Posted on 04/14/2005 1:29:19 PM PDT by TomB
I have Republican friends. Really, I do. They may not be the "drop by anytime" sort of friends, but we can definitely have lunch without a fistfight. The Republicans I call friends are straight shooters. Most are fiscally conservative, favor a limited government and beefed-up military, and oppose government social programs.
Most times, we debate, disagree, then move on to more agreeable topics. With straight shooters, there are always agreeable topics.
Former Sen. John Danforth seems like a fire-from-the-hip sort of guy. His recent comments about his party's intervention in the Terri Schiavo case, and its opposition to stem cell research, were refreshingly bold.
"Republicans have transformed our party into the political arm of conservative Christians," Danforth said.
Wow! I've heard a lot of cowboy talk, holy roller babble and frothy freedom cliches from the GOP, but Danforth's comments seemed timely and level-headed. He and I would most likely find agreeable topics to discuss over lunch.
**snip**
I've noticed that comedian Bill Maher has been doing a bit of reaching out himself lately. Several times on his show, "Real Time with Bill Maher," he's encouraged more conservatives to join his audience. Maher's even conceded that his criticism of President George W. Bush's activities in Iraq may have been at least partly wrong.
"Look, on the long-range, big picture of getting the freedom-and-democracy ball rolling in the Middle East, maybe these guys had it right," Maher said on his show Friday.
Sounds to me like Maher's buying into the bait-and-switch rhetoric of the Bush clan. Maybe I would, too, if they were straight shooters. But, before the Iraq invasion, the rallying cry was against an "axis of evil" and "weapons of mass destruction." I don't recall any prewar speeches about delivering democracy to the Middle East.
**snip**
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
The wonders of the web are the bane of "columnists" like Mr. Brown.
Looks like Glenn has added more to the post.
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