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Okay, let's see if we got this straight ... Now that the Supreme Court has upheld most of Obamacare we're going to be "gifted" with a health care plan we are forced to purchase and fined if we don't, which purportedly covers 10 to 30 million more people without adding a single new doctor (even causing established doctors to quit), but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents to make sure you have enough health insurance (and fine you and audit you if you don't), more than 180 new government agencies including 33 new government committees to make decisions for us...

On November 4, 2008, America changed. On that day, an inexperienced candidate with a scant resume and views that contrasted with the majority of the population was elected to the most powerful office in the world, the Presidency of the Unites States of America. Brand Obama is an ongoing series that chronicles the powerful psychological techniques used in this improbable campaign. Axelrod had one main problem: How to maintain support when his candidate was easily attackable on many fronts. He was selling a facade without much foundation. In the face of relentless attacks from a professional political adversery, how could...

This is only an excerpt. This article outlines six aspects of "supersuasion." 1. Simplicity ("Yes we can.") 2. Perceived self-interest (Convince 'em you care about 'em.) 3. Incongruity (not what you expect, where you expect it) 4. CONFIDENCE (You know more than they do; and everyone must know it.) 5. Empathy ("Ah feel yer pain.") 6. Humor (Disarming)

The books a child sneaks off his parents’ bookshelves and surreptitiously reads ought to be sex books. “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” and “Memoirs of Hecate County” scandalized and educated earlier generations. The volume I made off with was a 75-cent paperback of “The Hidden Persuaders” by Vance Packard. It did scandalize me, completely. But it did so by exposing the secret world of advertising and brands. Published in 1957, it is now enjoying its 50th anniversary and a new edition from Ig Publishing, with an introduction by Mark Crispin Miller. I remember my own edition as small enough to hide —...

Persuasion Tuesdays (PTs) are an organized way for center-right bloggers to post constructive articles on issues important to them. The connectivity of Web 2.0 affords us the opportunity to discuss these issues in a positive way and connect with others who feel the same. The goal of PT is to provide coherent arguments that lead to the enactment of the positions important to us. So much of the blogosphere, particularly the political portion, is devoted to attack pieces. Persuasion Tuesday is a chance to get away from the vitriol and bile and give positive reasons for our philosophies. Participation is...

/begin my translationChina Invites Kim Jong-il ...N. Korea's Decision on Spotlight China is aggressively pursuing Kim Jong-il's visit to China in order to restore deteriorating Sino-N. Korean relationship since N. Korea's missile launches, and forestall its 'further provocation.' In particular, Liu Xiao-ming, the new Chinese ambassador to N. Korea who is to start his work in Pyongyang this week, will convey to N. Korea President Hu Jintao's desire for official invitation, according to sources. According to diplomatic sources in China and Seoul on Sept. 3, after heated debates last month, Chinese leadership decided to actively pursue the restoration of relationship with N....

British security chiefs are studying a novel Saudi approach to combating terror - using clerics to debate "jihad" with jailed militants and convert them to more moderate beliefs. Seeking to fight Islamic extremism with Islamic theologians, the Saudi authorities say they successfully re-educated some 400 out of 700 extremists and released them from prison. The Islamic "counselling" programme is part of what British experts regard as Saudi Arabia's "model counter-terrorism campaign". Senior officials, including the MI5 chief, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, have visited the kingdom to devise a similar "counter-radicalisation" strategy for Britain. Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries...

S. Korea: Stopping Late Night Suicide Attempt Early morning on July 6th, an unidentified man(left) carrying a knife made a scene attempting to take his own life on the southern end of Young-dong Bridge (in Seoul.) A cop(right) was handing out a cigarette to him, while trying to persuade him to stop. After 8 hours of standoff, police was able to detain him without any incident.

Not surprisingly Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit gave a videoblogging demo, showing just how easy it is to add video reports to online content. In an interesting development, Glaser also reported that Cox announced he is working with the Poynter Institute to offer up online classes for journalists and bloggers explaining blogging basics. The classes will be part of Poynter's NewsU and may include information to help bloggers understand liability issues. On my own blog several months ago I pointed out the great potential for such synergy. Meanwhile newspapers continue to jump on the blogging bandwagon. Brian Gottstein, a former online...

“I want to reach out to people who are worried about values,” Dean said. “We are going to embrace pro-life Democrats because pro-life Democrats care about kids after they’re born, not just before they’re born.”—Howard Dean News flash: Howard Dean is clueless. In a recent “red, white, and blue” tour de farce of the socially conservative states, the newly minted chair of the Democratic National Convention has not only contradicted himself on abortion, but he has once again decisively proven why the Democrats will simply never win the votes of conservative Christians. Dean is an avowed abortion “rights” advocate. In...

Responding to a woman columnist's declaration that possession of a firearm made every gun owner a "potential murderer," a male professor (of conservative bent) at the University of Oklahoma asserted in a letter to the editor that her possession of an "unregistered sexual organ" made her a "potential prostitute." Can you imagine, twenty-five woman faculty members missed the thrust of his argument and responded by accusing him of sexual harassment. I don't fault him for making his argument in a manner bound to exasperate rather than persuade. It is an elegant analytical argument. Since we are all potential felons, the...

US 'psy-ops' division rolls out its weapons of mass persuasion By David Usborne in New York 21 March 2003 Call it the Airwaves War. The United States is engaged in an effort more comprehensive than ever seen before to use the power of broadcast to soften its enemy in Iraq and to soothe its population at home. Spearheading the electronic propaganda campaign are specially converted US Air Force cargo planes flying close to the Kuwait-Iraq border, transmitting a mixture of Arabic and Western music and spoken announcements to the citizens and troops of Iraq, urging them not to fight and...