Comments on: ‘OUTRAGE FATIGUE’ SETTING IN

By: ubermilf

ubermilf — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:39:28 +0000

I have a liberal blog/readership, but I am dedicating this week to conservatives with whom I agree.

This story will be the first one.

Honestly, my “ideal” is a moderate one: a government divided equally between conservatives and liberals passionately devoted to public service and trying honestly to enact legislation that betters America. They’re willing to listen to both sides of an issue, convince the “other side” when necessary and concede the others’ point of view when applicable.

I live in a dream world, but I’m happier there.

By: Surabaya Stew

Surabaya Stew — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:01:20 +0000

Hey Gayle Miller, if you are going to use “Barack Hussein Obama”, the least you can do is use “John Sidney McCain”.

By: funny man

funny man — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:48:25 +0000

Gayle Miller,
Barack Obama might be a lot of things but he is no communist. Part of my family left a so called ’socialist paradise’ but I never heard Obama suggesting to nationalize factories or install proletarian courts. Also, please don’t bore me with this ridiculous ‘Hussein’ thing. You don’t want to know my middle name and if that is all I had to worry about with Obama I would elect him immediately

By: Gayle Miller

Gayle Miller — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 20:24:02 +0000

Rick - let’s really go for perspective here. This country has been suffering a lengthy national nervous breakdown since 11/22/63 and the 1968 assassinations of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. We had a brief remission during the Reagan years but the attacks on 9/11 just confirmed that we were going to hell in a handbasket for a lot of us.

Between Barack Hussein Obama and John McCain, here’s the difference: John McCain will keep us safe and Barack Obama is a dithering coward with a vacancy where his soul should be. While I am no fan of Senator McCain, compared to his opponent, he’s the second coming. And bottom line? This still is the greatest country in the world, most freedom, best standard of living. And that’s another reason to defeat Obama - he is interested in a “national security force” (KGB anyone?) and based on his numerous questionable associations, he is a dyed-in-the-wool socialist if not a full on communist - something this nation does not need! Already he is, through his campaign’s lawyers, attacking free speech all over the country. This man is not now, nor will he ever be, ready for prime time!

By: MyT_Quin

MyT_Quin — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:52:17 +0000

So…the financial house of cards has needed attention for many years and we did nothing. Now we are dealing with the aftermath…holding the stinking bag of crap. Now let’s think just a minute…is there anything else that demands attention and we are incompetently dealing with because of party dogma, entrenched financial interests, lack of true leadership? Hmmm..could it be extreme dependence on foreign oil to power our transportation…a cornerstone of our economy? Could we not agree that we must have an actionable strategy to reduce our dependence..like…NOW! Are we so stupid as to believe that Drill!Drill!Drill! is a “strategy” (nod to Senator McCain). Why is there a false divide on this issue? It is not a Democratic or Republican issue…but somebody’s ox is going to get gored as we work through it (like corn farmers, oil companies, states with wide open spaces to store spent nuclear fuel)…let’s get the hell on with it.

By: michael reynolds

michael reynolds — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 07:38:32 +0000

I think anti-Americanism is vastly exaggerated. I live in Italy (for the last 5 months) and in the last couple of years have traveled extensively around Britain, France, Netherlands and Spain. And I don’t see it. I think it’s mostly paranoia.

I drive around Italy and France in a car with North Carolina license plates. My over-fed, over-loud, over-here family and I could hardly be anything other than American — everyone knows what we are, it’s not a secret we keep. And so far, in six months, I’ve had exactly one guy flip us off. No one spits, crosses the street, rolls their eyes or threatens us.

I was just at Omaha Beach. The visitors to the American graveyard were primarily French. They didn’t stand gazing respectfully over those crosses because they hate Americans.

By: Melanie

Melanie — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 05:33:09 +0000

The US will never again be a dominant military and economic power. That got trashed by deregulation and greed. Reaganomics finally revealed its toxic fruit.

By: funny man

funny man — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 05:19:04 +0000

Marc H:
well the problem is what do you call ‘left’. I give you one example: conservatives in Germany as in the Christian Democrats are as ‘liberal’ as are there counterparts the Social Democrats (almost) if you would use an American yardstick. Now I’m not assuming you would call these the “lunatic fringe”. There is a couple of things that annoys the average German (and a lot of other Europeans). For example, there is a perceive lack of respect by the Americans. Remember Rumsfeld’s ‘old Europe’? A lot of Americans get pissed of anything the French do (Chirac btw is a ‘conservative’) but the only thing they do is give their opinion and ‘advice’ on ‘American affairs’. IMHO the United States tends to do that all the time regardless who is in office. I’m not necessarily saying they shouldn’t but then it’s the tone that sets the music.
Luckily all of Europe is now are more or less organized as democratic countries who could vote otherwise if they wanted to. Contrary to your belief it is not ‘liberty and freedoms’ that they loathe. I mean why should they? They often think the freedoms in the US are excessive (getting caught with a swastika will send you straight to jail in Germany) and that the society here is too individualistic. You can disagree with their point of view but as a democracy they have just as much right as the people here to make their choices.
Now back to the ‘lunatic’ left. For me that is people that are set in their dogmatic, pure and of course always right worldview. Intolerance at it’s best and for them the biggest dog around is the root of all evil (in this case the United State). Unfortunately (but not surprising the student of human behavior), the ‘lunatic’ right works under the same basic principle just with different ‘bad guys’.
Now to answer your question: I actually think that Americans and Europeans have reasonably worked together in the last 60 years regardless of who was in charge in their respective countries. However, both sides shouldn’t take each other for granted.

By: Surabaya Stew

Surabaya Stew — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 04:36:39 +0000

Hey Chuck, thanks for making this point:

“The simple truth is that a better reputation and standing in the world directly translates to more people buying our products.”

Good to see that I’m not alone on this issue. Right now, we have to start exporting our way out of economic difficulty, and I can’t imagine that a McCain presidency will help. While it’s not obvious that an Obama presidency would really aid our industrial base either, I think the most important thing is “First, do no harm”. A belligerent McCain is the last thing we need on our backs when trying to sell our goods. As Rick says:

“Obama could very well end up grovelling and apologizing to most of the planet while McCain ends up bombing the crap out of Iran and isolating us further.”

If this observation is true, I wonder which president would be better for our economy?

By: Chuck Tucson

Chuck Tucson — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 03:02:04 +0000

Mark H,

I assure you that being concerned with our reputation and/or standing in the world has very little to do with pleasing European leftists. This seems like an excuse for horrible foreign policy.

It has absolutely noting to do with “seeking freedom and liberty.” The simple truth is that a better reputation and standing in the world directly translates to more people buying our products.

Well, unless you include military hardware in that, then it really doesn’t matter.