If America had a President such that political leaders in the U.K. didn't feel the need to apologize about going to meet him? Surely it can't be good that "talks to the President of the United States when he comes to town" counts as a political liability for politicians in friendly countries.
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Wouldn't it Be Nice
16 Jun 2008 01:41 pm
Comments (15)
It would also be nice if the left viewed politics the same way we conservatives do. meaning:
-- The left views the right as mal-intentioned and evil
-- The right views the left as well intentioned, but incorrect
Sure, there are exceptions. But you'll notice that liberal speakers don't get pied when they visit campuses - conservative ones tend to need bodyguards. A lot of these problems would disappear if the left started acted with civility.
I don't believe that Matt, or Obama, or anyone on the left wakes up thinking "how can I ruin America?" I believe their policy choices are usually wrong, but not designed with malice. The left, on the other hand, actively believes that conservatives are out to destroy the world.
" don't believe that Matt, or Obama, or anyone on the left wakes up thinking "how can I ruin America?" "
That may be true of you, and isn't that nice? But you seriously can't say that of all on the right. What you're doing is casting the general right into your individual moderate mold, and casting the general left into the caricatured extremist mold, in order to assume the higher moral ground for your entire side. But the caricatured extremist mold of the right does indeed think that Obama wakes up in the morning asking himself how to destroy America. So, to compare apples-to-apples, it's either:
-- The left views the right as mal-intentioned and evil
-- The right view the left as mal-intentioned and evil
OR
-- The left views the right as well-intentioned, but incorrect
-- The right views the left as well-intentioned, but incorrect
In either case, you should probably take your concern trolling elsewhere.
To be fair, the UK politician in question was a conservative who had just given a speech affirming his commitment to environmentalism, and he was speaking to the Royal Horticultural Society at the time. If some American Congressman had to cut short a visit with the Sierra Club for a meeting with Bush, I imagine they'd make an only-half-joking apology too.
Ann Coulter's book titles.
Godless: The Church of Liberalism
Slander: Liberal Lies About the American Right
Treason: Liberal Treachery from the Cold War to the War on Terror
Ann Coulter sells even more books than Matt Yglesias.
The multiple multihour delays and flight cancellations at Heathrow that Bush caused probably didn't improve people's feelings.
Yeah, if Cameron had been speaking to the Adam Smith Institute or the Institute of Directors, he wouldn't have been apologising.
But that kind of standard Tory schmoozing isn't going to get Dave elected. He's busily trying to cast the Labour Party as the British GOP.
Should we praise the leaders of other countries for the courage they display when they agree to meet face-to-face with George W. Bush without any preconditions, or criticize them for being naïve?
It depends upon your perspective, I think, Matt. A desire to infuriate, insult, anger, and belittle foreign leaders and countries occupies a not insignificant part of the current rightwing foreign policy perspective. In case you've misplaced your rightwing FP talking points, Europe is populated with weak, post-nationalist, post-masculine quislings who have lost the will to dominate the globe and are passively, if not enthusiastically and willingly, allowing themselves to be out-bred by swarthy Muslims. Last I checked, the UK is European (enough). If they liked us and welcomed our president, that would be a sure sign we're not humiliating and dominating them enough. We should be proud to be hated and despised because that tells us we're doing our jobs.
Ann Coulter is a twit, but she's also not the head of the RNC. The head of the DNC, on the other hand, has said - and I quote:
"Our values, in contrast to the Republicans, is that we don't want kids to go to bed hungry at night"
Let me know when the leadership of the Democratic party stops assuming that I'm evil, and instead just assumes that I have a different (and from his POV, wrong) political ideology.
James, the whining is grating on my nerves. If you're saying that it's only, or mainly, liberals that ascribe bad motives to their political opponents, well...you're wrong. Sure they do that, and conservatives to it to liberals. And Sox fans do it to Yankees fans. East coast rappers do it to West coast rappers. Chevy drivers do it to Ford drivers. Saab drivers do it to Volvo drivers. Southpaws do it to righties. Blacks do it to whites. Straights do it to gays. SUV drivers do it to Prius drivers. Protestants do it to Catholics.
It really is something to hear a (presumably) adult man whine - literally whine - that it's only the other side who fails to take him in good faith, without realizing that this happens to everybody, all the time.
No, James, you're wrong. Conservatives do it to liberals, too. Doesn't make it right, but that's not what we're talking about. It goes both ways. Nobody likes crybabies.
Ibex and Dans....
Do either of you think that you could of made your point while refraining from calling James a troll and a crybaby?
There are conservatives guilty of this - but the top of the RNC isn't littered with them. On the left, this kind of rot extends from the top to the bottom. It's not whining - it's pointing out that honest discourse is difficult when those who differ with you don't just differ - they question your motives.
Robertson IS a right wing troll. Familiarize yourselves with his past lame posts here before commenting.
"Let me know when the leadership of the Democratic party stops assuming that I'm evil, and instead just assumes that I have a different (and from his POV, wrong) political ideology."
When you STFU and stop advocating war, war and more war.
I personally don't use the term "evil" hardly at all. I prefer "incorrect". But "incorrect" driven by maliciousness leads to your being called "asshole".
Why should I not call James a crybaby? My, what a delicate constitution.
Comments closed June 30, 2008.
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Heads in the Sand
Hah, even the UK Tories hate George Bush.
McCain's attachment to Bush likely won't help him with Cameron, et al, either.
Posted by riffle | June 16, 2008 2:06 PM