by Jim » Tue Jan 18, 2011 8:39 am
S: For someone who isn't a talk radio "buff," you sure seem to spout a lot of their lines, terms and rhetoric, especially the line about Obama's propaganda arm "insisting that the shooter was just an ordinary citizen responding to Republican hate speech."
J: Actually, no. They spout a lot of my lines.
S: The President, in his speech, incorporated inspiring characteristics and actions related to each of the six fatalities. When he spoke about civility in political discourse, he was expressing the views and desires of Congresswoman Giffords. He chose the youngest victim to speak about hope for the future.
J: That sounds about like the lib-left media folks, who far outnumber those on the right and who perhaps mold your thinking for you. You’re probably an Olbermann fan, who froths at the mouth occasionally and has to be sometimes restrained, though he’s escaped the straitjacket so far. I know that’s unfair because I’ve made that judgment on perhaps ten minutes of ever viewing him, but word gets around. The prez did spend a good bit of time on Giffords even though she was not a subject of the “eulogy” since she survived. I don’t have a problem with that even though the political angle was all that mattered. He kept coming back to the young girl because the death of the young always elicits the most reaction and, of course, drives up the approval ratings…that “I feel your pain” approach.
S: Anyone who thinks that this was a "brazen attempt not to let a crisis go to waste" wasn't paying attention and already had their mind made up before he ever uttered a word.
J: You have made an apparent self-description. The networks are still playing the Tucson event for all it’s worth, although the “biggies,” having given the event the importance it deserves by being on the scene and eliciting as many tears as possible, have returned to their headquarters, leaving underlings to keep the thing going, thus reminding the public of the great heart of the prez, who turned a 20-minute teleprompter eulogy into a 35-minute standing ovation for himself. Distributing free T-shirts at a eulogy put the event in a class all by itself and put it in the proper perspective. I don’t know if that gem of an idea came from the president’s people or the university but it at least gave it the importance of an NCAA final-four game.
S: The November elections awakened the sleeping left. The tendency of this Presidents' detractors to put this kind of image on him, in some cases before he ever takes action or says anything, not only makes them look like idiots to the tenth power, but it helps add to his political capital, and increases the odds that he'll win a second term.
J: I sort of got the idea that the elections awakened the sleeping populace, which had had enough of being “socialized.” But the entire affair did help the prexy’s approval ratings, so he certainly didn’t let a crisis go to waste. The Ft. Hood affair was solemn and meaningful, not much help to a prez, but the Tucson ceremony had pizzazz, so look for similar affairs. Actually, I’m an idiot to only the eighth power, so I’m naturally offended.