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Has W pushed you farther to the left?

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wtmusic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:05 AM
Original message
Has W pushed you farther to the left?
In my case, it's a definite yes. It's partly a reactionary streak that I'm not particularly proud of (Irish temper?), but also partly being more educated on issues than I was 8 years ago.

How about you?
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baby_mouse Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:09 AM
Response to Original message
1. Not really.

My opinions have changed over the years since he was elected, sure, but probably more along the authoritarian/libertarian axis than the left/right axis (assuming such axes exist, even metaphorically), and it's not because of him.
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slackmaster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:11 AM
Response to Original message
2. No, but he has pushed me farther in the anti-authoritarian direction
:nuke:
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MethuenProgressive Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:11 AM
Response to Original message
3. Nope. My feet are firmly planted.
I stand fast, no matter what the anti-America Right Wing does.
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Faygo Kid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:11 AM
Response to Original message
4. Yes, Spare us from "moderates" who seek to accommodate him.
The Republican Party is such a party of extremists now, that all thinking people really have to seek to stop them.

That said, I still hold the same basic core beliefs I always have held. It's just that I have wised up about trying to accommodate the extremist, Limbaugh-worshipping, neocon madmen (and women).
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Evergreen Emerald Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:19 AM
Response to Original message
5. no he and his cohorts have re-defined me
I am a reasonable moderate who is now labeled as "extreme left" by the media and the neo-cons who are destroying our Constitution and raiding our Treasury.
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wtmusic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:23 AM
Response to Reply #5
9. good point
the "fringe left" nowadays = "moderates" of a decade ago.
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LeFleur1 Donating Member (973 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 11:56 AM
Response to Reply #5
37. Exactly
The country is so far right now that anyone in the middle looks like a firm Left Winger.
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Skidmore Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:20 AM
Response to Original message
6. No, but part of my party tracked to the right while thinking they were cleaning up the
Edited on Sun Nov-04-07 10:20 AM by Skidmore
piles of elephant dung down the shining path.
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PFunk Donating Member (687 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:20 AM
Response to Original message
7. Not really...since I was already firmly planted to the left.
However he has made me reconcider my opinions to more pro 2nd Admenment (though I still think the NRA are slime).
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lonestarnot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:23 AM
Response to Original message
8. Those fight'n Irish!
Wootie woot woot! Hell yes the bushitler has pushed me further to the left! Was there any other place to go?
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The Count Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:23 AM
Response to Original message
10. Helped me defined myself - yeah, "lefter "than i thought myself to be in the past
But then again, what passes officially by mainstream is yesterday's loonies of the far right. (see Arkansas project)
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madokie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:24 AM
Response to Original message
11. nixon did me in
sent me over to the left, hard left
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wtmusic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:27 AM
Response to Reply #11
12. My dad campaigned for Dirty Dick in 1960,
my mom was a feminist career woman. How that marriage lasted I'll never know, but it explains my political schizophrenia. :crazy:
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lonestarnot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:53 AM
Response to Reply #12
22. eeeeek an admission I do not envy you for sharing.
:puke:
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alfredo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:27 AM
Response to Original message
13. Yes!!!
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mmonk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:28 AM
Response to Original message
14. What it made me do is question anything
the government, media, or any politician ever says.
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Buzz Clik Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:29 AM
Response to Original message
15. No. Sometimes I get nudged to the left by the right, sometimes to the right by DU.
On balance, I haven't moved a bit.
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0007 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:31 AM
Response to Original message
16. I'm so far left that I'm twenty five degrees from the North star!
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dmosh42 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:32 AM
Response to Original message
17. He has manipulated the country to the right......
But I believe my position hasn't changed much from the last 25 yrs.
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Red Zelda Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:42 AM
Response to Original message
18. Yes
...and I was already to the left of Trotsky. Or Hal Trosky.
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Froward69 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:43 AM
Response to Original message
19. I wouldn't say him in particular
but rather how he has emboldened neo-cons to be fascist/nazi like. I admitted how I voted in a local election, then I was searched and nearly arrested.
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patrice Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:50 AM
Response to Original message
20. Yes.
The "Left" is way under-represented in public "discourse".

The Left gets lied about all of the time and mischaracterized as a bunch of free-loader wanna bes, who think the state should take care of everyone in every way, who like pornography and all perversions of all kinds, and who think everyone owes them respect that they haven't earned.

I'm proud to stand up for the fact that the "group" does have fundamental, life-securing, responsibilities to each and everyone of its members, if not, all the group, the "we", has to offer is slavery.
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YellowRubberDuckie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:52 AM
Response to Original message
21. Right now?
Edited on Sun Nov-04-07 10:53 AM by YellowRubberDuckie
Well, both sides are fucking up beyond anything I could have ever imagined, so they're actually pushing me further to the center(Centrists are ignored and a little independent). Actually, if I had the money I'd be on a boat to Europe faster than you could say FUBAR.
Duckie
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tlsmith1963 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 11:15 AM
Response to Reply #21
28. I Would Leave the US, Also
If I had the money. I see how countries like Canada & the UK are more liberal than us & think "heaven!".
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Bjorn Against Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:53 AM
Response to Original message
23. Well considering my transition from a right-winger to a leftist happened in early 2001....
Edited on Sun Nov-04-07 10:54 AM by MN Against Bush
With doubts about right-wing ideology building in me throughout the 2000 campaign, I would say that yes getting introduced to George Bush was a defining moment in my change. Once I saw him articulate right-wing viewpoints it immediately became clear that those viewpoints are pretty dumb not to mention insane and sadistic.
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Beelzebud Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:54 AM
Response to Original message
24. Bush is a right-wing totalitarian. I only seem "more left" next to him.
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derby378 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:56 AM
Response to Original message
25. A little more left, and a little more libertarian, too...
I have less patience than before for security checkpoints, "assault weapon" bans, or any censoring of the news media.
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Fovea Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 10:58 AM
Response to Original message
26. Not really
But my left of center stance has become more intractable in the presence of Pelosi, Rahm, et al.
I expect fascists to be fascists. I didn't expect is from my party.
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tlsmith1963 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 11:12 AM
Response to Original message
27. Yes
I used to be able to tolerate conservatives & even be friends with them, but now I can hardly stand them. In fact, I wish that we liberals could just break off & form our own country, since the conservatives won't allow us to do anything about the environment, health care, the widening gap between the rich & poor, etc.
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Akoto Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 11:19 AM
Response to Original message
29. W brought me into politics.
Edited on Sun Nov-04-07 11:19 AM by Akoto
I'm 22, so most of my clear memories are of the Clinton years. He wasn't perfect and everything wasn't 100% ideal, but back then, the world seemed to be better. The future for someone of my age looked to be a lot brighter than it does now.

The changeover from Clinton to Bush was certainly enough to bring me into politics. I have voted every year since I was legally able, and many of my friends are the same way now.
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wtmusic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 01:09 PM
Response to Reply #29
40. Reassuring to hear
There is exactly one good thing to come out of the Bush administration, and that is that it was a wake up call. Whether enough heed it remains to be seen.
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pdxmom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 11:19 AM
Response to Original message
30. Yes. Before, I could listen to a reasoned argument before forming an
opinion. Now, whatever the right is for, I'm sure I'm against it, since they are 1. always wrong, and 2. liars.
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OzarkDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 11:20 AM
Response to Original message
31. No
Edited on Sun Nov-04-07 11:21 AM by OzarkDem
my values come from my family, from the people who raised me - heavy emphasis on fairness and justice, while trying not to judge others; doing good and an obligation to help others. They've stayed fairly constant all my life.

I have seen a shift, though among others, particularly among those who bought into the right wing "values" agenda. Even the most ardent Bush supporters I know have become very disillusioned, especially when his policies have begun to affect their own personal lives.


The Democratic Party has always been my political home, through its ups and downs.


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Yael Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 11:23 AM
Response to Original message
32. Definitely left of center, but a much more noticable change
from authoritarian to libertarian.
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Individualist Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 11:26 AM
Response to Original message
33. Definitely
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marmar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 11:41 AM
Response to Original message
34. I've always been far to the left....Prez. Jackass just reaffirms why I am.
:toast:
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abq e streeter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 11:50 AM
Response to Original message
35. Not one bit
my opinions are based on my own intellectual ability to analyze information, and so the rantings and actions of a group of right wing lunatics have no bearing on that. On the other hand, their actions have an impact on what I think might be necessary to stop them in their pursuit of destroying my country and this planet.
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Maestro Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 11:54 AM
Response to Original message
36. Yes, but I think
I was already there even though I never really identified myself as that far to the left. He definitely made me realize it though.
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Eric J in MN Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 11:56 AM
Response to Original message
38. Bush has given me a devotion to the Democratic Party I didn't have before.
He made me more partisan, not more-or-less liberal.
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catmandu57 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Nov-04-07 12:24 PM
Response to Original message
39. No st. ronnie did that
Having barely survived the eighties, I've been on the left side of the screen for a long time. I actually wept with joy when I learned that miserable bastard had cashed in.
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