( - promoted by jczacher)
What is your opinion of the impact bloggers and web published columnists have on the average voter out there today? Do you think Daily Kos is really that effective in bringing about change or that MoveOn was responsible for the 2006 change in Washington?
I try to browse and read through several blog sites each day and the editorials and opinions section on Yahoo which I find to be very good. When I read through some of the opinion pieces, it amazes me that the liberal left is complaining about the right wing commentators, etc. Some of the most vitrolic, petulent, and viturpitive writing I have ever read is contained in the writings of the liberal contributors. One in particular is Ted Rall who is a three time Pulitizer nominee and a winner of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism awards for cartoonists. Michelle Malkin pales in comparison to some of his writings and he makes Ann Coulter look like a choir member.
In his most recent column, he makes some of the most hateful comments I have ever read. The far right wingers (who are even further right than the most ardent neocon) who post evil on their sites are about the only comparison I can draw. His recent column has the following paragraph in it. Read for yourselves:
"We must elect--by an overwhelming, theft-proof majority--a candidate who promises to renounce Bush and all his works. A reform-minded president's first act should be to sign a law that reads as follows: "The federal government of the United States having been illegitimate and illegal since January 20, 2001, all laws, regulations, executive orders, and acts of commission or omission enacted between that infamous day and 12 noon Eastern Standard Time on January 20, 2009 are hereby declared invalid and without effect." Guantánamo, secret prisons, extraordinary rendition, spying on Americans' phone calls and emails, and "legal" torture would be erased. Our troops should immediately pull out of Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Somalia; we should apologize to our victims and offer to compensate them and their survivors. Bush should never appear on any list of American presidents. When he dies, his carcass shouldn't receive a state funeral. It ought to be thrown in the trash."
Some of his previous offerings attack our volunteer army and describes their sacrifice and families in the following manner:
"Four years after the WMDs and liberation flora failed to turn up, people still enlist. After soldiers die, their parents insist that theirs was a noble sacrifice. Tell me again: Why should I care about the war? Why shouldn't I go shopping? " ---and this is the milder comment.
I have no problem with dissent. Dissent is the reason this country exists today. There comes a point and this applies to both sides when dissent and discussion plunges to the lowest common denominator possible and any attempt at finding mutual ground is rendered improbable if not impossible.
Many of my friends and corresponders are liberal and we enjoy good give and take. We respect each other and observe boundaries of good taste. When I read some of the contributors from both sides, I get a little nauseous at the vile spewed in the name of political commentary.
This site's main purpose is to discuss the upcoming election. I choose to believe that the content of discussion should involve all things that contribute to how one will make a decision or how aspects of coverge will affect us when we are casting our votes. Do columnist like Ted Rall have an impact or not?
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