I asked someone who is not into politics about the Abramoff plea

[rpgamerd00d]

I said, "What do you think about the lobbyist Jack Abramoff's guilty plea?"

And their response was: "What plea? Who is Jack Abramoff?"

This is the kind of America we are dealing with.

[Nutmegger]

1. That's....so sad. n-t

[Road Scholar]

27. Not only sad, It IS the freaking problem.

Our enemy has always been ignorance, incompetence, and the worst one of all, indifference.:banghead:

[electropop]

2. An opportunity to educate.

Take advantage! BTW, rumor today is that Abramoff expects to hurt at least 60 Congress Members & Senators.

[rpgamerd00d]

5. Oh I did educate. I'm just sayin...

... educating one at a time is the hard way.

The goddamn "liberal" media needs to start living up to its label and report the real news .....

[Oilwellian]

14. Educate one person at a time

You will probably never know what a difference you can make when you adopt this simple philosophy. You may cause a lightbulb moment and the person you tell will tell others, and so on and so forth. Never think one person can't make a difference. You can only fail when you stop trying.

[wtbymark]

3. If you're 'not into politics' in these times

you're never going to be. And these people more than likely don't vote, and won't vote.

[FreedomAngel82]

12. How do you know that?

My dad isn't into news (he gets it from the paper and we watch the "Daily Show" and "Colbert Report") and he votes. We even voted for the same person for mayor last year. :P

[Proud_Lefty]

4. Bet they know about Monica

[hippiechick]

6. Zackly.

If it's not their paycheck, their neighborhood or their family who's directly - and I do mean DIRECTLY - affected, most people just don't know.

Bushco's got everyone so afraid of terra and economic disaster that they can't see beyond their mortgage payments and meeting family's needs.

[Amonester]

7. Reality check. And the criminals who rule know it.

And they cash in (out...) (off shore).

One day, that someone will ask "Who's stole my money?"

Too late.

[brooklynite]

8. Keep your terms simple...

say "did you hear that a lobbyist confessed yesterday to bribing members of congress?" Focus on the crime itself, not on the characters.

[RagingInMiami]

9. You need to keep it simple for simple minds

"What do you think about this guy who is on trial right now for bribing all these politicians?"

[reichstag911]

17. for HippieChick and RagingInMiami

HippieChick: Actually, they don't even have enough sense to pay attention to matters that do directly affect them. They were almost certainly aware of Monica's blowjob, which had no bearing on them whatsoever. People, esp. the great American people GW so wants to protect, can't be bothered to pay attention to anything unless it's entertaining and/or salacious, the latter of which qualities is the only possible attraction for everyone who cared so much about Clinton's impeachment process.

RagingInMiami: Abramoff's not on trial; he pled guilty, and is spilling his guts in exchange for leniency in the sentencing phase.

[KansDem]

20. Or keep it REAL simple...

Savvy Voter: "Hi, neighbor. I just wanted to let you know I bribed an official down at city hall to have your property rezoned to 'commercial' so I can dump a shitload of toxic waste on your front porch."

Willfully-Ignorant Voter: "NAH!!! YOU CAN'T DO THAT!!!"

Savvy Voter: "Yea, you're right. I can't. But it's being done on the national level..."

[RagingInMiami]

23. As they teach us in writing school

"show, don't tell"

[mwb970]

10. Come on - the news hasn't even been "out" for a week yet.

There will be endless media coverage. People will hear about it. It will go on for months and months. Patience!

[FreedomAngel82]

15. When people get indicted it'll happen

My Mom asked my dad if he heard about the case (I tell her everything I read haha) and he at first said no. I talked to him last night about it and kept it simple. Plus, I added in how he looked like Inspector Gadget with his outfit. :eyes: Try to see if your friend will like the "Daily Show". My dad loves it (and he's even a republican!).

[peanutbrittle]

24. This is very true...

I was listening to NPR yesterday and I was reminded of this. There is a huge amount of people who are just now hearing about this. It just goes to show how much the MSM plays into the lives of average Americans.

It has been very frustrating when I try to talk to people about the issues over the years about issue 's such as Valerie Plame, Abramoff, etc. etc. etc. who had no clue. They say, "how do you know this? the internet? (Laugh)I don't believe anything I hear on the internet"

I just bite my lip and think how clueless. If they only knew

[FreedomAngel82]

11. Sadly

People now days live in a fast-paced society and depend on the "news" to tell them what's going on and hey if the teevee doesn't say it happened it must not have eh? :eyes:

[No Exit]

13. On a related note, I was talking to a retired history prof the other day

(His politics? Well... I know he's an admirer of Wm. F. Buckley...)

He and my own relative were talking about a person from the Napoleonic era. Now, I'm certainly no expert on any aspect of history, but it happens that I had heard of one of Napoleon's guys, Marshal Ney.

So I piped in with, "Hey, you know what? There's a guy in Congress that has the same name as one of Napoleon's marshals!"

The polite history prof asked who it was, and I said, "Some guy named Bob Ney." "Oh, really?" he asked. "Yes," said I. "Hey, if you watch a little cable news, you might see the guy's name come up, 'cause he's been in the news lately. I think he's from Ohio."

The conservative prof promised to look for Ney's name next time he read the news.

Heh heh. By the time he gets through reading about Ney, he'll know all about Abramoff.

[FreedomAngel82]

19. Good idea

Each person has something different that'd make them tick. It's up to you to figure it out and get them the info. And I agree to keep it simple. Ask people what they think of lobbying like what Abramoff did and than try to explain it as simple as you can without going too far deep into the whole story.

[KittyWampus]

22. It is a good idea and it's not condescending.

[No Exit]

26. I think so... this prof knows so much more than I do, it would be

impossible for me to condescend to him.

The one thing I can't get across to him all the way is that republicans are CRIMINALS. But he may come around yet.

[No Exit]

25. Sure! And as someone above said, "bribery" is a word most people

recognize as something bad!

I know what'll really get their attention: we need to keep tabs on those e-mails of Abramoff's OWN words, in which he called his Indian clients "troglodytes" and called his party's Christian wacko constituents "wackos". THAT oughta move someone. And if they don't pay attention, tell them it was Abramoff's OWN WORDS. And the various people (republicans) Abramoff was writing to must've condoned it; notice they didn't object to those expressions.

[Marnieworld]

16. But how do they feel about the "War on Christmas"?

Talk about a real issue man! ;-)

[KittyWampus]

18. Does this somehow make you feel superior? Cause the America I

personally deal with would benefit from a few simple snippets of information
and an attitude of inclusiveness- not removed cynicism.

[Stephanie]

21. It was on all the nightly news shows last night.

And they all agreed that both Dems and Repubs were implicated. Yup.

[spanone]

28. This is why America may not survive Bushco. Sad.