I look forward to your explanation of my lack of innocence. But would you kindly devote a thread specifically to that, before everyone in this one says, “Get a room, you two”?
All year, here, you’ve been taking threads where I’ve been debating issues, and trying to make them about me. So if you’re going to make me the issue, Pit me and get it over with. I’m looking forward to a “let’s everybody ridicule Mr. Moto” thread in this forum.
Is there, though? And not just among anonymous message board posters but among very visible pundist along the lines of Rush Limbaugh? Particularly, hate and vitriol that is directed not at legitimate public figures (Bush, Cheney, etc.) but at more-or-less private citizens?
It’s definitely seemed to me (admittedly, a non-objective observer) that in the past decade of overall increased rancor, there’s been a real and meaningful difference between hate-and-anger-from-the-left and hate-and-anger-from-the-right. In particular, the anger from the right seems far more frequently directed at average-joe-citizen on the left (calling him a traitor, a non-patriot, etc.), while the anger from the left seems far more frequently directed at public figures (Bush, Cheney, etc.). And this anger-from-the-right seems more organized, more cohesive, more cheerleaded-by-pundits. There is really no left-wing equivalent of Ann Coulter, nor is there (at least, with this level of vitriol, anger, hatred, and consistency-across-multiple-commentators) a left-wing equivalent of this attack on a random family of private citizens whose status as public figures is tenuous at best.
Which is not to say that liberals are inherently less hateful than conservatives (although it’s not outside the realm of possibility that there could be a connection of that sort between political philosophy and personality traits), but the liberal and conservative movements have been led and formed by very different people over the past 10 years, and there’s no reason to think that their average level of hate and anger has automatically been the same, just because, hey, the left and the right are always the same.
Attacking this family because they’ve “made themselves part of the debate” seems disingenuous.
RTF has pointed out Ashley’s story…nothing vile or evil was done to her or her family.
Does anyone else recall that 9 year old, Noah McCullough, who stumped for Mr. Bush’s Social Security privatization program? Nothing vile or evil was threatened on him or his people.
There seems to be something very organized and very poisonous going on here.
Pick nitted.
You are right, Lib. I posted before my coffee this morning.
Look, I’m all for calling the parents on their facts. Absolutely say, “You are wrong, and here is why…” But death threats? Drive by appraising of the house? (Malkin), and posting their personal info online (Freepers)is bullshit. One time is all it takes, for one of these people to come untethered from reality and somone will get hurt. It will be analagous to an abortion doctor getting killed. The protesters didn’t do it, the brains behind the operation who egg people on didn’t do it, just one person trying to right a wrong in his or her eyes, and we have a tragedy.
ETA MR. Moto, would you kindly go ahead and Fuck RT already? it’s shameless the way you flirt.
Yes, nobody on the left would stoop so low as to do that. They probably wouldn’t be posting unrelated personal attacks against someone they don’t like when that person is discussing something else either. Nope, that would never happen.
So… when HAS “the left” done something similar to a private citizen?
I believe that weireddave is referring to the ongoing fued between him and RT where wd kept posting RT’s real life name*, and RT eventually responded w/dave’s reallife last name.
(* most recently just his real life first name, an unusual one, but IIRC, at some point his whole real life name).
You’re right. The left wing is too busy smoking pot, marrying gay couples, banning guns, and watching The Daily Show until their brains bleed. Democrats are total wimps, they don’t have the cajones to stand up against the hypocritical, corporate, evil Republican cabal.
Maybe the Democrats should levy personal attacks against brain-damaged children more often. Rational, level-headed debate doesn’t seem to work. :rolleyes:
Absolutely not true. I never ever referred to RT on these boards by anything other than his first name and only his first name.
so the rest of my post was spot on, then?
if so, at the point in time when RT, a poster here, manages to get your personal information (edited to add - such as your wages, address, where your child is going to school and the costs) talked about by Rush Limbough (edited to add, or posted on a variety of well read blogs instead of random threads on a message board) , you might have a point.
Same goes for you as for Mr. Moto, Weirddave. You want to personalize this discussion, start a freakin’ Pit thread directed at me, rather than hijacking this one.
No need. I made my point.
Why? If you are volunteering to shill for a partisan issue and presenting yourself as a good example of a family who needs SCHIP, it certainly makes sense to me that people may scrutinize you. They did not present themselves as policy experts debating the finer points of income eligibility or the rate of insurance crowd out. Instead, they came out and said “families like us benefit from SCHIP.” They made it personal by saying their personal situation justified the expansion of this program. To further explore their personal situation is perfectly legitimate. If they say they cannot afford health insurance, it makes sense to look at what they can afford.
And, given the dubious rhetoric and demagoguery that liberals have used on this issue (essentially accusing Bush and some Republicans of hating poor kids), I find it laughable that people are up in arms about Limbaugh and others “playing fast and loose with facts.”
That being said, anyone who makes threats against this family or verbally attacks the kids is reprehensible. Delving into the parents’ economic situation is fair game, but leave the kids out of it.
The debate about yellowcake in Niger became about Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame.
The debate about the war became about Cindy Sheehan and now about Brian McGough.
The debate about global warming became about Al Gore.
The debate about SCHIP became about the Frosts.
In soccer they call this “playing the man and not the ball.”
I think you’re right about that. There are anonymous loonies on both sides of politics who will launch personal attacks in cases like this. But the public figures and commentators of the right, their opinion leaders and rabble rousers, seem far more ready to launch such vitriol than the public figures and commentators of the left.
As i’ve already said in this thread, i think that the family made themselves part of the public debate when they chose to act as spokespeople for S-CHIP, and to allow their son to read on the radio a statement crafted by Democratic staff members. To the extent they did that, they should be willing to subject themselves to a certain amount of scrutiny and debate.
But the response to their role in this should be honest, and should be conducted in the public sphere, as suggested by Zebra, above. Harrassing phone calls and emails are beyond the pale, as is trying to expose every tiny aspect of the family’s life simply for the sake of making their life difficult, which is what some seem to be doing.
Scrutinize? Yes.
Distorted truth? Bald-faced lies? Ridicule & physical threats? No.
(But it is par for the course.)
Michelle Malkin can show up to my house anytime. Mmmmm…
Reading the Freeper forum is like reading Stormfront. It has the same sociopathic, violently hateful, otherwordly quality to it. Those aren’t healthy people and it’s disturbing how not even the most vile, psychotic posts are never challenged or objected to by anyone else. There’s no equivalent to that on the left.
Scrutinize them because they qualified for a government program that Bush wants to cut.
They qualified for it.
Basically, what these people on the right are really saying, is
FUCK THE LOWERE MIDDLE CLASS.
We’ll help the poor, but you have to be really poor. Less than 13k a year if you are single. More than that, then fuck off and die, or surely some private charity will help you. If you can’t find a private charity to help you, it’s because you are lazy and you DESERVE TO DIE A SLOW PAINFUL DEATH! PULL YOURSELF UP BY YOUR BOOTSTRAPS! You don’t wear boots? Fucking elitist snob. DIE THEN!
This behavior is absoulty shameful. Of course when a left leaning political action group bought an ad in the NY Times Congress had to fucking stop everything they were doing and debate it. “ohhh, mean old liberals might have hurt an General’s feelings!”
These fucking kids want us to pay for brain surgery?!?!! OUTRAGEOUS! They don’t look poor, fuck them. Fuck them right in the ear.
Jesus H Christ people, these Reblicans have lost their souls, they are mad men. If there are any Republicans, who aren’t doing this crap, or look at this and say, ‘its God’s will that the Frost family gets fucked for presenting how a program helped them’, in short if there are any Republicans who have any sense at all, will you please take controll of your fucking party and drive it away from the fucking Shark tank. You don’t have the speed to make it over.
No, scrutinize them for saying that without this program they would have no health care. And while they may well not be able to afford health insurance due to their children’s special circumstances, it certainly makes sense that a family that is able to afford private school, pay for a warehouse, and live in a well-off neighborhood may come under some scrutiny.
Also, since these folks supposedly cannot afford insurance, they may want to train some of their ire on the Democratic-controlled Maryland General Assembly, which has piled so many mandates and regulations on insurance companies that it has essentially ruined the individual and small group market in the state.
No, fuck those who can’t spell.
Also, your semi-incoherent rant seems to fit nicely in this discussion to illustrate that overheated and irresponsible rhetoric finds a place on both sides of the political debate.