Got Debate?

I like to watch CSPAN. Or to be more accurate I like to listen. (There really isn't much to actually "watch" on that channel.) My favorite part is without a doubt when people call in and voice their own opinions.

When a republican calls in they, 9 times out of 10, spout some rediculous talking point that really makes no sense at all. I've listened to literally hundreds of these bogus talking points. It makes me wonder if any of these people could actually survive a debate against any "lucid" person. I think lucidity is the key word. Nothing irks me more than seeing a lack of lucidity among people. The dems who call in are lucid about 7 times out of 10. They're not perfect but by god 70% is better than 10%.

I'm going to list some of the rediculous comments and arguments I've heard today from the republican callers.

The lord is on Bush side

The next caller countered this one nicely. God is on the side of killing innocent civilians? I guess if you're a repug.

Americans are not stupid enough to believe that Saddam was responsible for 9/11

Yeah well pew research data clearly shows that 70% of Fox viewers did indeed think Saddam was responsible for 9/11. Many of the other big network viewers shared similar views. Interestingly enough, comedy central viewers are more informed.

bottom line, Saddam Hussein is a terrible murderer

I guess if he was a "good" murderer like the dozen other tin pot dictators around the world, he'd be alright?

if the terrorists think we are a nation of cowards... they're gonna come home with us

Oh yeah I bet at least 2 out of 3 repugs live by this talking point. The terrorists are gonna get ya! Nevermind the fact that we created the terrorists in Iraq by invading Iraq.

if we left we'd start a civil war

As if it's not already a civil war. Right wing pundits are definately responsible for this view. Iraqis killing Iraqis... sounds like a damn civil war to me.

theyre basically barbarians, they got to be converted to christianity... and they got to be wiped out.

To be fair I think this guy was some kind of hack, calling in pretending to be a repug trying to make them sound even more extreme than most of em are. Although I've met many people who do indeed want to wipe out the entire middle east. We've all met people like that. They sound alot like this: "Turn em into a parkin lot"

killing civilians is a casualty of war

idiot. One could argue that our only purpose there IS to kill civilians. What else are we accomplishing. (Besides enriching the Vice President and his cronies?)

they're not gettin the picture... if we're not there they're gonna be here.

Again the terrorists are gonna get ya. Why leave the border wide open?

the far left is putting this country in danger with this strategy of cuttin and runnin.

lol. This guy used the phrase "the far left" like 10 times. He must be a big O'Reilly fan. It's not a partisan issue.

I support the war, not the war itself, but...

totally clueless

we've lost respect... everybody's runnin around calling people by their first and second names... he's "President" Bush....

This guy is a teacher blaming everything on the fact that people don't address "the president" in a prim and proper way. Christ if you wanna be proper call him "the illegitimate president". And if that's not convincing, then I've got just two words for you: Peter Wallsten

I was a democrat for 35 years... I had to switch... just too daggone librul

if it took him 35 years to figure that out then he's probably a lost cause.

I support the president. I have two sons in the war. They understand what the mission is, they understand what they're fighting for.

They know what their mission is? The leadership doesn't even know what its mission is. It changes every year.

we about lost it to the germans... and saved us from that. That's why these people can say what they want to say.

Here we have the classic talking point where we have to fight all these wars for Halliburton so that we can be free. Germany is the most common example. They never mention the fact that Nazis existed within the US during the buildup to WWII, and that they funded Hitler, and that Bush's grandpa was among them. (Prescott Bush's Union Banking co was siezed under the trading with the enemy act.)

if we dont defend ourselves we gone be muslim.

hehe.

Iraq would be even worse than Iran... (had we not invaded)

I hate to break it to ya but Iraq IS worse than Iran. Thanks to us.

how many times do we have to tell the democrats... they're out to change our religion, they want us to become muslim

Maybe if it wasn't a totally bogus argument, you wouldn't need to repeat it ad nauseum.

we want to convert them to peaceful muslims

lol. According to right wing fantasy logic, a dead muslim is a peaceful muslim I guess.

it's a shame to see people (democrats) play politics

But it's ok for rethugs to do it. He didn't actually say democrats but it was implied.

if you're really soft on guantanamo people, why don't you just adopt one of em.

I swear I'm not making this stuff up. The US constitution grants people the right to due process. We really should try and set a good example for the rest of the world. Guantanamo is a disgrace.

I just hate to see all these people don't realize the gravity of the situation we're in and the enemy we face and what they really want and what they demand from us and we should face these people head on.

Rambling nonsense. I do realize the gravity of the situation. And if this guy studied the mechanisms of power and media manipulation, he'd probably realize the gravity of the situation too.

he (Saddam) ruled the country like Adolph Hitler.

One could argue Bush is trying to rule like Hitler. Enabling Act = Patriot Act?

let's not forget that Clinton in order to balance the budget had to gut the military, so ... we had to build back up the military

We "had" to build back up the military? For what? To invade Iraq... talk about total temporal confusion. He's basically saying we made the decision to invade Iraq shortly after Bush was (s)elected. I actually agree with that. But the funny thing is he would never admit that directly.


Wow. Most of these comments make me think they were drunk when they called. The fact that the party representing these people is the party in power shows that we are in grave peril. There is nothing more threatening to democracy than an uninformed electorate. These people are just flat out wrong. Their arguments hold no water.

How then can they maintain a majority? Answer: