Overheard in the parking lot this morning as I dropped my youngest son off at school:

[11 Bravo]

"That was socialism, and I refuse to live in a socialist country!" I smiled and politely inquired, "So, will you will be leaving or just killing yourself?"

Major sputtering ensued.

[liberal N proud]

1. Great comeback

:rofl:

[Joey Kidd]

2. Lol !

:rofl:

[Dappleganger]

3. Ha! nt

[NJmaverick]

4. He shoots............. HE SCORES!!!!

:evilgrin:

[Scout]

5. excellent! way to go! i would have loved to have seen it! n/t

[HughMoran]

6. Beautiful!

:applause:

[tallahasseedem]

7. LOL!

That's priceless. I personally have my "O The President" magnet on the back of my car for all to see. Didn't get anyone flipping me off or anything while driving the kids to school...guess that's good!

[argyl]

71. "O The President" alongside "Dubya The Doorknob" compliment each other well.

[bear425]

8. Was it a public school, like the ones paid for with tax payer dollars?

Some peeps are so silly

Good for you!

[Echo In Light]

10. No doubt. And what little good it would've done to define/explain FASCISM to the clod

[BlancheSplanchnik]

95. ;)

:thumbsup:

[lonestarnot]

9. Snort!

:evilgrin:

[Jkid]

11. Owned, baby!

[Urban Prairie]

12. lol!! smackdowned!!

[Chef]

13. Leaving

My question to them is "What right wing country are you moving to"? Think about it. There is barely any country in the world that would be sufficiently reactionary enough (democracy or totalitarian) that it offers an alternative. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know?

[daggahead]

19. Perhaps Dubai or Brunei? n/t

[dixiegrrrrl]

20. No,Korea?

[Mudoria]

21. My very thought..

The vast majority of industrialised countries have universal healthcare so they really wouldn't be getting away from "socialized medicine". of course they could always move to some shithole 3rd world country and subsist off the land, you know, "Galt" like lol.

[kath]

43. Not just "the vast majority of industrialised countries" - try EVERY SINGLE ONE except the U.S.

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

I sure would like to live in a civilized country...

[name not needed]

55. Yeah, until they come across some warlord who thinks otherwise.

[bullwinkle428]

37. Somalia or Haiti would work for them - great libertarian paradises,

for sure!

[mudplanet]

46. Most underdeveloped and undeveloped countries are right wing

and operate under crony capitalism.

That's why the right wants to turn the U.S. into Haiti.

[CLANG]

48. Myanmar would work.

[xxqqqzme]

50. Hate to bring it up but

Haiti is the perfect country for these creeps. No taxes, no government, no one to tell you how to build your house, no schools, no health care - it is a li-bert-arians(aryans lie acording to Jon Beck) dream come true!

[Ken Burch]

65. It's pretty much down to Somalia, really.

n/t.

[14thColony]

74. Not bloody many choices....

North Korea and Cuba are way too socialist for them, and both suffer from the curse of some sort of national health care system (pretty good on in Cuba).

Myanmar, Haiti, Somalia, maybe Zimbabwe and Sudan? Afghanistan is very conservative and doesn't labor under the yoke of good governance or social welfare/care structures, so that might be a good one.

Iran is probably conservative enough for them, although I think they have a national health care system (damned socialist right-wing Islamo-fascist communists).

Ahhh...Antarctica though! Zero government interference, zero regulation, zero social services, and they can rest assured that most of the time every human in sight will agree with them 100 percent. A 'country' for the real self-made ruggedly independent American conservative nutjob.

The idea that these morons actually believe the US is leftist or liberal, and there exists a whole bunch of conservative utopias out there, just illustrate their lack of knowledge, and possibly their lack of sentience.

[a la izquierda]

81. Antartica wouldn't work...

male penguins take care of the young. Too "fruity" for conservatives.:eyes:

[14thColony]

93. Curses! You're right!

Besides penguins are black AND white - smacks of multi-racialism.

Oh well, Afghanistan it is then...

[lpbk2713]

14. Limbaugh will be their travelling companion.

:rofl:



There's always hope.

[pipi_k]

15. Bwahahahah!!! Wish I could be that fast on the draw! n/t

[jasmeel]

16. awesome!

[eridani]

17. Goddam. Wouldn't it be absolutely wonderful if if WAS socialism?

No such luck, unfortunately.

[harun]

41. I wonder what they would say if we actually did something moving

towards Socialism? Probably just scream the same lies.

This bill is pure capitalism with a bit of consumer protection sprinkled on top. I am glad it passed but it is laughable they consider any part of this bill socialism. As you say... we wish!

[CLANG]

49. Since they don't appear to know the difference

their reaction would probably be the same. Glenn beck would be shouting "No! It really IS socialism this time! Last time I was lying!! (says the boy that cried wolf).

[Kievan Rus]

18. Is it a public school? If so, why does he/she send their child to get a socialist education?

[ixion]

22. Careful...

you might get more response than you wished for, mocking someone who doesn't see the world the way YOU do.

[11 Bravo]

24. Ummmm, thanks ... your concern is duly noted.

And if by mocking, you mean wondering about the irony of a man dropping off his son at a PUBLIC school while bitching about alleged "socialism", well, guilty as charged.

[ixion]

25. You were mocking him

I don't think there's any question about that.

[Fire1]

27. So what?? Ass clown pukes SHOULD be mocked. n/t

[ixion]

30. Therein lies the crux of the problem we face in this country

they feel exactly the same way about you.

As long as both sides have this attitude, nothing of value will ever be accomplished.

[Fire1]

31. And you and Obama are living in a utopia of

bipartisanship. Finally, Obama faced the reality that historically, bipartisan politics does not exist in this country. Period. Never has and never will.

[ixion]

32. No, I'm not. I'm telling you how it is

and if you think either side will just give up and go away, you don't know much about human nature.

[Fire1]

33. I understand that. YOU are the one advocating that some how

we should "come together" for the greater good. Ideally, that would be perfect but there are two entirely different ideologies at work here. Consequently, that ain't gonna happen.

[stillwaiting]

88. Obama will be back on the Bipartisan bus MUCH sooner than you think.

He will use it to walk back any good liberal or progressive ideas so that they are never implemented.

He will NOT fight or lobby for truly liberal or progressive ideas unless the cost associated with that idea is truly minimal (a crumb).

After the bill is basically stripped of the things that might actually benefit a majority of Americans (while also benefiting the corporate elite) he will twist the arms he needs to while lobbying forcefully for the bills passage.

Oh, he might also twist arms to prevent good progressive legislation from being included. He has already shown that he does get involved to do that.

And he knew all along that biparstisanship was never possible if he really wanted to pass good strong progressive legislation. It's all a staged act and the Republicans part is to strongly and uniformly oppose ANYTHING that the Democratic Party puts forth. They opposed this health care bill which was basically their own legislation from the mid-90's. It truly is all smoke and mirrors at this point in time, but I strongly believe the ruling elite that get THEIR Congressmembers to enact certain legislation are laughing their asses off at how easy it is to get the masses (Republican and Democrat alike) to support their puppets based on tribal loyalties.

As a preventive disclaimer, I do not want the Republicans to win in '10 or '12. I believe that shining disinfectant light on the reality of the situation MAY change the behavior of the Democrats in Washington. I also believe that if they don't change their behavior they will lose big in '10 and possibly in '12 and it will not be my fault no matter how much they will try and blame people like me for pointing out their behavior. They have truly discouraged more people in my life than I would have ever imagined possible over the past year. If they try and "reform" Medicare and Social Security I truly hope that a lot of us leave them for good.

[14thColony]

75. You say it like that's bad.

I don't follow...

[Ghost Dog]

39. They will resort to armed insurrection, will they not?

From what I can hear opinion-formers amongst these people saying, the premise "That was socialism, and I refuse to live in a socialist country!" is usually followed by the prescriptive conclusion: "Patriots must overthrow this government (and the socialist NWO behind it) and take back our country."

The mass of these people really believe this stuff, and there are enough grains of truth in it to make some of it stick. Then there are the usual Straussian 'magicians behind the curtain' up to their usual, and in fact genuinely 'world-ordering', if they can get away with it, tricks.

Are not battle-lines, and not so metaphorical ones at that, being drawn as we speak?

[The Wizard]

85. The armed insurrection

will whimper and hide in the face of machine guns. Granted, there are a handful in the military who will side with the confederates, but after seeing their buddies on the wrong side of a firing squad they will crap their pants and surrender.
I, for one, have had enough of their threats of violence.
One solution would be to redraw the borders established in the Civil War and let them live out their dream. Before long they'll be drunk on moonshine and shooting one another or dying of disease because they have poor health care.
As for the decent people living in the Confederate States: The government could subsidize their relocation to geographic regions where they can thrive without the threat of violence until such time when they can return home. Although it could take two generations for the inbreeding to winnow the herd, it will be worth it.
It's time to isolate the fascists and put up a wall so they will feel secure from the threat of those who don't enjoy fucking hoofed animals.

[eShirl]

51. yeah, they might start to cry

[Occulus]

66. It is exactly your attitude that is at the core of our problem.

Until we are willing to use their tactics against them, until we are willing to do exactly what they would do to us, until we are wiling to show them we are just as strong as they are, we will continue to lose in the American political arena.

It is the "we can't stoop to their level", "we have to take the high road", "we have to be better than them" attitude that is and has been, for my entire life, making us lose. They are bullies. The only thing bullies understand is when someone stands up to them and does to them exactly what they do to others, because the only things they understand are force, anger, and contentiousness- but they only understand it when it's directed at them. No amount of "making nice" (read: bipartisanship) will ever teach them that they're doing wrong.

Think of the schoolyard bully. I do, often, because the entire time I was in school- K-12- I was bullied, rather mercilessly, because I refused to fight back. My parents always told me exactly those things: that I didn't want to be like them, that I was better than that, turn the other cheek, yadda yadda yadda.

Do you know what happened? Can you guess?

That's right: I continued to get bullied. I didn't fight back, I didn't ball up my fists and give someone a bloody nose, I didn't stand up for myself. I cared too much about what other people would think of me. I didn't want to be seen as a short fuse or a hothead... and so, I was abused by those schoolyard bullies for a long, long time.

Today's Republicans are bullies, ixion. They are the political equivalent of the schoolyard tough that takes your lunch money, trips you in the hallways when your arms are full of books, and gives you a swirly in phys ed. They are the ones who snap bra straps in class, give the sixth graders a noogie, play "two for flinching", and then act all astonished and put on a "who, ME?" look when verbally confronted.

And then they turn directly around and do it again, and again, and again. Because your attitude lets them do it.

Enough.

It is time, and past time, that we started treating these socially adolescent and mentally backward fuckazoids in exactly the same way they have treated us for the past, oh, thirty years. Metaphorically speaking, I want us to start giving them the mouthful of brass-knuckled fist that has them coming up spitting blood and teeth. If it happens that what we do or say to them leaves them writing in political pain on the blazing, summer-hot blacktop of the glass-strewn urban wasteland that is today's American politics, I want us to line up to kick them while they're down until they have several cracked redistricting ribs, a broken Congressional majority nose, and a missing Federal judgeship incisor or two.

They are bullies, ixion, and it's time we told them that no, in fact, this time they can't take our lunch money, and we're going to take it all back out of their own fragile political flesh.

[Johnny Noshoes]

70. Bravo...

They come with knives -- we come with guns. They put one of ours in the hospital -- we put two of their's in the morgue.

Metaphorically speaking of course. Enough already with their nonsense.

[14thColony]

77. Can I get an Amen for this one?!

Preach it Pastor Occulus! I am definitely a member of your congregation down at the First Church of Whoop Ass! Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!

[Rockholm]

90. Amen. Enough of their crap.

[Cass]

84. Awesome post, Occulus!! nt

[BlancheSplanchnik]

97. !!

yep, Liberals need to read Codependent No More.

[maryellen99]

98. I totally agree

they are bullies..how can you have any type of rational conservation with them when a majority of them don't even believe the President was born in the United States?

[Scout]

100. best post i have seen at DU in fuckin' years! n/t

[calimary]

104. With you COMPLETELY.

I witnessed this myself in my own extended family, when I stood up to the bully - alone - in front of everybody. And guess what happened? The bully backed down. Backed down the whole frickin' driveway and OUT of my life! Literally! NEVER again darkened our door, NEVER again showed up at family dinners with the rest of us to spew his shit and insults and intolerance and arrogance - which he had been allowed to do for his entire life because he was somehow perceived as the family's "golden boy." As such, his bad behavior was NEVER checked or contained, and there were never any consequences imposed for any of it. EVER. Everyone including his parents always looked the other way, shrugged it off, and claimed it was just harmless "boys will be boys" stuff, and "oh, he didn't really mean anything by it". MY ASS he didn't.

Well, I finally had enough, one dinnertime, and I let him have it, out loud and directly into his face, there at the family dinner table in front of everybody. It shut him up immediately - AND his wife (who had joined in the cruelty and taunting - in front of their young and impressionable children and everyone else, including MY young and impressionable children). And he got up from the table, glaring at me in silence, and stalked out of the house, his hapless wife and their unfortunate kids scurrying behind him. And we didn't see them again FOR YEARS. Once, before the family patriarch died, and once more after that when he and his wife (but not their kids who were too busy off snowboarding somewhere) showed up for the elder's funeral. When the family matriarch died a few years later, neither the schmuck NOR his wife even showed up for her funeral. Somehow I wasn't at all surprised. Further disgusted, but not surprised.

But it stopped his bullying. It silenced his verbal abuse instantly. It stopped him cold - because evidently he'd never ever been shouted down before, or put in his place, particularly in front of other people. He'd only been coddled and covered for, with flimsy excuses offered for his shitty bullying behavior. He had no template for this, this reaction to his shit was obviously COMPLETELY new to him, and it was demonstrably clear that he did not know what to do - except run and hide. Which he did, straight away. He fucking deserved it! He had YEARS of that ongoing and unchecked behavior that deserved it!!! He had a smackdown like this coming - for years and ten thousand similar affronts. He hasn't had the guts to show up and/or face me - for years since then. To this very day. That incident happened when our daughter was (I think) maybe three, and our son was an infant. Our daughter is now 20 and our son 17.

And I would do the same thing all over again IN A HEARTBEAT.

[Doctor_J]

82. This is the attitude that has enabled the country to turn fascist

No one ever stands up to these people, regardless of how egregious their transgression.

[donco6]

91. They deserve to be mocked.

But yes, you should be prepared for what follows.

[WhiteTara]

23. I love the stunned silence of the morning

I called my repuke rep and told him how ashamed I was of him to be political when it was a question of health. Of course, I went on for a bit :rofl:
Stunned silence.

[Fire1]

26. Kudos!!! K&R

[ensho]

28. good one - thanks for speaking up

nt

[driver8]

29. Ha Ha -- perfect! n/t

[Obamanaut]

34. So, were you part of the overheard conversation, or merely inserted

yourself into it?

[11 Bravo]

38. Actually, there were three of us discussing it, when the "socialist" spewer inserted himself ...

into our conversation. But, really, thanks for asking.

[Bobbie Jo]

35. Virtual High Five!

:fistbump: Nicely done!

[Xenotime]

36. I'm for assisted suicide. If they don't like it, they can choose their own exit option

[TuxedoKat]

40. Haha!

Bravo for you 11 Bravo!

[yellerpup]

42. LOL!

:rofl: If you don't ask, you'll never know.

[NoSheep]

44. Good for you.

[Canuckistanian]

45. I thought "Love it or Leave it" was their motto

Now that THEY don't love it, when does the exodus start?

I just hope they don't look northwards :scared:

[Swamp Rat]

47. LOL!

:headbang: :toast:

[DollyM]

52. I know, same comments on Facebook too!

I think Facebook must reign supreme with idiots. Someone made a similar comment so I left a comment "so I assume you will be rejecting Medicare when you turn 65 too?" They didn't post a comment back.

[Love Bug]

76. The ironic thing is Medicare isn't even socialized medicine

All Medicare is is the government acting as the insurer. All services are still provided by the same doctors, hospitals, etc. that are used by those who purchase private insurance. True socialized medicine is what is provided by the VA, which involves government owned and operated providers.

Disclosure: I get my HC through the VA. I've been very happy with the coverage and treatment I've received.

[DollyM]

101. I can't say I have had the same positive experience with VA . . .

Our VA sucks! It is all about saving money with them and they will do as little as possible for the patient. Our VA hospital was under investigation for shoddy patient care and can no longer do surgeries so my husband had to be transferred to a VA hospital over an hour away where he still got lousy care. I just want the medical cards back that we had when our son was alive. We could go to any Doctor we pleased then and only had a 10 minute drive to our local Doctor for care. Now my husband has to drive over an hour for VA care. When you are sick or having a problem, that isn't good. I don't understand why they don't just do away with the present VA system and let VEterans use their own local Doctors and hospitals. VA would save a ton of money spent on salaries and upkeep for buildings.

[Love Bug]

103. I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience

If your VA hospital was under investigation, then there's a reason for your lousy care. I can only speak from my own experience. If it weren't for my VA coverage, I'd have none at all. I hope things improve for you and your husband.

[deedee77]

53. LOL!

:fistbump:

[ScreamingMeemie]

54. Suicide will never be funny. Not even directed at an idiotic Fox watcher.

If you had said,"So when will you be leaving?" I'd be laughing right along side you.

Take care.

[Name removed]

60. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[icee]

94. Exactly. I know people from other websites that actually have

killed themselves because of what they perceive happening to the country. Is everything supposed to be funny nowadays? It is for these reasons I expect an electorate shift in November, as much as because of whatever that bill was that just passed. I've always thought some socialism is necessary when a population gets too large. But the attendant sub-surface cruelty in these threads?... No, so much.

[Mojeoux]

56. WTF About Communist old Socialist CHINA???

So if these guys hate communism so much, why is everything

manufactured in China and places where people work cheaper?

The Bottom Line of Capitalism, money talks and poor people walk

and shop at Wall Mart

[14thColony]

78. They managed to turn Cognitive Dissonance into a worldview (nt)

[DesertFlower]

57. lol. nt

[upi402]

58. I'll buy the ticket out n/t

[omega minimo]

59. Just ask how they'll get home without using the socialist roadways.

[B Calm]

61. So now it's socialist to purchase private insurance. . .

[pundaint]

62. But it wasn't socialism, socialism would be good for the People.

[bluestateguy]

63. Any American who does not like the way the president is leading this nation is free to leave

It's not patriotic to go against a president who was elected by the majority.

[Flatulo]

87. 'Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.' I heard that a lot here

when Bush was POTUS.

What has changed?

[Ken Burch]

64. You could also have done an imitation of the last words of the villain in Yellow Submarine

(altered, of course, to reflect the current color assignments of our political parties)

Chief Meanie: "Max...It's not a Red State World anymore, Max...where shall we go?

Max: "Argentina?"

[wial]

89. now that's funny!

A million teabaggers
hiking the Appalachian Trail
in Buenos Aires

May they be fat and happy down there and not try any clone experiments with Dick Cheney's body.

[old mark]

67. It's so funny - I repeatedly point out to some on other sites that

President Obama's policies so far have been on par with Richard Nixon's in the late 1960's and that many Democrats-including myself-get exasperated with him for being so conservative.

They think I am Stalin, at least....


mark

[anniebelle]

68. This gives me hope, maybe half this county will leave.

My county in particular -- my congress critters are Zach Wamp and Bob Corker, and their constituents are just plain scary.

[Hubert Flottz]

69. Rapture?

Spontaneous combustion?
Captured by a flying saucer?
Disappeared by the Mafia or the CIA?
Flies carry off in pieces to feed their young?

We don't care...just go away you nightmarish slack jawed fascist brown-shorted dip-shits.

[gbate]

72. See ya!!!

.

[malaise]

73. Freaking perfect

:yourock:

[axollot]

79. Was this at a Public School? n/t

[Vinca]

80. You should have asked for the definition of socialism.

99.9% of these dimwits parrot words off right wing radio and haven't a clue what they're talking about.

[marshall]

83. Were the kids laughing?

That's a comeback that will come in handy on the playground.

[veganlush]

86. why can't these ignorant people realize..

...that if a reform that leaves private companies in place, but merely supplies them with some regulations is socialism, what do they think of fire departments, police departments, the coast guard, the military, the CDC...etc,etc..all government-run operations? Is government-run bad or isn't it? It can't be both!!!!!!!!!!

[muffin1]

92. Good for you.

These people wouldn't know socialism if it went up and introduced itself. This bill is actually quite close to what the repukes were advocating back when Clinton tried HCR.
The only reason they don't want it is because it's a Dem plan. It isn't 'government run health care' no matter how many times they say it.

And I love how they whine that 'the people don't want it'! :cry: First of all, the people DO want some kind of plan. I'm sure public support has weakened because the bill was weakened. The 'far left' (of which I'm a proud member) wanted single-payer, or at least a strong public option. That doesn't mean we don't want ANY reform. And secondly, when the fuck did they ever care what the people want? I didn't see them rushing to get out of Iraq when public support had dwindled to nothing. They didn't give a shit when the public said to stay out of Terry Schiavo's hospital room. Obviously, if I listed everything they didn't care about during bush's reign, I'd be here all day. To sum it up quickly, they never care about what the people want until THEY are out of power.

[Mad_Dem_X]

96. Awesome comeback!

:thumbsup:

[RoccoR5955]

99. I would have asked them

to define socialism, in no uncertain terms. I probably would have asked them what they do about socialized roads, bridges, fire and police protection. Was it a public school? If it was, I would have asked why they have their kids in a socialized school.

That's not to say that your quick comeback, wasn't brilliant.

[wordpix]

102. GREAT reply!