The mainstream media has eagerly pounced on the "secret Romney video" (cue dramatic music) which goes behind closed doors and reveals the horrible truths about Mitt Romney! Some even touted the shocking revelations as being the end of the Romney campaign.
So what exactly did Mitt tell a room full of conservative donors, anyway?
Did he make sneering remarks about people who cling to their guns and religion, and have a fear of those who are different? Nope, that was Obama. Did he reveal that he'd been a highly-ranked officer in the Ku Klux Klan? Sorry, that was Democrat senator Robert Byrd.
Maybe he admitted tweeting pictures of his genitalia to young girls and...hold it. That was Democrat Anthony Weiner. Hang on, let us check our research list here, sorry for the delay...
(Drowned campaign worker on way to sexual tryst - Teddy Kennedy. Allowed his condo to be used for Gay whorehouse - Barney Frank. Made huge amounts of money investing using inside information - Nancy Pelosi. Shoved a cigar up an intern's hoo-hah then firehosed her blue dress with DNA - Bill Clinton.)
Oh, HERE it is! Here's the scandalous "behind closed doors" secret which the Left finds more shocking and appalling than anything any Democrat has ever said or done! And it is...it is...
"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the President no matter what," said Romney, "Who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it. That that's an entitlement, and the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what."
Okay, that part was all factual and boring and inarguably true so the scandal must have been when Mitt said...
"47% of Americans pay no income tax. So our message of low taxes doesn't connect. And so my job is not to worry about those people, I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. What I have to do is convince the 5 to 10 percent in the center that are independent, that are thoughtful."
Hmm, that doesn't seem very scandalous either. In fact, the only way the media is able to make it even sound bad is by playing only the clip which says "my job is not to worry about those people," and then tell the world that Mitt Romney has just declared that if elected president, he won't worry about 47% of Americans. An utter and outright lie, made all the more offensive by the fact that Romney will dedicate himself to rebuilding an economy which will provide jobs and incomes for those people.
Happily, Romney hasn't backed down from anything he said on the "secret tape," saying only that he may not have expressed himself artfully, but that his basic message was accurate - and consistent with what he says in public.
He didn't bother to add "unlike Barack Obama," but after four years, he doesn't really need to.
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42 comments:
Actually, I'm disappointed, but not over what Romney said on the recording. (because it's entirely true, and something I've been screaming for decades here and elsewhere, about what's going to happen when half of the electorate starts receiving government checks instead of mailing them)
If Romney has made any mistake, it was his weak, defensive and meek response to the media, instead of coming out forcefully and saying, "Yes, I did say that. Yes, it's true that the better part of 47% of the American people have no interest in income tax rates because not only do they not pay them, they get money sent to them instead. And yes, it's true that it's a waste of my campaign's resources trying to convince many of those people otherwise."
Coming out forcefully on those points would have forced Obama to address what he said instead of going on Letterman and acting dismissive. It was an opportunity for Romney to boost his capitalist cred, and educate America that a nation with a majority of takers is not viable, and that this is exactly how a nation becomes Greece.
This was one moment where Newt would have been the better candidate; he doesn't hesitate to come out swinging.
What you are witnessing here is the escalation of the real class war that has been emerging in America over the last 50 years. It's not like the class war between the "rich" and the "poor" that the Marxists and their media allies have been striving for the last century; It's a class war between those who are the "net consumers" versus the "net producers", or those who pay the bulk of the taxes versus those who have become dependent upon government entitlements and crony capitalism. There are "rich" and "poor" on both sides. The issue is whether or not the "producers" are going to be made slaves to the moochers, and how long they'll put up with it before quitting.
Will Romney survive this? I don't think he will be hurt by it, and more than Obama's "Joe the Plumber" and "bitter clingers" moments ultimately hurt him. After all, the irony is in that he's right, and those who are going to vote for Obama are still going to do so, and those who are going to vote for Romney are still going to do so, and those in the middle are going to think again about which side they want to be on; the producers or moochers.
Who is John Galt?
"Do you hate black people more than poor people?" Yeeee-Hah! This wins today's "coffee spew" award. It's like the old "have you stopped beating your wife" line, and Mitt best be prepared because EVERY question at EVERY debate will be worded exactly like that.
I don't watch MSM news, but the recording of obama praising redistribution is getting a lot of airtime on the channels I DO watch or listen to. I might be a wee bit biased, but I think this recording is waaaay more telling the the supposed Romney "gotcha" video. Although... the obama lemmings who want the rest of us to support them probably did a fist pump when they heard it.
And... Romney DID step in it some because a fair chunk of those 47 percenters don't want to be there and were likely going to vote for Romney hoping he could help them escape obama's economy. If they feel insulted, they may turn on him... but I somehow doubt it. I know someone who is chronically unemployed and getting food stamps, and he can't wait to vote obama out and get off the dole.
@ John the Econ:
Excellent points you make, all of them.
Romney didn't say anything that hasn't already been said on blogs & talk radio. So, now there is more exposure to those concepts.
The wild card will be how the undecideds process this.
I find it either humorous or scandalous, or possible both, that this 'tape' has been around for a number of months, and just now, Jimmy Carter's grandson releases it to "get even with those defaming my grandfather". Coincidence that it occurs the same week the the prince of foreign policy is eunuch-ed? Oh! Look, a squirrel!
Drudge is reporting that 2-3 'critical' minutes are missing from the tape, admitted by Mother Jones, when challenged that the "whole, complete" tape was obviously edited. No surprise here, but wasn't it the Demoliberals that screamed fraud loudly about the O'Keefe tapes? A Church Lady ... 'Never Mind".
Stilton: Pretty short research list if you ask me, but I understand - the internet does have a finite limit in bandwith.
Colby/John: Beyond the existence of the idiot lemmings, the truly scary fact in all of this is that there are folks who are still on the fence. Here we have marginal thinkers who would insist that we need to first convert Fahrenheit to Celsius whilst sitting in a burning house before deciding to deploy the hoses. Like the Teeshirt says: the Mormon or the Moron, moron.
Sea Dog: Jimmy Carter pretty much defamed himself - if his son was smart (which he obviously is not), he wouldn't be drawing attention to the fact that he is the son of the (now) second worst president in American history.
@John: Well said. If we actually had politicians who were insensitive to the plight of the "poor", maybe we'd still have both an intact constitutional republic and a healthy economy. Those two alone would ensure far fewer "poor" to begin with...
@TrickyRicky: Probably a more apropos question would be who will be John Galt? There are many capitalists who have closed shop and gone off to enjoy or seek their fortunes outside of the US; however, none have the altruism nor organizational ability of Rand's Galt... At least not that we're aware of. The only "brain drain" we've experienced has to do with the goals our public "educational" system.
@Seadog: The MSM Apparatchik has a habit of squirreling away what they presuppose to be "damning" of their darling's opponent, only to spring it forth near the polls. I don't think this one is their "gotcha" as it is too early into the fray. I think it was trumped by something else that they believe will be more damaging, so they felt safe in letting it fly early. We'll see... In manipulation of the news and, therefor, public opinion: timing is everything.
@John the Econ- I agree that Mitt could/should have underscored his points more forcefully, but I'm at least relieved that he's not doing a major backpedal from the truisms he shared with private donors.
The stats showing the increase in government dependency under Obama are simply jaw-dropping and the math is incontrovertible. But of course "math" is the only 4-letter word which the media still considers obscene.
@TrickyRicky- Under Directive 10-289, you're not allowed to read books like that.
@Colby- I was absolutely going for the unfairness of the "have you stopped beating your wife" question with the punchline, and had to figure out how to deliver it without it sounding like it came from a real Mitt supporter. Ergo, the set-up of "you with the camera in your hat." People would be surprised how long I wrestle with a syllable here or there to make these cartoons work.
But back to the topic of secret recordings, I don't think Obama's "redistribution" admission is going to get any traction at all: a lot of people don't understand what "redistribution" even means, and of those who do, a lot of them are in favor of it. Plus, this doesn't exactly show us a side of Obama that hasn't been on full display for years.
Romney probably will be hurt by his tape, but for all the worst reasons. He wasn't making scripted remarks so he was, perhaps, a little too general - but he got the essence exactly right. And I don't think for a moment that Mitt has a negative opinion of people who don't pay taxes - but he knows he won't win a single one of their votes by talking about reducing taxes. That's simple logic. But as President, I have no doubt - none - that Mitt would actually make his primary goal improving the opportunities available to that 47% so that those who want to work can become taxpayers again.
@Alan Markus- I have to admit that it depresses me every time I hear that this election will turn on the votes of the "undecideds," because anyone still undecided at this point is a freaking idiot.
@SeaDog- I also thought it funny that Carter's grandson calls himself a "political opposition researcher" but admits that no one has ever paid for his services. He says he hopes maybe this tape will finally allow him to finally start earning money in a field that doesn't have peanuts in it.
@Mike Porter- I could've made a longer list (much longer) of offenses by Democrats, but it was too early in the day for me to start drinking to numb the pain.
By the way, O'Keefe is pointing out the hypocrisy of the news outlets that attacked him for making a secret recording but are now applauding the (ahem) citizen journalists who bravely smuggled a camera into a conservative coven to capture the dark rituals within.
So ... how's that tape of Obama back in the late 90's, before he cheated his way into getting elected Senator, endorsing redistribution working for him? Not a peep in the media?
Wow, color me surprised.
Amazing that Obama's words are somehow magically and mystically not an issue, but Romney's are.
Surely Obama will throw open the doors on his fundraisers, now, right? And let cameras in? Isn't he the one who assured us the most Transparent Administration in History?
Stilton, your cartoon made me laugh so hard -- all I could think of was Homer from The Simpsons when he went undercover for the IRS wearing an absurdly-oversized Texan hat with a clearly-visible camera lens in it -- even better, the hat gave off a buzzing hum (leading to another funny joke).
It really made my morning to see your cartoon, thanks so much!
We don't need to go back to the 90's for the president's opinions on re-distribution to be clear. Remember Joe the Plumber? His big question was about tax cuts, a better way to raise revenue than raising taxes on "The Rich" Candidate Obama - "It's not about raising revenue, it's about re-distributing the wealth"
Putz
I don't know if Romney is missing this or knows it and just didn't say it, but...a sizable chunk of that 47% don't want to be there. They don't want to believe their circumstances will keep them there forever. They still believe in the opportunities available and will gladly move out of that cellar as quickly as they are able.
The media is just trying to create Romney gaffes where there are none to deflect from Obama stepping all over his own d*ck. With so many members of the MSM you'd think there would be one with a functioning gag reflex.
@My Dog Brewski,
That's so true! But on the "stepping" part... Does obama have 2 inch long legs?
Let's face it, folks. Polls are meaningless. I've already answered 5-6 polls myself, and I always tell the pollster I'm a Democrat but I'm voting for Romney. I figure there are a shitload of libtards out there doing just the opposite. I'm going to crawl way out on a limb and say that 99+% of people who actually vote made up their minds months or even years ago. I made up my mind the first time I saw the focker point the top of his head at a foreign leader. I don't know ANYBODY who isn't either a far left, obama scrotum licking nutball, or an American who wants obama back in Chicago (or prison). I have met a few who use the old "they're all crooked" line, but even they have made up their minds already.
I made up my mind to vote ABO on the evening of Nov. 2, 2008. Of course, I voted ABO on Nov. 2, 2008. I wouldn't vote for Barack Hussein for dog killer. (Firesign Theater joke, there)
JAJeep - Me, either - it'd probably wind up on the menu...
(ba-dum ching)
@Earl Allison- No one will care about Obama's love of redistribution because those who DO care have known about it since before he was elected.
And I'm glad you enjoyed the cartoon today (and let me know)! I built the three panels first, quickly added the words to the first two panels - and then stared at that third one for a long, long time. I'm glad I didn't see that Simpson's episode because I would have felt like I was ripping off their gag (and now I need to seek it out!)
@Pete(Detroit)- Barry's socialistic streak is the very definition of non-news. And let me amplify your statement about Obama being willing to collect LESS tax revenue for the poor, as long as "fairness" was achieved by hurting the rich enough. Punishment of success is more important to Obama than the lessening of poverty. Anyone who can understand English has heard him say it himself.
@Philip- Great collection of links! I remember when Romney was "doomed" because he said he hoped England had prepared enough security for the Olympics. The "doom" stories are ridiculous...but my concern is that as long as the MSM keeps up the drumbeat, the ill-informed among us will pick up their untrue message through media osmosis.
@Angry Hoosier Dad- Romney has said more or less that same thing while explaining his remarks. To be fair, on the tape he certainly implies that members of the 47% don't want to take responsibility for their own lives. He may have overstated the case there - or he might not have. But aside from quibbling about the numbers, there IS clearly a growing "entitlement class" in our nation that demands freebies that are unsustainable.
As I said above (somewhere), I really believe that Romney will do FAR more good for that 47% than Obama will. Romney wants to revitalize our economy and turn it into a job creator again. Obama wants exactly the opposite.
@My Dog Brewski- The MSM consists almost entirely of syphilitic whores at this point. (See, this is what Charles Krauthammer wants to say but isn't allowed to).
@Colby- I still know a number of good people who don't watch the news a lot, and what little news they're exposed to is so heavily slanted that they're either undecided or leaning towards Obama. They have eyes- they can see the damage to this country over the past few years, and the failing hope of Americans across the board. But they don't have the personal confidence to believe their own senses over the barrage of lies from the MSM. And they're additionally vulnerable to being told that Romney wants to take away their healthcare, take away their social security, and send their jobs overseas.
Damnable lies, all of it, but good people make bad decisions when given bad information. Which is why I try to contain my inner anger when I hear people saying they're undecided or leaning toward Obama, and simply try to educate them.
After which I stand in the shower and scream.
It would appear that the left wing extremists can't handle the truth. Maybe they too, should attack an embassy and murder the ambassador.
One for the good guys. Probably a Chinese-made flag, though, what with their bent towards including poisons in everything they export...
I'm a little slow with the comments today, but all this talk about Romney somehow blowing off 47% of the vote because of that statement and thus self-imploding his campaign does not make much sense. 47% is probably the floor of Obama's voters anyway. But let's look at who the 47% that get more than they give. With paying sales tax, property tax, and payroll taxes if they are working a lot of them will not perceive that they are in the 47% that get more than they give. Just like people give themselves a higher grade or overrate their driving abilities, people tend to think they are paying much more and getting less for it than actual facts would support. I imagine a lot of people who are actually in the 47% will pat themselves on the back thinking they are in the 53% that pays the freight and will resent those "takers" in the 47%. Who wants to proudly proclaim, "yes, I am in the 47%!"? Most people will want to self-identify as being in the 53%.
I think this could backfire on the Dems.
Ya know...like you, I am weary, weary, weary of this crappy campaign. I mean, how does a decent person like Romney come back at a scumbag socialist such as Obama? I was a decent kid and I remember the assholes I went to school with getting the upper hand simply because they knew how to play dirty, and I didn't care to stoop to their level. I see some of that everyday as the lies and distractions spew forth, and Romney keeps hammering truth in a civilized manner. I know from experience, as I am sure many of us all do...it's a hard row to hoe! Just hoping Romney can NAIL him in the debates someway, like McCain DID NOT 4 years ago!
I forgot that ! :
Obama calls for ‘democracy with a small d’
So... If the Democrats and msm are ticked off all they need do to prove Romney wrong is not vote for the big o.
Simple, and effective.
@PRY: The problem with arguing with dirtbag s***heads, is they drop you to their level and beat you with experience.
It's time to fire him like you would any other employee that was not doing the job that they are being paid to do and allow some one else an opportunity. After all they work for us, and we the people of the United States have that God given right to FIRE him! If you don't vote you cannot blame any one but yourself. So use the privilege you have been given by those that has defended our NATION and have made the sacrifice for each of us. Vote in this election your vote does count.
Out of his own mouth! Barack Obama wanting and believing in Socialism/Marxism finally exposed in his own words. It has been hidden from the public and now it has forth. This election comes down to this: Do you want Socialism/Marxism in America or do you want to continue our free market system that has been in place for 237 years! It is now your vote and your decision. Black and white.
1. http://weaselzippers.us/2012/09/18/flashback-obama-says-i-actually-believe-in-redistribution-of-wealth/
2. http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/2012/09/19/obama-in-1998-i-actually-believe-in-redistribution-of-wealth-video/
Hey Stilt -
In your reply to Earl at 1:21 today, you said "I'm glad you enjoyed the cartoon today (and let me know)! I built the three panels first, quickly added the words to the first two panels..."
Two points:
I enjoyed today's cartoon, much as I always enjoy your work. It's kind of like with my wife - I appreciate what she does, but I tend to take it for granted, and don't tell her how much I appreciate her enough. (And please don't read anything into that - it's a purely innocent analogy).
As for the second point, when you get some spare time (hah!) I think it would be fascinating if you could walk us through the mechanics of how you create the cartoons. It must be very time consuming to find just the right images, then shade/color them, then add the text. I'd really like to know how it's done. Not asking for trade secrets, just a walk-through of the process.
Keep up the good work.
"anyone still undecided at this point is a freaking idiot."
A friend of mine likes to say "you know how stupid the average voter is, don't you? well, half of them are stupider than that!"
But as you say at 1:21, in fact quite a few people are uninformed. And I think you make a very good point that some people are also not at all confident in their own opinions.
I was at the laundromat yesterday and the guy who owns it noticed my Romney/Ryan button and told me he is still undecided. He's waiting for the debates, he said. (I still say that Obama showing up for the debates is something I'll believe when I see it.)
But then he commented on the 47% thing. And he seemed to be pretty glad someone had the guts to say it. He allowed as how he understands that some people really do need welfare, but that it seems to have gotten to the point where it is being abused. I got the distinct impresssion that there was an element of relief there--that he felt he had been given permission to voice the thought that perhaps there ought to be some kind of limit on entitlements.
I think a lot of people have been brainwashed into the do-gooder mentality without ever thinking about it at all. Some people are not very focused on ideas, they just soak things up via osmosis. And it doesn't always seem to be a function of how smart they are, more like how much they pay attention and whether they are, as you say, willing to believe their own eyes and ears.
The more I think about it, the more I think your confidence point is really insightful. In a certain sense, that's what sets the teapartiers apart. We believe what we see. At the first teaparty rally here in Boston, there was a palpable sense of a shared vision, and I think now that it wasn't just the ideas (limited government, fiscal responsibility, adherence to the Constitution--important ideas, for sure) but also the shared sense of responsibility for speaking up, and a shared sense that it was time to do so (if not past time).
Little did we realize that even that sense of responsibility would be attacked! At the time I expected an honest debate over important ideas to break out all over. Ah, well.... At least we have the Internet!!!!!
Isn't in astounding the degree of hostility the Democrat Party now holds towards "Personal Responsibility"? 20 years ago, they at least paid lip service to it; mainstream Democrats, although favoring big government and nanny state policies, still understood that none of it was possible without a vibrant economy to support it all. Not anymore.
Just look at the prime-time lineup of virtual children they proudly featured at their convention. They proudly hailed Caroline Kennedy; but they were totally hostile to her father's mantra of "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country". It was all about what your country should do for you, and what someone else should be made to pay to the country to make it possible.
Speaking of paying: Tax penalty to hit nearly 6M uninsured people
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jmIII4FgDvIW-bij_fdHF4v0Whbw?docId=48328c71af0241c39aef95fda77612f7
These people will certainly not be part of the "1%". They'll far more than likely be the "Occupy" kids and others of the "middle class" that have been lied to about how they're going to be taxed, by stuff like this and the inflation that is already happening and coming around the corner.
As I've said before, my health insurance has been going up 15%/year under Obama, and I expect it to do so again next year. By 2014 when pre-existing conditions will no longer preclude you from getting coverage should you need it, I'll likely be quitting my insurance and will pay the tax instead. I'll be looking at it as an >$800/month tax cut.
Perhaps I'll buy that boat I've been wanting...
Sara Rolph - "brainwashed into the do-gooder mentality without ever thinking about it at all"
One of the compelling things @ liberal / lefty "arguments" is that, being (typically) based on emotion rather than fact, they tend to FEEL good, even if they don't make sense. We, as a society, have all these 'hidden desires' left over from childhood - we WANT the world to be fair, we WANT everyone to have nice food, and a safe place to sleep, we WANT bad people to leave us alone. Some folks find it easy to prey on these wants (aka 'magical thinking') and sell folks a bag of goods - 'vote for me, and crime will go down, food will get cheap, we'll take care of your gas, mortgage, health care. Never mind that the numbers don't add up, never mind that sooner or later we have to PAY for all this crap we've been charging up every month, putting the Visa on the Master, and back...
Sadly, fact based arguments that require logic and math (and personal responsibility) are scary, and DON'T "feel" nice - until you get the satisfaction of seeing REAL progress....
Oh, had to chuckle - if you were at the FIRST 'tea party' rally *in Boston* you're a LOT older than you look! (assuming you do NOT look 250+ years old)
((-'pb
@Lee the Voice- No need, they have people who do that for them.
@Emmentaler- I have to admit that the story you linked to made me very, very happy (A protester inhaled fumes from a burning American flag and it killed him).
@alan markus- I doubt that there are many people who will self-identify with the 47% who weren't already in the bag for Obama. That being said, there are surprising levels of support for Mitt amongst the 47% - because quite a few of them want to get out of their government-imposed trap.
@Pry- It's difficult for Mitt to fight back because the Left is happy to throw lies into the mix, and it uses up valuable oxygen and campaign time for Mitt to deal with the lies before he can get talking about his real positions or Obama's record. And it's only a strategy which works for the Left because the MSM serves as this administration's bullhorn. Although maybe "bullhorn" isn't the correct "bull" word to use here...
@Philip- Good finds. If you look out there into the cracks and crannies, you'll find evidence that Mitt is doing much better than the MSM wants to admit.
@Anonymous- Brilliant!
@SeaDog- That's true. Over on Facebook, I waste too much time trying to use actual logic with liberals. I might as well be speaking Martian. (Seriously, I mentioned that the NASA chief said Obama gave him three missions, and that Muslim outreach was his "foremost" mission (a quote). An insufferable lib chick insisted "it can't be foremost if he mentioned the other missions first.")
@Anonymous- As much as Clint Eastwood got mocked by the Left, his convention speech was funny and absolutely accurate. Since Obama clearly can't do the job, then fire his sorry butt. It doesn't mean you hate him...it means that you love your country.
Regarding Obama admitting his love of socialistic redistribution of wealth, I think it's old news to people who are inclined to care about it - and the Left will remain in denial.
@CenTexTim- Thanks for the thanks (okay, your turn!). Regarding how the cartoons are created, I'm whacking my head on the desk today because Blogger just changed their behind the scenes interface, and so I need to learn how to make a post in a whole new way today. Old dogs do not like old tricks!
But that's posting the cartoons and commentary. As far as actually building them, I use an absolutely wonderful program called Comiclife which allows you to drag and drop images into predefined frames and scoot them around, resize them, or add various filters for different looks. The program also lets you put in the word balloons, and automatically resizes them depending on the amount of text.
Regarding artwork, I pay a subscription fee to a stock art service where I either look for specific pieces of art, or just go wandering until I see something which seems useful. I then tweak the images in Photoshop and then vectorize them to achieve the graphic look I want. Many of the images are then kept in a library which I can draw on - like when I use old friends like "the coffee couple," "bear and cow," "the kids at the breakfast table," and others. For actual politicians, it's a bit trickier rendering the images into the black & white line drawing format, though once I get an image the way I want, it goes into the library.
In some cases, it's easier to simply go with an actual photograph and perhaps use a filter to give it a stylized look.
Those are the technical nuts and bolts, and that's really the "easy" stuff. What's harder is combing the news for things that make me really, really angry (masochism?), then trying to figure out a satirical spin which can lend itself to the strict 3-panel format. Even more time-consuming is writing an editorial comment, because I never want to just put words on the page to fill space. I value the time of the readers who visit, and make a real effort to give them substance and/or laughs.
Truth be told, it takes a lot of work.
@Sarah Rolph- Great comments! And you're right, the Left and MSM has very carefully created a culture where people are afraid to speak up and say, just maybe some people are abusing entitlements. And although no one wants the poor to suffer, just maybe it's a good idea for the government not to spend more money than it has. And just maybe it's okay to criticize a president's policies even if he's black.
Conservatism and constitutionalism is nothing to feel guilty about, but there are a lot of powerful voices out there trying to convince Americans otherwise.
And on a side note, good for you for wearing your Mitt button and striking up that conversation. You may well have added a vote for our side!
@John the Econ- I think "personal responsibility" has become another one of those dog-whistle codewords for racism. The Left loathes the idea of personal responsibility - for your body (yes you, Sandra Fluke), your bills, your mortgage, your education, your health, your housing, or anything else.
Regarding your health insurance, I'm going to be very tempted to do the same thing. The difference between the cost of my health insurance and the price of paying the Obamacare fine will be more than I stand to eventually receive from Social Security. Assuming that Social Security survives as long as I do.
@Pete(Detroit)- This is a point I've harped on before (and you describe it very well). Liberalism is the most selfish political ideology imaginable, because it places more importance on "feeling good" than "doing good." Which is why Libs love to spend money on programs which either don't work, or which make the situation worse. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions...and the demons doing the road work are paid with our tax dollars.
@John the Econ: Here's my plan: I intend to drop out of my health insurance, and classify my new, no-premium policy as an "ultra-high deductible" health insurance policy. Having a high-deductible policy such as this allows me to use a health savings account. What I pay in premiums will instead be paid into that health savings account, and I'll pay my 100% deductible from it. Hopefully, nothing catastrophic occurs, and nothing expensive before I can fully fund the account... Oh, wait. Øbamacare is a catastrophe, and it occurs long before my HSA would be fully funded - it predates my planned HSA. And Øbamacare makes HSAs caustic, if it allows them to exist at all... Clearly the goal of Øbamacare is not to make healthcare more affordable - or even available; it is simply to control your health, giving Leviathan more power. Only fools see it any other way. Unfortunately, there has never been any period of history where I can identify a shortage of fools...
@Stilton - I'll repeat a question regarding the flag fume death I posed on my blog for ponderance here: does he still get his virgins?
The points about liberalism and emotions resonate well with me. I have spent years telling people I really don't care what you feel; please tell me what you think. Most just give me a blank look in response - they don't know the difference. It is those who feel rather than think who can countenance convictions of those who value animals above human life; those who think we, as in humans, are some invasive species that needs to be eradicated. Somehow the point that they too are classed with us; that they, too, are humans escapes them. I guess that's what it means to be enlightened, hey? This - all this feeling rather than rational thought in society is primarily due to the political correctness movement.The twisting of language to present facts and rationality as somehow cold, heartless and evil, while painting "emotionalism" as warm, and good - it can't have been by accident. But I don't understand how anyone could possibly fall for anything like that? Yes, yes - I see that evidence that multitudes do fall for it - some to the extent that they're a mobilized force for it. But how? How can they miss the falsity of it all?
Again: liberalism is a mental illness. I can fathom no other explanation as to why anyone would gleefully submit to being bankrupted and enslaved. Or is liberal rule the product of some strange societal circadian rhythm that we must go through as the majority falls to sloth and neediness rather than productivity? Greece fell to it. Rome fell to it. Eastern Europe fell to it, and the remainder of Europe is falling to it now. None of them were conquered. They all just morphed into it - even while many among them protested and tried to point out the ultimate end of it - the end suffered by those who went before.
Like lemmings, they go on...
Liberalism is a mental disorder.
The thing that amuses me most about liberals, is they they honestly believe they are the ideology of intellect and science. And yet practically all of their policies are based upon fallacies that ultimately trace back to justifications for emotion and anti-intellectualism.
How else to explain this than mental illness?
That might also explain the apparently lack of sense of humor / perspective - when we mock their feelings, that's all they have, and they get defensive. Hmmmm.
http://www.quickmeme.com/College-Liberal/
@Emmentaler- I already have an HSA and don't really bother much with it at this point. Obamacare makes it very hard to use, and creates stiff penalties for withdrawing funds. Why? Because he wants self-empowering medical plans eliminated.
Regarding whether the flag-fume victim gets his virgins, I think you have to be an actual martyr instead of just a dumbass. Then again, I'm no expert on that faith, so maybe he's entitled to virgins who also died of their own stupidity.
Regarding Liberalism, let's use the example of a frequently pregnant cat. A liberal will get a good feeling from feeding the kittens while they're young and cute and then dumping them somewhere out of sight, while a conservative will have the mother cat neutered so that future generations of kittens won't die of hunger, neglect, or under the wheels of cars. The liberal feels good, and the conservative does good.
@John the Econ- Because liberals clearly have no great ability to process cause and effect, but rather operate solely on emotion, I'm not sure that liberalism is as much a mental disorder as a heart defect.
@Pete(Detroit)- That's an astute observation. When you question a liberal about policy, they take it as an attack on their self-worth and get indignant. Then again, being stupid probably carries a lot of stress with it.
@John the Econ- I sometimes wonder how that hippy chick feels about being the official face of smug, youthful, liberal idiocy.
Hippy Chick has "double" standards.
It has not escaped my notice that all the visits to NC by obama, his Wookie, and Slo-Joe have been to college campuses, but Mitt and his folks go to businesses (what few are left).
Pete, excellent analysis (on the feelings stuff) and a good follow-up insight (that's why they can't be joked with--never thought of that, but since humor is rooted in truth, it makes perfect sense!)
In case people aren't familiar with Dr. Sanity, check her out (she is on haitus until after the election but there is a lot of good stuff in the archives). She's a shrink who writes very well about exactly that topic--the psychological issues such as defense mechanisms that explain why people act so crazy (especially leftists, and she isn't shy about pointing that out, but of course things like denial apply to us all).
As to looking 250 years old, I probably do when I get discouraged. But in fact I was not at the actual original teaparty, as you suspected. I'll have to change my phrasing on that one, LOL!
I saw a bumper sticker: "I think, therefore I'm liberal". I had to wonder if that liberal is into homeopathic medicine, ESP, reincarnation, seances and such. You know, all that stuff that the supposedly highly-educated, liberal arts college grad who loves Barack Hussein is into.
On another note, I have to wonder if all the Obama-lovers would love Obama so much if he were all-white, instead of half-white. In other words, would Barack Hussein stand a snowball's chance in hell of being re-elected if he were not half African? How would the effects of his policies look to all the folks who suffer from white guilt?
@Colby- It's critical that Obama and his lackeys visit colleges because their target audience is people who embrace theory and have no actual life experience.
@Sarah Rolph- I wasn't familiar with Dr. Sanity, but will check her out. Clearly, liberalism is much more about emotion and self-esteem than any recognizable form of logic.
@JustaJeepGuy- I have to laugh at the phrase "I think, therefore I'm liberal," because it places such a high value of thinking rather than doing. Because if you're actually doing, you see what works and what doesn't work, and change your gameplan accordingly. But liberals live in a world of pure cognition, untainted by cause, effect, or reality.
Regarding Obama's race, if he was entirely white (or even as white as Elizabeth Warren), we never would have heard of him. A radical community organizer who became a state senator for a few months, voting "present" on major issues? A buddy to bomb-throwing terrorists? A man who embraces Socialism, is tied to criminal activity in Chicago, and has a wife who boasts that she's never loved America? Make no mistake: Barack Obama is the first - and hopefully last - affirmative action "white guilt" president.
Doesn't Barack Obama remind everyone that he is just another Eddie Haskell when dealing with the economy and foreign policy! It sure does and here is the resemblance between the two:
1. Eddie being Barack: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWnD6ZWsCi0
2. Barack being Eddie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh0ib0bSj-o
America, whether liberal or conservative......this is what is leading "your" country.
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