Posted on 01/11/2004 6:30:25 AM PST by Davis
There is substantial agreement on the Left that Conservatives are stupid, deluded, or evil. Mr. Albert Gore, Jr. (the Kingmaker) is a member of the deluded camp. Bill Moyers, the PBS zillionaire who is a leader of the movement to take America back to 1910, is certain we are evil. Neil Starkman, Seattle wunderkind, subscribes to the common notion that Conservatives are stupid.
The evidentiary basis for each of these conclusions is non-existent. On the contrary, "there's plenty of evidence that listeners to Conservative talk radio are more educated and better informed about public affairs than the generality of voters..."
All that the Left's denigration of Conservatives amounts to is: Conservatives oppose the Left. Hence, Conservatives must be crazy, evil, or stupid.
Non sequitur--it doesn't follow from our opposition to the ideas and programs of the Left. There is an unstated premise: the Left is good, clear-thinking, and smart. But that is what has to be proved. It can't be the starting point.
There's no reason to take on Moyers who declared last June that we Conservatives are engaged in a"deliberate, intentional destruction of the United States of America." We may similarly ignore his colleague, Paul Krugman, the NYTimes resident astrologer and former Enron advisor who asserts we are intent on "unraveling America." They think we're evil. We return the compliment.
Mr. Gore's belief that Conservatives are the deluded captives of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh shows just how far into Cloud Cuckoo Land he has wandered since losing his home state of Tennessee and with it the election of 2000. Anyone who thinks the overwhelming majority of the press tilts to the Right simply can't count or is unaccountably ignorant of the existence of WaPo, NYTimes, Latimes, CBS, NBC, ABC, NPR, and CNN.
Neil Starkman's thesis that Conservatives aren't as smart as Lefties (subscribed to as well by Orville Schell, head of the J school at Berkeley and a host of public "intellectual" admirers of Stalin, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Pol Pot, Castro et ilk) is unintentionally humorous. Catch these gems:
"It's increasingly obvious, for example, that none of the so-called theories can explain President Bush's popularity....It's the 'Stupid factor,' the S factor: Some people -- sometimes through no fault of their own -- are just not very bright."
"The people I'm referring to cannot understand the phenomenon of cause and effect. They're perplexed by issues comprising more than two sides. They don't have the wherewithal to expand the sources of their information. And above all -- far above all -- they don't think...."
"They're the ones who keep the puerile shows on TV, who appear as regular recipients of the Darwin Awards...."
"Politicians have been aware of this forever; they cater to these people. They offer simplistic solutions to complex problems. They evade directed questions with non-sequiturs. They offer meaningless, jingoistic pap instead of thoughtful policy. And these people, the "S" people, eat it all up with a ladle...."
"I do have some modest suggestions ...an intelligence test to earn the right to vote; a three-significantly-stupid-behaviors-and-you're-out law; fines for politicians who pander to the lowest common denominator and deportation of media representatives who perpetuate such actions."
I note that Mr. Starkman's composition was published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, supporter of Sen. Patty Murray, a board-certified dimwit,) and Rep. Jim McDermott, ditto.
On the evidence of his contribution to the Post- Intelligencer, Mr. Starkman is...well, let's be magnanimous--intellectually challenged. Let him vote? Sure, what the hell, this is a democracy practicing universal suffrage. But please don't encourage him.
I think there should be a literacy test:
1. What year is it?
2. Who is president?
3. Name the countries with which the U.S. shares a major border.
4. How many stripes on the U.S. Flag?
5. Why?
Can't pass this test with a 100% score; can't vote. Do you suppose the Dems would like this test?
--Boris
Remember Hannity's man-on-the-street interviews....
Or Gary Coleman's answer to "who's the Secretary of State" question....("Ya got me there, Sean")
Excellent questions. I'll ask them next time I talk to a leftist--wonder how he'll react!
They would fight it tooth and nail, labeling it "racist." Which, of course, is itself an example of racism of the worst kind.
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