there are certain distinctions between strom & bob hope...

[mopaul]

i stand before you, guilty, of dissing strom on the day he died.
i throw myself upon the court of human discourse, stone me if you must. and on the day ronald reagan dies, i might also be tempted to post a less than glowing reaction to his demise. and i do it in a political forum, on strictly political points.

bob hope, seemingly played all sides politically, supported wars, didn't support wars, played golf with politicians of all persuasions.
but lets not get numbed over into thinking my celebrating strom thurmond's passing compares with bob hope's passing. bob hope was an entertainer, who's jokes often involved politics. strom thurmond was no joke. he was a humorless fighter for everything that is awful about southern racism and politics. he was unrepentant for his life's work at keeping a wall between whites and blacks. and i did not mourn him, and i did not respect him, and comparing the glee certain folks felt at his passing to the hatred expressed by certain DUers is touchy at best.

strom's life and example were a disgrace to everything america stands for. bob hope's life involved laughter and entertainment. some people say you should not speak ill of the dead, no matter what their politics. and when charlton heston goes, i will not cheer, but i will not mourn. it is possible to separate the politics from a man's eulogy from the more humanistic elements of his life. charlton heston is definitely a great entertainer, but politically a jerk.

if i laugh at a bob hope joke, i am not thinking about his political beliefs. if i am repulsed by a strom thurmond quote, it is the opposite to me, the politics cannot be removed from the man.

i don't care if someone hated bob hope, and i also don't care if they express it, here or anywhere. everyone has an opinion, and i would never assume to change one's opinion. i'm all for free expression.
and i myself said some very nasty things about nasty old strom. it is not my job to moderate this forum or question it's moderators.
i respect all sides. all i know is, bob hope made me laugh thousands of times, strom, not even once.

[wndycty]

1. I agree and the same applies to Reagan

:kick:

[rock]

7. Is Reagan still dead?

[JI7]

2. but strom changed

but didn't strom change for the better ? i know he never actually apologized for his racism. but he did take some actions that showed a change in views. i see nothing wrong with talking about things they did or what happened when they were alive.even the negative things. that's why i thought it was a bad idea for them not to mention stroms past at his funeral (joe biden was the only one to talk about it). but the posts which say things like "thank god the asshole is dead" " the prick drops dead" etc. those don't really do much, and in fact may take away from discussing their lives and what they did whether they were good or bad things. this is what i plan to do when reagan dies. i will have no problem talking about his policies and other things that happened. but will probably not post things like "the asshole drops dead and it's a good thing".

[Mika]

3. Would "we" be extolling Dennis Miller

Would "we" be extolling Dennis Miller's virtues as a comedian in the event of his demise?

[wndycty]

4. The difference is . . .

. . .he became political. His comedy is not used to entertain but to provide mean spirited digs at Democrats.

[mopaul]

5. as a comedian, he sucks

he never made me laugh with his thesaurus always handy and his withering sneer and self centered schtick. and when he went over to the dark side, he became 100 times more repulsive. when he croaks, that's the best i could come up with for a eulogy.

[robbedvoter]

6. When MLK was killed and the Oscars postponed, Bob Hope

made jokes about the inconvenience...I am not one to jump up and down when a bad one dies, nor will I treat death as an all altering make-up. I believe that anyone that unfunny without Hope's political connection would not have made it in entertainment. He was like the Dubya of comedy.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

9. Do You Have A Link

I can't believe Bob Hope made jokes about's MLK's martyrdom or the events that followed it

[Mika]

8. Bob Hope: robber barron

http://ceicher.homeunix.com/archives/000193.html

Bob Hope as the progenitor of strip malls!