Statement 1: “And it reeks of hypocrisy because none of them will admit they are voting for Obama, which it’s obvious that they are.”
Statement 2: “It’s totally weird. I’ve never said one non-conservative thing.”
For many conservatives, myself included, your Statement 2 is directly contradicted by your Statement 1.
How is it “conservative” to willfully misrepresent people you disagree with? Conservatism works because first of all it honors truth-telling. You can’t hang on to the timeless virtues, such as the reverence for life, the wisdom of constitutionally limited government, the honor of keeping faith with your allies, etc., unless you begin with honesty.
Yet what you have done, in a single stroke, is accuse everyone here who disagrees with you of intentionally saying one thing while thinking or believing another. You call it hypocrisy, but that’s exactly what hypocrisy is, an intentional misrepresentation of one’s true belief. Are you really ready to claim you know, with “divine” certainty, that everyone here who can’t or won’t vote for Romney secretly believes they are supporting Obama, but just won’t say so? Really?
I am slack-jawed with amazement. And here lil ol me thought I was just imitating my Savior by saying no to political power if gaining that power would injure my relationship with God. I must’ve missed the memo. Because if you say it’s so, then it must surely be the case that obeying God will give evil the win. Huh? Um, maybe that’s in my other Bible. Or not.
Point is, you can’t speak for the conscience of another person, no more than I can for you. Like Paul says, everyone stands or falls before their own master. I get that you’re having a hard time understanding why some here do not see the urgency of the situation the same way you do. But that really doesn’t give you the right to do the unconservative thing and bring false accusations. Defamation, manipulation through guilt and fear, isolating and freezing, these are tactics of the left. We are supposed to be better than that.
So, if you truly find it “weird” that some are questioning your conservative values, it might help if you back off the false accusations and the mind-reading. Conservatives, at least in theory, are more comfortable with respectful, truthful, rational conversation that actually gets at the root issues. Anything else just doesn’t “feel” conservative. Not to me anyway. Hence the weirdness.
For example, what I never seem to see (and my apologies if I missed it) is any ABO proponent attempting to show by logic and reason that maybe it is not a crime against God to voluntarily empower a teacher of brazenly anti-Christian falsehoods. But then again, maybe they know that’s not a winning argument, so they resort to peer pressure tactics, false accusations any reasonable person would resent. I don’t know. I’m not a mind-reader.
But I do know this. Such tactics do not work, they do not change minds, and they certainly do not advance either the cause or the timeless virtues of conservatism. We are deeply stressed among ourselves over the two towering evils set before us, but we really still need to support and understand each other, and find what common ground we can. I feel a Rodney King moment coming on ….
How is it “conservative” to willfully misrepresent people you disagree with?
You nailed it.
In 07-08, there were a lot of passionate Romney supporters on FR. And they all, to a tee, did exactly that.
Passionate supporters of Giuliani, Thompson, Hunter, McCain (actually I don't recall a single McCain supporter!) -- they called each other names, they told each other they were bloated idiots, it came to purple verbal fisticuffs ....
... but that willful misreprentation of the other's position was lacking, at least in comparison to Romney folks. They flat-out lied. I remember on Romney's campaign website, he had a graphic quoting his endorsement by Michael Reagan, an excerpt from one of Michael's columns.
I looked up the original column, and found that the sentence directly following was: "The same can be said of Rudy Giuliani." The column was an appraisal of the range of candidates, very far from an endorsement of Romney.
Even Giuliani folks wouldn't stoop tht low. Not even close! I mean ... come on, what kind of guy knowingly fakes an endorsement? That's creepy.
I swear, honestly, it's a Romney thing, that lack of conscience. His supporters are the only ones who exhibit it. It's amazing to say that Romney, to me, makes Giuliani look good. At least Giuliani didn't go around snatching at any positive comment as an endorsement, and willfully misrepresent it.