How do you tell the difference between a Freeper . . .

[bryant69]

and a centrist democrat?

Which I suppose begs the question, is there, in your mind, a difference between a Freeper and a Centrist Democrat?

In the spirit of full disclosure, I am a centrist Democrat. Which means that I disagree with some of you, if not many of you on many issues. I do want to see President Bush out of office and Kerry in the white house, and, for good measure, a Democratic Congress as well. But on other issues we might well disagree.

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

[AntiCoup2K4]

1. Depends on their use of the phrase "Kerry is a Liberal"

Freeps use it as an insult. DLC'ers use it as a way to trick progressives.

[DenverDem]

2. A freeper is a willfully ignorant ideologue.

You are not.

Therefore: Not a freeper.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

3. So, we disagree.

You've proved your stripes here, you're ok by me.
Anyway, if I had to post with a bunch of people who just agreed with me, I'd go insane.

[sangh0]

4. The difference is

that centrist Democrats are concerned with a whole range of issues, while Freepers care only about one thing - defeating Kerry.

[Beware the Beast Man]

13. No, they only care about 2 things:

1. Eliminating people with brown skin and
2. Defeating Kerry.

[DrWeird]

5. Freepers are stupid.

They have no sense of logic, and are usually functionally illiterate.

They also try to stir up shit and start flame wars.

It's really not that hard to tell the difference.

[KamaAina]

6. The centrist Democrat has more teeth :)

and (seriously) opinions that don't come straight from Rush.

[Walt Starr]

7. A REAL Freeper cannot contain his/her anger

A REAL Freeper will always go off on anything remotely non-rightwing and will always support George W. Bush regardless.

Centrist Democrats, on the other hand, are reasonable on nearly any subject you care to name and will sincerely criticize the boy king*.

[denverbill]

8. I used to be a centrist Democrat, but the center moved.

As to how to tell the diff between a centrist Dem and a freeper, well, taking their entire political beliefs into account is a pretty easy way.

I don't any true 'centrist Democrat' believes that abortion should be outlawed, gun control eliminated, the Patriot Act II doesn't go far enough, corporations are overregulated, NAFTA needs to be expanded, federal funding for religious education needs to be approved, the Education Dept should be abolished, education vouchers for private schools should be enacted, the death penalty expanded, leftist Latin American regimes should be overthrown, etc, etc.

I can see a centrist Democrat believing in one or two or even three of those things, but believing in more than that he would have to be a moron to vote for a Democrat, wouldn't he?

[Bandit]

9. As a Centrist Democrat do you have any core Democratic values?

What does a Democrat stand for IYO? What would you like the Democratic Platform to say?

[bryant69]

11. Good question

No more reality shows would be a winner.

I personally am in favor of Free Trade (with a greater emphasis on keeping free trade from harming the the third world or our own workers),
I oppose gun control (well, further gun control, I'm ok with many of the laws that have been passed),
I favor a more reasonable foreign policy stance (instead of the belligerance the Bush administration has shown the rest of teh world),
I believe that corporations should shoulder a greater percentage of the Tax Burdern,
I think that we know that many if not most corporations can't be trusted to be good citizens, and so we need to regulate them,
I am opposed to Media Centralization,
I am in favor of programs to help welfare recipients make the transition to working (while not favoring some of the draconion policies used to shrink welfare rolls),
I favor marijuana legalization,
I want a sound revenue policy that will keep taxes low for the middle and lower middle classes, while reducing the deficit.

Can't think of anything else just now.

Bryant

[Bandit]

14. You left off a couple of important issues

Health Care, Environmental policies and public education. Also how about infrastructure. Should the government provide for the infrastructure of America such as roads, sewers, water systems, electical grids, etc.

[bryant69]

17. I did--thanks for reminding me.

Health Care--I'm cautious about, but I think we can't get much worse than we are now. Something needs to be done.

I'm in favor of public information; more money to more teachers, without the sole reliance on testing as a means of evaluation teachers. It can be one method, but it shouldn't be the only one.

Environmental policies--I don't have a strong opinion on environmental poilcies, but I like that Kerry has a pretty strong record on this issue.

Infrastructure. Yes, I think government should provide infrastructure.

[Bandit]

19. I think I'm a bit farther to the left than you but I agree with you so far

You are certainly no Freeper. I don't mind someone using their grey matter a bit. Notice I didn't even mention the un-mentionables -Choice and Religion. To me everyone should have their own view on these subjects and they shouldn't be Government Regulated or Promoted. Have a :beer: on me. :thumbsup:

[Redleg]

15. Those positions seem reasonably Democratic to me.

Of course I don't like to be judged so I won't judge you.

[Sparkly]

10. You stated the difference.

"I do want to see President Bush out of office and Kerry in the white house, and, for good measure, a Democratic Congress as well."

That's the difference between Democrats and Freepers, imo.

[BattyDem]

12. To me the most obvious difference has always been ...

that Centrist Democrats, or anyone else who disagrees with the "popular" DU opinion, always have legitimate arguments:

- They can provide thoughtful, logical arguments
- They can site sources
- They can give sincere and understandable reasons for their beliefs, whether they be political, social or religious


Freepers have no real argument to defend their positions, so they have to resort to other tactics:

- They repeat RW talking points
- They frame the debate by attacking opposing positions in illogical ways, making it virtually impossible for anyone to use facts and/or logic to argue with them
- They use personal attacks to force people with opposing views to defend themselves, which distracts them from challenging the Freeper position
- When all else fails, they blame Clinton and/or "Clenis", the bleeding-heart liberals, the humanitarian do-gooders, the "liberal" media, the Democrats, the gays, the feminists and anyone else who dares to oppose straight, white, male Christian domination.

In general, I don't think anyone on DU has a problem with opposing viewpoints. Intelligent people will always listen to and debate an issue in a calm, civilized manner. In the end, if no minds are changed, we can all just agree to disagree. No biggie. But Freepers don't have the ability to agree to disagree. It's all or nothing with them - "you're either with us or against us" - they refuse to consider any information that may contradict their beliefs. That's when the problems start. JMHO

:hippie:


edited for clarity

[jarrodmon]

16. How About DIF Between FR and Sane Conservatives?

At The Southern Spectator Weekly we came under attack from FR and we are considered by most to be conservative (we prefer "contrarian"). We did a little digging on them, and of course as you know, the sky is the limit in their insanity.

http://www.southernspectator.com

[info being]

18. If you use Bush talking points, you are a Freeper