Arkansas Blog

"among Repubs -- a mind-boggling 55."

Mind-boggling, for sure. How in God's name can so many be so stupid and so out of touch with the times?

Like hate mongers of old, they enjoy sticking it to their enemies; it matters not who else gets hurt so long as they can avenge imagined slights.

"To the last, I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee." Herman Melville

It's well documented that the lower a person's IQ, the less likely they are to change their mind.

In fact, evidence that contradicts their position only makes them cling to it more tightly.

In other words, some people are so stupid to know they're stupid. When confronted with something that doesn't match their beliefs, they simply think the rest of us are stupid.

I really have no idea how to explain it.. Self loathing? They are so angry, yet they can't or wont admit their own failings - support of Republican rich criminals (and more than a few Democrats.. such as our AR critters)?

How much money a blood wasted on killing, torture, dwindling economy and rising energy prices with no effort to change our energy consumption.. can we possibly take without wondering... hey, maybe I am praying for the wrong people, the wrong ideas. The rich folks are trickling on the Chinese, robbing American labor, homeowners, rule of law and liberty... and we are bailing them out for it.

One thing is certain, imo. They are authoritarian followers... enabling dangerous criminal bullies. And the only way to wake up those followers is to punch their favorite bullies square in the nose in public.

Take 'em out on election day (not just Republicans, but the Pryor's too) and send the worst offenders to jail for many years.. or, like Iran Contra and repeatedly lying us into false wars.. we will keep repeating this as our empire falls.

All of that aside.. If I were around a bunch of Republican followers today... before the non-debate, I would simply say.. imagine we are heading into a depression (it's easy if you try /s).. Now would you want the McGuy with a mistress turned second wife worth over a 100 million dollars, the guy with more homes and cars than he can count to be in charge or the O'guy with one old car and one new house to understand what you might be going through in a depression?

One House, One Spouse, One Car
Obama '08

Whoever you vote for.. don't vote MCain. Vote Obama, Nader, McKinney or Barr.

if you want to shoot yourself in the foot.. i'll give you a bullet, but don't take the rest of us with you... That's supposed to be what Muslim extremists do.

Repubs -- a mind-boggling 55. What, somebody tell me, exactly do they approve of? <<<

Cost-plus contracts
Lower corporate taxes
Lower taxes on high incomes
Safe havens in foreign ports
Less regulation of financial markets
Destruction of environmental laws
Unlimited dumping
No regulation of oil markets
cheap, profitable imports
cheap, profitable, immigrant labor
Pro-corporate Supreme Court
Fixed elections
Fixed Justice Department
Simplified hiring of incompetent Justice Dept fundies
He kept us Safe (after he didn't keep us safe)

A president who appears just as dumb like many still in support of him.

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Oh, one more to the list

He puts his faith in the Lord.

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It's quite simple really!

". . . we have learned that government is not the answer. We have learned that freedom and competition are the answers. We have learned that we promote economic growth and we promote stability by having competition and freedom. " Phil Gramm (R-Tx) on the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act.

The Republican party and Conservatives believe unnecessary government and unnecessary regulation are bad and cause taxes to be legislated to pay for them. Those tenets have amped up until the Elephant Echo Chamber conditioning has worked on their base and their politicians until now: "All Government, All Regulation, All Taxes are evil plots by the opposition to harm us!"

The CCRRR's see the Bush Administrations continuing fiascos and disasters as proof positive of the correctness of their tenets and political philosophy. So the question is not why they approve the Bush Administration for proving that" All Government, All Regulation, All Taxes are evil plots by the opposition to harm us!" The question is why would 45% not.

After all to the CCRRR's, it's not Bush's or the GOP's fault. It is all traceable back to the Clinton administrations wanton expansion of entitlement. The fiscal good times and surpluses of the Clinton era were just the benefits of Reagan/Bush's "trickle down economics" finally kicking in.

So the 55% CCRRR approval of Bush is because he's proving them right that "all government, all regulation and all taxes are evil," no matter how much it costs. Anyway, they can't admit they were wrong. Figuring out what happened, why it happened and how to fix it, would just make their little heads hurt.

". . . we have passed the point, where anyone identifying themselves as a Republican is either unremittingly dishonest and unethical or unremittingly stupid! . . .or both! . . . "

". . . 55% stupid . . . ?"

Click

Last I saw that puts him about 15-16 points *above* the Democratic-controlled Congress.

RFO, what's been well-documented is that Democratic candidates perform best with those who did not complete high-school and those with post-graduate degrees (the under and over educated).

I can explain the 55% approval rating.

My father-in-law lives in a resort/retirement area which is HEAVILY Republican.

I learned long ago to keep my liberal ideas to myself.

After years among them in their native habitat at parties and cookouts while they eat, drink and discuss political views, I have been able to observe. They are accustomed to my presence and seem to act natural while I watch.

nearly all political views can be decided by how it effects their wealth.

Medicare gives them free healthcare so that is good.

Universal health care may raise their taxes so it is bad. Even if their employees might be able to get medical care for their families. It raises their taxes so it is bad.

Bush tax cuts lower my taxes so they are good.

10 trillion dollar debt may cause inflation but if my taxes don't rise and I still get Medicare, that is ok.

Roll back environmental requirements for drillng may keep my gasoline costs low, that is good.

Gravel mining upstream from my house will hurt fishing and lower my home value, that is bad. Gravel mining down stream from my house will lower gravel costs for my road and hurt the property value of some sap downstream, taht is good.

The common theme seems to be greed. If it helps ME, I am for it. It it costs ME, I am against it.

Last I saw that puts him about 15-16 points *above* the Democratic-controlled Congress.<<

In the U.S. Senate are 49 Demos....49 Republicans.

And in all likelihood 15-16 points is a little high.

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Yes

And where might the Democraticaly run Congress fall today? Are they out of single digits yet or do they continue to fall? I mean you seem to be doing some sort of "reporting", perhaps you could report on this too? just sayin

Actually 15-16 pts approval for Congress and 25 pt for Bush means Bush trails Congress.

In a good season Congress gets to a high approval of 30 pts. Rarely more than that.

In a good season the President will leave office with 60-70% approval. Clinton left with 64%.

So half of 64 is 32. Bush is below that.

Half of Congress' high, 30, is 15-16%.

So, Bush, at 25% is below Congress.

Recall, few approve of Congress but they often approve of "their" Congressman. Otherwise there would not be so many incumbents.
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I think the 55% level of Republican support which continues for Bush is reflective of why this country needs a revolution. Maybe I'm too close to seeing Les Mis for the 5th time but if circumstances like these do not "try the soul" with regard to the hollowness of our existing social contract then the lack of a revolution confirms the beginning of the end of this country.
The middle class [not people who earn less than 5 million John John] have been decimated. A stable middle class is required for a democratic republic to survive. Not only is it being diminshed economically but it is also seeing the factors which sustained its allegiance to the social order being destroyed: corruption, lies, incompetence, greed. These all eat into the social fabric whether occuring on Wall Street, the White House, Congress, or among any of the leadership institutions in the country. When there is no longer hope that things will right themselves there is nothing to lose.
Allegiance to a political party in this case reflects the displacement of country for party. No rational human being [at least not above a 5% level of generally mentally ill people] could examine the history of the past 8 years and not find the current administration lacking. No measure of economic or social well being of the society [not the upper 1% of the society] could yeild such a positive outcome. What did former Secretary of the Treasury O'Nell write -- the President's Cabinet meetings were intereactions between the blind and deaf. That 55% is clearly blind to fundamental reality and deaf to the cries calling for a new social contract.
This country is not living up to its founder's values. It is no longer reflective of the Enlightenment. It no longer struggles with issues of justice and equity. And when/if the middle class is destroyed, it will no longer merit our support.

I wasn't reporting, but I will. See the link - 5 paragraphs down. Sorry, they're at 11%

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/59_would_vote_to_replace_entire_congress

Personally, I approve of President Bush for the following reasons:

(1) there has been no terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11; and

(2) he's not Obama, Kerry, Algore, etc., etc.