North Korea is not Left-Wing

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I've always been fascinated by how Americans and few other countries believe that there's some sort of correlation between being liberal and being socialist/leftist and same thing for right wing. Where I live the terms left/right are only used to describe the level of economical freedom. Believe it or not, there are places where people believe that people who are right wing are mostly liberal (since they believe in economical freedom, thus they should believe in freedom in general) and same for left wing. It mostly just depends on country's history and culture whether the liberals are stereotyped as socialists and vice versa.

Interesting how the American perception of things isn't what the rest of the world sees.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

Well people in general have a two-dimensional outlook of the left and right spectrum. I am generally for a free economy and not binding it with too much red tape, but I also believe it should co-exist with social assistance and I don't have a problem with the Government running things that are inherently unsuitable under a free market (Roads, utilities, etc). Looks like I am both a socialist and capitalist pig.

No, you're more like an average Canadian voter.

I think part of the reason the USA associates socialism with liberalism is because they don't have a major socialist party. Therefore when conservatives want to criticize left wing policies (not that many exist in the USA) they are only left with a liberal party to blame. In other places liberalism is probably associated with socialism because many socialist or social-democrat parties are socially liberal. And in some places the liberal parties do incorporate elements of social democracy into their platforms. In some countries, of course, this corralation isn't as strong, or doesn't exist at all. I'd say in Canada, in order from left to right, we'd rank our parties as Socialist (well, it's actually called NDP), Liberal, and Conservative. Economically that is their order from left to right. It is also their order from socially liberal to moderately conservative. Mind you, all would be considered left wing by American standards--centre at most.

Last I checked we never had a Conservative/Republican Vice President call people on the other side of the aisle terrorists.

We had a former Republican president say that if you're not with us, you're with the terrorists. Those senators and congressional representatives who weren't cowed into submission saw their political careers destroyed in the next elections. And do I have to mention how the career of an undercover CIA agent had been destroyed because her husband had called BS on the said Republican administration?
I don't see anything of this caliber happening just because Biden repeated what Democratic members of congress had told him.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

You left out the fact that:
1. Bush's speech was directed towards other countries, not fellow American Citizens.
2. Those that ended up losing political elections, lost them all on their own, you really need to stop with the Bush derangement syndrome.
3. It has been proven that the leak didn't come from Bush, Cheney, Rove, Libby, etc. It came from a guy that was under Powell. Libby was gone after anyways by a prosecutor with an ax to grind, and I would argue wrongfully convicted.

Also we've seen the Department of Justice running guns to drug cartels in Mexico under the current administration.

Regardless of who Bush's message was intended for, it ended up being directed at elected senators and representatives. And they in fact lost their seats due to very ugly campaigns implying that they were un-American for their opposition to the way the war on terror was handled.
As I recall, Novack, who outed the agent, in fact got his information by all indication from Scooter Libby's office. Why would Powell's office indulge in such behavior, when he has a reputation as an honorable man. Cheney, Rove, and Libby all are known for the most ugly vindictiveness, declaring this patriotic woman "fair game."
And lastly, what does that idiotic plan that the justice department had have to do with the subject at hand?

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

1. You're talking about how nasty politics can get in general, and what people's opponents in a campaign do wasn't being orchestrated by the White House.

2. Well here is the thing, Powell didn't authorize it or know about it, until the man admitted it. Thing is, the prosecutor knew the leak wasn't Scooter Libby and went after Libby anyways.

Bush in fact created the political atmosphere that led to all those nasty campaigns by Republicans.
As for the Powell/Libby situation - I'm not accusing you of deception, but I'd like to check this out for myself.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

1. 9/11 is what caused that political atmosphere, not George W. Bush.

2. Feel free, to look for yourself.

I don't think you can blame either party on severely restricting freedom of speech or opposition. If you want to see what that really looks like go to China or Cuba or North Korea. Even Venezuela is much worse than the USA. That does not mean there isn't room for improvement, but I think people are making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Of course, that doesn't mean that I don't loathe the Republicans and only have a minimum of respect for the Democrats (who, any international observer will admit, is a centre-right party).

I shudder to think what you think left wing is...

Bush, and the Republican party took advantage of the post 9/11 hysteria.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

Bush was concerned we might get attacked again, he wasn't taking advantage of post 9/11 hysteria. People say Bush was a complete idiot, and then they are also saying he is some evil mastermind bent on taking over the world. You can't have it both ways.

As for people's political opponents resorting to a variety of campaign ads slamming people in various ways in order to try to get elected, that's just politics as usual, if it isn't questioning someone's patriotism, it's someone pushing grandma off a cliff, or so and so didn't vote for a piece of legislation so apparently they want women to die of breast cancer (which in reality they probably voted against it due to what else was in the bill).

It was typical election season politics, where campaigns try to get their candidate elected.

However, the slugfest is usually restricted to the candidates running for the office, not directed towards average Americans, like what happened to "Joe the Plumber."

It's also true that Bush had wanted to establish a permanent Republican majority, and it's no surprise that his people resorted to dirty tricks at all levels of government.
And as a matter of fact, from what I know of Paul Ryan's plan, he certainly does want to push granny off a cliff. This is a guy who was inspired to go into politics by the Christ hating Ayn Rand!
And Joe the Plumber is a fricken idiot. Even John McCain's daughter thinks so, particularly after he equated gay Americans with pedophiles - but he says he still has gay friends! He may have started out as a private citizen, but he's since become a public figure in right wing circles. If he's willing to put his neck out and say stupid and bigoted things, then he needs to accept that he's a fair target.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer