What I don't get about the republican party...

[vi edit]

Only a liberal could think that giving people government hand outs is a way to end welfare

Nah, it's called an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Same concept as providing cheap/reasonable access to basic health services instead of clogging up expensive and important triage areas like Emergency Departments.

 

[Atreus21]

Why do they keep moving farther and farther right and keep scaring moderates away with all their bible thumping crazyness? The religious right is gonna vote for them no matter what, so why do they feel like they need to go so far right to make them all happy? All they would need to do is throw out a token "yay god" every once in a while to keep them all happy. Instead the entire party seems to be going full bible thumping crazy.

I used to be a republican until they starting moving right, becoming more and more anti-intellectual, and focusing on stupid shit like abortion, gay marriage, etc...

Now I either vote democrat or 3rd party.

I really want to vote republican. I don't care about poor people. I hate things like welfare and social security. I don't care that you lost your job to a computer. Life isn't fair.

What I do care about are things like science, education, keeping religion out of politics, and fiscal responsibility.

They just don't seem to get it. If they would just get rid of all the racist, anti-intellectual, creationist bible thumpers like Akin and Bachmann they would actually have a respectable politcal party for those of us who are more moderate. Until then I won't even think about voting republican.

I was going to vote republican last election because I don't mind McCain, but then he went and picked Palin, who is pretty much the definition of crazy, ignorant republican these days.

I'd rather see Obama and the rest of the democrats deliver a beatdown on the republicans to teach them a lesson. Too bad they probably won't learn anything from it. Maybe next election they can go even farther right. Surely that will work.


edit: Oops.. meant to post this in P&N

Only democrats think it's moved too far right. Only republicans think it hasn't.

I'm a registered independent just so I can say I'm cooler than everyone else, and I don't think it's moved farther to the right at all.

 

[bignateyk]

Funding birth control and/or abortions is a form of welfare.

Only a liberal could think that giving people government hand outs is a way to end welfare

Let's see:

Abortion: One time $500
Birth control: $50/month
Child welfare: >$500/month

It's called compromise. Something the right wingers seem incapable of these days, which is why congress has done nothing for the last 4 years.

I'm sure they'd love to spend that money on abstinence education though

 

[blankslate]

Funding birth control and/or abortions is a form of welfare.

If you think that what the majority of Planned Parenthood does is abortion you're wrong.

Only a liberal could think that giving people government hand outs is a way to end welfare

Only a conservative would think that tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy so they could stockpile more cash is a way to increase jobs and let people move into those and off of welfare.

 

[nehalem256]

Let's see:

Abortion: One time $500
Birth control: $50/month
Child welfare: >$500/month

It's called compromise. Something the right wingers seem incapable of these days, which is why congress has done nothing for the last 4 years.

I'm sure they'd love to spend that money on abstinence education though

Because your idea of compromise is this

Nehalem: bignateyk give send me $1000
Bignateyk: WTF. I am not sending you a $1000
Nehalem: Ok we can compromise at you send me only $100

I will concede the point to you when my check for $100 arrives.

If you think that what the majority of Planned Parenthood does is abortion you're wrong.

I was referring to Planned Parenthood as a special women's health clinics.

Apparently defunding special women's health clinics is a a war on women.

And before you argue they service men too, I will point out that if they service men and women defunding them is obviously not a war on women.

 

[Fern]

Why do they keep moving farther and farther right
-snip-

I see this posted here by Dems/progressives frequently. Nice talking point but it's BS.

How have the Repubs moved further right?

Gays? Nope. Gay sex was a crime in some states until the SCOTUS ruled otherwise about 10 yrs ago. Gays were forbidden in the military, even after DA/DT was implemented about 20 yrs ago by Clinton they were still kicked out. That policy was just recently changed so that gays can now serve. By any objective standard things have been moving Left. It's just that the Repubs haven't moved as Left as fast.

Abortion? Nope. I don't ever recall when the Repub party platform has supported abortion. They haven't changed. Period.

OTOH, I do recall a rather famous Democratic President who favored, and proposed, broad tax cuts - See J.F. Kennedy.

So who is moving in which direction again?

Fern

 

[blankslate]

I was referring to Planned Parenthood as a special women's health clinics. Apparently defunding special women's health clinics is a a war on women. And before you argue they service men too, I will point out that if they service men and women defunding them is obviously not a war on women.

Doesn't change the fact that a majority of their funding spent doesn't go to abortion.

Additionally the pill does have medical uses other than the prevention of pregnancies.

 

[nehalem256]

Doesn't change the fact that a majority of their funding spent doesn't go to abortion.

Additionally the pill does have medical uses other than the prevention of pregnancies.

I never claimed it did.

 

[Atreus21]

Doesn't change the fact that a majority of their funding spent doesn't go to abortion.

Additionally the pill does have medical uses other than the prevention of pregnancies.

I'm sure coca-cola has other uses other than giving me a sugar high too.

 

[blankslate]

I never claimed it did.

Good

I'm sure coca-cola has other uses other than giving me a sugar high too.

http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2011/11/15/index.html

I guess it be pretty awesome if coca cola could be used for

include reducing cramps or menstrual pain (31%); menstrual regulation, which for some women may help prevent migraines and other painful “side effects” of menstruation (28%); treatment of acne (14%); and treatment of endometriosis (4%).

 

[nehalem256]

I'm sure coca-cola has other uses other than giving me a sugar high too.

Back when I worked at a restaurant in High School we put it on the wallpaper to bring out the blueness

 

[nehalem256]

Good



http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2011/11/15/index.html

I guess it be pretty awesome if coca cola could be used for

Lets be honest though the reason liberals treat BC pills as a privileged drug is for its contraceptive abilities.

You do not see the Democrats calling for Midol to be free do you?

 

[piasabird]

Well the Left has Jesse jackson and every candidate running for president as a presidential candidate from the democratic party has claimed to belong to some kind of church. I dont get your point?

Who was the last president that was elected that was not some way affiliated with some kind of church or religion? Doesnt mean that they were that religious.

It seems to be a right of passage for all politicians to claim to belong to a religion or church and be this great family and raise kids.

 

[midwestfisherman]

While the democrats go extreme left socialism. If I had to pick between the two extremes I would pick the bible thumpers every time.

-KeithP

+1!

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

I see this posted here by Dems/progressives frequently. Nice talking point but it's BS.

How have the Repubs moved further right?

Gays? Nope. Gay sex was a crime in some states until the SCOTUS ruled otherwise about 10 yrs ago. Gays were forbidden in the military, even after DA/DT was implemented about 20 yrs ago by Clinton they were still kicked out. That policy was just recently changed so that gays can now serve. By any objective standard things have been moving Left. It's just that the Repubs haven't moved as Left as fast.

Abortion? Nope. I don't ever recall when the Repub party platform has supported abortion. They haven't changed. Period.

OTOH, I do recall a rather famous Democratic President who favored, and proposed, broad tax cuts - See J.F. Kennedy.

So who is moving in which direction again?

Fern

One party platform stated that Hispanics and others should not “be barred from education or employment opportunities because English is not their first language.” It highlighted the need for “dependable and affordable” mass transit in cities, noting that “mass transportation offers the prospect for significant energy conservation.” And it prefaced its plank on abortion by saying that “we recognize differing views on this question among Americans in general — and in our own party.”

The other party platform said that “we support English as the nation’s official language.” It chided the Democratic administration for “replacing civil engineering with social engineering as it pursues an exclusively urban vision of dense housing and government transit.” And its abortion plank recognized no dissent, taking the position that “the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed.”

No, they are not the platforms of the Democratic and Republican Parties. They are both Republican platforms: the first from 1980, at the dawn of the Reagan revolution, and the second the 2012 Republican platform that was approved on Tuesday afternoon in Tampa, Fla.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/29/us/politics/republican-platform-takes-turn-to-right.html?_r=2

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally Posted by KeithP
While the democrats go extreme left socialism.

If I had to pick between the two extremes I would pick the bible thumpers every time.

-KeithP

Are you being serious?

Yes he is.

There are a lot like him on these boards that don't believe in Science and Evolution.

Brainwashing is a powerful thing as shown here with Republicans getting more and more bolder in their insanity.

 

[dennilfloss]

While the democrats go extreme left socialism. If I had to pick between the two extremes I would pick the bible thumpers every time.

-KeithP

Actually the Dems have also moved to the right. They are getting close to where the Republicans were at the time of Nixon.

 

[boomerang]

 

[umbrella39]

While the democrats go extreme left socialism.

-KeithP

Marginalized. The echo chamber must be very resonant.

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/29/us/politics/republican-platform-takes-turn-to-right.html?_r=2

Damn talk about getting completely owned. Nice try fern lol.

 

[Jeff7]

Let's see:

Abortion: One time $500
Birth control: $50/month
Child welfare: >$500/month

It's called compromise. Something the right wingers seem incapable of these days, which is why congress has done nothing for the last 4 years.

I'm sure they'd love to spend that money on abstinence education though

And don't forget the considerable benefits to society of not having more people around who were born to parents who didn't want to spend the time necessary to raise productive and useful members of society.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/29/us/politics/republican-platform-takes-turn-to-right.html?_r=2

Plus there's their rightward shift on:
Climate change
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...artys-drastic-shift-on-energy-climate-issues/
Gun rights
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...ghts_n_1843279.html?utm_hp_ref=elections-2012
Campaign spending
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...cc2dee-f202-11e1-892d-bc92fee603a7_story.html
And these are just vs their last party platform in 2008.

 

[Matt1970]

Plus there's their rightward shift on:
Climate change
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...artys-drastic-shift-on-energy-climate-issues/
Gun rights
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...ghts_n_1843279.html?utm_hp_ref=elections-2012
Campaign spending
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...cc2dee-f202-11e1-892d-bc92fee603a7_story.html
And these are just vs their last party platform in 2008.

You are going to link to the most extreme left sources to show how extreme the right is? Really?

 

[tweaker2]

I guess what the Repubs are confused about is why can't everyone else understand that the tea party does not represent the true core values of the Repub party yet they must conform to the tea party's further rightward lurch to stay unified without admitting it. It's just so much easier and convenient to accuse the Dems of going further left, when in fact the Dems have been forced to go further right to get anything heard in Congress, let alone actually passing anything into law.

The Repubs know how their being forced to concede to the tea party's wishes inexorably constrains and negatively filters their demographic, yet for them there is no other way to go other than splitting away from the whacko fundies and Limbaugh worshippers. That's something they can't do to win an election so everyone else suffers from the identity crisis the Repubs are now dealing with.

The Repubs need to broaden their base to win elections yet they must pander to their core faction of fundies and whacko purists. The resut of which crazily manifests itself in the likes of an apparently wishy washy moderate like Romney having to marry a far right winger as Ryan is.

What really matters though is that the ideology of each party hasn't changed. The Repubs obviously represent the rich and the Dems represent those that are victimized by our "capitalist royalty".

 

[tweaker2]

Only democrats think it's moved too far right. Only republicans think it hasn't.

I'm a registered independent just so I can say I'm cooler than everyone else, and I don't think it's moved farther to the right at all.

So I guess that makes you an IINO huh?