Last night, our new blogger Zorro noticed an odd item in an Orange County Local News Network story, claiming that Santa Ana / Anaheim Democratic State Senator Lou Correa showed up at the Santa Ana Tax Day Tea Party, and announced re. Obama’s recent healthcare reform bill, “Call it what you want, it’s socialism and communism.”
A man-bites-dog story for sensible Lou to make such a far-fetched and manipulative claim, Zorro quickly posted it here. But when I got out of choir rehearsal and saw it, I said to myself, “That CAN’T be right! Lou knows better than that!” So I went to the original story, read it twice, suffered through the Scott Baugh interview on the attached video – and not a mention of Lou (although he IS still on the “tags” at the bottom of the story.)
Zorro insisted that the Lou quote had been there earlier though, and sure enough, when I inquired with OCLN author Erik Holmes, he responded “Yes, it was. I was multi-tasking while writing — never a good idea, even if sometimes a necessity — and put Correa’s name in there by mistake. I realized the mistake and deleted it.”
Thanks for clearing this up Vern. Lou is the MAN amongst our local electeds and I was shocked to hear such nonsense being attributed to him.
Vern, good clear up. And congrats on your new position. Now, to the point: Agreed that Obamacare isn’t communist or socialist; however, is it national socialism? After all, government is ordering private individuals to buy private insurance from private companies. If that isn’t national socialism I don’t know what is.
Well this is good news, I did not think Lou would make such a statement.
Showing up at the teaparty I did not think was likely either, one would think that those in attendance would not be voting for him anyway.
Good work Vern. I too thought it hard to believe. Perhaps this Zorro person is related to Todd Spitzer who has been labeled with the technique called “Ready, Fire, Aim” as that sounds exactly what Zorro is guilty of.
The MAN lied to us. He PLEDGED he would not raise taxes, and then he broke his commitment and did. His dishonesty cost the average California household $1,000 in new taxes. This lying liar needs to be unelected, but Kool-Aid drinkers like Hill and Nelson don’t seem to consider one’s word, one’s honesty, one’s integrity to mean anything. Lou Correa is a lying liar who lied. Good for Holmes that he corrected his error, now when will Correa do so?
Older Than,
Why are you blaming Zorro? Vern clearly explained that the OC Local News reported that Correa was there and said those things. All Zorro did was excerpt a story posted by a media site affiliated with the L.A. Times.
Thw blame lies entirely with the reporter at the OC Local News site.
“There are many criticisms to be made of ‘Obamacare’ from the left, right, and center – but to call it Communist or even socialist is only done by the very ignorant, or by politicians who know better but have no regard for truth and want to scare and manipulate you. Liars, I guess I’m saying.”
Vern, that’s no way to talk about the Rev. Al Sharpton: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqojWrtnieI
#2, we had this conversation a few weeks ago. But I think I can answer you better this time. Just not this second. Gotta stop procrastinating on my Prop 16 post.
I did the exact same thing when I first read it. Scratched my head and thought, “That CAN’T be right!”
Thanks for clearing it up Vern.
OCLNN is proving to be a steaming pile of crap.
So commenter #2 is again all about the “Obamacare = National Socialism.” He and I have been over this before, but maybe I was too glib and sarcastic in my response that day.
http://orangejuiceblog.com/2010/03/remembering-terry-crowley/comment-page-1/#comment-121686
I see now that he’s very fond of that formulation; perhaps he thought of it himself and feels a pride of ownership. Hence I appreciate that his argument will have to be respectfully and thoroughly demolished. But all I have time for now (given my awesome new responsibilities) is to provide a seven-part OUTLINE, or BLUEPRINT for that demolition. If any smart commenters feel like fleshing out any of these seven items, the community will certainly be appreciative, and to quote Tom Paine’s American Crisis, they “will deserve the love of men and women.”
1. Defining National Socialism. A quick survey reveals a variety of definitions, or really DESCRIPTIONS, of Hitler’s & Mussolini’s political systems. Every descrpition INCLUDES the partnership between industry and gorvernment which the commenter perceives in Obamacare, but it’s never LIMITED to that.
2. Look this up: What’s the technical name for the logical fallacy you commit when you say that A = B simply because A shares a characteristic with B? For example: That tiger walks on four legs; so does this pony; therefore this pony must be a tiger. Or, national socialism involved co-operation between government and business; so does Obamacare; therefore Obama is a Nazi.
3. At some point we have to acknowledge the commenter’s real agenda, which is to “cleverly” facilitate calling our President Hitler, despite Obama’s notable lack of an aggressive, expansionist foreign policy, authoritarian militarism at home, intolerance of dissent, dismantling of democratic institutions, or racism (let alone genocide!)
4. I tried this last time: going quickly through American history to show how regularly our government (or any government) works in tandem with American industry, without being even vaguely NAZI. I brought up 19th-century tariffs to help our textile manufacturers, and government’s reliance on US Steel and GE throughout the 20th century, but I made the mistake of emphasizing the Bush bank bailouts and no-bid military contracts, enabling the commenter to accuse me unfairly of playing the “Hey Bush did it too!” card – a device that I almost always avoid because it’s too damn easy. Plus which, it’s always easy for anonymous righties like this commenter to claim they weren’t unquestioning Bush worshipers just a few short years ago.
5. The Individual Mandate, which is what the commenter objects to and labels “National Socialist,” was really the only politically viable way for Democrats to accomplish what they were explicitly elected by vast majorities of Americans to achieve: expanding health coverage and bringing down the spiraling costs of healthcare.
6. Obamacare involved hard-fought bargaining with the insurance industry, whereby in return for millions of new customers they reluctantly accepted burdensome new regulations and limitations – no more pre-existing conditions, no more rescission, 85% of their budget must be spent on medical costs instead of the current 70%, and more. This is in no way reminiscent of the cozy symbiotic relationship German and Italian industries enjoyed under Hitler and Mussolini.
7. This demolition is not complete without discrediting the commenter personally as an either heartless or thoughtless extremist who really believes that the poor should somehow be made to pay for the social services they receive in this society because they’re poor.
http://orangejuiceblog.com/2010/04/the-working-poor-pay-most-while-corporations-skate-in-california/comment-page-1/#comment-123994 (comments 11, 24 & 43)
So, if anyone feels like fleshing out items #1, 2 or 4 (the others look okay) we’d appreciate it. Otherwise, that’ll do pig.
Writing about yourself in the third person again Pedroza? You are obviously Zorro and it’s interesting that you see yourself that way. Bet “Zorro” posts several times a day even thought Art is gone.