How come we don't have counters to the right wing think tanks?

[mahina]

Every time I turn on CSPAN, it's the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, Young Americans some damn thing. Where are our think tanks?

We need them dammit!

[givemebackmycountry]

1. America!

That's our think tank.
And we welcome the rest of the world to join too.

NOT, just right wingers.

[mahina]

2. Cool. Maybe we can start putting on some forums and organizing on CSPAN

like all those wingers, because they are killing us.

Now, with the Arkansas party head and the church slaughter, literally killing us. We need to be able to 'catapult the propaganda' better than they do, and we aren't doing it other than to each other.

Is all I'm saying.

[Bob Dobbs]

3. Because the power elite that fund "think tanks" are not progressives.

Ultra rich liberals don't exist.

[Greyhound]

4. Because we don't have any billionaire psychos willing to pour millions and billions into

an effort to propagate their message (see Richard Mellon-Scaife, Joe Coors, etc.). Our uber-rich are just money grubbing parasites that have no concept of altruism or even 'enough'. George Soros will back all kinds of 'liberal' ventures, but demands significant returns and operates on a vary short time line, IOW, if he's not making $$$ from his investment in a couple of years, he pulls out and writes it off as a loss.

Don't even mention the Gates-Buffet PR venture.

[Graybeard]

5. Even if we did, the spokes-people wouldn't get on the air.

Are Sy Hirsch, Greg Palast or Scott Ritter ever asked for their opinions on these MSM shows?

[SmileyRose]

6. Because we can do our thinking.

Freepers obviously need the Heritage Foundation to do it for them.

[mahina]

9. Sure we can, but who'se doing the communicating and organizing?

After the election, God willing we win it, we'd better start doing some real building. Hope it's not too late already.

[opihimoimoi]

11. There has to be a WAY.....we must find a way to plan implement and maintain

we need to reach SOLUTIONS3 R US.....

Come, I got the number.....



IBAW....lol

[mahina]

Yo Opihi, come, we go bodysurf

[opihimoimoi]

16. Only if Baracky comes along...LOL

you tube baracky....loads of fun...

McLoser is toast.....

Oasis outta town...Calif I think

Kama still hanging in town

I am the only dude left...

Come, help me plan victory luau....

[SoCalDem]

7. Because dems don't operate that way

Some high-profile dem recently started a thinktank, but shut it down after only a few years..

These stink-tanks that the right wingers run, and heavily subsidized by very rich , very well-connected people..and they all started up during the heydey of democrats being in charge, so they attracted a lot of eager "experts" ...all set out to get power.. Think tanks are just one part of the one-party-rule circle..

Experts from the Lobbying world publish papers and send them to the WH/congress, who turn them into laws.. The people in the congress eventually become lobbyists/experts at the think tanks, write books, go on Fox, who helps them push their agenda, so public acceptance drives the movement..rinse & repeat..

C-Span has always been cozy with the washington organizations, because they have a stable of "experts" who all live nearby, and who are ready at a moment's notice to show up and fill some air time..



At this point it would be like trying to open a store called L-Shop, and expecting to really challenge K-Mart

[mahina]

8. I'm sure you are 100% right, but if all we have is Howard Dean out there,

we're blowing it.

And I love Howard Dean. Really love him.

[trudyco]

12. My sights are a little lower - I'd like a rebuttal of the day

Something to counteract the RW talking points. Something easy to understand and explain. Every day. On Air America, DU, whatever. I never know what to say to my RW family and friends. Obama's website covers a very few and he's too wordy. Faux and those guys know how to repeat the same lies over and over. I want to hear the truth of the day over and over -whether it's a rebuttal or just a good halo point for Obama. Don't know if a Think Tank has to come up with it, but somebody should.

[mahina]

14. Seriously! Please! Anybody out there with a microphone, catch this big idea!

No joke. It's not like it would be hard to refute, and they kind of have one point a day. Like yesterday's point was, "McBush is decisive!"

PLEASE somebody out there...WillPitt?

[mahina]

15. Sister, please make an original post about this, because it is the most

useful and important idea I've read here or anywhere in years.

Let me know if you do ok, thanks!

[SoCalDem]

19. Access will always be our biggest problem.. The right wingers

and corporatists are fully in charge of ALL the major venues for information. They are the gatekeepers to the public viewing.

TRY to get adequate coverage for anything that seriously criticizes the oil companies or the medical care facilities/insurance/drug companies..

ADVERTIZING rules television, and LOBBYING rules government. Anything that challenges them will not be allowed, except for small "human interest" stories from time to time..

Notice how Dr SanjayGupta seems to be about the ONLY doctor with anything to say about medical matters..and of course Dr G is an EMPLOYEE of CNN/TimeWarner.

we didn't just "arrive" here..We evolved into what we bacame..over time. We allowed it to happen. and it may be too late to really change anything..

[bobbolink]

21. I don't think that's all the poster is talking about.

I think most of us have learned that we MUST be our own media.

BUT... where do we get the counters?

Where can we easily get the replies?

Not all of us have the TIME or ENERGY to spend hours each day....

One can accomplish a lot just in talking in the grocery store check-out line.

[SoCalDem]

22. The information is out there..but transmitting it to large enough numbers is always an issue for us

Except of Keith, one can always assume that any "host" on tv will skew right to middle..they ask the questions and direct the discussion..a tepid leftie (think Donna Brazile/Bob Shrum) will be pitted against a rabid winger ....one who interrupts (per the play book..pg 26) every 3 seconds..and the "discussion" is set up to start and finish within 45 seconds to 1 minute..

Most dem callers into C-span on any given day, ask better questions than any of the TV-hosts & hostettes, so information is out there..we are just unable to get past the roadblocks..

[bobbolink]

28. Either we're talking about two different things or we will have to agree to disagree.

Another poster and I have both said that it's not that easy to find quick and easy replies to propaganda for US to disseminate.

If all that matters is the media alone, then we are, indeed, cooked.

IF that is what you are saying, then all these years I've been laboring under the mistaken notion that WE, The PEOPLE can do a lot to become our own media.

[mahina]

10. Great pic by the way,

really funny. Mahalo!

[SoCalDem]

13. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree..

[mahina]

18. Haaaahahahahahahahaha!

What a reptile that woman is. Well played.

[BlooInBloo]

17. Because those aren't think tanks.

[bobbolink]

20. You bring up a very important point, and I wish that DUers would seriously address this.

Not necessarily about the think tanks per se, but about having easily accessable counterpoints that we can learn from, and use in discussing with people.

Why aren't we doing that?

Because it's so much more fun to just diss *?

And the Olympics are so engaging?

[hellbound-liberal]

24. The Center for American Progress has a pretty good site with some very well-respected thinkers

I recommend that you check out their site.

http://www.americanprogress.org /

The Brookings Institution is also supposed to be more progressive than most.

http://www.brookings.edu /

Of the two, I would go with CAP

[bobbolink]

29. Thank you for your suggestions.

I think we're talking about two different things.

For those with a LOT of time and energy, one can continuously read DU or such and learn a lot, and be able to talk about all the issues.

For some, this is the preferred method.

However, I think you would agree that MOST people just don't have the time or inclination to sift through that much, and try to make sense of it all in ways that are helpful in quick dialogues.

This is a big neeed, and given that most here don't think so, I would say that this is one of our problems.

We can castigate the American public, as we have been (and some of that is quite legitimate!), or we can learn from some of the methods the RW has successfully used, and make information readily available and quite digestible.

[Golden Raisin]

23. Repubs/Neocons

have been carefully organizing since the days of Goldwater. They are funded by deep corporate pockets. They basically own the MSM which is now nothing more than a semi-official propaganda arm of the regime and an extremely powerful/useful tool for them. Plus, Democrats frequently take the "high road" which Repubs/Neocons sneer at. While we're taking the high road, Repubs play hard ball and consolidate power.

[stillcool]

25. Look at who funds them..

and how long they've been the 2%'ers.

[Odin2005]

26. We do, they are called UNIVERSITIES.

That is why the uber-rich started funding all the right-wing think-tanks, the reality-based academics in our institutions of higher learning have no time for BS and so are a threat to the power of the corporate elitie, thus the corporate elite created think tanks to spew corporatist propaganda.

[mahina]

27. That's what my brother said too. But nobody's getting those panels on CSPAN

presenting progressive ideas.

Got to go, Howard Dean is on CSPAN...

[Atman]

30. We just think naturally. For them, they need a whole tankful of people.

And they STILL come up with stupid fucking ideas.

.

[ColbertWatcher]

31. We do; they're called universities.

It's where people go to learn things (and create solutions to problems), which is the opposite of what the GOP "think" tanks do.

[KamaAina]

32. I have often wondered this myself

of course, if we were to start one out here, it'd be awful tough to get our spokespeople to DC to get them on C-SPAN