If the shoe fits?

[smokey the elder]

What's interesting is how an insult is in the eye of the beholder. To the Iraqi Muslim, that was the worst possible insult, yet Bush and others have made somewhat light of it. I feel bad for the press person who got hit by the shoe. I'm surprised the Secret Service gave the man the opportunity to even throw the second one!

[Lady's Human]

Calling someone an idiot isn't criticism.

It's an insult.

Criticism woud be pointing out the percieved faults without being insulting.

Nowhere did I suggest limiting free speech, quite the opposite, I'm using my right of free speech to speak out against insults that add absolutely nothing to an adult discussion.

As an aside, I have no desire to see a maximum stretch on the second amendment, but merely want the government to allow law-abiding citizens to exercise their rights enumerated under the Constitution with a minimum of governmental interference.

[RICHARD]

What's interesting is how an insult is in the eye of the beholder. To the Iraqi Muslim, that was the worst possible insult, yet Bush and others have made somewhat light of it. I feel bad for the press person who got hit by the shoe. I'm surprised the Secret Service gave the man the opportunity to even throw the second one!

Remember the Shoe Bomber?

We really didn't care about shoes until then!

Now, we could have made a HUGE deal about it, but the shoes didn't connect.
We already went to war over something far more sinister than a pair of 10s.

Look again and see had this happened in Germany? Italy, Russian, Australia, Canada? Spain?

There most certainly would have been a different look at the incident, What if the "shoe bomber" hit the Iraqi diplomat?

----------------------

What I was trying to get across was the stupidity of the incident, the deftness that our president has and how he shrugged it off and didn't make a huge deal out of it.


One thing I find IMMENSELY amusing is the idea that you can take a coin issued by the US Mint paint anything on it, and sell it as a 'commemerative'
piece to be patently ridiculous.

The coin was struck with another intent and to trivialize it by painting it, sell it for 20-40 times it's original value strikes me as a scam. The people who deal in stuff like that usually are not upstanding citizens, just people looking to make a buck!

[Lady's Human]

If one calls a person an idiot, one is simply calling that person an idiot.

If one calls an elected official an idiot, you are by extension calling those who voted for the individual in question idiots at best.

I fail to see why you are so huffy about a simple request to keep political discourse above the schoolyard level. Is it because you are in fact incapable of doing so yourself?

[sparks19]

and as always this thread comes down to bickering about a few words or misspellings

[Edwina's Secretary]

If one calls a person an idiot, one is simply calling that person an idiot.

If one calls an elected official an idiot, you are by extension calling those who voted for the individual in question idiots at best.

I fail to see why you are so huffy about a simple request to keep political discourse above the schoolyard level. Is it because you are in fact incapable of doing so yourself?

What I am "huffy about" is your inability to admit your bias. Just tell me why it doesn't bother you when RICHARD calls Nancy Pelosi a moron but it bothers you that Donna calls Bush an idiot.

Gosh...when you look at it like that it becomes rather obvious, doesn't it?

But to take your logic (or illogic) to the next step...if I call Blagojevich a crook, am I calling everyone who voted for him a crook?

If I call Randy Cunningham a theft, am I calling the people who voted for him thieves?

If I call Larry Craig a lying closet homosexual, am I calling the people who voted for him that?

Of course not. That would be silly.

Getting elected does not protect people from the same label you feel comfortable putting on fellow posters.

Does the schoolyard equal the barnyard? And does calling fellow poster count as schoolyard behavior -- or just barnyard?

[Lady's Human]

<sigh>

If someone is a crook, it can be hidden fairly readily. Happens all teh time. What % of crimes go forever without being solved?

There have been plenty of crooks in government, and will be as long as government is human.

Idiocy, however, should be fairly apparent. Regardless of how I feel about their policies, they managed to run an election campaign and get to where they are. If someone is truly an idiot and still gets elected, you're calling into question the intelligence of millions of people in the case of a national election.

[RICHARD]

I get away with stuff becuase I am a hypocrite.

Hypocrites are usually idiots, so our opinions don't count.

[blue]

I get away with stuff becuase I am a hypocrite.

Hypocrites are usually idiots, so our opinions don't count.

Im dyslexic, thats gotta give me some leeway too.

[Edwina's Secretary]

<sigh>

If someone is a crook, it can be hidden fairly readily. Happens all teh time. What % of crimes go forever without being solved?

There have been plenty of crooks in government, and will be as long as government is human.

Idiocy, however, should be fairly apparent. Regardless of how I feel about their policies, they managed to run an election campaign and get to where they are. If someone is truly an idiot and still gets elected, you're calling into question the intelligence of millions of people in the case of a national election.

<sigh> You usually do better than this LH. Idiocy is just as easily hidden as dishonesty. Take Warren Harding for example. A point for trying to say..."national vs. local makes it different." But millions of people vote in Illinois -- or New York -- Florida -- California.

I do notice you continue to avoid the question of why you find "moron" acceptable but not "idiot"?

Nor why it is not "schoolyard" behavior to call a fellow poster an "idiot" as you admit to doing but it is "schoolyard" behavior to call a politician an idiot.

But then...some questions are unanswerable, aren't they?

<sigh>

[lizbud]

<sigh> You usually do better than this LH. Idiocy is just as easily hidden as dishonesty. Take Warren Harding for example. A point for trying to say..."national vs. local makes it different." But millions of people vote in Illinois -- or New York -- Florida -- California.

I do notice you continue to avoid the question of why you find "moron" acceptable but not "idiot"?

Nor why it is not "schoolyard" behavior to call a fellow poster an "idiot" as you admit to doing but it is "schoolyard" behavior to call a politician an idiot.

But then...some questions are unanswerable, aren't they?

<sigh>

Two words. Situational Ethics.