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Ratner: Americans Too Dumb to Understand NSA Abuse; Dems Need to Explain "In Very Simple Terms"
Fox & Friends Weekend/NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

Posted on 01/28/2006 4:48:23 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest

Edited on 01/28/2006 5:19:34 AM PST by Jim Robinson. [history]

by Mark Finkelstein January 28, 2006 - 07:41

Just when you thought the MSM elites couldn't get any more condescending . . .

Ellen Ratner pulled back the veil this morning and exposed what she and no doubt others in the liberal media think of their fellow Americans: we're just too damn dumb to understand how the Bush administration is abusing us. Her proposed solution? Democrats need to explain matters to to the people "in very simple terms."

Ratner's comments came at the end of this morning's "The Long & the Short of It" feature on Fox & Friends Weekend, in which Ratner regularly locks horns with conservative columnist Jim Pinkerton.

Pinkerton broached the issue, asserting that the NSA wiretap issue is playing very well for President Bush, and suggesting that "if the Dems were smart they'd be talking about Medicare and things like that but they can't get off their ACLU reflex."

That's when Ratner committed this classic bit of condescension:

"You know as well as I know: if the American people really understood what was going on with their privacy, and the Democrats could explain it very simple terms, the tide would turn against the Bush administration."

Thanks for making clear what you and your MSM buddies really think of us, Ellen.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: foxfriendsweekend; nsa; pinkerton; ratner
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1 posted on 01/28/2006 4:48:25 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest
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To: governsleastgovernsbest
"You know as well as I know: if the American people really understood what was going on with their privacy, and the Democrats could explain it very simple terms, the tide would turn against the Bush administration."

And didn't Kerry just say something similar yesterday in the well of the Senate, regarding the Alito nomination? That we're too stupid to understand what's going on, and that we should trust the Dems to take care of it for us?

Oh, the red bits are just gonna love being talked down to...

2 posted on 01/28/2006 4:51:25 AM PST by mewzilla (Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. John Adams)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines; Miss Marple; an amused spectator; netmilsmom; Diogenesis; YaYa123; MEG33; ...

Fox & Friends Weekend/NewsBusters ping to the Today show ping list.


3 posted on 01/28/2006 4:52:27 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest (Watching the Today Show Since 2002 So You Don't Have To.)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

I can't imagine anyone being dumb enough to need Ratner's explanation on any topic.


4 posted on 01/28/2006 4:52:51 AM PST by OldFriend (The Dems enABLEd DANGER and 3,000 Americans died.)
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To: mewzilla

Especially by a low grade Lurch from Taxachussetts!


5 posted on 01/28/2006 4:53:18 AM PST by borisbob69 (Old shade is better than new shade!)
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To: Behind Liberal Lines; Miss Marple; an amused spectator; netmilsmom; Diogenesis; YaYa123; MEG33; ...

Fox & Friends Weekend/NewsBusters ping to the Today show ping list.


6 posted on 01/28/2006 4:53:20 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest (Watching the Today Show Since 2002 So You Don't Have To.)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

Thanks for the thread, BTW. You have my admiration for being able to sit through this. I saw the Long and the Short Of It was coming up and bailed.


7 posted on 01/28/2006 4:53:55 AM PST by mewzilla (Property must be secured or liberty cannot exist. John Adams)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest
Who the h*** is Ratner? Further ... who cares?
8 posted on 01/28/2006 4:55:29 AM PST by BluH2o
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To: governsleastgovernsbest
"In Very Simple Terms"

So, what's next? The dems will get some airtime, and with hand puppets and toy cell phones, demonstrate listening to conversations? Or will they escalate to doing a full-fledged marionette show?

9 posted on 01/28/2006 4:55:49 AM PST by C210N (Bush SPYED, Terrorists DIED!)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

Well the Dems have been calling it "Domestic Spying" (which it is not). How much simplier does Ellen want them to go? The more people understand the progream (one side of call overseas with suspected terrorist or affiliate of terrorist), the more they support it. Even with outfits like NYT and LAT running polls basically referring to is as "domestic spying" a majority still support it. The Dems dug themselves in another deep hole again.


10 posted on 01/28/2006 4:57:03 AM PST by frankjr
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

Ratner may be right. I am pretty dumb. However I understand quite well that communication between people who are trying to kill me is necessary for them to be successful. Now knowing that why would I not be in favor of listening into that communication?

We can pay $120 and receive a written record of anyones phone calls, we can steal their identities ,we can get their credit reports over the internet,we can watch them shop on TV monitors we can give them a traffic ticket by mail, we can listen in on their conversations in an automobile with GPS and know exactly where they are. What privacy is this scumbag talking about anyway?


11 posted on 01/28/2006 4:57:24 AM PST by sgtbono2002
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

Ratner's comments are hilarious coming the day after ABC's The Note made fun of the Democrats' biggest flaw: Democrats are so dumb they don't know how to explain anything simply. Read here, it's a joke column on one of the major differences between Republicans and Democrats:

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TheNote/story?id=156238


12 posted on 01/28/2006 4:57:48 AM PST by YaYa123
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

Let me explain this in terms liberals would understand

FDR made it legal for the president to use the military to "wiretap" the enemies communications into this country.

The NSA is a product of the military.


13 posted on 01/28/2006 4:58:00 AM PST by usmcobra (Yesterday I got to say the coolest thing for the first time,"My son in law is a firefighter.")
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To: mewzilla
"and the Democrats could explain it very simple terms,"

Ms. Ratner, if they could explain it in very simple terms, why aren't they?
(Short) answer, because they can't.

Please excuse the pun.

14 posted on 01/28/2006 4:59:27 AM PST by Flifuss
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To: C210N

The should take their agenda to Mad Magazine and Spy vs. Spy could make it clear and funny at the same time.


15 posted on 01/28/2006 5:00:03 AM PST by carumba (The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made. Groucho)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest
We're just a bunch of a banyo playin' chicken eatin' blue jumpsuit, long gun in the back of the pick up truck redneck hicks. Liberals are the enlightened nerds. That clears it up.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")

16 posted on 01/28/2006 5:00:06 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest
"...we're just too damn to understand..."

Evidently we're in just too damm much of hurry to make sure that what we're writing makes any sense.

17 posted on 01/28/2006 5:00:24 AM PST by Past Your Eyes (Criticize me if you will, but just don't circumsize me any more. -Kinky Friedman)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

If the Democrats were so concerned about wiretaps and imprisoning American citizens during a time of war, they wouldn't hold FDR to such high regard.


18 posted on 01/28/2006 5:00:34 AM PST by BigSkyFreeper (Proud to be a cotton-pickin' Republican on the GOP Plantation)
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To: sgtbono2002

I guess they were also against Early Warning Radar when the Soviet Union was in business. It wasn't Faaaiiiirrr that we should know ahead of time if a missile or bombers would have been coming our way.


19 posted on 01/28/2006 5:01:31 AM PST by maica (We are fighting the War for the Free World. Democrats and the media are not on our side.)
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To: governsleastgovernsbest

Ratner is just another lib who thinks being indoctrinated in the party line every day by fax equals some form of achieving higher intelligence.

The fact is, most of them are so inflexible in their thoughts they couldnt pour water out of a boot unless the DNC told them how to do it.

This is just another example of the DNC "blame the other side for our mistakes" denial doctrine they seem to know so well.


20 posted on 01/28/2006 5:01:42 AM PST by judicial meanz (Progressive liberals and Stalinists; tell me exactly where they are different in their beliefs?)
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