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I think the owners, and a lot of the conservatives, think that there is a lot of distraction here lately and a little purging of the riff-raff might make this a more focused and useful forum.

You're itching for a good purge, eh, Josef?

Trolls are thrown out every day, with no fanfare whatsoever.

I don't care if people stay or go myself, but I could care less if people threaten to leave because their positions are rightly questioned as being non-conservative.

I do think there are others who wouldn't miss people who might leave because they were always questioned on their politics.

The opus is a time-honored tradition here. Either use it, or stand and defend your ideas. either is fine with me. But all of this "come on, you need to stop being so conservative, or else we won't donate money to the site", or the "if Rudy isn't acceptable, we'll stop posting and you'll miss us", I just don't think that argument is going to sway those who find Rudy unacceptable.

I'll readily admit that my characterizations above are caractatures, simplifications and distortions. It's a perception about what the argument is, meant only for illustrative purposes.

I've been able to have cogent, meaningful discussions of policy with Rudy supporters in this very thread, without all the name-calling and threats. So I know it can be done, and the place would be more useful if both sides would unilaterally disarm when it comes to trying to out-do the personal attacks of the others.

But if both sides persist in the name-calling, I'm pretty sure I know which side is going to lose, because I've seen the mission statement for the site, and while the owner is very tolerant of the discussion here it's clear which side he is on.