MIXED-MESSAGE #1: No Government-Run Health Care Option Vs. Government-Run Health Care Option…
TUESDAY: In An Interview With The Wall Street Journal, White House Chief Of Staff Rahm Emanuel Signals That The Administration Is Not Committed To A Government-Run Health Care Plan. “It is more important that health-care legislation inject stiff competition among insurance plans than it is for Congress to create a pure government-run option, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said Monday. ‘The goal is to have a means and a mechanism to keep the private insurers honest,’ he said in an interview. ‘The goal is non-negotiable; the path is’ negotiable.” (Laura Meckler And Janet Adamy, “White House Open To Deal On Public Health Plan,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/7/09)
TUESDAY: President Obama Issues A Follow-Up Statement Reiterating His Commitment To A Government-Run Health Care Plan. "I am pleased by the progress we're making on health care reform and still believe, as I've said before, that one of the best ways to bring down costs, provide more choices, and assure quality is a public option that will force the insurance companies to compete and keep them honest. I look forward to a final product that achieves these very important goals." (The White House, “Statement From The President On Health Care Reform,” Press Release, 7/7/09)
MIXED-MESSAGE #2: “Misread” The Economy And Stimulus Disappointment Vs. Wouldn’t Do Anything Differently…
SUNDAY: Vice President Joe Biden Says “We Misread How Bad The Economy Was.” (ABC’s “This Week,” 7/5/09)
SUNDAY: House Democrat Leader Steny Hoyer Says He Is “Disappointed” By The “Stimulus.” FOX NEWS’ CHRIS WALLACE: “Congressman Hoyer, can you honestly say you're satisfied with the stimulus?” REP. STENY HOYER: “I don't think anybody can honestly say that we're satisfied with the results so far of the stimulus. But we believe the stimulus was absolutely essential. Mark Zandi, as you know, who was one of McCain's economic advisers, says it's going to create 2 million jobs by the end of next year, and...” WALLACE: “But why hasn't it done more faster?” REP. HOYER: Well, we're disappointed that it hasn't done more faster. John and I were talking earlier about getting money out more quickly. We need to do that. We're disappointed.” (Fox News’ “Fox News Sunday,” 7/5/09)
TUESDAY: President Obama Says “There’s Nothing That We Would Have Done Differently” Concerning The Stimulus. “Turning to domestic issues, the president said that when Vice President Joe Biden recently told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that the White House ‘misread’ the economy when planning the stimulus package in January, the president said that ‘what Vice President Biden was referring to was simply the fact that when we passed he stimulus, we hadn’t gotten the full report of the first quarter contractions in the economy that turned out to be way worse than anybody had anticipated.’ But the president denied that his economic prescription was wrong because the diagnosis was incomplete. ‘There’s nothing that we would have done differently,’ he said. ‘We needed a stimulus and we needed a substantial stimulus.’” (Jake Tapper, “An Interview With President Obama,” ABC News, 7/7/09)
MIXED-MESSAGE #3: Green Light To Israel Or No Green Light…
SUNDAY: Vice President Biden Says It Is Up To Israel What They Do Regarding Iran. ABC’S GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: “And meanwhile, Prime Minister Netanyahu has made it pretty clear that he agreed with President Obama to give until the end of the year for this whole process of engagement to work. After that, he's prepared to make matters into his own hands. Is that the right approach?” VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: “Look, Israel can determine for itself – it's a sovereign nation – what's in their interest and what they decide to do relative to Iran and anyone else.” STEPHANOPOULOS: “Whether we agree or not?” VP BIDEN: “Whether we agree or not. They're entitled to do that. Any sovereign nation is entitled to do that. But there is no pressure from any nation that's going to alter our behavior as to how to proceed. What we believe is in the national interest of the United States, which we, coincidentally, believe is also in the interest of Israel and the whole world. And so there are separate issues. If the Netanyahu government decides to take a course of action different than the one being pursued now, that is their sovereign right to do that. That is not our choice.” STEPHANOPOULOS: “But just to be clear here, if the Israelis decide Iran is an existential threat, they have to take out the nuclear program, militarily the United States will not stand in the way?” VP BIDEN: “Look, we cannot dictate to another sovereign nation what they can and cannot do when they make a determination, if they make a determination that they're existentially threatened and their survival is threatened by another country.” (ABC’s “This Week,” 7/5/09)
TUESDAY: President Obama Says “Absolutely Not” To Giving Israel The Green Light To Strike Iran. “The United States is ‘absolutely not’ giving Israel a green light to attack Iran, U.S. President Barack Obama told CNN Tuesday. ‘We have said directly to the Israelis that it is important to try and resolve this in an international setting in a way that does not create major conflict in the Middle East,’ Obama said, referring to Iran's nuclear ambitions.” (Ed Henry, “Obama: No Green Light For Israel To Attack Iran,” CNN, 7/7/09)
On the sixth day of Hate Week, after the processions, the speeches, the shouting, the singing, the banners, the posters, the films, the waxworks, the rolling of drums and squealing of trumpets, the tramp of marching feet, the grinding of the caterpillars of tanks, the roar of massed planes, the booming of guns -- after six days of this, when the great orgasm was quivering to its climax and the general hatred of Eurasia had boiled up into such delirium that if the crowd could have got their hands on the two thousand Eurasian war criminals who were to be publicly hanged on the last day of the proceedings, they would unquestionably have torn them to pieces -- at just this moment it had been announced that Oceania was not after all at war with Eurasia. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Eurasia was an ally.The problem here, of course, is that there is no Goldstein on which to blame the sabotage - these mixed messages are all coming from Big Brother himself.
There was, of course, no admission that any change had taken place. Merely it became known, with extreme suddenness and everywhere at once, that Eastasia and not Eurasia was the enemy. ... The speech had been proceeding for perhaps twenty minutes when a messenger hurried onto the platform and a scrap of paper was slipped into the speaker's hand. He unrolled it and read it without pausing in his speech. Nothing altered in his voice or manner, or in the content of what he was saying, but suddenly the names were different. Without words said, a wave of understanding rippled through the crowd. Oceania was at war with Eastasia! The next moment there was a tremendous commotion. The banners and posters with which the square was decorated were all wrong! Quite half of them had the wrong faces on them. It was sabotage! The agents of Goldstein had been at work! There was a riotous interlude while posters were ripped from the walls, banners torn to shreds and trampled underfoot. ... Within two or three minutes it was all over. The orator, still gripping the next of the microphone, his shoulders hunched forward, his free hand clawing at the air, had gone straight on with his speech. One minute more, and the feral roars of rage were again bursting from the crowd. The Hate continued exactly as before, except that the target had been changed.
Oh, what's a liberal to do??
There's my two cents.
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