Oh, brother, that NRO column really hit home for me. I spent (against my will, mind you) three hours on the phone last night arguing about Iraq with a woman I've known since I was in college, a gal, I am coming to realize, who has little more than cotton candy between her ears. She's constantly after me about Bush (or, as she calls him, "
your president,") and the war. I hear all the usual idiocies from her ("No blood for oil," etc.,) but what really galls me is that whenever I refute any of her stupid statements with the facts, she simply ignores what I've said and goes on to spout some new nonsense.
The conversation finally ended when she started sputtering about how I'm not being fair. "You hated Clinton so much," she yelped. "Nothing Clinton did was ever right. Why is everything your president does all right by you?!"
I responded that this is an entirely different situation. Clinton, I said, was a crass, amoral, utterly destructive liar who had a gift for doing the worst possible things out of the worst possible motives. While I don't agree with everything Bush ever does, I'm willing to cut him some slack because I believe he's a good guy who sincerely wants to do the right thing. "In short," I said, "I trust him."
She hung up on me.
Liberals -- the typical response to a well reasoned discussion, they hang up on you...I feel your pain
While I don't agree with everything Bush ever does, I'm willing to cut him some slack because I believe he's a good guy who sincerely wants to do the right thing. "In short," I said, "I trust him." that is it in a nutshell right there. i have had those same conversations, but only when i have sought out someone of that mindset, and they ALL think the same thing. and they NEVER respond to facts. i actually had one tell me, when i stated that while they are entitled to their own OPINION, they are NOT entitled to their own FACTS, that there was no such thing as OBJECTIVE REALITY, that everything was merely POINT OF VIEW! can you believe it? i was dumfounded at the idiocy!
but condolences on your friend. The only dustup i had with people that i cared about was over Elian. that was a line in the sand for me, and i honestly wondered what i could possibly have in common, other than the air we breathe, with someone who wanted to send him back.
Miss Rose, see what kind of response you get when you ask them, where the heck were all these pacifists during Kosovo. I got a surprisingly honest answer from a sweet young thing I was arguing with on the bus a few weeks ago: she said a lot of the protestors were still upset with the presidential election result and that's why they're bitching. She then ruined it by going on to give me some of the most pinheaded arguments I ever heard about why the war was wrong. (Sigh!) If only those things had been brains...