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Perhaps this is just another case where the Obama administration is "speaking in shorthand." It sounds like the president is supporting SOPA, but in actuality

by Duff 15y ago

Perhaps this is just another case where the Obama administration is "speaking in shorthand." It sounds like the president is supporting SOPA, but in actuality he is speaking in some law professor dialect where words do not mean what they seem to mean.

cpher 15y ago
Yes, because we're not capable of understanding his "shorthand" descriptions of things--SOPA, ObamaCare, etc. Instead, we need another entity to translate what we're supposed to hear--e.g. the media. IIRC, Reagan's "shorthand" descriptions were directly on point and were not mis-understood by even foreign countries. I guess Obama isn't the great communicator everyone thought he was...
- Retric 15y ago
  If you compare some of Reagan's speeches with what he did and you can find plenty of cases of 'short hand'. Politicians need to communicate so stupid people like what they are saying, taken out of context they don't say anything embarrassing, AND still convey nuanced ideas to other politicians out there. Consider back when Clinton wanted to change healthcare many Republicans advocated for 'ObamaCare' which directly copied a host of republican ideas. Republicans did not actually mean what they where saying, they just wanted to shift the debate without saying we like the current system. Which is why you can find so many old speeches that are at great odds with what the party is saying today.
  - nhebb 15y ago
    I think you're confusing two people at the Heritage Foundation (Stuart Butler and Edmund Haislmaier) with "many" Republicans.
    - Retric 15y ago
      Umm, what about: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_health_care_reform http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_health_care_refor... I know it's 7 years ago, but Mitt Romney is probably the next Republican presidential candidate and it's not like the party penalized him for his past stance. Or even really talks about it. And if you really want to dig into it, look at who voted for in in that states legislator.
brown9-2 15y ago
I think it's more likely that the President supports the increased IP protections of SOPA but not the protection measures (DNS tampering) of SOPA. I think it's a bit self-defeating of groups like fightforthefuture.org to label any type of support for increased copyright protection as "pro-SOPA", as there is nothing in this statement that says "the Administration supports protecting copyrights even if it means blacklisting DNS entries".

by Duff 15y ago

cpher 15y ago

Yes, because we're not capable of understanding his "shorthand" descriptions of things--SOPA, ObamaCare, etc. Instead, we need another entity to translate what we're supposed to hear--e.g. the media. IIRC, Reagan's "shorthand" descriptions were directly on point and were not mis-understood by even foreign countries. I guess Obama isn't the great communicator everyone thought he was...

Retric 15y ago
If you compare some of Reagan's speeches with what he did and you can find plenty of cases of 'short hand'. Politicians need to communicate so stupid people like what they are saying, taken out of context they don't say anything embarrassing, AND still convey nuanced ideas to other politicians out there. Consider back when Clinton wanted to change healthcare many Republicans advocated for 'ObamaCare' which directly copied a host of republican ideas. Republicans did not actually mean what they where saying, they just wanted to shift the debate without saying we like the current system. Which is why you can find so many old speeches that are at great odds with what the party is saying today.
- nhebb 15y ago
  I think you're confusing two people at the Heritage Foundation (Stuart Butler and Edmund Haislmaier) with "many" Republicans.
  - Retric 15y ago
    Umm, what about: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_health_care_reform http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_health_care_refor... I know it's 7 years ago, but Mitt Romney is probably the next Republican presidential candidate and it's not like the party penalized him for his past stance. Or even really talks about it. And if you really want to dig into it, look at who voted for in in that states legislator.

brown9-2 15y ago

I think it's more likely that the President supports the increased IP protections of SOPA but not the protection measures (DNS tampering) of SOPA. I think it's a bit self-defeating of groups like fightforthefuture.org to label any type of support for increased copyright protection as "pro-SOPA", as there is nothing in this statement that says "the Administration supports protecting copyrights even if it means blacklisting DNS entries".