SEBELIUS SAYS IT'S TIME FOR 'REEDUCATION'

There's a school of thought that says there are no accidents when it comes to things like this. I'm coming down on the side that this was not a calculated effort on the part of HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius but a window into her psyche and how she views the American people as well as government's role in dealing with them.

Via the Weekly Standard:

“Unfortunately, there still is a great deal of confusion about what is in [the reform law] and what isn’t,” Sebelius told ABC News Radio in an interview Monday.

“So, we have a lot of reeducation to do,” Sebelius said.

Note that Sebelius doesn't just want to re-educate people who oppose Obamacare; she wants to do a lot of it.

Then there's the implication of the word itself. There are three definitions for the word "Re-educate". They are:

–verb (used with object), -cat·ed, -cat·ing.
1. to educate again, as for new purposes.
2. to educate for resumption of normal activities, as a disabled person.
3. to rehabilitate or reform through education, training, political indoctrination, etc.

It should be fairly obvious that definition #3 most closely aligns with what Sebelius is talking about. Those who oppose Obamacare are more familiar with the bill than those who wrote it so she is clearly advocating political indoctrination from a position of power and contempt.

Sebelius wants to make your mind right. Period.

VIDEO: CNN'S SANCHEZ CALLS OBAMA 'COTTON PICKING PRESIDENT'

This one really is funny, especially after watching it more than once. CNN's Rick Sanchez asks correspondent Jessica Yellin about the whole, 'Is Obama a Muslim' controversy. As she winds down her response, Sanchez is apoplectic at the notion that Obama is unable to convince 20% of Americans that he's not a Muslim. He expresses his frustration by reaching into his quiver of verbal gems and refers to Obama as 'the cotton picking president'.

Someone needs to ask Ricky if he knows where that term comes from. Sanchez actually delivers another freudian slip immediately after the cotton reference. Again, frustrated with Obama's inability to get past this controversy, Sanchez says:

"If the President of the United States doesn't have enough of a bully pulpit to convince people of a lie....."

Unlike the "cotton picking" remark, Sanchez caught himself and re-phrased that one.

Rick wraps it up by saying:

"What kind of planet are we on? What the hell is going on here?"

If Yellin was inclined to take Rick's apoplexy to the next level, she should have asked him if he knows of any Muslims who pick cotton.



h/t to Gateway Pundit

ASTROTURFING AT THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION?

It seems like the perfect metaphor - and perhaps a bit of foreshadowing - for the defeat of astroturfing. Obama's senior adviser, David Axelrod is the recognized master of the tactic used to secretly organize massive groups of people in order to push an agenda while making it look like a grassroots effort. If what Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan did last week in sending an email to 4000 employees, urging them to attend Al Sharpton's rally to counter Glenn Beck's rally, isn't astroturf; it's certainly in the same ballpark.

Via the Washington Examiner:

President Obama's top education official urged government employees to attend a rally that the Rev. Al Sharpton organized to counter a larger conservative event on the Mall.

"ED staff are invited to join Secretary Arne Duncan, the Reverend Al Sharpton, and other leaders on Saturday, Aug. 28, for the 'Reclaim the Dream' rally and march," began an internal e-mail sent to more than 4,000 employees of the Department of Education on Wednesday.

There are so many problems with this.

First, the people in receipt of that email had it sent to them by the senior most official at the Department. Did some view it as something that could help them move up in the department? Did others view it as potentially harmful to their career if they didn't attend?

Secondly, the use of taxpayer dollars in an effort to organize people to support a political agenda most Americans vehemently object to is particularly maddening.

So how did the email become public?

The Washington Examiner learned of the e-mail from a Department of Education employee who felt uncomfortable with Duncan's request.

For those who think the only power they have is on election day, take note. This employee did a tremendous service and contributed greatly in the effort to hold government accountable.

In the end, the effort to bolster Sharpton's rally fell far short of expectations. It would be generous to say Sharpton's event had 5000 people in attendance. Conversely, Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally saw between 300,000 and 600,000 people attend. If those kinds of numbers portend in any way voter turnout - including astroturf efforts on the left - we could see an electoral blowout.

h/t to Weasel Zippers