maybe he hasnt done anything to have earned a Peace Prize yet but that sure does give some pretty high expectations for him to live up to

might have been a good idea I think

LOL
I voted for Bush! LMAO

The first time. Boy what a fool. By this time in his Presidency I was calling for his impeachment.
I still think he should be tried. Esp Cheney!

Obama?
I'm proud of my vote for him!

It's not the voters who should be regretting anything, they had a very dismal choice to begin with.

There was no "good" choices , only more or less popular.

They went with the more popular, for which I can't blame them, but I can blame the media for marginalizing the independent parties completely like they didn't even exist, and making the entire election nothing but a media spectacle, sugar coated with Hollywood Oscar night style coverage.

What we got in the White House is just an actor who had a great script made for the election, but then real world knocked on the door and found himself overwhelmed and unable to come up with one single compromise on his own.

So let me make sure I am clear here. 10%+ unemployment being " the new normal " is recovery?

Taxing the rich more and more, even though THEY are the ones who own the businesses that could create jobs....that's recovery???

I am a " middle of the road " kind of guy. But, as far as my money, I lean toward the conservative. I am not one of the radicals that want the rich to be completely unfettered to do whatever they want, but it's silly to think that making them pay more and more in taxes is going to somehow, magically, make the economy recover.

I heard Obama make some noises about giving a tax " credit " to businesses that hire new people. But that credit, the last I heard, was only gonna be about 3000 dollars.

Considering that a business would have to pay someone between 15-30k for an entry level type job, that credit just doesn't make up enough of the difference in the amount of takes they would still have to pay. That is NOT going to entice them to hire people.

" One has to understand what it entails "???

Jobs. The rest would take care of itself.

Another will be the morale of our citizens, who after years of being lied to have discovered a giant mistrust for our leaders.

Hate to break it to you, but an awful lot of the people STILL feel we are being lied to.

Why?? Because OBAMA isn't actually doing a whole lot of anything himself. The Dems in the House and the Congress are doing it. Whatever idea they come up with for a Health Care " plan " that gets put on his desk, he'll rubber stamp it, and then all the Dems are going to be saying that HE did it, when he did exactly nothing.

Obama has been making some pretty speeches, but as far as actual action, I am still not seeing it.

He went to China...so what? " But he worked toward repairing the relationships between us and China ". Again, so what? China owns this country. After all, who owns most of the paper debt of this country? No mention of human rights violations on the part of China. No even remotely strong words against some of the things going on over there. Did he do anything at all to fix the MASSIVE trade imbalance between America and China? Not that we know of.

Even though countries across the oceans hated Bush...I would rather see our country hated, but respected, than for it to be seen as weak.

Again. I am a " middle of the road " guy. Neither the extreme left, nor the extreme right are going to pull this country away from the abyss it's on the edge of.

Obama talked about " compromise " and " cooperation ". Let's see him back up the pretty words the speech writers handed to him during the campaign.

He spoke a lot of " hope and change ". But millions of jobless people in this country are seeing nothing from him that gives them the " hope " he promised.

More taxes for more government programs....no " change " there.

Eventually, we are going to get to the point where we just hand the government our paychecks, and they'll just give it back to us as they see fit. Everything else will go to their " programs ".

The common theme I see in most (not all) positions opposing OBama is that certain issues that are important to the poster have not yet been addressed and resolved in the ONE year Obama has been in office. By this standard, everyone should oppose him because there is just no way that he could resolve EVERY issue, even in four years, let alone one. I live in Nevada, and we have seen plenty of relief in the way of home foreclosures declining because of programs implemented to help people receive mediation instead of immediate heartless evictions. I have seen relief in the way of credit card companies not being able to up interest rates because of debts made to OTHER companies. There are plenty of ways that some relief has begun to reach different parts of the country, because its not in the area of unemployment,, yet, , is hardly the reason to throw the President under a bus....good grief

don't forget that the majority that oppose Obama wear tin foil hats. The above poster that commented on his "promises"...that's a cop out argument since any president can't single handedly do anything.
And the one that stated we didn't have many choices....I for one would have preferred Mitt Romney but you bigoted Republicans threw him under a bus on the basis of his religion.

Obama is not responsible for the unemployment exactly. Although his Admin is responsible for checking it at 10%. It most likely would have been more like 25% by now with little signs of improving, had he not become President.
His Admin has also been busy putting in checks to prevent the same economic meltdown from occurring again. This is very important when considering any time table for the recovery. Anyone could throw in a quick fix, however a quick fix would also be artificial and not very sustainable.
Trying to hide the economic problems the country was racing towards for a year or more, (Bush Admin), was reckless.
Almost as bad as when people began to notice calling it a mental recession, (McCain)

I've got news for you. Years of trickle down economics and short-cuts lead us to this break down. To keep doing the very things that brought us to this point would be moronic.



Not many! That's just a minority screaming at the top of their lungs.
Few in number but very loud. Almost comical in the transparency behind their hatred.

Oh, please do " enlighten " me as to the root of their " hatred ".

I mean, it couldn't possibly be because they simply see the President taking what they consider to be the wrong steps toward recovery.

Different reasons for different people.
Would you like me to run down a list and then you chose which one fits who?

Why not?

I'm sure fiscal policies won't be anywhere on the list.

I'm genuinely curious.

Check this out!

7. Bandwagon

The basic premise for the bandwagon technique is to suggest that ’since everyone is doing it, you should too’. It’s aim to persuade people to follow a general trend by reinforcing the human need to participate on the winning side. One can suggest to an audience that he or she will lose out by not moving with the rest of the crowd, thus preying on their insecurities and fears.

With the aid of all the other propaganda devices, all of the artifices of flattery are used to harness the fears and hatreds, prejudices and biases, convictions and ideals common to a group. Thus is emotion made to push and pull us as members of a group onto a Band Wagon.

5. Plain Folks

A technique whereby the propagandist positions him or herself as an average person just like the target audience, thereby demonstrating the ability to empathize and understand the concerns/feelings of the masses.

One may perform ordinary actions or use language and mannerisms to reach the audience and cohere with their point of view.

We are all familiar with candidates who campaign as political outsiders, promising to “clean out the barn” and set things straight in Washington. The political landscape is dotted with politicians who challenge a mythical “cultural elite,” presumably aligning themselves with “ordinary Americans.” As baby boomers approach their sixth decade, we are no longer shocked by the sight of politicians in denim who listen to rock n roll.


I think those best describe the quoted post!

Most all Republican arguments can be found on the list of 7 propaganda techniques.
Most all are used daily on these threads. Although I think they are used here out of accident. I doubt the suaveness of most of the poster could instigate their use premeditatedly.


1. Name-calling

This involves the use of words to connect a person or idea to a negative concept. The aim is to make a person reject something without examining the evidence because of the negative associations attached to it.

Examples of words include ‘Terrorist‘, ‘Nazi‘ and ‘Queer’.

Name Calling is used as a substitute for arguing the merits of an idea, belief, or proposal. It is often employed using sarcasm and ridicule in political cartoons and writing.




2. Glittering Generalities

The opposite of name-calling, this involves the use of highly valued concepts and beliefs which attract general approval and acclaim. These are vague, emotionally attractive words like ‘freedom‘, ‘honor‘ and ‘love‘.

This method works because these concepts/words mean different things to different people, while still having a positive implication.

When someone talks to us about democracy, we immediately think of our own definite ideas about democracy, the ideas we learned at home, at school, and in church.

Our first and natural reaction is to assume that the speaker is using the word in our sense, that he believes as we do on this important subject. This lowers our ’sales resistance’ and makes us far less suspicious..




3. Transfer

This is a technique used to carry over the authority and approval of something you respect and revere to something the propagandist would have you accept. One does this by projecting the qualities of an entity, person or symbol to another through visual or mental association.

This stimulates the recipient and makes him/her identify with recognized authorities.

In the Transfer device, symbols are constantly used. The cross represents the Christian Church. The flag represents the nation. Cartoons like Uncle Sam represent a consensus of public opinion. Those symbols stir emotions. At their very sight, with the speed of light, is aroused the whole complex of feelings we have with respect to church or nation.




4. Testimonial

The aim of testimonial is to leverage the experience, authority and respect of a person and use it to endorse a product or cause. Testimonials appeal to emotions instead of logic because they generally provide weak justifications for the product or a cause of action.

‘The Times said,’ ‘John L. Lewis said…,’ ‘Herbert Hoover said…’, ‘The President said…’, ‘My doctor said…,’ ‘Our minister said…’ Some of these Testimonials may merely give greater emphasis to a legitimate and accurate idea, a fair use of the device; others, however, may represent the sugar-coating of a distortion, a falsehood, a misunderstood notion, an anti-social suggestion…”




5. Plain Folks

A technique whereby the propagandist positions him or herself as an average person just like the target audience, thereby demonstrating the ability to empathize and understand the concerns/feelings of the masses.

One may perform ordinary actions or use language and mannerisms to reach the audience and cohere with their point of view.

We are all familiar with candidates who campaign as political outsiders, promising to “clean out the barn” and set things straight in Washington. The political landscape is dotted with politicians who challenge a mythical “cultural elite,” presumably aligning themselves with “ordinary Americans.” As baby boomers approach their sixth decade, we are no longer shocked by the sight of politicians in denim who listen to rock n roll.




6. Card Stacking

A way of manipulating audience perceptions by emphasizing one side of an argument which reinforces your position, while repressing/minimizing dissenting opinions. An example of this articles/media events which compare and contrast the best possible scenarios with the worse examples.

Assume a newspaper editor were in favor of the non-enforcement of immigration laws. Should the issue of immigration law enforcement ever be debated among legislators, the editor might publish articles and editorials that ignore all mention of illegal alien criminals, gang members, and prisoners and report only on decent, hard-working foreigners instead. This sort of card stacking could go on for weeks and influence public opinion on the issue.




7. Bandwagon

The basic premise for the bandwagon technique is to suggest that ’since everyone is doing it, you should too’. It’s aim to persuade people to follow a general trend by reinforcing the human need to participate on the winning side. One can suggest to an audience that he or she will lose out by not moving with the rest of the crowd, thus preying on their insecurities and fears.

With the aid of all the other propaganda devices, all of the artifices of flattery are used to harness the fears and hatreds, prejudices and biases, convictions and ideals common to a group. Thus is emotion made to push and pull us as members of a group onto a Band Wagon.

1.) Spite and embarrassment; that all their faith and rhetoric in defending Bush, when everyone else recognized him to be what he was, A liar, a failure, and a dictator, were the blind faith of only 22% of the population.
Mad that even when coupled with another 20% of the pop who still harbor racism were not enough to defeat Obama.

2.) Racism.


3.) The understandable few who are afraid of change.
Understandable because change does scare many, but these people are also susceptible to the 7 techniques of propaganda I mentioned above. As such these are the targets of the well versed Republican Propaganda machine.
Fortunately, the few buying into this propaganda will come back to Obama as his accomplishments ease their fears. 11 months is a very short time!

4.) Republicans for life. There are some out there who still hope their Party will recover from their devestating defeat. Some of this group are cooperative and do understand 11 months is not a fair amount of time to judge a Presidency.

There are four groups.

Crisp follow-through Fanta!!!

Love it!

yeah..like i just saw obama chokin the hell out of a baby yesterday...
god!!! his pet project isnt abortion,
just because he believes in choice.
and he is scrambling everywhere trying to repair all the damage done over the years in the government...hasnt wven been in office a full year yet...
mccain would still be sittin on his hands
at least obama is bustin his *** trying to do the right thing

Now Fanta...you know those things happen on all sides. It's not exclusive to Republicans or Democrats.

I just do them for fun

What " bandwagon " do you think I am on?? From what I see around here, the majority of the people who post in these forums are on the Obama Bandwagon. They have yet to recognize that some of the things he is doing aren't going to do anything but damage this country's economy even further.

Obama is not responsible for the unemployment exactly. Although his Admin is responsible for checking it at 10%. It most likely would have been more like 25% by now with little signs of improving, had he not become President.

Wow. You are quite the prognosticator. Funny how people will say you one can't possibly know what Obama thinks but you'll sit there and say that you have a very good idea that unemployment would have been Depression level had Obama not been elected. Rather impressive.

His Admin has also been busy putting in checks to prevent the same economic meltdown from occurring again. This is very important when considering any time table for the recovery.

I saw that one of those " checks " is the ability of the government to come in and take over ANY business that " appears " to be threatening to the economy. That, to me, leans more and more toward Socialist Party politics than anything I have heard up to this point.

At the first sign of " greed " the government can step in.

Who gets to determine what is " greedy " behaviour and what isn'?

If a company turns a profit ( which is what companies are supposed to do ) that " seems " to be more than the Dems think is proper, they government can come in and take over the business??

What would be the point of going into business and providing jobs in this country?? Where is the incentive for bigger business to hire people, get more productive and make more money when they know that the government could decide that the company has made " too much " and step in and take their business away from them?

this....

Anyone could throw in a quick fix, however a quick fix would also be artificial and not very sustainable.

and this...

I've got news for you. Years of trickle down economics and short-cuts lead us to this break down. To keep doing the very things that brought us to this point would be moronic.

...actually get the same answer...

Throwing money at the problems ( which this country can ill afford to do at this point ) IS a " quick fix ".

I never, at ANY point, have ever said that we should keep doing " more of the same ". I know full well that " more of the same " is what got us into this mess in the first place. Along with the Dems insisting ( and passing bills which Bush signed ) that banks be required to give home loans to people who either couldn't afford them or didn't have the credit rating that the banks would have normally required. The banks then ran with it and started doing things that got us to where we are.

I can't follow your thought process.
Maybe it's just too many quotes. Maybe it's the illogical and biased answers.
I stated my thoughts and I'm sticking to them. I'm ready to move on now.