Wednesday, June 15, 2005
uniter II
Okay, so following up on last night's drunken rant about Bush's dry-drunken rant about how it's the Democrats' fault that things aren't getting done in DC...
We have two more rhetorical tactics to discuss:
4) lies/blatant hypocrisy
5) message coordination
Lies/blatant hypocrisy We support the governments of Uzbekistan and Pakistan and Saudi Arabia while pretending that alls we care about in the world is "freedom" and "democracy;" Congress votes on a Medicare bill based on fraudulent numbers, our "war hero" stories are inevitably lies, we lie about the air quality at ground zero. Bush even lied about his arrest history! Then there's the hypocrisy -- the chickenhawk factor, the gay-baiting (with bonus faux-indignation when someone points out that Mary Cheney is openly gay!), the whole crazy filibuster saga by people who blocked Clinton's nominees for 8 years. We know how it works. Bush's speech last night does a great job of wallowing in the same slop.
The main lie is that Democrats are responsible for his inability to get traction on Social Security. Without question, it's the GOP minority that's freaking out that they might have to actually take a vote on this issue, that they'll then have to face the American people with that on their record. Hell, they don't want to even have to have it hanging over their heads. They want it to go away. Once it was clear that the Democrats were going to stick together on this, they realized that they couldn't pull their little "bipartisan" thing. They tried to lie & browbeat the Dems into compromise but now they're screwed. Bush knows this, of course, but he's dug himself too deep. So now all he can do is lie some more.
The hypocrisy? I'd have to say the charges of obstructionism from the same party that SHUT DOWN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT back in the 90s.
Message coordination The GOP is extremely good at keeping its folks on message. It's obvious that this is their new theme, and expect them to flog it for as long as the media allows them. Bush, Frist & Hastert all said the same thing. Naturally, Rush is saying it on his homepage (if you want to go there and buy some "Club Gitmo" t-shirts, go right ahead. I'm not making that up). I imagine the Fox morning folks were right on target this morning.
This here is the key -- the Democrats CAN'T TAKE THE BAIT. To me, this charge of "obstructionism" is the last refuge of a lame duck. These people control all the levers of government. They've set it up so they only have themselves to blame. The Democratic wishy-washies (Joementum, anyone?) must stick together right now and not freak out about what "the American people" might think about these hilarious charges.
In closing: the Republicans are a party of bad ideas. The American people are with the Democrats, policy-wise. The GOP message of Democratic obstructionism is a loser ... unless the Dems listen to it. As much as we appreciate Frist's concern about the future of the Democratic party, we'll respectfully decline to follow it.
We have two more rhetorical tactics to discuss:
4) lies/blatant hypocrisy
5) message coordination
Lies/blatant hypocrisy We support the governments of Uzbekistan and Pakistan and Saudi Arabia while pretending that alls we care about in the world is "freedom" and "democracy;" Congress votes on a Medicare bill based on fraudulent numbers, our "war hero" stories are inevitably lies, we lie about the air quality at ground zero. Bush even lied about his arrest history! Then there's the hypocrisy -- the chickenhawk factor, the gay-baiting (with bonus faux-indignation when someone points out that Mary Cheney is openly gay!), the whole crazy filibuster saga by people who blocked Clinton's nominees for 8 years. We know how it works. Bush's speech last night does a great job of wallowing in the same slop.
The main lie is that Democrats are responsible for his inability to get traction on Social Security. Without question, it's the GOP minority that's freaking out that they might have to actually take a vote on this issue, that they'll then have to face the American people with that on their record. Hell, they don't want to even have to have it hanging over their heads. They want it to go away. Once it was clear that the Democrats were going to stick together on this, they realized that they couldn't pull their little "bipartisan" thing. They tried to lie & browbeat the Dems into compromise but now they're screwed. Bush knows this, of course, but he's dug himself too deep. So now all he can do is lie some more.
The hypocrisy? I'd have to say the charges of obstructionism from the same party that SHUT DOWN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT back in the 90s.
Message coordination The GOP is extremely good at keeping its folks on message. It's obvious that this is their new theme, and expect them to flog it for as long as the media allows them. Bush, Frist & Hastert all said the same thing. Naturally, Rush is saying it on his homepage (if you want to go there and buy some "Club Gitmo" t-shirts, go right ahead. I'm not making that up). I imagine the Fox morning folks were right on target this morning.
This here is the key -- the Democrats CAN'T TAKE THE BAIT. To me, this charge of "obstructionism" is the last refuge of a lame duck. These people control all the levers of government. They've set it up so they only have themselves to blame. The Democratic wishy-washies (Joementum, anyone?) must stick together right now and not freak out about what "the American people" might think about these hilarious charges.
In closing: the Republicans are a party of bad ideas. The American people are with the Democrats, policy-wise. The GOP message of Democratic obstructionism is a loser ... unless the Dems listen to it. As much as we appreciate Frist's concern about the future of the Democratic party, we'll respectfully decline to follow it.
