On partisanship, the FBI files, & impeachment
Michael, I am not "uncomfortable when people speak in partisan or non-partisan ways". In fact, I am not even quite sure what you mean.
What I am uncomfortable with, as indicated in my post to you, is the habit many posters here(including, but not limited to, yourself) have of attributing views to other people that the latter do not necessarily hold. In the Borzou case, you assumed he was speaking for the Democrats, although he has specifically said, many times, that he is not a Democrat, and never even voted for Clinton.
Now, I am a registered Democrat. So I have no problem answering the following question (although I must point out that, once again, you persist in lumping me together with the non-Democrat Borzou):
Or is it that by speaking in my partisan way, the points I make cause some discomfort to the assumptions you have regarding your party and leader? Clearly, although you and Bourzou write eloquently you have been unable to defend the indefensible. And have instead focused on speaking for ALL Americans or discussing the style of communication by others.
1) As I have said many times before, I am a registered Democrat, not a party activist. Independents have to accept the candidates the Republicans and Democrats come up with. So by registering in a party, I can select candidates by participating in party primaries. I registered Democratic rather than Republican partly, I'll confess, because of family tradition, and partly because I find the over-all orientation of the Democratic Party more congenial than the over-all orientation of the Republican Party. That does not mean that I support a)every position the Democratic Party takes at any given point in time on every issue, or b) every Democratic politician. When one registers in a party, one is not joining a church. For that matter, there is a wide range of opinion even among Democratic politicians themselves, partially because they represent a wide range of constituencies. (The same, of course, is true of the Republicans.)
2) As I have said before, although I did vote for Clinton in 1992 (with some reluctance), I cast a protest vote against him in 1996. Why do you insist on calling him my leader? He is mine only in the sense that he is yours too; he is President of the United States.
3) You will have to look hard to find any post from me in which I either try to "defend the indefensible", or "speak for all Americans". Because I have not done either the one or the other. Again, you are projecting upon me views that you think I, as a Democrat, should hold, not those that I have specifically expressed.
4) I'll admit to "discussing the style of communication by others". Guilty as charged. In doing so, my hope was that people here would actually start communicating with one another, rather than with the straw men of their imaginations.
Now, on to substance -- the FBI files. True, I personally have not addressed that issue. Actually, I'm not that much up to speed on the specifics. However, I HAVE expressed concern with the Administration's OPEN attempts to expand FBI surveillance in general, and have welcomed Republican opposition to them. A couple of posts from me that touch on that point:
Message 6002230
Message 6060802
In general, Clinton's Presidency has not been good for civil liberties.
On Impeachment. I can see the argument for impeaching Clinton. I can also see the argument for not impeaching him. I did not start participating in this thread in order to defend one position or the other, but to find out just what people on various sides of the various fences think about the issue. Up to that point, I had paid little attention to the whole Clinton scandal, and I came to learn.
If you find that wishy-washy, so be it. I am generally speaking a wishy-washy person. :-) In other words, I do not feel I have to have a ready-made opinion on everything. It takes time, and a lot of research, and a lot of thought, to develop an informed opinion on any issue. And I refuse to borrow a ready-made -- and thus uninformed -- opinion, from any person or any group, including the Democratic Party.
jbe
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