This should come as no surprise to anyone, that Conservatives have a narrow memory of history.
P.S.: I am trying something new here. I’m going to start linking important stories
In an interview with CBS News today, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) claimed that the Affordable Care Act must be unconstitutional for the same reason that Congress could not require people to buy guns:
Never before in our history has the federal government ordered Americans to buy a product under the guise of regulating commerce. Imagine, Bob, if this bill were that in order to protect our communities and homeland security, every American had to buy a gun. Can you image the reaction across the country to that? Well, the truth of the matter is, the same legal power is at stake in ordering us to buy health insurance.
Cuccinelli’s comparison between health care and guns is unfortunate, since it reveals his utter ignorance of American legal history. Indeed, rather than trying to “imagine” what the reaction to such a hypothetical law might be, Cuccinelli could learn exactly what America’s reaction was to an actual law simply by picking up a history book. As it turns out, President George Washington signed a law that was almost identical to the one Cuccinelli railed against on CBS:
[E]very citizen, so enrolled and notified, shall, within six months thereafter, provide himself with a good musket or firelock, a sufficient bayonet and belt, two spare flints, and a knapsack, a pouch, with a box therein, to contain not less than twenty four cartridges, suited to the bore of his musket or firelock, each cartridge to contain a proper quantity of powder and ball; or with a good rifle, knapsack, shot-pouch, and powder-horn, twenty balls suited to the bore of his rifle, and a quarter of a pound of powder; and shall appear so armed, accoutred and provided, when called out to exercise or into service, except, that when called out on company days to exercise only, he may appear without a knapsack.
Sadly, this failure to familiarize himself with an important historical fact is par for the course for Ken Cuccinelli. Cuccinelli’s original legal brief challenging the Affordable Care Act was riddled with legal errors, including an embarrassing claim that the Boston Tea Party somehow renders health reform unconstitutional. Likewise, Cuccinelli still refuses to drop a witchhunt against a leading climate-change scientist despite the fact that his office’s own incompetence already got him tossed out of court once.
Democrats Need to Learn the Art of Negotiating
November 15th, 2010It’s clobbering time!
Let’s face it, Democrats have been absolutely horrible at negotiating. Maybe we should be spending some more time watching the World Series of Poker.
Democrats foolishly confuse DEBATE and NEGOTIATE. These are completely separate Sciences.
Democrats spend large amounts of time trying to articulate the intricacies of why their plans have merit, while listening to the criticism, waiting to address them one by one.
Why don’t they want to negotiate?
The other side doesn’t care about the debate. Once they have stated their objections, they have already established the base of where they will negotiate from. Trying to move them from this position is almost pointless, since they view compromise as weakness, while Democrats view it as Democracy.
Mainly it is because the modern-day Republican party doesn’t believe in Government, PERIOD. The policies that they do come up with are a result of selling out to the political contributors (mostly Corporations and the wealthy) just so they can stay in power doing nothing.
But we can learn something from them.
Negotiating comparison:
The GOP starts from a “we will not compromise our principals” approach (and usually stays there).
The Dems start from a ‘we will compromise our principals’ & ‘meet me half way’ point, look to our nemesis for approval, then end by giving up 95% of what the GOP wants.
UNCOVERS:
Consistently, the current Democratic leadership has been reactionary, soft, timid, weak, scared, easily distracted, and in the end feckless. Now, even worse than that… they start all negotiations from a point of compromise!
This is the complete opposite of how the Republicans negotiate.
When asked a question about Social Security, Health Care, Tariffs, Medicare, Military Spending, Taxes, Labor, Trade, etc., you need to say the following:
You can’t make a stand if you let your OPPONENT define what YOU stand for!
When you have already compromised your principals before you even get to the negotiating table, your opponent will roll right over you, and will know how to use your timidity against you in any future PR war.
FOLLOW-UP:
1) After so many years of crappy, half-measured legislation, LEARN FROM IT!
2) DO NOT, I repeat, NEVER indicate that you are willing to negotiate your position. In fact, insist that your OPPONENT needs to Compromise THEIR position.
3) Answer questions with pointed questions.
Example:
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Posted in Commentary, Offense, Reponse
Tags: Debate Democrats DNC GOP legislation Negotiating PR principals Tactics Talking Points