Er...what?
I got this response from some random person I've never heard of to my most recent political post (which was extremely tame and non-confrontational, oddly enough)
To quote in full:
You disgusting young woman. How can you say that about your own former president? Have you ever been in place? Do you think it's easy to be the commander in chief of the United States of America? Do you think you, with your smart remarks, could do any better than him?
Barack Obama is not better than George Bush because he is black. He will make the same mistakes, and he will be just as bad, if not worse. Haven't you noticed that all he's done is make flowery speeches? Think that's going to end wars and help the economy?
I'm going to love it when you brush off any errors Obama makes in his administration. Can't even admit when your policies are wrong.
-Lauren Mullen
Can I get a resounding WTF?
Really classy, dropping into someone's journal completely out of the blue to insult me and make assumptions. Opening with an ad hominem attack is really going to make me take you seriously. Who are you? Do I know you? Or are you just going around to random LJs insulting anyone you see who has a positive attitude about our new Commander in Chief? I'm quite mystified as to what you hope to accomplish by posting this, other than making yourself look bad.
First of all, Bush is not our "former president" until noon eastern time, when Obama takes the oath of office.
Secondly, if this troll had read my other political posts (many of which are filtered, granted) she would see that I consciously tried not to blindly jump on the Obama bandwagon. (I took a similar track with Kerry before him, as well.) I reserved judgment until I had heard him speak and debate, and had read up on his positions on the issues. I found I liked the guy, and I agreed with his positions. Never have I claimed that he's perfect, that he can right all the country's wrongs, or that he will never make any mistakes. He's human, and he's only 1/3 of the federal government--checks and balances and all that. If he screws up, I'm not going to turn a blind eye. But I'm more hopeful about the future of the country than I've been in at least seven years.
As for his "flowery speeches," I'm just glad to have a president who has any kind of eloquence at all. I don't foresee 365-day desk calendars full of Obama's malapropisms and verbal gaffes any time soon. Then again, I could be misunderestimating him. Bwahaha.
Third, have I ever once said anything about the man's race being a mark for or against him? Nope. It really doesn't matter to me. It's cool for the historical significance, but otherwise it's irrelevant. He's half white, half black, and so what? His mixed heritage is a symbol if anything, a sign of the melting pot that modern America has become, and a symbol of how we're coming together to heal our wounds. But does it make him a better or a worse person? Of course not. That's the whole freaking point! *facepalm*
Finally, I don't think I'd be a very good president, but I sure as hell wouldn't lie to the country, our allies, and the world at large to get us into a war under false pretences. I wouldn't leave the mastermind of 9/11 gloating in a cave somewhere. I wouldn't condone torture. I would honor the Geneva Conventions. I wouldn't erode personal freedoms, allow warrantless wiretapping, or take the biggest budget surplus in modern history and turn it into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. I wouldn't brazenly damage the environment, or drag my heels on researching alternate sources of energy. I wouldn't coddle billionaires while thousands of people in my own country struggle to make ends meet. I wouldn't thumb my nose at the world and turn my country into a laughingstock and target of derision. I wouldn't pretend Darfur didn't exist. I wouldn't send thousands of our best, brightest and bravest citizens to be killed, maimed and scarred mentally and physically in a war we had no business fighting in the first place. I wouldn't twiddle my thumbs while thousands of Americans are without health insurance. I wouldn't refuse to admit to any wrongdoing. I would have done everything in my power to help the people of New Orleans after Katrina. I would never make people of other religions and sexual orientations feel like second-class citizens and take away their civil rights. And I sure as hell would read all my intelligence briefings, especially if I saw something with the title "Bin Laden determined to attack within United States."
I have great respect for the office of the president. I have extremely little for the corrupt blockhead who's held it for the last eight years. That's why I'm so happy to be shipping the little weasel back to Texas where he can't mess up anything bigger than the landscaping on his ranch. He's done enough damage.
I should also note, I'm also very grateful that I live in a country where I can insult the president upside down and sideways, and not get arrested or killed. Thanks to everyone from George Washington, Ben Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, the Roosevelts, Martin Luther King Jr., and my own grandfathers and great-uncles, who have fought in marbled hallways and muddy battlefields to make America a great nation--great enough, indeed, to recover from the last eight years of hell.
I was truly planning on not posting a huge anti-Bush rant in my LJ this week, but being flamed by a stranger opened the floodgates. I really did want to keep things positive and enjoy this historic, hopeful moment. Hopefully I still will, from this point forward.
My apologies to the people on my friendslist who are on the other end of the political spectrum. I usually filter my inflammatory political posts so you folks don't have to read them.
Now that I've hopefully gotten that out of my system, I'll go to bed. I plan on waking up early tomorrow to watch the inauguration coverage. It's the first day of a new age in the United States of America, and I'm very much looking forward to it.
To quote in full:
You disgusting young woman. How can you say that about your own former president? Have you ever been in place? Do you think it's easy to be the commander in chief of the United States of America? Do you think you, with your smart remarks, could do any better than him?
Barack Obama is not better than George Bush because he is black. He will make the same mistakes, and he will be just as bad, if not worse. Haven't you noticed that all he's done is make flowery speeches? Think that's going to end wars and help the economy?
I'm going to love it when you brush off any errors Obama makes in his administration. Can't even admit when your policies are wrong.
-Lauren Mullen
Can I get a resounding WTF?
Really classy, dropping into someone's journal completely out of the blue to insult me and make assumptions. Opening with an ad hominem attack is really going to make me take you seriously. Who are you? Do I know you? Or are you just going around to random LJs insulting anyone you see who has a positive attitude about our new Commander in Chief? I'm quite mystified as to what you hope to accomplish by posting this, other than making yourself look bad.
First of all, Bush is not our "former president" until noon eastern time, when Obama takes the oath of office.
Secondly, if this troll had read my other political posts (many of which are filtered, granted) she would see that I consciously tried not to blindly jump on the Obama bandwagon. (I took a similar track with Kerry before him, as well.) I reserved judgment until I had heard him speak and debate, and had read up on his positions on the issues. I found I liked the guy, and I agreed with his positions. Never have I claimed that he's perfect, that he can right all the country's wrongs, or that he will never make any mistakes. He's human, and he's only 1/3 of the federal government--checks and balances and all that. If he screws up, I'm not going to turn a blind eye. But I'm more hopeful about the future of the country than I've been in at least seven years.
As for his "flowery speeches," I'm just glad to have a president who has any kind of eloquence at all. I don't foresee 365-day desk calendars full of Obama's malapropisms and verbal gaffes any time soon. Then again, I could be misunderestimating him. Bwahaha.
Third, have I ever once said anything about the man's race being a mark for or against him? Nope. It really doesn't matter to me. It's cool for the historical significance, but otherwise it's irrelevant. He's half white, half black, and so what? His mixed heritage is a symbol if anything, a sign of the melting pot that modern America has become, and a symbol of how we're coming together to heal our wounds. But does it make him a better or a worse person? Of course not. That's the whole freaking point! *facepalm*
Finally, I don't think I'd be a very good president, but I sure as hell wouldn't lie to the country, our allies, and the world at large to get us into a war under false pretences. I wouldn't leave the mastermind of 9/11 gloating in a cave somewhere. I wouldn't condone torture. I would honor the Geneva Conventions. I wouldn't erode personal freedoms, allow warrantless wiretapping, or take the biggest budget surplus in modern history and turn it into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. I wouldn't brazenly damage the environment, or drag my heels on researching alternate sources of energy. I wouldn't coddle billionaires while thousands of people in my own country struggle to make ends meet. I wouldn't thumb my nose at the world and turn my country into a laughingstock and target of derision. I wouldn't pretend Darfur didn't exist. I wouldn't send thousands of our best, brightest and bravest citizens to be killed, maimed and scarred mentally and physically in a war we had no business fighting in the first place. I wouldn't twiddle my thumbs while thousands of Americans are without health insurance. I wouldn't refuse to admit to any wrongdoing. I would have done everything in my power to help the people of New Orleans after Katrina. I would never make people of other religions and sexual orientations feel like second-class citizens and take away their civil rights. And I sure as hell would read all my intelligence briefings, especially if I saw something with the title "Bin Laden determined to attack within United States."
I have great respect for the office of the president. I have extremely little for the corrupt blockhead who's held it for the last eight years. That's why I'm so happy to be shipping the little weasel back to Texas where he can't mess up anything bigger than the landscaping on his ranch. He's done enough damage.
I should also note, I'm also very grateful that I live in a country where I can insult the president upside down and sideways, and not get arrested or killed. Thanks to everyone from George Washington, Ben Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, the Roosevelts, Martin Luther King Jr., and my own grandfathers and great-uncles, who have fought in marbled hallways and muddy battlefields to make America a great nation--great enough, indeed, to recover from the last eight years of hell.
I was truly planning on not posting a huge anti-Bush rant in my LJ this week, but being flamed by a stranger opened the floodgates. I really did want to keep things positive and enjoy this historic, hopeful moment. Hopefully I still will, from this point forward.
My apologies to the people on my friendslist who are on the other end of the political spectrum. I usually filter my inflammatory political posts so you folks don't have to read them.
Now that I've hopefully gotten that out of my system, I'll go to bed. I plan on waking up early tomorrow to watch the inauguration coverage. It's the first day of a new age in the United States of America, and I'm very much looking forward to it.