Jeff Tiedrich on Republicans

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Link to tweet

To which I say, "Likewise".

[grumpyduck]

1. Yeah, that pretty much covers it.

[BlueBloodedAmerican]

2. Summed up perfectly yet again. How does he always write exactly what I am thinking?

[SheltieLover]

4. Ikr?

[RANDYWILDMAN]

3. This man types my feelings, every damn day

how does he know what I am thinking.

[MiHale]

5. I'm so old that I remember that...

Some really great friends were republicans that were able to debate our differences and hug each other when done, remaining friends.

[LittleGirl]

10. We're the enemies now. That's why. nt

[IronLionZion]

6. One would think Dems would get more mainstream support

since GOP has gone so far off the deep end of lunacy

[YoshidaYui]

7. l am guessing back when Eisenhower was PRESIDENT

That REPUBLICAN PARTY who just defeated Hitler would have been appalled

[Wednesdays]

34. Most of the GOP was pro-choice until ca. 1980, including George HW Bush

Then Reagan came along and everything went downhill from there.

[YoshidaYui]

35. I remember reading that when BARRY GOLDWATER

Ran for President a lot of people were thinking, he would get us into a world war.... with nukes and all... /// that was way before Ronald Reagan

[Haggard Celine]

40. Goldwater was actually pretty moderate for a Republican.

He was pro-gay rights and he didn't like the evangelicals at all. The Johnson campaign exaggerated some aspects of Goldwater's philosophy in the 1964 campaign, and it was effective. I'm not saying Goldwater would have been a better President than Johnson, but he was nothing like Trump or Cruz or any of these assholes in the news today.

[YoshidaYui]

42. The Republican party , anti democracy, pro dictatiorship,

FUCK THEM, we will have to fight to keep this DEMOCRACY , the fuckers are trying to take over...and if we are not putting up a fight than no one will get to vote again , and this dystopian scene will see either GOD EMPOROR TRUMP or a RON DESANTIS WHO WILL MAKE sure only rich white people get a pass, the rest of uss will be fodder.

[Haggard Celine]

43. They're horrible, no doubt.

Pretty much the only decent ones have been dead a long time. They've gone from a party of people who were mostly fiscal conservatives to an anti-American Nazi party.

[The Jungle 1]

8. Fascist being the key word

[Hotler]

38. Yes. ... nt

[SunSeeker]

9. K & R & Retweeted!

[634-5789]

11. AMEN!

[Higherarky]

12. Gee, wouldn't it be nice ...

if Jeff would tell us how he really feels?

[Augiedog]

13. Tell us how you really feel 😂

[agingdem]

14. I'm so old I remember Joseph McCarthy and Ross Barnett

and George Wallace and Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew and Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond and Trent Lott and Pat Buchanan and Saxby Chambliss and Jeff Sessions and Mitch McConnell and Tom Cotton and Josh Hawley and Lindsey Graham and Donald Trump

[Hortensis]

25. Yes. From Stuart Stevens, top-drawer Republican operative and author of

"It Was All a Lie" on how he became a Republican:

"I was drawn to a party that espoused a core set of values: character counts, personal responsibility, strong on Russia, the national debt actually mattered, immigration made America great, a big-tend party invited all. Legislation would come and go, compromises would be necessary, but these principles were assumed to be shared and defined what it meant to be a Republican for the past 50 years.

What a fool I was. All of these immutable truths turned out to be mere marketing slogans. None of it meant anything. I was the guy working for Bernie Madoff who actually thought we were really smart and just crushing the market. What I missed was one simple reality: It was all a lie."

He was forced to abandon his strained but deeply held illusions when the last vestiges of decades of pretense were finally abandoned by Republican voters and elected officials alike, leaving white supremacy as America's conservative whites-only party's common, most defining principle.

Now, knowing what he does, he'd only have to take a glance down your list of strong, conservative leaders over the past 60 years to know they'd always revealed the truth. Some were members of the outlier, deeply conservative Southern Democrat faction in their time, but that was just yesterday's label for today's quintessential Southern White Evangelical Republicans.

“How do you abandon deeply held beliefs about character, personal responsibility, foreign policy, and the national debt in a matter of months? You don’t. The obvious answer is those beliefs weren’t deeply held. In the end, the Republican Party rallied behind Donald Trump because if that was the deal needed to regain power, what was the problem? Because it had always been about power.”

[DallasNE]

15. Where Does Tiedrich.Find Republicans That Are That Gracious? N/T

[emulatorloo]

18. In the past n/t

[Evolve Dammit]

16. Left out supporters of violence, armed insurrection and the killing of law enforcement.

That's what we saw on 1/6. And there are lots of them.

[wildman76]

17. I always remember Republicans was straight up assholes starting with Reagan

[RussellCattle]

41. Yes indeed, old Ronnie really was a major sea change in Repub politics.

[Paladin]

19. As usual, Tiedrich speaks for me. (nt)

[LoisB]

20. I'm that old too.

[fantase56]

21. "festering fucktangle"......

the man has a way with words

[ancianita]

22. Down with this long past November 8.

[niyad]

23. eisenhower was, in my view, the last somewhat reasonable one.

[dchill]

24. Don't forget "racist." 'Cause that's the gas in their tank.

[FakeNoose]

26. He forgot "gun-crazy"

... or maybe "assault-rifle-loving."

One of those needs to be added.

[Brainfodder]

27. I was not old enough to vote against Reagan.

I blame him for starting all of this shit even if not intentional on his part, his son is way cool though!

[Caliman73]

29. It was completely intentional on Reagan's part.

Or at least on the part of the people who influenced Reagan.

Reagan began, in earnest, the dismantling of the New Deal. He nominated people to Cabinet positions who were vehemently opposed to and intended to diminish the offices they heald. His education secretary was opposed to public schools, his treasury secretaries were from the Austrian and Chicago schools of economics. He took the top marginal tax rates from the 70% rates to the 30% ranges and shifted the burden of paying for social goods from the rich to the middle and working class. He cut revenue, then started taxing Social Security income to make up the gap he created.

Yes Ron Reagan Jr. is cool.

[Caliman73]

28. Republicans and Conservatism.

I remember when Republicans were not the outwardly dangerous group that they are today as well.

Thing is, that changed some time ago. This is why we need to understand the origins and progression of Conservatism within the political spectrum. There was a time when almost all political entities in the US were Liberal, meaning that they attempted to follow the ideals of the Enlightenment. The Conservatives at the time were the Royalists who wanted to remain or return to being under the Crown of England. Once we gained independence and established an American identity, Conservatives were mainly the people who wanted to remain an agrarian and slave holding society.

We tend to associate (or in the case of modern Republicans, lie about) the political parties and their ideologies. Modern Democrats associate with FDR, Kennedy, and President Obama. The New Deal and the Great Society where government helps to uplift the poor and working classes. Republicans will claim Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and Reagan. They talk about the glory days of America in the post war years before "urban blight" set in.

The reality is that America has always been in a struggle between Progress and Conservatism. Progressive/Liberal ideals rest on the assumption that people are inherently equal, and what separates them is opportunity. Along those lines, the government is the instrument that helps to provide the opportunity when necessary. Conservatives think that people naturally land where they should be through their own efforts and that some people are just better than others. They see any government interference in the "natural order" as offensive and against personal liberty.

Neither world view is natural. They are both man made and socially constructed. However, the idea of change and progress has always been the human experience, otherwise we would still be roaming around as hunter gatherers. The question is whether we want our society to be top down, hierarchical and pyramid shaped where the benefits go only to the top, or whether we want a more equal and equitable distribution of the resources and benefits of society.

Conservatism tends toward the pyramid, and left to its logical progression, "the best" will be permanently entrenched at the top, which means that the logical end of Conservatism is a rigid authoritarian top down ruling structure. They will always, if unchecked, end up with a king or dictator, or oligarchic structure with a permanent underclass, which is where the Republican Party of the last 50 years has been taking us, even though there were "less extreme" people within that structure.

[Cha]

30. Then came Brainwashing Hate Radio &

Faux news to make sure someday they would rise and destroy America.. fucking rupert murdoch. among them.

They know Brainwashing Lies Work on Stupid people.

Save Our Democracy💙 in 2022 & 2024!

[Hermit-The-Prog]

31. Koch, Newt, Limbaugh and Fascist Oligarch eXtremists are a toxic tonic. God told 'em to drink it.

[spanone]

32. "festering fucktangle"

[Faux pas]

33. Kickin'

[Tetrachloride]

36. Quote: ..... Republicans were basically reasonable people with differing v

I'm so old, I remember when mainstream Republicans were basically reasonable people with differing views on economics, and not a festering fucktangle of democracy-hating book-banning forced-birth fascist grievance-baby shitweasels

end quote

copy and pasted

[Ferrets are Cool]

37. Me too

[RainCaster]

39. What he said

This is not my father's GOP. This is Putin's GOP.