He seems pretty misunderstood around these here parts...
Dale already came out and said he thought the whole SBV thing was a joke. He told Kevin he was on his own about that.
I think when Dale is being funny people sometimes mistake it as being hostile.
I think Dale is, and I don't think this is a bad place to be coming from, against extremism of any kind. Dale is a moderate, for sure, and that's ok in my book. Dale also appears to be a critical thinker which also rates him high in my book.
I think, and I sort of think I would be coming from the same place if I were him, Dale has added a considerable amout of sarcasm to his posts. I would say that because no matter what he says he get's lumped in with "all Republicans" it must seem ridiculous at times to expend the energy to respond. The thing is there is a clear difference between Kevin G's brand of conservatism, Pat's brand, Marc's brand and Dale's outlook.
It seems unfair to take say, Kevin G's statements, and attach them to Dale's philosophy.
The big issue is when we discuss the two candidates we can't say we support one it seems without having to have the burden of everything anyone has ever done or said from that party being tossed on our heads. It's unfortunate but it seems the two parties have promoted that kind of atmosphere...which is why I don't want to be attached to either one personally but I'll look at the candidates as individuals.
It's sort of sad that this seems to be why some folks either don't even want to vote or will vote but just will never consider voting for a Republican or Democrat no matter what. They think it's a betrayal of who they are and what they believe or it's giving in to "the system" to waste a vote on them. It always seems to me when we make those kind of judgements we are doing so by considering only the worst behavior and the worst examples of each party. We lump all of "that party" into one group and judge anyone who belongs as if they are guilty of all the party has done in its history. This is neither fair nor honest but it seems to have become acceptable behavior. It means that if anyone that could promote change showed up in one of these parties we:
a. wouldn't recognize them and
b. wouldn't ever bother to give them a chance to affect that change
We never judge others by the best that they have done. Instead we judge them at their worst and always lean toward the idea that that is the kind of behavior we can expect to repeat and the key to their true nature. Seems it is one of the flaws of being human that we can't weigh the true nature of things with real honesty. Plus everything must pass though the glass darkly of our own soul. oops...I'm rambling...
