Joe Friday Schools Obama

[Greybeard]

Take a look

http://www.breitbart.tv/dragnet-remi...on-healthcare/

[Guided by Wire]

Over 400 years, huh?

[thereom4]

Okay Obama is my uncle (not really) but this was high-larious.

[chase]

nice. i wish somebody would arrest that scumbag to stop him from destroying our country.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

Over 400 years, huh?

I also don't understand why anything they said advises against anything else Obama wishes to do. He's not looking to, say "build a new country", unlike many of the secessionist protesters that were in DC this past weekend.

[Greybeard]

They must go to the dentist here in town that offers "sedition dentistry"

[chase]

I also don't understand why anything they said advises against anything else Obama wishes to do. He's not looking to, say "build a new country", unlike many of the secessionist protesters that were in DC this past weekend.

uh, are you even paying attention to what he's doing? nationalizing banks, nationalizing car companies, giving people money to buy the cars nobody wants, trying to take over healthcare, and laying the groundwork for the largest tax hike in the history of the country. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_socialism

the united states is NOT socialist. he's tearing everything down and raising an iron curton right in front of everyones eyes. apparently, youve been lulled into thinking too much about hope and change to see whats happening right in front of you.

[migopod]

uh, are you even paying attention to what he's doing? nationalizing banks, nationalizing car companies, giving people money to buy the cars nobody wants, trying to take over healthcare, and laying the groundwork for the largest tax hike in the history of the country. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_socialism

the united states is NOT socialist. he's tearing everything down and raising an iron curton right in front of everyones eyes. apparently, youve been lulled into thinking too much about hope and change to see whats happening right in front of you.

Interesting article. Remember how Obama was heavily criticized for attending Trinity United Church of Christ for twenty years? How he baptised his children there and all that rubbish? Such damning evidence of our president's sneaky muslimosity.

Perhaps you might cite his infamous Ramadan address as evidence of this...

I send greetings to Muslims in the United States and around the world observing the holy month of Ramadan. "Ramadan is the holiest season in the Islamic faith, commemorating the revelation of the Qur'an to Muhammed. This month of introspection provides Muslims a time to focus on their faith and practice God's commands. Through fasting, prayer, contemplation, and charity, Muslims around the world renew their commitment to lead lives of honesty, integrity, and compassion.


Throughout our history, people of different faiths have shaped the character of our Nation. Islam is a peaceful religion, and people who practice the Islamic faith have made great contributions to our Nation and the world. As Americans, we cherish our freedom to worship and we remain committed to welcoming individuals of all religions. By working together to advance freedom and mutual understanding, we are creating a brighter future of hope and opportunity.

-George W. Bush, 2003
Also you are correct. The US is not a socialist country. Like all advanced democracies, the US has government programs, such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicade. If having federal programs like that make a country socialist, our allies in Israel, the UK, Canada, most of South America and Europe (and elsewhere) all filthy reds. We should totally cold war on them. Oh yeah, Iraq and Afghanistan also have universal health care thanks to the funding for the wars there, so that makes Bush a socialist too, right?

Whether or not you agree with it (and in this case I suspect we agree on aspects of this one, although probably for different reason), Obama (and his predecessor) bailed out the failed and corrupt banking industry and the failed and inefficient automotive industry instead of just letting them fail. As a precondition for the bailouts the feds set some rules. Some banks chose to not accept bailout money because they didn't want to be bound by the rules, and the automotive industry similarly was free to choose to take the money with strings or go it alone.

So to recap. Neither muslim nor socialist.

[Bayou Bum]

So to recap. Neither muslim nor socialist.

Again I ask, what is he? Is he a capitalist?

[migopod]

Again I ask, what is he? Is he a capitalist?

Petty much. Not one of those unfettered free-market absolutist types clearly, but overall I'd classify him as on the capitalist side of the continuum.

[Hauptman]

Same old irrational arguments:

Nationalizing banks; that is a temporary measure used when a bank is about to go under so that there is an orderly dissolution. It's been going on since the Great Depresssion. Anybody remember Reagan "nationalizing" the Saving & Loans?

Nationalizing Healthcare; this is an argument that's been going on for 100 years. Didn't Teddy Roosevelt want a national healthcare plan? Plenty of others along the way. And what exactly is Medicare if not a gov't run healthcare plan for every senior citizen?!

Giving money to buy cars; ok, so how come no one complains that the gov't giving money to buy houses? Where are all the complaints there? How about the tax breaks for having children? Why are we subsidizing these things? Don't get Inq started on that stuff.

And then there is this "laying the groundwork for the greatest tax hike in history"; care to substantiate that? GHW Bush raised taxes, Clinton gave us a balanced budget but which one do Republicans love and which one do Republicans hate? Hypocricy anyone?

[Philistine]

Petty much. Not one of those unfettered free-market absolutist types clearly, but overall I'd classify him as on the capitalist side of the continuum.

The whole issue of "Obama is a socialist" just makes me think that people have no understanding of what socialism actually is.

I think a good question for anyone who thinks Obama is a socialist (and that the US isn't a socialist country under their understanding of "socialism") should answer two questions:

1) What is the next most "capitalistic" country after the US (alternatively, the country after the US that is less socialistic) (and why do you think so?); and

2) What is the next most "socialistic" country after the US. (and why do you think so?) As a subsidiary question--how "close" to the US is this country in terms of being socialist?

--Philistine

[Guided by Wire]

The whole issue of "Obama is a socialist" just makes me think that people have no understanding of what socialism actually is.

They've been told that it's as simple as "big government = socialism." And that's good enough for them.

[jessicasimpson]

They've been told that it's as simple as "big government = socialism." And that's good enough for them.

Has there ever been a president that made the gov smaller? Wouldn't that make them all Socialists?

[Slim]

The whole issue of "Obama is a socialist" just makes me think that people have no understanding of what socialism actually is.

I think a good question for anyone who thinks Obama is a socialist (and that the US isn't a socialist country under their understanding of "socialism") should answer two questions:

1) What is the next most "capitalistic" country after the US (alternatively, the country after the US that is less socialistic) (and why do you think so?); and

2) What is the next most "socialistic" country after the US. (and why do you think so?) As a subsidiary question--how "close" to the US is this country in terms of being socialist?

--Philistine

The cries of socialism are based on fewer things being "privatized" and more things becoming "public-ized", which isnt a word. The word is socialized. The expanding programs and now companies are funded by confiscation of wealth (taxes) and managed by the government. Thats not capitalism.

Why do you assume the US it the most capitalistic country? It's not. The correct answer is Hong Kong.

If you think government owned banks isnt socialized banking, you're wrong.

If you think the government owned car companies isnt socialized business, you're wrong.

And if you think that the proposed "public option" isnt a further expansion of socialized medicine, you're wrong.

The cries of socialism are not false. They are about a move away from a capitalized system towards a more socialized one.

[Guided by Wire]

The cries of socialism are not false. They are about a move away from a capitalized system towards a more socialized one.

Which is like saying that getting a C in English is a move toward flunking out of college. I'm not worried.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

I do not want to live in a country with private fire stations, private police forces. I also want some regulation in other industries that would otherwise not work out well for the majority of citizens. I think we're all going to agree that having government run fire stations, police, and a military is a good thing. When we move away from there, there may be some disagreement. But the country is never going to be fully capitalist-free-market, and I think that's a good thing. So the rest is up for grabs. Social Security. Medicare. Public run health care, any control over the financial sector, any taxes, any public education.... It's all up for grabs. And we really like some of it. And we really hate some of it. So we elect people to do what we would like them to do. Obama didn't surprise us with the health care thing, he ran on it. He promised it. And still got voted in.

Why do you assume the US it the most capitalistic country? It's not. The correct answer is Hong Kong.

Hong Kong isn't exactly it's own country. What you're really saying is that a small part of China is the most capitalist .... thing.

[keith]

The cries of socialism are not false. They are about a move away from a capitalized system towards a more socialized one.

So who are the un-socialists?

Seriously, if the current administration is socialist, america has been a leftist paradise for the last 100 years (give or take).

Perhaps you need to make the Red Flag the national anthem.

Here's a version for you to practice with.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM5XzTO0lOo
[/youtube]

[tchwojko]

If you think government owned banks isnt socialized banking, you're wrong.

If you think the government owned car companies isnt socialized business, you're wrong.

If you think Democrats want the government to own or run GM and the banks, you're wrong.

The car companies and the banks came to the government, not the other way around. They got loans they needed to tide them over, putting their companies down as collateral. If the government doesn't move to get out of owning those companies as soon as they are on their feet again, then the Democrats will rightly lose the support of the center.

[migopod]

Hong Kong isn't exactly it's own country. What you're really saying is that a small part of China is the most capitalist .... thing.

This exactly. Hong Kong was leased to the UK until 1997 at which point it returned to the PRC, of which it is legally and formally a part. The Chinese government decided to use it as a test-bed for free market capitalism, so in fact the People's Republic of China is now at least in part the most capitalist country.

Interesting.