I can't stand the other side. I can't.

[Sannum]

At my office, the person who is training me for my new position is a Libertarian. I don't see the difference between him and the Right, but maybe it's just me. He hates Bush, but he voted him because he didn't want to vote for Kerry because he was a "liar". He loves his guns, Fox News, John McCain and Condileeeeeeeeeeeeeeeza. He thinks Ted Kennedy is a traitor, and he thinks that the economic direction that this country is going is just dandy. Unemployment is apparently at an all time low and the economy has never been better. I don't know what planet these people are living on, but fuck...take me where it really is this rosy. On the personal front, he is essentially a manwhore who would probably fuck any woman who crossed his path if given the chance. He is such a slut he even brags that he has 3 women that he sleeps with regularly at any given time. I overheard this BS today. Please. He has his head so far up his own ass. I can't stand these people. I have made it known that I am a proud liberal and not to fuck with me. He cannot back up his arguments and since today was slow, I was backing up my arguments with legitimate sources. CBS, of course he sees as a "liberal mouthpiece". I then showed him that the article in question was actually an AP article and he had just said AP is the most fair a few moments earlier. I think they are so obsessed with being right, that they will do anything to make it appear that they are.

I can't stand the other side.

[AX10]

1. "Libertarians" are the extreme Republican.

They can actually be more vile than a rethug too. I take it that this was a "South Park Libertarian".

[begley]

11. Libertarians are pro-choice and usually non-religious

[barb162]

23. aren't they also for government out of everything as much as

possible? LOw taxes? At least that's what I recall fropm somewhere or other...it's not like they run in campaigns around here

[begley]

33. correct, barb

:)

[PaDem]

34. Libertarians are our best hope for a liberal consensus in Washington

There are three kinds of Republican as I see it. First we have the Family Values crowd, dominated by the Religious Right. Second we have the hyper-patriotic crowd who would never question American military involvement abroad. These folks are likely to believe the old "Republicans are tougher on defense and security" routine. The third group is the Libertarian crowd. Low taxes and small government. Of course many folks fall into all three categories, and to an extent they all work together.

However, a traditional libertarian is leery of military adventurism and wants the government out of their bedrooms. I believe that there will be a tipping point for the principled Libertarians who aren't rabidly religious. They don't want to live in a Theocracy and they don't want to live in a military state. These folks are going to start voting for more moderate candidates or will stay home all together. The Conservative coalition is a delicate one, and with the religious right crowd becoming more and more demanding and confident, the Republican Party will find itself having to continue with an increasingly difficult balancing act.

[AX10]

35. They also want to rid of social security too.

[Terran1212]

40. The "Libertarians" just rhetorically hate government and society

IMO we don't need some rugged individualist anarchists on our side.
We are best going at "family value" Republicans -- just showing them their people don't defend any types of values at all.

[niyad]

42. the libertarians around here (and there are a LOT of them, just as there

are wayyyyy too many sheeples) also believe in getting rid of social security, public education, and any form of public health care. the one thing they NEVER mention getting rid of is the military.

[Sannum]

2. Oh! And apparently Ms. Plame was nothing more than a receptionist

:crazy:

[thoughtanarchist]

6. You cannot save the willfully stupid...

all we can do is gently bring facts to light when someone is willfully stupid.

...then a bit less gently...

...then bash away.

:evilgrin:

[Kenergy]

3. Well said n/t

[WorseBeforeBetter]

4. "I have made it known that I am a proud liberal...

and not to fuck with me." Good for you! I hope ALL OF US are doing the same thing. I try, but gawd almighty, it can be exhausting.

[niyad]

9. one of my friends has made up t-shirts that read "bleeding heart liberal

and DAMNED proud of it" with appropriate graphics. they are quite the hit in this little section of fundieville.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

16. I bet. When I'm feeling confrontational (which is most...

of the time these days) I don my MoveOn "Democracy is Not a Spectator Sport" t-shirt and hit the stores. I rather enjoy the stare-downs!

[jerry611]

5. I remember reading something funny

Way back I remember reading on a website giving jokes about men and women...
Ask a man how many women he slept with and divide the answer by 3 and you will have the truth.

Ask a woman how many men she slept with and multiply the answer by 3 and you will have the truth.

(that's just a joke by the way)

The guy is most likely lying about his personal life. The rest of his rants are just neocon talking points without anything intelligent attached.

[Sannum]

7. Or maybe he is that freeper

That is dating the "Salma Hayek and Halle Berry lookalike"...remember him?:P

He probably has to pay for any action he gets.

[mopinko]

8. libertarians are the worst

it should just be classified as a mental illness.

[calmblueocean]

10. It's exhausting to be around these people sometimes.

They're so rude. They don't even want to have a conversation unless it means they have a chance to be rude, insult someone, laugh at someone, or pound their chest. I'm thankful that I'm not trapped in a brain like that, though -- so bigoted and angry and fearful that the only enjoyment I can get out of life is in watching others fail. All you can really do is pity them. They hate that. :)

[ryan_cats]

37. Good point!

Good point! How do you know a person is a right winger? They'll tell you! I get cr*p from co-workers because I'm a bleeding heart lib. I'm sick of it, especially when I say I'm a Christian, they wonder how I could be a liberal? How? How about the illegal war, they're taking away of our rights, the persecution of other religions, the list goes on and on.

Finally, I told them to can it or I'd go to HR. You can't reason with them with facts, all they know are the Fox spews talking points. Luckily, we have a lot of middle to the road and left leaning people in my department.

P.S. They monitor the web so when I go to listen to the Air America web cast, it's blocked but KFBK, Rush's station is allowed through. I complained but never heard back. Now I have a radio and instead of headphones like I used to use on the webcast, I listen to it via the speaker.

[graywarrior]

12. Kurt Russell is a libertarian. That scares me.

[Sannum]

14. I read that Mel Gibson is too...

He REALLY scares me.

This fact kinda surprised me, because I thought he was a Bush ass-licking right wing nutjob. Now he is just a nutjob:P.

[graywarrior]

15. Yeah, unbelievably they drop down a notch when you find out

they're libertarians. A bunch of them are supposed to be moving to NH to change the voting block. Good luck. NH republicans are killers.

[sproutster]

13. Libertarians are the same as the rest of us- moderate to extreme

My IT guy is a libertarian and we agree on quite a few things. He also is teaching me about different fuels. He thinks bio-diesel.

**edited to add**
Another co-worker is one as well, he is a straight up nazi prick. Sorry for the language. He's all about talking points and "Iran scares him" ... Me "crazy religious zelots with nuclear weapons scare me" :)

[lostinacause]

18. Iran scares me more then Saddam did. Saddam was predictable the president

of Iran is not.

[sproutster]

27. I can understand that... But... Should we preemptively wipe them off the

planet?

[lostinacause]

29. America shouldn't, however something still needs to be done.

It's a complicated issue. I don't fully understand it let alone have any solutions as to what should be done.

[ryan_cats]

38. Biodiesel rocks!

Biodiesel rocks! I've been looking into it. I've also been looking for an old VW or Mercedes diesel. They get great mileage and are well built cars. They need to have diesel hybrids.

Here's a few good links:
http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=447609751&f=159605551&m=415602894

http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/6/ubb.x?a=cfrm&s=447609751

http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html

[lostinacause]

17. He's not a real libertarian, he likely just thinks he is. Read some of

Ayn Rand's philosophy books and you will likely see the difference. The libertarians that I have talked to are quite a bit brighter and more intellectually honest then republicans. Don't get me wrong, it is a broken ideology, but at least they are honest.

To be a real libertarian you have to be against the Patriot Act.

[lostinacause]

19. It seems that claiming to be libertarian has become the popular thing to

do many of the people who have been mentioned in previous posts are likely not real libertarians.

[jdelullo]

21. Kind of like "Independents"

I know quite a few "Independents" who are either very conservative or very liberal but just don't posses the reasoning abilities to back up arguments for the right or left.

[lostinacause]

26. Independents are a whole different classification.

You can be and independent and a conservatively or liberally minded person at the same time. Independence describes a lack of direct association with a political party.

I am personally of the belief the less association that the general public has with a specific party the better. It seems that it would lead to better choices.

I also find that most people lack the reasoning ability to back up arguments. Most people rely on "talking points" or "learned responses".

[Lexingtonian]

20. Don't feed the trolls

That's a good rule on the internet and a good one when dealing with this subspecies of Moron republicanensis.

As the guy who wrote the Rolling Stone article on the '04 Bush campaign in Orlando found out, these people are essentially ingrates and life-devoid parasites who feed on the attention and respect intelligent people mistakenly give them. Their opinions are fronts, they only feel truly alive when in a dispute with a person who they secretly considered more real than themselves. They're simply attention-demanding brats in adult form when in comes down to it.

I've found that the game is to deny them validation for the kookery. Make sure to tell the fellow how smart and competent he is professionally and personally, and repeat it often and as an inoculation, but when the nuttery begins smile even more nicely and give him that gentle helpful look you give to little kids pouring grape juice on their head. Listen intently for a sentence or two, look bored, and then start lazily looking for the wall clock or in your documents. (You will always have better things to do than listen to a moron spout.) Don't give him the satisfaction of evasion or engagement or that you believe you owe him answers.

That at first. Over time you can start smuggling in the lethal little digs. The smallest but deftly sharpened ones puncture the ego in the weakest spots and take a while to do it. In time you can figure out where exactly in arrested childhood development the immaturity roots, and then there's a lot of fun to be had.

[EstimatedProphet]

22. I'm with you

By this point the other side is composed only of the hardcore-all the people that have been too busy or not paying attention have been weeded out. What's left are the mean shitheels that get off on hurting people and torturing animals, the religious schizophrenics, and the elitist rich that believe they are inherently better than everyone else.

[Maiden England]

24. Erm, stereotype much?

My husband is a libertarian, and he is the antithesis of what you have described. Get a grip on reality and realise that thinking in black and white is very.......rethuglican.

[KayLaw]

32. I understand

I know from frequently less political sites that a lot of Republicans are calling themselves Libertarian right now - too ashamed of their party to admit what they really are.

[DanCa]

25. Workplace and politics don't mix

Really when I found it working I couldn't stand listening to politics. I finally put a sign on my desk that said no religion no politics no problem on my desk and people eventual began to shut up around me. Seriously doesn't anyone else prescribe to not talking about politics during the work day?

[lostinacause]

28. I agree with you though I have never had a job where it was a problem.

I generally avoid talking about politics with people I know because I tend to alienate them. I made the mistake of telling one of my neighbors something I believed. I ended up lying and saying he was right to avoid a conflict. (Before anyone says I should have stood my ground: he is a nice old man and the topic was sufficiently complicated such that there was no hope of changing his mind. He was also arguing what would be seen as the more liberal argument though we generally agreed on the desired goal.)

[DanCa]

30. Well outside the house i tend to be very vocal

But when your working with someone on a consistent daily basis it's best to stir clear of conversional topics that will lead to hard feelings.

[lostinacause]

31. And it's not like you get too much choice who you work with.

[ryan_cats]

36. I once considered it...

I once considered it...

My take was that they were for personal freedom, government out of the bedroom and legalized drugs. Unfortunately, they also seem to lean heavily right wing which turned me off big time.

I decided to stick with the dems but to try and make them respond to US, to stop taking the corporation's money and to start fighting the pubs on taking away our personal freedoms. That didn't start under scrub-ya, it started under Reagan. His war on drugs meant that the police gestapo tactics were approved because it might help the children. Nancy should have had a war on AIDS, that would have benefited humankind but no, like Chris Rock says, "The government doesn't want you to do your drugs, it wants you to do THEIR drugs". Witness all of the drug ads on TV, hell, I don't even know what they're advertising for but I want it now!!

[Terran1212]

39. "Libertarians" = Republicans who don't even pretend they have values

or morals. They are into the philosophy "I love myself fuck everyone else!"

Which is why we safely ignore them until they die out (ok not literally but you get the picture).

[prolesunited]

41. I think you summed up the philosophy

quite succinctly.