Even one of my liberal coworkers had to laugh at this sticker on the back of my truck.
Posted on 09/14/2011 7:27:42 PM PDT by tobyhill
Back when the Obama administration was young, the White House set up what amounted to a snitch line, an email address where people were invited to report on other people bad-mouthing the president of the United States on health care.
The snitch line was soon taken down. However, it has now been resurrected in the form of a website called Attack Watch. People are invited to use the website to report on other people who are running down President Obama. In this way the Obama campaign for reelection would gather information to "fight smears."
According to the Washington Post, the reaction has not been as the Obama people have expected.
It seems Attack Watch has become the figure of fun for people on the Internet, particularly conservative bloggers who are flooding the website to turn themselves in. The site has backfired in a spectacular fashion, causing Obama to seem like a paranoid, Nixon-like figure on steroids.
The problem is one of the unstated job descriptions for president is to catch flack from people who don't like the executive. This can be galling, especially when the attacks get personal or are perceived to be unfair. Various presidents have reacted differently to the chatter of their enemies.
Nixon, for example, compiled an enemies list and plotted against unfriendly reporters. Clinton would constantly complain about the then-nascent talk radio sector, especially Rush Limbaugh, and had a war room-style operation during the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
By contrast, Reagan and both Bushes dealt with attacks either with good humor in the former case or by ignoring them in the latter. One criticism of President George W. Bush is that he ignored attacks a little too much, allowing some of the accusations to take hold without a response.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Obama and his Democrats want to kill old folks!
What a vicious Republican hate attack!
Hateful! Age-ist! And of course Racist!
Oh, wait...it was the Obama Democrats who were saying it in their hate speech against Republicans....so it is ok.
I confess that I have called Obama a punk, thug, fraud creep, failure, tyrant , bigot, racist, Marxist, Communist and many more. I surrender. Already I have been warned by some cretin named oldchicago, in an e-mail sent to me. I told him where to get off. I don’t know how he knew my address, but I don’t really care.
“@attackwatch!don’t turn around! You’re being watched! I said don’t turn around u idiot! Geez!”
...Gus”
OHLORDJESUSHELMEIMFALLING...THUD THUD THUD...DOWNTHESTAIRSNOWLORDJESUS...THUD THUD THUD...HALFWAYDOWNNOW...THUD THUD THUD....
;)
“WillyNinja1 #attackwatch My wife’s p*ssed that I’m spending my time doing this. She just turned me in on your site. Thanks a**wipes.”
“justin_hart Justin Hart
My new goal for this month: get my own profile on #attackwatch”
“RT @iowahawkblog: What’s the difference between SkyNet and #AttackWatch? Sometime in the future, SkyNet will become self aware.”
I just checked, attackwatch.com is still up.
I don’t think we’re taunting them enough yet.
“ThomasRatPol I wonder if #AttackWatch buys into the theory that ‘any advertising is good advertising’”
Even one of my liberal coworkers had to laugh at this sticker on the back of my truck.
as I saw earlier today... “Wear The Fail” (a different WTF)
I want to report that my neighbor is hiding a Tea Party family in his attic.
Uh, no, he wasn't.
Thank you AttackWatch for an hour of not arguing about Gardasil.
I liked my neighbor belongs to the teaparty and he won’t let me tread on him. Help!
bookmark
Hmmmm....research is our friend.
SNIPPET from post no. 1:
“Back when the Obama administration was young, the White House set up what amounted to a snitch line, an email address where people were invited to report on other people bad-mouthing the president of the United States on health care.
The snitch line was soon taken down.”
###
###
STEPPING BACK IN TIME AND STILL ON THE INTERNET:
NOTE The following text is a quote:
www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things/
The White House Blog
Facts Are Stubborn Things
Posted by Macon Phillips on August 04, 2009 at 06:55 AM EDT
UPDATE: As part of our effort to push back on the misinformation about health insurance reform, we’ve launched WhiteHouse.gov/realitycheck. It’s full of videos and tools you can use to share the facts with your friends and family. Check it out.
Opponents of health insurance reform may find the truth a little inconvenient, but as our second president famously said, “facts are stubborn things.”
Scary chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet, breathlessly claiming, for example, to “uncover” the truth about the President’s health insurance reform positions.
In this video, Linda Douglass, the communications director for the White House’s Health Reform Office, addresses one example that makes it look like the President intends to “eliminate” private coverage, when the reality couldn’t be further from the truth.
For the record, the President has consistently said that if you like your insurance plan, your doctor, or both, you will be able to keep them. He has even proposed eight consumer protections relating specifically to the health insurance industry.
There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.
Here are the complete videos that Linda refers to. First from the AARP:
And then from the President’s news conference:
See more about Health Care
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