The One Where I Get Into a Facebook Smackdown

So this is what happened today. I went to bed after teasing one of my friends for a status update and this is what I woke up to. My last comment was just barely added.

Thoughts on the situation? Was I really that out of line and offensive?

MWS:
SOTU (eye roll).

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  MS In all fairness... I didn't care to watch or listen.

  8 hours ago via mobile · Like · 1
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  Paul Mitchell:  Oh my gosh. You are not allowed to eye roll as you did not watch or listen.  Just as bad as those people who complain about the state of politics and don't vote...

  8 hours ago via mobile · Like · 1
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  DW ^ That's like saying that people who don't take drugs can't comment on whether or not to make them illegal.

  8 hours ago · Like
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  Paul Mitchell: 

  No, it would be like people who don't take drugs complaining about how drugs are horrible and SHOULD be illegal - but not doing anything about it.

  8 hours ago via mobile · Like
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  MS: 

  I've heard plenty from the twitter verse and FB world. He isn't a leader if American principles. Complain all you want, I'm confidant I've done more than vote.

  8 hours ago via mobile · Like · 1
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  Paul Mitchell: 

  I could even go for people who don't do drugs and don't care to learn at all about drugs - including the negatives of them - and then saying they should be illegal. Or saying any number of things should be illegal like gay marriage or guns without being educated as to why. All similar.

  8 hours ago via mobile · Like
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  MS: 

  Really? You have no effing idea who I am, what I know, sacrifices I've made.

  8 hours ago via mobile · Like · 1
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  MS 

  I can do, think or say whatever the heck I want. God Bless America and the First Amendment!

  8 hours ago via mobile · Like
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  JH 

  well I think you can not listen and still have the same opinion. He does the same thing with each speech. He talks in broad strokes, make lots of promises he can't keep and blames everyone else for the troubles we have. His solution is also always the same. Government can and should help solve all of the challenges in our lives..and nothing of what he promises will get anywhere. Remember the Health care speech. When given even if you combined all plans on the table, they did not do what he said they would and what was passed looks nothing like what he promised. Only want to raise taxes on the rich but raises them for all cause he robbed Social Security a year before. than says we have to avoid spending cuts after his large tax increase just last month and the way to be responsible is not to cut spending, but now he wants tax reform to close tax loopholes and do what as a result...that's right raise taxes. Same story different day.

  8 hours ago · Unlike · 3
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  MWS: 

  Paul Mitchell, I too don't ever deserve to be compared to someone who complains and does nothing. I have worked on campaigns since I was 16. The truth is that I have sat through Pres. Obama's addresses, his comments, his debates, and I have even read most of his book, "The Audacity of Hope," and I merely cannot take it anymore. The man is not serious about leading, he never has been, and all indicators that I have lead me to believe the he won't improve in his second term. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say, unlike Chris Matthews, I don't get a chill that runs up my leg when the Pres. speaks. No, for me, whatever Pres. Obama says is irrelevant next to his actions, and his SOTU will not change in anyway his failures as President since January 20, 2009.

  7 hours ago · Like · 4
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  MS: 

  Amen, MSW! Amen and Amen!!!!!

  7 hours ago via mobile · Like · 1
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  MS 

  On the illegal drug issue. Are you a avid drug user? Marijuana? That may explain things.

  7 hours ago via mobile · Like
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  AB

  Michelle - you're really bringing some good issues and lucid arguments to the table. I'm shocked that Jillian isn't chomping at the bit to talk with you.

  7 hours ago via mobile · Like
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  ASB 

  MWS, I'm not sure it's fair to say a man whose taken the trouble to run for and win 2 presidential elections is not serious about leading. He just has a different vision of America than you. He's leading it in a direction you're not happy with, that's okay for you to disagree with that, but don't say he isn't serious or working hard to lead for a vision of America that he believes in. I don't necessarily agree with him either (on a lot of things), but your language seems pretty harsh and ad hominem when there are plenty of substantive issues to focus criticism on. I mean even if you agree with his vision/grand statements there's criticism for the fact that his strategy has been flawed and he's been poor at managing the politics (especially with congress). But I'd certainly say he's serious about leading...just maybe not the best at it...and maybe not leading where I'd like him to.

  5 hours ago · Like · 1
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  Paul Mitchell:

  
  

   Wow. Clearly some people are feeling a little aggressive and jumping to all sorts of conclusions. 
  
  First off, MS, I never actually addressed any of my comments to you, so I'm sorry that you chose to be offended by them and in turn attempt to attack me personally. And you're right, you can think or say whatever you want. If you go back and look, you'll see I never said you couldn't, just like I never said you were an irresponsible citizen for not voting. But keep in mind that, likewise, you know nothing about me other than that I'm friends with a few of your friends on Facebook and have a great sense of humor (that is, assuming you read my quote page. Some of those are quite funny.) However, I'm not going to hold this against you. You obviously care a great deal about things. Great. I do too. And believe it or not, our beliefs are probably quite similar. So how about you stop attacking me and take a bit out of the other guy?
  
  JH, I actually have a lot of respect for you and what you said as well. And I agree, in many ways, the speech was more of the same (though I must say I personally enjoyed the head nods to states rights he threw in while talking about Head Start). However, you KNOW that because you listened to it. Yes, you could come to that same assumption based on past speeches, however, having watched it and listened to it you actually know that it was. Your thoughts on the speech were based on an interpretation of the actual text as opposed to interpretation of previous texts or someone else's interpretation. And as I learned from my "liberal education" received at BYU, primary sources are always better than secondary sources, just as the source is always a better indicator of what the source says than what came before or after. Yes, you can extrapolate and assume, but why would you when you have the source readily available? As the aforementioned Facebook post is about THIS SOTU I'll put more weight in a persons' opinion who actually watched it as opposed to didn't - even if that person has a lot of background reading and previous experience. I feel like doing so is like it's vocally complaining about the local branch of a chain restaurant just because you didn't like the other locations. You can choose not to eat there, you may choose to tell some friends not to eat there, but you shouldn't act as an authority on how horrible this specific location is when you've never actually stepped foot in it or put their food in your mouth. (There I go again with the analogies. Please don't think I'm comparing you to uneducated food critics now.)
  
  MWS, I'm not sure exactly where to start, though I will say I have a huge desire to push you off your soapbox to stop your chest-thumping. You waving your CV at me is not going to change what I said, mostly because I've seen it already. I expect more from you as a political peer and a close friend. What I posted was simply poking fun at you (hence the  face), not all that different than what I said and did last night when you were over at my house and I was watching the SOTU. For you to suddenly get offended is a little baffling. I can handle this kind of misinterpretation from someone who doesn't know me at all, but from someone I've spent hours talking with about political issues and otherwise, it's a little bit more difficult to shrug off. If you feel like we need more clarification on this issue, text or call me. Or we can talk about it tonight before dinner. Okay?
  
  Thank you all for weighing in. I hope each and every one of you has a fabulous day.