Republicans Get Rolled...And Deservedly So

Townhall.com ^ | September 8, 2009 | Neal Boortz

[wolfcreek]

Have they *watered down* the after the show pledge fest?

[aruanan]

These prepared remarks are the equivalent of the use (more widespread in the past than now) of the lab coat in commercials or the phrase "experts agree" or "four out of five doctors say that...." They are props used to gain the trust of the hearer. By telling the hearer things that are, in themselves, innocuous, he hopes to pass himself off as innocuous. They also serve the function of shilling for trust: "Wow, he told me the same things that my parents tell me. So I can trust whatever he says just like I trust my parents" or "Wow, my parents don't even bother to tell me to do well in school and that it's my responsibility. So he really does care about me and I can believe whatever he says."

The unremarkable truths also serve to help to disguise the mistruths:

--that he was a poor boy growing up (as a young child up to ages five or six he wouldn't have even been able to think of rich versus poor or of how his life differed materially from that of others; he was either with a well-to-do adoptive father in Indonesia and attending private school or with his grandfather and grandmother who was a vice-president of a bank in Hawaii and attending an exclusive private school)

--that he had no father or father figure in his life (he had his grandfather from birth, then Lolo Soetoro, then his grandfather again as well as Frank Marshall Davis)

--that he was too poor to go to school where the other "American kids" went to school (because at that point A. he was no longer American, having been adopted by an Indonesian, B. he was attending a private school that offered Islamic religious instruction, something most "American kids" didn't have any use for).

In other words, since he was a poor, fatherless child like so many of his audience, he knows just what it's like to be them and if they want to grow up to be well-to-do and powerful like him they should pay attention to whatever he tells them.

[Ann Archy]

AMEN! We should NEVER shoot off our mouths until we see the Whites of their eyes! Get some PROOF first, then act.

[Kaslin]

What the whole uproar was about; and rightly so, was the lesson plan that had been included for the children to write a letter to themselves in how they could help president 0bama.

[Peet]

Boortz argues like a typical liberal here: Ignore the real issue and bravely attack the straw man.

It is left as an exercise for the reader to determine what the really issue is...

[ArtDodger]

Boortz misses the major point. Obama is setting in place a system that lets a president have unfettered access to all the kids in the country where parental supervision is not allowed. This is followed with reinforcement by teachers, guided by the Dept. of Education (headed by an Obama appointee).
If you have ever had a kid come home with a dippy idea systematically put into his head by the politically correct powers-that-be, knowing you may never be able to deprogram it out, then multiply that feeling by 100....

[cripplecreek]

Boortz argues like a typical liberal here: Ignore the real issue and bravely attack the straw man.

That's exactly what he's doing.

[EBH]

You’ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free.

Many here on FR keep missing this statement for what it is. 0bama is not talking about critical thinking skills as we know them, in the context of the sentence he is referring to social justice skills.

No matter how many people tell me this speech is innocuous, it is not. It is a well crafted watered down introduction to the agenda. The social justice skills to the overly collectivist mentality of the piece to do things for the good of the collective.

[BallyBill]

He's right, but this only works for 0bama because the media will play this up as such. Just the opposite of the Van Lenin,er, Jones issue.

[driftdiver]

You don’t ‘fight’ poverty. You educate and allow business to create jobs.

[EBH]

Exactly!

[steelyourfaith]

Of course this school speech was initially going to be a propaganda ploy. Obama comes up with this political tactic in the midst of his agenda (and his Presidency) being on the ropes, and we know the indoctrination tradition in government schools.

Obama's not one that has a track record of issuing uplifting, positive messages in speeches. On the contrary, he's told the American people that we need to reign it in, in part to appease foreigners. His wife Michelle has repeatedly told audiences not to strive to achieve.

I have scant doubt that his speech has been modified in reaction to the growing vocal opposition to Obama's hair-brained ideas.

[Mamzelle]

Poor Neal. He’s embarrassed.

[rlmorel]

“Social Justice skills”.

Yep. That is it right there. ANYTIME you see the phrase “Social Justice” there is a liberal, and usually a radical liberal involved.

During the Cold War, whenever you heard “Imperialist Running Dog” you could be certain there was a Communist involved.

Same thing.

[Berlin_Freeper]

"and millions of school kids will sit around picking their noses at noon"

"See if there’s some drug available for that rectal-cranial inversion you’re suffering from."

Is Boortz able to splutter out a rational argument without the fixation of bodily orifices involved? Or is that part of what attracts his base?

Anyway, it somewhat disturbing that Boortz can't see that people spoke up against Obama on this because they love their children and thus the first instinct is to protect, which seems to me to have been accomplished.

Successfully protecting your child from political invasion of his/her school experience is a good thing Boortz.

Oh heck let me put it the way that can attract his interest: poopy pee pee snotty pee poo guardians protecting their children is more important to them than spinning politics - poo poo fart pee pee.

There, I hope that gets through to him and his base.

[calex59]

We’ll all claim that Obama changed the speech after the uproar from the right!

I guess this guy missed the fact that they DID change the speech. It wasn't the speech so much anyway as the obnoxious "home work" assignment that the "President" sent along to educators for the children to do. Not to mention his "I Pledge" tape he sent out that kinda gave a preview of what was really going to be said by the Bozo.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

See my tagline.

[Doogle]

I’m here
I’m glad
I know
I imagine
I imagine
Now I wasn’t
I’d fall asleep
But whenever I’d complain
So I know
But I’m here
because I have something
I’m here because I want
Now I’ve given
And I’ve talked
I’ve talked about your teachers’
I’ve talked about your parents’
I’ve talked a lot about your government’s
And that’s what I want
I want to start
I guarantee that
Now I know it’s not always easy
I know a lot of you
I get it. I know what that’s like
when I was two years old
and I was raised by a single mother
There were times when I missed
There were times when I was lonely
felt like I didn’t fit in.
So I wasn’t always as focused
I did some things I’m not proud of
more trouble than I should have.
And my life could have
But I was fortunate
I got a lot of second chances
My wife, our First Lady
I’m thinking about
I’m calling on each of you
because you believe, like I do
I hope you’ll all wash your hands
I want you to commit
I want you to really work
I know that sometimes
I do that every day
So today, I want to ask you
and I are doing everything we can
I’m working hard
So I expect you to get
I expect you to put your
I expect great things
I know you can

[Mamzelle]

re: Is Boortz able to splutter out a rational argument without the fixation of bodily orifices involved? Or is that part of what attracts his base)))

Does he have any kids? Can he imagine life with kids?

I know people who are fans of Boortz, and I don't really see the attraction.

[The Duke]

Republican screaming and wailing made it sound as if Hugo Chavez was flying in...

Obama or Chavez - about the same to me.