Am I mistaken, or is this generation of american conservatives

[whatchamacallit]

the most backward, boorish, batshit... ever? I know we've always had tools, but this latest crop has turned the US into a flaming clown car heading off a cliff.

[Bluebear]

1. The "Moral Majority" took over that party, rendering it beyond loony

[havocmom]

2. Then the newt taught nazi propaganda methods to the up & coming young pols

Forget about what is true and just keep saying what you want others to believe is true. Yammer and threaten all who dispute the yammer.

I do take a good deal of pleasure in the fact that they took his methods so much to heart that are out of his control too.

[Bluebear]

5. Absolutely. Epitomized by the shouting mob in Florida imported from outside the state

[laughingliberal]

24. That party, nothing. You should see the people who were defending panty sniffing as a legitimate way

to judge the character of our representatives on here just last night and today.

[SharonAnn]

3. Yes, as you said. They're "a flaming clown car heading off a cliff."

[sandnsea]

4. The worst of both parties merged

The rigid god and country Bircher types merged with the Democrat's racist white supremacy types, then throw in some Ayn Rand loons for good measure -

and a clown car starts to look like the one you want to flag down.

[Mopar151]

26. A good friend told me a while ago (we were running a race communications point)

"I'm stickin' with the lunatic fringe!" Her hubby is a racing fabricator, her brother is a drag show performer - and" These cultures/groups are the only ones I see out there who care for one another, with real, genuine support"

[reformist]

6. I think success went to their heads.

They were so enamored by Reagan's success that Republicans lost the ability to approach any issue objectively. Tax cuts worked for Reagan back in the 1980s, so that means even more tax cuts must be the answer today! Deregulation helped get the economy going in the 1980s, so obviously more deregulation is needed now!

What's even worse though, is how they have gone *beyond* Reaganism, and are now trying to attack social programs that have been in place for 75 years, since the Roosevelt Era. If they get back in power, they will dismantle not only Medicare but Social Security, unemployment insurance, the minimum wage - the entire safety net. Considering all the changes the want to implement, they really aren't conservatives at all - they are actually radicals.

[anonymous171]

11. Yep. The founding intellectuals retired/died and the true believers and cultists took over.

[etherealtruth]

7. No, you are not mistaken ...

When growing up (I'm 48) the conservatives were motivated by greed .... now idiocy seem t o be the unifying factor. It's really very frightening.

[havocmom]

14. I'm older; it used to be ideology

And they were the 'loyal opposition' for the most part. They could sit down and talk issues, not stand up and shout talking points.

[ananda]

8. They are definitely some special brand of stoopid..

.. but nobody seems to be able to counteract it.

What does that make us???

[whatchamacallit]

9. Ha, good question :/ (nt)

[Betty Karlson]

10. Neo-conservative =

* no sense of tradition
* no sense of conservatism
* no inclination to compromise
* knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing
* baseless power-play
* Macchiavelli on drugs
* group-think replacing individual thoughts
* extreme partisanship
* elitism on admittedly precedented yet long-forgotten levels.
(double standards)
* un-Christian approach to the world
* disregard of established precedent
* bending the law to breaking point, to get your way

* a recipe for fascism

[havocmom]

15. sounds like the newt

especially after he got off AF1 in a huff at having to sit with everyone but Clinton.

[Betty Karlson]

22. When was that?

(Feel free to elaborate. I don't gossip, but I like to "stay informed")

[lunatica]

12. Nah. We're just getting smarter

I truly believe this. Somehow experience does create smarts if you pay attention.

[Initech]

13. It's been hijacked by the Fux Propaganda Network.

[hvn_nbr_2]

16. Once upon a time, people knew the difference between conservatives and...

the lunatic fringe. Now the lunatic fringe passes for conservatives and there are virtually no real conservatives.

[Betty Karlson]

23. Precisely.

Once upon a time, someone like me would have been considered a core conservative. Then the times moved one way and conservatism... the other way. The wrong way.

[laughingliberal]

25. Au contraire. There are still conservatives

The Republican party is the RW lunatic fringe. The conservatives have now taken over a large segment of the Democratic party.

[ldr65]

17. I like the way You perceive things.

[donheld]

18. It's the Home Schools, Church Schools etc

They don't get a real education and come out dumb as Garter Snakes. Maybe I'm being hard on Garter Snakes.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

19. Each year that comes along, they seem to get worse

I swear it is like some sort of cult or something. Just when I think they couldn't become more backward, boorish and hateful, they never cease to amaze me. I despair for the future of America with people like there are now within the conservative movement

[BR_Parkway]

20. Republicult - it's exactly the same behavior - just look at the sputtering

and spewing of anything vile if you manage to do anything that causes them to doubt one of their talking points for the smallest bit of time. It's instant and totally out of context for the conversation - but it's the exact same reaction that other members of cults get when they first start going through a de-programming.

[panzerfaust]

21. It's Clinton's Fault