"Do you need help? Are you having a seizure?"

[Brazenly Liberal]

My eyes roll skyward and I stop listening at the umpteenth parroting of any of the GOP talking points and catch phrases heard ad nauseum this campaign season ("cut and run" "the Democrats don't have a plan" "when you get out of Washington and see what people REALLY care about" (last one in response to bad poll info) etc, etc, etc)

But the one that really gets on my nerves is the Fake Condescending Snicker. It's obvious someone sent out a memo saying an effective debating technique is to snicker loudly as the other guy is speaking, thus ridiculing his points without having to actually come up with any of your own. It's equally obvious many of them aren't very good at it - they choose wildly inappropriate moments and make a staccato noise that sounds more like Woody Woodpecker at the end of the cartoon than real laughter.

I will make my largest campaign donation of this season to the first Democrat who finds himself/herself trying to talk over this crap on national TV and reacts to it by saying "Are you okay? Do you need help? It sounds like you're having some kind of seizure."

[meegbear]

1. Maybe this will make you feel better ...

Fox video: GOP feeling backlash from 'cut and run' rhetoric

Some Republicans are feeling backlash within their party for attacking Democrats as the party of "cut and run," Slate political analyst John Dickerson tells Fox News in the following video.

Until recently, the president has been "above the fray," letting others use the harsh rhetoric. He recently grabbed headlines, however, when he referred to the Democratic party as "the party of cut and run."

Dickerson says that the "cut and run" rhetorical framing has negative effects on international diplomacy. "It could ," Dickerson says, "because part of the president's strategy relies on withdrawal. In negotiation with Iraqi leaders, the president has said, his ambassador in Iraq has said, 'look, if you don't shape up, progress a little faster, we're going to move on or you're going to lose the support of the United States.' Well, under the framing of the president and his party, that would be tantamount to cutting and running."

"So, that's, of course, absurd. It wouldn't be cutting and running, but it is the way this debate has been framed in the political context and that doesn't happen in just a vacuum. There's actually diplomatic consequences for throwing around sloppy language like that."

Video at:

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Video_GOP_feeling_backlash_from_cut_1009.html