Okay, SOME Conservatives' Hatred

It is one of the oddities of this little blog (perhaps because it's not "really" a blog but rather a, well, eclectic collection of whatever happens to strike me occasionally; and perhaps because it is only an occasional thing) that no one ever comments on it directly. I know it is read by a few people, at least, for every so often one of them will see fit to offer a comment--but never here, only via e-mail. I've reproduced one or two of them in these pages; the vast majority of them are usually so brief--"I agree" or "I don't agree"--that it's hardly worth the copy-and-paste time to put them here.

But occasionally a couple of my far-flung correspondents sees fit to forward something I've written to HIS far-flung correspondents…which sometimes generates a worthy comment that my far-flung sends back to me. It's all very complicated, so I appreciate the far-flungs' efforts.

One of them sent my musings about conservatives' hate-filled existences (okay, make that some conservatives') to a right-of-center friend, and then forwarded back this thoughtful response:

I agree this is worth the read. Not because I agree with much of what is written, however. I am a conservative. I don't hate Al Gore – I applaud him. I believe the climate is warming abnormally and that there is a real human component. I also believe that the actual function that would model the climate is far from known. As one data point to this I offer the average 7-day forecast that is usually only accurate for about two days. I think highly of much of what the Kennedy's have done for America. I also think that if Joseph K were alive and doing business in the 1990's he would now quite likely be in the cell next to Jeff Skilling. Even today, it can be truthfully said that Ted Kennedy has killed more people ( or is that mistresses ) with his car than I have with my gun, and I was in the military for 20 years. I believe for every Rush Limbaugh there is a corresponding Al Sharpton. Ask your contributor to review some of "reverand Al's " comments about the Duke lacrosse players. Have you seen any apology from him yet? I haven't. I find him just as hate-filled and divisive as Limbaugh.

I strongly resist broad generalizations, but I guess if one had to be made then it would be - Republicans lust for power ( Nixon / Bush ) while Democrats just lust ( JFK / Clinton ). At some point in time, don't we have to let the center of the country try driving for a while?

Well, it's fun to get something--even round-aboutly--that someone has actually put some thought into. And I appreciate the writer's abstention from making his disagreement personal (you'd ba amazed--or maybe not--at how many people can't manage that level of maturity). But I'm afraid the writer--let's call him "Bob"--never addresses my point., viz., why do so many conservatives seem to run on an inexhaustible supply of hatred. Why do they hate FDR 60 years after his death? JFK 40 years on? When Al Gore receives the Nobel Prize, why do they attack not just Gore but the Prize itself (to say nothing of fellow Nobel recipient Jimmy Carter, dissed on Fox Noise as "that crazy Jimmy Carter," showing the high regard and respect they have for presidents of these United States. To say that Al Sharpton has said some things as negative as Rush Limbaugh doesn't address the question. To say "I'm a conservative and I don't hate Al Gore" doesn't address the question. (Interesting that "Bob" can't resist taking a couple of swings at the Kennedys, thus illustrating my original point about conservatives' deeply held loathing for that whole family, no?) I'll give "Bob" the benefit of the doubt--and agree with his point about the dangers of "broad generalizations" (except, evidently, where Kennedys are concerned) (and when, by the way, was the last time you saw a narrow generalization?)--and assume that he is one of the exceptions to what I perceive to be the norm of venom-filled conservatives. But much of his rebuttal (reproduced above in its entirety) is of that familiar well-your-guy-is-even-worse variety, which gets us nowhere.

Keep in mind: I am genuinely puzzled by and interested in this phenomenon, especially in the context of so many of these right-wingnuts who trumpet about what almighty great Christians they are even as they wallow in the bottomless pool of their hatred for anyone with a contrary point of view. I literally am at a loss to explain or understand them and their attitude. And I'm afraid "Bob" sheds no light.

I may in these pages have mentioned a friend of mine from college, a young woman of the Republican persuasion, whose standard response, whenever someone in those immediate-post-Watergate days would mention Nixon's transgressions, was "Kennedy was even worse." Pressed for details, she could offer none; it was just that JFK HAD to have been worse, since he was (a) a Democrat and (b) a Kennedy.

"Bob" is probably correct when he suggests that it might be a good thing to let moderates take the wheel for awhile. But I'm still left to wonder why so many on the right wing carry so much hatred around with the.

Where do they get the energy?