Jim Lehrer: An Uneasy Nation Feeds Political Extremism

[Marbles471]

Lehrer is wrong. Darn him and his newsman's obsession with "balance" no matter how much it flies in the face of reality. There IS no "exteme" on the left with any voice in mainstream discourse right now. All the "shouting" he talks about is between the extreme right and the center right. The left barely exists anymore---it's been marginalized off the stage. Lehrer should know better----he's old enough to remember when there was actually a left wing in this country.

[jeniferwedi]

Come baby Asian ladies  #lushfmlk.info#

[helanmatiu]

No way out man Asian women  #lushfmlk.info#

[tempemonkey2323]

The religious right and all the teabaggers need to take a hike.... Then everything would be just fine... Rather everything could move toward fine...

[AWA821]

People are beginning to realize that the US is a Corpocracy. It has never been a democracy. It is a republic at best but most of the representatives no longer represent the people's interest.

[Asiablue]

Jim Lehrer is being diplomatic. Extremism is the form taken by fear: fear of change, helplessness and powerlessness. It makes sense to say no one likes to be helpless, etc. and that fear is the natural result, but this time it seems to be a sea change sweeping over many aspects of human society and overwhelming what we think are 'the Rules.' The more sensitive we are to changes, the less tolerance we have to change of any kind.

[gsuitter]

Political extremism, as in Washington DC, creates an uneasy nation!

We need to start following the rules, the Constitution.

[MisterSnoutbug]

Obama: I voted for you, Mr. B.O.! :)

[neanderslob]

Man I wish Fora would let us see the whole thing but Lehrer seems to basically be giving the most unhelpful insight to this: "Hey there's extreme left and extreme right and hey, what can ya do?" First of all, I really don't know where this extreme left is apart from the imagination of a few folks with loud voices and little evidence other than Bill Aires and "besides, he hates America." Second, all Lehrer seems to be implying "Don't worry, close your eyes and it'll be back to how it was."

[runswithscissorsalot]

@neanderslob if you can't see the extreme left already, I don't think the full video will do you much good!

[neanderslob]

@runswithscissorsalot Love the user name! I'm guessing you can? Could you point it out to me? I REALLY SERIOUSLY don't get it.

[jacobromu]

@neanderslob I'm on the extreme left, although in Canada. It's a very lonely place indeed.

[csamw65]

I love Jim Lehrer! He writes the funniest songs!

[bboucharde]

JIm Lehrer, you made some thoughtful points, but you are wrong about the extreme left. It DOES hold power (under the elite, who bankroll them). With the exception of a card-carrying open Communist, it is difficult to imagine a president farther to the left than the one we have now. Also, 80% DOES NOT "run the country." The USA is "run" by less than 3% of the population: the super-rich oligarchic elite.

[152czar]

@bboucharde The super-rich oligarchic elite are neither right or left. The right-left spectrum is a false paradigm.

On the issues that truly matter: the war on terror, free trade agreements (e.g. NAFTA), and the bankster bailouts there was widespread bipartisan agreement between the republican and democratic parties.

Wake up America. We live in a one party system. There is one political party in the US: the War Party.

[bboucharde]

@152czar The senior leaders in Congress (House & Senate) routinely socialize with each other and play the Right vs. Left game for the media and the general herd of American sheep. However, there ARE differences between conservative Republicans and "progressive" Democrats, too obvious for me to list them here. However, both sides in Congress are seriously compromised by lobbyists, special-interest cash injections, and other corruption. The higher up you go, the dirtier it gets.

[bboucharde]

@152czar Also, the "War on Terror" is a misnomer--(It is like saying "a war on blitzkrieg.") "Terror" is a technique of war,* and the US has used this since the 1700's, whenever it felt compelled to do so. The CIA carries out world-class black ops, which are state-sponsored terror attacks. The recent US attack on Libya is terrorist. Obviously, the "war on terror" is an international war agains Islam (usually fundamentalist Wahabi Islam). *as Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft has explained.

[Marbles471]

@bboucharde

Only in America would anyone be able to call a corporate-friendly centrist like Barack Obama "extreme left" with a straight face. Decades of hard work by the conservative movement and the right wing think tanks have succeeded in skewing the political scale in this country so that the center is now the right, and the there is no longer any true voice of liberalism in government.

Virtually anywhere else in the democratic world, Obama would be considered fairly conservative.

[bboucharde]

@Marbles471 Thanks for your thoughts. I will try to respond when my workload allows.

[Andybaby]

Noone is in charge. Everyone just looks out for themselves.

[verstwo2]

Meh. 

[AeroJimE27]

That’s it in a nutshell. That is what I’m thinking “Why can’t these people run these things right?!” Incompetence at such a high level is scary!

[LeadPaintSandwich]

@AeroJimE27 the way i see it, no1 is perfect to begin with. accidents happen. but when the profit motive gets in the way of safety... that's when you know more rules and inspections administered by non biased entities are a must.

i hope that all the nonconstructive extremism gently wakes people up to the fact that there are people right now gambling with our livelihoods, our environment and our freedoms. then maybe people will find real ways of making a change instead of bitching and moaning.

[intrascoobz]

Umm.The extremists are the left and the right. The extreme of the hand dealt the populace is to watch , listen and 2accept. Accepting the nonsense of the blue elephant which remembers & the red is a mule that shows us the class of the ass of the extremists of left and the right. For a nation 2feel the uneasiness of trying to make out which is the lesser evil of left and the right? Leave the radicals to themselves! The 80% populace , wise 2decide 2thought think possibilities & bye extremes!

[intrascoobz]

@intrascoobz ...and give this guy over to me for he is in need of a paddling! He has his own show and yet here he sits saying lots and saying nothing of significance at all. Did he once avoid the draft or is he just so good at being a dodger and distractor of what is As Ordered By The King in his ability to say lots of nothing? This is a mighty fine classic example of using The Politics In The English Language except that in this case , he's talking as if a crisis in a nation is what? ?He say

[mattghtpa]

@intrascoobz It appears to me that Jim Lehrer is saying exactly what needs to be said, and even more, explaining that strife is inevitable and extremism will follow, whereas, you are the one saying nothing and actually not even making sense. Your words were disjointed and out of order.

Maybe you should try again.

[intrascoobz]

@mattghtpa thank you and you've said exactly the opposite of what I've said here.