Which bad man is 'slowly beating us to death' ROXRAN? What's so suprising about the pro-war people on this board, is that they describe pacifists as some snot-nosed commie undergraduates (those are just the people that have the energy to go to rallies. ). Most of the people that are hesitant to slaughter the civilians of Iraq, or are hesitant to encourage future terrorists acts against the States, are the normal people from the pacifist wings of Christianity. ROXRAN et al, from now on, rather than insulting someone's patriotism, you should insult their faith. 'Stupid methodists', 'stupid episcopalians', 'stupid catholics', etc. etc. will capture your intuitions a bit more fairly. The rest of us will still question if this is a just war... a) Did Iraq have anything to do with 09/11? b) Is it valid to attack Iraq under the theory that we'll stabilize the ME by planting a democracy in the middle of the Arab states? (perhaps the only valid reason imo, yet it doesn't pass the test of the International community) c) Is it valid to attack Iraq for Oil? mmmm... *slurururluuurp*, ahhhhhhh.
There was a Knight Ridder poll done recently in the Philly area that came back saying that half of the people polled believed Iraqi's were in on 9/11. Obviously, a lot of people have bought into Bush's Iraq rhetoric to the point that they believe Iraqi's were actually on the planes.
It is impressive to have 6 digits of people (no, I don't mean people with six toes) in DC, in sub-freezing weather. I've been to protests, but not the one yesterday. I drove my beat-up little Corolla to a movie (The Hours), which was incredibly depressing. Wish I had gone to the rally. Anyway, my problem with the peace movement is that it is, in part, still full of arrogance and hatred. In this respect, the author of the originally posted article has a point. How is calling Bush names going to accomplish anything? I understand the frustration, and I think some of the signs are amusing (particularly the Cheney poster will oil bubbling out of his mouth -- Got Oil?), but it's completely counterproductive. I never advocate simply preaching to the choir and tossing hateful messages at the opposing side. Apologies if my posts are becoming redundant on this "respect" theme.
I'm sure you would agree then Jeff that it is insulting to call all Republicans or conservatives racist, as happens ALL THE TIME here. There is NEVER a peep about it either. If people can say that that is the perception of the Republican party, or conservatives, or whatever, without impunity, then there should be no problem in commenting on the perception of the 'give peace a chance' crowd. I think common sense will tell you that the protesters are out in full force and are being covered more due to the fact that the president is a Republican. If Gore were doing the same thing, which I'm sure he would be, the protesters would conveniently be staying at home, or you wouldn't hear about them. What's REALLY funny is that THERE ISN'T A WAR. It hasn't happened yet. No one has said it's going to happen. WHAT ARE THEY PROTESTING? Oh yeah, the Supreme Court for saying Bush won. Iraq is just an excuse. Oh, great article by the way. Thanks tree.
Have you ever visited this board? Are you new here? I've heard many a conservative and liberal "peep" when someone labels all conservatives or Republicans as racist. Are you serious? You really think these people only care about peace because George W. Bush is in office and not a Democrat? Must suck to be that cynical. I also can't believe you don't see a point in protesting something that has a chance of happening. It's called being part of the debate. When Republicans propose huge tax cuts, should people just wait to protest until <B>after</B> they've been implemented? That makes a whole lot of sense.
Poor Republicans? That's your argument? Liberal media bias? That's your argument? When more than 100,000 people show up on the Mall in DC, you'd be an idiot if you DIDN'T report it. When 81 percent of Americans approve of war with Iraq ONLY if the UN fully backs it, IT IS NEWS. I agree with B-Bob and you to a degree that there is an awful lot of Bush bashing involved in the peace protests. In some ways, it is a rallying cry for people who fundamentally disagree with the current administration. If that is your angle, there are better places to voice that protest. But, there are better arguments for that than GOP bashing on the BBS and the liberal media bias.
Maybe a conservative, but never a liberal. No, I'm not new. Yeah. As Duran Duran would say, "this is Planet Earth". Maybe you could join us. Must suck to be that naive. Yeah, that WOULD make sense. But who proposed a war with Iraq?
Have pro-life people stopped protesting at abortion clinics since there's a Republican in office, or is it only liberals that do things like this? You haven't watched much of the news lately have you? We've deployed the most troops to the Persian Gulf region since the Gulf War in 1991. It's pretty obvious to most people in the country, conservative or liberal, that there's a chance for war. This is the right time to protest it if you're against it. BTW, I've made the comment on this board before that not all Republicans or conservatives are racist and I'm positive that other liberals have as well. Regardless, you don't see all the conservatives come out in defense of liberals that much either.
I'm willing to bet anything you like that ninety percent of Hangout posters own a pair of khaki pants. Seriously.
Come on, this is just silly. I would hope it's pretty obvious that deploying troops doesn't mean WAR. You're right, BOTH of the conservatives on the board haven't come out in the defense of liberals. In all seriousness, the whole board is liberal. Liberals for whatever reason are more vocal than conservatives, both in society and on this board. I'd bet that if you counted all the Hangout, political posts on this board, that a vast majority of them would be by liberals. Besides that, both Refman and MadMax are both very fair, and they are pretty much the only conservatives here that rival the Hangout post counts of the liberals. So you're wrong on many counts. Either way, you're focusing in on minor points that I tried to make, and ignored the major one, that protesters stay home in this case when a Repub is in office. Well, to be fair, you didn't ignore it, you just gave a bad retort with the abortion thing.
There's only one hard and fast rule about 'freaks': they don't wear khaki pants. I'm a little obsessed with khaki pants, actually. Could you tell? (The whole board is liberal, huh? How come we're always arguing, then?)
No sillier than you claiming that anti-war folks would be quiet if Gore was president. Do you not see that a mass deployment of troops and all the talk of Saddam, WMD, and UN Inspectors shows that there's a chance for war or invasion? And I'm the naive one? Go take a look at the "Question for Trader_Jorge" thread. There are a lot more conservatives than you think. Inferiority complex maybe?
