Oh, Really?

Just picked up a link from Atrios about what is really important to voters.  It lead to a post by Greg Sargent at Plum Line and, well, just read the opening paragraphs about Obama’s meeting with Congressional Democrats recently:

According to a number of media outlets, the primary message that President Obama delivered to Senate Democrats during their private meeting yesterday was that they should not “draw lines in the sand” in the standoff with Republicans over spending, the deficit, and the debt ceiling. That would seem to mean that the President isn’t committed to drawing a firm line against Medicare cuts, as liberals want him to.

But leading liberal Senator Sherrod Brown tells me he took a very different message away from the meeting. He left convinced that Obama knows it would be folly to give ground on Medicare — and that the President understands that the 2012 election will be about jobs, not the deficit.

Brown says that he told the President in the meeting that a pivot to jobs will be essential as the reelection campaign heats up, and that Obama agreed.

Let me deliver a message to the White House and Congressional Democrats.  Unemployment is not a reelection strategy.  Unemployment is a very real, very urgent situation that needs to be resolved as quickly as possible.  It is not an issue that politicians should wait to resolve until it is convenient to them.

Having no job is a critical issue to families with children- right now.  A politician should be working overtime and with diligence to bring the unemployment rate down as quickly as possible regardless of his or her election prospects.  If unemployment drops and he still loses the election, that’s regrettable for Obama.  But he can console himself with huge speaking and consulting fees.  But if he does nothing until the campaign season heats up, I and a lot of unemployed people are going to remember that he let our skills lapse and our houses go into foreclosure because he wanted to be seen as a hero instead of a competent chief executive.

This is not a Republican site.  It is a liberal site.  And this is not a talking point.  It’s a warning.

Original GOPAC memo on language

In case it gets scrubbed, from http://web.utk.edu/~glenn/GopacMemo.html 

Language: A Key Mechanism of Control

As you know, one of the key points in the GOPAC tapes is that “language matters.” In the video “We are a Majority,” Language is listed as a key mechanism of control used by a majority party, along with Agenda, Rules, Attitude and Learning. As the tapes have been used in training sessions across the country and mailed to candidates we have heard a plaintive plea: “I wish I could speak like Newt.”

That takes years of practice. But, we believe that you could have a significant impact on your campaign and the way you communicate if we help a little. That is why we have created this list of words and phrases.

This list is prepared so that you might have a directory of words to use in writing literature and mail, in preparing speeches, and in producing electronic media. The words and phrases are powerful. Read them. Memorize as many as possible. And remember that like any tool, these words will not help if they are not used.

While the list could be the size of the latest “College Edition” dictionary, we have attempted to keep it small enough to be readily useful yet large enough to be broadly functional. The list is divided into two sections: Optimistic Positive Governing words and phrases to help describe your vision for the future of your community (your message) and Contrasting words to help you clearly define the policies and record of your opponent and the Democratic party.

Please let us know if you have any other suggestions or additions. We would also like to know how you use the list. Call us at GOPAC or write with your suggestions and comments. We may include them in the next tape mailing so that others can benefit from your knowledge and experience.

Optimistic Positive Governing Words

   Use the list below to help define your campaign and your vision of public service. These words can help give extra power to your message. In addition, these words help develop the positive side of the contrast you should create with your opponent, giving your community something to vote for!

active(ly) activist building candid(ly) care(ing) challenge change children choice/choose citizen commitment common sense compete confident conflict control courage crusade debate dream duty eliminate good-time in prison empower(ment) fair family freedom hard work help humane incentive initiative lead

learn legacy liberty light listen mobilize moral movement opportunity passionate peace pioneer precious premise preserve principle(d) pristine pro- (issue): flag, children, environment, reform prosperity protect proud/pride provide reform rights share strength success tough truth unique vision we/us/our

Contrasting Words

   Often we search hard for words to define our opponents. Sometimes we are hesitant to use contrast. Remember that creating a difference helps you. These are powerful words that can create a clear and easily understood contrast. Apply these to the opponent, their record, proposals and their party.

abuse of power anti- (issue): flag, family, child, jobs betray bizarre bosses bureaucracy cheat coercion “compassion” is not enough collapse(ing) consequences corrupt corruption criminal rights crisis cynicism decay deeper destroy destructive devour disgrace endanger excuses failure (fail) greed hypocrisy ideological impose incompetent insecure insensitive

intolerant liberal lie limit(s) machine mandate(s) obsolete pathetic patronage permissive attitude pessimistic punish (poor …) radical red tape self-serving selfish sensationalists shallow shame sick spend(ing) stagnation status quo steal taxes they/them threaten traitors unionized urgent (cy) waste welfare

Thursday: Stuff that makes you go, “Huh?”

Free association web surfing results today.

1.)First up, Newt Gingrich is running for president?  Hokay.  The former speaker is a history buff Republican with a petulant streak.  He’s also a movement conservative jerk who pursued Bill Clinton with a vengeance and succeeded in shutting down government, leaving government workers without a paycheck for several weeks.  He’s also one of those authoritarians that Bob Altemeyer and John Dean wrote about.   You know, Conservatives without Conscience? That right should be enough to disqualify him.  He’s an enemy to working familes.

But no matter.  What brilliant winning message will the Democrats and access bloggers respond with?  His fibs about his military experience and his extramarital affairs!  Yes, we have learned NOTHING from the left’s relentless mocking of Sarah Palin’s brain cells.  It wasn’t her lack of intelligence that knocked her back.  It was her careless depiction on her webpage of Democratic Congresspersons’ districts as targets.  It didn’t matter that she had nothing to do with the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords.  It’s just an untimely convergence of events that shined a spotlight on the right’s inflammatory rhetoric.

Listen up, access bloggers: you are NEVER going to bring Newtie down by harping on what a sleazy, hypocritical asshole he is.  As a Democrat, you don’t have the moral authority to challenge a Republican, you godless secular humanist.  Remember David Vitter’s romps with prostitutes in his Pampers?  How about Larry Craig’s bathroom tap dancing routine?  Nobody forced them out of office over their indiscretions.  And just because Newt resigned doesn’t mean that he can’t be rehabilitated by the right.  He’s a Catholic now and he’s been married to his current wife for 11 years.  He’s practically born again.  Look at Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly.  O’Reilly had to pay off one of his staffers because she’d caught him on tape making graphic, sexually harrassing phone calls to her. You’d be amazed at what the Fox News viewer is willing to overlook.

If I were you guys, I’d let the personal stuff go (well, except for the one where he asked his first wife for a divorce when she was in the hospital after cancer surgery.  I’m guessing that senior women who were dependent on their husbands for their livelihood won’t like that very much).  Instead, I’d bring up the sanctions he earned when he failed to report the money he made on the courses he sold.  Hey, if Charlie Rangel could get sidelined and disgraced over bad recordkeeping, isn’t it just as bad, or worse, for the speaker of the house?  Or how about the GOPAC document outlining how to manipulate public opinion by subtlely changing your language?  Yeah, Newtie is responsible for the crap we’ve been putting up with since 1990.  Nice guy.  And he hasn’t wasted a minute going back to his old language habits.  Go look at his presidential bid announcement.  Or why not interview some of the hardworking and retired Americans who waited out Gingrich’s temper tantrum in 1996?  You know, mortgage’s due, heating bills to pay, food to buy for your kids, Newt didn’t give a $#*! about anyone who had to wait for their checks.  Not one little bit.  Is that who we want as our next president?

If you want to take Newtie down, you’ve got to show the Fox News viewer how he’s betrayed *them*, not his wives.

2.) Google is introducing the Chromebook to businesses.  You can check out the video announcement here. ( By the way, Google, it’s not a new thought.  I believe it was thought by Dave Weininger, the genius behind Daylight Smiles at a MUG User Group meeting in New Orleans in about 1994. I was there.)  Whoo-hoo!  I can hear the IT groups around the country gearing up for some obstructive-non-productive-passive-resistance maneuvers over that. (Yeah, I got your number)  Microsoft’s constant maintenance and crisis management enterprise level business model is what keeps them employed.  (Nice corporate data you have there.  You wouldn’t want anything to *happen* to it, right?) The Chromebook could have a negative impact on the scientific community, however.  (Have you ever tried to rotate a protein with a molecular surface remotely?  Go ahead, try it.  I’ll wait.  Cue the Final Jeorpardy theme tune. And 100 mb/month?  Really? I could chew that up in a couple minutes.) It’s already difficult to convince IT that a “one-size-fits-all” strategy doesn’t work for the in silico science community. (Resistance is useless, you will be assimilated) I hope Google is taking this into consideration because the cost savings to businesses could be enormous and we may be left out in the cold when the MBAs stampede to it without thinking, as is their wont.  (Ooo!  Shiny!)

Check out This Week in Google with Leo Laporte, Gina Trapani and Jeff Jarvis for more in depth critiques of all things Google.

3.) Paint part of Manhattan neon?  I LIKE it.  After all, it’s only paint.  Right?  RIGHT??

4.) Bronies.  Ok, I don’t get it.  There are guys out there between the ages of 13 and 30 who are fans of the  My Little Pony Friendship is Magic cartoon.  I think the target audience is actually little girls between the ages of 5-7.  It’s hard to tell if they are sincere or cynical.  Or maybe they’re getting in touch with their softer side after hours of violent video games.  I don’t know.  Charming or disturbing?  And what’s with the obsession with the Figwit-esque Derpy Hooves character?  You decide.