Baltimore mayor says critics ‘don’t have the courage to say the N-word’

Thank you.

It’s been helpful. A good re-examination of one’s baseline is always great.

It's hard to re-examine a baseline.

I am going to give an example-Tulsi Gabbard.

(DISCLAIMER: I am not trying to convince anyone she is a good VP candidate, or that she is even a Capital-C Conservative. This is about how I had to re-examine a baseline, and how difficult that can be. And I recognize, even if it is being universally ignored by both parties that certain aspects of citizenship are formally required in the Constitution to be eligible for the Presidency, that she might not be Constitutionally eligible. But you get the idea.)

Up until several weeks ago, I was completely anti-Tulsi Gabbard.

Completely.

I viewed her as a Leftist Snake-In-The-Grass at best, and a Leftist Snake-In-The-Grass Opportunist at worst. I was angry about her using her military service as a political career enhancer and bitterly resented her for doing it, she had been the Vice Chair of the DNC for quite a few years, she came from one of the most Leftist states in the Republic, she voted with the Democrats, etc. etc.

All true.

While I was on vacation the last two weeks, I visited a friend down in Florida, and he has cable (I don't) and he watches television (I don't) so one night, he puts on Tucker Carlson (I like Tucker Carlson in general, even though it is clear to me he may be opportunist-but...he says things that need to be heard)

So, when he put Tucker Carlson on, and the interviewee was Tulsi Gabbard, I didn't want to watch. Period. I had a visceral repulsion to her.

But I was a guest. Not my house. Not my television. So I sat there, and I was determined not to listen, not to allow my mind to be changed. I pulled out my laptop and figured I would surf Free Republic or something while my best friend watched the interview.

I assumed this interview was part of a coordinated effort by a segment of the Republican Party to prepare the conservative electorate

But...after a few minutes of stewing, I thought "What the Hell am I doing? Am I that afraid to even listen? What good is that?"

So...I had an internal conversation with myself, and said I am going to listen. Really listen. And I am going to force myself to keep an open mind so I can weigh what she says.

(I don't want to "re-litigate" my impressions...if you are interested, you can read them at this post on this thread:

LINK: rlmorel comments on thread at #140 about his impressions of Tulsi Gabbard in the Tucker Carlson Interview)

My point is, it was damned hard mental work to do that. I didn't WANT to change my mind. I didn't WANT to listen. I was determined not to listen, and I was going to pout, not watch, close my eyes and ears...until I thought "What am I doing that for? It goes contrary to every principle I try to adhere to, one of which is rational discourse on any issue. (I fully accept that DO engage, sometime willfully and with relish, in IRRATIONAL discourse on certain subjects, but that is another issue altogether, which involves figurative poking of eyes and such)

When I forced myself to watch, I had to admit I had based my opinions on various things that were simply easier and less time-consuming to process. At the end of it, I spent the rest of the evening wondering if I had been wrong to judge her as a Leftist Snake-In-The-Grass Opportunist, and spent the rest of that evening researching to get more facts.

And I concluded I had not only been wrong, but unfairly wrong. She may not be VP material or even a conservative to a degree that would please me to see in a politician, but...I had to conclude that she was NOT a Leftist Snake-In-The-Grass Opportunist. And I felt that I had been unfair to denigrate her military service, something I had publicly done on this very forum, and it was something I regretted.

Here, due to the nature of the Internet, I cannot make my statements disappear, but I can make a public retraction. That was my form of doing so.

One of my favorite quotes was from Upton Sinclair is: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

I have often thought that that quote might just as easily say: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his ideological purity depends on his not understanding it.”

Again, you’re to be commended on your integrity and honesty.

If many of us are honest, we loathed Trump prior to June 2015. And our minds were closed. Just look at this straw poll from 2015:

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-gop/3312693/posts

Even JimRob admitted he was a Cruz guy until he realized we needed a fighter.

Candidly, I still thinks Trump needs to shut his trap more often than he does, and his HR skills are atrocious - his personnel decisions are a dumpster fire.

My point is that, absent honest and brutal self-reflection, FReepers would have become NeverTrumpers.

I had a similar epiphany with Dennis Kucinich. Remember, back in the day, how hated he was? Here’s a taste…. https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3202041/posts

I listened to him once he was given a mic on Fox. He was more of a leftish libertarian and not a total whack job. Nowadays, Dubya is hated more than Dennis.

Times change. The need for honesty never changes. Thanks for listening.

If you can’t change your mind because of reasonable and logical analysis...you aren’t reasonable or logical, and you might not have a mind to change!

I knew very little about Trump back in 2015 except that he was a real estate guy in New York/New Jersey, had funny hair, made and lost a lot of money, and had once been the star of a television show (which I had never seen) where the famous phrase “You’re Fired!” became a cultural touchstone.

I knew nothing about Trump, and at that time, thought I would support Cruz.

But once he began making serious inroads in the primaries, I began investigating what Trump was all about, and when I came across his 1987 interview with Larry King, I decided I could enthusiastically support him.

His real anger in that interview, about the way the Arab countries (and others) treated the USA like schmucks that could be taken advantage of and snickered at behind their backs because of the rules we forced our corporations to follow convinced me he wasn’t just a guy with funny hair.

He had real anger issues with the way trade was done, and I thought he might be just the person to do something about it.

Trump is Trump and ya gotta love him. But if he gets 4 more years, we need staff and a Cabinet that isn’t full of flunkies that get replaced every few months. We need administrative WINS. And yes, we got them last time - Roe was overturned -but Trump left a lot on the table.

Hence, I was willing to consider DeSantis - he is a great governor and gets stuff done.

But being a star in AAA ball isn’t the same as the Majors. Candidate DeSantis kept stepping in it and never really connected. And those were unforced errors on DeSantis’ part. He needs more time in the minors (and yes…I know Florida isn’t Montana).

I do NOT think he’s a Soros puppet, a Deep State plant, or the Boogeyman. But he is not ready for Prime Time. And THAT is why we have primaries.

My feelings exactly. I think DeSantis is a great Governor. I just spent two weeks down there, and while Florida isn’t really my thing, there were a lot of things I appreciated.