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This was not a good week for those in the media who insist on looking at every issue using the exhausted left vs. right framing. First, Barney Frank and Ron Paul took to HuffPost, making the case that substantial cuts in the bloated defense budget must be a central part of the deficit reduction debate currently raging in Washington. Then David Boies and Ted Olson, who fought it out in Bush v. Gore, discussed their joint battle to make gay marriage legal during a compelling session at the Aspen Ideas Festival. Finally -- and most surprisingly -- Ann Coulter, following the path already trod by George Will and the Cato Institute, warned that the war in Afghanistan "isn't likely to turn out well" and criticized today's GOP for making "permanent war" one of the "irreducible requirements of Republicanism." The sell-by date on "right vs. left" has definitely expired.

 
 
 

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StevenKeirstead
Photographer and Biologist who happens to be gay.
03:51 PM on 07/13/2010
I can’t believe I agree with Ann Coulter on something! I guess that support’s Arianna’s hypothesis, though I still doubt Ann and I agree on much else.
04:37 PM on 07/12/2010
I'm actually of the opinion that much of the "in-fighting" is actually planned to some degree. If you look at the Republicans these days, by taking different perspectives on issues they may come off as in-fighting, but really what it does is always put Obama in no-win situation. No matter what he does there will be a group of Republicans who can say 'We told you that's not going to work.'

Democrats are just as guilty of the same tactics when the Republicans are in power.
08:22 AM on 07/12/2010
Perhaps the ideologues after gotten what they wanted from the country feel like they need to actually support something that does not make the situation worse. Wish it were so, but the vast majority of the people in the middle are really frustrated with the perpetual payouts to narrow interests on the left and the right as they continue to actually support policies that harm the economy and lose jobs and bankrupt the country all at the same time. Jobless recoveries in the 2000’s lay with the right and the potential jobless recovery in the 2010’s lies with the left. Guess what? Neither ideology works for the people as a whole or the economy as driven by the exploiters of the people’s money in congress. Clinton was the last one to put the people first, a sin by the selfish standards of the far left and far right.
10:16 PM on 07/11/2010
I'm sick of the Rep vs Dem game. If I'm not a socialist then I'm a Rep. If I'm not a fascist then I'm a Dem. Cannot I just be a freedom loving American that's smart enough to know that freedom is the only thing that works?
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John Cunningham Bowler
09:48 PM on 07/11/2010
I'm cynical, but still I may be correct. The fact that Paul and Coulter, certainly bedfellows in their beliefs, simultaneously decided to launch an attack on the police action in Afghanistan is not only suspicious but also, suspicious.

I suggest that, in fact, the Republicans have decided that they can take a temporary hit on War if they can get rid of that damned inconvenient President. Sure, it hits them in their kidneys that Obama's weak spot is a righteous "war", but a weak spot is a weak spot, and a blow to the the other guys kidneys is a winner in politics.

Not that I don't agree with either of them (Paul or Coulter), but this isn't simple hypocrisy, which can be justified, it's an outright lie. Still, there is no perjury in politics; good luck to them, if they win this game they can only do it because we chose to lose.
Mildmannered
"Be excellent to each other"
09:09 PM on 07/11/2010
Ann Coulter said something sensible and not obnoxious -- the end of the world certainly is near.
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Hardyman1966
The antonym of liberal is INTOLERANT.
10:57 PM on 07/11/2010
Thank you.

From her, I don't want nice. I want consistency!

All synaptic functions were momentarily halted upon the realization that she actually said something that didn't cause me to launch a hole in my ceiling with my head.
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godipo
08:47 PM on 07/11/2010
Gosh, Arianna! I hope you are right. I hope that these examples of people actually criticizing their own, and seeming to seek solutions are not anomalies! It would be so reassuring and encouraging, it would give one back a sense of the idea of America, of public service, of a concept at work involving the ancient principles of the dialectical process, so necessary to a democracy....
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10:18 PM on 07/11/2010
The Tea Party has been criticizing Republican run-away spending with protests and called racist for doing so. Yeah, one bigot with a sign speaks for everyone.
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Hardyman1966
The antonym of liberal is INTOLERANT.
08:37 PM on 07/11/2010
I know we're divided beyond belief and the scale is definitely tipped in favor of the GOP when it comes to being completely unappealing on a number of levels, BUT...

I often wonder just how divided we really are if you were to take the media, liberal or otherwise, out of the equation. Our society, in this country especially, is addicted to brief soundbytes without the attention span for anything more than a hysterical headline and the media has become our dealer. It's a symbiotic match made in Hell.
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10:22 PM on 07/11/2010
I think we're all coming to the realization that we CAN'T spend our way out of debt and bailing out the greedy financiers that caused this mess is not in our best interest. No company is too big too fail, only too big to exist.
08:16 PM on 07/11/2010
The sell-by date may have expired but media sells a more rotten product every day.
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GreatTruthsSeeker
Paying attention is both priceless & free
08:16 PM on 07/11/2010
"The sell-by date on "right vs. left" has definitely expired."

There is no expiration date on objective reality.
07:51 PM on 07/11/2010
The difference between republicans and democrats is like the difference between Ford and Chevy, or Coors and Budweiser, or Pepsi and Coke....but we still have to make choices and pick a team. It is the world we live in. Put me down for Democrat, Chevy, Budweiser and Coke. Don't get me started on Jim Beam vs Jack Daniels :)
08:06 PM on 07/11/2010
I hope by this you mean these are all false dichotomies? Think I would choose none of those above (and in a perfect world, a progressive party, or democrats with b*lls).
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06:47 PM on 07/11/2010
Since the discovery of significant mineral deposits such as aluminum, i guess you can say the war may now be about foil, not oil.
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MmeFlutterbye
Mmeflutterbye
06:32 PM on 07/11/2010
Well, I'll be! Are members of the GOP terminal and worried about St. Peter at the Pearly Gates asking them about their warmongering and other things like lack of compassion for the unfortunate of the world? Whatever the reason for Anne Coulter's making sense, I'm all for it. And I agree with her on this one point ... can't believe what I just wrote!!!
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WHTrout
Religion is the Root of All Evil
05:49 PM on 07/11/2010
If the Anne Coulter quote above is accurate, methinks she might be inadvertently channelling Gore Vidal -- his "Permanent War for Permanent Peace" does a masterful job of dissecting America's "wars of empire."
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06:54 PM on 07/11/2010
actually, thats "Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace"
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WHTrout
Religion is the Root of All Evil
11:57 PM on 07/11/2010
Ahh, yes, you're right -- my slip. Thanks. (And I apologize for ever holding Anne Coulter and Gore Vidal in one thought!)
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GeoNorth
Some say I'm an enigma, but I'm not easily figured
05:08 PM on 07/11/2010
Next thing, dogs and cats will be in the same households.