TBD on Ning
Are Republicans Mean?
Last spring, I posed this question on the old TBD site. It generated a lot of debate, some of it serious, some of it ridiculous. In the course of the thread, the question was pretty much answered, if only because the Republican party kept serving up example after example to prove the point. I know that not all Republicans are mean, but good lord, talk about an image problem...
Now we have ample evidence of the pysche of the Republican party, and yes, Virginia, it's all on tape for the world to see. But, as Levar Burton used to say on Reading Rainbow, "You don't have to take my word for it." Check out Robert Creamer's article...
Wilson Is the Poster "Child" for the New Republican Party
When Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) yelled out that President Obama was a "liar" in the middle of Obama's nationally televised address to a joint session of Congress, he became the poster child for the new Republican Party.
I definitely mean poster "child." Since President Obama took office, the language of the Republican Party has become more childish and irresponsible by the day.
President Obama's powerful speech to the nation last night could not have contrasted more sharply. He was the adult in the room, calling on Congress to take responsibility for our future -- for stepping up to solve the health care crisis that worsens every day, for making the changes necessary to allow America to live up to its own democratic values -- to acknowledge that no one should be denied the health care he needs because he can't afford it.
By contrast, the Republicans have careened into schoolyard name-calling; Obama the Nazi, Obama the "Joker" from Batman.
They have begun to act like a gang of juvenile delinquents, doing everything they can to frighten senior citizens -- attempting to convince them that health care reform would jeopardize their Medicare and that the Government would set up "death panels" with the power to pull the plug on Grandma, when both were patently untrue.
There has been a brazen, bullying quality to their rhetoric -- shouting down and intimidating opponents -- a willingness to break the rules and say anything that serves their purposes with a complete disregard for consistency or intellectual honesty. Take their "defense" of Medicare: Remember that the Republicans opposed Medicare from its inception. They said that Medicare would lead to "socialism" the same way they claim that health insurance reform and a public option will lead to "socialism" today. As recently as yesterday some Republicans proposed eliminating Medicare and replacing it with a privatized "voucher" system. Yet they have the gall to pretend to defend it against the Democrats who created it.
And then there has been the irresponsibility of encouraging -- and legitimating -- gun-toting, hate-filled rhetoric by the fringiest of the right wing. The Republican leadership has failed to censure people like the pastor in Arizona who says he prays the President will die. And it has encouraged delusional conspiracy theorists who believe -- contrary to all evidence -- that Obama was not born in the United States.
As children grow up, one of the measures of increasing maturity is their willingness to begin focusing on the long term -- on saving for the future -- on getting a good education -- on the long-term welfare of their family. Instead of throwing a tantrum because they want an ice cream cone now, they start savings their nickels and dimes for the bicycle they want to save up to buy in the future.
But you won't find the Republicans dealing with the affects of global warming on the next generation, or reforming the health care system so it won't devour our economy in the future, or regulating investment markets to prevent reckless investors from wrecking the economy in the years ahead. No, instead of the needs of the next generation, the Republicans want to squander our treasure on short-term tax cuts for millionaires, and short-term profits for large corporations.
Republicans used to have a reputation of staid "conservatism" like they were your stingy old rock-ribbed grandfather. Today's Republican leaders behave like a bunch of teenagers who got their inheritance too early and can't find enough ways to indulge their short-term desire for "more." They no longer reflect the values of middle class families. They reflect the values of reckless, "go go" Wall Street speculators who think anyone who isn't rich like them is a "chump" and that the purpose of our society is to let them indulge their own self-centered, jet-set fantasies.
Most childish has been their practical refusal to admit that they lost the election and that Barack Obama is actually the President of the United States. Their recent attack on the President's speech to schoolchildren that aimed to inspire them to work hard and stay in school may be the clearest example. Whether the Right likes it or not, Barack Obama is the leader of our nation. Questioning the appropriateness of his addressing the nation's children with an uplifting message is the political equivalent of a child closing his eyes, holding his ears and humming so he doesn't have to acknowledge that it's time to go to bed. Sorry, Barack Obama won the election, temper tantrums won't change it.
Last night Joe Wilson etched his political legacy into the wall of American history. He will forever be the poster "child" that symbolizes the new Republican Party.
Robert Creamer is a long-time political organizer and strategist, and author of the recent book: Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win, available on Amazon.com.
Now we have ample evidence of the pysche of the Republican party, and yes, Virginia, it's all on tape for the world to see. But, as Levar Burton used to say on Reading Rainbow, "You don't have to take my word for it." Check out Robert Creamer's article...
Wilson Is the Poster "Child" for the New Republican Party
When Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) yelled out that President Obama was a "liar" in the middle of Obama's nationally televised address to a joint session of Congress, he became the poster child for the new Republican Party.
I definitely mean poster "child." Since President Obama took office, the language of the Republican Party has become more childish and irresponsible by the day.
President Obama's powerful speech to the nation last night could not have contrasted more sharply. He was the adult in the room, calling on Congress to take responsibility for our future -- for stepping up to solve the health care crisis that worsens every day, for making the changes necessary to allow America to live up to its own democratic values -- to acknowledge that no one should be denied the health care he needs because he can't afford it.
By contrast, the Republicans have careened into schoolyard name-calling; Obama the Nazi, Obama the "Joker" from Batman.
They have begun to act like a gang of juvenile delinquents, doing everything they can to frighten senior citizens -- attempting to convince them that health care reform would jeopardize their Medicare and that the Government would set up "death panels" with the power to pull the plug on Grandma, when both were patently untrue.
There has been a brazen, bullying quality to their rhetoric -- shouting down and intimidating opponents -- a willingness to break the rules and say anything that serves their purposes with a complete disregard for consistency or intellectual honesty. Take their "defense" of Medicare: Remember that the Republicans opposed Medicare from its inception. They said that Medicare would lead to "socialism" the same way they claim that health insurance reform and a public option will lead to "socialism" today. As recently as yesterday some Republicans proposed eliminating Medicare and replacing it with a privatized "voucher" system. Yet they have the gall to pretend to defend it against the Democrats who created it.
And then there has been the irresponsibility of encouraging -- and legitimating -- gun-toting, hate-filled rhetoric by the fringiest of the right wing. The Republican leadership has failed to censure people like the pastor in Arizona who says he prays the President will die. And it has encouraged delusional conspiracy theorists who believe -- contrary to all evidence -- that Obama was not born in the United States.
As children grow up, one of the measures of increasing maturity is their willingness to begin focusing on the long term -- on saving for the future -- on getting a good education -- on the long-term welfare of their family. Instead of throwing a tantrum because they want an ice cream cone now, they start savings their nickels and dimes for the bicycle they want to save up to buy in the future.
But you won't find the Republicans dealing with the affects of global warming on the next generation, or reforming the health care system so it won't devour our economy in the future, or regulating investment markets to prevent reckless investors from wrecking the economy in the years ahead. No, instead of the needs of the next generation, the Republicans want to squander our treasure on short-term tax cuts for millionaires, and short-term profits for large corporations.
Republicans used to have a reputation of staid "conservatism" like they were your stingy old rock-ribbed grandfather. Today's Republican leaders behave like a bunch of teenagers who got their inheritance too early and can't find enough ways to indulge their short-term desire for "more." They no longer reflect the values of middle class families. They reflect the values of reckless, "go go" Wall Street speculators who think anyone who isn't rich like them is a "chump" and that the purpose of our society is to let them indulge their own self-centered, jet-set fantasies.
Most childish has been their practical refusal to admit that they lost the election and that Barack Obama is actually the President of the United States. Their recent attack on the President's speech to schoolchildren that aimed to inspire them to work hard and stay in school may be the clearest example. Whether the Right likes it or not, Barack Obama is the leader of our nation. Questioning the appropriateness of his addressing the nation's children with an uplifting message is the political equivalent of a child closing his eyes, holding his ears and humming so he doesn't have to acknowledge that it's time to go to bed. Sorry, Barack Obama won the election, temper tantrums won't change it.
Last night Joe Wilson etched his political legacy into the wall of American history. He will forever be the poster "child" that symbolizes the new Republican Party.
Robert Creamer is a long-time political organizer and strategist, and author of the recent book: Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win, available on Amazon.com.
Tags: America, Republicans, courtesy, decorum, honor, politics, race, racism
Views: 55
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Vernon Windsor on
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Sarah's fickle fans, always ready to turn...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/22887392#34073521 -
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Permalink Reply by John Turberville on
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"Sarah's fickle fans, always ready to turn..."
Hey, she had better things to do. -
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An "example" of how to deal with meaness and greed.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/judge_kos_mortgage_to_slap_bank_... -
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"Sambo beat the bitch?"
Palin speaks...
http://www.laprogressive.com/2008/09/05/alaskans-speak-in-a-frighte... -
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Look at how close we came to disaster courtesy of John McCain and the Republican party. Do you remember "Country First?" Of course, many of us knew this at the time, but it is still shocking.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show... -
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Evidently Rush Limbaugh is "king of the heap" when it comes to vying for the absolutely most disgusting and despicable example of an American. Could it be that he made his latest comments and resents our taking action to relieve the suffering of Haitians because they are black or is it our president responding in a timely, compassionate and professional
manner that drives him to say such things? -
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Pat Robertson jumps in.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#34851702
and is answered.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#34851879 -
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And that, Ronald, is the very point that has been so well illustrated in the past two years. Other Republicans and conservatives are silent when the wingnuts and the hate-mongers spew this crap. It is their silence and tacit approval that gives so many people the impression that the Right and conservatives and Republicans agree with these views—especially when they see people who challenge them are ostracized and isolated.
The overarching result is the perception that Republicans are mean (and worse). -
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Allegations that Olympia Snowe joined the list of Republicans who admit to negotiating in bad faith to kill health care reform have surfaced. All of which give credence to the reputation of Republicans as mean, refusing to govern unless they get their way 100% of the time, and willing to sacrifice the needs of the people (especially the poor) in a myopic bid to thwart the administration in its attempt to secure the long-term economic health of the nation and the people.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/vp/35190222#35190135 -
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Permalink Reply by ZenDog on
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yeah-ya. You weren't surprised were ya?
They bound Clinton's hands with blue dress questions while the USS Cole nearly sank. It is difficult to conceive how one is supposed to craft an appropriate response under such conditions. How they do relish any opportunity to claim strength on defense. Surely they would scuttle the whole nation provided their cronies applaud. -
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