He's been around a while. I can remember back when he was even semi-coherent.
Don't know what got into him, but he was somehow drawn to our local misfit bunch, and found his real home with them.
Someone (Finny?) postulated that Jim Rob is allowing the PDSers to stay on board, just so that regulars and lurkers can see for themselves how unhinged and unreasoning these people are. In her way of looking at it, he's doing more to help Sarah by letting them spew their bile, than by silencing them.
Interesting take, and there is a certain logic to it. Once she wins the nomination, though, I don't know that Jim will go so easy on them. That'll probably be the point of zero tolerance for any further displays of Palin derangement on the site.
The whole ‘lightning rod’ theory is probably about right. As long as they’re tied up here (or on whatever particular thread) going in circles, they aren’t doing any real damage to anyone but themselves. Makes sense.
If you recall, the day after the first major Republican primary debate, when Thompson was still in the race, Rush Limbaugh stated on his show: "There was one conservative candidate on that stage last night, and that candidate was Fred Thompson."
I don't recall ever seeing any Thompson supporters declare on Free Republic that Rush had endorsed Thompson. They didn't do so, I expect, because they were above lying, and it would have been a lie to say Rush endorsed Thompson.
I remember hearing Mark Levin, during the primaries when Thompson was still in the race, refer to Fred Thompson as "my guy" on one of his radio shows. I don't recall ever seeing one Thompson-supporting FReeper ever declare that Levin endorsed Thompson. Again, it would have been a lie, and Thompson supporters were above lying, even in the name of their candidate.
On the other hand, after Thompson had dropped out and it was down to McCain, Romney, and Huckabee, Rush had a show where he did a segment lamenting the fact that we had such lousy piss-poor candidates. He talked about how of the candidates, Romney "probably" was the candidate who "more closely embodies" the three legs of the conservative stool. His tone of voice was subdued and grim.
Romney's supporters here on Free Republic came out in droves, gleefully posting that "Rush endorsed Romney!" It was a lie, pure and simple, and an easily proven lie at that. Anyone who read Romney threads saw Romney supporters caught and cornered, and the blatant duplicity, the lowness, of Romney's supporters was illustrated, proven, and on exhibit daily here. It was a sight of beauty.
At the very last days of the primary elections, when it was nearly over and the the shocking possibility that McCain might very well win the nomination was clear, Mark Levin penned an actual official endorsement of Romney over McCain, but he wrote it in such a way that it was crystal clear that the "endorsement" was out of pure desperation. Levin made it obvious that he had zero enthusiasm about Romney -- the tone was one of grimness and regret.
Immediately Romney FReepers chortled that Levin was a Romneybot, and they still make the claim to this day. It was then, and still is, a lie, and at the time, easy to prove because you could find the column so people could read it for themselves. Many of us posted the links so lurkers COULD read it for themselves, and see just how crooked were Romney's supporters.
Supporters of ALL the other candidates -- Huckabee, Thompson, Giuliani, McCain, Hunter -- were, within the normal parameters of often heated political discourse, civil, above lying and emoting other than what I would consider average.
Romney supporters, on the other hand, had an MO. They called those who didn't like Romney "haters." They accused those who opposed Romney of doing so out of "hate" and/or out of dislike of the Mormon religion. CONSISTENTLY they, and they alone, did this. They berated those who rejected Romney as being like "children." They were ugly, nasty, emotional, shrill, and they often LIED outright, again and again and again. In fact, it was shockingly consistent.
I figure that the majority of people who read Free Republic never post, but lurk and learn, the same as I do on every other political or news forum. I figure non-FReeping lurker treat FR the same way I treat other news and political forums (I only post to FR, and lurk everywhere else) -- I read them for information and insight, and have educated myself quite a lot; I figure that many readers of FR do the same here.
By allowing the Romney shills to lie about so-called endorsements, pull the Mormon bigotry card, call everyone who disagreed with them "haters" -- and it was a remarkable MO that was consistent and overwhelmingly THE common denominator in Romney supporters -- lurkers could see that, and they could see my and others' posts proving the lies, and pointing out that the behavior of Romney's supporters spoke volumes about their candidate. As indeed it did, and still does.
I believe in my heart that because Jim Robinson allowed those people to reveal themselves in a way that could NEVER have happened anywhere else, informed Americans smart enough to come to FR to learn and get insight on conservative opinion, rejected Romney. If Jim had banned those posters, Romney might still have had a lot of conservatives fooled.
His supporters exhibited lack of honor, lack of ethics, and the willingness to LIE in order to knock out the opposition.
You, Windflier, work against the opposition by using truth, whole truth, reason, and sense. You have too much honor and ethics to resort to deliberate misrepresentation of truth in order to smear opposition. So do I, and so the kinds of people who support a candidate like Palin.
The behavior of people who attack Palin speaks volumes about their own caliber, and the behavior of people who support her, who don't lie and mislead and distort truth in the process of knocking out her opponents in the arena of ideas, speaks volumes about Palin. You can tell a lot about a person by both their friends and their enemies, and you can tell a lot about a politician by their friends and enemies, as well.
I think the candid, spontaneous, well-informed, rough-and-tumble world of Free Republic is the best place in the world for readers to truly see the huge difference between the kinds of people who oppose, and the kinds of people who support, Palin. If anti-Palin folks were banned, it would work against Palin. Palin detractors, like the Romney supporters, are given just the right amount of rope to hang themselves, thanks to Jim and thanks to FReepers who calmly, methodically, and objectively call them on their crap.
Your mileage may vary! ;^)