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I'm only bothered when coarse dialogue and imagery is employed outside this forum in the name of Free Republic. I'm certain that there are enemies of this forum who regularly send agressive and extreme e-mail missives to media outlets, especially the Limbaughs, Hannity's, O'Reillys and other high-profile luminaries of the "right", identifying themselves as Freepers. When presenting a political position, observation, or argument to ANY government or media player, courtesy and professionalism are paramount. That's how you are taken seriously, and we need to send sincere correspondence to Rush or Sean when they make statements like "the Freepers are in hysterics" etc. Colorful banter within these walls is plain old fun, but nobody who sends a rambling rant to a Chris Matthews has any right to present any connection with this forum. There were 48,500,000 Americans who voted for George W. Bush that have never registered with this forum. It doesn't carry that much weight in the real world, positively or negatively. People could organize new political parties, strategize political solutions to large crises (illegals, vote fraud) and use the forum as a real tool. They don't, this is a place to play philosopher king, vent their frustrations with the world and find a community of similarly disenchanted and isolated bretheren to hang with. That's fine, and it's always been DFUs songs, Registered's editorial artwork and smart mouthing the political class - not a Jim Lehrer drones with Norman Orenstein comity, that has made this place important and habit-forming.

"That's fine, and it's always been DFUs songs, Registered's editorial artwork and smart mouthing the political class - not a Jim Lehrer drones with Norman Orenstein comity, that has made this place important and habit-forming."

Partially. I would submit that early on the ideological debates, intelligent discussion, commaderie, software, and general courtesy were a draw as well. The phenomenal growth of FR has attracted attention from all our institutions. It is simply bad form and bad PR to resort to silly names. Remember, it's the middle that we are trying to convince that our way is best. Why turn them off with the absence of civility? But then, that's why I've always been more interested in the RL activism.

This is a street corner and whatever the vinacular is at the time, will reign. In the early days of FR the verbage was articulate, reasoned, and courteous and helped to draw the attention of some powerful allies. IMO, the current tone of this forum has hurt more than helped the general cause of liberty, although I realize it's also helped lower the blood preasure of some, and I also realized we're more than a little ticked after 9/11.