RSS Feed MenuSo let me get this straight. Sarah Palin used her first public appearance (since she showed the world what a fighter she is by quitting because people were being mean to her) to call the Obama Administration’s health plan “truly evil” and accuse the President of the United States of planning death panels. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann suggested that the President was going to start a new “Cash for Clunkers” style program, except instead of putting down our clunkers, Bachmann suggested that Obama wanted to kill our old people. My boy Glenn Beck wondered whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency is planning concentration camps. And now, WorldNetDaily is accusing the United States Army of planning to round up conservatives.
I think we might need ourselves a new Merle Haggard to tell these “patriots” that when they start running down their country, they’re getting on the fightin’ side of me.
sinz54 // Aug 10, 2009 at 10:52 am
ireign: You can’t get a “balanced” view on a blog, with Republicans equally represented to Democrats, unless the moderator forces that by controlling who gets accounts to post.
Because most Internet surfers are liberal. It’s their medium, just like talk radio is dominated by conservatives. Conservatives are as outnumbered on the Internet as liberals are on talk radio (which is why liberals wanted a “Fairness Doctrine” to force talk radio to have more liberals).
Even if you go to ostensibly non-political blogs, like the ScienceBlogs.com blogs, you find 99% liberals there. Virtually every science blog in that group is run by a self-professed atheist or agnostic. On those blogs, I’m frequently the only conservative.
ottovbvs // Aug 10, 2009 at 11:04 am
ireign // Aug 10, 2009 at 10:44 am
“If you have learned alternative viewpoints –that you didn’t already know– by being on this blog, that says a lot about your grasp of politics .”
……….Er……did I say that?……I don’t think so………actually one of the reasons I come here is to correct disinformation peddled by those who are either ill informed or overly partisan……it’s also a fascinating and sometimes funny window into a certain type of mindset…..as for Frum I regard him as a member of the Republican political establishment who was among those responsible for importing the virus into the GOP that he now decries…..although in other areas notably immigration and Israel he clings to his previous neocon beliefs……..however somewhat belatedly his light bulb came on and he realized what he had done and the long term consequences for the GOP……it was the nomination of the total nincompoop Palin that pushed him over the edge although he claims to have still voted Republican which seems strange but there you are…….He’s basically a conservative partisan just like yourself but because he has to earn his living from politics and because of his experience and training he can perceive the real danger the Republican party is in and he’s not deceived by the latest fluttering in the media dovecotes…….you’re totally oblivious to it despite a mountain of evidence because as is clear from many of your comments you have constructed an alternate reality…..David hasn’t
Chekote // Aug 10, 2009 at 11:08 am
ireign
I will never agree that Palin was treated any worse than Hillary Clinton who was accused of murder. What is laughable about Palin is that she actually criticized Clinton for “whining” during primary. Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC-tOzXQOsk
Also:
http://vimeo.com/5649529
Palin needs to take her own advice and quit playing the victim. Voters turned against Palin because she proved to be uninformed. That’s the reality and the sooner Republicans stop making excuses for her the better for the party.
barker13 // Aug 10, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Re: Snniemargret // Aug 9, 2009 at 11:24 pm (#110) –
“OK…here’s one that might get a chuckle out you. My Dad, who died two years ago this month…”
Nope. Not laughing. I’m sorry you lost your dad.
And yeah… God bless him – and your mom too. If you really want to be me teary eyed and seriously depressed all you have to do is remind me of the pace at which our WW-2 and Korean War veterans are dying.
Now God bless our Vietnam vets too – God bless all our vets, combat vets, stateside vets, any and all – but the loss of “The Greatest Generation” really gets me… leaves me with just a hard pit in my stomach when I think about it.
Anyway… (*SMILE*)… cheering up… (*GRIN*)… thanks for the story. Your dad sounds like he was a hell of a guy. As the father of a 22 year old I know how frustrating it can be when your “kid” argues politics with you, so I “get” where your dad was coming from.
BILL
palomino // Aug 10, 2009 at 1:09 pm
sinz: “That is so typical of liberals. You just ignore any contrary evidence or criticisms, and just proceed forward armed with smug self-righteousness.”
Maybe so, but it’s a function of ideology and the false certitude it brings; it does not, as you suggest, result uniquely from liberalism.
As evidence witness the events of early 2003, when the rest of the world practically begged us not to invade Iraq. We ignored all contrary evidence and proceeded with smug self-righteousness.
Or look at the conservative response to scientific evidence that people are born gay. It is ignored so that homosexuality can be called a choice and self-righteously denounced.
Or evidence that the climate may be changing in any way at all. It’s smugly jettisoned in favor of slogans like “drill baby drill”.
The limitations to full disclosure are the result of ideology itself, not necessarily the specific content of the ideology. And don’t fool yourself into thinking only one side of the political spectrum makes this terrible mistake.
ottovbvs // Aug 10, 2009 at 1:26 pm
sinz54 // Aug 10, 2009 at 10:52 am
“Even if you go to ostensibly non-political blogs, like the ScienceBlogs.com blogs, you find 99% liberals there”
…….You forget that reality has a well known liberal bias……since 90% of scientists regard Republicans as anti science, as indeed they are, not really surprising surely?
anniemargret // Aug 10, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Thank you Bill. He was a wonderful man and I miss him more, not less as the days go by.
Bulldoglover100 // Aug 11, 2009 at 9:50 am
I agree with this article 100%.
Palin should leave and NEVER come back. Beck needs to go to the nut house and take up space and our party needs leaders who don’t lie with wild abandon (Palins brand again) and we need people who are educated (unlike Beck and his HS cred) and people who are able to actually come up with answers for the problems that are killing this country. We MUST fix health care. It is breaking our backs. Is Obamas fix the answer? Heck no but what have we actuly put up that will fix this problem? NOTHING that holds water…just more spittle leaking out of the mouths of people like Palin & Beck.
Bulldoglover100 // Aug 11, 2009 at 10:04 am
sinz: “That is so typical of liberals. You just ignore any contrary evidence or criticisms, and just proceed forward armed with smug self-righteousness.”
Really?…Really???? Typical of Liberals….but Conservatives change their minds based on emperical facts according to you…..science may tend to find your thought process full of stinky brown stuff…..gosh the facts surrounding Obamas birth are being ignored…the facts regarding the elderly aspect of the health issue is being ignored……99% of the charges Palin made to date ignore facts….. You need to realize that those of us, Moderate Republicans by the way not Liberals, are smug n our ability to assimulate and accomadate information….apparently in the Republican party? its become a rarity.
Bottom line? Those poor left overs from the 50’s who thought that simply the color of their skin made them better than someone whose skin was darker are now imploding from the fact that they no longer get to feel superior because their skin is lighter. I’m betting on God. I’m betting he meant it when he said he is the only one to judge. I’m betting he does not love me more based on the color of my skin and I’m betting that he does not condone the actions of many of these Conservative Christans who are using him as a tool to harm other human beings.
sinz54 // Aug 11, 2009 at 10:43 am
ottovbvs sez: “reality has a well known liberal bias……since 90% of scientists regard Republicans as anti science, as indeed they are, not really surprising surely”
Reality has no “bias,” by definition.
But many of the discussions on science blogs get into political issues. Right now, ObamaCare is a hot topic. And 99% of the posters take the liberal position: We gotta insure all those uninsured folks, it’s a moral imperative, why can’t America be as “civilized” as Europe and let the government run health coverage, and Obama is just so cool. That doesn’t reflect science, but the youthful idealism of many of the young posters.
But the claim that the GOP is anti-science has some basis in fact. And I really wish the GOP would correct that. As more and more young people go to college, to be perceived as anti-science is a loser.
sinz54 // Aug 11, 2009 at 10:48 am
Bulldoglover100 asks: “It is breaking our backs. Is Obamas fix the answer? Heck no but what have we actuly put up that will fix this problem?”
See RomneyCare, the Massachusetts health care initiative. Why couldn’t that have been the basis of a national care program?
Romney started talking about health care reform even before the head of the Mass legislature did. Then they got together and came up with a bipartisan plan.
Had Obama gotten together with McConnell and other top Republicans, maybe the current mess could have been averted. Instead, Obama stood back and let the liberals in the Dem controlled Congress write the ObamaCare bill all by themselves. And we got a doctrinaire left-wing bill that polls show isn’t selling with Independent voters, and isn’t even selling with moderate DEMOCRATS in Congress.
That’s practically a controlled experiment for Dems:
Work with Republicans, and it’s a win/win deal for everybody.
Work with San Francisco, and you lose.
ottovbvs // Aug 11, 2009 at 12:20 pm
sinz54 // Aug 11, 2009 at 10:43 am
” That doesn’t reflect science, but the youthful idealism of many of the young posters.”
……..yes I’m sure all those scientists they polled were teachers…….btw all those ideas being expressed by young posters which are driving you crazy…….that’s the future!!
“Reality has no “bias,” by definition.”
…….not true in a political context which was the context for this great comment whoever said it
Chekote // Aug 11, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Why couldn’t that have been the basis of a national care program?
Because the program is going broke. At least that is what I heard.
Chekote // Aug 11, 2009 at 3:14 pm
More Republicans need to speak out like this:
Isakson: Palin’s ‘death panel’ charge is ‘nuts’