Let me start off by saying that I understand that this is a community. I understand that some may even consider others here to be their friends. I also understand the progressive value of compassion and empathy(which the Republican Party, apparently, has issues with). I can understand the desire to see someone's ban lifted. I really can.
However, I am of the belief that TocqueDeville's diary was an over-the-top piece of garbage. I read the whole thing several times now, and I can understand how many Kossacks could miss some of what TocqueDeville had floated since most of the controversy came close to the end of a long and generally well-written diary. Below, I'll pull out the key quotes and arguments. I use the diarist's name in the title of this not to call them out a diarist, but because they are currently an ex-diarist.
The main issue here is over the last paragraph, which I quote;
I just want people to understand they let it happen. Because that is the proven truth, so far. Whether they let it happen on purpose is a legitimate line of investigation. But because of the left's phobia with 911, we can't even get the message out that Bushco let 911 happen through incompetence. And that pisses me off.
Many point to that second-to-last sentence as proof that TocqueDeville was not suggesting that the Bush administration allowed 9/11 to happen through any method beyond their own incompetence. Their wording is relatively convenient, but undermined by other words throughout the diary. First, let me point out "we can't even", which may or may not contradict a claim that all they were saying is that 9/11 was allowed to happen due to incompetence. You usually don't use "we can't even" in front of the point you were trying to make, and indeed, it looks to me that they used those three words to make an example of "the left's phobia about 911" more than anything else. Let me also repost part of that key paragraph; "I just want people to understand they let it happen."
Now, let's look at another paragraph from the diary with my own emphasis.
Watch the BBC's 'Power of Nightmares.' It shows how the neocons needed a new devil after the fall of the USSR. It has nothing to do with 911 conspiracy theories. But it will probably completely change your view of al Qaeda and all these terror hypes the Big Infomercial is always selling.
This is a key paragraph for this debate because I don't see how this paragraph fits in with any theme pertaining to the Bush administration's incompetence. This paragraph, in a diary all about the "label" of "conspiracy theorist", in this diary about 9/11 and the Bush administration's actions leading up to that horrible day, doesn't fit in with the claim that TocqueDeville merely suggested that the Bush administration's incompetence allowed 9/11 to happpen. This paragraph suggests that the neo-conservatives wanted a bad guy, and Al-Qaeda was to be that bad guy.
Let's revisit that last paragraph one more time.
I just want people to understand they let it happen. Because that is the proven truth, so far. Whether they let it happen on purpose is a legitimate line of investigation. But because of the left's phobia with 911, we can't even get the message out that Bushco let 911 happen through incompetence. And that pisses me off.
If we are assuming that "we can't even [blank]" means that [blank] wasn't the actual point TocqueDeville was making, but instead an example of "the left's phobia with 911", then it's pretty clear that TocqueDeville is suggesting, however implicitly it may have been, that the Bush administration knowingly-allowed for the hijackers to murder thousands of innocent men and women. Or, as TocqueDeville put it, "they let it happen". That is not reckless just because the suggestion puts the entire site's credibility at risk, but because it is so baseless and heartless.
I have little if any respect for George W. Bush, but I think the man is true to his conservative-Evangelical beliefs. I have no respect at all for people who would play politics with such a sad day of our nature's history, which is precisely what TocqueDeville did in the second-to-last paragraph that cites an uncited poll;
Over 40% of the public doesn't believe Bushco on 911. That doesn't mean they all think it was an inside job. But if you think that doesn't help Democrats politically then you should keep your day job. If those numbers got up to 65%, I'm not sure a Republican could ever be elected again.
While I certainly understand that behind this diary was an active member of the community, I believe they crossed a line with their implicit suggestion.
This is a reality-based site. This isn't the Free Republic. This isn't Red State. This isn't Glenn Beck's 9/12 project. This isn't Ron Paul's blog. This is a reality-based site.