this for what they are. You are not wrong at all for voting for Romney and you are right about me wanting a better future for myself, so I am 100% willing to vote for Romney if I can find more evidence that my future will be better if I do. I am currently un-decided so our votes aren't canceling each other out yet, but videos like this don't help me at all. I want to know why our economy worked so well under Clinton. I want to know why it failed so badly under Bush. I want to know if Obama's Bin Laden work signifies a quality leader on national security or was a stroke of good luck and good timing. I want to hear a debate between economists as to what approach serves our country best. Trickle down? Ladder up from the middle class? Does gov't assistance actually help more honest, hard-working Americans or is there actual data that shows more people take advantage of it and drain our economy? I want graphs, spreadsheets, charts, and hard, empirical evidence of the success or failure of past economic principles. I don't want to know the approximate weight of one trillion paper clips. I don't want to be scared into thinking we are the next Greece. And I know that hearing the definition of statism isn't going to tell me the answer.
  
  Please, please, please join me in being insulted by the people who think videos like this are good for our political process. I do not want you to change your vote. I want you to stand up to super-pacs and MSNBC and Chris Mathews and FOX News with me and demand that they start feeding us information rather than feeding us opinions and blatant impartiality. 

What IS a Liberal? What IS a Conservative?

Mon. October 29, 2012:


Beloved readers,
Bitesfromedwin comes to you from a Dunkin' Donuts, because our power is out after
Hurricane Sandy.  And our power will likely be out for days & days, as NStar is overwhelmed,
and we are small potatoes.

So, instead of the multitude of balanced pieces I had for you, just one today -- in the name of fairness.


http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50134033n&tag=contentMain;contentBody

Juicy Partisan Tidbits, with 16 Days to Go

Mon. October 22, 2012:


A grab-bag of treats.  [For each, we are indebted to the Aristotle of Arrowsic,
                                    who puts the ART in pARTisan.]

First, a video!  Click on this link:

1.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=K9njHHyRI7g

2.  http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/10/18/amazons-binder-pages-flooded-with-snarky-romney-related-reviews/

3. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/stu_bykofsky/20121019_Stu_Bykofsky__Sorry__Mitt__I_just_don_t_know_you_that_well.html

4.  http://www.phillipian.net/articles/2012/10/11/cherry-picking-wrong-bush
A HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR DEMOLISHES JEB BUSH'S ROMNEY-OMICS 
AT ANDOVER

                 Jeb Bush last week, after Promoting Romney-omics at an Address in Andover
5.   The Aristotle of Arrowsic eloquently capsulizes Democratic optimism from this week's events:

"Romnesia" will do the trick. Though the term existed on Facebook before, Obama's use of it is brilliant. It uses the "lighter tone" that pundits -- and women -- have wanted with a reminder that Mittens is an expedient liar... AND... as Mark Twain wrote: "Against the assault of Laughter nothing can stand."