I’m very impressed that you want to debate with people who have diametrically opposed views to your own, and in a civil manner.
Upthread, someone said:
“If you are going to debate, get used to the idea that your opponent is seldom going to agree with you and even more seldom going to be polite.”
With respect to the illuminary who came up with that statement - while that might be totally true, if everyone agreed with each other all the time then it’s not a debate but a love-in.
Christianity wouldn’t have progressed very far if people hadn’t been prepared to take the message to the heathens!
The best debates are the ones where people argue with passion, over intractable political or religious differences, without ever descending into personal abuse or physical violence. You learn as much about yourself from those debates, as you learn about your opponent.
So I suppose it all depends on what you want from a discussion board.
Guardian Unlimited is the sort of anarchical left-wing hangout where the rules on what you can and can’t say are quite flexible. The Gruaniad is a commie rag, so don’t expect an easy ride if you go there as a died-in-the-wool freeper with a belt full of rhetoric and no interest in explaining or defending your beliefs.
If you defend your views robustly rather than simply parroting them, the moderators (and to be fair the not-so-loony lefties) will hear you out and you can have a very fulfilling debate.
On the other hand, there are talkboards like this one which is specifically aligned to one viewpoint, sometimes to the detriment of reasoned debate. One friend of mine in the UK got his posting rights revoked within a week of joining FreeRepublic despite being perfectly civil and polite on the handful of posts he actually managed to get out. He was a right-winger with questions, not a leftist troll looking to mock. He was the sort of person this board should be welcoming, not chucking out.
So that’s my sermon to the moderators: Freeper values have much to commend them, but the trouble is that you need non-Freepers (especially those with right wing leanings) to learn what those qualities are, if you’re going to help build up the grass roots support for Sarah Palin.
I agree totally, and enjoy such a discussion. But, I can't seem to find a liberal that will avoid descending, or concede anything, or sustain such a discussion with a solid opponent. I've conceded much about Republicans, Bush and McCain; I hear no concessions from them about BHO.