Friday, March 26, 2010

What is happening to the Republican Party?

From a Harris Poll released yesterday...

  • 24% of Republicans (and 14% of Americans) think Obama may be the Anti-Christ.

  • Two thirds of Republicans -- 67 percent -- and 40 percent of Americans overall, believe that Obama is a socialist.

  • A majority of Republicans -- 57 percent -- and 32 percent overall believe that Obama is a Muslim.

  • 45 percent of Republicans, and 25 percent overall, believe that Obama was "not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president."

  • 38 percent of Republicans, and 20 percent overall, say that Obama is "doing many of the things that Hitler did."

Source

I have been a lifelong Republican and am very close to de-registering from the party. For sometime now it has been increasingly clear to me that the GOP is falling under the influence of extremists, conspiracy theorists and people that should be dismissed as members of the lunatic fringe.

Paul Krugman (a man with whom I rarely agree about anything) made an observation that strikes me as pretty on the mark.
“In the short run, Republican extremism may be good for Democrats, to the extent that it prompts a voter backlash. But in the long run, it’s a very bad thing for America. We need to have two reasonable, rational parties in this country. And right now we don’t. “
Source

10 comments:

Anam Cara said...

I don't believe that Obama is the Anti-Christ. But I do think this may be a dress rehearsal for one to come on the stage later. (If the Evangelical interpretation of the apocalyse is right, we are watching the entire world go bankrupt from Greece, to the UK to the USA allowing for some messiah figure to come in as "save" us all.)

I do believe he is a socialist and it's hard to refute that given things like Obamacare.

I don't believe that he is Muslim, but he certainly gives that impression since he caters to Islam/Muslims in so many areas.

I really don't know if he was born in the US or not, but it seems odd to me that he won't just end the speculation by allowing all the information to be release. There is a mystery there and he doesn't seem to want anyone to solve it.

And yes, I do believe that he is doing the sort of things Hitler did.

Krugman is right. Except perhaps we don't even have ONE reasonable party right now.

The Dems certainly aren't acting responsibly with their "more open, most honest" Congress ever.

What ever happened to the televised negotiations promised for C-span. Why is so much done in secret?
Like Obama's birth certificate, if it's honest and good, it should stand up to the light!

In God's time we will know all - Luke 12:2 "For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known." Too bad we all don't keep that thought before us.

Chris W. said...

What you're seeing, John, is the result of systematic, malicious propaganda. The populist feedback loop has gotten wildly out of control (but isn't that the intent from the start?) and at this point can be called nothing other but Evil. This is not dialogue, this is insane, unthinking chaos.

I'm always wary of protestant pop eschatology - it's a pretty powerful force. It's kept an apartheid state in power for a long time past its expiration date.

Anonymous said...

What Anam Cara said.

Bill TGF

Chris Jones said...

I'm with you, John: I had been a lifelong Republican until last summer when I re-registered as an Independent. It took the anti-conservative policies and actions of the Bush administration to drive me away from a Republican party that has ceased to be conservative in any recognizable sense (if it ever truly was).

The way (what passes for) the Right is demonizing Obama is more than ridiculous; it's frightening. He is not the Anti-Christ, he is just a real liberal Democrat (trust me, folks, there is a difference). We've had liberal Democratic Presidents before, and the world has not come to an end because of it. Obama is no more "Anti-Christ" than Lyndon Johnson, Harry Truman, or Franklin Roosevelt -- all of whom implemented liberal policies that I don't care for, but none of whom managed to destroy the Republic. Obama won't either.

So what if Obama is a Muslim? We have freedom of religion in this country, which is something that I cherish. If Obama wants to be a Muslim, that is his right, and even if he wants to be a closet Muslim, well, privacy is his right, too. If people are obsessing on this, I have to wonder what part of "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States" they do not understand.

Anyone who thinks Obama's health care reform proves that he is a socialist wouldn't know real socialism if it came up on the street and bit him in the ass. People in countries with real socialized medicine (Britain, Scandinavia, etc.) are laughing at our pathetic attempt at it.

The Anti-Gnostic said...

The debate over Obama's legal status does not concern me; I will assume he was born on US soil. Beyond that, he is not American in upbringing, outlook or sympathies. He is in office in large part because Americans did not want a bitter old man obsessed--like his predecessor--with being a wartime president.

Hopefully the man will be out in four years and back to Chicago, where he can inflict his brutal social engineering schemes on his neighbors for all I care.

Stephen said...

John,
Really, you take the mainstream media spin hook, line and sinker, who create bogeymen on the right and in the Republican party, inflate it to confirm their own illusions and you buy it! Come on, don't you know when you are getting played?
Notice too how by focusing on these polls and their bogeymen, the left distracts you and everyone from focusing on the content of their policies and their impact.
Really, John, for someone so smart as you, I am surprised. I am an elected Republican party member in the blue state of New Jersey, and neither here nor anywhere in the country are we whacked or out of control. What we want is a debate over ideas and their impact, ie reality. Krugman et. al don't want to engage in that debate, but create these sideshows so that they can advance their agenda with as little transparency as possible.

Come down off that ledge and get back in the game.

Anonymous said...

The comments are proof positive that Krugman is correct.

peggy38 said...

I am an Independent who votes Republican more than I vote Democrat. I would be more disturbed about a poll like this if I didn't think that this kind of thing is more of an aberration and a product of our times than anything else.

Most of these are people who no longer trust the media and get their information piecemeal. In fact, they are more likely to believe the opposite of what the media tells them.

Do I fault them for this. Certainly not. I can understand the confusion that can reign in times like these when nothing seems sure anymore and everything seems to be crumbling.

I don't blame the Republican Party either. It happens to be the only party that these lost conservatives can call home. Where else are they going to go?

If trust could be restored in even a single responsible news org, a lot of this stuff would clear up. Its a tall order, I realize but the solution is responsible information.

I am not going to say not to renounce the Republican Party. I am all for it. I think we would all be better off renouncing both parties. But I don't advocate a stampede for the exits because a certain kind of people in the neighborhood are unsavory types. Do something about it. It can be fixed. The people who believe these things are not bad people. They are just adrift and looking for some direction.

Anonymous said...

"The people who believe these things are not bad people. They are just adrift and looking for some direction."

And we know what that can lead to.

Thirty and more years of attacking government and the media, quite often without any justification or basis in fact, has led to what the comment above describes.

Anonymous said...

Hey John: Go for it. Vote Independent and elect no one. Or vote Democrat and elect more apostates like Reid (LDS) and Biden (RC) and Pelosi (RC). As for Obama (Messiah), you tell me what he is! You need to get out more. Statmann