Why Would Anyone Vote Republican Today?
WASHINGTON – The above graphic is compliments of Virginia Republicans, though it really could have come from any Tea Party office today. As bad as the Democrats are, and oh are they bad, at least they don’t send out emails like the one above.
When you look at the anti-democratic actions of Ohio’s Gov. John Kasich, or Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin, not to mention the war on women being waged by right-wing zealots across our country, it’s amazing that Democrats aren’t flying high.
For president, you’ve got an alleged sexual harasser, Herman Cain, leading the GOP presidential pack, with his bookend, a death penalty crazed, intellectually challenged Rick Perry, trying to claw his way back up the ranks.
It’s too bad today’s Democratic Party has chosen to capitulate and compromise with Republicans, which we’ll see further when the “super committee” comes in with its recommendations, instead of taking their advantage and pushing it to aid the people. Democrats today no longer have the courage of their convictions or the principles on which the Party has stood for decades.
The email pictured at the top came from the Virginia Loudoun County’s Republican committee.
Gov. McDonnell had the good sense to blast these despicable efforts. Unfortunately, he didn’t say what needed to be said, which is that Pres. Obama is our president and any such dangerous images are un-American and should be investigated by the Secret Service. McDonnell should also fire the entire staff in Loudon Cty.
Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) called the e-mail “shameful and offensive,’’ his spokesman Tucker Martin said. “He calls on those involved to apologize for their actions, and to immediately ensure that such imagery is never used again. The governor has long stressed the need for more civility and respect in our politics. An e-mail like this one undermines those goals, offends all Virginians and discredits our entire political process. It will not be tolerated.”
The e-mail, first reported on the blog Too Conservative, has “Halloween 2011” in the subject lines and has several other images, including one of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, whose face has been made to look deformed with one eye bulging out of its socket.
The e-mail invites supporters to a Halloween parade. “LCRC members and Republican candidates: We are going to vanquish the zombies with clear thinking conservative principles and a truckload of Republican candy…It’s fun and a great way to represent our candidates to a ton of voters (and their kids) just before the election.”
Rush Limbaugh translation: It was a joke.
This is who the Republican Party is today, because they’re being run by a bunch of ignorant, some would say crazy, cretins who have no impulse control.
In Gov. McDonald’s Virginia, where I live, George “macaca” Allen, is actually running for Senate again. That he’s being challenged by Tim I-blew-the-2010-midterms-because-I-didn’t-have-the-guts-to-make-an-economic-message Kaine seems fitting. Allen and Kaine representing the perfect examples of everything that’s wrong with both parties.
The same actually goes for Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, both men having a weak ideological core, but no problem saying one thing on the campaign trail and another to the Wall Street jackals who fund their campaigns. Two politicians who are the epitome of the type of men who rise to the top in both parties, toting craven allegiances that leave we the people out in the cold, because it’s all about the best politician money can buy.
So, until Republicans get a handle on the people inside their party who trade in such dangerously racist, violently misogynistic, and anti-American rhetoric and campaign tactics, they don’t deserve a single vote.
But considering what Democrats, as well as progressives in Congress, are letting Republicans get away with, their cowardice doesn’t exactly deserve praise or a vote either.
This, in a nutshell, is American politics as it stands today.
Taylor Marsh’s new e-book, The Hillary Effect – Politics, Sexism and the Destiny of Loss, the view from a recovering partisan, will be published on November 8th. Marsh is an author, Washington based political analyst, veteran national politics writer and commentator on national politics, foreign policy, and women in power. She has reported from the White House, been profiled in the Washington Post, The New Republic, and has been seen on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, CNN, MSNBC, Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera Arabic, as well as on radio across the dial and on satellite, including the BBC. Marsh lives in the Washington, D.C. area. This column is cross posted from her new media blog.
32 Responses to “Why Would Anyone Vote Republican Today?”
Well, it may fun to call people who disagree with you ignorant, crazy cretins and jackals, but as a Republican myself I find it a bit offensive. I believe in free trade, free labor markets, I support abortion rights but think Roe was incorrectly decided in 1973, and I think over-regulation is harmful to consumers and business alike. So I’m a crazy, ignorant cretin?
Mark, what else would you call a grp of people so politically tone deaf they would print that picture of Obama? I’m sorry but that is hardly surprising these days from a branch of the GOP, nor are the excuses for it from Party Spokesman Rush Limbaugh. That kind of ignorance is mainstream now in your party. You might be thoughtful and have opinions that are not just a product of whatever talking points get generated by the RNC, but those who speak for the GOP on TV, Radio, and print, can not say the same. Its really worrisome.
Oh when I was in law skool I heard a lot of feminists and parlor leftists say equally crude, offensive and dumb shit, so no, I don’t take the zombie Obama too seriously. I like the guy, but he’s gotten a lifetime of not always justified adulation and admiration just because he’s black and fairly articulate, so I won’t cry for him over a dumb cracker email.
What “slamfu” said, seconded.
Mark Nuckols says:
NOVEMBER 2, 2011 AT 12:25 PM
What you describe could just as easily apply to Democrats. You’d know this if you didn’t have partisan blinders.
The people who put out the mailer are “ignorant, crazy cretins and jackals,” with every single Republican not disavowing Mr. Cain’s ignorance on China, or right of return, or Rick Perry’s obvious inability to come close to Obama in debates, part of this class.
David Frum has been very eloquent in taking on Herman Cain, as well as Sarah Palin, in the pack of “ignorant, crazy cretins and jackals.”
So, since you are so eager to defend these buffoons, I’d say, yes, you are in their league.
Personally I’d like to see the Tea Party activists laid out in the street with their BS signs stuck up their butts. I don’t give a damn how friendly or unfriendly they are.
Let me make sure I got this right: “in their league” means that you think I’m a “crazy, ignorant cretin.” I got that right, yes? Please try to write more clearly so that your meaning is not blurred by indirect language. Thanks in advance.
I love the way, as a social conservative, I frequently hear or read liberals complaining that we shouldn’t keep allowing ourselves to be distracted from the important economic issues of the day by focusing on the culture wars (implying that I should put aside my concerns about morality issues.)
However, let any GOP do something insensitive, and the question then becomes, ‘How could you possibly associate yourself with this action by voting for the same party?”
Excuse me for feeling that voting for the right to kill unborn children weighs heavier on my conscience than any amount of enabling of crudely insensitive emails. And that’s aside from the fact that even if I ignore ALL of the morality related stuff, I’m inclined to think that conservative economic policies are more pro-growth (if only they could be demonstrated in a less corrupt and less corporatist fashion.)
Being one who finds fault on both sides of the aisle I can’t disagree with the premise that some GOP views are, in mu view, too conservative. But then some Democratic ones are, in my view, too liberal.
In neither case do I assume my view the only acceptable one.
I had considered asking about the many time that Republicans have been portrayed as Nazi’s, monsters, etc in posters and campaign ads and so on but assume the reply would be ‘they are nazi’s/monsters/etc’
I’d also ask about advocating violence against people you disagree with but again assume violence against the right is acceptable because they are bad.
Or am I missing something ?
And to save time, I’m not defending the ad, I don’t support Cain or Perry, etc.
But the idea that only one political view is acceptable and that any dissent to said view should not be allowed is disturbing to say the least.
Ms. Marsh, there is no excuse nor justification for sending out an email with the POTUS shown with a round through his head.
There is no excuse for blasting one segment of a poltical party for their crudeness or crassness when it is just as prevalent in the other political camp.
Does no one remember the base, crude, totally false blog threads and emails about the pregnancy and birth of Sarah Palin’s grandbaby? They were over the top.
There are loons all over the place…chances are you have a few in your immediate family. Most all of us do.
One more thing… I’m not sure what all Kasich and Walker are doing, but if you are referring to their trying to get put an end to people on the public dole making considerably more than their private sector counterparts, and trying to put an end to stinky shenanigans associated with some of the unions repesenting these employees, I’m all for it.
Excuse me for feeling that voting for the right to kill unborn children weighs heavier on my conscience than any amount of enabling of crudely insensitive emails.
Ah yes, another nugget from the freedom is only for men crowd.
I wish there was one Republican in this country who understood that freedom and individual rights apply to women, something that is actually a conservative principle.
Well unfortunately as a woman, Taylor, I disagree with you that abortion rights equal freedom for women. My freedom stops at the end of another individual’s nose, or whatever other fetal body part you want to name…
My apologies to anyone who takes offense…I was trying to keep the language more neutral but I’m pretty disgusted by this whole thread and so will leave it at that.
CStanley:
At the risk of taking this comments thread in a direction where it probably should not go, you inadvertently hit on why people like myself find the never ending Republican Culture Wars so despicable.
I respect your right to not agree with people who are pro-abortion. The Republican Party as it has devolved does not respect any view whatsoever that does not agree with its purity tests.
And you may well be correct in thinking that conservative economic policies are more pro-growth if only they could be demonstrated in a less corrupt and less corporatist fashion.
Well, that’s not the half of it. The Republican mantra going into 2012 is 1 percenters good, 99 percenters bad. A losing formula with an abysmal sense of timing if ever there was one.
Hah! If men were capable of becoming pregnant, the whole issue of safe, legal, and easily accessed abortion would have been resolved long, long ago. As for the less than flattering portrayal of todays’ republicans? There would be a great deal less temptation to characterize them as Taylor has if they hadn’t done so much to deserve it. I think they’ve gotten away with so much, with so little in the way of accountability, I can’t find it in my nature to defend them. Would the labels, “fools, liars, and crooks” have been more PC?
“Oh when I was in law skool I heard a lot of feminists and parlor leftists say equally crude, offensive and dumb shit, so no, I don’t take the zombie Obama too seriously”
Lol, I’m sure you did. So I guess we are equating offhand comments from college kids to the REPUBLICAN PARTY OF VIRGINIA. One is a bunch of no name kids, the other is a professional political organization that should know better and is held to a higher standard. Or at least should be. But I guess they are free to lower that standard to whatever level they wish, since you, and apparently mainstream GOP Spokespeople with millions of listeners, don’t seem to expect much more of them than you would of passers by in the street.
“Ain’t it the truth!” In several threads today the rights gone overboard being offended by a word or implication while carefully avoiding discussing specific issues that have a majority of Americans looking at them in a, shall we say, unkind light.
How does that old line go? “I resent that! I don’t deny it… I simply resent it” seems a perfect description of how the right side of the blogisphere is dealing with this issue.
SKOOL?? Seriously? I want MY lawyer to at least be able to spell SCHOOL!! Fail.
LOL.
Hey and welcome John Johnson. Sometimes we have meaningful contemplative discussions here and sometimes it’s a lot of partisan yelling.
John, if a state democractic party OK’s a picture of John Boenher or Eric Cantor with a bullet thru his head I’ll call them out for being a$$holes too, but the reality is you see this on the left in fringe groups, the code pink’s, college campus protest grps, and the PETA’s, not approved by the powers that be in the states political party machine.
J. J.: It’s quite one-sided here, as you already have noticed.
Vera the Gun: It’s failure, not “fail.” Don’t rush to bash the lawyer, Glass houses, you know.
Slamfu, it’s all the same. The moral outrage is not working on me. You guys use the same arguments that your opposition uses, and your mode of operation is the same. It’s ugly and not getting us anywhere.
read the commenters rules and abide. No attacking writer or other commenters. Discuss, debate the topic, not the commenters’ imagined foibles or the writer’s.
Thanks.
archangel/ dr.e
But the topic was a character assassination.
It must surely be a lot of work to keep the tone of the hundreds of comments on a polite level. I have to imagine there’s easier leverage in policing the posts, which are fewer in number and tend to set the tone of the discussion.
I am doing a study on this topic and conservative ideology! I’m an intern at a think tank and still need some of your opinions if you’re 18-30… I would really appreciate if you shared some of your thoughts at this form! Thank you!!! http://www.surveybuilder.com/s/K4rVkIp_IAA?source_id=3&source_type=web
What does it mean to be a social conservative in modern America? Basically, it means you have the desire to force everyone to live according to your belief system and moral code. Look at the current proposal from the social conservatives of the state of Mississippi. If they get their way it will be considered a human life from the moment the egg is fertilized. No abortion allowed no matter what, under any circumstances. If this became law and is not overturned by the Supreme Court it would also by definition outlaw some forms of contraception.
What other positions do the socons hold? They mostly approve of outlawing gay sex, not just gay marriage. See the opinions concerning Lawrence v. Texas. They generally approve of outlawing anything they view as pornography. More than a few of them would like to outlaw contraception, taking us to the days before Griswold v. Connecticut, or at least as close as they can come to it. This isn’t surprising since it cited a “right to marital privacy” which is related to the reason for Roe v. Wade. The list of things that the modern socon wants to control is long…but somehow fits in with small government.
Mr. Johnson,
From what you wrote about the opinions on TMV I assume that you consider yourself to be in the center of American political belief. If in fact you think that this:
is the center of American opinion you belong, IMO, in the ranks of those conservatives who are striving very hard to redefine the center. Public employees are not “on the public dole”, they are people who work for our government, whether it is on the local, state or federal level. It doesn’t matter whether they are a public defender, a lawyer in the DA’s office, a teacher, a clerk, a firefighter, cop or yes, a legislator.
To add to Jim’s observations: it was shown that although the Wisconsin public employees had (slightly) better benefits, they did NOT have higher wages than private counterparts. The very idea (in Ohio) of not allowing employees to strike and not allowing collective bargaining to be settled by binding arbitration (what the governor has proposed) is nearly akin to slavery!
To sum up the Ohio situation: Politifact.com has done a fact check on the governor’s assertion that out-of-state arbitrators come in to make decisions and then high-tail it back to California is ludicrous. The law REQUIRES the arbitrator to be from Ohio! Yet the governor is doing everything he can (apparently including lying) to make sure that police, fire-fighters, et. al. would not be permitted to strike and would not be permitted to force binding arbitration. That would leave these critically needed people only one legal option: to quit!
I would not want to live in a state where the only legal option left to those who protect me when they have a labor dispute is for all of them to quit (particularly the prison guards)!
An amazing thread… as so many seem to be here at TMV these days.
Does it never occur to anybody in management to notice that inflammatory attacks from article authors elicit similar responses. Often, I think the commenters are FAR more respectful than the initial provocations.
Myself (on topic) — equating the morons and buffoons who sent out that email (hope they aren’t online here to take offense!) with the entire Republican party is ludicrous… and Ms. Marsh is far too experienced and accomplished a writer to not realize it.
The article’s points do seem to align with the style du jour, though: attack, smear, generalize, and distract.
Why on earth not, RC? You receive plenty of other vital services from workers who are not unionized and have no collective bargaining rights.
I’ve asked many times for someone to explain how it’s in the public interest to have public sector unions and to grant them legal rights to hold public services hostage. I have yet to read an answer.
Amen, Polimom.
Amen, Dr. J.
If this was a singular instance you might have a point, Polimom. But it isn’t, is it? This is just the latest version of similar things that have been going on since Obama began running for the presidency. In addition, the number of Republicans objecting is dwarfed by those who have received these things and said nothing, if not in fact passing them along to their friends.
It’s interesting that you completely ignore the false claim that Johnson makes in his post about the public sector employees making so much more than the private sector equivalents, Dr. J. And I might have some more sympathy for the idea if the Republicans haven’t also shown that they’d like to eliminate private sector unions as well.
I was responding to Rcoutme, not Johnson, Jim.
No surprise that you don’t have sympathy for republicans, but that doesn’t answer my question.