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Politics The Elephant in the room...The GOP today

Discussion in 'Tilted Philosophy, Politics, and Economics' started by rogue49, Aug 28, 2012.

  1. rogue49

    rogue49 Tech Kung Fu Artist Staff Member

    Location:
    Baltimore/DC
    Now...don't anyone get me wrong.
    I'm a former Republican...and espouse and value a variety of traditional republican ideals.

    Emphasis on the word, "traditional"...as in long-ago...

    The GOP these days has gone off the deep end.
    Doubling down on almost Medieval ideas.
    And then others within the party either catering to them
    or rationalizing their support because they don't want to be seen as "Liberal", "Socialist" or a RINO.

    This is not to say I don't have some progressive values or won't vote Democrat,
    or will go all in favor of the Democratic party...they have their own damn problems, stupid ideas and terrible dynamics.
    (I have a complicated free mind...call me an oxy-moronic Libertarian/Progressive)

    But this thread is on the current state of the GOP,
    speaking on the Elephant in the room for many. (yes, pun intended)

    IMHO, they have executed many actions and laws according to perscribed "Ideals",
    without a thought to the impact, long-term or short-term.
    Cutting off their noses in spite of their face.
    Or even worse, doing so to the US nation or world.

    What do you think???
    If you disagree...let me know why.

    This nice article below is a good sample to start with...not to be taken literally boys & girls, but a "metaphor"
    Because no one controls hurricanes...
    Or if anyone does...I doubt they really give a shit about a tiny convention in relative terms.

     
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2012
    • Like Like x 1
  2. ASU2003

    ASU2003 Very Tilted

    Location:
    Where ever I roam
    Storm Isaac: Bobby Jindal to Obama: More Isaac aid - POLITICO.com
    Here is a response I heard today.

    Why should workers and businesses in Ohio and other states pay the State's (LA) share (25%) of the cost of this storm? They choose to live in Louisiana where they know hurricanes are a possibility. The cost of living and doing business in that state might be higher than the Midwest if they make the states cover 25% or more of the cost to provide rescue services and food aid (charity aid excluded) during these natural disasters.
     
  3. pan6467

    pan6467 a triangle in a circular world.

    One would have to ask, WHO or WHAT Pat Robertson will blame Isaac on. It's funny, in a sad way, that as I was on the way home from the hospital (thanks Obamacare), that Rush Limbaugh was making a JOKE out of how Jindal was complaining Obama wasn't doing enough to help and how Obama was making all kinds of excuses. Now, excuse me but when Katrina hit, Limbaugh bitched about how the Democratic Governor and mayor were blaming Bush. Limbaugh was defending Bush by saying, "what more can W do?" The hypocrisy of the BAIN OWNED CLEAR CHANNEL talking heads is incredulous. I truly have come to the belief they don't expect people to remember yesterday unless they tell the people what happened.
     
  4. Joniemack

    Joniemack Beta brainwaves in session

    Location:
    Reading, UK
    Last edited: Aug 29, 2012
  5. Joniemack

    Joniemack Beta brainwaves in session

    Location:
    Reading, UK
  6. Charlatan

    Charlatan sous les pavés, la plage

    Location:
    Temasek
    Holy shit! I can't believe that at the GOP convention, that kind of bullshit happened. Actual delegates at the convention were shouting down a representative of Puerto Rico, because she wasn't white, or because she spoke with an accent?

    Why isn't this big news? Why isn't there more outrage in the media?
     
  7. roachboy

    roachboy Very Tilted

    well three reasons i can think of (a) the primary beneficiary of people taking the disaster that is the republican party seriously at this point is the dominant media. elections as sporting events--->good for business. (b) it is big news depending on what your news channels are and (c) that the republican party is loaded with racists may not be a surprise at this point. you'd think that would be also very big news. but think (a). maybe.
     
  8. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    [​IMG]
     
    • Like Like x 4
  9. Charlatan

    Charlatan sous les pavés, la plage

    Location:
    Temasek
    America can be so much more. Why does there appear to be a race to the bottom?
     
  10. Random McRandom

    Random McRandom Starry Eyed

    There seems to be two stories regarding the video Joniemack posted. 1 is what we have here where it appears delegates were chanting USA! and Get Them Out! in reference to Zoraida Fonalledas. The other seems to be that these cheers/jeers were going on before she stepped out and it was directed to some Ron Paul supporters and a "clash" had broken out.

    I think the truth is somewhere in the middle, with both stories holding some measure of truth concerning the GOP.
     
  11. redux

    redux Very Tilted

    Location:
    Foggy Bottom
    In all fairness, I dont think the shouts of "USA" were directed at the speaker from Puerto Rico. It appears to be more of a spillover effect over the previous speaker, the Chair of the Credentials Committee, and the Party chairman pushing through the Credentials Committee report that refused to seat some Ron Paul delegates who wanted to challenge the report on the floor but were denied the opportunity.

    But this is something I've never seen before...from the most recent NBC/WSJ Poll:
    While 0 percent of black votes is probably a statistical anomaly, achieving even McCain's level of 4 percent of black voters in 08 might be a stretch for Romney.
    --- merged: Aug 29, 2012 at 9:47 AM ---
    And while trotting out numerous black and hispanic speakers to demonstrate the party's diversity, one only need look at the audience to recognize a sea of white faces.

    There are far more birthers among the delegates than blacks.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 5, 2012
    • Like Like x 1
  12. Joniemack

    Joniemack Beta brainwaves in session

    Location:
    Reading, UK
    I had read the alternate explanation before posting the video and it was probably unfair of me to put it out there as a solely racist response to the speaker walking to the podium. But it occurred to me when I watched it again that though there was a bit of shouting here and there, prior to her introduction, it quickly expanded into an outright roar of voices shouting a wide arrange of mostly unintelligible phrases, some of which could have been (and I assume were) directed towards her by those who chose to start chanting only after she was introduced.

    Even if my assumption is wrong, it showed a huge amount of disrespect for her - disrespect which might not have shown itself had it been a white non-Hispanic delegate.
     
    Last edited: Aug 29, 2012
  13. redux

    redux Very Tilted

    Location:
    Foggy Bottom
    I agree with you on the disrespect.

    This is a party that has become so extreme in its rhetoric and policies, disrespect of opposing views is now commonplace.
     
  14. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    The main thrust of Republicans specifically and American conservatives generally (i.e. there are many exceptions) is that of reactionaries.

    Like the Catholic Church and the royalists during the French Revolution, these American reactionaries seek to return to some bygone state of society. They view the progressive nature of American society as radical, yet it is this reactionary tendency that is radical. You see it in the desire for making and breaking policies with a singular goal to restore "traditional values." This despite such values being at odds with those who exist outside their ideological range (of which there are many).

    These reactionary conservatives think that the country is at risk, and the only way to save it is to impose their values on everyone, regardless of fairness, reason, and even reality.

    It's dangerous, because the rhetoric they use suggests an imminent existential crisis on the national level. It suggests that the failure to impose these values on the nation is a failure to save the republic from falling into some kind of socialist or communist totalitarian state. The irony is that the nation is, in fact, slipping into the opposite direction due mostly to the current, rather schizophrenic and irrational, American reactionary.

    This means that opposing views aren't merely disrespected; opposing views are scandalous.
     
    Last edited: Aug 29, 2012
  15. rogue49

    rogue49 Tech Kung Fu Artist Staff Member

    Location:
    Baltimore/DC
    And on that note...even though this was written by Andew Sorkin, who is not known for his conservative views...
    This is a good synopsis about where I think things are at the moment for the GOP.

    Link:
    The Newsroom - Rinos, Real Republicans, The Tea Party, The Founding Fathers on religion and more

    For as much as many of the GOP like to wrap the flag around them
    and proclaim that this is what the Founding Fathers would have wanted,
    the true framers of the country and Constitution would be very frightened by what was said.

    They TRULY understood what our freedoms meant
    and who could potentially act with tyranny...including ourselves and the masses.

    I find it interesting that the Republican states have become Democratic
    and the Democratic states have become Republican.

    So this shows you...it's not a party, it's a mindset.
    The more things change...the more they stay the same...

    1896 presidential election

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Aug 29, 2012
  16. Joniemack

    Joniemack Beta brainwaves in session

    Location:
    Reading, UK
    I think Jeff Daniels (via the writers of "The Newsroom") has managed to do what Republicans and Democrats have not - frame the issue, isolate the Tea Party/Christian right wing chaff from the wheat of true Republicans, define the stark differences between the two and nail the threat down clearly, concisely, and all at the end of an hour long fictional program.

    I wonder if "The Newsroom" will be back for another season? If not, both Democrat and worried moderate Republicans alike would be well served by getting some of the writers on board for the mid-term elections. Unless of course there is nothing left but the radicals to run the country after this election.
     
  17. Baraka_Guru

    Baraka_Guru Möderätor Staff Member

    Location:
    Toronto
    Wow...

    Tim Harper: Republicans’ new uber-conservative platform would outlaw all abortions, fight ban on assault weapons - thestar.com
     
  18. Joniemack

    Joniemack Beta brainwaves in session

    Location:
    Reading, UK
    • Like Like x 1
  19. ASU2003

    ASU2003 Very Tilted

    Location:
    Where ever I roam
    Does anybody else get seasick watching that blue wavy background behind the speakers or is that just what they are saying?
     
  20. roachboy

    roachboy Very Tilted

    why are these conventions televised? seriously.
    what good do they do the electoral process?
    they're nuremburg rally-like televised fictions in which a sequence of personalities deliver long sequences of memes. the idea is to be likeable. it's not what they say, it's not what they propose. it's a one-way form of infotainment delivery brought to you by all your favorite corporate sponsors. it is itself advertising.
    the only possible beneficiaries are the television networks, which have an interest in acting as though even idiots like romney and his sorry cast of ultra-reactionaries and cast-offs from the bad old days of the bush period (check out his foreign policy team) is serious because then television gets to mediate a sporting event we confuse with a democratic election. it really is a fucking joke.
    what possible difference is made by the endless protestations of hardscrabble lives by these---and i like this bit of old-school invective--running dog lackies of american corporate imperialism?
    what does anyone learn from these paper-thing sentences about aspirations and values and other horseshit on that order?
    and are we supposed to take this fatuousness more seriously because of the assembled cast of glassy-eyed enthusiasts assembled in these tastelessly decorated auditoriums? maybe we identify with them sitting on their asses and consuming on the one hand...and on the other hand, when the camera is trained on the talking head behind the microphone, they become the laugh track. so we don't even have to construct our own reactions.
    pull the plug on them.
    criminy.
     
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