Recently I have gotten a few comments on a very old post regarding Cousin Oliver’s hypocrisy. “Foo Fighter” says that he has “gotta side with Oliver Willis regarding right wing nastiness." and that “People on the right became especially intolerant of anyone that disagreed with them even a little bit.”

I guess he has never read Cousin Oliver’s site. My first reaction was to spit coffee all over the monitor, and then I thought about it some more and took another sip, just to spray it out again.

I consider myself to be a strong economic conservative and an opponent of the “Religious Right”. While I hold some social conservative positions, I have not come to those positions from a religious prospective. For instance, I am Pro-Life and also Pro-Gay-Marriage (they should suffer just like the rest of us). My disgust with “Organized Religion” leads me to question every issue on which I agree with them.

I am also in the group that “Foo Fighter” identifies himself with (I'm an independent guy). I didn’t vote Bush in 1988, 1992, or 2000. I really was conflicted in 2004. So I don’t believe that I can be considered a “Mindless BusHitler Minion”.

Something I think “Foo Fighter” missed in the original post:

one could certainly make the point that both sides are nasty, partisan hacks that will stop at nothing to get the other side. In fact, I would agree that there is a "deficit of decency" on both sides.

“Foo Fighter” says “I'm just telling you what I've EXPERIENCED over the last 10 to 15 years.” Please let me tell you what I have EXPERIENCED in my travels. I have been called “Nazi”, “Zionist Pig”, “Stupid Fat Bastard”, and “Sick Asshole”. I have dodged human spittle (from a Little Old Lady, no less) rocks, bricks, chairs and full beverage containers. I have had my linage disparaged and have had Cancer wished upon me, my family and anyone that agreed with me. I even have had the Police rush to protect me from serious harm. On all of these instances I was to the Right of the assailant and did nothing to provoke the attack other than be there.

I can’t speak to what the “Republican Party” feeds to their base, as I have left that organization long ago. I can say that I have not seen anything like that encouraged, or even condoned from the Right. On the Left, the Democratic National Party Chairman has exposed his hatred of Republicans and “everything they stand for” and intimated that all Republicans were racist. Don’t even start with the antics of Kanye West.

I don’t think it fair to paint anyone with the whackjobs that happen to agree with them. I don’t want to be painted with the Pro-Life zelots, just like I am sure that “Foo Fighter” would not what to be painted with Cindy Sheehan.

The Right has their share of nuts as does the Left. The difference I see is that the nuts run the Democratic Party while they are marginalized on the Right. You don’t see Pat Buchanan seated with Republican Ex-Presidents at party conventions like Michael Moore. Personally, I am much more comfortable with the nuts on the Right than on the Left. If forced, who would you rather be associated with Pat Robertson (We should kill Hugo Chavez) or Cindy Sheehan (Bush killed my son)?