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VITRIOL

Obama Must 'Destroy' the GOP, Says CBS' Political Director

Incendiary op-ed outrages the right

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by Mary Noble

Senior Editor t

Image: AP

"If he wants to transform American politics, Obama must declare war on the Republican Party," writes John Dickerson, CBS News' Political Director, in Slate.

The entire op-ed proceeds along similar rhetorical lines, to the consternation of conservatives at the Blaze and Fox News' Brit Hume, who pass the piece along without comment - feeling, perhaps, that its divisiveness speaks for itself.

In fact, divisiveness is the strategy Dickerson recommends for Obama. Since bipartisanship failed in Obama's first term, he should adopt a take-no-prisoners strategy: "If he wants to transform American politics, he must go for the throat." Dickerson elaborates:

As Obama explained in his last press conference, he thinks the Republicans are dead set on opposing him. They cannot be unchained by schmoozing...Obama's only remaining option is to pulverize. Whether he succeeds in passing legislation or not, given his ambitions, his goal should be to delegitimize his opponents. Through a series of clarifying fights over controversial issues, he can force Republicans to either side with their coalition's most extreme elements or cause a rift in the party that will leave it, at least temporarily, in disarray.

Via Slate and the Blaze
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What would be best for Obama's legacy - compromise, or 'pulverizing' the GOP?

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Comments (view in Forum)

  • texas_cutie75
    !
    This nation is supposed to be a melting pot, a nation made great by various cultures strengths combined with the strengths of others. I wish ALL the jerks in Washington would knock off their shenanigans and get their collectives acts in gear, or we are doomed to follow in Greece's footsteps!!
  • marine1
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    this is the kind of statement that can cause the beginnig of the end. Why the hell can't these people act like adults and pull this country back togeather?
  • texas_cutie75
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    @marine1

    I apologize, too much blood in my caffeine system....lol. You were talking about the title of the article!! Sorry my friend...long day at work!
  • View all 18 replies >
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    thejimbo
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    I read Dickerson's article and was mostly ill throughout the read. Apparently Mr. Dickerson, brilliant as he thinks himself to be, has never opened a history book and taken a look at how successful one party rule is. If he had he would know that eventually benevolent one party rulers die and the tyranny arrives with names like Pol Pot, Mao, Stalin, Caligula. Then the fun begins and even the likes of Dickerson get swept up in the horror as the intelligentsia and the wealthy are the first to be hanged or sent to the gulag. What a fool. He should pray that someone always wins an election and someone always loses. When you only have winners something evil is about to happen to a lot of souls no matter their status or self importance.
  • Zazziness
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    Why do you think the destruction of the Republicans could only result in one-party rule? There are the Libertarians, for instance.
  • Zazziness
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    @thejimbo The Libertarians have only been gaining ground as the GOP has become more eccentric. It wouldn't be the first or last time a party was replaced by an up-and-coming group.
  • o
    talkenhed
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    Unless the GOP gets new leadership they may as well roll over and play dead. Who needs Dickerson when you have the incredibly tone deaf leadership team of McConnell & Boehner. Nancy Pelosi has higher approval ratings than Boehner! As they would say in Brooklyn, "throw the bum out." This dynamic duo have failed in their stated mission, "to make Obama a one term President. " You can't do the job get out! They've consistently picked the wrong battle and have been forced to cave in time after time. Get rid of these incompetents and "leaders" like Karl Rove those of a bye gone era and become the loyal opposition. The continual placing the interests of the party above country is never going to win majority of the voters. A party whose philosophy of obstructionist and with nothing to offer is doomed
  • View all 8 replies >
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    talkenhed
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    @mimi57 Great sense of quixotic commentary.
    Which he? My job is make Obama a one term President, him??? Or this He: only bills accepted by a majority of the majority will come to the floor for a vote.
    Neither cares about you unless your stuffing their pockets with money
  • Fishbone345
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    @texas_cutie75 The only way it won't is if we give up on it as a reality. We have to demand it Cutie. And the only way to do that is to stop voting for those who have no interest in making it a reality.
    Every vote for the Republican and Democrat parties as we know them, is a vote for continued "more of the norm".
    Others can say what they want about Ron Paul and Gary Johnson, but the people at the heads of the GOP and Democratic Party fear these guys. They fear them because they fear real change. And hence they use whatever they can and whatever they have at their disposal to ridicule, drown out, and completely try to erase their message, be it their media influence or otherwise.
  • View all 14 replies >
  • dances-weebles
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    now that'd be funny. can't you just see it now? a bunch of fat old republicans running through the streets closely followed by sinister looking flying objects? that'd have them begging for their own term limits.
  • u
    whataGOVwehave
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    I have imagined it more than once....I see the president with a PlayStation controller in his had gazing at a computer screen with an evil smirk(or his regular smile).
  • View all 8 replies >
  • nbakes
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    It's obvious that had the tables been turned and the republicans won the election, this would be acceptable and encouraged behavior. The biggest thing keeping this country down isn't divisiveness it is the rotting republican party/super conservatives.
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    mtkopf
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    @stepped_in_it Harry Reid is often the target of right wing posters here bc Harry refuses to bring to vote many Republican bills that have passed the House. But John Boehner, adopting the same policy of Dennis Hastert, will not bring a bill up for vote in the House unless it has support of " the majority of the majority" thereby discouraging any sort of bipartisan efforts.
  • Ashstop
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    If the republicans are destroyed who will the democrates take money from? Like any parasite they must be careful not to kill the host least they perish also.
  • DARSB
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    I'm not crazy about his language ("pulverize" is over the top) but Dickerson isn't advocating anything new or revolutionary. In fact, much of what he recommends sounds a lot like the conservative establishment's strategy over the past four years.
  • albe
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    as long as the GOP has a goal to oust and block all Obama attempts to accomplish his agenda, in fact the motto could be read " Obama out " Don't be naive the Gop can't tolerate unions, associations that stridently advocate for there side . Divide and conquer is the GOP agenda . Only the wealthy donate to the GOP and the piano player must play that tune,
  • russ
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    "You hit me"...."But you hit me first"....."Well, you were thinking about it"......"Yeah, and you called me a moron last week"......"Ggrrr, you are a moron"........"you deserve to be hit".......
    You and John Dickerson certainly have logic and reason on YOUR side lol
  • u
    Grubby
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    Divide and conquer the GOP agenda? Hardly. Obama is the great divider. No president in history has created so much division between races, classes, genders, politics, and religion as this moron. He could not be any more divisive if he tried. Compromise and civility are not a part of his skill set.
  • albe
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    @Grubby Divide and conquer as in bust the unions, you bust the huge donation to the dems. Simple ,that's all. Yes , Ob does divide , but takes the disparate special interests and almost promises to do in effect there agendas , but not quite until he gets into the position to say his hands are tied. Otherwise why did he not push the special interest when he could ,now he is going to not be able to. He adds the special interest votes up every time, and voila he gets in.
  • albe
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    @russ ,lol? very creative, fact the unions donate to the Dems , only wealthy morons donate to the Dems, would anyone in my trailer park want the rich to pay more? Sure , the poor don't want to pay tax. What would I do without you ROTFLMAO.
  • russ
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    @albe
    Well, thanks-it's simple stuff.....you want to beat somebody up but know they can whip your butt. Get him in a fist fight with his brother and watch them knock the stuffin out of each other. Sit back and smile and when they've worn each other out--GO FOR IT! The GOP feel they've made major in-roads with undermining the unions lately-so watch out folks-THEIR READY TO SWING....Ironically with Obama re-elected many dems are mistakenly sitting back, basking in the glow of victory. Don't count the Republicans out.
  • mimi57
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    That is exactly what he is doing,'going for the throat' of every hard working tax payer. He is using the Cloward Piven strategy, his administration will continue
    to create crisis situations and overload the system...that's what he's been doing,
    and ironically, it's really working for him. What does that say about the intelligence
    of the voters?...Pretty sorry.
  • o
    mbill935
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    Your exactly right about his tactics ,however I am still certain that he didn't win the election honestly .Yes there are some ignorant voters but I don't know one person who voted for obama
  • mimi57
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    @mbill935 I have never, and will never believe he actually won...there was definitely some voter tampering going on. I've never been a conspiracy theorist
    but something has never been right about this entire thing. Including 140% of
    Dems voting in some very elite districts, 140% makes no sense, nor does not one
    single republican vote...it would be impossible. It most likely was...Too many things
    that have never added up and we will never know.
  • mimi57
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    @Zazziness I've substantiated my claim before, I'm sure you are computer savvy
    enough to research it... Thanks!
  • View all 8 replies >
  • dances-weebles
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    there are now 30 registered active political parties involved in politics here, and there are 10 more on the list waiting to be made official. every one of the 30 active parties participate in every election (federal, state and local) it's a little unwieldy, but it tends to keep the candidates somewhat honest in what they say that they'd like to do. not only that, but it guarantees that everyone has their say in the politics of the nation rather than simply having to settle for the lesser of evils every 4 years.
  • hankf68
    !
    @dances-weebles ...it's a money issue and no monies (of count) go into these "other" parties, therefore the playing field is skewed and only favors the two political parties of "big money" interest, their is no transparency of those monies either, so, the only way to actually have change come about is through a complete overhaul of current laws regarding our political system, not by just registering more and more inept and impotent political parties...btw, I'm not naive enough to think it will happen anytime soon...
  • dances-weebles
    !
    @hankf68 well, as things go here, each candidate pays for his own campaigning. there aren't any grand donations from corporations, and the taxpayers don't pay a dime toward it. it's really the best way. i think that it helps for the voters to have a broader spectrum of choices.
  • dances-weebles
    !
    @hankf68 and btw... it's illegal to campaign on tv or radio, and they also can't use the major news papers. they print up fliers with their photos on them and throw them in everybody's garage and stuff them in mail boxes. they hire sound cars to drive through all the neighborhoods and blast obnoxious jingles from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

    but hey, it's cheaper. people here vote more on name recognition... oh, damn, i almost forgot... that's how 90% of all the legislators in the u.s. keep getting re-elected, too.
  • jessejaymes
    !
    The truth is I have always advocated for compromise from both sides but the Christian/Tea Party right will not compromise on anything. The GOP must be destroyed in order to be reborn. Then the same thing for the Democrats. The extremists fringes of both groups need to start their own party and get the hell of of both the two major parties. They destroyed the credibility of both parties. I even like some of you extremists in both parties that post here but your views are not viable to running a country. A compound or collective maybe but not a nation.
  • Bobolinsky
    !
    I'd expect something like this from the Political Director of MSNBC. I was actually a little surprised that CBS' Political Director would betray his Lefty bias with such violent rhetoric. I mean, are we supposed to believe that this douche wasn't aware of the attempted pinning of the Giffords shooting on Palin's congressional district map?

    And Lefties wonder why conservatives assert that Fox News only appears far-right because all the other networks are so far-left.
  • Bobolinsky
    !
    How did I miss this? I Just came across this post on RedState. It's not about Left-wing violence per se since it doesn't look like anyone was hurt... this time.

    Those darn Quakers were building a new meetinghouse and because union labor was 23% more expensive they went with non-union labor. Not a good idea when you're that close to Philadelphia.

    $50,000 Reward Offered For Info On (Alleged) Union-Related Arson
    http://www.redstate.com/2013/01/20/50000-rewa...
  • o
    mbill935
    !
    This is an idiot question posed by an idiot . The potus is not there to focus on his legacy. He has a job to do and it's called representing the U.S. citizens .Unfortunately for obama and his ignorant sheep his real legacy is record unemployment,higher taxes,higher poverty levels,socialized health care,foreign policy failures, out of control illegal immigration policies,trillions in deficits,gay marriages,illegal detainment of U.S. citizens and more all while living a lavish lifestyle of the rich and famous while most hard working Americans are barely making ends meet.THAT IS THE LEGACY OF THIS BUM NAMED BARRACKS OBAMA .
  • u
    cpeter133
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    Barracks Obama? Why can't teabaggers spell?

    Gay marriage was first legalized in May, 2004. Guess who wasn't president then?
  • PoliticalSpice
    !
    This attitude permeates the GOP, including its the repubs in congress. The CBS commentator got it right, to accomplish anything he should politically destroy the GOP...
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    mbill935
    !
    @mtkopf i posted facts so if you feel the overwhelming urge to dispute me.post something that suggests im wrong other than a typical smart ass liberal remark suggesting ignorance on my part but with no actual rebuttal it only shows stupidity on your part.
  • View all 8 replies >
  • PoliticalSpice
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    Just goes to show, even CBS gets it right sometimes! Unfortunatelly I doubt obama will follow through, but I agree, he should do everything he can to destroy them politically (put it back in your holster @Republican5001 politics means war, without bloodshed).

    He won't accomplish nothing in his second term if he tries sccomadation like the first. By refusing to meet with them on taxes he already got the tax increase he wanted andvthe tax cut for middle class. If he keeps having backbone he'll get more...
  • o
    cleverusername
    !
    @PoliticalSpice lol I love. You are not gonna let me get over that are you?:)
    But in fairness I have the popcorn thing I wont let go...
    hope all is good for you
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