I may have made a right winger think a little over the weekend.

[livingonearth]

A friend of mine is in middle management and in charge of several work crews at a small service company. He told me how his company needed to hire more workers but couldn't right now because of "the government". He literally said: "The government needs to get out of our way so we can hire more people".

"How does the government need to get out of your way?" I asked.

I thought he would have a quick answer, but he didn't. He sat thinking of an answer, for a rather long time.

"They need to stop having so many regulations" he finally responded.

"What regulations?" was my next question.

He never fully answered my final question, but I could see he was trying to. He was thinking.

[TBF]

1. That's not "thinking" -

he's just trying to remember what Rush said on the subject.

[ingac70]

8. +1

[demosincebirth]

16. ...or what his boss has been feeding him.

[hvn_nbr_2]

17. Not thinking. He was being a "talking point zombie"

All he could do was recite talking points. There was absolutely no substance to that guy's "thoughts."

[tkmorris]

2. I thought this was going to involve jumper cables

[TBF]

3. DUZY!

:rofl:

[livingonearth]

5. LOL

[Tennessee Gal]

4. "Thinking" is a good first step. You did well.

Ask the right questions and they have to think. Contradicting and challenging does not work.

[SlimJimmy]

9. Agree. But when did RWrs ever think? (nt)

[surrealAmerican]

6. I, for one, feel sorry for the poor sucker.

He apparently has no idea why his company isn't hiring, even though they are short staffed.

[Ruby the Liberal]

7. Good for you.

I would love to hear the answer to that myself.

[Maccagirl]

10. Next he'll say that Obama engages in "class warfare"

Count on it-and the same non-answer when you challenge him.

[treestar]

11. Amen. What Rushco teaches them to parrot is so shallow

All you have to do is start asking a few questions.

[Mariana]

13. This one clearly resisted his programming.

The Rushbots I've tried to talk with won't even atempt to answer a question honestly. Ask them a question they can't answer with a soundbite, and they either jump to a totally different subject, or else they just start making shit up. That's exactly how their guru handles questions, on the few occasions he actually gets asked one.

[mmonk]

12. Congratulations. That takes a lot of work.

[wizstars]

14. That is an AMAZING accomplishment!!

most of them can't.

did you give him a brain transplant--from a chicken?

[white_wolf]

15. Don't you love the Socratic method?

[gratuitous]

18. In the end, all too easy

Perhaps they are not as powerful as the Emperor thinks . . .

But yeah, ask a question that goes behind the sound bite, and watch what happens. "How is the government preventing you from making new hires?" and "Which regulations need to be repealed?" Er, uh, ulp . . . ahem. How 'bout them Dawgs?

[Pacifist Patriot]

20. Cue the elitist accusations.

Sadly, any time I or anyone else around here advocates this method, there are a handful of folks who seem to think it's condescending and "elitist." *sigh* If I see Ignore respond I'll know my prediction was accurate. ;-)

[LeftinOH]

19. Those RW 'truths' are as solid as eggshells when you put pressure on them. n/t

[Enthusiast]

21. He was in bird training.