tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771892655051987797.post3675539853225087688..comments2023-07-26T05:01:10.813-07:00Comments on DC's Musings: What Americans Want: Responsibility and AccountabilityDennis C Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00914332467365539148noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771892655051987797.post-28225096598042786122009-10-01T05:42:54.540-07:002009-10-01T05:42:54.540-07:00Bob: Check out the polls, all of them not just CNN...Bob: Check out the polls, all of them not just CNN or NYT. You are appear to be falling into the beliefs that the MSM and your party leadership would like you fall into. The discontent is not confined to a microscopic group of far right wing folks with loud voices. Those of us who are in disagreement with much of what is coming out of Washington, and now and previously, do so because we understand the reprecussions to our future. I don't listen to Rush or Beck so they certainly don't speak for me, nor most Americans or Republicans--none that I know anyway.Dennis C Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00914332467365539148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771892655051987797.post-60661742292213161112009-10-01T01:01:21.156-07:002009-10-01T01:01:21.156-07:00This sounds like a long discourse to explain what ...This sounds like a long discourse to explain what it's like to lose an election -- actually, two elections in a row. The politicians you accuse of not listening to you are in fact listening to someone else -- and there are enough of them to carry the electoral day. Just because they're not listening to YOU doesn't mean they're not listening.<br /><br />The Republican Party, which claims to represent conservatives in this country, has gone so far astray that they're hard to recognize anymore. Who would have thought that people like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh would be major voices among Republicans? Who would have thought that Republicans would embrace the rantings of those who say the President wasn't born in the United States? Or that they would subscribe to the crazy and irresponsible rhetoric of Death Panels? What's happened to all of them? As long as conservatives and Republicans insist on taking such positions, they should not wonder that no one is listening. It's not that people can't hear you. They're being polite and hoping you'll recover your senses. <br /><br />I'm all for accountability. It's a fine quality to cultivate. On the other hand, I don't feel accountable for the Wall Street traders who ran high-risk games with other people's money. And I certainly don't feel accountable for the Republican appointees who gutted the financial regulations that had protected us before the Bush Administration. I can honestly say I didn't vote for any of them. <br /><br />Republicans and other conservatives will find a more receptive audience when -- and only when -- they stop their angry calls for the "destruction" (do they really mean that?) of the Obama Administration and start offering competitive solutions to national problems. This might even include the heresy of agreeing with Democrats when they have good ideas. <br /><br />Until then, well, I lived as a Democrat through the Reagan years. It wasn't fun, but it wasn't fatal. I'll be happy to offer a sympathetic ear to the frustrated.Bob Schillingnoreply@blogger.com