Does being a Republican mean suspending one's own commonsense

[KlatooBNikto]

and deal with issues on the basis of facts instead of reciting, robot-like, some catchphrases laid down by the unseen hands of Karl Rove? On an issue as cut and dried as Evolution we now have a Republican position as though Science can be defined by Republicanism.On Social Security, despite the well documented work by people like Paul Krugman and Bill Gross we have Fox News robots claiming the system is in crisis.It is simply amazing that the Rightwing shills do not let facts get in the way of their harangues.


What is disheartening is that a country that is supposedly an advanced industrial society can harbor such mindless adherence to fact-aversion on a mass scale.Why aren't people like Falwell, Dobson and others made a laughing stock instead of being given deferential hearing? Have we gone plain cuckoo?

[ClintonTyree]

1. Yes...............

they give up all individuality when checking the "Republican" box. They MUST walk, talk and act in lockstep under penalty of excomminucation from god's chosen party.
They reject all common sense in the name of Party loyalty.
They are as you say, robots.

[merwin]

2. Yes, looks as if 50% of america is completely nutso. And it's not our 50%.

[MarianJack]

3. falwell and dobson...

...are not being covered by an honest news media. One thing that turned the tide and got many to favor the civil rights movement was the fact that a news media concerned with a modicum of truth made the racists look like the hateful fools they were just by showing what they did.

No such luck in the world of the 1 state margin "mandate".

[July]

4. And one's conscience, one's compassion, one's good manners,

one's good taste, one's kindness, one's honesty, one's tolerance, one's fairness, one's accountability, one's math skills, one's integrity, one's critical faculties, one's humility . . .

. . . one could go on for days.

[AngelAsuka]

5. Nature or Nurture?

I think a lot of them are Republicans 'just because they always have been'. These are the ones whose families recite a tiny mantra to and leave the bulk of it at that. Anecdotal evidence, I used to work with this seemingly normal guy, real polite, who was a Republican because 'Dems only want to give money to poor people and Welfare Queens'. Anything else, he had to answer from Rush or some other talkshow 'host'.

Even then it takes a while to get them to realize whats wrong with their thinking and do something about it because no one wants to think they've been so incredibly wrong or naive the whole time. And think, there are entire towns of these people in the Midwest. :(

As for Falwell, Dobson, and virtually all the 'Family' crowd...I dunno, mass hysteria and delusional psychosis? :)

~~AA~~

[Mend]

6. They promote one's narcissistic sense of

entitlement at the expense of empathy. "It is yours, you deserve it, yadda, yadda, yadda".

[The Traveler]

7. Consequences

In this country, under Republican leadership, we have come to celebrate ignorance and acts of depraved inhumanity. There will, of course, be consequences. America cannot cling to arrogance and ignorance and not fall further behind. And yes, we are falling behind ... socially, ecnomically, and technologically.

On a personal level ... this is really getting embarassing. We have become a nation of aggressive semi-literate bumpkins bent on throwing out our legacy and squandering our prosperity.

[izzie]

8. Yes

what more can one say?

[snippy]

9. Absolutely. To be a republican today you must believe

Bush when he shits on your head and then tells you that he just gave you a new hat.

[ashling]

10. Begs the question

Would someone who has a modicum of common sense even consider voting Rethuglican in the first place?

[baldguy]

11. Doublethink

You have to be a fiscal conservative - yet hate Bill Clinton for balancing the budget - yet LOVE George Bush for creating deficits as far as the eye can see.

You have to be a moral conservative - yet hate people like the Gores and the Edwards' who are loving wholesome families, and especially hate the Clintons who stay together & in love through tears & hardship in spite of the difficulties - yet embrace people like Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich, Henry Hyde, and literally dozens of other Republicans that have, let's say, a very loose understanding of marriage vows.

You have to believe that any and every lie is a vile sin that needs to be exposed, no matter how inane or inconsequential - unless the liar is a Republican, and especially if it's about money.

You have to be pro-life - that means you support the death penalty and the Iraq war, and oppose universal health care, AFDC payments, increasing the minimum wage and any & all types of welfare.

Except those that go exclusively to big corporations.