RE: MY “UNBEARABLE TRUTH” POST
It happens every once and a while. You write something while angry and instead of being funny, you end up being hurtful.
Such was the case yesterday with this post on Huckabee. Many commenters - in fact the overwhelming majority believe I went too far.
I agree. I never should have hit the “Publish” button. Not to make an excuse but this is the nature of blogging - raw, immediate, and occasionally inappropriate.
I apologize for offending people of faith. My brush got too broad in painting the religious right since more than half do not support Huckabee.
However, my point, if I may make it a little more delicately, still stands. There is going to be a reckoning within the conservative movement between classic conservatives who believe that a society must have a just, moral order to survive and social conservatives who wish to “take back (sic) the country for Jesus” while imposing a moral order on the rest of us via top down, government solutions. It does no good for social cons to deny the latter - not when couching issues like abortion and gay marriage in moral terms. There may indeed be secular arguments against both. But the solution will eventually be found in local communities who will decide for themselves the definition of “moral order” without diktats from Washington.
Perhaps after the New Hampshire primary I will write further on this issue to get a discussion going on the topic. I should give it some thought first - unlike my post yesterday that was clearly over the top.
Rick sometimes people need to hear the truth even if they are offended.Your “brush may have gotten to broad” but your overall point is dead on.If Huckabee is the face of the GOP then it is time to launch the Federalist party and take back America for the founding fathers and our children.
Comment by Steve Armstrong — 1/5/2008 @ 9:22 am
Let me be the first to say this:
John McCain has NO CHANCE to win NH!
Why? Simple, one word. Obama. If you look at the most recent polling data, Mitt is blowing McCain away amongst conservatives. McCain holds the edge amongst Independents. Rasmussen says 2/3rd of Independents lean Democrat.
Mitt can thank his lucky stars that 1) Obama won Iowa and 2) Obama is trailing Clinton in NH. If you were a left-leaning Independent, who would you rather vote for 1) JFK Part Deux or 2) scraggly old McCain?
Easy, Obama. The BIG turnout of Independents McCain got in 2000 won’t materialize this time. They will be voting for Obama. This is a HUGE problem for McCain. He loses. Mitt wins. New race.
Comment by Bill Mitchell, Raleigh, NC — 1/5/2008 @ 9:48 am
Personally I think you’re being to hard on yourself. Getting caught up in this election will make anyones emotions run a lil bit high, especially in you’re business. The cuss jar on my office desk is getting fuller by the minute watching election coverage. Going over the top as you say is an easy thing to do in this era when ones views of the situation are people being stuck on stupid when choosing a candidate.
Comment by ajmontana — 1/5/2008 @ 9:54 am
Rick, are you apologizing for making a mistake in expressing yourself?
I thought all bloggers harbored dreams of being politicans one day. You’ve got alot to learn.
Seriously, a respectful tip-of-the-hat to you. Everybody speaks inappropriately from time to time . . . but it takes a mature person to own their mistakes.
Comment by busboy33 — 1/5/2008 @ 10:09 am
Voting for Huckabee is as stupid as believing in evolution, it actually takes more blind faith to beleive in evolution than creation. But because it’s easier not to seek the truth; people believe the lie that is evolution it’s just like some voters beleive the lie that Huckabee is conservative. It’s like the lie that Fred was going to drop out of the race and endorse McCain. I guess if a lie is repeated enough then some people will believe it when common sense points in the opposite direction. I suggest Rick Moran read “Starlight and Time: Solving the Puzzle of Distant Starlight in a Young Universe†by Dr Russell Humphreys. Evolution is a lie that has been repeat since you were in first grade, so it understandable that you would think that Creation is stupid. It’s like the lie that the democrats keep telling about Iraq, Global warming, illegal immigration, national healthcare, and Bush. The only truth is that Bush should of vetoed more bills, and controlled the budget.
I praying that Fred Thompson wins, because Fred Thompson is the Common-Sense Conservative. Being a Christian makes Fred the logical choice. I’ll keep donating to Fred campaign till Fred is elected President of the United States. I would like to see Fred behind a pulpit every Sunday, the strong spiritual image would help. But we know Fred does not pander for votes like his competition.
Comment by Bill Buby — 1/5/2008 @ 10:14 am
“4busboy33 Said:
10:09 am
Rick, are you apologizing for making a mistake in expressing yourself”
Well, no - becuause the blogger then goes on to attempt to justify the first emotional outburst. It’s a classic non-apology apology.
The knocking down of “take back the country for Jesus†strawmen by the brave, altruistic few so they can finally establish a “just, moral order” is embarrasing, it could just as easily be torn from the page of one of the more deranged Kos diarists.
Lets see - what might resonate more with the unwashed hoi polloi? The “just” and “moral” betters vs. the stoopid Jesus lowlifes - or - the work-a-day joe & jane average folks vs. country club GOP elitists.
If you’re hellbent on a GOP class war or religious cleansing, then you want to be on the winning side of the memes at least.
Comment by Strummer Boy — 1/5/2008 @ 11:27 am
Thanks Rick, and as one toward whom the apology was directed, I accept. We have areas in which we disagree. But, we do agree on Fred, so as a blogger with a big readership (including and continuing, me) you should keep up the push for Fred. OT — think “24″ will pick up the pieces this year?
Comment by LC Baum — 1/5/2008 @ 11:41 am
Strummer:
You have a real inferiority complex going there, don’t you. And if you don’t know that a “just moral order” is a basic tenet of conservatism, then you illustrate perfectly the reason Huckabee should be consigned to the outer darkness - along with those who agree with him.
Comment by Rick Moran — 1/5/2008 @ 11:52 am
I will be looking to see more if there emerges in NH a bit of the left side doing their own any body but Hillary shifts like some have suggested happened in Iowa.
Comment by SlimGuy — 1/5/2008 @ 12:15 pm
So either the Iowans supporting Huckleberry agree with the job he did in Arkansas as governor or want him as GOP standard bearer solely because he’s evangelical? Ok, the msm loves him and he’s supposedly sooo personable. But isn’t he the classic definition of a liberal -wanting big government in charge of our daily lives?
I could never vote for him or Ron Paul. Is it true that Paul actually does want to pursue bin Laden in the caves? One wag asked whether it didn’t make more sense for Pres. Paul to pay a bounty hunter $50 mil for Osama’s head on a platter rather than spend “$2.6 Trillion” bombing caves. The hyperbole is amazing. Why not just send the FBI and arrest the dude? I mean the ronbots will even admit that they truly believe that America is the root cause of most of the world’s ills.
At least Guliani and Romney governed in hostile environments and Rudy did fine against the Italian mafia and NY street crime. The Huck thinks if you slaughter some innocent and then repent and find Jesus in prison, you are rehabilitated and should be given another chance (to rape and kill again). And let’s raise taxes too. We need music and arts in school provided by fed rules.
Comment by HE HATE ME — 1/5/2008 @ 12:36 pm
“You have a real inferiority complex going there, don’t you.”
Yes, it’s always wise to respond to criticism with personal-based attacks. Oh well, as you wrote “the overwhelming majority” also believe you are wrong. Lots of complexes there for professional long distance diagnosis! Certainly easier than actually addressing the questions. For example, the need to manufacture strawmen to knock over. (A “strawman” is what’s called a “logical” or “informal fallacy”.)
I think you’ve made a good choice in not writing more on this until you’ve had time to cool down and to look at things less emotionally. It’s obvious you haven’t thought through some things - an example of the contradictions you’ve offered is how you’ll have your version of “just, moral order” (derived from who-knows-where) all the while complaining about any other concepts of “just,moral order”.
“And if you don’t know that a “just moral order†is a basic tenet of conservatism”
Just to make sure we’re reading the same page of the “Conservative Bible” - which chapter and verse are you citing? I’m especialy interested in the definitions and how they were derived. Since anybody can pull their personal version of morality & justice outta their backside (witness Charles Manson), it’s one of those things I’m not inclined to give a pass on.
“you illustrate perfectly the reason Huckabee should be consigned to the outer darkness – along with those who agree with him.”
Final Solutions rarely tend to work out well.
And so much for “local communities” deciding good and bad - “local communities who will decide for themselves the definition of “moral order†- since, in another contradiction, you don’t respect Iowans who did just that.
Again I’m not sure why you think it’s wise to declare jihad and demand the ejection of GOPers who disagree with you. And, as I said, I’m not sure - once you think about it - that you’d really want do so, since it reinforces the “Elite” vs. the “Avg God-fearin’ Working Schmucks” paradigm. Also, with those types being responsible for twice sending GW Bush to the Oval Office, you’d be lobbing off the nose just to spite the face.
Better luck when you next you revisit this topic.
Comment by Strummer Boy — 1/5/2008 @ 1:01 pm
Commenters like Bill Buby up at post #5 are the reason I can no longer vote conservative or Republican. The utter nonsense makes me want to disassociate myself from everyone like that. This includes pundits like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter who say the same things. The Right deserves 40 years in the wilderness to rid the party of such idiocy.
Comment by Alan — 1/5/2008 @ 3:06 pm
Rick - The major mistake in the original column is that the cheer is Sooooeeeey…PIG!! - definitely not HOG. Get your head in the game
Comment by SCSheppard — 1/5/2008 @ 3:25 pm
I appreciated the seething nature of the original post while I was reading it. Republican voters are acting like one issue fetishists right now and seem determined to hand the presidency to a Democratic party that’s absolutely devoid of foreign policy vision. A continuing fascination with Huckabee or Romney will serve as nothing more than an extended temper tantrum leading up to a crushing defeat for the GOP in the general. Every thoughtful Republican should be pulling his or her hair out right now. Keep ranting.
Comment by Stephen Kruiser — 1/5/2008 @ 3:37 pm
I don’t know where to start.
The problem is that you (what ever that turns out to mean) agree, apparently with all of the other commentators on the world that there is a monolithic “Left”, and a monolithic “Right”, one of which is godless, the other of which is Bible-thumping, people-dunking, etc, etc, etc.
And there is the problem.
People really do not sort well.
And some of us resent the attempts.
Comment by Larry Sheldon — 1/5/2008 @ 3:51 pm
I must say I agree with Strummer Boy on this one. Atheist fundamentalism — not an oxymoron by any means — is as unattractive as any other sustained frenzy. Exile the religious crowd and conservatism in this country will be like those small fringe parties in Europe hoping to latch on to one of the ruling coaliton to get a small piece of the action.
Comment by Banjo — 1/5/2008 @ 6:20 pm
Rick,
It wasn’t the comments about evangelical Christians I had a problem with (since I’m not one) - it was your ‘broad brush’ smear against Iowans. They have the highest literacy rate of any state. They grow our food and send their sons and daughters to war in disproportionate numbers. And they’re considered probably the most decent and authentic people in the country. I only visited once when I was a kid. I grew up in California and live in New York. But my mom grew up in Ida Grove, Iowa - and her mom in Dayton, Iowa. I’ll accept your apology for them.
Eric.
Comment by eric — 1/6/2008 @ 12:56 am
Apology accepted, Admiral.
Comment by Chris — 1/6/2008 @ 9:19 am
Rick
Apology accepted. You are spot on that the solutions will be found in local communities. At least they should be. Social Conservatives are sick and tired of having the courts stomp all over them. In pushing to have these issues decided on the state and local level is probably an area where so called social conservatives and the Republican party establishment may be able to compromise. It seems to me that, if the Republican party and the Conservative movement are to survive, we will all need to find a way to work constructively together.
Comment by B.Poster — 1/6/2008 @ 11:48 pm