# So when exactly did the Republican party start becoming "insane"? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 7, 2015, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747 "2015-12-07T22:36:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747/101 "2015-12-09T10:57:59Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Left wing kids on campuses have gone bat-shit crazy. Dad! I didn’t know you were on this website! Why do you type to me in all caps on Facebook? Remember when you said exactly that above in 1971? > [@GreenElf](#): > > It started around the same time when Rush Limbaugh and FOX news started. Was that the early 90’s? Yes. I know this because in the early 90s, I worked for a boss who thought that Rush Limbaugh was the coolest thing in the world. _gag_ ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747/102 "2015-12-09T11:44:32Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > **Sam** , I’m no expert on Libertarian policy. As a result, I used to give some of your screeds on the subject more credence, because you seemed to know what you were talking about, and gave really deep, detailed analysis. > > This post proves that that was _wholly_ unwarranted. You’re a massive dunce, the needle of whose political compass is stuck firmly in his mind’s arse, who knows _nothing_ about any of the issues you expound on here. You know _nothing_ about anything you speak of here… > > You’re a complete nincompoop. I’m glad others have finally seen what a pretentious blowhard the **Stone** is. In the past I’m sure I’ve offended many regulars by my sniping at “our oh-so-lovely intelligent conservative.” Yuck! (Isn’t Stone from Canada? Maybe part of the problem is ignorance – he watches a little FoxNews and feels like he’s an authority on U.S. politics.) The sad thing is: I’m sure he has a highish IQ. He is sad evidence that the Dunning–Kruger effect knows no limits. He may be excellent at designing websites or something, and confuses himself into thinking he knows economics or politics. > [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Having been persuaded that this well was truly poisoned right from the get-go, … I disagree. I don’t think the GOP poisoning got severe until the “Reagan Revolution” of the 1980’s. And at least that was ordinary, if extreme, right-wingism. It’s the anti-Clinton and anti-Obama hatred and sabotage that really turned the Party into a lunatic farce. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747/103 "2015-12-09T13:53:26Z")
Well, I was referring to the thread, actually. Still, you do you, buddy. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747/104 "2015-12-09T13:55:52Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > Raises hand. Is the mod instruction in post #45, now rescinded because this is now the pit? Yes, Pit rules now apply. You have to abide by Miller, not Tom and I. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747/105 "2015-12-09T14:49:21Z")
And Ted Cruz dials the insanity up to 11. Just moment ago on NPR Cruz managed to spread the bullshit. Demonstrating how the climate change denial machine is recycling points that should had been dismissed ages ago Cruz repeats old debunked items like the myth that scientists are tampering with the data and ignoring that deniers are the ones abusing the satellite data to claim that there is no warming. [100% bullshit.](https://tamino.wordpress.com/2015/12/06/asses-bray/) > [@](#): > > **Asses Bray** > > It’s what they do. Some have two legs and come from Texas, like Ted Cruz and Lamar Smith, and what they like to bray about is their belief that global warming isn’t happening. > > They seem inordinately fond of satellite temperature data because it doesn’t show as much warming as data from actual thermometers (the satellites don’t actually measure temperature, they measure microwave brightness). But satellite temperature data have some very serious problems (the Rabett has an excellent post on that very topic). The UAH satellite data are cloaked in darkness and fraught with errors, while the RSS satellite data come mainly from Carl Mears who himself says the surface thermometer data are better for determining climate trends. But using that would mean being reasonable, something asses tend to be uncomfortable with. > > The asses don’t like temperature measurements from actual thermometers (especially, it seems, Lamar Smith), whether it be at earth’s surface or in the troposphere. You see, surface thermometers say this about global temperature: The AP already had reported on the slide to insanity of almost all the Republican candidates: [http://bigstory.ap.org/article/3e946f29fa534a0b9c1d064b16e06b61/ap-fact-check-most-gop-candidates-flunk-climate-science](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/3e946f29fa534a0b9c1d064b16e06b61/ap-fact-check-most-gop-candidates-flunk-climate-science) > [@](#): > > At an August event In California’s Orange County, Cruz told an interviewer, “If you look at satellite data for the last 18 years, there’s been zero warming. … The satellite says it ain’t happening.” > > Florida State University’s James Elsner said ground data show every decade has been warmer than the last since the middle of the 20th century and satellite data-based observations “show continued warming over the past several decades.” > > In fact, federal ground-based data, which scientists said is more reliable than satellites, show that 15 of the 17 years after 1997 have been warmer than 1997 and 2015 is on track to top 2014 as the warmest year on record. > > Scientists singled out Sanders for overstatement in the first Democratic presidential debate. > > “The scientific community is telling us that if we do not address the global crisis of climate change, transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to sustainable energy, the planet that we’re going to be leaving our kids and our grandchildren may well not be habitable,” Sanders said. > > Dessler said, “I would not say that the planet will become uninhabitable. Regardless of what we do, some humans will survive.” Harvard’s Jim McCarthy also called the comment an overstatement, as did other scientists when Sanders said it. Recent research on the worst heat projections in the hottest area, the Persian Gulf, finds that toward the end of the century there will be a few days each decade or so when humans cannot survive outside, but can live with air conditioning indoors. > > Trump brought out some of the more colorful and terse critiques. > > “It could be warming and it’s going to start to cool at some point,” Trump said in a September radio interview. “And you know in the 1920s people talked about global cooling. I don’t know if you know that or not. They thought the Earth was cooling. Now it’s global warming. Actually, we’ve had times where the weather wasn’t working out so they changed it to extreme weather and they have all different names, you know, so that it fits the bill.” > > McCarthy, a former president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, called Trump’s comments “nonsense,” while Emmanuel Vincent, a climate scientist at the University of California, Merced, said, “the candidate does not appear to have any commitment to accuracy.” > > The eight scientists are Mann, Dessler, Elsner, McCarthy, Bradtmiller, Vincent, William Easterling at Pennsylvania State University and Matthew Huber at the University of New Hampshire. ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747/106 "2015-12-09T14:51:26Z")
There’s been a crazy streak in the GOP for a long time. The left had it’s share of crazies too, for a while. There was definitely a major shift when Obama got elected. Actually, it may have been when Sarah Palin was viewed as a legitimate VP candidate. Since then, the crazy streak is running the show. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747/107 "2015-12-09T15:40:27Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Yes, Pit rules now apply. You have to abide by Miller, not Tom and I. It’s **Miller** time. Whoo-hoo!!! ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747/108 "2015-12-09T16:28:06Z")
Didn’t “happen”, it was a long, slow slide into damnation. Used to be, the knuckle walking Trog wing of the party was a reliable source of votes, and little more. (Anybody else remember “little old ladies in tennis shoes” from the Goldwater era?) They could be had cheap, just a little dab here and there, and big promises kept them on board. Next year, after this next election, just one more, and then no gay marriage, prayer everywhere, and the herd of sluts in America trimmed and thinned by botched abortions. But they never delivered. We warned them about this, right here on these pages, that sooner or later they would have to put up or shut up. But it was always rally the troops just one more time, win that next election… And the Trog Right went from a nice bit of electoral padding to get the numbers up to an absolutely crucial part of the coalition. Now, they can’t win without them. They _must_ pander to the Trogs _and_ hold onto the business/money Pubbies at the same time. Or lose. Or worse, lose _anyway_. Don’t forget, the Trogs think they are the majority, they think that all those polls and surveys are lies from the liberal media, that most Americans, and all _real_ Americans are totally with them. Show them numbers and stats that say different, and they will simply brush them aside without a second glance. And what a long, strange trip it has been. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747/109 "2015-12-09T16:42:18Z")
[Study: Racism can explain ALL of the decline of Southern white support for Democrats from 1958 to 1980, and 77% of the decline through 2000.](http://www.salon.com/2015/12/08/the_south_won_the_civil_war_white_men_racial_resentment_and_how_the_bitter_minority_came_to_rule_us_all/) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747/110 "2015-12-09T17:19:08Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > The growth of China which is a dangerous strategic competitor and the demise of much of our manufacturing industrial base is the result of the US pricing itself out of low skilled labor in the global economy. That is one of the great flaws of modern liberal thought. I’d vote Democrat if they weren’t in such a rush to hinder the American economy and destroy the inner cities for a vote. At least the right claims to support economic freedom. You mean, the “growth of China” depends on the reduction of a substantial portion of their workforce to what amounts to slave labor. Hesitance to copy that model is by no means “one of the great flaws of modern liberal thought,” quite the reverse. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747/111 "2015-12-09T17:19:38Z")
> [@Kiber](#): > > - Typical Democratic Response - Immigration is a complex issue. We are a nation of immigrants which is part of what has made America great. Further, we receive numerous economic benefits from immigration including lower prices on the primarily farm goods that they help to bring to market. That said, **we should be better able to control our borders.** Which Democrats have said this? Genuine question. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747/112 "2015-12-09T17:27:18Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Didn’t “happen”, it was a long, slow slide into damnation. Used to be, the knuckle walking Trog wing of the party was a reliable source of votes, and little more. (Anybody else remember “little old ladies in tennis shoes” from the Goldwater era?) They could be had cheap, just a little dab here and there, and big promises kept them on board. Next year, after this next election, just one more, and then no gay marriage, prayer everywhere, and the herd of sluts in America trimmed and thinned by botched abortions. > > But they never delivered. We warned them about this, right here on these pages, that sooner or later they would have to put up or shut up. But it was always rally the troops just one more time, win that next election… And the Trog Right went from a nice bit of electoral padding to get the numbers up to an absolutely crucial part of the coalition. Now, they can’t win without them. They _must_ pander to the Trogs _and_ hold onto the business/money Pubbies at the same time. > > Or lose. Or worse, lose _anyway_. Don’t forget, the Trogs think they are the majority, they think that all those polls and surveys are lies from the liberal media, that most Americans, and all _real_ Americans are totally with them. Show them numbers and stats that say different, and they will simply brush them aside without a second glance. > > And what a long, strange trip it has been. As has been said before on this Board, I forget by whom, “You can’t spend 20 years dry-humping the crazy and then act surprised when the crazy wants to fuck.” ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747/113 "2015-12-09T18:36:16Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Yeah, the creation of the right wing Media Industrial Complex pays a big role in this. You have right wing media, and they attract right wing listeners. And to keep their right wing listeners, you keep telling them that all other media is biased, you should get your news and opinions only from right wing media. There’s a positive feedback ratchet where you sell your audience fear and loathing, which creates a fearful audience, which demands more right wing media, which ups the stakes for even more extreme fear and loathing. It sells politics as identity. You are a right winger, which means you only listen to certain radio stations, only watch certain TV stations, only buy certain products, and don’t believe in what those scientists claim. > > And it’s a one-way ratchet, because it doesn’t matter what the other side says or does, it’s all lies and can be dismissed out of hand. It doesn’t matter what Obama’s actual policies or opinions are, because even if he says one thing you can’t believe him, he’s just lying so he can destroy America. And you have people radically skeptical of any sort of authority–except the authority broadcast on Fox News. Those guys you can trust. And you know you can trust them because they agree with you and say all the things you believe. Nevermind that you believe those things because you’ve been told to believe them. This. Very well said. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747/114 "2015-12-09T18:48:10Z")
> [@Kiber](#): > > To the OP - I think a big part is the messaging that Republicans have adopted. To their very great credit, Republicans have adopted a very polarized approach to messaging. They tend to distil every issue down to a black/white, good/evil duality - which makes it very easy to sell to an electorate who isn’t interested in details but just wants easily digested sound bites. So take virtually any issue and see how much cleaner the Republican message is (regardless of substance): Beyond that, when it’s distilled down to a binary choice, and they take one of the two options as their own, by default their opposition has chosen the other. For example, if the Republicans distill the argument about abortion down to “Abortion is bad”, then the Democratic position is assumed to distill down to “Abortion is good” Kind of brilliant, in the sense of being able to control the debate. And I think **Slow Moving Vehicle** has it right- the courting of the Christian right wing is where the crazy really started to eat the party, and the corresponding painting of issues as being a fight of Good vs Evil, with no tolerance for compromise or shades of gray style politics. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747/115 "2015-12-09T19:52:01Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > [Several grains of salt!](http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/religious-right-real-origins-107133) > > The Religious Right _has_ contributed to the Republican Radicalism. As previously noted, “The Loyal Opposition” became “Minions of Satan.” > > Not the only factor, though. Helps explain Ted Cruz, surely. But not The Donald… That was quite informative, thank you! ---
**Author:** ![inscrutable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a88e4f/32.png) [@inscrutable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inscrutable)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747/116 "2015-12-09T20:11:29Z")
Right-wingers define liberalism as insanity. Bi-partisanship? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747/117 "2015-12-09T20:29:51Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Hmm, or maybe not? Conservative extreme wingnuttery has operated in a top-down format before this, e.g., in the McCarthy era. Maybe there’s some structural reason why cycles of crazitude get co-opted at higher levels of power and authority in Republican politics more readily than they do among Democrats. I dunno. The reason is that RW crazitude sometimes serves the interest of the 1% and big-biz, and LW crazitude does not, and big-biz more or less owns both party’s establishments. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747/118 "2015-12-09T21:37:38Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > You work at a university? Or do you work in the real world and produce something? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747/119 "2015-12-09T21:45:14Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > But it’s not just the Christian fundamentalists. These attitudes have spread like a cancer throughout basically the entire republican base, and identity politics rule the day. And it’s not just science. Basic fact-checking is _not a thing any more_. It doesn’t matter if the media corrects a candidate on an obvious lie; the media is not considered trustworthy by most of the republican base, so the correct strategy for the candidate is to just keep repeating the lie until people believe them. This is not good for _anyone_ except the republican candidates. [I’m afraid it really is exactly that bad.](http://www.salon.com/2015/12/01now_we_know_truthiness_is_a_republican_phenomenon/) > [@](#): > > A new Pew Research Center study helps explain why Trump and Carson and even Fiorina have surged in the polls despite lying mercilessly. The simple answer is that most Americans don’t trust the media, and this is particularly true among conservatives. 65 percent of Americans say the media has a “negative effect” on the country (In 2010, the number was 57 percent). > > Republicans, predictably, are far more skeptical of the media than Democrats. 82 percent of conservatives say the news media is unreliable and bad for the country. A recent Gallup poll confirms the Pew findings. According to the Gallup data, “only 32 percent of Republicans said they have confidence in the news media – compared to 55 percent of Democrats.” > > The net result of all this is that the truth really doesn’t matter. For conservatives, the media is the enemy, and nothing they report is reliable, especially if it contradicts popular narratives. This means Republican candidates pay virtually no price for stretching the truth or lying outright. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747/120 "2015-12-09T22:09:09Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > I’m glad others have finally seen what a pretentious blowhard the **Stone** is. In the past I’m sure I’ve offended many regulars by my sniping at “our oh-so-lovely intelligent conservative.” Yuck! (Isn’t Stone from Canada? Maybe part of the problem is ignorance – he watches a little FoxNews and feels like he’s an authority on U.S. politics.) > > The sad thing is: I’m sure he has a highish IQ. He is sad evidence that the Dunning–Kruger effect knows no limits. He may be excellent at designing websites or something, and confuses himself into thinking he knows economics or politics… I don’t think the problem is that he’s “from Canada”, which technically he is. The problem, to the extent that place of residence is a contributory factor to being nuts, is that he’s not so much from Canada as, I believe, from Alberta. Now, there are many good people in Alberta, but the politics there is often divisive and extreme – think Texas, and in the case of **Sam** , think rural Texas. **Sam** was brought to us by the same folks who brought us most of our oil, our most toxic environmental pollution, Stephen Harper, and the Harper politicians who believed in Young Earth Creationism, climate denial, evolution denial, and general contempt for science and the arts. **Sam** is kind like what **octopus** would be if **octopus** had a working brain. At least **Sam** hasn’t asked anyone if they’re one of those useless layabouts who work at a university doing scientific research, or if they do productive stuff he can actually understand like cleaning toilets. So give him credit for that much. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-when-exactly-did-the-republican-party-start-becoming-insane/739747.md?page=7)