How the GOP went ‘Psycho,’ and how to fix it

[Meghan54]

Interesting op-ed piece on Reuter's, written by Craig Shirley. He was part of Reagan's two presidental campaigns and is president of a conservative PR/public affairs firm.

http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/06/04/the-gops-bates-motel/

It is hard to describe just how bad things are for the Republican Party. Each day it looks more and more like the Bates Motel from Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film Psycho.


More precisely, the GOP is actually most like the central character who owns the motel: Norman Bates and his alter ego, “Mother,” a.k.a. Norma. Norman appears to be a polite, sincere young man, if strongly dominated by Mother. But so what if he’s idiosyncratic, even eccentric, with a mother fixation? As a private individual, he has the right to be odd.


Mother, meanwhile, wants absolute control over her son. She prefers the status quo — just like the GOP establishment. Consider the senior GOP leadership’s embrace of the National Security Agency’s enveloping surveillance activities. Mother is always spying on Norman. And Norman, when in the grip of his alter-ego, spies on private citizens.


The real Norman is akin to the Tea Party. As played by Tony Perkins, Norman is peaceful, an individualist if a bit naïve. He just wants to be left alone.


Norman is not a killer. It is Mother who is the killer. She is particularly out to get those who bring new ideas and individuality to the Republican Party.


The GOP’s corrupt, corporatist Washington insiders are now playing the role of Mother — lacking principles and remorse, interested only in power and control. She just can’t leave Norman alone. Mother gets upset when Norman tries different experiences or meets different people. Mother is a control freak.


Moreover, strong GOP candidates check in at the Bates Motel, only to disappear. The party establishment has lined up behind former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. It has no interest in Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) or a real outsider like Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, who took on and brought down his state’s public employee unions.


Like Norman and his Mother, the GOP is at war with itself, and one side or the other will have to surrender or leave. Otherwise, they might become entangled in a timeless death struggle, with neither side gaining a permanent advantage.

 

[Jhhnn]

Please. Repub leadership has been allowing & encouraging right wing billionaires to radicalize the base for over 30 years. When they balked at more of the same, seeing that it hurt the party, the funders broke from the RNC to finance & publicize the Tea Party by other means, notably Fox News, various foundations, thinktanks & 501 organizations.

It's a struggle within the party, alright, just not the way the author portrays it. The tea partiers don't want to be left alone. They want a revolution.

 

[finglobes]

A silly piece. Its true GOP has a civil war raging (The Soros/Moveon Dems purged their resisters long ago - the "Blue Dogs" are "Dead Dogs") but the idea the GOPs only philopsophy is "anti-Obama" is juts plain dumb. GOP leaders can usually be found helping Obama while the base pulls their hair out. The writer also fails to understand the tea parties. That's not unusal considering one third of America is just wicked and another third is just stupid.

 

[Attic]

Yes mostly. The GOP,.. the foundation of it (Mother) is sabotoging any ability for the GOP to evolve or try new things to survive in modern politics.

The Mother metaphor is spot on. Not that conservatives are this way, but they are somewhat bent to the will of Mother from what I see and discuss with folks of the GOP. Their is a bit of a schism in the party created by this mother entity. Those who are moving away from it, and those who use it to control the party.

Beyond that, i'm always some lousy democrat or evil republican whenever I talk politics to democrat or republican groups. It seems that challenging either side is now unapproachable...leads nowhere good. I think this starts to get on a larger problem with politics in general... use of labels to destroy/demean/undermine anything we disagree with. It creates more polarized parties that creates within the parties more fear and resistance of new ideas or paradigms.

 

[finglobes]

Yes mostly. The GOP,.. the foundation of it (Mother) is sabotoging any ability for the GOP to evolve or try new things to survive in modern politics.

The Mother metaphor is spot on.

Actually Dems/libs are the female, mothering party - a reason 65% of women vote Dem. They are the "nurturers" that end up spoiling. They are the great enablers who tell their children "there there its not your fault". Dropping out of school and hanging around with drug buddies with your pants half off you ass isn't keeping you down - no its slavery and whities"

The GOP is more like the Dad that goes along to get along hoping his crazed bitch wife wont be too hard on him. Dems hate anything masculine - the military, football, fathers etc. - they can't de-ball and neuter things fast enough.

They are now trying to make everything feminine. Women tend to resent being women. They hate being the weaker sex bearing the children. They hate being dependent on men who liberals have turned into slobs and bums. Penis envy is part of female psyche. What your seeing now is women wanting to be the men and making the men into wimps. That's why many women like gay guys with a feminie nature having repalced the masculine one. It gives them jollies.

The GOP should be the "father" party but they are whipped. But female Dems still hate them for their masculine semblance. Dems want to pursue one emotionally-derived, stupid idea after another (nukes for Iran, Muslims Brothers running Egypt, broken borders any terrorist can pass over, letting Ebola in, making disorders like GID "better than normal" etc) and when a more sensible, less emotional father type counters the insanity with logic the irrational types go ballistic

 

[alcoholbob]

Most single women vote Democrat, yes. Married women overwhelming vote Republican. It's simply a matter of economics. Republicans espouse tax cuts or not raising taxes, thus married women believe voting Republican means they get to keep more resources to raise their own children. Single women for either lifestyle reasons or happenstance have to raise children by themselves but the costs of raising a child has not diminished. So they prefer to vote Democrat since the Democrats promise they will redistribute income from married women to single women, so single women can have the economic benefits of having a spouse.

Illegitimacy rates have been rising for all ethnic groups since the 60's though. The white illegitimacy rate back in 1964 was under 5%. Today it is the same as the black rate was in 1964--25%. The demographics among women suggest over time more and more will be Democratic voters.

 

[Brian Stirling]

I think he takes the metaphor a little too far -- the Tea Party are not exactly the quiet bunch.

He's spot on about it being owned and operated by corporatist types, of course, so are the leading Dems.


Brian

 

[trenchfoot]

Actually Dems/libs are the female, mothering party - a reason 65% of women vote Dem. They are the "nurturers" that end up spoiling. They are the great enablers who tell their children "there there its not your fault". Dropping out of school and hanging around with drug buddies with your pants half off you ass isn't keeping you down - no its slavery and whities"

The GOP is more like the Dad that goes along to get along hoping his crazed bitch wife wont be too hard on him. Dems hate anything masculine - the military, football, fathers etc. - they can't de-ball and neuter things fast enough.

They are now trying to make everything feminine. Women tend to resent being women. They hate being the weaker sex bearing the children. They hate being dependent on men who liberals have turned into slobs and bums. Penis envy is part of female psyche. What your seeing now is women wanting to be the men and making the men into wimps. That's why many women like gay guys with a feminie nature having repalced the masculine one. It gives them jollies.

The GOP should be the "father" party but they are whipped. But female Dems still hate them for their masculine semblance. Dems want to pursue one emotionally-derived, stupid idea after another (nukes for Iran, Muslims Brothers running Egypt, broken borders any terrorist can pass over, letting Ebola in, making disorders like GID "better than normal" etc) and when a more sensible, less emotional father type counters the insanity with logic the irrational types go ballistic

That is some fascinating commentary on and of the conservative viewpoint. I appreciate it that you shared that, as it gives me a better understanding of how the conservative mindset sees the present state of affairs of our nation at the personal level vs. the party level dogma-influenced talking point diatribes I usually encounter in this forum. :thumbsup:

 

[Moonbeam]

Where is Captain Picard and his face palm.

 

[Scooby Doo]

Even better....

 

[nickqt]

One US political party is beholden to wealth and power, offers token legislation that just barely helps the people, and is corrupt and hypocritical like most political parties.

The other US political party is batshit insane.

 

[michal1980]

The left has completed their demonization of their opponents. They now completely believe that they are good, and the republicans are nutters. no wonder its impossible to work with liberals.

They are now like slave owners who thought blacks were subhuman. How do we fix the liberal bigotry ?

 

[ivwshane]

The left has completed their demonization of their opponents. They now completely believe that they are good, and the republicans are nutters. no wonder its impossible to work with liberals.

They are now like slave owners who thought blacks were subhuman. How do we fix the liberal bigotry ?

Jesus Christ! Does the word irony have any meaning to you! You've just likened the left to slaves owners!

 

[Jaskalas]

Jesus Christ! Does the word irony have any meaning to you! You've just likened the left to slaves owners!

Republican Lincoln would be shocked... shocked I tell you!

 

[michal1980]

Jesus Christ! Does the word irony have any meaning to you! You've just likened the left to slaves owners!

I did, because its the best way to describe the lefts mental state. The continue to think of republicans as subhuman. For example reference the 'freak show' thread, were you guys say electing republicans would be like electing Hitler or saddam Hussein .

The left is totally fixated on demonizing those that don't think like they do, you've been doing it for so long that you now have totally bought into your false sense of superiority.

 

[Attic]

I did, because its the best way to describe the lefts mental state. The continue to think of republicans as subhuman. For example reference the 'freak show' thread, were you guys say electing republicans would be like electing Hitler or saddam Hussein .

The left is totally fixated on demonizing those that don't think like they do, you've been doing it for so long that you now have totally bought into your false sense of superiority.

I see demeaning from both sides, I personally think this occurs based on how entrenched someone is in a political party. The left gets away with it more because they espouse more social welfare and community vs the right's self reliance to what can appear a harsh degree.

For the real "believer's" the other side is intolerable and demeaning is a coping mechanism to idea's people "hate".

But, increasingly the parties do not represent the folks voting, nearly all of us are getting jerked around with this theatre of the absurd. I'd guess for a great number of us it's just entertainment at this point (no your vote doesn't matter, no your views- this would make you too dangerous).

 

[dank69]

Actually Dems/libs are the female, mothering party - a reason 65% of women vote Dem. They are the "nurturers" that end up spoiling. They are the great enablers who tell their children "there there its not your fault". Dropping out of school and hanging around with drug buddies with your pants half off you ass isn't keeping you down - no its slavery and whities"

The GOP is more like the Dad that goes along to get along hoping his crazed bitch wife wont be too hard on him. Dems hate anything masculine - the military, football, fathers etc. - they can't de-ball and neuter things fast enough.

They are now trying to make everything feminine. Women tend to resent being women. They hate being the weaker sex bearing the children. They hate being dependent on men who liberals have turned into slobs and bums. Penis envy is part of female psyche. What your seeing now is women wanting to be the men and making the men into wimps. That's why many women like gay guys with a feminie nature having repalced the masculine one. It gives them jollies.

The GOP should be the "father" party but they are whipped. But female Dems still hate them for their masculine semblance. Dems want to pursue one emotionally-derived, stupid idea after another (nukes for Iran, Muslims Brothers running Egypt, broken borders any terrorist can pass over, letting Ebola in, making disorders like GID "better than normal" etc) and when a more sensible, less emotional father type counters the insanity with logic the irrational types go ballistic

That is a fantastic journey into your psyche, thanks for that. D:

However, I think you are confused about the metaphor being made. The GOP isn't being compared to a typical mother (nurturing type) but a specific character from a specific movie. This specific mother was anything but the nurturing type. Instead she was just the voice given to the absolutely psychotic portion of someone's brain. The part that would come up with similar insane rants like what you just posted.

In essence, you are pretty much confirming the author's point.

 

[michal1980]

I see demeaning from both sides, I personally think this occurs based on how entrenched someone is in a political party. The left gets away with it more because they espouse more social welfare and community vs the right's self reliance to what can appear a harsh degree.

For the real "believer's" the other side is intolerable and demeaning is a coping mechanism to idea's people "hate".

But, increasingly the parties do not represent the folks voting, nearly all of us are getting jerked around with this theatre of the absurd. I'd guess for a great number of us it's just entertainment at this point (no your vote doesn't matter, no your views- this would make you too dangerous).

Please, just look at the left on this forum

They have their 'republican freak show thread', this 'psycho' thread, CBD threads etc etc.

The righties here, much more typical liberals are communist/socialist.

The left in there insanity cant help themselves by continuing to paint their opponents as subhuman, they have no actual ideas, no solutions. Just destroy and dehumanize those that think differently then they do.

 

[Moonbeam]

Please, just look at the left on this forum

They have their 'republican freak show thread', this 'psycho' thread, CBD threads etc etc.

The righties here, much more typical liberals are communist/socialist.

The left in there insanity cant help themselves by continuing to paint their opponents as subhuman, they have no actual ideas, no solutions. Just destroy and dehumanize those that think differently then they do.

How many times can I tell you that what you describe is who you are, the projection of what you hate in yourself onto the other, the left? How many times, also, must I tell you that none of that is your fault. You were forced into a conformist personality, a go along get along with the group member, a player on the oppressor authoritarian team. Had you not done that you would have revolted against the authority that subjected you and lost their love.

I have the greatest sympathy for you as a human being. I know the pain of rebelling against that conditioning, I know what it means to hate yourself. I know your deepest fear. I also know it's all about insignificant lies you were forced to believe as a child, the instances where you knuckled under and lost your true self.

But I can also see what you do to the world as a collective, you sad tormented robots who think they hold the keys to law and order. It is from batteries like you that the matrix draws its strength.

 

[Indus]

Most single women vote Democrat, yes. Married women overwhelming vote Republican.

And the GOP's solution is to blame Marriage Equality for the decrease in marriage nation wide.

 

[Moonbeam]

And the GOP's solution is to blame Marriage Equality for the decrease in marriage nation wide.

Hehe. We can only hope that the thought of sex in marriage or elsewhere for the CBD become so traumatic at the thought that gays can marry, they swear off of it completely.

 

[Tombstone1881]

It always kind of puzzles me to see conservatives complain about being called freaks or psychos.

You'd think that if they didn't want to be called freaks or psycho's, they'd stop acting like freaks or psychos.

 

[michal1980]

It always kind of puzzles me to see conservatives complain about being called freaks or psychos.

You'd think that if they didn't want to be called freaks or psycho's, they'd stop acting like freaks or psychos.

Only psycho in the liberal bubble

 

[Jhhnn]

Please, just look at the left on this forum

They have their 'republican freak show thread', this 'psycho' thread, CBD threads etc etc.

The righties here, much more typical liberals are communist/socialist.

The left in there insanity cant help themselves by continuing to paint their opponents as subhuman, they have no actual ideas, no solutions. Just destroy and dehumanize those that think differently then they do.

Yeh, just call 'em Commies, liken them to slave owners.

Gawd. You're like Grandpa Simpson yelling at the clouds.

 

[Victorian Gray]

I did, because its the best way to describe the lefts mental state. The continue to think of republicans as subhuman. For example reference the 'freak show' thread, were you guys say electing republicans would be like electing Hitler or saddam Hussein .

The left is totally fixated on demonizing those that don't think like they do, you've been doing it for so long that you now have totally bought into your false sense of superiority.

So this was promoted by the "left" ?

or this

Look to your own 'side'.