Free Republic Sucks

Free Republic Sucks ^ | May 1, 2003 | By Edgar Hall, Political Editor

[Jim Robinson]

Well, well, well. And yet another anti-Freeper site springs up:

http://www.freerepublicsucks.s5.com/crackdownmay2003.htm

We must be doing something right to have so many Bush haters hating us so much.

Well, we wish you luck. You'll have plenty of competition from FR haters.

[HairOfTheDog]

We can work on it....

I will try to be more complex, perverse, frequently combative, and riven with unresolved contradictions!

[Jim Robinson]

No, I did not ask her back and won't be doing so. Looks to me like she left FR a long time ago. Probably shortly after George W. Bush became president (if I had to guess).

[nopardons]

No; none at all, as far as I know.

[wardaddy]

There simply is no clearly defined paleo/neo division here or there....

I'm unabashedly paleo culturally and I make no aopologies yet I am just as unabsahedly Neo on power projection and Israel...and I'm a Goy..btw.

I do not understand the acrimony here. There are very few true Buchananite Paleos left here that I see.

This forum is now arguably 50% social moderates who like lower taxes and a strong foreign policy and consider themselves Conservative. They are simply not Conservative in a traditional sense.

The only social issue that most here concur on are Gun Rights and Abortion , but whoa...if you lean too far right on either of those then you are in danger of being a militia member, a redneck cammo clad toothless goofuss or naturally a racist with regards to guns and if you are rabidly anti-abortion like me...then you are assumed to be the kind of person who is paradoxically the reason that crossover soccermoms will never...cross over...in other words a neanderthal.

LOL...I liked it better when it was Libertinians versus Conservatives.

[Dan from Michigan]

I signed back on in 99. I remember JimRob's post on Bush back then. He can answer if he chooses the change in his views on that if he wants. My views have not changed that much since then, but my tactics have. It would not suprise me if that was the case with some of the others here as well, and while I won't presume to speak for JimRob, something similar may have happened in his case. First in 99 I was not a Republican, I was indy. Also, back in 99, if someone looked in the future and found that I voted for Bush, I would have asked him what he was smoking. There was no way it was going to happen. I was wavering between Browne and Buchanan. I didn't like Bush's moderate views on a lot of things, and I also didn't like his dad, specifically for Mena.

Fast foward to the primary. I voted for Keyes in the primary. I didn't view McCain in the same distain as I do today, but he was still Keating 5 man. Primary ended. Still wavering between Browne and Buchanan. I later got a reform party primary ballot. I'm not a registered member of the Reform Party. I was just on his mailing list. I should not have gotten one. He hijacked it. Buchanan was out. In Michigan, he was off the ballot as well. I was probably going to go for Browne. This was around April 2000.

I then remember a few things. The Elian raid brought back the memories of Waco, and all the other stuff that went down in the Klinton years. FBI files, China, Travel Office, Mena, Dan Harmon's train deaths. I still haven't forgotton all of that.

It was closer to the election, and about a month before the election, I made my decision to vote for Bush. The reason was simple. Judges. I did not want any gun grabbing judges out there. There was one other reason. That was Janet Reno. Gore was going to keep a lot of Klinton's people there, and Eric Holder was who I expected to take Reno's spot. That was unacceptable. Andrew Cuomo was another rising star. Still an Indy then, I voted a split ticket and voted for Bush.

The whole Florida debacle then happened, and I was glad I didn't vote for Gore then. I saw the tactics by Jesse Jackson, Daley, etc, and even I was suprised. That was also a start of me actually becoming a Republican.
In early 2001, I met someone who was on Libertarian Jon Coon's campaign in 94. This Libertarian "Could Win". He got 5%. We talked about our views in depth, and his views were almost exactly the same as mine. I then knew there was a place in the GOP for me. I then met Chris Ward, the head of the County party(now my state rep) and Congressman Mike Rogers. We agree more than we disagree. While the RINO's get all the press, they are still the exception more than the rule. I went to a county party meeting, met several of the people there, and then joined. It wasn't the RINO's at the meeting. It was the conservatives. The person that took the chair of the party after Chris did was someone who also had views that almost matched mine exactly. I made the right decision

Now as for Bush, in some areas, he's been great. In foreign policy, he's 10 times better than his dad was, and 100 times better than the last guy there. We just might finally get out of that UN. If nothing else, that's now more than simply a pipe dream. He's been good on tax issues. On some of the other areas, you know where I stand. I will say that I'm damn well glad it's not Gore in there though. There's no way I'm going to turn into a "Bushbot" either. I was never much in the way of being a follower unless it's following sports coverage.

And lastly, does Free Republic suck? If I thought it did, I wouldn't be here. I can't speak for the others, but the mods have been more than fair with me, even when I get my Irish up. If there are those that don't like this site, there's always another. Go there, and do it better than FR. If I don't like how something is done, I go out and do it better. That's why I'm doing with a statewide pro-2a org that was started last February. There are talkers and doers. I'll yap with the best of them, but I'll always back it up.

Lastly, there isn't much use that's going to come from bitching about this site 24/7 and creating stupid ass websites like Free Republic Sucks. Whoever set it up - Thanks for sharing that with us, and congratulations on your 15 minutes of fame. Soon, you'll go the way of Crystal Pepsi, Red Dog Beer, The second lead singler of Motley Crue, or Battlefield Earth. No one remembers, nor cares.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Jim, you've created a cottage industry.

[Jhoffa_]

The only social issue that most here concur on are Gun Rights and Abortion , but whoa...if you lean too far right on either of those then you are in danger of being a militia member, a redneck cammo clad toothless goofuss or naturally a racist with regards to guns and if you are rabidly anti-abortion like me...then you are assumed to be the kind of person who is paradoxically the reason that crossover soccermoms will never...cross over...in other words a neanderthal.

Yeah, but if you watch these two groups I am talking about, they don't focus on the issue or the article that's submitted. No, no..the issues don't matter. That's secondary.

What they do is use the article as a vehicle to continue this neverending primary flameout.

Pay close attention and you will see what I mean.

[ladyinred]

Good post!

[Jhoffa_]

Follow the link, it's hysterical..

It's like a hypertext markup version of Jerry Springer.

[nunya bidness]

Well, like I said, she left FR.

No disrespect intended Jim but that's not an answer. She didn't leave, she was banned.

If you mean did she stop supporting the site? I'd have to say no. She told me about how she would donate money she made from her temp. receptionist job, even at the expense of paying her phone bill, to support this site. In additon, I don't know of anyone here that went to greater lengths to archive and link disparate information in a concise format like she did. She loved this place and spent countless hours trying to present information to document her position based upon a practice perfected here of backing up your position with facts.

If you mean that she left by finding a position less in tune with your position, then I can understand. But that begs my earlier question: Is it fair to say that it's not how she made her position but rather her position itself that led to her banishment?

[wardaddy]

Exactly....it's all run and smear with very little attention to arguing the contention.

If I made the same comments about minorities or women...which I have no reason to anyhow ...but if I did so in the same fashion that rural folks, less educated or poor whites, strong RKBA enthusiasts, and Southerners are here routinely I would be in trouble and the hellhounds on my trail....and I don't mean strictly the AMs.

There is a very very strong undercurrent here amongst a number of FReepers who viscerally despise "culture conservatives" and they are more active than I have ever witnessed before.

Blatant fringers on the other end which really comes down to simply true racists are kicked off this forum handily...and understandably.

Now yes...we also get 3rd rail Libertarians railing against W and DU trolls who get slammed too but what I'm pointing out is relatively new...at least in their strength and tenacity.

[justshe]

The Islam/Muslim factions get pretty intense too. CLOSE to what you describe as "true racists" at times, imo.

[wardaddy]

Two of FR's bigger anti-Israel/Pali defenders got banned just recently.

[nopardons]

I absolutely HATE this new paleo V.neo stuff ! It isn't even credible and makes for further Balkanization of this already Balkanized site. This does NOT further the " Conservative " cause; which, BTW, has been almost completely lost in the inane ravings and battles.

The " culture war " has been lost here. We now have so many CINOs and THEY are the first to call others unAmerican/UnConservative/etc.! Some of this is also generational and it is easy to see just how successful all of the brainwashing has been. On some threads, one might as well be on DU ... so many posts being soooooooooooo PC.

No, I think that lower taxes is the only thing everyone here now agrees on.

It will only get worse, when the election season is upon us. :-P~~~~~~~~~~~~

[ArneFufkin]

Accessing www.freerepublicsucks.s5.com through THIS site makes more sense.

[wardaddy]

I'm glad to see my lying eyes are not deceiving me again.

Thanks.

I'm off to bed...gotta be at work by 9.

I'll follow up in the AM so be on the lookout in your FReep docket.

[Romulus]

Looks to me like she left FR a long time ago.

I suppose it depends what the meaning of "left" is.

[wardaddy]

I forgot...yes we have lost the culture war here indeed. When I came here 3 years ago, it seemed like aside from the pro-drug crowd that the place was full of kindred spirits on social issues.

Now geez...you have to be careful to suggest anything beyond the center on social issues (except on the bang_list) or you'll be accused of all sorts of nastiness.

We seem to have a plethora of social engineers here. The Lott Affair and Women in Combat threads both rolled over me like a "sheepsfoot" over warm butter. I thought I was at the DNC...lol

[nopardons]

What happened is, you have an open mind and you've grown up. Political reality has hit you over the head and your eyes were opened. Most, who are called " Bushbots " aren't. They've just seen reality earlier than you did.

The political naifs, blinkered and earplugged, with turned off brains, will never " get it " and either go off to an anti-FR site, or stay here and cavil; never seeing anything but what's in their own imaginations. Unlike you, they don't do anything in the real world and are just virtual warriors, pounding away at their keyboards.

Great post; thank you for saying everything you have .

[nopardons]

Exactly so ! :-)