Lets show some compassion for the 23% still out there

[mdmc]

Hey DU!
Recently I met up with two friends of the family. They are both Bush-bots, one with a step son in Iraq, one with a grandson in Iraq.

Please take compassion on the 23% of Bush-bots still out there. I remember a time not too long ago when we here at DU were the 23%'ers.

They thought the war would be over, and won, by 2005. They are still sure Bush can win the war by 2009, if we, as a country, stay the course .

I reminded them that I opposed this war in 2001, 2002, and 2003, because I thought that a pro-west, stable, unified, democratic Iraq was at least 5 hard decades away. We would need to occupy Iraq for 50 years before a stable, pro-west, unified, democratic Iraq could stand on its own. They continue to disagree, and think we can win by 2009 or 2010. "Stay the course! Just a little while longer..." I reminded them that I used to say in 2003 "Time alone, time will tell." I said it again today.

They now admit that mistakes were made, that the neo-cons were wrong to wage war without a plan for the peace, and that the surge should have occurred in 2004, not 2007.

Please take compassion on the 23% of Bush-bots still out there. I remember a time not too long ago when we here at DU were the 23%'ers.

Time alone, time will tell.
They think this is heaven and it really is hell.
TIme alone, time will tell.

[NewJeffCT]

1. I'm not really in a compassionate mood

The people opposed to the war were called a lunatic fringe, cheese-eating surrender monkeys, unpatriotic/Un-American, etc, etc.

has anybody significant on the right actually apologized to those of us who opposed the war from the beginning? I know some have changed their minds and said it was a mistake, or was mismanaged, but has any Republican actually said, "I was wrong, and you were right."

[Ishoutandscream2]

21. Neither am I

I have been called all names in the book, and laughed at as well. These people do have blood on their hands. I can no longer respect their political views. They have enabled Bushco on its murderous rampage.

[Cobalt-60]

32. They have now developed mass amnesia

Its amazing, every one of those idiots who screamed in my face for war seems to have forgotten the event.

[TahitiNut]

2. Strange. It seems we're now the "moral majority."

:rofl:

[liberal N proud]

5. I suspect we always were

The media just told everyone the right wing was the right ones.

[mdmc]

11. we always have been the moral majoity, my friend

:toast:

[liberal N proud]

3. If they are not outraged by now, they never will be

These are people who would give away every ounce of freedom because they were told it was good for America by a talking head.
Sorry, I can't find compassion for that kind of stupidity.

[AlinPA]

4. You're kidding us, right?

[sheerjoy]

6. Um..excuse me?

did they give us compassion when Clinton was going down...er... wait... being gone down on?

NOT!!!!

They are in deep denial...no need to coddle them.

[HughBeaumont]

7. You should ask them what "winning" this "war" means.

I'm curious as to what their answer is.

[Brigid]

18. I love that button!

Where can I get one?

[HughBeaumont]

22. I imagine they sell them or can be made . . .

. . . but that particular pin is worn by Lauren/Sylvia from The Truman Show. Lauren/Sylvia is the character who unsuccessfully tries to expose the show to Truman, yet he always remembers her and thinks he'll find her someday.

[mdmc]

37. a stable, pro-west, unified, democratic Iraq

anything less is uncivilized.

[HughBeaumont]

40. Okay, that's not really "winning".

You can't "win" an occupation, nor can you change the course of thousands of years of history, culture and religion within a matter of years. And the whole "pro-west" thing . . . sheeesh. Between exterminating their ruling family (not so big a deal) and their citizenry (SLIGHTLY a big deal), polluting their ground water and air with depleted urainium, destroying their cities, shooting innocent citizens while at the market or a traffic stop, raiding their homes, corpse abuse, torture, looting, raping . . . somehow, I DON'T think they're going to get their wish on that one.

[AndyA]

8. I have no sympathy for the 23%ers.

If they are still hanging in there at this point, they are most likely not salvageable. We are truly at the bottom of the barrel now.

When I come across people like them, I always tell them to remember the war in Iraq was based on lies. And we invaded a sovereign nation that had not harmed us. Being a threat is one thing, attacking us like the Japanese did at Pearl Harbor is entirely another. I remind them that we were not attacked on 9/11 by Iraq, it's leader, or its people.

I also remind them that the soldiers who have died in this war are gone forever. They leave behind mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters who must deal with the loss and continue on with their lives without the benefit of knowing their loved one. And then I remind them that many of our troops died due to an administration that sent them in harm's way without proper protection or transportation, and without a clear idea of who the enemy was and what the end result would be.

Then I point out that Bush went AWOL from serving his country when he was called for Vietnam, and that Cheney got multiple deferments so he wouldn't have to serve. I point out that these men have no idea of what it's like to fight a war, since they've never done it.

At this point, they are usually long gone, their minds closed to what I have to say, but I still tell them that they are among the very last to see the light, and that eventually they will realize they are wrong, just like the millions of others who once supported this administration and have now changed their mind.

Then I challenge them to step back from Rush, and Sean, and Bill, and Laura, and Glen, and all the others and do a little research for FACTS on their own, independent of anyone else. I explain to them that only when they see the facts first hand can they really form an opinion that is theirs and theirs alone.

I've had a few come back shocked and dismayed at what they've learned. They are no longer a part of the 23%, but they were a part of the 28%. So, one at a time, people are seeing the light. But those who remain in the dark are the ones who likely will never believe they are wrong, even when confronted with the facts. They are in the dark because they choose to be in the dark, and their support for these evil people is enough for me to have no sympathy for them.

They could see the light if they'd open their minds, but the ones who remain likely will not budge.

[zanne]

9. Sorry, but their hands are bloody.

Anybody who offers support to this president while he commits murder is an accomplice, not a patriot.

[sheerjoy]

10. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoo glory!!!

Amen to that!

But, you DO realize that, for some unknown reason, the 23 percent are ruining....er....running...the country right now? Grrrrrrrrrr amazing that we, the people, cannot get a single war THING totally passed or override a veto....

[Pyrzqxgl]

28. and by the Moral Majority;s own standard they are all murderers

violator's of the Ten Commandments and they will burn in hell, right?

[Throwing Stones]

12. I disagree with your major premise

your wrote that "they thought ..."

[Mz Pip]

13. Yeah, and I remember

how compassionate the RW was for us when we were at 23%. Fuck 'em and their high horse they rode in on.

I'm in a kick 'em when they're down mood.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Individualist]

14. Let's not

The willfully ignorant/cultists made their own bloody bed. Let them lie in it.

[Brigid]

15. But there is one important difference.

We were once the 23-percenters, it is true; but we were right, and have been all along. The Bushbots are still happily living in the land of Denial.

[uppityperson]

16. "mistakes were made" is different from "I made a mistake"

I want to hear "I made a mistake", not the qualifying weasel words of "mistakes were made".

[in_cog_ni_to]

17. Lets don't and say we did.

They knew who they were voting for in 2004. They don't need no stinkin' compassion...they need a swift kick in the ass!

[Brigid]

19. That makes me smile.

My dad used to say that all the time. He's been gone for twenty years now. He was a big fan of Reagan, but I wonder what he would think of Bush.

[in_cog_ni_to]

27. :) I got that from MY dad too! He's been gone only 2 years and he HATED Bush

with a PASSION! I can't repeat the things he always said about him because the Secret Service would be at my door within hours!:7 I'll just leave it at...he detested the psycho.

[Brigid]

31. The Secret Service . . .

ought to hear my neighbor sometimes. I'm not kidding. And I thought I hated Bush. Interesting -- when I moved to this town, i assumed that this would be Bush country. It isn't. I have run into mostly Bush haters around here.

[mdmc]

36. There is lots of that going on now a days

:toast: to all the fathers that taught us so well! :)

[in_cog_ni_to]

39. Hear! Hear!

:toast: :toast:

[valerief]

20. Nope. I know some Bushbots, and they're not my enemies, but

I'm not going to make allowances for their support of their faith-based leader. I won't let them get away with their delusional talking points with me.

[THUNDER HANDS]

23. well, except

our 23% lasted like a month, theirs is going on close to a year now.

[coalition_unwilling]

24. I received (another) death threat on Friday from a member of

the 23%. One of the members of our Friday anti-war vigil was spit upon by said member. Only the presence of a physically imposing demonstrator kept the situation from escalating further.

The 23% worship death.

[Brigid]

26. That only shows . . .

the desperation and/or the stupidity, of the 23%.

[Bucky]

25. The Iraq adventure was never opposed by 23% of the country.

Even at the height of the hype, support for the Iraq war never reached 70%. Bush got some good numbers when our army, inevitably, won the ground war. But even then lots of people who thought Bush did it right still thought it shouldn't have been done.

You're right to remind them what you used to say in 2003. I hope you also reminded those "red sheep" in your family that in 2004 they were saying "just a little while longer..." and in 2005 they were saying "just a little while longer..." and last year they were saying it too. When Geraldo Rivera pulled the same stunt with Al Capone's lost cellar, it was funny. When people are dying by the thousands every year, by the hundreds every month, that same "just a little while longer..." line is bit harder to take.

.

[mdmc]

41. thanks for the reply

love the sig line:kick:

[dogday]

29. Sorry, that 23% supports the War my Son fights in

and all I have for them is this

[catmandu57]

30. Is it really 23% now?

I'd heard 28%, last week, that's scraping the bottom of the barrel then isn't it? As for compassion, no, I'm sorry but my compassion for these people ended a long time ago.

[Javaman]

33. What? the backwash? sorry no. as long as they hold on to their

mouth breathing ultra right wing insanity, I don't feel anything for them.

how so few controlled so many. Well, the many have spoken up. so screw them.

[gatorboy]

34. I'm sorry,

you're dumb-asses.


No, really I am. Trust me.

[GOTV]

35. I'll pony up some compassion, when they pony up some compensation....

... for the damage they've done to the country.

[Hubert Flottz]

38. Will that bring back all the dead soldiers from Iraq?

I will show them the same "Compassion" they have shown me.