Posted with a warning.

[Roberta X]

We have a third party, Juan Carlos; and a fourth one and a fifth one. But nobody will vote for Libertarians, Greens (IMO: yeech) or Constitution Party candidates becuase they don't win elections; and they don't win elections because nobody will vote for them. Of course, the requirements to get on the ballot for any party but the Big Two are very tricky in most states -- gosh, bipartisanship in action.

For those folks who think Republicans are the key to gun rights, let me introduce Mr. Rudy Guliani, Republican former mayor of NYC. He's far from the only one. The GOP is generally slightly less bad on guns than the Democrats. That's not the same as good.

But for mindless drivel anti-gun propaganda, you need a Democrat or something else to the left of center. Hey, at least they admit to their bias....

 

[Esquire M Busterbury]

Am I crazy for thinking that a pro gun democrat would clean house? Especially one from the south? Holy crap, there it it. The magic formula for the '08 elections!

 

[mvpel]

Just about...but not all. The Republican Party has the right-wing religious extremist market all sewn up. You know, the guys that want to destroy the first ammendment.

The First Amendment which prohibits restrictions on the free exercise of religion? That one? Oh, maybe you're talking about "no law respecting establishment of religion" - can you point to a single proposal to establish a tax-funded official government church from the Republican party, anywhere, at any time in the last 60 years?

 

[MeekAndMild]

mvpel, the guy is entitled to his opinions. While he's opining I'm waiting for him to support his unsubstantiated assertion about extremism.

JuanCarlos, allow me to serve you up a small helping of crow. Chew it well and don't choke on the bones.

 

[azurefly]

Poor gullible young people with no hopes or dreams except for a perverted idiology that promises virgins and riches.

It's funny, I got to this line and thought, okay, why aren't they chastising America's black leaders for allowing this kind of lifestyle to continue to be revered, elevated and aspired to?

Seems much more the fault of bad role models, horrendous values, and glorification of the "hiphop lifestyle" than those who sell guns or defend gun rights.

But what, we were expecting the Village Voice's ultra leftists to be insightful and honest?


-azurefly

 

[JuanCarlos]

The First Amendment which prohibits restrictions on the free exercise of religion? That one? Oh, maybe you're talking about "no law respecting establishment of religion" - can you point to a single proposal to establish a tax-funded official government church from the Republican party, anywhere, at any time in the last 60 years?

Yes, because the founding of a tax-funded official government church is the only public policy that could ever violate the first ammendment. I wonder why so much has been written and said regarding the establishment and free exercise clauses, and so many cases have been tried at every level of the court system, when the criteria is so cut and dry. Maybe you should call the Supreme Court up and remind them.

Double to you.

JuanCarlos, allow me to serve you up a small helping of crow. Chew it well and don't choke on the bones.

Yeah, he's a real winner. Then again, party affiliation isn't everything and not everybody in either party sees eye to eye. It's more about the broad platform adopted by the majority of the party.

And, to be fair, he's a Senator from West Virginia. But yeah, that crow was one nasty Byrd.

As far as Republican support for religious extremism goes, they've been consistantly pushing an agenda for the religious right for a while now. On issues such as school prayer, creationism, gay marriage, abortion/contraception, and more the Republican party has, as a whole, adopted a more conservative Christian standpoint so as to earn the votes of religious extremists...or at least try to.

Yes, there are exceptions as with anything. There are Democrats that promote (and vote) Christian values, and Republicans that don't. The line hasn't always been clear cut. However, please don't tell me you can't what I'm talking about when I say the Republicans have, in recent history, been trying to pander to Christian voters, especially the more conservative ones.

In fairness perhaps I shouldn't have responded in kind to calvinike and painted them with such a broad brush...it's rarely as clear cut as that. After all, my pro-gun Governor is a Democrat. I just get sick of people acting like only Democrats pander to extremists.

 

[MeekAndMild]

But yeah, that crow was one nasty Byrd.

I wish we had an icon for really nasty puns.

IMHO the Republicans are a coalition party which range from moderate left to very conservative with most being moderately conservative and the Democrats are a coalition party which ranges from pure New England communist to right wing wackos like Byrd with the majority just being parasitic lawyers. But then what do I know? The only important thing here is that statistically more Republicans are less toxic gun grabbers than more Democrats.