Holy shit, my neighbors are insane Republicans.

[The Liberal Thinker]

So I was speaking with my neighbors and after telling me that Rush Limbaugh was right 100% of the time and that he's the smartest man they've ever heard of, they told me these things.

- Barack Obama badmouthed and insulted the United States in his speech in Berlin. (I haven't seen the speech yet, I have to only assume this is not at all true?)
- Barack Obama is not a citizen of the United States.
- The Chinese are drilling offshore from Florida.
- The Israelis should attack Iran with nuclear weapons right after our November elections.
- We found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Then they pointed out that there seemed to have been no chaos after the Iowa floods, and that New Orleans was a city of sin... hint hint.

I kept on telling them that these things are simply not true... But they yelled and got infuriated, telling me that I was just a puppet of the liberal media and that I should watch FOX news.

Unfortunately, they're such nice old folks, so I don't want to give them a smackdown but...geez, this is what we're up against, people.

So my question, what is the craziest thing you've ever heard from a Republican?

[FiveGoodMen]

1. "what is the craziest thing you've ever heard from a Republican?"

Just a couple of weeks ago, a friend's wife was complaining that the pukes in Congress weren't pukey enough.

Called them RINOs. Not enough fascism for her yet!

[The Wizard]

23. One of them

was pissed off at Bush for not killing every Muslim on earth.

[FiveGoodMen]

25. I think we're doomed.

I have no hope left.

If this is how the public thinks, no politician is ever going to save us.

[Submariner]

2. That is the reason the Fairness in Media doctrine needs to make a come back

Ask your neighbors how they feel about sucking up to a drug addled pedophile like Rush. Poor example of wingnut family values.

[NMDemDist2]

3. ...

As the researchers explained in their report, “The extent of Americans’ misperceptions vary significantly depending on their source of news. Those who receive most of their news from Fox News are more likely than average to have misperceptions. Those who receive most of their news from NPR or PBS are less likely to have misperceptions. These variations cannot simply be explained as a result of differences in the demographic characteristics of each audience, because these variations can also be found when comparing the demographic subgroups of each audience.”

Almost shocking was the extent to which Fox News viewers were mistaken. Those who relied on the conservative network for news, PIPA reported, were “three times more likely than the next nearest network to hold all three misperceptions. In the audience for NPR/PBS, however, there was an overwhelming majority who did not have any of the three misperceptions, and hardly any had all three.”

Looking at the misperceptions one at a time, people were asked, for example, if the U.S. had discovered the alleged stockpiles of WMD in Iraq since the war began. Just 11% of those who relied on newspapers as their “primary news source” incorrectly believed that U.S. forces had made such a discovery. Only slightly more — 17% — of those who relied on NPR and PBS were wrong. Yet 33% of Fox News viewers were wrong, far ahead of those who relied on any other outlet.

Likewise, when people were asked if the U.S. had “clear evidence” that Saddam Hussein was “working closely with al Queda,” similar results were found. Only 16% of NPR and PBS listeners/viewers believed that the U.S. has such evidence, while 67% of Fox News viewers were under that mistaken impression.

Overall, 80 percent of those who relied on Fox News as their primary news source believed at least one of the three misperceptions. Viewers/listeners/readers of other news outlets didn’t even come close to this total.



http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/714.html

[sam sarrha]

4. my elderly mother only watches Fox.. i think they cater to them subliminally somehow

[catbyte]

44. Wow...

You know, I think you're right. My mom (RIP) always had Faux on her tv when I'd come over. I don't know what it was about that station. She was most definitely NOT a repub and always thought & voted progressive. Why she always watched that swill, I'll never know. At least none of it rubbed off on her.

Diane

"Tales of the hunt will glorify the hunter until lions have their own historians."--African proverb

[Tace]

5. Welfare Mom

Met a guy in Vermont who said he's a Republican because there's a lady in town living in a trailer, with two kids, collecting welfare, screwing a few different guys. No kidding.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

6. Wheee!!!

You just cannot beat a 'neck like that.

Hell, he's probably pissed he hasn't gotten any of that. ;-)

[Jim Sagle]

11. Why doesn't she do us all a favor and give him what he wants?

It would make the world a better place.

;)

[pipi_k]

14. Yeah, I can see it now...

He gets into her drawers and gets her pregnant and when the DNA tests come back proving he's the dad, Mr Family Values takes off for parts unknown so he doesn't have to pay child support.

Because he already has four other kids with four other women.

I love irony, don't you?

:evilgrin:

[Kweli4Real]

33. He's just mad because ...

She's NOT screwing him.

[RubyDuby in GA]

43. Wow! One woman has that much control over him?!?

What a fine specimen of manhood he is.

I really think I'm beginning to favor a policy of forced sterilization of all wingnut Republicans.

[tanyev]

7. Last Sunday, at Starbucks, one of the kids working there noticed my

Bush Countdown Clock hanging on my purse. He asked me what it was and I showed him.

He said, "You're counting down the days?" I said, "Yep, only 177 days left," with a big smile on my face.

He said, "You don't like George Bush? He's done a lot of great things." That startled me--given his age and kind of sweetly goofy demeanor I assumed he would be high-fiving me.

I blinked a couple times and finally asked, "Such as?"

He replied, "Well, I can't really talk about it at work," which I totally respect, so I just said, "I can't think of a single one," followed with one of these gestures. :shrug:


I know that most people in this area voted for Bush and expect that they will vote for McCain, but it was such a shock to hear someone still willing to say that GWB has done a lot of great things.

[islandmkl]

8. yeah...for that kid...since there is no draft....

iraq is just somewhere elsewhere where only dummies end up....

probably thinks jr invented the ipod...

[pipi_k]

16. Welllll.....I can think of one thing he's done

That kid working at Starbucks? He has a job, thanks to Bush and Iraq.

There are now nearly 4200 fewer people, thanks to GWB, who are actively competing for jobs in the US. Because they're dead. And many more on disability for PTSD or amputations or whatever.

The kid probably goes home each night and genuflects to a statue of Bush in the front hallway of his grubby little apartment.


:sarcasm:

[DebJ]

38. He won't have it for long if he is in one of the 600 stores closing.

[nxylas]

27. Surprised he didn't come out with the usual answer

"We haven't had a terrorist attack since 9/11". They usually believe all the "foiled terror plot" stories that appear every time the feds arrest half a dozen sad fantasists talking about bringing down America with a fertilizer bomb.

(edit: Anyone got a good, snappy one-line retort to that, btw? Subtle, nuanced arguments don't usually work on that type).

[verges]

28. Wouldn't it have been better

if we hadn't had a terrorist attack on 9-11? You know, if they had READ the reports predicting it?

[nxylas]

30. Clinton's fault

It's always Clinton's fault.

[beltanefauve]

46. How 'bout

"What about the anthrax? Remember the anthrax?"

[Faux pas]

9. I've never heard a repug say anything that wasn't crazy, so I

quit listening to them altogether.

[kcass1954]

10. My dad said that Bill Nelson used to be an okay guy. But...

He won't vote for him any more because he's turned into a "regular Democrat".

[populistdriven]

41. Republicans present the worst case scenario disguised as as the solution

[Straight Shooter]

12. Craziest thing I've ever heard from a Republican: "Thank God for george bush!"

:banghead:

[ravencalling]

13. I am aquainted with many republicans

1 - The reason for the loss of our basic rights - Clinton, not Bush!
2 - I feel sorry for the victims of the Tsunami, not because they died, but because they are all going to Hell since they are not Christians!
3 - We should let the market handle the housing crisis. Those people losing their homes should not have the homes in the first place, because they never could afford it. Once they are kicked out, others will buy the homes at a cheaper price, and everything will even out in the end.
4 - They are stopping us from drilling, we should have drilled in Alaska ten years ago, then none of this would have happened.

There are many more, but some are more shocking then others.

[a la izquierda]

15. From my husband's uncle:

"Bill O'Lielly is the most fair and balanced newsman out there." I laughed so hard beer came out my nose. It was quiet in the room. I followed it up by saying, still laughing, "Oh, you're not kidding?." He wasn't.

From my mom, a long time ago before she came to her senses: "Don't you know that Democrats only want to help black and Mexican kids? They don't give a shit about poor white kids like you." I said, "No mom, REpublicans don't give a shit about any of us, especially you, because you're not straight." THat shut her up.

[DrZeeLit]

22. Yeah, my mother swears "Fox always shows both sides. Look, they have Democrats on, too."

Oy.
Then I have to explain the planted shill doctrine.

She leaves the room.

She has a picture of W on her refrigerator.
Calls him "Georgie."

So I asked her, "What do you like about him?"
She leaves the room.
I yell after her, "No, I really mean it. What do you like? I'm trying to understand."

She takes a shower.

That'll show me, huh?

[Phred42]

17. I've got one of those -

[RedLetterRev]

18. It's bad enough that they're willingly suckered

and it's even worse when the more subtle stereotyping and propaganda gets to us, as careful as we try to be. I've been watching some stuff going on since I rejoined DU and the M$M noise machine is bigger and worse than I thought. When I see us turn some stuff on each other (and, BTW, I kinda resemble the remark redneck, and if you'll be so kind as to follow my link it'll explain what I mean by that), it's really not good.

I think we really need to put some careful thought into reacting less and countering better. Any thoughts on how to do that, maybe even forming a focus on it would be gratefully received. We've been on the wrong end of the megaphone for too long. I think we can lick this thing with some clearheadedness. Y'in? I'm thinking we need "all minds on deck".

This is what I posted earlier this morning. Might be relevant.

[Eric Condon]

19. I was in high school when the Iraq War began

and one day in my current problems class (in which I was - no joke - the ONLY liberal in the class), I was forced to debate the war with a kid who claimed that Saddam Hussein wanted to turn the U.S. into a "fascist communist society."

I'm pretty sure I finally just laughed in his face at that point.

[The Liberal Thinker]

20. Thankfully when I was in high school, liberals outnumbered conservatives handily.

Of course, most people were apathetic.

But the best thing I ever heard from a conservative was this:

"We can win the war in the middle east if we drop a nuclear weapon on one Muslim city each time an American soldier is killed."

[beltanefauve]

47. I worked briefly

for someone who was repeatedly complaining about the "Liberal Fascists". He was a winemaker and was pissed off about the labeling requirements, like pregnancy and alcohol warnings, alcohol content, product contains sufites, that sort of thing.

[Unca Jim]

21. Oh, the memories...

that flood in. My Dad is *still* votes Republican even though he actually supports a Democratic agenda.

I'll bring up a recent-ish conversation that really threw me.

There is a small, local, electrical repair shop on my way to work. I used to take all my battery chargers and other electric car equipment there for repairs, and I eventually befriended the owner. We liked conversing electronics and eventually that broadened out to other stuff, but never politics. He always had Limbaugh on in the shop, and I figured why poke the bear.

During the the 2006 election cycle, when it was completely clear to even the most fervent deniers that Chimpy was the worst President the nation had seen in a long time and that he and the Republicans had been screwing up the nation, I brought a big heavy charger over to be re-calibrated. When the owner (We'll call him "Bob") came out to my car to help me haul it in, he noticed my "At least the war on the middle class is going well" bumper sticker. I could tell it upset him, and after we talked about the charger and what I wanted done to it, he looked me in the eye. "You don't really believe that bumper sticker, do you?", he asked. "Well", I said, "I think that the war in Iraq is not only targeting the wrong people; it's being run very poorly. I also think the 'war on terror' has been used as an excuse to take away our rights and that the costs associated with the war are being borne solely by the middle class".

Bob is a mild-mannered guy, but his eyes bulged out of his head when he replied "Well, maybe you think we should surrender to those bastards who attacked us to save a few bucks, but I don't!"

At that point I got pissed off too. We talked for nearly 30 minutes. He'd bring up the Fox talking point, I'd shoot it down. I also took the time to explain why the talking point was wrong and how the facts had been distorted. As the conversation continued, he began to run out of talking points and he started to look scared. I swear to God, he looked like an addict at an intervention being confronted with his own self-deceiving thoughts and behavior. As we talked his voice raised higher and higher, his face got more distorted by anger.

Bob is a highly intelligent guy. He knows on some level the facts are not on his side, but he keeps defending the distorted reality he is fed. He was like a cultist being deprogrammed. Eventually, I laid off because the whole thing was freaking me out and I kind of felt sorry for the guy.


I have argued with Conservatives before, and usually we both come away enriched by the discussion and convinced to some degree of the other person's position. But this was just me beating the truth over the head of a scared guy who was watching the castle of bullshit he had believed in for so long topple before him. I knew 2006 would be a good year for Democrats.

[codjh9]

24. I've heard a zillion 'craziest things', but here's just one: my lunatic Repub aunt

and uncle have talked more than once about some kind of shadowy, evil, darkly-lurking-behind-the-scenes 'cabal' or 'rich Jews' and I guess others, who are really running the country (world?). They come up with all kinds of other crazy shit too. And my uncle recently said he was surprised Congress Avenue in Austin (which you probably know is an island or blue in a sea of red here in TX) hasn't been renamed 'Karl Marx Avenue'. I realize I'm digressing now, but one of the MANY things conservatives say that pisses me off is lumping liberals in with communists. They don't even fucking know the difference between socialism, as practiced in Western Europe, and communism!!!

[mwb970]

26. I've heard about the cabal who rule the world too.

Is it the Judaeo-Masonic conspiracy theory? There's something called The Protocols of the Elders of Zion mixed up in it all too.

[codjh9]

32. Yeah, could be...

But with them, there's no telling. They've often talked of Mafia, too - as if the Mafia would give a shit about them. :^) And get this: my aunt will simultaneously 1) admit she doesn't keep up with news, but 2) be adamant about her right-wing positions. Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

[uberllama42]

29. Ice cream cones should be banned.

Because they are "Cat-like." Like how cats lap up water. So too should pizza and hotdogs be banned. Anything eaten with the hands is "dog-like." I forget who this was, but he was a high-ranking memeber of the Bush Administration. IIRC, he was the guy who wrote the nation's stem-cell policy.

[Enthusiast]

31. But this is typical.

I will say it one more time. Our greatest challenge lies in media fairness. People that think like the above are common. It is really very widespread. This corporate propaganda is overwhelming in it's scope. Aside from the tightly controlled Soviet media there has never been a more effective propaganda machine than what we are witnessing today. It is so successful that ordinary Republicans actually believe the media unfairly represents a liberal perspective.

I would like to hear suggestions about how to correct this situation. I think WE need a equally strong news channel, one to counter to the Fox News Juggernaut.

Picture Obama as a new president. The corporate media ramps up their criticism until it is 24/7, just as it was against Bill Clinton, where every wild allegation was viewed as possibly true. How effective would Obama be under such an onslaught?

[Kweli4Real]

34. I recently had a conversation with my neighbor ...

After a couple of minutes, the conversation turned to politics. My "christian" neighbor went on and on about how the war in Iraq was justified ... "We had to get some pay-back for 9/11, Right?"

Me: "Okay, but what did Iraq have to do with 9/11?"

My "Christian" Neighbor: "They were behind it."

Me: "No they weren't."

My "Christian" Neighbor: "Well, we had to show the world we wouldn't just sit back and take it."

Me: "Well, that's certainly disturbing. You have no problem with attacking a country because some folks without a country attacks us?"

My "Christian" Neighbor: "Well, that Saddam guy gave them shelter ... so in my book he's just as guilty. And he had to pay."

Me: "No, he didn't. But the bigger issue is where we go from here?"

My "Christian" Neighbor: "Well, I voting for McCain. He has a plan for victory in Iraq."

Me: "And, what would that be?"

My "Christian" Neighbor: "Stay there kicking a$$ and taking names."

Me: "Okay. But don't you think a better strategy would be to bring the troops home and stop creating more marytrs. And, negotiating a peace amongst all Iraq factions ... you know, like we did in Ireland?"

My "Christian" Neighbor: "You know they don't understand that kind of diplomacy, Right?"

Me: "And why not?"


My "Christian" Neighbor: "Because they are savages."

Me: You know what ... I'm going to end this conversation because the way you're headed, you're gonna tell me that slavery and christianity was a good thing for the Africans because it brought them out of the darkness and into the light. And then, I'm gonna have to stop being polite."

[codjh9]

35. OK, so this wasn't something I HEARD, but how I saw a 'Bush 2008' bumper sticker!!!

[Dumak]

36. "Tim McVeigh is a National Hero"

[DebJ]

37. "I'm a Republican". Don't need to hear anything else.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

39. 'There's enough oil in ANWR to last 50 years'

This gem was from friends whose sole source of news is Fox.

Now let's do some research:

According to the Department of Energy, in 2007 the United States consumed 20.7 million barrels per day (MMbd) http://www.eia.doe.gov/basics/quickoil.html

In 1998, the USGS estimated that between 5.7 and 16.0 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil are in the coastal plain area of ANWR, with a mean estimate of 10.4 billion barrels, of which 7.7 billion barrels falls within the Federal portion of the ANWR 1002 Area. http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-0028-01/fs-0028-01.pdf

Pull out your calculator and do the math:

10,400 million barrels (10.4 billion) estimated in ANWR divided by 20.7 million barrels/day = 502 days of recoverable petroleum.

502 days divided by 365 = 1.37 years = 1 year 4 months.

And that doesn't even take into account how long it would take to start pumping and how many barrels could be pumped each year.

Facts are nasty things. No wonder Republicans avoid them.

[mwb970]

40. We wouldn't even get to use our own ANWR oil.

>> And that doesn't even take into account how long it would take to start pumping and how many barrels could be pumped each year.

My understanding is that any ANWR oil would become part of the "world market" for oil (this is how the system is set up), becoming literally a "drop in the bucket" that would have almost no effect on oil prices. Ten years from now.

I saw a bumper sticker recently that said "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less". I used it to create a teachable moment for my young niece, spending five minutes describing the numerous ways and many levels on which this simple-minded view is wrong, wrong, wrong. But the guy who put it on his SUV wasn't listening.

(Just before we saw that stupid bumper sticker, an old, bald, very angry-looking man drove by in his VW Beetle, which he had painted as an American flag! We laughed at him and pointed as he sped by.)

[bronxiteforever]

42. "Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do." -- Ronald Reagan, 1981

He was President.:banghead:

[paparush]

45. For about a year, I kept a sign in the rear window of my truck -

"Name One Thing Bush has Done for Working People"

I was AMAZED at how many people came up to me at gas stations, or red lights, or parking lots to talk to say they agreed. This is rural North Carolina. VERY working class area. My county went for Bush in 2000 and 2004.