# I Pit Obama and his Kool Aid Drinking Puppets **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 22, 2008, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845 "2008-06-22T22:56:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845/81 "2008-06-23T03:35:26Z")
[QUOTE=Carol Stream] Redistribution is decidely NOT the American way, and it never has been. [/QUOTE] Like I said, you can’t. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845/82 "2008-06-23T03:41:48Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Like I said, you can’t. [/QUOTE] Like I said, you’re a douchebag. How is redisribution of wealth an American philosphy? ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845/83 "2008-06-23T03:44:00Z")
[QUOTE=Carol Stream] Redistribution is decidely NOT the American way, and it never has been. [/QUOTE] Which is why we’ve never had any sort of publically funded social program in the US. Well, unless you count public education, rural electrification, minimum wage, welfare, social security, medicare, and an insane number of other similar programs. Now, the merits of those programs is a reasonable topic for debate, but your assertion that any program which (disproportionately) helps those worse off at the (disproportionate) expense of those better off has “never” been “the American way” is just horsepoop. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845/84 "2008-06-23T03:47:14Z")
[QUOTE=Carol Stream] Like I said, you’re a douchebag. How is redisribution of wealth an American philosphy? [/QUOTE] First of all, it is retarded to assert “redistribution is NOT the American way.” FDR was a perfectly American American. So was Eugene Debs, for that matter. And the whole [early 20th Century American Progressive movement](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Era) was based on, among other things, the assumption that a **progressive** (i.e., redistributive) income tax was a very good idea. Second, it is even more retarded to assume that something that is “not the American way” is for that reason a bad idea. There is nothing unpatriotic about innovation. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845/85 "2008-06-23T03:53:42Z")
Paging [Andrew Jackson](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Removal_Act)… ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845/86 "2008-06-23T03:56:58Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] That’d be 0, Einstein. [/QUOTE] Nope, he/she/it/they/something are be usein teh Florrididia numberizeing thing-a-ma-bob. CMC +fnord! But it’s reassuring that in **Carol Stream** ’s strange world the McCain vote never goes in positive [integers](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=integers). Link just for **Carol** cause y’all know, math is hard! ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845/87 "2008-06-23T03:57:11Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] First of all, it is retarded to assert “redistribution is NOT the American way.” FDR was a perfectly American American. So was Eugene Debs, for that matter. And the whole [early 20th Century American Progressive movement](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Era) was based on, among other things, the assumption that a **progressive** (i.e., redistributive) income tax was a very good idea. Second, it is even more retarded to assume that something that is “not the American way” is for that reason a bad idea. There is nothing unpatriotic about innovation. [/QUOTE] FDR, yes., but that’s relatively recent.. His policies were horseshit in the '40’s, and the same recycled policies are horseshit now. In no way is it the American way. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845/88 "2008-06-23T04:00:30Z")
[QUOTE=Baldwin] “Y’all.” _Y’all_, for Christ’s sake. Short for “you all”. What the fuck did you think the apostrophe is for? Oh, and learn what the hell socialism is, numbnuts. [/QUOTE] So I made a typo. Big fucking deal. As far as knowing what a socialist is, believe me, I do. You obviously don’t, so let me attempt to educate you, if that is possible. > [@](#): > > Socialism: a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole. In other words, taking pie from one person and giving it to another who doesn’t deserve it. And you might also try learning that when you respond with an ad hominem attack, it is an open admission that 1) you cannot refute what was said originally, and 2) you don’t know the difference between your butt and a burnt biscuit. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845/89 "2008-06-23T04:02:19Z")
[QUOTE=Carol Stream] FDR, yes., but that’s relatively recent.. His policies were horseshit in the '40’s, and the same recycled policies are horseshit now. In no way is it the American way. [/QUOTE] You don’t get to define “the American way,” and neither you nor anybody gets to define it in terms of what was considered acceptable mainstream opinion before year X. Nations, like other organisms, can change over time beyond recognition while remaining essentially the same. The “American way” is whatever our way is **now.** And your political views are not the self-evident truths you seem to think they are; you remain as oblivious as you always have been to the necessity of backing them up with reasoned arguments. Even in the Pit we have higher standards than you are mentally capable of meeting. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845/90 "2008-06-23T04:06:52Z")
[QUOTE=Clothahump] So I made a typo. Big fucking deal. As far as knowing what a socialist is, believe me, I do. You obviously don’t, so let me attempt to educate you, if that is possible. > [@](#): > > Socialism: a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole. In other words, taking pie from one person and giving it to another who doesn’t deserve it. [/QUOTE] This phrase, “In other words,” it does not mean what you think it does. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845/91 "2008-06-23T04:10:15Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] You don’t get to define “the American way,” and neither you nor anybody gets to define it in terms of what was considered acceptable mainstream opinion before year X. Nations, like other organisms, can change over time beyond recognition while remaining essentially the same. The “American way” is whatever our way is **now.** And your political views are not the self-evident truths you seem to think they are; you remain as oblivious as you always have been to the necessity of backing them up with reasoned arguments. Even in the Pit we have higher standards than you are mentally capable of meeting. [/QUOTE] History defines the American way, and your “progressive” way (nice code word) does not fit it. Which of the Founders would have supported taking away someone’s pie to give it to others? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845/92 "2008-06-23T04:13:38Z")
[QUOTE=Carol Stream] History defines the American way . . . [/quote] No, it doesn’t, that’s the whole point. The “American way” has at times in history included slavery, racism, genocide against the Indians, denial of political power and participation to women, denial of political power and participation to the poor, deeply corrupt urban machine politics, etc., etc. Those are things we’ve now put behind us, or tried to. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845/93 "2008-06-23T04:19:15Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] No, it doesn’t, that’s the whole point. The “American way” has at times in history included slavery, racism, genocide against the Indians, denial of political power and participation to women, denial of political power and participation to the poor, deeply corrupt urban machine politics, etc., etc. Those are things we’ve now put behind us, or tried to. [/QUOTE] Progressive, i.e. socialist, policies are not the answer. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845/94 "2008-06-23T04:21:49Z")
[QUOTE=Carol Stream] Progressive, i.e. socialist, policies are not the answer. [/QUOTE] Like I said, you can’t. And the [Progressives](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_Era) were anything but socialists, support for progressive income taxation notwithstanding. (“Progressive” means “left-liberal” **now,** but not then.) ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845/95 "2008-06-23T04:22:32Z")
[QUOTE=Carol Stream] Progressive, i.e. socialist, policies are not the answer. [/QUOTE] Do you mean the sort of progressive policies that ended slavery, sought to abolish institutionalized racism, and granted suffrage? Those ones? ---
**Author:** ![storyteller0910](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@storyteller0910](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/storyteller0910)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845/96 "2008-06-23T04:23:39Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] This phrase, “In other words,” it does not mean what you think it does. [/QUOTE] On the bright side, if it works like that, I can now win any argument, ever. “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of a religion.” In other words, the DH sucks and should be abolished. The Constitution says so. Q.E.D. I like it! ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845/97 "2008-06-23T04:24:06Z")
[QUOTE=DianaG] Do you mean the sort of progressive policies that ended slavery, sought to abolish institutionalized racism, and granted suffrage? Those ones? [/QUOTE] You don’t think the current welfare system IS instituionalized racism? ---
**Author:** ![Giraffe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giraffe/32/129_2.png) [@Giraffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giraffe)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845/98 "2008-06-23T04:30:47Z")
[QUOTE=Carol Stream] You don’t think the current welfare system IS instituionalized racism? [/QUOTE] I can’t even begin to imagine what holding a conversation with you in person is like. I’m guessing it’s like talking to a Chatty Cathy doll, except that you really want to punch it. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845/99 "2008-06-23T04:33:18Z")
Hmmm…I really don’t think puppets should drink Kool aide. But then again I cant AFFORD kool Aid anymore under the current administration. So am I allowed to vote for Obama if I promise to drink kool aide as soon as it’s available? Does he have a plan to provide Kool Aide as some form of entitlement? I’d be for that. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845/100 "2008-06-23T04:35:20Z")
[QUOTE=Giraffe] I can’t even begin to imagine what holding a conversation with you in person is like. I’m guessing it’s like talking to a Chatty Cathy doll, except that you really want to punch it. [/QUOTE] That’s nice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-obama-and-his-kool-aid-drinking-puppets/453845.md?page=6)