Editorial
Political Hyperbole!
I am baffled by how critics of some Tea Party stars engage in rank hypocrisy. For example, they – such as many commentators on CNN-TV – have been claiming to be utterly shocked with former Texas Governor Perry's polemical answers to interviewers. He said, at one point, that it would be "'almost treacherous or treasonous,' if the Fed under Bernanke increased the money supply before next year's election." He added something about how such untoward policies might be dealt with in Texas, namely, harshly!
This is supposed to be some kind of intolerable, uncivilized outburst, not to be expected from any serious political candidate in the heat of election campaigning. Never mind that the Vice President of the United States just a week prior to Perry's hyperbole said something more indiscreet about the Tea Party. Joe Biden was reported to have agreed with Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA) who said about some hard line Tea Party Republicans at a two-hour, closed-door Democratic Caucus meeting: "'We have negotiated with terrorists,' an angry Doyle said, according to sources in the room. 'This small group of terrorists have made it impossible to spend any money.' Biden, driven by his Democratic allies' misgivings about the debt-limit deal, backed Doyle's comment" with his own ultra-hyperbolic statement: "They have acted like terrorists." (Click here to read Biden's statements.)
Notice that unlike in Perry's remark, there was no qualification in what Doyle and Biden said, nothing about "almost treacherous or treasonous." Instead the words were, "They have acted like terrorists." Both of these are, of course, polemical remarks but the former is more cautious and thus more civilized than the latter. And the analogy with terrorism is more accurate regarding Perry's remark, since what he was talking about is Bernanke's plan to increase the money supply to such an enormous extent that it will most probably severely lower the value of millions of people's income, retirement, savings, etc., and breed inflation to boot. That kind of destructiveness is indeed reminiscent of what terrorists do, namely wreak havoc with whatever their targets value, including their lives, all in the name of some supposedly higher goal.
All of this needs to be appreciated in the light of numerous complaints offered over the last few years about how Republicans and Tea Party folks especially are engaging in irresponsible rhetoric, how they have been uncivilized as they have engaged in their political exclamations, outbursts, etc. President Obama himself chimed in about this, I recall, and so has, of course, his buddy Professor and pundit Paul Krugman. Yet if one considered the two different hyperbolic statements, those made by Perry and those by Doyle and Biden, it is crystal clear that the latter have been far more indiscreet in how they have characterized – let's call it what it is, besmirched – their adversaries.
Maybe one could say that all this is simply par for the course when it comes to campaign rhetoric. As many have noted, the same has been going on for a couple of centuries. Thomas Jefferson, Sam Adams, Alexander Hamilton, et al. have done nothing less when they sparred verbally in their political encounters. (As someone who writes columns and receives letters about them galore, I can testify that exaggerated charges having little to do with substance and a whole lot to with character assassination are routine.)
So yes, there is nothing peculiar with all the heat (and little light) in what the different parties to the various current political exchanges say. What is remarkable, however, is that news anchors and reporters at places like CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, and Fox join in. That is a blatant lack of professionalism. And if one is permitted to point this out in how Wall Street traders, politicians, physicians, educators, and other professionals conduct themselves, it is certainly appropriate to point it out in the case of journalists -- especially when these folks intone with such righteous indignation about the missteps others take as they express themselves as they chime in on various topics. After all, journalists are supposed to be professionals at expressing themselves and when they do this badly, that should be pointed out by those who watch them since it amounts to out and out malpractice.
*http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/60421.html#ixzz1VUc0qtOE
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Posted by taxesbyanyothername on 08/23/11 09:13 PM
There are very few left who could be called responsible "journalists". On this very page Jon Stewart a sort of shock-jock comedian points out the hypocracy of every mainstream "journalist" in leaving Ron Paul's name almost completely out of their discussion of GOP candidates. So a comedian who occasionally states fact is more responsible than the so called journalists in toto. If we just quit listening to them they will go out of business and we might get a new crop who actually are journalists. An Austrian economist as a reporter? All we have is Stossel, one vs uncounted thousands. There must be some group of well to do libertarians out there who would consider buying a television network, A few of them should be in dire straights pretty soon if they aren't already. We can't take back our society for freedom just by electing a libertarian president. I recently came across a book about the damage that the American Federation of Teachers has done to our country, it seems a good subject for a contemporary book but it is not contemporary, it was published in 1972. The damage is deep, it cannot be repaired by one man, even it he does become president.
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Posted by amanfromMars on 08/23/11 11:17 AM
Further to the post on 08/23/11 10:07 AM, would anyone care to comment on the likelihood of this desperate measure being quite true and probably par for the course, but normally not seen ... ... . Click to view link
And for some very strange reason my browser/operating system/router/whatever is denying me access to the normal complement of ZeroHedge pages ... ... which is so unusual as to tell me more than enough about everything I need to know about how desperate the system is for novel help to avert catastrophic global ponzi market collapse of their rigged systems/runaway machines? Well, ... .. maybe not, but it is a crazy world out there, and you wouldn't believe some of things which are going down right now, even whenever they are shared with you in plain text and English.
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Posted by amanfromMars on 08/23/11 10:07 AM
One can expect nothing more from the brain dead/intellectually bankrupt/imaginatively challenged, and will certainly be tempted with a lot less, Hanna M Jones, ... ... as is witnessed and evidenced by present offerings which have no viable sustainable future.
And that is as a direct result of a lack of intelligence in that which, and in those who would be thinking they are running and in charge of the sub-prime media show ... ... Sad and Mad Pretenders to the Great Game Throne and fully delusional and probably criminally responsible/irresponsible too, if citing doing God's work has them dipping their fingers into the till to enrich themselves at everyone else's expense ... ... ... .. Click to view link
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Posted by Dilence Sogwood on 08/23/11 09:27 AM
Tiresome... RP and the voices of millions are moving the goalposts back to the right and all the Libertarians can do is whine about ideological purity.
Are you better off with the synthesis closer to the sound money thesis side or not?
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Posted by Hanna M Jones on 08/22/11 07:18 PM
This is all so tiresome--people in power posturing,and raising their hackles ---------just trying to head off the freight train hurtling down the tracks on their ( our heads). If there were a speck of honesty out there could we even see it now --in the cloud of gaseous fumes being given off by the dead.
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Posted by John Danforth on 08/22/11 07:56 AM
Perry's remarks are intended to form one side of the Hegelian dialectic -- to "frame" the argument by setting an 'unreasonable boundary' on one side of the issue, so that 'reasonable people' can find the truth in the 'middle'.
This is a direct reaction to the reality that people are waking up.
Just examine the principles guiding Perry's actions, and you will see that he is no Ron Paul. He is acting as a foil, trying to seize the momentum and capitalize on it with the uninformed. It might work.
You'll notice Perry says nothing about the immorality of paper money or the institution by which it is released, only griping about the quantity of it and the actions of its visible head.
It's like whining about which whip is being snapped on your back.
Will we fall for it????
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Posted by Pewky on 08/22/11 07:36 AM
In his on words, "This is fu***ng big" - Joe Biden is the biggest joke of all. Tibor, beware Fox may have hacked your phone... ... ... .
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Posted by amanfromMars on 08/22/11 04:42 AM
Good Morning, Doc,
Does your good self [and do Daily Bell ringers] consider this tale ... .. Click to view link ... . the current unfolding runaway train reality*, to stations and destinations completely unknown, and Rumsfeldian unknown unknowns at that, or is it just hyperbole which will be replaced by another and others shortly and later?
* If Man or a cabal of elite power players drivers that train and is in control of ITs rail system/trail networks, is reality an artificial toy and plaything and now virtually controlled from cyberspace, where SMART hordes are anonymous and legion and omniscient for absolute power in omnipotent control of perfect command.
And whenever it is not so, is it always close enough to the ideal to be good enough as the ideal ... ... . and is an immaculate encouragement to one to continue on one's path in the manner of one's choosing as has delivered so much.
