Posted on 10/04/2007 5:54:18 AM PDT by kristinn
Two weeks ago, members of the right-wing Web site FreeRepublic.com were invited to a picnic at the White House.
The Freepers, as they call themselves, were invited to eat and mingle with the president and his aides, receiving praise from the chief executive and first lady for their work in supporting the war.
Regular features on Free Republic include threats to American citizens and public officials (liberals and Democrats, of course); racist, sexist and discriminatory rhetoric; and much mockery of the president himself, largely because of his insufficiently harsh stance on immigration.
"The only good Muslim," one site regular wrote after the president visited a Washington-area mosque "is an ex-Muslim."
Along with the Freepers were members of the political action group Move America Forward, chaired by San Francisco hate-radio host Melanie Morgan. Morgan's most famous public moment came when she called for the hanging of New York Times editor Bill Keller and laughed along her co-hosts as they talked about putting a bull's-eye on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The president honored those in attendance:
"Everybody is supporting our troops. I want to thank you for doing it. It's important people hear from you. It's important people hear your voice. And I want to thank you for organizing. I want to thank you not only for the grassroots support of our families, I want to thank you for going up to Capitol Hill."
A week later, the same people who threw the Freepers a party wanted any and all politicians to condemn anti-war organization MoveOn.org for a newspaper ad opposing the upcoming Capitol Hill testimony of Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus.
The same people who feted the Freepers and took pictures with them found the content of MoveOn's ad, which called Petraeus "Betray Us," beyond the pale.
Perhaps it was the rhyme. Freepers' posts rarely scan.
I don't know what's more disgusting, that the Republicans who lauded the pillars of right-wing hate turned around and asked Democrats in Congress to condemn MoveOn or that Democrats in Congress meekly assented, as though to their masters' demands.
Brazen hypocrisy at least has the appeal of chutzpah.
I don't know how many times a bully has to kick you in the face before you stop bending down to tie his shoes for him. I don't know how many times Democrats have to learn this particular lesson.
You'd think they'd have learned it in 2002, when Republicans won a Senate seat in Georgia by mocking war hero Max Cleland as insufficiently patriotic. Cleland, who lost three limbs in Vietnam, was derided as weak on national security while his chickenhawk opponent was positioned as the toughest guy in the room.
You'd think they'd have learned it in 2004, when delegates to the Republican National Convention wore Band-Aids with Purple Hearts on them to belittle Democratic nominee John Kerry's war wounds in Vietnam.
You'd think they'd have learned it just by watching the ongoing Republican presidential primaries. Conservative commentator Lee Rodgers recently said Republican Sen. John McCain, another hero of the Vietnam war, was able to coast in his political career because of his status as a former prisoner of war.
"He's had a free political ride for a long, long time because of the 'Oh, poor John, he was a POW in Vietnam' syndrome. But I think the country is getting pretty well fed up with that," Rodgers said.
It's not about patriotism at all. It's not about whose speech went too far. It's not about who was offensive and who wasn't.
Petraeus is a fairly important and powerful man. I bet he didn't go home and cry after reading what MoveOn said about him in the paper.
It's about power. Republicans in Congress have no problem with hateful speech, with questioning patriots' characters, when somebody on the president's side is taking the shots.
They have no problem with it when they can't use it to distract the country from the fact that the Iraq war is getting worse, and there's no end in sight.
You wouldn't think this is something a girl with a Web site would have to tell them, but 22 Senate Democrats and 146 House Democrats voted to condemn MoveOn, voted to say that a newspaper ad was just terrible, voted to clutch their pearls and fan themselves and fuss themselves into a right state.
Hopefully, the next time a piece of legislation this absurd comes across their desks, they'll remember the last time they lay down for this kind of nonsense, Republicans walked right over them.
You a good old ex lib!
A box of tissue for the crying lefty and ALL her issues...
www.First-Draft.com
She opposes testimony of the General the Dims required and asked to testify?
Yep, freepers do make many derogatory comments about those seeking to undermine our military, our form of representative government, our faith in something higher than an all-powerful government, and our respect for those that have sacrificed for the country. Freepers represent a population of decency, personal responsibility, self-sacrifice and support for the values that made this country great. All of this is abundantly offensive to those that seek the destruction of a nation founded on Christian principles.
Oh, jeez, this is the best they can do? Cripes, you read any post over at DU or KOS and you come away feeling like you have to take a shower. It's like every other word is the f-word, or worse. You've got posters over there professing the kind of hate for Republicans that can only be categorized as deeply psychotic and self-destructive. Yet these idiots whine about one poster saying something only mildly contrary about followers of Islam? What a bunch of wimps.
Petraeus is a fairly important and powerful man. I bet he didn’t go home and cry after reading what MoveOn said about him in the paper.
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They really are this clueless, aren’t they? She has no idea what this does to our soldiers and how it emboldens our enemy. No idea at all.
Everything I needed to know about Muslims, I learned on Sept 11, 2001.
Yup, when a Progressive, Lib or Moslem calls attention to someone else's "hypocrisy" they are asking for violence to be commited against that person sufficient to cause their death.
That's just one of the reasons I don't like this Allison person.
Me either. I thought he was secretly inserted into Cambodia to singlehandedly pacify that country.
Note to Ms. Hantschel: I'm a 'Rat. I'm planning on walking all over you, too.
The Reason there is no liberal equivalent of the Free Republic is that most liberal can only post in words with three of four letters and cannot be trusted to speak before a microphone without a very long bleep ensuing.
The reason they are not invited to the White House is even simpler, they have lost all ability to offer polite and reasoned opposition.
Every time we see a vile, offensive, or mean spirited remark posted here perhaps we should wonder just what is the agenda is behind the remark, how many of those making such remarks actually embrace the ideas on which this forum was founded.
I'm a bleeding-heart, borderline-socialist, anti-war liberal who believes corporate wealth is the source of most of the country's problems.
'Nuff said.
Facts and cold hard logic really get them into a snit!
and what's even better is when they try to turn the tables by creating phony outrage we have the power to laugh them out of the room!
BWAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA1
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War hero?
Get drunk, forget the first rule of hand grenades that when the pin is pulled Mr. Grenade is not our friend and you become a "war hero?"
Allison, you dolt.
I can’t help but laugh at liberals still making excuses for losing elections. Max Cleland was completely disconnected from his constituents, and it was his votes and own words that led to his defeat, not anything that occured on the internet.
“Two weeks ago, members of the right-wing Web site FreeRepublic.com were invited to a picnic at the White House”
Where was my invitation?
(Crickets)........
How can trash possibly trash Free Republic?
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