One example of how dumb our electorate is.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

Last edited Wed Nov 5, 2014, 11:59 AM - Edit history (1)

National exit polls confirm:

"Additionally, the exit poll data shows a growing perception that the U.S. economic system is unfair. Sixty-three percent of voters said they believe that it generally favors the wealthy, compared to 32 percent who say it is fair to most Americans."

But yet they voted for the people that will make things even worse. If we could ever educate these fools, republicans wouldn't have a chance, but the republicans are very adept at lying, cheating, stealing, and rigging the vote. Fuck the idiots that can't think their way out of a paper bag!

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/exit-polls-americas-voters-bleak-mood-n241191

[muntrv]

1. But...but Obama is worse than all of that! Doncha know? Fixed Noise says so!

[HooptieWagon]

2. Guns, God, and Ebola.

Half the damn electorate is too frightened to think about economic disparity.

[kydo]

5. you forgot benghazi nt

[lonestarnot]

3. That is really the only explanation here. To fucking stupid to get in out of the rain.

[KingCharlemagne]

45. Hey, I marched in Los Angeles against the Iraq War in a torrential downpour back in 2003. To

this day, my wife and I joke about that march as our moment of being "too stupid to get in out of the rain." Still glad we did it, even though the march through downtown LA on a weekend, was mostly converts preaching to the converted. That has a time and a place.

[lonestarnot]

53. Let me guess. You voted right?

[KingCharlemagne]

54. Yes, I did, mainly b/c of the 5-6 CA ballot initiatives. Had to endure a 1-hour

traffic jam on La Cienega to get to my polling place before it closed -- typical LA saga, although frought with more tension than usual, given that I wanted to vote and traffic was not fucking moving at all. Crisis averted, made it to polling place about 7 p.m. (one hour before close), so all my freaking out was unnecessary.

I pretty much vote every election, except maybe the occasional municipal or primary that sneaks by me.

[lonestarnot]

55. Yes.

Sorry about the CA traffic.

[KingCharlemagne]

56. Ah, it's a fact of life out here in SoCal. Problem is when you have a time-sensitive

matter to which to attend and you're caught by surprise. My wife got to hear me swear up a storm the whole trip on election night

[lonestarnot]

57. I don't need a traffic jam to "swear up a storm."

[RKP5637]

4. That, is one of the most concerning things happening, those "that can't

think their way out if a paper bag!" They are really uneducated and ignorant, and sadly many seem proud of their ignorance.

They are enabling dangerous and treacherous times for the survival of a democracy in this country as they give more and more power to the oligarchs while many thinking, isn't my ignorance damn cute.

And, sadly, their numbers seem to keep growing and growing as the dumb-down machines in America keep churning out F'en uneducated illiterate idiots.

[freebrew]

6. Well said, sir...nt

[heaven05]

15. yep

no problem with that.

[libtodeath]

7. Yet many still wont accept how much racism is the driving force

[heaven05]

16. yep

no doubt in the least, especially with how the Reich wing has played on the gullibility and fears of those easily identified as racists.

[LovingA2andMI]

33. BINGO!!!

Like, in Michigan --- on BOTH ends....

The Morning After - Outsmarted, Outspent, Outlast, Frankly Plain Smoked - Michigan Elections 2014

Read more: http://www.reachoutjobsearch.com/2014/11/oped-morning-after-outsmarted-outspent.html#ixzz3IDMCOxpJ

[Lilyeye]

40. It truly is.

[MANative]

8. Our electorate is "dumb" because the Rs engineered it that way.

Massive cuts in education and pandering to the delusions of hypocritical "religiosity" for the last thirty-plus years are the two most prevalent reasons. Then, as they've done for decades, they pander to fear of what people don't know, perpetuating the cycle of ignorance, fear, ignorance, fear over and over again. They make sure that younger voters have a tough time getting to the polls and for those who might be enticed to vote, make sure that they believe that their votes won't matter, so why bother? Go have another doughnut and say a prayer.

The only thing that stops me from throwing myself over the bridge is that I can't believe that many of them (Rs) actually believe their bullshit, particularly of the holier-than-thou variety. It's sad enough that a fair percentage of them truly are that delusional, on a clinical level. More of them say what they say to gain power and money, I think. If I thought they were really as massively stupid as they appear to be, I'd, literally, kill myself. It's hard enough to live in this fucked-up world without this crap, too.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

9. Yes, republicans lie. Why don't/can't we combat that?

Answer: If you repeat a lie often enough, WITH NO REAL MEANINGFUL REBUTTAL, the lie will become the truth. That in a nutshell explains our dreaded situation today.

[Amonester]

37. And because the Rs keep feeding the $$$$$$ into their owned propaganda

machine. The amount of BILLIONS poured into the mass-media machine in their favor is record-breaking by a gigantic lap...

[Hissyspit]

10. Do you have a link for that quote?

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

11. YES

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/exit-polls-americas-voters-bleak-mood-n241191

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. NBC: (warning: auto-play video)

In this year's exit poll, 44 percent of voters approve of President Barack Obama, while 54 percent disapprove. That number is nearly comparable to 2006 exit poll data for George W. Bush, when 57 percent of voters gave the sitting president a thumbs down.

A whopping 79 percent of voters say they disapprove of the job Congress is doing, with just 19 percent saying they "somewhat" or "strongly" approve of the job performance of lawmakers on Capitol Hill. The highest disapproval of Congress ever recorded in exit polls was in 1990, at 80 percent; that was closely matched four years later during the Republican wave of 1994, at 74 percent.

Just 31 percent of voters say they believe the nation is headed in the right direction, versus 65 percent who say the country is on the wrong track. And 18 percent of voters today say they feel they can never trust the government in Washington to do what is right. Most voters - 61 percent - say they can trust DC to do the right thing only "some of the time."

Additionally, the exit poll data shows a growing perception that the U.S. economic system is unfair. Sixty-three percent of voters said they believe that it generally favors the wealthy, compared to 32 percent who say it is fair to most Americans.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/exit-polls-americas-voters-bleak-mood-n241191

[bklyncowgirl]

12. "When in doubt, throw the bums out." To be fair, the system does not give voters many other options

This was an older and whiter group of voters even among the moderates and hardcore Republicans turned out in droves. Until Democrats learn to either talk to white people or get their core constituents out to vote in midterms this is going to happen.

[proReality]

19. But they didn't really "throw the buns out"

They voted in more of the same plus worse. How is that explained? It's completely insane.

[bklyncowgirl]

27. I have a brother in law. He's in his 50s off and on unemployment for the past few years.

He and many like him consider it to be in their self-interest to vote Republican. He's in Georgia. I'd bet this month's mortgage that he voted for Perdue despite Perdue's being a "proud outsourcer".

Why? Well, his pet issue is guns, but that's not all. He is also absolutely convinced that illegal immigration is a greater threat to his job prospects than outsourcing. Any comprehensive immigration reform would include the B1B Visa which would utterly devastate his chances of finding a job. His glory days, when he was fresh out of college and a hot commodity in the tech field came during the Reagan administration. He sees the influx of women and minorities into his field after that as a threat--a threat championed by Democrats--the same Democrats that he is convinced want his guns. Like most people he despises the fact that some people are on welfare while he is, well he is trying to get and keep a job. He hates unions because on one of his early jobs the union cramped his style and he was offended that they defended other people's right to work less hard than him. As an older guy with pre-existing conditions and no steady source of income he benefitted from the ACA but compared to his one time private insurance policy provided by his employer way back in the day, of course his ACA "Bronze" plan does not even come close. My husband and I had to bail him out last month. We'll probably never see that money again but what can you do.

My point is that my brother in law, remembers better days but sees far different heroes and villains than I or my husband do. In fact, it's becoming increasingly clear to me that among our white working class peers, we are outliers, probably because both of us went into public service. I'm also out of work but I blame budget cuts and the fact that middle class incomes and thus tax revenues have stagnated.

He's probably a lost cause because of the gun issue and his strong support for Israel, but many others like him might be reachable if the Democratic party's candidates took a more populist economic stand but I don't see that happening any time soon.

[LovingA2andMI]

34. BINGO!!! AGAIN!!

Unreachable. These folks are not just in the South but are in the Midwest---BIG TIME. It scary and unfortunately, its not changing anytime soon.

The Morning After - Outsmarted, Outspent, Outlast, Frankly Plain Smoked - Michigan Elections 2014

Read more: http://www.reachoutjobsearch.com/2014/11/oped-morning-after-outsmarted-outspent.html#ixzz3IDMCOxpJ

[bklyncowgirl]

39. We have them in the northeast too.

Most of my age peers, former hippies or wannabe hippies all, are Republicans. Staten Island, a tiny dot of deep red in Blue NYC just reelected an indicted felon, Michael Grimm. Admittedly the local Democrats chose a candidate so godawful that even the Dem leading Daily News could not bring themselves to endorse him but even so it wasn't even close.

There are reachable people in the older white demographic but it takes a good economic populist message to reach them and competent, honest performance in office to keep them. Currently living in New Jersey, competent and honest are not the way I'd describe most of our politicians.

[world wide wally]

14. America's preferred form of education is watching television.

Everyone thinks they "know" a subject because they watched something on tv that dealt with the subject. Doesn't matter if they are a brain surgeon or a bus driver, they all get their news from the same place.
When something of significance happens in the world, everyone runs to turn on their tv to "learn" about it.

So now ask yourself, "Who controls the majority of the TV news?"

Then we can ask ourselves, "So now, what are we going to do about it?"

[missmo1951]

18. Exactly

I think yours is the most astute comment that I have read anywhere. Who owns the media, and what is their agenda?

[KPN]

25. BINGO!!!!!

But we all know the media has a liberal bias right? Too funny.

[jtuck004]

31. The people who watch it and buy the products. Anyone that thinks differently is delusional. n/t

[logosoco]

17. THey are still waiting for something to trickle down.

They don't get that that was just a trick from the first bush. They even voted in the second one and they are still waiting. "Any minute now" they must be thinking. I think a tsunami could hit them in the head and they still won't get it.

[damnedifIknow]

20. Oh Illinois, you fucked up big time

" Mr. Rauner won’t release his full tax returns. He’s been stashing money in the Cayman Islands to avoid paying U.S. and Illinois taxes." He's a real sleaze bag and was once caught in an elaborate scheme to cheat on his property taxes for just a $1,600. He's just a greedy, selfish sociopath who can't help himself."

http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2014/08/will-illinois-elect-sleazy-billionaire.html

[okieinpain]

21. lol, mary fallin in oklahoma had a commercial that said she cut taxes

which was true. but it was only for those in the top tiers and the corporations, oh and she shot a ar-15. LOL.

[muriel_volestrangler]

22. Specifically, in the 63% 'favours the wealthy', 64% of them voted Dem, 35% Repub

Do you think the U.S. economic system generally:
Category Total Democrat Republican
Favors the wealthy 63% 64% 35%
Is fair to most Americans 32% 18% 80%

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/2014/US/house/exitpoll

So it's 22% (35% of 63%) of those who voted who were really dumb. Minus a few who are wealthy and voting in their own interest, though I expect most of the wealthy Republicans answered 'is fair to most Americans' to make themselves feel better.

[AzSweet]

23. And yet...

And yet, how do they (4 red states) vote for and pass ballot propositions which raise the minimum wage, and on the same ballot, vote for those who are against raising minimum wage? How do they reconcile that in their minds? Goes to the pure and total ignorance ......

[Art_from_Ark]

51. In the case of Arkansas,

which is one of those red states that voted to increase the minimum wage, the reconciliation is easy-- the minimum wage issue was a constitutional amendment, which will make it difficult for any party to tamper with. It was also one of the Democrats' core issues. On the other hand, there are lots of single-issue voters in the state. They might support the overall Democratic platform in principle, but there is one issue that gets in their craw so much that they vote for the other party just because of that one issue.

For example, my mothers' neighbors, who are both elderly and on disability (thanks to Democrats), vote for Republicans just because of the abortion issue, even though it has no relation whatsoever to their lives. When I went back to the state, I also came to realize that there were lots of people who were upset about the gay marriage issue. Then, there is the wealthy Northwest, which overwhelmingly favors Republicans because "Democrats raise taxes". And Tom Cotton gained a lot of support by attacking Obamacare, and generally making people afraid.

[K lib]

24. Only 36 percent of Americans can name the three branches of government

Only 38 percent of Americans knew the Republican Party controls the U.S. House of Representatives, while 17 percent think Democrats are still in charge. The number of people who knew Republicans were in charge has dropped 17 percent since the last time Annenberg asked, back in 2011, right after Republicans reclaimed control.

People dont even know the republicans control the house how can you expect them to access blame correctly.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/09/18/only-36-percent-of-americans-can-name-the-three-branches-of-government/

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

42. No wonder they hate democrats! Sheesh!!

[sulphurdunn]

26. When I went to the polls

hardly anyone was there, and they were all old.

[randys1]

28. Fire Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, first. Then DEMAND that our politicians run on our success

[Avalux]

29. Fear is a powerful motivator, the GOP is a master at using it.

We can't educate anyone about anything as long as they're afraid. People will vote for the devil himself if they think he'll keep them safe.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

49. The politics of fear is tragic.

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.

- Plato

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

30. They're not dumb.

They saw that the Dem 'recovery' sent 93% of the 'recovery' to the richest of the rich.

Will the Repub economic plan send any more to the electorate? Of course not. But the difference between 93% and 100% isn't that big in most people's eyes.

Had the Dems appointed lefty economics people (instead of reappointing the same people who helped cause the crash) who came up with a plan that sent 50% of the recovery to the rest of us, it would have been a wave election for Dems.

The 'dumb' people are those who thought people would appreciate trickle down coming from the left as well as the right.

[hfojvt]

38. except that is clearly not true

The Democratic Recovery has been a slow climb out of a very deep hole.

The media and the Republicans (and their monied ads) are STILL blaming the HOLE on the Democrats, in spite of the facts. http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025697641

"93% of the recovery went to the richest of the rich"

Yeah, that is a dumb statistic that often gets waved around.

Fact is, the recovery gave jobs to 9.6 million people who were looking for a job. Getting a job is generally a huge benefit to those who are looking for one.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

43. Not only that, but...

for Christ's Sake, the dems got BLOCKED. EVERY. STEP. OF. THE. WAYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Android3.14]

32. Maybe if the Dems actually did something to make the system fair...

TPP
Corporate welfare
More MIC
Thank you, DLC.

[treestar]

41. Maybe the Dems could if they won Congress

lol the Rs are to blame for the past 4 years for their R house and filibustering Senate.

Geez.

[Android3.14]

47. Maybe in the why-am-I-so-powerless fantasy land where you live

The rest of us remember the past 6 years.
How's that Guantanamo Bay treating our "guests"?
Domestic surveillance makin' ya feel safe?
Glad it's so easy to imprison whistle blowers and journalists?
Looking forward to the Trans-Pacific Partnership?
I'm going to point out the obvious. This election defeat was a fundamental failure on our leadership to support Democratic ideals, defend important civil rights, and negotiate treaties to support all the people.
I voted straight Democratic ticket, but I knew we were going to lose bad. The responsibility is with our President.

People follow for a reason.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

44. Made me laugh when Thom Hartman called the TPP "Shafta" this morning.

[hfojvt]

35. that might be true

if Democrats stood solidly for the bottom 60%.

Unfortunately, Democrats will also pass policies that favor the wealthy and then lie to the public about it.

Although I am not sure the public can figure that out, because it seems like even a majority of DU cannot. Not even after I try to explain it to them.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

46. Yes, I think we all (on DU) know that.

And it's because "We the People" have been divided by the most treacherous of lies. If we could ever get on the same playbook, they would do as we say, or be booted out of office. Right now, I'm afraid to say, we are FUCKED!

Yes, I'm oversimplifying, as you were.

[Cosmocat]

36. lol

Honestly, the best I can do is laugh ...

[lumberjack_jeff]

48. Fuck! (channelling Bill Paxton) Y'all aren't paying very close attention to current events.

WHEN PEOPLE DON'T VOTE FOR YOU, IT IS NOT THEIR FAULT.

If the voters don't respond to facts and policy, Then we need to tell better stories. If people don't like being told that Andy Griffith was a paramilitary pig, stop doing it. If people don't like being told that Ward Cleaver was a patriarchal oppressor, then stop doing that too.

We got our asses kicked, and it should be a clarion call to figure out what's wrong and fix it; not engage in faux-concerned smug superiority that our club of the smart people is so small.

[brooklynite]

50. "Dumb" - that's a great lead in to the 2016 election...

"Folks, we know you're dumb, but we'd like you to vote Democratic". That'll sell well...

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

52. Dumb as a box of rocks. Dumb as a post. Dumb and dumber.

You can dance around the edges if you like, but I'm calling a spade a spade.