Honorable Republicans - are you out there?

The BBQ Pit
41

I will say something. I used to hold the republican party in high regard. I voted for Bush in 2000. I don’t feel that either election was stolen.

However, I’ve become disenchanted with the Right. I don’t trust the left, but now I have an equal distate for the right. I couldn’t bring myself to vote for Bush or Kerry in 2004 because I felt neither of them were qualified to be president(and they had both really pissed me off in various ways). I’m at a point now where I can no longer consider myself a liberal or conserative, republican or democrat.

That said, I think the Plame affair is looking increasingly like politicaly payback and am contimually dumbfounded by those who say that Rove should get a medal if he did out her. I’m also quite dismayed by those who keep trying to make Wilson and plame the bad guys, not whoever blew Plame’s cover. If they did wrong, you displine them through the agency, you don’t blow an agents cover.

42

Here’s where I feel at odds. One one hand, I really don’t like the GOP, but that qoute seems excessivly meanspirited and incorrect.

I felt the sameway when Bush won in November. I wasn’t happy about it, but the UK Headline “How could so many Million Americans be this stupid?” just rubbed me the wrong way.

So really, on any given day, it’s a tossup between wether the right or the left annoys me more.

43

Speaking of Air America (paraphrased: )

“The only way the Republican talking point that “Rove was a whistleblower” is true, is to believe that he did blow Jeff Gannon’s whistle”

-Randy Rhodes

44

Must… resist… “intelligence” joke… :smiley:

Annoyance I can live with; it’s incompetence that chaps my hide.

And I’ve always maintained that, while the Democrats are stupid, the Republicans are evil. And at least it’s easier for us mere mortals to circumvent the idiots…

45

Actually, it looks like Arnie has clawed his way back to a 40% approval rating. Bob Taft takes the honors with a 19% approval rating, followed closely by our own Frank Murkowski at 27%, according to this website.

46

My relatives in California are two aunts; a teacher and a nurse. Apparently Schwarzenegger is “shitting on [their] industries.” He also seems to think unions (of teachers, firemen, nurses and more) qualify as special interest groups, and therefore should not be able to donate money to campaigns. Of course, large corporate entities are just fine.

That said, my mom’s a decent Republican. Of course she:
-supports SSM, and thinks anyone who loves another person should be able to marry him/her.
-doesn’t like Bush, but thinks he deserved a second chance rather than Kerry. (??? She hated Kerry, and thought he was too snotty, that’s all I know.)
-doesn’t think we should have entered the war in Iraq, but that we’re going to be stuck there now. (I agree.)
-thinks privatizing Social Security is insane. (But then, she’s on SS, so she’s a little biased.)
-thought that Terry Schiavo was brain dead. (But supremely disliked her husband. She watches way too much Fox News, and I’ve tried to explain to her what “reputable” means.)
-is proud of my decidedly Democrat stance, because I show an interest in politics.
-believes that if you’re going to have an abortion, do it within the first three months.
-disliked Reagan.

I know what you’re thinking, “What’s up with this lady?” But then, until 1996, she was a Democrat. She crossed over to the Dark side because of local politicians. In fact, except for her Catholic upbringing, I don’t see what’s Republican about her at all. So, yeah, my mommy’s a good Republican. :smiley: And I’m not biased at all.

47

[QUOTE=Kendraen Ideals]
Apparently Schwarzenegger is “shitting on [their] industries.” QUOTE]
For clarification, that’s not a quote from the article. That’s a quote from my aunt.

48

Of additional interest in the above poll, 15 of the 25 governors with 50% or below approval rating are Rs. Whatever that means.

49

I think you must have misread the slogan for this website. Apparently, you thought it read “Spreading ignorance since 1973”.

50

If the honorable Republicans choose to assert themselves, they will be conciously deciding to lose power. Without the Unholy Alliance, the marginal majority they have been flailing around like the Hammer of Thor will be gone. Ask a thirty year heroin addict to throw away an ounce of pure China White and come to Jesus…you got better odds.

But some will. How many, I only wish I knew. I know some here, and that provokes the most curious sensation: not so much guarded optimism as cringing. Of those, I have no doubt that they wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice some temporary political advantage for the good of the nation. They are patriots, and I don’t hold their woefully deranged views against them. I’m here to help.

But the greater number, I fear, will manage to argue themselves into accepting that they serve pragmaticly, that detestable alliances are excusable to keep the levers of power out of the grubby mitts. If this argument happens to coincide with an incumbency, even more so. So, once again, it comes down to the cynics vs the idealists. I’ll be rooting for the idealists, but its 3 to 1 on the cynics. The strong are seldom good, the good, seldom strong. Alas.

But what can the honest, patriotic lefty…or for that matter, the radical scoundrel…do to help our sorely vexed brothers, the dearly misguided? By removing the unwholesome incentive of ambition and power! A brisk and vigorous shellacking at the polling place is just the ticket! Who would kiss Tom DeLay’s ass if he didn’t have to? Who would listen to Santorum’s blitherings with a straight face?

Alter the relationship of their butter to their bread, and a truly marvelous spiritual and ethical transformation is possible.

51

Ah, with conflicts of interest and bait-and-switch in the initiative process, his blaming nurses, teachers, police officers, and firefighters for the state’s inability to balance a budget, it’s politics as usual here in CA. I wanted to think Arnold was different, but really he’s just newer and shinier.

52

I had Republican leanings, once. Fiscal responsibility, less government, don’t be the world cop, it made sense. Never joined the party, but until Bush II ran for prez, I’d voted for more Republicans for president than Democrats.

But no more. My local Republican office-holders are trying to restrict access to hormonal birth control (including BCPs), get ‘evilution’ out of schools, keep prayer in at graduation (it never left in this area), and tell me that I can’t be a pubbie if I don’t believe the bible is literally true. As for the National level, forget it.

The Dems are idiots, of course. But a lot of them are my kind of idiots. :wink:

53

I don’t know what your (y’all’s) standards for decent are, but I think I am a decent person and I voted for Bush in '04. I didn’t vote in '00. I don’t fully support every decision and action of the Bush administration. I don’t always agree with the leadership in the Senate and house. But…I also don’t fully support the Democratic party either. My choice every election day is who do I think would make the decisions I would make were I in that position. In '04, that was not Kerry. I don’t think Kerry would have made the decisions Kerry would have wanted Kerry to make were Kerry in Kerry’s position unless a pollster and five political handlers told him to. I also look at which party has the grassroots supporters I can relate to. Here in Mad-city, that ain’t the Dems. I have cow-orkers who spent months of time and resources that were paid for by a state institution to promote Kerry and Feingold. I have cow-orkers who were still bitching at Christmas about the November election. I have a cow-orker who donated money to Planned Parenthood because they sent her a letter saying that Bush wanted little girls raped by their fathers to have to have the baby since he doesn’t support partial birth abortion. My cow-orker thinks that partial birth abortion is barbaric, but gave PP money to defend it. I even had one cow-orker refuse to donate money to the Special Olympics because Bush was in the White House. WTF?! Mentally and physically disabled people don’t deserve to have a sporting event because your political party failed to win a majority of voters?! Her excuse was that her fund were limited…I can understand that, but then, between her four kids, they play soccerx3, softballx1, viola lessonsx1, piano lessonsx3, swimming lessonsx2, golf lessonsx1, tennis lessonsx1, in home nanny 20-30 hours per week, Starbucks every morning, all organic produce, etc, etc, etc. You can’t give a girl $5 to go jump in a frozen lake to raise money for the mentally and physically disabled to go play games?! That is a group of people I can’t see myself as a member of. The Dems around here talk alot about the environment, and still find excuses to drive everywhere instead of taking public transportation or biking. They talk about how bad off people are, but I never see them volunteering their time or their money. They want the governement to throw money at a problem and for the problem to go away. It doesn’t work that way. Give me my income tax back and let me spend it on a cause I believe in. I get offensive letter in the mail from Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, WWF, Rail to Trails, National Parks Foundation, etc, etc, etc. These letters don’t talk about what the organization is trying to do, but how evil the Bush administration is. One actually wanted you to believe that Bush was going to swing through California and cut down all the Redwoods on his way to Alaska to spray oil all over the entire Arctic Tundra. They failed to mention that he was also going to club baby seals along the way, but that assertion wouldn’t suprise me.

FTR, I am a non-affiliated Christian, I am a single Caucasian female, I drive an SUV only when I can’t get there on public transit or on foot, a small one that gets decent gas mileage. I do not believe abortion is right, but I believe you have the right to have one (but I am anti partial-birth abortion). I support same-sex unions, I don’t care if they are called ‘married’ or not. I don’t care what you do in your bedroom as long as it doesn’t affect me. I support local charities with my time, because I do not have the money (most local charities need people more than money anyway). I stop and help strangers with directions, with bus routes, with heavy packages. I have been known to stop at accidents to make sure everyone is OK and to give witness statements so the victims of the accident don’t get victimized again by insurance companies. I support preservation of wilderness areas, but also believe that public lands should be for the public and as a member of the public, I should be allowed to use them.

I am also not good at being brief. Bottom line is that until the Democratic party becomes something I can believe in more that the Republican party, I am going to vote for the Republican candidate. Dems out there: live up to a standard, not down to one, I forget who said it earlier, but just 'cause the other guys did it doesn’t mean you look any better getting caught doing it.

54

Sometimes we have to get the ignorance and bring it here in order to fight it. And sometimes, it comes to us.

55

Shouldn’t the Republicans be held to the same standard?

56

Not with the current spin machine. Sorry.

57

Thanks for the long response, xbuckeye. Just for the record though, the few political stances you mentioned all match John Kerry exactly (abortion, SSM, legislating the bedroom).

Out of curiosity, if this were Bush’s first term and the election was coming up, would you still vote for him merely because he’s the Republican candidate? Do you know of any principles the Republican party holds that you agree with?

58

An excellent example of why no one should pay the least bit of attention to that airheaded ninny.

59

An airheaded ninny perhaps, but in this case she is bang on.

60

Hardly.