A War of Messaging

Two minutes into the segment of “Morning Joe” I could tell that the words of President Obama angered Joe Scarborough. President Obama told George Stephanopoulos that the beltway media is about style points, and that he was more interested in the right policy. That message was for Joe Scarborough, Maureen Dowd, Andrea Mitchell and Peggy Noonan because they form the world’s perception through their own eyes. I can’t imagine any country not fearing the military might of United States; those five warships in the Mediterranean influence policy just by being there. Tom Friedman stunned the panel of “Meet the Press” when he reminded them that the United States did not have a thing to do with the successful turnover of government in South Africa; Nelson Mandela did. Barney Frank said that some of those on the panel were talking as if Syria was the 51^st state.

Joe Scarborough thought he was going to win the Obamacare argument after reading some polls where 44% of Americans think that the Affordable Care Act is a bad thing. I believe the numbers because that same poll said that only 30% of Americans understand the healthcare law. Since 70% of the population doesn’t understand what the new healthcare law is all about and all they hear is mainly negative things supported by billions of dollars of pessimistic ads, the results are self-evident. The GOP knows once those subsidies  start kicking in January, the game is over and the Affordable Care Act will be as popular as Medicare. It's funny how the questions get different results. A question about Obamacare will automatically poll badly while a question about the Affordable Care Act will get a lot of "I don't know."

The more Obamacare obsessed wing of the Republican Party thinks they have a winning hand. Their latest proposal is to delay the implementation of the individual mandate portion of the law until 2015 and attach it to the continuing resolution bill to fund the government until mid-December. Why would the Democrats agree to that? It’s the same rationale that the Republicans used by filibustering Social Security in 1936.

There’s no question that the Affordable Care Act will be difficult to implement because besides the Republicans, there’s the hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, private insurance companies and some doctors who love the status quo. For example, hospitals hate the penalties that will be imposed for their high rate of infection and patient readmission rates.

Obamacare is the new bogeyman for the right; it’s what keeps them up at night ,as they continue to try and come up with new gimmicks to get rid of the law. They think that healthcare is a privilege for those who work hard, and it’s not for those lazy poor people who failed to make it in a free-market economy. They are convinced that the government cannot do anything right, so a new entitlement is doomed to fail. They will not be convinced with evidence of bending the cost curve, or the efficiency of Medicare, Social Security and the VA.

Shutting down the government for a few days, by not passing a continuing resolution won’t hurt the economy as much as it would if we decided not to raise the debt limit. Not raising the debt limit would have a downward spiral effect on the world economy. A government shutdown will hurt the GOP in the 2014 elections; even though a lot of people think that we shouldn’t raise the debt limit without agreeing to more spending cuts. President Obama is adamant about not negotiating the debt limit because of the message it sends to our creditors. How would your creditors like it if they were on the list of the bills that might not be paid?

I think we’re slowly hitting reset button by moving away from the thinking that led to the policies of President Ronald Reagan. It’s a slow messy process, and you got to give credit to the Republicans and Frank Lutz for doing everything they can to win the messaging war at the expense of any pretense of governing.

Refreshing

I don't do a lot of channel flipping; the television set stays on MSNBC, and I'm content with that. Last night,I got a healthy dose of clips of crazy things Michelle Bachman has said through the years. John McCain's former campaign manager, Steve Schmidt, brought everyone back down to earth by saying that the GOP now has a chance to win that district with a more reasonable candidate, and he’s right because Mitt Romney won that district by 15% points. I’ve come to respect Steve Schmidt because he’s a straight shooter.

There's nothing I like more than watching a good debate, and I was lucky enough to get one this morning.  For the past week Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and whoever they had as guests (mostly journalists) got their turn to say how wrong it was for Eric Holder and the Justice Dept. to subpoena all those phone calls and  emails to try to suppress the leaks. This morning the panel consisted of  three journalists, Howard Dean and Joe and Mika.  Howard Dean said he supported free speech, and he thinks that it was wrong  for the Justice Dept.to take the steps they did but he said he doesn't feel sorry for the whining press. 

 Howard also said that the press uses unidentified sources, and journalists always state their opinion rather than just writing the facts.  How often do we see a catchy headline, and then get disappointed because the article doesn't have any substantial facts?  Joe Scarborough put on his political hat and said that the press can relentlessly go after a legislator and make their lives miserable using unnamed sources.  One of the journalists agreed and said that his newspaper will stop using anonymous sources whenever possible.  When the journalists saw that they were not going to get the free ride that they were accustomed to, they quickly changed their tone, and the conversation became informative.  I've seen politicians completely change their demeanor when they're on Meet the Press from the one they show on Fox News. 

Howard Dean explained the difference between a right winger and a conservative to Joe Scarborough.  A conservative has a different point of view from a liberal, but it's based in logic, while a right winger is just a propagandist.  Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee is a conservative and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is a right winger.

I'm going to give you an opportunity to have another good laugh, Larry Marek. Your letter this morning puts you in the right-wing  column. You called for Americans to wake up, but as usual, you stated what you are against but not what you are for or what will get this country moving in the right direction. Do you think a majority of Americans are worried about the government coming after their guns? Only about 30% of the population own guns (trending down) and about half of those agree with your concerns. Most of the people worrying are the ones hanging on to their jobs or looking for one.

The rest of us will reap the same misery, you say, you mean the 47% who voted for Romney knows best? Yesterday, we learned consumer confidence is up;home purchases are on the rise;automobile sales are up; the stock market is setting new records everyday but yes the misery is being felt by those whose wages have been stagnant for a long time. The GOP controls the House, but all they have done is repeal Obamacare (37 times) pass some abortion bills and yesterday; they renamed several post offices but for the most part, they passed bills that went to die in the Senate. 

I think the 68,899,660 people (left wingers,progressives,liberals,Democrats and Independents) who voted for President Obama knew what his agenda was. The fact that he received 5 million more votes than Romney,332 electoral votes and 4% points more than his opponent  was not a fluke. I don’t remember guns being mentioned on the campaign stump or in the presidential debates.

I think you should go to a PUBLIC LIBRARY and check out a good civics book. It might ease your fears, and you might discover how Congress has a role to play. For example, you say the president is cutting the military when he doesn’t have that power. The president can submit a budget, but they are usually dismissed. The fact is, Democrats would rather reduce defense spending than make drastic cutbacks on the social programs. 

I can’t think of a remedy for your paranoia over gun-confiscation.  If the fact that 90% of Americans favor a background check, and the United States Senate can’t garner 60 votes to pass a watered-down version doesn’t ease your fears; nothing will. On the other hand, more states are taking matters into their own hands without a nudge from the president. 

Mr. Marek, after reading your many letters to our newspaper, I don’t doubt for a minute, that you are an avid viewer of the comedy channels.

Let the women negotiate a deal

Senators Claire McCaskill and Susan Collins said if we had more women in Congress, we would have a deal right now, because women know how to compromise. I believe that. What we have now is a battle of male egos trotting out their same old talking points hoping that this time, they will stick. The media encourages it because they think that Obama has to give John Boehner enough for him to hang his head high; regardless of what it does to our economy. I'm sorry but elections have consequences and to the “victor goes the spoils” because that's what the American people voted for. We didn't have that in 2009, so the president had to suffer the consequences of obstruction.

I saw a couple letters this morning describing the fiscal cliff as being an easy fix. Nothing could be further from the truth because of the time restraints and the elephant in room that no one wants to discuss. That elephant in the room is the impending debt ceiling crisis. The White House doesn't want to make a deal to get us through this year but then have to fight the opposition again in February over something that is much more crucial; paying our bills that we have already incurred. The two letters centered on taxes and spending but, unless we have some incentives for growth, education, infrastructure, jobs and innovation; we're just spinning our wheels. Republicans want to forget that the Democrats gave in to one trillion dollars in spending cuts in the last fight over increasing the debt ceiling. There's not a lot more that can be had in non-defense discretionary spending. The president said he's not going to have that fight anymore and I don't blame him because the world markets think that we're ridiculous for having that fight. The GOP forgets that they are responsible for some of that debt that we have to pay. That's not to say that they can't fight to cut spending during the budget battles.

It's my opinion with exceptions of course; women are much more honest when it comes to negotiating. They're much more adept in calling a “spade a spade” than men are. At the same time, they don't think having compassion is a weakness. I saw an example of this when Mica Brzezinski practically called Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan a liar ,when he said that the bill he recently signed was not anti- union but more pro worker. It gave the panel more room to call out the governor for trying to sugarcoat his actions. The governor said that the bill would lead to more jobs in Michigan but the 23 states that have right- to -work laws do not prove that. He cited the neighboring state of Indiana, who passed a bill similar to his right- to- work law and that state saw an increase in 30 companies coming to their state. He doesn't see the animosity it will create between the “free riders” and those who pay their union dues. The governor conveniently left out the fact that people like the Koch brothers love non- union states. The people for “Americans for Prosperity” were not out in full force to defend workers' rights.

I can't see why people want us to win the “race to the bottom” that began the year we started outsourcing. I don't think that we have to continue lowering wages and benefits just to keep companies in America but we'll never know unless we have access to all their financial records. Major League Baseball and the NFL were grossly underpaying their players. It seems to me "If owners make representations that they're losing money or that they can't afford a certain term in the collective bargaining agreement, then they're obligated to prove their assertion. “We applaud world-class companies like Caterpillar coming into our community bringing in $12.00 an hour jobs. We're part of the corporations union busting tactics but we're willing accomplices because we need the jobs. There's no easy answer but I still can't see why government should be able to stick its nose in the private sector's labor negotiations.

It’s been 3 weeks now

It's going on three weeks now but I can't remember a time in my life when I've seen as much resentment to the results of a presidential election from the losing side. I've seen petitions for sessions filed in all 50 states, I also heard of a woman who tried to run over husband because he didn't vote for Romney, a Montana lawmaker (Ron Paul fan) asking to be paid in gold because he lost faith in our currency and then there were those students at the University of Mississippi who burned Obama signs. I can't remember democrats doing any of those things when our candidate lost.

We've gotten to the point to where we consider the protest nonsense a common occurrence and the talk shows hardly mention them. The talk shows are more interested in the future of the new GOP, the fiscal cliff and who knew what and when, in the Petraeus and Benghazi incidents.

The subjects that I mentioned and were all discussed without any general consensus.

This morning David Gregory came up with theory about Benghazi which I haven't heard before but I believe it has a lot of truth to it. I believe senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain hate the administration's policy of having a small footprint in Libya. They wanted a larger military presence in North Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan. "There was already bad blood between U.N. Secretary Susan Rice and John McCain over us leaving Iraq. She also mocked McCain's trip to Iraq ("strolling around the market in a flak jacket"), called his policies "reckless" and said "his tendency is to shoot first and ask questions later. It's dangerous."Today John McCain is the highest-ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, but he will no longer hold that position after January because he has been termed out. That's why he wants a brand new Watergate style committee but his colleagues don't see a need for that. I also believe that the CIA was involved in illegal activities and the terrorist attack in Benghazi blew their cover. I don't agree with Senator Graham's point about the administration doctoring the talking points to give the president a political edge. I believe anybody that can read a newspaper knew that the raid on the consulate in Benghazi was a terrorist attack and selective talking points from the White House were not going to change anyone's minds. Again, anyone with a brain knows that elements of Al Qaeda will be around for a long time despite the president's efforts to kill more of their leaders. The American people are not as gullible as some try to make them out to be. If the president withdraws the nomination of Susan Rice to be the next secretary of state; this issue will go away.

The panel on "Morning Joe" tried to make Nancy Pelosi's reluctance to give an inch on and raising the tax on the top 2% as part of the problem. Even Glenn Hubbard, Mitt Romney's top economic adviser, now says the wealthy need to pay more in taxes as part of a budget settlement. Raising the top rates 3or 4% for the top 2% will raise the necessary revenues for a short term fix. The market's just want to see the framework for a solution that doesn't send us back into a recession. The legislators will not have time to tackle a tax reform plan in the lame duck session. The emphasis still needs to be on jobs and growth and reforming Medicaid and Medicare. Once the economy comes back, the American people will have to decide how to pay for the goodies we want. Taxes will inevitably have to be raised on the middle class as part of the solution but not right now.

The trickle down supply side economic theory has run its course and so has the" makers and takers" mantra. I don't think it's going to be easy to convince the GOP constituencies that 47% of American citizens are not lazy or do not want to be productive. There's too many people like Representative Paul Ryan who preach “if you do all the right things, you too can be successful like me" not knowing all the barriers that face the most vulnerable in our society. I was surprised to hear an entrepreneur of a multimillion dollar company say that he needed government resources to pay for job training or else he would have to shut down. I can remember when corporations paid for job training, benefits and still offered a pension.

I'm fairly confident that a bargain will be struck between the political parties to avert our current fiscal cliff but it will be eventually replaced with a brand new one.

I’m reading a good book which I received for my recent birthday called “Who Stole the American Dream?" By Hedrick Smith. The book is about the steps big businesses took to take the reins of economic prosperity away from the middle class. Big businesses got together to form strong lobbyist groups to counter the strong worker unions of the 1970s. They lined the pockets of the politicians who would go out and try to convince us that there was such a thing as " clean coal" and energy efficient corn ethanol. Meanwhile they got out of their union contracts with new lenient bankruptcy laws. They then replaced, pensions with 401K's and made their employees pay more for their health insurance and benefits. Today's businesses do not see the value of higher compensation, which reduces turnover costs, increases employee consumption and productivity. We have so many resources that we will always be an economic giant but, unless we raise the minimum wage substantially, we will constantly see the high unemployment figures and slow economic growth. Yes, a tight market usually demands higher wages but the it's a known fact that we need to change our current economic model to one that suits the world we are living in.

Happy Thanksgiving

Pre-debate Hype

After 45 years of marriage, my wife will sit down and watch her very first presidential debate with me, from start to end. She watched a little of the 2008 debates, but tonight she told me that she would watch the entire 90 minutes because she's tired of hearing of what others think. She's behind Obama 100% but, she’s relying on what she will see tonight, instead of what the pundits will say tomorrow.

The pre-debate hype is as high as I've ever seen it, and I guess that's due to 24/7 media coverage of what to expect. Yesterday, Matt Drudge and Tucker Carlson tried to influence the media by digging up yet another exclusive Obama bombshell. Fox News picked up a tease and advertised it as breaking news tonight on Sean Hannity. As usual, it was nothing more than a 2007 Obama speech where he gave a shout-out to his Pastor Jeremiah Wright. Sean Hannity said he sounded blacker than usual. The people who are behind this must think that their viewers are pretty gullible because this video has already been hashed out by Tucker Carlson when he was a host on MSNBC.

Yesterday, I read an article by George Will, which puzzled me because I think the conservative columnist is a pretty smart man. I don't usually agree with him, but I like to hear or read his viewpoint. He said that although the economic figures are dismal, and our foreign policy is in shambles; President Obama shouldn't even be close to being reelected. I don't agree with that analysis, but I can understand why someone would see it that way. It's the reason he gave for the president being reelected that left me puzzled. He said that President Obama would get a second chance because voters are reluctant to throw out the first black president. He went onto say that Frank Robinson stayed on as the Cleveland Indian manager because the owner didn't want the fire the first black manager in major league baseball. George Will knew that he would be criticized and would be called a racist for having those views. I wouldn't say that he was a racist, but I know there's not a measurement of how many people who would vote that way. This is just my opinion, but I don't think there's that many people who think that way.

This morning the panel on “Morning Joe” were discussing the most-recent polls where it showed that the race is tightening prior to tonight's debate. Joe Scarborough started the discussion by mentioning what he thought was a gaffe by Joe Biden that was similar to Mitt Romney's 47% comment. Joe Scarborough went into a laughing fit mocking Joe Biden for saying, “This is deadly earnest, man. This is deadly earnest. How can they justify raising taxes on the middle class that’s been buried the last four years? How in the Lord’s name can they justify raising their taxes with these tax cuts?” Joe Scarborough said it was an indictment on the president's policies because they were in office. I guess you could see it that way, but I've been saying that the middle class has been suffering for over 10 years. It's no question that they suffered the most because their companies have either laid them off, cut back their hours and benefits, and many have lost their homes. Joe Biden's comment will get some blowback because people act on sound bites and how they are portrayed.

I don't think you can compare Joe Biden's remarks to the 47% comment that was reinforced by Paul Ryan's words in November when he told a conservative crowd that 30% of the people don't share the American dream. Those two comments are accurate depictions of what the Republican Party really thinks. It hasn't changed much throughout the years. I saw a clip of the 1976 debate between James L. Buckley and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, where Buckley constantly accused his opponent of supporting a welfare state. The GOP is proud of their “takers and makers" mentality. For example, the other day a Paul Ryan supporter asked the Congressman if there was a way to make sure everyone paid something “have some skin in the game." Paul Ryan had a chance for redemption, but he made it worse by saying, " we want to make those people taxpayers by making jobs available to move them into the middle class." A lot of the 47% are seniors, returning veterans, students working part time while attending college, so making more jobs attainable will not get them out of the 47%.

Joe Scarborough hates to be corrected, but he doesn't realize that non conservatives don't think that Ronald Reagan was perfect. Joe was saying that if Mitt Romney could have Reaganesque results if he uses the same tactics that the late president did against Jimmy Carter. He got angry when someone pointed out that Ronald Reagan never had a plan on how to release the hostages in Iran, he famously said, “we only have one commander in chief at a time" but he did give a great optimistic closing speech backed by an economy that was showing no sign of improvement. Mark McKinnon, political strategists for President George W. Bush tried to say that the debates won the election for his candidate. He showed a little anger when someone pointed out that Al Gore won the popular vote by 600,000 votes, and it was left up to the Supreme Court. It's funny how those little facts play into the picture.

The Romney camp is saying the people will finally get to know the real Mitt Romney. I thinks that's just spin like the one saying that people are just now starting to get interested in the election. I disagree because the 2012 GOP primaries were viewed by many and many people are requesting early voting ballots. 

I'm eagerly awaiting the debate tonight, and I don't expect get much sleep because I'll have to watch the post-debate analysis. About 45 million people viewed Sarah Palin and Barack Obama's acceptance speech and that many will probably view tonight's debate.