For whatever reasons, good or bad, we're dancing around it.
Death. Steve Gilliard's. Sen Craig Thomas's. A squirrel on the side of the road.
I'll jump into the breach.
I didn't know either Steve or Sen Thomas. And they're both dead.
Outpourings of grief come in all shapes and sizes. Maybe I'm happy that the gay-hater bit it. Maybe I'm sad the friendly black blogger passed away.
Maybe it's the other way around. That's my business.
One thing I think can and should be said on behalf of both of these men is that discourse is rarely, if ever, bad. State your opinions. If the groupthinking FPer insiders don't like it, that's their tough shit. The only obligation we have to the dead, in my book, is to honor life by shooting straight.
Straight, of course, has multiple definitions. To some it means not buttfucking your fellow man. To others it means not demonizing a fallen opponent. Alternately, it may mean to shake off your own internal censor and calls em like you sees em.
I see and smell bullshit.
I'm still here and I detest any person's attempt, be they Karl Rove or some well-meaning but naive grad student with plus 100 KosCred, to stifle debate.
Slag away. I can take it, and if the demeritMeisters dictate that I should be silenced, then so be it.
There is an open Senate seat in Wyoming tonight. I say we fill it with a progressive Democrat. There is also an opening in the blogosphere. I say we honor Steve Gilliard's place with statements that attract conversation instead of adhering to KosPlusUpManShip shitty and insincere logrolling.
Life is too short.