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talkpolitics2012-11-10 12:18 pm
paft.livejournal.com) wrote in talkpolitics2012-11-10 12:18 pm
So, Republicans -- What's the Next Step?
There's been some discussion here about the right wing response to the shocking, I tell you, SHOCKING re-election of President Obama and the over-the-top reaction we've been seeing. A lot of it has involved personal idiocies from Freeper vowing everything from cutting off disabled Obama supporting relatives from support (I kid you not) divorcing spouses, spitting on neighbors, moving into bunkers, etc.
And there have been some hints of payback from people actually in a position to hurt either Obama supporters or perceived Obama supporters. The CEO of the same coal company that forced employees to spend a day without pay listening to a Romney speech laid off over a hundred employees on November 9th after publicly reading an unctuous and insulting "prayer," and on Thursday a man claiming to be a business owner in Georgia called C-Span and boasted about cutting employee hours and laying off two people because of the election. “I tried to make sure the people I laid off voted for Obama,” he said.
The fact remains -- Obama won.
Attempts at limiting the franchise and making it hard to vote didn't help Republicans. It just pissed off a lot of voters to the point where they were willing to stand in line for seven hours to vote for a Democrat. Threatening to fire employees if Obama were re-elected didn't help Republicans. It just highlighted the insidious damage Citizens United has done to our political environment. Attacking blacks, women, gays, and hispanics didn't work. It just galvanized a large portion of black, gay, female, hispanic, etc. voters into fighting Republicans.
So my question is, Republicans, what's the next step?
A couple of weeks ago, Frank Rich wrote a piece in Salon about the fact that losing an election does not seem to make the Republicans reassess their extended march to the right. They just double down and march further to the right.
Is that what's going to happen, Republicans? Because I have to tell you, you've been marching to the right for so many years you're on the verge of stepping off one hell of an ideological cliff. Are you going to openly embrace the genteel racism of Charles Murray? Are you going to openly work to limit the vote only to people of a certain income level? Is the aim going to be disenfranchising large portions of the public and telling the rest, "vote for us or we'll fire you?"
Just curious.
*
And there have been some hints of payback from people actually in a position to hurt either Obama supporters or perceived Obama supporters. The CEO of the same coal company that forced employees to spend a day without pay listening to a Romney speech laid off over a hundred employees on November 9th after publicly reading an unctuous and insulting "prayer," and on Thursday a man claiming to be a business owner in Georgia called C-Span and boasted about cutting employee hours and laying off two people because of the election. “I tried to make sure the people I laid off voted for Obama,” he said.
The fact remains -- Obama won.
Attempts at limiting the franchise and making it hard to vote didn't help Republicans. It just pissed off a lot of voters to the point where they were willing to stand in line for seven hours to vote for a Democrat. Threatening to fire employees if Obama were re-elected didn't help Republicans. It just highlighted the insidious damage Citizens United has done to our political environment. Attacking blacks, women, gays, and hispanics didn't work. It just galvanized a large portion of black, gay, female, hispanic, etc. voters into fighting Republicans.
So my question is, Republicans, what's the next step?
A couple of weeks ago, Frank Rich wrote a piece in Salon about the fact that losing an election does not seem to make the Republicans reassess their extended march to the right. They just double down and march further to the right.
Is that what's going to happen, Republicans? Because I have to tell you, you've been marching to the right for so many years you're on the verge of stepping off one hell of an ideological cliff. Are you going to openly embrace the genteel racism of Charles Murray? Are you going to openly work to limit the vote only to people of a certain income level? Is the aim going to be disenfranchising large portions of the public and telling the rest, "vote for us or we'll fire you?"
Just curious.
*
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You obviously aren't old enough to remember the 2000 "election" because the Democrats most certainly DID behave differently. I heard no significant calls to "shun" relatives, neighbors, and friends who voted Republican, and I heard of no movement among Democratic bosses to fire Republican employees.
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Yes, there are assholes on both sides of the aisle. Nobody is denying that. It's the Republican side, however, which seems to have veered increasingly into a higher level of personal vindictiveness. Saying there are assholes on both side and no one is denying that "but then again..." doesn't help your argument. In fact,
You obviously aren't old enough to remember the 2000 "election" because the Democrats most certainly DID behave differently. I heard no significant calls to "shun" relatives, neighbors, and friends who voted Republican, and I heard of no movement among Democratic bosses to fire Republican employees. Ageist B.S. aside, I can tell you I was old enough to remember the 2000 election. In fact, it was the first election where I could vote. It wasn't as incendiary before the election, nothing like the kind of violence that was seen during the health care town halls or anything like that, but it certainly wasn't a love-in.
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Like it or not, the GOP has come associated with anti-women, anti-gay, and anti-minority policies. Distancing themselves from that is their responsibility and until they do that they can expect more losses in future election years. That is neither the voter's responsibly or the Democrat's responsibility.
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Like it or not, the GOP has come associated with anti-women, anti-gay, and anti-minority policies. Distancing themselves from that is their responsibility... - They have. Just because the GOP leadership at the convention passed their platform without supporting marriage equality, doesn't mean there aren't individuals in the party willing to break that barrier. I demonstrated that with multiple sources in my response to
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If those on the right want to improve their own party's image and stance on social issues then that's what I'm ultimately for, but until the politicians themselves improve themselves they're not going to find support.
I don't wish I read other blogs, I'd rather keep conversation within this group.
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The reason I posted in my journal is because comments have a character limit and my response was in-depth. You can choose to read it or don't since it wasn't aimed at you anyhow, but it's insightful nonetheless.
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I will call them out on it. And I will. Not. Stop. Doing it.
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The point is that if everyone stops hating, then there's no hate. If everyone stops shitty things to each other, that would be awesome.
Stop making excuses. Stop this childish "No U" bullshit. It's not helping anyone.
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Break it into multiple comments, like everyone else does. Maybe try to be more concise?
I read your post. Do you really consider twitter comments citations? And if so, do you think that they carry the same weight as quotes from politicians and party members?
Are you aware that there are online tools for generating fake twitter streams?
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Some of the asshole-ry is quite likely exaggerated - at least one round of "post Obama layoffs" has been shown to be, in reality, an action planned long ago that still would've happened no matter how the election went. People who call into radio shows talking about how they're business owners cutting their Obama supporters are probably making the entire thing up. D-List celebrities like Melissa Joan Hart and Stacy Dash are likely exaggerating or fabricating these "threats" to try and get themselves back into the public eye. People who are upset about the outcome of an election say a lot of things, not all of them true. And celebrities have a fairly long history of pursuing "any publicity is good publicity", especially if their careers are flagging. Some of the asshole-ry is actually real, but a lot of it isn't.
It'll all come out in the wash and life will go back to normal in a month.
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Either way.
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/clip/4141208
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So what does "at will" actually mean? From an employee's standpoint, it means you can leave whenever you want. From an employer's standpoint, it really doesn't mean much of anything.
Even in your coal company example, notice how the CEO was careful to blame his layoffs on a "war on coal" rather then the election result directly? He's throwing Obama's name into it because his horse lost and he's pitching a hissyfit, but the real reason he's laying people off is because coal is not as profitable as it used to be. Romney being elected wouldn't have changed that (if coal is on Romney's priority list at all, it's somewhere around number 9,875,673). That's my point - these "political layoffs" are all bluster. They would've happened one way or the other anyway.
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You really don't get context, do you?
Do you imagine for one minute that there aren't Obama supporters who've been threatened?
dp: Ageist B.S. aside, I can tell you I was old enough to remember the 2000 election. In fact, it was the first election where I could vote. It wasn't as incendiary before the election, nothing like the kind of violence that was seen during the health care town halls or anything like that, but it certainly wasn't a love-in.
Do cite for me the prominent Democrats who were telling bosses to threaten to fire employees if Gore wasn't elected. And as someone living in one of the most liberal cities in the country, I heard no multiple calls for "shunning" relatives and friends who'd voted for Bush.
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You think there aren't Obama supporters who've been harassed to the point of being afraid?
dp: Saying there are assholes on both side and no one is denying that "but then again..." doesn't help your argument.
Your entire approach to argument seems to consist of ignoring nuance, of pretending that if any assholery exists at all on side B, the much greater assholery on side A is absolved.
dp: Ageist B.S. aside, I can tell you I was old enough to remember the 2000 election. In fact, it was the first election where I could vote. It wasn't as incendiary before the election, nothing like the kind of violence that was seen during the health care town halls or anything like that, but it certainly wasn't a love-in.
And was there a rash of Democratic employers talking about firing Republican employees? Were there a lot of Democrats in general talking about shunning Republican friends, neighbors, and relatives. Again, as someone who lives in one of the most liberal cities in the country, I didn't see any of that.
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