Comments on: Conservatives: What’s wrong with them?

By: quixote

quixote — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 19:32:35 +0000

Andy, as you say, two wars, continued torture, and the rest of a nasty litany would seem to be more indicative of bad than mere ABAR.

The only time, come to think of it, that I saw the “Anybody But” shtick work was David Duke (card carrying Nazi) running against Edwards (Mr. Corruption but with a great sense of humor) for Louisiana governor. We all had bumperstickers saying, “Vote for the crook. It’s important.”

I disagree about the Gordian knot, though. I keep thinking back to what they say about FDR’s first ten days. He came into office with the legislation all worked out, pushed it through Congress before they’d come out from under the ether, and changed the direction. It took another decade and the money poured on WWII for the economy to really recover, but the change in direction is what mattered.

Obama could have done that, he was that popular for a few days there. The country desperately needs to get off fossil & nuclear fuels and move to sustainable clean energy. That would have been a huge and worthy stimulus. Wrap it up with another bill like HOLC for the homeowners, and realign the medical system here to provide health care instead insurance payments. More stimulus. He could have got that passed before the euphoria wore off. He had about a week….

That’s what grumpy people like me are so cross about. Big 0 seems to have spent his time planning his inauguration instead of doing his job. And after that, all he’s done is find ways to hand money to the Fortune 500.

Anyway. All that is totally off-topic. Unless maybe it means we should start an “Anybody but a politician” movement ??

By: Andy House

Andy House — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 19:14:33 +0000

By chance I arrived here on mid-term Election Day 2010 on a forward from an internet acquaintance. Loved the post itself, if for no other reason than it is presented rationally, reasonably, and in a normal speaking voice (which, since it is election day, you can imagine I have not heard for several months now).
Then the comments, particularly that of quixote: the irony is that “anybody-but-a-Republican” is itself a stereotype, and a false one at that, applied to the 2008 election. Surely two hot wars (actively going far from their predicted arcs) and a collapsing global economy, the epicenter of the collapse right there on Wall St., are more solid, more specific, than ABAR?
Which would be of academic interest only were we not, today, dealing with a far more obvious case of “anybody-but-a-Democrat-or-an-incumbent-or-a-moderate-Republican” after a campaign of brutal disinformation and massive infusions of unattributed money.
Has Obama delivered the goods? No, not at the levels the expectations had been raised to (and they weren’t raised by Obama himself. He was fairly reticent about what the hope and change deliverables would actually be…). And, for those willing to move beyond stereotypes and bumper sticker ideology, again no, because it is beyond rational belief to suggest that anyone, even the President of the US, is going to be able to unwind the dysfunctional Gordian knot that is the US economy in a mere 21 months. It took from 1976 to 2008 to screw things up this badly; it took the full participation of the American people, witting and unwitting, to get to the current position. So, of course, with just a wave of his magic wand Obama makes it all good again. Not.

By: quixote

quixote — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 21:13:30 +0000

Phill, you’re very kind. Myself, I wouldn’t have said I was very respectful.

You’re certainly right about stereotyping. The concept in the last election that Anybody-but-a-Republican would necessarily be the best choice has come around to bite us, I’d say.

By: Phill Smith

Phill Smith — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:59:29 +0000

I’m a moderate right-leaner (I’ve been leaning more and more right lately), and i just wanted to say thank you for dealing with this issue so respectfully. You were very accurate in lots of what you said, but I always caution about stereotyping. You can’t have an accurate psychological assessment of any group of people with a common idea. Their views on government may be the same, but that doesn’t mean you can pigeon-hole them and come up with the answer for why the way they are. We are all people, and everyone’s brain is capable of behaving in a unique way. Any psychologist (including my wife) will tell you that.

By: That Girl

That Girl — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 10:15:00 +0000

As always, a wonderful post.

I would like to say that I have actually said “It’s my brain chemistry today, not my feelings”.
When you have severe mood swings during mensration and pregnancy you quickly realize that “feelings” dont necessarily have anything to do with how you feel.