Associated Press
One of the principal Republican talking points on health care in 2010 was that the Affordable Care Act must be awful -- it's written on a lot of pages.
In 2011, Herman Cain took this sentiment to the next logical level during his presidential campaign, promising voters, "I am only going to allow small bills -- three pages."
Yesterday, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) kept this line of thinking alive, calling for a shorter platform.
"If it were up to me, I'd have a platform on one sheet of paper," said Boehner during a media lunch sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. He added: "Have you ever met anybody who has read the party platform? I've never met anybody."
A change might make it more attractive to Americans, he added. "We ought to have a one page party platform, that way Americans might actually read it."
I can see the slogans now: "Vote Republican: We Won't Burden You With Lots Of Words Or Depth."
Isn't the idea of a platform to offer the public some kind of blueprint of what a party intends to do if given power? It's not a blog post; there's nothing wrong with going into detail.
As for the platform itself, Molly Redden had a good piece on leaked drafts of the platform, and highlighted six of the "most curious" items in the document (which, thankfully, runs more than one page). It's worth a look.
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It's just plain insanity.I don't mean to sound Spenglerian here,but i think when a civilization is getting [old] hence dying you see and hear stuffs like these.
We know how the Romans ended their reign by turning away from rational and logical reasoning to assertive and blatant insanity.
So,my daughter's Essay would be longer than a major US party's platform?
What has knowledge done to the GOP?
The Romans became dumb and irrational because they were drinking wine deliberately spiked with white lead to make it sweet and drinking water from lead pipes. Amazing that Fox News replicates the effect of heavy metal neurotoxicity.
Because every item on their platform polls miserably, they don't want people to know what's in it.
Their assumption would be (and correctly, in some cases) that the platform would be acceptable and accepted because they "said so".
From the Molly Redden piece:
I must say I'm somewhat surprised by this. After all, I suspect that for many Republicans (think Boehner) life begins at Happy Hour.
OK, that was funny.
But whats wrong with a platform being concise? One page, maybe two side, of bullet points wouldnt be that bad. It would make them really think about what they want to say. As soon as you start allowing for pages and pages of flowery prose who knows what they will try to hide. I think the Dems should do this too. It would make it easier to compare the two platforms.
Yes.
Concise is one thing, but a platform is a specific telling of the policy and issue objectives of the party. This is a place where platitudes would only add to the problem.
For instance, take the GOP abortion plank. A soundbite version might be:
The current language is:
Even still, this doesn't clearly spell out that the supported view is that there should be no exceptions, including for the health of the mother.
Voters need more information, not less, and while there probably is a better way to get the contents/individual planks out to people, watering down the platform doesn't seem like the best idea.
How about 99 Theses?
Actually, this is Boehner-speak for "I'm really glad no one will actually read out platform, because if they did, no one in their right minds would ever vote for us."
Boehner can't read that much, by page 3 (and the 4th of many Screwdrivers/Grayhounds/whatever Orange Julius here tanks on before he blacks out daily), the words swim all over the page and it's Boo-hoo/weepy time once again. It would be nice to not have an alcoholic as speaker of the house!
Since I just moved out of the District the only provision I was really interested in was the DC city council section. They are as bad or worse than Detroit's ruling group, and if it weren't for Federal spending would likely share the same fate. They need two Republicans if nothing else to offset the corruption Democrats consider normal.
The Republican Platform, 2012:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjNIARQGIYA
I suppose it makes sense to be reductive when a central plank on a party's platform is reactionary anti-intellectualism.
When its primary argumentative tactics are ad hominem and hasty generalization. Oh, and false dilemma fallacy. Did I mention red herring?
It's a standard canard within executive suites to operate entirely in terms of the "Top Line." The "Top Line" is an interesting construct. It's the summary of the summary of the summary.
You know, it's what happens when more than three Power Point slides has you catching some zzzzzz's.
Flying at 30,000 feet and probably more interested in joining the Mile High Club than anything else.
But What Does This Mean? (to quote Martin Luther)
No one really wants to read doorstop legislation or worse. That often doesn't actually represent complexity as much as, like on a credit card statement, it instead is a strategy of deliberate obfuscation. I'm not talking about that. Really, I'm not. That's more often than not just sophistic gaming of the system.
BUT. What does it mean when everything MUST be reduced to an overly simplified summary of a summary? How much devil is in the details?
You know that much-hated 5-paragraph essay with its silly rhetorical conventions that people often had to write in high school and college English classes?
A thesis, three points in well-developed, supported and unified paragraphs, and a conclusion which is not allowed to reach out for any more than what was promised in paragraph one.
500-word requirement, usually. Geez, I sneeze sometimes and 500 words come out. They don't call me Chris Verbose for nothing.
Much as I hated that form, I saw its death coming and didn't really want to do a dance on its grave.
Because of what would replace it.
Yes friends, the 5-Paragraph Essay has outlived its (non)usefulness and has been replaced with... (wait for it!)... A POWERPOINT SLIDE with a Heading and Three Bullets!
Welcome to this brave new world. Beginning writing students still struggle to master the form, the onerous word count requirements (no more than 25 words per slide!).
500 words to 25. Heading and three bullets. And nothing lost. Nothing at all.
Why are you still hungry after eating your thin gruel? Like Oliver Twist, do you want MORE?!
And from that, there are those for whom that is still too much. Those onerous three bullets. JUST GIVE ME THE TOP LINE. I don't care how you got that top line. I don't care if your methods were valid, ethical, or even replicable.
You're trying to rent space in my brain with those additional slides, with decks of slides, with IDEAS, and support for ideas, and THINKING, non-obvious thinking, counter-intuitive thinking, thinking about thinking, smoke coming out of your ears, epistemological nonsense! Squatting in my brain taking up time and space. You are evicted!
Can I get a Gesundheit? 480 words.
Gesundheit, Ms. Verboese. ;)
Romney gets into the White House there are way too many people that know how the Republicans have been trying to rig this election. Expect the Secret Service to be very busy wiping off rotten tomatoes off the presidential limousine. But can you blame the people for getting so upset about all this quite literally corrupt activity the Republicans have been doing? Not really, when these Republicans, extremists of hatred, and extreme wealthy have become so dark and really do not care about our Democracy and freedoms, except for that power craving, greed, and arrogance.
I seriously doubt if those politicians in Washington really read all those pages of the Affordable Care Act (look how high the stack is on the picture above); Obamacare is such a complete & total disaster, nobody knows what's in it or if it's ever going to work.
Of course not Cindy - why would they bother to read the very legislation we pay them to go to Washington to evaluate and vote on? I'm sure you haven't read the ACA; you seem to be saying you don't know what's in it or if it's ever going to work. Yet you seem to know it's a complete and total disaster. How in the world did you come to that conclusion? Oh yeah - Fox.
Of course, the GOP could propose a one-page bill for health care reform. And in all these years, they still haven't even produced that one page. Even then, would we know whether it was ever going to work? No.
One crisp white page, blank on one side...the other side says simply: GO @!$%# YOURSELF!
I belive this is the Republican party's healthcare platform plank you were refering to.
They have to read all the pages. That's their job. Otherwise if it contains one illegal phase the Supreme Court will declare it unconstitutional and the months spent on it will be wasted. They will have to start over and no one wants that. Buster your right that the Republican Healthcare bill wannabe.
Except to the millions of people who are uninsured.
RM, Boehner did say it. I heard it. Wants to have a one page short platform...one sheet of paper...That would be music to my ears! But The Speaker's Special Secret Sauce?...A page of sheet music can run on...indefinitely. That is why The B-Man proposes "the one sheeter"...it is just like a never-ending filibuster...on and on and on...
And...revolutionary!! The B-Man proposes "No More Words" at all...nada...zippo! The answer...Congress can just sing it! And if Nancy, for example, just sayin', forgets the lyrics...just lip-synch'em. That's a beautiful thing. Lyrics...set to a musical score. Hey, I'll score it! Just like the CBO scores stuff. Only this time, it's mine ALL MINE! ..to score. It will have a beat you can dance to, any ol' time...
AHHH, Maestro Boehner, nice ring to it. Hey, I can orchestrate this deal...like this: OK, now everyone on the right side of the isle...on cue...SING!...That's it. OK, left side, ready...go......left side?....ready...sing...a little louder now...I can't hear you!! Now.......NANNCCCYYYYYY! END. All above fictional..Any similarity to real person(s), event(s), and/or place(s) coincidental. Not responsible for errors. RM, you go girl.
The bill was very complicated and it covered several parts of Industry. When writing a law you have to considered how it will impact the states, and how it impacts at Federal Level. Then you have to work out how it would be paid for. How it will impact citizens. Obamacare did a lot for the citizens of this nation. Laws are very complicated. If they weren't no one would have to go to law school. I would be very suspicious with a one line or even three page law. It's very clear if they are going to cut it down that might actually affect the legality of the new bill. Republicans are idiots. If they continue down this path they will just get slapped down by the Supreme Courts. They have to consider all legal basis for the law and they don't they are going to get into a lot of trouble with the Supreme Court.
Santorum missed the fact that 32% of Obama spending is to pay off the Bush/Cheney debt. I am somebody who likes truth spoact.blogspot.c**
I have just listened to Congressman Boehner's awkward speech at the RNC. I've listened to this part twice and am fairly certain that he described Paul Ryan as "a man who is second to numb"? Did anybody else hear it that way, or does John Boehner just make me laugh?
So can someone out there tell me how Anne Romney knows how it feels to lay in bed & worry about what WE the Single Mothers of this world do??? When did she ever worry about how she was going to feed those 5 boys or make sure the power was not turned off. Or who was going to do daycare for Her while you worked 2 jobs & still couldn't afford to pay for it?? If she even had a Job....... Please tell me why out of 5 SON'S NOT ONE OF THEM IS IN OUR MILITARY PROTECTING OUR COUNTRY....NO YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW THESE MOTHERS FEEL!!!!! YOU ARE NOT 1 of the many many MOTHERS that lay in bed & worry that your son or sons are going to be killed in these wars, or Were Killed. I do know that YOU have MS & are a Breast Cancer Survivor. I am happy that she Survived Breast Cancer & is Receiving the ABSOLUTE BEST MEDICAL CARE MONEY CAN BUY FOR HER MS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ******* Does anyone think that MY Katie with MS has or is ever going to get the kind of MEDICAL CARE & TREATMENTS THAT ANNE ROMNEY IS PRIVY TO?????**** I SAY NO!!!! & MITT wants to take away the preexisting condition rule in Obama Care. Your wife will get treatment, but Not MY Katie......THAT'S JUST A FACT!!!!!!!! Mitt's family HAS the Absolute Best Medical Care,,,,,, BUT DOES NOT THINK OUR FAMILY'S SHOULD HAVE THE SAME!!!! I say something is Soooooo wrong with this picture.... NO ANNE.... YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW WE FEEL.... I wish all I ever had to worry about in my life was, What did i sign up for??? My husband is Never home.... He is to Busy getting degree's & starting new businesses.... I feel Your Pain because You were the only one helping your boys with homework or bathing them or cooking or Ect..... GUESS WHAT ANNE??? SO WERE WE, BUT WITH ALL THE WORRY OF BEING SINGLE MOTHERS FOR REAL!!!!!! NO!!!!!! YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW WE FEEL!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU LOVE US BECAUSE MITT NEEDS OUR VOTES TO WIN THIS ELECTION... YOU NOR MITT KNOW HOW WE FEEL!!!! it would have been a well written speech from the writer, if the person giving it REALLY KNEW HOW WE FEEL!!!!!!!!! END OF RANT...........
So can someone out there tell me how Anne Romney knows how it feels to lay in bed & worry about what WE the Single Mothers of this world do??? When did she ever worry about how she was going to feed those 5 boys or make sure the power was not turned off. Or who was going to do daycare for Her while you worked 2 jobs & still couldn't afford to pay for it?? If she even had a Job....... Please tell me why out of 5 SON'S NOT ONE OF THEM IS IN OUR MILITARY PROTECTING OUR COUNTRY....NO YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW THESE MOTHERS FEEL!!!!! YOU ARE NOT 1 of the many many MOTHERS that lay in bed & worry that your son or sons are going to be killed in these wars, or Were Killed. I do know that YOU have MS & are a Breast Cancer Survivor. I am happy that she Survived Breast Cancer & is Receiving the ABSOLUTE BEST MEDICAL CARE MONEY CAN BUY FOR HER MS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ******* Does anyone think that MY Katie with MS has or is ever going to get the kind of MEDICAL CARE & TREATMENTS THAT ANNE ROMNEY IS PRIVY TO?????**** I SAY NO!!!! & MITT wants to take away the preexisting condition rule in Obama Care. Your wife will get treatment, but Not MY Katie......THAT'S JUST A FACT!!!!!!!! Mitt's family HAS the Absolute Best Medical Care,,,,,, BUT DOES NOT THINK OUR FAMILY'S SHOULD HAVE THE SAME!!!! I say something is Soooooo wrong with this picture.... NO ANNE.... YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW WE FEEL.... I wish all I ever had to worry about in my life was, What did i sign up for??? My husband is Never home.... He is to Busy getting degree's & starting new businesses.... I feel Your Pain because You were the only one helping your boys with homework or bathing them or cooking or Ect..... GUESS WHAT ANNE??? SO WERE WE, BUT WITH ALL THE WORRY OF BEING SINGLE MOTHERS FOR REAL!!!!!! NO!!!!!! YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW WE FEEL!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU LOVE US BECAUSE MITT NEEDS OUR VOTES TO WIN THIS ELECTION... YOU NOR MITT KNOW HOW WE FEEL!!!! it would have been a well written speech from the writer, if the person giving it REALLY KNEW HOW WE FEEL!!!!!!!!! THAT PERSON IS JUST NOT YOU....
Are we talking here about economic policy? Return us to the Clinton years.
Thank You