Any one of us at some point in our lives has been guilty of being able to dish out the criticisms of another person while not doing a very good job taking them back once the tides turn on us. Today I am seeing that once again. For those of you on the losing side of the aisle, still not able to accept the fact that a majority of Americans are not happy with the overall policies of the current administration (among other things), and hence the recent mid-term election results, let me put it this way...
The reason the GOP has taken over the Senate is because of something I anticipated a short time ago; that is the Democratic party has officially gone too far in their collection of idiotic political attacks. You can push the envelope in your ads for so long until even the greatest cynic in the room gets a little tired of the whining. When your campaign baseline is completely devoid of policies, all the while full of accusations of racism, sexism and homophobia, a large enough population of voters becomes so turned-off, they literally don't want to vote for you due to the simple fact that who in the hell wants someone that behaves like that in public office?
I voted for George W. Bush both in 2000 & 2004 and although I was generally disappointed in his performance for the simple fact that in my opinion, he missed multiple opportunities to get some real initiatives put into place, I don't regret my decision to support him considering my alternate choices were Al Gore and John Kerry. I rest my case.
The reason the GOP has taken over the Senate is because of something I anticipated a short time ago; that is the Democratic party has officially gone too far in their collection of idiotic political attacks. You can push the envelope in your ads for so long until even the greatest cynic in the room gets a little tired of the whining. When your campaign baseline is completely devoid of policies, all the while full of accusations of racism, sexism and homophobia, a large enough population of voters becomes so turned-off, they literally don't want to vote for you due to the simple fact that who in the hell wants someone that behaves like that in public office?
I voted for George W. Bush both in 2000 & 2004 and although I was generally disappointed in his performance for the simple fact that in my opinion, he missed multiple opportunities to get some real initiatives put into place, I don't regret my decision to support him considering my alternate choices were Al Gore and John Kerry. I rest my case.
Now after making it a point to spend the last several years being constructively critical of the current administration, that being I point out his mistakes while not deviating from the notion that I still believe the President is a decent, well-intentioned human being, I'm going to do something a little out of character and respond to the excessive backlash with more harshness than I usually feel comfortable dishing out.
For eight years, many of you (not ALL of you thank God) referred to George W. Bush as a "stupid, jerk, idiot, rube, evil, redneck, moron, asshole that should be impeached, thrown in jail, hung, shot, etc. Now criticism can be a good thing, especially when it is well prepared and presented. Even if I still disagree with you, I appreciate you forcing me to engage in a healthy debate and to take the time to fully think my own premise through before I speak. But rarely did I hear even the faintest resemblence of a constructive critique other than the usual flailing of arms, face turning flush with anger and running through a cadence four-letter words indicating how passionately you loathed the man, and sometimes even jumping to the conclusion that you seem to loathe all Conservatives. And of course my immediate thought was "I'm a Conservative. Is that really what you think of me?"
Now other than occasionally making my own objective case in defense for the man, (and I did NOT always defend him), I generally bit my tongue and just let some of you have your outbursts. I mean afterall, it is all part of the game. You either like the President, or you don't.
For those of you that still think the President is doing a fine job, if he is getting the things done that you find more important, that's perfectly fine. Party on with your bad self. But please spare the rest of us this childish banter in trying to insist that "at least he is better than George W. Bush". That's a poor argument considering so many of you have invested a large amount of energy in trying to convince the world that he is a mental munchkin. Arguing your case that "yours is still better" is like saying "I know my child is stupid but at least he's not as dumb as yours".
This morning I read an article by a Mark Morford (I've never heard of him either) and it really allowed for me to have a breakthrough in trying to understand the mentality of some of the Left. Here is the link if you'd like to skim through it. (http://blog.sfgate.com/morford/2014/07/08/the-best-worst-president-ever/) Note that the substance of his piece, probably 85% or higher is spent either whining about the so called mess that George W. Bush left behind (still blaming the previous guy) and the rest casting aspersions about a group of people of whom he knows nothing about, creating false statements and opinions in order to back his own weak theory. Just to trump some of his points, first, the Dow generally his record highs under every presidential administration, especially those with two terms, even if there is a sell off at some point. The President has little effect, positive nor negative on the Dow. Second, he clearly doesn't do research, which I find alarming for a published writer. The housing crisis started under Carter, was exacerbated by Clinton and ignored by Bush. If anything, it was a cooperative effort. But I've also made the point that sadly, we need events like that to happen this country in order to force us to pay attention to our excessive lending and borrowing at an unsustainable rate. Most of us have been guilty of it. I have as well and have learned my lesson. My current credit card debt is a little higher than normal this month due to some vet expenses; $309.58.
For those of you that still think the President is doing a fine job, if he is getting the things done that you find more important, that's perfectly fine. Party on with your bad self. But please spare the rest of us this childish banter in trying to insist that "at least he is better than George W. Bush". That's a poor argument considering so many of you have invested a large amount of energy in trying to convince the world that he is a mental munchkin. Arguing your case that "yours is still better" is like saying "I know my child is stupid but at least he's not as dumb as yours".
This morning I read an article by a Mark Morford (I've never heard of him either) and it really allowed for me to have a breakthrough in trying to understand the mentality of some of the Left. Here is the link if you'd like to skim through it. (http://blog.sfgate.com/morford/2014/07/08/the-best-worst-president-ever/) Note that the substance of his piece, probably 85% or higher is spent either whining about the so called mess that George W. Bush left behind (still blaming the previous guy) and the rest casting aspersions about a group of people of whom he knows nothing about, creating false statements and opinions in order to back his own weak theory. Just to trump some of his points, first, the Dow generally his record highs under every presidential administration, especially those with two terms, even if there is a sell off at some point. The President has little effect, positive nor negative on the Dow. Second, he clearly doesn't do research, which I find alarming for a published writer. The housing crisis started under Carter, was exacerbated by Clinton and ignored by Bush. If anything, it was a cooperative effort. But I've also made the point that sadly, we need events like that to happen this country in order to force us to pay attention to our excessive lending and borrowing at an unsustainable rate. Most of us have been guilty of it. I have as well and have learned my lesson. My current credit card debt is a little higher than normal this month due to some vet expenses; $309.58.
Now my own opinion of the current president is different. I don't think he is evil, nor unintellingent, nor do I feel he hates his own country and I certainly do not wish one shred of ill against he or his family. But I do feel he is in way over his head, spends too much time making excuses, blaming the previous administration and the current Congress (and now, the Senate will get their turn) for his own weak policies and failing to take action on major issues in a way that actually solves the problem as opposed to just ensuring more votes for his constituents. His primary cards are Racism and Republicans and sadly there are those who have been making it a point to try and group the two together. Additionally I believe he has become arrogant to the point where he feels he knows more about combat strategy than our highly decorated top military personnel. This I find alarming as you all should. Poltical leaders have egos, I understand. To a degree they can even be an effective management tool. But they need to be self managed. When you catch yourself thinking you know more about something than an expert, you should pull back on your own reins and listen to what that person may have to say. I don't think Barack Obama does that very well.
I've actually made the point before that I honestly thought that Obama wouldn't be THAT bad of a president once he became acclimated to the role. I was wrong on that. Now I have been relatively vocal on my criticisms toward the President via social media but I have been far from vicous. In fact, "slightly scathing" is about as far as I will take it. My goal is to make a valid point while hopefully not hurting friends and family, all of whose importance to me in my life far exceeds any concern I have toward his/her political views. I really don't care if you are a Socialist Atheist. If you are a part of my life, I love you. Period. But holding myself back on having an opinion all together is not going to happen. To me that is un-American and goes against one of my greatest passions in my life. I've already had to give up one passion recently. I'm not about to fold on another.
So in getting to my original point, to those of you that don't like my opinions, you can of course unsubscribe to my newsfeeds, manually ignore them, or even go so far as to unfriend me if you feel so violated by my values. But please drop this notion that it is perfectly acceptable for you to dish it out for eight years while I am forbidden to occasionally give a little bit back. There is a term for that. It's called "being childish". So stop being childish, step up to the plate and take your lumps like an adult just like the rest of us did for eight long years.
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