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Post by pieter on Jul 20, 2006 3:45:13 GMT -7
Bill Clinton was to you a good president, and to me a bad president. He governed by watching the polls and not moving until he thought he would be doing something a majority might want. Piwo, you know better than me that under Clinton - there was a surplus - not a big debt which is right now, the economy was very high, unemployment very low and there was no war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Telling that.... Clinton was watching the polls is a bit funny It is as like saying that everybody who is popular - is popular because he wants to be popular but a person who is seen by majority negatively is actually better than the popular one.... because it does not watch the polls I am sure you see a strange logic here As for Clinton doing everything for majority I cannot agree. He tried to force the free health care for everybody but the majority of Congress was not ready for it. He did it in spite of the fact that the support in the Congress was low (since Congressmen have much better healthplans than any of us anyways). I do not want to defend or oppose his health plan, I just wanted to tell you that Clinton was able to get against the crowd. he was smart and determined. As for China - globalism cannot be blamed on Clinton and any other president in that matter. I don't know which side to chose, so I am neutral, I think that every president of the USA has done the upmost best, to do whatever he could for America, with the limits and the benefits of his background, party and own agenda. Clinton came from a poor white background in Little Rock, Arkansas, so he was very determent to make something of his life, and so understood the people who have to work hard to reach something in life, the white working class and the majority of Afro-Americans and Latino's. George Bush was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, in a Protestant Upper-class family of the North-east, a family who already pulled the strings, grandfather and father being senators, having a succesful business career, and having roots in the notorious student corps Skull & Bones (John Kerry is part of the same club). He later moved to Texas and acted since then as a Texas cowboy, something totally artificial if you tell me. Until he was managed by the political consultant Karl Christian Rove. So Bush has his family background, the traditional powerful Protestant Business and political elite's network, the Evangelical vote which movement was started by his father, and which he continued to use, and daddy's old boys club of advisors from the Neo-conservative clan (Wolfowitz, Cheney and Rumsfelt). Bush has a hard time as many presidents before him had hard times, but in difficult times real leaders come out, and bad leaders fall out. So only time can tell us how George Bush will prove himself until the elections in 2008. What pleas for him is his ability to selfcritisizm, self mockery, and his "talent" to restore ties with "old" Europe as Rumsfelt called it.
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Post by pieter on Jul 20, 2006 4:31:13 GMT -7
Political consulting From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Political consulting is the business which has grown up around advising and assisting political campaigns, primarily in the United States. As democracy has spread around the world, American political consultants have often developed an international base of clients. Though its most important role is probably in the production of paid media (largely television), political consultants advise campaigns on virtually all of their activities, from research to field strategy.
Origins
The practice of consulting has several early precedents. President William McKinley's closest political advisor Mark Hanna is sometimes described as the first political consultant. In California in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s, Whitaker and Baxter established and grew the first true consulting firm, Campaigns, Inc. However, political consulting blossomed with the increasing use of television advertising for campaign communications in the 1960s. It was in that period that Joe Napolitan claims to have become the first person to describe himself as a political consultant (Perlmutter, ed. Manship Guide to Political Communication, pg19). In the subsequent years, political consulting has grown in importance and influence and extended its reach to campaigns at all levels of government in the United States, and beyond. Many consultants work not only for campaigns, but also for other political organizations, including parties and political action committees, sometimes through independent expenditures; some also do public relations and research work for corporations and governments.
Criticisms
Personal benefit As the practice has grown, political consultants have increasingly found themselves in the spotlight, with journalists devoting considerable attention to their activities. Many successful political consultants, such as James Carville, have capitalized on their relative fame to become professional or semi-professional pundits, appearing regularly on television news programs, writing books, and otherwise becoming media celebrities. In such cases, they are sometimes accused of putting their own interests and images ahead of their clients. Even some within the field allege that too many consultants put their financial interests ahead of the campaigns they are hired to serve, taking on too many clients and focusing too much energy on building their reputations.
Style of modern campaigns Critics also blame political consulting, at least in part, for a variety of ills of the modern election process. In part because broadcast media consultants are often paid on commission, they are blamed specifically for the rising cost of political campaigns and the increasing reliance on paid media. A successful candidate running a low-budget campaign would be a serious economic threat to the political consulting field; such candidates, however, are rare. Left-leaning activists within the Democratic Party, in particular, charge that political consultants are a major obstacle to participatory democracy, political reform, and electoral success for the Democrats. In a much-publicized e-mail on December 9, 2004, the online activist group MoveOn.org wrote, "For years, the Party has been led by elite Washington insiders who are closer to corporate lobbyists than they are to the Democratic base. But we can't afford four more years of leadership by a consulting class of professional election losers." Lastly, there is growing professional opposition to what is called a cookie cutter campaign, where the themes and strategies of one campaign are transferred to another campaign, despite what may be major differences in political context.
Scandals Occasionally, scandals involving political consultants become headline news, as occurred when Dick Morris, then an advisor to President Bill Clinton, was caught with a prostitute.
Trade organizations
The American Association of Political Consultants is the major trade association for political consultants in the United States, with thousands of members. Like similar professional organizations, it propagates a code of ethics and gives out awards (the much-coveted "Pollies").
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Post by pieter on Jul 20, 2006 4:37:36 GMT -7
Spin (public relations)
In public relations, spin is a usually pejorative term signifying a heavily biased portrayal in one's own favor of an event or situation. While traditional public relations may also rely on creative presentation of the facts, "spin" often, though not always, implies disingenuous, deceptive and/or highly manipulative tactics. Politicians are often accused of spin by their political opponents.
The term is borrowed from ball sports such as cricket, where a spin bowler may impart spin on the ball during a delivery so that it will curve through the air or bounce in an advantageous manner.
Because of the frequent association between "spin" and press conferences (especially government press conferences), the room in which these take place is sometimes described as a spin room. A group of people who develop spin may be referred to as "spin doctors" who engage in "spin doctoring" for the person or group that hired them.
Overview
The techniques of spin include: - Selectively presenting facts and quotes that support one's position (cherry picking) - Non-denial denial - Phrasing in a way that assumes unproven truths - Euphemisms to disguise or promote one's agenda
Another spin technique involves the delay in the release of bad news so it can be hidden on the back of more important or favorable news or events. A famous reference to this practice occurred when UK government press officer Jo Moore used the phrase It's now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury in an email sent on September 11, 2001. The furor caused when this email was reported in the press eventually caused her to resign.
Skilled practitioners of spin are sometimes called "spin doctors", though probably not to their faces unless it is said facetiously. It is the PR equivalent of calling a writer a "hack." Perhaps the most well-known person in the UK often described as a "spin doctor" is Alastair Campbell, who was involved with Tony Blair's public relations between 1994 and 2003, and also played a controversial role as press relations officer to the British and Irish Lions rugby side during their 2005 tour of New Zealand.
The American talk & radioshow-host Bill O'Reilly calls his show the No Spin Zone to emphazise his claim of dislike of the phenomenon. State-run media in many countries also engage in spin by only allowing news stories that are favorable to the government while censoring anything that could be considered critical.
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Post by pieter on Jul 20, 2006 4:43:45 GMT -7
Non-denial denial From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Non-denial denial is a term for a particular kind of equivocation; specifically, an apparent denial that, though it appeared clearcut and unambiguous when heard, on examination turns out to be ambiguous and not a denial at all. The phrase is particularly associated with politics and means in effect "something made to sound like a denial without actually being one." A non-denial denial is not a lie as such, because what is said is literally true, but is instead a form of deception. The phrase was popularized during the Watergate era by Woodward and Bernstein in their book All the President's Men, in reference to evasive statements by then-Attorney-General John Mitchell. Examples of the sort of language used in non-denial denials include: Characterizing a statement as "ridiculous" or "absurd" without saying specifically that it is not true; Saying "We are not going to dignify [that] with a response;" Impugning the general reliability of a source (e.g. Mitchell, "The so-called sources of the Washington Post are a fountain of misinformation") without addressing the particular fact alleged by the source. Denying a more specific version of events than that which was actually alleged. For example, for an allegation of corruption, saying "I have never received any money from anyone in the party" when an exchange of goods took place, or denying that a company is about to sack (fire) 500 people, and then going on to sack 600.
Real world examples
One of the most famous non-denial denials was given by then senior British Conservative politician, Michael Heseltine, who, when asked if he would ever challenge Margaret Thatcher for the party leadership, said he could "not conceive" of a situation where he would do so. When he later did challenge Thatcher, his explanation for his apparent change of mind was that a situation had arisen that he previously had not conceived of occurring. A second famous example occurred when President of the United States George Bush made his "Read my lips: no new taxes" speech in which he promised "no new taxes." When Bush later raised taxes, many Americans were outraged. However, Bush never said he would not raise existing taxes. "No new taxes" evidently referred to creating new taxes, which he did not. A third famous example occurred during the scandal over Monica Lewinsky that engulfed then President of the United States Bill Clinton. Clinton was accused of having sex with her; he issued an apparently unambiguous denial, stating, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." It later transpired that the truth of the statement hinged on Clinton's use of a narrow legal definition of "sexual relations" - that sex is defined in many legal codes as a person having physical contact with another person's sexual organs. By this limited definition, the act of fellatio did not qualify as Clinton "having sex" with Lewinsky because he had not touched her vagina, anus, or breasts. Many viewers, however, unaware of Clinton's narrower definition of having sex, took his denial to mean that no sex act, whether genital contact or oral-genital contact, took place. A fourth famous example is given by Tony Blair who was interviewed in 1997, just before the general election, by the British newspaper Evening Standard. The question was: "Will Labour introduce tuition fees for higher education?" Tony Blair's answer was: "Labour has no plans to introduce tuition fees for higher education.". No plans does not mean no tuition fees. The Labour party used the same ambiguous wording in its manifesto for the election in 2001, writing: "We will not introduce 'top-up' fees and have legislated to prevent them." The increase of university fees up to £3000 was voted before the next election in 2005 but implemented in 2006. Therefore the British government explained that the manifesto in 2001 was only valid for the period up to the election in 2005. Another famous case occurred in the Republic of Ireland when in June 1989 former Taoiseach Charles J. Haughey said that coalition governments went against "every fibre of my being," a phrase listeners presumed indicated he would never lead his party into a coalition with another party. When weeks later he led his party, Fianna Fáil, into its first ever coalition government, a spokesman denied that Haughey had lied, stating that "Charlie never said he would never lead his party into a coalition, just that he was uncomfortable with the idea in theory. Listen to what he actually said, not what you think he was implying."
As a PR tool
Non-denial denials and their variants are seen as examples of public relations and political spin, namely the conveying of an ambiguous message in an apparently unambiguous manner that contains enough "get out clauses" to enable the person using the language to apparently break their word if necessary with the explanation that the listener had misunderstood the words and read into them a certainty that, when closely examined, proved not to be there in reality. As a result, the person being communicated to, not the person doing the communicating, is blamed for any divergence between what the words appeared to mean and subsequent acts. This effect is increased by a short statement from the relevant person being later backed up by a spokesman saying, eg, "The president has been extremely clear on this matter and will not be taking further questions."
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Post by pieter on Jul 20, 2006 4:47:33 GMT -7
Euphemism From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A euphemism is an expression intended by the speaker to be less offensive, disturbing, or troubling to the listener than the word or phrase it replaces, or in the case of doublespeak to make it less troublesome for the speaker. When a phrase is used as a euphemism, it often becomes a metaphor whose literal meaning is dropped. Euphemisms are often used to hide unpleasant or disturbing ideas, even when the literal term for them is not necessarily offensive. This type of euphemism is used in public relations and politics, where it is sometimes disparagingly called doublespeak. There are also superstitious euphemisms, based (consciously or subconsciously) on the idea that words have the power to bring bad fortune (for example, not speaking the word "cancer"; see Etymology and Common examples below) and religious euphemisms, based on the idea that some words are sacred, or that some words are spiritually imperiling (taboo; see Etymology and Religious euphemisms below).
Etymology
Look up euphemism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. The word euphemism comes from the Greek word euphemos, meaning "auspicious/good/fortunate speech/kind" which in turn is derived from the Greek root-words eu (??), "good/well" + pheme "speech/speaking". The eupheme was originally a word or phrase used in place of a religious word or phrase that should not be spoken aloud. The primary example of taboo words requiring the use of a euphemism are the unspeakable names for a deity, such as Persephone, Hecate, Nemesis or Yahweh. By speaking only words favorable to the gods or spirits, the speaker attempted to procure good fortune by remaining in good favor with them. Historical linguistics has revealed traces of taboo deformations in many languages. Several are known to have occurred in Indo-European languages, including the original Proto-Indo-European words for bear (*rtkos), wolf (*wlkwos), and deer (originally, hart). In different Indo-European languages, each of these words has a difficult etymology because of taboo deformations — a euphemism was substituted for the original, which no longer occurs in the language. An example is the Slavic root for bear—*medu-ed-, which means "honey eater". In some languages of the Pacific, using the name of a deceased chief is taboo. Amongst Australian Aboriginal people, it was forbidden to ever use the name or image of the deceased, so that today the Australian Broadcasting Commission publishes an apology to indigenous people for using names or images of people who have recently died. Since people are often named after everyday things, this leads to the swift development of euphemisms. These languages have a very high rate of vocabulary change. (Dyen, Isidore, A. T. James & J. W. L. Cole. 1967. Language divergence and estimated word retention rate. Language 43/1: 150-171.)
The "euphemism treadmill"
This section does not cite its references or sources. You can help Wikipedia by introducing appropriate citations. Euphemisms often evolve over time into taboo words themselves through a process described by W.V.O. Quine, and more recently dubbed 'the euphemism treadmill' by Steven Pinker. (cf. Gresham's Law in economics). Words originally intended as euphemisms may lose their euphemistic value, acquiring the negative connotations of their referents. In some cases, they may be used mockingly and become dysphemistic. For example, the term "concentration camp" to describe camps used to house civilian prisoners was used by the British during the Second Boer War, primarily because it sounded bland and inoffensive. However, after the Third Reich used the expression to describe their death camps, the term gained enormous negative connotation. Since then, new terms have been invented as euphemisms for them, such as internment camps, resettlement camps, etc. Also, in some versions of English, toilet room, itself a euphemism, was replaced with bathroom and water closet, which were replaced (respectively) with rest room and W.C. Connotations easily change over time. Idiot was once a neutral term, and moron a similar one. Negative senses of a word tend to crowd out neutral ones, so the word retarded was pressed into service to replace them. Now that too is considered rude, used commonly as an insult of a person, thing, or idea. As a result, new terms like mentally challenged or special have replaced retarded. In a few decades, calling someone special may well be a grave insult, and indeed among many young school students, it is already a common term of abuse, if not yet a particularly grave one. A similar progression occurred with lame > crippled > handicapped > disabled > differently-abled although in that case the meaning has also broadened (and hence has been narrowed with adjectives, which themselves have been euphemised); a dyslexic or colorblind person would not be termed crippled. In the early 1960s, Bill Veeck, who was missing part of a leg, argued against the then-favored euphemism "handicapped", saying he preferred "crippled" because it was merely descriptive and did not carry connotations of limiting one's capability the way "handicapped" (and, in fact, all of its subsequent euphemisms) seem to do. In some cases, "differently-abled" would be the only accurate description of a person in any case: individuals with Asperger Syndrome (an Autistic spectrum disorder) often have an above-average IQ and occasionally exhibit savant abilities, but may be mind blind and tend to have a much lower EQ than non-autistics, resulting in significantly affected communication and socialization abilities. Likewise wrestler Kyle Maynard, a congenital amputee with only vestigial arms and legs, is demonstrably not "disabled" by his condition. It can apply to naming of racial or ethnic groups as well, when proposed euphemisms become successively "corrupted". For example: colored > negro > black > African-American > People of Color This particular treadmill was mocked by Sinbad on Saturday Night Live, wherein a white character during a U.S. Civil War sketch refers to African-Americans as "Negroes", to which Sinbad replies, "Please, we prefer the more respectable 'boy.'" George Carlin gave a famous monologue of how he thought euphemisms can undermine appropriate attitudes towards serious issues such as the evolving terms describing the medical problem of the culumative mental trauma of soldiers in high stress situations: Shell shock (World War I) ? battle fatigue (World War II)? Operational exhaustion (Korean War) ? Post-traumatic stress disorder (Vietnam War) He contended as the name of the condition became more complicated and seemingly arcane, sufferers of this condition have been taken less seriously by as people with a serious illness and were given poorer treatment as a result. A complementary "dysphemism treadmill" exists, but is more rarely observed. One modern example is the word "sucks". "That sucks" began as American slang for "that is very unpleasant", and is shorthand for "that sucks thingy", referring to fellatio. It developed over the late-20th century from being an extremely vulgar phrase to near-acceptability. Likewise, scumbag, which was originally a reference to a used condom, now is a fairly mild epithet.
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Bob S
European
Rainbow Bear
Posts: 2,052
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Post by Bob S on Jul 20, 2006 7:10:05 GMT -7
At worst, the Clintons were Scumbuckets; at best, they are still Scumbuckets. The Clintons suffered from Short Term And Long term memory loss,; they also suffered another illness called "selective memory". The one gift that could be given to them would be a one-way ticket to France or North Korea. There might be one problem: Can you imagine three clowns running around North Korea?
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Post by pieter on Jul 20, 2006 7:56:55 GMT -7
Bob,
I could not help grinning, and it was almost as if I was in the joke department, since your comment was funny Bob, and that suits you. I haven't got that resentment against him since he was never my president, and so never felt the outcome of his measures. If I remember it right Bob, you are the Independant and conservative guy, with the Radio transmittor. What is your opinion on Bush junior? Who would be really a good next president? John Edwards, Rudy Giuliani, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, John McCain, or Al Gore? All five of them are good candidates and they are doing it good in the Polls. My favorite would be Rice, because she was a good Universety administrator, an expert on Russian and Eastern-European affairs, and a good minister of foreign affairs. If Hillery Clinton would participate it would be an exiting political battle. And than I am sure Rice would win, because the Democrats who does not support Clinton might vote Republican.
Pieter
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Bob S
European
Rainbow Bear
Posts: 2,052
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Post by Bob S on Jul 20, 2006 8:35:04 GMT -7
Pieter IMHOP Dr. Condaleeza Rice is a VEEEry Inteligent person. I would like to see her run for office but she has said many times that she would not run. If she does not run, than there might be an attempt by her Party to draft her. Among her many talents, she is an accomplished performing artist, she plays concert piano. No matter who runs, I will have no choice in the selecton. BTW how are things in Holland? Are they importing Smoked Edam yet? Geez, I could eat myself sick on that cheese. ;D
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Post by sciwriter on Jul 20, 2006 8:47:49 GMT -7
Pieter, thanks for the in-depth material. Carl
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Post by pieter on Jul 20, 2006 14:43:56 GMT -7
Carl,
You are welcome!
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Post by pieter on Jul 20, 2006 15:03:44 GMT -7
Pieter IMHOP Dr. Condaleeza Rice is a VEEEry Inteligent person. I would like to see her run for office but she has said many times that she would not run. If she does not run, than there might be an attempt by her Party to draft her. Among her many talents, she is an accomplished performing artist, she plays concert piano. No matter who runs, I will have no choice in the selecton. BTW how are things in Holland? Are they importing Smoked Edam yet? Geez, I could eat myself sick on that cheese. ;D Bob, I did not knew that she plays good piano, and that she said no to the question of she wants to be a presidential candidate. I knew she is very into sports. Things are actually very well in Holland, the economy is climbing out of a long resession, the currency Euro is strong and stabile, we are an integral part of the larger European economy and the world economy, as a trade country (import & export). It is a very hot summer here and as always everybody complains about it (how hot it is inside our houses and on our offices -without airco-), and enjoying it in the same time. When we had a long autumn and winter which was cold everybody as complaining about the long dark days and cold. And no we don't import American cheese and stil eat Gouda, Edammer, Maasdam, Friesian, Old Amsterdam and Leidse cheese. Some links: www.igourmet.com/shoppe/prodview.asp?cat=1&subcat=cheese&prod=062&source=cheesecomwww.oldamsterdam.nl/www.ryc.be/nl/products/kaas/holland/nl_kaas1.htm#topwww.gortsgoudacheese.bc.ca/cheese/index.cfm?subid=8www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000D9MZO/002-7811953-8764819?v=glance&n=3370831Next to our own exellent cheeses (I eat Dutch Gouda cheese daily), I like French camembert and Brie and Danish blue.
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