JM Ashby: The Cave-In That Wasn't

[dennis4868]

Now that we have the details of last Friday's budget compromise, and now that we know that President Obama clearly out-played the Republicans in every aspect, will the very serious media and the pants-pissing Professional Left apologize or walk-back their narrative of cave-in and capitulation?

I wouldn't count on it, even though it's painfully obvious that a narrative was chosen to run with before anyone actually knew what was included in the bill. I myself am guilty of this. I conceded that this bill, which cuts $38.5 billion dollars in spending, would be bad news for the economy. It turns out though that we were all wrong, because the vast majority of the cuts are steeped in fiscal hijinks.

I can hardly contain my laughter at this point. The president not only managed to hijack the Republican's deficit-cutting mission statement and make it appear to be his own, but he did so without actually cutting much of anything and denied Republicans everything they wanted in the process. You see -- the Republicans have touted the compromise as a victory in the war against the deficit, so by extension, the President also gets credit for cutting the deficit even though the savings are all very creative in nature. And as the polls show, the majority of Americans credit President Obama for the compromise.

The entire article is here....http://www.bobcesca.com/blog-archives/2011/04/the_cavein_that.html

[OHdem10]

1. Different people see things differently.

[SheilaT]

2. I can hardly wait to see how this guy

spins Social Security and Medicare cuts.

[dennis4868]

4. Obama has already signed a bill....

that cuts medicare....within the HCR bill Obama cut alot of wastefull spending (i.e., repeat medical tests) that helped pay for HCR....Obama promised to cut more wastefull spending in the future....there is plenty of it in medicare/medicaid for sure....this is what Obama is going after....why would anyone need to spin that?

[leveymg]

3. This is a classic case of "black-white", spinning a narrative into its opposite.

And, adding insult to injury.

[CakeGrrl]

5. It's happened since the start of his term. People form opinions without information.

Step 1. Activity from the Administration or the President is about to occur.

Step 2. Rumor mills assume the worst.

Step 3. Blogosphere freaks out.

Step 4. Rumors turn out to be...rumors.

Step 5. Blogosphere...crickets.

Step 6. Repeat.

[orwell]

6. +1000...

...You forgot to add that the blogosphere NEVER admits a mistake or apologizes...

[Pisces]

7. This is DU protocol.

[babylonsister]

8. That's about right. nt

[MadMaddie]

9. You nailed it CakeGrrl!

[JoeyT]

11. Well, that's one of the ways it goes.

It's nowhere near as common as:

Step 1. Rumor begins that administration is about to do something that hurts minorities, gays, women, middle class, or the poor.

Step 2. Everyone assumes it's true because it usually is.

Step 3. The faithful turn out in droves to insist that everyone stop hating on Obama because he'd NEVER do something so terrible.

Step 4. Obama does it.

Step 5. The faithful turn out in droves to insist that it was really the best thing to do and that they supported it all along and anyone that didn't just isn't serious enough. The word "hater" is put on an endless loop. President Palin is mentioned. Fifteen dimensional chess is brought up repeatedly.

Step 6. Repeat.

[eridani]

10. It is precisely making deficit cutting his own that makes this a tremendous DEFEAT

Using Repuke frames elects Repukes, not Dems. And large numbers of people approve of REPUKE FRAMES because Obama and the Dems refuse to use counterframes.