partisan politics rearing its ugly head in NYC...

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The Wanderer

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Interesting, billionaire Republican Mike Bloomberg has apparently bought the NYC mayoral race, with the help of over $40 million in campaign advertising (compared to $11 millon for his opponent), much of which featured out-going Mayor Rudolph Giuliani voicing his support of Bloomberg -- who has no political experience of any kind. What is more interesting is that Bloomberg trailed in the polls by more than 20% points only two weeks ago before Giuliani's endorsement. Considering Bloomberg is a political novice, this doesn't seem like the sort of thing NYC needs during this time of crisis; I sure hope Giuliani is confident Bloomberg can do a better job for the City and is not just doing it for his political Party. (though I must also note Giuliani was used in the campaign in Virginia during the Governor's race to no avail, not sure what Giuliani knows about Virginia's political landscape, but thanks anyway... I think he did an excellent job helping NYC since Sept. 11, but why is he using his strong public approval ratings from his handling of the crisis/tragedy for political gain? Disappointing to say the least.)

[This message has been edited by The Wanderer (edited 11-06-2001).]
 
Go fer it, Whortense.

Seriously. Look at what NYC was under the last Democratic mayor and under the last Republican mayor -- THEN tell me which party's mayors fuck things up.
 
Originally posted by Achtung Bubba:
Go fer it, Whortense.

Seriously. Look at what NYC was under the last Democratic mayor and under the last Republican mayor -- THEN tell me which party's mayors fuck things up.

once again, i will restrain myself. the catastrophes regarding cities have less to do with party affiliation as it has to do with other factors. i will get into it later once i can compose a good sentence.

giuliani, honestly, strikes as not very "republican." he'd probably be labelled "too liberal" for the more conservative southern / great plains states. if all republicans were like new england republicans, we'd have a happy nation indeed.

but now we have a rich republican who seemingly bought his way to the top. hopefully, he really is more of a new england republican than the usual ugly, greedy, and insensitive republicans. you'll disagree, most certainly.

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~whortense wiffin
walla walla, washington
 
There are Republicans in New England?
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Yes, certainly, Rudy and Pitaki are both more liberal than Midwest conservatives, but they are also FAR MORE CONSERVATIVE than New York Democrats.

(Still doubt that Greenburg's actually a conservative, though.)

A few observations:

First, if the mayoral race could be bought, Greenburg would have been ahead the entire time. Rather, it seems he had to spend an egregious amount of money just to KEEP UP. That alone may indicate a poorly run campaign, but it can also (easily) point to a biased NY media or the fact that (as FoxNews.com reports) NY Dems outnumber Republicans FIVE TO ONE.

So, it may be taken as a given that his campaign would be costly. And yes, Greenburg bankrolled quite a bit of his campaign out of pocket. But I would think those who think special interest groups control politicians would be happy that an elected official paid his own way through the campaign.

I take exception at your second use of tying "rich" to "Republican". Many middle class Americans are Republicans, and very many of the nation's wealthiest are Democrats -- especially in New York and Hollywood.

Finally, of course I object to you suggesting that the typical Republican is "ugly, greedy, and insensitive":

1. Yes, William F. Buckley isn't the most attractive man on Earth. But President Bush is certainly at LEAST as attractive as Clinton. Hannity is much better looking than Colmes. And I am a very handsome man, thank you very much. The typical Republican is NOT ugly.

2. Most Republicans are not "greedy", unless you mean that they want to keep more of the money THEY earn. Most do not wish to take money from other people, and many are quite philanthropic of their own free will. And if you want to talk about greed, how about the Democrats howling at the suggestion that the government should give a small fraction of OUR money back when it spends trillions and STILL has a surplus?

3. Finally, Republicans are NOT insensitive. I've heard this accusation several times, often on such subjects as welfare; since you offer no specific reason why you think we're "insensitive", I'll tackle welfare as an example.

Many Republicans think welfare is a bad idea; it is contrary to the principles that spur production, it creates a cycle of dependency, it DOESN'T bring people out of poverty. Thus, we are opposed to the idea. Certainly, we care about the poor and unemployed and would like to see their conditions better off, but most of us suggest getting them back to work or getting them the training they need to do so.

In most cases, Republicans and Democrats care about the same problems. We just think that the Democrats' ideas are delusional and ineffective. THAT doesn't make us insensitve.

Let's see... you've called Republicans rich, ugly, greedy, insensitive, and hinted at racism. Accuse us of sexism, homophobia, and a desire to wipe species off this earth, and I think you'll cover every fallacious accusation.


[This message has been edited by Achtung Bubba (edited 11-06-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Achtung Bubba (edited 11-06-2001).]
 
As one last aside, I've been an avid fan of Rush Limbaugh since 1988. Since the beginning, he has warned conservatives of the liberal's tendency to accuse us of being greedy, uncaring, etc. Quite often, liberals write op-ed pieces, call talk shows, and speak on C-SPAN -- and prove Rush completely right.

I hate that I've had to once again defend conservatism, but I'm glad to see that, yet again, Rush is right.

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Originally posted by The Wanderer:
Interesting, billionaire Republican Mike Bloomberg has apparently bought the NYC mayoral race, with the help of over $40 million in campaign advertising (compared to $11 millon for his opponent), much of which featured out-going Mayor Rudolph Giuliani voicing his support of Bloomberg -- who has no political experience of any kind. [This message has been edited by The Wanderer (edited 11-06-2001).]
Eh? So what's your point? In any political race, one person is gonna have more money than the other. In any political race, endorsements by other candidates will be made. This is unlike any other race. What do you expect Bloomberg to say? Something like: "Hmmm, I have all this money to run with, but I refuse to use it for that. Also, I have Mayor Guiliani wanting to give me an endorsement, but I will refuse that also, knowing that my opponent doesn't have Mayor Guiliani wanting to give him an endorsement, and that's unfair."?
 
Originally posted by Achtung Bubba:
As one last aside, I've been an avid fan of Rush Limbaugh since 1988. Since the beginning, he has warned conservatives of the liberal's tendency to accuse us of being greedy, uncaring, etc. Quite often, liberals write op-ed pieces, call talk shows, and speak on C-SPAN -- and prove Rush completely right.
I hate that I've had to once again defend conservatism, but I'm glad to see that, yet again, Rush is right.
portraits.Par.0014.PortraitImageFile.gif

Amen, Achtung, it's the oldest trick in their books, right next to how we want to starve the elderly.
 
a few clarifications:

1) "ugly" is not physical. it's personality, at least how i intended. the term, "ugly american" doesn't refer to our appearance, for instance.

2) republicans surely do want to keep more of the money they earn, but they surely don't cut back on spending. so they usually end up shoving more of the burden on the lower classes by increasing sales taxes and property taxes, while lowering income and business taxes. purely selfish motives. in the case of engler in michigan, he used the motive of property tax lowering to shove an additional 2% on the state sales tax--but now the property taxes are right back up to what they were and we also have the higher sales taxes. but he's been instrumental in lowering income taxes. how republican of him.

i now must look at bush here. yes, it's certainly extenuating circumstances; however, bush has been spending hundreds of billions left and right, while also throwing tax cuts left and right. what's his incentive to get the working class spending again? lower loan interest rates and business tax incentives. boy, it sure makes me want to spend more! yeaaaaah. it's not only fiscally irresponsible, but i challenge any corporation to be run like republicans run governments. with their flippant use of taxpayer funds ($200 billion on jets) and their flippant cutting of incoming funds (business incentives, tax cuts) they'd likely go bankrupt. lest i remind you, but bush played a similar economic game on texas, and the governor (a republican) has been bitching of all the deficits he left behind. considering our war and impending recession now, it's surely inevitable. and just think...imagine if the republicans were successful on that balanced budget amendment during clinton? bush would be severely hampered in his spending powers, but he'd continue throwing it all to war. hence, the domestic issues would be completely ignored.

but it's also funny. somehow, we have all this money to spend on wars all of a sudden, but our domestic infrastructure has been languishing for decades. at least we had 8 years of clinton so we could get our interstates and federal highways fixed up. i surely expect them to be reneglected, as reagan/bush did, during this current president.

3) let's go through the accusations:

rich = that's quite a few republicans, and does refer to the new mayor of nyc

ugly = same usage as "ugly american"

greedy = tax shift from more equitable income taxes to a tax base more burdensome on the working class; that's greedy

insensitive = it's in the eye of the beholder obviously. what i see as "insensitive" is likely to be seen by you as "preservation of values."

racism = depends on the republican, but isn't legislated

sexism = not legislated

homophobia = i won't even begin on how disgusted i am with the republicans on this one.

"genocide" = quite histrionic of you

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~whortense wiffin
walla walla, washington
 
Originally posted by Achtung Bubba:
As one last aside, I've been an avid fan of Rush Limbaugh since 1988. Since the beginning, he has warned conservatives of the liberal's tendency to accuse us of being greedy, uncaring, etc. Quite often, liberals write op-ed pieces, call talk shows, and speak on C-SPAN -- and prove Rush completely right.

well, some accusations are certainly warranted. but it's funny that if a republican warns you ahead of time of these accusations, it somehow negates the truth. if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then it's a duck, whether rush somehow tries to pass it off as something else or not.

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~whortense wiffin
walla walla, washington
 
ah, I never said Bloomberg, (aka Greenburg, whatever you guys want to call him I guess), couldn't spend his money, but it's just amusing to me because Republicans screamed at how ridiculous it was when Hilary Clinton used obscene amounts of money to bolster her Senate campaign, and they screamed likewise at the newly elected Democratic Senator from NJ last year when he used millions of his own money to strengthen his chances

what is being avoided here is the simple fact that Bloomberg was being destroyed in the polls until he started running around the clock commercials featuring Rudolph Giuliani endorsing him for Mayor, if not for Bloomberg's enormous wealth, he would not have been able to generate that kind of momentum through commericials

what is disappointing to me is that he was elected based on the endorsement of Rudolph Giuliani

sorry this thread had to turn into a usless exercise in the perpetuation of partisan rhetoric

got to love Rush Limbaugh though, especially his modesty
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talent on lone from God...
-Rush
 
Originally posted by U2Bama:
So, are you saying that you like Clinton's "sexydiamondbuttcut" hairdo?



bwuahahahaha! buttcut...
no - not really
but I think that GWB looks like a monkey
smile.gif




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She's gonna dream up a world she wants to live in / She's gonna dream out loud.
Visit my web page at www.u2page.com
 
You make an interesting point, but your thread title is pretty weak...you say "partisan politics" as if it is some sort of negative thing...politics are supposed to be partisan; that's why we have political parties.
 
Whortense:

So, you mean the typical Republican has an "ugly personality" rather than an ugly appearance. That's *so* much better.
rolleyes.gif



Historically, conservative Republicans *do* want to cut back on spending (with the possible exception of defense spending which, not so shockingly, actually appears to be necessary). It is, if you can recall with any degree of accuracy, why the federal government got surpluses to begin with: the Republican Congress rejected Clinton's pork-barrel stimulus package and forced him to agree to a balanced budget.

Your arguments are flawed on several points:

1. Conservatives do not believe in raising some taxes to lower others. Looking at the current tax burden, most conservatives think that all taxes should be lowered. Those Republicans who think and act otherwise have done so in good faith that decreased spending would follow a tax increase (as the Democratic Congress promised the elder Bush in 1990), or have done so in opposition to the party.

2. LOWER TAXES DO NOT NECESSARILY LEAD TO DECREASED REVENUES. In other words, as the 1980's demonstrated, Reaganomics works. You lower taxes, people have more money to spend or invest, the economy improves, more wealth is generated. Often, even when each dollar is taxed less, as more wealth is generated, the NET revenue for the government increases.

3. Tax cuts for the wealthy isn't a bad thing. Why? First, they share a disproportionate burden of the taxes, if you look at the percentage of income that is confiscated. Conservatives believe (correctly) that such a tax scheme is a disincentive to economic prosperity and is morally wrong. Also, when you offer businesses tax incentives and lower loan rates, businesses (including small businesses that are NOT run by billionaires) can afford to spend more and hire more, thus spurring the economy. It's simple econimics.


And I would challenge any company to run their business like liberal Democrats. With 40+ years of the government being run mostly by Democrats, we've got ourselves trillions of dollars of debt by spending increases of upwards of THREE TIMES the rate of inflation.

I find it amazing how you've protrayed Republicans as the tax-and-spenders and you've ignored the social programs of FDR, LBJ, Clinton and other Democrats.

Finally, I jokingly suggested that you accuse us conservatives of being "sexist, racist, homophobic, etc." to complete your laundry list of false, but typical, accusations.

AND YOU DID!

You AGAIN prove my point.

My point is not that the accusations are false because they are predicted. It is that liberals resort to these accusations when they have very little to say of any real substance.

The accusations are false because they are not at the core of conservatism -- and because conservative Republicans aren't the only group housing a small minority of bigots.

First, the core beliefs of conservatism involve limited government, personal liberties, and personal accountability. Nowhere is bigotry implied.

Second, while the extreme right admittedly has a few racists, the same is ALSO true of the extreme left -- those who suggest that the U.S. Constitution is illegitimate for the SOLE reason that it was written by white men.
 
Rush Limbaugh huh? Well, here are some "golden oldies" from Mr. Rush:


"One of the things I want to do before I die is conduct the Homeless Olympics...[Events would include] the 10-meter Shopping Cart Relay, the Dumpster Dig, and the Hop, Skip and Trip." (L.A. Times, 1/20/91)

On NAFTA: "If we are going to start rewarding no skills and stupid people--I'm serious, let the unskilled jobs, let the kinds of jobs that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do--let stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work." (Radio show quoted in FRQ, Fall/93)

Speculating on why a Mexican national won the New York marathon: "An immigration agent chased him for the last 10 miles." (USA Weekend, 1/26/92)

This is asinine! A Caesar Chavez Day in California? Wasn't he convicted of a crime?" (Quoted in FRQ, Winter/94)

"Kurt Cobain was, ladies and gentleman, I just--he was a worthless shred of human debris..." (TV show, 4/11/94)

"When a gay person turns his back on you, it is anything but an insult ; it's an invitation." (Quoted in FRQ, Summer/94)

"Feminism was established to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream." (Quoted in FRQ, Summer/93)

On the poverty line: "$14,400 for a family of four. That's not so bad." (Radio show, 11/9/93, quoted in FRQ, Winter/94)

"There are more American Indians alive today than there were when Columbus arrived or at any other time in history. Does this sound like a record of genocide?" (Told You So, p. 68)

Praising Strom Thurmond for calling a gay soldier "not normal": "He's not encumbered by being politically correct.... If you want to know what America used to be--and a lot of people wish it still were--then you listen to Strom Thurmond." (TV show, 9/1/93)
 
Originally posted by radiodivision:
Rush Limbaugh huh? Well, here are some "golden oldies" from Mr. Rush:


"One of the things I want to do before I die is conduct the Homeless Olympics...[Events would include] the 10-meter Shopping Cart Relay, the Dumpster Dig, and the Hop, Skip and Trip." (L.A. Times, 1/20/91)

On NAFTA: "If we are going to start rewarding no skills and stupid people--I'm serious, let the unskilled jobs, let the kinds of jobs that take absolutely no knowledge whatsoever to do--let stupid and unskilled Mexicans do that work." (Radio show quoted in FRQ, Fall/93)

Speculating on why a Mexican national won the New York marathon: "An immigration agent chased him for the last 10 miles." (USA Weekend, 1/26/92)

This is asinine! A Caesar Chavez Day in California? Wasn't he convicted of a crime?" (Quoted in FRQ, Winter/94)

"Kurt Cobain was, ladies and gentleman, I just--he was a worthless shred of human debris..." (TV show, 4/11/94)

"When a gay person turns his back on you, it is anything but an insult ; it's an invitation." (Quoted in FRQ, Summer/94)

"Feminism was established to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream." (Quoted in FRQ, Summer/93)

On the poverty line: "$14,400 for a family of four. That's not so bad." (Radio show, 11/9/93, quoted in FRQ, Winter/94)

"There are more American Indians alive today than there were when Columbus arrived or at any other time in history. Does this sound like a record of genocide?" (Told You So, p. 68)

Praising Strom Thurmond for calling a gay soldier "not normal": "He's not encumbered by being politically correct.... If you want to know what America used to be--and a lot of people wish it still were--then you listen to Strom Thurmond." (TV show, 9/1/93)



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The numeral 7
 
Well in any event....
sometimes it's difficult to get through to people...and even harder to take them seriously when they go by "bathtime fun whortense", it's actually melon, is it not?...but anyway...

thumbs up to rush...i find those comments humorous...and like you said, they were spoken with humor in mind...


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The numeral 7
 
(Of the ten comments posted, that takes care of two of them -- the "gay turning his back" and the "Mexican in the marathon" comments.)

Being delivered with humor in mind does not "take care" of some of these idiotic quips from our favorite radio personality
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. A homophobic joke spoken by a man with a large listening audience (I know, I don't understand it either...) is as disgusting and as potentially damaging as when said seriously.
Like Melon, aka Bathtime Fun Whortense, astutely noted above:

but it's funny that if a republican warns you ahead of time of these accusations, it somehow negates the truth.

So warnings negate the truth, and humor somehow eliminates the intended message? I don't think so...
 
Originally posted by Achtung Bubba:
Whortense:

So, you mean the typical Republican has an "ugly personality" rather than an ugly appearance. That's *so* much better.
rolleyes.gif

i've talked to enough republicans that i've formulated this opinion. their self-centered, cutthroat demeanor is enough to make me gag.

Historically, conservative Republicans *do* want to cut back on spending

in practice, it's not true. clinton spent less than reagan or bush.

(with the possible exception of defense spending which, not so shockingly, actually appears to be necessary).


well, now, yes. before, no. but you pass off "war spending" as almost a drop in the pan. not only do they spend less on the domestic front, not only to they deregulate business practices often beyond comprehension, but they make up + more on what they "save" in increased military spending. in the case of reagan/bush, they decided to neglect the transportation infrastructure, while blowing trillions on weaponry and unproven technology (star wars anyone?).

It is, if you can recall with any degree of accuracy, why the federal government got surpluses to begin with: the Republican Congress rejected Clinton's pork-barrel stimulus package and forced him to agree to a balanced budget.

no, it was caused by an incomplete tax package riddled with legislative gridlock. clinton's tax plan of 1993 likely paved the way for the huge amassing of surpluses. and the legislature? well, a do-nothing congress can't spend, now can it?

Your arguments are flawed on several points:

1. Conservatives do not believe in raising some taxes to lower others. Looking at the current tax burden, most conservatives think that all taxes should be lowered. Those Republicans who think and act otherwise have done so in good faith that decreased spending would follow a tax increase (as the Democratic Congress promised the elder Bush in 1990), or have done so in opposition to the party.

please. did you ever read the flat tax proposal when that was in-vogue? it set the flat rate at 18%. it lowered the taxes of the wealthiest by 18%, while actually raising the taxes of the poorest by 2%.

2. LOWER TAXES DO NOT NECESSARILY LEAD TO DECREASED REVENUES. In other words, as the 1980's demonstrated, Reaganomics works. You lower taxes, people have more money to spend or invest, the economy improves, more wealth is generated. Often, even when each dollar is taxed less, as more wealth is generated, the NET revenue for the government increases.

omg....bathtime fun whortense? is nearly about to gag in her bathtime fun purse?. reaganomics was the ultimate instrument in our social chaos. not only did it shift the tax burden from businesses to the working classes (i.e., YOU) (during the 1970s, it was 70% of all tax revenue came from businesses, 30% on individuals; during the 1980s, it was 70% taxes on individuals, 30% taxes on businesses).

secondly, lower taxes for individuals don't amount to shit when you have less wages!!!1111 i want you to grab a microeconomics book and look at a few stats on real wages and adjusted wages--real meaning the actual literal dollar amount, with the adjusted being gauged on inflation. in 1972, the working class (i.e., YOU) was at it's highest buying power. now our wages are, adjusted for inflation, down to 1950s buying power.

what went wrong? reagan couldn't solve the inflation problems that first arose during the carter era. as traditionally indicated early in his term, inflation was determined by rising consumer prices for goods. in other words, if prices for our items got much higher, it meant inflation. but to rid inflation using these indicators, it would hurt his big business backers. so, rather than solving inflation, he just changed the definition of inflation to be gauged primarily on worker wages, meaning the higher our wages go on average, the more "inflation" we have. hence, not only did reagan shift the tax burden heavily on the working class, he set in standards that encourage businesses to lower our wages. if we go by the old standards that vilified carter, we are still in severe inflation. reaganomics is the ultimate scam on society.

you really want to fix our society? 1) change the inflationary indicators back, 2) raise wages, and 3) restrict credit. i'd gladly pay higher taxes if i were a fucking billionaire. they need tax cuts like mr. burns needs an ivory back scratcher. perhaps you bought into rush limbaugh's crap about "protect the wealthy, because, someday, you might be wealthy too." i don't see how our prior tax systems were somehow making them poor, now were they?

as for restricting credit, credit only serves to knock the supply and demand checks and balances out of whack. credit is an artificial inflator of the income curve, and only serves to make things more expensive. did you know that my grandparents bought a very nice house with cash in the early 1950s? we surely can't do that anymore. did you know that my parents paid cash for brand new cars? sadly, we can't even pay cash for newer leased cars anymore! you call "reaganomics" good? you need your head examined!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111

3. Tax cuts for the wealthy isn't a bad thing. Why? First, they share a disproportionate burden of the taxes, if you look at the percentage of income that is confiscated.

let's all cry for the walton dynasty now. if they pay taxes, grandma walton might not get 10 new rolexes for christmas.

Conservatives believe (correctly) that such a tax scheme is a disincentive to economic prosperity and is morally wrong.

please. what a load of bull. "morally wrong"? now i know why religion is fucked up in this nation.

Also, when you offer businesses tax incentives and lower loan rates, businesses (including small businesses that are NOT run by billionaires) can afford to spend more and hire more, thus spurring the economy. It's simple econimics.

republicans treat small businesses like they treat farmers: like stupid, inane cattle. first of all, their policies only help large corporations to buy up smaller ones. i don't know how corporate buyouts serve to help small business. it surely only eliminates it. republicans, not only, contribute to eliminate competition in the business world, but it's against the spirit of true capitalism. what we have now is bastard capitalism.

And I would challenge any company to run their business like liberal Democrats. With 40+ years of the government being run mostly by Democrats, we've got ourselves trillions of dollars of debt by spending increases of upwards of THREE TIMES the rate of inflation.

oh you are just deluded now. your demi-god reagan gave us nearly a $7 trillion debt, compared to only about $300 billion before he came into office. if bush ii stays on track with his spending, i'm sure we'll reach $10 trillion if he gets reelected.

I find it amazing how you've protrayed Republicans as the tax-and-spenders and you've ignored the social programs of FDR, LBJ, Clinton and other Democrats.

and i find it amazing how you brush off excess military spending as "necessary." likewise, i think social programs are far more necessary and a better usage of my tax money than $200 billion on fighter jets. likewise, if republicans were consistent in their desire to repeal welfare, i'd perhaps see your point, but it's hypocritical. while ready to ax welfare for people, they haven't touched corporate welfare. but that's right. big business needs government money to fuck the world.

Finally, I jokingly suggested that you accuse us conservatives of being "sexist, racist, homophobic, etc." to complete your laundry list of false, but typical, accusations.

AND YOU DID!

You AGAIN prove my point.

sexist = clarence thomas, bob packwood
racist = jesse helms, strom thurmond
homophobic = justice scalia, many more

so are we supposed to lie now and sing the praises of republicanism?

rush limbaugh, if we were alive during nazi germany:

"now, you know, those liberals are gonna come up one day and say that we've killed all the jews..."

My point is not that the accusations are false because they are predicted. It is that liberals resort to these accusations when they have very little to say of any real substance.

whether you like it or not, prejudice most certainly dictates political policy. if your senator is sexist, how can you expect them to uphold women's rights? if your senator is racist, how can you expect them to uphold minority rights? if your senator is homophobic...well, we've already seen the fruition of that statement.

The accusations are false because they are not at the core of conservatism -- and because conservative Republicans aren't the only group housing a small minority of bigots.

not only does the republican party house a "small minority" of bigots, they champion their causes. no, i don't think a majority of americans are as sick as the republican legislature, but this minority is given an inequitably high proportion of the attention.

First, the core beliefs of conservatism involve limited government, personal liberties, and personal accountability. Nowhere is bigotry implied.

oh yes. i see. here's what happens in practice:

"limited government" = let business get away with murder

personal liberties is a lie. the fcc, for instance, which is run by colin powell's son (nepotism, anyone?), has taken a laissez-faire stance on business regulation, while tightening content regulation. not only does the republican party wrongfully interject the religious values into their legislation, but they use these values as the basis to restrict personal liberties. everyone knows this is true: conservatism is against business regulation, but is for social regulation. what you define above is not conservatism, but libertarianism. try again.

"personal accountability" = send teenagers to life imprisonment without parole; increase the death penalty. only ironic that most of these cries come from the "christians" in the republican party. in fact, it was a conservative protestant religious leader who was instrumental in getting teenagers tried and sentenced as adults.

Second, while the extreme right admittedly has a few racists, the same is ALSO true of the extreme left -- those who suggest that the U.S. Constitution is illegitimate for the SOLE reason that it was written by white men.

you will always have your extremists in either party, granted. but the difference is that, while democrats have turned a blind eye to extremists, republicans still embrace them. perhaps it is not at the same level as during the 1940s-1960s, but it is still a problem. fiscal conservatism is not my enemy. in fact, the jesse ventura wing of the reform party fascinates me. now he's a great fiscal conservative who has truly reduced taxes and spending. hypocrisy (appearing to spend less, when you're really spending more on military schemes), deception (redefining inflation, because you can't fix it), and social conservatism (denying homosexuals anti-discrimination rights on stereotypes [justice scalia thought rights for homosexuals would be giving rights to a "disproportionate and wealthy minority"] and conservative religious bases) are.

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~whortense wiffin
walla walla, washington
 
Originally posted by Se7en:
and even harder to take them seriously when they go by "bathtime fun whortense", it's actually melon, is it not?...but anyway...

melon needs a break. was it harder to take bono seriously as mr. macphisto? no, it's called irony. my points are just as valid under any other name.

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~whortense wiffin
walla walla, washington
 
...but that doens't mean i can't laugh, nor does it mean i have to agree...

*i'm rambling...do forgive me*

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The numeral 7

[This message has been edited by Se7en (edited 11-07-2001).]
 
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