I'm involved in a friendly ongoing email debate with a self-described RW libertarian friend (Scott). He's a good guy, very intelligent, and one of my best friends. When we get together and bullshit, I can usually nail him down to less-than-rightwing positions on a
lot of issues.
For instance, he is pro-abortion; pro-privacy; he's against institutional discrimination (although he's a little racist himself); he's not religious and thinks that the religious right's influence over the Repubs is pernicious; he's for gay civil unions (but not for gay marriage); he thinks Bush is a bumbling dunce not fit to serve as president (ditto for Bush's neocon posse); and he's very uncomfortable with the direction of the US government in the past few years.
One caveat: he's extremely pro-gun.
This guy could be right on the cusp of taking a different view more in line with our values. He agrees that we're correct on many issues, but still holds generally to the RW point of view.
Help me respond to him in a way that both factually debunks his preconceptions/RW talking points, and makes our side seem attractive.
I recently wrote in an extended email thread:
What the Republicans of principle (how many of those are left anyway?) need to ask themselves now is whether or not they'd like someone like Hillary with the kind of power they seem to be so comfortable ceding to Bush. Because of Bush's excesses -- as well as the widespread Repub corruption that's now coming into public spotlight -- a change of ruling party in 2008 looks likely. So they need to decide: severely rein in these rampant powergrabs now or face the prospect of a Democrat wielding the same 'imperial presidency' scepter.
I know that the right loves Hillary so much that such a thought fills them with joy. </snark>
He responded with this:
All corruption issues aside (but taken into account), all the excesses of the Bush administration, etc ... The (D)ems will still not win in 2008.
The Dem party is dead and they don't realize it. They can't help themselves. They tend to dig their own graves with every salivating issue that arises.
Right, wrong, or indifferent, the bad intelligence on Iraq, 2000+ dead soldiers, CIA leaks, National Guard service (complete with forged documents) or anything else that the left considers a hot button issue isn't significant to the public in general. Nobody cares anymore except the media, and even they are growing tired. I think the Bush administration could nuke any country in the middle east on intelligence that said 'someone over there is reading the Koran', and nobody will care in 2008.
When Bush is gone in 2008, that will make 20 of the last 28 years with (R) leadership. There is a reason for it. The (D) have no message, and can't stay on the ones they make up on a daily basis. Who in their right mind elects Howard Dean as the party spokesman, only to have to work overtime to disassociate themselves with him on a regular basis.
I know of at least two (D) senators who have been pegged recently not for criticizing the war itself, but the troops doing the work. (Durbin/Murtha).
Thats the way to get votes! Plus Howard Dean, the head of the Democratic party, assures us that we cannot win the struggle for democracy in Iraq. He predicts, as proved true in Vietnam, that the United States will inevitably fail. So it makes better sense to flee now, admit defeat, and thus lessen our inevitable losses.
Not long ago, John Kerry was on a Sunday talk show. Without much of a warm-up, he was soon alleging that Americans were terrorizing Iraqis in their homes.
Contrast the Democratic reactions to respective advice offered by Congressman Murtha and Senator Joe Lieberman. The former is a respected but not nationally known Democratic figure; the latter ran for the vice presidency of the United States. The Democrats gushed over Murtha's bleak Dean-like assessment that the war is essentially lost and that we must leave as soon as possible. But then when a vote was called on the issue, they voted overwhelmingly not to follow the congressman's prescription.
Thats the way to show teamwork!
All sad, really. Implosion in action.
I know that much of his argument is based on RW talking points. Help me change this guy's mind. Help me make him see the our point of view. Help me make a Dem (or Dem-sympathizer) out of him.