Free Republic
Bat-Shit Crazy

If I'm feeling low I sometimes go over to Free Republic because it makes me feel smart and intellectually virtuous by comparison. Those people are just flat-out bat-shit crazy. In fact, it's not even gratifying anymore, but horrifying. I supposed I hadn't realized the depths of logical depravity to which human beings could sink.

Here's what I found in the first post I clicked on just now:

1.
The whole post reads:

"In order to beat them...drive out Democrats who are interested in “appeasing” the right wing, and enforce a more clearly progressive agenda..."

And here's the link provided, which takes us to:

2.
A post at Gateway Pundit, which quotes Obama at dKos, ending with:

According to the storyline that drives many advocacy groups and Democratic activists - a storyline often reflected in comments on this blog - we are up against a sharply partisan, radically conservative, take-no-prisoners Republican party. They have beaten us twice by energizing their base with red meat rhetoric and single-minded devotion and discipline to their agenda. In order to beat them, it is necessary for Democrats to get some backbone, give as good as they get, brook no compromise, drive out Democrats who are interested in “appeasing” the right wing, and enforce a more clearly progressive agenda.

The country, finally knowing what we stand for and seeing a sharp contrast, will rally to our side and thereby usher in a new progressive era.

Now, if you click through, what you find in the actual dKos post is that the very first sentence of the next paragraph is:

"I think this perspective misreads the American people."

What Obama is saying is, in fact, the exact opposite of the point that is being attributed to him by the Freeper and Gateway Pundit. It's almost too sleazy to believe. It's as if I'd written "According to a widely-accepted view, women are inferior to men. This is, of course, insane"...but you "quote" me as saying "women are inferior to men."

This "Gateway Pundit" fellow himself then goes on to misconstrue Obama's point in a different way, in addition to cutting crucial material out of the quote. Gateway Pundit claims that Obama is saying "let's make the Republicans think we're centrists when we're really partisans looking to overrun them." But what Obama is really doing is saying to the Kossacs: "Look, I'm not saying we should be centrist if that means splitting the difference on every issue. I'm saying we have to take a stand for important principles, but compromise with conservatives where possible." In effect, Obama is doing the opposite of what Gateway Pundit claims: he's saying to the Kossacs: "I'm not saying we should be (lame) centrists, I'm saying we should be (wise) centrists." If he's flim-flamming anyone here, it's the Kossacs.

Those Freepers are some combination of stupid and intellectually dishonest in measures that I am unable to discern.