REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, or, The Way to A Neocon's Heart (If They Had One)

POSTED BY: ERIC
UPDATED: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 18:36
SHORT URL:
VIEWED: 1764
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Tuesday, January 13, 2009 6:55 PM

ERIC


http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/01/13/obama_dines_with_conserva
tive_writers.html


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/13/obamas-dinner-with-conser_n_1
57701.html


Quote:

Obama And Conservatives Break Bread At George Will's House
Barack Obama took the next big step in his Republican charm offensive on Tuesday night, when he dined with several of the nation's most prominent conservative pundits.

The president-elect arrived at the Chevy Chase, Md., home of syndicated columnist George Will shortly after 6:30 p.m., according to a press pool report. Greeting him at the residence were other luminaries of the conservative commentariat, including the Weekly Standard's William Kristol, New York Times columnist David Brooks, and Charles Krauthammer of the Washington Post.

The odd-couple gathering led to speculation that Rush Limbaugh, who said that he was in D.C. for a "secret meeting," was also in attendance. "I'm just offering, a personal trip, nobody even has to know about this," the notorious and combative talk show host wrote on his website.

Alas, a source close to the transition confirms, Limbaugh was definitely not in attendance during the dinner affair -- likely disappointing some in the conservative blogosphere, knowing full well the fury that would have caused among progressives.

Nevertheless, Obama's choice of dining partners seem likely to cause its fair share of hair-pulling and eye-rolling. As the pool reporter, Ken Bazinet of the New York Daily News, penned in his write up: "This is for real, folks. The bloggers are going to love this one."

Obama has pledged to be a uniter once in office. He's also said he is willing to take policy suggestions from any source, regardless of ideological affiliation, as long as they work. So far, he's living up to his word.



Futile gesture? Keeping enemies closer with Vulcan mind control games? Or going totally native with the corporatist establishment?
Hope they chew their food, be a damn shame if one of them choked on their dinner.

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Tuesday, January 13, 2009 7:29 PM

DREAMTROVE


No regime change.

Obama thinks he can outsmart them. And he can. But this isn't about brains. It's like you come to a chess game and the other guy brings a gun.

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Wednesday, January 14, 2009 1:08 AM

FREMDFIRMA


It's a setup and face show to cover for the *real* deals which will get made in a seperate meeting out of the prying eyes of the public and the press.

As if this were not obvious...

-F

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Wednesday, January 14, 2009 6:15 AM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!


The fact that Obama wants a socialist as his 'climate czar '( oh, the irony ) is proof that there'll never be any joining of true conservatives and Obama's administration, no matter who he dined with this week.

Climate change is beyond our ability to control. Call it what it is, and simply say pollution management, or what ever, but global warming is NOT a real concern for our Government.



It is not those who use the term "Islamo-Fascism" who are sullying the name of Islam; it is the Islamo-Fascists. - Dennis Prager


" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

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Wednesday, January 14, 2009 6:19 AM

DREAMTROVE


Who, Rap, do you consider "True Conservatives"?

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Wednesday, January 14, 2009 6:48 AM

ERIC


Quote:

Originally posted by Fremdfirma:
It's a setup and face show to cover for the *real* deals which will get made in a seperate meeting out of the prying eyes of the public and the press.

As if this were not obvious...

-F



Sigh...yeah, "bipartisanship" just means they all come together to agree to screw us over. I wonder what will happen when all those bloggers ask for their million small campaign donations back.

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Wednesday, January 14, 2009 9:33 AM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)


Quote:


The fact that Obama wants a socialist as his 'climate czar '( oh, the irony ) is proof that there'll never be any joining of true conservatives and Obama's administration, no matter who he dined with this week.

Climate change is beyond our ability to control. Call it what it is, and simply say pollution management, or what ever, but global warming is NOT a real concern for our Government.



You just now figured out the irony of calling ANYONE in a "free-market" society a "czar"? Shit, I knew we had problems when Reagan started calling for a "drug czar" and an "education czar" - all while telling us how Russia was The Evil Empire.

As for things beyond our ability to control, and getting in the middle of them anyway (and making a huge muckup of the situation), I'd nominate a "war on terror" as a pretty huge fuckup, and a quixotic mission the likes of which the world has seldom seen. I mean, maybe if we kill everyone else in the world, there won't be any more terror - unless by doing so we create enemies and terrorists here at home, so we have to kill everyone here, too. It's a pretty vicious cycle.



Mike

"It is complete now; the hands of time are neatly tied."

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Wednesday, January 14, 2009 10:49 AM

NEWOLDBROWNCOAT


Quote:

Originally posted by Kwicko:

I knew we had problems when Reagan started calling for a "drug czar" and an "education czar" - all while telling us how Russia was The Evil Empire.



Mebbe it only became an "Evil Empire" after they killed off CZAR Nicholas in 1917, and those Commies took over? Mebbe Ronnie was wishing for " the good old days" when someone with divine authority could give orders and the serfs would obey, or else be slaughtered in the streets?

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Wednesday, January 14, 2009 11:22 AM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)


I'm not real crazy about them constantly referring to it as "the Homeland" either. Sounds an awful lot like the Nazi "Fatherland" and the old Russian "Motherland". Just something very 1984 about it.

What's so wrong about referring to our nation as "our nation", "our country", or "America", or (if we're being formal) "The United States of America"? I never thought there was a single thing wrong with those names and concepts...

Mike

"It is complete now; the hands of time are neatly tied."

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Wednesday, January 14, 2009 11:29 AM

ERIC


Quote:

Originally posted by Kwicko:
I'm not real crazy about them constantly referring to it as "the Homeland" either. Sounds an awful lot like the Nazi "Fatherland" and the old Russian "Motherland". Just something very 1984 about it.



They didn't invent the euphemism 'enhanced interrogation' either- it was originally called verschaerfte vernehmung.

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Wednesday, January 14, 2009 12:24 PM

KWICKO

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)


"Kraft durch Freude!" (Strength through Joy!)

It's a little-known piece of history, but the Volkswagen (Peoples' Car) Beetle was originally known as the KdF-wagen (Strength through Joy-wagen), named after the Nazi's state labor organization.

Mike

"It is complete now; the hands of time are neatly tied."

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Wednesday, January 14, 2009 1:27 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!


Quote:

Originally posted by dreamtrove:
Who, Rap, do you consider "True Conservatives"?



Me. j/k. Obama met w/ George Will , who I consider an inside the beltway conservative. REAL conservatives, imo, would include the Limbaughs, Coulters, and the like. PaleoCons, as it were. McCain was a 'moderate' and look what it got him....drubbed. Moderates never win. Reagan was further right, and he won in a landslide.


Also,in my remark above, the IRONY was Obama appointing a socialist as a 'czar', here in the U.S. , which currently is a capitalistic country.


It is not those who use the term "Islamo-Fascism" who are sullying the name of Islam; it is the Islamo-Fascists. - Dennis Prager


" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

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Wednesday, January 14, 2009 2:11 PM

WHOZIT


And I bet them Neocon's severed up some fried chicken and watermelon to make him feel rite at home...... God you libs are stupid

I'm going to microwave a bagel and have sex with it - Peter Griffin

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Wednesday, January 14, 2009 4:12 PM

DREAMTROVE


Rap,

Here in lies some of the crux of the rift between our viewpoints. Coulter and Limbaugh to me are like a disease. I'm not convinced that Coulter isn't a transvestite, after all, Coulter dated Mahr, who is gay. And, Limbaugh is an opiate addict. But more importantly, Limbaugh just spouts whatever line the advertisers who pay him want him to say, Coulter just says whatever she? thinks is most controversial or sensational.

Yes, at some point, as younger, less corrupted people, they were conservatives. Now they're egos on steroids masquerading as the voice of the people.

IMHO

Will is pretty old school, I think that if you're hitting near Barry Goldwater you're pretty close. Reagan was close, but came with a corrupt side of neocons. I can think of a number of real conservatives in the senate. Sessions is probably one, he's not a guy I agree with a lot, but I think he's usually sincere. Lugar and Warner are probably more conservative. There are republicans I like who aren't really all that conservative, like Hagel. I think his ideology is sound, but a true conservative would never rant and rave. He would be calm like the sea. Powerful, but not arising an opposing force.

Neocons, even if I didn't know they were avowed socialists, would still never pass for conservatives for me. It's plain as soon as they open their mouths. They are filled with anger, ready to strike down the thing that opposes they. They provoke opposition, and opposition provokes conflict, and conflict is the agent of change. Conservatism by its very nature opposes change.

There can be no doubt in my mind that neoconservatives support change. What the change is, is not really important. Stemming the tide of change, which is ongoing, could be construed as change, but radical interpretations of long standing principles, by their very essence, are change.

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Wednesday, January 14, 2009 5:13 PM

FREMDFIRMA


Let's clone Eisenhower.


-F

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Wednesday, January 14, 2009 6:28 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!


dream

It's post like your last one which make me think you're posing as a conservative, not being one, in any real sense.

Quote:

I'm not convinced that Coulter isn't a transvestite, after all, Coulter dated Mahr, who is gay. And, Limbaugh is an opiate addict. But more importantly, Limbaugh just spouts whatever line the advertisers who pay him want him to say, Coulter just says whatever she? thinks is most controversial or sensational.

Ignoring Ann Coulter's physical appearnce, there is real truth in what she says. She backs up her positions with actual facts, and whether you like how she deals w/ those facts, is entirely up to you. As for Bill Mahr, this is the 1st I've heard that 1. those two ever dated and 2. that he's "gay". I've heard him called many things, but gay is never one. Hedonist might be closer to the mark, but I have no solid intel on that.

As for Limbaugh, whether he still takes drugs ( which I strongly doubt ) or doesn't, isn't in the least bit relevant. I've been listening to him long enough to know that claims he's spouting what his advertisers pay him to say are 100% bunk. He's the same fundamentally staunch conservative he's always been. Don't believe me ? Go read his 1st book. We'll have to disagree on these points.

As you claim Conservatives " oppose " change, I look it as them wanting to preserve what's good. As in a 'conservationalist' in nature, Conservatives in the politcal sense, imo, seek to preserve the original intent of the Founding Fathers and the U.S. Constitution. That, to me, is what defines a 'TRUE' Conservative.

As for neocons, I'm left wondering what all the fuss is about. Yes, it does seem they want change, but it helps to understand the context. Often neocons are associated with PNAC. Folks like Piratenews spin yarns over the conspiratorial nature of PNAC, but I'm not sold on any of it. All it really comes down to is this - who will run the show in the 21st century? The Russians ? The Chinese ?

I'll take the USA, thank you very much.



It is not those who use the term "Islamo-Fascism" who are sullying the name of Islam; it is the Islamo-Fascists. - Dennis Prager


" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

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Wednesday, January 14, 2009 6:36 PM

DREAMTROVE


Frem,

excuse me a moment, I have to resnark this

Quote:

WHOZIT

And I bet them Neocon's severed up some fried chicken and watermelon to make him feel rite at home...... God you libs are stupid

I'm going to microwave a bagel and have sex with it - Peter Griffin



Okay, if a liberal posted, I missed it, but I have to remark that the above, in its entirety is now the stupidest post. I'm sorry Hero, you're Japanese economics error has been seriously outclassed, well, underclassed by something which contains three separate offensive elements, maybe four if neocons were offended. That was impressive. Okay Whozit, back on ignore. Let me know when you hit puberty.


Okay, Frem,

Quote:

Let's clone Eisenhower.


Ironically my mom just said that very same thing. She thinks that Obama is actually the most ike-like in his beltway tactics of anyone yet. Maybe there is hope. There is certainly audacity ;)

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