I wrote a post a few days back and my first sentence was this: I'd love to see Lt-Col. Oliver North run for office just so the liberals could show us how to properly treat a war hero.
The point was that Dems love to scream and cry because us evil Republicans will criticize someone without any regard to their past heroics. They went apeshit when we went after Kerry as if his 4 months in Vietnam was a free pass for life. It's not a free pass. Respecting someone for service to country is one thing, being barred from criticism is another. This is the United States of America, speaking our mind is practically a prerequisite for citizenship.
Liberal A responds to my post with this gem:
This "immunization from cricitism" spin is laughable. Was John Kerry immunized from being savaged by the Swifties? Was he not "fair game"? And Coulter's example is the most insane of all - she maintains the 9/11 widows are above criticism while in the same breath saying they enjoyed their husbands' deaths.
Say it with me. M-I-S-S-I-N-G T-H-E P-O-I-N-T
If they weren't "immunized from criticism" why was the response to the SwiftVets, all veterans of Vietnam btw, so rabid? All we heard was that most of these guys were on a different boat. So, flippin' what? Lots of Vietnam vets hate and I do mean HATE John Kerry because of his testimony before Congress. My uncle can't even say his name without snarling.
If Cindy Sheehan wasn't supposed to be immunized, then why is the only response to our criticisms of her comments a reminder that she lost a son in Iraq? Nothing on the merits, just her son died. I've never once read anything that suggested that she deserved to lose her son. It's horrible that she did but she doens't get a free pass to call people names.
I wasn't even gonna talk about the 9/11 widows but since you brought it up only to prove that you are MISSING THE POINT. I will quickly address it. Until Coulter said something mean, those women were given a free pass for some pretty vicious politically motivated remarks. Coulter's point was that YOU GUYS believe that these women are above criticism and after the outcry, her point was made. You made it for her.
Back to my point. Republicans respect service, widows, children and anyone deserving of respect. Respecting someone's service isn't going to give you a free pass. If you are an idiot, we'll say so. If you are a traitor (Benedict Arnold), brave service to country isn't gonna immunize you for life. If we think you are a dick, we'll say so.
When Ollie North ran for office, Republicans savaged him. We didn't let his past service to country immunize him, not one little bit.
Republicans have proven that if you are going to foray into the political arena, we don't care which party you align with, you'd better wear a Kevlar vest. The Democrats only hit their opponents (with no apparant regard for hero status) and cry like babies when they get hit back.
My point was to prove, yet again, what a bunch of pansy ass hypocrites Liberals are. I didn't mean to prove how dumb they are too. Sorry about that.
Related Posts (on one page):
- The #1 Talent of Liberals: Missing The Point
- I'd Love To See
R.I.P. Steven Malcolm Anderson
If you want to call me a dumb pansy-ass hypocrite, you're free to use my name. No need to hide it under an alias. (I also wondered why I was "Liberal A," when there was no "Liberal B." But whatever.)
Personally, I never said or believed that the 9/11 widows, Cindy Sheehan, or anyone else should be immune from criticism because of their status. I simply believe that everyone has a right to their opinions, and a lot of the response to especially Sheehan was, frankly, savagely personal. Cruise over to FreeRepublic sometime.
As for the Swifties, there was a lot of factual, well-reasoned refuting of their claims. If you didn't see that, you weren't paying attention.
See, it's all about this conservative tactic of attacking the strengths. War hero? Find a way to make him a coward. Smart and knows his shit? He's an egghead elitist. It works.
And speaking of knowing your shit, this comment from someone on Balloon Juice pretty much sums up how I feel about the "Jersey Girls":
Criminals and liars don't get a pass from liberals just because they've worn a uniform. It's about what people do, not what they wear.
Republicans think “pretty vicious politically motivated remarks” (basically anything that challenges their partisan worldview) is equivalent to lying and criminal behavior. They also think that those who challenge their world view deserve lying and criminal behavior in response. In other words, they just can’t tell right from wrong.
Get the point now?
If Republicans were immune, why is it Bush is savaged on the right just like on the left? Or does that not fit into your "partisan worldview"?
Jeez Rose...pick a harder target please. They're fish in a barrel! :)
I have to say, I could not have come up with two less relevant examples of the topic at hand. You get a gold star for trying, though.
Sorry about that. I didn't mean to single you out. I had Liberal B and C ready to go but I wrote this late last night and I spaced out and didn't proofread it.
I absolutely did not mean to call you a pansy ass hypocrite. I meant that about liberals in general, not you specifically.
Criminals and liars don't get a pass from liberals just because they've worn a uniform. It's about what people do, not what they wear.
Are you kidding me? If you didn't already get struck by lightening for typing that non-reality based comment, then I have two words for you.
JOHN KERRY
I guess you can understand my confusion, then, since you wrote that my comments prove your point about liberals "in general." But since I *am* a liberal, I guess it's a distinction without a difference. No matter.
Also, when you're attacking "vicious politically-motivated remarks" and people "being dicks," you might want to pick a better champion than Ann Coulter. Just an idea.
That gave me the giggles.
I totally understand your confusion, I screwed up. There's a difference. I chalk up your remarks to the vigors of youth, the Sheps/Aras/and Marks of the liberal world don't have the luxury of making youthful errors.
I like Coulter. We are two bitches in a sea of assholes. ;-)
Just errors, eh?
I confess I don't understand what your second paragraph means. (I'm a liberal, so I rarely get the point.) I stand by my original comment, then and now, which is why I'm happy to put my name to it. The "immunization" rhetoric is simply another way to shift the focus away from the real issues. Oh, and have you heard? Michael Moore is fat.
One more thing: Also, when you're attacking "vicious politically-motivated remarks" and people "being dicks," you might want to pick a better champion than Ann Coulter. Just an idea.
I wasn't attacking "vicious politically-motivated remarks", I was attacking the idea that people who make them are immune from retorts because of a personal tragedy.
If Cindy Sheehan wants to call me a cunt, or Bush a terrorist, she doesn't get a pass from my verbal beat down because her kid died in Iraq.
THAT is my point.
The "immunization" rhetoric is simply another way to shift the focus away from the real issues.
Okay, remember the Swifty hoopla? Rather than listen to the vets, they were called names by liberals for the crime of speaking against their Democrat War Hero Kerry.
Democrats repeated the same mantra over and over. Kerry's a war hero. He had Purple hearts. How dare they smear him. Smear. The debate was shut down because liberals shifted the focus away by sliming the Swift Vets.
Nobody was allowed to call Max Cleland a pussy, even though he acted the part in Congress, because he dropped a grenade on himself during Vietnam and blew off some body parts. Any attempt to respond to Cleland's bullshit was an attack on his patriotism. Substance didn't matter, he was a crippled Vet therefore untouchable. Any Republican attempt at attacking him was responded to with tears and hysterics.
Shoveling this shit all day must get tiring.
Pat Buchanan: The thing about the President is, he exudes confidence. He exudes certitude.
Stewart:....So does Mr. T! It's like, "He drove us into a wall, but he didn't blink!"
I don't remember much substance. I remember very little substance at all. I remember mainly assertions without backup.
The only charge I ever saw stick against the Swiftees was not against the substance of their claims and their documentation. That held up just fine. But they did engage in nasty hyperbole, which I condemned at the time.
Considering the people who were complaining, I can generally say, sauce for the goose.
No, on the whole, I'd say the Swiftees were treated much, much worse than they deserved. If Kerry had stood up for himself, people would have noticed that the Swiftees had lots and lots of substance to their claims. They might even have noticed how clumsy Kerry was at assembling his Band of Brothers. How he left out his peers and superiors among the officers. Which is interesting. Military folks I talk to often say very positive things about their superior officers. Many even made long term friendships. Not Kerry apparently.
Kerry did a very poor job of healing the wounds he caused by his 1971 comments. Until he can do so, I say he isn't qualified for any position involving the U.S. military. Which disqualifies him from any elected Federal position. I'd be happy to advise him on how to heal those wounds, even though I think it would make him way too electable.
Yours,
Wince
Shoveling this shit all day must get tiring.
Missing the point entirely. Again.
"Dumb pansy-ass hypocrites" and comments like that are all the right has left. They're tapped out. No wonder Ann Coulter is their darling.
“...why is it Bush is savaged on the right just like on the left?”
“Nobody was allowed to call Max Cleland a pussy.”
“No, on the whole, I'd say the Swiftees were treated much, much worse than they deserved.”
“You know the argument we are having would be funny if irony cracked me up.”
Hahahahahahahahahahaha (I love irony)!
“...the Sheps/Aras/and Marks of the liberal world don't have the luxury of making youthful errors.”
Now that’s just plain mean.
< < sigh > > Always the bridesmaid...
Oh wait. I'm a leftist, not a liberal.
Oh cr*p!
Wait.
Speaking as a member of that group, I would like to point out that we now have the luxury of making entirely new kinds of errors.
Bring on the stories of how easy the youth of today have it, and how hard things were when we were young!
Bring on the lectures about how everything is going to h*ll in a handbasket!
Bring on the nostalgia for the imagined glories of our youth!
Bring on the boring, interminable stories, oft repeated, about ancient historical events!
Are you sure you wouldn't rather have youthful errors?
Yours,
Wince
Errors. Bleeding luxury.
Yours,
Wince
????? bell bottoms ?????
Hello! At least graduate me to The Brady Bunch (Marsha, for sure), not Leave It To Beaver.
Yours,
Wince
Luxury of Errors? You were lucky. We were happy in those days, though we were error free. We used to have to get up out of the Volkswagon Mini Bus at twelve o'clock at night and lick the road clean of mistakes with our tounges; go to work at the corner of Haight and Ashbury, passing out fliers for Pat Boone concerts from sunup to sundown wearning nothing but a three peice suit instead of being dressed like proper kids who got to run around, flaunting their fashion mistakes -- dirty tie-died dashikis, bandanas AND flowers in their hair, and yes, bellbottoms -- faded ones at that!
Ahh, these kids to day got it easy. They didn't have to pretend disco wasn't a huge error like we did. There we were, going about our business, dancin' on lighted floors in skin-tight black demin and flashy fake-silk shirts with gaudy chains hanging around our necks.
We were so error free we didn't even know what one was back in the day, and when we'd come home with a report card full of "A's," Dad would beat us around the head and neck with a broken bottle, if we were LUCKY!
As I frequently explain to the youngsters I work with, memory is the second thing to go with age. I don't remember what the first thing is.
Ask Bob Dole, he'll tell you what that little blue pill is for...
Yours,
Wince