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Newt Gingrich's New Math--2009 = 1984?
Tweet Share on Facebook August 6, 2009 Comment (6)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
It's an underappreciated but important notion in political discourse that people use Hitler and Nazi allusions too often. They tend to dilute the enormity of Hitler's evil and absurdly caricature whatever wrong is being criticized. I suggest a lesser but not-unimportant corollary: People should also hesitate before comparing their foes to the Soviet Union or the villains from George Orwell's 1984.
I write this because former House Speaker Newt Gingrich appears to have made such comparisons a staple of his current stump speech, likening the U.S. government to both the historical and fictional repressive regimes.
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Obama Negotiates With Evil-Doers: The Healthcare Lobbyists
Tweet Share on Facebook August 6, 2009 Comment (9)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Today's New York Times carries a reminder that President Obama is willing to hold his nose and enter into negotiations with our Republic's most heinous enemies. I refer, of course, to lobbyists. The Times noted that White House officials explicitly acknowledged that they cut a deal with the pharmaceutical industry (or more specifically, its lobbyists) locking in $80 billion in savings—meaning that the White House would oppose including measures allowing the government to negotiate drug prices. And as the Times reports:
The new attention to the agreement could prove embarrassing to the White House, which has sought to keep lobbyists at a distance, including by refusing to hire them to work in the administration.
That's a polite way of putting it. The fact is that Obama and his staff painted lobbyists as shambling fonts of corruption who would not be allowed into the pristine halls of the squeaky clean Obama administration.
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Forget Obama's Birth Certificate--Now You Too Can Be Born in Kenya
Tweet Share on Facebook August 5, 2009 Comment (74)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
I was born in New York City more than 30 (almost 40!) years ago ... or was I? Closely examine this new document which just came to light:
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Glenn Beck Condemns Violence ... Sort Of
Tweet Share on Facebook August 4, 2009 Comment (23)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Kudos to Glenn Beck for making the brave assertion that the conservative fringe shouldn't resort to violence to advance their agenda. Of course it makes one wonder why someone sufficiently in the main stream of the media to have their own national television show should even have to warn his viewers against violence. But that's the beside the point: the take-away here is that Beck condemns violence. After all, it's ... illegal, immoral, generally a bad thing. Right, Glenn?
Well Beck has a somewhat more nuanced view, per ThinkProgress (via MediaMatters), where you can also watch the video:
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Dobbs Birther Ad Mostly Won't Run on CNN
Tweet Share on Facebook August 3, 2009 Comment (24)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Updating my blog post from earlier in the day about Media Matters' anti-Lou Dobbs, anti-CNN, anti-Birther TV ad--five of six cable providers contracted won't run it on CNN. The liberal watchdog group had bought time on CNN, during Dobbs' show no less, but only a small New York City cable provider is going to show it on the news network. The other providers will show it on MSNBC and Fox News, but not on CNN. Media Matters spokeswoman Jessica Levin said that they haven't gotten an explanation yet but will pursue one.
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Dixie Birther Madness: Most Virginia Republicans Question Obama Birth Place
Tweet Share on Facebook August 3, 2009 Comment (12)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Last week we learned that the South is the home of festering Birtherism. Now new poll numbers are providing greater granularity. Taegan Goddard got an advanced look at a new Public Policy Polling survey, to be released in full tomorrow, which shows that 41 percent of Virginia Republicans think President Obama was born abroad (32 percent say he was, 27 percent are not sure). To put it another way: 68 percent of Virginia Republicans--more than two-thirds--aren't sure whether Obama was born in the USA. Yikes. (h/t GOP12)
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TV Ad Targets Lou Dobbs, CNN on Obama Birth Certificate "Issue"
Tweet Share on Facebook August 3, 2009 Comment (111)By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The folks over at Media Matters are going negative ... against CNN. Specifically, they've bought airtime on MSNBC, Fox News and, ahem, CNN to run an ad criticizing the venerable cable network for Lou Dobbs' habit of treating the Birther conspiracy movement as legitimate. Here's the fun part: They've bought time during Dobbs' show. As Greg Sargent points out, that puts CNN in the position of airing an anti-Dobbs during his show, or killing it and creating a bigger story.
My first question was: Are they running the ad in the south? The answer according to Sargent is they're running it in New York, Washington, and Atlanta. (Media and political capitals and CNN HQ).
Anyway, here's the ad:
Robert Schlesinger
Robert Schlesinger is managing editor for opinion at U.S. News and World Report, overseeing all opinion editorial content. He is the author of "White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters." E-mail him at rschlesinger@usnews.com. Follow him on Twitter: @rschles.
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