Stupid Republican idea of the day

[drewtwo99]

The Santorum comment is beyond words unbelievable. What Mandela was fighting for might not be the right thing??? Dear lord, he’s worse than I ever imagined.

[Robot_Arm]

I didn’t read the linked article at The American Conservative, but the quoted portion doesn’t really impress me. I found this definition of “magnanimous”:

very generous or forgiving, esp. toward a rival or someone less powerful than oneself.

It sounds like the writer is saying that conservatives were right about everything all along, but now isn’t the right time to brag about it.

[Frostillicus]

@YogSosoth

He compares Apartheid to the GOP’s fight against the “injustice” of Obamacare, because racial minority rule, discrimination, and prejudice is the same as covering health care costs for sick people, the poor, and paying into a communal bank so that more people can be treated and cost less overall. What must the crack in Santorum’s world taste like I wonder?

I read a tweet to the effect that if Santorum thinks Obamacare is just like apartheid, he should be willing to spend 27 years in prison fighting it.

[elucidator]

Well, sure, but we have to scale it to the man, by comparison. In a Santorum to Mandela ratio, about 27 hours seems about right.

[MOIDALIZE]

Unlike Obamacare, apartheid actually had the support of some Republicans.

[GIGObuster]

@MOIDALIZE

Unlike Obamacare, apartheid actually had the support of some Republicans.

Ronald Reagan’s behavior towards apartheid was really shameful.

Reagan's embrace of apartheid South Africa

By the end of the Reagan years, had the policy changed?

Well, Reagan’s attitudes hadn’t changed, but the policy changed because Congress changed it and voted sanctions. That cut off a lot of the flow of American capital. Sullivan renounced his position. Bishop Desmond Tutu came to the United States in 1984 after being awarded the Nobel Prize. He speaks in the House of Representatives and says that constructive engagement is a farce, and that it just entrenched the existing order. He said Reagan’s policy was “immoral, evil and totally un-Christian.”

After Reagan met with Tutu, he was asked at a press conference to talk about their meeting. Reagan said, “It is counterproductive for one country to splash itself all over the headlines, demanding that another government do something.” Then he claimed that black tribal leaders had expressed their support for American investment. He was trying to discredit Tutu’s argument that U.S. policy had hurt blacks. Anti-communism trumped so much in Reagan’s view of the non-Western world.

Would you argue that Reagan’s foreign policy extended the life of the regime in South Africa?

Yes. It gave it life. It gave it hope that the United States would continue to stick with it. It gave it continued flow of aid as well as ideological support. It delayed the changes that were going to come. Then you had the big crackdowns in ’86 and ’87. So there was harm in the lengthening. There was harm in the violence that continued.

I think a lot of well-meaning people in the United States bought the Sullivan principles and constructive engagement, because it seems reasonable. Reagan would say, “If we’re willing to talk to the Russians, why aren’t we willing to talk to the South African government?” We’re going to encourage them to moderate and reform — it sounds reasonable. But there was no real pressure. It was all talk. And it was exposed as that.

[elucidator]

Well, he was all about whupping the Communists, wasn’t he? Didn’t matter what kind of monster with a stupid military hat and aviator sunglasses, what sort of murdering bastard, just so long as he was against the Communists.

Its not a surprise that people in Central America hate our guts, the surprise is how few of them do.

[Robot_Arm]

“Mr. de Klerk, shore up this wall.”

[Trinopus]

“The right to vote’s no answer to your prayers, no guarantee.
Our blacks can vote…and they got me!”

[BrainGlutton]

“Constructive engagement”! Oh, that takes me back!

[septimus]

I want to hijack this thread briefly to express outrage.

Nelson Mandela was one of the greatest men of recent centuries. I didn’t remember that he’d won the Nobel Prize for Peace but made a bet with myself that he surely had; Wikipedia’d to confirm; and noted that he’d also won the highest civilian awards given by U.S.A., Soviet Union (how many have won both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Order of Lenin?) as well as India.

The despicable racist dog-eat-dog assholes who’ve taken over the GOP all hated Mandela. They hated him because he was black, they hated him because of business conflicts, and they hated him for opposing their Greed-is-God philosophy.

To hear these despicable subhumans now compare their fight against Obama with Mandela’s fight against apartheid infuriates me. I wasn’t sure I could hate the subhuman assholes more than I already did, but now I’d like to see their noses rubbed in shit until they asphyxiate.

Sorry if I’m “painting with a broad brush” again and over-reacting to one comment by one singular asshole, Santorum. I’ve got better things to do with my time than research whether one despicable right-wing asshole is slightly less despicable than other.

Thanks for listening.

[Revtim]

Is there some way to give Santorum the benefit of the doubt for his “what [Mandela] was advocating for was not necessarily the right answer” quote to possibly mean something other than ‘blacks having equal rights is not right’? Like maybe he was referring to Mandela trying to make South Africa communist or something? Because goddamn, even for Santorum, that’s an unbelievable thing to say in this country in in this time from a major politician.

[YogSothoth]

There’s no reason to give Santorum any benefit of the doubt, especially if you remember his “blah people” comment. He doesn’t like black people and he doesn’t hide it very well

[MacCat]

@septimus

Thanks for listening.

Thanks for writing, and accurately representing my feelings towards them. It so needs to be said.

[BrainGlutton]

@septimus

Sorry if I’m “painting with a broad brush” again and over-reacting to one comment by one singular asshole, Santorum.

Actually, most of the Pub pols have been publicly respectful of Mandela, but their base is far worse.

[computergeek]

The base seems to be really pissed that people are celebrating Mandela, because hey, he was a Communist. But considering he held South Africa together after the fall of apartheid, I say so what if he was a Communist? Going a peaceful path when he could have gone a violent way should totally be celebrated and anyone who pisses on that should go piss on themselves.

[septimus]

@BrainGlutton

Actually, most of the Pub pols have been publicly respectful of Mandela, but their base is far worse.

One expects ignorant racist swine to hate a man like Mandela. And, although Rubio et al know their voting base is ignorant swine, they need to pay lip service to Mandela in order to maintain credibility with news reporters, etc.

My particular venom was for Santorum, who joined in praising Mandela just so he could compare his fight against Obama with Mandela’s fight against apartheid. That kind of twisted no-lie-is-too-big hypocrisy turns my stomach.

[BrainGlutton]

@computergeek

The base seems to be really pissed that people are celebrating Mandela, because hey, he was a Communist. But considering he held South Africa together after the fall of apartheid, I say so what if he was a Communist? Going a peaceful path when he could have gone a violent way should totally be celebrated and anyone who pisses on that should go piss on themselves.

See post #11934.

[jayjay]

I kind of lolled at Frank Coniff’s tweet today:

Santorum is wrong to compare Obamacare to Apartheid because unlike Obamacare, many Republicans supported Apartheid.

[smithsb]

New York Daily News - As Sen. Rand addressed Faux News.
Sen. Rand Paul says extending unemployment benefits is a ‘disservice’ to …

Sen. Rand Paul says extending unemployment benefits is a ‘disservice’ to...

I’m not a fan of unlimited benefits either. Perhaps the Republicans could have stepped out of the way on job assistance and training programs right after the Great Recession. “But, Steve, that would have interfered with their goal of making President Obama a one-term-er”. One notable example chronicled in this thread was downing a Veterans job assistance program immediately before the 2012 elections - you know - stabbing their own base.