Who Hijacked Our Country

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Republicans Win by Cheating and Lying, but Democrats Enable Them

Bill Maher chastised both parties last night on Real Time.  Republicans can only win by rigging elections, preventing non-white non-property owners from voting, and repeating the same slanderous lies over and over and over.  But Democrats are making themselves a target by getting too carried away with idealism and political correctness.

First, the GOP:

“Gerrymandering the districts, voter ID laws, purging the voter rolls, shortening the voting period, preventing anyone who’s been to prison from voting, eliminating same-day registration, putting up billboards in poor Black neighborhoods that say, ‘Don’t vote, there’s ghosts in there.’  What Republicans have done is tap into the deep, rich vein of cultural resentment that runs through America’s heartland like an artery clogged with hate butter.”

And here's how Democrats enable the Republicans' slippery tactics:

“They mean well, but sometimes when I’m at Whole Foods, I don’t want to sign petitions and give to charity.  I just want to go in and get a $15 lentil sandwich that’ll make me fart for a week. I also, for example, think it’s ridiculous that Facebook has now decided we have to choose in our profile from 56 different genders, including transgender, cis-gender, and of course, Bruce jender.”

Sorry, but I have to agree, to a point.  Last weekend I attended a meeting of our local Democratic Party where they were putting the party platform together.   There wasn't anything I disagreed with, but they spent several hours dreaming up every wonderful thing that we should all be entitled to.  It sounded less like a party platform than a high school student's starry-eyed description of Utopia.  Not that I'd know, but the local Republicans' meeting was probably more like “Freedom!  Personal responsibility!  Limited government!  OK, we're done!”

He also had some tough love for his fellow atheists and their constant lawsuits about displaying crosses on public property:

“For fuck’s sakes, we’re atheists, not vampires.  You can’t handle seeing a cross now and then, you picked the wrong country.”

And he said Democrats are alienating a lot of swing/independent voters by “nagging about what we can name our football teams or how big our soda can be.” 

He summed up with:

“One of the Republicans’ strongest voting blocs is low-income whites who didn’t go to college. These are people who desperately need a minimum wage hike. Need unions. They need healthcare. But not if it’s got Obama’s name on it.  Remember, for every liberal with a cause who makes you go ‘Oh, just shoot me,’ there’s a conservative with a gun who will.”


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3 Comments:

Blogger Snave said...

There are things that definitely need regulated, but yeah, something like trying to regulate the size of one's soda is an overreach and becomes a "poster child" type thing for the right-wing politicians (corporate shills). The Dems need to be able to find ways to resonate better with those voters who need them but are instead being hoodwinked by the GOP.

April 27, 2014 at 1:02 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Remind me when the GOP took both the Senate and House in the GW Midterms, they suggested if the Democrats wanted to start winning, they should get rid of the "special interest groups". When pressed they talked about Blacks, and other people of color, Feminist, LGBT's and others - the core of the Democratic Party who are bound to disagree but who have also won some elections.

What Maher forgets is the Republicans have to contend with the Moderates (the ones we used to call the extremists), The Real Extremist, and the Tea Party, with the religious right always looking over their shoulders as well. I wouldn't call it one big happy white male family.

Erik

April 27, 2014 at 9:55 PM  
Blogger Tom Harper said...

Snave: I don't disagree with any of the Democrats' causes, but they need to prioritize. 64-ounce sodas and public crosses are less crucial than the fact that oligarchs are purchasing the country and Talibangelicals are trying to drag us back to the Spanish Inquisition.

Erik: The less happy and unified the Republicans are, the better.

April 28, 2014 at 5:09 PM  

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