I disagree with your analysis totally. As a moderate on many issues I have been through some of the toughest debates imaginable here but anytime someone hits the abuse button and the post goes against the policy it is deleted. The debates are furious but that's the real world...not the canned MSM version.
The problem with most moderates is they can't take the heat when important issues come up and they stay out of the conversation until the storm is over....so the dominate voice here seems like it is more right leaning when hot button issues come up, then they come back out of the woodwork when the storm is over. Just because the moderates like to "hide out" so to speak still doesn't make it a hate site.
You have to dig deeper then the hot button issues to find the heart and soul of FR.
You're mistaken if you think there are no posts or threads at FR that would lead an outsider to label us a "hate site." Perhaps you, like I, have simply learned to avoid the topics and posters that we already know will be unpleasant, and thus we might not actually have a fully developed sense of what's going on here. An outsider will not have enough experience to know what to avoid or not ... he'd just poke into any old thread. The question is: what will he find when he gets there?
so the dominate voice here seems like it is more right leaning when hot button issues come up, then they come back out of the woodwork when the storm is over. Just because the moderates like to "hide out" so to speak still doesn't make it a hate site.
Again, the problem (and the topic of this thread) is not what you or I think about FR, it's what the outsiders think of us -- especially media folks who are predisposed to distrust our views.
The problem you describe is real. The problem with "hiding out" is that we allow "right leaning" to become synonymous with "loud and ill-considered;" and in some egregious cases a "right leaning" poster can be downright hateful. That plays right into the hands of the MSM, many of whom already believe us to be a "hate site."
FWIW, I've spent a good bit of time and effort on those threads, challenging the presuppositions of those whose views seem (to me) to be extreme and/or poorly thought out. You'd be surprised at how much venom can be directed at a FReeper who challenges a loudly-expressed opinion. It's not just "moderates" who avoid such threads....
I have developed a disdain for "moderate" and "independent" voters since the 1992 election.
Personally, I sometimes think I have more respect for idiot moonbats who have at least taken a stand on issues, than I do for "independents" who want to see "all sides of an issue", "seek common ground", "not be judgemental" and "just get along".
I think it was 9/11 that put the nail in that coffin for me.