Lincolnite

That letter today slayed me.

The comments on the LJS site are quite a fun read.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Thanks for pointing that out- I needed a good laugh this morning. I’m soooo glad he didn’t get elected!

Bwah ha ha!

Thanks for the lesson in civility Roger!

Anyone think maybe Roger is fudging the truth a little? Kind of reminds me of Fabian Bruskewitz’s stories of how he always gets confronted on the street by angry, vocal atheists…

I also think Yant is making all this up.  We all know that Republicans/conservatives are the only mean spirited people out there.

Speaking of Mr. Yant, if that is his real name, I cannot believe he does not have a web presence for his buy Lincoln thingy.

If I see him I will give him a big hug, rub his tummy, and let him know that it is going to be OK.

Well Dave, clever as your sarcasm may be, stories like this only tend to pop up when they legitimize the politics of the storyteller, no matter what their political persuasion.

They also tend to reflect an insulated perspective, which Yant has demonstrated possession of numerous times (as with Bruskewitz, who refuses to speak with any reporters).

The story is quite nicely structured to demonize Democrats, yet the characters involved act like caricatures and not people.

While I never ran for mayor, my line of work has earned me awkward silences, but never ridiculous confrontations like that. To you, this may prove that Republicans are more polite, but to me, it’s just evidence that people are fairly non-confrontational in person, and stories like Yant’s tend to be made up for purposes of self legitimization.

He should have promised that gal a job at Pioneer Village once he moved it to Lincoln. I’m sure that would have smoothed things over.

I don’t know about you, Neal, but I don’t see too many ‘stories like this’.  I guess you probably heard Bruskewitz say something similar, but I don’t have a hard time believing him if he says he has interesting public encounters with people.

It is ironic that you, of all people, are implying that there’s something wrong with using caricatures and a story to demonize people.

I don’t know why Yant submitted this letter.  It’s silly and pointless.  I don’t care whether or not it’s true.  Like everything else on the LJS editorial page except for a couple columns, I use the letters as entertainment.

In what has become a familiar refrain, give me a break, Dave.

If you seriously think there’s a direct comparison between an editorial cartoon designed to make a rhetorical, hyperbolic point and writing a letter about an event you claim is real, you need more help than I can give you.

Now if Yant had admitted his situation were fictionalized and exaggerated in order to make a point, I’d say you have something. But he didn’t, so you don’t.

And Bruskewitz - in his refusal to speak to reporters - will often submit prepared statements, occasionally with an anecdote of someone who confronts him on the street.

Someone in the LJS comments said it quite well: “When have any one of you in this town been set upon by a total stranger who just conveniently happened to spew the sort of garbage that you yourself regard as your mission in life to spew the opposite?”

Dave,

Just so you don’t think I’m not helpful, here are some examples of actual irony:

- Someone tells Democrats they need to “get over it,” then brings up Bill Clinton’s extra-marital affairs.

- Someone calls for civility between the parties, then proceeds to generalize all Democrats based upon one “experience” and implies that Democrats lack intelligence.

I guess there isn’t a direct comparison when you add so many qualifiers to it.  But my point wasn’t to make direct comparisons.  It was that you demonize people regularly and you seem so easily offended when someone lobs it back your way.

So ... do you think there’s anything wrong with using a caricature and a story to demonize someone?  You do that several times a week, shouldn’t someone else have the opportunity to do so? The difference between you and Yant is that Yant doesn’t get paid to do it, and Yant can donate to political causes because he doesn’t hide behind a guise of non-bias. 

I don’t understand why Bruskewitz is still a part of this discussion, other than your need to mention how he doesn’t speak to reporters and claims to be encountered by atheists.  I have to think that you either question or disagree with his media sheltering.  Unfortunately, I’m going to have to side with Bruskewitz on this one too.  I wouldn’t talk to reporters either if I was in his position.  In case you haven’t noticed, they aren’t too fond of him. And last I checked, you weren’t too fond of religion, so I don’t understand why you would care about what he does.

Anyways, it’s amusing how a simple letter to the editor from a non-elected Republican can get you all so fired up.

Well Dave, to be clear here, it was you who first got defensive. You might get the two of us confused, but I don’t.

Nice try blaming “all those qualifiers.” I am genuinely surprised that you are willing to pretend that you don’t understand the difference between an editorial cartoon and a letter to the editor claiming to be fact.

I am confused on this point - do you think Yant is making up his story or not? Because if Yant wanted to claim he was being rhetorical, I’m all for his right to do that.

But if he’s telling a lie in order to demonize a whole group but claiming he’s telling the truth to give it weight, I think that’s shameful and I’m surprised you don’t too.

If the story’s true, I fully support his right to tell it. I don’t happen to believe it’s true for reasons stated above. Even if it is true, it’s laughably hypocritical for him to use it to generalize toward all Democrats considering what his supposed moral is.

Bruskewitz is part of the discussion because in the first post, I said it reminded me of how he always has anecdotes that conveniently fit his straw-man defeating counter-arguments. I don’t know why you don’t understand that. I thought I typed it pretty clearly.

And I care about what he does because I’m Catholic, Dave. It’s why I’m familiar with what he says, does and doesn’t do.

And in case you haven’t noticed, the Journal Star’s religion reporter is about as friendly to everyone religious as you can get. But it might hurt your brain to read those stories because it could chip away at the Journal Star’s mythical “liberal bias.”

You guys should just make out.

No matter what you think of Roger Yant, Republicans do get “knocked” for their views in public (as I am sure some Democrats do as well).

I lost a $4,000 computer sale when my customer made some comment about the Iraq war. 

I mentioned that everyone will look back at President Bush in 25 years and see that for the most part he made decisions that were controversial at the time, but correct in the hindsight of history.

She took her credit card out of my hand and left saying she would need to think about doing business with someone with my political views.

That was her right, and my bad for mixing politics and business, but it does prove that there are people out there who believe so passionately in their party line that it influences their interactions with normal everyday people.

Thor, I don’t believe your story at all, since liberals are the open-minded and free-thinking ones.  Barry Manilow is setting the standard for this: http://www.thecelebritycafe.com/features/11749.html