[hyteckit]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

At least you got that right.

-t

I'm always right.

[stupendousman]

Originally Posted by Dork. 

I applaud your eloquence tonight. Bravo, chap!

I wonder if he's that much of a bore in real life?

[besson3c]

In real life I'm much, much better than you. In virtual life I'm also better than you.

[BadKosh]

Originally Posted by hyteckit 

Rush Limbaugh calls everything satiric whenever he is:

Nothing he says is true.

Lots of absolutes. Must be wrong.

[stupendousman]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

In real life I'm much, much better than you. In virtual life I'm also better than you.

Have your mom keep telling you that and it might help you not cry yourself to sleep at night.

[stupendousman]

Originally Posted by Dork. 

They are doing this as a strategy to keep the moderate swing voters in the fold by equating the GOP with folks like Limbaugh and Beck.

..and that's where they are failing. "Moderate" voters aren't normally those who would take sides in this issue. These voters have seen how Bush had to deal with what Obama dealt with for 8 years from an even larger contingent of media sources who were "out to get him" and he didn't play the whining crybaby with an enemy's list act like Obama.

When even a lot of Democrats on the left decry the tactic as desperate and partisan, it's not scoring points with moderates, I assure you. At best, they hope this is a distraction from the fact that they are failing at just about everything they are doing. When you have no good news - ATTACK!

[ebuddy]

Originally Posted by Dork. 

They're not bungling their PR message, you are getting the exact message the White House wants you to get.

I can't possibly imagine how; "our increasingly unpopular policy initiatives have gotten so far away from us that we can't defend them anymore so we'll attack anyone who opposes them" is an effective message from the White House. Particularly considering Obama's largest losses in popularity are among Independents.

They want to keep the focus on Conservative pundits and talk-show hosts, because they want to give the impression that there is no real leadership among politicians in today's GOP, so the talking heads are taking over the party. They are doing this as a strategy to keep the moderate swing voters in the fold by equating the GOP with folks like Limbaugh and Beck.

They've served only to increase Limbaugh's listening audience and Beck's viewers. Their message has essentially created a We/They mentality between politicians and people. By creating the divide between politicians and people, the Republicans need only to avoid being outspoken politicians (leaders) and they'll be viewed on the side of the people who overwhelmingly disapprove of Congress and increasingly disapprove of the policies of this Administration (politicians).

I maintain that this is not working well for them and will prove itself out in next year's elections.

Fox News may be the ratings leader, but expressed as a percentage of households even Fox doesn't have nearly the same clout that newscasters used to have in the age of the Big 3 networks. Obama knows the overt bias of Fox News, and he doesn't think he needs to put up with it right now. He thinks that anyone who is upset over it probably wouldn't be voting for him, anyway. He's probably right.

I think he's mistaken and it is making his Administration appear thin-skinned, indefensible, incompetent, and hostile to disagreement. Again, his largest losses are among Independents without which there is no Obama Administration. He's making a grievous miscalculation with his approach to dissenting views IMO.

[Dork.]

I can't really argue with either of you this morning, because I agree that it's a questionable strategy on the part of the Democrats. (Obama is not the only one doing it, BTW). The strategy does seem to be working in the short term, because there realy are no leaders stepping up in the GOP on a national scale to do anything but obstruct and argue.

The whole point of this thread to begin with is that the talking heads over conflict and turn everything into a big "Us Vs. Them" session to generate ratings. Obama and the Democrats have made the conscious decision to encourage that conflict, as long as it's predominately on the Conservative side of the spectrum. Obama's big mistake has been in making it so obvious. I guess we'll see in a few years whether this strategy keeps the moderates on board, or turns them away.

I think it depends, in large part, on who the Republicans put up against him in 2012, and if a leader really can emerge in that period of time.