Ten clueless white "Christian" guys.

[Cyrano]

They were even dressed alike for what can laughingly be called a "debate." But there they were, standing up there spewing ignorance, hatred, xenophobia, homophobia and anything else they thought the Republican "base" wanted to hear. I don't know which is worse, -- the base of brain-dead know nothings, or those 10 miserable excuses for human beings trying to pander to their every whim.

There was a time not too long ago when spouting the kind of crap we heard the other night would have been unthinkable. It's a measure of how far our society has fallen that these men are considered respectable (not to mention sane). The next Republican "debate" will probably be a contest to see who can bite the most heads off live chickens.

Assuming our next president is a Dem, there's a mountain of damage that needs to be undone. But I have no idea how he or she can go about repairing the damage that's been done to plain common decency. Perhaps the only answer is to exile all Republicans to Elba, or Siberia, (or maybe even Crawford Texas).

[Lerkfish]

1. Rosalyn Carter was right.

Right after Reagan was elected, she noted " the Reagans have made us comfortable with our prejudices".

she was villified for that, but she was prescient.

[Nikki Stone1]

8. I miss Rosalyn

One of the best.

[Cronus Protagonist]

2. Oddly enough, I know of one "Jewish" guy who would have fit right in there

I'm talking of Joe "kissyface" Lieberman, of course. And I bet his phone number is in every one of these guys cell phones too...

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bryant69]

4. Pretending about religion?

What would you have our candidates do, particularly since the three most credible claim to believe in religion?

When you say "Most of us know it" do you mean most of us here at DU (where you might be right) or most people in American society (where you are certainly wrong)?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Tesha]

10. How about if they at least refrain from "blessing" us?

How about if they at least refrain from "blessing" us?

Last Saturday, at the New Hampshire State Democratic
convention, we heard directly or indirectly from essentially
all of the candidates for President.

Exactly two candidates (their surrogtaes actually, they were
two of the three who were too busy to show up in person)
invoked God; care to guess which two?

People who believe in stuff that simply isn't true will
be the death of us all.

Tesha

[bryant69]

11. Thank God there are no Religionists here at DU, eh?

Oh wait.

That CNN/Sojourners society thing must have really infuriated you.

Bryant

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bryant69]

14. Well it's nice to have all our cards on the table.

I respectfully disagree with you (and I apologize for typing fast and misspelling words, I'm sure it's further proof of your intellectual superiority to me).

Bryant

[Progressive_In_NC]

15. And I think Atheism is also a religion

1. They believe in something you cannot prove beyound a doubt.
2. They contiuously work hard to prove all other religions wrong.
3. The group has people more zealous than any I've ever seen in the Methodist Church.


Atheism is like fundamentalist Agnosticism. So you'd be the fundies of the no-god movement I guess.

[bryant69]

17. I suppose if you want to be offensive to Atheists.

You should go ahead and have that opinion.

Bryant

[Goblinmonger]

18. Wrong

Atheism is a lack of belief in any gods. Period.

1. The point is I DON'T believe in gods. I have nothing to prove. You do because you make the positive claim.

2. I do not work at all to prove religions wrong. I do get into discussion here, but have never gone out of my way to have a real-life discussion with anyone about religion--to risky given the hatred for atheists in society.

3. Zealous? What are you talking about? Because Harris, Dawkins and Hitchens actually talk about their atheism that somehow makes them zealous? So you are zealous because you talk about your religion? Give me a break. I realize people like you are happier with atheists when they just shut up about it, but that doesn't make them zealots when they actually do have the gall to mention they don't believe in god.

Here's your task. If you don't respond to it, I will just right you off as another of the ad hom tossing idiots:

Find a credible definition of "fundamentalist" for me and tell me, with examples, how an atheist could EVER meet that definition. Good luck. (Hint: They can't because there is no dogma nor "book" for the atheist to be "fundamental" about.)

[Progressive_In_NC]

19. No actually I enjoy a healthy debate about the subject

But most of the time I get a bunch of sarcastic jokes about how stupid I am for having my faith.

Sorry, I realized that I may have sounded like I was singling you out here, but I've found that debating religion here with some of the atheist folks is completely impossible, because they've made up their mind that Christians are just plain stupid.

[Tesha]

21. Perhaps its impossible because half the discussion gets deleted as "offensive" to the religionists?

> but I've found that debating religion here with some
> of the atheist folks is completely impossible...

Or perhaps its impossible because half the discussion
gets deleted as "offensive"? (NB: Not necessarily to
you, but obviously, to someone.)

Tesha

[spoony]

31. Or you could avoid

calling every person who holds religious views deranged, mentally ill, dangerous to society, etc. Maybe if you discussed things like an adult without such over-the-top bigotry you wouldn't run into that problem.

[Tesha]

36. I used to use mild language; the result was the ascendency of...

I, along with many others, used to use mild language;
the result was the ascendency of the Religious Reich.
Now I call 'em like I see 'em.

Tesha

[spoony]

37. That only shows us all how you "see 'em":

like a bigot.

[Tesha]

38. Golly, I just feel so bad now that you've said that...

Well, no, not really. I'd say more, but then my
post would be deleted to protect people's easily-
damaged feelings.

Tesha

[Nunyabiz]

20. as usual dead wrong

Atheism is exactly the opposite of religion in every sense of the word.

1. Atheist actually follow pure reason and logic and everything they believe is backed by evidence not "faith".

In fact it is those suffering from religious insanity that believe in something they can NOT prove at all let alone beyond any doubt.

2. We don't have to, all religions do such a great job of that themselves plus the added nicety of watching feuding religions kill each other off in delusional efforts to prove their god is the only true god....LOL

3. Yeah right, I forgot about all the Atheist dancing with snakes, starting weird death cults like Heavens Gate, Jones town etc committing ritual suicide to prove their non belief in something that doesn't exist, and one of my favorite things Atheist do is when Atheist woman murder their own children by drowning them or bashing their skulls in with rocks claiming that Darwin told them to. DOH!


Atheism is just factual reality, it is the natural state of being human since every human being ever born was born an Atheist and only after being brainwashed by authority figures do humans lose their rational thinking and succumb to the absurdity of religious dogma.

[spoony]

32. Think a lot of yourself, don't you?

From what I've seen, it isn't warranted. Stating your opinion as tautology is a far better indicator of mental unsoundness than faith ever could be. I especially love your insistence that atheists don't engage in any untoward behaviour that is, presumably, caused by religious belief in your mind.

[immoderate]

25. Four for four!

Nothing you said is demonstrable. You should look up some words like religion and fundamentalism so you won't misuse them in the future.

Atheists have nothing to prove. It's religions that spend their time trying to prove each other wrong. But since no one has ever proved his religion to be right, there is no need for atheists to do any such thing. Zealous? When was the last time an atheist knocked on your door on a Saturday morning and tried to convert you or get a donation out of you?

What's beyond doubt is that no one who professes any religion has presented the slightest evidence for its validity. Can you "prove beyond a doubt" that the sun will come up tomorrow? Your terminology and reasoning is inappropriate.

There is no "no-god movement." It is a no-ignorant superstition movement. It came in with the Enlightenment. It works the same way on astrology, black cats, broken mirrors, the Tooth Fairy, Nostradamus, and the Rain Dance.

Your statements have no validity without some serious torture of the language.

--IMM

[Progressive_In_NC]

27. Thank you so much for proving my point

There is no "no-god movement." It is a no-ignorant superstition movement. It came in with the Enlightenment. It works the same way on astrology, black cats, broken mirrors, the Tooth Fairy, Nostradamus, and the Rain Dance.
===================================================================

there is no point in discussion after comments like this one.

[Nunyabiz]

28. well that's true

because he is absolutely correct and you haven't a leg to stand on.

[immoderate]

29. There might be if you had a valid point.

You can't dispute anything I have said.

Are you going to go into the, "I won't dignify those statements..." bullshit? :rofl: :rofl:

--IMM

[spoony]

33. Yet for all the comparison

I don't see authors launching heavily-hyped books attempting to eviscerate the tooth fairy. For people with "nothing to prove," Harris and his ilk certainly do devote effort to that thing you say they don't do.

[immoderate]

34. Don't misunderestimate the power of the Tooth Fairy

If a cult of "Tooth Fairyists" were to take over a major political party, and claim that this country was founded on the principles of Tooth Fairyism, and all of our policies should reflect deference to the edicts of the blessed Tooth Fairy,

then,

I think Sam Harris might write a book about it. :)

Think it can't happen here? Vigilance!

--IMM

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[siligut]

5. What happened to leading people to a better way?

Do they pander due to lack of leadership ability, or have they lost the capacity to lead because they’ve sold out to pandering?

[moondust]

6. These guys are scary.

Apparently they all think it's okay to go around invading countries that pose no real threat to satisfy their desires for "regime change." It just needs to be "managed" better. And torture "enhanced interrogation techniques" is are okay, no problem. Heaven help us.

[MistressOverdone]

7. Are you talking about the Republican or the Democratic debate?

[Cyrano]

9. Surely you jest.

[China_cat]

12. The next Republican "debate" will probably be a contest

to see who can bite the most heads off live chickens.

What? And lose the PETA vote?:sarcasm:

[Orsino]

22. Do it in the name of Heaven...

...you can justify it in the end.

[mondo obscurius]

23. All it takes

All it takes to have credibility these days is a fat bank account, a business suit and a bible. For many people apparently, the animus of lockstep ignorance and indifferentism is perceived as strength. Somehow these memes have taken hold despite the glaring failures of the theocrat authoritarians. These debates are just theater for the groundlings -- to keep us/them complacent. Contemporary politics is nothing more than a shopping channel for complacency. Not one of the candidates on either side is addressing the real crises we're facing on so many fronts.

[Cyrano]

24. I have to agree.

H.L. Mencken said "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people." But I think even he might be taken aback by the degree of indifference and ignorance that is today's norm.

[Unvanguard]

26. And all straight, too - or so they say, anyway.

It should not come as a surprise. The Republican Party, explicitly and implicitly, is the party of bigotry, and while it is willing to have a few black faces in the Cabinet and on the Supreme Court to pay lip service to equality, fundamentally it still represents the class of straight white males who seek to defend their privilege against the challenges directed against it.

[opihimoimoi]

30. Most Sane PUBs WOULD KNOW BETTER than to run in 08...

Its 10 DELUSIONAL Republicans I see up there....together we get to see/hear/their BS....its not gonna sell but there they are...trying their best to con us.

[Sapere aude]

35. I can't wait until they add Keyes then they can do the debates at the Comedy Store.

I saw clips of the repuke debate and wondered what the intelligent repukes think about all that pandering to the lowest common denominator.