Let's assume there are an equal number of people right of center as left of center . . . .

[Stinky The Clown]

. . . . half of those on each side are reasonable. Some of them are soft on issues and show little serious awareness. Some of them are well informed. But mostly they're just reasonable, even as they differ in their worldviews.

The other half of each side is where it starts showing differences on each side.

The half of remaining people on the right very quickly morph from reasonable to far right fringe teabagger crazy. The further right you go, the more you encounter proud ignorance, loud voices, strapped on sidearms, tri-corner hats, and those seeking Kenyan birth certificates. They probably represent 30% to 35% of "the right" and they're just plain fucking nuts. There is no reasoning with them. But as loudly ignorant as they are, even worse are the elected officials and media loudmouths who pander to them and work them up to a frothing, seething mass of hate and anger. I really do think this is 35% of the right. Maybe more.

The same is not true on the left. Once one gets past that reasonable 50%, one encounters not ignorance, but more finely reasoned thinkers. Sure, there might be anger. What lacks is ignorance. And volume. Not nearly as much volume. Where the right keeps their amps at eleven, the lefter lefties tend to keep their amps at 5 or maybe 6. This is the group that does things like attend rallies and post on message boards. Aware, concerned, unhappy with some thing, wanting serious change. Then, waaaaay out there at the far out end of the left side of the spectrum, with maybe 2% or 3%, maybe 5% of the total number of lefties are the crazy lefties. And even then, they're not ignorant. Or at least not as ignorant as so many on the right. But let's say that they're there.

That makes 5% of the left the moral mirror image of 35% of the right. The difference is, NO ONE is pandering to them. The shouting on the left comes from the middle of the left, really. The yelling, while loud, is fact and reason based. No one on the left is asking for Mitch McConnell's birth certificate. But they DID ask for idiot son's DD214, which, if the folk lore about his military service is true, should, indeed, exist. The left has no Sharron Angle or Christine O'Donnell or Sarah Palin or Rand Paul or Joe Wilson or Jim Demint. The most radical we have is Bernie Sanders and Alan Grayson.

Where Stewart went wrong was in equating the loud crazies on the right and all their panderers to the same types on the left, who actually make up a tiny minority of the left.

I know what Stewart was trying to do. he was trying to have it both ways. Like facts, though, there is no "other side". Things are what they are. There is virtually NO ONE on the left, apart from maybe a few outliers at the fringes, who would not, even now, be willing to compromise reasonably with reasonable people.

What the left will not do is compromise with loons looking for Kenyan birth certificates. Besides, those people are not interested in compromise. They are only interested in hate. And noise. They should be excluded from the process as they've done little more, really, than give the process an even worse reputation than it had.

[Fumesucker]

1. I agree with you and recced your post..

But I think it's going to get heavily unrecced by the pragmatic moderate centrists who apparently hate leftists worse than they hate teabaggers.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. Heh ......

.... some people just need to have enemies. You who said that?

Helen Thomas said it of St Ronnie many years ago. She repeated it again when the lesser bushies took office.

[JustAnotherGen]

2. I agree with you

And rec’d your post too!

Hi, my name is justanothergen – and my father who is 69 and my mother who will turn 64 this month are the far faaaar left fringe. As a matter of fact, my dad wrote a letter to the editor at the Rochester D & C during the 2008 election questioning why a man ‘lost a couple of planes and didn’t blow his own brains out instead of caving into the enemy’ is lauded as a War Hero. . . but then again –

My dad is a former Green Beret who proudly states he never got captured, and loves the fact that in his mind John Kerry did a good thing by shooting a ‘communist in the back’. He also has seen things and done things that made him drill into his childrens’ heads: Your government does things that they tell you only other governments do. Never ever forget that.

His wife (my mom) says: “They say Bill Ayers being in the ‘Weather men’ like it was a bad thing.”

I’ve come out of the closet as a child of the far extreme left. But I can say with absolute certainty – my father has never curb stomped anyone in the United States of America that he disagrees with and my mother isn’t calling for 2nd Amendment remedies if Harry Reid loses. They do gush over how stunning Nancy Pelosi is at her age though! :rotfl: My point? The far far left is as old as some of those on the far far right – but they act with civility and respect in a public setting. Now what they say behind closed doors? Heh heh hee, tee hee, tee hee

[Stinky The Clown]

4. Your parents don't sound like the far left to me.

They sound like me.

[JustAnotherGen]

10. Yeah

But do you have a huge white sign up in your backyard telling Carl Paladino to Bring it On! :rotfl:?

They are lovely people and they are the type of people we need in the Democratic Party. They are the House Party folks, the door knockers, the Precinct Captain, the people that serve on town council, the school board, etc. etc.

I think unfortunately in this day and age? Anything ot the left of Newt Gingrich is painted as crazy, loony, liberals. :-(

[Nostradammit]

5. I'm reminded of Mike Rosen's radio show, the uber-conservative hack on KOA in Denver

He was describing the political spectrum to one of his listeners one day and he said something
to the effect of, "On the far right you have guys like Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini and on the
far left you have guys like Michael Moore and Noam Chomsky."

I remember thinking, "Well I sure as hell know which side of that spectrum I'd rather be on!"

[TheKentuckian]

7. That should be turned into a long running commercial like Smokey the Bear or McGruff

A crucial public service ad is right there.

[Nostradammit]

9. Exactly.

:thumbsup:

[unblock]

6. of course, the false equivalence meme lets the right-wing media maintain "balance"

they can label ANY democrat as a lunatic left-wing fringe commie pinko socialist, no matter what the actual policy positions involved.

so if you want to argue that 35% of republicans are right-wing fringe, they can raise you another 35% and still have room to grow. hell, they can argue that anyone to the left of liberman is a lunatic fringe leftist, and in fact, they probably HAVE said that on foxnews at some point.

they railed on clinton for being liberal, when in fact he was probably to the right of nixon, for pete's sake!

[TheKentuckian]

8. Another strong post from my favorite clown

[Vincardog]

11. Speaking as a proud LIBERAL representative of the 2% crazy lefties Why am I represented by Democrati

'Leadership' that panders to the 35% RW nutz?

[Stinky The Clown]

12. Well, speaking as someone slightly right of the 2% left crazies . . . . . .

. . . . I share your disappointment. The Democrats should be ashamed of themselves . . . . unless they're on the same team.