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 Mark Mentzer on
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Thank you for this Vernon. It's well written and completely true.
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Permalink Reply by Madhatterat60 on
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The biggest problem....and not just with the Wilsons of the world...they will always be with us, rests ... sadly ... on both sides of the aisle, in my humble opinion.
We lack a true leader.
The Demoncraps have the power, but no balls or backbone. They're so worried about getting re-elected that they don't realize, if they simply did the job we sent them there to DO, re-election would be a cake walk. Hand wringing and being afraid to step forward is not leadership. The President can do much....and much more than he's done as far as I'm concerned...about stepping forward and being an outward, visible leader. Last night he tossed that gauntlet down and made some threats (we'll call them out...). After those words, he'd better be willing to pick that gauntlet back up and bitch slap a few of these asses PUBLICLY and LOUDLY or his term will be single...labeled FULL OF SOUND AND FURY, Signifying nothing.
The repuglycants are more splintered now than I can ever remember seeing them. Disorganized, leaderless, rudderless, without direction or ideas. They allow themselves to be led by a radio performer who has never stood for, much less been elected to any public office. For all they champion patriotism, their current mouthpiece evaded the draft during Vietnam because he had a wild hair in his ass....literally. Worse, perhaps, is their somehow need to turn their party over to the fringe. It was bad enough when they had the "christian" right carrying their water. "Those Crazies" have all but vanished into the woodwork only to be replaced by "birthers" and others Far, Far out on the fringe...and NO ONE steps forward to shut them up. Instead, they allow certain "politicians" to step forward and push all of the hot buttons these crack pots have.
In the past, politicians from Spiggy Agnew to LBJ talked about the "silent majority". I believe, last November, the "Silent Majority" showed up. I believe that they are tired of being told what to be afraid of and who is to blame for their fears.
However, until a REAL LEADER steps forward....from either party....I anticipate more of the same. -
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Permalink Reply by Just-a-Writer on
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I find that offensive... my children behave better than Wilson and the other crybabies.
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Permalink Reply by brujo on
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At the risk of being crude, Fuck Joe Wilson. The verbiage in the bill clearly states that illegal aliens will not be covered. The fact of the matter is though, we somehow assume our politicians are gentlemen, and that's typically not the case. I suspect gentlemen eschew the glare of publicity preferring to get their own house. I do like the phrase "the new Republican Party". It is obviously not the party my grandfather belonged to, 'cause he was about individual rights and making some money. Oh well, I deeply suspect the Senate will be returning to the days when it's members caned one another. Remember, Chivalry is not Dead. It never existed.
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Permalink Reply by Vernon Windsor on
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Brujo, I think you are wrong on several levels. Outliers aside, the decorum with which members of congress typically conduct themselves bears no resemblance to what we have seen since January. Many politicians are gentlemen and gentlewomen. Those who are not, learn how to be soon after they get to Washington. Chivalry did exist. Ted Kennedy and many other proved that. You may join others in trying to make excuses for the coarsening of manners, discourse and debate, but in truth, there is no excuse for it.
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Permalink Reply by Grace Linda on
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What is so amazing is the thought process Joe Wilson displayed. To me he is a southern racist and just couldn't help himself because Obama is just like any other Black person to him, not worthy of respect.
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His apology was not an apology either. Disgusting.
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Permalink Reply by Julie Hershey on
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I completely agree with you, Vernon. Republican used to mean "fiscally conservative" and perhaps "socially progressive" although those two terms are mutually exclusive, it seems to me. But that's another topic. I think the floundering republican party has no choice these days but to appeal to the most basic element of our society - those that are only capable of reacting to some gut sentiments and not what's rational, reasonable or well thought out. A few of them think that by inciting those emotions they can cast a cloud of doubt over this administration, and they seem to have some following, unfortunately, but I don't think that will be enough to win back the party, because the disruption and childishness they're demonstrating now is becoming a distraction for all but the stupidest of the stupid. I'm even reading responses now from the right that are only trying to dismiss some of the republican antics as not typical, instead of somehow justifiable, and even then those arguments are weak.
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The Republican party reminds me of the Catholic Church and they way it protected child molesters. The thing is, is that it is the Confederate party so although not all condone this behavior, they are used to the mentality of treating anyone outside of their race with disregard.
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Oh Please. I'm hardly the harbinger of a change in manners. Chivalry was just an elaborate dance to get laid once upon a time. But for what it's worth, I was just as shocked as anyone when ol' Joe spoke up like he did. He's saying today it's because he was caught up in the heat of the moment, but since he blurted it out twice, I'm thinking it was staged.
On the upside, maybe we'll start having dust-ups in chambers like the Knesset. Remember Vernon, it's all high theater. -
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You are entitled to your opinion. Mine is that it is more than theater. People are scrambling to dress it up in all kinds of clothes and motives, but it is what it is.
Wilson joins Mel Gibson, Michael Richards, Trent Lott and others in revealing their true colors. We're not talking about an ecstatic people here. To "lose control" in such a setting is uncommon. -
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Since he blurted it twice, do you really think it was spontaneous? I don't. This guy was a practicing attorney for 25 years, a judge, worked in Washington during the Reagan years, and has been elected to several offices in SC, State Senate as well as US House. I don't think anything this guy does isn't calculated. Mel and Michael, just a couple of drunks. Trent Lott happened to go to a birthday party and was trying to say nice things to a doddering old fool. Most of that stuff really was you can chalk up to idiots having a really bad day. Joe Wilson...I'm just not buying the "oops...I guess I just got carried away by emotion" line.
Apparently the only thing you're really taking me to task for is my penchant for the coarse and unrefined. It's one of the dangers of living in Boulder County...you lose your taste for the absurd when you're surrounded by the pious. -
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