wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Though I’m not surprised the focus on Margaret’s comments shifted immediately to gay marriage, it is jarring no one seems too bothered by the “It’s been 7 years since an attack on US soil” mentality.
Though an uptick (so to speak) can be charted… 1812… 1941… (not to minimize, but the lesser event of 1993)… then 2001. Attacks on US soil are far from commonplace; geography as well as historically superior intelligence and armed forces insure that. Constantly hearing how long it’s been since the last attack with no one calling this out is aggravating.

@42 - circa 2004 - who cares if our soldiers and innocent Iraqis are dying by the thousands - we don't want to look at two dudes holding hands!

Jesse
why do ideas scare people like you?

^^

at #38

the quickest way to gather up the bigot vote is the say that the OTHER guy promotes gay marriage....even if he in fact does not support it. get that blood boiling and turn the brain off.

remember those 2004 exit polls?

the fact that gay marriage is not a threat to anyone is beside the point....this is about using culturally ingrained hate to win elections....not about "revealing the truth about obama".

Nicely said, Jack Green! Reminds me of my brother, a conservative who voted for Clinton for fiscal responsibility. Part of the damage from the neocon movement is the polarization that has robbed opposing sides of mutual respect.

And that crazy caller(!) Yes, many of us had the same intelligence--because the admin pumped it out, co-opting the NYTimes and the rest of the media, which was afraid of being called cowardly.

After C-4; The most destructive force in America today is the Democrat National Party-

And the most dangerous place for an Independent or Republican voter to be;
is between a liberal left-wing Democrat. . . and a voting booth!

Maya
it's the old blame 'the other' syndrome

But how is this country going to be any better off if gay marriage is banned? Is that somehow going to solve all of our more SLIGHTLY pressing problems??

^

ding!

hey-oh!

I am a real conservative. Nixon and Reagan, NOT george Bush I or II.

I would have (and did) vote for McCain in 2000. However, George Bush is not a conservative.

If you compare the electoral map of the Eisenhower election and compare it to johnson/goldwater they are basically reversed. Why? because religious radical, pro-military, pro-government intervention dixicrats have been going the other direction from african americans (who started moving over in droves after Kennedy).

I would have voted for John McCain in 2000 but NOT IN 2008, because republicans need to be taught a lesson. Unfortunatley, it may be viewed by republicans as a defeat of old line conservatism and a vindication Neoconservatism that can win elections with the religious radicals and southern white vote rather than the rejection of these politics.

If republicans can benefit from taking on Dixicrats, since they present an ideological conflict with african american groups isn't it logical that democrats should vie for conservatives who feel alienated on the subject of Illegal search and siezure (WACO), wiretapping, suspension of the constitution, concentration of power in the executive branch, religious government, kidnapping, torture&war.

As a conservative these are the issues we care about that the democrats can capitalize, although honestly their track record has historically been on the other side (i.e. sacrifice individual freedoms for group security and prosperity).

Re: Obama and gay marriage:

To those saying "WTF??":

You've no idea what emails are being sent around among these people. They talk amongst themselves in these sequestered circles, making up stories as they go along, and believing them all (such as the Michelle/Whitey item).

They say "somehow" Clinton balanced the budget--as the "older" caller--reminiscent of the recent Mamet brain-dead liberal becomes brain-dead conservative piece.

Is there some site that tracks these (most of which would be below the rebuttal threshold of for the Obama stopthesmears site.)?

eligit,
"how does one target the "no think" demographic anyway?"

with a 'no think' president!

Where do people like Margaret come from? Usually the Florida panhandle, where they are home-schooled until they are selfish beyond belief.

Wow that last caller exemplifies the lack of knowledge some americans have. Totally clueless. Does she know who Leo Strauss is?
I bet if she read "intelligence matters" by Bob Graham she would stop spewing that stupid spin about how "W" and company had the same prewar intel.
She is the ignornant, racist and zenophobe that Carl Rove and co were salivating over in 2004...

There's nothing wrong with free markets, per se. Unfettered "free" markets, however, have given us the S&L debacle, Enron, and the recent subprime mess, to name three. A major function of government should be to prevent these disasters.

The last caller was hilarious. His poor husband and kids. He, I mean she couldn't have been more misguided.

Where do people like caller Margret come from?
1. Yes, there has not been an attack on US soil since 9/11 but there have been terror attacks all over the world. And, I wonder how long people kept saying, there hasn’t been an attack on US soil after 12/7 (1941).
2. Senator Obama has flatly said he was against the term “marriage” being applied to same sex unions, though he supports “civil unions.” This is also an issue he has avoided during his campaign thus far.

@20 - also, Margaret forgot about the anthrax ... we have been attacked since then. Standard right wing talking point.

And Brian - why are you letting him off so easily? Ask him if he thinks he's partly responsible for this mess!

That last caller, Margaret, was a self-described "Bush Conservative." I will respect conservatives, but I will not respect a self-described "Bush Conservative" because that means reactionary, hypocritical, do-nothing, nepotist.

Margaret is one of these people who amazes me, she will still defend the people who deceived us and sent our troops into battle without armor, she is a traitor. If you are reading this margeret, read it out loud if have to... Iraq didn't have terrorist in 2003 and had nothing to do with 9/11.

Not be insensitive, but I do see a lot of Reagan in McCain. He is exhibiting a lot of Reagans battle with Alzheimers. The guy never remembers anything and is repeatedly corrected when making statements.

wow....that last caller was hilarious.

how out of touch can one person be?

obama's primary focus is promoting gay marriage?

first i've heard of that.

so THIS is the bush base......how does one target the "no think" demographic anyway?

The caller just said that many people turn from liberalism to conservatism as they get "older, wiser, and dumber." It seems to me, a more accurate characterization would be "older, and richer."

Yeah, no attacks on US soil is ALL Bush's doing. The guy is an incompetent moron who can't string a coherent sentence together. He opens his mouth and I cringe. Jan 20th is going to be a great day of deliverance....

This caller is a whack job. Obama only cares about gay marriage and higher taxes? WTF?!

Can she prove to you that the lack of attacks are due to GWB?? GWB has no intelligence. LOL

Is libertarianism closer to traditional conservatism than the Bush version of neo-conservatism? Perhaps it would make the most sense for disaffected Republicans to go that route.

I have no clue what it means to be a "Conservative" any more. The American conservative philosophy is more of a religion, and a Christian one at that, than a set of coherent, logical ideas. The recently-disclosed fact that the "great" conservative William F. Buckley didn't want Jews appointed as editors of his magazine, The National Review, speaks volumes and volumes.

Why is it that more conservatives are not for the most part also "conservationsists" like T.R .?...it seems that the conservative ideal is not to be wasteful ...it seems that it would be logical that the environmentalist movement would have been adopted by conservatives.

But instead conservatives bash environmentalists...why is that?

I've been in the age of majority for a decade now and still cannot begin to figure out where I'm supposed to fall on any sort of political spectrum. I always thought "conservative" was supposed to mean "government applied conservatively," therefore in favor of privacy issues, passive foreign policy, etc. That certainly doesn't describe the Republican party of today, which I find morally repugnant on almost every level. It's hard for me to find any candidate of any party I consider worthy of my vote in almost all national-level elections.

Brian - ask him what he's doing to help stop the war that his party and Heritage started ...

How does a bad republican make you go from conservative to liberal? It doesn't! Bad republicans are more liberals than conservatives. Most republicans in the Northeast are "liberals" who were somehow disaffected from the democratic party!

Who is his ideal of a true and great conservative?

Conservativatism, as defined in the dictionary, does not exist in Washington. I am among the very few Republican Liberals in NY State, but with conservative spending habits.

Good comment from hjs--what are Mr. Edwards' thoughts on secularism and his brand of conservatism (which sounds pretty good from the interview, though I too shudder at the thought of the Heritage Fn.)

Until we get back to none safe seats in congress a we wont get back to coop.

They shouldn't have voted for Lieberman!! Now they learned the hard way. They had a chance and blew it.

Blue Dog Dems ROCK!

Conservative is politics as usual for the republicans. I never hear any democrat using the word "conservative" that because when somebody uses the word conservative, they are basically saying that we will do things our way without public input.

Democrats don't use the word conservative because they want real change and with the public.

And remember what John Kenneth Galbraith said:

"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."

Conservatism is better off dead - let's hope Bush succeeded in killing it off.

hjs, the connection is that conservatives discovered that by courting the religious right, they could expand their base and win elections.

what's the connection between conservatism and the right wing christian desire to create a theocracy in the USA, even triggering the end of days.

Why is Dick Cheney so committed to strengthening the presidency beyond its constitutional powers when he is not the president, will never be the president, and has no future in the executive branch? What does he think is the benefit to the country of this? And would he feel the same way if a democratic administration controlled the White House?

Mickey has it right- but the kind of conservatives he's talking about don't really exist anymore. at least not in office. Ron Paul? Most of the Republicans are now Neo- Cons. That includes McCain. they want war, war, war. They don't appear to care much for due process, the rule of law or the bill of rights. except the 2nd amendment.

As one of the founders of the Heritage Foundation, Mr. Edwards has helped enable George W. Bush and his administration. Heritage did and still does cheerlead for the war and the administration. It is a hideous and bloodthirsty group. Thanks a lot Mickey - you've helped destroy the country.