"I don't think so, Tim."
Posted on 04/05/2007 8:46:45 PM PDT by Pistolshot
I came here in 1998 looking for conservative, logical, thoughtful conversation and debate on the things that matter to us the most. I was a Reagan Republican. One of those who had watched in horror as our embassy staff in Tehran was taken by fanatics. The answer should have been overwhelming force, but it was Carter, that limp-wristed, can’t-we-just talk-this-out, weakling who had made the military a shambles, and stripped it of its soul because of VietNam. I knew from the beginning that there was no room in this world for weakness and that was the beginning of my road to conservatism.
Now here we are, in the beginnings of a campaign to deny the Democrats not only the White House, but the two houses of Congress. It is extremely early in this race, the leading candidates that have announced are far from acceptable to a large majority of us. Yet, day after day on this site we have the Rudy machine, the McCain people, Mitt’s people, and every other supported candidate backer posting missives about their guy. Some are repeated vitriol that has no debatable content, and only begs to be ignored. Some of it is the adage of ‘Don’t like it, too bad. He will be our candidate.’ In the past I’ve seen posters here who were thoughtful, logical, literally passionate about impeaching Clinton, but with a HUGE degree of civility.
What is taking place here, and I am guilty of it too, so don’t think I am pointing fingers here, is the destruction of what is good about this site. WE ARE CONSERVATIVES, first and foremost. We have our passions that lead us to the candidates we have running. Debate is the give and take of ideas to reach a consensus about a direction. A direction we should all look at for the country, not because of the ‘he can beat Hillary’ dogma, but because the candidate we choose is THE one to carry what our hopes and dreams are for this great nation. I have seen posters here demean others, insult integrities, bash people they DON’T EVEN KNOW ON A PERSONAL LEVEL, and generally look like some of the slime that lurks on DU.
We are supposed to be better than that. It’s time we stop acting like we cannot debate without insult, stop treating each other as if our opinions don’t matter or our vote. It’s time that Jim starts looking around and suspending or closing some accounts for this type of behavior until it gets under control.
We are not DU here. The candidate we vote to carry the platform will be the one who reaches out to the most diverse among us. If that doesn’t happen for your candidate, I’m sorry. But to stoop to some of the tactics I’ve seen here based on a persons opinion or religion is despicable and speaks poorly for all of us.
What has happened — and is still happening — is that the wingnuts have gained the ascendency and have driven more and more levelheaded, civil posters off the forum in disgust.
The thread that I had to have pulled. Sigh.
Obviously, you haven't seen the posts of the people who will "sit it out," if the nominee doesn't match their litmus tests....
For the most part, I have confined my posting to the Dose and ANS threads. I find the candidate threads all too disgusting and repetitious.
"I don't think so, Tim."
YOU Said it well. The MSM interviews our candidates and keep asking the “gotcha” questions, over and over again, in different ways. I haven’t heard any of them ask R candidates any positive questions... such as what have they accomplished. Our Republicans fall for it hook, line and sinker.
YOU Said it well. The MSM interviews our candidates and keep asking the “gotcha” questions, over and over again, in different ways. I haven’t heard any of them ask R candidates any positive questions... such as what have they accomplished. Our Republicans fall for it hook, line and sinker.
My brother is a knucklehead. I tell him so. We don’t see eye to eye. But he’s MY brother. Nobody else gets to pick on him. I’ll hug him on Easter. I’ll support the Republican in ‘08.
Leave it to you to cut to the chase............LOL.
Who else sees the utter irony of this post?
I’ve seen them; they are idiots and should be ignored.
Thanks for trying with that thread.
All I saw was that JR pulled it. I didn’t know you asked him.
I’d love to stick around and see where this leads, but I have a big day tomorrow with the family... museums & such!
Take care!
I think that way as well. Then I remember Gerald Ford had to lose in order for Ronald Reagan to win.
What is that suppose to mean?
What good is that “one agenda” gonna be when the people in power are the very people who are going to destroy your agenda?
The irony in that post poked me in the eye.
Yes, I have stayed off many threads because I have seen more name calling than used to be allowed!
FR is, in fact, rather more civil than it used to be. This sort of ugliness doesn't stem from people who truly love the place, no matter what their sign-on date says.
I could post a thoughtful, well-reasoned, grammatically correct response to this...Or I could post a nasty Keyword. Decisions, decisions...
Seriously though, I agree with you about everything but mass bannings. FreeRepublic is like a core sample of the Republican party and if all we are is a bunch of nasty snark-meisters, well, I think we need to face that and deal with it, not try to ignore it.
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