I have never read a more inaccurate piece of political drivel in my entire life. The GOP needs people the exact opposite of what this press operative says.

In a way, the leftists are just like the islamoterrorists. If you give in at all, they just demand more, and despise you for your weakness.
Far from applauding Portman, the lefty blogs are trashing him. They are (correctly) saying that he changed his mind about gay marriage because of his son, and because he has a personal stake in the issue now. They go on to question whether Portman has to have his house destroye in a hurricane to support Superstorm Sandy aid. Or whether he needs to be poor and unemployed to support food stamps.

See? It is never enough for them, and they turn around everything against you.

No concessions. Don´t give an inch. Don´t compromise principles.

Sadly, too many Republicans will miss this point. Not everyone receiving a check is a deadbeat...and they mightily resent the Republican implication that they are. If you are 74 years old and drawing Social Security, you certainly don´t consider yourself a deadbeat. If you have been seriously disabled for 20 years and would love, love to work but staying alive is the best you can do, then you don´t want people who don´t, t know you saying you are lazy. If you have a son or daughter severely disabled from birth, and you have spent your life´s savings keeping that child alive as well as given up your own career to care for this child, you don´t want some know-it-all accusing you of being too ´lazy´ to get a job.

#3 you are a typical liberal lemming or lemming sympathizer. Conservatives bemoaning the ever increasing welfare state does not correlate to lack of empathy. Liberals and democrats have learned after years of a complicit media that they can demagogue almost any subject to their favor and people like you will buy it. Get your head out of the sand and attempt to be more open to differing views and the reasons for the differences.

The GOP needs to focus like a laser on the goal which unites all American citizens: Liberty & Justice FOR ALL! This authentic GOP message must not yet again be distracted or diverted & thus fractured by single issue deteurs! Remember to, ´´keep your eyes on the prize,´´ in America the Beautiful which has always been and remains honest & sincere support and passionate personal respect & equal support for the Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness secured in the U.S. Constitution!

Celebrate America, and each individual´s freedom, for which this country STILL STANDS! Do NOT flip/flop on platform promises yet again. Don´t, ´run right and govern left! Keep your word, GOP!

...This GOP platform would & should be just the opposite of the current ALWAYS negative dems bogus portrayal of America & the dem pols´ accompanying destructive statist PC policies that their conniving party has in mind for a dismal future for, ´´Life, Liberty AND the Pursuit of Happiness,´´ ...Constitutional Rights AND principles which Americans expect and rely upon!

The contrast between the two major political parties is, in reality, quite stark, but the current GOP leadership is instead marching to the dems´ theatrcal hollyweird drum while the parade of the people is just not following. they know that the so called RINOS in the GOP might as well just become dems instead of, ´Republicans in name only.´ That would at least be more honest on their part.

No one, or at least almost no one, is opposed to charity for the deserving poor. A civilization that refused to provide basic needs for those unable to care for themselves would not deserve the name of civilization.

The problem lies with the concepts of charity, poverty, and the deserving poor. When charity is looked upon as a right, an entitlement, something that someone is owed regardless of circumstances and o-ther factors, those whose wealth is targeted to supply the charity-entitlement become perturbed. This is unavoidable. It would happen to the recipients of charity themselves if someone else demanded that they hand over a portion of their meager pittance.

There is also the question of what constitutes poverty. Almost nobody in America today is poor as poverty has been historically defined. Poor today means not having everything you want, having sometimes having to do without things you think you need, having to count pennies to make ends meet. Many poor people are partly or wholly to blame for their plight because of bad decisions. By no means are all of the poor, however defined, truly deserving of charity.

Nor does poverty alone excuse or justify bad behavior, criminal activity, or loose morals.
Far more often the latter are not the result but the cause of poverty.

Money, in short, is not everything. Liberals and Leftists are unexamined materialists and seem to have forgotten that there are in fact more important things in life than money.

The problem isnt empathy or lack thereof. The problem is getting past the press´s filter. We could have republicans offering free milk for babies and the press would complain that the GOP was unfeeling because they didnt propose home delivery.

When my alcoholic father deserted me, my five brothers and sisters and our mother she was offered a check. She was told to stay home and to stop worrying about her future. They would continue to send checks. Now go be a good little woman and stop bothering us. She insisted on schooling and became a nurse. She graduated first in her class and at that time she scored the highest mark on the state boards. They didn´t want my mother to go to school. It was easier if she was at home doing nothing. Getting her into school, worrying about transportation and all the things school requires was just too much for them to deal with. They actually told her she was too "stupid" to go to school. She worked at the largest hospital in our state for 35 years. Yes, the dems want to give you "things" and control you. Her education gave her the freedom to become an independent person. Something the dems don´t want or like. Just pass out the goodies. It´s so simple. You are not owed success or happiness or "free" phones and "free" school meals for your kids because you are too lazy to fix a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I know it is trite but true. Give a man a fish and you have fed him for a day teach a man to fish . . . you know the rest. Deserving people can be helped and we too have suffered all those problems the author mentioned. All R really aren´t rich.

I despise hacks that tell people what to think with adjectives like dangerous, and false premises like empathy gap. This hack is a democratic shill with a d on her forehead.