It was really bad timing, and really dumb advice. I suspect she was frustrated by the combination.
I still wouldn’t have defriended you, but I would never post politics on FB in a million years. I tend to just roll my eyes at those who do.
The things you like to talk about are better than the things we like to talk about. I can see that now.
What a dumb thing to say. I like to talk about politics. The OP illustrates why I think it’s a bad idea to do so on Facebook.
Meh. I’ve been defriended by people because of my views on things and my philosophy is simple. This is a one-ticket ride and if you get off, don’t bother trying to get back on again. If something as innocuous as the OP’s comment means you’ll defriend me if you’re in a pissy mood, stay unfriended. I’m not walking on eggshells just because you’re ridiculously fragile.
You’re right. I was very dumb. I should have said that the things you choose to talk about on Facebook are better than the things we choose to talk about Facebook. That is what I can now see. Good clarification.
The cause of the immense divide among US voters, as in so many other areas, is because people select who they listen to; after a few years of selection, they are surrounded only by people who think and speak exactly as they do. You’ve been weeded out on this basis.
That’s a sweeping explanation for a lot of seemingly inexplicable action and statement: if you have come to believe that “everyone is just like you, except for a few meaningless contrarians” then it’s easy to justify even the most extreme positions.
It sounds like that works pretty well for you (no snark intended), but I get the impression the OP is a little more fazed by this than you would be.
You’re absolutely correct. If she’s upset enough to start a thread about this, then my way is very clearly working better for me than her’s is for her.
Yeah, OK, I just become unreasonably irked by the whole “Oh, you’re having a problem? Well, I don’t participate in this thing that you participate in and that’s why I don’t have that problem” thing. This advice is not really as helpful as anybody ever seems to think it is.
As for politics on Facebook, it is my experience that there is literally no topic about which people will not get huffy about and rage-defriend people over. Sports, politics, TV shows, etc. If you choose not to discuss politics on Facebook because you find that your life is easier that way, that’s cool. But it doesn’t mean that avoiding the topic of politics is some kind of magic panacea that will wave away all potential conflict. The way I personally handle this is by using filters so that the people who are most likely to get upset about political posts, don’t see them. That’s a legit way to handle things, and so is your way, and so is the OP’s way. Perhaps she doesn’t want to stop talking about things that are interesting to her on the off-chance that one of her friends will throw a rod about it.
Damn, nice post. Seriously, I was just thinking about ways to lessen my snark and offer an olive branch, but you beat me to the punch.
Between posts #25 and #29, I got myself some coffee. It really is the answer to everything. 
It wasn’t out of line any more the religion and politics are usually out of line. In other words tread carefully.
I just want to say how amazed and grateful I am that we’ve made it this far with noone being derailed by my “de-firended” typo. I was expecting some rather embarassing puns to result and am greatly impressed by your restraint. 
Also, to clarify, it’s not that I feel like the world has ended, or even that the real-world friendship has ended. It’s just that I honestly tried to find my portion of the fault in this and failed miserably. Knowing that there had to be some part of the blame on my side of the fence, I wanted to see if the Dopers coudl help me find it. Which you did.
Tru-Celt, my initial comment about not talking about politics was more to say that your ex-friend and I have very different FB posting habits. As such, she probably is a lot more sensitive about certain responses than I would be. In other words, if she’s passionate enough about Romney to not give a crap about posting it, then she probably already has a hair trigger.
Plus, I think NitroPress hits the nail on the head in post #26.
While I don’t agree with the logic in your reply, it is pretty benign. I have seen dozens of more inflammatory posts on both sides over the last few days, so I don’t think you were out of line.
ETA: I also think her logic in her original post has problems.
I think this part is important… it explains why you thought it was reasonable to make the comment you made. You figured you were just doing what you two always do, and she had recently made an explicit statement indicating that she approves of speaking up when you disagree with something someone has said, rather than just letting it pass. So I can understand how her reaction might cause you to feel a bit of “Gee, sorry for doing what you told me to do.” I guess this is just a demonstration that, in the heat of the moment, people don’t always behave as rationally as they would like to portray themselves.
Hi, TruCelt.
My knowledge of tax deductions waxes and wanes with my memory, but I believe that it’s very hard to actually save money by increasing your charitable contributions. If you donate a million dollars to the United Way you might not have to pay taxes on that million, you are still out a million dollars.
It may be possible to use charity contributions to move yourself into a lower tax bracket, but my (non-expert) impression is that it’s not a huge loophole. The tax brackets seem to change gradually, not in gigantic jumps.
If that’s mostly true, your friend may have been justly annoyed by your analysis. Again though, I’m not an accountant, tax lawyer or billionaire.
(Interesting Wikipedia note from 2009:
[INDENT]For people with incomes above $250,000, Obama wants to reduce their charitable tax deduction from 35 cents for each dollar donated to 28 cents for each dollar donated, to match the level of deductions for people making less than $250,000.[/INDENT]
I’m probably too late but you could suggest that she fire the accountant who does her taxes for not deducting employee salaries as a business expense before she pays taxes on her earnings.
Huh?
Well I probably won’t, but she would just laugh it off, I don’t work in an office.
No, no, she doesn’t strike me as delusional. Hyperbolic, yes, delusional, no.
It was all about the economy