Just Exactly How Stupid Are The Republicans Anyway?

[Me.]

Saturday they launch a listening tour, in an effort to gin up their populist appeal. Today they defend tax havens for the rich. There's such a disconnect here it's stunning. They are truly becoming the gift that keeps on giving. And I thought it couldn't last...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/04/republicans-defend-tax-ha_n_195617.html

Not a rhetorical question...or maybe it is

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Republicans are under the impression they don't have to be smart or fair.

They employ logical fallacies and use underhanded methods in order to go forward.

[LynneSin]

2. It's all a matter of perceptions and getting the easily duped to support their cause

And easily duped are any of those teabagging idiots that protested Obama even though most of them would benefit under Obama's tax plan.

Toss in a few "scary ideas" like 'gays-marrying' or 'gun being taken away' or 'save the fetus' and you'd be suprised.

[lame54]

3. This stupid...

In other words - They are shitheads

[11 Bravo]

5. One-legged shitheads, apparently.

[Iris]

34. or Sasquatch relatives

[HopeHoops]

4. Yeah, I thought it was rhetorical from the subject line.

Although my answer would be "Stupid enough to cater a pork BBQ banquet for a Jewish wedding".

Actually, somewhere I have a picture of a grocery store with an advertisement poster in the window - picture of a ham - "Perfect for Passover!"

[jmowreader]

36. This picture?

[HopeHoops]

37. No, but that one is just as good!!!

:wtf: :rofl:

[H2O Man]

6. On a scale of 1 to 10,

the republicans who are formating their propaganda are at about 92 degrees. This is a result of the mixing of "country club" and "klan," a sure route to a cold-blooded program.

[Me.]

11. I Can't Make Up My Mind

If the collapse is happening as fast as it is because they are so clueless or the American people have finally woken up. Though it could be a combo platter.

[H2O Man]

25. While it is indeed

happening, one of the things that we need to be fully aware of is that the democratic party is becoming a vehicle for an increasing number of moderate to conservative democrats. Their political "identity" may appear to change, but their political and social belief system remains the same. I'm reminded of when Minister Malcolm X used to say that the republicans were wolves, and the democrats were foxes. He was speaking, of course, about the "leaders" in Washington, when he noted that they were all members of the canine family, and could not be trusted to not bite you from behind, if you ever turned your back on them.

[Me.]

38. So Are The Conservadems Wolves In Fox Clothing?

[jazzjunkysue]

40. Damn. I'd settle for Obama just checking out my butt.

Seriously.

[phantom power]

7. For the last 40 years...

the GOP has organized itself around:

* Tax cuts for the rich
* Tax cuts for corporations
* Supply-side economics
* Ending social programs for the poor and middle class
* Social conservatism
* Distrust of Education
* Distrust of Science
* Racism


Those aren't side-effects, or particular planks, those have been their core identity. They can't just "change" that.

[Me.]

8. It's Said That Some People Would Rather Burn In Hell Than Change Their Minds

The GOP is becoming a case study

[Arugula Latte]

20. Good point. Take away that stuff and they've got nothin'.

Which is why it's so endlessly amusing to hear them talk about how they need to recraft their message or get a couple of good ideas. That's like slapping a coat of paint on a wall that has moldy, decaying drywall and termite-ravaged framing.

[Enthusiast]

33. You forgot

No limit on military spending and foreign 'entanglements'. The sky is the limit and add in a bit of cost plus for good measure.

Oh, and the only good Muslim is a dead Muslim.

[lpbk2713]

9. Actually, they defy description.

But just one look at their party's leader is a good clue.



:eyes:

[Me.]

13. Good One

[fumsm]

10. Unfortunately, not as stupid as the people who follow them...

Don't ever underestimate the ability of the American public. Learned stupidity came with comfort. Today's society is in my opinion the worst it's ever been. People still believe that if they listen to repukes, their lives will get better. They believe in God, why would they lie? The only thing that will change this is a purge of the generation that allowed this to happen. I'm sorry to say, my generation. It will be painful beyond belief, and the damage will be hard to repair, if even possible. Maybe with good leaders, but these people (Obama) will not be allowed to succeed.

Success will require cooperation. The repukes have shown and have said in no uncertain terms, they will not cooperate, period. Their only mission is to sustain the damage in a hope to convince the people that the Dems f'ed up. That's not to say the Dem's don't have their share of crooks in place. Their are still many on both sides that need purged. They will join together before they let that happen. It is very sad, but that is the state of our nation Right now.

[BuyingThyme]

12. 11.

[Pirate Smile]

14. Don't forget Jeff Sessions as Judiciary Ranking Member - Mr. Pro-Segregationist, used to like the

KKK, etc.

That is certainly going to be appealing to a lot of people who aren't already in the RW camp. LOL.

[malaise]

15. They have to defend tax havens

Where do you think they hide their money.

[Still Sensible]

16. Not really stupid, just unable to cope with new realities IMO

They are a party currently under the full control of ideologues. The religious right are the lone part of their coalition right now... the libertarians were kicked to the curb a decade ago, the "fiscal conservatives" and supply siders are still selling the kool-aid, but without any mass credibility since the economy went in the tank as a result of their policies.

Despite a few (very few) level headed, pragmatic types on their side trying to wake them up, those calling the shots are basically not simply allowing--but actually encouraging--the contraction of their party into an incredibly pure and increasingly smaller base.

Of course, we would be foolhardy in my opinion to assume that they are stupid. Are their current opinion leaders showing a complete lack of understanding with regard to today's political reality? You bet they are. But know this, those folks also believe they are just one Obama Administration screw up from improving their ability to sell their bullshit to enough of the impressionable middle to regain some traction.

Of course, they are feverishly trying to make every nitpicky little step or misstep of the administration a big deal--desperately hoping to find something that will stick. Well gee, trying to portray his triumphant European trip in a bad light didn't work, showing outrage at his non-confrontational meeting with Chavez didn't work, trying to call his stimulus package the greatest financial blunder in the last 100 years didn't work. Why even Michelle's horrible blunder touching the Queen even failed to generate the outrage... make no mistake, though, they will keep trying.

They haven't been able to adjust to the fact that the vast majority of the sheeple they were able to bullshit for so long with their Rove-Limbaugh-Hannity-Ingraham fearfest just aren't listening to their message anymore. The truth is, IMO, it will take a lot more than a single error on the democrats' part to get themselves to a place where their lies will even begin to play to the masses again.

[Me.]

22. Very Thoughtful Response

However, I don't know if I can give up the 'stupid' thing, certainly not in terms of street smarts. True there are other words which describe them and even they, ideologically matched as they are, are not all alike in their reasons for their obtuseness. There are the willfully blind, the ideologically blind, the opportunists, those seeking to capitalize and so on. But really, when you get down to it, it's all so dumb on their part. Defending tax havens? Erin Burnett said today that it is a duty to pay as little as you can. I say yes, legally, but what we're talking about here is dodging and evasion. So basically they are defending illegality, how smart is that I ask you?

[Still Sensible]

26. Well said, the tactics they are currently

using are indeed stupid. I guess it would be more accurate for me to say that we shouldn't be foolhardy enough to believe they will remain this stupid forever. Right now, their ideologues are are exhibiting this stupidity in advancement of their quest for purity. They probably won't examine party broadening pragmatism (or cede their leadership to non-ideologues that will) until they get kicked in the ass hard enough and often enough to realize they have become a 35% party. I believe they still think they are living in the 51%-49% country we have had for the last 16 years.

[Me.]

28. Let's Hope Things Don't Morph From Stupid To Downright Evil Overall

Talk of party purity sends me right there. Of course we've had a real dose of evil over the last 8 and I believe that is what started waking the sleeping giant. They way they talk about the president and the names he's called are shameful. These people have a long road ahead of them before they will be able to garner any credibility at all. People are paying attention. I have a soccer mom friend who's more interested in the PTA than anything else and I was shocked when she told me she thought it was a disgrace FAUX wasn't carrying his press conference. I didn't know she was paying attention.

[KharmaTrain]

50. The Problem Is No One Is Calling The Shots...

...everyone is taking them. There's been no accountability or taking of responsibility of their own failures. There is no real leader, just bomb throwers and spinners looking to seize the moment and little else. That corrupt party is so divided it can't find a leader. Even at the recent CPAC coven, no one candidate in their "straw poll" won more than 20% of the vote.

[jimmybama]

17. SSSHHHHH!

I think that what insight they will gather from their
listening tour is that the American People want TAX CUTS. No
to abortion, no gun control ,no gay marriage, and no
government run health care.Their listening tours will be of
country clubs, gun shows, and NASCAR tracks. Look for the main
stream media to do their part in making the stupid even
stupider. It's time for them to attempt to make the dumber
even dumberer. 

[damntexdem]

18. It's hard to measure -- difficult to find a scale that measures that low.

I mean, most such measurement was developed for normal people, not Republics.

[Me.]

23. !

:rofl:

[leftstreet]

19. They're not stupid. They're trying to be the opposition party...

...in a country that is no longer interested in Reagan's Trickle Down, corporate loving, patriotic GOD GUNS GAYS bullshitty policies.

They're in a tough spot actually.

[liberal N proud]

21. They said they would listen, they did not say they would change

the old GOP ways of all for the rich.

That isn't going to change no matter how much Newt GingRICH and Jeb Bu$h listen.

[Me.]

31. Good Point

A reverse of the trick question, the fake answer.

[izzie]

24. I always want to run when I run in to these 'always right people'

I swear they are always wrong!!!!!!!!!!!Yes the 'ruling class' can be a pain

[unpossibles]

27. it's because people like that see admitting error - or worse apologizing for error

as a weakness. Look how they make fun of Obama (and Kerry before him) for having some nuance and thought behind their answers. Seriously; they mistakenly assume that the only way to show strength is to never back down. As annoying as that is, it's kind of amusing now to watch them implode.

[izzie]

46. I think you are right. Funny I used to vote as a GOP person and

I come from a long line of people who were in the GOP. They always looked at things that did not work as they maybe wrong. It also took a village to raise a family etc. It was like the GOP were of a different group of people when I grew up. This 'we are right' seems to have me thinking the GOP has really missed the boat some place. It is like the party of my father and his sister's and brother's is just not the party I see today. Sort of sad in a way. Maybe where it got lost is something like this. Near me is a town that the man who owned the mill did things for the town and I am willing to bet he was a big deal in the GOP and now those mills are owned a run by some corp. over seas and they just take the profits. It is sort of sign of our times and how the people of the GOP think. I just as soon see those same type not be in the Dem. party. Lets see what the Dem. do in Congress on this new tax business.

[unpossibles]

48. I too have a fairly conservative family and I agree that the party has changed

My dad and brother have become disgusted with the modern Republican party. They are still fairly conservative financially, but feel like they party has left them behind in its drive to become the party of screaming fundamentalism and kneejerk reactionaries.

And to be honest, I don't really care for the conservative side of the Democratic party, but at the same time I understand why it exists and am not going to try to "purify" them away, the way the far right has expelled their more moderate base. I do wish there were a better voice for the actual left, but I also think that the computer age is bringing that by giving the people more of our own voice. I think that is exciting, even when it's occasionally frustrating. WE are the government, all of us, and we need to be aware and active. I think that concept got lost on the right, or rather, warped into this fear of government that forgot that the government is and should be the people.

[izzie]

52. I think we in the Dem. party will pick up the middle of the road GOP

These far out GOP may hold the party for a while but if they do get smart and come back to the center they will re-grow once more. I always think a two party country is better. The two parties grab up the smaller parties and it usually makes each party better over the long run. Right now the GOP is just not letting any one in but , as you say, the far out nut cases. I always was a mild GOP person and finally left the party when RR came in. I had been voting for such people as Muskie for years before. The Dem. must have a base that takes in many types or we will end up just like the GOP is right now. I do not like one party to hold the WH or Congress for to long as their egos are two big for that. They all start thinking they are a 'ruling class' and as a reader of history that I do not like. I will take the plans of a good 50 every day people over one Sen. any day and if he has been in DC to long I would take 5 people over him. I really do not trust for long people who hold great power. They do not like to give it up. Birth rights over talent gives me a pain also. Some one like a Ted Kennedy was a shock to me as he turned out so well for every day people when he started off so much as, it all was just his right to be where he was.

[gratuitous]

29. The second-nearest star to Earth is Alpha Centauri

The closest one, of course, is our own sun. Now, Alpha Centauri is 4.37 light years away from our dear old planet. Which means that the light we see from that star was actually emitted 4.37 years ago. How far is 4.37 light years? About 25.686 trillion miles away. Now, if someone came up to me and said, "You know, Alpha Centauri is really only 25.685 trillion miles away from the earth." I'd probably respond, "Big fuckin' deal; it's not like I'm going there anytime soon, and give or take a billion miles doesn't make a bird's pecker worth of difference to me."

Similarly, trying to suss out "exactly" how stupid Republicans are isn't of any interest to me. Your estimate could be off by a billion, and it wouldn't make any difference. That's how stupid Republicans are. Exactly.

[Me.]

32. Killed Me

That answer of yours. As soon as you become aware of something it's already past. So maybe they are beyond stupid, by a billion.

[ColbertWatcher]

47. Ah-ha! But ...

... if we accept that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, and we know that there stupidity has reached this planet (the light from some galaxies have yet to reach this planet) then we know it is closer than your estimation.

[jimshoes]

30. How high is up?

nt

[Iggo]

35. About a hundred. (n/t)

[jazzjunkysue]

39. Two words: 1. Sarah 2. Palin

Your Honor, the prosecution rests.

[Me.]

41. So Many Great Answers

[leftofthedial]

42. as rocks

[Buns_of_Fire]

43. How deep is the ocean, how high is the sky?

(sings) Are they stupid, ain't no lie
River deep, mountain high...

[Me.]

45. Inspired!

[DearAbby]

44. Yeah it's a rhetorical question

or one of those them thar trick questions, right?

[Vickers]

49. I'm gonna go with "breathtakingly"...

:thumbsup:

[BeFree]

51. Well

They hate America. They hate that a black man is president. They hate that people pretty much do what they want with their own bodies. They hate that ferners are allowed to live and work here and get health care and drive on their roads.

Stupid is not a proper appellation for their hate. But as a party they are stupid.

So how did they get and keep power? Diebold. Thankfully, a few pretty smart Dems figured it out before it was too late and got rid of most of Diebold, but it still lingers. Dems are stupid for allowing Diebold in the first place and allowing it to survive in any way shape or form.

Sorry to go against the grain here, but it's the truth. Pubs ruled because Dems were dumb.