# Let's cheer the right-wing smear machine! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 12, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768 "2005-08-12T19:25:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768/141 "2005-08-14T04:25:19Z")
> [@Scylla](#): > > Rather than just call you a moron, I’ll explain why you are one. I’m all eyes, Professor Bugleboy. Let’s see what you’ve got by way of rebuttal: > [@](#): > > I don’t want to go to combat. No shit, Sherlock. If nothing else, you’ve been a consistent chickenhawk with a loud mouth. As in one always willing to cheer \*others \* doing the killing/dying for you. Even if it means backing someone **you’ve admitted** LIED your nation into this mess. Have you no shame? Obviously not. > [@](#): > > A moron doesnt’ actually listen. He assigns motivations based on what he’d like to hear. In other words, a rational individual responds to reality. A moron makes up his own. Spot on. Perfect description of Fearless Misleader…and minions such as yourself. > [@](#): > > There are other consequences to false attribution. Most major religions recognize bearing false witness as a great sin. Atheists are going to hell. Tell me something I didn’t know. > [@](#): > > For you, being a moron is more than a simple character flaw. If you don’t smarten up you’ll end up in hell when you die and spend the rest of eternity getting anally raped by Beelzebub’s giant, flaming, and barbed member. I am all for sexual fantasies coming true as long as they are sane, safe and consensual. Yours meets none of those pre-requisites. > [@](#): > > So, I think you should you say your sorry. Well then, while we are “thinking,” you are a preposterously insignificant imbecile and a belligerent, decrepit, urine-reeking curse on society. Now then, hero, go kill some more ragheads from your keyboard. 'cause it’s plain to see you can touch this particular Spaniard. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768/142 "2005-08-14T04:32:26Z")
PS-“can’t touch” ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768/143 "2005-08-14T06:39:14Z")
> [@Scylla](#): > > Well… Yeah. If you want to do reduce it down to it’s basic component, simplest terms, then yes, “Pussy” is the definition of liberal > > Or, you could just say conservatives are “dicks.” > > If you did you would have stumbled upon the great liberal/conservative, pussy/dick, ying/yang fundamental dichotomy upon which all is based. Or as good **gobear** once said: “Republicans are dicks, and Democrats are pussies. The dicks need the pussies to keep them in line, and the pussies need the dicks to protect them from assholes.” ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768/144 "2005-08-14T06:46:46Z")
I meant “good _ol’_ **gobear** …” But the point still stands, and even though I’m a conservative, I do think that to a certain degree we need to be kept from going too far. I’ve said for years - no, decades - that the best thing about liberals is that they keep conservatives from going too far. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768/145 "2005-08-14T07:14:38Z")
> [@Updike](#): > > Can I ask to whom and for what, exactly? Thanks. [Crawford Peace House,](http://www.crawfordpeacehouse.org/) which seems to be the main coordination point for Cindy’s current effort. Or, if you prefer, you can go straight to her group, [Gold Star Families For Peace,](http://www.gsfp.org/) instead. ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768/146 "2005-08-14T11:31:40Z")
> [@Scylla](#): > > That depends on how you feel about demonic buggery. Bend over and I’ll show you. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768/147 "2005-08-14T13:31:37Z")
> [@Starving Artist](#): > > I meant “good _ol’_ **gobear** …” > > But the point still stands, and even though I’m a conservative, I do think that to a certain degree we need to be kept from going too far. I’ve said for years - no, decades - that the best thing about liberals is that they keep conservatives from going too far. That works both ways. It cracks me up and pisses me off at the same time. One of the most important reasons democracy works is the balance. It’s the communication of ideas that helps find solutions and a balance that can work. While diifferent camps call each other names and tout the superiority of their viewpoint the fact is we get a better outcome by listening to each other and trying to work together. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768/148 "2005-08-14T14:14:39Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Right - [those fucking liars on intelligence committees deserve all the blame.](http://www.factcheck.org/article241.html) > > Regards, > Shodan Well, shit, you can’t blame a Clinton so I guess you have to go after Kerry. Get a new fucking trick. -Joe PS. Ted Kennedy doesn’t count as a new trick ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768/149 "2005-08-14T15:23:15Z")
> [@RedFury](#): > > Now then, hero, go kill some more ragheads from your keyboard. 'cause it’s plain to see you can touch this particular Spaniard. Ahhhhh… You’re Spanish! That explains it. I was wondering why you seem to throw such terms as “raghead” around with great facility, and why you’re filled with self-importance over the notion that it’s a good thing we have people like yourself to point out ironic acronyms as their part of global vigilance. You, know for a country that I think is leading the world history count for genocides and general bad behavior, you’d think you’d be a little more discreet about venturing opinions on adventurism. For just pure evil, it’s tough to beat the Spanish Inquisition (We know you’re wishin’ that it’d go away, but the inquisition is here and it’s here to… Hey Toquemada, what you say?) I mean the way you guys just wiped out indigenous peoples the world over in your quest for empire is really awe-inspiring. Ask the Aztecs about the civility of the spanish. Wait, There are none. Then, after having created this great empire, they pissed it away through sheer imbecility (Quite literally, too. Wasn’t there a king somebody or other (known as the suffer, who was literally an imbecile and upon his death King Louis of France didn’t even bother to conquer you, he just put one of his cousins on the throne.) Not to mention the admirable behavior of the Spanish in WWII, you Franco Fascist! How dare you type a racial epithet. Helping Hitler? What do you people have against the jews? Admit it, you really hate neocons because you associate them with Jews, correct? Oh and then you guys are like afraid to join the coalition in Iraq, but you’re afraid not to, too. So, you send a few troops and cut and run at the first sign of trouble. Total fucking cowardice. At least have the courage of your convictions. At least France acted like a real country. But, I guess I really can’t blame you. Fighting terrorists isn’t exactly the same as torturing jews, or systematically exterminating indigenous peoples. Not quite the Spanish cup of tea. But I don’t mean to be hard on the Spanish. They have of course made many contributions to world culture. Like… Machismo (which the Spanish confuse with manhood) and Antonio Banderas. I do have to admit that Antonio Banderas is pretty cool. Seriously. ---
**Author:** ![light\_strand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@light\_strand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/light_strand)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768/150 "2005-08-14T15:38:50Z")
Far be for me to defend **RedFury** , but wow. Just wow. \*\*Scylla \*\* that is one of the most asinine, meanest, just plain nastiest posts I’ve seen on this board… well ever. So you don’t agree with a guy, why don’t you indict his entire country? Not only for what they’ve done recently, but for what the did in the fucking’ middle ages! Let’s see, shall we blame you personally for slavery, the Trail of Tears, Jim Crow laws, and the KKK? I guess conservatives are dicks. At least one of them is. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768/151 "2005-08-14T15:47:57Z")
> [@Scylla](#): > > Oh and then you guys are like afraid to join the coalition in Iraq, but you’re afraid not to, too. So, you send a few troops and cut and run at the first sign of trouble. Total fucking cowardice. At least have the courage of your convictions. At least France acted like a real country. But, I guess I really can’t blame you. Fighting terrorists isn’t exactly the same as torturing jews, or systematically exterminating indigenous peoples. Not quite the Spanish cup of tea. This here is simply displaying ignorance, **Scylla**. The conviction of the Spanish people, as opposed to the Spanish government, was not to get involved in Iraq. At the first opportunity, they elected a government which better reflected their convictions. I can also assure you that the Spanish have been fighting terrorism since long before Al-Qaida was on anyone’s radar screen. Ever hear of the ETA? ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768/152 "2005-08-14T16:01:34Z")
> [@light strand](#): > > So you don’t agree with a guy, why don’t you indict his entire country? Not only for what they’ve done recently, but for what the did in the fucking’ middle ages! > > Let’s see, shall we blame you personally for slavery, the Trail of Tears, Jim Crow laws, and the KKK? It happens to us all the time. We are regularly reminded of our foreign policy misadventures, our warfighting tactics, and our alleged oppression. 60 years later people are still tearing into us for dropping the bomb, for Pete’s sake. Anyway, this might not be any of my affair, but you guys might want to [watch it with the slurs.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=247125&highlight=airman+ccwaterback) Just a thought. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768/153 "2005-08-14T16:01:41Z")
Boy, he’s got you this time, **Red**. Nailed it, fersure fersure. Look around the world, ask folks who the biggest threat to world peace is, they’ll tell you: Spain. What with the _caudillos_, the _mantillas_, and the _margaritas_, you just can’t match the Spanish when it comes to international disrepute. And take note how artfully he contrasts the abysmal Spanish record on human rights and international law to the pristine purity of the USA, the Shining Citadel on the Hill! Deft, droll, and discreet. Beat on you like a red-headed stepchild. I honestly can’t see how you can respond to such as that, so cleverly does he blend a patriotic world view with post-modernist irony! Probably tolerating Spain’s bullish insistence on participation in the Coalition is the very root of all our problems! Look how wildly unpopular America has become since it started “hanging” with the malodorous Spanish! And you should be grateful as well that he didn’t mention Spains treacherous backstab attack on the _Maine_! And how America was forced to free the Phillipines from the iron _frijoles_ of Spanish rule and place it under the tender ministrations of the US Marines! No, best to remain silent, **Red Furry**. Got you dead to rights. Sometimes all you can do is cuss and pick some teeth off the ground. ---
**Author:** ![light\_strand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@light\_strand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/light_strand)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768/154 "2005-08-14T16:10:55Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > It happens to us all the time. We are regularly reminded of our foreign policy misadventures, our warfighting tactics, and our alleged oppression. 60 years later people are still tearing into us for dropping the bomb, for Pete’s sake. > > Anyway, this might not be any of my affair, but you guys might want to [watch it with the slurs.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=247125&highlight=airman+ccwaterback) Just a thought. Indeed, but sometimes it’s the better part of valor to rise above it. I’m tired of political discourse being “he did it first”! However, I think you can agree that bitching about something in recent history (i.e. dropping the bomb) is far different than bitching about the Crusades. ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768/155 "2005-08-14T16:22:01Z")
In a thread which began by arguing the merits to progressives of not resisting the extremists’ smears against truthtellers, we have a respondent illustrating the concept’s judolike effectiveness while trying to gainsay it. The longer the dude posts, the more obvious the moral bankruptcy of his position becomes. Add to that the bold injunction to **Red Fury** (and presumably the other “pussies” in the thread) against _false witness_, and the irony would be delicious - were it not for the fits of nausea induced by large doses of bile. Getting away from the locally ridiculous to the nationally sublime, I think we’re seeing in Ms. Sheehan the beginning of the neoconservative unravelling. Those who say she’s already been answered by Mr. Bush are quite correct, and quite perceptive to insist that her questions aren’t in earnest search of a truthful response. Now that she’s come out and identified the war and occupation for the raw exercise in venal arrogance it is -with popular support and agreement- she wants, IMHO, to force the President to come out and polish the turd some more. I think she’s practicing a variant of the OP’s strategy in pursuit of her goal of “putting a political stake [through George W. Bush’s] black heart…” Speaking truth simply and insistently puts that political stake right in Mr. Bush’s own grasping fingers. I for one will be cheering him on as he pounds it into his chest. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768/156 "2005-08-14T16:22:31Z")
> [@light strand](#): > > Indeed, but sometimes it’s the better part of valor to rise above it. I’m tired of political discourse being “he did it first”! I agree with you on that, but once the bombs start falling it’s only natural to respond in kind. It’s a tough instinct to resist. > [@](#): > > However, I think you can agree that bitching about something in recent history (i.e. dropping the bomb) is far different than bitching about the Crusades. It’s recent history inasmuch as there are still people alive who remember it. It happened 31 years before I was born, so as far as I am concerned it is ancient history, and beating me and my country to death for something that happened well before my birth is no more legitimate than beating a Spaniard to death for Guernica. It’s done, it’s remembered, in some cases it’s regretted, and that’s that. ---
**Author:** ![light\_strand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@light\_strand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/light_strand)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768/157 "2005-08-14T16:29:58Z")
I agree, if it were just Guernica, but the Conquistadors, and Crusades which were used for weapons. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768/158 "2005-08-14T16:36:04Z")
Speaking on condition of super-duper double-secret background confidentiality, highly placed sources are letting it be known that the location of “Ms. S.”, the shadowy leader of Gold Star Moms for Terror, has been pinpointed. Sound truck armed with Clint Black CD’s are moving into position as we speak, and Gallagher’s Army is deploying to prevent exfiltration to Texarkana or Austin. “For her own safety, we must consider moving Ms. Shehan to a secure location, someplace under direct military control. Perhaps somewhere offshore, where the tiresome vexations of the Constitution aren’t applicable.” ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768/159 "2005-08-14T16:42:19Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > Ever hear of the ETA? “Zazpiak Bat.” ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2005, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768/160 "2005-08-14T16:46:55Z")
> [@light strand](#): > > Far be for me to defend **RedFury** , but wow. Just wow. \*\*Scylla \*\* that is one of the most asinine, meanest, just plain nastiest posts I’ve seen on this board… well ever. > > So you don’t agree with a guy, why don’t you indict his entire country? Not only for what they’ve done recently, but for what the did in the fucking’ middle ages! > > Let’s see, shall we blame you personally for slavery, the Trail of Tears, Jim Crow laws, and the KKK? > > I guess conservatives are dicks. At least one of them is. I see, but classifying me and some entire group he assumes I belong to as chickenhawk warmongers out to kill “ragheads,” isn’t? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-cheer-the-right-wing-smear-machine/316768.md?page=9)