Are all republicans despicable?

[Hep]

Poll question: Are all republicans despicable?

We've seen a bit of clammoring here of late that suggests that if you are registered R or in any way affiliated with the R party, you are the enemy. Evil.

I think it is important to draw a distinction between normal, conservative people registered R (like many of my family members) and neoconservative wastes of space. As a website featuring republican supporters for Dean says, "This is the party of lincoln not he party of GWB".

I don't have a problem with well meaning, intelligent republicans being forward thinking enough to realize how bad a job Bush is doing. In fact, I think it's encouraging that bother republicans in the center and religious leaders are beginning to stand up against the Bush regime. The church stands up to protect it's right to make decisions for itself in the face of an oppressive administration, and centrist republicans stand up because there is nothing fiscally responsible about this president.

I want to know what you think. Does everything that starts with an R have to end with "epuke"?

[AntiCoup2K4]

1. Seems like every day there's a new editorial from republicans against Bush

And that's a good thing. We can argue with them about the other shit next year, right now let's just get the Idiot Son of an Asshole out of the White House!

[Padraig18]

2. I know many decent, *principled* Republicans.

Some of the most ardent * critics I know are true conservative Republicans, in fact. :)

[bryant69]

3. I'm not sure about this

I mean I also hold out the possibility that there might be Republicans who, I think, are on the wrong side of the debate, but they are still doing what they think is best for the country. There doesn't seem to be a category for htat kind of Republican; it's assumed that if a Republican is a decent person they will agree with us. Unless I"m mistaken about what being on the "right side of the debate" means.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Hep]

5. That's a good point

I shold have added that. Thanks.

[Hep]

6. That's a good point

I shold have added that. Thanks.

[BurtWorm]

4. If there were more decent Republicans

there would be more transparent disunity in the party. Decent people don't sit back and say nothing while their party leaders do what Republican party leaders do to eviscerate the democracy and disenfranchise the people from it.

PS: Which is to say very close to all Republicans are pieces of shit on some level. Unless eviscerating democracy and disenfranchizing people from it aren't the evils I believe them to be.

[On the Road]

7. I'm Glad to See How the Poll is Turning Out

The Republican party leadership nowdays has become unbelievably dishonest and self-serving. And not a single prominent Republican made a peep over the stolen election.

On the other hand, there's nothing necessarily wrong with being fiscally conservative, concerned about the size and power of government, foreign inervention, or other traditional Republican themes. Sometimes having two sides to the debate has made for better solutions.

And it's always dangerous to treat your enemy as implacably evil. It's a corrupting attitude.

[redqueen]

8. "it's always dangerous to treat your enemy as implacably evil"

I think it's a key way we're all manipulated.

Each side plays up the 'the other side is all demons and trolls' meme. That way, no matter HOW bad their guy is, they are guaranteed to get votes from kneejerking fear-based thinkers.

Great setup, eh?

[BurtWorm]

9. But the rank and file are responsible for the behavior of their leadership

We Dems don't sit back and shut up when our leadership fails us. Why do Republicans? Why do they allow Tom DeLay to create a personal fiefdom out of their party? They're no better than the "good Germans" of the 1930s. Sorry to trot that comparison out again, but I wish these allegedly decent Republicans could be shamed into action.

[Hep]

10. Another good point

It has taken a while for any republicans to speak out againt the utopian anarchists that run this country. Other than Jim Jeffords. And when you look at the ratings of neocon blowhards like Rush Limbaugh, you know that there is a lot of bad blood out there.

But power is tasty, so I grant a little leeway in time.

[grannylib]

11. I voted 'hard to say.' I have Republican friends and relatives, all of

whom I love, but I deplore their politics and the seeming blindness with which they try to defend their positions without seeing/caring about the negative impact on others.
I guess I agree with the thought that, if one is truly caring and decent, one wouldn't be so much as thinking about voting Repuke; and yet, knowing that the few Rs I know really do have their decent moments/qualities, it gives me pause...
Is it greed? For some, yes. Fear? Maybe...Stupidity? Again, for some, not really stupidity but intellectual laziness and lack of information.
And I really firmly believe that Christianity and Republicanism are mutually exclusive, so hey, I dunno...
I guess it just goes against my grain to tar all with the same broad brush; that's what the wrong-wingers tend to do to liberals, and I am liberal enough to believe in treating others decently and in the same manner as that in which I would like to be treated.
Wish more sheeple in this country recognized that as a value...
Damn us bleeding heart liberals anyway~!

On edit, I must add that I am regularly heard to scream, in the privacy of my own home, "Scum! They're all filthy scum!" and much much worse, about Repiglicans in general, just so as not to come off as some kind of priss or holier-than-whatever...*lol*

[salinen]

12. Sometimes, and only occasionally, some who

show signs of humanity.

John McCain
Chris Shays
Chuck Hegal
Olympia Snowe

[adamrsilva]

13. There are good Republicans in office, they just aren't the ones

in power, for example, John McCain. Republican supporters, for the most part, are just ignorant to how un-conservative their leaders are and what kind of damage they are doing.

[MissMarple]

14. Truly conservative Republicans are in the liberal tradition.

Some from the 1950's and 1960's were liberals, they just didn't like what had happened to government in the social services sphere. I have to admit when I read sometime in the 1970's that New York City decided to quit raising the welfare stipend for unmarried mothers each time they had another child while on welfare, I thought that was quite sensible.

But I think now the conservative movement has lost their intellectual leadership, they have lost their focus. They are clinging to a few mantras like less government, lower taxes, and bringing god(pick one) back into the public square. Because their original philosophical underpinnings are in fact liberal, they are stuck with trappings and not the substance. Therefore their favorite party has been high jacked and used by raving populists some of whom hold actually conflicting views, corporate opportunists, and Pax Americana control freaks.

The Republican Party is in trouble, but many Republicans have plugged their ears, covered their eyes and are humming patriotic ditties to drown out any outside input from the scary, scary world. ...Now, was that too harsh?

Also, it will take a populist wave from liberals to empower any change. One of our problems is how to address the religious/cultural/social conservatives. We have to reach a place where we understand what government can and cannot/ should and should not do. It's a little like John Rawls somewhat revived theory of justice. Government provides the climate to thrive for all as long as overlapping cultural values are enforced. ie. Gays can adopt, but Southern Baptists don't have to allow gay marriage. Murder is punished but one doesn't get stoned for adultery. Does that make sense?

Sometimes the differences between us are in how we do something, not what the goal is in the first place. The folks in charge of the Republican Party are working very hard to keep us divided. It is in their interest to do so.

[lovedems]

15. All republicans I know are. But that doesn't say much because

I have a hard time "hanging" with a republican so I don't know that many.

[MissMarple]

18. I can't avoid it where I live. Most of my friends are Republican.

But they don't always know what means, they don't understand the difference between party membership and political philosophy. They don't even know what is being done in their Republican name. But, then Kevin Phillips, John McCain, Jim Jeffords and Christopher Shays, Susan Collins, and Olympia Snow are Republicans, conservatives, and although I don't agree with all that they do, they do have integrity. But, they don't have good leadership, and they won't be much good until we do find good leadership.

And the Democratic Party isn't providing much leadership either.

[lovedems]

21. The democratic leadership coming out of Washington has been

bad to say the least. I think that is why Dean and Clark are so popular. They are considered Washington outsiders and that is appealing to many dems. The DNC and DLC should take a look at what's happening in the party and do some conforming because with each passing day they become more and more out of touch IMO.

[slackmaster]

16. My grandma is a Republican

So are several close personal friends.

My mom quit the GOP several years ago due to the takeover by the "religious" right. I also know several people who switched from the GOP to the Libertarian Party.

No, being a Republican does not invariably connote an evil nature.

[tom_paine]

17. Not all of any one group are despiccable

Nor all of any one group all good and pure.

Republicans the same as everyone else. Now, the subset of Freepers/Dittoheads/Brownshirts...there I imgaine you get up closer to 70-80%.

[lovedems]

19. I totally agree with you there. Just like all religions have their

fanatics and those fanatics should be the basis for judgment. My issue with the republicans I know personally is that they are all ditto heads. I guess that is the advantage of not having a liberal voice in the media. We have to form our opinions and thoughts on our own, we are not told how to think or how to make an argument. There isn't anything worst than trying to carry on a political conversation with someone who just repeats atrocities but doesn't have the ability to back up their claims. I wouldn't say all republicans are bad but I would say most. When you look at Pigboy, Delay, the entire bu$h administration, those are the leaders, they are popular and they are bad.

edit for punctuation

[King Coal]

20. The Bushies aren't Repubs, they're neocon facists.

[mndemocrat_29]

22. I think that ALL would be a fairly big claim

I'd have to say there are very few elected Republicans who are any good. Olympia Snowe and Lincoln Chafee are fairly decent, but they'd be better if they switched parties.

[indepat]

23. No, only a vast preponderance of them are despicable.

[KamaAina]

24. Of course not. Some of them are just downright evil!

Remember, friends don't let friends vote Republican.

[sendero]

25. I know ...

... some Republicans who are basically well-intentioned people, and not dumb either. They just see things from the perspective of their own lives, which might not include a very wide swath of experience.

Some of these folks are pretty quick to condemn the actions of someone like Clinton and look the other way when 'their' guy does slimy things, but on some level we all do that, don't we?

[mlawson]

26. The ones who still support GWB are.

That is, those who are completely aware of the news, what the BFEE does, etc etc.

[snippy]

27. Of course not. But the ones who now control the republican party are.