Hello from Pacific NW...
 

Hello-

Politics makes me talk to my TV, and not politely. Don't much care for Dems or Repubs that represent us right now. I often "waste my vote" on libertarian leaning humans.

Make it a great day,

Herb

"Welcome to the Jungle" :)

Uhh-huh... (grin)

You are not the only one who talks back to the idiot box, welcome to the funny farm.

Welcome. Hope you enjoy your stay.

I appreciate the welcomes. It wasn't such a long walk over from AK :)

I leave my "idiot box" shut off these days. But, sometimes it still talks to me.

Welcome!

Dave

Hey Herb.

Fridays I often watch McLaughlin and throw beer cars at the TV :o

Pete

McLaughlin? Boy are you a sucker for punishment.

Lol heck yes. It's my favorite.

Pete

I watch it occasionally but it boggles my mind that a panel-plus-moderator comprised of 2 paleocons, a neocon, and 2 centrists can pass as balanced. It's not just The McLaughlin Group. All media ignores anything approaching a true left perspective while giving free rein to extreme right wing opinion. The result is the public begins to view center or center-left opinion as far left and far right opinion for what it is, leaving right wing thought to occupy the artificially created middle.

John

Eleanor and Page are centrists??? I suppose Moyers and Smiley are impartial too :)

Buchanan and McLaughlin were both against the invasion of Iraq.

Pete

Yes, I think so - center or center-left. The closest thing they've ever had to a true liberal was Lawrence O'Donnell or maybe Michael Kinsley.

No, they're not "impartial" but be careful! You seem to be equating partiality with left politics and, by extension, impartiality with the right.

Yes, Smiley and Moyers are left-leaning but there are no analogs on the left to people like Limbaugh, Beck, Gallagher (not the watermelon guy) or Malkin.

A lot of paleocons were but the neocons like Crowley, and before her Tony Blankley, have been in lock-step since the beginning.

John

Pete[/QUOTE]

Of course Crawly and Blankey - they're the 'progessive right' voice on the show.

Eleanor 'Rodham' Clift and 'ACLU award' Page, center, tsk tsk tsk.

No, I don't consider the right hosts impartial - I consider impartial hosts impartial :)

Pete

Straight from the "Moonie" Times. Yeah, progressive alright!

As I said, center to center-left. If you think Hillary Clinton or the ACLU are far left it really only proves my initial point that the public perception has shifted the left to the "liberal loons", the center to the "left, the right to the "center" and the nut cases to the "rational right".

Okay then....... ;)

John

McLaughlin is a former Jesuit and it sure shows.

I can't believe I'm arguing about that Hillary - and the ACLU! - is 'center'. Yikes.

I've got to ask Rob, what makes a Jesuit a Jesuit? (I really have no idea except for some vague Catholicism).

Pete

Pete, I keep saying center to center-left. I'd say that Hillary is somewhere in the continuum between center and center-left and that the ACLU is center-left.

I think you need to look at what the ACLU actually does and stop relying on what Beck and Limbaugh say about them.

John

You will never get a jebbie to answer a question except with a question. They are taught how to debate anyone in some of the most devious ways imaginable.

If you know that's what they say, then you listen to them more than I do.

The only difference between Hillary and Obama that I remember is, Hillary was honest about Iraq and Obama lied. Obama - a centrist? Hillary - a centrist? Hell then Buchanan is too, or at least Bush is and Buchy boy would be center-right.

Boy, that explains a LOT. A jebbie lol.

Pete

Oh, well. I suppose things had to start going downhill in this thread eventually. :(

Obama and Hillary did have different positions on Iraq. Also on health care and a wide range of other issues but Obama did not lie about Iraq. He said that we had to be as careful getting out as we had been careless getting in. He proposed a phased withdrawal over time and that, my friend, is what we're doing.

Yup! Look at his health care proposal. A "leftist" wouldn't have taken single payer off the table from the start. Look at his fiscal policy, bailing out the bankers and doing precious little for individuals.

Center-left probably but that's only based on what she's said. Her husband talked a good liberal game but when it came right down to it he governed from the center.

Buchanan is a mainstream "classical" conservative with a populist streak. He and Bush share very little politically, IMO. I'm sure, for instance that the "unitary executive" business is anathema to a traditional small government conservative like him.

John

I thought it could only go uphill. :)

Obama said 16 months and out, period, until he beat Hillary who did indeed stick to her guns.

So you're saying Bush was a centrist too?

Pete

Well, the opposite of gravity is, after all, comedy. ;)

I just think the quality of the conversation suffers when terms like liar get tossed around.

So, he lied how? He has been in office 11 months. I grant you that it's unlikely that we'll be out in 5 months but I'm not going to get upset about it if the reality on the ground dictates that the withdrawal takes longer than anticipated. I will get upset, however, if it turns out Obama decides to stay.

As to Hillary sticking to her guns, how do you figure? She's not the president so how can she "stick" to anything she campaigned on? In her position as Secretary of State (where I think she's doing a very good job) she has to stick to Obama's guns.

No, of course not. Where did I imply that? Bush, in my opinion doesn't really have an ideology. He campaigned in a way that appealed to the Republican base but he governed as a crass self-serving oligarch and kleptocrat.

John

Was it something I said? :)

Nah, Pete and John just like each other.:D

Lmao!! See what you did Ed? :D

Pete

welcome :)