Comments Posted By Shane
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I disagree with Rick on many things, but I don't doubt that he's more interested on what's good for the country than winning some argument. In fact, those on the right make up a diverse group who are driven by basic principles that can be expressed in many ways. We can both call ourselves conservative and then debate what that means, but having the debate doesn't mean that at the end of it one of us must be excommunicated - that's not only immature, it's self-defeating. Human beings have been debating the very subjects we're all so angry about for thousands of years - why do so many think that our vigorous debate means the end of the world or something?
Consider nonsense by Dave Ricky:
In essence, the GOP has already left you, as they left me, as they have step by step left everyone to the right of Pat Robertson. They don’t want moderates, they don’t want anyone that tells them they *need* moderates, and their answer to every reversal or success is going to be the same: More purity, less compromise. How long you’ll pine for what the GOP used to be before admitting it is the only question.
My guess is that Dave knows no Republicans - that he lives in an echo-chamber of progressives who spend their days concocting caricatures of their political opponents. He eagerly embraces this partisan perspective of Republicans because that's what he wants to believe - and that's OK - but my sense is that he has no idea how simplistic he sounds. Has he forgotten that the Republican party was represented by a "maverick" moderate in the last presidential election? McCain got more conservative voters as a percentage than Reagan did! This meme that the Republican party is close minded is a progressive slander inspired more by political calculation than fact.
Too often people spend their time attacking the motivations of others they know nothing about. To criticize Obama is to hear again how racist one is. To wonder aloud about man-made global warming is to be anti-science. To oppose same-sex marriage is the hate gays. There's too much of this kind of rhetorical ignorance, and it poisons conversation between ideological opponents. It's a big reason why I no longer visit LGF. Hatred of the religious and the trivializing of mass murdering movements so one can slander people you disagree with is ugly and revealing. Charles Johnson has given in to the paranoia he rails against, and that's a big loss for all of us that enjoy the debate on big issues.
Comment Posted By Shane On 2.12.2009 @ 20:32
McCAIN'S SPAIN GAFFE: TOO PROUD TO SAY HE COULDN'T UNDERSTAND THE INTERVIEWER
In my view there are only 2 explanations: one McBush has no idea who Zapatero is or where his country is located, or two, he truly wants to continue the Bush doctrine of 'with us or against us'. This would mean he wishes to punish a foreign leader for doing what the majority (over 80%) of his people wanted and what he campaigned for, ie. removing Spanish troops in 2004 from the illegal war in Iraq. Both options are scary.
Comment Posted By Shane On 19.09.2008 @ 08:48
www.theendisalwaysnear.blogspot.com
REMARKABLE STUPIDITY AT THE LA TIMES
Thanks for bringing this up Rick - I saw the same thing this morning and just shook my head. I can't say it confirmed my low opinion of the Times - I read the paper with a jaundiced eye...
Shane
Comment Posted By Shane On 20.04.2008 @ 10:27
