Doesn’t matter too much what I personally believe. My only impact is my own vote. I’ll be pulling that blue lever (metaphorically, we use optical scan ballots).
Well, actually and apparently, that all depends on the state/county/district.
Cenk Uygar of The Young Turksdid an analysis of Brat’s platform and came to the conclusion that he’s a straight-up economic populist, and furthermore, that his economic populism was what drove him to victory, NOT opposition to immigration reform, as Republicans want to believe. Uygar pointed to polls that showed that 70 percent of Republicans in Cantor’s district FAVORED immigration reform, with just 27 percent opposed.
Doesn’t THIS make a lot more sense? It certainly explains why Cantor was willing to publicly support immigration reform … he’d seen the polls too and new it was a safe move for him. What he didn’t realize that being perceived as a total Wall Street sellout would be a problem for him.
I hope Uygar is right. Perhaps the natural allies of progressives is the Teabaggers, not classic liberals who are comfy with Wall Street.
Seriously, dude?
It’s hilarious when conservatives act all shocked that they are called out on their hate. You are the party of racism and misogyny and homophobia, the party of fear and ignorance. If it bothers you that much try to do something about it rather than getting pissy at being called on it.
Sorry, I forgot. They hate gays, too. And Muslims.
Nah, they like being what they are; they just think it’s rude when people point it out as if it were a bad thing.
So they’re not going to change; they’re just going to continue to work on their PR and work the refs, who are so deep into Bothsidesdoitism as a MSM article of faith that that doesn’t even take any work anymore.
So does a Hispanic Republican cause you to shut down, muttering “Does not compute,” until someone reboots your system?
If so: heya! Here I am.
One! Count 'em, one! And a black one! That’s two of the supposed props for the Dems, kicked out from under! Now, if the gay felon will just come forward…
Um, yeah, about that … the fact that they let you give them money and vote for them does not imply that they don’t still hate you.
OMG! No!
BobLibDem’s point is buttressed by the California experience. Moderate Republicans or heck socially conservative Republicans have a decent shot at the Hispanic vote. But sending out a message of suspicion, hostility and ignorance – and face it that appeals to part of their white aged base – really damages the Republican brand among Hispanics. Pete Wilson was able to coast to victory on the basis of hostility to illegal aliens. But he swung Hispanics to the Democratic camp for a generation.
While moderate immigration reform polled well in Brat’s district, recall that bulk of Republican voters didn’t participate in the primary. Hostility to immigration reform may have played a bigger role than the revisionists claim. And Brat will hoover up the corporate contributions as much as any other typical freshman Republican. Probably more so, given his anti-guv noises.
There are always a few outliers. Look at Allen West. One can’t explain the occasional misfit in any group.
Feeling kinda left out here, guys. Who’s the Dirty Fucking Hippy who sides with the Republicans? Must be one somewhere, they got the black guy, got the Hispanic guy.
Not me, fer damnsure! I stand ready to* firmly *reject any such efforts at bribery or subversion! I will, if necessary, set up a PayPal account so that I can more effectively reject such attempts! My principles cannot be bought! Rented, maybe. But not bought!
Wow! Except for the fact that I am a Republican and support SSM, have gone to pride parades with my wife’s friends, have dated Muslim women and have respect Islam, especially that Allah is described as “the merciful god of mercy”.
Youy response? Or are you going to ignore it like all the other Dems that paint Republicans with a broad brush assuming we’re all TeaBaggers?
I wondered about that as well. If 70% of the district as a whole favor reform but only 15% bothered to vote in the primary while 20% of the other third showed up…
(Numbers courtesy of Thin Air Statistics)
There are always a few opportunists, too. J.C. Watts ran for Congress as a Republican, after being told by them what a bright future he had in the party. Once he realized he was being put in front of the cameras as a token, not with actual powers, he quit in disgust. After West, there are now zero blacks (and, without Cantor, zero Jews too) in the GOP’s congressional delegation.
First the Republicans drummed out their liberals. Then their moderates. Now the GOP is divided about whether the US government should pay its bills.
I agree that Washington Republicans are more extreme than the typical Republican voter. But the typical Republican voter doesn’t pose any electoral threat. It’s the primary voter that matters in safe districts, and they are disproportionately Tea Party fanatics. Republican primary voters outside of the Tea Party exist, and there are a lot of them. But they are not organized and practically speaking aren’t especially offended by nuttery.
It’s for these sorts of reasons that the professional class has been trending Democratic.
I’m conservative. I only hate bigots.
My response is that the fact that you vote republican does a lot more harm to each of those causes than any marching or muslin dating you might do. You don’t get to handwave away your support for the party of hate and ignorance just because you personally might feel different.
Obviously some Hispanics will vote Republican, ignoring the outright hostility that the GOP has for them.
It’s like a particular Catholic thinking abortion rights are okay, it proves nothing about the organization.
Surely you must understand that?