Tuesday, August 4, 2009

I Object


White House Brushes Off Health-Care Protests
By HENRY J. PULIZZI

WASHINGTON -- The White House isn't concerned that increasingly vocal protests around the country are frustrating its push for health-care legislation.

Briefing reporters Tuesday, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs suggested that the opposition is being organized by a small group seeking to create "manufactured anger."

"I hope people will take a jaundiced eye to what is clearly the AstroTurf nature of so-called grass-roots lobbying," Mr. Gibbs said. Wall Street Journal Article


Until today I have not given Press Secretary Robert Gibbs much thought or attention at all. His speeches and press conferences have to date been unimpressive and his eloquence leaves much to be desired. Every announcement to the press is filled with “Ahhs” and “Um’s”, used as so many fillers to help convey the message of the day. Personally I find the use of such fillers very irritating, as I was taught that to use “Umm” while speaking, over and over, represents a lack of intelligence. So I have tried to block out the stuttering uninspired rambling of the President’s mouth piece.

Yet I am unable to keep ignoring this man and his glib, if unimpressive, tongue any longer.

The above article in which the Press Secretary insinuates that the grass roots movement that is taking hold here in America is naught but “manufactured anger”, has had my ire up all afternoon. I simply cannot get over the arrogance of such a statement especially from one who has great difficulty in forming and speaking in complete sentences. Even if he did happen to have a silver tongue and a fine voice the dismissive nature of his statement still could not be excused.

For, Secretary Gibbs has just insulted the intelligence of every citizen who these past weeks has confronted their “Representatives” in town Hall meetings. He has said to them that they “Know not what they do” for obviously they are being led about by some “Fringe” fanatics.

I object to this strongly.

Just because Mr. Gibbs is but a dog on a leash forced by his position to speak and act only as his master allows does not mean the American people are of the same stock as he. Contrary to the popular Beltway mentality, many of the citizens of this fine nation have the ability to use reason. It may be that these lowly people have not the benefit of an Ivy League education (for which they should be thankful) but they do know right from wrong when they see it. These citizens also understand that they are guaranteed a representative Government by a pesky little document that most of the Washington elite wish never was written. That document being the U.S. Constitution.

The people so dismissed by the arrogant lap dog and his leash holders, are not dupes or puppets of some dark, sinister conspiracy. They are but concerned citizens performing their civic duty by telling those who purport to represent them what they want. They are genuinely angry over the constant barrage of lies and half truths being foisted upon them and they are finally sick of it. This is the movement of which Gibbs Speaks. One founded in anger yes, but also in tradition. The tradition of our fore bears who believed in a government “For and By the People.”

So Gibbs, Obama, Pelosi and all the rest can bark away like little dogs and try to defame those Americans who have successfully exposed them for what they are. It will be to no avail, for the Intellectual elite have been bested publicly by farmers and clerks in a battle of wits and will. Take heart America, the egalitarian ideals which this country is famous for have not been completely stripped away, as evidenced by the actions of your neighbors.

Sláinte
Blighter

The photo is of Secretary Gibbs waiting patiently for his walk in the park.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well stated, and it continues to reveal the lack of connection between this administration and the people they work for. As the popularity numbers continue to drop, no matter the subject, this administration is oblivious to this, and continue to press on with questionable programs, and regretable decisions. However, from the reading I have done and the clips I have seen, what is most revealing is the contempt the American public is now showing for the politicians who are out there, attempting to peddle the latest atrocity. These politicos are being ridiculed, sneered at, and mocked (Repubs as well as Dems) when they try to foist this health care plan onto us. The public has no more tolerance for these buffoons. Pingree did it "right" - invite only your own stooges and planst to your town meeting, get the response you desire, and proclaim that the people want change.

Blighter said...

Agreed, they are oblivious and out of touch. I believe that they are so full of themselves, and other materials, that they cannot comprehend why the people are angry. I personally am completely non partisan in my contempt for the supposed leadership that haunts Washington and even Augusta.

I am inspired and invigorated by my fellow citizens who have, finally, stood up and said NO!. Long have I prayed for to witness such from our people. WE need not bow and scrape before those who WE chose to represent us. We the people should not be demeaned or debased for practicing their god given rights proscribed by law and the US Constitution. It is high time for these politicians to be put in their place. They rule by our blessing only and it is unto us who they are beholden. Not as they are want to believe, the other way around.

So faced with having to actually listen to their constituents, our Representatives have begun to have invitation only town Hall meetings? How interesting so they are choosing which citizens get to be heard and which not, I suppose they see no problem with this as in their infinite wisdom they know all who oppose them are but mindless robots being led about by "Fringe fanatics".

Sorry I'm still really angry about this today thanks for commenting

Anonymous said...

You should have been watching "The Daily Show" for the last few days. While it may be a comedy show, Jon Stewart knows his shit when it comes to politics.

In case you haven't been watching, he showed some clips of conservatives shouting at town hall meetings, and conservative commentators stating pretty much what you just said.
He then showed clips from the last two years of the Bush Jr. administration, with conservative news shows speaking about how stupid, ignorant, and so obivously feed with lies by the liberal left Democrats were for shouting out against Bush's policies.

He followed it with a clip by one of Obama's admins who couldn't adequetly explain exactly what the Health Care reform would accomplish.

Hypocrisy abounds on all sides, right and left. :)

Tuna

Anonymous said...

Here's a great website containing a list of the most common fallacies of logic(http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/), please review at your convenience... I challenge you to form an "opinion" WITHOUT using a single one!

Blighter said...

Would that posts to my blogs would not all be anonymous no matter how well they are written.

Anonymous 8/24/2009

I checked out your link to Nizkor and I have to admit your quip is a good one.

But let us look at a couple of things first.

1. this is a blog, a part time endeavour, a labor of love and hate. A blog post much like a newspaper article needs to be brief and entertaining. The object is to catch the readers attention and keep them reading through the whole thing. My Post "I Object" was written to A. catch the attention B. stir emotion. Which I believe it has done rather well.

I very much am able to formulate and write effective arguments based upon the "Nizkor" ideal but as I am a wordy and yes common sort those posts would be pages. Perhaps in another format that would work or on a topic that is not so complex as the Health Care debate.

2. Your challenge to me of Forming an Opinion without using the Nizkor fallacies list is interesting,and I believe I may just give it a go.

For your own information, going forward, Prior to writing ANY piece, my "opinion" is already formed. My rants and rages (which is what this blog is)are not whimsical meanderings of the mind, but thought out and presented to my audience as I understand them. You personally may find my presentation coarse, or uneducated, and perhaps you are correct, for I am both those. Yet, I am quite comfortable being so.

I'm getting off track. Let me simplify this a bit for I have to go to work.

1. I'm not writing college argument papers here. I try to research and be as impassive as I can but being Human my personal beliefs and Bias comes through.
2. If you find my work so onerous why then read it? Perhaps because I was successful in my goal of stirring emotion in my reader? Be it either positive or negative. And if you were inclined to disagree with my conclusions would then that not made you think about the subject even more? A victory for me the writer all the same.

I will attempt to take up your challenge, I of course will have to pick a dry bring topic that I can be completely impassive about but I will try. Check back soon and see if I somehow have met your "Standard".

Until then.
Sláinte
Blighter

Blighter said...

Edit:

2. If you find my work so onerous why then read it? Perhaps because I was successful in my goal of stirring emotion in my reader? Be it either positive or negative. And if you were inclined to disagree with my conclusions would then that not HAVE made you think about the subject even more? A victory for me the writer all the same.

Last paragraph "bring" should be read as BORING.

Thank you