Republican Reverse-Stockholm Syndrome by Niki2

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Republican Reverse-Stockholm Syndrome

POSTED BY: NIKI2
UPDATED: Sunday, November 13, 2011 20:13
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Thursday, November 10, 2011 12:59 PM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

http://swampland.time.com/2011/11/10/the-republican-debate-reverse-sto
ckholm-syndrome/, yes, Rick Perry….uh….what was I going to say……about…..Rick…..uh….oh, I remember! Those of us who have achieved a certain, ah, maturity can certainly sympathize with the Texas Governor’s aphasic moment, although the Republican electorate can’t afford to be so kind–-there is, I suspect, zero chance that Republicans will allow Perry to go toe-to-toe with Barack Obama in a presidential debate after last night’s embarrassment. His campaign is over.

But there was an absolutely fascinating aspect to Perry’s brainlock that hasn’t received much attention: in the midst of his despair, his Republican opponents tried to help him, proposing government agencies for elimination…”The EPA?” one suggested and Perry quickly agreed, although moderator John Harwood called him on it and Perry, to his credit, said that wasn’t the agency he had in mind. (It was the Department of Energy).

In any case, the exchange fortified a sub-theme in last night’s debate–a siege mentality has set in among the Republican candidates, a united front against their captors in the media, a reverse Stockholm Syndrome. The leader is, of course, Newt Gingrich.

Gingrich has been taunting moderators throughout the debate season–often rightly so, since the official questioners can ask wildly stupid questions, like Maria Bartiromo’s attempt to get each candidate to describe his or her health care plan in 30 seconds. Gingrich scoffed at the question, huffing up–a problem for him–and reciting his long history of health care wonkitude. He then proved the difficulty of answering by stumbling through a 30-second attempt to condense his own nuanced, and very interesting, views on health care into a sound bite. His rather brilliant polio analogy–the iron lung v. the Saulk vaccine*–was crushed in the process.

Earlier, Gingrich had set the combative tone with this exchange with Bartiromo:

Quote:
GINGRICH:…Historically, this is the richest country in the history of the world because corporations succeed in creating both profits and jobs, and it’s sad that the news media doesn’t report accurately how the economy works.

(APPLAUSE)

BARTIROMO: Mr. Speaker — I’m sorry, but what is the media reporting inaccurately about the economy?

GINGRICH: What?

BARTIROMO: What is the media reporting inaccurately about the economy?

(LAUGHTER)

GINGRICH: I love humor disguised as a question. That’s terrific.

I have yet to hear a single reporter ask a single Occupy Wall Street person a single rational question about the economy that would lead them to say, for example, “Who is going to pay for the park you are occupying if there are no businesses making a profit?”

(APPLAUSE)

It should be noted that the applause for Gingrich and the laughter at Bartiromo was thunderous. The siege mentality was also intensified by the Herman Cain situation, and the audience’s booing and hissing over poor Maria’s raising that question as well.

While I have a certain amount of sympathy with the candidates–the format for these debates is frustrating, and journalists tend to ask simplistic and sensational questions–Gingrich’s assault on Bartiromo slips easily into a standard Republican delusion: that the “liberal mainstream” media have it in for them. Those same liberal media were besieging Gary Hart and Bill Clinton long before Herman Cain groped an alleged grope. Those same liberal media have asked Democratic candidates a myriad of stupid and simplistic candidates…and Fox News, when it sponsors debates, doesn’t perform any better.

It would be nice, when the stage clears, to try one of those Lincoln-Douglas debates that Gingrich is proposing. I’d love the wonkery, though it would probably put most voters to sleep. In the meantime, the Republican candidates are finding solace in a common enemy–We the Media. http://swampland.time.com/2011/11/10/the-republican-debate-reverse-sto
ckholm-syndrome/

Maybe that helps explain how wildly out of step the audiences are in these debates...SOMETHING has to; I can't believe some of their reactions! Good old "lame stream media"; worked for Palin!

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Thursday, November 10, 2011 3:55 PM

ANTHONYT

Freedom is Important because People are Important

Hello,

People always seem to be trying to attribute weird mental deficiencies and illnesses and other psychological anomalies to Republicans.

It's not helpful, and it's not helping.

I suspect it's merely insulting and deepening the divide.

--Anthony

_______________________________________________

"In every war, the state enacts a tax of freedom upon the citizenry. The unspoken promise is that the tax shall be revoked at war's end. Endless war holds no such promise. Hence, Eternal War is Eternal Slavery." --Admiral Robert J. Henner

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Thursday, November 10, 2011 5:55 PM

FREMDFIRMA

I am not "trying" to - I flat out AM.
And trying to negotiate with such sociopaths, well as I have pointed our repeatedly past a certain point tolerance and forgiveness becomes naught more than enabling and collusion.

For me there is no helpful, there is no closing the divide - their words and deeds have made it abundantly clear what their intentions are and I will have none of it.

Ergo - Done. Talking.

Capisce ?

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Friday, November 11, 2011 7:17 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

I put it up more as a joke than anything else, Anthony. There is no logical reason for why they behave the way they do, as I see it, so there must be SOME explanation. Sure, it's offensive, an awful lot of everything from both "sides" is these days, but the "why" of it is what fascinates me.

Yes, it's not helping...is ANYTHING? CAN anything? Yes, it WOULD deepen the divide; IF the divide could be deepened or if anyone bothered to read it. But WILL any of those to whom it refers? I seriously doubt it.

Why does an audience boo a gay veteran? Applaud executions? Whoop and holler at a man denegrating those who complained about his bad behavior? Boo and hiss at moderators even ASKING about it? Laugh politely and forgive a Presidential candidate who can't even remember one of the major points of his platform? Sure, it's red meat to all they've been programmed to believe, but where are their BRAINS?!? Why are they so intent on ignoring, blaming, diverting attention from things that are so obvious? Have you got a viable explanation? I don't, not really, unless I believe they are all just that stupid, and I don't want to.

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Sunday, November 13, 2011 8:13 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

I'm with Anthony here.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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