Tea Party/ GOP-

[179]

Anyone who really thinks that the Tea-Party is a bunch of right wing loons better take another look. I attended a local tea party a few months back and in attendance were many local professionals, the majority consisted of middle aged working folks, as well as older retired folks, there were very few college aged adults which isn't surprising. These folks are passionate about getting rid of Pelosi, Reid, and Obama as soon as possible. To write these people off as crazy is a huge mistake. There will not be enough ACORN voters to overtake these folks this go around.

[spence]

Nice. The interesting things about "scandals" like Filegate and Travelgate are that they were investigated and the Clintons we're found to have done nothings wrong.

Yet you toss them around like they're proven facts.

I guess it makes the argument a lot easier.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[detbuch]

Originally Posted by spence

Nice. The interesting things about "scandals" like Filegate and Travelgate are that they were investigated and the Clintons we're found to have done nothings wrong.

Yet you toss them around like they're proven facts.

I guess it makes the argument a lot easier.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Are you saying that the FBI was not used to falsely accuse former White house staffers to justify replacing them? Are you saying that FBI files on hundreds were not culled and stored? Are you saying, and do you really believe, that the FBI was not misused? What is it that you say I'm tossing around like proven facts?

[spence]

Regarding polarization. I don't think anyone is arguing that politics are not polarized. That's the very basis of partisanship. The issue more is if the polarization is different now. Thos who have been in politics for decades seem to think so.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[spence]

Regarding polarization. I don't think anyone is arguing that politics are not polarized. That's the very basis of partisanship. The issue more is if the polarization is different now. Thos who have been in politics for decades seem to think so.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[justplugit]

Originally Posted by spence

Regarding polarization. I don't think anyone is arguing that politics are not polarized. That's the very basis of partisanship. The issue more is if the polarization is different now. Thos who have been in politics for decades seem to think so.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

I think it's different now because most of the nation has woken up
to the fact that their lives, and their children's, could be drastically change by the current political decisions being made by the politicians.
Big G vs small G ,debt vs balanced budget ,more taxes vs cutting taxes ,jobs vs no jobs, more freedoms vs less freedoms. just to mention a few.

All these things are hitting home and people's pocketbooks.

[detbuch]

Originally Posted by spence

Regarding polarization. I don't think anyone is arguing that politics are not polarized. That's the very basis of partisanship. The issue more is if the polarization is different now. Thos who have been in politics for decades seem to think so.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

What does "seem to think so" mean, or is that vagueness on top of a generality merely an implication? The argument is certainly easier when you don't have to be specific, when you can intimate something that "those" "seem" "to think" (not know for sure) "so."

"Maybe, perhaps, possibly," there are periods of more extreme polarization. But that just means that the political differences are more clearly defined, more clearly recognized, more ardently fought for. And if the agendas are important, more significant than usual, the extreme polarization should not be decried, but welcomed. Perhaps, maybe, possibly those who think they are fighting for resolution of what could be important issues are more willing to battle.

Just, maybe, that leftward trend in politics of both parties has hit a wall where the Republicans have become the Democrats of the 1960s-1970s and the Democrats have become and are about to go past the left of West Europeans. Perhaps, the escalating fiscal profligacy of both parties since the New Deal, has been perceived as a runaway train that needs to be stopped. Perhaps, the erosion of the Constitution from a solid rock to a malleable, changeable, living breathing flow of sand that can sift into whichever drift the current political philosophers deem "good" looks like it has arrived at a tipping point that needs to be strongly resisted. Perhaps what has transformed the normal, polite, and innocuous polarization of parties drifting away from our foundation is not the pols, not Bush, not this or that impeachment, but an injection of political awareness into a growing number of CITIZENS. It had already spread into popular culture via movies, television, radio, and now waves of folks getting angry and not taking it anymore.

Perhaps, for this more polarized duration, politicians who want to politely continue the meaningless squabbles of how much and for whom will have to become extreme and decide yes or no--or opt for a job in the "private sector."

[scottw]

[QUOTE=detbuch;749145]
"Maybe, perhaps, possibly," there are periods of more extreme polarization. But that just means that the political differences are more clearly defined, more clearly recognized, more ardently fought for. And if the agendas are important, more significant than usual, the extreme polarization should not be decried, but welcomed.
QUOTE]

BINGO!