Posted on 05/17/2006 7:47:58 AM PDT by Pukin Dog
Edited on 05/17/2006 8:30:59 AM PDT by Lead Moderator. [history]
"A house divided against itself cannot stand." – Abraham Lincoln, 1858
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?
Do it for Pukin.
I knew that you could.
"money..."
Nail:head.
I've wondered often about why Bush would do this, going against what polls say 80% of the electorate wants. I've wndered even MORE about the far more political Senate. Why on earth would they be pushing this, if nobody is calling for it and it's going to tick off a majority of the country?
I think you've got the answer. Perdue. All the mega-construction companies. Tyson is primrily Dem, but i bet they give money to both parties. Follow the money. I don't think it's a conspiracy - just human nature in a political game.
Twenty percent of Nashville is Illegals? Sorry don't buy it.
Heck, they won't even join the border patrol and try to effect their great changes from within.
Great letter.
"The willingness to throw the law away by those calling themselves conservative was breathtaking."
What's your solution on the Border?
The President's is to throw the law away when it comes to the 20 million lawbreaking illegals, most felons (tax evasion is a felony; so is using false work papers), in the US. He says they go "to the end of the line". Which is not where felons otherwise go.
So, what's your solution on the border that respects the existing law to the hilt?
Or do you support the President's plan to continue selectively enforcing the law and thereby throwing it away?
What's your plan?
But it's not a strawman in the context of ENFORCING it.
How about writing a letter yourself telling the President who speaks for you...then get two more people to also write.
It's time the President heard from the people who really did elect him.
You have to go back to his first post to see what my issue is with the particular poster's line of debate.
Oh. That.
I was probably on the opposite side from you in that debate, but you're right. It got absolutely crazy. I had to take a step back and quit posting for a while. After time passed, I realized that what happened on FR (and around the country) was perfectly understandable. BOTH SIDES couldn't help but bring their own baggage to the debate. Many of us on the "Save Terri" side either were disabled ourselves, or had a close loved one who was. It was impossible not to see our own situations juxtoposed in the Schaivo slippery slope. On the other side were a lot of people who previously had to make the heart-wrenching decision to "pull the plug" in a hopeless situation. What they saw were a bunch of yelling, judgmental people sticking their noses in an intensely private situaion and wagging their fingers at THEM. And there we were thrown together with our wounds wide open. It was just entirely too personal for anybody to discuss it rationally.
Except for a few, I don't think this debate even comes close. It's not REALLY personal, just the same old true-believers vs pragmatists debate.
After Schaivo, I was literally exhausted, and felt dirty. It cut that deep. I know many felt the same. Thank God we've got a new "hot-button" issue. I don't ever want to go through that again.
Gawd, that is asinine. First of all, it is an enumerated right to petition the government. Second of all, thank god most of us have private sector jobs which allows the goverment to even exist by being able to tax us and get revenues. And third, one does not need to be a politician to learn from historical failures - quite the contrary, politicians seem to be unable to learn from history. And Reagan's failed amnesty and the serious problems caused in Europe by guest worker programs shows that my side on this debate is studying history.
And the BorderBots could, but are too busy arguing the expedience of broadsiding the waves because they think it'll save time and would rather mutiny to control the tiller on principle at the expense of capsizing the boat.
No, you're not depressing me further. You're just not depressing me any less.
A few more posts, and this is going to go down as a bench clearing brawl. Ha!
Excellent analysis. A more detailed and thorough exposition on the observation that open-borders are supported by an unholy alliance of Democrats and businesses.
This is, of course, how every civilization eventually falls. Not from external factors like overtly hostile enemies; no, it always comes from within through the same collusion of those that benefit.
Imagine Egypt, Greece & Rome all those millenia ago. Factions developed from those who would harness the political power of immigrants streaming in from all parts of the known world. These in turn would combine with those that directly profited from the immigrants desperate circumstances.
We have the power of knowledge to see how this has played out before. It's weird to watch the slow motion wreckage of a 220 y.o. experiment knowing how it all shakes out in the end.
Peddle it to someone else dirtboy.
OK, that's a rough estimate. But you can't use the 2000 census as a baseline - the growth in Nashville since then has rivaled Houston's growth in the late 70's / early 80's. I'd say Nashville's population is pretty close to 750,000 and will probably be up to a million by 2010. And that doesn't include the "donut" counties, which are growing even faster.
Not that I'm happy about it. Too many Yankees and Californians (along with all the illegals) for my liking. Nissan just moved their North American HQ here, so we'll be getting a few thousand MORE Californians! But the good thing about this is that our economy is on fire here. There are FOUR major high-rise condo construction sites within a mile of where I work. It's just nuts.
But I'll concede that I don't KNOW that there a 100,000 illegals in Nashville. Driving in south Nashville sure makes it look that way, though.
I figured your rebuttal would be that feeble.
Peddle your BS elsewhere.
People screaming like Cindy Seehans are though. Even you must admit there are more than a few.
Maybe they are screaming because Bush is failing to listen as he takes the GOP over a cliff?
Good idea. I already send him notes of support when I feel he's taking unecessary heat, including the first time immigration was blamed on him, but haven't sent one recently.
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