I'd never even heard of this guy. A state senator as one of gun control's "more notable champions?" I understand that CA is a big state and has a lot of pull, but I can't elect the guy or elect a different guy.
He's caught, he'll be lethally injected for treason, no muss, no fuss. What else would you have me say?
He's a Democrat. And with Democrats you never look at their character or the results of their legistation; you only look at their intentions. They mean well, so we shouldn't be too harsh on them. Sure they may slip on occasion (smuggle weapons, commit fraud, cover up a terrorist attack), but they're the ones who care, and that's what we should keep in mind. Republicans don't care, so mercilessly attacking them any way you can is, in actuality, an act of caring.
If Yee was a gun rights supporter and a Republican can anyone honestly say the national media wouldn't be playing stories on this non-stop?
This. This case is fundamentally a cas about a State Senator who was arrested on corruption charges and alleged to have close ties to organized crime. That's a sadly every-day news story. It's fundamentally a local news story. The charges are a bit more spectacular than usual, and relate in part to a politically charged matter, so the case has gotten an appropriate amount of coverage in the national news as well. The facts have been reported and will most likely continue to be reported nationally as the matter comes to trial. Any politician who's arrested on corruption charges and alleged to have close ties to organized crime is going to appear to be a hypocrite. That Leland Yee appears to be a hypocrite is not news on top of the basic facts of the case. If the national press hyperventilated 24/7 every time a local politician was arrested on corruption charges and alleged to have ties to organized crime then they'd have no time to hyperventilate about Benghazi, the IRS, birth certificates, or any of the other national "news" stories that "conservatives" insist that the press hyperventilate about.
From the media's perspective... When an official on the left acts contrary to their stated principles, he was simply too weak to resist betraying their own core values; But when an official on the right acts contrary to their stated principles, why, that proves those principles are a sham. That's the reason why the cases are so different. There's no ax to grind with Yee's "principles," so there's no interest in covering him. It's also why you see so little comedy on TV that pokes fun at the left's beliefs and motives. Comedians may make jokes about personalities, scandals, and unpopular policy of both sides, but they mainly ridicule the beliefs and motives only of those on the right.
Presumably, then, the next time a story breaks in the news about some two-bit bible-shouter with political office who got busted for dipping his ladle in a streetwalker's Vichyssoise, we won't get the Nelson from Leftforge about that?
Santorum's dungeon membership wouldn't involve breaking the law and abuse of power. It can only be intellectual dishonesty that allows you to equate a perfectly legal association with bribery/graft, campaign contribution limit violations, and smuggling weapons to terrorists, even if both are evidence of hypocrisy.
If he stays out of my life, I'll stay out of his. That would be harder for me to type if I were gay or had had an abortion.
Fair enough, but it shouldn't be harder under those circumstances. Tolerance means tolerating opposing opinions and belief systems as much as it means tolerating different complexions.
Who is equating an illegal act with a private and legal act? Because if that's what you got from what I said, you read that completely wrong.
Is he, really? Because you seem to be plenty okay with what Yee did, and just as comfy with what he was preaching before we all learned what he practiced.
You weren't, in any case. You made it clear that, to you, the private and legal act is worse than the illegal act. If I read your post correctly, the reason is that you think you are more likely to be affected by the imposed morality that the "family values" movement would like to put in place than be harmed by guns and other weapons that make it into the hands of terrorists. But that just says that harm to you is more important, in your mind, than even greater harm to others, as long as you are not the victim of it.
The question regarded the politics. My comment followed on that. To the folks who can't understand the distinction, the man who broke the law deserves full punishment for his actions. I can't believe that even needs to be said, but as Diacanu pointed out earlier in the thread, a lot of people here seem to depend on assuming the views of others, rather than actually knowing them.
Still no one can honestly tell me that if Yee was a Republican and a gun rights supporter this wouldn't be all over the place in the national media.
Semi-segue from the Yee discussion, but I can remember back when Dubya's approval numbers dropped below 40%, and CNN was announcing it every half hour. Obama's numbers took the same tumble and
Um, you're a moron. Obama's approval numbers have followed an utterly mundane and normal pattern for any President. They started high, in the 60s, around his first inauguration, then settled down and have cycled through the 40s and low 50s ever since. They've never actually fallen into the 30s. There is no news at all there, no matter how much you'd like to pretend otherwise. Bush, on the other hand, saw historically high approval ratings up at 90% after 9/11 and saw approval ratings down in the mid-20s, the lowest ever measured for any President, towards the end of his second term. He suffered over two straight years of ratings in the 30s and 20s to finish out his term and three-and-a-half years without making it into the mid 40s. That's news, albeit of a trivial sort.
Liet you can dance all you want but everyone knows the media covers up for Obama. Look at all the crap bush got over playing golf. Obama gets none. And he plays a lot more then Bush ever did. Vacation? Bush got hell over them. And all he really did was go to his ranch in Texas. Obama? Vacation almost once a month. Same with the wife. Yet the media isn't whining.
