XPost: alt.tv.pol-incorrect, alt.politics.usa, alt.politics.obama   
   XPost: rec.arts.tv   
   From: JRStern@foobar.invalid   
      
   On Sat, 17 Aug 2013 19:38:18 -0500, Hunter    
   wrote:   
      
   >Oh and Chomsky has said that Obama would've been a moderate republican several   
   >decades ago:   
      
   Chomsky is nine kinds of crazy, and the thing about Obama is his   
   ignorance and hypocrisy so his opinions and actions never match.  I   
   suppose now and then Obama trips over getting something right, but   
   that doesn't make him a Republican now or ever.   
      
   >Chomsky went on to say that Obama was "kind of a mainstream centrist with some   
   >concerns for liberal ideas and conceptions, but not much in the way of   
   >principal or commitment." Chomsky told Uygur that he regarded the president's   
   >stance on some issues as "pretty reactionary," offering civil liberties as an   
   >example.   
      
   Exactly.  No Republican would be as reactionary as Obama.  He's all   
   over the map, including what either party would consider extreme.   
      
   >The scholar observed that today's Democratic Party has become what used to be   
   >called "moderate Republicans" because Republicans have "more or less   
   >disappeared."   
   >   
   >"The Republican Party has become overwhelmingly so extreme that it's hardly a   
   >traditional political party anymore," he said.   
      
   Chomsky himself is so far gone he's in no position to judge.   
      
   >Chomsky commented on how the shift in parties is due to a "redesign of the   
   >economy since the 1970s." He also attributed the shift to "two major elements   
   ?   
   >one was a shift towards 'financialization' ? and manufacturing was moving   
   >toward offshoring."   
   >   
   >Chomsky told Uygur that these shifts have serious consequences:   
   >   
   >'Concentration of wealth leads very quickly to the concentration of political   
   >power. It's always a major factor, if not the only factor, in winning an   
   >election. By now it's so dramatic that we hardly have to talk about it. The   
   >last election just for president was over $2 billion, which is just unheard   
   of.   
   >As campaigns are increasingly bought, the political figures ? climb deeper and   
   >deeper into the pockets of those who were funding them. ? So as the political   
   >system gets shredded, wealth gets concentrated, other policies change ? you   
   get   
   >a natural drift of the parties to the right.'   
      
   This has been the bug up Chomsky's ass since he got into politics, he   
   equates dollars with conservativism and "the right".  It doesn't leave   
   him any room to say anything coherent about America or capitalism.   
   He's so ivory tower, he threatens to give ivory tower a bad name.   
      
   J.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)