One less Facebook friend this morning.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

I knew this guy in the late 80's. I had a lot of respect for him back then, so a year and a half back or so, when I found him on Facebook, I was happy about it. But, in the intervening time, he's moved to Texas and something has gone wrong with his brain. Does anyone/everyone else know someone from 20 years ago who used to be normal, friendly, apparently happy, but now they've gone completely off the deep end? It's a strange thing, superimposing the crazy teabagger this guy is with the friendly, soft-spoken guy I used to know. Here's the exchange:

Him:
Here are some quotes that seem particularly relevant today.

Ben Franklin quotes:
• Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.
• When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.
• They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
• The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.

Margaret Thatcher quotes:
• Socialists cry “Power to the people”, and raise the clenched fist as they say it. We all know what they really mean—power over people, power to the State.
• If you want to cut your own throat, don’t come to me for a bandage.
• There can be no liberty unless there is economic liberty.
• The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money [to spend].

"Socialism only works in two places: Heaven where they don't need it, and hell where they already have it.”
President Ronald Reagan
----------------

Me:
Sorry, Gary, but are you able to demonstrate that you understand what socialism actually is? Because if you think Obama is a socialist, you need to get a refund from your high school government class. Aside from politics, how's life?
-----------------
Him:
your post demonstrates your ignorance, not mine. It seems you are the one due a refund. What I posted isn’t up for discussion. Do not post comments on anything I write if you are uninformed, ignorant about the subject, or just ignoring the facts. Plus, I didn't call Obama a socialist in my post. If you took it that way, then apparently YOU think Obama is a socialist. Please do not post on my FB page again.
-----------------
Me:
We're done here, Gary. I got what I wanted--Obama kicked racist, ignorant ass all over the country. And yes, you were clearly inferring that Obama is a socialist. I won't play the idiot, even if you choose to. And yes, it's very crystal clear that you have no idea what a socialist is. It's ok, right wing media has hoodwinked the less capable of our society into believing all sorts of things that are demonstrably not true. I'm sorry to hear that you turned out to be one of these gullible people, trained to hate without any rationality. I thought you were more intelligent than all of that. It's a real shame to find out just how wrong I was about you. Good luck.

[treestar]

1. What a jerk

Even many republicans can deal with disagreement in a kinder manner.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

8. I need to get rid of some of my preconceived notions

This guy is a musician--a fairly accomplished musician. Somewhere in the back of my head I have this nonsensical thought that people who truly love music couldn't be ignorant teabaggers. I don't know why I thought that, but I need to rid myself of the notion because it's obviously not true.

And despite the wonderful Texan DU'ers we have, and despite the fact that I lived in Texas for several years myself, I think that residency in the state of Texas can put one at higher risk for political insanity. I knew this guy when we both lived in the midwest. I knew a completely different group of people when I was in college in Texas. I think it's fair to say most of us were largely apolitical back then, late 80s/early 90s. But now the majority of these people identify with the tea party. Anyhow, thanks for your reply.

[maxsolomon]

31. let me ask this: does he play Country & Western?

you responded in the same way i have been responding to accusations of Obama's "Socialism" on FB. asking for examples, saying that to me, Obama is a moderate-right centrist, and i wish there was more liberalism, let alone socialism, in his policies.

you are right, they truly do not understand what socialism is, and how liberalism differs.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

37. I haven't heard him play in a long, long time. But I think his band does country and rock

Mostly in Dallas clubs.

There are lots of right-wingers throwing around terms like socialist and Marxist these days. They don't realize this, but this serves as a badge of ignorance--you can tell from a mile away that they have no idea what they're talking about when they crank up the socialist rhetoric.

[pocoloco]

75. Still missing Waylon!

[ErikJ]

43. Ted Nugent is a musician

and a rabid Republicon

[DisgustipatedinCA]

44. Yeah, I know--my preconceived notion was not rational

I guess I just wanted to think better of people who live in music, who let music move them. Live and learn.

[navarth]

54. PLEASE

Do NOT refer to that fool as a musician. Incorrect in every sense of the word.

[Carni]

85. Same for artists

I tend to assume anyone involved in art will have a brain...NOPE! Same deal! They can indeed be morons and teabaggers.

[Scuba]

99. It ain't just Texas. Teabillies in Wisconsin are just as loony.

[AlbertCat]

82. Even many republicans can deal with disagreement in a kinder manner.

It looks like he just freaked.... because he IS smarter than what he posted and he knows he's wrong, and his little fantasy Repug reality is crumbling like our infrastructure.

[Chiquitita]

2. nice reply on your part!

Only by replying and calling people out one at a time will they (potentially) have some realizations.

[codjh9]

3. One of the KEY lines he replied with was 'What I posted isn't up for discussion'. That is SO

typical of the Repubkes. They KNOW the truth, they know their non-facts, and by Gawd, we ain't havin' no discussion about it.

[femrap]

19. Gawd said it,

I believe it, that settles it.

[calimary]

57. What they hate is when you talk back.

I've had to unfriend a few people on my page. So be it. I made it clear very early in the campaign season that MY page was a liberal/progressive/Democratic page. I made it clear that oppositional stuff would not be appreciated. And I also made it clear that I would be confining my political posts to my page and would not be coming over to somebody else's page if they held contrary views and spewing my stuff. And I asked for the same consideration.

Didn't work. Didn't help. They came anyway. They'd post their spew, add links (usually from somewhere in the breitbart.com or newsmax world) and criticize and try to poke holes in everything I said. I'd ask again for respect for my rules. Nothing. No luck. They continued their intrusions. Then they'd start in on me as "one of those stupid libruls" who talk about the First Amendment all the time until situations like this and what a hypocrite I am. Well, fine. So be it. It's MY page and they don't have to participate on there. Anymore than I HAVE to invite them into my house just because they're ringing my doorbell and presuming they have some sort of divine right to enter. Well they DON'T. SCREW 'em!!!!

The disrespect and verbal abuse from some of 'em - really rather shocking. I couldn't believe the vitriol from some of them. The HATRED! SHEESH! One guy in particular had a big problem with women - and it made me wonder if he'd just been jilted again for the 159,482nd time. A real misogynist! GOD his posts were AWFUL!!! I finally unfriended him. And you would NOT believe the TIRADE that rained down on me ('cause he sent me a message in reaction) because I had the nerve to kick him off my page for what he said. Shit and insults and four-letter words and other REALLY abusive invective, hitting as far below the belt as he could reach - made me happy that I had unfriended him. (God help the woman who tries to get close to that guy!) I did feel guilty unfriending some of 'em, but THIS guy made me feel proud to do so. And that made it easier the next time, too. I've only had one person unfriend me because I objected to his ever-present postings - that ALWAYS tried to poke holes in what I stated. Ironically, I had decided that same morning that I was gonna have to unfriend him. I logged on and sure enough, he'd beaten me to it. Fine. Whatever. So be it.

[codjh9]

84. That one guy especially is showing his 'morality' and 'family values', right? Or especially

his 'compassionate conservatism'. Hah! Yeah, a friend of mine has told me similar stories. I'm one of those strange people who don't even 'do' Facebook for the most part (I have a uid/pw but rarely do anything).

[caveat_imperator]

88. I've noticed that about creationists and their strawman version of evolution.

When it's inevitably pointed out that their claim concerning what scientists say what evolution is isn't actually what scientists say what evolution is they either ignore or insult (mostly both) anyone trying to educate them.

[codjh9]

89. Ignore, insult, or reply with a non-sequitor - that's what they do. And the insults are usually

personal when the subject was scientific or general.

[Mr Dixon]

4. IMO

Good job

[IDoMath]

5. Texas is not poisoning the water

I moved to Texas from Minnesota and I'm still a liberal...

Although I used to be a radical Green...

OMG I AM shifting rightward. They ARE poisoning the water!!!

[MADem]

6. A once-liberal pal moved to TX (Tom Delay's district) and turned into a nut.

It was a slow transformation over the course of forty years.

A real pity.

Ironically, the next generation? Obama all the way.

[avebury]

52. I grew up Republican in Maine. After moving to

Oklahoma I am now a yellow dog Democrat. Republicans here are nuts.

[MADem]

102. ME GOP used to be a very different thing...like most NE Republicans.

eg Volpe, Sergeant, Weld, Brooke, of MA, Jim Jeffords of VT, Linc Chaffee of RI...

They weren't crazy. They were a bit pompous, and slow to embrace change, but they weren't nuts, they weren't evil, and they could be compassionate at times.

This new crowd is crazy--which is why guys like Jeffords and Chaffee jumped ship.

[codjh9]

92. Oh man was I happy when Delay went down. And I'm a native-but-no-longer-there-TXn.

[MADem]

103. Me too--that was a long time coming! nt

[darkangel218]

7. TX is the only state i would NEVER move to.

That place scares the shit out of me.

[femrap]

22. I'm afraid

to even drive thru AL or MS....I drove thru the panhandle of TX once and got stuck in an ice storm. I had to spend 2 nights there. I just stayed in my room....except for visiting my first ever Walmart. This was back in 1987. No Walmarts were in N. CA.

[Indpndnt]

23. It depends on which part of Texas.

You'd be fine in Austin, San Antonio, Houston, or Dallas. Over 41% of us statewide voted for Obama.

[txdemsftw]

25. Yep..

Panhandle? Rural areas?

Those are different stories.

[codjh9]

26. Well, as a TX native (not living there now), I won't argue that on the whole state, but Austin

is like Portland, Seattle, etc. ...

[mountain grammy]

62. Marooned here in Southwest, redneck, Texas..

The "Odessa American" supported Rmoney and predicted a win. I've found a few closet Democrats, but most are sure Obama will come in person to take the guns. Caregiving for my 91 year old father in law who will die soon.. then good bye Texas forever!

[txdemsftw]

66. well, if I lived in Odessa,

I'd move too...I love the cities, but the Panhandle, Midland-Odessa, Amarillo areas...not so much.

[Tsiyu]

77. You will love this Texas site

The World's Most Dangerous Beauty Salon:

http://juanitajean.com/



Written and run by a Texas Liberal


A Sample:

Everybody, Stop What You're Doing and Stand and Clap for June Berry of Victoria, Texas


June Berry is 70 years old. She put two Obama signs in her front yard.

Some damfool burned them.

June fixed that.

http://juanitajean.com/2012/11/05/everybody-stop-what-youre-doing-and-stand-and-clap-for-june-berry-in-victoria-texas/

Edit to fix link

[mountain grammy]

97. Thank you, I love the website! Texas Dems have to be tough and smart

And there's a long line of them: LBJ (thanks for Medicare) Barbara Jordan, Ann Richards and Molly Ivins, to name a few who are gone.. Jim Hightower is still with us, thank God!

[LaydeeBug]

9. Good for you, Kick and rec. nt (I would have cussed!!!!) lol

[Carolina]

10. Love

your concluding response. Total kick-ass and beautifully stated as well

[vrguy]

11. K&R

[gaspee]

12. One problem

He implied, you inferred.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

20. oh, man. I thought I had learned that lesson already

imply | infer
affect | effect
continual | continuous

I thought I had all of these straightened out. I still have work to do. Thanks for pointing it out.

[Carni]

13. Some clown posted THIS on my FB

In response to an article I linked to about Robmes not paying taxes from 1996 to 2009

The comment from the clown in bold:

"I really don't care about his taxes or his earnings..I care about mine..additionally, I don't recall ever reading about folks up in arms over the Kennedy's wealth..nor where it came from.."

I guess this *person* wanted a KING not a President.

Really how can they be so STUPID?

[xxqqqzme]

64. Your clown is wrong.

I grew up surrounded by extremely conservative rethuglicans in the mid 50s & 60s. They never stopped talking about Kennedy's money and how his father made it; stories of his mother and Boston, as if it was a leper colony. After a few rounds of drinks, they would start in on Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Opinionated and loud, my grandfather & I usually ended up outside or in the 'den' away from the noise.

[Carni]

83. My clown being wrong goes without saying lol

Not to mention, the assassinations of JFK RFK and attempted assassination attempts! (Ted plane crash IMO)

Nope! No one hated, or talked about that family at all!

I can recall working with a RW loon in the 80s that was STILL carrying on about the Kennedys!

[Firebirds01]

14. What I posted isn’t up for discussion

Ive heard that before. People write 'if you dont like it then dont read it bro, I can say what I want.' So they post the stupidest fucking thing ever and when you call them out they get pissed like you are challenging sacred knowledge. I just defrinded someone to. The guy is a complete fuck up whom failed out of two colleges (one community and one open enrollment state U). He has bounced around from restaurant job to restaurant job. He decided that posting stuff about obama was cool and made him sound intelligent. It has been non stop. I was going to write "Tim, posting about the election isnt going to change the results" but it would have been met with a similar retort to what your friend wrote. So I just defrinded him.

these people are idiots.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

15. I lost one, too...

Also dates back to the '80s. He wasn't an idiot then. Now lives in AZ. He "Liked" Paul Ryan a couple of months back; it came up in my News Feed. I'm not sure if I responded to him directly but I did hoist a beer to all my liberal friends noting that I can't believe the stupid shit I'm seeing in my News Feed. During the summer he had told me he was coming to Chicago during the last week of October. I hadn't heard from him by the end of October so I went to check his FB account to see what he's been up to. That's when I learned that he had unfriended me. I guess it's deeper than that as he came and left without contacting me...

[Rider3]

16. Sometimes...

It's better to just end friendships like this one. It'll keep your blood pressure down. Gary seems to be a real douche. No loss for you in the long run.

[Indpndnt]

17. Yes! In the past couple of years I reconnected with old high school friends from the 70s.

These used to be nice, normal, liberal-minded people! Half of them still are, but the other half are racist, ultra RW nutters! Half of those are now fundies! What really, REALLY shocked me is that, while I am now in Texas, those folks are still mostly in NY, Delaware, Maryland, and NJ! How did this insanity happen to them in blue states?!

Much like your former friend, they are always right. If they see anything anywhere that doesn't agree with their bizarre worldview, it is not only wrong, but evil propaganda intended to destroy 'our' way of life. And don't even get me started about how they rant and squeal over Benghazi's importance. These people are batshit crazy.

[txdemsftw]

24. BC as it's been said before,

we aren't all batshit crazy here in the 'scary' red states.

They come from all over...

[Indpndnt]

35. Exactly right. It just shocked me because they were so normal and they never left the area.

Faux and vicious RW websites have done this. Fundie churches have done it to some, although they are the most rabid fans of the hate sites out of all of them. What kills me is that they are so damned self-righteous about it, too. The nastiness that drips out of those particular people who call themselves Christian.... I can't even. No. And now they're homeschooling their own kids who are participating online in these vicious rants. Unreal. I'm just glad I don't live anywhere near them.

[Blanks]

33. I'm from Idaho, and live in Arkansas.

I've reconnected with folks from back home. Benghazi was gonna ruin the president. No one but Fox News is covering it etc.

One inappropriate (or incorrect) graphic after another during the election cycle. Crying a river of tears starting Tuesday night. I haven't said anything, but I warned one guy about Fox News inaccuracies before the election.

I'm gonna let em cry for a while.

[Egalitarian Thug]

18. Unfortunately, I've known many of them. I haven't found a completely consistent pattern,

but they all shared these traits:

Willingness to submit to authority and insistence that others do as well.
Great envy of others.
Fear, lots and lots of fear.
Great concern for what they believe other people think of them.
Conformity.

[HangOnKids]

21. Gary is a sad deluded fragment of his former self

To the curb with your former freind, I have many that LURVE FAUX NOISE and I shake my head in disgust. WTF happened to them, I have no idea nor do I care to find out.

[deutsey]

27. I lost a good friend from college in 2004

We're both from Maryland, but he's been living in Texas since the early-to-mid '90s.

After graduation, we kept in touch via email, phone calls, the occasional card or letter over the years. Every once in a while he would make some disparaging remark about Medicare (he's a Doctor of Osteopathy) or Clinton, but for the most part, we never really talked about politics or religion (neither subject was very relevant to our friendship during our college days).

Anyway, in '04, he forwarded an email "joke" to me about Howard Stern and Kerry. I don't even remember what it was now. However, I do remember that I was really pissed off at all the rightwing crap going around at the time, so I shot back a response that was somewhere along the lines of: "I'd rather have Stern and Kerry than Limbaugh and Bush."

That simple statment was like tossing a lit match into a vat of gasoline. Before it was over (after an increasingly tense email exchange), he was writing to me (in ALL CAPS) that I was in the grip of Satan and that my immortal soul was in peril because I supported Kerry and attended a UU church (he had asked me what my religious views were). I tried to tell him that we could disagree on things and still remain friends (after all, we'd known each other for almost 20 years and I was even in his wedding), but he would have nothing to do with me after that.

I was completely blindsided by this change in a person who used to be very smart and was hilarious to hang around with. I know there are good people in Texas and I don't disparage the state, but I have no idea what happened to him after he moved down there.

[demhottie]

28. Um, as long as you realize you started it

You posted that crack about him needing a high school refund on his page???

I think you may have been the jerk here, and thats coming from a hardcore kool aid drinking Obama loving progressive democrat.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

36. Thanks for your post, um...hottie

I responded to hateful idiocy that came across my Facebook page. I'll continue to reserve the right to do that.

[femrap]

29. I had a girl friend from

the '60's. She had moved to Ohio from the Azores (her father was military). I was her first friend in high school. And we would see each other when I came back to Ohio to visit my mother.

Then in 2004, she stated that she hated John Kerry. I kept asking her WHY? And she could not come up with a reason. Then I realized that her husband had pretty much brainwashed her with Faux News on all the time and his constant jabbering and bullying.

I haven't seen or heard from her since. 1969 to 2004 then POOF!

I send her a Xmas card but don't include my current address. She lives 2 miles from my mother so if she wanted to get in touch, she could.

We celebrated together over at OSU the night Nixon resigned! We were drinking beer in the streets and the cops didn't really care. They just said, "You know what you're doing is illegal." I said, "Yes, but we will not litter." He laughed and moved on.

[1gobluedem]

53. My college roommate was brainwashed by her conservative husband too

I never could stand the guy and for good reason. I dislike him even more now.

She's from a liberal family and they remain liberal progressives; even her older brother who a very succesful businessman (very smart guy, obviously). But her husband and his trust-fund baby, hedge-fund manager frat brothers have pulled her to the dark side.

She has been one of my dearest friends for many years and we have a sort of unwritten agreement just not to discuss politics. But it makes me sad.

[femrap]

95. It is sad...

but otherwise the husband makes her life miserable.

Sure hope he doesn't go looking for a Trophy Wife. Make sure she knows all about the FINANCES.

[truebrit71]

30. Anyone that quotes Thatcher is automatically disqualified from talking with adults...

...can't wait to piss on that woman's grave...

[DisgustipatedinCA]

45. That's very refreshing to hear from a citizen of the UK

Thank you. I'm curious, has time made Thatcher a better leader than she actually was, a la Ronald Reagan in the US? Reagan is well on his way to sainthood in the Republican party; just wondering if there's a similar gauze of forgetfulness over Thatcher.

[truebrit71]

91. On the right there is very definite rose-tint to the glasses used to view her reign of error..

..for those of us on the left and centre she was, is and will remain an evil, evil bitch that did to my country what she hadn't had done to her in a very long time...

She destroyed entire towns and industries with her megalomania, and sure, the Unions at the time were hard-core lefties with a few psychotic leaders (Arthur Scargill comes leaping to mind), but her utter disdain for the working class was stunning to behold...Imagine Ann Romney on steroids and you begin to get the picture...

I do remember a story that still brings a smile to my face. If you saw the movie 'The Queen' you may remember that Liz gets regular visits from the P.M. When Thatcher was at the height of her power she over-stepped the mark and (royally) pissed Her Majesty off (I think it might have been about devolution - giving power back to Wales Scotland and N. Ireland) so that on the occasion of her next visit to Buckingham Palace when she was ushered into the room there was only one chair available and Liz was sitting in it. She made Thatcher stand there for an hour. Rumour has it that Liz told Maggie something to the effect that there was only ONE sovereign in the country...

I truly despise that woman and everything she stood for...

[hughee99]

32. Good for you!

I wouldn't want to be facebook friends with someone who got defensive after I implied they were ignorant or stupid either.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

38. I wasn't nominating myself for Nice Guy of the Year

I'll readily admit that I wasn't very kind to him. But I have no patience for this sort of out-loud ignorance, and no desire to be his friend, in the Facebook sense or in the real-life sense. Thanks.

[hughee99]

59. I know exactly how you feel,

but I think you might have handled it better, particularly given that we got good news Tuesday and your friend obviously didn't.

[defacto7]

78. You absolutely were the nice guy..

You were frank and honest. That's an attribute I would expect from any friend. Always agreeing, always saying what the other expects, always being nicey nice, is not having a healthy relationship with another human, it's being a pet.

Your responses were absolutely reasonable in those circumstances. They should have invoked thought, not retribution.

[heaven05]

90. you

did fine sir. This magnanimous in victory bullshit is what Obama tried his first four years in the WH. What did it get him? More hate from the right and feelings of disillusionment on the left. When ignorance and stupidity rear its ugly head ala Fauxnewsbots, I step on them like roaches. People have said I'm not a nice liberal/progressive, I tell them I know nice is equated by fauxnewsbots as weakness. That ain't me. All, in my circle, who wanted to be a romneybot, have in no uncertain terms been told by me and yes even after this election also, victory or not, to not darken my doorway ever with their ignorance and stupidity. Kindness to these people is suicide.

[sinkingfeeling]

34. I would have asked him to mail you his and his family's Social Security cards and drivers'

licenses as we can't have him on our socialist roads.

By the way, Gary apparently took his Franklin quotes directly from here. http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin

Misattributed
When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic. There is no evidence that Franklin ever actually said or wrote this, but it's remarkably similar a quote often attributed, without proper sourcing, to Alexis de Tocqueville and Alexander Fraser Tytler:

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy.


• Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.

Widely attributed to Franklin on the Internet, sometimes without the second sentence. It is not found in any of his known writings, and the word "lunch" is not known to have appeared anywhere in English literature until the 1820s, decades after his death. The phrasing itself has a very modern tone and the second sentence especially might not even be as old as the internet. Some of these observations are made in response to a query at Google Answers.[8]
The earliest known similar statements are: A democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Gary Strand, Usenet group sci.environment, 23 April 1990. [9]

Democracy is not freedom. Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to eat for lunch. Freedom comes from the recognition of certain rights which may not be taken, not even by a 99% vote. Marvin Simkin, "Individual Rights", Los Angeles Times, 12 January 1992:[10]

Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. James Bovard, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty (1994), ISBN 0312123337, p. 333
Also cited as by Bovard in the Sacramento Bee (1994)

[defacto7]

81. Great catches...

I always second guess quotes of early Americans that I haven't already determined to be valid. There are so many false quotes running around. The Internet could have been a great educator. Instead, it's become a source of misinformation just as much as it has become a source of facts.

[Qutzupalotl]

40. "voting themselves money" = TAX CUTS

and coincidentally, we are closer to a possible end of the republic.

[ErikJ]

71. BINGO!

Exactly. voting themselves tax cuts -as Olbermann calls them-"the something for nothing crowd"

[whathehell]

41. Uh oh. He plays country western?...Maybe his wife left him and his dog died too

Possible answer to the question of "what went wrong" with him.

[Blue_Tires]

42. The greatest political sig quote I ever read:

"The problem with internet quotes, especially political ones, is so many people assume them to be true without doing their own research and thinking for themselves instead of being so goddamned intellectually lazy."

-George Washington

[DisgustipatedinCA]

46. I'm pretty sure Thomas Jefferson actually said that

He said it at Monticellopalooza just after the Stones played, and before the Monkees took the stage.

[barbtries]

49. thomas jefferson

airplane?

[DisgustipatedinCA]

51. We just call him Starship now, for legal reasons. n/t

.

[Lilma]

87. No-It was ol' Tom Paine

[barbtries]

47. well done.

that's like the perfect person for such an exchange. you don't have to feel bad at all. i don't talk politics with my sister because i love her, and if we get too deep into it i'm afraid that i will lose all respect for her.

[FiveGoodMen]

48. You're well rid of him.

[RevStPatrick]

50. I do have to agree with a couple of those quotes...

• They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
• The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.

Other than that, yeah... Gary's a jerk.
Too bad, really.

[sqrllvr]

55. Nero was a musician, Hitler was a painter...... or an artist... or...oh well...

Good riddance! I congratulate you for taking a bold step. Being a musician/artist (I'm a musician myself but I'm more well informed about the history of humanity...) does not guarantee a person is open minded. From all the crazy right wing talks, I get sense, that they don't even know what being a socialist about, save about socialism. Also maybe, being in the country western group can brainwash you....

[appleannie1]

56. Someone I went to school with. We unfriended each other during the primaries.

[secondwind]

58. my warm, funny, loving cousin Frank moved to Houston over 30 years ago... He is now

a rabid Republican.. and has on his FB page "I hate it when I get up in the morning and... blah blah"..

[ckimmy57]

60. Must be that state

Texas....know 2 guys that my hubby and I ran around with, rode motorcycles with for years. They both came from poor working folks who at times depended on the generosity of the state to feed their children. They moved from Ohio to Texas and man.....cannot even stand to be around them or read their facebook posts....one is always citing bible verses and spewing anti Democrat bullshit and the other is just plain racist (although he had to "buy" a wife from a foreign country) who thinks like "Spit Romney" that 47 % of the people are lazy pigs and spews anti Democrat mumbo jumbo on his facebook. My hubby read some of their posts and shook his head in disbelief. Evidently the heat and the sun down that way bakes or destroys their brains.

[txdemsftw]

68. Hmm..

well, I know several redneck assholes who live in Ohio...doesn't mean I think it's Ohio that turns them crazy.

[lucca18]

61. I have experienced the same thing...

Years ago I moved to San Francisco from New York and my friend moved to San Antonio. She was always a Liberal until five years ago when she started to listen to Michael Savage on the radio. Now she is very conservative, doesn't believe in global warming and voted for Rmoney.
So sad.....

[DisgustipatedinCA]

76. The sad and ironic thing is that Savage was broadcasting from San Francisco

You and I are in Michael Savage Land (I'm in Sonoma), but his constituency is most definitely elsewhere.

[FedUpJerseyGirl]

63. Grew up on the Eastern Shore of Md....

...and have since reconnected with some of my hs friends there from the 70s. The posts they put up on Wed were pathetic. I thought about trying to give their brain an enema from all the Fox, but realized I would need psychological skills far above my paygrade. Sad to see that friends I remember fondly have morphed into fear-riddled, ignorant racist assholes.

[AndyA]

65. Life is too short to waste time on people like that.

You attempted to re-educate him, and he wasn't going to have any part of that. The facts are out there for these people, if they really want to know the truth. Accepting that you've been wrong, and have been lied to may not be easy to swallow, but it's better than spending your life living in the dark.

Now you have more time to focus on your real friends who truly care about you. It's no good being constantly confronted with lies from "friends" who really should know better.

[Hubert Flottz]

67. I had to cut several loose over the past 6 weeks...

Funny, but I don't miss a god damned one of them.

[Caeser67]

69. Facebook:

"Killing more Friendships one day at a time."

No need for "friends" like that, I too have lost Facebook "friends" and I'm glad I did.


Forward.

[coeur_de_lion]

70. I've been having the same argument with an old chum from grade school

Nicest lady in the world. But she must be living near and exposed to a lot of Republicans because her sense of reality is simply gone. Reality to her is Fox News now.

I'm determined not to delete her as a friend from FB because I don't want to delete everyone in my life. My family are a lot like her. If I delete them all . . . .

Somehow we all have to learn how to get along with each other and I have not found the answer yet. But I do know the answer is not shutting out all of the republicans because some of them are my immediate family.

We will all have to stick together here on DU and cry on each others' shoulders until people figure out that Obama does not have three heads and does not want to destroy the country.

We'll form a support group. We'll all meet once a week for a group hug and tell our battle stories.

I feel your pain. We all do.

[skotty]

74. so true

I also am surrounded by family who think I am an idiot or naive. I feel your pain.

[coeur_de_lion]

94. They don't think I am an idiot they think I am somehow anti-American

Because I disagree with them. I don't know which is worse.

[skotty]

72. another FB friend lost

I also friended an old friend on FB that I haven't seen for almost 30 years and I posted on my page after a co worker called me a dumb fuc*ing liberal. My post defined the term liberal and my inability to effectively communicate with strident republicans (party of 3 R's - rich, racist, or religious). This old friend responded with outrage at being labeled racist ( although he is born again ) and demanded that he wants 'his' country back and "where are the patriots anyway"? I explained the right wing media and vitriolic diatribes that preach fear and mistrust, but to no avail. The sheep will follow their shepard.

[reformist2]

73. Greed and selfishness has taken over his brain. I bet he read an Ayn Rand book.

[tomm2thumbs]

79. Can't teach a pig how to sing - only wastes your time and annoys the pig.

or something along those lines

don't waste another second on this one - he's trapped in his own ignorance and there is no apparent expiration date on it

[mstinamotorcity2]

80. Don't worry my mom says

you can't miss what you can't measure. And everybody that come up with you can't go with you. so please believe you will leave some on the road on your way to knowledge highway!!!!!

[cecilfirefox]

86. Good job and good riddance! I'm that way with folks who are anti-gay, they DO NOT get to be my

friends anymore. No way, no how. I am no one's token.

[bleedinglib]

93. Angry white male??

Remember back about 1979 when Rush Limpnuts first hit the fan? He was supposed too be a comedian?? His making fun of politicians caught the eye of the repugs & the rest is history!! The theory at the time was too get the white male pissed-off about affirmative action & we can control the world. The AWM would bring along his family. This brainwashing process has been far more effective than their wildest dreams!!! Then came Ralph Reed & the Christian Coalition. Abortion, gays & guns, Faux News, Liberal Media??
I have 3 children in their 40's & the 2 youngest won't talk too me after this election cycle!! The youngest is saying she's going too move from Illinois too Texas because Ill. way too Liberal for her. I think she has blown a gasket on Facebook!! We were having Thanksgiving together this year at our home in Branson? Guess that's off?
Here in the Branson MO. area the RT/Wing Christians carry guns & are really pissed-off!! I was afraid too put in a yard sign or a bumper sticker for fear of my life!!

What was that old saying? "United we Stand, Divided we fall" well, Faux news has done a hell of a job dividing this country!!
SHAME ON THEM

[outsideworld]

96. kaboom

[Kennah]

98. Had one unfriend me, not sure exactly when, but probably the last couple of months

I only noticed today after reading your post. Still get Emails from him, in which he BCCes all those "receiving his broadcast". Occasionally I respond, but it's mostly a waste of time.

[mnhtnbb]

100. Yes. I worked with (actually hired) a woman in the 80's and stayed in touch

after we both left the organization. We had a terrific working relationship. She and her husband retired to Idaho about 10 years ago(from southern CA)and I thought, 'what?'. She really changed over the years from when I knew her.

She was the person who got me on to fb some years ago. When she put up a post 'liking'
Sarah Palin in 2008 I about fell off my chair. She wouldn't tolerate any posts on her page
discussing issues, either. Turned to name calling and hate stuff immediately. I ended up
unfriending her when she posted she would put people in 'time out'--directed to me--if
anyone dared to discuss issues on her posts. What? I MADE this woman's career
when I hired her. Put me in time out? I don't think so. Unfriended her and have had
no contact since then.

I imagine she and her hubby are pretty bummed with the election result. Too bad!

[davidpdx]

101. I kicked one person off my Facebook list

The day after. Generally I got along with her as long as the discussion didn't veer into politics. She's one of those nasty Libertarians (small r's) and posted some pretty ugly shit the day after the election. I was on the verge of defriending her, but that pretty much did it.

[NuttyFluffers]

104. congratulations!

1. you're life will be better now as you enjoy more pleasant company
2. you get to leave your friend mourning in peace
3. perhaps you've given him the swift kick to the ass he needs to jump start his critical thinking again.

think of how much good has been accomplished in one little exchange! it's like you're the giving tree! yay, positivity!