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.
It appears that there may be 3-4% of the total population of the US which is Illegal. 11-12 million/300 million. That is consistent with your figure for NC.
These figures are bad enough and they do not need exaggeration for the purposes of argument.
My aunt had a Cocka-Poo you remind me of. That little thing that it was a pit bull also. It mauled a Ford pickup one day...BLAME...reality mets furry Frisbee.
Put in your earplugs,
Put on your eyeshades,
You know where to put the cork!
Dog, who made you moderator? I've been here a long, long time. You have NO BUSINESS threatening me. You might recall that the mods told both you and I to not tangle. I would suggest you heed that and leave me alone.
Mr. President,
I trust that this communication finds you and the First Lady well.
I’d like to congratulation you on the fine speech you delivered the other evening. As I listened to your words, I could not help but compare their sincerity with the increasingly shrill rhetoric of those who have continually attacked you since taking office.
I know you are a man of conviction, a man who follows his principles and not polls; in short, a statesman, and not a politician. I am thankful for that in my daily prayers.
Least your staff become disheartened by the increasing volume and direction of the attacks, I would remind them that “we” elected you to lead us in this time of great peril. When I say “we”, I mean the common everyday Americans who simply go about our daily lives without becoming swept up by surreptitious political agenda or fear of our government. No matter how imperfect our current elected government is, it is “we” who chose it.
We did not elect the journalists who manufacture news and polls to suit their political agenda. Nor did we elect the single issue advocates or talk show hosts who market conservative values for profit. Although they each claim to know the secret to make our government perfect, they do not have the courage of their convictions to run for office and affect change. Instead they attempt to circumvent “our” will and the election process through demands, threats, cajoling, creating dissent and claiming to speak for “us”.
These people do not represent your base, any more then they represent “we” the people.
Stand firm and proud, you are doing a fine job.
God Bless.
In deference to previous instructions from the moderator, I will not post to you again. However, those instructions were to you as well.
Just what we need...letters to the President encouraging him to remain blind to the will of the people.
Good post, and I essentially agree with your analysis.
I don't view the situation to be all that depressing, as I don't view the Republican Party as an effective advocate for conservatism in the first place. There were a few brief moments when the party showed some promise, such as after the 1980 and 1994 elections. But those times have been few and far between. And the reality is, conservatives have little voice in the affairs of the GOP. The conservative rhetoric is there to be sure, but the conservative results over time have been remarkably absent.
This immigration issue may well show itself to be *the* Waterloo moment for the GOP. Unstoppable force meets immovable object. We should remember, though, that American history has shown that new and better political movements tend to rise from the remnants of their predecessors. It happened when the Whigs faded into obscurity, and it will probably happen again some time in the future.
The key issue in my view is to not allow conservatism's star to be inseparably tied to the fortunes of the GOP. There are other political alternatives and strategies that conservatives can adopt. As one of FR's few Democrats, I obviously have a very different view of what strategies conservatives should be employing.
My point here is not to try to convince conservatives to join the Democratic party. It ain't gonna happen, and I'm not going to waste the bandwidth explaining why being a Democrat has it's practical advantages. My point is that other political alternatives and strategies will present themselves given time.
Have faith, folks. Conservatism isn't dead. It's not even in bad shape. As Rush noted in his monologue today, it's the political paradigms that matter.
Very good post, thanks for the view from a different objective. You probably have days as well that you wonder why you are a Democrat.
Several chapters of the CWO association have adopted a campaign to get people to write the President and let him know that "we" support him. The goal includes each person to find two more people to write him as well. It's been picking up steam.
It's time that the President heard from the people who elected him.
The lake was "closed"? All of it? Is thi some Army Corp of Engineers thing?
We're painfully aware of that problem. There have been numerous attempts at rectification in the past several years, most recently by Sue Myrick. The problem we have in NC is, despite being a reliable "red" state at the national level, our state itself is governed by Democrats, and has been since Reconstruction, with the same battling factions actually preceding any modern political party and even the country itself. It's fairly entrenched, obviously, much to the frustration of the conservative majority in the state. We're working on it, and have been for a while now.
Such as the 52 percent of Republicans who are opposed to him on this issue?
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