ohiodem250's Comments (1590)

“I absolutely agree. It's a bigger picture than people are used to being presented. Plus, the President spoke to us as ADULTS. No one's used to that!”

“I just spilled chili down my shirt, reading this!!”

“awesome! haha”

“You make damn good points.
But sometimes a little comic relief is needed.”

“At this point, part of passing health care reform is getting the word out that the people who oppose it are doing so out of ignorance, fear of the unknown, sometimes straight-up bigotry, and most often because they just aren't all that bright and are therefore easily duped.

I'm not saying that we should gloat that we're smarter than they are...but if they are trying to be the "trustworthy" one in the fight, we have to show that they aren't trustworthy, and one way to do that is to show that they just aren't that quick on the uptake.”

“The problem isn't so much that these people can't justify Palin's favored policies, it's that Palin can't either.

You can mock these people all you like, they arguably deserve it. It IS satisfying to watch one's ideological opposition struggle to articulate even the most basic aspects of their foggy worldview, but that just further entrenches an already-besieged position. Even if someone recognizes the foolishness on display in this video, their views are unlikely to change if they sympathize with - and see scorn being heaped on - these interviewees.

Though the video's editing had a derisive tone, this interviewer was pretty respectful and mostly asked good, open-ended questions. I like that. Too much of this kind of material plays into the mischaracterization of liberals as snobbish pricks looking down their over-educated noses at "regular folk" and sneering. Granted, this kind of thing is not often written or recorded for the purpose of persuasion, but as a kind of tribalistic rallying cry. How much more of that do we really need, though?

I wish more of the commentariat remembered two of the words commonly used in dictionaries to define the word liberal: "open" and "generous". It's true that you're unlikely to change a die-hard Palin supporter's views on (for example) health care, but we could change a lot of other people's minds if we tried to learn their language (so to speak) and didn't treat them like idiots just because they did not speak ours.”

“Not quite the same thing as a bunch of people who have willingly traveled to a book signing to see a political figure. How about some footage from an Obama event? there have been hundreds. I fail to see how Howard Stren sending a "reporter" to Harlem is a vaild comparison.”

“I would imagine that there has been any number on such interviews given that Obama has been in the media spotlight since 2004, so it shouldn't be any problem for someone to obtain archival tapes that would support your supposition. However given that such a tape or tapes has never surfaced and considering the amount of energy the religious right has expended to destroy him, I have serious doubts as to the validity of your statement.”

“Except the Right would actually find a lot of people who can articulate why they support the President. However, they would hide it.”