One Pill Makes You Larger…
As Elayne says White Rabbit.
First off, I would like to remind people that on January 30th, 2008, before he was the nominee, I stated, flat out, that Barack Obama was a moderate to conservative Republican based on his limited voting record as a US Senator, and his personal choice of Joe LIEberman as his mentor in the Senate. The nominal D after his name was irrelevant.
The votes he later made in the Senate on FISA and other issues simply confirmed it, but few “liberals” wanted to hear criticisms of Obama. I’m a little tired of listening to people trying to explain away the actions of the Obama administration as some “ineffable plan”, it isn’t even involved enough to be a cunning plan
“We shall grapple with the ineffable, and see if we may not eff it after all.” — Douglas Adams in Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
Ockham’s razor is useful beyond the scientific world. Everything he has done is readily explained by the fact that his administration is pretty much what would have happened if Mitt Romney had won. In case you missed it, Obama is pushing Romney’s health insurance proposal. Stop looking for a liberal or progressive President, you didn’t vote for one. His votes in the Senate were more conservative than Hillary Clinton’s. If you wanted a liberal, Kucinich was running.
That said, the commentariat is totally worthless. The twits that have been given jobs at media corporations to offer opinions definitely need their meds adjusted.
At the July 22nd health insurance press conference, Obama said:
“If there’s a blue pill and a red pill, and the blue pill is half the price of the red pill and works just as well, why not pay half price for the thing that’s going to make you well?”
This is a general reference built on the reality that some of the generic drugs are nearly identical to their name brand counterparts and work just as well. [Note: This is not always true, and substitutions of generics need to be OK’d by the doctor who prescribed the meds, especially in the case of blood pressure and cholesterol drugs, as the side effects may well be different. Been there and done that with my Mother’s meds. I would add that in her case the generics work better, but the reverse is true for other people.]
According to a number of highly political commentators, this was a failed moment because people wouldn’t understand that this was an allusion to the movie Matrix in which a character says:
“You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”
Excuse me, this is politics, right? In politics, blue = Dem, red = Repub, sound familiar? Why would anyone bring up something from a decade old mediocre science fiction movie to explain a concept to a general audience? This is like my references to “brown acid”, only Boomers know what I’m talking about. In addition, in the movie, the red pill is the more correct choice, as it leads to reality. Maybe a few of the talking heads should see if their health care plans include it?
8 comments
What is hilarious is the right-wing trying to paint Obama as a socialist or a Communist. It’s utter nonsense. Obama is typical of the black middle class in being deeply conservative when it comes to things like “moral values” and “national defense” (in quotes because they really have nothing to do with either of those). I once taught in a black school with 95% black teachers, and when a motivational speaker came in and asked the teachers on inservice day,”what does education need today?” somebody piped up “God!” and the shouts of “AMEN!” were almost deafening. That’s the black middle class. They might have some progressive ideas for social programs, but on everything else they’re conservative as $%!@.
Frankly, as much of a scheming conniving b*tch as Hilary Clinton was/is, she at least has a slightly progressive bone in her body. About all you can say about Obama is that, compared to John McCain, he’s sane. Of course, that crazy guy talking to his invisible friend as he shuffles down the street in his fuzzy slipper and bathrobe while pushing a shopping cart full of junk is sane compared to John McCain so that’s not exactly hard to do.
– Badtux the Snarky Penguin
.-= ´s last blog ..The Coming Epidemic, Part IV =-.
I wouldn’t have willingly voted for either one, and, in fact, didn’t. I looked at their records and didn’t see anything to like, but Clinton was consistently more liberal than Obama. I don’t care what they say, I want to know what they do. He is doing pretty much what I thought he would do.
It is only whites that think that blacks are natural liberals; it isn’t true. They have a few “liberal” leanings, but they are conservative generally because change usually meant bad news for them.
After the Obama campaign disenfranchised me, the Democratic Party lost a member since 1964. They have nothing to offer me unless they dump their entire leadership. If he had lost Florida in a squeaker, I wouldn’t have cared, because they brought it on themselves.
The MSM decided early on that only Obama and Clinton would get any press, and the other candidates were ignored. McCain is a remnant of what the GOP once was and an example of what happens when you restrict blood flow to the brain. It isn’t really viable as a national party anymore, but we’ll have to put up with it in the South. McCain is no worse than most Republican Senators. Alabama’s two Senators combined don’t make a half-wit.
I voted for Obama, but I knew that he wasn’t progressive…but knew he was FAR and AWAY better than McCain and Ms. Moosehead. I see the Jefferson Airplane soundtrack but don’t see Obama as the White Rabbit…I think more the Mock Turtle
.-= ´s last blog ..The Drapers are having a little get together =-.
Elayne has a superstition about starting the first post of the month with the words “white rabbits” and the lyrics reference pills. Much of what has happened in the US resembles “Wonderland”, and the Matrix does reference the “rabbit hole”, so it seemed apropos for the post. I was at Monterey in ’69 and 1970 at the Defense Language Institute and have been to Haight-Ashbury when there were real DFHs in residence.
When you are down to the choice between Obama and McCain, you really have no choice. That’s what the media wanted, and they control the information flow. I refused to cooperate. Not everyone is prepared to make decisions like that, because they don’t make an effort to think for themselves. They drink the koolaid and read the propaganda.
Mitt Romney would have been a better choice for the Republicans, but the party is run by whackos. Obama ran a tight organization that, like Rove’s organization, can win elections, but have a hard time governing.
Pelosi and Reid spent too much time in the minority, and don’t know how to lead. They take orders from the Republicans, just like always.
The United States was a nice concept. Too bad it isn’t working out.
The US was a nice concept, wasn’t it. Pelosi is at least making an effort to fight..a little. Reid is a lilly-livered, little puss. (pardon my French)
We should just break up into each little state…print our own little state money…and let the corporations battle themselves. CA would make out better as we would keep the tax money we end up sending to the Red States, anyway.
.-= ´s last blog ..The Drapers are having a little get together =-.
Now you gone and done it, you have punched one of my major hot buttons. The states that most of the Republicans and Blue Dogs come from suck up Federal dollars like there is no tomorrow, well in excess of the taxes they pay, and they claim to have the high ground on fiscal matters. They should be forced to live within their budgets without all of the Federal largess that they snarf up whenever anything is offered.
I see this crap wholesale after a hurricane. People who are in real trouble can’t get help, but the local officials who are always bad-mouthing the Feds are first in line with their hands out, often asking for reimbursement for things no one can remember ever existing. They build things in areas we know are going to take a hit, and allow dense development in areas that are subject to being wiped out when a Category 3 or larger comes ashore.
They give preference to corporations, and distort the tax income to accommodate them despite a clear record that the corporations never deliver.
Living in the State that everyone hates and loves to bash but loves to suck taxes and foodstuffs out of, don’t get me REALLY start on this giving the Feds more $$ than we get back. You think it’s a hot button for you! HA! 😉
BTW…love the word “snarf”…hadn’t heard that in awhile.
.-= ´s last blog ..The Drapers are having a little get together =-.
Snarf just sounds right when the subject is pigs or politicians.