Will Republicans get their cummupance in the next election?

Tmy

Philosopher
Tmy
Joined
Oct 23, 2002
Messages
6,487
Absolute power currupts bla bla bla. I think Americans are getting fed up with the right. South Dakota abortion law, the Iraq mess, katrina/Fema, Ports for sale,.......are just some examples of Rebublican bad press.

This is a good opportunity for the dems to take control of Congress. Thats one thing I like about our system. When one party is in control, they are bound to shoot themselves in the foot.
 
Why do you hate America, Tmy?

Don't you know that talk like this is putting ammo in the hands of the terrorists? Don't you know that our leader answers to a higher power? The economy is strong, the insurgency is waning, Afghanistan is free of the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden is too busy hiding to plan another attack. I think this adminstration is doing very well considering they inherited a recession, a terrorist attack and some stains on the Oval Office carpet.
 
Republicans hate Democrats far more than they hate the war, the deficits, or the assualts on civil liberties. They will vote for a Republican over a Democrat no matter what happens. Admit that core Republican policies have failed? Not gonna happen.

The question is whether or not the independents are fed up enough as a group to make a difference in the next election. I don't know...maybe.
 
Mark said:
Republicans hate Democrats far more than they hate the war, the deficits, or the assualts on civil liberties. They will vote for a Republican over a Democrat no matter what happens. Admit that core Republican policies have failed? Not gonna happen.
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I view this as one being pathologically Republican or Democrat. Once you've picked your side, there's no changing.

Charlie (voted Rebublican because my dad did) Monoxide
 
Intellectually I view the situation as a combination of complex neurobiology and social conditioning that directs human behavior. The problem is that rational explanations for often irrational behavior are not very satisfying so emotionally, and perhaps intuitively, I only see the wrongs perpetrated by those in power and vilify the opposition. :o
 
Bush's and the Republicans' strength in the eyes of the populace (non-theocratic portion) is national security. Personally, I don't see it, but for many people, independents and moderate Republicans, that's the trump card. I think it's irrational to think of Bush as beneficial to national security. Now to the Dubai Ports deal: I don't think it's a threat to security, but it could be a devastating chink in Bush's armor. Ironical. Watch the way the irate Republican Congressional leadership and others are scrambling to find a Dubai compromise. They know their fate is tied to Bush.
 
I have concluded that it is a mistake to underestimate the Democrats ability to lose elections. Their only hope is to have a candidate change his name to "None of the Above" and score a landslide.
 
To answer this question, I need clarity on who you mean "Republicans" to refer to. If you mean those neo-con theocrats, than the answer is yes. If you mean more mainstream Republicans, than the answer is no. I think the American people will elect McCain, or someother more traditional, and mainstream republican rather than a democrat, if given the oppurtunity.
 
I think the Republicans will continue to win as long as the Democrats fail to come up with any message other than "We're not Republicans. Republicans bad."
 
I have been curious about this issue for awhile.

I would try to put up a poll about it to see what the situation is just in JREF except I haven't seen a poll actually work yet so I suppose that feature hasn't been fixed yet.

My guess of the situation at JREF of the US posters that are likely to vote:

50% - Democrats, fairly unlikely to vote for any Republican especially given current situation
15% - Republicans, given current situation much more likely to vote against social conservative, high spending and/or corruption tainted Republicans
15% - Republicans unhappy to some degree with current situation but still likely to vote for most Republican candidates
20% - Independent voters somewhat likely to vote for third party candidates, but in current situation about 2/3 of these folks will vote for Democrats as a protest vote against Republicans

These are wild ass guesses and I would be curious to see what the actual numbers are. One little test of my theory that a number of Republican voters that take part in this forum will vote against at least some Republican candidates in upcoming elections would be how Randfan and LukeT are leaning. I tried to talk LukeT into an anti Bush vote in last election but I am afraid my intervention was completely unsuccessful. I wonder if time and the current situation has changed LukeT's leanings a bit.

The Republican voters on this forum that are sticking with the current Republican party tend to continue to have faith in the Bush foreign policy, particularly with respect to Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel. I think it is also possible that they continue to hang on to the myth that fiscal conservatism plays any ongoing role in Republican party ideology.

ETA: After some thought about this I realized there might be a small percentage of normally Democratic voters on this forum that might be leaning toward supporting Republicans in the next election. Would Mycroft be one of those?
 
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davefoc said:
The Republican voters on this forum that are sticking with the current Republican party tend to continue to have faith in the Bush foreign policy, particularly with respect to Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel. I think it is also possible that they continue to hang on to the myth that fiscal conservatism plays any ongoing role in Republican party ideology.
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I wonder if this is true. It seems to be that the majority of the conservatives on this forum stop short of actually supporting Bush, but spend their time refuting the most obvious examples of BDS while defending conservative principles.

davefoc said:
ETA: After some thought about this I realized there might be a small percentage of normally Democratic voters on this forum that might be leaning toward supporting Republicans in the next election. Would Mycroft be one of those?
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I had a discussion about this with my wife a few months ago. I made the argument that classical liberals like us were no longer represented by the Democratic party, but that the liberalism we supported 20 years ago was better represented by moderate Republicans such as the Log Cabin Republicans or IMP-Pac. Between us we floated the idea that maybe it would be better to abandon the Democrats as no longer being relevant and perhaps doing our tiny part to bring about a schism within the Republicans between the religious right and the moderates.

But that’s just in the thinking stage. We’ll see who the Democrats put forth in 2008.
 
hgc said:
Bush's and the Republicans' strength in the eyes of the populace (non-theocratic portion) is national security.
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I think it still boils down to the notion that from the public's viewpoint conservatives are "tough" on defense; i.e. willing to send in the Marines whenever some "evil-doer" attempts to challenge America and our way of life. Meanwhile the "liberals" are still branded as namby-pamby peacenkiks who'd want to "sit down and talk" with Osama rather than kill or punish him.

Of course, this is hardly a fair point of view, but it's a hard sterotype for many to shake.
 
Charlie Monoxide said:
I view this as one being pathologically Republican or Democrat. Once you've picked your side, there's no changing.

Charlie (voted Rebublican because my dad did) Monoxide
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...and these are the people who will always find excuses for the wrong-doings of their respective leaders. My father is a stalwart Bushie and thinks he's the greatest president we've had since Reagan (make of that what you will). He fully supports the War In Iraq and supports invading Syria and Iran. He endorses domestic spying because of some half-baked story he heard Sean Hannity about a U.S. troops in Iraq finding a cell phone of an AQ operative with U.S. phone numbers on it. No amount of evidence will convince him otherwise because anything that attacks Bush is obviously an anti-American ie by the "liberal media."

Speaking for myself, I haven't voted for the Republicans in 8 years, and I don't plan on going back unless they're willing to make some major platform changes. (i.e. Kick out the Christian Right, end the War On Drugs, and stop with the "World's Policeman" BS.) On the other hand, I still disagree enough with the Democrats to keep me from voting for them.

I guess I'm staying home next election day.
 
No, they'll win. Just barely, as usual, under questionable circumstances. Just watch.
 
Mycroft said:
I wonder if this is true. It seems to be that the majority of the conservatives on this forum stop short of actually supporting Bush, but spend their time refuting the most obvious examples of BDS while defending conservative principles.
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You mean:

Conservative principles like bigger and bigger government? Oh, say "Homeland Security Agency"?

Conservative principles like enhanced government intrusion into the lives of the civilian? Oh, say the "Patriot Act"?

Conservative principles like an imperialistic war in Iraq?

Conservative principles like the biggest government deficits ever?
 
jj said:
You mean:

Conservative principles like bigger and bigger government? Oh, say "Homeland Security Agency"?

Conservative principles like enhanced government intrusion into the lives of the civilian? Oh, say the "Patriot Act"?

Conservative principles like an imperialistic war in Iraq?

Conservative principles like the biggest government deficits ever?
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I've brought those examples up to conservatives, JJ, and their answer is always the same: "9-11 changed everything." :rolleyes:
 
jj said:
You mean:

Conservative principles like bigger and bigger government? Oh, say "Homeland Security Agency"?

Conservative principles like enhanced government intrusion into the lives of the civilian? Oh, say the "Patriot Act"?

Conservative principles like an imperialistic war in Iraq?

Conservative principles like the biggest government deficits ever?
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Well, the examples I cited were or Log Cabin Republicans and of IMP-Pac. If you can find examples among those two sub-set of Republicans that support any of the above, then you have a valid point.

Can you?
 
jj said:
You mean:

Conservative principles like bigger and bigger government? Oh, say "Homeland Security Agency"?

Conservative principles like enhanced government intrusion into the lives of the civilian? Oh, say the "Patriot Act"?

Conservative principles like an imperialistic war in Iraq?

Conservative principles like the biggest government deficits ever?
Click to expand...

Let us be clear. Bush is not a conservative. What is going on in Washington has nothing in the world to do with being conservative.
 
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