# Why I dont vote Republican **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 16, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387 "2010-04-16T20:28:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387/21 "2010-04-17T11:49:49Z")
> [@Dob](#): > > In general the Republican party stands for small government, strong defense, low taxes, and free enterprise. So what’s wrong with that? I actually agree with those goals. I think they are all worthy and should be pursued to the betterment of us all. And yet, I don’t vote Republican, or at least not anymore. My first election in 1988 when I voted for Bush Sr., I voted Clinton in 92 (mostly because of the Sax playing, but hey, I was in college and that was cool!). In 1996 I voted Clinton again because the Sax was still cool. In 2000 I voted Gore only because while Bush Jr. seemed like a guy I wanted to drink a beer with, I didn’t want him as a CIC. > > But after 9/11 I became a huge Bush supporter. I thought he handled everything that came at us like a pro. When we went into Afghanistan I was proud of my president. He saw a threat, got the support, and when at them like they had never seen before. When he turned to Iraq, I was less enthused, but I got behind him because he must know what I don’t know, and if he said Iraq is dangerous I believed him. I was actually going to vote for him in 2004 until… > > The Republican Convention. I saw hundreds of Republicans wearing band-aids mocking John Kerry and his purple heart. It was also the first time I really noticed the constant use of Republicans=Real Americans. I saw the swift boat ads, and was even more disgusted. But what really turned my stomach was the complete lack of any Republican leadership calling out these disgusting tactics for what they were. The RNC had dropped to the lowest dominator and nobody was trying to pull them back up. > > In 2008 it got worse. I watched another convention and this time not only did they equate republican with “real American” they actually stood up and made fun of being a community organizer like it was bad thing. I saw Palin enflame the base with lies and name calling. I did see a small glimmer when McCain refuted the little old lady about Obama being a terrorist, but it was to little and to late. > > And now… Republican leaders allow things like the Birther’s to continue. They bow to people like Beck and Limbaugh who while they seem to know how to run a government have never actually run/managed/owned a single business. They use words like “socialism”, “Marxist”, and “communist” without actually knowing what they mean. They enflame and incite not with ideas and knowledge but with name calling and fear. They allow Fox News to be a mouth piece and yet show no restraint in that use. They allow them to slander, lie, and distort and yet they never correct. > > They insist they want to “take back America for real Americans!”. What? So I’m not a real American because I don’t believe in the same Politics you do? My kids aren’t real Americans? My Wife? My Father-in-Law worked for the State Dept from the early 60s’ until 2001. He worked in some of the nastier places on this planet. Places that required his kids be driven around in bullet proof cars. He devoted his life to this country, he doesn’t vote Republican. He’s not a real American? > > When does the insulting stop? When do you get back to be a party of ideals? Who will be the Republican version of a Joseph Welch? "Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator… You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency? “ > > Where is decency in the Republican party? Where are the leaders who will stand up and say “enough is enough!”. Where are the ideas that enflame passion, not hatred? I want to hear a speech by a Republican that not once mentions “real America”. Just tell me what you see as a vision for this country, make me believe it, show me how you would do better, then actually do it. > > Stop trying to make me afraid of what we have, to make yourselves look braver by comparison. Just show me something!!! I say Amen, you hit the nail on the head as far as I am concerned. They talk of government control over our lives and try to do the same thing socially. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387/22 "2010-04-17T13:17:34Z")
I feel much the same way Dob. I grew up in a family of Reagan Republicans. I supported the party in the first election in which I was old enough to vote. My father spent most of the 90s despising Bill Clinton. But in 2008 he voted for a Democrat for the first time, because he felt the GOP had become such a farce. My own attitudes started changing in the late '90s when I went to college. I was never a big fan of Bush, but still felt good enough about him at first that I didn’t worry much about his election. The next eight years really opened my eyes, however. I thought when the party nominated McCain that there was still hope that it was a rational entity open to moderate ideas. But then he was forced to pick Palin as his running mate. Seeing the party let the crassest, most loathsome elements take charge and make fools like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin its spokespeople pretty much destroyed what little faith I or my family had left in it. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387/23 "2010-04-18T01:25:17Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > I feel much the same way Dob. I grew up in a family of Reagan Republicans. I supported the party in the first election in which I was old enough to vote. Me too. Any moderate Republican (pro-choice, pro-SSM, whatever) is being driven from the party but what are our options? Any third-party is flaming liberal except the teabags who are the ones claiming we’re not real Republicans because I honestly don’t care who’s banging who or that I don’t believe this country should be run by their misinformed and hypocritical interpretation of the Bible. Democrat? That’ll never happen as long as a moderate Republican believes in fiscal responsiblity. Yes, the Reps have their own pork-barrel spending but as bad as they are the Dems are worse and at least we have a few that think we should curb spending. Who on the left-side of the aisle would even consider reducing spending? Start a party? I’m actually considering this when I get settled in Colorado (the preliminary platform is posted in a thread somewhere) but it is nearly impossible to get a third party in one state let alone nationally and unless you’re in Vermont third-parties are noted for their lack of success. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387/24 "2010-04-18T01:46:09Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Me too. Any moderate Republican (pro-choice, pro-SSM, whatever) is being driven from the party but what are our options? Any third-party is flaming liberal except the teabags who are the ones claiming we’re not real Republicans because I honestly don’t care who’s banging who or that I don’t believe this country should be run by their misinformed and hypocritical interpretation of the Bible. > > Democrat? That’ll never happen as long as a moderate Republican believes in fiscal responsiblity. Yes, the Reps have their own pork-barrel spending but as bad as they are the Dems are worse and at least we have a few that think we should curb spending. Who on the left-side of the aisle would even consider reducing spending? > > Start a party? I’m actually considering this when I get settled in Colorado (the preliminary platform is posted in a thread somewhere) but it is nearly impossible to get a third party in one state let alone nationally and unless you’re in Vermont third-parties are noted for their lack of success. Support the Third Way who are on the brink of a rise to power! People like Scott Brown in Massachusetts and Meg Whitman and Tom Campbell in California. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387/25 "2010-04-18T02:45:53Z")
Hey, everyone thinks they are in the minority on this board. It’s our shtick. Me, I’m a gun totin’ left-wing, Christian Peace Creep. The moment you referred to, McCain’s attempt to rebuke the woman’s comment about Mr. Obama being a Muslim was a pivot point. They booed him. Their own candidate pointed out a true fact, and a respectful attitude toward the process of democracy, and the GOP faithful booed. It was in that moment that John McCain realized who was on his side. I cry to think that this fine man could not bring to bear that core self direction that once marked his politics, and fire his entire staff, and publicly point out that demagoguery is not the path for his administration to pursue. I must say, had it been a choice between Clinton, and McCain, (Assuming Sarah stayed up in the snow, shooting moose.) I might well have cast my very first vote for a Republican Presidential candidate. That choice would have been on the basis of character. Not the silly trappings of church membership, and chaste behavior, but on the true quality of character that makes a person choose to do what will be unpopular because they know it is the right thing to do. Before the last election cycle, John McCain had it, Hillary Clinton did not. Sadly, since he is now no longer a Maverick, it appears he has joined the forces which so surprised him on that night when the Republican Party Machinery rolled over him. We on the left really lucked out. Now we need to stay at the plate, and swing at the tough pitches. As they always do, the Republican Party will seek victory at any ethical cost, and our only possible choice is to stake out the low ground, and stay the hell off of it. Turning out at the polls in the off years would be a delightful surprise for a change. Tris ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387/26 "2010-04-18T02:50:04Z")
deleted ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387/27 "2010-04-18T03:21:06Z")
I’d like to see less use of the word “liberal” and more use of the word “progressive”. George Lakoff points out that conservatives have been intentionally making the word “liberal” carry undesirable baggage since the early sixties. Terms like “Tax and spend liberals”, “Hollywood liberals” and “East coast liberal elites” allow conservatives to frame our messages of progress in a negative way. When we use the term, we reinforce conservative frames of who “liberals” are. I am none of those things and I’d say many here are not as well. I remember a poll a while back where people came back saying “I’m socially liberal, but fiscally conservative” etc. Well, then, don’t let someone hang a “liberal” sign around your neck it that’s not who you are. Lets use the term “progressive” and frame our own message our own way. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387/28 "2010-04-18T03:39:24Z")
Well, it would be a really good thing for the American Electorate to spend less time and effort trying to come up with nifty ways to explain what we have done, and more time actually trying to find out what we really did. The we could move on to how the hell to fix the things we screwed up, and support the very few things that actually worked. I don’t care if drooling hyper-patriots of the extreme neo-conservative wing use capitalism to deliver appropriate nutrition to infants and nursing mothers. I just want the kids fed. We got more money than everyone, and oddly enough, we don’t have anywhere near the lowest infant mortality rate. Who the fuck cares whose fault it was, let’s start feeding everyone under a hundred pounds. Even the rich ones. Let’s not do means testing, let’s just feed folks who need to eat. That way, folks who are against feeding hungry children will have to vote against feeding hungry children, instead f voting against communism. Tris ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387/29 "2010-04-18T05:22:00Z")
“There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies.” – Winston S. Churchill ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387/30 "2010-04-18T05:24:55Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Democrat? That’ll never happen as long as a moderate Republican believes in fiscal responsiblity. Yes, the Reps have their own pork-barrel spending but as bad as they are the Dems are worse and at least we have a few that think we should curb spending. Who on the left-side of the aisle would even consider reducing spending? That’s a very interesting interesting comment. I’m trying to remember who was in government the last time the federal budget was in the black? And then who was in government when it next returned to a deficit? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387/31 "2010-04-18T05:44:10Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > Support the Third Way who are on the brink of a rise to power! People like Scott Brown in Massachusetts and Meg Whitman and Tom Campbell in California. You are listing republicans from MA and CA though. I don’t know enough about Whitman and Campbell, but any GOP candidate with a fighting chance in a strongly blue state like CA or MA has to be moderate. The bulk of the GOP still comes from deep red areas in the south, midwest and northwest. So they will still get to define the party, and punish anyone who doesn’t follow the protocol. Specter had to switch parties. Collins & Snowe are ridiculed. Brown has been targeted for supporting the jobs bill and other bills. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387/32 "2010-04-18T06:44:54Z")
> [@Triskadecamus](#): > > The moment you referred to, McCain’s attempt to rebuke the woman’s comment about Mr. Obama being a Muslim was a pivot point. They booed him. Their own candidate pointed out a true fact, and a respectful attitude toward the process of democracy, and the GOP faithful booed. It was in that moment that John McCain realized who was on his side. I cry to think that this fine man could not bring to bear that core self direction that once marked his politics, and fire his entire staff, and publicly point out that demagoguery is not the path for his administration to pursue. I agree. I really wanted to vote for McCain in 2000, and I was extremely disappointed when he did not get the nomination. I honestly thought he was the best candidate, showing integrity, courage and convictions. When his campaign collapsed in South Carolina under an extremely negative and (IMHO) despicable attack that appeared to come from Governor Bush’s campaign, I turned to the Democrats. I didn’t really like Al Gore, but I didn’t dislike him either. I thought President Clinton was a liar and a philanderer, but all in all I thought he was a decent President. His foreign policies were OK. I liked NAFTA in principle, if not in practice. I liked that he pushed to balance the budget (under the tutelage of Alan Greenspan). Welfare Reform was mostly good. The Family Medical Leave Act was good. Other things were mixed. Regardless, I thought Al Gore would most likely stay the course, albeit less effectively. I had no problem casting a vote for Al Gore in light of the tactics employed by Karl Rove, though I had no beef with George Bush himself. I thought that Florida 2000 was a CF, that the Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore was questionable at best, but overall I was not too concerned when the election went to President Bush. Then things really changed. There was no fiscal conservatism: the budgets exploded, the pay as you go rules were allowed to expire, the Republican congress passed and the President signed the 1 trillion dollar Medicare bill, went to war on two fronts (one of which was was unnecessary to my mind) and cut taxes. On the civil side, we had the Patriot Act, free speech zones, extraordinary rendition, illegal wiretapping, water boarding (which our military recognized as torture during WW II), faith based initiatives, and the inclusion of creationist literature in our National Park Bookstores. All of this, coupled with things like the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, his energy policies, and what I perceived as contempt for environmental protections really alienated me from the Republican Party. But I could still have turned back. I am a Libertarian at heart and there are a lot of things about the Republican Platform that I believe in, that is if they actually stood for them. When McCain became the Republican front runner, I thought it was a return to sanity and away from President Bush’s Policies. While I never really thought he was a centrist, he was always a little right leaning for the civil libertarian in me, at least I thought he was someone who would work across the aisle and would dismiss the rhetoric coming ever louder and more partisan from right wing radio and Fox News. I thought he would try to appeal to middle and would maybe bring the country together that had been badly divided since the partisan witch hunt headed by Ken Starr (I had hoped Bush would try to heal this rift also with his talks of compassionate conservatism, but he quickly dashed these hopes for me with his cabinet talking about permanent Republican majorities and his complete dismissal of the Democrats in congress). Then the election came and John McCain never went for the middle, but moved even further right. When he chose Sarah Palin, with her manipulative populism, as his running mate I despaired. Now, I cannot imagine voting for a Republican candidate. People like Sarah Palin, Michele Bachman, Joe the Plumber, Glenn Beck, and Rush Limbaugh seem to be setting the agenda and tone. There is nothing to respect there. Sorry for the rant… ---
**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:** [April 18, 2010, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387/33 "2010-04-18T08:10:10Z")
> [@Imasquare](#): > > I’m trying to remember who was in government the last time the federal budget was in the black? And then who was in government when it next returned to a deficit? It’s also worth noting that congressional earmarks (as defined by Citizens Against Government Waste) are down 15% this year ($19.6 billion to $16.5 billion) after peaking at $29 billion in 2006. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387/34 "2010-04-18T08:21:03Z")
> [@Dob](#): > > In general the Republican party stands for small government, strong defense, low taxes, and free enterprise. So what’s wrong with that? I actually agree with those goals. You kind of missed the biggest, most relevant point here. They claim to stand for these things, but other than low taxes (and arguably free enterprise if you concede that they’re all for empowering the enterprises that are already established and powerful) they don’t actually do these things. It makes a nice soundbite and claimed party platform, but they do quite the opposite. So even before you get to the other stuff (which I agree with), you can simply say “they say they stand for this stuff, I agree with that stuff, yet they do quite the opposite of their supposed beliefs” and that’s enough reason right there not to vote for them. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387/35 "2010-04-18T10:12:20Z")
Hear hear! It seems implied that the pubbies get another chance if they change their ways. I don’t think they get another chance. Flush 'em. Let the teabaggers be the new conservative party. Get rid of the GOP. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387/36 "2010-04-18T15:03:35Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > Support the Third Way who are on the brink of a rise to power! People like Scott Brown in Massachusetts and Meg Whitman and Tom Campbell in California. By “Third Way,” do you mean the same thing as the [“Radical Center”](http://www.amazon.com/Radical-Center-Future-American-Politics/dp/0385720297) of the [New America Foundation,](http://www.newamerica.net/) or something else? Third Way: (Wikipedia) > [@](#): > > The Third Way is a political position which tries to transcend right-wing and left-wing politics by advocating a synthesis of some right-wing and left-wing economic policies.[1] Third Way approaches are commonly viewed from within the first- and second-way perspectives as representing a centrist compromise between free market capitalism and democratic socialism. However, proponents of third way philosophies see it as something beyond free market capitalism and democratic socialism.[2] This claim is embodied in the alternative description of the Third Way as the Radical center. > > Past invocations of a political ‘third way’, in this sense, or a ‘middle way’, have included the Fabian Socialism, Distributism, Technocracy (bureaucratic), Keynesian economics, Italian Fascism under Benito Mussolini,[3] and Harold Macmillan’s 1950s One Nation Conservatism.[4] > > Third Way policies were enacted in the 1980s in Australia by the Hawke/Keating Labor governments.[5] The most recent prominent examples are the Clinton administrations in the United States as well as 2008 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton,[6] the Labour Party (New Labour) governments of the United Kingdom under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, the Liberal Party government of Canada under Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin, the Australian Labor Party under Kevin Rudd, the Polder Model in the Netherlands, the Democratic Party - demokraci.pl in Poland and the previous Labour government in New Zealand, led by incoming UNDP Administrator Helen Clark. > > The Third Way rejects both laissez-faire and socialist approaches to economic governance, but chiefly stresses technological development, education, and competitive mechanisms to pursue economic progress and governmental objectives.[7] One of its central aims is to protect the modern welfare state through reforms that maintain its economic integrity.[8] > > The third way has been criticized by some conservatives and libertarians who advocate laissez-faire capitalism.[9] It has also been heavily criticized by many social democrats and democratic socialists in particular as a betrayal of left-wing values. The third way policies differ considerably between Europe and America; in America the term refers to significantly more right-wing and laissez-faire policies than in Europe.[citation needed] ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387/37 "2010-04-18T15:17:36Z")
> [@Danimal](#): > > I don’t think “Republican leaders allow things like the Birther’s to continue” is a fair criticism. It’s a free country; how exactly would the Republican leaders stop the birthers from uttering their nonsense? When the birther paranoi was in full swing a news channel went around trying to ask republican congressmen if they thought Barack Obama was a US citizen, a lot of them literally ran away from the cameras and the rest simply refused to answer. That is what allowed to continue means, let the morons keep believing their bullshit because it benefits us. ---
**Author:** ![yorick73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5a626/32.png) [@yorick73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yorick73)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387/38 "2010-04-18T16:09:50Z")
> [@Dob](#): > > The Republican Convention. I saw hundreds of Republicans wearing band-aids mocking John Kerry and his purple heart. It was also the first time I really noticed the constant use of Republicans=Real Americans. I saw the swift boat ads, and was even more disgusted. But what really turned my stomach was the complete lack of any Republican leadership calling out these disgusting tactics for what they were. The RNC had dropped to the lowest dominator and nobody was trying to pull them back up. Were you equally disgusted by the Left’s smear of Bush’s National Guard service? I don’t remember any Dem leaders standing up for Bush. > [@Dob](#): > > And now… Republican leaders allow things like the Birther’s to continue. You conveniently forget that the mother of the Birther movement was a splinter group of Hillary supporters. Shouldn’t you reserve some of that anger for the Left? As an aside, were you equally as angry at the left for comparing Bush to Hitler constantly? Is that not as bad as comparing Obama as a Marxist? Which one is closer to the truth? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387/39 "2010-04-18T16:26:42Z")
> [@yorick73](#): > > Were you equally disgusted by the Left’s smear of Bush’s National Guard service? I don’t remember any Dem leaders standing up for Bush. > > You conveniently forget that the mother of the Birther movement was a splinter group of Hillary supporters. Shouldn’t you reserve some of that anger for the Left? > > As an aside, were you equally as angry at the left for comparing Bush to Hitler constantly? Is that not as bad as comparing Obama as a Marxist? Which one is closer to the truth? The difference between the Bush smear and the Kerry smear is the truth. The Swift Boat Liars for Bush denied that Kerry actually faced enemy fire and was actually hit. And it was true that Bush used family influence to dodge Vietnam by getting into the National Guard, then quit early because they were about to start testing for cocaine. I don’t recall anyone from the left bringing up Obama’s birth other than the extreme whack job elements of Hillary’s diehards. I’d say invading a country that poses no threat to the US makes Bush closer to Hitler than Obama’s passage of a Republican health care bill makes him a Marxist. ---
**Author:** ![yorick73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5a626/32.png) [@yorick73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yorick73)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387/40 "2010-04-18T17:22:08Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > The difference between the Bush smear and the Kerry smear is the truth. The Swift Boat Liars for Bush denied that Kerry actually faced enemy fire and was actually hit. And it was true that Bush used family influence to dodge Vietnam by getting into the National Guard, then quit early because they were about to start testing for cocaine. Oh, I see. The Bush allegations were PROVEN yet the Kerry allegations are ONLY allegations. I think you are letting your personal feelings get in the way of objectivity > [@BobLibDem](#): > > I don’t recall anyone from the left bringing up Obama’s birth other than the extreme whack job elements of Hillary’s diehards. And thus a movement was born…thanks to the Left. > [@BobLibDem](#): > > I’d say invading a country that poses no threat to the US makes Bush closer to Hitler than Obama’s passage of a Republican health care bill makes him a Marxist. And I’d say nationalizing multiple industries while trying to eliminate others makes Obama more like a Marxist that a war makes Bush Hitler. You see…it’s all perspective. You are just blinded by ideology and are trying to excuse the Left for equally, if not worse, bad behavior. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-i-dont-vote-republican/536387.md?page=3)