Comments on: The Same Old Shutdown Kabuki http://www.chrisweigant.com/2018/12/17/the-same-old-shutdown-kabuki/ Reality-based political commentary Sat, 16 May 2026 07:55:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Paula http://www.chrisweigant.com/2018/12/17/the-same-old-shutdown-kabuki/#comment-130590 Paula Tue, 18 Dec 2018 23:26:42 +0000 http://www.chrisweigant.com/?p=16249#comment-130590 And whadayaknow - Greg Sargeant of WaPo tweets: "The claim that "Hillary partisans only talk about Russia to make excuses for her corrupt failings" is literally what Russian disinformation teams said as part of their campaign to discredit the Mueller probe." https://t.co/UoUaml4kuZ And whadayaknow - Greg Sargeant of WaPo tweets:

"The claim that "Hillary partisans only talk about Russia to make excuses for her corrupt failings" is literally what Russian disinformation teams said as part of their campaign to discredit the Mueller probe."

https://t.co/UoUaml4kuZ

]]> By: C. R. Stucki http://www.chrisweigant.com/2018/12/17/the-same-old-shutdown-kabuki/#comment-130587 C. R. Stucki Tue, 18 Dec 2018 21:41:57 +0000 http://www.chrisweigant.com/?p=16249#comment-130587 Paula [4] Your paragraph about noting that " . . I was seeing all this stuff on FB that seemed over the top and that all sorts of people were spewing the same garbage" inevitably raises the question, what does it say about you that you are still hooked on FB? Paula [4]

Your paragraph about noting that " . . I was seeing all this stuff on FB that seemed over the top and that all sorts of people were spewing the same garbage" inevitably raises the question, what does it say about you that you are still hooked on FB?

]]> By: Balthasar http://www.chrisweigant.com/2018/12/17/the-same-old-shutdown-kabuki/#comment-130585 Balthasar Tue, 18 Dec 2018 20:50:43 +0000 http://www.chrisweigant.com/?p=16249#comment-130585 Well then, you do have the diversion! diversion! thing kicking in, too, you know, the one big thing that everyone looks at while a million little things dart in from the sides - we'll be finding out for weeks what was in this thing after its passed, and long after the diversion itself is gone as well... Well then, you do have the diversion! diversion! thing kicking in, too, you know, the one big thing that everyone looks at while a million little things dart in from the sides - we'll be finding out for weeks what was in this thing after its passed, and long after the diversion itself is gone as well...

]]> By: Paula http://www.chrisweigant.com/2018/12/17/the-same-old-shutdown-kabuki/#comment-130584 Paula Tue, 18 Dec 2018 18:46:22 +0000 http://www.chrisweigant.com/?p=16249#comment-130584 A very good tweet thread by a woman who started out for Bernie, supported HRC after primaries, but found herself muting her support online, to her subsequent regret, because Berniers would get upset and the media was running full bore with anti-HRC stories. https://twitter.com/magi_jay/status/1074759598039552001 A very good tweet thread by a woman who started out for Bernie, supported HRC after primaries, but found herself muting her support online, to her subsequent regret, because Berniers would get upset and the media was running full bore with anti-HRC stories.

https://twitter.com/magi_jay/status/1074759598039552001

]]> By: Paula http://www.chrisweigant.com/2018/12/17/the-same-old-shutdown-kabuki/#comment-130583 Paula Tue, 18 Dec 2018 17:37:03 +0000 http://www.chrisweigant.com/?p=16249#comment-130583 Another piece worth a look:https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/12/18/18139556/republicans-democrats-partisanship-ideology-philosophy-psychology-marc-hetherington <i>The simple fact is that Republican leaders more often traffic in falsehoods than Democratic leaders do — climate change denial, birtherism, suggesting voter fraud is rampant, and more. These are not positions of the conservative fringe. The president of the United States himself has embraced all these falsehoods. If Democratic leaders were similarly likely to push false narratives, more Democrats would believe them. <b>Conservative media amplify these falsehoods.</b> This is what links what leaders say and do to what the public believes. Liberals tend to rely on a range of liberal and mainstream news sources. Conservatives tend to rely on a much smaller number of highly ideological sources. According to a 2014 Pew study, consistent conservatives expressed the same level of mistrust of ABC News as consistent liberals did of Sean Hannity. Hence, conservative Americans are more likely than liberals to believe falsehoods about the other side. For example, Democrats were about 12 points more likely than Republicans to say that the Bush administration directed flooding to parts of New Orleans during Katrina. But Republicans were 34 points more likely to believe Obama was born in Kenya than Democrats and 32 points more likely to believe that Obamacare included “death panels.” That doesn’t mean that there is no biased thinking among liberals. They, too, are more willing to support or oppose a policy because it is or isn’t being carried out by their team. But skepticism about basic facts does, in fact, differ markedly by party and ideology.</i> Ezra Klein is interviewing Social Scientist and author Marc Hetherington who co-authored a book on the subject. First they cover the concepts of conservatives being more fixed and liberals more fluid - a variation of stuff we've heard before. Conservatives are more fearful, don't like change, yadda yadda. Also their leaders lie (are "asymetrically less truthful"). Klein asks if all conservatives are just more prone to dishonesty or is the leadership (paraphrasing)? Hetherington says they're intertwined and hard to separate. Maybe his book (Prius or Pickup, co-written by Jonathan Weiler) goes into this more but in the interview I think he misses the significance of what happens when major media pumps out lies year after year. The rightwing media machine is the key to why/how Repubs and Dems have become so polarized. <b>I think it's less important that "conservatives" are more "fixed" and authoritarian than it is that powerful voices deliberately and relentlessly manipulated conservatives, taking advantage of their fixed and authoritarian leanings.</b> Another piece worth a look:https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/12/18/18139556/republicans-democrats-partisanship-ideology-philosophy-psychology-marc-hetherington

The simple fact is that Republican leaders more often traffic in falsehoods than Democratic leaders do — climate change denial, birtherism, suggesting voter fraud is rampant, and more. These are not positions of the conservative fringe. The president of the United States himself has embraced all these falsehoods. If Democratic leaders were similarly likely to push false narratives, more Democrats would believe them.

Conservative media amplify these falsehoods. This is what links what leaders say and do to what the public believes. Liberals tend to rely on a range of liberal and mainstream news sources. Conservatives tend to rely on a much smaller number of highly ideological sources. According to a 2014 Pew study, consistent conservatives expressed the same level of mistrust of ABC News as consistent liberals did of Sean Hannity.

Hence, conservative Americans are more likely than liberals to believe falsehoods about the other side. For example, Democrats were about 12 points more likely than Republicans to say that the Bush administration directed flooding to parts of New Orleans during Katrina. But Republicans were 34 points more likely to believe Obama was born in Kenya than Democrats and 32 points more likely to believe that Obamacare included “death panels.”

That doesn’t mean that there is no biased thinking among liberals. They, too, are more willing to support or oppose a policy because it is or isn’t being carried out by their team. But skepticism about basic facts does, in fact, differ markedly by party and ideology.

Ezra Klein is interviewing Social Scientist and author Marc Hetherington who co-authored a book on the subject.

First they cover the concepts of conservatives being more fixed and liberals more fluid - a variation of stuff we've heard before. Conservatives are more fearful, don't like change, yadda yadda. Also their leaders lie (are "asymetrically less truthful").

Klein asks if all conservatives are just more prone to dishonesty or is the leadership (paraphrasing)? Hetherington says they're intertwined and hard to separate.

Maybe his book (Prius or Pickup, co-written by Jonathan Weiler) goes into this more but in the interview I think he misses the significance of what happens when major media pumps out lies year after year. The rightwing media machine is the key to why/how Repubs and Dems have become so polarized. I think it's less important that "conservatives" are more "fixed" and authoritarian than it is that powerful voices deliberately and relentlessly manipulated conservatives, taking advantage of their fixed and authoritarian leanings.

]]> By: Paula http://www.chrisweigant.com/2018/12/17/the-same-old-shutdown-kabuki/#comment-130582 Paula Tue, 18 Dec 2018 17:04:14 +0000 http://www.chrisweigant.com/?p=16249#comment-130582 I kept noting it at the time - that I was seeing all this stuff on FB that seemed over the top and that all sorts of people were spewing the same garbage. But at that point we HRC supporters didn't have any idea it was all being injected into the body politic by bad-guys. We just knew something wasn't right. <i>The Trump Campaign and Russians Shared a Social Media Strategy ...While the right-wing pages promoted Mr. Trump’s candidacy, the left-wing pages scorned Mrs. Clinton while promoting Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate. The voter suppression effort was focused particularly on Sanders supporters and African-Americans, urging them to shun Mrs. Clinton in the general election and either vote for Ms. Stein or stay home.</i> And Jared Kushner's "digital campaign" did the same. https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/12/17/the-trump-campaign-and-russians-shared-a-social-media-strategy/ I kept noting it at the time - that I was seeing all this stuff on FB that seemed over the top and that all sorts of people were spewing the same garbage. But at that point we HRC supporters didn't have any idea it was all being injected into the body politic by bad-guys. We just knew something wasn't right.

The Trump Campaign and Russians Shared a Social Media Strategy

...While the right-wing pages promoted Mr. Trump’s candidacy, the left-wing pages scorned Mrs. Clinton while promoting Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate. The voter suppression effort was focused particularly on Sanders supporters and African-Americans, urging them to shun Mrs. Clinton in the general election and either vote for Ms. Stein or stay home.

And Jared Kushner's "digital campaign" did the same.

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2018/12/17/the-trump-campaign-and-russians-shared-a-social-media-strategy/

]]> By: TheStig http://www.chrisweigant.com/2018/12/17/the-same-old-shutdown-kabuki/#comment-130577 TheStig Tue, 18 Dec 2018 03:20:49 +0000 http://www.chrisweigant.com/?p=16249#comment-130577 Sigh indeed. A government shutdown has become yet another Christmas tradition. Like A Charlie Brown Christmas, It's a Wonderful Life, How the Grinchs Stole Christmases and variations of A Christmas Carole, written, staged, sung, filmed and or animated. Good Grief. Americans sure cherish their traditions! Sigh indeed. A government shutdown has become yet another Christmas tradition. Like A Charlie Brown Christmas, It's a Wonderful Life, How the Grinchs Stole Christmases and variations of A Christmas Carole, written, staged, sung, filmed and or animated. Good Grief. Americans sure cherish their traditions!

]]> By: Paula http://www.chrisweigant.com/2018/12/17/the-same-old-shutdown-kabuki/#comment-130576 Paula Tue, 18 Dec 2018 01:49:25 +0000 http://www.chrisweigant.com/?p=16249#comment-130576 Sigh. Sigh.

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