Let's Not Forget what Bob Goodlatte Is: An Obedient Solder for a Dark and Destructive Force

Bob Goodlatte: Soldier for the Dark Side (0.00 / 0)

Every time I have met Bob Goodlatte, he seems to be a "nice guy" on the outside. But his political positions are all in the service of party over the people of our district.

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by: Xapisma @ Mon Dec 03, 2012 at 03:10:23 AM UTC

Not sure what the goal is here... (0.00 / 0)

but I'm sure I'm not the only one that doesn't think this sounds like someone being bitter about coming up on the losing end. Dark and destructive force? I disagree with the man, but he's not in league with Lucifer. Come on now.

There are better ways forward.

I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat.

~Will Rogers

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by: Paba @ Mon Dec 03, 2012 at 15:14:25 PM UTC

My goal (0.00 / 0)

My goal for the past eight years has been to convey to my fellow Americans something that I see happening in America in our times.  Knowing something that is true, and of urgent importance, I've been working full-time, without pay, for those eight years-- writing all that time, and running for Congress for part of that time, with the same end in mind:  to help people see that a force more destructive and more dishonest than anything that has ever before made it to center stage of American politics has taken over the political right.

I gather that you, Paba, do not see this, and so you think it inappropriate for me to utilize Bob Goodlatte's rubber-stamp support for this destructive force as a means of calling attention to the nature of the crisis we face. Not seeing it, you think there are better ways forward.

I do see it, and I think this is part of the best way forward available to me in the position that I'm in.

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by: AndySchmooklerforCongress @ Mon Dec 03, 2012 at 15:45:20 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I'm confused as to what you're saying here. (0.00 / 0)

Are you arguing: a) that the Republican Party has NOT lurched to the far right, overwhelmingly in thrall to the power of big corporations and wealthy individuals (allied with theocrats, bigots, warmongers, etc.); b) that the Republicans HAVE lurched in that direction, yes, but they shouldn't be called out for it; or c) other? Also, I'm confused why you'd criticize Andy Schmookler for having the courage to call out tools like Bob Goodlatte, and even put himself out there to run against Goodlatte. In my view, we should be thanking Andy profusely, and trying to find a lot more Andy Schmooklers out there to do what he's been doing.

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by: lowkell @ Mon Dec 03, 2012 at 16:42:42 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

a) and b) are things I already stated (0.00 / 0)

There are better ways forward than just continuing to say "he is a bad person." Congrats, you've accomplished...nothing of tangible value.

I don't get why the DailyKos crowd seems to think there's power in hyperbole. There's big difference between taking a real, critical fight to political opponents and going around calling people "dark sided" or "taliban" or whatever. In a case like this, you sound like a sore loser. Thanks for running, but you lost an honest race due to a number of unfortunate factors. How does this fix that?

I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat.

~Will Rogers

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by: Paba @ Mon Dec 03, 2012 at 20:10:43 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I don't believe I've ever seen or heard Andy call Goodlatte (0.00 / 0)

a "bad person." To the contrary, Andy has called out Goodlatte for supporting the Republican Party's extreme agenda. That's 100% correct, and there's a great deal of value in that. Also, this is not the "Daily Kos crowd," not even sure what that means.

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by: lowkell @ Mon Dec 03, 2012 at 20:38:56 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

the complexity of people (0.00 / 0)

Lowell is right: I never have called Bob Goodlatte a bad person. At the same time, whatever else he is, his record shows that he's been willing to go along with a party that has gone terribly wrong.  Paba may think that's hyperbole, but I really have no doubt that I know what I'm talking about, and I invite Paba to check out what I've been doing/writing/saying for the past forty-some years to assess how credible a witness I am on such things as the operation of destructive forces, over time, in civilized societies.

In much of that work of mine over the decades --writing books with subtitles like "The Problem of Power in Social Evolution," "Healing the Wounds that Drive us to War," "The Cycling of Good and Evil in the Human System," and "A Quest to Bridge America's Moral Divide"-- I've investigated how cultural systems can bring out the best and/or the worst in people. Also relevant here is the extensive historical evidence that normal, "nice," "decent" people can sometimes become willing participants in outright evil.

People are complex systems. In many people, it's actually as though there are more than one personality system in operation within them.  I don't know what goes on in Bob Goodlatte, but I do see him as a person who might very well have preferred to have been part of a normal American political party --like the Republican Party of Dwight Eisenhower-- but in any event has been willing to serve something extremely ugly, as pernicious as anything in our nation's history that's held anything like so much power.

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by: AndySchmooklerforCongress @ Mon Dec 03, 2012 at 22:09:07 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

What amazes me is how people choose their "team" (0.00 / 0)

and then don't leave it, even when that "team" goes off the deep end into craziness, extremism, etc. I'm talking about people like Bob Goodlatte, Frank Wolf, Rob Wittman, and many others. All of them should tell the Teapublican Party to take a long leap off a short pier into a deep lake. LOL

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by: lowkell @ Mon Dec 03, 2012 at 23:03:34 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Bob Boodlatte's far right wing voting record (0.00 / 0)

I have reviewed Bob Goodlatte's voting record over the years and am appalled by how "anti" he has been:  anti- environment, anti-women, anti-student education, anti-job creation.  What he has been for is big coal, big oil, and the top 2%.  

Andy is absolutely correct when he says that Goodlatte has been a continuous fount of misinformation.  It's unfortunate that he has apparently pulled the wool over the eyes of the voters of the sixth district who continue to vote for him.

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by: Rlandis @ Mon Dec 03, 2012 at 16:54:52 PM UTC

Agreed, Goodlatte is one of those guys who comes across (0.00 / 0)

as "nice" but whose voting record is absolutely deplorable, abysmal, every bad word you can think of. In my view, the voting record's what matters, not whether he's personally "nice" or not. This is politics, not a happy hour or whatever.

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by: lowkell @ Mon Dec 03, 2012 at 17:11:35 PM UTC

[ Parent ]