President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

dixiehack · Jul 16, 2024

This is from the wife of my former boss, who I am still friends with. Not really agreeing with her point of view, but it is something to chew on and certainly more thought out than most of what I see from conservatives on Facebook.

Feeling political. Might delete later.
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It's been a couple of days now since Saturday's events and I have some opinions. Who wants to listen in? Seriously, scroll now. Here's your chance to move along.

Ok, then. Here you go.

I have said many times how I have given up discussing politics in public and social media. But here I am. Every now and then I dip my toes back in and sometimes, I just have to offer my thoughts. You're free to not read them.

The reason I gave it up is because it's just too divisive. It's too ugly. What one side considers a human right, the other side considers evil. That applies to so many issues on both sides of the aisle. Just fill in the blank. And when one side criticizes legitimate actions, the accusations of being disloyal are just the beginning of what you’ll be called.

I just didn't have it in me anymore to argue with everybody especially when I was seeing the evolution of the party I called home my whole life.

I was a White House intern at one point, for heaven's sake. I pounded the pavement for George Bush in 1992 and attended the official RNC election night party at the Hilton DC in which Bush lost to Clinton.

I attended a few inauguration balls here in my home state, attended Republican fundraisers, my dad's name is somewhere at the Reagan library as a donor, and he and my mom attended a Reagan state dinner and sat with members of the Cabinet.

I vote for candidates who promise freedom from government and allow me the consequences of personal freedom. Nanny state candidates have never and will never have my vote. I come from a family of immigrants who came here to work and create a new life and this great nation gave them that opportunity and they took full advantage.

My conservative credentials are legit and I was always proud and happy to defend my position.

But now, I see that my version of conservatism has changed to the point of unrecognizability. I'm seeing that people can't discuss anything and they take personal offense to any criticism of the current banner bearer. No one can offer an opinion without getting canceled, pigeon-holed as something they're not, or being yelled at for not being conservative enough.

And if you think that this is exclusive to the Republicans, then you're as out of touch as anybody. Take a gander at the Left where there is even less room for variety and where there is a concerted effort at eliminating any deviation from the Left norm.

For the love, I just saw that a sticker company is being canceled because they publicly voiced support for their candidate of choice. And people were absolutely rejoicing in their downfall. It's not like they were shooting babies in a hospital nursery for sport. No, they simply said they were supporters of not their candidate.

By that measure, all conservatives would have to give up all of television, media, restaurants, Costco, you name it, you are likely not ideologically aligned.

And by that measure, all Democrats would have to give up In and Out Burgers and (GASP!) Chick-fil-A.

And certainly, we can all agree that an attempt on the life of a former US President and current Presidential candidate is, to understate it, bad. Not only is it beyond evil and wrong, it positions this country to devolve into a banana republic.

My problem is not with the condemnation of something so clearly awful, horrific, and evil. That is the easy part. And short of a few loonies, people understand that we cannot live in a country in which candidates we do not like are routinely eliminated from this world. (See Mexico, Russia, Central and South America, etc). Do yourself a favor and watch Bobi Wine's documentary streaming on Disney+. We simply cannot allow it to happen no matter who is in office.

That doesn't mean we can't criticize and say what we think. It just means that you take the L and wait until the next go-round to talk the public into your side of things.

Take a look outside. Is the world burning down outside your window? No? Ok. Settle down.

I have two issues with the state of politics right now.

The first is one is the intellectual dishonesty of the voting public. When Rep. Gabby Giffords was shot all those years ago, the Left appropriately called out all the vitriolic rhetoric happening on the Right. The Right was defensive. They said it was mental illness and not the rhetoric. I was among those voices back then. Meanwhile, Gabby Giffords suffers the consequences of a bullet to the brain to this day.

It reminds me of how hard we came against President Clinton when he said "It depends on what 'is' is." He was a serial philanderer and cheater and he absolutely deserved the criticism. Until it was our guy. Then it was all “We’re not voting in a pastor.” or “God can use anybody.”

If you extend that logic, the God can use ANYONE in office so again, SETTLE DOWN.

Saturday, a mad man took aim at the former President and it's now that his supporters are very quick to (rightfully) call out the vitriol that has gotten worse over the years.

Words matter. They always have even if it's coming from your own side.

But beyond the intellectual dishonesty that is rampant, there is one other thing that I see that is beyond excuse. And this is the one that keeps me from aligning myself with the Republican party again.

--and that is the deification of one candidate and one political party among its devotés. On the convention floor of the Republican National Convention last night, I watched a sitting Senator conflate his faith and a political candidate like I've never seen before.

The Senator is one I've been a fan of for many years. I consider him intelligent and his story is the American dream. But when I heard him act as if he was preaching in church while speaking about a Presidential candidate, well, it was just too much.

How many times have we seen “God had his hand on Trump this Saturday.”? And while I don’t disagree that we live in a world controlled by the hand and sovereignty of God, how do you think it makes the Comperatore family feel? Did God not have His hand on their dad who lost his life? What about the other injured attendees? Should they be looking inward to see what they did to not have God’s hand on them?

How about the kids in Uvalde? Were they just living wrong to be ignored by the hand of God? (we can talk about the merits of this argument another time but you get the idea.)

Memes with Trump as an angel or with Jesus guiding his hand are rampant on social media.

I. Just. Cant.

It's part of the reason I feel homeless politically. Many of you on the Right will make assumptions about me simply because I am not wearing a red hat and waving my American flag. You will not remember that I love Jesus. You will not remember that I believe that terminating a pregnancy to be abhorrent. You will not remember that I believe that freedom should be valued above everything in this country except for our faith. And still none of that will matter because I do not belong to your If-You're-Not-With-Us-You're-Against-Us club.

I beg of you to look at this with a clear head free of the cloudiness of emotion of what happened this weekend.

I beg of you to champion your candidate without using Jesus as a hook and do not allow yourself to be pandered to.

Friends, conservative politics is not our saving grace.

The Republicans are not our saving grace.

Donald Trump is not our saving grace.

JESUS is our ONE and ONLY saving grace.
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Twirling Time · Jul 16, 2024

The gymnastics that Texas would have to perform to secede would make Mary Lou Retton and a few other native Texan gold medal winners gape.

OscarMadison · Jul 16, 2024

Songbird · Jul 16, 2024

Vivek's Obama moment.

micropolitan guy · Jul 16, 2024

Twirling Time said: ↑

The gymnastics that Texas would have to perform to secede would make Mary Lou Retton and a few other native Texan gold medal winners gape.
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MLR is from Fairmont, West God-damn Virginia.

Songbird · Jul 16, 2024

Cruz just won again.

Smallpotatoes · Jul 16, 2024

Songbird said: ↑

Vivek's Obama moment.
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Huh? What did the silver spooner say?

tapintoamerica · Jul 16, 2024

dixiehack said: ↑

This is from the wife of my former boss, who I am still friends with. Not really agreeing with her point of view, but it is something to chew on and certainly more thought out than most of what I see from conservatives on Facebook.
Click to expand...

“Freedom from government” is an interesting phrase. I think she means “freedom from overbearing government.” Let’s see how you do when nobody fixes your roads, nobody picks up your trash and you wind up with no Social Security money after paying thousands of dollars into the system.
All in all, she seems out of place from the MAGA klan. I long for the days when the GOP candidate was merely less than preferable, not a terrorist.

tapintoamerica · Jul 16, 2024

Songbird said: ↑

Cruz just won again.
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Why? I’m not watching.

Fred siegle · Jul 16, 2024

Driftwood said: ↑

Peter Jackson is bound to show up in New Zealand to film three more movies. I could stay in a Hobbit hole. Maybe I could be a set driver or something. What about the guy who claps that little signboard thing and says "action." I could do that. How much does he make?
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Costanza, is that you?

Starman · Jul 16, 2024

Songbird said: ↑

Vivek's Obama moment.
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Did he turn white and change his name to Vic Ramsey? If not, he has no future in the fascist party.

Songbird · Jul 16, 2024

tapintoamerica said: ↑

Why? I’m not watching.
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Effective speech.

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President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

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