The world of politics is never pretty and often very ugly.
One of the most ugly features is how the politicians switch facts around to protect their argument. They determine a conclusion that fits their needs, and then find the facts that support their conclusion, almost an intellectual reverse engineering.
It’s not all that hard, we teach it in every school that has a debate team. You are assigned a topic, and have to develop an argument to support it. The validity or accuracy of the facts you present is unimportant unless they are challenged by your opponent. Preparation becomes the driving factor: are you able to anticipate the challenges and overcome them? The bottom line is that in the end, the facts don’t matter. Just the Feel. Can you offer convincing sincerity? Confidence? Can you sway them with an emotional plea? All powerful weapons.
Now consider that in relation to politics. Politicians often present information based on how they want us to Feel, without regard to the facts. The sell us on the emotional appeal.
The Bush administration was soundly thrashed by liberals for what they allege is fear mongering tactics, whether it is Social Security (the SS system will collapse), Al Qaeda (terrorism and 9/11), Iran and North Korea (nukes in the hand of dangerous countries) or countless other examples seen hourly at the Daily Kos. The Bush Administration provided examples of things that were dangerous, to provide the Feel of security with them at the helm
The Democrats for all their piety are also masters of this game, only their goals are different. They try to scare us about Abortion (women dying in back alley abortions), taxes (your children will bear the burden tomorrow of the tax cuts today), the war in Iraq (endless examples of a war we cannot win, replete with dying soldiers and civilians) and locally it even jumped into the arena of gas taxes, when politicians and local bloggers told their readers about the death traps on the road, despite the fact their plans didn’t even fix the problems they cited. To them, the Feel they seek is betrayal of the Republicans and distrust.
I saw this noted on Sister Toldjahs Blog, and honestly, that is the best I can do to summarize it.
Apparently the facts were wrong, making it a lie, except that the essence was correct making it Clintonian truth. Kinda. I can’t sort it out really. And really, it doesn’t matter.
What this boils down to is Clinton heard a sob story and ran with it.
That’s what politicians do. They latch on to a story they figure can be sympathetic, and they tell ti over and over to make their point.
What made this such a gross debacle is that Clinton didn’t bother to have her staff do a bitty little thing called fact checking. So the family got run through the wringer, as did the hospital, all so she can make a few points.
Here is the real truth. She doesn’t care about this woman or her family, except where it intersects her desire to get votes. She doesn’t care about you or me and our lives except where we can be manipulated to cede her more power, fame and wealth.
She doesn’t care about the truth, the facts or the reality of the problem, just how she can use it.
The incident at Haditha–or the massacre, as it is often called–is due for a wholesale rethinking. The allegations are that in 2005 U.S. Marines went on a killing spree and deliberately executed 24 Iraqi civilians. The casualties have drawn an extraordinary amount of political attention, becoming an emblem for everything critics say is wrong with the Iraq war–in the common telling, another My Lai.
Thus Congressman Jack Murtha, a decorated combat veteran, made accusations of war crimes and said the Marines had killed “in cold blood.” These are serious charges; and military justice continues to deal with them seriously, though thankfully at a slower pace than politics. Now the prosecutions have mostly unraveled. It seems Haditha, though tragic, was exploited politically, and the allegations were exaggerated, if not unfounded.
Here is what we know. On November 17, 2005, Kilo Company of the First Marine Regiment’s Third Battalion was returning from a routine logistics mission in Haditha, a town 140 miles northwest of Baghdad. Haditha is in Anbar province, a heart of the Sunni insurgency with one of the highest U.S. casualty rates in Iraq. The security situation at the time was treacherous.
Shortly after 7 a.m., an improvised explosive device detonated under the last vehicle in Company K’s four-Humvee convoy. It instantly killed Lance Corporal Miguel Terrazas and wounded two others. Windows were shattered for 150 yards, and smoke and debris were everywhere.
Read the rest in detail at the link.
At Haditha, did the Marines act reasonably and appropriately based on their training? They were in a hostile combat situation where deadly force was authorized against suspected triggermen for the IED, and were ordered to assault a suspected insurgent hideout. In retrospect, the men in the car had no weapons or explosives; in retrospect, the people in the house were not insurgents. No one knew at the time.
At issue is this campaign ad for Democrat Claire McCaskill against Republican Jim Talent:
Fox is clearly suffering from the effects of Parkinson’s. The question raised by many was "how come on Boston Legal and at other appearances, he doesn’t seem as bad?"
It is on the surface a cynical and mean question. Would he really do something as exploitive like stop taking his meds to appear more symptomatic and therefore sympathetic?
Sadly, yes…or at least he has in the past. From his own site:
I had made a deliberate choice to appear before the subcommittee without medication. It seemed to me that this occasion demanded that my testimony about the effects of the disease, and the urgency we as a community were feeling, be seen as well as heard. For people who had never observed me in this kind of shape, the transformation must have been startling.
So yes, Fox has done that, and may have this time as well.
What bothers me more then the obviously emotional exploitation of the ad is the common misconception that is being ignored about stem cells and research behind the DNC talking points. Republicans typically support adult stem cell research, and generally oppose funding for embryonic research. And make no mistake, that is the issue: Funding. The fact that remains under reported is that there is funding already in place for embryonic research, just not federal. What I and many others continually ask is why so many rich democrats will vilify the Federal government for it’s lack of funding, yet they generally do not offer their own funding sources. Get Soros and Gates and Buffet to endow a few billion.
Ok, I am not about to start making some moralistic point here. Rest your minds at ease.
It’s just a TV commercial for coffee. And that really is one of the lines, "Get up, get out of bed, you can sleep when you are dead…" as only some golden hued sadistic happy happy joy joy morning loving zombies can sing it.
I gotta tell ya, it is one of the creepiest commercials I have ever seen. This is hell for the night owl/non-morning person.
And if tonight my soul may find her peace in sleep, and sink in good oblivion, and in the morning wake like a new-opened flower then I have been dipped again in God, and new-created. ~D.H. Lawrence
The voodoo priest and all his powders were as nothing compared to espresso, cappuccino, and mocha, which are stronger than all the religions of the world combined, and perhaps stronger than the human soul itself. ~Mark Helprin, Memoir from Antproof Case, 1995
The world of politics is never pretty and often very ugly.
One of the most ugly features is how the politicians switch facts around to protect their argument. They determine a conclusion that fits their needs, and then find the facts that support their conclusion, almost an intellectual reverse engineering.
It’s not all that hard, we teach it in every school that has a debate team. You are assigned a topic, and have to develop an argument to support it. The validity or accuracy of the facts you present is unimportant unless they are challenge by your opponent. Preparation becomes the driving factor, are you able to anticipate the challenges and overcome them? The bottom line is that in the end, the facts don’t matter. Just the Feel. Can you offer convincing sincerity? Confidence? Can you sway them with an emotional plea? All powerful weapons.
Now consider that in relation to politics. Politicians often present information based on how they want us to Feel, without regard to the facts. The sell us on the emotional appeal.
The Bush administration was soundly thrashed by liberals for what they allege is fear mongering tactics, whether it is Social Security (the SS system will collapse), Al Qaeda (terrorism and 9/11), Iran and North Korea (nukes in the hand of dangerous countries) or countless other examples seen hourly at the Daily Kos. The Bush Administration provided examples of things that were dangerous, to provide the Feel of security with them at the helm
The Democrats for all their piety are also masters of this game, only their goals are different. They try to scare us about Abortion (women dying in back alley abortions), taxes (your children will bear the burden tomorrow of the tax cuts today), the war in Iraq (endless examples of a war we cannot win, replete with dying soldiers and civilians) and locally it even jumped into the arena of gas taxes, when politicians and local bloggers told their readers about the death traps on the road, despite the fact their plans didn’t even fix the problems they cited. To them, the Feel they seek is betrayal of the Republicans and distrust.
“Good blog from a new reader." ~ Lars Larson, Syndicated Talk Radio Host
"I really was blown away by the depth of your writing -- do you write for a living? If not, why not? Count me among YOUR fans." ~ Melanie Morgan, Syndicated Talk Radio Host
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"Not trying to blow smoke up your butt, but you turn a nice phrase - even though we often disagree!" ~ Ken Schram, Northwest Radio and Television Commentator
New blog recommendation: ST reader Karl’s blog Leaning Straight Up
~ Sister Toldjah, Nationally recognized blogger
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