# Thanks a lot, Republican party..... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 25, 2008, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-a-lot-republican-party/442744 "2008-03-25T23:53:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-a-lot-republican-party/442744/61 "2008-03-27T20:08:54Z")
[QUOTE=Biggirl] I have no message. None. I am not a politician. I am not trying to pick up votes. What I am is totally disgusted with the Republican Party. If my disgust with them is insulting to you, then your problem shouldn’t be with my tone, it should be with your party. [/QUOTE] Amen. Insults against Republicans had no effect on me at all. I switched because it became apparent to me that the “insults” (actually facts) were true. I switched before this, but who can support a party where every candidate supports torture - except for the one actually tortured? In addition, I’m not a conservative any more because conservative ideas don’t work. That’s demonstrable. Plus, who has insulted who more? Remember “The Democrat Party?” Remember Swift Boating? As a former Republican I feel perfectly justified in insulting both the policies and the type of person who can support the unconscionable because “we may support torture and a stupid war, but at least we’re not Democrats.” ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2008, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-a-lot-republican-party/442744/62 "2008-03-27T22:42:07Z")
I think **Pochacco** and **Biggirl** nailed this one. I myself want to see a stronger Democratic party, built by adhering more closely to Democratic principles and attracting voters who see a party ready to fight for those principles. I have no interest in a party that grows because it attracts those voters who have not had their feelings hurt. I’ll tell you what, **Algher**. You should feel free to make up a t-shirt that says “Hentor the Barbarian kept me from voting Democratic because he was mean to me.” I’ll accept the blame on behalf of the Democrats for losing you. ---
**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:** [March 27, 2008, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-a-lot-republican-party/442744/63 "2008-03-27T22:45:46Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] I switched before this, but who can support a party where every candidate supports torture - except for the one actually tortured? [/QUOTE] You’d think that, but I doubt that McCain is going to cavil at torture as long as he’s not quite in that White House door, yet. He knows that doesn’t play with his voter base, as has been demonstrated by their very reluctant embrace of him. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-a-lot-republican-party/442744/64 "2008-03-27T22:55:44Z")
[QUOTE=mswas] McCain/Lieberman 08! [/QUOTE] Oh, thanks a lot…now I have to go touch up the gray hairs that thought just gave me. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2008, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-a-lot-republican-party/442744/65 "2008-03-27T23:27:19Z")
[QUOTE=Hentor the Barbarian] I’ll tell you what, **Algher**. You should feel free to make up a t-shirt that says “Hentor the Barbarian kept me from voting Democratic because he was mean to me.” [/QUOTE] I can’t help but envision millions of ex-Republicans, wandering the streets in confusion, left dejected and sad because the Democratic party won’t turn into the party they want it to be, which is the Republican party of the 50’s or 60’s or 80’s, or some such. It’s just so _unfair_! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-a-lot-republican-party/442744/66 "2008-03-28T00:27:10Z")
[QUOTE=JohnnieEnigma] that’s quite dramatic, but nothing compares to the complete clusterf\*\*\* the democratic party is right now. [/QUOTE] > [@Algher](#): > > I would like to point out that the sheer insulting tone of the some Democrats in this thread is exactly what has kept more Republicans from switching parties. I’m sorry, which party is it you think is being insulted here? ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-a-lot-republican-party/442744/67 "2008-03-28T03:04:42Z")
[QUOTE=Squink] I can’t help but envision millions of ex-Republicans, wandering the streets in confusion, left dejected and sad because the Democratic party won’t turn into the party they want it to be, which is the Republican party of the 50’s or 60’s or 80’s, or some such. It’s just so _unfair_! 😉 [/QUOTE] Probably the 80’s, when they could say that Reagan was awesome, and nobody would ask about the massive federal debt and corruption of the government. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-a-lot-republican-party/442744/68 "2008-03-28T04:23:31Z")
[QUOTE=Algher] Small Government…Lower taxes…Private lives [/QUOTE] What’s so great about small government? Why is that the be-all and end-all? Big government pulled us out of the Great Depression, gave us the interstate highway system and greatly diminished elderly poverty. Conservatives need to think harder about cause and effect. Looking at total spending, the government is basically a large pension plan that happens to have an army. Those who advocate small government _per se_, but don’t have a specific and politically vetted plan for getting there, substitute sloganeering for tough-minded analysis. ## Sure, I don’t like government fraud and waste. But I understand that _some administrations do that sort of thing more than others_ and that too many media pundits either have weird ideo-tribal affiliations or let a phony even-handedness basically eliminate any pretense of candor. That said, Republicans will vote for lower taxes on upper income groups, and some of that revenue shortfall will trickle down to the middle and lower groups. But since they don’t match their tax cuts with spending restraint, it’s basically an exercise in mortgaging the country’s future. > [@Voyager](#): > > Not if the war gets ended fairly quickly they won’t. We can cover health care for a lot of people, and do some infrastructure improvement, for just a few months of what Bush is pissing away in Iraq. Remember that health care is ~16% of the economy IIRC. No, we’re going to have to increment the size of the federal government upwards, even as the health insurance industry shrinks. Done properly it will advance economic growth. But expect the fever swamp to go nuts – it always does. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-a-lot-republican-party/442744/69 "2008-03-28T04:53:17Z")
[QUOTE=Squink] I can’t help but envision millions of ex-Republicans, wandering the streets in confusion, left dejected and sad because the Democratic party won’t turn into the party they want it to be, which is the Republican party of the 50’s or 60’s or 80’s, or some such. It’s just so _unfair_! 😉 [/QUOTE] But the modern conservative doesn’t actually _like_ the Republican of the 1950s-1970s. Any Republican who demands balanced budgets _in practice_ is labeled a Rhino - Republican in Name Only. John Anderson and Lowell Weicker were drummed out of the party for a reason. No, what the modern conservative wants is the policies of Reagan’s rhetoric, without the consequences of Reagan’s policies. [1] [2] [1] Believers in the free market believe that the Soviet Union broke apart due to the inferiority of its economic system. Modern conservatives ascribe the break-up to Reagan’s purchase of expensive weapon systems, and the devotion of 6% of the economy to peacetime military spending. Personally, I argue that Communism collapsed because of 1) the aging of the old guard and the replacement with reformers such as Gorbachev, followed by 2) the Armenian earthquake and Chernobyl, which persuaded them that the system was not reformable. [2] Although actually, Reagan’s policies were more moderate than his rhetoric. He followed large tax cuts with huge tax increases – in the end the middle class faced higher taxes, while upper income groups got tax cuts. Reagan came close to having an arms control breakthrough - to the dismay of most of his advisers. Stockman noted that his budget policy consisted of small across the board cuts (in the face of recession) rather than program-by-program evaluation and slash. ---
**Author:** ![Snag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Snag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snag)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-a-lot-republican-party/442744/70 "2008-03-28T06:33:04Z")
[QUOTE=Measure for Measure] But the modern conservative doesn’t actually _like_ the Republican of the 1950s-1970s. [/QUOTE] General Eisenhower would have trouble nowadays getting elected to city council as a Republican. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-a-lot-republican-party/442744/71 "2008-03-28T06:59:22Z")
[QUOTE=Snag] General Eisenhower would have trouble nowadays getting elected to city council as a Republican. [/QUOTE] Well, that’s understandable. Modern Republicans want someone who can win a war. You know, like Reagan. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-a-lot-republican-party/442744/72 "2008-03-28T07:04:59Z")
Which reminds me, when is the Grenada Monument due to open? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-a-lot-republican-party/442744/73 "2008-03-28T07:13:18Z")
[QUOTE=Snag] General Eisenhower would have trouble nowadays getting elected to city council as a Republican. [/QUOTE] As has been mentioned, so would Reagan. He raised taxes in California, he didn’t do anything against abortion, so he clearly wasn’t a real Reagan Republican. ---
**Author:** ![Snag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Snag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snag)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2008, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-a-lot-republican-party/442744/74 "2008-03-28T16:05:01Z")
[QUOTE=Voyager] As has been mentioned, so would Reagan. He raised taxes in California, he didn’t do anything against abortion, so he clearly wasn’t a real Reagan Republican. [/QUOTE] Reagan also raised taxes for years after his initial US tax cut ultimately to the highest tax increase in peacetime history. I believe that record remains so today. He also inflated the size of government spending to the largest it had ever been by the time he left office. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-a-lot-republican-party/442744/75 "2008-03-29T02:43:18Z")
[QUOTE=MacTech] **Thanks a lot, Republican party…** Thanks a lot, Dubya and Cheney, for thoroughly dragging the Republican paty through the mud and crap, demeaning and maligning the party to the point that I’m ashamed to admit that I’m a Republican (old-school Pubbie, not a “Bush-Pubbie”), thanks for destroying the U.S.'s standing in the world, and thanks for increasing corruption and government spending to stratospheric heights, and getting us into that quagmire currently masquerading as the “Iraq War” [snip] Bravo, Dubya, you’re doing a hell of a job! [/quote] I just don’t understand this at all. Bush and Cheney didn’t elect themselves. Millions of people voted for them, and all of those voters got what they voted for. If you’re one of those millions who voted for Bush/Cheney (twice!), instead of trying to distance yourselves from them, instead of complaining about what they’ve done, look in the mirror. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thanks-a-lot-republican-party/442744.md?page=3)