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.
My Gosh, it sounds like you're in second grade. Excuse me, but I choose to live in the real world.
What bizarro world are you living in? DId you actually see the results of the 2006 election? I swear the extremes here are living in a time warp.
Well, you're the expert on that.
Excellent post, ED. I agree 100 percent.
If the country is gone, what rights will matter?
For some reason, I don't think that is going to happen this time.
Amen!
Together, God willing, we will hold this hill.
I remember lurking on this board in 1998 and there were the McCain groups versus the Bush groups. Nothing has changed and that’s why I like coming here.
Sure it will. What's mot to like about Fred Thompson? ;)
They’ll find something. Count on it.
The fall national election was apparently one of those psychological shocks we get from time to time. Following a period of adjustment we will be fine and possibly slightly wiser.
Exactly.
Rudy isn’t just “pro-abortion” he wants tax funded abortions. His position on illegal immigration is to the left of Ted Kennedy. He is a gun-grabber and is in favor of Gay marriage. Except for being tougher on crime, he is basically agrees with the ACLU on most issues.
He can’t win and will split the Republican party. Nominate Rudy and you can kiss the Midwest and most of the south goodbye.
Why are so-called conservatives pushing a man who ran on the liberal party ticket? Rudy has never ran or held elected federal office. He has never voted on the national issues. We have no idea how he will behave on issues like taxes or federal spending. He has no record of appointing conservative judges.
He is a liberal, who is tough on crime and the war on terror. Thats it. He is another Arnold on a national scale.
There'll always be a noisy minority on just about any issue, let alone a Presidential candidate, but the bulk of FR will eventually coalesce around the nominee. (Unless that nominee is so offensive to the tenets of conservatism that the GOP itself splits along ideological lines.)
Some may declare they're "holding their noses", or "choosing the lesser of two evils", but they'll still come along. There will be some holdouts, who cite various reasons why the nominee isn't "pure" enough, but they will be the minority.
Won't the country be all right under a Hillary White House? I mean, that's the impression I get from so many Rudy-bashers, who keep yelping they see no difference between the two.
If that's what you claim, then why do you want to piss us off again? Simply make sure Fred Thompson gets the nomination and this will be a non-issue.
Abortions will still go on unabated.
Sure I saw the results of the 2006 election. We lost a lot of close races primarily because of discontent among the voters about Iraq. But Rudy, Romney, and Thompson would not be directly responsible for Iraq and thus I believe all of them can win a national election against Hillary or Obama. Also, a lot can happen between now and then, as we see with the Iranian nuclear crisis heating up right now.
That’s a good argument against legal abortion. But remember that the major reason why the murder rate is as low as it is in America is because the vast majority of people believe murder is wrong. The secondary reason is because it is illegal. Murder is also illegal in places like Columbia and Russia and yet the murder rate in those countries is much higher than in America. Look at illegal drug use, for example. That is illegal also, and yet there is still massive, widespread drug use in America because so many people do not think illegal drugs are wrong. To really eliminate any kind of activity in society, we have to change the belief system of society so that the vast majority of people believe that activity is wrong. That’s the big problem with abortion—so many people do not believe it is wrong. Those are the people who would be the clients of illegal abortionists. It seems like the place to start is by telling the truth about abortion and that a life really does begin at conception. Then hopefully we can gradually change the mistaken belief that abortion is not wrong.
The same sorts of things are being said from our side. I remember the whole Clinton is a rapist/murderer/drug-dealer/lying scumbag and if he gets elected or re-elected then we are doomed.
Similar things are starting to be said about Guiliani, McCain, and Romney.
The good news is no matter how bad our leaders our we seem to muddle through. The bad news is that even if by accident we happen to select the best person for the job, he will inevitably be ground down by the system until he is also forced to make stupid mistakes.
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