I should know better than to open my mouth in the politics side of this forum, but I am stupid so what can you expect.
I know this is a conservative/libertarian forum but there are plenty of people in the country who still think Obama is doing a good job (myself among them).
We have our few residents who throw different views out from time to time. They make us think and are part of the APS experience :)
1. All the mainstream coverage I saw (CNN, BBC, NPR) was about what the kids video taped. The only 'criticism' I saw about the kids was the local prosecutor thinking about doing his job and prosecuting because they broke local law. There may have been some 'liberal' media complaining about whether or not the videos showed the whole truth or not, but that is not the same as ignoring the content.
I do agree; I've been seeing more and more coverage of this. I think what most of the conservative outrage stems from is that nothing has been done sooner about a corrupt organization. ACORN is up to no good, and like an unfortunately great many organizations of its kind, is HUGELY abusive of government money and tax-exempt status. People should go to jail for what's going on, and nobody will.
It also doesn't help that
what ACORN had to say for itself is, frankly, insulting.
2. The guy was an ass to a sitting president on live TV, it was not appropriate, and even many conservatives thought so. Sure, the Democrats are picking it up and running with it but what do you expect them to do? Obama himself has been nothing but polite about an overblown accusation.
It was inappropriate for the setting. Rep. Wilson has apologized, Pres. Obama has accepted his apology. Whee. If I may(and I try to avoid GWB comparisons, because I believe them generally irrelevant) - what would've happened if someone shouted that at George W. Bush in a speech on the Patriot Act or the invasion of Iraq? Would Barney Frank, for instance, have apologized? Maybe, but probably not. People are PASSIONATE about this healthcare thing, and there is going to be some noise. I do not agree with Rep. Wilson's act, although I agree with his sentiment.
Whether it's an overblown accusation - others have explained that better than I can. It's a HUGE omission and it's something that can, at this point, only be a deliberate omission. Pres. Obama is being VERY careful about his words, and dancing around having to come right out and say it. Illegals will be included in a plan into which they do not equally contribute, and that's the way "they" want it. "They" won't be changing that bill unless something REALLY big happens.
3. You can argue about it all you want, I think Carter has a point. I personally know people who don't like Obama because they don't trust 'that *let's not go there*'. I've been to the south and had plenty of conversations with people who are overtly racist. All he is saying is that racism still exists. So what? If Obama himself starts crying about how he is being picked on I'll be the first person to call him an ahole, but that is not happening.
Carter does not have a point. Carter needs to retire to hermitage and cause America no further harm. He is not *just* saying that racism still exists.
He is saying that racism is, consciously or unconsciously, responsible for "an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama". He is saying that a majority of we who disagree with the President disagree with him because, as the President himself put it,
"doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills". Do you truly believe that a majority, or even a fourth, or even a *tenth* of us who disapprove of Pres. Obama's policies and actions would approve of a white man with the same policies taking the same actions?
I, too, personally know people like you describe. If they were, again, even a tenth of the conservative voter base, do you think that wouldn't have swayed the election? A real racist would surely cast his vote to keep a black man out of office. No, the VAST majority of America is over that - after all, we elected him, first in the primary, then in the general election!
To be fair(and a little bit ornery), how about we talk about the disproportionate majority of black(and other minority) Americans who support Obama? Are they racist? Would they support a white President making the same choices?
Pres. Obama is making great use of being "the good guy", persecuted for the color of his skin, mocked for his middle name, fighting the good fight and being gracious and modest enough to brush off the evil racist naysayers. Why would he cry racist when A, we'd all see right through it, and B, he can come out so much better by acting as if he's turning the other cheek?
4. You mean the tea party stuff? If that is what you mean, I have seen plenty of coverage...although calling them 'the largest demonstrations in history' seems silly.
Plenty of coverage, sure. Positive or objective coverage? Not really. I have read lots of articles about the TWO guys who brought guns(which is, I understand, still a protected right) to political events, both of whose intended statements were misconstrued beyond recognition and twisted into threats. Did
Chris Matthews give this New Hampshire guy a fair shot?
I have seen lots of
pictures of signs with Obama's face done up like the Joker, or slogans/sayings that I would not want to stand under, but little about the rest of the people who conducted themselves with taste. I have heard lots of commentary about how racist the tea-party organizers are and how misled(implication being, stupid and gullible) the attendees are, and it seems that a great many news outlets consider the tea parties
"anti-government protests"(if I may add, that crowd is *priceless*. "You're not a reporter!"). There have been quite a few calling the protests
"Astroturf" - fake, organized, paid gatherings! Find me an article, from a mainstream outlet(other than Fox, we know those guys lie because they're in the GOP's pocket), that discusses how peaceful and respectful the protesters were, or how big the groups were, or really anything positive.
5. Not sure what you mean by racist appointee.
Benefit of the doubt: Heard of Van Jones? The unqualified, unvetted, unconfirmed appointee to an un-Constitutional position of significant posture, if not necessarily significant power? Check on some of the things he's said about, essentially, whitey keeping everyone else down.
"Give them the wealth. Give them the dignity... No more broken treaties!" Really? How recently did we break a treaty with a Native tribe? When did we pass a law confining Native Americans to reservations?
Also find the one about Republicans being "aholes". I will say, if you watch the few minutes surrounding the "ahole" bit to understand context, you'll probably find that what he says makes sense, in that he's explaining that the Republicans got legislation passed by simply using their majority and pushing things through and that if Democrats want to get anything done they're going to have to do the same. However, if a Congressman can't call an untruth a lie, then a czar shouldn't really be calling every Congressional "R" a nasty name, should he? Just like Rep. Wilson, he may have a point, but he made it the wrong way.
So if not Jones, then how about Sonia Sotomayor? She coyly, but overtly
supports un-Constitutional judicial activism. She says that she has better judgment
than an equally experienced, equally educated white guy(racist, sexist, and a bit elitist... hat trick!). As if that wasn't enough, Obama and the media made a BIG deal out of the fact that
she's not white. All kinds of hype about Latinos being represented in the Supreme Court - does the SCOTUS really need to be ethnically diverse in order to pass sensible, Constitutional judgments? Need we find an Asian, a Native American, and a hermaphrodite to serve also, because they're not presently represented? Would that Obama had concentrated on Sotomayor's qualifications instead of her race. He did her a disservice.
All I see is a list of conservative talk radio lead-ins.
(God help me for opening my mouth)
Well then, welcome to our world. Radio/talk radio is where a lot of us get most of our news, and while most of us attempt to pick the actual information out of the bias(whichever way it may lean), most of us do have a conservative streak and honestly it's more pleasant to hear commentary from someone with beliefs similar to your own. Dennis Prager's show is my favorite, and I also enjoy Glenn Beck and Hugh Hewitt. I listened to Air America for a while - before its affiliate station in Phoenix went out of business - to try to see "the other side of the coin", but Randi Rhodes and Thom Hartmann just plain made me sick with their plainly biased election coverage(i.e. decrying "vitriol" from conservatives while using *nasty* nicknames for Republican candidates) and generally snarky attitudes. Note, please, that I don't like to listen to Rush Limbaugh either, and for the same reasons - he is pompous and arrogant.
I hope I haven't turned you off of APS or bored you to death. It's late at night here(AZ) and as you can see, I feel pretty strongly about what's going on in our country these days. PLEASE do respond with your thoughts, links to support your views, further explanations, etc. Tell us why you think Pres. Obama is doing a good job. Tell us what you think of Congress. It's important that we understand each other. As a certain favorite radio host says, I prefer clarity over agreement :)
- Ben
