"He defended a PERPETUAL AMERICAN PRESENCE in the MIDDLE EAST, by REFERENCING HIS SUPPORT FOR THE CRUSADES."

I read it as the Crusades being part of a wider struggle between the different civilizations, where our current conflict is jsut the newest iteration. I don't agree with that, but it's a far different thing than wanting to finish the job or whatever you accuse him of doing.

"Jeez you would think Ghengis Khan's name was nearly synonymous with "Barbaric""

I could use other examples. Where are the cries over the War of the Triple Alliance? Where is the outrage over the Persians or Romans having roads lined with crucified rebels? Civil wars in China throughout its history had cartoonishly high casualty rates, some not matched till the 20th century. All I'm saying is that we put the Crusades on a pedestal as some unique example of human cruelty because it's especially interesting. How great of a story is it that knights (always cool) travel very far (quests are cool) and fight beardy men who are more cultured than they appear (can you get a better character than Saladin?), all involving faiths deep in the public consciousness? You even get conspiracy with the Templars and almost literary tragedy in how it all ends. THAT is why so much is made of it, not because it was really any more bloody than other examples of warfare through the ages.


I stress AGAIN he won't win and I wouldn't vote for him. The thing is, though, that he isn't the kind of crazy you think he is.

"Great things those crusades right?"

Don't pin me into supporting the Crusades.Saying they weren't special means they weren't bad?

I don't know why some wars that ended 800 years ago mean so much to you. The guy's bonkers on gays. Dislike him on that. At least that makes sense.

"I read it as the Crusades being part of a wider struggle between the different civilizations, where our current conflict is jsut the newest iteration. I don't agree with that, but it's a far different thing than wanting to finish the job or whatever you accuse him of doing."

I believe I accused him of wanting perpetual US interventions in the Middle East to spread American values. I find this terrifying

"
I could use other examples. Where are the cries over the War of the Triple Alliance? Where is the outrage over the Persians or Romans having roads lined with crucified rebels? Civil wars in China throughout its history had cartoonishly high casualty rates, some not matched till the 20th century. All I'm saying is that we put the Crusades on a pedestal as some unique example of human cruelty because it's especially interesting. How great of a story is it that knights (always cool) travel very far (quests are cool) and fight beardy men who are more cultured than they appear (can you get a better character than Saladin?), all involving faiths deep in the public consciousness? You even get conspiracy with the Templars and almost literary tragedy in how it all ends. THAT is why so much is made of it, not because it was really any more bloody than other examples of warfare through the ages."

Jesus Christ you are clueless. To answer your asinigne question, the reason no one talks about the war of the Triple Alliance as much is because there aren't idiots like you who fawn over the war of the triple alliance like it was some chivalrous endeavor. Who the hell are you? Obi? I see this is useless.

Bachmann 2012! Bachmann 2012!

*asinine

I can't believe Santorum's lasted this long...maybe I ought to look into him more, though if I recall, he didn't wow me in...whichever of the 120000 GOP debates...

As long as it's not Ron Pajl, let the madness end (Sorry, RP-boosters, I still absolutely abhore the man AND his moronic, antiquated, overly-simplistic, dangerous, and altogether disgusting ideas and take on politics and the world as a whole...but who do I REALLY feel about him?) ;)

Wish I could rename this thread "Invictus goes Obi on the Crusades"

@SC:

Thanks for the reference...but even *I* would never mention something so foolish.

Maybe.

...I'd probably at least be more wordy about it. :p

+1 SC for the re-titling of the thread (He's even capitalized parts of his sentences AND written in large blocks!

Hey...you've got to laugh at yourself...) XD

"Muslims think the Arab conquest of the Holy Land was a good thing, and we don't begrudge them that"

well if they do, then yes i do begrudge them.

conquest in principle is a bullshit thing. so fuck all conquest.

ha I guess a little Obi rubbed off on all of us.

Conquest leads to victory and to success. No nation ever died out from too much conquest.

Yes because Rome and Nazi Germany is alive and kicking. Maybe you should hit the books a little harder at your Virginia Special Ed school.

*are alive and kicking. Have to watch the grammar when I fire off an attack on someone's intelligence.

Why yes...those nations died for that sole reason! Why did I never think that there were other things wrong with Nazi Germany! Perhaps Rome also made a few mistakes after 1,000 fucking years of domination...maybe I DO need to hit the books.

Tell me Atom, at your special school, what do they teach you caused the fall of the Third Reich other than the attempt to conquer the entire continent of Europe and forcing war on the worlds greatest powers by doing so? Climate change?

yep. hitting everyone you know is always a good strategy for making friends and living a long life.

thats what my grandpappy always said.

sometimes i go to his grave and read his headstone out loud

"George R. Brennan, 1891-1992: Killed in the matter of $20 and a bottle of Jack Daniels. RIP I guess"

Why yes, SC, when they ventured off to cold ass Russia...they encountered the most brutal scenes of weather. During the winter of 1942, the Germans lost more than 600,000 soldiers on the Eastern Front. But Maybe that wasn't enough? Their assaults in North Africa lead to varied cases of lost battles and inability to provide aid to their troops because of inefficient machinery in the heat of the FUCKING DESERT!

So yes, on fronts varying between 112F and -32F, you might say that climate had an effect...

Wait...

Hold on...

What were they trying to do in cold ass russia and Fucking Deserty Africa...

Maybe they were looking for Helen of Troy...?

OK, I hadn't read that, but in that case the fall of Nazi Germany had nothing to do with too much conquest.

And this just in people, Perry is reassessing his campaign. I wonder who the Christian Conservative who hates Romney is going to back...

santorum.

the guy is the gay basher of the decade

Nothing to worry about. These elections are decided years ahead of time for the most part, and I can't imagine the Powers That Be selecting Santorum to be their puppet-in-chief. They have to keep it interesting (and close) to keep the hoi polloi engaged and feeling like they 'have a say', but they're not stupid enough to let someone as divisive as Santorum win.

I'm still wondering why people can even say Romney and Santorum are close: Santorum held 350+ town hall meetings (http://tinyurl.com/6wev97l) for its 99 counties, thereby generating a lot of votes in rural areas. I don't know the national number of counties, but I hope you see the problem I'm referring to. In my opinion you're either a moron or TC to think Santorum has a fair chance for winning the nomination and he can or will repeat his 'way' in other states as well.
What's quite interesting is the allocation of the votes (http://tinyurl.com/7fxgaqe), I don't know how other states will perform, but maybe a small extrapolation from this data will give a better result when predicting other states than the overall result of the caucus.

I was going to come in here and make "Santorum surges in the #2 spot" puns, but I see everyone has already gone full on retard

Invictus's defense of Santorum is so predictable.

Putin's response to anyone's defense of anyone not left of Obama is so predictable...

(Not that I am by any stretch of the imagination a Santorum fan)

And I want to hear those puns strat..

Well argued, SC... Invictus you got owned and should just admit Santorum is a scary bible-thumping scumbag.

Still you got one thing right... Santorum is not electable in a general election, I doubt he's even a legit candidate for the Republican nominee (regardless of what Iowa has to say about it)