Quote:
Originally Posted by rubicon
Bucco: I happen to agree with both of your posts. You make reference that you were involved in politics so you know that the gap has widended greatly between liberal and conservative, Why that happened I leave to the historians but it has frustrated and paralyzed the legislative process.
Congress once had a healthy balance of liberal and conservative in both parties and they fought hard for their causes but at the end of the day they remained friends. Now it is a continuing game of one upmanship and conducted in a vile and angry manner
This one upmanship also existed for a time in corporation but leaders recognized the damage this was doing to achieving goals. Ergo the era of team building such as white water rafting, etc
As we find the situation today I don't believe that one person can sway another person's opinion because far too many of voters have never acquired critical analysis skills. Its easy to accept that the government gives away free things et al.
We need the Bill Buckley's and Pat Monihan's to achieve well thought out policies. The legislative process today from bill to policy is so poorly defined and defended that the government is implementing bupkus
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Good post RUBICON !!!
Your point is well taken. When I was younger and really involved, the media was made up of actual journalists, and there was no internet, and no cable tv. AND of course there was not this kind of money flowing.
What has happened is that the media has to fill in 24 hours on cable and the print media is competing with all the internet bloggers, etc. As a result, for one example, they hire folks to fill in that 24 hour cycle who have bias.....they SELL for doggone good money the ads on tv and I know for a fact that those folks buying ads have great influence as to what you see and hear.
The print journalist are not journalists any longer. They, in essence have become "hired guns" to the highest bidder as well.
Now, our voters instead of reading real journalist coverage have access to 24 hours of "stuff" and they choose to listen to only what they WANT to hear....they do not have to listen to facts anymore...if they dont like the facts, they can find somebody on some network or on some blog that will see things from their point of view. These people they listen to are looking for those advertisers as well so....
Our elected officials, for the most part...not all for sure...play to that background to get votes.
As I said in an earlier post....and again,not being partisan but there is only ONE party having a primary.......Mr. Romney could talk for 2 hours and make great points on our economy....Mr Paul could talk for an hour and make great points on the constitution and our spending....Mr Gingrich could talk for an hour and make great points on foreign relations....Mr Santorum could simply make a 5 minute statement but talk about contraceptives and bam....all the news is about that 5 minutes. There will be no discusssion of what is being said that matters, UNLESS of course one of those fellows makes a gaff. With that kind of media coverage, this is what you get.
It really makes me cry when I see groups of voters and I dont want to mention names of those groups and appear bias, but groups of americans who will vote AS A GROUP because they are a GROUP, NOT because they support the programs of the man or woman they voted for, but because they were TOLD to vote that way by media coverage of some other person of authority.
And for the record.....I was a VERY ACTIVE Democrat for many years....sufficiently active that I am proud to say I sat in many backrooms with candidates and staff planning, etc. I left the Democratic party and since being independent was not as trendy as it is today, I became a Republican. I have never in my life, EVEN when active as a Dem voted a straight ticket (not because I am so astute...just always found some guy that I liked on the other side).
I get my news from various places...NYTIMES daily...WSJ sometimes...a few sites on the net...I watch a few things on tv...but not much....because most of the tv channels are in bed with somebody.
This forum was unique at on time. For example, I am not real smart with the economics of the world and we had/have a poster who really knows his stuff. Now, I do not and did not always agree with him, but he posted links to read and that helped me either understand his view or drove me further away from his point of view. The point was he shared information and I learned from it. AND READING IS THE ISSUE...you have to read both sides...not just the side you THINK you are on and you have to HEAR what the other is saying.
This name calling crap and talkng about non sensical issues drives me crazy. What Rush Limbaugh said is NOT going to decide any election....right now, we have the media ignoring anything that does not sell to viewers...sex, etc. If they dont talk about contraceptives AND THAT WILL NOT WIN THIS ELECTION, then they have decided it is not news.
Sorry for the confused rant....but I come here and read and it is nothing but people calling other posters names....or calling people they never met....candidates...names as derisive as they can come up with and are PROUD of that......but they obviously do not understand anything about what is going on in this world except what their corner of the world tells them they should believe and it is sad. These posters make false accusation with no basis in fact...no link..nothing. THAT to me is slander.
PS....you mentioned Bill Buckley...one of my hero's even when I was on the other side from. I used too many words to simply say that we seem to be out of journalists.......
Sorry Rubicon...I certainly have no right to preach but I have apologized on this forum more that most posters have even tried to discuss an issue.