When did Freepers turn so nasty? (vanity)

vanity | 2/12/2016 | Optimist

[Optimist]

Over the past several months, Free Republic has begun to show an ugly side of its members. Although admittedly comprised of many strong-willed, opinion-charged individuals presenting thoughtful, conservative insights into the topics of the day, this forum has begun to show a seamier side as the Trump-Cruz-Rubio-Carson 2016 Primary heated up. You all know what I mean. Many of you have either been at the giving or receiving end of EMOTIONALLY-charged attacks against various candidates or even individuals as their supporters.

Herewith a few thoughts I would like to share:

1. Passion for a candidate and buying into the campaign is exciting and important for exposing others to knowledge and understanding more about "your" candidate.
2. Most of us WILL NOT be able to have a voting impact on which individual becomes the candidate, so why such vitriol? A little perspective is really needed. What are you going to do if by mid-March (when only 20% of the country has had any type of primary vote) and your candidate has fallen off the slate? Face it ANY of these candidates are better than any Democrat or potential Independent opposition, and will have a better chance of being elected than nay 3rd/4th/obscure party candidate.
3. When did we turn into the Ron Paul group? Sorry, I don't mean to offend, but you know what I mean: personality driven, my guy can do/say no wrong, I'm going to get in your face if you don't see things my way, and .... well, you hopefully see the similarity.
4. None of the candidates is 100% perfect, but they all have characteristics that are admirable:
   • Trump is politically astute and media savvy, and has made an apparent conversion to conservative principles with support driven primarily by his fight against illegal immigration, and actually opens New York as a potential electoral win.
   • Cruz has a proven track record of fighting and winning for conservative causes, believes (along with other noteworthy legal minds) that he is eligible to be president, and is not afraid to stand up for and convincingly explain his position.
   • Kasich, has a history of fighting for fiscal responsibility, understands the workings of both legislative and administrative politics as well as decision balancing and decision making in an important electoral state.
   • Rubio is the new younger face of the Republican Party (hell, he's the younger face of the 2016 election) from one of the two critical electoral states in the past several elections, eloquently espousing conservatism and having shown his political chops by running and winning against an entrenched Democrat.
   • Bush comes from a conservative background, with administrative experience in what has consistently been a crucial electoral state, with the potential for earning crossover votes from the Latino community.
   • Carson presents the studied, calm outsider's perspective of the challenges we all know we face, speaking for many who are ready for the politicians to take a back seat and let intelligent people of good heart give it a try.
5. Yes there are negatives for all of them, but this is THE BEST crop of candidates we have ever had to choose from, unlike past elections when it seemed inevitable that the hand-picked, it's-his-turn, establishment candidate was chosen for us. And, besides, go back and re-read number 2.
6. And (finally?) a word about pundits: (Glenn Beck, Rush, Fox News, et. al.):
   • Fox - yeah they seem to be coming down pretty hard on "our/my guy(s)" but they are still a lot better than almost any of the hacks on all of the other networks, and why are you surprised that they have a bias for/against any of the R candidates (aren't all of us exactly the same?) when we have always known journalists are NOT unbiased, but just hopefully, at Fox, a little more centered.
   • Rush - has taken up the banner for many of the candidates and refuses (as always) to endorse one in particular, instead cheerleading the positive aspects of each because he knows one of them will be the only way to stop HillBerniBiden.
   • Beck - is passionate and has done exactly what we want "our" media pundits to do: TAKE A STAND! I'm sorry if his choice and their definition of conservatism isn't yours, but at least he has the balls to speak up, stand by his candidate, and explain his principles in as objective a way as you could hope. Considering some of the nasty attacks I have seen recently against different candidates and their supporters, as well as Beck, it would seem we need to put up a mirror so we can each see ourselves as others see us. We are better than that.

Well, this is what happens when one (Ok, I) become frustrated with the ad-hominem attacks against so many good people both on this site, and otherwise supportive of conservatism and the rise of a conservative Republican Party. We are all decent, America-loving conservatives who are driven to strive for what is best for returning this country to its pride.

Please Freepers, make your best case, and trust that whoever eventually runs against the Demobeast will, with God's light, be the right person for the job.

Let the flame-war begin, I have donned my suit! And God bless.

[Shimmer1]

I was on one too that started from here. I still miss it too.

[Shimmer1]

But who is Arrogant Kate?

[Shimmer1]

I remember a poster called Hottie Boy. I took an extreme dislike to him, it doesn't matter why. I insulted him and belittled him any time we crossed paths. I could not stand him! But some friends of mine that I did respect said he was a nice guy and I wasn't giving him a chance and that he wasn't as I was thinking he was. I agreed I'd take another look and lo and behold, I had been unfair. I apologized to him and he said no one had EVER apologized to him for poor behavior before. I never forgot that and try to be fair and to apologize when I'm wrong on here. Sometimes I feel I'm the only one! (although I'm sure I'm not) Sometimes I'm sure (ok, pretty sure) that I'm still wrong once in a while. Grin.

[Shimmer1]

No, there’s grumpy old wimmen here too!
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[Shimmer1]

Wow, the link on your profile page is the most annoying site I’ve ever seen! More annoying than the hamster dance! You rock!

[Shimmer1]

I’m with you on this.

[patriot08]

I’ve never gone out of my way to insult anyone and have never called anyone nasty names or been intentionally unkind to anyone, but there are several on this forum that have called me four letter names which have been left up and not deleted as they should have been.
Such language not only drags us down to the level of DU, but is against the rules.
These people don’t realize they’re showing the rest of the forum their true natures.
I guess some people are just naturally mean spirited and are always looking for an outlet to hurt