The Politics of Cognitive Dissonance - Why closed-mindedness is an imperative for the left…. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Chair of the Democratic National Committee, is an exemplary Lakoffite, relentlessly hammering home her own framing of each issue, and utterly ignoring the Republican frame, except on rare occasion to mock it. How effective is this? A quick survey of conservative sites shows that she is regarded as the Queen of Buffoons, a figure meriting gleeful derision and eliciting relief that the Democrats have selected the worst possible spokesperson. She certainly hasn't changed a single conservative mind, I can assure you. But has she converted "undecided" voters to the liberal cause?
I posit that the answer is "No," and I'll explain why. . . . Lakoff has an authoritative "scientist" persona in addition to his partisan "activist" persona, but in order to lend gravitas to his arguments he must conflate the two and pretend to be an impartial scientist while in reality enunciating transparently partisan talking points. Yet people like Debbie Wasserman Schultz don't have that option, so that when she speaks, every single listener already knows that she is a partisan spewing partisan spin. She doesn't have an "authority hat" to put on which might give her statements the veneer of impartial truth.
This is one difference between an intellectual and a politician: When an intellectual haughtily dismisses opposing arguments, he does so in part by resting on his authority as an intellectual. This authority may give him a false sense of his own intellectual strength and that of his arguments.
Budget Insanity: It's the spending, stupid…Even if you could balance the budget by taxing the rich, it wouldn't be right. Progressives say it's wrong for the rich to be "given" more money. But money earned belongs to those who earn it, not to government. Lower taxes are not a handout.
That's the moral side of the matter. There's a practical side, too. Taxes discourage wealth creation… Amazingly, we could grow our way out of debt if Congress simply froze spending at today's levels. That would balance the budget by 2017. If spending growth were limited to just 2 percent per year, the budget would balance by 2020! But the politicians won't do even that!
A quick reading of HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius's op-ed in The Washington Post reveals that she must think "you're an idiot," says one National Review Online columnist. “It is not an exaggeration to say that every part of her argument is either intentionally grossly misleading or untrue.”
Putin Punks Obama: The most glaring example of diminishing United States power and influence around the globe is the dynamic taking place between the U.S. and Russia regarding Syria. Russia has dispatched a flotilla of eleven warships, almost half of which have the ability to carry hundreds of marines to the eastern Mediterranean. Some of those ships are to be docked in Syria. It is the greatest display of Russian power in the region since the start of Syria’s current conflict.
Not unexpectedly, the response from Washington was, to put it politely, muted. Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the National Security Council said: “Russia maintains a naval supply and maintenance base in the Syrian port of Tartus. We currently have no reason to believe this move is anything out of the ordinary, but we refer you to the Russian government for more details.”
Sixteenth-century philosopher Étienne de La Boétie on cronyism, or how tyranny becomes advantageous to special interests: “In short, when the point is reached, through big favors or little ones, that large profits or small are obtained under a tyrant, there are found almost as many people to whom tyranny seems advantageous as those to whom liberty would seem desirable. Doctors declare that if, when some part of the body has gangrene a disturbance arises in another spot, it immediately flows to the troubled part. Even so, whenever a ruler makes himself a dictator, all the wicked dregs of the nation—I do not mean the pack of petty thieves and earless ruffians who, in a republic, are unimportant in evil or god—but all those who are corrupted by burning ambition or extraordinary avarice, these gather around him and support him in order to have a share in the booty and to constitute themselves petty chiefs under the big tyrant.”
Tweets & Quotes
CROOK Watch! GAO Is ‘Concerned’ about the Legality of Obama’s Senior Swindle
The AP Embraces Corporatism - What else do you expect in a progressive fascistic state?
Shouldn't our legislators have to sign loyalty oaths like our warriors? #islam #sharia #tcot #veterans
If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism. ~ Thomas Sowell
The 8 Most Shameful Moments of Barack Obama's Presidency
Amazing how the progressive press has managed to only report boos and none of the applause for Romney at the NAACP!
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