Viva: not sure why the estimate as to SandyK's real identity can be considered a personal attack. It isn't abusive or composed of foul language or name-calling. I thought it was an inspired guess.

RMill: I agree with you completely and value your posts (as does Viva) as a benchmark against which everyone's wishes collide with reality. I myself never used to go look at polling websites before I started reading your posts.

Not sure that everyone posting here is a 'moderate.' It's also hard to accept regurgitation of talking points (e.g., use of the phrase "death tax") as an 'argument.' These are certainly the hallmarks of skippable posts yet many respond to them and create a cycle where nothing new is revealed except for the depths of a stubborn refusal to consider the facts.

You cannot maintain balance without extremes at both ends.

Sandy, Tina and Zouk seem as out of place as much, I am sure as Sandwich, Larry and drindl do to their opposites.

We are all taking up residence here for a reason...we enjoy discussing politics. I have to say that there doesn't seem to be a lot of enjoyment lately.

I believe there is a threshold that has been crossed in the last month or so where we are no longer content to agree to disagree. The name calling and personal degradation is unproductive and quite frankly, a turnoff.

I have continually called for a civil dialogue and tried to conduct myself in a manner that reflects that wish. I find myself skipping over more and more posts as I scroll down, because it is becoming more and more difficult to extract salient points from the acerbic comments.

I am all for a good argument but it has deteriorated well beyond that. All should have more than enough information to proceed in a conversation of opposing viewpoints without resorting to personal animousity. It is a sign of the weak structure of your arguments or a lack of confidence in your position.

Like it or not, much like out in the real world, there are pro's and con's, liberals and conservatives, republicans and democrats in here. There is plenty of space even for us moderates. Every one should be welcome and thankful that there are people in the world and in this country willing to invest time discussing the issues. I would say that there aren't enough paying enough attention.

One of my best friends from college is now the chief policy guy for Blackwell, who has been number one on my hit list (politically speaking) for many years. I have never had a single conversation with him that resulted in anything what takes place here. So I know it is possible.

Please keep these things in mind when you post. I know I would appreciate getting back to true discussion and dialogue.

Thanks

RMill

Hey Judge:
Remember when you scolded me for using "Dims?"

Looks like things have gone downhill from then.

Let's work to stick to issues and cease with the personal attacks.

VivaBlackwell06

""I'm gettin puanchy guy about 53."

Priceless.

Posted by: Ohio guy | June 11, 2006 11:14 PM"

I second that, and am reminded why I read this blog.

Its amazing that posters like bhoomes WHINE and CRY so much about Dem posters but fail to criticize factless, baseless, useless trolls like the ones I mentioned above. Hey bhoomes, heres a radical idea how about even-handed analysis. Bet you cant do it.

It's amazing how Drindl and the Ohio Guy can never get through a posting without calling people names they disagree with. I guess when you are devoid of ideas of how to make this country better, that is all you have left to fall back on. Here is a radical idea, let's stick to debating issues and restrain from making it so personal. Bet you can't do it.

People, IGNORE SandyK, she is a delusional troll. Ignore Zouk and Tina too, these idiots bring nothing to the political debate. They thrive on dragging the debate down to Coulter-like insanity. Dont feed the trolls. Please.

"I'm gettin puanchy guy about 53."

Priceless.

All this "Net-roots" stuff is just a bunch of garbage. You would have to be delusional or mentally ill to think that any of this matters or is anything other than a Star Trek Convention-like colossal waste of time.

Get a life, people. You have zero influence on elections, because you endorse and contribute money to candidates who are losers and crackpots.

"but I don't prefer strange guys following so closely to kiss my rear end."

Hmmmmmm.....republican women. Ya know Sandy, given how you ladies believe so strongly in the 'traditional family structure' (wife being submissive to the man, never talking back, women staying home to raise the children, women not having jobs outside the home etc. etc.), you might be on to something.

Tell ya what, you get me drunk, I mean really drunk, scratch that....I mean REALLY REALLY drunk (i'm talking a whole bottle of 151 to myself and maybe 15 - 20 car bombs, all in less then an hour), and then I MIGHT start to find you attractive enough to THINK ABOUT kissing your rear end. MAYBE.

On second thought, probably not.

your daddy,

and I'm simply using you as an example of net dynamics...

people think they need to be careful of how they speak with each other, they need to understand the dynamics...

and SandyK, watch KungfuHustle sometime.

.

perpss have modus operandi

you don't find many people that actually that are original.

.

you're simply a teaching point to me< although I do think you occaisionally have a valid point.

.

Okay, whatever your name is and OG, I'm flattered with your attention and being the center of your world (and probably the only woman who'd post to you), but I don't prefer strange guys following so closely to kiss my rear end.

You can lick my feet though. Afterall it's been a hot and dusty day. :)

ps. -- Try thttpd/OpenBSD/Fastcgi [got to have it for Ruby on Rails]/php 5x/mysql 5x. You'll never go back to the old server setup again. ;)

SandyK

what is important is who's participating...

suppose it's the 1960's where's the most important music spot...

New York Carnegie Hall or a Greenwich Village bar'ngrill, where Bob Dylan and some others are hanging...

most important rock music band?

Pink Floyd or Grass Roots?

size doesn't matter, creativity and spirit do....

want to make a difference, sing

want same old same old, follow the rules

.

check out "Kung Fu Hustle" if you want to know the truth.

.

.

.

notice that his habit of delimiting comments,

setting them apart from the main body of the text is like someone that is used to reading newsarticles and breifing someone on what is being said in the media today...

like someone on staff in CIA or something that reads newspapers for people and clips "items of interest," to synopsisize America's thinking...

he's pretty good if somewhat predictable.

.

baffle with bs apacheserver/bsd4.3/blahblahblah...
.

tarbabies are people that get your attention...

to some extent the gay marriage thing is a tarbaby...

to work a tarbaby effectively, you identify them.

.

then they sit around screaming, touch me...

I dare you.

.

Drindl,

Don't you love liars like Sandy who swear a millon times over that they are NOT republicans, but every time CC posts an article that even mentions Democrats, they post a 10-paragraph rant that reads like Ann Coulter foaming at the mouth and spewing her hatred of liberals?

I'm sorry, you are a republican. All you are able to do is bash democrats. You have Karl Rove's talking points down perfectly. Dems tax, spend and tear the country apart? Excuse me, have you looked around lately, like at the national debt?

You're mentally unbalanced. Stop lying and trolling.

From the "How to take back the Congress..." article:
===========================================
Go after the soft or disaffected Republican voters the way the GOP has gone after traditional blue-collar Democrats, Catholics and seniors in the past.

-- Donna Brazile, campaign manager for Gore-Lieberman 2000
===========================================

That would work, IF, folks aren't more interested in discounting it.

Neo-Cons that came over to the Right were Democrats (especially Dixiecrats). They came over because they didn't feel connected to the Democratic party anymore. They're also the worst foes for the Dems, since they were Dems themselves, and no hoodwinking and gladhanding will fool them. How to get them back is to cater to their senses, yet that won't occur if folks are pushing gay rights, gun control, taxes, and an Iraqi defeat.

This "netroot" campaign is another example of what is a disconnect, too. Who is it serving? Is it the farmhand who doesn't have time or money for a P4 (or even a Athlon) computer? Is it the waitress who's pulling 2 jobs trying to make ends meet? Is it the busy executive who's traveling the world for new business? Is it the Blacks who's attending college and wondering if they can even afford getting that computer for class? Nope. It caters to the CA, MA and NY Starbucks liberal college educated high rise folks, who couldn't tell a cotton gin from a gin fizzy.

It's not so much about class division as city folks don't know beans about the South or the Heartland. They're so removed, foreign, and urban. They also don't have the cares that more rural folks have. Do they have wells to drink water from, and taxing water that doesn't come from the city tap is a no-no (no)? Do they worry about XYZ factory closing and losing 2000 jobs due to it (no)? Do they understand the military can drive a city's economy (no)? Voters vote for candidates that push their local concerns in Washington. If a city slicker comes in and thinks taxing well water is a good revenue source, they're instantly discredited along with their whole ilk. It's simple and plain politics.

The Dems that's pushing the agendas that pushed folks to the GOP are what's hurting the DP. It's not that folks won't vote for a Dem, but they have to be trusted to not tax, spend, and tear the country's fabric apart (and knowing Kos is a South American war refugee doesn't sit well with Middle America, since it can be considered pay back for the Reagan Contra dealings, add the anti-war rhetoric, even more so).

The whole house has to be cleaned to win those critical votes, and the way it's setup now, it won't happen for another 30 years.

SandyK