…that key GOP figures will exploit the death of Ronald Reagan for all it’s worth in order to seal the election. I’m looking ahead to the GOP National convention and am suggesting the following odds:
A minute of silence will be called for: 1-1.
Chances that Bush will mention Reagan one minute into his speech: 5-1.
Two minutes into his speech: 3-2.
Three minutes into his speech: 3-1.
That a key speaker will exhort his comrades to win this election “for the Gipper”: 1-1.
That it will be stated Reagan would have approved of this country’s direction: 2-1.
That if Reagan were there, he would be urging you to vote for Bush: 1-1.
PAD
• 
Should be:
This is whether or not Bush will use Reagan’s name and reputation to help him in the Presidential race, of which I say why shouldn’t he?
Karen,
1.) I’m guessing Dee (who I believe is female) hates Nixon because he started the first affairmative action program and went to China.
2.) And i believe “living off the stupid Americans who buy my products” was, unfortunately, another slam at PAD.
Nope, we can’t blame some other country for Dee. Unfortunately, she’s one of ours. 🙁
Ham,
Re: subject of thread
My bad.
And, yes, it should be clear by now that Dee is quite stupid, so the revelation she thinks Nixon (or Nixton, as she puts it) was a Democrat and a hero to them.
I just thought the use of “Americans” was suspect. Usually we would just say people. To differentiate the buyers as American, one may infer another country of origin by the speaker. Also, as stated above, the grammar and spelling are not consistent with English as a first language.
I could be wrong. Dee might just be as completely ignorant as he/she shows in his/her posts. I am keeping an open mind. 🙂
“Ah yes, Nixton the democrat.”
Yep, he was. Served an incredibly shortened term of office between H.W. Bush and Clinton. Killed shortly after taking office, by the time forces pulling his being apart while still at the podium of his swearing in. (Can’t remember how to spell inaguration, argh) The Time Corps came in a patched up almost all of the rift caused by his sudden demise causing only Dee to remember him and his VP Forgan. (and apparently me too 😉 )
Anyway, I’m a conservative in Texas, I agreed with most of what Reagan tried to do in office. I don’t see PAD’s remarks as a “shot” or “tweak” of Bush supporters, just an observation of what would happen in either Convention in the same type circumstance.
jeff
“Please do not lump “righties” in with the insane rantings of DEE/DD/PADSUCKS/AMERICAN. I write for a living and can detect certain writing styles, and can tell you with absolute certainty that all of the above are the same person. The same sad, demented person.”
reminds me of a poster at star trek books board at simonsays.com named dstewart.
Karen,
Well, Dee has stated in the past that she was part of the U.S. military.
So that’s another clue, which is one more than Dee has…:)
So Dee is Micah Wright?
Mike said: “Speaking as one who got to watch the Alzheimer’s process close up, i can assure you that everything that made him what he was died a long time before his heart ceased to beat.”
Thank you, my father died from Alzheimer’s. So I daresay I have first-hand experience with this disease.
For the record, the actual death itself is still a traumatic event no matter how much you prepare for it.
Kindly do not presume that you have more experience than me in that regard. And I’ll do the same for you.
Thor
Actually, come to think of it… I’m done with this.
Speaking as someone who tries to carry themselves as a moderate, and to use a reasonable tone (but doesn’t always succeed, admittedly), I fear there’s not much call balanced behavior on the Internet. All of this just comes down to partisan mud-slinging, and who needs that right now? Pointless.
So I’m done with this board for good. I’ll enjoy the Reagan tributes this week without this scathing political nonsense — admittedly perpetrated by both sides, but still scathing.
Enjoy the Reagan tributes. Or don’t. But have some respect for those of us who’d like to mourn in peace. It’s healthier for everyone involved that way.
Thor
Wow, after reading all these posts, I have a few things to say (which may have already been mentioned before, but I don’t think so).
First, like George Carlin says, the words don’t hurt, it’s the context. If you have a friend who’s fat, but and you or even the friend calls himself fat, it’s Ok. However, if there’s some rat-bášŧárd who happens to be fat and you call him “that fat rat-bášŧárd” then it’s insulting.
Second, while I believe it’s true that the GOP will use Regan’s death to sway voters, I don’t doubt it for a second that the Democrats won’t do the same thing. “Hey! Those *political* guys are using *any subject* to sway votes! Let’s tell the *whoever they can* and get the votes to sway our way.”
Third, since this is the subject of the day, when else would people talk about it? I mean now isn’t the time to bring up the OJ Simpson trial right?
Fourth (and I have to say it), maybe someone who wants to claim a boycott should first get some real friends (not the blow up ones), then go out and actually “boycott” (ya know like protest) his stuff. Then, and only then when/if it works you can claim responsibility! Won’t that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside (instead of the warm and fuzzy feeling you get from wetting the bed-hmmm…maybe too much…..)
Vote Quimby!
While I almost always disagree with PAD on political issues, the name calling and such is ridiculous. He hasn’t bashed Reagan or anybody else for that matter. Hopefully the GOP won’t go too far with it and whatever they do will be respectful. I think it would be naive to think that nothing will happen, or that were there any liberal leaders as widely loved and admired as Reagan in the same spot that the dem’s wouldn’t do something as well.
Did Dee learn to spell from the same teacher that taught him/her history lessons???
Wait, if Dee is boycotting everything PAD writes, why is he still here?
“Am I reading that right? Is this Dee person so stupid as to be inferring that Nixon was a democrat or a hero to them?”
No, he’s implying it. We’re to infer it. Yes, we’re supposed to infer that Nixon, who actually was elected twice and was a Republican, was a one-term Democrat.
I think the safest inference is that we’re just dealing with an idiot. My first impulse was just to delete his postings, but then I figured, the more he’s allowed to speak, the more he just hangs himself. When faced with blinding ignorance and hatred, it’s better to let it spew so it can be seen for what it is rather than try and smother it and thus give it even the slightest measure of credibility.
PAD
Am I the only one who finds Dee’s insanity, poor spelling, poor grammar, lack of intellect, multiple personalities, hypocrasy, and second grade threats somewhat entertaining and amusing, despite being a waste of space and time? I guess the key is how seriously you take “it”. Oh, to whoever it was who made the comment about being surprised Dee could spell “boycott” let alone organize one, I laughed out loud and almost woke up my sleeping infant. 🙂
In the end, I suppose the more attention we give it, the more likely it is to return, and sooner or later it will stop being amusing.
Monkeys
So, Mr. David is a night owl too.
You articulated something I didn’t, about letting the ignorance and hatred hang itself. THAT’S the part I find mildly entertaining. I didn’t mean to say I think Dee should be doing stand up or anything.
Alright, I think I should go to sleep now.
Monkeys.
Class
One of the things I do is manage Peter David’s website. In a recent post called What do you think the odds are… about expected responses during the Republican convention, we’ve had such charming posts in the comments as: Ronnie…
Dee, This is “Arguments,” aka Debates.
You’re looking for “Abuse,” which is next door.
Thanks!
StS, channeling Monty Python
PAD,
I commend you for taking the high road with all of this. My respect for you has jumped a couple of notches, and it was pretty high to begin with:)
I’m a liberal Democrat, and I have a number of friends who are moderate and conservative Republicans. We get along well, even though our political opinions differ; we never see the need to call each other names or to argue.
Now, back to the world “liberal” for a second. The word was widely used to describe Teddy Roosevelt, but modern pundits have turned it into something negative. I don’t think of it as a negative word in the least; call me crazy, but I thought differences of opinion made America great. We’re allowed to think differently, but we shouldn’t be attacked for our beliefs.
“THE PAD BOYCOTT IS ON. SO FAR I GOT OVER A HUNDRED PEOPLE AND COUNTING BOYCOTTING PETER DAVID’S BOOKS, NOVELS & COMIC BOOKS. WILL I HAVE AN IMPACT? I THINK SO….”
I saw the funniest thing the other day. My poor cat, startled by a backfiring car, came running full tilt toward the house.
Unfortunately for her, the sliding glass door was closed.
You’re going to have the same impact on PADs sales as my cat had on the door.
” say what you lefties want about me. I will not respond.”
Promises, promises.
Dee, you are truly so full of šhìŧ that you need to be flushed.
Is it sad that this is the only thing I can comment on, since everything else has been said?
Anyway, “jew,” meaning to negotiate unfairly, would almost certainly be ineligible as a Scrabble word, being slang.
The worst exploit of a polotician’s death was when Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash a couple years ago.
Walter Mondale was selected by the Dems to take Wellstone’s place and run against Norm Coleman, the mayor of St. Paul.
They had a memorial service for Sen. Wellstone at the hockey arena in St. Paul. This memorial service soon turned into a politcal rally. Gov. Ventura was so offended he walked out. While people like Sen. Ted Kenedy shouted about defeting the Republican Coleman, many people switched off their TVs and vowed not to vote for Mondale. It blew up in their faces so badly and Coleman won by a huge landslide.
“(As a verb) “jew,” meaning to negotiate unfairly, would almost certainly be ineligible as a Scrabble word, being slang.”
As I’m sure the context of my question made clear, I meant it as a noun. Having grown up athiest in a predominantly Polish Catholic and Dutch Christian-Reformed neighborhood, and being of mixed racial background (half white, half Scottish), I was not aware that it was neccessary to capilatize the noun “Jew”.
I apologize if my remarks struck anyone as flippant or offensive, but I do thank the several of you who took the time to answer my question.
Double-D wrote: “say what you lefties want about me. I will not respond.”
… nah, too easy and too late.
Couple of responses, first to PAD…
Odds of Republicans using the funeral as a pep rally: 0-100
And using the memory of Reagan at the Republican Convention SHOULD be done. Granted, it will be more pronounced since his death, I can’t see any reason republicans wouldn’t do it. A major fault with Gore was his refusal to be attached to most of the 8 years of the Clinton administration during the last election. Agree or not with his policies or (lack of) character, Clinton was a very popular president and Gore shot himself in the foot by not utilizing that. Reagan was a very popular president and I can’t see the GW Bush ignoring that. Plus, GW Bush is more of a “Reagan Republican” than he is of being a “GHW Bush Republican”.
Karen (talking about Kerry not campaigning this week):
“Yes, he certainly did have a choice. He could have cancelled only on the day of the funeral.”
Actually, he didn’t have a choice. The biggest news story (so far) of the week is the death of Reagan, and will continue to be up until a few days after the funeral. All of the news services are focusing their energies on Reagan and the upcoming state funeral. There won’t be enough time in the day to cover Kerry this week, and honestly, anything he says on the campaign trail would look “anti-Reagan”. Not a good thing. Kerry going out this week would be an incredible waste of time and resources. Kerry would be best served using this week to regroup and rest up for the long run to November.
1. Gosh, PAD, are you always on? I’m honestly disappointed but since it’s your Blog I don’t feel I have the right to say anything more besides that I feel your timing could’ve been better.
2. PADSUCKS, you just belittled yourself and everyone you presumed to be speaking for with your having to result to slandering the name of the Jews to attempt to make a point.
3. Jesse Jackson, the Republican Party hasn’t done anything regarding Regan
You’re wondering why people hang around this forum if they really hate Mr. David and his views?
Very simple. They’re secretly in love with him.
They’re desperate to win his devotion away from his wife and kids and to have it concentrated on them. They’re hoping to get him irritated so that he’ll actually talk to them (something no one else does) and then, they’ll win his heart. They can’t avoid this forum. They can’t avoid the gravitational pull which is their everlasting attraction to Peter A. David.
Isn’t true love wonderful to witness? Well, maybe not in this case, but in general, wouldn’t you say it’s wonderful?
Bladestar wrote:
“Dennis, because Ronnie was a republican who beat an ineffectual-looking Jimmy Carter and then when his two terms were up helped get another Republican elected, the democrats can’t really use Reagan to their advantage…”
Sure they could (or at least try)… they could try to belittle Bush in the eyes of his supporters (and more importantly, those on the voting fence) that he is not the great conservative that Ronald Reagan was. I do believe that the NY Times tried to do something like this yesterday.
“I do believe that the NY Times tried to do something like this yesterday.”
Is there an odd better than 1-1, because that would be the chances that the NY Times would do just that.
Breck,
You DO realize that PADSUCKS and Dee are the same person, right?
It’s obvious in the writing style.
That, and no TWO people could be that stupid.
“Also, the man is supposed to BE the office and the embodiment of everything that makes America the greatest, most morally driven nation on Earth. The fact that Clinton sullied the honor of said office in an immoral act and then lied about it means that he is not to be granted the same courtesy as Regan, who did not.”
Breck thats all a matter of opinion… There are quite alot of people who really really disliked Reagan and think that he sullied the honor of our nation with his actions just as much if not more than Clintons. So by saying what you did, your turnig his death into a political statement against those who don’t see him in the same light… i.e. “liberals”
by publically lauding him as this or that in any matter his funeral has become a political message. And All parties have no choice but to cash in on it as best they can, the Republicans being the ones who can and will cash in the most. Is this bad? depends on how you look at it… is it disrespectful… depends on how you look at it.. to be either it has to be against Reagan’s wishes for what would happen as well as the wishes of his mourning family. If they do not wish for what is happening to happen then they will speak up about it… ITs late and i’m not clearly sure what my point was or if i ever got to it… so i’ll stop my stupid rambling now…
Mr Tichy, regarding your use of “landslide” in connection to Norm Coleman’s election: Please do your research before posting.
Coleman was not elected in anything resembling a “landslide”.
From the Minnesota Secretary of State’s website:
Green RAY TRICOMO 10119 0.45
Independence JIM MOORE 45139 2.00
Republican NORM COLEMAN 1116697 49.53
Democratic-Farmer-Labor WALTER F. MONDALE 1067246 47.34
Democratic-Farmer-Labor PAUL WELLSTONE 11381 0.50
Constitution MIRO DRAGO KOVATCHEVICH 2254 0.10
Write-In ED MCGAA** 7 0.00
Write-In “ÐÍÇK” FRANSON** 3 0.00
Write-In WRITE-IN (OTHER) 1790 0.08
Write-In MICHELLE MARIE HARBECK** 3 0.00
Fewer than 50,000 votes separated Coleman from Mondale, hardly the stuff of which landslides are made.
Furthermore, Mondale was not the Party’s nominee during the Wellstone Memorial; he was presumed to be the front-runner by the pundits. There IS a difference. Mondale was not selected by the Party until the day AFTER the service, so it would have been incredibly difficult for anyone to have switched off their TVs in disgust, vowing not to vote for Mondale (as you suggest). Mondale merely stated that he would be willing to serve if asked.
Leave the lack of research to the likes of Ann Coulter.
Jerome Maida,
Oops. Had it not been 4am when I wrote that, I might’ve realized. Sorry.
AW,
I don’t want to get into a flame session with you, but I have to say that by your logic, if I had said anything about his Presidency, good or bad, I would be turning his funeral into a political message. All I did, in response to Jesse Jackson, was to point out why people are going to look at the two differently X number of years from now. I mean, let’s be honest, you haven’t heard any stories about Regan getting any pizzas delivered to the oval office, have you?
And, oh gosh, that was just my opinion? What has every other person posted on here other than such? I guess that just because I think that the man who is supposed to represent us to the rest of the world as the entity that we presume ourselves to be (honest, moral, loyal, worthy of respect and able to give it, etc.) should be as such. And I can “…publicly laud…” as you so put it, because he was a man who I admired, especially as a guy who is working to become a pilot in the US Air Force. How exactly does do I turn his funeral into a political message by doing that? I didn’t say anything about voting for Bush, or voting Republican, or Democrat, or Kerry, or Green (they’re sorta in it, right?).
Though, reading through my post again, I do see that I didn’t accurately cite my work (a problem which I hopefully didn’t do on this paper I just spent the whole night writing) so I could see where it could be misread. If that’s the case, disregard the above, and accept my deepest most sincere, Shaka Brah.
BZZZTTTT! Sorry Karen, wrong answer, thanks for playing!
Words do not incite ANYONE! Only the person committing violence can move themselves to violence. If you choose to be offended by certain words, especially to violence, that is your own ignorant fault.
Don’t blame others for YOUR lack of self-control…
Thor, don’t let the door hit you in the ášš on the way out. Do yourself a favor and if that loose a grip, just don’t read the politcal stuff here, and stick to the other topics. Depriving yourself of reading PADs blog just because of a few posts shows a remarkable lack of reasoning…
Joeseph Finn, I checked in in the Scrabble dictionary, but don’t know about the latest version of the Scrabble dictionary, this one’s about 5-10 years old.
One further note concerning the Wellstone memorial: it was just that, a memorial, and took place with the full consent and endorsement and participation of his son and other surviving family members and their friends. So they chose to celebrate a life rather than wallow in sorrow over a death. Considering that the Limbaughs and O’Reilly’s that took them to task for that seem to revere the death and pain of others, it really puts the event into perspective. I think *true* conservatives would’ve stepped aside and said “let’em blow off steam in their own manner.”
If the Republicans want to make hay from Reagan’s “Legacy” in a similar matter, it ain’t no skin off *my* nose. But they’d better get the consent of the one person who still matters: Nancy.
BTW, the actual funeral service had taken place days earlier, and was a more somber and private affair, a fact that received little attention.
Peter, do you honestly think for Bush to mention Reagan in his speech would be exploitative? If the Republicans sincerely believe Reagan was a great man, and that his presidency is something from which they can draw inspiration and example, then where
So when one black calls anothe black a “Nìggër” you’re offended too? Luigi, I thought you were smarter than that….
Luigi: I think Reagan was a “great” man in the Gatsby sense — larger than life, as was Kennedy and arguably Clinton (although I think his “greatness” is in how he connects to people on their level — more an extreme form of popularity, which is a little different from Kennedy and Reagan).
I would not argue the merits of Kennedy or Reagan’s presidencies (though Reagan’s was more impressive than Kennedy’s at least in the sense that he lived longer and was able to do more).
I will say this: Seeing Reagan’s speeches again made me realize how utterly… ordinary our current president is. Reagan had a very Washingtonian air to him. After the Challenger disaster, I was moved by his comments that “the future belongs not to the fainthearted but to the brave.” I can’t imagine what GWB would say in a current situation.
Reagan and Kennedy’s deaths resonated with people across political spectrums, which is encouraging. Nixon destroyed the office of the presidency, and it tainted both Ford and Carter. Reagan, to his credit, redeemed it. Politics aside, that was a tremendous accomplisment.
The political sniping from the right and the left disturbs me because I think it has lessened the presidency. If the office is to mean anything, then that person must be *our* president. Once the election is over, the person who won represents the nation and the best of us. If he’s just one party’s president, while the other side detests him (the case with Clinton and Bush), then he’s not the leader he should be.
I hope that sometime in my lifetime the presidency can be salvaged.
SER said: ” If he’s just one party’s president, while the other side detests him (the case with Clinton and Bush), then he’s not the leader he should be. “
I don’t think that’s a reflection on the president, that’s a reflection on the citizens.
And let’s not forget Bush wasn’t elected by the people. Gore won the people’s vote, GWB won through the archaic nonsense of the electoral college (an election system where 20 people voting in one big state could effectively nullify miliions of votes in a dozen of the smallest states…)
We’re taught in school that America is a democracy but we repeatly have the lie of it all displayed….
Luigi Novi: Again, why is this political gain?
Because it’s Bush’s re-election website? (As in the banner title of the webpage).
I don’t disagree that Bush is entitled to publicly honour Reagan, but I would question wether putting it up as the front page is the best place – unless someone is looking for political gain.
I am starting to wonder, though, how many people who are offended by the use of “jew” as a verb, don’t even think twice about saying someone got “gypped”…
– Jonathan the Proud Honky 🙂
If the Republicans sincerely believe Reagan was a great man, and that his presidency is something from which they can draw inspiration and example, then where
I am starting to wonder, though, how many people who are offended by the use of “jew” as a verb, don’t even think twice about saying someone got “gypped”…
You know, I never made that connection before.
I think part of the problem is that, generally, the word “Jew” is often used and seen as a negative, regardless.
I mean, at times it seems like you can’t even say “Yes, PAD is a Jew” without it coming across as an insult. You have to say “PAD is Jewish”, as if that carries a more proper meaning when either phrase is correct.
And I think alot of that has to do with history.
Regarding whether calling someone “Jew” is normal or offensive, it all depends on the context. If it’s casually tossed back and forth between two Jewish people who know each other, I don’t think it’s offensive. If you shout it to a person because that’s all you know about them (“Which way to the library, Jew?”), that could be offensive because you’re defining them solely by one characteristic, instead of learning more about them (here I think of MONTY PYTHON & THE HOLY GRAIL: “I didn’t know you were called Dennis” “Well you didn’t bother to find out, did you?”) or using a neutral term (“Which way to the library, mister/miss?”)
As for the idea that words are not offensive in themselves (argued by, among others, George Carlin), I have to disagree there. Some words are so loaded with anger and vileness — “ņìggër” and “çûņŧ” leap to mind — that using them with anyone but the closest, most understanding of friends can get you in trouble. These words contain a world of degredation, a history of treating people as inferior, and to think they’re as meaningless/meaningful as any other word is naive. As writers know, words have power; and some words are far more powerful than others.
And Luigi Novi, while you (and others) did a great job on the Dee/PADsucks/inbreeding result poster, it’s a bit bathetic to dedicate so much time and exactness to so little a person.
Incidentally, why do you think that person posts here? Do liberals go to conservative websites to complain about how biased they are, then threaten boycotts? (I don’t, but that’s just me.)
And for the person who “called” me on Ann Coulter’s TREASON, I believe her premise was that people who disagree with the current Bush are jeopardizing the country and committing treason by weakening this great nation. I don’t own the book, but I’ll be happy to look up her definition. If anyone knows what she considers treason in that book, feel free to chime in.
Considering the magnitude of what the textbook definition of Treason is, Ann Coulter is an (all pardons to Dan Ackroyd from back in the days he was funny) “ignorant šlûŧ”.
Disagreeing with and speaking out agains Der Furher Bush is NOT treason by any stretch of the imagination.
Come on folks.. why do you think the Republican wanted their convention in NY.. to exploit the sympathy and Patriotism of 9/11 Of course their going to exploit the president that introduced us to the term HOMELESSNESS. To the President that ignored AIDS for years. To the President that said make the rich richer and they’ll higher more poor people to work for them. The best part is will they allow Nancy to speak, and will she rain on their parade and talk about the need for Stem Cell research again.
Gypped, as in “dirty, stinking, thieving Gypsies” (at least according to Jerri Blank)? Yeah, I hadn’t ever considered that.
B
Luigi Novi: “Reagan never committed an immoral act while in office? He never sold arms to our enemies and tried to cover it up from Congress?”
As I recall, even though then President Regan pled ignorance to any illegal activity perpetrated by his administration, he went on the record, saying, “I am accountable.” As opposed to President Clinton’s ultra secular stance, “That depends on what your definition of sex is.”
Up to this point, I’ve only had to defend myself, which, in light of the former President’s passing, I’m going to keep that way by not posting on this topic again. I’ve said my peace; do with it what you will.
Breck, the correct quote was, “That depends on what your definition of ‘is’ is.” It was his smart-ášš Southern-lawerly way of treating the question of whether “you are now having an affair”, by saying that the format of the question implied that there might, in fact, be a woman in the witness box at that very moment, humming away.
Mostly what I recall hearing from Reagan during the Iran-Contra thing was “I do not recall.” (And, of course, George Sr., former head of the CIA, claiming he was “out of the loop” – who the hëll was supposed to be running the country at the time, the Hardy Boys’ Evil Twins?)