@katiecouric: Frank Luntz

[beingstill]

Hey, Katie: The incivility you see as vitriol expressed in the comments section like this one online by the "average Joe" is because liberals marginalize people like me, suggesting WE'RE the ones that are off-based! It is people like YOU who are off-base! 53% of the voting public voted for Obama, it's ironic that it's virtually the same percentage that want to repeal the health care bill! NOW!!! Progressives, liberals, and elitists keep running things... into the ground!

[HopeForPeaceNow]

@beingstill

"Progressives, liberals, and elitists keep running things... into the ground"

Was a progressive CEO of America for the Global Economic Meltdown?

Or were we just there to save our country from the desimation caused by your very [polices?

Tell me how deregulation was beneficial to our financial system? Tell me how it was beneficial to burn $3 trillion invading the wrong country?

Tell me how Conservative policies have changed since Bush?

[jpmorgan187]

this guy is lacking substance.

all the statistics spewing from his mouth are dubious at best.

[jpmorgan187]

this guy is a sleeze ball. he works for fox news and he pushes their talking points. he's good for nothing else.

[RealTime88]

@jpmorgan187 What do you think of Katie Couric?

[theknob1]

Great job both Katie and Frank. Very good interview!

[CommonSense0822]

Keith Olbermann had Bob Barr on his show and he used to be a Republican, now he's a Libertarian. I think the problem is that Republicans won't go on Keith Olbermann's show. I've heard Rachel Maddow say many times that she invited a Republican on her show, but they declined. If Republicans won't go on Rachel Maddow's show then they definitely won't go on Keith Olbermann's show.

[chukmaty]

Many republicans would love to go on his show. Like Michael Medved and Dennis Prager... all they get in return are crickets.

Huckabee has been on the shows of both of them.

[lennonusman]

the theme music resembles the Larry King Live theme... :) Good job Katie! Hope to see O'Reilly on your show..

[7410n0]

It's pretty hard talking to a stubborn person who wants to deny people rights to marriage and healthcare.

[chukmaty]

Health care is not really a right, and neither is marriage.

Marriage is something tangibly specific, so it is reasonable that some people would defend the specificity of its definition. This leads me to believe that you might be intollerant of other peoples opinions, that is why you simply see them as denying rights whether not good arguments are presented for preserving marriage as it is. It must be easy to disregard the beliefs of others if you can just call them stubborn.

[7410n0]

No rights are really rights since what is considered a right is determined by the government. In the broadest sense though, right are all very basic things, like schooling and shelter, that all people deserve access to. Under the broad definition, health care and marriage are both rights.

You may see it as merely defending something "tangibly specific," but I see that as an excuse to avoid considering that that definition in itself is discriminatory.

[chukmaty]

Thank you for why the left both frightens me and fails to make sense. If a right is base on the graces of government, then you have no right to get in a huf over lacking a perceived right as the government has never mandated this right.

And marriage is discriminatory, that's WHAT IT IS, it says this is a marriage and this is not. All definition discriminates against everything outside the definition; that is what a definition is. It also discriminates against polygamy I might add.

[7410n0]

Thank you for misunderstanding me and then trying to drag this little discussion into partisan douchebaggery.

What I meant was legal rights, guaranteed by a government, are not the same as rights is in its broad sense.

[chukmaty]

Fair enough, but the declaration of independence disagrees. Government rises out of values, values do not rise out of governments. Rights come from values, rights limit government. I would also say that both rights and values come from God, as if they did not, they would be subjective based on differing opinion. A right cannot be universal if it came from mankind. Laws made by a government are deemed good or evil based upon whether or not they adhere to a set of standards which are objective.

[7410n0]

cont'd

You missed my point. If marriage was defined as "between a white man and white woman," it would discriminate against non-white people. As I see it, if you say you are only "defending something 'tangibly specific'" when this definition is challenged, then it's little more than an excuse to stop thinking. That's why I call them "stubborn." They don't think at all.

[chukmaty]

I am glad you raise this point. There is no significant difference between a black person and a white person, while the difference between a man and a woman is significant. The difference between a couple mixed ethnicity is not really any different than a couple of the same ethnicity; however a polygamous marriage and a same sex marriage are both very different. That is not to say that the people involved are good or bad, it is only saying that the relationships are different.

[7410n0]

If someone said "I don't think we can afford to sustain universal healthcare," I could understand. But that's not what I hear. What I hear is "Universal Healthcare is Socialism!", "Death Panels!", and "God hates gays!" / "Gays are unatural!" I don't hate their opinions because they're different; I hate their opinions because they justify them with stupidity.

[chukmaty]

The only people I have ever heard say "God Hates Gays" are socialist leaning democrats who were heavily involved in the Democratic party for years. They are better known as the Westboro Baptist Church and in addition to supporting Fidel Castro, they were invited to at least one Clinton inauguration.

You are very right on one thing, people need to be specific as to what socialism is and why it is bad, even in a democratic society.

[chukmaty]

Lets start with death panels, a debate that has been totally misinterpreted. Socialism is an economic system that uses rationing and mandates to set prices, capitalism is a system that has individuals set prices and this tends to quickly conform with local supply and demand.

Economics is a science of scarce resources, we do not have enough beach front homes for very person who wants one to get it, so we either dole them out to a few lucky ones or we have prices determine who can afford them.

[chukmaty]

If you want to understand a conservative like me, reading Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics will give you all the tools you need. No one explains conservative economics better. You may not agree, but at least you will see were someone on the right is coming from.

[HopeForPeaceNow]

Does it bother any Conservatives that Frank makes up the buzz words to kill the bill...

before the bill is even written?

Or that they sell you your public policy the same way they sell you your pepsi?

Or that we are 37th in level of healthcare in the world and pay the second highest price?

Or that "permanent bailouts" are 100% lie?

[beingstill]

@HopeForPeaceNow Does it bother liberals that YOUR side of the aisle tries to find the buzz words that will help them sell their ideological nonsense!? Global Warming didn't work... so how 'bout Global Climate Change? Now we're saying it's "Global Disturbance!" Oy! Not to mention the health care bill 53% of the voting public wants repealed... NOW! So, your point, while "compelling," is ill-founded. It wasn't the Republicans that shoved the American public into programs it never wanted!

[HopeForPeaceNow]

@beingstill No. Give me an example. Ever hear of Lakoff? He's the Frank Luntz of the left. A proff at Berkeley, he does NOT lie.

Funny, the phrase "climate change" was adopted during the early Bush years by Frank Luntz. It is easier for people to be comfortable with "climate change" over Global Warming.

Healthcare is another great example of Franks work. "Government run healthcare" came from his talking points memo. HOW would we GET decent legislation is one side simply KILLS with lies??

[HopeForPeaceNow]

@beingstill

"It wasn't the Republicans that shoved the American public into programs it never wanted!"

NO? How about Global Economic Meltdown? Did the country want that [program? Caused by the very deregulation the "right" still clings to and lies about day after day.

How about doubling the debt during growth years? Was that a program we needed?

How about invading the wrong country for #3 trillion, 500,000 dead? That's a program from hell.

[voyeurdug]

Ah... the "just before the townhall meetings" timeframe now makes sense... with the conclusions he reached on that topic.

[CHARG3R]

yawn -.-