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.
Then we have Mayors who refuse to cooperate with the government on the Patriot Act.
We have to punish cities and states that refuse to obey the current laws too. We cannot let them off the hook. They are part of the problem.
The tagline that I was using recently "Appeasable Border Hawk" can be directly attributed to your thread about the borders and the strong effort to keep that thread civil.
I don't always achieve that goal, but I am trying.
That's what I thought!
Your wrong. It already went down. Think they are talking Conryn amendment.
The demand is always the same, fill in the blank with the crusade of choice.
Your comment wrt the Senate is nonsense. 38 or so Republicans voted AGAINST the bill conservatives claim to hate. That is almost 2/3s of the Republicans in the Senate. And the GOP should be "punished"? What am I missing that changes this way of thinking from Insanity to sanity?
It would be better to just give the BorderBots their fence NOW, and start building it, so we hold Congress this year.
&&&&&
What do you mean by "their fence"? Wouldn't it be America's fence? I hope you have not concluded somehow that I am against a fence because I support President Bush and Republican Administration and continuing Republican majorities in House and Senate.
Thanks, ClancyJ,
Fearless leaders . . . wouldn't it help our cause
--to have a page or dozens wherein from the FR home page, folks could click quickly to find suggestions for activism; things to do to further our Conservative values and cause in various situations? Such as:
1. Things to do standing in WalMart/Super market lines
2. Things to do with your hobby club, sports club social gatherings etc.
3. Things to include and avoid in letters to editors.
4. Priority topics for Conservative causes when speaking to small groups; large groups . . . with supporting facts and references and handouts.
5. Things to do on other forums to influence fair minded liberals and lurkers--priority topics with basic stats, facts and refs
6. Topics to discuss on a drive to guys-weekend fishing trips; gals' shopping weekend trips.
7. Handouts to dare distributing at family reunions--toons and other short potent handout docs from FR.
8. Gracious ways to influence a seatmate on long flights on priority topics. 3 X 5 card sized facts & cartoons to print up for your shirt pocket for easy, quick giving out.
9. Most effective, gracious, thought-provoking, short statements to influence golf mates at the T.
10. Most effective statements tying basic conservative values into basic Christian values for Sunday school and other Christian context discussions.
Agreed.
See! It's a win win.
Most 98'ers joined because Clinton was a rank piece of sh*t who stained the office of the presidency.
FR became a great place to hang, but it's a shame that the "true believers" want to bust up the site. I get contentious cause I don't want FR to lose it's luster.
Democracy sucks sometimes, but sometimes you gotta give to get. The fire breathers have a constructive roll to play; they just need a good beat down occasionally.
Oh, I agree with you there. That is #1 on the list. But we can easily sign in this legislation for business penalties at the same time.
My offer to come help if they need volenteers to help build the fence still stands. All I ask for is a home cooked meal and a couple beers.
We're all saying BORDER SECURITY and ENFORCEMENT FIRST, save for a scant few posters, none of whom I have seen on this thread today.
So, what, do you think you own the place or something? (tee hee hee).
It was voted on and defeated. I called his office and told them I was disappointed but, for him to keep up the good fight...we are watching him.
thanks for the comments
See you're on your best behavior...being in those cross-hairs and all.
Cheers! ;^)
"If the worst happens, a wall would go up rather quickly. This would reverse Bush's low poll numbers overnight."
Well, sure.
But it's the wall going up that would be the key.
So why don't we knock off the nonsense gamesmanship and put the Republican coalition back together by agreeing to the least painful and least expensive thing NOW, while we can still recapture the goodwill of most BorderBots?
We are being stubborn simply to be stubborn (and, of course, in service of certain other political interests which, in the end, are not as important as the BorderBots' votes). We can't afford the luxury of a pissing contest.
The President has made a grave error, the Senate is following along, and the House is standing there like a stone wall. We need to rally around the Republican House here and let the reconciliation committee bill include a comprehensive sea-to-sea FENCE. THAT will give the BorderBots their key issue, and although it will hand the President a direct political defeat, he won't veto it, and it's Republican Congressmen who need to be re-elected in November, not Bush.
There's a way out here, and waiting all summer hoping something BAD will happen so that the President and the Senate will come to their senses is an unfortunate strategy. Because if nothing bad DOES happen, we get a Democratic Congress...and then a GOP minority next year pledging a fence. Give in on that NOW, and the whole cavalcade of nasties is avoided.
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