Posted on 05/26/2007 1:49:34 PM PDT by Eurotwit
A few weeks ago – in between Hillary Clinton’s official entry into the presidential race and the first Republican primary debate of the cycle – the fiery online conservative forum Free Republic marked a decade in operation as one of the premier online forums for right-wing political discussion.
It also experienced one of the biggest internal battles to rock the site since the 2000 election of George W. Bush -- a tumultuous campaign year that nearly tore the site apart, as its founder and chief administrator first cleansed commenting ranks of Bush supporters, then, later, rallied to his support.
At the heart of the latest controversy: the fight over the conservative bona fides of Rudy Giuliani.
Over the past few weeks, chaos has reigned in the “Freeper” community as members sympathetic to the former mayor's candidacy claim to have suffered banishment from the site. They were victimized, they say, by a wave of purges designed to weed out any remaining support for the Giuliani campaign on the popular conservative web forum. Another significant chunk of commenters have migrated away from the controversial site over the action, according to a number of former site members and conservative bloggers who have been tracking the situation.
In a plaintive post on the blog “Sweetness & Light,” exiled commenter Steve Gilbert, who says he does not support the former mayor’s campaign, blasted the site’s new “anti-Giuliani, anti-abortion jihad.” Since George W. Bush was elected president, he wrote, “there haven’t been any large scale [Free Republic] purges to speak of – until now.”
The fight began one month ago, when site founder Jim Robinson posted an anti-Giuliani manifesto titled: “Giuliani as the GOP presidential nominee would be a dagger in the heart of the conservative movement.” Then the virtual ax started to swing. Longtime posters to the freewheeling discussion threads, used to serious no-holds-barred web etiquette, were still stunned by the intensity of the anti-Rudy activity; conservative blogs buzzed with the development.
“Jim Robinson has been going on a tear demonizing Rudy Giuliani, because Rudy (agreeing with the vast majority of Americans), is personally opposed to abortions on a moral level…” complained a user on the GOPUSA Web site. “Anyone who posts any support for Giuliani at the site, if it's at all forceful, will be banned.”
(“Normally, we don't allow complaints about other conservative forums,” chided the moderator, but “…because it is being discussed all over the Internet, I'll make an exception.”)
Just a few months ago, Rudy Giuliani placed second in an early Free Republic straw poll; now, his support on the site has been virtually eliminated. “After the ‘April Purge,’ I don't think there are any Rudybots left around here,” noted Free Republic commenter “upchuck” in one recent post. “And if there are, they're not posting pro-Rudy stuff :).”
The forums weren’t the only venue for the Free Republic’s new antagonism toward Mr. Giuliani, which coincided with a wave of comments expressing similar sentiments from other corners of the conservative movement. A few days after Mr. Giuliani’s equivocal Roe v. Wade comments at the Republican presidential debate on May 3, a new “STOP RUDY NOW News & Information Thread” was featured on the site, and a newly-created stand-alone category debuted via a link from the homepage: “The Giuliani Truth File.” (So far this campaign season, Mr. Giuliani is the only candidate – Republican or Democratic – to be singled out for that level of scrutiny from the Free Republic.)
Why Rudy? Why now? Some conservative bloggers and former commenters contacted for their view of the continuing controversy say they believe that site founder Jim Robinson holds ideologically middling Republicans like Mr. Giuliani responsible for the GOP’s congressional loss and current woes. (They asked that their names be kept out of this story for fear of antagonizing the famously frisky site regulars.)
Others claim that the former mayor’s top-tier status is spurring frantic site administrators into action. Finally, one popular theory holds that the Free Republic is secretly hoping for another Clinton presidency that would send its Alexa ratings soaring back to levels it hasn’t experienced since its halcyon days of the Clinton impeachment, when a since-soured relationship with blog pioneer Matt Drudge and overwhelming anti-Clinton sentiment in Republican ranks helped make Free Republic one of the hottest Web sites in the nation. It hasn't recovered that luster since the Bush administration took over.
“It’s not a conspiracy theory, it’s an observation,” said one blogger, who describes himself as a half-hearted Mitt Romney supporter. “They’ve still got a brand name that means something, but they’re not what they were in terms of real-world impact. A Hillary presidency would get them there.”
Robinson himself could not be reached for comment, but his original post laid out his case against Mr. Giuliani – a graphics-heavy presentation of some of the former mayor’s most damning moderate quotes in mainstream media venues, along with a color-coded report card tracking his less-than-doctrinaire positions on abortion, immigration, gays and guns.
Robinson, it should be noted, famously blasted George W. Bush’s presidential candidacy back in 2000, before a dramatic late-campaign about-face that saw him emerge as one of the GOP ticket’s biggest supporters. But whether or not Free Republic experiences a similar election-year shift this cycle, the site’s current campaign is spreading a dangerous primary-season meme of Rudy Giuliani as big-city liberal – and turning one of the most influential web forums in conservatism into an exclusive gathering place for those who share that view.
lol
Worth repeating.
Free Republic: 5,449
Lucianne.com: 46,978
Sweetness-light.com: 265,776
NYObserver.com: 348,579
DarwinCentral.org: 4,013,112
WideAwakes.net: 4,432,408
Really!!!? Well, I wonder then why I was attacked repeatedly by the RudyBots for posting articles from or sourcing information to the NY Observer. They said that the NY Observer was a liberal rag.
I never reveal my sauces...
Since your for Ron Paul it would be no surprise you are glad the Rudy supporters are gone. I would never vote for him in a Primary, but I like his ability to take down anti-war traitors like Ron Paul and HilaryCare. Personality wise he seems like a good guy.
I have no problem with free and open debate. Otherwise you have Stalinistic censorship. Losing Pukin Dog, Peach, Mia T has lowered the level of discussion, not hightened it. You want one thought go to DU.
Pray for W and Our Troops
It’s true but maybe you weren’t overzealous like the zotted ones. I do miss the ones who covered hurricane season. That was a worthwhile contribution to FR.
Why am I not surprised that Clowns would evolve into Darwin.
btt
Valin
Since May 31, 1998
Coming up on 9 years myself.
The Old Days of Free Republic”
Miscellaneous Announcement Keywords: “THE OLD DAYS”
Source: Revel
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a38f46da06828.htm
Posted on 04/12/2000 05:35:44 PDT by JimmyT
A number of people who posted on the “Is Free Republic Really a Conservative Forum?” thread (11 April 00) who had expressed interest in knowing what “the old days” of Free Republic were like.
tell ya, you should have been on Free Republic back in the 1910’s. It was different back then. Sinkspur was only “Sink,” not having yet earned his spurs. Michael Rivero was concerned mainly about the hypothetical explosion of the Titanic’s center fuel tank, which was what sent it to the bottom, not some dang friggin’ “ice-berg.” Ancient_Geezer was simply Geezer. People were criticizing President Woodrow “Billy Blythe” Wilson, and hoping like hell that he didn’t run for a third term (no 22nd Amendment yet). The “Bull Moose” Party ‘brigadiers’ occasionally surfaced, and dished out, well, a lot of Bull. For a while people were talking about whether a youngster with the last name of “Castro” ought to be returned to Cuba. And some were hoping that Prescott “p-scott” Bush would run for President.
The big controversy on FR back then, I tell ya, was whether booze should be outlawed. If booze was outlawed, by golly, only outlaws would have booze! And FR back then had a lot of these danged ‘pro-prohibitionists’ infiltrating, like ash out a chimney.
21 Posted on 04/12/2000 14:55:27 PDT by Jay W
To: Jay W
I tell ya, you should have been on Free Republic back in the 1910’s.
Free Republic was much better in the late 1700’s, I thought. Jim Robinson had just purchased his moveable-type printing press, and we would all stand around awaiting our turn to print our message out. Then we would physically walk it over to a big bulletin board and pin in up. In order to keep track of which message went to which response, a piece of thread was used. That is how the term THREAD was born. Once in a while someone would get so mad at a persons message, they would set it afire. That is how the term FLAME was born. People who did not want to post messages would lurk in the shadows of the room, hoping to remain unnoticed. That is how the term LURKER was born.
At that time, we were all debating the first continental congress and whether we should be a Monarchy or a Republic. The Second Amendment was a very hotly debated topic, but in order that there be no confusion as to our intention, we appended the phrase “A well-regulated militia being necessary to a free society,”. We believed this phrase would completely strip any ambiguity out of the Second Amendment once and for all.
At the time, we were sending the very first Cuban citizen back to Cuba and the newspapers made quite a fuss over it. We all grew bored.
When the New Amsterdam armory had the explosive accident, lots of conspiracy theories were were circulated. The most reasonable explanation was that the Center Gunpowder Keg simply spontaneously exploded. Although there were 180+ witnesses that saw a flaming arrow arc into the barrel, authorities quickly discounted this improbable theory.
36 Posted on 04/12/2000 15:09:16 PDT by Lazamataz
So then taxes have never been cut?
Once CP folded like a cheap suit, their members scattered . You can see many of them at sites like Liberty Post, Darwin Central ,Wild Turkeys, Wide Awakes , and a few more.
IMHO, almost all of these site are Anti- Freeper sites.
The funny part is that the admins of these sites keep saying , "We are not CP" ! I wonder why they have to keep telling their members that? ;0)
Always as pukin dog. That was his squadron!
Go Navy
So which site is the “other site”? Is it the one mentioned repeatedly in the comments to the NYO article at the top of this thread?
If I, too, may make a suggestion, perhaps it is you who have been conscious too long. Get some sleep! Then, get back to FReeping....
You're still a relative newbie, eh?
ROFL!
>>THEN the person says we are are all quislings and should be hung
Just search for his name, the word “quisling” and the word “hung.” You’ll find the two posts that combined for the sentiment, the explicit warning from Jim, the response and then a bunch of threads various places discussing it. I thought Travis and I talked about it but I don’t see that still online.
I thought then what I think now: plug the leak first!
My opinion...Free Republic is the best site, bar none.
It's easily accessed... has breaking, right up to the second.. news
... and intelligent, articulate posters!..
...and much more!
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