"A HOUSE DIVIDED" - Pukin's FReeperversary Rant

It is getting somewhat strange around these parts when not only the President, but yesterday the First Lady was personally attacked by someone claiming to be a ‘Conservative’. Can there be any doubt that there are forces among us looking to drive a wedge between us?

A few weeks ago, this forum’s owner attempted to remind all of us of the big picture, that regardless of any personal animosity towards the President or Republican Party over their adherence to Conservative principles, that they are still a clear choice over the alternative Democrat Party rule. At that time, I assumed that FReeper-sanity had been restored, and that some of the negative rhetoric aimed at those in Washington D.C. would be dialed back.

Free Republic is a political forum with a proud history and vision, responsible for dragging Dan Rather from his post, and providing countless radio-talk shows with their daily talking points. FReepers are unique in their determination and energy towards protecting and defending the goals of our Founding Fathers.

We are also quite a powder keg of emotion and anticipation, expecting our Republican majorities to take advantage of this opportunity to make permanent gains in our Conservative agenda. Some might argue that this opportunity has been squandered, but those persons would be ignorant of history, lacking understanding that change cannot occur overnight in Washington, and that this is the way our Founders designed our Republic.

In frustration, impatience, and ignorance, we have allowed this forum to become a haven for those who do not share our Conservative goals. I do not blame our enemies anymore then I would blame a scorpion for stinging me. If anger and stupidity were one’s nature, I would expect the trolls that infect this forum to be angry and stupid consistently, which also makes them somewhat easy to detect.

The trolls are not the problem, though. The problem is that so many of us are allowing ourselves to be taken in by those who seek only to prevent us from going to the polls in November to keep their stinking hands off our government for another term. There can be no doubt, that no matter how disappointing our current government has been in promoting the Conservative agenda, that the alternative, enabled by our staying home will be MUCH worse.

The way to deal with Republicans who have actively worked against our goals is to defeat them in Primary elections. We do not even have to defeat them all, only enough of them to send the message that we will indeed target them if they work against our agenda. It should be the goal of EVERY conservative to see that Lincoln Chaffee is defeated in November. His seat is one we can afford to lose. Were I a Rhode Island resident, I would vote for the Democrat if only to send a message to Snowe, Hagel, Collins, Graham, and especially that bastard Specter that their primaries just got a lot tougher.

We only need to get one of them, and Chaffee is the one to get. It does not really matter if a Democrat takes his seat; he will be junior and mute as long as we maintain our overall majority in the Senate.

The one thing that bothers me here like nothing else, is the simple disrespect of the President. Am I am Bush-Bot? Damn straight I am. If you want to know why, click on my handle to read Southack’s excellent list of Bush’s accomplishments in office. But if Bush had done almost nothing in office, it would be no excuse for some of the slights and disrespect he has received from some of us on this forum.

Some of the things I have read here this past week match in tone what one can find on our favorite Democrat sewer site. Someone calling himself or herself a FReeper was promoting shooting aliens at the border until they stopped coming. Is that what we are about? Obviously not, and that so-called Conservative has been eliminated from this forum.

I think it is important to remember that you and I have just as much responsibility as George Bush does in changing our culture to better reflect Conservative values. Right now, this very moment, Conservatives have the government they deserve. We put them there. They are not our mommies and daddies sent out to bring home our Conservative bread. That responsibility lies with all of us. These Republicans represent us, they don’t serve us. Our job is to pick the best individual and send him/her to Washington in the hope that their CHARACTER will see them through.

This is why it is such a nutty thing to consider punishing the Republican party, when we should be letting them know that we’ve got their back, but if they cant do the job, we will replace them with ANOTHER Republican, instead of handing the reigns of government to the party of anger, hopelessness and despair. We sometimes like to think that those people we send to Washington are different from us, that they are capable of meeting our every need and desire.

I want every one of you to think about what you would consider to be your perfect mate. Maybe some of you think you have found that person. If you are married and totally in love with another person, that is great. Now I want to ask you to think about the last time that person you love, who is PERFECT for you, completely pissed you off. Remember, this is your perfect mate, your one true love. Do they do everything you want them to do? Obey your every desire? If you answer yes, I am going to put you on my troll list.

Those people in Washington do not even cut your lawn, yet you expect perfection. Get over it.

I am issuing a challenge to every person who considers him or her to be a Conservative; why don’t we all commit to a return to HONOR? Do we honor our Conservative agenda when we comport ourselves in disgraceful ways? Is it an honorable thing to suggest that our President is a moron, as I read here a few days ago? Is it honorable to attack Laura Bush or any other person representing true Conservative values?

Some of you might argue that George Bush is not representing Conservative values to your liking. I would remind you that the first thing Bush said upon taking office, is that he was going to be President of ALL the people, not just some. You know that if you followed Bush from the beginning that he campaigned of the very immigration platform he is defending right now. Did you vote for him? Yeah?

If you have ever had a steak at a Ruth’s Chris restaurant, you know that sometimes they bring that wonderful steak to your table with a sprig of parsley on it. I hate parsley. Hate it. If I were to treat my steak the way some of us want to treat our President, I would have to throw out the steak, due to that nasty parsley that comes with it. I can deal with the parsley to get the steak, and that is what I am asking FReepers to do.

Expecting perfection from any person, group or team is a recipe for disaster. George W. Bush is my president. You can disagree with him, you can blame him for your problems if that is your desire. If you disrespect his office, his service, his risking his life to be with our troops in Iraq, his steadfast desire to bring a new tone to Washington, or if you just like the way he keeps Democrats so pissed off they lose their minds on a regular basis, I ask you to treat him and his wife with respect and cut the personal attacks. If you call him ‘Shrub’ or ‘Jorge’ consider yourself my enemy.

Right now, our real enemy are the Main Stream Media, the Democrat Party, and all who follow and support them. If you want to jump-ugly on someone, why not start with those leaky bastards and give our side a break?

"You are so wrong on so many fronts."

Undoubtedly.
But I'm right on this particular front.

"You like to find an issue and push your weight around."

What weight?
Who am I?

"You like to threaten or you will leave,"

Not really.
I have a certain set of beliefs. Most of the time, they don't come into play. When they do, I state them. It's not a "threat", but informational, an advance warning, so to speak. If someone insists on pushing me on something on which I am resolved, I push back. If someone wants a full blown test of wills with me, I fight.
When I care about something, I fight.

"you want to throw away all our work so that you get to put your finger in the eye of the government."

You are throwing away all of your work so that you don't have to back down and give the BorderBots something they desperately want. Why is your not backing down on something unimportant so important that you are willing to blow up everything you've done? Just give them their fence and you don't have anything to worry about it.
Is that so hard?
WHY is it so hard?
Do you want an open border?

"Well - it is apparent that you will not help us -"

I have done you an immeasurable service today. I have patiently and repeatedly, and very carefully and articulately, and without abuse or excesses of purple passion, explained PRECISELY what the threat is to everything you want, PRECISELY where it's coming from, and PRECISELY what you need to do to fix the problem, so that the threat goes away.
But you're angry because I am telling you that you have encountered people who you NEED to achieve your goals, but who are not going to back down and take one for the team.
Are they selfish? Maybe.
They don't think so.
They think they are patriots trying to hold the line against a foreign invasion from without, and merchants from within who will sell their country, culture and future for a mess of cheap pottage.
So, you're not going to convince them.
And you're not going to intimidate them.
And they aren't going to back down.
And they are not going to save all your good work unless you give in and give them what THEY want.
It's as simple and as hard as that.
Why do you oppose saying the words: "We will build a border wall, an effective fence, like Israel has built, from sea to sea." There. That's it. That's all you have to do to prevent everything else from collapsing.
Why are you so stubborn about this?
And why do you think the BorderBots are going to back down on something PRECIOUS to them if YOU won't back down on a THROWAWAY issue to you.
Do you CARE if there's a fence on the Mexican Border?
No?
Then why don't you concede the point, and say that, yeah, to put the Party back together again and save everything, the President has to yield?

All I have done is frame the issue clearly and in precise language. That's doing you a service and the BorderBots a service too. If you listen to me, if the Republicans listen to me, you will save yourselves. If you are just absolutely adamant that I AM THE ENEMY for giving you a bad weather report, then you are going to repeat the error of Bush 41, do the equivalent of hiking taxes, and watch your work fall apart as you lose your allies.
Just stop it.
Agree to the wall.

"so, I consider you one of the enemy."

That's too bad.
You sound like Bilbo guarding his magic ring.
I will answer: "Bilbo Baggins! I am not trying to rob you! I am trying to HELP you." - Gandalf.

"Anybody that is willing to throw away all of my efforts to get a good man in the government for their current issue of the day"

The issues old. I am not "willing" to throw anything away. I want to keep the majority. That is why I want people like you to cut the test-of-wills power-struggle language and simply agree that we have to give the BorderBots their goddamned fence. That way we can keep Congress and not have bad things happen.
Obviously taxes and abortion are not "issues du jour". They are abiding, permanent issues that are anchor points of the GOP. Abandon those points, and you have abandoned your base.

Border control is an old issue, but it has been brought to a head as the issue has gotten more and more out of hand. The BorderBots are a large and angry core constituency. The ANSWER to them is not to fight them or get into an abstract pissing contest. GIVE THEM SOMETHING, something BIG, something they WANT, and you keep them.
Give them their wall, and you keep Congress.

"Why, because after this issue - it will be the next issue and the next and each time you will throw your tantrum and walk out leaving us to do the real work."

Is that so?
What "tantrums" have had that effect in the Republican Party, hmmmmm?
Two thus far:
(i) Bush 41's tax hike. The tax hawks left because Bush lied to them. It was as simple as that. The Republicans regrouped, made the Contract With America, and never proposed tax hikes ever again. And the tax hawks have never threatened to walk again, have they? You have their votes in permanence...until you decide to try and raise taxes. Then they go ballistic and walk out on you.
(ii) Pro-life, Specter, Schiavo and Miers. All of these things were linked. Pro-lifers were livid about Specter, and apoplectic about Schiavo. But when Miers was proposed for a permanent Supreme Court seat, pro-lifers became incandescent and started a slash-and-burn "it's her or it's us" campaign. The President yielded, and the pro-lifers are back.

Neither they nor the tax-hawks are talking about leaving you now. Now it's the Border Conservatives. That's their issue, and there are a lot of them. What is so terrible about giving them a Fence? That is all you have to do.

"Soon, the GOP understands you cannot be depended on and they write you off. They just really do not care if you leave or not - because if not this issue, it will be the next. You are a 'dramatic quitter'. Who needs you?"

You do.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

:)