{"id":1001,"date":"2012-09-20T21:31:11","date_gmt":"2012-09-21T02:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/?p=1001"},"modified":"2012-09-20T21:31:11","modified_gmt":"2012-09-21T02:31:11","slug":"energion-roundtable-week-5-responses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/energion-roundtable-week-5-responses\/","title":{"rendered":"Energion Roundtable Week 5 Responses"},"content":{"rendered":"

\ufeffIn their answers to this week\u2019s Energion Roundtable<\/a> question, Joel Watts<\/a> and Bob Cornwall<\/a>, both thought that Romney made a big error and Obama generally did ok, but neither were completely happy\u00a0 his actions. Arthur Sido<\/a> thought both were \u201coff-base.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Concerning Romney, Sido wrote, \u201cthe entire thing smacked of political opportunism.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0Supposedly Romney\u2019s big error was that he criticized the administration for the statement of the embassy. While Watts calls this \u201cerror-filled\u201d and questions Romney\u2019s character, Sido shares my view that \u201cRomney was correct in his substance about the initial response from the State Department.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Frankly what I find somewhat strange, (but not surprising) is how Romney is criticized for doing what the administration itself did just a short time later;\u00a0 how Romney is criticized for politicizing this when Obama also has used the opportunity to criticize Romney.\u00a0 Let me be clear, I am not critical of them for going after Romney, this is what is done in campaigns.\u00a0\u00a0 Rather it is the double standard\u00a0 that I am criticizing, a double standard that seems to surround Obama, (for example going back to 2008\u00a0 Sarah Palin was attacked as unqualified, but in fact had more experience than Obama). \u00a0To me, the main difference has been that while both were critical of the statements of the embassy,\u00a0 the administration has tried to lay the blame for protests on the video, as if the video was the core problem, something that becomes increasingly doubtful as time goes on and we learn more.<\/p>\n

Given this, \u00a0I have to wonder how much of Sido\u2019s view was due to Romney\u2019s statement itself, and how much was in the coordinated efforts<\/a> of nearly all the press to shape the story into just this direction.\u00a0 Herein lies a major problem that has plagued the right for decades, and which, so far, they have not been able to effectively address.\u00a0 It is also a major difference between the left and right.<\/p>\n

Let me say up front that these are generalizations, i.e., things that are generally true, but not absolutely true and there will be exceptions on both sides.\u00a0 But exceptions to a general rule does not disprove the rule, they only demonstrate that the rule is a general one, and not absolute.<\/p>\n

With that caveat, the general rule is that while the right tends to demonize policies, the left tends to demonize persons.\u00a0 For, example, while there are fringe elements of the right that question Obama\u2019s place of birth, or try to claim that he is a secret Muslim, or other such silliness, the mainstream conservative view is that while Obama is a nice guy, he is implementing very bad policies.\u00a0 Thus the main objections surround things like his passage of the Affordable Care Act, aka, ObamaCare; the rapid growth of Government, the exploding deficit, mismanagement of the economy, etc..\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The left, on the other hand, tend to directly attack the person.\u00a0 Ford was a klutz; Reagan a dumb actor; Bush 41 was elite and out of touch, etc.\u00a0 Their favorite attacks have been to call those on the right some combination of stupid, greedy, selfish, and uncaring.\u00a0 For example,\u00a0 Reagan, \u00a0Quayle, Bush 43, and Palin were all labeled dumb. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To support this we are told about the dumb statements they make, some of which come from SNL, rather than the candidate themselves, but such details really do not matter.\u00a0 Nor does evidence to the contrary.\u00a0 Nor is similar evidence ever applied to Democrats.\u00a0 Obama for example, said he had been in 57 states<\/a>, and Biden\u2026 well there is a very long list of such statements, my favorite being a three letter\u00a0 word\u00a0 J-0-B-S<\/a>. While humorous, I do not take these as indications of intelligence, but the simple mistakes anyone is bound to make.\u00a0 But for some reasons when Republicans do this, it is somehow much more significant.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

When all else fails, the left goes to the big seven and conservatives are labeled with some combination of sexist, intolerant, xenophobic, homophobic, islamophobic, bigoted, and of course the ever popular racist. When clear evidence of any of this is lacking, which it is because it is not true, this is all justified with talk of code words, and hidden agendas as if the right is some sort of secret society. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In short those on the right tend to see those on the left as people with good intentions, but with bad policies that don\u2019t work and are often harmful.\u00a0\u00a0 Those on the left tend to see those on the right and just bad people.\u00a0\u00a0 Look at the number one charge against Romney:\u00a0 he only cares about the rich.\u00a0 This, when combined with the media bias<\/a>,\u00a0 is why polls consistently show this is a center-right country, but votes for farther to the left than would be expected based on this.<\/p>\n

Returning to Romney\u2019s comments I do not believe that it was what Romney objectively said, but how it was subjectively viewed, particularly in the press.\u00a0 Thus Cornwall spoke of Romney\u2019s \u201cinstincts\u201d and what he \u201cseems to have thought.\u201d\u00a0 This was despite the fact that Romney objectively expressed much the same view as the White House later took, resulting in a charge of dishonestly from Watts.\u00a0 Cornwall said \u201cRomney showed himself to be ignorant\u201d and \u201cpuffs out his chest.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 I am sorry, but while this maybe the coordinated view of the majority of the press coverage, I just do not see any of this in Romney\u2019s actual statement.<\/p>\n

I had some agreement and disagreement with a supplement<\/a> posted by Cornwall.\u00a0 I believe on the major points we agree; that we are a major power in the world and that isolationism is no longer a viable option and that the resulting decisions we face are very difficult. \u00a0While we disagree with many of the details, on the broader question of should we be involved we seem to agree.<\/p>\n

One area where I did question Cornwall\u2019s view was with the statement,<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that in some ways that innocency has worn off in the intervening years, but there is at least some sense amongst us that we are an innocent nation. That we’re different and special — exceptional — and this leads us at times, as a nation, to fail at self-criticism. We begin to see ourselves as the arm of God. And this poses problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

While undoubtedly true at some level, after all no one and no nation is perfect, \u00a0\u00a0I would argue that almost the opposite is true, that rather than failing at self-criticism, that we are instead hyper-critical to the point that at times we fail to see the good that we have done, and could do.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As Bill Bennett put it in his history of America, we should view our history warts and all, and not just the warts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\ufeffIn their answers to this week\u2019s Energion Roundtable question, Joel Watts and Bob Cornwall, both thought that Romney made a big error and Obama generally did ok, but neither were completely happy\u00a0 his actions. Arthur Sido thought both were \u201coff-base.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0 Concerning Romney, Sido wrote, \u201cthe entire thing smacked of political opportunism.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0Supposedly Romney\u2019s big […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,15,18,24,25],"tags":[92,1450,1481,1484,1408,209,1482,1451,1483,1479,1477,1480,1442,845,936,1062,1064,1074,1475,1149,1476,1478],"class_list":["post-1001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservative","category-election","category-foreign-policy","category-liberal","category-major-media","tag-affordable-care-act","tag-arthur-sido","tag-bigoted","tag-bill-bennett","tag-bob-cornwall","tag-bush-41","tag-bush-43","tag-energion-roundtable","tag-ford","tag-homophobic","tag-intolerant","tag-islamophobic","tag-joel-watts","tag-media-bias","tag-obamacare","tag-quayle","tag-racist","tag-reagan","tag-romney-obama","tag-sarah-palin","tag-sexist","tag-xenophobic"],"yoast_head":"\nEnergion Roundtable Week 5 Responses - Politics and Religion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/energion-roundtable-week-5-responses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Energion Roundtable Week 5 Responses - Politics and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\ufeffIn their answers to this week\u2019s Energion Roundtable question, Joel Watts and Bob Cornwall, both thought that Romney made a big error and Obama generally did ok, but neither were completely happy\u00a0 his actions. Arthur Sido thought both were \u201coff-base.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0 Concerning Romney, Sido wrote, \u201cthe entire thing smacked of political opportunism.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0Supposedly Romney\u2019s big […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/energion-roundtable-week-5-responses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Politics and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-09-21T02:31:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elgin Hushbeck\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elgin Hushbeck\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/energion-roundtable-week-5-responses\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/energion-roundtable-week-5-responses\/\",\"name\":\"Energion Roundtable Week 5 Responses - Politics and Religion\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-09-21T02:31:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1e0462ceb31a6ae267de916fb1fc1e6b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/energion-roundtable-week-5-responses\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/energion-roundtable-week-5-responses\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/energion-roundtable-week-5-responses\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Energion Roundtable Week 5 Responses\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Politics and Religion\",\"description\":\"Comments on Politics and Religion\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1e0462ceb31a6ae267de916fb1fc1e6b\",\"name\":\"Elgin Hushbeck\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/111d2d9a9a7ff4ed5376638ef5042b381a6987855b6398bfb2d91b1cf750d4fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/111d2d9a9a7ff4ed5376638ef5042b381a6987855b6398bfb2d91b1cf750d4fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Elgin Hushbeck\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Energion Roundtable Week 5 Responses - Politics and Religion","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hushbeck.com\/blog\/2012\/09\/energion-roundtable-week-5-responses\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Energion Roundtable Week 5 Responses - Politics and Religion","og_description":"\ufeffIn their answers to this week\u2019s Energion Roundtable question, Joel Watts and Bob Cornwall, both thought that Romney made a big error and Obama generally did ok, but neither were completely happy\u00a0 his actions. 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