# I Used to Privately Snicker at the Dems **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 4, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236 "2006-10-04T14:08:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236/61 "2006-10-04T17:02:57Z")
Politics is the business of being re elected. They are swollowed up by a structure that demand money to compete. If we dont publically fund elections we will continue to sell our country to the highest bidder. No repub could risk blowing the whistle. A highly organized and punative repub party would have killed him. His funding would dissappear and the right wing media would rip him apart. The system is broken. It does not work for the people. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236/62 "2006-10-04T17:06:16Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] … The system is broken. It does not work for the people. [/QUOTE] Nobody’s fault but ours. The power is ours, always has been. If we let ourselves get conned and gulled by snake-oil salesmen, well, shit, next time fuck us _harder_! If the people lead, the leaders will follow. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236/63 "2006-10-04T17:06:46Z")
[QUOTE=Patty O’Furniture] [Direct link to JPG image](http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1473/5747827/12790077/192916732.jpg) for those who don’t care to watch a video stream. [/QUOTE] I do not believe that this is an accident. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236/64 "2006-10-04T17:09:59Z")
Let’s see the Republican head of the committee Missing and Exploited Children is a predatory pervert himself. I wish I could get myself as worked up as the OP about the apparently bottomless hypocrisy of the Republican leadership, but there’s only so long that you can marvel at something you see day after day. The only thing that will top this incident is the bottomless hypocrisy shown by the majority of Republican voters next month, who pride themselves on being the guardians of morality in society, as they turn out in droves to vote for every single Republican who knew about Foely’s tendencies and practices and did nothing. So, **Bricker**. Northern Vriginia. Looking at a map, it looks like your rep is Eic Cantor, Jo Ann Davis, Tom Davis, Virgil Goode, Bob Goodlatte, Jim Moran orFrank Wolf. Whoever it is, if this person who has brought about such a great sea change in your opinion were to turn out to be among those who knew but did nothing, would you vote for their competitor, or at least not vote for that person this year? that would be the only thing that would raise your prncipled stance above the level of hot air. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236/65 "2006-10-04T17:30:53Z")
[QUOTE=Enderw24] . . . Do rational people really believe this is the first time something so clear has been twisted to opaqueness by Republicans? [/QUOTE] OK? I’d be curious to hear **Bricker** ’s honest, weasel-free response to this. What about it, Doper Republicans? Any chance this incident is revealing of ongoing Republican strategy? Or is it really just a fluke? ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236/66 "2006-10-04T17:34:22Z")
One is reminded of awe on Timothy Busfield’s face in _Field of Dreams_, when he can finally see all of the ballplayers that we’ve all been watching for most of the film. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236/67 "2006-10-04T17:54:45Z")
[QUOTE=scotandrsn] So, **Bricker**. Northern Vriginia. Looking at a map, it looks like your rep is Eic Cantor, Jo Ann Davis, Tom Davis, Virgil Goode, Bob Goodlatte, Jim Moran orFrank Wolf. Whoever it is, if this person who has brought about such a great sea change in your opinion were to turn out to be among those who knew but did nothing, would you vote for their competitor, or at least not vote for that person this year? that would be the only thing that would raise your prncipled stance above the level of hot air. [/QUOTE] Yes - I would absolutely vote for the competitor of any person wo knew but did nothing. Not only vote for – I’d write his competitor a check. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236/68 "2006-10-04T17:56:41Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] OK? I’d be curious to hear **Bricker** ’s honest, weasel-free response to this. What about it, Doper Republicans? Any chance this incident is revealing of ongoing Republican strategy? Or is it really just a fluke? [/QUOTE] That’s like saying that now that the guy’s been found guilty of a bank robbery, we can safely pin ALL the unsolved bank robberies on him. I’m willing to look at any particular issue you care to raise. But I do not make the leap from this incident to assuming that every word out of every elected official with an ‘R-’ in front of his name is a lie, no. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236/69 "2006-10-04T18:05:23Z")
Hey, some people have to actually see water turned into wine before they have their come to Jesus moment. The Democrats should be taking note of all this for future reference, though. Lies to start an illegal war? Thousands of Americans dead and maimed over a losing struggle? Shady campaign contributions? Outing of CIA operatives? Chipping away of constitutional protections? Blooming deficits? Ann Coulter’s whippet face? None of these issues will sufficiently enrage the public and cause people to question their loyalities. But anything involving sex will. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236/70 "2006-10-04T18:07:58Z")
[QUOTE=you with the face] But anything involving sex will. [/QUOTE] Well, at least the homo type. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236/71 "2006-10-04T18:12:37Z")
[QUOTE=Enderw24] Bricker, I applaud the fact that you’re not so tied down in partisan politics you can’t see what’s going on here. I’m not a dyed-in-the=wool Democrat. If it turns out that members of the Democratic Party had knowledge of this -which, I’ll be honest, I find to be highly doubtful- I would find it absolutely disgraceful and would want them all to go through the same investigations that I currently want Hastert to go through. But I want you to REALLY look at what’s going on. A man has been caught almost red handed. Witnesses from as far back as ten years keep coming out saying “he did it to me too!” We have chat logs. We have e-mails. We have a congressman who has not denied a single charge thrown at him and, in fact, resigned immediately upon this scandal coming to light. Everything but a literal smoking gun and the kitchen sink is available to review and it conclusively proves this guy is a scumbag and has been for a long long time. It’s practically irrefutable. And what is the Republican response? Blame the Democrats for setting him up. Blame Bill Clinton for doing it first. Blame the gays for instilling a fear of gay bashing. Blame. Lie. Weasel. Obsfucate the issue and muddy the waters. Anything but accepting there’s a problem, admitting it’s a Republican’s fault, and then finding a way to solve the problem. My point is this: we have a problem. A problem created by a Foley and perpetuated by Foley. It is all but conclusive he did it. It’s simply undeniable at this point. This is as clear an issue where we can assign blame as I can think of. Yet the Republicans aren’t. So is it probable, is it even POSSIBLE, that there are other issues where we’re not 99.9999999999% sure who is to blame for a problem only because we don’t have such clear and convincing evidence as freaking chat logs, yet the Republicans are STILL going on about how it’s the Democrat’s fault or Bill Clinton’s fault or the gay’s fault? Is it possible that this isn’t the only time the Republican leadership and the Republican media commentators have blamed everyone but their own party for things that really are their fault? Do rational people really believe this is the first time something so clear has been twisted to opaqueness by Republicans? [/QUOTE] Very well said. **Bricker** -I am not asking you to see the R and think “liar”, and I don’t think anyone else is, either. What I would like is that you and other rabidly partisan people to evaluate the statements and actions of any politician on its own merits. To use an example, if someone speaks of freedom repeatedly, but supports indefinite imprisonment and delay of trial, if any–does that jive with the concept of freedom as we commonly know it? If someone speaks of the urgent need to wean ourselves off of foreign oil, but gives token or no support to programs that would boost alternative sources of energy, which do you believe? The pretty speeches or the legislation/deal making? I am not pointing fingers at anyone party or pol or poster. I am trying to say that maybe instead of seeing the D and immediately putting on the “snicker” glasses, you might want to listen, and read up on the actions of that D. Same with any R. Instead of putting on the “he is an R, so he is morally upright” glasses, look at what R says and does. Then decide. We all take these short cuts to shoe box others into manageable types-we depend on external cues to tell us about other people. We judge others on their speech, height, make of car, whatever. But when it comes to politics, especially today, we cannot afford to trust blindly and follow the ones with the reputation for X. Reputations have a way of being either wrong or wrongly earned. Just my 2 cents. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236/72 "2006-10-04T18:22:32Z")
[QUOTE=Polycarp] **Clothahump** and **Shodan** , all I can say is that you surely know how to shit on someone else’s noble gesture. Have you considered becoming trolls? In your particular cases, it might be an improvement. You don’t owe anything to the rest of the SDMB community; we know and tolerate your clueless foulness, sometimes better than others. But you both owe **Bricker** a large apology. [/QUOTE] My goodness, what a large chip we have on our shoulder today! Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236/73 "2006-10-04T18:23:14Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] I do not believe that this is an accident. :mad: [/QUOTE] Oh, I’m sure it is. Check out [this famous image](http://graphics2.snopes.com/katrina/graphics/skybush.jpg) from another channel in the News International stable. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236/74 "2006-10-04T18:29:00Z")
[QUOTE=Hentor the Barbarian] One is reminded of awe on Timothy Busfield’s face in _Field of Dreams_, when he can finally see all of the ballplayers that we’ve all been watching for most of the film. [/QUOTE] Bingo. **Bricker** , I’m glad you aren’t drinking the Kool-Aid on this one. But hell, even _the Moonie Paper_ has called for Hastert’s resignation, so I don’t see that this is all that praise-worthy. The gap between this Administration’s actual conduct, and the “traditional platform elements of social and economic conservatism,” is so huge that it’s hard to see how a person of any integrity could miss it. As just one example, consider the continual gap between the situation on the ground in Iraq as this Administration has described it over the past three years and five months, and how practically every other informed observer has described it during that time - and how much the Administration’s blindness has cost us (and the citizens of Iraq) due to its failure to deal with Iraq as it is, rather than Iraq as it has imagined it. Bearing false witness on an elephantine scale about the major issue of the decade has nothing to do with “traditional platform elements of social and economic conservatism.” ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236/75 "2006-10-04T18:36:28Z")
I think what people are trying to get across, Bricker, is that your OP reads like this is the first time in your entire life you’ve seen a Republican spin/cover up job. > [@](#): > > I Used to Privately Snicker at the Dems > … > My party, though I never pictured them as saints, would never even try to float trial balloons that flimsy. Did you really use to believe that? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236/76 "2006-10-04T18:39:59Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Oh, I’m sure it is. Check out [this famous image](http://graphics2.snopes.com/katrina/graphics/skybush.jpg) from another channel in the News International stable. [/QUOTE] Linky no worky-work. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236/77 "2006-10-04T18:43:29Z")
Yes, thank you for this critique, **Bricker**. What with this and [that](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=390250), you might be developing a reputation as the second coming of **Reeder**. Just kidding; please put down that taser. What is that, the Mark IV model? Sweet. As long as you’re up, may I trouble you for a follow-up to [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=7824101&postcount=297)? ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236/78 "2006-10-04T18:46:12Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] Linky no worky-work. [/QUOTE] Try this one. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236/79 "2006-10-04T18:48:03Z")
[QUOTE=Steve MB] Try this one. [/QUOTE] Nope. Can you provide a way to get it from Snopes’ home page? I tried to search for “Skybush” but got nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2006, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236/80 "2006-10-04T18:51:02Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Nope. Can you provide a way to get it from Snopes’ home page? I tried to search for “Skybush” but got nothing. [/QUOTE] Hokay, try this one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-used-to-privately-snicker-at-the-dems/375236.md?page=5)