This is EXACTLY how primary and election seasons are on FR !
I assume your calling me a noob is in jest because you were already here 7 or 8 years before I joined over a decade ago.
You are right. We do get a lot of this during presidential primaries. (I also was a long time lurker when I signed up 10+ years ago.)
However, this season is particularly nasty. What seems unusual to me is that the candidate with the most consistent conservative ratings is getting lambasted by people who support a candidate with a very questionable track record. Participants of this forum are actually citing the Communist News Network as a reliable source and repeating mantras that have zero basis in reality.
There are a few long-time conservative Free Republic members who do not support Cruz, not because they are blown by the wind but because they really are convinced he is not a natural born citizen or his TPP vote proves he is phony. While I do not agree, I can at least respect that they are sincere.
But we have a large number here who quickly fill up the first page or two of every thread with talking points that have NOTHING to do with conservative policies. A lot of it comes from the far left — groups like Planned Parenthood, and every leftwing voice prominent today.
I am leery of Trump and Carson for two different reasons. Carson impressed me initially. He is an outsider and principled. Unfortunately he is not solidly conservative on a number of issues like 2nd amendment. He also does not seem prepared to deal with the reality of gotcha journalism and would resultantly have a huge uphill battle in the primaries since he will get little or no help from GOPe.
Trump does not have a good track record for conservatism. But he is an outsider, he handles the media very well, he has said a lot of things that needed to be said, and he offends all the right people. On the other hand, he also offends all the wrong people, like when he compared Carson to a pedophile, and when he goes on insubstantial rants about Cruz being “nasty”. But it is Trump’s behavior that is nasty. When Trump denigrates Cruz or Carson, he is insulting a lot of conservatives. He doesn’t need to do that. He needs to save his vitriol for criminals like Hillary along with the hail-Satan, baby murdering perverts on the left. Instead he is already talking about getting along with people like Pelosi and Reid. But he can’t get along with Carson and Cruz? In his words, “BAD”.
So, yeah, it does happen during the election cycle. And I want to counter it and talk sense into people.
Rove’s fingerprints are all over this. He wants an establishment candidate like Bush or Rubio. Both have a proven track record in the negative. Their redeeming qualities are being better than the Communist and the felon who are running Democrat. It looks like Rove is helping a normally testy period on Free Republic to become a circular firing squad for conservatives. Rove and GOPe do not care if they lose the general if outsiders like Cruz, Trump, or Carson get the nomination. So any damage they can inflict on these candidates is a big plus to them. The Dems are basically sitting back and watching while the GOPe and Rove do their dirty work for them.