They’re very convincing and will certainly work. Nonetheless,
the posts are too brief Insoles For High Arch starters.
Could you please lengthen them a little from next time?
Thanks for the post.

“It’s not the presence of the scam that rigs the game, it’s the fact that the mark doesn’t know it is a scam.”

One can know he’s being scammed and not do anything about it, and then the rigged game is just as effective at slanting the result. How many interruptions by Raddatz in Biden’s favor did Ryan need in order to understand she was biased? After a certain point, his lack of readiness to call her upon it was negligent.

“Now if you tell me that the Repub debate team didn’t expect Dem bias from an avowed liberal moderater and were caught by surprise,…”

Lehrer’s exceptionally fair moderation may have made them complacent. Or it may be the usual Republican fault of being too compromising, cutting the other side too much slack for their own good.

“As for Netanyahu,…”

I only brought my local affairs as an analogy, nothing literal to be read into it.

See this quote (emphasis mine):

“I had doubts about Romney. I was worried he couldn’t do it,” admitted Kyle Lucke, a 22-year-old engineering student, “but he was bold, he showed a real good American attitude.”

the link (H/T Instapundit):

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-election/9601766/Obamas-election-strategy-has-collapsed-says-Romney-camp-as-their-man-begins-to-believe.html

Kudos. I lol’d. /tips hat/

Perfect!

I too, neo, suffer from debate-phobia, but my wife and kids wanted to watch, so I reluctantly turned from the Yankees-Orioles game.

Biden’s demeanor struck me as forced, an obvious attempt to obfuscate the issues and derail a substantive debate into a slanging match. Ryan, to his credit, refrained from responding in kind, although a lesser man (ahem) would have been sorely tried to follow his example.

I suggest that the simplest weapon is to simply become immune to the charge of “liar” and “racist.” It’s kind of like the old “sticks and stones” retort. Now, it’s somewhat more complicated than in the schoolyard because a larger number of people respond to that invective.

IMO, that is one of the benefits that has come from the Obama administration. “Racist” has been so overused that it has less impact on a daily basis. So too will “liar,” although that word has just entered the lexicon of broascast politics. The media has played a major role in this change; first giving the charges credence by refusing to ignore then; then, by not ignoring them giving them so much play that they become ineffective.

I, also, would be interested in Neoneocon’s thoughts on this.

The old idea that “reasonable men of good will may disagree” is simply not possible for them to understand. Agreement is how they demonstrate their reasonableness and good will.

This also explains why they are so eager to seize upon “dog whistles” to smear dissent as the result of racism or misogyny or something equally doubleplusungood. In their mindset disagreement simply must flow from unworthy motives.

I don’t know how to counter or cure this attitude. Engaging them with logic and facts, as Romney and Ryan have done, leads to enraged shrieks: “LIES! ALL LIES! CHEATING LIARS! LYING CHEATERS!”

And of course trying to deploy meaningless appeals to emotion as they do simply opens one to the charge of being superficial and manipulative.

Neo, you made the change: what can we do?

Back before conservatives had a media foothold, “mainstream” media would occasionally have conservatives on TV shows. However they would always have four or five leftists on as well so that the conservative would be overwhelmed, and yes there would be lots of smirking about the zoo creature they had on the show.

The fairness doctrine was another attempt to deny conservatives the right to speak, more recent variants on this include net neutrality and local control of media.

Conservative speakers are always heckled by the left to deny them free speech. Only conservatives need bodyguards to speak on college campuses.

Currently if you watch any of the “debates” on cable TV you will regularly see leftists cross talking unless their mics are muted in order to drown out the conservative.

No doubt most conservatives in their personal lives have argued with leftists who are shocked and appalled that someone actually disagrees with their leftist religion and get very passionate and try to over talk you continuously.

So for leftists Biden seemed normal, whereas for the regular folks he seemed what he was, a weird bully.

One more point on Biden and Obama debating Romney-Ryan. Obama has a structural problem. He can’t defend his failed, debacle of an economy, he can’t defend his failed, debacle of a foreign policy, and as a Bolshevik he can’t tell us who he is or where he wants to take the country as Americans aren’t Bolsheviks. Thus we get lies, smears and obstruction.