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.
No
You just restored my faith in what this website is about.
Thank you.
Some wounds are self-inflicted.
The Jeff Sessions/Heritage Foundation numbers bear that out.
But the President's nationally televised admission that we don't have the border under control ... and his pledging to fix that ... is a HUGE victory.
Troops on the border (as limited as the plan may be) are what conservatives have wanted for many months. It's a start.
The President even spoke of the troops building fences and barriers. It's a start.
And so far the Republican House is standing firm against amnesty.
This is not the time to throw up our hands in despair ... we may yet win this battle.
Good NAV-Check.
Your example, then, proves your point: Persons here who post criticisms of the president or his policies are irrational?
And, presumably, all of the president's actions and policies are wise, rational, and to be applauded?
At least your remark did not seem particularly venemous. But I think it is silly and unhelpful to offer such a broad dismissal of those who criticize the president.
Regardless of who "Joe" is not voting for, it is a slap in the face of every veteran from the Revolutionary Army to present who has fought and sometimes died for Americans' right to vote. I find even just the threat of not voting disgusting. Some American "Joe" is.
Are you kidding? LOL.
Right now, as they chew (or smoke) their 'parsley' they are working on their styles to appear more human and less 'cylon' in their trolling. The fight never ends.
Count me with you. Thanks for your continued efforts.
I liked your post. But you need to know that as a Bush defender, I do not demand praise only. I just find the more rabid attacks to be unpalatable and not what I joined FR for.
If they are out of line, they can be identified.
Any one who disagrees with the President's or Senate's position whether it be Miers, amnesty, or whatever, is a jerk, a Troll, a DU member or a bottom feeder, etc...And encouragement from Pukin Dog just widens the gap...
I've been working hard to oppose the "I'll vote Hillary in and teach the RINOs a lesson" trolls.
However, I went toe-to-toe with many and actually got beat up pretty bad on this point.
For the incumbent RINOs----THERE IS NO PRIMARY!
So, the GOP Party apparatus is set up to encourage RINO-ness in close elections.
For better or for worse, the GOP is not providing a steam-valve to let these trolls vent any meaningful way in an election. (Not that the DNC is either, but the two party system is broken when it comes to prizing incumbency uber alles.)
"PD's rant was good but you have made some valid points here too."
Pukin Dog was dead right about just about everything.
He was DEAD RIGHT that honor and decorum have to be preserved...or restored.
He was DEAD RIGHT that scurrilous personal attacks on the President, or the First Lady (especially! She's not even elected! Why pick on her?), or each other, are bad behavior and need to stop.
He was DEAD RIGHT that targeting certain Republican politicians who are notoriously bad on everything, like Lincoln Chaffee is a good policy.
My hope is that angry Border Conservatives, when they retaliate against the Republican Party, which they will, and indeed - given human psychology and self-respect, MUST - do so intelligently. I hope that the good solid Border Conservatives in the House get good solid turnouts and keep their seats, and that anybody running on a sealed border wins in November. I hope that the BorderBots are discerning enough to see how their Senators voted on the enforcement-first option yesterday, and that those stalwart Border Conservative Senators aren't punished by a GENERAL meltdown of BorderBot Republican defections.
Of course, there were also relatively conservative DEMOCRAT Senators who voted for enforcement first yesterday too. To the extent that Border Conservatives are going to vote their issue, I hope they are consistent in doing so, and don't just vote against Republicans or stay home in a general rage.
My overall point was that the BorderBots ARE going to stay away this year in droves. It can't be helped. It's like 1992 and Bush 41's welching on his "Read my lips - no new taxes pledge." That was unrecoverable by HIM, certainly, or the Republican politicians who supported him. BUT the ashes of disaster taught the lesson, and the phoenix rose again in the form of the Contract With America and takeover of the whole Congress two years later.
The Republican Party has shown it CAN learn.
Unfortunately, sometimes that education seems to have to be delivered by a two-by-four to the forehead.
Realistically, 2006 is going to be one of those years, because of the Border issue. Yelling at BorderBots that they HAVE to vote Republican or they're traitors, skunks, cowards, all three, or worse, isn't going to convince them of anything. It'll just entrench them in their pride.
They have to get their political revenge on the Republicans in November.
I am hoping that their anger can be shaped and directed such that it hits those Republicans who voted against what they want, but doesn't take out the ones who have supported their cause. If they do just that, the Democrats will still win the election, but the Congress will still be close come 2007, so the new Contract With America II, which will include the Sealed Southern Border clause, will not be trying to dig the Republican Party out of a hopeless deficit.
Pukin' Dog is right in what he wrote.
But BorderBots are not going to cast a caucus vote this year anyway.
Not going to the polls is the same as voting democrat.
EXACTLY !
back to reading your rant
You're right, we can.
You are giving it up to the Dems? Surprise surprise. Should I say Bye Bye now or later?
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