Republican

by

The best voter suppression

Republicans are doing everything they can to suppress the vote, because every study shows that if everyone voted, Republicans would pretty much lose. Vote (Not every district, of course, but they would certainly lose their House majority, as well as many statehouses.)  

But there is one idea that they haven’t grasped yet which would accomplish the same goal.

What they need are for people to become apathetic about politics — especially young people, who are overwhelmingly less religious, more liberal, and less prejudiced than their elders.  What the Republicans need is a way to keep these people in a state where all they want to do is watch TV and eat doritos.

You see where I’m going with this, right?  Come on, Republicans!  Legalize marijuana and then those kids won’t even be motivated to get out and vote!  Bam!  Instant suppression without breaking any laws!

(OK, Republicans, stop reading now.  The rest is for my Democratic friends.

Shh!  Don’t let on.  Most republicans are so clueless about both marijuana and what young people want and think that they just might fall for this!)

by

Poetic justice for Republicans

A few days ago, I wrote about how the GOP is trying to get rid of the Tea Party crazies that are driving the party into the ground. They’ve lost a bunch of races they should have won because the party has nominated people so far out of the mainstream that even Republican voters couldn’t stand them.  01-dead-gop-elephant

But it’s their own fault, and they should have seen it coming.

Support for the GOP is at an all time low, partially because they are associated with these people who refuse to compromise, spout nonsense as if it were facts, and whose sole purpose is to get people to hate our own government as much as they do. Admittedly, support for both parties and the President is at an all-time low, but it’s not surprising that support for government is at its lowest when a large segment of one of the parties has “hate the government” as its goal. These people should realize that hatred for the government includes them.

The Republicans only have themselves to blame for their condition, because of gerrymandering.

Over the past fifteen years or so, the GOP has managed to redraw the state lines in the most ridiculous way to create as many safe districts as possible for them. By diluting Democratic votes, they were able to guarantee majorities in states where they did not hold the majority. Here in Pennsylvania, for instance, more people voted for Democrats in the last election yet more Republicans were elected because of the strange way the districts were drawn.

So if you are a Republican politician in a district that is safely Republican, you shouldn’t have to worry, right?  Wrong.

The problem is with primaries.  Hardly anyone votes in primaries, where the parties choose their candidates.  You’re lucky if you get a 20% turnout in a primary election.  That’s 20% of registered voters, not 20% of the eligible voters.

And who votes in primaries?  Just those people who really really care about politics.  And if you really really care about politics, chances are you are much more conservative or much more liberal than the average voter.

So primaries give us the more extreme members of each party.  Then if you gerrymander to remove even the moderates of your own party, you end up with a voting electorate that is at the very edge of political thought — the extremes of the extremes.

These extremes on the right are represented primarily by those who identify themselves these days as “Tea Party” members.  And they think that anyone who does things like compromise in order to accomplish anything are traitors and not Real Americans — even very conservative members of their own party.

So they run “Real Americans” against the incumbents.  Incumbents get scared and refuse to challenge them and sometimes take their extremist views in order to stay elected.  And ultimately, the extremists win the primary either by electing their own favorite or by forcing the incumbent to come to their side.

However, once the fall election comes around, their numbers don’t increase. Moderate voters (that is, the majority of Americans) turn away from these extremists and elect Democrats instead.

In some districts these extremists still get elected in the fall election, and then they go to Washington and shut the government down, which hurts the reputation of the rest of the Republican party.   It drives their poll numbers down and ultimately hurts all of them.

And it’s all their own fault for gerrymandering districts in the first place.  Unfortunately, we are all suffering because of it.

by

Good news for Republicans … and Democrats

The always entertaining Matt Taibbi reports that the GOP establishment is taking action to prevent the party from being completely taken over by idiots.

“No fools on our ticket” is their mantra, and I mean that literally. Elephants-Fighting They are literally saying that they’re “tired of being the Stupid Party.”

This is good news for Republicans who are tired of losing elections in red districts when they nominate people so crazy that even their own supporters vote for the other guy (or stay home).

I may disagree with most Republicans, but the majority of them aren’t stupid idiots.  I have many friends who used to consider themselves Republicans who have seen the party taken over by religious fanatics, conspiracy theorists, evolution deniers, and radicals who refuse to compromise or do the job they were elected to do.   They just can’t support the Sarah Palins, Ted Cruzes, and other  crazies that are identified with the GOP these days.  And who can blame them?

So this change is good news for the party.  Maybe they can rid themselves of these people who cheer when the government is shut down, boo heroic soldiers who are gay, and clap when one of the leaders say it’s better for people to die than to give them health care.

This is also good news for Democrats in two ways:

1.  It will split the GOP and cause an internal war.  This will make it easier for Democrats to get elected in the short term.

2.  If it is successful, we may end up with a GOP of reasonable and intelligent politicians who understand that adults get things accomplished through compromise.

And therefore, in the long run, we all win.

by

Oh, NOW the Republicans like Mandela

I’m old, but not so old that I don’t remember the fight against apartheid. I recall Ronald Reagan and the Republicans refusing to condemn the racist policies of South Africa, and how the US officially considered Mandela “a terrorist” until Clinton got into office. ricksantorum And I see where Dick Cheney still stands by that designation. Bill O’Reilly yesterday called Mandela “a Communist.”

But maybe I am being too harsh. After all, many of today’s Republicans weren’t in office back then, and we don’t know how they would have voted.

Still, I can’t help but be amused by Rick Santorum (yeah, I know, that’s a constant), who today likened the fight against Obamacare to the fight against apartheid.

Clearly! Logically! Why, the two are so identical, it’s easy to confuse them.

But even Rick can’t forgive Mandela for taking the radical view that black people and white people should live together in harmony. “Nelson Mandela stood up against a great injustice and was willing to pay a huge price for that, and that’s the reason he’s mourned today,” Santorum said. “But … what he was advocating for wasn’t necessarily the right answer.”

I suggest that Rick prove the comparison by spending 27 years in prison.

by

Justifications for the Filibuster Fight

Republicans are angry that the rules have been changed to allow for a simple majority to decide judicial nominations in the Senate (where that had been the norm for more than 200 years).  Democrats responded:

“Any President’s judicial nominees should receive careful consideration. But after that debate, they deserve a simple up-or-down vote”.

“Let’s get back to the way the Senate operated for over 200 years, up or down votes on the president’s nominee, no matter who the president is, no matter who’s in control of the Senate”.

“[W]e can’t find anywhere in the Constitution that says a supermajority is needed for confirmation”.

“I believe [filibustering judicial nominees] is in violation of the Constitution”.

“I will vote to support a vote, up or down, on every nominee. Understanding that, were I in the minority party and the issues reversed, I would take exactly the same position because this document, our Constitution, does not equivocate”.

“Why not allow the President to do his job of selecting judicial nominees and let us do our job in confirming or denying them? Principles of fairness call for it and the Constitution requires it”.

Oh!  Wait!  My bad.  Those are all quotes from Republicans arguing against using filibusters at all to stop judicial nominee votes, made at a time when Bush was President and before there was that 60 vote rule.

Clearly, things are much different today. Because, um … well, there must be some difference. Or else all these Republicans would be flaming hypocrites now, wouldn’t they?

 

by

Unsolicited Advice for Republicans

by Guest Blogger Jesse Hendrix

It goes against my nature to try to help Republicans, but I’m starting to feel sorry for them. They were so proud of the shutdown, and the whole thing just blew up in their faces. They’re kind of like children who just wanted to make breakfast for mom and are then left wondering why everyone is shouting about the waffle in the blue-ray player and the juice in the toaster.

While many liberals are enjoying the GOP’s self-destruction the simple fact of the matter is that our democracy requires at least two sane parties to run. In the interest of avoiding future disasters, I’m offering five simple rules to save the Republicans from themselves.

Rule 1. Whatever it is, it’s not the end of the world.

When you preach Armageddon and it doesn’t happen people tend to stop listening. Take Obamacare. Your side has been saying it’s going to wipe out the economy and kill everyone’s grandma. As you can see, that’s not happening. At all. If instead you said, “Obamacare has some good ideas and some flaws, here are our ideas on fixing the flaws,” you would have been participants in a real debate. You would get to say “I told you so” on the failures and take partial credit for the successes. Instead, you’re the boy who cried wolf.

Rule 2. Google is your friend.

While preparing any kind of speech or statement, do a quick search to make sure that what you’re saying is (A) Grounded in reality; (B) Won’t offend an entire ethnic/religious group; and (C) Doesn’t contradict something you said yesterday. If you are going to contradict yourself, be sure to mention the new information that caused you to change your mind.

Rule 3. Ignore the voices in other people’s heads.

In other words, stop listening to the crazy wing of the party. They’re not helping. Any plan based on the assumption that we are in the End Times is a bad plan. Any plan supported by someone waving a confederate flag or a picture of Obama with a Hitler ‘stash is a really, really bad plan. Treat these people the way Democrats treat people who think Bush is a reptilian who ordered the 9/11 attacks. Thank them for their support, and back away slowly.

Rule 4. Solutions are not the problem.

Believe it or not, Republicans used to have the government do things, and some of those things turned out pretty good. Interstate highways come to mind. But today’s so-called conservatives have decided that small government means inactive government.

Let’s use climate change as an example. Right now Democrats say, “Fight Climate Change through EPA regulations” and Republicans say “Climate change doesn’t exist.” Right now droughts and extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and 95% of climate scientists say we really need to stop emitting so much CO2. This is not going to end well for the deniers. Instead of denying the problem, give us your own solution. How about tax breaks for companies that reduce emissions? You love tax breaks for companies! Or how about Cap and Trade, that’s a free market idea right there. Suddenly you’re part of the solution instead of part of the problem.

Rule 5. Think outside the bubble.

Let’s do a quick experiment. Raise your hand if you went into Election Day 2012 thinking that Mitt Romney was going to win. Keep it up if you thought the shutdown had a chance of derailing Obamacare. Now lower your hand if you regularly get news from a source other than Fox, Talk Radio, or similarly aligned web sites. I’ll bet that anyone who raised their hand in the first place still has it up. That’s the right-wing information bubble in action. When you only listen to people who agree with you you’ll lose sight of what’s really going on.

Now, this isn’t just a right-wing problem. Liberals have their own bubble to deal with. The difference is that the left-wing bubble contains fewer actual lies than the right wing one. This is because the conservative bubble tends to respond to bad news (for their side) with denial, while the liberal bubble responds to bad news (for their side) with panic. Neither response is exactly constructive, but at least the left knows what’s going on.

The solution here is simple. Every once in a while listen to people who disagree with you. Remember that you can question someone’s conclusions without denying their facts, and that people who have different opinions are not the enemy. You can put your hands down now.

There you have it. Five rules to get the Republicans back on track. Will they listen? Probably not, but as a liberal I have a soft spot for hopeless cases.

Jesse Hendrix writes political humor for www.stoptellingliesaboutliberals.com. If you enjoyed this piece why not put a dollar in his tip jar?

by

GOP: No pretenses about taking America hostage

The Republican Party has today, on the 11th day of the Shutdown, admitted to what we always knew: This is a hostage situation.

Previously, the hostage was Obamacare: “Defund this or we won’t take care of our financial obligations.”

That didn’t work, so now there is a new hostage. “OK, then how about Medicare? Will you change that?”

At least they are admitting at this point that they are holding a gun to America’s head until they can get what they couldn’t accomplish through democratic means.

Seriously, what is the message they are sending? If you don’t win elections and don’t have enough votes to get what you want, then threaten to destroy everyone until you get your way? This is democracy? This is what our forefathers planned?

At least with this new action, the Republicans are pretty much admitting this, because there really is no other explanation that you can give with a straight face.

by

GOP hits lowest favorability rating ever

Gallup says this is lowest either party has ever rated in twenty years, since they started asking this question.

Look at the numbers. And look at that drop, which matches perfectly the shutdown (or as the Daily Show calls it, “Shut Storm”). Americans are smart enough to know who to blame for this.

2013-10-09-GallupGOPFavorability

As my last two posts have commented, this is suicide for the Republican party. The fact that they cannot see that it is shows how deluded they are and how out of touch with the American people.

by

GOP betting the House

The GOP only won the House of Representatives in 2012 because of gerrymandering — more people voted for Democrats overall but because of the way districts are drawn, the majority didn’t win.

Thanks to the Shutdown, which most Americans correctly attribute to Republicans, there are enough Republicans in jeopardy of losing their seats that we could see Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2016.

Of course, this poll is of the “If the election were held today, who would you vote for” variety, placing the incumbent against a nameless opponent. These are tremendously unreliable because (a) anything can happen within a year; and (b) people compare their current representative with an ideal opponent of the other party, and that’s usually not what happens.

Still, this poll is important because it emphasizes what many of us have been saying: This shutdown is hurting Republicans. They are so much in a bubble that they do not see this, but the numbers don’t lie.

by

Negotiation transcript

Republicans: We want to negotiate concerning the upcoming budget.

Obama: OK.

Republicans: We need you to completely shut down the one program that was your biggest accomplishment, that was passed by both Houses of Congress and upheld by the Supreme Court, and which we have spent the last three years trying to destroy but have been unable to.

Obama: Uh, no, that’s not going to happen.

Republicans: Obama is refusing to negotiate! It’s all his fault the government has shut down!