Freepers turn on Condi Rice over comments on Obama's speech on race

It's much simpler than all that

...she was simply making a statement of fact.

To Freepers, when a conservative makes a statement of fact, it's seen as a major betrayal.

I'm only a click away.

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by: JulieWaters @ Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 07:07:59 AM CDT

You can't criticize America

These foul-mouthed and illiterate comments come from the same polluted stream: any critique of any aspect of this country has to instantly be stamped out as if it's the first sign of the Plague. This is hysteria masked as patriotism.

Frederick Douglass said something like "true patriots rebuke their country's sins" and Wisconsin Senator Carl Schurz said "I confidently trust that the American people will prove themselves ... too wise not to detect the false pride or the dangerous ambitions or the selfish schemes which so often hide themselves under that deceptive cry of mock patriotism: 'Our country, right or wrong!' They will not fail to recognize that our dignity, our free institutions and the peace and welfare of this and coming generations of Americans will be secure only as we cling to the watchword of true patriotism: 'Our country-when right to be kept right; when wrong to be put right.'"

Both of them would be appalled to see how our democracy has become perverted and our public discourse turned into hate-based graffiti.

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 07:22:21 AM CDT

One loophole to that...

There's a loophole in the Freepers' "you can't HATE AMERICA!" rule: if you're a right-winger, you're allowed to outright hate most of America's actual population... it's just the country as a whole you're not allowed to criticize.

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by: popebuck1 @ Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 15:10:08 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

wow

what a bunch of ignorant people - oh freeper is one of the examples of ignorant in the dictionary, isn't it?

I'm beginning to wonder if the Dems did this (pushed Obama forward) on purpose in an attempt to keep the Black Community under their thumbs

funny, I thought it was the republicans that helped the Obama push to ensure his candidacy and then waited until it was almost a done deal to make sure there was a boatload of press covering Wright's preaching in an attempt to get McCain elected.

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by: ol cranky @ Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 07:32:39 AM CDT

More than a hundred and fifty years ago

Nathaniel Hawthorne, America's first novelist of any real note, left the country.  In doing so, he said that the principal trait in America's national character was hypocrisy.  Weird how some things never change.

Cynic, n.  A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.  
-Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

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by: QScribe @ Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 08:54:39 AM CDT

I beg to differ

Yes, Hawthorne really nailed American hypocrisy in the Scarlet Letter and elsewhere, but he wasn't our first novelist of note.  Before him there was Susannah Rowson, Gothic novelist Charles Brockden Brown, and the international best seller James Fenimore Cooper.

I wasn't aware that Hawthorne "left" the U.S.--I thought he went abroad on a diplomatic appointment and he returned and died here.  But then I haven't read a biography of him in over ten years (Salem is my Dwelling Place by Edwin Miller--a riveting book!).

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 11:16:38 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

This is really, really, really depressing

I wouldn't have expected a reaction like this, even from Freepers.

"Our Liberties We Prize and Our Rights We Will Maintain" -- Iowa state motto

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by: Sportin' Life @ Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 09:38:25 AM CDT

I know Sportin' Life

If it's possible to actually be disappointed by Freepers, I am.  What a bunch of ignorant shitbags.

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by: onthesea @ Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 10:29:33 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

that was sarcasm right?

your expecting the Freepers not to act like idiots?

Free Republic = Home of America's ultra conservative Nationalist Movement

nothing new at this time.....

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by: Mattkazoo @ Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 11:47:40 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Just wanted to share this

Off topic, but sort of funny

Thursday, went to class and was late. Running I saw a flier out of the corner of my eye. The title said, "Bash Obama."

I went to class, confused and a little concerned by the direction my university was taking.

After class read the flier. Its actually a pro-Obama rally. With people from Obama's campaign at the college offering to take any question and answer them.

Who named this event? Although I have to say it did catch my eye.

nothing new at this time.....

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by: Mattkazoo @ Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 11:54:16 AM CDT

Which school?

Matt, are you at Western Michigan, or Kalamazoo College?

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 13:33:10 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Western Mich

If I was K college, I would be too important to talk to all you lower class LGBT individuals. :)

nothing new at this time.....

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by: Mattkazoo @ Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 15:27:33 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

the self-righteousness of the freepers never ceases to amaze me

they're SOOOOO not interested in hearing something different from what their small minds already believe to be a fundamental truth, things they've been fed by sean hannity, ann coulter and their own isolated communities.  

what does amaze me is how politically partisan they can make ANY issue.  just look at the number of comments that exault republicans and demonize democrats.  it's ridiculous.  but it's also strangely reassuring that the republican party owns these disgusting freaks (here's me being a little partisan myself), and they should be brought into the spotlight and shown to the world for what they've spawned.

i'm not sure that they're capable at all of being able to participate in "the discussion" that has been promoted by the likes of pam, obama, and rice.  they don't listen, they don't care, they think they already know, and they just want to blame, blame, blame.        

The gays stole my lunch money

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by: matt in mpls @ Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 15:20:49 PM CDT

When I Read the Above

All I could think was, "Poor Condi. With friends like these people, she doesn't need any enemies."

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by: Fiona @ Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 15:50:00 PM CDT

The GOP True Colors

From this day forward, I don't want to hear ANYONE on the progressive side part their lips and say "I'm voting for the GOP candidate because I don't like _________."

The GOP long ago ceased being a serious, reasonable political party.  Their policies have caused major damage to our country and the Constitution.

It's obvious to anyone whose paying attention, craves civilized reasoned discourse and is well versed in our history that the GOP is a clear and present danger to the survival of our democracy.  

If you want progressive policies, you gotta vote for progressive candidates, get them in office, then hold them accountable.

And they damned sure don't have the GOP label.

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by: MonicaR @ Sun Mar 30, 2008 at 16:15:55 PM CDT

Sad commentary

After reading the commentary about what Dr. Rice stated, in my opinion, which is true, I think that it shows, why the GOP, will have a very hard time attracting black people to its camp. Shoot, I have conservative views, but when you look at the GOP, it is hard to vote for them, because of the people that they have in their party.

The people who not showed their racism, as well sexism, tells me that in America, that while we have come far, there is still a lot that needs to be done, when it comes to the issue of racism.  

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by: faceman68 @ Mon Mar 31, 2008 at 12:15:19 PM CDT

It's actually much simpler than <i>that</i>!

Freep used to be an expansive site for conservative activism. However, given Jim Robinson's personal crusades against Republicans he disagreed with, people started moving away from the site to places like WideAwakes, RedState, and Laughing Elephant. The site contracted and became a parody of itself, with the kind of results that you see here against Condi Rice.

Rice's statements on racism were both reasonable and substantive. Indeed, a lot of liberal black bloggers acted surprised when she said them. However, Rice has been saying the "birth defect" phrase for years. Allow me to explain this from within my party. The Freepers jumped her for three reasons:

1. They are afraid McCain will pick her as his Vice-Presidential nominee. Despite the liberal derision of Rice, this is a lot closer to happening than liberals suspect, given McCain's determination to copy Richard Nixon's 1968 Center Campaign and to restore the Teddy Roosevelt/Dwight Eisenhower brand to the Party.

2. They believed that Rice was offering unswerving support to what Obama was saying, when she was merely offering historical background. She is still a conservative Republican-but they don't want to believe this because they were such staunch Romney people.

3. Most of them are resolutely pro-Zionist and opposed to any Israeli concessions towards the Palestinians, believing (with some justification, I might add) that the Palestinians do not desire both peace and recognition of Israel as Sadat did. IOW,  the Palestinians have an eliminationist Final Solution planned for the Jewish State, and that all interim agreements made with Fatah and Hamas are mere hudna-"Peace" is merely the time for gathering ones forces for the next Iranian-inspired rocket barrage against the Israeli homelands. Rice's persistence in moving towards a settlement based on American, not Israeli, national interests, has caused her huge problems among the Likudnik Right. However, within the rank and file of the Party, she remains very popular.

The notion that McCain would pick a huge phony like Mitt Romney as his VP is a source of continued amusement to me. It's sort of like throwing one's white grandmama under the bus, but I digress.

I was at Freep back in the Nineties when it was still a great site, so I'm not surprised to see how far it's fallen. What you're seeing here is the collapse of extremist politics within the Republican Party and the end of the Christianist (Sullivan's term) attempt to make our party a theocratic instrument. I know that rubs a lot of you the wrong way, because you see us as an enemy to be annihilated as if we were Al Qaeda. After all, all too many of today's Democrats take after Lenin without quite knowing it. For him the Central Question was always "Who rules over whom?". However, politics in this country doesn't happen in Freepland, nor does it happen here or at Kos. It happens in the Center. McCain knows this (and so does Barack, I suspect).

However, the hard transformation we are going through will make us not only stronger in the long run, but a majority party in the out years, as the internal contradictions of the Democratic Coalition make themselves felt.

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by: section9 @ Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 09:03:29 AM CDT

They always do this...

section9:  Nice try.  It's amusing to watch Republicans when their construct collapses in a heap.  After years of hateful vicious power, they're all "Can't we all just get along?"  "We're not so bad, really, it was those other guys."  when they're losing at the polls.  

Since Nixon at least, the Republican Party has been racist (Southern Strategy), corporatist (top-loaded tax cuts, union busting), sexist, (gay marriage, reproductive rights)  Christianist (Moral Majority).  

Free Republic was never a "great site," just a more open manifestation of the more embarrassing but widely held Republican views.  "all too many of today's Democrats take after Lenin"?  "throwing one's white grandmama under the bus"?  I guess you just can't help yourself.  

The Republican downfall came when they got power and the base began demanding that they actually implement their policies.  

McCain has no hope of restoring the "Teddy Roosevelt/Dwight Eisenhower brand."  He has capitulated to and is owned by the wingnuts.  As a Democrat, I hope and pray that he chooses Condoleeza as his VP.  Remember, she ignored the well-documented Al Qaeda threat all summer 2001 and was on her way to give a speech about space-based weapons on September 11.  It won't be hard to show that she was more interested in enriching her corporate masters than in protecting America as the National Security Advisor.

--BD

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by: BigDuck @ Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 17:24:04 PM CDT