We Surround Them --- no bashing!!!

[MushyMushy]

You got to have your 8 years of bitterness, now I get to have my 4. You were upset at the direction the country was taking during those years, I'm upset about the direction the country is taking now. I can be bitter if I want to and I can criticize or speak out about the things I don't agree with. I let you have that right during the last 8 years, now it's time for you to let me do the same thing.

That's the point -- we weren't allowed to have that same right for the past 8 years. We were called unpatriotic and told to leave if we didn't like it.

I couldn't even walk down the main street of my own town without seeing statements like that on signs in store windows. You know how many signs I see like that now? Zero. Not one.

So, there you go, nobody is calling you unpatriotic, and nobody is telling you to leave. When that happens, let me know. I'm simply pointing out what it was like for us for 8 long years.

 

[DVCLiz]

Wiretapping, suspending habeus corpus, holding terror suspects indefintely without a trial and torture is fine with me if it saves lives. Sometimes one must die for the masses to survive. Founding principle of emergency management is: do the greatest good for the greatest amount of people.

Wow, what an insane philosophy. I wonder if you would be so "fine" if those rights weren't extended to YOU or your family for the "greatest good."

 

[Charade]

I believe the Bush administration would have a hard time following these principals...

The Nine Principles

1. America is good.

2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.

3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.

4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.

5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it. So we should expect Bush, Cheney and Rove to turn themselves in sometime soon??

6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.

7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable. How about compassionate? Empathetic? Dare I say, a good Christian???

8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion. So you are a big proponent of civil liberties, excellent, then you must totally disagree with the Bush administration's policies of illegal wiretapping, suspension of habeus corpus, holding suspects indefinitely without a trial, and here's the biggie, you are totally against torture of any kind?

9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.

A recent court decision dispells this claim.

 

[honugirl]

That's the point -- we weren't allowed to have that same right for the past 8 years. We were called unpatriotic and told to leave if we didn't like it.

I couldn't even walk down the main street of my own town without seeing statements like that on signs in store windows. You know how many signs I see like that now? Zero. Not one.

So, there you go, nobody is calling you unpatriotic, and nobody is telling you to leave. When that happens, let me know. I'm simply pointing out what it was like for us for 8 long years.

In the town that I live in, it's the polar opposite. Dissent and bashing of President Bush was patriotic and support for him was an opportunity to be hated. I could not show my support for the President at all otherwise my car would be vandalized or I ran the risk of losing friends and colleagues. I cannot freely wear a t-shirt that expresses my viewpoint for fear that I will be discriminated against or attacked. I'm still being told that my viewpoint is wrong if and when I chose to speak about it. So I guess it's a matter of differences in where we live. I actually have been told by several people where I live that if I don't like it, I can leave.

 

[DVCLiz]

In the town that I live in, it's the polar opposite. Dissent and bashing of President Bush was patriotic and support for him was an opportunity to be hated. I could not show my support for the President at all otherwise my car would be vandalized or I ran the risk of losing friends and colleagues. I cannot freely wear a t-**** that expresses my viewpoint for fear that I will be discriminated against or attacked. I'm still being told that my viewpoint is wrong if and when I chose to speak about it. So I guess it's a matter of differences in where we live. I actually have been told by several people where I live that if I don't like it, I can leave.

Not to argue any more, but that's a funny typo you made!!!!!

 

[Dolce27]

That's the point -- we weren't allowed to have that same right for the past 8 years. We were called unpatriotic and told to leave if we didn't like it.

I couldn't even walk down the main street of my own town without seeing statements like that on signs in store windows. You know how many signs I see like that now? Zero. Not one.

So, there you go, nobody is calling you unpatriotic, and nobody is telling you to leave. When that happens, let me know. I'm simply pointing out what it was like for us for 8 long years.

Wow. I was pretty anti-Bush over the last several years. I live in an extremely red state and I was never called unpatriotic or un-American and told to either love it or leave.

Maybe it was just the people you surround yourself with?

 

[honugirl]

Wow, what an insane philosophy. I wonder if you would be so "fine" if those rights weren't extended to YOU or your family for the "greatest good."

If my dying meant that my family was saved, you better believe that I'd do it. We're also not dealing with normal, rational people. We're dealing with a segment of the population that want to kill us and will do whatever it takes to make that happen. You cannot rationalize with them. Like one of my friends who works in a jail says, if it comes down to me or a prisoner going home tonight, I can tell you which it's going to be and it's not the prisoner.

 

[Charade]

America -- love it or leave it!

Sound familiar? Because those are words that many, many of us had to listen to for the past 8 years when we shared our distress at the direction this country was taking.

Sorry. I just find it quite ironic that, now that the shoe is on the other foot, dissent is patriotic and right.

Is that what you got from his 9 points? Really???

 

[Mr.MouseFan]

If my dying meant that my family was saved, you better believe that I'd do it. We're also not dealing with normal, rational people. We're dealing with a segment of the population that want to kill us and will do whatever it takes to make that happen. You cannot rationalize with them. Like one of my friends who works in a jail says, if it comes down to me or a prisoner going home tonight, I can tell you which it's going to be and it's not the prisoner.

Wow, so the rights of the many should be suspended to protect us from the few that might hurt us?

I'm sorry, but I believe in my right to make a telephone call without the government listening in without warrant. I believe in the right to a fair trial and I believe that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. If believing in these things means that someday, somehow, I am the victim of a terrorist attack, then so be it. But I'm not about to give up my rights or let someone in the government take them from me to "protect me".

 

[Mahnahmahnah]

Thanks OP

Now I need to find a pic when I had a good hair day

 

[declansdad]

Couldn't those points apply to anyone? I don't see them as a conservative vs liberal thing but then again I don't live in the US.

 

[LukenDC]

I'm disappointed that, once again, a conservative leader implies that belief in God is a prerequisite to being a good conservative.

 

[LukenDC]

That's the point -- we weren't allowed to have that same right for the past 8 years. We were called unpatriotic and told to leave if we didn't like it.
.

Excellent point. Some conservatives are finally learning that that there is no conflict between peaceful dissent and patriotism. Or perhaps they knew that all along and just have a "my way or the highway" philosophy.

 

[mamarazzo]

I am glad i live in a country that affords us the opportunity to share our beliefs. America is good indeed!

I was very insulted to hear that I was being unpatriotic by voicing disagreement with the Bush administration's policies. I'm glad that Mr. Beck cleared that up for me.

These were just a few of the conservative criticisms spoken against democrats/liberals during the Bush years. I wonder if these people have changed their stance?

"The only ideas that they espouse are ways to undermine the troops in harm's way and undermine their commander in chief while they're at war. Your candidates have no idea how to keep this economy strong."--Sean Hannity, 10/18/06

"He’s the Commander-in-Chief. And what I find frankly repugnant about you and some of your fellow Democrats – you have undermined our president..." --Sean Hannity, 03/19/06

"You know, Norman, those comments while we are at war, while troops are in harm's way, while he is the commander in chief, do you not see the outrage in that?" --Sean Hannity, 11/12/07

"I have had it with members of your party undermining our troops, undermining a commander in chief while we are at war..." --Sean Hannity, 11/05

"You don't criticize the Commander-in-Chief in the middle of a firefight. That could be construed as putting U.S. forces in jeopardy and undermining morale." --Bill O'Reilly, 04/04

"Can we do it without distorting their legacies and pandering to anti-American elites worldwide and using their deaths to embarrass and undermine our commander in chief?" --Michelle Malkin, 11/23/05

"On the other hand, if Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat Congress are successful in undermining the commander-in-chief (thereby emboldening the terrorists to kill more Americans in Iraq)..." --Tom DeLay, 04/11/07

"And furthermore, one of the fundamental principles we have in America is that the president is the commander in chief of the armed forces and attempts to undermine the commander in chief during time of war amounts to treason." --Pat Robertson, 12/07/05

 

[corndog]

Wow, so the rights of the many should be suspended to protect us from the few that might hurt us?

I'm sorry, but I believe in my right to make a telephone call without the government listening in without warrant. I believe in the right to a fair trial and I believe that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. If believing in these things means that someday, somehow, I am the victim of a terrorist attack, then so be it. But I'm not about to give up my rights or let someone in the government take them from me to "protect me".

That's a good story, but for the fact that there is not any evidence that anybody's rights have been violated, despite extending handwringing to the contrary.

 

[ElizK]

I'm disappointed that, once again, a conservative leader implies that belief in God is a prerequisite to being a good conservative.

Glenn Beck is a talk show host... I'm not sure if that qualifies him as a leader. Also, he was looking for participation from people that believe in at least 7 of the 9 principles. If you are good with 7 or 8 of them, then there's no problem!

 

[ElizK]

I was very insulted to hear that I was being unpatriotic by voicing disagreement with the Bush administration's policies. I'm glad that Mr. Beck cleared that up for me.

Here's the principle I think you are referring to:
8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.


I think you might have misread.

 

[rudetreehill]

Oh, the irony of Mr. Beck being responsible for this. THis is a man who, on the air, advocated "Killing. Every. Single. One. Of. Them." while discussing Islamic political radicals. No questions asked. Just kill 'em all. When talking about the possibility of Shanghai winding up under water due to Global Warming, Beck's response was, "Does anybody really care? I mean, come on! Shanghai is under water. Oh no! Who's gonna make those little umbrellas for those tropical drinks?"

And don't get me started on his belief that the very bad "f" word some call homosexuals is nothing more than "a naughty name" which he took the New York Times to task for not using in print.

Are these really the things someone would spout if they truly had God as the center of their life?

 

[Charade]

Oh, the irony of Mr. Beck being responsible for this. THis is a man who, on the air, advocated "Killing. Every. Single. One. Of. Them." while discussing Islamic political radicals. No questions asked. Just kill 'em all. When talking about the possibility of Shanghai winding up under water due to Global Warming, Beck's response was, "Does anybody really care? I mean, come on! Shanghai is under water. Oh no! Who's gonna make those little umbrellas for those tropical drinks?"

And don't get me started on his belief that the very bad "f" word some call homosexuals is nothing more than "a naughty name" which he took the New York Times to task for not using in print.

Are these really the things someone would spout if they truly had God as the center of their life?

No one's life is without irony. Unless they're perfect. No one is perfect.

 

[mamarazzo]

Here's the principle I think you are referring to:
8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.

I think you might have misread.

No, I understood. And I agree. What I meant was that I felt it a little odd to hear so much criticism against liberal dissent during the Bush years from conservative media figures. I'm glad that Mr. Beck agrees that I was *not* being un-American just because I disagreed with President Bush's policies. Some other conservatives didn't seem to feel the same way.

Criticism based on facts and data is healthy and necessary.