so just because he's not bitter (and you're assuming a lot from his public persona) I shouldn't be either? As far as I know, I have no political future to look out for and the impression I leave on any of you won't affect my future in the least.

You're also assuming that I have some obligation to get along with the members of this forum. If I choose to do that with selected individuals so be it but I really see no reason to put any real effort into being buddies with people I find a bit despicable. What would be my motivation, so that I could continue to come here and have relevance?

Who the hell cares? I see the worst case scenario being that I piss off the old boy's network enough that some people stop responding to my posts or rail against me constantly for attacking the status quo. Hmm, if that becomes enough of a pain in the ass, I just ignore the place and go away. I have more hours in my day to be the real functioning human being I already try to be. I get more done at the place I work and spend a few more minutes with my family or I get more time to post on forums where guys like Tom can't push their crap.

You stated something telling in your response, that Tom is a misguided Republican but that you tolerate him because basically he's entertaining. If anything, based on what our country has gone through in the last decade or so, that type of attitude ought to be extremely troubling to someone that doesn't consider themselves a radical or misguided Republican. We got to see people like Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, and more become part of our daily dialog precisely because we placed entertainment and social acceptance over ideology. What happened then is that the hateful ideology slowly became acceptable as well.

That is why I get outraged at Tom but not so much at Lee or Techie. Their messages are all essentially the same politically but Tom has been accepted by you and others on here as socially acceptable and harmless so he's allowed to spout his shit unchallenged much more than the obvious trolls. People like Lee and Techie will never really influence people other than similar idiots, folks much like they are. It's a mutual masturbation society. Someone like Tom on the other hand truly has the ability though to swing the fence sitters, people that aren't truly strong in developing their own convictions - followers. We have a few of those on HZ. I've watched as Tom has convinced them of some outright lies. For that reason, he must be challenged every time he distorts the truth and presents his hand-picked trivia as fact.

Barack Obama cannot be the one to take on these masters of misinformation at least yet. High political office requires tact and patience. The citizens of this country are so under the spell of the hucksters and so misinformed that it will be some time before they are truly ready for the bluntness required to really see our species evolve as a society.

In the meantime, I'll supply doses of that bluntness. If my lines in the sand make you a wee bit uncomfortable because it forces you to question your assumptions, then I've done my job. I don't even care about what your final decision is. If you feel at the end that Tom is more reasonable and I'm nothing but a bitter asshole, so be it. At least you had to go through the process and the next time you meet some "entertaining, polite, and intelligent" individual maybe that process will kick in before you begin accepting what they have to say.

Art