Okay, So there's a lot of "buzz" about Palin running in 2012, and I heard that the website "Team Sarah" is full of die-hards, so I wanted to see why they support SP to the extent that they do... Well, I asked a lot of questions, and of the 40+ chatters, only 2 actually took time to answer any questions (and normally the response was "it's a religious thing-leave it alone"). In addition, I was also called a moron, idiot, and stupid quite a few times. On top of that, the topic of Iraq came up, more than one person stated that the war was over and they would feel more comfortable walking around in Baghdad than chicago, and one person stated that me talking about iraq to her in the first place was wrong because she was a wife of a veteran so she knows more about the military than I do. When I mentioned that I served as well, she said the conversation was over and did the /ignore thing to me. It takes a lot to get under my skin, and no one offended me, but it makes me sad that when you ask questions about a person (candidate) that a group of people support, they throw out the ad-hominems instead of just discussing issues - it makes me sad that thinking that these people may outnumber the logical and helpful ones.
Makes me kind of glad there has been no representation for conservatism lately.. they don't really deserve it. Silly neocons, drop dead already.
I hope the republican party will come to its senses and elect a classical republican and bring back the true ideals that the republican party once stood for.
Yeah, as a conservative I have to say that IMO the Republican Party did not do a very good job of voicing their views on the issues in this past election. Mark
As a liberal nut I agree. We need a real republican party to keep this boat on track, the extreme religious liberals (they just call themselves conservative) are destroying the Republican party from the inside and almost took the whole country down with it. When you want to change the constitution, change the role of the executive branch, and change the way war is declared you aren't really conservative are you?
Those supporting McCain/Palin in the election were called all the above and worse right here in DP, and ad hominem attacks were more the norm than the exception. I got a few rednotes that beat those epithets by a fair margin. Neither side has a monopoly on the high road.
I agree; and it's sad... On the other hand though, I have gone to other forums and chatrooms (for mitt romney, hillary clinton, john edwards, rudy guiliani) and asked the supporters about their views and reasons for supporting the candidate, and usually wind up getting a bunch of people that want to talk about that candidates positives. I've never seen such a negative reaction towards someone asking questions before.
Then just let it go - move on - 2012 is a long time from now. I think it is more likely that the Mayans are right about 2012 than it is probable that Sarah will have any impact on politics in 2012.
Understood. Not suggesting it's a good thing, I didnt like the flipside of it when I got it here. That said, having watched politics a bit for the last 50 yrs I've never seen such a negative reaction to a candidate by those in opposition as did Palin run into... I think David Duke had better treatment by blacks than Palin got from some folks. Maybe theres some law of political physics where every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Just a guess. Personally I'm with you, it's distasteful regardless of who does the piling on, and it tells more about the person hurling the insults than it does the target.
While you're probably right that Sarah Palin might not have a great shot as a serious contender in '12, we can't yet be sure of that. Did you think Barack Obama had a serious shot in '04? Also, I'd rather "get the scoop" on politicians before they're on the campaign trail. Once they're campaign is full steam ahead it's hard to get any real answers, as they're usually just spewing what they think the public wants to hear. Whereas now I'd have a better shot of getting a no-bull answer to political positions and goals. Amen.
Why - do tell - would you go to a known haven for Palin supporters for the "scoop"? Go to Drudge to get the scoop. I fear you are complaining for complainant's sake.
Maybe some people find it acceptable to get all their information from one source, but when gathering information on politicians, I prefer to find the die-hard supporters and pick their brains, then ask for sources. After that, I like to pick the brain of those that support an opposing candidate or just people that can't stand that politician, then ask for their sources. Afterward I usually feel confident that I've heard the best and worst. Seriously, why would a person limit themselves to one (or a small number of) source(s)? That's just setting yourself up for failure. I would be interested in hearing about a group of staunch politician supporters being extremely defensive when asked questions about their political views. To me, it speaks volumes. If you're in a chat room that's focus is discussing a politician, and someone starts asking questions about that politician, and other chatters get defensive and start verbally attacking (then /ignore-ing) that person, to me that shouts I cannot intelligently express why I support this person. You might not find this thread interesting, but maybe someone will; the same way that I don't find the hundreds of "my adsense account got banned; why?" threads interesting.
Yup, and this thread was created in the "Politics & Religion" section of it. A place that I know there are a number of posters that are as interested in US politics as I am. A place that I know a few people would be interested in hearing about the response I got at the chat room, and might even chime in with their comments.
Sarah Palin is the gift the keeps on giving for Democrats. If the Republican party really thinks that Sarah Palin should have anything to do with the future of their party then they are doomed (even more so than they are anyway, that is.)
The world's population is 90% composed of idiots. I will gladly welcome any of those 90% to challenge my argument.
Well, that's a pretty bold thing to say right beneath a post from their king. :-p [wb Z... wondered where you'd gotten off to]
It would seem the reactions to Palin are extreme from either side, either for her or against her. In that regard she is like Hillary from a segment of the Right, and will drive a lot of commentary for a lot of years moving forward, with her supporters being convinced she is great and the opposition looking forward to taking her on. In any case she is definitely keeping her name in the public, so it looks like we will see a lot of her. This is totally off topic, but I've been listening to the Sunday talking heads for the past two weeks. This is interesting, both the Conservatives and the Liberals are speaking well of seeing a "smart" administration. They don't say it directly, they say it between the lines.
Cool. I'm old enough to consider her "a babe"... and ok, she may not do a spread in Playboy, but I'd rather watch her walk away from me than say... Janet Reno. [oh SHIT! Now I gotta go wash that mental image out with acid or something.] We're talkin' DC here... not like the bar for "smart" is real damned high. Half our Congress has IQ's rivaled only by garden tools. Heck, I hope they really are a smart administration, it'd be a nice change.
Rob: I'm probably an age peer of you. Back in the day I dated a girl who worked on a congressional staff. her boss was voted dumbest member of congress at least two years running, in some local/regional publication. I met him at some functions, like a staff wedding, etc. The guy had definite "high dumb" ratings, no doubt. He was a sub committee chairman, and when some issue came up that was a crisis, they moved the discussions out of his sub committee to a bigger committee. I never thought about the "dumbness" thing for this admin......but if you buy into the commentary, the guy I met would have qualified. btw, he was a dem. Palin....yeah...she does look good. DC, besides attracting folks with garden rake IQ's, is described by Hollywood folks, as a place for important ugly people. Palin would improve the local looks ratings.