Angry, Violent Dems Make 3 yr. Old Girl Cry

I'm not sure which disturbs me more: the politico-religious zealotry that would cause someone to rip something out of a small child's hands, or a father who's enough of a jackass to go to a rally he opposes and make his little girl wave signs to that effect.

Old news dude. That happened a month ago.

That Bush is a funny guy.

what Phil said, its the kids who suffer the most.

Not only old news, but Parlock has been exposed as a sleazy serial "victim" who pimps out his own children in his pathetic bids for media attention. The dude is a kook. Even the freepers got tired of Parlock when his name popped up in connection with the September 2nd Republican Headquarters shooting, so the story's been dead for a while.

**Kisses!**

Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah

Old news or new news, It's a pretty good example of how Ignorant, Hateful, and spiteful or any combination of the three, the left truly is.

And if that's not enough for ya, here in good ole Memfrica just yesterday 4 bush signs, the big ones, had bricks thrown through them. All on about a quarter mile stretch of popular thoroughfare. And if that's not personal enough for ya, my neighbor had his sign kicked in twice in the past 4 weeks.

I'm sorry but I just don't hear about conservatives doing such things or shooting into Kerry/Edwards election campaign offices or ransacking them, or having unions take them over.

I think it's clear some people are blind and they cannot be argued with because they are just not willing to go back to their worldview and change their assumptions when they are proven wrong...time and time and time and time and time and well you get the point...again.

-p

"But what the hell do I know, I'm just a recovering Alcoholic top 40 DJ" -Glenn Beck

I heard this thing about a conservative who would attend events for the opposing side purely for the purposes of waving opposition signs! Pretty obnoxious. But what's worse is, this one time, he made his own little girl do it - put her right in the front lines - and now is doing some mystified martyr act about how the left traumatized her.

Just a pretty good example of how ignorant, hateful, or spiteful or any combination of the three the right is. You never hear about liberals dragging their little girls into the middle of oppositional political activists and waving opposition signs.

* * *

Or maybe the moral of the story is that no political ideology has the market cornered on being a jerk.

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0804/168289.html

Kerry yard signs vandalized and stolen in Florida.

http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?wcd=23794

County Democrat Headquarters vandalized in League City.

Can I stop yet, or are we convinced that being Republican or Democrat, Conservative or Liberal, has nothing to do with your willingness to destroy and generally be obnoxious because of your political views?

Phil, since I'm in a scrappin' mood this morning:

Granted that being a Republican or Democrat does not necessarily (I use that in the strong sense, no the rhetorical shifty sense) have anything to do with a person being more or less prone to juvenile political shenanigans, one might think that its acceptable to, on occasion, observe and conclude that in a given election season one side might be currently prone to juvenile-to-violent behavior as the other. To draw that conclusion isn't to asser that one given side is inherently that way.

And to keep people though from thinking along those lines, I think can keep us from learning some very important things about our somewhat divided country and our our culture and socio-psychological mindset works.

For example: I believe quite strongly that the left is quite pissed off and prone to all sorts of criminal behavior in this election season. I know it from firsthand experience and from the numerous news reports I read. Does the same exist in the right, yes, to a lesser degree, and that's not my point.

BUT, I also remember back when Clinton/Gore were running for their second term as Pres & VP. Boy oh boy was the right ticked off and preaching doomsday. And what a crappy ticket conservatives had too, Dole/Kemp. Gosh what an embarassment. Remember how angry and looney the right got?

The conclusion I draw is that when a given political camp feels disenfranchised, or quite frankly, are not sitting in a position of power, they feel hopeless & powerless and lash out in violent and inapropriate ways quite unbecoming of, in my opinion, civilized and mature human beings (but who is these days).

And now that we've gotten this far, can we evaluate the ways both sides, when disenfranchised, act? The biggest difference I can find between the left and the right when they're the underdogs is that the left masks their entire angry endeavor with this sick faux-intellectualism. The right, as far as I can tell, doesn't assume that its smarter than you and condescend to you with its political pulpit pounding. The left, on the other hand, come off like arrogant pricks who think they're smarter than everyone. And if that's an unfair characterization Phil, you're living with your head stuck in the sand.

All done.

-jqr

Nah, I think you're right about disenfranchisement leading to more desperate and volatile behavior. That's a good point, and I hadn't really considered it.

I'm somewhat ambivalent about your faux-intellectualism, pulpit-pounding characterization, though, and I don't think you telling me that my head is in the sand constitutes a proof of your assertion. I'm not sure how someone could say that the left is full of pulpit-pounders, but the right is not. The right isn't exactly famous for their cool-headed, objective analysis of the issues or their opponents. One might argue that Bush is a pulpit-pounder, and that's what many people like about him. One might watch the speakers at the Republican convention and note the strong rhetoric designed to create fear of a Democratic planet, even so far as to accuse the left of being enemies of America. A certain "mad dog" speaker nearly made it sound like the fact that the Democrats would even field a candidate during war was a sign of how much they wanted to undermine America.

So, yes, I do think it is both unfair and unempirical to say that the Left is full of pulpit-pounders, but the Right is not.

Now, about the faux-intellectualism, you might be on to something, but I'll need to chew on that some more. I do agree that there's sort of this unwarranted cultural assumption that the liberal position is the "intellectual" one without really critically thinking about it, and that's wrong. I'm not sure if, once again, I'm willing to tag motive to it and say that the left is full of people out to make you feel stupid, while the right is full of people who don't believe they are any smarter than anyone else.

Maybe it's just all this sand in my ears, but I'm pretty sure I've heard my fair share of the right calling the left idiots, unrealistic, and unfamiliar with the data. Last night, Bush accused Kerry of not knowing how the borders actually worked. I admit that Bush has failed to make me feel stupid, but I don't think that has anything to do with political ideology.

Phil, sorry 'bout that head in sand point. That was outta line.

But onwards:

I think you're shifting the issue, at least the issue that I was driving at, when you make the assertion that its "both unfair and unempirical" to say the left is full of pulpit-pounders and the Right is not." At least, you'd be doing so if you're making the assertion without qualification.

Because my point isn't, again, that there's something inherent to either the left and the right that makes one or the other more prone to violence inherently, nor would it be my assertion that the left or the right is, in practice any more prone to pulpit pounding.

Of course I'm nitpicking here, but since we're discussing this, i want to be clear about my points and about how I/they are characterized.

To continue in that line: my assertion that the left is possesing of a "faux-intellectualism" and the subsequent feelings of condescension that their opponents might feel does not imply that I think their motives are to make people feel stupid. Of course, you weren't necessarily asserting that that was my assertion, nor was it my assertion that the right is all humble (I'd have to have my head stuck in the sand to think that).

What I do think though is that for a long time the left has held the "intellectual high-ground", for a number of specific though by no means exhausted practical considerations concerning their dominance in academia, journalism, and Oliver Stone (had to crack a joke sometime or it wouldn't be a Josiah post).

What I think this has done is made the left lazy and in practice (pulpit pounding like we discussed earlier) little different from the unthoughtful right; with the exception of the left assuming their position on the intellectual high-ground.

That assumption, in my opinion, is false, or at least not the safest assumption to make any more. The right, particular certain strands of the Christian camp, have learned and are learning from their "fundamentalist" mistakes (anti-academia, cheap moralism).

Which is why you and I are having this conversation, making sure we're not demonizing either side, frustrated at the lack of careful thinking and ultimately Christ-like interaction and discussion by both parties, and this is the kicker, we both think that there's nothing inherently wrong or evil about somebody voting democrat or for John Kerry.

The circles I grew up in, both presbyterian and fundamentalist baptist, would have debates over whether or not one could be a Christian and vote democrat & whether or no Bill Clinton was the anti-Christ. If you, I, and the hundreds of our friends and family funneled through places like that bizarre isolated world high atop Lookout Mtn. don't stand as an example of the Church shifting away from fundamentalism, I dunno what is.

and yes, i may just be making my experience and my limited world the metanarrative or whatever, so we'll hafta see.

Josiah, great articulation! I think I understand better where you were going, and I think I can agree to a large extent. Like I said, there's sort of this unchallenged assumption (largely by the left) that a left position is the "intellectual" position to have, which is not a good assumption at all, and it's a trap I have to avoid, personally.

In fact, I would extend that sort of contrarian/faux intellectualism appeal to nearly all aspects of my thinking - theologically, politically - whatever. I have to watch my tendency to accept positions uncritically just because they challenge my more "traditional" views or because they are cloaked in an unwarranted intellectual appeal.

On the other side of that coin is the unwillingness to be open, honest, and self-critical about the weaknesses of one's position, which we're seeing a lot of in the current political climate. You have to be 100% right about everything or you're right about nothing, which is bull. It's quite ok for parties to say, "You know, that's a very good point Mr. Opposing Candidate, and probably a legitimate criticism of our thinking. I still prefer our thinking to yours, though."

Hey watch what you call those democrats...DEMs are Direct-Entry Midwives and I checked into what we were up to these days making three-year-olds cry :( So glad it wasn't us.
I must say, I have had great rational conversations with our ultra-liberal Kerry supporters upstairs in Democrat-happy Midtown. Not all liberals are upsetting little girls (like not all Repub. support shooting abortionists--though we might understand it!)

Sure the right-winged nut jobs are just as anoying as the left.

The left just seem to have more of them, that's all. A lot more of them.

Shooting, SHOOTING damnit SHOOTING BULLETS from GUNS...

you know pow pow bang bang...you're dead? ya know?

I don't think I'd go off putting that in the obnoxious or tendancy to destroy property categories.

Hey just because you have competition doesn't mean you haven't cornered the market. It just means the other guys haven't realized you do it better than they do...yet.

-p

p.s. - NO, you can't stop yet...I'm not satiated.

I don't know off the top of my head any news stories about Democrats being shot at by right wing nutters. Let me ask former president John F. Kennedy.

Oh wait...

Phil, best we can tell, it was most likely communitist leaning wackjobs who killed Kennedy, but that's alot of speculation all over the place. So that would be LEFT-wing.

Well, first off, I need to apologize for the sarcasm. I shouldn't have been snippy with Pablo nor glib about an assassination.

Second, I'm going off the Warren Commission findings. We might theorize that their findings are inaccurate. I might theorize that the bullets fired at the Knoxville Rep. offices were done by a disgruntled former employee and not a Democrat at all. We have no idea who fired at the Republican offices or why. Either way, I don't think we're any closer to determining that the left is more destructive, murderous, and nutty than the right.

I'm not offended by snippy sarcastic remarks. I am well aware of their use and their effectiveness. And I tend to love them because they make me laugh.

OK that being said. What about the shooting at the Huntington Campaign office for Bush/Cheney not a month before? It may also be that there are crazy right wing wackos vandelising democrat stuff but Here In MY home town of Memfrica. I've seeen SOOO many Bush/Cheney signs vandalized it's rediculous. I have not seen any kerry ones vandelized. And it's not because I don't look either. I look at the signs all the time because I use it as a measure of how the populace in the area in which I am driving is going to vote. And let me tell you until about a week ago it was :

Bush - 75% to Kerry - 25%

Now its closer to 60-40 Bush in my town but that's beside the point. Those huge signs are pretty pricy and Ive seen 2 that have bricks thrown through them and one that has a giant circle with an X marked through it in gold spray paint. Then in my neighborhood someone kicked my neighbors sign down twice and arround the corner from my house another small sign has a big red X through it in red spray paint. ALL of these acts are within a 2 mile radius. And the only reason it happens is because we are in a more liberal part of the city.

My parent's neighborhood, being the uppedy rich people neighborhood, there are not many signs but 95% of them are for Bush. While not devoid of Kerry signs I have seen no acts of vandalism as I drive through there.

I can only go by what I see. Do I think that crazy people ride both sides of the fence? sure I do I'm just more inclined to believe that the definitnion of Liberal puts them in a crazy category. Notice I didn't say democrat. There are some great democrats that aren't liberal. And for that matter there are a few liberals who are great people too and aren't crazy. They're just in the minority.
-p

p.s. pardon the misspellings.