tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post204535669282672993..comments2024-03-27T03:19:11.216-04:00Comments on Assistant Village Idiot: Hate SpeechAssistant Village Idiothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-26095507082021899772009-12-30T18:32:24.113-05:002009-12-30T18:32:24.113-05:00Thanks for the posting , AVI. You articulated it b...Thanks for the posting , AVI. You articulated it better than I did. Interesting that of all the words that Sheldon Whitehouse spoke, we both focused on the same part. Probaby because that was the part that was hardest to swallow.<br /><br /> I spent much of my NE childhood playing sports with Whitehouses who were salt of the earth Yankees, not sneering Brahmins like Sheldon Whitehouse.<br /><br /><br />When Sheldon talks of <i> “the malignant and vindictive passions that have descended on the Senate,”</i> he is not just talking of some small subset of “fanatics” or “right wing militias” among our population, he is so labeling his Republican colleagues in the Senate, who by definition are mainstream. Else how could they have been elected?<br /><br />I wonder if Sheldon would also cite “a Nobel prize-winning economist” when that Nobel prize-winning economist mistakenly assumed that most Canadians in the audience were pleased with Canadian health care, which the Nobel prize winning economist admitted was a <a href="http://newsbusters.org/blogs/seton-motley/2009/07/28/nyts-krugman-conducts-informal-canadian-health-care-poll-result-bad-mo" rel="nofollow">bad move on my part."</a> <br /><br /><br /><br />While Sheldon labels Republicans as “an aggrieved minority,” he bypasses the polls that show that <a href="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/healthcare/september_2009/health_care_reform" rel="nofollow">40% of voters nationwide favor the bill and 55% are opposed. </a> When 60 out of 100 Senators pass what only 40% of the populace support, that rather contorts the notion of “aggrieved minority.”<br /><br />By saying " can lead," Sheldon can plausibly deny that he called hie opponents racists, Nazis, etc. I am reminded of LBJ's joke about the candidate for county sheriff who accused his opponent of doing unmentionable things with hogs. "Why'd you say that? You KNOW he doesn't @@## hogs?" "But I love to hear him deny it."Gringonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-15387851951617634482009-12-25T11:18:36.084-05:002009-12-25T11:18:36.084-05:00Whitehouse replaced Lincoln Chafee, an oft-complai...Whitehouse replaced Lincoln Chafee, an oft-complained of RINO. It's a good illustration of the dilemna: if you don't elect the Chafee's, you get the Whitehouse's. But then you never push the issues out fully into the open. I think there is something to be said for either approach.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-78165504157818817122009-12-25T10:15:47.353-05:002009-12-25T10:15:47.353-05:00I will remember Whitehouse, and his opponent will ...I will remember Whitehouse, and his opponent will be getting a substantial contribution from me.David Fosterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15464681514800720063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19305198.post-17328939612265150182009-12-24T23:07:58.890-05:002009-12-24T23:07:58.890-05:00Very good post. I had just been pissed off by the...Very good post. I had just been pissed off by the language, without really analyzing why...<br /><br />Have a very Merry Christmas! I am not going to think AT ALL about politics for a couple of days, and try not to be gloomy about recent eventsRetrieverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09036341287285545932noreply@blogger.com