wtf has happened to the DU I Loved?!?

[hfojvt]

16. perhaps we need a GDP

although as I remember it GD was sorta over-run by primary threads until some people objected and all the primary stuff was moved to GDP (and I followed it).

GD has sorta always followed the TV. Thus if the M$M features a bunch of stories about Israel, the GD would have a flame war about Israel. If the M$M features a bunch of stories about Terry Schiavo, then GD would have a flame war about Schiavo. And so on.

It does seem like we broke that pattern. We have not had a good flame war in GD ever since we went to DU3. Did we leave a bunch of flame-warriors in DU2? Is it the new jury system discouraging flame wars? Was it the flame wars that made this place lively?

It is hard for me to put my finger on it, but something DOES seem lacking nowadays in GD. It may be just the usual pining for the glory days of memory. But it seems like we have definitely lost some good writers with the absence of H2Oman, Time For Change, and MadFloridian.

Of course, some of the livliness of 2009-2011 was of the theme "Obama sucks" and much of that seems to have been squelched (and rightly so) for the election season. Still, there is more hatred/fear of Romney than there is excitement about Obama. And much of the attacks on Romney lack eloquence or substance and are just of the "God, I hate Romney, he's such a liar and a doodyhead. How can anybody who is not insane possibly vote for him?" Something which has a .000004% chance of ever swaying an undecided voter.

But of course, it is not like I am doing any better. It's hard for me to get excited about a choice between Ryan and Simpson-Bowles, and between "all of the Bush tax cuts extended" or the new Democratic position "99.6% of the Bush tax cuts extended". To bring back an old complaint - a .4% difference is NOT "change you can believe in". It's a major betrayal, and I happen to be quite pissed off about it.