Spinning Merrily Along With RNC PR BS
This entire article is going to deal with nothing but spin. In fact, it's going to get so downright spinny that you may wish to haul that old turntable out of your closet, place it on your chair, and then sit right down on it -- so you'll be able to spin right along with the twisted logic I'm about to espouse. Just a friendly warning.
Reince Priebus, leader of the Republican National Committee (whose name when stripped of vowels, in an amusingly apt coincidence, reads: RNC PR BS) opened the latest spin salvo with a claim that Republicans really really want to believe -- and, even more importantly, really really would like to convince themselves average Americans will eventually come to believe if they just repeat it enough. It's been attempted before, but the media is treating it as a "new" story, so we'll just play along for the time being. The RNC PR BS claim: "[President Barack Obama] wants this thing to happen, a shutdown of the government. I'm totally cynical on the thing. I think that's exactly what he wants."
The Republican logic behind the spin (such as it is): Obama wants the House Republicans to force a government shutdown by refusing to pass any budget or debt ceiling legislation unless it includes killing off Obamacare (which they know isn't going to ever make it into actual law). Obama wants this shutdown, because he thinks the American public will then blame Republicans for this Tea Party temper tantrum, and it will affect the 2014 election... which could possibly lead to Democrats retaking the House of Representatives. Given such an upside, why wouldn't Obama want such "domestic paralysis" (as the RNC PR BS puts it) to happen?
Got all of that? It's a variation on the old Laurel and Hardy "Here's another fine mess you've gotten us into!" punchline. House Republicans shut down the government, then attempt to blame Obama for the shutdown. You've got to ignore the fact that the RNC PR BS is, essentially, admitting that a shutdown would be a bad thing for Republicans (otherwise why would Obama want it, really?), which undermines the basic Republican position (the public will blame Obama, if we spin it correctly). The RNC PR BS is admitting that this future spin attempt is going to fail.
That's the problem with these attempted Jedi mind tricks -- they can backfire. The RNC PR BS machine hasn't figured this out, though, unless Republicans are taking the game to a whole new level. Establishment Republicans, remember, know full well their party is going to get the blame for any shutdown, and they are desperately seeking some way to mollify the Tea Partiers without having to actually shut the government down. So is the RNC PR BS really designed to send House Republicans spinning faster than a Texas twister?
Jut for one moment, imagine what would happen if Obama decided to bolster the RNC PR BS claim. Obama, during some press interview, decides to lay his cards on the table. Imagine if he said something like:
"Well, you know, I'm tired of pretending, so I'm just going to go ahead and 'fess up to the fact that I really, really want a government shutdown in the next few weeks. Democrats are confident that if that happens, Nancy Pelosi is going to be the next Speaker of the House as a direct result. So why wouldn't I be wishing and praying for a shutdown? The only way out of this trap for the House Republicans is if they pass a clean budget bill that doesn't touch Obamacare, and then a clean debt ceiling bill. Everybody knows that they're never going to do that, so my shutdown wish looks like it'll be granted soon. How about them apples, eh?"
Let's take a few more steps down this road, spinning merrily along the way, shall we? How would Republicans react to such a statement? Well, their prime motivating force in life is to deny President Obama everything he wants. So the cry "Deny Obama his shutdown!" would begin to ring out in Republicanland. Jettisoning their crusade against Obamacare will be much easier than anyone now thinks, because they'll be able to put a brand new spin on the entire matter. Behind the spin will be the knowledge that even if they do manage to shut the government down, there is just no way that they'll be able to actually kill off Obamacare as a result -- they know this ploy is not going to work, deep down. Don't believe such spin could be easily sold to House Republicans? Try this on for size:
"Everyone knows that Obamacare is going to be a gigantic train wreck. It is just not going to work. People are going to hate it. Because the Obamacare wreckage is -- inevitably -- going to be spread far and wide over the countryside, it is going to lead to a massive movement of the voting public over to the Republican side. Republicans can guarantee not only keeping control of the House in next year's election, we will also take the Senate as well. Guaranteed! But only if the Obamacare train wreck is allowed to happen -- that's the only way the public will move in a tidal wave to support Republicans. So why wouldn't we let Obamacare happen? Why have we been standing in the way of this trainwreck? Let it happen, and we will guarantee Republican majorities in Congress for a generation -- and the first thing those majorities will do is save the American public from the Obamacare train wreck by repealing it in its entirety."
Think that could work? Perhaps this is what the RNC PR BS is designed to accomplish. By focusing Republicans on 2014 and pointing out that a shutdown would massively benefit the Democrats (because, why else would Obama be for it?), it could also motivate House Republicans to prevent the shutdown by any means necessary because doing so would deny Obama a giant political victory and would also guarantee Republican majorities in Congress as far into the future as the eye can see. Maybe the RNC PR BS is masterfully designed to feed right into the "if Obama's for it, we're against it" knee-jerk-ism so prevalent among House Republicans. Maybe this is the next tactical move by the Republican establishment, daring Tea Partiers to deny Obama such a juicy political prize. After all, if Obama's for a shutdown, what is the obvious Tea Party position to take?
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
so... obama's currently against a shutdown, which the r's are for, but now they're saying that he's for it to convince their own to be against it, and you're suggesting that he should agree with them and act like he's for it even though he's against it, just to make them against it, which is what he was for all along?
JL
another related question: if you can trick mr. rncprbs into saying his own name backward, will that teleport him back to the fifth dimension?
I am constrained to point out that the choice is really with Obama and the Democrats..
They can choose between ObamaCare, which the majority of Americans have ALWAYS been against to this day, or they can have a government that is not shut down.
"You must choose. But choose wisely"
-Knight, INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE
If Obama and the Democrats do not choose wisely, how exactly is that the fault of Republicans??
ObamaCare is a train-wreck. The Dem who wrote it SAID so.. The fact that Dems want to spend a half a BILLION dollars to explain ObamaCare is proof positive of it's train-wreck-edness (an old word that I just made up)...
If you have to spend a half BILLION dollars to convince people that something is a GOOD thing, then it is very likely NOT a good thing..
Am I wrong???
Oh yea, there will be people who will want to blame the GOP if this legislation actually makes it thru and becomes law.
But those people will be the ones who blame the GOP for everything anyways.
Americans with more than 2 brain cells to rub together will know the score and will vote accordingly in 2014...
https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc1/q72/s720x720/582127_572293239475013_334469732_n.jpg
Ya gotta admire that. Powerful message..
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2013/09/18/obama_americans_wrong_about_obamacare_its_going_to_be_a_good_deal.html
Aahhhhhh
I get it now..
ALL those millions of Americans are wrong and Obama is right...
Despite ALL the evidence to the contrary...
Employees losing hours and getting pay cuts
Health insurances rates increasing all over the country, some by as much as 300 percent
Small businesses firing all their workers and closing down
Despite ALL that evidence....
Obamacare is going to be a good thing, according to Obama.....
Ahhh, I get it. Democrats have to destroy healthcare, destroy the middle class in order to save it...
Gotcha.....
The bill from the Republican Study Committee would fully repeal the 2010 law and replace it with an expansion of health savings accounts, medical liability reform and the elimination of restrictions on purchasing insurance across state lines.
So, what's the problem with the ObamaCare replacement??
Seems to make a lot of sense to me...
Michale _ If you are counting on the votes of those few Americans with more than two brain cells then you guys are gonna get clobbered at the polls.
nypoet22 [1] -
Hey, I warned you to buckle yourself in to a turntable before you read it!
Heh.
[2] -
I'm not sure. But saying things backwards, as I was told in the 1980s by many conservatives, means devil-worship. Or something.
Michale [3] -
In general, the liberal response to this reasoning is: "You just keep telling yourself that! See you in 2014!"
But I did have to at least applaud the coinage of "train-wreck-edness" as it does indeed roll off the tongue well.
:-)
SF Bear -
OK, now THAT was funny!
-CW
SF,
Michale _ If you are counting on the votes of those few Americans with more than two brain cells then you guys are gonna get clobbered at the polls.
Touche'
In general, the liberal response to this reasoning is: "You just keep telling yourself that! See you in 2014!"
You see, the problem is that, with the exception of die-hard Obama lovers, no one LIKES ObamaCare..
Hell, even SENIORS are lining up against ObamaCare...
http://washingtonexaminer.com/seniors-push-bill-to-repeal-obamacare-provision-that-raises-their-costs/article/2536019
So, if Obama and the Democrats choose ObamaCare (which the majority of Americans do not like and do not want) over continuing the government, the American people will register their disgust at the polls...
Why, despite ALL the evidence to the contrary, do ya'all insist that Obamacare is a GOOD thing???
But I did have to at least applaud the coinage of "train-wreck-edness" as it does indeed roll off the tongue well.
Danke... :D
I'm not sure. But saying things backwards, as I was told in the 1980s by many conservatives, means devil-worship. Or something.
my apologies, i was being too opaque. having a name with no vowels is one of the characteristics of one of superman's foes, mr. mxyzptlk. he is an impish character from the fifth dimension, who is nearly omnipotent and can only be defeated when he is tricked into saying his own name backward. i was suggesting the same might be true of rncprbs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Mxyzptlk
I'm not sure. But saying things backwards, as I was told in the 1980s by many conservatives, means devil-worship. Or something.
The White Album. If you play "Revolution Number Nine" backwards, the Beatles are singing "Paul is dead."
-Katie, QUANTUM LEAP, The Leap Home
:D
nypoet22 -
OK, it's not often, but when I have been stumped in the arena of pop culture (even, to my chagrin and dismay, in the realm of comic books), I must fess up. That Superman reference went right over my head.
The only American comics I'm truly an expert on are the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, and other similar underground comix. I've got more than a passing reference to the early X Men, but can't claim much more than that.
However, I challenge anyone to a trivia battle over the any of the British "2000AD" universe: Judge Dredd or Strontium Dogs (Johnny Alpha) or for that matter Halo Freakin' Jones. Hmmph. So there.
Heh.
I still think RNC PR BS is hilarious, just on a juvenile level.
As for you, Michale, EVERYone knows that "I buried Paul" was the (forwards not backwards!) hidden message in "Strawberry Fields," so there!
Heh.
Some did claim that the message "turn me on, dead man" is hidden in the backwards R#9, but these people can be taken with a grain of salt.
Heh heh.
Whose funeral was displayed on the Sgt. Pepper's album cover? Why was Paul the only one barefoot on Abbey Road?
Oh, we could play this game all day...
:-)
-CW