The conservative beasts are on the prowl, determined to make this as difficult and as nasty as possible. No longer are they content to denigrate George W. Bush and any elected GOP official who does not bow, scrape, and worship at their feet like a bunch of pigs wallowing in swill, they are now out to destroy what is left of the GOP and any possible future for reasonable Americans.
What is wrong with these people?
I have asked myself this many times and have come up with just as many answers. I think the long and the short of it is the fact that they are so busy enjoying the sounds of their own voices and seeing how nasty they can be in print that they’ve forgotten just what it was Ronald Reagan stood for. Maybe it is time for a little primer.
Currently they are doing their best to destroy the reputations of good, decent Republicans like John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and anyone who has manners enough to play nice with the new guy on the block. Evidently we’re dealing with conservative brain cells that are just as undeveloped as are their liberal counterparts'. Either that or they are lying about their “Reagan” experience.
Ronald Reagan would have been the first guy across the block to meet and greet the new guy and treat him with manners, civility, and act like a rational, grown-up, adult Republican.
To quote an annoying infomercial — are you getting this, conservatives?
I gather you do not remember the civility between titans like Ronald Reagan, Tip O’Neill, or Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Sure, they fought when it came to politics, and butted heads like a bunch of long-horn rams in season, but the rest of the time they behaved like the gentlemen they were.
The problem with our all-or-nothing conservatives is the fact that they have no manners. They have no civility. They don’t know how to act like adults and play well with others. They are so impressed with themselves and their increasingly brat-like ideological bastardizing of conservative values that they’ve forgotten that manners and civility are what separate us from the animals and Democrats.
Are you getting this, conservatives?
Instead of learning form the prodigious mistakes you’ve been making these past two years (oh wait, you are perfect and pure), you are compounding them by becoming even more extreme in your vile and nasty all-or-nothing behavior.
I gather we’re now going to be treated to the conservative version of RINO witch hunts where good, decent men like Lindsey Graham will be burned at the stake of conservative purity.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Arch Conservative
Gee seeing as the left has been twice as obnoxious and purile as the right during the past eight years and yet their guy won the election one can assume it has nothing to do with manners SJ.
The pendulum swings and George Bush was an ineffective politician so now it's swung the other way.
If Barry proves to be Carteresque as many expect he will and the GOP find a candidate who's good at politicking then the pendulum will swing back shortly.
But tp pretend this has anything to do with civility is laughable. The modern American leftist is the antithesis of cordiality and civility.
2 - zingzing
we thank you, archie, for your opinion. i'm pretty sure civility has nothing to do with party. otherwise, it would be hard to justify yourself. true? you know it is.
3 - Mark Eden
I am a Republican who is following the rules of Reagan. First I consider anyone who votes with me 80% of the time my friend. Secondly, I never speak ill of a fellow Republican.
lol!
4 - Dr Dreadful
Nice rant, SJ.
But... who exactly are you talking to?
5 - Glenn Contrarian
SJ -
Hm. TWO MILLION PEOPLE come to the inauguration...and not a single arrest.
SJ, I grew up in the very deepest of the Deep South and have lived in many places...and a prejudicial statement like that is not only shameful and COMPLETELY false, but it may also be quite indicative of your own personality. I also heard many such statements in my youth in the Mississippi Delta...the only difference was that the "Democrats" in your statement was replaced with the 'N-word'.
I do realize that your article is more of an admonition to your fellow Republicans...but such a statement - saying that like animals, we Democrats have neither manners nor civility - means that YOU, like Coulter and Savage and their ilk, feel that we Dems are no better than animals.
In other words, you said in so many words, "Look, we ALL know the Dems are crude and uncivil and are no better than animals, but you gotta act nice to them because we're NOT as sub-human as they are - we're better than that!"
But YOU are the one who said we're unmannered, uncivil, and no better than animals.
TWO MILLION DEMOCRATIC TOURISTS IN ONE SPOT...and no arrests - even in the Purple Tunnel of Doom. Yeah, we're no better than animals.
BUT LET ME GIVE YOU AN 'OUT' here. It's easy sometimes when someone gets on a rhetorical roll to say things they shouldn't say...and I'm going to assume that's what happened. Just remember to be more careful in the future because most people realize that when someone slips and makes a prejudicial statement, while the statement might have been accidental, it's almost ALWAYS indicative of that person's mindset.
6 - Glenn Contrarian
SJ -
On Reagan, even last night I was telling a former Republican (she's now independent - voted for Obama to the utter shock of her relatives) that I will always consider Reagan as one of the very BEST presidents. Why? Even though he instituted 'trickle-down economics' which has gone so far in wrecking our economy, and even though he knew about and approved of Iran-Contra, Reagan won the Cold War (which far overshadows all his other failures) and restored self-respect to America as a whole and the military in particular.
Reagan was the Great Communicator of the twentieth century, equaled only perhaps by Churchill, and I'll always cherish what Reagan did for us. One of my favorite captains in the Navy whom I knew fairly well used to carry the football for Reagan...and I think you know what that means. That same captain was promoted to admiral and was the liaison between Rumsfeld and the JCS - which didn't work out so well. Seems the four-stars didn't like a one-star passing orders on to them. He now works for Grumman, IIRC.
On the Plan of the Day - the 'marching orders' posted every day throughout the Navy - that captain replaced the ship's symbol with his own profile and the caption, "It's good to be the king". I've never figured out whether that was out of hubris or just his way of poking fun at himself...which I'm sure is exactly how he intended it.
7 - Roger Nowosielski
"manners and civility are what separate us from the animals and Democrats."
She didn't really say that, did she, Glenn?
8 - Glenn Contrarian
Roger -
THE CONTEXT IS CLEAR. SJ is complaining about the bad behavior of the Republicans, and says the Republicans have forgotten that GOOD behavior is "what separates us from the animals and the Democrats".
I'm sorry, Roger, but yes, she DID say that, and the context is clear. I think this may have been a "Mel Gibson moment" for her, by which I mean she lost her self-control and inadvertently allowed her true feelings to show. Hopefully she will learn the lesson here and will be a bit more circumspect in the future.
9 - Roger Nowosielski
Well, Glenn, whether only implicitly or by insinuation, it's beyond even the most rabid partisanship. Perhaps I should force myself to read the piece - for you should know your enemy - but I don't think I will. And I should hope there aren't too many that think like that - for their sake. Even conservatives should be outraged. Let's see whether they'll come forward on this thread and show that they've got character. I'm looking forward to Mr. Nalle's comments. Come on, Dave. Speak up! We're all waiting.
Roger
10 - Roger Nowosielski
Glenn,
I read the whole thing.
The ironic thing is, she could have done all she wanted without resorting to her ad hominem attacks and baseless comparisons. The piece would have been more forthright and on-target, but I guess her hatred couldn't help but rear its ugly head.
And she's talking about politeness, civil conversation, and good manners. Imagine!
Roger
11 - Dan(Miller)
Glen, way off thread, but now I am even more confused than usual.
I thought that both upper and lower half rear admirals wear two stars, even those in the lower half, whose actual rank is equivalent to that of a Brigadier General (one star) in the other services. ??Dan(Miller)
12 - Glenn Contrarian
To Roger and SJ -
It's been my experience that a lot of times those who engage in prejudicial conversation (such as the phrase in question above) are often - even the majority of times - not really meaning such as a declaration of fact, but more as, say, one high-school football team saying unsavory things about the other high-school football team...but once the two get together off the field they laugh and joke and shoot the bull.
Maybe it's not so much prejudice on SJ's part but her competitiveness...and the writers on this blog are a bit competitive. If you and I and she sat down and shared a six-pack, I suspect we'd see no hatred or prejudice, but instead we'd find rancor and forthrightness and mutual respect while we all traded good-natured jibes.
So - for SJ - maybe I overreacted. After all, the rest of the post was spot on and spoke for all of us who see how the rabid right is destroying the Republican party that I once loved, and that America certainly still needs (if only to avoid being a one-party country). If I did overreact, then I sincerely apologize to all.
13 - Baronius
SJ, who have you been listening to? The only place I've heard that kind of nastiness was on Sean Hannity, who I've listened to for the last time. He's an ugly winner, and an ugly loser. He's ugly.
I agree with you, that the Democrats were uncivilized during the Bush years and showed the same lack of decency the last few days. Republicans benefit by having that nastiness fresh in our minds, giving us the warning against such behaviour and the inspiration drawn from the knowledge that we can be better.
Republicans should, first, work with the administration wherever possible. Second, they should propose alternatives and seek to persuade the population or come to a compromise with the Democrats. Third, and when all else fails, they should stand their ground and lose on principle.
I do sympathize with conservatives showing a little extra anger for McCain, though. He was not an effective spokesman. That's what we need now.
14 - Arch Conservative
All leftists are obnoxious uncivil morons.
Not all leftists are Democrats.
Not all Democrats are leftists.
Ergo not all Democrats lack manners and civility, just all leftists.
15 - Arch Conservative
"I agree with you, that the Democrats were uncivilized during the Bush years"
Gee.....how f-ing magnanimous of you Baronius.
What are you going to do for an encore? Agree with someone who posits that the pope likes to dabble in Christianity?
16 - Roger Nowosielski
Glenn,
You're a better man than I am. I understand it's part of rhetoric, trying to make her points more forceful. Still, there are limits.
And no! I refuse to him a beer with her. Count me out.
Roger
17 - Baronius
Ah, Arch. We probably vote the same in 98% of all elections, but we sure don't get along.
18 - El Bicho
"Reagan won the Cold War"
So Gorbachev and the Pope John Paul II get no credit?
19 - Arch Conservative
Sorry I thought you were a lefty Baronius.
Merely stating that "aww gee those darn libs gave Bush the business" is a gargantuan understatement.
I'm as unhappy as can be that Barry won the election but I won't be inventing any kind of bogus voter fraud conspiracy theories about how the election was stolen which I will rant and rave about for the next eight years ala 2000 and I have as of yet not heard any one else on the right doing so. That right there is all one really needs to know to understand the difference between the left and the right in the USA in 2009.
20 - Glenn Contrarian
Dan -
My bad - he was a two-star rear admiral, not a one-star commodore. RADM J.J. Quinn was his name.
I do appreciate the correction - thanks!
21 - Clavos
a prejudicial statement like that is not only shameful and COMPLETELY false...
It's also eerily reminiscent of so many of your own pronouncements regarding Republicans and conservatives, Glenn.
22 - Glenn Contrarian
Arch -
The language that the conservatives have used against the liberals is (and as far back as I can remember) FAR more inflammatory than the liberals' language has been.
I suspect your accusation is simply another case of conservatives accusing liberals of doing what conservatives have already been doing to a far greater degree.
23 - zingzing
all leftists are obnoxious uncivil morons, eh archie?
you do understand the hypocrisy involved in making such a statement, right? especially right after 2 million left-leaning americans got together in less than 1 square mile and not one of them had to be arrested? and now that you're in the middle of a cat fight with another conservative?
oh, archie... you don't have to make it so damn easy.
24 - Glenn Contrarian
Clavos -
Have I EVER posting anything comparing conservatives to subhuman creatures in any way?
Would you care to show me where I've posted insulting language even once?
What I HAVE posted - just as in #22 in this thread - is what I see as either general habits or psychological differences between conservatives and liberals...and the fact that you will find NO truly insulting language on my part should bear that out.
25 - Hope and Change?
America...we are entered a new era of respect from our friends throughout the world!!
Yes...Barry is restoring our dignity!! Here some proof..
"Libya's Kadhafi says Obama means a 'new America'"
- ohhh geee thats great!!
"Spokesman says Obama is keeping his BlackBerry"
- this must be to support his promise of transparency and too keep in contact with his good buddy Blago!
"Castro said he believes that Obama is "a sincere person with good ideas,"
- a good idea to Castro includes making people so happy that they would rather die than stay in his country!!
Yes tyrants and crooked politicians of the world here comes the hope and change youve been waiting for!!!