Let's get down to the bottom line of your post.....
Regarding "intellectual wherewithal", I have just enough to understand that the whole world does not have to agree with me, and I do not have to get bent out of shape when my ideas or "heroes" are criticized
You see, this is a serious problem with you self-righteous types who think that anyone who supports President Bush isn't REALLY a conservative.
We are permitted to think Peggy Noonan is completely wrong in her assessment without being called names by guys like RightWingRadio. It happens all the time, and it is shallow and silly.
That's why I asked him if he even understood what 'neo' meant. There are lots of us getting labeled with that idiotic name who don't come even close to it.
It's intellectual laziness, and I see a whole lot of it coming from freepers who mistakenly think they're better than the rest of us...........and from your last line, that apparently includes you.
Regarding RWR, I just wanted to confirm what you meant. When you said the he was "including in his definition a whole lot of long time conservatives", I was not sure if (perhaps on another thread) he had given an actual definition or named names.
I see no insult in any of the conservative prefixes. They are all just shorthand for a loose description of principals. Though I do think neocon is thrown about a bit too freely.
I think the "heroes" line in my post may not have been the best phrasing. You may have taken it to mean "bushbot" or something similar, which is not how it was intended. I have seen the same reaction to criticism-from-a-friend when the subject is other than President Bush. A popular conservative pundit criticizes the conservative "hero" and all of a sudden the pundit is the enemy. It was that reaction (not confined to Bush supporters) I was reacting against.
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You see, this is a serious problem with you self-righteous types who think that anyone who supports President Bush isn't REALLY a conservative.
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Of course that can go the other way with "self-righteous types" who think that anyone who criticizes President Bush is a moonbat, fringer or my favorite (given that this is a conservative board) ultra conservative. Yes "ultra conservative" was thrown out as a criticism on FreeRepublic.
I don't think I am "better than the rest of you". One of the interesting, if frustrating, things about FreeRepublic is that although populated by conservatives I still find people to disagree with. However we are all, the "bushbots", "fringers" and "paleos" on the same team (we may be playing diferent games though :>).
PS I think I have posted more today (on this an other threads) than I have in the last year, so this will be my last word on this thread.
... was that a sigh of relied I heard?