# Ok who still buys what the Republicans are selling? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 1, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-who-still-buys-what-the-republicans-are-selling/555738 "2010-10-01T16:23:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-who-still-buys-what-the-republicans-are-selling/555738/21 "2010-10-02T05:11:15Z")
> **[Roger Ratcliff + Gail McKoon](https://u.osu.edu/ratcliffmckoon/)** > > Cognitive Psychology Laboratory Offered without comment ---
**Author:** ![BrightNShiny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@BrightNShiny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrightNShiny)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2010, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-who-still-buys-what-the-republicans-are-selling/555738/22 "2010-10-03T00:02:52Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > The last time the Republicans were in power they spent money on the $700,000,000,000 to $1,000,000,000,000 Medicare Part D social entitlement program. Hey! We all know that when Republicans blow up the budget by enacting a huge wealth-redistribution and socialist scheme it doesn’t count, because they say they are against that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-who-still-buys-what-the-republicans-are-selling/555738/23 "2010-10-04T18:31:25Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > > [@Le\_Jacquelope](#): > > > > [http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/budgetcomparison.jpg.gif](http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/09/the_pledge_to_america_in_one_g.html) > > > > If the Republicans make good on their “Pledge to America”, the deficit will go up in comparison to staying the course with the Democrats. > > > > Debate question: are the Republicans not hypocrites? Is this whole bash Obama thing based on a pack of lies, are we about to vote in more of the same? Where exactly is the deficit reduction in this plan? > > Yes they’re hypocrites. Everyone in congress is a huge hypocrite when it comes to spending. > > Even every day people who express concern about the deficit are hypocrites, although most are less hypocritical than our elected officials. There was an Economist article earlier this year exploring the huge gap in people’s willingness to cut spending and the effectiveness of cutting that spending. For instance, the most widely accepted spending cut was foreign aid, even though it amounts to less than 1% of the budget. But nobody was willing to cut anything that mattered. Well, if you are a Democrat, increasing taxes to cut the deficit is also an option but if you are a Republican, you really only have one tool in the toolbox, cut spending… which these days means entitlements but as a Republican you can’t let people know that’s what you mean when you say cut spending or they’ll realize that they don’t actually hate government spending as much as they thought. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-who-still-buys-what-the-republicans-are-selling/555738/24 "2010-10-04T18:34:55Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > For these people, the worst case scenario is something like what occurred during the Clinton Administration when there was economic growth and budget surpluses existing along with a tax increase and “socialistic” government programs. Yes that was about as much of a disaster for Republicans as you could imagine, then we elected Bush and bad went to fucking horrible. Somehow the Democrats have managed to make people take Republicans seriously again. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-who-still-buys-what-the-republicans-are-selling/555738/25 "2010-10-04T18:36:43Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > > [@Le\_Jacquelope](#): > > > > [ > > Then what will they do when the country itself ceases to exist because of all the unrest that will ensue? > > Say “oops”. More like “here, you can have the keys back now but I’ll probably want them back as soon as this all blows over” ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Jacquelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Le\_Jacquelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Jacquelope)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-who-still-buys-what-the-republicans-are-selling/555738/26 "2010-10-04T18:58:09Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > > [@NDP](#): > > > > For these people, the worst case scenario is something like what occurred during the Clinton Administration when there was economic growth and budget surpluses existing along with a tax increase and “socialistic” government programs. > > Yes that was about as much of a disaster for Republicans as you could imagine, then we elected Bush and bad went to fucking horrible. Somehow the Democrats have managed to make people take Republicans seriously again. It wasn’t the Democrats that did it. It was the blood rage over Obama. None of this blood rage occurred when McCain was signing the stimulus act. Or when Mitt Romney first brought mandatory health insurance to Massachusetts. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAlecCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SmartAlecCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAlecCat)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-who-still-buys-what-the-republicans-are-selling/555738/27 "2010-10-07T17:22:46Z")
Clip of media asking various Republicans what specific spending they would cut, with the Republican responses: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/gl-qPE8AfqQ/hqdefault.jpg "Republicans Can't Name Any Spending They Want to Cut (Again and Again)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl-qPE8AfqQ) There are really only three answers that can make any difference: 1. Defense 2. Medicare 3. Social Security (And 3 doesn’t really count since it has its own funding source.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-who-still-buys-what-the-republicans-are-selling/555738.md?page=1)