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In reply to the discussion: Paul Ryan Being Booed at AARP for Saying Obamacare Should Be Repealed: ('Silence and Boos') [View all]PATRICK
(12,227 posts)Where the reception was immediately cold, portraying a hostile territory image before he said a word. The impression of "Big Labor" was a false equivalence with Big Business. Probably a defiant power thing like trying to school Hoover, which made Nixon look the red-faced loser. Times were such that the pilgrimage to various special interests was almost like going to Mecca and Medina- if you wanted to get elected.
Reagan going to Las Vegas to meet with... the mob? Some things are not televised. Television made a difference in and of itself as Nixon learned the hard way.
Now it is so controlled what is taken for granted nowadays are mere photo ops. Words and context and reactions disappear by election day. It is not smart and dangerously arrogant to take the current weakness of the actual special interest "pilgrimage" for granted so much that any little Teabagger can think they can say pretty much anything and weakly veil the poor lies, ignore the boos without being sensitive enough even to feel discomfort.
On edit for facts: OK. What I specifically key on was Nixon on Nov 20,1971 telling the AFL-CIO convention in Miami he was doing Phase 2 of his economic plan with or without his support. Labor responded to the refusal of electronic media to air any words by Meaney by giving Nixon the silent treatment, no standing or giving of any deference or recognition of the office. Of course, that probably got under Nixon's skin and thwarted some sign of control over AFL-CIO but the same electronic media gamed for the day didn't exactly explain their part in this tit for tat. I think to the uninformed it made the Convention look the disrespectful bully. Except for labor constituents IMHO advantage went to Nixon regardless of his constant failure to achieve sweetness and light for his domestic agenda.