List of things Conspiring Against the GOP, and therefore, America

[Droid101]

List of People, Groups, Publications, Creatures, and Inanimate Objects Conspiring Against the GOP, and therefore, America:
Liberals
Democrats
Socialists
Geologists
Biologists
Meteorologists
Atheists
Muslims
Jews
ABC
NBC
CNN
CBS
PBS
All of cable except FNC
The New York Times
The LA Times
The Washington Post
The Associated Press
Reuters
BBC
The Guardian
Black People
Mexicans
Human Rights Activists
SCOTUS
Europe
Movie Industry
Television Industry
Environmentalists
ACLU
The United Nations
UAW
SEIU
AFL-CIO
Colleges
Teachers
Professors
ACORN
National Endowment for the Arts
Gays
Judges
NPR
Paleontologists
Astrophysicists
Museums (*except Creationism Museum)
WHO
WTO
Inflated tires
The Honolulu Advertiser
The Star Bulletin
Teletubbies
Sponge Bob and Patrick
Nobel Prize Committee
US Census Bureau
NOAA
Dogs
Sesame Street
Dictionaries
Comic Books
AARP
Condos

[Freedom Canadian]

I disagree with your list.

Jews don't belong there.

[Snatch]

By dogs you mean pit bulls right?

[Ergeheilalt]

I disagree with your list.

Jews don't belong there.

Non-neocon Jews do.

[The Winslow]

You forgot the UN.

[shiningbrow]

You forgot the UN.

No he didn't. "The United Nations" is on there. Nice list. I guess I'm happy to be lumped along with "Liberals." The idea that the Grand Old Party = America sort of strips my gears, though.

[Name Lips]

No he didn't. "The United Nations" is on there. Nice list. I guess I'm happy to be lumped along with "Liberals." The idea that the Grand Old Party = America sort of strips my gears, though.

That's how they think of themselves. They think they're the ones holding true to the original vision of America while all those forces work together to bring America down.

It's like the Christian crusader mentality - they are all that stands between the souls of the world and their total damnation! They must fight whatever the cost!

[Edena_of_Neith]

Unfortunately, unemployment in the United States is very high now (how high, is disputed, but nobody disputes that the numbers are bad) and many who have jobs are struggling to keep them, or are struggling away in low paying jobs when they are qualified for better paying ones.

We know, from history and from current events overseas, what high unemployment leads to.

Add in the Housing Foreclosure disaster, the Financial disaster, the onset of the Great Recession worldwide (I appreciate that Europe is harder hit than we are), and ...

You create a situation where people throw up all these Political Windmills, and everyone pays attention, because everyone is looking for reasons to be angry.

Putting the Republicans back in office, isn't going to be some magic pill that makes Everything Better Again.
Then again, putting the Democrats in, isn't going to be some magic pill either.

There are no quick fixes or easy solutions, when the whole world is in recession, and when unemployment is around 10%, and people are suffering on the scale they are now.
What is needed are REAL solutions, and one heck of a lot of hard work (not talk, but work. Yes, work. Action. Effort. Ask any unemployed person who is desperate for that chance to get back to work.)

Washington needs to get this.

All that other stuff? Political sideshows, windmills.

The *leading* concerning of those voters in Massachusetts was the economy, according to the polls.
Of those, a majority went to Scott Brown. This is the real reason Coakly fell, not that health care bill or all those other things.

As George Bush never understood: 'It's the economy, stupid!'

[The Winslow]

No he didn't. "The United Nations" is on there.
I scanned for UN, not the fully spelled-out name. Mmh. :o

Let me save face by changing that to "Wikipedia". There's a reason proper god-fearing Christian conservatives had to create Conservapedia, the Trustworthy Encyclopedia.

[Ancalagon]

I guess Canada isn't on the list...

I blame Harper!

[Radu]

I guess Canada isn't on the list...

Yes it is! Right here:

List of People, Groups, Publications, Creatures, and Inanimate Objects Conspiring Against the GOP, and therefore, America:
Socialists


;)

[AZRogue]

Is this in response to something? An article, or specific event, or just general self-edification through the mechanism of looking around the room and counting the number of people who agree with you? Grow up. I thought Democrats were supposed to be "smart" instead of acting like the kid who's proud because he didn't wet the carpet in kindergarten that morning. Whatever the GOP did to cause this thread, I'm sure the Democrats will jump on their chance to piss themselves in public tomorrow.

Basically, weren't we past this kind of shit?

[Trainz]

Is this in response to something? An article, or specific event, or just general self-edification through the mechanism of looking around the room and counting the number of people who agree with you? Grow up. I thought Democrats were supposed to be "smart" instead of acting like the kid who's proud because he didn't wet the carpet in kindergarten that morning. Whatever the GOP did to cause this thread, I'm sure the Democrats will jump on their chance to piss themselves in public tomorrow.

Basically, weren't we past this kind of shit?

Dude, it's funny because it's true.

[The Winslow]

Basically, weren't we past this kind of shit?

When mankind as a whole will be past this shot, we'll live in levitating crystal towers, wear togas, and our foreheads will be three feet tall.


Still won't have flying cars, though.

[bunny]

Dude, it's funny because it's true.

Yup. See also Fox News, tea bagging protests, and all the talking points of the McCain/Palin campaign.

Also, Canada is not socialist. I'd believe that the GOP does not see us as a threat. But I'm basing this entirely on how the news pundits seem more interested in trivializing us rather than demonizing us.

That's how they think of themselves. They think they're the ones holding true to the original vision of America while all those forces work together to bring America down.

It's like the Christian crusader mentality - they are all that stands between the souls of the world and their total damnation! They must fight whatever the cost!

Those who are unwilling to adapt risk extinction.

^Not a death threat.

[Edena_of_Neith]

I don't recognize this as the country I grew up in.
The people around me, regardless of where I go, don't behave like people did when I was young.

It is extremely unfortunate. What has taken the place of the world I knew, is a violent, uncaring, unsympathetic, discourteous, and demagogic reality.

That's not something I got from some news source or blog.
I got this from personal interaction with people, over and over.

It is reflected in our politics as well.

[Pigs in Space]

Lets add Australia to the list please.

Goddam Yanks, world police, perpetuating your crazy cultural problems on the rest of the world.

Let's RIOT!

I don't recognize this as the country I grew up in.
The people around me, regardless of where I go, don't behave like people did when I was young.

It is extremely unfortunate. What has taken the place of the world I knew, is a violent, uncaring, unsympathetic, discourteous, and demagogic reality.

That's not something I got from some news source or blog.
I got this from personal interaction with people, over and over.

It is reflected in our politics as well.

It's the culture that we all perpetuate - it's all about the individual.

The good news is it's not like that everywhere, and it's not as bad as you say.

[Droid101]

Is this in response to something? An article, or specific event, or just general self-edification through the mechanism of looking around the room and counting the number of people who agree with you? Grow up. I thought Democrats were supposed to be "smart" instead of acting like the kid who's proud because he didn't wet the carpet in kindergarten that morning. Whatever the GOP did to cause this thread, I'm sure the Democrats will jump on their chance to piss themselves in public tomorrow.

Basically, weren't we past this kind of shit?

Wow. Here is someone who is taking themselves too seriously.

I chuckled at a ridiculous list I saw on another website, and then posted it here. You sure are reading a lot into that.

[Trainz]

Wow. Here is someone who is taking themselves too seriously.

I chuckled at a ridiculous list I saw on another website, and then posted it here. You sure are reading a lot into that.

Why do you hate America?

[Droid101]

Why do you hate America?

BECUZ GOERGE BUSH JR TOTLLY DESTRYYED TH CUONTRY AND TAKES MY MONIEZ AND GIVEZ ITTO THE RICHPEOPLEES AND LIVEZ ISNSIDE SUADI ARABIAA!!1111!

PS; RUSH LIMBUGAHG SUX

[Trainz]

BECUZ GOERGE BUSH JR TOTLLY DESTRYYED TH CUONTRY AND TAKES MY MONIEZ AND GIVEZ ITTO THE RICHPEOPLEES AND LIVEZ ISNSIDE SUADI ARABIAA!!1111!

PS; RUSH LIMBUGAHG SUX

:lol:

Again: it's funny because it's true.

[Edena_of_Neith]

As of now, my country is about as polarized as in anytime I can remember in my lifetime. My parents comment that the country is as polarized as much as they can remember in their lifetimes.

Simultaneously, approval of the Senate and Congress is at historic lows.
10% of Americans approve of the performance of our congress. 71% disapprove.

Republicans, do not watch or listen to Democrats or Democratic news sources.
Democrats, do not watch or listen to Republican or Republican news sources.
On both sides, increasingly, even doing so is considered a crime, the kind of thing that starts fights and ends friendships, even breaks up families, just for daring to watch or read a news source from the other side.
Increasingly, both sides view the other side as Enemies, as Traitors, even as people whom legal action should be taken against.

Against this ghastly backdrop are the Independents, who are being very hard hit by what everyone is now calling the Great Recession. With real unemployment approaching 20%, official unemployment at 10%, the Housing Foreclosure Disaster continuing and even worsening, and everything else, the tempers of Independent voters are flaring violently.

It's like the Renaissance and Enlightenment are going away, the Age of Reason is ending.
What is replacing it?

'I am completely right, you are completely wrong, for you to think as you do makes you a vile person, and for you to think as you do makes you a criminal who ought to be prosecuted.'

(look of total disgust.)

[Utrecht]

Edina,

I would suggest that you lack historical context. It only sounds bad because it is immediate and 24 hours.

I point you to the First Adams or Andrew Jackson's presidency to see what real bare knuckles fighting is.

[Edena_of_Neith]

Edina,

I would suggest that you lack historical context. It only sounds bad because it is immediate and 24 hours.

I point you to the First Adams or Andrew Jackson's presidency to see what real bare knuckles fighting is.

Yes, but we have something new: the Internet (and blogs on the internet.)
It seems to me that people are more vitrolic on the internet than they are in public. Perhaps the sense of anymnity (spelling?) gives them this? Perhaps it is something else.
Certainly, Political Blogs such as DailyKos (for the Democrats) and Powerline (for the Republicans) are very vitrolic. Very much like our gaming messageboards, really, assuming a permanent 4th edition / Pathfinder flame war (since, after all, politics are a permanent feature in real life.)

It seems to me that the Health Care Bill War, as I am naming it, has racheted up the rhetoric considerably.
Democrats cheer it as a New Dawn, Republicans decry it as Dawn of the Dead, and Independents ... well, the Democrats claim the Independents all support the Light of Reason (their side), the Republicans claim the Independents all decry the New Dark Age (their side) ... and the actual Independents are all deaf from the shouting.

The bullshit piles up so high, you can't see the top of Mount Everest over it.

Even the Global Warming War has gone this way, and any and all of the statistics have been drowned in the mess. Nobody is even willing to look at the statistics anymore. One side says all the statistics are wrong and those who produced them liars, the other side says the statistics are right and the Enemy is bought off by big corporations.
The actual science was drowned in the toilet by politics, and then the toilet was flushed. There is no way to have a polite, courteous conversation on the subject anymore.

The autumn election?
Well, as you know from pollsters both Democratic and Republican, it looks like a Republican landslide. But we don't know that. We must wait for the actual results (assuming we get them, and it doesn't take 2 or 3 years of recounting to get them.)

Meanwhile, the bullshit as usual - yeah, the usual Bullshit as Usual - piles up higher and higher.

I wish Edena's levels went up like the pile of bullshit does. He'd be around 100,000th level by now, and still going. :)

[Schizm]

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/election.png
(http://xkcd.com/500/)

[TiQuinn]

I point you to the First Adams or Andrew Jackson's presidency to see what real bare knuckles fighting is.

Is it really relevant to compare today's political climate to a time that no one was alive for? It's kind of like saying, "Wow, race relations in the U.S. are bad, but at least it's not the 1860s!"

From a purely historical standpoint, it's interesting, but it's a completely different country, completely different political parties. In terms of determining whether the political discourse has gotten better or worse, I think it's a lot more telling to compare to the past 50, 60 or even 70 years.

[Edena_of_Neith]

If you look carefully between the lines at what people are saying across the political spectrum, from DailyKos to Powerline, if you can look beyond the overwhelming anger that is there, a very common thread emerges:

We want some peace and quiet.
We don't want ourselves or our families sent off to die in stupid wars fought for the greater glory of politicians.
We want a chance at prosperity.
We want decent medical care for ourselves and those we care about.
We want justice for criminals, and justice for politicians who abuse their power in criminal ways.
We want a stable government, that functions decently, that helps us out when we need it.

There are extremists and hatemongers on every side, but the majority of people are in the middle, and you hear the basic truth in what they say, even through all the hatred and anger, if you look carefully.

What is so very unfortunate, is that someone has successfully played Divide and Conquer on the American People, turning them against each other, making them see each other as the Enemy.
I do not know who this person - these people - are, but they have been very, very successful at pulling this stunt.
I do not know why they did it. I would be foolish to say I knew the answers to such questions. Speculation is fruitless.

I don't approve of pushing hate, or hatred, or demagogery, or preaching extremism. Nor am I willing to be taken in by it.
I must sadly acknowledge the power of hate, because it is powerful, and it is being used to forward some sort of agenda (what that is, I don't know, but why push hate if it isn't to further some cause you want to push on people?) I do *not* have to like it, though.