From Time magazine’s Rick Perry cover story (9/26/11):
When you look at Perry, it’s easy to picture him in an old Western. His late arrival in the primary field in August certainly felt like that moment when the big stranger steps through the swinging saloon doors and all heads pivot and the plinky-plunk piano dies away.
Wait– there’s more!
Moreover, Perry doesn’t mind kicking over idols in the high church of conventional wisdom, a favorite Tea Party pastime. He’s the one who calls Social Security a “monstrous lie,” throwing in “Ponzi scheme” for good measure. Social Security is called the third rail of American politics, which is, of course, a reference to the electrified portion of a subway track. Touch it and you die. But there aren’t any subways where Rick Perry comes from.
No subways …
But plenty of other trains he can throw any semblance of humanity under.
Funny!
elections? the last one doesn’t end till the next one begins! You cant have any break in fund raising, its a full term affair. And if you lose you take the campaign money and go home… to D.C. as a lobbyist.
And … the election is 14 months away. Voting for president is almost insignificant as a political act, so talking about it for months (years?) in advance is a waste of time. I am collecting examples of how the obsession with the election has been driving out real political reporting of real issues. Casting the election as a “contest” or “race” trivializes citizenship and is already insulting enough. But … does this writer actually think his/her silly movie cowboy image has provided anything of use to a voter? I don’t think I’m exaggerating in describing it as, well, psychotic. I mean that literally: the writer has blurred reality (politics) and fantasy (movies).
Rick has always been destined to fade in this election cycle.He is a bit of a lightning rod ,and spoiler for a while.He just does not have the gravitas to take this much further.It has always been Mitt.The only question in my mind is will be his running mate.Will it be tied to how many states he can deliver?Or will he pick a kindred spirit?Or a mix?And how many on the stage will be in his cabinet?The way it is sussing out is that Obama is crashing.So you libs do the picking.Who do you think on that stage will be your next president?
Leslie Davis is right on. Voting in the US is a waste of time and talkiing in advance of a election for a fraudulent government is a waste of media time and takes attention from real issues.
Easy to picture Perry in an old Western? Absolutely! There were a lot of characters like Perry in the old Westerns who never lost a wink of sleep over the killing of innocent people. Some of them also manipulated the justice system to make sure someone was executed . . . as Perry did in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham when he replaced three members of the Texas Forensic Science Commission to keep Cameron on track for execution and refused a stay, despite the mounting evidence that Cameron was innocent. Yes, indeed easy to see him in an old Western . . . but as one of the really bad guys!
Yes, it’s all a big distraction, and it’s works. It’s all interconnected with our dependencies on this goofy, irrational system for ALL of our basic needs. We shudder to think of the consequences if the oil stopped flowing. Life as we have become accustomed would end abruptly so we don’t think about it, and nobody would take notice if we did speak out anyway except to think of us as off the wall shots. The ones who are ultimately responsible, the richest and best connected are more convinced than the rest of us. It is their divine right to possess the power over the masses that their wealth affords them. Perhaps it would be more affective than voting to write letters of supplication to the Koch brothers pleading with them to be nice.
I was recently discussing these dilemmas with a young college graduate selling Mimi Coopers at the mall. She recommended that I read “One-Dimensional Man” by Herbert Marcuse. The Marxist analysis gets somewhat tedious but this guy was on the mark. We have become incapable of seeing outside the box. Technology will be our savior. NOT! The four horsemen are at a gallop, and we’re getting ready for another football season.
Rich
Big surprise you see something worth while in the “marxist analysis.Good lord talk to a couple hundred million Russians about that disaster.Only College kids with minds full of mush would buy that bunk.Glad your taking your readings from them.
To the rest of you I am feeling a harbinger of sour grapes coming on.Sounds like you have been reading the polls.Buck up boys and girls.Obama was a disaster. Keneysian economics a ruination.All this money spent a complete waste.And the more he wants….the more he would waste.But his time is about up.And I think the minute we get someone better in things will turn around.Jobs will return.Markets will be up.Tax base will start to climb.You know it is called climbing out of a whole.At that point you can all start to bleat that it is an illusion,or unfair,or any other canard you can come up with.Point is in short order you will see there are better ways to do things than how Obama country conducts business.It is simple really.It is America.No need to remake it BAM.Just go with what has made this such an amazing country and life for all of us.
Well to be fair, when Russians are asked about it they look misty eyed at the good old days of communism compared to the current disaster. Though one is left to wonder what Marxist analysis has to do with the USSR.
Other than that yea Obama was/is a disaster precisely because he does everything the neo liberal way. There was very little if any in the way of Keynesian policies applied so its a bit weird to say that it failed. Maybe try it first before judging. Any EU country that tried them had good results however, maybe time to try it in the US. And yes i agree .. we should return to when the US was great and growing, the 60s-80s. With large public works, 94% tax on rich people and 48% tax rate on corporations. The time called the “golden age of capitalism”, lets return to that.
Obama derangement troll is Obama derangement trolling…..
Marc 94% tax on the rich?Why not make it 99.9%?Why not 100%Why not 100% on corporations too?Look you obviously don’t have a clue.Marx really had a gold medal ideology there?(You actually believe the EU is in good shape?)But maybe you do.Have a clue that is.Maybe the whole country feels as you do, and will vote Obama right back into office.Or maybe…just maybe they think you are full of it and are gonna send Obama packing in a landslide.I guess we shall see soon enough.obama and his ilk believe in keneysian economics.Forget aggregate demand…the bottom line is throw enough money at any economic situation and up comes roses.Well we threw more money than the world has ever seen and barely created a single job.Really it is time to shut up about this stuff.You elected Obama-you shot your load,and all is in ruins.
But like I say maybe you are right and i am wrong.Maybe we should hire half of America to dig a hole ,and the other half to fill it in.perfect new dealism.Or maybe not.See ya at the polls.America will settle this then.
michael e:
>”Marc 94% tax on the rich?Why not make it 99.9%?Why not 100%Why not 100% on corporations too?”
Reductio ad absurdum.
>”Look you obviously don’t have a clue.”
Ad hominem attack.
>”Marx really had a gold medal ideology there?
(You actually believe the EU is in good shape?)”
Straw man.
>”But maybe you do.Have a clue that is.Maybe the whole country feels as you do, and will vote Obama right back into office.Or maybeâ┚¬Ã‚¦just maybe they think you are full of it and are gonna send Obama packing in a landslide.”
I would guess most FAIR readers consider Obama and Romney practically the same thing (depending on the composition of congress).
>”I guess we shall see soon enough.obama and his ilk believe in keneysian economics.Forget aggregate demandâ┚¬Ã‚¦the bottom line is throw enough money at any economic situation and up comes roses.Well we threw more money than the world has ever seen and barely created a single job.Really it is time to shut up about this stuff.You elected Obama-you shot your load,and all is in ruins.”
It’s pretty clear you do not have a funadamental understanding of economics, and only parrot the keynesian economics line you hear the talking heads make (ditto-head?). I would be interested in your outline of Keynes’ theories and what you find objectionable, but I won’t hold my breath.
>”But like I say maybe you are right and i am wrong.Maybe we should hire half of America to dig a hole ,and the other half to fill it in.”
Straw man. Nobody is suggesting anything of the sort.
>”Marc 94% tax on the rich?Why not make it 99.9%?Why not 100%Why not 100% on corporations too?”
Thats the tax rate the US had during its most prosperous period. You would not know that of course being an economic ignoramus.
Try a coherent rant next time.
It’s time to stop talking and reading Michael’s idiotic posts. It’s time to get ourselves to Congress and sit down. Fill the halls. Fill the Mall. Let them see what Americans look like and how very dissatisfied we are with the freak show in Washington. Would it make a difference? Maybe.
Two suggestions for FAIR:
1. Set up a separate site for those who care to read Michael, who now displays his ignorance of current issues in rambling, multiple comments that distract from the discussion here.
2. Set up an Advertiser Action Alert with CEO email addresses of companies sponsoring broadcasts of false information on vital issues.
My incoherent ramblings ladies and gentleman are simply the echo’s of the belly laugh we conservatives are getting over the liberal disaster that has befallen your cup cake Barrack Obama.When they turn off the lights on election night as the last votes roll in i expect you all will be muttering things in the dark like Im reading up above.Sour grapes.Sour grapes is all it is.I have tried to nudge you off that liberal wacko mindset ,so you could understand that not everyone follows the same lemming parade(over the cliff) as you do.Some of you are just too far gone.But again-Im willing to say maybe Im wrong.Maybe you will once again win America to your point of view.But if my side wins will you see that maybe,just maybe America has rejected you?NEVER….you will have a boat load of excuses.Sad really.Thats why i always say that we wont beat you.We will transcend you.
Noname….actually there are those that want exactly that.
The extraordinary hatred of government by the elected Republicans, demonstrates their ease of lying. Surely, while dressed in the togas of power they will abuse their constituency, finding reasons to hurl the Republic to a bygone era of Plantations.
Much as I love noname’s dissection of the logical fallacies of michael e, it’s one more testimony to the rousing success of michael e’s trolling. I would welcome an honest, thoughtful conservative or right-wing voice on this comment stream. (Perhaps such a person could tell me why the media watchdog sites on the right are so lousy.) But FAIR is a place to discuss topics such as: the actual FAIR posting (EX: the idiotic angle the writer of Time mag’s cover story about Rick Perry has chosen), or the general subject it pertains to (EX: election coverage), or even some very wide issue of journalism (EX: why do so many reporters make the same movie-character/plot analogies that I can make while sitting in my living room?). The subject is fairness and accuracy in reporting, after all. My beef with michael e isn’t his self-described â┚¬Ã…“conservatismâ┚¬Ã‚ or his rightness or wrongness on the issues; it’s his inability to identify and comment on the actual topic. He’s distraction, a crappy commenter. But one heck of a skilful troll.
A skilful troll. Is that like a giant shrimp?
Turbo tax Gietner just told Europe to get their house in order.Europe flipped him the proverbial finger and told him to get his own house in order.They said your your methods have not, and do not work here.Maybe they are smarter than we think
Leslie
I am not elected to speak for conservatism.Certainly there are better people suited for that.I am a conservative in many ways, and I think adding those thoughts to these very one sided blogs/articles could be helpful .If you feel i get lost in the baiting thrown my way you are probably right.I will try to ignore that, and stick to the left spin of every article and give you my tea party mentality thoughts..And of course I will try to articulate my reactions in a better manner
.Someone once told me on these blogs what a troll is(to you).Strange but I seem to have forgotten it.Give me your definition please.As i recall it it is Something along the lines of someone who “trolls” articles and media for opinions that match there own.I suppose a non troll would be someone with formed opinions who no longer reads or listens to any input?I have heard many on theses blogs say they dont watch TV or listen to radio,or read any news.So they are your fellow non trolls?Always left me wondering.
Roger you bastard.Im on a diet and you go talking about giant shrimp(africa)Throw a few on the BBQ will ya?
Elizabeth, Davis:
I take your points, but I couldn’t help myself. I had been quietly reading and saying nothing for too long. I will try to stay on-topic and ignore him from now on (after this last attempt to get through :).
michael e:
Trolling on the web is similar to trolling in order to catch fish: The troll on the web throws “bait” in the “water” in order to illicit a response, any response, with the whole goal being to somehow discredit the original post, but the actual results of which are to derail the conversation into meaninglessness. So, once again, you’ve shown a complete inability to use and understand the medium of the web (and adapt to its terminology and conventions).
Note: If you really needed help, there is always this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_(Internet)
– “an internet term for a person who, through willful action, attempts to disrupt a community or garner attention and controversy through provocative messages.” I engage in meaningful discussions with people of all political beliefs in a couple of other forums where the arguments of michael e would not be tolerated (i.e. hell-banned) because of their severe lack of logic and relevance.
Thanx for the definition Noname.It is a little convoluted,but hey it is the web…..WTF LOL LOL.
Would you say Obama is trolling with his latest proposals?Throwing things into the discussion he knows can not pass.Even in his own party?Maybe he just wants to illicit a response so he can paint people a certain way for his next run.
oh and just like a lib with your last comment(i.e elitist assholes)I BELONG TO CLUBS THAT WOULD NEVER TOLERATE YOU.You have discussions with people of other beliefs who are more willing to listen to your liberal insanity.Period.I don’t cut you that slack so i am a….a……what is the last name you libs called the tea party?I can’t remember.Here is a new computer term you CAN call us. TLITS(The line in the sand)!
TLITS: the little idiot in the sandbox
Clever.How about the Liberal is talking shit?
When I taught a class in goss anatomy- I learned there were many who could not keep up.So one more time…….It is “The Line In The Sand.”The point at which the blood flow of liberal life(taxes) is stopped.
Wow! FAIR’S troll, the loser in the sandbox….is singlehandly gonna solve everything from the safety of his parent’s basement with his internet comments…..talk about somebody who can’t keep up.
ps
“Goss anatomy” IS hard
Sorry Dick I missed the “r” in gross.
Strangely my parents home never had a basement(rock formations)My father died in 87.Amazing man.My mother is suffering from advanced alzheimer’s.She was diagnosed in 01.I am obviously far older than you imaging from your comments.I have been tracking comments related to my posts since 7/2/11.If my math is correct(and it always is),personal attacks contained in reply’s are now running at an astounding 94.6%.Does this not show you again what we conservatives have always said about the attack methods of the left?
Read the write ups on the book out on sarah.Remember the nut who moved in next to her? Well it seems he admits to writing a hatchet piece and spills on who set it up.The press is savaging him.They claim he listened to any bit of nonsense without any fact checking.Also Read Bill clintons statements today where he says Obama should not raise taxes.Interesting.Also some interesting comments on global warming.Check out dick Morris on “is obama crashing”.And Bill O on his explanation of taxes.There….there is your homework for today.Enjoy and have a great day.
Off-topic troll is off topic trolling …..
Really T roll what more is there to say on Perry?He will not be the republican candidate.I do wonder if he will be VP?
Thirty comments above, ten of them by the Troll, eleven responding to his rambling nonsense, nine on subject. Enough already.
Maynard I dont feel any anger at those who question the conservative line(Mine).Of course the personal attacks lead us all in a ring around the rosy.But in some ways i feel that by responding to the only conservative voice on these blogs,some here are growing beyond the liberal mentalities worst traits.That of tagging people with slang vernacular.Shunning , or trying to silence anyone they don’t agree with.Elitism 101.Hopefully we wont waste so much time on addressing these asides in the future.
A shift in the power structure is coming.You need to realize that.We will hopefully be more open to discussion than your side has been.Obama worked for months never allowing Rs in the secret chambers.He never spoke to the generals fighting the war.We WILL do better.I will do better.Notice I called you no names.I did not call your input “rambling nonsense”.Or say enough already.We move on.
“Notice I call you no names.” I guess that’s a new policy for the Troll. In his many comments (eleven so far) on this FAIR posting alone, he refers to “elitist assholes,” the “liberal whacko mindset” and “your cup cake Barack Obama.” Oh, yeah, and addressing me personally, he calls me a bastard,