View Full Version : Obama has polticized past President biographies
There is a page for every US president on the official White House website and Obamas campaign team has added comments about him to every one dating back to Calvin Coolidge.
Take the one for Hoover:
Did you know?
President Herbert Hoover signed the bill founding the Department of Veterans Affairs July 21, 1930. President Obama is committed to making sure that the VA, the second-largest cabinet department, serves the needs of all veterans and provides a seamless transition from active duty to civilian life, and has directed his Administration to modernize the way health care is delivered and benefits are administered for our nation's veterans. First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden launched Joining Forces to mobilize all sectors of society to give our service members and their families the opportunities and support they have earned.Here's the one for Ike:
Did you know?
President Dwight Eisenhower established the President's Council on Youth Fitness on July 16, 1956 (now known as The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports) after learning from a study that American youth were less fit than European youth. Today the Council is still going strong***8212;with Olympians and professional athletes on board***8212;working in conjunction with the First Lady Michelle Obama***8217;s Let***8217;s Move initiativeto help promote healthier lifestyles.Is there anything this guy won't take credit for? Are there any shoulders he won't jump on top trumpet his vision of personal greatness?
Check it out yourself at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents
Do it while listening to this song: Cult of personality (http://youtu.be/-o-fxjuwEvA)
TLAM Strike
05-16-12, 01:43 PM
In 2002, President George W. Bush’s State of the Union was the first to be live broadcast on the Internet. In 2011 and 2012, President Obama’s State of the Union speeches were available in an enhanced live stream version that featured infographics, charts and data side-by-side in real time with the President’s speech.Really lame way to link your self there Obama. :roll:
President Reagan designated Martin Luther King Jr. Day a national holiday; today the Obama Administration honors this tradition, with the First and Second Families participating in service projects on this day.
In a June 28, 1985 speech Reagan called for a fairer tax code, one where a multi-millionaire did not have a lower tax rate than his secretary. Today, President Obama is calling for the same with the Buffett Rule.
Meanwhile at Republican Party Headquarters (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY-03vYYAjA).
Ducimus
05-16-12, 01:44 PM
Before I pull out the pitchfork and torch, i have a couple questions:
- Has this been done before with previous presidents?
- Is it just the website were talking about?
Before I pull out the pitchfork and torch, i have a couple questions:
- Has this been done before with previous presidents?
- Is it just the website were talking about?
Both are good questions that I do not have the answers for Duc. But I suspect that if George had done it too it would have been severely lambasted in the MSM to the point that few of us wouldn't know the answer to at least the first one.
Ducimus
05-16-12, 01:54 PM
MSN was probably too busy having a cow over Bush's umpteen signing statements to notice if he had.
All i can say without any evidence is:
IF....
- this hasn't been done before
- said descriptions in physical official locations were also altered (web site content is organic in nature and always changes)
Then this is a real freaking LOW attempt at coat tail riding. EDIT: Hell, altering plaques in real locations is something youd see in the DPRK, which makes this even worse.
However, IF
- This has been done before,
- and it's just the website that's been altered,
Then this is politics as usual, and worthy only of rolling eyes. Yeah, still low, but not a new low that wasn't already established. All politicians are scumbags anyway.
mookiemookie
05-16-12, 01:58 PM
Definitely a bad idea, regardless of if he was or wasn't the first to do it.
Then this is politics as usual, and worthy only of rolling eyes. Yeah, still low, but not a new low that wasn't already established. All politicians are scumbags anyway.
Amen to this...
In the end, nothing new to see here, move along now...
http://chzallnighter.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/party-fails-nothing-to-see-here-move-along-sign.jpg
...
Ducimus
05-16-12, 02:02 PM
If he had the descrptions changed in real world locations outside of the website, that is some SERIOUS shennigans though. That cannot be allowed, period. I think its a safe bet this hasn't taken place, but if it had..... That is reason to be SERIOUSLY angry. I've been ambivalent about him, don't really care, but that would tilt me to outright rage in 0.5 seconds.
However, IF
- This has been done before,
- and it's just the website that's been altered,
Well even if the answer to one or both of those questions is no the precedent has now been set.
Oh and from the website:
The Presidential biographies on WhiteHouse.gov are from “The Presidents of the United States of America,” by Michael Beschloss and Hugh Sidey. Copyright 2009 by the White House Historical Association.
AVGWarhawk
05-16-12, 02:28 PM
I think it is awesome. He is a stand up guy. I can wait for the next book. :up:
kraznyi_oktjabr
05-16-12, 02:35 PM
Oh and from the website:The Presidential biographies on WhiteHouse.gov are from "The Presidents of the United States of America," by Michael Beschloss and Hugh Sidey. Copyright 2009 by the White House Historical Association. :doh: Excuse me Mr. President but I don't think so...
AVGWarhawk
05-16-12, 02:37 PM
Wait for the edits to the Constitution coming out this fall!!! :yeah:
Anything to divert attention from the economy......:shifty:
Anything to divert attention from the economy......:shifty:
Frankly, I'm waing for the GOP to start talking about specifics...
"Job Creators", stimulus, "trickle-down", tax cuts for the highest earners, bulk de-regulation, all the other trite vagaries that have failed before (sveral times) just won't cut it; if the GOP seriously wants to win, it has to get some common sense, deliver specific ideas and abandon that which hsa not worked under past GOP administrations...
pat attention to the voters' needs not the lobbyist's...
(...and, yes I know, "the other side does it too" [boo, hoo]; well, the GOP ought to grow a pair and try to be the first to break the mold...)
...
AVGWarhawk
05-16-12, 02:51 PM
Frankly, I'm waing for the GOP to start talking about specifics...
"Job Creators", stimulus, "trickle-down", tax cuts for the highest earners, bulk de-regulation, all the other trite vagaries that have failed before (sveral times) just won't cut it; if the GOP seriously wants to win, it has to get some common sense, deliver specific ideas and abandon that which hsa not worked under past GOP administrations...
pat attention to the voters' needs not the lobbyist's...
(...and, yes I know, "the other side does it too" [boo, hoo]; well, the GOP ought to grow a pair and try to be the first to break the mold...)
...
The GOP is full of crap also. Honestly. All within the confines of DC "running" the country have failed miserably. The finger pointing will go on and nothing will get done.
Ducimus
05-16-12, 02:55 PM
Oh and from the website:
The Presidential biographies on WhiteHouse.gov are from “The Presidents of the United States of America,” by Michael Beschloss and Hugh Sidey. Copyright 2009 by the White House Historical Association.
I'm not quite comprehending the signficance of that. Being a little slow on the uptake today, maybe you can explain?
This a book? and what is the affliation of White House Historical Association? They linked to the government somehow, or just some civillian assocation?
Ducimus
05-16-12, 03:00 PM
Frankly, I'm waing for the GOP to start talking about specifics...
...
Yeah personally ive never heard much in the way of specifics from the GOP. I hear much in the way of platitudes and hyperbole, but not much else.
The GOP is full of crap also. Honestly. All within the confines of DC "running" the country have failed miserably. The finger pointing will go on and nothing will get done.
All (left and right) of DC is full of crap, and their all on the special interest take as far as im concerned.
Sailor Steve
05-16-12, 03:02 PM
This may be the first time with a website, but it's hardly the first time ever. I have a small book called Who Were The Founding Fathers? I had thought it would be an in-depth study on the major players, but instead I was very pleasantly surprised. The first chapter is what the founders wrote about themselves and each other. The second is what the next generation wrote about them and so-on.
Review:
This walk through U.S. history considers numerous questions and principles at every stop, showing students how, in every era, leaders have reinterpreted what the founders did and who they were in order to suit their own purposes and advance their own agendas. As an introduction to how history really functions, this book works very well.
http://www.amazon.com/Who-Were-Founding-Fathers-Reinventing/dp/0805031022/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1337197984&sr=1-1
It's not always pretty. You might be amazed at how each succeeding generation of politicians and pundits have tried to use their predecessors for their own slanted purposes.
Ducimus
05-16-12, 03:03 PM
This may be the first time with a website, but it's hardly the first time ever. I have a small book called Who Were The Founding Fathers? I had thought it would be an in-depth study on the major players, but instead I was very pleasantly surprised. The first chapter is what the founders wrote about themselves and each other. The second is what the next generation wrote about them and so-on.
http://www.amazon.com/Who-Were-Founding-Fathers-Reinventing/dp/0805031022/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1337197984&sr=1-1
It's not always pretty. You might be amazed at how each succeeding generation of politicians and pundits have tried to use their predecessors for their own slanted purposes.
Ok, so this is politics as usual then.
Tribesman
05-16-12, 03:05 PM
So these are by a branch of the parks service keeping up to date information on the white house and its history and of the two authors one also worked there under Bush in the same job and one was appointed to the job during the first term of Bush.:yawn:
Hasn't anyone got a "gripping" Daily Mail headline to post about?:rotfl2:
Sailor Steve
05-16-12, 03:13 PM
Ok, so this is politics as usual then.
Of course! Did you expect something different?
Jimbuna
05-16-12, 03:27 PM
Hasn't anyone got a "gripping" Daily Mail headline to post about?:rotfl2:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2145305/Ever-wondered-happen-pop-bollards-hit-car-Well-policeman-out.html
:DL
Tribesman
05-16-12, 03:51 PM
So Jim, I think you are talking Bollards.
Ducimus
05-16-12, 04:00 PM
Of course! Did you expect something different?
No, not really. I'd have been more impressed if physical plaques were changed ala North Korean "Great Leader" style.
Ok, so this is politics as usual then.
If thinking that lets you sleep at night then more power to ya. Personally I see it as just another sign that Obama is way to full of himself to adequately represent the American people interests.
Cult of personality.
Cult of personality.
As opposed to the GOP Far Right's deification of all that is Reagan?... :DL
...
Bilge_Rat
05-16-12, 05:16 PM
I'm surprised this is not mentioned in the Lincoln blurb:
http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/9987/abrahamlincolnvampirehu.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/163/abrahamlincolnvampirehu.jpg/)
more left propaganda...:nope:
As opposed to the GOP Far Right's deification of all that is Reagan?... :DL
...
You mean like the Democrats Far Left's deification of all that is Kennedy? Including drunk driving killer brothers?
Y'know it's one thing to have heroes but at least it wasn't the hero tooting his own horn.
mookiemookie
05-16-12, 06:03 PM
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2145305/Ever-wondered-happen-pop-bollards-hit-car-Well-policeman-out.html
:DL
I've seen some awesome YouTube videos of those things popping up and absolutely demolishing cars. Funny stuff. Not for the person inside the car, mind you.
You mean like the Democrats Far Left's deification of all that is Kennedy? Including drunk driving killer brothers?
Y'know it's one thing to have heroes but at least it wasn't the hero tooting his own horn.
No, he meant like the right's deification of Reagan. Like assigning things him credit for things that never happened. Historical revisionism at it's finest.
But yes, also like the left's deification of Kennedy. But I couldn't resist pointing out that you're both falling into the "yeah well the other side did it too!" type thing. Can we all just agree that everyone does it without the one-upsmanship?
Recall from my favorite article ever (relevant part bolded and underlined):
That's where the gaffe stories come in. See, in this game, your "team" scores a point each time the other team says something stupid. It lets all of the supporters of your team mock and humiliate the supporters of the opposing team, on Internet message boards and around water coolers and in coffee shops nationwide. "Haha! The supposed 'genius' Obama thinks there are 57 states in the U.S.!" "Oh, yeah? Well, your last president said he was going to help terrorists plan their next attack!"
And it never ends, because if your "team" gives up a gaffe, then you need to dig one up on the other side to even the score. So, last month the Romney campaign was embarrassed when an adviser came off like he was comparing his own candidate to an Etch A Sketch toy. Thus, this month the Romney campaign had to jump on an Obama adviser's gaffe that came off like she was saying that stay-at-home moms don't do work. And on and on it goes.
But I couldn't resist pointing out the "yeah well the other side did it too!" type thing.
Couldn't resist eh? Then what do you call Viennas comment about Reagan? You seem quite able to resist pointing that out.
Platapus
05-16-12, 06:10 PM
The moderators need to start keeping records on how fast threads take to get in the crapper. It would be some interesting statistics. :yep:
mookiemookie
05-16-12, 06:17 PM
http://i.imgur.com/BAZ6U.png
No I didn't:
But I couldn't resist pointing out that you're both falling into the...
I ask again, if you're going to quote me, quote me. Don't monkey with it. You conveniently deleted that part in your quote and then attributed it to me. That's shady stuff.
You'll notice I pasted your quote as an image in case you wanted to go back and monkey with it some more in order to change what you quoted me as saying, now that you've been called out on it.
The moderators need to start keeping records on how fast threads take to get in the crapper. It would be some interesting statistics. :yep:
Hey I could care less about a bunch of dead presidents. Their fans can cherish their memory all they want and it won't hurt the country. It's the live ones, and those who would be ones in the future, that we have to worry about.
You mean like the Democrats Far Left's deification of all that is Kennedy? Including drunk driving killer brothers?
Y'know it's one thing to have heroes but at least it wasn't the hero tooting his own horn.
I was waiting for the "Well, they do it, too!" kneejerk. Teddy wasn't a President and I do believe he should have gotten jail time for what he did, but, he didn't, much like the big/old-monied members of the GOP Far Right when they commit their, ahem, "little" pecadilloes. Money and influence buys the way out of everything no what the political leaning and it is wrong...
And, speaking of brothers, wasn't there a Joseph somewhere in the mix who was KIA in WWII while Reagan was making "Buy Bond" pitches?...
JFK served honorably in the military, performed above the call in saving the lives of his shipmates, was not a raving leftist (probably the most right of center Democratic leader in the 20th century) and when he was brutally murdered in 1963, the U.S. was at the height of its powers, even with the albatross of Vietnam around its neck...
Regan came in after the U.S. bottomed out after the debacle of Nixon/Ford/Carter; the only way he could fail is if he did something bone-headed like Nixon's Wage/Price frezee. He was much in the same position as whoever wins the election this year: the economy is recovering, barring, as I said, any bone-head moves, and that person will gain the political capital for his party in 2016. In addition to great timing, the Reagan "Economic Miracle" was partially achieved, in the early years, by some rather tricky accounting gimmicks. A former boss of mine, who was the CFO for a public utility here in California pointed it out to me when I was jokingly referring to some reclassifications made in financial reports by our outside accountants/auditors. He told me the prctice was wide spread in business and even in goverment and showed me some articles, hidden in the back pages of the WSJ reporting the Reagan administration had reclassified formerly exempt occupations and mnufacturing areas back into the labor/manufacturing stats. Some occupations were exempted from labor stats because they were deemed not to have an effect or were not affecting generally reported labor stats; these include civil service, military, and other such categories. The same applied to manufactuing; military purchases, governmental manufacturing and other such categories were ommited in manufaturing calculations. Say you have a base of 100 million workers and you have 10 million unemployed; you have 10% unemployment. Say you also have 20 million workers not counted in the the base 100 million number. You add the 20 million to make the base 120 million, you still have the 10 million unemployed, but the percentage now goes down. You didn't create any jobs; you just changed the way they are counted and calculated and you look good, and as Fernando would say "it is better to look good than to feel good". The Regan administration applied the same tactic to the manufaturing side by also broadening the base by adding formerly exempt items and using the new bae to recalculate; manufacturing really didn't increase it just looked that way. Smoke and mirrors, bread and circuses. Later, he would then spend the U.S. into another recession, but when the facade came down, well, he was out of office and the godhead worship had begun...
Brought down the USSR? Well, gee, Iguess the efforts of the Polish Solidarity movement, the support of other outside groups of dissidents, both monetarily and morally like the Catholic Church, the border guards who turned a blind eye to citizens passing through border to the West, and the changing of the Old Guard leadership in the USSR had nothing to do with it; Ol' regan did it all single handedly and probably in his off hours...
From the Dept. of State website:
http://future.state.gov/when/timeline/1969_detente/fall_of_communism.html
Don't seem to see a lot of mention of Regan there...
Oh, and the "Tear down this wall" speech? Well, Mr. Reagan, I was one of the millions of Americans who watched JFK standing in fornt of the Berlin Wall at the height of the Cold War, a far mor vulnerable target than you were and proclaim the support of the U.S. for those on the wrong side of the Wall. I saw JFK, I heard JFK, and you, Mr. Regan, were no JFK...
Let the kneejerking begin...
...
Let the kneejerking begin...
...
TLDR and not really willing to play your game. Thanks for playing mine though.
TLDR? Don't worry I'm sure Rush or Sean will tell you what to think next... :D
...
TLDR? Don't worry I'm sure Rush or Sean will tell you what to think next... :D
...
Well I doubt it since I never listen to their programs.
No wait, I take that back. Rush once played a character (himself) on The Family Guy. The wife and I saw that episode the other day.
Anyways judging from your posts you sound to me like a big Mayer fan Vienna. Make fun of any mothers lately?
Platapus
05-16-12, 07:39 PM
Before I pull out the pitchfork and torch, i have a couple questions:
- Has this been done before with previous presidents?
- Is it just the website were talking about?
That specific page, according to archives.org only came into existence 30 Jan 2009. 10 days after Obama was sworn in.
The "Obama" additions were not there for the last update recorded on the archives of 29 Jul 11. For some reason the archives do not list any changes after that date.
So to answer your question, no it was not done by any previous president but that's because this specific webpage did not exist prior to Obama. Obama was the first president to have historical president information on whitehouse.gov (which has been around since 27 Dec 96). Other sources show it starting in 1994 though.
nikimcbee
05-16-12, 07:54 PM
Well I doubt it since I never listen to their programs.
No wait, I take that back. Rush once played a character (himself) on The Family Guy. The wife and I saw that episode the other day.
Anyways judging from your posts you sound to me like a big Mayer fan Vienna. Make fun of any mothers lately?
Side note: What did you think about that episode of Family Guy?
CaptainHaplo
05-16-12, 08:01 PM
So to answer your question, no it was not done by any previous president but that's because this specific webpage did not exist prior to Obama. Obama was the first president to have historical president information on whitehouse.gov (which has been around since 27 Dec 96). Other sources show it starting in 1994 though.
You are incorrect - I pulled info off of whitehouse.gov regarding president bio's in 2007 - prior to Obama being elected. It was a source that was footnoted for a report my son was doing - I used it as an "official" source of data and showed him how to note it correctly.
While I can not state if the bio's have ever been politicized this way - I can tell you that none of the ones we looked at during that time had anything on them that "connected" them to the current president at the time.
Side note: What did you think about that episode of Family Guy?
I thought it was pretty funny and the political jabs were evenly distributed between left and right. Sort of surprising really.
You are incorrect - I pulled info off of whitehouse.gov regarding president bio's in 2007 - prior to Obama being elected. It was a source that was footnoted for a report my son was doing - I used it as an "official" source of data and showed him how to note it correctly.
While I can not state if the bio's have ever been politicized this way - I can tell you that none of the ones we looked at during that time had anything on them that "connected" them to the current president at the time.
I thought they'd been around for awhile.
Tribesman
05-17-12, 01:10 AM
TLDR and not really willing to play your game.
Thanks for playing mine though.
Is that the new ":wah::wah::wah: your side is worse than my side" game unavailable in all good games stores where eventually the umpire steps in and rules that both sides are as bad as each other at which point someone complains about the umpire supporting one side because clearly when both sides are equally crap one has to be crapper and it is always got to be the other one and these moderators are just so unfair for not supporting the crap side instead of the crap side?
You were right on topic Jim, Bollards:rotfl2:
Anyways judging from your posts you sound to me like a big Mayer fan Vienna.
Ah, one question...Who the hell is Meyers?...
...
AVGWarhawk
05-17-12, 12:25 PM
Ah, one question...Who the hell is Meyers?...
...
I don't know but apparently you like this individual. :up:
geetrue
05-17-12, 12:30 PM
What Obama and his friends are doing is brain washing young generations still yet to come that haven't read what he has done yet.
I don't know but apparently you like this individual. :up:
But, how can I like him? I'm not even on Facebook?...
...
Kaye T. Bai
05-17-12, 12:50 PM
What Obama and his friends are doing is brain washing young generations still yet to come that haven't read what he has done yet.
Does anybody even read those biographies on the White House website? :haha:
Webster
05-17-12, 12:55 PM
The moderators need to start keeping records on how fast threads take to get in the crapper. It would be some interesting statistics. :yep:
there isnt enough storage space anywhere to keep all that data
Kaye T. Bai
05-17-12, 12:59 PM
there isnt enough storage space anywhere to keep all that data
Not until they make zettabyte SSDs, my friend. :DL
Platapus
05-17-12, 04:09 PM
You are incorrect - I pulled info off of whitehouse.gov regarding president bio's in 2007 - prior to Obama being elected.
Could you post a link to that?
Could you post a link to that?
A link to 2007? Sign me up! :DL
CaptainHaplo
05-17-12, 05:08 PM
Could you post a link to that?
How is this...
https://www.google.com/#hl=en&tbo=1&tbs=cdr:1%2Ccd_min%3A5%2F12%2F2005%2Ccd_max%3A9%2F 30%2F2007&sclient=psy-ab&q=presidential+biographies+whitehouse&oq=presidential+biographies+whitehouse&aq=f&aqi=g-bK2&aql=&gs_l=hp.3..0i8i30l2.22573.26522.3.26745.25.19.2.0. 0.4.541.4645.0j2j5j2j3j2.14.0...0.0._BnlTSj6FvE&pbx=1&tbo=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=b49f4d35db00997&biw=1920&bih=985
That is a google search for pages ONLY up to Sept 30, 2007. The first link shown is this:
http://www.nisd.net/galm/internetlessons/2ndgrade/uspresidents.htm
That happens to be the link my son and I first found that linked to whitehouse.gov - so as of Sept 30, 2007 - whitehouse.gov did in fact have presidential bio's.
You cannot get the old 2007 versions of the whitehouse.gov pages themselves any longer - but this at least demonstrates that the pages existed prior to Obama.
You can replicate this by doing a google search, selecting advances options and putting in the start and end date of your search for pages.
mookiemookie
05-17-12, 06:45 PM
Here's Hoover's page, as an example, as it was back on January 30, 2009:
http://web.archive.org/web/20091127133824/http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/herberthoover
No mention of any "Did you know"'s that featured Obama.
I still think this is a poorly thought out idea on the part of the Obama campaign team.
Platapus
05-17-12, 07:05 PM
Good catch, previous Whitehouse.gov versions did have their particular version of presidential bios. :salute:
vBulletin® v3.8.11, Copyright ©2000-2025, vBulletin Solutions Inc.