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Steven Weber

Steven Weber

Posted: March 22, 2010 12:45 AM

War of Choice: Part 2

What's Your Reaction:

If all those who oppose President Obama on any and everything that comes out of his presidency based not on the facts but solely on ideological bias, you squander the only real hope this country has.

For, to maintain America's relevance in an evolving world, America must embrace its sons.

To describe President Obama in any way which equates him with the low, inane betrayals currently emanating from a right wing is to finally acknowledge and openly embrace what the world has always known: your sustenance flows from toxic corporate interests which hate people, hate progress, hate truth.

It is that simple.

The opposition cannot use truth to refute this. They must, based on the desperate tenor and spittle-flecked ferocity of their vitriol, use terror to distract, misdirect and confuse. Because that is what the success of their agenda depends on.

Obama's agenda -- and the nation's -- depends on hope.

And so in the coming months and years, the real war (as opposed to the manufactured ones favored by the right wing) must be fully funded and furiously waged.

Because it is a war for truth. Armed with a successfully enacted program for progress and led by an articulate, capable and intelligent leader, the war for truth being waged against the corporate funded right wing hate machine and its ragged army of misinformed, terrified bigots will be won decisively.

The passing of health care reform, imperfect though it may be at this all important nascent stage, is the first step.

 

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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
JohnLorenzo
Examine the reasons of your true intent.
02:10 PM on 03/24/2010
Again, you are right Steven. The real war, that is building even now, is for the truth. Will our country continue to be filled with so many lies and twisted facts by corporate owned media, or will Progressives be able to bring more balance and common sense to the majority of citizens?

The passing of health care reform is a powerful sign progress is being made. But my life experience tells me that as greedy, immoral, and ignorant people feel they are beginning to lose grip on their pious world they pump up their fight to even crazier levels.

Prepare for more outrageous re-writing of history and of hard facts. Right-wingers are masters of convincing themselves and others that if you say something enough times it becomes true – even when it is absolutely false.

I don't mean to be negative. I am still quite hopeful. But people interested in a better, more just, more equalitarian society should prepare for a struggle that will pale in comparison to what we have already experienced with tea-bag, right-winger tripe.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Marie Russell-Barker
Grandmother
07:16 PM on 03/22/2010
HCR was a big lift off so many people shoulder, this Bill is also an employment bill which will help small business to purchase health care for it's employee, with out spending most of their capitol on Health Care. I have lived to see this play out in the Public, twice now and each time it has been a rough road to walk, but this time we was able to forge ahead and stand. Although those who are against this bill will benefit from it, most have not even looked at the bill. I will admit that I was hoping for a Public Option but I can wait, of course this bill is not perfect but when have we as man ever been perfect. We must keep working at it, this is a foundation on building a more perfect health care no one build anything without first having a foundation. The president said this is not a perfect bill but it's a start this is what change is all about. With out scare tactic and with honest truths, we can make better decision the American people are behind out President and the Democrats they put their lively hood on the line to make our lives a little more better and to raise us up! We will Vote we will also stand tall when we cast our votes for you. Thank you so much
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Dave Hackel
03:49 PM on 03/22/2010
Another excellent post! And you're exactly right -- the war for truth is the fight we really need to wage. Now all we have to do is get the major media outlets to help. And not just Fox. All of them. Hyperbole on either side of the aisle is nothing more than a distraction.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
charleslennon
Always ready for a good fight.
03:07 PM on 03/22/2010
Any conservatives here with out health insurance and also feel this is a bad idea?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
charleslennon
Always ready for a good fight.
03:05 PM on 03/22/2010
Is there anybody here that doesn't have health insurance and thinks this is bad legislation?
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LMPE
I connect the most dissimilar things
02:47 PM on 03/22/2010
I want every reactionary ideologue lid-locked a la "A Clockwork Orange" and made to watch health care reform enacted.
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Rudy2shoes
Retired Administrator
01:34 PM on 03/22/2010
This is the part where we are all supposed to go away and leave them (government) alone. They can't possibly imagine that yesterday's vote has put the issue to rest. Yes it passed, but it is till a dog and those who thought they were really getting meaningful healthcare reform are still out in the cold. (The amusing side of that coin though is the poor TB'ers who are home crying there eyes out, after being led around by their little stringies for six months, and who don't realize that they actually won.) The amount of struggle and manipulation surrounding the passage of this bill. not to mention the effective result, should be a resounding bucket of cold water for anyone who thinks that our government is still (or ever was) responsible to its people. The AIPAC lobby will have a much smoother and swifter response from a government that is, well, designed to respond to lobbies with large sums of cash in each hand. If you really want healthcare reform now is not the time to stop and waste energy sniffing the decoy. Sharpen your teeth and get right back to the hunt. This same old false drama has been played out over and over again throughout the 20th century. It is time to stop playing by their rules and play by the ones stipulated in the constitution. If you want it, then WANT IT-- and want it now.
01:16 PM on 03/22/2010
Steven, your post is all talking points based on propaganda. Evil this, evil that, hate, corporations that hate truth, progress, etc., blah, blah. Pathetic.
You libs are simply incabale of taking an honest look at yourselves, your smarmy arrogance, your intolerence, your knee-jerk reaction to all opposition, your ego-driven belief that you are more enlightened, elevated, sophisticated, and more caring about people. It's all a desperate fantasy.
Do you think Obama could be realected today? Have you seen his poll numbers? Have you heard about the anti-incumbent fury that is directed primarily towards Democrats?
Do you think you have the right to have things your way over the will of the majority?
Have one day of fun. Then all the battles begin again. And every day brings us onr day closer to November.
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Steven Weber
Winner of 1967 Pond's Cold Cream Man of the Year
01:47 PM on 03/22/2010
Alex...
Talking points. Hmm.
There is a wide world out there beyond the carefully patrolled borders of Fox News (and to folks such as yourself it is filled with scary, backward people and customs) and it backs up all the things that you and your ilk desperately seek to trivialize as "talking points". From Day One of BushCo (which I assume you supported wholeheartedly) the talking points were issued and distributed to the point of absurdity and that tactic continues to this day, with every member of your ideological fraternity parroting the same, well, TALKING POINTS i.e., "Let's start over", "Death panels", "Not born in America", etc., etc.
The fact (not he talking point) is your ideology has, especially after the eight year reign of Republican governance under Cheney/Bush, absolutely no credibility. Zero. Yes, you are loud and hard for civilized people to deal with, yes you present a possible danger to society and to yourselves (attacking programs and policies you have benefited from but are apparently just too beholden to comforting archetypes to figure out) when you allow fringe lunacy to provide cover for your hypocrisy. But because you can hog attention does not make you right.
Or relevant.
02:40 PM on 03/22/2010
Perfectly put, Steven. Your posts are the only ones to which I've subscribed. Great stuff.
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HUFFPOST BLOGGER
Linda Hansen
02:42 PM on 03/22/2010
Oh, Lawd! I'm a South Carolinian. You sound just like a Dixiecrat.

You did however, make one sterling point: "Do you think Obama could be re-alected [sic] today?" Honey, you are on the money with that one. I'm 62, and so far as I know no one, in the history of this nation, has ever be re-alected. Or alected at all.

As to knee-jerking, evil this, evil that propagandists, "Evil" is not the Progressive mantra. It's the right-wing theme song. From Reagan's "Evil Empire" to Dubya's "Axis of Evil", we have been led to xenophobia, sanctioned conspicious consumption, the canonizing of Big Business and the wealthy (and their Trickle Down generosity which would take care of all the "evils' of the poor and working class if we'd only deregulate, lower their taxes and get out of their way...and it worked so well, didn't it?). Fear and greed are potent motivators.

Your personal "majority" might well be anti-HCR. But the American majority agrees we desperately need it; the only question has been how to go about it. The GOP argues for tweaking the status quo. We progressives argue for joining every undustrialized county on the planet in providing health care to all citizens. Even right-wingers.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
TRex86
Enjoying life in West Ohio
02:45 PM on 03/22/2010
How amusing, getting schooled by a Republican on majority rule. Filibuster anyone?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
TRex86
Enjoying life in West Ohio
12:17 PM on 03/22/2010
I love all the right wing sour grapes on this post. You've made my day and warmed the cockles of my socialist-Communist-fascist heart. If you guys were any more ignorant you would be in pre-school. Your history is straight from Glenn Beckistan. Your hysteria is pathetic. Face it, the Timidcrats got it together to pass a mediocre piece of legislation, and yet it ironically stands as a seminal achievement in my lifetime.

To the Libertarians: it's time to walk away from the party of Know-nothing. Push your own agenda. Nobody mistakes Republicans for the fiscally responsible government shrinkers they claim to be. Just remember in your budget slashinng fantasies that our defense budget is larger than the rest of the planet combined.

To the Republicans: welcome to the ash can of history. You gambled on a scorched earth tactic. You used the ugliest sorts of demagoguery and hysterical fear-mongering. You sided with the racist, psycho tea-baggers. YOU LOST.
12:48 PM on 03/22/2010
Wonderful, you hit all the things I was thinking. Why is this watered-down legislation suddenly such a huge win when last week the lefties were calling it the advent of government-backed corporate extortion? Why are the libertarians, ostensibly the group that hates government corruption and waste, riding the GOP train that spent impossible amounts of tax dollars on wars no one wants in ways no one knows? How can the Republicans continue to watch their credibility crumble, their cues continue to come from the entertainment biz, with no evidence of an exit strategy? Democrats, Libertarians and Republicans, everyone's full of it...
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
ChrisDWard
Real eyes realize real lies
12:16 PM on 03/22/2010
I'm just wondering if Limbaugh's bags are packed. He promised to leave the country if HC was passed. Hopefully, his ticket has been purchased and he's on his way out the door.........

Steven, as usual, your post was lucid and to the point. Loved it!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
sabela
like animals better than people.
02:23 PM on 03/22/2010
Sadly, he said if it is still around in 5 years, then he will go to Costa Rica where they have government run healthcare. All I know is the bill includes not allowing insurance to drop you if you actually get sick and they cannot descrimnate against those of us that have pre-existing conditions and lose our employer sponsored health care which is where I will be heading. In 3 months, I will no longer be able to afford my COBRA payments and at least know I know that when I find a job and if they offer health care, I won't have to wait 6 months to 2 years for coverage.
10:52 AM on 03/22/2010
Goodbye America. Hello European style socialism. The author expresses the kind of tolerance for ideas I think we should come to expect from now on. Oh no, no one could possibly have a cogent argument against Jesus Christ, er I mean Barack Obama. He knows all and sees all, and his government is soon to possess all.

Thomas Jefferson is spinning in his grave.
11:32 AM on 03/22/2010
I thought y'all got rid of Whatis-Name Jefferson?
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
TRex86
Enjoying life in West Ohio
12:06 PM on 03/22/2010
I would love a dose of European style socialism, but I'll settle for progressive social democratic reforms. Kindly experience your own hysteria. Is it a Rushbo implant or a personal issue? You really need help.
12:57 PM on 03/24/2010
Have you ever lived there? It took me 6 months to get a phone in France! In Italy you have to check up on the daily socialist "strike" to see which trains will be on time. The very essance(sp) Italian quality has mostly been brought down by the lack of work ethic (dopo, dopo,... domani). Try to get ANY work done in July/Aug. They are so far up the political correctness creek that even if they had a paddle, they wouldn't be allowed to use it. Did you know that you can get a state paid vacation even if you don't work? I have spent 35 years working and living around the world. European style socialism? they can keep it. It only promotes mediocrity and laziness.

All I see is a bunch of whiners with their hands out. What a wonderful welfare state we are. The first reply to this will no doubt be "what about social security and medicare?" Did anybody notice that Social Security is NOW, not in 10 years, up side down. As will medicare be. Did anybody not know that this plan CUTS medicare by $500 bil? Used to be dems would scream bloody murder and say the repubs want to KILL old people because the repubs wanted to cut the rate of annual increase. Now the dems will actually CUT but 500 bil. Where is your indignation now?

Read the brit papers. They are full of horror stories about their medical system.
10:00 AM on 03/22/2010
15,000 new IRS Agents... Yippppeeeee
09:59 AM on 03/22/2010
American Lost
10:55 AM on 03/22/2010
I suggest you cancel your car insurance and then see what happens...NEOCOMMI
12:45 PM on 03/22/2010
With a car, you can do massive amounts of property damage and even kill someone. If you try to run over someone it can even be considered a deadly weapon. What is the comparison? Also, the streets are policed and traffic laws are regularly enforced, therefore bad driving results in punishing fines, fees and higher insurance rates.

Is that what the 15K IRS agents will be doing? Policing my insurance fees?

Anyone that sings the tune for car insurance mandates like it's a good thing is already on the wrong track.
JRsNana
The most important things in life aren't things.
11:40 AM on 03/22/2010
How so? Seriously, how did America, or more importantly, Americans lose? Tens of millions of people will now have access to health care. How is that a loss? Or do you just hate your fellow Americans that much?
12:10 PM on 03/22/2010
JRsNana, it sounds great that "tens of millions of people will now have access to health care," but that talking point isn't the whole story. Even Weber's ad hominem ode to those opposed to the current legislation doesn't address its faults. Yeah, I hope for the best, but just the fact that millions more could actually LOSE their coverage before the masses start seeing any benefits (about the time that President Obama will be campaigning for reelection-weird) makes me a bit reluctant to jump on board just yet.
02:40 PM on 03/22/2010
Didn't before. But if they are liberals, then I do now.
lastpost
see biography
08:59 AM on 03/22/2010
“toxic corporate interestsâ€
Let me see if I can work this out Rupert.
The Labour Party in Britain does not have your support. So revelations concerning their involvement with lobbyists, is worthy of exposure by your media (strong) arm there.
The Republican Party in America has your support. So revelations mentioning the encouragement of lobbyist activity in that country, are fastidiously avoided by your media (withered) arm there.
Lucrative lobbying in one democratic country very very good. Lucrative lobbying in another democratic country, very very bad.
Umm, umm, umm, umm, ummmm. Its a moral dilemma, even for the likes of Janus. (B.B.)
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Soulsurfer
Solar Electrician,Longtime Surfin'Fool
08:41 AM on 03/22/2010
Great post. Thanks.