# I Pit the Audience of the GOP Debate **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 23, 2011, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331 "2011-09-23T14:48:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2011, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331/121 "2011-09-25T23:28:00Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew\_Shepard\_and\_James\_Byrd,\_Jr.\_Hate\_Crimes\_Prevention\_Act](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard_and_James_Byrd,_Jr._Hate_Crimes_Prevention_Act) > > Voila. Well the bill did have some Republican support but opposition to the bill came for reasons of constitutionality (such as the US commitssion on Civil Rights) I congratulate the following 18 Republicans for supporting the bill: > [@](#): > > Judy Biggert (IL), Mary Bono Mack (CA), Joseph Cao (LA), Mike Castle (DE), Charlie Dent ¶, Lincoln Diaz-Balart (FL), Mario Diaz-Balart (FL), Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ), Jim Gerlach ¶, Mark Kirk (IL), Leonard Lance (NJ), Frank LoBiondo (NJ), Todd Russell Platts ¶, Dave Reichert (WA), and Greg Walden (OR) along with Bill Cassidy (LA), Mike Coffman (CO), and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL). I spit on the other 175 Republican representatives who voted against the bill, and am of the opinion that the “constitutionality” points were a bullshit smokescreen. I congratulate the 5 republican senators that voted for the bill: Susan Collins (ME), Dick Lugar (IN), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Olympia Snowe (ME), and George Voinovich (OH). I spit on the rest of the Republican senators. As you can see, the Republican politicians who support gay issues are in the very slim minority. Still, they do exist, and I salute them. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2011, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331/122 "2011-09-25T23:30:15Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > **Cumberdale** was asking **OMGABC** whether or not he would condemn Democrats if audience members booed service members and the candidates didn’t remark on it at a Democratic Party debate. It’s just a hypothetical, and it’s one intended to expose hypocrisy in _conservatives_ who would condemn Democrats doing so hypothetically but would excuse Republicans who actually did it. So, yes, off-base. > > And now you’ve made me explain the joke, so no drinks for you. OK, I take your point. Clearly, **Cumberdale** had his head on straight and his heart in the right place, and I misread him. A lot. So, sorry. _Mea fuckup_ _Garcon!_ This crow is indifferently prepared. Have the cook thrashed soundly, and bring me another. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331/123 "2011-09-26T01:18:52Z")
To the OP: If this issue required you to recall details of TV ads from the Goldwater-Johnson campaign, I would respect your youth. But holy freaking crap: how can anyone follow national politics for the last few years and not be aware of the sharp right/left dialectic on gay rights??? This thread is historic for me: it’s the first argument I’ve ever had with a conservative who is claiming that his bunch have (to paraphrase) “never REALLY had anything against” gays, whom y’all recently referred to as ‘fags’ or ‘queers’. It’s true: _children really are the future!_ I had similar arguments with conservative friends decades ago, except the issue was the rights of black people. (Whom y’all had recently referred to as… eh, look it up). It’s a sign that things are changing, when you people are sufficiently ashamed of your prejudices that you try to rewrite history. I wonder now how long before the right claim to be the ones who’ve had the interests of gay people at heart all along? Like they claimed about black people once affirmative action became an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331/124 "2011-09-26T02:39:10Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Well younger Republicans and moderates elected in 2010 are starting to change the GOP from within Who are you referring to as moderate, elected from the Republican party to a federal level in 2010? Are you sure you’re not just using “moderate” as another term for “agrees with you?” ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331/125 "2011-09-26T12:54:15Z")
> [@Lago\_Ys-Transform](#): > > I’m not making up anything. I’m asking for a percentage of the audience actually booing. If the OP is going to put the audience you need to show that the attitude is reflective of ‘the audience’ and not just a few random assholes. I’m not quite sure where the line from individual to collective guilt is, but I think that 1-5% of the audience misbehaving is too low for it. You’re right. Now if only one of the nine alleged “leaders” on stage had made some comment about it. I could say I wonder why they didn’t, but I know why. That is their base. Those are the people they are auditioning for. Those are the ones to whom they are trying to say “I am one of you”. And either they are, or they’re gutless. And if they’re gutless they may as well be one of them. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331/126 "2011-09-26T13:14:02Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > **Cumberdale** was asking **OMGABC** whether or not he would condemn Democrats if audience members booed service members and the candidates didn’t remark on it at a Democratic Party debate. It’s just a hypothetical, and it’s one intended to expose hypocrisy in _conservatives_ who would condemn Democrats doing so hypothetically but would excuse Republicans who actually did it. So, yes, off-base. Since the joke needs to be explained, here’s a link to [“JAQing off”](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/JAQing_off), of which the above-referenced hypothetical is a veritable textbook example. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331/127 "2011-09-26T13:16:54Z")
> [@Lago\_Ys-Transform](#): > > I’m not making up anything. I’m asking for a percentage of the audience actually booing. If the OP is going to put the audience you need to show that the attitude is reflective of ‘the audience’ and not just a few random assholes. I’m not quite sure where the line from individual to collective guilt is, but I think that 1-5% of the audience misbehaving is too low for it. The relevant percentage would be the percentage of self-appointed “leader” candidates where were perfectly OK with it. That would be one hundred. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331/128 "2011-09-26T14:26:03Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > I think people are being more than a little unfair to the audience. > > That soldier was quite ripped. > > Considering how many social conservatives have turned out to be repressed closet-cases isn’t there a strong possibility the were going “Woo! Woo!” Also explains how Santorum failed to hear the boos: His mind was elsewhere at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331/129 "2011-09-26T16:28:22Z")
> [@Acid\_Lamp](#): > > I’d love to hear from a thoughtful conservative who doesn’t feel the need to bash on gays, thump the bible, and deny evolution. Make a solid constitutional argument, show me how you intend to preserve standards without federal oversight, and I’m all ears. Let the tea party take the bigots, racists and loons, and run a serious candidate. Try David Brooks, of the _Wall Street Journal_. He’s the kind of conservative liberals like me hate: intelligent, measured, reflective - the sort you have to debate, rather than simply mock. Bastard. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331/130 "2011-09-26T16:32:02Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Try David Brooks, of the _Wall Street Journal_. He’s the kind of conservative liberals like me hate: intelligent, measured, reflective - the sort you have to debate, rather than simply mock. Bastard. The King of False Equivalence? Really? ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331/131 "2011-09-26T16:52:09Z")
> [@Lago\_Ys-Transform](#): > > I’m not making up anything. I’m asking for a percentage of the audience actually booing. If the OP is going to put the audience you need to show that the attitude is reflective of ‘the audience’ and not just a few random assholes. I’m not quite sure where the line from individual to collective guilt is, but I think that 1-5% of the audience misbehaving is too low for it. Still making up a percentage and then offering as debatable. It is not. I heard the booing on the TV. I am sure it was louder a the venue. This was all repubs in that audience. the Repubs are very careful about preventing Dems from going near them in public. The audience is a reflection of the Republican party as a whole. But I would suggest the ones able to get into that show were serious party workers and followers. The real Republican party would have even more of those haters in the mix. The home of haters is the Republican Party. The home of anti gays is the same. It also houses the anti blacks. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331/132 "2011-09-26T17:05:08Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > The King of False Equivalence? Really? Sure! The guy who haz sad faces because Obama actually stopped bending over the desk for a minute. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331/133 "2011-09-26T17:37:19Z")
I would posit that the audience at the debates is a higher class group than the typical Repub. They are a select group . They don’t just let the regular righty in. I believe a true cross section of the Republican Party would have even more booing and hatred. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331/134 "2011-09-26T22:08:48Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > I would posit that the audience at the debates is a higher class group than the typical Repub. They are a select group . They don’t just let the regular righty in. I believe a true cross section of the Republican Party would have even more booing and hatred. Let’s not go overboard here. What a hypothetical crowd might have done is also hypothetical. What the real crowd did - and what the candidates didn’t do - is bad enough. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331/135 "2011-09-27T04:29:57Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > I agree that there are homophobes in the GOP, and I condemn their hateful rhetoric and actions (as seen here)-but this does not represent the views of all the Republican Party. **Thank you! Good point!** All one needs to do is to look at the “It Gets Better Project” to see the massive outpouring of elected Republican support. In fact, I encourage everyone reading these words right now to count just how many Republican leaders urge LGBT youth to not kill themselves because the bullying they’re encountering is unjustified. The number is truly staggering, remarkable enough to bring a tear to your eye. ---
**Author:** ![Oldeb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ea666f/32.png) [@Oldeb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oldeb)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331/136 "2011-09-27T04:47:48Z")
> [@B.Serum](#): > > The number is truly staggering, remarkable enough to bring a tear to your eye. What? Staggering? Staggering in it’s absence maybe. Name 2 nationally elected Republicans to have made videos. The only Republican I’m aware of is Fred Karger, who has never held any elected office. And as of last November there were **no** Republicans who had made such a video. Meanwhile Obama, Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Pelosi all had done so. ([cite](http://news.change.org/stories/some-bipartisanship-for-the-it-gets-better-project)) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331/137 "2011-09-27T04:51:54Z")
Your sarcasm meter is busted. That post measures 783 millihicks, well within the heavy sarcasm range. (600-800 millihicks) ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331/138 "2011-09-27T04:52:04Z")
> [@Oldeb](#): > > What? Staggering? Staggering in it’s absence maybe. Name 2 nationally elected Republicans to have made videos. > > The only Republican I’m aware of is Fred Karger, who has never held any elected office. > > And as of last November there were **no** Republicans who had made such a video. Meanwhile Obama, Biden, Hillary Clinton, and Pelosi all had done so. ([cite](http://news.change.org/stories/some-bipartisanship-for-the-it-gets-better-project)) Woosh. ---
**Author:** ![Oldeb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ea666f/32.png) [@Oldeb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oldeb)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331/139 "2011-09-27T04:54:46Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Your sarcasm meter is busted. That post measures 783 millihicks, well within the heavy sarcasm range. (600-800 millihicks) > [@B.Serum](#): > > Woosh. Er, um… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Naxos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/50afbb/32.png) [@Naxos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Naxos)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331/140 "2011-09-27T04:56:15Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > People are morons. What can you do? No… You mean Republicans. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-audience-of-the-gop-debate/597331.md?page=8)