Forum Settings
       
1 2 3 4 5 6 Next »
Reply To Thread

Four and a half weeks and countingFollow

#127 Oct 11 2006 at 11:04 PM Rating: Good
Encyclopedia
******
35,568 posts
Hmmm... Paranoid is thinking that some grand conspiracy by the US government plotted to blow up the WTC.

It's not paranoid to point out the methods used by liberal activist groups. It's not paranoid to point out when something is so obviously being blown far far out of proportion purely for political gain. It's certainly not paranoid to point out that the timing of the release of this story managed to be right after the Republicans closed session in congress with a number of successes and just long for them all to go home and get one day into their vacations?

You can't seriously think this wasn't planned. C'mon people. None of these events occured recently. They're all months to *years* old. Yet somehow the press only got ahold of this right before the election? And that's just a coincidence?


There's mountains of evidence both anectdotal and direct to argue that this was a pretty large and dirty political attack designed to affect the election. But you're going to call me paranoid for pointing it out? And at the same time apparently it's perfectly ok to call for a political resignation when there's no evidence of any wrongdoing. Just hearsay. Not one shred of evidence. Not even a tiny bit.

Man. They really do need to start teaching critical thinking in school. Because I'm seeing nothing but illogic and stupidity. Is no one capable of looking at two things objectively and assessing their relative likelyhood anymore? It's just not that hard. Tons of evidence and motive on one side, virtually zero on the other. What exactly does Hastert gain by covering up Foley's activities anyway? Can someone explain that to me? If he honestly felt that Foley was a serious threat to the pages and the program (and the party as well!), why on earth wouldn't he have made this public 9 months ago when Foley could have resigned and the party could have replaced him with another candidate on the ballot?


It simply makes no sense. There is no motive for a cover up. There's tons of motive for trying to make people think there was one though...
____________________________
King Nobby wrote:
More words please
#128 Oct 11 2006 at 11:41 PM Rating: Decent
****
4,158 posts
par·a·noi·a (pr-noi)
n.
1. A psychotic disorder characterized by delusions of persecution with or without grandeur, often strenuously defended with apparent logic and reason.
2. Extreme, irrational distrust of others.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
yup. your paranoid.

And to prove it....

In a few months or so, the USA will be forced out of Iraq, due to mounting military casualties, and a further waning of public support.

The rest of the world will breath a huge sigh of relief that the american public has finally woken up to the tragedy that has occured. The American people (not the paranoid ones) will finally come to realise that the war was based on blatant barefaced lies. The lies about WMD's, bringing democracy, **** and all the rest were nothing more than utter bull ****.

They will demand that the soldiers be bought home. (We can only hope that those who did the lying will be bought to some sort of justice, thereby allaying at least some of the anger felt around the (moderate)muslim world. Too late for the extremists i'm afraid)

Meanwhile paranoid tossers such as youself will be whining and whinging that 'we lost the war 'cos of the liberal press', and 'we lost the war 'cos of the hippy liberals'.

It wont even cross your mind for a moment that the war was lost the moment the US entered Iraq. The only question was, how big a price America would pay, both in terms of battlefield casualties and political hatred swelling around the world, not to mention hard cash. Im an ordinary bloke with a internet connection living in the middle of the Pacific ocean. And I knew that it was all gonna go tits up. 100% certain in fact.

Yet with all the advisors and experts availiable to them, Bush and co, still thought they could pull it off. 'A cakewalk' they said.

So. Whaddya reckon? Bush and Co were stupid? Or Out and out Evil MOFOS?
I go with (b) myself.

But you seem to think that they did it for the good of mankind as a whole!!

So that when even El Presidente has to admit that it ain't working and has to pull out, covering his *** with all sorts o' finger pointing, and 'he said' 'she said', you will be right there with them pouting, and accusing the liberals or the lefties or whoever. Anyone but yourself and your blinkered self and your paranoid delusional sorry ***** view of the world.

You heard it here first. Smiley: schooled
____________________________
"If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're gonna get selfish, ignorant leaders". Carlin.

#129 Oct 12 2006 at 12:12 AM Rating: Good
Encyclopedia
******
35,568 posts
Lol. You call me paranoid, while whipping out the classic "right wing conspiracy"...


So believing that Bush lied to get us into a war (for some unstated reason) makes perfect sense. But believing that liberal activist groups will deliberately leak information to the press and then hype it in order to influence an election makes no sense at all.

Sorry. Simply don't see that logic. Again. Weigh the likelyhood of the two possiblities. This is similarly silly to those who argue that Bush and Co. was secretly invovled in the 9/11 attacks. Rather then believe that a relatively small number of people are acting in accordance with their goals, you will believe that a much larger number of people will act in a manner that makes absolutely no sense from their own perspectives.

It makes no sense for Hastert to have "covered up" Foley's actions if he actually thought they were that serious. None at all. It makes tons of sense for liberal activists to make it appear that he did.


The only consistency in your beliefs is that you pick them based on which ones attack the Republican party. The sooner you realize that, the better off you'll be. Because what I'm pointing out is abundantly obvious to anyone who doesn't have an "Impeach Bush" protest sign glued to his fingers. And ultimately, the harder this issue gets pushed into the public media, the more people will realize just how much baseless trash it really is. And then they're going to start looking at the motives of those who have hyped it up so much. And that's going to hurt Dems in November.


A lot of people are seeing this election as a choice between sanity and insanity. But they're not on the side you think they are. Most people really do see the positions of the Liberals on most issues, both foreign and domestic as utterly insane. They're wrong on foreign policy (when they actually state one). They're wrong on fiscal policy. And they're wrong just in how they pursue their agenda. Preferring to manipulate facts to use to attack the other guys rather then come up with something of their own. On election day, despite the hype, and in spite of all the polls to the contrary (who believes the polls anymore?), "the people" will elect a party that has a plan beyond just hoping that if they heap enough dirt on the Republicans, maybe people will vote for them instead.

How about we see how the election turns out? You never know. You might be right. But Smash and I had similar arguments leading up to the last two elections. In both cases, he was equally positive that the Dems would win. In both cases, he was wrong. And you know what? I've had that same "What the polls are saying is totally wrong" feeling for months now, just as I had prior to the last two.


I'd talk about *why* the manipulation of public opinion via media and polls doesn't work the way the Dems wished they did, but that would be a whole other topic...
____________________________
King Nobby wrote:
More words please
#130 Oct 12 2006 at 1:40 AM Rating: Decent
gbaji wrote:
As I've already pointed out, it's not like any Dems have made the arguments I've made about Foley's actions.


Hehe. And you find that surprising? Come on...

It's not exactly their job to come out and defend Republicans. That's how political parties have always worked.

You're not that naive.
____________________________
My politics blog and stuff - Refractory
#131 Oct 12 2006 at 1:53 AM Rating: Decent
gbaji wrote:
So believing that Bush lied to get us into a war (for some unstated reason) makes perfect sense.


"Unstated reasons"? Are you joking? Huh, I wonder why on Earth Bush would want to have a military presence in a country flowing with oil in the Middle-east...

Or why he would choose to pursue an agenda that was the neo-cons' plan of action sine the late 90s. And let's not even talk about the influences he could've been submitted to by some of his sponsors, the people who fund him, lobbies, etc...

Come on. Unless, of course, you still think he went there to free people from a dictatorship. But, once again, surely you're not that naive.


Quote:
But believing that liberal activist groups will deliberately leak information to the press and then hype it in order to influence an election makes no sense at all.


They might well ahve done. But, once again, thats nothing new and thats how politics work. Swift Boat Veterans anyone?


Quote:
It makes no sense for Hastert to have "covered up" Foley's actions if he actually thought they were that serious. None at all.


It makes complete sense. I'm not saying it did happen, simply because I dont know. But covering-up issues which are potentially damaging to your party's chance's of being re-elected is nothing new in politics.

Look, you're acting like an outraged virgin. Pretending politics is all cute and cuddly, that groups dont try to influence public opinion, that politicians would never do cover-ups or hide anything...

Remind me, which country do you live in?
____________________________
My politics blog and stuff - Refractory
#132 Oct 12 2006 at 3:50 AM Rating: Decent
****
4,158 posts
I asked
Quote:
So. Whaddya reckon? Bush and Co were stupid? Or Out and out Evil MOFOS?
I go with (b) myself.


gbaji said

Quote:
So believing that Bush lied to get us into a war (for some unstated reason) makes perfect sense.


So you reckon (a) then?

Glad we got that cleared up.
____________________________
"If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're gonna get selfish, ignorant leaders". Carlin.

#133 Oct 12 2006 at 4:04 AM Rating: Default
Quote:
(a) The "Democrats" didn't re-elect Mills, Studds and potentially Franks, the people of their states and districts did.


The majority of the people of their district being "Democrats" apparently. The point I think he was trying to make was an ideological one. If Foley had stayed on in his district, how many Republicans do you think would have voted for him again? He resigned because he knew he was done, knowing the people who had voted him in would not vote for him again now. The aforementioned democrats obviously thought otherwise, and apparently with good reason.
#134 Oct 12 2006 at 5:58 AM Rating: Excellent
Liberal Conspiracy
*******
TILT
gbaji wrote:
Ask yourself this question Joph. Where did the argument that Hastert should resign as a result of all of this come from? I'm serious. You didn't come up with it yourself, right? You heard it somewhere. Where did that person get that idea (likely a media source or commentator, right)? Trace that back Joph. At the end of that trail is going to be someone (or multiple someone's) in the employ of groups like moveon.org specifically to get the "message" out there.
Umm... no.

The first place I (and I assume most people) heard a call for Hastert to resign was in the (conservative) Washington Times editorial column. I even went back and looked at older articles to see if there was mention of a demand for Hastert to resign before that.

I guess Moveon.org owns the Washington Times editorial board now, huh.
Quote:
Kinda like the unlikelyhood that ABC just suddenly stumbled upon this story 4.5 weeks before a major mid-term election...
Ah, yes the "liberal conspiracy" angle again. Mind you, no one has had evidence of this beyond the inconvenient timing but, hey, when demanding to wait for the "facts to be in" on Foley why not spend some time spreading mud on the Democrats based on conjecture and wishful thinking?

It's a good thing you weren't railing against Democratic hypocrisy or else you'd look really stupid right now.
____________________________
Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#135 Oct 13 2006 at 9:17 AM Rating: Good
*****
18,463 posts
Well, Bush is backing Hastert. That's that, then. He'll stay put. I understand that, but still--this is just insulting:
Quote:
"Speaker Denny Hastert has a long record of accomplishment and he's not one of these Washington politicians who spews a lot of hot air," the president said. "He just gets the job done."


I suppose we just hope he gets voted out now.
Time to deface his posters, Joph!
#136 Oct 13 2006 at 9:34 AM Rating: Excellent
Liberal Conspiracy
*******
TILT
Smiley: laugh

I need to recant a statement made at the beginning of this thread and note that Dennis Hastert is up for re-election this year. The reason I didn't know was because it's been a non-story. Hastert's opponent, John Laesch, wasn't even registering on the polls (I think it was around 80/20 before) and was being given no financial support by the DNC because his was a lost cause.

Currently though, still running s shoestring campaign, John Laesch is polling at 42% now vs Hastert's 52%. Now I don't believe that there's a chance in hell of Laesch winning unless Hastert turns out to have been molesting babies while eating kittens but that's quite the erosion of support.

Hastert will win, I guarantee it. His district is Republican and there's too obvious a benefit to having your district represented by the Speaker of the House no matter what your party affiliation. But I was suprised to see Laesch polling that well.

Anyway, the reason Bush was in town was to try to drum up cash and support for Peter Roskam. He's still polling either even with or behind Iraqi War vet Tammy Duckworth which is an embarassment given his district's strong Republican leanings and his war chest. Lord willing and the creek don't rise, Duckworth will pull this one out.
____________________________
Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#137 Oct 13 2006 at 9:40 AM Rating: Good
*****
18,463 posts
Jophiel wrote:
unless Hastert turns out to have been molesting babies while eating kittens
Dude, I heart you. Smiley: lol

Jophiel wrote:
Hastert will win, I guarantee it. His district is Republican and there's too obvious a benefit to having your district represented by the Speaker of the House no matter what your party affiliation. But I was suprised to see Laesch polling that well.
So what are you saying? We can't deface his signs? Smiley: frown
#138 Oct 13 2006 at 10:25 AM Rating: Good
Speaker of the House only counts if you are representing the majority, we will see how many seats the GOP looses.
#139 Oct 13 2006 at 10:30 AM Rating: Good
YAY! Canaduhian
*****
10,293 posts
Holy ghost of posters past!
____________________________
What's bred in the bone will not out of the flesh.
#140 Oct 13 2006 at 10:32 AM Rating: Decent
Jophiel wrote:
Last week, America got mad because Foley hit on this Page who told Renyolds who told Shimkus to tell Hastert but only told his staff before Boehner told Alexander who told HIS staff who told Hastert who was mad because Clinton told Soros to tell CREW to tell the Page to seduce Foley so America would get mad!

Confused? You won't be after this thread!

Edited, Oct 10th 2006 at 10:35pm PDT by Jophiel


Smiley: lol
I loved Soap Let me guess, Gbaji is Richard Mulligan right?
#141 Oct 13 2006 at 11:01 AM Rating: Excellent
Liberal Conspiracy
*******
TILT
BloodwolfeX wrote:
I loved Soap
Boy, and I was sure I had thrown that joke down the hole Smiley: laugh

Rednye, true enough but I'd still expect folks in the district to hedge their bets and vote Hastert. God forbid the GOP keeps the House and loses the district Smiley: grin
____________________________
Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#142 Oct 13 2006 at 8:07 PM Rating: Good
Encyclopedia
******
35,568 posts
RedPhoenixxxxxx wrote:
gbaji wrote:
So believing that Bush lied to get us into a war (for some unstated reason) makes perfect sense.


"Unstated reasons"? Are you joking? Huh, I wonder why on Earth Bush would want to have a military presence in a country flowing with oil in the Middle-east...

Or why he would choose to pursue an agenda that was the neo-cons' plan of action sine the late 90s. And let's not even talk about the influences he could've been submitted to by some of his sponsors, the people who fund him, lobbies, etc...

Come on. Unless, of course, you still think he went there to free people from a dictatorship. But, once again, surely you're not that naive.


Sure. But now you're just going with a "he said, she said" type of argument. You can speculate about what sort of "evil" motives where behind it all day long. At the end of the day, you have to repudiate the stated motives if you want to get anywhere. The US has very little interest in Iraqi oil one way or the other. If anything, you can use the oil argument far more effectively as an "evil" reason for most of the UN nations not wanting to do anything about Iraq.


Quote:
Quote:
But believing that liberal activist groups will deliberately leak information to the press and then hype it in order to influence an election makes no sense at all.


They might well ahve done. But, once again, thats nothing new and thats how politics work. Swift Boat Veterans anyone?


Yeah. But there's a *huge* difference between a group of people coming out, saying who they are, and stating their version of an event, and groups of people who stay in the shadows, never revealing who they are or what their agenda is, getting their "message" out by leaking information to the press.

Can you see how one is open and honest while the other is secretive and dishonest? We know who the swift boat veterans are. We know exactly what they're saying. They aren't hiding behind anything. On the other hand, we have no idea who gathered up the emails and IM's about Foley. We have no idea who put them into the hands of ABC (and a couple other media sources, ABC just happened to be the first to run with the information). What we have is a political attack, with no "face" to respond to.

And that's been a common tactic used by the Left for quite some time now. And it's also very effective. How many times on this forum have I been blasted because I have to frame my arguments with regards to these sorts of issues against "Liberals" as a broad group? You know why I have to do that? Because in an alarmingly high number of cases, there is no single known organization or political group that's behind them. They're just "stories" that appear magically in the news and no one seems to know where the information came from.

The Foley IM's is just one in a long list of similarly performed attacks. Heck. How many of the things you assume to be true derived from just such methods? Where did you learn about the SWIFT banking tracking program? Where did you learn about the NSA wiretapping? Heck! Where did you get the idea that we invaded Iraq for the oil? All of those are arguments that you hold and that you (and many others) take to heart, assume are true, and base your arguments off of. But I'm betting that you can't actually tell me who articulated the arguement in the first place.

Isn't that just a bit suspicious? Doesn't it concern you even a little bit that so much of what you believe is passed on to you by unknown sources that seem unwilling to actually stand up and openly state who they are and why they believe what they're saying? Instead, we get second hand information, passed on through media leaks and op-ed pieces, that get read by people like you and given great weight purely because they support what you want to believe, regardless of any factual value behind them.


Quote:
Quote:
It makes no sense for Hastert to have "covered up" Foley's actions if he actually thought they were that serious. None at all.


It makes complete sense. I'm not saying it did happen, simply because I dont know. But covering-up issues which are potentially damaging to your party's chance's of being re-elected is nothing new in politics.


No. It doesn't make any sense. If the assumption that Republicans "hate gays", and overreact to anything that might make them look like they aren't moral and virtuous folks was true, wouldn't Hastert have immediately reacted to Foley if he'd actually thought he was doing something horribly wrong?

There's no percentage in covering that up. If Hastert actually knew about the IM's or communication's similar to those, he'd have to know that other people knew about them as well. You can't cover up something that everyone knows. Thus, it makes no sense to assume that everyone (apparently only among the Republican leadership) knew about this, but magically assumed that no one else did, and chose to cover it up.

That really makes no sense. None at all. The only thing they knew was that Foley was gay, and that he flirted with a 16 year old male page. Period. That's not enough to make a big deal out of, and Hastert would have appeared as anti-gay if he had made a big deal out of it then. And that's not even considering that he was specifically asked by the 16 year old's family not to make a big deal out of it.

My issue isn't that there couldn't have been a cover up. My issue is over the way a cover up seems to be being assumed despite a marked lack of evidence for one. It's clear election year politics. Nothing more.

Quote:
Look, you're acting like an outraged virgin. Pretending politics is all cute and cuddly, that groups dont try to influence public opinion, that politicians would never do cover-ups or hide anything...


Except that it seems as though all of the most underhanded political nastiness is coming from the Left these days. I'm not "outraged" by this at all. More pointing out that the voting public at some point is going to realize just how underhanded the Left is being, and the more they keep using these kinds of tactics, the more likely they'll kill themselves this November.

They're trying too hard, and it's becoming really obvious that their agenda isn't about protecting people's freedoms, or protecting teens from predators, but is just about pushing any story that can be made to seem "bad" in front of the people to try to get them to *not* vote Republican. The kind of tactic they're using works only so long as the people actually believe your reasons for using them are "honest". They have to actually believe you're outraged about a Congressman taking advantage of the page program. They have to believe you're actually concerned about the privacy rights of the people. If you go to far with that sort of attack, people realize that it's not about those things, but just about making the attack. And at that point, you start losing support instead of gaining it. Oh. You'll look good in the polls, because those always show the knee-jerk reaction at work. But you lose at the actual election.

I'm just pointing out that this is something that has been obvious to me for quite some time. What's interesting is that many on the left seem to be oblivious to just how obvious it's becoming to more and more voters...
____________________________
King Nobby wrote:
More words please
1 2 3 4 5 6 Next »
Reply To Thread

Colors Smileys Quote OriginalQuote Checked Help

 

Recent Visitors: 243 All times are in CST
Anonymous Guests (243)