The National Rifle Association’s willingness and facility with lying about anything that might reduce the slaughter of innocent people by being shot has always been striking. But rarely has a national organization turned its back so completely on its previous positions, ignored the clear and overwhelming sentiment of the American people in general and its own paying membership in particular, and been so willing to depart so totally from facts.
Category Archives: Campaigns & Elections
“Everything we see is perspective, not the truth.” -Marcus Aurelius
Also posted in Civil Rights, General, Media, Political Rhetoric, Politics, U.S. Tagged gun background checks, gun control, gun safety, NRA, propaganda, The Brady Gun Safety Act, Wayne LaPierre 1 Comment
If the Other Side is Crying Foul, It Must Be Working
The Republican message machine learned that people are a lot more likely to listen and remember what you’re saying if what you’re saying connects to things they care about. Democratic messengers, on the other hand, always seemed to bring a knife to a gun fight.
Also posted in General, Media, Political Rhetoric, U.S. Tagged Congressional Republicans, Dave Winston, Death Panels, democrats, Frank Luntz, Means End Theory, New Direction Congress, Obama for America, Obamacare, Organizing for Action, political messaging, President Barack Obama, republicans, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth 1 Comment
Obama’s Second Term: What History Says To Expect
They sit outside the Oval Office beside a table still piled with Christmas gifts: four White House aides waiting for the president. It is January 1997. They’re supposed to talk with Bill Clinton about his inaugural, laying out themes for his second term.
Three of them agree on one thing. It’s time to retire that worn-out phrase they’d used so much in the past four years – “bridge to the 21st century.”
“We’ve got to be straight with him,” Michael Waldman, Mr. Clinton’s chief speechwriter, tells the others.
The door to the Oval opens. Clinton walks out. Without even saying hello, he says: “I don’t see why we can’t use bridge to the 21st century.”
Mr. Waldman wrote later about the answer they all chorused: “Absolutely, sir.”
“We were all well aware of the curse of the second term,” he comments in his book “POTUS Speaks.” “[F]ew had worked out well.”
Read MoreAlso posted in General, Political Rhetoric, Politics, U.S. Tagged President Barack Obama, second term curse, second term presidents, The Christian Science Monitor Weekly 1 Comment
President Obama’s Inaugural 2.0: Breaking the Second-Term Jinx
“At this second appearing to take the oath of the presidential office, there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first.”
So said Abraham Lincoln as he began his second inaugural address in 1865. And then he gave one of the greatest presidential orations ever, pledging, “with malice towards none, with charity towards all … to bind up the nation’s wounds.”
Read MoreAlso posted in General, Media, Political Rhetoric, U.S. Tagged "I Have A Dream", Emancipation Proclamation, inaugural address, Inauguration Day 2013, President Abraham Lincoln, President Barack Obama, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, President John F. Kennedy, President Ronald Reagan, President Theodore Roosevelt, President Woodrow Wilson, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., second inaugural addresses, State of the Union address 1 Comment
When the House of Representatives Isn’t
The sad fact is the People’s House no longer represents the people. Too many Representatives are completely insulated from a real constituency back home, yet are completely susceptible to the pressures of narrow financial or ideological interests in Washington.
Also posted in General, Politics, U.S. Tagged Congress, Gerrymandering, House of Representatives, redistricting Leave a comment
Moderate Republicans — An Endangered Species
In a surprising outcome better ascribed to the law of unanticipated consequences than a clever plot, a small group of moderate Republicans, particularly in the House of Representatives, are now poised to play an extremely powerful pivotal role.
This group, recently nominated for inclusion in the endangered species list, was given this power by their more conservative colleagues who rejected a compromise budget proposal — the so-called Plan B — recommended by House Speaker John Boehner. That created an unsettled situation that will likely be resolved when someone comes up with a plan that can win the support of House Democrats as well as enough moderate Republicans to put it over the top.
Read MoreAlso posted in Economy, General, Politics, U.S. Tagged House Speaker John Boehner, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, moderate republicans, Plan B, the fiscal cliff Leave a comment
Freedom’s Just Another Word
America is on the verge of losing something very important in Michigan and it isn’t getting nearly enough attention, probably because it’s just one more act in a long-running drama.
The Death of Ambassador Chris Stevens: Honesty and Accuracy
What is the Supreme Quality in any piece of professional work such as a speech? Choose from the following options:
- Simple message
- Strong structure
- Accuracy
- Loyalty
- Energy + commitment
- Clear language
- Honesty + integrity
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