I gave the moderators instructions to delete inappropriate posts about Tony Snow.

So, instead of creating extra work for them, it would be nice if people would voluntarily refrain from posting inflammatory crap that makes us all look like jerks.

Thank you for your understanding.

Skinner
DU Admin

Whether the man was good or bad and I think we all know where he stood, pissing on his grave just makes us look like the jerks we purport not to be like.

This is very much appreciated.

Thank you again.

Thanks.

It's been getting ugly around here lately.

That's why we love you, Skinner!

That helps alot.

We don't need to take the FOX news route. Civility and respect should come above all else. We should never bring ourselves to the level of Republicans. Respect those who have passed...

If he dies, is there such a thing as an inappropriate comment?

n/t.

that which has no life?

sorry i just watched that episode of south park... and man it scared me, i know people like that.

He'd come for Cheney's soul and leave empty handed. Sorry. Had to throw that in there.

there is plenty of competition for that particular dishonor. I abhor this stupid trend of reaching for extreme comparisons in order to demonstrate one's political bona fides, and support Skinner in this.

Dancing on the graves of the recently deceased is deeply immature and makes the moderate members of DU look bad. There is nothing impressive about crowing over someone's death by illness; all it shows is how intimidated you were by the person to begin with.

I thought it was the entire site?

Did they smack of "drama"? Of "hyperbole"?

I check out other sites and this site has the most filthy language I have ever seen. We already look like mental midgets with all of the people who can't make a point without crude lingo.

Or, in fact, have any fellow feeling with anyone on this site sufficiently well-entrenched to use the word "we", such is your obvious displeasure.

Huh?

http://www.oneplusyou.com/bb/blog_rating


Just put in a URL, and it gives you a rating!


For example, this thread right here is rated



However, the home page is rated



Welcome aboard!

and saying that we're fucking pissed just accentuates it all the more.

Just fuckin' with ya!

Edited to add: If only Bill Hicks and George Carlin had watched what they said..............................

Perish the thought!

I say put Lieberman in there for a few months, he seems willing to sell his own mother to the glue factory for the privelage . . .

If Cheney dies, I won't be very tasteful about it, I'm afraid.

I think he's the real power behind the throne.

enabler.

and killing of our troops.

So?

Rp

Coupled with our redoubling our efforts to oust or impeach the remaining few.

He ain't worth it. Walk away.

This is a situation in which I would hope people would show a little restraint, but this being the Internets means a few will forget they're supposed to be adults.

Maybe you didn't like the guy - I was no huge fan myself - but showing a bit of sympathy toward his family is the decent thing. We're supposed to be the party of compassion: let's act like it.

Net Nanny rant off.

we are supposed to be more compassionate, perhaps our group isn't as compassionate as we thought. The grave dancing really makes me sick.

It is too bad Tony lost his fight at only 53 years of age.

Bush was darn lucky to have him for the short time he did.

I expect there's more "fellow-feeling" for Snow here than there is anywhere in the White House.

when you don't appreciate the work someone chooses to be a part of, and they pass, it's best to smile and move on!

I had planned to stay away from DU for a couple of days until things calmed down. I couldn't bear another russert-style hate fest.

Good on you, Skinner.

I've always thought we were a Party of compassion.

I understand if people don't want to mourn a person, but what's wrong with just refraining from posting hateful thoughts? The person is gone now.

I love DU, but I hate it every time a person dies.

I was no fan of Tony Snow, by a long shot, but this is the right thing to do.

I didn't care for the man's politics, but my heart goes out to his loved ones.

Julie

I was a little afraid to log in to after I saw that Mr. Snow had died.

Thanks for this.

There are degrees of evil.

I wasn't one damn bit sorry that he died. I wish, and still do, that it had been sooner. Like, for instance, when he was in the Senate and had real power and influence.

Oh well...

no seriously, i am

But he was a person with a hate-filled heart(?) okay whatever that circulatory organ pumping blood through his body was, he damn sure didn't have a heart. I don't feel that same kind of antipathy towards Tony Snow. They were too very different kinds of political animals. I was okay with slamming Helms-he deserved it in both life and death. Snow? I don't think he deserves to have hatred piled upon him the way I've seen it piled on at other websites who shall remain anonymous.

There's a difference between someone dying at 86 and at 53.

That would have been 1975! Imagine all the damage to this country that would have been avoided.

Just like the damage we avoided with Snow dying when he did. Nothing sad about that.

I might have felt relief at his death. Relief; not gloating.

In fact, I was a child in 1975; hadn't heard of Helms; but had just heard the news of Maggie Thatcher becoming leader of the Tory Party - and knew even THEN that she'd be a disaster for us. (I called her the 'Thatcher Rat'.) Maybe if she'd died it would have saved us from a disastrous mess - or maybe not; we might have elected someone just as awful in her place.

But I don't think someone like Tony Snow was on the level of Helms, or Maggie, or Bush. He supported bad things, but didn't instigate them. I honestly think if he'd never been born, it wouldn't really have made much difference to the outcome of American politics. The war, etc., would have still happened.

But how does it change the content of what they did before they died? If Helms had died earlier would his slate have been wiped clean and all of his sins forgiven and swept under a rug?

It's not incorrect to say that Tony Snow did bad things while alive, rather it isn't necessary to gloat today. He died and he died with something awful. His family is in pain. You don't need to ignore his wrongdoing to avoid gloating. They are different things.

As far as Tony goes, even though I did not like the man politics I feel for his family. He was so young and he took the fight to the end. May he rest in peace.

I don't think it's so much about degrees of evil as criticism is more appropriate when someone dies of natural causes in their 80's than when someone dies of cancer in their 50's.

but i can't see myself feeling bad if Bush , Cheney or Rove were to suddenly die.

Redstone

I think it is fair to ask people to respect those that die, whether it is a progressive hero or a right wing wacko and I am not saying Mr. Snow was either. There is never any excuse for “inflammatory crap” and the moderators already keep an eye open for that. Or at least they should.

No one should have said “inflammatory crap” about Mr. Russert under any circumstances. However, I believe that reacting to the canonization of him by the corp-media was/is fair.

While I agree the mods should strike inflammatory posts, I don’t agree that all negative posts should be deleted. That’s a slippery slope.

If we are free to speak out about our feelings re. Nixon and Reagan then what is the criteria? Is there a grace period after death?

To me the key is “inflammatory crap”. We should always “refrain from posting inflammatory crap that makes us all look like jerks.”

I hope the mods don’t throw out the baby with the bath water.

This is not a slippery slope.

above that agrees with Skinner. All I say is that the moderators need to be judicious in there deletions. Inflammatory posts should always be deleted, has nothing to do with Mr. Snow. But negative posts that are opinion but not inflammatory should remain. I hope that helps. I may not have been clear.

And IMO deleting posts, although some times necessary, is always a slippery slope.

peace~

Recommended

otherwise i wouldn't even know he'd died. DU is my source for the news.

ain't crying, ain't crowing. i'll be that age next month.

DU's been rife with whackos lately... the GDP loon force has spilled over into every other forum.

He served just 17 months as press secretary, a tenure interrupted by his second bout with cancer. In 2005 doctors had removed his colon and he began six months of chemotherapy. In March 2007 a cancerous growth was removed from his abdominal area and he spent five weeks recuperating before returning to the White House.

"All of us here at the White House will miss Tony, as will the millions of Americans he inspired with his brave struggle against cancer," Bush said

It's about friggin time the boom was lowered on
that crap!

I feel bad for the mods at times like this. The worst I had to deal with when I was a mod was April Fool's Day. They have my sympathy and support.

I feel sad for Tony and his family.

Now, Helms, I could understand some harsh words. Not Snow. He
seemed like a nice guy, whether you liked his politics or not.

RIP, Tony.

I may not have agreed with him, but Tony Snow retained a sense of humor and I actually enjoyed hearing from him, unlike previous and present White House Press Secretaries. I feel terrible for his family, since I also lost my Dad to cancer. A very nice post, thank you.

Rhiannon

I'm so sorry about your dad. My husband lost his favorite uncle to stomach cancer at 54.
He was a nice guy too.

My Dad was 62, but still way too young, throat cancer. So I absolutely understand about your uncle, and sure sympathize with you and your husband, and certainly with Tony Snow's family, as well. I don't understand the bashing threads here on DU, which Skinner asked to be removed. Who would have the dark heart to do that? We're progressives here. I'd never bash Tony Snow, since, as you said, he was a nice guy, hard to dislike. Best wishes from

Rhiannon

It's too bad that people do not give some thought to what they post, but just throw up any vitriol to make them feel better.

...I assure you if the situations were reversed the 'right' wouldn't be giving us the same 'out of respect for the dead' behavior. Frankly, there are things that we do in life that reduces, and in some instances, eliminates the degree of respect we are entitled to when we die. As far as I'm concerned everyone associated with enabling this criminally disastrous regime to do it's work has long ago lost any of my respect - in life or death.

So I guess it's an 'If you can't say anything nice' thing? OK then, 'Deep down I think Snow knew better and was just doing it for the money'...Is that nice enough?

At first it seems ban-worthy to hatefully mock fellow Americans like Russert or Snow within a week of death.

We cannot know the pain that Republican policies have caused every person who posts here. Of course there are trolls but PERSONALLY slamming others because of hateful speech seems an insult to my sense of community as well. How outsiders see us may be important to some degree but how we see ourselves is more important, right? Flag hateful speech, but do it for community not for outsiders. Point out hateful speech is inappropriate if you must respond while awaiting a moderator.

Thank you, Skinner, for doing what you can to keep this a civil community and make it more than just a place to vent.

on what we discuss

Skinner didn't say we couldn't discuss Tony Snow. Nor did he say we needed to say only nice things out of respect. He said not to be assholes and verbally jump up and down over the guy's untimely demise. Not a difficult concept for me but so many have misunderstood so I guess it bears repeating.

Good show, old bean.

That they can't even pause to think of this man's wife and kids.

Although death doesn't change how one lived their life. If he were still alive would we be able to criticize him?

Cancer plays no favorites; my family knows from very personal experience. In these kinds of situations, our compassion for each other as human beings should transcend politics.

thing.

Thank you.