# You Overly-Partisan Dumbfucks **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 4, 2006, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-overly-partisan-dumbfucks/351287 "2006-04-04T17:34:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-overly-partisan-dumbfucks/351287/61 "2006-04-05T12:55:52Z")
On the one hand, there are people who are pro-cannibalism. On the other, some people are against cannibalism. You know what? They’re _all_ a bunch of shit-flinging crooks, and anybody who just defends one group or the other is an imbecile. I am non-partisan. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Xploder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a183cd/32.png) [@Xploder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xploder)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-overly-partisan-dumbfucks/351287/62 "2006-04-05T12:59:51Z")
> [@bup](#): > > On the one hand, there are people who are pro-cannibalism. > > On the other, some people are against cannibalism. > > You know what? They’re _all_ a bunch of shit-flinging crooks, and anybody who just defends one group or the other is an imbecile. > > I am non-partisan. 🆒 I’m not even gona guess which party is the canniballistic one. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-overly-partisan-dumbfucks/351287/63 "2006-04-05T13:51:26Z")
> [@Xploder](#): > > Doh! No, No, NO! I didn’t mean YOU were one! What I meant was that this thread was not about politics and politicians so much as it’s about the posters who have no clue about anything other than following the party herd. > > Hell, I have a lot of respect for you as a poster. I’m really sorry that came out the way that it did as it wasn’t intended to be directed AT you but as a response to your previous post. Oh, okay. Um, sorry, then, I guess my response wasn’t really necessary. :o ← embarrassed, or offering an apologetic blowjob. You can decide . . . ---
**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:** [April 5, 2006, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-overly-partisan-dumbfucks/351287/64 "2006-04-05T14:21:27Z")
We absolutely must demand and expect the most appropriate behavior from our public servants. Those who do not provide it must be thrown out. The flaws within the system must be changed. Pretending that both parties are equally corrupt is fucking stupid and entirely antithetical to a proclamation that one wants change. Shrugging your shoulders and saying, essentially, “Feh. What are ya gonna do - they’re all politicians!” is the surest way to suggest that no solution is possible. The fact is that suggesting that the corruption is equivalent is false. I am a partisan Democrat, but I will gladly see wrongdoing punished, whomever is at fault. That does not mean that I will pretend all wrongdoing is the same. Look, in this thread, we have comparisons between Tom Delay and some Democrat who misspent tax dollars on his memorial library. Both are bad, but are both equally bad? On the board right now we have comparisons between Tom Delay and Cynthia McKinney. Both did wrong, but equally so? As an analogy, is it helpful to a discussion about how to reduce violent crime in America if equal attention is given to homicides and to bullying? Once you start suggesting “Hey, what are you gonna do, criminals are criminals”, you’ve abused the perspective so vastly that coming up with solutions seem far less likely. “How in the world can we ever stop all these homicides and bullying?” So, this bullshit false equivalence is actually harmful if you wish to address the problem. If you wish to distract attention from those doing the greatest wrongs, however, it is exactly the way you should go. ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-overly-partisan-dumbfucks/351287/65 "2006-04-05T14:57:21Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > If they ever add a new forum here, I’d propose The Meta-BBQ Pit, in which people complain about Pit threads. One day I’ll post a pit thread pitting myself for creating the thread in which I pit myself. That’ll show the Matrix who’s in charge! ---
**Author:** ![Xploder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a183cd/32.png) [@Xploder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xploder)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-overly-partisan-dumbfucks/351287/66 "2006-04-05T17:31:09Z")
> [@Nancarrow](#): > > One day I’ll post a pit thread pitting myself for creating the thread in which I pit myself. That’ll show the Matrix who’s in charge! Ow! Ow! Ow! Braincramp! ---
**Author:** ![Xploder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a183cd/32.png) [@Xploder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xploder)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-overly-partisan-dumbfucks/351287/67 "2006-04-05T17:39:05Z")
> [@Hentor the Barbarian](#): > > We absolutely must demand and expect the most appropriate behavior from our public servants. Those who do not provide it must be thrown out. The flaws within the system must be changed. > > Pretending that both parties are equally corrupt is fucking stupid and entirely antithetical to a proclamation that one wants change. Shrugging your shoulders and saying, essentially, “Feh. What are ya gonna do - they’re all politicians!” is the surest way to suggest that no solution is possible. > > The fact is that suggesting that the corruption is equivalent is false. I am a partisan Democrat, but I will gladly see wrongdoing punished, whomever is at fault. That does not mean that I will pretend all wrongdoing is the same. > > Look, in this thread, we have comparisons between Tom Delay and some Democrat who misspent tax dollars on his memorial library. Both are bad, but are both equally bad? On the board right now we have comparisons between Tom Delay and Cynthia McKinney. Both did wrong, but equally so? > > As an analogy, is it helpful to a discussion about how to reduce violent crime in America if equal attention is given to homicides and to bullying? Once you start suggesting “Hey, what are you gonna do, criminals are criminals”, you’ve abused the perspective so vastly that coming up with solutions seem far less likely. “How in the world can we ever stop all these homicides and bullying?” > > So, this bullshit false equivalence is actually harmful if you wish to address the problem. If you wish to distract attention from those doing the greatest wrongs, however, it is exactly the way you should go. Interesting, but totally beside the point. If I had started a thread whose main point was to bitch that both parties are equivalent, then this would be a great response. Unfortunately, I didn’t start that thread, I started this one, bitching about posters that blindly spew the party line that the other side is teh eeeeeeevil even in the face of rational discourse. I already admitted to using hyperbole when I started this thread and now I regret that I ever did. I know that not everyone on both sides of the aisle is a crook but I also believe that the majority are not above a bit of influence peddling. Just look at some of the pork attached to anything that goes through Washington and you’ll see what I’m getting at. I also agree that if someone, ANYONE on either side of the aisle is caught in any dishonorable wrongdoing should be thrown right the fuck out. I have absolutely no use for a polotician that is willing to whore themself out for a few bucks. I also have no use for a politician that will block passage of a bill or whatever unless his/her pet pork project is attached. There. Are we clear now? \<— channeling L. Ron Hubbard just for shits and giggles. ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-overly-partisan-dumbfucks/351287/68 "2006-04-05T22:15:16Z")
> [@me](#): > > It never ceases to amuse and amaze me when I see allegedly intelligent adults engage in high-school level sniping about “their” party, and the members thereof. See, “your” party, no matter which one it is, IS CORRUPT. Why? Because the party, no matter which one it is, is chock-a-block with POLITICIANS. Power hungry men and women with egos the size of apartment buildings squabbling and pissing over YOUR money. You can find equal amounts of corruption and graft and thievery on BOTH sides of the aisle, the trick, at least for them, is to keep US busy arguing about the little, petty, meaningless bullshit like this, so we don’t see what the fuck they’re ACTUALLY UP TO. > > We make mountains from molehills to point out the flaws in one anothers party, meanwhile, we’re being ass-raped at the gas pumps, taxed out of our futures, robbed of our freedoms and all because these assholes are busy being themselves. > > Fuck. I said it, and after 15 years in a VERY political job, I stand by it. I think politicians begin with an honest intent, and are idealistic to a fault. After a few years, they see what kind of trough from which they can feed, and how easy it is to do it, and take absolute advantage of it. The parties and the system that feeds them are absolutely the problem. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Weird\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@The\_Weird\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Weird_One)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-overly-partisan-dumbfucks/351287/69 "2006-04-06T02:23:41Z")
> [@Hentor the Barbarian](#): > > The fact is that suggesting that the corruption is equivalent is false. I am a partisan Democrat, but I will gladly see wrongdoing punished, whomever is at fault. That does not mean that I will pretend all wrongdoing is the same. > > Look, in this thread, we have comparisons between Tom Delay and some Democrat who misspent tax dollars on his memorial library. Both are bad, but are both equally bad? Excuse me, but that’s my post you’re talking about, and I’d just like to point out that I never said that they’re equally bad. What I said, in fact, was > [@me](#): > > DeLay absolutely deserved to be drummed out of office, and Dem. Mark Cohen is a putz for using more taxpayer money for his personal library than the middle and high schools in his district spent on theirs. Which is to say, DeLay deserved [“to [be] expel[ed] or dismiss[ed] in disgrace”](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=drummed), while Mr. Cohen is [“a fool.”](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=putz) To me, that’s not a very close comparison; I’m sorry if it came off as one. Republicans are clearly more corrupt than Democrats at the moment, and didn’t mean to suggest otherwise. What I _meant_ to say was, the enormous Republican corruption scandals shouldn’t give misbehaving Democrats a free pass, even if their misdeeds are less heinous. ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-overly-partisan-dumbfucks/351287/70 "2006-04-06T02:53:25Z")
I agree with the OP. The only thing more tiresome than the partisan bickering are strawman arguments and intentionally misspelling “the” for effect. ---
**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:** [April 6, 2006, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-overly-partisan-dumbfucks/351287/71 "2006-04-06T03:15:26Z")
> [@The Weird One](#): > > To me, that’s not a very close comparison; I’m sorry if it came off as one. Republicans are clearly more corrupt than Democrats at the moment, and didn’t mean to suggest otherwise. What I _meant_ to say was, the enormous Republican corruption scandals shouldn’t give misbehaving Democrats a free pass, even if their misdeeds are less heinous. I apologize if I gave your post a less than nuanced reframing. I guess I just saw the setting of the two side by side as yet another example of someone trying to say something unnice about Democrats because they just said something about a corrupt Republican. It’s the MO of the media, and I jumped on your stuff when I saw it here- perhaps in haste. I reiterate that nobody gets a free ride. We must expect and demand the best, and for Democrats, we must demand representatives who make us proud. For me, that includes not only leading by ethical example, but also not being afraid to be a Democrat with Democratic principles. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-overly-partisan-dumbfucks/351287.md?page=3)