General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"Innaresting" perspective today...
So I know this guy really well for about thirty years: he pretends he's an independent but his presentation of "both sides" of any political argument goes like this: "I can't believe that the Republicans are doing ---thisthatandtheotherthing (fill in the blank) and the Democrats just sit by and let them get away with that and that they're gonna get away with that because that's what people want to hear or won't believe the truth or whatever. When you present the opposite side he says, "Don'tcha see? It won't MATTER to anyone."
Now in fact, this is unfortunately sometimes TRUE of us, BUT when he is faced with revelatory truths even years later such as "Gore never stated that HE invented the Internet - it was a more complex statement than that and this is what he actually said...", he just laughs and says, "It doesn't matter NOW, does it?" And when you 'accuse' him and his kind of spreading these untruths (read: lies) he says, "No I didn't: I was just repeating what everyone was saying at the time. I never SAID that it was TRUE or not."
Did I mention that he has a fair amount of money?
So Yesterday, he told me that what Bain Capital did was really really wrong. I retorted: yeah, but this was what was going on in those days and everyone sat around and, if you were a Republican, said that it was the natural order of things Capitalistic and that it was all perfectly legal and it was part of the New World Order and that if you complained about these things you were some sort of Commie bastard. Further, I pointed out that with few exceptions, Wall Street being the most notable film, and Barbarians at the Gates being one of the better made-for-TV shows, these arbitrage guys were being made out to be heroes in the media, taking home millions and billions of dollars without having to produce anything. Wonderment ensued. They were "heady" times. and the Republican establishment was gung-ho, so, I continued, where do guys like Newt and his ilk get off criticizing Romney when they were part of the cheering section. They're making themselves out to be like officers of the IWW for crying out loud.
His response was, surprisingly, an angry "NO! that wasn't the way it happened." I responded: "Oh really." I reminded him of the film Other People's Money with Danny DiVito and Gregory Peck which he and I had talked about contemporaneously. I said, "It was so common to put people out of work and close plants that they made a mainstream movie about it and by the time it came out, it was a cliche."
He said to me, "We'll have to agree to disagree." i replied, "No, you try to make me believe that you identify with my particular political view because you think that that's what I want to hear, but in fact, you're just trying to justify the Republican line which has led this country into deep recession, multiple unnecessary wars, and a horrifying political divide which toe the Country asunder. And you know what? You can stop now, because I've got your number and won't engage in this again with you. Look, just SAY that you like the Republican ideology and at least I won't get stupidly angry with you as an individual, because AT THE VERY LEAST, you're thinking that you're protecting your money and your interests although I'd disagree with even that assumption."
He just frigging laughed...didn't deny it for one instant. I'm all done with him politically.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)This is what you're dealing with:
'The single largest defect of modern conservatism is that it has ruined the nation. Conservatives do not have ideas; they have interests.
Conservatives are not thinkers; they are rationalizers who give an intellectual gloss to their belief that an alliance of predatory businesspeople and religious extremists should rule the rest of us.
The wreckage caused by modern conservatism lies all around us, and speaks for itself: If conservatism isnt dead, it should be.'
- DANIEL ROSEN - Washington Post 10/9/2009