Why are Republicans incapable of telling the truth?

[Dees]

I've watched the M.O. over the years without change. Start with that inane grinning and smirking, start the pitch with diverting and reverse attacking. Lying is in their souls. It's simply a part of a CONservative snake oil personality. I can't think of a single Republican that I believe or put any trust in what they say.

In my opinion David Dreier is the best example of the grinning while lying to your face Repug.

Tell me there is one Republican capable of telling the truth.

[Frodo]

1. Perhaps they have a low threshold for pain?

They say the truth hurts.

[rfranklin]

2. It's actually pretty simple...

They can't sell their real beliefs and motivations so they have to disguise and dissemble.

Their core beliefs are that everyone else in the world is out to get them--which is a projection of their own ambition toward everyone else. You've seen that recently with Bush's mantra, "it's your money." If they suspect that you have a dollar in your pocket, they believe that it is injustice because every dollar is theirs--you stole it because they had to pay you a living wage. They believe in "preemptive war" because they want to kill you and take what you have--they think you might do it them first. Their credo is "do unto others before they do it to you."

[EdGy]

15. yes, they are extremists

and if they were honest about what they wanted to do they would get maybe 25 percent of the vote.

They are so out of touch with the mainstream in terms of real issues. But they've managed, the way authoritarian regimes that have to face elections always do, to lie about their intentions, portray themselves as moderate and "compassionate," distract attention away from the most important issues, create enemies and scapegoats, and consolidate their control over the media, resulting in a pro-regime tilt that is so obvious it's amazing anyone really believes in the myth of a free media. And as pointed out in a recent article in the American Prospect I think, they are cementing their control over the institutions of government through underhanded means that are exact replicas of what right wing authoritarians do the world over.

[kentuck]

16. They have mastered the art of propaganda.

Indeed.

[achtung_circus]

3. The truth can be soooo inconvenient.

[unblock]

4. the good republicans have been squeezed out

now, there are 'mavericks' like mccain, but the respectable conservative has been squeezed out or marginalized. gerald ford i think was a pretty decent man. he'll rot in hell for pardoning nixon, but he said as much himself, which pretty much shows he actually is a decent man. rockefeller too i think.

bill weld (former governor of massachusetts) wasn't bad, nor was senator lowell weicker, from connecticut.


and, you will find that republicans, as individuals are capable of telling the truth when it come to their own district/state. congresscritters are permitted to buck the party to preserve their own seat, though often even this leads to a deal of some sort.

but in general, they do let their admirable loyalty and not-so-admirable mean-justifies-the-end philosophy carry them to unthinking extremes....

[murielm99]

17. Go back and look at some of the old Watergate tapes.

See a PBS documentary called "Watergate Plus 30."

You can see that there were honest republicans then. They were pained by what was happening in their party.

You know, the House back then actually started Aricles of Impeachment against Nixon. Look at some of the republicans voting. While they were voting to go on with their invesigation, you could hear the pain in their voices.

After we take back our own party, maybe we can find a way to help them with theirs.

[Dees]

18. John "a cancer growing" Dean was probably the most

credible of the whole bunch. I don't know about how forthcoming he would have been if he hadn't been put in a real pinch. Who could forget Mitchell and crowd. Lied to the end.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. Because there's too much at stake if they tell the truth. They will then

have to inevitably capitulate, relinquish SOME power, and have to share the power to the government with the democrats.

Remember, the republicans have been on the defensive since Nixon resigned. Face it, they were emasculated. And they probably made a vow like Scarlet O'Hara's, "I swear I'll never be hungry again!" wherein they would always take advantage of every opportunity to get ahead and not give up any territory gained.

And that includes acts and words that may be or are unethical, such as lying to get ahead. The end justify the means.

Why do you think that in general this country has suffered from collapse in spirit? Why is it that making the most amount of money, living in the biggest house, driving a BMW, etc. with the most amount of horsepower (and price tag), and having the best stock options has replaced the former status of being a good provider, a good parent, someone who made contributions to his/her community, church, etc.?

Why do businesses "fudge" or outright lie about their accounting? Because if it comes to choice between a CEO and the shareholders, the CEO always comes first. The truth equalizes the playing field, allowing the same choice to the shareholders that the CEO is afforded.

More to the original point, why is there such a rash of children across the age levels cheating in school and college? Why is it routine for college students to buy their papers off the internet instead of researching and writing their own independent endeavors and risking a mediocre evaluation by their professor?

Because they have learned from their parents, the republicans (and to a lesser extent, the dems too -- sorry, but the game plan is ubiquitous at this point . . . ), and society that chumps risk getting ahead the old fashioned way: failure and trying again. In this new world, failure is not option and there is no time to try again.

Telling the truth has become the last thing you do if it doesn't get you ahead.

This is a significant decline in our society.

[kentuck]

6. They need a 12-step program...

It's a disease to them..

[Nlighten1]

7. Ever read Plato's "Republic"?

There is an excellent debate in there about how the unjust profit more than the just...

[lindashaw]

8. Recently, they haven't been lying about the issues as much as

they have resorted to trash-spinning about the person. I've never see such rabid trashing as I did yesterday: the reason being panic on their part, I suppose. I started noticing it really with Valerie Plame, but in retrospect, it goes back to Larry Lindsay and that General who was fired...can't spell his name. {:

[Dees]

9. Dishonesty goes to the core of our political structure.

You have the executive, judiciary and legislative branches of government based on "fooling the people". I suspect most Republicans suspect it's all crap but the end justifies.

[rock]

10. Assume, along with me, that the truth is ...

the conservatives have a political philososphy that is incompatable with a Democracy.

[kentuck]

11. You have stated the unspeakable truth...

They cannot tell the truth because their philosophy is so out of touch with 95% of Americans, they could never be competitive in any election. They have to lie.

[Disturbed]

12. The truth won't set them free.

It would get them fired or in prison.

[opihimoimoi]

14. TO FOOL IS TO RULE

[Kipper58]

13. Because the love of money is the root of all evil

n/t

[papau]

19. David Brudnoy on WBZ1030 is an honest GOP'er - I like him

He has just come back to radio after 6 months off to fight cancer that was most likely the result of his AIDS.

I rarely agree with him - but he is real. He is well sourced, learned, does not put down other folks or positions, and can actually debate. He does not try to defend the neo-con positions that are just a cover for grants to the rich or theft from the poor. A real small government conservative!

I've been a fan for a few decades!

:-)

[sweetheart]

20. Organized Cognitive Dissonance = GOP

The message that 3 billion in thinktanks has bought them is to
supercede rationality with carefully designed dissonance. The GOP
always lies... neoliberalism is a lie, and the industrial myth of progressivism is a lie as well.

In a world of lies, we are without a constitution. Crony's and
corporatists would speak for themselves, and the real people of
the world's nations disenfranchised from reality by a foamy sea
of numbers in a database.