Posted on 10/30/2004 3:41:57 PM PDT by Utah Girl
I know a wealthy couple in southern California, well-educated, with a son about ten years old. The husband has a high-paying job with a movie studio, the mother owns a successful home business, easily placing them in that $200,000-plus income bracket which Kerry promises to tax more. And yet they hate President George W. Bush with unbridled passion.
A family that does everything together, they actively encourage their son to share in this hate. Their beautiful home, in a very posh neighborhood, brims over with anti-Bush books, from Noam Chomsky's latest to Michael Moore's most vociferous. The son's room features one of those standing punching bags with Bush's image on it. Magnetically pinned to the refrigerator door, alongside the son's lovingly displayed schoolwork, are all sorts of demeaning caricatures of the president, including a target symbol with Bush's face in the middle. But on the back of their SUV, next to their shiny new "Kerry-Edwards" bumper sticker, they have a faded one that reads, "Teach Peace."
Many L.A. Republicans view placing a Bush-Cheney bumper-sticker on one's car, on the other hand, as an act of courage akin to storming the beaches at Normandy. Stories abound of cars defaced by a keying job just because the owner had the temerity to hang a Republican sign in his rear window. As Richard Rushfield, writing for Slate magazine, discovered in a sociological experiment, wearing a Bush-Cheney T-shirt in most parts of L.A. is a ticket to verbal abuse.
The rage of the American Left has spilled over the banks and threatens to drive all common decency before it. For the first time in my life, I have felt that the United States is in actual danger of degenerating into a banana republic, with both sides doomed to snipe at each other from behind ramparts, whether with legal briefs or actual guns.
Indeed guns have already been used, as yahoos have reportedly fired shots into GOP headquarters in several states. And there are disconcerting accounts of union goons and other Democratic activists intimidating voters as they attempt to exercise their rightful franchise in "early voting."
The Democratic party has announced its intent to declare victory no matter the electoral outcome, and to preemptively find voting irregularities even where none occur. Numerous improprieties in Democratic voter-registration efforts have already been uncovered. Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of the Democratic vice-presidential candidate, said that there won't be any riots — as long as the Democrats win. Regarding Sinclair Broadcasting's plans to air a documentary on Kerry's anti-war activities, a Kerry-campaign advisor snarled, "They better hope we don't win."
For another glimpse of the Left's efforts to bludgeon its way into the White House, look to Britain's Guardian, where a recent column called for the assassination of you-know-who. Granted, this abomination appeared overseas, but the Guardian is the American Left's favorite overseas paper, and there is increasing cross-pollination of sentiment between the Left here and in Europe.
Spend a few quality minutes trolling some of the more popular left-wing hate sites and you'll see more than enough of this lunatic spewing. Or simply scan the surfeit of Bush-bashing books glaring out at you from the featured display tables as you enter your local Borders or Barnes and Noble.
I fear that this out-of-control rage of the Left threatens to cow many Republicans, especially non-confrontational types, into staying away from the polls. The sad thing is, not only are the Democrats unconcerned about such unseemly behavior, but they appear to be actively encouraging it, through their proxies at the unions and at 527s.
We're already witnessing the organized bullying of voters in the hotly contested swing state of Florida. According to a disturbing report in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "With early voting taking place in busy public places like City Halls and libraries, voters are voicing complaints of being blocked by political mobs, or being singled out for their political views. Others say they have been grabbed, screamed at and cursed by political partisans of all stripes."
"All stripes," maybe (neither side has a complete monopoly on boorishness), but most appear to be drawn from the Democratic persuasion thus far. From the same article: "Permits in Palm Beach County show that the SEIU union and other Democratic groups have been holding rallies at early voting locations, where they have a captive audience of voters standing in line. Elections Supervisor Theresa LePore said the lines are long because voters are brought in by the busload."
"'Special-interest groups are trying to whip everybody into a frenzy and get everybody upset,' LePore said. 'Campaigns and their observers are confronting the workers and the voters. Things have gotten nasty and ugly.'"
"LePore said campaign workers followed voters into polling places and handed out literature next to the voting machines. Other voters standing in line were told the machines don't work and that they should vote absentee."
Republicans are reportedly gathering affidavits from voters who have been accosted, such as Howard Sherman, who couldn't get through a crowd of Kerry supporters blocking the entrance to a library that served as a polling place. As Sherman tried to slip through, a woman in a Kerry T-shirt grabbed his arm and demanded to know who he was voting for.
Actors Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman led a rally at the entrance to another polling location, prompting poll watcher Lawrence Gottfried to intervene. "I said, 'Look Mr. DeVito, I'm a big fan of yours and Rhea's, but you are blocking the entrance. You're campaigning, you've got a Kerry-Edwards button on, and it's not appropriate,'" Gottfried told the Sun-Sentinel.
The problem, from a purely legalistic standpoint, appears to be that Florida, in establishing early voting, neglected to include the usual provision banning politicking within a 50-foot radius of polling places. Naturally, Democrats are taking full "advantage" of that unfortunate loophole, intimidating voters even as they enter the sanctity of the polling booth itself.
State Senate Majority Leader Ron Klein (D., Boca Raton), a cosponsor of the early voting legislation, just threw up his hands over the whole mess.
"I wish people would use common sense in terms of how they approached these things," Klein told the newspaper. "It's a new law. Certainly there's a few things we need to go back in the legislation and fix. We are going to have to go back and put more specific rules in about how early voting should work."
Apparently, common sense doesn't hold a candle to hate.
The upshot of this is that the meritocratic class is definitely convinced they should lead and there should be no question about this. So much so is this demand for power that they are anti-majoritarian. They also, because of their meritocratic climbing, are very competitive and become easily enraged and destructive when their value is not appreciated.
President Bush and his campaign have closely aligned themselves in word and deed with the "left behind class." Senator Kerry and his advocates miss this and mistakenly label the President as stupid, maladroit and prone to gaffes such as considering the Bible as an alternative to a more solid work on philosophy.
The Kerry advocates are going to receive a great surprise as are the people whose family values incorporate the hate and rancor described above. Unfortunately, it is a well known fact that the average person can identify or know about 2000 people, but his or her social network at any given time is comprised of no more than 20. The RATS personal networks consist of people all with the same view and they absolutely have no understanding of the average exurban or suburban voter who is really a traditional or a and a "left behind."person.
Since I was a guest, it was difficult for me to not remind them that if the US was not taking care of their freedom, then they would also have to militarize.
I did get a jab in two in though about people in the US who love to "sit on the porch", and call 911 when they have a toothache.
If sKerry were to get elected, then and after he dismantles our military, CANADIANS TAKE HEED!
The COO of my company is a rabid dem and Bush hater, bless his heart. I love him like a son. He's been with me for almost 20 years. Well paid, with a wife who makes big dough. He took a leadership position with the local Dem Committee and has been working hard for them.
Last week, he went to the Dr. with elevated blood pressure due, he says, to the strain of the campaign. He is so into it, it is affecting his health!! In spite of the fact that he eats well and exercises an hour a day.
Unfortunately, I am convinced his problem is that he has bought into the Michael Moore, DU, Move On and is so full of rage toward Bush, it's driving him nuts.
OTOH, a black friend of mine, previously a Kerry supporter and Bush hater, changed his mind after the last debate and will be voting for W.
The COO of my company is a rabid dem and Bush hater, bless his heart. I love him like a son. He's been with me for almost 20 years. Well paid, with a wife who makes big dough. He took a leadership position with the local Dem Committee and has been working hard for them.
Last week, he went to the Dr. with elevated blood pressure due, he says, to the strain of the campaign. He is so into it, it is affecting his health!! In spite of the fact that he eats well and exercises an hour a day.
Unfortunately, I am convinced his problem is that he has bought into the Michael Moore, DU, Move On and is so full of rage toward Bush, it's driving him nuts.
OTOH, a black friend of mine, previously a Kerry supporter and Bush hater, changed his mind after the last debate and will be voting for W.
My 13 year old gets verbal peer abuse frequently at his school because he likes George Bush. He isn't confrontational and blows them off.
My 17 year old wears Birkenstocks, has ear plugs, and wears a Bush/Cheney 2004 button at on his belt loop.
The liberal kids at school have stopped asking him why he he likes Bush becuase he verbally destroys every one of their arguments for Kerry and puts them in a position where they looked really stupid. He says it not that hard to do when the crux of their argument is "Bush is dumb".
I recommend that we start peppering the Justice Department with demands for prosecution.
They become democRATs.
Sounds like you'd plan on calling John Edwards, too...
I was making calls at the BC04 HQ yesterday and I was in the process of leaving a message. The person picked up the phone in the middle of my message and screamed "F@## Bush, lying bas@#%$" soooooo loud that several volunteers across the room heard him. I said, "Excuse me sir, I didn't hear you, of course he slammed the phone down.
He was demonstrating his tolerance for other points of view. ;-)
Now we have Osama bin Laden repeating the same hate filled rhetoric produced by Michael Moore. And the left STILL seems to think they are correct. They hate our President for the same reasons Osama hates him? Do they realize what they have become? Where they are? I'm sure wearing a Bush/Cheney tee shirt or bumper sticker in Beiruit will have the same reaction as that in Santa Monica.
...and without having been taught any critical thinking skills or respect for free speech or our democratic processes.
Oh how the liberals love to manipule a dumbed down populace.
The Left ran loose in the WH for eight endless years. They made themselves very comfortable and decided they were entitled. Power mad and frustrated, they'll do or say anything to get it back. Think how Hill left the WH, stealing everything in sight because she felt entitled. Everything is HERS by right. Nobody else has rights, just RATS. Kerry's statement during the primaries...'Sit down and shut up!... 'That's not Your business. It's MY business...' Arrogance, rage, very sick individuals and dangerous, esp. when we're at war.
Oh how the liberals love to manipule a dumbed down populace.
On Fox Report tonight they had a segment about a POLL WORKER telling people to vote for Kerry! It was in North Carolina (I think they said Charleston). Interviewed a doctor and several other people who were voting for Bush. The doctor made the remark that thousands of soldiers through the years had died so that he could cast his vote without intimidation. A lady who was told to vote for Kerry by the worker filed a complaint (with the local GOP and the Office of Elections or whatever it is called there) A camera followed her to the office of the administration official over voting irregularities and he could not give a definitive answer on how he was going to handle this matter...amazing...huh
And we we had a truly free, independent press, all of this would be exposed and compared for all to see to suitable historical precedents, like, oh, Germany in the 1930s, Russia in 1917 and in the following years. But we have partisan media, pretending to be objective, and we ourselves demand the impossible, objective media. In the end, democracy, as practiced here, don't work!
What a pleasant irony that would be! In fact I believe that we Republicans are too polite, too reserved, too concerned with being "nice," and it might not be a bad thing to use the weapons of the left against them. If they would deny by violence my constitutional right to vote, I would do what it takes to stop them, on this side of the law.
And highly illegal. Of course, RATs think laws are multiple choice.
When I was training to work the polls, they told us that if someone even comes to the polls wearing a button or t-shirt endorsing a certain candidate, that we had to make them remove it or go home and change before they'd be allowed to vote.
And in the fwiw department, it ain't going to happen. Trust me.
5.56mm
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.