For reasons unknown to me (masochism? keeping informed?), I browse conservative blogs with a little regularity. Many commentators, while disgusted with the current crop of Republican leaders, are telling their readers to hold their nose and donate/vote Republican strongly, because anything’s got to be better than letting the Democrats in. I was outraged, OUTRAGED by this! How are the Republicans going to get any better if that keeps on happening? Are conservatives that blind, that partisan? Are they intent on ruining this country and…
But my indignation completely deflated when I realized something simple: I thought exactly the same way, except the other way around! By merely concentrating on a few key issues important to me (and not really thinking about how much - or how little - my favored party really did to support them, despite lip service), I realized I believed exactly the same thing, in reverse, as the commentators did!
I gotta tell you, that depressed me to no end. It’s kind of shaken my certainty about what to do this November.
I was playing Madden '07 with my roommate, Matt, last night. I took off to a 14-0 lead with the aid of a ridiculous run by my running back (several broken tackles) and a fumble recovery for a touchdown. Matt threw his controller, cursing his bad luck. My response was, “Nuh-uh, dude. This game is, like, 90 percent skill.”
Flashback to the previous night. I was playing against my other, more Madden-inclined roommate. I ran for a ten yard gain or so and then fumbled in the open field, leaving his defensive end free to scoop it up and scamper to the end zone untouched. I threw my controller and spewed, “Fing game!!! Why do I fumble?!? Because the random number generator tells me that I fumble, that’s why!!! Stupid fing bad luck!!!”
I proceeded to lose and blame it on luck rather than my skilled opponent. Matt pointed out my hypocrisy the next day.
It’s not quite the same as the OP, but I totally understand here.
Yes, the reverse of yours I was a big “Vote Republican cause Democrats Suck!” kind of guy. I don’t remember the exact moment, but sometime between 2000 & now I realized I’d suffered from blind partisanship, and have taken steps to rectify it.
I think about this from time to time. I try to avoid taking cheap shots, but I have to admit Bush is just too tempting at times. There’s no doubt in my mind that the repubs. went way to far w/ the Clinton/Lewinski affair and we’ve had this polarization every since. I don’t believe that all politicians are corrupt, I think most, dems. and pubs. alike, are trying to do what’s best for their constituants and for the country, but this “party first” mentality is not healthy for the country and the extremists in both parties need to be overcome by moderates, on both sides, finding their voice and reaching some compromises. The congeassional and the executive seem to work best when we have a bit of gridlock, w/o either side gaining dominance.
I am a registered Republican, but I lean strongly Libertarian. I’m so disgusted with both parties I am verklempt. President Bush had the opportunity to do so well, but he and the Republicans in Congress dropped the ball on so much stuff (illegal immigration, Social Security reform, cutting spending, cutting our dependence on foreign oil) I feel homeless. I don’t have a party.
So yes, I will be holding my nose when I go to vote, and I will vote for those few and far between candidates that don’t have a hope in hell but actually stand for something I can support.
I’ve decided to embrace my inner hypocrite. I’ll give you an example – Iceland has decided to resume commercial whaling, and I’m 100% appalled. Why? Because I’m a big, fat, meat-eating hypocrite, that’s why. And moreoever, I don’t care. So up with hypocrisy, and down with Iceland!
Well, the whales they’re proposing to take (minkes and fin whales) are reasonably abundant, and they’re not proposing to eat enough to endanger the species.
President Clinton had an affair and embarrassed his office. He was pursued by every legal means the Republicans could think of.
President Bush invaded Iraq over non-existant WMDs, taking troops out of Afghanistan (where the terrorists actually were) to do it. This has led to hundreds of thousand of deaths (Iraqi, US, British).
He has imprisoned people without trial, arranged for torture and made claims that anyone who disagrees with him doesn’t support the troops, hates America and is soft on terrorism.
Nope. If I say I’m against child-molesting slimeballs, I’m against child-molesting slimeballs, regardless of what party affiliation/city/state/country they’re in. I may be slightly inclined to give Democratic candidates more of a benefit of a doubt if merely accused of wrongdoing, given the current political situation, but that goes away if and when actual evidence surfaces.
I don’t have a party so this issue doesn’t really apply to me but I will say that there isn’t any hypocrisy if one side really is more evil than the other side. Bush and the neocons have pushed the country into such crisis that anything really IS better than what we’ve got now. I haven’t voted for a “Democrat” in years. I’m voting for the “NotBush” party. I would literally vote for a farm animal or an appetizer from Chili’s before I would vote for a neocon.
He had a relationship with a person who was legally a consenting adult more than 30 years ago and the Democrats did not conspire to cover it up. I don’t blame you guys for constantly trying to play this card. You really don’t have much else, but what does it tell you that you have to go back to the early 70’s to find even such a weak tu quoque as this one?
I had a major Pagan phase shortly after college and wandered around for a while congratulating myself on how much “better” my religion was than Christianity. God, I couldn’t stand those people, thinking they were so much better than everyone because they happened to believe in a specific theology, bugging people to believe like them, and not ever grabbing a clue that it wasn’t about what you believed, it was about how your actions defined you as a person.
A bit before my time o’ political awakening, but my understanding is that the page he dinked with was of the legal age of consent (at least in Morroco, as far as I understand), and the dinking was consensual, that just makes it slightly creepy in my book – not unlike Mrs. Robinson and Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate, or any other real-life May-December romance.
Now, if the page was not of the age of consent, or if the dinking was not consensual, then I’d be handing out books for people to throw at him.
Be grateful he’s not playing the NAMBLA card, at least.
I have a co-worker who recently came out as Female-to-Male transgendered. (Forgive me if I’m using the wrong terminology here. Maddie is now Matt.) To my knowledge I’d never met a transgendered person before. I’ve always supported the right of people to be free to express their true natures; it’s certainly no place of mine to judge. However, I’ve had an awfully hard time referring to Matt as “he.” I’m trying, but it’s not coming easily.
And I must admit that, deep down in my soul, I’m struggling with this defensive reaction, along these lines: hey, what’s wrong with being a woman? I’m a woman! Don’t you like women? What’s the matter with you?
This is illogical and silly and just plain wrong, but there you go. I’ve never said anything like that to Matt or to any of my other co-workers, but it’s in there. I’m working on it.
I was a big “Vote Republican cause Democrats Suck!” kind of guy. I don’t remember the exact moment, but sometime between 2000 & now I realized I’d suffered from blind partisanship, and have taken steps to rectify it.