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5 Uncouth Thoughts

5. I really like Steve Nash. Doesn't his retirement announcement feel about 2 years too late? Is it harsh to say that?

4. I love Charles Barkley. I think he might be the frankest, funniest guy on TV.

3. Does CBS really think "The Late, Late Show" still matters without Craig Ferguson? Contrary to the thinking of TV executives, we will not laugh at any British person. Ferguson was legitimately hilarious.

2. Yes, I will cop to having the maturity level of a 12-year-old. Quit kidding yourself; you laughed at him.

1. I was once fond of saying that I was from the Republican wing of the Republican Party. With apologies to Mr. Reagan though, if I have to live in a political world where I have to take Ted Cruz (or Rand Paul) seriously, then perhaps I am "The Establishment," and I'm OK with this. It's not that he never says things I agree with; it's that he follows those things with either: (1) moonbat crazy things, or (2) the worst political optics of all time, making the current president--arguably the worst president since LBJ--seem reasonable. That takes a special kind of stupid. And absolutely the worst thing about the Tea Party is that, because it really was a movement from the people, it was easily hijacked by libertarians, while still retaining a legitimacy that political movement has never deserved. I used to think they were just really edgy conservatives; now I realize that it has the potential to destroy any hope of a just society. Why, you ask? Because libertarians give you the false choice between collectivist tyranny, and individualism. Some Tea Partiers are not libertarians, and fair enough. But if you were attempting to describe the base of the GOP today, would you imagine educated bankers, or libertarians? How many of them know the difference between a government that interferes with the rights of its people, and thus, should be limited, and no government at all? Does the phrase "common good" sound like a Democrat plot? If so, God bless you, but we're not on the same side. I'd rather be slurred as a collectivist than sell morality down the river for an illusory "freedom." Just so we understand each other.

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