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What do these folks have in common, you ask? Read and find out….
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I’m up in Chicago on business this week, and I’ve been having conversations with people from all over the political map. The majority of them expressed some level of dissatisfaction with the direction our country is headed, even the ones whose political leanings differed from mine. There were a couple of folks who thought everything was just swell, but they were a little clueless in other areas of their life, as well.
And remember: I’m in Chicago.
Overall there seemed to be a belief that we’re losing/lost our values, and I’m actually not talking about religion or morality per se. People ranging from cabbies to managers to waiters/waitresses all agreed that many of the ideals which made our nation great are gone, or are going fast.
Ideals such as when:
- We were proud of our work ethic.
- We didn’t suffer fools gladly and, maybe more importantly, everyone agreed on who the fools were, too.
- We believed that charity was our responsibility, not the government’s.
- We always tried to have a laugh or three along the way, despite the fact that life was never “fair”.
- And we got a little goose-pimply at the thought of our country being the best.
The following three videos are not overtly patriotic; well, at least the first two aren’t. However, in their own way, they are (to me, at least) decent illustrations of how our country used to feel, to behave, to think.
I hope you agree.
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At a downtown Chicago eatery last night, I was able to catch just a few minutes of Ann Coulter beating the British out of Piers Morgan on his CNN show. Morgan was his usual snide, supercilious self when speaking with a Conservative (see his interview with Jonah Goldberg if you want an example of what I mean), but Ann reminded me again just why I own all of her books:
she is the single least politically correct public figure in the country, she’s funny, and she’s unabashedly Conservative.
Below is tonight’s interview which thankfully showed up on YouTube almost immediately. Morgan tries time and time again to box her in, and Coulter just refuses to go there. Heck, she throws his attempts back at him, with the distinction being that she uses common sense, logic & facts in her rebuttals, instead of tired, Progressive talking points.
It’s roughly 20 minutes long, but it feels like it’s about 4.
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This video is from Jay Leno’s interview with Dennis Miller back in August. It’s philosophical rather than current event related, with Dennis expressing what the majority of tax-paying citizens feel: that he has no problem helping the truly helpless. Heck, that’s what charity is for. Miller only bristles at being made to feel guilty about not wanting to help those who could help themselves, but won’t.
And for the record, yeah, I feel that way exactly.
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The last clip is, in my humble opinion, one of the best ads that the Romney/Ryan team has made. It’s not topic specific, but more an overall outreach to anyone who is on the fence as to how to vote. They pack a lot into only three minutes, and dress it up with some solid production value to make it feel like 50% campaign ad, and 50% the “Homerun” scene in The Natural.
Hope you enjoy it, and have a great weekend.
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Two Heads are Better Than One 
I appreciate the second two — but why in the world would you waste any time with Ann Coulter? I don’t taker her seriously enough to care one way or the other what she says. Any grown adult who calls people names should not be taken seriously in the grown up world.
Glad to have you here, Will! And I’m pleased you liked 2 of the vids.
As for Coulter, I’m in agreement with JJ and Pgh, as Coulter is serving a much needed role.
I don’t go out of my way to tick anyone off, but my days of walking on glass for fear of breaking the speech police’s ever-changing rules are long behind me.
Really hope to see you here again soon. All comments are welcome, not just the ones with which we agree….
Thank you. I’ll be following a long now that I got the Reader to work.
I don’t expect people to walk on glass, and I surely don’t buy into political correctness — but if my daughter called someone a retard, I’d wash her mouth out with soap. If an adult does it, well, she has the right to do it, but I surely won’t give her the time of day, let alone defend her.
As I side-note, I’m in the military, so maybe I chalk this up to “just being joe” — but people in positions earn respect due to their position and role. I don’t call Gov Romney “Romney”, and I didn’t call Mr. Bush “Bush” when he was president, and I call President Obama that — no matter what I think of the list of men, they have their title, and if I don’t respect them, I at least respect their position. This isn’t political correctness — it’s manners. Just sayin’.
(the above side-note was still addressing AC’s “retard” remark)
Will, first and foremost, THANK YOU for your service.
I got a chuckle out of your “wash her mouth out with soap” comment. That was my Mom’s reaction to some of the stuff that came out of my or my brother’s mouth when we were kids. And, if she were still with us, I’m sure there would be times NOW that she’d want to do the same thing to me.
But just because someone uses certain words that I, personally, would not use or even agree with doesn’t disqualify the rest of what they have to say, in my mind. Still, it’s an individual choice, and I can appreciate the opposite viewpoint.
My generation (at least those that I hang out with) ROUTINELY refers to people by their last name alone, and it’s not done out of disrespect.
Appreciate you, your service, and your viewpoints.
Brother Will!!! Great to see you here! Thanks for reading and commenting…it’s so nice to hear from you. We all miss you, and pray for your safety. And actually, I like your take on the video above. There is a dreadful loss of civility across the board these days. We would do well to return to it!
Coulter is truly a polarizing figure, but I don’t think we should lose the content of her message just because some may find certain “words” objectionable. This has been the tactic of the Left for far too long. Find ONE or TWO words in someone’s speech and then make a huge fuss over them, trying to deflect from the accuracy of the argument. Coulter makes some dead on points in her books, lectures, etc. So, what’s the Left’s approach to her? The same as they do to every other conservative, ESPECIALLY a conservative woman or black person. They villify, hurl epithets, and the like. Funny though, when Obama actually DOES make fun of the Special Olympics, we’re all just supposed to look the other way. For me, I’m just sick and tired of the PC speech police.
Couldn’t have said that better, Pgh.
I agree. Its hard to point out the idiocy of the left without sounding a little petty, but you have to talk in terms they understand. Funny how they are the word police. They are without a doubt the biggest flame throwing name callers, bar none. Its a game they play where they can say whatever they want but you are bigot …speaking in code with “dog whistles”. (they have plenty of dog whistles) They wrote the book on inflammatory speech. Btw: always partial to the greater P-burg area and what people are thinking there. I’ve got relatives in Murtha’s old district. I also enjoy seeing Kelly in Congress..
Pittsburgh is a great town, I agree.
As for dog whistles from the Left, we’ve talked about ’em here several times in the recent past.
If I wasn’t going to work right now, I’d give you the links. You can ‘search’ for them easy enough, though, if you’re so inclined.
😉
Bottom line: we need to be unafraid to call out the idiocy whenever we see it.
If we just turn away, nothing will ever change.
Keep fighting the good fight over at your place, bullright, and thanks for being here, as always!
Thanks, Bullright! It’s often said that he who controls the definition of words controls the dialogue. I’m for taking back MY and YOUR right to free speech without being denegrated by the Left. Dan Cathy at Chick-Fil-A makes a statement of HIS personal beliefs saying that he supports the Biblical definition of marriage, and within hours of it being reported, he’s labeled as a homophobe.
As for my beloved Pittsburgh area, things here are starting to move, at least a bit, to the right. 50 plus years of control by democrats and unions crippled PGH just like it did in other major cities, ie, Detroit. I’m working and praying for Tom Smith to unseat Casey…
Its also a pet peeve of mine that words have been hijacked and the left has been good at redifining. I want them and freedom back. It really says something for Casey to be threatened.
Casey’s ads, alone, tell you that he is in fear for his job. Siding with Obama regarding “if you want to build a coal fired power plant, we’ll bankrupt you”, has REALLY worked against Casey in southwest PA, not to mention voters in other elections in West Virginia, southeast Ohio, and Eastern Kentucky…
Haha, he understands nothing about the backbone of Pa or western Pa. And it irritates me to no end that they hold Casey up as proof Pa is firmly in Leftville. They rubbed that lie in Santorum’s face. Spector and Toomey stand in contrast but they never cared about the truth. I actually supported Lusik and her “constitutional compact” when she ran but …. She had excellent ideas on schools too.
I love Coulter because she has a set on her to say what the majority of the people in this country actually believe. I tip my hat to her for taking advantage of the stage she deftly created for herself, to bring some common sense back to this country.
I am tired of the double standards that the folks on the Left live by. Sarah Palin being vilified by Chris Matthews for using the phrase “shuck and jive” when he actually used the same phrase not too long ago. Coulter handled Piers…….and frankly we need to see and hear more from her.
Agreed, JJ, 100%.
She says things that NEED to be said. We need more folks like her…
Thank you for this one.
It has heartily encouraged me.
Thanks for being here, tannngl, and I’m glad you enjoyed it!
BTW: check immigration records: Piers Morgan is in the U.S. on a “Genius” visa…..
Great article tying these thoroughbreds into one post. (Minus Piers, Jay of course) I watched Coulter; or should I say Morgan tracking her. She didn’t give up a point. Imagine the gun-control freak, Piers disagreeing with Ann calling him a liberal? Nice try anyway. And Ann negotiating on how long before she will do his “show” again.
But it just reveals how for most issues liberals don’t have any answers, only hyperbole. I’m surprised he wasn’t wearing an Obama button. (even mobsters proudly get their buttons) I love how Miller turns it around to ask Jay what there is to like — or get excited – about Obama?
Thanks for the kind words, bullright.
Coulter? I love her, for the very reasons that Pgh & JJ mentioned above.
And you’re right: Miller asked the appropriate question, which is why or how CAN you vote for Obama? The man has been a nightmare, and at this point I just want to wake up.
Thanks for being here, partner…
You are spot on with your list of ideals that we are losing in America. When we got to the point where we had to explain why Capitalism was better than Socialism, I knew we had a long battle to fight.