President Obama: GOP Wouldn't Elect Abraham Lincoln Today

[chrisrobin]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/30/president-obama-abraham-lincoln_n_1392504.html

Not only that...

GOP Wouldn't Elect Teddy Roosevelt Today.
GOP Wouldn't Elect Dwight Eisenhower Today.
GOP Wouldn't Elect Barry Goldwater Today.
GOP Wouldn't Elect Nelson Rockefeller Today.
GOP Wouldn't Elect Richard Nixon Today.
GOP Wouldn't Elect Gerald Ford Today.
GOP Wouldn't Elect Ronald Reagan Today.

 

[T-Rexx]

All of the above are true.

We are in a weird time in history. We have never had a major political party so radically distant from the center of political discourse. I have been expecting for the last few decades that reason will surely prevail, and that the Republicans will be pulled back to the center by some natural force. Yet, they keep drifting ever further to the right. The Republican Party is today even more right-wing than it was in 2008. It is bizarre that they are discussing the morality of birth control pills, abortion, and homosexuality in 2012.

The GOP is now so right-wing that it seems incapable of nominating candidates for the presidency who have the ability to get elected. In order to get the party nomination, one has to be so far right of center that he cannot win the general election. This has created the situation that frustrates Mitt Romney, whereby he has to pretend "severe" conservatism for the party nomination, then pretend moderation for the general election. It makes it nearly impossible for him to take a position on anything.

I am concerned because I don't understand what is driving this extremism. This party now officially hates just about everybody. Blacks, gays, Hispanics, Muslims, women, non-English speakers, the poor, the middle class, and the highly educated. You would think that such widespread dissatisfaction with so much of America would marginalize Republicans and either relegate them to a tiny fringe fraction, or force them back toward the center. And yet, as they drift ever right-ward, they seem to bring with them a reliable 45% of American voters (including many of those the party attacks), who seem to care not that their party is advocating policy specifically targeted to hurt them.

It is bizarre and disconcerting. I think that it is deeply injurious to the nation. I think that the drift to the right cannot continue indefinitely. It will eventually reach some sort of tipping point and provoke a national crisis. As to what sort of national crisis, I have no idea. But it won't be good.

 

[Benvolio]

No, the Republicans have not pulled to the right. They just haven't moved as far left as the Dems would like. When did Republicans ever approve abortion? When the Roe v Wade lie was told, all 50 states had anti-abortion statutes and public opinion was strongly against it. A generation ago the idea of two men marrying would have been regarded as a joke, even among gays. The Republicans have never been against contraception, and are not now. But before Roe v Wade, Catholic DEMOCRATS in some states tried to outlaw it and did so in Connecticut.
Most of T-Rexx's rant is simply his own party's posturing. Republicans do not hate blacks, gays, Hispanics, the poor etc. Our disagreements are over policies which hurt our country.
We oppose the massive flood of immigrants coming into the country to take jobs, commit crimes, burden health care, burden education etc. Not because we hate them but because the masses of them are harmful to America. We have no chance of solving our poverty problem without controlling immigration.
Democrats hate the poor and middle class because they want to keep them in the place Dems put them in. They want to be sure the poor stay poor by flooding the country with more poor to compete for jobs. Poor people tend to vote Democrat so the Dems want to keep them poor and import more of them.

 

[chrisrobin]

No, the Republicans have not pulled to the right. They just haven't moved as far left as the Dems would like. When did Republicans ever approve abortion? When the Roe v Wade lie was told, all 50 states had anti-abortion statutes and public opinion was strongly against it. A generation ago the idea of two men marrying would have been regarded as a joke, even among gays. The Republicans have never been against contraception, and are not now. But before Roe v Wade, Catholic DEMOCRATS in some states tried to outlaw it and did so in Connecticut.
Most of T-Rexx's rant is simply his own party's posturing. Republicans do not hate blacks, gays, Hispanics, the poor etc. Our disagreements are over policies which hurt our country.
We oppose the massive flood of immigrants coming into the country to take jobs, commit crimes, burden health care, burden education etc. Not because we hate them but because the masses of them are harmful to America. We have no chance of solving our poverty problem without controlling immigration.
Democrats hate the poor and middle class because they want to keep them in the place Dems put them in. They want to be sure the poor stay poor by flooding the country with more poor to compete for jobs. Poor people tend to vote [STRIKE]Democrat[/STRIKE] Democratic so the Dems want to keep them poor and import more of them.

Everything you have stated above is a lie. You've also twisted certain facts to suit your own twisted agena.

You really have it in for poor people. What a shame. By the way, there have been more deportations of Mexican illegals in the past three years than in the previous eight. (Check INS stats on this). Your claims are based on fantasy. From where is this "massive flood of immigrants" coming? My father was an immigrant. My maternal grandparents were immigrants. Those three made America a better place. They were not "harmful to America" as you so eloquantly put it.

I can speak Spanish. Boo!

You're really hung up on abortion. Believe me. I promise not to have one.

[Text: Removed by Moderator]

 

[chrisrobin]

the Democrats wouldn't elect JFK today

times change.

True. Compare JFK with Fritz Mondale, Michael Dukakis, Al Gore or John Kerry. Spock, get me out of here!

 

[T-Rexx]

the Democrats wouldn't elect JFK today

Why not?

Nor would Democrats elect Roosevelt or Wilson, as both had racist and anti-Semitic tendencies.

What does the racism of another era have to do with a party drifting ever further away from the center? You have missed the point entirely. Lincoln, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Goldwater, Rockefeller, Nixon, Ford, and Reagan would not be electable today within the Republican Party because they would be perceived as too liberal - not because they were racist.

JFK was proud of America. Can you imagine how he would be laughed to scorn by Democrats?

No, I can't imagine that.

No, the Republicans have not pulled to the right.

Republicans do not hate blacks, gays, Hispanics, the poor etc. Our disagreements are over policies which hurt our country.

But, somehow, only policies that hurt blacks, gays, Hispanics, Muslims, women, non-English speakers, the poor, and the middle class are good for America.

And, somehow, only policies that help rich, white, straight, male, fundamentalist Christians are good for America.

How fortunate for the latter that only their well-being matters for America.

Democrats hate the poor and middle class because they want to keep them in the place Dems put them in. They want to be sure the poor stay poor by flooding the country with more poor to compete for jobs. Poor people tend to vote Democrat so the Dems want to keep them poor and import more of them.

Indeed. We want these people to have health care because we hate them so much. We advocate fair tax policy for these people because we hate them so much. We support jobs programs for them because we hate them so much, and we want them to stay poor. We support civil rights because there are so few black people among the poor and middle class (who we hate). We support gay rights because there are so few gays among the poor and middle class (who we hate). We support women's rights because there are so few women among the poor and middle class (who we hate).

We poor, middle class, Hispanics, women, blacks, gays, Muslims and non-English speakers are America. In attacking us, Republicans attack America. It is not patriotic to support only 1% of America. Ignoring the needs of 99% of America does not make this country a better place to live.

 

[Benvolio]

Rex, why con you not see that the Den unwillingness to slow the flood millions of immigrants undermines whatever good you are trying to do?

 

[T-Rexx]

way too conservative?

"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" sounds like it could have come from the Paul Ryan budget plan.

That is about as egalitarian and Democratic a statement as I can think of! It is a phrase which continues to resonate among Democrats today as much today as it did in 1961. It is just about as anti-Paul Ryan as you can get!

Paul Ryan advocates only for the rich. JFK imagined a nation where everybody - even the rich - contributed to the collective prosperity of the nation.

"In today’s economy, fiscal prudence and responsibility call for tax reduction even if it temporarily enlarges the federal deficit – why reducing taxes is the best way open to us to increase revenues."

sounds like it could have been a part of the GWB tax cuts.

JFK called for "fiscal prudence and responsibility." He believed in the Keynesian concept of deficits to stimulate out of a recession, and taxes to balance the budget in prosperity. He was not advocating for GWB's $1.4 trillion deficit.

Nothing about Kennedy's financial policy would be inconsistent with current Democratic Party thinking.

 

[T-Rexx]

Rex, why con you not see that the Den unwillingness to slow the flood millions of immigrants undermines whatever good you are trying to do?

What "flood of immigrants" are you speaking of?

Why does the current trickle of people into the USA bother you Republicans so much?

Is it because they no longer look like the rest of us? White, European, and Christian?

 

[rareboy]

Everything you have stated above is a lie. You've also twisted certain facts to suit your own twisted agena.

You really have it in for poor people. What a shame. By the way, there have been more deportations of Mexican illegals in the past three years than in the previous eight. (Check INS stats on this). Your claims are based on fantasy. From where is this "massive flood of immigrants" coming? My father was an immigrant. My maternal grandparents were immigrants. Those three made America a better place. They were not "harmful to America" as you so eloquantly put it.

I can speak Spanish. Boo!

You're really hung up on abortion. Believe me. I promise not to have one.

[Text: Removed by Moderator]

I am sticking with 'Stormfront' evangelist. I am just hoping though, that we aren't the beta testing ground for the RNC to see whether they can move niche demos like homos by focussing on immigrants and abortion as wedge issues. I think we are being played to see how the message will play in Peoria because the RNC has nothing else in their arsenal to fight with this year.

Also funny how so many white supremacist Americans don't remember that not only the entire nation, but the entire economy has been essentially built and expanded because of immigration from all over the globe. If anything, it is the drop-off in intake of large numbers of immigrants and the idea that the US could make itself rich through war that has gutted the economy in this century.

 

[bike10]

The GOP of today is not interested in moderates in the GOP, I left the party in 1970's when it became part of the religious right and Fox News.

 

[Benvolio]

We bring in a million or so legal immigrants a year and untold numbers of illegals, and yes they are mostly poor and unemployed. BO likes to brag about creating 4 million or so jobs but when we bring in that many immigrants, willing to work cheap, our own poor and unemployed are left behind.

 

[Rolyo85]

We bring in a million or so legal immigrants a year and untold numbers of illegals, and yes they are mostly poor and unemployed. BO likes to brag about creating 4 million or so jobs but when we bring in that many immigrants, willing to work cheap, our own poor and unemployed are left behind.

By the way, there have been more deportations of Mexican illegals in the past three years than in the previous eight. (Check INS stats on this).

Here, let me bold that for you.

By the way, there have been more deportations of Mexican illegals in the past three years than in the previous eight. (Check INS stats on this).

You were EXPLICITLY told something that directly contradicts your claims that it's the Democrats who are trying to get illegals in the country. I am sure a source could be provided as well. Yet you ignored it, and just continued to rant on repeat. If you want any of what you say to be taken seriously (a stretch, I know), you have to respond to that.

And even - EVEN - if that were true, you keep making those accusations and leave them hanging, without explaining WHY Democrats would do those horrible things. We live in Twenty First Century Real World, not in Middle Earth. Why do the Democrats do all these horrible things according to you? Because they hate everyone? Because they are Evil? Because they serve the Forces of Darkness? They were corrupted by the power of the One Ring? WHY?

 

[Ninja108]

Here's a fact about my Grandparents. They have been life long Republicians..and even they are disguisted with what the party has become.
It's all about less government..unless it's something that doesn't fit with the Religious Right's moral views. There are no moderate Republicians like Olympia Snowe anymore. You either go with their version of the Bible or you shut the %$# up.

 

[CowboyBob]

Here's a fact about my Grandparents. They have been life long Republicians..and even they are disguisted with what the party has become.
It's all about less government..unless it's something that doesn't fit with the Religious Right's moral views. There are no moderate Republicians like Olympia Snowe anymore. You either go with their version of the Bible or you shut the %$# up.

I've brought this up before.... my Grandmother who died a few years ago at the age of 102 was a life-long republican until Reagan came to power. She switched and became a staunch Democrat. She hated what the republican party became. A political party hijacked by the religious and the millionaires. Those that can't see what the republican party has become has fallen for their propaganda.

 

[Benvolio]

Look again. I said we bring in a million LEGAL immigrants a year. They and other poor tend to vote Democrat, so the Dems want more of them without regard to the consequences for Americans.

 

[JayHawk]

Most of those LEGAL immigrants come in this country to work the jobs many republicans woul never take. Without regard? Republicans want to drive this entire county to the poor house. Including driving millions of Americans who have been for generations to poverty.

I wont jump in except for I hate bold faced lies. The bolded text above should read "many Americans would not take" Because across the board most Americans are soft needy and feel entitled.

I will take a one immigrant or a farm kid for every five middle class Americans that enlist.

 

[CoolBlue71]

Like Abraham Lincoln, the Republican Party's first elected president of the United States, Barack Obama is also from Illinois.

How interesting, with Obama from the Democratic Party, that he is less progressive on policy than 1960s Lyndon Johnson, who was from Texas.

 

[JayHawk]

That is precisely why I like Obama. He is the embodiment of a conservative I would vote for in this day and age.

On foreign policy he is solid and the war hawks should be applauding his actions. Instead they fight for partisan reasons alone.

 

[TheFireGod]

My parents are Republicans but they'd only vote for Romney and other Conservative leaning moderates. My dad even told me how far right Gingrich and the TEA party are.

Look again. I said we bring in a million LEGAL immigrants a year. They and other poor tend to vote Democrat, so the Dems want more of them without regard to the consequences for Americans.

Unfortunately for you, even the CURRENT Republican Party supports LEGAL immigration. You're in the minority who think all immigrants are a bunch of people coming into Ellis Island with weird names and only have the clothes on their back. No, today's legal immigrants would need some sort of profession to even be accepted into the USAas a resident, and even that isn't a guarantee for a non-poor job immediately.

My dad came here with a medical degree, and he worked at a fastfood restaurant cleaning tables and floors. If it wasn't foe the fact thatched found a job in the current state I live in, it would have taken him longer to get a job he went through college for.

And where did you get that idiotic notion of the lower class only voting based on who can give them welfare? NOT all poor people vote Democrat just like not all rich people vote Republican. If this were true, Mississippi and West Virginia would have been swings States if not in the Democratic Bloc!