Neo-Conservatives

BTW, the caption that Boston.com doesn't want to print was "Same ****, different asshole."

Hell, man ... be more'n happy to. Be a lot easier to do, though, if it didn't keep comin back in outta left field.

Which statement itself is acknowleged as a cheapshot.

Asherman--

<please don't go>

I'll ask Craven if we can start a Roundtable members thread--just a decompression thread, to discuss anything. It could be a mini-haven, where you know you won't bump into irritants.

Maybe PUPsters would like something similar. We could treat it like a conversational blog, or something.

I truly hate to see anyone asked to leave. I think it is quite bad form.
---
Well, to save Craven another e-mail--Craven, I don't want to overstep. Would you have any objection to a thread, as I describe? Don't want to be unneighborly, but we've lost so many conservatives... This probably won't lure any back--but it might slow the exodus.

Sophia,

I'm not gone, gone. Just lurking in the shadows, so as not to provide an another excuse for bad manners by narrow minds. I have this real character problem, when attacked or seeing others being attacked, I just want to swing the shilleleagh (sp). That's just the way of us bloody-minded, war-mongering, tory, tyranical bullies, idjets ye know.

I seem to be infected with the same flaw.

Glad you're around.

<smiles>

Tory, huh? Knew there was sumpthin just a bit off about you. Oh, well ... otherwise, you're pretty acceptyable

Seriously, Asherman, I'm quite pleased to have made your cyberacquaintance, amd feel all the richer for the experience. Whether we agree or disagree, you are an able proponent of the point of view you choose to press.

Me on the otherhand ... well, if nothin' else real entertainin' is goin' on, a decent brawl is always fun ... and if I can't find one, I can usually start one ... even without meanin' to, sometimes

That's the way us Micks is. Damn the bloody Black-and-Tans, and to the devil wi' the grubbin' landlords! Here, now ... mind the jug - don't be spillin' none o' the poteen!

Yeah Asherman, I got something of the same problem. Some times I gotta retreat a little just cause all you get back is bad manners by narrow minds, and you would just like to swing back at them attack dogs. But I guess that instinct must just be us bloody-minded, ideology-blinded, librul idjuts ...

<shrugs in annoyance ... mote, eye, beam and all that ...>

I like Asherman as well as any a2k person I have met. I do think he is a bit thin skinned for the political threads, but that's just me, perhaps. I'd rather see more than less of his presence on the boards.

I like Asherman too. I just get riled up by this left vs right, mote, beam, eye thing. Anyone sincerely claiming that the people on its side typically are the righteous, and are victimised by the attack dogs who'd typically stem from the other side is, to put it bluntly, blind in one eye.

I hate Asherman!

(well actually this is my first exposure to his posts and I've no real opinion, but I didn't want to be left out)

I seem to stir strong emotions, even when I don't intend to. Thin skinned, I am as well as being a ham, but I really like buttered and baked yoms. I tend to be pretty old fashioned about somethings, like patriotism and support of our country. There's nothing wrong with questioning the wisdom of our leadership, or disagreeing with it ... afterall that is part of what makes America truly great. Disagree all you want, but support reluctantly the nation's leaders until you can elect someone else who you can wholeheartedly support. In our history we've had great Presidental administrations, and we've had terrible ones. None of them, not even Nixon's attempts to subvert the Constitution (and he resigned before conviction, and so is entitled to the presumption of innocense, LOL) were even remotely as "bad" or "evil" as Napoleon (that ought ot stir the pot), Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Saddam, or a host of others.

The political parties today in the United States have about equal power, and the division of opnion in the country is pretty evenly divided as well. Those at the extremes, being the most active and vocal, tend to make the division appear much wider than it probably is. I think most Americans, and its really hard to make any kind of blanket statement about Americans without being very wrong, hold opinions far less extreme. A Kerry Presidency is unlikely to cause many on the "Republican"/"conservative" side to go bonkers. Even with all of the vilification of the Bush Administration, I don't believe most Americans are nearly so outraged as one might believe reading the posts here.

Natalie just called to tell me my eggs are getting cold. I'd rather have a hot breakfast than talking to a wall, so adios without even a spellcheck.

I don't hate Asherman, i just wouldn't want him to marry my daughter . . .



























. . . and neither would Natalie.

Natalie keeps threatening to put me in a Home for the Incompetent, so she can lie on a thong-clad beach trolling for surferboys. Now there's a picture. BTW, the eggs were still luke warm. Later today we have a funeral, one of the unmistakable signs of old age ... more funerals than weddings.

Asherman writes:


Don't you think that is true of most conservatives? I have always said--and it usually gets me critized for saying it--that it is usually easier to define and defend a conservative viewpoint than it usually is to define and defend a liberal viewpoint that comes from a different perspective. This is, in a nutshell, is why I think conservative talk radio is by and far more popular and well received on average than is liberal talk radio. Listeners tend to want a concrete thesis to grab onto.

But it is also why I think there is sometimes so much angst between conservatives and liberals. Liberals see conservatives as arrogant, fixed, and rigid in the opinion they hold; i.e. nobody can be that sure of things as conservatives claim to be, etc. Conservatives see liberals as being guided by feelings and intangible notions for which the only defense is to attack the conservative opinion.

As for being thin skinned, I plead guilty as well. I dislike personal attacks and dislike being accused of 'pleading victimhood' if I object to them. I think it is more being frustrated that the thesis is diverted to make the poster the issue, however--even when the poster isn't me --than that any hurt feelings are involved.

I'm just here for the virtual beer and eggs, but anyone who has read Asherman's posts on Buddhism would know that he is a well-rounded and very focused soul. I was recently criticized by a poster in a political forum for declaring myself apolitical. It happened to be a conservative, but it could have easily been a liberal as well. Point is, political issues and ideas can indeed be discussed without partisanship, and should be, especially on a board that prides itself on discouraging personal attacks.

Now I think we should discuss what sort of person has beer and eggs. . .at the same time?

Pickled eggs, Scotch eggs, popular in some pubs.

The funny thing is (well, not that funny really), the more partisan a thread is, the more posts and views it will get. That ever catch your eye?

Its kinda frustrating. Put up a serious, reflective thread on the history of the East German 1953 revolution like Walter did, or on the insurrection in Georgia and its (geo)political consequences like Sofia did, or on the Russian opposition's boycott of the elections and the danger Putin poses to democracy like I did - and nobody comes. Put up a thread called "Why liberals (or: conservatives) are stupid", or "One more proof Kerry is a windbag / Bush is an idiot", and the post count will rally up into the dozens within hours. We all say we hate the partisan crap, but then why do we rush in like fools as soon as we see any?

I always feel somehow better about myself and the world after reading Asherman's posts.

He seems to be the type to only post when he has something to say and then says it well.

In that respect, he would be unique among conservatives here.




<And that, timber, is my cheapshot!>
<We each get one, right?>