Thursday, December 14, 2006
Controlling the Agenda of Public Discourse, Learn from the Left
Bush needs to connect the dots in his last two years and do something good for the country. At the same time he needs to control the agenda of the liberal drive by media. Liberty or Death you must be on drugs how can the media that hate Bush control their agenda, especially when the new congress will put him in a political coffin? 2 simple things. Learn from the left. The left control the media in two ways. Hit their hot buttons, which are usually the same as the left and more importantly be outrageous. Yea, but they will catch on and cut him off. That brings us to the second simple thing, Presidential Executive Orders. Ah, remind me what are those? It is document providing a direct order to a part of the Executive Branch. It must be obeyed. Ignoring a direct order from your boss is insubordination. Those of us who have worked in civil service as supervisors know that it is impossible to fire someone who is incompetent, but it is very easy to fire someone on ethics violations and insubordination. Well ok, but what are the rules? Isn’t the power of the president very limited? Congress makes the laws you know and the president cannot make laws. True but he can interpret the laws and provide orders where no law exists. Read Wiki for a more complete explanation. He can also repeal previous president’s orders.
So how has Bush used this power? He has issued 209 so far, on a pace to exceed Clintons 263. Want to see them all. Go to the Federal Registry. Remember any? Nope, me neither. Remember Clinton aiding North Korea’s nuclear program? EO 12997. Clinton issued 29 Executive orders restricting use of land in behalf of the environment. How many have been revoked by Bush? None. Yikes, a closet tree hugger! When Hillary becomes president you can be certain she will revoke the executive orders of every conservative president.
The power of Executive Orders is limited, but in the history of the presidency only 2 have been overturned, and they were obvious. So what should Bush do? First he should revoke every executive order a liberal president issued. This will start the media firestorm. Second he should issue orders directing regulatory agencies how to interpret congressional laws that have killed the building of nuclear power plants and oil refineries. One example. In fact he should issue orders interpreting every law congress has passed that create unnecessary paperwork for American business. This will be seen as outrageous by congress. Tuff. Force them to override his order. A new law that he can veto. Good luck getting 67% of the house to overturn the veto.
What else should he do? Issue executive orders that touch every hot button of the left and the media. Ensure they are conservative and well thought out. The media and the left will go crazy. When they do be bolder, issue orders that will eventually be overturned by the Supremes. So what, it will take them forever. Remember the important thing is to control public discourse. The media has one Achilles heal, time. You can only cram so much in a 24-hour period and prime time, when America is listening is very short. Go on the offensive. Make conservative issue reality. Force the left and media to defend stupid leftist positions. In essence control the agenda the American public hears. Every hour on a subject Bush cares about is an hour that cannot be devoted to liberal issues.
Imagine an American president controlling the agenda of the liberal press and more importantly getting his message to the American people in prime time. This is real power. It has always been there for the taking. All you need is guts.
Liberty or Death
Bush needs to connect the dots in his last two years and do something good for the country. At the same time he needs to control the agenda of the liberal drive by media. Liberty or Death you must be on drugs how can the media that hate Bush control their agenda, especially when the new congress will put him in a political coffin? 2 simple things. Learn from the left. The left control the media in two ways. Hit their hot buttons, which are usually the same as the left and more importantly be outrageous. Yea, but they will catch on and cut him off. That brings us to the second simple thing, Presidential Executive Orders. Ah, remind me what are those? It is document providing a direct order to a part of the Executive Branch. It must be obeyed. Ignoring a direct order from your boss is insubordination. Those of us who have worked in civil service as supervisors know that it is impossible to fire someone who is incompetent, but it is very easy to fire someone on ethics violations and insubordination. Well ok, but what are the rules? Isn’t the power of the president very limited? Congress makes the laws you know and the president cannot make laws. True but he can interpret the laws and provide orders where no law exists. Read Wiki for a more complete explanation. He can also repeal previous president’s orders.
So how has Bush used this power? He has issued 209 so far, on a pace to exceed Clintons 263. Want to see them all. Go to the Federal Registry. Remember any? Nope, me neither. Remember Clinton aiding North Korea’s nuclear program? EO 12997. Clinton issued 29 Executive orders restricting use of land in behalf of the environment. How many have been revoked by Bush? None. Yikes, a closet tree hugger! When Hillary becomes president you can be certain she will revoke the executive orders of every conservative president.
The power of Executive Orders is limited, but in the history of the presidency only 2 have been overturned, and they were obvious. So what should Bush do? First he should revoke every executive order a liberal president issued. This will start the media firestorm. Second he should issue orders directing regulatory agencies how to interpret congressional laws that have killed the building of nuclear power plants and oil refineries. One example. In fact he should issue orders interpreting every law congress has passed that create unnecessary paperwork for American business. This will be seen as outrageous by congress. Tuff. Force them to override his order. A new law that he can veto. Good luck getting 67% of the house to overturn the veto.
What else should he do? Issue executive orders that touch every hot button of the left and the media. Ensure they are conservative and well thought out. The media and the left will go crazy. When they do be bolder, issue orders that will eventually be overturned by the Supremes. So what, it will take them forever. Remember the important thing is to control public discourse. The media has one Achilles heal, time. You can only cram so much in a 24-hour period and prime time, when America is listening is very short. Go on the offensive. Make conservative issue reality. Force the left and media to defend stupid leftist positions. In essence control the agenda the American public hears. Every hour on a subject Bush cares about is an hour that cannot be devoted to liberal issues.
Imagine an American president controlling the agenda of the liberal press and more importantly getting his message to the American people in prime time. This is real power. It has always been there for the taking. All you need is guts.
Liberty or Death
