Mount Virtus

4 Responses

• Tom McDowell

  Calling Christ “left of center” isn’t exactly editorial honesty unless you think the center is a heck of a lot further right than any recent election would indicate.

  I had to chuckle when my primary opponent put up the words “absolute integrity” at a town hall meeting and then claimed that “in my experience the strongest limited government people are Christians.” If he had knocked on doors as I have he would know that many former Republicans who are fiscally conservative registered independent during the Bush/spendthrift congress period.

  I have come to the conclusion that social conservatives play as fast and loose with the facts as liberals.

  Think about the email I sent you and how this post might be an example.

  Best

  Tom

• Ben

  Tom, This isn’t about social issues. If it were, I wouldn’t have called him left-of-center (yes, I could have been more precise, so thank you for the opportunity to extend my remarks). It is overwhelmingly about issues of spending, taxation, and the size and scope of government — issues where Crist has more closely aligned himself with Obama than with those like you cite who re-registered as independent. A Senator Crist is far more likely to take us back to those “Bush/spendthrift congress” days than a Senator Rubio would.

  I did think about the email you sent me, and the only conclusion I came to is how progressively unhinged from reality your analysis has become. Are you not paying attention, or are you intentionally trying to fracture the coalition you purport to be saving from the rest of us?

• Tom McDowell

  At no point in the past three election cycles have you objected to social conservatives trying to purge fiscally conservative (for their districts and states) Republicans, and now you call me “unhinged” for doing so.

  The “coalition” you speak of doesn’t exist. Single issue social conservatives don’t see it as a coalition. Coalitions are alliances between equals. Over the last two cycles, I have spent more than 500 hours per cycle trying to get two social conservatives elected. Have you or any of your social conservative friends ever spent a single minute trying to get a non-social conservative elected?

  Here in Colorado Springs the social conservatives in charge of the Republican party were openly hostile, both before and after the election to electing a pro-choice fiscal conservative Republican. They collected contributions as Republicans and spent it as social conservatives.

  Schultheis told the Gazette this August, 8 months after Obama took office that “the pro-life plank of the party justifies purging Republicans.” You, sir, should be embarrassed to try to use Obama to shut me up.

  I am tired of being used.

  I am also tired of reading one sided drivel.

  Tom

• Ben

  “Have you or any of your social conservative friends ever spent a single minute trying to get a non-social conservative elected?” Yes. Many hours. I even considered supporting your primary candidacy (trying to decide whether you or Schultheis was more divisive), but your progressively more irrational behavior dissuaded me of that notion. Your ignorant accusation befuddles me. All things being equal, do I prefer a socially conservative candidate to someone who is not? Yes. But right now, politically speaking, I am much more concerned about a candidate’s view of the Constitution, of liberty, and the role of government.

  I call you “unhinged”, sir, for making leaps of logic and nonsensical conclusions, trying to compress so much of what I write through your personal cheese grater of some sort of perceived “social conservative” vs. non-”social conservative” lens WHEN IT JUST DOESN’T FIT. I invoked Obama as a marker to identify Crist’s left-of-center fiscal policies, not to shut you up. You are the one who insists on personalizing things I write about a Senate primary in Florida.

  And this is where the irony gets juicy. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but from all I know Crist is more conservative on social policies than fiscal policies. The biggest difference between Crist and Rubio is on issues of fiscal policy and size & scope of government. The candidate in the race who gets the problem of the spendthrift Republican Congress and the fiscal failures of the Bush administration is Marco Rubio — who like Crist, also happens to be a social conservative.

  So let’s be abundantly clear. If I were so obsessed with some sort of pure, purging brand of social conservative politics as you contend, wouldn’t I (and here are just a few examples):
  1. You know, actually spend maybe even 10 percent of the time writing about social issues?
  2. Spend even 1 percent of my time arguing against Obama Care writing about abortion?
  3. Complain that Josh Penry doesn’t talk about social issues rather than endorse him for a host of reasons that have nothing to do with his stances on abortion or gay marriage? (http://bendegrow.com/2009/josh-penry-for-governor/)
  4. Embrace the socially conservative Jane Norton (or Ken Buck) as the Republican candidate for U.S. Senator and belittle Ryan Frazier for his lack of enthusiasm in talking about social issues?
  5. Be happy with Charlie Crist to perpetuate the domestic policies of the Bush years?

  And so yes, I stand by calling you “unhinged”, though it causes me regret to do so. Maybe if I were a professional clinical psychologist, I could come up with a more precise and appropriate diagnosis. But I don’t have time to go there.

  My readers can come to their own conclusions: whether what I write is “one sided drivel” (perhaps you would prefer “two sided drivel”, but I only have time to write what’s on my own mind and heart), whether you are “unhinged”, or something else altogether. But since you have told me you will never return to this site, I’m afraid I get the last word on this one.

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