'Are the Republican candidates all crazy?' (BBC)

[Fozzledick]

By Mark Mardell - North America editor

I've lost count of the number of times over the Christmas break that people have asked me some variation of that question. Weird, mad or bonkers, whatever word they used their contemptuous dismissal was the same.

<snip>

Of course there is a long, if not honourable, tradition of regarding those you disagree with as off their rockers. And we Brits have a bit of a record of patronisingly shaking our heads at American quirkiness.

But the perception that there is something wrong with this year's crop of candidates isn't only across the Atlantic or confined by political persuasion.

A leading Republican, who was in Congress for more than 10 years, answered my question: "Who can beat Obama?" with a casual, "a mammal". Then he added sadly: "But they are all reptiles."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16386176

[dimbear]

1. That's why they're encouraging global warming. n/t

[freshwest]

3. Yep. They are the Reptilican Party. They need heat to incubate their offspring.

[Ecumenist]

2. The republican who was questioned sounds like an alcolholic

I have always said that if Obama got Bin Laden, he would be unbeatable. I'd LOVE to see what the republicans have to say about thefact that their boy not only let him go but actually said that he didn't think about him much, "that he didn't cross his mind"...REMEMBER THAT FELLAS?

[Taverner]

4. Yes. They are fighting for the Nixon Crumb, which does not exist.

Nixon said he discovered one, which meant that it did not exist


Lather, rinse, repeat....

[AtheistCrusader]

5. Hahaha who said the 'Mammal' line?

Gingrich or Paul? I gotta put a face on that line for full effect.

[LeftishBrit]

7. I hope it was Newt...

it would be funny to see an amphibian criticizing the reptiles for not being mammals!

[tavalon]

6. In what way, Charlie?

[Rex]

8. YES!

[eppur_se_muova]

9. Worth reading the final paragraph ...

Maybe in a party that sees very little merit in government, where the mainstays of the movement have long preached that government is the opposite of the solution, there is precious little appeal for people of talent in spending millions and putting themselves through hell just to become part of the problem.

To take that just one step further, there is precious little appeal for people of talent to associate with the Republican party in any way, including voting for its candidates. They have created a process of self-selection that favors the ignorant and thoughtless.

[freshwest]

13. +1,000

[lumberjack_jeff]

10. "MONKEY PANCAKES"

The pic of the day is the highlight of DU3

[truthisfreedom]

12. I saw that pic for a moment and now lost it... where is it???

I wanted to repost it so badly!

Reagan! Jesus! MONKEY PANCAKES!

[struggle4progress]

11. "... Having lost supporters and members from the middle ground, the core who remain were furious

with their leaders, and decided the problem was a lack of ideological purity ..."

Well, there it is in a nutshell: the Rs have been cultivating the wackos: Nixon decided to seek the Southern racists; Reagan added the religious fundamentalists and the anti-unisex-toilet crowd; the Bush gang brought in the laissez-faire Texas billionaires and the anti-intelligentsia and the "wouldn't World War III be cool!" gang and whatever other bottom-feeders Rove could scrape together; and by the time McCain was exhibiting Caribou Barbie as the party mascot, the rest of America was wondering who-the-fugg would ever vote for an R

[freshwest]

14. But they'll offer 'new, improved' versions of the SOS. TeaParty, now Libertarians. Who's buying it?

[glinda]

15. Is this a trick question?

[independentLiberal]

16. not all are bad

ron paul has some good ideas but, I disagree with his stance on the minimum wage

[Rozlee]

18. And to outlaw artificial birth control and to remove protections

for women who are being sexually harassed in the workplace. His endorsement of the Personhood Pledge with 14th Amendment protections still has me steaming. It would bestow citizenship status on a fertilized egg and outlaw most forms of contraceptives including the Pill, IUD, morning after pill and all abortions including for rape and to save the mother's life. And the man was an OB/GYN! Plus, his tax plan, like all the others', would make the rich mega-richer and the rest of us devastatingly poorer.

[Turbineguy]

17. I take it

this is a rhetorical question.

[provis99]

19. from the country that picked Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher, and David Cameron.

pot calling the kettle black.

[Kennah]

20. All crazy? No.

I'd say the GOP is one part bat shit, and two parts crazy.