Versus and D.A. have been following the Liz Cheney web-ad smear on unnamed lawyers hired into Obama's Dept. of Justice. She claims -- perhaps correctly -- that these lawyers had worked at firms where other lawyers (or perhaps even the unnamed lawyers in question) defended terrorist suspects.
Setting aside the ridiculous assertion that equates a lawyer to his or her client -- which all thinking people recognize as stupid -- and further equates simply working in a firm that acted as zealous legal counsel for accused terror suspects, Versus sees a more insidious logic at work, whether Liz meant it or not.
While many GOP lawyer / Bush Admininistration officials have attacked the core message as an unprovoked and foolish attack on the legal professions' canon of ethics, those same parties have taken the even more brash step to conflate Liz's stupid charges with attacks on John Yoo and other Bush DoJ lawyers who found the legal basis to support torture. Quite frankly, Versus and D.A. don't think Liz is smart enough to set the table for others like that. While the GOP mouthpieces -- taking a page from The Luntz's playbook -- regularly use false conflation of issues to deceive the audience, this trick is too clever by half for Versus.
John Yoo and others these GOP mouthpieces are defending (while attack Liz) worked at DoJ. The unnamed lawyers Liz calls, in essence, terrorists, for being legally the appointed representatives for accused terrorist at trial, also now work at DoJ. All are lawyers at DoJ. Hence the opportunity that The Luntz would take to conflate and confuse.
Versus is not confused, however. Versus knows the difference between what John Yoo et. al. did while at the DoJ and what the unnamed lawyers did in representing their clients before joining DoJ.
John Yoo was supposed to represent the American (including D.A.) people while he worked at DoJ. (Versus, being an angel, has no nationality.) Instead, Yoo+ must have thought they only represented the Administration when they found a supposed legal rationale for the President to allow his subordinates to torture people. That might have zealously represented the President's interests, but he's not the President's lawyer. Yoo+ is OUR lawyer. A vast majority of Americans would not want their lawyer to find an excuse to allow some Americans to claim legal protection to torture other human beings. Hence, John Yoo and others gave bad advice and failed to zealously represent the American people. He did not do his job.
These unnamed lawyers may or may not have zealously represented their terror-suspect clients' interests. Versus and D.A. can't say. If they did so, they did their jobs and should never be subject to penalties for having done so. If, however, they did not zealously represent the terror-suspects' interests -- as all lawyers have sworn an oath to do -- then they didn't do their job. But Liz is trying to penalize or humiliate them for doing their job, so I'm going to guess that they did zealously represent terror-suspects -- as any lawyer worth hiring should do.
The Luntz might take this opportunity to conflate doing one's job and not doing one's job as the same but, of course, it isn't.
Versus, therefore, penalizes all Liz-attacker / Yoo-defender mouthpieces 100 honor points for false conflation. In real terms, that translates to a nice, long extra wait in line for their final judgment.
Wednesday, March 10
Thursday, February 4
Cause & Effect, Luntz-style
The confluence of Keith Olberman calling out The Luntz himself on consecutive nights corresponding to the start of this blog is something that Versus and D.A. cannot ignore. Perhaps Versus has been whispering to Mr. Olberman?
[New readers are invited to read the Welcome post for clarification of Versus and D.A.]
But even prior to these MSM references to The Luntz, GOP message "guru" (as K.O. called him), Versus had been considering the bizarre logic that The Luntz and his GOP minions, particularly with respect to cause and effect. The Luntz did not originate this faulty logic pattern and it is hardly unique to his brand of spin. Many persons in a variety of endeavors project all sorts of cause/effect guesses, nearly all of the flawed. Rubbing a rabbit's foot does not bring one luck.
Wiser humans than D.A. have written that the human mind constantly seeks to understand the world and produces all sorts of cause and effect judgments, many of them wrong. Humans can't help it. One thing happens after another and we humans (D.A. speaking here) automatically connect the two as cause and effect.
The Luntz is a master at manipulating this human weakness, as are so many GOP mouthpieces. Most Dem mouthpieces, Independent mouthpieces, and regular folks do the same as well.
Today's example is the GOP reaction to the idiotic, incompetent Xmas-day plane bomber and how the Obama administration handled his legal status and interrogation. The GOP leapt all over this story from the start, and immediately concluded that treating him as a criminal rather than an enemy combatant would lead to more terrorist attacks.
Versus, by virtue of his being an Avenging Angel, has a perfect understanding of cause and effect and scratched his haloed head about this conclusion. Can mere humans see the future with greater perfection than an Angel? Does Versus need to see the Angel doctor?
Your humble servants don't think The Luntz is behind this particular spin. His forte is domestic policy bogusity.
X causes Y is true casuality. Many times, it's X causes Y causes Z causes ... well, you get the picture. Versus guesses the GOP theory on terrorism is that if you treat a captured terrorist harshly, he'll spill the beans immediately and you'll stop other terrorist attacks. They have no proof of that causality in general or in particular, any more than there's proof of the magic rabbit's foot. But people will believe such hooey because they want to believe it.
Similarly, the GOP attacks the Obama Administration -- ignoring the obvious similarities to their methods and the Bush Administration's in this regard -- because they refuse to believe that upholding existing law, treating terrorists as criminals, and using positive incentives for cooperation produces better actionable intelligence. There is, however, evidence of that X causes Y causes Z.
Further, there's evidence that what the GOP calls for actually inspires would-be terrorists, not that they need much inspiring. Versus is quite sure that those predisposed to terror crimes would find another excuse. That's the nature of human motivation and rationalization. Boy, free-will in entities without a clear understanding of cause and effect is a bummer, says Versus.
So we are left with the GOP bathering on about how we should listen to them and rub that rabbit's foot, even if they can't prove the causal link, because they want to believe it. And they want the rest of us to believe it. Arguing with them is pointless, just as arguing with someone about the rabbit's foot's impact on their fortune is pointless.
Hence, without further ado, here are Versus' "Words That Out-Luntz The Luntz" on this topic:
The Republicans favor terrorist attacks while Obama is president and want the terrorist to succeed just so they can say 'We told you so!' They would rather that Americans die so that they can claim proof that Obama is weak and the GOP is tough and tough works.
How sad, Versus laments.
[New readers are invited to read the Welcome post for clarification of Versus and D.A.]
But even prior to these MSM references to The Luntz, GOP message "guru" (as K.O. called him), Versus had been considering the bizarre logic that The Luntz and his GOP minions, particularly with respect to cause and effect. The Luntz did not originate this faulty logic pattern and it is hardly unique to his brand of spin. Many persons in a variety of endeavors project all sorts of cause/effect guesses, nearly all of the flawed. Rubbing a rabbit's foot does not bring one luck.
Wiser humans than D.A. have written that the human mind constantly seeks to understand the world and produces all sorts of cause and effect judgments, many of them wrong. Humans can't help it. One thing happens after another and we humans (D.A. speaking here) automatically connect the two as cause and effect.
The Luntz is a master at manipulating this human weakness, as are so many GOP mouthpieces. Most Dem mouthpieces, Independent mouthpieces, and regular folks do the same as well.
Today's example is the GOP reaction to the idiotic, incompetent Xmas-day plane bomber and how the Obama administration handled his legal status and interrogation. The GOP leapt all over this story from the start, and immediately concluded that treating him as a criminal rather than an enemy combatant would lead to more terrorist attacks.
Versus, by virtue of his being an Avenging Angel, has a perfect understanding of cause and effect and scratched his haloed head about this conclusion. Can mere humans see the future with greater perfection than an Angel? Does Versus need to see the Angel doctor?
Your humble servants don't think The Luntz is behind this particular spin. His forte is domestic policy bogusity.
X causes Y is true casuality. Many times, it's X causes Y causes Z causes ... well, you get the picture. Versus guesses the GOP theory on terrorism is that if you treat a captured terrorist harshly, he'll spill the beans immediately and you'll stop other terrorist attacks. They have no proof of that causality in general or in particular, any more than there's proof of the magic rabbit's foot. But people will believe such hooey because they want to believe it.
Similarly, the GOP attacks the Obama Administration -- ignoring the obvious similarities to their methods and the Bush Administration's in this regard -- because they refuse to believe that upholding existing law, treating terrorists as criminals, and using positive incentives for cooperation produces better actionable intelligence. There is, however, evidence of that X causes Y causes Z.
Further, there's evidence that what the GOP calls for actually inspires would-be terrorists, not that they need much inspiring. Versus is quite sure that those predisposed to terror crimes would find another excuse. That's the nature of human motivation and rationalization. Boy, free-will in entities without a clear understanding of cause and effect is a bummer, says Versus.
So we are left with the GOP bathering on about how we should listen to them and rub that rabbit's foot, even if they can't prove the causal link, because they want to believe it. And they want the rest of us to believe it. Arguing with them is pointless, just as arguing with someone about the rabbit's foot's impact on their fortune is pointless.
Hence, without further ado, here are Versus' "Words That Out-Luntz The Luntz" on this topic:
The Republicans favor terrorist attacks while Obama is president and want the terrorist to succeed just so they can say 'We told you so!' They would rather that Americans die so that they can claim proof that Obama is weak and the GOP is tough and tough works.
How sad, Versus laments.
Tuesday, February 2
Versus Frank Luntz Welcomes You!!
Versus has heard the call.
Versus is Frank Luntz's Avenging Angel. He and his followers have controlled the dialog for far too long, and they have now become a threat to the soul of the American electorate. This cannot go unchallenged. So Versus is answering the call.
First, you should know a little about the Avenging Angel "Versus", who will eschew first person pronouns like 'I', 'me' or 'my'. Versus' human sponsor and ally, initials D.A., went to college (University of Pennsylvania, a.k.a. 'Penn') with The Luntz and knew him casually then. Even 25+ years ago, The Luntz was doing survey research at Penn, as was D.A.
Yes, D.A. took all the courses that dweeby, red-haired Luntz did, and knows all the techniques he continues to employ to produce answers that make the clients happy. Even then, Frank (what an ironic given name!) single-mindedly pursued a career to get him where he is today: a respected and/or reviled deliverer of political wisdom, carefully packaged to satisfy his GOP bosses and confuse casually interested American voters. From his days with the conservative-funded college 'newspaper' named The Red and Blue (after Penn's school colors) and loping down Locust Walk on campus in Philly, The Luntz groomed himself for his current level of fame and supposed authority. Versus must admit that The Luntz's achievements are quite remarkable given the tremendous disadvantages posed by his appearance, demeanor and arrogant attitude.
But the fact remains that The Luntz is not that good. He's able to trick people with clever catch phrases, false choices, and loaded rhetoric. He's able to produce the 2-page summary, 50-page analysis, 200-page supporting research in his attempts prove the truth of his false conclusions and distorted messages. He is VERY good at that.
Yet, he is not good enough to make what he says the TRUTH. He is getting to be that strong, and hence D.A. has called upon Versus to join the fight. There is one other mythical entity that employs all the same tricks to confuse people and collect the one item of value that entity wants. Hence, Versus the Avenging Angel is here now.
* * *
This blog employs the partnership of Versus' spirit and D.A.'s words, together more than a match for The Luntz and whatever deceitful spirit inspires him. It's not about him personally, of course, as there are many others like him and the GOP talking heads often follow his suggestions and carry his messages. D.A. just didn't know any of them in college.
Nevertheless, The Luntz himself was in the news yesterday with his suggestions on how the GOP should attempt to defeat the Dem's efforts at banking reform. So that makes it as good a place to start as any for this opening post.
Versus thought that The Luntz's suggestion that the GOP attempt to label banking reform as, paraphrasing, "just another big bank bailout" was a swing and a miss. It was certainly not up to his standards. Nobody who hasn't already sold their soul to the GOP talking points will believe that the big banks would try so hard to stop something that would help them.
Versus counters with the recommendation that proponents of banking reform label the effort the "No More Bank Scams Act", and describe it as "policing" banks and credit cards companies to keep them from picking our pockets, like they've been doing for years under the rules the Repubicans set up.
Versus also recommends that NMBSA create an agency called the "Fair Banking Watchdog" of "FBW" which, much like the FBI does with criminal activity, monitors and investigates deceptive, unfair and otherwise loopholed practices. Is there really any difference between what many banks and credit card companies do with their so-called "fees" as compared to organized crime? Versus has decided that in their souls' core, the answer is no. Both just use their lawyers and political allies to avoid the consequences.
Since this blog is about TRUTH -- as both Versus and D.A. would not have it any other way -- citizens of good will need to watch out for Democrats who, like nearly all Republicans, will do the bidding of those who want to continue to pick our pockets. Beware of them using some of these catchphrases, then allowing those loopholes that will thwart the real intent.
Versus is Frank Luntz's Avenging Angel. He and his followers have controlled the dialog for far too long, and they have now become a threat to the soul of the American electorate. This cannot go unchallenged. So Versus is answering the call.
First, you should know a little about the Avenging Angel "Versus", who will eschew first person pronouns like 'I', 'me' or 'my'. Versus' human sponsor and ally, initials D.A., went to college (University of Pennsylvania, a.k.a. 'Penn') with The Luntz and knew him casually then. Even 25+ years ago, The Luntz was doing survey research at Penn, as was D.A.
Yes, D.A. took all the courses that dweeby, red-haired Luntz did, and knows all the techniques he continues to employ to produce answers that make the clients happy. Even then, Frank (what an ironic given name!) single-mindedly pursued a career to get him where he is today: a respected and/or reviled deliverer of political wisdom, carefully packaged to satisfy his GOP bosses and confuse casually interested American voters. From his days with the conservative-funded college 'newspaper' named The Red and Blue (after Penn's school colors) and loping down Locust Walk on campus in Philly, The Luntz groomed himself for his current level of fame and supposed authority. Versus must admit that The Luntz's achievements are quite remarkable given the tremendous disadvantages posed by his appearance, demeanor and arrogant attitude.
But the fact remains that The Luntz is not that good. He's able to trick people with clever catch phrases, false choices, and loaded rhetoric. He's able to produce the 2-page summary, 50-page analysis, 200-page supporting research in his attempts prove the truth of his false conclusions and distorted messages. He is VERY good at that.
Yet, he is not good enough to make what he says the TRUTH. He is getting to be that strong, and hence D.A. has called upon Versus to join the fight. There is one other mythical entity that employs all the same tricks to confuse people and collect the one item of value that entity wants. Hence, Versus the Avenging Angel is here now.
* * *
This blog employs the partnership of Versus' spirit and D.A.'s words, together more than a match for The Luntz and whatever deceitful spirit inspires him. It's not about him personally, of course, as there are many others like him and the GOP talking heads often follow his suggestions and carry his messages. D.A. just didn't know any of them in college.
Nevertheless, The Luntz himself was in the news yesterday with his suggestions on how the GOP should attempt to defeat the Dem's efforts at banking reform. So that makes it as good a place to start as any for this opening post.
Versus thought that The Luntz's suggestion that the GOP attempt to label banking reform as, paraphrasing, "just another big bank bailout" was a swing and a miss. It was certainly not up to his standards. Nobody who hasn't already sold their soul to the GOP talking points will believe that the big banks would try so hard to stop something that would help them.
Versus counters with the recommendation that proponents of banking reform label the effort the "No More Bank Scams Act", and describe it as "policing" banks and credit cards companies to keep them from picking our pockets, like they've been doing for years under the rules the Repubicans set up.
Versus also recommends that NMBSA create an agency called the "Fair Banking Watchdog" of "FBW" which, much like the FBI does with criminal activity, monitors and investigates deceptive, unfair and otherwise loopholed practices. Is there really any difference between what many banks and credit card companies do with their so-called "fees" as compared to organized crime? Versus has decided that in their souls' core, the answer is no. Both just use their lawyers and political allies to avoid the consequences.
Since this blog is about TRUTH -- as both Versus and D.A. would not have it any other way -- citizens of good will need to watch out for Democrats who, like nearly all Republicans, will do the bidding of those who want to continue to pick our pockets. Beware of them using some of these catchphrases, then allowing those loopholes that will thwart the real intent.
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