Today’s PN column meanders around the topic of political polarization in a way that is poignant, amusing, and illuminating. Her observation about the Democrats is not novel, but it is well-said:
Conservatives are always writing about the strains and stresses within the Republican Party, and they are real. But the Democratic Party seems to be near imploding, and for that most humiliating of reasons: its meaninglessness. Republicans are at least arguing over their meaning.
The venom is bubbling on websites like Kos, where Tuesday afternoon, after the Alito vote, various leftists wrote in such comments as "F--- our democratic leaders," "Vichy Democrats" and "F--- Mary Landrieu, I hope she drowns." The old union lunch-pail Democrats are dead, the intellects of the Kennedy and Johnson era retired or gone, and this--I hope she drowns--seems, increasingly, to be the authentic voice of the Democratic base.
How will a sane, stable, serious Democrat get the nomination in 2008 when these are the activists to whom the appeal must be made?
Republicans have crazies. All parties do. But in the case of the Democrats--the leader of their party, after all, is the unhinged Howard Dean--the lunatics seem increasingly to be taking over the long-term health-care facility. Great parties die this way, or show that they are dying.
I read over and over about how the Democrats are "imploding." But I think there is far too much hopefulness in the minds of some conservatives. There is still a vast swath of America that will happily vote for any reasonable-appearing Democrat. Remember that Bush didn’t win 2004 by a landslide, and to John Kerry of all people. Yes, the "Daily Kos" voice is extreme and infantile ... but the majority of Americans inclined to vote "D" at the ballot aren’t aware of that fringe element of the party.
Yes, the "Daily Kos" voice is extreme and infantile ... but the majority of Americans inclined to vote "D" at the ballot aren’t aware of that fringe element of the party.
Just as the majority of Americans inclined to vote Republican aren’t aware of sites like No Left Turns and the fringe elements that lurk here!
Just as the majority of Americans inclined to vote Republican aren’t aware of sites like No Left Turns and the fringe elements that lurk here!
It’s not clear to me what your point is. My point was that conservative triumphalism over the "implosion" of the Democrats is unwarranted and premature. I used the "Daily Kos" simply as a well-known example of what many conservatives point to as evidence of a wide-spread extremism. The voters that decide elections -- the middle 10% -- don’t pay much attention to either extreme. To that middle 10%, any reasonable candidate -- good looking and who says the right words that appeal to the voters’ sense of self-interest -- will get the vote, whether R or D.
I know what you were saying, Don. I was just pointing out that NLT is not exactly mainstream, either. I have seen some pretty disturbing stuff on this site, such as this.
Yes, Phil, that is disturbing, but we have a number of liberal trolls (Mack Sandpaper comes to mind) who pretend to be "conservative" and then post ridiculous comments based on their caricatures of the most extreme right-wing positions they can think of.
Well Bill, I don’t know about your claim that there are "a number" of liberal trolls at NLT. I won’t argue with you about Mack, since that’s one I’m not sure about. But I’m pretty confident that "jesse fan," who made the comment that I linked to, is a real person. And Dain seems to be a real guy also, one who makes comments about shipping foreigners off in trains. So I don’t think it’s just "liberal trolls" who post disturbing comments on NLT.
Phil knows I’m a real guy, and he also knows I could out-think him in my sleep. Forget liberal trolls...I’d just like some thinking liberals around...oh, wait, perhaps that’s an oxymoron.
About the trains, would you feel better if we shipped foreigners back home in airplanes? My point was that repatriation beats the living daylights out of Hitler’s "final solution." Why is this so hard to understand...oh, right, sorry...you’re a liberal. I’ll type more slowly next time.
Hiya Dain! I thought a mention of your name might bring you into this conversation. I’m not sure how your typing speed makes any difference when it comes to my understanding of your delightfully kooky right-wing posts, but thanks for offering to slow it down!
So can you clear it up for a dumb liberal like me once and for all? Are you saying that you are actually opposed to repatriation, and that you were just making a point about it being better than concentration camps, or what?
Oh God, we’re back to that whole thing about Mack Sandpaper being fake again? (Could that be Hal Holst posing as "Bill Thompson," I wonder? If not, it must just be Dain.)
What a bunch of self-serving poppycock it is when the NLT clan tries to distance itself from some right-wing commenter from America’s Bush-voting "heartland." I addressed the issue pretty thoroughly here, but additionally consider that this is a blog where those highly coveted Mugs of Distinction (THREE of ’em!) are awarded to Ann Coulter. The feel-good fantasy that only scotch-sipping William F. Buckley types read this blog or could comprehend it well enough to give their 2 cents’ worth gives me a good chuckle, really. If Mack is a liberal’s creation, then all of you owe a huge debt of gratitude to the millions of Mack-types across the U.S. that liberals apparently created and then guided to vote for your noble leader.
Phil, I am for repatriation of non-citizen Muslims in Europe. In fact, it’s already happening in England and elsewhere...nothing radical or Hitler-esque about it. My crystal ball warns that the whole of western Europe might begin to look like Beirut very soon if these populations keep growing.
Of course, I could be wrong, but no one ever thought offing Archduke Ferdinand would lead to such a dust-up either. These Euros (and Muslims) know how to put on a good hate when called on. Given their history, they’ve been very foolish to let these immigrant populations grow so large.
Gosh, I wonder what we’d find if we looked at the IP addresses of people who contributed comments here. Whaddaya think, "M.E.S."? How many other "people" do you think we’d find with the same address, huh?
Oh, how scary!!!!! "Death’s Jester"? Please. I’m a-trembling in my boots. What we’d probably find, clown, is that you, Dain, David Frisk, LT Baum, Steve Sparks and yeah, maybe even Mack Sandpaper all share the same IP address, coming from a computer you’ve rigged up in your old Cold War bomb shelter. But since any hacker worth his salt can use that info. to track down actual physical locations, I’m not sure Dain Bramaged would be so happy to have that info. out in the open - he’s notoriously secretive!
I know Steve Sparks, and he’s sexy. Chalk him up in the REAL (real sexy) category.
Of those you list, only "Mack Sandpaper" is you, and you know it.
Sorry, "Death’s Jester" (by the way, that’s the dumbest name ever on this blog, and that’s saying something), what I actually know is that you = Dain = LT Baum...and you know it. BTW, regarding your tone (and your dumb moniker), there’s nothing quite as pathetic as macho posturing on a blog. This is officially beyond boring now.
You’re also Phil Thompson. Do you want me to keep going, or are you bored enough to shut up?
And you’re also Ohio Voter. Shall I keep going?
You’re the one who said you were bored. By the way, you’re J. Montgomery, too.
That’s right, I’m quite bored, but as long as you’re going on with your groundless accusations, I’ll go along with your playground silliness while I wait for my cab. You are also the commenter who posted as "..." for some time a while back.
I’ll admit that you can go on with this game longer than I can. That’s because, unlike you, I’m not just making stuff up. I’ll have to stop when I reach the end of the list of your pseudonyms. I won’t keep going after that--for example, I won’t start claiming that you’re Fung, or Dain, or LT Naum, or wm, because I know for a fact that they are different people.
But I do know that Martin Bramah is you.
Frankly, clown, I don’t think you know much of anything.
How was the cab ride, Fat Mike?
I should really probably stay out of this one, but I’m REALLY not all of those other people- I’ve never posted under the names M.E.S., Mack Sandpaper, J. Montgomery, or Dain (or else I’d be debating myself a lot). Death’s Jester, how is it you’re so CERTAIN that all these people are actually one guy? Because while I can’t speak for the others, I know you’re wrong about me.
True enough, I don’t really KNOW that all of those commenters are the same person. But I do have a strong suspicion it is so.
Sorry, Phil, I just doublechecked my records, and I was wrong about you. But I stand by what I said about all the others. J. Montgomery, M.E.S., Mack Sandpaper, Fat Mike, Martin Bramah and Craig Scanlon are all the same person.
Oh, and so is the "Death’s Jester" who entered Comment 24.
"...I just doublechecked my records..."
Oh, that’s classic, DJ. Tell me, did it hurt when you pulled those "records" out of your "file"?