A holiday guide to arguing with your right-wing relatives

Salon.com ^ | Thursday, Nov 22, 2012 08:00 AM EST | Alex Pareene

[skinkinthegrass]

Explaining voter fraud, Benghazi and the fiscal cliff to Fox-watching family members..
“The Holidays” are now officially here, and all Americans will soon have to face their extended families and listen to them talk. For many young Americans — specifically young Americans related to old white Americans — Thanksgiving and our various Winter Holidays are extra stressful, because young Americans are largely a liberal, Obama-voting bunch, and old white Americans are mostly not. Unfortunately, old white Americans spend a lot of their time being lied to by conservatives on TV, the radio and the Internet, and while that is not their fault, it can be hard to talk about politics with people who believe an elaborate series of fictions and distortions.

If you actually want to engage your right-wing relatives — and let me be clear, you really should not do this, you are going to ruin Thanksgiving — it’s best to come prepared. Below, you’ll find a series of talking points designed to address some of the most popular current trending topics in the alternate conservative media world.

[Usagi_yo]

I can think of much better things to discuss at the dinner table besides Obama.

Like was story 1 or story 2 what really happened in Life of Pi?

[muskah]

A lot of this misses the point. Any voting unit that is noncompetitive to the extent that the vote is unanimous for one side or the other is very susceptible to fraud. I have been dealing with voting lists for years in many jurisdictions. Election officials are very reluctant to remove voters. Every voting unit I have ever called, or worked on election day has between 65-70 turn out max. This is because over the years many names stay on the list after they have moved or died. They don't vote but they reduce % turn out. Voting units with out bipartisan officials that turn out >90% of their list are very suspect. Those that exceed 100% are fraudulent. This goes for both parties. Republicans are not immune from temptation (don't we know!!)

As for Benghazi, the “out there” explanation is that Obama or his agents had arranged for a kidnapping of US personnel and then an “October Surprise” release after extensive negotiations. No one was supposed to get hurt. Everybody benefits. The kidnappers get something and seem reasonable, Obama gets the credit that Carter missed out on in Iran and wins reelection. One of two things went wrong (or both). Embassy staff was more determined and better armed than anticipated, and killed some of the attackers. That pissed them off and they killed the ambassador, and the rest were rescued by the Americans, or the attackers double crossed Obama.

As for Susan Rice, the parrot of the CIA, that did not work out so well for Colin Powell or George Bush. Revenge is a dish best served cold. Happy Thanksgiving

[Steel Wolf]

While I had my own (and largely non-conservative) opinions when I was in my early 20s, it would have struck my as unbelievably rude and presumptuous to study up on the “lies and distortions” that my older relatives believed in order to be more argumentative at Thanksgiving. The sheer arrogance and lack of class that liberals operate under while retaining the most self-righteous demeanor is breathtaking. I’d have been embarrassed to even consider using a family holiday as a way to “educate my elders”.

[skeeter]

Hey snot nosed Salon readers: how long can a country function with the federal government spending (already at 40% of GDP) $1.40 for every $1 in taxes collected?

[Travis McGee]

Ask the libtards where they think all of the "free food" comes from, and how long they think a "free food giveaway" system will last.

And what will happen when it fails.

[skinkinthegrass]

I know what I believe and certainly don't need anyone or organization giving me talking points on what to say to people with whom I disagree. If you have to go to a website to get a list of things to say to someone you're supposed to disagree with, that in itself is a statement on ignorance. I wholeheartedly agree, I was only posting said article...
"Forewarned is Forearmed"; the motto of the British Royal Observer Corps...
enough said..HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL! :)

[dalebert]

so true

[dalebert]

Right on!!!

[Chode]

100%

[TADSLOS]

Looks like a Twinkie Free Zone.

[cripplecreek]

My liberal cousins are already feeling a little put out because my grandmother wants a special day with my sisters and I next week. She has terminal cancer and wants to spend some time with those of us who are oldest and closest to her without the political sniping.

One reason is the fact that my sisters and I are the ones who stayed and grew up in our little hometown and saw our grandparents every day. The rest of them were raised in liberal hell holes like Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, and Minneapolis, so all things are liberal politics to them.

[Wiser now]

Did Salon steal this story from MSNBC, or vice versa? OR, far more likely, the Dnc has sent the same “talking points” to every one of their Democrat controlled sycophantic media outlets!
Notice how they smugly assume the “enlightened libs” will be the majority?

[YankeeReb]

While I had my own (and largely non-conservative) opinions when I was in my early 20s, it would have struck my as unbelievably rude and presumptuous to study up on the “lies and distortions” that my older relatives believed in order to be more argumentative at Thanksgiving. The sheer arrogance and lack of class that liberals operate under while retaining the most self-righteous demeanor is breathtaking. I’d have been embarrassed to even consider using a family holiday as a way to “educate my elders”.

This is so true, in my 20s I wouldn't have dreamed of starting an argument with my relatives at a holiday gathering. I seems like this kind of "in your face" liberalism was started under James Carvelle and the Clinton administration, and went into hyper-drive under Axelgrease and the "community organizer". It's a truly disgusting form of the liberal politics 24/7 , non stop campaigning that Husein practiced for four years (when he wasn't golfing).

Just the first sentence in the article

...Americans will soon have to face their extended families and listen to them talk. For many young Americans — specifically young Americans related to old white Americans —

really put me off, and showed that the left is ALWAYS in attack mode just like their Communist forebears.

[Anima Mundi]

Do not deign to argue with anybody whose intellect and character you do not respect.

[Wiser now]

Indeed, it is also immaturity, cloaked with the pretense of moral and intellectual superiority.

[VanDeKoik]

Doh!

The homophone gremlin strikes again!

[cripplecreek]

Americans will soon have to face their extended families and listen to them talk. For many young Americans — specifically young Americans related to old white Americans.

This goes beyond the media to the teaching in the schools where marxists like Van Jones and William Ayers have been pushing the idea that the youth have to seize control of the conversation and be the teacher.

[FlingWingFlyer]

I’m lucky enough to not have any left wing piggies in my family but if I did, why would I want to spend Thanksgiving with a bunch of freeloading, leftwing, commie lib piggies? That’s just plain stupid. That goes against EVERYTHING that Thanksgiving stands for.

[Dr. Pritchett]

Everyone, please consider NOT sharing your Thanksgiving table with the takers at all, even if they are family. It only enables them and they don’t appreciate it.

[cripplecreek]

Sorry but that’s a liberal game and I’m not playing it.