Cat — Meet Nip … Press, Meet President!

(9 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Since pulling random Definitions, out of the air, during Presidential Interviews, seem to be topic de jour …

Here’s another Definition we might want to get up to speed on …

catnip definition

* cat-nip (-nip’)

noun

an herb (Nepeta cataria) of the mint family, with downy leaves and spikes of white or bluish flowers that are used in flavorings and tea: cats like its odor

http://www.yourdictionary.com/…

Interesting, cats like the odor of catnip ???

Well what happens if we give the People what they want?

‘Elliot the Cat’ kind of goes bonkers — when given just a little bit of that minty spice!

Cat — Meet Catnip!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

And as Fox News goes kind of bonkers too “reporting”:

Obama, Stephanopoulos Spar Over Definition of ‘Tax’

Well the People will tend to go bonkers — when the Media constantly panders to our Hot Button issues, instead of the weightier national issues of the day, like Health Care Reform, Climate Change, our broken Infrastructure, our broken Economy:

Press — Meet the President!  (Video Clip & Transcript)

Obama to MTP:  This Debate is not about race

David Gregory: Your election, to a lot of people, was supposed to mark America as somehow moving beyond race.

Barack Obama: Right.

David Gregory: And yet this week you had former president Jimmy Carter saying most — not just a little, but most of this Republican opposition against you is motivated by racism. Do you agree with that?

Barack Obama: Hm. No. Look, I said during the campaign, are there some people who still think through the prism of race when it comes to evaluating me and my candidacy? Absolutely. Sometimes they vote for me for that reason, sometimes they vote against me for that reason. I’m sure that was true during the campaign, I’m sure that’s true now.

But I think you actually put your finger on what this argument’s really about, and it’s an argument that’s gone on for the history of this republic. And that is what’s the right role of government? How do we balance freedom with our need to look after one another? I talked about this in the joint session speech.

This is not a new argument, and it always invokes passions. And I — there — it was a passionate argument between Jefferson and Hamilton about this. You know, Andrew Jackson built a whole political party around this notion that somehow, you know, there, there is populist outrage against a federal government that was overintrusive.

And so what, what I think is going on is, is that we’ve got a healthy debate taking place.

The vast majority of people are conducting it in a very sensible way. I think that every president who’s tried to make significant changes along these lines, whether it was FDR or Ronald Reagan, illicit very strong, passionate responses.

But I do think that we all have an obligation to try to conduct this conversation in a civil way  and to recognize that each of us are patriots, that each of us are Americans and that, by the way, the — my proposals, as much as you may not like them if you’re a Republican or on the right, recognize that this is well within the mainstream of what Americans have been talking about for years in terms of making sure that everybody in this country gets decent health care and that people who have health care are protected.

[…]

Barack Obama: Well, look, David, here’s what I’m saying. I, I think that the media loves to have a conversation about race. I mean, this is, is catnip to, to the media because it is a running thread in American history that’s very powerful and it invokes some very strong emotions.

I’m not saying that race never matters in, in any of these public debates that we have. What I’m saying is this debate that’s taking place is not about race, it’s about people being worried about how our government should operate.

Now, I think a lot of those folks on the other side are wrong. I think that they have entirely mischaracterized the nature of our efforts. And I think it’s important that we stay focused on solving problems as opposed to plucking out a sentence here or a comment there and then the entire debate, which should be about how do we make sure that the middle-class families have secure health care, doesn’t consumed by other things.

Did President Obama just critique how the Media operates?

It’s important that we stay focused on solving problems [instead of] plucking out a sentence here or a comment there … [causing] the entire debate, which should be about … health care [to be] consumed by other things.

Dang! … Did President Obama equate the Media with a bunch of Cats chasing Catnip?

this [the issue of race] is, is catnip to, to the media

Well, the Media is pretty good at stoking up that Weekly Band-Wagon of controversy and distractions:

And rarely does that “Weekly Outrage”, whatever it may be, have anything to do with the weighty National Issues, facing our Republic … Where is that sense of our History? …

When does a sense Urgency, ever outweigh our sense of Political Outrage? (or outweigh the “Chase for Ratings”, in the Media’s case?)

This Week — Meet our President! (Video Clip) … go ahead George, keep stirring up that “outrage ratings” pot.

OBAMA: Look, I think that race is such a volatile issue in this society. Always has been. That it becomes hard for people to separate out race being sort of a — part of the backdrop of American society versus race being a predominant factor in any given debate.

And what I’ve said, what we talked about during the campaign, are there some people who don’t like me because of my race? I’m sure there are. Are there some people who vote for me only because of my race? There are probably some of those too.

The overwhelming part of the American population I think is right now following the debate and trying to figure out is this going to help me? Is health care going to make me better off?

Now there’s some who, setting aside the issue of race, actually I think are more passionate about the idea of whether government can do anything right. And I think that that’s probably the biggest driver of some of the vitriol right now. […] anytime there’s a president who is proposing big changes that seem to implicate — the size of government, that gets everybody’s juices flowing and sometimes you get some pretty noisy debate.

[…]

OBAMA: I think that there are some opponents who have used — seized on this and tried to use this [health insurance reform] as a proxy for saying that somehow we are vastly expanding government and taking over every sector of the economy.

That’s what a lot of this debate is about...

STEPHANOPOULOS: And…

OBAMA: I think they’re wrong. The one thing I hope is, is that we can have a civil argument about it and that we are able to acknowledge good motives on both sides. Everybody is a patriot. Each of us are Americans that care deeply about this country.

And — and sometimes I think that, frankly, the media encourages some of the outliers in behavior, because, let’s face it, the easiest way to get on television right now is to be really rude.

If you’re just being sensible and giving people the benefit of the doubt and you’re making your arguments, you don’t — you don’t get — you don’t get time on the nightly news.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You might on Sunday morning, but…

OBAMA: But if you — if you say something outrageous, you’re there in a hot second.

Transcript

Oh my goodness, the President just “went there” again … in effect calling the Media lazy — that they just look for the easy outrageous story:

I think that, frankly, the media encourages some of the outliers in behavior, because, let’s face it, the easiest way to get on television right now is to be really rude. … if you say something outrageous, you’re there in a hot second.

You better be careful Mr. President, if you keep going after our lack-luster Media like that, they may not invite you back! … Of course you can probably always offer them some of that “catnip” that makes them go bonkers —

you could offer them an immediate Ratings Spike!

People — Meet your Media!

New Live Poll Lets Pundits Pander To Viewers In Real Time



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

That’s what our National Dialog has devolved to, in today’s age of Instant Ratings. (Jefferson and Hamilton must be rolling over, in our collective memories, lol)

Postscript: Mr. President, thanks for trying to elevate the National Dialog — to spark a focused National Debate. In others words, many thanks for being Presidential!

The issues before us, both as a country, and as part of our chaotic world, are Weighty indeed!  … They deserve serious discussion, and not Politics as usual!

History demands no less from us. … the Urgency of Now, is still waiting, for some serious attention. … still waiting for some serious Solutions.

Kudos to all, who stand up, to meet History’s call. … We are all Americans, who care about this Country. We are all Patriots … or at least, hope to be again, someday.

Catnip, notwithstanding!