Posted on 05/26/2007 1:49:34 PM PDT by Eurotwit
A few weeks ago – in between Hillary Clinton’s official entry into the presidential race and the first Republican primary debate of the cycle – the fiery online conservative forum Free Republic marked a decade in operation as one of the premier online forums for right-wing political discussion.
It also experienced one of the biggest internal battles to rock the site since the 2000 election of George W. Bush -- a tumultuous campaign year that nearly tore the site apart, as its founder and chief administrator first cleansed commenting ranks of Bush supporters, then, later, rallied to his support.
At the heart of the latest controversy: the fight over the conservative bona fides of Rudy Giuliani.
Over the past few weeks, chaos has reigned in the “Freeper” community as members sympathetic to the former mayor's candidacy claim to have suffered banishment from the site. They were victimized, they say, by a wave of purges designed to weed out any remaining support for the Giuliani campaign on the popular conservative web forum. Another significant chunk of commenters have migrated away from the controversial site over the action, according to a number of former site members and conservative bloggers who have been tracking the situation.
In a plaintive post on the blog “Sweetness & Light,” exiled commenter Steve Gilbert, who says he does not support the former mayor’s campaign, blasted the site’s new “anti-Giuliani, anti-abortion jihad.” Since George W. Bush was elected president, he wrote, “there haven’t been any large scale [Free Republic] purges to speak of – until now.”
The fight began one month ago, when site founder Jim Robinson posted an anti-Giuliani manifesto titled: “Giuliani as the GOP presidential nominee would be a dagger in the heart of the conservative movement.” Then the virtual ax started to swing. Longtime posters to the freewheeling discussion threads, used to serious no-holds-barred web etiquette, were still stunned by the intensity of the anti-Rudy activity; conservative blogs buzzed with the development.
“Jim Robinson has been going on a tear demonizing Rudy Giuliani, because Rudy (agreeing with the vast majority of Americans), is personally opposed to abortions on a moral level…” complained a user on the GOPUSA Web site. “Anyone who posts any support for Giuliani at the site, if it's at all forceful, will be banned.”
(“Normally, we don't allow complaints about other conservative forums,” chided the moderator, but “…because it is being discussed all over the Internet, I'll make an exception.”)
Just a few months ago, Rudy Giuliani placed second in an early Free Republic straw poll; now, his support on the site has been virtually eliminated. “After the ‘April Purge,’ I don't think there are any Rudybots left around here,” noted Free Republic commenter “upchuck” in one recent post. “And if there are, they're not posting pro-Rudy stuff :).”
The forums weren’t the only venue for the Free Republic’s new antagonism toward Mr. Giuliani, which coincided with a wave of comments expressing similar sentiments from other corners of the conservative movement. A few days after Mr. Giuliani’s equivocal Roe v. Wade comments at the Republican presidential debate on May 3, a new “STOP RUDY NOW News & Information Thread” was featured on the site, and a newly-created stand-alone category debuted via a link from the homepage: “The Giuliani Truth File.” (So far this campaign season, Mr. Giuliani is the only candidate – Republican or Democratic – to be singled out for that level of scrutiny from the Free Republic.)
Why Rudy? Why now? Some conservative bloggers and former commenters contacted for their view of the continuing controversy say they believe that site founder Jim Robinson holds ideologically middling Republicans like Mr. Giuliani responsible for the GOP’s congressional loss and current woes. (They asked that their names be kept out of this story for fear of antagonizing the famously frisky site regulars.)
Others claim that the former mayor’s top-tier status is spurring frantic site administrators into action. Finally, one popular theory holds that the Free Republic is secretly hoping for another Clinton presidency that would send its Alexa ratings soaring back to levels it hasn’t experienced since its halcyon days of the Clinton impeachment, when a since-soured relationship with blog pioneer Matt Drudge and overwhelming anti-Clinton sentiment in Republican ranks helped make Free Republic one of the hottest Web sites in the nation. It hasn't recovered that luster since the Bush administration took over.
“It’s not a conspiracy theory, it’s an observation,” said one blogger, who describes himself as a half-hearted Mitt Romney supporter. “They’ve still got a brand name that means something, but they’re not what they were in terms of real-world impact. A Hillary presidency would get them there.”
Robinson himself could not be reached for comment, but his original post laid out his case against Mr. Giuliani – a graphics-heavy presentation of some of the former mayor’s most damning moderate quotes in mainstream media venues, along with a color-coded report card tracking his less-than-doctrinaire positions on abortion, immigration, gays and guns.
Robinson, it should be noted, famously blasted George W. Bush’s presidential candidacy back in 2000, before a dramatic late-campaign about-face that saw him emerge as one of the GOP ticket’s biggest supporters. But whether or not Free Republic experiences a similar election-year shift this cycle, the site’s current campaign is spreading a dangerous primary-season meme of Rudy Giuliani as big-city liberal – and turning one of the most influential web forums in conservatism into an exclusive gathering place for those who share that view.
None of them really ever disagreed with the others.
Nobody here wanted RA to be banned. He pushed it and he knows it. I do hope he will be back someday.
Not openly, but they ARE united in defeating Hillary.
He did his suspension and came back as a member in good standing.
Now, show me specifically where he was “criticizing conservatives”. I saw where he was being baited by another, but didn’t see where he took the bait. I saw where he openly admitted that he was aware the person was trying to get him banned.
If you get a chance go read some of her last month’s posts.
She always made it personal. Namecalling, etc..
Otherwise she was great. She never got in trouble, that I know of when she clearly went over the line.
He was banned...I doubt he will be allowed to come back. Sad really...he contributed much to the threads here.
I was referring to the “bug zapper” thread when I said that people were bashing conservatives and was not familiar with the thread where RadioAstronomer was banned but I see where wagglebee found it for you.
The use of the word he used has been barred from here for a long time, he knew it and even acknowledged that he would be banned and did it anyway. No sympathy here.
Nor am I and if Jim was to ask for my approval I would be very concerned!
”In a couple of hours I found 30 names no longer active. Some were evolutionists (like myself)”
I am unaware of any evolutionists being banned for evolutionary view, if they happened to be rabid Rudi supporters who misrepresented his views or that of conservative candidates then that I would believe.
” Rudy supporter (I could care less) who clearly did take it overboard, and others I don’t know. I see now that some are on DarwinCentral and WideAwakess. I’m not overly impressed with any of this.”
Yes some supports did go over the line and from what I’ve seen they were warned. I thought Jim pulled the trigger a little early on some but I’m not here on every thread and it could have been cumulative.
If Jim suspended or banned posters in the heat of the moment and in retrospect if they didn’t deserve it I’m confident they will be reinstated.
” So Ruddy supporters and evolutionists don’t fit into JimRob’s vision of conservativeism. Okay, It’s his call. I’m sure amputating them is not the right way to “right size” the Republican Party as a whole, but this isn’t RubublicanRepublic.com so that’s not the issue here. Whether or not they’re within the boundaries of Jim’s more social conservative vision of conservatism as applied to this community is totally up to Jim.”
Right, it’s Jim home although we a free to voice an opinion in a dissenting manner it’s not acceptable to repeatable stick it in someone’s face.
Look, I was here in the flame wars of the 90’s the infighting prior to the 2000 primary and election. Not everything goes the way we see fit and life isn’t always fair as we see it.
You are free to stay or go, I like to think cutting off your nose to spite your face is unproductive.
I noticed Howlin got tossed, I found most of his posts/responses entertaining. I don’t know if it was because of an off color remark or it was related to these incidents. I do know I will miss the wit.
| WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE 'PRO-LIFE'? |
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| Posted by RadioAstronomer to dirtboy; MACVSOG68; Syncro; jla; Miss Didi; Peach; Dog Gone On News/Activism 04/21/2007 3:56:40 PM EDT · 317 of 372 To Dirtboy, MiaT is gone and your still here. In a word: Reichsmordwoche cc: MACVSOG68; syncro; jla; miss didi; peach; dog gone Post Reply | Private Reply | To 204 | View Replies |
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| Will FR embrace socialism to make way for Rudy Giuliani as a Republican presidential candidate? |
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| Posted by RadioAstronomer to T'wit On News/Activism 04/25/2007 7:54:11 PM EDT · 9,707 of 18,316 I am fully aware you are trying your best to get me banned. Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9,571 | View Replies |
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In the end, it was Jim Robinson's decision:
| Will FR embrace socialism to make way for Rudy Giuliani as a Republican presidential candidate? |
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| Posted by Jim Robinson to RadioAstronomer On News/Activism 04/25/2007 10:04:38 PM EDT · 10,245 of 18,316 He didn’t get you banned, you did. Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9,707 | View Replies |
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Flash forward to a bit later, and what do I see but an opus from the very same...anti-social individual who flamed me. He was whining that he had gotten into an argument with a poster who had been here longer than him, and the moderators were backing the other guy. Turnabout is fair play, indeed.
Schadenfreude!
He is very intelligent. He knew what the rules on this website was. I think he would be the first one to tell you that he ignored them. That does not make him banned forever.
He ..is/was a ...she :^
Well, it looks like the rumbling and grumbling continues.
| Rudy and the Republican Nomination |
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| Posted by Howlin to EternalVigilance On Smoky Backroom 02/03/2007 12:48:29 AM EST · 822 of 1,544 The transformation of the GOP into Democrat Party Lite? It's not going to be DNC Lite; it's going to be a more moderate conservative party though; you all have had your foot on our necks for too long. This country has to be governed in the middle; the world has moved on from the 50's. The Contract with America will unite this party again. But we're not going to let you make abortion and guns the big issues this time around. Post Reply | Private Reply | To 792 | View Replies |
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If you're looking for her, she is an administrator over at the newest anti-FReeper site.
Check your freepmail please
Thanks. Didn’t mean you at all.
it’s easier to try to be sensible about this now ...a year later
and after the “changes”
notice how no one is attacking
that would not have been the case before
maybe being 50 in 6 months has mellowed me..lol
that’s true...they clearly identify anything to the right of Hillary as the enemy.
they also have better de facto organization....unions, the media, schools.
moderates in the Dems are also in short supply to stir up stuff whereas moderates or even social libs are not in short supply in the GOP
There are hundreds of Terri threads. It would take weeks to locate them all. Not all have her name in the title. There are thousands upon thousands of Terri posts too.
Events from the dawn of time have proved that it takes votes to win.
Rooty has zero chance and McCain’s chances are very slim.
Romney has a chance only until Fred Thompson gets in. Then I think his support will dry up.
You better stick with picking American Idol if you think Rooty will win anything.
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