Political Discussion

[banca rotta]

It's funny how the "honest and true" politicians are the only ones who never get elected.

That's because people can't handle the truth. As kids it was Santa and the Easter Bunny.

As adults it's entitlements.

[helpmeout]

Exactly! R.P. sounds good and I agree mostly with him, but you just try telling 300 million people that we have to repeal all entitlements and end the wars in order to save our economy and country.

There was a time where we never had entitlements and people actually saved enough over their lifetimes through hard work to retire on.

If we abolished the fed, then that would again be possible.

I do not see this happening in my lifetime and no one man like Ron Paul can ever sell it to the masses especially when the media will discredit him.

What a naive view. That leaves out all of the people who were suffering.

Because if what you said was true, there would have been no need for the New Deal. No need for Social Security. No need for medicare. No need for a safety net.

Because if what you said was true, there would have been no one who needed them.

[helpmeout]

It's funny how the "honest and true" politicians are the only ones who never get elected.

There is no such thing. And that includes Ron Paul.

[kornellred]

It's funny how the "honest and true" politicians are the only ones who never get elected.

[banca rotta]

I couldn't agree more, but it's not going to happen...people are too complacent...

Good luck to us all.

Exactly! R.P. sounds good and I agree mostly with him, but you just try telling 300 million people that we have to repeal all entitlements and end the wars in order to save our economy and country.

There was a time where we never had entitlements and people actually saved enough over their lifetimes through hard work to retire on.

If we abolished the fed, then that would again be possible.

I do not see this happening in my lifetime and no one man like Ron Paul can ever sell it to the masses especially when the media will discredit him.

[helpmeout]

No way, no how. He would be just as bad as GWB.

[IHateToBeEmo]

I'm a sucker for 3rd party candidates. From John Anderson in 1980 to Ron Paul and Ross Perot in later years, I've "wasted" my votes many times on presidential candidates who had "no chance".

[msm859]

Although I don't agree with everything Ron Paul believes, he is at least one of the few honest politicians with integrity. We would be a better country if we had a few more honest politicians with a little integrity.

[debee]

I would agree or disagree but I can't be bothered to click the link.

[shark66]

I couldn't agree more, but it's not going to happen...people are too complacent...

Good luck to us all.

[sguerra923]

This should be our next president!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILbFajYk3C4&sns=em

[divya09]

hmmmmmmmmm

[shark66]

The history of mankind is saturated with acts of violence commited by insane individuals...and some of these individuals had interesting explanations on what provoked them to commit their crimes...Charles Manson and Timothy McVeigh come to mind.

As for violence in politics, assasinations of political leaders have happened in societies a lot more docile than this one...for those less familiar with (fairly recent) history of European politics, I suggest Googling the name of Olof Palme...

I've been called a right-winger on this forum, and if my belief in 2nd Ammendment rights and free market cathegorize me as such so be it. That being said, I'd never contemplate gunning someone down because of poltical disagreements. For actually doing something like that, you've got to be certifiable.

Sorry guys and gals, no amount of exposure to Sara Palin, Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity causes this type of disaster.

Manson was "inspired" by Beatles' "Helter Skelter".

Tim Mc Veigh by FBI massacre in Texas.

Hogwash. And then some.

This kid might quote Rage Against The Machine. Or Christopher Marlowe. Or Bill Maher.

We could argue ad nauseam whether sociopaths are born or created. And get nowhere.

It doesn't really matter.

Pray for the victims to the deity of your choice. Or don't.

Pray for this disturbed young man who'll likely end up on the death row. Or don't.

Thank whoever/whatever that you and/or your friends and family members were not directly involved in this horror show.

And move on.

My $0.02 only...

Good luck to us all.

[msm859]

And we have our first candidate. Following your logic we should:

1) avoid any speech that any nutjob might interpret as a call to violence or justification for their crazy actions. Should we have politicians stop "campaigning" since that has military overtones? Where does it end? To attribute any blame for this to any political group, public figure or talk show instead of or in addition to the actual shooter is willful misdirection and political opportunism at its worst.

Where are the calls for restraint and withholding judgment until all the facts are known? This seemed to be the liberal watchword in the immediate aftermath of the Ft Hood shooting, even in the face of compelling evidence that the shooter was motivated by religious hate. Yet here we are not even a day after this terrible shooting, blaming the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, talk radio and Fox News for starters. You liberals can have your moral superiority and sanctimonious, self righteous attitudes, you're not fooling anyone.

No. There does need to be an adult discussion about the vitriolic rhetoric that is becoming too commonplace in today's politics. To simply view this incident in a vacuum is being naive. Sarah Palin did in fact say, "Don't retreat, reload". She did in fact have a web page that had the congresswoman's district targeted with crosshairs. In the recent elections her opponent Jesse Kelley asked supporters to donate money to shoot a fully automatic m-16 to get on target and help remove Giffords. Palin in response praised Kelley and said, "I don't feel worthy to lace his combat boots". Sharon Angle talked about 2nd amendment remedies if the election did not go well. No one can say with certainty what if any influence this had on the shooter, however, it takes little imagination to see how statements like these would be enough to push certain people over the edge to actually act.
What we need are intelligent debates about the merits of ones position. Something that is sorely missing from todays politics.

[BobMango]

The problem is that this nutjob specifically chose to target Gabby. We have to ask ourselves why he did this? Did he listen to too much right wing talk show hosts who have said some horrible and unfounded things about Gabby. She was a moderate, not a liberal. But Sara Palin did have a huge political campaign against her, and many horrible things were said against her during campaign ads funded by Republicans and other right wingers. I have to wonder how much this nutjob was influenced by talk radio (Or as some people call it-- hate radio) and Fox News on cable with hosts like Glenn Beck who says some truly outrageous things.

The political climate in Arizona has become very mean spirited. The debate over immigration and healthcare issues has elevated to levels that I have never seen in my entire life.

We need to step back from this and let everyone cool down and let some reasonable thoughts prevail.

I am always so amazed about the people who are against "illegal" immigration from Mexico. The Mexicans were here first. This is their land. We are the guests here, especially in Arizona. We need to start treating these people with more respect and dignity.

From what I hear, Jared was anti-"illegal" immigration, and I have to wonder how much of the hate speech about immigration issues on talk radio influenced what he did?

And we have our first candidate. Following your logic we should:

1) avoid any speech that any nutjob might interpret as a call to violence or justification for their crazy actions. Should we have politicians stop "campaigning" since that has military overtones? Where does it end? To attribute any blame for this to any political group, public figure or talk show instead of or in addition to the actual shooter is willful misdirection and political opportunism at its worst.

2) let any group with any historical, ancestral claim to a region freely ignore borders and settle where they will. Wars are fought for a reason and have consequences. The British had the colonies before we fought the Revolutionary War, should we subjugate ourselves once again to British rule, or allow any British citizen to freely migrate to the US? What about the native Americans? Do they get their tribal lands back? There are some bells you can't un-ring. Should history have unfolded differently? Absolutely. If I had it in my power I'd make sure we all held hands and sang kumbyyah until we achieve world peace. The fact is that ignores reality and is not the world we live in.

Where are the calls for restraint and withholding judgment until all the facts are known? This seemed to be the liberal watchword in the immediate aftermath of the Ft Hood shooting, even in the face of compelling evidence that the shooter was motivated by religious hate. Yet here we are not even a day after this terrible shooting, blaming the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, talk radio and Fox News for starters. You liberals can have your moral superiority and sanctimonious, self righteous attitudes, you're not fooling anyone.