I wouldn’t classify this as a widespread occurence, it may just be a coincidence, but I’ve noticed it recently.
Bill O’Reilly claims he is an Independent, despite having registered to vote as a Republican, and hosting a show on a right leaning news network. His views are consistent with those of Republicans.
Mallard Fillmore is the right’s answer to Doonesbury. Yet I have seen the duck say he is an Independent, though he is clearly closer to the right.
I’ve seen a couple of Bernard Goldberg on a couple of interviews pushing his new book whining about the “liberal bias” in the media. On The Daily Show he referred to himself as being an “old school liberal”. I have not read his book, but in the interview on TDS and the bitch fest he and O’Reilly had when he was on THE FACTOR lead me to believe that he is closer to being a Republican than he is to having ever been a liberal (correct me if I’m wrong).
OK, only three examples, but it’s surprising to me. In a time when a guy like Rush Limbaugh has turned the word “liberal” into an insult, it seemed to me that “conservative” was worn like a badge of honor. So why are these three, who are, at the very least, right to the right of center so hesitant to be identified as Republicans?
I have to agree with this, Limbaugh and O’Reilly are nothing but republican shills. O’Reilly is about as “impartial” as the next middle aged conservative christian white male. I’ve never seen them criticize the bloated pork barrel spending conservatives engage in. I’ve also never seen them remark on the improprieties of the Bush administration. However I have seen and heard plenty of spin in the “no spin” zone.
Being a Republican implies that you’re loyal to a political party. Being a conservative implies that you’re loyal to a political philosophy. Republican and conservative philosophy don’t always align.
. . . Or it could be a vast right wing conspiracy.
Regardless of where Bill O’Reilly works, he does espouse an awful lot of ideas that the Republicans don’t like. For example, O’Reilly is against the death penalty, supports campaign finance reform, supports the legalization of marijuana, opposes further regulation of pornography, and supports tougher fuel efficiency standards to combat global warming.
You know one thing about Bernard Goldberg – he thinks there’s a liberal media bias – and from that, you’re able to tell how he feels about supply-side economics and affirmative action and gay rights and the war on terrorism?
And for pete’s sake, Mallard Fillmore is a cartoon duck! It can’t be a Republican because it’s not real! And it probably said it was Independent because that’s what the writer made it say!
However, I am very impressed with the ability of you folks to diagnose the party affiliation of people that you’ve never met, and have likely only heard speak in passing, better than the people you’re diagnosing. Why not just take their word for it?
Could it be possible that the reason you’ve never seen them do this, is that you don’t particularly follow what they actually say?
Was today one of the days that you did not hear them do this?
Did you not hear Rush Limbaugh do this today when you were not listening to the show?
Because, had you been listening today, you would have heard Rush Limbaugh criticizing Republican spending.
If you are going to submit as evidence the fact that you have never witnessed something as suggestive of it’s absence, then logic requires that you actually had to have actually been in a position to witness should it have actually occured.
Which would mean you would have had to listen to Rush, or read George Will.
According to your logic, the fact that I have never seen you would be suggestive of your nonexistance.
I was kind of hoping that there was going to be an actual question or discussion here. Please excuse me. I was not aware this was just another pretense for the ignorant bashing of Republicans/Conservatives.
I dunno. What does this have to do with anything? Quagmire posted that he had never seen Rush nor Will criticize Republican spending and therefore he agreed with your thesis that Conservatives who claimed independant status were partisan liars.
I pointed out that as a matter of fact, Rush did indeed criticize Republican spending today, so La-de-da for that brilliant thesis.
Then put down the hammer and nails, and stop trying to tack a bad joke over my head, Revulus. Saying that they are all partisan liars is pretty damn shitty, unconstructive, an innacurate.
Unless my thesaurus is outdated, “partisan” is not a synonym of “republican shills,” "as ‘impartial’ as the next middle aged conservative christian white male,’ “bloated pork barrel spending conservatives engage in,” and “improprieties of the Bush administration.” So while those don’t technically bash conservative/Republican ideology, they do bash conservatives/Republicans generally.
Mischaracterizing others’ posts is not a good debating tactic.
Interestingly enough, I think it’s the other way around. Democrats don’t like to identify themselves as “liberal,” as that is a word which has been caricaturized and villified some success by folks like Rush. Dems these days who don’t call themselves 'moderates" seem to prefer the euphemism “progressive.”
Bill O’Reilly differs with conventional conservatives on a host of hot-button issues. Among other things:
He’s against the death penalty
He supports adoptions by gay parents
He thinks the government should be pushing Detroit to produce more fuel-efficient cars.
He’s said regularly (as have numerous conservative commentators, including Cal Thomas) that Republicans in Congress have spent money at LEAST as wastefully as the Democrats they used to bash for “taxing and spending.”
Does O’Reilly stand with the Right far more often than not? Of course. But he breaks with the Republicans often enough to claim, honestly, that he’s an independent.
Interestingly, the people most inclined to challenge his claim are lockstep liberals who rarely or never differ from the standard left-wing line, and show no sign of thinking for themselves on any major issue. I’ll take those people seriously when they can name ONE hot-button issue on which they don’t take the standard, orthodox lefty line.
Being a Republican implies that you’re loyal to a political party. Being a conservative implies that you’re loyal to a political philosophy. Republican and conservative philosophy don’t always align.
Exactly.
I’m a registered Republican, but I don’t always vote Republican. As much as I hate to vote for a Democrat, I’ll do it under certain circumstances.
What SnoopyFan said. When people ask me where I stand politically, I never say, “I am a Republican,” even though I am, in fact, registered with that party. To me, when someone self-identifies politically as a member of a political party that means they never deviate from that political party’s policies. My grandparents were Democrats and self-identified as such. And, during an election, they trotted down to the polling place with the sample ballot sent to them by the Democratic party and punched their ballots according to the party line. My father-in-law is the same – and, if you ask him his politics he will answer, “I am a Democrat.” As it happens, I’ve never actually known a self-identifying Republican in the vein of my grandparents or in-laws, but I don’t doubt they exist. My WAG would be that most educated and intelligent people (and, with the exception of Mallard, who is, of course, a fictional character, the examples presented in the OP are both educated and intelligent, whether or not you agree with them politically) choose not to toe their party’s line so excessively and so, identify themselves politically some other way.
Jess (a conservative-leaning moderate, since you asked)
I am a Republican. I disagree with a number of things that the party is pushing. I write letters and am patiently waiting for the party to catch with my rightness.
There’s NO political party that accurately represents my views on everything. But, I’ve no urge to try to fix every one of them. Often I vote for whoever I dislike the least. When it comes to PotUSA, I vote against the incumbent consistently.
I’m conservative in a lot of ways, but I am not a republican.
I like to say that I disagree with the democrats about 90% of the time and I disagree with the republicans only about 50% of the time. So, I usually vote republican.
Compared with the majority of the posters on the boards, I am extremely right wing, though. One can use an egg timer to count the seconds in a typical thread before someone comes along to bash me as a “Republican”.
Gee, Debaser, that’s a shame! It’s probably just a misunderstanding, you identify yourself as a Republican, and people just naturally assume you support the cadre of jackals and clowns currently leading our country over a cliff.
Now, if you said something like “I’m a Republican, but I think GeeDubya and crew are too stupid to make thier own oatmeal” you might avoid such.
I’m only a “conservative” in the sense that I disagree with them less than I disagree with the “liberals,” although most of my views are far more progressive than the standard “liberal” views.
I’ve never been a member of the Republican party, and I can’t see myself becoming one anytime soon. If asked, I’ll usually say that I’m a moderate, because the liberal media pushes the notion that conservative = Republican = right-wing nutjob.
On preview I see that elucidator has been kind enough to provide an example of the kind of stupidity I’m talking about.
The other thing is that “conservative” can also refer to just general outlook on life and governemnt, rather than a coherent political philosophy. I am “conservative” in general temperment, which is why I am generally averse to, say, telling people what they can do with their free time. I’m registered libertarian, but I reject the extremes of that party and philosphy as well.
Come to think of it, I’m an all-round swing voter. Someone pander to me.
Luci every time you talk that way, another lurker decides to vote Republican. Rove’s mailing you checks, isn’t he?
You give me too much credit! I am abashed at such abject praise, it touches upon the meager shred of modesty I still retain. No doubt the real credit belongs to you and yours, who have outlined so convincingly the triumphs and acheivements of the Bushiviks, those bold endeavors that have made us the focus of universal approval and beloved of the nations.