"Obviously remembering the King assassination and getting mixed up"
Wow, a professor, no less, who can't remember the difference between Martin Luther King and George Wallace? Well, I suppose you could say they were both involved with the cvil rights movement . . .
"The comment thread at that link had somebody using the word "repuglican". * * * To be fair to all sides, other typocoinages should be available"
Well, to be fair, this is another one of those things that the other side started first. Remember how GWB was caught using a subliminal ad in the 2000 campaign, which flashed the word "DemocRATS" on the screen?
"A man who apparently doesn't care about Maria Cantwell's effort to extend jobless benefits, not a meaningless thing, which also fails by the margin of his vote."
That was a bit of Republican stage management. The R's had the votes to win, but manipulated the total so the vote would seem closer than it actually was, in order to give them Kerry-bashing ammunition.
"key Democrats decided that the party had to move right in order to regain the presidency. And the left, of course, would follow, because they would have nowhere else to go"
Well, of course. Find a spot on the political spectrum at which 51% of the country is to your left (maybe you better make it 54% or 55%, just to be safe). If you are a leftist in our system, that's where you want your presidential candidate to be, isn't it? If, as a lefty, you tug the presidential candidate further to the left on the spectrum--say, to the point at which 51% of the country is to the right--then you have engaged in a self-defeating exercise. And if you split off the 5% farthest left into a 3rd party, all you've done is push the center/left candidate 5% farther to the right in order to put together a winning coalition.
Given that our host and moderator edit science fiction, it's interesting to find that they have a Buddy from an alternate universe . . .
He's had a few years to practice, Cathy . . .
rea--"Are you under the impression that there is a vast 'silent majority' of lefties out there, who don't vote now but who would turn out in droves for a real leftist candidate (even though they apparently don't turn out for Nader)"
Erik--"Funny. In the world I live in, about 5% of them did last time"
Erik, you miss the point. 5% is, of course, enough to enable a 3rd party to act as a spoiler in a national election between the two major parties, if that election is close for other reasons. 5% is not enough to enable a party to win the presidency for its own candidate, or govern the country.
Erik, if we appointed you dictator of the Democratic Party, and you could select its nominees and policy positions, how would you propose to win an election?
Are you under the impression that there is a vast "silent majority" of lefties out there, who don't vote now but who would turn out in droves for a real leftist candidate (even though they apparently don't turn out for Nader)?
Or do you care about winning elections? Would you rather be left than president?
In my lifetime, nobody significantly to the left of Clinton, Gore, and Kerry has come anywhere near winning a national election. If leftists want a role in governing the country, they have to form a coalition with centrists, and forming a coalition means not getting everything your way.
Look, if you want to move the country to the left, spend a couple of decades selling your ideas to the people at a grassroots level. If you succeed, you will have no trouble finding presidential candidates who can both reflect your views and win.
Stop demanding some sort of charismatic, man-on-horseback character who can change everybody's minds about left and right while simultaneously running for for presidency and winning. I doubt whether such a creature really exists, and even if there was such a candidate, your notion of leader-dominated change from the top down is not very healthy for democracy.
Meanwhile, though, if you can't see how the Clintons, Gores and Kerrys, whatever their faults, are greatly to be preferred to the nutjobs now running the country--well, you must not be paying attention.
I suspect that discriminating against people on the basis of race is, objectively, racist--and it doesn't matter whether, in his heart of hearts, the discriminator really believes in racism or instead is acting for cynical political advantage.
"And the Mets."
"Is it permissible to be a Yankees fan?"
As a Tiger fan, let me say that the Mets looked a lot tougher than the Yankees this year . . .
Anybody have a clue as to how an air ambulance company is helped by a better google ranking? I wouldn't think that a google ranking would be the way people pick their air ambulances, but maybe I'm naive . . .
"the ones that read like this quotation from the comments at Washington Monthly...'anti-religious sentiment is now so well-entrenched in liberalism that I think it is probably impossible to eradicate.'"
As something of a regular over there, i can assure you that the guy who said that is not a liberal
"Isn't declaring war on the conservatives of the world one of the first acts of every revolutionary regime?"
Well, maybe not--I don't remember the newly-formed US attacking Louis XVI
Well, at least we know that Negroponte has experience in making deals with the Iranians . . .
"This was not an average performance. I found it Bush at his best."
Two true sentences from Sullivan's remarks, anyway . . .
"FYI, the Texas Air National Guard trained on F-102s until 1975 . . . the 'well, the planes weren't being used" excuse, er, lacks grounding in the facts of the situation'"
Ken, my point was that the planes weren't being used in Vietnam, so for a F-102 pilot to volunteer for Vietnam service would be pretty hollow. If he volunteered, he knew at the time he volunteered that he wouldn't be taken.
The advantages of country living--we don't allow snowmobilers on our property, so we get to hear the owls uninterrupted (my neighbor claims one killed and ate his cat)
Actually it's not implausible that GWB voluteered for Vietnam at the end of his flight training. You see, he trained to fly F-102s. Those planes were interceptors, not fighter-bombers--meaning their only use in combat was dogfighting with enemy planes. Not much of that was going on in Vietnam by the time GWB fininshed his training. And from what I have seen, the last F-102s were withdrawn from Vietnam in '68 or '69, while GWB completed his pilot training in '70.
So, he might have volunteered all right--knowing that they wouldn't take him, because they had no use for F-102 pilots over there.
"'…of making many books there is no end' – Ecclesiastes 12:12"
I'm no great biblical scholar, but it is not entirely clear to me that the quoted passage is favorable to the idea of making many books . . .
8 "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "All is vanity." 9 And moreover, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order many proverbs. 10 The Preacher sought to find acceptable words; and what was written was upright--words of truth. 11 The words of the wise are like goads, and the words of scholars F12 are like well-driven nails, given by one Shepherd. 12 And further, my son, be admonished by these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh.
13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man's all. 14 For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2004 | 24 |
| 2003 | 20 |
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