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'That's Not Nice' - "Our political discourse needs more self-discipline" (re: Coulter & Maher)
Opinion Journal ^ | Friday March 9th, 2007 | Peggy Noonan

Posted on 03/09/2007 3:18:12 AM PST by ajolympian2004

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To: saveliberty
There's an edge to this - when politics degenerate from being about ideas to name calling and vitriol, deliberative decision making is lost.

This is not to say that there was a halcyon day when elections were clean; of course not. However, do we see the quality of say, the Lincoln-Douglas debates in the present discourse? Are questions fundamental to the survival of the Republic being addressed by discussing Edwards' possible sexual preferences?

I won't answer that, but merely throw the questions out there.

Regards, Ivan

41 posted on 03/09/2007 4:28:04 AM PST by MadIvan (I aim to misbehave.)
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To: Don W

But why she did that rather than talk about the two Americas on John Edward's lot- that at least one America could live in his house, as Miss Marple points out?

Why throw out perfectly good opportunities and defend a choice that made her feel better, but effectively undermined her candidate?


42 posted on 03/09/2007 4:29:02 AM PST by saveliberty (Liberalism (called Middle of the Road by MSM) = You are free to do as you are told.)
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To: saveliberty

The Left has been able to enact Speech Codes on our College Campuses across that Nation. And now they are doing the same thing in our Media, Business, and elsewhere. Call a Gay Man a Fag and if you want to work in the Media you must go into Rehab. Its crap. You cannot state the truth. If you are an Athlete and don't want to hit the showers with a Gay Team Mate and express that. Like Tim Hardaway you are now labelled a Homophobe. The Majority's preferences are now labelled as hate by a Minority, and the Left.

Ann Coulter was saying this. She was using one joke after another in her Speech. And the Media and the Left went bonkers. Screw them.


43 posted on 03/09/2007 4:30:45 AM PST by Khankrumthebulgar
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To: saveliberty
Had I been Ann, I would have talked about how Edwards' has profited out of buggering the American poor. He built his fortune in cases which has pushed the costs of health insurance to sky high levels, making the abundance of American health care unaffordable to most of the "working families" he supposedly cherishes.

Does he not owe them an apology? Does he not owe them a refund?

Regards, Ivan

44 posted on 03/09/2007 4:31:26 AM PST by MadIvan (I aim to misbehave.)
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To: ajolympian2004

There's a good number of us who don't want to use their tactics. Maybe we want someone to uphold principles and communicate them effectively and persuasively.

Rick Moran, of RightWing Nuthouse wrote that his uncle said now he knew what the traditional Democrats went through in 1968 when the intolerant left took over.


45 posted on 03/09/2007 4:32:22 AM PST by saveliberty (Liberalism (called Middle of the Road by MSM) = You are free to do as you are told.)
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To: saveliberty

You and Miss Marple have a valid point.

Why she went on that tangent rather than a focussed statement is known only to her. I agree that it was the wrong tactic, but the press and a lot of FReepers are making much ado about nothing.

As I alluded to earlier, it's all a distraction to keep us from thinking about and doing things that matter.


46 posted on 03/09/2007 4:34:00 AM PST by Don W ("Well Done" is far better to hear than "Well Said". (Samuel Clemens))
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To: bvw

"We all know how ultra important it is to be perfectly PC at our mainstream Conservative political conventions."

You consider showing some dignity and class to be "perfectly PC"? I'm not sure you know what PC means. Please point to the time in our history when it was considered good and fine to infer that an opponent was a faggot in front of the media.


47 posted on 03/09/2007 4:34:15 AM PST by L98Fiero (A fool who'll waste his life, God rest his guts.)
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To: All
Headline: "Demands increase to outlaw irony, sarcasm, and caustic wit used to attack or expose folly, vice, or stupidity; Jonathan Swift's satirical essays to be 'rated XXX.' Parts of American history to be rewritten."

"That's not nice" to be motto. If we show them they will come they will stop it also, say good conservatives. "It could also prove to be effective law enforcement tactic against violent criminals," said one conservative pundit. [End ersatz news]

Fifty years ago no one would say that we'd be better off if Eisenhower died.

It took all the left's energy and concentration to kill off McCarthy, Chambers, and lesser known anti-communists.

Keep on truckling.

48 posted on 03/09/2007 4:36:24 AM PST by WilliamofCarmichael (If modern America's Man on Horseback is out there, Get on the damn horse already!)
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To: L98Fiero
I seem to recall that we took umbrage when an "artist" decided to put a crucifix in a jar of urine. We expected the artist to be more considerate and thoughtful in what he put out as "art".

We cannot expect this standard if we are not exemplars of it ourselves.

Regards, Ivan

49 posted on 03/09/2007 4:37:24 AM PST by MadIvan (I aim to misbehave.)
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To: Khankrumthebulgar

Are you saying that she was effective for the party and that CPAC was the forum to make that point?

If so, I disagree with you.

Why would this be the overarching issue? Sure there is a problem if Michael Richards can say bigoted things and go to rehab, but is this her party platform? I can think of bigger issues to deal with if she won't.


50 posted on 03/09/2007 4:37:42 AM PST by saveliberty (Liberalism (called Middle of the Road by MSM) = You are free to do as you are told.)
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To: rpellegrini
mzzzzz noonan is a worn and milquetoast writer whose time has come and gone. Her faulty memory shades the past life that influences what she writes about. She leaves one with the feeling that she has moderated herself right into being a liberal dim in a Conservative journalist's clothing!

LLS
51 posted on 03/09/2007 4:37:59 AM PST by LibLieSlayer (Preserve America... kill terrorists... destroy dims!)
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To: Don W

I agree with that sentiment as well. Nobody died or was killed in the end. Long term the only 'hangover' item is that the liberal media has a sound bite they can hammer conservatives over the head with. Does the matter and will anyone care???


52 posted on 03/09/2007 4:38:14 AM PST by ajolympian2004
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To: MadIvan

Precisely.


53 posted on 03/09/2007 4:38:27 AM PST by saveliberty (Liberalism (called Middle of the Road by MSM) = You are free to do as you are told.)
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To: Don W
She definitely did not call him a faggot there, she inferred that if she talked about him she would.

Bit she didn't have to mention her inference.

And if she had kept her inference to herself, or even kept her implication to "I can't talk about John Edwards without being sent to rehab" it would have been bulletproof

But no, she had to play to the fratboy crowd

A very minute difference yes

So minute it would only matter to a wussy girlie-man.

Again: Infer=| imply

54 posted on 03/09/2007 4:39:59 AM PST by Oztrich Boy ( for those in Rio Linda, there's conservapedia)
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To: L98Fiero; MadIvan
"One can be honest, and much more effective ... using an extended vocabulary"

Oh that's not true at all! It is, by one simple example, shown false.

When we started using the "extended vocabulary" expression "child born out of wedlock" and later "single mom" instead the older clear and well-understood terms of criminal law "bastard" and "bastardry" was also when we lost all the common social restraints against such the practice of bastardry and since then have seen an explosion of fatherless children with mothers and children both impoverished for lack of marriage and man.

So too it is with the "polite" modern term "gay"! Instead of the derogatory "fag" we use a term that is at least temporarily polite. What happens as result? The next generation suffers the lack of a clear verbal moral compass as to homosexuality.

Words are tools. Tools have to be maintained.

Would you blunt all knives to make them safe?

The cook and carver will both call you fool for so doing, for a dulled knife is not only inefficient, it is dangerous.

55 posted on 03/09/2007 4:40:31 AM PST by bvw
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To: bvw

"And it is VERY important for YOU to be SO MAD at Ann Coulter! Very very!"

For what it's worth, I'm not "mad" at Ann Coulter. I generally like her wit and sharp tongue. There is a time and place for that. I just think she was wrong on this one for the reasons I stated.


56 posted on 03/09/2007 4:40:38 AM PST by L98Fiero (A fool who'll waste his life, God rest his guts.)
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To: Darkwolf377
Ann referenced in a joke, the debacle that came out of the TV show Grey's Anatomy (Isaiah Washington calling a fellow actor a "faggot". Isaiah had to go into rehab and diversity counciling). She did NOT call edweirds a faggot... but I will!

LLS
57 posted on 03/09/2007 4:41:05 AM PST by LibLieSlayer (Preserve America... kill terrorists... destroy dims!)
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To: Darkwolf377

Any other stories about CPAC other than the Coulter one. Really have heard any. Shameful!


58 posted on 03/09/2007 4:41:09 AM PST by Long Island Pete
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To: MadIvan

marquess of queensbury rules in guerrila warfare?

how civil of you!

give the chaps a sporting chance!

tally-ho!


59 posted on 03/09/2007 4:41:26 AM PST by Enduring Freedom (what does al qaeda and bush have in common? caves)
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To: bvw

perfect!


60 posted on 03/09/2007 4:42:00 AM PST by Enduring Freedom (what does al qaeda and bush have in common? caves)
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