Just what is up with the Republican party in the US?

[guywithashovel]

I am so fed up with the Republican Party. It simply has no redeeming values.

It's even worse to see some of the people who support the party: middle class, lower economic class, ethnic minorities, women, and a few others. This party works overtime at implementing policies that shoot all of these groups in the foot, yet many members of these groups keep supporting it.

[bara]

I blame lack of education for the republican party.

A country thrives when the people thrive.

[lordlundar]

Even the Obama camp is negative in campaigning, though the guy himself comes across as being far more constructive.

Obama tried to play nice with the Republicans at first, aiming to dissolve the deep divide between the two parties so they could work together to get shit done, despite the fact that he had a supermajority and didn't have to.

The republican response to this was essentially "hell no! we won't go!" So stuff got stonewalled and the republicans were making it out to be Obama's fault entirely when the only thing he did that caused the stonewall was to try and work with both parties. So during the midterms the dems lot a lot of seats and gave majority in congress to the republicans, who have continued stonewalling and blaming Obama for it.

I think this time around Obama realized that they're too far gone to be reasoned with and said "fuck em".

[Greenday]

I think this time around Obama realized that they're too far gone to be reasoned with and said "fuck em".

And...do what? Congress runs this country, not the president.

[lordlundar]

I'm talking in reference to the election strategy. Obama's Election plan in 2008 was essentially "let's stop the partisan BS and work together to get shit done". This time around it's "we tried to work with them, and they chose not to. So now we're going to take the house and get shit done without them."

[Silverharp]

Baloney. Herman Cain ring any bells? Colin Powell? Both have been discussed and the general consensus is either would have made a fine president.

We oppose his policy, not his skin.

Then how do you explain the constant flow of "He's a Kenyan Muslim! quick, Impeach him!"

[crashhelmet]

I blame lack of education for the republican party.

A country thrives when the people thrive.

Education, yet another thing the Republican party is attacking.

[linguist]

Then how do you explain the constant flow of "He's a Kenyan Muslim! quick, Impeach him!"

exactly. i can't recall (and if you can find an instance, i'm happy to admit i'm wrong) a single instance in the history of the u.s. in which a white presidential candidate has had his citizenship questioned.

[Crazedclerkthe2nd]

Baloney. Herman Cain ring any bells? Colin Powell? Both have been discussed and the general consensus is either would have made a fine president.

We oppose his policy, not his skin.

The difference is neither of these men became President and even if Herman Cain did, he still wouldn't be the FIRST Black President.

When Obama got elected a whole bunch of people collectively crapped their pants upon realizing: "Oh shit, the President of the United States is no longer guaranteed to be an old white guy with a normal sounding name."

Obama's election shattered the norm and also led to the hypothesis that with the election of Obama that blacks and minorities were on their way to taking over the country and eventually suppressing the white man.

I can guarantee you if Obama was the same in every respect EXCEPT he was white skinned and named "Brian Miller" he wouldn't get one TENTH of the flack he gets now, especially from the right wing.

Education, yet another thing the Republican party is attacking.

Interestingly, a survey was recently released suggesting viewers who watch ONLY Fox News actually do worse on general political questions than people who watch NO NEWS AT ALL.

http://news.yahoo.com/survey-no-news...161316184.html

[HYHYBT]

Don't the Republicans hate Powell these days?

A significant chunk of the party will after what he's said the last couple of days, if they didn't already.

Or, at least, they would if he were running for president. Since he's not anything official anymore, most probably don't care.

[draco664]

While it's not restricted to one side of politics, candidates on the same 'side' will attack each other, often with far greater ferocity, when they are campaigning for the same spot.

Consider this blog post on the recent Kentucky primary.

Basically, an outside runner got a big donation and managed to get elected. The other GOP candidates are... pissy.

It happened in Australia recently too. In 2007, the conservative gov was voted out. The Labor party was led by a guy called Rudd, who even though he managed to boot out a government that had been in power for a decade, still managed to piss away any support he had in his own party and was usurped by his deputy.

Recently, he tried getting his old job back - and didn't that bring out the vitriol. The level of hatred displayed was incredible, and is one of the reasons that support for the current government is so low.

[daleduke17]

Ok, so, the Democratic party is fucked up, the Republican party is fucked up.... why don't people vote for the Third Party candidates? Don't for the lesser of the two evils and vote for someone who might actually do something good.

[Rapscallion]

Hmm. I actually think Obama's pretty good, but from over here he's definitely right-wing, and most certainly not a socialist etc. I don't know enough about the rest of his party to pass any sort of comment on them. Whenever they come up on news over here, it's all about Obama.

I find it interesting that while the Republicans went after Clinton for his attitudes to free love, nobody's come up with solid moral mud to sling at Obama, so they should be less inclined to attack him on that sort of thing based on their staunch moral principles.

Rapscallion

[lordlundar]

Because the Third Party candidate is usually a case of "from either party but I think they're to tame for me."

[wolfie]

if they've alienated most voter blocs, why do they keep getting elected?

Because they haven't alienated the only voter block that matters - the manufacturers of the computerized, no-paper-record, voting machines. You know, the ones which provide absolutely no way of verifying that the "magic number" they spit out matches the buttons the voter actually pushed. That scene from the Simpsons was a documentary.