If the terrorists are smart, they will give up on trying to attack us and just sit back and wait,

[Hamlette]

because eventually our entire country is going to be so stupid that people will start sticking their tongues in wall sockets just to see what electricity tastes like.

comment at TBogg in response to this:

David Broder dons his pith helmet and Dr. Scholl's arch-supports and ventures into deepest darkest Pennsylvania:

Another Democratic voter, Ellen Sharm, 49, of Fort Washington, is unequivocally opposed to Clinton, because "my father hated Bill Clinton and he hated her."

Sharm herself is equivocal about Obama and McCain, and she said she is "halfway between" their opposing views on Iraq -- with Obama urging an immediate start on a pullout and McCain saying the United States should remain there in force until Iraq is stable. Sharm described her own position on the war as "wishy-washy" and, while her disqualification of Clinton "out of respect for my father" dictates a vote for Obama in the primary, she said "if it's Obama versus McCain, I'll have to consider" what to do in November.


http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2008/04/17/dean-broder-i-presume/

I hesitate to call people stupid but, really, "wishy-washy" on the war?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Whole lotta stupid going on already.

This thread proves it:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5559495

[El Pinko]

6. B-b-b-but he FLIPPED HER OFF!!!!!

Couldn't you see it? Why, he has no business in the oval office!!!

:sarcasm:

[ProgressiveFool]

9. blech, no, not a link from GD-P

It has gotten stupid in there, hasn't it? I haven't looked in weeks.

[melody]

2. Yet another exampe of why first cousins should not breed n/t

[magellan]

3. Letting others make the decision for her

Yeah, that qualifies as wishy-washy. Not liking a candidate solely because her father didn't like them, not being sure what she feels about the CF in Iraq....

When I first came to DU I thought it was funny (and a little harsh) that some were calling Americans sheep. My opinion has changed on that, drastically. In 200 years we've changed from a nation that tossed the English out on their butts for their tyranny to a nation that accepts all that tyranny and more from ITS OWN government...and there's only one explanation for that. Too many Americans would rather be told what to think rather than expend the energy figuring it out for themselves.

[Hamlette]

4. so true, the question is why?

we were talking about that tonight. What the hell happened to the nightly news? When I was young, in the 60s and 70s, people like Cronkite, and Daniel Shore et al seemed informed and unbiased and interesting.

Compare that to last night's debate. We traded it all for cheap thrills and entertainment?

[Richard Steele]

5. Yes- you got it.

What is called "news" today is just another 1/2 hour of ENTERTAINMENT.
Or 24/7 entertainment, depending upon the channel.

It's not about "NEWS", it's about using a few superficial "facts du jour"
to spin soothing & entertaining brain candy.

[Hamlette]

7. but why did it happen here? BBC still shows quality stuff 24/7

and CNN was pretty good when Turner still owned it.

Too much money buying Barbie Dolls (and Ken dolls) to anchor the shows left not enough money to do investigations and reporting?

Or, Americans are working too hard to want to think when they get home from their 3rd job?

[magellan]

8. I think it's a mixture of pandering and conditioning

We're conditioned from day one to hold this country in high regard. Pride in our heritage and competitive spirit as a nation and as individuals. Belief in the dream that anyone can make it if they work hard enough, and that America alone can fulfill that dream. These are principles from our country's founding. The land of the free and the home of the brave.

We have a right to be proud of all this, as much right as any other country to be proud of its history. But we've gotten to a point where Americans are resting on their laurels. Since WWII we've been the de facto democratic superpower. Several generations have been raised with that all-important understanding. It's been drummed into us by our government and its lackeys in the corporate media. We're number 1. The only work left to do is to hold onto it.

But as Americans slave away with less and less prospect of making life for themselves and their children better than their parents knew, who is really benefiting?

Eisenhower knew precisely what he was talking about when he warned us about the military industrial complex. It's grown beyond that since his time and morphed into general corporate government rule. The true elites in this country have been plying us with fear for decades, and Americans have literally bought into it. We're number 1, we deserve to have everything we want and no one is going to take it away from us. Not welfare queens, not communists, not terrorists.

Pandering. Give the people what they want. Characters to run the country. Cheap goods to fill our homes. The trials and tribulations of beautiful people to distract us from our own lot. It's all about symbols of success, not real success. As bereft of meaning as an imitation Ming Dynasty vase, but we'll take it because we're told the symbol is what matters. Meanwhile, amid all the "much ado about nothing", the opportunities for real success are being removed from right under our noses day by day.

Hamsters probably enjoy the view from their wheels more than we do from ours. Maybe one day enough of us will become disenchanted with that distant vision to see the cage that separates us from it. We'll recognize what many of our own ancestors did, that freedom isn't bought or bestowed -- it's fought for. And not by proxy.

Until then, we all labor on the wheel under varying degrees of self-delusion.