You do not negotiate with terrorists and you do not play nice with bullies.

[mnhtnbb]

Last edited Tue Oct 8, 2013, 10:25 AM - Edit history (1)

Seems we have quite an argument going here on DU regarding the faction
that is willing to raise the questions of sedition, treason, dereliction of duty,
blackmail, sabotage, etc. and whatever else that describes the actions
of a minority faction within the Republican party that has convinced
the Speaker of the House to refuse to bring a clean CR to the floor
to approve the budget AND the group that says, "oh, no!"
it's not sedition, treason, etc., it's just the political process
and everyone needs to back off the rhetoric. Indeed, it has
come to name calling (I alerted last night on one post
that called anyone agreeing with the sedition position
an imbecile and ignorant--and the jury voted 4-2 to HIDE
the post).

So. I think we all agree that the government shut-down is NOT a good thing.
The looming deficit ceiling showdown is NOT a good thing. And I come back
to my thread title, "You do not negotiate with terrorists and you do not play
nice with bullies." I doubt anyone would agree that the appropriate
action for a pilot who discovers a hijacker aboard who has threatened
to crash the plane unless he gets his way would be for the pilot to go back and have a conversation
with the hijacker.

There is a definite benefit to FRAMING this discussion. Regardless of whether
the Attorney General would ever file any charges that would stick--or
result in the Tea party politician gang behind this mess being brought to trial--I believe there is value to
raising the issue of describing these actions as not supportive of the Constitution of the United States.

There is a battle going on here. The intent of this gang is to tilt the balance of power among
the branches of government way over to a minority faction within one branch of government.
This is not right. And there is nothing wrong with metaphorically identifying the actions
of this gang as blackmail, extortion, or hostage taking.

Are the actions of the Tea Party gang supportive of the Constitution of the United States?
If the answer is "no", then let the chips fall where they may.

[LiberalLoner]

1. K&R

[Faryn Balyncd]

2. The RW has been allowed to control the framing of public debate for too long.

If we don't reframe public discourse by winning the battle of linguistics, we will continue to have corporate media, NPR and PBS presenting false equivalencies between center-right "centrism" and ever more far right extremist positions, which will continue to drag public debate ever more rightward.

[mnhtnbb]

5. Exactly.

[Paladin]

3. Well-said.

I am sick to death of demands that Democrats play nice and according to rules that a radicalized Republican Party discarded years ago. The mouth-breathing conservative movement depends on this sort of liberal wimp response, and we're idiots if we give it to them.

[mnhtnbb]

4. Thanks. I think it's way past time to take off the gloves.

[blkmusclmachine]

6. The GOPee: America's Terror Organization.

So why do the DC DEMS still treat them like equals???

[Warren Stupidity]

7. Actually terrorists are frequently negotiated with.

I doubt anyone would agree that the appropriate
action for a pilot who discovers a hijacker aboard who has threatened
to crash the plane unless he gets his way would be for the pilot to go back and have a conversation
with the hijacker.

If the terrorist has the means to crash the plane I most certainly do want the pilot, or *somebody* to at least stall the mother-fucker by opening up a dialog. Especially if I or somebody I know is on the plane. But that is just me, I guess, as you say, everyone else is just "go ahead, crash it".

[mnhtnbb]

8. Some interesting info on the protocol now followed by various countries

in dealing with plane hijackings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_hijacking

[mnhtnbb]

9. I listened to most of POTUS presser yesterday.

I found it very interesting that he used the words "extortion" and "ransom"
in describing behaviors of the Repubs. Those are words that define
criminal behavior. He used them without calling the Repubs criminals,
but attributed criminal behavior to them.

See the reference to extortion here: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2013/1008/Obama-to-Republicans-We-can-t-make-extortion-routine-video

I think we should all be writing LTTE of our local print media
echoing the words of POTUS calling out the criminal behavior of the Repubs.