The Republicans didn't win by taking the moral high ground. They won with the help of an awful lot of polarizing opinion-spewers. I don't think polarizing the electorate further is going to help the democratic cause. But I am going to laugh when I read brain-farts that blame democrats for polarizing discourse after more than a decade of Limbaugh/O'Reilly/Coulter etc.
There you go again, trying to justify jmeissen actions by saying the other side did it as well. Pardon me, but that continues to be an adolescent debating position. This discussion started from the point that no matter what jm THOUGHT he was doing, a lot of people were, and will continue to be, offended by the action. Now you sound like you are trying to say the people shouldn't have been offended because someone else did something similar. The result of all that is that the same people are going to be offended because nothing changed. The big problem I see with much of Demo strategy is that they are saying that if you didn't accept their message, you were an idiot. A good example of this is the issue of religion in candidate choice. IIRC it was Tim Russert shortly after the election, who cited that 35% of Kerry supporters consider themselves to be Christians. Yet if you were to judge by the posters here, 100% of Christians voted for Bush and therefore stupid *fill in the blank.* As to polarization, we could go on forever here. You can sight the folks you name and I could come back with Terry McAuliffe, James Carville, Bill Maher (the king of polarization IMO) Michael Moore, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Al Francken, etc., all people who took some VERY polarizing views, none of which would narrow the gap and reach across to the middle ground. So as long as everyone chooses to stand in their own little corner and refuse to admit their tactics are wrong, no progress will be made.
Re: Seriously, why not Beckham now? you are right jmeissen0... you flying the American Flag upside down is stupid! Especially since this nation is at war and there are brave Servicemen risking their lives on behalf of that flag and this nation. Your disrespect of the flag demonstrates your utter disloyalty to the nation and to those servicemen! In an ideal nation, those disrespecting the flag would be slapped in irons or placed in a stock in the town common, to be spit upon! Even with the rules of our current society, you are still to be spit upon, for your disrespect of the flag! You want to fly something upside down... post a picture of yoru face as your avetar... turn it upside down too! That would be appropriate! IntheNet
A warning sign of early-onset Alzheimers. I'd get that looked into if I were you. I'm not justifying jmeissen's actions. Jim can do that for himself. I am saying that your objections, given that Republicans have profited from over a decade of extremist, polarizing rhetoric from several sources, are laughable. And I am continuing to laugh as you accuse me of adolescent behavior without acknowledging the benefits accrued by the Republican party using divisive and exclusionary rhetoric. I'm saying that, to be offended by jm's actions while not being offended by the likes of Limbaugh/O'Reilly/Coulter/Liddy/et. al., is hypocritical. That's all. I am by no means analyzing the rhetorical effect of Jim's avatar, just the hysterical and hysterically funny reaction. I don't think "posters on bigsoccer" = Democratic Party policy makers. ACtually, all the people you mention who work in politics and not entertainment are very good at reaching consensus. That's what politics are all about in a republic. In fact, McAulliffe's problem might be excessive desire to not offend multinational corporate interests. But you'd have to, you know, actually read journals and wonk-reports to know that. And that includes Sharpton, whose polarizing views are tactics designed to get the interests of his constituency on the radar, which wouldn't happen otherwise, because the media doesn't exactly cater to those on the economic underclass. So long as you know that that is exactly what you are doing in most of your posts on this thread. Seriously, do you think the Republicans have the "moral high ground"?
Please tell that first part to Hannity, Rush, O'Lielly, The Douchebag of Liberty and Coulter. Fixed your second part.
I don't think most on the left care about change. I think they care most about maintaining their own opinion of themselves.