More pseudo-psychology with the same old pseudo "findings"

Newsweek has just given a big plug to a book called "The Political Brain" (by Drew Westen of Emory University) that purports to tell Democrats how to win elections. The writer of the review does not know the difference between "discreet" and "discrete" so the intellectual level to be expected is not high -- and so it turns out. Note the paragraph below . It combines very old news with a bald-faced assertion:

"When voters are hooked up to brain-imaging devices while watching candidates, it is emotion circuits and not the rational frontal lobes that are most engaged. When voters assess who won a campaign debate, they almost always choose the candidate they liked better beforehand. The rationality circuit "isn't typically open for business when partisans are thinking about things that matter to them," Westen notes. Yet "this is the part of the brain to which Democrats typically target their appeals."

So emotions matter in politics! Give the writer a cookie! But what is the proof for the second assertion -- that Democrats target their appeals to rationality? As far as I can tell it is the opposite. For instance, "All men are equal" may be emotionally satisfying but it has no status as a fact.

Hot Air and Ace have some further comments.

***************************

BUSH HAS LOST IT

Post lifted from Gates of Vienna. See the original for links

President Bush gave a speech this morning at a Wahhabist mosque called the Islamic Center of Washington DC. I listened to most of it on C-Span streaming video, and it was about what you'd expect, a mixture of boilerplate and outreach and platitudes and dhimmitude. It was too dispiriting to write much about.

However - one of the things he mentioned was a future "democratic Palestine, living side-by-side with Israel in peace".

What planet is he living on? What has he been smoking? The only democracy that will ever come to "Palestine" is the democracy of AK-47s and homemade bombs. The only peace that "Palestine" will ever allow Israel is the peace of the grave.

President Bush is either being stupid, or cynical, or is saying something he knows is not true for reasons of statecraft that are too arcane and subtle for an ignorant boob like me to understand.

*************************

ELSEWHERE



There is some good information here about how Democrat hero FDR worsened the Great Depression by his ignorant "New Deal" policies.

Norway winks at barbarism: "For many years it has been speculated that Norwegian-Somali girls are circumcised when they go back to their homeland on the summer holiday. NRK can now document for the first time that women who work in circumcision confirm that to a great extent they circumcise girls who live in Western Europe. And not least: they say that Norwegian-Somali parents are good customers - every summer - after school ends in Norway. Parents from Norway are among those who pay best. The price for circumcising a girl is 150 kroner. Since January 1st, 1996, it is illegal to circumcise girls in Norway. It is also forbidden for people living in Norway to circumcise their daughters abroad. Breaking the law could lead up to 8 years in jail. But nobody has ever been indicted or convicted for this in Norway."

Israel: A Hotbed Of... Investment : "You might think that Israel's continuing strife with the Palestinians would be a red flag for investors. Yet amid escalating violence, many of the country's companies are thriving, pushing the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange to record levels. Even the takeover of the Gaza Strip by the Islamist Hamas movement in mid-June hasn't slowed the momentum. The TA 25 index is up by 21% this year, reaching an all-time high on June 17. The market's strength is a sign of how well Israel has been able to protect its economy from the crisis. A big part of Israel's recent economic success is due to improved security. Suicide attacks have dropped sharply, largely the result of imposing walls and fences that separate Israel from Gaza and the West Bank. Nearly six years after the start of the second intifada, shoppers are feeling safer and are out in force, helping to push annual growth to 5% for the fourth straight year."

Another innocent turnip farmer is gunned down after his release from Gitmo: "Two men, who were on Russia's wanted list as suspected members of illegal armed groups, were killed in a special operation near the central mosque in downtown Nalchik, the capital city of the Russian North Caucasus republic of Kabardino- Balkaria, a local law enforcement source told Interfax. One of those killed might be Ruslan Odizhev, a former Guantanamo base prisoner, the source said."

Rice calls Hamas 'resistance movement': "U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice twice referred to Hamas as a "resistance movement" during a meeting with reporters from the New York Daily News earlier this month, but the newspaper did not report her remarks, WND has learned. Rice's interview is transcribed in full on the State Department website. Rice's statements mark the second documented time in recent months she called Hamas a "resistance movement" during unscripted chats with journalists".

Only 400,000? And many of their relatives are undoubtedly in the USA: "About 400,000 Mexican police officers are under investigation by the Attorney General's Office for corruption and suspected links to organized crime, La Jornada reported June 26, citing government sources. Most of the officers are from Nuevo Leon, Sonora, Baja California, Guerrero, Michoacan, Mexico and the federal district"

Obama's church: "A very liberal and fast declining United Church of Christ (UCC) celebrated its 50th birthday, with rousing speeches from Senator Barack Obama and PBS commentator Bill Moyers, both of whom are UCC members. Both speakers fingered the "Religious Right" as a threat to American democracy. Moyers specifically warned against the Institute on Religion and Democracy for supposedly attempting to disrupt the UCC. Neither speaker offered any criticisms that might apply particularly to their left-leaning UCC audience. The 1.2-million-member UCC has lost nearly one million members over the last 40 years. Its decline has accelerated since its formal endorsement of same-sex "marriage" two years ago."

Vote early and vote often still applies: "A Washington State woman thought that voter registration requirements were too lax so she signed up her dog to vote. Her dog Duncan voted in 3 elections and signed each time with a paw print before officials caught on."

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

****************************

"Why should the German be interested in the liberation of the Jew, if the Jew is not interested in the liberation of the German?... We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time... In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.... Indeed, in North America, the practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world has achieved as its unambiguous and normal expression that the preaching of the Gospel itself and the Christian ministry have become articles of trade... Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist". Who said that? Hitler? No. It was Karl Marx. See also here and here and here.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

****************************