« previous | TPM CAFÉ READER POSTS HOME | next »
Diary of a stubborn, flip-flopping, ideological, traitorous, left wing nut, Republican loyalist Democrat
05 Apr 2007
Dear Diary,
Today I became a Rovian troll. Yes, I who have voted for every Dem presidential candidate since Hubert Humphrey, including the DLC's Bill Clinton and the "radical" George McGovern, have decided that I cannot vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton. She's just too willing to support horrible policies for political gain, too likely to lurch to the right if she thinks it'll get her elected. Since she is sure to become the Dem candidate, there is no choice for me but to vote for someone I actually consider honest and progressive, and that's not Hillary.
Everyone at TPM says this makes me a selfish, stubborn traitor. What can I do? I want them to like me, but I just CAN'T vote for her.
Tankard
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
06 Feb 2008
Dear Diary,
I may not have to become a complete Republican after all! Yesterday's Super Tuesday primaries show that Sen. Clinton may not be as "inevitable" as the MSM would have us think.
Sen. Obama looks like a capable, sincere politician, and best of all, it seems he is even slightly left of center! He's definitely opposed to the war! He has said that he would invade Pakistan without Congressional approval and I can't see this policy as anything but unconstitutional, but I'm thinking he'll back off that misguided statement, so I think I will support him.
Does this make me a flip-flopper? The TPMers say that I was a Dem, then a Rep, now a Dem again, after all. Well, I guess being a flip-flopper is better than being a traitor, and I do want those people to like me.
Tankard
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
22 Apr 2008
Dear Diary,
I'm depressed. Now, a lot of people at TPM say that I've been hypnotised and have become an Obamabot, a Kool-Aid drinker, a stubborn, mindless zombie. Honestly, I can't think what I can do to make them like me.
I also can't see how I could be a flip-flopper and a stubborn ideologue at the same time, but those people at TPM are very smart so I guess there's a lot about politics I just don't understand.
How to make myself likable, dear Diary, and get out of this emotional funk?????
Tankard
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
1 Jul 2008
Dear Diary,
This is really confusing. Let me tell you what's happening. It seems that Sen. Obama is not as eager to support the Constitution as I thought. In addition to the Pakistan thing and supporting a FISA bill that is designed to cover-up criminal behavior and make it easier for the Feds to intrude on our privacy, the Senator is now backing Bush's unconstitutional support of religion -- wants to expand it even!
Here's my question, dear Diary: I've been a ideologue, a flip-flopper, then an ideologue again. Do I dare become a flip-flopper again by withdrawing my support for Sen. Obama?
Will the TPMers like me if I change, or if I stay? I just don't know what to do!
Tankard
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
5 Jul 2008
Dear Diary,
I am such a political dope and so terribly, terribly dumb! Those really astute people at TPM tell me that now I'm an ideologue again! How can this be, diary? Every few days, I change from being way too wishy-washy -- a traitor, even -- to being way too rigid and stubborn! How can I just be consistent about whether I have no backbone or too much?
It's going to be really, really hard to do this but I just HAVE to find a way to fix my inconsisency so that all those nice, smart people at TPM will like me. This is a terrible character flaw I have, but I know I can fix it. I know I can! I have to so that they'll like me!
Tankard
Comments (11)
Tank:
I cannot begin to tell you how many times you have pissed me off, particularly with your early and steadfast principled assertions that you would not support my first choice, Hillary Clinton.
Yesterday you humbled me with your consistency and I was amazed by the attacks levied against you by at least some folks who demonstrated that they support Obama the man and for no other reason.
Let me be clear: I support and will vote for Obama and I will also campaign for him and send him money. But I will do so because of nuts and bolts domestic issues such as the Employee Free Choice Act, and my belief that Obama will help to reinvigorate the NLRB. This union attorney has 400 concrete drivers on strike right now in NYC and appreciates the need for greater protections for American workers at the national level.
Still, I am absolutely amazed by how shallow some comments seem to be in terms of what it means to be a liberal in this country. Frank Church of blessed memory was the Senate's architect of FISA back in 1978 and he must be spiining in his grave right now. The bottom line is that is either ignorance or hypocrisy that would drive a liberal to attempt to justify Obama's flip on FISA for any other reason than old fashioned political considerations, which is the sandbox I admit to play in.
I hope you vote for Obama but I also hope you never shy away from expressing your convictions and letting folks know, myself included, when we are full of shit.
Finally, we know what's going on. Obama is shifting right because he knows he has to and can afford to throw his loyal supporters on the left under the bus. I accept that. Still, I am glad that there are still folks like you around who will never bow to political expediency. As an aside, we ain't that important. Arguments at the Cafe will have no effect on who wins in November.
I may never agree with you again but for now I am humbled.
Respectfully,
Bruce
July 5, 2008 10:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Forgive the typps. I'm up in the mountains where I am supposed to be resting but I made the mistake of bringing a blackberry and it's hard to type.
July 5, 2008 11:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
You typed all that out on a blackberry????? You, my dear sir, are in dire need of a life, not to mention a couple of new thumbs.
Please accept the following as a compliment: You think I pissed you off?
As I have tried to express any number of times, I have never felt the need to defend Sen. Obama by surrendering my life, let alone my principles. So maybe it's a bit easier for me both to see and to criticize him. I really, really, really hope I am able to vote for him in Nov, and for the same reason that you will -- not because he's my dream candidate but because he is the only acceptable one with a chance of denying that kind of power to an unprincipled war monger.
I agree we at TPM can do little to influence the outcome of the election. The hope to make that kind of a difference is certainly not why I do this. I do it because I enjoy the exhange of ideas, and even more, I admit it, the verbal dueling.
My decision will be made very simply on the answer to this question: Will I anticipate the need to apologize to my kid and her (theoretical) kids for having been responsible in some small way for the disaster that was President Obama? If the answer to that question is yes, I will not endanger my immortal soul (this from an atheist!) by putting my checkmark next to his name.
July 5, 2008 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
My rec'd button isn't working so I apologize to you for not being able to help place this post where it belongs.
July 5, 2008 1:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
No apology necessary, Bruce, even if you withheld the rec for cause. I do like to get recs -- but because they draw folks to argue with. I don't really need the ego strokes. As Billy Glad has so observantly pointed out, my opinion of myself is already sufficiently inflated!
July 5, 2008 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Count me as the second Rec Tank. Great post as usual. Just driving by so no in-depth response - just thanks!
July 5, 2008 4:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't visit TPM on a regular basis, so I've probably missed a lot of your posts and comments, but I've never seen anything offensive from you, Tankard. Heck, I even agree with most of what I see from you, and I don't consider myself as lefty as you claim to be. In fact, I try to avoid getting too invested in a political ideology. I'm a history student and tend to keep a very broad perspective, so I look at transient ideological trends in politics. Maybe that's why I don't have a lot of emotion invested in it. So maybe that's why I don't get angry about the stuff you say.
Here's what does make me angry: comments that are deliberately cruel, bullying, supercilious, emotionally or intellectually dishonest, or otherwise manipulative or exploitative. From what I've seen, you don't engage in any of that kind of crap, Tank.
You're okay in my book.
By the way, what's this "I will not endanger my immortal soul" stuff? You have one of those? Hell, I don't know if I have one.... Why do you get to know??
Who's the atheist and who's the Christian around here, anyway?
:-)
July 5, 2008 5:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
In the immortal words of David Clayton-Thomas, "I swear there ain't no heaven and I pray there ain't no hell."
Seriously, I'm referring to my "soul" here as the prime exemplar of a figure of speech. As you know, belief is not my thing. You could translate that phrase as, "I won't surrender the attitudes without which I am not me."
As far as being a jerk is concerned, I actually considered turning pro. But thanks for noticing that I have been making an effort to be more cerebral here lately.
But enough about me. Let's talk about you. What do YOU think of me? (:^)
Speaking of jerks, pricks, twits, and the like, the latest Esquire has a great Roy Blout article extolling the virtues of the phrase "son of a bitch" and those who proudly hold the moniker. There's much more to it, but you can read the main article here.
July 5, 2008 6:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
I dunno. I really like saying asshole. Talented people really know how to do it justice.
Son of a bitch bugs me because it casts more shame on the mother (a woman) than it does on the man who is being reviled.
Can't we insult a guy without having to drag the slob's poor mother through the mud, too?
July 6, 2008 12:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
Blount and his cronies answer your excellent points, but I come down on your side of this critical issue.
Still, it's a funny piece.
July 6, 2008 10:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Rec'd. A keeper. Brilliant!
Will be linking this post when the matter comes up -- which, reading the hrebendorfs and Buckeye Terrorists and liams and elliotness's of this board, will be all too frequently.
July 6, 2008 3:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Post a Comment