Who fosters the hate in politics? Poster kicks FReeper butt in this

[mistertrickster]

exchange.

My local newspaper has a blog (http://blogs.kansas.com/weblog/2006/04)--they post a discussion topic and people respond. A recent topic was David Broder's uninspired observation that our country is "too divided." Of course, he blamed both parties equally.

I found this exchange enlighting--

I have never seen such widely expressed hatred in my life before. The juvenile name calling (eg. "repukes") and the animosity is unbelievable. This same type of partisan mentality is obviously crippling this country.

Solution? Simple...lighten up. Don't accuse everyone who disagrees with you of being a "neo con" or a "liberal" or whatever other labels go flying around so fast and furious. Try to recognize that other people might have something intelligent to say.

Civility and mature discussion is probably too much to hope for...

Posted by: raptor | April 24, 2006 at 07:22 AM

raptor,

Please. After thirty-five years of GOP-sown cultural division in America (beginning with Agnew's 'silent majority' and 'nattering nabobs of negativism' and terminating in Ann 'the man' Coulter calling liberals 'traitors') and the GOP's addiction to the playing of wedge politics, I have no time at all for Broder's bromides or for your attempt to paint liberals as 'hateful' and driven by 'animosity.' Look in the right-wing mirror, raptor: if you have any honesty, you shouldn't be too pleased with what you see happening on your side of the street. The GOP rules this country by dividing the electorate: racially, economically, ideologically. Hate is YOUR tool, friend.

One party controls all three branches of government to their exclusive benefit. I don't care how victimized you or any other 'conservative' might FEEL, raptor. YOU are in charge. But 'commentators' like Broder then go on to act as if there is parity or equivalence on any level. There isn't.

And more to the point, for him to excoriate Democratic political leadership ignores the fact that the GOP message dominates all media, broadcast and print. Conservative think tanks formulate policy positions that become conventional wisdom. GOP frames are taken up wholesale to become the official story. And the media's relationship to the GOP--particularly that of Broder's own 'newspaper,' the Washington Post--is so obviously too close and so cozy as to compromise whatever he has to say. I have my own problems with the Congressional leadership and the leadership of the Democratic Party. But for Broder to act as if there's a level media playing field is just dishonest. There isn't, and everyone knows it.

We are now in the sixth year of an Administration that has ruled America dishonestly and unconstitutionally, with no regard for anything but the expansion of its own power. This is the crucial fact that Broder is too, well, delicate to mention.

raptor, you sound like every other conservative crybaby who can dish it out but can't take it. This is the environment the GOP has decided it wants: divided, mistrustful, vengeful. Fine by me, though it may mean the death of the Republic. But don't complain, raptor, when your party's tools are turned against you.


Posted by: CF | April 24, 2006 at 08:41 AM


BTW, CF is not I. But I wish I had written this, damn.

[tabasco]

1. That really is an excellent response.

I am usually too short-tempered to fashion such a reasoned response. I have lost all patience with those who still support the criminal administration. They are willfully ignorant.

[0007]

4. I know exactly what ya mean.

This is a classic.

[Xenotime]

7. I agree..

They are not only ignorant but accessories to a crime.

[acmejack]

2. KnR

[sharp_stick]

3. Nice

I can't stand these whining republican asshats. Everytime someone calls them on their bullshit they complain and declare a "war on whatever the hell is pissing them off at this moment". Lately is some stupid congressional aide baseball game, what idiotic pricks.

I for one will never be civil to a republican again, I hate them. I never used to hate them, I actually thought they could be reasoned with, but now I really don't give a flying shit what they have to say. I just want them shut the hell up and I no longer care how it's done.

[mistertrickster]

6. Yup, their philosophy is "win by any means necessary." The Dems

need to figure out that this isn't just nasty politics anymore; this is survival of the party and the country.

[Amonester]

27. "This is survival of the party and the country" plus allow me if I may

this is survival of the environment (re.: global warming), and the human race (re.: nuclear winter caused by massive warheads launches) itself.

K&R

[MikeNearMcChord]

5. Ironically it was Brent Bozell, who had IMHO

the best description of Mr. Broder, "the best American Columnist, who needs to visit America." David Broder is a creature of the beltway.

[mistertrickster]

9. Hehehe, good one. That's perfect. nt

[Canuckistanian]

8. Wow. CF for Congress!

Whoever that is should consider running for public office.

Well spoken.

[Jacobin]

10. Excellent response!!!!!!!!!!

:bounce:

[Burried News]

11. "conservative crybaby who can dish it out but can't take it"

Yes indeed. What bothers them now is not only do we have numbers but we have an anger that is palpable.
They may be dense, but they know we are onto them and we are hot and we are not going away. Burning - you bet I am.

"raptor, you sound like every other conservative crybaby who can dish it out but can't take it. This is the environment the GOP has decided it wants: divided, mistrustful, vengeful."

[sendero]

12. Effing brilliant..

... I'd like to buy that man a beer!

[Catrina]

13. Excellent response to more lies from the right. Karl Rove and his minions

deliberately created the atmosphere of hate that currently exists. For more than a decade, they were the sole voice on hate radio across the country, sadly.

[vickitulsa]

18. Precisely right; and the voice of hate radio

seemed to begin setting the tone for all GOP behavior within a couple of years. I think the Right Wing in Washington saw how "popular" Rush was, how quickly his listeners grew in number and picked up his terms, and they figured, "Let's do THAT!"

Not that they haven't been the part of "dirty tricks" for a very long time. But I remember the very first time I heard Rush on the car radio, killing time as I waited for my appointment in an employment office here in Tulsa. I hadn't heard of him, or very little anyway. So I listened to an entire program, over an hour if I recall, just because I was way early for my appointment.

I never listened to another program of his or even to brief clips of him anywhere at any time, since then. I felt truly discouraged that our country was coming to this back then (must have been around 1990, but I'm not sure). I remember hoping Rush would be a short-lived fad that people would reject. I thought everyone would see through his hate-mongering and sponsors would pull their ads.

Little did I know....

[Pacifist Patriot]

14. Yep, CF opened up a whole can of whoop a** on that Freeper.

Excellent rebuttal and dead on accurate.

[Warpy]

15. Couldn't resist adding my own two cents

heavy on the biblical allusions, of course.

[Norquist Nemesis]

16. Perfectly stated response!

Absolutely beautiful! :applause: :applause: :applause:

[NoAmericanTaliban]

17. Conservatives want to portray themselves as tough & the liberals as weak

but in reality - if any conservative or Bush gets criticized - they run crying to their mommas. Typical bully mentality - they can dish it out, but cannot take it. Always wanting to play the victim when they are the perps.

[mistertrickster]

19. Yup, my new sig line is "Republicans = no shame, no honor."

When they renounce Bush, then I'll have some respect for them again . . . even though I'll continue to disagree with them.

[kevinbgoode]

25. . . .and no morality. n/t

[Rocknrule]

26. It's like in South Park

Cartman constantly tries to start shit with Kyle but when Kyle actually hits him, he starts crying like a baby

[Inland]

20. Even in Reagan's day, you could

find republicans with principles and restraint. Well, you still can, but they are as influential as I am, and it's only a question of when they are going to throw it all overboard (McCain) or fade away (Christie Whitman), and they are to blame for enabling the truly despicable. IF they don't like the association with people like Bush and Frist who are truly beneath contempt, then they should stand up.

[glitch]

21. K & R on the offchance it gets back to Broder, who is either lying

on purpose or too far gone in self-delusion.

[progressoid]

22. Woooow! Very nice!

[SeattleGirl]

23. Wow, that was a terrific response to "raptor"!

Very, very well put!

[linazelle]

24. Should have said: "Hate is your friend TOOL."

Everything else I agree with.

[Emit]

28. Good read. Thanks for posting. n/t

[William Seger]

29. Having lived through those same 35 years...

... CF nails it to the church door. There is absolutely no doubt that certain well-organized, well-financed and determined "conservatives" very deliberately set out to not just polarize the country, but to polarize it irreparably, in the hope of ending up with the bigger half, permanently. Their primary weapon was demagoguery, which preys upon peoples' fears and prejudices to create villains and scapegoats. It wasn't enough to disagree with liberal policies; liberals needed to be personally hated, and the very word "liberal" needed to become an insult.

The strategy worked; it's hard to imagine that the country has ever been more polarized.

But surprise: As ye sow, so shall ye reap; what goes around comes around; and payback's a bitch. Now that the inevitable fate of the "conservative movement" seems to be in sight -- smothered by its own stench -- "conservatives" are suddenly worried about how viciously polarized the public is.

Well, FUCK YOU, assholes. Not all the blame rests on the very real "vast right-wing conspiracy" that brought this situation into existence with its unrelenting propaganda. YOU share the blame for allowing your fears and prejudices and hatefulness to be exploited.

[kiki]

30. "Try to recognize...

...that other people might have something intelligent to say."

When someone says that the president can do whatever he wants, because he has "unitary executive" power, because he's decided he has "unitary executive" power, they don't have anything intelligent to say.

When someone says that all the world's dinosaur bones were placed in the ground by Satan and/or liberal college professors, they don't have anything intelligent to say.

When someone says that increased terrorist attacks are a sure sign of the "last throes" of an insurgency, they don't have anything intelligent to say.

When someone quotes Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly or Coulter as a source in an honest debate, they sure as hell don't have anything intelligent to say.

When someone says that the way to solve the problems of the Middle East is to turn the region "into glass", THEY DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING INTELLIGENT TO SAY.


Bite me, "raptor". Funny how neo-fascists suddenly turn into big fans moral relativism when they can't think of any other way to defend their bullshit.