White House Photo
Anyone who proudly discusses their progressive and liberal political philosophies has undoubtedly felt the sting of slings and arrows from reactionary right-wing Neanderthals. The vitriol can be so spiteful we can become gun shy about attempting to engage in any civil discussion on vital national issues.
The most recent example of this was a simple statement from the president touting his personal experience about responsible gun use and American traditions:
“Yes, in fact, up at Camp David, we do skeet shooting all the time.”
- President Barack Obama
The New Republic 2013 interview
Fighting Fire with Fire, Everyone Gets Burned
What the President should have known and anticipated was the reaction of the extreme right-wing questioning the truth and sincerity of his statement. In response to a baseless barrage of social media chatter and typical Fox News pandering to their core neo-con audience, the White House felt compelled to release a photo of the President firing a shotgun.
Conspiracy theories galore!
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The irony of the response was not lost on former senior advisor David Plouffe who tweeted, “Attn skeet birthers. Make our day – let the photoshop conspiracies begin!” And the conspiracies did flow which only proves you can never get out in front of a public relations game played with dolts.
Can I get an AMEN!
For the presidential candidate who redefined and set the bar for the use of social media in a campaign, President Obama’s PR staff may be too sensitive to the conspiratorial cacophony of tweets and posts. He, and the rest of us, needs to remember that our social media musings are circulated among the sanctified brethren of our chosen political persuasion. In other words, we are preaching to the choir in hopes of getting a hardy “Amen” to our protestations.
Conspiracy theory pushed by the right-wing
alarmist site Push Back Now.
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In a partial defense of the trigger happy media image managers of the White House, the “You didn’t build this” quote was a self-inflicted wound. Plus, politics no longer rests on reasonable people making compromises but public relations management surrounding positions. The end game is always damage control from a national media that is more 24/7 reality show than news and information.
Who are the News Drivers
Before the internet and social media age, all the disgruntled rumblings of folks on both sides of the political aisle were just water cooler and porch talk. Rarely would the rants of the disaffected be the subject of any news program. Now the President of the United States has to defend his birth provenance by releasing his birth certificate because a few wackos like Donald Trump are viewed as a credible source.
This is the hysteria we live in today. We have no more civil discussions. If you don’t agree with the radical Republican Tea Party right -wing you are called a lying unpatriotic piece of pond scum not worthy to walk the face of the earth. Even the defenders of Richard Nixon were treated with more deference than anyone today who supports Barack Obama. This is the new era of yellow journalism as practiced by Fox News. As it had always been, it’s about attracting and retaining viewers in order to sell advertising, not journalism.
A Call to Arms
There are few words to express my contempt for people that put more faith in a draft-dodging, washed up guitar player, whose claim to fame is the moniker “Motor City Madman” than the President of the United States. It’s a real pisser that honest progressives have to constantly play defense with their comments and responses against the distortions of the psychologically distorted. This is the world we live in. So I will put on my breastplate of social media armor and go fight to enlighten those who have ears with which to listen.
About Kevin Knauss
Good luck with that and fight the good fight! Lord knows I keep trying to enlighten the disenfranchised Faux News followers – it is very much like building sandcastles against the tide but feels much more like repeatedly banging your head against the wall! Sigh . . .
I view all of them as my neighbors. You are never rude to neighbors and we all have to figure out how to get along on the block.
The President enjoys skeet shooting? Really? PULL! My leg that is………….
The President is an intensely competitive individual, just read about his basketball games. While I have never been skeet shooting, I can see sport and skill involved. It would probably take much of a bet to Obama to compete in a friendly round of skeet shooting, bowling or any other sport.
With all due respect Kevin, the President’s competitiveness really isn’t the issue here but rather his sincerity. Yes, there are some of those on the Right that will question anything that the man does as their feelings are motivated by hatred for the man – those people can be discounted; on the other hand, there are those of us who find the timing of all this to be oh so suspect. We see it as him disingenuinley trying to put a more softer tone around the gun debate as he tries to depict himself now as a sportsman who embraces recreational shooting; somehow this is supposed to make us more sympathetic to his side of the argument as we are to believe we can relate to him now as somehow being on our side.
Now if what he was doing as it concerns all other political matters was consistent with what he conveyed in his compaigns it would be harder to defend the outcry from the Right; however, seeing his record regarding the banks, the wars, the legislation he has either endorsed or created with regard to civil rights and due process, the plethora of executive orders, the blatant trampling of the Constitution when he himself is sold to us as being a Constitutional scholar etc., etc., makes me second guess these little things when he has already proven that on those larger matters he has failed miserably.
This President – like all those that have preceeded him since the Kennedy assassination – is there not so much to make policy as it is to sell the same policies that have been in place for quite sometime now. He is a representative of the State which is in effect a tool of the business interests of this country. I believe this President wasn’t so much popularly elected as he was ordained for the purpose of placating that segment of society clinging to the bottom rung of the economic ladder who would be the first to feel the ill effects of this economy. The real powers that be could now take comfort in knowing that their investments were now secure as that burdened demographic of our country could at least take solace that they seemingly had one of their own on their side. The OWS movement was more or less confirmation that it was indeed all a ruse.
So when we see this man trying to pander to those he has proven to be in vehement opposition to, try to understand our reluctance to take it all in at face value.
The President was asked a simple question in an interview, “Have you ever shot a gun?” Reply, “Yes, we shoot skeet all the time at Camp David” (paraphrased). The right wing has a hissy fit and calls for proof. White House releases a photo of Obama shooting gun.
So you want me to believe that this was Obama’s intent all along. Have a reporter ask a planted question, President replies affirmative, right goes crazy and White House releases photo to play “gothca”.
I agree that all Presidents side with the money in the U.S. Healthcare reform is a prime example and why Hilary’s plan failed. The ACA is a big give away to the health insurance companies…so what’s new? You don’t turn this country around on a dime and you don’t get elected or re-elected without lots of marketing to appear as centrist as possible.
But, when was the last time you had a sitting President declare that they were in favor of gay marriage?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUmKT43j4Tc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYkl3XlEneA
http://www.activistpost.com/2013/01/the-west-attacked-libya-to-stop-gold.html
http://whatreallyhappened.com/IMAGES/allwarsarebankerwars.mp3
Well like I said before Kevin and I will reiterate again: This President has failed so miserably at all the other major issues that now all these other minor items continue to be taken with a grain of salt as his credibility has been weakened. I have several links here that will make my case for the larger issues regarding guns and then another link dispelling all the happy talk regarding economic recovery. I implore you to take a look. I don’t want to be contentious, all I want to do is look at the facts and then render my verdict as to whether or not this President is working toward the best interests of the country as a whole or is engaged in the same reckless policies of all the other administrations that have preceeded him in an effort to do what is right for Wall Street.
Now believe it or not the overall fate of this country does not revolve around the issue of gay marriage. Right now we are seeing an epic battle between the failure of the dollar and a mad dash for success in conquering the Middle East in order for the ‘petro-dollar’ to still have backing and relevance. This and not the bogus argument regarding WMDs were the main impetus for our incursion into both Iraq, Libya and now the rest of the Middle East and Africa. If the reserve currency of the world fails then you will see a disastorous crash that will make the crises of 2008 look like a walk in the park.
Just today it was reported that large bets have been made against US equities markets that are akin to the large ‘put’ that John Paulson placed against the housing market before it all came tumbling down in 08′. Germany and a handful of other countries have asked for a small portion of their gold holdings back from the Federal Reserve and are now being told that it will take 7 years to repatriate their metal. Why? Becasue the gold isn’t there and it has all been sold off to keep fiat paper currencies – and specifically the US Dollar – solvent. Now several other countries are following suit due to undermined confidence of US monetary policy. China is dumping their paper holdings in exchange for record amounts of gold and Russia is almost completely divested itself of US debt. Look at the US Dollar index over the last decade and you’ll be able to see for yourself why this is a major focus of concern.
As a Libertarian I personally have no objections to gay marriage – but that is a sideshow right now. There is no economic recovery despite what our government is telling us and Obama is still their lightening rod to convince us otherwise. Don’t fall for it because it’s all propoganda in order to maintain a sense of calm as Wall Street continues to loot what little is left of middle class wealth. It would be more prudent for the Gay community – and the country as a whole – to see the bigger picture here instead of concerning themselves with the right to diddle each other’s fiddles while Rome burns.
The common language of the world is money. Arabs trade with Israelis for money and profit. Russia trades with China and some day we’ll again trade with Iran for money. Monetary policy, M1, M2, reserves, exchanges, etc., is far more complicated than the YouTube videos I have watched announcing the end of world as we know it because we are not on a gold standard.
I would say Obama failed if his policies and those of the Fed allowed us to slip into a depression. But they didn’t. And because of that mere fact, he succeeded. I would fear a crash in the dollar if the literally billions of dollars being hoarded in our country and around the world, not in any financial institution but stuffed under a mattress, were to suddenly flood the market looking to buy goods or exchanged for precious metals. That is not likely to happen.
The only people that care about the equities market are those who money off of the speculation. Massive amounts of wealth were wiped out during the recession and that did not lead to a revolution in our country or in the world. Is the equity markets, the dollar, interests rates and such being manipulated? Yes. Can the President really do much about? No. Does it effect me? Some, but I’ve already been wiped out.
If international sanctions tantamount to a world wide depression hasn’t stopped the economy of Iran, I seriously doubt that the U.S. will be impacted much by a collapse in the dollar. We really don’t need any other countries, we can, if we want, produce everything right here at home.
Yes, the language of the world is finance and money; however, the money that is being utilized is ‘fiat’ or money by decree with no limitations as to it’s quantity. Japan just recently engaged in a program of quantative easing as we have done here. This makes the Yen weaker but bodes well for their exports – at least temporarily. Now in order to compete, all other currencies will continue to devalue as it has become a race to the bottom. There is absolutely no way this country will EVER be able to extricate itself from the debt which it has incurred.
Monetary policy is as complicated as you want to make it. It is in the government’s and the FED’s best interest to make it seem as complicated as possible thereby having the populace rely on the so-called ‘experts’. The same experts that were heralding the soundness of the American economy all the way up to the crash of 08. Bernanke himself said there was no way no one could have seen it coming even though many warned of the impending crises.
Now I gave you hours of links breaking down the problems and trying to find solutions to all these problems but within a matter of an hour you have already deemed these as ‘doom’ videos without specifically refuting any of the claims and taking the time to understand the content of what was being conveyed. I know bad news is painful, but wouldn’t you rather be exposed to the temporary ugliness of the truth instead of forever taking comfort in lies?
I’ll ask you once again to give those documentaries a little closer scrutiny and a more objective approach. I could go on and on but I don’t want to get long-winded here; however, I will leave you with one axiom that might change your paradigm as it concerns money: If every dollar that was owed to the banks was paid in full there would be no money in circulation. The moment the first Federal Reserve Note came off the FED’s presses that dollar and additional interest on it was owed. Now in order to pay the interest you need to create more money and ultimately more debt. As long as money is debt issued by a private institution, backed by nothing and at interest there can be no other outcome other than disaster.
ALL fiat currencies have failed from the Romans all the way to the present. The average life of fiat money is 40 years. Nixon took us off the gold standard in 71′ so we’re right on time. If you have a counter argument as to the specifics outlined in the above provided links then I am all ears. What good are the answers if you don’t know the question?
My neighbor, upside down on his mortgage, is allowed a short sale. By government legislation, the $100,000 dollars he does not have to repay to the bank is not considered income and he doesn’t have to pay taxes on it. He walks across the street and is able to buy a home because he has no credit problem, he never missed a mortgage payment.
Where did the $100,000 go? Who took it in the shorts? The world is still standing and I got F*cked because banks and securities went away that funded those mortgages. Don’t talk to me about “fiat” money bullshit. The scam is right next to my house. The whole ponzi scheme collapsed.
And when the time comes the U.S. will just give the middle finger to the foreign countries that hold the bond debt and tell them “Sorry Charlie”. And then you know what will happen? Nothing. Because just like my neighbor did and just like a saw over and over again in business, even if the guy screws you over, you will still do business with him because you can make a dime in profit. The losses are just pushed down the line to the stupid investors and pension funds.
I know you want to cogitate over the end of the world because of monetary policy, but it will never happen. Fear and greed drive this world and a few little accounting gimmicks will not change the underlying fact that profit comes before people.
Sorry Kevin, but I tried posting a reply to you but evidently that has been rejected. How can we have a discussion when one side is completely silenced? If this blogs editor’s arguments have merit then they can stand of their own accord. Evidently this site has been deemed only for cheerleaders of the Left and not dissenting opinions. How lamentable. How can we bridge the gap and engage in civil discussion if only one side is allowed to be heard? Oh well, I tried………
Nick – why do you always assume “rejection” or “censorship” with us?
Your previous comment was “held in moderation” because it contained an external link to a video/file. Our security settings require administration approval on such links in the comment thread.
Sorry you had to wait all of about 30 minutes for me to push all other things aside to approve your earth-shattering contribution to the debate.
Stop playing the victim each time you don’t achieve instant gratification.
S.
Well then my apologies as I am a bit skiddish from past experiences here. Thank you for ultimately allowing me to post my reply………….
Well, that’s my point: “past experiences here.” I have shown you nothing but respect and open arms for your differing opinion on topics. I’ve agreed to disagree. But I’ve also noticed that you run hot and cold. One post you repeat the same declaration: “love you liberals.” Then when you have an ‘issue,’ you run to the negative and overstated. Stew for thought.
S.