Groupthink in the Bush administration

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday August 07, 2008 · 10:31 PM PDT

2008/08/07 · 22:31

Of the many criticisms that can be leveled at two terms of the Bush administration, a comparatively mild one is that its major actors were guilty, as a group, of poor decision making. Nevertheless, I will spend this diary describing how a psychological phenomenon called groupthink seems to aptly describe how the administration behaves. Almost amusingly so, in my opinion, if it weren't so catastrophic.

NeedCog

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday December 10, 2007 · 1:43 PM PST

2007/12/10 · 13:43

***Edit-- Looks like Clinton may only oppose making this change retroactive. Originally posted suggesting she disagreed fully with the change but actually generally supports it. Body is edited for accuracy. Definitely opposes retroactivity though. I still disagree with her stance, and the stance does still differ from other Dems. Sorry for my misreading of the source. Thanks for pointing this out people.

Spotted from Stephanie Mencimer over at Mother Jones( MojoBlogPost)-- the Supreme Court has just upheld the actions of a U.S judge who issued more lenient sentences than are officially required. Currently, punishments for crack offenses of various kinds are much more extreme than for comparable cocaine offenses (and are, in my opinion, draconian). Undoubtedly, this sentencing disparity has contributed to racial disparities in our huge prison population.

NeedCog

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday August 20, 2007 · 10:36 AM PDT

2007/08/20 · 10:36

In this diary, I share a few thoughts on "Papa Bear" and his run-in with DailyKos. They are organized around three observations.

He is influential. As a fixture of the conservative media, O’Reilly has an important agenda setting function, choosing what to cover and how to cover it. He has access to not only powerful government and other officials, but also to a legion of disposable talking heads willing to say almost anything. A large and often devoted audience somehow actually listens to him.

Poll

117 votes Show Results

What is the effect on Daily Kos of the O'Reilly encounter?

117 votes Vote Now!

What is the effect on Daily Kos of the O'Reilly encounter?

Bad for Daily Kos

14 votes

Good for Daily Kos

87 votes

Both, neither, don't know, etc

16 votes

RSS

Groupthink in the Bush administration

Hillary Clinton opposes retroactivity in crack sentencing reform

Three Thoughts on Bill “Papa Bear” O’Reilly