
Horses for courses. RD is what it is. And now and then, even in an environment where, politically, I'm very much the minority, I find a gem like this. It was posted originally by someone who used to be a member here and doesn't recommend I credit them directly, in collaboration with another, who I encountered once only and chose never to have anything to do with again.
I like this list of misdemeanours attributed to Mr. Obama. It shows us he is a fallible human being, perhaps not as incompetent as his predecessor, but nonetheless, he makes mistakes. In our role in the blogosphere, left, right or upside-down, we should hold him to account, analyse his every move. I like this post because it attacks what matters, and isn't about his skin-colour or his Kenyan or Muslim background. I saw an amusing reply on the original - one of our own moderators here - 'if Bush hadn't started two illegal wars and tortured people, I could forgive the use of a teleprompter'. Choice words. But I still think this is worth the read. Slightly altered to fit here, but the questions are the same ...
Would liberals / socialists / lefties make as much noise if Obama screwed up, as they did when it was Bush?
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ALL WE ASK IS FOR YES OR NO ANSWERS TO THE FOLLOWING 18 SIMPLE QUESTIONS.
THE ESSAY QUESTION AT THE BOTTOM IS OPTIONAL OF COURSE, BUT WE WOULD APPRECIATE YOUR FEEDBACK.
ARE WE REALLY SO DIVIDED BY PARTY LINES WE CAN'T SEE THE HYPOCRISY?
I WAS NO GREAT FAN OF BUSH AS MANY OF YOU KNOW. I JUST REALLY WANT TO UNDERSTAND FROM MY LIBERAL COUNTERPARTS WHY OBAMA IS HELD TO SUCH INCREDIBLY DIFFERENT STANDARDS?
1)If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved/excused?
2)If George W. Bush had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?
3)If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought this embarrassingly narcissistic and tacky?
4)If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, would you have approved?
5)If George W. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the non-existent "Austrian language," would you have brushed it off as a minor slip?
6)If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current on their income taxes, would you have approved?
7)If George W. Bush had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to "Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the fifth of May (Cinco de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again, would you have winced in embarrassment?
8)If George W. Bush had mis-spelled the word advice would you have hammered him for it for years like Dan Quayle and potatoe as "proof" of what a dunce he is?
9)If George W. Bush had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on "Earth Day", would you have concluded he's a hypocrite?
10)If George W. Bush's administration had okayed Air Force One flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing widespread panic, would you have wondered whether they actually "get" what happened on 9-11?
11)If George W. Bush had been the first President to need a teleprompter installed to be able to get through a press conference, would you have laughed and said this is more proof of how he inept he is on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes?
12)If George W. Bush had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans , would you want it made into a major ongoing political issue with claims of racism and incompetence?
13)If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?
14)If George W. Bush had proposed to double the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?
15)If George W. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?
16)If George W. Bush had reduced your retirement plan's holdings of GM stock by 90% and given the unions a majority stake in GM, would you have approved?
17)If George W. Bush had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to take Laura Bush to a play in NYC, would you have approved?
18)If George Bush had claimed we had 57 states in our county, would you have been forgiving and brushed it off as just a nervous mistake?
So, tell us again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? Can't think of anything? Why is the current POTUS not held to the same critisisms as Bush or any other POTUS?
Don't worry. He's done all this in 5 months -- so you'll have three years and seven months to come up with an answer.
Please remember we are not looking for rebukes regarding Cheney or any of the members of the former administration.
Yes or no answers to the 1st 18 questions. It's that simple.
Thank you.
After careful consideration, I am beginning to suspect that people are less critical of the personal and professional foibles of "leaders" when they agree with the politics of that leader...
AntwortenLöschenIt's shocking! It's almost as though we're a nation of partisan hypocrites! I mean, I'd say that if I didn't know better.
But I know better, so I am confident that the hypocrites are only those on the OTHER side of the debate from you (whoever is reading this right now), whichever side that might be...
We're being steadily dumbed down. So we're reaching the stage where we'll accept Ronald McDonald as our Glorious and Brilliant Leader.
AntwortenLöschenReality Tv, Facebook, The Sun, Akon, Big Brother, etc, etc. ..
Hmm, I see there are few answers still and certainly no simple Yes or No responses. It seems this is a difficult task. It really requires no great amount of thinking or insight. It doesn't require explanations.
AntwortenLöschenAgain, it is not about Bush or his administration. What it is about is holding Obama accountable and not above reproach.
What is it about politics that makes people have to act patronizing and condescending?
AntwortenLöschenDii, Arnold speaks English with an Austrian accent. Austrian is a German dialect.
AntwortenLöschenThat particular list of questions reflects the political bias of their author, and some of them don't translate exactly from one to the other, so it is meaningless just to answer yes or no to all of them.
AntwortenLöschenAt this point in relative time Bush hadn't done much of anything notable one way or another, and I don't recall anyone making lists of whatever minor public mistakes he may have made. I believe we were already aware of his seeming inability to pronounce "nuclear", but that's about it. Once it was obvious that invading Iraq was a major bad move we began evaluating him much more critically. Perhaps the attitude toward Blair in the UK made similar changes.
So, on August 3, 2001, those items on the list that could be considered actual mistakes wouldn't have affected my opinion of Bush much, if any.
I object to the attitude reflected in #4. Gestures and words of respect are an important part of diplomacy.
[11] What could possibly be the objection to a teleprompter? That it's "newfangled"?
Paper notes are more "organic"? Incidentally I heard today that Obama has already made more public appearances as President than Bush did in 8 years.
[12] I l haven't heard that aid had been requested and denied in that area. Maybe I missed that story.
[13, 14, 15, & 16] Assuming the same economic crisis, none of these should be a problem.
In retrospect, it would seem we didn't evaluate Bush critically enough in his first 2 years. There was certainly nothing close to the barrage of extreme and often hateful criticism that Obama has endured from the beginning. So, I wonder who deserves the label of hypocrite in this comparison?
Was I being condesending? I don't feel as though I was.
AntwortenLöschenCosmic in the 1st 6 months of this administration, he and his administration have had more gaffes, done more thoughtless things and offended more allies than Bush did in the 1st 4 years. I've already admitted to not being a Bush fan. I feel nobody is taking the current POTUS to task. Excuse it if you chose. I chose not to.
AntwortenLöschenI'm not sure that most of the examples listed here regarding Obama - nor most of the things that Bush was commonly criticized for - are really proof of us being "dumbed down" nor our leaders being "dumbed down".
AntwortenLöschenI think it's proof of the camera adding 10 pounds and subtracting 20 IQ points. I can't IMAGINE the dumb crap I say on an average day - the grammatical errors I make, or that Abraham Lincoln made, or that Plato made.
Fortunately, we don't have a) cameras following us around, b) half of an electorate that is insanely rabid and actively looking for possible mistakes, and c) an internet to spread the pieces of golden foolishness around on.
There are some of things listed here that matter, that we SHOULD care about. The iPod incident or spelling "advice" wrong, not so much. It's fair game in politics, just like when Bush thought Greeks were called "Grecian." But it kind of shows where our priorities are for public policy.
I'd gladly have a President who can't spell if he was scoring even a C+ on the stuff that matters...
"It seems this is a difficult task. It really requires no great amount of thinking or insight. It doesn't require explanations."
AntwortenLöschenThere's no WAY someone types that sentence and doesn't know they are being condescending.
Pigeon, you asked to use this, I agreed. You see what we have now don't you? Not much critical thinking. Just blind support, and making me the bad person for asking simple questions from the left...
AntwortenLöschenProbably, but the picture up top is brilliant!
AntwortenLöschenWhat's LEFT? What's RIGHT?
AntwortenLöschenTurns in the road. ..
I thought that light was going to come down from the sky or something after I answered those...
AntwortenLöschenI mean, since it was important enough for roex to start insulting people about, I figured it must have been pretty amazing, even with the cliched name-calling in the blog itself...
I'm really damn disappointed...
Seriously, though... there seems to be an epidemic on this group right now of a conservatives asking rhetorical questions they think prove some big point, and then getting mad when they don't get the answer they want.
amen to that
AntwortenLöschenWhoever did the Photoshop work on that picture is a f**king genius.
AntwortenLöschenBecause we're worn out. GW was a tough ride. O gets the slack. Those of us who tried to convince the rest of the world that W wasn't exactly Leader of The Free World material kind of sort of hoped the Free World would get it right this time, however they were the same people that elected W for a second term so we all knew we were being hopelessly optimistic.
AntwortenLöschenBut now we're just tired.
Where the hell did you see any blind support? I suggest it is you that have the blinders on if that's what you got out of the answers. And there is no way to adequately answer all those questions YES or NO councilor.
AntwortenLöschenYes, great work, and so true. Does somebody know where it comes from?
AntwortenLöschenI do not see such a difference between Bush and Obama. They made their way and act within the same political system. Errors and mistakes happen to anyone. What matters is their different attitude, program and intelligence. And one of them didn't come into the position with ballot rigging as far as we know, but by the overwhelming support of the people.
I just got it off Google images
AntwortenLöschenOffended more allies? Exactly which allies do you think were offended? More importantly, did THEY think they were offended? The President has made great strides to improve our relations with allies and with everyone else as well.
AntwortenLöschenPerhaps you may say that Israel was offended by Obama's insistence that they follow the Roadmap agreements to Mideast peace, but that needs to be done. Israel's government has become much to aggressive for its own good, and for world peace. I support Israel, but I will criticize it when it is wrong.
As I pointed out, Obama has already made more public appearances than Bush did in 2 terms. He does them very well. Anyone would make minor mistakes, but they don't distract from his clear message.
Ist of all I am not in the group. Secondly I insulted no one. Regarding your third remark, I am not angry in the least. I know what would happen over here, and it did.
AntwortenLöschenNobody can give a yes or no answer to very simple questions.
Rhetorical or not, I wrote the blog on RD. Pigeon asked if he could use it. I really didn't expect much. I received even less. Have fun. I won't be back.
(1) They were only simple questions to the simple minded. And by that I mean the person that made up the list.
AntwortenLöschen(2) Thank you for letting Pigeon use your questions.
(3) Don't let the door slam you in the butt on your way out.
I think the POINT this piece goes to is VERY legitimate.
AntwortenLöschenParty crap makes people black out. Social policy - and personal mistakes - are either good or bad, contructive or destructive, blah blah, regardless of whether there's a (D) or (R) after the actor's name.
Hell YES partisan Dems are acting like morons accepting stuff they'd NEVER accept out of Bush. But the Republicans are attacking things much milder than what they defended 6 months ago as well.
HOWEVER, the fact that the blog goes on about "socialists" up top (and then goes on to claim its highly biased "Do you still beat your wife?"-type questions require Yes/No answers) demonstrates that this is NOT an attempt to open a discussion about expectations and hypocrisy but rather to insult. Folks with Socialism Tourettes aren't worth the time of people wanting to actually talk about policy/politics.
But the point is legit.
Anyway, don't let me keep you... They love Socialism Tourettes over at RD...
Good questions.
AntwortenLöschenI am not outraged by Obama's gaffes. I am outraged that the entire media that got him elected is shilling for him and his policies. Journalism did die in 2008!
AntwortenLöschen"The Washington Times has learned that ABC employees gave 80 times as much money to Mr. Obama's 2008 campaign for president than to his rival's. ABC is in bed with their source, so to speak. ABC is supposed to be a news organization, not a producer of infomercials for national health care. And I wonder what they would have done if the Bush administration had asked for positive programming to support the war on terror or Social Security initiatives," said Dan Gainor, BMI vice president of business and culture.
Here are the total 2008 cycle contributions to both Obama and McCain from ABC, CBC, CNN, Fox and NBC:"
Even Fox News gave 10X more money to Obama!
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2009/06/entertainment-divisions-drive.html
Even with the media in his corner he is still polling worse than Bush at this point in his presidency. He is simply in waaay over his head. This is what happens when you elect a one term Senator with no executive experience to think of.
"Polling data show that Mr. Obama's approval rating is dropping and is below where George W. Bush was in an analogous period in 2001."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123690358175013837.html
Yeah, and in the period right after September 11, 2008 he will drop wa-a-a-a-y behind Randy. You do have a point about the media though. Of course they all love to be a part of making history, which Obama's election, whatever else you think about him, certainly did.
AntwortenLöschenBush didn't inherit anywhere near as bad an economy as Obama did, and people are still running scared about it. They wanted it fixed by now, and Obama's team didn't do itself any favors by suggesting it could be back in January. I think that is a great part of the current poling numbers. That and the proposed Health Care changes really do stink.
Damn straight I do. Did you know that TIME magazine is putting Obama on it's cover for the for the 18th time in less than a year. They are doing a puff piece on his Golf game!
AntwortenLöschenhttp://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1914663,00.html
I am sure cosmicrat has already bought his copy and can't wait to find out O's handicap. For the record, I give Obama a C + on foreign policy so far. I give him a big fat F on everything he done domestically. Even the great car salesman himself can't sell this turd of a healthcare plan to those teeming masses of liberals reading People, TIME & hanging off of Rachael Maddow's every word.
Obviously, making big sweeping decisions is going to cause a President to alienate more voters than tinkering with small stuff.
AntwortenLöschenAt this point in Bush 43's first term, he was being told by his advisors that his stem cell research speech would LIKELY be the biggest policy speech of his presidency!
Soi it doesn't surprise me that the President's approval rating is slipping.
That being said, he applied for the job and used American impatience to his advantage last year. Live by American impatience, die by American impatience. Sort of ironic...
True - Then came 9-11! Bush acted - Gore would still be polling and holding town hall forums to decide what to do - what is most popular *democrats*
AntwortenLöschenA Democrat would have said "I know you hate us - we are sorry - We suck!"
Bush said this; *why I love the man*
I'm not even arguing about Bush per se. I'm just saying big decisions are more likely to create controversy than little decisions.
AntwortenLöschenBig decisions affecting the economy are BOUND to piss off some folks.
And they should, if you think about it...
Hard to argue with that Adri. Bush made some big ones - so has O.
AntwortenLöschenBush made big decisions after the 6 month mark, so it's not entirely appropriate to compare Obama's approval rating now with Bush's in August 2001.
AntwortenLöschenI think 50% is just about right, anyway. I don't think a President SHOULD have an approval rating above 50%. Keeps 'em on their toes.
30% would keep 'em on their toes even more.
Keeping the executive branch within its constitutionally-dictated parameters would, of course, end this discussion entirely....
Ah well. Not gonna happen...
Excellent points and the real faults lie with the media that has a total bias in reporting facts.
AntwortenLöschenThere is no balance anymore in the mainstream.