Demagogue

Obama: No More Mr. Nice Guy?

Rick Horowitz | Posted 08.02.2011

Read More: Obama and Health Care, Obama and Republicans, Decision 2012, You Decide 2012, John Boehner, Demagogue, Campaign Ads, Paul Ryan Medicare, Obama and Gop, Republicans at White House, Choice 2012, Election 2012, Paul Ryan, Democrats, Eric Cantor, Barack Obama, Politics News

Republicans have had a tough go of it lately, and a large chunk of it comes from the dashing of those sweet Obama expectations. They thought they could say anything about him and he wouldn't push back.

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Breathtaking Republican Hypocrisy on Medicare

Chris Weigant | Posted 06.13.2011

Read More: Cut Medicare, Mcconnell, Mitch McConnell, President Obama, John Boehner, Demagogue, Obama, Eric Cantor, Republican, Conor Sweeney, Save Medicare, Ryan, Brownback, Medicare, Obamacare, House, Budget, Roy Blunt, Lindsey Graham, Barack Obama, Sam Brownback, Graham, Hypocrisy, Cantor, Paul Ryan, Boehner, Blunt, Politics News

To be sure, Republicans have always been against the concept of Medicare. But hypocrisy entered into the discourse last year, when they attempted to position themselves as the ones who were going to "save Medicare."

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Suggestions for Obama's Medicare Counterproposal

Chris Weigant | Posted 06.12.2011

Read More: Social Security, President Obama, Demagogue, Drug Companies, Means Test, Democratic, Proposal, Reform, Obama, Republican, Bulk Purchase, Voucher, Discount, Ryan, Medicare, Left, Health Care, Donut Hole, Right, Budget, Medicare Part D, Democrat, Medicaid, Entitlement, Lie, Barack Obama, Means Testing, Seniors, Corporate Welfare, Paul Ryan, Healthcare Reform, Prescription Drug, Politics News

It's going to be very easy for whatever Obama comes up with to look a lot better than just handing seniors a voucher and saying: "Good luck with that medical insurance marketplace."

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Sarah Palin -- What a Coward

Kimberly Krautter | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Blood Libel, Entertainment Tonight, Mary Hart, Death Threats, Ronald Reagan, Andrew Sullivan, Demagogue, Secret Service, Violent Rhetoric, Tucson Shooting, Fox News, David Frum, Obama, Conservative, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Tucson Massacre, Politics News

Simply stated, if you can't face questions over your own rhetoric and behavior, you are a coward.

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Stop the Madness: The New Politics of Stunts

Mike Signer | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Florida Church Quran Burning, Counterterrorism, Afghanistan, Terrorism, Demagogue, Mike Signer, Terror Alerts, George W. Bush, Panjshir Province, Democracy, Terror Alert, Taliban, Koran Burning, Resiliency, Afghan Taliban, Politics News

In dealing with those who would yank our strings, we should reach for resiliency rather than hysteria. Politicians can ask whether terrorism should drive policy, rather than the other way around.

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Obama the Pedagogue Versus Sarkozy the Demagogue?

Dominique Moisi | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Obama Ground Zero Mosque, Barack Obama, Sarkozy Roma, Obama Mosque, Demagogue, Nicolas Sarkozy, Pedagogue, World News

In politics, you can chose to be a pedagogue or a demagogue. In the past few weeks, the American and French presidents have represented near perfect illustrations of these two models.

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Danger! Empathy and Psychopathy as Competing Value Systems in Politics and Economics

Marcella Mroczkowski | Posted 05.25.2011

Four to five percent of the population is born without a capacity for empathy. It is a neurological lack. A psychopath may be a genius and become a multimillionaire, but he will never be able to understand empathetic values.

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Stop the Violence: Taking on Today's Demagogues

Mike Signer | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Meet the Press, Father Coughlin, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Mike Signer, Demagogue, Sarah Palin, David Gregory, Glenn Beck, The Daily Beast, Huey Long, Health Care, Barack Obama, Politics News

President Obama isn't exactly FDR, and Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin certainly aren't Huey Long and Father Coughlin, but the 1930s still hold powerful lessons for our leaders today.

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What Glenn Beck Doesn't Understand About Biblical Social Justice

Jim Wallis | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Market, Insults, Dialogue, The Colbert Report, Social Justice, Radicalism, Mormon Church, President Obama, Jim Wallis, Demagogue, Catholic Charities, Faith-Based Initiatives, Pope Benedict, Poor, Public Policies, Catholics, Conservative, Government, Values, Good News, Salvation Army, Dorothy Day, System, Moral Compass, Attack, Hate, Lazarus and the Rich Man, Jesus, Politics, Biblical, Stephen Colbert, Role of Government, Priest, Barack Obama, Benedict XVI, Pope Benedict XVI, Jon Stewart, Bible, Kingdom of God, Socialism, Gospel, Glenn Beck, Nazi, Poverty, Seminary, Video, Religion News

Jesus said that we should love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. I invited Beck to a civil and respectful conversation about the issues at stake here, but he has chosen a different path.

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Republicans to Unveil Original Thought at Friday Press Conference

Brock Cohen | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Chainsaw Juggling, Republicans, John Boehner, Obstructionists, Eric Cantor, Demagogue, Party of No, Comedy News

In a stunning development Monday, House Minority Leader Rep. John H. Boehner (R-OH) announced that the Republican Party will roll out its first origin...

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Imagine if the Today's Right-Wing Were Around for Nuremberg

Cenk Uygur | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Obama-Bows-to-Japanese-Emperor, Right Wing Media, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Nuremberg Trials, Marshall Plan, Rush Limbaugh, Demagogue, George W. Bush, Bow-Gate, King Abdullah, Right Wing, Glenn Beck, Ksm, Bill O'Reilly, Barack Obama, Politics News

The right-wing radicals, unanimous in their agreement that KSM should not be tried in the U.S. courts, aren't just crazy, they're un-American. We don't take people out and shoot them without trials.

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The Elections You May Not Have Noticed

Jim Wallis | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Polls, President, Leadership, Elections, Demagogue, Campaign, Endorsement, Chattering Class, Sarah Palin, Republican, Third Party, Conservative, Marriage, Washington, Talk Show Hosts, Social Movements, Class, Rejection, Money, Mayor Bloomberg, Politics, Washington DC, Referendum, Election, Role of Government, Rush Limbaugh, Democrats, Domestic Partnership, Vote, Wall Street, Gay Marriage, Candidate, Glenn Beck, D.C., Partisan, Politics News

I think as people continue to see so much of politics as usual in this town -- partisan bickering and big money buying votes -- they are increasingly likely to vote against whatever represents the old politics for them.

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Our Insane Summer: Is There a Way Out? Plus an Open Letter to the Secretary of Education [UPDATED]

John Milewski | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Public Schools, Health Care Town Halls, Education, Fear Mongering, Arne Duncan, Charter Schools, Bright Idea, Demagogue, Transformation, Race to the Top, Hugh Osborn, Town Hall Protests, Education Reform, Town Hall Meetings, Public Policy Debate, North Carolina, Politics News

As we enter the back-to-school phase of the calendar, I want to share some good news and offer some unsolicited advice to our nation's education top cop.

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What the Neocons Don't Get about Freedom

Mike Signer | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Charles Krauthammer, Iran Election, Demagogue, Freedom, Neocons, Democracy, Democracy Promotion, Jonah Goldberg, Barack Obama, State Department, Politics News

A key aspect of constitutionalism is that it begins and ends with the people, rather than rhetoric, institutions, or leaders. Thus the genius of Obama's policy of actual democracy promotion.

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Rick Perry Should Stop Embarrassing Texas

Joe Cutbirth | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Bob Bullock, Perry Demagogue, Joe Cutbirth, Demagogue, Secession, George Wallace, Rick Perry, Texas, Lester Maddox, Texas-Governor-Rick-Perry, Perry, Seceed, Tea Party, Texas Secession, Politics News

Partisanship and political philosophy aside, I can think of few things more irresponsible in this economy than the governor of Texas speaking freely about secession.

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Friday Talking Points [51] -- Some Positivity

Chris Weigant | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Debate, Abuse, Demagogue, Green, Fisa, Mccain, Campaign, CAFE Standards, Sarah Palin, Gambling, Pissed Off, 2008, Midotw, Nancy Pelosi, Student Loan, Rockefeller, Most Impressive Democrat of the Week, Health Care, Energy, Jay Rockefeller, Democrat, Congress, Joe Biden, 08, Stimulus, Barack Obama, Biden, Election, 08 Election, Elections, Education, Demagoguery, Anger, Mddotw, College, Wiretapping, Warrantless, Troopergate, GI Bill, Mudslinging, Mother's Day, Mud, Obama, Democratic, Shocked, Waxman, Republican, Pelosi, Casablanca, Minimum Wage, Most Disappointing Democrat of the Week, 2008 Campaign, Report, Keating Five, John McCain, Keating, Mental Health, Angry, Medicaid, 2008 Elections, Henry Waxman, Alternative, 2008 Election, Crowd, 08 Campaign, Wall Street, Mother, Fat Cat, Palin, 2008 Presidential Race, Charles Keating, Wiretap, Telecommunications, Medicare, Head Start, Rocky IV, Fitzmas, Politics News

While we're all waiting for someone to leak the Palin Troopergate Report (which is reminiscent of waiting for "Fitzmas" during the whole Scooter Libby...

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"McSame?" Try "McShame"

Ellis Weiner | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Shame, Mccain, John McCain, Hate, Mob, Demagogue, Election, Sarah Palin, Palin, Politics News

With Palin we encounter the purest example, in our lifetime, of a candidate whose mere presence on a national ticket demeans and pollutes the very process.

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Sarah Palin -- A Demagogue in a Skirt

Susie Hoeller | Posted 05.25.2011

Read More: Demagogue, Sarah Palin, Obama, Nativist, Skirt, Alaska Independence Party, Fear of the Stranger, Un-American, Politics News

Palin is appealing to long standing nativist prejudices -- the fear of the stranger in our midst. Obama is not like "us" according to McCain-Palin and "us" is a code word for the "white"

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