# Why are there so many freaking retards in the Republican party? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 3, 2004, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433 "2004-07-03T23:51:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433/21 "2004-07-04T15:56:50Z")
Grench bashing? I meant French bashing. But the Grench are a bunch of assholes too. ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433/22 "2004-07-04T15:58:58Z")
> [@laigle](#): > > No, we have a lot more to go on than the two quotes. And where might you hang your hat, since it’s curiously not in your profile? Wherever it is, I’m sure we can find a few morons living there and make a few generalizations of our own. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433/23 "2004-07-04T17:12:09Z")
> [@Machetero](#): > > I’ve always wondered how some Democrats could be so pathetically stupid to not belive the"they’ll take our guns" bit about their putrid party. The Democrats are the party of the gun control and have always had some fairly whacko legislation out there concerning firearms and ammunition. :rolleyes: Case in point. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433/24 "2004-07-04T17:54:25Z")
To the OP: Exactly why do you feel you need to use the term retard as an insult? Are you no better than an elementary school child, being not only intolerant but naive that your hateful words slur an entire group besides the person or group you are already slurring? Get a bigger vocabulary if yours is too small that ‘retard’ has to be included as an insult. Oh… and your generalizations blow monolithic chunks as well. ---
**Author:** ![Club\_33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@Club\_33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Club_33)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433/25 "2004-07-04T18:23:42Z")
Well said, **Mockingbird** ---
**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:** [July 4, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433/26 "2004-07-04T18:39:40Z")
Oh! I thought it was “Why are there so many freaking _petards_ in the Republican party?” That, in my opinion, is a much more valid question. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433/27 "2004-07-04T21:12:11Z")
> [@](#): > > Oh! I thought it was “Why are there so many freaking petards in the Republican party?” That, in my opinion, is a much more valid question. And come November I look forward to seeing a fair number hoisted on their own. ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433/28 "2004-07-04T22:06:59Z")
> [@Mockingbird](#): > > Exactly why do you feel you need to use the term retard as an insult? Are you no better than an elementary school child, being not only intolerant but naive that your hateful words slur an entire group besides the person or group you are already slurring? From [m-w.com](http://m-w.com): **Moron:** a mildly mentally retarded person **imbecile:** a person affected with moderate mental retardation **idiocy** :extreme mental retardation So, based on your theory, we can’t call anyone moron, imbecille, idiot, etc, because we are offending retarded people? Anyone calling somoene else an idiot is “not only intolerant but naive that [their] hateful words slur an entire group”? :rolleyes: This oversensitivity in today’s culture is one of the things people on the Right are correct about. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433/29 "2004-07-04T22:10:56Z")
What’s the other one? ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433/30 "2004-07-04T22:16:34Z")
> [@Abbie Carmichael](#): > > **Maybe it’s not Republicans or Democrats, but something to do with the part of the country.** > > Two quotes and we can safely conclude that all southerners are idiots? First of all, as \*\*laigle \*\* said > [@](#): > > No, we have a lot more to go on than the two quotes. Do I need to cite volumes and volumes of examples? This is not a research paper; it is a Pit thread. I found some quotes that I thought were characteristic and used them in the OP. Let’s not pretend that the attitudes they represent are not widespread, as **Machetero** has so helpfully illustrated > [@](#): > > I’ve always wondered how some Democrats could be so pathetically stupid to not belive the"they’ll take our guns" bit about their putrid party. Secondly, when you say “safely conclude that all southerners are idiots”, \*where \* did I say that “all southerners are idiots”? All I said was there seem to be a lot of idiots in the South, which if you understand logic, does not necessarily imply that everyone in the South is an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![laigle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@laigle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laigle)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433/31 "2004-07-04T22:29:47Z")
> [@Abbie Carmichael](#): > > And where might you hang your hat, since it’s curiously not in your profile? > > Wherever it is, I’m sure we can find a few morons living there and make a few generalizations of our own. It’s not curious. ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433/32 "2004-07-04T22:41:42Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Given the text of the OP, the title is certainly misleading. Well, when I started the thread, I was focusing on Randal Vinson (a Republican), but then I decided to add the info about the “Democrats” in Tennessee. While they consider themselves Democrat, the Slate article mentions > [@](#): > > Tennesseans lean further right in presidential elections than in local ones and in any case, the “opinions” they expressed in the article are straight GOP talking points that the Republicans use to “convince” people to vote for their guy. So, I would still consider their opinions “Republican thinking”, so the that’s why I decided to leave the title of the OP as is. > [@](#): > > Odd accusations against particular groups would indicate a strangely provincial world view. I don’t get this whole “you can’t talk about group characteristics” deal. Say 80% of Republicans are regular churchgoers, and 20% of Democrats are. Can’t you say that Republicans, on average, are more churchgoing that Democrats? Well, one might say “you’re ignoring the 20% of Republicans who aren’t churchgoers”. So what? If we always have to make a statement precise by always stating the exact percentage of a group that has a given characteristic, it would make public discourse very cumbersome and inefficient. I should note that you make an “odd accusation against a particular group” yourself. You imply that everyone in the group that makes “odd accusations against particular groups” has a strangely provincial world view. Isn’t that a blanket statement about a whole group, without looking at each individual in that group to see if they really have a provincial world view? And in any case, I did not state in the OP that all Republicans are retards. So, I am not making a blanket statement about Republicans. I just said that a lot of morons seem to be Republicans, or buy into stupid Republican rhetoric and vote Republican in national elections. Now, there are many who vote Republican because of non-stupid reasons (they want lower taxes for example), so even though they vote Republican, I don’t consider them morons. But someone who thinks badly of Kerry because he looks French or talks French is a damn moron. ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433/33 "2004-07-04T22:42:45Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > What’s the other one? _One_ other one: taxes are too high. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433/34 "2004-07-04T23:22:21Z")
> [@Polerius](#): > > I don’t get this whole “you can’t talk about group characteristics” deal. > Say 80% of Republicans are regular churchgoers, and 20% of Democrats are. Can’t you say that Republicans, on average, are more churchgoing that Democrats? well, sure you can, if you indeed have the data to support that statement, a quality singularly lacking in your posts. Your conclusions (“a lot of retards” are Republican) seems to be based on casual observance from folks you have contact with, a few stray quotes from columnists, rather than, say empirical data. (and yes, though this is the pit, we do still expect that assertions can be proven) > [@](#): > > And in any case, I did not state in the OP that all Republicans are retards. So, I am not making a blanket statement about Republicans. I just said that a lot of morons seem to be Republicans, or buy into stupid Republican rhetoric and vote Republican in national elections. and again, you seem to be short on data wrt “a lot” of morons seem to be Republican/buy into stupid Republican rhetoric. > [@](#): > > But someone who thinks badly of Kerry because he looks French or talks French is a damn moron. well, if their main objection to Kerry is because of xenophobic crap such as this, I’d agree that their thinking process leaves much to be desired. But that’s something that can be said about many, not just Republicans, Democrats, idiots who can log into a message board, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Polerius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d78d45/32.png) [@Polerius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polerius)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433/35 "2004-07-04T23:57:23Z")
> [@wring](#): > > well, sure you can, if you indeed have the data to support that statement, a quality singularly lacking in your posts. Your conclusions (“a lot of retards” are Republican) seems to be based on casual observance from folks you have contact with, a few stray quotes from columnists, rather than, say empirical data. (and yes, though this is the pit, we do still expect that assertions can be proven) HOW > [@](#): > > [Conservative Truth - Technological Advancements: A Path to Freedom or a Path to Serfdom? - Robert Rohlfing - 2011-01-10](http://www.conservativetruth.org/article.php?id=2248) > > Languages: Kerry- speaks French. Bush- speaks Spanish. Bush can talk to people who don’t want to leave and Kerry can talk to people who don’t want to stay. It’s no fun talking to people’s backsides as they are retreating. Advantage Bush. MANY > [@](#): > > [http://french.about.com/b/a/076987.htm](http://french.about.com/b/a/076987.htm) > > Because Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry speaks French (which Republicans seem to view as a bad thing), he has been accused of looking French and agreeing with the French, and jokes about his French-language skills are common in conservative circles. The fact that the French support Kerry only serves to contribute to the right’s dislike of him. CITES > [@](#): > > [http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/897646/posts](http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/897646/posts) > > In assessing Mr. Bush’s potential opponents, Mr. Bush’s advisers said Mr. Kerry could be presented as ideologically and culturally out of step, both because of his liberal positions on some issues as well as his Boston lineage and what some Bush advisers described as his haughty air. > > Marc Racicot, the Republican national chairman, said recently that Mr. Kerry “is going to have a hard time translating out of New England.” Another Bush adviser said of Mr. Kerry, “He looks French.” DO > [@](#): > > [http://www.spinsanity.org/post.html?2003\_08\_03\_archive.html#106038035144055931](http://www.spinsanity.org/post.html?2003_08_03_archive.html#106038035144055931) > > On April 22, an anoymous Bush adviser told the New York Times that Kerry "looks French,” a silly insult designed to capitalize on anti-French sentiment in the wake of the Iraq war. Since then, three right-wing pundits have repeated it frequently, calling Kerry “French-looking” in nonsensical terms. Kerry’s wife, Teresa Heinz, lashed back in the press, prompting James Taranto, the author of the Best of the Web Today column on Opinion Journal, the website of the Wall Street Journal editorial page, to first pick up on the phrase. In his April 24 column, he first discusses the controversy, then further down calls Kerry “French-looking,” beginning a spree of 22 uses of the term that culminated in a Wall Street Journal op-ed yesterday in which he repeated it. > > Radio host Rush Limbaugh has used the term multiple times as well (see commentaries from June 9, July 16, July 22 and August 5, among others). He has also introduced other variants, calling Kerry “John French”, Jean Cheri and “Jean F. Cheri”. YOU NEED? … before you admit that the Republicans use the stupidest attacks against their opponents, because they know they work on morons who vote. I could do more of these, like showing how many are “convinced” by “the liberals want to take all your guns away” “argument”, AND WHICH SIDE THEY END UP VOTING FOR, but why bother? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433/36 "2004-07-05T00:19:28Z")
Joke coming, be warned: So, why does the Republican Party have all the idiots, while the Democrats have all the liberals? Because the Republicans got first pick. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2004, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433/37 "2004-07-05T00:45:56Z")
**Polerius** , I have to say, your first example seems to be a simple bit of clever wordplay, not intended to convince anyone of anything they don’t already believe. Your second cite is simply a group of unsubstantiated statements about Republican attacks on John Kerry. Not quotes of what they’re actually saying, so not really what I’d call very convincing for your thesis. Your third cite seems to consist of fair criticisms, until you get to the last quote. Which is attributed to an unnamed ‘Bush advisor.’ Unattributed quotes are pretty unconvincing. Everything else, while you and I are free to disagree with the sentiment, does not strike me as being mindbogglingly stupid. Your final cite is a bit more substantial, but the first part seems to be building solely off the same quote in your third cite, and then using Rush Limbaugh as synonomous with the Republican party as a whole. Again, neither strikes me as indicative of general brain poison. So far, your four cites seem to come down to only one unattributed incident, and Rush Limbaugh, which isn’t what I’d call very convincing. > [@Polerius](#): > > I could do more of these, like showing how many are “convinced” by “the liberals want to take all your guns away” “argument”, AND WHICH SIDE THEY END UP VOTING FOR, but why bother? All I’m really trying to say is that boronic\* reasoning is used by both major parties, and all politicians. No party is innocent of this kind of rhetorical shorthand, so judging either party’s membership by this alone isn’t what I’d call very reasonable. boron, boronic, and mind poisoning are all related to the following reasoning: In nuclear physics there are substances that absorb neutrons, preventing a chain reaction. I believe that there are also people who absorb ideas, and poison the normal manner of ideas begetting other ideas by colliding with open minds. Those people are known as borons. The quality of being a boron is known as being boronic. And any kind of discourse that depends on squashing ideas rather than spurring them is known as mind poisoning. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2004, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433/38 "2004-07-05T00:52:17Z")
> [@Polerius](#): > > From [m-w.com](http://m-w.com): > **Moron:** a mildly mentally retarded person > **imbecile:** a person affected with moderate mental retardation > **idiocy** :extreme mental retardation > > So, based on your theory, we can’t call anyone moron, imbecille, idiot, etc, because we are offending retarded people? > > Anyone calling somoene else an idiot is “not only intolerant but naive that [their] hateful words slur an entire group”? :rolleyes: > > This oversensitivity in today’s culture is one of the things people on the Right are correct about. That is disingeunous, as are your remarks about the right. Perhaps you could stand to be honest. There are more than enough complaints to be made about both sides. Intellectually dishonest terms like ‘retard’ are not the way to go. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2004, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433/39 "2004-07-05T01:30:31Z")
Because the Libertarian Party is too disorganized for them? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433/40 "2004-07-05T01:52:45Z")
"_…six retards freaking, FIVE…GOL-DEN…RINGS!!! Four swollen turds, three clenched wrens, two curdled ducks And the Partridges in the cem-et-ry!!!.."_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-there-so-many-freaking-retards-in-the-republican-party/253433.md?page=3)