"Framing"

[pattmarty]

I believe we (on the left) have to start calling the so called conservative Republicans what they really are. I grew up in the 50's and at that time there was real bipartisanship between the parties. But there were groups like the John Birch Society that were way out on the fringes of the extreme right. A lot of us used to laugh at these groups as wackos, insane etc but they came of age in 1964 with the nomination of Barry Goldwater for the Republican nomination. Today they are in control of the Republican party and have succeeded in moving the yardsticks of the "center" way to the right. In my opinion the last "liberal" President was Lyndon Johnson, more than 40 yrs ago. What I am getting at here is whenever we are talking about any of these individuals we start describing them as "extremists". The right wing talkers ie Hannity, O'Reilly, Coulter et al are calling us "loons" and much worse. I advocate when we are talking about any of these people we use the adjective of "extremist" to (rightfully I believe) describe these folks. In the 50's and 60's we used to laugh at these people, now they are on TV/radio and are respected (by some) and are in the majority on TV/radio. Let's start describing them exactly what they are; extremists.

[flashl]

1. Whole heartedly agree. nt

[dajoki]

2. You're right...

The former lunatic right-wing fringe groups now control the republican party. I believe this was a well thought out long term plan on their part and is still being perfected. That's what scares me, just when you think it can't get any worse, it does. And, to me, the worst part is that they have probably the majority of Americans brainwashed through their spin machine to their nut job "talking heads", right into the living rooms of way too many people. Yet it seems we haven't been able to come up with an answer and that pisses me off!!