Just Lose It

There is rational discussion and then there is this, this and this.

Someone please explain to me how hateful, vile, fear pandering blogs contribute to the national discourse on politics? Someone please explain to me how wishing cancer on the sitting US President is considered constructive. Explain to me how making a statement like the following quote opens up lines of debate with people of opposing viewpoints?

"It was rather though[t]less of me to compare the most asinine, brutal, criminal, disgusting, enraging, felonious, gross, horrendous, incompetent, jaundiced, kleptocratic, lazy, malicious, nefarious, objectional, psychopathic, quarrelsome, repulsive, sanctimonious, treasonous, unfit, vindictive, wasteful, xenophobic, yahooish, zealotic piece of shit inhabiting the White House and the planet to persons suffering with a neurobiological disorder." – Bill [From both a Washington Times article and the comments thread on My Left Wing, were a poster apologizes for comparing President Bush to those with ADD]

Let me be perfectly clear, if this is how the liberals are going to take back the White House, maybe we could leave the current Republican leadership in power and donate all the money saved by not having any campaigns and give it to some worthy cause. Because people, this type of rhetoric is NOT going to win back the White House. Hateful blog posts don’t vote. Hateful blog posts don’t cause people to vote.

Maybe I am the only Republican hoping for some Democratic victories this fall, but we need some constructive dialogue in this country again. I find myself wanting to learn more about the Democratic candidates and possibly voting for them because I want to send a message to the Republicans that they aren’t representing the values that put them in power.

However, you can’t say things like "Bush Must Be HIV Positive By Now (you can't fuck 500 million people and not get infected) [Maryscott O’Connor-My Right Wing],” and expect impressionable, swing voters to listen. Actually, quite the opposite will happen and they will turn against you. There is a time for preaching to the choir, and that time is not right now.

Now before you start piling on me, and start saying I am just the right wing version of what I am trashing, I caution you to prove it. I admit I take strong stances against some of the politicians and positions of the left, but never have I wished them to die, contract cancer, and I rarely, if ever, use profanity. I am actually looking for discussions with opposing viewpoints, hence the reason I choose to write on Juice for awhile. I found my other blog, In A Word, was heading down the path towards becoming another wingnut hangout. I want to mix it up. I want to write something and have someone tell me I am wrong and why I am wrong, rather than constantly agreeing with me. .

I believe if political blogs could effect elections, then the Daily Kos would have won the 2004 Presidential bid for Kerry, but it didn’t. In fact, you can probably make the case the Daily Kos hurt Kerry’s chances by causing the extreme right to rush to the polls.

It is time for some insightful messages from both parties and their supporters in an effort to move us forward as a nation. We all gravitate towards like minded people as a haven against what is going on the in world, and that is fine. However, to affect change you need a wide ranging and attentive audience, and blogs like My Right Wing, the Daily Kos and the Rude Pundit don’t have that.

It is my fear that those types of blogs are starting to become representive of the Democratic Party, and if so the whole country is in trouble.