I Shouldn't Post This... But I Can't Help Myself

Yesterday a friend of mine sent a link to a blog written by a friend of hers (who is a reporter). The blog entry was a rip on the TEA Party and those who did not support ObamaCare.   Sadly, it was written by a woman whose only exposure to the TEA Party was on MSNBC and the DailyKos. Head. Wall. Bang. Repeat.

The blog link in question

Now, I read that and thought on it a while before responding. I sent her (my friend) a lengthy e-mail this morning with my first impressions. But I can't stop there. Below I am posting my response, because I cannot sit by while yet another biased blogger gets it all wrong.

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First, David Frum IS NOT a real conservative blogger. He is a guy that USED to be a conservative, but has advocated for progressive causes for the last few years. Why? Well, retribution for one. He worked in the Bush White House, but turned against mainstream conservatives when he was asked to leave. That led him to write books, articles and blogs that stretched the truth at best, In fact, most of his immediate facts were discredited. Frum is a man on a mission to hurt any and all conservatives because of the way they turned on him. Also, he has a personal vendetta against the TEA Party because he has been routinely shunned by its leaders... Just noting.

 

Second, the way the "quiz" and your friend state the answers are odd. "Taxes" are not just income tax. Taxes include payroll, income, FICA, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and various others. When you add them up the total can easily be 40-42% of your income. The key is that wording is "taxes as part of the GDP." Ok.... But that is strange seeing as GDP has NOTHING to do with taxes. GDP is the economic output of the entirety of the nation, not just the government. How many people who took Frum's quiz actually paid attention to that wording. The feds take 15-60% of any one person's paycheck, but take a fraction when compared against the GDP. The question was worded that way on purpose to INTENTIONALLY confuse and get wrong answers. It's a dirty trick and it does not surprise me. Also, think about the TEA Party protests. The post mentions these "quizzes" were given DURING the event... How many folks who are there to protest are really trying to give correct answers?

 

Third, the Harris Poll is a joke. It has never been an indicator of actual public opinion. Hell, the post does not even LINK to the Harris Poll so we could see the internals --- the breakdown of who the pollsters talked to. It makes a lot of difference if the Harris poll randomly called conservatives OR of the Harris poll called only KKK members. I kid you not.

 

Fourth, anything on DailyKos should be ignored. It is written, funded and maintained by an extreme progressive. It would be like me trying to convince you of something by sending you to a link of Rush Limbaugh's site. DailyKos, MoveOn and the Huffington Post are three sites that are used a lot against conservatives because those are the three main sites that do not post news, but rather progressive opinions masquerading as news. As soon as I saw your friend was using DailyKos as a news site to back up her words, I knew she had lost the argument. Seriously, using that site as proof of anything means you haven't a leg to stand on....

 

Fifth, she says we can disagree as long as we are civil.... OK, no problem. But where was the utter incivility? I heard TWO obscene voice mails and saw three vitriolic faxes (shameful there were any). But where is the name-calling and spitting that was alleged to have occurred. ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, FOX, Kos, HuffPo, and others are ALL reporting these things happened because a Congressman who has a grudge against the TEA Party said it was so. Umm, but where is the video? In this day and age EVERYTHING is on video. If the worst thing these folks did was call Obama a socialist or parade around the Obama as Joker picture (originally created by a progressive with Bush drawn that way - no problem with his picture, I guess), then that is pretty good. Think about this.... Where was all the  disgust on the part of your friend when the anti-Bush protestors set cars on fire? When they called him Hitler? When they made a movie about his assassination? When they followed his daughters around threatening them? When they smashed windows and threw things at a sitting President? Where was this outrage? Where was the disgust when Republicans had office windows shattered? When Republicans had tires kniffed?  It never happened. This feigned disgust is, well, disgusting. I WILL NEVER condone racist slurs. In fact, I have been to a TEA Party when one was used by an idiot in the crowd... Know what happened? He got shouted down!

 

Sixth, I am scared that your friend is a reporter. A reporter who actually thinks that the post you sent me is based ON FACT couldn't find a fact if it bit her. In all seriousness, that blog post is nothing but a progressive wet dream --- turning fact into fiction and calling it fact. As a journalism graduate, this saddens me to no end. She portrays herself as above the fray, as the independent thinker, as the clear lens of a journalist. But the truth is she is not. She taints herself by referring to DailyKos and other blogs as news sites. But she disgraces herself by doing so. Hell, look at her link to thinkprogress. That is a fringe BLOG. What kind of "reporter," I am now using that term in quotation marks for a reason, uses a fringe BLOG to make a point. But wait, Brad! This is her personal blog and she can link to it if she wants. True, but that was before she used the "reporter" mantra to be the arbiter of fact for her readers.

 

Seventh, I live in a nation where I can call my Congressman a piece of shi$, a nigg## and a fagg%%. I wouldn't, but is it not great that stupid people can say stupid things and not be arrested? Is it not a great nation where I can tweet to my heart's desire and not be thrown in a gulag? Sorry, Sabrina's friend, but I'd rather have idiots making bigger idiots of themselves than have the PC and good-taste police on every corner. And is it not a great thing that ACTUAL REPRESENTATIVES cared so much about an issue that they stood on the Capitol balcony and cheered the protestors. Do you not remember DEMOCRATS doing the same thing for the eight previous years? They name-called, they cheered, they booed. But it is different when conservatives do it against progressives. That is why it is such a big deal now. Give me a break.

 

Eight, the Republican Party has NOTHING to do with the TEA Party. NOTHING. The TEA Party wants to have little to do with them! Why use the word "alignment?"  Because TEA Party goers are mostly conservatives. But they are mad as hell at BOTH parties. I guarantee you, this friend of yours has NEVER been to one. There are people from every walk of life there. And, as such, you have idiots who are racist and anti-gay. But does that make every other person there racist bigots? No. But your friend does not like their point of view. Like the Democrats and the media, she wants their passion to be derided with accusations and slurs. Calling racism is the oldest trick in the progressive playbook. Do you know right now there are more than 35 minorities on the GOP ticket for Congress this November? Many of them have a good chance to win IF Democrats vote for them. But that doesn't matter because it does not fit with your friend's progressive point of view. All conservatives are backwards hicks --- been there done that. The argument is too simplistic to make sense and anyone who thinks the actions of a few speak for the minds of the many are more narrow-minded than those they attempt to besmirch.

 

Ninth, does she know the meaning of fascist? Just because no one was arrested does not take away from Obama's fascist agenda. Oh, and did you see how she admitted that a protest of tens of thousands of conservatives was held with NO arrests... These are terrible people, I tell you.

 

Tenth, again with the "they're happy with their socialized medicine" routine? Let us think. The nations with socialized medicine are going broke, increasing wait time for doctors and routinely being accused of killing patients because of under-staffing... The largest of these system's is used by a population of under 80 million.... Hmmm.... The US has a population of 310 to 320 MILLION. We are already broke. We are already have a lengthy wait time. And we are already 40,000 doctors short. Yep, implementing socialized medicine makes a lot of sense.

 

Eleventh (and finally), look at what she does the person who calls out her facts in the comment section. She shuts him or her down by saying she has the facts and that this is her opinion. So which is it? Are you posting your opinion or facts? She even writes "I don't particularly care for the opinions of the Tea Party people if their protestors are representative." Umm.... But dear Sabrina's friend, you were writing above as if you KNOW for a FACT that the protestors ARE representative.... They AREN'T, but notice how that did not stop her from ignoring his facts by saying he must be a wacky looney tune who gets his facts from Frum's Tea Party friends.... I swear, this blogger has no base in political reality.

 

That is all I can think of off the top of my head. Just be careful, Sabrina. It is people like her who are doing a grave disservice to people trying to figure things out. Just saying...