A Few Words about Conservatives

I tend to use rather strong words in my descriptions of people who do not agree with my politics -- words like idiot, ignorant, evil. I have a reason for this.



For too long during the Bush administration, we failed to point things out for what they were. We tortured people and had a national debate, still ongoing, about whether it was OK. The administration lied to us before the Iraq War started, and we debated whether they did. President Bush wanted to call his illegal domestic spying program a terrorist surveillance program, and the press went along, etc.



We always hear that there are two sides to every story, but I do not believe there are two legitimate sides to every issue. I have never heard the argument in favor of the Holocaust, for example. Some people deny it happened, but arguing with a Holocaust denier would be frustrating. All they can do is say that they don't believe the overwhelming evidence. They are ignorant and have nothing to add to the conversation, so why talk to them at all?



A better analogy to current conservatives would be the issue of segregation in the South. A lot of people in this country, many of them intelligent and otherwise decent people, supported segregation. That does not mean that they had a legitimate point of view; in the end, to suggest that someone like Barack or Michelle Obama, Condoleezza Rice, or Colin Powell, should sit in the back of the bus and face discrimination in employment, housing, and education is just wrong. People who believed that were either ignorant, evil, or irrational, or some combination of the three.



So let's get a few things straight:

• Fox News is not unbiased. They are the only major "news" network whose reason for being is to support one political party. That's their job. If you don't realize this without my having to provide supporting evidence, you don't get it.


• Torture is a war crime, even if the United States does it. You cannot get around the crime by creating your own defintion of the word "torture."


• Bush and members of his administration decided first that they wanted to attack Iraq, then used intelligence to market a decision that was already made.


• Swift-boating John Kerry was un-American, unpatriotic, and disgusting.
• The Bush administration exposed a covert CIA agent for political purposes.


• Republicans are not fiscal conservatives. They had eight years in power, and they ran up big deficits and doubled the national debt, justifying their actions all the way. Their fiscal policy is complete and utter irresponsibility. That's what they did; that's who they are. To claim otherwise when they are finally booted out of power is ludicrous.
• Sarah Palin was not as qualified as Barack Obama to be President or Vice-President. Her time as a small-town mayor should count for approximately zero.
• The United States is not and was never meant to be a Christian country. And that's a really good thing.

We have debated all of these issues and more as a nation primarily because some people are paid to represent their parties, like Johnnie Cochran was paid to defend OJ Simpson, no matter what the facts may be. News outlets give these people airtime no matter how far they stretch the truth, no matter how ridiculous or strained their arguments.

I don't have to make the same allowances. I don't like arguing with Holocaust deniers. If you look at my list above and disagree with me, you do not know what you are talking about, and you have nothing to add to the conversation. Because reasonable people simply do not disagree on those things. So if you are one of those people who cannot be reasonable, I'm happy to point out your shortcomings in plain English.