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echochamberlain

(56 posts)
Wed Oct 8, 2014, 07:02 AM Oct 2014

The top-ten reasons not to vote Republican in the midterms

They shouldn’t be there in the first place

This Republican House has the least public mandate of any Congress in history. In the 2012 elections, the Republicans won 234 seats to the Democrats 201. But the Democrats won 48.8% of the popular vote, to the Republican’s 47.6%. The Democrat’s vote tally was nearly one-and-a-half-million higher. There is no precedent for this, not even close – never has the legitimate preference of the voters been so distorted.

If the Democrats had won – because they got the most votes – the Tea Party would be far less influential. There would have been no debt ceiling crisis, roiling markets and shaking consumer confidence, and no government shutdown lasting sixteen days.

With the Senate having passed a bi-partisan Immigration bill with more than two-thirds of the chamber voting yea, the house would, by now, have followed suit, with a final bill coming out of conference, bound for the president’s desk.

They don’t realize we get it already

The Republicans have voted more than 50 times to repeal or defund Obamacare.

“They have been obsessed with repealing the Affordable Care Act,” President Obama told a Democratic National Committee meeting in Washington. “You know what they say: 50th time is the charm. Maybe when you hit your 50th repeal vote, you will win a prize. Maybe if you buy 50 repeal votes, you get one free. We get it.”

No one likes them

The lowest point in the average of the polls that Nancy Pelosi’s Democrat-led House ever reached was 17%, as Obamacare was being passed. Generally speaking, the Democrats mainly stayed above 20%. Hardly amazing, but worthwhile remembering, given what was to come. The Republican controlled House has been by far the most disliked in modern history. An associated Press poll from the last week of September had them at 7%. It’s not just the least popular Congress, though: It’s also, according to Gallup, the least popular institution of any kind ever recorded.

They don’t do anything

The 113th Congress remains on track to be the least productive in modern history. Just 142 public bills have been enacted into law in the current session, down from the 906 the 80th “Do-Nothing” Congress passed in 1947-48. At this same point in the last Congress, which set the record for the fewest bills passed into public law in the modern era, 151 bills had made it into law.

They don’t represent society

Backers of Rep. Steve Southerland threw the Florida Republican a men-only fundraiser earlier this year. The invitation came complete with instructions that attendees should “tell the missus not to wait up” because “the after dinner whiskey and cigars will be smooth and the issues to discuss are many.”

In 1950, 98% of House Democrats and 97% of House Republicans were white men. In the 64 years since, that share has fallen 51 points for Democrats, but only 8 points for Republicans. Today, 89% of House Republicans are white men, compared to just 47% of House Democrats. On election night 2012, Democrats took pride in the fact that, for the first time ever, women and minorities would compose a majority — 53% — of their caucus. Meanwhile, the share of women and minorities in the GOP House conference went down, from 14% to 11%.

They’re too into Israel

Recent polls make it clear that, in the U.S., the strongest support for Israel’s right-wing policies now comes not from Jews, but from Republicans. Around the time of the Gaza conflict, Pew reported that the share of Republicans who sympathize more with Israel had risen from 68% to 73%, far larger than the proportion of Democrats.

Republican love for Israel knows almost no bounds, stemming, perhaps, from an absolutist trait in the conservative worldview. Israel is the Middle East’s only “good guy,” surrounded by a sea of “bad guys.”

In 2013, Israel’s GDP was $291.3 billion. The U.S. has subsidized about 25% of the tiny country’s annual defense budget in recent years; and U.S. military aid is roughly 1% of Israel’s economy. Yet the Republicans still complain that the Obama administration hasn’t been sufficiently supportive. For all their unwavering loyalty, however, it is really strange that, after the surprise defeat of Eric Cantor, there are now exactly zero Jewish Republicans in the House.

Their outreach to the Black community still faces hurdles

“To a significant extent, the Republican base does have elements that are animated by racism. And that’s unfortunate,” Democrat Steve Israel said recently on CNN.

“I couldn’t be consistent with myself and my core beliefs, and stay with a party that was so unfriendly toward the African-American president,” former Florida governor Charlie Crist said in an interview.“I was a Republican and I saw the activists and what they were doing, it was intolerable to me.”

“The reason why Fox News and the GOP attract people like Cliven Bundy, Ted Nugent, and George Zimmerman is because they have spent the entire Obama years using racial divides as a political weapon,” Bill Maher argued earlier this year, later going on to argue that Fox News called the New Black Panthers scary, but portrayed white militia members as heroes.

An interesting proxy for measuring racial prejudice is a person’s views on interracial dating and marriage. The Pew Research Center has been polling on this question for 25 years. In 2012, 18 percent of Republicans disapproved of blacks and whites dating each other.

They’ve wasted a huge amount of money

The Republicans have cost the taxpayer, directly and in terms of hindered economic potential, a huge amount since taking over the House.

The lawsuit against the president will cost up to $350,000, billed at a rate of $500 per hour.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimated that the House Republican’s prolonged showdown with the administration over the raising of the debt ceiling, a procedure, up till then largely a formality, increased government borrowing costs by $1.3 billion.

Standard & Poors estimated that the Republican-initiated shutdown, which lasted just over two weeks, cost $1.5 billion per day, and took a total of $24 billion out of the U.S. economy.

Almost continuously, since 2012, the Republican controlled House has been investigating Benghazi. “The Department has devoted thousands of man-hours to responding to the numerous and often repetitive congressional requests regarding Benghazi,” Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs Elizabeth King said in a letter to Congress. That estimate included “time devoted to approximately 50 congressional hearings, briefings, and interviews which the Department has led or participated in.”

In May, the Republicans formed a special committee to re investigate Benghazi – the budget is $5,650,000 – bigger than the budgets for the committees on Veteran’s affairs, Intelligence and the budget itself.

When House Republicans voted to appoint a special counsel for the IRS investigation, House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin responded by saying, “The IRS has spent more than $14 million in taxpayer money accommodating Republican requests, turning over more than 600,000 pages of documents, none of which substantiate the GOP’s wild attempt from the get-go to tar the administration.”

Its amazing that a fiscally conservative party has contrived to spend or waste this much money. Would anyone seriously suggest most of it had been well spent?

They can’t get their story straight

Despite having actually issued fewer executive orders than most of his predecessors, the Republicans have accused the President of being aggressively unilateral. In June, Republican Speaker John Boehner criticised the President’s use of executive orders, saying Congress must act to avoid Obama from acting like a “king.”

When Boehner was forced to cancel a vote on his border legislation after he didn’t have enough votes to pass it, he then issued a press release demanding that Obama act alone to secure the border. “There are numerous steps the president can and should be taking right now, without the need for congressional action, to secure our borders…” The logic being that it is not okay for Obama to take executive action unless the House is paralyzed by Republican infighting.

They’re going backwards in their thinking

Fewer Republicans today than in 2009 believe in evolution, according to a Pew poll last year. The poll showed that less than half – 43 percent – of those who identify with the Republican Party say they believe humans have evolved over time, plunging from 54 percent four years ago. Forty-eight percent say they believe “humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time,” up from 39 percent in 2009. According to a recent National Science Foundation study, only 28 percent of conservative Republicans believe that humans evolved from earlier species. The fact these statistics are going backwards, in the twenty-first century, is amazing.

And all of this without the Republicans having control of the Senate. FROM: http://sheppardpost.com/
37 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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The top-ten reasons not to vote Republican in the midterms (Original Post) echochamberlain Oct 2014 OP
11. They're assholes. Scuba Oct 2014 #1
They're not qualified to do their job.... AlbertCat Oct 2014 #2
The only time they "get" the Constitution, joshdawg Oct 2014 #4
My reason: very ugly inside and/or batshit. merrily Oct 2014 #3
At least batshit serves useful purposes. Initech Oct 2014 #22
Not when a human is batshit, it doesn't. merrily Oct 2014 #24
Excellent OP. Thanks, that's a lot there. freshwest Oct 2014 #5
Are massive amounts of DUers Le Taz Hot Oct 2014 #6
No, but some aren't voting for Dems (or at all). riqster Oct 2014 #10
Actually, that is not mathmatically the same as voting for "Repubes." Le Taz Hot Oct 2014 #11
No, entitlement is not the issue. Math is. riqster Oct 2014 #12
In a perfect (voting) world you would be... Whiskeytide Oct 2014 #13
The "vote for our candidate Le Taz Hot Oct 2014 #14
But where else will you look? Whiskeytide Oct 2014 #15
Of course you see it that way. Le Taz Hot Oct 2014 #17
par·ti·san ... Whiskeytide Oct 2014 #18
Your entire screed Le Taz Hot Oct 2014 #19
By TP, I meant only "Third Party", not Tea Party... Whiskeytide Oct 2014 #20
Being a partisan is a bad thing now? YoungDemCA Oct 2014 #23
The "pejorative" designtion is yours, Le Taz Hot Oct 2014 #25
You're really only making excuses Cary Oct 2014 #26
No idea what that means. Le Taz Hot Oct 2014 #28
Empirical evidence is a source of knowledge acquired by means of observation or experimentation. Cary Oct 2014 #30
Condescention aside, Le Taz Hot Oct 2014 #31
So be accountable Cary Oct 2014 #32
What am I not "owning?" Le Taz Hot Oct 2014 #33
Several Posters Expressed to You the Reality of Your Principle Cary Oct 2014 #34
And they were all the different versions of Le Taz Hot Oct 2014 #35
Breatbe Cary Oct 2014 #37
They are generally willfully ignorant & not qualified to govern. CaptainTruth Oct 2014 #7
K&R ReRe Oct 2014 #8
Sociopaths for sure. Cary Oct 2014 #27
Good list. Welcome to DU! catbyte Oct 2014 #9
People need 10 reasons? I seem to only need one. n/t dilby Oct 2014 #16
Good Point. different equation Oct 2014 #36
They do nothing, take too much time off, and call us "lazy moochers". Initech Oct 2014 #21
only10? MFM008 Oct 2014 #29

joshdawg

(2,648 posts)
4. The only time they "get" the Constitution,
Wed Oct 8, 2014, 07:38 AM
Oct 2014

they put it on a roll and mount it next to the ceramic throne.

Initech

(100,068 posts)
22. At least batshit serves useful purposes.
Wed Oct 8, 2014, 03:29 PM
Oct 2014

Can't say the same for ultra right wing religious fundamentalists.

merrily

(45,251 posts)
24. Not when a human is batshit, it doesn't.
Wed Oct 8, 2014, 03:39 PM
Oct 2014

As an aside, I did not refer to religion. I think people can be batshit with or without religion and I think people can be relatively sane with or without religion.

Le Taz Hot

(22,271 posts)
11. Actually, that is not mathmatically the same as voting for "Repubes."
Wed Oct 8, 2014, 09:47 AM
Oct 2014

Example: John Doe votes for the Green Candidate. The result is one vote for the Green candidate with no effect on the count for either the Democrats or Republicans.

For some reason you guys think the Democrats are entitled to that vote. They're not. The reality is that if the Democrats want people to vote for them they must put up candidates that people will vote for. If the same highly unpopular, corporate-friendly candidates continue to be offered up don't be surprised if people look elsewhere to commit their vote.

riqster

(13,986 posts)
12. No, entitlement is not the issue. Math is.
Wed Oct 8, 2014, 10:10 AM
Oct 2014

Dems and Repubs own the elections, and the reality is, it's a binary choice. Look at any elected body in this country.

A vote for a libertarian sucks a vote away from Repubs, thus resulting in a net gain for Dems.

A vote for a left third party sucks a vote away from the Dems, thus resulting in a net gain for Repubs.

Whiskeytide

(4,461 posts)
13. In a perfect (voting) world you would be...
Wed Oct 8, 2014, 10:11 AM
Oct 2014

...correct in looking at it that way. But the stakes are too high in the real world. Any progressive that votes for a third party candidate that can't realistically win is effectively casting a vote that HELPS the republican win. Someone who doesn't vote at all is doing the same. THERE IS NO OTHER WAY OF LOOKING AT IT. Its easy to say that the less than ideal Dem had it coming, but the damage republican control can do - in a very short time - hurts a lot of people that don't have it coming, and helps to further solidify continued republican control (think redistricting, SCOTUS, and just general obstructionism). Maybe, one day, it will be possible to cast a 3rd party vote that matters. But for now, I think it's short sighted to do so.

Realistically, a very left candidate can only count on about 20% to maybe 25% of the vote from the left base (about the same for a very conservative candidate and the right base). To win, they all have to try and reach those middle ground voters. It's just the way it is.

Le Taz Hot

(22,271 posts)
14. The "vote for our candidate
Wed Oct 8, 2014, 10:22 AM
Oct 2014

because he's/she's not as bad as the other guy" just doesn't work anymore. The onus is on the Party to offer up candidates that people will vote for. That's the solution. If the party can't do that people will look elsewhere.

Whiskeytide

(4,461 posts)
15. But where else will you look?
Wed Oct 8, 2014, 10:31 AM
Oct 2014

I don't see it as "our guy is not as bad". I see it as "the other guy really is that bad". Retaking our Democracy/Republic is a long haul process. Incremental steps in the right direction are a part of that process. Not every play has to be a touchdown. Sometimes its enough just to get a first down and keep the drive alive (sorry - its football season).

Whiskeytide

(4,461 posts)
18. par·ti·san ...
Wed Oct 8, 2014, 11:38 AM
Oct 2014

pärdəzən/
noun
1. a strong supporter of a party, cause, or person.

I am a strong supporter of a number of causes. I don't necessarily support the Dem party, though - at least not at all costs. In fact, I regularly vote for republicans in local elections (especially judges) because I know them and I understand why they have Rs beside their name when running in this state.

But you actually illustrate my point. If candidate D fully supports 8 out of the 12 causes that I care about, while candidate R supports 1 out of 12 - Who do you suggest I vote for?

Sure, I can support candidate TP - who maybe supports 12 out of 12, but I know he/she will only get 2-3% of the total vote, and I know that by doing so, I'm helping candidate R win the office. Other than for my own selfish principles of purity, however, my vote goes "poof", and every R vote cast by my neighbors gains a little bit more power.

I guess that all I am saying is, if you stand on your principles and vote for candidate TP, I admire that in a way. But you need to own up to the fact that, if or when R wins, you ARE partially responsible for it. If your goal is to give the country to the Rs so they can fuck it up and then try to pick up the pieces afterwards - maybe I can identify with that goal (even though I don't think the strategy will work). But know that there will be a of of innocent suffering in the meantime, and you have to weigh whether it's worth it.

Le Taz Hot

(22,271 posts)
19. Your entire screed
Wed Oct 8, 2014, 03:03 PM
Oct 2014

is but variations on the same theme -- vote for our guy because the other guy is worse. You continue to ignore my point so at this point any further correspondence wastes my time. A couple of things for the record, I will not be voting for a TP (I assume this means Tea Party) and I live in California which has gone D for the last, I don't know 26 years?

One last thing: My vote is my own and I have the right to cast it for whatever candidate meets my criteria and Hillary ain't it.

Whiskeytide

(4,461 posts)
20. By TP, I meant only "Third Party", not Tea Party...
Wed Oct 8, 2014, 03:11 PM
Oct 2014

... and I won't waste your time with further "screeds". But for the record, I don't care what you do with your vote. But how you cast it has consequences, and keeping your head up your rear end about that also has consequences.

 

YoungDemCA

(5,714 posts)
23. Being a partisan is a bad thing now?
Wed Oct 8, 2014, 03:32 PM
Oct 2014

That's news to a lot of people, in this country and many others (especially in many others).

If you're gonna label people on a Democratic message board who disagree with you "partisans" as if it were a pejorative, then I can only assume that you want Republicans to win. Because that is what will happen, and has happened, every. fucking. time.

Cary

(11,746 posts)
26. You're really only making excuses
Wed Oct 8, 2014, 03:49 PM
Oct 2014

The empirical evidence against what you're saying is overwhelming. At least be accountable.

Cary

(11,746 posts)
30. Empirical evidence is a source of knowledge acquired by means of observation or experimentation.
Wed Oct 8, 2014, 05:03 PM
Oct 2014

If you understood such things you would know that we never know anything with absolute certainty but that doesn't mean a particular issue is in dispute. For example, we are not 100% certain that cigarettes cause cancer and it has been argued in certain quarters that cigarettes are benign. We are about as certain about climate change as we are about the link between cigarettes and cancer, but you know how "conservatives" argue otherwise.

I would estimate that we are about as certain that a leftist third party candidate draws votes away from a Democrat, and a Libertarian candidate draws votes away from a Republican. Yet here you are in denial, as "conservatives" deny climate change and as a tobacco executive denies the link between cigarette smoking and cancer.

The "conservative" is not accountable for being an oil industry apologist. The tobacco executive is not accountable for making people sick for fun and profit. And you are not accountable for enabling Republicans.

Le Taz Hot

(22,271 posts)
31. Condescention aside,
Wed Oct 8, 2014, 05:30 PM
Oct 2014

I'll state this one last time: The Democratic Party is not entitled to my vote -- they must earn it by presenting the best candidate(s).

Cary

(11,746 posts)
32. So be accountable
Thu Oct 9, 2014, 08:38 AM
Oct 2014

Your comments thus far are evasive. You are willing to stand on this principle of yours to the point where you enable fascists.

That is a fact.

I am not condescending. I flat out disrespect your value that you express here and the fact that you can't own it shows me that you know why.

Le Taz Hot

(22,271 posts)
33. What am I not "owning?"
Thu Oct 9, 2014, 08:48 AM
Oct 2014

I vote my principles, my beliefs. I am not swayed by some corrupt, bought-and-paid-for political party The values are innate within me.

And now I'm "enabling" fascism? Well, in the traditional sense, fascism occurs when the government is in bed with big business. In that the Democrats, as well as the Republicans are so far up the corporate ass and YOU, my friend, are a partisan to one of those parties, that makes one of us a supporter of fascism and it sure as hell isn't me.

As for your respect or lack thereof, I'll try to live with the shame.

Le Taz Hot

(22,271 posts)
35. And they were all the different versions of
Thu Oct 9, 2014, 09:08 AM
Oct 2014

"vote for our guy/gal because he/she isn't as bad as their guy/gal." I rejected that premise and offered a solution: That instead of DEMANDING!11!!1 that people vote for their person, the parties could offer up candidates that people want to vote for. You and "several posters" have all made an end-run around that point as well as the other point which is that my vote is my own and is not owned by any political party.

Now, sir/madam, it seems you want to engage in some kind of pissing contest which has nothing to do with honest debate so I bid you good day.

Cary

(11,746 posts)
37. Breatbe
Thu Oct 9, 2014, 09:21 AM
Oct 2014

Live in the moment. Stop being so defensive.

You are entitled to your values. No one is telling you otherwise and you're right, the fact that I disrespect your valuing your principle over the reality that you're enabling fascists is of little or no consequence. If.you are good with the fact that you enable fascists, then own it. Embrace it.

Fortunately the vast majority of us understand the need for a consensus. We can do things without you.

CaptainTruth

(6,589 posts)
7. They are generally willfully ignorant & not qualified to govern.
Wed Oct 8, 2014, 09:00 AM
Oct 2014

Perhaps equally important, they focus more on partisanship than solutions. Their main goal seems to be gaining & holding power, not effective governing for the benefit of the people. They don't seem to care at all about improving the lives of the 99%.

ReRe

(10,597 posts)
8. K&R
Wed Oct 8, 2014, 09:16 AM
Oct 2014

They're not just Republicans. They are Republican psychopaths. They derive joy from seeing people suffer.

MFM008

(19,808 posts)
29. only10?
Wed Oct 8, 2014, 04:28 PM
Oct 2014

if we took the time to tell what was wrong with Republicans it would cause the internet to turn into a black hole .

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