EbonBear's Comments (697)

“I consdier it the resurrection of Know-Nothingism.”

“You're partly right. Also, she's wielding a lot of power on the ultraright, the Teabagging militia crowd, not the mainstream right.”

“Obama was never as universally beloved as the right believed. Yes, he had (and still has) his hardcore of worshipful supporters but the majority of us just thought "he'll do". And yes, maybe we got caught up in his charisma and the excitement of the moment.

With Palin, it's not hatred on the normal sense. It's more like a mixture of incredulity that anyone could take her seriously; amusement at her constant gaffes which is always a needed commodity (Biden has been disappointingly quiet, I was expecting him to be a satirical goldmine) and massive irritation at the wingers telling us we're terrified of her. In reality, we want to see Palin run more than the right wanted to campaign against Hillary. There's also frustration that these people live in a completely different reality where Palin is the wildly electable genius poised to take office.”

“I live in the UK, under single-payer. While it's not perfect, it is (despite the occasional headline-grabbing scandal) pretty d@mn good.
Amount spent on current Medicaid, Medicare, private insurance mess: aprox $2.3 trillion.
Cost to cover entire US population under NHS model: aprox $600 billion (not counting start-up costs).

But let's say American's are markedly less healthy than Brits (as the antis often do), let's push the price up to a trillion. It's STILL less than half of what's currently being paid and, while there are and always will be problems, in general and on the whole, it works well.

But because this conversation was always about money, not care; you're forced into the soul-destroying discussion of how many can be allowed to d!e to save a few cents on taxes.”

“In the process, they also have to falsify history to make fascism remotely compatible with any left-wing ideaology (fascism being on the ultra-right and directly opposed to socialism and communism).”

“Sadly, you now have a whole segment of the population that actually believes the rewritten history that the right has been putting out for a generation. They actually believe that the Founders were all Christians and mostly evangelicals; that seperation of church and state is a lie; that fascism is a left-wing ideaology, etc. At the core is their committment to the idea that if the facts do not agree with their existing beliefs, it is the facts which are wrong, never them.”

“Better idea: Let's colonise another planet and leave the Birthers, Birchers, teabaggers and crazies here. That way, we also get a new planet that we can take care of while they continue wrecking this one.”

“Well, I suppose it's just about possible that he could be a Terminator but I'm willing to accept the lack of murderous intent and minigun as reasonable evidence to the contrary.”

“Old Roma saying: "One madman makes many madmen and many madmen make madness". If you allow the madman to spread his bile unchecked by truth, he will convert more until, finally, there are enough to be a problem.”

“I, for one, welcome our new cyborg overlords.”

“That's because the Democrats (being the adults in this particular conversation) passed a bill during the 2006-2008 Congress, recognising the citizenship of those born in the Panama Canal Zone.”

“And so, it becomes self-perpetuating. Thank you, by the way. That was the first plausable answer I've had to that question.”

“You beat me to it.”

“Which adds still more to the point.”

“Yes, I do know that. I think you've rather missed the point I was making.”

“Lex Luthor was a thinker too. I'm not suggesting Obama is trying to take over the world but deep thought doesn't matter a whole lot unless it results in the right conclusion.”

“Question: Why is it always we on the left who must compromise? The right hasn't compromised on a thing. They're approach has been to plant themselves firmly, not move an inch, force the Democrats to come to their position and call the result compromise. We have already "compromised" on gay rights, on both wars, on Gitmo, on the bank bailout, on the stimulus. We have "compromised" on all of those. When do WE start getting something back?

Additionally, the right are ALREADY calling Obama a social!st, commie and Naz! (proving that they don't understand that Naz!s were on the extreme-right). He's already got a portion of the electorate which could not possibly get more opposed to his presidency without starting another civil war. When one is already taking the hit for supposedly being ultra-left, one may as well go ultraleft anyway. Without a public option, the healthcare bill is nothing more than a funnel for yet more money to go to the (already obscene) profits of the insurance companies.”

“Which isn't the same as not caring at all.

Still, I have to applaud your committment.”

“I didn't vote for Obama.

I would imagine that many of those who did vote for him (on this issue anyway) did so on the premise that he appeared to be less actively anti-gay than the Palin/McCain ticket. For many, this is just another issue among many and, if Obama disagrees with them on this; well, at least he agrees on X, Y or Z. For a few of us, this really is a huge civil rights issue and we wouldn't dream of voting for someone who didn't want full same-sex marriage (which, I believe, leaves only Kucinich on the Dem side). It's the difference between a voter who will impose a litmus test and one who won't.”

“Dear Lord *insert name here*,
Please let this patholigically dishonest, self-obsessed, dim-witted bully run for the Republican nomination. Please let her win the nomination, Lord, and be the Republican candidate. And please let her pick someone as shallow and lunatic-fringe as she is for her Vice-President (Michelle Bachman would be a good choice).
After that, Lord, you can put your feet up, crack open a can of whatever you drink and watch the ensuing hilarity as President Obama cruises to a Reagan-Mondale style crushing victory. Oh, and if you could possibly arrange matters so we can see the look on Sean Hannity's face live as the results come in, that would be sweet.
Amen.”

“Americans didn't want interracial marriage either. And just because they voted for him doesn't mean they agree with him on every issue.”

“The same Constitution that only grants the vote to land-owning white males? Don't confuse teh Founder's doubtless good intentions with perfection.”

“1) The meaning of marriage has changed many times. Prior to Christianity, polygamy was the rule. Up until quite recently, a married man literally OWNED his wife. The view of marriage as a union of two equals is actually quite recent.
2) If the full package of legal rights and responsibilities was granted, I personally don't care if you call it "Bob" but the distinction still places gay couples in a lesser category than straight couples. Unless the law is carefully written to ensure presumption of equivelency (that is, that civil union and marriage are to be presumed identical in the eyes of the law), you are still going to have a difference in rights. Here in England, we have Domestic Partnerships which are identical in all respects but the very, very technical (like exactly how "consummation" is defined) and people have called it "marriage" since teh act first became law.
3) The USA has a very bad history with "seperate but equal".”

“And, in about five years, the rest of the country notices that MA has a happy population with a low divorce rate, is swimming in cash and a true-blue liberal stronghold and asks the MA state government what the secret is. "Well", says the MA state government, "I think it started when we legalised gay marriage".­..”

“Joe Wilson was factually, provably and irrefutably WRONG.”