Posted on 05/17/2006 7:47:58 AM PDT by Pukin Dog
Edited on 05/17/2006 8:30:59 AM PDT by Lead Moderator. [history]
"A house divided against itself cannot stand." – Abraham Lincoln, 1858
It is getting somewhat strange around these parts when not only the President, but yesterday the First Lady was personally attacked by someone claiming to be a ‘Conservative’. Can there be any doubt that there are forces among us looking to drive a wedge between us?
A few weeks ago, this forum’s owner attempted to remind all of us of the big picture, that regardless of any personal animosity towards the President or Republican Party over their adherence to Conservative principles, that they are still a clear choice over the alternative Democrat Party rule. At that time, I assumed that FReeper-sanity had been restored, and that some of the negative rhetoric aimed at those in Washington D.C. would be dialed back.
Free Republic is a political forum with a proud history and vision, responsible for dragging Dan Rather from his post, and providing countless radio-talk shows with their daily talking points. FReepers are unique in their determination and energy towards protecting and defending the goals of our Founding Fathers.
We are also quite a powder keg of emotion and anticipation, expecting our Republican majorities to take advantage of this opportunity to make permanent gains in our Conservative agenda. Some might argue that this opportunity has been squandered, but those persons would be ignorant of history, lacking understanding that change cannot occur overnight in Washington, and that this is the way our Founders designed our Republic.
In frustration, impatience, and ignorance, we have allowed this forum to become a haven for those who do not share our Conservative goals. I do not blame our enemies anymore then I would blame a scorpion for stinging me. If anger and stupidity were one’s nature, I would expect the trolls that infect this forum to be angry and stupid consistently, which also makes them somewhat easy to detect.
The trolls are not the problem, though. The problem is that so many of us are allowing ourselves to be taken in by those who seek only to prevent us from going to the polls in November to keep their stinking hands off our government for another term. There can be no doubt, that no matter how disappointing our current government has been in promoting the Conservative agenda, that the alternative, enabled by our staying home will be MUCH worse.
The way to deal with Republicans who have actively worked against our goals is to defeat them in Primary elections. We do not even have to defeat them all, only enough of them to send the message that we will indeed target them if they work against our agenda. It should be the goal of EVERY conservative to see that Lincoln Chaffee is defeated in November. His seat is one we can afford to lose. Were I a Rhode Island resident, I would vote for the Democrat if only to send a message to Snowe, Hagel, Collins, Graham, and especially that bastard Specter that their primaries just got a lot tougher.
We only need to get one of them, and Chaffee is the one to get. It does not really matter if a Democrat takes his seat; he will be junior and mute as long as we maintain our overall majority in the Senate.
The one thing that bothers me here like nothing else, is the simple disrespect of the President. Am I am Bush-Bot? Damn straight I am. If you want to know why, click on my handle to read Southack’s excellent list of Bush’s accomplishments in office. But if Bush had done almost nothing in office, it would be no excuse for some of the slights and disrespect he has received from some of us on this forum.
Some of the things I have read here this past week match in tone what one can find on our favorite Democrat sewer site. Someone calling himself or herself a FReeper was promoting shooting aliens at the border until they stopped coming. Is that what we are about? Obviously not, and that so-called Conservative has been eliminated from this forum.
I think it is important to remember that you and I have just as much responsibility as George Bush does in changing our culture to better reflect Conservative values. Right now, this very moment, Conservatives have the government they deserve. We put them there. They are not our mommies and daddies sent out to bring home our Conservative bread. That responsibility lies with all of us. These Republicans represent us, they don’t serve us. Our job is to pick the best individual and send him/her to Washington in the hope that their CHARACTER will see them through.
This is why it is such a nutty thing to consider punishing the Republican party, when we should be letting them know that we’ve got their back, but if they cant do the job, we will replace them with ANOTHER Republican, instead of handing the reigns of government to the party of anger, hopelessness and despair. We sometimes like to think that those people we send to Washington are different from us, that they are capable of meeting our every need and desire.
I want every one of you to think about what you would consider to be your perfect mate. Maybe some of you think you have found that person. If you are married and totally in love with another person, that is great. Now I want to ask you to think about the last time that person you love, who is PERFECT for you, completely pissed you off. Remember, this is your perfect mate, your one true love. Do they do everything you want them to do? Obey your every desire? If you answer yes, I am going to put you on my troll list.
Those people in Washington do not even cut your lawn, yet you expect perfection. Get over it.
I am issuing a challenge to every person who considers him or her to be a Conservative; why don’t we all commit to a return to HONOR? Do we honor our Conservative agenda when we comport ourselves in disgraceful ways? Is it an honorable thing to suggest that our President is a moron, as I read here a few days ago? Is it honorable to attack Laura Bush or any other person representing true Conservative values?
Some of you might argue that George Bush is not representing Conservative values to your liking. I would remind you that the first thing Bush said upon taking office, is that he was going to be President of ALL the people, not just some. You know that if you followed Bush from the beginning that he campaigned of the very immigration platform he is defending right now. Did you vote for him? Yeah?
If you have ever had a steak at a Ruth’s Chris restaurant, you know that sometimes they bring that wonderful steak to your table with a sprig of parsley on it. I hate parsley. Hate it. If I were to treat my steak the way some of us want to treat our President, I would have to throw out the steak, due to that nasty parsley that comes with it. I can deal with the parsley to get the steak, and that is what I am asking FReepers to do.
Expecting perfection from any person, group or team is a recipe for disaster. George W. Bush is my president. You can disagree with him, you can blame him for your problems if that is your desire. If you disrespect his office, his service, his risking his life to be with our troops in Iraq, his steadfast desire to bring a new tone to Washington, or if you just like the way he keeps Democrats so pissed off they lose their minds on a regular basis, I ask you to treat him and his wife with respect and cut the personal attacks. If you call him ‘Shrub’ or ‘Jorge’ consider yourself my enemy.
Right now, our real enemy are the Main Stream Media, the Democrat Party, and all who follow and support them. If you want to jump-ugly on someone, why not start with those leaky bastards and give our side a break?
Do it for Pukin.
I knew that you could.
Well, I'd better not hear any of that "teach the GOP a lesson" talk from you then, huh?
We can set the dogs between two fences along the boarder and call it the Bull Ring.
I can't decide if you're brave or just plain foolish. Maybe you need to put on my dunce cap and sit in the corner next.
How long are you going to carry on about this nonsense? Seriously, it's getting old. Why don't we just fast foward to the final episode and get it over with?
I'm late to this thread, Vicomte13, but thank you for that. I suspect you've already been ripped a new one, further down, and I haven't seen it yet. But what you've said, and said well, genuinely needed saying. It's not irretrievable yet, close to being so, but not quite. That's the tattered optimism to which I was referring, yesterday. This still has to get past the House.
LOL! I don't frequent those threads. Maybe I should start?
Why not both? Your case was not convincing.
I'm hopeless.
You haven't and won't.
Criticism still can and will flow from this-here keyboard, when warranted.
You're not. He pulls that regularly with Howlin.
I understand that completely.
Please do not talk to me like I am some political novice that doesn't know what he's doing.
Before I vote for ANYONE I check their voting record, or backround if they haven't been in politics before, to see how they ACTED, not talked.
I don't need Rush to tell me what I need to know. He's a great source of information but he's not my guiding light.
There is a difference between Republican and conservative, and a difference between Democrat and liberal.
Until people understand that the parties will change nothing because the "party faithful" will continue to vote a straight ticket.
There are good and bad people on either side.
“If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately.” -- Benjamin Franklin
"In order to have a winner, the team must have a feeling of unity; every player must put the team first-ahead of personal glory."
--Paul Bear Bryant
Unity to be real must stand the severest strain without breaking.
--Mahatma Gandhi
He whose ranks are united in purpose will be victorious.
--Sun Tzu
<< It should be the goal of EVERY conservative to see that Lincoln Chaffee is defeated in November. His seat is one we can afford to lose. Were I a Rhode Island resident, I would vote for the Democrat if only to send a message to Snowe, Hagel, Collins, Graham, and especially that bastard Specter that their primaries just got a lot tougher.
We only need to get one of them, and Chaffee is the one to get. It does not really matter if a Democrat takes his seat; he will be junior and mute as long as "we" maintain our overall majority in the Senate. >>
Poor fellow, you seem conflicted. None of those you mentioned are "ours," if it is Republicans you're talking to.
And if you would vote "Democrat" in Rhode Island or any place else, come to that, why would any man of sound mind and steadfast adherence to integrity believe anything else you say about being on "our" side?
Not to be unnecessarily particular about your specific analogies, but the immigration issue - especially - and his stand on it goes beyond 'parsley'.
I'm not even bringing up CFR, for example. I'm not sure we'd equate that with parsely either.
We're divided not because our party is 'less than perfect'. We're divided because it appears, in the Senate especially, that there isn't the pretention to conservative values. The Senate feels they can get away with it, because our President hasn't exactly ruled the party with any particular discipline.
The most important example of this is Arlen Specter. There was a quote from him the other day implying that the GOP was essentially the party of moderates, and getting more so every day, and that it was a GOOD thing. The party backed Specter over Toomey (I believe) when they knew better.
While I would agree that it is abundantly clear to anyone not living beneath a stone for the last three years that the MSM is a decidedly liberal organ, I would disagree that THEY are the enemy.
The enemy is our party's belief that it takes one set of principles to get elected, and another to govern.
Unlike liberals, conservatives actually adhere to a basic set of principles and expect the people elected on the basis of sharing those principles to adhere to them as well.
It goes beyond parsely. FR is wonderful from the perspective of being an active, perpetual caucus. It's not from the perspective of its potential for exploitation from liberals.
I'm afraid the good must go with the bad. I'm not sure the President would have even bothered with an address to the country were it NOT for the influence of this forum in particular.
I'm resigned with getting half a loaf from the political process, and often less. In this case, with immigration, we are talking about something far less than that. Our President's stand is going to be a whopping bill we leave for our kids that will compare pretty favorably to the bills we are already COMMITTED to leaving for Social Security and Medicare.
I'm afraid your analogy puts a better face on the situation than what is merited.
Not convincing?
Lemme see - Reagan signed an amnesty and did not secure the border. Illegal immigration increased.
Bush started talking guest worker program without the border secured. Illegal immigration increased.
It has long been a tenet of conservatism that if government rewards bad behavior, you tend to get more of it. And that is clearly the case here. If we fail to secure the border and have either a guest worker program or some kind of amnesty or both, history CLEARLY shows it will only increase illegal immigration as people stream here to be in position for the next legislation trying to deal with the fact that we left the door open.
Brutal is right - I don't think working for the enemy does anything but give the enemy more time in the power seat...
Your premise is incorrect. Vicomte13 is not working for the enemy; neither am I. He has explained repeatedly in this thread how the GOP can win the election and re-energise its base. You simply don't accept the reality of what is necessary. That's what is brutal about his logic.
This thing continues to move in our direction.
Unless this is one of those patented Senatorial-procedural-hocus-pocus-thingies ... the Sessions amendment passing is great news!
Seems to be some confusion, I never brought up GWB. Others did, I responded. You asked me a pointed question about his picks, I answered. Now I'm a complainer,,LOL.
Perhaps you didn't read the entire exchange. Understandable on a thread moving as fast as this one.
BTW, I'll take note of your opinion on GWBs judicial selections, but I still maintain the jury is still out. I can still remember all the talk about how the picks by Reagan and Bush1 were conservative.
I need to get out of here and run some errands. It has been fun, enlightening and there have been excellent responses from all sides of some of our arguments.
Have a great FReepin day.
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