Condi Rice Trial Balloon Sighted

Quote from AAAintheBeltway:

LOL. Kind of my thoughts too, but the WSJ online article said she was the most popular choice among republican voters by a large margin, based on polling. These are the same voters though who thought Huckabee and John McCain were good choices. They loved Santorum too, actually he was second in the poll.

So maybe you and I are the ones out of step. I just see Condi as being so linked to Bush, she would poison the ticket. After all, there should be some consequences to failure. Would she really peel black votes from obama? I doubt it. Would women who were planning on voting for obama suddenly vote for her instead? Maybe a handful, but I can't see wholesale defections.

I also think if he picks Portman or Ryan or any of the other indistinguishable middle aged white guys, there will be some disappointment.

Condi Rice is one of the greatest hawks, if not THE greatest hawk in modern presidential history.

No way Mittens makes that kind of mistake. No way. Mittens is actually a smart fella.
 
Quote from PHOENIX TRADING:

maybe popular amongst republicans but certainly not conservatives

I certainly wouldn't have thought so, but apparently I am wrong. It pains me to say this, but a lot of republican voters are not overly sophisticated.
 
Quote from AAAintheBeltway:

LOL. Kind of my thoughts too, but the WSJ online article said she was the most popular choice among republican voters by a large margin, based on polling. These are the same voters though who thought Huckabee and John McCain were good choices. They loved Santorum too, actually he was second in the poll.

So maybe you and I are the ones out of step. I just see Condi as being so linked to Bush, she would poison the ticket. After all, there should be some consequences to failure. Would she really peel black votes from obama? I doubt it. Would women who were planning on voting for obama suddenly vote for her instead? Maybe a handful, but I can't see wholesale defections.

I also think if he picks Portman or Ryan or any of the other indistinguishable middle aged white guys, there will be some disappointment.

This is exactly right. The link to Bush is just too easy of a target. Beyond that, putting her on the ticket won't get them any significant increase in the female vote and it won't move the black vote at all. So why do it?
 
Quote from RCG Trader:

+1 the GOP has lost it's mind, and that is a shame. The dems manage to keep the Greenpeace wing of their party at bay. Why cannot the GOP control it's hard right wing?
The problem is that the Republicans can't win the Presidency with moderate
candidates. McCain, Dole, Bush Sr, Ford....
 
Quote from AAAintheBeltway:

Your sarcasm is duly noted, as I haven't done the deed yet.

I don't want you to think of it as rejection. It's about me, not you. I do respect your fanaticism, and your ability to argue, but you could be the stumblingblock that prevents some lost person from finding eternal Salvation through Jesus. That would bother me if I were you. Rejecting faith is a kind of faith of its own, and it could be you are wrong. Doesn't that bother you even a little?

"Rejecting faith is a kind of faith" now that is brilliant.

when you use your ability to think and reason and all available evidence tells us that the idea that there is some father figure up there who will torture us if we dont believe in him is nothing more than delusion it doesnt bother me in the least to turn people away from mental bondage and to intellectual freedom.


The belief in eternal torment, still subscribed to by fundamentalist Christian denominations, undoubtedly ranks as the most vicious and reprehensible doctrine of classical Christianity. It has resulted in an incalculable amount of psychological torture, especially among children where it is employed as a terror tactic to prompt obedience. (George H. Smith)
 
Quote from AAAintheBeltway:


That would bother me if I were you. Rejecting faith is a kind of faith of its own, and it could be you are wrong. Doesn't that bother you even a little?

another point. if someone escaped from a cult or an addiction and they helped educate others so that they may also escape that cult or addiction are they doing a good or a bad thing?
 
Quote from Free Thinker:

another point. if someone escaped from a cult or an addiction and they helped educate others so that they may also escape that cult or addiction are they doing a good or a bad thing?

By definition, a cult or addiction has negative consequences for the person, their family, loved ones, etc. I don't see that with Christianity, although obviously you can cite some wackos who are merely the exception who prove the rule. Even if it is all a fantasy, as you hypothosize, I don't see the harm and I see quite a few benefits from living a life in accordance with Christian principles. Again, people can make bad choices, any activity in which humans are involved will involve bad apples, etc so you can't paint with a broad brush and say any christian denomination or church is perfect, but neither am I willing to dismiss them out of hand.

The short answer to your question is that you can objectively identify negative consequences to a cult or addiction. You cannot objectively prove that Christianity is false. You can only substitute your own fallible human reasoning for proof. As one-time atheist C. S. Lewis observed, Jesus was either a liar, a crazy man or who He said He was. After a lengthy personal journey, Lewis, a reknowned intellectual, decided the only rational conclusion was the latter. I don't expect any of this to unmake your mind, but at least admit to yourself the possibility that you could be dead wrong.
 
Quote from Free Thinker:

"Rejecting faith is a kind of faith" now that is brilliant.

when you use your ability to think and reason and all available evidence tells us that the idea that there is some father figure up there who will torture us if we dont believe in him is nothing more than delusion it doesnt bother me in the least to turn people away from mental bondage and to intellectual freedom.


The belief in eternal torment, still subscribed to by fundamentalist Christian denominations, undoubtedly ranks as the most vicious and reprehensible doctrine of classical Christianity. It has resulted in an incalculable amount of psychological torture, especially among children where it is employed as a terror tactic to prompt obedience. (George H. Smith)


you always go back to the torture.

arguably there is little if no idea of "hell" in the old testament.

and the king james version with the three different names of hell are all jumbled up.

I think you are right to suspect God would not torture people forever.
I am sure there are plenty of misconceptions about existence outside of time.
 
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