How did you feel when Barbara Olson died ?

[senseandsensibility]

I really, really, disliked Barbara Olson. She used to appear on TV all the time during the Clinton impeachment. She was vile, and vicious, in my opinion. Besides being an incredible partisan, she was really out to destroy people. She later wrote a hatchet job "book" about Hillary. She seemed consumed by hate.

But when she died in a plane on 9-11, I let go of those feelings and was "neutral" about her. I wasn't happy. I don't believe in cheering the death of anyone.

So why can't the freepers do this with Andy? They can't dislike him anymore than I disliked Olson.

I suppose I sound naive, but the kind of hatred I've been reading about directed towards a dead man is scaring me.:scared:

[ThoughtCriminal]

1. Ther were only 19 people on those planes I hate

Olson wasn't one of them.

[etherealtruth]

2. Touche`

[tallahasseedem]

3. I agree...

I like your flag by the way. I just got back from AZ.

[blondeatlast]

9. Excellent post. I can't improve on that. nt

[shireen]

35. you speak for me ...

echoing Thought Criminal's comments, I so agree with you:

"Ther were only 19 people on those planes I hate"
Olson wasn't one of them.


I was genuinely saddened by her death. It didn't matter whether I agreed with her politics or not. She was a young intelligent vibrant woman who had a lot to live for. Her death, and those of the other 3,000 innocent victims of 9/11, was a heart-breaking tragedy.

[Jack Rabbit]

38. Well said

[noamnety]

4. It happens here as well

I wish it didn't. I alert on those posts. I'm not a fundie who opposes dancing ... but when it happens on someone's grave, it's wrong.

I'm not going to pretend to like someone's politics just because they died. But that's different than being happy they're dead.

[napi21]

5. Well, I'll be honest. When I heard she was on that flight, I thought

"well, that's one hate promoter gone." Was that nice? NO! But I don't believe in glorifying people just because they died.

I've been hearing this foolishness since I was a little kid. No matter how bad someone was, boy, when they die, all you hear are how decent they were, or what a good guy he was. I don't believe in that.

I won't bad mouth them. They're gone, so why bother.

[Moochy]

7. Ghosties can curse you

Noone wants to be visited or haunted by the dead. I always thought that was the implied consequences of speaking ill of the dead. That they would visit with rattling chains, and a malicious intent.

A vast right-wing conspiratrix or not, nobody wants to be visited by her banshee. http://www.irelandseye.com/animation/explorer/banshee.html

[AverageJoe]

10. I'm with you

I didn't like her and I don't miss her. She was vile, hateful, and a threat to democracy. That said, I don't wish death on anyone.

[napi21]

13. I didn't say I wished her dead! I just admitted that I sure wasn't sad.

And I haven't heard any chains rattleing eiether!

[AverageJoe]

15. No, no--I didn't mean to imply that you wished her dead

Sorry that it sounded that way. I was just responding to the general tone of the thread with that personal obeservation. I don't think any sane person would have wished her dead.

[Ladyhawk]

12. I feel the way you do.

I sure as hell won't celebrate when someone nasty dies, but I have been known to feel relief. I can't help that.

Still, the fact of someone dying doesn't make them a sinner or a saint. They were who they were. :shrug: The simple fact of death doesn't erase anything they did during their lives, for good or for ill. Everyone dies: saints, sinners and most of us that fall somewhere in between. It would be nice if all our evil deeds completely cancelled out upon death, but that ain't the way it works, baby. B-) After I die, I will still be responsible for the pain I caused and for the joy I brought.

As for the folks celebrating Andy's death, I can only shake my head. Andy was not full of hate; he simply had different views from the right-wingers. As far as I can tell, he was kind to a fault. I don't understand what they have to gain by it, either. It is beyond perplexing.

[rfranklin]

6. I thought, "Hell must be geting really crowded...."

What a hateful piece of crap she was.

[Gato Moteado]

8. i thought......

.......too bad ann coulter wasn't with her.

by the way, ted olson sure recovered quickly after his wife croaked and bought himself another trophy wife.

[Lugnut]

34. I'm with you

Yes it's nasty but that was truly my first reaction.

Ted Olson's demeanor was stunning. While I knew that Babs was a trophy wife his lack of emotion really threw me.

[devilgrrl]

41. Thank you both for noticing that...

didn't he remarry less than 6 months later?

[KoKo]

11. She didn't die....she morphed into that person who cohosts a show on MSNBC

with Ron Reagan, jr. Have you seen her? Barbara's twin. I can't remember her name but she gives me the creeps because she reminds me so much of Olson.

I wish folks wouldn't go to those sites and read that stuff about Andy, though. It just makes people so angry and only gives the folks who write the crap a thrill that folks who cared about Andy come there to read it.

Not criticizing you...just that it seems to either make DU'ers so angry they come here and explode or folks like yourself who are just amazed that there are sicko's out there who write crap filled with such hate.

A visit I made to that "site which shall not be named" was enough for me a couple of months ago. People like that aren't worth reading. They'll eventually implode under the weight of their own hatred and don't need folks like us observing it. But, to each his own.. :shrug

[Clark2008]

37. Monica Crowley

And I never watch that show.

I just know who you're talking about, unfortunately.

[Spazito]

14. To be honest, after learning of Ted Olson's key involvement

in the Arkansas Project, I did think of the old 'saw': What goes around, comes around, but I NEVER wish nor want anyone no matter how much I dispise them, to suffer the loss of a loved one.

I never posted anything on Barbara Olson after 9/11 as I was taught you do not speak ill of the dead and, also, if you can't say something nice, say nothing and I chose to say nothing.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[napi21]

19. Ooooh but he's rich! That's all that matters to some. n/t

[juajen]

17. I was very sorry for her family and for the horror she must have felt.

N/T

[gumby]

18. What is this?

The NPR (liberal media) "other side" game?

To compare Olson with Andy is disgusting on its face.

There IS NO comparison. Just because freepers are extremely hateful persons, why sully Andy with this comparison?

Phooie......

[Lex]

21. IMHO, the poster is clearly comparing the feelings people have

NOT the two people themselves.

[gumby]

27. Baloney,

The post was explicitely envoking a "feeling" by playing against two NAMED persons.

This whole thread reads like a Limbaugh parody of "liberal feelings."

[Lex]

28. Think what you want.

This thread has confused and upset you and for that I'm sorry.

Is anyone else chasing this unique interpretation you have? That should tell you something.

[gumby]

30. Well, if it's numbers you want

then we should all be W Worshipers. Wasn't he elected twice?

BYW, I'm neither confused nor upset. That's the "feelings" argument argument again. Yawn....

[Lex]

31. ????

Hello?

Linear thinking is a good thing.

[gumby]

32. Linear thinking?

You think comparing Barbara to Andy is equal because we all die?

[Lex]

36. Um, no.

But thanks for proving my point.

Goodnight.

Peace.

[gumby]

39. Thanks,

And you proved Limbaugh's point.

It's a new day. Peace.

[Fescue4u]

20. A co-worker of mine was on her flight. and died with her

I barely knew her (the coworker), but the whole event was numbing.

I don't think I can write exactly how I felt, but it was a very bad day.

[Lex]

22. I too was far too numb to think anything but "that's interesting."

.
Not happy or sad about her, per se.

I remember crying at least once per day for about 3 weeks and I'm not a person who cries much.

On edit: And I didn't even know anyone personally who died that day or was even hurt. But still . . .

[tinfoilinfor2005]

23. I said a prayer for her and for her family.

I have thought of her many times since. I hope her anguish was brief and she had no pain. And no family should have to think about their loved one suffering through that kind of torment. I hope she would have wished the same for me had the situation been reversed.

[LeftyDarthBrodie]

24. We can, for the most part, seperate politics

and the personal when it comes to someone horribly suffering or dying. Freepers are incapable of doing so.

[Clark2008]

25. Honestly?

I didn't know who the fuck she was. I didn't pay attention to wingnuts back then.

I knew who Ted Olsen was, but Barbara wasn't even a reality to me. When it was told she died, I still didn't know.

Then, later, I wondered why her husband let her be sacrificed for LIHOP.

[knight_of_the_star]

26. All I can say is this

Fate has one wicked twisted sense of humour and She doesn't forget your deeds. By a person's death you can get an idea of what their life was like. Appropriate for her to be killed by people so filled with hate when that is what she peddled to this country. Beyond that, she got what was coming to her, no more no less. The honourable individual shows respect to their most hated, vile, and untrustworthy foes in death if they could not in life.

[dbeach]

29. bit sad even though she was big right swinger..her widowed hubby

seems to have had a normal bereavement and is back in the grand game
saying his big shot connections are not a conflict of interest

hmm where have ya heard that before??


http://editorandpublisher.com/eandp/search/article_display.jsp?schema=&vnu_content_id=1000901806

Olson: Cooper Defense to Rely on Precedent, Common Law

By Joe Strupp




Published: April 28, 2005 updated 12:50 PM ET

"NEW YORK Attorney Ted Olson, who has taken over defense of Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper in the Valerie Plame case, says he plans to rely more on case law and common law, instead of the First Amendment, as he prepares to argue his client's right to a reporter's privilege before the U.S. Supreme Court.

"We felt it might be worthwhile to take a different approach," Olson, President Bush's first solicitor general, told E&P. "We might focus more on the common law privilege, whether there is a privilege that stems from the First Amendment or from various case decisions."

Olson, who served in both the Reagan and George W. Bush administrations, knocked down theories that his past Republican Party connections might help him if the case goes before this Supreme Court. "A lot of people think that," he said. "But I don’t think that makes any difference to the court.""

[Gemini Cat]

33. The first time I saw or heard of Olson was during selection 2000.

I was living in the UK when she appeared on TV. My first thought was "huh, nice looking woman." Then she opened her stupid mouth! The only thing I remember about this woman was she tilted her head and said "loser, loser, loser admit it you're a loser" in a childish sing-song voice. It's amazing how someone's politics can turn them butt-ugly in two seconds.

When she died, I felt bad for anyone she left behind. Considering there were several thousand people who died that day, she didn't merit any special attention, but I didn't nor would I dance on her grave.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

40. I didn't know who she was, so as a thought experiment let's imagine

Michelle Malkin dies in a terrorist attack. (Thinks) OK, here's what my VERY first thought would be.

"Oh, crap, that's all we need. Now they'll turn her into a fucking SAINT."

[Bouncy Ball]

42. I didn't even know who she WAS until I read this thread just now.

[mandyky]

43. I got a post deleted over this

I wished the other 2 in the rabid blonde brigade were next to her - Kelly Ann Conway and Ann the man. The big difference is Babsie made such a big deal about Clinton and then backed chimpster blindly and her husband worked for shrub.

As for the freepers, who cares? Andy had friends and supporters. Just as the freepers said Michael Moore's F911 was lies without even watching it, etc., they hate anything and anyone who disagrees with their dictator or how he got to be dictator. All of us at DU are evil to those "folks".

Their MO is to discredit and spew venom. As the Zen story tells of the scorpion - they sting because that is their job.