To reinforce Jonah’s point, another one for the cognitive-dissonance caucus, within just three paragraphs:
None of these reforms can happen unless we also lower the temperature in this town. We need to end the notion that the two parties must be locked in a perpetual campaign of mutual destruction; that politics is about clinging to rigid ideologies instead of building consensus around common sense ideas.
I’m a Democrat. But I believe what Republican Abraham Lincoln believed: that government should do for people only what they cannot do better by themselves, and no more. That’s why my education reform offers more competition, and more control for schools and states. That’s why we’re getting rid of regulations that don’t work. That’s why our health care law relies on a reformed private market, not a government program.
On the other hand, even my Republican friends who complain the most about government spending have supported federally-financed roads, and clean energy projects, and federal offices for the folks back home.
No cognitive Dissonance. Merely a call for the GOP to abjectly surrender.
Captcha: evil genius. Not sure about the accuracy of the "genius" part.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe AP "fact check" linked by Drudge is just brutal. They called Obama's description of health care reform "half true" which is a polite way to say Bravo Sierra.
On just about every major inititative, AP points out that Obama's SOTU was futile, nonsensical or just plain wrong.
Don't tell me this guy isn't beatable in the fall. The American people do some weird things, but there is NO WAY people hear this kind of garbage and think to themselves, "yeah, 4 more years!" Obama's speech is playing to about 25% of the population.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis doesn't seem to mean what you imply. I think it has more of a "Even the Ron Pauls among us..." dimension.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThere is no dissonance when "common-sense ideas" is in one's own mind equivalent to saying "my ideas."
It's a posture that is common on the left: speak calmly and reasonably, sound open-minded and willing to negotiate, listen carefully to your opponents' opinions, and when all is said and done, carefully explain to them in that same calm condescending manner that their ideas are unreasonable.
Such people truly believe they are open-minded, because after all, they listened to all sides, judged the ideas objectively, and rendered an opinion. They see no irony in the fact that their opinion is unchanged by exposure to others' ideas.
When such people do get more consciously partisan, it is to label the other opinions as "extreme", which simply goes back to the notion that "my opinions are the common-sense ones."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseObama says, "I’m a Democrat. But I believe what Republican Abraham Lincoln believed: that government should do for people only what they cannot do better by themselves, and no more."
That may be true, except he just doesn't believe there is much the "people" can do better by themselves.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse