During the 2008 presidential campaign–as he did in his speech to the 2004 Democratic National Convention which secured his celebrity, Barack Obama presented himself as a new kind of politician who could transcend political divisions and and bring together a badly polarized nation.
Since his inauguration, however, he has passed up many opportunities to do as he promised. On that very day, he could have chastised those who booed his predecessor, saying something like, “While we may disagree with his policies, we should respect the office that he once occupied and that I now occupy. And let us appreciate also the devotion he has shown to the country we all love.” Or some such.
Three days later, he bypassed another chance to rise above the fray.
When he met with congressional leaders that Friday, “top House and Senate Republicans expressed concern to the president about the amount of spending in the package” (AKA the “stimulus”), echoing concerns (e.g, in the third debate when he said, “we’ve been living beyond our means“) he made on the campaign trail, he snapped back, “I won.” Had he said, “I see your point,” he would have showed that he intended to fulfill the promise of his campaign, proven himself to be a unifier, rhetorically at least. And what if he had floated a compromise idea, offering to retain only the “stimulus” spending that would be dispersed in the following six months.
Then, he could add, while I think the whole package is necessary, let’s see if this helps. If this doesn’t jump start the economy, then — and only then — we can consider another injection of federal cash.
This way, instead of signing on to a plan crafted in the back rooms of congressional Democrats, he would have shown himself as willing to respond to Republican concerns; he migh have forced a few Republicans to cross over and support the proposal. Not just that, he would have had a ready-made excuse should we not see the promised decline in unemployment. “We didn’t spend enough,” he could have said.
But, he (and congressional Democrats) got everything they wanted. Like his predecessor, Obama lost a chance to stand up to a spendthrift Congress.
Well, he’s still kowtowing to that Congress:
Pelosi and other House leaders told senior White House aides at a recent closed-door meeting that they felt the president was spending too much time bashing Washington without pointing the finger of blame at Republicans – a rhetorical nuance they argued could backfire by provoking voter anger at the party in charge in Congress.
On Thursday night, there was no confusing Obama’s belief that Republicans aren’t doing their part to solve the nation’s problems.
Here’s the president at the fundraiser with Pelosi,Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and other senior Democrats: “You would have thought at a time of historic crisis that Republican leaders would have been more willing to help us find a way out of this mess — particularly since they created the mess … [W]e got our mops and brooms out, we’re cleaning stuff out, and they’re just sitting there saying, ‘Hold the broom better, that’s not how you mop.’ Don’t tell me how to mop. Pick up a mop!”
Seems the president is more interested in currying favor with Nancy Pelosi than he is in fulfilling the promise of his campaign.
But Obama doesn’t want to unite the nation. He’s here to divide us, wreck the economy, and bring the US down to the level of the third world. In Obama’s view – the Liberal Progressive view, we’re just a member nation in the global village, each of us a citizen of the world. There are to be no leaders – except for him and people like him. Look at everything he’s done. Nothing, NOTHING illustrates any desire to unify, move the nation forward, or become a leading superpower.
Jesus, the bellyaching that goes on around here in lieu of any actual political discussion is getting awfully predictable and stale. Obama’s not going to unite a nation where half the populous is having a conniption fit every other day and pretending to be negatively affected by every little thing he does. Unity is a two way street, and to lean back in your chair and point your finger at the guy you didn’t vote for and accuse him of being the one the one that is holding up all the uniting and coming together is such a transparent little ploy that I honestly can’t believe you’re still going there. The guy is basically following George Bush’s war plans to the letter and all anyone ever hears from the right is how he hates American and loves the terrorists – do you really think that’s making an effort?
I have an idea; why don’t you change the name of your blog from
“GAY PATRIOT”
to
“OBAMA HURT MY FEELINGS TODAY WHEN HE…”
And then you just fill in the rest. I’ll give you some examples for post ideas:
“Obama hurt my feelings today when he bowed to a foreign leader!”
“Obama hurt my feelings today when he said ‘I won.’!”
“Obama hurt my feelings today when he said something not so nice about Fox News’s journalistic credibility!”
“Obama hurt my feelings today when he failed to appear from behind the curtains in my bedroom when I sneezed and say ‘God Bless You.’ What is he, a godless communist?”
“Obama hurt my feelings today when he failed to solemnly reflect on the greatness of Ronald Reagan for at least 20 minutes when he walked past the Gipper’s portrait in the White House today!”
There’s a whole day’s worth of posts for ya!
When is dinner in DC?
“You would have thought at a time of historic crisis that Republican leaders would have been more willing to help us find a way out of this mess — particularly since they created the mess…”
Ah, how quickly the Democrats forget who was in control of Congress in 2008 (with assistance from a RINO president) when the crisis hit. They need to stop pointing fingers…and get back to mopping.
Dear Levi,
Come back and wag your finger to us about “bellyaching” after you get your tax bill next year.
The opportunities you point out were never even recognizable to Obama. It simply wasn’t, isn’t, in his DNA to see possibilities of unity. He’s a Leftist, and all a Leftist understands is divide, defame and conquer. He never saw a choice in the matter.
Levi, please instead of attacking me, why don’t you try addressing my points and telling me just exactly where I’m wrong — as you believe me to be.
Please tell me why my suggestions on how Obama could have acted is faulty — or why he was right to retort, “I won” when GOP leaders offered a serious criticism of his proposals.
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve thought the same thing. Nicely written.
The useful thing about Levi is that he demonstrates how the screaming Left really are hypocrites to the core, given their unwillingness to follow any of the demands they place on others.
For instance, Levi regularly wails here about “hateful rhetoric” and when other people say things that hurt his feelings. But then he mocks people who complain about statements hurting their feelings and insists that these people have no valid concerns.
Furthermore, Levi also screamed that Bush’s war plans constituted crimes against humanity and that anyone who followed them should be impeached and sent to prison.
And then:
The guy is basically following George Bush’s war plans to the letter
So what we have here is one of two possibilities:
— Levi is a hypocrite who won’t hold Barack Obama accountable
— Levi is lying about Barack Obama’s supposedly following Bush’s plans, which makes it obvious that Barack Obama is doing nothing to protect the country against terrorism.
Either way, Levi ends up the fool. But is he merely a liar, or an outright hypocrite?
I know you’re just going to throw insults at Levi now, but he’s right in that unity requires both sides wanting it. In this case one side sort of wants it and makes too many concessions while getting nothing in return, while the other side wants to derail everything through whatever means possible (including more filibusters than any other congress in US history) in order to try and maximize their chances in the coming mid-term elections.
The simple fact of the matter is this. Unity in this case would mean compromise with the Democrats. But when you’re convinced that your opponents are socialists who are trying to destroy the economy and the nation, you’re liable to think “Compromise = Death”. That tends to put a spanner it the works of any ‘unity’ effort, and it seems churlish to blame your opponents for scuppering such efforts when you never had any intention of compromising your views for the sake of furthering the effort.
Of for the the love of…
OK, right here, right now. Who the hell is a real, proper Republican? I want to know so I can note it down for when they do something you don’t like and suddenly become RINOs too.
What, you mean the ones with the middle and lower-class tax cuts that mean 92% of people have actually seen their tax bills go down under the Obama administration?
If you think your taxes are going through the roof, how about doing the actual sums and showing me by how much? You seem obsessed with the subject, surely you’ve already done this and become angry through seeing how much higher your taxes are. Right?
Where did Obama seriously deviate? By agreeing to the Afghan troop surge? By agreeing to stay in Iraq longer? By keeping Guantanamo Bay open? Seriously, how much of Bush’s plans have really been scrapped? Also, wasn’t Bush a RINO anyway?
Serenity, be honest please. For every claim that “Obama is a socialist who wants to wreck the economy”, there are 10X as many people on the Left calling Repub.s “tebagging Nazi Klansmen”, Bushhitlers, Rethuglicans, etc.
And further, BHO only wants “unity” so he can take all the credit if something succeeds, and pass the buck if (and mostly likely, when) it fails.
I’d ask you to quantify that, but you and I both know that’s completely impossible. So I’ll just wait here for one of the more unhinged commenters to come in and make my case for me by saying something they probably shouldn’t have.
#4: “Dear Levi, Come back and wag your finger to us about “bellyaching” after you get your tax bill next year.”
Don’t be silly, MarkJ. Levi doesn’t pay taxes. And neither does Serenity–she lives in the UK.
If Obama were truly a uniter during the charges of RACISM being thrown around by a Corrupt Media invested in the story he could have come out and condemned it if it did happen (it didn’t) but used it as a teachable moment to say WE ARE ONE COUNTRY but he lives for the Alinsky model of dividing us on race and money.
He and his minions in the Democrat Party are the TRUE racists who have allowed this hate to percolate between Hispanics and Whites and Blacks and Whites but in the end he will be the loser because White America is NOT going to allow him to destroy this GREAT Country with his HATE and he will not divide us. WE refuse to be pawns in his game any longer, those charges of RACISM are mocked today because that charge has NO POWER any longer.
Of for the the love of…
OK, right here, right now. Who the hell is a real, proper Republican? I want to know so I can note it down for when they do something you don’t like and suddenly become RINOs too.
Actually I prefer the term “Conservative”, but I’ll give you a hint: if you shriek and have convulsions whenever you hear a certain Republican’s name…good chance they are a “proper” Republican 🙂
As for Bush- I can’t speak for everybody, but any Repub. who signs Pelosi+Reid’s 400 B budget deficit into law; never uses his veto powers; goes along with all sorts of dopey Lib. domestic policies; signed the bailout bill, etc. is a RINO in my book. Ditto Ahnuld and Tricky Dick Price Controls
And yes, to preempt your retort…the Gipper ran deficits- nobody’s perfect, but at least his deficits accomplished his goal of bankrupting the Soviet Union. Oh yeah, and he created 21 million jobs, anyways.
2.Jesus, the bellyaching that goes on around here in lieu of any actual political discussion is getting awfully predictable and stale. Obama’s not going to unite a nation where half the populous is having a conniption fit every other day and pretending to be negatively affected by every little thing he does.
Obama could’ve conceded to Republicans by either scaling back the spending in the stimulus, including broad tax cuts, or a combination. He did neither.
Levi,
You are right! Obama is never going to unite the Republican base with his socialist, America-hating welfare recipient base, no president ever has. Even the most popular president in history, President Bush, who had over 80% approval, still had the treasonous, America-hating left opposing him and actively working to undermine their own country.
The point is that Obama can’t unite ANYONE. He has failed to unite independents behind his agenda.
In fact, its incorrect to say that Obama hasn’t united the country. He has. He has united large majorities in OPPOSITION to everything he has done. All the bi-partisan agreement has happened in opposition to Obama’s radical, destructive agenda.
Indeed, THE most unifying policy of the entire Obama era has been Arizona’s anti-illegal-immigration law, that 73% of Americans support.
Which is why Democrats will be out on their asses again this November; the one thing unifying Americans is they HATE HATE HATE the regressive Obama/Democrat agenda.
#2: “The guy is basically following George Bush’s war plans to the letter and all anyone ever hears from the right is how he hates American and loves the terrorists – do you really think that’s making an effort?”
Obama can’t even promote unity within his own party when it comes to national security–since Schumer and Co. have been such lapdogs to the Obama Administration from the beginning, he knows they won’t criticize him too loudly when he does things like slash federal funds for NY transit and port security by 27 percent ($53 million).
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/no_money_for_you_ny_fBJjChNG6FTfPY0a8ZfQ4M
Levi,
The GDP will be over 100% by 2015. This is ALL THE DEMOCATS DOING!. I bet you don’t even know what this will mean to this country.
With pleasure, parasite.
And that’s just the health care taxes. We haven’t even talked about the carbon taxes and VAT that Obama is demanding be imposed on Americans.
Now, parasite, harmonize your whine that “92% of people have actually seen their tax bills go down under the Obama administration” with the fact that VAT, carbon, and health care taxes are being imposed on EVERYONE.
Answer: Because you don’t pay taxes, parasite.
Now, Serenity, since we’ve provided facts that show taxes ARE going up immensely, you need to provide facts on how much you actually pay in income taxes annually in both of the countries in which you claim to vote — the US and the UK.
While you’re there, you also need to provide how it is that you vote in both countries — oddly enough, with the Obama Party’s assistance in the United States, it appears. Do you also claim citizenship in the UK and make donations to Obama?
…We haven’t even talked about the carbon taxes and VAT that Obama is demanding be imposed on Americans.
And wait, there’s more!: Letting the Bush tax cuts expire, the new oil co. tax to deal with the oil spill (which will get passed down to consumers), more monkey-business with the AMT, cigarette tax hikes, not to mention all the state tax increases.
And now BHO’s calling his tax “pledge” (no tax hikes for those under 250k) a mere tax “preference”.
Please tell me why my suggestions on how Obama could have acted is faulty — or why he was right to retort, “I won” when GOP leaders offered a serious criticism of his proposals.
I’m not even going to accept your premise – GOP leaders never offered serious criticisms and Republicans never showed any indication that they wanted to work with Democrats on anything. Such a pathetic memory you have – Republicans ran against Obama by insisting that he was a socialist and a weakling as if they had just rattled off one of the most successful runs in American political history. And you’re trying to remember it like after the Republicans were the most gracious of losers after the campaign. It’s insane for you to expect to be able to hurl all kinds of absurd accusations against someone for years and then turn around and demand that they work with you and incorporate your ideas into their plans.
He was right to say ‘I won’ because he won. It sounds like you want a participation trophy. How does it make sense that the losing party in an election should be listened to when it comes to implementing the victor’s agenda? Were Republicans going out of their way to listen to liberals when they were in the minority?
This is like beating my head against the wall. You don’t understand the point of holding elections if you sit around complaining about how the losers should have more of a say in the decisions.
Levi, if you’re not even going to accept my premise, why did you even bother commenting.
Go back to the 1990s and the 1980s and you’ll find numerous examples of GOP cooperation with Democrats.
So, please respond to my points if you want me to address yours.
Everything I just said, by the way, is a justification for why Obama should be ignoring the Republicans. In truth, he has actively sought their input and radically altered his signature pieces of legislation to try to lure them into supporting him, often times compromising the objectives of his liberal base, for nothing in return. It’s no exaggeration to say that the Republican idea of compromise is to do everything the Republicans want to do, and Obama seems more and more comfortable entertaining those delusions.
Levi, if you’re not even going to accept my premise, why did you even bother commenting.
Go back to the 1990s and the 1980s and you’ll find numerous examples of GOP cooperation with Democrats.
So, please respond to my points if you want me to address yours.
If I’m responding by saying that your entire argument is fallacious, that’s still an argument and it’s still a response, and it is something you should have to deal with if you claim to have any intellectual honesty. When you say something like “GOP leaders’ serious criticism,” you’re being facetious. The Republican Party hasn’t been capable of serious criticism for some time. As Obama came to office, something needed to be done about the economy. The Democrats’ idea was a stimulus package, the Republicans’ idea was to call Democrats socialists. Republicans started the 2010 campaign as soon as the 2008 campaign was over, and every move they’ve made has been single-mindedly focused on winning back control of the government. In the Republican method, you don’t do that by offering ‘serious criticism,’ you do that by flailing your arms around and being hysterical.
What were the ‘serious criticisms’ of the stimulus package? That it cost too much? From the people that have committed a trillion dollars to a decades long war in the Middle East against bands of terrorists? If you’re still not willing to reconcile and take responsibility for the reckless spending that Bush and all these Republicans engaged in, you’re incapable of making serious criticisms. Sorry, your premise is simply false.
Well, if it’s so fallacious, Levi, it should be easy to debunk.
All that said, I have to say I’m eager to meet you in DC. In what part of town do you live? How flexible is your schedule?
Il Douche makes two photo ops a year apart with Republicans and dumbass tools like Levi call that reaching out. He made no concessions on any of “his” legislation because 1) he’s offered none and 2) the liberals made concessions to keep the Blue Ball liberals on the plantation.
Also, I would love for Serenity to explain EXACTLY which taxes were cut. Anytime liberals bring up the alleged tax cuts, I always ask which taxes were cut. So far, not a damn one has been able to answer.
Looking forward to your instructional reply, Serenity. And none of this “If you don’t know, I can’t help you” bullshit of an excuse either.
I suspect your time would be better utilized and would have more fun getting a Sigmoidoscopy.
#9 Serenity said:
So, Serenity, how does Obama go about assuring the country and the Republicans that he is not a socialist intent on destroying the economy and that “Compromise does not equal Death?”
#12 Serenity promised:
Let us stipulate that I am your prey. I will play your cat and mouse game. Show me that it is “unhinged” to believe that “compromise=death” when the very economy of the nation is at stake.
Let me also stipulate that the Bush deficits were unnecessary and highly damaging. I will also stipulate that both wars have been politically, financially and spiritually destructive. I particularly dislike the Bush unfunded prescriptions for seniors (of which I am a beneficiary) plan. There, I have thrown my hat through the door by a little Bush bashing.
Now, let’s get on with the Obama/Democrat Congress that is charge of cleaning up the Bush mess and restoring the country to fiscal stability and patching up the general welfare. If it is still all the fault of Bush, that tells me that Obama and the Democrat controlled Congress have no plan, no solutions, no desire to take the reins and lead.
Shall we follow the lead of England? No financial mess there. Where is socialism thriving, the economy coming into balance, sustained economic growth, and low unemployment taking place?
What is the Obama and Democrat model for how all this added skyrocketing deficit spending and unfunded entitlement stuff is going to stabilize the country and return us to prosperity?
Or, are we just supposed to join the EU and English socialist lemmings and run in a pack to ……. ?
That should be enough for you smack around.
Well, if it’s so fallacious, Levi, it should be easy to debunk.
All that said, I have to say I’m eager to meet you in DC. In what part of town do you live? How flexible is your schedule?
I live in the Northwest, near the zoo. I should have some nights off whenever you’re around.
I don’t know anyone who actually thought Obama was going to bring together Democrats and Republicans and we’d all hold hands and sing Kumbaya. Bush promised the same thing. Maybe both Bush and Obama believed they could do it, but it didn’t happen for either of them. The current political climate does not allow for that.
About Republican input…how much Democratic input was allowed into bills passed under the Republican Congress of 2001-2006? In the last couple of years there were concessions to Republicans on committees who got their bit in the bill and then they voted against it anyway. That’s now compromise. If Republicans want to sign on to a bill and get some of what they want on it, they could do something. But if they are going to demand concessions and then not vote for the bill when it’s done, they will just be ignored in the future which is what happened. Read David Frum for details on how this played out in the health care bill.
Now, let’s get on with the Obama/Democrat Congress that is charge of cleaning up the Bush mess and restoring the country to fiscal stability and patching up the general welfare. If it is still all the fault of Bush, that tells me that Obama and the Democrat controlled Congress have no plan, no solutions, no desire to take the reins and lead.
I don’t think Obama and the Democrats have a very good plan for economic recovery myself, but they’re hardly destroying the economy. In liberal economic theories, the role of the government in a recession is to pick up the the slack of the private sector by doing what it can to prevent job loss, create new jobs, and generally keep some amount of money moving around. It isn’t a turn to communism, it’s an attempt to keep the economy afloat. That said, I think Obama’s efforts here have been very scatter-brained. The spending should have been more focused and solutions-based, in a lot of places he seemed to be just adding in whatever pork projects were lying around. Things do seem to be improving, though, and that just makes the tea partiers look sillier. Complaining about taxes as taxes go down just doesn’t make much sense.
#33: “Things do seem to be improving, though, and that just makes the tea partiers look sillier. Complaining about taxes as taxes go down just doesn’t make much sense.”
Pretending that Obamacare does not contain a laundry list of new taxes that will be passed on to consumers and that Obama’s agenda will not lead to higher income taxes on the middle class and/or a value added tax on all consumers makes even less sense.
Again, Levi, who admits he believes in the policies responsible for the deaths of 150 million plus, trots out his tried and true talking points and can’t back them up.
Now I’ll admit, saying things like ‘we win’ decrying any critique of policy as racism and claiming that blind luck are part of our security system were not the high points of President Bush’s administration.
Oh, wait… that’s President Obama.
Well maybe it’s bipartisanship to confirm nominees from the previous administration, letting prominant senators from the other party write major legislation, and sharing chiars and committee positions in a split congress (even though the party in power has a majority due to the VP seat) will be remembered as high points of the Obama administration.
Oh, wait, that was PResident Bush and Republicans… never mind.
As to Levi himself, I’ve recently documented all the little socialists’ lies. He still can’t put up evidence of President Bush attacking a network, or his successful socialist countries. Why should we be surprised he can’t back up his wild statements here?
“Things do seem to be improving, though, and that just makes the tea partiers look sillier. Complaining about taxes as taxes go down just doesn’t make much sense.”
Can you please explain why most economists still won’t say the recession is over if things are really getting better? Why the U-6 is a 17% after 862B of stimulus?
And tell me how raising taxes to pre-W. Bush levels (“rolling back” = raising) is somehow equated with “taxes going down”?
Thx a trillion.
Obama had a chance to go down as one of the great presidents… all he had to do was address black Americans and speak the truth: that most of the problems in the black community are self-inflicted and that “acting white” (if that means studying, working hard, accepting responsibility, and eschewing the gangsta culture) is a road to success.
If he would have done that one thing – getting blacks to realize that whitey isn’t to blame for urban violence and all the rest and that he (Obama) and others like Condi Rice, Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell, Ronald Williams (CEO, Aetna), Kenneth Chennault (CEO, AMEX) are examples of what is possible (not to mention the millions of blacks that have successfully entered the middle class since the 60s).
If Obama would have simply worked to bring blacks into the mainstream (instead of playing the race card over and over – working to divide the US into warring tribes)… I could live with a lot of the nonsense. The fact that he failed to even attempt this brands him an irredeemable failure.
The more you listen to Levi and Houndentenor, the more you realize what hypocrites Obama Party members and “progressives” like them are.
For example, Levi first claims this:
But then Houndentenor whines this:
So again, the little hypocrites insist that elections mean you get to impose your will by unilateral fiat — but then whine and scream and claim that imposing your will by unilateral fiat is wrong when they’re not the ones doing it.
And now, let’s talk about today’s latest news.
Remember what Levi was previously babbling about Hollywood types?
And:
It is now clear that the ideal of these “funny, smart, creative” people is dictatorship.
Now watch as all of our liberal trolls run away and refuse to comment.
Does levi know why it took Obama 9 days to react to the oil spill in the gulf?
Huh?
I like How Obama has started going around, giving speeches of course….
telling us how great things are.
10% unemployment, 18% underemployment, 12% inflation….
things are just awesome Mr President. Like the oil spill, it takes him a while to realize things……but 18 months…. yikes.
Bush believed he could do it because he did it in Texas. Then he hit the national stage and ran headlong into the Washington liberals. He tried early on, but they stabbed him in the back for it.
The thing is that the businesses he needs to start hiring people are on his Enemies List. As long as he targets them, they won’t be hiring folks. They knew when he was elected they were going to get screwed. The question was how badly.
The only “uniting” he’s interested in is uniting people against his enemies.
LOL 🙂 So funny!
Sean A, true. But let’s not forget the cruelest tax: Bernanke destroying the value of the U.S. dollar, at Obama’s behest and to finance Obama’s insane spending and deficits.
#41 the only businesses Obama (D) isn’t ripping to shreds are the ones that aren’t profitable and need subsidies to survive (dopey green ideas). Everyone else who is profitable might be hiring by now. But why should we? If he is going to attack us, fine…..do it yourself Mr President. Good luck.
I have just now returned from a jam-packed day of fooling around with liberals and their devotion to the “concept” of “human rights.” They are so short on determining who determines their hallowed “human rights” and who enforces them. The dodging, ducking and weaving to avoid the topic of responsibility and counter balance by leftists and their feel good elitism would be laughable if they weren’t so sanctimonious and dismissive.
But, I see that Serenity has not deigned to pee on my matches. Darn. My offer in my comments at #29 still stand. How I do love to be edumacated by them what knows.
Barry never had any intentions of “uniting” the country in the way in which we have been in the past, and many of us knew that. It also appears that the republican men have been quite weak and mealy mouthed (except for in the blogs) and the women have been hitting him hard over and over again. God I sure as hell hope that these women keep hitting him and embarrassing the guys, and maybe we’ll have some real LEADERS uniting this country.
Then again, Government Motors is claiming that they’ve paid back their debt to society. Surely that lie is good enough to bring the economy roaring back.
It’s been a few months, but Hoffa was bragging about how he single-handedly saved YRCW from the eeeevil derivatives folks. Nevermind he displayed awesome ignorance of how derivatives work. That should bring the economy roaring back too.
Curiously, on the things the country is united about… for example, securing the borders, domestic oil production, cutting government spending … Obama is opposed.
Levi in #25 illustrates the absurdity of the concept of liberal thinking beautifully:
Obama says you must cooperate with his agenda to have unity and if you do not cooperate, you are to blame for the lack of unity.
Levi says your argument is fallacious and you must correct the argument, because disagreeing with whether it is fallacious is not permitted. In fact, you have no intellectual honesty if you do not accept his ruling. Which is Levi’s way of saying “I won.” Strange, I have heard that argument before.
Circular arguments get better and better if you adore looking up your own rear end.
Then Levi turns to scolding:
So, if that is the rule, must we ignore that the Democrats controlled Congress starting in 2006 and failed miserably at rolling back all the Bush recklessness? Do I recall the Democrats screaming for a balanced budget and getting unfunded entitlements under control. Do I recall that the Democrats were worried sick about the shaky underpinnings of Fannie/Freddie and wanting to immediately face the shortfalls in Social Security and fix the Medicaid bankruptcy and fend off the impending Medicare bankruptcy and curtail the earmark silliness and reign in John Murtha’s corruption and certainly not add prescription drugs for seniors to the mess? Do I recall that the Democrat sent multiple tax increase bills to Bush which he vetoed, vetoed, vetoed.
Then Levi explains the ineffectiveness of the Democrats at the end of the Bush years thusly:
Well, OK, Levi was talking about current Republicans, and I dolled it up to refer to the Democrats from 2006 to 2008 and the 2008 Democrat primaries and the Obama campaign.
But it works just fine the way I maneuvered Levi’s words, because circular arguments are like that.
(No animals were harmed in this commenting. I left the mule Levi rode in on totally unscathed. A jackass on a mule is something to behold.)
And Levi, if you see Serenity, tell it Heliotrope says hello.
#50 And how’s next year’s budget coming along?