Posted on 05/03/2011 4:46:53 AM PDT by Huck
Yesterday should have been a glorious day around here. There should have been fireworks and celebration. There should have been somber remembrances. There should have been patriotic tributes. There should have been shared joy at the news that our guys had finally gotten Bin Laden.
Instead, when I visited the site, what I found was a lot of carping. I found people focused more on the political spin than on the great news. I found people transferring their birther mentality onto this event, talking about Obama faking this news, photoshopping information, etc. It wasn't everybody, but it was a LOT of people. It made me sick.
Yesterday Free Republic seemed like DU. It makes me wonder what the hell is going on. Are Freepers getting younger? I always assume that DU is so pathetically immature because they must be younger. Free Republic has always been a place dominated by great class, and wit, and decency. Not this time. What I saw yesterday was a pathetic embarrassment and totally unworthy of this great forum.
As some of you may know, I was in lower Manhattan on 9-11. I was just across the street from the WTC when the first plane hit. I still remember the beautiful clear blue sky that day. I remember walking in between the towers just a minute or so before 8:46am, on my normal route to work. I remember my co-workers screaming in panic when they watched from an office window as the second plane hit the south tower. I remember women crying and screaming hysterically. I remember not being able to contact my wife to tell her I was OK. I remember people jumping to their deaths. I remember seeing the north tower go down with my own eyes, hearing it with my own ears. I remember fleeing Manhattan. I remember it was a Tuesday.
I remember returning to work the following Monday, riding the ferry passed the site, noxious smoke still billowing from the wreckage. I remember armed troops on the sidewalks. I remember wearing a breathing mask inside my building because the foul odor was seeping in through the ventilation system. I remember thinking we'd really gotten kicked in the teeth. They had killed innocent people, they had traumatized our women and children, and I really wanted revenge. I hung a picture on my wall of the American eagle sharpening his talons.
It has been a long time since that day. It's hard to believe how fast time flies. Then again, if you lost your loved one, I imagine time hasn't gone so fast. I love my wife so much, I can empathize with anyone who has lost the one they love. I can't imagine how that would be, and don't want to know, but I can cry for those people because I know what it is like to find your one true love.
I'm not an Obama fan. I hate socialism. But I am so happy that Bin Laden is killed, and that we have exacted some real revenge. It's about time. The politics don't even play into it for me. I still have the little flag, now tattered, that I flew on my car antenna after 9-11. I want to take it out of storage and put it on my car. I want to see American flags on cars like we saw back then. But it's not going to happen, and partially because the normally patriotic conservatives such as the ones here on Free Republic are instead focused on the politics and the fact that a socialist Democrat was president and will get some of the credit.
I guess you all would have been pissed on D-Day too. FDR was as big a socialist as anyone. I guess VE day and VJ day would have chapped your hides, since Truman was a DEM. I don't mean to paint with a broad brush. I know it wasn't every Freeper acting this way. But when I went on the board, that was the general impression, and it was really disappointing. It should have been a great day here. Instead, I saw a lack of patriotism and a lack of class. Free Republic should be better than this. If conservatives lose their patriotism and class, then what will happen to those virtues? I hope we can get them back soon. In the meantime, thanks for reading.
Respectfully,
Huck
When you can’t believe a word out of this administration it is hard to suspend disbelief. I mean an instant DNA test, no pictures, and a quick sea jettison? These people are control freaks.
Your comparisons to World War II are interesting, but maybe not truly valid. I suspect the V-E and V-J Day celebrations in this country would have been pretty muted if we learned that Adolph Hitler had been killed in a compound outside London -- in 1951.
The simple truth is that Osama bin Laden has been off the radar screen of most people -- including most people in government and even the U.S. military -- for years.
Ditto.
There should have been celebration. Except...... pompous selfrightous sanctimony trumps happiness.
I totally agree, it was terrible. A bunch of losers have infested this board, like the kind you see posting on ESPN or Deadspin or Yahoo.
Word.
The tinfoil hat crowd as gotten out of control, and yesterday it was on display for everyone. I echo your sentiments.
Yes, some of the posts were over the top — but most of the scepticism and stuff is well-founded and just a product of the corrupt yahoos running this administration.
It is not just FR HUck - I am a defense Constractor and work on a large AF installation. The UNIVERSAL response from the MILITARY members and GOVERNMENT workers here yesterday was, “GLad we got him, but I want to see proof of his death.” That was almost completely the same response I saw around town and at school last night also.
So the scepticism is not just here, it is everywhere. Nobody believes a word that Obama or this administration says without proof to back it up.
I tried to explain this yesterday. I was one of those sickened by the parade like attitude. Like winning the Super Bowl or World Series.
My heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones at the hands of that monster, even those who have died before 9/11. Their families now have justice.
What sickens me is the fact that for the past 8 yrs. there has been a huge amount of disdain for what our troops have been doing. What sickens me is the fact that the media and the WH will play this as long as they can, probably until the election and guess what? While we are all celebrating there are STILL thousands of troops on the ground. This is NOT over!! I pray that they will not be forgotten now that Osama is dead. Did you know that last week we had 28 troops killed? April was the deadliest month for our troops in Iraq since 2009!
I will celebrate when EVERYONE IS HOME!!!
FR is not monolithic, there were a variety of views expressed yesterday and many people quietly agree with you. Since I work in Obama central, I can tell you that Obama is looking presidential on the TV in the lobby, on the stupid snapshots on the LCD in the elevators, and there are smiles on many Obamanite faces. I don’t begrudge them their pleasure for the moment, but I know what really counts is who can motivate the most folks in 2012. Folks are generally not going to be motivated by negativity and conspiracy theories, although those have their place. Those keep the creative energy flowing. We also need positive actions like looking for conservative leaders and stopping the Obama agenda. We need both.
I am in totally agreement with you Huck. Wrote something along theses lines last month-it does seem to have shifted to sarcasm and bickering. It used to be a great site about politics and solutions...
I am a Birther and I was happy.
Today doesn’t look much better. There is even a thread with people agreeing with cindy sheehan for pete’s sake. I’m logging off. Too nice out. See ya.
But as I have grown older, I am certainly more cynical. Older, but wiser!
I remember seeing the heads up Sunday night that the potus was about to make a statement. I could have stayed up, but his past record of wasting my time lead me to bed. I did certainly celebrate the news upon rising
But I remember a lesson from college. Look at someones track record and you will often find valid indicators of their future performance. Around here at FR, we have been kicking those valid indicators around since 2008, and history has shown us that we are more correct today, then back when some of us first posited concerns about the candidate for high office.
Yes celebrate the accomplishment! Know full well that dedicated servants in our government pulled this off, and probably in spite of the one in office. I am glad now I did not stay up and watch that speech. He gets to take credit because he occupies the chair, but credit goes to the resources in CIA and DOD, the one that fulfilled the mission.
Git 'R Done!
If you don't like to read posts indicating suspicion of the POTUS’s motives and actions I'd suggest to you that though his own actions POTUS has created the very environment of suspicion that upsets you. You can't blame a rape victim for checking the closets before bed every night.
There were a few that didn't believe he was dead, but that wasn't the main focus.
There were some who were unhappy with the way Bambi took the credit, and how the MSM were spinning this to make him God like once again. I still am unhappy with that part.
Well said.
America’s problem is within; and that’s where real Americans should be focused—imo, the pseudo-americuns who got us where we are today will never get their bearings straight, and so...
Semper fidelis Americans!
Gunny G
aka: Dick Gaines
*****
Well said.
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