Talk politics.

i'm just suspecting it's another case of this:

not that it makes it less, i dunno, meaningful what he tried to say.

From:

That's really not fair at all.

From:

that depends on who we're talking about.

it's certainly not fair to people like nancy pelosi. or for that matter anybody who has had to put up with this nonsense for so long, since all the eliminationist rhetoric in the world will magically disappear if one guy says something nice and you can produce an eight year-old picture of a guy calling george bush hitler.

the republican party has gone out of its way to make debate and compromise impossible. when you convince everyone who votes for you that "the other guy" literally murders babies and wants to sell all the nascars to china, do you think they want you to compromise? there can be no compromise with mortal enemies. they set themselves up to defend irrational positions and needlessly obstruct and distort the entire government process. "nancy pelosi is okay in person" doesn't undo any of that.

From:

Even conceding most of that --

It is no small thing for someone in today's politics to take people on their own side to task. Senator Coburn is saying that decency has its place in political disagreements and for that he should be commended.

From:

and it's certainly surprising that it's him saying it and not a completely unknown rep from a purple district. but this is a question of what standards we hold people to: do we commend them for doing/saying good things or do we give them cakes and gold stars for scratching the bare minimum standard of expected human decency?

From:

I think you're being pessimistic and unnecessarily contrarian. Both sides have been steadily moving in the direction of us vs. them, attack-on-every-front politics. Coburn has made a foray in the other direction. This was done with the considerable risk of irritating his 'Fox News' base of supporters.

Our politicians take their cues from public reaction. Most of them have been acting abysimally lately, by deliberately misleading the nation, just to discredit the opposition party. If one of them bucks that trend, you bet your ass I'm going to send him cakes and gold stars. If those are a few of the tools I can use to encourage good government, then I'm using them.

From:

more equivocation. democrats by and large haven't been doing this. they cross the aisle more often than not, motivated largely by spinelessness rather than anything else. even the outspoken aggressive democrats don't try to paint the other side as being against god and country. the divisiveness is largely one-sided.

they do some mad bullshit, but they don't intentionally scare the piss out of people. the scariest thing about democrats is the stuff republicans make up about them. there's no equivalent to michelle bachmann or sarah palin or newt gingrich. take even rahm; he's a dick but he's also a proponent of blue dog bullshit... his strategy is based on keeping democrats in office and he's pretty clear about sacrificing any and all important liberal issues if they won't get him a win.

From:

I'll give you that there's no equivalent to Sarah Palin.

However, Democrats by and large had been demonizing the Bush administration on all fronts; even where they've decided to extend Bush administration policies. Also, I can't think of any Democrats that stood up and said, "Actually, Sarah Palin is a decent person, even though I disagree with her. And incidentally, both our parties pay for our wardrobes when we are on the campaign trail, so please stop making a big deal out of that."

I don't understand your direction here, mcpreacher. Even if I go with your assertion that Democrats have been less divisive, there's still no reason to be unhappy about a Republican that is coming out against divisiveness. Why can't you be happy about that?

From:

they do some mad bullshit, but they don't intentionally scare the piss out of people.

I guess I can believe that they're doing it unintentionally. They don't tend to be very aware of the consequences of their words or actions.

From:

carrying guns to town halls and saying "lock and load: take back the country!!" and telling people the health care bill is going to literally kill their family certainly does betray a lack of self-awareness, doesn't it?

From:

Nope.

From:

so you believe making things up and "taking back" the country by force is a measured and reasonable response to your party of choice losing a few democratic elections.

From:

I don't see that happening anywhere in the U.S. This is certainly an odd tangent.

From:

Even if this was just political theater from Coburn, or if it was a political reversal, (and I'm not saying it was) it was still a commendable thing to do. This was an injection of professionalism that pushes against personal attacks and unrealistic doomsday claims.

I don't know what Coburn's record has been up to this point on fearmongering and personal attacks. I'll leave the research up to you, if you want to stand by your assertion that this was an 11th hour reversal of some kind. But honestly, I won't care if it is. If a senator is willing to take a political risk to change his ways for the better, I will applaud him for it, and won't attack him for past mistakes.

Another great problem in American politics is the public's unwillingness to let their leaders change their minds. I try not to buy into that.

Edited Date: 12/4/10 15:36 (UTC)

From:

allhatnocattle.livejournal.com

"Flip-flopping" has always been a strange criticism. Consistency is less confusing and dependable and it means they're stubborn. Inconsistency means either they're thinking people able to accept new ideas... or it means they can be bought by various interests. Either way I kinda like a politician that flip-flops.

From:

+1.

God forbid that anyone in either party should realize they'd been wrong about something.

From:

allhatnocattle.livejournal.com

God forbid their vote couldn't be bought

From:

Hey, I can admit I'm wrong, if the price is right.

From:

404.livejournal.com

You really aren't helping, but that's par for the course for you.

From:

mahnmut.livejournal.com

Pretty much.

From:

Good point -- it is important to admire people acting like this.

From:

Hope is a good thing.

From:

enders-shadow.livejournal.com

change too! =)

From:

Every morning, I hope I can find enough change to get a cup of coffee.

From:

allhatnocattle.livejournal.com

Every morning, I get a cup of coffee then hope things will change.

From:

I was thinking about taking a cup of coffee (with lots of sugar) downthread to

ashleymommyof2 and seeing if it helps.

From:

enders-shadow.livejournal.com

it's a start

From:

I hope that it is a start, and not just an anomaly.

From:

squidb0i.livejournal.com

This.

From:

primroseburrows.livejournal.com

While I was pleased to hear that someone on today's right has a modicum of courtesy, it really says something about the state of the nation when it's big news that someone from one side of the aisle showed some civility toward the other.

From:

I concur.

From:

"POLITICIAN FAILS TO BE DOUCHEBAG! Film at 11."

From:

Phew this gave me a good laugh. Nancy Pelosi a "nice person." HAHAHAHA thanks I needed that!

From:

Have you ever met her personally? My parents always taught me not to prejudge people.

From:

like I am not judged on my beliefs here? Right. In a perfect world no you would not judge a person before meeting them ( I pray to God I never meet her) but in this case she is a politician so yeah she is opinion to judgment. Its called PUBLIC office for a reason.

Let me ask you something. Is sacrificing other dems jobs just to push your super leftist agenda nice? Hmm I would say not.. who cares what happens to you little peons as long as my agenda gets through. If I have to step on you to get it done well so be it..

Yeah she is super nice..

and before anyone starts on the GOP or conservatives yes there are quite a few jerks I know..

From:

like I am not judged on my beliefs here?

Maybe you are judged on your belief because you are laughing at the thought of a prominent conservative in the Senate saying that the Speaker of the House ought not be personally demeaned because of policy differences.

You know, that belief kind of makes you come off as, well, a butthead.

From:

No I am laughing because he said she was nice. To me that is funny, if that makes me a butthead well so be it. There are plenty of others out there who think she is the anti christ and I won't go as far as all that but do I think she is nice? Nope not one bit. Again how can you think someone is nice when she is willing to sacrifice whoever gets in her way or even her own party people to get her radically liberal agenda pushed through? Sure maybe that is how politics is played but it is ugly and definitely not nice.

From:

. Again how can you think someone is nice when she is willing to sacrifice whoever gets in her way or even her own party people to get her radically liberal agenda pushed through?

From:

usekh.livejournal.com

It is frightening that the giant sop handed to the health care industry is described as "radical liberal"

From:

"Just because somebody disagrees with you doesn't mean they're not a good person," he added. He then discussed his own experience of being vilified before asking the crowd not to "catch yourself being biased by Fox News that somebody's no good."

The good senator is trying to roll back the stereotype of Republicans as nitwits who get all their ideas and opinions from Fox, Beck, and Mount Rushtard.

I, for one, wish him luck in his quixotic quest.

From:

Is sacrificing other dems jobs just to push your super leftist agenda nice?

"Super leftist" is your opinion. As for the rest - politics is not nice. Politicians constantly battle with each other over ideologies in legislature. That's part of the checks and balances that make sure that the government remains balanced. But just because the job isn't nice doesn't mean that the lawmaker isn't a nice person. One of my very old friends' wife is a Republican frontrunner for the next congressional election. I might qualify her views as "super rightist". But I've known her for 20 years, and I know she's a nice person.

I've known several ex-marines, and they've been nice people too. That's despite having "Shoot the enemy when necessary" in their old job descriptions. It doesn't get any less nice than that. But somehow they manage to leave the nastiness of their profession behind and manage to be pleasant people.

I don't know Nancy Pelosi, but I'd suspect that since one of her most ardent opponents came out and announced that she was, in fact, a nice person, that there's probably a very good chance that she is.

You'd be doing Dr. Coburn a service if you'd at least consider that possibility. You'd be doing yourself a service too. It isn't worth the stress to go around hating people you don't know. And I'm not lecturing like some holier-than-thou sage. I've learned that lesson myself the slow and hard way, and I just want to pass it on.

From:

You have me mistaken.. I do not hate anyone at all. In fact as Christ commands I love my enemies. I do not however like her policies at all and she is very very radically liberal despite what many of you may think. That is my belief and as the rest of you I am entitled to them. I am surprised there are not alot of conservatives speaking up besides me. I guess they do not like being personally bashed. I just could care less what liberals think of me so I speak my mind.

I do not hate Nancy Pelosi. Would I want to hang out with her every day and be friends? Most definitely not.

From:

dreadfulpenny81.livejournal.com

It didn't take Fox News for me to know that Nancy Pelosi is a pompous, self-righteous windbag and it won't take Fox News for me to change my mind about that. You can see it in her actions and her attitude.

From:

the-rukh.livejournal.com

"You can see it in my own inference based on the hatred I was told to have towards her."

FTFY

From: