I don’t believe it. I tend to equivacate, and these days I am voting straight ticket Democratic party. The reason I equivacate is that I mainly socialize with country club republicans and i am trying to fit in. I believe that Democrats are slightly more popular these days so Republicans tend to equivacate more…
…on the Internet…
…on the Internet.
For the love of Bleeding Og, why?
Subverting the Establishment from within? C’mon, a Sixties hippie oughta know about that one. 
It is overwhelmingly righties who say both parties are equally bad. They have to, because they are so overwhelmingly, obviously evil and against the majority of things that are good…an equitable society which is not ruled ironfisted by the monied class, women’s right to choose what to do with their bodies, minimizing corporations poluting our environment for profit and then having the tax payer foot the cleanup bill, not having needless wars, protections for minorities, etc.
Since these things are FACT, the only thing they can do is tell dummy mcdumkins who is a “low information voter” that both sides are equally bad and hope that he chooses R. Also since Republicans are more comfortable LYING they have no problem saying this.
And here we have the other commonly-used weapon in the republican arsenal- “The mean ol’ liberals are always picking on us!”
Newsflash- disagreeing with you and telling you how we think you’re wrong is *not *picking on you. It’s disagreeing with you and telling you how we think you’re wrong.
You know, just like you do to liberals, in every damn thread. Yes, you’re outnumbered. This board doesn’t ban people based on political views (unlike some right-wing fora I’ve been to), so one has to wonder why there are so few of you around.
Ah. Projection.
As I thought, Democrats are just in denial. And frankly I don’t think they even care about corruption. To Democrats, the real issue is ideology. If you share theirs, you’re on the right side, even if you have to grease a few palms to stay in power to keep on fighting the good fight. If you’re on the wrong side, it doesn’t matter how honest you are, you’re evil.
Democrats are the ones who will call out their own, unlike the republican party which is lockstep in the crazy. Corruption sucks, but I agree with the rest of what you said (though I am not a democrat, I’m left of democrats). It doesn’t matter how “honest” sociopaths are that being greedy is for the greater good, yes it is evil.
I think the mere fact that there is a Wikipedia page entitled List of American federal politicians convicted of crimes with no shortage of content is telling. There are plenty of Democrats and Republicans on the list. And that is just federal office holders.
Move on to a state, say Illinois the home of president Obama. This MSNBC article discusses the three Illinois governors with criminal convictions in my lifetime, all arising from corruption. But just one problem… it is an article from 2008 and there is a fourth Illinois governor convicted since then.
I do not expect any politician to agree with me 100%. I do not think it is “a product of laziness and a desire to feel self-righteous…” (quoting The Hamster King upthread) to hold opinions that are not party line. It is not a matter of “figuring out how [ I ] should stand on different issues.” I think I am perfectly capable of reaching my own conclusions on the issues and know how I do stand. I don’t need anyone to tell me how I should stand. That is paternalistic bullshit.
In general I hold a somewhat wikified view - assuming politicians really do have the best interests of their constituents at heart and sincerely believe that any proposals they put forth or support are with good intentions. And I respect that sincere people can have a diametrically different opinion on an issue.
I know there are crooks are both sides of the aisle. So I look for good people to vote for who tend to agree with my political ideas, regardless of their political party affiliation.
Guh, the Blind Side is terrible, attempting to portray parochial schools as the salvation of the working class from state intransigence! Curse that Michael Smith!
Pah, as if Be Kind Rewind were any better, attempting to portray communitarian spirit as antithetical to corporate efficiency! Mawkish sentimentality!
…well played, sir!
How do you know that?
Time after time, year after year, decade after decade, Democratic politicians vote for and otherwise support the war on drugs, absurdly harsh prison sentences, and countless other bad things. The logical thing to conclude is that the Democratic politicians are, in their own minds, in favor of such things. There’s no evidence to suggest otherwise. Some Democratic voters no doubt believer that their political leaders are privately opposed to the war on drugs; it’s a classic case of denial and cognitive dissonance at work.
Let’s be clear: Both major parties are owned by the big-business interests; our campaign-financing system allows no other outcome. The difference is that the Dems are not wholly owned by them, because their base still includes a lot of Americans with values and interests in irreconcilable conflict with those interests.
Anyone who says “both parties are equally bad” isn’t paying attention. Republicans love the false equivalence because it relieves them of the need to give the appearance of good faith. The facts are clear that there is no equivalence and both sides are not equally to blame.
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Only one party has ever held a meeting on Inauguration Day in which they pledged not to give the incoming president any support on any issue.
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Only one party has ever stated that their primary policy goal in Congress wa s to deny the president a second term.
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Only one party has ever held the national debt limit as a hostage in negotiating with the other party. Sure, there have been Democrats who have cast symbolic votes against raising the limits and sure there have been poison pills put into a debt limit raise before, but only one party deliberately puts the national debt rating at ristk.
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Only one party is on record as wanting to end Medicare and replace it with a voucher system.
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Only one party ever sought to create a definition of “forcible rape”.
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Only one party has undergone a massive effort to prevent its opponents from voting.
This is but the tip of the iceberg. No, the parties are not equivalent and both are not equally dirty in the campaign. Witness the faux outrage by Doug and Wendy… I mean Mitt and Ann Romney over an ad which was not authorized by the Obama campaign in any way in which they claim to be accused of murder. Compare that to Mitt Romney repeatedly telling lies about Obama with respect to welfare reform as part of his standard stump speech and using those same lies in his authorized ads.
Don’t even get me started on the false equivalence between MSNBC and Fox. There isn’t one. One is a respected news organization whose political talk shows for the most part lean left but give ample opportunity for the right to rebut and admit and apologize for errors in reporting. The other is the equivalent of the old Soviet Tass or Pravda, a mere mouthpiece for the Republican Party.
I don’t see the Democrats and Republicans as equally bad. I’m registered Republican and I’d vote for Gary Johnson if I weren’t certain that any chance of a Romney presidency would destroy the middle class. Romney can say what ever he thinks will get him elected, but the fact is that he is owned and will be managed by his billionaire donors who expect an ROI on their investment. If you are in a deep red or deep blue state, then you can have the luxury of voting for Johnson without regret. I’m in Ohio and a vote for Johnson would amount to a vote for Romney, so I’m voting for Obama.
Like Romney served the rich in Massachusetts?
Well put. We sometimes watch CNN, but inevitably they’ll say something to the effect of “now, let’s hear the other side of the story!”, and it will drive my wife nuts, because it’s usually something where it’s just ridiculous to attempt any kind of equivalency. “Man rapes racoon…now, let’s hear the other side of the story!”.
At least the raccoon can’t get pregnant.
I know one person who eqviocates.
She isn’t Republican.
Nor is she Democrat.
Nor is she third-party.
She’s just so fed up with the political process that she refuses to vote at all - voting for Obama, Romney, Paul, Johnson, or anybody, in her mind, is pointless - they’re all one of the same :dubious:.
And although I’m not a Ron Paul supporter, I once tried to change her world view by telling her of Dr. No and his often intransigent voting record. She explained it away by saying that “they” always need someone to vote no to propositions so people can’t say that Congress is categorically corrupt :dubious:.
But now that I think of it, that actually makes a little bit of sense.
Err… No, that’s just not what’s happening. We’re not excusing “the good guys” because they agree with us. The issue is not “we’re setting up an issue where one side is alienated”; the issue is that one side is full of bigots. ANY issue can be culturally divisive. The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is fucking divisive. I don’t give a damn that an issue is divisive, I care whether or not it’s moral. It is absolutely immoral to deny a basic human right to an entire group of people on no grounding other than bias and tradition. It is entirely moral to cover basic health care needs for every sexually active adult under health care laws. There is no double standard here.