The Republican base has been reduced to the fearful.

[JBoy]

Not long ago, the most identifiable part of the GOP base was those of faith. Karl Rove and others figured out a way to energize the religious right, primarily on social issues, and they became a powerful weapon within the GOP's arsenal. Eventually, the religious right became disenchanted by the GOP's inability to actually deliver on many of the implied promised.

After 9/11, the GOP used fear of an impending attack, fear of foreigners, fear of the unknown as a lever to expand their executive power and play fast and loose with the Constitution. It didn't take long for them to discover using fear attracted a new base of support. The fearful.

Even though now out of power, they have continued a broad strategy of stoking fear across several fronts, reviving old demons such as "socialism", and largely dormant racial attitudes. The backdrop of a near-depression and a black president provided the perfect canvas on which to paint their terrifying scenarios. The GOP has gone from herding their sheep to stampeding them.

The GOP: |No longer just the party of fear; now the party of the fearful.

[Bonhomme Richard]

1. Fear is all the republicans ever had. Ever! n/t

[Jackpine Radical]

2. The fearful and the angry, I'd say.

Fear and anger are related emotions, of course, but anger is in some ways more "stable" than fear. People get addicted to their own anger neurochemistry, and use it as an anodyne for their fear.

[JBoy]

4. True. The GOP is providing them an outlet for their anger too.

[global1]

3. The Feared And Fearful Have Changed Places Since Jan '09.......

I know I feared BushCo and all they stood for. I was worried for this country.

My fear and the fear of many like-minded people subsided as I stood in Grant Park in Nov '08 and heard that Barack Obama would soon be in charge.

Unfortunately - as our fear subsided and we became less fearful - the opposite was happening on the other side.

Those that felt comfort under BushCo immediately became fearful at the thought of either a Dem or a black man in the White House.

Fear has flipped in this country - and this is most confounding for me - as I can see very clearly how things have changed and have gotten better - and don't understand the fear in the minds of those that don't.

Talk about a 'bizzaro' world.

[Echo In Light]

5. The most effective propaganda efforts specifically appeal to one's emotions

[JBoy]

6. LOL. Did you just unrec my thread, fearful troll?

[juno jones]

7. K&R!

And I recced it back.

Nasty, scared troll.