Where Have All My Reasonable Liberals Gone?

My weblog started as an e-mail discussion group of friends about three years ago. About a year and a half ago I converted it to a blog that has a moderate-right, conservative slant on political and social issues of the day. I still e-mail my original group, which includes both liberals and conservatives, to notify them whenever I post a new article. One thing I have noticed that has become very clear: the liberals in my group have stopped making (usually opposing) comments on my posts. I still get plenty of comments from conservatives and from liberals who just happen to come across and read my blog, but their comments are usually asinine, like, “you are crazy”; “Bush is a criminal”; “you are an idiot”. The comments I used to get from my liberal friends were much more reasonable, and sometimes involved lengthy discussions and well-argued positions.

As time has gone by, these great comments have virtually disappeared, and I have concluded that the problem is that liberals cannot really justify their positions and beliefs with facts and logic. Obviously whenever I received a reasonable comment I would respond, and almost always disagreed and countered their arguments. I think I have worn them out with articles and positions that have driven them into a sullen silence, unable and unwilling to respond.

This article yesterday presents a good example of the kind of dialog liberals now fall back on:

RANGEL & VEEP IN ALL-OUT WAR
New York Post
By GEOFF EARLE

October 31, 2006 -- WASHINGTON - Rep. Charles Rangel yesterday blasted Dick Cheney as a "son of a bitch" after the vice president said the Harlem lawmaker would raise taxes and destroy the economy if Democrats take control of the House.

The bitter war of words escalated to the point where the bombastic Rangel even questioned whether the tightly wound Cheney needed professional treatment - and mocked him for accidentally shooting his hunting buddy earlier this year.

Cheney fired the first shot when he predicted that Rangel - who is poised to chair the powerful House Ways and Means Committee if the Democrats seize the House next week - wouldn't continue "a single one" of President Bush's tax cuts.

"I think that would be bad for the economy," Cheney said on CNBC News. "I don't know if the stock market would like it."

He then got in a major hit, saying on the Fox News Channel, "Charlie doesn't understand how the economy works."

Many of Bush's 2001 tax cuts are set to expire in 2011 - meaning rates would jump back up again, boosting taxes by well over $1 trillion, unless Congress acts to continue the cuts.

"So if a man like Charlie Rangel were to be chairman of the committee, and sitting there with the gavel, all he has to do is not act, just don't call up the legislation, and there'll be a big tax increase," Cheney said.

The vice president's stinging comments were the latest in a series of White House statements intended to raise fears about Rangel, as well as other prominent Democrats, as a way to convince voters to stop them from taking over the House.
Contacted by The Post for a response, Rangel unloaded.

"He's such a real son of a bitch, he just enjoys a confrontation," Rangel fumed, describing himself as "warm and personable." Rangel said Cheney may need to go to "rehab" for "whatever personality deficit he may have suffered."

"When you have those sorts of problems, you're supposed to seek help," Rangel advised. "He acknowledged that he has problems with communication."

Asked whether he was resurrecting over-the-top charges he made last year that he believes Cheney is mentally ill, Rangel cracked, "I don't think he's shot anyone in the face lately, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt."

The vice president accidentally shot his hunting companion, then-78-year-old Harry Whittington, with a shotgun early this year.

Rangel's digs on Cheney recalled his statements last year that the vice president, who has had four heart attacks, was too sick to work.

"I would like to believe he's sick rather just mean and evil," Rangel, 76, told cable channel NY1.

"Sometimes I don't even think Cheney is awake enough to know what's going on. [Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld is the guy in Washington . . . running the country."

Cheney, 65, responded then, "I'm frankly surprised at his comments . . . They were so out of line it almost struck me that . . . Charlie was having some problem. Charlie is losing it, I guess."

Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride wouldn't respond directly to Rangel's latest broadsides.

"The vice president has been discussing tax policy, the fundamental difference in Republican and Democrat views on how to keep taxes low and the American economy growing," she said.

Cheney once famously told Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on the Senate floor to "go f- - - yourself" while Rangel once had a confrontation with Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) where the Capitol Police were called in.

Rangel said he is focused on Social Security, tax simplification and the Alternative Minimum Tax that is squeezing even some middle-income families - not what to do in 2011, when the Bush tax cuts expire.

"The president's not going to be around in 2010. I may not be on the committee," said Rangel, who recently said he'd quit Congress if the Democrats don't win control of the House.

"It's quite possible that I might want to extend the tax cuts," he said, without naming any specific tax cut that might continue. GEOFF EARLE

Vice President Cheney speaks to issues with Representative Rangel whose answer is that “he is a son-of-a-bitch” and “needs rehab”. WHY CAN’T LIBERALS DEBATE ISSUES WITH FACTS AND IDEAS? WHY MUST THEY ALWAYS TRY TO DESTROY THEIR OPPONENTS? IS IT BECAUSE THEIR FACTS ARE USUALLY WRONG AND THEIR IDEAS HAVE USUALLY FAILED? We see them going through Judge Bork’s garbage and video rentals; we see them bring up lies about pubic hairs in a Coke can in a hearing on appointing Judge Thomas to the Supreme Court of the United States; we see them try to destroy Judge Robert’s wife in a similar hearing; and we see them try to destroy the reputation of Rush Limbaugh because he became addicted to pain killers in his agony, and (gasp) he uses Viagra. THE WORST OF IT IS I FEEL MYSELF BEING DRAGGED DOWN TO THEIR LEVEL TO FIGHT BACK.