Wanted: Short aggressive responses to CONservative platitudes!

[JanMichael]

You know the ones that they repeat endlessly. The ones that don't really mean shit, but seem to get embedded into people's minds, even "liberals" too, like:

The Rich are Rich because of skills and merit!

Welfare Reform is a success!

The Poor? They should just get a better job!

Right to Work is beter than Collective Bargaining because Unions are corrupt!

Income mobility negates Income Inequality!

Deregulation promotes Competition thus it's a good thing!

Privatized Government services almost always works better!

Economic Growth is always good!

Intelligent Design is a science!

Anyone can succeed in America!

Liberal Media!

Taxes are really THEFT!

The US of A has the best medical care system in the world!

Vouchers will improve poor schools!

Racism is passe, it's been defeated, we should all just compete like the US is a color-blind society!

Give a helping hand, not a hand out!


Feel free to add to the list, respond to the platitudes, or correct mine if you'd like:-)

[olddem43]

1. A rising tide lifts all boats (said of the economy)

Sounds great if you own a Yacht, but most of us don't even have boats.

[KG]

2. why bother responding to the moron that trots out this kinda tripe?

personally i gots better things to do with my time.

[Ivan Zero]

3. The first one is easy

The Rich are Rich because of skills and merit! ... or being born to or marrying into the right family.

[tigereye]

4. Michael Moore was a great example of this on Bill Maher

the other night. Sparring with that slimy Dreier guy. Great comebacks.

[VOX]

13. Precisely. Moore didn't give an inch. He conceded nothing...

And didn't give up on any of his assertions. He kept pressing.

Mike's performance was a signal lesson on how to handle any right-wing talking points emanating from an empty suit.

[LoZoccolo]

14. George W. Bush

There's an example of where that conservative platitude falls apart.

[calimary]

5. I'll bite (at least a few)...

Intelligent Design is a science!
"Ah yes... 'Intelligent Design.' An idea for Not-so-intelligent people." OR "oh, you must mean 'Designer's challenge.'

Anyone can succeed in America!
"As long as they stack the deck, or elect the people who'll stack it for them." OR "Yes, even the most arrogant, petty, deceitful ignoramus can get all the way to the White House! God Bless America!"

The US of A has the best medical care system in the world!
"You bet! Provided you can afford it."

The Rich are Rich because of skills and merit!
"Just like george bush! He's got the skills and merit of all his dad's friends to help him out!"

Deregulation promotes Competition thus it's a good thing!
"Absolutely! When you take away the restraints, all those foxes are gonna compete like crazy to raid the henhouse!"

Liberal Media!
"Liberal media?!?! Where? I'd like to watch that." OR "Y'mean, like ... FOX?" (or... "like ... rush limbaugh?")

Give a helping hand, not a hand out!
"So how come all the hand outs these days are to big, wealthy corporations? Do THEY really need help?"

Just a few off the top of my head.

[JanMichael]

6. Wow! Nices ones.

My favorites?

The Rich are Rich because of skills and merit!
"Just like george bush! He's got the skills and merit of all his dad's friends to help him out!"

Give a helping hand, not a hand out!
"So how come all the hand outs these days are to big, wealthy corporations? Do THEY really need help?"

[NightTrain]

7. Some suggestions

<<The Rich are Rich because of skills and merit!>>

George W. Bush was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple.

<<Welfare Reform is a success!>>

Is that why the average age of a homeless American is nine?

<<The Poor? They should just get a better job!>>

What jobs? Ten million of them have disappeared under Bush/Cheney!

<<Right to Work is better than Collective Bargaining because Unions are corrupt!>>

I'll tell Ken Lay you said that.

<<Income mobility negates Income Inequality!>>

So, the 3% raise I get each year at my $9-an-hour job negates the CEO that makes 400 times what his lowest-paid worker gets?

<<Deregulation promotes Competition thus it's a good thing!>>

Is that why three conglomerates now own about 90% of all the TV and radio stations, publishing houses, magazines and newspapers in the United States? It wasn't that way 20 years ago!

<<Privatized Government services almost always works better!>>

Is that why my homestate of Connecticut had to shut down its automobile emissions program because the private company that ran it fucked things up so badly?

<<Economic Growth is always good!>>

Depends on your definition of "economic growth."

<<Intelligent Design is a science!>>

I've never heard that one, so unfortunately I don't know how to reply to it. Frankly, I don't even know what "Intelligent Design" is! :shrug:

<<Anyone can succeed in America!>>

Technically, that's true. But it's a lot easier for somebody like George W. Bush to "succeed" than it is for some kid who was born in an economically depressed area, has an absentee father and an alcoholic mother, and whose schools are substandard.

<<Liberal Media!>>

Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, O'Reilly, Novak, Ingraham, Carlson, Miller, Malkin, Liddy, North, Charen, Scarborough, Noonan, Savage, Goldberg, Gigot, Krauthammer...!

<<Taxes are really THEFT!>>

Then you'd better tell the post office to stop delivering your mail. And you'd better stop using the roads and sidewalks. And you'd better toss out your library card. And don't expect the Public Works Department to plow your street during the next snowstorm. And you'd better put up an outhouse in your backyard so you don't have to use that paid-for-by-theft sewer system....


<<The US of A has the best medical care system in the world!>>

Those 36 million Americans with no health-care coverage will certainly be glad to hear it!

<<Vouchers will improve poor schools!>>

No, MONEY will improve poor schools. It always has and always will.

<<Racism is passe, it's been defeated, we should all just compete like the US is a color-blind society!>>

Must be why as recently as 1998, an African-American in Texas was tied to the back of a pick-up truck and dragged to his death--because racism is passe.

<<Give a helping hand, not a hand out!>>

And what have YOU done to help those less fortunate than you, Mr. Conservative?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. Intelligent Design is codeword for God the Father knows best

The Intelligent Design assertion (it is not a theory) says that things like eyes and brains are so miraculous that they are evidence of a Creator. They use a watch as an example. They say that if you see a watch, you can know that it did not just "happen" randomly, there was a designer who made it. They do not realize that the "clockwork universe" is a metaphor for a Newtonian universe that may have been set in motion by a creator, but where the creator is not actively involved currently.

Much more intriguing than the non-scientific Intelligent Design nonsense is the question of why the six main physical constants are tuned so finely that the complexity and diversity of the universe is enabled. Is it that our universe is just one of many many experiments, one that "worked", more or less?

[kikiek]

8. Under Clinton people living at or below poverty level dropped 25 pct

has gone up over 7 pct under shrub. http://www.fairandbalanced.us/docs/StoryID2608.htm

[mandyky]

11. After seeing Bowling for Columbine

I think some poverty numbers under Clinton were still way to high!

[kikiek]

12. Absolutely.

[shockingelk]

9. some responses

"The Rich are Rich because of skills and merit!"
Indeed! Bill Clinton and John Kerry are brimming with skills and merit!

"Welfare Reform is a success!"
For white people!

"The Poor? They should just get a better job!"
You probably don't need your job anyway, a poor person might as well take it.

"Deregulation promotes Competition thus it's a good thing!"
How many separate sewage systems do you estimate would provide adequate competition?

"Privatized Government services almost always works better!"
Hell, yeah! Those postage stamps are cheap, but they take forever to get anything anywhere!

"Intelligent Design is a science!"
How many molar units does God weigh?

"Liberal Media!"
Deregulation promotes Competition thus it's a good thing! The invisible hand is about to smack those bastard down hard!

"Taxes are really THEFT!"
Wow, I had no idea! What are the laws? Is taxing a misdemeanor or felony?

"The US of A has the best medical care system in the world!"
Is that why many countries have both lower infant mortality rates and longer average life-spans?

"Vouchers will improve poor schools!"
The invisible had would erase poor schools, wouldn't it?

"Racism is passe, it's been defeated, we should all just compete like the US is a color-blind society!"
Agreed! It's racist to single out Arabs for special attention when boarding planes.

"Give a helping hand, not a hand out!"
Down with veteran benefits!

[mandyky]

10. I don't have any short reponses

but I hate when I see these GOP talking points repeated bt Democrats, esp. here at DU.

Some comments in this thread, for instance -
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2133113&mesg_id=2133113&page=

And here at DU, most of the time I do not think it is conservatives or meant to be mean, but WE BUY into this BS to some extent.