The 2024 election cycle is producing a level of rhetoric not seen since the Civil War… and we all now how well that turned out. Should both sides lower the temperature before it’s too late? And perhaps more importantly: CAN they?
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I think your title should be can the left cool it down. They never wanted to be part of a Constitutional Republic so why don’t they just set up camp somewhere else instead of stealing our property
I don’t know if it’s always been this way or if social media has just made it visible, but for some people (mainly on the left) their political identity IS their identity – so much so that they somehow see people with a different view as somehow less than human – as evidenced by the videos of the deranged tick tockers going apoplectic because the shooter missed Trump. On a more personal note, I’ve been trying to make new friends, so I’ve been checking out some match-making/friend finder sites, and some of the profiles I’ve seen put party affiliation as… Read more »
I was enduring the minefield of online dating around when Barry O first got elected. Any time I saw in a woman’s profile anything like “Grateful Bush is no longer President” or “Grateful we now have Obama” I said a silent thank you for not wasting an hour of my life and closed them out and moved on. Likewise, at the very end of my profile I listed my political views (Libertarian with Conservative tendencies, now probably flip those two), and it would get me closed out by some women too – good. And after all of that I ended… Read more »
“That’s the Power of Love…”
Huey Lewis was a prophet…
Scott. I’m not inflamed. I don’t “flame”. No one I know “flames” the opposition. Maybe you associate or personally know of these types. It’s not me. I’m not ratcheting up the rhetoric. I didn’t climb up on a sloping roof and shoot the opposition candidate, kill 1 spectator and injure 2 others…… I love ridicule and mockery. There is no defense against mockery. It worked for “Saul”, and it works for me. ‘Laughing at Kamala’, way more powerful than screaming at her till you’re blue in the face. (See what I did there? Sure you did, you’re a bright middle-aged… Read more »
Bill Whittle’s “Game Theory” Afterburner , and in particular, Tit for Tat, is an excellent example of how to proceed for the rest of the campaign, and into the future. IMHO of course.
Oh, with regards to “Mockery”…..Stephen Green’s Vodkapundit shows on the old PJTV were a non stop delivery of ridicule and mocking and SNARK! It was effective, at least for some of us. Hair of the Dog or the Week In Blogs, in particular Hair of the Dog – the mocking of David Axe Axlerod’s big gulp before an obvious lie, or “Being President is Haard” in the voice of Mattel’s pull-string Barbie. The passage of time, and the Graying of Green has Whittled down the nasty snark that used to be classic Vodkapundit. Steve, can you find it in yourself… Read more »
And ironically Scott is the man who penned the masterpiece, “Laughing at Obama”
Oh Bill, you silly silly man. The Left will never stop with their violent rhetoric. They hate you and they want you dead. There is no low to which they will not stoop.
I really like to read articles by Dennis Prager and on the 23rd of this month, he wrote and article about the one big mistake made at an otherwise wonderful RNC convention. He went on to make the point that in modern time the democratic party leadership has been overthrown by full fledged “leftists” and the agenda and platform of the Demo party is the enemy not just of the Republican party but to western civilization and the laws of nature when it comes to the alphabet mafia. I admire Scott’s goal of peace and unity but we certainly can’t… Read more »
The short answer to Scott’s question is: NO! We cannot calm down at this time. Yes, we should have never gotten to this boiling point….but here we are. There is a division in this country at this time that is fundamental. Are we going to resist this pull to the left and government control/oversight?? or are we going to gather up our principles, raise our voices and VOTE THEM OUT until we can decrease the size of our Government and put it back in the box!! Remember, if we cannot control our government by voting (like Venezuela) then you know… Read more »
Scott, I’m glad you clarified your perspective, and I can understand your point. However, if we turn down the intensity on our side of this fight, and it is a fight, for the very heart and soul of our nation and our personal lives, I can assure you the other side will not meet that generous gesture with any form of reciprocity but will rather regard it as a form of weakness, sensing an opportunity to go for the kill, thus increase their attacks against us. Truth is on our side, or at least it had better be, and we… Read more »
I once saw a cartoon of a field mouse giving the one finger salute to an eagle swooping down on him. The caption:
“The Last Great Act of Defiance.”
That was the first thing to pop into my mind when President Trump stood up amid his Secret Service “protection.”
I don’t think Scott is naïve and I very much value his perspective. But I do feel there is a touch of Kerenskyism at times. I’m not sure he truly comprehends the degree to which the old school, more or less patriotic if wrong headed social democratic left, in the USA, UK, and the West generally, has been penetrated by Marxist thought and individuals. You can debate with the old left. I have done, and have good old friends of deeply Labour backgrounds. These folk are not in charge anymore. It’s a bit like the decent, moderate, Muslims. Unless and… Read more »
Unfortunately the folly in “breaking them to remake them” is lost on those people and I think that’s intentional. It’s like breaking a car by firing a rocket propelled anti-tank weapon into it so you can gather enough scrap metal to reforge into a bicycle. You end up with much less than the process started with. Therein lies the rub. We’re not all working towards improving on already good systems. They want to destroy the systems and think they’ll come out on top of the rubble heap. Which I find to be a very doubtful false hope on their part.… Read more »
To Scott’s question to Bill – We don’t have debates anymore. The things they call debates are just soundbytes generators put on by the media to create content. They want the exchanges to be contentious and dramatic for their own ratings. Politicians mostly want to play to their base, since the debates tend to be earlier in the year when “normies” are not paying attention but the hard core partisans are, and so the candidates want to make as much red meat as possible. Though to counter Bill, the Dems don’t seem to have toned their rhetoric down much, and… Read more »
Sometimes, often in fact, even worse than adrenaline junkies. They’re addicted to rage heroin, as Andrew Klavan puts it.
Been listening to Klavan more lately. As I get older I enjoy his sarcasm and snark a lot more.
That miscreant?
I know. Given that Bill’s lower back still probably hurts from carrying him for years, I suppose I should boycott. But I like snark.
I think Klavan gets the “tone it down” thing that Scott’s trying to get across without the implications (perhaps not wholly justified) that we’re supposed to let the other side walk all over us and act like we like it.
Klavan doesn’t pull any punches but he doesn’t throw any wild swings either. I’ve been watching that old bald curmudgeon for about as long as I have Bill Whittle. I like Klavan’s sense of humor too.