Posted on 05/03/2011 4:46:53 AM PDT by Huck
Yesterday should have been a glorious day around here. There should have been fireworks and celebration. There should have been somber remembrances. There should have been patriotic tributes. There should have been shared joy at the news that our guys had finally gotten Bin Laden.
Instead, when I visited the site, what I found was a lot of carping. I found people focused more on the political spin than on the great news. I found people transferring their birther mentality onto this event, talking about Obama faking this news, photoshopping information, etc. It wasn't everybody, but it was a LOT of people. It made me sick.
Yesterday Free Republic seemed like DU. It makes me wonder what the hell is going on. Are Freepers getting younger? I always assume that DU is so pathetically immature because they must be younger. Free Republic has always been a place dominated by great class, and wit, and decency. Not this time. What I saw yesterday was a pathetic embarrassment and totally unworthy of this great forum.
As some of you may know, I was in lower Manhattan on 9-11. I was just across the street from the WTC when the first plane hit. I still remember the beautiful clear blue sky that day. I remember walking in between the towers just a minute or so before 8:46am, on my normal route to work. I remember my co-workers screaming in panic when they watched from an office window as the second plane hit the south tower. I remember women crying and screaming hysterically. I remember not being able to contact my wife to tell her I was OK. I remember people jumping to their deaths. I remember seeing the north tower go down with my own eyes, hearing it with my own ears. I remember fleeing Manhattan. I remember it was a Tuesday.
I remember returning to work the following Monday, riding the ferry passed the site, noxious smoke still billowing from the wreckage. I remember armed troops on the sidewalks. I remember wearing a breathing mask inside my building because the foul odor was seeping in through the ventilation system. I remember thinking we'd really gotten kicked in the teeth. They had killed innocent people, they had traumatized our women and children, and I really wanted revenge. I hung a picture on my wall of the American eagle sharpening his talons.
It has been a long time since that day. It's hard to believe how fast time flies. Then again, if you lost your loved one, I imagine time hasn't gone so fast. I love my wife so much, I can empathize with anyone who has lost the one they love. I can't imagine how that would be, and don't want to know, but I can cry for those people because I know what it is like to find your one true love.
I'm not an Obama fan. I hate socialism. But I am so happy that Bin Laden is killed, and that we have exacted some real revenge. It's about time. The politics don't even play into it for me. I still have the little flag, now tattered, that I flew on my car antenna after 9-11. I want to take it out of storage and put it on my car. I want to see American flags on cars like we saw back then. But it's not going to happen, and partially because the normally patriotic conservatives such as the ones here on Free Republic are instead focused on the politics and the fact that a socialist Democrat was president and will get some of the credit.
I guess you all would have been pissed on D-Day too. FDR was as big a socialist as anyone. I guess VE day and VJ day would have chapped your hides, since Truman was a DEM. I don't mean to paint with a broad brush. I know it wasn't every Freeper acting this way. But when I went on the board, that was the general impression, and it was really disappointing. It should have been a great day here. Instead, I saw a lack of patriotism and a lack of class. Free Republic should be better than this. If conservatives lose their patriotism and class, then what will happen to those virtues? I hope we can get them back soon. In the meantime, thanks for reading.
Respectfully,
Huck
(Re: #42)
Very well said.
Of course, those who were in the lead regarding the "politicization" of this worthy event will stand against your viewpoint.
I suppose that is how it must be.
Perhaps it is even time for a better, conservative, mature website to open up?
However, "LibertyPost" and "TrueBlueFreedom" are chock full of the same types you identify here and do not answer.
Time will tell, but what you relate is factual.
I, like 99.99% of all Freepers, was joyus at the news that bin Laden was dead. But that joy was deeply tempered by the nacissistic and insulting speech that Obama gave immediately after the news broke.
If my attitude upsets you then too bad. Obama is a serial liar and unworthy of the office of President. The whole operation was made possible only because of the enhanced interrogation techniques employes by Bush, and while Obama was poised to prosecute the CIA agents who authorized it, the lawyers who advised Bush that it was legal and the soldiers who carried it out, Obama was more than happy to take full credit while at the same time implying that Bush dropped the ball.
The hypocrisy of this Administration makes me sick. If my expression of that reaction upsets you, then I think you are the one with the problem, not Free Republic.
Well, that could very well be true. It might be he couldn't resist sending just one more message to his followers saying "Death to America."
You're probably right.
Hell....I shoot in the 70s every single time I play. EVERY SINGLE TIME!! Sometimes, it's even lower!
Of course, that's for nine holes!
Amen on all counts.
Bin Laden is likely in hell. The response should not be joyous outbursts as was seen in the Muslim world after 911. Instead, the response should be a time for somber reflection that a man's soul is lost forever, and remembrance of our dead who lost their lives. I
Also....The war against Islamic terrorism is not yet won. It should be a time for solemn resolve to win.
And....( Most important)....It is a time to offer our sincerest thanks to the military who do so much to keep us safe.
Next time, make a quick post in the thread saying exactly what you said and walk away. I think what you will find is a bit of clear logic goes a long way towards dispersing the all the obsessives.
Look at it this way, the next two years is going to be interesting. With the election coming up and all of us finding out (again) that Republicans and Conservatives are two different beasts, we are going to need more clear logic from people like you. I don’t want Obama to lose in 2012. I want Conservatives to win.
I agree!
Full agreement!
IF the truth were known, and from the reports, zer0
didn't sign off on taking down binLaden until late
in this game. Appears, the zer0, was only brought
along kicking and screaming.
Do you think it would have been better to send in a drone and drop a bomb? If his body were in a million pieces, how would his death be confirmed? If a lot of innocent people had been killed, how would that have played out? If they knew where he was and knew he wasn’t going anywhere, what was the rush? Why not plan it with precision, let the SEALS practice the raid, etc? I hate Obama, but seems he made a wise decision this time and I will give him credit for it. No Americans killed or injured and Bin Laden dead. What else could you ask for?
The forum is different now — that goes without saying.
But some of the cynical attitude is brought on by the plain poor character of the figurehead of this leftist juggernaut. I find it hard not to count the “I” and “my” references. It clouds all victory and shades all sunshine.
I am glad our forces got him after so many years of effort. I congratulate them with a full heart for those we lost.
Can they be identified by screen name?
when a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it, does it make a sound?
when a “nutjob birther” posts a thread and people like you skip it, does it make a sound?
No one forces anyone here into uncivil discourse, pick one of the thousands of other topics to discuss or start your own
my 2 cents
(crickets)
there is just something about the malignant narcissist in chief that sets off certain people, permeates every occasion. It was hard to focus on the accomplishments of our military when counting the number of times the punk Barry said “I” or “Me” overhwelmed the message
When I read what Huck wrote, I think he was upset with those who took the strong position that this was faked by the administration and isn't true. He didn't really say much at all about those who were upset with the grandstanding of the dems and how the media is spinning this for them.
There were lots of things to question yesterday even though most of us were pretty convinced Osama was dead. It would have been OK with me if they had buried him at sea by shoving him out of chopper at 1,500 ft. Just release the video and 1 pic of the guy in a deceased state. Now today they are finally going to do what they should have done yesterday. Given the current occupant of the Whitehouse “trust but verify” are the watchwords of the day. I think thats why a lot of folks were skeptical.
You make some good points, but I think you’re reading too much into it. I’d rather have a diverse group of opinions than a monolithic discourse.
I live and work in downtown DC, and felt 9/11 very keenly. I recall vividly reading on FR that Tuesday AM, about the towers being hit, then the Pentagon, and just leaving my ofc and fleeing to retrieve my 3 kids from their elementary school in VA. Sunday PM, the Caps had just lost a close playoff game, and i read that Obama wanted to speak at 10:30 pm and they were saying that bin Laden was dead. i wanted to be happy. i was nonplussed and wary. i wanted to feel patriotic and jubilant. but i just didn’t have it in me. i am suspicious of everything that this president says and does because i know he is totally self-serving. it is not a good feeling to want to be happy about it and yet not be able to muster the feelings.
Actually, Obama kept GITMO open (for whatever reason), sent more troops to Afghanistan (I think they should all be brought home), and kept the Patriot Act. In short, he kept a lot of Bush’s policies. I believe in giving credit where credit is due. And now, under his presidency, Bin Laden has been killed. Can’t you just be happy for that?
We still have plenty of time to criticize his fiscal and social policies and hopefully we can find someone to run in 2012 who can beat him. But for now, I am a proud American.
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